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Springtime, when the days lengthen and signs of change are everywhere. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:10 | |
There's not a corner of the British Isles that doesn't | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
warm to the arrival of spring. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
It's our most extraordinary season for one big reason. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
It's a time of astonishing growth and regeneration. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:26 | |
From pond life to birdlife, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
from the scent of fresh blossom, to our smallest mammals | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
reawakening after months of hibernation. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
We'll be bringing you the most remarkable stories of this | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
wonderful time of year. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
Tales of survival, endurance and occasional indulgence. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:47 | |
Join us for this special week of programmes, as we celebrate | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
the secrets of spring, here on Countryfile Diaries. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
The south coast of Britain is where spring first reveals itself. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
So, where better to base ourselves than here, in the New Forest, | 0:01:16 | 0:01:21 | |
in Hampshire? | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
At 220 square miles, it's our smallest National Park, | 0:01:25 | 0:01:30 | |
and with its ancient trees, lush heathland and abundant wildlife, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
it's the perfect place to show off the secrets of springtime. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
And I'll be joined by the Countryfile Diaries team, who have | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
been scouring the British Isles, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
searching for signs that spring has sprung. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
Margherita taps in to an up-and-coming spring trend. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
-Wow! -Crikey! | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
Oh, my goodness. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
Jules tracks down the world's smallest | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
and most unusual police force. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
And if you are one of the 60,000 or more people | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
who move to the country every year, well, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
Paul will be picking up the ultimate tips for running a smallholding. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:18 | |
Ease the bottle gently into his mouth. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
-Aw. They take to it really well, don't they? -Yeah. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
But first, I think it's true to say | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
that we all feel that little bit better | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
when spring comes around, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
and our resident weather expert, Keeley Donovan, | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
has been up at the crack of dawn to find out | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
whether springtime really does lift our spirits. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
I'm here at Martin Down, on the edge of the New Forest. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
Now, it might only be 5am, but we're at the top of the hill, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
the sun's starting to come through the clouds, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
and I'm waiting for a spring pick-me-up. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
Natural England have been researching | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
the link between our mental health and the sound of birdsong. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
One in ten of us will be affected by depression | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
at some point in our lives. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Spring is the perfect time to get out and about, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
but can birdsong really have any psychological benefits? | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
Now, I've never actually been to hear the dawn chorus before, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
so it's the perfect way to test its effect on me. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
I've agreed to be hooked up to this, which is a stress monitor, | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
and it's going to test my anxiety levels. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
So, let's put it to the test. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
And here to help me find the best spot to take it all in | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
is veterinary bird watcher Paul Toynton. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
And we'll be joined by members of a local wellbeing group | 0:03:45 | 0:03:50 | |
who've struggled with mental illness in the past. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
From the melodic whistle of the robin, | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
to the chirp of the blackbird, | 0:03:56 | 0:03:58 | |
can there be any benefit from listening to birdsong? | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
-SHE MIMICS BIRD CHIRPING -That's a song thrush, yeah. -Oh, OK. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:11 | |
Depression and anxiety can be utterly debilitating for those | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
who suffer from it, so I'm curious to find out whether these guys | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
feel this morning's experience improved their mood in any way. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
Could this work as a natural therapy? | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
It's a calming effect. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:32 | |
It sort of makes you really appreciate the world around you. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
What about you, Jess? | 0:04:36 | 0:04:37 | |
Because it's quite overwhelming in a way, | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
it takes me away from other things that might be going on in my mind. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
Yeah, I think it's part of the modern disease where people | 0:04:44 | 0:04:49 | |
just don't switch off, so you just listen for the birdsong | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
and everything else sort of goes out the window. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
The evidence may seem anecdotal, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:00 | |
but the use of birdsong is proving successful in a commercial setting. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:05 | |
Amsterdam airport plays it on loudspeakers, with 95% | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
of commuters saying it makes them feel more calm and relaxed. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
It's even used over here in petrol station toilets, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
where customer satisfaction rose by 50%. That's all very well, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:21 | |
but can the effect of birdsong on mood | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
be measured in a more tangible way by my stress monitor? | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
-Hi, there, Jess. -Hi, Keeley. -Hello. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
'Jess Hall from Cardiff University is downloading my results. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:34 | |
'This device has been measuring how stressed or relaxed | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
'I've been over the last couple of days.' | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
Let's have a little look at the results. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
OK, so yesterday, we put you through some stressful experiences. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
And these are kind of typical everyday stresses that everybody | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
-deals with as well. -Here... -Right. I was very stressed. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
Do you have any idea what that might be? | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
That was the boss ringing, wasn't it? | 0:05:53 | 0:05:54 | |
It was your boss ringing, yes, so you can see that you steadily | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
get more stressed throughout that phone call. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
So, how does this compare with how I was feeling this morning | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
when I was listening to the dawn chorus? | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
