Coastal Animals The Animal's Guide to Britain


Coastal Animals

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Britain. The history and the culture.

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Born of a landscape that we know and love.

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But hang on a minute...

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That's just how WE see Britain.

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We humans are in a minority.

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We share our land and our shores here with hundreds of thousands of other species of animal,

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many of which have been here a lot longer than we have.

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So what I want to know is what they think of Britain.

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What matters to them.

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And that's my mission - to see the UK through our animals' eyes.

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Where are their favourite places in these crowded islands?

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Oh!

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How do their senses affect their view of our country?

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And what do they make of us?

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Off you go!

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This time it's the turn of our coastal animals to have their say.

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Prepare yourself for great cuteness.

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What do they need from Britain and its humans?

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Ouch! That's my finger, not the chip.

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Why do many prefer these islands to anywhere else?

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Well, I'll show you. Come with me.

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Together they'll reveal our country as we've never seen it before.

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Welcome to the Animal's Guide To Britain.

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Britain has 19,500 miles of coastline.

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I know some people think the British Isles are a bit puny, but that's a lot more than Italy, it's twice as

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much as Spain and an astonishing three times as much as France has.

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And, you know, we Britons have a great affinity for our coast.

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We love it, but we come down here to the shore

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and we look out there at the sea and it's terribly inaccessible to us and it all looks the same.

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But, you know, it doesn't to coastal animals, and if we can look at the world from their point of view,

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then I think that we can radically change the way that we think about our coastline.

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In fact, I'll stick my head on the block.

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I guarantee you, by the end of this programme, the next time

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you go to the beach you'll be looking at a different world.

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First up, a truly British animal.

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I mean, you can forget the British bulldog, the lion, as symbols of our national heritage.

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If you want a mammal to fly the flag for Britain then this is your animal.

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Seals, seals, and more specifically, the grey seal.

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I'm sure that many humans have seen these animals, either

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bobbing around in the sea or lounging about on the rocks.

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But few realise that Britain is internationally important for this species.

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I can tell you that nearly half of the world's population of grey seals lives here in Britain.

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So the big question has to be why?

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From the seal's point of view, what's the big deal about Britain?

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Well, I mean to find out.

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Grey Seals were the first wild mammal in Britain to get their very own Act of Parliament -

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the Grey Seal Protection Act of 1914.

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But that's because Britain hasn't always been a great place for seals.

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Back in the mists of time, some believed that seals were part human.

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Children who had been turned into animals by a jealous stepmother.

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But that didn't put the humans off hunting them for food, blubber and for their fine fur.

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Used, for example, to make the furry sporran of a Scotsman's kilt.

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By the 19th century, they were on the verge of vanishing from Britain's waters.

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They're now protected.

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There are colonies from the north of Scotland to here -

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the Isles of Scilly in the far southwest.

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But grey seals are a truly oceanic animal.

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They can swim to almost anywhere they want to and if that's the case,

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why do they choose to swim to Britain? The Isles of Scilly?

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Well, to find that out, I'm going to have to get closer to the seals.

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Seals may be clumsy on land, but just look at them now.

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They're so agile, and confident, even in the company of a human.

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There's no way they'd let me get this close to them on the shore.

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I'm loving the seals, but not the water.

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I'm freezing!

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A seal, though, can reduce its loss of heat in water

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by diverting blood from its skin to its vital organs.

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And they have six centimetres of blubber.

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But the downside of all of this insulation is that they're prone to overheating.

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They only live where the sea averages between 2 and 12 degrees.

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So clearly the water temperature has to be just right,

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and I suppose you could liken the seal's insulation to us putting on a really thick, heavy winter coat.

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You'd clearly be very picky about where you spent your time.

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British coastal waters average at a perfect 11 degrees.

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But our seals also come here for the fish.

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Now, not all of Britain's seas are as crystal clear as this.

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So how do seals manage to catch anything?

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Well, their secret weapon is these fabulous whiskers.

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They're so sensitive. They can detect fish even in zero visibility.

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Goodness knows what they make of me.

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Their whiskers pick up the minute disturbances that a fish makes in the water...

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..and hunt it down by simply following its invisible wake.

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So seals are superbly adapted for this marine environment and

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they come here for the rich fishing and they can put up with the cold,

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which is something that I can't. I can't wait to get out!

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But have you ever wondered why the last time you took a walk on a beach you didn't see lots of seals,

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the fact that they are not evenly spaced all around our coastline?

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There's a very good reason for that and to demonstrate it,

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I'm going to haul out onto one of these islands.

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Almost all of our 100,000 grey seals are found on islands.

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In fact, one of the reasons that seals like Britain so much

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is the sheer number of islands.

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Here on the Isles of Scilly there are 140,

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but Britain as a whole has a staggering 6,346 islands.

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But why are islands so important to these seals?

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Well, I'll show you. Come with me.

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I can just see what I'm looking for here.

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Look at that.

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This is a grey seal pup.

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One of the main reasons that seals need islands is to give birth.

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And this one is only a few days old.

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It's at the very beginning of the pupping season now in September and

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it will stretch all the way through to December.

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In fact, it's not just this youngster here that I can see.

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There are another couple just down in front of me here, hiding in the rocks.

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When they're born, they're almost a bag of skin and bones,

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but they're fed by the females on an incredibly rich milk.

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They're able to put on two kilograms in weight every day.

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The females will be giving them that milk for just over two weeks.

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At the moment, the cows, the females, are just waiting offshore.

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Every now and again they will come in and the young will suckle.

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This is why they need secluded spaces, islands like this one,

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because these creatures at the moment don't have enough blubber to survive in the sea

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and would be vulnerable to predators on the mainland.

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Adults may not be as vulnerable as baby seals, but out of water

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they're still very wary, especially of humans.

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And it doesn't take much to scare them back into the water.

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Surely no harm in that, you might think.

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In fact, going back into the water can have some quite serious consequences for these seals.

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It's all down to the change in their blood flow when the seals get back into the sea.

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You see, each year seals moult their fur.

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In order to grow new fur, they need to supply the hair follicles in their skin with blood.

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If a moulting seal gets frightened into cold water, blood is withdrawn

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from their skin and that can stop them growing a new coat of hair.

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So seals need long periods on land to moult successfully.

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But there is another reason to come ashore -

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to digest their food.

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Imagine this. You're a seal, you're out here foraging for five or six days, you come back

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with a bellyful of food and you haul out and start the digestive process.

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Then all of a sudden you get scared into the water.

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Well, that's a recipe for indigestion at the very least.

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And more importantly, if it happens repeatedly, seals can't actually digest enough food to survive.

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From a seal's point of view,

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disturbance is clearly a big issue.

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So perhaps even more important than our cool waters and the huge quantities of fish they contain.

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Yes, it's our thousands of islands and their quiet, secluded coastlines

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that make Britain a favourite home for grey seals.

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Few humans visit any of these remote places, yet they are one of the main

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reasons that our coastline is internationally important for many coastal creatures.

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For one group of animals, Britain is a very special place indeed - our seabirds.

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Gannets, razorbills, puffins, guillemots and many more besides are found here in vast numbers.

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Britain's remote islands and coastlines are not only ideal for seals.

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From a seabird's point of view, the UK is one of the best places in the world.

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And amongst them, there is one species of seabird that is perhaps more British than all of the others.

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Although perhaps surprisingly, few humans have ever heard of them

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and only a tiny percentage of those humans have probably ever seen one.

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90% of them, that's the full 9-0 percent

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of the world's population are nesting in Britain right now -

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Manx shearwater.

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The Manx shearwater.

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But don't get your hopes up, because I can't show you one straightaway.

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Just seeing one is hard enough, let alone getting its verdict on Britain.

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This elusiveness has led to them being misunderstood in the past.

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The first people to encounter them were marauding Vikings.

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The shearwaters' nocturnal noises scared them so much,

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they refused to land on some islands.

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THEY CALL NOISILY

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Once humans had got the courage to land on these islands, they

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discovered shearwater chicks were full of precious oil.

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They used them to burn in oil lamps.

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They were also used as fertiliser

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and lobster bait.

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Their oil was even used to stop armour going rusty.

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Nowadays, humans get their oil from other places

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and our understanding of shearwaters has improved...a little.

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We do know that they're extremely fussy birds...

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..and only nest on a handful of special islands.

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In the UK, the best places are Rum in Scotland,

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Skomer Island in Wales, but also here on the magical Copeland Islands off Northern Ireland.

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It's 9:29 precisely and the island is taking on a completely different feel.

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The light has fallen, you can see Belfast twinkling over there,

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17 miles away in the distance, and it's getting close to shearwater time.

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There's just one thing.

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They don't like the light, so we're going to have to switch from our normal camera into infrared.

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This is going to be great.

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MANX SHEARWATERS CALL NOISILY

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You know, those old Vikings had a point.

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That really is a very strange sound.

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All of that mystique just adds to the excitement of actually meeting them.

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Ooh, look at that.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Manx shearwater.

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Wonderful.

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Well, wonderful but also terribly clumsy on land.

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Like seals, they're designed for a life at sea, which is where all of these birds are coming from.

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They can fly vast distances over open ocean,

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migrating 20,000 miles to and from the coast of South America.

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Their webbed feet, set right at the back of their body, are perfect for swimming on water.

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But when they're on land, it means they're left to scrabble about and

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this makes them really vulnerable to predators.

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In their case, almost anything can grab them, especially gulls.

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So they only come ashore in darkness.

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They won't even land if there's a full moon.

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Of course, the reason it's come to land is to get to its nest.

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On summer nights they return, not only to the same island, but to the very same burrow.

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Away from this island, we have very little idea of what they do.

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We don't even know exactly where these birds go during the day.

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Which is why, on Copeland Island, humans have made some alterations to their burrows.

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Above the chamber of every single burrow, scientists have placed a numbered paving slab.

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The birds can still come and go from the front entrance,

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but these viewing hatches give us a unique opportunity.

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-Hi, Kerry.

-Hi, Chris.

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Right, what's beneath the concrete, then?

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This is one of our study burrows.

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Oh, wow, what a fantastic thing.

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So, Kerry, this is a known bird, then.

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Presumably it's got a ring on here somewhere?

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Absolutely. We can have a look at the ring number here

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so we can identify that bird from our records, and if it was ringed as a chick we would know what age it was.

