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For me, watching wildlife is one of life's greatest pleasures. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
And my favourite place to do it | 0:00:07 | 0:00:08 | |
is right here in my beloved West Country. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:12 | |
'This captivating corner of the British Isles...' | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
There's six right underneath us. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
'..has a cast of creatures that's as awe-inspiring, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:22 | |
'extraordinary and magical as any.' | 0:00:22 | 0:00:26 | |
Oh, come on, no way! LAUGHTER | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
'I'm hoping to get as close as I can to as many as I can...' | 0:00:29 | 0:00:32 | |
Right, I'm ready. This is great. This is measuring an eel. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
Whoa, oh, oh! Ants! | 0:00:36 | 0:00:38 | |
Oh! Oh! They've gone inside! | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
'..with the help of a band of dedicated nature lovers.' | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
Some of the patterns on the feathers, they're beautiful. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:50 | |
-Good spot. Look, look, look! Wonderful! -That's so cool. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
There's one in my hair now, Poppy. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
'I'll share the thrill of the chase...' | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
-Did you hear them? -I heard something. -Yeah. They're in there. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
Yes. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:04 | |
'..the sheer joy of the encounter...' | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
-She's so golden! -She's fast asleep. -OK. Sh. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
That's amazing. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
'..and I'll pitch in to help these local heroes | 0:01:12 | 0:01:16 | |
'safeguard the future of our precious animals.' | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
Bye-bye. There she goes. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
Whoa! I can't believe that I've been living in the West Country | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
for so many years, and I've never done this before. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
'This will be a year-round adventure...' | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
Straight ahead. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:35 | |
..as we explore the natural wonders of the UK's very own Wild West. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:41 | |
I'm back in the Somerset Levels. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
These lush pastoral lowlands have been shaped in large part by man's | 0:01:58 | 0:02:03 | |
ongoing efforts to control and contain its water. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
The labyrinth of water courses that crisscross the rich farmland provide | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
precious habitats above and below the surface. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
For millennia, the animals that inhabit these marshes, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
ancient hedgerows and meadows have been cheek by jowl with the people | 0:02:21 | 0:02:26 | |
who live and work here. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
This is a fascinating, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
diverse landscape which presents | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
a mixture of opportunities and challenges | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
for all kinds of creatures. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:37 | |
So I'm really looking forward to working with some people who are | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
finding ways to tip the balance in favour of the wildlife, | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
giving something back to the fantastic creatures | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
that make living here so special. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
The Somerset Levels is a flat, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
coastal plain that stretches from the tidal Bristol Channel. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
It's contained by the Mendips to the north and the Quantocks, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
near Taunton, to the south. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
The River Parrett flows out to sea near Steart, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
where my journey starts. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
Thousands of years ago, | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
much of this corner of the south-west was under the sea. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
It was first drained for farming in the Dark Ages. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
And since then, a network of ditches and drains has helped prevent | 0:03:23 | 0:03:28 | |
its precious fields and pasture from flooding. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:30 | |
But now, in one small part of the Levels, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
the sea is being allowed to wash over the land once again. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
We hear so much about the depletion of our natural habitat, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
but this has been a story of creation, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
and it's really remarkable. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:50 | |
Go back just a few years ago | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
and this incredible salt marsh wasn't even here. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
This was just farmland. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
We're used to thinking of flooding as a destructive force | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
to be prevented at all costs. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
But here at Steart Marshes, the tide has been encouraged to roll in again | 0:04:08 | 0:04:13 | |
over the farmland. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
The result is the regeneration of a valuable habitat that our native | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
wildlife has been losing at an alarming rate - salt marsh. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:25 | |
Coastal mudflats and salt marshes | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
are feeding grounds for waders and wildfowl, | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
and much-needed nurseries for a variety of fish, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
which in turn are food for otters, egrets and many more. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
And these wild stretches where the land meets the sea | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
are becoming scarce. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
But a few years ago, work began | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
on a super-sized piece of forward thinking - | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
removal of the old sea defences | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
to create a well-managed wetland reserve. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
As the land floods, it gradually turns back to salt marsh, | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
inviting in the distinctive mix of species | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
that depend on these important wetlands. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
Joe Cockram from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust has invited me | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
to join him, as he checks to see how the new residents are settling in. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:17 | |
There's a line of mud over there with maybe some dunlin. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
Yep, those are dunlin. They pack in quite close together. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
They go for safety in numbers. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
They're very vulnerable to peregrines, hobbies, birds of prey | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
like that. So the more of them that get in closer together, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
the more pairs of eyes there are looking for a threat. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
-Yep, just taking off now. -Straight in front of us, going left to right | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
now. Amazing. They really catch the light, don't they? | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
They really do, yeah. Very white on the undersides, quite dark on the | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
top, so, as they turn, yeah, they flicker, they flicker and shimmer. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
Joe is monitoring the species | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
and numbers of birds colonising the site. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
These new arrivals are the ultimate proof of concept. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
The winter is the busiest time. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
The mud is full of invertebrates | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
and various things that waders and ducks are eating. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
The waders, they nest in massive numbers, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
really far north in the Arctic Circle. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
Obviously that's a pretty awful place to be in the winter. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
It's going to freeze up. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
That's not much good for a water bird, so they all come south. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
This Somerset coast, and most of the coasts around the UK, indeed, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
is a really good spot for wintering birds. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
Is that a great white egret? | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
-I think that's a little egret, that one. -Is it? -Yeah. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
Over time, they're establishing this as a proper feeding ground, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
-and they're really getting properly stuck in. -Yeah. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
So this started off as farmland, then we let the tide in. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
That first year, all the underlying soil and sediment was dead. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
Now that it's getting flooded regularly by the tide, | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
we get silt that gets brought in. That provides a home for these | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
invertebrates, for ragworms and things like that. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
So from the, sort of, freshwater invertebrates | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
to the marine, saltwater-friendly invertebrates obviously takes time? | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
