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Hello. Today I'm in Scotland, leaving the mainland behind me | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
and heading out to the Inner Hebrides | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
and the magical island of Islay. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
'I'm starting out near Kilchiaran, on the island's west coast, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
'where a deadly undertow wreaks havoc on this idyllic coastline.' | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
This is one of nearly 300 wrecks that we do know of | 0:00:58 | 0:01:04 | |
around the coast of Islay since the very earliest that we know of, | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
which would probably be the early 18th century. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
-Wow. That's a phenomenal number, isn't it? -Yes. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
'I'll head around Loch Indaal to Bowmore, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
'where a small group of islanders are making their voices heard.' | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
CHOIR SINGS | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
'Moving north, I'll explore the tiny settlement of Finlaggan, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
'a place that for hundreds of years was a seat of power | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
'to rival the Scottish throne. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
'Just above Port Askaig, I'll learn some of the legends | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
'that have arisen from this incredible landscape | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
'in the company of a globe-trotting artist.' | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
This giantess, on one of her many exploits, was chasing some young man | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
and tripped and fell, and that's the mark she made. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
'Then it's down to the harbour to meet a chef who's been drawn here | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
'from halfway across the world. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
'And he'll introduce me to some of the island's edible delights.' | 0:02:05 | 0:02:10 | |
I know there are challenges being a chef on the island | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
but this has got to be at the top of the list of benefits, hasn't it? | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
Yes, it's the best produce. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
Along the way I'll be looking back | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
at the very best of the BBC's rural programmes | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
from this part of the world. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
Welcome to Country Tracks. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
Islay is the southernmost island | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
in the chain known as the Inner Hebrides. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
It might be a remote outpost of the British Isles | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
but it's also an important one. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
Its varied landscape provides a vital habitat for birdlife | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
and its eight distilleries produce some of Scotland's | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
most distinctive whiskies. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:48 | |
It stretches 25 miles from north to south | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
and about the same distance from east to west, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
all wrapped in 130 miles of unspoilt coastline. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
But the seas surrounding this idyllic isle have often been | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
a sailor's worst nightmare. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
Islay's on one side of the main shipping route | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
from north-west Britain to North America. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
But over the centuries, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
a combination of heavy seas and the rocky coastline | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
has given these waters a fearsome reputation. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
To find out more, I'm meeting Malcolm Ogilvie, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
chairman of the Museum of Islay Life | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
and an expert on the island's nautical history. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
Malcolm, why is this such a hazardous stretch of water? | 0:03:29 | 0:03:34 | |
It's a very rocky and windswept coast | 0:03:34 | 0:03:39 | |
with terrific currents running round it. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
And in the old days, ships' navigation was imperfect, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:48 | |
there were no lights by which to navigate, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
yet there was a lot of shipping | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
as Islay guards part of the channel | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
between Scotland and Northern Ireland | 0:03:56 | 0:03:58 | |
out of which ships are coming from Liverpool, Belfast, the Clyde, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:03 | |
going across the Atlantic or working their way up Scotland. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
-And there are hazards. -Yeah. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
So it was a major shipping route and the hazards are evident, | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
because we can see something right here. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
What will we look at coming round here? | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
This is an early steam ship. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:19 | |
It would've been a wooden boat and you can still see a few of the ribs. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
And in the 1850s, 1860s, which is about the time this was wrecked, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:29 | |
a ship called the Patty, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
the boilers they used were low pressure. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
They were called box boilers cos they were actually square, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
and we can see some of the outline of it here. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
All those years ago, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:41 | |
-what do we know of the circumstances that it ended up here? -Nothing. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
-Really? -We know its name. Even there there's a question mark about it, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
-but we actually have no history of this boat at all. -Wow. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:52 | |
But this is one of nearly 300 wrecks that we do know of | 0:04:52 | 0:04:57 | |
around the coast of Islay since the very earliest that we know of, | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
which would probably be the early 18th century. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
-Wow. That's a phenomenal number, isn't it? -Yes, yes. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
There are other wrecks we know more about, aren't there? | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
Certainly, we do. There's one up in the north-west of the island | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
which was called the Exmouth. It was a sailing ship leaving Ireland | 0:05:13 | 0:05:18 | |
with people trying to make a new life in North America | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
because of the potato famine. This was in the 1840s. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
And it had over 250 people on board and in very bad weather, | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
and again, inadequate navigation, it crashed into some steep cliffs | 0:05:30 | 0:05:35 | |
and all but three people were lost. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
'This channel along the west coast of Islay | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
'wasn't just an important shipping route during peacetime. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
'In the First World War it formed an essential part of the passage, | 0:05:49 | 0:05:53 | |
'bringing American troops over to the UK. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
'And it was here one October night in 1918 that disaster struck, | 0:05:56 | 0:06:01 | |
'resulting in the largest loss of life at sea during the Great War.' | 0:06:01 | 0:06:06 | |
It seems all the graves we can see refer to just one ship, the Otranto. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:17 | |
-What happened? -That was an armed merchantman. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
She had been a liner before the war. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
And she was in a convoy off the coast here, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
6th October, 1918. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
And there was a collision between two ships in the dark | 0:06:30 | 0:06:35 | |
in a very bad storm | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
and the Otranto sank with a great loss of life. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
So what was she carrying? She was carrying troops at the time? | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
Yes. She had a crew of about 300 | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
and she was carrying about 800 or 900 American troops. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
-Wow. -And the loss of life was 431 died. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:56 | |
Malcolm, you said it was a collision. What actually happened? | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
What happened to the other boat involved? | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
The two boats were in two different lines of the convoy, | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
and the captain of one boat thought the land they'd spotted | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
was Northern Ireland and turned left away from it. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
Whereas the other captain thought it was Scotland | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
and turned to the right, and so they collided. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
And the Kashmir, the smaller boat, about 8,000 tonnes, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
collided amid ships with the Otranto, a rather bigger boat, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
at around 12,000 tonnes, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
and cut a great gash in its side which was a mortal wound. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
And what hope is there for the Otranto at that point? | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
Very little, and indeed, for the 1,000 plus people on board, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
but a very, very brave captain of a Destroyer, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
which was an escort vessel, a Destroyer called the Mounsey, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
defied the orders of the Otranto's captain and decided to come alongside | 0:07:53 | 0:07:58 | |
so that troops and crew could jump on board his ship. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
There were still 400 people left on the Otranto | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
and the captain gave the order to abandon ship. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
And these people were left to try and make it to shore. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
Just 16 got to shore alive. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
And then it was just a question of recovering | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
the many hundreds of bodies that littered the coast here. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
And that was all very carefully recorded indeed | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
by the local police sergeant. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
And he wrote it down meticulously in a notebook | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
which I've actually brought with me from the museum. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
Let's see it. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:33 | |
Each and every person that the police sergeant recorded, | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
he was numbering them, 193, 194, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:42 | |
the dog tag that they would've been wearing, the name, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:46 | |
and then what ever they had in their pockets, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
such as Bible and razors, etcetera. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
-Tremendous mark of respect. It's very carefully detailed. -Yes. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
"Tattoo on right wrist of a swallow." And so it goes on. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
So that he was getting as much description as he could | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
in case relatives would be able to identify their lost loved one. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
These are all the crew. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
You can see on the labels the ship's cook, Chief Petty Officer, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
Officer Steward, and some they have to record as "A Sailor" | 0:09:19 | 0:09:24 | |
as they couldn't identify them. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
-Yeah, there's a lot of "A Sailors" and "Known Unto Gods". -Yes. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:31 | |
And then this really stands out, doesn't it? | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
This big one, this was Captain Davidson, the captain of the Otranto. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
He lost his life as well. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
So it's a really dark chapter in the island's history, | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
-a real loss of life. -And if you think about it, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
it happened just five weeks before the Armistice | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
-and the war would have been over. -Gosh. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
'Shipwrecks like the Otranto mark some of the darkest moments in Islay's history. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:03 | |
'The natural landscape of the island is one that has shaped life here | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
'in a positive and varied way, as Ben Fogle found out | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
'when he visited these shores.' | 0:10:11 | 0:10:12 | |
'Islay has a rich and varied landscape, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
'which is just one of the reasons that 150,000 tourists come here every year. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:28 | |
'It is a working island, | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
'but the natural environment underpins everything that happens here.' | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
It's home to 3,500 inhabitants who rely on the natural ingredients | 0:10:34 | 0:10:38 | |
the island provides. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:39 | |
One of the most important of which is this stuff. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
It's peat, and it is the key to Islay's most important export. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:50 | |
'Each year, tens of thousands of barrels of whisky are made | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
'on Islay, and they are exported to countries all over the world.' | 0:10:55 | 0:11:00 | |
Thank you. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
There are seven distilleries here, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
and they all produce their own very distinctive tipple. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
I take my research very seriously. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:11 | |
'Bruichladdich distillery has been making whisky for 120 years. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
'It closed in 1995 but reopened under new management in May | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
'and is promising to return the art of whisky-making to its traditional roots. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
'Its rebirth is good news for the island and for the Treasury.' | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
Oh yes, it is very lucrative. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
Somewhere around 100 million a year created in revenue alone from Islay. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
-That's in taxes? -Taxes on the whisky, on the spirits. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
Per head of population, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
one of the most productive parts of the UK, I would say. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
'There's not much that Ruaridh McLeod doesn't know about whiskey. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
'He worked at at Bruichladdich for well over 30 years | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
'and remembers a time when there was a more relaxed attitude to working.' | 0:11:50 | 0:11:55 | |
The first question I want to ask is what is this? | 0:11:55 | 0:11:59 | |
That is the official dram by the company. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
When you say official dram, what do you mean by that? | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
When you came into work, you got a dram. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
You were given an official tot of whisky? | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
-That's right. -That's a very big tot, there. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
It's not that big. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
You started work at six in the morning | 0:12:16 | 0:12:18 | |
and you got one at 7 o'clock in the morning. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
Everybody got another one at 9 o'clock in the morning. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
We got another one at 12 o'clock, you got another one at two | 0:12:26 | 0:12:31 | |
and you got one when everybody was going up again. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
-So you got five of these every day? -Yes, aye. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
That's about the equivalent of two shots now, I think. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
Well, ah, well... One-and-a-half! | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
-LAUGHTER -Yes, I think so. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
'Whisky has been made on Islay since the 18th Century. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
'The basic principles remain pretty much the same. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
'Barley is steeped in water and left to germinate. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
'This produces chemicals which convert starch to sugar. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
'The grain is then dried over a peaty fire, | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
'giving Islay's whiskies their distinctive flavour. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
'And it's finally ready for milling.' | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
Boiling water is then added to the ground barley. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
It's then mixed or mashed, as the experts call it, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
to make this rather yucky-looking sugary substance | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
which is quite aptly-named wort. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
This is where the yeast is added into these giant vats, here. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
As you can see by these vapours, this is fermenting very nicely. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:35 | |
'What's left is a weak alcoholic solution. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
'This is distilled twice, producing spirit which can then | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
'be transferred to oak casks, ready for the maturing process.' | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
-This is the end product. -That's it, yes. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
Last week that was malted barley in the bins and it was water. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:54 | |
Now you end up with a glass of plain British spirit. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
What is the difference between plain British spirit and whisky? | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
Plain British spirit is a new make, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
it must stay in a cask for a minimum of three years to qualify as whisky. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
After that, it can go for blending or whatever in five or eight years. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:11 | |
To be a decent malt, it has to stay in a cask for a minimum of eight or 10 years. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:15 | |
Is this a lot stronger than whisky? | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
That is quite a bit stronger than whisky you'd buy in the bottle. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
It tastes slightly different as well. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
-Ooh! Very strong! -It's quite a bit stronger. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
30 years down the line, you should end up with something like this, if it's in the right conditions. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:34 | |
-30 year-old whisky? -That is 30-years-old. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
It was distilled in the distillery here and has been matured right through for 30 years now. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
I think you'll find that it tastes much, much better. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
I must have a try. I have been looking forward to this. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
That is beautiful. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
That really is amazing. It's very smooth, isn't it? | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
Very smooth. A lovely light, smooth whisky. Very drinkable. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
-Slainte mhath. -Slainte mhath. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
'Peat is not just a raw ingredient for whisky. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
'It is also used as a household fuel by islanders. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
'Norrie Campbell is Islay's only professional peat cutter. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
'He's been plying his trade since he was 12 years of age.' | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
Can you just explain exactly what peat is? | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
It is a mixture of sphagnum moss, heather, | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
white grass roots, | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
bog myrtle and cotton. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:30 | |
It doesn't actually grow because it is decayed. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
It just multiplies up and up and up. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:37 | |
How old do you think that peat is that you have in your hand? | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
2,500 years. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:41 | |
-How do you know that? -Six inches represents 1,000 years. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:46 | |
When the turf comes off, that's 1,000 years. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
When the actual peat is cut, you are in to 2,000 years. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
If the peat was going to be longer, maybe another 1,000 years on to it. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:58 | |
You have been cutting peat for many years. Do you find it a lonely job? | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
A wee bit, at times. There is no doubt about it. No need to deny it. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:08 | |
If I come on to a tough bit, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:12 | |
I might just throw the spade down and walk away. | 0:16:12 | 0:16:15 | |
But I will come back tomorrow and I will start afresh again. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
It is like a jigsaw puzzle. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
When you put it away for a wee while and come back, | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
everything is forgotten about and you are fresh. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
-Have you ever considered leaving? -No. I did. I went to London once. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:35 | |
It was as busy in London at 5.30am as Glasgow was at dinner time. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:41 | |
I headed back as quick as I could. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
'Given conservation concerns about peatlands, | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
'it's unclear just how long this work will remain part of island life.' | 0:16:48 | 0:16:52 | |
Islay is a relatively small island. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
It is just 21 miles north to south, and about the same east to west. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
Despite its small size, it is home to something very unique. This is it. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:07 | |
The world's first commercial wave power station. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
'The energy from the Atlantic Ocean is the key to this ground-breaking project. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:23 | |
'It's already feeding electricity through to the National Grid.' | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
We've created an artificial borehole. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
We have built a cave into the sea. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
The swell comes in from the ocean, creates a head of water outside. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
The water inside wants to rise to meet that, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
which creates an air piston, effectively, | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
so the air above it is compressed and forced out through our turbine. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
-So the turbine spins as the air goes through it? -Exactly. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
The same happens in reverse, when the swell recedes. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
-The swell outside moves away. -It sucks the air back through it? | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
-How much electricity would this create? -The installed capacity of the device is 500 kilowatts. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:58 | |
That is enough to supply about 300 houses. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
We hope that this will move on and we will be able to construct | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
lots of these and put them around the coastline. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
The wave energy that hits UK shores | 0:18:07 | 0:18:09 | |
could supply the needs of the UK five times over. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
'The Archibald family have been growing oysters for over ten years | 0:18:14 | 0:18:18 | |
'on the shores of Loch Gruinart, which is fed by the Atlantic Ocean. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
'The water here is clean and mild in temperature | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
'because of the influence of the Gulf Stream, | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
'making it an ideal location for this kind of farming.' | 0:18:26 | 0:18:31 | |
-What we do is we grow oysters on. -Right. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
We buy them in at about ten grams at six months of age, | 0:18:33 | 0:18:39 | |
we put them into mesh bags. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
The tide comes in and the tide feeds them. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
They live on the plankton in the water and they grow. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | |
Within a year, they are mostly grown. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
Within two years, the first ones are ready for sale. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
We sell them mainly to hotels and round to wholesalers. | 0:18:54 | 0:19:01 | |
-Is it quite labour-intensive? -It's quite labour-intensive. It is all manual work. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:06 | |
We have to turn them maybe twice in their lives and grade them maybe four times in their life. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
When you say grading, what's grading? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
Taking out the big ones and the wee ones, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
separating them so they grow more evenly. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
If you leave them together, they will grow together. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
-Like that? -Like that. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
Or the smaller ones don't get the right amount of food and they don't grow. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
-Is that oyster there ready-to-eat? -Yes. There is an oyster in here. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
-I will open it for you. -Are they quite tough to open? | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
They are very tough to open. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
There we go. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
How old is this one? | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
This will be 18 months old. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
-Perfect. A vintage oyster. -A vintage oyster. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:53 | |
-So, can I eat that one? -There you go. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
Right. Mm. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
Mm. That's delicious. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:08 | |
Very salty. Surprising, that! | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
-Great, thank you. -Thank you. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
'Islay's beauty and natural resources are not only key to making | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
'the island a viable place to live and work, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
'but they are also the very thing that make visitors like me | 0:20:24 | 0:20:28 | |
'want to come back time and time again.' | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
'On my island journey I'm travelling around the banks of Loch Indaal | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
'to Bowmore, the island's capital, | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
'with a population of about 1,000 people.' | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
Bowmore is a town normally associated with whisky, | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
but I am not heading for the famous distillery, not this time anyway. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
I'm actually going to the Gaelic College, | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
where another local export has started winning awards and set tongues wagging. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:10 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:21:13 | 0:21:17 | |
'Galic choirs have always been an integral part of life in Islay. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
'At one time, every town on the island would have had its own. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
'By the 1990s, this tradition and the Gaelic language itself | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
'were in serious decline, and just one choir hung on. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
'Today, there has been a miraculous change in fortunes, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
'with Gaelic speakers now making up 60% of the island's population. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:02 | |
'Boosting that revival is a new Islay-wide choir, | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
'led by conductor Iseabail Mactaggart, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
'which boasts over 30 members | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
'and has already won three national awards.' | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
Iseabail, that sounded absolutely fantastic in there. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:31 | |
Has there be a problem keeping Gaelic going on the island? | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
I think, like a lot of places in Scotland, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
Gaelic has gradually declined over the years, and the numbers bear that out. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
I think in Islay there has been a wee bit of stabilisation, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:45 | |
you know, more and more people are interested in it. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
Both locals and people who have come to the island | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
and visitors to the island are interested in culture and tradition. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:56 | |
I think that yeah, you can see I think there has been a wee bit of a rekindling of interest in it. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:03 | |
What do you put the rejuvenation of Gaelic on the island down to? | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
Bilingualism itself is a fantastic asset. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:09 | |
It doesn't matter what language you're bilingual in. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
People are putting more children into bilingual education. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
That is a good thing. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:17 | |
I think both people who are locals and people who have moved to the island | 0:23:17 | 0:23:22 | |
realise this is part of the island they have moved to. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
This is part of the heritage and let's own it and let's know about it | 0:23:26 | 0:23:31 | |
and let's, you know, be proud of it. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
When I came in, you were singing a moving song. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
To the untrained ear it sounded like you were talking about fish. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:40 | |
What where the words and what do they mean? | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
Take this information. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
Fios is information. Take this information to the poet. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
The poet be the person to tell the world. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
He is exhorting people, take this information to the Bard. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
THEY SPEAK GAELIC | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
Well done. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
Crikey, quite a mouthful. They do it with real confidence, even the non-Gaelic speakers. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
Yes, they do really, really well. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
There is a lot of feeling coming out in your singing. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
That is obviously very important to you? | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
Yes. Some of the songs, | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
one of the things we do do and we have been trying to do | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
is to take Islay songs that were perhaps not very well-known, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:53 | |
not sung, or not sung in a choral setting, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
and try to take them. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:57 | |
We have done that in two or three songs. We love that. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:02 | |
I know it sounds brilliant, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
but you have also have others tell you the same thing. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
-You have won awards? -Yes, yes. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
Our mixed choir has won both the kind of big mixed competition | 0:25:10 | 0:25:15 | |
and the Puirt-a-beul, this vast dance music. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
We won that last year. Our ladies have won. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
Our men have yet to win but one day we will. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
We have a great group of select and very committed men. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
-For the next challenge, maybe getting the men to win something? -Yes. That would be lovely. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:35 | |
Just to really keep the consistency and go for it. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
Part of it, as well, is taking, I would love to take more Islay songs | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
and to get them better-known and out there and having | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
the choir sing them with real pride and passion, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
having other people hear them. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
'When Valentine Warner visited neighbouring Jura, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
'the sound of silence was the order of the day as he hunted the island's famous red deer | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
'to take home for his larder.' | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
For me, one of the greatest autumn treats is venison. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
I've come to Jura in the Western Isles of Scotland to get some of the best. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
'Venison, the dark red, succulent meat we get from deer, | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
'is a delicious alternative to beef. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
'It has all the flavour but a 10th of the fat, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
'and these days you can get it in many butchers and supermarkets.' | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
That's an exciting piece of meat. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:45 | |
'There are six types of wild deer in Britain. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
'My favourite are red deer and autumn's the best time to eat them | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
'because they are at their physical peak after a summer of grazing. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
'Scotland is home to the largest number of red deer in the UK.' | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
-Morning, Andrew. -Morning, Val. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
'Jura, an island where people are outnumbered by deer 30-1, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:09 | |
'is a spectacular place to hunt them. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
I'm heading up the glen with Ewan McInnes, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
'who has been working on the estate for 19 years | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
'and knows the 20,000 acres like the back of his hand.' | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
OK, Val. That's us. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
-Get ourselves a rifle. -Great. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
You just go up there and have a lovely day. The best of luck. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:30 | |
'Scotland's stag hunting, or stalking season, runs from July to October.' | 0:27:31 | 0:27:36 | |
-Best of luck. -Thanks. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
If we just do single file. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
'In autumn, stags are feeding on the high ground. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
'To have a chance of shooting one up here, | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
'we are going to have to keep a very low profile, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
'out of sight, smell and sound of these wary animals. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
'It's hard to stay silent in the face of these spectacular views.' | 0:27:52 | 0:27:57 | |
Wow! | 0:27:57 | 0:27:58 | |
-It's amazing, isn't it? -Extraordinary view. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
What a place! | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
'Finally, after two hours of hard climbing, | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
'we catch sight of some antlers.' | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
We've found a young stag grazing on the other side | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
and he's totally oblivious of our whereabouts. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
We're going to stalk this deer, go back around and try and take him from higher ground. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:27 | |
(There he is.) | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
'Closing in on our prey, Ewan and I circle round to get the stag in range of our rifle.' | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
(This one. He's just here.) | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
'I get the stag in my sight, but something's not right.' | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
(I'm very uncomfortable. I didn't want to take it.) | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
The last stag we actually got right up to it | 0:29:04 | 0:29:07 | |
and had it in the sights of the rifle. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:09 | |
But it was kind of alert to the fact we were there. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
I was very uncomfortable and it started moving | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
and as I was going to pull the trigger. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
That's a shot you should never take, possibly resulting in an injury, so I left that one. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:20 | |
'After another two hours, we spot more stags on the hillside ahead. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:27 | |
'A huge stag steps towards us. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:37 | |
'But something spooks him and he vanishes. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
(We were playing such a quiet game that they pretty much walked on top of us.) | 0:29:45 | 0:29:50 | |
We can try and crawl onto the edge, here. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
'Six hours after we started hunting, we crawl to the crest of the hill | 0:29:56 | 0:30:00 | |
'and there before us is the perfect stag for the larder.' | 0:30:00 | 0:30:04 | |
(Oh my God, I can see it.) | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
(He's looking at us now.) | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
Do you see the one? The one on the right? | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
'Finally, I have got the chance of a clear shot.' | 0:30:15 | 0:30:19 | |
-GUNSHOT -Good shot. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
It's a clean kill. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
Well done! Well done! | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
OK, we've done it. It's like a... HE EXHALES | 0:30:29 | 0:30:33 | |
Our deer has fallen on the other side of the hill, our stag. | 0:30:33 | 0:30:38 | |
Well done. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
I'm very pleased in the knowledge | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
that the bullet could not have gone in at a better place. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
This animal died incredibly quickly. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
You've got to make the effort to kill animals as cleanly as possible. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:57 | |
That's what we've done today. It's a good job. | 0:30:57 | 0:30:59 | |
You are going to feel in there and find the spleen... | 0:30:59 | 0:31:01 | |
'We gut the stag on the mountainside | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
'before Andrew comes to collect us and our quarry.' | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
Valentine Warner there, venturing into Jura's animal kingdom. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:13 | |
I have travelled north on my journey across Islay | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
to the banks of Loch Finlaggan, | 0:31:16 | 0:31:18 | |
heading to two tiny island which sit within the loch itself. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:22 | |
At first glance it may appear insignificant and forgotten, | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
but Finlaggan and its islands | 0:31:27 | 0:31:29 | |
once played host to some majestic visitors. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:33 | |
Despite its small stature and remote location, for over a century, | 0:31:33 | 0:31:37 | |
it was a power base as important as the Scottish throne. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:40 | |
Finlaggan was home to the Lords of the Isles, | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
the chiefs of clans covering the Hebrides | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
and much of the west coast of Scotland, who, in the 12th century, | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
combined their power to create a force independent of royal control. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:58 | |
It was these tiny islands within Loch Finlaggen that were the seat of that power. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:04 | |
The chiefs would sail to Islay by longboat | 0:32:04 | 0:32:06 | |
then they'd cross the loch from that boulder over there to a stone jetty on this side. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:12 | |
There are about 20 or so buildings on this island for the Lords | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
to stay in, but they travelled across to the smaller Council Isle, | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
where they would sign charters and settle disputes. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:23 | |
All the while they would be watched from the shore by a crowd of locals | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
who would gather, a bit like people do today | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
in the House of Commons, to see the great and the good | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
in the flesh and more importantly, to witness justice being done. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:36 | |
'The undisputed leader of these Lords was the head of the Clan MacDonald. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
'The MacDonalds descended from a 12th Century Prince called Somerled, | 0:32:44 | 0:32:48 | |
'who returned to Islay and drove the Viking invaders out. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:52 | |
'This bravery and show of force secured not only Islay | 0:32:52 | 0:32:56 | |
'but the hereditary right to preside over the Lords of the Isles.' | 0:32:56 | 0:33:00 | |
It's in this chapel that the title Lord of the Isles | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
will be passed down from generation to generation. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
Priests, bishops, clan leaders, would all gather in this tiny space. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
The new McDonald leader will be dressed in white to symbolise | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
integrity of heart and the light with which he will guide his people. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:22 | |
In the climax to the ceremony, | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
the newly-installed leader stood in a footmark | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
on the reverse of this very stone, | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
quite literally following in the footsteps of his predecessors. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:34 | |
'Four lords held this title, and under them, | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
'peace and order ruled for over 100 years. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
'When the 4th Lord of the Isles decided to go into battle | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
'with the Scottish crown, he was defeated and banished. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:51 | |
'It spelled the end of an era.' | 0:33:51 | 0:33:54 | |
The power of the Lord of the Isles may be long gone | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
but the name still lives on. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:02 | |
It passed into royal ownership and today the title | 0:34:02 | 0:34:05 | |
made great here is held by none other than the Prince of Wales. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:10 | |
Fascinating stories, but the island also boasts | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
a remarkable natural history, | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
as Bill Oddie discovered on a wild goose chase. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
Right, then. I came here for wild geese | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
and today is the day that I am going to find them. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
Barney's barnacle geese. GWFs, Greenland white-fronts | 0:34:34 | 0:34:38 | |
44,000 geese. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
Should be able to find a couple of them, I think. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
In fact, I have seen quite a few geese already. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:52 | |
And I do keep hearing them, too. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
And yet... | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
They talk about wild goose chase and I know why | 0:34:57 | 0:35:01 | |
because I've been chasing wild geese for 40-odd years. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
And when you come to somewhere like this | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
and only got a couple of days, you have to promise yourself | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
that you're going to go away with some magic moments. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
To be sure of that, | 0:35:12 | 0:35:13 | |
it's a good idea to get a little bit of local knowledge. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:17 | |
Right. This is the... | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
-All this is RSPB? -That's right. This whole area. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:36 | |
'Actually, Dylan isn't really a local but he's been here so often | 0:35:36 | 0:35:40 | |
'he's become an honorary local.' | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
Right... Super close-up time. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:48 | |
What's the percentage of the world population of these birds? | 0:35:55 | 0:36:00 | |
I can never get my head round figures. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
It's around 20% of the world population overwinter on Islay. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
-On Islay? -Yeah, a significant proportion. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:11 | |
-Males and females absolutely identical? -That's right. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
-I certainly can't tell them apart! -Presumably they can! | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
DYLAN LAUGHS | 0:36:18 | 0:36:19 | |
Feed, feed, feed. They have delicate little beaks | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
daintily plucking the juicy tops of the short grass. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:28 | |
And just now and again they have little bath break | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
to keep the feathers in good nick. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:33 | |
Having a good time, too. Must be cold. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:36 | |
'And the Greenland white-fronts - they feed in the longer grass | 0:36:38 | 0:36:42 | |
'and they tend to dig up the roots or pull them up. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:46 | |
'They've got bigger beaks to do that.' | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
It's a bit disappointing to those who've heard of white-fronted geese. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
They expect it to be the whole front of the bird and it isn't. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
It's just the forehead that's the white-front. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
It should be white-foreheaded geese. How about that? | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
It makes more sense than barnacle goose, doesn't it? | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
Ah! Now, what is the story of that? | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
It's related to going back to olden days when people believed | 0:37:07 | 0:37:12 | |
that barnacle geese actually came out of the barnacles in winter. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:18 | |
Now, how they came to that conclusion... | 0:37:18 | 0:37:21 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:37:21 | 0:37:23 | |
There are a couple of North American species around | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
on Islay at the moment. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
A genuine Canada goose from Canada, and a snow goose as well. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:35 | |
The Canada goose has been seen around this area, | 0:37:35 | 0:37:38 | |
but the snow goose is on the other side of the island. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:40 | |
-What's the Canada with? -It has been hanging around with barnacle geese. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:45 | |
OK, well, let's have a scan through the barnacles. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:47 | |
If we go through them methodically. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:50 | |
Barnacle, barnacle, barnacle... | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
Hang on. Wait a minute. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:55 | |
At the end - on the right hand end of the flock, that's it. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
-There's the Canada. -You've got it? | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
Yeah. On the right hand there. Coming right out to the right hand end. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
It keeps hiding behind tufts of grass. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
-He's the right end bird. -Oh, yeah, got you. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:10 | |
This one looks very similar to the sort of Canada geese | 0:38:10 | 0:38:15 | |
that I get on my local reservoir down in London, | 0:38:15 | 0:38:20 | |
but it's not tame, | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
it's with wild barnacles | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
and so, as sure as you even can be, a real Canada goose from Canada... | 0:38:24 | 0:38:30 | |
flying the Canadian flag. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
'OK, and now let's see if we can find the snow goose. Now, snow goose... | 0:38:35 | 0:38:41 | |
'I wonder if that might be just a little bit easier to spot?' | 0:38:41 | 0:38:44 | |
'This bird probably bred in either eastern Canada | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
'or maybe in Greenland, there's just a few apparently nesting there now, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
'but it thinks that it's a Greenland white-front because every year | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
'for the last few years it's come back to Islay to the same field!' | 0:38:57 | 0:39:01 | |
There are 40,000-odd geese on Islay. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
I haven't seen that number. In fact, they are scattered around. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:19 | |
You don't see huge flocks. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
If you want, though, the really, truly unforgettable spectacle | 0:39:23 | 0:39:28 | |
that Peter Scott experienced, you've got to go to a roost. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:34 | |
So, are they punctual, these geese? | 0:39:35 | 0:39:39 | |
Ha, I think they'll probably come in about 10.30pm, | 0:39:39 | 0:39:43 | |
just after we go to bed. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
Come on! | 0:39:45 | 0:39:46 | |
Now... | 0:39:49 | 0:39:51 | |
I would never have expected to come out at the edge of a salt marsh through there. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
-That is great. -Suddenly out in the open. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
So...which direction do they come? | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
They could come in from both ends of the bay. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
From this side and also from over there, beyond the woods, | 0:40:05 | 0:40:09 | |
because the reserve is on the other side of that area. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
We should hear them before we see them, hopefully. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
You can't help but go quiet, can you? | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
It wouldn't make any difference | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
but it's like a sort of act of worship or something. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:28 | |
Just wait. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:31 | |
(Come on.) | 0:40:40 | 0:40:42 | |
30 seconds. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
Try and count down. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
DISTANT QUACKING | 0:40:52 | 0:40:53 | |
-You can hear them. -Yeah. -Hear? -Yeah, I can hear something. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
Here they come! | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
QUACKING INCREASES IN VOLUME | 0:41:02 | 0:41:04 | |
(Oh, yes.) | 0:41:04 | 0:41:05 | |
QUACKING CONTINUES | 0:41:18 | 0:41:20 | |
They're going to do their whiffling drop. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:24 | |
-Oh, it's great, isn't it? -From the sky. -Yeah. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
It's another of those things. I don't even think we know why they do it. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
It just looks like they enjoy it, don't they? Watch this, here I come! | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
-Woo! -That's right. Yeah. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
Let the wind... | 0:41:38 | 0:41:39 | |
It's their one chance to do something a bit exciting in a day | 0:41:39 | 0:41:42 | |
when they spend 90% of their time eating grass. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:48 | |
CACOPHONY OF QUACKING | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
QUACKING CONTINUES | 0:42:12 | 0:42:14 | |
That really is truly breathtaking. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:30 | |
I think it's something that, once in a lifetime, | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
everyone should experience. You don't have to be a birdwatcher. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:37 | |
It's magic. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:40 | |
But it isn't only the bird life that's lured back to Islay | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
time and time again. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:47 | |
The island also has a powerful draw for the people who live here. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:52 | |
People who have a special relationship with the landscape | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
and can't quite seem to resist the pull of its timeless charms. | 0:42:55 | 0:43:00 | |
I've come to the hills above Port Askaig to meet an artist | 0:43:03 | 0:43:07 | |
who's worked all over the world but who's been lured back to Islay, | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 | |
drawing inspiration from the legends and landscapes that, for her, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:14 | |
make this little rock in the Atlantic Ocean such a special place. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:19 | |
Hey, Heather. How are you? | 0:43:21 | 0:43:23 | |
-Very well, thank you. Good. -Nice to see you. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:27 | |
You've got quite a history here. I know you've lived away but what is your history here on Islay? | 0:43:27 | 0:43:32 | |
Well, I was born over there in that house | 0:43:32 | 0:43:36 | |
and I was brought up with Gaelic as my first language. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:40 | |
Really? | 0:43:40 | 0:43:41 | |
And I think that things like the old folk tales and things, | 0:43:41 | 0:43:44 | |
they were part of the oral tradition, which is what Gaelic really was. | 0:43:44 | 0:43:49 | |
An oral tradition. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:50 | |
Very little of it was written down in comparison to English. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:55 | |
And so the folk tales, I found them fascinating. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
And this folklore, these sites, they still excite you | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
-and drive you on as an artist? -Yes. Yeah. | 0:44:01 | 0:44:04 | |
Is there any sense of how far back some of these tales go? | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
There was a well-known guy on Islay called John Francis Campbell | 0:44:14 | 0:44:19 | |
who collected a huge volume of old folk tales. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
He discovered there were direct parallels with some of the Viking - the Norse - stories, | 0:44:22 | 0:44:28 | |
the Russian stories, | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
all these ones that went across Northern Europe. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:33 | |
And some of those are incredibly early so, yeah, | 0:44:33 | 0:44:36 | |
there is a big link but I'm not sure how the link has been formed. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:41 | |
But it suggests some movement of people, stories, communications. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:47 | |
-This interweaving of different cultures. -Yes. There's that | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
but also, I'm wondering whether it's also to do with archetypes, | 0:44:50 | 0:44:53 | |
so you end up with similar types of stories. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
-There are only so many good stories? -Well, yes. And so many good morals. | 0:44:56 | 0:45:01 | |
While we're here, it's obviously close to home | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
but what significance does this site have? | 0:45:06 | 0:45:08 | |
Things like the giantess that lived on Jura. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
Over there, on the Paps over there, | 0:45:13 | 0:45:16 | |
the left-hand pap has got a sort of "Y" scraped out. | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
And this giantess, on one of her many exploits, | 0:45:20 | 0:45:25 | |
was chasing some young man and tripped and fell | 0:45:25 | 0:45:29 | |
and that's the mark she made. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:31 | |
The water horse, which is another of these tales, I did a series on that. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:43 | |
I'm not familiar with that. What's the story there? | 0:45:43 | 0:45:46 | |
The story is, at a lot of lochs in Scotland, there's reputed to be | 0:45:46 | 0:45:50 | |
a water horse that lives in them | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
and he was an agent of the devil and he lured travellers into the loch, | 0:45:52 | 0:45:57 | |
drowned them, devil got the soul and he got the body. | 0:45:57 | 0:46:02 | |
But those were the kind of stories I really enjoyed. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:06 | |
And, as an artist, do you think, on this island, | 0:46:07 | 0:46:09 | |
you could ever run out of those sites? | 0:46:09 | 0:46:12 | |
Never. Because it's endless. It is, really. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
And it's not just former residents like Heather that are attracted | 0:46:18 | 0:46:22 | |
to Islay as I'll be discovering on the final stop of my island journey. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:26 | |
I'm about to meet a chef who's been drawn here from half way across | 0:46:26 | 0:46:30 | |
the world and now he's seeking out the local produce that inspires him. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:34 | |
But first, if you're heading out in the next seven days, | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
you'll need the Country Tracks weather for the week ahead. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:41 | |
. | 0:48:50 | 0:48:57 | |
I'm in the Inner Hebrides on a journey across Islay. I started | 0:49:04 | 0:49:09 | |
at Kilchiaran discovering the stories | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
of the shipwrecks on this busy coast. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
Moving east to Bowmore, I learned how the island's Gaelic choir | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
is winning awards and helping bring a declining language back to life. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
Then I headed north, to Finlaggan, | 0:49:23 | 0:49:25 | |
once the heart of power in western Scotland, | 0:49:25 | 0:49:29 | |
before travelling to the hills above Port Askaig to meet | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
an artist immersed in the landscape and legends of this magical isle. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:36 | |
Now I'm heading down to the port itself to meet a chef | 0:49:37 | 0:49:40 | |
from halfway around the world, drawing his inspiration from Islay's local produce. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:46 | |
-Hi, Ranga, I'm Joe. -Hi, Joe. Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you. | 0:49:53 | 0:49:57 | |
I know you're a chef, so I expected to find you slaving over a hot stove. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
What are we doing down here at the quayside? | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
I came in to see any of my boys, getting our catch of the day. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
Hopefully it's going to be the langoustines | 0:50:06 | 0:50:09 | |
and we'll wait for the good stuff to come and we'll get them. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
I'm curious. What are the challenges being a chef in a place like Islay? | 0:50:15 | 0:50:20 | |
It's quite seasonal and I use the seasonal ingredients. | 0:50:21 | 0:50:25 | |
And nothing gets better than what we get from here. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:28 | |
-Yeah. -It's all fresh from the sea, from the land and everything. From the farm. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:32 | |
When you say seasonal, you're reliant on what can be sourced and found locally, are you? | 0:50:32 | 0:50:37 | |
Yes, of course. Our langoustines, lobsters, oysters, vegetables, meat. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:42 | |
Everything. We source everything from locally, most of the time, | 0:50:42 | 0:50:46 | |
when it is available. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:47 | |
So there's a lot of cattle and sheep on the island. | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
Of course, fresh meat, as well. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:52 | |
Straight from the farmer, it goes to the butcher, then gets sold to me. | 0:50:52 | 0:50:56 | |
There is no middle man to deal with. | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
I suppose you have the best of both worlds. Regular ferries with stuff you can't get on the island | 0:50:58 | 0:51:03 | |
but you also get the fresh local produce. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:06 | |
Yes, that's the advantage here in Islay. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
We get the freshest produce from here | 0:51:08 | 0:51:11 | |
and top it up with produce from the mainland. | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
Trained in Madras, Ranga worked at a chef at some | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
of Southern India's most exclusive resorts before he decided to swap | 0:51:19 | 0:51:23 | |
it all for a life a continent away, on this secluded Scottish island. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:28 | |
I know you were a chef in India and you wanted to come to the UK, | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
but you could have gone anywhere at all. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:35 | |
Why did you end up here? | 0:51:35 | 0:51:36 | |
I just applied on my website in India, I got the job offer | 0:51:36 | 0:51:40 | |
from here, and I took it and came here. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
It was quite different for me at first. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:45 | |
I didn't realise it would be so remote. | 0:51:45 | 0:51:48 | |
-But it's a great place to work, a great community. -I find that funny | 0:51:48 | 0:51:51 | |
because you could have gone anywhere. You come here | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
and you didn't real realise how remote it was going to be. | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
Yes, yes. Of course. That's true. It's so remote. | 0:51:57 | 0:52:01 | |
-I came at the height of winter, and I thought about going back. -Did you?! | 0:52:01 | 0:52:06 | |
But I made a brave decision and stayed on and I'm here now. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:09 | |
So what were your first impressions, coming over? | 0:52:09 | 0:52:12 | |
-The wind and rain coming at you? -Yes. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
It was a typical winter's day, blowing at gale force | 0:52:15 | 0:52:20 | |
and landing up here, I wondered if I had landed or it was a plane crash, or what. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:24 | |
But it's a good place to live and a good place to work. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:30 | |
A few moments ago, I noticed a boat go behind us. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:32 | |
Is that your guys but shall we go and take a look at what's come in? | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
Aye. It shall be our guys. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:37 | |
We can go and check out what they have got in the boat. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:41 | |
It might be the catch of the day, and should be langoustines, hopefully. | 0:52:41 | 0:52:45 | |
-Let's go across. -Let's see. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:46 | |
-Are these your guys? -Yes. They are my guys. | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
Hi, guys. I think we're looking for some langoustine. | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
-Have you been out this morning? What have you got? -Yeah, we have. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
We've got some here for you. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:05 | |
-Wow. -How's that, Ranga? -That's nice, aye. -So, how long are they? | 0:53:08 | 0:53:14 | |
About nine or ten inches long, are they? | 0:53:15 | 0:53:18 | |
-I could take one out to show you if you like. -Yeah, let's have a look. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
-Check the quality, eh? -Sure. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:23 | |
Brilliant. Make sure I don't drop him. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:27 | |
This is bigger than those in a supermarket. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
-Is this a specimen langoustine? -Aye, that's quite a good one. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:36 | |
But you will see quite a lot of bigger ones than you'll see in the supermarket. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:40 | |
Ones in the supermarket are very small. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:42 | |
Why is that? Do many of them go abroad? | 0:53:42 | 0:53:45 | |
-Yeah. Most of the bigger ones go abroad. -Why? | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
-Because of more demand? -There's just more demand. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
I think more people eat shellfish out there | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
than they do in Britain, which is a shame. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:57 | |
It would be better if more of our catch was kept at home rather than sent abroad, but that's just... | 0:53:57 | 0:54:02 | |
Everyone's got the idea of the Spanish seafood platter you get | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
but it'll be up to 80% Scottish produce that will be on it. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
-Really? -Yeah. Definitely. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
-And just how much of your stuff does go abroad? -Probably about 80%, yeah. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:17 | |
Really? That much? | 0:54:17 | 0:54:19 | |
Yeah, and then maybe 20% will be kept on the island. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:24 | |
Definitely, there's none of my catch will go anywhere else in Scotland. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:29 | |
Only on Isla or away to Spain. | 0:54:29 | 0:54:32 | |
A lovely day for it. | 0:54:32 | 0:54:33 | |
Do you have to go out far today or can you stay in a bit closer? | 0:54:33 | 0:54:37 | |
Och, we're working just south of Jura just now, | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
so it's maybe seven or eight miles away from here. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:44 | |
-Wow, it doesn't get much more local than that, then, does it? -No. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:48 | |
Not at all, that's it. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:49 | |
People always seem to be talking about food miles and where food is sourced from. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:03 | |
This couldn't be any more fresh and local, could it? | 0:55:03 | 0:55:06 | |
Better where possible that it's nearer to us. That's the best one. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:10 | |
-Even the sourcing is helping us a great deal in the quality of the food. -Yeah. | 0:55:10 | 0:55:14 | |
It's wonderful fresh produce, you know exactly where it's come from | 0:55:14 | 0:55:18 | |
and who's pulled it out of the sea. This must be one of the advantages of being an island chef. | 0:55:18 | 0:55:24 | |
Yes. It's some of the best produce and when you get that delivered | 0:55:24 | 0:55:29 | |
-to your door, you are happier cooking them. -Yeah. | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
-It's very nice. -So you wouldn't swap for some fancy London restaurant? | 0:55:31 | 0:55:36 | |
-You're happy enough here, knowing where you get this food from? -No. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:41 | |
No, I'm happy. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:42 | |
As a chef, wherever you work, you look for fresh produce | 0:55:42 | 0:55:46 | |
and that's what I'm getting here. | 0:55:46 | 0:55:48 | |
There is no chance of swapping and I'm happy with what I'm getting here. | 0:55:48 | 0:55:52 | |
-I'm more than happy. -Perfect. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:54 | |
Ranga, I'm hoping that if I hand that back to the guys, and those langoustine make it up to the hotel | 0:55:54 | 0:55:59 | |
-maybe I can have a taste, see what you're on about? -Surely, you can taste the best. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:04 | |
-Very good. Thanks, guys. -See you later. -See you. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:08 | |
Travelling around this small Scottish island | 0:56:22 | 0:56:25 | |
has been an unforgettable experience. | 0:56:25 | 0:56:27 | |
I've discovered a landscape both beautiful and breathtaking. | 0:56:27 | 0:56:32 | |
But for me it's the human stories, both old and new, | 0:56:32 | 0:56:36 | |
that make Islay a truly unique place. | 0:56:36 | 0:56:40 | |
And what a way to finish my journey - fresh langoustine, | 0:56:42 | 0:56:46 | |
eaten by the water's edge. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:48 | |
I really am being a bit spoilt. | 0:56:48 | 0:56:50 | |
Mmm. | 0:56:57 | 0:56:59 | |
Absolutely delicious. | 0:56:59 | 0:57:01 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 |