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Countryfile - Season 38 Episode 21 - South Wales: A Critical Season in the Forest
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00:00And round. Oh lovely. This is cool. And up we go. That was fun. That was fantastic. What an exhilarated
00:14way to travel.
00:45We're in the forests of South Wales at a critical point in the year. As spring gives way to summer,
00:52wildlife is at its most active and visitor numbers are rising and that puts pressure on the landscape.
00:58And one of the biggest threats, wildfires. We're going to be meeting the people on the front line, working to
01:04protect, manage and keep these beautiful wooded valleys a joy to visit.
01:11We're in Gethin Forest in the county borough of Merthyr Tidville, where steep wooded river valleys lie in the shadow
01:18of Bannaiproheniog.
01:22This is a landscape known for its wildlife, natural beauty and adrenaline-fuelled adventures, but also one where wildfires are
01:31a seasonal threat.
01:32Wow. It just kind of like takes off, doesn't it? Terrified, isn't it? Yeah.
01:37Beautiful, isn't it? He's really stunning. So that pattern is as individual to them as a fingerprint is to us.
01:44All right.
01:45I can see how this would really change the way you work.
01:49Yeah, it's a game changer. Yeah.
01:51And away from the forest, Tom investigates whether the UK is sitting on an untapped green gold mine.
01:58So the big hope for this farm is that not only are we creating a useful economic product that makes
02:04our shareholders cash,
02:05but we're also regenerating the marine environment at the same time.
02:17The steep, wooded valley of South Wales is an often overlooked natural asset,
02:22but its topography and the way the land is shaped adds to an already serious problem.
02:29As spring turns to summer in the Welsh Valleys, the risk of wildfire rises quickly.
02:35Last year alone, there were more than 3,000 wildfires in South Wales.
02:40Most are thought to have been started deliberately, though some are linked to careless use of barbecues.
02:47Acting like a funnel, the valley's steep slopes can intensify wind speeds,
02:52turbocharging wildfires and allowing them to spread at pace.
02:56As the manager of over 8,000 hectares of forest, Geraint Price has spent decades helping protect these environments
03:04and has first-hand experience of the devastation wildfires can cause.
03:10I'm so shocked to hear about how often wildfires happen in South Wales.
03:15It's devastating.
03:16With climate change and global warming, this time of year it's quite often really.
03:20We had one last night.
03:21Last night?
03:22Yeah, and just the other week, I've actually got some drone footage of the wildfire taking place.
03:29Oh, wow.
03:30It just kind of, like, takes off, doesn't it?
03:33Terrifying, isn't it?
03:33Yeah.
03:35Decades seeing these trees grow and to see them burn is just heartbreaking for me as a forester.
03:40And the environmental impact to wildlife and recreation, you know, conservation, it's huge.
03:46How does a wildfire even start?
03:48A lot of it is arson, unfortunately.
03:50Really?
03:50Yeah.
03:51Someone would want to light, like, a flame in somewhere like this.
03:54I know, Sammy.
03:55It's crazy, I know, but it does happen, unfortunately.
03:58What can you do to try and prevent them?
04:00So, basically, for me, the key is monitoring and surveying.
04:05I'm planning today now to deploy a drone, so we're going to go and check the fire breaks.
04:10Fire break?
04:11What is that?
04:12Gethin is a huge forest.
04:14It's 856 hectares.
04:16The last thing we want to do is to lose the whole asset.
04:20So, as you can see on the map here, we've got the brown are forest roads.
04:24Right, okay.
04:25There's no vegetation growing on them.
04:27Right, okay.
04:28No fuel, no fire.
04:30Okay.
04:30And then we've got the blue lines, which are fire break.
04:34Right.
04:34Now, that's an area of land that we've reduced the amount of vegetation there, which will stop potential raging wildfire.
04:42And that's why we're going to do the drone survey today.
04:45From the air, Geraint can assess the forest's health and the effectiveness of the fire and fuel breaks that protect
04:52it.
04:52The results will help guide his work on the ground.
04:57556 hectares of Gethin forest are run as a commercial operation, with the oldest trees here dating back to 1967.
05:05So, what does it take to, like, raise a tree?
05:08It's a mammoth task.
05:09We plant the tree, and then we nurture that tree then on through its establishment years, cleaning and re-spacing,
05:15and then watch it up into thicket stage, and then into thinning, where the harvesting team will come in and
05:21start taking trees out.
05:22How long do those stages take?
05:23First thinning, early teens, 20 years, maybe.
05:27Wow.
05:28Yeah. Forestry is long-term farming.
05:30Yeah, very long-term.
05:3228 kilometres of fire and fuel breaks surround and dissect Gethin forest.
05:41Inspecting them used to mean a very long walk. But these days, Geraint and his eagle-eyed spotter, Harry, use
05:49a state-of-the-art search drone.
05:55Wow, it's got a really good camera, doesn't it?
05:57I can zoom in really close, surveying the crop, just like a farmer.
06:02So, what are you looking for? What would stand out for you?
06:05Any diseases, really, that could have gone onto the trees. Look for any discolouring on the needles.
06:10I can see how this would really change the way you work. The distance that you just covered with that
06:14drone would have taken you a very long time.
06:16Yeah, it's a game-changer.
06:19I guess there's still no replacing actually getting out there on foot. That's still something you need to do.
06:23Very true. As a forester, it's very important. We still need to be out there checking visually, going up there.
06:29But the drone gives us a bird's eye view. And from a wildfire point of view, and then checking on
06:35the firebreaks that we've created, there's one there.
06:38Oh, okay, so that's a firebreak.
06:40That's a firebreak. This here is potentially where a wildfire could start. So, we've got a firebreak here, which will
06:50stop then the fire continuing into that part of the crop there.
06:55Oh, okay, okay. So again, it's damage limitation.
06:58These bands of less dense vegetation reduce the fuel available. This gives firefighters a chance to combat wildfires before they
07:07reach the forest canopy, where they could spread out of control.
07:11A firebreak like that, that is also increasing the ecosystem there. So it's enhancing biodiversity, encouraging butterflies to come in.
07:19Oh, nice. Yeah, ground nesting birds. It's ideal habitat.
07:22So the area on the map that you pointed out earlier, is that where we're heading on the drone?
