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Iolo's River V.a.l.l.eys - Season 2 Episode 3 - Teifi
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00:04The rivers of Wales are among its greatest natural treasures, shaping
00:10breathtaking landscapes for centuries. In this series I'm going to be traveling
00:17along four of Wales's longest river valleys.
00:22The Ask, the Tawi, the Tivey and the Dee, heading from tidal shores to mountain streams.
00:37I'll get to see the fascinating wildlife living there. All four rich in stories and
00:45surrounded by epic scenery. So join me through the seasons as I uncover the
00:51wonders of four great river valleys.
01:05The Tivey is known as the Queen of Welsh rivers flowing through some of the most
01:11beautiful corners of our country, including many important habitats for nature.
01:19My journey this time starts on Patch Beach.
01:23This is the mouth of the River Tivey, with Cardigan Bay behind me. And over the other side of the
01:31water, that is Pembrokeshire. Poppet Sands, you can see, very popular with tourists. And it's
01:37quite nice coming in here. It's quite sheltered. See a few fishing boats. Not as many as there
01:43used to be years ago, of course. And from here, the river winds its way 76 miles, dividing
01:52Ceredigion and Cermarthenshire for most of the way. And then it ends up right up in the wild
01:59heart of Wales, in the Olenydd or the Cambrian Mountains.
02:11There's a nice mixed flock of waders over here. This half a dozen ring plover and about a ten
02:19maybe a dozen dunlyn as well. I wasn't expecting to see wading birds here in May like this, but
02:27these, well the dunlyn are in breeding plumas. You've got the black bellies and the lovely
02:32reddish brown backs. And I suspect what's happened is that they've failed breeders. They've tried
02:39to nest, some maybe even on the Welsh Uplands, although it's a rare bird in the Welsh Uplands
02:44now. And they're starting to gather together. Oh, it's nice to see them.
02:57Look at this. They put these big rocks here as a sort of flood defence mechanism and it's created a
03:05really nice little habitat. This is red valerian, this plant here. It's a garden escape really. And I know
03:12they do tell you when you plant flowers and what have you to plant native ones. But this is one
03:19of
03:19the ones that actually is really good for all kinds of pollinators. It's packed full of nectar, packed
03:25full of pollen. And you've only got to have a look. And there's all kinds of bees here, several
03:29different species of bumblebees. There's a lovely big common carderbee here feeding away, like a big
03:37orangey looking bumblebee. And butterflies as well. I tell you what's interesting, there's a couple of
03:43them over there. Painted ladies. Now these are interesting because they have come from North
03:50Africa. They're migrant butterflies. This species undertakes an incredible 9,000 mile round trip. One
03:58one of the longest migrations of any butterfly. These have come all the way up from Algeria, Morocco,
04:05up through Spain, Portugal, France, up to Wales, and they probably feed up here. And some of them will
04:10stay and breed, some will move on again. What's even more remarkable is that on their southbound
04:17journey, they fly at high altitude, over 500 metres and reach speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. Nice
04:26to see that.
04:33The historic town of Cardigan sits where the tidal flow ends. Once an important port, it surged in the
04:4219th century to become one of Britain's largest. South of the river is Tyvie Marshes, a South and
04:53West Wales Wildlife Trust Reserve. It's a place teeming with life, including little egrets, dragonflies,
05:00and even a small herd of red deer.
05:08It's spring, and I'm heading to the less visited corner of the reserve. When you think of slate quarrying
05:16in Wales, you think of the big quarries of North Wales, where you think of the Norway, Pendry,
05:22in the Blenifestyniog area. But it was actually at one time quite a big industry here on the Tyvie
05:28in the Kilgeran area, from the 1700s right through the 1800s to around 1938. And at its peak, it would
05:38have
05:38employed about 500 people. And some of these quarries are quite substantial, and they would have taken
05:44the slate away on flat bottom boats on the Tyvie down to Abertaive to Cardigan and from there to elsewhere.
