Episode 1 Rugged Wales

Wales has terrific landscape

and it's been enjoyed and exploited for centuries.

It's been shaped by nature and by man.

My name is Iolo Williams.

I'm on a tour of the rugged countryside of Wales.

Wow. Look at that.

It's my choice of some of the best wild and industrial landscapes,

and the wildlife that lives in them.

I'll be meeting people who live, work and play

in this spectacular scenery.

I'll be finding out why they love it so much.

Beautiful display, you can't really miss the lapwing.

I'll be exploring the sea and I'll be visiting industrial sites

once exploited, but now being won over by nature.

I'll be finding out how the Welsh landscape is being used today,

and discovering some surprising wildlife

right amongst this dramatic activity.

It rains in Wales. As a matter of fact, it rains a lot.

And water is responsible for much of the beauty of Wales.

We have great rivers,

beautiful lakes,

some stunning gorges.

There are also artificial reservoirs, equally as striking.

Here, water is being exploited as a valuable resource.

And water contributed hugely to the industrial history of the country.

And it, too, has had a big effect on the landscape and wildlife.

Later, I'll be looking at industrial Wales -

how industry reshaped the land and, as the work ended,

how nature returned to exploit the new terrain.

I'll be looking at how constructions associated with industry,

like canal and railway building, had an impact on the Welsh landscape.

And, in turn, how they became fabulous habitats for wildlife.

I'll be visiting one of Wales' great parks - it's an incredibly

rich landscape and it's been created by industrial wealth.

The high rainfall, together with craggy uplands,

means that Wales has some impressive waterfalls.

This is Melincourt Waterfall, in the Vale of Neath in South Wales.

This is Aber Falls in Snowdonia.

They're spectacular in full flow.

But my favourite is in Mid-Wales, a few miles west of Oswestry.

It's no wonder, is it, that Pistyll Rhaeadr is one of the seven wonders of Wales?

Just look at it. Absolutely stunning.

But what a lot of people don't know is that it is, in fact, higher than Niagara Falls.

It's almost 80 metres tall.

And the water has sculpted this shape here.

Basically, you've got hard rock overlying softer rock

and over thousands of years,

the soft rock, thanks to the water and the ice and the wind,

has been sculpted away, so that today, it cascades down 240 feet.

When you put it in these wonderful surroundings here, it really is one of Wales' jewels.

This continuous drenching promotes an incredibly rich plant growth.

Some of the ferns and mosses growing here are rare -

they only grow in western Britain, where the climate is mild and the rainfall is high.

Water not only fuels life, it also has an erosive effect on the landscape.

Sometimes, it can produce deep ravines.

In Wales, we have many inaccessible gorges,

except, of course, for those who enjoy a challenge.

Gorge walking, or canyoning as it's also called,

is the new sport of Welsh rivers.

I was persuaded by local water sports guide Mark Lind

to take part in a gorge walk in a challenging ravine in Gwynedd.

So, how popular is canyoning, or gorge walking, now?

Well, in North Wales, probably over the last three of four years,

the amount of usage here has doubled.

I suppose one of the biggest problems, looking at it from

a naturalist's point of view is that it's such a specialised environment,

full of rare plants, there's the potential there for quite a bit of conflict.

What we have is the code of conduct for gorges in North Wales.

It means that, as a group leader, we need to have some training

and some input from the experts that look after the environment.

We always stay to the same scour zone where the water's flowing over the rock.

It means that we're not damaging it.

We're going across the top of the waterfall here?

Yep. Pretty much scrambling along this ledge.

And, er, at this point, we come to the only way down.

-So we abseil down this next bit?

-We're going to abseil down into the pool.

And this whole path that we've followed all the way down, down here and on again,

-we're avoiding all the really sensitive plants here?

-Yeah.

So it means you can marry having fun, having a laugh,

-but also not desecrating the environment?

-Absolutely.

-Right, abseiling down, then.

-Away we go.

That's good.

Well, very enjoyable, but pretty cold.

The oldest river pastime in Wales is a very different experience -

more leisurely and with a tasty reward at the end.

I'm joining Mark Jones and Ian Harries,

both coracle fishermen on one of Wales' finest rivers, the Teifi.

This beautiful section is near Cardigan, West Wales.

-How much net have you got out there now, boys?

-We've got about a fathom,

which will take us down into the deeper part

and we'll drop down about another half a fathom again then.

You must know the bottom of this river like the back of your hand.

You get a bit of a mental picture in your head of what it looks like,

the stones, rock, things in the bottom. And, hopefully, fish.

-And you're fishing for what now, then?

-For sea trout.

-For sea trout?

-For sea trout on the 1st June and then we can fish for salmon...

-Ah, right.

-..till the end of August.

The net's forming a little purse as it goes down the river.

There's a wall of mesh and they swim into a purse.

-Right.

-Then, I just pull the string and close the purse.

Oh, right, that's how it works, is it? You feel the fish coming in.

You feel the fish hitting the first mesh and then you close it then and it hits the back mesh.

Sometimes it gets enmeshed or sometimes it's just loose in the bag.

-So there's a potential for it to go in and back out again.

-Salmon frequently do.

So if you don't feel them quick enough, they're gone.

And there would have been men coracling on this section of river, I'd have thought for hundreds...

-Centuries.

-..if not thousands of years.

Oh, definitely, you know, into the sort of Middle Ages.

And it's thankfully carrying on.

Tell you what, there's only us, and I can hear wood pigeons calling.

It's usually woodpeckers.

What a lovely way to spend a day.

The most colourful bird you'll see on the Teifi and, indeed, on the banks of most Welsh rivers

is the kingfisher.

The first hint that one's about is this high-pitched call.

BIRDSONG

It's a stunning bird, and its dagger-like beak is perfect for catching small fish in the river.

The Wye is the great river that divides England from Wales in South Wales.

This section is further inland, in Mid-Wales near Builth Wells.

All along its course, it's a special site of scientific interest.

It's been given that status because it is an important wildlife habitat.

One of its specialities is the sea lamprey.

During June, they spawn on the riverbed under Boughrood Bridge, near Brecon.

It's one of the best locations in Britain to see them.

Lampreys are jawless fish and have suckers around the mouth to attach themselves onto bigger fish,

to feed on their flesh.

During spawning, they use their suckers

to attach to stones.

The male shifts big stones on the river, to form a deep depression,

in which the female lays her eggs.

It's fascinating behaviour, and can last for hours.

By the time the Wye has reached Tintern, some 50 miles south,

it's become a tidal river.

It lies in a deep gorge and flows beneath high limestone cliffs.

The river has carved out a beautiful landscape.

I'm told the best way to experience the Wye Gorge is by kayak.

I'm undertaking the pursuit on a particularly wet day,

with instructor Graham Symonds and Kate Biggs,

who is one of the team that overlooks this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Whenever I come down the Wye, Kate, what amazes me is the sheer number

of yew trees in here. They're everywhere, aren't they?

Yeah. It's because they're sort of an indicator species for limestone.

This is fantastic, really, because you've got high limestone cliffs,

a sort of ravine woodland,

which you don't get anywhere else in Wales,

probably not in Britain, either. That's why it's also protected.

But it gives it a particular bio-diversity that you don't really get elsewhere.

Amazing place, it really is. And Graham, the best way to see it is like this - from the water.

The best way is from the water,

-but you need to be very careful. The tide today will be 14 metre.

-14?!

13.7 to 14, so that's a 40-44 foot tide,

so if we get it wrong, time and tide waits for no man.

And if we weren't kayaking down, we wouldn't see any of this?

That's right, the perspective off the river is totally different.

-Today, we haven't seen anybody here at all.

-No.

If you go back 200 years, this river would have been a hive of activity,

you would have had barges and troughs coming up from Bristol.

This would've been the kind of M4 of its day, because it would have

been the easiest access and you would've carried the biggest loads.

Back there now, Kate, we went past an ancient old church or a chapel? What was that?

That's Lancaut Church. That's a deserted medieval village,

but it was, we know, a leper colony, but the church dates from about the 12th century.

The churchyard in the summer, there's all sorts of herbs and things

in and around the churchyard and, you know, people say

that's because, you know, they were there for the monks to use.

Yeah, I bet they were, too, were they?

Yeah, as part of their sort of medicinal storehouse.

What a fabulous location to build a medieval village.

At the bottom of the gorge, the villagers would have

had easy access to the main trade route of the period.

Here, not only does the tidal water dictate transport up and down the river,

it also shapes the landscape itself, forming huge sand banks.

Come on, Iolo. What are you doing? You'd think it was small, this bit!

Soon, I'll be going underground to discover one of Wales' hidden treasure.

This makes it all worthwhile.

Later, I'll be exploring an old goldmine.

The million-pound question has to be, is there a lot more gold down there, do you think?

I'll also be taking you to Wales' best wildlife canal.

And I'll be finding owls in the grounds of a castle.

Down the bottom there, about 60-odd metres away,

and in there is a tawny owl nest.

Now, if I was asked to choose the best natural lake in Wales,

Tal y Llyn, below the mountain of Cadair Idris in mid-Wales,

would be top of the list. On a bright, still day, it's a fabulous location.

Like most big lakes, you'll be hard pushed to see much wildlife.

What little there is, is usually right in the middle.

But occasionally, an interesting bird comes closer to shore.

These are goosanders.

They're quite a common bird in north and western Britain, and are usually seen on rivers.

This one here is a male. The female looks quite different.

They're diving ducks.

They have sawbills that enable them to grasp and catch small fish.

The presence of fish-eating birds always triggers heated debate with anglers,

especially in an important fishing location,

and Tal y Llyn is one of the best fishing lakes in Wales.

Phil Wood is the chief ghillie - the fishing guide for the lake.

Today, I've a very different kind of fishing in mind.

I only want to see the fish, not catch them.

It helps that Phil likes to feed the fish daily, with bread, close to shore.

-Now, it's not the best of day, visually, today, it's overcast.

-It's perfect for fishing, though.

-It's good for the fish?

-This are the best conditions you can get.

Oh, yeah, yeah, OK, I've got him. Oh, he's moved away again.

Might have spooked them a little bit. They were feeding earlier.

But we have had a few problems with cormorants and poachers.

Do you know what, Phil? I don't know a single fisherman who likes cormorants.

-Oh, we like them.

-Just not too many.

-Just not underwater.

-Yeah!

They're starting to come in. I had one go past the frame now.

Slow. Here we are, here we are, here we are.

-Whoa! Nice big fish?

-I think about three pound, Iol.

Three pounds?

-A small one, for Tal y Llyn.

-Lovely-looking fish.

-Oh, the markings on them, they're unique, you know.

-Beautiful fish.

But it's a very well-known lake, isn't it, for its excellent fishing?

It's a famous lake for the top of the water sport, you know.

It's a shallow lake - six to eight feet average - and the fly life is fantastic here.

And so that's what makes it such a good fishing place? So much food?

So much food and top of the water sport, which a fisherman wants.

-You ask any fisherman, the take is paramount.

-Right.

It takes the fly off the top and you connect.

When fresh water is trapped inland and left naturally without drainage, it forms wetland,

Typically, Welsh wetland looks like this one

at Cors Caron near Tregaron.

It's one of the biggest raised bogs in Britain.

Occasionally, near a wetland, you'll find a woodland,

and there's an exceptional wet woodland on the outskirts of Swansea.

It's a habitat that's rare throughout the whole of Britain.

And surprisingly, it lies in the middle of an industrial area and has somehow

survived both drainage and land development.

In the past, many parts of lowland Britain

would have looked like this - impenetrable wet woodland.

'Jamie Bevan of the Countryside Council for Wales

'looks after the site.'

I tell you what, Jamie,

it's a dangerous place to come by yourself, isn't it?

-It is. You don't want to come in here on your own.

-No, I'm sure!

-I think you're heavier than me.

-A couple of stone heavier, I think,

the way I'm going down here!

Jamie, don't go too far, hold on!

-It's getting worse.

-It IS getting worse! That's got him!

You'd swear you were in Louisiana or in the Everglades here,

but it's amazing to think that you're not,

you're actually just on the outskirts of Swansea

and this wet woodland like this is really quite rare in Wales now.

Feels quite primeval, doesn't it?

It does, yeah. What is this big, tall sedge here?

Greater tussock sedge. That's the sort of dominant sedge.

And a couple of nice ferns, one of them I do recognise -

that's royal fern. Not at its best yet, cos that's a great big massive one,

and some nice little delicate ones here and there as well. Which one's that?

That's the marsh fern then, and that's the real rarity, actually.

Just a handful of sites in Wales, mainly an East Anglian species,

so only two sites in South Wales for it, in fact.

And that's the odd thing, isn't it,

because this is a fen, and this is what you'd expect to see somewhere like East Anglia, not in Wales.

Right. Almost like a chunk of East Anglian fenland

dropped on the South Wales coast.

One of the wonderful things about this, too,

is that, yes, it's important for its fen plants,

but I can hear birds all around me. I can hear blackcap calling,

I can hear chiffchaff calling, just back from Africa.

Blue tits, great tits in here

and of course, there's a lot of dead and dying wood.

Look at this - this is completely rotten here

and the birds love this,

it's good for feeding, it's good for nesting as well.

And some of the trees are just so full of holes.

They're woodpecker holes, but they'll be taken over by blue tits, great tits, marsh tits.

It is an important habitat,

but in a month or two it'll look very different,

that's when the ferns, sedges, will be at their best.

The royal fern will be huge then.

By midsummer, the woodland is pretty much a no-go zone -

you could be in a tropical jungle, not on the outskirts of Swansea.

You'd need a machete to work your way through this.

But that, of course, would be illegal - it's a protected area.

Water is not only responsible for the beauty of Wales above ground,

it also shapes the Welsh landscape below the land surface.

The Brecon Beacons

and the Black Mountain immediately to the west of the Beacons

have the biggest cave systems in Europe,

and that's because the rock is mostly made of limestone,

which dissolves in water.

One of the most impressive caves in Wales

is Dan yr Ogof in the Upper Swansea Valley.

It's a completely different landscape...

'I'm joining a caving team led by John Osborne,

'who knows the caves well.

'The continuous flow of water has created huge caverns and tunnels,

'which extend ten miles beneath the Black Mountain.'

'As water seeps through the limestone,

'it dissolves calcium salts in the rock,

'which then reform into calcite formations,

'and after thousands of years,

'they can develop into incredible structures.'

'John is taking me to see

'one of Wales' finest underground spectacles.