It takes time. What we're trying to work out is how much time. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
Nothing quite like this has been done before. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
So, in more than one sense, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
the wildlife here is breaking new ground. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
And the signs are good. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
Three years in, around 25,000 birds wintered here. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
But the wildlife doesn't have the place all to itself. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
Agricultural land is being reclaimed by nature. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
Absolutely. We can see distantly some cattle out on the salt marsh, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
so these are longhorn cattle, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
and they're being farmed for salt marsh beef. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
They help to create a nice mosaic of habitat in the salt marsh plants. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
So having the cattle out here helps us create a very rich, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
diverse habitat for wildlife, but also we're still producing food. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
I'm impressed. It's heartening to see farming and wildlife working | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
here to their mutual benefit. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
But maintaining this delicate balance between land and sea | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
along the 3km of tidal coast can't be easy. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
To find out how it's done, I'm meeting Alys Laver. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
She's been here from day one, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
overseeing the transformation from farmers' fields to a wildlife Eden, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:59 | |
through careful management of the ever-changing water levels. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
And the key to it all is what I'm carrying on my shoulder. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
So what you're going to do, with opening the pen stock, means that we | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
can drain this whole area to then get fresh tidal water in. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:14 | |
A network of sluices and carefully engineered channels control the flow | 0:08:14 | 0:08:18 | |
of seawater from the rising tide into the marsh. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
-That's it? -I think it should be left. It should be left, I think. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:25 | |
It just takes a long time. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
-After which it will just stop, will it? -Yeah. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
-Then we'll know it's at maximum. -That's right. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
What we'll find, as well, as you draw the water levels down, | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
more mud will be exposed, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:43 | |
and so we'll get more birds and things feeding on that mud. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
Over several years, the daily dose of seawater has created a salty, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:52 | |
silty soup, rich in invertebrate life. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
It's a great source of food for all kinds of waterfowl, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
waders and gulls. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
We talk about the sea as a sort of force that can never be reckoned | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
with, can never be mastered, but actually you're playing around with | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
-sea levels here. -Yeah, that's right. We must be nearly there. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:13 | |
-I've been going for nearly ten minutes. -It's not... | 0:09:13 | 0:09:16 | |
-Oh, that's it! -It's stopped? -Yeah. -Excellent. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
-That's completely open now. -Fully open. And we look over here now. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
The level on this side has come up by about three feet already. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
-Yeah. -A massive upwelling there. Sort of like a boiling pot. -Yeah. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
All around us, the proof of how well the system is working can be seen... | 0:09:34 | 0:09:39 | |
-and heard. What's that bird there? -Oh, yeah. That's an avocet. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
That is an avocet, is it? | 0:09:43 | 0:09:45 | |
-So, they like this habitat? -Yeah, very much so. This year, | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
we've had seven breeding pairs, compared to one pair last year. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:52 | |
-Seven here, right here in this area? -Yeah. Yeah, yeah, which has been 15 | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
juveniles have fledged, so it's been massively successful. | 0:09:55 | 0:10:00 | |
There are only 1,500 breeding pairs of avocets | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
recorded in the whole of the UK, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
so their arrival on this brand-new salt marsh is excellent news. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
And that's not all... | 0:10:13 | 0:10:14 | |
-A bit of marsh samphire. -Yeah. -Is there lots of that here? | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
Do you know what? This is really exciting. This is the first time | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
I've seen samphire in this part of the reserve. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
-Oh, really? -Yeah. Because where we've got an open breach | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
the seeds are able to come in a lot quicker. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
Because we've got structures here, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
it's been a lot slower to colonise, and so this is great news. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
-Another new arrival. -Another new arrival, yeah. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
And I can just about resist the temptation to pick and eat it. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
Very much appreciated. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:41 | |
And I'll leave it to become an improving habitat. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:43 | |
-LAUGHTER -That's really cool. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
-Excellent. -It's not often that you get a chance to see brand-new spaces | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
for wildlife forming right before your eyes. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
And I'm already looking forward to coming back to this muddy paradise | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
to delve beneath the surface. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
Here in the western marshes, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
the story is one of exciting new arrivals. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
But all across the Levels, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
ancient woodland and pasture has long been a stronghold | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
for some more familiar faces. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
About half of the UK's badgers live here in the West Country, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
and like badgers anywhere, occasionally they run into trouble. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:27 | |
Secret World Wildlife Rescue has been helping to rehabilitate | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
orphaned, sick or injured animals for the past 20 years. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
The charity's founder, Pauline Kidner, is busier than ever. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
We now deal with just over 5,000 animals every year, so it has grown. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
Everything has a season, so, January, February, March, | 0:11:47 | 0:11:51 | |
we're going to have fox cubs, we're going to have badger cubs. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
As soon as the first blackbird comes in, it's, "Oh, my God, | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
"we've started the bird season." And then as soon as we get to June, | 0:11:56 | 0:12:00 | |
the first herring gull comes in and you know that's going to start. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
Round about now, it's baby bats and it's fawns | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
and those sorts of things. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:07 | |
So, there's seasons all the way through. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:08 | |
That's what makes it so interesting is that it's so varied. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
Pauline's dedication to Somerset's ailing animals sometimes stretches | 0:12:13 | 0:12:18 | |
to giving her patients a temporary home in her own house. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:23 | |
Meet Bumblebee and Nat. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
Bumblebee, which is the bigger badger, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
she was found in Glastonbury, | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
and she was wandering around the high street, | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
just up and down the road, when a member of the public found her. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
And Nat was found at a country park, | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
just out, away from the sett. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Both cubs are around 12 weeks old. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
It's not clear how they became separated from their families, | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
but for now, this is the best place for them. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
They're in the expert care of Josie Nott. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
Nat is a little bit smaller than what he should be at his age, | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
so we have them up in Pauline's cubbyhole, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
so that she can keep a close eye on him and we can monitor his growth. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
We've never had one in that's been as small as Nat | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
at the age that he is. He is pretty adorable, | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
but we have to remember that our aim is to get them back into the wild. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
Wild badger cubs live most of the day underground in a warm sett, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
so Pauline's cosy kitchen is a pretty good option | 0:13:26 | 0:13:30 | |
for these vulnerable youngsters. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
For Bumblebee and Nat, | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
this is just the first step on the long road to rerelease. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
