:00:02. > :00:07.This week I'm in the Bedfordshire countryside and this is what we
:00:08. > :00:12.have got on tonight's Inside Out. We investigate why parents feel
:00:12. > :00:15.some school routes are too dangerous to scrap free buses.
:00:15. > :00:18.road is not safe, no parent in their right mind would allow their
:00:18. > :00:25.children to walk on this road. uncover the truth behind ambulance
:00:25. > :00:30.response times. The radios keep going off, asking for crews to help
:00:30. > :00:33.on other jobs, you can have quite a few stuck here unable to respond.
:00:33. > :00:41.Celebrating 100 years of looking after nature, how the National
:00:41. > :00:51.Trust protect rare species from thousands of visitors. They are the
:00:51. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:14.three surprising stories from where I am in Great Barford, right on the
:01:14. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:17.River Great Ouse. Some parents who live around here are angry that
:01:17. > :01:21.their children's free school buses have been cut, and they say the
:01:21. > :01:31.roads are too dangerous for them to walk to school. Councils are facing
:01:31. > :01:35.
:01:35. > :01:38.some difficult decisions about their budgets. It is just before
:01:38. > :01:41.9am on a winter morning. If the council had their way, some of
:01:41. > :01:44.these children would have what three miles along a busy road to
:01:44. > :01:47.get to the school. That is because at the end of October last year,
:01:47. > :01:55.Bedford Borough Council stopped the free places on the school buses
:01:55. > :02:02.from Roxton to Great Barford. The 20 children left stranded now face
:02:02. > :02:09.what parents like Julie Cox believe is a dangerous walk to school.
:02:09. > :02:14.d'you think this stretch of road, look at the speed of this car!
:02:14. > :02:22.mph. He was doing 75 mph, I cannot believe that. He has come round
:02:22. > :02:28.that corner really quickly, coming into a village, overtaken him. 75!
:02:28. > :02:31.This road is just not safe. cannot believe that. 75 mph.
:02:31. > :02:34.parent in their right mind would allow their children, nine year-old
:02:34. > :02:39.children, to walk on this road. It is nearly three miles long, takes
:02:39. > :02:46.75 minutes to walk. We do not have any street lighting, no gritting
:02:46. > :02:49.facilities, and as you have seen, the speeding traffic is dangerous.
:02:49. > :02:54.The deputy head of the local school is worried about the impact the
:02:54. > :02:58.council's decision is having on his school. We are extremely concerned.
:02:58. > :03:01.We're talking about some very young pupils, as young as nine, having to
:03:01. > :03:11.walk along a route alongside a very dark, isolated road, and the
:03:11. > :03:13.
:03:13. > :03:20.traffic passes them at 60 mph or in excess of that. We feel that our
:03:20. > :03:23.pupils' safety and well-being is compromised. His is not an isolated
:03:23. > :03:31.case, free places on school buses have been withdrawn across the East
:03:31. > :03:34.of England. Recent figures show 75 per cent of councils are reviewing
:03:34. > :03:39.or making cuts to their transport services. Parents in Norfolk are
:03:39. > :03:43.facing the same problem. This country lane runs along a disused
:03:43. > :03:53.railway line. The path crosses a busy road and a
:03:53. > :03:57.
:03:57. > :04:02.blind bend. The council says this At the moment, it is daylight, and
:04:02. > :04:08.visibility is good. But it is dark when children go to school in the
:04:09. > :04:13.winter. Lucy Usher, a working mother of three, relied on the free
:04:13. > :04:17.school bus. She lives in the village of East Ruston, just under
:04:18. > :04:21.three miles to be near his school. The children, who previously got
:04:21. > :04:30.the bus for free, now face walking because the council has stopped the
:04:30. > :04:37.free places and chosen a route that Would you ever let your son walk
:04:37. > :04:47.this on his own? No, never. It is far too dangerous and you will see
:04:47. > :04:59.
:04:59. > :05:03.why. You have to look at all times, really. You cannot even see round
:05:03. > :05:08.that corner. That came from nowhere! That is incredible, all
:05:08. > :05:11.the sudden it was on us. We did not see it or hear it and it was there.
:05:11. > :05:15.Exactly, there are no signs to say children crossing, people crossing,
:05:15. > :05:20.bikes, people use this all the time and there is nothing there. It is a
:05:20. > :05:24.virtual blind bend as you're crossing from that side. And a 60
:05:25. > :05:30.mile an hour road. Frightening. Very concerning the council think
:05:30. > :05:40.this is safe for children. It is not just cars, it is big
:05:40. > :05:40.
:05:40. > :05:43.lorries. Skip lorries, tankers, Free school transport is provided
:05:44. > :05:46.for pupils if the new school is more than three miles away, but
:05:46. > :05:56.councils can also provide discretionary places, and it is
:05:56. > :05:57.
:05:57. > :06:01.these that are being stopped. more than �6 million, 25 per cent
:06:01. > :06:04.of its budget. Essex County Council said it will reduce its budget by
:06:05. > :06:07.just over �1.8 million. Bedford Borough Council is hoping to make
:06:08. > :06:17.savings of around �450,000 a year. Norfolk expects to save around �1
:06:18. > :06:22.
:06:22. > :06:24.million. Can you tell me why that was designated a safe route? We go
:06:24. > :06:27.through a regular process to ensure those families entitled to free
:06:27. > :06:29.transport can access that transport, and we also reviewed periodically
:06:29. > :06:36.those families who have been historically provided with
:06:36. > :06:43.transport, even though they live less than the qualifying distance.
:06:43. > :06:48.That is three miles for an 8-year- old. We ensure that if families are
:06:48. > :06:51.no longer entitled, we take the appropriate action. We have a very
:06:51. > :06:56.significant pressure on budgets across the board and spend a lot on
:06:56. > :07:06.transport, around �23 million a year. We need to make sure that is
:07:06. > :07:06.
:07:06. > :07:09.fair. Bedford Borough Council also told Inside Out that the decision
:07:09. > :07:17.was based on fairness, and some routes had been recently reassessed
:07:17. > :07:21.as safe. The charity that campaigns for better transport has fought for
:07:21. > :07:24.better services for 40 years. Should the guidelines be looked at
:07:24. > :07:27.again? Absolutely, this is being discussed now and the government
:07:27. > :07:35.needs to take action so children can get to school and parents go to
:07:35. > :07:37.work. At the moment, the government guidelines are not strong enough
:07:37. > :07:46.and some local authorities are interpreting those guidelines and
:07:46. > :07:49.In fact, figures published by the Government this month showed that
:07:49. > :07:53.46 children are killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads every
:07:53. > :08:03.week. Rural roads have a disproportionately high casualty
:08:03. > :08:03.
:08:03. > :08:08.Some of the parents have tried the walk from the school with their
:08:08. > :08:13.children and feel it is too dangerous. Until something changes,
:08:13. > :08:23.they rely on car-sharing to get to school and back. Some are left
:08:23. > :08:26.paying for the bus but for some it is too expensive. We have to find
:08:27. > :08:30.an extra �40 or �50 per month to use the service. I have only one
:08:30. > :08:33.child so I am lucky, and I am struggling to find that funding,
:08:33. > :08:37.but some people have two or three children, that is obviously causing
:08:37. > :08:47.financial difficulties. Meanwhile, the bus still runs through the
:08:47. > :08:52.
:08:52. > :08:58.How far is it from here? Another mile to go. Like Julie, Lucy is
:08:58. > :09:03.asking the council to look at the road again. We would certainly look
:09:03. > :09:06.at any particular concerns a parent has about any route. If there was a
:09:06. > :09:10.specific concern we would look at the report that has already been
:09:10. > :09:14.done by road safety, if it was not absolutely clear on that area, we
:09:14. > :09:17.would look at the concerns of the parent. We would advise them how
:09:17. > :09:26.that concern could be avoided, or we would ensure the decision was
:09:26. > :09:32.sound. We would like the council to reassess the route and would like
:09:32. > :09:36.children to get safely on the bus. We would like a free bus service
:09:36. > :09:41.for all the children and not just a few. We find out about that story
:09:41. > :09:46.because some of the parents got in touch with me. You can as well if
:09:46. > :09:56.you think there is something we should be investigating. You can
:09:56. > :09:57.
:09:57. > :09:59.follow me on Twitter or e-mail me. Later, how this 100-year-old
:09:59. > :10:09.reserve has become one of the largest colonies of seals in
:10:09. > :10:12.
:10:12. > :10:15.You dial 999 for an ambulance, it is an emergency and you hope the
:10:15. > :10:18.ambulance arrives soon, but lately there have been stories about
:10:18. > :10:26.people that had to wait for help. What is the truth behind those
:10:26. > :10:36.delays? We have visited the Anglian control room in Essex to find out.
:10:36. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:43.Can I ask you to call back on his It is the ambulance control room in
:10:43. > :10:48.Essex. A busy Monday morning at the start of a half-term holiday. Calls
:10:48. > :10:52.are already stacking up. It is busy, and sometimes it does not always go
:10:52. > :10:59.to plan. Recently, East of England Ambulance Trust has been criticised
:10:59. > :11:04.for not getting to patients in time. What was going wrong at Broomfield
:11:04. > :11:07.was that there were no ambulances there for the emergency. Our little
:11:07. > :11:14.boy. We just wanted to get from Braintree to Chelmsford, and we
:11:14. > :11:17.cannot understand why it took so long. Politicians and members of
:11:17. > :11:27.the public blame the Trust for ambulance delays. Is that the whole
:11:27. > :11:34.
:11:34. > :11:36.picture? What is the truth about Dozens of 999 calls are pouring
:11:36. > :11:39.into ambulance control in Chelmsford, an accident involving a
:11:39. > :11:43.lorry threatens to cause traffic mayhem. Can you confirm a lorry has
:11:43. > :11:46.rolled over? The call is quickly logged and passed to ambulance
:11:46. > :11:56.despatch, Sarah, who has less than one minute to decide which vehicle
:11:56. > :12:14.
:12:14. > :12:17.Control is getting busier and Meanwhile, out on the road,
:12:17. > :12:27.paramedics Caroline and Ian have rushed the patient to Broomfield
:12:27. > :12:28.
:12:28. > :12:36.Hospital. But there is a problem. At the moment we are waiting for
:12:36. > :12:39.hospital cubicles to become free. They only have a certain amount of
:12:39. > :12:44.cubicles and only a certain amount of staff that can manage those
:12:44. > :12:47.cubicles. Until those are free we have to stay with the patient.
:12:47. > :12:50.control receiving 50 calls power they need all the ambulances they
:12:50. > :12:59.can get. We have an ambulance outside hospital with a cameraman
:12:59. > :13:02.in it. What is happening? That is delays building up at Broomfield.
:13:02. > :13:09.Everything that goes in will be delayed until they have room for
:13:09. > :13:12.them. It depends what the delays are but currently they are delayed
:13:12. > :13:15.handing over which means they are really busy in the accident and
:13:15. > :13:18.emergency department. We have patients stacking up, and
:13:18. > :13:26.ambulances off the road and unavailable. It is unavailable
:13:26. > :13:28.until they can take the patient off In fact, all for the past three
:13:28. > :13:35.years, the number of ambulances waiting at hospitals across the
:13:35. > :13:39.East for over 15 minutes has more than doubled. How many ambulances
:13:39. > :13:48.are outside the hospital? Currently we have three vehicles booked out
:13:48. > :13:55.at Broomfield, with two on their way in. You have five vehicles you
:13:55. > :13:57.cannot task to another call? This control room covers the whole of
:13:57. > :14:03.Essex, and life threatening calls have to be reached within eight
:14:03. > :14:07.minutes anywhere in the country. is a massive challenge. One of the
:14:07. > :14:17.first things that struck me is just how busy it is and how much
:14:17. > :14:21.
:14:21. > :14:27.information is going through this room. He is quite close to the
:14:27. > :14:37.deadline. He is. That one will go all over. What happens if it goes
:14:37. > :14:38.
:14:38. > :14:43.And if East of England Ambulance Trust don't reach an average of 75%
:14:43. > :14:50.of life threatening calls in less than 8 minutes... That is tight.
:14:50. > :14:54...they get fined half a million pounds. That's a lot of paramedics.
:14:54. > :14:59.For each job we don't get to within 8 minutes, there needs to be a
:14:59. > :15:03.reason why we didn't. It's not just a case of we didn't. There needs to
:15:03. > :15:07.be a reason why. For the simple reason, if we then get a complaint
:15:07. > :15:11.in. If someone wants to know why we didn't get there in a certain
:15:11. > :15:14.amount of time, we can answer them. Back at Broomfield, despite 999
:15:14. > :15:18.calls mounting up at control, the crew have now been waiting for over
:15:18. > :15:22.half an hour. It can be a little frustrating, because our radios
:15:22. > :15:27.keep going off asking for crews to help on other jobs. And you can
:15:27. > :15:29.have quite a few of us stuck here unable to respond to that. And the
:15:29. > :15:34.worst offender for keeping ambulances waiting? The region's
:15:35. > :15:37.flagship PFI hospital, the Norfolk and Norwich. Over the past three
:15:37. > :15:43.years, the number of ambulance waiting over 15 minutes has
:15:43. > :15:45.increased by 130%. Ambulances waiting outside hospitals to
:15:45. > :15:50.offload patients is very frustrating for the Trust's Medical
:15:50. > :15:54.Director. We've seen this morning ambulances
:15:54. > :15:57.backlogged at A&E departments. They can't get patients processed quick
:15:57. > :16:01.enough through triage and into the A&E system. What do you make of
:16:01. > :16:07.that? It's very disappointing to hear that you've had that
:16:07. > :16:11.experience. It's one I hear almost every day, unfortunately. Last week,
:16:11. > :16:14.for instance, we had one hospital in the region where 26% of patients
:16:14. > :16:17.waited over an hour to be offloaded from the ambulance and be admitted
:16:17. > :16:21.into A&E. That's really, really disappointing. As you can imagine,
:16:21. > :16:24.it's not good for patients. They're waiting in the back of the
:16:24. > :16:28.ambulance much longer than they should do. And, of course, it means
:16:28. > :16:31.the ambulance isn't freed to get back out on the road and see to the
:16:31. > :16:34.next patient. And we later discovered the name of the hospital
:16:34. > :16:40.who kept over a quarter of ambulances waiting the weekend
:16:40. > :16:42.before last. The Norfolk and Norwich. They told us... We have a
:16:43. > :16:44.larger proportion of emergency admissions than other Trusts.
:16:45. > :16:48.Improving ambulance turnaround times requires a whole system
:16:48. > :16:52.approach. And we are working together and actively looking for
:16:52. > :16:55.areas to improve. The crew at Broomfield has finally
:16:55. > :16:59.handed over their patient after waiting around for 40 minutes.
:16:59. > :17:02.Broomfield told us they do aim to receive patients within 15 minutes.
:17:02. > :17:06.However, if A&E is busy, as was the case last Monday, this can be
:17:06. > :17:09.longer. BEEPING. Reference to general
:17:09. > :17:12.broadcast, Broomfield. We can help with that.
:17:12. > :17:16.And our paramedics are given another emergency job straight away.
:17:16. > :17:22.'Thank you very much.' That's round the back. OK!
:17:22. > :17:25.LAUGHTER. That is really round the back.
:17:25. > :17:33.Ambulances get called for broken fingers, headaches. They're even
:17:33. > :17:36.asked to put people to bed at night. Does this clog up the system?
:17:36. > :17:39.If you're with a patient and you hear a general broadcast go out for
:17:39. > :17:44.somebody who clearly by the description is in greater need than
:17:44. > :17:46.the patient you are with, it is very frustrating. Because, as an
:17:47. > :17:49.emergency ambulance, we've probably got the skills, talents and
:17:49. > :17:52.medication to deal with that life- threatening illness in a more
:17:52. > :17:59.appropriate fashion than we have a call from somebody who might be
:17:59. > :18:05.better seen by the GP. We've had a 15% increase over the
:18:05. > :18:08.last four years in 999 calls. It is quite significant. What's important
:18:08. > :18:13.is that people understand that calling 999 isn't the wrong thing
:18:13. > :18:16.to do if they have an emergency. What I would like to say to the
:18:16. > :18:20.public is that they may not get a big truck turn up with blue
:18:20. > :18:25.flashing lights. They may get a different response. They may get
:18:25. > :18:30.advice. They may get advice to ring somebody else. Or they may get
:18:30. > :18:33.particularly a car that will come to them. We'll treat them on the
:18:33. > :18:36.scene and then leave them at home where we possibly can.
:18:36. > :18:41.Is your eye still bleeding? Last year, East of England
:18:41. > :18:44.Ambulance Trust took 840,000 calls and dealt with two million people.
:18:44. > :18:50.The truth is ambulances are part of a health care system working at
:18:50. > :18:52.full capacity. But with increasing calls and a decreasing budget,
:18:52. > :19:02.perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised if it takes an ambulance
:19:02. > :19:06.little longer than expected to Blakeney Point is a wild spit of
:19:06. > :19:11.shingle and sand dunes on the North Norfolk coast. It used to be
:19:11. > :19:16.privately owned. But 100 years ago, it was given to the National Trust
:19:16. > :19:19.to protect it and its wildlife. The biggest threat to the rare birds
:19:19. > :19:23.and seals that breed there are the thousands of visitors who come
:19:23. > :19:33.every year. I've spent the past year with the warden, who has to
:19:33. > :19:35.
:19:35. > :19:40.keep the people who visit and the This is one of the largest areas of
:19:40. > :19:46.unspoilt coastline in the whole of Europe. This spit extends 2.5 miles
:19:47. > :19:54.that way and 1.5 miles that way. I'm going to go to the end of this
:19:54. > :19:57.spit to find out why it became Norfolk's first nature reserve.
:19:57. > :20:00.It's March and the start of the season on Blakeney Point for
:20:00. > :20:03.National Trust Warden Eddie Stubbings. He's going to be
:20:03. > :20:07.spending six months out here on this isolated stretch of coastline.
:20:07. > :20:11.And I'm going to be following him as he watches over this unique
:20:11. > :20:14.place. His job is to protect the wilderness and safeguard its
:20:14. > :20:21.wildlife while also allowing people to enjoy it. It can sometime be a
:20:21. > :20:26.hard balancing act. Hi, Eddie. Hello. How are you? Not bad,
:20:26. > :20:30.yourself? Do you want a hand with this getting it in? Looks like I
:20:30. > :20:33.arrived just in time. His first job is to set up home at
:20:33. > :20:38.the life boat house before the breeding season begins.
:20:38. > :20:43.Well, it's not been manned for six months now. So I just need to get
:20:43. > :20:47.my personal possessions in. Get my books on the book shelf. We turned
:20:47. > :20:52.off the water last year and we have to turn it back on again. So you've
:20:52. > :20:57.got to get everything ready to live in for the next few months? Yeah.
:20:57. > :21:02.What do you like about being here? We've come out here quite a way. It
:21:02. > :21:06.feels really bleak. Really kind of isolated. It doesn't appeal to me.
:21:06. > :21:16.Why do you like it? You have to be the right kind of person, which
:21:16. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:21.luckily I am. I like the solitude and being able to see nature change
:21:21. > :21:25.through the seasons, really. Today there are thousands of birds
:21:25. > :21:29.to see, which is why it is so popular with visitors. But 100
:21:29. > :21:32.years ago, its bird population was under threat from hunters. Funds
:21:32. > :21:34.were raised following a public appeal in 1912, with the help of
:21:34. > :21:38.the banker Charles Rothschild and the academic Professor Francis
:21:38. > :21:44.Oliver. Blakeney was then handed to the National Trust in order for the
:21:44. > :21:47.charity to protect its habitat and birds. 100 years on, it is now one
:21:47. > :21:50.of the most important places in the country for migratory birds like
:21:50. > :21:54.the sandwich, common and little terns to breed.
:21:54. > :22:00.What are you looking forward to in the year ahead? What can you look
:22:00. > :22:03.forward to? Well, a good breeding season for the birds. And a good
:22:03. > :22:08.mix of, um, people enjoying the reserve and the birds having a
:22:08. > :22:11.successful breeding season. Is that quite tricky? Because, of course,
:22:11. > :22:16.you want to keep it open to the public, but there's conservation
:22:16. > :22:26.involved as well. Do you ever feel like very protective of the area?
:22:26. > :22:27.
:22:27. > :22:32.Er, yeah. Yeah. That can give you a little bit of a passionate sort of
:22:32. > :22:36.outlook on it. So when you see a whole colony of terns desert or
:22:36. > :22:40.fail. If their eggs failed. It can really hurt, because you're linked
:22:40. > :22:46.to the place. You're living out here and watching them every day.
:22:46. > :22:50.So you can get quite passionate about it.
:22:50. > :22:55.Three months later and the breeding season is well underway. I am back
:22:55. > :23:02.to see the tern colonies. Morning, Eddie. Morning! Nice to
:23:02. > :23:10.see you again. Yeah, and you. Come aboard. Cheers, thank you. Shall I
:23:10. > :23:16.pop that on? Yeah. Your life jacket. Is this the easiest way to get to
:23:16. > :23:20.the colonies? You can't walk up to the colonies in the summer. It
:23:20. > :23:24.causes too much disturbance to the nesting birds. So this is the only
:23:24. > :23:28.way you can get there at this time of year? Exactly, yeah. We haven't
:23:28. > :23:33.see you for two or three months. How's the season gone so far?
:23:33. > :23:37.it's been a good season. It's been quite quiet for people. But the
:23:37. > :23:45.terns are on the end are doing very well, as we'll see. There's a
:23:46. > :23:51.feeding frenzy over there. Yeah. What kind of birds have we got
:23:51. > :23:56.feeding here? We've got black- headed gulls. Sandwich terns.
:23:56. > :24:00.And it's not just the birds that Eddie is watching out for today.
:24:00. > :24:04.Blakeney also has the third biggest grey seal colony in England.
:24:04. > :24:10.count the seals at low tide, when they're resting on the sands over
:24:10. > :24:17.here. And, at high tide, we make sure no-one comes down to disturb
:24:17. > :24:22.them. And we'll come around on the boat and count what's out here.
:24:22. > :24:27.Make sure nobody's disturbing them from a boat. Look how close he's
:24:27. > :24:34.getting! Because we're with Eddie, we're
:24:35. > :24:42.allowed to walk the rest of the way. So how close do you think we can
:24:42. > :24:45.get to the colony? Well, we'll get just over this brow of dunes. And
:24:45. > :24:49.as our heads become visible to the colony, we'll just crouch lower and
:24:49. > :24:55.lower. Eddie and I can get close as long
:24:55. > :24:58.as we don't scare them. The area is out of bounds to the public as it
:24:58. > :25:03.doesn't take much for the birds to abandon their nests.
:25:03. > :25:08.Is it a good number at the moment? Is it a high number? Yeah, it's the
:25:08. > :25:12.biggest colony in Britain. It's the highest number of breeding pairs
:25:12. > :25:17.since, I think since the '90s. So it's the highest number of pairs in
:25:17. > :25:23.the last 20 years. Brilliant. What do you put that down to? Um, good
:25:23. > :25:28.food supply. We fence them off to minimise the disturbance. It's a
:25:28. > :25:32.perfect place from them to breed. They like to breed on islands or
:25:32. > :25:40.peninsulas or spits. So it's a combination of factors, but it's
:25:41. > :25:46.ideal. Before the 1960s, people used to walk in amongst the tern
:25:46. > :25:49.colonies and it was affecting breeding success. So, in the '60s,
:25:49. > :25:55.they decided to fence off the colonies and to stop people from
:25:55. > :26:05.having picnics in the colonies. And it's worked well for us. The
:26:05. > :26:07.
:26:07. > :26:14.colonies are thriving, especially Hello there. Hi. Sorry to disturb
:26:14. > :26:20.you. That's OK. I'm one of the National Trust wardens here. We
:26:20. > :26:25.just come and speak to people about the tern colonies. OK, yeah.
:26:25. > :26:29.allow people to go down to get a closer view of the seals. Yeah.
:26:29. > :26:34.we keep them away from the little tern colony. Sure, yeah. We just
:26:34. > :26:38.walked round the edge. At the end of the season, Eddie
:26:38. > :26:41.moves out of the lifeboat house and back to the mainland. He works out
:26:41. > :26:44.of the National Trust office there. But he's still responsible for what
:26:44. > :26:50.happens on the spit. TELEPHONE RINGS.
:26:50. > :26:54.Hello, National Trust? It's now December and the seal pups
:26:54. > :26:59.have been born. Eddie goes out regularly from the mainland to
:26:59. > :27:05.check on them. Hi, Eddie! Hello. Good to see you
:27:05. > :27:09.again. Last winter, you had a record number of seal pups born
:27:09. > :27:14.here at Blakeney. Yeah. How many have you got this time? We've
:27:14. > :27:20.already passed last year's total. Really? So what are you up to now,
:27:20. > :27:24.then, roughly? It's about 750. Blakeney is one of the few sites in
:27:24. > :27:28.Britain where seal numbers are on the increase. And the success of
:27:28. > :27:32.this breeding means that Blakeney is now more important than ever.
:27:32. > :27:37.I'll come out here two or three times a week. I'll walk down
:27:37. > :27:42.through colony. Yeah. I mean, I'm the only one who does that, so the
:27:43. > :27:50.disturbance is minimal. And I count the pups as I go. I feel proud to
:27:50. > :27:55.be the current warden. It is such an amazing place. The wildness of
:27:55. > :28:04.it and the way it's governed by the sea and the weather. I just feel
:28:04. > :28:07.like I love the place, really. Just proud to look after it. 100 years
:28:07. > :28:11.on and this unique habitat is still wild.
:28:11. > :28:16.And accommodating thousands of visitors every year. It's just been
:28:16. > :28:19.fantastic. The most successful year that I've had out here. And to
:28:19. > :28:23.think that the place has been looked after for 100 years by the
:28:23. > :28:26.National Trust. It's just incredible.
:28:26. > :28:30.Right, that's it from Great Barford in Bedfordshire. I hope you've
:28:30. > :28:36.enjoyed the programme. Join me next week, when I'll be back with these
:28:36. > :28:38.surprising stories. Next week, despite promises that
:28:38. > :28:44.banks will lend billions to small businesses, we investigate why
:28:44. > :28:47.companies are still being let down by their banks.