Welsh Wildlife

You may find it strange that experiencing some fantastic and exotic locations has actually fuelled my interest in what the UK has to offer, especially in terms of wildlife. The wildlife of the UK often escape the attention that more exotic creatures receive, but we have a rich and exciting variety of species right here. So my parents and I set out on the trail of some of the more elusive UK animal spectacles.

A tiny Welsh village called Cenarth draws in nature nerds hoping to witness a spectacle that many people don't know happens in the UK - the leaping of salmon up a waterfall. On arrival to the village car park, from where the salmon are viewed, it appears that these salmon have it easy compared to some of their more famous relatives across the pond, as the waterfalls are only a metre or so high. However, the surge of a fast flowing river has its disadvantages for the fish I'm sure. Unfortunately, the salmon were feeling a little lazy the day we visited, but we did meet a family who said they'd seen six salmon leaping the weekend before.

Undeterred we tried to plug in the postcode of our B&B into the satnav, thinking we could try the salmon spotting another day. The satnav however, did not believe the postcode to exist. "Never mind" we thought "we'll type in the road name", but it turns out that didn't exist either. Eventually we found a way to enter the longitude and latitude of the B&B, to which our satnav reluctantly led us to our destination: 'unnamed road near Cardigan'. Our B&B was a patchwork of rooms, which had the odd combination of a private living room, frilly furnishings but a bathroom big enough to party in, complete with a jacuzzi bath!

Seals were on the menu for Sunday (metaphorically). We asked our host for advice and she sent us towards Cwymtydu. We also explored Newport, Dinas Head and Fishguard before giving up on our furry grey friends. Despite the lack of seals, we did see some stunning countryside and lovely coves and beaches. That evening we headed to St. Dogmaels to eat and discovered a restaurant called the Ferry Inn. The food was excellent and, although it was dark when we were there, the restaurant had floor to ceiling windows looking out across the estuary.

Monday was our last chance to see some wildlife, so we spent the morning exploring Poppit Sands, close to Cardigan. It was a fairly long beach with pretty views and plenty of coastal birds to see, including the odd sight of swans paddling around sea birds. I kept seeing something appearing on the beach then disappearing again. I was hopeful it might have been the seal I was waiting for, but then I realised it would be too close to the beach. However, as we walked on the object had attracted the interest of a couple of local men. We got closer to see that it was a seal, but a seal that didn't seem to be moving or, in fact, alive. On getting a little too close we found out it was living and ready to snarl in defence and bear its teeth at humans who decided to get too close. But there was still something strange. It was a pup but without a mother. Seals also breed in colonies, meaning that it is unlikely this seals mother had gone to feed and was coming back for him. I began to feel guilty for wishing so hard to see a seal, but its a fact of life that nature is harsh. As my friend Mufasa said, 'It's the circle of life'.

He was a philosopher...