- 8 minutes ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:06Great Britain, an island of wonders and breathtaking landscapes.
00:19Protected and conserved by the people who live here.
00:25Established in 1949, Britain's national parks are a haven for nature,
00:31home to an abundance of life.
00:50Pembrokeshire Coast National Park encompasses a wide variety of habitats.
00:59A 186-mile trail meanders along the Pembrokeshire coastline,
01:08traversing a unique landscape of sandy beaches and steep cliffs.
01:16The park is one of three marine nature reserves in the United Kingdom.
01:21It is a refuge and breeding ground for hundreds of birds,
01:25including rare and endangered species.
01:38Castle Martin, in the far south of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park,
01:42has an austere charm.
01:48It's not just the seabirds that feel at home here.
01:58I came here over 20 years ago.
02:01It was only meant to be for three years and I've just finished 21 years.
02:06But every day is different.
02:08It's really exciting.
02:09It's fun.
02:10And I love it.
02:18Lynne Holston is employed by both the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
02:22and the Ministry of Defence.
02:29This haven for birds has a surprising history.
02:32So this, the area that we're in at the moment is part of Castle Martin Range
02:37and it's been a firing range for, well, since 1939.
02:42The British Army train here 44 weeks a year.
02:47So it is heavily used, but they only use a small part of it, really.
02:52So the other parts are just left to nature.
02:55There's no heavy agriculture, no pesticides, no intensification.
03:01The wildlife just thrives here.
03:04It's a really special place.
03:09The cliffs along the coast are not only breeding grounds for seabirds.
03:15The chaff is closely related to the jackdaw and also nests here.
03:22With the help of climber Stephen Quinton,
03:25Lynne wants to find out exactly where the chaffs nest.
03:35To do this, Stephen has to abseil down the 40-metre cliff.
03:47We've got a very important population of chaff that live here
03:51and they nest in these cliffs.
03:53So each year we have to find where they nest
03:55and then we create a restriction so that the chaff can have their young
03:59and raise their young in peace.
04:02And then once the birds have fledged and they've moved away,
04:05then we lift the restriction.
04:09Castle Martin attracts climbers from all over the world
04:13and their presence could disturb the birds during the breeding season.
04:19Lynne wants to check for signs of nesting
04:21to determine if the area will need to be closed to climbers next year.
04:46So happy to see we go with an lovely narrator.
04:49That is so pleasant limit per hour.
04:49Now at the height of riding its high location,
04:49let's up this mountain.
04:50Here we go.
04:52This place is working today!
04:53Is all we, as we can say,
04:54this can beetracked,ica.
04:54Are alwaysyan
04:55again and we have to see! But we do
04:55not check the height of walking龍 in front. I
04:55can bridge
04:55yourgestions of optimism as we do,
05:13Stephen free climbs back up the cliff.
05:38We'll see you next time.
06:01How's that?
06:02Yeah, good.
06:03So there's definitely chuffs been in there.
06:05Yeah, what was the nest like?
06:07So you've got a deep crack about this wide.
06:10Yeah.
06:11And there's a lower level, a middle level, and then a higher level.
06:14Okay.
06:14And the higher one goes back quite a long way, maybe up to two metres.
06:18Wow, that is big.
06:19So you'd have room for at least four or five chuffs or more.
06:24Did you find anything?
06:25Yeah, yeah.
06:26We've got nest materials.
06:28A little bit of sheep's wool.
06:30So there's loads and loads of this sort of stuff.
06:33Okay.
06:33Not so much, there's not lots of sheep's wool, but there's a little bit.
06:36Loads of that and lots of bigger twigs as well.
06:39Right.
06:40And definitely one to look for next year and we'll make sure it's restricted as well.
06:45So thanks so much.
06:47That's brilliant.
06:56The National Park has many beaches where all kinds of treasure can be found.
07:26I grew up here on the Pan Maroosia coast.
07:28And basically just have been inspired by sort of like all the natural sort of like seasonal
07:34changes that come onto the shore ever since like a child, just like beach combing and collecting.
07:39And yeah, just nature's patterns are just amazing.
07:55Amy has made the beauty of nature her profession.
08:05I am foraging for these really delicate, pink-toned, like fluffy seaweeds.
08:13They have a really nice, like, sort of like light, delicate quality to them.
08:18And then they have different tones of whites, sort of like to pinks.
08:26Amy is a jewellery designer.
08:28She lives on the north coast of the park.
08:37So Pembrokeshire is very special because it's kind of wild landscapes and sort of like ever-changing,
08:44sort of like moody skies.
08:45And obviously with the beaches and things, it's a sort of a seasonal tidal thing.
08:50You know, you don't know what year what's going to wash up, but it's ever-changing.
08:54So, like, the shoreline will always just provide you with, like, more inspiration.
09:00I'm foraging for shells that are clustered in barnacle details.
09:05As in my practice, I sculpt sort of like organic forms.
09:10So this is sort of like an echo of what I'll sort of repeat in my wax models.
09:15So I really am just looking at this organic kind of, like, growth that happens all on the shell
09:19and just recreating nature, basically, in wearable art forms.
09:35I always knew I wanted to make art that I could wear.
09:37So the idea of being able to, like, forage shells and sort of, like, instantly be able to string them
09:43up
09:43and make something wearable was just really sort of, like, I don't know, it felt, like, natural
09:48or it was, like, a nourishing thing to do.
09:50Like, even just the feel of them, they just remind you of home.
09:57Like, even if you've heard of animals, you know, it's like a new experience.
09:58Beyond the coastal strip of the National Park,
10:01southwest Wales is shaped by agriculture.
10:05Grazing and farmland sit alongside reserves that promote biodiversity.
10:13Designated conservation areas, like the Tyvie Marshes, in northern Pembrokeshire,
10:17are set within an intensively used landscape.
10:41I like to be outside most of the time.
10:43I don't like to be stuck behind a computer.
10:44The major thing I really enjoy is actually engaging with people,
10:49sort of raising awareness,
10:50making people more understanding of our natural environment.
10:55I think it's the variety of work as a reserves manager
10:59that you have to take on.
11:07Nathan Walton works for the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
11:16Yeah, happy with that.
11:17He and a team of volunteers are setting out on the water in an inflatable boat.
11:28Today's job is to cut back the reeds.
11:33You might need only three, actually.
11:35Without these efforts, the reed beds will become overgrown
11:38and vital breeding areas for wading birds will be lost.
11:43Tybee marshes itself are heavily designated.
11:46The more designations the site has,
11:48the more importance it has for the species and the wildlife
11:50and the habitats that it contains.
11:52So here we have 105 hectares in size.
11:55So it's quite a large area.
11:56But the beautiful thing about it as well
11:58is that it has such a variety of habitat in such a small area.
12:01So we have the reed bed.
12:02We have the wet woodland.
12:03We have the ancient oak woodland.
12:05Then we have the areas of open water.
12:06We also have wet meadows and dry meadows.
12:09So quite an eclectic mix, hedgerows as well.
12:11So all these things in one small place is quite special.
12:15And the species and the wildlife that it supports
12:17is very special to Pembrokeshire
12:19and also very special to this area.
12:22John?
12:23Yeah, once you guys have done this bit,
12:25I think we'll focus our efforts on the other part of the reed bed
12:28in front of the creek hide.
12:31And then we can cut more back there as well.
12:38The habitat here is very important,
12:39especially in a fragmented landscape.
12:41So we have a lot of agriculture, dairy,
12:44mainly cattle grazing.
12:45And a lot of fields around here are very green
12:48and ecologically dead, as in they're sort of green deserts.
12:51You know, very good for feeding cattle on,
12:53but for wildlife, very poor.
12:54So you need nature reserves within this sort of fragmented landscape
12:58to provide hot spots,
13:01places where wildlife can thrive and do very well.