So, this morning, we can see quite a different shape. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
Really different shape, yeah. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
So you see that it's a really, really low level, | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
so, by comparison, when you're listening to the birds, | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
you are five times less stressed | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
-than you are when you're talking to your boss. -OK. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
From this, we can see that the birdsong had a very calming | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
effect on you. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
So not only does it sound beautiful, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
but these results prove that it's made me feel less stressed. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
Perhaps we all need a little bit of birdsong in our lives. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
And birdsong is a sure sign that spring is underway. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
The lengthening days also bring a surge of life back | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
to our flora as well, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:45 | |
and one in particular could hold the key to treating a devastating | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
disease, as James Wong discovered when he visited the Brecon Beacons. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
What do you think of when you think of Wales? It might be dragons. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:59 | |
It could be male voice choirs. Nice! | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
It might be rugby, which I was always a little bit rubbish at | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
and, of course, there's always the sheep, but to me, as a confirmed | 0:07:06 | 0:07:12 | |
plant geek, the one thing I think of is the humble daffodil. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
But there is more to this Welsh icon than meets the eye. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
Or in this case, the mind. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:24 | |
The daffodil produces many chemicals, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
one of which is galantamine. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
The drug originally found in wild snowdrops combats | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
Alzheimer's, the most common cause of dementia. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
But it's expensive and difficult to make. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
The Stephens family farmed predominately sheep | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
until 2004, when they decided to try growing | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
daffs as an alternative source of the drug. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
My son decided he wanted to be a farmer when he grew up, | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
and hill farming is not a really commercial, | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
viable alternative going forward, so I was | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
looking for diversification opportunities for a Welsh hill farm. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
We're off the beaten track, there's no passing trade, a farm shop | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
wouldn't work, we needed a crop that had an industrial application. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:16 | |
And presumably the conditions up here | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
mean the things you can grow are quite limited. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
It's full of stones, high altitude, so it's cold - | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
-not the easiest place to plough and cultivate. -You're absolutely right. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:27 | |
Some of the daffodil-growing experts I've spoken to consider me | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
to be completely mad, but I'm not growing daffodils, | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
I'm growing galantamine. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:35 | |
What's the market like for the product? | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
Currently, the market is worth about 8 billion. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
The problem with Alzheimer's disease is, it's increasing | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
at a terrific rate and that's set to double in the next 20 years, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
then double again in the following 20 years. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
Anything that can tackle those numbers has to be a good thing. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
Galantamine is only found in a few varieties of daffodil | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
and only in significant quantities when it's grown at altitude. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
This stresses the plant and causes it to produce the chemical. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
The smell of some of these varieties is really intoxicating. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
The thing is, though, I wouldn't be tempted to start knocking up | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
a home remedy out of these, because they are extremely toxic. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:24 | |
Armed with my daffodils, I'm off to a trial site | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
high in the Brecon Beacons to meet Professor Trevor Walker. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
His research has gone a long way in treating | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
some of the 465,000 people affected by Alzheimer's in the UK. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
It looks like we've got a picnic set up here, Trevor. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
What are we going to do? | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
We're going to squeeze some juice out of them | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
and take that juice back for filtration. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
So you were already looking for | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
the presence of galantamine in different plants. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
What sort of sparked off that hunt? | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
We had a eureka moment when the wife of one of my colleagues was | 0:10:02 | 0:10:07 | |
diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 58 | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
and we decided we'd do something about it. We'd make galantamine | 0:10:10 | 0:10:15 | |
available as an anti-Alzheimer's drug. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
We've got a lovely collection. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
-Look at that! -That's absolutely perfect. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
You'd never think that that kind of bit of plant juice would contain | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
such an important drug that can really transform people's lives. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
Now, for the first time, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
the daffodils fields are able to commercially supply galantamine. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
Currently, people like Keith Warward get the drug elsewhere. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
How do you think you'd feel if you didn't take the medication? | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
My quality of life would drop a lot. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
-I would forget things in a big way. -Mm-hm. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
Now...it's just one or two things that I get wrong. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:58 | |
So how do you take the galantamine? Is it a pill or is it an injection? | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
-No, it's a pill. It's only a little thing, about that big. -OK. Right. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
So a single pill a day has this huge impact on your life. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
Oh, it's unbelievable! Unbelievable. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
The work that these guys are doing, growing all of these daffodils, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
you'd think they just look pretty, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
but it's so important to so many people. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
It is. Especially me! | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
You might think you'd need to trek into the Amazon or to the heart | 0:11:29 | 0:11:34 | |
of Siberia to find botanical cures for major diseases, but who | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
would've thought the humble daff would be such a giant | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
at treating a debilitating disease that affects so many people? | 0:11:41 | 0:11:46 | |
