Sheep and Bat Walk Down on the Farm

# Come join us Down On The Farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and field to barn

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us Down On The Farm today. #

Hello, I'm JB, and welcome to Down On The Farm.

Autumn is here!

It's a busy time on the farm.

There are lots of animals to look after and crops to harvest.

So while I help out here, let's see what Storm is up to.

I've come to a Scottish island called North Ronaldsay

to visit some very special sheep.

Now, they don't live in a field or eat grass.

Instead, they live right here on the seashore, and they eat seaweed.

-Hi, Billy.

-Hi, Storm.

Now, most sheep I've seen eat grass.

-These must be very special sheep.

-They are indeed.

They're thought to be the only sheep in the world

that eat nothing but seaweed.

And they look very different too.

Yes, they're much smaller and nimble,

and they have very good balance.

They have to run over all the rocks that you see.

How do they deal with the tide?

When the tide goes out, they go down to feed,

and when the tide comes in, they go up and have a sleep.

-Do they pretty much look after themselves?

-They do indeed.

If they look after themselves, what is there for us to do?

We have to look after the dyke,

and you could come and join me to rebuild a bit of that maybe.

-Great, let's go!

-Let's go!

The dyke is a wall that keeps the sheep on the shore.

It's so long that it goes nearly all the way around the island.

It's a big job to maintain it,

so Farmer Billy's family have come to help.

Hi, guys! You look very busy here.

This doesn't look like your average wall.

No, we don't use cement to glue the stones together.

We just stack them one on top of the other.

That's why it's called a dry-stone dyke.

Lay it there nice and flat. That's lovely.

Thank you very much.

-So, James, do the sheep ever come the side of the dyke?

-Yeah.

They come in for lambing.

Some of the sheep nibble some grass during lambing season.

We used lots of stones of different shapes

and sizes to make the dyke tall and strong.

That is an amazing stone!

Thank you very much. Oh, I'm getting better at this!

You're welcome to help

because there's over 2,000 sheep on the island.

2,000 sheep?!

That's a lot of sheep.

Now, while we finish repairing this dyke,

why don't you find out about birds in autumn?

In autumn, the nights get longer and colder.

To cope with these changes,

some birds start to gather in huge flocks before nightfall.

Sticking close together will help the birds to keep warm

while they rest.

Starlings spend the day feeding in smaller groups,

but by evening, start to meet up.

Together, they make incredible moving shapes in the sky.

The eye-catching displays help more and more starlings join the flock.

They do this because there is safety in numbers.

With many hours of darkness ahead, hungry predators

like foxes and birds of prey will be out hunting for food.

The starlings have a much better chance of spotting danger

if lots of them keep watch together.

If a predator approaches, they can all fly up,

trying to dodge and confuse the attacker

by twisting and darting in a huge mass until it gives up.

Flocking together like this helps starlings to stay

safe and warm until daylight returns.

I've come to a nature reserve in Nottinghamshire

to try and spot an animal that comes out in the dark.

Now, it's got wings, a furry body and big ears.

Do you know what it is?

It's a bat!

This is Michael and his helpers. Tonight, we're going on a bat walk.

But before we set off,

we're going to have a special close-up look at a bat.

This bat is OK to be held, but you should never touch one.

Hi, guys.

-ALL:

-Hi, Storm!

This is amazing! This is the first time I've seen a bat in real life.

Now, this is Alana, and she is a brown long-eared bat.

-So, what do we know about bats?

-They have hairy bodies.

-They have wings and they can fly.

-They do have wings.

-They're made of skin, aren't they?

-They are.

They're like our hands. They've got long finger bones,

with skin stretched between the fingers.

-What else do we know?

-They hang upside down.

-They live in big groups.

-They have big ears, too.

They have, and they use those to hunt and find insects in the dark.

Let's go and try and find some bats tonight.

-Does that sound like fun? Should we go find some bats?

-Yeah!

Let's go!

It's getting dark, which means the bats will be out soon.

OK, everyone, can you make the highest sound that you can make?

HIGH-PITCHED SCREAMS

Oh, that is high!

Bats can make sounds much, much higher than that,

so high that most people can't even hear them.

These detectors change the high sounds that bats make

into low sounds that we can hear.

Well, let's go bat hunting!

I heard a click!

I just saw a bat!

-Storm, I'm getting something.

-Are you? What can you hear?

-Some craggily sounds.

-Some craggily sounds?

Bats can't see well in the dark, so instead of using their eyes,

they make high sounds and listen with their big ears

to figure out where they're going and where their food is.

-There's one! Hear him?

-Yeah.

Did you hear that "zip, zip" noise then? It's him catching something.

-I heard lots of them!

-I heard some!

While we continue to listen and watch out for some bats,

why don't you listen to our autumn poem about spiders?

Glinting in the autumn sun

Drops of morning dew

Hanging strings like precious pearls

On the silky threads of spiders' webs

Look around, they're everywhere!

Each sticky layer made with care By spindly legs and feet so neat

Round and round the spider goes

To and fro, row after row

Spinning such a pretty trap

Built to catch autumn snacks.

Do you know what these are?

That's right, they're onions.

When onions are harvested in the autumn,

some come from farms to factories like this.

Onions are a bulb vegetable we use in cooking.

They are often red or brown in colour.

Today, Chris is going to show us around the onion factory,

to see what happens once they've been harvested.

-Hi, Chris.

-Hi, JB, welcome to our onion store.

Thank you! Are all these boxes full of onions?

Yes, JB. There's over 3 million onions in here.

They've been grown at farms over the last six weeks where

they've been brought here to be sorted and packed.

-That's incredible!

-Shall we go and have a look?

-Yes, definitely!

First, the onions are brought into the factory to be processed.

The first thing we do is check that the onion is healthy.

We cut the onions in half, and make sure they're nice and white inside.

-Do you do that with all of the onions?

-No, JB.

We have a special machine that helps to do this for us.

The machine checks the middle of the onions.

Any with rotten bits inside can't be eaten,

and are taken off the conveyor belt and piled up to be used in compost.

What happens once the onions are checked?

Well, JB, we sort them into different sizes.

Small ones like this go into plastic bags with lots of other onions.

We have medium ones like this which go into boxes,

and can be picked out by the customer.

Large ones like this are packed in groups of three or four.

And how do you sort the onions?

Well, JB, we have a special camera to do that.

-Can we take a look?

-Of course.

This is the camera box.

As the onions whiz past, the camera looks at the top and bottom

of each one to work out what size they are,

then sorts them into different containers for packing.

Once the onions have been checked and sorted,

we bring them here to the packing area, JB.

-Is there another machine that does packing?

-We do this by hand.

-Would you like to have a go at packing some?

-Of course.

How am I doing, Chris?

I think you might have a little bit of work to do.

-We've got one last job for you to do for us, JB.

-OK.

The last job is to pack the onions into crates.

OK, we're done. That's it, JB.

That's the onions sorted and packed and ready to send to our customers.

-Thanks for your help.

-Pleasure, Chris.

Whilst we send these on their way,

why don't you find out what else happens in autumn?

In autumn, the leaves on some trees change colour.

Some go red,

others turn yellow,

and some brown.

It's fun to find out what kind they are.

An oak leaf has lots of curvy edges,

a cherry leaf has spiky edges,

and a sycamore leaf is pointy.

Next time you're outside, see what leaves you can find.

Autumn gives us lots of colourful

fruits and berries that are fun to pick,

like these blackberries.

Adults can show you which berries are safe to eat.

This is Farmer Charlotte, Sam and Zachary.

They're going to make a warming autumn treat,

a blackberry and apple pie.

So, now, we've washed our hands and ingredients.

-What should we do next?

-Peel the apples.

And cut them smaller.

That's right!

Let's put them in this pastry.

So, while the apples are baking, what should we do next?

Put the cinnamon and sugar in the bowl.

We mix the ingredients together and pour them over the baked apples.

Then, roll some more pastry out and cut shapes to decorate the pie.

So, that's looking very pretty.

Now, we need to brush the shapes with milk

and then put them in the oven, and they'll go golden brown.

The oven is hot, so Charlotte puts the pie in to bake.

It's ready when it's golden brown and bubbling.

-Right, guys. I think we're safe to tuck in now.

-Yes!

-Is it yummy, Zachary?

-Yes, it is.

Storm and I had an amazing time today. Did you enjoy it, too?

Remember, there's even more from Down On The Farm

on the CBeebies website.

See you next time. Bye!

# Come join us Down On The Farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops And field to barn

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us Down On The Farm today. #