Wallaby watching and rockpooling were two of the items on the agenda for the BBC television’s Countryfile team when they visited the Isle of Man.
A film crew along with regular presenter Adam Henson spent a couple of days in the island making the feature.
Lara Howe of Manx Wildlife Trust said they were contacted by the programme makers some weeks ago.
‘There is just one presenter with a film crew,’ she said.
‘They went rock pooling in the morning and there was also information about [pioneering marine biologist] Edward Forbe.
‘It’s 200 years since he was born in 1815 and he was a local naturalist so that was the connection with the Isle of Man and rockpooling.’
The teams were guided by Dr Fiona Gell from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture and marine biologist Professor Trevor Norton. Led by Manx Wildlife Trust director Duncan Bridges, the team also visited the Ballaugh Curraghs to go wallaby spotting.
A visit to Ramsey Grammar School was also on the itinerary to see the school’s farm animals.
Last autumn it was reported the island’s wallaby population had increased by about 20 animals to 120.
The marsupials are actually native to Australia and Tasmania but are thought to have escaped from the Wildlife Park in the 1970s and have been on the run, living in the wild with no natural predators, ever since.
The animals graze on grassland and forage for small shrubs and are mainly concentrated in the Ballaugh Curraghs area, though there have even been occasional sightings towards the south of the island. The island is thought to have the biggest wallaby population in the northern hemisphere.
The programme featuring the Isle of Man will be broadcast on March 22.