When a badger first comes in, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
we obviously treat it for any wounds that it has, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
and treat it for anything that it needs. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
We will then have them TB-tested when they're around eight weeks old, | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
and if that comes back as a negative, they would then be mixed | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
with other badgers that we have on the site here | 0:13:53 | 0:13:55 | |
to make a family group, | 0:13:55 | 0:13:56 | |
and each badger has a different individual smell. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
And then, when they've scented each other, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
that creates an individual family smell. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
Even after a month away from their natural home, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
there are promising signs | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
that Bumblebee and Nat are still all badger. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
And even at this age, whilst they're out and about playing, | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
they're climbing, they're digging, they'll grab items | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
and pull them behind them, which is how they would | 0:14:17 | 0:14:19 | |
collect bedding in the wild and drag it back to their setts. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:23 | |
We see a lot of natural behaviour, which is really encouraging. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
Playing is vital for the cubs to develop the life skills they'll need | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
for survival. And, of course, | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
it's what makes them irresistible to camera crews. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
Two months later, the young badger cubs have been moved | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
to an outside pen to mingle with other badgers, | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
away from human company. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
But even more advanced in this delicate and painstaking process of | 0:15:00 | 0:15:04 | |
rehabilitation, and almost ready for rerelease into the wild, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:09 | |
is one very special otter. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
His name is Drift. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:13 | |
Across Somerset, otter numbers are steadily rising, | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
helped by the warm weather here and an abundance of waterways for them | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
to fish in. But if a young otter is separated from its mother, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
it won't survive long. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
Drift was found in Somerset and he was found at the back of a hotel. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:34 | |
He was just sat there, squeaking away - very sad and lonely. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:39 | |
Luckily, young Drift was brought here to Secret World | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
for some expert care. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
He was a cub of just five weeks old. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
We've had Drift for over a year. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
His rehab's been really good. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
In her role as surrogate mum to the young otter, Josie's fed him, | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
weaned him on to solid food, given him swimming lessons, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:04 | |
and even taught him how to hunt. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
But there comes a time in all parents' lives for their young ones | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
to fly the coop. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:14 | |
It's really important for Drift just to get back home to the wild. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
He's a wild animal - that's where he needs to be. He's a male otter. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
-His biggest challenge is being a male. -SHE LAUGHS | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
He's going to have to fight for his life, really. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
He's going to have to fight for his territory, fight for his women, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
and eventually, hopefully, he'll find his feet | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
and he'll get into the swing of it. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
Release coordinator Tristan Cooper has spent weeks researching | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
the ideal spot for Drift to start his new life. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
The plan is for a soft release - | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
a staged return to the wild in gentle steps - | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
and the team will keep a close eye on his progress. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
For the first couple of weeks, this is his little world. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
So we've got screening and then we've got electric fencing. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
And it's basically a case of keeping him within this area for now. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
It's not such a shock to the system. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
He can get used to the new sounds and smells. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
It would be ideal to get a bit of the river in, but that's | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
logistically really hard to do with an electric fence. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
But it's a really important that he's got water, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
because they have to keep their coat wet. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
There's sort of a pile of brash and some tunnels | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
and some natural scrub and cover. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
So we're basically ready to go. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
We've done all we can for him, we've given him a really good start, and | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
with Tristan's help to find such a great place to release him, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
yeah, I feel really good. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
After some initial uncertainty, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
Drift soon starts to settle in to his new quarters. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
But this is just the first step. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
For now, he's still safely enclosed. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
In a few weeks, the fence will come down | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
and Drift will be a wild otter once again. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
It's mid-May, and the smell of | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
freshly-cut grass announces the arrival of summer. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
It's a busy time for any farmer, | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
but on this particular farm | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
there's an extra special sense of urgency about the place. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:35 | |
This is Worthy Farm, home of the world-renowned Glastonbury Festival. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:40 | |
Every summer, these 900 acres in the Vale of Avalon | 0:18:41 | 0:18:46 | |
host the largest music festival in the world. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
And these green fields become home to a multicoloured makeshift city. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:55 | |
But outside of that spell of midsummer madness, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
this is a traditional Somerset dairy farm, | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
where keeping cows runs in the family. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
We've been milking here 160 years altogether. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
Festival founder Michael Eavis is probably the country's most famous | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
farmer, and even when the rock stars come calling, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
he's still in touch with his day job. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
I was always rushing around, taking phone calls from Radio 1, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
talking to The Smiths and all that sort of thing, and milking cows at | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
-the same time. -Talking to Morrissey and milking cows? -Yeah. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
And, as well as tending to his beloved cows, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
he's got time for the local wildlife too. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
It might seem surprising with a quarter of a million people here | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
for two or three weeks every year, wildlife really does survive. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
The owls at night and the foxes and badgers - | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
everything's here, you know? | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
The survival of nature is unbelievably powerful. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
When the festival's happening, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
do you think the wildlife retreats deep into the hedge, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
or does it, sort of, come out and see what's going on? | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
We used to take the deer out. | 0:19:57 | 0:19:59 | |
You know, they were jumping over the fence to get back in. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
Even when there were people on site? | 0:20:01 | 0:20:03 | |
-Yes. -Really? -Seriously. -LAUGHTER | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
One of the really striking things, looking around the farm, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
is your hedgerows - the amount of mature trees in your hedges. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
In fact, it is made of mature trees. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
I had to leave those, you see, deliberately. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
When the people were cutting them down, | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
I was letting them grow, you know? | 0:20:18 | 0:20:20 | |
And you're reaping the benefits in terms of songbirds and other | 0:20:20 | 0:20:23 | |
-wildlife? -It's all full of life. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
Beyond the ancient hedgerows here at Worthy Farm, the pasture, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
ponds and woodlands all offer a refuge for wildlife. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:35 | |