And the real beauty of this project is that it doesn't just help | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
Alzheimer's sufferers. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
It could also be a way of sustaining some of our hill farmers | 0:11:55 | 0:11:59 | |
for generations to come. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:00 | |
Now, one thing we can all rely on is the changing of the seasons. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
After the long, dark days of winter, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
spring is nature's alarm clock, | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
bringing everything back to life, and it happens every year | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
like clockwork and, Keeley, you're our weather expert. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
Why does that happen? Why do we get spring? | 0:12:17 | 0:12:19 | |
It's all to do with the solar system, | 0:12:19 | 0:12:21 | |
the Earth's position in relation to the sun. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
You can see the Earth is on a tilt | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
and it's that tilt that creates the seasons, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
so in spring, the northern hemisphere, | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
our part of the world, begins to tilt towards the sun, and that's | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
what makes longer days, temperatures rise - the miracle of spring. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
And how does that affect our spring weather, then? | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
I mean, here, in the New Forest, in our back gardens, everywhere. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Let me put the world down and welcome you to the British Isles. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
-Oh! Did you do this? -I did indeed. -Very good. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
Now, we are an island, so that has a huge effect on our weather. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
One other major factor is this. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
-Catch. -What, this blue ribbon? -Exactly. -Aha. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
-Now, this ribbon... -What does this represent, then? | 0:13:02 | 0:13:04 | |
So, this ribbon is the jet stream, which is like a ribbon of | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
fast-moving air, strong winds, high up in the atmosphere, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
going around 200mph at times. Now, the jet stream is the dividing line | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
between mild air to the south, cold air to the north, | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
-and it's a conveyor belt steering our weather. -Right. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
So, what happens if it comes down south? | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
So if the jet stream is to the south of the UK, that means cold | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
Arctic and Pole air can flow over us, which means colder weather. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:34 | |
-Here you go. -This white blossom, then, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
-representing a cold air... -Absolutely. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
-..right across our country. -Perhaps even a little bit of snow and ice. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:43 | |
-Yes. -Now, if the jet stream moves to the north of the UK... -Yeah. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:49 | |
..that's going to let all the mild air from the Continent pull up | 0:13:49 | 0:13:53 | |
and push across the UK, which means it's going to be milder. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
Some blossom... | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
Sprinkle a bit of sunshine and very pleasant weather... | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
-The kind of spring weather we like. -..around the UK. -There you go. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
And if the jet stream gets stuck in either of those positions, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
that's when we get extreme weather - extremely warm, extremely cold - | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
-and that's what's going to make the headlines. -Right. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
So where is this jet stream this spring? | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
Well, John, the jet stream varies in location. No two years are the same. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:21 | |
It has a bit of a mind of its own, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
but through March and April, it has been cooler than average. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
It hasn't always, though, been to the south of the UK. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
-Tell me, do you remember Easter weekend? -Oh, awful weekend! | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
Horrible, stormy weekend. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:34 | |
Storm Katie. And that's because the jet stream was | 0:14:34 | 0:14:36 | |
slung across the UK, steering the weather systems, the storms across | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
us, but, yeah, spring has been a little bit cooler, March and April. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
April was very cold. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
It was, yeah, but even last year, we had snow warnings in May | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
so it's not unusual, it's just a bit colder than we'd like. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
So why is it, then, that no two springs are alike? | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
You're not the first person to be confounded by that question, John. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
In fact, it led to the creation of a whole new science 300 years ago, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
a science that's used today. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
So why does spring vary so much, | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
at times creeping in and at others, bursting into life? | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
This mystery became an obsession for one remarkable man who made it | 0:15:24 | 0:15:28 | |
his life's work to track the changes in spring. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
How nature responds to these changes is known as phenology. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
Robert Marsham was the founding father. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
And three centuries on, Kate Lewthwaite from the Woodland Trust | 0:15:42 | 0:15:46 | |
is continuing his work. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
-Hello, Kate. -Hello. -You've chosen a nice spot here for us. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
So, tell me, who was Robert Marsham? | 0:15:51 | 0:15:53 | |
Robert Marsham was an estate owner who lived in the 1700s | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
and he was a bit of a nutter. | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
He was absolutely passionate about growing trees on his estate. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
He's most well known for what he calls his 27 indications of spring. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
-And that's what you've got on this paper here. -It is, yes. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
So what kind of things was he recording, then? | 0:16:09 | 0:16:12 | |
We've got some hawthorn leafing dates between February and | 0:16:12 | 0:16:15 | |
the end of April, and I notice that behind you there's a nice hawthorn. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
We've got some flowers, we've got snowdrop here, swallows appearing, | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
and he was one of the first people to start recording in this way. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
He was really passionate about it. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
What do you think Marsham would make of the fact that you're still | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
recording his indications? | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
I think he'd be thrilled that we were still taking it | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
so seriously and thrilled that his own family continued with | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
these records right up to the 1950s. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
Marsham tracked the earliest and latest appearance of these signs. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
What may have seemed insignificant to him | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
is hugely significant to us now. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:48 | |
What we've seen is that different groups of species are changing | 0:16:48 | 0:16:52 | |
their timings at different rates, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:53 | |
so the most responsive are the insects | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