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But ringing in some ways is becoming an old technology

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-because of a new fad gadget.

-Absolutely.

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This is a little GPS device.

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It weighs approximately 15 grams.

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That device will go on the back of the bird and it will generate GPS fixes every five minutes

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by using satellites, and that will allow us to track the

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movements of this bird when it leaves the burrow and the chick and goes out to sea to forage for food.

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It will let us see exactly where it's been.

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Because this is not transmitting remotely.

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-You've got to get it back again.

-You have to get it back.

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It's a benefit, then, that you know this bird has got to come back

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because it's got a chick underneath this paving slab.

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-Absolutely.

-You take the bird, let me take that.

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What a fantastic little piece of kit.

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This little device is going to give us a shearwater's view of Britain

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in daylight for the first time.

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-How much was it, Kerry?

-£50.

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£50? I'll have three.

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It's going to be priceless.

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I just hope the bird comes back.

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Yes!

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The following day and there's not a shearwater to be seen on the island.

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The adults left before dawn and now they're far out at sea.

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They get their name from this banking and shearing flight.

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It's so efficient, it enables them to cover huge distances.

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But where do they go during the day?

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And where do they catch their fish?

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Somewhere out there, our study birds with their geo-locating

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gadgets, are collecting data that should give us some answers.

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Meanwhile, safely ensconced in the burrow number 37, is a chick.

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I can have a peep at it because the adults are away. Now, look at this.

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Prepare yourself for great cuteness.

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Look at that. Ha ha!

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What a wonderful little chick.

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The adults lay an egg, which is about 20% their body weight.

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It's a huge egg in proportion to their body size.

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They then incubate it, both male and female, for about 55 days.

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Then this little chap or chapess will remain in the nest here for up to 76 days.

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So this is a very long and protracted breeding process.

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But what you can't appreciate - I'll just

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to lift him up very gently - is how tubby the little chick is.

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Full of fish oil.

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And to feed this fat chick, the parents need to spend a lot of time catching a lot of fish.

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Oh, my goodness. Right, better pop it back in.

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But where do they get all of that fish?

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Hopefully, we'll soon find out.

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For the first time, we'll be able to build a complete shearwater's guide

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to Britain, their favourite spots, both on land and at sea.

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Speaking as an impatient kid, how long is it going to take to download?

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Ah, Chris, just a few moments to download the data and then we'll be able to look at a map

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and see where the bird that was wearing this backpack has gone.

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Oh, here we are, look.

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No, it's a bit skewy there. What's happening here? That's where we originated, then.

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Yep, that's Copeland. So this bird started off in Copeland.

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It's travelled down to the south end of the Isle of Man around

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the Calf of Man, and then out to a location northwest of Liverpool.

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It spent several days feeding in this area before coming back to

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the northern end of the Isle of Man, a little stop off, and then straight back to the colony very directly.

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Kerry, from this data can you tell how far that bird has flown to chart this course?

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Yes, this particular bird has flown 700 kilometres in just four days

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to gather food to bring back to feed its chick.

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700 kilometres, four days.

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Amazing. It's got to have been worthwhile, though.

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And they can find it straightaway. They're flying straight to it and then flying straight back again.

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There's no messing about. The bird knows where it's going and it knows that's a potentially

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good area where it can forage to bring food back for its chick.

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It's brilliant. We took this little thing off the back of a bird and

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it's told us exactly where it's been for the last four days.

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It's intrinsically fascinating, or it is for me.

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What does it offer the shearwaters? What are the long-term benefits of

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this project from their point of view?

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Well, Chris, a lot of the nesting sites like this island

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are very well protected, but the marine areas that these birds are utilising

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to feed in are not protected at all.

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So this kind of data, built up over a number of years, is going to

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help to piece together the picture of the life of the shearwater at sea and help to protect it.

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The results have only just started coming in,

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but they're already making us aware of the needs of these birds.

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It seems that shearwaters are feeding on fish over a massive area of British waters.

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Almost all of the world's Manx shearwaters nest on a mere handful of British islands.

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You could say that they've put all their eggs into one or two precious baskets.

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In Britain, those baskets are pretty safe,

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but out at sea their vital feeding areas have no protection.

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Humans, naturally, have a very land-based view of the coast.

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But for coastal animals,

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it's the combination of sea and land that is so important.

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Think back to your childhood seaside trips.

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Vauxhall Viva, Mum navigating, Dad getting really angry, nowhere to park.

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Finally get to the beach, some bigger kid kicks sand in your face.

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Your sister drops her ice cream.

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There are tears. But at least for me,

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I could lay back on my towel and listen to the sound of the seaside.

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-That iconic British coastal animal.

-SEAGULL CALLS

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I have to say, though, in recent times this creature's gone through a bit of an image change.

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Some people now consider them to be a bit of a nuisance.

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And I have to say, at the moment, I couldn't disagree myself.

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Ouch! That's my finger, not the chip.

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At least learn how to take the chip.

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I'm talking about seagulls.

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Seagulls. And one thing we've got to be clear about from the start, is there's no such thing as a seagull.

0:27:570:28:03

There are gulls and there are 24 of these things on the British list.

0:28:030:28:08

These are herring gulls.

0:28:080:28:10

Looking down there on the beach I can see... There you go!

0:28:100:28:13

I can see black-headed gulls and I can see a couple of common gulls.

0:28:130:28:18

They're not seagulls. They're gulls.

0:28:180:28:20

And their view of Britain is totally different to a shearwater's.

0:28:220:28:27

Although it's a view that has changed drastically in recent years.

0:28:280:28:33

I'll show you.

0:28:330:28:35

That's it. You've eaten everything.

0:28:350:28:38

So what is the gulls' side of the story?

0:28:410:28:44

Well, the answer might lie in their natural history, or more precisely their physiology.

0:28:490:28:55

You see, gulls don't have too many specialist adaptations.

0:28:550:29:00

I mean, compare them with owls which have extraordinary nocturnal

0:29:000:29:03

vision, great hearing, talons for killing their prey.

0:29:030:29:07

Or swallows - swept-back wings for aerodynamic flight.

0:29:070:29:12

These are specialist, but the gulls, if you like, are more of a generalist.

0:29:120:29:17

A sort of jack of many trades. And a jack of many trades is what makes them such a success.

0:29:170:29:23

Gulls are used to looking out for new feeding opportunities.

0:29:250:29:30

Unwittingly, that's exactly what humans are providing them with here.

0:29:300:29:35

Now, the curious thing is that we've always had

0:29:410:29:44

loads of rubbish in Britain but we haven't always had loads of gulls coming to pick through it.

0:29:440:29:50

But why? When did they first start coming to our rubbish tips?

0:29:520:29:56

Well, you see, rubbish isn't just rubbish.

0:29:560:30:00

Rubbish has changed.

0:30:000:30:02

Time for a bit of a history lesson.

0:30:020:30:04

100 years ago, humans threw away much less rubbish.

0:30:080:30:14

They used to recycle food, compost it or feed it to animals.

0:30:140:30:19

The gulls' menu was exclusively coastal.

0:30:190:30:23

Then after the Second World War, food rationing stopped.

0:30:250:30:29

As Harold Macmillan said, humans never had it so good.

0:30:320:30:36

Humans started throwing away much more food

0:30:400:30:44

and gulls started to move inland to take advantage.

0:30:440:30:49

But perhaps the biggest change took place in 1956.

0:30:510:30:56

And let me tell you, if you were a gull, 1956 was a big year for you

0:30:560:31:02

because parliament passed the Clean Air Act.

0:31:020:31:06

Now, you might wonder what's clean air got to do with gulls and rubbish? Well, I'll tell you.

0:31:060:31:11

Up until that point, we were allowed to burn all of this, but after that point we weren't allowed.

0:31:110:31:18

Now it has to be collected and brought here to these landfill sites. And the gulls?

0:31:180:31:23

Well, they just love that.

0:31:230:31:26

But gulls do have other needs besides just eating.

0:31:310:31:35

Like somewhere to nest.

0:31:390:31:43

In Bath, one man has being trying to understand why this city is so attractive to a seabird.

0:31:430:31:50

It requires taking a gull's-eye view of things.

0:31:500:31:54

Peter, this is a great collection of man-made structures.

0:31:560:32:00

Gulls view these rather differently, don't they?

0:32:000:32:02

Because there are many parallels with the gulls' natural environment of course.

0:32:020:32:06

Absolutely. This roof - nice and flat.

0:32:060:32:08

Lesser black-backed gulls breed on dunes.

0:32:080:32:11

Over there, in amongst all of those thousands of chimney pots,

0:32:110:32:14

that's where the herring gulls breed.

0:32:140:32:17

It's a tendency, but what's interesting

0:32:170:32:19

is that those innate tendencies that you see in the wild

0:32:190:32:23

are being echoed here in town.

0:32:230:32:24

-We've built them cliff tops, haven't we?

-Yes, we have.

0:32:240:32:28

In some respects this is even better than their natural nest sites.

0:32:280:32:33

I mean, surely there's fewer predators up here?

0:32:330:32:35

You know, there aren't any foxes scaling the lifts and the stairs to this rooftop.

0:32:350:32:40

And better - hardly any disturbance.

0:32:400:32:42

There's nobody up here. Why would they want to come here?

0:32:420:32:45

Except to repair all this equipment, but that's infrequent.

0:32:450:32:48

No ramblers and dog walkers. It's very peaceful.

0:32:480:32:51

-This is gull heaven, really.

-What about population, though?

0:32:510:32:54

In Bath as a whole, just short of 1,000 pairs.

0:32:540:32:57

1,000 pairs?

0:32:570:32:59

That's a good, healthy population of birds these days, isn't it?

0:32:590:33:04

-But in the grand scheme of things, Bath is actually a fairly small colony.

-Is it?

-Bristol - 2,500.

0:33:040:33:08

Gloucester - over 3,000.

0:33:080:33:10

Cardiff - over 3,000 pairs.

0:33:100:33:11

This is a lot of birds.

0:33:110:33:13

So what we're looking at here is an ideal opportunity for them.

0:33:130:33:17

The gulls' favourite places in Britain are no longer confined to the coast.

0:33:200:33:25

They now include the entire country, even the middle of the Midlands.

0:33:250:33:31

So is that it, then? If you're a gull, is Britain a Utopian paradise where you're spoilt for choice?

