Latest news with #IoloWilliams
Wales Online
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
BBC Springwatch star Iolo Williams' life off-screen from major health scare to family life
BBC Springwatch star Iolo Williams' life off-screen from major health scare to family life Iolo Williams is a well-known face on TV, but the Springwatch star's world was rocked by two major health emergencies Iolo is back presenting Springwatch (Image: BBC ) Iolo Williams, the Welsh naturalist, broadcaster, and writer, is back on our screens for the 2025 series of Springwatch, which continues at 8pm on Tuesday, May 27, on BBC Two. A familiar face on screen, Iolo has presented numerous nature and wildlife series for the BBC and S4C over the years. He is best known for BBC's The Watches, Winterwatch, Springwatch, and Autumnwatch, having joined the popular series as a regular presenter in 2019. He also has his owns series, Iolo's River Valleys, airing at 7pm on BBC Two on Tuesday, May 27. In 2023 Iolo had to withdraw from presenting Springwatch after suffering a heart attack during a six-mile run in the Welsh countryside. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter . The 61-year-old spoke openly about the frightening experience, which resulted in him having a stent fitted, and later revealed he also suffered from an embolism. In a concerning update from May, 2023, he shared an update on social media from his hospital bed, saying: "Unfortunately I can't co-present @BBCSpringwatch this year. I had a stent inserted in April, which released a clot, that, this week, caused an embolism! "My demise has been greatly exaggerated; thanks to brilliant friends, wonderful family and the excellent @NHS. Go Megan and team SW!". Article continues below Sharing more about the incident later, Williams recounted his routine six-mile jog through the Welsh countryside, unexpectedly ending in a heart attack. Realising immediately what was happening yet far from help, he had to endure a painful walk back to his vehicle, where his phone was left, managing the situation with remarkable fortitude. "It came like a bolt out of the blue," Iolo recounted to The Mirror. "I knew what it was – intense pain under my sternum. It was a heart attack. And I thought well, I can't go down here! So I walked on, crouched a little bit every now and again when the pain got a little bit worse. "Got to my car, phoned for an ambulance and they said it would be 90-odd minutes. So my wife, Ceri, came down, drove me to hospital and from then on I was in the hands of the NHS. They were superb." Iolo with his Springwatch co-presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan (Image: SHARED CONTENT UNIT ) While filming for a new series in Port Talbot, Iolo suffered another medical emergency. He said: "We were about to go in to film and I got in a car, in the passenger seat, and all of a sudden I just couldn't put the seatbelt on. "I couldn't understand why. The driver was asking what's the matter and I couldn't communicate. So they rushed me to hospital 10 minutes away and injected some high-level aspirin in liquid form." A cardiac stent had been previously fitted, which might have attributed to a blood clot leading to an embolism. Iolo revealed: "It went around my body for six weeks and then it jammed in a blood vessel in my medulla oblongata – the left-hand side of the base of my brain. The left-hand side operates the right-hand side of your body so I was paralysed. "But luckily, the NHS jumped into action again and in probably a couple of hours the use of my right arm, right leg had come back. Speech took probably the best part of four or five days to come fully back but there were no long-term ill-effects whatsoever." Iolo recently gave a health update, saying: "I got the use of my arm and my leg back, so I can still walk and do what I enjoy doing, and that was generally what I was thinking. "For me, if I'm going to die, I'd rather die doing what I love, and I love being outside. I love doing wildlife programmes, I love guiding. And if I die showing people a white tailed eagle or die showing people red kites in north Wales, what a way to go." Iolo has been a familiar face on television since the 90s, starting his media career with BBC Two's Visions of Snowdonia. This programme chronicled the lives of six individuals residing and working on the slopes of Wales' highest mountain. Before his days as a presenter he dedicated nearly 15 years to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as the Species Officer for Wales. However, when a second series of the BBC Two show was commissioned in 1999, Iolo chose to leave the RSPB and embark on a full-time media career. Since then, he has presented a variety of shows including Canals of Wales with Iolo Williams, Iolo's Natural History of Wales, Wild Wales, Rugged Wales and Great Welsh Parks. Yet, Iolo is perhaps most recognised for his work on The Watches. Despite a successful television career and a packed schedule, Iolo has also penned a number of books, boasting five publications under his belt. His works include Blwyddyn Iolo (2003), Crwydro (2004), Wild about the Wild (2005), Wild Places Wales (2016), and Wild Places UK (2019). In his spare time, Iolo regularly contributes to several magazines, including BBC Wildlife. Article continues below Iolo and his wife Ceri Williams share a private family life, having two children together but preferring to keep their personal affairs away from the media spotlight. After a heart attack hit him during a run last year, Iolo was grateful for his "brilliant friends" and "wonderful family", praising his wife Ceri's quick thinking in driving him to the hospital when an ambulance was delayed.