07:25That's right, yeah. This is the open hill. So we're going to go and check this boundary here.
07:30Okay. Because I'm deeming this as very high risk.
07:33Why? Why would you say this is high risk?
07:35Because we've got the millennia grass out there. And then with Sitka, branches being all the way down to the
07:41ground, there is a very high likelihood that the fire then will use the branches as a ladder effect.
07:47Right, okay. And go into the canopy. Okay. And then it becomes a canopy fire. Okay.
07:53Having spotted the issue, Geraint now knows exactly where further action is needed.
07:59So I'll bring the drone back in and we'll make our way over there, shall we?
08:02Awesome, yeah.
08:05Location locked in. Lovely job.
08:08It's off to the southernmost tip of the estate to see the issues up close.
08:13So I've got a question, it might be a silly one, but what's the difference between a wood and a
08:17forest?
08:18I think they're interchangeable, a forestry and a woodland, but a forest is predominantly much bigger.
08:2560% canopy cover for a forestry and the light levels as well, because in a forestry trees tend to
08:30be more
08:31closely packed together, where in a woodland it's much less dense, much more light getting down to the ground.
08:37It doesn't matter so much if I get it mixed up. Absolutely not, no.
08:43Arriving at the location we spotted from the drone, it's clear to see that the forest has already had a
08:49lucky escape.
08:50You can already see there's been a fire here.
08:53Yeah, we've been very lucky here that we haven't lost this crop with this fire.
08:59It has burnt them, but if we were having a wildfire coming in from this direction,
09:05what we need to mitigate against is this ladder fuel effect here,
09:11being able to climb the branches and get into a canopy fire.
09:15Right, okay. So how do you do that?
09:16It's just good old-fashioned pruning.
09:22By removing these branches, Sammy...
09:25Yeah.
09:26..we're creating that disconnect.
09:30So you're just removing the bottom runs of the ladder?
09:32Absolutely. Protecting the crop from a potential wildfire.
09:36And you can see how much thicker it is up here.
09:39It is, yeah. Let's go and have a look.
09:40Okay.
09:42This is the area we surveyed from the air with the drone.
09:45Okay.
09:45As you can see, it's very overgrown.
09:47So how much were you trying to take away?
09:49We'll probably take about 10 metres out here, 10 to 15 metres.
09:53And then we work in partnership with the fire service.
09:56We have burn plans, et cetera, and that's basically how we stay prepared.
10:02Geraint's work is crucial to the safety of the forest.
10:05But should the worst happen,
10:07the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service are called into action.
10:11I'll be meeting them later in the programme
10:13to witness how they combat a blaze in the forest by fighting fire with fire.
10:23Fire is not the only threat to the forest.
10:26As visitor numbers grow, the challenge is to find ways for people to enjoy these landscapes
10:32without damaging what makes them so special.
10:3413 years ago, this area was transformed into the UK's largest mountain bike park.
10:44With over 50 purpose-built trails, Bike Park Wales attracts 80,000 mountain bikers every year,
10:52all seeking the thrills of the outdoors on two wheels.
10:55And today, I'm one of them.
10:59Right, this trail's called Terry's Belly.
11:02Let's give it a go.
11:04Round we go.
11:05Woo!
11:06Nice!
11:08Up we go, up the side.
11:10And round.
11:11Oh, there's a hole there.
11:12What's that?
11:13Oh, lovely!
11:15This is cool!
11:17And up we go.
11:18Whoa!
11:21That!
11:22That was fun.
11:23That was fantastic.
11:24What an exhilarated way to travel.
11:27Right, I'm going to have to go and find the creators of this place.
11:31Where others saw a commercial forest, a group of mountain bikers spotted an opportunity.
11:38Husband and wife, Martin and Anna Astley, are one half of the team who set up this park.
11:44They gave up careers in ecology and accountancy to follow their passion for mountain biking.
11:50Martin, Anna, I've caught you up.
11:53How are you going all right?
11:55Yeah, thank you.
11:56This is a mountain bikers paradise, isn't it?
11:58Ah, yes it is.
11:59This is incredible.
12:01Yeah.
12:01What was the inspiration behind it all?
12:04All of us as the founders of the company have just been passionate mountain bikers forever really.
12:09And we went to loads of different places and just got
12:12really inspired by what we saw there.
12:14I think we kind of just realised that collectively between us as a team,
12:18we probably had the skills that were needed to build a mountain bike park.
12:22And so how did you set your sights on this part of Wales?
12:25That was a long journey driving around every hill in South Wales,
12:31in Anna's little purple fiesta, not me at the time.
12:34Great.
12:34And just scouring the hillsides looking for the places that had the most potential.
12:38You need good topography, you need the right soil type,
12:42you need a landowner who's willing to work with you.
12:44So here at Gethin, having a landlord in Natural Resources Wales that were
12:49open to working with us was a really big part of that equation really.
12:53And we now have a sort of relationship with them that allows everything to flourish really.
12:59The mountain bike trails, our business, and really importantly for us,
13:04the actual forest itself is able to flourish.
13:06So there you were, Anna, a bunch of energetic youngsters turning up with this vision.
13:11How did and how have the locals reacted to you?
13:14I mean, they've just been brilliant.
13:16Like, I think we bring so many visitors, they're really proud of it.
13:21Yeah, it would have been unsurprising if some people had maybe thought,
13:25what's this? I don't want this in my back garden.
13:27But I don't know why. It just didn't really happen. And we've just had a really positive
13:32reception from locals.
13:33Yeah. Obviously, it's quite a different direction to take the land in, isn't it?
13:38A mountain bike park like this. So how aware of that were you in those early days?
13:44We've always had a passion for the environment. You know, I have a degree in zoology.
13:47I was an ecologist for a while. So I think we went into it knowing that we wanted to
13:52take care of the environment that we were in. Yeah. But as we've matured and the business has
13:56matured, new opportunities have come up. And I think we realised that we had a pretty unique
14:02chance to do something really special in this forest. And that's why kind of over the years,
14:07the relationship with Natural Resources Wales has changed. And we've been able to do more with
14:12the forest than we originally thought. So what they're doing is now, when they are
14:17clear felling, when the forests and the crops come to age, they're now replanting it with native
14:21woodland. For us as a legacy, it's just the best thing about what we've done here is we're actually
14:26able to change a forest from a fairly monoculture, commercial forest into a really diverse, more
14:33native forest. Natural Resources Wales, the forest's landowners, are restoring natural features and native
14:46species around the bike trails. Contract's manager, Gareth Rosser, is at the heart of the work.