0:33:320:33:38

Well, not exactly, because conditions here on the coast are changing.

0:33:380:33:43

These days, there are far fewer commercial fishing boats in British waters than there used to be

0:33:510:33:58

and humans have, by and large, stopped throwing away fish guts.

0:33:580:34:02

Instead much of it is kept and used as fishmeal fertilizer.

0:34:020:34:07

Gulls might hang around fishing boats in hope, but human handouts have dwindled.

0:34:100:34:16

Consequently, most coastal gull populations are now drastically declining.

0:34:180:34:23

Herring gulls have actually declined by 50% since my childhood.

0:34:250:34:30

Even accounting for their increase in cities, numbers have halved across the whole of Britain.

0:34:330:34:38

So there are several reasons why gulls are moving inland and taking up residence in our cities.

0:34:430:34:48

Firstly, we're providing them with lots of food on those rubbish tips

0:34:480:34:51

and also high-quality accommodation on the tops of our buildings.

0:34:510:34:56

But at the same time, we're driving them away from the coasts

0:34:560:35:00

and what these creatures are actually doing

0:35:000:35:03

is changing their habits to cope with a change in ours.

0:35:030:35:07

But look at this... I can't entirely agree with it.

0:35:070:35:10

Firstly, they're not strictly seagulls,

0:35:100:35:13

as I've explained, and they're not vicious either.

0:35:130:35:16

I would argue that they're opportunists, just like us.

0:35:160:35:21

Now, let's get back to our seaside holidays.

0:35:240:35:27

Whilst I admit it isn't everyone's idea of a great summer wildlife encounter to have their sandwiches

0:35:270:35:32

stolen by gulls, there is a creature that provides an altogether more therapeutic experience.

0:35:320:35:39

You can find them on every single stretch of the British coastline.

0:35:390:35:43

They survive in salt water, brackish water, thankfully, even out of the water.

0:35:430:35:49

And all of these people here have come to encounter them.

0:35:490:35:52

Gosh, you've done well. You've got a bucketful!

0:36:050:36:08

Is it all right if I have a look at one? Thank you very much. Thank you.

0:36:080:36:12

And the creature that we're talking about here... Here it is,

0:36:120:36:16

the shore crab - nature's equivalent to the Swiss Army penknife.

0:36:160:36:21

Armed with a couple of formidable pincers here, good for manipulating

0:36:210:36:26

their food or warding off predators, eight legs and a really tough shell.

0:36:260:36:31

Eyes on stalks which can fold down so they're protected.

0:36:310:36:35

In fact it's got appendages for every occasion.

0:36:350:36:38

But for all of this fortitude, I've got to tell you

0:36:380:36:41

that lying beneath the shell is a very sensitive animal.

0:36:410:36:46

The question is, what do the crabs make of Britain?

0:36:460:36:51

Shore crabs have found something of a sanctuary in Britain.

0:36:560:37:01

While crabs have been eaten in Britain for centuries,

0:37:010:37:05

these were mostly the larger, edible crab.

0:37:050:37:08

Shore crabs were pretty much ignored.

0:37:080:37:11

That was until the Victorian era and the rise of the seaside holiday.

0:37:130:37:19

Since then, shore crabs have had to endure the annual onslaught of children's nets.

0:37:190:37:25

Today they're also sought-after by fishermen who use them as bait -

0:37:270:37:32

fish can smell them a mile off.

0:37:320:37:35

British shore crabs are still better off

0:37:350:37:37

than their cousins on the continent though,

0:37:370:37:40

where they're an essential ingredient in some soups.

0:37:400:37:43

They're known there as "le crabe vert", because they're green.

0:37:430:37:47

In Britain they're called shore crabs, because...

0:37:470:37:51

Well, because of where they're found.

0:37:510:37:54

But why do shore crabs live here on the shore and not out there at sea?

0:37:540:38:00

To answer that we need to understand the crab's world -

0:38:000:38:04

a world of smells, odours and pheromones.

0:38:040:38:08

But what has smell got to do with where crabs live?

0:38:110:38:15

Well, if I have a rummage around in here, I should be able to answer that.

0:38:160:38:21

This may look like a dead crab to you.

0:38:210:38:24

It's largely complete.

0:38:240:38:26

It's got most of its limbs.

0:38:260:38:28

You can see the carapace here.

0:38:280:38:29

But this is a crab's shed skin.

0:38:290:38:33

Shedding their skin is something they need to do every few months in order to grow.

0:38:330:38:39

When they shed their skin, initially the new one is very soft.

0:38:390:38:44

But what's especially dangerous

0:38:460:38:48

is that it gives off a very distinctive odour.

0:38:480:38:51

This makes them very vulnerable to predators, all sorts of things - fish, octopuses, cuttlefish,.

0:38:510:38:56

Just imagine that - when you're at your most vulnerable,

0:38:560:38:59

you've got to hide, not just out of sight, but out of smell.

0:38:590:39:03

And that's why down on the shore these animals are always hiding beneath the weed and the rocks.

0:39:030:39:11

Crabs themselves have an amazing sense of smell -

0:39:130:39:17

they can detect a single drop in a billion of sea water.

0:39:170:39:23

But they don't have noses.

