1 00:00:02,300 --> 00:00:05,060 The oceans are places of wonder. 2 00:00:06,780 --> 00:00:10,580 Blue Planet II showed us the beauty and extraordinary behaviour 3 00:00:10,580 --> 00:00:15,060 of marine life whilst highlighting how fragile and threatened 4 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:16,660 our seas have become. 5 00:00:16,660 --> 00:00:18,940 Now, as Blue Planet Live carries out 6 00:00:18,940 --> 00:00:21,340 a health check on the world's oceans, 7 00:00:21,340 --> 00:00:23,500 we are staying closer to home. 8 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:30,500 Our British seas are rich, varied and key to our island heritage, 9 00:00:30,500 --> 00:00:33,580 but how are our lifestyles affecting them? 10 00:00:33,580 --> 00:00:35,020 Whoa! 11 00:00:35,020 --> 00:00:38,860 We'll meet the unsung heroes dedicated to protecting our waters 12 00:00:38,860 --> 00:00:40,860 and the wildlife that relies on them. 13 00:00:40,860 --> 00:00:44,220 If we don't look after nature, nobody else will. 14 00:00:44,220 --> 00:00:47,100 And celebrate the scientists striving for solutions 15 00:00:47,100 --> 00:00:49,140 to the challenges. 16 00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:50,500 Oh! 17 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:53,420 Plus, we'll meet the crabs with a flair for style... 18 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:57,180 They're dressing up in seaweed as a means of camouflage. Yes. 19 00:00:57,180 --> 00:01:01,300 ..and delve into our very own deep-sea coral reefs. 20 00:01:01,300 --> 00:01:04,820 This is the most important deep-sea coral, I think, in the whole world, 21 00:01:04,820 --> 00:01:07,020 and this is just off Scotland. 22 00:01:08,940 --> 00:01:12,220 So dip into our UK waters and see them like you've never 23 00:01:12,220 --> 00:01:13,620 seen them before. 24 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:15,500 BOTH: Welcome to Blue Planet UK. 25 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:33,300 Hi, and welcome back to the beautiful St Abbs 26 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:35,780 on the east coast of Scotland. 27 00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:38,820 Now, all week, Blue Planet Live teams are around the world 28 00:01:38,820 --> 00:01:41,380 monitoring the state of the world's oceans, 29 00:01:41,380 --> 00:01:44,340 but we are here focusing on our home patch - 30 00:01:44,340 --> 00:01:48,300 what's living in British seas and how it's all doing. 31 00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:50,540 But, Steve, it's not just what's in the sea, is it? 32 00:01:50,540 --> 00:01:51,700 What are you looking at? 33 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:53,740 I'm looking along here at all the marine birds 34 00:01:53,740 --> 00:01:55,660 and there's so many here. 35 00:01:55,660 --> 00:01:58,300 You can see they've even painted the cliffs white. 36 00:01:58,300 --> 00:02:01,700 Oh, yeah. Now, these cliffs, they're made of old volcanic rock 37 00:02:01,700 --> 00:02:04,780 and they create all these ledges and nice little nooks and crannies 38 00:02:04,780 --> 00:02:07,980 for the bird not just to be protected in, but also to nest in. 39 00:02:07,980 --> 00:02:11,780 You think he's busy now? You come back May, June, July, August - 40 00:02:11,780 --> 00:02:15,260 the place is going to be alive while they're all up on these rocks 41 00:02:15,260 --> 00:02:16,300 here, all nested. 42 00:02:17,660 --> 00:02:21,580 You can see a cormorant out there, enjoying itself, basking in the sun. 43 00:02:21,580 --> 00:02:24,700 It's nonstop and they're not just here for the protection, 44 00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:27,460 also for the fishing and these clear waters. 45 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:30,540 And that's right, the waters here are clear and they're clean, 46 00:02:30,540 --> 00:02:32,900 and divers come from not just around the country 47 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:37,580 but around the world to enjoy this beautiful, rich marine life. 48 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:40,660 And with a long history of fishing, this little Scottish port 49 00:02:40,660 --> 00:02:42,460 is all about the fish. 50 00:02:42,460 --> 00:02:45,300 And there's plenty of those coming up on today's programme, 51 00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:46,700 but that's not all. 52 00:02:48,660 --> 00:02:51,940 We join the very first winter survey of Scotland's 53 00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:53,380 whales and dolphins. 54 00:02:54,740 --> 00:02:56,060 Sighting! Coming up! 55 00:02:58,820 --> 00:03:02,420 Chris finds out about a fish that is both house-proud 56 00:03:02,420 --> 00:03:04,180 and camera shy. 57 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:07,460 It wouldn't be uncommon for us to come back and find the cameras 58 00:03:07,460 --> 00:03:09,100 face down... Right. ..in the seabed. 59 00:03:09,100 --> 00:03:11,700 Because they've knocked it over? Because they knocked it over. 60 00:03:11,700 --> 00:03:14,300 The towering cliffs of the Yorkshire coast are steeped in both 61 00:03:14,300 --> 00:03:15,700 sea birds and history. 62 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:18,300 Gannets, guillemots and puffins 63 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:20,780 all harbour here throughout the summer months, 64 00:03:20,780 --> 00:03:23,900 attracting visitors from across the nation. 65 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:27,580 And we discover how building on the seabed affects the creatures 66 00:03:27,580 --> 00:03:28,900 that call it home. 67 00:03:30,020 --> 00:03:34,020 Oh, my goodness. I can tell you that is a feisty lobster. 68 00:03:35,700 --> 00:03:39,260 Now these pots are a dead giveaway that crabs and lobsters 69 00:03:39,260 --> 00:03:41,780 are the heart of the fishing industry in St Abbs, 70 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:44,100 but that wasn't always the case. 71 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:53,540 The harbour of St Abbs was founded in 1885, 72 00:03:53,540 --> 00:03:57,060 and for nearly 100 years, one fish was king. 73 00:03:57,060 --> 00:03:58,100 The herring. 74 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:03,740 In those days, boats thronged our coastline all around Britain, 75 00:04:03,740 --> 00:04:05,180 chasing vast shoals. 76 00:04:06,740 --> 00:04:10,220 Young women would follow, earning eightpence an hour gutting 77 00:04:10,220 --> 00:04:11,940 and sorting the fish. 78 00:04:11,940 --> 00:04:16,420 In Scotland alone, 10,000 women earned their living this way. 79 00:04:16,420 --> 00:04:19,300 Whole communities depended on this fish. 80 00:04:23,020 --> 00:04:25,340 OLD VOICEOVER: Here's a drifter which has been out 81 00:04:25,340 --> 00:04:27,860 in search of fish, and now it's returning to Stornoway 82 00:04:27,860 --> 00:04:28,980 to unload the catch... 83 00:04:30,100 --> 00:04:31,900 ..which is a welcome sight. 84 00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:35,220 So there are willing hands to get this slippery cargo on to the quay. 85 00:04:38,420 --> 00:04:40,780 Catches would even make the news. 86 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:44,540 At dawn on a chilly autumn morning, 87 00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:46,820 another herring drifter sails into port. 88 00:04:46,820 --> 00:04:50,700 Its return marks the virtual end of the herring season. 89 00:04:50,700 --> 00:04:54,620 And another bit of golden news about the silver harvest - a vessel 90 00:04:54,620 --> 00:04:57,420 had come home to Yarmouth with a bigger catch than had ever 91 00:04:57,420 --> 00:05:00,060 been recorded in 50 years. 92 00:05:00,060 --> 00:05:02,780 But the good times didn't last. 93 00:05:02,780 --> 00:05:06,260 Unfortunately, overfishing saw the demise 94 00:05:06,260 --> 00:05:08,660 of the British herring fishery in the 1970s. 95 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:13,140 This year, landings from those usually well-stocked seas 96 00:05:13,140 --> 00:05:16,180 around the Minches are down by 70%. 97 00:05:16,180 --> 00:05:18,500 Only 50 boats are now catching herring - 98 00:05:18,500 --> 00:05:20,860 half the strength of last year's fleet. 