05:54But what I really like about it today is, look at the way nature's taken over. And not just your
06:01ferns and your mosses,
06:03look at the size of some of these oak trees here. Some of these are huge. If you have a
06:09good look round,
06:10you should be able to find some cool wildlife here too.
06:31Lots of areas of slate spoil, you know, the slate that they didn't want to use that they've dug out
06:37and thrown it.
06:39These areas are really good because the soil is quite shallow, good for invertebrates, all kinds of plants as well.
06:46Hold on two secs, come back a bit, just a little bit.
06:50There's a slow worm. Yeah, there's a slow worm out in the open.
06:55Usually, they've warmed up now and usually they might be hunting in the vegetation
07:01or tucked under some rocks or something, but this one is out in the open.
07:06Looks like a youngish female slow worm.
07:10That's lovely to see.
07:12So you need to be careful, mind you, out in the open here.
07:15And quite a few buzzards, and I do see buzzards carrying away slow worms quite regularly.
07:20So I hope this one finds a bit of cover.
07:23But that's lovely, that's really nice.
07:25And areas like this can be really good for reptiles because they need to warm up, of course.
07:31They're exothermic, what we call cold-blooded.
07:34So they need to warm up before they can go off and hunt.
07:37Yeah, this one shows no inclination to go and hide.
07:41You go back into cover, girl, you'll get eaten out in the open like that.
07:44That's lovely.
07:53The slate spoils are alive with insects, and one the most numerous here are the swollen-thighed beetles.
08:00Take one look at the males to see how they got their name.
08:03They're often found on open flowers, acting as busy pollinators while they feed.
08:13Finding a bird's nest is not always difficult.
08:17Graham, the cameraman, couldn't ignore the noise coming from a nearby tree.
08:22Yeah, there's a nice, great spotted woodpecker nest in an old cherry there.
08:25Actually, I can either check, I can even tell.
08:27Really louder.
08:28Yeah.
08:30And there he goes, there he goes, just on the side of the tree there.
08:35He's brought back some insects, I think I can see insects in his beak.
08:39He's just gone in to feed the chicks.
08:41They must be young chicks, because he's gone in, disappeared there.
08:44We go, off he goes again.
08:46Well, that's pretty cool.
08:46They're in and out every probably six or seven minutes, something like that.
08:50The male, then the female, then they go away, then the male comes back again.
08:55And what's brilliant as well, is that if you look just about a metre down from where the great spotted
09:00woodpecker nest is,
09:02there's another hole, it's the old woodpecker hole, probably from last year, and there's a pair of great tits nesting
09:08in there.
09:09So you've got two nests for the price of one in the same tree.
09:23The lower section of the tivi is famous for its coracle fishing, a centuries old tradition practiced by pairs in
09:32small boats.
09:33Years ago, salmon and sea trout were abundant, but now declining fish stocks mean only a handful of licenses are
09:41granted each year.
09:43And the Tivi Gorge is one of the last places in Wales where this coracle craft continues.
09:49It's me, and I've come to a section below Kilgeran to meet Rod Bowen, one of the oldest coracle men
09:56in the village, as he prepares to head out this evening.
10:01Rod, what are you doing?
10:02Oh, what are you doing?
10:04I'm good.
10:05I'm good.
10:06I'm good at you.
10:06I'm good at you.
10:06I'm good at you.
10:07I'm good at you.
10:07I'm good at you.
10:08I'm good at you.
10:08I'm good at you.
10:09Yeah.
10:10Now, coracle fishing, of course, you know, the tivi's famous for it.
10:18I know very little about it.
10:21How do you do it?
10:25Two coracles, one on the left-hand side.
10:28So I would be handling these ropes.
10:31Yeah.
10:32One of them opens it and one closes.
10:35Right.
10:36I see the different sized holes and there's this as well.
10:40How does all of that work?
10:41Okay.
10:42Well, this is a leaded line.
10:44You can use lead weights or we use leaded line.
10:46So we fish the bottom.
10:49The fish migrate a river on the bottom.