14:54I can see tree guards disappearing off over the brow here, Gareth. So what is the plan with this area?
15:00So the plan with this area is to restore what was here before the conifer was planted.
15:06So you've got some species down here. What are you putting in?
15:08So these are cesar lope. This species in particular actually really enjoys more of the upland habitat.
15:15Yeah. Well, let's put some more of these in, shall we? And are you a mountain biker yourself?
15:19I am a mountain biker. You are. Half the appeal of the role was working in and amongst this environment.
15:26My role is just to work really closely as the trail network expands, as their projects get delivered,
15:31and just make sure we're still meeting our criteria as an environmental organisation. We've got a
15:35commitment for 33 years of paying us a rent effectively and the commitment from our side of
15:40things is let's reinvest that in the hill. It's interesting, isn't it, when you look at it and you
15:44think if it wasn't for the park would this work be happening? No, I don't think it would. Chances are
15:50this might have become a conservation area but it probably wouldn't have had the push that I'm doing
15:55now with the funding I get to use on site. Replanting the trees, monitoring them every year. The whole
16:00woodland is going to change and it's going to benefit everybody. Local people can still use
16:04the public rights of way. There's a footpath we're stood right next to now. These are always open so
16:08it's still a publicly owned open woodland for everyone to use. Attracting riders takes
16:16more than steep hills and good views. Rowan Sorrell is another co-founder and designs the trails
16:23that makes this place such a draw. Good to see you. Yeah, and you. This is a very impressive
16:29creation. Just talk me through the concept of what you're building here. This is a boardwalk to get
16:34us over this really wet ground and we're reusing timber from within the forest. So how much of your
16:40time is spent building and how much is it spent maintaining? Um, maintaining for sure is the bigger
16:47part. Yeah, like for us it's really important that we don't just like rest on our laurels and and stay
16:54constant. We've always added new trails. What's come at some cost maintaining all of your trails
17:02and the routes? We're spending well over half a million pounds a year keeping all the trails up
17:07and running. Are you really? You have to sort of keep on top of that maintenance to keep people wanting
17:11to come back. And when you're going to put in a new trail completely, you know, from scratch,
17:15do you have an estimate in your mind of what of how much that would cost? Uh, green trail,
17:21so our beginner trail called Kermit. That's, that's, that's one of the longest and we had to use loads
17:25of stone to build that and that's like quarter of a million pounds. Um, so yeah, they're not inexpensive.
17:31It's incredible what you've created though, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. Like, yeah, I guess,
17:35you know, you have to take those moments every now and then you sort of do pinch yourself. Like if
17:38myself as a teenager riding bikes could imagine now this is like a career and we've got almost 100
17:44people working in this woodland because of mountain biking, you know, I think that's pretty special.
17:49Yeah. You know, a lot of us do it because it's partly for the thrill, but a huge part of
17:55it's like
17:55it's social and being in nature, you know, and I think like it's given me a real sort of connection
18:00to this woodland and, and just an appreciation of nature, you know, and I think that's something that's
18:05like really valuable for my own biking. Later, we'll meet a rider drawn to these slopes for both
18:13adrenaline and escape.
18:24These forests are at a turning point and as their future management evolves, so too does the way we
18:31manage our seas. Seaweed has been harvested along Britain's coast for thousands of years. But around
18:40a decade or so ago, a boom in the global seaweed industry sparked renewed interest here. Yet 10
18:48years on, some insiders say growth in UK seaweed farming has stalled. Tom investigates.
18:57Four miles off the North Devon coast lies one of the UK's largest commercial seaweed farms.
19:03Beneath the surface, a network of rope-grown kelp is nearing harvest.
19:11The scale of this operation looks impressive, but five years after the business was set up,
19:17this is only a fraction of what it could be. Olly Hicks, co-founder of the Algepelago seaweed farm,
19:24is focused on unlocking that potential.
19:29How much are you harvesting at the moment?
19:30This year we'll harvest 10 to 15 tons. And what kind of proportion of the area is that?
19:35That's on about 10% of the site. And so full capacity, we'd go up to around 3,000 tons.
19:43I mean,
19:43at the moment, because it's really a demonstrated site, all the lines are quite far apart. It's a fairly
19:48basic system. We're looking at a much more complex system with more dense line spacings and we get a
19:54much higher yield. Around 98% of the world's seaweed production is based in Asia, where it's mostly
20:01grown for food. Europe, by contrast, is the largest global market for seaweed-based biostimulants,
20:08aids to crop growth, where demand is growing and is currently largely met through harvesting
20:15seaweeds growing naturally along the coastline. Algepelago believes their cultivated kelp can offer
20:21a more consistent supply and a better product. Agriculture's used kelp for centuries and so it's
20:27the market that we've chosen to use. This kelp we process into fertiliser and we are industrialising
20:35and standardising that process to create a liquid concentrate biostimulant like that. Think of it
20:43as rocket fuel for your crops. Can't resist sniffing, I'm afraid. Smells like seaweed, surprisingly.
20:48So not only bigger crop but a more resilient crop? That's right. Biostimulant has been shown to be
20:53really effective at reducing stress induced by heat or drought or cold. That's where it's really good.
21:00They've currently got trials of their product underway with major agricultural companies,
21:06including Dyson Farming Research and Ribena. But with no sales of their biostimulant to date,
21:13the farmers largely relied on a mix of private funding, grants and government support.
21:19We've raised nearly three million pounds in the last five years. That goes into our research and
21:23development of our agricultural products. There's a lot of nuts and bolts holding this farm together,
21:28heavy anchors, big chains, boat time. And this year is going to be a tipping point as to whether
21:33it's going to start paying its way. Are you worried?
21:36Not yet, Tom. We'll be worried if we haven't sold it by the end of this year.
21:42One of the key organisations supporting the seaweed farming industry in the UK
21:46is the Worldwide Fund for Nature because of what it sees as its ecological promise.
21:53Francesca Batt is from WWF UK.
21:57Where are seaweed farms at at the moment?
21:59It's a difficult stage at the moment. We call it the valley of death in terms of financing. It's
22:04we've had that initial peak of excitement around it and a lot of innovation, but actually growing
22:09that into product and into a market, that's where it gets really difficult. Yeah. Well, maybe it's
22:15because, you know, scientists and environmentalists might like it, but the market doesn't. Seaweed has
22:20so many different options, which is the benefit of it. But that's also really challenging. Do you focus
22:25on the agriculture? Do you focus on the food? Do you focus on maybe the high value pieces,
22:30like the pharmaceuticals? Some of that needs really high upfront costs in terms of infrastructure
22:35for processing. It's not a low hanging fruit. In addition, WWF say the process of securing
22:42approval to build seaweed farms is holding the industry back. The actual licensing process
22:49is at the moment quite costly and quite unclear and is different across all the devolved nations.
22:55So I think we need some standardization and some clarity on what is needed and what is understood.
23:00I also think within that legislation, it really needs to factor in the environmental element
23:05and the benefits to promote why a seaweed farm should go where it can go.
23:10That call is backed by the UK seaweed network, which represents the industry. They want the UK
23:16and devolved governments to work together to help scale up seaweed farming, including by reforming
23:22licensing to make it easier for seaweed startups. So how small is the industry currently? Countryfile has
23:30found that in the past decade, 28 companies or individuals have been granted licenses related
23:36to commercial seaweed farms by the four different licensing authorities. Nine in England, 16 in Scotland,
23:44two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. But of these 28 businesses, we were only able to confirm that
23:5115
23:52are currently growing seaweed, with a further 30 license applications being withdrawn, refused or undecided.
24:03On this stretch of the North Cornwall coast, proposals for several seaweed farms have faced significant
24:10opposition. For two years, film and TV actor Barnaby Kaye from the Save Our Bays Group has campaigned
24:18against plans for a seaweed farm a couple of miles out to sea from the village of Port Isaac and
24:24against two planned closer
24:26to shore here at Port Quinn. You brought me to a stunning spot. What was proposed here and what would
24:34I have seen?
24:35Well, the proposal was for two adjacent 50 hectare seaweed farms making up about a kilometre square of the
24:43bay, about the size of about 140 football pitches. On the surface would have been over 3,000 plastic grey
24:50buoys holding up about 358 miles of plastic rope in that very small area. So that's what you'd have seen
24:58immediately. But also 14 yellow navigational buoys, eight of which would have been flashing. So our opinion
25:04would be that there would be quite a lot of light pollution from that. What arguments did you set out
25:09against the seaweed farms here? Well, the main one initially was this is a safe anchorage area for
25:15cargo vessels that are in distress. That was a big issue for us because we see it all the time.
25:21And there's a tolerance level in wave height for seaweed agriculture installations of about six meters.
25:29We're regularly over eight and the projection for over 50 years is 10 and a half to 11 and a
25:33half meters.
25:34So that means that if there was an infrastructure here, it would be destroyed.
25:38The group can point to some significant successes. One of the Port Quinn schemes was withdrawn,
25:44the other had its license application refused. The Port Isaac scheme was granted a license,
25:51but then had that license modified late last year with a new condition added, following concerns raised
25:58by local campaigners and new expert advice. The businesses behind the projects in Port Quinn didn't
26:05comment. The firm behind the Port Isaac scheme initially queried the accuracy of Countryfile's
26:10information, but didn't give details. It was clear though that they were very critical of some of the
26:16claims made by what they say are one-sided activists. The arrival of seaweed farming can also raise
26:24concerns among those who already make a living from the sea. Mike Cohen represents the National Federation of
26:30Fishermen's Organisations. What impact do you think seaweed farms could have on fishing communities?
26:36The impact is going to depend on exactly where they're put. We have had situations in which there's
26:41been applications for a seaweed farm right on the most direct route between a headland and a harbour.
26:47In bad weather that could mean spending longer reaching safe haven and if a rope breaks free and
26:52starts to drift it can tangle the propeller of a boat and then that boat is adrift at sea with
26:56no power
26:56and it's very dangerous. Could it be a threat to livelihood? In the wrong place it could. We had a
27:02situation where a large seaweed farm was proposed in an area that was quite heavily fished and the
27:08local inshore fishery authorities modelling suggested those boats would lose 10 to 20 percent of their income.
27:13Do you think there is a future where seaweed farms and inshore fishermen can be getting on fine?
27:19Absolutely, they can have real economic benefits, they can bring jobs and new ventures are good for
27:24coastal communities that often get ignored. It's all about doing the right thing in the right place.
27:29We asked the UK government about seaweed farm licensing in England. They told us they support
27:36the sustainable growth of aquaculture and that the current licensing system involves considering
27:42environmental protection, human health and interference with legitimate uses of the sea.
27:48They added, we have recently published new guidance to help prospective farmers navigate the
27:53national licensing process, making it easier for them to grow their businesses in future.
27:59The Scottish Government said they're continuing to support their seaweed farming industry,
28:05which they say could generate £70 million annually by 2040. Natural Resources Wales, which looks after
28:13Welsh seaweed farm licensing, said they're working with the industry and the Welsh Government on the
28:18official guidance relating to seaweed farming. And Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture,
28:25Environment and Rural Affairs said that while they don't currently regulate seaweed farming,
28:30only licensing infrastructure work around it, a new bill should change that and better regulate the industry.
28:38While location remains a key concern for some local communities and fisheries,
28:44there is also recognition of seaweed farming's potential upside. But just how important is public
28:50awareness to this emerging industry?
28:54We've seen most success from seaweed farming when they've worked with the community. We call it getting
28:59a social licence and getting people on board to understand what the benefits could be. Most of the
29:04seaweed farm happens under the ocean where people don't see it. All of the fantastic ecosystem that's
29:09created is all happening under the ocean. So when you just see some floating boys, I can understand why it's
29:14not understood what's going on.
29:18And in terms of benefits, Dr Ian Hendy from the University of Portsmouth,
29:22is overseeing a four-year study at Algapelago looking into the impact of seaweed farming on marine life.
29:31I know it's early days in your scientific research, but what kind of results are you seeing?
29:35And we're seeing a whole array of increase in biodiversity, particularly with commercially
29:41important fish species like bass and bream. But we're also seeing cuttlefish laying their eggs,
29:47because what you're creating is a reef-like structure providing an oasis for this biodiversity.
29:54Where do you see on this idea of where they should be in relation to the coast?
29:57Well, overall, I prefer these kelp farms to be further offshore than closer to the shore.
30:03That's because the nature and the ecology is less intense in the deeper water. Now,
30:09what we cannot do is put a kelp farm in an area where there's already another habitat,
30:17such as a sea grass bed or another kelp forest.
30:21In North Devon, Algapelago, operating a few miles off the coast, may have picked a right location.
30:28The challenge now is for Olly Hicks to prove the viability of his green dream.
30:35What's the big hope?
30:37So, the big hope for this farm is that not only we're creating a useful economic product that makes
30:42our shareholders cash, but we're also regenerating the marine environment at the same time.
30:55As I discovered earlier, wildfire risk rises in the Welsh Valleys as spring turns to summer.
31:01I've been with Forrester Geraint Price, witnessing the damage these fires can cause.
31:07It just kind of like takes off, doesn't it?
31:10It's terrifying, isn't it?
31:10Yeah.
31:11I'm now joining the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service
31:14to find out how they prepare to tackle the forest's greatest threat.
31:20Firefighters Rikki and Rian work with local crews from Aberdeer and Triocchi
31:25that specialise in combating wildfires.
31:29Today, the team are running a training exercise,
31:31and although it has just started raining, they'll be attempting to fight fire with fire.
31:38I've seen some of the videos of some of the fires that you have been fighting recently.
31:42Is this not terrifying to do that?
31:44It is, yeah, it is, yeah, but obviously we do a lot of training.
31:47Yeah.
31:47And this is what we're doing here today.
31:48OK.
31:49Practicing the scenario of a fire on top of a mountain.
31:53When a wildfire takes hold, there's often no option but to let it burn itself out.
31:59For the fire crew, that means switching their focus from extinguishing to containment.
32:05This section of straw here is going to be the area we're going to protect.
32:09We're going to light a fire up the top end.
32:10OK.
32:11And as the fire burns towards the fire break that we've cut across the mountain,
32:15OK.
32:15The crews are going to come in and simulate a tactical back burn across this path
32:21to allow the fire to burn back towards the original fire that started.
32:25So will the fire still burning in this weather?
32:27We hope so.
32:28OK, should we get it going then?
32:30Yeah, let's go.
32:30OK.
32:32This may be a training exercise, but it mirrors exactly what crews face
32:36when fires race across the valley tops through woodland.
32:42Just like in the forest, the straw is divided by fuel breaks.
32:47Areas where vegetation, the fire's fuel, has been cleared.
32:50Remove the fuel and the fire has nowhere left to go.
32:55So what I'm using now is a drip torch, which is full of diesel and petrol.
32:59OK.
33:00The end stays alight, and when you pour it, it essentially pours out the line of the fire.
33:10Today's challenge is to contain the fire before it can jump the gap, using a technique the Rhian and the
33:17team refer to as back burn.
33:19I guess there's that well-known phrase, you know, fight fire with fire, but I'd never really known what that
33:25meant until now.
33:26You do still get the butterflies almost in your stomach as it's going, but it does work when it's planned
33:31correctly.
33:32You've got to look at the way the winds blow in.
33:36Right.
33:36That could obviously send that off track, not where you want it to go.
33:39I see, yeah, yeah.
33:39So it's all got to be planned really carefully.
33:40So these fire breaks, they can really work, they're really positive things to put in place.
33:44Yeah, it's a great idea.
33:46When it comes to fighting fire, rain can certainly help, but forest fires burn with such intensity that it's rarely
33:53enough to put them out.
33:54It's going now?
33:55Yeah, it's going now, yeah.
33:56As you can see, the crew has lit the back burn, the tactical burn, and what will happen is the
34:02fire starts to get closer.
34:04Where the wind is currently blowing the flames both at angles, the flames will come back to each other because
34:10of the heat rising in the middle,
34:11which will draw the fire even faster towards the original fire, and then effectively both fires have burned all the
34:18ground.
34:18So as the fires meet in the middle, they'll just go out.
34:20Wow.
34:21I can see that they're starting to draw together now.
34:24It just seems mad that two fires will put each other out.
34:26I would just think you come out in a big hose.
34:29With water, obviously, it puts the fire out, but we could be a mile, two miles away from the nearest
34:33road,
34:34so to get water to that fire is almost impossible.
34:38Yeah.
34:38So what we'll do, we'll take away the fuel to not allow that fire to burn any further.
34:44Today's conditions may be damp, but the principle remains the same.
34:48Take away the fuel, and the fire can't spread.
34:51So there's only a few flames left, really, at the sides.
34:55So now you can see the fire has sort of burned itself out.
34:57Yep.
34:58The tactical burn that we put in the first place has burned towards the head of the fire.
35:02Yep.
35:02The fire break that we then cut in has stopped the fire spreading into the second part of the field.
35:08So it's pretty successful?
35:10Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah.
35:11It's amazing, because I've obviously been learning about this all day.
35:13But to actually see it happen, even with a small fire sitting this far back,
35:19I can feel the heat from this fire, and I can't imagine what it must be like for you guys
35:23to fight a really big, out-of-control fire.
35:26Don't worry, it's always safety first.
35:28Thank you guys for doing it, and I hope you stay safe.
35:33While it's reassuring to know the fire service is there if needed, the message is simple.
35:39Take care in the countryside.
35:41No campfires, no discarded glass or cigarettes, and only use barbecues where they're allowed.
35:54The ongoing protection of these forests is vital for the wildlife that depends on them.
36:00As parts of this forest are maturing and evolving,
36:04there's one protected species that's establishing itself in and around the woodland ponds.
36:12The great crested newt is the largest of the UK's three native newt species.
36:18While they're no longer a common sight, conservationists like John Price from Natural Resources Wales
36:24are making it their mission to protect them.
36:28John, what is the current situation of great crested newts?
36:31They've generally been in decline in the UK for quite a long time, at least the last 100 years.