99 00:05:20,860 --> 00:05:22,900 Stocks of herring have been so depleted 100 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:26,460 that these fishermen in the Clyde have imposed their own limits. 101 00:05:26,460 --> 00:05:28,860 It means some of them only put to sea one day a week. 102 00:05:28,860 --> 00:05:31,020 They're practically at the point of no return. 103 00:05:31,020 --> 00:05:34,260 We have asked for a ban on all herring fishing for two to three 104 00:05:34,260 --> 00:05:36,100 to even four years. 105 00:05:36,100 --> 00:05:40,660 Now there are virtually no herring left in the North Sea at all. 106 00:05:40,660 --> 00:05:43,060 Despite various conservation measures, 107 00:05:43,060 --> 00:05:45,980 the herring population has never recovered. 108 00:05:48,060 --> 00:05:51,180 Blue Planet UK went to the north-west coast of Scotland 109 00:05:51,180 --> 00:05:54,580 to check out reports that may offer a ray of hope. 110 00:05:58,180 --> 00:06:01,500 Alasdair Hughson is a high-end seafood supplier. 111 00:06:06,060 --> 00:06:09,820 Last year, some of his scallop divers made a surprising discovery. 112 00:06:12,260 --> 00:06:14,300 The seabed was not as they would normally see it. 113 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:16,780 The whole seabed was a carpet of green. 114 00:06:18,260 --> 00:06:22,020 The herring had spawned in vast shoals, carpeting the sea floor 115 00:06:22,020 --> 00:06:23,220 in a layer of eggs. 116 00:06:24,940 --> 00:06:28,540 They were just amazed at the extent of this herring spawn 117 00:06:28,540 --> 00:06:30,420 all over the seabed. 118 00:06:30,420 --> 00:06:34,420 I've been diving around this area for over 30 years now and I've never 119 00:06:34,420 --> 00:06:36,180 seen anything like this. 120 00:06:37,220 --> 00:06:40,700 No-one knew whether this was a one-off event or if the herring 121 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:42,900 would return to spawn again, 122 00:06:42,900 --> 00:06:46,820 so we sent marine cameramen Andy Jackson to Gairloch to see 123 00:06:46,820 --> 00:06:49,900 if he could find out what the herring were up to this year, 124 00:06:49,900 --> 00:06:53,100 and, if possible, film the actual spawning. 125 00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:55,500 Find out on Friday how he got on. 126 00:06:58,820 --> 00:07:02,300 It is great to hear that herring populations are recovering or seem 127 00:07:02,300 --> 00:07:04,940 to be recovering, and it's not just here in Scotland. 128 00:07:04,940 --> 00:07:07,820 There have been reports of them spawning in Cornwall as well. 129 00:07:07,820 --> 00:07:09,980 Now, herring, it's a great news story for them, 130 00:07:09,980 --> 00:07:12,980 but it's also a great news story for the animals that feed on them, 131 00:07:12,980 --> 00:07:14,900 like minke whales, 132 00:07:14,900 --> 00:07:17,220 and there have been more and more reports of sightings 133 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:18,900 here in Scottish waters. 134 00:07:19,900 --> 00:07:23,340 And there may be another good news story, this time from Wales. 135 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:26,700 One of the world's rarest sharks, the angel shark, is on the verge 136 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:29,180 of being declared extinct for all sorts of reasons - 137 00:07:29,180 --> 00:07:33,020 there's pollution, bycatch, habitat loss and disturbance, 138 00:07:33,020 --> 00:07:36,100 but that might not be the end of the story. 139 00:07:39,540 --> 00:07:44,340 At a museum in Swansea, researchers are on a marine mission to locate 140 00:07:44,340 --> 00:07:46,340 one of the world's rarest fish. 141 00:07:47,380 --> 00:07:48,540 The angel shark. 142 00:07:50,540 --> 00:07:54,900 An angel shark is one of the most incredible species of shark 143 00:07:54,900 --> 00:07:56,220 in our oceans. 144 00:07:56,220 --> 00:07:59,980 It's a flat shark, which means it spends most of its time 145 00:07:59,980 --> 00:08:02,100 on or near to the seabed. 146 00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:05,020 This species used to be common across the East Atlantic 147 00:08:05,020 --> 00:08:07,420 and Mediterranean Sea. 148 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:11,260 Over the last century, their numbers have plummeted and the species 149 00:08:11,260 --> 00:08:14,140 is now classed as critically endangered. 150 00:08:15,260 --> 00:08:19,420 There are few places around the world where they're regularly found. 151 00:08:19,420 --> 00:08:22,860 The Canary Islands is one of the only remaining strongholds. 152 00:08:25,100 --> 00:08:29,260 But now, signs are pointing to a forgotten pocket of resident 153 00:08:29,260 --> 00:08:32,580 angel sharks that have been living off the Welsh coast, 154 00:08:32,580 --> 00:08:34,180 unnoticed for decades. 155 00:08:37,940 --> 00:08:40,620 When we were working on Angel Shark Project Canary Islands, 156 00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:43,500 we started to see on social media some sightings 157 00:08:43,500 --> 00:08:45,380 of angel sharks in Wales. 158 00:08:47,180 --> 00:08:50,860 A surviving population of angel sharks would be a lifeline 159 00:08:50,860 --> 00:08:52,220 for the species, 160 00:08:52,220 --> 00:08:56,780 so Joanna and the team travelled to Wales to investigate... 161 00:08:56,780 --> 00:09:01,180 ..where they stumbled across a goldmine of potential information. 162 00:09:01,180 --> 00:09:02,780 Members of the public. 163 00:09:04,700 --> 00:09:08,860 We were actually in Barmouth, at a tackle shop, where the mother 164 00:09:08,860 --> 00:09:12,380 of the tackle shop owner... And we were talking about angel sharks. 165 00:09:12,380 --> 00:09:13,860 She says, "I know these. 166 00:09:13,860 --> 00:09:16,900 "I saw them all the time. I've got a photo of one." 167 00:09:16,900 --> 00:09:21,900 And she had the photograph, dated, timed, and it was her nephew 168 00:09:21,900 --> 00:09:26,540 with an angel shark and we realised that there was possibly quite a lot 169 00:09:26,540 --> 00:09:30,300 of information just stored in people's houses. 170 00:09:30,300 --> 00:09:34,860 These days, it's illegal to catch an angel shark, but historic photos 171 00:09:34,860 --> 00:09:39,700 and sightings can provide vital clues as to where to start looking 172 00:09:39,700 --> 00:09:41,660 for this secretive species. 173 00:09:44,220 --> 00:09:46,860 The idea of a travelling road show evolved 174 00:09:46,860 --> 00:09:50,100 that called on people to come forward with their memories, 175 00:09:50,100 --> 00:09:53,540 photos and combined community knowledge 176 00:09:53,540 --> 00:09:54,940 of the angel shark. 177 00:09:56,220 --> 00:09:58,860 I didn't recognise them as being a shark because they looked 178 00:09:58,860 --> 00:10:01,340 more like a ray cos they were flatter. 179 00:10:01,340 --> 00:10:05,740 They weren't my normal idea of what a shark would look like, 180 00:10:05,740 --> 00:10:09,100 so it was nice to know that they are now starting to find 181 00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:11,100 a little home near us. 182 00:10:12,780 --> 00:10:15,300 As the day in Swansea draws to a close, 183 00:10:15,300 --> 00:10:19,020 there's a surprise in store for Joanna and the team. 184 00:10:20,420 --> 00:10:23,340 Amazing. Number one, what's your name? 185 00:10:23,340 --> 00:10:24,780 Graham Maddick. 186 00:10:24,780 --> 00:10:26,300 So who's in this photo? 187 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:27,900 Is this one you? That's me. 188 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:30,820 Did you catch him? Yourself? Yes. Rod and line? Rod and line. 189 00:10:30,820 --> 00:10:32,460 Do you know what it was or...? 190 00:10:32,460 --> 00:10:34,740 No. You didn't know what it was? I didn't have a clue. 191 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:36,980 All I knew, it was big. 192 00:10:36,980 --> 00:10:39,060 I was told later on in the day 193 00:10:39,060 --> 00:10:43,780 by a trawlerman that the fish was a monkfish, 194 00:10:43,780 --> 00:10:48,860 so as far as I was concerned, it was a monkfish for the next 58 years 195 00:10:48,860 --> 00:10:53,340 until I saw the article on the BBC browser page. 196 00:10:55,140 --> 00:10:56,940 These photos are like gold dust to us. 197 00:10:56,940 --> 00:10:59,220 They provide so much information. 198 00:10:59,220 --> 00:11:02,260 That photo is actually a really important record 199 00:11:02,260 --> 00:11:05,180 cos it's the first we've got from central Swansea, 200 00:11:05,180 --> 00:11:08,580 so it was caught off Swansea pier in the 1960s, 201 00:11:08,580 --> 00:11:11,460 so we're going to have to go and add another sighting to our map 202 00:11:11,460 --> 00:11:13,900 and definitely look into the area further. 203 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:18,460 Would you look at that, Gillian? 204 00:11:18,460 --> 00:11:20,900 It's not just on the Antiques Roadshow where you might find 205 00:11:20,900 --> 00:11:22,820 something valuable in the attic. 206 00:11:22,820 --> 00:11:24,420 That's right. Who'd have thought it? 207 00:11:24,420 --> 00:11:27,100 And, of course, if you've got any evidence of angel sharks, 208 00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:29,020 then the project would love to hear from you, 209 00:11:29,020 --> 00:11:31,300 and all the details are on our website. 210 00:11:31,300 --> 00:11:34,220 There's a really surprising number of species of shark found 211 00:11:34,220 --> 00:11:35,500 in British waters. 212 00:11:35,500 --> 00:11:37,460 And, you know, it's like an amazing experience 213 00:11:37,460 --> 00:11:38,700 to be able to encounter them. 214 00:11:38,700 --> 00:11:41,420 Sometimes you can actually swim with blue sharks at certain times 215 00:11:41,420 --> 00:11:43,060 of the year off the coast of Cornwall, 216 00:11:43,060 --> 00:11:45,580 and even if it's just catching a glimpse of a basking shark 217 00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:48,700 from the coast path, just the tip of that fin reminds us how big 218 00:11:48,700 --> 00:11:50,020 these animals are. 219 00:11:50,020 --> 00:11:52,300 Megafauna visiting our shores. 220 00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:53,940 And, you know, it's more than a buzz - 221 00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:56,220 you can actually add to the science. That's right, 222 00:11:56,220 --> 00:11:58,740 and there's a retired couple that are doing just that, 223 00:11:58,740 --> 00:12:01,020 and before Chris headed off to Mexico, 224 00:12:01,020 --> 00:12:02,300 he caught up with them. 225 00:12:05,860 --> 00:12:08,660 I'm pleased to say that more and more of Britain's naturalists 226 00:12:08,660 --> 00:12:11,580 are contributing to citizen science projects. 227 00:12:11,580 --> 00:12:14,020 They're allowing us to learn a lot more, a lot more quickly, 228 00:12:14,020 --> 00:12:15,460 about the wildlife that we love, 229 00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:20,100 so, in its simplest form, we send in records of birds we see or plants 230 00:12:20,100 --> 00:12:22,980 we find, normally in cosy environments, 231 00:12:22,980 --> 00:12:24,940 perhaps our back garden. 232 00:12:24,940 --> 00:12:28,580 But today, I've come to meet three people - Matt Doggett, 233 00:12:28,580 --> 00:12:30,660 Sheilah and Martin Openshaw, 234 00:12:30,660 --> 00:12:33,660 who are citizen science working in an environment 235 00:12:33,660 --> 00:12:36,420 which is a little bit more hostile. 236 00:12:36,420 --> 00:12:38,860 Today, we call it the Cruel Sea. 237 00:12:44,180 --> 00:12:46,900 Sheilah, Martin and Matt, how did you meet? 238 00:12:46,900 --> 00:12:48,140 How did you get together? 239 00:12:48,140 --> 00:12:50,340 Because you come from very different walks of life. 240 00:12:50,340 --> 00:12:54,180 Fuel engineer. Now you're in there, studying rays. 241 00:12:54,180 --> 00:12:56,620 We're all scuba divers. I see. Yeah. 242 00:12:56,620 --> 00:13:01,700 So we met through an interest in scuba diving and, more particularly, 243 00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:05,140 through an interest in the marine life and Seasearch, 244 00:13:05,140 --> 00:13:09,420 which is sort of monitoring the sea life along the coast of the UK. 245 00:13:10,780 --> 00:13:13,140 He was meant for me to say go. 246 00:13:13,140 --> 00:13:15,940 He behaved just like any other man, 247 00:13:15,940 --> 00:13:17,900 didn't do as he was told! 248 00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:20,820 During their monitoring, 249 00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:24,340 Sheilah and Martin fell in love with the graceful undulate rays, 250 00:13:24,340 --> 00:13:28,300 and they began to focus their research on them. 251 00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:31,100 Their dedication to these rays has inspired a scientist 252 00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:34,660 at Manchester University, who's using their findings to better 253 00:13:34,660 --> 00:13:39,380 understand how the populations are doing off the Dorset coast. 254 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:43,260 You're contributing significantly to some what we call citizen science. 255 00:13:43,260 --> 00:13:48,100 You're gathering data on these undulate rays, which is being sent 256 00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:50,540 off for analysis and everyone's learning a lot about it. 257 00:13:50,540 --> 00:13:53,340 Yeah, it's happened almost accidentally. 258 00:13:53,340 --> 00:13:54,700 Tell me about your swabbing, 259 00:13:54,700 --> 00:13:57,860 because you're collecting material from them directly as well. 260 00:13:57,860 --> 00:14:00,620 Well, we talked to Sam about a methodology and she said, 261 00:14:00,620 --> 00:14:02,340 "I'll need the DNA." 262 00:14:02,340 --> 00:14:05,940 We said, "Well, what do we do? Do we go and say, 'Please, Mr Ray, can you open your mouth while I stick 263 00:14:05,940 --> 00:14:07,460 "this cotton bud in?'" 264 00:14:07,460 --> 00:14:11,700 And we ended up with a bit of stuff that you scrub pans with 265 00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:16,100 on a plastic tube and then we just rub it down its back, 266 00:14:16,100 --> 00:14:18,460 but what we found was that they were... 267 00:14:18,460 --> 00:14:22,140 ..they were bending the other way and they were going, it was, like, 268 00:14:22,140 --> 00:14:23,820 "Oh, do it again! Oh, do it again!" 269 00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:27,660 So this is ray back massage? This is ray massage! 270 00:14:27,660 --> 00:14:30,420 But your combined passion is not all about these rays. 271 00:14:30,420 --> 00:14:32,380 There's another species you're interested in 272 00:14:32,380 --> 00:14:34,220 and, Matt, this is black bream, 273 00:14:34,220 --> 00:14:36,260 and I know nothing of black bream, 274 00:14:36,260 --> 00:14:38,140 so tell me about this fish. 275 00:14:38,140 --> 00:14:41,260 That's right. I mean, black bream is an amazing species, 276 00:14:41,260 --> 00:14:44,620 And it's something that most divers have never seen, 277 00:14:44,620 --> 00:14:46,340 never heard of, yet each spring, 278 00:14:46,340 --> 00:14:49,260 tens if not hundreds of thousands of these fish arrive 279 00:14:49,260 --> 00:14:51,660 off our shores to spawn, build huge nests, 280 00:14:51,660 --> 00:14:53,580 completely changing the seabed. 281 00:14:53,580 --> 00:14:58,020 What they like is bedrock covered by a thin layer of gravel or sand, 282 00:14:58,020 --> 00:15:01,060 and the male fish will push that away with their tails and shove 283 00:15:01,060 --> 00:15:04,140 it with their mouths and create these big, wide-open spaces of 284 00:15:04,140 --> 00:15:06,500 bare rock, which they then keep very clean. 285 00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:08,700 They're very meticulous about their nest. 286 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:11,700 They like to keep it absolutely spick and span. 287 00:15:11,700 --> 00:15:14,940 The other problem is, though, is that black bream are very territorial. 288 00:15:14,940 --> 00:15:17,140 Because they're so meticulous about their nests, 289 00:15:17,140 --> 00:15:18,540 they hate foreign objects, 290 00:15:18,540 --> 00:15:22,220 so it wouldn't be uncommon for us to come back and find the cameras 291 00:15:22,220 --> 00:15:24,140 face down... Right. ..in the seabed. 292 00:15:24,140 --> 00:15:26,780 Because they've knocked it over? Because they knocked it over. 293 00:15:26,780 --> 00:15:28,020 We mount these things... 