Britain's Whales & Sharks - Episode 1 (as seen on ITV)

There's a world beyond our shores where giants roam. Wow, just amazing to see. Whales the size of buses, thousands strong pods of dolphins and large predatory sharks all call the British Isles home. We've got 30 different species of sharks in our waters including some real megastars. We've got hammerheads, we've got blue sharks, we've got threshers, we've got makos and they're out there every single summer. Our mission is to meet these elusive creatures. We're planning an extraordinary expedition. We've got two blue sharks circling. Beautiful. Using the biggest natural shark bait on earth we're going in search of giants. You ever seen it like this before here in British waters? No. Wow. The waters around the British Isles are home to some of our best-kept wildlife secrets and a great place to meet them is here in Pembrokeshire off the west coast of Wales. These are common dolphin. They've got this really distinctive creamy mark down their sides and they're really abundant in the southwest. They're drawn in by the sound of the boat they're essentially just riding the pressure of the bow wave. They're really sociable animals and you can even hear some of their vocalizations from here. They're just having a laugh. It's amazing. So close. Common sight all the way around our coast but they're not alone. Amazingly more than 25 kinds of whales and dolphins either visit or live in our waters. 24 meter thin whales to pods of killer whales which come here to feed on corpuses and seals. But astonishingly little is known about the lives of our whales. They spend some 90 percent of their time hidden from view beneath the surface and only re-emerging to breathe. And it came as a big surprise to me that there are more than 30 different types of sharks in our waters. Big tropical sharks like the 12-foot threshers with their tails half as long as their body. And the mako the fastest shark in the ocean. All come here as visitors in the summer. So this is our rather extraordinary plan. We're going to head out to the Celtic deep one of the richest marine areas in our country in search for its incredible wildlife. We'll be looking for our ocean's giants but our biggest challenge is finding sharks they're shy and elusive. In fact we've been told our best chance of seeing them is an event that has never been filmed in British waters before. It's called a whale fall. When a whale dies it can float for weeks being carried along by the current for miles and miles all the while being fed on by scavengers. Elsewhere in the world we know that a huge range of animals come in to feed on this whale carcass. Everything from the great white sharks down to tiny little worms. We've never studied a whale fall in the UK before and we have no idea what might come along to the feast. So this is the ambitious idea. We're going to wait for a whale to wash up, freeze it then find a shipping container big enough to store it in then when the time is right we're going to take the whale back out to sea. It's going to be one heck of a challenge but if we pull it off it will be amazing. We started planning this project more than three months ago and we've gathered together the UK's top whale and shark experts. We've had to persuade everyone from the coast guard to her majesty's receiver of wrecks that it's a good idea. But our biggest problem is finding a dead whale. That's why I'm on my way to the Zoological Society of London to meet the one man who can help. Thanks very much. Rob how are you doing? Good to meet you. How are you? Thank you very much. Since whales were protected in the 1960s their numbers are slowly increasing and more and more are being found. Every time one washes up on a beach Rob Deville from the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Program goes out to try and find out why it died. Essentially this is where it all happens. You will be sitting in this room in central London and you'll get that call saying that an animal has stranded on a beach as far afield as Scotland, Northern Ireland. Yeah or on the train at seven in the morning. We're kind of freaking out the fellow commuters but yeah we can get a call at any time about any stranding anywhere. So in the 20 year period in the UK, 25 years since we've been going, there's been 12,000 strandings. We get about 600 each year around the UK and we post more to about a quarter each year, 100-150. So there's a huge amount of data and evidence we've learned in that period so it gives us a chance to try and do more about the threats they face in UK waters. 600 is quite a large number but how many of those are whales that can fit into the size of a container? That is what we're after. What are our chances? How likely is it? You have quite specific requirements. So I guess being realistic we're talking about a small fin whale a say whale or a humpback whale. So the number of options are quite limited. Over the next year you are talking probably on both hands there's a number of events each year that we're going to be dealing with. Rob you and the team are the hotline to any strandings and you're going to let me know is that right? Yeah as soon as we get a call about something we think is suitable we'll give you a call, pack your bag and come along and see what happens. Three months go by and despite Rob's confidence there's no call. Then sadly we hear a huge sperm whale has washed up on a beach in northeast Scotland. It's a male and at 15 metres it's just too large for our project. The British Isles has the highest number of sperm whale sightings in northern Europe and what's amazing is that they're virtually always males. It's thought this one may have been on its way down to the warm waters of the Azores in the mid-Atlantic to mate. The females and their young remain here year round. Some travel as far as the Arctic to feed. It's likely our whale may have been drawn to an area of deep water south of Norway to hunt the squid at depths of over 400 metres. Leaving these rich feeding grounds it would have had to have made a hazardous crossing through the shallow shelving waters of the North Sea. A notorious sperm whale trap. It was somewhere here in these busy shipping lanes. It was likely hit and killed. Four months on and our luck hasn't changed. It's now winter, the water is cold and there are few signs of life. Most of our summer visitors have long gone headed south to warm climbs. Storm after storm pounds the British and Irish coasts mixing up oxygen and nutrients in the water. It's creating the perfect conditions for minute plant-like algae, the phytoplankton, to grow. They in turn will feed tiny animals, many no larger than a parrot. All they need now is the warmth and light of spring to explode in huge numbers turning these waters into a cauldron of activity. In the Atlantic, a host of oceanic wanderers know this and will soon begin their epic journeys to our shores. In the west, basking sharks, leatherback turtles and blue sharks will start heading east. And from the south, giants are coming. In the warm waters of the mid-Atlantic, humpbacks, giant fin whales, male sperm whales will soon turn and head north. Some travel in pods, others are loners. All are drawn towards the British Isles. Next, a nine metre humpback whale is found. This news has left me with quite mixed feelings. Oh goodness, I can see it. The mission is on. It's late spring and a year into our attempt to come face to face with the sharks and whales of the British Isles. Ocean summer visitors are beginning to arrive. Ten metre minkes with their distinct narrow pointed heads and small curved dorsal fins. As if nobody knows, bats are arriving with sightings as far afield as the west coast of Cork. Then we get bitter sweet news. A whale has died trapped in lobster pot lines off the tiny fishing village of Helmsdale in north-east Scotland. It's been an early start this morning. I've had a cab journey, a flight, a two hour drive and not a lot of sleep but I'm hoping it's going to be worth it. Heading out to the whale is the team that have spent three days trying to save it. Lobster fisherman Billy Cowey, whose lines the whale is tangled in and rescue diver Alistair Jack. We were called on Thursday afternoon about a humpback whale that was entangled in lobster pots. There's a black rope stuck round him. Poor bugger, could be weak stuck here breathing. He's obviously fast here. Trapped, the whale gets weaker and weaker as it fights to get to the surface to breathe. Hours into the rescue operation, bad weather hits. The sea conditions picked up over Friday to a point where we couldn't even get out to sea at all. The fog closed in as well so everything and nature was against us to try to save this animal. We had to abandon the rescue attempt. Now unfortunately yesterday, people actually spotted the animal on the surface lying on its side. We've sent a RIB out, the RIB's gone out and checked yesterday and unfortunately the animal has perished. We suspect that it would have drowned at high tide. It's quite heartbreaking to be honest. This news has left me with quite mixed feelings because it's sad that this animal has died but it could also be the perfect specimen for our project. And you know there's so many of the whales that fall around our coastline ends up in landfill which somehow just feels wrong. So our hope is to return the whale back to the sea where it could be food for millions of marine animals and once again be part of the food chain. The humpback is a young adult likely to be less than six years old. He's got a black rope which has been attached him for a long time and obviously there's something hanging off the black rope which is caught up in my pot and he's just anchored himself to the bottom now you know and he just couldn't break free like. Humpbacks are often found feeding close to the shore. Slow swimmers and with unusually long side fins they're especially prone to getting entangled in nets and lines. Protected since 1966, humpbacks are making a slow recovery but they're still vulnerable with little known about their movements around the British Isles. The death of such a young animal is a tragedy. It's quite sad. He's probably been all over the world when he's came to north of Scotland and just been unlucky. A potential shipping hazard, the whale is towed into Helmsdale Harbour so experts can find out exactly how and why it died. The entire town turns out to pay homage to this ocean wanderer. In days gone by, a whale stranding was a cause for celebration as it meant a large source of food, oil and bone. Oh yeah, there's a load of activity. Today the mood is much more sombre. Goodness, I can see it. Oh my word, what a sight. Wow, get a closer look. Rob, what have you got? Good journey. We've got a humpback whale. So this was found in some lobster caught ropes last over the weekend and brought in here to harbour and hopefully carry out post-mortem to see what happens to it. Rob Deville has come to help Andrew Brownlow who's part of the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme. As you can see, what we've got here is quite a sad sight but this is a female humpback whale, sub-adult or adult. So she's nine metres long and they can go up to 16, 15, 16 metres so she's not yet fully grown. Our job now is to sort of have a look at the scars that we can see down here and to just have a look at her sort of condition and try and work out basically what's been going on with her when she was alive and to try and understand a little bit more about how she became entangled. So sad seeing what she got tangled in. You must have seen, Andrew, a few of these but do you ever lose that sense of sadness? How does it actually make you feel when you're here doing this? It is hugely sad and it's quite amazing. When you see something like this that looks at one level so totally alien but they're mammals, they suckle their own, they're young with milk. They are very, very similar to us. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be upside down in the harbour wrapped in rope. She should be out there feeding normally but we can hopefully kind of, we can learn something from this so it's not a total waste. The whale was likely heading north towards the Arctic when she ran into trouble. Travelling up to 16,000 miles every year, humpbacks make the largest migration of any mammal on earth. During the winter months, the eastern Atlantic population gather around the remote Cape Verde islands where they mate and give birth. Then, like clockwork, most head north towards the Arctic to feed on herring and other small fish, stopping in our waters to rest and feed en route. As they go through the water, they can pick up these ropes and they just get tangled at basically the back of their throat and they're not very good at reversing so it's very difficult once they've picked something up for them to drop it again and this isn't somebody's fault. The fishermen that put these creel lines out, they're trying their level best to stop this from happening. They don't want to see this any more than we do but by understanding actually how bad this is and how extensive this is, we may be able to understand a bit about how we could potentially try and change the way these ropes are laid out to try and stop it from happening quite as often. Andrew confirms the whale drowned and had been swimming with ropes tangled around her for many weeks before she snagged on Billy's lobster pots. God, look at all that rope, all that rope around her. It's so sad seeing what she got tangled in and feeling that part of that lobster pot. It's sad. She won't go to waste. We will guarantee it. At this point in the project, the reality of finding the whale really hits us all. To see such a beautiful animal robbed of life through no fault of her own is very hard but the UK is an island nation surrounded by an ocean that we know very little about. Her death will not be in vain. We're hoping she'll help unlock some of its secrets. The place our whale full expert want to take her is just beyond the horizon. Her final resting place will be one of the British Isles' richest and most mysterious stretches of ocean. 50 miles that way is the Celtic Deep. Sitting right between the Cornish, Welsh and Irish coasts, this is an area of deep water where every summer the warm gulf stream collides with the coastal waters of the Irish Sea. Trapping nutrients at the surface, this powers a feast on an epic scale. Massive shoals of fish like mackerel are found here which in turn attract sharks, dolphins and whales. For our best chance of meeting these ocean giants, we need to wait until late summer when water temperatures are at their warmest and ocean visitors at their peak. So for now, all we can do is put the whale into temporary cold storage and wait. But actually manoeuvring seven tonnes of whale into a shipping container is no mean feat. A team of engineers are waiting for her. These heavy lifting experts normally move large industrial machinery around. Well, we had the phone call and initially we thought it was a bit of a joke because it's not something we usually do. We're in brand new territory here. No one has ever tried to freeze a whale of this size before. Her blubber, up to 15 centimetres thick, is the ultimate insulator. There's real concern she simply won't freeze. Temperature expert Judith Evans has been preparing for this day for over a year. This is what we're going to put the liquid nitrogen through. She's spent hours running computer models trying to figure out how to do it. More than seven tonnes of liquid nitrogen pump into the container. Slowly, the temperature begins to drop. The first stage of our extraordinary mission is over. But for Ben and I, the challenges now only get bigger. In three months' time, when sea temperatures hit 17 degrees Celsius, we'll attempt to move her to her final resting place. A location in the Celtic Deep, which has taken the approvals of more than 15 authorities. It's going to be interesting. Next, I come face-to-face with giants. We've just had word that there are humpback whales somewhere out there. Wow! Beautiful day here. I'm basically in the most south-westerly corner of the British Isles, right down on the tip of Ireland. We've just had word that there are humpback whales somewhere out there. So I'm joining a boat. I'm hoping to see something pretty special. I'm here with Porrig Woolley from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, who believes these waters are once again becoming a real hotspot for humpback whales, with as many as 30 now being seen off Kerry every summer. We've got some dolphins just here playing around us. Here they go, look at them. Common dolphins. Look at this. This ocean is alive. It's just incredible here in the British Isles. It's just magical. We've seen a lot of seabird action just on the ship's head, and we think we've seen a blow from some whale. Not sure what species, but hopefully it's a humpback. This is pretty exciting. Look at it, here it is. You can actually see these footprints that they leave on the water. From above, they're really glaringly obvious. Beautiful. So this is what we call a bait ball. We've got the dolphins pushing all of the bait in together. We've got all of the birds feeding in a great frenzy above, and we've got these magnificent humpback