A Window on Summer Countryfile Spring Diaries

Springtime, when the days lengthen,

and signs of change are everywhere.

LAMBS BLEAT

There's not a corner of the British Isles

that doesn't warm to the arrival of spring.

It's our most extraordinary season for one big reason.

It's a time of astonishing growth and regeneration.

From pond life to bird life,

from the scent of fresh blossom,

to our smallest mammals reawakening after months of hibernation.

We'll be bringing you the most remarkable stories

of this wonderful time of year.

Tales of survival, endurance and occasional indulgence.

Join us for this special week of programmes,

as we celebrate the secrets of spring, here on Countryfile Diaries.

We've been here all week in the New Forest in Hampshire.

It's one of 14 National Parks in England, Scotland and Wales.

And, every year, it attracts 13 million visits from people

who want to experience its outstanding beauty and diversity.

Where better place for us to witness the wonders of spring?

From the carpet of bluebells in this ancient woodland,

to the 6,000 animals roaming the heathland with their new arrivals.

But as summer approaches,

the symphony of spring is reaching its crescendo.

The team will be filing their final report,

as spring sweeps across the British Isles.

Nearly seven million sea birds breed here in the UK every year.

But how do they know whose egg is whose? Margherita is on the case.

Each one is unique to the female.

So, it's a fingerprint on the egg that they recognise?

That's a perfect description, yeah.

James has an unusual spring gift for an artist.

I've got this pigment here of pure extract from the bluebell.

It's quite a good purple!

And Paul discovers some unexpected residents

on his Wiltshire smallholding.

Listen to him! This is it!

-He's gone right up to the camera!

-Yeah.

-That is brilliant.

But first, if you're unlucky enough to see spring

as the start of the sneezing season, you're not alone.

Around 18 million of us in the UK suffer from some kind of hay fever.

And Keeley's been finding out why hay fever is increasingly

getting up the nation's nose,

and what's being done to try and ease people's suffering.

It's estimated that a staggering one in four people in the UK

suffer from hay fever - sniffs, sneezes and itchy eyes.

It can be months of misery.

While many of us think of it as a summer problem,

the allergy season's actually a lot longer than you think.

Hay fever kicks off in spring.

These seasonal sniffles are caused by tree pollen,

rather than grass pollen which comes out in summer.

When spring arrives, the tree pollen is released into the air

and it's these airborne pollen grains

that get caught in our nose and eyes.

That's bad news for hay fever sufferers like Ruth Holroyd.

Although she loves this time of year in her garden, it comes at a price.

Would you say it has a big effect on your life?

Mm, yeah, it does. My eyes just drip all the time and stream,

and you can't see sometimes. It starts to blur my vision.

Where things touch my skin, I'll get a rash

and start itching it, you can't help it, can you?

I have to go in, strip off, shower,

and get all the pollen off me, off my hair.

You can't live a life and stay indoors,

and stay away from hay fever. You have to go out and live your life.

Ruth's not alone.

The charity Allergy UK says the number of sufferers

has doubled in the last 30 years.

But what I want to know is why?

It's a question that's at the forefront of many scientific minds.

One theory is with the expansion of green spaces in urban areas,

there's a push for plants that are pollen-producing problems.

Here, in Worcester, they've pledged to make the city greener.

Over the last few months, they've planted 2,000 new trees

in urban spaces just like this.

That's great news for the city and for green spaces,

but bad news if you suffer from allergies.

That's because many of these new trees

are preparing to pollinate in spring

and this is one of the main culprits, the silver birch.

Councils love the beautiful birch tree.

They're quick-growing, compact and easy to maintain

with bark that's conveniently resilient to traffic pollution.

They also don't drop fruit on the ground,

causing slip and trip hazards.

The only problem is, birch is one of the most potent pollens.

Affecting around four million of us, it's second only to grass.

Beverley Adams-Groom is from

the National Pollen Unit at Worcester University.

She's studying how the birch catkins release pollen

in relation to the weather.

-Hello, there, Bev!

-Hi.

Why is it that birch trees are such a problem?

A mature tree will produce millions of pollen grains.

These millions of tiny, light pollen grains can become

readily airborne, easily dispersed, get up people's noses very easily.

Not all trees are allergenic,

but birch pollen is the worst in the United Kingdom.

They don't seem to be producing very much today.

