0:00:03 > 0:00:07Across Britain, there's a hidden army of extraordinary people.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Don't look as fat as you should be. You haven't already laid some eggs somewhere?
0:00:11 > 0:00:15They're hard-working, dedicated and very efficient.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17GIGGLING
0:00:17 > 0:00:18Did I say it was slippery?
0:00:18 > 0:00:21They do it for love, not money.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Absolute beauty. They're all beauties, but this one especially.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Four different creatures, four amateur naturalists, four inspiring stories.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35I've just been bitten, for my pains.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Reptiles and amphibians are linked with dark, dank places,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07warts, witchcraft and sliminess.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Many people loathe or even hate them,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16but a few stalwart individuals love them.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21Chris Davis' lifelong passion for reptiles
0:01:21 > 0:01:26has gradually taken over most of his time, and all of his Sussex garden.
0:01:26 > 0:01:27It started when I was three.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31My mother, with immense bravery, rescued me from a slowworm on our rockery.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35I say immense bravery because although slowworms are totally harmless,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37she was convinced it was a deadly poisonous snake
0:01:37 > 0:01:41and chopped it into a million fragments with a spade.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Fortunately, we learned better very quickly.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49And when I was 15 I saw my first sand lizard, and then the great love affair started.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Sand lizards are simply a gorgeous animal.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58People who aren't familiar with them have been quite convinced this is some strange beast
0:01:58 > 0:02:01escaped from the Amazonian jungle. They are out of this world.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09In 1999, Chris began to build a sand-lizard empire in his back garden.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15The object of this is simply to keep these animals as healthy as possible,
0:02:15 > 0:02:16with a view to their breeding.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23Unfortunately, sand lizards, as far as their young are concerned, are cannibalistic.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28They don't differentiate between a small moving insect and a small moving hatchling lizard,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30they're both food.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35Chris needs to move pregnant or gravid females to a safer enclosure,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37but first he has to catch them.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Of course, one of the problems
0:02:39 > 0:02:44is trying to make sure I don't tread on any other lizards in the process.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48She's very close to egg-laying, so she does need to be caught.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53And...a spectacular miss! HE LAUGHS
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Now, can we see anyone else?
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Lovely young male clambering in the heather,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06but I'm not looking for a male, I'm looking for a gravid female.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11There's a young female down here, and obviously gravid, quite plump...
0:03:11 > 0:03:12So...
0:03:14 > 0:03:16HE CHUCKLES
0:03:16 > 0:03:20She's not quite ready to lay yet. She will be laying,
0:03:20 > 0:03:27probably, if this weather continues, within the next week, I think, yes.
0:03:28 > 0:03:29I suddenly saw her,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and this is a much bigger female, when you look at the bulk.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Even though it's a larger animal, you can see she's really massive,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and she's very close to laying eggs.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Again, rather a beautiful animal, they're both beautiful animals.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50I'll take these down to the egg-laying, Viv, and I've just been bitten, for my pains.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Chris' sand-lizard sanctuary was desperately needed.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56The species was in dire straits.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59People began to notice
0:03:59 > 0:04:02that they weren't seeing sand lizards in the same numbers
0:04:02 > 0:04:04as when they were children.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11Their two specialist areas of habitat, which were dry lowland heath and coastal dunes,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15were historically seen as being completely valueless.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20One of the biggest dune complexes that used to support sand lizards
0:04:20 > 0:04:23is now called Liverpool.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Conversely, one of the biggest lowland heath systems
0:04:25 > 0:04:30which used to support sand lizards is now called Bournemouth.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36By the mid 1970s, only three populations survived in England,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38and they have disappeared from Wales.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Chris' pregnant females are part of a plan to reverse the decline.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47The young will then be reared by me for a short while.
0:04:47 > 0:04:54Release will take place, back end of August, early September, by which time they'll be equivalent in size
0:04:54 > 0:05:00to one-year-old wild animals, which gives them a real kick-start in life.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Chris has reintroduced his home-grown sand lizards onto several local heaths.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08To measure their survival, he checks the release sites.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21Finding nine-inch-long lizards in a dense hectare of heathland is never easy,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24and they'll melt away at sudden movements.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28But at least they're not bothered by noise.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33You can talk as much as you like, you can walk along singing songs if you felt like it,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35the lizards wouldn't care less.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37They're not great music critics, in any event.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51Probably the best one of the lot was two years after we'd done our first introduction to Wales,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55and I was looking around the release area and I saw a hatchling sand lizard.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Now, this was a magical moment,
0:05:58 > 0:06:06firstly because this was the first of the lizards to breed in the wild, or the first product, for 50 years.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11And secondly, because I knew I myself had bred all of their parents,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16so the sense of accomplishment and pride was absolutely enormous.