whales coming up and joining in the great feast. At some 12 metres, Act warps the dolphins. Working together, they herd shoals of fish towards the surface, triggering a feeding frenzy. These gentle giants can weigh up to 40 tonnes, but they mostly feed on tiny... So what's our humpback whale here likely to be feeding on? What kind of fish? Earlier in the season, we're pretty sure they were feeding on sand eels, and right now, pretty sure they're feeding on sprats. Okay. Two really important species. Look at this, right behind us. In fact, there's two of them. And what kind of volumes are we talking about? Probably... It's thought that they're eating about one-thirtieth of their body weight every day in forage fish species. So certainly, they're eating hundreds and hundreds of kilos of fish on a daily basis. They're significant consumers. No wonder they haven't stopped since we've been here. I mean, we've been following these guys for hours and hours, and they're still feeding. Yeah, but you've got to remember, they're only feeding for half the year. For the other half of the year, they're practically starving. So by the time these guys come up to the feeding grounds here, they've lost up to one-third of their body weight. So they really need to get all this calorific intake now because it's a long period once they leave here with no food. I never realized just how rich the waters around our island home are. And with humpbacks on the rise, we could soon start to see more sights like this around the British Isles. Each whale has a unique pattern on its tail. Photographing this, the Irish team are building up a detailed picture of where the humpbacks have been and how long they spend here. We are seeing more and more whales returning to this area every year. Some of these animals, we will have seen them here over the last three decades. So these are animals that know this area is a rich feeding area, and they are returning year after year and decade after decade. Three of the Irish whales have been identified as far north as the Arctic Circle. But Porrick believes Ireland is particularly important for younger humpbacks who sometimes stay all summer. If they come up here, they find there's loads of food. Why would they go 3,000 kilometers north to the Arctic Circle? They've only a certain amount of energy that they have. And if they can feed adequately here for a couple of months before they head back down south, well, then it is a theory. But yes, a lot of these animals do tend to be sub-adult or juvenile, as was the Helmsdale animal. Are you telling me that modern whale teens are getting lazier? Could be, or just more sensible. As the afternoon progresses, three more humpbacks join the feast. And I'm treated to one of the most spectacular events in the ocean. As if by magic, giant rings of bubbles start rising to the surface. Working together in the deep, the whales create a wall of bubbles which trap the sprat and force them to the surface. Once there, the humpbacks rush upwards and swallow the scores of fish whole. Wow! I mean, I cannot tell you how amazing that is to see the mouth coming up, creating this kind of ring of bubbles. I'm actually deeply moved up here. The Helmsdale whale was such a tragedy. So unfortunate that she got tangled up in all of those fishing lines. But coming here has been so reassuring. To be surrounded by a healthy pod of humpback whales, seeing them so close, I feel incredibly privileged. It's now the height of summer, and humpbacks are not the only creatures drawn to the British Isles. As the seas warm, tiny plant-like algae bloom in such huge quantities, it's even visible from space. On cue, a host of weird and wonderful creatures start to arrive. Off the southwest coast of England, Portuguese man-o'-war are sighted. Trailing behind them like a wall of death, their tentacles can reach over 30 metres long. They paralyse and kill small fish and plankton, and can give humans an extremely painful sting. And wherever there's man-o'-war and jellyfish, one of the ocean's strangest-looking creatures can often follow. A one-metre sunfish is spotted in the Celtic deep, with more sightings as far north as the west coast of Scotland. It's thought they may spawn in the mid-Atlantic, with some carried all the way here on the Gulf Stream. Killer whales are spotted right around Scotland, and as far south as the Welsh coast. Some swim south from the Arctic to feed here. Others live here all year round. A beluga whale is seen off Northern Ireland, perhaps a sign of change in their Arctic home. Giant fin whales are seen off Southern Ireland. House sharks gather off West Sussex, and reports of bigger sharks like freshers and blues begin to filter in. It's time to get the Helmsdale whale back out to sea. Next. I think I have to pinch myself to believe that this is actually happening now. We head out to the Celtic deep. This is an incredibly wild place. It's late summer, and finally, our expedition to search for the sharks and whales of the British Isles is on. An extraordinary load is on its way to North Devon. Hidden inside is a nine-metre humpback whale. Its life tragically taken when it got trapped in fishing lines. Now in death, she may help us to meet some of the UK's most secretive creatures. This is the best chance I've ever had of seeing what's out there. We've got 30 different species of sharks in our waters, including some real mega stars. We've got hammerheads. We've got blue sharks. We've got threshers. We've got makos. Names that the guys in the streets are not even aware of, and they're out there every single summer. It's really very exciting. 60 miles to the north, Ellie is already heading out to sea. While Ben and the whale travel out from Devon, I'm taking a different route, first exploring the closest stretch of coastline to the Celtic deep, Pembrokeshire, to see what kind of marine life it has to offer. All going to plan, I'll be meeting Ben and the whale in the Celtic deep in 24 hours' time. This is the Lady Kate. She's my home for the next week, an ex-fishing trawler. She's built not for speed, but to withstand big waves, which is just as well, because I've heard it's going to be lumpy. What we're doing may seem a strange undertaking, but in returning the whale to the ocean, our experts hope it's a way of understanding our seas, where so much life is hidden from us by depth and distance. Incredibly important for the health of the oceans, a whale fall has never been studied in British waters before. Eight miles offshore, we meet one of the first creatures that could visit us in the Celtic deep. Just over there is the island of Grasso, the fourth largest gannet colony in the world. Some of these gannets, like so many of our summer visitors, have made an extraordinary migration, coming all the way from Africa to feed in our waters. And this tiny island is where many hang out for the summer. More than 80,000 adults jostle for space to raise their young here. Quite, not just because of the bloomage of the gannets, but also years and years of guano, their bird poom, has built up. Although we're quite a distance here, with the wind in the right direction, there's a bit of a whiff. It's here in one place. It just goes to show there must be so much food in these waters to support this number. They can use the updraft from the waves to glide along and they've got amazing vision, so they can spot their prey from great distances. And once they've locked onto them, the way their eyes are positioned allow them to judge distances well enough to dive in at great speeds and pick out the fish. Great hunting technique. You can see just right next to the island, there's a group of them that are diving at extraordinary speed. Wow, the speed! About 60 miles an hour they can hit the water. Britain's largest seabird, they're hunting for small fish like herring. Using their wings and feet like paddles, they can dive up to 20 meters. We'll be sure to meet these long-distance hunters again. As the light fades, I've got to the last patch of land before the Celtic Deep. Lying some 20 miles offshore, this treacherous cluster of rocks known as the Smalls has claimed many a shipwreck. Cormorants and gulls jostle for space alongside grey seals which can weigh in at over 300 kilos. We know from other parts of the world like Cape Cod that where seal numbers are healthy, sharks will follow and they've seen the return of the great white shark. Over here in Britain since the 1960s, our seal numbers have doubled so there could well be big sharks out there and that's why we're really keen to get our whale into the ocean and see what comes. But for now, I can't resist a dive with some of the most inquisitive and cheeky individuals in our seas. So close! Amazing! Nearly 40% of the world's grey seals live here in the UK with more than 5,000 in southwest Wales alone. Known to hunt in the Celtic deep, they can travel up to 100 miles on their fishing trips. That was one of the best experiences I've ever had. There's something about being with a wild animal that chooses to be with you and actually seemingly wants to play. I love that. Lovely. Well, it's the end of the first day and tomorrow our expedition really, really gets going. We're at the stage where there's absolutely no going back. If we pull it off, if we get the whale in the right place, if we, you know, if we get any animals there at all, but the dream would be if we got some sharks, you know, I'd be so proud to be part of that team that was there. That's not to say I'm not anxious and nauseous and nervous about the whole thing, particularly diving in very deep waters with British sharks. That's a few things to keep me awake tonight. Back in Devon, our time as the whale's temporary guardian is over. It's time to return to her royal home. Gently lowered into the water in a specially designed sling, the Helmsdale whale is ready for her final journey to the Celtic deep. Whale pool expert Nick Higgs is overseeing the transfer. We're actually taking it back out to sea, taking it back where it belongs. We don't know what happens or what's going to happen and that's what's really exciting. For shark expert Richard Pearce, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me, who's been looking for big sharks in British seas for the last 20, 25 years, to actually have an opportunity to watch a whale be eaten by sharks, to attract big sharks, it's just mind-blowing, it's amazing. I don't think I'll sleep tonight. Just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and it's going to be amazing, it's going to be fabulous. Operation Whale. I think I have to pinch myself to believe that this is actually happening now. We're about to spend six days at sea, more than 50 miles from land. Good morning, Lady Kate. Good morning, Ellie. Nice to see you. He loves it, he's like Captain Bird's eye, look at him. Richard is pretty certain that the fact there's no birds hanging around on top of our whale means there's something below it and I'm going to find out what that is. We witnessed the greatest gathering of sharks ever seen in British waters. That was amazing, that was just extraordinary, it's like another world down there. And with every, more and more come. It's quite stressful, their behaviour's changed. They've become a bit aggressive and they don't want to take any chances so we've all had to come up as quickly as possible. Prepare to see the waters of the British Isles like you've never seen them before. Literally, we've probably counted 40, 50. You ever seen it like this before here? In British waters? No.