Original subtitles

It's June and the temperature is rising.

Wales is at the start of one of the hottest

and driest summers in a generation.

The whole country is sweltering in the heat.

This should be the most bountiful time of year.

But for wildlife, this summer will prove challenging.

In this season of extremes, it's time for some of the smaller

and more unusual species to shine.

Wales...

..a land of mountains...

..and rugged shoreline...

..where lush meadows border ancient forests...

..and where you're never too far from wildlife.

Home to 50,000 species.

The spectacular,

and the surprising.

Each season brings its own challenges.

Finding a mate...

..raising a family,

or simply surviving.

Filmed over a year of extremes...

..through storms...

..and drought...

..and wonder.

Welcome to the Land of the Wild.

It's early summer.

There's no sign of the heat wave letting up.

Gronant Beach, a stone's throw from Prestatyn in North Wales,

provides a welcome refuge for overheated holiday-makers.

But there's one group of visitors

who've come from slightly further afield.

Little terns.

They've travelled thousands of kilometres,

from West Africa, to breed here.

350 birds make up Wales's last breeding colony

of this rare species.

The females have spread out across the beach,

choosing isolated patches of sand, in which to lay perfectly

camouflaged eggs.

In the last few days, some of the chicks have hatched.

Parents take it in turn to guard...

..and feed their demanding chick.

They're also protecting a second egg that has just begun to hatch.

GULL SCREECHES

Hungry gulls lurk above.

But the best form of defence is attack.

The smaller terns are much more manoeuvrable than the gulls.

The chicks panic.

Terns from across the beach join forces

and see off the danger.

But there's another threat on the horizon.

One which no tern will be able to chase away.

Today is June's biggest tide and it's coming in fast.

Time for the female and her chick to move.

But the egg still hasn't hatched...

..and she stands her ground.

It seems all is lost.

But finally, the tide reaches high water.

The chick is stranded.

Bedraggled but safe.

Hopefully, the chick inside the egg has also survived.

With luck, it will soon hatch

and two more little terns will join this very special colony.

Wales is blessed with a coastline that is both spectacular and varied.

Almost 1,700 miles of beaches...

..estuaries...

..and rocky headlands.

It's the only country in the world with a coastal path

stretching its entire length.

And it's a coastline that's home to much of the country's wild riches.

But some won't be seen until after dark.

On the Pembrokeshire coast, a female is looking for love.

And she has a trick that should help her find it.

Special enzymes in her tail create a dazzling bioluminescent display...

..for she is a glow-worm.

Like a candle, her light will eventually burn out.

But for a couple of weeks, she will shine through the dune grasses,

hoping to be found by a suitor.

Further along the shoreline, she's joined by another glimmer.

A late night walker disturbs the shallows.

Across Wales, the exceptionally warm still seas are alive with light.

The hot weather has created this spectacle.

A lack of storms and the calm,

warm water have encouraged an inshore plankton bloom,

which, when disturbed, glows.

But this party trick isn't only reserved for plankton.

Just below the surface, snakelock anemones have got their glow on.

A green fluorescent protein, found within their tentacles,

lights up their own watery rave.

It's late June

and the warm sheltered shallows of West Wales play host to an invasion.

Spider crabs.

They've come here in their tens of thousands.

This collective gathering is known as a mound.

And the reason for it?

The need to moult.

A crab's hard outer shell is excellent

protection against predators.

But in order to grow, they need to shed it.

Special enzymes begin the process,

then water sucked into the body causes the shell to split.

15 minutes later, as good as new.

It'll take a week before the new shell has fully hardened.

In the meantime, a passing seal poses a real threat.

So it's best to hide in the crowd.

Although, you've got to watch your comrades.

Some have cannibalistic tendencies.

Equipped with a new suit of armour,

these spider crabs are ready for another year in the deep.

And as stealthily as they arrived, they disappear.

There are about 100 islands off the coast of Wales.

Three miles off the Pembrokeshire coast is Skomer

and its smaller neighbour, Skokholm.

Both are famed for their sea bird colonies.

Now the courtship's over, they're much more peaceful.

The pufflings are still underground, so most of the adult puffins

undertake daily hunting forays out at sea.

But the cliffs are still full of life.

Rabbits were brought here in the 13th century,

as a source of meat and fur.

They're now a wild feature of the landscape,

living underground in century-old warrens.

Unlike their cousins on the mainland, who have up to five

litters a year, these females have evolved to produce only one.

It's this self-enforced ability to not breed like rabbits that

has enabled them to thrive on this small island.

The little kits have emerged.

They're taking advantage of the sweet summer grass.

But they aren't the only youngsters above ground.

These are great black-backed gull chicks.

They're precocious and love to explore.

But out in the open,

they're exposed and would make a tasty meal for a crafty crow.

So, at least one of the parents is always on hand to ensure

they don't get into trouble.

The chicks are demanding.

So, Dad's left in charge,

whilst Mum's off in search of food for the family.

These are the largest gulls in the world, with a wingspan of more

than five feet.

Anything smaller than themselves is on the menu.

A puffin would make a very good meal.

But they're not always that easy to catch.

Sometimes, it's better to go for the easy option.

This is nature red in tooth, claw and beak.

What happens next may look brutal,

but it's all part of Skokholm's circle of life.

Down in one.

GULL CALLS

Back at her nest, her mate calls the chicks.

The prey is regurgitated, in time for tea.

These hungry chicks need a lot of food,

a fifth of their body weight every 24 hours.

Great black-backed gulls only have one brood a year,

so there's a lot riding on these three.

Soon, the chicks will be able to fly, but they'll continue to

rely on their parents for food for a few more months.

So it's just as well their island home provides such

a well-stocked larder.

By mid-July, the searing summer heat is taking its toll on the mainland.

A month and a half with virtually no rain has left

the reservoirs at their lowest for more than 20 years.

Even the rivers are drying up.

Some watery oases do still remain.

The National Botanic Gardens in Carmarthenshire.

Its lily ponds provide a haven for water birds, like this heron,

and moorhen.

But it's also attracted a different pair of visitors...

..an otter and her cub.

The cub is five months old and is still totally dependent on Mum.

But with the water levels a foot lower than normal, the fish are

becoming concentrated, making this the perfect place to learn to hunt.

Success.

There's a long way to go before this cub will be independent,

but its mother has chosen the perfect spot to spend the hot,

dry summer.

Right at the top of the country lie the dramatic limestone

cliffs of the Great Orme Peninsula.

In summer, it is home to a uniquely Welsh race of butterfly...

..the Caernarfonshire silver-studded blue.

It's morning and they're busy fuelling up on nectar.

These bluer ones are males.

And these browner ones are the females.

This little male has only just come out of his pupa.

His wings are still wet and he can only fly when they've dried.

He's vulnerable.

Black ants. They're voracious predators

and they're on the trail of our young butterfly.

But they don't want to eat him. Quite the opposite.

They're here to protect him.

Another male comes to check him out.

He's hoping to find a newly emerged virgin female.

This unwanted attention could damage our male's still damp wings.

But the ants send him packing.

They are this butterfly's personal security service...

..and they won't tolerate unwanted attention.

These ants have been with him since he was a caterpillar...

..when he rewarded them with a sugary liquid,

made by a special gland.

And as payment, the ants continue to honour the deal and protect him.

Finally, the little male's wings are dry.

He's ready to start his search for a mate.

Here on the meadow, females seem thin on the ground.

Just a lot of desperate males.

Maybe he'll have more luck among the brambles.

There are certainly more females here.

He makes his move.

She's playing hard to get.

Her fluttering wings are a sign of rejection.

But eventually, she decides that he's not so bad after all.

A jealous rival.

With so few females around, many males never get a chance to

mate, so it's imperative our butterfly hangs on to his girl.

Less than a day old, he's already fulfilled his life's

purpose by ensuring that his line will continue.

The heat wave is breaking records.

After the driest June for almost a century, there's no let up in July.

There's been hardly any rain for 80 days.

The parched land is like a tinder box.

For the last few weeks, large parts of the uplands have been ablaze.

This summer, wild fires are keeping Welsh firefighters busier

than they've been for more than a decade.

Wales is famed for its wet weather.

But not this summer.

The hot, dry weather has taken its toll across the rest

of the Welsh countryside.

Little remains of once lush grasslands.

Although, for one of the UK's smallest mammals,

even a little clump will do.

This tiny harvest mouse weighs less than a 20 pence piece.

She's so light, she can balance on a flower stem.

Most of the time.

Her special prehensile tail acts like a fifth limb.

Perfect for high-rise living.

Harvest mice eat a range of seeds and berries, but their tiny

size means they need to consume 30% of their body weight every day.

This time of year brings unnatural dangers.

ENGINE APPROACHING

A lucky escape.

When darkness falls, this little mouse will need

to go in search of a new patch of grass in which to nest.

Even areas that are usually wet all year round are suffering.

An upland bog in the Preseli Mountains is drying out in the heat.

A worker ant in search of moisture.

It's heading for the dampest, softest part of the bog...

..unaware that a crimson predator lies in wait.

For this is a patch of flesh-eating plants.

These are sundews.

They get their name from the glistening drops that

look like morning dew.

They may be beautiful, but they're deadly.

The sweet tasting droplets are a sticky trap.

Once stuck, it's hard to escape.

As soon as their prey is trapped, they curl up and engulf it.

This carnivorous lifestyle enables these plants to survive the drought.

Their victims provide them with everything they need.

The worker ant makes it further than most.

