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00:00The foundation stone is right in the middle there on the bottom row.
00:06That was the stone that started everything.
00:08There's no plaque on it, is there?
00:10I think that's a great idea. I don't think anyone's ever thought of that.
00:14Plaque on the foundation stone, definitely.
00:30That, John, is spectacular.
00:48Isn't it? It's fantastic.
00:50The Menai Suspension Bridge.
00:52And you know, it's been standing here for exactly 200 years.
00:57Well, this week we are on the banks of the Menai Strait.
01:01The powerful, sometimes treacherous, tides here have helped shape this whole area.
01:06And motivated the construction of this amazing bridge.
01:10An engineering masterpiece.
01:16The Menai Suspension Bridge is the physical connection over the Menai Strait
01:21between Bangor, or mainland Wales, and the Isle of Anglesey.
01:27Well, this is a view that not many people get to see.
01:30While John looks at the history of this feat of engineering.
01:35The suspension bit is spectacular.
01:37But the things that hold it up are also pretty amazing, aren't they?
01:42Nobody had ever done anything like this before.
01:45I'll see how the tide below keeps everything alive.
01:49You've made me firstly see these. I've never seen them before in my life.
01:53And you've made me look at them in a whole new way.
01:56They're a whole lot more exciting than I was expecting.
02:00Whether it's farming the land surrounding the strait.
02:03Do you think he likes it?
02:04I think he loves it.
02:06Or sailing its waters.
02:08We've done it hundreds and hundreds of times.
02:10It should be smooth as anything.
02:11It should.
02:12People here have always worked with the Menai Strait.
02:15Not against it.
02:16How easily could it go wrong?
02:18I hate to say something.
02:20Okay, slowly down.
02:35The Menai Strait has always been more than just a stretch of water.
02:39It's a powerful tidal divide separating the island of Anglesey from mainland Wales.
02:46But 200 years ago Britain decided a crossing was essential.
02:51And what followed was one of the boldest engineering gambles the world had ever known.
03:00Nobody had ever attempted a project like this.
03:03A project of such scale and ambition.
03:06Until along came that great engineer Thomas Telford who took up the challenge.
03:16Telford was almost 70 by the time the Menai Bridge was complete.
03:20He'd already built an extraordinary engineering legacy with thousands of miles of aqueducts, canals, locks and roads.
03:30But it was the Menai Bridge, a structure that appeared to float in the sky, that tested him most.
03:37The scale of the project was gargantuan.
03:39Suspending a stretch of roadway almost 180 meters long above the water using 16 huge enormously heavy iron chains.
03:49When it opened in January 1826 people came from all over Europe just to look at it.
03:57It was the world's first iron suspension bridge built to carry a main road.
04:03Many skeptics said that it wouldn't work.
04:06But it did and it still doesn't.
04:08I've always been fascinated by Telford's work.
04:18But to grasp its real impact at the time, I'm stepping back 200 years with historian John Cole.
04:25It's nice and calm today John, isn't it, the Menai Strait?
04:29But it can be a vicious place, can't it?
04:32People took a chance when they crossed by boat before the bridge.
04:35They did, I mean it was an incredibly difficult piece of water.
04:38And we've got this kind of quote, allegedly from Lord Nelson,
04:42that if you could navigate the Menai Strait you can sail anywhere in the world.
04:45So yeah, very very difficult piece.
04:47I mean not only from the perspective of the currents, but also from the number of rocks.
04:52So you've got eddies and rocks and you've actually got a double tidal system.
04:56The tide goes in two different directions.
04:58One from the Carnarvon side, one from the Bangor side, meet in the middle.
05:01And just up the straight here there's an area called the Swellies.
05:04And that is really, really dangerous.
05:05Swellies, I like that.
05:06Yeah.
05:07Because it's more than just a swell I suppose.
05:09Much more than just a swell.
05:11The treacherous waters caused numerous shipwrecks, including six passenger ferries.
05:17But for farmers this part of the straight was an essential, if perilous place,
05:22to swim their livestock between island and mainland.
05:26Obviously there was a lot of demand for a bridge, but it took a long time to build it, didn't it?
05:32The economy demanded really a bridge be built because this was a pretty rich area.
05:37Cattle being swum across the straight at this particular point where we are now.
05:41Yeah.
05:42And so pressure economically to actually build a bridge.
05:45Anglesey didn't want to be isolated anymore basically.
05:47Yeah, that's absolutely true.
05:48I mean basically what happened was that various landowners would lose him on your left, right
05:53and centre.
05:54Not only that, but like I say with the cattle being swum across, 15,000 head of cattle a year.
05:59Wow.
06:00You know, mental calculation is over 40 or 50 per day constantly coming across the straight.
06:06And several of them going missing.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Floating off, disappearing.
06:10And of course there's also the link to Ireland from Anglesey, isn't it?
06:13So this little treacherous crossing was probably stopping a lot of people from getting to Ireland
06:18or coming from Ireland.
06:20Hugely important.
06:21Hollyhead was the nearest port in effect to Dublin going across the Irish Sea.
06:26And so strategically massively, massively important.
06:29And as kind of things evolved over the 18th, 19th century, became much more important
06:34to get people from Ireland down to London in effect.
06:38And of course you've not only got incredibly bad roads, you've also got no way of crossing the straight.
06:51Approaching this bridge, the height is staggering.
06:55But it's shaped less by aesthetics, more by necessity.
07:00Of course, a big consideration when it came to building the bridge was that it had to be tall enough for big ships to sail underneath.
07:09Yeah.
07:10And this was the Admiralty basically.
07:12They considered the Menai Strait a strategic piece of water.
07:15It had to be 30 metres, a hundred foot clearance for double-masted, full-masted sailing ships to actually cross underneath the bridge.
07:21And that's what really caused all the potential problems as far as the engineering and building the bridge was concerned.
07:27A suspension bridge of this height and length had never been attempted.
07:34When the first stone was laid, it broke new ground for engineering.
07:39On that island there, you can just see it on the right-hand side.
07:42That island is called Onnes-en-Moch.
07:44And the foundation stone is right in the middle there, on the bottom row.
07:49That was the stone that started everything.
07:50Yeah.
07:51There's no plaque on it or anything, is there?
07:52I think that's a great idea.
07:54I don't think anybody's ever thought of that.