So what really happens to the wild residents of the farm | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
when the festival crowds descend? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
I'm here today to find out about one family of creatures that have become | 0:20:42 | 0:20:46 | |
well-known festival regulars. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
-Right in the corner. -In here? -Yeah, if you lean right over that tub... | 0:20:49 | 0:20:53 | |
Oh, they're literally living in here? | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
They're living underneath this building. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
Really? There's a little animal track | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
just the other side of this fence. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
You can see that's quite well worn. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
This building is where the crew, who work at the festival, are fed. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
But catering boss Audrey Brown has some other hungry mouths | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
to feed here too - Glastonbury's resident badgers. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
Behind her alfresco wash basins is an ancient sett | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
that's home to up to 12 badgers. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
They've become more than used to the annual invasion. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
During the festival, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:36 | |
they're crowded out of their regular hunting grounds, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
so they, too, turn up at the catering tent. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
So you're here cooking for about six weeks of the year, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
and during that time, the badgers know there's stuff going on here | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
-and they come in looking for a bit of a free feed? -Yeah. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
What sort of treats are they getting? | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
Well, they've had some pine nuts and they've had some dried apricots. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
-Very healthy stuff! -And they've had a bit of stale bread. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
Are you usually seeing them when you feed them | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
-or do you leave the feed out? -No, we leave it out. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
Summer picnics are on the way. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:05 | |
Yeah. And it's a thrill to know that they've eaten that food, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
so they've been round and they've gone on back. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:13 | |
You enjoy the idea that they're here and they're connected and, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
even when there's nearly a quarter of a million people here, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
the badgers are still safe and able to... | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
But they were here before the quarter of a million people. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
We're intruding in their land. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
So, all the more reason, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:27 | |
-the obligation if you like, to look after them. -Yeah. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
It's one show at Glastonbury that hardly anyone's ever seen, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
but our automatic cameras should allow us to catch | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
the nightly performance of the UK's most rock and roll badgers. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
The daily tides wash in and out | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
over the newly-created reserve at Steart Marshes. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
Success of this exciting wetlands project depends on | 0:22:56 | 0:22:59 | |
the animals it's intended for deciding to make use of it. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:04 | |
Today, Tom Stamp and Sean Plenty are hoping to find some very important | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
new arrivals, and their early-morning investigation | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
has drawn a bit of a crowd. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:13 | |
COW MOOS | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
That's too close for comfort. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
Usually they will just head over the bank. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
This one doesn't seem to be too put off by us being here. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:31 | |
Maybe if we just ignore it... | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
Yeah, try. Yeah, let's try and ignore it. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
-MOOING AND LAUGHTER -You can't eat a net! | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
This isn't tasty. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
Tom and Sean are looking for fish. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
For these two scientists, | 0:23:48 | 0:23:49 | |
it's a big moment in their study of this new environment, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
worthy of their attentive audience. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
They hope today to find proof that these tidal, muddy creeks are being | 0:23:56 | 0:24:01 | |
used as a nursery where juvenile sea fish can grow, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
protected from the open sea. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
So we're just dragging the two ends of the net together and hopefully | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
all the fish should collect at one part of the net. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
OK. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
This is a thin-lipped mullet. That's actually quite a fat one. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
That one's doing quite well. Looks very healthy. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
Obviously, we've just taken the fish out of the natural environment, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
and so they're going to be a bit stressed when they come into | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
contact with the nets, so what we try and do is put them in a bucket | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
of water as quickly as possible with an aerator, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
so they don't run out of oxygen and they're as happy as they can be | 0:24:38 | 0:24:42 | |
while we measure and process them. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
Here we have a juvenile herring. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:49 | |
Thin-lipped mullet. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
As well as being identified, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
each baby fish is measured. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
Thin-lipped mullet, 90. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
Thin-lipped mullet, 70. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
Thin-lipped mullet, 96. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
One species of fish in particular seems to be finding sanctuary here. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:11 | |
Thin-lipped mullet, 102. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
The mullet tend to be feeding on | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
little plankton that grow on the mud. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
Which is quite interesting - the different species use the salt marsh | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
in different ways. And what we've found at the moment is that | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
you do tend to get higher fish diversity and equal or sometimes | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
even higher fish abundance compared to the natural salt marshes. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
So, at the moment, we've got quite promising results. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
One fish whose stocks are under mounting pressure in the UK | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
is the sea bass, so to find some | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
young bass here would be encouraging. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
So all the fish are basically swimming up and down these channels, | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
and as the tide ebbs, they all want to get out of the salt marsh | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
as quick as possible. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:51 | |
So they're coming down the salt marsh to be funnelled through a | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
series of chambers into what's called the cod end right here. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
It's always quite exciting, this bit. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
Ah! One scoop and two... | 0:26:04 | 0:26:08 | |
-Two bass. -Two juvenile bass. -That's cool. So, we know that from | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
elsewhere in the UK, they use salt marsh quite a lot when they're | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
really young. At the moment, they're going through quite a rapid decline | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
around the UK, so every individual counts. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
Bass - 81. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
For Tom and Sean, it's been a good day, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
and further proof that | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
when it comes to creating a much-needed new salt marsh habitat | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
for British wildlife, if you build it, they will come. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
Keeping dry land under your feet has been a challenge | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
ever since people first settled on the Levels. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
Over thousands of years, rivers have been diverted | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
and drainage ditches dug to contain the water. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
The resulting patchwork of land is steeped in history | 0:26:54 | 0:26:58 | |
and often brimming with rare wildlife. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
In the dawn light of an autumn morning, it's an atmospheric place. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:06 | |
I've joined amateur wildlife photographer Stephen Hembury | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
to visit a spot by the River Tone near Taunton | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
where, at this time of day, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:22 | |
he's had regular sightings of one of my favourite animals - the otter. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:27 | |
What's the plan? | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
We're going to be heading up around this corner, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
another 200, 300 yards up the river, | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
and that's generally where I see an otter or two pop out. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:43 | |
And when did you last see an otter here? | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
-Yesterday morning. -Oh, really? -Yes. -Very excited to be here today. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
Good, good. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
Stephen's a dedicated wildlife watcher who knows these river banks | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
and their wild inhabitants as well as anyone round here. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
And this is a spot where he's seen and filmed otters before. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:03 | |
And I got on film, it catching a big fish as well. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:07 | |
-So... -What sort of fish did it catch? | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
I think it was a pike. It had a big old tail on it. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
It was a big fish. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
When you see this otter here, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
it tends to be moving and fishing and... | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
Yeah, moving and fishing. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
Sometimes they may only come up once and then disappear. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
Often it's just a glimpse, it's the best you can hope to get. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:28 | |
Recently, Stephen's patient vigil was rewarded by this playful pair. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:35 | |
Somerset's otters were once in real decline but, since the 1980s, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:41 | |
they've made a significant comeback. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
But they're still far from easy to see, | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
so we need to be alert to any little sign. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
You are able to track their bubbles. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:51 | |
They do blow bubbles as they swim, so you can track the bubbles. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:54 | |
But sometimes the bubbles disappear and then the otter's gone with them. | 0:28:54 | 0:28:58 | |
The otter can be inquisitive. They can, erm... | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
They'll come by and they'll stop | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 | |
and they'll have a look and check you out. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
And then they'll move on. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
I often wonder, are they, or is there something else | 0:29:10 | 0:29:13 | |
sat in the reeds on the other side watching us, you know? | 0:29:13 | 0:29:18 | |
You're sat there nice and quiet and they just know you're there. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:21 | |
They're sitting over there saying, | 0:29:21 | 0:29:23 | |
"I wonder if those strange creatures | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
"are going to come out and sit on a bank today!" | 0:29:25 | 0:29:27 | |
QUIET CHUCKLING | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
No otters for me so far. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
But time spent in a spot like this is never wasted, | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
especially in such good company. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
Now, always, if you're out looking at wildlife, then, | 0:29:39 | 0:29:42 | |
if there's a commotion, find it, watch it. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:45 | |
-Always something happening. -Have a look. -Absolutely. Yeah. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:48 | |
Little bit of a display there. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
That could get interesting over there. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | |
Yeah. There's another half a dozen coming down the other way. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:01 | |
That bird's got wings opened up to look a little bit larger. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:05 | |
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
As most things do when they get defensive or aggressive, | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
-they puff out. Make themselves look bigger. -Oh, yeah. Look at that! | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
Really looking after himself, isn't he? | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
That preening behaviour is just so important | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
for the condition of the feathers. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:21 | |
Look at that upside down head! | 0:30:23 | 0:30:25 | |
That's ridiculous. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:29 | |
Takes a lot of work to stay looking this good, isn't it? | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
It's a funny time of year for the birds, | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
coming into their winter plumage. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
So, that's probably what a lot of this is about. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
We've got the cygnets preening now, lovely and close. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
And they're pretty good at it. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:48 | |
They're not in the same class as their dad. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:51 | |
Not quite there just yet, are they? | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
He really takes the cake. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:55 | |
They've been watching and learning, I think. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
These cygnets will stay with their parents for a few more months yet. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
Then, when they have a pristine, white plumage of their own, | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
they'll be driven off to fend for themselves and, with luck, | 0:31:04 | 0:31:08 | |
to find their own lifelong mate. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
We've given it our best shot here, haven't we? | 0:31:10 | 0:31:12 | |
It's been a beautiful way to start the morning. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
-Yeah, it has been. I'm never disappointed. -No, it's been lovely. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:18 | |
Sometimes you see nothing, | 0:31:18 | 0:31:20 | |
but you've got all the sights, the sounds, the smells. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
-You never quite see nothing, do you? -No. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
-There's always something. -Oh, yeah, absolutely. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
I've loved being by the river bank this morning, | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
even if Stephen's otters didn't show themselves today. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:35 | |
Though, as we head off for breakfast, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
I can't help feeling they'll probably be here tomorrow. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
The Somerset coast is defined by the powerful tidal waters | 0:31:52 | 0:31:56 | |
of the Bristol Channel, where the River Severn flows into the sea. | 0:31:56 | 0:32:01 | |
This vast estuary is one of the most important places in Britain | 0:32:01 | 0:32:06 | |
for a creature that, down the years, I've become rather obsessed with. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
As tiny little babies, they swim upstream in their millions, | 0:32:10 | 0:32:14 | |
heading right up the river. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:15 | |
Then years, maybe even decades later, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
as part of an extraordinary life cycle | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
that we still don't fully understand, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
a lucky few of them head downstream again, | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
swimming out to sea in the hope of starting the next generation. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
Of course, I'm talking about the eel. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
These marvellous, mysterious fish can grow over a metre long | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
and live up to 100 years. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
Until a few decades ago, eels were an important food fish, | 0:32:43 | 0:32:47 | |
served up jellied and smoked in pubs and cafes all over Britain. | 0:32:47 | 0:32:52 | |
I have to admit that I have, in the past, caught, | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
cooked and eaten eels with considerable enthusiasm. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:59 | |
But that's not something | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
I'm thinking of doing again any time soon. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:03 | |
And the reason is that eel numbers in our rivers | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
are in serious decline. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
But ecologists Harriet Alvis and Scott West are optimistic | 0:33:09 | 0:33:13 | |
that the creation of a new wetland at Steart Marshes | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
could help to improve the eels' fortunes | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
in this part of the UK at least. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:21 | |
-Are you in, Harriet? -Yeah, we can push you off. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:23 | |
And I can't wait to join them | 0:33:25 | 0:33:27 | |
for their first ever trip to look for eels here. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
That looks good. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
-You've done this before, haven't you? -I'm liking this. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:38 | |
Keeps me warm. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:39 | |
You're putting me to shame there. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:42 | |
The first place we're checking out is one of the older, | 0:33:42 | 0:33:45 | |
more established pools that predates the creation of the new wetlands. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:50 | |
OK, so we've deployed five double fyke nets. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:55 | |
These fyke nets are targeting adult eels. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
Yeah, that's right. So, we're really trying to understand | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
the larger eel population here. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
Does this look like an eely pond to you? | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
-It is as eely as it gets, Hugh. -Is it? -It really is. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
Well, Scott should know. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:11 | |
All right, so, here we go. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:13 | |
-And we've got an eel. -Oh, that's exciting. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:16 | |
-Fantastic. -An adult. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
Well done, Scott. It's a beaut. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
Lovely. Really nice. It's almost got a kind of reddish tinge to it. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:26 | |
It's because of the clear water. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
So it lives in clear water, | 0:34:28 | 0:34:30 | |
so naturally it takes a dark appearance. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:32 | |
-Good size, eh? -Yeah. -Well done, everyone. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
Absolutely stunning. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:38 | |
This female eel could be more than 20 years old, | 0:34:38 | 0:34:42 | |
and she's showing one of the many remarkable features | 0:34:42 | 0:34:46 | |
of this strange fish - shape shifting. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:48 | |
Depending on whether they form mainly fish prey | 0:34:48 | 0:34:52 | |
or larger invertebrates, which depends on where they live, | 0:34:52 | 0:34:56 | |
they'll either have sort of a flat head, | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
wide, sort of flat triangle, arrow tip type head, | 0:34:58 | 0:35:01 | |
or a much broader head. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
And the flat, pointy one would be a predator eel? | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
That's correct. Yeah. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:07 | |
And the flatter, broader one would be a mud-chomping...? | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
Yeah. Larger invertebrates, that type of thing. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
Eating grubs and things in the mud. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:15 | |
They eat both, | 0:35:15 | 0:35:16 | |
but they will specifically sort of morph their head. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
So, they become specialist feeders | 0:35:19 | 0:35:21 | |
and their heads change shape to adapt to what they're feeding on? | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
That's right. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
So, could you tell if this is a stickleback-muncher | 0:35:26 | 0:35:28 | |
-or a kind of an invertebrate, wormy sucker? -This is a... | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
The more pointed shape one, so this is probably a fish chaser. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:37 | |
Trapping this eel was relatively straightforward. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:39 | |
Getting her vital statistics is another matter entirely. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:43 | |
And your half drainpipe here does the job? | 0:35:43 | 0:35:45 | |
It never goes exactly to plan. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
Measuring a very slippery, wriggly customer. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:53 | |
-That's right. -Good luck with that. -Yeah. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
Well done, well done, well done. You've got her. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
You've got her. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
Oh, nice job. Whoa! | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
Back in the bucket. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
Beautiful, beautiful. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:10 | |
Erm... There we go. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:12 | |
Just coming up to 72, I've got. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:16 | |
Whoa, whoa, whoa. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:19 | |
It's great to see such a beautiful, healthy female... | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
..and even better to watch her return to the depths unharmed. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
Well done, team. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
Once she's fully matured, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:32 | |
our eel will begin an incredible and improbable adventure | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
that's one of the great aquatic journeys of the natural world. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
It all starts on moonless, wet nights in autumn. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
This is when the mature silver eels head downstream, | 0:36:45 | 0:36:50 | |
some leaving ditches and ponds to find rivers | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
that will carry them down to the sea. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
Here, along with eels from all over Europe, | 0:36:56 | 0:36:59 | |
they cross the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea near the Caribbean. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:03 | |
They were born here and, after breeding, they'll die here. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
Their offspring then drift on the currents, | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
thousands of miles back to the rivers of Europe. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:13 | |
They arrive as glass eels - tiny translucent young | 0:37:15 | 0:37:20 | |
that become elvers as they adapt to living in freshwater. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
Sadly, in just 40 years, | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
the eel population in Europe has plunged by 95%. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:32 | |
I love these incredible creatures, | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
but they're in trouble and they need our help. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
It's obviously vital that as many adult eels as possible | 0:37:37 | 0:37:41 | |
complete that journey to the Sargasso Sea to breed. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
And if we're going to help with that here in the UK, | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
then we need to make sure that elvers can get up our rivers | 0:37:47 | 0:37:50 | |
and adult eels can get down them. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:52 | |
Andrew Carr is from the Sustainable Eel Group. | 0:37:54 | 0:37:58 | |
Mankind really, over hundreds of years, | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
has done all sorts of things to the environment. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:03 | |
In particular, there are the blocked migration pathways. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
Flood defences, weirs and dams, are just some of the barriers | 0:38:10 | 0:38:14 | |
that are hampering the natural breeding cycle of the eel. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:18 | |
These are all historic wetlands but, over the centuries, | 0:38:19 | 0:38:24 | |
we've been draining them. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
In England and Wales, we have about 20% left of what we had. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:31 | |
So, loss of habitat is a major issue for the eel. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:35 | |
Despite the decline, | 0:38:37 | 0:38:38 | |
elvers are still fished here in the way they always have been - | 0:38:38 | 0:38:42 | |
at night, with hand nets, on the rising tide. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
But a new breed of fishermen are now doing their bit to conserve, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:49 | |
as well as catch, the tiny glass eels. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:53 | |
Harley Curl is a fourth-generation elverman here on the River Parrett. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
My grandad always used to tell me, | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
he used to live by the river and when he was little, | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
he used to go out and see all the elvers in the river. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
My dad used to come out and I used to go out with him. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:10 | |
As soon as I've been able to hold a net, I've been fishing for myself. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:15 | |
I've always done it, so I wouldn't imagine not doing it. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
These days, half of the elvers caught in UK rivers | 0:39:21 | 0:39:25 | |
are set aside for restocking. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:26 | |
From a distribution centre in Gloucestershire, they're sorted, | 0:39:29 | 0:39:33 | |
packed and shipped out to resupply waterways, not only in the UK, | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
but also in Europe. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:39 | |
Packing them up to survive these journeys is a major operation. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
Some of these wriggly dignitaries | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
even get their very own private plane. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
But others will be staying much closer to home. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
This school is about to receive its own consignment... | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
..hand delivered by Harriet. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:08 | |
-ALL: -Whoa! | 0:40:12 | 0:40:14 | |
She's getting classrooms on the Somerset Levels | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
actively involved in eel conservation. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
The schools will look after them for about four weeks. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:26 | |
In that time they get bigger and fatter | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
and they'll get darker in colour. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
And then the schools are going to release them into their local river, | 0:40:30 | 0:40:32 | |
so they're helping to stock the next population of eels. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:35 | |
OK. In they go. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:38 | |
Our eels will need all the help they can get from the next generation | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
so it's great to involve the kids growing up in eel country. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:45 | |
Has anyone got fish at home in a tank? | 0:40:45 | 0:40:47 | |
Yeah? And do you have... | 0:40:47 | 0:40:50 | |
The fact they ask so many questions | 0:40:50 | 0:40:51 | |
really helps them to learn about their environment, | 0:40:51 | 0:40:54 | |
rather than us talking at them, and they are really, really interested. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
That one. I would say that one, actually. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:01 | |
It looks quite fun being an eel, because you'd be wriggling around. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
The kids have got to help to clean the poo out and they feed them. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:09 | |
They do water changes | 0:41:09 | 0:41:10 | |
and just generally checking on their wellbeing, | 0:41:10 | 0:41:13 | |
making sure they're active and they're disease-free. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:15 | |
It's a big responsibility. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
I'm going to call them Gracie number two. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
Gracie number two. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:21 | |
-Which one's Gracie number two? -That one. -That one. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:24 | |
I definitely think it's the most powerful engagement project | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
that we've got. For the kids to be able to look after them for so long | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
and to learn so many different things about rivers, | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
rather than just being taught on a piece of paper, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
yeah, it's definitely so powerful. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
In three weeks, the elvers are ready to return to the rivers of Somerset. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:46 | |
Where do you think he's gone? | 0:41:57 | 0:41:59 | |
Down there. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:01 | |
Down there. What do you think it's going to do down there? | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
Find a home. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
Tip it out. Yay. It jumped out, yours. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
Oh, I can see it. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:11 | |
-Bye-bye. -Did you like having him in your classroom? | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
-Yeah. -What was the best bit? -It was looking after them. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
Eventually, some of the elvers the children have released | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
will mature into adult silver eels, | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
ready to make that marathon journey across the Atlantic. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
With luck, their stopover in a Somerset classroom | 0:42:30 | 0:42:33 | |
will have won the eel a new generation of supporters. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
At Worthy Farm, there's only a week to go | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
until the start of the Glastonbury Festival. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
The site is buzzing. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
And so, too, are the hedgerows. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:57 | |
With bees, naturally. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:01 | |
But not just any bees. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:03 | |
These are British black bees | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
and a colony of around half a million of them | 0:43:07 | 0:43:10 | |
are kept here by Glastonbury's commercial director Robert Richards, | 0:43:10 | 0:43:14 | |
and the festival's founder, Michael Eavis. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:16 | |
Black bees are indigenous UK bees. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
I talked it through with Michael. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:23 | |
He was really enthusiastic about having some bees. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
One of the reasons for promoting black bees | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
is because black bees don't suffer from the same diseases | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
that imported bees can do. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
Bees are pollinators with a vital role in fertilising plants. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:42 | |
But, recently, numbers have been in steep and worrying decline. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:46 | |
The reasons are complex and controversial. | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
But one thing that is giving hope is this hardy British bee. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:54 | |
Black bees account for just 1% of our honeybees. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
But, as a native species, they're suited to our climate | 0:43:59 | 0:44:02 | |
and seem to be more resistant to the traumas affecting other honey bees. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:07 | |
So, these VIP bees need to be looked after, | 0:44:07 | 0:44:11 | |
which is why beekeeper Joe King is making a timely intervention. | 0:44:11 | 0:44:15 | |
He's taking the bees on holiday. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
Bees cope very well with what they're used to. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
And so, all of a sudden, from being very quiet and tranquil, | 0:44:22 | 0:44:25 | |
with an occasional person about, | 0:44:25 | 0:44:27 | |
suddenly you've got a quarter of a million people bopping up and down | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
in the fields around you. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:33 | |
There's a lot of noise. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:35 | |
I think there's a lot of the heavy bass | 0:44:35 | 0:44:38 | |
which goes on during the day and part of the night. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
And I think that sort of thing | 0:44:42 | 0:44:44 | |
probably would be very unsettling for them. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:46 | |
Honey bees are sensitive to low-frequency sounds, | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
so a thumping bass could well cause them damage. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
Since it's not that difficult to actually move a colony of bees, | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
it does make sense just to move them out for a few weeks. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:05 | |
As soon as the bees have returned to their hives for the night... | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
..the job of preparing for the move can begin. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
First, the entrances are sealed and, to prevent them from overheating, | 0:45:17 | 0:45:22 | |
each hive gets a ventilated travel screen. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
The next morning, Glastonbury's bees are ready to be spirited away. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:38 | |
But when the engine is running, | 0:45:43 | 0:45:45 | |
there's slight vibration in the vehicle | 0:45:45 | 0:45:47 | |
and the bees seem to cling on to the comb. | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
The problem is when you turn the engine off. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
But the idea is you don't turn the engine off till you get there. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
Seven miles down the road, the bees reach their destination - | 0:46:01 | 0:46:06 | |
the serene setting of the gardens of Glastonbury Abbey. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
The abbey and the farm have a connection dating back | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
to the very beginning of Worthy Farm's existence, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
when it was presented by the abbot | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
to a person he deemed worthy of the gift. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
And this ancient place of sanctuary seems a fitting spot | 0:46:24 | 0:46:28 | |
for these treasured British bees to carry on their vital resurgence. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
It looks to me as if they've travelled well. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
They're in good spirits. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
They're coming out. They're having a look around. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
They'll get used to where they are and what they'll start doing | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
is by flying very short distances immediately around the hive. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:48 | |
and gradually, as they're orientated, and they get to know it, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:53 | |
they then gradually start travelling in wider circles | 0:46:53 | 0:46:57 | |
until they're totally familiar. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
And, you know, they'll start foraging. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
There's lots of nice trees in Glastonbury, | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
so they should do very well. They should enjoy their holiday. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
They'll have a lot quieter time than if they're at the festival, I think. | 0:47:10 | 0:47:13 | |
A few days after the bee relocation, | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
the transformation of the once-peaceful fields | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
of Worthy Farm is complete. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
Backstage, the crew catering tent is in full swing. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
Manager Audrey makes it her job to ensure nobody misses out. | 0:47:38 | 0:47:42 | |
Along with husband Terry, | 0:47:44 | 0:47:46 | |
she ends the day with a special "at table" service | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
for the farm's full-time tenants. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
We've got some nice bits of apple and a nice bit of buttered bread. | 0:47:53 | 0:47:59 | |
They love that. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:00 | |
When we check the next day, the food always seems to be gone, | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
so they seem to enjoy it. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:05 | |
We feel that if we feed them in here, | 0:48:05 | 0:48:07 | |
they're not going out into the crowds | 0:48:07 | 0:48:09 | |
and not going anywhere near people's tents | 0:48:09 | 0:48:12 | |
so they're not getting harmed and they're not harming anybody. | 0:48:12 | 0:48:17 | |
And right on cue, | 0:48:20 | 0:48:22 | |
Glastonbury's very own badger family arrives for dinner. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:26 | |
They're just a stone's throw | 0:48:33 | 0:48:34 | |
from thousands of unsuspecting festivalgoers. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
But the badgers are careful not to draw a crowd. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:41 | |
Although they don't see especially well, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
badgers do have an acute sense of smell. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:47 | |
And very sensitive hearing. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:51 | |
Their sett here could be centuries old. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:54 | |
And there's not much that its robust residents haven't seen before. | 0:48:56 | 0:49:00 | |
Long may they go on making the most of an annual opportunity | 0:49:04 | 0:49:08 | |
that they seem more than capable of taking in their stride. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
Just a few miles from Glastonbury, at a secret location, | 0:49:20 | 0:49:24 | |
Tristan is preparing for a crucial moment | 0:49:24 | 0:49:27 | |
in the life of orphaned otter Drift. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:29 | |
Two weeks ago, Drift was moved to his halfway house, | 0:49:31 | 0:49:34 | |
an enclosure where he can adjust to life in the wild. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:37 | |
But today's the day when that fence is coming down. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:48 | |
It's all out of our hands now. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
It's up to him to go and find his way in the wild. | 0:49:52 | 0:49:56 | |
But we know we've done everything we can | 0:49:56 | 0:49:59 | |
to give him the best second chance. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:01 | |
I hope he's going to go and make me proud. | 0:50:01 | 0:50:03 | |
Drift is left alone | 0:50:08 | 0:50:09 | |
to pick his moment to venture into the wild. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
The remote trail cams left around the site will be Tristan's | 0:50:14 | 0:50:18 | |
only indication of how Drift is getting on. | 0:50:18 | 0:50:21 | |
It's the culmination of months of work and preparation. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
He's still around in the area, which is quite a nice surprise. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:31 | |
We didn't expect him to hang around this long. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
But I think that's a good thing that he's still about. | 0:50:34 | 0:50:37 | |
He's eating well. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:39 | |
He's fending for himself. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:41 | |
He's swimming in the river, which he's obviously never done before, | 0:50:41 | 0:50:45 | |
which is really exciting. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:47 | |
Tristan still leaves food for Drift | 0:50:55 | 0:50:57 | |
to support him as he learns to hunt for himself. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:00 | |
But where there's free fish, there's likely to be competition. | 0:51:00 | 0:51:04 | |
We've got a fox that's been hanging around quite a bit, | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
who we think has been sharing the food that's being put out for Drift. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:16 | |
He's not been going back for support food every day, | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
which suggests that he is finding natural food | 0:51:22 | 0:51:24 | |
and he is learning to fend for himself. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:26 | |
It's fantastic to see Drift's instinct and adaptive intelligence | 0:51:26 | 0:51:30 | |
kicking in after a year of captivity. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
And the cameras have revealed something | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
that was beyond Tristan's wildest hopes. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:38 | |
We've got two otters, | 0:51:38 | 0:51:40 | |
which I think is potentially Drift | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
and a lady otter. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:45 | |
So, it's really exciting to see | 0:51:45 | 0:51:47 | |
and quite a surprise. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:48 | |
The fact that he's hung around for this long and has now been, | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
obviously, interacting with another otter, is really exciting, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
because male otters are fiercely territorial | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
and there was a chance that he was going to go out into the world | 0:52:00 | 0:52:05 | |
and get his butt kicked, basically. | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
Who knows? There could be little baby Drifts out there | 0:52:11 | 0:52:16 | |
at some point in the foreseeable future. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:19 | |
Who knows? | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
I'm back at Steart Marshes, investigating the future of a fish | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
I've always found deeply intriguing - the eel. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:40 | |
It loves wetlands but they're a disappearing habitat in the UK, | 0:52:40 | 0:52:44 | |
so this brilliant new wetland reserve | 0:52:44 | 0:52:47 | |
could play a crucial role in its local revival. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
I'm with fish biologists Scott and Harriet. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
We've already found an adult eel here. | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
But Scott wants proof that the young elvers, | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
fresh from their Atlantic migration, are settling here too. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:04 | |
So, if we find elvers today, | 0:53:04 | 0:53:06 | |
will they be the first elvers you've worked with on Steart Marshes? | 0:53:06 | 0:53:10 | |
-Yep. That's it. -OK. So, it's going to be a first. | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
-Yeah, yeah. -Or a zero? -First or a zero. -It's a blank or a first. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
Yeah, you know. If we get them, I'll be super happy. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:20 | |
It's a cold, February morning. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
At this time of year, | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
tiny elvers should be arriving from the ocean and heading upstream. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:28 | |
But weirs, tidal gates and sluices could block the elvers' routes. | 0:53:29 | 0:53:34 | |
So Scott and Harriet have installed special ramps to help them | 0:53:35 | 0:53:40 | |
slither up against the flow of the stream and get through. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
Gosh, so you're asking those elvers to have swum up there? | 0:53:44 | 0:53:49 | |
That's correct, yeah. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:51 | |
That's going to require quite an effort | 0:53:51 | 0:53:53 | |
for those little fellas, isn't it? | 0:53:53 | 0:53:54 | |
Well, inside that covered black box, as you can see the green, | 0:53:54 | 0:53:57 | |
it's all that upturned bristle filament. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
So they slither their way up the pass inside there. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
So those bristles give them some traction to go uphill? | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
That's correct, yeah. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:08 | |
Yeah, a bit of a challenge and that's only one of the structures | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
along the river so, you know, | 0:54:11 | 0:54:13 | |
there are several obstacles they've got to make across the journey. | 0:54:13 | 0:54:16 | |
We want to find out whether the elvers | 0:54:16 | 0:54:19 | |
are actually using these eel elevators. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
Whoa! | 0:54:22 | 0:54:23 | |
That was close. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:25 | |
I'm getting very close to the limit of my waders here! | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
Using an old pair of tights as a net, | 0:54:32 | 0:54:34 | |
Scott and Harriet have designed a simple trap | 0:54:34 | 0:54:37 | |
to catch any passing elvers. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:39 | |
I don't think so, Scott. I'm really sorry. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:47 | |
It's a disappointing start, but there are a few more traps to check. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:51 | |
Ooh... Ah. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
I don't see an elver. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:56 | |
No matter how hard we search, the elvers are nowhere to be found. | 0:54:56 | 0:55:00 | |
Jeez. Are you starting to think it probably was not an elvery night, | 0:55:02 | 0:55:06 | |
-it just wasn't happening? -Yeah. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:10 | |
The enigmatic elver has eluded us today, but there's still a hope | 0:55:10 | 0:55:13 | |
we'll find some bigger eels out in the new salt marsh. | 0:55:13 | 0:55:17 | |
This is a completely different landscape | 0:55:17 | 0:55:19 | |
to where we pulled the first fyke. | 0:55:19 | 0:55:21 | |
Yeah, that's right. I mean, it was only four years ago now | 0:55:21 | 0:55:23 | |
that this was farmland and fields. | 0:55:23 | 0:55:25 | |
-Really? That recently? -And now it's saltwater brackish. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:28 | |
We've got a new habitat here | 0:55:28 | 0:55:30 | |
so it would be fantastic to know whether eels are using it. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:33 | |
Let's have a look at this one. | 0:55:33 | 0:55:35 | |
I've not been feeling too confident about the salt marsh. | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
We'll see how it goes, but let's have a look. | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
-Yeah. -There's something in it! | 0:55:44 | 0:55:46 | |
-Yes! Look at that! -It's a little greeny. | 0:55:46 | 0:55:49 | |
-Fantastic. -That's really significant here. | 0:55:49 | 0:55:53 | |
That's a young eel, the second eel we've caught here at Steart ever. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:57 | |
-And the first one in this habitat. -The first in this habitat. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
-What were we saying on the way over here? -Eel history. -Eel history! | 0:56:00 | 0:56:03 | |
-Fantastic. -Such a different animal, isn't it? | 0:56:03 | 0:56:07 | |
This one I would say is... | 0:56:07 | 0:56:09 | |
..probably isn't mature yet. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:12 | |
A real significant find for this new salt marsh. | 0:56:12 | 0:56:15 | |
And until now we did not know for sure | 0:56:15 | 0:56:18 | |
that eels were using this habitat. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
-Yes, that's right. -And now you do. -Now we do, which means a lot. | 0:56:20 | 0:56:23 | |
It means a lot to me. I've got a lot to think about now. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:26 | |
-It's a whole new eel story. -It is, yeah. Yeah, it is. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
Away you go, little fella. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:32 | |
You are eel history. | 0:56:32 | 0:56:34 | |
But what a great day. | 0:56:37 | 0:56:39 | |
I used to catch eels... | 0:56:39 | 0:56:41 | |
..to cook them and eat them. | 0:56:42 | 0:56:44 | |
And today I spent the day | 0:56:44 | 0:56:46 | |
catching eels with Scott and Harriet for conservation. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:50 | |
It's been the most exciting eel hunting trip I've ever been on. | 0:56:50 | 0:56:54 | |
And how fantastic to see them slithering away | 0:56:54 | 0:56:57 | |
into this amazing new habitat. | 0:56:57 | 0:56:59 | |
But where are those elusive elvers? | 0:57:01 | 0:57:03 | |
After all, they're the vital future of Steart's eel population. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:08 | |
OK, Hugh, looks like you've missed the glass eels and the elvers | 0:57:09 | 0:57:13 | |
by literally a day. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:15 | |
Here are some lovely little glass eels. | 0:57:16 | 0:57:19 | |
Just got their black line down them, | 0:57:19 | 0:57:21 | |
so they've been feeding in freshwater. | 0:57:21 | 0:57:24 | |
These are the first glass eels caught at the Steart site. | 0:57:24 | 0:57:29 | |
Not just in Europe but globally, | 0:57:31 | 0:57:34 | |
the eel faces a very uncertain future | 0:57:34 | 0:57:37 | |
due to overfishing and habitat loss. | 0:57:37 | 0:57:39 | |
But what I've seen here at Steart Marshes | 0:57:40 | 0:57:42 | |
is that it isn't necessarily our destiny | 0:57:42 | 0:57:45 | |
always to be taking from nature. | 0:57:45 | 0:57:48 | |
We are capable of rebuilding and giving back wild places too. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:52 | |
And when we do, the rewards are rich indeed. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:57 | |
If you'd like to explore Britain's diverse landscapes in more detail | 0:58:00 | 0:58:04 | |
and find out how to create your own wildlife habitats, | 0:58:04 | 0:58:08 | |
the Open University has produced a free booklet with Bookmarks. | 0:58:08 | 0:58:12 | |
Order your copy by calling 0300 303 3643, | 0:58:13 | 0:58:18 | |
or go to bbc.co.uk/hughswildwest | 0:58:18 | 0:58:23 | |
and follow the links to the Open University. | 0:58:23 | 0:58:26 |