Iolo's River Valleys episode 1
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TravelTranscript
00:00Rivers have carved the face of Wales and many flow through breathtaking valleys.
00:11Their beautiful landscapes make them popular places to visit.
00:18In this series I'm going to be exploring four river valleys.
00:23The Clwyd, the Conwy, the Dovey and the Rhaidol, going all the way from sea to source.
00:39Now all four of them are stunning and I'm going to be seeing some of Wales' best wildlife
00:44including some very special species.
00:51Join me as I explore the hidden stories and natural wonders of these remarkable Welsh
00:57river valleys throughout the year.
01:12This time I'm heading up the Rhaidol Valley and my journey takes me 19 miles east of Aberystwyth
01:21and there's one Llygad Rhaidol nestled in the Cambrian Mountains.
01:29This is Aberystwyth, a well-known university seaside town on the west coast of Ceredigion.
01:46It's also the mouth of the Avon Rhaidol, the Rhaidol river which empties out here into Cardigan Bay behind me.
01:58Now it's not a long river, it actually has one of the shortest and steepest declines of all Welsh rivers
02:07with source up at Plyn Limon.
02:14The harbour has changed since its days of shipyards and cargo vessels.
02:21Now it's mostly filled with leisure and fishing boats and it's always got a few birds around.
02:29Rock pipettes foraging along the edges with cormorants and kingfishes drawn by fish sheltering in calmer waters.
02:43Overlooking the harbour and the town is Pendinas Hillfort, crowned by a towering stone monument built in 1858 in tribute to the Duke of Wellington.
02:55It resembles an upended cannon and is the most obvious feature on the hill, but I'm more interested in the birds.
03:03And there's quite a bit of wildlife, it's a lovely place actually to come up, it's made up a bit galore here, it's Whitethroat not long in from Africa, perched up on some of these bushes.
03:16Lovely view of Aberastwyth, you see the National Library on the far hill there, and this is the site of an old Iron Age hill fort, a really impressive big one.
03:28It's a lovely place, right head on up the valley.
03:33The lower section of the Rhaidol River winds its way along flat farmland.
03:47And where you get water crowfoot growing, you're likely to find beautiful demoiselle.
03:56After these damselflies mate, they remain attached and the male guards the female from rivals while she lays her eggs.
04:03I'm aiming for a steep riverbank along this stretch, which is perfect for summer visitors that nest in colonies.
04:18I'm going to take you now somewhere, well to say that it's hidden is an understatement, we've got to go right through here, so watch yourself, there's gorse and branches and everything everywhere, but the river's just the other side.
04:33Look out, this is quite prickly, this bit here, so watch yourselves, here we go, it's not the easiest place to get to, as you can see.
04:46Right, here we go, a little bit more.
04:50Here we go, look at that, that bank there, it's got to be 12 foot, maybe even 15 foot tall, 4 metres.
05:04You see sand martin holes, here they are, here they are, they're all starting to come back now, the sand martins.
05:09You've got maybe 120 holes on the far bank there, of which 80, 90 maybe are occupied.
05:19And what's fantastic is, they're all in a line, they're all in lines here and there, and the soil that's been deposited there, most of it is full of shingle and full of rocks.
05:29But then you get these thin leaves of sort of sandy mud, and that's where they've nested, that's where they've dug in their tunnels in there.
05:39All of a sudden you get maybe 20, 30 of them appearing, busy, busy, busy, then like this, it goes all quiet again.
05:47I suspect because it's a lovely sunny day, the insects will be high up, so they're going to be feeding quite high up.
05:52Now I've scanned around and had a good look, there's at least two or three holes where the chicks are right at the entrance, so they're enjoying the sun, but they're waiting for the adult to come back with food as well.
06:09One or two other adults have gone straight into the hole, so they're obviously feeding slightly younger chicks.
06:14They leave the nest after about, what, about 21, three weeks, just over three weeks, and some of these look on the verge of fledging.
06:25Nice to see them at the entrance though, enjoying the sun.
06:29They're all huddled together, it's a lovely sight, really smart.
06:33And they're cracking birds, when you think those little birds have got to go all the way down to the Sahel, below the Sahara in Africa.
