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THE LIVING WORLD
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MISSED A PROGRAMME?
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PROGRAMME INFO |
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The Living WorldÌýis a gentle weekend natural history programme, presented by Lionel Kelleway, which aims to broadcast the best, most intimate encounters with British wildlife.
nhuradio@bbc.co.uk |
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LISTEN AGAIN Ìý25min |
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PRESENTER |
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"The Living World is the next best thing to being there. Our contributors are skilled naturalists who are able to reveal those fascinating facts about animals and plants that you don't always find in books. It's like having a personal guided tour of the countryside, without needing to leave the house."
Lionel Kelleway
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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| Lionel Kelleway with Jules Howard & Newt |
Newt in a Pit
Lionel Kelleway visits the Hampton Nature Reserve in the company of Jules Howard of Froglife. The reserve is the legacy of almost two centuries of brickmaking at Peterborough , and now consists of approximately 300 acres of steep ridges and water-filled furrow - resulting in a dramatic freshwater landscape that is outstanding for the number and range of species - being rich in amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. Most notably, it is home to an estimated 30,000 adult great crested newts - Britain 's rarest newt - and making this site one of Europe's most important for the great crested newt.
The ponds have benefited from an intensive conservation project that included the movement by conservationists of thousands of amphibians and reptiles from encroaching building works in the area, but it is also a reminder that the spectacular success of the site for rare species is the direct result of former human industrial activity.
One of the benefits of the particular quality and age of the ponds, is that it has become one of the best sites for the UK's rarest group of plants, the stoneworts.Ìý This isÌýan ancient group of aquatic algae unusual because instead of using cellulose for structural support they have an external coating of calcium carbonate that gives them a brittle texture.Ìý
However it is the newts that are the subject of Lionel and Jules's pond dipping quest. An adult newt can spend anything between 1 and 210 days a year in the water, and in the search for the newts, which can be quite elusive in mid summer when the weather is hot and dry, we learn more about the behaviour of the great crested newt, its dramatic courtship ritual, as well as a genetic oddity in egg development that results in half of its eggs never hatching.
The fun of pond exploration is brought to life by Lionel and Jules as they wade into the watery habitat with their nets to see what they can find. |
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