Hear more about this location with BBC Wales reporter John Meredith and Ynyslas Warden Sarah Millinger...(Need help with RealPlayer?) Ynyslas sand dunes form part of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve which is one of only 234 national nature reserves in Great Britain. The Dyfi estuary has also been selected by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve.
The visitor centre is the best place to start this walk. There's usually a warden on hand to answer any questions you may have and there are plenty of leaflets telling you about the dunes.
Display boards on the walls of the centre highlight the main plants and animals to look out for as you walk through the dunes. There are also activity sheets for children to fill in along the way.
Outside the centre you'll see an oak sculpture in the form of a banded snail, one of the creatures which lives in the dunes. This particular snail needs crushed shells to make its own shells. The banded snail in turn is needed by birds for their food. It's worth climbing the wooden snail to look out across the estuary and the dunes.
Don't forget to look upwards too. There's an RSPB reserve just four miles up the estuary at Ynys-hir, a popular stopping-off place for many migrant birds.
Red Kites are now often seen in this sky. Only a few years ago, these birds faced extinction in Great Britain.
Skylarks are also more common here than in other areas where agriculture has disrupted their natural habitat and their song is often heard as they hover above the dunes.
Leaving the visitor centre, bear left onto the boardwalk leading to the shell path. Crushed shells make this path firm as you head south through what are known as the grey dunes, after the colour of the lichen colonising the bare sand which is more stable here. Look out for butterflies such as the common blue.
your comments
Jo, Ynyslas
Hello I'm a local resident and I have to say that powerboats, jetskis and all motorised vehicles are the bane of our lives.....
Tue Jul 7 11:44:41 2009
Nigel from Staffordshire
Ynyslas is a beautiful area and it's an ideal place to Jetski and power boat. It is unfair to tar all jetski users as lunatics! I think Ynyslas is big enough for everyone to enjoy and I hope we can continue to use our personal watercrafts there for many years to come.
Sun Aug 19 20:01:15 2007
Emma Lewis from Telford
We always have between one or two holidays in Borth every year and usually visit for daytrips a few times a year, infact we got engaged on Borth beach one Christmas day and we also had our honeymoon there! But I have to agree with Lynne Hughes comments about the noise and distruption of the lunatics with jet skis. Our last daytrip was on Easter Saturday and I also found them extremely annoying. What we love about Borth and Ynyslas is the feeling of it being untouched, it would be great to keep it this way and ban these people with no consideration for the ones who like to enjoy the peace and quiet.
Wed Jun 6 15:43:38 2007
Lynne Hughes ,Pontypridd
I visit Ynyslas appx. 8-12 times during the spring and summer season, and my first visit of this year was Easter Sunday. I took my whole family but unfortunately the visit was very short!I have grandchildren that love to paddle and also do a bit of fishing with their yearly £2.99 fishing sets. They catch nothing but never the less enjoy the experience.I was so dissapointed with the amount of noise pollution that was coming from the speed boats and dozens of jet ski's that had been launched from ynyslas beach, they were racing each other so close to the shore, one of them even beach themselve! s because they came to close to the shoreline.The beach was strewn with trailers. What a pity that a nature reserve is allowing the launching of such craft, surely this should be discouraged as is bound to have an effect on the birdlife.I hope, as a nature reserve, the practice of launching such craft will be stopped.
Thu Apr 12 16:58:46 2007
Debbie from Knighton
I have a caravan at Ynyslas and i never get fed up of the beauty of the area and the sand dunes look and have something different every time i visit them. Wild life is in abundance and the submerged forest is a must to go and see.I feel privaliged to be able to live and visit here.
Thu Feb 22 18:14:42 2007
Holly Jones From Oswestry
I am doing a geography project about the management of ynyslas. I was wondering how many visitors does Ynyslas have in a year, and what mangement schemes they have in place to preserve this area of such conservational value.
Fri Sep 15 14:44:50 2006
Hannah
I have been told that one of the beaches in cardigan with sand dunes has a blue shelter. Is this right? If yes please could you tell me the name of the beach?
Can you help?
Tue Aug 29 11:13:29 2006
Richard from Hereford
Ynyslas is a great place to play or bathe on the sand so is ideal for kids. The Visitors Centre is very interesting with the sights surrounding it fantastic. Over the sea you can see the seaside village of Aberdyfi which sadly due to the sea, you can't walk over to it which is a shame because it would only be a 5 minute walk with driving there taking about half an hour. Not took the walk yet but it does sound very interesting and might take the walk on my next visit. All in all, Ynyslas is a great place and an inexpensive place to keep all ages of the family happy.
Fri Sep 2 00:47:39 2005
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