Countryfile Summer Diaries

As figures reveal that 2,000 dogs are being stolen in the UK each year, Keeley Donovan speaks to pet detective Colin Butcher to discover what can be done to keep them safe. Paul Martin is in London at the Lordship Rec. He meets Clasford Stirling to hear how the Rec has blossomed and is creating an exciting blueprint for others to follow. The north Devon village of Croyde - like so many other coastal villages all over the UK - is determined to crack down on plastics, and a shocking discovery in a cove graphically illustrates why villagers are enlisting the help of holidaymakers as they descend on the beach in their thousands. Margherita Taylor reports on Croyde campaigners doing their bit to go plastic-free. On the Sussex Downs, Jules Hudson finds out how light pollution is wrecking prospects of romance for glow-worms. He is with scientist Craig Perl on a night-time safari, hoping to spot one of them glowing as they should.

Steve Brown is in Warwickshire investigating how the summer heatwave has crippled crops and affected what ends up on dinner plates. At Evesham market, Steve finds out if shoppers would be prepared to follow the example of the French and pay five times more for home-grown produce. Paul Martin is at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire for the spooky summer sight of bats emerging from the rooftop gargoyles. These flying mammals are in trouble as numbers have toppled, so what do you do if they decide to take up residence in your lofts? Like countless other coastal villages around the UK, Croyde in north Devon is facing a property crisis as over half the village is made up of holiday homes. Margherita Taylor meets a young family who would love to live in the seaside resort but who are being priced out of the market by rocketing house prices. Keeley Donovan visits the eco-village of Hockerton outside Nottingham to search for a cure for stress.

John Craven spends his last day of the series enjoying the breathtaking north Cornwall coast, while Jules Hudson is at home in Herefordshire discovering why a good dose of country air might not be all that it's cracked up to be. Two thirds of people in the UK are living with illegal levels of air pollution. Expert Mark Sutton from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology reveals the best and worst places to live in the countryside. He also shows Jules how to identify lichen which can act as an early warning system. Margherita Taylor is in Northumberland at Hadrian's Wall, one of the latest national monuments to be besieged by illegal metal detectorists known as nighthawkers. Paul Martin is in the Brecon Beacons helping on a mission to save Britain's most endangered mammal, the water vole. Paul discovers how the voles' fortunes are being revived as he helps with a release back into the wild at Cosmeston Lakes in south Wales.