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Countryfile - Season 38 - Episode 07: Sea Empress
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00:00Now every large vessel that comes in and out of this harbour has to make this turd, taking into careful
00:07account the tide, the weather and the manoeuvring characteristics of the vessel. Get it wrong and the consequences can be
00:16devastating.
00:5030 years ago today, one of the UK's worst environmental disasters unfolded.
00:56At the entrance to the port of Milford Haven, a ship called the Sea Empress ran aground and thousands of
01:03tons of oil spilled into the sea.
01:05And the consequences were devastating, both for the people and the wildlife.
01:1030 years on, has this beautiful corner of Wales fully recovered?
01:17Milford Haven is a port town on Pembrokeshire's beautiful coast.
01:22Its deep natural harbour has made it a magnet for fishing, industry and wildlife.
01:30But in 1996, disaster struck.
01:35This is a very, very big ship. This ship is three football fields.
01:39You're talking about three million cars worth of petrol.
01:43It was all hands on deck, as teams came from near and far to help with the clean-up and
01:49rescue operation.
01:49All this area you can see here from the harbour to beyond Goska Rock was just black.
01:55And I'm talking sort of that depth of oil.
01:58We certainly tried to save an awful lot.
02:01We washed over 500 birds, but the survival rate with those was very, very poor, very low.
02:07I've been working for about 40 years as a camera operator.
02:11And this was the most traumatic story that I've covered.
02:25Milford Haven is one of Wales' busiest ports.
02:33Ships using the port face weather from the Atlantic and narrow shifting tidal channels.
02:43It's really starting to get choppy now.
02:46We can really feel the swell, so you can just imagine how challenging it can be.
02:52The biggest ships, like oil tankers, must be guided in by the port's harbour pilots.
02:59People who know the stretch of water like the back of their hand.
03:03You can just see the size of this tanker. It's colossal.
03:11These waters leave little room for error.
03:14And for the past five years, close to 1,000 ships have been guided safely through them
03:19by Captain Ewan McNichol.
03:22What made you decide to do this job?
03:24Can I be honest?
03:26Yeah.
03:26I just love driving ships.
03:27I absolutely love driving ships.
03:29It's a cool job.
03:30My career was predominantly mostly on ferries,
03:34so there's a lot of ship handling aspect to that.
03:37So the piloting was the natural progression to go down that route.
03:40What's the most challenging part of it?
03:42Driving the ship.
03:44One of the obvious ones is the geography of the area.
03:47It's a naturally formed estuary.
03:51The other one that you can see today is the wind.
03:54South-west UK in these conditions,
03:56especially around this time of the year, it can present a challenge.
04:00But Ewan doesn't go it alone.
04:03We have a VTS, Vessel Traffic Services.
04:06They're a bit like air traffic control,
04:07and they kind of coordinate all the ship movements.
04:10And we work very closely with the VTS to time those movements,
04:14taking into account things like tide, wind, weather.
04:17So it's a very carefully choreographed dance between all of you, actually.
04:21Absolutely.
04:22That is a great way to put it, Dashie.
04:24It's a choreographed dance,
04:26and making sure that all the parts line up.
04:33Today, the mission is to guide a huge 600-foot-long tanker out of port.
04:40To do that, Ewan first needs to get off his pilot boat.
04:45He's about to jump out and climb up that ladder into the tanker
04:49to steer it out of the harbour.
04:52The conditions are unforgiving, but Ewan takes the climb in his stride.
05:01Now, safely aboard the tanker, he takes the helm,
05:05coordinating with the tugs to guide the massive ship
05:08through one of the channel's most treacherous stretches.
05:11The turn in the Milford Haven waterway,
05:14around the Angle headland to the east,
05:17before heading out to sea.
05:21Now, every large vessel that comes in and out of this harbour
05:25has to make this turn, taking into careful account
05:28the tide, the weather,
05:30and the manoeuvring characteristic of the vessel.
05:34Get it wrong, and the consequences can be devastating.
05:4230 years ago, a misjudged manoeuvre here
05:46led to the Sea Empress running aground.
05:52On the night of the 15th of February 1996,
05:56BBC camera operator Dave Owen and local photographer Martin Cavaney
06:01were among the first to document what was unfolding,
06:05arriving here as events were still developing
06:08with little sense of the scale of what lay ahead.
06:12So, where were you both the night you got the phone call
06:15about the Sea Empress?
06:16Well, I was home and I got a report about a ship aground.
06:19The report I had was it could have been anything
06:21from a fishing boat to, well, anything.
06:23Yeah.
06:24No idea about how big an event this was going to be?
06:27No. No, it was literally,
06:27it's a ship on the rocks, go and have a look.
06:30I could see the glow, so I followed the glow
06:32and I parked by a farm gate
06:33and I walked across the ploughed field in a pitch dark
06:37until I got to the edge of the cliff
06:38and then all of a sudden it was right below
06:41a giant tanker facing straight onto the cliff.
06:45And this was the first image Martin captured on camera,
06:50a fully laden tanker, the Sea Empress,
06:53carrying around 130,000 tonnes of crude oil,
06:57stranded on the rocks.
06:59There was a supertanker just lying there
07:02like an Indian animal.
07:05It just took a breath away.
07:10Caught by powerful tidal currents
07:13and a brief loss of control,
07:15the ship had drifted off course
07:17and had run aground just after eight in the evening.
07:23As the scale of the disaster began to emerge,
07:26Joe Small from the UK's Marine Pollution Control Unit
07:29arrived to take control.
07:32Well, Joe, in conditions like this,
07:35it isn't hard to see how a ship could run aground.
07:37Yeah, you can see that,
07:39but if we go back 30 years,
07:42the night that she ran aground,
07:44it wasn't anything like this at all.
07:46It was calm.
07:49It became clear that everybody was still on board the vessel,
07:52they were all safe,
07:53but there was a limited knowledge about the condition.
07:56So we set off and we boarded the vessel
07:59just before three in the morning.
08:04The tanker itself, all her lights were on,
08:07all her deck lights, everything is illuminated,
08:09so you can see a little bit of the sea around you.
08:11You could smell it.
