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Golden and endless... | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
..rolling on to the blue horizon, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
shining strips between land and sea. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
Our beaches are special places. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
The sea air and sand, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:48 | |
they have a way of working their magic on all of us. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
But they're not always this peaceful. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
This winter, our beaches and shorelines have taken a beating. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
Howling winds and frenzied seas | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
have torn chunks out of our beloved coastline. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
And nowhere more so than here... | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
..Norfolk, hit by the biggest storm surge in 60 years. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
There was carnage all the way up and down this coast. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
Houses flooded, buildings destroyed, and the wildlife suffered, too. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
Important wetlands were wrecked and, worse, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
hundreds of baby grey seals were washed away from their mothers. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:38 | |
But this isn't a tale of doom and gloom. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:44 | |
I'm here to find out how the beaches, their characters | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
and the wildlife are bouncing back. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
While I'm here, | 0:01:55 | 0:01:56 | |
I'll be looking back at some of the best bits of Countryfile | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
to have featured our beaches and coastline. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
Like Matt, almost lost for words on Wales's stunning Gower Peninsula. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
This is one of the finest views | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
that I've ever seen whilst travelling around for Countryfile. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
Adam, enjoying a day off from the farm, in Dorset. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:19 | |
All this and I'm not even getting wet. It's great! | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
And early bird Julia, glimpsing a treat over Norfolk's beaches. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
Lovely shapes in the sky. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:29 | |
It's a perfect sky for them, actually, isn't it? | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
It was almost worth getting up early for, David. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
Well, I'm pleased for that. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
It seemed these days would never come - | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
calm days with just the sea, sky | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
and an hour or two on a lonely beach. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
And the beaches of the Norfolk coast are about as good as they get. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:07 | |
I'm covering the stretch from King's Lynn up to Hunstanton, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
a piece of Norfolk that took the full force | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
of a once in 60 year event. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
December 5th, 2013, | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
the biggest storm surge since the great floods of 1953 - | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
a perfect storm, where high tides, high winds and low pressure | 0:03:28 | 0:03:33 | |
combined to devastating effect. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
Not least for the wildlife. In particular, these grey seal pups. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:42 | |
Stranded on the region's beaches, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
they were rescued and brought in here... | 0:03:44 | 0:03:46 | |
..to the RSPCA's wildlife centre near King's Lynn. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
When the storm broke, | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
centre manager Alison Charles was left holding the babies. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
So, December 5th was a bad night. What happened to these pups, then? | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
We ended up with 58 coming in in three days, so it was incredible. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
We've never had that many in the building in one go. Very busy. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
It was quite a sizeable building, but how did you cope with that many? | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
I really don't know how we coped! | 0:04:12 | 0:04:13 | |
When you look back you think, "What on earth were we doing?" | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
We emptied out all the rooms that had drains in, | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
and with tiled floors, so we could keep them nice and clean, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
and we just put seals in there. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:22 | |
And feeding through the night like newborn babies almost? | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
Almost like newborn babies, yes, we fed them until 12 o'clock. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
As you can imagine, it takes so long to feed that number | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
that it is about 2:30 by the time the staff were getting out, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
then we started again at eight in the morning. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
But we got through it, and as you can see, the seals look really good now. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
They do, they look absolutely amazing. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:40 | |
So, if it wasn't for the fact that they were brought in here, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
would this lot have survived? | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
They came in under at under three weeks old, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
really tiny, emaciated little pups | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
-that really needed their mum and they'd gone. -Wow. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
Because these pups have been fed by hand for so long, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
they need to learn how to feed themselves | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
before they can be released back into the wild. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
That's where this comes in. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
But before I find out how it's used, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
let's look back on one of the UK's beautiful beaches, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
where, as Matt found out, there's a bit of a messy problem. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
I'm at the western edge of Gower, where the rolling heathland | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
gives way to limestone cliffs carving out Rhossili Bay. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:28 | |
And this is the highest point on Gower, | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
with the North Devon coast over to my right | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
and Pembrokeshire to my left. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
I'm sure you'll agree, as far as sea views go, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
they do not come much better than this. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
I mean, I'd go as far as saying that this is one of the finest views | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
that I've ever seen whilst travelling around for Countryfile. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
But it's Rhossili's crowning glory that I'm here to see today - | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
a three mile stretch of white sand voted the best beach in Britain. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
And you can forget the sun-kissed bays of the Mediterranean, | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
as this place outranked Greece and Sardinia in a recent survey. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:06 | |
But the beauty of the beach is being marred by an ugly problem, | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
and that is why we're here. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
You never find a pair of them. It's always one! | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
Claire Hannington is the National Trust ranger whose | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
job it is to keep Britain's best beach in tiptop condition | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
with a band of merry volunteers, a roll of bin bags, | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
and a lot of hard graft. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:26 | |
It is quite a random mix of stuff. I mean, what's that? | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
It seems to be from the top of a tool box. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
It does look like a tool box, doesn't it? A shelf from a tool box. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
Is it people just leaving stuff here or is it washed in as well? | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
It's washed in as well. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:39 | |
We've got the second highest tidal range in the world down here, | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
because of the Severn Estuary, | 0:06:42 | 0:06:44 | |
so a lot of it is seaborne in the winter months, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
a lot washed in on heavy storm tides. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
But during the summer, people come down with a barbecue, | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
they want to beach it, and they just leave it. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
It's disposable barbecues and wrappings and things like that. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
To be fair, Claire, there's no bins here. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
There are no bins. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:03 | |
We actually want to encourage people | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
to take their litter home with them, so we don't provide a bin. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