06:41They've won the first migrants back, they get back here in March, and then they'll stay with us all the way through now till the end of the summer, early autumn, and then they'll make their way all the way back down again.
06:53Miraculous, really, how they can find, you know, the same bank on the Avon Rhaidol year in, year out.
06:59In this part of Mid Wales, you're almost guaranteed to see a red kite soaring overhead.
07:14Once nearly extinct in the early 20th century, they are one of the UK's best conservation success stories.
07:21While the village of Kapil Bangor isn't a well-known wildlife hotspot, I've been told there's a nest I must see.
07:33So I'm here to meet Adrian Price.
07:35Yeah, just on the left-hand side.
07:37Just in that tree there, you can just see through a small gap.
07:47Yeah, you've ee-clad oak you're on about now, is it?
07:49The oak there, you can just about see the nest.
07:52Oh, I can see it.
07:53Big fat chick sitting on top of the nest.
07:56Yeah, it won't be long before that chick is standing up and walking along the branches.
08:00Yeah.
08:01It's a big old lump of a thing.
08:02It is now, yeah.
08:03How long have they been nesting here then?
08:07This will be the third year that I'm aware of.
08:10That's quite a good place as well, isn't it?
08:12Because, you know, you're in the ivy, not easy for us to see it, but in the shade, out of the sun.
08:18Yeah.
08:19Well, well, well.
08:21Do you know what?
08:22I remember the days when red kites were really rare.
08:25You know, when I started working in the Irishman, in the early 80s, it was something like 40-odd pairs.
08:30And I never thought I'd live to see a pair nesting right by someone's back garden.
08:36Yeah, I know.
08:37It's amazing.
08:38And I've got two kids, and they take it for granted now that there's always kites in the sky.
08:42And we see on the telly about how rare they once were not so long ago.
08:45Yeah.
08:46And they find it hard to believe.
08:49I mean, there's quite a few houses on this street, and all our back gardens come out onto this land.
08:54And we use it regularly.
08:55The kids play.
08:56We have picnics out here.
08:57And they just sit there and watch.
08:59But, yeah, they're not bothered by us.
09:01We're often in the garden having food, and they'll fly over to have a nose, see if anything's landed on the floor.
09:06And, of course, that's how we would have been, isn't it?
09:08Way, way, way back.
09:09They were scavengers.
09:11They were, you know, scavenging from people's back gardens.
09:15But it's nice to get great views of an adult kite not bothered with you looking back at it.
09:22And because it's so warm, it has wings open with sunbathing.
09:26Yeah, stunning.
09:27That's brilliant.
09:27Like, most people see that with blackbirds in the garden sunbathing.
09:31But you've got kites sunbathing in your garden.
09:33Yeah.
09:34It's quite a nice one to add to the garden bird list, you know.
09:38Yeah, yeah.
09:39Oh, brilliant.
09:42Hey, thank you very much.
09:43Oh, no worries.
09:43Thank you, boy.
09:44Come on, we'd better go and let it get back.
09:44OK, leave it in peace.
09:46Lovely.
09:47Cheers.
09:59This area has several hill forts, and I had to visit one with probably the best views of the valley.
10:05This is an old iron age hill fort called Castellbuadrain, and look at the commanding position you've got looking right down the Rhaidol Valley.
10:19You can see Cardigan Bay in the distance, well-wooded valley all the way up there.
10:26You can see Pontarfanach, or Devil's Bridge, in that last bit of wood up the valley there.
10:32And what a commanding position they had.
10:39Anybody attacking up this way, well, it's our men.
10:43There's just no point at all.
10:45And even if you thought about attacking from the north up here, it looks a lot easier, but bear in mind that they would have built ramparts here that were three metres tall.
10:57That's ten foot tall.
10:58There would have been a settlement in here, but they would have farmed, they would have farmed all around us, they would have hunted, we'd have had wild boar, we'd have had deer here then.
11:09But it was a hard life, there's no doubt about that.
11:12And life expectancy was around 26.
11:15The woodland extending along the steep sides make the Rhaidol Valley one of the most beautiful places in Wales, especially during spring.
11:42And almost all of it is protected as a special area of conservation, due to the mature native trees and variety of plants that grow here.
11:55I'm at Coyd Simdhal-Lewid, a local wildlife trust nature reserve.
12:02These are sessile oaks.
12:04They don't look like the classic English oak, the big old oak that you get.
12:08These are just on a steep-sided valley.
12:12But they have been used, the name gives you a clue, Coyd Simdhal-Lewid, the wood of the grey chimney.
12:20And down the bottom is a house called Teapoyth, the hot house.
12:25And that is an indication that these would have been harvested for charcoal at one point.
12:31While this wood looks natural, many of the trees are the same age, due to clear felling for timber during World War I.
12:44Only trees on the steeper, hard-to-reach slopes were left untouched.
12:49Be careful here, path gets narrow and it's very, very steep.
12:56Oh wow, look at this section of the wood here.
13:00It's like a sort of Welsh oak bonsai woodland.
13:03You know, these trees are really stunted, really short.
13:08But I wouldn't mind betting some of these are probably well over 100 years old.
13:12And the reason they're so short here is because there's no soil.
13:16It's all scree underneath all the moss you can see there.
13:19So there's hardly any nutrients in there for them to grow.
13:23It's a kind of tangle of all of these branches together down there.
13:29Amazing place.
13:43Look at this, how beautiful is that?
13:47Isn't that stunning?
13:47There are lots of waterfalls all the way up the Rydal Valley.
13:51Some famous, some not so well known, like this one.
13:55It really is a hidden gem.
14:06Oh, hold on, hold on.
14:10There's a little frog down here, just in the bilberry on the leaves there.
14:15It's the second frog I've seen today, but it makes you wonder,
14:19where on earth do they breed up here?
14:21Because they need still water, little pools here on the water here, it's fast flowing.
14:29During certain spring conditions, large areas of the woods look like they've been draped in spider webs.
14:35But the real culprits are here to feast on the fresh leaves.
14:40It's a hot, hot day.
14:43It's really hot and humid, and I have never seen as many caterpillars as I've seen today.
14:50Look at these, all hanging off me here.
14:53They're everywhere, absolutely everywhere.
14:55And I mean millions of them, millions.
14:58And what they're doing, they're mainly winter moth caterpillars,
15:00and they're feeding on the leaves, and they'll hang down.
15:04They'll spin like a thread, a silk thread,
15:07and then any breeze will carry them onto the next tree.
15:10Then they'll go on and feed them the leaves there.
15:12They'll do the same again, and eventually, they'll drop down onto the floor,
15:17dig down into the leaf litter.
15:18They'll pupate down there, and as adults then,
15:22they'll emerge in the winter, hence the name winter moths.
15:25But it's amazing.
15:26And every now and again, you get a real bumper year like this here,
15:30and they'll defoliate whole trees.
15:34Look at these leaves.
15:35Look at them.
15:36They've been absolutely stripped here.
15:39They'll feed on broad leaves, on oaks.
15:42There's bilberry on the floor.
15:44They'll feed on that.
15:45So they will eat virtually anything in this whole wood.
15:48And, of course, one of the knock-on effects of that
15:51is that the birds are having a real good early spring.
15:55We've seen blue tits catching them.
15:57We've seen even blackbirds.
15:59Your blackbirds usually feed on the floor looking for earthworms,
16:01but blackbirds are up in the trees feeding on these caterpillars.
16:05Every single bird in here, virtually,
16:07will be making the most of this bumper year for these caterpillars.
16:18Built in 1902 to haul lead and timber,
16:27the Vale of Rhaidol Railway came too late for the area's mining boom
16:32and soon found its steam trains carrying tourists instead.
16:38This 12-mile journey from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge
16:42is one of the most spectacular in the whole of the UK.
16:50Many who travel here come to see the ancient bridges
16:54and the breathtaking Munnach Falls,
16:57which cascade dramatically 90 metres into the wooded gorge below.
17:02But I'm here to look for one of our rarest mammals, the pine martin.
17:13They were previously thought extinct in Wales
17:16until people started seeing signs
17:18suggesting a few of them were surviving in the valley.
17:22And after 51 animals were released in the area around 10 years ago,
17:27they're making a comeback.
17:29I'm heading to a wood next to a caravan park in Devil's Bridge
17:35as I've heard people have been seeing them there regularly.
17:42Just looking for somewhere where I can find a couple of stumps
17:45where I can put nuts and berries on them like a bait to attract them.
17:49Find a clear line of sight where I can put up a hide as well.
17:53Here, there's a couple of places here.
17:56It's almost a path going down.
17:57I'll stick them up on here, I think.
18:03Pine martins have a keen sense of smell
18:05and will eat just about anything,
18:07including the dried berries and nuts I've put out.
18:11So if there's one nearby, it should sniff out this feast.
18:15Fingers crossed it does the trick.
18:18We need to get the hide set up quickly.
18:21How's it looking on your side? All right?
18:22We need to wait and settle in quietly.
18:27Then, all we can do now is wait.
18:30The arrival of jays close by is a good sign that we're well hidden
18:41as they're notoriously wary of people.
18:46But they don't hang around for long.
18:50Something has spooked them
18:51and other birds are alarm-calling.
18:53We've got, we've got an animal.
19:03We've got to be really, really careful
19:14because it's looking straight at me.
19:21It comes up the stump.
19:23It feeds and then it drops down.
19:25I can't see it afterwards,
19:26but it keeps coming back, keeps coming back for more.
19:29Effortlessly up there,
19:44hanging on on that big, bushy tail.
19:47They use that for balance.
19:52It's got its summer coat on,
19:54sort of light, chocolatey brown.
19:56They've got individual markings on the beach,
19:59patch on their breast.
20:02Beautiful, beautiful animal.
20:08I've seen one before in Wales,
20:11but only at night.
20:13So to be sat in a hide in daylight,
20:16just watching a bimartin.
20:18Oh, it's enthralling.
20:20It's one of the highlights of my wildlife watching.
20:26And I've been watching wildlife for, you know,
20:2955 years, whatever it is.
20:31I've achieved a childhood ambition.
20:38Thanks to conservation efforts by the Vincent Wildlife Trust,
20:42these remarkable animals are back breeding in their former haunts once more
20:48and even spreading to other parts of Wales.
20:54You know, it's brilliant to know that you can come to a woodland
20:58in the Ryder Valley
20:59and you've got a really good chance of bumping into a pine marten,
21:04even in daylight.
21:05The Ryder Valley was a major centre for metal mining
21:25in the 18th and 19th century.
21:28Lead, silver and zinc
21:30is what the people were after.
21:32At one point,
21:36over 40 mines were here,
21:38some deep within the gorge itself,
21:41which must have required a lot of ingenuity
21:45for such a remote place.
21:50This is one of the many mines
21:52scattered along the Rheidol Valley.
21:56Actually, it's not the mine itself.
21:57The mine is further up again.
22:02This is the old crushing plant
22:04where they would have crushed the rock
22:06to have separated the metal ore from the rock itself.
22:11And it was open in the late 1800s
22:15and they reckon at one time
22:16you had 45 men working here,
22:1933 of those underground.
22:21When I say men,
22:22actually they were men and boys.
22:24They were aged between 8 and 50.
22:26Can you imagine sending 8-year-old boys up here
22:29to work mine like this?
22:32It wasn't very productive though.
22:33It didn't open for long,
22:34just didn't make enough money.
22:36And they reckon
22:36that over the time that it was open,
22:39about a decade or so,
22:41they mined
22:42about 3.5 tonnes of lead ore
22:45and about 20 tonnes of zinc ore.
22:48So it didn't pay its way
22:49and it closed down soon after.
22:51But what I like about it,
22:54take a step back,
22:55you can see, look at this,
22:57nature's taking over.
22:58What man abandoned,
23:00nature will eventually take over
23:02and cover the lot.
23:11During autumn,
23:12rowan trees above the mine
23:14attract thrushes of all kinds
23:16to feast on the rich offering of berries.
23:20Many will be migrants
23:21from further north,
23:23here to avoid the bad weather.
23:35I've made it to the upper reaches
23:36of the Rydal,
23:38deep in the Cambrian Mountains,
23:40where abundant rain feeds
23:41one of the largest hydroelectric schemes
23:44in England and Wales.
23:46Remarkably,
23:48it's been generating
23:49renewable energy
23:51since 1962,
23:53long before climate change
23:54was in the spotlight.
23:57Below me is
23:58Nantamoch Reservoir,
24:00huge dam over there
24:01and there's a whole
24:02series of reservoir
24:03built all the way
24:04along the Rydal Valley
24:06and each one
24:07has its own power station.
24:08It's part of a
24:09big hydroelectric scheme.
24:13And I know a lot of people
24:14come up here,
24:15it's stunning,
24:15they take photos,
24:17but I always come up here
24:18and I think about
24:19the people who suffered.
24:21I'm all for green energy,
24:22but people did suffer
24:23because underneath those waters,
24:25the remains of a hamlet,
24:28the chapel and the graveyard,
24:32scattered farms.
24:33Can you imagine
24:33having lived there,
24:34your parents and grandparents
24:36having grown up there as well
24:37and being told
24:38you have to move,
24:40you've got no choice.
24:49The final leg of my journey
24:50is a short climb up
24:52from Nantamoch Reservoir
24:53to Llinllagad Rheidol,
24:56just below the summit
24:57of Pym Limon,
24:58the highest point in mid Wales.
25:00To me,
25:09it still feels very wild up here,
25:12despite the lake
25:13becoming a reservoir
25:15in 1883.
25:16This is the source
25:22of the Avon Rheidol,
25:24the River Rheidol,
25:25and it is,
25:26it's a natural lake really,
25:28but it was built up,
25:29they've dammed it,
25:31it supplies water
25:32for Aberastwyth
25:34and the area,
25:35but the good thing
25:35about the dam
25:36is that
25:37a pair of wytia
25:39has taken up residence
25:40in the wall here,
25:42and they're feeding
25:43their chicks
25:43just on the shore
25:45over there at the moment.
25:46They've got two
25:47or three chicks there,
25:48they're going back and forth
25:49feeding them
25:50all kinds of invertebrates.
25:52It's a little bit late
25:52in the year for them,
25:54so they're going to have
25:54to feed up,
25:56get the experience ready
25:57to migrate down to Africa,
26:00but lovely to see.
26:12It's incredible how
26:17the temperature drops
26:19and the wind picks up
26:20as you climb.
26:21You can tell
26:22that you really are
26:23in the uplands now.
26:25I've come up here
26:27to take in the view, really,
26:30but my eye
26:31was drawn towards
26:33a sudden movement,
26:35just dropping down
26:36onto that little bit
26:37of heather up there,
26:39and it's a male merlin,
26:42just sat in the heather,
26:48looking out,
26:49greening its feathers.
26:53And what a bird to end with.
26:56Isn't that incredible?
26:58And the merlin,
26:59you know,
27:00it's a scarce bird these days.
27:03It's a scarce breeding bird
27:05in the way.
27:05It's a scarce wintering bird,
27:06and what it's done
27:07as I walked up,
27:09saw quite a few birds
27:10gathering together,
27:12leaving the moors.
27:13It's late on in the season.
27:15The breeding season
27:16is well past,
27:17so they'll be gathering
27:18to head down to the coast,
27:20possibly to the mouth
27:22of the Rydal,
27:22where my journey began.
27:24And the merlin will have bred
27:26somewhere further north,
27:27and he knows this.
27:28He's going to hang around
27:29and try and pick off
27:31one or two of these birds,
27:32especially the younger,
27:33the less experienced bird.
27:35they'll make a lovely meal for him.
27:39But look at the view,
27:40just look at that.
27:41This is why I really wanted
27:42to come up here.
27:44Llinllagat Rydal
27:45and the mountains
27:47leading round to Pim Limon
27:49behind me over there.
27:50And I'm going to take a leaf
27:55out of the merlin's book
27:57and sit
27:58and just look
27:59and enjoy.
28:00The Rydal Valley is packed
28:06with fascinating wildlife
28:08and steeped in history.
28:10Next time,
28:11I'm making my way
28:12up the Dovey Valley,
28:14exploring the variety
28:15of wildlife
28:16along the estuary.
28:18I'll also watch
28:19recently-fledged
28:20osprey chicks,
28:21and I get to see
28:23my first wild beaver
28:25in Wales.
28:30I'll see you next time.