0:39:230:39:25

Instead, they smell with their feet.

0:39:250:39:28

They use smell in almost all aspects of their lives -

0:39:320:39:37

caring for eggs, choosing a home, and of course, finding food.

0:39:370:39:42

But when it comes to smell, from these crabs' point of view, the most important thing is that of mating.

0:39:470:39:53

To illustrate that I'm going to need to go to the lab.

0:39:530:39:56

I love a little demonstration.

0:40:010:40:03

Now, in this tank here

0:40:030:40:06

there are four female shore crabs and over here is a male.

0:40:060:40:11

I have to tell you that this is the Clark Gable, the Johnny Depp, the Taylor Lautner of crabs.

0:40:110:40:18

Let's just see what happens when I drop him in with these females.

0:40:180:40:23

Now, come on.

0:40:250:40:27

Four females - a great opportunity.

0:40:270:40:30

HE WHISTLES

0:40:310:40:34

Shall we just save a lot of time?

0:40:390:40:41

Because I can tell you nothing is going to happen in here.

0:40:410:40:45

There's a very simple reason for that

0:40:450:40:47

and it's down to the protective exoskeleton of these female crabs.

0:40:470:40:51

It's brilliantly designed to protect them from predators, but it makes it very, very tough to mate.

0:40:510:40:58

In fact, the female, if you'll forgive me, has to get her kit off in order to mate.

0:40:580:41:02

She has to shed her skin.

0:41:020:41:05

So how does the male know that the female is going to shed her skin?

0:41:050:41:09

Well, it's down to smell.

0:41:090:41:13

Now, in this second tank, there's another female.

0:41:130:41:16

I know it looks identical to those in here, but it's not.

0:41:160:41:20

It's actually about to shed its skin.

0:41:200:41:25

In this state she's giving off a very distinctive chemical smell.

0:41:250:41:29

I can show you using a bit of harmless food dye.

0:41:290:41:35

If I introduce this around the female...

0:41:350:41:38

..you should be able to see it in the water

0:41:400:41:43

and therefore see the currents moving due to her fanning.

0:41:430:41:48

Look at that. She's wafting her scent into the water.

0:41:480:41:53

So in truth there's only one thing she's short of - an interested male.

0:41:530:41:57

And I think I know where I can find one.

0:41:570:42:00

Here we are.

0:42:000:42:02

Now, come on, this is your big chance to perform.

0:42:040:42:07

Remember, the only difference with this female is her smell.

0:42:130:42:17

He can detect it immediately.

0:42:190:42:21

He's using smell receptors on his feet,

0:42:230:42:27

smelling that there's been a female in there.

0:42:270:42:30

Now the male is beginning to approach her.

0:42:300:42:35

He's responding to her smell.

0:42:400:42:43

He's cornered her there.

0:42:430:42:44

And he's caged her with his legs

0:42:510:42:54

and he'll keep her there until she sheds her skin

0:42:540:42:58

and then she'll turn over and they'll mate. Look at that...

0:42:580:43:02

That's fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

0:43:060:43:09

So as you've just seen, all of that, all of that behaviour, is governed by one thing - smell.

0:43:090:43:16

'On the coast, this smell means that mating pairs need to be the best hidden of all shore crabs

0:43:200:43:28

'and take some finding.'

0:43:280:43:31

I'll look underneath this stone.

0:43:310:43:33

Ah, here they are.

0:43:350:43:38

Now, this couple aren't hiding because they're bashful,

0:43:380:43:40

they're hiding because of those female pheromones.

0:43:400:43:44

You see, when the female gives off her pheromones, it's not just crabs that detect it.

0:43:440:43:49

Predators such as fish can do the same.

0:43:490:43:52

So for that reason, the females move onto the beach out of the open water.

0:43:520:43:57

But then all of these crabs that I found down on the shore here, milling around at the moment,

0:43:570:44:03

are males, waiting for a sniff of that pheromone.

0:44:030:44:06

They're going to sweep up the beach here looking for the females.

0:44:060:44:11

Of course, once they find one, they don't want to lose it

0:44:110:44:14

to any of these other roaming crustaceal Romeos.

0:44:140:44:18

So they take the females to the top of the beach, well out of their reach.

0:44:180:44:23

The crabs' view of Britain is dictated almost entirely by odours.

0:44:250:44:30

Males need to keep the fragrant females to themselves and the whiff

0:44:320:44:37

of a shedding skin makes all crabs vulnerable to predators.

0:44:370:44:41

We humans don't give a second thought

0:44:430:44:45

to the way Britain smells underwater,

0:44:450:44:47

but then we don't see the world through a crab's eyes, or rather their feet.

0:44:470:44:53

And you've got to admit, that is an unusual way of looking at Britain.

0:44:530:44:58

Our islands are surrounded by rocky shores,

0:45:020:45:07

so when it comes to hiding places, shore crabs are spoiled for choice.

0:45:070:45:11

If there's one creature that maybe has the most unusual view of Britain

0:45:160:45:22

then perhaps it's our most enigmatic and exotic coastal resident.

0:45:220:45:29

Now technically, you can see these animals anywhere around the British coastline, although,

0:45:290:45:34

to be honest with you, I think you're going to be needing to look for them outside a few key areas.

0:45:340:45:39

It's not that they're small, they can be absolutely huge.

0:45:390:45:43

And it's certainly not that they're dull, because they're magnificent.

0:45:430:45:47

In fact, they're top of many people's zoological pops.

0:45:470:45:52

Dolphins!

0:46:060:46:07

Eight species of dolphin have been recorded in UK waters.

0:46:100:46:16

Two places, Cardigan Bay in Wales and the Moray Firth in Scotland,

0:46:160:46:20

have resident populations of the largest species -

0:46:200:46:24

the bottlenose dolphin.

0:46:240:46:26

I'm in Scotland to find out what they think of Britain.

0:46:280:46:33

We're heading out into the Firth and do you know what?

0:46:330:46:36

I'm unnaturally confident that we're going to see dolphins.

0:46:360:46:39

I know that's the kiss of death, but look - conditions are perfect

0:46:390:46:42

and this really is a very good place for them.

0:46:420:46:46

Historically, much of our coast was good for dolphins.

0:46:460:46:50

In the 19th century, dolphins were seen near many of our rivers and estuaries.

0:46:530:46:58

But this changed with the Industrial Revolution.

0:47:030:47:06

Rivers became polluted and dolphins moved away.

0:47:060:47:11

In the 1970s, the place to see them

0:47:140:47:16

was in one of Britain's 36 dolphinariums,

0:47:160:47:19

or travelling dolphin shows.

0:47:190:47:21

But dolphins are highly intelligent.

0:47:260:47:28

And their captive conditions were... Well, unsuitable.

0:47:300:47:35

So in 1990, some humans launched a campaign to save them.

0:47:350:47:40

Just one year later, the last captive British dolphin was released into the wild.

0:47:420:47:48

Ha, ha-ha! I said I was confident.

0:47:500:47:53

This is superb, honestly. Absolutely superb.

0:47:530:47:56

For me, it's not the Flipper thing, it's not the spiritual thing, it's the...inaccessibility

0:47:560:48:01

of these animals in the ocean and then the unpredictability when they just suddenly surge up.

0:48:010:48:07

You can't help but be totally drawn into the excitement of the moment,

0:48:070:48:11

but I've got to try and stay calm.

0:48:110:48:13

-There are about 190...

-SPLASHING

0:48:130:48:15

..of these animals in this population here

0:48:150:48:18

and you will normally find between 80 and 130

0:48:180:48:22

in the inland part of the Firth here.

0:48:220:48:24

Although during the summer,

0:48:240:48:26

most of the others will come in here to exploit the rich source of fish.

0:48:260:48:31

Pretty much the same thing is going on down in Cardigan Bay.

0:48:310:48:34

So that's there and here, as it were, but why don't we find these animals elsewhere?

0:48:340:48:40

'It's down to that rich fishing.'

0:48:400:48:43

Their favourite fish are salmon and sea trout.

0:48:450:48:48

They intercept them where rivers meet the sea, before the fish migrate upstream to breed.

0:48:480:48:55

But a single salmon river isn't enough.

0:48:550:48:59

Dolphins need lots of salmon rivers in one small area of the coast.

0:49:000:49:05

That's exactly what they've got in Wales -

0:49:070:49:11

ten salmon rivers flowing into Cardigan Bay.

0:49:110:49:14

In Scotland, more than 30 rivers flow into the Moray Firth.

0:49:210:49:25

And crucially, the timing of the salmon migrations is different

0:49:360:49:40

for each river, so there are salmon here almost all year round.

0:49:400:49:45

Ho-ho!

0:49:550:49:57

But that's only part of the story.

0:49:570:49:59

To really understand it, we need to know how dolphins see Britain.

0:49:590:50:05

Well, when I say see, I actually mean hear.

0:50:070:50:12

Dolphins, you see, experience the world through sound,

0:50:120:50:15

using both echo location, which I'll come to,

0:50:150:50:19

and fantastic conventional hearing.

0:50:190:50:21

Under the waves, they can decipher the intricate soundscapes of our coasts.

0:50:210:50:27

Most humans don't give a second thought to what Britain sounds like underwater.

0:50:330:50:39

That's a bit of a problem for dolphins because we've unthinkingly added a lot of new noises.

0:50:390:50:47

RUMBLING

0:50:470:50:49

So what do the dolphins make of all this?

0:51:010:51:04

-Barbara.

-Hi, Chris.

0:51:090:51:11

-What can I say? It was amazing!

-Amazing.

-They're still going.

0:51:110:51:14

They're still there, we'll get very distracted.

0:51:140:51:17

Can I ask you about their acoustic abilities

0:51:180:51:20

because they're profound, aren't they?

0:51:200:51:23

Very advanced acoustics that they have.

0:51:230:51:25

It's something that we're still working on

0:51:250:51:27

and learning about all the time.

0:51:270:51:29

It's well above anything that humans could ever have.

0:51:290:51:32

What do we think about the problems that we cause?

0:51:320:51:35

Because we make so much noise in the water.

0:51:350:51:38

Noise is one of the things we're worried about and we want to find out more about.

0:51:380:51:43

One of the major things dolphins have is communicating through whistles.

