Autumn The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams

The Brecon Beacons National Park covers an area

of over 500 square miles

and extends over nine counties

in the southern half of Wales.

It has terrific scenery

and notoriously challenging landscapes.

For many, it's a playground.

For me, it's a place to escape.

A place to be alone with nature.

Over the seasons, I'm exploring the magic of the Beacons.

BIRDS CAW

I'm very ambivalent about autumn.

It's a funny time of year because, on the one hand,

a lot of our wildlife has either died or has disappeared.

The meadows, the flowers, are virtually gone,

the large insects, the dragonflies,

damselflies, bees and wasps, they've disappeared -

virtually overnight.

And a lot of our birds, our familiar birds,

the swallows and the cuckoos,

have left our shores for warmer climes.

But, on the other hand,

the park is now at its very beautiful best.

Officially, the autumn begins on 1st September

but, in the Brecon Beacons,

you have to wait until late October for the full palette of colour.

It's during this part of autumn

that wildlife becomes very active.

It's a time for fattening up and getting fit for winter.

Birds in particular look for berries in some wonderful locations.

There's one such place in the Black Mountains,

a few miles south of Hay-on-Wye.

This is the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Capel-y-ffin,

and it's one of the smallest churches in the whole of Wales.

And it's a great location here,

a real beautiful place and a great backdrop,

because it's surrounded by the Black Mountains.

And I've come to look at the birds, more than anything else,

because you've got these heavy with berries,

red berries everywhere here.

A lot of blackbirds here now.

And these won't necessarily be our blackbirds, local birds,

these may well be birds that have come across from the Continent

and they're gorging themselves on this plentiful supply of food here.

By late October, the temperatures in Continental Europe and Scandinavia

are already colder than in Wales and England.

And by midwinter, the ground and air temperatures

will be so cold on the Continent

that food will be very difficult to find.

Millions of birds fly west to Britain every autumn,

and many of them end up in the Brecon Beacons.

BIRDS CAW

BIRD CHEEPS

I've just come down now from the Hay Bluff here,

right on the eastern edge of the Black Mountains.

And I've walked into a huge flock of fieldfares.

Looking all around me,

there must be well over 1,000 birds here.

And they must be rubbing their wings together,

because there's so much food here.

And what they'll do is,

they'll strip the berries here over a large area

and then they'll keep moving west.

And, eventually, they'll end up in West Wales, even over in Ireland.

Fieldfares belong to the thrush family,

and they are one of its most colourful members.

They don't nest in Britain

and you'll only see them during autumn and winter,

and usually in large flocks, like this.

They're gobbling up these berries now.

Yeah, I'm sure these have just come in.

Just, maybe the last few hours, maybe the last day,

maybe overnight last night.

They've just come in,

and they're refuelling before they move on again.

BIRD CHEEPS

I love the call, too. Here, we have more of them coming over, look.

A "chuck-chuck-chuck" kind of call. It's a lovely call.

It's a sign that autumn is really here and winter's on the way.

In some ways, I find the autumn in the Beacons

just as exciting as the spring.

Maybe an autumnal fieldfare

may the not have the same uplifting effect as a spring swallow,

but they are long-lost friends

and it's fantastic to see them returning

after an absence of six months.

Like the spring, the autumnal landscape is also a transforming one.

And there's little doubt which season wins in terms of beauty.

Cold, misty dawns lift to reveal amazing colours.

There are stunning sights this time of year throughout the national park.

It's a landscape that's been photographed by thousands,

if not millions, and has inspired painters for centuries.

Louise Collis is a landscape artist

and does most of her work in the Brecon Beacons.

She's come to work in The Punchbowl,

one of the park's many hidden quiet spots.

-Hello.

-Hello, Iolo.

-You don't mind if I join you, do you?

-No, absolutely.

Oh, wow. Autumn colours.

They are absolutely fantastic this time of year.

Wonderful for an artist who paints outside.

Yeah, this must be the best time of year for you, isn't it?

I absolutely love this time of year.

You'll never catch me in the studio this time of year.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm always outside, trying to capture the changing colours.

-And this is the beech over there, is it? This one?

-That's right, yes.

Yeah, and you can see it reflected in the water as well,

-which is nice.