0:06:19 > 0:06:20There we are.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29SHUTTER CLICKS
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Mark for occasion. Truly magnificent beautiful animal.
0:06:36 > 0:06:42Most nature lovers seeing their first male sand lizard in particular in full breeding colours
0:06:42 > 0:06:45is a memory that stays in their mind for ever.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50These wonderful green flanks with the silver lines down the back,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54it makes for an incredibly exotic-looking animal.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Is the population doing well?
0:06:58 > 0:07:04It's that simple, if we see a population deteriorating we know there has to be a cause,
0:07:04 > 0:07:06and we look for that cause.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10The surveys show that sand lizards are thriving.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14For Chris, it's fantastic to see all his hard work pay off.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20At long last there's this animal in such serious difficulty
0:07:20 > 0:07:22which we're putting back into the countryside,
0:07:22 > 0:07:28and to see it there and thriving, you really feel as if you're putting something back into the world.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34Chris' lifelong passion has helped turn things around for sand lizards.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39But other enthusiasts come to their favourite reptiles and amphibians
0:07:39 > 0:07:40much later in life.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46It was only after retiring that Richard and Phil King
0:07:46 > 0:07:50were able to fully indulge their particular passion.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54It all started years ago
0:07:54 > 0:07:57with a small pond at their previous suburban home.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00- Look at it.- Minute, isn't it?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Newts suddenly appeared in it,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09so we spent a lot of time watching them and became quite fascinated.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17This was just the start of their passion for newts.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Richard and Phil moved to Herefordshire.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22They put ordinary small garden ponds behind them.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Now, they have the space to create something really grand.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27We wanted bigger ponds,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31we had to get planning permission, and we had to get contractors in,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35so it was a bigger exercise than the original little pond in the home garden.
0:08:37 > 0:08:4018 months after we dug these ponds
0:08:40 > 0:08:44we were doing some weeding round our patio beside the house,
0:08:44 > 0:08:49and suddenly discovered a large newt creature we hadn't seen before.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52What I noticed particularly that first time
0:08:52 > 0:08:58was it has yellow-and-black striped toes, just like having yellow and black stripy socks on.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02And this is so striking that you can't miss it, it's unmistakable.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07I think many tales of dragons in the past were probably about great crested newts.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09They look just like it!
0:09:09 > 0:09:14The great crested newt is Britain's largest and most threatened newt.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20To keep a protective eye on their pond's new residents,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Richard and Phil count the tadpoles and eggs.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26They lay them on underwater plants,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31so what we're looking for is the leaves of underwater plants that have been folded over,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and the egg is caught inside.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Earlier in the year we'd find a lot more, and these leaves would be under water.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42- There's a folded leaf.- Oh, have you got one? On water parsnip?
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Let's have a look... Take it out...
0:09:46 > 0:09:47It's empty!
0:09:47 > 0:09:52Oh, no, there it is, it's a tiny little...just hatching.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Came out from under there.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58There we are, he's gone back.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00I like the way we call them "him" all the time!
0:10:00 > 0:10:05- Oh, here's a folded leaf.- Ah, yeah. - Let's see what's in there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Oh, look, now this would be a great crested.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14It's white and it's quite large, that's a great crested newt egg.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Oh, look, oh, we've got a big one!
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Yeah, that's definitely the great crested one.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24That's three great crested newt larvae.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- There, put it back where it came from...- Whoops!
0:10:27 > 0:10:29It's great to know the newts are breeding,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33but to check on the adults calls for a night shift.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42It's not really dark enough yet,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45but we'll have a look and see what we can find in the ponds.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48This is where we normally find them, down here.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Have to be a bit careful of the mud, it's really slippery after the rain.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56All very quiet at the moment.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Have you spotted anything?
0:10:58 > 0:10:59No, nothing at all.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02Come on, where are you?
0:11:02 > 0:11:04- HE CHUCKLES - (Nothing there.)
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Well, perhaps they're not very active yet. They come out at night,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12they're very inactive in the day, and come out in the evening
0:11:12 > 0:11:15for finding food and finding mates and so on.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19This is the time when they're most easily seen in the pond usually.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21We have seen 18 in this pond.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30- There's something.- Is there? What sort of something?
0:11:30 > 0:11:32We've got one!
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Ah, can see his feet. You can see those yellow bands on the feet very clearly there.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42- There's another one, a second one... - Two...- ..just down there.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46- Actually, that one's a male as well. - Yes, there it is, there it goes.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50- What's that?- Where?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53There's one, at the bottom there, can you see, on the bottom there?