13:04The tivy marshes provide a habitat for a variety of bird species,
13:08both as a breeding ground and a stopover on migratory routes.
13:14Little greens,
13:17moorheads,
13:19grey herons,
13:21curlews and canada geese
13:23are among the many species found here.
13:36areas of the nature reserve are strongly influenced by currents of tidal brackish water.
13:42However, the tidal water does not penetrate the whole park,
13:45so there is a mix of fresh and saltwater habitats.
13:50Those two different environments encourage different species to grow and survive.
13:55And I think now with climate change and sea level rises,
13:58you know, in time,
13:59the reserve is going to become more of a salt marsh,
14:02more saline, less fresh water.
14:05And there's those things we can't really do anything about.
14:07We just have to let nature do what it wants to do.
14:09And we work with nature and make sure that we can sort of enhance it
14:12and provide the right conditions for, again, a variety of species.
14:34water buffalo live in the swampy part of the freshwater area.
14:51They are important members of the team.
15:06The water buffalo are a unique conservation tool
15:10in terms of managing the wetland habitat
15:12in a way that we would like them to manage it.
15:14So they keep the areas of open water open,
15:17and they wallow in these pools.
15:18And that's great for your waders, again,
15:20your wetland birds having these open areas of water,
15:23but also for your amphibians and your newts and your frogs and your grass snakes.
15:27But they also keep the scrub back as well.
15:28So with their horns, they rip up all the bramble,
15:30they eat all the rush,
15:32and they maintain that open sward, that open element
15:35within this sort of marshland environment.
15:51The Wales coast path runs through the national park.
15:58It crosses a wide variety of landscapes
16:01and passes countless bays.
16:13In autumn, the Pembrokeshire coast attracts thousands of grey seeds.
16:27The females seek out the protection of the bays.
16:37After an 11-month gestation period,
16:40these marine mammals give birth on the park's rock and pebble beaches.
16:54However, not every seal mother can care for her offspring.
17:09I spend a lot of time in and on the water.
17:12With the scuba, you'll see a seal.
17:15They're so graceful under the water.
17:17They're swimming and they're ducking and diving.
17:19It's fascinating.
17:21So to be able to help and to rescue them as well,
17:24I think it's a good balance.
17:30We've had a call about a seal pup that looks very small.
17:33It looks very underweight.
17:34So we're coming out to check to see if it's OK,
17:37and if it's on land.
17:40Cleopatra Brown is part of a volunteer group
17:42that rescues orphaned or abandoned seal pups.
17:46But help isn't always necessary.
17:49There she is.
17:52Oh, she looks lovely, in fact.
17:55Quite often we get calls about young pups
17:58and baby pups and they're not actually baby pups.
18:02It's members of the public see a small one and think,
18:04oh, it's a baby.
18:05So this one's fine.
18:06He's lovely and fat.
18:07And as you can see, he's swimming around quite happily.
18:11Thousands of seals come to Pembrokeshire's beaches to give birth.
18:20It is normal for mothers to leave their pups on the beach while they go fishing.
18:27However, this behaviour is often misinterpreted by people who worry about the pups' welfare.
18:37And you can hear the pups on land.
18:39They go, Mum!
18:41When they're on their own.
18:42And it's very sad.
18:44Members of the public will see the pup and hear the pup crying and think,
18:48well, we must help and put it in the sea.
18:50Well, that's not what it needs.
18:51It needs to be on land, resting.
18:53Because it was born on land, you know.
18:55But people just don't know, I guess.
18:58So they think they're helping.
18:59But, yeah.
19:00Mum will be here somewhere, keeping an eye on things.
19:04And, yeah.
19:05Intervention is not always the best thing.
19:11The young are born weighing 15 kilos.
19:15Within three to four weeks, they have to more than double their weight to between 30 and 40 kilos.
19:23They should almost look like, you know, like a fairground balloon.
19:26Big, inflated, big fat pup.