-Oh, yeah, you can.

-Yeah, along with the blue sky.

Will you come up to The Punchbowl here quite often?

Yeah, this time of year especially.

Yeah, yeah. It's fantastic in the autumn.

-It's a favourite location for me, yes.

-Oh, wow.

-Yeah.

I can see why. And also the other benefit on a day like this -

there's no-one else here.

-WHISPERING:

-That's right. It's so quiet here.

-There'll be maybe one or two people come down when I'm painting.

-Yeah.

But, erm, I can often be on my own for a whole day.

The Punchbowl is tucked away on the side of Blorenge Mountain.

In the past, the Blorenge was surrounded by mines and ironworks,

and it's because of this industrial heritage

that the whole area has been included in the national park.

This is one of those hidden little places

that the Brecon Beacons is so good at tucking away.

This is Clydach Gorge,

with the Clydach River flowing down below me here.

A very deep, very dangerous gorge.

And it's amazing to think that this has survived unscathed down here,

when you consider all the industry around us.

The ironworks, the tin works, the railway lines, tramlines.

From the 17th century until the end of the 20th,

the Clydach Gorge was used for iron-ore extraction,

stone quarrying and the production of charcoal, lime and iron.

The whole area was intensely worked

and the remains of spoil tips, tramways and old railway lines

are still visible.

It was a perfect site for early industrial exploitation.

It had mineral resources,

a powerful water supply

and woodlands for charcoal.

This is a beech woodland.

Obviously been a very good year for beech mast.

Look at all this on the floor.

This is all beech mast here. Look at that.

Lots of seeds there for the local birds.

And, actually, beech woodlands,

they're not common in the national park.

And this particular example here

is one of the best examples of native beech

in the whole of Western Britain.

And it's amazing, really, that this survived,

because, in the early years of the iron industry,

they used to cut these woodlands down for charcoal.

That's why a lot of the other woodlands around here didn't survive.

But this particular section is still here

because it's so rocky and so steep -

it would have been incredibly difficult

to harvest the woodland here.

And eventually, of course,

they discovered that there was coal locally,

so that was then used in the iron industry

and these woodlands were spared.

As temperatures become cooler during the autumn

and moisture levels increase,

wild mushrooms begin to grow.

Some are notoriously lethal, but I'm in good hands.

I'm with mycologist Sheila Spence in a woodland near Crug Hywel.

Just back down there, I found these.

-That one's a spongy bum.

-Spongy bum?

-Yeah.

-It's a naughty name.

-That's a cool name, I like that.

It is a naughty name, yeah.

-It's commonly known as a spongy bottom.

-Right. And that one?

-Yeah.

-That's quite a colourful one.

-Now, this one, this is lovely.

It's a bit of a dried-up version, really. It's not a very good one.

-But it's amethyst deceiver.

-Oh, what a name.

And I am told that they are very, very good

cooked in vodka and poured over ice cream.

Oh, right. OK. I tell you what, I'll take that home with me.

-Right.

-I'll take that one home with me. Vodka and ice cream?

-Yes.

That's my kind of fungus.

-Yes.

-Let's see what else we can find.

-Oh, that's lovely!

-What's that one, then?

It's a similar colour, isn't it, to that one, the amethyst deceiver?

-Oh, it is, yeah.

-But this one is the wood blewit.

-Wood blewit?

-Yes.

There's another good edible. And if you look at the stem,

-can you see the purpley lines down the stem?

-Oh, yes, yeah.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-They'll be around right through the winter frosts.

-Oh, will they?

-Right through to about Christmas.

-And you say I can eat that one?

-Absolutely.

-I'll come back and get that one afterwards.

-Yes. Yes.

-They're very good.

-Wood blewit?

-Yes.

-Right, OK.

-Just so I remember these names.

-Yes.

I recognise this one. SHE LAUGHS

-Can I name this one?

-Yep.

-Turkey tail?

-Absolutely.

-Turkey tail.

See, I love that name. And just look at them.

-It just looks like the tail of a turkey, doesn't it?

-It does.

-You turn it upside down and it's white underneath.

-Fabulous.

Really, really white and beautiful.

-And growing on wood?

-Yes, always.

And, of course, the bit we see is only a small part of it, isn't it?