294 00:15:28,020 --> 00:15:29,740 Five minutes after you left. Yeah. 295 00:15:29,740 --> 00:15:31,980 We mount them on two, three kilos of lead 296 00:15:31,980 --> 00:15:34,420 and they'll shove those out the way and get rid of them. 297 00:15:34,420 --> 00:15:36,500 So, has the thing that you've uncovered, 298 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:38,140 identifying the spawning areas, 299 00:15:38,140 --> 00:15:40,820 how long it takes, productivity and all that sort of thing, 300 00:15:40,820 --> 00:15:43,860 is that able to influence future conservation efforts when it comes 301 00:15:43,860 --> 00:15:45,060 to these sorts of species? 302 00:15:45,060 --> 00:15:48,020 We've had a very good response to the project from anglers and some 303 00:15:48,020 --> 00:15:51,340 anglers are e-mailing us to actually say, 304 00:15:51,340 --> 00:15:54,300 you know, I'm going to start putting the male fish back now when I catch 305 00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:56,220 them so they can go back to their nests. 306 00:15:56,220 --> 00:15:57,500 So what's next, then? 307 00:15:57,500 --> 00:15:59,740 You're on your rays and your black bream. 308 00:15:59,740 --> 00:16:02,380 Any more plans for more good citizen science? 309 00:16:02,380 --> 00:16:07,620 The thing I want to find is, where do the rays lay their eggs? 310 00:16:07,620 --> 00:16:09,260 If you walk along the beach, 311 00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:12,020 you find these things called mermaid's purses, 312 00:16:12,020 --> 00:16:16,100 which are actually the eggs for rays and cat sharks, 313 00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:19,740 but there are very few reports of where ray eggs 314 00:16:19,740 --> 00:16:21,620 are found underwater. 315 00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:25,860 Now, we've got a site that we've got 200 rays on. 316 00:16:25,860 --> 00:16:28,260 Now, where... But you never see any eggs? 317 00:16:28,260 --> 00:16:30,220 We've never seen the eggs underwater, 318 00:16:30,220 --> 00:16:32,020 so we're going to try and find them. 319 00:16:32,020 --> 00:16:33,660 By the sounds of things, then, 320 00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:36,300 retirement's just going to get busier and busier. 321 00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:38,100 I don't think it can get any busier! 322 00:16:38,100 --> 00:16:39,420 It's every day, you know, 323 00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:42,580 there's another idea, another thing we could go and do, something else 324 00:16:42,580 --> 00:16:44,020 we could go and look at. 325 00:16:44,020 --> 00:16:46,660 Well, thanks so much for all of you taking the afternoon off 326 00:16:46,660 --> 00:16:48,780 to tell us about this extraordinary, 327 00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:50,660 absolutely extraordinary stuff. 328 00:16:52,340 --> 00:16:53,380 Well, look at that. 329 00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:56,820 It just goes to show how valuable we can all be in increasing our 330 00:16:56,820 --> 00:17:00,620 knowledge and understanding of UK marine life and I, for one, 331 00:17:00,620 --> 00:17:03,140 love a good news story. Absolutely. 332 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:05,900 Well, all week, Blue Planet Live have been carrying out 333 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:08,220 a health check on the world's oceans, 334 00:17:08,220 --> 00:17:10,700 and there's some species that are especially useful 335 00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:12,460 in measuring the state of the seas. 336 00:17:12,460 --> 00:17:16,060 That's right, and orcas - or killer whales - are just one of them, 337 00:17:16,060 --> 00:17:19,260 and when the team headed out to Iceland to try and film them, 338 00:17:19,260 --> 00:17:22,420 we got a special glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes. 339 00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:37,620 The seas west of Iceland are one of the best places in the world 340 00:17:37,620 --> 00:17:39,460 to find killer whales. 341 00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:41,620 Fish shelter in the fjords, 342 00:17:41,620 --> 00:17:44,660 and this is where the whales come to hunt. 343 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:54,740 Blue Planet Live researcher Ellis Roberts 344 00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:57,740 is meeting marine scientist Filipa Samarra. 345 00:17:59,980 --> 00:18:04,580 She's been studying the effects of pollution on the whales. 346 00:18:04,580 --> 00:18:09,300 But to gather data, first, you have to find your whale. 347 00:18:09,300 --> 00:18:11,100 I've seen them once before, 348 00:18:11,100 --> 00:18:14,060 which was an absolutely amazing experience. 349 00:18:14,060 --> 00:18:16,540 But they're so elusive, you just never know. 350 00:18:16,540 --> 00:18:21,540 They've only got two days and today, wind chill is minus seven. 351 00:18:21,540 --> 00:18:25,380 Unfortunately the conditions are too rough to go out to sea. 352 00:18:25,380 --> 00:18:27,220 But we've just had a stroke of luck - 353 00:18:27,220 --> 00:18:30,540 Filipa had a phone call about 15 minutes ago saying that a pod 354 00:18:30,540 --> 00:18:32,940 of killer whales have been spotted just off the tip 355 00:18:32,940 --> 00:18:34,860 of the peninsula that we're heading to now. 356 00:18:40,180 --> 00:18:42,980 Well, we've just arrived on the peninsula where we had the 357 00:18:42,980 --> 00:18:45,020 killer whale sighting reported. 358 00:18:45,020 --> 00:18:47,780 We're with Alexa, a colleague of Filipa's, 359 00:18:47,780 --> 00:18:50,420 who got the call through about an hour ago. 360 00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:52,020 Haven't seen them yet. 361 00:18:53,580 --> 00:18:56,540 Alexa managed to spot them so we're just waiting for them 362 00:18:56,540 --> 00:18:57,860 to come up again. 363 00:18:59,620 --> 00:19:01,100 Despite the conditions, 364 00:19:01,100 --> 00:19:04,060 the team's patience is rewarded with a sighting. 365 00:19:05,540 --> 00:19:06,580 We have killer whales. 366 00:19:09,020 --> 00:19:10,700 I wasn't even looking for it, then, 367 00:19:10,700 --> 00:19:13,460 and just behind, the huge black dorsal fin just went... 368 00:19:15,060 --> 00:19:16,780 But it was such a fleeting glimpse, 369 00:19:16,780 --> 00:19:20,500 they didn't manage to capture it on camera. 370 00:19:20,500 --> 00:19:25,060 Two of us saw them, so not going crazy, but they're just too far away 371 00:19:25,060 --> 00:19:27,740 and the conditions are too rough to make them out with the camera, 372 00:19:27,740 --> 00:19:32,140 so on the boat tomorrow, hopefully we'll have better luck then. 373 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:36,540 Day two, and hopes are high. 374 00:19:38,100 --> 00:19:40,380 We woke up this morning to this. 375 00:19:40,380 --> 00:19:42,420 It's like an absolute mill pond here today. 376 00:19:44,460 --> 00:19:49,300 When the sea is smooth, it's much easier to spot a whale. 377 00:19:49,300 --> 00:19:53,780 The telltale signs are a dorsal fin or a breath from the blowhole. 378 00:19:55,660 --> 00:19:58,220 An adult killer whale has a huge appetite, 379 00:19:58,220 --> 00:20:01,540 and salmon, herring and seal are all on the menu. 380 00:20:01,540 --> 00:20:04,260 However, little is known about their range, 381 00:20:04,260 --> 00:20:06,300 so they can be difficult to find. 382 00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:09,620 After seven hours' searching, and with the light fading, 383 00:20:09,620 --> 00:20:11,580 the boat has to turn back. 384 00:20:13,500 --> 00:20:18,180 So we've been out on the water for hours now. And, um... 385 00:20:18,180 --> 00:20:19,900 ..still no luck. 386 00:20:19,900 --> 00:20:22,860 Filipa, is that normal? 387 00:20:22,860 --> 00:20:26,180 Actually, we used to see them here very regularly 388 00:20:26,180 --> 00:20:27,780 and it's only recently, 389 00:20:27,780 --> 00:20:31,220 because of the herring changing its distribution, 390 00:20:31,220 --> 00:20:33,660 the whales are found further and further offshore, 391 00:20:33,660 --> 00:20:37,060 and it's much, much rarer to see them inside these fjords. 392 00:20:39,860 --> 00:20:43,220 We knew it was a long shot. They haven't seen them in two weeks. 393 00:20:43,220 --> 00:20:44,620 It wasn't our day. 394 00:20:45,740 --> 00:20:47,180 We got our hopes up this morning. 395 00:20:47,180 --> 00:20:51,060 You know, woke up, was flat calm, beautiful, but... 396 00:20:52,260 --> 00:20:53,660 ..yeah, wasn't our day. 397 00:20:55,380 --> 00:20:58,660 Trying to get a shot of a creature as elusive as a killer whale 398 00:20:58,660 --> 00:21:00,820 is always a challenge. 399 00:21:00,820 --> 00:21:02,700 Although unsuccessful this time, 400 00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:06,780 the trip still provides valuable data for Filipa. 401 00:21:06,780 --> 00:21:09,420 Killer whales are an apex predator, 402 00:21:09,420 --> 00:21:12,980 and their movements are a clue to the health of the seas. 403 00:21:17,340 --> 00:21:20,300 It might surprise you to know that we have resident killer whales 404 00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:22,220 living off our coasts as well, 405 00:21:22,220 --> 00:21:24,540 but it's with a heavy heart that I say this 406 00:21:24,540 --> 00:21:27,020 because the populations here haven't bred for decades 407 00:21:27,020 --> 00:21:29,540 and that's because pollutants in the water 408 00:21:29,540 --> 00:21:31,980 are disrupting their reproductive cycles. 409 00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:34,660 These pollutants really affect marine mammals 410 00:21:34,660 --> 00:21:37,420 because they're stored in the fats and, of course, marine mammals 411 00:21:37,420 --> 00:21:41,100 need their fats in order to stay warm in the water. 412 00:21:41,100 --> 00:21:43,940 The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust are keeping a close eye 413 00:21:43,940 --> 00:21:45,780 on how these populations are doing. 414 00:21:45,780 --> 00:21:48,340 They're monitoring them from strandings on beaches 415 00:21:48,340 --> 00:21:50,300 and sightings out at sea as well. 416 00:21:50,300 --> 00:21:53,220 But what isn't known is how many whales and dolphins 417 00:21:53,220 --> 00:21:56,020 actually live here, especially during the winter months. 418 00:21:56,020 --> 00:21:59,060 Now that is changing and the Blue Planet UK cameras 419 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:01,780 were invited to join them on an early research trip. 420 00:22:05,220 --> 00:22:07,740 Tobermory Harbour, on the Isle of Mull, 421 00:22:07,740 --> 00:22:09,900 is a natural bay that provides shelter 422 00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:12,660 from the worst that the North Atlantic throws at it. 423 00:22:14,260 --> 00:22:17,940 But it's also the base for a very special vessel. 424 00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:18,980 The Silurian. 425 00:22:20,900 --> 00:22:25,420 Since 2002, this boat has sailed the Hebridean seas, 426 00:22:25,420 --> 00:22:29,500 surveying marine life for the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. 427 00:22:31,260 --> 00:22:34,460 It's a really special part of the world 428 00:22:34,460 --> 00:22:36,220 because we have this oceanic shelf 429 00:22:36,220 --> 00:22:40,740 and a lot of the currents upwelling there bring rich nutrients up, 430 00:22:40,740 --> 00:22:43,460 so there's a lot of important feeding 431 00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:46,380 for the whales, the dolphins in this area 432 00:22:46,380 --> 00:22:51,460 and they're really key indicators of the health of the area as well. 433 00:22:52,500 --> 00:22:57,500 There are 23 species of cetacean that can be found in the Hebrides. 434 00:22:57,500 --> 00:22:58,660 Coming up! 435 00:22:59,700 --> 00:23:02,260 That's a quarter of the world's species. 436 00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:09,380 The Trust monitor trends and changes in their populations. 437 00:23:11,700 --> 00:23:14,780 This is a dedicated, long-term project, 438 00:23:14,780 --> 00:23:18,940 and the researchers are helped on every trip by groups of volunteers. 439 00:23:20,860 --> 00:23:25,460 Sighting, harbour porpoise. 440 00:23:25,460 --> 00:23:26,700 Harbour porpoise. 441 00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:28,300 300 degrees. 300. 442 00:23:29,420 --> 00:23:32,660 To provide a year-round picture of these animals, 443 00:23:32,660 --> 00:23:37,580 the team started winter surveying for the first time this January. 444 00:23:37,580 --> 00:23:41,980 But surveying at this time of year has its problems. 445 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:45,460 It's a bit difficult because we've got some whitecaps on the water, 446 00:23:45,460 --> 00:23:48,940 which means that it's harder to see a splash from a dolphin 447 00:23:48,940 --> 00:23:52,180 or even a blow as they come up to breathe. 448 00:23:53,940 --> 00:23:58,140 To combat this, the team uses an underwater audio recorder 449 00:23:58,140 --> 00:23:59,660 called a hydrophone. 450 00:23:59,660 --> 00:24:02,260 This records a constant stream of sound, 451 00:24:02,260 --> 00:24:04,900 so even if the team cannot see the animals, 452 00:24:04,900 --> 00:24:06,740 they'll be able to hear them. 453 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:10,260 So you can see here, 454 00:24:10,260 --> 00:24:13,700 due to the very distinct waveform that you see here, 455 00:24:13,700 --> 00:24:16,500 it's also said heard at a particular frequency, 456 00:24:16,500 --> 00:24:18,540 so you can tell by this spike here 457 00:24:18,540 --> 00:24:21,300 that it's definitely a harbour porpoise. 458 00:24:23,940 --> 00:24:29,660 Since 2002, the Silurian has recorded over 30,000 animals. 459 00:24:29,660 --> 00:24:34,420 Where possible, the team photograph the dorsal fins and tail flukes, 460 00:24:34,420 --> 00:24:38,300 allowing them to identify and track the movements of individuals. 461 00:24:40,420 --> 00:24:43,540 This here is a picture of Knobble the minke whale. 462 00:24:43,540 --> 00:24:45,340 So he's a bit of a local celebrity. 463 00:24:45,340 --> 00:24:48,420 We've seen him for 16 years in a row 464 00:24:48,420 --> 00:24:50,460 and, yeah, he was seen again this year. 465 00:24:50,460 --> 00:24:54,340 So shows you how important the Hebrides are for minke whales 466 00:24:54,340 --> 00:24:56,300 that he's coming back year after year. 467 00:24:57,700 --> 00:25:00,820 This long-term monitoring has also revealed changes 468 00:25:00,820 --> 00:25:02,820 in the species that are seen here. 469 00:25:04,180 --> 00:25:07,220 At the start of our surveys we didn't have many sightings 470 00:25:07,220 --> 00:25:08,980 of common dolphins at all. 471 00:25:08,980 --> 00:25:12,900 In fact, in 2004 we didn't have a sighting of common dolphins. 472 00:25:12,900 --> 00:25:16,180 And our sightings increased by 20 times. 473 00:25:16,180 --> 00:25:19,460 We do know that the water temperatures in the Hebrides 474 00:25:19,460 --> 00:25:22,540 have risen by half a degree. For common dolphins 475 00:25:22,540 --> 00:25:26,020 that means that their northern limit might just be extending upwards. 476 00:25:27,380 --> 00:25:32,260 But it's not just the temperature of the sea that has changed over time. 477 00:25:32,260 --> 00:25:35,980 Our seas are becoming increasingly noisy, busy, 478 00:25:35,980 --> 00:25:37,580 from increased shipping 479 00:25:37,580 --> 00:25:40,620 through to fishing activity, and that's important 480 00:25:40,620 --> 00:25:43,860 for whales and dolphins, for us to understand that, 481 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:46,980 because they rely on sound to navigate, to communicate, 482 00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:49,300 or finding where the fish are to eat. 483 00:25:49,300 --> 00:25:53,900 It's research like this that the Trust hopes will help create 484 00:25:53,900 --> 00:25:57,580 safer seas for our Hebridean cetaceans. 485 00:25:57,580 --> 00:26:00,460 Their data has already helped establish 486 00:26:00,460 --> 00:26:04,660 several marine protected areas, with more in the pipeline. 487 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:06,380 Whales and dolphins are really important 488 00:26:06,380 --> 00:26:08,300 cos they're right at the top of the food chain. 489 00:26:08,300 --> 00:26:10,380 They're what we call an umbrella species 490 00:26:10,380 --> 00:26:12,820 so if we can put measures in place to protect them 491 00:26:12,820 --> 00:26:15,740 we can protect everything that sits beneath them as well. 492 00:26:27,260 --> 00:26:28,500 You know, it's so amazing 493 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:31,860 watching all the fishermen getting on their business in the harbour 494 00:26:31,860 --> 00:26:34,300 and the gulls picking their way in between that. 495 00:26:34,300 --> 00:26:36,540 You've got all the boats going on over there, 496 00:26:36,540 --> 00:26:39,460 I've got all the birds over here. There's hundreds of herring gulls, 497 00:26:39,460 --> 00:26:43,100 look, on that ridge - it's so pretty and tranquil. 498 00:26:43,100 --> 00:26:45,700 This is a pretty special place. 499 00:26:45,700 --> 00:26:50,220 I feel doubly lucky because recently I got to pick apart the history 500 00:26:50,220 --> 00:26:52,540 of another huge Mecca for birds. 501 00:26:55,740 --> 00:27:01,140 Bempton Cliffs is home to the UK's largest mainland seabird colony. 502 00:27:01,140 --> 00:27:05,500 Between March and October, around half a million birds 503 00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:08,740 gather here to breed and raise their young. 504 00:27:10,340 --> 00:27:12,500 Gannets, guillemots and puffins 505 00:27:12,500 --> 00:27:15,180 all harbour here throughout the summer months, 506 00:27:15,180 --> 00:27:17,820 attracting visitors from across the nation. 507 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:21,660 SEABIRDS CALL 508 00:27:21,660 --> 00:27:25,180 Rewind 150 years, and the birds were attracting attention 509 00:27:25,180 --> 00:27:27,260 for a very different reason. 510 00:27:27,260 --> 00:27:31,820 Their eggs were being harvested in a practice known as climming. 511 00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:39,500 Men would hang from ropes to harvest the seabird eggs 512 00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:43,580 with nothing but hats filled with straw to protect them. 513 00:27:45,220 --> 00:27:48,660 It was a local tradition with the eggs being both eaten 514 00:27:48,660 --> 00:27:50,300 and sold as souvenirs. 515 00:27:53,260 --> 00:27:56,940 I'm meeting with RSPB volunteer Alan... 516 00:27:56,940 --> 00:27:59,860 How are you? Very well, thank you. Lovely to see you. 517 00:27:59,860 --> 00:28:03,020 ..who has researched the history surrounding the cliffs. 518 00:28:04,660 --> 00:28:09,620 Climming is climbing the cliffs in local dialect. 519 00:28:09,620 --> 00:28:11,220 Ah! So they called themselves 520 00:28:11,220 --> 00:28:14,780 the climmers. And the eggs that were most collected 521 00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:17,500 were the large eggs of the guillemot. 522 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:20,180 But each egg is individually patterned 523 00:28:20,180 --> 00:28:22,460 so they were highly collectible. 524 00:28:22,460 --> 00:28:27,380 But there's something else that had a big impact on the colony, 525 00:28:27,380 --> 00:28:30,740 around 1830, when the first steamer pleasure boats arrived 526 00:28:30,740 --> 00:28:35,740 at Scarborough. Then the so-called sportsmen of the age 527 00:28:35,740 --> 00:28:38,660 would come from all areas of the UK, 528 00:28:38,660 --> 00:28:42,540 charter the boat and bring it under the cliff here 529 00:28:42,540 --> 00:28:44,860 and shoot the birds out of the sky. 530 00:28:44,860 --> 00:28:46,660 Literally thousands of them. 531 00:28:46,660 --> 00:28:48,460 This bombardment must have 532 00:28:48,460 --> 00:28:51,340 really put the colony under a lot of stress. 533 00:28:51,340 --> 00:28:53,740 Of course it did. Yes, tremendous stress. 534 00:28:56,380 --> 00:28:59,420 It wasn't just the seabird colony that was devastated 535 00:28:59,420 --> 00:29:01,260 by the mass shootings. 536 00:29:01,260 --> 00:29:04,700 Reverend HF Barnes-Lawrence became deeply concerned 537 00:29:04,700 --> 00:29:07,340 by what was happening to both the seabirds 538 00:29:07,340 --> 00:29:09,700 and the reputation of the community. 539 00:29:11,140 --> 00:29:12,420 He gathered support 540 00:29:12,420 --> 00:29:16,260 and formed The Association for the Protection of Sea Birds. 541 00:29:19,820 --> 00:29:23,180 He contacted the local MP, Christopher Sykes, 542 00:29:23,180 --> 00:29:25,860 and together, they put together a bill 543 00:29:25,860 --> 00:29:29,540 that Christopher Sykes would put before Parliament, 544 00:29:29,540 --> 00:29:32,180 and on the third reading of that bill, 545 00:29:32,180 --> 00:29:35,460 it was enshrined in law in 1869. 546 00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:40,780 This prevented the birds from being shot during their breeding season, 547 00:29:40,780 --> 00:29:43,340 and it was a milestone for wildlife protection, 548 00:29:43,340 --> 00:29:46,780 being one of the very first of its kind in the UK. 549 00:29:48,620 --> 00:29:51,220 However, climming continued. 550 00:29:51,220 --> 00:29:55,260 But there was a shift in attitudes towards the seabirds 551 00:29:55,260 --> 00:29:58,300 and the practice was made illegal in 1954. 552 00:29:58,300 --> 00:30:00,740 SEABIRDS CALL 553 00:30:00,740 --> 00:30:04,740 And 50 years ago, the RSPB started managing the site, 554 00:30:04,740 --> 00:30:08,940 and now the seabird colony is going from strength to strength. 555 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:13,260 Without the dedication of people past and present, 556 00:30:13,260 --> 00:30:15,940 the seabird colony wouldn't be thriving today. 557 00:30:15,940 --> 00:30:19,180 Quite a spectacular view of not just seabirds 558 00:30:19,180 --> 00:30:22,140 but the Yorkshire coast. Oh, my word! 559 00:30:22,140 --> 00:30:25,460 From the Reverend Barnes-Lawrence in the 19th century 560 00:30:25,460 --> 00:30:28,540 to the current warden, Dave Aitken. 561 00:30:28,540 --> 00:30:30,540 What species have we got down there? 562 00:30:30,540 --> 00:30:33,140 We have got a huge number of guillemots today, and then 563 00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:36,220 some of their closely related cousins, we've got razorbills. 564 00:30:36,220 --> 00:30:38,660 Got gannets, we've got fulmars, 565 00:30:38,660 --> 00:30:41,980 and then even out to sea we've got a few kittiwakes today. 566 00:30:41,980 --> 00:30:45,260 What sort of numbers are you expecting at the peak? 567 00:30:45,260 --> 00:30:48,060 At the height of the season there can be in excess of 568 00:30:48,060 --> 00:30:50,740 half a million seabirds on this stretch of coast. Half a million. 569 00:30:50,740 --> 00:30:53,220 Yep, and you can look down this stretch of coast 570 00:30:53,220 --> 00:30:55,620 and it can look like a seabird snowglobe. 571 00:30:55,620 --> 00:30:58,580 Aww, that paints such a nice picture! 572 00:30:58,580 --> 00:31:01,100 You can see them already courting and fighting, 573 00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:03,820 and that's just going to get more intense, isn't it? 574 00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:06,540 Yep, this is the tip of the iceberg. Wow. 575 00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:10,380 The colony depends on the sea for its food, 576 00:31:10,380 --> 00:31:13,980 but diving for fish has always been fraught with danger. 577 00:31:13,980 --> 00:31:17,660 Fishing nets were historically one of the biggest problems, 578 00:31:17,660 --> 00:31:19,860 being almost invisible underwater. 579 00:31:19,860 --> 00:31:23,700 Hundreds of birds were caught and drowned in them each year. 580 00:31:27,620 --> 00:31:31,220 Rex Harrison has worked these waters his whole life, 581 00:31:31,220 --> 00:31:34,860 but a few years ago, he decided enough was enough. 582 00:31:36,380 --> 00:31:40,300 He joined with local fishermen to find ways of reducing their impact 583 00:31:40,300 --> 00:31:43,980 on the seabird population, starting with their nets. 584 00:31:46,220 --> 00:31:48,860 This is a ghost net. 585 00:31:48,860 --> 00:31:51,420 I don't know, you can't see it in the sun. 586 00:31:51,420 --> 00:31:55,620 It's deadly to anything that's in the sea. 587 00:31:55,620 --> 00:32:01,020 Instead of having 200 or 300 yards of this stuff, 588 00:32:01,020 --> 00:32:06,140 we've got that cut down now to 20, 25 yards a boat. 589 00:32:06,140 --> 00:32:09,820 We've gone to, like, a black netting now 590 00:32:09,820 --> 00:32:12,100 which the birds can see. 591 00:32:12,100 --> 00:32:16,300 The net that we will be using this year will be 90-odd percent that. 592 00:32:16,300 --> 00:32:19,900 We monitor the net all the time it's in the sea. 593 00:32:19,900 --> 00:32:21,780 It's never left alone. 594 00:32:21,780 --> 00:32:27,060 If we do get a bird in it, we can release it within minutes, alive. 595 00:32:27,060 --> 00:32:30,580 Another thing is that on some of the nets had white corks, 596 00:32:30,580 --> 00:32:32,620 which are like this. This white cork, 597 00:32:32,620 --> 00:32:34,300 when it's floating in the water 598 00:32:34,300 --> 00:32:37,540 it looks like a line of guillemots and razorbills feeding. 