‘Croeso i Fferm Wylltach Pentwyn, gwarchodfa natur Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Sir Faesyfed.’

So in early April, in my stumbling beginner’s Welsh, I welcomed an enthusiastic group of Welsh language learners to Pentwyn. Our first Welsh language walk at Pentwyn would be a chance to practice our Welsh conversation while learning about Pentwyn and its wildlife. We had the perfect day for walking, lovely sunshine but also a light breeze that made the stiff walk up Pentwyn’s slopes a bit easier.

I knew that people would find Pentwyn interesting – but I was unsure how it would work as a learners’ walk. I didn’t need to worry, people found their own level and learnt from each other. Everyone was enthusiastic to try out their Welsh conversation, learn new terms and phrases, and contribute their own expertise. It helped that we had a good range of learners – from beginners to advanced. There were even a couple of native speakers, who tolerated our mistakes and provided tactful support while allowing us to stumble to improvement. People were able to drop in and out of conversations in a relaxed way, test their limits, and drop back into English when neurons needed a rest. I tried to introduce as many Welsh terms into my explanations about Pentwyn as possible, particularly Welsh names for flora and fauna. Everyone else contributed the words they knew. We also discussed the alternative Welsh names for many animals and plants. The Welsh words mentioned here, for example, are often just one among several in use.

It certainly felt like early spring (gwanwyn) as we began our walk. We could see plenty of celandine (llygad Ebrill) and the early shoots of emerging blue bells (clychiau’r gog). As we looped around the south side and then up over the north side to the boundary with Beacon Hill Common. Our ancient and veteran trees proved to be good conversation starters, including the ancient oak (derwen) as well as notable ash (onnen), willow (helygen), birch (bedwen), alder (gwernen), and rowan (cerdinen). We saw the occasional bee (gwenynen) and butterfly (pili-pala) but also glöyn byw or iâr fach yr haf and bird song was a constant presence. A chiff chaff (siff-saff) was singing at the start: blackbird (mwyalchen), robin (robin goch), wren (dryw), and song thrush (bronfraith) were in good voice. Above us, kites (barcud), buzzards (bwncath) and ravens (cigfran) circled and displayed. I had hoped we might hear the first curlew (gylfinir) of the year at Pentwyn, but we were not that lucky (though I did hear one on my way home!). We also discuss the other wildlife (bywyd gwyllt) recorded at Pentwyn, such as roe deer (iwrch/iyrches), fox (llwynog), hare (sgwarnog), and even otter (dyfrgi).

As we walked and talked it felt that we were doing more than just practising a second language. We were trying in our clumsy way to make another level of connection with the land. Knowing the word for a thing in another language expands our understanding, providing another perspective or dimension to whatever it is: animal, plant or feature of the landscape (as in rhos or ffridd). It is this connection between land, language and history that Carwyn Graves sees as a key element in finding a uniquely Welsh way to address the climate and biodiversity crisis we face: ‘The cultural framework for any such transition in this land lies latent within the Welsh language.’ Even as humble learners, exploring Pentwyn from a Welsh language perspective felt like a small but important step towards understanding what that framework might look like.

Hopefully, this initial exploration was just the first in a series of Welsh language events at Pentwyn. If you are interested in taking part in future sessions or any other activities at Pentwyn please contact chloe@rwtwales.org.

Written by Eric, Pentwyn Warden