New BBC documentary to feature Amble GP known as 'The Seal Whisperer'
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Dr Ben Burville of Coquet Medical Group in Amble features in the latest series of BBC One show, Our Lives, which airs on Friday, August 30 at 7.30pm.
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Hide AdHe has become one of the country's leading experts on the underwater behaviour of grey seals.
The creatures trust him so much they even shake hands (flippers) with him.
And he takes viewers below the waves to see for themselves with his own amazing footage, sharing his groundbreaking discoveries in seal behaviour, including how seals communicate with their whiskers.
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Hide Ad"It was great fun filming it,” he said. “Being an NHS GP is very stressful and has huge demands so getting away from that and enjoying the peace and solitude of being in the water is very important to me.
"Getting the seals to trust me enough that I can get up close is something I’ve developed over the last 20 years. I think they do recognise me as an individual, although you rarely see the same seal again and again.”
However, he has concerns about the increase in marine litter and plastic and has seen for himself the impact it has on wildlife.
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Hide Ad"We’re so lucky in Northumberland to have the marine life we do off the coast, from minke whales to bottlenose dolphins. But I’ve seen a seal with a tyre stuck around its neck and many more stuck with discarded fishing gear attached to them.
"I’ll try to intervene when I can and have managed to cut bits of rope and fishing line from around their necks but under water that’s a really hard and sometimes dangerous thing to do.”
And the seals, like the seabirds of the Farne Islands, all rely on sand eels.
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Hide AdWith numbers of these oil rich fish in steep decline in the North Sea, landmark legislation has just come in to ban the sand eel fishery.
Despite this, the sand eel’s future is still far from certain. The EU is challenging the bill, threatening the future of Ben’s seals, and all the marine life who rely on them.
"The conservation message is really important,” says Ben. “Our coastal communities rely on nature, whether that’s the seals or the birds of Coquet Island, St Mary’s or the Farnes to support the local economy.
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Hide Ad"I remember Sir David Attenborough was once asked where he would go if he could go to one place in the British Isles and he said the Farnes in springtime. That shows how important Northumberland is. We shouldn’t take it for granted.”
The series celebrates home-grown storytelling and UK life in all its diversity, reflecting the extraordinary lives of ordinary people across all four nations.
BBC Director of Nations, Rhodri Talfan Davies, says: “Our Lives provides a remarkable and authentic snapshot of life across these islands.”
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Hide AdNathalie Grace, producer/director at Big Wave, which is the production company behind the Seal Whisperer, says: “Working on this project has truly been a dream come true. Not only am I working on an incredible British underwater story about some awesome mammals, I am working alongside one of the kindest, most inspirational people I have ever had the honour of meeting.”
The series is also available on BBC iPlayer
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