599 00:32:37,540 --> 00:32:42,140 So was that attracting them to the net? 600 00:32:42,140 --> 00:32:45,220 So we've actually started to change 601 00:32:45,220 --> 00:32:48,820 the different coloured corks on the net. 602 00:32:48,820 --> 00:32:53,020 The other thing it's working well with is now we've got mobile phones 603 00:32:53,020 --> 00:32:54,460 and we're talking to each other, 604 00:32:54,460 --> 00:32:56,700 we can monitor those birds among ourselves, 605 00:32:56,700 --> 00:33:01,020 especially in the morning, and we pass on information to each other. 606 00:33:01,020 --> 00:33:03,740 "Don't bother coming here. We're coming back in to the bay. 607 00:33:03,740 --> 00:33:06,900 "There's too many birds, there's too much feed, 608 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:08,700 "we're keeping well clear." 609 00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:13,660 Thanks to new fishing methods adopted here in Filey, 610 00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:17,740 bird deaths have dramatically reduced by around 98% 611 00:33:17,740 --> 00:33:21,220 from over 700 to just 15 a year per boat, 612 00:33:21,220 --> 00:33:24,620 and each boat is still catching the same number of fish. 613 00:33:26,140 --> 00:33:30,180 The fishermen in Filey want to make the last, the littlest impact. 614 00:33:30,180 --> 00:33:32,340 Just target the sea trout, 615 00:33:32,340 --> 00:33:36,780 and everything else we want to eliminate from getting in the nets. 616 00:33:36,780 --> 00:33:39,460 Why are you making all this effort, Rex? 617 00:33:41,900 --> 00:33:44,940 If we don't look after nature, nobody else will. 618 00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:49,220 My grandchildren said we can't carry on like this, 619 00:33:49,220 --> 00:33:51,900 and that was one of the key things. 620 00:33:51,900 --> 00:33:53,620 You should be so proud. 621 00:33:53,620 --> 00:33:56,100 The changes that you're making 622 00:33:56,100 --> 00:33:59,660 not just to restore and keep the birds here 623 00:33:59,660 --> 00:34:03,620 but changing the way that the people in Filey think. 624 00:34:03,620 --> 00:34:04,980 No, no, it wants to go further. 625 00:34:04,980 --> 00:34:08,020 We want to change the way people think around the world. 626 00:34:11,140 --> 00:34:14,980 The story of Bempton Cliffs is an inspirational tale 627 00:34:14,980 --> 00:34:18,020 all about changes in attitude, right from the Reverend 628 00:34:18,020 --> 00:34:20,780 up to the modern day, with people like Rex 629 00:34:20,780 --> 00:34:23,980 adapting their practices to save the seabirds. 630 00:34:23,980 --> 00:34:28,740 And with the number of birds nesting on the cliffs increasing every year, 631 00:34:28,740 --> 00:34:31,500 I'm sure it's going to be a story set to continue 632 00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:32,900 for many years to come. 633 00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:34,700 SEABIRDS CALL 634 00:34:38,620 --> 00:34:40,420 Steve. A-ha! 635 00:34:40,420 --> 00:34:43,980 You were looking at the tradition of collecting seabird eggs, 636 00:34:43,980 --> 00:34:46,020 but there's another Victorian tradition 637 00:34:46,020 --> 00:34:47,820 that's gone out of fashion, and that's... 638 00:34:49,220 --> 00:34:51,300 ..eating whelks. A-ha, whelks! 639 00:34:51,300 --> 00:34:54,860 Now, you know, I've never had a whelk myself, 640 00:34:54,860 --> 00:34:57,860 but what I understand is after they've been pickled 641 00:34:57,860 --> 00:35:01,220 they're very vinegary and very tough to chew. 642 00:35:01,220 --> 00:35:04,100 But nonetheless they were still a Victorian delicacy 643 00:35:04,100 --> 00:35:06,700 and around London they used to sell 'em in wheelbarrows, 644 00:35:06,700 --> 00:35:08,780 would you believe, and everyone would have them 645 00:35:08,780 --> 00:35:10,540 after they'd had a night out on the gin, 646 00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:13,060 almost like a Victorian doner kebab. 647 00:35:13,060 --> 00:35:14,500 I love that! 648 00:35:14,500 --> 00:35:17,020 Well, they may not be to everyone's taste any more, 649 00:35:17,020 --> 00:35:19,620 but they really have a fascinating life history, 650 00:35:19,620 --> 00:35:22,780 as The One Show's Miranda Krestovnikoff found out. 651 00:35:24,420 --> 00:35:26,580 We often find British beaches 652 00:35:26,580 --> 00:35:29,940 littered with a weird lifeless spongy debris. 653 00:35:29,940 --> 00:35:33,260 You might have seen these rather strange-looking clumps 654 00:35:33,260 --> 00:35:35,500 lying on our beaches, especially after storms, 655 00:35:35,500 --> 00:35:39,340 and wondered what on Earth they are. This is known as a sea wash ball, 656 00:35:39,340 --> 00:35:42,780 because back in the day, sailors used to use them as sponges. 657 00:35:42,780 --> 00:35:45,620 But it is in fact the beginning of a story 658 00:35:45,620 --> 00:35:48,980 of a rather unusual creature from beneath our waves. 659 00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:52,220 Using a tube-shaped organ called a siphon, 660 00:35:52,220 --> 00:35:54,860 whelks sniff out their prey. 661 00:35:54,860 --> 00:35:59,340 With razor-sharp teeth, they can bore holes in a barnacle shell 662 00:35:59,340 --> 00:36:01,740 and suck out their insides. 663 00:36:01,740 --> 00:36:03,900 And with this large muscular foot, 664 00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:07,060 they can pin down and suffocate cockles. 665 00:36:08,940 --> 00:36:13,260 But it takes up to six years for whelks to reach this size, 666 00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:19,940 and life for them begins in the comfort of the spongy sea wash ball. 667 00:36:19,940 --> 00:36:22,900 Capturing the life cycle of the whelk in the wild 668 00:36:22,900 --> 00:36:25,700 would be impossible. But at Bangor University, 669 00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:29,780 Professor Chris Richardson and his team have been breeding them. 670 00:36:31,140 --> 00:36:34,980 This offered us the chance to film some remarkable whelk behaviour 671 00:36:34,980 --> 00:36:36,700 for the very first time. 672 00:36:37,740 --> 00:36:39,060 With no way of predicting 673 00:36:39,060 --> 00:36:41,820 the exact moment the females would start spawning, 674 00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:46,220 we rigged a time-lapse camera over the university's whelk tanks. 675 00:36:46,220 --> 00:36:48,540 And our patience paid off. 676 00:36:52,460 --> 00:36:56,340 Over the course of a couple of hours several female whelks came together 677 00:36:56,340 --> 00:36:59,580 to spawn, creating the characteristic sea wash ball. 678 00:37:01,140 --> 00:37:04,460 Three months on, the egg capsules we filmed being laid 679 00:37:04,460 --> 00:37:06,140 are almost ready to hatch. 680 00:37:08,340 --> 00:37:11,340 Chris and his team have rigged a camera to a microscope 681 00:37:11,340 --> 00:37:13,540 so I can take a closer look. 682 00:37:13,540 --> 00:37:17,700 I can count the baby snails through the wall of the egg capsule. 683 00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:23,420 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, maybe eight in there. 684 00:37:23,420 --> 00:37:27,620 So how many eggs would have actually been laid inside that capsule? 685 00:37:27,620 --> 00:37:29,860 Something like 1,000, perhaps, depending on the size 686 00:37:29,860 --> 00:37:32,380 of the female and the size of the capsule itself. 687 00:37:32,380 --> 00:37:35,140 So if the female has laid around about 1,000 eggs 688 00:37:35,140 --> 00:37:38,860 in that particular egg capsule and we've only counted eight, 689 00:37:38,860 --> 00:37:41,500 what's happened to the other 992? Where have they gone? 690 00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:44,340 When the female lays the eggs in the capsule, 691 00:37:44,340 --> 00:37:48,060 those eggs or nurse cells provide the nutrition - food - 692 00:37:48,060 --> 00:37:50,220 for the developing juvenile wells. 693 00:37:50,220 --> 00:37:52,940 And so you end up with just a few developing 694 00:37:52,940 --> 00:37:55,500 and then feeding on those nurse cells. 