10:52So we drop the net and make sure it's touched the bottom.
10:56Now you'll see that the front has a very large mesh.
11:00Right?
11:01The fish goes through that.
11:03It doesn't touch it.
11:04Right.
11:04And hits the back.
11:06And then when we close it, it's in the bag.
11:09Right, so that's the idea.
11:13It's ingenious how it all works, isn't it?
11:15Yes.
11:16How long have coracles been on the tivi?
11:19We don't know for sure.
11:23But Julius Caesar's scribe, the one who wrote up all his travels and what have you, made mention that there
11:31were corables all over Britain, you know, at the time.
11:34So you're talking 2,000 years, at least.
11:38Yeah.
11:38That is incredible, isn't it?
11:49Remarkably light today for such a big, big thing.
11:53Why is a coracle shaped like this?
11:55It's a working vegetable.
11:57The design of a coracle is different on East River.
12:00we fish little bits of rapids so we need stability so ours is a bit flatter and wider on the
12:08front
12:08we put the net out over the front we work over the front you need the buoyancy in the front
12:14there
12:14to support you and it's worked for 2000 years so why change it indeed how do you feel seeing the
12:21fish numbers going down and down and down and down well it's obviously very disappointing the worst
12:27part of it from our perspective it's it could be the death note for corrigals and corrigal fishing
12:32sad that it's you know it's a way of life it's dying out it's really sad because it's part of
12:39our tradition isn't it yeah yeah broad done his partner need to wait until it gets dark before
12:47they can head out on the river when the time is right we switch to the infrared cameras and lights
13:01it's fascinating watching them steer the corrigal one-handed in the dark it takes some skill yet
13:09this ancient tradition is tightly controlled to protect fish stocks it's only allowed for four
13:14months of the year and any salmon caught must be released keeping them is illegal while fishing
13:21isn't responsible for the overall decline of migrating fish i can't help wondering how much longer
13:28corrigal fishing will continue for unfortunately for rod and his partner the only thing the net caught
13:35was a big rock no fish no fish no fish that time but uh i i suspect for them it's
13:50more of a social
13:51thing than anything else but they said the fish are not running yet so they they'll be back they'll wait
13:56for the fish to start proper running up river and then they'll come back and and carry on
14:07during summer months deep cool pools with fast flowing water become vital holding spots for the
14:14few salmon that return to the tyvee with the biggest fish often laying up under tree roots
14:21they'll stay in these pools until heavy rain triggers the next leg of their journey upstream
14:29and one of the first major obstacles they'll face is at kenarth falls
14:39for hundreds of years it has won the best spots in wales to witness the sight of salmon and sea
14:45trout
14:45leaping up the water falls during autumn although its scenery still attracts visitors the legendary
14:52spectacle has largely disappeared
14:58i remember the first time i ever came to see i was five or six years old i came with
15:04mum and dad
15:05specifically to see the salmon jumping and we stayed for i don't know maybe half an hour and it
15:12was incredible show in that time it might be my memory playing tricks on me but i seem to recall
15:19seeing
15:19dozens of salmon leaping up these falls and you know now you can come here on a good day peak
15:27season
15:28and see if you're lucky one or two in a whole day that's how dramatic the decline has been
15:36and one of the sad things is that no one can put their finger on exactly what's happened climate change
15:42over fishing at sea even predators but i think i think the elephant in the room is pollution
15:51some of that will be from towns and from villages but a lot of that is from agricultural land as
15:57well and
15:57it's something that we've got to tackle soon as well before it's too late because if we lose
16:04salmon and sea trout from our rivers like the tyvee here you know the rivers are going to be so
16:10much poorer for it
16:20like most rivers in the uk the tyvee has seen the spread of an invasive plant known for its rapid
16:27growth
16:28and barbie pink blossom and a section near henllan is particularly bad it's a journey enough just to
16:36follow the river bank here oh look at this this is indian balsam or some people call it himalayan
16:44balsam look how tall this is that's about two and a half meters tall it's an alien plant it's non