Yes, that's the fruiting body,

whereas the majority of the fungus is running through the wood,

the mycelium, which is the main body.

And that will break the wood down, basically, into soil eventually.

Oh, yes. Yes, yes.

So, without fungi, you and I would be up to our necks

-in dead wood and leaves right now.

-Well, we would, wouldn't we?

-Yeah.

-Yes, absolutely.

-Very useful things.

-And you can eat them. And I like my food.

-You wouldn't want to eat that.

-That one's not edible?

-No. It's very, very chewy. Very woody.

-Oh, right.

-But you can use it for all sorts of things.

They use it for medicinal purposes,

growing it for cancer cures and things like that.

-More here, look.

-Yes, now that's one to avoid.

-Oh, is it?

-Yes.

-Oh, right.

-So, people get this muddled up with something else that you

-can

-eat.

-Right.

-Though I don't think it's particularly good.

-OK.

-This is a thing called sulphur tuft.

-Sulphur tuft?

-Yes.

-Right.

And I'm going to pick one and show you what it looks like underneath.

-Right, OK.

-Cos that's the way you recognise it.

-OK.

-But you say leave well alone, this one?

-Yes. Don't try and eat it.

-They say you can eat every fungus once...

-Yeah.

..but some of them will kill you. SHE LAUGHS

-Yeah.

-Right, OK.

-So look how green it is.

Oh, it is, yeah.

-So if it's green underneath, that's sulphur tuft?

-Yes.

And, what it is, it's got very, very black pores.

And a yellow flesh.

And the black on the yellow makes it look green.

You say that it's not good for us to eat - it's bad for us -

but something's eaten it.

Oh, yes. Slugs will eat it, yes.

-So will it kill the slugs? No?

-No. No.

-Cos they have a completely different digestive system.

-Yeah.

-Well, they can eat anything, can't they?

-More or less, yes.

Especially in the garden. SHE LAUGHS

The Brecon Beacons have some of the biggest colonies of bats in Britain,

and during the autumn they too are preparing for winter.

They'll soon leave their summer roosts in buildings

and head for the more constant temperatures of caves to hibernate.

I'm at an old watermill in the Usk Valley

with David Jermyn of the Vincent Wildlife Trust,

and we're filming bats with infrared light

and using a sound detector to hear their calls.

BATS SQUEAK

Without it, their calls cannot be heard.

BATS SQUEAK, IOLO LAUGHS

-It's a good noise, innit?

-It's amazing.

Somebody once described it as sounding a bit like The Clangers.

LAUGHTER Yeah, yeah, it is! Yeah.

So, how many bats have you got in there?

The peak count in the summer was 420.

That was the second week in June.

-420?

-Yeah.

-And all lesser horseshoe bats?

-Yep.

In June, so this is, what? Is this a nursery roost?

Yes, and it's a maternity site here.

And this is where they'll come and just give birth?

Yeah, they probably turn up early spring, depending on the weather.

They'll have a single pup or baby the second or third week in July,

depending on the temperature.

-It's called a pup, is it?

-Yeah, it's a pup.

-A young...? I didn't know young bats were called a pup.

-Yeah, a pup.

And they'll hang around here until when?

Until the first big frosts.

Some of the colony's already left,

cos we had a couple of frosts about a week ago.

But at the first big frost, they'll be off

to one of their hibernation sites further down the valley.

Where's that? That'll be in one of the caves or something, will it?

-Yeah, up on the mountain.

-BATS SQUEAK

Oh, there's a lot of caves here.

How good is the Brecon Beacons for them?

It's one of the strongholds.

I think, on the last count, over 10% of the UK population

was in the Upper Usk.

-Just in this area?

-Yeah.

-Just the Upper Usk Valley?

And between Brecon and Crickhowell.

-Gosh, that's amazing.

-Yes.

So you say 10% of the UK population -

roughly how many bats would that be?

Well, the estimated population is about 25,000.

-Wow!

-So here, with all the roosts,

-we're looking at about 3,000.

-BATS SQUEAK

-You can see them hanging now.

-It is, innit?

-Like little packets.

-Yep.

-Cellophane-wrapped little packets.

Cos this is the sort of Dracula bat,

the one that everyone thinks of - bats hang upside-down,

-but not all of them do...