'But we have some tough caving to do first,

'and most of it in wet conditions.

'It's an activity not to be taken lightly or, indeed, without expert advice.

'A sudden downpour above ground can flood these tunnels very quickly.

'You have to know when to retreat and leave.'

'Thankfully, today, this won't happen.

'We'll be able to continue and see an extraordinary underground formation

'which has been sculpted by water.'

-We're getting there.

-It's a bigger passage, isn't it, this one?

-It is.

-All created by water.

-Amazing, isn't it?

-It is incredible.

THEY BREATHE HEAVILY

Here we go.

Come on, Iolo, what are you doing? You'd think it was small, this bit!

-IOLO LAUGHS

-Eugh!

It's physically and mentally demanding, coming through here.

It's because you're in a confined space

and I'm 15 and a half stone

and this, in bits, is like going down a badger set.

Now, can you imagine the first person to come down here?

It was a woman and she didn't know what she was going to get -

whether she was going to be able to get through,

whether she'd have to reverse all the way back,

whether it would become waterlogged or not.

And that starts playing tricks with your mind.

But I am told what's at the far end

really is worth all this effort.

'The first person to squeeze through this long crawl

'was Eileen Davies from Swansea, and she did it 50 years ago.'

'She had no way of knowing what was at the end of the tunnel.

'Like any other caver,

'she simply needed to know where it led to.'

Argh! Oh, come on!

'All I'm thinking about

'is that I'll have to come back exactly the same way.'

'But the effort is worthwhile.'

'This has been named the greatest natural wonder in Britain,

'and it's been formed by the action of water on limestone.'

-Wow!

-Oh, wow! look at that. It's another one of those examples

where you see something created by nature

and it outdoes anything man can do.

-Totally.

-How old are these?

They're not as old as you think they might be.

Some of the larger formations we've seen

take up to 100,000 years to form.

These - between, sort of, 100 and thousands of years.

They're actually completely hollow.

There's a drip of water you can see at the bottom, if you can look up inside,

you can get a real sense of it being a straw.

Hence the name "straw stalactites."

-Yeah, cavers love their literal names for things.

-Yeah!

But this is just beautiful,

it's one of the most beautiful things I think I've ever seen,

not just anywhere in Wales, but anywhere in the world.

It's absolutely beautiful.

So was it worth the grovelling and the squeezing and the...?

It was... It was, now!

I must admit, at the time I thought, "This had better be worth it."

But the grunting, the groaning, the whining, the getting cold,

the getting wet, all my muscles aching -

-this makes it all worthwhile.

-It really is beautiful.

While water plays a huge part in defining the Welsh landscape,

it's also an important resource to be exploited.

High rainfall and large upland lakes

makes Wales a perfect location to site a hydro-electric power station.

The oldest in Britain lies below the summit of Snowdon in Cwm Dyli.

It was built in 1905.

It still produces electricity and supplies the National Grid,

and is remotely switched on and off when power is needed.

'Jack Reilly is one of the staff who looks after the power station.'

It reminds me of a Welsh chapel, you know, this does.

I suppose when it was built, it would've been full of machinery?

Yeah, it would've been four units, same as the one that's there.

And now all of that is compacted into this unit here.

Yeah, this is just as efficient and produces the same power

as those four units once did years ago.

And the water that drives this comes from where, from which lake?

It's coming up from Llyn Llydaw up at the top, just up Snowdon.

So these pipes that come down the mountain, they're feeding this,

-and that comes in where?

-It comes right down the hill, enters the building,

-gets into the machine though a valve.

-The electricity goes straight to the National Grid?

-Yeah, it's sold to them.

-I suppose, when it comes on, there's a fair bit of noise in here?

-Yeah. Ear defenders, definitely!

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-Is it that bad, is it?

I always think we've got that much water in Wales,

we really should be making a lot more of it,

a lot more things like this.

There are fewer than ten hydro-electric power stations in Wales.

Considering the amount of water we have,

you might think there would be more.

Cwm Dyli has been generating electricity for over 100 years

and will probably continue to do so for another 100.

It's one of Wales' little power gems.

But the real surprise for me

is the land surrounding the power station.

One of the things that I really love about Wales is that,

completely unexpectedly,

I've come across an area of rough habitat.

A very rocky area, agriculturally it's rubbish, absolute rubbish.

But it's got these tuffs of gorse, it's got bracken, a few trees

and it's actually got at least three pairs of yellowhammers here.

Now, if you go looking for yellowhammers,

they're very difficult to find - it's quite a scarce bird now.

But we've stumbled across a real little hot spot

and it's lovely to hear a bird calling here,

there's another one calling behind me, just over there.

And there's another one calling up above, over there.

And these are stunning birds,

they're beautiful, lovely canary-yellow face and chest.

They're lovely, beautiful, beautiful birds.

That's a really nice find, that's lifted my spirits, that has.

There's no doubt that the biggest use of water as a resource in Wales

is for the supply of drinking water.

Over the years,

reservoir building has caused deep emotion and anger in Wales,

especially those supplying cities across the border,

which have involved the drowning of villages,

and the relocation of local communities.

But whatever your views are

on the rights and wrongs of the sites chosen for them,

these huge masses of water

have had a big impact on the Welsh landscape,

and indeed, some have added to its beauty.

Especially this one at Lake Vyrnwy in Mid Wales.

Built in 1880 to supply water to Merseyside,

it's the largest reservoir in Wales.

And this is where I grew up.

I left when I was 18 years old and by the time I'd gone,

I must have walked every square metre of the moorland,

the woodland, the farmland, the edge of the reservoir

in search of birds' nests and frogs and toads and newts and fish...

Anything and everything, really.

And although I appreciated it when I was here,

do you know, it's only now that I come back,

many years later on, that I realise how privileged I was

to grow up in such a beautiful, such a stunning place.

Because the lake is so vast,

it's difficult to spot anything on the water.

But if you're lucky, you may see some one of these.

It's a great crested grebe - a bird usually associated with shallower lakes.

The majority of wildlife at Vyrnwy

is in the surrounding woodland and uplands.

These are goshawk chicks, waiting for their parents to return with food.

They're about four weeks old, and visits from the parents are less frequent now.

Goshawks became extinct in Britain during the 19th century,

but became re-established from the 1960s onwards.

They're doing particularly well in Wales, with over 200 nesting pairs.

One of the chicks is exercising its wings. It won't be long

before they set off for their first flight.

Lake Vyrnwy was built during Victorian times

and was constructed as a direct consequence of the Industrial Age.

As cities grew, water was needed by an increasing population

and to fuel industry,

and industry itself has played a major part in shaping Wales.

It's a process that's still continuing.

The large-scale reshaping of the land has led

to a change in wildlife and sometimes this change, surprisingly,

has been a positive one.

The fabulous canals and old railways that give such added beauty

to the Welsh landscape exist because of our industrial past.

And many of the great parks in Wales have been created by industrial wealth.

Later, I'll be exploring an old underground quarry.

Oh, wow.

I'll be watching lapwings nest near a coal mine

and I'll be digging up Wales' gold rush past.

But first, I'm heading for a slate quarry.

The biggest industry in northwest Wales during the past 200 years

was slate mining.

The whole region is full of old slate quarries.

Most, like Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley,

which is only a stone's throw from Snowdon, have closed.

Industrial work finished here nearly 40 years ago.

It's now nature's turn to work the slate.

I love coming to old slate quarries like this.

Whenever I come, it makes me wonder what it was like 100 years before.

All the men, probably hundreds of them,

the noise, the shouting, the dust,

the pollution here, and I bet they never thought the work would end.

And they wouldn't have thought that less than 50 years after the quarry closed

that nature would be taking over completely.

You've got birch and you've got willow, and even ash and oak

taking over everywhere and that's dragging in the birds as well.

Willow warblers and dunnocks singing away over here.

And give another 100 years and I bet that they'll be very few signs

of the quarry left at all, it'll be completely taken over.

Dorothea slate quarry is a magnificent landscape,

and probably one of the best examples in Britain

of re-colonisation by nature.

As the quarrymen left and the tipping of slate waste stopped,

plants such as mosses and ferns began to colonise.

As these plants died, they helped to form soil on the tips,

and eventually there was enough root hold and nourishment for trees.

Once the trees were established, then birds returned.

It's a heartening revelation that such a rich and stunning landscape

can be reformed by nature after so much landscape trauma.

Some of the slate mining in northwest Wales was underground,

particularly in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area.

It's a big mining region and some quarries are still being worked.

High up above Gloddfa Ganol quarry,

which at one time was the biggest slate quarry in the world,

is Cwmorthin.

All right, lads.

'And in the cwm is the entrance to a huge disused quarry.

'I'm joining two cavers, John Osbourne and Roger Sexton,

'who know the quarry well and have agreed to help me explore the hidden landscape.'

'The entrance is usually locked.

'You need special permission and expert help to enter the quarry.

'And for good reason - underground mines are considerably more dangerous than caves.'

'The mine has many miles of tunnels and hundreds of chambers.'

These would be the trolleys to carry out the slate?

They would have been to take out waste.

Mind the big drop on the right.

'It's full of old tracks, tools and machinery.'

'There are many treacherous dead ends.'

Dangerous place again, isn't it? Long way down there.

'The mine began its life during the first part of the 19th century,

'with over 500 men employed at its peak.'

All this machinery just lying around.

'The work dwindled during the first half of the 20th century

'due to the decline of the slate industry,

'and finally ended around 30 years ago.'

What I find incredible is they had to bring all this down here in the first place.

We must be 100 feet down by now, and more,

and this weighs tonnes and they put it all together

and it looks as if they've just left it as if they were expecting to come back

on the Monday morning again, but for some reason, that's it.

