Wales Feed

Swollen rivers and more rain to come

2011-01-12T13:36:27+00:00

I've decided I don't like January - it's dark when you wake up and dark when you go home at night. Roll on Spring I say and hopefully some better weather too!

The rain I promised yesterday has well and truly arrived with warnings of heavy rain up and down the country.

In the 12 hours leading up to midday today, 24mm of rain has already fallen at Mumbles Head weather station in Swansea, so just under an inch.

20 mm of rain was recorded at Capel Curig in Snowdonia and there's plenty more rain to come so some large rainfall totals are expected.

The heaviest rain will be in the south and west and Mid Wales. Typically 40 to 60 mm by the end of today with over 100 mm on higher ground in Powys, Ceredigion and Gwynedd.

Some rivers are already swollen and at the time of writing, there are seven flood alerts in force across Wales and this number is set to rise.

The River Dee at Llangollen during the floods in 2009. Image by Dave on Flickr.

The reason for the current heavy rain is an active front spreading through southern England tomorrow, bringing plenty of moisture in from Atlantic.

Tonight the heavy rain will ease but more heavy rain is expected tomorrow in South Wales.

Based on the latest information, another 60 - 80mm of rain is predicted in the Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend area with a risk of 100 mm (4 inches) in the south west Brecon Beacons with extensive low cloud, mist and hill fog so drive carefully.

For Mid Wales, the north and east should be drier tomorrow with some drizzle in the west.

Friday will bring some respite from the rain with drier, brighter conditions and the odd blustery shower.

On Saturday, more rain is expected with the heaviest rain falling in the north and west accompanied by strong to gale force winds.

Sunday will start wet and windy but it should turn drier and brighter during the afternoon.

Take care

Derek

A good soaking over the next few days

2011-01-11T16:44:29+00:00

Last year was drier than average in Wales. Dennis Smith from Llandeilo recorded just 39 inches of rain over 12 months but it's going to be anything but dry over the next few days...and we could expect to see up to 6 inches falling on higher ground.

It is however going to turn milder (which will help with the heating bills) but very wet at times with a risk of flooding.

The rain will be heaviest on high ground in the south and west and in Snowdonia. Rainfall totals between 75 to 150mm are possible. That's 3 to 6 inches and the Met Office has issued weather watches for the heavy rain.

On Friday, the rain should clear bringing sunshine and showers in the afternoon.

Saturday will be mild but wet and windy with gales although the south east may well be drier.

So, most of us are in for a good soaking over the next few days with many rivers becoming swollen.

Hopefully you won't need it but the Floodline number may come in handy - 0845 988 1188, or visit the Environment Agency's website for details of any flood watches and flood warnings that are issued.

Derek

A Wye Wye Wye wonder

2010-11-18T09:45:14+00:00

Remember the UK River Vote I mentioned back in August?

Well the votes have been counted and a Welsh river has taken the top spot!

The River Wye was voted the public's favourite river in Wales and England with voters describing it as "magical and timeless" and "a haven for wildlife".

The Wye is one of Britain's most important rivers and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Not only is it a stunning river to look at but it also provides excellent habitat for salmon, otters, kingfishers, rare lamprey, eels and many other creatures.

Interestingly the River Thames came second but also first in the Worst Rivers category?!

Watch a nice clip about the River Wye.

Find out more on BBC News Online

Thanks for following us on Twitter by the way! The number of followers is going up daily which is always nice to see :)

Gull

Cast your vote into a river

2010-08-31T08:49:33+00:00

The Our Rivers campaign was launched last year to campaign for clean, healthy rivers across England and Wales and not long after - a Government report found that 74% of rivers were failing to meet European environmental targets.

The report found that just 5% of rivers in England and Wales were in pristine condition. The rest face a variety of pressures including; run off pollution from fertilisers and poorly designed urban drainage.

Other issues included invasive riverbank species such as signal crayfish and American mink and low water levels caused by over abstraction - the removal of too much water for irrigation treatment and drinking water purposes.

Some of you may remember the blog I wrote back in February concerning the Environment Agency Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government's ambitious plans to improve all waterways in Wales by 2015.

The River Taff in the heart of Cardiff by Gale:

This summer saw thousands of fish being rescued as many of our rivers dropped to exceptionally low levels thanks in part to a hot, dry start to the summer.

Around 2,000 fish including gudgeon, trout, eels, rudd and chubb were rescued after becoming trapped by low levels of water feeding into the River Taff in Cardiff.

Now is your chance to get involved!