16:50-native
16:51it was brought over in about 1839 by gardeners escaped into the wild and what it does is that
16:57it spreads mainly along river banks and the welsh name jack canadio refers to these seed pods here
17:04they'll come out later on and they they burst and the seeds jump and they jump in the water and
17:10then
17:10get carried down and the trouble is that once it gets a hold it covers everything and nothing else grows
17:17underneath but the flowers well they look quite nice don't they and they're good for bees really
17:24good for bees late in the summer so late july into early august and beekeepers love them and bumblebees
17:30love them quite a few bumblebees here as well they're packed full of pollen and nectar but as i say
17:36it's non-native and it is becoming a major issue in a lot of our rivers and this section of
17:41the tyvee
17:42it's covered in it
17:49with two old kingfisher nests on the opposite bank there's a good chance there's a third one
17:55somewhere nearby you see them on the opposite side there you can tell they've been used this year
18:01because they've got whitewashed kingfisher poo by the entrance and what they do is they'll dig a hole
18:06about a meter in dig a chamber they lay eggs there then when those chicks leave they'll dig another one
18:12and then sometimes they'll have three broods and if they've had two here i'm going to sit down
18:17see if i can see where the nest is and if they've got a third brood
18:29yeah i'll tell you what's interesting is that um one of the old kingfisher nests here is now being used
18:34by a sand marty
18:39oh we've got a kingfisher we've got a kingfisher it's perched up on a stump by a bank over there
18:49going to see me it's a female she's got a small fish in a beak she's an absolute beauty lovely
18:57lovely
18:58birds really smart orange on the front and bright blue on the back and the reason i know she's a
19:06female because they've got orange on the base of the lower mandible the the lower bill
19:12she's gone in she's gone in so that's the third nest now she's gone in with a fish
19:20so that means that they've got they've got young again they've got young again which is brilliant
19:26i'm gonna i'm gonna back off back off quietly now
19:36the teivi flows through many small communities and among the most picturesque is maesa crigiae
19:43it's a stunning place and according to a landowner tip-off you have a pretty good chance of catching
19:49a glimpse of an otter here we're not taking any chances so we hide our cameraman behind camo netting
20:06oh yeah we've gone we've gone we've got an otter we've got an otter it's coming up it's coming at
20:11the
20:16rapid yeah it's working its way up
20:25oh that's brilliant they're all right as long as they can't smell you can't see movement they haven't
20:34got particularly good eyesight but they often do this they'll go amongst the tree roots trying to
20:41scare out some fish
20:46it's got an eel it's got an eel yeah it's it's got it's eating an eel
20:54oh this is good you can see where it is from a trail of bubbles because they trap air in
21:00the thick
21:01fur coats they've got as they go down deep the air escapes and you can follow a trail of bubbles
21:07through
21:07the water
21:10otters are pretty common now in wales but i don't see them that often really i'm lucky if i see
21:17you know
21:18handful of otters in wales every year but to see one like this fairly close really is brilliant absolutely
21:33superb
21:33my journey up the tyvee wouldn't be complete without a visit to corse carron national nature reserve near
21:40tregaron this ancient peat bog is a haven for all kinds of wildlife and a crucial sanctuary for several
21:48species that are under threat
21:54i like coming out onto the boardwalk here because it takes you right out into the middle of the bog
22:00you
22:00know areas that you couldn't usually go to and there's there's a winter there's a male wind chat
22:06sat up on a on a dead tree here lovely bird really smart got that robber's mask and a orange
22:16chest
22:17and then there's another one that's been calling yeah he's here he's on top of the tree here there's
22:25another one so i'm stood right in the middle of two territories here and winchats they're pretty scarce
22:31birds now they're confined to mainly upland areas and it's one of the few lowland sites that i know
22:38has still got winchat i'm not quite sure how many pairs there are but it's got to be the best
22:44site
22:44all along the tyvee and maybe in the whole of west wales for them but lovely bird really nice bird
22:51to see
23:00the river is quite peaceful in this section as it meanders through the bog and it's uh it's harvest
23:07season a lot of the farmers up on the hills here they're cutting the grass now and quite a few
23:12kites
23:13following them it's ironic isn't it that this area is where i used to come as a young lad
23:19because it was one of the few places i was guaranteed to see red kites
23:23and look at them now all over wales doing really well but i'm actually going to leave the bog
23:29because a farmer up here where he's put over half of his farm really over 400 acres to manage it
23:36to
23:36benefit wildlife it's a great example of how farming and conservation can work hand in hand it's july
23:44and i've had special permission to visit what's really uplifting is to walk through a field here
23:51where you know the farmer actually loves his wildlife because he's not used insecticides he's not used
23:59pesticides in any way he's not fertilized the land beyond and because of that there's a lot of wildlife
24:07here so much butterflies galore meadow browns been a big hatch of those recently large skipper there's
24:14bees everywhere it's absolutely brilliant there's a golden ring dragonfly landed over there as well
24:20and i tell you my favorite here is the ringlet it's kind of a dark brown butterfly and i love
24:27the welsh name
24:27it's called gweirloinaglau roughly translated it means the rain butterfly because if you get a little
24:36bit of rain it'll be the only one still in the air fantastic name for a lovely butterfly
24:44i've been told there's a a kestrel box in this dead tree here somewhere oh i can see it now
24:51yeah i can see
24:52it i haven't seen nesting kestrels for quite a few years something i see a lot of when i was
24:57a kid
24:59as we're filming near the nest the cameraman stays concealed behind a screen
25:03and i watch from a distance to avoid disturbing the birds females in
25:11she's got a vole as well yeah she's got a vole
25:16go in she goes she's going into the box
25:23see her feeding i think i can see two chicks i can see at least two chicks there she's landed
25:29on
25:29the branch with a vole she quite sneaks in she sneaks in from the back lands and then goes in
25:37and feeds in the male actually the males at the top of the trees just unconcerned
25:43but these kestrels have got the best of both worlds really you've got an environmentally friendly
25:49farmer this side of the fence you know and there's got to be a lot of prey items in here
25:53but even better
25:55you've got to garanbolg corse caron over there which has got to be absolutely jam-packed full of
26:01voles and large insects perfect prey for the kestrels oh there she goes out she goes and off she goes
26:09around the back it's on farmland now it's become quite the scarce bird in Wales so it's lovely to see
26:17that this pair has got at least two chicks in there
26:40doesn't look like much but uh this little stream this is the avon taivi the river taivi
26:47i've reached the elenid or the cambrian mountains and they extend for for miles in all directions
26:55around me here and looking back down the taivi valley looks quite beautiful but up here it's harsh
27:02it's a pretty barren environment there's not much here in the autumn you get your grasslands and you
27:08get sheep and that's about it and down at the valley down below there it's still quite autumnal quite
27:15beautiful fairly mild but up here it's incredibly cold and very wintry already one last push over the
27:23brow there and it reached the source itself thin taivi
27:35and this is it lynn taivi the source of the river taivi and it's 76 miles from sea to source
27:45which is
27:46actually quite long for a welsh river but those 76 miles they meander through some some beautiful habitat
27:52and yes some of the wildlife is under threat we can't escape that some of our iconic fish or the
27:58salmon and the sea trout for so many years the taivi was was famous for them but there is hope
28:05and of course we've seen plenty of wildlife too from little dunlin feeding at the mouth of the river
28:11and then we've seen some fascinating insects we've seen slow worms kingfishers
28:18tregaron bog of course but the real highlight was being able to sit down in a beautiful tranquil place
28:27and watch the otter any journey where you see otter is a journey worth doing
28:38next time i'll explore the d valley where i'll watch thousands of wading birds and birds of prey along
28:44the d estuary i'll also get to see black grouse courtship displays and go in search of spawning sea
28:52trope
28:52you
29:09Transcription by CastingWords
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