36:38And the main reason?
36:39Mainly habitat loss, the different ways that we carry out agriculture,
36:45the loss of kind of ponds and actually great crested newts and other newts spend a lot of the time
36:50outside of water.
36:52Right.
36:52So the wider environment is really important to them.
36:56So over the years then, what work have you been doing?
36:59Where we have records of identifying places which are good environments for newts to be in,
37:04we will try to either protect the water bodies that are there, create more ponds,
37:10manage the habitat around them, so that it just becomes a really good and suitable area for them to survive
37:16in,
37:16and then hopefully thrive and expand their range.
37:19Yeah. And how successful has this work been?
37:21So we've got quite a healthy population. We're getting records of 20, 30 newts every time we're surveying.
37:28And for small places, that's quite good.
37:30So this is the sort of dream scenario that you're creating here.
37:35Yeah.
37:35How many other sites are you working on across the forest?
37:38This is a kind of quite an established pond. It's probably been here 20, 25 years.
37:43But we're also in the process of creating four or five new ponds.
37:48By creating other areas, we hope that the numbers will increase.
37:52They're a good sign of kind of healthy water environments.
37:56So to have them and to support them and to protect them, that, you know,
38:01we do these things because they're important and because we care about them.
38:06Across the forest, work is in progress, transforming a hectare of land into a new home for the newts.
38:13Right then, John, so this is one of your earmarked areas.
38:17This is, yes, yeah. This is one of the spots that will eventually become a pond.
38:22Right, so we'd be literally walking on water now.
38:25We would be, yeah, we would be, yeah.
38:28While clearing the space, the team pile up offcuts of scrub for the newts to hibernate in during the winter.
38:35And the next stage then?
38:37The next stage then is to get a machine. So we'll have kind of like a nine-ton excavator.
38:43We'll come in and then start digging the hole.
38:45It's easier than a spade.
38:47It is, yeah, yeah.
38:48Do you let it fill naturally or do you give that a helping hand as well?
38:52Well, we are in South Wales, so I think the hope is that it'll fill with rainwater.
38:58And when you think then to the example that we saw earlier on,
39:01how long will it take until this looks like that?
39:04The reality is it can be quite quick.
39:06It can only take a couple of years to start to look like something that people would
39:11assume is what a pond looks like. So it's not a very long process.
39:14And then you just keep your fingers crossed that newts move in?
39:17Yeah, hope so, yeah.
39:18And the hope is that they'll just migrate and start to use these as well.
39:25In the older ponds, senior ecologist Amy William Schwartz is surveying newt numbers in the forest.
39:33Oh my goodness me. So you've got newts then?
39:35You've got great crests.
39:36I've got newts, yeah. There's a nice population of newts here.
39:39We've got a male here and then this one over here is a female.
39:43Right.
39:43So the male here, you can tell the most obvious thing is he's the one who's actually got the crest.
39:48So the female over here, she doesn't get that crest.
39:51The male only develops that during the breeding season, so which is sort of this time of year.
39:55And the rest of the year, it sort of gets almost reabsorbed back into them.
39:58Right.
39:59And he also has this lovely white flash that runs along his tail.
40:03And he uses that in courtship rituals to try and impress the females and show off a bit.
40:09Right. And how is this year's survey going numbers wise? What are you noticing?
40:13They seem to be doing pretty well.
40:15Newts, I think they came out a little bit early this year.
40:18Okay.
40:19Which is a sort of pattern that's being seen across a lot of amphibian species.
40:23I just think sort of changing weather patterns and things like that mean that they're
40:26they're coming out maybe a little bit earlier.
40:29And with regards to your survey then, what information are you taking?
40:33So we're looking at population size.
40:35You'd be looking then at finding out whether they're breeding successfully.
40:38So you'd have a little look for eggs in the vegetation.
40:41And with the eggs that you've noticed then, when will they be hatching?
40:43A week or so and they'll be hatching.
40:45They're called Efts, the youngsters.
40:48And how long would you expect them to live for?
40:50So these guys, you know, they could be 15 years old.
40:53And that wouldn't be unheard of at all for these.
40:56And you've got gloves on there.
40:57I do.
40:58You need a license, don't you, to be catching them?
41:00Yes, absolutely.
41:01They're protected from disturbance, handling, trapping, anything like that.
41:06Okay, so what are you going to do with these two?
41:07They're going to go back in.
41:08Once we've taken some pictures of them,
41:10what you can do is you can have a little look at their belly pattern.
41:13They've got this gorgeous, bright orange belly.
41:16Okay, well let me help out with the photos.
41:18So what we would do is we would just gently lift him like this.
41:21And then snap away, yeah?
41:23Yeah, and then just grab a picture of him underneath.
41:26Beautiful, isn't he?
41:27Yeah, he's really stunning.
41:29Yeah.
41:29So that pattern is as individual to them as a fingerprint is to us.
41:33Oh, right.
41:34So you can keep an eye on populations and individuals over quite a number of years,
41:40actually, because they'll retain that pattern throughout their life.
41:44And with these photos then, what do you do with those?
41:46Because I imagine you could put them into like an AI programme or something.
41:49Yeah, you can use programmes that will basically tell you,
41:52you know, oh, this is newt number 52.
41:54And it'll be able to tell you sort of the date and things that you've seen them before.
41:58So this is your world then?
42:00Yes.
42:01You are well and truly into this?
42:03Yeah, no, I love it.
42:04I sort of grew up loving amphibians and reptiles.
42:08Just sort of never stopped, really.
42:09You're living the dream then, doing this?
42:11Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
42:12Is there work done here?
42:14Yep, yep.
42:14So that's everything.
42:15We've taken all the data we need from these guys.
42:17So it's now time to let them go.
42:19Okay.
42:35Now, the BBC's Food and Farming Awards are fast approaching.
42:40And as usual, Countryfile has its own category.
42:43Here's Adam with all the details.
42:49Countryfile are in search of a young countryside champion
42:52for the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2026.
42:58You could be a young farmer innovating to increase yields.
43:03A young naturalist protecting our wildlife.
43:07Or a volunteer raising awareness of the opportunities in the countryside.
43:17So if you or someone you know is aged between 16 and 24
43:21and passionate about improving the British countryside, then please get in touch.
