0:00:04 > 0:00:06This tiny trickle,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08high in the mountains of Mourne,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12is the birthplace of our longest river.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14From humble beginnings, here on the slopes of Slieve Muck,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18the mighty River Bann runs 80 miles out to the Atlantic Ocean,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20and we're going to make that journey together.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45'The Kingdom of Mourne,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'famous for its majestic scenery -
0:00:51 > 0:00:55'the perfect departure point for a fascinating journey.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59'With me, 1,200 feet up and looking down on the Spelga Dam,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01'is geologist Kirstin Lemon.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04'She's my guide to the rocks and stones that determine
0:01:04 > 0:01:06'where our rivers flow
0:01:06 > 0:01:09'and ultimately where we live, work and play.'
0:01:09 > 0:01:11So we're up at the source.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15The river sweeps through, meanders down into the reservoir.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Once it gets out of the reservoir, why does it go where it goes?
0:01:18 > 0:01:22It's simple gravity. All it's trying to do is get from the upland area,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24so that's here in the Mourne Mountains,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28right down to the lowest point, which is at Lough Neagh.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30And as it goes, it goes from the granite that makes up
0:01:30 > 0:01:33the majority of the Mourne Mountains, which is a really, really hard rock,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and it takes the path of least resistance. So, whenever it gets down
0:01:36 > 0:01:39into the valley below us, it's going over a much softer rock
0:01:39 > 0:01:41called graywacke, which is a type of sandstone.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44And as you go along the course of the River Bann, you're going through
0:01:44 > 0:01:47towns like Hilltown, Rathfriland, Katesbridge, Banbridge.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And if you just even think about those names,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53like Banbridge and Katesbridge, they are along the River Bann,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55they have grown because the River Bann was there in the first place.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Now for a canoe trip with a difference.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03The Spelga Reservoir is one of the Mournes' best known landmarks.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07The water level's so low this summer that the old Kilkeel Road and bridge
0:02:07 > 0:02:10over the infant Bann are exposed.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13They were submerged when the dam was built back in the '50s,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17so this is a rare opportunity for the pair of us to paddle through...
0:02:17 > 0:02:19if we ever get our act together.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22HE LAUGHS
0:02:22 > 0:02:24We've run aground.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29We just couldn't resist it.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33We got special permission to paddle on Spelga Reservoir
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and we must be among the very few people
0:02:37 > 0:02:39to have gone through that bridge
0:02:39 > 0:02:42since it was first filled up in 1957.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44It's absolutely astonishing to be able to do that.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52You told me you were a really good paddler.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54That might have been a couple of years ago.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58- It's amazing what you forget. - For good or ill,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02we're paddling on the River Bann. Well, really it is Spelga, isn't it?
0:03:02 > 0:03:04It is. This is Spelga Dam.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07It's one of several reservoirs in the Mourne Mountains.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09The water from here supplies Banbridge and Portadown
0:03:09 > 0:03:13with drinking water. And that's six million gallons of water every day.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And that's crazy to think. And that's without talking about
0:03:16 > 0:03:19the other reservoirs in the Mournes. They must hold a lot more than that.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27So, it must be absolutely hammering down on the high mountains here
0:03:27 > 0:03:29and running off all that granite.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32That's right, cos granite's really impermeable.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Granite's a rock that water just cannot get through.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36So any rainfall that falls here,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38which is quite a lot at any time of year,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41will gather in these reservoirs and it's just used for drinking water
0:03:41 > 0:03:44all the way across the eastern part of Northern Ireland.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01After a long, dry summer,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05the river cuts a scar across fields, farms and villages -
0:04:05 > 0:04:07the patchwork of civilisation.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16By Hilltown, the shallows make an ideal paddling pool,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19a cool place for everyone in the neighbourhood.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27On to Katesbridge, said to have been named after a Kate McKay
0:04:27 > 0:04:30whose grandmother owned a lodging house where the workmen
0:04:30 > 0:04:33who built the bridge stayed way back in the 1700s.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38'I'm here to meet a young naturalist and wildlife photographer.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42'James O'Neill is only 18 but he's able to spot the little things
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'the rest of us would never see.'
