The Gower Peninsula near Swansea in South Wales was the first place in the UK to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Hemmed within its small and rugged coastline, the Gower is decorated with some of the most varied and richest wildlife habitats in Britain.
Gower Peninsula info

Helen Mark talks to local photographer, Mark Button as the sun sets over Worm’s Head, Rhossili. The sunset here, as it casts the serpent-shaped rocksinto silhouette, has been voted the eigth best in the world.

In Bishopston Valley, Helen learns how plants behave after dusk from botanist, Teifion Davies. Teifion introduces her to Toothwort, the vampire of the plant world. It's a parasitic plant that resembles blood soaked teeth and lives on the roots of hazel trees. helen and Teifion clamber down to Seven Slades to hear the sea gurgling like a monster of the deep through a blow hole in the rocks.

Ecologist Paul Llewellyn takes Helen on an exploration of Langland Bay at midnight, when the beach comes alive with sand-hoppers, crabs, limpets and prawns all browsing for a midnight feast. They journey right out to the sea shore to stand on rocks 12 feet under water at high-tide. In the darkness. Paul delves into rock-pools in search of crabs and Helen accidentally steps into a rock pool and gets wet feet.

Helen accompanies Ian Tew to Oxwich Reed Marsh to listen to the dawn chorus. He interprets the songs and calls of native and visiting birds and says that, though we think bird song is a joyous sound, it is often a symbol of aggression.

Finally, Helen travels to Cwm Ivy, North Gower to visit Veronica Shenston. Veronica is an enthusiastic member of the Glamorgan Moth Group and regularly sets up a moth trap on her doorstep at night. This morning she shows Helen the delicate creatures inside.