Films about conservation in Wales

Over the past year I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of interesting people at National Trust properties across Wales to make short films about their conservation work.

At Cwm Idwal we filmed early when the arctic alpines were blooming and later in the summer when everywhere was purple with heather. Amazing geology and incredible what a difference sheep grazing or the lack of it can make. Here is a link to the English and to the Welsh. 

Cwm Ivy is another magical place down on the Gower where a medieval seawall has been breached and a brand new salt marsh has been created. The transition from pasture to salt marsh was incredibly quick, new species quickly filled the gap. Here is a link to the film.

To give people an idea of the sort of work that goes into managing a National Trust woodland we filmed in each season to show the activities at different times of year. This film condenses a year in the life of Rhodri Wigley and the Dolmelynllyn Woodland into 15 minutes. Here is a link to 

the English and to the Welsh. 

In Ceredigion there are 9 sites which are part of the Save Our Magnificent Meadows project. This particular site was just north of Aberporth and a group of volunteers was being trained to identify plants and thus be able to monitor the progress of the meadows. Here is a link to the film. 

The Cregennan Lakes between Cadair Idris and the Mawddach are the best in Wales, the benchmark against which all other lakes are measured. This film incorporates dive footage which shows the plantlife growing at almost twice the depth of other lakes. 

The waxcaps at Llanerchaeron are beautiful and so is the soil analysis and DNA science which helps you detect which species are present without the need to see the fruiting bodies. Here is a link to the film. 

I always look forward to my visits to Pembrokeshire but as I drove down through the storms I thought it was going to be a wasted journey. Fortunately the Gods were on our side and we had 5 hours of filming before the heavens opened again. This is what they are doing on the Castlemartin Peninsula. 

At Hafod y Llan a second shepherd was appointed to control the sheep which were grazing the wrong parts of the mountain as soon as the first shepherd clocked off at the end of his shift. Here is a link to the English and to the Welsh. 

The geography of the Migneint is so impressive and vast but it still needs managing. This is what is being done to improve the conditions for species such as the Red Grouse. Here is a link to the film. 

I also had the opportunity to make some films about the Llyn Peninsula which were not commissioned by the National Trust but included a lot of their input. Here is a link to one of those films. 

While shepherds watched their flocks

Too many sheep, with consequent overgrazing, has damaged the rich mix of plantlife at Hafod y Llan, the farm that rises from the Nant Gwynant valley floor to the summit of Snowdon. Believe it or not, sheep are picky eaters, with a bit of a sweet tooth for particular plants, leaving others to thrive and dominate the mountain sward.

Bilberry and heather regenerating on the foothills of Snowdon

Since the National Trust acquired the farm 15 years ago the number of sheep has been halved but the plantlife has not recovered everywhere or as well as hoped. The problem is that sheep, like nature, abhor a vacuum and sheep from neighbouring farms have been trespassing. Worse still, they like to graze on the more sensitive areas on the higher slopes of the mountains.

To sort this out a shepherd was employed in 2014 to push the sheep into the correct areas and to evict the trespassers. But when he knocked off, the sheep ‘came out to play’. So this year a second shepherd has been appointed and between the two of them they can provide 7 day cover during daylight hours in the summer. Hopefully the mountain tops will soon be a purple haze of blooming heather and fruiting bilberry with sheep growing fat on the pasture below.

If you’d like to know more about this project, embracing traditional shepherding to tackle a current issue, this film might be of interest (Welsh version first and English version below):