Spring Wales in Four Seasons

The seasons in Wales divide up our year.

Each one brings its own colours and creatures to our landscape.

But how important are they to our lives?

We now live in towns and cities and work inside more than out.

Do we notice the subtle changes that each season brings?

I'm Renee Godfrey and all of my life I've been obsessed with the seasons.

I've surfed competitively for nine years.

In the water, life is controlled by the weather and waves around you.

Surfing is all about knowing what nature is doing.

It dictates everything in my daily routine.

But surfers aren't the only ones living by the seasons.

I experience the seasons through the ocean

but now I want to explore how the seasons affect the lives

of people all across Wales.

'I'm leaving my city home, and heading out to work with people

'whose lives are still really connected with the natural changes of the year.'

Our priority is to get to the casualty

and then we'll call in personnel when we need them.

'Over the next year,

'I want to immerse myself in the different rhythms of the seasons.'

Good Lord!

I want to be part of the incredible events that mark these changes.

It's just the most incredible thing I think I've ever, ever seen.

And I want to show how and why these seasons are still really important to all of us.

Now, last month was the driest March in Wales since 1944,

so we could do with a drop more rain

and it looks like there is some rain on the way on Monday and Tuesday,

fresh to strong winds as well...

There are three million people in Wales.

Over 80% of us now live in urban areas.

I grew up on the coast in Penarth.

The sea has been my playground since I was a little girl.

Even though I've travelled all over the world,

I still get excited when the winter chill subsides

and crisp, new spring swells start to arrive.

It's a beautiful spring day.

It's the first time that you can really feel the warmth in the sun.

I'm on my favourite beach and there's a new swell arrived

so I'm going to get out there and get amongst the waves.

It's April 2011. The sun is back after a long, cold winter.

The water is warming up, the days are getting longer

and people are finally emerging outside to soak up the spring sunshine.

Spring is such an exciting time of year.

Suddenly there's more light in the daytime so you can do more,

everybody's getting outside a lot more.

You feel like you can shake off the winter and the cold

and just enjoy nature again.

I want to see how the arrival of spring changes the landscape

and lives of the Welsh people.

To begin my journey, I'm heading north,

away from the coast, to the mountains of Snowdonia.

Hill farmers have helped shape the landscape of Wales over centuries.

For them, the changing seasons still mean everything.

I've come here to meet Gareth Wyn Jones at his family farm,

high in the Carneddau mountains.

It's five o'clock in the morning.

I'm in Llanfairfechan to find out what spring is like on a farm.

-Morning, Gareth.

-Good morning.

-How are you? Are you all right?

-Not too bad at all.

-Nice to see you.

-Welcome to Llanfairfechan.

Thank you very much.

-Are you ready for some work?

-Absolutely!

Spring comes to North Wales a little later than in the South.

This is a really important time for Gareth.

It's lambing season and he needs all the help he can get.

A lovely day for it. It's a little bit windy.

'Gareth's family has over 3,000 ewes

'and they take a lot of feeding every morning.'

Come on.

Breakfast time for the girls.

How old were you when you started farming?

-When I started walking.

-Really?

Yeah, my father used to take us around.

My boy comes with me the same now,

so something handed down from generation to generation.

We go back over 300 years in these mountains.

COCKEREL CROWS

Ducks. There's some lovely duck eggs here for you.

You are completely self-sufficient here?

Yeah, we've got our own veg patch, we grow everything for ourselves.

And keep our own honeybees as well.

-What more could you want?

-A brewery, really!

It's a little bit difficult to get the planning up here.

Gareth's farm life seems idyllic.

But within minutes, I'm in the middle of a lambing drama.

She's been scanned.

Dog, get back.

-OK?

-OK.

Right, you tell me what you want me to do.

-What we've got there now, two legs.

-Yeah.

-OK? You want to pull them out first, to begin with.

-These two?

Yeah, one at a time.

-Oh, slippery little suckers.

-Yeah.

You try and get your hand like this, gripped.

-Like you're on the second joint there, the second knuckle.

-Yeah.

Keep your hand exactly on the second knuckle. A little pluck.

-OK, that's far enough.

-Yeah.

-The same with the second foot.

-Is this one all right?

-SHEEP BLEATS

You're doing a great job. There's no big rush.

There's no big rush.

One more, and we're there.

One more. Go on. SHEEP BLEATS

That's the one.

-Don't stop now, all the way out. Hold his head. Hold him.

-Come on.

Hey, there we go, little one.

-Go on.

-Oh, look at that.

Bring him round to mummy, then she can have a little lick.

Get back.

Right round to here. OK?

-There you go.

-Let her see.

Oh...

It's important for her to lick it. You come round to me here now.

That's a sign that she's taking it.

What I'm going to do is go away with the dog. You're in charge now.

-Keep his head up?

-He's OK, don't worry about him.

-Just make sure she's...

-Rubbing her nose.

-..rubbing her nose and she' licking him properly.

-OK.

See?

-That's it. Your first lamb?

-Wow!

She's having a good old lick.

Oh, amazing! I've never seen anything been born before.

There we are.

It's funny how you don't feel at all squeamish,

you just kind of go into mode of,

"Right, let's get on with it."

You should call her Violet after my nan who's from Llanfairfechan.

GARETH LAUGHS

But not every birth is this successful.

In a nearby field, we find a young ewe with a stillborn lamb.

What we're going to do now, you go on the bottom side,

-I'll go on the top side.

-OK.

-Make sure she doesn't pass you

because I don't want to let the dog out to disturb the other sheep here with young lambs.

-We'll try and catch her together.

-OK.

-If not, we both might be having a bit of a run.

Go, go, go, go, go.

That's it. Go, go, go, go, go.

Quick!

I'll get the dog. Go on, go on!

OK, OK.

Oh, I'm a bit puffed out.

-I got her.

-Well done!

-Fair play. Don't let go, whatever you do.

-Come on.

-Brilliant.

-It's like playing bulldogs.

-Absolutely.

-Like when you were a kid.

It's lucky we're on the field. Up there would have been more difficult.

I don't know if I would have run so fast up a mountain.

You did fantastic, fair play to you.

'With the mother on board, we now have the unpleasant task of collecting the dead lamb.'

It's still a bit sad, though, isn't it?

It is sad for us as well because...

-it's totally a good lamb, there's nothing wrong with it.

-Ohh.

It's just had something over its nose.

I wonder why it died?

It's still warm, isn't it?

-Oh, yes, still all floppy as well, no rigor mortis yet.

-Yeah.

Oh, poor little thing.

OK. So we'll...

Suddenly a lamb dinner doesn't seem quite so appealing.

'I'm starting to learn that life can be quite harsh on the mountain.

'But farmers have developed a way of ensuring the survival of as many lambs as possible.

'This mother is injured and unlikely to be able to bring up her twins.

'So we hope to foster one of them with the ewe that lost her lamb.'

There's one young ewe there,

-she's a little bit lame, we have done her feet.

-Yeah.

I think we'll take one of her lambs off her.

OK. Aw.

One on the left?

Get the first one to you. This first one.

Aw.

-Hello, little one. Aw.

-Straight from her.

I feel like a child-snatcher, you know.

-It's a new life for him, a new mother.

-Aw.

The next stage in the process is generations old.

Not pleasant, but it works.

Poor little thing, off with its head.

Gareth strips off the skin of the dead lamb to place it over the twin.

This is the most important piece.

It's his back end. That's where a lot of the smell will be.

Ah, right. OK.

Hole for his head in there. OK?

Yeah. Is that all right? Push his ears through.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-That's it.

-There we go.

-OK.

So let's get two holes for the front now.

Come on. There we go.

-One more.

-Aw! You look great!

'If this isn't done, it's likely the ewe will reject the fostered lamb.'

She's got a lovely big bag, hasn't she? Just check the milk's there.

'Even now, acceptance isn't guaranteed.'

He's hungry.

-He's having a good old drink.

-Yeah.

-Aw!

-This colostrum is very important.

-If they don't get this in the first 12 hours, they don't survive.

-Really?

Keep drinking.

-This is what we wanted, isn't it?

-Makes it worthwhile.

-Yeah.

This is the test now to see if it's worked, to see if she'll accept him.

LAMB BLEATS If she starts butting him now, she's...

What do you think? Let's see. Let's see.

She's not butting him.

-She hasn't rejected him.

-No.

So, in my opinion, that's going to be a success story.

That's a very good sign.

Very good sign.

'For the rest of Gareth's flock,

'spring is a time to leave their lowland winter grazing

'and return to the mountains to find the best pasture.

'This ancient practice is deeply rooted in the seasons.

'Years ago, farmers would move with their sheep

'between their winter home, or hendre,

'and the hafod, where they spent the summer.

'Today carries a special significance.

'It's the first day of herding.'

-We'll take them up every single day.

-Really?

Every day, I'll go up and take them up onto the heft,

until they've learnt that's where they're supposed to be -

not to come back down to the gates for food - up there for the summer.

-Lovely day for it(!)

-Fantastic, just what the doctor ordered(!)

'I really want to be a help to Gareth,

'but I'm still learning the ropes

'and I'm absolutely no match for his sheepdogs.'

GARETH WHISTLES

Stand there. Stand there.

-Here!

-Well done!

'Gareth shares 27,000 acres of communal grazing land

'with other local farmers.

'Once they're on the mountain, there are no fences or gates,

'so there's fierce competition for the best ground.

'I thought we were working quickly, but for the first time in 20 years,

'Gareth's neighbour has beaten us to the mountaintop.'

-Bore da. Chi'n iawn, hogiau?

-Haia.

-Bore da.

-Bore da.

-You beat us to it.

Yes. Well, we're very early today.

We thought, "We'll just get it over and done with."

-It's not fair, is it?

-Early bird catches the worm.

We tried to race you up, but you got ahead.

It's the best... Well, the best they've gone up ever, I think.

They just went up.

Usually one or two stragglers try and get down. They wanted to go up.

-I'm not going to live this down.

-Oh, no!

He's loving it, isn't he? He loves it!

'We head on further up the mountain...

'..eventually reaching the heft.'

Are you happy these sheep are here now and safe?

They're on their cynefin now, on the heft.

I don't know if they'll stay there in this big wind, though.

I don't fancy staying in this big wind. Let's go.

You're right. Let's go for dinner.

'By the end of the day, I'm cold, wet and shattered.

'High up in the mountains, the seasons are harsh.

'And as I found out, even in spring,

'the weather can turn brutal in minutes.

'Elsewhere in Wales, the arrival of spring

'is a time when the sun warms the land and the days get longer.

'By mid April, I can see nature

'beginning to stir after the long winter.

'And for my old friend Andrew Price, that means one thing - free food.

'Andrew forages on the Gower Peninsula.

'And I always know when I see him, I'm in for an adventure.'

-Hey.

-Hello there.

-How are you?

-Nice to see you again.

-You too. You too!

-Come and warm up by the fire.

-Oooh, lovely!

-It's a misty old morning, isn't it?

-It is.

-It's going to burn off pretty soon, I think.

-Oooh, that's nice and warm.

-And what's on the menu?

-Well, I hope you're hungry.

We've got a lot of foraging to do,

but as soon as we get down to the low-tide mark,

we'll start looking for razor clams.

We'll blast those out and get onto the rocks later on

and get some mussels, limpets and periwinkles.

-Yum!

-It's going to be a pretty good day.

-Brilliant!

'Since he was a youngster,

'Andrew has been fascinated by the wild food found in Wales.'

When I was about eight years old, my grandad would bring us here

and we'd forage around, look in rock pools, see what we could find.

So it kind of extends from there, really.

'Today, he makes a living out of passing on his knowledge

'to eager pupils like myself.'

Basically, we're at the point

where the tide is going back further than it normally would.

So we've got a good springtide. It's like 3.6 metres.

That means this part of the beach doesn't get exposed to the air often,

so it's a really good place to look for the razor clams.

When we walk along, they feel the vibrations from us.

You normally see a shoot of water coming out of the ground and a little crater forms.

So that's where they are. There's a couple of different ways to get them out.

The traditional method was to hook them out with a kind of harpoon.

But I find that a little bit fiddly.

Another way is to trick them into coming out

-by putting some salt on the top of the hole.

-Ah.

So you put a little mound of salt right where they've gone under.

And an even more dramatic method is to blast salty water,

really strong, concentrated brine, straight down the hole.

-And that'll get them shifting, as well, hopefully.

-Right, OK.

-So are you going to go...? Shall I just follow your...?

-Yeah, OK.

What I normally do is I'll shuffle backwards,

-and if you stay about 30 metres or so in front of me...

-OK.

..and when I've put the salt on the hole, they should come up by the time you get to me.

And what do I do when they come up?

So when they come up,

they'll poke the shell out of the ground a little bit,

probably about that much.

-You need to very carefully grab it.

-Carefully grab?

Well, grab it firmly, but don't pull too hard

because it'll be holding itself firmly

-and trying to pull itself back into the sand.

-OK.

So just hold onto it.

After a few seconds, you'll feel the mussel release a little bit,

-and then you should be able to pull him out.

-OK.

(Oh, look, look! You can see the salt moving.)

(I don't know why I'm whispering.

(I don't think he understands what I'm saying, but...

(Look, look! Here he comes!)

Yee!

Right. Oh!

There we go. I got one, I got one!

Great!

Success! Instant success!

Look at that!

Look how he comes in and out.

It's a bit rude.

'Razor clams, or razor shells,

'are found on sandy beaches all over northern Europe.'

I've never done this before.

Foraging for me is just going and picking some blackberries

or scrumping apples or plums from forest areas.

This is great.

Yeah! Oooh, it's a big one.

'The key to finding them is a beach with a large tidal range,

'and South Wales has some of the biggest tides in the world.

'There are lots of people on the beach, so we only take a handful.

'In recent years, razor clams have become a popular food,

'and it's important to only take as many as you need.'

THEY LAUGH

He's trying to shift that salt now.

-Hee!

-That's a good one.

-That's a good one.

They'd be £15 a bundle in Swansea Market.

What do we need to do with these now?

If we ate them now, they'd be full of sand,

so a bit crunchy. But if you put them into some clean salt water,

so like rock pool clean water,

that will enable them to purge themselves of all the sand,

so when we eat them, they'll be a lot nicer.

'With our clams soaking, Andrew and I head to the woodland to find some salad.'

This is the obvious one that has caught my eye. I like this.

-It's called Jack-by-the-hedge.

-OK.

Or hedge garlic is another name for it.

And it's sort of like the wild garlic, the ramsons,

in the sense that it has a garlic flavour, but not as overpowering.

Oh, we've got another one tucked away in here.

'The spring woodland is full of edible plants.

'Andrew points out hedge garlic,

'wall pennywort and dandelion leaves.

'I find this kind of coastal foraging really exciting.

'Andrew's shown me all these foods that are literally under my toes.'

Mm! Mm.

Some wild foods you can find, and they're...

It's more the novelty of searching for them and finding them

than eating them. They don't truly taste that good.

But this is absolutely...delicious.

Really, really yummy.

I enjoy all the seasons for whatever reason.

Autumn for the berries and things like that.

But when spring comes around, there's a total freshness to everything.

Everything is new and vibrant and ready to go.

And there's something about that.

And I think this epitomises it, really, the fresh seafood, and...

It really does.

What a feast!

'Sitting in the warm sun on a beautiful beach,

'eating food I've foraged myself -

'this is my idea of heaven in Wales.

'With a full belly, I'm back on the road again,

'heading further around the coast to where Wales meets England

'and Britain's longest river finally reaches the sea.

'The mouth of the River Severn has long been a playground for surfers like me.

'But during the spring and autumn equinox,

'a very different kind of wave reaches the shore.'

It's a bit strange.

This is a nice, quiet, peaceful riverbank.

I can't really get my head around the fact that tomorrow morning,

there's going to be a massive wave moving up the river.

It just doesn't really make sense.

'Ever since I was a child, I've wanted to surf the Severn bore.

'It's one of Wales' greatest natural events.

'Since 1955, surfers like me have been teased by the promise

'of riding one of the longest waves in the world.

'With every new and full moon,

'the springtide pushes water up the River Severn.

'As this tide rushes up the narrowing estuary,

'a powerful wave forms and surges upriver.

'The spring equinox produces one of the biggest bores of the year,

'and has always been a marking point for the end of winter.

'I've come to meet Steve King, a bore surfing legend

'who's surfed here for 30 years

'and knows every twist and turn of the river.'

As it comes up, it gets narrower and narrower.

So the water kind of comes in like that.

It can't go sideways. It's got to go somewhere because the riverbed is holding it.

In the end, it trips up over itself, and that's what the bore is -

it's high tide coming in all at once.

So that will just trip up, and then when it drops into deep water, it disappears.

You'll be surprised - it'll be six foot in one section,

and then you'll turn around and it'll disappear.

But it is always different.

We kind of think we know what we're doing,

but it does come and catch us out sometimes.

-Brilliant! I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.

-OK.

'I hardly sleep that night.

'And next morning, the river is eerily still.'

-Anything I should be worried about this morning?

-Not really, no.

Just be careful.

We do surf quite close to the bank sometimes, so there's rocks, trees.

Sometimes you have to duck down underneath a tree.

There's all sorts of stuff in here - fridges, oil drums,

you've got to avoid great big bits of wood.

In some places, there'll be kind of 30, 40 people,

all after just one wave, don't forget. It's one wave.

If I'm honest, I'm feeling a little bit apprehensive

just because I'm surfing a river wave,

which I've never really seen before,

on a board I've never surfed, in a place I don't really know.

And there's lots of different variables to surfing in the sea.

But...um...I'm sure it'll be fine.

Steve is telling me tales of dead sheep

and drums of oil floating down and logs coming down the river.

I just hope I don't fall off.

I don't mind a bit of mud.

'Steve is the world-record holder for distance surfing,

'having travelled over nine miles on the 2006-2007 bore.

'So I'm in good hands as we head downstream.'

This is as far as we can go with the boat because it's so shallow

and it gets dangerous from beyond this point.

So what we'll do, we'll pop in the river now on the boards,

and we'll paddle down as far as you can see. OK?

And then we will wait for the bore to come around the top corner.

'The water is freezing and filthy.

'Here comes the bore, rumbling around the bend,

'sweeping up everything in its path. We turn and paddle.

'And before I know it, I'm riding the Severn bore.'

Whoo!

This is really fun!

Lean sideways, a little bit of shoulder there.

-Yeah!

-It takes it out of you.

-Oh, look at that! Oooh!

-HE LAUGHS

-That's it.

-Whoo-hoo!

-There you go. Right, come back again.

'As the river deepens and widens, the wave fades away beneath me.

'So it's back in the boat and full steam ahead.'

We're charging down river, racing to get ahead of the bore

so that we can jump back in and catch it again.

'As we blast upstream, the wave gets better,

'steeper and faster,

'but also more crowded.

'Hundreds of people come to surf the bore on these big tides every year.

'I jump to my feet again with surfers on either side.

'But this is very different from surfing in the sea.

'Even a canoeist joins in the action.'

I'm really polite in the water, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Sorry about that. I hope I'm not in your way."

And then he just wiped me out and I'm gone!

'But it wasn't just canoeists causing us problems.'

-It's great having a boat.

-We're going to need to wait. Ah!

We're one camera down.

We got seriously splashed,

which is fine for me in my wetsuit, but not fine for the poor camera.

So we're now down to camera number three,

which is considerably smaller.

'The boat is invaluable in getting us ahead of the wave.

'If you fall off here, you have a long wait.

'The next wave is in 12 hours' time.

'We've got one last chance to ride the bore.

'We paddle hard.

'But I'm too far from the bank and can't believe I miss it.

'Steve's years of experience show through

'and he paddles into the best section of the day.

'This is what I dreamt about -

'long rides, ducking under trees

'and weaving through flotsam and jetsam.

'But even a blue raft seems to be doing better than me.

'This is a very different wave from the ocean swell I'm used to.

'If you catch it right, you can surf for over two hours

'and travel 20 miles.'

It's incredible when you think what the big springtide has brought,

and all the people who come to enjoy it and surf it and watch it.

There's thousands of people on the bridges above us.

It's a good day out.

I can't think of a better way to experience spring,

out in the elements, celebrating that magical time

between winter's chill and the warmth of the summer.

It's been a beautiful spring.

But the year marches on and summer is around the corner.

Next time, I take to the skies above the Black Mountains,

riding summer thermals in a glider.

For the fishermen in Aberystwyth,

the summer brings a tasty visitor to our shores.

And I team up with Gareth again for shearing time on the farm.

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