The Our Rivers Campaign which includes the RSPB, WWF-UK, the Angling Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association is calling on people in Wales to take part by going online and voting for their 'best' and 'worst' river in England and Wales.

To cast your vote, visit the Our River campaign website. Voting ends on 31 October 2010.

British Waterways want kingfisher spotters

2010-03-30T10:31:41+00:00

British Waterways' national ecology manager, Mark Robinson, explains: "We have had a hard winter this year and although nature is pretty resilient, we think many species will have suffered. The good news is that our waterways act as green corridors connecting towns, cities and farmland, and providing vital shelter and a winter larder for wildlife struggling to survive and recover. However, some species will have been particularly hard hit.

Kingfisher by Kelvin Dean

"Frozen water and plummeting temperatures may have significantly reduced kingfisher populations, with the possibility that many lost the battle against the cold. It is therefore particularly important for us to monitor what species will need our support over the coming year and we're asking the public to help us do that."

British Waterways is also running a photography competition alongside the survey for adults and children, with prizes of up to £100 available. To find out more and to download a wildlife survey guide, visit www.waterscape.com/wildlifesurvey.

Cleaner rivers for Wales by 2015?

2010-02-17T10:29:56+00:00

The Environment Agency Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government have announced ambitious plans to improve all waterways in Wales by 2015 and return them to a "near natural" condition by 2027.

They aim to ensure water companies, farming groups, industry and councils work together to tackle pollution.

Here are some recent water quality findings from the Environment Agency website:

Biological quality - an indicator of overall 'health' of rivers

"Our aim is to get as many rivers as possible iclassed as excellent or good. In 2008, 72% of English rivers were at this level - the best on record, this is up from 55% in 1990".

"88% of Welsh rivers were of good or excellent quality - again, the best on record, compared with 79% in 1990".

Chemical quality - an indicator of organic pollution in general

"In 2008 79% of English rivers were at excellent or good quality, up from 55% in 1990".

"95% of Welsh rivers were of good or better quality, up from 86% in 1990".

Nutrient status - phosphate and nitrate in rivers

"Our aim is to continue to reduce the number of rivers with high concentrations of nutrients. High concentrations are classed as greater than 0.1mg/l for phosphate and 30mg/l for nitrate".

"In 2008, 51% of English rivers had high concentrations of phosphate compared with 69% in 1990. High concentrations of nitrate were found in 32% of English rivers in 2008 compared with 36% in 1995".

"8.5% of Welsh rivers had high concentrations of phosphate in 2008, compared 26% in 1990. High concentrations of nitrate rarely occur in Welsh rivers".

It sounds like great news for Welsh rivers, wildlife, anglers and other water sport enthusiasts if all of the proposed plans are effective.

The implications are huge especially for rivers where overflow pipes, agricultural run off and sewage can be a problem during and after heavy rain fall.

So what condition is your local river in? Does it support a good eco-system or is it in dire need of a clean up? I'd love to hear your views and comments.

You can read more about this story on BBC News online.

Gull

Photos: Swollen rivers

2009-11-26T08:06:17+00:00

The rivers are swollen throughout Wales thanks to all this rain.

I've had these photos in from reader Colin Roberts who says, "This is the river Dee in Llangollen which passes the bottom of our garden:"

Derek

Why ice can be nice

2009-01-12T10:54:26+00:00

It's been an eye-wateringly cold start to 2009. However this has led to some glorious crisp days and with the sun low in the sky it brings out all the shapes and contours of the surrounding countryside. If you take a camera out with you it makes for some great photo opportunities.

Like many rivers my local, the Sirhowey river in Caerphilly, froze over creating strange formations and intricate ice patterns.

I spent a good few hours walking up the river taking it all in with just a hungry grey wagtail for company. As well as the visual transformation there's nothing quite like the sound of walking on ice for sheer enjoyment of the crunching and crackling that one gets.

The big freeze has meant that many birds are now coming to bird feeders looking for an easy meal. Birds that would usually stay away from gardens have been pouring in and it's been a real treat over the festive period to see a myriad of our feathered friends. These include a posse of long-tailed tits (that look like lollipops!), a Zorro-like nuthatch and even a woodpecker turned up.

Continuing the bird theme, be sure to check out the recent Natural World: Cuckoo programme on iPlayer. The cuckoo is one of nature's true hustlers and con-artists and this programme looks into tricks the cuckoo employs and the science behind it - magic.

