The uplands of Wales

At first glance the chilly uplands of Wales appear to be little more than inhospitable, brooding expanses. Yet it is the very hostility of this land that has helped create some of the most dramatic Welsh wildlife - superbly adapted to the toil and rigour of a bitter climate. The uplands are in fact a land of treasures.

The rainbow beetle - a relic from the last ice age - clings to life high on Snowdon, where it feeds on wild thyme. We can see extraordinary arctic-alpine flowers on the high mountain cliffs. Then there are those oceanic species only to be found along the breezy western European seaboard.

Wales is a land of mountains! The Cambrian range stretches like an arched spine from north to south.  The Snowdonia chain all but falls into the sea in the northwest; and the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains link this small country in a crown of rock. 

The uplands don’t run together – you can’t hop, skip and jump from mountain to mountain.  The mountain ranges of Wales conceal myriad small valleys, a wealth of different landscapes and wildlife.