0:00:02 > 0:00:04All over Britain are people who love the little things in life.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06They're about two millimetres across.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09They don't mind where they find them.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Because it's very molten, they often swim in it.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15They'll face any danger.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17It's a bit like the great Grimspound Mire.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20And they'll happily get soaking wet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Come here, you lazy sods.
0:00:23 > 0:00:29They do it for love not money, finding beauty in the things many of us think of as pests.
0:00:29 > 0:00:36Four creatures, four amateur naturalists, four inspiring stories.
0:00:58 > 0:01:0298% of all the animals on earth are invertebrates.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Many people just want to squish, swat or spray them,
0:01:07 > 0:01:12but in the depths of Suffolk there's one man who just loves them,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16he invites them wholeheartedly into his life.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21We're going out of the garden area proper and into the fields.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It gets quite overgrown.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I've planted this up for insects, butterflies, and bees.
0:01:27 > 0:01:33We dug out some of the drainage ditch. We get dragonflies and damselflies breeding in it.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36There's lots of rot holes which are good for some of the rarer flies.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39We also get some slightly unusual ladybirds on the trunk.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42This is Phil Wilkins.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47Three years ago, he brought his family to live here, but the house wasn't the main attraction.
0:01:47 > 0:01:53We'd always wanted somewhere where there was land so that I could turn it into a nature reserve.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Most people probably would look at the house first, but we looked at the land.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00For Phil this was a dream come true.
0:02:00 > 0:02:06The house came with three unspoilt acres, just ripe for turning into insect heaven!
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Does this look a good one? Lift it over.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17That's a mini dung beetle.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21I've had an interest in insects
0:02:21 > 0:02:25since I was quite young, about seven or eight.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29'I think it's probably the diversity of them'
0:02:29 > 0:02:33and the ease of studying them.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Even just looking in the dung you can find a vast array of things quite easily.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43I've found a beetle in the cow pooh.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47'After a while, you start appreciating how
0:02:47 > 0:02:51'really quite beautiful they can be.' This one, look...
0:02:51 > 0:02:57So to get more six-legged creatures, he got some four-legged ones!
0:02:57 > 0:03:02If we hadn't managed the grassland at all, it would have just scrubbed over.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The cows are really just for maintaining a grassland.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08They are our lawn mowers really.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11I've got it on my finger.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14A ladybird larva.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23A lot of commercially bred cattle are given worming agents,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26which are still active in the dung, whereas these cows
0:03:26 > 0:03:31don't have any worming agents, so we have a lot of beetles and a lot of flies within the dung.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Even his wife, not a natural entomologist, seems to have caught the bug.
0:03:40 > 0:03:47When I first met Amanda, she thought it was a bit strange that I was quite so interested in insects.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Over time, I think I have gradually won her over.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Now, if she finds something she thinks is slight unusual,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58she jots down how many legs it had, how many wings and the exact colours.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Certainly non-entomologists are notoriously
0:04:01 > 0:04:05useless at telling you what an insect looked like.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11They'll tell you that they found this great, big, green beetle and expect you to know what it is.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Often a feature which tells you what it is, they won't have even noticed.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Bug lovers need an eye for detail and Phil devotes hours to
0:04:22 > 0:04:26meticulously painting the intricate features of hundreds of insects.
0:04:26 > 0:04:34Some species are very easy to tell just in the hand, but other species it may just be the direction
0:04:34 > 0:04:40of the hair or the length of part of the cuticle.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44The beauty of painting the insects is that you have to concentrate on
0:04:44 > 0:04:47the different proportions and get them exactly right.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Certainly my identification skills have improved immensely since I started painting the insects.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05This extraordinary talent also has therapeutic value.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09When you do paint - I mean, I quite often have music on -
0:05:09 > 0:05:13you just completely immerse yourself in the painting
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and just get away from everything else that is happening.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28Phil works in a local hospice as a consultant in palliative care.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33Hello, how are you feeling today then?
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Not too bad today.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38'The medical training is...
0:05:38 > 0:05:43'There are various things you learn in your medical training. You have to have a very analytical mind,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'which is helpful for analysing what the insects are doing.'
