On 2 April days this year, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park team worked with partners from the Marine Biological Association (MBA), Shark Trust and Devon Wildlife Trust to raise the awareness of the fabulous skates and rays that live in Plymouth Sound.
The Little Rays of Hope project itself was simple in design – collect some eggs from female rays, rear them in captivity while we document their growth then, when they were big enough, release them back into the Sound. Why? To share the wonders of what lives beneath the waves with people. To inspire a sense of connection and ownership of the marine environment among people in our city and beyond.
The eggcases (or lovingly known as ‘mermaid’s purses’) were reared by the fabulous team at the MBA, supported by volunteers from the National Marine Park. Through their work we were able to capture images and footage of the developing rays inside the eggcases. In all we raised 45 young rays (pups) for release into Plymouth Sound. Footage can be seen on our social media channels and on our Youtube Shorts.
Working with the BBC Countryfile team we filmed the release of these wonderful animals into the UK’s first National Marine Park. The weather was stunning and the conditions perfect for the release. I think the team were upstaged not just by the rays but also by the truly beautiful Plymouth Sound at its very best.
We were also able to film eggcase hunting with volunteers, supported by our friends at Devon Wildlife Trust and Shark Trust. We found and identified 70 eggcases during filming, all of which will be added to our records to help us better understand native sharks, rays and skates. A contribution to an important long term dataset for scientific research.
But the story doesn’t end there-our work has helped develop photographic identification of individual rays using spot pattern recognition, allowing us to track them for years to come. Stay tuned for more updates by signing up to our newsletter or following our social media channels.
This episode of Countryfile is available on BBC iPlayer.
Please note: at the time of publishing this article (01/05/2025) the episode is available to watch for 11 months.