19:30So they feed with Mum for three to four weeks.
19:33They feed on Mum's milk.
19:35And then Mum says, on you go.
19:37You're independent.
19:38And then they have to fight for themselves and learn how to eat and fish and, you know.
19:43Pretty tough.
19:44Pretty tough existence.
19:50They can swim as soon as they're born.
19:52But because they've got white fluff, they can get very waterlogged and very cold.
19:58So they can't be in the water for a long time, but they can swim.
20:02And then, about three or four weeks, they lose the white fluff and they get that grey, silky coat.
20:08And then they're brilliant.
20:12Cleopatra has a special relationship with seals.
20:24I spend a lot of time in the water, so I run a water sports company.
20:28And I do coast steering, which is cliff jumping, and scuba.
20:31And I get to interact with them so much in the water and under the water.
20:38I take photos of little things in the kelp and I'll be taking lots of photos.
20:42And then all of a sudden I get pulled backwards and there's a seal tugging on my fins.
20:47And they're very playful under the water.
20:50It's fascinating.
21:11What's your favourite thing?
21:11I know the way I take photos of a lot of photos and photos and photos of experts.
21:12And so, I don't have any questions.
21:12I'm just making sure that you can hear the same thing.
21:12But I think that's really interesting.
21:12It's a natural way to see it.
21:13And so, after a long day, I think that's really interesting.
21:13I think that's really interesting.
21:17I don't see what you've ever said.
21:17I think it's really interesting.
21:22I don't know.
22:00I feel that if I volunteer to rescue them, then it's giving a little something back.
22:04You know, it's helping.
22:05So, yeah, they're gorgeous.
22:07They're like puppies.
22:08Puppies of the sea.
22:18The town of Fishguard is on Pembrokeshire's northern coast.
22:31Our beaches look nice and clean at first sight.
22:34You start digging into the rocks, you can see the years and years and years of build-up.
22:40Biology is my, you know, I'm happy with that, you know, because, I mean, this is the whole
22:44idea of the project, is to try and save the animals which I love and know about.
22:51Guys listening?
22:53We'll actually do some proper beach cleaning at the top where all the plastic has gone in
22:59between the rocks.
23:00So, I reckon we go have a good rummage around, grab some bits out.
23:04Marine biologist Lloyd Nelms is a museum educator in Fishguard.
23:09In his free time, he devotes himself to his passion, cleaning up the coastline.
23:15He also inspires other volunteers.
23:18These rocks are full of animals at high tide, so, yeah, it's not very nice to see them swimming
23:24in amongst all the rope and that.
23:25What is that?
23:26Like a sign?
23:28I'm fucking bagger swimming.
23:31What is it?
23:32It says Happy Bench.
23:35Unfortunately, being a national park doesn't make you any less susceptible to getting plastic
23:40from all over the world.
23:41We've still got the same currents.
23:43In fact, we've probably got more currents than non-national parks because it's the currents
23:46that make the national parks so amazing, coastal-wise.
23:49But, yeah, unfortunately, no one can escape the plastic, whether you're a national park or anything.
23:54Everybody gets it.
23:56And most of it comes from land, anyway.
23:59I mean, we've found stuff from all over the planet and from up to 50 years ago.
24:04If you are trying to grab, like, a piece of rope out of the rocks, try not to use this
24:10bit
24:10because it's made of plastic, recycled fishing nets.
24:13But the other side is, like, made of metal, so it's going to have a much better pull and
24:17it'll be a lot stronger.
24:19And that's what it's made for.
24:21So it's perfect.
24:22You can't always stop there.
24:23I'm down onto that rock.
24:23No.
24:25Fisher wouldn't have been doing it for you, didn't it?
24:28There you go.
24:33Well, I'd say on a beach clean, this kind of thing is probably the most challenging thing.
24:37I mean, a lot of people wouldn't or don't want to scramble on rocks like this to get things
24:43out because, I mean, it's quite hard work and, I mean, you'd probably look around and
24:47see legs hanging out of holes in rocks.