0:05:47 > 0:05:52How to classify the insects, you have to have
0:05:52 > 0:05:56quite a broad approach to things and not be closed minded as to what things could be.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Also trying to be quite ordered in your thinking.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04People who don't work within palliative medicine often think it's depressing,
0:06:04 > 0:06:10but actually you feel that it is one of the few areas in which we achieve quite a lot for people.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16You can actually make a dramatic difference to people's lives so it is quite life-affirming.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28You sweep through the taller vegetation and the aim
0:06:28 > 0:06:35is to dislodge the insects and the invertebrates off the vegetation into the net.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41You have to do it very quickly, because otherwise a lot of the flying insects will disappear.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The moth records all go to the county moth recorder.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The butterfly records go to the county butterfly recorder.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51All of my hoverfly records have gone off to the national scheme.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55I'm trying to put together my dragonfly records for the national scheme for that.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01With some of the smaller groups, there aren't so many schemes for recording those,
0:07:01 > 0:07:06but hopefully, if schemes start been set up, I can start sending some of the records off to them.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08This is Cantharis Rustica, a soldier beetle.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12They are called soldier beetles because of their bright coloration.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17The blue ones are sometimes called sailor beetles.
0:07:17 > 0:07:24We're used to looking at exotic creatures from other countries and just because they're much bigger than
0:07:24 > 0:07:28the things we've got here, people think they are something special.
0:07:28 > 0:07:35Whereas here, our main diversity and attractiveness are the smaller invertebrate species.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Even the children have started appreciating how attractive
0:07:39 > 0:07:43they can be, and getting quite a lot of pleasure out of it all.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45These ones grow up into a wasp-like insect.
0:07:45 > 0:07:52All this insect activity provides hours of fun, but Phil's passion has a serious role too.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59We certainly are seeing more and more species that weren't here when we first moved here.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00This can act as a reservoir.
0:08:00 > 0:08:07Establishing quite a good population here, to then move to other neighbouring vicinities,
0:08:07 > 0:08:13so we're hoping we are having an impact on the general population of invertebrates round here.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18People like Phil are vital because bugs support all life.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22They're food for other creatures, they pollinate plants,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26they break down the dead and deal with the dung.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Without a rich diversity of insects, nothing could survive.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Including us.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41But the value of some creepy crawlies is harder to appreciate, because you just can't see them!
0:08:41 > 0:08:43They're about two millimetres across.
0:08:46 > 0:08:53But small or not so small, finding them is a matter of skill and having the right kitchen equipment.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57David Long is a retired civil servant and is fascinated by
0:08:57 > 0:09:01the understated and tiny world in the undergrowth.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06We're heading to Siccaridge Wood, which is one of my favourite places.
0:09:14 > 0:09:20We've got little bits of shell and the odd insect larva.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23But it's mainly
0:09:23 > 0:09:26vegetable matter in here.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Exciting is perhaps too strong a word.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35I get excited when I find something really good or somebody else finds it for me.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37I just enjoy it, it's relaxing.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43Hidden in walls, in muddy swamps, in the nettle patch, David scrapes,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48splashes and scrabbles his way to the lair of the British snail.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53We've got an amber snail on a nettle leaf up here,
0:09:53 > 0:09:59probably the ordinary amber snail called Succinea putris.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02But some snails are infinitesimally small!
0:10:02 > 0:10:05I think you do need an eye for detail, yes.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10You need to like being out, or you need to be prepared to
0:10:10 > 0:10:14progress through a site at a pretty slow speed.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18And to spend time looking for what you're hoping to find.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22On here we've got Merdigera obscura, this is on the edge of the stone.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27It's called Merdigera because it collects mud to disguise itself as nothing on Earth.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30The Cotswolds are good for molluscs
0:10:30 > 0:10:33because there are lots of large old woods.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39They have deep valleys and they are nearly all built on limestone,
0:10:39 > 0:10:45which molluscs love because they need it for their shells and to form
0:10:45 > 0:10:48an outer skin to their eggs.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Many amateur naturalists dream of the day when they can make
0:10:52 > 0:10:53a great discovery,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and for David this happened on a wall in the Cotswolds.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01It was the 31st of May 1985.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06My wife, Pat and I, had taken my mother, who was then 81, for a walk.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10I happened to have a collecting sieve in my hand as I always did in those days.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17I saw this wall on the left which looked interesting. It had stone crops and other things on it.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20I take my glasses off because
0:11:20 > 0:11:24I've got eyes that
0:11:24 > 0:11:26can pick up small objects.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31So I shook some of the material into the sieve
0:11:31 > 0:11:36and noticed that there was a snail in there that I didn't understand.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43Fortunately David is a member of the Conchological Society or "Conch Soc"
0:11:43 > 0:11:45as it's affectionately known.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51This is one of Britain's oldest societies. It was founded in 1876.