0:51:430:51:46

They can communicate with each other that way

0:51:460:51:49

and then they can actually keep in touch over kilometres of distance.

0:51:490:51:52

If it's very noisy, how can they keep in touch?

0:51:520:51:55

They wouldn't be able to hear members of their group

0:51:550:51:57

and wouldn't be able to find those members of their group.

0:51:570:52:00

Is there any evidence that they avoid areas

0:52:000:52:03

where there's a lot of boat traffic or anything like that?

0:52:030:52:05

There's been research done elsewhere, where if boat numbers increase,

0:52:050:52:10

dolphins can move out of the area, which is really sad and worrying.

0:52:100:52:14

But it's not just boats,

0:52:140:52:17

drilling and oil exploration make loud bangs underwater.

0:52:170:52:21

Fish farms emit sounds to scare off seals, but they also scare off dolphins.

0:52:230:52:28

And submarines can emit extremely powerful low-frequency sound.

0:52:280:52:33

The Dolphin's Guide To Britain would be a minefield of noisy areas that dolphins should avoid.

0:52:350:52:41

But conventional hearing isn't the only thing that affects a dolphin's view of Britain.

0:52:450:52:50

They also have another super-sense - SONAR.

0:52:500:52:53

Sound, Navigation And Ranging, at least that's what we call it.

0:52:530:52:57

In the natural world, it's called echo location.

0:52:570:53:01

Dolphins can use reflected echoes of their own sounds so they can build up a visual picture of their world.

0:53:020:53:10

That sounds pretty complicated, but come with me and I'll show you what I mean.

0:53:100:53:14

Excuse me, Bill. Can I just take a look at your SONAR device?

0:53:150:53:18

This is it, and remember,

0:53:180:53:20

this is a visual representation made up by sound.

0:53:200:53:24

Beneath my feet is a small device that's emitting a pulse of sound out into the water.

0:53:240:53:30

It's being collected by another and analysed by the computer. It's producing this.

0:53:300:53:35

When I look at this, I can learn to understand the world through sound.

0:53:350:53:39

Here is the surface, there's a bit of noise there made by the waves breaking.

0:53:390:53:43

And look, here is the bottom of the sea. I can even see some seaweed.

0:53:430:53:47

Look, here's potentially some fish here, a little shoal of them above the rocks.

0:53:470:53:53

It's amazing, isn't it? I bet it cost Bill quite a lot of money too.

0:53:530:53:56

I equally bet that if I was a dolphin using echo location,

0:53:560:54:01

my sonic picture of the world would be much better than that.

0:54:010:54:06

Dolphin echo location is so good

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that they can identify not only the whereabouts of fish,

0:54:130:54:18

but also the species, even at a distance of 200 metres.

0:54:180:54:24

They can also read the shape and features of the seabed, even in the murkiest of British waters.

0:54:240:54:30

Once they've found their salmon, they can chase them into the perfect ambush position.

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Chanonry Point in the Moray Firth.

0:54:460:54:48

CHEERING

0:54:560:54:58

The reason they come here is all down to the architecture of the beach just out here.

0:54:590:55:05

It makes it a perfect place for them to come fishing.

0:55:050:55:08

From a human perspective, there's nothing particularly special about this place.

0:55:110:55:15

Above the waves, the sea looks much like anywhere else.

0:55:150:55:20

A dolphin's view of the beach though is rather different.

0:55:200:55:25

In open water, salmon aren't easy to catch.

0:55:250:55:30

But here, the land juts far out into the Firth,

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allowing dolphins to trap the fish against the slope of the beach.

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With a year-round supply of fish, somewhere to catch them,

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and relatively free from noise pollution,

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this is probably the best place in the whole of Britain for dolphins.

0:55:500:55:55

It strikes me that only by looking at our coast as a dolphin or as another coastal creature would,

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can we start to understand it and truly appreciate its value.

0:56:230:56:28

When you think about it, Britain is a collection of islands surrounded by some fantastic coastline.

0:56:460:56:51

It's our least-known habitat, but as we've learned, it's also our most important.

0:56:510:56:56

So it's a bit of a paradox that it's also our least protected.

0:56:560:57:00

We only have three marine nature reserves, whereas on land,

0:57:000:57:04

we've got tens of thousands of protected areas for wildlife.

0:57:040:57:08

The good news though - we do have a new Marine Bill, so the future is looking good, generally.

0:57:080:57:13

But what about our particular group of coastal creatures?

0:57:130:57:17

What might they ask us for to improve their lot?

0:57:170:57:20

Well, the crabs - they're hiding for a reason.

0:57:200:57:24

If you find them, don't blow their cover.

0:57:240:57:28

Dolphins - they want the noise turned down.

0:57:280:57:30

That is something that we might consider.

0:57:300:57:33

The gulls? Well, I'm afraid to say, it looks like they're coming to a rooftop near you.

0:57:330:57:38

If they've already arrived and are leaving deposits on your car,

0:57:380:57:42

get soapy water and show some tolerance.

0:57:420:57:44

That just leaves the shearwaters and the seals.

0:57:440:57:46

Well, both of these animals have globally important populations here in Britain.

0:57:460:57:52

So I guess if they're asking for something, it's to remind us

0:57:520:57:56

that their future security is in our human hands.

0:57:560:58:00

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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