Country diary: The only movement is a party of rooks | John Gilbey

Tre'r-ddôl, Ceredigion: A soft and still day that was robbed of its early promiseAfter cutting through the steep, wooded hillsides from the much higher ground beyond, the Afon Cletwr winds inconspicuously through the village of Tre'r-ddôl. Over time, the path of this narrow river has been channelled and constrained between stone-edged banks, making it so well hidden that it is often heard before it can be seen.Passing a scattering of houses, which seem to have grown directly from the rock outcrops on which they stand, the channel broadens and empties over a stony ford towards the Afon Dyfi. Here the river loses any pretence at having a natural path, as it is caught between two wide, arrow-straight, earth banks first built in the early 1800s - part of a scheme to garner agricultural benefits from reclaiming the "wasteland" of the Cors Fochno peat bog. Continue reading...