…a blog written by Buglife Cymru, Natur am Byth! Scarce Yellow Sally Conservation Officer, Sarah Hawkes for World Wetlands Day 2026.
Aerfen, Welsh Goddess of the Dee with her multiple tributaries, covers an enormous area of Northeast Wales and Cheshire. A relic of the past, at one time she was revered by communities up and down those riverbanks.
She, it is said, has her name from earlier Celtic. The thinking is that Aerfen combines the two words Agro (carnage) and Tan-nu (broaden) or Ten n do (to break or cut). Together meaning something like ‘Renowned in Battle’
She is a fierce Goddess who demanded, legend has it, three human sacrifices a year in return for success in battle. Success or failure was forecast by whether the river ate into the Eastern or Western bank. But legend also has her generous and gentle, appropriate for a river that issues wild floods across farmland leaving behind fertile soils across the flood plains. Knowing and respecting this Goddess was part of the old way.
Aerfen, like ancient gods in general, was a part of the community but with superhuman strength and superhuman wild emotions. Capable of both great harm and great good. Understanding, respecting, and treating her as an important part of the community was vital if you lived in her realm. Farmer, trader, villager, lady, lord or warrior-royalty; without respecting the rivers and nature your survival prospects were lowered.
The Dee was renowned for the number of Salmon she cared for, which suggests her river biodiversity was tremendous. What a magnificent sight those early hatches of caddis and mayfly must have been; different species majoring depending on the type of river she is at different points in her journey. Numbers of fish of all types leaping to catch a meal and nesting birds in profusion skimming the surface for tasty morsels to feed their hatchlings!
Fishing for food in the river was a vital resource for us humans until very recently, and attempts to control who should have access to the Salmon were made by the lords of the manor. Old family tales of poaching and poachers caught and let off, prosecuted and even made into gamekeepers, abound along the Ceiriog, one of the tributaries of the Dee where Salmon spawn.
Children who live alongside her still grow up with tales of the Dee’s dangers and her gifts. On sweltering days after school in Llangollen my children and their friends would race to the river instead of the bus to swim and play in her gentle cool summer waters, (ringing later to ask for a lift home) or kayak with Scouts. But in winter when Aerfen is raging through the town, no one doubts her dangerous power.
However, since the industrial revolution in Europe began, we humans ratcheted up our control of rivers as ‘things’ – to take away waste, and provide water for a myriad uses – assuming they will always be there. Almost all rivers are now struggling under the burden of industry, climate change and sewage outflows.
But high profile problems and campaigns are bringing change. Anglers were – and are – perhaps the people who know the River Dee and her ways best of all. They are often still able to see the river, the landscape and themselves as part of one whole community.
Farmers through the Nature Friendly Farming Network are also valuing the role of biodiversity on a landscape wide scale. ‘Personification’ of the river within the landscape, as kin to the rest of us, is becoming an important tool in our understanding our own place and how to counter some of the ills that are besetting rivers today.
I think of Aerfen as a cantankerous aged aunt who cares for her kin, her community, but does it her way. Generous and taking no prisoners by turn. Demanding respect from relatives and generous to those who give it but riding roughshod over transgressions.
Perhaps by bringing a sense of family to our relationship with rivers, we will see more clearly the terrible damage done by human society and protect rivers like Aerfen’s Dee, as part of our family, community. No longer ‘our things’ to use and discard.
The good news is that, the River Dee Trust and Natural Resources Wales are removing obstructions to spawning grounds with some amazing successes and of course we, at Buglife with Natur am Byth!, are revealing more each year about Scarce Yellow Sally (Isogenus nubecula) one of the rarest and most secretive of creatures in Wales.
About World Wetlands Day
World Wetlands Day takes place on the 2 February each year, raising global awareness about the high importance of wetlands for people and our planet. Each year has a different theme, with “Wetlands and traditional knowledge: Celebrating cultural heritage”, being the theme for this year, spotlighting the timeless role of traditional knowledge in sustaining wetland ecosystems and preserving cultural identity.
To find out more about Sarah’s work on the Welsh River Dee as part of our Natur am Byth! Scarce Yellow Sally project and how you can get involved, please visit our dedicated web page.