Wildlife & Dark Skies
As woodland, wetland and meadow habitats continue to recover across the farm, wildlife has gradually increased both in abundance and variety. Birdlife in particular has become one of the defining features of Lofftwen, whether walking through the hillsides or sitting quietly in the bird hide.
Quiet hillsides, recovering habitats and exceptionally dark skies together create a landscape that changes constantly through the seasons, from dawn birdsong to clear nights beneath the Milky Way.
Wildlife
As habitats continue to recover across the farm, wildlife has gradually become more visible throughout the seasons. Some species appear only briefly at dawn or dusk, while others are now regular enough that guests often encounter them without actively looking.
Birds
Bird species vary throughout the year, from pied flycatcher, cuckoo and redstart during the warmer months to fieldfare and snipe in winter, alongside year-round residents such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, finches and tits. If you are lucky, you may see a barn owl emerging from the stone buildings, a sparrowhawk cutting through the valley or red kites turning high above the hills.
Mammals
Trail cameras placed along woodland edges and quieter tracks regularly capture foxes, badgers, roe deer, stoats, weasels and hedgehogs across the farm. More recently, pine martens and water voles have also returned to Lofftwen.
The River Irfon
The River Irfon runs along the southern edge of the farm, bringing another layer of wildlife into the landscape. Otters, dippers, salmon, trout and kingfishers all move along the river corridor, while wetter habitats support increasingly diverse bird and insect life throughout the warmer months.
Dark Skies
With very little artificial light nearby, clear nights at Lofftwen can reveal the Milky Way stretching across the hills, meteor showers, slowly rotating constellations and, on rarer occasions, even the Northern Lights.
Sitting between the Elan Valley International Dark Sky Park and the Brecon Beacons Dark Sky Reserve, the farm experiences some of the darkest night skies in the UK. On clearer nights, planets emerge sharply above the hillsides while stars remain visible deep into the valleys below.
Even without telescopes or specialist equipment, long evenings outside often become part of the experience at Lofftwen itself — beside campfires, hot tubs and quieter hillsides where the landscape changes completely after dark.
For those wanting to explore further, both the Elan Valley and Bannau Brycheiniog regularly host guided dark sky events, astrophotography workshops and seasonal stargazing evenings.