Rasping birds of paradise

Cwmpengraig, Carmarthenshire A jay. It will be here soon enough, once it's finished its taunting of some poor tawny owl

The rivers that powered innumerable mills in north Carmarthenshire's old flannel-weaving district spill down narrow oakwood valleys to join afon Teifi upstream of Newcastle Emlyn. These past few weeks their lovely network of paths - to experience which in May and June is one of the great pleasures of Welsh landscape - has been fragmented as floods pour over the stepping-stones where old pedestrian ways cross from bank to bank in search of the easiest route.

After days of rain I walked upstream for half a mile from the chapel in Cwmpengraig, and arrived at a crossing-point that had all the threat of a Highland burn or a Garhwali nullah. Somewhere under the brown torrent were great square blocks of limestone, their presence only betrayed by the flooding water's turbulence and roar. I sat on a fallen trunk, took out my flask, and lent an ear to the sounds of the wood.