0:11:51 > 0:11:58It records all molluscs, snails included, so David sent his debris off to them to be identified.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00So I sent a letter off with the specimens.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06I got a reply back first class post, which was unheard of.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09I was a bit awestruck I think!
0:12:09 > 0:12:12It turned out that David had re-found a snail
0:12:12 > 0:12:16thought to have disappeared from Britain over 100 years ago.
0:12:16 > 0:12:23Its name is much longer than its shell, Lauria Sempronii, and it's all of two millimetres long.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Which shows, in the world of small things, big things happen!
0:12:27 > 0:12:31It must be one of the rarest snails in Britain because there are very few sites for it.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Given that Lauria Sempronii is only found on two walls in the whole of
0:12:35 > 0:12:39the UK, it's not surprising David never found it again.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Until the day we filmed him.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46I've just had a poke about, can you come along here?
0:12:48 > 0:12:50What have you found?
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Well, if you look...
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I've lost it again already...
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Just by this pinpoint.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05There is a little tiny snail and that, I reckon,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08is a Lauria Sempronii.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11So good, thank you for making me do this!
0:13:12 > 0:13:13OK.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15It's nice to know it's still around
0:13:15 > 0:13:19because I feel a bit sentimentally attached to this bit of wall,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23having sort of looked at it over the years.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31David has been seriously studying snails for over 40 years.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33He has painstakingly divided Gloucestershire
0:13:33 > 0:13:39into one kilometre squares, recording all its slimy, tiny inhabitants.
0:13:39 > 0:13:46I was recording species I found, where I found them, how many I saw.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49David and other snail lovers send their data to
0:13:49 > 0:13:54the Conchological Society, who use it to produce snail maps of Britain.
0:13:54 > 0:14:01It's important to know this because it helps you to see whether perhaps the climate is changing
0:14:01 > 0:14:06or the environment is changing in some way.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12David's stomping ground is picturesque Gloucestershire,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16a very pleasant place to indulge in a passion.
0:14:16 > 0:14:22But one amateur naturalist takes his life into his hands every time he goes out.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27The only thing that stands between Tim Beynon and 14 metres
0:14:27 > 0:14:32of cold, dark water is a thin layer of soggy peat.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36This is Chartley Moss in Staffordshire, a floating bog.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41With a bit of luck this is thicker than my usual walking stick, but...
0:14:46 > 0:14:50And that is down through into the basin underneath.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54You can see it is a dangerous place.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58It's a bit like the great Grimspound Mire...
0:15:00 > 0:15:02..in the Hound Of The Baskervilles.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16Tim Beynon risks being swallowed in a bog for the passion in his life - dragonflies.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21He has studied them since he was a child and it's easy to see why he is fascinated.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26They're unlike practically every other insect.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30The wings move independently.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Each one is powered by its own muscles.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35They're not synchronised or anything.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Which means they can hover, they can fly backwards.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40They're incredibly manoeuvrable.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And just about every species photographed in level flight
0:15:45 > 0:15:49shows that it's got its front pair of legs tucked behind its eyes.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Quite extraordinary.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And this is why Tim makes his weekly pilgrimage to this forbidding landscape.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05It has hardly been touched for hundreds of years and it's now a haven for dragonflies.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09We're coming out onto the west basin.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Walking, as it were, on the edge of the basin of water
0:16:13 > 0:16:17that's underneath, which is why we're reasonably safe at the moment.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Everything that you can see on the right is floating,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25including the trees and the heather and everything else.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32This is Shooter's Pool.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36It's effectively 14 metres deep right down to the bottom of the basin,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40but the dragonflies live on the surface edges.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47This is where you can see one of Britain's rarest dragonflies, the White-faced Darter.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And it's Tim's all-consuming passion.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55If the sun were to burn through, and it's trying, we would see lots
0:16:55 > 0:17:00of dragonflies within five minutes of a good spell of sunshine.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04But there's not enough sun.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09I have never, ever come here in the season and not found one.
