Pengelli Forest and Pant-teg Wood

Also within

Dyfed County Arfordir Penfro / Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

Habitats

Ancient woodland, Bracken scrub, Coppiced woodland, Fast flowing river and stream

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Description

Description These two contiguous woods form the largest block of ancient semi-natural woodland in south-west Wales. There is an exceptional variety of woodland types, including scarce communities. The plateau alder wood, which has features of oak-ash-hazel lowland plateau woodland, is the most unusual. Numerous scarce woodland plants and animals are present. The site is the most well researched forest in west Wales. Solid rock is near the surface in the steep south-facing Pant-teg Wood, and even-aged coppice sessile oak Quercus petraea dominates the canopy, along with some downy birch Betula pubescens. Ash Fraxinus excelsior and alder Alnus glutinosa occur near the stream. The contrasting Pengelli Forest, with its gently undulating topography and many small meandering streams, is developed on poorly drained soils derived from superficial deposits. The canopy is a mixture of sessile and intermediate oaks, with some pedunculate oak Quercus robur, downy birch, ash and alder. Alder is very extensive and dominates along the streams and in the waterlogged ground around the headwaters of their tributaries. Although mainly even-aged coppice growth, some oak standards of moderate size remain near the northern boundary and on woodland edges. Three small fields with much bracken and bramble are being invaded by hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, downy birch and sessile oak. The midland hawthorn Crataegus lsevigata grows in Pengelli Forest. The three bushes are the only ones thought to be native in west Wales. Aspen Populus tremula, wild cherry Prunus avium, wych elm Ulmus glabra, goat willow Salix caprea and native crab apple Malus sylvestris ssp sylvestris also occur. The rare bastard balm Melittis melissophyllum grows on the roadside verge adjacent to the wood and on another length nearby. Other notable ground flora plants include early dog-violet Viola reichenbachiana, woodruff Galium odoratum, adder’s-tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum and water avens Geum rivale. Interesting insects present are the oil beetle Meloe proscarabaeus, the dark bush-cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera and the speckled bush-cricket Leptophyes punctatissima. Woodland butterflies recorded include the purple hairstreak Quercusia quercus, silver-washed fritillary Argynnis paphia and white letter hairstreak Satyrium w-album. Pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies Boloria euphrosyne occur in the small fields. Dormice are present and pied flycatcher and wood warbler breed. In Elizabethan times the site was owned by the Pembrokeshire historian, George Owen of Henllys, who listed it as one of the nine forests and great woods remaining in Pembrokeshire. It was about 500 acres at that time, and had great oaks 200 and more years old, also some young wood of 60 years growth. George Owen’s description of the oaks and their well-grown underwood of alder, hazel, hawthorn, willows and others provides the earliest known details of woodland habitat in south-west Wales. Much of today’s sinuous eastern boundary bank of Pengelli marks the original forest limit which George Owen said was enclosed with “quicksett and pale rounde”.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Plant communities