08:12There was a lot of oil.
08:16The hull of the Sea Empress had been torn open on the rocks
08:19and oil was pouring into the sea.
08:25So how bad was the damage?
08:27Pretty much most of the right-hand side of the ship,
08:31the starboard side from bow to stern,
08:34is completely open.
08:36This is a very, very big ship.
08:38This ship is three football fields long.
08:41The cargo on board, although it's a crude oil,
08:43it was destined to be refined.
08:45You're talking about three million cars' worth of petrol.
08:49It's a big, big ship.
08:54Out here, winter weather can change in an instant.
08:58With a storm building and the ship still stranded,
09:02the danger was growing.
09:05The race was on to get the ship off the rocks
09:08to limit further oil from spilling into the sea.
09:13The weather conditions deteriorated really badly.
09:17Tall wires were breaking.
09:19The small tugs were almost getting trapped underneath.
09:24That ran on for nearly a week.
09:30As urgency mounted,
09:32camera operators like Martin and David
09:34kept their cameras rolling.
09:36The real heroes are the people who were on the tugs
09:39because the sea conditions were horrendous.
09:42It was a full gale right at the entrance of the haven.
09:44So it hits the haven head on.
09:47And they were bouncing up and down in horrendous conditions.
09:52Over the six days it took to bring the Sea Empress under control,
09:57around 72,000 tonnes of oil had spilled into the sea,
10:02smothering some of the area's most pristine beaches
10:05and leaving wildlife fighting for survival.
10:10The oil slick now stretches some 25 miles
10:14and thick oil has been reported washed up on the shore of the island of Skoma.
10:24Martin and Dave weren't just capturing images.
10:27They were revealing the true scale of the disaster
10:30and its devastating impact on this treasured stretch
10:33of Pembrokeshire coastline.
10:37So this is West Angle Bay,
10:39which is opposite where the Sea Empress ran aground.
10:46When we saw the wildlife,
10:48when people were pulling out a completely oil-covered bird,
10:50it was horrible.
10:54There will be more birds washed up tomorrow.
10:57There will be more oil on the beaches too.
11:02It's phenomenal when you look at how filthy the beaches are
11:06with sludge and oil.
11:07I, as a child, I spent hours on West Angle Bay.
11:11My thoughts were,
11:12would it ever get back to normal?
11:14You know, it was just...
11:16You just couldn't believe it.
11:27Well, I've been working for about 40 years as a camera operator
11:30and this was the most traumatic story that I've covered.
11:36Just the sheer scale of the devastation and the oil and the smell.
11:41Even after all this time, it sounds like it still stays with you.
11:45It does.
11:46Because looking at the footage now, it does bring it back.
11:50You know, I've lived in Pembrokeshire all my life
11:52and it's a fabulous county.
11:54We've got fabulous scenery, fabulous beaches.
11:56It's a wonderful place to live.
11:58This impacted on that horrendously, you know.
12:01People were quite literally crying.
12:03Yeah.
12:03And thinking it'll never get back to normal.
12:09The oil moved quickly and within just a few days
12:12was spreading along the Pembrokeshire coastline
12:15affecting many of its beautiful beaches.
12:24More than 6,000 seabirds are estimated to have been killed
12:29because of the disaster.
12:31But without the help of the community
12:33and the efforts of one local lady in particular,
12:36these numbers could have been higher.
12:45I could smell oil as soon as I woke up.
12:51I went downstairs, opened the front door
12:54and the smell was almost overpowering.
13:00When my husband David came down,
13:03we were discussing what was going on
13:05and at that point, the postman turned up
13:09and he told us that a vessel had gone aground
13:14and was losing oil.
13:18The sight was devastating.
13:23The sea was just brown.
13:26The waves weren't coming in as they usually did.
13:29They were just wallowing.
13:31And the smell, the smell was just dreadful.
13:36The day I will never forget.
13:42Maria Evans has been rescuing birds of prey
13:45in the area for 34 years.
13:48She was a key figure in the efforts to save birds
13:51when disaster struck the coast 30 years ago
13:54and still runs her bird sanctuary today.
13:58Thank you so much for taking the trouble
14:01to bring it up to me.
14:02Oh, it's a skota.
14:04Oh, wow.
14:05A common skota.
14:06Oh, wow.
14:10This is the closest I've ever been
14:12to a common skota like this.
14:14They're very, very beautiful birds.
14:16Normally, I'm watching them way out at sea
14:19using my telescope
14:20and they're far out there, miles out.
14:22This is amazing to be able to see one like this.
14:25Just look at that beak.
14:26Do you get these guys in a lot?
14:29Not very often.
14:30Only at this time of the year.
14:31Yes.
14:31They're migrating round from the east coast around here.
14:36They come round here in rafts.
14:38Yes.
14:39Not close in.
14:40I mean, they hardly ever see a human.
14:43Amazing.
14:43And interestingly, because of the time of year,
14:47these birds were the most implicated in the Sea Empress oil.
14:51Really?
14:52Yeah.
14:52So, what's your name?
14:53My name's Nick.
14:54Nick, lovely to meet you.
14:55Nice to meet you.
14:55Thank you so much for bringing the bird in.
14:57You're very welcome.
14:57How did you find the bird?
14:59I found it this morning on the beach in Saundersfoot,
15:01walking my two dogs.
15:03Yeah.
15:03And I could see it was obviously injured
15:05and it actually started limping towards me
15:07as if it wanted help.
15:09Yeah.
15:09And I just picked it up and took it down to the harbour
15:11where they managed to find a box
15:12and we called Maria and she said to bring it up to the sanctuary.
15:16Maria regularly gets calls about injured birds, particularly in winter when the weather means
15:23that the birds are getting blown around and buffeted into things.
15:27After giving this one some quiet time to rest, she can now try and figure out what might
15:32be wrong.
15:33It's quite thin.
15:35I can feel its keel bone.
15:37Right.
15:38Which is the breast bone that goes down the middle.
15:40Okay.
15:41There is the keel bone.
15:42Yes.
15:43Oh, wow.
15:44It is emaciated.
15:45I can see that.
15:46Wouldn't you say?