0:17:15 > 0:17:22And sure enough, with the slightest glimmer of sunshine, the dragonflies appear out of nowhere.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Two White-faced Darters just flew across the pool.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26There's one coming up the edge, here.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29There's one just going across the surface, low.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Just hovering, coming past us.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Now, we might catch one. I told you they come out in the sun.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44I can see it in the net!
0:17:46 > 0:17:50You can see why it's called the White-faced Darter, because of its nose.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57It's a male, because you can see some red blobs
0:17:57 > 0:18:00on the lower part of the abdomen.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04But the obvious thing is that white face.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08No other British dragonfly has such a white face.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Now, with a bit of luck, it might sit there.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21I got particularly interested in this little beast 13 years ago when I came
0:18:21 > 0:18:29here to do some felling for what was then English Nature. And saw the first one.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30And it's very rare.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33I think they're such gorgeous little men.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Tim was so captivated by them, he started a census.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45It ran for 10 years.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48During the summer he visited twice a week, noting when they emerged
0:18:48 > 0:18:54from the water, the stages of growth and their behaviour.
0:18:54 > 0:18:5915:45, so they're going on through the day a bit. The main finding was that there were a lot more
0:18:59 > 0:19:04White-faced Darter than people had thought, and it was doing very well.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Two stage two.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12The best year we had here, when I was actually censusing, over 2,000 emerged from this pool.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Today, Tim still keeps a watchful eye.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Here, she's going to do it again.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26These lay eggs by dipping them off the tip of their abdomen into the water.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28And she's down in the reeds, here,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31dipping away.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35There she is. She'll do it again with a bit of luck.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41She exudes a little bunch of eggs at her tail end
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and then washes them off into the water.
0:19:44 > 0:19:45You're lucky to see that.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Females come to water for two reasons only -
0:19:51 > 0:19:55one, to meet a male and mate, and two, to lay eggs.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56They're like frogs and toads.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02You come to what her to look at them because they have to come to water to reproduce.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06That's pretty good to see that today.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12Over the last 13 years, Tim has amassed a huge quantity of information.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18I'm a record nut. I file everything.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21And, if you don't keep records, they get lost.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27DICTAPHONE: 'Emerging at 16:30.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32With the information, I wrote it up for my own interest and then bored a lot of people
0:20:32 > 0:20:35with scientific papers on the White-faced Darter at Chartley Moss.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42I think I might have advanced knowledge on the White-faced Darter a little bit,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45which is nice!
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Stage four, body not quite full-sized yet...
0:20:49 > 0:20:56Tim, David and Phil get a great deal of personal satisfaction from their love of the invertebrate world.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Theirs is a lifelong passion.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Others come to it much later.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10For Dai Roberts, a love of fishing spawned a fascination for bugs.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Well, I'm a self-employed builder.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18When I'm not trying to earn a crust, I'm down here or in the pub.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23The Rhymney River in South Wales has been a haven for fishermen
0:21:23 > 0:21:26for centuries, despite its colourful past.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30You hear the river used to run black,
0:21:30 > 0:21:36but the state of the rivers now is probably worse than when the collieries
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and what have you were running,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44due to modern industrial effluent which is entering the river course.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49Although the river may look pristine, its beauty is skin deep.
0:21:51 > 0:21:59About six or seven years ago, some of the angling people that I knew asked if I would start a club competition.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01And we caught no fish.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04We didn't see any fish, which is extremely unusual,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08because previously, it had been a very good year.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12So we did what most anglers do.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15We started looking under stones.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19And what we found under the stones was basically the bottom of stones.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22There were no invertebrates.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Dai alerted the Environment Agency and their tests showed that the river was polluted.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29But Dai is not a man to hang up his rod.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32He decided to take action.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36I found out that some people were using freshwater shrimps as
0:22:36 > 0:22:42an indicator species for pollution - the sort of canary in the cage.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The agreement was that we would monitor
0:22:46 > 0:22:49the Gammarus, and that the Agency would then react
0:22:49 > 0:22:52when we had a mortality amongst the Gammarus.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Come here, you lazy sod!