-It's probably too cold for them?

-It's too cold today.

I've put these in a warm environment where they will release pollen.

So, these yellow bits here, they're the pollen,

-that's what people are allergic to?

-That's right, yes.

So, you can see just one catkin produces

millions of these microscopic pollen grains.

If you think about how many catkins are on a tree like this

and they're all producing this pollen, you can just see

why people are allergic to it,

-what a problem it can be.

-Yes. Absolutely.

And why is it such a problem in urban areas?

If you've got a lot of high buildings,

they can trap the pollen within,

rather than becoming absorbed into the soil, or getting away.

Beverley is hoping her research will help predict

exactly when the birch catkin pollen is at its peak.

Eventually, we want to produce

really good quality pollen forecast models,

so we can learn much more about the severity of the season.

At the moment, the models are fairly basic.

When I give the weather forecast and I'm giving the pollen count,

I tend to give it when it's really high,

but I wouldn't mention the exact kind of pollen.

That would be really useful, I think, for people?

Very useful, yes, very useful indeed.

For many people, hay fever is the worst thing about spring.

But for some businesses, it can mean big bucks.

Whatever the cause, most people end up in the medicine aisle

at the local supermarket or chemist.

The hay fever remedy market is worth an astounding £117 million.

For most, these tablets, balms and sprays are the only weapon

in the battle against seasonal sneezes. Or are they?

Perhaps there's another more natural way

we can ease the springtime suffering at home.

Sheena Hume is a specialist allergy nurse,

with more than 20 years' experience.

She thinks she might be able to help Ruth with her pollen predicament.

Why have you chosen this variety?

I've chosen these because they're all considered to be low in pollen.

You've got lots of flowers in here, a bit of a surprise, isn't it?

This one, can you see it has trumpet-shaped flowers?

So, the bees have actually got to go looking for the pollen.

It's not in the air, like it would be with birch pollen.

Does that mean the pollen is less likely to affect me

and it's more hard to get out?

There's still pollen in there. The pollen is considered to be

more sticky and heavy, so it's less likely to become airborne.

Anything that attracts bees is also good for pollen sufferers.

So, I'd just have a little strap line that is,

"Bees without the wheeze and sneeze!"

The bright colours and flowers attract the insects,

and that's good because it means the pollen isn't going up Ruth's nose,

-the insects are taking it instead?

-Absolutely.

One of Sheena's other top tips is to mow your lawn regularly

to keep it short.

Despite producing pollen in summer, it can be beneficial.

The pollen that lands on the grass will be absorbed as nature intended.

Whereas, if you've got lots of hard landscaping,

it just stays around and blows around.

I am quite excited about planting some different things and maybe

not having so many allergic reactions when I'm doing it.

Take some time to enjoy your garden as well.

So, how has the new pollen-free garden

affected Ruth compared to her usual spring suffering?

I wrote a poem, weirdly, which is called In March It Starts.

"The sniffs and smarts, my eyes are streaming,

"and I'm dreaming of winter and Arctic winds."

And I can't remember any more of the poem, but I need to rewrite it now!

Having spoken to Sheena

and realising that there are so many things I can do

that don't involve staying indoors and missing out on everything.

So, yeah, it's not all doom and gloom, and pollen and sneezing.

So, yeah.

By making a few simple changes in our own gardens, hopefully,

we can all manage the misery a little bit better

when the hay fever blues arrive.

Now, spring triggers a mammoth migration to our shores.

Almost seven million sea birds breed in the UK each year.

Margherita is in East Yorkshire to find out

why the coastline there is such a draw for them.

The white chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head

are a visual treat as far as the eye can see.

What makes this dramatic coastline extra special are the birds.

BIRDS CRY

No surprises, then, that this place, Bempton Cliffs Reserve,

has been nicknamed Sea Bird City. And you can see why.

It's the UK largest mainland sea bird colony and, every year,

in the spring, a quarter of a million birds come here to breed.

Species from guillemots to gannets, razorbills to puffins.

In fact, nearly all of Britain's cliff-nesting sea birds come here.

I'm meeting reserve manager Keith Clarkson...

Lovely to see you, Margherita.

..to see how numbers are faring now the birds have returned in spring.

Keith, this is just magnificent,

seeing all these sea birds in one place.

Are the numbers up this spring?

The numbers seem to be going up on many of the birds nesting here.