43:25To nominate for the Countryfile Young Countryside Champion,
43:29go to bbc.co.uk forward slash food awards,
43:34where you can also find the terms and privacy notice.
43:37Nominations close at midday on Monday the 15th of June.
43:42Good luck.
43:49Well, the weather here in South Wales has been pretty changeable.
43:52But let's find out what the weather has in store for you for the week ahead.
43:56Here is your Countryfile forecast.
44:04Hello there. Good evening to you.
44:06Well, the main message from this weather bulletin is about the heat, unprecedented heat for the time of year,
44:13which is going to continue to ramp up over the next few days.
44:17We could be breaking May records.
44:19It was very likely we're going to break May records both by day and by night.
44:23But it's not just the UK seeing extreme heat at the moment.
44:26Much of Western Europe, Northern Spain, Central Western France, the Low Countries,
44:30also seeing temperatures well above normal for the time of year.
44:33Now, it was a hot day today with temperatures into the low 30s in the southeast in towards the overnight
44:41period.
44:42Many places will be dry away from northern Scotland, which will continue to see a weather from bringing outbreaks of
44:47rain in the rural spots.
44:49It may turn quite fresh, but towns and cities warm and muggy.
44:52So for Monday, we start the new week off with plenty of sunshine, a hotter day to come for many
44:58away from the northwest of Scotland,
45:00which will continue to see cloud and outbreaks of rain.
45:02A warmer day for Northern Ireland, Southern Scotland.
45:05But we could be close to the mid 30s across parts of Central, Southern and Eastern England, unlikely to break
45:12records.
45:12This is the May Day record, 32.8 Celsius set back in 1944.
45:18And it's possible over the next few nights we could break the May night record, which is 18.9, also
45:25back in the mid 40s.
45:27So this is, like I mentioned, an unprecedented heat wave.
45:30Now, as we head into Tuesday, high pressure topples in.
45:32It breaks that weather front across northwest Scotland.
45:36So we'll start to see dry conditions here, plenty of sunshine elsewhere, hot, dry, sunny day.
45:41But there is a chance we could see some isolated showers and thunderstorms developing parts of Wales, the Midlands, Northern
45:47England.
45:47Now, it's a very slim chance, but if you do catch one, it could be pretty torrential.
45:52But most places will be dry, sunny and another very hot day to come, low to mid 30s and Celsius
45:58and warmer for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
46:00Now, Wednesday, some subtle changes.
46:02Our area of high pressure moves towards the east of the UK and starts to drag some cooler air off
46:08the North Sea into eastern areas.
46:09So I think the highest temperatures will shift a little bit further westwards, probably the high 20s, but much fresher
46:16with areas of cloud across the eastern side of the UK.
46:20As we push towards Thursday, our high pressure, probably sitting out to the North Sea, will bring back warmer southerly
46:26winds.
46:27So temperatures a bit higher again on Thursday, maybe one or two showers or thunderstorms developing out west as low
46:33pressure begins to encroach in.
46:35But essentially, all areas will be sunny, including much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and it will be a very warm
46:40day or hot again across the south and east.
46:43High pressure dominates the scene for Friday.
46:45So again, much of England, Wales, southern Scotland, Northern Ireland will have a sunny day and it will turn hot
46:52again in the southeast.
46:53We're back perhaps into the 30 Celsius mark or higher and further north and west, there will be sunshine, but
47:00temperatures perhaps coming down a little bit.
47:02And I think that's the trend as we head towards next weekend.
47:05High pressure retreats to the near continent and I think we'll start to see an active jet begin to bring
47:10low pressure systems in off the Atlantic, which will gradually bring temperatures down all the while.
47:15I think the southeast may hold on to warm and sunny weather for a while, but further north and west,
47:21it will start to turn more unsettled with showers or thunderstorms moving in and also stronger winds.
47:27So the main message for this week, it's staying very hot and sunny for many and it could be record
47:31-breaking.
47:32Take care.
47:41We've been spending time in Gethin Forest, a landscape at a turning point where decisions made now will shape its
47:49future.
47:50The forest means different things to different people.
47:54A commercial timber operation, a rich wildlife habitat and a fun-filled playground.
48:10For mountain biking ambassador Liz Greaves, riding these trails is about more than just adrenaline.
48:21She's a passionate advocate for the sport.
48:25A little roller there and a little drop here.
48:27And her high-octane trail guides have attracted thousands of followers online.
48:32Let the rocks scatter underneath you.
48:34Just keep stable.
48:40I first got into the sport through my brothers, actually, as a child, building brick jumps with ramps and stuff
48:47outside the house and kind of came back to the idea of mountain biking in my early 30s.
48:51And I was hooked from there.
48:53Within a year of that, I was racing nationals.
48:55The mindset of racing is just so interesting to me and I love it, the challenge.
49:06What I love about riding in the forest is just the fact that it's different every day, depending on what
49:11the weather is doing, particularly in Wales.
49:18The sounds and the smells.
49:21To be able to just get that time to come outside into nature and just connect with it, it's just
49:26beautiful.
49:28This time of year is particularly good because we're coming out of that dredby part of winter, I think, and
49:33everything's starting to pop and moss is all green and the bracken's going back and everything's just getting ready to
49:39kind of show you its best for the rest of the year.
49:41And it's quite exciting.
49:42It's like a new beginning.
49:53Moving your body outdoors especially just helps you leave everything behind.
49:56You're almost riding away from the things that held tension inside you.
50:05There's a thing that I describe as being in the flow state when you're riding and it's just going through
50:10a process and you're just so centered and focused on that process.
50:13It's very, very, very present in the moment.
50:22And all you're thinking about is just what you're doing in that exact moment, how the bike feels, the sounds
50:28of the bike, the sounds of the trail, the dirt underneath the tires.
50:46It just cuts out any other noise you've had throughout the day and just really kind of helps you just
50:51center yourself again and relax.
50:56It's so nice just to be able to just drop into a trail and after a couple of seconds you
51:01just take a deep breath out and you're going and you just slip into that state and it's wonderful.
51:23The Welsh Valleys have long been shaped by economic and environmental change.
51:30Less than 50 years ago the land around here was dominated by coal mining.