07:56A plaque on the foundation stone, definitely.
07:58After seven years of construction, the Menai Bridge was finally ready for its first crossing 200 years ago on the 30th of January 1826.
08:13What was the weather like on the opening day?
08:16It was atrocious.
08:17I mean, we're lucky today, but the wind was howling.
08:20It was a foresight gale, really, really bad weather, about as bad as it could be.
08:24Telford came and inspected it and said, yes, okay, I think the bridge will be suitable to be open.
08:29The ferryman were actually told not to run the ferry, and at that point the ferry ceased.
08:35A senior site engineer flagged down the Royal Mail carriage just outside Bangor
08:40and persuaded the driver of the carriage, the Royal Mail carriage, to go across the bridge rather than going across the ferry.
08:47So they took the bridge instead?
08:48They took the bridge instead.
08:49And that was the start of everything?
08:51That's how it started, yeah.
08:53Telford's Menai Bridge held firm, transforming travel between Ireland and Great Britain.
09:02We've left the water to get a closer look at plans at the Menai Bridge Museum,
09:09where I'm hoping to find the answer to something that's always baffled me.
09:14So, what have we got here then, John?
09:17This is called the Atlas of Thomas Telford, and we're open here to a double page spread of the Menai Bridge.
09:24Of the bridge.
09:25What's always intrigued me is how on earth did they get those huge chains suspended above the water?
09:3116th of April 1825, there's an enormous barge which is brought into place underneath the bridge.
09:38Right.
09:39So they floated underneath the bridge, and there's a section of the chain which is then lifted.
09:43And it's lifted via capstan on the far side of the bridge.
09:46120 men on each of the capstans, there were two in all, slowly, slowly, slowly, winch it, lift it.
09:53And as the capstan moves round, there's a fife band.
09:56And what the fife band is doing is playing music until gradually the chains are taut across the tower.
10:01So they were dragged up to the sound of music.
10:04Literally.
10:06So something that had never been done anywhere before must have given them sleepless nights.
10:12Well it did, and incredibly, all the projects he'd worked with before, he was renowned for being incredibly calm.
10:18He'd just walk onto site, no problems whatsoever.
10:20When it came to this, the raising of the chains in 1825, he had many, many sleepless nights,
10:25and his biographer even said that he thought he was near to nervous collapse.
10:29But it all worked.
10:30And he was from very humble backgrounds, wasn't he, Telford?
10:35Completely, and almost entirely self-taught.
10:38And the incredible thing about Telford was that he went from being a mason to an architect
10:42to one of the senior most important engineers that this country's ever known.
10:49Later, I'll be exploring how this 200-year-old icon has continued to adapt throughout the years.
11:00Two centuries on, the bridge stands firm above the strait's unending tidal motion.
11:14Around five miles northeast from the bridge, the tide reveals feeding grounds that become a vital refuge for migratory birds in the colder months.
11:23Treithlevan is a special protection area, and each winter it attracts more than 5,000 oyster catchers.
11:35The birds feed in Treithlevan when the tide is out, and at high tide many settle to roost at the nearby Bangor Harbour,
11:43making it the perfect time and place for Rachel Taylor and her team from the British Trust for Ornithology to collect data that's crucial for monitoring the birds.
11:53Conservation research is normally a peaceful affair, but today they're using cannon netting.
12:02It's a specialist technique that's really good for catching wading birds.
12:07As the name suggests, small cannons fire projectiles that are attached to a net, gently catching the birds while they're on the ground.
12:14It's been used in the world of bird research for several decades.
12:19We're waiting for the birds to arrive on the beach, in fact I think some of them are on the beach, which is why I'm talking so quietly.
12:26We have birds up to about four yards from the net, so we should get a reasonable catch.
12:34That's really promising, so that means that the birds are in the right place, they're on the right beach, they're at a sensible distance from the net.
12:40With the oyster catchers now safely in place, the team are ready, and all eyes are on the firing box.
12:48Three, two, one, fire.
12:51This may look a little bit worrying, but it is a highly regulated routine technique used to track bird health over time.
13:12So we have a catch of birds under the net. The team at the moment are assessing catch size.
13:20They're also checking that all the birds that we've caught are okay.
13:27Right, so the birds have caught in a certain amount of netting which helps to keep them still.
13:32And our job now is to untangle them gently so that we can carry them up the beach and have them nice and dry.
13:42And you can see that although this bird is a little bit grumpy with me, it's perfectly fine for its experience.
13:48We don't just try and catch as many birds as possible.
13:52What we're trying to do is to catch a sample that's representative of the flock that's here through the winter,
13:57because that's what the monitoring is based on.
14:00So we've probably caught a little over 10% of this wintering flock.
14:06So this is one of the big targets of bird ringing, is to recapture birds like this one that already have a ring on.
14:13So this bird comes with a history that we'll be able to check when we look at that ring number in our database.
14:20With all the birds now safely in boxes, the team process them.
14:23And with only a few hours until the birds must be released, there's no time to waste.
14:30Every bird that we've caught is first checked to see whether it has a metal ring on already.
14:36And if it doesn't, it has a new ring put on.
14:40And if its ring is old and worn and difficult to read, then we might replace it.
14:45Two, six, four.
14:46Each bird's age, weight, molt, wing length and head measurement is meticulously recorded.
14:54The team are doing really well.
14:56We've got a number of people that are training to be ringers.
14:59So I'm supervising the vast majority to catch our full adults,
15:04but we've had a small number of juveniles and a few sub-adults.
15:07We're just dealing with the last few birds now, so we're almost at the end of the process.
15:15The birds have been great. They're going away really nicely.
15:19And the team, I mean, what an amazing team.
15:22I think we're all going to need a well-deserved cup of tea after this.
15:24While Rachel goes through the data, I want to understand what the birds feed on here
15:36while they make their migratory pit stop.
15:39I'm joining Helen Carter-Emsall and her team of volunteers
15:44from the North Wales Wildlife Trust on the mudflats of Treithlevan.
15:49Helen, this mud is absolutely glorious, isn't it?
15:51It's wonderful, isn't it?
15:52What are you actually doing here?
15:54Apart from playing in the mud, we're actually just conducting a bit of a survey
15:58to find out what the wader birds are eating that lives in the sand and the mud here.