'The mine has many levels,

'and the deeper you descend the wetter it gets.'

'With the water pumps switched off,

'the quarry constantly fills with water.'

Oh, wow!

'Some of the chambers created by the quarrymen are enormous.'

Oh, man, what a place! What a place to come and work.

-Aye, it is impressive.

-So would there be many workers on this face?

As I understand it, no, it would have been one, possibly two,

on the face at one time, with a couple of helpers down on the floor.

That would have been generations of work just to dig this one chamber.

Yeah, each shot holder's hours of work, it was all done by hand.

-It's an incredible achievement.

-And deadly work sometimes, wasn't it?

Very. This mine had an entertaining nickname of the Slaughterhouse.

The Slaughterhouse?!

I've walked the moors above here many a time and I just didn't

realise that I was really walking over what is now a hollow mountain.

Incredible, absolutely amazing place.

Tell you what, light the flares, let's see just how big it is.

'There's very little nature here,

'but it's a time capsule of Welsh industrial life,

'an incredible hidden jewel

'and a memorial to the quarrymen who worked here.'

Wales has a great deal of valuable geology.

And much of the landscape has been exploited for centuries.

This old limestone quarry is at Llanymynech

on the border with England, south of Oswestry.

It has the distinction of being a nature reserve

both in England and Wales.

I'm on the Welsh part, owned by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust.

During spring, it's full of cowslips,

forget-me-nots,

and a whole range of insects and butterflies.

This is a Meadow Brown butterfly.

And this is a female common darter.

But what I like most are the cliff faces formed by quarries -

they're ideal nesting sites for many birds.

And one bird that's exploited this new habitat

probably more that any other one is the peregrine falcon.

There's a male perched high up on one of the ledges here.

He's got a fantastic vantage point - he can see probably a mile and more,

so, any prey passing by, he's going to dash off.

And this one's interesting as well because most peregrine males

have got this slatey grey back,

they've got the dark mask and they're very pale,

almost white chest there,

but this one is a dark individual.

And peregrines have been able to move into new areas,

thanks to these quarries.

So peregrines are actually commoner in Wales now

probably than they've ever been.

In addition to valuable stone, Wales has an astonishing range of mineral wealth,

and there's no richer prize than gold,

and gold has been mined here for thousands of years.

This is the Mawddach River near Dolgellau in Mid Wales.

As it courses through Coed y Brenin Forest,

the river cuts into the rock to form a gorge.

It's not only a stunning location,

but the site of one of Wales' biggest old gold mines.

The riverbanks are full of relics belonging to Wales' gold rush past.

Gold was mined here very recently, some 20 years ago,

and George Hall was the mine's last manager.

George, what's the history of gold and gold mining in this area?

I feel sure that somebody must have discovered gold around here

maybe 3,000 years ago,

and got some gold.

But the knowledge of it seems to have been forgotten.

Then, of course, in 1849,

gold was found in California.

And then it was found in Australia and people thought,

"Well, wait a minute, maybe there IS gold around Dolgellau."

There were several different mines around here

-all at the same time?

-Oh, yes, there must have been a dozen mines

-around here, working on a small scale.

-Gwynfynydd would have been

one of the biggest, when was it at its height?

The big gold rush here was 1861.

And in its heyday, how many men would have been working here?

-Oh, at least 250.

-That many?

-Oh, yes. Goodness me, yes.

And I suppose the million-pound question has to be,

is there a lot more gold down there, do you think?

In my opinion, yes. There's a lot of gold in this district.

I reckon there's a lot of gold still in Gwynfynydd. The problem is,

do you spend more money driving tunnels to find it

than you actually get out when you come across the gold?

That's the problem - you've got to really be very canny.

In the meantime, the old mine buildings

have been occupied by wildlife.

Redstarts and coal tits both nest here.

It's an ideal location for pied wagtails.

There's plenty of insects and water

around the old ruins and spoil heaps.

The gaps under the roof are ideal nesting sites.

Like other birds, a pied wagtail looks its best during spring,

when the black and white colours are particularly striking.

The big industry in South Wales was, of course, coal mining.

Most of the mines are now closed,

but this vast industrial operation at Ffos y Fran near Merthyr Tydfil

is part of a long-term scheme, which is recovering coal

from old mines and tips that used to exist on this site.

The old mines and tips are being removed,

and the huge industrial site will be re-landscaped back to moorland.

What is surprising is that surrounding this enormous industry

lives one of Wales' rarest breeding birds.

The lapwing, and what's even more remarkable is that they nest here.

Although you'll see plenty of lapwings around Wales,

especially during the winter near the coast,

this sight is exceptional these days.

There are very few breeding pairs of lapwing left in the whole country.

'The ecologist that looks after the lapwings

'and other wildlife on the site is Kylie Jones.'

It's funny - you think of lapwing as being a farmland bird,

but, in Wales, more and more now they're on these industrial sites.

You know, the damp bare areas, which is really good for them.