51:35Today it's home to a mix of commercial and public woodland and the Black Mountains College, an institution training the
51:42next generation to care for this evolving landscape.
51:47Co-founded seven years ago by Ben Rawlins, the college here in Tree Herbert has a simple goal, to teach
51:55hands-on skills for managing woodland in the modern world.
51:59So Ben, let's start at the very beginning. Why did you want to set up this college in the first
52:04place?
52:04I used to work in Africa as a journalist and climate change was top of the agenda.
52:10And then I met a girl from South Wales, moved here, we had started a family and climate change was
52:16nowhere on the agenda.
52:18This is ten years ago. And I thought, why are we not preparing our young people?
52:23And I started having conversations locally and then we did some consultations and people said,
52:27we need to know how to grow food, we need to know how to do forestry.
52:32After a while we got some other people together, got some grant funding, did a business plan and got it
52:38going.
52:38And that was about six, seven years ago, we've been teaching for five.
52:42And there was nobody teaching forestry in South Wales.
52:45So we're the only, still the only provider of forestry in South Wales.
52:49We're about 120 students now, we'd like to get to about 300, but we're getting there.
52:55What do you think the main things are that people are getting from this college?
52:59We get lots of students coming saying they haven't fared very well in the classroom and they really want to
53:04be learning outside.
53:05They're getting a chainsaw ticket, they're learning to read the woodland, they're learning to manage the trees.
53:11And that's a very valuable skill. Forestry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Wales.
53:15And the last thing I think they're getting is a sense of community and a sense of hope.
53:21Here is an opportunity to be engaged in meaningful work, which is aligned to building a thriving future.
53:30Students have hands-on practical lessons three days a week.
53:35Pam Cottrell has been attending the course for eight months.
53:40How would you say that this place has changed or shaped your future?
53:44What I feel about the college is that it's more equipping people to be able to deal with climate change,
53:49with food insecurity, soil regeneration being so important, farming like people having access to space to grow their own food,
53:58learn wood carving, learn how to use the sawmill, get involved in the management of the woodland.
54:03And I think that can just enrich the community even more.
54:07For tutor Kerry Evans, forestry isn't something you learn from a desk.
54:12So we're based here, but we spend a lot of time out in the woods.
54:16We start looking at maybe the mosses and the lichens and then the trees and the habitats itself,
54:22because we've got parts of ancient woodland there as well.
54:25And then hopefully at the end of the course, it's a better place than it was at the start,
54:30because we're planting trees, we're felling, we're doing a lot of habitat management.
54:34And what do you hope that the students who come here learn and take away at the end of the
54:38course?
54:39What's the idea of it all?
54:40Well, lots of skills, lots of knowledge.
54:43Yeah.
54:43From tree ID to using tools safely and just a really good experience.
54:50And I mean for you, I can see a big smile on your face here.
54:52You get a lot out of passing on the skills that you've learned in your life onto the next generation.
54:57I really do enjoy it and if I spark some passion in someone else, I think that's really great.
55:04For today's lesson, the class are making a firewood shelter from local timber.
55:10OK, so this is the first frame that we're going to build.
55:14So we're going to have two of these and they're going to be upright and we're going to join them
55:17together
55:18with the timber that you've just milled.
55:19So the first job is to screw these in.
55:29After years of working in animation, Tad Davies is using the course to help him forge a new career path.
55:37You just get so many different types of people here.
55:40We have people who are just fresh out of school, like 17, 18,
55:43who maybe actually really struggled in school.
55:46And that kind of structured way of working, I know I did, I couldn't do a test,
55:51but it turns out my brain just worked a bit differently, you know what I mean?
55:53And it's really nice to see that in 18-year-olds who, you know, considered problem youth.
55:59And then suddenly they can name every kind of tree under the sun
56:02and they actually can create beautiful works of art.
56:06They want to contribute and they want to have worth.
56:09And a place like this has to exist in order for those people that you're talking about
56:13to facilitate that.
56:14Yeah.
56:17With today's lesson nearly over, there's just some final touches left to do.
56:23Incoming, incoming.
56:26Are we all square there?
56:28Jesse, all good?
56:30Yeah, all good there.
56:32Put that one in for you.
56:33Yeah, you go for it, mate.
56:40That's it. Brilliant.
56:41Happy teacher? Happy Kerry?
56:42Yeah, really happy.
56:44Well done, everyone.
56:45Super.
56:45I wish I was going back next week.
56:46Yeah.
56:47I tell you.
56:50It's very important work that you're doing for the community here
56:53because when you think of the history of this place
56:56and its coal mining past that's no longer there anymore.
56:59Yes, and what's grown up on the former coal tips is the forest.
57:04Mm-hm.
57:04And we have to work with the forest now.
57:07When we did the big visioning community conversations, the strong preference was for a timber town.
57:13This is what we have now.
57:14If we can get to a point in the future where we're managing the woodland on a semi-commercial basis,
57:20we're supporting then the processing of the timber wood products that Treherbert can,
57:25instead of being known for mining in the past, could be known for timber in the future.
57:45Well, that was certainly an action-packed day.
57:48Yeah, we've had a great time, but that is all we've got time for.
57:51Next week, Adam and Sean will be in Northern Ireland at their largest agricultural event, the Balmoral Show.
58:02Gentlemen, how are your energy levels now?
58:05Very tense.
58:07Go!
58:10I'm watching to see if they touch any posts.
58:13So he's got to zig-zag all the way to here.
58:14He has to zig-zag through the corns.
58:16That is really tricky.
58:21Oh!
58:22Break! Break! Break!
58:25That's next week on BBC One at 6.15.
58:30We hope you can join us then.
58:32Bye-bye.
58:41New comedy on iPlayer Life at 40 for some Richard back home with his dad in a return of only
58:47child.
58:48Also there are crime-fighting duo back together,
58:51but poles apart with a new series of mysteries to solve in Death Valley.
58:55We'll stay with BBC Two next for end-of-season final score.
59:02There is no doubt.
59:03Well, you SPOM discs are June 2 for Th Antonio,
59:06and I'll find a place where you'll find better.
59:06For others as possible,
59:07Jill Davis afternoon CE I learned,
59:07In What свой дом and then did it last name?
59:07The concept of Elmoral Show and Probleme,angiatoire
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