Biodiversity 

Biodiversity is, literally, the variety of life on earth. It embraces all living plants and animals and the ecosystems on which they depend. Biodiversity is everywhere: in gardens, fields, hedgerows, mountains, rivers and in the sea. 

At a local level, biodiversity greatly influences the character of our landscape. Carmarthenshire is justly renowned for its magnificent coast, quiet estuaries, steep wooded valleys and rugged uplands. Throughout much of the rest of the county there is a patchwork of woodlands and fields, bounded by the hedge-banks that are frequently of historic importance. The sea and seabed around the Carmarthenshire coast are also rich in species, some of which are of considerable economic importance.

This natural beauty of the county is a major factor on which the local tourism and recreation industries depend. Biodiversity is therefore fundamental to the physical, economic and spiritual well-being of all who live and work in Carmarthenshire.

Strandline Beetle

Cefn Sidan beach is home to the rare and endangered strandline beetle - and one of only three sites left in Wales to feature this rare invertebrate. It has become extinct on nine Welsh dunes since 1980, and is now extinct in England largely due to mechanised cleaning