-Well, all bats can hang upside down,

but it's just the horseshoes,

both greater and lesser, actually do the hanging up.

BATS SQUEAK

Autumn must be an important time for them,

cos they've got to feed up for the winter.

Well, this is it, cos they need to build up their fat reserves

to get them through the winter.

And, also, autumn's the time when they actually mate.

So most of the males actually won't be in the roost with the females,

they'll actually come by from another smaller roost

and, basically, as I understand it,

the females will mate with the males

that have the highest or the best-quality call,

echolocation-wise.

-Because that's then a reflection of body conditioning.

-Yeah.

-Cos they want to mate with the healthiest males.

-Exactly, yeah.

-Ah!

-And then basically the female actually delays fertilisation

-until the following spring.

-That's clever.

And then the pup is born then, or the baby bat is born then,

depending on the weather, sort of early or mid-July.

Most of the bats will hibernates deep inside caves in these cliffs.

This is Craig-y-Cilau,

one of the largest limestone cliffs in South Wales.

It's part of the Llangattock Escarpment,

a huge slab of rock that overlooks Crug Hywel.

The cliffs are popular climbing sites.

But these are not regular climbers.

All right? What's going on here?

I thought it was Outward Bound, but I see you're all military, are you?

Yeah, it's military. What we've got here is army recruits,

and they're nine weeks into their basic military training.

So nine weeks ago these were civilians.

'Major Mark White overseas soldier development in the Brecon Beacons,

'and the national park is one of the army's key training sites.'

What we've done is we bring them down to the Brecon Beacons

to do some adventurous training

with the aim of putting them out of their comfort zone a little bit.

The chap at the top there,

he's definitely not in his comfort zone,

but he's not panicking.

And he'll have been given a little task to do as well -

memorise a grid reference, or carry out a task halfway down.

So we get them to operate through that,

cos one day they will deploy out to the field army,

perhaps in operations,

and we need them to work through the difficult circumstances

to be the soldier and do whatever their role is on operations.

So, at this very early stage, they start to develop in that way.

It's a fantastic way to do it, and good for them cos, for some of them,

it's probably the first time they've done this.

For the majority, it is the first time.

He's done well, hasn't he? He's reached... So he gets to the top,

just taps it, then he'll abseil down and he'll take all the weight?

Yeah. He'll take responsibility from now and lower him off, slowly down.

Yeah, so there's a trust thing,

-cos he's now taken his hands off the cliff.

-Yeah.

And his descent is totally controlled

by his mate on the other end of the rope.

I bet his heart is beating now.

-I bet it is.

-I bet.

-Yeah, that's the stretch thing.

That's putting them into that stretch.

We've taken them out of their comfort zone

and that's where the stretch comes in,

cos of the exposure to the rock,

to the height, and knowing that a lad on the other end

is providing his safety, is responsible for his life.

Yeah, well, he is, yeah! And this is ideal for that, this escarpment.

You know, you could pick any part of this, couldn't you, really?

Well, this is amazing, and we've got lots of venues

that we use around the Brecon Beacons,

not just for climbing, but caving and paddling

and hillwalking as well.

The Brecon Beacons National Park provides most of the drinking water

for the population of South Wales,

and many of the reservoirs are in the central Beacons.

This is Talybont Reservoir,

and it's the longest reservoir in the park,

it's about two miles long.

And the water from here

goes all the way down to the city of Newport,

right on the south coast.

And here's a tip for you,

if you're going to come here to watch birds -

and in the autumn, particularly, it is a good spot to come -

come to the end that's furthest away from the dam.

Because here the water is shallow,

there's a lot of vegetation, a lot of invertebrates,

and that then attracts a lot of birds.

And we've seen some of the early winter visitors coming in.

We've got some teal here. A small flock of wigeon here as well.

And the wigeon are interesting, because in the summer they malt.

They go into what they call eclipse, and they look quite scruffy.

But now they're starting to get this beautiful breeding plumage back,

and the males in particular look beautiful.

The reservoirs and lakes of the Beacons

will gradually fill with migrant birds throughout the autumn.

And if it's a hard winter and the ground freezes,

large bodies of water, like Talybont Reservoir,

become essential for their survival.

