All language subtitles for wild01

The wildlife of Britain and Ireland

rivals that of any place
I have visited.

Powerful predators patrol
our coastlines

and mountain tops.

Intrepid travellers journey
for hundreds of miles to visit us,

and thousands regularly assemble
to create some of the most dramatic

of wildlife spectacles.

For centuries, these wild spaces
have fired our imagination

and established our identity.

EXCITED CHATTER
It is a kingfisher! Yes, yes, yes!

Nature makes you feel calm.

It makes you feel really good.

It's very magical.

What I love most about nature is
the interconnectedness of all life.

For generations, we have celebrated
the beauty of the natural world

right here at home.

I think it all starts
with paying attention.

And, while you're there,

sometimes the most incredible
things will happen.

And yet, as it
gradually disappeared,

we barely noticed the change.

I can remember as a little boy,

the biodiversity on farms
was just amazing.

The birdlife was out of this world
compared to today.

And now, suddenly,
it is nearly gone.

All I see is houses,
buildings, people.

Today, one quarter of all
our species of mammals

are at risk of extinction...

...as are one third of our birds.

In just 20 years, our flying
insects have declined by 60%.

We are now one of the most
nature-depleted countries

on the planet.

Too often, we have regarded nature
as something it's nice to have.

But in fact, it underpins everything
that makes our lives possible.

In this film,
we'll meet inspiring people,

young and old, who are working
to restore the natural world.

There's undoubtedly the feeling
that it's either nature,

or it's food production -
and never the twain shall meet.

And I think it's
the complete opposite of that.

And we'll discover that we all
need to urgently repair

our relationship with
the natural world.

Nature is yours.
Nature is everybody's.

We now have a few short years during
which we can still make a choice.

It's now at a point where
it's too important to get it wrong.

Where just enough remains of
the natural world for it to recover.

This starts and ends with us.

CURLEWS CALL

The haunting call of the curlew.

Though these isles are still home
to around a quarter

of the world's curlews,

this once familiar sound
is rarely heard today.

Over their long lives,
these birds rely on the rich

winter feeding grounds on the coast.

And in spring, curlew fly inland
to find the best place

to raise their young.

But each year,
the land beneath them changes.

It may be green and pleasant
seen from the ground,

but taking to the air
reveals a different truth.

It is green,
but this is not natural.

A curlew looking for a patch of
country wild enough to allow it

to make a nest finds mile upon
mile of identical fields.

In just a few decades,

our countryside has changed
beyond all recognition.

We have sprayed the land
with pesticides,

torn down miles of hedgerows,

and destroyed valuable
ancient woodlands.

Vast swathes of our countryside
that once thrummed with the sounds

of wildlife have now fallen silent.

But against the odds, this curlew
finds a spot to make her nest

on a remote upland farm.

It's not just the changes in farming
practises that affect curlew.

An increase in predators
and changes in the climate

have also drastically reduced
their chances.

Only a quarter of all our curlew
chicks survive their first year.

ENGINE APPROACHES

CURLEW CALLS

Today, in order to feed
the increasing numbers of livestock,

our grasslands are cut
many times a year,

making it ever harder for
ground-nesting birds like curlew.

In her lifetime,
the curlew numbers have halved.

But there is cause for hope.

Some of our upland farms
are trying a different approach.

In the olden days, if I'd seen
a flower in the meadow,

that would've been a bad thing.

I was educated very conventionally,
and I worked on a lot of farms

through the '90s.

And I was motivated by what all
the other farmers around me

were motivated by,
and that was about producing

as many lambs as I possibly could.

And the way we farmed was about
reducing the number of flowers,

and it was about getting as much
grass as we possibly could,

and it was about reseeding land
putting fertiliser on and spraying,

and all those kind of things.

My name is Neil Heseltine.

I'm a beef and sheep farmer,

and I farm here with
my partner, Leigh.

And we also have a daughter, Violet.

Neil lives and works
at Hill Top Farm, in Malham,

on the southern edge of
the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The Hill Top Farm is where
I was born and brought up

with my four sisters.

It's where my dad moved to
when he was 17, with his parents.

This is one of our
most beloved landscapes.

Shaped by nature and centuries
of farming,

it epitomises our image
of a green and pleasant land.

But, despite the view,

the outlook for wildlife here
has been bleak.

Sheep farming has dominated
the Yorkshire Dales for centuries.

Left unchecked, sheep can graze
plants down to the ground before

they've even had a chance
to establish themselves.

At its peak, Hill Top Farm was home
to more than 800 sheep -

and nature suffered as a result.

But 15 years ago,
a local conservation project

presented Neil with an opportunity
which was revolutionary.

It was that Limestone Country
Project that changed our whole

philosophy of how we farmed.

Neil reduced the flock to just 100,

and found some new recruits
that transformed his farm -

Belted Galloway cattle.

When they first came to the farm,
they did come with a bit

of a reputation, and I remember
the first eight arriving,

and we drove onto this 100-acre
field, and the back door

of the trailer went down,
and these heifers just shot out of

this trailer, ran across
a field, over the horizon.

I just thought, "We'll never
see those cattle again."

Neil's sheep had to be
kept inside over winter.

But Belted Galloways are
a hardy native breed

and are able to live
outdoors year round,

drastically reducing his costs.

What we've realised is just
how important they are

to everything that we do here.

We try and manage the Belties as
naturally as we possibly can.

We treat them in a way where
they are just part of the wildlife.

So, there's calves being born out
on the hill at the moment,

and there's leverets among them.

And there are other benefits.

Cows are less fussy than sheep.

They pull clumps of grass,

disturbing the ground as they do so,

and that allows wild flowers
to prosper.

This creates habitat for wildlife

and has been a revelation
for the Heseltines.

It just allowed nature
to express itself.

That was either botanically -

so we got more species
of flowers on the land,

and we also got more birds
that were able to use the habitat

that was on the farm.

By moving the herd around
in the summer,

the meadows have a chance
to grow tall before Neil

does a single late cut in August.

The undisturbed summer months
are crucial to the breeding success

of endangered ground-nesting birds.

And, much to the family's delight,

the call of the curlew
has returned to the farm.

It's just giving nature
that opportunity.

It has to be completely in balance,

and that's what we're
absolutely after here.

But what we started to realise
was that the more we put nature

at the forefront of what we did,

we realised that the profitability
of the farm improved, as well.

Not only is the farm
more profitable,

but by working with nature,

it now captures more
carbon than it releases.

And obviously, beef in particular,
but red meat in general

gets a bad reputation, in terms
of its impact upon the environment.

And we just feel that here,

we're bucking that trend
a little bit.

We actually think
it's a multiple-win situation -

whether that be
the business side of it,

whether that be the environment,
the climate change,

or even the animals themselves.

The Heseltines have shown
that farming can be profitable

while at the same time increasing
biodiversity and storing carbon.

But with a population
as large as ours,

small farms by themselves
can't feed everyone.

A third of our agricultural land
is used to grow crops.

Here in Suffolk, the Barker family
have been working the land

on a vast scale for decades.

We are a proper,
intensive arable farm.

Patrick and his cousin Brian
farm 1,300 acres of arable land.

We grow wheat, barley, herbage,
rye-grass, spring beans.

All those crops either go into
the food chain or go into industry.

As well as their high-yielding
crops, the Barkers have another way

by which they measure success
on the farm.

Biodiversity.

For us, the natural environment
is at the forefront

of everything we think about.

Our environmental impact is assessed
on every operation we do.

Barn owls came back in 2009,
and now we have five pairs breeding.

So, this year, they've all
successfully raised chicks.

Another healthy barn owl
on the farm.

In any year, I would expect
to record 400 species on this farm,

and that is birds, butterflies,
moths, dragonflies, bumblebees,

mammals - you name it, we're
looking for it and recording it.

And the way all these species
fit together, it's all part

of this whole farm ecosystem,

which just makes for
a really healthy landscape.

And that is at the heart
of everything the Barkers do

at Lodge Farm.

They've nurtured old hedgerows
and planted new ones.

They've restored ponds...

...and have planted wild flowers
on margins and meadows.

They know that thriving wildlife
also helps the farm

with its primary focus -
growing healthy crops.

I believe we can have a farm
that is productive,

that grows food or grows crops
for industry, and at the same time,

we can have a farm
that's full of wildlife.

So, I don't accept anyone saying
to me, "It's one or the other."

This is about creating
a whole balance

where the natural environment
and the farming environment

can be in harmony together.

This balance is particularly vital
when it comes to

the farm's most
precious resource - its soil.

Healthy soil supports
greater biodiversity.

It stores carbon, and it helps
to prevent flooding and drought.

But deteriorating soil health
is one of the biggest problems

facing farming today.

The soil is an ecosystem on its own,
and if that's working for us,

rather than us working against it,

it's going to be better to farm,
easier to farm,

we can grow better crops
as a result.

The Barkers have encouraged
good soil structure

by reducing the amount they plough

and minimising their use
of pesticides.

We've kind of got into a bit
of a bad habit as an industry

of using pesticides where
we MIGHT need them,

not where we really do need them.

The ladybirds are doing
the work for us here.

You know, they are our farm workers.

If we went through here with
an insecticide to spray off

these black bean aphids,

we could be taking out all those
other insects that we actually need

as part of this farm landscape.

And the ladybirds themselves become
food for wildlife on the farm.

For us, this is a farming system

that's good for our
farmland wildlife,

good for our bank balance,

it's good for our carbon footprint.

It's good for us as people,
because we actually really enjoy

coming to work every day.

The Barkers are running
a profitable business

growing healthy, wholesome food,

and showing it's possible
to farm intensively

whilst also restoring
our wild isles.

Absolutely every farm in the country
can do some of what we do.

It's now at a point where
it's too important to get it wrong.

If we do things that are to
the detriment

of the natural environment,

actually, there'll probably be
no coming back for a lot

of the species that rely on it.

OK, so let's have a look what
we've found on our walk around.

But their work doesn't stop there.

Does anyone know what noise
a green woodpecker makes?

EXCITED CHATTER

They regularly invite
local schoolchildren to the farm

to learn about and enjoy
the wildlife.

The Barkers hope that showing
the next generation how their food

is grown will strengthen their
connection to the natural world.

I think there's something really
important about being able to be

in touch with everything
that's going on around you.

If you go into a supermarket,
the ease at which you can go and buy

something that was shipped from
thousands of miles away kind of

really detaches you from the
organic process of growing things

or rearing animals,
or kind of appreciating

how the world exists
in its natural form,

rather than how we perceive it.

And I think it's nice to be able
to go out and be free,

and connect yourself to that
kind of fun

natural anarchy that exists.

Jutalla is a member of
Flock Together -

a bird-watching group
for people of colour.

That is a kingfisher!

Yes, yes, yes, yes! Where?

Just went underneath where
the mistle thrush is.

Let's see if we can see it.

It's right in there, yeah.

My name is Nadeem Perera.

I am an avid bird watcher,
I'm a youth football coach,

I'm a wildlife film-maker,

and I'm also co-founder
of Flock Together.

I really honestly do believe
that if you spend time in nature,

the mind is wired to
automatically relax.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah!

You will be afforded perspective,

and you will then begin to truly
appreciate the value

of the natural world.

Just spotted something over there.

There's something there!

Oh, gosh, yeah. Don't need your
binoculars for that, do you?

Oh, beautiful.

I didn't know that it had that
yellow marking on its,

like, under-beak.

Gorgeous.

But access to our wild spaces
is far from equal.

People of colour are
more likely to face prejudice

in the countryside.

I grew up in in Somerset, and...

You can see that I'm a Black woman,
and when I was a kid, I was...

Going out in nature then
always felt a little bit like

people looked at me, like,
"What are you doing here?

"This space isn't for you."

And I can only speak from
my own experience,

but I never want anybody else
to feel that way.

And so, coming on our walks
with Flock Together,

it helps to eliminate
some of that barrier,

and it also helps other people
who aren't Black or Brown,

or Indigenous to get used to seeing
that nature is for everybody.

We all come from nature,

and we all ought
to make time for it.

Not only is it good for us,
it's also good for nature.

Because as we know, nature is fast
disappearing, it's under threat in

so many parts of the world,
if not all of it, and it needs

all of us on board to protect it.

So, everybody needs to chip in
and do their bit.

In the last few decades,
we have all lost something precious.

Our lives have become disconnected
from the rhythms of nature,

the seasons, and the places from
which our food comes.

And as island nations
where none of us can live

more than 70 miles from the sea,

this is especially true for our
connection to the ocean.

The shores of Britain and Ireland

are globally important
for sea birds.

Our waters are home to 65%
of the global population

of northern gannets,

and almost all of the world's
Manx shearwaters.

Perhaps the most charismatic of
our sea birds is the puffin.

Their challenges clearly reflect
the problems confronting

many of our other marine species.

After months at sea during
the winter,

puffins return each spring
to mate and raise their young.

This female puffin has a secret
hidden away below ground.

A puffling, only two weeks old.

She will only raise one
chick this year.

She and her partner must feed
their chick five times a day.

The delicate touching of beaks
strengthens the bond between them

before she leaves.

She must now make a long journey
to the feeding grounds.

Puffins' favourite prey
are sandeels...

...which are packed with
rich oils and nutrients.

They account for a quarter of all
the fish in the North Sea...

...and form a large proportion
of the puffin's diet.

But today, sandeels are disappearing
at an alarming rate.

Warming seas have reduced
the availability of the plankton

on which the sandeels feed.

And fishing on an industrial scale
has further reduced the shoals.

Our puffins are now having to fly
further and work harder

for every meal.

And the very survival of their
chicks is hanging in the balance.

It's predicted that our puffin
population could have dropped

by as much as 90% in
the next 25 years -

a loss of over a million birds.

Life on the seafloor
is not safe either.

In places, our seabeds are richer
and more diverse than

any habitat on our land.

Some underwater communities are
extraordinarily beautiful.

Colonies of brittle stars proliferate.

Beds of maerl, a type of hard,
fragile seaweed

that take hundreds of years to form.

They provide a home for scallops.

Each of these shellfish has
about 200 small eyes.

They live by filtering out plankton
from the ocean currents

that swirl around them.

Starfish prey on scallops.

But to do so, they have to get
inside the shells undetected.

Missed it.

Scallops are surprisingly mobile,

and they can live up to 20 years.

But today, there are threats
that they cannot escape.

LOW RUMBLING

The scallop dredge.

Rows of heavy metal teeth
dragged behind a boat

bulldoze their way across
the seabed,

leaving behind them
destruction and death.

95% of our scallops
are collected in this way.

And for every scallop caught,

four other species are killed and
collected by the dredge as by-catch.

In the long term, this destructive,
indiscriminate harvest

is as damaging to
local fishing communities

as it is to the marine life itself.

Yet, there is an alternative.

Scallops can be harvested
sustainably and without damaging

the seafloor by divers,
who pick them up by hand.

Today, around a third of
UK fish stocks are overfished.

In places, we're removing life
from the ocean faster

than it can replenish itself.

But there is another way.

50 years ago,
off the coast of North Devon,

local people got together
to create the UK's first

voluntary marine nature reserve.

The sea changes every hour.

Lundy has its own microclimate.

And quite often, you go there
and you can't find the island

because it's covered in fog.

It's called the Misty Island
for good reason.

Lundy Island,
in the Bristol Channel,

is just three miles long...

...but the sea around it has
the third-largest tidal range

in the world, and warm waters
from the Gulf Stream

create excellent conditions
for marine life.

I've been visiting Lundy
just over 50 years now -

as a young child, and then,

eventually when I was working
as a fisherman.

I'm Andrew Bengey,
I'm the owner of Lundy Diving.

We run dive charter or snorkel
charters to the island of Lundy,

in the Bristol Channel.

In 2003, the waters around
the east coast of Lundy

were given protection and declared
to be Britain's first No Take Zone.

Fishing or collecting sea life
of any kind is prohibited.

20 years on, the wildlife here
provides Andrew

with a different livelihood.