15:46You'd expect to see a bit more pectoral muscles?
15:49Not necessarily at this time of the year with the weather conditions we've had because
15:53they'll shiver off ounces overnight in the cold and the wet and the wind.
16:00The other thing is because the seas are boiling, as in, you know, the surf running,
16:05they're not able to get at their food.
16:08Right.
16:10What are you feeling for there?
16:12I can see you're going through its wings.
16:14I'm trying to feel if there are any fractures.
16:18Okay.
16:18At the moment, I can't feel anything.
16:21Are the signs looking that it's going to make a full recovery, do you think?
16:25Hopefully.
16:26Okay.
16:26I can never make promises.
16:29Yeah.
16:29It's estimated around 4,500 common Scotas died as a result of the 1996 oil disaster.
16:37What was it like seeing these birds covered in oil?
16:43Very distressing.
16:44Okay.
16:46I was asked by the RSPCA to go and see basically what was happening down there.
16:51And if you've seen the bay, it's quite a small bay.
16:56There was about a 10-metre band of oil from side to side all the way across.
17:02Completely?
17:02Completely.
17:04I realised I was better used at the oil bird centre because, you know, there was nothing
17:11much I could do there.
17:12Yeah.
17:13Did you have any hope at all?
17:16Do you know, I don't think we ever thought about hope.
17:20Really?
17:20I really don't think.
17:23You just didn't think.
17:25You just got on with it.
17:26Right.
17:27You were on autopilot just trying to help as many birds as possible.
17:35Oil burns the inside of their mouth and their throat and right down into their stomach
17:41and is burning them the whole time.
17:43And is this because they've just simply ingested it or they're just trying to breathe being
17:48on the water?
17:49They have ingested it and because they're trying to breathe, yeah.
17:53And I presume they're trying to get it off their feathers and their preen in which they
17:57use their beak for it.
17:58Yep.
17:58And at the same time they're ingesting the soil.
18:00Oh.
18:02Do you think you saved many birds during the Sea Empress?
18:06We certainly tried to save an awful lot.
18:09We washed over 500 birds.
18:12Okay.
18:12But the RSPCA had some of the birds that they had washed ringed and the survival rate
18:20with those was very, very poor, very low.
18:23Yeah.
18:23I mean, I didn't think about it at the time.
18:25No.
18:26But in retrospect, I would never, ever get involved.
18:30I think the best thing that the birds, for the birds, would have been euthanasia.
18:35Really?
18:36Mm.
18:40Yeah.
18:41Yeah.
18:41Yeah.
18:41Now, 30 years on, can you see the beauty?
18:46Can you see the positivity again?
18:47Or is that memory of seeing the beach covered in oil still a scar for you?
18:54It is a little bit of a scar, and yes, I am delighted that I was wrong
19:01in that the coastline has recovered remarkably quickly.
19:09Good luck, buddy. You are beautiful.
19:13I hope you make a full recovery
19:15and come back and see me in the west coast of Scotland.
19:19You are gorgeous.
19:21The Sea Empress disaster was a turning point in Maria's life,
19:25convincing her that all types of birds needed her help.
19:29And today, there's currently more than 80 birds in Maria's care,
19:34including one very special resident she's keen for me to meet.
19:38I can see we've got a young buzzard.
19:41Yes.
19:42He's beautiful. Isn't he?
19:44What's his story?
19:45When he first came in, very wet, very, very hungry.
19:49OK.
19:49Absolutely sodden.
19:51I did actually put him in one of the intensive care cages
19:55and put the heat lamp on.
19:57Yes.
19:58Because he was just so, so poor.
20:00And I presume if they're that well emaciated and cold,
20:03they can't produce their own body heat.
20:05So hence why you have to give them the lamp to just give them a boost.
20:08And came back a miracle.
20:11Just back from the dead, virtually.
20:12And is he likely to be released pretty soon?
20:15Yes.
20:16He is?
20:16Yes.
20:16Oh, fantastic.
20:17Before he's released, the next step is to move him into a larger enclosure.
20:22And Maria has asked me to help.
20:25This, this is going to be amazing.
20:27I'm looking forward to this.
20:30Right, are you ready?
20:31Hello.
20:32My name's Hamza.
20:34Lovely to meet you.
20:35Do you want to come to this corner?
20:36Where are you?
20:37Yes.
20:38Oh, he's giving me the runaround.
20:39Okay.
20:40So you can see, this is, this is them protecting themselves.
20:45And this is him taloning me.
20:47There we go.
20:47Come on.
20:48There we go.
20:48Perfect.
20:49That's what I wanted him.
20:50Hello.
20:52Look at this beautiful bird.
20:55These birds in the 60s were not common.
20:59People used to have to go out their way to find these birds.
21:02And luckily, through human intervention and habitat restoration, these guys have made a really
21:09good comeback.
21:11Right, come on.
21:11I'll send you to a new home.
21:13The larger enclosure will allow him to exercise his muscles a bit more before he's released.
21:22There we go.
21:23Aha!
21:25How long do you think he's going to be in here before he's back out into the world?
21:29It all depends on the weather.
21:30If the weather bucks up and there's a good long-term forecast next week, he could go.
21:36Yeah.
21:37You work so hard.
21:39Do you ever get the chance to leave here?
21:42No, I don't.
21:44But then I don't want to.
21:45Okay.
21:46I don't want to be anywhere else but here.
21:48Three days in 35 years, I've been away from here.
21:51That's it.
21:52In 35 years, you've only been away for three days.
21:56Why did you leave?
21:57What was the reason?
21:59The first one was to go and pick up an RSPCA award in London.
22:05Nice.
22:06The second one was I went to Buckingham Palace to pick up an MBE.
22:12Now we're talking.
22:13Seeing what you do here, the amount of dedication and time and effort that you put into these
22:19incredible animals, if I had a medal right now, I'd be putting it over your head, shaking
22:24your hand.
22:25Thank you for everything that you do.
22:27I really appreciate it.
22:28It's my pleasure.
22:30No, honestly, the pleasure's all mine.
22:31I've enjoyed my day today.
22:33Thank you so much.
22:34It's what I do.
22:43God, look at it.
22:45This landscape is beautiful.
22:48It nurtures, it protects, and it feeds the wildlife that's around here.
22:54So I can't imagine what it would have been like on that day when the disaster hit.
23:04Oh.
23:06There's just people mopping up what looks like mud.
23:10But you know it's not mud.
23:12It's crude oil that's spilled all over the place.
23:16I've never seen anything like this, and I hope that I don't see anything like this ever
23:22again.
23:24What happened on that day was an absolute disaster.
23:29I feel sorry for the humans, but more importantly, I feel sorry for the wildlife.
23:34This is a red-throated diver, which is a bird that I get to see on a regular basis.
23:39They're beautiful, they're elegant, they're pristine, they're streamlined.
23:45Here, I am struggling to figure out what species it is, because it's covered in so much oil.
23:51I could only tell by the shape of the beak and the sound that it's making.
23:56So sad to see this.
24:03As the days went on, the oil spread.
24:07Even reaching Skoma Island to the west, and Carmarthen Bay to the east and beyond.
24:14Eventually impacting around 120 miles of coastline.
24:29Growing up in Penrish, it was all about the beach, it's all about having fun, it's all
24:35about the sea and it's all about the beach.
24:38Local Justin Gottwalt was 26 when the spill hit one of his favourite beaches.
24:45The Manabir beach is a really good surf beach.
24:49It's a bit away from the main touristy points, so you don't get crowds.
24:55There's some great waves here.
25:00There's some really good surfers in Penrish.
25:03I am a little bit like Bambi on ice on a surfboard, but for me it's just about being in
25:10the water.
25:10Just being out there with your mates, just having a good laugh, just enjoying that friendship
25:16and enjoying what we're lucky enough and where we're lucky enough to live.
25:23No, no, it's the thing that I most remember about that day when the oil hit was the smell.
25:28It was the most visceral smell.
25:30It genuinely got you in the back of the throat.
25:33It was almost like somebody had poured diesel all over you, because wherever you went, you could smell it.
25:40And then looking over the top of the cliff down onto the beach and seeing what is very golden sand,
25:47completely black, and the water covered in the oil, it was really hard to comprehend the sort of damage that
25:53was being done.
25:53And it was, yeah, it was a very emotional, very heart-wrenching, because you just genuinely thought that that was
26:03the end of those beaches.
26:05It felt like a way of life was over.
26:07It felt like this part of Pembrokeshire would just die.
26:13As beaches in Pembrokeshire closed, it wasn't just wildlife at risk.
26:18Local livelihoods were on the line too, including that of hotel owner Lorna Griesley.
26:26This is Castle Mead Hotel.
26:29Sits at the head of the bay in Manabia, overlooking the sea.
26:33We've been here for 38 years.
26:37On the 15th of February 1996, I woke up in the morning, opened the window.
26:45The first thing that hit you was the smell, just like being on a garage forecourt.
26:50It was awful.
26:54My husband and I went down to the beach to have a look and see, you know, what was what.
27:03It was black, menacing.
27:06It was horrible.
27:11The news reports were devastating, because the whole area is very, very dependent upon tourism.
27:20We get lots of business coming for the history, the wildlife, the coast path, or just to lie on the
27:27beach or surf.
27:29It's very unspoiled.
27:32My fear was that if it didn't get cleared up in time, tourists decide to go somewhere else.
27:43All this area you can see here from the harbour to beyond Goska Rock was just black.
27:50And I'm talking sort of that depth of oil.
27:53In seaside towns like Tenby, the message was clear.
27:57The coastline had to be cleaned up as soon as possible to bring life back to the community.
28:04Tenby had a population of just over 5,000 in the winter, over 55,000 in the summer.
28:10This place thrives on tourism.
28:13Phil Thompson, from Texaco's Pembroke refinery, became the public face of the company's response during the huge clean-up efforts.
28:23The law of the land, or the law of the water, is that ship and the cargo is what they
28:28call FOB, free on board.
28:30So you don't actually own that cargo until it gets to your jetty, until the ship is tied up.
28:34So why did you guys decide to lead the clean-up?
28:38Morally, we felt we had to do it.
28:40There was no-one else that had the expertise, the finances, equipment that could do it.
28:45So when you decided to clean up the beaches, how did you go about doing that?
28:52We allowed the oil to come in from the tide.
28:55We took trenches, then a large pit, and these were lined with heavy bitumen lining.
29:01We allowed the oil and the water to drop in there, and literally gully sucked the oil out of the
29:06pits and the trenches.
29:07So you were just extracting the oil from the beach?
29:09Taking it back to a depot just outside Tenby, and it was disposed of then in a proper manner.
29:16It became one of the largest environmental clean-ups the UK had ever seen, bringing together authorities, international specialists, volunteers
29:27and wildlife groups, all in a race to save and restore the coastline.
29:33Once people started to work together to get it cleaned up, the community spirit, the team action was phenomenal.
29:39Everybody had the same goal. The same goal was to clean the beach.
29:43At the heart of the clean-up operation were the locals, including Justin.
29:50We just wanted to get involved.
29:53Fishermen, surfers, people who used the beach, shop owners, it didn't matter.
29:58I think everybody wanted to help.
30:01And there was a real sense of community, people who were bringing down drinks for the guys working on the
30:05beaches who were bringing food down.
30:07And it was a tough job. It was a really hard job to do as well.
30:10Oil was in your hair, it was on your face, it was everywhere.
30:15You'd work a 16-hour day, come back the next day, and it didn't look like you'd done anything the
30:19day before.
30:20The tide had come in, the oil was back on the beaches, and it looked like you'd done nothing.
30:26It just felt like every day you would stand there still.
30:32It wasn't until the first day where you came in and realised there was more sand than oil,
30:36that you started to really think that actually it's starting to work.
30:44In the water, you were looking, you know, 100 metres out, and there was no oil out behind that.
30:49And you were starting to see that there was less and less coming in.
30:53All the effort that people had put in was really starting to make a difference.
31:04The first day back in the water, I think just a feeling of relief more than anything else.
31:10Paddling back out and not getting covered in oil, that was fantastic.
31:13And I just think there was an overall feeling of relief and a feeling that county was going to be
31:19fine and it was going to be all all right.
31:22It was just incredible.
31:25I've always appreciated how lucky I am to live here, but I think when you see something you love that
31:31radically different,
31:32when you get it back, you hold on to it a bit more,
31:35and I think you get a little bit more protective about it than you maybe were before.
31:40It took around 18 months for the beaches to be fully cleaned and cost an estimated £60 million.
31:56Beneath the waves, the effects on marine life were still largely unknown.
32:02But the spill sparked a new era of marine conservation, with naturalist and conservationist Cliff Benson leading the way.
32:15We'd gone there in the hope that we would rescue a lot of birds and there was just nothing you
32:20could do for them.
32:23We felt so small, so incapable of dealing with something on that sort of scale.
32:32After the Sea Empress, you got to thinking, what can we do in terms of recording the marine wildlife here,
32:41particularly things like whales and dolphins, because they're the litmus.
32:45They're the things that tell you whether your immediate environment is doing okay or not.
32:49I managed to get a few of our bird-watching friends together and we ended up becoming Sea Trust.
32:5830 years on, the Sea Trust is going strong, carrying out nearly 200 surveys a year
33:04to gather data about the marine mammals along this coast.
33:08One of the spots the team monitor is Strumbull Head, 28 miles north of Milford Haven.
33:15It was an area that got badly affected by the spill.
33:19It's what's under the surface that I'm hoping to witness today.
33:23It's elusive, it's an apex predator, it's the harper porpoise.
33:31Nadia Tomza has been the Sea Trust's charity director for two years,
33:37and I'm hoping she'll be able to help me catch a glimpse of the elusive porpoise.
33:43Why are they so difficult to spot for most people?
33:46So they're much smaller than dolphins, and they've got this kind of small triangular fin,
33:51so they don't have that nice kind of hooked fin that dolphins have.
33:54They're also much quieter, they're in smaller groups, they're not as kind of splashy and social as the common dolphins,
34:02so they're just generally a little bit harder to spot unless you know what you're looking for.
34:07How are the numbers doing here?
34:09So we've seen steady sightings of porpoises since 2017, when we started surveying porpoises up here.
34:17We know that we've got a resident porpoise population.
34:19How do you know?
34:20So we've been doing some porpoise photo ID, so we're up here with teams of volunteers four times a week.
34:26Nice.
34:26Taking photos of as many harbour porpoises as we can, and then we're cataloging those porpoises.
34:31More eyes on the water means more chances of spotting these marvellous mammals,
34:36so we're joining Nadia's team of expert volunteers, including marine conservation intern Ruth Clark.
34:44Why do you love porpoises so much?
34:46They're underrated, people aren't super educated about them, they don't know that they're here.
34:51You know, dolphins have this big hype around them, and they're a vital part of, like, you know,
34:56the marine food chains and everything like that, so they're worth knowing about for sure.
35:00And it's more exciting when you see them, you know, because they're rarer, so.
35:03And what's their routine like here?
35:06We're still trying to figure it out, essentially.
35:08We know that they use strumbull as, like, potentially breeding grounds, feeding grounds.
35:13They use strumbull for massively, so a lot of the activity you see them doing when they're moving really fast
35:18and they're going under a lot, it's kind of, like, feeding because they're chasing that prey.
35:22What's it like volunteering for the Trust?
35:24It's really, really cool.
35:26Like, every day is completely different.
35:27We do a lot of different work, so we do work with mostly marine animals.
35:32We do a lot of marine mammal kind of research work.
35:35Try and educate, like, local people about the wildlife that they have on their doorstep,
35:40essentially, that they might not know anything about, they might not even know it's there.
35:47I'm feeling lucky.
35:48I think this is a good day to be here.
35:50OK.
35:50For sure.
35:56Do they stay on the surface quite a lot, or does it vary?
35:59It depends on the behaviour that they're doing.
36:01So if they're feeding, you'll see them quite frequently come up and down,
36:04but sometimes, you know, you can...
36:06Oh, I think we've just had one.
36:07Yeah, we've got one pretty much straight out.
36:09Whereabouts, whereabouts?
36:11Just behind the white water, if anybody's trying to get it with a camera.
36:14Oh, this is so cool.
36:15If you've got the kind of white foam, just behind there, Ben.
36:20Nice.
36:20Come on.
36:21And Ben's on the camera.
36:22Porpoises.
36:23Nice.
36:23Well done, team.
36:24We've got it.
36:25High five to everybody.
36:26Well done.
36:27High five myself.
36:28This is great.
36:28I'll high five.
36:29Yes.
36:30Now we're talking, Ruth.
36:35So what we do now, and the whole reason that we're here is for our ID project,
36:39so we're trying to identify the porpoises,
36:41and the best way to do that is to be able to take photos of them.
36:44We take these photos back to Ocean Lab,
36:45we sift through them, and we try and find any identifiable features.
36:49We basically have tried to build up whether we have a resident population here.
36:52So what we'll do is, when we find a porpoise and we've photographed it,
36:56we'll compare them with all the other porpoises that we've already ID'd,
36:59and quite often we'll find that they're, like, recurring sightings.
37:03Like, we've already seen them before.
37:05We'll be like, oh, that's cheese, or, you know, whatever name they have.
37:08Right.
37:08That was the last name that we know.
37:10Cheese.
37:10Yeah.
37:11Cheese.
37:11I like that.
37:12Cheese.
37:13Every bit of data is recorded,
37:15building a growing picture of how these animals use the coastline,
37:19a job that is keeping Nadia and Chair of Trustees, Fran, busy today.
37:25So this is our data sheet, so the photo ID recording form.
37:28So this goes alongside all of the lovely photos we're taking of the harbour porpoises.
37:33So today's been a pretty good survey so far.
37:35We've been regularly seeing porpoises throughout the survey.
37:38We've mostly been seeing them feed in today,
37:40and then we've just had a group of common dolphins come in.
37:43Fantastic.
37:43So this is our kind of little extra note of what else we're seeing.
37:46Yes.
37:47What sort of information are you getting with all this data?
37:49Are you finding any trends?
37:50The main aim of the project is to find out about our resident harbour porpoises.
37:55We want to know where they're feeding, where they're breeding,
37:58what are their important areas,
37:59so then we know which spots we want to protect.
38:02Right.
38:02We know that strumblehead is a really important zone.
38:05We know that a lot of animals feed here.
38:08We know that it's important, but we need to be able to show that.
38:10Yes.
38:11Now, when you say protection, what will that entail?
38:14So, currently, strumblehead is in West Wales' marine special area of conservation.
38:21Right.
38:21Big mouthful, big conservation area.
38:23Yeah.
38:23But there's not a huge amount of specific protection for the porpoises.
38:28We still get some disturbance.
38:29We still get some kind of things going on that might damage our porpoises,
38:34might damage the ecosystem.
38:36Yes.
38:36Porpoises don't like boats.
38:38Okay.
38:38Yeah, so porpoises don't really like the sound of engines.
38:41They tend to kind of scatter a little bit once they see a boat.
38:45Yeah.
38:45They're all right with kind of sailing boats and paddle boards, kayaks, things like that.
38:49They might pop up next to you and have a little look.
38:51Yeah.
38:52But porpoises do get hit by boats occasionally, unfortunately.
38:56Right.
38:56We see a lot of our porpoises with propeller scars.
38:59Right.
38:59And that's because of those quick, unpredictable movements and people chasing, which is just
39:04a huge no-no.
39:06Yeah.
39:07We just want to be able to give as much information as possible and provide that baseline data of
39:12what we've got here so that those more kind of specific zones with more specific regulations
39:18and guidelines can be put into place.
39:21It's been a real treat seeing Nadia and her team in action here on the Pembrokeshire coast.
39:26And it gives me some hope that the fantastic work like I've seen today can come out of
39:32something so terrible all those years ago.
39:36Cliff, who founded the Sea Trust, remains proud of what they're achieving here.
39:42I think the thing that I love is the fact that we've got maybe 60, 70, 80 volunteers that
39:48help us either in the shop or doing, like you saw them doing, the photo ID.
39:54Yeah.
39:54So that's amazing and that shows how much we're a community.
39:58The other thing is that oil pollution was our big worry then.
40:01Now it's plastic pollution.
40:04We've got tons of old fishing nets and things.
40:06Yeah.
40:07And we collect them from harbours round about in Pembrokeshire and then it goes off to be
40:12recycled in Cornwall.
40:14Amazing.
40:14Do you have any hope for the future?
40:17So long as we get the sort of support that people like our interns that are so full of
40:22enthusiasm.
40:24Yeah.
40:24And just blow my mind, you know.
40:27And so they need that kind of support from up above and I hope that we'll get that in
40:32the future.
40:32Absolutely.
40:39It's amazing how when a disaster like this happens, everyone gets stuck in.
40:44You can see it today with all the volunteers, with Cliff, with Nadia, with Ruth.
40:47They were all wanting to do their bit to make this place a better place.
40:56We're seeing the positives.
40:58We're seeing the incline in a few of these animals like the common dolphins, the harbour
41:03porpoise.
41:04This is good news.
41:06And may it continue.
41:17The weather here in Pembrokeshire has been blustery, to say the least.
41:21But if you'd like to know what's in store for the week ahead, here's the Countryfile
41:25weather forecast.
41:31Hello there.
41:32It has been windy at times this year, but the main story has just been the amount of
41:36rain that's fallen that's led to the flooding.
41:39Now, I've picked out the wettest spots in each four home nations, but particularly worthy
41:44of note, the rainfall in Catesbridge and Eboyne in Scotland, both of these locations having
41:49half a year's worth of rain in, what, just the first six weeks or so of the year.
41:55Earlier on today, this cloud brought a mixture of rain, sleet and snow.
41:59That wintry weather was continuing for a bit longer across East Anglia, but it has moved
42:03away.
42:04And then following on from that, we're in a showery airstream overnight tonight.
42:08Some of these showers in the west could be heavier and there'll be more frequent showers
42:12across the western side of the UK as well.
42:14Enough of a breeze to keep temperatures above freezing, so not as cold as it has been over
42:19the last couple of nights.
42:20There is the risk of a touch of frost, though, across some northern parts of Scotland.
42:23And here, as we get more of a northerly wind, actually, the showers will turn wintry over
42:28some of the hills.
42:29These showers initially across Northern Ireland, western parts of England and Wales will get
42:33blown over towards eastern areas, but there will be a bit of sunshine in between.
42:37Quite a blustery wind towards the southwest, temperatures into double figures, and these
42:42sort of temperatures are near the average for this time of the year.
42:45So we've got a very showery start to the week.
42:48But then for a few days after that, we're looking at a lot of dry weather, but it will
42:52be colder and there'll be some frost around at night as well.
42:55And that's because this area of low pressure is going to pull away into the North Sea, taking
43:00away most of the showers, and high pressure is going to build down from the northwest,
43:05bringing that colder but drier weather.
43:07A few wintry showers will continue across the far north of Scotland, and there'll be a
43:11cold, strong wind blowing down some of these North Sea coasts of England with the
43:14odd shower, more cloud coming into the far southwest later, but otherwise a dry day with plenty
43:20of sunshine and lighter winds as well.
43:22But it will be a bit colder actually on Tuesday with a chillier start to the day.
43:27Those temperatures are going to be around five to seven degrees.
43:30Now, this weather system here will threaten to bring some rain into the southwest, but
43:34it's not going to move across the UK because it's going to get blocked off by that area of
43:39high pressure.
43:39And for the eastern parts of the UK, the winds will be a lot lighter and it should be dry
43:43with some sunshine. Stronger wind though here in the southwest, close to Northern Ireland.
43:47This is where we're going to see some rain, perhaps some snow over the moors in the southwest,
43:51perhaps the Brecon beacons as well.
43:53And again, we've got typical temperatures, six degrees or so after starting, possibly as
43:58I was minus 10 in some central and northern parts of Scotland.
44:02That weather front that's in the southwest then splits into two.
44:05That area of low pressure moves away into France.
44:07This weather front here will start to bring some rain in across Northern Ireland, maybe a little
44:12bit of snow as well. And that wintry mix will push its way into western parts of Scotland.
44:16We'll see more cloud coming in towards northwestern areas.
44:19The best of the sunshine will be towards the southeast of the UK.
44:22And again, after a chilly start, we've got temperatures typically at sixes and sevens.
44:27But we are going to find that colder air getting pushed away towards the end of the week.
44:32We've got milder winds coming in from the Atlantic, but that will turn the weather more unsettled.
44:38We'll see some further spells of rain pushing across from the west during Friday.
44:42And again, maybe a little bit of sleet and snow over some of the hills in Scotland.
44:47There will be a stronger southwesterly wind, but temperatures are going to be higher.
44:51Come the end of the week, we're around nine to 11 degrees.
44:55And it looks like this milder air will continue into next weekend.
45:08We're in Pembrokeshire, meeting the people who came to the rescue when the Sea Empress oil spill
45:14hit these waters 30 years ago.
45:17We certainly tried to save an awful lot. We washed over 500 birds.
45:23And where wildlife and people's livelihoods were at risk.
45:27Once people started to work together to get it cleaned up, the community spirit was phenomenal.
45:33When you see something you love that radically different, when you get it back,
45:38you get a little bit more protective about it.
45:46The Sea Empress disaster left a deep mark on Pembrokeshire and on those who grew up loving these beaches.
45:54For local artist Anna Waters, it was a moment she's never forgotten.
46:00So I first heard about the Sea Empress disaster when I was working in my first teaching post.
46:05Returned home, put on the news and saw the beaches of my childhood smothered with oil.
46:10To see that horrible black oil everywhere causing so much damage to the wildlife and the environment
46:17was just really vile, really terrifying.
46:22Originally from the South Wales Valleys, Anna spent many of her childhood summers on the Pembrokeshire coastline,
46:29which helped her forge a lifelong connection with the area.
46:34We would stay in a caravan at Wiseman's Bridge.
46:37We were fortunate to have that caravan throughout my childhood until my university days.
46:41So I became very, very familiar with this area.
46:45Yeah, we have so many happy memories of sharing time with family, sharing time with friends.
46:50It became a part of where I was from in many ways.
46:53Anna now lives here in Tenbe, painting the Pembrokeshire landscape that shaped her childhood.
46:59Her latest work is inspired by a photograph taken during the oil spill.
47:06She wants to capture just how much the beach has changed since the disaster hit.
47:11So I've got with me one of the photographs that I saw from the local press at the time of
47:18the oil spill.
47:19I really like it because it's very nicely framed.
47:23It's got that lovely angle on Togoska Rock.
47:27But with 30 years now past since that fateful day, the landscape has somewhat changed.
47:34So this is roughly the area in which I think, you know, the photographer probably stood.
47:40We've got the same kind of angle, but we've got no full-ground rock in this area.
47:46We've got a decrease in sand level on South Beach.
47:49And it's actually coming around Castle Hill and getting deposited on this beach.
47:54So actually this beach is far, far higher sand level than it did back 30 years ago when the oil
48:00spill happened.
48:01Once she finds the right spot, Anna begins a quick sketch, making notes of colours, marks, shapes and shadows before
48:10the landscape shifts with the tide.
48:12So with my sketches, they're not works of art in themselves.
48:18You know, most of my sketchbooks end up splattered with paint anyway from my studio.
48:25I'm logging down which way the light is coming in.
48:29I'm hoping that with the composition I've got some nice powerful green in the foreground.
48:33I'm wanting this painting to be really celebratory and show the good health of the beach now.
48:40And the green weed is a real indicator of that.
48:43Anna was passionate about art, but it wasn't until she developed a long-term illness that she took it up
48:50full-time.
48:51I became a teacher, a secondary school teacher for many years, which I loved, absolutely loved teaching.
48:58But I became very unwell with Lyme disease.
49:02So the symptoms got worse and worse actually, and I became quite immobile.
49:06I was sleeping for many, many hours, but I started to draw because that was something I could do.
49:14So painting has helped improve my health because, well, actually it's something that I've discovered actually aids me on a
49:21cellular level.
49:22It's more than just a distraction because what it does, it actually slows your heart rate.
49:27It actually puts you into sort of a mild sort of trance state really, which is very, very therapeutic for
49:35the body.
49:40The sea was really important to my recovery because I would sit and I would stare at sea for hours
49:45actually,
49:46because I would walk to the beach and that was a big effort for me.
49:50So I would spend quite a while on the beach in order to sort of recover, in order to walk
49:54back.
49:55And I would, you know, watch the waves.
49:58And actually, you know, I found out since that, you know, that staring at the waves also puts us into
50:04a trance-like state
50:05where, again, we lower heart rate.
50:08So, yeah, I learned a lot about how, obviously, what I was doing at that time was aiding my well
50:14-being
50:14and, yeah, really, really repairing where I was at.
50:21I'm just going to flick in some paint here behind these rocks just to give an indication of a wave
50:31breaking on the back of the rocks.
50:35I think when we look at the rocks, you know, I stand there and really observe them.
50:43Obviously, the light brings a lot of colour variation.
50:48So I'm just, you know, bringing these rocks to life.
50:51I want people to be able to see our range of colour.
51:00So I've got two different greens here, one sap green, one is a green-gold colour that I quite like
51:07using.
51:07It's ideal for sort of sunlit scenes.
51:10The fact that there's quite a lot of green seaweed on this particular section of rock, yeah, it's wonderful to
51:16see that.
51:16And that's really why I was keen to include it.
51:19It's showing, bang, you know, great health.
51:21Anna's work is a fantastic reflection of how far the beach has come over the past 30 years.
51:28At the time, it was devastating for a lot of local people.
51:31People were in tears here.
51:33But it passed, you know, the response was incredible in terms of the immediate clean-up.
51:40And then nature did the rest of the job.
51:42So what it's taught us is that, you know, horrific times might come, chaos might come into our lives,
51:48but we go beyond that, you know.
51:53You know, my intentions are to celebrate the health now of that beach.