Hardier animals will be able to survive, even on the highest peaks.

Welsh cobs and ponies have been running free

in the uplands of the Brecon Beacons

since Roman times.

These semi-wild ponies were probably always used by local farmers,

but during the 18th century

many worked in the coal mines of South Wales.

These ponies are on the Penderyn Uplands, near Pen y Fan.

And during the autumn,

sisters Lydia and Bethan from Wernlas Farm

help to round up the ponies

to separate the foals from the mares.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Fancy meeting you two out on the hill.

-I know.

So what are you out here for, then?

-We're just going to gather the ponies in now.

-So what's your job?

Cos I saw the boys do it out on quads, two of them?

Yeah, that's... They own about ten of the ponies,

so they come and help every year.

Basically, they should push them up here now.

And we're like flankers,

we'll go on each side and try our best to keep up with them.

How many are there in all, then? Or how many are you expecting?

Roughly about 40. And they, most of them, should have foals as well.

-So you'll bring them down, you'll take the foals off them...

-Yep.

..and then they'll come back out?

-And then they'll come straight back to the mountain then.

-Wow.

They don't like being on the farm long. They're not used to it.

You'll see them at the fences, they want to go out,

they're not used to the short grass.

They know where they want to be, basically.

-Yeah, out on the hill. BOTH:

-Yep.

-Real mountain ponies.

-Definitely.

-That's their natural habitat.

And have they always been here?

Because I've been coming along this road for...

It must be 35-odd years,

-and there are always, always ponies out here.

-Generations.

Our grandfather, he kept them, his father.

Probably spanning over about 70 years.

And the mares will pass on their knowledge -

where to go with the different seasons.

This weather now, they'll come up here,

and they'll have windbreakers.

-Yeah.

-And then in the summer,

-they'll go down here, where there's all the water.

-Fresh grass.

And fresh grass. So they teach their foals what to do.

-They know the mountain, don't they?

-They know the mountain.

-This one's dying to go.

-I know, he's ready.

I think that's our cue to go,

-cos they're all starting to go.

-Oh, is it? Ah, right, OK.

-OK.

-So we'll see you on the side, I think.

-Oh, nice one. Thanks.

-Good luck.

-That's all right.

-See you soon.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

-Ta-ta.

-Bye.

-Go on, you head off.

'The biggest surprise for me is that the ponies, apparently,

'are worth very little.

'They have no value or market for the farmers,

'other than the pleasure of seeing them roam freely on the land.'

Fantastic there. That's the way to do it, look.

On horseback, gathering horses.

I suppose, if you want to get a horse off a mountain, jump on a horse.

The Brecon Beacons has some of

the most impressive cave systems in Europe,

and Porth yr Ogof Cave has, by far,

the largest opening in the national park.

-It's a big cave entrance, isn't it?

-Oh, it's amazing.

Just the walk up to it, that huge letterbox entrance,

and the way this geology, this landscape, leaps out at you.

Very atmospheric.

'I'm with Julian Carter from the National Museum of Wales,

'and we're looking for cave dwellers.'

Oh, here we are, Iolo. You like moths. Have a look at this up here.

Oh, wow. Herald moth.

Yeah, the herald moth.

It's one of a couple of species of moths

that kind of likes to use caves for part of their life cycles.

So, at this time of year, they'll start coming into the cave

and finding somewhere quiet, out of the way.

Sitting it out and sort of going into a torpid state over winter.

-While it warms up again.

-Yeah.

-They're nice moths, too,

and I love that orangey sheen on it, and the...

sort of dead-leaf-like shape to it as well.

Yeah, they're just gorgeous, aren't they?

And sometimes you'll find them in very large numbers

in certain cave entrances,

so they can be number sort of maybe hundreds.

'While moths only use caves during winter...'

This alcove here looks promising.

'..certain species of spiders live here pretty much all the time.'

Iolo, have a look round here - it's one of the egg sacs.

Oh, wow. So they're definitely around here.

That's like... Almost like a sort of bit of cotton wool.

-It is, isn't it?

-Amazing-looking thing.

They have astonishing egg sacs. There's a lot of them around.

You can have loads and loads of them. It's really quite special

seeing all these little balls hanging from the ceiling.

