A DAY FOR NATURE

Presenter: Richard Hall

Episode 1: Space for Nature - Florida

What springs to mind when you think of Cape Canaveral on America’s East coast? Space shuttles, rocket launchers and men boldly going where none have gone before. What certainly doesn’t spring to mind is wildlife but, as Nature Novice Richard Hall discovers, the John F. Kennedy Space Centre is surrounded by one of the largest nature reserves in Florida.

The one hundred and forty thousand acres of so-called buffer zone around NASA’s headquarters forms the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and is a haven for all sorts of temperate and subtropical flora and fauna. Unspoilt brackish estuaries, marshes, dunes and pine forests provide a home for more than five hundred species of animals and birds including some of the rarest in America.

Richard’s guide in this wildlife odyssey, Ron, has been driving his tour bus around the space centre for the last twenty years but his real passion isn’t extraterrestrial exploration. It’s the natural history of planet earth. He takes Richard on an exclusive one man mission to discover why this area is so important for wildlife. They stop the bus to view alligators and ospreys, wild boar and bald eagles and eventually come to the Banana River where hundreds of manatee feed and breed. To conclude Part One, they take to the water for close encounters of the dolphin and turtle kind.

In Part Two Richard’s visit across the Atlantic takes a completely different turn when he moves on from one of the most unspoilt areas of Florida to one of the busiest, Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Opened in 1998, the Disney organisation claim that concern for the earth and its creatures is the central focus of this, the largest theme park in the world. Animal Kingdom was apparently established after consulting some of the world’s leading zoologists and conservationists but just how much of the park’s work is aimed at making a difference to animals in the wild and how much of it is all about profit?

During his visit Richard sees children and adults experiencing the thrill of being face to face with big animals like lions, tigers, leopards, rhinos and gorillas. While there is no shortage of information on conservation issues and the Species Survival Plan that Disney have set up, how much notice do the park’s visitors take of this side of the show? Richard asks whether seeing wildlife in controlled conditions gives the wrong impression of how things really are in the wild? Or are these animals ambassadors for their species?

When the visitors leave the park, get back in their cars and drive home what environmental message, if any, stays with them? And what happens to the animals when the gates close and the sun goes down? After his day in the park Richard contemplates whether Animal Kingdom is merely a good day out where animals are part of the entertainment or is it genuinely trying to change people’s perceptions of the plight of wildlife on our planet.

Episode 2: Quest for Coral - The Costa Brava and Sark

Coral. It’s a name that conjures up images of tropical beaches, crystal clear water and exotic locations. But the Costa Brava? Well known for its beaches and bars, sunshine and shopping, this part of Northern Spain holds a wildlife ace up its sleeve as our intrepid Nature Novice, Richard Hall, discovers in this Quest for Coral.

The town of L’Estartit has all you’d expect from a bustling holiday location. It also has an enormous shop selling nothing but marine curios and some of the most expensive are made of coral. But what exactly is coral and, more importantly, what does it look like when it’s alive? To find out Richard visits the nearby Medes Islands, one of the few marine reserves in the Mediterranean. With the help of scuba gear, a tank full of air and local dive guide Paulo he takes the plunge.

The islands have been protected from fishing since the 1980s and even the number of divers allowed to visit is limited. As soon as he ventures underwater Richard is dazzled by the marine life. Huge shoals of fish, ridiculously ornate sea slugs and rocks carpeted in colourful anemones. He encounters the enormous groupers that practically mug the divers in search of a free meal and eventually finds what he’s been looking for; coral. The walls are lined with fan corals in every shade of red, orange and yellow. Then, in the shade of a tiny cave, there’s some of the most precious coral of all, red coral.

Back on board the boat Richard agrees with Paulo that real live coral in its natural environment is far more precious than any polished up specimen in a souvenir shop. With his interest in coral awakened he wonders if the cooler waters of Britain could possibly harbour such natural gems. In Part Two of Quest for Coral he travels to Sark, a tiny island in the English Channel.

Just three miles long and a little over a mile wide, Sark is one of the smallest Channel Islands. It couldn’t be more different from the Costa Brava. People travel here from far away to absorb the peaceful, car free island atmosphere and enjoy its wild beauty.

Richard meets local scallop diver Jonathon in the tiny harbour and together they head out to discover what treasures the island’s waters have to offer. Once underwater Richard is amazed at the colour and variety of the marine life, some of it not so different from what he saw in the Mediterranean.

First to catch his eye is a vivid blue and orange fish that looks as if it would be more at home in the tropics than these chilly waters. He learns that this fish, the cuckoo wrasse, also has the most remarkable sex life changing from female to male half way through its life. A little deeper and Jonathon points out a reef covered in life, most of it coral. Sea fans reach out into the current and the walls are scattered with fluffy soft corals known locally as dead man’s fingers. Further on they discover the bright yellow polyps of sunset coral, one of the rarest species in British waters. His Quest for Coral over Richard returns to the shore convinced that the waters of the English Channel are not the dull, murky places he once thought they were.

Episode 3: Wild Singapore

The hustle and bustle of Singapore, shopping, quayside restaurants, magnificent hotels and cable car rides are just some of the elements (apart from the finance sector) that draw millions to this city every year. The most famous hotel in Singapore is Raffles - the landmark hotel where the recipe for the Singapore Sling was written. Sadly the Hotel also lays claim to a folklore tale of shame. It’s said that inside the long bar the last surviving wild tiger in Singapore was shot to death in 1902 after it was found hiding under the snooker table. Actually the last Tiger was killed in 1924 in the rainforest of Bukit Timah.

Richard discovers a mere 12km from the city that the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve has survived seemingly against all odds. At 533 feet this pristine rainforest covers some 400 acres and still retains nearly half its original native bird species and many small mammals.

Of course the tigers, leopards and wild boars have vanished but the diversity of its fauna plays an important role in the survival of the birdlife and smaller mammals. One such creature for instance is the reticulated python which has now replaced the tiger at the top of the reserve's food chain.

In taking a day away from the city hubbub our team join an organised trek to discover towering trees, climbing palms, ferns, orchids, gingers and strange blooms such as the Black or Bat Lily. Critter wise it’s a challenge to film the Long-tailed Macaques or monkeys and the flying lemurs – and that’s before we start on our little feathered friends!

Part Two and Hall’s off to the beach to the northern island of Chek Jawa to follow the tide with the volunteers of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research who are investigating one of the largest seagrass meadows in Singapore. Here lush mangroves and coral reefs that line the edge of the island are all thriving with marine life.

The shore teems with tiny crabs which, if undisturbed, go about their amusing antics at low tide. The sand bar is the backbone of Chek Jawa and provides a home for all manner of intriguing creatures including the Common Sea Star which is plentiful and so easy to find. The sand bar is also a popular rest stop for shorebirds that fly in from as far away as Siberia along with the local majestic birds of prey that hunt for fish in the sea.

So Join Hall to experience Singapore as you have never seen it before as we take out ‘A Day for Nature’.

Episode 4: Goan Wild

Goa in India, famous for Vindaloo - the hottest dish on the menu, back packing, long sandy beaches and now because of its relaxed Indian laws, gambling! So not famous at all for its wildlife, which is strange when you consider that 20% of Goa is covered by wildlife protected areas. In fact, its jungles and estuaries are simply teeming with critters both large and small.

But it’s not only wild creatures that are covered in our series. Richard meets the man solely responsible for cleaning up Goa’s stray dog population. John Hicks formed International Animal Rescue eight years ago and in that short time has vaccinated and sterilised some 22,000 dogs. In the kennels holiday makers are encouraged to come and walk some of these four legged friends, but as Richard found, leaving the puppies behind in the kennels proves to be a real tug at the heartstrings!

One creature that Hall had no intention of smuggling back was a Russells Viper, one of the world’s most venomous snakes, which claims around 10,000 human lives globally every year! Richard meets the local snake catcher to learn more about our slithery friends.

In part two we head back to the estuaries and the sea to learn more about the incredible White Breasted Sea Eagle that is so prominent in Goa. This amazing bird with its distinctive white chest has a very shrill call which once heard is never forgotten. Although, as its name suggests, it feeds extensively on fish, it will also take other smaller water birds and often steals prey from its competitors.

The biggest of all the wildlife sanctuaries of Goa, Bhagwan Mahaveer sanctuary covers an area of around 240 square kilometres. The sanctuary is located on the eastern border of Goa and is easily reachable by road and rail, and so makes for a perfect day or two away from the beach.

The sanctuary is home to Leopards, Spotted Deer, Black Panthers, Malayan Giant Squirrels, Pythons, Cobras and many more reptile species. Of course there are many different varieties of colourful tropical birds. But the big cats are almost impossible to find so Richard goes in search of a tribe of Macaque monkeys so called because of their comical hairstyle.