-Do they do all right here?

-They do. They type of ground up here

is perfect for them. They're not here in the winter,

they come back to nest now at this time of year. They do pretty well,

but unfortunately they are heavily predated by gulls and crows

and that's the main thing that is affecting them.

I tell you the other thing - lots of them behind us now singing - skylarks.

-A lot of skylarks on site.

-Yeah, it's good, isn't it?

It's nice to hear, and it's amazing to think that we're here in the middle of all this machinery.

What's going to happen in the end, cos you're going to have to fill all of this in?

We're moving some of the rock to take some of the coal out,

but we've already started back-filling there in the distance.

The scheme's going to run for about 21 years in total,

but that's with complete restoration aftercare.

So the site will be grassed over and put back to habitat to attract back the wildlife we have around here.

And the lapwings, of course, will arrive in very early spring up here?

Yeah. Usually about actually December, January time

are the first sightings we see.

-That early, are they? They're up here, then?

-Yeah, they are.

They come up, but they don't actually use this area to begin with.

They tend to stick in a different area. We've got a couple of nice ponds -

they use that to feed. You can see up to 15, 16 birds there

early on in the season, then they tend to disperse

to different areas on the site and around the site as well.

Oh, that's quite nifty. And I suppose they pair up

and you see this fantastic display they do and everything else?

Beautiful display. You can't really miss the lapwing.

The other big industry in South Wales was iron production,

and the Cyfarthfa Ironworks

at Merthyr was one of the biggest in Britain.

Remnants of the old blast furnaces are still standing

and have been left as a reminder of Wales' industrial heritage.

It's only when you're standing right underneath these blast furnaces

that you realise how impressive, how enormous they are.

And can you imagine being here 150 years ago?

Fires everywhere, noise, shouting.

It would have been a vision of hell, really.

And just look at it now at dawn.

These holes dotted all along the walls are full of jackdaws.

30 or 40 birds over there, a few more over this side as well.

They've just moved into these holes, they're roosting there overnight.

Later on in the year, they'll be nesting in there, too.

I find it incredible that...

this massive building that man has built,

abandoned, has now been taken over by jackdaws.

The jackdaws have pretty much taken over every nook and cranny.

And they give a great display at dawn,

as they roll call before setting off for the day to feed.

The old Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil

is an important historical site, but for me, it's not just a monument to a past industry.

It's again a great example of the adaptability and clever versatility of wildlife.

The industrial age brought with it the need and the ability to build railways.

Like in the rest of Britain, there was large-scale railway construction

in Wales during the 19th century.

There was one big difference in Wales -

the landscape was very difficult for track-laying.

This resulted in the building of many impressive viaducts

all over the country.

This is one of those hidden little gems that I think

makes Wales a very special place.

Pontsarn viaduct, incredible place.

We're right on the edge of the Brecon Beacons

and yet, on the other side, right on the edge of Merthyr Tydfil.

The railway line here would have linked the two,

running from the South Wales Valleys and the towns there

over the mountain to Brecon.

And, in its heyday, Pontsarn Station on a Sunday in the summer,

would have been full of hundreds of people all coming up here

to picnic, to walk, to enjoy the view,

just as I'm doing today.

It must have cost a fortune to build the railways,

especially this one that connected Bala with Ffestiniog in North Wales.

This is Blaen y Cwm viaduct on a remote upland section near Trawfynydd.

It's one of 70 viaducts and bridges

built on 25 miles of railway line.

It's one of the most expensive railways built in its time.

Many cuttings also had to be dug for the tracks,

and in hard rock that must have been very labour intensive,

'but it has produced a wonderful wildlife habitat.'

I like these disused railway lines -

there must be thousands of miles of them all over Britain -

but this is my favourite. It's become a real haven for wildlife.

It's a linear nature reserve, really,

and you see some of the upland plants have moved in.

There's a small woodland here mainly of birch and mountain ash

and a lot of heather as well.

And those will attract in birds like willow warblers and redstarts.

But what the engineers have done on this particular section,

completely by accident, is they've created an artificial gorge.

And it's got all the properties of a natural gorge in that

it doesn't receive much sunlight, it's also incredibly wet.

And because of that, you've got a whole host of plants

that flourish in there.

There's fir club moss, but more than anything else,

it's the mosses and the ferns and they carpet the whole wall

for a long, long part of this section here.

The ferns and mosses look stunning throughout the year,

but during the spring and summer

the old railway cutting fills with colour.

In a way, the plants here represent at least three different habitats.

The wet parts of the cutting

are ideal for liverworts, mosses and ferns.

The drier areas suit flowers like betony,

a plant that you associate with drier grassland or woodland.

There are also open moorland plants here.

This is a butterwort, which has long, slippery leaves.

When a small insect lands on them,

it slides to the base of the stem and becomes trapped.

The plant then slowly digests the insects.

The other insect-eating plant found here is sundew.

It has a similar way of trapping insects.