Now, is that the spider,

-see the spider under the rock there?

-Ah, yes, that's one.

That is one. That's a cave spider.

That's why it's commonly called the cave spider, yeah.

They are amongst our biggest spider.

This is actually a male.

Oh, wow. So, is the female bigger than the male?

-Yeah, the female's much bigger.

-So this is a little 'un, then?

-Yeah.

The females could be sort of twice the size.

So there's an egg sac here. They're obviously breeding.

How on earth do these young spiderlings,

once they've hatched out, find new caves?

The youngsters, at a certain stage, actually get attracted to light.

So they leave the cave, they leave the damp area,

they go out into the wide, wide world and disperse themselves,

and go find somewhere else that's a bit damp and miserable

with less adults around to compete with.

Nature's amazing, isn't it?

I would imagine, in the Beacons - so many caves here,

lots and lots of cave spiders.

Yeah. And, anyway, when you've got this sort of environment,

there'll be lots of these spiders.

In fact, they can be very, very numerous,

depending on the cave entrance.

So if you don't like spiders, and you go in a cave,

don't look around too much.

I'm ending my journey of the Brecon Beacons

in the Black Mountain area south of Llandovery.

During the autumn, the rivers and upland streams fill up with water,

and it's a trigger for fish to migrate.

These are sea trout, locally known as sewin,

and the rivers of Carmarthenshire are famous for these fish.

They're heading upstream in the River Sawdde,

one of the best rivers in the Beacons for sewin.

I'm with river bailiff Peter Thurnall,

and we're using a pole camera

to get better views of the fish underwater.

Tilt it down a bit.

-She's there now.

-Yeah. Lower down.

Push it lower down.

Like that?

Yeah. I see her. No, she's gone.

-She's gone, has she?

-Yeah.

I'll hold it there just in case she comes back around the corner.

-But she... We say it's a she, it is a female, is it?

-Female, it is.

And this one looked like quite a big one.

It's a fish about six, seven pounds.

-Oh, hello, hello.

-Something went past.

I won't move. I'll hold it there,

because she may well come back to the original position.

Now, these...sea trout...

how long have they been in these pools now?

Some of these came in April or May of this year.

-That long ago?

-Yes, they've been in the lower reaches

and pushing their way up the rivers now.

Why are they staying here, then,

because they haven't got far to go before they spawn, have they?

They've got depth of water here

until they get up onto the spawning ledge,

so they're holding in the depths of water,

-in the gorges.

-So, they're just waiting for a little bit more rain

-to come now.

-Any flush of water. Any rising water now, these will move.

And they'll spawn...

about as high up as they can go, will they?

They'll push up as far up these rivers as they can get,

until they reach a barrier onto the spot

where they've spawned in the past.

That's amazing, isn't it,

because they'll spawn in exactly the same place as they were born, often.

-Yes, within metres.

-That's amazing.

-Within metres of where they were spawned.

-That is amazing.

So they're all waiting in the deeper pools, they see some friends,

they say, "I'll hang around for a while", bit of rain - phoomph!

-Up they go.

-They'll be gone. They'll be gone in hours.

What makes this particular river so good, then?

The water conditions are good for them, the gravel is good for them.

In particular, I think it's the gravel.

And the Beacons, of course, as a whole -

lots of rivers, lots of streams, lots of clean water.

-Pretty good for them?

-Yes.

The whole of the Beacons area is good-quality water.

These fish are heading

for one of the most beautiful landscapes in Britain -

the Carmarthen Fans, one of the wildest parts of Wales.

The mountains and hills of the Brecon Beacons

are what most of us identify as the national park's main feature.

But I hope, in my journey through the seasons,

I've shown that these are just the peaks

of a much more extraordinary landscape,

full of wonderful wildlife...

..and people.

This is my favourite place

in the whole of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

It's the River Twrch flowing down below me here.

The old oak wood and then, on the opposite side,

limekilns of Henllys Vale

and the old colliery chimney as well.

And that, really, for me,

represents the whole of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

It's human industry, and the scars of human industry,

alongside some of the most stunning scenery we have

in the whole of the UK.

But, above all, what makes the Beacons so special for me

are the quiet places where few people go and I can escape to.