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| | | From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
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Helen Mark visits the Snowdonia National Park or parc cenedlaethol Eryri (Eryri means place of the eagles). It was designated a National Park in 1951 and is the second largest after the Peak District, covering some 838 square miles.
As well as being home to the highest mountain in England and Wales, Snowdonia boasts two mountain ranges.
Eryri has not only some of the most beautiful scenery in Britain, but also a variety of landscapes and habitats for animals, birds and plants; as well as 23 miles of coastline with sand dunes and estuaries; and glacial valleys.
There are more National Nature Reserves in Eryri than any other National Park in Britain. It is home to the Snowdon Lily, Lloydia Serotina, an arctic/alpine plant only present in the park, and the beautiful rainbow coloured Snowdon Beetle, chrysolina cerealis.
Snowdonia National Park
Helen begins her journey through the park by meeting upland ecologist Barabara Jones and together they go in search of the purple saxifrage, an artic alpine plant. The emergence and flowering of the saxifrage is one of the first signs of spring in the mountains. It clings to life in the crevices of the bleak north facing crags of the many Cwms that form the mountains.
Barbara is a keen climber - and she has to be to reach the rarest of plants in Snowdonia - the Snowdon Lily. The Snowdon Lily, although common in the rest of Europe, is only found in Britain in Snowdonia. In the National Park it is on the limit of its southern reach and as such is a good indicator of climactic change.
Electric Mountain houses the generators of Dinorwig power station. Situated near the village of Llanberis, it is a modern industrial wonder of the world. The cavern which houses the electricity generators is so large it could easily accommodate Saint Paul's Cathedral. The main turbine and generator chamber is one of the largest underground chambers excavated by man.
As site warden Clive MacGregor explains to Helen, the power plant comes on line when there is peak demand in the National Grid. There is a lake on top of the mountain that is filled with water and a lake at the bottom that is partially full. A series of pipes takes the water from the upper lake through the mountain and the turbines to the lower lake.
Electricity is generated by the power of the water running at incredible pressure and driving the turbines. During off peak times electric pumps then pump the water from the bottom lake back up to the top and the cycle starts again.
Electric Mountain
Helen meets Kate Williamson and Dave Hewett at a nature reserve near Abergwyngregyn. They are organising a project to monitor the green woodpeckers in the National Park - there has recently been a decline in their numbers and the park authority would like see how many there are left. They are looking for volunteers to play a tape of the male woodpecker's call to see if any real woodpeckers present in the reserve reply. The park will provide tapes and players for the experiment.
Kate can be contacted at [email protected]
or phone 01766-772255.
Helen also meets Duncan Brown - who's counting moths as part of a project to monitior the effects on the wildlife of coppicing the elder forest. The elders were once used by itinerant workers to make clogs for the mill workers in Lancashire but as that demand died out the forest was allowed to grow unchecked so the park started a rotation of coppicing to encourage new growth and regenerate the forest.
Helen then crosses into Anglesey to visit Gareth Lloyd-Jones, Professor of Theology at Bangor University to discuss the importance of William Morgan on the history of the Welsh language. Born on the edge of the national park near Betws-y-Coed, the Rev William Morgan translated the Bible into Welsh in 1588. This translation has been described as the most important book in Welsh history and it's importance to Welsh life and preservation of the Welsh language cannot be overstated.
Morgan's translation meant that Welsh was the only non-state language of Protestant Europe to be the medium of a published Bible within a century of the Reformation - a key factor in keeping the language alive in the chapels and hearths of the remote Welsh valleys.
The Welsh Language
BBC History: The Welsh Bible
Competition
Professor Lloyd-Jones set this week's question: the Welsh flag is a red dragon on a green and white background. Which monarch is associated with the green and white colours of the Welsh flag? The prize this week is a beautifully decorated piece of Welsh slate. Submit your entry by Tuesday, March 12 by clicking on this link - [email protected]
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