The things that keeps me going back
to Lundy is that you never know

what you're going to see.

Dolphins, porpoises,

minke whales, pilot whales.

We've had tuna recently.

And obviously the wildlife on
the island changes continually,

depending on what season it is.

As you get to the island, you get
more diverse with the birdlife -

you've got puffins there from
March through to July,

and then you've got Manx shearwaters
coming in to shore,

you've got all the cormorants.

So, it always changes all
the way through.

OK? Yep. Good, good.

Five, four, three, two...

Sharing the sea with seals
and other wildlife is just amazing.

Everything is on their terms.

When they realise you're
not a threat...

...and you're not nervous,
and you're quiet and still,

they'll come and play.

Sheltered reefs, when protected
from trawling and fishing,

become the home of rare
and special species.

All the divers comment
on how abundant and colourful

the underwater sea life is.

And especially that none
of it's damaged/

We've got pink sea fans around
the island on the protected sites,

you can't put anchors and shots in.

Some of those are over
100 years old,

and they just look amazing because
they're not disturbed at all.

Andrew's son, Ben,
is a local fisherman

and works alongside scientists
to monitor the wildlife

in the No Take Zone.

Lobsters are a keystone species... 102.

...playing a vital role in
the health of an ecosystem.

Female.

Remarkably, their population has
quadrupled in the No Take Zone -

and they're growing bigger
than ever before.

A mature female can produce as many
as a million eggs in her lifetime.

And once hatched,
her larvae will disperse,

restocking the surrounding seas.

Ben and the local fishing community
have found their lobster catch

on the edge of the zone
has significantly increased.

You've got to remember
that the marine-protected area

was put in originally by a voluntary
scheme for all the fishermen

to try and help the ecosystem
around the island.

The changes that have occurred
over time have been really good,

because things have improved,
the numbers have gone up.

I feel very hopeful about
marine life and marine protection.

The No Take Zone at Lundy is tiny,

little more than a square mile.

And across the whole of
the British Isles,

we have only four of them -

less than 1% of our seas.

Although there's some protection

in some areas beyond these zones,

unsustainable fishing practises

are still allowed

in over 95% of our waters.

We are an island nation.

Our past and future
is intimately connected

to the health of the ocean.

With meaningful protection,
we can replenish our seas,

allowing them to thrive and
ensuring that we can rely on them

for generations to come.

But protection alone
isn't always enough.

We also need to restore at least
some of what we have lost.

This is sea grass.

It captures carbon up to
35 times more quickly

than a tropical rainforest.

These underwater meadows
are safe havens,

providing both shelter and nurseries
for a great variety of marine life.

But seagrass meadows are one of the
world's most threatened habitats.

In the UK, we've lost more
than 90% of them...

...through dredging, pollution,

and development.

Lush beds should surround our isles,

but only 32 square miles remain.

Here, on the coast of North Wales,

volunteers are trying to
put things right.

What we need is lots of seeds,

and so it's really great
to get people down.

Project Seagrass is regenerating
areas of the damaged seabed...

...part of an ambitious movement
to restore at least 15%

of the UK's seagrass by 2030.

Teams of snorkelers collect seeds
from this surviving meadow

to plant in other suitable areas.

It's painstaking work.

But in just a few years' time,
new, healthy meadows -

and all the benefits they bring -
could be thriving once again.

On land, woodlands are our
most complex and diverse habitat.

They provide food, shelter,

and a place to breed for
thousands of species.

And for us, they offer a place
where we can reflect

and connect with nature.

But today, only 13% of the British
Isles are covered by woodland -

a fragment of what we once had,

and amongst the lowest coverage of
any country in the whole of Europe.

Much of that is low quality -

monocultures that offer
little sanctuary for wildlife.

In contrast, our ancient woodlands,

which have taken hundreds of years
to grow and develop,

are complex and rich communities.

What we need now are visionary,
long-term initiatives

to begin to restore
some of what we have lost.

Scotland.

But not as it should be.

These barren slopes were
once covered by trees.

The Great Caledonian Pine Forest

stretched across much
of the highlands.

Over thousands of years,
changes in the climate,

logging and grazing by sheep
and deer have reduced it

to just a few isolated pockets.

Today, just 1% remains.

But an ambitious new restoration
project aims to change that.

High within
the Cairngorms National Park,

a team of volunteers are
planting young willow trees.

They've been specially grown from
cuttings collected nearby

to withstand
the harsh mountain conditions.

They won't all make it,

but thousands are planted
and many will endure.

Each additional tree
helps this remote glen

to regain its ancient splendour.

They are just one small part

of Britain's largest
landscape restoration project.

The Cairngorms Connect partnership
has a 200-year plan to restore

habitats across 230 square miles of
the Cairngorms National Park.

From pine forests,
bogs and peatland,

to fast-flowing rivers
and subarctic plateaus,

it offers us a glimpse of the past

and a hope for the future.

And it is home to some of
our rarest wildlife.

More than 5,000 species have
been recorded here.

Land managers are working together
across this vast connected area

to provide animal species
big and small

the chance to thrive in healthy,
resilient ecosystems.

Restoring a landscape
of this size is a team effort.

Ronan Dugan is part of the team
at WildLand Cairngorms,

one of the partners
restoring the landscape.

Many people thought it would take
50 or 100 years, but in reality,

you can implement change
very quickly here in the Highlands

of Scotland by simply reducing
the number of deer.

It is quite a drastic measure,

and it's perhaps not
the nicest thing to do,

but that's the reality.

We have no apex predators.

The lynx and the wolf have gone.

Deer should exist here,

but in much lower numbers
than they do today.

With no natural predators, the size
of their herds must be controlled

by us to give the forest a chance.

With fewer deer,
seeds lying dormant in the soil

take root very quickly,

and the forest starts
to regenerate naturally.

We've got the oak, the aspen,
we've got the pine,

we've got the birch, rowan -

all of these species are
regenerating naturally

and moving further out the hill.

The team here have also planted
over five million trees,

benefiting the wildlife
and the communities downstream.

So, you've got, you know,
flooding issues,

and as the climate changes,
you know, the increase in vegetation

and woodland up in the catchment,
in this area,

that's going to slow down
the rate of flow.

Restoring the peatland,
that's sequestering carbon.

so that's going to help with
the climate crisis in the future.

So, it's not just benefiting the
local people or the local wildlife,

it's benefiting the nation.

Creating a mix of habitats can
also help the species most at risk.

Hen harriers are now one of our
most threatened birds of prey

as a result of illegal persecution.

Hen harriers, they require
open grassland and open moorlands

so that they can hunt for prey such
as field voles and small birds,

and they will even take things
like lizards, and so on.

So they're, yeah, a very,
very adaptable species,

but they need those wide-open spaces
where they can breed successfully.

The team are now seeing
hopeful signs -

hen harriers are breeding here
once more.

But it's not just the charismatic
predators they study.

They also investigate the other end
of the food chain

to discover more about how the whole
ecosystem functions.

And you can't tell whether
it's working if you don't know

what you've got.

I think it all starts
with paying attention.

It is really easy
to miss the small things.

We tend to look at the big,
exciting species

when we're out and about.

As soon as you start to look in
tiny scale of one particular group,

all of a sudden, it opens up entire
new worlds

which otherwise you might never
have encountered.

My name's Ellie Dimambro-Denson,

and I'm the monitoring officer
for Cairngorms Connect.

A big part of my job is going out
across the Cairngorms Connect area

and doing surveys and monitoring to
look at all of the different species

and interactions, and understanding
how they might be responding

to the ecological work that's
happening within the project.

Ellie surveys wildlife in all
weathers to understand better

what the smaller species can tell
us about the bigger picture.

There's a sense of magic in
opening up the tent,

and you never quite know what to
anticipate in the morning.

There's a lot of
excitement and hope.

Oh, there's quite a few.

Moths, and invertebrates generally,
are really good indicator species

for showing the health
of the system as a whole.

I love the diversity of moths.

You get such an array of different
species, of different life cycles.

And often moths will have such
a specific, intricate life cycle,

where they will very much
rely on one particular food plant

at a particular time.

