Wildlife charity shares shocking footage of river left eerily silent after third heatwave
Amelia Jones
A Welsh conservation charity has released a shocking video showing a usually thriving river lying eerily silent after the third heatwave of the summer.
The video, filmed in the Amman Valley in south Wales, shows well-known wildlife expert and conservationist Laurence Whitaker or ‘Loz’, who creates content and works on nature recovery in Wales, speaking to the camera while showing footage of a local river that has been polluted by an overflowing pipe.
It was shared on wildlife charity Wild Cymru’s Instagram page, where Loz works as a communications officer. Wild Cymru is an independent conservation charity that works to protect and restore nature across Wales.
In the video, he says: “Everyday this week, I’ve seen kingfishers on this river, today it’s silent. Prynhawn da everyone, I’m Loz and I’m the comms officer for Wild Cumbria and I live here in the Amman Valley, which is usually a beautiful little river system that travels through this whole valley.
“If you’ve followed our stuff for a while you might have seen the dippers that I filmed on here, we have grey wagtails, we have kingfishers, we have otters, and today I’ve come down and this is what I’ve been greeted with.
“This pipe is overflowing and the river downstream is grey, stagnant and stinky. Every day this week I’ve seen kingfishers on this river, every day this week I’ve seen dippers on this river, today it’s silent.
“This is the third heat wave in what six or seven weeks because of the climate crisis that humans have created and this is the only water source that we’ve left for the wildlife that lives in this river.
“This river is the lifeblood of this valley, everything relies on and this is what we do to it. What are we doing? It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
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In the caption of the video, Loz added: “Imagine being a badger, getting through the third heatwave of the summer so far, and this is the water you’re left with to drink.”
He also told his followers that the organisation promptly contacted Natural Resources Wales about the pipe leak. He said they were quick to get in touch and gather more information in order to investigate the matter.
Natural Resources Wales have been approached for comment.
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