We've got huge numbers of kittiwakes

and the noise behind us is just, "Kittiwake, kittiwake, kittiwake!"

They're filling the air with the sound of their name, kittiwake.

KITTIWAKES CRY

We've got small numbers of guillemots and razorbills,

and we've got tucked in nooks and crannies

a few fulmars, and the herring gulls right on the top of the cliffs.

So, why do so many come back to this section of coastline?

These 300-foot cliffs have all these horizontal layers

and it creates perfect little nesting ledges for these birds

which are totally inaccessible to all the mammals

that would otherwise eat them - weasels, stoats, foxes, rats.

It makes the perfect sea bird city.

So, a nice property in a safe area to raise the family in!

That's it! Desirable residences.

But unless there's good quality food nearby, it would be hopeless.

What these sea birds are looking for is sand eels, sprats and small fish.

Fortunately, the North Sea has a larder full

for these birds to feast on.

Whilst ever that situation remains,

we can expect this colony to prosper.

With all they need on their doorstep,

the chalk cliffs are definitely hot property

when it comes to our returning sea birds.

But it's not just our feathered friends

who have an important job to do this spring.

Now they're back and nesting, it's the perfect time

for Keith and his team to undertake a spring census.

Today, it's all about the guillemots and the razorbills.

They're expecting to see 40,000 pairs of guillemots

on this spring survey.

To count them all seems impossible, but they do,

with the aid of photographs taken of the nest sites last year.

Keith can track who's moved in and who's moved out

of their cliffside abode.

Each year, we can come back and we can see

whether that bird on that nest territory is still there.

And the birds come back to exactly the same spot?

So, this is the same resident that's there now?

It's almost certainly the same bird,

because it's in exactly the same spot where it was last year

and the year before.

And we can follow them through

to the point where they lay their first egg,

and then the chick hatches and, at 18 days, 20 days after that,

the chick jumps and leaves the cliffs.

So, these razorbills seem to have quite a bit of space on the cliff.

And here, we've got... It looks a bit busier here.

-These are the guillemots?

-That's it, Margherita.

These are guillemots and they're all cramped together.

-There can be 100 guillemots all on one ledge.

-All laying one egg each?

All laying one egg.

There's no nest, they just lay directly onto the ledge.

It's quite incredible.

How do they know, when they've gone out to feed and come back,

-that that's their egg?

-Just by chance, I have a replica gannet egg!

It's a completely white egg.

-A guillemot egg, this is a typical guillemot egg.

-Oh, wow.

-This, again, a replica.

-My goodness!

But every guillemot egg is unique.

So, some are blue, some are white, some are brownish.

They've got these wonderful speckles and lines on them

and each one is unique to the female.

So, it's like a fingerprint on the egg that they recognise?

That's a perfect description, yeah.

And it means they absolutely can identify their own egg

amongst all the others,

and guard that egg and start incubating it again.

For every new spring chick that hatches in a nest

or out on one of these ledges, it's a real testament

to the importance of Bempton Cliffs as a safe haven for our sea birds.

Now, in the earlier part of the last century,

almost a million working horses were used regularly on farms.

Today, they're a much rarer sight.

But if you go to Dartmoor in spring, you might be lucky enough

to see horses being used in a very traditional way.

Here's Jules.

Well, today is the day of the annual cattle drive.

It's a really important moment in the farming diary.

Cattle that have spent the winter in sheds are now going to get moved

to their spring grazing, some 800 feet up on the top of the Dartmoor.

But to go where they're going, well, I'm going to have to swap

my trusty 4x4 for something a little more sure-footed.

Devon beef farmer Phil Heard is one of only a small number of farmers

in Britain keeping the tradition of cattle driving by horseback alive.

In late spring, Phil moves his herd of beef cattle

onto the high hills of Dartmoor.

Here they'll spend the summer months grazing across some

300 miles of the moor, making good use of poorer moorland grass.

Today, I'm joining him to move the first batch of cattle.

-Morning, Jules.

-How are you? Good to see you.

Good to see you, so... Hello.

We're hard at work getting ready for a big day in your year?

Yeah, this is what we've been waiting for all winter.

Spring growth, the cows are getting out doing what they do best,

which is grazing on Dartmoor.

Now, how many are we going to move out today?

-Today we've got just under 50.

-Yeah.

It's mainly Angus crosses.

They've been cooped up indoors for six, seven months.

I'm sure they will be very happy to get outside.

Now, I'm an experienced rider,

but I've never ridden cowboy-style in a deep saddle like this one.

-No lasso, then?

-No, no.

THEY CHUCKLE

There is a limit to the Western theme?

There is, so far. I'm working on it.

Any top tips then on riding Western?

-There's only one rule.

-Yeah.

-Don't fall off.

-Fine.

Oh! Gosh.

It does feel quite comfortable. Good boy.

With my instructions to stay at the rear, it appears the cattle

need no encouragement to leave the barn and head for the hills.

You must be delighted to cut down on the feed bill by getting them

-up on the moor.

-It's been a long time coming.

But it's not just a free meal the cows have up on Dartmoor.

The variety of grasses adds flavour to their meat

and helps shape the Dartmoor landscape.

These cattle are quiet and hardy,

well-suited for the tough conditions and the rough grazing.

What is it they say about Dartmoor, Phil? Four seasons in a day?

-It certainly is.

-Sunshine and now some sleet.

That's why I love living here.

Look at that view.

That is stunning.

What is it about Dartmoor, do you think,

that makes it do so well through the year,

because it doesn't look like particularly rich grazing?

You can't bring any animal and put it up here, it's not particularly rich grazing.

They need to be sort of born here and raised here

so they get immune to any of the ticks,

or any other parasites that might be in this type of grass.

For centuries, thousands of cattle have walked this ancient drovers' way,

once a main route, running through Devon and Cornwall.

So, this is it, Phil, the entrance to the moor proper.

This is the gate onto the common.

The grazing season starts on the 1st of May

and Phil's herd are the first to hit the common.

So, bringing them out of the farmyard is one thing, Phil,

but how do you go about rounding them

up with thousands of acres to choose from at the end of the summer?

Yeah, we go on the horses again.

We know where they're going to be. They usually stay in the same area.

Come the end of the summer, they're usually keen to come down again.

The grazing's deteriorated.

Such a prehistoric landscape this is, isn't it?

It hasn't changed for thousands of years, has it?

We're nearing the end of our six-mile journey.

We've just the rise up over the pass to go before we say

-goodbye to the cattle.

-Come back a bit, Mandi, back out a bit.

If you come over between me and Mandi again, Jules.

You know, Phil, when you get up here, you could be in the Midwest, couldn't you?

You certainly could, yeah.

You could be in Alberta, you could be in Montana.

-You could be anywhere.

-What a special place.

And, at the top of the pass, it's time to leave the cattle...

home on the range.

We'll come up and check them tomorrow

-and the next few days, just to make sure they settle down.

-Yeah.

I mean, it's particularly fresh today.

-Are they going to get a bit of a shock?

-Yeah.

Coming out of the shed to the cold uplands.

Yeah, they've been in a lovely, cosy, warm shed all winter.

Now they've come up onto subarctic Dartmoor.

It's the cattle that keep Dartmoor looking like it does.

I think a job well done.

-That deserves a trip to the saloon, doesn't it?

-I think it does.

-Are you buying?

-Yeah. Come on, cowboy.

Come on, boys. Come on, dogs.

PHIL WHISTLES

-KEELEY:

-The New Forest National Park is one of the best

places for witnessing wildlife in Britain.

It's home to nearly 100 different species of bird and nearly

half of them are ground-nesting, so I'd better watch out where I tread.

Spring is the start of their breeding season,

but being on the ground puts them in danger.

I'm joining Andy Page from the Forestry Commission.

It's his job to monitor ground-nesting birds.

-Hi, there, Andy.

-Hello.

-Hello, how are you doing?

-Pleased to meet you.

What are you looking for at the moment?

Well, this particular part of the forest is very

good for a really special bird for the New Forest, the woodlark.

It likes these very heavily grazed parts, so this is a perfect area.

These are much more typical places for the woodlark to be nesting.

You don't need a lot of cover.

He wants to show me one of their nests.

There's a little bit of cover, but not too much.

That's too much in there.

But these woodlarks are well camouflaged.

-This is a typical spot, here.

-OK.

-Another one there.

There are two or three places here.

This is a really nice spot,

but it will always be in this sparser vegetation.

-So it could be in something as simple as this?

-Yeah, have a look.

Is it there?

I'd like to say no, but I've not got a trained eye. You tell me.

I'll have a look.

Oh!

Oh, yes.

Oh, gosh. What am I looking at here, then?

You're looking at three woodlark

chicks, probably about ten days old.

-I could easily have tripped over that.

-You could.

-They're just out to the elements, aren't they? Exposed?

-Yeah.

They're going to be very vulnerable in a space like that.

Yes, but it's just the way this species has adapted to

utilise this particular environment.

But why, why would they want to be so exposed?

Actually, they use their cryptic colouring of the plumage to

give them that protection.

So, the female will sit very, very tight.

We could be stood here within a few feet of the female on the nest

and she wouldn't come off.

-She would be very well camouflaged.

-Very well camouflaged, yes.

I'm going to be really careful about...

Very paranoid about where I'm standing.

That's not a bad way to look at this.

If you keep on the really short and well-worn tracks, you're fine.

If you stray off into the vegetation,

-even the bracken areas, you could easily tread on them.

-Yes.

And your dogs, with their much more, their sense of smell

so heightened that they can detect these birds even though they've got a much reduced,

giving off a much reduced scent because they're incubating eggs.

-That's why you want people to keep them on a lead.

-It is, yes.

JOHN CRAVEN: Later, Jules will be finding out how dog walkers

can limit the effect they have on ground-nesting birds

when he puts his own dog through its paces.

A woodland carpet of bluebells,

a swathe of colour that signifies that spring is truly here.

But James reveals there's more to bluebells

than just their pretty looks.

There is one plant that's perhaps captured our hearts more

than any other.

The native bluebell, one of Britain's favourite wild flowers,

but there is more to this plant than meets the eye.

I've come to meet a scientist on a mission to unlock the secrets

of the bluebell.

Hello.

-Hello.

-Vera?

-James.

-That's it, good stuff. Good to meet you.

-And you.

Originally from Germany, Dr Vera Thoss is

a chemist at Bangor University.

She specialises in the study of plants on a molecular level.

To aid her research,

she is licensed to manage a wild colony of bluebells.

She is, in fact, the only person in Wales with such a licence

and one of only a handful in the entire UK.

Look at this.

It's like some kind of blue landslide.

Yes, painting the mountains blue.

Amazing. But when you look at this as a geeky chemist,

you're not looking at this in terms of it being beautiful,

you're more interested in the amazing chemicals that go on inside?

About half of all medicines that we use today

come originally from plant source, or from a biological source,

so bluebells are mostly described as poisonous,

but there is potential future medicines in there,

because bluebells, we know there are amino sugars in there and

those amino sugars are potential anti-cancer drugs, anti-TB drugs.

We still have to try to tease them apart

and see what are the individual ones, what are their structure,

what could they possibly do.

We're still just scratching the surface

when it comes to the medicinal potential of the plant world, but

with around 300,000 plant species on Earth, that's a lot of testing.

Medicine aside, Vera reckons there maybe even more uses for bluebells.

The first thing we have to do is look at the different components

which are in the plant -

the oils, the carbohydrates, the scent, the pigment -

what are they

and how we can get them out.

If you want, we can maybe get the pigment out of these flowers.

It's not illegal to pick bluebells for your own use,

but you would be breaking the law if you took the bulbs.

And always get the landowner's permission before you pick

any wild flower.

So, how much do we need?

Oh, how much have you got?

-It'll take me ages to fill one of these.

-That will do, we can use those.

-OK, OK.

-Just to illustrate the principle.

Having collected a few handfuls, the next step is to add some solvent.

In this case, methanol.

What we should begin to see after a few minutes is that the

bluebells will begin to go pale.

What we do is we leave it for a day, take it back to the lab,

take off the flowers and distil off the solvent.

What we are left with then is something which looks like that.

So much darker than the flowers themselves.

So much darker than I ever imagined.

Vera is hoping to reveal just how versatile bluebells can be, but

I've got a little experiment of my own that I'm keen

to put to the test.

Just across the Menai Straits lies Anglesey,

home of an artist known for capturing some of the most

picturesque scenes of North Wales, Janet Bell.

I'm hoping that she'll be able to use this pigment in her

latest creation, the Bluebell Wood.

-Janet. What a great place to be creative in.

-Isn't it, just?

I'm painting bluebells at the moment.

My painting is more about colour and form, rather than the detail

of the flowers, but I adore flowers so this is a great place to be.

I've got a little surprise for you.

I've got this pigment here which, believe it or not, is a pure

-extract from the bluebells you're taking images of right now.

-Wow!

How amazing.

-And I'm wondering - I'm no artist...

-Yeah.

..whether you can actually paint with this.

-I'm led to believe you can.

-Wow!

It really is quite strong purple, isn't it?

If I add some white paint to it, let's see what happens.

It's quite a good purple. That's real bluebells.

-You're painting bluebells, using bluebells.

-Using bluebells.

The other interesting thing about this pigment is

it doesn't have a fixative in it, so we don't know exactly

-how long it'll keep its colour for.

-OK.

The bluebells are here for three weeks,

-the painting might just be here for three weeks.

-Yeah, yeah.

It looks great as it is! We'll see what happens!

This may have been just a bit of fun, but there's no denying that

Janet has really captured the beauty of these bluebells.

It never ceases to amaze me about how even the most familiar plants

can still harbour this enormous range of unknown properties.

Maybe one day we'll unlock the secrets behind this fantastic

little flower.

All this week we've been following Paul Martin

on his Wiltshire smallholding and he's been giving us

an insight into living the country life.

Today, it's the culmination of Paul's springtime to-do list.

My ambitious plan is to turn our country abode

into a self-sufficient smallholding.

We're transforming this place into a wildlife haven that will

fill our larders and put produce on our plates.

Over the course of this spring,

to investigate exactly what wildlife visits our land,

we've peppered the gardens,

the paddocks and even the pond with camera traps.

Time to see what they captured.

-Are you ready for this, Dylan?

-Yes.

This is pond cam, here we go.

I've not seen any of this, either.

-Look, there.

-Oh, my goodness! Wow.

I'm so chuffed.

That is incredible.

-Look at the newt, look at the newt.

-We're so lucky.

Yeah, this is our dirty, mucky pond.

Look, look, look.

-There's another one.

-Wow!

It's swimming up to see his friend.

-It's coming up.

-Isn't that brilliant.

-Yeah.

-You know the very far field...

-Yeah.

There's an animal track that's been quite beaten down

and I've a feeling that could be where the badgers are coming in.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yeah.

-It's a deer!

-Oh!

-It's a deer.

-It's gone right up to the camera.

-Yeah.

-Wow! It's sniffing it.

-How adorable.

-That is brilliant.

This spring, we've been planting seeds that will transform

our land later in the year, looking forward from spring to summer.

So, what have we learnt?

In early spring, I joined a band of smallholders looking to

play their part in bringing new life to the countryside.

I've not seen that before.

That really does sum up spring, doesn't it?

They're both all right and that was so exciting.

SHEEP BLEAT

Do you see them in there? They look a lot bigger than what I remember!

There they go.

-They look very, very settled.

-They're grazing away.

-Yeah.

Mowing the lawn.

And, I have to say, the grass does look better than ever.

Each of our one-year-old Wiltshire Horns can eat up

to 2kg of grass and weeds per day.

With the sheep settling into life out in the fields,

I had a go at grafting my own heritage apple trees.

Fantastic.

With any luck, this will produce a nice big tree that you can plant out next year.

And planted the beginnings of my own traditional orchard.

With the saplings planted and the blossoms about to bloom,

Charlotte and I turned our attention to pollination.

-There's the Queen.

-She's a lot bigger, isn't she?

We installed our own beehive,

complete with its own living willow wall.

It's too early in the year to see the willow in all its glory,

but hopefully later on in the summer, that will be a

barrier full of leaves and shoots.

I'm chuffed to bits with that, it looks fantastic.

It's a lovely, creative addition to this area of woodland.

As the weather warms and the flowers start to fill the landscape,

and with the local bug life waking up to spring,

it was time to give the pond a makeover.

And it turned out to have a few surprises of its own.

-Oh, look what I found.

-Oh, wow, look at that. We found a newt.

Do you know, I'm so surprised there is so much wildlife.

With the overgrown trees stripped away,

sunlight now beams down onto our old pond.

I've even found a use for the prolific pond weed.

Now...this stuff makes brilliant compost.

It rots down really quickly.

It stops your compost heap from drying out.

Of course, it's full of nutrients for young seedlings.

So, all in all, we're tired but happy.

It's been brilliant fun giving our smallholding a makeover this spring.

I'm really excited about the variety of natural habitats

we now have dotted all over.

And we haven't even scratched the surface yet of what's possible here.

Who knows what the summer will bring.

Earlier, Keeley saw how ground-nesting birds

are vulnerable in springtime.

They face peril from pet dogs running wild off the lead.

Here's Jules.

Now, it's thought there are

a staggering nine million dogs in Britain.

One in four homes, it's thought, have a canine companion

and, of course, when spring comes and the weather turns,

most of us just want to let them off the lead.

Go on, then.

And have some fun.

Dog walkers would be horrified at the damage they could be causing

by allowing their dogs to run uncontrolled off the lead.

Last year, National Park ranger Dawn Rayment set up Temptation Alley,

a course that tests dog owners' ability to recall their pets.

Yes!

Teddy! Good boy! Here!

This is my Labrador Teddy

and for a young dog like him,

well, the New Forest is full of distractions.

So, this is the day

when I thought I'd put him to the test on Dawn's course.

Good boy. Come on, then.

Now, tell us about ground-nesting birds here in the New Forest

and what your scheme is trying to achieve.

People coming to the forest might not be aware

that we're one of the most important sites in Europe

for ground-nesting birds.

Dogs, they've got 10,000 times better sense of smell than we do.

They're disturbing birds and then they're flying of the nest,

they're wasting energy

and, sadly, they'll sometimes abandon the nest altogether.

Now, in terms of the numbers of visitors you get to the New Forest,

how much of a problem is it for your ground-nesting bird population?

Literally, on a day-to-day basis,

we're talking about 35,000 visits a day

and, of that, 28,000 of those are probably dog walks,

so that's a huge potential to have an impact onto those birds.

So, how is the course that you've set up behind me

going to help Teddy?

We've penned an area off and, basically, we've got distractions

and what we want you to do is stand at one end,

I'll stand the other with Teddy

and then you call him and, fingers crossed, he comes back to you.

Come on, Teddy.

Now, Teddy is distracted at the best of times,

so this course will definitely be challenging.

-So, if you go to the far end...

-Right.

Now, what we need you to do

is become the most exciting thing in here

and, when you are ready, I'll let him go.

Teddy has to ignore a range of enticing sights and smells

from tennis balls to cuddly toys and tasty treats.

Right, then. Teddy! Come on, then. Good boy. Good boy. Teddy!

'And he's off.'

-Tennis ball!

-Teddy! Come on!

-And a pheasant!

-Oh, no!

Well, a good effort from Teddy but those toys were just too tempting.

What a performer! Teddy.

What's he got?

There won't be a single treat left.

There you are. Your very first ribbon.

And it just goes to prove that we can all do our bit

to help many of our native species

at this really important time of year.

Teaching our dogs is one thing,

but clearly, teaching their owners how to train them is another.

I suspect that both Teddy and I

have still got an awful lot of work to do. Come on.

As the daffodils fade,

it's time to look ahead to the change of the season.

Ellie travelled to Cornwall to witness the start of summer

in style, along with about 30,000 other people.

Spring.

Traditionally a time for communities to come together

and celebrate the changing season,

with many a city, town or village having its own custom or ritual.

The oldest one of all is said to be here in Padstow

down on the Cornish coast.

On May Day, the narrow streets are ablaze with colour,

decorated with boughs of fresh spring greenery

through which dancing black stallions, known as Obby Oss,

will parade.

And, right now, I'm waiting for the Old Oss to frolic out of its stable,

otherwise known as the pub.

Now at large, the two prancing Obby Oss

will be carried by passionate locals

who dance, sing and drink their way through these old streets.

It is bizarrely emotional.

There's something about the collective singing

and the collective dancing.

It actually kind of makes me a bit choked.

So, what's it all about?

If anyone knows the origins of this festival, it's Doc Rowe,

who has spent a lifetime collecting material

relating to British folklore.

So, Doc, is this about fertility or the ringing of summer,

or warding off French sailors from the 14th century?

What's it all about?

Everyone wants these things to go back to pagan times, you know,

that's what we desperately want, but it's Padstow celebrating themselves.

It's like a pacemaker, you know?

So it's the heart of the community

and on May Day, they charge it up again for the rest the year.

So, where did the two different Osses come from?

The Old Oss, the red one, and then the blue ribbon one? That was later?

It's said that, at the turn of the last century, some of the people

in Padstow thought they were getting rather inebriated on the day

and so they brought in the blue ribbon,

which was a sign of temperance,

so it was actually a temperance Oss

and, again, the story goes that, within a year or so,

they were as intemperate as the others.

SHOUTING

The origins of this festival may have been lost in the mists of time,

but its customs live on,

woven into the fabric of the community

by principal families reprising the same roles

they've had for generations.

Old Mac, he's 84 now and his dancing days are over,

and he's handing the club over to his little grandson Willy.

Now, believe you me, little Willy is a grand dancer.

More than 60 years ago, the talk of the town was William McOwen,

the artful teaser and terror of the Oss.

A generation later, Willy's all grown-up

and no longer teases the swirling beast,

but his son Jamie has taken on the family mantle.

What was that first experience like doing it?

Well, it's tremendous, isn't it?

When you come out with the club, you're in charge of that Oss.

We've been brought up with it since we was little kiddies,

because your mum's brought you down here, you heard the drums,

and, once you hear them drums, it's in your head the rest of your life.

You've either got it then or you ain't.

And, Jamie, why tease the Oss? What's that all about?

It's for the Oss to follow because if he just comes out,

he's just dancing blind.

Like my dad said, you're brought up with it from such a young age.

You think of all your family going back and you always hope

that you can do them proud and, you know, do it well.

And this is purely for people from Padstow, isn't it?

You can't join what you guys are doing

if you're a girl from Gloucestershire, can you?

-Unless you married into a family down here.

-Oh, really?

So the only way I could get in on this

is if I was to marry someone from Padstow, is that right?

-Yeah.

-Pretty much.

-Well, that can be arranged.

-Can it?

-Yeah.

-I might get lucky today!

-You might be, I think.

On their winding route through Padstow,

both Osses visit the nearby stately home Prideaux Place.

Traditionally, the Old Oss stays outside,

but the blue ribbon Oss is welcomed inside.

Well, I haven't managed to track down a groom,

but I have been given a special invitation

from the lord of the manor Peter Prideaux Brune,

who's allowed me special access

to see what goes on in Padstow behind closed doors.

So, Peter, I understand it's a bit of a coup

that I'm allowed in here today when I'm not from Cornwall.

Well, it is but I love Countryfile, so you're very welcome.

Well, that's very kind of you. So, when the blue ribbon Oss come in,

-they will all be local people, will they?

-Oh, yes. Absolutely.

You have to be a sixth generation Padstowan.

There are occasionally the odd fistfights

about who gets in and who doesn't.

Do you have any allegiances?

I mean, the blue ribbon Oss team get to come in here,

whereas, the Old Oss are outside.

No! No allegiance at all.

I'm not allowed to.

In fact, we had the Red Oss up here this morning

and I wore my red tie.

So the ties are appropriate!

And then, when they go, I have to change quickly

and put my blue tie on.

So it's just tradition, then, that the blue ribbon Oss come inside?

I don't know why. I've always said to the Red Oss that they can come in

and they're very welcome, but they say, "No, we like to dance outside

"and the Blue Oss dances inside." Tradition.

And do you know? It still sends a prickle down the back of my neck.

Amazing! It's gone from an empty space to an instant party!

And they love to party!

And, being caught up in the party atmosphere,

it looks like the unexpected has happened.

-Do you want a go with the club?

-Me? Really? Can I?

I've been invited to tease the Oss.

Come on, Ellie!

I'm allowed to have a go!

Am I allowed to go?

Sorry!

This is amazing.

Thank you so much!

I can't believe I got to have a go.

What a privilege!

With this crisp night drawing in,

it's time to bid farewell to the Osses

and our glorious spring until next year.

SINGING

And that's it, I'm afraid, from the Countryfile Spring Diaries

here in the New Forest in Hampshire,

and what a wonderful place it's been, hasn't it,

to explore the magic of springtime.

Well, the next stop, of course, is the summer,

but what kind of weather can we expect, Keeley?

Well, globally, some forecasters are saying it could be the warmest year

on record, but before you get too excited, I don't think we'll be

in our deck chairs all summer long.

-So, as always, we'll just have to wait and see.

-We will, I'm afraid.

-But, for now, goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Cheerio.