But eventually, her luck runs out, too.

The trap is sprung.

Unlike many of the others who've fallen victim to these deadly

snares, ants are strong and unhindered by delicate wings.

Her tenacity pays off.

But another ant is not so lucky.

In mid-August, the dry spell is finally broken.

For once, these summer rains are welcome,

providing a respite from the oppressive heat.

They're dramatic, but short-lived.

In an ancient deer park in West Wales,

fallow deer take advantage of the new shoots.

Badgers will eat as many as 200 earthworms a night.

The hard, baked ground this summer has made them difficult to find,

so the recent rain is making life just a little bit easier.

And the badgers aren't the only ones to benefit.

Worms can make up to 20% of a fox's diet.

Just as well there are plenty to go around.

Welsh woodlands provide food for an abundance of wildlife,

but there are other more unusual places where rare

species are also thriving.

Cwm Colliery was one of the biggest mines in Wales.

The last coal was shipped out in 1986,

but 200 years of industry have left a surprisingly wild legacy.

The abandoned spoil heaps are heat absorbent and free draining.

They are, in effect, the sand dunes of the Welsh Valleys,

providing a much needed refuge for many plants and insects.

One in particular is doing very well here.

Lurking in the shadows is one of the UK's most ferocious predators...

..a green tiger beetle.

He may be small, but he's well equipped to tackle his prey,

with a ferocious set of jaws...

..powerful wings...

..and three pairs of legs that give him the equivalent speed

of an Olympic sprinter.

A party of ants is on the move.

When food comes to you, there's no need to run at all.

The helpless insect is quickly despatched.

A winged queen makes a more formidable opponent.

She won't give up without a fight.

It's not so easy when your prey bites back.

She recently mated and is now looking for a nest site,

in which to start her colony.

But there's another killer hiding in this colliery site.

And this time, there'll be no escape for the queen.

A green tiger beetle larva.

It hatched in this burrow

and now waits at the entrance to snatch passing prey.

It's Wales's ultimate ambush predator.

Like its parent, it's a veracious hunter...

..with a fearsome set of jaws.

It can stay in this larval form for up to four years,

enlarging the burrow, as it feeds and grows...

..before eventually emerging as an adult beetle.

Summer is drawing to a close.

On the coast, the twice daily rising

and falling tides continue to govern the lives of everything living here.

On the Gower Peninsula is Worms Head...

..an area famed for its rock pools.

It's home to a red jewel...

..a beadlet anemone.

High tide means it's feeding time.

192 tentacles lined with microscopic harpoons allow the anemone to

catch and eat just about anything it can get in its mouth.

It pays to be in a good spot.

And everyone wants a piece of prime real estate.

So, relations with neighbours can be hostile,

especially when seen in fast motion.

If another anemone encroaches, things can get heated.

At the base of the tentacles, blue acrorhagi contain

a mass of stinging cells that help repel unwanted intrusions.

Disputes like this take place all the time.

But with the falling tide, tentacles retract

and hostilities are suspended.

Further along the south coast, and just a mile offshore,

is Ramsey Island.

Now it's late August, its remote beaches are drawing a crowd.

Female grey seals.

Attracted by the seclusion, they've come to give birth.

Space is already at a premium.

And tempers are fraying.

SHE ROARS

ROARING

There's no concessions, even for the newborns.

Some of the mothers are old hands,

while others have given birth for the first time.

This pup is just a few minutes old.

This one, with dried fur, is a few hours older.

Seal pups are born with fluffy white coats that keep them warm.

But they're only on land briefly and they'll need a thick

layer of blubber before they can head out to sea.

They need to put on weight quickly, and they do.

A grey seal's milk contains 15 times as much fat as a human's,

enabling the little pups to pile on the pounds.

They triple in size in just over two weeks.

This supercharged weight gain makes them

one of the world's fastest growing mammals.

But as the pups thrive, their mums weaken.

Females don't eat at all while suckling,

and they can lose up to a third of their own body weight.

After just 20 days, they abandon their pups,

in order to feed themselves.

So the more experienced mothers try

and get their youngsters used to the water early on.

Pups that are taught to swim before they're weaned are more

likely to survive their first year at sea,

so this early life lesson is important.

But some pups are reluctant to take the plunge...

..while others take to it like seals to water.

And for the really bold, a full-on swimming lesson.

For now, life is good.

But in just a few weeks' time,

these pups are going to have to fend for themselves.

The last few months have been a struggle for Wales's wildlife.

The hunt for food has intensified...

..the demands of the young have increased.

They've survived the summer, but now, with autumn looming,

they'll face a whole new set of challenges.

To capture Wales's animals in all their glory, the team relied

on passionate people who study, live and work alongside wildlife.

And filming the predatory green tiger beetle was no different.

Tiger beetles usually live in warm, sandy habitats,

but in Wales, they're thriving on the abandoned colliery

spoil heaps in the valleys of the south.

The crew was determined to film their remarkable hunting

behaviour in this uniquely Welsh habitat.

So, producer Adrian Seymour got in touch with local bug expert

Liam Olds from the National Museum of Wales.

A lot of it comes down to the actual spoil itself.

So, being black, it absorbs the heat, so you

get those really high temperatures that the beetles need and also,

the spoil itself being composed largely of just rock is very

free draining, so it's very dry, so basically it replicates sandy

conditions that the beetles really like.

It is estimates we have about 1,200 coal tips within

the South Wales coalfield.

They're massively important, in terms of nature conservation,

so they support loads of nationally rare

and nationally scarce species and even some new to science as well.

These spoil tips have always been close to Liam's heart.

I live in the South Wales Valleys.

I was quite lucky to live across the road from a coal tip,

so in my early teens, I was over there on a regular basis, really.

And I was just blown away by the wildlife on that site,

largely going unnoticed by local people

and it was basically like having my own person nature reserve.

Now I'm obsessed with the sites and I'm obsessed with insects.

So, here we are, Adrian. This is the best spot on the whole

sort of site really for these tiger beetles.

So they love all this bare ground cos it warms up really

rapidly in the sun. You can really feel that.

You can really feel the temperature, yeah.

And we should be able to find plenty of larval burrows.

So, within this will be a larvae and they'll be ambush predators

and they'll be grabbing anything that comes past.

So they're quite ferocious little things. Wow!

OK, so do you reckon there'll be some adults running around here?

Yeah, should be. We can go and have a look for them.

They'll be actively hunting other insects

on this sort of open, bare ground.

This is exactly the behaviour the crew had come to film.

But first, they had to catch one, which is no easy task.

They're quite small, quite fast,

but they've got that metallic sort of green, almost jewel-like.

Can't see anything yet.

I think that's one. Want to give it a go?

Missed that one. Can't even see him now.

They're pretty quick, yeah. And they fly off.

But they usually don't travel huge distances.

How about that one up there? Go, go, go!

There he is! There he is!

I think he's in the pot. OK, good. Let's have a look.

Yeah, there's one. Cool! Look at that!

Brilliant!

All sorted now. Look at that! Brilliant!

Now they had one, they could film it in its rather surprising habitat.

To the west of this unusual location,

a much more familiar destination for a wildlife camera team...

..a sheltered bay on the Pembrokeshire coast...

and the site of an underwater gathering...

..the spider crab migration.

Professional diver Lloyd Jones and his dad come here every

summer to witness and film this extraordinary spectacle.

I once saw a video of spider crab mass migration in Australia

and the sea conditions looked almost identical to here.

And once we noticed they were happening on our own doorstep,

we thought, we've got to get in on this action

and see what it's all about, really.

The last time we were here, we counted around 600, 700 crabs,

usually in small pockets of around 50.

This part of the Pembrokeshire coast is well known to Lloyd

and his family. We had a caravan just round the corner,

in one of the local campsites.

And me and my brother used to spend our summers here on the beach,

playing in the sand, when my father

and his dive club were obviously off, offshore, enjoying the reefs.

As soon as Lloyd was old enough, his father was keen to teach him

to dive and it wasn't long before Lloyd was hooked.

Oh, it's definitely a family affair. More of a competition between me

and my father, really, of who can see the best wildlife.

It's fantastic to see it down there.

There's a lot of life teeming around and the visibility is fantastic.

There seems to be a lot of spider crabs congregating in the kelp.

There's a lot of character in the crabs,

especially around the shedding period.

You get the placid crabs, which are the fresh ones, that have

just emerged from their shell, to the larger aggressive crabs.

But it's not just seeing

and filming the wildlife that Lloyd is passionate about.

This is fishing line.

As divers, we do like to keep the dive site as pristine as possible,

so part of that is a little marine conservation effort, on our behalf.

In his spare time, Lloyd volunteers with Neptune's army of rubbish

cleaners, clearing the seabed of litter.

Definitely, it is a case of education.

We're all enjoying the outdoors.

The more we all work together, the better it is for the environment.

Obviously, I am a little biased,

but this is pretty much the best dive site in the world.

You can see the crabs in this location with the crystal

clear water, the pristine white sand,

you could be anywhere in the world, but it is in fact Wales.

Right, if you'll excuse me, I'm going

to get back in the water and collect some more footage.

Over a number of visits to the bay,

Lloyd managed to film the crabs gathering, moulting, and mating.

I'll never get bored of this. I mean, look at it.

It's a beautiful location, beautiful dive.

If I had to choose between the Med or here, it'd probably be here!

Next time, it's the season of change.

Wales's wildlife is on the move.

And there are battles to be fought.

Winter is coming.