If we did provide a bin we'd have to empty it regularly. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
And, of course, keeping this beach so pristine | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
is an army of volunteers. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
It's amazing, isn't it, just to see them | 0:07:16 | 0:07:17 | |
all spread across the beach, helping us out litter picking? | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
We rely heavily on volunteers. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
There's only two of us on the ground employed, | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
so volunteers do a lot of work for us. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
And this isn't just a local problem, it's a national one. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:32 | |
Thousands of volunteers like this lot | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
work tirelessly all around the UK to keep our beaches clean. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
Those people that are watching this | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
that may have been here and dropped a bit of litter here, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
you have now got children who are picking up your litter, | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
so, come on, make an effort! | 0:07:45 | 0:07:46 | |
-Don't you think? Don't you think? -Yeah. -It's disgraceful, isn't it? | 0:07:46 | 0:07:51 | |
You tell them! Go on, Tristan, say it's disgraceful. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
-Take your litter home. -There you go, you heard it here. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
Right, come on, let's crack on, cos we're nearly there now. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
Once the volunteers have done their bit, | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
the Marine Conservation Society monitor every piece of litter. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:06 | |
And a bit of paper. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
'Lauren Eyles is a beach watch officer.' | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
Right, Lauren, I have another load for you to have a little look at. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:18 | |
-So... -Ugh. -Any surprises in here? | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
And let's have a look at what the main culprits would be. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
So... | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
Oh! Tool box, yeah. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:30 | |
-Oh, a few bags. -Lots and lots of plastic. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
I guess that plastic is your main problem, isn't it? | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
Yeah, definitely. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:38 | |
'Plastics account for 60% of the rubbish monitored. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
'Bad news for turtles - they mistake bags for jellyfish. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
'They eat them, their stomachs get clogged, and they die. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
'There are little signs of the situation improving.' | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
Where do we go from here? | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
The data that's collected, I can't stress enough how important it is. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
Things like plastic bags, which again pose a massive threat | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
in the marine environment - | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
animals like turtles will eat them - | 0:09:02 | 0:09:04 | |
that will inform things like the plastic bag levies | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
that have been introduced | 0:09:07 | 0:09:08 | |
and that data has really helped to push those through | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
and to inform those, so we need the information to show us | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
what the problems are so we can change it. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
Matt there, doing his bit to keep our beaches tidy. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
Back here at the RSPCA's field centre at East Winch, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
it's feeding time. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
For these seals, that means only one thing - lovely oily mackerel... | 0:09:39 | 0:09:44 | |
..and milk crates. Why milk crates, Alison? What are these for? | 0:09:44 | 0:09:49 | |
This is to make life a bit more exciting while they're in here. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
They've got quite a long rehab | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
and we just want to liven it up a little bit, | 0:09:54 | 0:09:56 | |
so they have to forage for their fish once we've put them in here. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
-The fish go in here, then? -They do. We're going to slot them into there. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
-Some mackerel weaving? -Yes. We like to be ingenious. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
This is environmental enrichment on the cheap. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
But it does the job. And can you guarantee that they all get one, | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
-or is that not really a problem? -That's part of the deal. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
We only do this every now and again so they compete, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
they have to forage for it, | 0:10:18 | 0:10:19 | |
and, yes, then they'll have their normal feed later. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
This one here's trying to steal one early. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:25 | |
-There is nothing wrong with a bit of opportunism! -Absolutely! | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
Good, inquisitive nature. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
And it's all about competition when we drop this in, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
so that's exactly what we want. We want them to compete. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
-Lovely. -Now, we've got to try and slot it into the pool. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:41 | |
So, we'll take it to the edge and we take our trusty swan hook | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
and go back into the middle. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
That's it. Don't fall in. And there we go. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
-Have some of that. -The launch of the fish crate! | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
And now it rolls over and over and they get to go and chase the fish. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:03 | |
I can't wait to watch the frenzy. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
So we really need to back off now and let them get on with foraging, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:11 | |
-and we just quietly leave. -All right. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
While these guys have fun with the fish crates, | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
let's remind ourselves what happened | 0:11:17 | 0:11:18 | |
when John went in search of sunken bounty off the Welsh coast. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:23 | |
The sea is a constant presence on the Llyn Peninsula. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
It helps create the climate and dominates the way of life here. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
Although they may not look it today, | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
these waters can be some of the most treacherous on our coastline. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
To discover more, | 0:11:41 | 0:11:42 | |
I've arranged a date with a bit of a stunner, by the name of Vilma. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
And there she is. She looks beautiful. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
I can't wait to get on board. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
Conditions don't get more perfect than on a day like this. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:02 | |
I'm joining Scott Metcalfe and his crew | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
to get a real sense of what it's like to sail this coast. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
Well, you don't see boats like this everyday, Scott, do you? | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
-You don't. -You must be very proud of her. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
'Navigating this hazardous peninsula is no mean feat, | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
'especially if you've got a boat like this. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
'Scott's showing me a chart of the worst currents.' | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
You can see here that the tides run up to 3.5 knots. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:29 | |
Is that a very strong tide? | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
It is a particularly strong tide there and in Bardsey Sound, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
there's even more, there's up to six knots. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
There's not many lights on this coast. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:38 | |
There's the Bardsey Lighthouse and then the next major light | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
is on the North of Anglesey, so that's a long way away. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
It's virtually an unlit coast. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
Well, to show you just how perilous it can be, | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
in the past 180 years | 0:12:49 | 0:12:50 | |
no less the 142 ships have been wrecked around the peninsula | 0:12:50 | 0:12:55 | |
and one in particular has become something of a legend. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
It came to grief just over there. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
To learn more, I'm heading for dry land | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
and I've got my own personal escorts to take me back to shore. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
It's 110 years since the Stuart, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
a cargo ship a lot larger than this vessel, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
set sail from Liverpool heading for New Zealand. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
But it didn't get very far. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
Local historian Tony Jones has studied the story. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
Well, Tony, tell me exactly what happened. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
Well, it was Easter Sunday and the early hours of the morning, | 0:13:31 | 0:13:36 | |
and there was thick fog and pretty calm, like today actually. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
And she got lost, did she? | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
She got completely lost because of the dense fog. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
So, where did she come ashore? | 0:13:46 | 0:13:47 | |
She came ashore just the other side of that big rock there. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
She sailed right up the rocks | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
and came crashing onto the rocks with a thundering roar, I'd imagine. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
And what happened to the crew? Were they injured or what? | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
They were very fortunate. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:00 | |
They got into the lifeboat and came ashore to the little bay over there. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
The plan of action was to come back at dawn | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
and get back on board and sail it away. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
But when they did actually come back in the morning, | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
they could see straightaway she'd broken her keel. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
She'd more or less broken in half by then, so it was a lost cause. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
-No way they were going to New Zealand! -No way! | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
So, what about the cargo? | 0:14:20 | 0:14:21 | |
There was a large consignment of whisky in there | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
and, being a Sunday, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
no-one was in a hurry to let the customs know about the wreck. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:31 | |
And by the time Mr Mason Cumberland, the chief customs officer, | 0:14:31 | 0:14:37 | |
arrived from Caernarfon, there was literally hundreds of people here. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
Some said they were like a swarm of locusts all over the wreck. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:47 | |
A lot of the stuff had gone. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
All the good stuff anyway! | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
And did they have to hide it or anything? | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
Yes, they used to hide them in rabbit holes. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
The thing is, they used to get so drunk | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
they couldn't remember where they were. | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
And they were still finding the odd bottle here only 30 years ago. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
-Down a rabbit hole? -Down rabbit holes, yes. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
They carried on even underneath the customs' eyes. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
One way of getting the whisky up the path | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
was women used to have bottles of whisky in their bloomers. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
And there's one account of a customs man stopping one woman | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
and she had her hands in her pockets. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
And he said, "Put your hands up," to frisk her, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
and as soon as she went like that | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
her bloomers fell down with two bottles of whisky in them. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
And was anybody ever arrested for all of this? | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
There's no account of anybody at all being arrested, | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
which I find quite strange, but I think they didn't. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
Who could they arrest? They'd have to arrest the whole peninsula. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
And interrupt a great party. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
The party went on for months, apparently. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
They said it was the best Easter egg that this village ever had. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
Now all that's left, apart from folklore, | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
are a few battered remains of the wreck - | 0:15:55 | 0:15:57 | |
a warning to modern day sailors to respect this stretch of coast. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
This is Snettisham, a major wild bird reserve | 0:16:14 | 0:16:18 | |
just a few miles up the coast from the seals I was feeding earlier. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
Its mudflats and shoreline | 0:16:22 | 0:16:23 | |
make it internationally important for migrating birds | 0:16:23 | 0:16:27 | |
and just back from the beach | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
are some of the UK's most valuable wetlands. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
Just look at it. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
This debris was left after the storm surge in December. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
The site was inundated by the sea. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
RSPB warden Jim Scott was left mopping up. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
There's a lot of tidying up to do, isn't there? | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
-There certainly is, isn't there? It's quite a mess. -Yeah, what a mess. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
So, how high did the water come during the storm? | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
About head height, where we are now, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:02 | |
which is a good 12 feet above normal levels. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
-Wow. -Quite an amazing scene, really. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
-That's quite hard to picture, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
-Are we just plonking this down here? -Yeah, that's great. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
-Is this actually reusable? -Some of it is. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
Someone it will be recycled, some of it will have to go out. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
There you go. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
The force of the storm broke concrete paths, | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
breached high shingle banks | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
and splintered walkways and bird hides like matchsticks. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:29 | |
Where many would see only destruction, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
Jim saw a unique opportunity, so he drafted in the diggers. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:38 | |
What the guys are doing is repairing the various banks | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
and we're taking the opportunity to re-form and build up the islands | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
and make some new islands | 0:17:44 | 0:17:45 | |
to compensate for those that have been lost. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
And did you place them differently to where they were before then? | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
Yes, I've put brand-new islands in different places. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
So, in fact although on the face of it it seems like a disaster, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
in actual fact, it's brought quite a lot of benefit? | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
When you first look, you see all this smashed infrastructure, | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
you think, "Oh, my gosh, it's a disaster." | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
Erm, and certainly from that point of view it is a bit... | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
But from an ecological point of view | 0:18:06 | 0:18:07 | |
it's not been quite as damaging here as you might first suppose. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:10 | |
There's no fresh water on the site, this is all brackish water. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
The tide, breaking through, | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
has almost certainly refreshed the water in the lagoons | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
and has created all these bare areas of shingle | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
and they're very useful for all the wading birds. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
They don't like sitting in tall vegetation | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
and also the breeding birds, as well, avocets and gulls | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
and terns that we have nesting here, which will be coming in next month. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
They love these bare shingle islands to nest on as well. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
-Perfect for them. -Great. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
In a moment, I'll be doing my bit. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
First, here's glimpse back to Snettisham in its full glory, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
when Julia came one winter to witness one of the greatest | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
spectacles in the bird world. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
This area attracts an array of migrants all year round | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
but I'm on the trail of one particular winter spectacle | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
and I'm told, "An early bird catches the worm." | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
Hence the dark start. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
I'm on a hunt for pink-footed geese. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
We'll be following them throughout the day, as they come off the | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
estuary to feed on the fields and then return to their roosts at dusk. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
Helping us in our quest is Autumnwatch cameraman | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
Richard Taylor-Jones. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
Long before dawn, he set out to film the huge flocks, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
as they left their night-time roosts on the estuary. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
Wow! That's lovely. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
They're all beginning to get up and go now in small squadrons of, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:43 | |
maybe, three or four hundred. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
These geese would have spent a good, sort of, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
ten hours probably out on the estuary, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
getting cold and hungry. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
So, it's not surprising that the moment there's | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
a glimpse of light, they want to be up in the air | 0:19:55 | 0:20:00 | |
and off to feed. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
And I'm hot on their trail too. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:05 | |
My job is to find out which fields they'll be feeding on today. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
The key to my mission is local farmer | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
and wildlife enthusiast David Lyles. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
Morning, David. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
-Good morning, Julia. Alarm went off on time, did it? -Dear me. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
-Why are we here so early? -Well, there are no mountains in Norfolk... | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
-I know that. -We have got the odd molehill. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
This is one of the best places | 0:20:27 | 0:20:28 | |
to watch the geese coming off the marsh. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
Hopefully, they'll fly through this valley | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
and the wind is strong enough to keep them fairly low this morning. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
-How confident are you? -Fingers crossed. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
And why are they heading in this direction? | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
Well, they are looking for food. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Their primary food at this time of year is sugar beet. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
And there are plenty of sugar beet fields in the area. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
There are plenty of sugar beet. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
About 70% of the sugar beet in the UK is grown in this | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
-fertile region. -So geese have a sweet tooth? -They certainly do. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
Back in September, they arrive and they have this uncanny | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
knack of working out when the sugar beet factory is going to open. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
-They've set their clocks. -Yes, they set their clocks. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
The goose clock is for sugar. Look in the distance there. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
-You can just see them coming over the top of the trees. -Oh, yes. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
Thousands of them. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
Oh, what a lovely sight. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:21 | |
-These are big gaggles coming through now. -They certainly are. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:30 | |
They have built up to probably the maximum point now. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
Lovely shapes in the sky. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
It's a perfect sky for them, actually, isn't it? | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
Almost worth getting up early for, David. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
Well, I'm pleased for that. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:43 | |
With the sun up and the last few geese flying by, | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
it's time to think about where they are heading. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:57 | |
Right, where are we? | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
This is where we are. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
-It's called Beacon Hill. -Mm-hm. -This is my farm. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
And these are some of the fields that I looked at in the last | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
couple of days where sugar beet harvesting has taken place | 0:22:08 | 0:22:13 | |
and there's a chance we might catch up with | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
some of the geese we saw this morning. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
The first field on our list had thousands of geese | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
grazing on it last week. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
I have a feeling that they have finished working there. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
The farmer could have even cleared the field or started to plough it. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
-But it's worth just having a look. -Just double-checking. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
Just worth a look to see whether there was any little bit... | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
-Just hopeful. -Yes, just hopeful. -Not a sausage. -No good. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
I think we had better press on to the next estate. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
It's not long before we have a bit more luck. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
-This is about as close as I think we're going to get. -Right. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
They are skittish, aren't they? | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
-If you look over there, you will see them just getting up. -Yes. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
The flock have lookouts, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
which warn the feeding geese of any dangers. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
It doesn't look as if this lot are quite settled yet. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
But at least I am edging little bit nearer. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
But I still haven't managed to get a close-up view. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:31 | |
Wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones has been helping out. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:36 | |
Hi, Richard. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:37 | |
I've been talking all day about wanting to see a pink-foot. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
Well, do you know what? They have been this close. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
-It has just been incredible. -They're a nice busy bird. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
-They are very industrious, aren't they? -Yes. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
Working their way over the field. Looking for their breakfast. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:54 | |
We have got maybe four or five similar-looking geese in Britain | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
but the pink-foots, they are so easy to tell | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
because they have got just these wonderful big pink feet. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
-You can't go wrong. -The identifying mark. -Absolutely. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
It has certainly taken a bit of running around but I am happy | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
because I have finally seen a goose with pink feet. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
Well, that was Snettisham a year before the storm. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
Work is now well under way to get it back to its best. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
These drivers are apprentices, here as part of their training course. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:43 | |
On-the-job experience like this is invaluable. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
I am here to do my bit, too, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:48 | |
under the watchful eye of instructor Peter Guymer. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
-I match your fancy dress here. -Yes, very good. Very nice. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
-It suits you. -Thank you. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
So this is the classroom, then, for some of your boys? | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
Yes, most of the lads are on a 12-week course | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
so this is the final end of the course, really. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
No 12-week course for me, though. Straight into action. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
Lovely. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:11 | |
-There is an awful lot of levers and buttons and God knows what. -OK. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:16 | |
-Where do I begin? -So, in to your leg. We will fold the bucket up. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:21 | |
-How do I do that? -Just to your leg. -The scoop. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
And this one, just bring them what we call the dipper in. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
Push it away. Dipper out. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
-That is already eight to try and master at the same time. -Yes. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
That's coordination. You'll be OK. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
I was never good at computer games, you know. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
What could possibly go wrong? | 0:25:39 | 0:25:40 | |
Here we go. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:48 | |
Pull the right lever back. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
Right lever back, right lever back. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
I will update my CV. This is a result. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
Yeah! | 0:26:03 | 0:26:04 | |
Brilliant. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:08 | |
Not sure any bird is going to want to nest on this now. Sorry. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:26:19 | 0:26:20 | |
Love it. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:22 | |
Whilst I carry on reshaping the habitat here, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
let's look back at the time James took himself to Cumbria | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
to visit one of its most secret beaches. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
Sitting in the shadow of the more popular Lake District, | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
not many venture as far as this westerly edge of Britain's coast. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
But to do so is to be rewarded with some truly breathtaking scenery. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:51 | |
It might not have the great lakes and the mammoth mountains | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
of its neighbour, but the twisting coastal curves | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
around the peninsula mean that there are plenty of these golden beaches. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:09 | |
And it is the sands here at Sandscale Haws | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
that are arguably the most stunning and special of them all. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
This nature reserve is watched over by the Lake District's | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
imposing presence across a narrow spit of sea. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
Desert-like dunes rise out of the dramatic landscape. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
It's these dunes and what grows in them that I'm here to see. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
The currents in this bay mean that new sand is constantly being | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
deposited on the shoreline. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
This is creating new land and gives us | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
the rare opportunity to see geology moving in fast forward and to chart | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
the rise of a dune system through the plants that live there. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
-What are we looking at here, Neil? -Right. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
Well, this area that we are crouching on now, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
this is just four years old and it is the very start | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
of a sand dune system. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
So this tiny little plant down here, this is prickly saltwort. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
So this is one of the first plants that you will get out on bare sand. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
It doesn't really mind the tide coming over it. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
What they call a pioneer species? | 0:28:10 | 0:28:12 | |
-The first thing to colonise bare areas of land? -Absolutely. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
OK, so that is the very first stage. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:16 | |
And then we're getting to these dune-building grasses. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
This is the sand couch grass | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
and if there are any gardeners out there, | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
they would be very familiar with couch. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
It is a notorious weed. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
And in the background here, we have got sea lyme grass. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
-You could really see that. -Which is a much bigger plant | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
and this is when you really start to see how sand dunes can grow. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
-Yes, that is a real hummock. -Yes. So this is a barrier now. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
So when the wind is blowing from the West, | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
the sand is going to build up over here | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
and these grasses are so specialised | 0:28:43 | 0:28:44 | |
that that is actually going | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
to stimulate the grass to grow even more. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
Now, the sand couch and the sea lyme grass, | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 | |
they can both grow through about 20 to 25cm of sand per year. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:54 | |
But the real star species is the marram grass, | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
which can go through up to a metre of sand per year. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
So dunes can grow very, very quickly. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
Playing detective in these dunes | 0:29:03 | 0:29:05 | |
is a dream day out for a botanist like me. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
What I'm even more excited to see are some rare species that are | 0:29:08 | 0:29:12 | |
thriving deep in the established dune systems. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:16 | |
OK, so down here we have got grass of Parnassus, | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
which is one of the more showy plants of the dune system. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:22 | |
Very, very nice white flower. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:25 | |
-Beautiful and, ironically, not a grass. -And not a grass at all, no. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
And down here we have got something that's even more special. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
This is round-leaved wintergreen, which is quite a rare plant. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
It is nationally scarce in the UK. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:39 | |
And this particular subspecies | 0:29:39 | 0:29:41 | |
of round-leaved wintergreen is only found in coastal areas like this. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
Where we're standing now, back in the 1980s, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:47 | |
the high tide would have been getting up to here. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:49 | |
That's over 100 feet of new land in just 30 years. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
Back here in Norfolk too, the beaches are changing. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
But often violently. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:10 | |
Last December saw the biggest storm surge in more than half a century. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:16 | |
Hunstanton's famous red and white cliffs were hit hard. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
When the storm abated, this is what was left. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:24 | |
These huge chalk boulders, just strewn about the beach. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:28 | |
A bit like children's toys. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
And for one man, 20 years' work went up the spout. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
Because under all of that is something of a Hunstanton landmark. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
This. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
These bands of red and white are pebbles and rocks. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
They were placed here quite deliberately | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
by one dedicated man but now... | 0:30:48 | 0:30:50 | |
all gone. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:52 | |
But guess what? He has started again. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
I will be finding out what is driving him on in a few minutes. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
Before then, here is a reminder of the time I spent an afternoon | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
with some equally driven fishermen of the small island of Lihou, | 0:31:04 | 0:31:08 | |
near Guernsey in the Channel Islands. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
Cut off at high tide, it is where locals come | 0:31:18 | 0:31:20 | |
for absolute peace and quiet. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
But not today. It is going to get pretty busy. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
Just wait till that tide goes out. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:30 | |
When it does, the folk of Guernsey cross this causeway in droves. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:37 | |
They will be hunting for a rare island delicacy, hard to find | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
and very highly prized. And I'm not missing out. I'm joining Mark. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:47 | |
He has been coming down here for years. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:49 | |
-How you doing there, Mark? -Not too bad. I have got six at the moment. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:55 | |
What is it that we are looking for, then? | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
What is it that gets everybody out in the freezing cold seas? | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
-A lovely ormer. I will show you. -An ormer? -There you go. -Look at that! | 0:32:00 | 0:32:05 | |
I've never seen one of those before. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
-Gosh, it's whopping, isn't it? -It is. It's not a bad size, that one. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:11 | |
You do get bigger. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
The ormer is a member of the abalone family, | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
big shellfish prized for their flesh. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
Fishing for them here in Guernsey is traditional. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:22 | |
50 years ago, nearly half a million ormers were fished annually | 0:32:22 | 0:32:26 | |
but overfishing and disease saw numbers collapse, | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
leading to an outright ban in the mid-'70s. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
Today, there are strict rules. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
You can only fish for ormers between January and April and then | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
only around the times of the full and new moons - just 24 days a year. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
These rocks are sharp so gloves are an absolute must. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:49 | |
Ormers like to hide away and there is a real knack to finding them. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
Lucky for me, I have got Mark to show me how. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
There we are, look. We have got one but that is too small. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
Yes, you can even see without measuring it, can't you? | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
-Do you ever get tempted to just take them anyway? -No. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
-Is everyone quite good about the rules? -Most people are, yes. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
Occasionally, you get people that will take undersize | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
but there is a hefty fine if you get caught... | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
-And it is in everyone's interest, isn't it? -Well, exactly, yes. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
In a few years' time, that will be nice and big and juicy. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:19 | |
Remember that one. It's a bit like turning the cards over, | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
-remembering where they all were. -I will put it back carefully. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
We are running out of time because the tide is on its way back | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
so one last-ditch attempt to catch my tea. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
What about great big whopping rocks like that one there? | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
-That is not too bad a rock. -You need two hands there. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
-No, I can do it. -You can do it. -Just. -Oh. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:45 | |
Unbelievable. There we go! Look at that! You can use your hook. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:51 | |
That will be stuck firmly to the rock so you can use your hook now. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:55 | |
-OK, yes. -Put that in just underneath it. -You try not to damage it? | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
Try not to damage it. Just get it in. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
-That's it. Off it comes. There we are. -Easy! | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
-Wow, look at that! A juicy one! -A very juicy one, yes. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:07 | |
-That is going to be tasty. -We shall eat tonight. -Yes. | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
With the tide racing back in and the sun sinking down in the West, | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
it is time to head inland to the home of top island chef | 0:34:17 | 0:34:21 | |
Tony Leck, a man who knows exactly what to do with ormers. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:26 | |
Smack them with a hammer. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
-But not too harsh, because we don't want to break the whole... -I see. OK. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
Trying to keep the shape. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:33 | |
They have already been cleaned and scooped out of their shells. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
This bit is just about softening up the flesh before cooking. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
-Is that good or more? -Perfect. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:44 | |
Next, it is into some melted butter, from Guernsey cows, of course. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:50 | |
Flour either side and then into a sizzling hot pan. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
These must be something incredibly special | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
because there is so much effort that goes into harvesting them. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:03 | |
-People spend the whole day getting maybe only six... -Yes. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
It's quite a community effort, as well. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:09 | |
I know lots of guys that do it and gather them | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
for their own family for the older generation, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:15 | |
the ones that can't, perhaps go out and gather them themselves. | 0:35:15 | 0:35:18 | |
So it is not necessarily that they taste amazing, | 0:35:18 | 0:35:20 | |
but also about the culture and tradition of doing it? | 0:35:20 | 0:35:22 | |
-Culture and tradition, yeah. -Yeah. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
And of course using what is available around you. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
A couple of minutes in the pan but three hours in the casserole dish. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:34 | |
Luckily for us, Tony has already got one on the go. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:38 | |
A portion like this at Tony's restaurant will set you back £17. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:42 | |
Not exactly cheap. Let's find out if it's worth it. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:45 | |
Here we go. Goodness, look at that texture. | 0:35:48 | 0:35:52 | |
Mm! | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
-The texture is not freaky at all. It's meaty. -Mm-hm. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
Not shellfish-like. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:10 | |
-Shellfish and I don't have a good relationship. -OK. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
But the meatiness of that is very palatable, isn't it? Lovely. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:17 | |
This is Michael Kennedy. An ordinary man with an extraordinary passion. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:32 | |
He shifts rocks and pebbles | 0:36:34 | 0:36:36 | |
from down here to up there every day. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
He's been at it 20 years. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
What started as a way of keeping fit has become an obsession. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
What about these, Michael? Can I join in? Are these any good? | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
-Yes, yes, that's it. -One of each colour, is that it? | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
-Well, it doesn't matter. There are so many, you see. -Well, that is true. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:57 | |
-There are so many. -It doesn't matter. | 0:36:57 | 0:37:00 | |
Michael has only been working on this bit since December. | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
He started all over again after the big North Sea storm surge | 0:37:03 | 0:37:07 | |
obliterated his previous effort. And this is what was lost. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:12 | |
Bands of red and white pebbles that Michael had piled up ten feet high. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:17 | |
Kind of beautiful, but it was never meant to be art. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
I'm doing it to protect the base of the cliff. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
Are you fighting a losing battle, though, | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
because look over there with your last thing? | 0:37:26 | 0:37:28 | |
-Don't be a pessimist. -No, well, fair enough. -I am an optimist. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:31 | |
-You would be no good in the Army. -That is true. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
-You would frighten all the soldiers to death, you would. -Right. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Let's keep going. We've got a lot of protection to do. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:37:38 | 0:37:40 | |
And there is definitely military discipline to | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
-Michael's work. -I do it six days a week. I come down here at 10:15... | 0:37:43 | 0:37:49 | |
-to half past 12. And then I go home. -So it is good for fitness, then. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
-This is my gym. -It is probably a lot cheaper than the gym, too. Isn't it? | 0:37:53 | 0:37:57 | |
-This is my gym, love. Yes. -Let's get more colours, then. | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
-So, white or red, either or? -Get as many as you can carry, yeah. -Wow. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
What do people think of what you do here? Does anyone say anything? | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
-They say, "Michael, you are doing a fantastic job." -Do they? -Yeah, they do. Yeah. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:11 | |
Got to say, the old ladies, they love me, because they can walk now without bumping into stones. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:17 | |
Well, that's true. You have cleared a smooth path for everybody. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
-And I get great satisfaction of doing it. -Will your work ever be done? | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
-Will you ever be finished? -Well, I'll tell you what. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:26 | |
I'm 77 on the 4th June coming. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:30 | |
So when I'm 100, instead of doing six days, | 0:38:30 | 0:38:33 | |
I'll probably do four days. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:37 | |
-There's a ready supply of stones to keep you going. -Oh, yeah. Yeah. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
-Good man. Good man. -Right. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
A man happy in his work if ever I saw one. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
The sea inspires people in all sorts of ways. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
Is it the wildness, the grandeur, or the danger? | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
That's a question Julia asked | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
when she undertook one of the most dangerous beach walks in the UK. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
Essex is a sprawling rural county, a farmland giving way to | 0:39:07 | 0:39:11 | |
coastal marshes, river estuaries and tiny islands. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:15 | |
Peter Caton is Essex born and bred. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
He's walked almost every mile of the coastline. Almost. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
He knows the area's true character. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:27 | |
I think people think of Essex as being Southend and Clacton | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
and Walton-on-the-Naze. But that's only a very small part of Essex. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
It's the longest coastline of any county. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:36 | |
It's about 350 miles and it's just a very beautiful place | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
and people don't realise. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:41 | |
And you've covered almost every inch of this territory, | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
but there is a walk you haven't done. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
Indeed. I walked along here five or six years ago | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
and I looked out across the mud | 0:39:51 | 0:39:52 | |
and I walked about 200 yards along and decided that it's a walk | 0:39:52 | 0:39:56 | |
that just can't be done safely without a guide, | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
knowing the tide, knowing the weather and where the quicksands are. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:03 | |
And today, Peter, we're going to get to do it, | 0:40:03 | 0:40:05 | |
so you've won the lottery! | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
-Thank you very much. -Let's go. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:09 | |
Extreme rambling? | 0:40:10 | 0:40:11 | |
Well, the route we're taking is said to be the most dangerous | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
public footpath in England. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:16 | |
For centuries, small creeks | 0:40:18 | 0:40:19 | |
and mudflats separated coastal Foulness Island from the mainland. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
Locals could only cross safely at low tide and with no landmarks, | 0:40:23 | 0:40:28 | |
the route was marked by besom brooms buried in the sand. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:32 | |
Hence it was called the Broomway. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
And if all that wasn't dangerous enough, | 0:40:35 | 0:40:37 | |
it's now part of a military firing range. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:41 | |
Hi there, Brian. Hello. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
-I've got another victim for you. I mean, a walker. -A walker! | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
-That's good. -How are you? | 0:40:45 | 0:40:47 | |
Experienced walking guide Brian Dawson doesn't use brooms. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:49 | |
He's learnt the safe route... | 0:40:49 | 0:40:51 | |
..which we can only take when they're not firing live shells. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
Explain the dangers of the Broomway to me, then, Brian. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
Well, soft sand, especially when the Ministry have been letting ammunition | 0:41:00 | 0:41:05 | |
off out here, displaces the sands and makes pockets of soft mud. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:10 | |
-So it becomes like quicksand? -Yeah. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:12 | |
We can look out here now and it looks flat. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
You can see over to Kent and you can see way up there to Margate. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:19 | |
It looks flat. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:21 | |
But it's not flat and that's what makes it dangerous, the fact that | 0:41:21 | 0:41:24 | |
if you're out here, you think, oh, the sea's over there, | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
no problem. But of course, it creeps in behind. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
-So you can very easily become disorientated. -Oh, yes. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
Think you're heading in one direction | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
and before you know it, the tide's caught up with you. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
It'll come in faster than we can walk, or even run. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
In days gone by, unwary travellers have perished on the Broomway, | 0:41:44 | 0:41:48 | |
earning it the nickname the Doomway. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
Let's hope it won't be living up to that today. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
It certainly is beautiful out here and it looks innocuous enough | 0:41:55 | 0:42:00 | |
but if you do look out in that direction, there are no landmarks. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:06 | |
You could lose your bearings so very easily | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
and once the tide starts coming in, you're in serious trouble. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:12 | |
I'd better keep up with him. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:16 | |
Peter, do you feel that sense of excitement? | 0:42:16 | 0:42:19 | |
Certainly, yes, yes. It's a big openness. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
There's very few places that are anywhere like it, really, | 0:42:24 | 0:42:29 | |
that you can get to safely, provided you've got someone who knows the way. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
Yes, so long as you got a Brian with you. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
The full Broomway walk takes two hours | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
but I need to get there quicker. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:40 | |
Well, guys, I hate to leave you in the lurch as it were, | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
but you're in very safe hands with Brian and Peter. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
Enjoy the rest of the walk. I've got a lift. Bye! | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
The volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution | 0:42:51 | 0:42:55 | |
charity have the answer to all this sand. They just rise above it. | 0:42:55 | 0:43:00 | |
Afternoon! Permission to come aboard? Thank you. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
Not quite what you expect to see, a hovercraft coming hurtling | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
towards you. All joking aside, I'm not the first or last person | 0:43:07 | 0:43:10 | |
that you're going to save out here, am I? | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 | |
No. We've got a vast amount of mud, about two and a half miles wide, | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
about 15 miles long, so it's a vast area. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
We also do a lot of work with kite surfers, | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
windsurfers who have accidents, break legs and... | 0:43:21 | 0:43:25 | |
which this is a perfect tool for going and picking them up | 0:43:25 | 0:43:28 | |
-and transporting them back ashore. -Transport them back to shore. | 0:43:28 | 0:43:31 | |
Those are the words I was waiting to hear. Transport them back to shore. | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
-Excellent. Can I have a lift? -Yes, certainly. -Excellent. Good stuff. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
Let's go. | 0:43:38 | 0:43:39 | |
Julia there, taking the quick way home. | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
I'm back now at the RSPCA wildlife centre near King's Lynn. | 0:43:57 | 0:44:01 | |
I was feeding these rescue seal pups earlier. | 0:44:01 | 0:44:04 | |
Now three of them are about to be returned to the wild. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:08 | |
They are trying to single out a male called Crumpet | 0:44:08 | 0:44:11 | |
and two females, one called Special K and one called Pancake. | 0:44:11 | 0:44:16 | |
First, they've just got to catch them. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
It's been three months of round-the-clock care | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
and attention but in just a few short minutes, | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
these guys will be back in the wild, where they belong. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:34 | |
-Ready? -Bend the knees. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
Oh, that feels light! | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
Very heavy but such precious cargo. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
I'm trying to keep a nice smooth line. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
It's just a short ride to the release site | 0:45:01 | 0:45:03 | |
in the back of a specially fitted-out van. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:07 | |
I've been in Norfolk on its beautiful beaches | 0:45:16 | 0:45:19 | |
but, last December, | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
they took a battering from the worst storm surge in 60 years. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:27 | |
The RSPB reserve at Snettisham was hit hard and the RSPCA centre | 0:45:27 | 0:45:31 | |
at King's Lynn was inundated with rescued seal pups. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:35 | |
I've seen for myself how well this coastline has recovered | 0:45:39 | 0:45:43 | |
and today it's a rather exciting time for these seal pups. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:48 | |
We've brought three of them here to this release site on the river bank | 0:45:49 | 0:45:53 | |
not far from where they washed up. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:55 | |
The river leads out to sea and freedom. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
-Right, so if you take the front-end. Yeah. Got it. -That would be great. -OK, no bother. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
It's a big day for head warden Alison Charles and her team. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:06 | |
Give me one second to readjust. Perfect. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
-What are the perfect conditions for release, then? -Well, this is ideal. | 0:46:10 | 0:46:14 | |
It's not too windy. | 0:46:14 | 0:46:15 | |
The seas are quite calm out there and the tide's going out, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:19 | |
which will take them out into the Wash. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
There's a few minutes to go before the release. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:24 | |
Just time to look back at a very enjoyable day Adam had | 0:46:24 | 0:46:28 | |
away from the farm, rock-pooling in Dorset. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
Kimmeridge Bay in Purbeck. As secluded a spot as you can find. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:43 | |
It's all very peaceful but this area is simply teeming with life. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
You just need to know where to look. To find out more, | 0:46:47 | 0:46:50 | |
I've come to join a volunteer group for something called a welly survey. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:54 | |
And I've no idea what a welly survey is but I've come prepared. | 0:46:54 | 0:46:58 | |
Julie Hatcher from the Dorset Wildlife Trust is going to | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
tell me what the Welly Zone project is all about. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
Well, the Welly Zone project is a project to get local people | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
out onto their beach, getting them in touch with the wildlife | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
that lives there and starting to record it. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:18 | |
What we're finding is that there are things that can tell us about | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
climate change, invasive species, some rare | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
and unusual things that are only found on beaches | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
and what we can start to do then is to try to get | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
protection for these areas where these special creatures live. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:36 | |
So there's a serious reason for the project. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
But there's no denying it's also a lot of fun, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:41 | |
and takes me right back to rock-pooling as a kid. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:43 | |
Cor, this is a ferocious looking fellow. What's this one? | 0:47:45 | 0:47:49 | |
-This is a spiny spider crab. -Amazing. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:51 | |
You can see all the camouflaged seaweed on its back. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
It's very, very difficult to see. We're lucky to find that one. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
It's certainly very spiny. You can see where they get their name. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
-Let's pop him back, shall I? -Yes. Good idea. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
We always like people to put them back where they find them. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
You don't have to be a marine biologist to take part | 0:48:06 | 0:48:08 | |
because volunteers are all given a handy guide. | 0:48:08 | 0:48:12 | |
-Hi. -Hey. -Any joy? | 0:48:12 | 0:48:14 | |
Yeah, well, I'm quite a beginner at this, really. | 0:48:14 | 0:48:17 | |
So these guides are pretty useful to me. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:20 | |
Down here, I've already spotted the peacock's tail seaweed. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:25 | |
I've also got the Japanese seaweed, which is this one just here, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
the kind of pretty, flowy kind of one. It's quite an invasive species. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:34 | |
That's great. Well, I'm completely landlocked where I live | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
-so it's all new to me too. -It's a bit different for you, yeah. -Yeah, lovely. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:41 | |
Right, then. That's enough yomping about in wellies. | 0:48:41 | 0:48:44 | |
I'm off to the other side of the bay now for a kayak safari. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:48 | |
But these aren't any ordinary kayaks. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
These are glass-bottomed kayaks | 0:48:51 | 0:48:52 | |
so as you're floating through the water, | 0:48:52 | 0:48:55 | |
you can see what's going on beneath and then | 0:48:55 | 0:48:57 | |
if you want a really detailed view, these are goggle viewers. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
You shove them in the water, | 0:49:01 | 0:49:02 | |
put your head in and you can see what's going on. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:06 | |
The kayak safaris are available to anyone who fancies this unique | 0:49:06 | 0:49:09 | |
way of glimpsing beneath the surface. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
Today, I'm lucky enough to be getting a tour of the highlights | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
from guide Mark Smith. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
So the snakelocks anemones, they are the... | 0:49:18 | 0:49:20 | |
They almost look like plants but they've just got thousands | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
of stinging tentacles and what happens | 0:49:23 | 0:49:26 | |
if a small fish goes into those tentacles, | 0:49:26 | 0:49:28 | |
it fires loads of harpoons into the animal and injects venom | 0:49:28 | 0:49:32 | |
-which then paralyses the fish, and then it can eat it. -Goodness me! | 0:49:32 | 0:49:37 | |
Sounds fairly ferocious. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:38 | |
There's just dozens and dozens of types of urchins and seaweeds | 0:49:38 | 0:49:44 | |
and goodness knows what's down there. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:46 | |
Yes, so there's hundreds of different species of seaweed | 0:49:46 | 0:49:50 | |
that have been recorded here in Kimmeridge Bay. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
Now, why that is is because there's a rocky reef under the water here. | 0:49:52 | 0:49:56 | |
They provide lots of nooks and crannies for animals to hide in and they provide a really | 0:49:56 | 0:50:01 | |
hard surface in which seaweeds can anchor themselves to. | 0:50:01 | 0:50:04 | |
And the seaweed itself provides a bounty of food for all | 0:50:04 | 0:50:08 | |
different kinds of animals. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:09 | |
So Kimmeridge is a real hot spot for marine wildlife. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
All of this and we're not even getting wet! It's great. | 0:50:18 | 0:50:23 | |
I've had a rare glimpse into this fascinating world. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
You could stay out there all day and still not see everything | 0:50:26 | 0:50:28 | |
but I'm heading back to dry land. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:30 | |
And I've been told there's one more very rare species that I've | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
got to find while I'm in Kimmeridge Bay and it's the tiny elusive lagoon snail. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:39 | |
At just 2mm fully grown, the lagoon snail takes some finding. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:44 | |
Coastal photographer Steve Trewhella is one of the few people ever to have seen them. | 0:50:44 | 0:50:49 | |
Hi, Steve. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:50 | |
-Hi, Adam. -Have you found some? -I have, I have. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
-They're very, very tiny. -Goodness me. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:56 | |
-You can just about see them with your naked eye. There's one there. -No! | 0:50:56 | 0:50:59 | |
Yeah. And they're fully grown as well. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
-They don't get any bigger than that. -They're minuscule. -They are tiny. | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
-Can I take a closer look? -You can. Would you like to borrow these? | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
Let's try these babies. | 0:51:08 | 0:51:09 | |
All golden, tiny golden snails. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
You know, I never thought I'd get so excited about such a small animal! | 0:51:15 | 0:51:19 | |
Goodness me! Are we getting this on telly? This is special, you know. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
It's never been filmed before as far as I know. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:24 | |
People don't like creepy crawlies, they don't like flies | 0:51:24 | 0:51:27 | |
but without flies we'd have no birds, we'd have no swallows | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
coming over from Africa, so it's the biodiversity. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
Everything has a role to play in nature, | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
even tiny two-millimetre-long snails. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
They're all part of this habitat which makes it unique. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
It's a long way removed from the cows and sheep back on my farm, | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
-that's for sure. -It is. It is. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:45 | |
It's microscopic world and this is their world. | 0:51:45 | 0:51:48 | |
They're not aware of any of this, that they | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
live under this boulder, this little thing, every little crack, | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
every little fissure in the rock - that's their universe. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:56 | |
Look at that, a tiny lagoon snail, like a pinprick on the end | 0:51:58 | 0:52:03 | |
of my finger but still an important part of this valuable ecosystem. | 0:52:03 | 0:52:07 | |
It's been a real joy discovering what lies beneath the waves here at Kimmeridge Bay. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:14 | |
I've only been here for a day but I've certainly gained a real | 0:52:14 | 0:52:18 | |
sense of what a rich marine habitat this is. | 0:52:18 | 0:52:21 | |
It's now time for the release. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:32 | |
These grey seal pups have not been in the wild | 0:52:32 | 0:52:34 | |
since they were just days old. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:37 | |
The storm surge that washed them | 0:52:37 | 0:52:38 | |
away from their mothers is now a fading memory and with spring just | 0:52:38 | 0:52:42 | |
around the corner, there couldn't be a better time to be going home. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:46 | |
He can smell freedom. But it's been a while. No surprise he's cautious. | 0:52:50 | 0:52:55 | |
-There we go. -The fun way in. -It's just a little slide down there now. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:03 | |
How do you make sure they are wild rather than coming back to you? | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
All the way along, we try to have as little to do with them as possible. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
We try and get them in with other seals, we don't talk to them, | 0:53:09 | 0:53:12 | |
you know, we don't cuddle them, we don't stroke them, | 0:53:12 | 0:53:14 | |
we don't do anything with them apart from go in and feed them, | 0:53:14 | 0:53:17 | |
medicate them and look after them. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:19 | |
So it's all hands off and just trying to have as little interaction with them as possible. | 0:53:19 | 0:53:22 | |
That's one safely away. Two to go. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:27 | |
Yeah! I notice this one's got a tag on it. What's all that for? | 0:53:34 | 0:53:40 | |
The tag is a way of recognising them if they are found again. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
It's identifying them as having been in with us. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:45 | |
There is a specific number for this one and it's a very cheap and cheery | 0:53:45 | 0:53:49 | |
way of keeping an eye on them and seeing how they're doing. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
So how does this stage feel when they are released? | 0:53:52 | 0:53:55 | |
This is the best bit. Everyone thinks we're really sad but it's not sad. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:59 | |
It's really good to see them go back out to sea | 0:53:59 | 0:54:01 | |
and then it's up to them to make a go of it. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:03 | |
You hope that we've done a good job of getting them fit and healthy | 0:54:03 | 0:54:07 | |
and then it's down to them. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:08 | |
And now for the last of our three releases. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
Now isn't that a sight to warm the heart? | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
Given up for dead by the storm, nursed back to life | 0:54:23 | 0:54:27 | |
and health by Alison and her team. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:29 | |
Here we go. That's good. Yeah! | 0:54:29 | 0:54:32 | |
Fantastic! | 0:54:34 | 0:54:35 | |
Well, there you go. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:38 | |
Proof that there is life - and lots of it - after the storm. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
Well, that's it for this week. | 0:54:41 | 0:54:43 | |
Next week we'll be in County Durham where Matt travels home to | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
help out his mum on Mother's Day | 0:54:47 | 0:54:48 | |
and I'll be in search of the story behind the lost farms of Weardale. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:53 | |
See you then. Bye-bye. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:54 |