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acre site of prime heather moorland. It has worked hard at recruitment of members and, having started with about 100 members inherited from the North Wales Trust, attained a membership approaching 400 about 1 of the population of Montgomery within the first year of its existence as an independent Trust. In recognition of these achievements the Trust won the 'Trust of the Year Award' for 1982. In 1984 it received another major award the 'Care of the Countryside Award' for interpretative work on the Montgomery arm of the Shropshire Union Canal. In the first two and a half years it has completed comprehensive biological surveys for the whole of the county and is currently running further surveys on individual taxonomic groups. Future Prospects The nature conservation record of the seven Trusts in Wales is excellent. Of the 180 nature reserves managed by the Trusts nearly half are Sites of Special Scientific Interest and two are National Nature Reserves. Since 1970 the number of nature reserves has nearly trebled and more than 6300 acres of wildlife habitat are now protected. Unfortunately, this very real achievement has not Professor Emeritus William S. Lacey, 75 Penrhyn Beach West, Penrhyn Bay, Llandudno, Gwynedd LL30 3NR Factors affecting the songbird communities of young conifer plantations Common Bird Census (CBC) methods have been used extensively by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and amateur ornithologists for many years, effectively monitoring bird population changes. The present study undertaken between 1979-83 in the Dyfi Forest, north of Machynlleth in mid Wales, compares a recent afforestation site with a recently restocked site in terms of the birdlife found in each habitat. The conifer crop in both cases is sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) of similar age and height. Afforestation almost inevitably now takes place on formerly sheep grazed land. Exclusion of grazing animals leads rapidly to a rank growth of mainly grasses or heather and a few herbs. Invasion of broadleaved scrub is usually minimal. been matched by commensurate increase in membership. Although the Montgomery Trust has increased its numbers by a factor of five in the three years since its inception, Trust membership as a whole has remained low and is a cause for concern. Indeed, the number of members in the six original Trusts it not yet double what it was fifteen years ago. At a total of about 7400 the membership of the seven Trusts is still only just over one quarter of 1.0% of the population of Wales. If the Conservation Trusts are to continue to expand their work for the protection of wildlife in Wales much more support from members of the public is needed. Readers who are not already members of their local Trust are urged to join without delay. Those who are already members are urged to do all that they can to recruit friends and neighbours. The key to the continued success of the Nature Conservation Trusts in Wales lies in a strong and increasing membership. Note. Changes of address since this article was submitted are: Radnor Section of the Hereford and Radnor Trust — Pi Ddole Road, Llandrindod Wells, Powys LDl 6DF (Tel. unchanged North Wales Naturalists' Trust — 376 High Street, Bangor. Gwynedd LL57 1YE (Tel. unchanged). R. Bamford Restocking after a conifer crop has been harvested is now a common occurrence as more forests come into production. Indeed the older long established forests are now a patchwork of young, thicket and older conifer crops. During extraction of harvested timber, disturbance of the ground is considerable. This creates ideal conditions for a variety of field layer plants to become established and also aids scrub invasion which is predominantly birch, Betula spp. This difference in field and shrub layer development is reflected in differing bird populations supported by what are otherwise similar young conifer plantations. Plot locations and descriptions Location of each study plot is shown in Fig. 1; and a broad outline of the dominant vegetation types