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Oh, here. Look at this.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49It's a Burnished Brass moth.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52And it's one of the nicest moths you can see at this time of year,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54- I think, in my opinion, anyway. - Yeah, yeah.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Feeds on these nettles but if you look at it up close,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01it's got this shining green.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04These funny little lumps along its back,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08they maybe sort of imitate the serrations on the leaf.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Yeah, they do indeed.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14So, is this one worthy of being snapped and preserved in the memory?
0:05:14 > 0:05:17This is good, I'll have a go at this.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27James has loved the natural world since he was a youngster but,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32amazingly, he's only been taking photographs for the past year.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35His favourite subject is the kingfisher.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41How do you get the majorly big,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44beautiful photographs that you get of them, right next to the camera?
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Well, that requires a little bit of effort and a lot of patience.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53So, for that I would need my portable hide and, you know,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56very careful consideration of where I'm going to do this.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I have to know where the kingfisher is,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01I have to select a good place from the bank.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04I have to think about where the light's coming from
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and my background, so it's a very specific art.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10And then once you've done all that, you just have to sit and wait
0:06:10 > 0:06:16and wait and I waited up to six hours one day before the kingfisher came.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17It's unpredictable.
0:06:19 > 0:06:25If you had any kind of species that you really want to photograph
0:06:25 > 0:06:27that you haven't yet, what is it?
0:06:27 > 0:06:30The otters. I know that they're up and down this river.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I can see signs of them everywhere -
0:06:33 > 0:06:37the prints on the bank and their entry points to the river,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39but I just haven't got that shot yet.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59What about your future, career-wise?
0:06:59 > 0:07:04I've applied to Queen's to do marine zoology.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06And we'll see where that takes me
0:07:06 > 0:07:09but I do want to go on to do wildlife film-making.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Wow. I can't wish you enough success
0:07:13 > 0:07:17- cos you've started amazingly. One year?- Yes.- Wow.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Skipping a few miles downstream,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24beyond Banbridge, Tullylish and Gilford,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28that chat with James reminded me of a passion of my own.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34It's great to get the feet wet on a lovely warm summer's day.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38And I had to stop here because this place is really special to me.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39I learned to fish here.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42And I remember, probably half a lifetime ago,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46standing in there with my welly boots on, my shorts,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and a rod in my hand and catching roach in there.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Now, this really is the point at which the River Bann
0:07:52 > 0:07:55begins to open up, becomes navigable.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58And I'm going to take a cruise downstream to meet a man who knows
0:07:58 > 0:08:02everything there is to know about the history of this place.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Drifting among dancing damsel flies, the journey downstream
0:08:09 > 0:08:11offers a chance to go with the flow.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Slipping past Portadown Golf Course,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18the banks here are popular with pike anglers.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25And you'll meet fishermen all the way to the point of Whitecoat.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33This where the Bann is joined by the River Cusher,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37and it was also the start point for the Newry Canal -
0:08:37 > 0:08:41the oldest in these islands opened away back in 1742.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47Welcome to the point of Whitecoat. It's a beautiful day.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50And a very iconic part of the river.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54'Waiting for me is waterways historian Brian Cassells.'
0:08:55 > 0:09:00Take me back 250-odd years to the sights, the sounds,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02the smells of this place. What would it have been like back then?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05This was a very busy part, being
0:09:05 > 0:09:08the end and the start of the canal.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10The lighters - they were
0:09:10 > 0:09:11known as lighters here,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13not really known as barges -
0:09:13 > 0:09:16would have been leaving the river
0:09:16 > 0:09:21and moving up about one and a half miles up to the first lock here,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23to Money Penny's Lock.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33What were these lighters or barges carrying into Portadown?
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Well, the canal was built to carry coal from the newly-discovered pits
0:09:38 > 0:09:43at Coalisland, eventually to Dublin via Newry.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48But lots of farm produce,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50products of the linen industry,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53imports/exports to the area.
0:09:53 > 0:09:59This was the motorway of the whole infrastructure of Ireland.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09There were two foundries here in Portadown
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and they constructed a lot of these lighters.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Bright Brothers was just before the bridge
0:10:15 > 0:10:18as we go from here into Portadown.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21The Portadown Foundry was the far side of the bridge.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25What about the people that were on these lighters?
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Well, lighters were old, rusted hulks.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33The colour came from the characters that sailed them.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38One individual character, he never washed for 17 years.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42And worse than that, he never took his clothes off.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46He ended up in Newry workhouse.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48And they had to cut the clothes off him.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51They had to cut the very boots off him.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56His very toenails were growing into the leather of the boots.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Lovely stuff. These lightermen, did they live on the boats?
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Often they lived on the boats.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04Often they reared their families on the boat.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Sometimes they slept in the little bothies.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10The horse would have been stabled down below
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and the lighterman slept in the loft above.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21When did the canal finally give up the ghosts and pass into history?
0:11:21 > 0:11:25The canal was officially closed in 1939.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30But really the closure began much earlier.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34In the middle 1800s, with the coming of the railway,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38that was the beginning of the death knell for waterway transport.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Kind of sad in its own way, we've been left with a lovely amenity.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47There is still a highway there.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49You can cycle it, you can walk it,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- you can make use of it as a natural space now.- You can.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59When you think there was a proposal in the 1950s to build a motorway
0:11:59 > 0:12:02from Portadown to Newry and it was to be
0:12:02 > 0:12:07over on the bed of the Newry Canal, thank goodness that didn't happen.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Thank you!
0:12:09 > 0:12:11I've been cruising the Bann for years
0:12:11 > 0:12:15but Brian has really opened my eyes to the history that flows
0:12:15 > 0:12:17with the river through Portadown.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20And as Shillington's Quay glides by,
0:12:20 > 0:12:25there are echoes of that past as I head five miles on, to Lough Neagh.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Locals of a certain age will still remember with great affection,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40the Bannfoot ferry - a rickety contraption taking vehicles
0:12:40 > 0:12:43across the river on a wooden platform, pulled by ropes.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Today's health and safety experts would faint at the sight of it!
0:12:53 > 0:12:57I'm meeting up with Kirstin again at the old ferry crossing,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00to find out why the Upper Bann spills into Lough Neagh
0:13:00 > 0:13:02at this particular spot.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Well, to answer that question we have to take a bit of a look over towards
0:13:05 > 0:13:09the west a couple of miles, and over towards the east a couple of miles.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Because we're actually surrounded by a rock called basalt.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Basalt is a really hard rock. It's formed some volcanoes
0:13:15 > 0:13:17and it's very resistant to weathering and erosion.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20But we're standing at a gap in that basalt,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22a gap probably about five miles wide,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25and that is filled in with clay material, which is very, very soft.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29So, if you get a river coming along here, it's much easier to wear away
0:13:29 > 0:13:31a channel within the clay than within the basalt
0:13:31 > 0:13:35and that's why it's coming in at this point into Lough Neagh.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36But what about the lake itself?
0:13:36 > 0:13:41We've got the biggest lake in the UK and Ireland. Anything about it?
0:13:41 > 0:13:43It's actually a really interesting feature
0:13:43 > 0:13:46in the Northern Irish landscape. If you want to think about Lough Neagh,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49think of it - literally - like a big basin. And the reason why that formed
0:13:49 > 0:13:54is because around about 65 million years ago we were still near enough
0:13:54 > 0:13:57connected to North America. So Europe was pulling away from North America
0:13:57 > 0:14:00and whenever that happens, the land that we lived on stretched,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03and whenever it stretched, a bit of that land sunk in and that formed
0:14:03 > 0:14:07that basin, and that's the basin that Lough Neagh now occupies.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11What about the River Bann whenever it leaves Lough Neagh?
0:14:11 > 0:14:13How do you know that it's the River Bann?
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The simple answer is you just don't. When you're talking about rivers,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20if they go into a lake and they come out again, it's not the same river.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22You just look at the biggest one that comes in
0:14:22 > 0:14:24and that therefore makes the biggest one that goes out.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27But chances are it's not actually the same river at all.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29So it could be like the Lower Blackwater?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31It could or it could be a different river altogether.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Why does it go out at Toome?
0:14:33 > 0:14:35It's because there's a slight weakness in the rock.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37It's what geologists call a "fault"
0:14:37 > 0:14:40and a fault is a crack in the Earth along which there has been movement.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41So, if you want to think of it
0:14:41 > 0:14:43a bit like a fossil earthquake,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45there was movement along that fault
0:14:45 > 0:14:47around about 65 million years ago
0:14:47 > 0:14:51and that's created a weakness in the Earth. The water from Lough Neagh has
0:14:51 > 0:14:52simply just taken advance of that
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and it's formed the exit channel for the River Bann.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01And that's where I'm heading now,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05to the weir that marks the birthplace of the Lower Bann.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10It's a playground for extreme paddlers bravely riding the waves
0:15:10 > 0:15:15below sluice gates that control the water level for the entire lough.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Even in summer, it's a seriously impressive current
0:15:21 > 0:15:24but in winter, it's huge -
0:15:24 > 0:15:27nearly half of all the rain that falls in Northern Ireland
0:15:27 > 0:15:29gushes out this plughole.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35The community here has a special link with the lough and the river,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and one particular species of fish,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42best described by our most celebrated poet.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45"Behind it all and underneath it all
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"Like a silver thread holding together
0:15:47 > 0:15:52"the whole history of the Bann there swims the silver eel."
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Seamus Heaney knew the banks of the Bann like the back of his hand.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00He was reared just up the road from the eel fishery at Toome.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06"My first sight of the Bann came from the bridge at Toome.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09"You looked out on one side towards the floodgates
0:16:09 > 0:16:13"that lay like a gag on the mouth of Lough Neagh.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17"And on the other side was the eel fishery."
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Fergal Kearney is a neighbour and friend of the Heaney family.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25One of my earliest fishing memories as a child was being
0:16:25 > 0:16:27out on Lough Neagh with my dad.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30And I remember, as Seamus Heaney wrote,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32"pulling in the eel line hand over fist."
0:16:32 > 0:16:37And eels were really important to him, weren't they? And this place.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40All his writing, everything spiritually that came out
0:16:40 > 0:16:44in his writing, is based on the place that we're standing now.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48"I even found the sound of the name dark and mysterious now -
0:16:48 > 0:16:53"Toome. It's like an echo of the past."
0:16:53 > 0:16:54He lived just two miles up the road.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58This was his playground as a child and it became the place
0:16:58 > 0:17:01that was with him all of his life, right up the end.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05The journey the eels made was incredibly important
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and its symbolism - that great journey from the Sargasso Sea
0:17:08 > 0:17:11all the way to Lough Neagh, in obscure little Northern Ireland.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13What a journey.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17And he used that symbolism almost as a metaphor for the journey of life.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And that was something he instilled throughout his work over the years,
0:17:20 > 0:17:25using nature as a metaphor about the journey of life and death.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Seamus Heaney was an image maker, but it was the image of the mind.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32It wasn't camera, it was the imagination.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34"One of the fishermen said to me,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39"they're as hard to get at as the stars in the sky."
0:17:39 > 0:17:41The Lough Neagh Sequence, obviously, was a huge piece of work,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44which I think he invested an awful lot of time in -
0:17:44 > 0:17:46many months, if not years.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And it really was tracing almost in meticulous detail that journey
0:17:49 > 0:17:53that the eel made from Sargasso Sea as an elver,
0:17:53 > 0:17:58right through to arriving here at the eel fishery and Toome Bridge,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01where, unfortunately, most of them ended their journey
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and obviously were boxed up and sent off to Continental Europe.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08But others were allowed to escape and propagate in the lough
0:18:08 > 0:18:11to continue the journey, if you like, of life.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15"They're busy in a high boat
0:18:15 > 0:18:18"that stalks towards Antrim, the power cut.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22"The line's a filament of smut drawn hand over fist,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25"where every three yards a hook's missed or taken.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"And the smut thickens, wrist-thick,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31"a flail lashed into the barrel with one swing.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34"Each eel comes aboard to this welcome:
0:18:34 > 0:18:38"the hook left in gill or gum, It's slapped into the barrel numb."
0:18:46 > 0:18:50With his words hanging in the air I'm conscious of travelling
0:18:50 > 0:18:55the same waters many years after Seamus Heaney took a boat journey
0:18:55 > 0:18:57towards Lough Beg.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02It was a place loved by the poet and by an old friend, Seamus Burns,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04who's taking me bird watching.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07There are so many herons along this stretch, Seamus.
0:19:07 > 0:19:14There are indeed. It's the sign of a really good quality wetland habitat.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19Herons are one of the many features that we get along the Lower Bann here
0:19:19 > 0:19:21as we go up into Lough Beg.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25And the whole connection with Lough Neagh really makes this place
0:19:25 > 0:19:28quite special. It's just amazing the variety of nature
0:19:28 > 0:19:31that you find along the river like this.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Especially in a day like today
0:19:33 > 0:19:37where it just seems like life is in full flow here.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45This is really special, this trip that we're taking here today.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50This reminds me of a period of time - over 30 years ago -
0:19:50 > 0:19:53as a very young boy at primary school.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56I came up the river here with my Uncle Tommy on a boat from Toome.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02I come round this corner and entered Lough Beg for the first time,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and that landscape opened up in front of me.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Now, this is a place that's only 15, 20 minutes from where I live,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13and I didn't know this place existed. And I didn't realise at the time
0:20:13 > 0:20:16but that was going to be a life-changing moment for me
0:20:16 > 0:20:21and it led me into a career in nature conservation.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Lough Beg here is the central part of the work that I do for the RSPB.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35It's about looking after landscapes like this, working with the people
0:20:35 > 0:20:40that manage these areas, the people that own these landscapes.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44On the western shore of Lough Beg here you've got 500 hectares
0:20:44 > 0:20:48of pristine marshy grassland habitat.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51And that's home to a range of nature.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Irish lady's-tresses orchids,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57only a handful of places in Ireland do you find that rare plant growing.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Well, it's growing in here in its hundreds,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03because of the quality of marshy grassland that we have here.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05That's the lifeblood of this whole place.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10We spent a very early morning together here
0:21:10 > 0:21:14looking at whooper swans for Autumnwatch a few years back.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The moon's out. Dawn is creeping over the horizon.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21What are we going to see here in the next half hour?
0:21:21 > 0:21:24As the light breaks here, these birds are going to leave the water
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and go to feed in the fields nearby.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29BIRDS CALL
0:21:29 > 0:21:33- They're on the move. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36They're the first to leave, they're heading straight for the fields now.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Wintertime this place is such an evocative place.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47From Scandinavia come dabbling ducks and wigeon.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Shoveler, teal
0:21:49 > 0:21:51come in here in their thousands.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55And this place is really, really special right throughout the year.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Look at that view today over to Church Island
0:22:05 > 0:22:09and all the birds, the lovely sunshine,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13and you must say at times, "They're paying me to do this."
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- I can't believe it.- You're a lucky man.- Very, very lucky."
0:22:27 > 0:22:31It's time to leave the peace and tranquillity of Lough Beg behind
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and it's only a stone's throw from Newferry to the Big Splash,
0:22:35 > 0:22:36at Portglenone.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Three, two, one!
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Try going forward!
0:22:41 > 0:22:43It's the big event of the summer.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46The locals love messing about on the water
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and it's a lovely place, too, for tourists to explore.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53We are getting more and more people coming down here parking overnight
0:22:53 > 0:22:56with their boats, going up into the village, buying a meal,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59buying food, buying different things in the village,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02and that's helping the economy of the village alone.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Norman's a man of many parts - Big Splash organiser,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10pastor in a local church,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and skipper of the community rescue service.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The villagers are a lot happier to use the river now,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24from the point of view there is a rescue station in Portglenone.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26Before that they were quite frightened of it
0:23:26 > 0:23:29because a lot of locals had actually lost their life on the river.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32We would like the river to be a lot more central
0:23:32 > 0:23:36but we're working on that and we feel that already we've achieved a lot
0:23:36 > 0:23:39in the last 10, 15 years.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46Norman and his 22 volunteers are part of a much bigger organisation.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Community Rescue Service answers over 200 callouts
0:23:52 > 0:23:54across Northern Ireland every year.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01They have a fleet of fast boats.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05And the man at the helm is my guide to the river in Coleraine.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08I didn't realise that bridge was as old.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Yes, it's almost as old as I am.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12- TOGETHER:- 1844.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19That's something that you never really associate with Coleraine
0:24:19 > 0:24:22these days, the fact that it's a sea port with a great big ship in it.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Yeah. We still see the ships come up the harbour
0:24:24 > 0:24:27but not as many as there used to be in years gone by.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30When I first came to Coleraine when I was 16
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and started work in the harbour, which we're now going past,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37I was a young, young man working with all these older dockers in Coleraine,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40we heard all the stories of the many sailing ships used to come in
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and they had many photographs of that and round the harbour opposite.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47And Kelly's Coal and the famous coal yards here, the different ships
0:24:47 > 0:24:50from that line were in and out of here every day most days of the week.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57You can see we've got quite a large ship here.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00This scrap that's being loaded here, which is
0:25:00 > 0:25:02one of our exports now is probably going to Spain.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07And you're saying 16-year-old, working at the harbour here.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10You've a long association with this river.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13- Is it a special place for you? - Absolutely.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I was only here a matter of days when I fell in love with the River Bann.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20And I've been working on it most of the time ever since.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25Always a full-time job. Sometimes in this job as a part-time volunteer.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27So, it's not as busy now
0:25:27 > 0:25:31but I suppose there'd be far more leisure activity on the river?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Oh, absolutely. As you've seen on your journey, I'm sure, that
0:25:33 > 0:25:38the hidden gem in Ulster and Northern Ireland is actually the River Bann.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42So what are the big challenges of operating in the longest,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46biggest river in Northern Ireland? This has a huge amount of force
0:25:46 > 0:25:48- in it, particularly in the winter, doesn't it?- Absolutely.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51The largest volume of water of any river in the British Isles
0:25:51 > 0:25:52is the River Bann.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It takes more water to sea any day and empties Lough Neagh, which is the
0:25:56 > 0:25:59largest freshwater lake, so it has to get that water out to sea someway.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Then again we have the tidal challenge here,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and a very narrow waterway to work in.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Our teams are often responding at two and three in the morning in the
0:26:08 > 0:26:11middle of winter and we've full-size trees floating down the river.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14So, it's a lot of challenges here in trying to ensure people are safe.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17But I'd want any viewers to understand that is
0:26:17 > 0:26:19an extremely safe environment to work in.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It's an extremely safe environment to go out and have your leisure in.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Safe, challenging and endlessly fascinating.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32MUSIC: At The River by Groove Armada
0:26:32 > 0:26:36# If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air
0:26:36 > 0:26:40# Quaint little villages... #
0:26:40 > 0:26:44On a hot summer's evening, the Bann Estuary is a glimpse of paradise.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57Wow, look at that for a view.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00We started this journey up in the Mournes,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
0:27:02 > 0:27:05- and look at the view from here. - Absolutely stunning, isn't it?
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Just to think the size of that wee river up in Slieve Muck
0:27:08 > 0:27:12- and coming down to here.- I know. And that is the famous Barmouth.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14We've got Portstewart there,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19Castlerock here, and the river emptying into the sea here.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Anything geologically speaking that's spectacular
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- or interesting at this point for us? - I think the most interesting for me
0:27:25 > 0:27:29is think about the actual name. What does Barmouth mean?
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Everyone who lives in this area has heard of the Barmouth
0:27:31 > 0:27:33but do they really think about what it is?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35The mouths of any river are active places,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37they're really exciting.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40You look at them and perhaps you think there's not much going on.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43But think about that massive river that brings with it sand, silt, clay,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46gets down here and, if you like, when it hits the sea, it's like a wall.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Hits that wall and everything's just dumped in a big pile, a big bar.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53So at the mouth of the river there is a bar.
0:27:53 > 0:27:54And that's where the name comes from.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57In the winter whenever there's a great volume of water
0:27:57 > 0:28:00coming down here, I imagine it would actually clear that bar away.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Well, it does a little bit.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05But if you strip back the layers and you look on the sea floor
0:28:05 > 0:28:07there isn't really much evidence of the River Bann.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10You'd expect to have a huge big channel that was way out to sea.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13- That's not the case here.- I always imagined you'd get something like
0:28:13 > 0:28:16a big delta that stretched way out towards Scotland.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19I'm afraid not in this case, but it is nice to think that a little bit
0:28:19 > 0:28:22of the water of the Mourne Mountains is still in the Atlantic Ocean.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26- I know. And a lovely mystery - where does the river end?- Absolutely.