0:22:58 > 0:23:00One of my assistants will carry on from here.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Freshwater shrimps are very common, but also vulnerable to pollution.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Just small amounts will kill them.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11So by checking captive ones every day,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Dai and his friends can immediately see if there's a problem.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19It looks like they're all alive.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23This week, we've got a clean river. We've not lost any Gammarus.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26But this isn't always the case.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31In December 2006, the team realised something was seriously wrong.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34We'd lost, I think it was 50%, Alan.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Yes, we lost nine I think, that week.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39We lost nearly 50% in a couple of days.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45Obviously then the Agency were contacted and when the results came
0:23:45 > 0:23:50back we found that an industrial insecticide, Permethrin, had got into the river.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54It's licensed for use in nit shampoo,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59domestic insecticides and also as a timber treatment.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03It takes something like a teaspoon of Permethrin
0:24:03 > 0:24:07in an Olympic-sized swimming pool to kill all the invertebrates.
0:24:07 > 0:24:14Firm evidence in the form of dead shrimps meant the Environment Agency could start an investigation.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20Meanwhile, people across the country were also raising the alarm about the state of their rivers.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22A national scheme was emerging.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Anglers everywhere could monitor their patch and send the findings to the Agency.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30The Environment Agency had two things.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34One, that they did not want anecdotal evidence. They would like figures.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37And secondly that anglers are thickos.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41Which is reasonable. We are not entomologists. We are amateurs.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46So in order to get reliable data, Dai's team collect a monthly sample
0:24:46 > 0:24:51and check for eight easily-identifiable groups of river bugs.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53I'm kicking up the stones at the bottom.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Any invertebrates that I dislodge are carried into the net
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and we will be able to count them.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04If Dai falls in we don't give him the kiss of life.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08And if one of us falls in, Dai doesn't give us the kiss of life. We're not kissing him!
0:25:12 > 0:25:19Now, we empty the net and hopefully we will find a few invertebrates.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23I will go up and do the second half of the site
0:25:23 > 0:25:28and Alan and Rob can carry on counting and separating those.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30It's a caddis?
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Dai and his friends went on a day's training course run by
0:25:34 > 0:25:36the Riverfly Partnership,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41- where they learnt how to collect samples and hone their ID skills.- It's all voluntary work.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43And it is all angling clubs.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45They are the people who understand the river.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49They are the ones who are there on a daily basis, and therefore,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52they have the opportunity to see any changes in the river.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Now that we're trained in the standard method,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57the Environment Agency listen to what we say.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00I was conned into it, told it was a free day out.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02He didn't tell me about the monthly things, did he?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05No, he said we would have a demonstration on how to count these
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and, since then, we've been doing it on a monthly basis.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22These new-found skills have an added benefit.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25It makes them better fishermen!
0:26:25 > 0:26:30People tend to over-dress their flies, and use them much larger than they are in real life.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35They are, as you can see, very small in real life, and hard to see.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I've gone down three hook sizes since I started doing this.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42It's more than that - it's about getting the river right.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45We need to get our environment right.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51There's a stonefly. Pick up the Gammarus as well.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53If you remember
0:26:53 > 0:26:58a few years back, you would have enough Gammarus to have a prawn sandwich.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00That's true, but it's nice to see them back.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03We haven't had them for a while.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08In 2007, the national monitoring scheme was launched by The Riverfly Partnership.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Now anglers throughout the UK are monitoring the health of the rivers they fish.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19It's so interesting and, as there are no fish to catch, this is the next thing to do.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25Anglers have got a vested interest in the rivers.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30I think, the more anglers who become involved in the initiative, and the more anglers who are on
0:27:30 > 0:27:33the rivers monitoring it, it can only get better.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39All our amateur naturalists are doing an essential job.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44Because of people like them, Britain has the best-known wildlife of any country in the world.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48If we are going to maintain a diverse and thriving natural environment,
0:27:48 > 0:27:53we have to look after the building blocks that all life depends on -
0:27:53 > 0:27:56our creepy crawlies.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Where would we be without them?
0:27:58 > 0:28:01If you want to develop your bug-hunting skills,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03then you can log onto our website...
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Next time on Born To Be wild... Love at first sight.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16- They're all beauties, but this one especially.- A moonlit walk.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24- A hot pursuit.- There she is, there she is, but she's going, going, going...
0:28:24 > 0:28:29Join our amateur naturalists as they keep a watch over Britain's reptiles and amphibians.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:51 > 0:28:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk