A remarkable film including extracts of a poem about a river in Cornwall can be seen on BBC4’s iPlayer at the moment. Poet John Wedgwood Clarke explores the Red River in Cornwall, a watercourse not much more than a stream that has been heavily polluted by centuries of tin mining. Now this symbol of Cornish identity, home to some very rare and resilient species, is slowly showing signs of coming back to life.

The river rises on the moors above Camborne, and reaches the sea at Godrevy, on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast. Extracts from John's poem, ‘Red River at the A30 Culvert’, reveal his mixed thoughts about the river's toxic legacy, but as he meets both those with a connection with the river's industrial past and who care for it today, he finds new hope for its future.

You can watch Cornwall’s Red River here

PHOTOGRAPH: BBC