0:11:53 > 0:11:56(Where, where?)
0:11:56 > 0:11:59- That one.- Oh, that's a good view of it, isn't it?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01- It is, isn't it?- The stripy toes.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04So that's number five to record along with the two tadpoles.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07- There we are.- So what are we, about ten o'clock, is it?
0:12:07 > 0:12:11- Ten o'clock.- Right.- OK, then, thanks.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13I think that's pretty good for this time of year.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15SHE GASPS AND LAUGHS
0:12:17 > 0:12:18Did I say it was slippery?
0:12:22 > 0:12:27From small beginnings with one small pond,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Richard and Phil have really branched out.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33But their zeal for helping newts hasn't stopped there.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37They now have the whole county of Herefordshire in their sights.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42In Herefordshire, there have been a lot of ponds
0:12:42 > 0:12:45and a lot of them have newts, they won't be big populations,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and a lot of the ponds could be in much better condition.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And so we've identified five ponds for restoration.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55One of them is at this local cider orchard.
0:12:55 > 0:13:02Richard and Phil join the County Pond Officer, Darrell Hardy, to assess the work that needs doing.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04The idea is to, as well as extend it,
0:13:04 > 0:13:09take out most of that bulrush and at the same time de-silt it.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Five ponds now, but this is just the beginning.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Richard and Phil have high hopes for the future.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Ponds have been through a bad patch, but I think that hopefully they're coming out the other side.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24This tiny dinosaur is a barometer of pond life.
0:13:24 > 0:13:31Slimy, odd-looking and rarely seen by day, great crested newts are a curious obsession.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Richard and Phil love them.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40One of our British reptiles is even harder to find, and to love.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43In fact it's our most feared wild animal.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48Learning to love this elusive creature made one woman an expert.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Sylvia Sheldon is 70 years old.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57She lives in a cottage deep in the Wyre forest in Worcestershire.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00It's extremely remote,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05but it's the perfect spot from which to keep an eye on some of her neighbours.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10I photographed my first adder in... I think it was 1978.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12I just found them to be fascinating creatures.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15SHUTTER CLICKS I was wary when I first started photographing them,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18but then realised that they were very timid.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Lexy might be around somewhere.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25My favourite adder is a female I call Lexy.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I first photographed her as a juvenile
0:14:28 > 0:14:33eight years ago when she matured at five.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I witnessed her first mating,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39and followed her progress through the summer. She's now ten.
0:14:39 > 0:14:46This is her spot. If we're going to see her, she'll be in here.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Oh, there she is, there she is, there she is!
0:14:53 > 0:14:55But she's going, going, going! Wait a minute,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00I can see that she wants to dive, really... Oh, she's gone!
0:15:00 > 0:15:05That was her gone. That was good, though, I'm sorry if you didn't...!
0:15:05 > 0:15:11Sylvia knows more about the adders of the Wyre Forest than anybody,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13so what does it take to study them?
0:15:15 > 0:15:17You've got to be very stealthy.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19They can't hear airborne noises
0:15:19 > 0:15:23but they're aware of ground vibrations.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25They'll pick up your movement very quickly,
0:15:25 > 0:15:31so one has to walk stealthily, usually downwind of them,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33because they pick up your scent very easily,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36and you know when an adder has detected you scent-wise
0:15:36 > 0:15:41because their tongue flickers in and out, and they quickly disappear into the vegetation.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44This is no idle hobby for Sylvia.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48In the early '80s a discovery she made rocked the science world,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52and made her a well-respected adder expert.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56I noticed all the head patterns were different.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02I thought, "I'm bound to find two adders with identical head markings," but I never have.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04This was pioneering work.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Sylvia was the first person to identify adders
0:16:07 > 0:16:10from their individual head patterns.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15The most distinctive head patterns are what I call horse-shaped,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18a horse looking left or a horse looking right,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20so it's a silhouette of a horse.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24You also get rounded ones and pointed ones.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26It became of more interest
0:16:26 > 0:16:29when I knew I was looking at individuals,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32rather than just another adder.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37I was seeing who was mating with who, which female gave birth
0:16:37 > 0:16:41to which babies, monitor babies through to maturity.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49Being able to study the snakes as individuals fired Sylvia's interest in the adders even more.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53So Sylvia started doing her own surveys.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59In 1990 she gained a diminutive but determined assistant.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Alonsa, my grandson, was only five or six years old when he used to come out with me.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And although he was a little bit impulsive
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and I used to try and get him to stay behind me, he wanted to be in front.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Over the years he's become very good at spotting adders,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20and as he's got bigger and taller he can see them better than I can now.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24She gave me a camera when I was ten, I photographed them and loved it,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28they're a creature that got a lot of bad press, and when people say,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30"Oh, it's a snake!" you can say, "They're not that bad",
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and, yeah, it's different, I enjoy that.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38- Oh, look, Alonsa, there's a sloughed skin.- Yeah.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Sloughing is when a snake sheds its skin.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Because Sylvia knows them so well,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51she knows who this male is without even seeing the actual snake.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55I think he must be nine or ten years old now, yeah.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02Once the females emerge from hibernation, the males start getting distinctly frisky.