16:03They eat a selection of things, bivalves, there's cockles and mussels,
16:07and there's worms, and there's sandhoppers.
16:10And, you know, you look down here and it just looks like a pile of mud.
16:14But it is actually a vital food source for these birds that come over here in the winter.
16:18Pop the spade in, turn it over and see what we find.
16:22Oh, here we go!
16:23Oh, look at that!
16:24Lovely!
16:25Worm?
16:26It is a worm.
16:27So they're a really vital food source for the birds that are out here wintering.
16:31So things like your oyster catchers, dig their beaks in, pull all those worms out.
16:34What does it tell you then, digging regularly here?
16:38So if we dig regularly in this same spot, it tells us species abundance.
16:42It gives us an idea of what is feeding here.
16:44And it also lets us know whether it needs to be protected or whether the protection is working,
16:48and whether any special measures need to be taken,
16:52and whether we need to limit access to that area and protect those special birds as well.
16:58Research on these mudflats is regularly carried out by this dedicated group of volunteers.
17:05Come rain or shine.
17:06Hi, how are you getting on?
17:09How are we good?
17:10Let's get up.
17:11It's a bit fighting the conditions today, isn't it?
17:12It is a bit, isn't it?
17:13What are you actually doing with this gritty thing?
17:15So that's a quadrat, and the aim is to record everything that we find within that quadrat.
17:21So it's things like worms and sandhoppers?
17:23Yes, everything that's alive.
17:24And seaweed, and then anything that's hiding underneath the seaweed.
17:27Have you found much, Jordan?
17:29I've found a few little sandhoppers and a little periwinkle, I think,
17:32somewhere around maybe this corner of this area, I think it was before.
17:37And everything else has popped up, taken one look at the weather and popped back down again.
17:40Yeah, I think so. It's not the greatest.
17:42What brings you out to do this?
17:45We love it. It's the fresh air. It's the company.
17:49You always find something different.
17:50There's loads of things that I'd never heard of before I started doing this.
17:54Oh, so always a little voyage of discovery, really.
17:56You're always finding lots of little critters that you're learning about.
18:00Some animals you'll find in one beach, some you won't find on another.
18:04And it's pools like this that really get you out,
18:06and you're finding so many interesting things, really.
18:13While I've been digging up the reason these birds come here,
18:16Rachel's been working through the catch results.
18:19We caught over 190 birds, and 150 of them were new,
18:25and the rest of them had rings on.
18:27Mostly our rings from previous catches, either on the same site or in the same estuary.
18:33And probably the headline news is that we had a couple of birds that were first ringed as adults in the 90s.
18:41So they're actually 30 years old.
18:43I didn't realise they lived so long.
18:45Yeah, the age record for oyster catch is over 40 now.
18:49I've brought with me some of the rings that we took off yesterday.
18:51And here we often have to take rings off and replace them.
18:55In the database they're marked as re-rings,
18:57and we have actually re-ringed birds more than once in their lifetime.
19:01These rings will last 12, 15, maybe 20 years, but they eventually wear out.
19:07I had no idea they lived so long.
19:09We didn't know that until we started ringing them.
19:12Were you surprised?
19:14I'm always surprised.
19:16It's amazing, it's like opening of a surprise present.
19:19Every time you catch a bird with a ring on, you're going to get its history,
19:22and all that history unrolls in the data.
19:26And you're pretty lucky to be able to sit and look at places like this.
19:31I think it takes a special person to look out at a muddy, weedy, scummy-looking estuary in winter
19:40and see how complex and how beautiful it is.
19:44But I think the birds tell us that.
19:45Winter tests everything here.
19:54Anyone who works this land knows how demanding life can be
19:57when the weather closes in.
20:02On the other side of the bridge, on Anglesey,
20:04Adam's meeting a farmer who's keeping a Welsh breed
20:07and a family tradition very much alive.
20:10On Anglesey, winters can be brutal.
20:17But the Welsh black breed of cattle have been standing up to this weather for generations.
20:22And they're just as tough and dependable as the farmers who keep them.
20:27I'm here at Treville Issaaf farm,
20:30where Johan and his wife Helen are dedicated to keeping this breed going.
20:33Oh, here's your lovely Welsh black cattle.
20:41Oh, you've got a baby calf?
20:42Yeah, she's called Coco.
20:44Coco?
20:45Yeah, she's a little bit brownish, but I have a little grandson he calls her chocolate.
20:50Oh, of course. How old?
20:53Three weeks old, yeah.
20:54Hello, Coco.
20:56They're beautiful cattle, aren't they, these Welsh black?
20:58Oh, yeah, they're lovely cattle.
21:00And what is it you love about them?
21:01They're tied into everything I stand for.
21:04If you want to farm naturally, the native breeds are always the best breeds.
21:10And then you can do everything as naturally as possible then, can't you?
21:14They don't have to have this rocket fuel, you know?
21:18They don't need lots of hard food and grain and...
21:20No, well...
21:21Sawyers and all those sorts of things that can just live off grass.
21:23No, not really.
21:24I think it's the way forward, really, in the native breeds.
21:27Johan and Helen run their herd of Welsh blacks across 160 acres.
21:32Farmland that's been in the family since the 1870s.
21:35I think I'm the fifth generation, and then I took over when I gave up teaching around 2002, 2003.
21:44Yeah.
21:45So you're teacher-turned-farmer, or farmer-teacher-farmer?
21:48Yeah.
21:50Is farming your true love?
21:51Yeah.
21:52Yeah, since I could walk, really, all I ever wanted to do was be a farmer.
21:57The Welsh black, it's the historical breed.
21:59It's put the shirt on the backs of every family.
22:02Yeah.
22:03When you go back through their ancestry, really, everything goes hand in hand.
22:08Part of the culture, isn't it?
22:09It is indeed, yeah, yeah.
22:11My mum was Welsh, came from the Rhonda Valleys, and...
22:14But she never really taught me any Welsh, apart from she used to call me a dirty mochen.
22:18Which I assumed was a compliment.
22:22Well, if you like pigs, it is.
22:24Before the suspension bridge, farmers would swim their livestock, including pigs, moch, and cattle, Guartheg,
22:35some 200 metres across the strait, to sell them on the mainland.
22:42In places, the water reaches 20 metres deep, and partway across, the animals would pause on Unis amoch, literally Pig Island.
22:55That small, rocky outcrop is now the very spot where the bridge's foundation stone stands.
23:01Much like they walk, cattle swim with all four legs, and they've got an impressive set of lungs that, when they're full of air, will help keep them afloat.
23:18Which is really important when they're crossing such a treacherous and tidal body of water as the Menai Strait.
23:25You'd still need a brave cow to take the plunge.
23:30But Johan, drawing on his experience of working his herd of a hundred Welsh blacks, has a theory about how farmers might have managed it.
23:39They used to have these old cows, I think, that were kept to swim, get in first.
23:45You knew the way.
23:46Yeah, yeah, and they'd have to swim back, I suppose.
23:49Because the Menai Strait, there's quite a strong current there, isn't there?
23:52There's a strong current in whirlpools. You know, Llanfair Pwll Gwingyll, gogern y Chwyrn Drobwll.
23:59Chwyrn Drobwll is very difficult to say, but it means the whirlpool.
24:05Drobwll is whirlpool. Chwyrn means turning very fast.
24:08So it would have been very dangerous, I suppose.
24:12Yeah, yeah. Remarkable cattle to be able to just swim across like that.
24:16Yeah, they're tough and robust. You can throw them at anything and throw anything at them.
24:22Do you fancy a swim, girls?
24:23The breed was so highly valued that it was once known as black gold.
24:30In the past, Welsh black cattle were truly multi-purpose, prized for beef, milk and even pulling ploughs.
24:38Though there were slight regional differences between animals bred in North and South Wales.
24:43You had the Pembrokeshire type, which were more milky, and the Anglesey type, which were more stocky and beefier, you know.
24:51And over the years, they've been crossed and intertwined, you know, all of them, to produce the animal we've got in the modern day now, which is, you know, a fantastic cyclic cow.
25:04And fit for purpose in an environment like this.
25:06Yeah, of course.
25:07So you've been passionate about this breed ever since you were a little boy.
25:10Yeah, you know, I remember when I was 13, 14, my dad getting me a pillowcase full of old herd books.
25:18You know, and it's not very trendy, so I didn't tell anybody.
25:23But that was the best Christmas present I ever had.
25:27Only a few thousand Welsh blacks are registered each year.
25:30But what they lack in numbers, they make up for as brilliant mothers, and a steady, dependable milk supply that sets them apart from many continental beef breeds.
25:40So these are your mature cows?
25:41Yes.
25:42Yeah.
25:43They do a hell of a good job.
25:44The calves, eight months old, 400 kilos, no creep.
25:49A lot of people would be creep feeding, so feeding hard, concentrated food to the calves, but you don't have to give them anything?
25:54No, no. We don't feed them until they're nearly ten months old, really.
25:57Wow.
25:58Because a lot of farmers would be taking the calves off for six months, wouldn't they?
26:01Yeah.
26:02It's due to the social history of Wales, because the Welsh black is the traditional cow of the smallholders, and they would turn the milk into butter, and they couldn't afford to feed a cow that wasn't producing anything for six months.
26:17Yes.
26:18A lot of cows would have to produce milk for at least ten months. The modern day Welsh black has a lot of milk with a high butter fat, very rich milk that does a good job.
26:31Yeah, great for the calves.
26:32Yeah, long, even lactation, and that is all important for a good cyclic cow.
26:38Erwin and Helen hold on to the females to keep the genetics they want on the farm.
26:47The best bulls get sold on, and there's one Johan's getting ready for an upcoming show.
26:53Who have we got here?
26:54Er, this is Marchog.
26:55What a great name.
26:56Marchog, yeah, it means night.
26:58Machoch.
26:59Machoch.
27:00Machoch.
27:01A G at the end.
27:02Machoch.
27:03Oh, he's a magnificent animal, Johan, isn't he?
27:07How old is he?
27:08Er, he's 20 months old now.
27:10Oh, he's well grown?
27:11Yeah.
27:12What sort of weight?
27:13Well, he's around 820 kilos, I'd guess.
27:15Is he?
27:16Yeah, last time he was on the waist scales.
27:19That's it.
27:20Back in on.
27:21Tell me through the finer points of a Welsh blag.
27:23You need good length, good top line, but the coat is very important.
27:28The old breeders, they like to have a court, they used to say in Welsh, which means coat and waistcoat.
27:35Okay.
27:36So this, the long hair, is the coat.
27:38Yeah.
27:39And that's what protects them from the wind.
27:41But the really important one is the one underneath, the waistcoat, and that's what protects them from the rain.
27:50Oh really?
27:51Yeah.
27:52Yeah.
27:53Is it a bit like a highland?
27:54Um, yes.
27:55Or is that an insult?
27:56No.
27:57I'm not saying a Welshman telling him his cattle are like highlands.
28:01No.
28:02No, so the highland is a sort of longer, shaggier coat, isn't it?
28:06Yeah.
28:07It's a bit shorter, I'd say.
28:08Yeah, yeah.
28:09Am I recovering from that blunder?
28:14So can we do anything to smarten him up a bit?
28:16Or is he ready to go?
28:17We can give him a blow dry.
28:18You hold on to that.
28:19Okay.
28:20Usually they feel it when you start at the back here.
28:23Okay.
28:25You can see the dust coming out of it, can't you?
28:30Do you think he likes it?
28:31I think he loves it.
28:33Do you like that fella?
28:36He's usually much more grumpy with me.
28:39I must have a magical touch.
28:41You must have.
28:44He likes that.
28:45Look at that.
28:46Oh, you're a good boy.
28:47He's so quiet, isn't he?
28:48He's lovely.
28:49I would quite like to buy some Welsh blacks.
28:51Or we can soon fix you up.
28:54You offered £10,000 for this one.
28:59Great value for money.
29:01And thanks to the suspension bridge, I wouldn't even have to swim him off the island.
29:07Spending time with Helen and Johan, you can see that it's not just about the cattle.
29:10It's about their passion for Welsh heritage.
29:13And the Welsh-backed cattle aren't just any old breeds.
29:16They're a living link to the past.
29:19And thanks to their care, that link should stay strong for generations to come.
29:25In January 1826, a bridge opened that changed life in North Wales forever.
29:38Many thought the Menai Suspension Bridge wouldn't last, but two centuries on, and with a few nips and tucks, it's still going strong.
29:59Kerry Evans is a chartered engineer and highways director.
30:06She's general manager of the team responsible for the bridge.
30:10Kerry, from down here, you really get the grandness of Telford's conception.
30:15It's only when you're down here that you realise that sense of scale and the audaciousness of the whole design.
30:25The suspension bit is spectacular, but the things that hold it up are also pretty amazing, aren't they?
30:32Nobody had ever done anything like this before. Everything about this bridge was new.
30:37The way that the masonry was cut, the way that the arches were built, the way that the towers were built.
30:44The stone used all comes from a quarry just down the way called Penmon.
30:49They nickname it Anglesey Marble because when it's buffed up, it looks like marble.
30:54And that means, really, this bridge is built of the land that it currently sits on.
31:01Let's go up onto the bridge, shall we? Fantastic.
31:07And does it ever wobble? Yes, it does.
31:10The purpose of a suspension bridge is to accommodate that movement.
31:14And, of course, steel, it moves, it expands and it contracts depending on the ambient temperature.
31:21Not much, but it's enough.
31:24By the late 1930s, as the shadow of war loomed over Europe,
31:29the flexibility of the bridge was tested in ways that Telford could never have imagined.
31:35Well, war so often forces innovation, doesn't it?
31:39The Second War in particular, did it have any impact on the bridge?
31:43It's absolutely pivotal to the way the bridge was redesigned in 1938 on the eve of the Second World War.
31:51The bridge was originally designed for horses and carts.
31:54So the idea of large military vehicles coming along this bridge, it could never have accommodated those.
32:02And was Telford's original design and engineering able to cope with these changes?
32:09The masonry viaduct and the towers are still in place and that's what Telford gave us.
32:17What changed was the steel work around it to accommodate our needs today.
32:22We do think that there was a vision of how would this bridge behave with an entire column of military vehicles going across it at any one time.
32:32Yeah.
32:33And so you needed that stiffening in the actual bridge to accommodate that.
32:38In 1938, Telford's 16 suspended iron chains that had caused him many sleepless nights became redundant.
32:48And new chains made from steel were installed.
32:52They had a programme of works which meant that if they put the new chains, which is what we've got today,
32:59on the outside edge of the towers, the bridge could be supported.
33:04Then they removed the inner chains, the original Telford inner chains,
33:10which allowed us to make the roadway wider and carry all of the weight of the bridge that we see today.
33:17I mean, that again must have been a huge engineering challenge to put these huge new chains in.
33:23Extraordinary.
33:25Well, with this bridge, you've got not only a vital archery, but you've got a kind of historic monument as well.
33:33Yeah.
33:34The legacy Telford gave us is something we must cherish.
33:38Yes, we've built on it. We've adapted it to modern day needs.
33:42But ultimately, Telford provided us with the foundation of connection between the mainland and the island of Anglesey.
33:52Alan Jones of the Welsh Government Transport Department is responsible for keeping the bridge up to date.
34:04I suppose you're in a bit of a quandary really, because you have to make the bridge as modern as possible to deal with all the needs of today.
34:13Yeah.
34:14And yet you don't want to destroy its history.
34:16No, no, exactly. Maintaining its history is key. It's a grade one listed structure.
34:21Therefore, any modernisation of any piece of the bridge requires careful consideration.
34:27So what's the current state of restoration on the bridge?
34:30Well, we've reached the 20 years, 25 years that the bridge needs repainting.
34:34The coats will be a three coats paint system applied to it, and it will have a zinc primer base to give it that security it needs from the marine environment.
34:44And will it be Battleship Grey again?
34:46It will be Battleship Grey, yes. It has regular wind and weather here. It has its own little climate, and it has significant impact from sea salt. So the steel work has a lot to deal with.
34:58Now, that three coat system will give it its key protection and requirements for the full 25 years.
35:05And it's 200 years old this month. Will it last another 200 years?
35:10Oh, I hope so.
35:14Thomas Telford worked tirelessly throughout his career. His ambition and his capability left a lasting legacy, for his structures still stand strong to this day.
35:29We still drive along his roads, we still travel along his canals, and we still cross his bridges.
35:37Ever since I first heard about him, Thomas Telford has been one of my heroes.
35:44While Telford's Bridge rightly steals the spotlight here, there is a remarkable hidden world to discover in the waters beneath it.
36:05Because of the fast running tides here, the rock pools are full of life. So I'm going right down underneath the bridge in search of something special.
36:17Nudibranchs, also known as sea slugs. I can't say I know anything about them, but I'm hoping Dr Charlotte Colvin and her students from Bangor University can fill in the blanks.
36:32So a nudibranchs is a sea slug. So same mollusk like our land slugs. I would say they're much more glamorous, they're much more snazzy looking. And we'll have a look at some up close.
36:43And how big are we talking? Sort of this big, this big? Oh no, we're going to have to look very, very up close.
36:48So some of the ones might only be about a millimetre or so. They can get a bit bigger, but typically what we're finding are those smaller individuals.
36:56And you've got some students? Yeah, absolutely. We've got Yolanda and Adriana out there.
37:00They're out looking for nudibranchs, other really small creatures that are living in those rock pools under the bridge.
37:06Yolanda's a third year student and Adriana is doing her Masters by Research.
37:11Exploring these pools isn't without risk. The Menais Straits' fast running tides mean conditions can change quickly.
37:19So this work is done carefully, under expert guidance and following strict safety measures.
37:25Yolanda, what have you got? I've got nudibranchs. Okay.
37:29So we've got quite a few species in here. So this one is Aeolidiella aldrii. And you'll notice between this one and the big brown one.
37:38Yeah, the fat one, yeah. Is that they have these long, they have these finger-like appendages called cerata.
37:44Almost like they're doing that. Yeah, like, yeah. The cerata acts as gills, but they also contain the digestive glands as well.
37:52And what's really cool about this one, there are white tips at the end of the cerata. These are called nido-sacks.
37:59So nido-sacks are really, really cool because these nudibranchs, they'll eat other animals with stinging cells,
38:08then steal the stinging cells and then store them in the nido-sacks and use it as a defence mechanism.
38:14It's amazing. So they eat something that has a stinging bit and then they take the stinging bit and store it.
38:21They're so clever. I didn't expect them to be highly coloured.
38:27Yeah, so many of our species are actually quite beautiful and colourful.
38:31One species we have here is called Tenelia cuenensis and their cerata are actually iridescent blue.
38:38You've made me firstly see these. I've never seen them before in my life.
38:41And you've made me look at them in a whole new way. They're a whole lot more exciting than I was expecting.
38:47I always phone up my granny and she goes, Yolanda, I can't believe you're finding slugs. How disgusting.
38:55And I show her all these pictures of beautiful colours. She goes, oh, I get it now. They're actually quite lovely.
39:01They are. What really surprises me is that you've got all these different sea slugs and yet you find them all here in the Menai Strait.
39:10Yes. That's insane. Oh, it's amazing. It's such an amazing diversity, you know, straight. It brings in so many nutrients, strong currents.
39:18It enables this amazing, amazing diversity. We'll go up there and we'll find bobtail squids. We've found curled octopus.
39:26And then we'll go further down there and we'll find completely different species as well.
39:30And it's, it's just amazing how even in the span of a few, few, like, you know, 10, 20 metres, the diversity patterns change, which is, I think, is so cool for this region.
39:44Out on the shore, the nudibranch's vibrant colour is a little tricky to see with the naked eye.
39:50So to really appreciate their intricate details, we're heading to the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University.
39:58Adriana, what have you got under here?
40:00So here I have Fassalina auriculata, which is a really, really common species in the UK.
40:06So these are one of the species nudibranch quite a lot of people will find when they go out looking for them.
40:13Let's have a quick look. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
40:16Wow, it's so brightly coloured when you look up close. Yeah.
40:19And then it's got, well, it looks like two sets of feelers, for want of a better word.
40:25Yeah. So the two in front that are lower down, those are going to be just two tentacles.
40:31And then the two that are, like, pointing upwards. Sort of like that. Yeah.
40:35Those are it's riphonophores, which is, they're, like, they really use it for chemosensory, to smell each other.
40:43And when they smell each other, do they attack or, I mean, will they fight with each other?
40:47It will be mostly for mating, so it's the best way for them to find each other, to reproduce.
40:54I don't think I would honestly see these in a rock pool if I wasn't looking, but now I'm going to be looking.
41:00It's a lot of practice and a lot of patience. Patience, yeah.
41:03I think, for me, it was my third ever time going rock pooling, like, with the goal of finding nudibras.
41:09Yeah. I managed to find on my own.
41:11Yeah, without someone saying it, yeah.
41:13So it was a lot of time of people showing me the ropes.
41:17Are you as obsessed as Yolanda?
41:19A little bit less. I focus on marine worms instead.
41:25OK. So those are my obsessions. That's your form.
41:28Yeah, but I still do think nudibranchs are really cool. I just find all tiny things kind of really interesting,
41:34especially when, like, it's things people might not think about or sometimes might think a bit, they're a bit creepy,
41:40like the worms, for example. But, yeah, nudibranchs are really charismatic.
41:44Everyone who's seen them, like, falls in love with them, essentially. It's impossible not to.
41:48It's not just about science. There's another reason this work draws people in.
41:54You never know what you're going to find when you go rock pooling.
41:58But also, I think part of it's just how, like, calming it is for you, like, for myself.
42:03Like, it's a serene thing. You kind of just lose yourself a bit in the moment.
42:08You forget about everything else going on in the world.
42:10Really, it is like a little bit of a nature therapy for yourself. Like, it's just wonderful.
42:15Rock pooling is very, very social. So through, like, secondary school and college,
42:21I wasn't social. I didn't really have friends. I came here, I went rock pooling,
42:25and I've met, like, everyone important in my life.
42:28I've met my partner through sea slugs and rock pooling. I've met all my friends through rock pooling.
42:33So it's so nice. It's, like, something we all have in common and a way to meet new people.
42:40The more I learn about rock pooling, the more fascinating it becomes.
42:44And Yolanda and Adriana insist the real magic happens after dark.
42:49So it's back to the bridge we go.
42:52What have you found, guys?
42:53So we have found some violet sea slugs, also known as Edmund Salpidata.
42:59So they, you can see some here.
43:03That white, whoa! That really is violet.
43:05Yeah. So I'm, like, uh...
43:08It looks like a little frond of plant, doesn't it?
43:11Yeah. A pink frond. Yeah.
43:13They're so delicate and so pretty.
43:16And when you switch to ultraviolet light, suddenly some of the straits' underwater inhabitants reveal their true spectacular colours.
43:26In the back of we have two homoc crabs.
43:29Massive homoc crabs.
43:31And you can see their bodies fluorescing as well as some of the barnacles.
43:35So here we've got a cowrie, which is another mollusk, and usually the shell is white.
43:40But under this light here, the UV, it's fluorescing an absolute bright red, which is insane.
43:46So cool.
43:47And next to it, we've got one of the nudibranchs.
43:49So that's Eolidiella aldrii.
43:52And that's a juvenile.
43:53So at the tips of the rhinophores, they're actually yellow, but under UV light it shows really, really well.
43:59And then the serata, you can see at the tips as well, the nidosacs, which are the stinging bits of the serata.
44:07This is a rare treat to witness.
44:10And don't worry, each species is returned to exactly where it belongs.
44:16How often are you out at night looking for these things?
44:19A lot.
44:20We've got a good group of us and we go out basically any time we can if we don't have work or things to do.
44:27If the tide lets us.
44:28Yeah, the tide's good and the weather isn't too bad.
44:30Although, I think about two weeks ago, I was rock-palling in the hail.
44:34Well, the nudibranchs don't mind a bit of hail.
44:37And unsurprisingly, these marine scientists will be out studying them, whatever the weather.
44:48It's been wild and wet and wonderful here in Wales.
44:51What has the weather got in store for us this week?
44:54Here's the Countryfile forecast.
44:56Hi again, good evening.
45:05With now a southeasterly wind, it's places that have seen some of the worst of the weather quite recently, such as southwest Wales into southwest England too, that have seen the lion's share of the sunshine today.
45:16So some respite from all of that rain and the strong gusty winds, but it's coming back for all of us as we head through next week.
45:23Low pressure close by, often wet and windy, and there'll be some hill snow towards the north as well.
45:28It's been a very wet January so far, not for all of us, but places like Boyne have seen two and a half times their average January rainfall.
45:37Exeter East Morling one and a half times, there's still a whole week left of the month to go.
45:42And of course, a lot more rain to come as well, where you see the brighter colours in the chart for the next five days, such as northeastern Scotland, eastern areas of Northern Ireland and the far southwest of England.
45:52Then there will be some more high rainfall totals and possibly some localised flooding as well.
45:58It is mostly dry overnight tonight.
46:00There's an awful lot of cloud around.
46:01It's going to feel colder, still some hill snow across parts of Aberdeenshire there.
46:05But it's where we've seen the sunshine today that will keep the close skies and maybe perhaps a touch of frost into tomorrow morning.
46:11And locally, it is much chillier start to the day.
46:14Now, let's zoom out on the pressure chart as we head through into next week.
46:18So low pressure very much driving the weather and it's pushing this weather front towards us from the Atlantic as we head through Monday.
46:24But again, for Monday, most of us, it is going to be dry.
46:28Still some more hill snow across the far north and the east.
46:30There are plenty of clouds.
46:31Some of the cloud could produce a few spots of drizzle.
46:34And it is going to feel colder as well with heavy rain across Northern Ireland and for these western coasts by the end of the day.
46:40And the wind starts to pick up to that brisk south easterly across some of these Northern Irish Sea coasts.
46:46And then as our weather fronts push further northeastwards as we head through the night,
46:50it could possibly turn to snow some of this rain across the Pennines and into the Grampians, the Cairngorms.
46:55The snow levels at around two to three hundred metres.
46:58This is how we start off the day on Tuesday.
46:59Notice it's turned a lot milder out towards the far south and west.
47:03But it's more of the same again on Tuesday.
47:05All of this rain spiralling around the area of high pressure.
47:09Some more snow for our northern hills.
47:11Gales blowing towards these Irish sea coast gusts here of over 60 miles an hour, perhaps in some cases.
47:16But you can see it's still mild, double figures towards the far south and the west.
47:21Much colder out towards the north and the east.
47:23Well, between weather systems on Wednesday, so it's probably looking like the better day of the new week.
47:29Still some more snow across the far north.
47:31That's going to lift its way further northwards.
47:33But there will be some sunshine elsewhere.
47:35And I think for most of us it will stay largely dry throughout the day.
47:38But we've still got that south easterly wind.
47:40It's still going to feel quite cool.
47:42But we're looking at highs of around seven to ten degrees Celsius.
47:45That's about the seasonal average.
47:47And of course, some showers packing into the far southwest by the end of the day.
47:50High pressure out towards the east.
47:52Just pushing this colder air our way again on Thursday.
47:55But it remains mild in the far south and west.
47:59We'll still see some more showers around on Thursday, particularly towards the south.
48:03They're all going to be lifting their way further northwards as we head throughout the day.
48:07But temperatures towards some eastern coast is five, six degrees Celsius once again.
48:12All of these showers clearing northwards then as we head through Friday with perhaps something heavier by the end of the day across the far south coast there.
48:20Temperatures once more five to ten degrees Celsius.
48:23So temperatures more or less at the seasonal average.
48:26Staying unsettled with low pressure driving our weather.
48:29More as ever on the BBC Weather app.
48:37In the year that marks the 200th anniversary of Thomas Telford's majestic suspension bridge, we've been exploring the wonders in, on and above the Menai Strait.
48:53The suspension bit is spectacular, but the things that hold it up are also pretty amazing, aren't they?
49:00Nobody had ever done anything like this before.
49:03More than just a structural connection between mainland Wales and Anglesey, the bridge brought people, nature, farming and heritage together.
49:15But Telford's bridge isn't the only innovative design to be seen on the Menai Strait.
49:25The uniquely treacherous tidal waters here inspired their very own sailing boat design.
49:31The Menai Strait's one design yacht.
49:37Only 17 of these boats were ever built and they're being carefully restored, repaired and raced by Menai Strait Heritage Sailing.
49:50For those who race here, the fast flowing tides make for a thrilling and tactical contest.
49:56A true reflection of life's own ebbs and flows.
49:59Henry Chesterton is founder of this heritage sailing initiative, and I'm joining him and his team as they lower the mast on one of the precious boats.
50:08So if we could start taking the lower shrouds down, I'll need a spanner for the boom, please.
50:14Henry, this looks incredibly complicated. You're giving instructions to lots of people.
50:18Yes, and it's a bit breezy for dropping mast, but we have to get it down so you can have a good look inside.
50:24Yeah, great. So tell me about the boats, what's their history?
50:26Well, they were built between 37 and 52, and they were built to sail and race on the Menai Strait.
50:33Yeah, yeah.
50:34So unlike most of the boats that are here, they have a drop keel because of some sandbanks, so we can lift the place up and down.
50:40As you go over the sandbanks? Yeah, sure.
50:42So we can sail at most aspects of the tide. Yeah, yeah. What are we doing now then, Henry?
50:47People holding the shrouds will be balancing the mast as it comes down, and I'm going to hold the forestay because then it's my fault that it comes down too quickly.
50:55How easily could it go wrong?
50:58I'd hate to tempt fate. I'd hate to tempt fate. We've done it hundreds and hundreds of times.
51:03It should be as smooth as anything. It should.
51:05OK, good luck, everybody. We're counting on you.
51:08Lovely. Right a bit. Take a bit of weight. Take a bit of weight.
51:13In today's 40-mile-an-hour gusts, this is no easy task.
51:18OK, slowly down. OK, we're going down.
51:25Good job done. It's a great job, guys.
51:28And they're beautifully made, aren't they?
51:30She was rebuilt two years ago. The wood was in poor condition. We took the decision to completely rebuild her.
51:36The team have made an amazing job, haven't they? Really, really gorgeous.
51:39So how do you pass on those craftsmanship skills?
51:43Well, we're doing it two ways. We've got funding for an apprentice.
51:47We also now have the volunteers who are rebuilding a boat in here.
51:51We've just taken it to pieces. We're now going to start putting it back together.
51:54So sharing those skills and passing on that knowledge is essential, isn't it?
51:58Yeah, it has to be. Really good.
52:02Inside the boat shed, the volunteers are hard at work restoring the latest member of the fleet.
52:07Hello, gents.
52:10This is from the old boat, Mavanwy.
52:13Mavanwy has been totally dismantled.
52:16So what we're doing now is preparing these boards to either reuse them again when we rebuild Mavanwy
52:21or to use them as templates for new pieces of timber that are going to go onto the boat.
52:25Sure. And restoring a boat, how long will that take?
52:29We are hoping to do it by the end of the spring, but depending on the condition of some of the boards, it could take quite a bit longer.
52:38Basically, we're just using the scrapers to run down the board.
52:42So quite painstaking, a lot of work, isn't it?
52:50It's quite difficult to get off, isn't it, this pain?
52:52Yeah, some of it's been an awful long time.
52:58Do you have a little break?
53:00Look at that. Good job.
53:01So what inspired you guys to join as volunteers?
53:05Yeah, this time of the year, weather is less inviting, short days, so it really affected my mood.
53:11And I joined this charity.
53:13I found many like-minded people and it's been really brilliant.
53:17And what's your background?
53:18I love boats, I love the sailing ideas and always wanted to get involved in some sort of workshop ideas.
53:24So getting involved, building, restoring and doing all the detailing and learning a new technique, something that's not been done for quite a number of years.
53:33Very rewarding, isn't it? Taking it from this to what I saw out there.
53:36You know, these boats were built in their 40s, 50s.
53:39And you sort of see some of the old techniques when you take it apart.
53:42And obviously we're going to have to replicate that and not many have done that before.
53:46So we're all on a bit of a learning curve, really.
53:48But it's really exciting.
53:54Henry has channelled his love of sailing into a wellbeing and heritage charity, which supports local communities.
54:04Henry, why did you set up the club?
54:06So it initially was to see if we could raise funding to repair the bad boats, essentially.
54:13And as it grew, it became wider.
54:17It became more about the people who could become involved.
54:19So we thought to put it to the wider community, to come sailing and to working on the boats.
54:23Now, there's a lot of research for people who live and spend time around water.
54:28There's 20% less mental health issues, particularly with depression and anxiety.
54:32So we targeted some groups, young farmers.
54:36We know farming, where there's evidence of high mental health problems in farming.
54:42Yeah, absolutely.
54:43It's taken people who've got dementia out.
54:45Do you witness some sort of positive experiences when you're out on the water with people?
54:49I think there are kids that have conversations with each other that don't have conversations in another environment because there's so much distraction through social media.
54:58And of course, if you're racing, there's no phones.
55:01You're in the moment.
55:02You're in the moment and you're concentrating.
55:04What you've seen to people, putting masks up, taking masks down, sales up.
55:08They're working as a team.
55:09Yeah.
55:10And there's no egos.
55:11It's really fairly gentle.
55:13Well, I haven't been here very long, but just mixing amongst your volunteers and yourself, it does feel really lovely and relaxed.
55:21And it's a lovely environment.
55:23The water lapping off on the beach, the wind blowing in your hair, you know, it sounds a bit corny.
55:27But it is a thing, isn't it?
55:28Absolutely.
55:29It just makes you feel good.
55:30Yeah, yeah.
55:36Geraldine is one of the many volunteers who have benefited from the initiative.
55:40So what attracted you to the sailing club then, Geraldine?
55:43I have always wanted to sail and then it was put to me that there was an opportunity that the group was running that was helping with mental health, wellbeing, that sort of thing.
55:55And it just seemed like a good idea.
55:57And when you first went out on the water, what was that experience like?
56:00I never ever stopped swimming the whole time I was out there.
56:03Really?
56:04I just loved it.
56:05You mentioned the club's support around mental health and wellbeing.
56:08Is that something you were looking for?
56:10Yes.
56:11I have health issues.
56:13I have fibromyalgia and again, stress aggravates it hugely.
56:19With that feeling of calm of being out on the water, it does really help.
56:23This was part of the reason I actually wondered whether physically I'd be able to do it.
56:27I think I surprised myself as much as everybody and it has been a wonderful release to come out on the water.
56:32It's wonderful, isn't it, that these old boats are really helping people in situations like that.
56:36It is.
56:37In the last four years, Henry's taken more than 100 people sailing on the Menai Strait and has the help of more than 50 volunteers.
56:48It inevitably starts with people you know, doesn't it?
56:50We get two or three people coming in and then more people come in.
56:54We've had maybe 10 people here today, different backgrounds, different cultures, different conversations.
56:59And it feels to me that we've created a really safe space to chat.
57:03Yeah.
57:04And where do you see the future? Because sailing can be considered as a bit elitist.
57:08Oh, yes, not being smart.
57:10We're really trying to get away from this.
57:13The boats were built very much for Popple Aquarian, the common folk.
57:17Anybody who wants to come sailing on Anglesea and further afield can come sailing.
57:21Well, it's been fascinating to meet the team and see the beautiful boats.
57:24Congratulations.
57:25I'll have to come back in the summer and come sailing.
57:27You will, please do.
57:28All the best.
57:29Cheers now.
57:44You know, Charlotte, I never get tired of looking at this view.
57:47And honestly, John, what you can find in the rock pools at the bottom, that's just as fascinating.
57:52Who knew that sea slugs were so beautiful?
57:55Well, next week I'll be joining Margarita on the magnificent Blenheim Palace estate.
58:02What about this one? This is huge, isn't it?
58:05This is known as the king oak. It's around about 950 years.
58:08Wow.
58:09From little acorns, these sort of things grow, don't they?
58:13Hit it hard, yeah.
58:16Bit harder.
58:17Bit harder, right.
58:18Oh!
58:19There you go.
58:21Can we pick a few?
58:22Yes, of course.
58:23You can just sort of pluck them off.
58:24Right there.
58:25That's it.
58:26Yeah, perfect.
58:27That's a thing of beauty, actually.
58:29That's next week on BBC One.
58:32So, see you then.
58:33Bye-bye.
58:40Can the power of nature rebuild broken bonds?
58:43Bear Grylls' Wild Reckoning, new on iPlayer.
58:46A classical concert from Glasgow, over on BBC Four now, celebrating the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at 90.
58:54What to hear next? The Antiques Roadshows heading for Colchester.
58:58The Antiques Roadshows heading for Central London
59:08The Antiques Roadshows gdybyop Woodshop is back behind the scenes of the 높own Hudson's
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