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The Furness Peninsula - | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
a little-known corner of Cumbria jutting out into the Irish Sea. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
It's within spitting distance of the Lake District, | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
but a world away from all of its crowds. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
There it is, in all its glory - the Furness Peninsula, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
a hidden gem waiting to be explored. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
I'll be discovering how this landscape | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
has been shaped by nature and by us for centuries. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
While Julia's flying high, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
I'm all at sea with the crew on board the Hearts of Oak. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
The Furness Peninsula is dominated by the shipbuilding town of Barrow, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
which is just behind us. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
It's the neighbouring town of Ulverston | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
that put this area on the shipbuilding map | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
and that is where this beauty comes in. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
She's a centuries-old gaff cutter, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
and I'm going to be finding out what it takes to sail her. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:25 | |
In Yorkshire, Tom's investigating a British obsession - the weather. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
This summer, the threat of wet has never been far away. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
Miserable if you're planning a day out, | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
but merciless for the rural economy. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
I'll be finding out just how bad it's been. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:44 | |
And Adam's been taking a break from the farm to explore Orkney. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
I'm heading to Swona Island, | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
where a herd of cattle have roamed free for nearly 40 years | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
and I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of these wild beasts. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
At the southernmost tip of Cumbria, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
the Furness Peninsula claims to be the sunniest part of the Lakes. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
Sticking out to the west of Morecambe Bay, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
the shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
is at the peninsula's heart, | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
the island of Walney, hugging the southern tip. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
The peninsula hasn't been here for long. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
It owes its existence to the mountains to the north - | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
a story that dates back to the last great ice age. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
The best way to see into the peninsula's frozen past | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
is from up there. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
And that's where this baby comes in! | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
25,000 years ago, this view was completely different. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:11 | |
The Irish Sea was in fact a huge glacier. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
And ice blanketed the land as well. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
That magnificent mountain is Black Combe, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
and it measures in at 2,000 feet. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
It would have been totally hidden | 0:03:25 | 0:03:26 | |
under a sheet of ice 3,000 feet thick. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
As the ice ploughed downhill over the mountains, it cut away rock. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:35 | |
It was that ice that shaped the Lake District we love today. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:39 | |
The ice moved down from higher land and carved out these deep valleys, | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
depositing rocks and boulders along the way and over time, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
those rocks and boulders created the peninsula and its islands. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
The largest island is Walney, a faint sliver 11 miles long. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:57 | |
To find proof of its ice age past, that's where I'm landing. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
To help me, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:07 | |
I've called in some specialists who know the lie of the land. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
Sand artist Jamie Wardley | 0:04:13 | 0:04:14 | |
is going to sculpt Britain on this very beach. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
We're just doing the side of Scotland here. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
It's a little bit tricky, | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
because we've got all of these peninsulas going on. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
We'll be needing Jamie's map later. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
But first, I'm catching up with a boy | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
who once skimmed the island's colourful pebbles. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
Half a century later, Colin Waters works at | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
the British Geological Survey and knows a thing or two about rocks. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
So what can we see here then, Colin? What's it showing us? | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
It's one of the rare occasions we can actually see the deposits | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
that make up the heart of Walney Island. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
We know that these are actually glacial boulder clays - | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
they formed beneath a glacier. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
So, these boulder clays, as you can see, | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
have a wide variety of material. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
All the way from this very stiff clay - | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
you can see this has been compressed under great thicknesses of ice. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
We've also got these large boulders. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
Really, it's only ice that can carry such a diversity and size. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
Also if you notice the different colours we've got here - | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
the lovely greens, pinks, | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
these are from rocks from all round the Lake District | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
and all around the Irish Sea area | 0:05:20 | 0:05:21 | |
and again, it shows is where the ice has actually travelled from. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
But where did all these rocks come from? | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
Jamie's masterpiece is taking shape, so it's time to find out. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
Jamie! Fantastic work! | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
Well, I'm done now, so I'm going to rush off. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
Your work here is done. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
OK, Colin, let's put it all into perspective, | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
let's get us on the map. So, here we are. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
And that is Black Combe, which is just over yonder. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
I recognise that, some lovely granite. | 0:05:57 | 0:05:58 | |
This one is from the west side of the Lake District, | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
let's say about...there. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
My favourite slate comes from the Lake District. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
It's about 480 million years old - one of the oldest rocks in the Lake District. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
This is from Black Combe. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
There we go. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
These are coming from the southern side of the Lake District. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
Round Windermere, perhaps. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
Another granite, that can go to southern Scotland. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
-'Scuse me, Colin? -Yes? -What's that? | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
That's a bit of brick, actually. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
-This is definitely not glacial. -No! | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
And I suspect it's probably from somewhere roundabout here | 0:06:30 | 0:06:35 | |
and it's about 10 years old. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
The last few pebbles in place and the picture's complete. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
-Such geological diversity in a small area. -It's amazing, actually. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
What we are seeing here is pretty much the geology | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
of all of northern England, and parts of southern Scotland, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
all transported by glaciers and carried and dropped here on Walney. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
Hard to believe that tens of thousands of years ago | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
these pebbles travelled up to 100 miles. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
But now we're heading just up the coast | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
to have a go at something more relaxing. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
I hear that Colin was a champion stone-skimmer as a lad - | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
so I've challenged him to a skim-off. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
Might have been a mistake... | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
Oh! | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
If anywhere in the world has got as many pebbles as this, I'd be amazed. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
It's ideal for a geologist. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
You're obviously an expert and spent far too long doing this as well. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
Mine are just going slap bang into the waves. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Oh, I got a skim! Thank goodness! | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
Just a stone's throw from here, James is on the mainland | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
exploring some of the often overlooked delights | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
of the Furness Peninsula. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
Sitting in the shadow of the more popular Lake District, | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
not many venture as far as this westerly edge of Britain's coast. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
But to do so is to be rewarded with some truly breathtaking scenery. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
It might not have the great lakes | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
and the mammoth mountains of its neighbour, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
but the twisting coastal curves around the peninsula | 0:08:23 | 0:08:27 | |
mean there are plenty of these golden beaches. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
And it's the sands here at Sandscale Haws | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
that are arguably the most stunning and special of them all. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
This nature reserve is watched over | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
by the Lake District's imposing presence across a narrow spit of sea. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
Desert-like dunes rise out of the dramatic landscape. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
It's these dunes and what grows in them that I'm here to see. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:52 | |
Neil, this is a stunning landscape, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:56 | |
but there's more to it than meets the eye, isn't there? | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
There really is, yeah. For example, where we're walking now, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
this area used to be regularly inundated by the high tide, | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
so this area has really been reclaimed from the sea to land. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
The currents in this bay mean that | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
new sand is constantly being deposited on the shoreline. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
This is creating new land and gives us the rare opportunity | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
to see geology moving in fast forward, | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
and to chart the rise of a dune system | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
through the plants that live there. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
What are we looking at here, Neil? | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
Right, well this area that we're crouching on now, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
this is just four years old | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
and it's the very start of a sand dune system. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
This tiny little plant down here, this is prickly saltwort. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:43 | |
This is one of the first plants that you will get out on bare sand. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
It doesn't really mind the tide coming over it. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
It's a pioneer species - the first thing to colonise areas of land. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:53 | |
Absolutely. So, that's the very first stage. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
Then we get into these dune-building grasses. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
This is the sand couch-grass, and the flower - | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
any gardeners out there will be very familiar with couch - | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
it's a notorious weed. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:05 | |
And then in the background here, we've got sea lyme grass, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
which is a much bigger plant. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
This is when you really start to see how sand dunes can grow. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
-Yeah, there's a real hummock. -Yeah. So, this is a barrier now. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
When the wind's blowing from the west, the sand's going to | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
build up over here and these grasses are so specialised, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
that is actually going to stimulate the grass to grow even more. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
The sand couch and the sea lyme grass, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
they can both grow for about 20-25 centimetres of sand per year. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
But the real star species is the marram grass, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
which can grow for up to a metre of sand per year, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
so dunes can grow very, very quickly. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:40 | |
Playing detective in these dunes is a dream day out | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
for a botanist like me. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
But what I'm even more excited to see are some rare species | 0:10:45 | 0:10:49 | |
that are thriving deep in the established dune systems. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
OK, so down here we've got Grass of Parnassus, | 0:10:53 | 0:10:57 | |
which is one of the more showy plants of the dune system. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
Very, very nice, white flower. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
-Beautiful, and ironically, not a grass. -Not a grass at all, no! | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
Down here, we've got something that's even more special. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
This is round-leaved wintergreen, which is quite a rare plant. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
It's nationally scarce in the UK. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
This particular subspecies of round-leaved wintergreen | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
is only found in coastal areas like this. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
Where we're standing now, back in the 1980s, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
the high tide would have been getting up to where we are now. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
That's over 100 feet of new land in just 30 years - | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
all helping to sustain more than 600 species of flora | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
that can be found within the 700 acres of Sandscale Haws. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
And as the shifting sands move across this landscape, | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
they shape an ever-moving parade of plant life. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
But of course, when most of us head to the beach, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
there's a far less practical and far more playful use for sand. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:56 | |
Looks like I need to work on my skills! | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
Two guys whose talents stand a little taller than mine | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
are James Haig and Jamie Wardley. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
For them, making sand-sculpted marvels is a full-time job | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
and they claim the secret is using water, and lots of it. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:15 | |
But I've heard about a more scientific method | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
to making the perfect sandcastle and I'm keen to try it out. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
There is a study from the University of Amsterdam | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
that actually says it's all about tiny amounts of water, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
1% water, 99% sand? | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
-No, no. 1% water?! -1% water. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
-Let's give it a try, then. -Right, OK. You're on! | 0:12:32 | 0:12:37 | |
-Go on, then. -OK. So it's... -Take some away, James, take some away! | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
-That is 100ml, right? -Right, we'll go with that, OK. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:46 | |
In 10 litres of sand. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
The principle that we use is use as much water as you can. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
'To test our techniques, we're each making a column of sand. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
'And while I'm following the scientific sand sculpting formula...' | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
Foreign scientists did trials to find this! This must be the right one! | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
'..Jamie's sticking to his wet sludge.' | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
I'm done, I'm done! | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
Careful now, James. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:12 | |
Oh, no. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
I was never any good at Jenga, | 0:13:16 | 0:13:17 | |
-and it looks like you need the same skills. -Oh, no! | 0:13:17 | 0:13:22 | |
My mathematical method may be in pieces, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
but will Jamie's sopping wet sand fare any better? | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
There we are. Look at that! | 0:13:30 | 0:13:31 | |
So it seems science might work in the lab | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
but here on British shores, soaking your sand is the way to go. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
Do a little window, do a little window. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
Isn't that wonderful?! | 0:13:41 | 0:13:42 | |
Not only is the landscape of the Furness Peninsula fascinating, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
it's also played a vital role in an industry | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
that's put this corner of the country firmly on the map. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
And that industry is shipbuilding, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
and Barrow-in-Furness does it on a massive scale, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
because it's home to these. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
This is the Royal Navy's latest submarine. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
It is nearing completion and it's absolutely massive. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
Making these magnificent machines here not only takes advantage | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
of generations of local shipbuilding talent, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
but also the make-up of the surrounding land. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
The banks of the Barrow sit on a deepwater channel, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
which means that big ships and submarines | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
can sail in and out of here to the open sea. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
This area is constantly on the move. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
This channel is only kept open by the lads that I'm about to meet. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
The crew of the Norma are part of a team of dredgers | 0:14:46 | 0:14:50 | |
who work all year round to keep this 40-foot-deep channel clear. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
I'm heading out to get a closer look at her | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
with the man who's in charge of the operation. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
So, what's Norma up to out here, Bob? | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
The Norma, it's a plough vessel. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
It's about 10 metres wide, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
and this is the final process in the dredging campaign this year. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:13 | |
What's been going on in the last few weeks? | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
The main channel dredgers are much bigger vessels, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
and they come in and take up the material off the bottom. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
This tends to leave quite deep furrows, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
a bit like a ploughed field on the bottom of the channel | 0:15:25 | 0:15:29 | |
-which we like to level off. -And that's where the Norma comes in? | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
-That absolutely it. -So, how much stuff are you taking out then? | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
It's quite a lot. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:36 | |
It's well in excess of a million tonnes this year. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
It was the clearing of this deep sea channel that secured Barrow's place | 0:15:42 | 0:15:46 | |
as the shipbuilding capital of this coast. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
But as Barrow rose, | 0:15:51 | 0:15:52 | |
it was at the cost of its smaller neighbour, Ulverston. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
So fine were the boats that were built in Ulverston | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
they were sold all over the country. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
But as the deep waters of Barrow | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
lured more industrial, bigger loads, | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
the boat yards in Ulverston were forced to close. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
Up until recently, it was thought that | 0:16:08 | 0:16:10 | |
all trace of the vessels that were built there had been lost. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
That was until one woman | 0:16:16 | 0:16:17 | |
stumbled across the story of the Hearts of Oak - | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
the last boat to set sail from Ulverston's shipyards. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:24 | |
Jennifer, how did your connection with the Hearts of Oak start? | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
You're not exactly a mad boat fan, are you? | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
I certainly aren't a mad boat fan, no. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
It quite horrifies me to think of going in deep water. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
The boat, well, we began in 1977 when I visited an old man | 0:16:36 | 0:16:41 | |
called John Wilson who lived quite near us. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
He told us about Hearts of Oak and showed me a picture of it. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
I kept thinking about the Hearts of Oak, | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
and that she was built in Ulverston, | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
and I thought, well really, she needs restoring. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
-Did you know where she was at this stage? -Not at that stage, no. | 0:16:57 | 0:16:59 | |
But we sort of got on the trail, my husband and I, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
and we just kept on looking, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
and a series of coincidences and good luck, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
and we eventually found her. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
The Hearts of Oak was built by this man - John Randall McLester, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
the last apprentice of the Ulverston shipyards. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
When she set sail in 1912, she was a thing of beauty. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:23 | |
Almost a century later, when Jennifer set eyes on her, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
she was a weather-beaten wreck. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
Bonfire condition, probably, is the best thing we could say. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
The guy who owned her said if he hadn't contacted me, | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
he was going to set fire to her. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
Thanks to Jennifer, far from becoming firewood | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
this last link to Ulverston's glorious past was saved. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
Jennifer bought her for just £1, but helped raise over £80,000 | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
to pay for three years of painstaking restoration. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
And here she is, look, in all of her glory. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
She's absolutely beautiful. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
Yes, she's a wonderful boat. Quite a history. Yes. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:13 | |
Later, I'll be finding out what it's like | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
to set sail in this historic cutter. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
Cumbria has had more than its fair share of wet weather | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
over the last few years, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
but this summer, much of the rest of Britain shared the same fate. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
So what damage has the rain done to our delicate rural economy? | 0:18:28 | 0:18:33 | |
Tom has been finding out... | 0:18:33 | 0:18:34 | |
It may have brightened up recently, but let's face it - | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
this summer has been a washout. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
As a nation obsessed with the weather, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
the odd damp shower rarely puts us off. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
But this year was different. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
Summer 2012 was a record-breaker - and for all the wrong reasons. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:06 | |
THUNDER RUMBLES | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
-NEWSREADER: -'Tonight, the Met Office is warning of severe weather... | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
'..last month was the wettest June since records began... | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
'..the unsettled theme is set to continue for at least the next few weeks... | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
'..this washout summer.' | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
-Lovely sunshine and now we've got a downpour. -Hello. Hello. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
-Is everybody nice and dry? -Yes! | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
What a lovely English summer. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
For our countryside and the people who actually live and work within it, | 0:19:34 | 0:19:39 | |
this summer wasn't just inconvenient, it was really, really costly. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:44 | |
We've all seen the damage caused by the floods and storms | 0:19:44 | 0:19:49 | |
on the news and the repair bill is going to be huge. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
One of the main rural insurers, NFU Mutual, has already seen | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
a threefold increase in claims compared with last year. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
Five million homes are at risk from the rising waters. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
We are still counting the cost, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
but even a rather conservative estimate for repairing and replacing | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
all that damaged property is in the region of £25 million. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:13 | |
But we're also taking less obvious financial hits | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
from our sodden summer. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
Anyone for ice cream? | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
Anyone? | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
Anyone at all? | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
No. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:28 | |
Drumming up business while it's raining is no easy task | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
and visitor numbers to the countryside have certainly fallen. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
For some, while the downpours were torrential, | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
cash flow was barely a trickle. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
Someone who knows all about that is the owner of this van. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
He's based on a farm just up the road from here | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
where they make the ice cream. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
Normally in peak season, it's selling by the tub load. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:53 | |
But this summer, much of that business has melted away. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:57 | |
Thousands of businesses in the UK rely on a healthy tourist trade. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:01 | |
Gary Rogers is no exception. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
Here in Yorkshire, he and his family have been making ice cream | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
for 20 years. This year, they've got lots left over. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
So, what's in there, Gary? | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
Completely full of ice cream. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
You'd rather it was empty, rather than chocker like it is? | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
It's completely stuffed. Far too much ice cream in there. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
All that stock is normally sold to local tourist venues, shops | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
and big rural events. But this summer, Gary was hit hard. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
This is this morning's princely takings. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
-I think there's £9.80 there. -I'll count it first. Thank you very much. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:36 | |
That's better than we've had this year so far. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
Well, I think it was partly my poor sales technique. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
The weather wasn't great, but I guess you're used to that. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
We're very used to it this year. Yeah, it's been a catastrophic year. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:47 | |
Ever since the end of March, we've had virtually rain every day. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
-Really? It's been that bad, has it? -It's been worse than anybody around here's ever known. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:55 | |
We think so far this year we're at least 50% down on last year | 0:21:55 | 0:22:00 | |
and last year, of course, was down on the previous year | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
because each summer the weather seems to get worse. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
Gary faced more than 40 cancelled outdoor shows this year. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
Hundreds of other events went the same way because of the weather. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
Even the Great Yorkshire Show had to be abandoned | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
for the first time in its history, at a cost of £2.5 million. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
When you add up the lost business, cancelled shows | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
and low visitor numbers, you're looking at a loss | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
far greater than that for flood or storm damage. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
Again, it's just an early estimate, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
but the cost could well be around £480 million. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:41 | |
And as I'll be finding out later in the programme, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
the financial blows don't stop there. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:46 | |
The Furness Peninsula, a finger of land surrounded by sea. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
At the very south, on Walney Island, there's an enterprise | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
that's making the most of a landscape | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
transformed by both man and nature. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
I'm on my way to visit a unique farm that only exists | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
because of an unlikely series of events that started unfolding | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
more than 10,000 years ago. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
Way back in the ice age, glaciers deposited | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
vast quantities of gravel on Walney, carried down from the mountains. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
Millennia later, that gravel was exploited by man. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
It was extracted to be used in construction, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
leaving behind pits which eventually flooded with seawater. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
The area also became home to one of the biggest | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
breeding colonies of gulls in Europe, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
40,000 strong. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
And they provided one more vital ingredient for our farm... | 0:23:44 | 0:23:49 | |
poo. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:50 | |
The seagull droppings made the water fertile | 0:23:51 | 0:23:54 | |
which meant tiny plants called algae could grow, | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
the perfect food for farming oysters. | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
This modest building and network of pools make up | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
the biggest oyster nursery in Europe. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
Bet you didn't know that. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
The 24-acre site rears an astonishing | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
100 million baby oysters each year. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
The young shellfish are sold to oyster farms | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
across the UK and Europe. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
These are familiar adult oysters. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
There's a mixture of males and females in here | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
and this is the perfect environment for them to breed. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
As soon as one of them releases an egg or some sperm, | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
the others will follow. Then the water will go milky white. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
A new generation of oysters will be born. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
The baby oysters are put in special tanks to grow. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
Food is dripped in and water piped through | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
to keep the youngsters clean. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
So, Mike, here they are. Incredible to look at. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
These ones here are about 1mm in size | 0:24:50 | 0:24:54 | |
-so really small. -And how many do you think are in each tube? | 0:24:54 | 0:24:58 | |
Well, I think altogether there's about five million in this lot here. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
-So in that, maybe one million... -That's incredible. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
..in just the one bottle. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
-And how old are these fellas? -They're about three weeks old. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
But as the oysters get bigger, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
feeding and cleaning take on a whole new scale. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
Now, the teenagers here live out in the pools | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
and everybody knows that cleaning teenagers can be a messy business. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:28 | |
The boys are hauling the mucky critters out | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
and putting me in charge of mothering duties. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
-Right. Come on, Julia. It's time to wash some oysters. -OK. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
-Blimey. It's heavy. -Are you ready? -Yeah, ready. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
-It will get heavier. -OK. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
-It's coming. -Hang fire. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
Blimey. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
And why do you wash them? What are you washing off them? | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
Well, all the faeces sit on the top of the oysters | 0:25:50 | 0:25:54 | |
and washing it gets rid of all of that. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
What it does... The oysters being out of the water... | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
-Excuse me. -Struggling with that? | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
It exercises the oyster muscle which makes more of a hardy oyster. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:12 | |
Now, this is a lot of work. Why do you bother with all of this? | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
Why not just harvest them from the wild? | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
-Well, there's not as many in the wild. -Oysters are filter feeders. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
Do they get enough food from these pools? | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
From the pond system, generally they get a good bloom of algae. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:30 | |
At least they did until recently. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
Now, remember seagull droppings are a crucial ingredient | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
to grow food for oysters. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:37 | |
Well, worryingly, seagull numbers have plummeted. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
Has the drop in gull numbers affected you? Because, obviously, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
fewer gulls, less poo, less fertiliser. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:45 | |
Yeah. Over the past five years or so, the gull colony | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
has definitely decreased | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
and our pond nutrients have definitely reduced. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
Adding artificial fertiliser was a short-term fix | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
for the oyster farm. | 0:26:58 | 0:26:59 | |
But the risk of losing the gull colony altogether | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
was a major concern for the local wildlife trust. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
Last year, they didn't find a single chick. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
I'm meeting Peter Jones to find out why. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
-Hi, Peter. -Hi, Julia. -How are you doing? -Fine, thanks. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
-Good. How are the gulls? -Very good. Yes. -Happy and flappy? -They are. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
-Shall we go and take a look? -Yeah, definitely. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
The numbers this year... We've had about 3,000 pairs here. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:25 | |
Back in the '60s when there were the most gulls here, | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
we were looking at there being about 40,000 pairs of herring gulls | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
-and lesser black-backed gulls. -That's a dramatic decline. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
-Absolutely, yeah. -So, what's it down to? | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
The main two reasons have been that the food sources dropped for them | 0:27:36 | 0:27:42 | |
significantly. There used to be a landfill site on the island | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
which shut down in the late '80s. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:47 | |
-Being scavengers that they are... -Absolutely. Yes, yes. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:51 | |
The other reason is predation has become quite a big issue | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
for them as well. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:56 | |
Things like foxes and stuff come in and will take the birds | 0:27:56 | 0:28:00 | |
as they're on the nest. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:01 | |
And this is your solution, an electric fence? | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
It is. The electric fence we had installed this year. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
Last year, without any fences like these, | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
we didn't get a single chick away from this whole colony. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
This year, we had nearly 1,000 chicks fledge. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
The gulls and their flying fertiliser are back, | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
although they may never reach their previous numbers. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
Hopefully the population will be healthy enough to keep these | 0:28:26 | 0:28:30 | |
chic little shellfish on the menu around here. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
Just not for me. I can't bear them. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
It's your last chance to vote for your favourite photo | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
in this year's Countryfile photographic competition. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
The theme is Walk On The Wild Side. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
Here's John with a reminder of what you need to do. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:48 | |
In a moment, I'll give you the phone numbers to vote for. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 | |
Calls cost 10p from a BT landline. Other operators may vary. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:54 | |
And of course, from mobiles may cost more. | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
You'll find all the details of the phone vote on our website. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
And don't forget, the phone lines close at midnight. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
Just a warning, if you phone after then, | 0:30:29 | 0:30:31 | |
your vote won't be counted and you may be charged. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
Adam keeps all sorts of rare breeds on his farm, but today he's hoping | 0:30:39 | 0:30:43 | |
to see some beasts you definitely won't find in the Cotswolds. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
Once he's checked out what mood his new bull is in. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
This is my new Belted Galloway bull called Crackers. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:58 | |
My mate Neil, who I bought him from from Yorkshire, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:01 | |
warned me that he has got a bit of a lively temperament. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
And he's jumped out twice, | 0:31:04 | 0:31:05 | |
looking for other cows on the farm, since I've had him. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
But now he seems to have settled down with his cows | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
and I'm really pleased with him. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:13 | |
Crackers can be a bit feisty, | 0:31:13 | 0:31:16 | |
but there's one herd of cattle I've been told about that are truly wild. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:20 | |
They roam completely free | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
on one of the most inhospitable islands in the Orkneys. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
And I've been invited out to the Orkneys to go and see them. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:30 | |
And that's an offer I can't refuse. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
Thank you. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
'It's quite a journey, but worth it if I can catch a glimpse | 0:31:46 | 0:31:49 | |
'of these unique cattle.' | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
They live on the island of Swona, just west of South Ronaldsay. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:55 | |
I've arrived on the Orkneys and it's a world away | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
from my farm on the Cotswolds. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
I'm travelling south to meet up with Cyril Annal | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
whose family have owned Swona for generations. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
And his farm is based on South Ronaldsay. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
You must be Cyril. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:28 | |
-Yes. Hello. -Hi. Good to meet you. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
-This is Alexander, my son. -Hi. -Nice to meet you. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
How many generations have been on this farm? | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
-Since 1600. Came to Orkney first. -Goodness me. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:41 | |
That's incredible. I've been doing a bit of research | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
and I found these old photographs of the family. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:48 | |
-Who's this of? -That is my Uncle Arthur in Swona. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
-And that one? -That is my grandfather. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
This is over on Swona that you own now. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
Yes, we do. | 0:32:57 | 0:32:59 | |
And these cattle that were there, domesticated, tame, | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
being used to pull the plough. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
Back then, they were pets. They all had names and everything. | 0:33:05 | 0:33:08 | |
-And now, wild beasts of the island? -Completely feral. Crazy as can be. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:14 | |
-And when did the people leave the island? -1974. March, 1974. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:19 | |
-And left the cattle behind? -The theory was that we could go back | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
and go and take the calves every year. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
But because cattle are quite smart and bright, | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
they got to realise it wasn't the best, seeing these humans. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
So they went more and more wild. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
So eventually, we thought it would be best just to leave them alone | 0:33:34 | 0:33:38 | |
and that's how they slowly developed into a feral herd. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:42 | |
Look. BSE came and that was the end of any more in the freezer. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
-Yeah, sure. -Also, I got a bit older | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
and I couldn't run faster than them. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
They could run faster than me, so it was time to stop. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
'Cyril and Alex go to Swona | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
'to check on the cattle's welfare a couple of times a year. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:05 | |
'And today, I'm lucky enough to be joining them.' | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
'Despite supporting a vibrant community for generations, | 0:34:11 | 0:34:15 | |
'the island was abandoned in the '70s | 0:34:15 | 0:34:17 | |
'when the difficulties of living here meant island life was unviable.' | 0:34:17 | 0:34:22 | |
How many acres is the whole island? | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
-About 270 roughly. -270?! | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
-They've a fair roam, these cattle. -It varies depending on the tide. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:31 | |
We might never find them. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:33 | |
They're here or else they've all gone swimming. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
No sign of them here. Where could they be? | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
Just over that hill there. They can't be anywhere else. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
-OK. So we'll carry on hiking over that way? -Oh, yes. -OK. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
There's plenty of cowpats, they're definitely here. | 0:34:57 | 0:34:59 | |
Oh, well, they'll be about somewhere, hopefully. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
-Is that one there? -Aye. -Oh, that's one over there, yes. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
That looks like a bull to me. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
-It's already spotted us, you see him looking this way? -Yeah. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
And so is it safe to just walk over towards him? | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
No, we will certainly go around in a circle, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
-so that we don't get between that bull and the herd. -OK. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
Because he might decide that he wants to go back to the herds | 0:35:20 | 0:35:22 | |
and deal with us in between. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
They'll all run together, and they'll not be looking at us, | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
-they'll be looking at one another. -We have to be a bit careful. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
As we cautiously circle around the bull, the herd emerges. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:37 | |
The main herd sticks together there. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:39 | |
If you can see the white one in the middle, she will kind of be | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
the dominant female, and then, way off in the distance, | 0:35:42 | 0:35:46 | |
at the other side of the loch, we think we have got an old bull. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
We'll go and check him to see if he's OK. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
Last summer, the dominant bull pushed him out of the herd | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
and forced him away from the herd and led him | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
to the other end of the island. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:01 | |
It's really interesting watching this behaviour. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:04 | |
They're separate from the herd down there, | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
just looking at us with ears sticking out like ping pong bats. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
As a cattleman, you know, I can instantly tell that they're like, | 0:36:10 | 0:36:14 | |
hang on, there's something going on here, ears up, heads up high, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
facing us square on. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
Go and have a look at this rather benign old gentleman down at the loch. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:25 | |
On a day like today, it looks idyllic, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
but in reality, these cattle have a tough life out here in these conditions. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
It's survival of the fittest. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:36 | |
-What sort of age do you think he is, Cyril? -That fellow? 15 to 20. -Is he? | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
-He's a very old gentleman. -And on a modern farm, | 0:36:45 | 0:36:48 | |
you just wouldn't see bulls that old, would you? | 0:36:48 | 0:36:52 | |
You wouldn't see him. He'd never be allowed to age. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
He'd probably have some of the problems that humans have, | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
such as stiff and sore as we all get. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
And he's walking along now, he's getting along OK, | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
and he's grazing, an amazing shape, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:06 | |
he's quite heavy at the front end, and narrowing to the back end. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:10 | |
Yes, this is so that he can push. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
Head down and push the other one out of the way. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
More like a buffalo than a modern Aberdeen Angus. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:19 | |
Certainly, no tags in their ears now, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
they don't have to comply with all of the Defra rules any more. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
If you help me, we'll go and put a tag on this one! | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
I think we'll just leave the poor old fellow alone, shall we? | 0:37:29 | 0:37:33 | |
It's fascinating to see how the cattle have returned | 0:37:35 | 0:37:38 | |
to their wild instincts. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
But what of the people who lived on this island? | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
A cluster of houses stands as a memorial to a lost way of life. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:51 | |
At its peak, there were around 30 people | 0:37:59 | 0:38:01 | |
living on the island in four or five houses. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:03 | |
The land would have been farmed, | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
the gardens would have been immaculate. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
And it would have been very well loved. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
But by 1974, there were only two left - | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
Cyril's aunty and uncle who were getting old | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
and they decided to leave too. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:15 | |
And this is how they left it. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
It's almost like they just walked out | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
and left all their belongings behind. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
There's an old newspaper here from 1974. Christmas cards. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:31 | |
Look, even some reading glasses. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
Lovely old recipe book on how to make jams. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
It's as though they thought one day, they'd be back. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:47 | |
This is their lovely old cattle shed where the cows | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
and the oxen would have been brought in for the winter | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
and tied up by the neck and led out to work. | 0:39:02 | 0:39:06 | |
A very quiet, docile, domesticated animal. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
Now, their descendants are running wild on the island. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
As their splendid isolation continues, these Swona cattle | 0:39:13 | 0:39:18 | |
look set to be classified as a breed in their own right. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
Next week, I'm travelling even further afield. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:27 | |
I'm in Switzerland, helping gather sheep off the Alps. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:31 | |
We're exploring the natural wonders of the Northwest's Furness Peninsula. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:41 | |
I'm making my way from the mainland to nearby | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
Piel Island on a very special boat. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
Earlier, I discovered how the Hearts of Oak had been rescued from ruin. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:54 | |
And now, I have the chance to set sail on it, | 0:39:54 | 0:39:57 | |
-as I hitch a ride over to Piel Island. How you doing, lads? All right? -OK! | 0:39:57 | 0:40:01 | |
Now, I've brought some friends along for the ride. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
-More about these a little bit later on. Handle with care. -Cheers. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
-There we are. Perfect. Am I OK just to hop over? -Hop aboard. -Super. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:12 | |
Let's go sailing! | 0:40:12 | 0:40:13 | |
The crew are all volunteers, keen amateurs who have | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
fallen in love with the idea of sailing a vintage cutter. | 0:40:17 | 0:40:20 | |
-And I'm keen to find out more about her. She was a prawner? -Yes. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:27 | |
-A Morecambe Bay prawner. -Which is, Morecambe Bay is...? | 0:40:27 | 0:40:29 | |
Morecambe Bay is just over there, yes. We're on the corner of it. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:33 | |
And how would she have worked then? And why is she the design that she is? | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
She'd have been worked by, typically, a man and his son. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
They're built like this for speed. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
To get out on the tide and back on the same tide, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
to get the catch back, because there was no refrigeration. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:51 | |
-And is there any significance with the red sails? -Yes, it's tradition. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:55 | |
And they look nice. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
I believe they used to treat the sails, the fishermen of the time, | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
they used to treat the sails with stuff like red lead and linseed oil. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
And that gave them the colour to cause them to last. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
I understand there's quite an interesting technique to stop it from tipping over? | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
Oh, yeah, stones. You want to have a look? | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
-Oh, yeah, if we can. -Well, if you get to... That's... | 0:41:15 | 0:41:20 | |
Oh, right, it's just chucked in the bottom there. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:24 | |
Lead would be ideal, but we can't afford lead. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
-Do they go the full length of the hull? -They do, yeah. -Good. Right. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:31 | |
I might jump up there and do a little bit of rope pulling now. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
-Gordon, you look a picture there. -Yes, it's pleasant, isn't it? | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
You do look at home, and it looks like we've got a little bit of wind! | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
-Yes, we're actually sailing. -Yes! -A pleasant change. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
-Very, very gently, but we are actually sailing. Come on, show me the ropes, quite literally. -Right. | 0:41:49 | 0:41:53 | |
I'm going to try and help the lads tack, | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
moving the sail in order to change direction. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:58 | |
Keep your head down, that's the key, isn't it? | 0:41:58 | 0:42:00 | |
-OK, so undo these then, Gordon, yes? -Yes. Cast off the jib. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
-This one as well? -Yes. Cast them both off. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
Tighten those up. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
Well that felt like plain sailing. There's only one small problem. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
The only problem is, Piel Island's that way! | 0:42:15 | 0:42:17 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:42:17 | 0:42:18 | |
-So it's take two on the turning. -Just a nice full flow in the sail. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:23 | |
And this time, things are heading in the right direction. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:26 | |
-Good. We're going the right way now. -Yeah. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
We should be there for midnight! | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
That's the thing, you go at the pace of nature though! | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
-That's the beauty of it! -Yes, yes, the pace of the wind, yes. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
Well hopefully, the tide is on our side, because I've got to | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
make it in time for a royal appointment with the King of Piel. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
Now, while we're exploring Cumbria, Tom's on the other side of the Pennines in Yorkshire, | 0:42:55 | 0:43:00 | |
counting the cost of some of the wettest weather on record. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
Summer 2012, a season of extremes which has been anything but summery. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:11 | |
Tourist attractions, county shows, local producers, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:15 | |
the rural economy has been hit from all sides by record | 0:43:15 | 0:43:19 | |
and sometimes spirit breaking bad weather. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:23 | |
Earlier in the programme, we heard from Gary Rogers, | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
whose ice cream business has taken a battering over the last few months. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
He's lost an estimated £800,000 this year, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
but not just because of the struggle to sell his wares. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:39 | |
We think so far this year, we're at least 50% down on last year, | 0:43:39 | 0:43:44 | |
and last year, of course, was down on the previous year, | 0:43:44 | 0:43:46 | |
because each summer the weather seems to get worse. | 0:43:46 | 0:43:49 | |
Gary makes the ice cream on his farm which he runs with his wife Mandy. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:54 | |
She's had to deal with a whole range of problems caused by the weather. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:59 | |
You see in here, it's all a bit soft, being in all that mud. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:03 | |
-Yeah, again, just really down to the wet weather, I think. -Yes. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:07 | |
With such wet conditions, lameness was always going to be a problem. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:12 | |
For Mandy, it's been hard to bear and expensive to fix. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
And that's not all. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
With a spell of drier weather, her Charolais beef herd can finally | 0:44:18 | 0:44:22 | |
enjoy the outdoors, but feeding them is still a costly business. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:26 | |
Well, it's been tough, from the very start, really. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
Spring calving, when they calve they go straight out, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
and this year, it was just a mud bath, really. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:37 | |
I had a particular field over there that I set aside. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
It's the only one really with the trees, so they had some shelter, | 0:44:40 | 0:44:43 | |
but they were basically getting through a bale of silage a day, | 0:44:43 | 0:44:47 | |
which is almost more than they eat when they're inside. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
The weather was just so bad. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:51 | |
With feed prices at an all-time high, livestock farmers | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
across the country are going to be faced with some shocking food bills. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:59 | |
And of the story only gets worse | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
when you start to look at how crops have fared. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
So what will the effect of this year's bad weather be | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
on farmers and shoppers? | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
Well, I've got a harvest festival basket here. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
Scottish fruit growers have said that mould and disease | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
could cost them 10 million this year. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:20 | |
Disease is also affecting cereal crops, so oats and wheat. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:25 | |
One thing that does like it wet is fungus. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:27 | |
Bad news if you are growing root crops like carrots or potatoes, | 0:45:27 | 0:45:32 | |
we could expect to see many more with blemishes on the shop shelves. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:37 | |
And then you come to honey and apples. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:41 | |
They are suffering because of a lack of insects. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:45 | |
To see for myself just how that population has been affected, | 0:45:46 | 0:45:50 | |
I'm joining in on a butterfly hunt. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
He is away! | 0:45:54 | 0:45:56 | |
Well done. Quick, Tom! | 0:45:56 | 0:45:58 | |
THEY CHEER | 0:45:58 | 0:45:59 | |
There we go! | 0:45:59 | 0:46:00 | |
This little guy fluttering around here is a Small Skipper. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:06 | |
Small Skipper. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:08 | |
Dave Wainwright is a butterfly conservation officer. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:12 | |
This beauty here is a Common Blue, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
which is something I've hardly seen at all this year. | 0:46:14 | 0:46:18 | |
He is trying to assess the impact of this year's weather | 0:46:18 | 0:46:22 | |
on these colourful little creatures. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
Just put the pot over them like so, and... | 0:46:25 | 0:46:29 | |
HE BLOWS | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
Magic blow. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:32 | |
..blow 'em into the pot and there you go, Tom, there is your butterfly. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
What variety is this? | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
That's a Ringlet, and it's actually one of the few | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
that's doing reasonably well this year. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:42 | |
We walked across most of this field, the five of us, | 0:46:42 | 0:46:45 | |
and this was the first thing we saw. How unusual is that? | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
It's pretty unusual. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:50 | |
It's been a particularly bad summer for butterflies. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:54 | |
Usually you get bad summers and the butterflies are there, | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
they are just waiting for the sun to appear, | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
but as you've seen, we've had some quite sunny weather today | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
and they are just not there, basically, to find them. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:04 | |
Butterfly Conservation has recently finished | 0:47:04 | 0:47:06 | |
its annual big butterfly count. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:08 | |
We've been given a sneak preview of the results. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
Although some have done better than normal, 15 out of the 21 species | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
studied had declined compared with last year, including | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
well-known varieties like the Red Admiral, Peacock and Painted Lady. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:24 | |
But even if we do see fewer insects like butterflies, | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
does that really matter? | 0:47:27 | 0:47:29 | |
What am I looking at here? | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
This is a malaise trap, a classical insect trap... | 0:47:31 | 0:47:34 | |
'Just up the road is another bug hunter, Prof Tim Benton, | 0:47:34 | 0:47:37 | |
'an ecology expert and government adviser.' | 0:47:37 | 0:47:39 | |
But, look, you can see there are very little. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:43 | |
There is a small moth and some flies and that's about it, really. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:47 | |
Very few bugs, very few beetles, | 0:47:47 | 0:47:49 | |
almost nothing that I would expect to see at this time of year. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:52 | |
-It's far from humming. -It is absolutely far from humming. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:56 | |
It is actually quite a nightmare. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
Why does an absence of insects matter to farmers? | 0:47:58 | 0:48:01 | |
The absence of insects matters to farmers in a number of ways. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:05 | |
They benefit from pollination services, bees, hoverflies and so on, | 0:48:05 | 0:48:10 | |
provide about £430 million worth of services to increase yields. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:15 | |
Farmers benefit, the countryside benefits because these things, | 0:48:15 | 0:48:18 | |
although most people don't care about them, | 0:48:18 | 0:48:21 | |
they are eaten by birds and even birds that normally eat seed | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
feed their babies these, | 0:48:24 | 0:48:26 | |
and if words don't get their food, they suffer. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:29 | |
People come into the countryside and like listening to skylarks, | 0:48:29 | 0:48:31 | |
they like seeing the swifts and the swallows flying around, | 0:48:31 | 0:48:34 | |
and all that impacts on the rural economy | 0:48:34 | 0:48:36 | |
in quite a major way. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
There are still fields yet to be harvested and counted, | 0:48:39 | 0:48:43 | |
but our early estimates suggest losses, | 0:48:43 | 0:48:46 | |
whether through lack of insects, soggy crops | 0:48:46 | 0:48:49 | |
or diseased animals, could easily be in the region of £595 million. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:54 | |
So where does this all leave the rural economy? | 0:48:56 | 0:49:00 | |
Well, if you add the total for farming to the tourism losses | 0:49:00 | 0:49:03 | |
and the huge bill for repairing storm and flood damage, we reckon | 0:49:03 | 0:49:06 | |
the wettest summer in a century has cost us well over £1 billion. | 0:49:06 | 0:49:12 | |
Another typical summer's day. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
It's just started to rain as another low comes in from the west. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
Whether you treat this place, the countryside, as your workplace | 0:49:22 | 0:49:26 | |
or your playground, its financial fortunes fluctuate with the weather. | 0:49:26 | 0:49:31 | |
What this summer has proved, is quite how deep those sodden troughs can be. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:36 | |
The weather may have been causing havoc with our rural community, | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
but we've got a bit of blue sky today. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:45 | |
The question is, will it stay that way? | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
Let's find out with the Countryfile weather forecast. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
We are on the Furness Peninsula, where Julia and I have been | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
discovering hidden wonders of this rarely explored Cumbrian landscape. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:16 | |
I'm ending my voyage at Piel Island. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:19 | |
At just half a mile long, it's tiny, but exquisitely formed. | 0:53:19 | 0:53:23 | |
Its only permanent residents are the island's custodians, | 0:53:25 | 0:53:29 | |
Steve and Sheila Chattaway. | 0:53:29 | 0:53:31 | |
Not only are they caretakers of the island, but an ancient | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
tradition also means that they are King and Queen of Piel, | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
so I've come bearing gifts, and I'm off to meet them in their palace. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:44 | |
Or more to the point, the pub. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:46 | |
Come on, girls. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
I'll just pop you down there. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:52 | |
All set, ready to meet Their Royal Highnesses. Here we go. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:57 | |
-Steve! -Matt! -How are you doing? All right? -Nice to see you. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:01 | |
I don't really know how to address you properly. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:03 | |
Sheila, is it ma'am as in ham? | 0:54:03 | 0:54:05 | |
-Sheila. -It's just Sheila? -Yeah. -OK. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:08 | |
-This King and Queen thing, this is for real, isn't it? -Yes, it is, yes. | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
How did that all come about? | 0:54:11 | 0:54:12 | |
This started with back in the Middle Ages when, | 0:54:12 | 0:54:15 | |
I think it was the last time the UK was invaded, | 0:54:15 | 0:54:19 | |
by a chap called Lambert Simnel, he was only 11 years old | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
but he landed on Piel Island with about 5,000 mercenaries, | 0:54:22 | 0:54:25 | |
and claimed to be the King of England. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:27 | |
Following on from then, traditionally, | 0:54:27 | 0:54:30 | |
the landlord of The Ship Inn at Piel Island becomes the King of Piel. | 0:54:30 | 0:54:35 | |
Steve and Sheila might be island royalty, | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
but they certainly don't live a privileged lifestyle here on Piel. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:41 | |
They are aiming to make themselves self-sufficient by grazing | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
the land as the monks who lived here did in the 12th century. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:48 | |
And that's where my regal gift comes in. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:51 | |
See what you think of these, Sheila. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:53 | |
There you are. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
What? | 0:54:55 | 0:54:57 | |
I've brought you something appropriate for island life. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
-Fabulous! -A white star and a black rock. -Perfect! -Here we go, girls. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:05 | |
These girls are a little too young to fend for themselves | 0:55:05 | 0:55:08 | |
with the rest of Steve's flock so we are releasing them | 0:55:08 | 0:55:11 | |
into their own palatial surroundings. | 0:55:11 | 0:55:14 | |
Welcome home. | 0:55:14 | 0:55:15 | |
-What do you think of that? -There you are, girls. | 0:55:15 | 0:55:18 | |
Breathe it in, girls. That's island air. | 0:55:20 | 0:55:23 | |
But a desire to live out the good life isn't the only legacy | 0:55:27 | 0:55:31 | |
the monks left on Piel Island. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:33 | |
This fort was built by the monks of Furness Abbey, | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
which is over on the mainland, and the whole idea was, | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
it was built to protect grain and wool | 0:55:41 | 0:55:44 | |
that was going to be traded with Ireland, across the sea. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:47 | |
Nobody really gets the chance to see inside here, | 0:55:47 | 0:55:50 | |
but Steve is going to show us around this place. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:53 | |
It was built in 1327, | 0:55:53 | 0:55:55 | |
and at the time, it was the largest of its kind in Northwest England. | 0:55:55 | 0:55:58 | |
The monks of Furness Abbey, they used to run | 0:56:01 | 0:56:04 | |
something like 12,000 sheep, which was a heck of a lot of wool. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:08 | |
-Yeah. -But, obviously, there was other things going on as well. | 0:56:08 | 0:56:12 | |
There was quite a market for illicit liquor and things like that, | 0:56:15 | 0:56:19 | |
and they'd bring it via Ireland or the Isle Of Man, or up from Flanders. | 0:56:19 | 0:56:22 | |
Obviously, they'd take wool to Flanders and they'd bring stuff back. | 0:56:22 | 0:56:26 | |
-And the monks were into that then, were they? -Oh, God, yeah. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
Yeah, absolutely. They were the mafia of the day. Big, big business, yeah. | 0:56:29 | 0:56:32 | |
The fortress might now be past its best | 0:56:32 | 0:56:35 | |
but it still dominates the landscape, | 0:56:35 | 0:56:38 | |
with views stretching for miles around. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:42 | |
This is the perfect spot to look out for shady characters. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:49 | |
Speaking of which, I've just spotted a little minx perched on a rock. | 0:56:49 | 0:56:55 | |
Bradbury, Bradbury! Do you read me? It's Baker. | 0:56:55 | 0:56:58 | |
If you look behind you, | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
you will see that I'm the king of the castle and you're the dirty... | 0:57:00 | 0:57:03 | |
Dirty rascal! Hello, darling! How was your day on the high seas? | 0:57:03 | 0:57:09 | |
It was good but how did you get on with the oysters? | 0:57:09 | 0:57:13 | |
An amazing process and I would have brought you one | 0:57:13 | 0:57:17 | |
but I know you don't really like the oysters, a bit like me. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:20 | |
That's it from the Furness Peninsula. | 0:57:20 | 0:57:22 | |
Don't forget there are just a few hours left to vote | 0:57:22 | 0:57:24 | |
in our Countryfile photographic competition. | 0:57:24 | 0:57:27 | |
All the details are on our website | 0:57:27 | 0:57:28 | |
and the results will be revealed on October 7th, | 0:57:28 | 0:57:31 | |
including the photograph that our judges like most. | 0:57:31 | 0:57:34 | |
You can see those 12 photos again by pressing your red button now. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:37 | |
Next week, we're going to be in north Nottinghamshire | 0:57:37 | 0:57:40 | |
where I'll be following in the footsteps | 0:57:40 | 0:57:42 | |
of one of our most controversial novelists, DH Lawrence. | 0:57:42 | 0:57:45 | |
Hope you can join us then. | 0:57:45 | 0:57:47 | |
Matty, how are you getting off the island? | 0:57:47 | 0:57:50 | |
Um... I thought we were going back together. | 0:57:52 | 0:57:55 | |
Well, I'm getting a train, love. | 0:57:55 | 0:57:57 | |
I've got to leave quite sharpish so good luck. | 0:57:57 | 0:58:00 | |
I hope you've got your armbands. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:02 | |
Bye. | 0:58:02 | 0:58:03 | |
Julia? | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
'Julia? Julia!' | 0:58:07 | 0:58:10 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:18 | 0:58:21 |