0:18:02 > 0:18:08They vie for dominance in a spectacular dance that Alonsa is lucky to have witnessed.
0:18:08 > 0:18:09This happened so fast.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14These two males came out of the blue and started right in front of me dancing,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19it was fantastic, the dominant male pushing the smaller male to the floor.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22And it can last two or three minutes, and it is very exciting.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26They get as high as they can off the ground to push the other male down to the floor,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29and once that male becomes subservient,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33he slinks off and the dominant male then goes to his female to breed.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39I still get a thrill every time I see an adder.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42It's a thrill, it's great to see them,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47especially because they are declining in numbers.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52We had over 300 when we started doing surveys in the late '80s,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and we're now down to 100 adders.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I feel you've got to appreciate it while it lasts
0:18:58 > 0:19:02in case the time comes when they become extinct.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04MOTOR RUMBLES
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Sylvia noticed that some types of forestry work
0:19:08 > 0:19:10were actively damaging to the adders.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17Because adders cannot burrow, they use existing holes.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20If the machinery goes over those holes and compacts the ground
0:19:20 > 0:19:25they cannot get out, so they are basically buried alive, suffocated.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27SHUTTER CLICKS
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Sylvia's dedicated work is having a positive effect.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36Because of her expertise, she's now consulted about forestry work before it happens,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40and adder numbers seem to be on the way back up.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45The future for adders looked dire a few years ago...
0:19:46 > 0:19:53..but I think over the past few years their requirements are being taken into account.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57- THEY CHAT - And her influence doesn't stop there.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Alonsa has been inspired by her passion
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and now helps with the survey work and report-writing.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09I'm very pleased that he's become as fascinated by the adders as I am, because it means
0:20:09 > 0:20:12he'll follow on my studies, I hope.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19Sylvia's love for adders has grown over the years, and now Alonsa is hooked too.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25Having an animal on your doorstep means that you are perfectly positioned to study and protect it.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Sometimes just stumbling across a local creature
0:20:29 > 0:20:31can be the start of something big.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33CRICKET-LIKE CHIRPING
0:20:36 > 0:20:38It was on a dark and damp misty marsh
0:20:38 > 0:20:42that Richard Irvine made a discovery that would change his life.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48You might wonder why I was wandering around at night in the dark, but that's what it is,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51probably out with the dog and hearing this noise,
0:20:53 > 0:20:59a sort of "barrup"-type noise, it's like crickets in the jungle.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02It's not always easy to find out where the noise is coming from.
0:21:04 > 0:21:10Richard has been living in Anthorn on the Solway Firth for 34 years.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15He traded in a job in the city to become a farmer.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20His sheep graze on the salt marsh at the edge of the estuary.
0:21:20 > 0:21:26The strange noises he heard at night made it obvious there was something else living here too.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29RAUCOUS CHIRRUPING
0:21:29 > 0:21:33I just went to investigate it eventually.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36I was totally surprised when I found out, because as you know
0:21:36 > 0:21:39when you walk up to a toad it keeps quiet, doesn't it?
0:21:39 > 0:21:43You see a toad there, and it's not making the noise when you see it, so it's quite surprising
0:21:43 > 0:21:46to find a little toad like this making such a big noise.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Richard called English Nature,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51who told him that they were natterjack toads,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Britain's rarest amphibian.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57It was realised that the population was very small,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01probably 20 or 30 toads, so the population was struggling.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Richard became fascinated by them.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09This is a beauty, he's got a fantastic stripe right down his back,
0:22:09 > 0:22:15lots of warts, and lots of different colours of brown and green and yellows.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22The males also have little suction pads on the inside of their fingers
0:22:22 > 0:22:26at the front, which is where they hold onto the females.
0:22:26 > 0:22:27TOAD CHIRRUPS
0:22:27 > 0:22:32Absolute beauty. They're all beauties, but this one especially.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38Toads need somewhere to breed, that is a pond
0:22:38 > 0:22:44which will hold water long enough so they have time to turn into toadlets,
0:22:44 > 0:22:51and it was decided to actually physically change and improve their environment by digging new ponds.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56The main string of ponds is a series of seven or eight
0:22:56 > 0:23:01which runs down slowly, and the water now cascades from one pond down to the others.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05We're not trying to farm the natterjacks,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08but we are trying to make sure that some at least do survive.
0:23:08 > 0:23:14Richard's sheep are unwittingly helping the plan to save the toads.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18The best way to manage the surrounding habitat is grazing it,
0:23:18 > 0:23:23so we get a tight short sward, like a lawn, and then they can travel,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28because they move up to two kilometres from the breeding pond
0:23:28 > 0:23:30during the winter to hibernate.
0:23:30 > 0:23:36Spawn strings and tadpoles show that the toads are successfully breeding.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38But not always in the right place.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41This is what we call a suicide pond,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46because the water in here will evaporate in about a week if it doesn't continue to rain.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And there are actually three strings in here,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51which you can just make out.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53They're probably about three days old.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57You can see they're starting to change from round to oval
0:23:57 > 0:24:00and they're turning into taddies, so there will be tadpoles in here.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03We'll probably have to let these hatch out into taddies now,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06then catch the taddies and move them somewhere else.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Not all the spawn will go on to develop into toads,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17but Richard knows that his adult population is doing well.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Oh, there you are, four here...four little ones.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26They don't start breeding until they're three years old,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28so these are juveniles.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30There's another one,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33chubby little fellow, he must be doing rather well.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38I'll just put this down there once we make sure that we're not going to squash anyone.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40There we are, little chap.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46By day the toads hide away,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50but at night they really come into their own.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55It's the males that make the noise, they compete for the females,
0:24:55 > 0:25:01just go down there and sing away and the girls come along and choose the one they like.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03RAUCOUS CHIRRUPING
0:25:06 > 0:25:08You can see their little white heads.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14Their bodies are floating in the water, and there's one there and one there.
0:25:14 > 0:25:1925 years ago, the population was down to about 20 adults,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23so when a toad called it was more or less an individual toad that you were hearing,
0:25:23 > 0:25:29whereas now we've got a complete chorus of probably a couple of hundred toads down here.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31ASSORTED TOAD CALLS
0:25:57 > 0:26:03Counting toads at night is quite difficult, and of course they hide as soon as they hear you coming.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06They tend to dive down to the bottom, making it very difficult.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09We know we don't get them all, but it gives us a rough idea.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12Nice one there.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17You can certainly see the gold stripe right down his back beautifully, can't you?
0:26:18 > 0:26:19There he goes.
0:26:19 > 0:26:2113...14...
0:26:21 > 0:26:23It's a fairly slow job,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25and you just have to go around and shine a torch on them
0:26:25 > 0:26:29and hope you don't count the same one more than once.
0:26:29 > 0:26:3418 toads on this side of the pond, probably similar numbers the other side.
0:26:34 > 0:26:41Seven or eight ponds similar to this. Could be a colossal number of toads, couldn't there?
0:26:41 > 0:26:47Richard's care of the natterjacks has spawned a recovery in his toad population.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53The best thing is that I'm here and they're here,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and I'm lucky enough to be able to look after them.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02From idle curiosity about a strange noise,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06the toads have become an important part of Richard's life.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10They'd probably be very boring to everybody else, but I quite like them,
0:27:10 > 0:27:16probably just because they're on the doorstep and we don't have to go very far to be entertained.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22It's through the work of Richard and hundreds of other people like him
0:27:22 > 0:27:27that we know so much about Britain's scaly and slimy creatures.
0:27:28 > 0:27:34Far from loathsome, these people find reptiles and amphibians highly lovable.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40It's only by knowing what we've got, where it is and how it's doing
0:27:40 > 0:27:44that we can spot trends and changes in British wildlife...
0:27:45 > 0:27:47..and know when to step in and help.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55It would be an impossible task without the work of our British wild army.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02If you want to know more about cold-blooded creatures,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04log on to:
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Next time on Born To Be Wild,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13two men get down and dirty with puffins...
0:28:13 > 0:28:15You're covered in grot.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18..A financial adviser hunts for nest eggs...
0:28:18 > 0:28:19Might be a bit difficult.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23..A politician doorsteps some ungrateful locals...
0:28:23 > 0:28:24Ohh!
0:28:24 > 0:28:28..and one man is all ears for birdsong.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Join our amateur naturalists as they keep a watch over Britain's birds.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk