TAT Newsroom Short Documentary
The Seasons Episode 7: The Colours of a Day
Duration: 3 Minutes
Location: Thale Noi, Phatthalung
EPISODE SYNOPSIS
Thale Noi, a freshwater lagoon in Khuan Khanun district of the Southern Thai province of Phatthalung, is one of the most biodiverse sites in Thailand. The low-lying area surrounding the lagoon is teeming with various hydrophyte species. Rice paddies and peat swamp forests produce an abundance of aquatic plants like sedge and floating moss, a source of food for water birds. More than 280 species of aquatic birds gather at Thale Noi.
In summer, around April, hundreds of thousands of aquatic birds migrate to this lagoon, where they are greeted with millions of water lilies in full bloom.
Thale Noi is known not only as a paradise for birdwatchers, but also as a much-cherished site for tourists keen on adventure or boating. This is because Thale Noi is one of Thailand’s most recognised nature and wildlife study sites, so rich in biodiversity that it is listed as a globally important wetland, or a Ramsar Site.
Today, local inhabitants still pursue their traditional way of life. Every morning, local fishermen are at their lift nets to collect their catch of fish and sell them at the market. At the same time, some families take their buffaloes to feed in a peat swamp forest. When dusk falls, local housewives will row their little boats out to collect sedge stems, which they use for their handicraft material. For these villagers, Thale Noi is their second home, which they need to protect to the best of their ability.
