Tir : The Story of the Welsh Landscape

A journey through the natural landscapes of Wales.

In Tir—the Welsh word for “land”—writer and ecologist Carwyn Graves takes us on a tour of seven key characteristics of the Welsh landscape. He explores such elements as the ffridd, or mountain pasture, and the rhos, or wild moorland, and examines the many ways humans interact with and understand the natural landscape around them. Further, he considers how this understanding can be used to combat climate change and improve wildlife populations and biodiversity.

By diving deep into the history and ecology of each of these landscapes, we discover that Wales, in all its beautiful variety, is just as much a human cultural creation as a natural phenomenon: its raw materials evolved alongside the humans that have lived here since the ice receded.

In Tir – the Welsh word for ‘land’ – writer and ecologist Carwyn Graves takes us on a tour of seven key elements of the Welsh landscape, such as the ffridd, or mountain pasture, and the rhos, or wild moorland. By diving deep into the history and ecology of each of these landscapes, we discover that Wales, in all its beautiful variety, is at base just as much a human cultural creation as a natural phenomenon: its raw materials evolved alongside the humans that have lived here since the ice receded. In our modern era of climate concerns and polarised debates on land use, diet and more, it matters that we understand the world we are in and the roads we travelled to get here. By exploring each of these key landscapes and meeting the people who live, work and farm in them, Tir offers hope for a better future; one with stunningly beautiful, richly biodiverse landscapes that are ten times richer in wildlife than they currently are, and still full of humans working the land.