24:48I mean, these are devoted volunteers.
24:57OK.
24:58Nice.
24:59Back to square one.
25:04Oh, OK, got it.
25:05That's something.
25:08I don't know.
25:11Yeah, it's maybe some seaweed that's growing on the road.
25:13Oh!
25:18On a larger scale, the biggest problem is the fact that plastic is so amazing as a material.
25:24It's, you know, you won't find anything this strong and this light naturally made that will
25:29last so long.
25:31A lot of people ask me, can we make fishing gear out of, you know, hemp or biological materials?
25:36And in some ways, I think that may do more damage than good because it would be too weak
25:44to bring up if it ever got snagged on something.
25:47So if you were to catch a big rock, for instance, with your trawling ship and then you wanted to
25:54pull your gear back in, it's likely that the plastic would actually pull back in, whereas
25:59if you were using a weaker biological material, it would get caught.
26:03And although it would degrade a lot faster, it would still do its job and catch a lot
26:07of animals within that time.
26:09But if you're trying to get the strongest fishing gear possible, plastic is still the
26:14best option.
26:22Over 50 beaches line the Pembrokeshire coast.
26:32Many have been awarded blue flag status for their cleanliness, a great selling point
26:37for tourism.
26:41But it rarely gets crowded here.
26:43Which can stay on.
26:46This is theAlright
26:48anywhere near direct.
26:55Jewelry designer A num Afoging is working with one of her recent finds, a delicate shell.
27:10I have taken wax material and just taken it down to a rough sort of shell form which I've taken
27:17inspiration from this piece here because I particularly liked all the textures and all
27:21the depths of the colors and things that were coming through and I particularly like how many
27:26ridges it has this piece so it's a really nicely formed shell sort of a really beautiful sculptural
27:32object a silicon mold has been made using the wax model so here we've just had back the master mold
27:48and what we have in here is the master pattern so that we can make replicas from this in the
27:56mold so all the textures from the carving will have been translated into the silver which is
28:01then translated into the mold which is essentially a vulcanized rubber so it means it just picks up all
28:09the sort of details so this would be pressed closed and injected with the wax the wax pieces are the
28:19foundation for Amy's creative work my father was a jeweler so when I was a lot younger he'd often be
28:29sat working at the bench and I sort of go and watch or like look all the treasures that was
28:34sort of like
28:35just sort of dancing around I guess the sort of like horseshoe part of the bench and I'd always like
28:41to be a
28:41maker and I like the idea of being able to wear what I what I'd make and so with jewelry
28:50is the perfect
28:51kind of body adornment I guess to make something and be able to wear it with the sapphires that I'll
29:04use
29:05um mainly in sort of like blues and greens that's I guess from the colors of the sea um like
29:12as we saw
29:12today you know it's totally changing all the time with the light the clouds and particularly like
29:17sapphires will have these kind of like ombre or like zoning colors going through them so they might be
29:22darker in one spot lighter in another so that's really nice when that's captured in in the stones
29:29and it's so nice when something comes back in in gold um because it's kind of like a real echo
29:36of those
29:36textures sort of that are found just along the shoreline
30:04I've had many years of experience I've started in 2008 so I've handled a lot of birds you can catch
30:11a
30:12bird back in the same corner of the same reed bed year after year it's it's quite exciting the science
30:19of
30:19migration is fascinating many migratory birds stop at the time in marshes Wendy James has made it her
30:29mission to record them she rings the birds to help understand their migratory routes make sure it's all
30:39untangled like that to do this she needs to properly set up what is known as a Japanese mist net
30:57so we want the net really tight so you put a lot of tension on it if it's not got
31:04a lot of tension on
31:05you can't catch the birds they just bounce on the net now you've already heard that I can I can
31:14hear a
31:14chif chaff singing so what we'll do is we'll play the call of warblers and that will attract the birds
31:20into the net so it's a mixed warbler chif chaff black cat willow warbler
31:54that's a chif chaff
32:11so I'm going to ring these birds
32:19this is a sedge warbler
32:24so this is a migrant passing through the tidy marshes on its way to Africa sub-saharan Africa
32:32so they'll stay here for a little while to feed up put on some fat then they'll head off
32:40across to the northern french coast down the west coast of France
32:48so that's the ring on its number
32:54so I'm going to age the bird first so this is a young bird
32:57it was hatched this year very fresh feathers
33:01an adult will be very very worn by now
33:06so that's a young one I'm going to see if it's got any fat
33:12if you look there you'll see there's a yellow patch
33:20so that's fat store so it can have a very long flight
33:23it could fly all the way to the Sussex coast tonight
33:27and then across across to France and again another long flight
33:33so we'll weigh the bird now
33:36I'm expecting this is going to be a good weight
33:39that's 13.5 when they're breeding
33:42there'll be about 10 10 and a half grams
33:46but 13.5 that this will probably go tonight
33:49it'll be on the next stage of its journey
33:52so we just let it go then
33:55some of the birds have been recaught in Africa
33:58one of the sedge warblers was recaught in Senegal
34:01I do a lot of work in the Gambia
34:03so I'm always hoping that one of my sedge warblers
34:06will be caught there
34:08it's only a matter of time
34:40on a small scale like this especially fishing alone
34:43the weather will dictate how many days I can get out
34:46if it was calm seas and flat
34:48then we're greedy so we fish all the time
34:52so it's good it gives nature a rest
34:54and it's a good way of limiting the amount that's taken from the sea
35:04Danny Curtis is a lobster fisherman
35:07today he's heading for a new fishing spot
35:11the unpredictable weather on the Welsh coast
35:14is a constant challenge for Danny and his colleagues
35:17they usually set their traps offshore
35:20but if it's too stormy they can't reach them
35:23as a result many are seeking alternative locations in calmer waters
35:32there's also water here so there's quite an abundance of life
35:35some boats will do their whole fishery making a living in the river
35:40so there's lobsters and crabs
35:41and prawns are going to start in about a month
35:44but I'm trying to get gear out here early
35:46so it's in place
35:47so when the prawns show up
35:49my pots are there to welcome them
35:51so I prefer to be outside
35:54because you tend to have more fish
35:56your efforts are reduced
35:57but then it's wilder outside of the river in the mainland
36:00so yeah it's different fisheries
36:03there's quite a bit of tides running in here
36:05so it's still a tricky place to fish
36:07but obviously today now it's 25, 26 not northerly
36:12I wouldn't fish my grounds
36:14because the winds are just too strong
36:16it'll be too rough and too dangerous on my own
36:23slowing down a bit
36:25for the first time
36:27Danny has set his traps in the river Clevai
36:33they've been in the water here for four days
37:14there'll be no prawns for supper tonight man
37:18we're fishing now with pots
37:20which is static gear
37:20which I will shoot and I will lift every three to four days
37:24and the beauty of this fishery is
37:26even though I haven't had a good catch
37:28there's only a few prawns here as you can see
37:30everything is still alive
37:31even the fishies
37:32so there's no dead loss
37:34I'm targeting prawns
37:35I failed
37:36everything will go back alive now
37:38so this is what I like about this fishery
37:39there's no nets or anything dying
37:41nor dead loss
37:41or throwing back it
37:42so it's just a nice way of fishing
37:45this string was awful
37:47we've shot it out deep
37:48so now we're going to bring it in shallower
37:50and try it on some weed and some rock
37:52and just play and experiment really
37:54and keep on trying until you get it right
37:59so yeah
38:00base them up now
38:01stack them here
38:03and then we'll shoot them away on a different ground
38:06and hope for a much better result
38:08or my wife will leave me
38:10or not
38:14right on
38:16sustainability to me
38:17I don't dislike it
38:18I just feel that fishermen can't preach about it
38:21because all we do is take
38:22unlike a farmer who may plough the ground
38:25and plant seeds etc
38:27we take, take, take
38:28you don't see me chucking in any juveniles here
38:30but what you do see me is
38:31obeying laws
38:32so this prawn is the right size
38:34this prawn is too small
38:36so they'll go back alive
38:37and I can
38:39as a small operation
38:40I've got ten pots here
38:41that's not a lot
38:42I can only do so much
38:43because I've got two hands
38:44and Mother Nature
38:45will dictate my time at sea
38:47so it's a sustainable fishery
38:49in the sense that
38:49you can't
38:51take, take, take
38:52too much
38:53because Mother Nature
38:54will stop you
38:54along with
38:55yeah
38:56obviously two hands
38:57is all I have
38:58so
39:00we're probably going to throw
39:01all of these back
39:03see everyone's alive
39:04everyone's kicking
39:06which is what we want
39:08and I will catch these
39:09in a couple of years I hope
39:11so this one
39:11he can go back too
39:12so
39:13you're happy I'll throw them all away
39:15and I'll throw them all away
39:16and I'll throw them all away
39:20and I'll throw them all away
39:22and I'll throw them all away
39:27and I'll throw them all away
39:27and I'll throw them all away
39:29and I'll throw them all away
39:30and I'll throw them all away
39:31and I'll throw them all away
39:31and I'll throw them all away
39:31and I'll throw them all away
39:32and I'll throw them all away
39:33and I'll throw them all away
39:33and I'll throw them all away
39:34and I'll throw them all away
39:35and I'll throw them all away
39:35and I'll throw them all away
39:36and I'll throw them all away
39:51here head Ren and Rose hey guys my right to come on in sir
40:04Roger that I'll pause you for a moment and come on in thank you
40:23you
40:27you
40:29you
40:42You know, with the climate change, you know, we're looking around for sustainable ways
40:46of eating.
40:47So I think seaweed has a huge role to play in part of our future diet.
40:57Jonathan Williams is a restaurateur and gardener, only his garden is under water.
41:09I'm just looking for some of the seaweeds he uses in the pub, so we use the browns and
41:15the greens and the reds, so it depends on the tide and the weather and what's happening
41:18really.
41:19Years ago, Jonathan started growing seaweed, but his underwater garden is at the mercy
41:25of the weather.
41:26When storms destroy his plantation, he heads to the beach to gather what he can.
41:32For him, it's about more than food.
41:34Everyone thinks about the Amazon and the rainforest and providing all the oxygen, but it's actually
41:40the seaweed that provides most of the world's oxygen.
41:42And I think it's, you know, it's huge amounts of carbon that can be absorbed, you know, they
41:47can grow, you know, really, really fast.
41:50And that's one of the things we've been looking at in recent years of, you know, how we can, you
41:55know, speed up the seaweed
41:58process and given that platform to grow.
42:12This is hugely nutritional as well, I didn't know, but the seaweed contains more vitamins
42:17and minerals than any land-based vegetable, which is crazy.
42:35Well, I've been working for the last couple of years and doing different seaweed gardens and
42:40started experimenting using natural lines, because I always wanted to make the environment
42:44better.
42:45We're losing most in the storms, so now we're playing around with different rigging to see
42:49what can withstand the storms, so we'll design them to fire so they can grow.
42:54If we're not using them, they create the habitat and maybe sink and use it as a carbon sink that
42:58hits the ground.
42:59So these are the things we're kind of looking at at the moment.
43:06I quite like the secret seaweed garden, because it's lazy gardening, you kind of, you give it
43:11a platform and it's not like your garden at home, you have to go out and weed and
43:14take a thing out, you just leave it be and things land and, you know, the spores of seaweed
43:20or the spores of mussels or even the spores of scallops will find somewhere to land it,
43:24just different from somewhere for a home, and then you leave them and they grow.
43:44Where are you?
43:59Pembrokeshire's fishing industry has been declining and only a few boats still operate
44:04from fish guards lower town harbor.
44:11conservationists Lloyd Nelms they set up a box on the harbour wall to make it easier to dispose
44:17of plastic waste what's quite nice about these bait bags if I was going to say anything good
44:27about them is they're all one material so that's one benefit of the bag itself even though it's
44:35pretty much a single-use plastic completely single-use bait comes from the factory I
44:46imagine you know they're in tons in the factory bait comes from the factory in terms of you know
44:52unedible food and then so in a way that's getting reused so that's good all right so in here we
45:01essentially just have a bit of bait left so this is what these these bags are full of when they
45:05arrive is edible crab brown crab pie crust crab they've got many different names but uh yeah I
45:12mean they look roughly like this it's not the best looking crab in the world but these would
45:17essentially be full of crab that can't be used for human consumption anymore you imagine if just one
45:25of these bags went overboard it's like well public enemy number one one at single-use two it's a
45:34plastic bag and three it's like a net all at the same time and it smells like fish so things
45:40are
45:41going to be interested in it they're going to come in they're going to swim in there potentially gets
45:45trapped in all of this kind of netting because if you've got little claws that's kind of going to
45:49get you stuck right in there intentional middle finger imagine if you're a crab and you're trying
45:55to get out of that you're not the most intelligent thing in the world you could quite easily get
45:59caught in that then you die but that's called like ghost fishing then so then the dead animals and
46:04they're attracting more living animals they come in to eat the dead animals they get caught in it
46:09they die and it's forever fishing ghost fishing is a big problem
46:22in the evening the boats return to harbor
46:29i want to support the small scale fishers with a free accessible recycling bin i mean ideally i'd be
46:37able to take all of their waste so that it was easy for them to take anything they see floating
46:42out to
46:42sea stick it in a bag on their boat stick it in the bin which is right next to where
46:46their boat comes
46:47in and then it's easy and accessible and free for them to clean up other people's problems but also
46:54not create any of their own
47:16skoma island lies off the coasts of pembrokeshire
47:21it is a bird sanctuary and famous for the puffins that come here every year to breed
47:30in spring 40 000 of these small colorful birds arrive along with a variety of other species
47:38guillemots
47:42razorbirds
48:07and many other seabirds
48:12guillemots only stay on land to breed
48:15they spend the rest of the year out on the open water
48:20biologists describe their lifestyle as pelagic
48:36i've always been into photography started when i was little
48:40mum used to take me around taking photos and it's just become a massive hobby and love of mine
48:47i don't know what i'd do without it
48:54the bird life attracts ornithologists bird watchers and wildlife photographers like amy compton who grew
49:02up in pembrokeshire
49:13it's not just birds just all wildlife but i love the seabirds especially they've got so much character
49:20and they're just so joyful
49:24they're just brilliant
49:27but at the same time i just love watching them rather than taking the photos sometimes
49:50it's just such a beautiful quiet place
49:57it's just such a beautiful quiet place
50:02and
50:03well this place is everything to me i just love it just you can come out sit in nature
50:08i just forget about everything else and just enjoy it in the moment
50:17there's a european shag nesting in the cliff and at the moment we can see that it's got three chicks
50:26you just have to look closely and i kind of know what i'm looking for
50:29and just spot them they usually nest here every year
50:44amy has made a discovery
50:49something that has never been seen on the mainland coast
50:55i'm the first one to spot puffins here i've been watching them for a couple of years
50:59off the water rafting
51:04they're not too far away um on stoma and also off coldie island there's another small colony
51:13i think it's pretty incredible for puffins to now start to show up on the mainland it could really show
51:18what's coming in the future
51:20and hopefully the wildlife will just keep growing as long as people look after it protect it and
51:26it just shows what amazing things you can see
51:41in pembrokeshire nature is flourishing
51:47supported by the people who work tirelessly to conserve
51:51and protect this unique landscape
52:14and protect it
52:14and protect it
Comments