BROAD WATER
A fascinating lagoon, coastline and offshore waters
Snug below the southern slopes of Cadair Idris, at 2,930ft a mighty southern bastion of the Snowdonia range, lies Tal-y-llyn Lake, from where the outflow, the Afon Dysynni, begins its 16-mile, often convoluted journey south-west to reach the expanse of the Broad Water, before squeezing through the narrowest of outflow channels to reach Cardigan Bay. The Broad Water is the only percolation lagoon in Wales, a lagoon separated from the sea by shingle banks through which seawater percolates. Other habitats include sand dunes, salt marsh, mudflats and reed swamp. Extending from the coast in this part of Cardigan Bay are three sarns, submerged rock ridges, moraines left here at the end of the last glaciation – the shortest at some four miles is Sarn Badrig near the Broad Water. Low spring tides along the shore regularly reveal thousands of tree stumps (stumps from perhaps 5,000 years ago) – small wonder legends persist about drowned lands, of Cantre’r Gawelod, a Welsh Atlantis. Eider are present at three regular locations in Wales – Traeth Lavan, in Caernarfon, Whiteford, on the Gower, and north from Aber Dysynni, where numbers have on occasions risen to about 150, though they recently been much lower. The first record of breeding here was in 1998 – subsequently there have been occasional sightings of ducklings, so well worth careful searching. Although probably underrecorded, Red-breasted Mergansers breed at several sites in the county, including the Broad Water, where they also over-winter. The Broad Water is also of local importance for its wintering wildfowl, while breeding birds include Shelduck, Ringed Plover, Redshank and Sky Lark. The sight of Cormorants heading inland at the Broad Water may seem curious but just five miles inland on the magnificent crag Craig Aderyn – the Rock of Birds – there is a colony which has been in existence since at least 1695.