51:58You know, it's 30 years on, full recovery, and it's a stunning beach, a place that I love and adore.
52:04And I want to show that.
52:05I want to show a kind of ta-ta moment.
52:08You know, I want to bring it alive.
52:09I want to make it look vibrant.
52:26Milford Haven is Wales' biggest port.
52:29But the Sea Empress grounding revealed problems in navigation, oversight and emergency response,
52:36not just here, but right across the UK.
52:39The investigation that followed shook the industry.
52:44Today, keeping this waterway safe falls to the harbour master.
52:49Mike Ryan has spent a lifetime around the sea, with 30 years in the Royal Navy and eight years at
52:56Milford Haven.
52:57Now, this fragile environment and everything that moves through this harbour depend on him and his team.
53:04It means a lot personally.
53:06This is somewhere where I live.
53:08I cross the waterway every day.
53:10I walk by the waterway with my dogs all the time.
53:12It's a stunning part of the world.
53:14And it's vitally important that we protect it and look after it.
53:17How much cargo is transported through these waterways every year?
53:21We move about 1,200 tankers per year.
53:24That equates to about over 30 million tonnes of cargo in terms of oil and liquefied natural gas.
53:30And that can provide well over 20% of the UK's energy needs.
53:35That energy goes to your petrol pumps, airports, into power stations.
53:40When you're sitting in your front room or putting your cooker on, the energy is being supplied partly by Milford
53:45Haven.
53:46We used to have a saying when I was in the Navy about sea blindness,
53:49where when you're living inland, you don't quite appreciate the purpose the sea serves.
53:56The sea empress disaster became a catalyst for safety change.
54:01As a direct result, in 2000, the Port Marine Safety Code was introduced,
54:06transforming port safety across the UK
54:09and expanding the authority and responsibility of harbourmasters like Mike.
54:15How do you keep track of it all and ensure that everyone's safe?
54:20Vessel traffic services are monitoring the waterway all the time.
54:2324 hours a day, seven days a week, by visual, by radar, by radio communications.
54:30We have professional mariners employed to bring the ships in and out safely.
54:34We have a boat crew out and about harbour patrols,
54:37so a real team effort just keeping a good oversight of what's going on in the water.
54:41Many factors can lead to shipping incidents.
54:44One of them is inadequate training.
54:47Today, Ian Howard, who is chairman of pilots at the port of Milford Haven,
54:51is taking his annual training, showing how simulators are used to prepare pilots
54:57for some of the most complex situations they could face at sea.
55:01So, Ian, just talk me through what's happening here.
55:04Yeah, so we've got an exercise here where Sean's going to use two tugs
55:07to swing the vessel off on a flood tide and take it to sea.
55:12Number two, stop, back off, ready for a pull.
55:16What sort of emergency scenarios can you recreate on the simulator?
55:21We practice things such as machinery breakdown, so loss of propulsion,
55:26steering gear breakdown.
55:28We could practice a line break on a tug, onset of heavy weather,
55:33and various things like that.
55:34It's just good to run through these emergency scenarios once every year.
55:37Have you had a situation you've practised on in here,
55:40a rise out in the waterway?
55:41I did have one ship that had a propulsion problem
55:45as I was headed out to the West Channel once.
55:47So this has actually helped you in your real job?
55:49Oh, certainly, yeah.
55:52Visiting Milford Haven today,
55:54there is no obvious sign of the oil disaster.
55:57But does its influence remain?
56:00Is there a sense of pride that out of the disaster of the Sea Empress incident,
56:06this port has become a kind of shining light for port safety around the world?
56:10We would certainly like to think so.
56:12Those sort of incidents only matter if you learn from them,
56:15and there's been a tremendous amount of learnings from that.
56:17Our view is we've been instrumental in taking forward a lot of those learnings.
56:21That sad event is certainly very much part of the port's history.
56:24We take our stewardship and custodianship of this beautiful waterway extremely seriously,
56:30and importantly, making sure it never happens again.
56:32We, above anyone else, are acutely aware of the consequence of things go wrong.
56:37Every day, now and into the future, safety is our number one priority,
56:41and it rightly should be to protect the environment.
56:44The lessons from the Sea Empress spill reshaped how risk in ports is understood,
56:49and how swiftly we must act when things go wrong.
56:54Today, the return of wildlife and ongoing conservation efforts show that recovery is possible,
57:01and 30 years on, this beautiful corner of Wales is thriving.
57:09If you want more insight into the Sea Empress disaster,
57:13tune in to BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer on the 18th of February
57:17to watch the documentary, Blackwater's The Sea Empress Disaster.
57:23Gashiani, how was your day?
57:25Hamza, it's been incredible, but what a journey and what a story.
57:29I know, I know. From something so awful, something positive has come about, which is great news.
57:35And you know what's really exciting is seeing all the research, conservation and volunteering
57:39that's going on as a result of the disaster today.
57:42That's right. It can only be a good thing, really.
57:44But Hamza, I do have a question for you.
57:46Go on.
57:46Have you seen any porpoises?
57:48You know what? Yes, I saw a few of them.
57:51Very small, but beautiful.
57:52And I'm over the moon. I'm over the moon.
57:55Well, that's all we've got time for this week.
57:57Why don't you join me next week when I'm exploring the waters of the west coast of Scotland?
58:03You are joking me, Lee.
58:05What were you expecting?
58:06I was not expecting this.
58:09Look at that.
58:12This fish is massive.
58:1950, 58.
58:21Look at that big fish go.
58:23This is absolutely incredible.
58:27See you then.
58:27Bye.
58:28Bye-bye.
58:29Oh, what a view.
58:30Is that a porpoise over there?
58:32No, that's a seal.
58:34Can you not see it?
58:37It's Antiques Roadshow time, but in a different place tonight.
58:41Switch over to BBC Four for Fiona Bruce in Hampshire.
58:45New comedy, Mystic Magic in the Manchester suburbs.
58:49Michael Palin in Small Profits.
58:51Watch on iPlayer.
58:52And here on BBC Two, exciting news at the Winter Olympics with a medal ceremony next.
58:58.
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