Episode 8 Landward

Welcome to Landward, the programme that brings the very best

of Scotland's countryside to your screen.

This week, I'm hoping to trap the creatures of the night, bats.

And here's what else is coming up on the programme.

Sarah meets the farming family opening their doors to the public.

What sort of questions do people ask when they come along?

Sometimes, just, like, "Is that a cockerel or is that a chicken?"

They're not quite sure which is which.

Nick visits a traditional kipper smokehouse...

-It's fishy.

-..and then gives the folk of Aberdeen a taste.

-Mm. Yum!

-Yum?

-Yeah.

But before all that, Euan's off to Fintray in Aberdeenshire.

It's just a wee village,

but its classic Hill Climb race is a big draw for motorsport fans.

The Aberdeenshire countryside on a sleepy Sunday morning.

ENGINES REV

Did I say sleepy?

Not this weekend.

-TANNOY:

-Good morning and welcome to the Fintray Hill Climb.

It's the Fintray Hill Climb,

a highlight of the motor racing calendar,

attracting drivers and fans from all over Scotland.

And it's a celebration. This event is 50 years old.

Now, it's easy to get blown away by the beautiful cars, the noise,

the excitement and the smell, but putting on an event like this

requires serious dedication and hard work.

Challenge number one.

'This hill climb is held on a working farm which has been

'run by Stuart Johnston's family throughout the race's history.'

-That's a bonny wee calf. How old is that?

-Just recently born.

We're in the throes of calving just now.

-Just about to start the hill climb?

-Yes.

-What about the animals?

Does it have any impact on them at all?

There's no effect on the stock at all.

We were lambing using that field, they have to be off,

but they've been off for three weeks now, anyway.

The park at the top's left free for car parking.

They'll just be up the road for a couple of days.

Challenge number two, clearing the road.

Volunteers from the Grampian Automobile Club

cheerfully spend hours clearing muck and manure from the track.

All 611 metres of it.

And this is what the track looks like.

Basically, you've got three bends.

The first one's called Ruin

because that's where the ruins of Fintray House used to be.

The second one's called Combine

because that's where the combine shed used to be.

And the third one is Hairpin.

And it's pretty obvious

because this is the tightest bend

in the Scottish Hill Climb Championships.

Before anybody can race, if they're new to it,

they have to walk the entire course.

So I'd better get down there.

I'm going to do your walkthrough this morning.

As newcomers, you've obviously not been here before.

We'll start at the very, very beginning.

'Challenge number three, the course itself.

'Club member Trevor Park is showing us around the track.

'And he's well qualified.

'He's been racing this hill since he was in short overalls.'

-You're going to be biased, how good is the Fintray track?

-It's fantastic.

It's just...

Everybody says, because it's only got three corners,

it's not exciting, but it is.

It's a technically very, very difficult hill.

Those technically-difficult bends have caused many

a driver to come a cropper over the years.

And they've attracted the crowds.

At its peak in the '70s,

around 5,000 people flocked to the farm to watch the event.

Today, a whole generation are looking to experience the thrill.

I'm not going to be actually racing today

because you have to be properly licensed, but I love hill climbs.

I used to watch them on the television when I was younger.

I used the buy the magazines.

I've restored a couple of cars in the past myself. An MGB and an MGA.

So the club have agreed to let me

go round the course with an experienced driver.

I'm so excited!

This is my driver, Alan Nicol.

-Alan.

-Hi.

'And this is my ride. A Caterham Super 7.

'Safe to say it's pretty special.'

It's won the Scottish Road Car Championship ten times.

Six with me and four with my son, Craig.

-So there's a bit of family rivalry?

-There is.

-So, is he faster than you?

-Yes. The rivalry's gone.

It did pass away quite a few years ago.

So, what's the attraction of hill climbs for you?

It's against the clock, it has to be right first time. Accuracy.

The scare factor.

There's no run-off areas in the hill climbs.

It's trees and barriers everywhere you go.

The engine roars and we head to the start line.

Even the short journey has my adrenaline pumping.

Oh! I've never been in anything as fast as this before.

Goodness me!

Screaming round the corners.

Into first gear. He's not slowing down at all.

He's going for it. I can see the finish line coming up.

Goodness me, he's going for it.

'And that's a time of 31.14 seconds.'

That...is incredible.

That was 30 seconds of just sheer adrenaline.

I've never been...

I was going to say scared, but really exciting at the same time.

This has been going for 50 years and you can see why.

Hopefully, it'll be going for another 50 years.

Alan, that was brilliant. Fantastic!

I absolutely loved it.

From the northeast to New Galloway in the southwest

and the heart of the Galloway Forest District.

The traditional perception is that forestry plantations like this

are not good places for wildlife.

But I'm off to meet a researcher who's trying to find out

if, for bats, at least, that's really true.

Here, there are 116,000 hectares of forest,

producing half a million tonnes of timber every year.

During the day, the woodlands around here are full of the hustle

and bustle of people chopping, planting and tending trees.

But at night, it's an entirely different creature

which gets to work.

Scotland is home to nine species of bat, ranging from the smallest,

the pipistrelle, to the largest, the noctule.

And in Dumfries and Galloway, you can find them all.

They're hardy little mammals to be able to survive the short

and often cold, wet and windy summer nights.

You've also got to be pretty hardy if you want to spot them.

-Hi, Lucy, how are you doing?

-I'm good. How are you?

-Very well.

This looks a fairly remarkable contraption. What is it?

This is a hub trap, which is

one of the methods we have for catching bats.

'Lucy Kirkpatrick, a PhD student from Stirling University, is here

'in the Galloway Forest to find out exactly what the bats are up to.

'And tonight, I'm helping her catch some.

'Hopefully.'

-This is pretty much a commercial plantation here.

-Yep.

-Are we expecting to find bats here?

-Yeah.

So this research came about because people generally have

shown in studies that bats avoid conifer plantations.

-That's what I thought.

-That's the general perception.

But actually, in some bat boxes they put up in plantations,

they've found good populations of bats.

And there's a lot of anecdotal evidence.

Even in quite sort of dense plantations,

like the ones I'm working in.

-So that's where this work has come from.

-OK.

So, why in this particular part of the forest?

What we're looking for is areas where the bats are going to

fly into the forest to make it easy to catch them.

So what we're looking at here is you've got a really nice

space where the bats will fly in and then come into here

-and it kind of funnels them in.

-Right.

And hopefully, fly through here and that's how we'll catch them.

-And you've got tension on this line now, so...

-Yeah.

So you can see here, the bat sees the first one,

turns and then hits the second one and drops down.

OK.

-We collect them in the bag.

-Quite midgie tonight.

-Is that a good thing?

-It is for bats, it's not for us.

But we think the bats are feeding on the midges.

'As well as these harp traps, Lucy uses nets to capture the bats.

'And while she finishes setting them up,

'I catch up with Dr Sallie Bailey from the Forestry Commission.'

The reason why we've asked Lucy to do the research is we're very

interested to find out how bats are using the habitat.

'The Commission are helping fund Lucy's work

'and will use the results when planning their forest operations.'

We can then use that information to inform

the guidance for the forest sector

to ensure that operations are working in harmony with bats

and not disturbing them

and disrupting their commutes and breeding.

Because, obviously, they're a European protected species.

One thing I reckon, it's just got windy

and, when I think it's windy, no midges, no bats.

-That's slightly worrying.

-Well, let's hope.

-Hope it changes!

The traps are in place.

All we can do now is retreat to a safe distance

so our presence doesn't scare the bats

and wait for darkness to fall.

Well, it's after 11.30pm, it's well and truly dark,

so we've switched to infrared camera.

Haven't caught any bats just yet,

but we know there are some in the area. We're using...

-CLICKING

-Can you hear that? Bat detector.

That tells us they're in the area.

Now they just have to fly into the nets, or the harp trap,

then we'll see them.

'Yes, that was one behind me.

'I can't see them, but our camera picks them out

'quite easily as they fly over the water, feeding.

'And Lucy can pick out the different species of bat from the noises

'coming from the detector.

'But will we have any luck in the nets?'

-This is the net here.

-Yeah, net just here.

-Nothing.

-Nothing.

But you can see the way this is being blown open by the wind now

-it's picked up. So the bats will detect this very easily.

-OK.

And now it's drizzling, so, um...

I don't think we're going to have much luck tonight, to be honest.

It's 12.40am, it's cold, it's now starting to rain

and I've just been bitten behind the ear by a midgie.

How did that happen?

'Midgie bites, then, but no bats tonight.

'The wind, rain and cold have beaten Lucy's traps,

'but at least we can get back indoors now... Can't we?'

-Cold!

-THEY CHUCKLE

At what point in the evening do you say,

"Right, they're coming down, we're getting out of here"?

-We stay out for four hours after sunset, regardless.

-Right.

So even on the nights like this, when you think,

"The bats aren't here,

"the weather's not like I thought, I could go home," you don't.

You just drink a lot of coffee, eat a lot of biscuits. Flies past!

-Unlike the bats.

-THEY CHUCKLE

Better luck next time.

Let's hope Nick has more success tracking down some kippers.

It's the beginning of the Scottish herring season.

So we sent him to Portsoy on the northeast coast to learn

the traditional craft of smoking.

NEWSREEL: 'Under the swell of the northern seas,

'there's a continual coming and going of uncountable millions of herring.

'The shoals are rich.'

In the 19th and early 20th century,

the fishing villages on the northeast coast, like this one

here at Portsoy, were once home to a thriving herring industry.

The industry reached its zenith in 1907, when 2.5 million barrels of

herring were exported from Scotland to the Continent in one year.

Five years later, there were still 10,000 boats

employed in the Scottish herring industry, but it was not to last.

Overfishing brought stocks to the brink of destruction.

By the 1970s, the herring industry had collapsed.

There are now strict quotas in place to control how many

fish can be taken during the relatively short herring season.

And this means that stocks have been allowed to recover

to create what is now a sustainable fishery.

These days, the Scottish herring fleet set out on 1st June

to intercept the massive shoals of herring

and catch their annual quota.

Usually in around six weeks.

The majority of the catch will be landed in Peterhead and Fraserburgh

before heading for the Continent.

But some of the catch ends up here, at Sutherlands of Portsoy,

to be made into one of my culinary favourites, the kipper.

-Morris.

-Hi, Nick. How are you doing?

-Very good.

-Pleased to meet you.

-We find ourselves next to kippers in the making.

-Yes.

'Morris Sutherland's family have been in the business for five generations.'

So, Morris, where are these kippers going to end up?

Well, basically, all over the world.

We do have a big market over in Singapore, Japan, um...UAE.

Some of these are going down to England as well.

Italy, Germany, just all over the world.

-And closer to home, do people still have a kipper for breakfast?

-Yes.

Mainly hotels that we supply,

the kipper's a big seller for the hotels.

And what about the bones? What about them?

That sets a bit of a contentious issue.

Basically, what I say to that is, just give them a good grilling.

THEY LAUGH

And is the kippering...? I can see the guys doing it here.

It's all done by hand. Is it a simple enough process or...?

-It's very simple to do. Just a bit of practice.

-Even I could do it?

Absolutely.

-Shall we put that to the test?

-Definitely.

Basically, take the knife, in through the fin.

Until you feel the backbone?

So you can feel the backbone, that's correct. And then straight down.

-Turn it around.

-Back in and up. And then guillotine all the way up here.

-OK.

-And then it's quite tough going through the head, the bone.

-That's pure bone.

-OK.

-And then just split him apart.

-Yeah.

So actually, I should've cut through those bones as well.

That's it. That's perfect.

And then out come the guts and bits and pieces.

And how long would it have taken them back in the day to do this?

Probably about three or four times quicker.

-So, I'm not going to get a job, then?

-No.

THEY LAUGH

Once the herring are filleted and racked,

it's time for the main event, the smoke.

And Morris has a secret ingredient.

This is oak shavings we get from the local area.

-You can smell the whisky.

-You really can smell it.

But also, when you light the kiln, you get a blue flame.

-And do you think that gives it a really unique character?

-It does.

The oak shavings we use from the whisky barrels does give it a distinctive flavour.

The smoking process takes four hours

and I can't wait to try a Portsoy kipper.

So here they are, the finished product.

And there's something quite unique about the smell of kippers.

It's not something you get every day.

Oh!

That flavour is just extraordinary.

It's deep, it's smoky, you get a little bit of a hint of the whisky.

There's a bit of seaweed, there's a bit of sea in there.

It really is amazing.

And I have a fantastic idea of what I'm going to do with

these in the Landward street food van.

So stay with us and see what I come up with.

'Travelling around filming Landward, we get to see all parts of Scotland.

'And we like to find out what the locals like about the places they live in.

'Not far from the forest where the bats should have been

'is Castle Douglas.

'It's lovely, but what's the best thing about it?'

The shops in the town. Some of them are quite individual.

It's not your normal high-street shops.

Just it's a nice, friendly town, so it is.

The people, they're, like, so friendly. They like to talk.

They'll stop and give you time in the street.

-A nice butchers.

-People can identify with the local businesses.

-And that's what they love.

-The best cakes in Marchbank's.

The best place to get a cake is Corson's Bakery.

Sulwath's Brewery. It's got really nice beer and really nice lager

and it's all locally made. Can't beat it.

-Fish and chips, that's my answer.

-Fish and chips?

-Yeah.

Well, the shops here are great but, for me,

the best thing about Castle Douglas is a tale of heroism.

On 16th October, 1939, local lawyer Patrick Gifford became the first

man to shoot down an enemy pilot over British airspace during WWII.

And he's remembered on this plaque outside the town library.

This Sunday is Open Farm Sunday.

Farmers across the country are opening their doors to show

the general public what they do.

And Sarah's been along to meet one family taking part.

'This is the Dawes family.

'On Sunday, their farm near Kinross

'will be one of nearly 30 across Scotland open for visitors.

'It's a once-a-year chance for the public to get to grips with

'where their food comes from.

'Rebecca is the coordinator for the project in Scotland.

'While her dad Colin and brother Stuart round up the sheep,

'I find out more.'

-So, why do farmers want to do this?

-It's a combination of things.

Obviously, number one, um...

it's really good for the general public to see what we do.

We should be really proud to be farmers.

I think it's really important that we promote more what we're doing.

Secondly, it's good for the consumer to go along and ask questions.

There are so many things they may want to know.

We see eggs in a supermarket but how have they got there?

So it's an opportunity for them to ask questions.

And are they busy days, in your experience?

For us, it's a really important thing and we want to

carry on the tradition so, yeah, it's really important to us.

But it can be busy. It depends how you manage it.

Different people do it different ways.

Some will do just a farm walk and there will only be 20 people.

Other people will open up their farm and they could get several hundred.

'This weekend, the family are laying on a series of farm

'demonstrations, including sheep shearing.

'But today, I'm worming with Stuart.'

Is that us?

I'll just warn you, I have wormed before, but I'm not very good at it.

-All right.

-Does that, er...?

-All right?

-Does that scare you?

I'll trust you know what you're doing, then.

-Right, carry on.

-Straight in the mouth.

-So, do you get enjoyment out of the open days?

-Yeah, they're good.

It's always nice to meet people that haven't really got any

involvement in farming and see what they think about the industry

and maybe teach them a few things.

-Do you want a go?

-Yeah, let's go for it.

-Just one squirt?

-Yes. Go on, then.

Right. I'm totally in charge. I know exactly what I'm doing.

(It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. Hey-hey.)

Open your mouth. And a squirt.

There we go. That's good. One done, only another...how many to go?

There we go, there we go. There we go!

What sort of questions do people ask when they come along?

Sometimes, like, "Is that a cockerel or is that a chicken?"

They're not quite sure which is which.

They're a little bit confused about what's a goat and what's a sheep sometimes but...

-You put them right.

-Yeah, sometimes.

'And while Stuart finishes doing the sheep,

'his dad Colin is keen to show me the goats.

'Pygmy goats, to be precise.'

-Goat feeding time.

-Goat feeding time.

See if I can get on a bit better than my sheep worming.

You can't miss this. They come and help you out.

-Come on, then! How many goats do you have?

-About 35.

-35.

So, do all the local community get involved in the Open Sunday?

We try and get as many as possible who want to be involved in it.

-The local, um...Kinross community, they come up...

-Here we go.

-Will I toss some out?

-Yes.

-Hello, you!

They put on... They do teas and coffees

and then other charities come up and help do their bits and pieces.

SHE LAUGHS

-They're keen for food.

-Indeed.

And how many people did you have last year?

We had about 800 last year,

which was about 600 more people than I had expected.

Mostly locals, mostly from the schools, all came out and

I was actually very, very impressed with how interested they all were.

'More than a million people have visited farms

'up and down the UK since the scheme started in 2006.

'And you can see why.'

-Yeah. Very cute.

-He is very sweet.

-He's very sweet.

I appreciate that there's lots of farms where you can't see cute

animals like this and hold them and farming can be very intensive, so

what are people going to be able to see on the open days?

So it varies across the country.

In Scotland, we've got

farms opening from Orkney right down to the Borders.

So people will be able to see livestock, cattle, sheep.

Or it could be crops and fruit and veg. If you take our farm,

we've got several different breeds of sheep.

So you can easily showcase the different breeds

and why we have different breeds.

Somebody else, like the Orkney Buffalo, will showcase buffalo.

It's not something that's done widely, so they can promote that.

It just varies depending on what they do.

If you're one less goat at the end of today, would that matter?

Um...I know where to find him.

Totally stealing the show, isn't it?

He's adorable.

Well, if you want to find out about the farms that are open,

you can go to our website.

Some you have to book, others you can just simply turn up.

And with cuties like this, how can you resist?

'Earlier, Nick found out how you transform

'herring into a beautiful smoky kipper.

'It used to be a breakfast favourite or a high tea treat.

'Nowadays, not so much.

'Can Nick, in the Landward food van,

'persuade the people of Aberdeen to fall back in love with the kipper?'

So we've got the fabulous kippers.

These tend just to get grilled and eaten at breakfast time.

-And delicious for that, right?

-Absolutely delicious.

And something that's quite overlooked.

I was amazed at how tasty they were.

And it made me think that they would make a fantastic little canape,

a little snack.

So what I'm planning to do is to take some of the flesh,

-which I've taken down, picked all the bones out.

-Yes.

And we're going to mix that with a little bit of mash.

And we'll make a little fishcake mix, make it into little croquettes.

-Excellent.

-Kipper croquettes. It's a new role for the kipper.

-Let's get on with it, shall we?

-Right, if you want to start?

Just enough potato to bind that together in that mixing bowl.

So whilst you do that, I'm going to chop up some spring onions

and some chopped parsley.

We'll put a little bit of lemon zest

and lemon juice through the fishcake mix.

-Should I be trying to break up the kipper?

-No.

-Try and keep it solid?

Yeah, keep it solid. Because we want that texture.

A bit of spring onion.

-Fold that through.

-OK.

And some parsley, lemon juice coming up.

So salt. Not too much salt because...

-Lots of salt in the kipper already.

-Correct.

But plenty of pepper because we love pepper.

-We certainly do.

-In we go.

When you've got somebody to help you,

-you really rattle on through it, don't you?

-You do, absolutely.

-And you're doing a great job.

-'Of course I am.

'Now to make the croquettes.

'Roll the mixture into little tubes and dip them in flour and egg wash.

'Then coat them in oatmeal.'

-Oh, look at that. I'm quite pleased with that.

-That looks pretty good.

-I've only got 1,000 more to do!

-We may be some time.

'Then they get deep-fried in vegetable oil

'until they're crisp and golden.'

The smell of kipper is fantastic, isn't it?

It's really quite pungent and glorious.

OK, so whilst the croquettes are just warming through in the oven,

we're going to add our mustard mayonnaise.

So let's talk a wee bit about the kippers.

-They're a pretty healthy fish, aren't they?

-They are.

They're high in omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9 as well.

And those are antioxidants. They're really good for your circulation.

In fact, the government advice is that you should eat oily fish

at least once a week.

We should have a taste, shouldn't we?

-Oh, yes!

-Oh, that smokiness!

I'm loving the oatmeal with the smokiness.

-Mm!

-Good.

-That's a bit of a discovery.

-This is really nice.

So, good citizens of Aberdeen,

we're about to bring you the kipper croquettes with mustard mayonnaise.

Kipper croquettes with mustard mayonnaise.

You up for some of that? Yeah?

'Don't all rush at once(!)'

It's fishy.

Very good. Not so much salt.

What do you get in there?

-Fish.

-Do you know what type of fish they use to make kippers?

Haddock?

Ooh, that's good.

-Do you like kippers?

-I'm allergic to fish.

Is that something you would make for yourself?

No.

-Want to try one of my herring croquettes?

-No, thank you.

Well, basically, I've changed my eating habits recently.

I'll try one, then.

I'm from Australia and they don't eat herring in Australia.

-Like it?

-Yeah, it's fine.

-Mm!

-You get that oatmeal on the outside?

-Yep. Gorgeous.

-Good on you, darling.

-Mm. Yum!

-Yum?

-Yum!

-Very nice.

I need to get the recipe.

Nick, you appear to have one left there.

-I've kept it for myself.

-What was the reaction of people generally?

Um...I was surprised that a lot of people didn't know

that the fish they use to make a kipper is a herring.

Pretty much universal appreciation of the croquette.

Maybe not quite the enthusiasm that I'd expected.

The ums and the ahs.

But in general, it went down well.

If people have to eat more kippers, there's education still to be done?

I think there certainly is, yeah.

OK, well, that's it. He's finishing the kipper croquette.

From the two of us, thanks for your company. Bye-bye.