Wales Online
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
BBC Springwatch 2025 start time, locations and presenting line-up
BBC Springwatch 2025 start time, locations and presenting line-up Popular nature series Springwatch is back for 2025 Springwatch is celebrating its 20th anniversary (Image: SHARED CONTENT UNIT ) Nature lovers and those who just love cwtching up on the sofa to watch some feel good stories are in for a treat on Monday, May 26, when Springwatch returns. The nature show, co-presented by Welsh host Iolo Williams, is back for 2025. It will be the show's 20th anniversary year and in this series, there are new locations and challenges for the team. With two decades of unprecedented access to nests, badger setts, otter holts and waterways, over this time the series has captured behaviours never seen before. Here is everything you need to know about Springwatch 2025. When does Springwatch air and how many episodes? Springwatch will begin on BBC Two on Monday, May 30, at 8pm. The show will broadcast live every Monday to Thursday for the next three weeks, with the final episode airing on Thursday, June 12. There will be 12 episodes in the series in total. Article continues below Who are the Springwatch presenters? Chris and Michaela will be presenting together (Image: BBC ) There are three main presenters for Springwatch 2025, Chris Packham, who has presented Springwatch since 2009, Michaela Strachan, who has presented Springwatch since 2011, and Iolo Williams, who joined the team in 2019. They will also be joined by other presenters, Lira Valencia, Jack Baddams, Hannah Stitfall, Megan McCubbin, who is Chris's step daughter and Sean Ronayne. Where is Springwatch filmed? Springwatch will be filmed across many different locations, including some new sites. Chris and Michaela will be based and will be leading the series from Longshaw Estate in the Peak District. Iolo will be broadcasting live from Northern Ireland as for the first time on Springwatch, he embarks upon a three-week nature trek through some of the region's most diverse wildlife hotspots. Article continues below This will include Belfast, Rathlin Island, and Mount Stewart. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter . Other locations shown will include Sheffield, Cornwall, Dartmoor, and the Scottish island of Mull.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Springwatch to feature Belfast, Rathlin and Mount Stewart
Despite being a large city, Belfast is home to a surprising amount of wildlife. Television presenter Iolo Williams is determined to seek out its rich and varied urban characters and meet the people keen to keep the city wonderfully wild."It's always good when you visit somewhere which has got a big population with wildlife in the middle of it, because most people now live in towns and in cities," he will be undertaking a three-week nature trek through some of Northern Ireland's most diverse wildlife hotspots as part of the 20th anniversary of BBC Springwatch. The series will return to BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from Monday 26 May, led by Chris Packham and Michaela will be three weeks of live programmes set in the National Trust's Longshaw Estate in the heart of the Peak District but it will also feature three places in Northern Ireland: Belfast, Rathlin Island and Mount Stewart in County added: "It's great for us to show things like golden eagles and white-tailed eagles and basking sharks, but wildlife for most people is what they see in their gardens or in their local parks or in town."After Belfast, Williams will travel by ferry to Rathlin Island, a biodiversity hotspot and Northern Ireland's most northerly point. It is a vital breeding ground for a variety of seabirds and home to endemic species such as the mysterious golden hare. Williams will also hope to hear the call of the rare said: "It's a migratory bird which 100, 120 years ago was really common. It's now declining throughout its range in Europe. "It has disappeared from Wales, hanging on in one or two places in England, and just hanging on in the wilder parts of the west coast, mainly of Scotland, and it's holding on in Ireland as well."At Mount Stewart, Williams will introduce viewers to a range of wildlife. There are 10,000 recorded species at Mount Stewart which has diverse woodlands, ghost ponds, rough farmland fields, twisting hedgerows, and a tidal lough scattered with green islands. Throughout the series, live nest-cameras rigged across springtime locations will tell the story of the season alongside a range of pre-recorded films, which have been capturing moments of spring will continue to reveal an insight into the lives of wildlife, and with 20 years behind it, the programme will build a clear picture of how wildlife has changed since it began filming as well as make some predictions for its future. The programme's executive producer, Rosemary Edwards, said: "Filming in new locations is always a challenge."But getting to know the wildlife there and uncovering new, uplifting stories about our native flora and fauna is something that never ceases to excite us."BBC Springwatch returns at the following times: Mon 26 May – Thursday 29 May at 20:00 GMTMon 2 June – Thursday 5 June at 20:00Mon 9 June – Thursday 12 June at 20:00
Powys County Times
10-05-2025
- General
- Powys County Times
Iolo Williams spots wild beaver in Powys during BBC filming
Welsh wildlife presenter Iolo Williams described a beaver spotted on the River Dyfi in Machynlleth as 'one of the best wildlife things I've ever seen'. In his new series, naturalist and presenter Iolo Williams described seeing a wild beaver on the banks of the River Dyfi in Machynlleth as a 'hugely significant' spot, with wild beavers having been extinct in Wales for hundreds of years. The BBC series Iolo's River Valleys was filming near Machynlleth along the River Dyfi in search of beavers that had reportedly been spotted in the area, with the crew waiting through days of torrential rain to catch a glimpse of the animal. Going out again on the first dry day, the BBC crew were able to film a wild beaver on the Powys river bank. Spotting the animal, Iolo said: 'We've got a beaver. It's on the far shore, about 20 metres away from me. How fantastic is that? 'The last wild beavers in Wales were hundreds of years ago, but one is over there. It's quite cool and quite calm. It's eating Japanese knot weed of all things. It then came out onto the water. 'There's a very well wooded bank with lots more Japanese knot weed where it's disappeared into. It's gone back onto the bank dragging more Japanese knot weed with him. 'This is phenomenal honestly. This is one of the best wildlife things I've ever seen in Wales.' The wildlife presenter was stunned by the sighting as Beavers disappeared from Britain around 400 years ago after being hunted to extinction. Only in the past two decades has the animal been making a comeback as the animal has gradually been reintroduced to the country, including a number of projects in Wales. The first beavers reintroduced to the wild in Wales were the group released into an enclosure at the Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve in Powys to help manage crucial peat bog habitats. The second episode of Iolo's River Valleys focusses on the Dyfi Valley, with the presenter travelling to Machynlleth to search for wild beavers. While searching he said: 'Usually with a mammal this rare we'd keep the location a secret. But so many of the locals know that it's been seen regularly on this stretch.' Speaking after spotting one, he added: 'I'm just delighted, absolutely delighted that they're here, back where they should be.'
Wales Online
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Iolo Williams reveals he has encountered a career first
Iolo Williams reveals he has encountered a career first The Springwatch presenter has opened up about the 'career highlight' he experienced when filming his new series Iolo Williams is hosting a new series called Iolo's River Valleys (Image: BBC ) TV star Iolo Williams has revealed a career first as his new BBC series begins. Iolo is back on our screens for a new four-part series called Iolo's River Valleys which follows him as he explores the hidden stories and natural wonders of four river valleys across Wales. In the series he'll be uncovering the incredible wildlife of the Rheidol Valley, the Dyfi Valley, the Conwy Valley and the Vale of Clwyd. Throughout the episodes, Iolo will be met with sightings of rare birds and elusive mammals. He even encounters a career first on his journey. Ahead of the series' release, Iolo said that the biggest moment of the series was when he saw his "first ever wild beaver in Wales". "This was a real highlight, not just of the series, but of my 27 years working within TV. A real highlight," Iolo said. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter "I wasn't actually expecting to see one. The researchers had done their work and they'd said there were rumours to be wild beaver, and I knew myself that there were rumours of wild beavers in one or two locations as well. "We went out and we had a look one evening, and the weather wasn't great, we didn't see anything. But then we went out again when the rain had cleared up and sure enough there it was, this beaver, eating Japanese knotweed of all things. Article continues below "I'll be honest, nobody knows where the beaver has come from, they've been there for about two years, possibly three and it's quite well known locally. But I'm absolutely delighted because this is an animal that we should have back in the wild." Iolo said that spotting the beaver "topped everything" that happened in the series. He added that he also "achieved a childhood ambition" by seeing a pine martin in daylight. Iolo's River Valleys is a four-part BBC Cymru Wales series, produced by Aden. The series was produced and directed by Osian Griffiths and the executive producer is John Gwyn. Speaking ahead of its release, he said: "For the first time we're following four different rivers. We usually confine the series to specific areas but this time we took four different rivers and follow the river valleys from sea to source. I thought I knew Wales quite well, but one or two of these river valleys I hadn't explored for a very long time. "People moan that it rains a lot in Wales, but it's because of that rain that we have such stunning river valleys, streams and waterfalls. Article continues below "Each and every one of them has a different character and each and every one of them is beautiful from source down to sea." Watch Iolo's River Valleys on BBC Two, BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 6 May