695 00:37:55,500 --> 00:37:59,580 After months of patience, the team eventually captured the moment 696 00:37:59,580 --> 00:38:02,860 when a whelk began emerging from the egg capsule - 697 00:38:02,860 --> 00:38:06,820 a chance for us to see for the very first time 698 00:38:06,820 --> 00:38:09,660 what happens when a whelk comes into the world. 699 00:38:13,420 --> 00:38:16,260 And this is what emerges from that egg capsule, 700 00:38:16,260 --> 00:38:19,060 and it's absolutely tiny, it's barely a millimetre long. 701 00:38:19,060 --> 00:38:22,860 But it really is a miniature version of an adult whelk. 702 00:38:22,860 --> 00:38:24,740 If you look at an adult whelk shell, 703 00:38:24,740 --> 00:38:27,380 you'll see this tiny infant shell right at the tip, 704 00:38:27,380 --> 00:38:30,780 because as it grows the shell is laid down in whirls. 705 00:38:30,780 --> 00:38:33,220 But when you're this size, you're going to be on the menu 706 00:38:33,220 --> 00:38:35,020 for all sorts of different predators. 707 00:38:35,020 --> 00:38:36,660 If this tiny whelk is lucky, 708 00:38:36,660 --> 00:38:39,820 it's going to grow to many thousands of times its size 709 00:38:39,820 --> 00:38:42,980 in its lifetime and become a formidable predator 710 00:38:42,980 --> 00:38:44,500 like this one here. 711 00:38:49,860 --> 00:38:51,900 What extraordinary little animals! 712 00:38:51,900 --> 00:38:54,660 And whelks are even helping us to understand 713 00:38:54,660 --> 00:38:57,420 how our activity is affecting the sea floor. 714 00:39:01,140 --> 00:39:05,420 St Abbs is home to an extraordinary laboratory that studies how 715 00:39:05,420 --> 00:39:09,140 human offshore development affects the creatures that live there. 716 00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:16,220 Wow, this looks all very hi-tech. 717 00:39:16,220 --> 00:39:18,300 Very, very impressive. 718 00:39:19,340 --> 00:39:23,100 This contraption uses high-voltage wires to recreate 719 00:39:23,100 --> 00:39:26,580 the electromagnetic fields experienced by the animals 720 00:39:26,580 --> 00:39:30,460 living near power cables that run along the seabed. 721 00:39:30,460 --> 00:39:32,980 There's lots of tanks bubbling around here 722 00:39:32,980 --> 00:39:36,340 and I can see whelk eggs in there. Can we take a look at those? Yes. 723 00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:40,020 Wow, they're beautiful. So why do whelks 724 00:39:40,020 --> 00:39:42,780 make such good study subjects for this experiment? 725 00:39:42,780 --> 00:39:46,180 They're species where eggs could be laid on cables 726 00:39:46,180 --> 00:39:49,420 and they don't move. And the results do show 727 00:39:49,420 --> 00:39:53,380 that there is a higher rate of defective eggs. 728 00:39:53,380 --> 00:39:56,140 So we're not getting quite as successful a hatch 729 00:39:56,140 --> 00:39:59,020 as when they are not in an electromagnetic field. 730 00:39:59,020 --> 00:40:04,060 So whelk eggs don't move. but lots of seabed creatures do. 731 00:40:04,060 --> 00:40:06,060 And in fact things like crabs and lobsters 732 00:40:06,060 --> 00:40:07,540 can navigate huge distances. 733 00:40:07,540 --> 00:40:10,700 And I just noticed you have a lobster in there. Yes. 734 00:40:10,700 --> 00:40:14,420 Oh, my goodness. I can tell you that is a feisty lobster. 735 00:40:14,420 --> 00:40:17,140 They'll have an internal compass. And what we've found is 736 00:40:17,140 --> 00:40:19,660 that is impacted by these subsea power cables 737 00:40:19,660 --> 00:40:23,380 and they are drawn to these cables like magnets. Wow. 738 00:40:25,020 --> 00:40:27,900 Disorientated lobsters aren't the only species 739 00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:29,620 stressed by human activity. 740 00:40:29,620 --> 00:40:32,460 We're building more and more on the seabed 741 00:40:32,460 --> 00:40:35,500 and in St Abbs, scientists are studying the effect that 742 00:40:35,500 --> 00:40:37,820 that's having on our marine life. 743 00:40:39,260 --> 00:40:42,860 So these nice relaxed hermit crabs right now are what we're looking at. 744 00:40:42,860 --> 00:40:45,260 At the moment. What are we going to do to them? 745 00:40:45,260 --> 00:40:48,860 So we're interested in the effect of pile-driving vibrations. 746 00:40:48,860 --> 00:40:52,460 Pile-driving is associated with the construction of offshore wind farms. 747 00:40:52,460 --> 00:40:56,740 It basically involves hitting a steel pole into the seabed. 748 00:40:56,740 --> 00:40:59,460 So this experiment here is trying to replicate that. 749 00:40:59,460 --> 00:41:01,580 A laptop has a recording of the pile-driving 750 00:41:01,580 --> 00:41:03,300 which runs through some amplifiers 751 00:41:03,300 --> 00:41:06,060 and from the amplifiers it goes to this shaker table here. 752 00:41:06,060 --> 00:41:08,500 So basically you're about to rock their world. 753 00:41:08,500 --> 00:41:10,660 That's what we're about to do. OK! 754 00:41:10,660 --> 00:41:14,580 PLAYS RECORDING OF PILE-DRIVING 755 00:41:14,580 --> 00:41:18,100 So they were sitting still before. We're seeing increased activity. 756 00:41:18,100 --> 00:41:20,180 The hermit crabs are sensing the vibration, 757 00:41:20,180 --> 00:41:23,500 they're wondering what's going on, basically. Is there danger nearby? 758 00:41:23,500 --> 00:41:26,780 They want to get out of this area to an area that's less disturbed. 759 00:41:26,780 --> 00:41:30,260 The interesting question is if you were to expose them multiple times, 760 00:41:30,260 --> 00:41:33,180 does that response diminish? Do they get used to it over time? 761 00:41:33,180 --> 00:41:36,260 And that's what we're trying to find out with these experiments here. 762 00:41:36,260 --> 00:41:38,980 Is it a stressful experience to them? How do you measure that? 763 00:41:38,980 --> 00:41:41,780 If a crab's happy to be in one place, it will stay in one place. 764 00:41:41,780 --> 00:41:43,500 If it's not, it will start moving around, 765 00:41:43,500 --> 00:41:45,020 looking for somewhere else to be. 766 00:41:45,020 --> 00:41:47,300 But there's a range of other things that you can look at. 767 00:41:47,300 --> 00:41:49,340 You can look at the flicking rate of antennules, 768 00:41:49,340 --> 00:41:50,660 between the eyes of the crab. 769 00:41:50,660 --> 00:41:53,300 The rate of the flicking will reduce if the crab's stressed. 770 00:41:53,300 --> 00:41:55,860 Should we give them a break and turn it off? 771 00:41:55,860 --> 00:41:58,340 It's really fascinating to see their reaction, 772 00:41:58,340 --> 00:42:00,580 but what is the implication in the real world? 773 00:42:00,580 --> 00:42:02,820 What we're researching here 774 00:42:02,820 --> 00:42:07,060 might go towards mitigation for construction such as wind farms 775 00:42:07,060 --> 00:42:08,780 and offshore industry, 776 00:42:08,780 --> 00:42:11,900 but also just learning how animals cope with these, 777 00:42:11,900 --> 00:42:16,580 and hopefully use that information to help protect our oceans and seas. 778 00:42:19,340 --> 00:42:20,940 Well, that's certainly going to 779 00:42:20,940 --> 00:42:23,300 make me think differently when I look out to sea. 780 00:42:23,300 --> 00:42:27,980 Now let's have a look at some of the photos you've been taking 781 00:42:27,980 --> 00:42:31,300 of what inspires you about our British coastline. 782 00:42:38,260 --> 00:42:39,940 Thank you for those stunning photos. 783 00:42:39,940 --> 00:42:41,740 Weren't they great? Weren't they just? 784 00:42:41,740 --> 00:42:45,140 And tomorrow we're going to be down on my home patch in Kent, 785 00:42:45,140 --> 00:42:46,980 looking at the coastlines along there. 786 00:42:46,980 --> 00:42:49,260 We have only just begun to dip our toes into 787 00:42:49,260 --> 00:42:52,780 what's wonderful about British waters, so don't miss it. 788 00:42:54,340 --> 00:42:56,940 Tomorrow on Blue Planet UK... 789 00:42:56,940 --> 00:42:59,020 Go on. 790 00:42:59,020 --> 00:43:03,060 ..I take my family on a mission of prehistoric proportions. 791 00:43:04,700 --> 00:43:06,420 That's a good 'un, innit? 792 00:43:06,420 --> 00:43:10,500 Chris gets focused as he meets photographer Kirsty Andrews. 793 00:43:10,500 --> 00:43:14,260 Hiding underneath those waves are just a whole cast 794 00:43:14,260 --> 00:43:16,300 of the most amazing creatures. 795 00:43:16,300 --> 00:43:19,740 We get under the skin of a festering fatberg. 796 00:43:19,740 --> 00:43:24,260 It's the biggest one I've seen. It's probably about here. 797 00:43:24,260 --> 00:43:29,260 And our largest bird of prey is thriving on the Isle of Mull.