See a salmon spectacle

2008-11-28T14:15:28+00:00

Look out for flashes of silver as the females make nests called redds in the gravel to deposit her eggs. You can pick out the position of the redds in the river as the gravel is much lighter than the surrounding river bed. This is caused by the salmon effectively cleaning the silt off the gravel as it excavates the small trench.

Large males can also be seen defending territories and seeing off would-be suitors. One thing I've also found interesting is the story of the aptly named 'precocious parr'.

Parr are small male juvenile salmon. They remain in freshwater for one to four years, feeding on insects before changing into 'smolts' and heading for the ocean during spring of their second, third or fourth year.

The 'precocious parr' have a cunning tactic of getting in with the females. Due to their small size and sneaky manoeuvres, they're able to dart unoticed under the much larger mature spawning salmon and fertilize some of the newly laid eggs.

Why not check out some salmon spawning for yourself this weekend? The Wye and Usk Foundation are hosting a river walk this Sunday to witness this event and there are still places available. Give them a ring to book.

You can also check out our amazing archive clips of leaping salmon on the river Dee.

So, where are the other hotspots across Wales for watching salmon? We'd love to hear from you if you've caught a glimpse of their amazing acrobatics this autumn so drop me a line with your recommendations using the comment form below.

The eel's mammoth journey

2008-10-09T09:05:06+00:00

Unknown to me it had just made the journey all the way from the Sargasso Sea (south of Bermuda) and now it was in my hand, measuring only eight centimetres or so.

Eels are one of the truly great animal mysteries. No-one has ever witnessed or found them spawning. It's puzzled people for many years: Aristotle thought they came from rotting seaweed and even Sigmund Freud kept one to try to find out the answer.

It has been deduced that they spawn in the Sargasso Sea and make their way across the Atlantic as tiny creatures using the oceans currents such as the gulf stream.

They then travel up rivers, climbing weirs and other obstacles to make it to into the river system, an incredible effort for such a small fish.

They will spend most of their lives in fresh water and grow in size until it comes to the time when as an adult eels (now a pretty hefty creature) start heading downstream (and across land even) and head out into the ocean to start the journey back to the Sargasso Sea.

This will be one final journey to spawn and start the cycle again.

All epic stuff, and in an age of technological advances where people communicate each others' locations using a raft of devices, it's amazing to think that we still don't really know where the eel goes on its journey.

So why am I talking about them now? Well autumn is the time when the adults start their journey and start moving out from the rivers out to sea. It's dependent on rainfall and the stages of the lunar cycle but across the country they are starting their long and final swim.

On a more sober note over the last 20 years there has been a 90% reduction in the population abundance in Europe and this is serious news for our slivery tourists.

There are a number of factors involved: netting, fishing and barriers to migration, not to mention possible disruption from climate change to the currents that bring them across the Atlantic as young.

It is also sad to think not everyone likes eels. Another recollection I have was the attitude from a minority of anglers who took a dim view of eels and persecuted them for tangling their lines up. It's a practice I hope has stopped.

Like many things in wildlife they are inspirational and I'd like them to not go the same way as salmon and disappear from some of our rivers. Best of luck Eels - have a good trip.

And here's a sneak piece of information for you: we hopefully should be meeting some conger eels in this year's Autumnwatch, these huge sea creatures can reach up to three metres long - watch this space!

The effects of flooding

2008-09-11T08:25:47+00:00

Wales was particularly affected with the River Wye bursting its banks and the Monnow rising hugely (see the picture) not to mention the flooding in the valleys.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, rivers are extraordinary things when they're in flood and usually wildlife and animals have ways to deal with it.

However it's not always ok. I remember stories from last year's floods of people finding fish in flooded car parks, not to mention the pollution caused by toxins and other harmful materials that large amounts of rainfall brings.

But interestingly the large amounts of water have both good and bad implications. I spoke to Anna Gutherie from the Wildlife Trust about what the possible effects may be.

She said that invertebrates could be at risk with many insects and spiders having been washed away by the flash floodwaters. This would potentially mean that area would bea poorer feeding ground for birds afterwards.

On the other hand, the waters would have meant that many plant species will have been dispersed as seeds or twigs in the flood waters and may have colonised new areas. So it seems it may go both ways as long as the natural balance can be restored.

However, Julian Branscombe from the Gwent Wildlife Trust made an interesting point on how the measures needed to combat flooding could potentially have harmful affects on wildlife and habitats.

He said that the rebuilding and engineering work now needed to lessen the chances of future landslips could threaten native habitats and species. Natural features like spring-lines, old meadows and healthy slopes may be destroyed.

As Julian explained, it all serves to highlight the surprising and insidious ways that the environment can be affected by changes to our climate. At first it may seem that wildlife is simply affected by flooding, then by the measures needed to combat it. But in fact the root cause to all of this may be human-influenced climate change.

Food for thought indeed...

Here's my pick from this week's wildlife web

One for the spider lovers out there!
An interesting site that allows you to view Flickrpictures in time and place
Pictures of the recent flooding

Rivers in flood

2008-08-18T12:47:12+00:00

Looking at the rivers it's amazing to think that all the life in them doesn't get washed away in the brown soup marching downstream, but the fish and other creatures are able to somehow find eddies and spots to shelter as it passes.

In fact one species which welcomes the high water is the migrating salmon.

The high water is a green light for them to swim up river from the sea and lower reaches as it gives them enough water to pass waterfalls and other obstacles in their way.

On the Wye, which is one of the longest rivers in the UK, they have reached as far as Builth Wells and make this journey in impressive time if the conditions are right.

Although fish aren't exactly the most charismatic of creatures I still think they are pretty amazing considering the epic nature of their return journey to the place of their birth.

Coal rivers

I went down Big Pit this weekend and it reminded me how the wildlife in the coal mining valleys has bounced back since the time of the coal industry.

In the valley where I live (where Pochin Colliery was situated), we have otters, ravens, peregrines, trout, dippers and kingfishers; the list goes on, and this is only really a few decades after the colliery closed.

In fact, I was talking to a local this week about how he used to fish in the river. He would "time it" for the periods when the river wasn't black because of colliery lorries driving through it!

When this happened he would simply reel in, have a cup of tea and wait till it cleared before starting to fish again.

I hope the weather gets better; fingers crossed but it has made for a few rainbows as you can see from this week's picture.

Slow worm rescue

2008-07-29T07:52:04+00:00

I was next to the Sirhowy river near Blackwood looking for signs of otters after previously finding some otter poo, or 'spraint'. Now poo is not usually something to get excited by but otter poo is pretty special, bearing in mind that the valleys aren't especially known for its otters.

While I was peering over the bank I noticed a twig-like object that seemed to be out of place and then realised that it was looking at me! It was in fact a slow worm.

Slow worms are harmless. They look like snakes but are in fact lizards with eyelids but no legs. This one had presumably been attacked by a predator and found itself in the chilly waters of the river. As reptiles are cold-blooded animals and need the sun and warmth to move, it was pretty helpless stuck on a rock, in a river with the evening closing in.

I gently scooped up the smooth skinned fella which seemed in good nick, just a bit cold and immobile. I placed it in my top pocket to warm it up before letting it go next to the compost heap nearby. Compost heaps are a good place for slow worms as there are lots of worms and insects for it to eat while giving it warmth.

Slow worms are quite common and are one of the more widespread of our reptiles in the UK. Although they keep themselves to themselves they are found around humans as they like things like compost heaps and aluminium corrugated iron sheets that warm up in the sun.

With this in mind it seems that quite often cats and other creatures will find them. I spoke to Tony Gent from the Herpetological Conservation Trust about what you should do if you find one.

First off - if the slow worm is fine, leave it alone

If the slow worm is in trouble:

Place the slow worm somewhere that has suitable cover or refuge as close as possible to where you found it (grassy tussock, group of rocks, bushes etc). This should provide a variety of environments for the slow worm to chose, offering humidity, shelter, food etc.
Don't put the slow worm in places of excessive heat, for example on the radiator, airing cupboard or glass jar.
Keep handling to a minimum as the slow worm might 'drop' its tail. This is a defence mechanism where it loses its tail in order to get away from predators.
If the animal is injured it's best to consult an animal welfare service or to leave nature take its course.

Use the comment form below to drop me a line if you've spotted any slow worms recently.

http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/slow_worm.htm

http://www.arg-uk.org.uk/default.htm

This week's wildlife web

With webcams being common currency these days I found this top 20 wildlife webcams list interesting. Have you installed a webcam in your garden?

With the school holidays underway, here are a few family events to watch out for over the coming week.

Nature Detectives - Magor Marsh, Newport, 5 August

Introducing dragonflies and damselflies - Ebbw Vale, 7 August

Vole Visit - 'Tails of the Riverbank' - River Marteg, 31 July, 2-4pm

Picnic with a Porpoise - Point Lynas, Anglesey, 5 August

Butterflies at Lavernock Reserve, Penarth, 2 August