A Pembrokeshire underwater film-maker has won an international award for his video footage of one of Britains rarest creatures.

Marine biologist Francis Bunker was commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature to make a film promoting the conservation of saline lagoons.

His ten-minute video, was shot mainly at the Fleet lagoon in Dorset and included footage of the starlet sea anemone.

The film - A Starlet in the Lagoon - was entered in the tenth International Festival of Underwater Photography and Film and won a bronze medal. It was chosen from a selection of 2,000 slides, prints, photographs and videos shot in 17 countries.

Francis, who runs his Marineseen business from his home at Bentlass, Hundleton, was pleased with his award.

I saw the competition in a magazine, but I forgot all about it until my medal arrived through the post, he said.

This particular video has been sent to local authorities in Britains coastal regions to educate them on ways of preserving saline lagoons. These ponds are disappearing at an alarming rate and so too is the wildlife they are home to, said Francis.

The main reasons for this are coastal defence projects and property development. The situation will get worse as sea levels rise.

The Countryside Council for Wales has launched an initiative to preserve saline lagoons in Wales, among them the Pickle Ridge lagoon at Dale. These lagoons are nurseries for seabass and shrimps, as well as habitat for the rare starlet sea anemone. It is a very stressful habitat because they tend to evaporate in the summer and get high levels of dilution in the winter, said Francis.

The creatures that live in them can tolerate extreme changes in salinity. q Francis made the video with the help of local people, including John Woolford and Sue Burton (now Pembrokeshire Marine SAC officer). The equipment he used was partly funded by a Pembrokeshire County Council small business grant.

Francis Bunker's underwater picture of a sea horse.