"It's not Florida, Spain or Disneyland. Nope, my favourite place in the world is the River Taff.
Sure, it's not the most attractive river in the world. With the trees littered with plastic bags, and everything from trolleys to mattresses in the river, but the changes it's made over the years are dramatic.
Here's a bit of a history lesson on the Taff. From the early to the middle 1900s, the Taff ran jet black with pollution from the coal mines and there was hardly any life in it. The little life that was in it was struggling to survive.
In the late 1900s the Environment Agency did a massive project to clean up the Taff and reintroduced salmon, brown
trout, grayling, sea trout and many other coarse fish species such as barbel, chub, roach, dace and minnows. This made a huge boom in fishing and wildlife.
Practically every time I go to the river around Cardiff I see herons, kingfishers, and dippers. There are even rumours of otters moving in to cash in on the abundance of fish.
But wherever there are friends there are always foes. Predatory mink (escaped from fur farms) and cormorants can make a massive dent in the fish populations.
However, theirs is just a tiny dent compared to the biggest baddys of them all. Yes the most destructive species to the Taff is (drum roll please) - US!
Some people poach the waters clean of fish and many more pollute the water of the Taff with rubbish and waste.
There's still a lot we can do to improve the river. If people could simply stop dumping rubbish in the Taff and its tributaries it would make a tremendous difference - so act now!"
Find out how the people of Maesteg are keeping their river clean
your comments
Thomas Hopkins, Cardiff
Many people believe fishing is simply sitting on a stool watching a rod for hours on end. This simply is not true as fishing can be very exciting as Aaron shows. Best of luck Aaron!
Mr Collins, Cardiff
The rumours about the otters are true - I've seen otters twice between Radyr and Canton bridge.
Chris Williams from Dinas Powys
Maybe Aaron will be the next Iolo Williams? I enjoyed the film very much. Hope Chris produces more in the future. Well done.
Steve Marsh, Penarth
A great article and short film by Aaron. As he points out, the Taff has really come on over the last few decades in water quality, wildlife and fishing making the river a great place to be enjoyed by all. It is a shame to see unscrupulous people poaching salmon stock which are now increasing in numbers over the years. But with the help of members of the public now more willing to report incidents hopefully the Taff has a great future.
Theresa Pilcher, Penarth
What a lovely little film. It was apparent that Aaron really enjoyed the experience and knows a lot about the river. It was a pleasure to watch ... keep it coming Aaron.
Lilian, Gisborne, New Zealand
Like Aaron I also have fond memories of the river Taff. I came home from school one day & decided to go down the bank to the waters edge. Unfortunately I slipped & got my school shoes very wet, I knew mum would be very cross so I spent a long time brushing them with bullrushes to dry them as much as possible. Seems to have worked as I can't remember being scolded or smacked.
