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Wild Isles Episode Five – The UK’s awesome oceans
Amazed by Wild Isles? In Episode Five, Wild Isles explores the UK’s ocean habitats – full of incredible colours, mysterious noises and surprising sights. Has a certain species sparked an interest? Here’s your chance to dive a little further into the wonderful and hidden marine world of the UK.
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It’s better down where it’s wetter...
Episode Five dives headfirst into the energy-filled waters of the UK’s ocean habitats. The seas around the British Isles hold a secret. They may seem dark and cold, but thanks to the Gulf Stream, the UK’s seas are much warmer than other areas on the same latitude as our islands. But this warmer water brings a hazard – winter storms. For our wildlife, our changing seas can be both dangerous and fruitful.
Our coastal habitats are really special. In fact, they should be some of the most productive on our planet: teeming with wildlife, a source of sustainable food and a key ally in our fight against climate change – with the potential to absorb and store huge amounts of carbon.
But UK seas are in trouble. Warming oceans, unsustainable fishing practices and a lack of action to protect our seas have left them on the brink of collapse, which now threatens the survival of our marine life. We need to make urgent changes to the increasing demands on our seas to ensure nature thrives, and that we can too.
As co-producers on BBC’s Wild Isles, our teams have been providing a range of world-class scientific and conservation advice. You’ll spot many of our reserves and resident species - which we think is pretty special.
Basking Sharks dine in seemingly empty waters
In Episode Five, we meet the largest fish roaming our waters: the elusive Basking Shark. These strange-looking creatures can be as long as a double-decker bus. But despite their size, they still manage to be rather mysterious and our knowledge of them is still relatively limited.
Sure, they’ve got a big mouth, but their prey is much smaller than you might think. These gentle giants gather on our western coastlines to feed and breed in our plankton-rich seas. Their huge mouths act as giant sieves, filtering the water and catching zooplankton as they swim. They seek out the densest clouds of zooplankton and can gather in large numbers to enjoy the feast.
Our waters are absolutely vital in maintaining their global population. Each year we welcome more than 20,000 Basking Sharks to UK seas, with some individuals travelling across the Atlantic from north Africa to visit us. But Basking Sharks are at risk. Today, they are vulnerable to pressures from fishing practices and climate change, and – owing to gaps in our knowledge – we may be harming these mysterious creatures before we even fully understand them.
As our climate continues to change, this could alter the pattern of ocean currents and plankton distribution. So Basking Sharks won’t be able to get the food they need in our seas and may change their movement if our oceans continue to warm. It’s up to us to make sure we maintain a wild and healthy environment to support wildlife that visits our wild isles.
Orcas are powerful yet vulnerable hunters
The waters around Shetland, in Scotland, are a hotspot for Orca activity. You can think of Orcas as the intelligent extroverts of the ocean. Travelling together in pods – they are social and chatty. But it’s not all fun and games. Orcas are incredibly effective hunters, working in groups to hunt prey and teach their young the hunting skills they’ll need. Different pods have different techniques, which depend on their environment.
So how do Orcas hunt so well together? Well, they hunt in groups and communicate using echolocation. It’s a clever strategy that has left many seals flummoxed. Unfortunately, in modern-day seas, their intricate language and voices can be lost. All too often, their noises are disrupted by human-generated noise such as boat engines, oil and gas extraction projects, infrastructure development and large ships. Plus, they face other manmade dangers such as ship strikes, and entanglement in fishing gear.
There are still huge gaps in our knowledge of UK seas. We don’t know how climate change will affect populations of the orca’s prey species. Nor do we know the long-term impacts of busy seas, used for intensive fishing.
What we do know is that we need our leaders to halt the harm to nature now – to protect the future of nature in our wild isles and the seas that surround them, so we can enjoy it for generations to come. Today these incredible creatures are extremely vulnerable, because of what humans are doing to our marine ecosystems.
Manx Shearwaters gather to feast
This episode, we’re treated to a mesmerising display as the Manx Shearwater lives up to its name – gliding majestically across the water’s surface with its long wings. Gathering in huge numbers, these summer visitors join our resident Northern Gannets to feed on the UK waters’ offerings.
And they’re no spring chickens. In fact, Manx Shearwaters are one of the longest-lived UK birds (with a record of 55 years!). And like their long-lived relation, the albatross – they have a peculiar arrangement of nostrils that gives them the name ‘tubenoses’. They need both their flying skills and their special noses to find food in the vast oceans across which they roam.
The UK is home to 80% of the breeding population of this brilliant bird, making our islands off the coast of Wales and Scotland a vital hot spot we need to protect. But these hardy travellers don’t stay put. Some rack up eight million kilometres of air miles in a lifetime - over the equivalent of flying to the moon and back roughly 10 times! This means, to protect their food sources and migratory pathways we must work across borders. They are peculiar birds with a hidden social life.
They raise just one fluffy chick a year – which they raise in an underground borrow (sometimes pinched from an unsuspecting Puffin or rabbit). Because of this, their chicks and eggs are extremely susceptible to predation. And rats are very bad news. Accidently introduced to the UK’s island hideaways, rats are having devastating consequences. With your support, we’re working to keep our islands safe for Manx shearwaters and other ground-nesting birds. To protect them, we must make sure boats don’t accidentally bring rats and other invasive species to our seabird islands.
UK’s struggling seabirds need our help
UK seas are globally important for many species, including 10% of Atlantic puffins and 40% of grey seals. But the poor health of our seas is having a devastating impact on marine life, and climate change is making things worse.
Right now, many of our struggling seabirds need our support – they're up against many threats. But there’s one threat that may people aren’t away of in UK water – bycatch. Accidently hooked on fishing gear or netting, thousands of birds drown below the waves each year. It happens right on our shores. With your support, we’ve been working to tackle this threat and to save seabirds like Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets and Fulmars from this fate.
Every year, we learn more about what lives around our coastlines. Our land, water and air spaces welcome millions of migrating animals. So, it’s up to us to make sure we maintain a wild and healthy environment to support wildlife that visits our wild isles.
It’s time to save our seas
We can turn the tide and give our seas a real chance to recover. In fact, they could become some of the most productive waters on our planet: good for nature and climate, and good for us. But only if we end damaging fishing practices, set sustainable fishing quotas, plan the use of our seas better, tackle climate change and protect important places for nature.
