麻豆约拍

These eel-like monsters belong to a family of jawless fish over 500 million years old and spend the majority of their lives in the open ocean. In May, however, they travel up the River Wye towards the village of Boughrood in their thousands to breed. In the ocean, they are bloodsucking parasites, latching onto fish and sucking them dry. But as soon as they reach the river, they stop feeding. In freshwater they are interested in just one thing – breeding. Episode 2 sees some lamprey landscaping as both male and female prepare the perfect place for the females to lay their eggs. After this life-giving act, both male and female die of exhaustion, the laying of the eggs being the final act of a brutal lifecycle.

Perhaps one of Wales’ most distinctive seabirds, puffins are thriving on the islands of Skomer and Skokholm off the coast of Pembrokeshire. They head to the waters there each year to feed on the swarms of sand eels that gather. When they dive into the clear blue waters of Pembrokeshire to fish, puffins are able to hold their breath for nearly two minutes and reach depths of up to 160 feet.

It’s no wonder puffins find Skomer and Skokholm the perfect place to raise their chicks. They return to the same burrow, to breed with the same partner, every single year. On these islands, puffins also benefit from a distinct lack of the predators you would find on land, with greater black backed gulls being their main threat. Each chick the puffins breed needs to eat its own weight in fish every single day, so the parents have their work cut out for them. As a result, each puffin can spend up to a third of their time underwater when raising a chick, making up to six trips a day back and forth to the sea for food.

The Marsh fritillary butterfly is one of Europe’s most rapidly declining species of butterfly, yet much of Wales is home to populations of this unique and threatened species. The adults of this species are typically active in the hottest summer months, while the species’ caterpillars can be found nearly all year round. The population in this episode lives in a wildflower meadow half a mile from the former mining town of Aberbargoed. Adults of this species live for just two weeks, so seeing one is a rare treat for the lepidopterists of Wales.