When an insect is trapped in the hairy gluey tentacles

of the leaves, they'll close and the insect will be digested.

Even before railways, canals had been built

to provide transport for industry.

Probably the best-known aqueduct is Pontcysyllte in North Wales.

It was built during the early 1800s

to carry the Llangollen Canal over the River Dee.

It's the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain

and a World Heritage Site.

Canals are used for leisure these days,

but, of course, they're great wildlife habitats.

And I reckon the best in Wales for wildlife

is the Montgomery Canal near Welshpool.

Not far from the village of Llanymynech, the canal has to cross

the River Vyrnwy.

The aqueduct may not be on the scale of Pontcysyllte,

but it's nonetheless quite stunning, and certainly full of wildlife.

I'm going to have a closer look underwater.

This is the Montgomery Canal, which goes from the English border

right across into the heart of Wales.

It's one of my favourite canals.

It's been closed for about 60-odd years now, and in that time

it's become a great place for wildlife.

I'm trying to film some fish here. There were lots earlier

and once I put the camera in, they've all disappeared

into the vegetation. But I'm hoping I can get something now in a minute.

And the canal has acted as a kind of compensatory area for Mid Wales

because a lot of the ponds and lakes have been drained,

so you find the wildlife that would have been there in this canal.

It's packed full of frogs and toads and newts,

and quite a few fish - if only I could find them.

And most of the canals were built because of industry,

because of heavy industry - steel and coal -

but this one's a little bit different, as it was built in an agricultural area,

so it was built to carry limestone into the heart of Wales

to improve the land, and then to carry meat and wool the other way

to the heart of the English Midlands.

The canal is full of tadpoles,

which shows just how important it is for frogs and toads.

Eventually, the fish reappear, and there are shoals of them.

These are rudd, a fish that's present in big numbers in the canal.

The rich plant growth is ideal for freshwater snails.

They really do well here.

And the wildlife above the water is equally as rich.

It's an exceptional site for a whole range of damselflies.

These are beautiful demoiselles.

The male has very bright blue-green metallic colours.

The females are less colourful.

The demoiselles are pairing up

above the rich pools created in the old locks.

It's a perfect site for egg laying and for their larvae to live.

The big industries in Wales brought wealth, but wealth for the few.

In North Wales, they were the owners of slate quarries,

and this wealth enabled the owners to build huge mansions

and design magnificent parks on their land.

This is Penrhyn Castle on the outskirts of Bangor,

and it's not one of those castles that was built centuries ago

to repel invading armies. It's only 200 years old.

It was built by Lord Penrhyn, a man who, in his day,

would have been a multi-millionaire - money made from slavery,

made from the sugar cane plantations further west

and also from local industry.

And, at that time, the biggest industry in North Wales

was the slate industry.

He would have built the castle in a nice quiet area.

He wanted tranquillity, and because of that,

surrounding the castle, you've got these wonderful grounds.

They're not gardens - they're bigger than that. It's more like a parkland

and they are packed to the rafters full of all kinds of wildlife.

The castle is set in a superb location

and is overlooked by the Carneddau Range of Snowdonia.

It's probably the best example

of industrial wealth and power in Wales.

Today it's owned by the National Trust and open to the public.

It means that the parkland which surrounds the castle can be enjoyed by everyone.

And it does have some great wild areas.

Spring is a particularly good time to visit.

But what's really good about public parks like this

is that the birds here are used to people.

This is a particularly nice part of the garden here.

It's woodland. Let me show you around some of it.

It's a mix of native and exotic trees.

We've got oak and we've got beech here,

but we've also got monkey puzzle tree over there,

some exotic pines as well.

And the birdsong, there's a blackbird singing here, blue tits,

robins, chaffinch calling.

And what I really want to show you is down the bottom there,

about 60-odd metres away, is a big old beech tree.

Now, some of these trees - the oaks, the beech -

would have been here when the castle was built

because some of them must be 300 years old, and even more than that.

And a branch has fallen off years ago and a hole has formed.

In there is tawny owl nest. And, at the moment, as I speak,

one of the adults is perched at the entrance to the hole,

looking up, just making sure that I don't go any nearer than this.

The owl is guarding her chicks,

which you can just about see in the background.

Here's the shot again with the chicks highlighted.

If there's a better view of a tawny owl with chicks in broad daylight,

I've yet to find it.

In the next programme, I'll be taking you

to a wonderful woodland and wetland.

I'll be exploring Wales' biggest estuary,

and I'll be walking along a fantastic stretch of coast.

I'll even be venturing underwater.

You might think this is a big one, but they will grow to be

the best part of a metre across.

I'll also be heading to the uplands,

where I'll be discovering history.

It looks like a crown of thorns.

I'll be joining the army.

I'll be felling a forest.

It's like we're working a T-Rex down here.

I'll be exploring how upland and lowland Wales has been shaped by nature and man.

And there's enough cockles on here for the birds, the people and for next year.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd