Coastal Creatures Born to Be Wild

To follow some creatures you need a great head for heights.

Some people say I'm a bit like a mountain goat.

Coming down rather slowly today!

For others, you need an eye for detail.

I'll look at the patterns, but I'm not very good at that,

because you've got to be female to see these pictures.

Some require a leap into the great unknown.

And for all, you need lots and lots of patience.

We'll probably go in the house in two hours and they'll be jumping about.

That's the beauty of it.

A dedicated band of enthusiasts are watching over Britain's amazing coastal creatures.

Four animals, four amateur naturalists, four inspiring stories.

Britain has an amazing 11,000 miles of rich coastline.

The sea is part of our national character.

It affects our climate and provides a living for many people.

By looking at the creatures that live here,

we can learn a lot about what's happening out there.

But it isn't the easiest place to study animals.

This man looks like he's off to clean some windows,

so why is he going to a remote spot on the north-east coast of Scotland?

My family think I'm obsessed!

That this mad interest in ornithology.

But actually, I've got a very low boredom threshold,

so it keeps me out of mischief.

We're gonna go down by these gorse bushes here

and I'm gonna swing to the right

and that'll take us down the steeper part.

I've been interested in natural history since I was a schoolboy.

I started off as an egg collector, as many boys were in those days.

When I got to secondary school I joined a bird club

and they, kind of, switched me off egg collecting into nest recording.

My daughter's mildly interested, but my son's actually quite keen.

He's not quite so keen on the seabirds,

he's not that happy on the cliffs.

It's easy to see why.

It's a slippery, precipitous 100 metre journey

and Bob has been doing this for 25 years.

we have to watch the tide, that's the thing.

We need to get back before the tide comes in

or they'll be sending a helicopter out to rescue us, I would think!

I think I can see a colony,

it's just a fantastic sort of place to be in.

All your senses are

firing on all cylinders.

The noise is a constant cacophony of sound

as the birds are calling back and forward to each other.

There's a constant activity of birds flying to and fro.

The smell is unbelievable!

It's a combination of everything.

It's just absolutely superb.

I recommend that everyone go and visit a seabird colony

at least once, if they've got an interest in natural history.

Every ten days, during the summer months,

Bob gets in amongst the pandemonium.

I'm gonna to try and catch this shag here. This is an adult male shag.

It's quite aggressive.

It might look traumatic, but sometimes when we release them

they're straight back in the nest within minutes.

They're quite fearsome fighters.

We haven't had this one before,

it's not got a ring on its leg, so I'm gonna give it a ring.

These rings have got a unique number on them,

so if anybody finds one of these

they can send details to the British Museum about

where they found it and when they found it

and we can build up a picture of their movements.

There are shags, razorbills, guillemots and kittiwakes here.

So many birds, so little time.

Here's one chipping. Look at the chick just about to come out.

Now this one I checked earlier,

you can see that letter A and it's now got a small chick.

We actually measure and weigh a sample of chicks each visit,

just cos it's a good indication of what state the birds are in.

So this one's weighing 124 grams, which is probably pretty good

for a chick of this age, so I presume it's getting lots of fish coming in.

You can see why they're called razorbills and a vicious hook

they got on the end of their beak.

Guillemots, much nicer looking than shags.

Let's see what's in this shag nest here.

We got one, two, three chicks, all different sizes.

Not the most beautiful of birds, you can see why birds

certainly evolved from dinosaurs when you look at young shag chicks.

Again, you'll see the big difference in the size,

so if there's a food shortage, the chances are this one won't make it.

These are too small to ring, so I'm just gonna record what's in this nest

and just put them back in there.

So, that's got three young.

Bob uses his data to write scientific papers and articles

charting the fortunes of this colony.

He also gives data to the National Sea Bird Survey.

Some of these birds live to over 50 years old,

so long-term studies like Bob's are essential.

It's amazing when you look at a cliff like this,

the birds actually come back to exactly the same bit

year after year, after year.

For instance, that nest there, that bird's been nesting in that exact bit of cliff

ever since we've done this study.

This is my photograph from the early '90s.

And in that year, we had 46 nests in this cliff.

Today, we're now reduced to just 11 active nests.

It's been a pretty major decline,

which has happened all the way along this colony.

It's almost certainly associated with changes in food supply.

These birds feed quite heavily on sand eels

and there just seems to be a lack of these.

Bob has a quarter of a century's worth

of invaluable insight into the ups and downs of the colony.

But now he's seen a serious drop in numbers. Why?

It's quite a tricky issue, this.

These kittiwakes have virtually produced no chicks

for the past six years.

Obviously, if there is any sand eel fishery going on, really,

that ought to be halted.

There's some suggestion that

we should have more marine conservation areas,

where we've got areas of the seabed being protected.

On their favour, these seabirds are exceptionally long-lived,

if things do pick up in five, ten years' time,

a large number of the birds will be around

and will be able to reverse these declines.

However, if global temperatures do keep increasing and increasing,

as has been suggested and the seas do get warmer and warmer and warmer,

then there's a possibility that these birds are in really serious trouble.

It's absolutely vital we keep a handle on what's going on

and that this is reported to the various conservation organisations,

so governments take this seriously.

Our coastline needs long-term studies.

The trouble is, there's so much of it,

it can take whole teams of people to get the information

that shows us what's going on.

Just 20 miles along the coast from Bob

is another passionate amateur who has done just that.

Got the community together, but together to do what?

Well, his nickname says it all.

In this area and further a field, I'm known as Dolphin Pete.

I get letters. I got one letter from France

and it was just, Dolphin Peter, the Moray Firth, and it got here.

No prizes for guessing that Pete MacDonald is fascinated by dolphins.

But it's a fairly recent passion.

It started when he moved to Findochty,

a fishing village on the Moray Firth.

I'd been up in this area before and we came looking for a house.

And we found Findochty,

which is a beautiful little village and just fell in love with the place.

And we purchased this house on the strength of the view,

more than the house, I think it was.

One day in March I'm washing up and looking out there

from the window and there was ten dolphins and we thought, "amazing".

To see these animals from the house

and they were there all day.

It was just great.

So we started keeping a little diary, just for ourselves.

We met someone from Cullen, Buckie

and every time we saw dolphins we would tell them,

"The dolphins are heading your way," or "they're coming our way".

We had about five or six people

phoning each other when we saw some dolphins.

It just started like that.

So, we thought, we'll just write up a newsletter of the sightings.

I think the newsletter started before the group, actually.

The Friends of the Moray Firth Dolphins

has now got over 200 dolphin watchers strung along the coast.

This is the viewpoint in Findochty.

The group were involved in building this.

And there's always somebody here.

It's a focal point for walkers and they have a little conversation

and head off home, so, it's part of the community.

If it's a bonny morning,

you can be up here 5am / 6am in the morning.

That's actually a very good time to see the dolphins.

We'll probably go and the house in two hours' time

and they'll be dolphins jumping around like anything.

They may be elusive sometimes, but because bottle-nosed dolphins

live in the Moray Firth, they're always somewhere to be found.

A first we were just simply land-based watching

and then a few years later, we decided to purchase a boat.

I used to be a merchant seaman

and I just fell in love with the ocean.

In the summer, if it's a fine day,

you'll see me out there every day, really.

Many a meal has been missed because dolphins have passed by.

Are you jumping in?

Sometimes you can come out for two hours,

maybe go down to Cullen Bay and then come back again

and then you meet the dolphins here.

You just never know. It's always exciting when you come out because

you never know what you're going to see or what will happen.

We have land-based watching and sea-based watching and land-based

is the easiest and the less intrusive for the animals.

Sea-based watching is a bit different because

you're entering the space of the dolphins, you know?

So you have to be a lot more careful.

We tend to just observe from a distance and if they want to come,

and most of the time the big ones are hurtling towards you.

I've seen at 15 dolphins swimming backwards looking up saying,

"Come on, go faster!"

He's there, look.

On your right hand side!

Dolphins are naturally curious

and will often come up to a boat and ride the bow wave.

An open invitation for some people to chase them.

In the summer months, harassment is a real problem.

We have jet skis, we have powerboats and they're just really awful,

really, towards the dolphins.

The group itself launched its own watch how you watch programme,

to encourage people to watch the dolphins,

but in a more sensible manner.

If they're gonna go out in a boat, go out in an accredited boat

and when you encounter dolphins,

slow down and just take it easy with them. Let them come to you.

As well as educating the public,

the group also has monthly watches up and down the coast.

Pete gathers all these records of where and how many dolphins

have been spotted and sends them to a national dolphin survey.

When we first started watching,

the official number was 76 dolphins and then one day a scientist

came out with us and we saw loads and loads of dolphins,

so the number's gone up to 130.

But 130 isn't a lot.

It's quite a population that's on the balance of surviving, I think.

Pete feels that if the Moray Firth dolphins are to survive,

he must get all ages on board.

Hello, boys and girls.

Who's seen dolphins in Findochty?

Oh, everybody's seen dolphins!

Such an amazing sight, isn't it?

And it travels all around the Moray Firth.

It goes from Inverness...

'It's still amazing, 15 years on,

'that some people haven't seen the dolphins here.'

So, the idea of the group

is to get as many local people involved as possible.

We went down to the beach last week and in one hour we found

all these things here.

Lots and lots of rubbish.

'Pollution is rife in the Moray Firth, I think.

'Whatever some people say,'

you just go along for a walk on the beach

and you pick up plastics and you pick up fishing nets

and gloves and oil filters

and that's the first visible sign of the seas not being treated fair.

You're a dolphin swimming along and you see this on the surface.

So you go and check it out and it just looks like a jellyfish

and it gets stuck in their throats.

-That's right.

-And so animals died.

-That's correct.

One of the good things the group's done over the years,

we've had four members of the group joined as children

and in they're now marine biologists in their own right.

One in Ireland's doing a great job

and one in Australia, working with orcas.

There are hopes to make the Moray Firth a marine park,

giving all wildlife more protection.

Pete believes that the more dolphin watchers he can recruit,

the more chance this plan has of becoming a reality.

Every sighting is an important sighting

because this is the sort of evidence they're looking for

when building up information about how you get a marine park,

what justifies a marine park.

We have bottle-nose dolphins coming along your coast.

What more could you need?

There are only three marine nature reserves in the whole of the UK,

and they are very important refuges for our wildlife,

as well as for research.

But just because somewhere is made into a reserve

doesn't mean it is safe.

Marine parks definitely need their amateur champions, too.

Today, I'm taking part in a survey.

We're monitoring sea urchins,

checking them for size and population.

Also we're doing a survey also on the local starfish population.

Dave Kennard is a plumber and sports diver.

He's joining 20 other amateurs on a Pembrokeshire beach in South Wales.

All of them are passionate about conserving our underwater world.

First of all, thank you all for coming.

Well done. It's really good timing.

It's 9:36, so we've done pretty well this morning.

Kate Locke is a marine officer for Skomer Nature Reserve

and has gathered together all these volunteers

to monitor the sea urchin population around the island.

We're working in a one-metre band either side of the tape.

On your slate, record where you're seeing it,

so it's 1.4 metres - write that down.

You take your callipers against your urchin

and you read off the size of the urchin from that.

Urchins are almost like an indicator

of the general health of the reserve.

They're a grazer - the rabbits of the sea shore.

That gives opportunity then for other things to come in and colonise.

We're interested in what the populations

are like around the island

and seeing if that's changing at all over the years.

The rugged island of Skomer

is home to half a million seabirds and is famous for its puffins.

But the divers know that under the water is just as impressive.

I think we are really privileged to live in such a beautiful area.

The marine life here is so diverse.

It needs our help.

The first monitoring dive I did,

sea search dive, was here in 2003 on the very same project.

We did the sea urchin project then.

It's a bit of a learning curve, as well.

I know some of the animals that we see but not all,

so after we finish the dive, we usually have a cup of tea

and go through some reference books and write down what we saw.

Our seal's a bit friendly and it's come over to the boat to say hello.

It's one of the bull seals, the males.

It's got a really thick neck.

The seals here are friendly -

to the point of being annoying sometimes on a dive.

They like to nibble on your fins and things.

The divers have all gone in now.

We've got them on two sites,

so in about an hour's time we should have them all back on the surface.

At the bottom, they'll be laying out 30-metre tapes

and swimming along that tape,

counting and recording the sizes of each of the sea urchins they see.

They'll be looking out for three starfish species

that we're also recording,

and keeping a tally of how many they see of those, too.

In the 1970s, sea urchins became incredibly rare around the UK.

They made great trinkets for tourist shops.

Today, people are more aware

that they shouldn't buy or collect wild creatures.

It's to protect these types of animals

that nature reserves were set up.

When we're actually doing the dives, to actually see various types

of nudibranchs, which are small sea slugs.

There are very many different types of fish within this area.

We also have different types of coral. We have sea fans along here.

Very, very pretty.

Very lucky to have them.

But it isn't all beautiful by any means,

and Dave is often shocked by what he sees.

Well, two and a half years ago, I set up an organisation called NARC,

which is Neptune's Army of Rubbish Cleaners.

We're a voluntary group of divers

and we collect rubbish from under the sea.

You'd be amazed at what people think they can throw in the sea -

pushbikes, shopping trolleys, a washing machine!

Just cos nobody can see it, they think they can get away with it.

After an hour of surveying the seabed,

it's time for the divers to surface.

Loads of life. Loads of little stuff wherever you look.

We saw lobsters.

Yes, it was very nice, very pleasant. Good visibility.

Picturesque. Very scenic. Lots of rock drop-offs and crevasses.

It was pleasant. There's a lot to see down there.

Lots of different colours and stuff.

Didn't see many urchins on the first dive.

And on the second swim we had about five or six.

Again, just finding more rubbish in the water.

Things get trapped in it, like crabs.

So trying to collect as much as possible.

There was one spiny starfish...

Kate uses all this information to get a better picture

of how the urchins are doing,

but also to get an idea of the health of the reserve.

The divers are very valuable to our project.

We cover a huge area,

about 10,000 square metres, with the volunteer divers.

If you compare how much effort that would take for a four-person team,

which we generally work, then it is a huge area.

And it means we can really see the distribution

of the sea urchins around the island.

I do it because the ecology we have under the water here,

I think is fantastic.

It's a shame most people can't see it.

I'm sure they think, "Wow, look how lucky we are."

Out of sight, out of mind - that's the trouble with our coasts.

But even our more common coastal animals, that are easier to see,

have hidden lives we are only just beginning to discover.

Some 20 years ago, the figure of a lone Cornishman

could be seen scanning this shoreline

for some of Cornwall's most loved visitors.

But his presence didn't go unnoticed.

I finally plucked up courage to speak to the bloke

I'd seen on the cliff top.

I guess we probably got talking

and chatted very occasionally to start with.

'Now it's always great when one or the other of us is up here

'because there's somebody to talk to.'

Sue and Terry's passion, though, isn't for each other.

It's for our largest mammal, the Atlantic grey seal.

There's one coming out the water.

-You get withdrawal symptoms when they're not here.

-Yeah!

You really miss the seals when they're not here.

You just get totally fascinated by them,

and you've got to come and see what's happening.

I've been coming here since the early '90s.

I started to realise that nobody could answer any questions,

why they were here or why they turned up at certain times

and disappeared at others.

A lot of the things I read in books didn't make sense

because they didn't relate to the seals down here.

So, we tried to find the answer to the questions.

The only way was to just keep watching.

For about ten years it was just me, wasn't it?

It was just you for about ten years. I joined in about '99.

I think that is immature male ringneck,

I do know it, but it's not 102 or 122.

I think it's something like 156.

Sue and Terry have spent so long watching the seals

they know individual animals by the unique patterns on their coats.

Chair Lift is there, Terry. I've only just spotted him.

He's the one scratching.

You look at their fur pattern.

Every seal's got a unique fur pattern.

So you start with the left and right neck profiles.

Some of them have really distinctive markings on their backs as well.

I look at the patterns, but I'm not very good at that.

I think you've got to be female to see all these different pictures,

like chair lifts and sea horses!

But I can recognise some of them, because we've just taken loads

and loads of photographs and you can enhance them a bit.

I started by drawing them, and it's just... Drawing them is just so hard.

Digital cameras have just made life so much easier.

As each year goes by,

Sue and Terry can add more seals to their database.

They can now track them

and have a better understanding of their behaviour.

-There's one with a red scar.

-Right.

Each seal has its own column

with the dates that that particular seal has been seen.

Amazingly, we are beginning to see some patterns,

which is really exciting.

The more data we collect, the more we'll see that.

There are an awful lot of males on the database

who don't come in June and July.

They come every other month of the year.

Then we get the other seals, like Canvey, who visit once a year.

So they obviously spend most of their time somewhere else

and just visit us passing through.

You've really got to get a photo of that female.

I think she's been at sea a long time.

She's got very long claws. She could be pregnant, I think.

Yeah, I'd have said so. Skittish, isn't she?.

A very nervous female.

There seems to be a lot of value in watching seals in one place,

really getting to know that location really well,

and seeing what the seals are doing there.

We've learnt that there are a lot more seals here

than we first thought.

And we know that they move from France,

through here, up to south-west Wales and south-west Ireland.

The fact that we've had 215 different seals ID-ed in one year

means there are probably a lot more seals

passing through this particular site.

So, with the new marine bill that's coming up,

demonstrating the significance and importance of particular sites

for particular species is very important.

I think we'll manage to do that for this site.

Fishing and tourism are vital industries in Cornwall,

but they both pose a threat to grey seals.

So Sue started the Cornish Seal Group,

enthusiastic seal spotters who are trying to tackle the problems.

Forming the seal group's helped with the conservation of seals.

Human disturbance is something that's going to carry on increasing,

so the more we know about it, the more we can monitor that

and do something about it.

Net entanglement is a big issue in Cornwall.

'We've got very intense fisheries around our coast.

'We do seem to have a high percentage of seals with net entanglement.'

Our philosophy is that the more information you provide for people,

the more they'll do the right thing.

We're also trying to join with a loose coalition of other

seal-interested groups, to try and get the law changed

into a new seal protection act,

which would give greater powers to people to protect the seals.

This group's work is contributing on a national level

to help protect an animal we know surprisingly little about.

Up to 50% of the world's grey seals are in UK waters,

so we have a huge international responsibility

to look after them and protect them.

From a chance meeting on a cliff came a shared passion,

which gives the Atlantic grey seal a more promising future.

The amateur naturalists we've met in this series are doing a vital job

of conserving the treasure which is our wildlife.

They are all carrying on a great British tradition of finding,

watching and recording that stretches back for centuries

and will hopefully carry on into the future.

Mammals, bugs, birds, butterflies - wherever they are,

our skilled and dedicated amateurs are right in there with them.

As long as they remain so,

Britain will continue to have the best studied natural history in the world.

If you think you were born to be wild about coastal creatures

or any of the animals you've seen on this series,

log on to our website...

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