- 6/29/2025
Countryfile - Spurn Point
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00looking out at the vast North Sea in front of us and the Humber behind us it really feels like
00:08we've reached the end of the world doesn't it yeah it's got that eerie timeless feeling like
00:12nothing here ever changes but the truth is it never stays the same
00:30so
00:39jutting out into the North Sea from the Holderness Coast at the mouth of the Humber is Spurn Point
00:58a sandy spit 3.5 miles long and in some places as little as 50 meters wide this is a place where the
01:08tide and wind holds sway the land shifts and reshapes itself on a daily basis the sperm point
01:15of the past looked very different to the one we see today and it's changing again because new life
01:20is being brought to the mudflats and we're here to meet the people who are making it happen but how
01:26do people and the wildlife adapt when the land itself refuses to stand still a long-lost resident
01:36makes a comeback once we put the oysters in there the next generation of larvae will find shell material
01:42to settle onto this is the best bit of the job isn't it and farmers race against the elements we lose
01:50approximately two meters a year two meters of land yes a year it's just one of those things nature takes
01:57it so we just have to live with it but time and tide wait for no one and the going can get tough out on
02:04the sand and away from Spurn Point Charlotte investigates the impact of this year's record
02:18number of wildfires it's just a full mushroom cloud of smoke filling the horizon we were absolutely
02:24distraught and terrified over 200 years ago the sea over there was home to an oyster reef so big it
02:44stretched nearly 200 miles reaching all the way down to the Thames but today only a fraction of this
02:50precious habitat still exists over the past two centuries the UK's oyster population has plummeted
03:02by 95 percent to help reverse the decline here on Spurn Point oyster restoration officer Laura Welton
03:11is leading a pioneering experiment collecting and nurturing almost 3,000 European oysters with the hope
03:19they will also improve the water quality and the marine environment but now these oysters need
03:26a permanent home in the Humber estuary which Laura and her team are creating that's looking good with
03:34a stockpile of cockle shells hello Laura hello so what's the plan today we've got a lot of activity
03:41going on but we need to get done ahead of the tide what was all that a load of cockle shells it looks
03:46like I know it seems a bit strange when we're wanting to restore oysters that we're moving
03:50cockle shells in the oysters life cycle when they've released the hundreds of thousands of
03:54larvae they have a little foot that they use to detect a good place to settle a little foot they have a
04:00little foot yeah and it helps them to move around and that detects the calcium carbonate in the shell
04:05material so they'll sense that in this cockle shell and cement themselves onto the shell and stay there for life
04:12and why do they need the cockle shells why do they need us to be doing stuff why can't they
04:16just do it themselves well unfortunately we've over fished the oysters historically in the Victorian
04:22times it was a really good source of protein and so in removing the oysters we've removed that very
04:27substrate that they need to settle onto that's why we're giving them a helping hand and adding in this
04:32cockle shell to our site today so this is all about the cockle shells when are the oysters going to move in so
04:38hopefully over the next week or two we'll get all this cockle shell in and then the following window
04:43of low tide so the start of July we'll hopefully be adding in the oysters themselves why should we care
04:49why should we introduce them what's the benefit of having oysters here so not only have we lost the
04:54species of the oyster an oyster actually builds a whole ecosystem but one of their best functions is
05:01that they are able to filter the water so they're really powerful water cleaners one adult oyster can
05:07filter 200 liters of water in a day it's a way that the environment can help with our water quality
05:14issues around the uk and it's the water that dictates when the oysters home can be built as access to the
05:21restoration site is only possible when the tide is low how long have we got we've got a few hours so we
05:29better get going laura and her team have ambitious plans to restore over half a million oysters in
05:36five years here we go which means transporting over six tons of cockle shells to sperm points mud flats
05:45and today we're against the clock to shift nearly half a tonne over three and a half miles
05:53as you can see it makes it interesting when we need to navigate the shoreline here unfortunately the road
05:58was washed away in a in a tidal surge but it makes a good adventure for us it's proper off-road stuff
06:04isn't it yeah you never know what the shore's going to look like because each time the tide comes in it
06:10cleans it away but these tracks you have to follow it keeps us safe and it makes sure that we know we're
06:15on the sturdy ground we don't want to be going into any soft sanding and getting stuck with nearly half a
06:22tonne of cockle shells in the back hold on there's no breakdown service here i got it stuck i missed
06:30the angle the dry sand that actually is trickier than wet sand just sink in into it because it digs it
06:36out really easily all in a day's work for laura expertly done safely on solid ground we're approaching the
06:48cockle shells next stop on their way to restore the oysters habitat so here we are so this is the
06:54next step we've got a lot of cockle shells to move yes and essentially we've got this chute to send
07:00it down onto the beach how far have we got to go so if you look out into the distance we have this
07:06darker area this area is called greedy girl and this is the site that we're going to be taking the
07:10cockle shell down to ahead of the oysters coming into the area so over there it holds the water even
07:16when the tide goes out so that means when we put the oysters in they'll always be submerged and
07:21they're not at risk of drying out feels quite sparse out there it's sort of very open it is indeed
07:28especially at the minute when the tides out it's a very exposed site luckily this is the time to be
07:34doing the oyster restoration when the sun's shining there's lots of plants in the water for the oysters
07:39to feed on and then in the winter they can just happily get on there when filling the trolleys the team
07:46is making sure they're not too heavy to pull across the soft estuary bed this is a lot of work isn't
07:54it it sure is so in a few years time if there are oysters all out there and it's because of this
07:59because of what you've done this summer i'll be able to sleep happy yeah yeah i just hope it works
08:06right guys if you want to start heading and making your way down to greedy gut we'll see you down there
08:12as team one is en route more trolleys still need to be filled perfect i think that'll do it the first
08:21load has reached the destination and now it's our turn so this is the estuary side and the other side
08:28of that that's the sea yeah that's a bit rougher we wouldn't be doing this so easily there no exactly
08:33it's crazy you can have completely different conditions on the seaward side to the estuary
08:37here because we get this huge expanse as the tide goes out it provides an opportunity and a window
08:42of time to be able to go in have a look at how the oysters are doing and retreat before the tide
08:48comes back in yeah it's got a bit squidgy now isn't it much damper yeah so we're getting towards
08:55that um the the low tide edge of the water now in this area here the tide will come around and fill up
09:01the pool and we have a small island so it's always essential that we're looking at the tide times we
09:06don't want to be stuck out there as the tide comes in how are we doing are we okay the tide is uh
09:10creeping up on us so we've got to get moving i've noticed throughout the day you've been getting a
09:14bit twitchy are you a bit worried about the tide a little bit yeah just want to make sure we get
09:18everyone off yeah safely um but with the job in home yeah finally we've arrived at the oysters past
09:27and future home so is this what we're trying to create yeah so here we've got some of the cockle
09:32shell already we're going to add our barrows in and then we need to evenly spread it around
09:43once we put the oysters in there the next generation
09:46of larvae will find a nice shell material to settle onto this is the best bit of the job isn't it
09:55with the tide coming in we've done all we can do with the cockle shells today
09:59but there's just enough time to meet the future residents
10:04so this here is our native oyster i'll give this one to you i mean it looks like it's sort of tough
10:09cookie yeah it's a very overlooked animal quite often mistaken for a rock they'll only open up to
10:15feed and filter that water here at spam we've got some oysters that we've been keeping in our nursery
10:21site they've been growing up nice and large like these ones ready to be released but then we'll also be
10:26bringing in freshly settled baby oysters they'll start to build that reef as they settle on top
10:31of each other bringing in a habitat for all the other wildlife to enjoy not just the species what
10:38we'd like to do is compare the methods of how we restore native oysters back to the uk because all of
10:44what we're doing is so brand new that we're trying to figure out the best ways to do it what we're doing
10:48here is pretty small scale and what we really need to look to do is make this a much larger operations and
10:53get that numbers of oysters up in our seas and waters so we need a much larger reef than what we can fit
10:59in here at spurn to really have that impact and all that benefits that the oysters bring
11:14in here at spurn point is a dynamic landscape providing its own set of challenges for the
11:30people tasked with looking after it and for those that work out on the mud and sand
11:37it can be perilous if you don't keep an eye on conditions
11:44out here you can't just call for roadside assistance which begs the question what happens when you get
11:51stuck operations manager carl lewis oversees the running of spurn points ensuring that those who work
11:59here remain safe hello carl how you doing nice wheels what's the plan for today what we up to so
12:11we're going to do a little drive along the beach we're just going to practice our stranded vehicle
12:15rescue technique the beach is quite nice at the moment spurn's environment's always changing it's
12:21very dynamic coastline can i drive it of course you can yes if you want to say that yeah absolutely
12:27okay let's do it seat belts on what's the max speed of this baby about 20 miles an hour so we're not
12:35going to be crashing through the sound barrier today there we go perfect up we go oh come on let's floor it
12:49is your foot all the way down it's all the way down
12:51are you ready to simulate what would happen if the beach conditions were bad so if you drive into
13:00this shingle here where it's quite difficult yeah right i want you to turn the wheel down towards the
13:07sea yeah and then push the pedal as hard as you can can you feel that yeah and we're getting stuck
13:16so it's quite easy to do very easy that was great fun i have to say i enjoyed that great what so what
13:24happens now we've got some boards in the back that we'll just have to put under the wheels
13:28and then once we get those in place we'll be able to reverse out and it'll literally pop out the sand
13:33come on then let's crack on i wasn't expecting to have to do a lot of digging today so have you
13:42had some real shockers of when you've got stuck um yes so it wasn't long after i started i had to
13:49get the boards out myself on your own on my own that was a really quick recovery so it's a case of
13:55putting the boards in so these are really spiky but really light at the same time and if you can
14:02try and get those spikes under the tire as far as you can just give it a bit of a wiggle there we are
14:09right right same thing on the other side and what happens if you can't get yourself out if we can't
14:16self-rescue we radio shore support and they will either send somebody out in a pickup or we've got a
14:23local farmer who's on standby to help us with a really big tractor god bless the local farmers exactly
14:32here we go same again on that one right there we go all right let's give it a go
14:43there we go if you go into reverse and put to the floor
14:47there we go self-rescued it's the best kind of rescuing grab the string and you can just pull them
15:08up nice and easy then whoops system works carl it works very well
15:29now this spring was the warmest on record in the uk and with that came an unprecedented number of
15:35wildfires charlotte investigates why we're seeing more of these fires and with the possibility of a
15:42hot summer ahead asks how well prepared we are to tackle an increase in wildfires
15:54from remote moorland to the edges of towns and villages wildfires have left trails of destruction
16:01across the country this year they can burn for days covering huge areas and are classed as wildfires
16:09because of factors like their size the risk they pose to life the environment or property
16:14or the level of fire service resources needed to put them out this spring was dry the driest in 50
16:22years and the warmest since records began in 1884. now all that contributed to wildfires which burned
16:31across 35 000 hectares in the uk if you're having trouble visualizing that it's around 50 000 football
16:40pitches and while this month has seen some rain we've also had more hot weather and wildfires with
16:49the met office warning of an increased chance of heat waves this summer satellite imagery shows the
16:55devastation these fires cause with figures from the european forest fire information system revealing
17:02that this year's wildfires have been the worst in terms of the area burnt since they started recording
17:08them nearly 20 years ago jess coatsworth is a ranger in the peak district national park and arrived a few
17:15hours after a massive wildfire broke out there this spring it took about a week to put out and damaged
17:21around 170 hectares it's just a full mushroom cloud of smoke filling the horizon we were absolutely
17:29distraught and kind of terrified because we've got this fire heading towards us the flame lengths like
17:34three meters long really hard to tackle that so the fire service and the gamekeepers were were busy
17:39fighting and did a great job you know you think god what's happening to this place i absolutely love
17:43you know in the community we're all completely devastated and this this huge cloud of smoke you could see for miles
17:50around jess is also chair of the fire operations group for the peak district a partnership with
17:57local fire services and other interested parties that coordinates the way fires are tackled here
18:04how hard are wildfires to fight they take a lot of energy and time and resources so i mean they
18:12obviously start when it's hot and dry so you're exhausted from the heat and then if you're carrying some
18:17of this specialist equipment's putting it out so i've got a scotty pack on my back here it carries
18:22oh it's got water carries water it's not going to be enough what you've got on your back to put out a
18:26big fire no when the flames have gone we do what's called damping down and that's just to help put that
18:32smoldering fire out then you'll have days and days of that weighs around 20 kilograms when it's full
18:39so if you're carrying that across this terrain too and you're having to do multiple journeys to fill that up
18:43and stuff it really takes it out of you so on top of the kind of rest of emotions you're feeling
18:47because your entire life's work's gone up in smoke um you're then really physically tired as well
18:53how long will it take for this whole area to recover it'll take a significant amount of time
18:57we're talking decades really do you know yet what caused it we don't know whether it was deliberate or
19:03accidental but one thing we do know is it was people you know please just no open flames in the
19:08countryside because this is the devastating consequences the threats become so serious
19:15that a wildfire warning sign similar to those used in australia and the usa is being trialed here
19:23a few miles away ted tolbert is from the moors for the future partnership a group working to restore
19:29and protect the moors by building dams and planting moss they're able to keep the peatland moist
19:36you can see here this is one of the small leaky dams this is made of wood and what this is doing
19:42is holding back the water slowing the flow of water stopping the peat that gets eroded into the water
19:49and this backs up the wetness and then you raise the water table and as soon as it's wet enough we can
19:56plant sphagnum moss and the sphagnum starts to knit it all together and starts this sponge effect
20:02and if the peat is wet does that mean it withstands even a wildfire the fire will still happen but the
20:09restoration will be more resilient and you can see the vegetation behind the dam hasn't burnt badly
20:15even though either side it has just where you're standing ted it's so wet it's like a river down there
20:21so this is just chock full of sphagnum moss so this way it's acting like a sponge and it's just soaking up and
20:26holding the water how much water does it hold well about 20 times it's its own weight and just take a
20:32little bit out here and i'll replant it
20:36so there you can see oh wow gosh it really is like a sponge isn't it yeah it's an incredible moss
20:43so there are 13 different species that we know of in the peak district and that's what we're trying
20:47to re-establish this is this is the magic this is what we need across all of our moorland
20:53just weeks before the goit valley wildfire they'd completed a two-year restoration project
21:00costing nearly a million pounds but despite their efforts the wildfire was so powerful
21:06that around a third of the restored site was damaged what went through your mind when you
21:11heard about the fire it's absolutely devastating um and i think all of the staff involved had a moment
21:19but we have to be more resilient and we have to do this quicker faster harder than we're currently
21:25doing if we're going to protect these valuable habitats you're getting emotional just talking
21:30about it absolutely really absolutely is that bad uh it's a privilege to do this work what do you
21:38think you've lost we've seen sort of uh dead dead frogs dead caterpillars there were the the nests
21:44that curlews had left so there were there were burnt over eggs you can see those little
21:47vole tunnels mountain vole tunnels so you know that's the food for the birds of prey so all of
21:53all of that have been lost you know the birds can fly away but all of the plants the insects the other
21:58wildlife that relies on this more has obviously been been devastated the impact of the wildfires has
22:04stretched well beyond the national park countryfile are scientists at the university of sheffield and
22:10sheffield hallam university to do an initial analysis of the potential effect of the wildfire at goit valley
22:17they checked the results from local pollution monitoring stations and concluded that the fire
22:22could have led to harmful smoke particles spreading up to 10 miles away at levels well above the world
22:29health organization guideline and with climate change experts warn we're likely to see drier summers
22:35and more extreme wildfires in the near future countryfile has looked at the number of wildfires across
22:45the uk between the start of january and late may the figures indicate that so far this year we've easily
22:52seen the highest number of wildfires in the past six years there were 547 wildfires in england and wales
22:5993 in northern ireland and in scotland which includes smaller fires in its figures the fire service
23:05attended 180. dr tom smith from the london school of economics researches the causes and effects of
23:13wildfires if we look at the satellite record so this is 20 years long if we look at the first 10 years we
23:19see maybe just a few years of wildfire activity in the uk the last 10 years we see wildfire activity
23:25every single year so what we're beginning to see is a wildfire season in the uk particularly during
23:31march april and may tom's part of a team working on the uk's new fire danger rating system designed to
23:38predict where wildfires might break out so other countries like australia the us canada have these
23:44fire danger rating systems and what they do is take the weather for example so how windy it is how dry
23:51it has been what's the temperature today what's the relative humidity but importantly they look at
23:56what the fuel is on the ground so our project is about mapping the different vegetation in the uk so
24:02is it shrubland is it grasses is it forest is it dormant is it is it dry and once you combine that
24:09weather component with the condition of the fuel on the ground we can begin to predict what the danger
24:15of a wildfire might be so early spring is when these fires just rip through because everything's dry
24:21if there hasn't been any rain and of course summers are getting warmer there's less moisture in the
24:26air with that extra heat and so we are seeing fuels drying out and being available to burn more often
24:33than before in the spring and the way we manage land is changing isn't it we've got more wild areas
24:40we've got more areas where we don't graze them we've got more areas where we do leave deadwood
24:45on the forest floor for the bugs yes are we creating problems for ourselves yes with more vegetation
24:52that is fire risk it's short to medium term because once that vegetation matures it actually becomes
24:58fire resilient so you've just got this window of time which may be 10 15 20 years in some places
25:04when the fire risk is going to be elevated so how much are wildfires costing us the moorland association
25:12whose members look after more than a million acres of moorland in england and wales has estimated the
25:18cost of this spring's wildfires at 350 million pounds and some research reports that it can cost
25:25a fire service up to a million pounds just to put out one large moorland fire
25:33steve wright is the general secretary of the fire brigades union representing around 34 000 firefighters across
25:40the uk how difficult is it to fight a wildfire extremely difficult and we want to make sure
25:47there's a standard across the board in the uk because there isn't at the moment there are no
25:51national standards about what equipment firefighters carry for wildfire incidents what appliances attend
25:56so we want to see national standards so there isn't a fragmentation and a postcode lottery of what
26:01resource someone gets in dorset compared to someone in scotland or elsewhere are fire brigades ready
26:07for more wildfires in the future no i don't think so the fire service has been cut over years of
26:13austerity now we've got one in five firefighters less than we've had in the last 10 years there's
26:1712 000 less firefighters and the impact of that is it means we get to incidents slower we're getting
26:22there with less people we're making the case to the government we're making the case to chief officers
26:27that actually we need investment in the frontline resources what happens then if the government
26:31doesn't give more money well i think we find ourselves in a terrible situation actually that
26:37we know these incidents are increasing we're going to be attending more and more of these
26:41and we're doing it with less and less firefighters we have not got the adequate training and in many
26:45places we haven't got the right equipment or appliances to attend these incidents so it's a
26:50very dangerous situation if we don't invest and we don't fund we will not be able to protect
26:54people's properties or save lives country file asked the ministry of housing communities and local
27:01government what it's doing to support fire services as they deal with wildfires in england
27:07they told us they're funding a national resilience wildfire advisor to make sure we can protect
27:13communities alongside giving fire and rescue authorities almost three billion pounds in the last financial
27:19year to help tackle wildfires and we will continue to ensure services have the resources they need
27:26the scottish government meanwhile told us scotland's fire service is fully prepared to respond to wildfires
27:33with a three-year wildfire strategy which will see the continued rollout this year of new equipment
27:40the northern ireland executive said a strategic framework is currently being finalized
27:45to help address the issues of wildfires with additional money to develop wildfire plans for
27:50high-risk areas and the welsh government said their all wales wildfire board meets regularly to discuss
27:57how best to deal with wildfires not all of this is about money and resources one solution for fire
28:06services struggling to work out how to tackle wildfires particularly in remote areas is to work with
28:12farmers and local communities last month a massive fire swept across moorland in dartmoor national park
28:22destroying nearly 500 hectares local farmers joined fire and rescue services as part of a partnership to
28:29tackle wildfires colin abel who grazes sheep on this common land was one of the first on the scene
28:36he was trained to help fight wildfires by ian donovan from devon and somerset fire and rescue service
28:42what was it like then when you got up here vastness of the fire was the biggest impact i've seen when
28:47we first come over the hill and thought yes this is big fire we need to get a lot more troops out kind
28:52of style to to tackle it the farmers are trained to use quad bikes fitted with what are called foggers
28:58hoses that spray a fine mist of water onto fires so how does the system work with the fogger on the
29:05the quad bike one man would be on the lance with the pressure washer and then there'd be another man driving
29:09the quad with the machine on another man would be making sure he doesn't get tangled up and then
29:13there'd be another man ferrying water to that um we had 14 to 15 of us out and it did work well
29:18just getting here really demonstrated how hard it is to get across the moor
29:23and get to these places just be a real problem for the fire brigade yes and that's obviously why we
29:28need the help of the commoners because we know the landscape we get us here much easier and safely
29:32that's the main thing is getting here safely because this has been so far such a dry year
29:37are you more concerned about wildfires this for the rest of this year well we're always concerned
29:43about it yeah we're warning members of the public about not using disposable barbecues not lighting open
29:49fires and just respecting the landscape because it's human intervention that usually causes fires
29:54very rarely is anything else you live on the moor do you worry about wildfires coming closer to your
30:00home i do you know the common that i graze that you know the family work on that you know in my life
30:04i've never seen it burn but it's getting to the stage now that there are areas of the common now that
30:09are are going to catch fire which would be a worry for you a big worry you know when it's not just me as
30:14a farmer but anybody with a property against against the moor will be um yeah could be at risk
30:20and that's the big fear here a future where we have more wildfires not only on remote moorland
30:26but coming closer and closer to people's homes we all saw those pictures from los angeles earlier in
30:32the year with fires ripping through residential areas and sort of thought well that can't happen here
30:38are we wrong to think that well it has kind of already happened here there were some significant
30:43wildfires on the edge of london and in norfolk in 2022 you know the temperature that day was 40
30:49degrees that was the first time that had ever happened in the uk and we really need to be aware
30:54of that risk and be doing something about it now up and down the country young people are doing their
31:05bit for the environment they live in and we want to celebrate them here's adam country file is in
31:15search of a young countryside champion for the bbc food and farming awards 2025 you could be a young
31:22farmer innovating to increase yields or embracing environmentally friendly farming practices
31:29a young naturalist protecting our wildlife or a volunteer raising awareness of the opportunities
31:35in the countryside however a young person is making a difference we want to hear about it
31:40so if you or someone you know is aged between 16 and 24 and passionate about improving the british
31:46countryside then please get in touch to nominate for the country file young countryside champion
31:53or in any other categories go to bbc.co.uk forward slash food awards where you can also find the
32:00terms and privacy notice nominations close at midday on monday the 30th of june 2025 good luck
32:17spurn point has got this magnificent end of the world feel about it even on a gloriously sunny day
32:26like today it feels remote rugged and wild it's not hard to see why it's a source of inspiration for
32:33artists painters and poets
32:35dean wilson is a retired postman originally from home and has been featuring spurn point in his poetry
32:53since he was a teenager
33:12spurn lighthouse good grief and what a dare to be in its presence
33:18my mate martin asked me to write some lyrics for his uh his band and i thought there was a punk band
33:27because it was mad on punk but by the time i'd finished writing punk lyrics it'd gone heavy metal
33:32so but anyway that i was 15 and uh that's when i started writing poems and i never stopped you can't
33:39not write or be creative somewhere like this it's impossible it does strange strange things to people
33:46this place it proper gets you thinking about the past and the future and i sort of wrote a poem about
33:52it called a million a million or so years from now in the future a million or so years from now
34:01when pebbles have become plants and plants have become animals and animals have become people and
34:10people have become gods i'll look back on these walks on this beach and remember the love i found here
34:40oh wow wow wow times a thousand blooming heck look at that one of the best fuels in yorkshire
34:56oh god good grief
35:01it is it's heaven heaven
35:06i just i feel filled with filled with music somehow
35:13but don't worry i'm not going to start singing
35:17i do a weekly poem for the all done us gazette and uh this is from a few years ago this poem
35:22but i woke up early this morning and i made it a bit longer so it's called a
35:27treasure i've been to easington i found some beach treasure sea glass blue and green a devil's
35:35toenail a tiny pyrated ammonite and a hammer full of grass and copper i'm on the bus back to with now
35:41it's a double decker the driver called me sweetie she always makes me feel better i'm sat upstairs at the
35:48front i could sit here forever i can see spain lighthouse and grimsby dock tower and my dad on the
35:55deck of a trolley leaving the humber the sacred land of holderness is like no other
36:03it's there it's chill sacred land of oldenus it's proper special
36:17it's wild and rugged here on sperm point and we have been blessed with some beautiful sunshine
36:36but what's the weather going to be like for the week ahead here's the country file forecast
36:47hello there well it has been warming up recently even in west yorkshire but the higher temperatures
36:53are further south and east we're going to start the week with even higher temperatures in some places
36:58hot and humid weather but it will turn cooler and fresher everywhere from midweek and that change will
37:04be accompanied by some rain at the moment though the warmth is pushing up from the azores together with
37:10that high pressure that will bring more sunshine to england and wales tomorrow but lurking out in the
37:15atlantic this band of cloud and a weather front and we're going to be following the progress of that
37:19as it moves across the uk in the next few days but ahead of that it's going to be a warm night tonight
37:24minimum temperatures typically 16 degrees but tomorrow we will see that weatherfront arriving in
37:29the northwest that's going to thicken the cloud bring some heavier perhaps thundery rain here later in
37:34the day a little bit of patchy cloud bubbling up in northern england the chance of one or two showers
37:39but generally more sunshine for england and wales so the heat building more quickly and more widely
37:45could be warmer with some sunshine in eastern parts of scotland but the higher temperatures
37:49likely to be across eastern parts of wales eastwards across england widely 30 degrees likely
37:54to reach 33 degrees in london that'll be the hottest start to wimbledon on record and following that
38:01heat it could be a very uncomfortable night for sleeping a tropical night in london temperatures
38:06not falling below 20 degrees much cooler further north the rain having cleared away by tuesday
38:11from scotland and northern ireland we're left with a band of cloud dangling across england and wales
38:16not much rain from that but it is significant because it's introducing this cooler and fresher
38:21air so for many of us on tuesday temperatures are going to be lower but it's still hot through the
38:26midlands east anglia and the southeast and it's possible temperatures in london could reach 34 celsius
38:32now it's hot here it's even hotter across some southern parts of europe but our heat is continuing to
38:38build over the next couple of days and then from the northwest we're going to push that cooler
38:42weather down across the whole of the country by wednesday and by wednesday the weather front is here
38:47in east anglia in the southeast of england it's producing cloud and rain that could turn heavy
38:52and thundery much needed rain yes following on from that we get some sunshine there will be a few
38:57pokey showers around as well but temperatures are going to be lower everywhere so we're 20 degrees
39:03in the central belt of scotland and 25 in the southeast of england by this stage the heat wave
39:08is well and truly over and that wetter weather will get pushed away overnight and the azores high
39:14tries to make a comeback heading in from the southwest but there are some stronger winds coming
39:19in from the atlantic those will push a band of showers into northern ireland and head their way into
39:24western scotland elsewhere it should stay dry and there'll be some pleasant sunshine around as well
39:29but temperatures are going to be around 19 degrees in scotland and northern ireland and the low 20s
39:34across england and wales probably still quite pleasant mind you in the sunshine now the azores
39:39high may not make this comeback because we've got lowering pressure further north in the atlantic
39:44and the winds are going to be picking up again on friday and we're going to find some showery
39:48outbreaks of rain pushing back into scotland and northern ireland later in the day back over the iris
39:53sea as well for many parts of england and wales it's going to be dry on friday there'll be some
39:58sunshine and it may well be a little bit warmer once again now there are lots of changes to come
40:04over the week ahead you can keep up to date with those where you are by downloading the
40:08bbc weather app but by the time we get to next weekend we're more likely to have some rain rather
40:14than a heat wave the weird and wonderful landscape of sperm point would certainly make for an evocative
40:29photograph that could be entered into our photographic competition here's john with the details
40:35our country is blessed with an incredible array of beautiful settings and opportunities to capture
40:51on camera it's wonderful wildlife so now with summer here and the beauty of nature all around us
40:59it's my great pleasure to lodge our photographic competition the theme this year is wild encounters
41:11we'll be looking for photographs that reveal the untamed side of our countryside in all its glory
41:17it could be a captivating landscape or a magical encounter with wildlife whatever you choose we
41:24want to see your interpretation of what a wild encounter really is
41:33from all the entries received 12 photographs will be selected to feature in the country file calendar
41:39for 2026. this much-loved calendar is sold in support of bbc children in need a tradition that dates back to
41:481998. thanks to your continued support over the years more than 33 million pounds has been raised
41:57to help change young lives across the uk the photographs that you've submitted over the years have made it all
42:06possible so now is your chance to once again head out into our green spaces to capture in vivid detail
42:14all that the countryside offers once all the entries are in a panel including yours truly and a celebrity
42:22judge will choose the winning photographs that will star in the country file calendar for 2026 sold in
42:29aid of bbc children in need and there'll be an overall winning photo chosen by you our country file viewers
42:37not only will that picture feature on the cover of the calendar but the winner will also get a 1000
42:46pound gift card to spend on photographic equipment of their choice and the person who takes the judge's
42:53favorite photo will receive a gift card of 500 pounds to be spent on their choice of photographic equipment
43:00you can enter up to three photographs in total that fit with the theme wild encountered
43:10to submit your photographs go to bbc.co.uk
43:14forward slash country file where you'll find a link to the entry form
43:19photographs that have won national or international competitions or have been taken by professionals can't
43:25be submitted pictures must have been taken within the uk the channel islands or the isle of man and i'm sorry
43:33but we can only accept online entries
43:38all the details on how to enter the competition can be found on our website plus the terms and conditions
43:44and privacy notice the competition submission period closes at 10 a.m on monday the 28th of july 2025
43:56and now it's over to you get out there with your cameras your smartphones your tablets
