Iolo: A Wild Life

In this new series, Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he's filmed in Wales during the past 25 years. He also explores the changes he's seen in Welsh wildlife in that time.

It all began for Iolo back in 1996 when he was still working as a warden for the RSPB. He was filmed for the series Visions of Snowdonia, tramping a remote moor looking for the nest of his favourite bird, the hen harrier. Since then, he has made many series for BBC Wales.

Browsing through the archive for the first episode of the series, he discovers delightful barn owl chicks in a Trawsfynydd barn, great crested newts in a housing estate pond in Johnstown, Wrexham and
dormice in a Gwent woodland. He also comes across a stoat on the Great Orme in Llandudno, and arctic alpine plants and relic fish from the ice age in Snowdonia.

Twenty years ago, Iolo filmed water voles in the Glaslyn Valley of Snowdonia. He returns to the same water channel to see is they're still there. He also looks back at his encounters with mice in north Wales, puffins on Skomer Island and oystercatchers in the Menai straits.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see some fantastic wildlife that he's filmed in Wales during the past twenty-five years. He also explores the changes he's seen in Welsh wildlife in that time. In this episode, Iolo goes river dipping in the shortest of shorts in the Severn near Newtown, encounters slippery frogs in a freezing stream, and a family of otters on Stackpole ponds, Pembrokeshire. He recalls filming short-eared owls hunting on waste ground in Kinmel near Rhyl, and a stunning kingfisher on a pond created on reclaimed coalmine land in Dare Valley Country Park. Iolo also despairs over the species that have disappeared over the years including the high brown fritillary in Powys, lapwings in the south Wales valleys, and the extinction of the corn bunting in Wales.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he's filmed in Wales during the past twenty five years. He also explores the changes he's seen in Welsh wildlife in that time. In this episode he recalls filming in bad weather. One time tracking a great grey shrike in a blizzard in the Brecon Beacons. Another time looking for black-throated divers in the middle of a Scottish thunderstorm. Also in the episode, some rare species that he's filmed over the years including honey buzzard chicks in a secret conifer forest, white-clawed crayfish in a stream near Brecon, extremely scarce fresh water mussels in a Clwyd river, and natterjack toads and little terns on the north Wales coast. Iolo also looks at the resurgence of the red squirrel on Anglesey and remembers using a speed camera on a running hare.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he's filmed in Wales in during the past twenty five years. He also explores the changes he's seen in Welsh wildlife in that time. In this episode, he digs up footage from around towns and parks. In one of his first TV appearances, back in 1998, he was chasing lapwing chicks in Llandudno Junction. He also recalls filming kittiwakes nesting on Mumbles pier, and thousands of gulls raiding refuse bags on bin day in Cardiff. Other gems include a barn owl nesting in a tree hole with chicks at Penrhyn Castle, thousands of mining bees nesting on grassland in Pontypool Park, long-tailed tits feathering their nest in Singleton Park, a treecreeper taking a nap in Gregynog Park, and hundreds of bats feeding over Pembroke Mill Pond. Also swallows nesting in a bedroom.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he's filmed in Wales during the past twenty-five years. He also explores the changes he's seen in Welsh wildlife in that time. In this episode, he remembers finding lizards and slow worms on country lanes in Snowdonia back in 2000. Also watching a kestrel take a lizard while walking the Ceredigion coastal path between Cwmtydu and Llangrannog, and bottlenose dolphins hunting for fish off the Mwnt. Iolo also digs up his best scuba dives. Off the Pembrokeshire coast, he found an extraordinary congregation of giant spider crabs mating, a huge sea cucumber and fantastic coral fans. Twenty meters below, off the Lleyn Peninsula, he found a thorny Mediterranean mantis shrimp burrowing on the sea bottom, which can cause a lot of pain. And one of his favourites, a night dive off Cricieth beach. Other gems from the archive include rock pool wildlife in Oxwich Bay, singing birds, and the best view ever of a peregrine nest at South Stack, Anglesey.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he has filmed in Wales during the past twenty-five years. He also explores the changes he has seen in Welsh wildlife in that time. In this episode, he goes back ten years to eight hundred ravens roosting in Newborough Forest, Anglesey and their extraordinary calls. He recalls a visit to Grassholme Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire in 1996 to see a colony of over a hundred thousand gannets. Also in the episode, the wildlife of slate quarries, the breath-taking underground landscape of a mine in Blaenau Ffestiniog, and a fantastic reef formed on a slate-boat wreck off the coast at Nefyn. Other gems include the parachuting displays of skylarks and rock pipits, and a couple of boat trips with fishermen in Cardigan Bay and the Dee Estuary.

Iolo Williams delves into the archives to see the fantastic wildlife that he has filmed in Wales during the past twenty-five years. In this final episode in the series, he recalls one of his first appearances on TV back in 1996 in which he was looking for black grouse on Ruabon Mountain. Terrific birds with an extraordinary courtship behaviour. He also remembers heading to Scotland in 2003 to film mating golden eagles. Also in the programme, badgers playing outside a set in broad daylight, nesting hobbies, an insight into the inventiveness and intelligence of birds, and mushrooms called spongy bum, and ones very good cooked in vodka and poured over ice cream.