and their activity in the spring is up to three weeks early. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
Trees and flowers, it's up to about two weeks early, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
and birds have only really changed their breeding | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
and nesting behaviour by about a week. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
Despite the work done by Marsham, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
there are still mysteries to be solved about the arrival of spring. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
So I'm heading to Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
It's one of the most-studied stretches of woodland in the world. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
This is a hi-tech, living laboratory where scientists | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
from Oxford University study how climate affects the natural world. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
First off, I'm meeting Ella Cole. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
She's monitoring how birds, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:36 | |
and specifically tits, are dealing with the changing season. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
These birds rely on the spring abundance of caterpillars in the | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
woods to ensure their new chicks have plenty of food when they hatch. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
It's something like 10,000 caterpillars that they need to... | 0:17:49 | 0:17:54 | |
-Per chick? -Per brood that is. -OK. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:56 | |
In the space of two weeks, so just with two adult birds, | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
that's quite a lot. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:00 | |
That's pretty much constant foraging back and forth. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
The tits have to time the hatching of their eggs exactly with | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
the arrival of the caterpillars. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
They actually have to predict this peak in caterpillars, | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
when that's going to occur, about three weeks in advance, | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
because that's when they'll make the decision to start laying, | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
so we're really interested in knowing what cues | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
they're using from their environment to decide when to start. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
As well as taking cues from temperature and day length, | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
Ella believes that the birds keep an eye on the oak tree buds. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
If the tits can see when the oak leaves are emerging, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
they can work out when the caterpillars will appear too. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
It's basically a very important link. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
The caterpillars are feeding on | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
the newly emerged leaves of the oak trees, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
and the tits are feeding on the caterpillars, | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
so if anything kind of goes wrong with any of those steps, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:49 | |
then it'll affect the others. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
All of these species support each other, don't they? It's crucial... | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
Well, timing is crucial for this. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
So, this spring could be a bit of a strange one, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
because the caterpillars have actually hatched earlier than | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
they probably should do, because the oak buds are not very developed. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
-Will that have a knock-on effect, then? -It could do. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
It's a bit of a waiting game for you at the moment. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
Yeah, so we're keeping an eye on the oaks. Yeah, we'll wait and see. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
It seems our wildlife should be in tune with | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
the seasons as they swing round, but this doesn't always go to plan. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:24 | |
This year, we had a mild winter, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
so how has that impacted on the woodland creatures? | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
Marc Brouard is checking on this season's woodmice. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
What have we got here, then? | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
-We've got a little rodent caught in here. -Right. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:42 | |
All I'm looking for now is to make sure he's not hiding under the door. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:47 | |
Oh! Oh, he's a lot bigger than I thought he would be! | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
-Hello, little guy. I'm saying "guy", is it a guy? -We'll have a look. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:59 | |
Well, that's definitely a male. You can probably see that. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
We're just going to weigh him. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
So that's...27g. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:06 | |
Is that average? About normal? | 0:20:06 | 0:20:08 | |
That's about average. He's a good weight. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
As well as weighing the wood mouse, | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
Marc takes some interesting measurements. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
All I'm going to measure is the anal genital distance. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:20 | |
-And what information does that give you? -He's in breeding condition. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
He's looking for mates. And that's 19.7. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
What is their breeding season? When do they start breeding? | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
-They start breeding March, April, normally. -You say normally. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:37 | |
Normally. Yes, this population hasn't stopped breeding all winter. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:42 | |
It's quite possibly the warm weather we've been having. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
So this could mean that there's lots of baby mice this year, then? | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
No, it just means it can be quite frustrated males at the moment. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
-Right. Let's go and release him, then. -Yes, definitely. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
There you go, little man. Good luck! | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
It's through years of research in these woods that | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
we're understanding more and more about how | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
wildlife stirs in time with nature's wake-up call. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
Although spring's arrival may be shifting, incredibly, | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
nature continues to adapt. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
We may have 300 years of records, but it's clear, there are still | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
many mysteries to be uncovered behind this miracle awakening. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
The New Forest comes alive in spring. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
At present, more than 6,000 cattle, donkeys and ponies graze on the | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
land, and Jules has been finding out how they're been kept safe and well. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:52 | |
Animals are the lifeblood of what makes the entire region tick, and | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
the park's famous ponies, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
well, many of them are now having their foals. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
So I've come to take a ride out with agister Jonathan | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
to see how the season is unfolding. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:07 | |
Agisters are the wardens of the forest, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
much like a rural police force. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
It's a post that has its origins in medieval times. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
The agisters are the smallest police force in the world, | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
they've been called. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
Still in their 18th-century uniform, they uphold the commoners' rights | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
and see that the forest laws are observed. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
From time to time, owners and agisters round up the cattle. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
Not exactly Wild West cowboys as we know them, | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
yet doing much the same job. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
The agisters no longer wear formal uniforms, | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
but they still collect fees from people who | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
graze their livestock in the forest, known as commoners. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
-So, you're the money-collector? -That's right. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
-And that's been going on for centuries. -Absolutely. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
And in return for that payment, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
the agisters are on call 24 hours a day, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
seven days a week, to deal with any issues, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
problems that the animals may give them, to any emergency situations. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
It's a difficult place to manage. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
How many acres is it, 90-odd thousand? | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
Yes, roughly within the perambulation | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
is around about 90,000 acres. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
It's a large place, 5,000-odd ponies, | 0:23:23 | 0:23:27 | |
4,500 cattle, 200-plus donkeys. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
In the pannage season, when the pigs go out, 300 or 400 pigs, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
and five agisters there. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:34 | |
I was going to say five agisters, of which you are one, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
-do you each have your own patch? -Yes, that's right. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
That's how the agisters work. We've got a sort of beat area, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
an area we're responsible for, and we will spend as much | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
time as we can on our horses, in our vehicles, out looking at the stock. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
Many people probably think the forest looks after itself, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
but it does, of course, take careful management. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
How important a role do the animals play in that? | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
It is totally man-made and man-managed | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
and the biggest management tool we have are the animals themselves. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
By turning animals out to graze, large numbers of animals over this | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
wide area, we create this unique habitat that is the New Forest. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
What does spring really mean to you in your day-to-day life? | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
You get days like today, things are starting to dry up, | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
grass is starting to grow, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:16 | |
I'll soon see a foal out on the ground and that's just fabulous. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
New life. It's all starting again. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
Well, it's wonderful to get a chance to ride out on a beautiful | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
spring day like this, in amongst the herd. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
-They're not bothered at all, are they? -Not worried at all. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
That's a real testament to the great nature of our New Forest families. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
Well, I don't blame them for enjoying this very welcome | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
spring sunshine, and hopefully some lusher grass soon to come. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:41 | |
Yes, it'll soon come through. The foals will be on the ground and then | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
everything will be rosy for the summer. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
Come on, let's leave them to it. Come on, then, Chip. Good boy. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
Now, every year, more than 60,000 of us | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
escape the urban sprawl to start a new life in the country, | 0:24:56 | 0:25:00 | |
and this spring, Paul Martin and his family are going one step further | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
and rounding off an ambitious plan to turn 27 acres in the West Country | 0:25:04 | 0:25:09 | |
into a self-sufficient smallholding, | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
and he's giving us his tips on how to live the country life. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
Seven years ago, my wife Charlotte and I fell in love with | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
a derelict cottage in the heart of Wiltshire... | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
Come on, then, guys. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
..together with my seven-year-old son Dylan | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
and my four-year-old daughter Meredith. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
Hey! | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
It's been a labour of love. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:38 | |
We've had more than our fair share of leaky roofs and burst pipes. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
My only real regret is letting the three-year-old name the dog. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:50 | |
-Come on, Woof. Come on. Woof! -HE WHISTLES | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
But we've still got plenty of work to do. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
With the house almost finished, | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
my plan this spring is to fulfil a dream and restore the fields | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
and woodlands of this Victorian smallholding to their former glory. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
I absolutely love spring. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:17 | |
When I was a kid, it was the season I looked forward to the most. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
Winters out here can be terribly miserable and quite relentless, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
but when you see the first buds and blossoms | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
and leaves arrive on the trees, it really lifts my spirits. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
It's a magical time of the year. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
But first, let me show you what I've done so far. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
Well, this is our chicken enclosure and a bit of an orchard. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
We've got an old apple tree there. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
And this is our little veggie patch. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
I know it doesn't look like much at the moment. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
Once this is planted up, it can feed a family of four for the year, | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
and Charlotte is in charge of this complete area, because I've got it | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
wrong on more than one occasion, and I've been told off. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
Come on, Woof. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
And then there's the lush green fields outside. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
At least they were lush and green once upon a time. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
Now they're patchy, weedy or just plain muddy | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
and the problem lies with our lawnmowers. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
Horses are incredibly fussy eaters, munching around 2% of their own | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
body weight in grass every day, but completely avoiding the weeds, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:27 | |
and when spring has sprung, the fields are in a terrible state. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:32 | |
What I need is a high-output ovine vegetation system, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
or sheep to you and me. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
There are 33 million sheep in Britain farmed for their meat | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
and wool, but they're also excellent grazers, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
munching the weeds as well as the grass, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
so for this reason, my first mission is to take on my own flock | 0:27:51 | 0:27:54 | |
and it's the perfect time of year to find some spring lambs. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:59 | |
There are so many different variety of breeds out there, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
it's hard to know which one is right for my patch of land, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
so I'm going to meet a local sheep breeder, Adrian Andrews, | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
who breeds a special heritage type of sheep. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
Like me, Adrian started out with horses. Then, seven years ago, | 0:28:17 | 0:28:21 | |
he introduced Wiltshire Horn sheep to help with grazing. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
He's the perfect mentor to teach us how to care for a flock of sheep. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:29 | |
Thanks for inviting me over because I know you're a busy guy, | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
-bang in the middle of lambing season. -Yeah, we are. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
-How's it going? -It's going good. We're coming to the end now. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
-Would you like to see our newest arrivals? -Yeah. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
If we do take some of Adrian's sheep, they won't be like these. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:46 | |
They'll be year-olds or yearlings. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
-And here they are. -Yeah. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:49 | |
But if you're a newbie to sheep farming like me, | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
it's always best to start small. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
-These are actually three weeks old. -Three weeks old. | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
Just ease the bottle gently into his mouth. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
-Oh, they take to it really well, don't they? -Yeah. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
-Exactly. -"I'm hungry! I'm hungry. Feed me." | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
-They are so cute, aren't they? -Yes. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
What was it about the Wiltshire Horn | 0:29:08 | 0:29:09 | |
that attracted you in the first place? | 0:29:09 | 0:29:11 | |
-They are a traditional breed. -There's history involved. -Yes. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
There's a lot of history, and the Wiltshire Horn sheep | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
are a very, very good smallholder's sheep, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:21 | |
-because they are relatively low maintenance. -Yeah. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:24 | |
They actually shed their fleeces. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
With a normal breed, you have to shear them, | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
and it just means they are relatively easy to look after. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
-Which is quite important if you've got a small flock. -Yes, it is. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:36 | |
-How many have you got now? -I have actually got 66 ewes. -Wow! | 0:29:36 | 0:29:41 | |
-And six rams. -Gosh. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
-I started off with a small number, same as you. -Do you know what? | 0:29:44 | 0:29:48 | |
You're going to be a good mentor for me, a good role model. | 0:29:48 | 0:29:50 | |
Well, I hope so. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
100 years ago, Wiltshire Horns, like so many other rare breeds, | 0:29:52 | 0:29:57 | |
came close to extinction. | 0:29:57 | 0:29:59 | |
Revived in the 1920s by a group of local breeders, | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
their numbers are now well on the rise. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:06 | |
I've been so taken by these lovely creatures, | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
I've decided I'm going to do my small part. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
So, Paul, you think you're prepared, ready to take some sheep? | 0:30:12 | 0:30:16 | |
-Did we decide on a number in the end? -Four? -Four. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
That sounds fine to start, with four. Yeah? | 0:30:19 | 0:30:21 | |
This is a very special moment, actually, | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
because this is where it starts for me. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
She's just about to give birth. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
I've not seen that before. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
That really does sum up spring, doesn't it? And it's a happy ending. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:42 | |
They're both all right, and that was so exciting. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:44 | |
Adrian's a stickler for detail. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
He's given me a list of things to do in preparation for the sheep. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
I've been granted a parish holding certificate to keep | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
track of the livestock, in case of disease, and I've been | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
hard at work converting part of my land for our new animals. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
Finally, the anxious wait is over. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
Today's the big day. Our mini flock of Wiltshire Horn arrive. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:22 | |
-Hi, Adrian. -Hi, Paul. How are you? -Hello. I'm all right, thank you. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:33 | |
-It's great to see you as well. -And who are these two, then? | 0:31:33 | 0:31:35 | |
-This is Meredith and that's Dylan. -Hello, Meredith. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
And have you named yours yet, Meredith? Have you? | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
-Baah-bie. -Baah-bie. That's a good 'un. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
-Shall we have a little look at these sheep, then? -Yeah. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
Have a peep through the side of the trailer, look. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
Can you see them in there? | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
Gosh, they look a lot bigger than what I remember! | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
Can you see their horns? Look at their horns, Meredith. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
I know. | 0:31:57 | 0:31:59 | |
Initially, the sheep will need to be contained within | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
sections of electric fence so that their grazing can be rotated. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
That's pretty good, Adrian. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
With the Wiltshire Horns' new home plotted out, | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
it's time to release them onto the pasture. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
There they go. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:19 | |
-PAUL CHUCKLES -Look at this, Dyl. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:22 | |
-That wasn't too bad, was it? -No. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:24 | |
I've been feeling rather nervous for the last few weeks, | 0:32:27 | 0:32:29 | |
thinking about this non stop, 24/7. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
Now they're here, I feel totally relaxed. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
They look very, very settled. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:36 | |
They're grazing away, mowing the lawn. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:39 | |
That's brilliant, isn't it? | 0:32:39 | 0:32:40 | |
Now, one thing that we must do... | 0:32:40 | 0:32:42 | |
I'd like to shake your hand. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
-Oh, you've given me a fiver. -I have given you a fiver. -This gets better! | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
With livestock, it's a little bit of a tradition that the person | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
who has bought the livestock, you give them | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
a little bit of luck money, so hopefully those sheep now | 0:32:55 | 0:32:57 | |
will bring you plenty of luck and everything will go right with them. | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
Well, Adrian, that's the end to a perfect day. | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
Thank you very much. Thank you. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
If you are interested in keeping your own sheep, | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
then a yearling ewe will set you back about £170. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
With very little fuss or maintenance, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
out in the paddock night and day this spring, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:20 | |
these fantastic little beasts will keep the fields lush and green. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:24 | |
Isn't that a fantastic sight? | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
Sunlit, end of the day. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:30 | |
Spring has finally arrived on our land for the first time | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
in about ten years since I've lived here. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:35 | |
The kids love it. That is a brilliant sight. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
Some people go to extraordinary lengths to capture | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
the essence of spring, | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
as I discovered when I visited the National Fruit Collection in Kent. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:50 | |
Here, they've got on this one site the largest display of fruit trees | 0:33:53 | 0:33:58 | |
and plants anywhere in the world, which means that in springtime, | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
this place is blossom heaven. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
Known as the Queen of Apples for her encyclopaedic knowledge, | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
Dr Joan Morgan is Britain's leading fruit historian. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
People wanting to know more about their fruit trees bring her | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
apples and pears to identify, and today, she is taking me on | 0:34:20 | 0:34:23 | |
a blossom walk through some of the nearly 4,000 fruit varieties | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
here at Brogdale. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
This year has been a fantastic year for blossom, hasn't it? | 0:34:29 | 0:34:33 | |
Yes, yes, it's wonderful. It's looking beautiful now. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:35 | |
These, they're all ornamental, not the ones that produce edible apples, | 0:34:35 | 0:34:39 | |
but the ones that'll produce apples you can make crab apple jelly from. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
-They certainly produce wonderful flowers. -Yes, yes. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
Joan has already chronicled in precise detail Britain's great | 0:34:47 | 0:34:52 | |
range of apples and produced THE definitive reference book. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:56 | |
Now she's almost completed a definitive work on pears. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
So far, it's taken more than 15 years. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
Why has it taken so long to compile this book on pears? | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
Well, there's so many hurdles in the way, you know. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:17 | |
With pears, not every variety fruits well every year. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:21 | |
Sometimes you might just miss the moment | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
when you should have collected the fruit. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
-So, a long-time labour of love, then? -Yes, yes, yes. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
I noticed that in your apple book you chose to have | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
botanical illustrations rather than photographs. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:36 | |
-Why is that? -Well, first of all, they're very beautiful. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
I mean, this produces a really lovely plate. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
And it's also possible to show different stages | 0:35:42 | 0:35:47 | |
in the apple's development. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
You have it here as it is on the tree when it's picked | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
and then as it is when it's perfectly ripe. | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
I know you're going to do the same thing with the pear book | 0:35:55 | 0:35:57 | |
cos I'm about to go and meet the illustrator. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
Yes, and perhaps you'd be kind enough to take with you | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
-a sprig of blossom so that she can paint. -What have we got here? | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
This is Onward. If I cut this just there, a little sprig. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:12 | |
-Thank you. -There we are. -I'll take this carefully | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
-and give it to Elizabeth. -Thank you very much. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
'This sprig will join many other specimens that have already | 0:36:19 | 0:36:22 | |
'been received by Elizabeth Dowle, a leading botanical illustrator.' | 0:36:22 | 0:36:28 | |
-Hello, Elizabeth. -Hello. -Hi, busy sketching there? -Yes. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
-What is it? -This is a Williams pear. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
I thought it looked familiar. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
And here's another one, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:41 | |
this is an Onward from Joan for you to sketch. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
At her studio in East Sussex, | 0:36:48 | 0:36:50 | |
blossom samples are stored in the fridge | 0:36:50 | 0:36:52 | |
to prolong the fleeting moment Elizabeth has | 0:36:52 | 0:36:55 | |
to record their ephemeral beauty. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
-So, this is your studio? -Yes. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
Obviously, a degree of urgency when the raw material first arrives. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:06 | |
Yes, it does put you under a bit of pressure, but as soon as | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
Joan gives me the material, I make careful colour notes | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
of all parts of the plants, and measurements, | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
and any other characteristics that need to be noted. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:19 | |
'The painstaking work of painting the process, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
'as blossom and matures into fruit, | 0:37:22 | 0:37:25 | |
'means a single plate can take more than two years to complete.' | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
-Is this a finished plate here? -This is a finished plate, yes. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:32 | |
This would show the fruit as you pick it. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:35 | |
And that's the eating stage, when it's ripe. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:38 | |
You've been painting pears now for 15 years or more. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:42 | |
-Do you get sick of them? -Not at all. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:44 | |
Like a lot of people, I just thought | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
all pears were yellow when I started, | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
but the diversity and colour and shape is quite amazing. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
Which goes for the blossom as well, to some extent. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
But, um...no, it's been quite an education. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
And also I get to eat them at the end, which is nice. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
The passing seasons in a humble pear orchard, | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
so vividly depicted by Elizabeth, | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
have now been captured for ever in these beautiful pages. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:12 | |
Every year, blossom reminds us that winter is over, | 0:38:13 | 0:38:17 | |
spring is here and summer is just around the corner. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
Blossom time brings colour back into our natural world | 0:38:20 | 0:38:24 | |
and it's just a fleeting moment in the great scale of things. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:28 | |
All too quickly it's gone. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:30 | |
In the forager's calendar, | 0:38:39 | 0:38:40 | |
few things are more seasonal than silver birch sap. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
So Margherita is discovering how to tap the tree | 0:38:43 | 0:38:46 | |
for a springtime pick-me-up. | 0:38:46 | 0:38:48 | |
This tree, the silver birch, | 0:38:55 | 0:38:56 | |
provides one of the first harvests of the season, | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
much to the delight of foragers on the hunt for the syrup | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
they call white gold. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
Deep within the West Sussex woodland, | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
master distiller Sarah Thompson is hard at work. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
She's collecting sap from silver birch trees | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
to turn botanicals into spirits. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:18 | |
-Sarah, good to see you. -Hello, how are you doing? -I'm good. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
You seem busy, you've got jars all over this woodland. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
How do you know when the tree is ready to go, as it were? | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
A bit of trial and error. Early indications will be | 0:39:28 | 0:39:30 | |
daffodils coming through, snowdrops coming through, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
and then we tap a few trees and see what's happening. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
We have no control. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
And what window do you have to get the sap from the trees? | 0:39:37 | 0:39:40 | |
Anything up to six weeks. So, from the start... But it can move. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:44 | |
So it's all to do with when spring is kicking in, | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
so this year it's been a little late. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
So we've harvested...probably only started a fortnight ago, | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
but we have harvested as early as February. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:53 | |
How much sap will each tree give you? | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
-We like to try and get about five litres from a tree. -Five litres?! | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
Yes, five litres. So a nice little demijohn full. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
-Will that not finish off the tree? -No. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
When it starts to bud, we know we don't touch that tree any more. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
So, how long would it take to get five litres from this tree? | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
-Within a day. -And you just drill into the tree? | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
Yeah, let me show you. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:14 | |
OK, so I've already pre-marked a spot that I'm going to go for. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:18 | |
Want to be making a hole at about a 45-degree angle. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
-And it doesn't damage it? -No, as long as you treat it carefully. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
So, how many trees will you tap by hand? | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
We've done 50 so far and we'd like to be doing another 100. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
-So you drill in, then what are we waiting for? -You can see now. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
Oh, my goodness! It's literally... That's your liquid gold? | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
It is my liquid gold, yes. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:38 | |
So, when it's at this stage, we want to put a pipe in. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
Then we put a bit of clay around the pipe | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
to help stop the pipe from moving and also loss of sap as well. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
Does it repair itself or do you have to help it out? | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
We have to fill the hole back in. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
By leaving the hole open, you run the risk of infection | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
in the tree and then that will also be an indicator of what tree | 0:40:53 | 0:40:56 | |
we've used and we'll know next year not to go back to that tree as well. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
It might seem strange, | 0:41:00 | 0:41:02 | |
but trees have long been harvested for their sap. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
Native Americans were amongst the first to extract | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
the sugary syrup from maple trees. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:10 | |
And in Scotland, the sap is fermented to make a birch wine. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
In fact, Queen Victoria wrote | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
it was Prince Albert's favourite tipple when visiting Balmoral. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:22 | |
But we're making something even more potent with today's harvest. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:29 | |
-We've picked this tree. -Wow, that looks full. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
That's about a day's harvest. Next stop, back to the distillery. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
-OK, lead the way. -OK. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
Sarah turns her sap into alcohol, | 0:41:40 | 0:41:42 | |
but it can be drunk directly from the tree. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
And it's gaining popularity as THE new health drink, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:49 | |
bottled and sold as a spring detoxing elixir, | 0:41:49 | 0:41:51 | |
known for its cleansing properties. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:53 | |
This is this sap which we spent the morning harvesting? | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
-That's right, yes. -And I can just drink it | 0:41:56 | 0:41:58 | |
straight from the tree, as it were? | 0:41:58 | 0:42:00 | |
You can. I've filtered it a little bit to remove any bugs. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
-So... -OK. But this is pretty raw. -Cheers. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:07 | |
-I can just down the hatch? -Yes, just drink it. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:09 | |
It's literally just fresh water that's been filtered through | 0:42:09 | 0:42:12 | |
-the tree, so you can't get better than that, really. -It's gorgeous! | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
One of the things the birch sap is really good for | 0:42:15 | 0:42:17 | |
-is your digestive system. -OK. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:19 | |
So it's really good for your kidneys, | 0:42:19 | 0:42:21 | |
if you've got gallstones, all sorts of different things, | 0:42:21 | 0:42:23 | |
-so it's very much a spring elixir, I'd say. -Then what happens to it? | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
The next stage is, we're just reducing some down | 0:42:27 | 0:42:31 | |
at the moment into a syrup. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:32 | |
So, a litre of the raw sap becomes how much of this? | 0:42:32 | 0:42:36 | |
We're looking at maybe 100ml, 200ml. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
-Wow! -From one litre. -That's a lot of work. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
Yeah, we want a really concentrated flavour. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
-Have a try of this one. -Cheers again. -Cheers again. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
-That's sweeter. -A bit sweeter. -And is this how you sell it? | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
No, this is only the beginning stages of what we're doing. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
-We only sell it as alcohol. -OK! | 0:42:56 | 0:42:59 | |
Sarah's distillery is one of only a handful | 0:43:01 | 0:43:03 | |
to use silver birch botanicals to infuse with gins, vodkas, | 0:43:03 | 0:43:07 | |
and today, a rather robust vermouth. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:10 | |
Crikey! Oh, my goodness! That is... | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
What kind of proof is that? | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
It's a good 50%. So just a little tiny shot. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
It's early in the day, but, for you... | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:43:27 | 0:43:29 | |
-Schnapps, really. -Wow! | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
A bit of water and that will bring that back to life again. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
-Oh, my God, that's a little bit good. -It's spicy. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
Wow! How much can we make today to take home? | 0:43:38 | 0:43:41 | |
And that's all we've got time for today, but we will be back again | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
tomorrow when, among the entries in our Countryfile diary, | 0:43:50 | 0:43:54 | |
we'll be meeting a man who can not only see and smell spring, | 0:43:54 | 0:43:58 | |
he can taste it as well. | 0:43:58 | 0:43:59 | |
The dawn chorus is exactly like eating melted green wine gums. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:04 | |
And Margherita reports on a one-man crusade | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
to make the countryside accessible for all. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:09 | |
One of the best wildlife spectacles anywhere in the world. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:13 | |
And you can get right on top of it | 0:44:13 | 0:44:15 | |
and it's a walk in the park to do it. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
So, please make a date in your diary to join us. Until then, bye-bye. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:21 |