44:02and capture your images of wild encounters we can't wait to see
44:16we've been exploring spurn point a spit of land where people and wildlife must be adaptable and resilient
44:24to enjoy a landscape in constant flux the tide is creeping up on us so we've got to get a move on
44:33life on spurn point is not for the faint-hearted as much as people have tried to tame this landscape
44:40the elements are in collusion making life a real challenge here but despite this throughout the shifting
44:47sounds of its history people have settled built and farmed here in 1965 bbc tonight visited spurn point
44:56and met some residents who relished the remoteness
44:59well i think you have to live at the point to appreciate the pleasures that you can get from
45:09being here don't you look forward to going into hall going well it's very nice once a month but
45:16i'm always pleased to get back to the point someone who knows all too well the challenges faced by each
45:23generation that's lived here is historian nick jackson nick sean great to meet you and you what a
45:30fantastic place to meet it's a special place isn't it very exposed though with the north sea just over
45:37there and oh yes battering us even on a nice day like this absolutely there's not much to stop it
45:41coming across i can imagine these groins were have been really important throughout history well these
45:47are actually the old sea defenses these defenses were built by soldiers in the second world war there was
45:54a camp of italian prisoners of war just in the next village in kilnsey and they were actually used to
46:01to help build these as well this place has seen quite a lot of military action it would have been quite
46:06busy for the military oh very much the main build-up was between the first world war and the second world
46:11war you can see lying on the beaches the various debris yeah i can see stuff out ahead and who else
46:17made this place their home there's been people on spurn for thousands of years out in the north sea
46:24there are several villages the most important one is is a village or a town called raven sirrod it was
46:31so unique because it almost evolved from the sea in early 1200s and by the end of that century in 1299
46:39it got a royal charter to become a borough they had a church they had a prison they had their own
46:45customs buildings they had quayside and it was massive where is it now it washed away it by 1360
46:54it had gone completely so there's nothing left one thing that clearly remains is evidence of the
47:02rnli's former presence here in its heyday sperm point was once home to the uk's only 24-hour manned lifeboat
47:12centre its remote location meant the crew and their families lived here throughout the length of their
47:18service these are the lifeboat houses there's been a lifeboat on spurn for best part of 200 years
47:25unfortunately it was closed in 2023 so these are empty now so those houses are now empty yes that's
47:33correct why why did it leave why did this well there's a jetty across the way where they used to
47:38launch the lifeboat from and it was deemed unsafe to use so they had to move the lifeboat away from spurn
47:45even the rnli yeah it couldn't stay here well these houses as well are the third set of lifeboat
47:51houses due to the erosion further down on the humber yeah so there was some built in 1819 they were
48:00evacuated then there were some built in 1857 and they were evacuated and now these houses 1974 and now
48:09they're empty it's so symbolic of of what's been happening here i'm feeling getting this story from
48:15you that you know we have humankind versus nature and humankind is losing this whole point is actually
48:22fairly it's dynamic it's it's moving it's eroding one side it's building up another so you can't really
48:29hang on to it it's it's something that it's going to win in the end one building standing strong against
48:36the elements is the spurn lighthouse built over 130 years ago it's become an iconic landmark for the
48:45point it's 39 meters high with walls as thick as a meter and a half helping this grade 2 listed
48:53building withstand the forces of nature is a team of devoted volunteers headed today by retired geography
49:00teacher simon davis he's one of the volunteers i'll leave you to it okay looks like you're busy
49:08you've got that yes lots on do you fancy helping i can do a bit of polishing how long have you been
49:13here well i first came down here in 1970 early 70s 71 74 i was at university you must have seen some
49:21changes in your time here yeah nature's gradually reclaiming the place because of course the army were
49:27here the lifeboat people here and they've now all left we've got a picture here of what it was like
49:35in the 70s so here you've got the lifeboat cottages where the lifeboat people used to live these were
49:42knocked down in 75 right and it's fascinating because they are that's a proper house that could be a street
49:47in in central hall yeah there were 10 houses there with the families yeah and then this little building
49:54here at the end uh actually was the school house so the kids went to school the kids had a school
50:00down families that's right and nature's just come back in some half the buildings that are left are
50:05now filled with sand simon how does that make you feel having been here for so long and seen those
50:10changes you know it's it's life you know things do change but i mean it the place spurn itself it's if
50:17you like it's going back to being wild again without man's interference you know so that's what i like
50:23about the place but does everyone appreciate the wild shifting nature of spurn point on these shores
50:30joanne clubley is a fourth generation farmer whose land shares the same coastline as spurn point
50:37along with partner mark they've been farming on the front line the farm was rented by my great
50:43grandfather he got that in 1927 and then after world war ii my granddad then bought it your family
50:51goes back to 1927 i mean yes farming's in your veins this land is in your veins yes it is your dna
50:57isn't it it's a beautiful spot but it must come with challenges given you're right on the coast
51:02right on the north sea here yes it does we lose approximately two meters a year two meters of land
51:09a year a year i'm looking at this field we are on the coast aren't we so this field gets two meters
51:16shorter every single year yes it does and you know you're smiling but that how does that make you
51:22feel we just because we learn to accept it so yeah over the years we've just become sort of immune to
51:31the feeling because there's nothing that we get for it it's just one of those things nature takes it
51:36yeah so we just have to live with it what do you think about the future of this place then the farm and
51:42on the coastline here we've got charles which is my nephew he's our fifth generation and he's very
51:48optimistic the same as we all are i think over time it will disappear but we love it here so we'll just
51:57keep doing what we have to do until well we can no longer do it
52:17farmers like joanne may be at the mercy of an encroaching tide but the elements have had a lasting
52:24impact on spurn point throughout its history at one point it even became its own island
52:41the huge storm surge in december 2013 ripped through the peninsula at its thinnest point sections of the
52:49road were washed away the coastline changed forever and wildlife habitats were devastated
52:56back in april 2017 i visited spurn points and met andy gibson from the yorkshire wildlife trust
53:04who witnessed the aftermath the disruption and the and the mess must have been awful it was not the
53:11familiar you know we went to bed having a road here and having mobile dunes and grasses and we came back
53:18and the shoreline above 70 meters into the estuary so that's a landscape change it's just incredible
53:24so did it look like that basically we can see the sort of grassy dune on the sandbank on the side
53:29with the road that we've just come along and that was this was it and that was all this with this
53:33type of road which was cobbly made up of blocks so this is the old road that's the old road box
53:38goodness me the power of the sea that's incredible nominal power
53:41wildlife took a hit too the storm battered important feeding and breeding grounds for wetland birds
53:51but the picture is different today
53:55andy is taking me to kilnsea wetlands nature reserve where the bird populations have bounced
54:00back more than a hundred thousand migratory waders have been recorded here in the last 12 months
54:06what bird species do you see using this wetland in the winter there's the not the red shank um the
54:13dunlin the oyster catchers gray plovers there's a whole range of wading birds that use this part of
54:19the home there at this time of year in april there is the um avocets coming to breed can we see some now
54:26we can so you can see they're all lined up i can there they are this is a good breeding point for
54:32them it's undisturbed what happened to this landscape after the surge the unexpected part
54:37was it filled it up with water but then with the pressure of water it opened up land drains that were
54:42existing from its previous usage and it just about drained the place so the habitat wasn't ideal for
54:49avocets from a point of view of being isolated islands and spits and the predators and the disturbance
54:56was much greater for them now the water's back in they've got an isolated spit to breed on and
55:02hopefully they will have a little bit more success the elements have always taken a toll on this
55:09fragile landscape and always will but there are other threats
55:17man-made threats but ones that we can do something about and that's precisely
55:21what this bunch are up to steve crawford is from the environmental group surfers against sewage
55:28here to give the spurn peninsula a big spring clean all right steve hello there look at that how am i
55:35doing absolutely fantastic that's loads it's not bad is it is this the best time of year to be doing
55:40these beach cleans to be honest any time of year is good because in the winter we get marine litter
55:44in the summer long beach we tend to get a lot more sort of tourist litter just left every day today
55:49and the thing is we've been doing this for decades it's not going to be solved overnight we want
55:52plastic free coastlines we'll involve people like ourselves coming down picking litter up whenever it's there
55:58once this is gone it's gone it won't harm wildlife it won't be unsightly it'll be
56:02it'll be gone and dusted and i suppose if you're out here actually seeing what it's doing to our
56:06coastlines yeah you're more likely to think twice about the next time you you know buy a plastic bottle
56:12or thing is when you buy something don't get a plastic cup get a reusable cup if we don't buy it
56:17people won't produce it simple as that if we all stop buying plastic bottle of their own
56:20this would become obsolete in about five minutes in the bag steve in the bag that was for demonstration
56:27purposes i mean i've been surfing for almost 40 years now you know we see every single day we
56:35realize what it's like you know we're the sort of first line of it yeah all right let's get on
56:39with it there's tons to oh loads more to do loads more there you go another bit oh cheers thank you
57:02i thought you'd be covered in mud not today although i very nearly did succumb i'll have
57:06to tell you about it this place really does pull you in doesn't it in more ways than one
57:09not least because this glorious weather talking of next week we've got another summer treat for you
57:17it's over to adam as he starts a series of four special countryfile programs
57:24oh my word i'm a bit nervous as he meets multi-generational farming families
57:31hello you're right oh hello
57:36well it's all going rather well vincent isn't it yeah at the moment shush
57:41from grandparents to grandchildren i've really watched youtube videos and that's it to be honest
57:47everyone plays their part the only thing i can see myself doing really don't work with animals and
57:52children somebody say that i'll be getting a glimpse into the way they work together day to day
57:58the challenges they face we argue we fight but we make up and the inventive ways that they're keeping
58:05their farms thriving for the future let's celebrate that by eating some more
58:15that's next week at five past seven on bbc2
58:19i hope you can join us bye fancy building a sandcastle let's do it with six michelin stars one of
58:34the world's greatest chefs and his battle with his mental health heston blumenthal my life with bipolar
58:39press red now and on sounds award-winning chemistry means big laughs with ellis james and john robbins
58:46listen now next here on bbc1 walking with dinosaurs
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