August

As we make our way along the bank upstream, a fisherman in chest-height waders flicks a fly for the silvery sea trout. The Ystwyth was known as a salmon river until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the waters were poisoned by run-off from the lead mines where the headwaters rise in the mountains. Now, half a century since the mines were closed, the river runs clean and clear, a watery highway for the sewin, as sea trout are known in the region, on their way upriver to spawn. We fail to spot the sewin, but there are other more junior versions darting through the shallows, picking their way among the smooth stones of the river bed, encouraging the children to brave the current in pursuit.