The team plant the kind of trees

which moths and other
insects favour,

and so boost the Cairngorms'
biodiversity.

Insects are incredibly diverse,
and they're so fundamental

to so many of the different systems.

They are pollinators,
they help to break things down,

they're a really important
food source to a number

of different species
of bats or birds.

Without insects, we wouldn't
have a lot of the really

fundamental systems that we need
to sustain life on Earth.

Without nature...

...we wouldn't be able to
survive as a species.

The scale and ambition of
this partnership is sorely needed

in our wilder places.

But for most of us
who live in urban areas,

it might seem rather remote.

To truly save our wild isles,

we also need to bring nature
back to where we live...

...and that is the idea behind
this inspiring transformation.

I didn't even know
this place was here.

It was almost surreal.

So, like, you wouldn't think
this place is slap bang

in the middle of East London.

It's very magical.

It's a little oasis.

It's like a sort of
hidden paradise.

It's very green and it's colourful.

And all the birds...

...just, like, having fun with
their friends, just like me.

Cody Dock, in the heart
of London's industrial East End,

was once filthy and polluted...

...but members of the community
reclaimed this forgotten corner,

restoring it for the benefit of
both wildlife and themselves.

For nearby schools, it's become
both a classroom and a sanctuary.

We've been walking along the
riverside, and we've been tallying

how much pollution and waste varies.

Can anyone tell me what
this river's called?

Oh, you put your hand up first,
go on. The Lea?

The River Lea, awesome!

Ben and his colleagues have been
coordinating efforts here.

A lot of the kids that we get here,
you know, they live in

really nature-deprived areas,

and this space is a link for
them to access nature.

The space itself gives them
an opportunity to learn about

what they can find in nature
and gives them a place to take

a stake in the conservation
of nature here.

So, it's really important that,
even in Newham, we're looking at

these insects and we're trying
to track how well they're doing,

so that we can look
after them, yeah?

It was really nice catching bees,
like, cos I never really thought

I could catch bees,
cos I always run away from them,

cos that's where I feel normal.

I got a chance to, like, see them
and see their beautiful colours.

Beautiful - how many legs they have.

Cos I never really knew
bees look like that.

Originally I thought, like,
all bees just look the same,

but now I realise that, actually
catching them and looking up,

how they've got, like,
different patterns and so on.

I used to think that all
they done was hurt us.

But now I know the meaning of them.

They're real things,
they're living things.

They're not just insects.

They breathe like us.

Whoa! Ah!

6,000 volunteers have contributed
to the work at Cody Dock,

and together have recorded over
300 different species.

As soon as I came here I was like,
"Yes, this is the right decision".

You learn so many skills.

There are so many different people
that come here to volunteer

from so many different places.

And valuable information
gathered here is fed into

national citizen science projects.

We test the water along the dock
to see if there's any problems,

and we look at the samples
of water and determine

what species are living there.

Once one of the most polluted
rivers in the British Isles,

it's now showing signs of recovery.

We found a couple of different
types of fish fly -

so flounder, different types
of mayfly larvae,

damsel fly, as well.

Not so long ago, this place had
turned away from nature...

...but, with a long-term vision
and willing volunteers,

nature has returned even to
this most urban of places.

In the city, sometimes it can
feel quite closed off.

So, coming here, like,
just being with nature can free up

your mind a little bit.

Stress can build up so easily
on someone, and it really

dictates your mental health.

I think you should be able to come
to a place like Cody Dock to relax

and sit down, and just breathe.

From the heart of London to the
remotest peaks of the Cairngorms,

there are passionate people
right across our isles

making a better livelihood
by working with nature,

rather than against it.

It may be tempting to think of those
on the front line as the only ones

who can make a difference.

The truth is, however,
that every one of us,

no matter where we live,

can and must play a part
in restoring nature to our isles.

Never has it been more important
to do this,

for ourselves and for our wildlife.

This is our home,

and this is the moment.

We have just enough time
and just enough nature left

to save our wild isles
for our children

and for future generations.

If you'd like to play your part
in helping restore nature,

just go online and search
"Save Our Wild Isles."