Hamadryad Park and Cardiff Bay Wetlands Nature Reserve

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Hamadryad Park together with the Cardiff Bay Wetlands comprises very approximately 14 hectares of land in Butetown, Cardiff. Until the closure of Cardiff Bay Barrage in 1999, which created a 198 hectare freshwater lake, the area comprised salt marsh and inter-tidal mud flats crossed on a flyover by the Butetown Link road. The area now varies in elevation from about 8.5mOD adjacent to built up areas, perhaps up to about 13m where earth bunds have been created to screen the park from the Butetown Link, to as low as 4.5mOD in the wetlands. (The water in Cardiff Bay is impounded at a nominal level of 4.5mOD, though this can vary somewhat.)

The park area is located north-west of the Butetown Link and is bounded at the northern end by Clarence Embankment, the grounds of the former Royal Hamadryad Hospital on Hamadryad Road (now the Hamadryad Centre, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust) and a children's play area immediately east of the Hamadryad Centre, close to the south end of Burt Street. The western boundary is formed by the estuary of the River Taff, now part of Cardiff Bay. Close to the north-west corner is a circular pond connected to the estuary and bordered by a Pennant stone wall with a viewing area on its southern side. The southern end of the site is also partly bounded by another Pennant stone wall with a large circular walled area adjacent to the river.

Entrances and Approaches

This area is mostly playing fields and open grassland crossed by broad, metalled pathways, screened from the Butetown Link Road by earth bunds which have been planted with trees. It can be accessed from:-

• gates at the south-west end of Clarence Embankment,
• gates on the western side of a children's play area close to the end of Burt Street (also accessible from Hamadryad Road and Pomeroy Street),
• gates under the Butetown Link Road approached from the south-west end of Windsor Esplanade and the wetlands area; see below.

Fishing is allowed in the river Taff from the banks in Hamadryad Park (Cardiff Harbour Authority and Environment Agency Licenses required). There is a slipway at Channel View Leisure Centre on the opposite bank of the River Taff for launching small craft (Cardiff Harbour Authority permit required).

The Cardiff Bay Wetlands nature reserve is located south and east of the Butetown Link Road and is bounded by the grounds of Cardiff Yacht Club (private), Windsor Esplanade (access at the south-west end and from the park via gates under the Butetown Link), the car park on Havannah Street (access at the end of the street) and St. David's Hotel.

The landward side of the area has open access from the newer western end of Windsor Esplanade, but the older, eastern end of the Esplanade, which is a part of the Pierhead Conservation Area, is backed by a stone wall which was formerly a sea wall. A broad path curves through the area from close to the entrance to the Yacht Club, where there is a boardwalk out into the bay, to St David's Hotel. All but one of the wetland areas are on the southern side of this path. Good views of the wetlands and the bay are afforded from the boardwalk, which is also a good place for bird watching.

The sandstone sculpture 'Cader Idris' by William Pye (1999*) is located close to the boardwalk and nearby near the western end of Windsor Esplanade a seat called 'Ship in a Bottle' by Melissa Gibbs (2004) can be found, whilst the bronzes 'Drift of the Curlews' by Sally Ann Matthews (2000) and 'Bowline Knot' by Andrew Rowe (2000) are to be found at the end of Havannah Street adjacent St David's Hotel.

*Moved from its original location outside Cardiff main Station.