I was lucky enough to spend a pleasant evening in the company of BBC Wales and Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams last week.
Iolo Williams worked for the RSPB from 1985 until 1998 as the Species Officer for Wales, his main duties monitoring endangered species such as Red Kite, Black Grouse and Chough. He admitted he only left as he was threatened with a desk job, but his appearances on television as an unofficial spokesman on all matter Welsh wildlife brought him to the attention of program producers at the BBC. As he explained during his talk, he initially refused to get involved in television, as he knew how long it takes to make a program. He said he would invariably get distracted by the wildlife going around him, and would rather be looking for nests or what was calling from some nearby tree, than trying to film a piece to camera for the umpteenth time. Fortunately for us, he changed his mind, and he has given us some of the most incredible natural history programs the BBC have produced in the past decade, as well as highlighting our wonderful wildlife on Springwatch in recent years.
Iolo was giving a talk at The Village Hotel in Cardiff on Welsh Wildlife to raise funds for a charity trek up Kilimanjaro he is participating in later this year. It was not the first time I have met Iolo, having bumped into him on a few occasions at Newport Wetlands whilst he has been recording for his Radio Cymru nature series Byd Iolo or Galwad Cynnar, and he joined me on the RSPB stand at the Welsh Ornithological Society Conference of 2012. It has reassuring to learn by chatting with him that he has the same luck in seeing those near mythical birds, Bearded Tits, as I down at Uskmouth. I knew that we would be in for an interesting evening as his enthusiasm for wildlife is infectious and knows no bounds.
The talk was a journey from the Welsh mountains to under the waves and it highlighted all the flora and fauna we are blessed with in this wonderful Principality of ours. We all associate Iolo with birds generally, but it was good to see that our native plant species were included in the talk. He started our journey with the Snowdon Lilly, a delicate white flowering plant that is found nowhere else in the UK other than on the slopes of Snowdon. We then encountered our first bird, that uplands specialist the Black Grouse. Iolo enthusiastically played out a typical lek, comparing it to a nightclub but with the males doing the strutting to attract a mate, rather than the females. Moving into the ancient woodlands of mid Wales Iolo enthused about another bird that is on my own personal bucket list, the Pied Flycatcher. He also explained how climate change was affecting these birds, with their arrival beginning earlier in spring year on year. This was due to their main prey item, winter moth caterpillars becoming more abundant earlier in the season than ever before. The Pied Flycatchers arrive from their migration and can gorge themselves on the abundant supply of the caterpillars of the Winter Moth, unfortunately by the time they have young in the nest the caterpillars are short in supply. They simply cannot find enough food to feed their young.
The great Welsh iconic bird the Red Kite featured as we headed into the valleys. It was clearly a success story Iolo was quite proud of. I recently saw further evidence of the spread of these magnificent birds when I saw my first one in Gwent flying over the Celtic Manor Golf Course. Another icon, our Welsh daffodil got a special mention, with Iolo imploring local councils to plant our native species rather than the foreign varieties that they seem to favour.
We had now arrived at the lowlands and the coast and we heard of the plight of the Lapwing. This rapidly declining bird has suffered badly from habitat loss. All the best efforts of the conservation groups seem to be struggling to turn around the fortunes of this species. The summer that never was in 2012 has not helped, with these birds being ground nesters and the continual cold and rain washing out scores of nests. They are also acutely vulnerable to predators, and their eggs and chicks are easy prey despite Lapwings distraction broken wing tactic to try and draw attention away from the nest. Hopefully their fortunes can turn around, as I for one love watching their erratic flights and hearing their “pee-wit” call around the pools at Goldcliff.
Iolo concluded his talk by claiming the true iconic bird of Wales shouldn’t be the Red Kite, but must surely be the Manx Shearwater, simply because their breeding colonies off the coast of Wales are of such international importance. He implored people to visit Skomer Island, but not just for Puffins, but for the other wildlife it holds, from basking seals and dolphins to the sea bird colonies and Ravens and Choughs. And so our journey ended under the waves to a round of rapturous applause by those present. It had been a highly entertaining hour and a half journey from the tops of Snowdonia to the sea floor off the coast of Pembrokeshire. I suspect a considerable amount of money had been raised for the trek judging by raffle ticket sales and from the busy merchandise stall.
I would like to wish Iolo all the best on his attempt to trek up Kilimanjaro with all the other participants, there are some other familiar faces going in the shape of Rhod Gilbert; Welsh rugby stars Martyn Williams and Stephen Jones, as well as a whole host of other people.
If you wish to read more about the trek or sponsor Iolo feel free to click the links below.
Iolo Williams - Just Giving Page
Trek Kilimanjaro
© All Images Anthony Walton except Male Pied Flycatcher used by kind permission from John McHale.
Brilliant night very entertaining!
Born Free Taxed to Death!!