Tractors

Some tractors cause hold-ups on the roads

If you live in the South West, getting stuck behind a slow moving tractor is an irritating fact of life.

But imagine how much more annoying it would be if you knew that the tractor holding you up shouldn’t even be there in the first place.

Inside Out's Sam Smith has been on the trail of the rogue tractor operators who are breaking licencing and safety laws.

They are illegally using cheaper red diesel and undercutting the legitimate hauliers on the roads.

Down on the farm

Farmers enjoy big perks when using their tractors on their own farmland or moving agricultural goods around or onto their property.

They don't have to pay road tax, they use cheaper so-called "red diesel" - and they don't need an operators' licence.

But as soon as the tractor is used for outside haulage jobs, that all changes.

The vehicles have to be brought up to the standards required of regular hauliers, and the operators have to get special licences and have their vehicles regularly checked.

But more and more farmers are "diversifying" into haulage without complying with the law, leaving legitimate hauliers unable to compete with their rock-bottom prices.

VOSA, the Government's vehicle inspectorate, admits there are probably hundreds of illegal tractor operators in the South West alone.

Catching them all is almost impossible.

Some hauliers have run out of patience and are working undercover themselves, sometimes spending hours at the roadside waiting to catch their competitors so they can be reported.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Countryside Matters
• BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today
• Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA)
• The Road Haulage Association

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The Fleet - discovering nature

The Fleet lagoon is the largest in Britain

The Fleet lagoon in Dorset is a natural and scientific wonder.

At eight miles long it is the largest lagoon in Britain.

But that calm, apparently unchanging surface masks a fascinating story of great variation.

To the creatures that shelter in its depths, it’s a place of sanctuary – but it’s also a place of remarkable change.

These changes have been caused by nature’s most powerful forces.

And there are changes you can see today as Chris Packham disovers in a journey along its length.

At Ferry Bridge, at the lagoon opening, tides wash sea water in, but gentle currents allow sand to settle on the base of the lagoon.

The sheltered conditions provide a calm alternative to Portland Harbour, for a range of marine species.

But just one mile west – where the lagoon narrows – the scene is far less peaceful.

Tidal water funnels through the narrow channel, creating strong currents which scour the lagoon floor and dump pebbles from the beach.

In the heart of the lagoonal basin, it’s a very different picture again.

Here, it’s a far more brackish environment.

Sea water is not carried up this far by the tides and freshwater run-off from the fields collects in the lagoon.

Another difference is that here the bed of the lagoon is made up of a soft sediment material.

The lagoon bed is rather like a natural time capsule, made up of different layers of material, washed in from the sea and off neighbouring fields, and laid down over thousands of years.

Fossilised in it are ostracods - tiny shrimp-like creatures - which have given expert Alasdair Bruce an amazing insight into the changing lagoon.

There are thousands of different species of ostracod and each one has its own favourite habitat.

Some thrive in freshwater, others prefer a saltwater home.

The fossilised ostracods are salt-water loving but they are in part of the lagoon that receives fresh water.

Alasdair believes they were brought to the lagoon by a giant wave - a tsunami - triggered by the Lisbon earthquake of 1754.

Today, we can only wonder at the resilience of the wildlife that survived such an event.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Dorset - In Pictures - Chesil Beach
• The Heritage Coast - Fleet Lagoon

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William Cookworthy - local hero

William Cookworthy's discovery made its mark on history

In 18th Century Kingsbridge, a gifted child is born who will go on to become one of Plymouth’s most celebrated citizens.

He will make a discovery that has a lasting impact on the region, and set up a pioneering factory making objects now highly sought after by collectors.

William Cookworthy was born exactly 300 years ago.

Cookworthy trained as a chemist, setting up in business in Plymouth.

He did very well for himself and lived in a fashionable Queen Anne House in Notte Street.

Cookworthy travelled all over Cornwall selling his pills and potions but that wasn’t the only reason he went there.

He was also a Quaker Minister and preached in places like the Come to Good Meeting House, a dozen or so miles from Godolphin.

At one point in his career he was shown around one of Cornwall’s most successful tin mines, called Great Work.

On the surface he spotted a miner mending a furnace with some mysterious white paste.

The chemist in Cookworthy was intrigued. He wanted to know what it was and where it came from?

He was directed to a hill overlooking the mine.

China Clay is decomposed granite. It occurs in both Devon and Cornwall but as Cookworthy soon discovered, the purest and richest and deposits are found on Hensbarrow Downs above St Austell.

He knew this material could be used to make Chinese-style porcelain, but it would take a further 20 years of experimentation before his porcelain mix was ready for the market – not least because he had other things to do.

He also helped Thomas Smeaton build a new Eddystone lighthouse by creating a wet water cement that quickly set hard and resisted the constant wash of the sea

Cookworthy finally patented his formula for hard paste porcelain in 1768 and set up a pioneering factory overlooking Sutton Harbour - on a site now occupied by a waterside pub.

The Coxside works produced both domestic and decorative ware.

Cookworthy was up and running, streets ahead of his competitors. But he found it far from plain sailing - Cookworthy suffered the fate of many innovators and never really got beyond the experimental stage

Competitors with superior experience and expertise went on to benefit from his experiments, but the Plymouth factory closed after just ten years

After his death Plymouth Quakers marked their respect for Cookworthy by giving him a special headstone in their otherwise anonymous burial ground.

His own business may have failed but Cookworthy left us with a spectacular legacy which still provides work for 2,000 people in Cornwall.

He made so big an impression on this landscape – it can be seen from as far away as the moon.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC - Antiques - Pottery and Porcelain
• William Cookworthy - Biography
• The William Cookworthy Museum
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society - William Cookworthy

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites