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Autumn has arrived in Wales. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
The days are shortening and the sun sits lower in the sky. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
For most of us, | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
the slow preparations for winter are underway. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
But for those who still live by the seasons, | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
this is when things really come alive. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
I'm Renee Godfrey, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:26 | |
and as a surfer, my life has always been controlled by the seasons. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:31 | |
In 2011, I want to find out | 0:00:31 | 0:00:32 | |
what these seasons mean to the people of Wales. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:38 | |
In the coming months, | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
I'll be exploring the lives of those people thriving in autumn. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
HE SHOUTS: Keep going! Keep going! | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
'I want to learn the do's and don'ts of autumn foraging.' | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
-Pull it like that. -That looks horrible! | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
Left, left! | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
'And take the reins for some horse logging | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
-'with Wales' most flatulent horse.' -HORSE BREAKS WIND | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
-Pardon you, Kip! -THEY LAUGH | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
That is protest to work, isn't it?!' | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
'Now is the time when nature is in full glory. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
'And for the people that live off the land, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
'a chance to enjoy the year's great harvest.' | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
TREE CRACKS | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
It's November in North Wales. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
I've been visiting Gareth Wyn Jones' family farm | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
in the Caernarfon Mountains since the spring. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
The arrival of autumn has brought the sheep down off the hills | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
to the warmth of the valleys below. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
And with the mountains now free of livestock, | 0:01:41 | 0:01:44 | |
a very different beast is taking to the slopes. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
ENGINES ROAR | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
Since I first met Gareth, ten months ago, | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
we've been talking about this day constantly in a really excited way. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
And all the local guys have started to arrive now | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
on their quad bikes and dirt bikes, ready to march out | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
across 5,000 acres of the mountain area round here | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
and gather in, somehow, all the wild ponies. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
In the hills behind Gareth's farm live Wales' largest population | 0:02:18 | 0:02:23 | |
of wild mountain ponies. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:24 | |
They've survived here for thousands of years, | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
and the last remaining animals are now managed by the local farmers. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
Each autumn, they're gathered in to check on the health of the herd. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:36 | |
It's important to get the male foals off and the old mares, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:40 | |
because the male foals will be in-breeding with their mothers | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
and we don't want that. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:44 | |
We've got to take them, and we've got to take the old mares, | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
because it's not fair for them to be dying here over the winter. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:49 | |
So it is a management place, but you've got to remember, | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
they're only gathered once a year. It's the only time | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
they're going to have any human contact in a whole twelve months. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
The mountains are common grazing land, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
so the round-up brings together all the farmers | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
and their friends who keep livestock here in the summer. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
Lads! Come on! Pull round, go on! | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
You're on the council now! HE LAUGHS | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
Who's going down the Conwy? | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
Mark? Geth? Yeah? | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
Come on then, lads. Let's go and get some wild ponies. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
These boys mean serious business. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
They've got spare fuel in their quads, | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
they've got bottles of fuel in their rucksacks, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
they've got changes of clothes, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
and they're all bombing off now to start gathering them all in. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
It is seriously exciting. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:37 | |
In the 19th Century, there were over 1,000 ponies on the mountain. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
They were an important part of the local economy, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
as farmers traded them with mining companies and other local industries. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
Gareth's family's been involved in the round-up for generations, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
and everyone still has a role to play. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
-You'll be on this ravine here, on the edge. -OK. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
On the bottom here. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
-And you'll be running up and down, turning these ponies. -Yeah. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
I don't want to be seeing you standing there. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
So I've got to try and run as fast as the horses? | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
Faster. But you've got to use your head. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:11 | |
-OK. -OK? So you've got to be quite a bit in front of them, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:15 | |
-making a lot of noise. -Yeah. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:16 | |
Usually it would be enough to turn them. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
-If they're still coming, then you face them and come into them. -OK. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
As the quad bikes head off, an army of helpers sit tight, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
waiting to channel the first wave of ponies down the hill. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
ENGINE ROARS | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
GARETH YELLS | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
I've got to get up to this stone area here, | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
so hopefully I can just kind of signpost | 0:04:59 | 0:05:01 | |
and stop the horses going too far over this way. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
But there's about 20 coming. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
I've just seen about five or six pour off the side of the mountain. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
There's another 20 on their way. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:11 | |
Gareth has given me the job of guarding the ridge, | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
trying to stop the ponies galloping back into the hills. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
I can see some on the hill here. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
I'm now heading in the wrong direction. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
It's hard because I can't keep up with them because they run so fast! | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
There! There! There! | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
RENEE PANTS | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
But another group has broken free, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
and is heading out through a gap in the line. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
SHE YELLS | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
-No, go this way! -SHE YELLS | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
(GARETH SHOUTS) This side again! | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
Keep going! Keep going! | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
Gareth swoops in to the rescue, and turns them down the hill. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:58 | |
-HE LAUGHS -Good one! | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
-I'm knackered! -You're tired?! You're on that! | 0:06:06 | 0:06:08 | |
I'll tell you one thing, look at the sweat on me! | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
It's hard work going up and down those sides! | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
When you just shouted then, "Keep going!" | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
I felt like I had to run up some travelator. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
-My knees were going numb. -Good job! -Oh, God! | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
Good job! Brilliant. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:23 | |
Right, we're going to get on now. We can't stand about again. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
-OK. -Head to this way now. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
-Yeah. -The majority of them...look, there's some turning back here. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
I'll give these a turn. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:34 | |
You go on to that next bit there and you'll see down. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
We're on the plateau then. I need you there. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
-Come on, let's rock and roll! -That nearly killed me! | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
It takes the farmers three days | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
to round up all 200 ponies off the mountain. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
-Go on! -SHE WHISTLES | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
Where do you want them to go? | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
That way? | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
It's really exhausting, and we have to work as a tight unit | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
-to prevent any ponies from escaping. -SHE YELLS | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
After a full day, the groups are coming together | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
on a wall at the base of the mountain. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
It's like a sea! | 0:07:19 | 0:07:20 | |
A sea of ponies, all pouring off the side of the mountain! | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
It's absolutely beautiful! | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
They're just galloping along! | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
For many of these young horses, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
this will be the first human contact they've had. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:48 | |
This is the last truly wild mountain herd in Britain. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
Oh, that is a fantastic sight! | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
-Wild West... -Oh, my God! | 0:07:56 | 0:07:57 | |
-..of North Wales! -That is crazy! | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
As the ponies head down the mountain, | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
the farmers close in, corralling them towards a neighbour's farm. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
All the ponies are owned by different farmers, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
and their tails are cut each year to show they've been gathered. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:20 | |
-Well, you see this red one here? -Yeah. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:21 | |
He's got a very, very long tail. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
-Does that mean he hasn't been in for ages? -He's never been in, I'd say. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
Cos he's no ear mark or anything on him. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
So the ones with the shorter tails you can tell... | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
They were in last year. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
Each old mare has their own distinct ear markings, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
and the farmers have to separate out the families to find out | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
which pony belongs to which farmer. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
-These are ours, are they? -Yes. They're yours now. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
Oh, good. Right, mine! | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
-You can take 'em home tonight. -SHE LAUGHS | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
In the corral, the young stallions and old mares are separated. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
The stallions will be moved to a special conservation farm, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
whilst the old mares, who wouldn't survive another winter, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
will live out their last days in the valley's rich pastures. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
These ponies are now so rare that the farmers are | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
involved in a project to map their DNA. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
PONIES NEIGH | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
Today, a scientist from Liverpool University | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
is collecting hair samples. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
What is it you're looking for? The very tips? | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
The hair cells. Right at the very tip, these are the root cells. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
-You can just see the white bits at the end. -Yeah. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
So I only need about ten of these per pony, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
and then you can extract the DNA and analyse it and get the pedigree. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
By analysing the genetic make-up of each pony, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
they can measure the health of the herd | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
and ensure that in-breeding | 0:09:44 | 0:09:45 | |
doesn't damage the future of this unique species. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
This is just traditional farming that you'll see nowhere else. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
This is how it was done years and years and years ago. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:01 | |
These have been up there since the Celts. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
You're talking about thousands of years. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
Because nobody knows about these ponies. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
They've never had rare breed status. Nobody wants to know about them. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:14 | |
But they are very important for us as a community. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
It's been a real privilege to see these ponies up close. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
Their lives rest in the hands of these farmers, whose own future, | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
like that of the ponies, is so closely connected to the mountains. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
RADIO: 'We're in for another warm day, but compared with yesterday, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
'we've got a little bit more in the way of cloud, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
'especially the further West you are.' | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
Autumn in Wales is a real time of plenty. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
And for my old friend, Andrew Price, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
it's a chance to raid nature's larder | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
on the Gower Peninsula. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
-Hi, Ren! -Good to see you! | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
Ah! You all right? | 0:10:56 | 0:10:57 | |
Yes, absolutely! So what's the plan? | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
Well, you told me we've got an autumnal challenge, have we? | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
We have, exactly! Autumn is the time of harvest, | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
so it's the time when everything is ripened | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
and it's at its best for harvesting. So what we'll do is try | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
and make a three course meal using mostly what we can find in the wild. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
-HE KICKS METAL -Oops! | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
There are a staggering 314 edible species of plant in the UK. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
For thousands of years, they were a big part of our diet | 0:11:21 | 0:11:26 | |
and also vital ingredients in some of our traditional medicines. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:31 | |
And whilst I've had some experience of woodland plants, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
Andrew starts me off WAY outside my comfort zone. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
-Oh, nice! -What is that? -So that's a puffball. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
I mean, to me, I can see it's a mushroom, | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
but it's not the normal shape that I would expect a mushroom to be, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
-in that it doesn't have a stalk. -Sure. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
That's a common puffball, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
which is a pretty distinctive species of fungi | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
which is fairly easy to identify. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:56 | |
But one danger you do have with these is they can look | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
quite similar to poisonous mushrooms in their juvenile state. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
So you've got to be really careful, | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
and if you've got the slightest doubt | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
that you've got an edible mushroom, | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
then it's best to just leave it alone. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:07 | |
Hey, look at this one. It's a bit squidgier than the other ones. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
-It is. And yet, if you just... -Oh, wow! | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
..if you pull it like that, it's pretty disgusting inside, isn't it? | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
-Oh, that looks horrible! -Yeah. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
When they've gone full-term, they start to fill up with spores. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
So they're not really worth eating then. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
But the spores have antiseptic properties, | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
so they've been used in the past as wound dressings | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
-Really? -Yeah. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:31 | |
That's great, isn't it? | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
'Mushrooms are a great treasure of autumn foraging, | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
'but only 50 of the 2,000 species we have in Wales are edible. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:41 | |
'They need the ground to have warmed up over the summer to emerge, | 0:12:41 | 0:12:46 | |
'and they thrive in the damp, autumn conditions. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:51 | |
Ooh! Look at these ones! | 0:12:51 | 0:12:52 | |
Oh, well spotted, Ren! That's fantastic! | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
Oh, wow! Do you know, I've seen these so many times | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
and I'm never confident enough to pick them. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
I'm just never entirely sure whether they're edible or not. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:05 | |
-No, those are beauties! -What are they? | 0:13:05 | 0:13:06 | |
These are parasol mushrooms, which are fantastic eating. Really good. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:10 | |
-And they can grow, you know, maybe five times that size. -Wow! | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
-You can find some absolutely massive ones around. -Gosh! | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
-Yeah, really good. -So can we pick these and take them? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:18 | |
Yeah, I think we definitely should. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
-Now THAT is a proper-looking mushroom! -That is lovely. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
Now the indicator with these is the colour | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
and also that this ring here | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
should move freely up and down the stem there. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
Brilliant. Well done! | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
-Well spotted, Ren! -Yeah! | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
'Around every corner, we find new treats. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
'Andrew's wealth of knowledge allows him to put together | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
'a different course at each location we visit. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
'And he thinks the sea shore is where we'll find our salad.' | 0:13:45 | 0:13:49 | |
-It's marshy here, isn't it? -It is. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
It's a perfect environment, and there's loads of it around. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
It's marsh samphire. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:55 | |
And if you look at it, | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
it's got a bit of a red colour to it at the moment. | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
-Oh, yeah! They call this poor man's asparagus, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
-Or sea asparagus, some people call it. -OK. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
It's actually past its best, but it still tastes OK. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
It should be a vibrant green colour. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
-It's going a little bit red. -It tastes all right. -Yeah. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
It's become quite popular, hasn't it, in shi-shi restaurants? | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
-Yeah, and they charge an arm and a leg and it grows everywhere. -It's free here! -Exactly. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:20 | |
With brimming pots, we head to the wood to collect pudding, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
only to stumble on a tasty surprise. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
Oh, here we go. This is sea purslane, which is fantastic. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:31 | |
Gosh, a sea purslane? I've never heard of it. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
Green. It's lovely stuff. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
-I prefer eating this to marsh samphire... -Really? | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
..despite the fact that you don't sell it in any restaurants. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
-It's not very commonly used. But it tastes delicious. -Just eat it raw? | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
You can eat it raw or just lightly steamed. Really very tasty. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
-That's actually lovely. -Mm. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
It's a bit like samphire, kind of salty, crunchy, juicy. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
'Autumn has always been an important time of year, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
'a last chance to stock up on all the fruits that would see you through the winter. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
'And the craft of preserving them is once again growing in popularity.' | 0:15:03 | 0:15:08 | |
So what is your sloe gin-making technique? | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
-I'd normally get a litre bottle... -Yeah. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:16 | |
Put about a quarter full of sloes. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:18 | |
-OK. -About 400 grams of sugar. -Yeah. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
And then top it off with gin and just keep shaking it every day until it all dissolved. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
Leave it for a while, normally at least three months, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
and you end up with the most delicious drink. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
Yum. They look like big, juicy blackcurrants, | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
but that really isn't how they taste at all. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
They're actually really bitter, kind of like a very unripe plum. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:42 | |
But you can get rid of a lot of that bitterness and that tannin | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
by bruising them and letting them dry out. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
They become a little bit more edible then. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
With our free food gathering done, we head back to camp for a cook up. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:01 | |
And in keeping with the day, Andrew sparks up a fire, bushcraft style. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:06 | |
Two trout appear from his rucksack as the sun sets behind the trees. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:11 | |
It's really interesting, you know. We've been out foraging all day, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
got a table full of food there that we've gathered, | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
and you just realise that actually we're surrounded by a living larder. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
It's really easy to forget that when you buy your food from shops | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
where everything's readily available and you can get blackberries in the summer | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
and in the springtime, | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
and nothing really has its season. But actually, when you come out | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
and you really get amongst it in nature, | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
you realise that there's certain timing for certain things. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
And it makes you appreciate them more, actually. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
-Some greens, Mr Price? -Why not. -Look at that, look at that. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
Ah, this is the perfect end to a great day, Andrew. Thank you. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:52 | |
Oh, it's a pleasure. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:53 | |
Look at what we've got, an absolute feast. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
Muddy, sandy and smelling of wood smoke, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
it was one of the best meals of the year. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
Autumn rolls into November. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
Turning leaves transform our woodlands, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
and as the greens of summer fade into the browns of autumn, | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
I'm off to explore another type of harvest that's beginning in the woods. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
The ancient art of horse logging | 0:17:26 | 0:17:27 | |
has remained largely unchanged for centuries. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
-Hi, morning. -Morning, how are you? -I'm very well, thanks. And you? | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
'Kate Mobbs-Morgan, with her horse Kip, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:41 | |
'runs one of Wales's busiest horse logging companies.' | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
Just shove his bum around. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:48 | |
-Quite a bum to shove around. -It sure is! | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
'With a simple trailer and a lot of horsepower, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
'they shift hundreds of tonnes of timber | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
'out of the forests throughout the autumn.' | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
The collar goes on first. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:02 | |
-Yeah. -We'll put the main harness on that goes around that. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
We're coming into our busiest time of year. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
September to March is the traditional time for this type of work. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
We're not disturbing ground-nesting birds at this time of year. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
Everyone's finished nesting and we can come in without disturbing anyone. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
In the 1950s, there were more than 400 horses working in British forests. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:25 | |
Tough men and even tougher horses | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
dragged millions of trees to our busy sawmills. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:32 | |
But as tractors took over the forest, horse logging declined. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:36 | |
It survived only in forests that were too inaccessible for the big machines to enter. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:43 | |
And the success of a horse logger, as I was about to find out, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:49 | |
depended on that close bond between horse and human. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:54 | |
Right, if I give you these for a moment, I'll pop him into the arch. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
-Thank you. -Good boy. Nice and steady, love. | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
Here's hoping he doesn't bolt while I'm holding on. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
-Right, we're ready to go. -OK. -The command for forward is "walk on," | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
-so if you give him a little tap and ask him to walk forward. -Walk on. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
-It works. -It does. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:12 | |
And if you give the command at the same time as pushing on the pressure... | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
-OK. -What are my commands other than "walk on"? | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
-What you need to know today is "come over," for left. -Yep. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:23 | |
-"Get away" will take him right. -OK. -"Steady, whoa" to stop. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
-And he will come back, he will reverse if you use "back." -OK. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
Horse logging is undergoing a small revival at the moment. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:36 | |
Its lightweight machinery causes much less damage in the autumn woodland. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
People are beginning to realise all over again | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
that environmentally that we make a lot less impact, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
-we can work in much smaller spaces, so we don't need to fell so much timber. -Yeah. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:53 | |
If you're going into a woodland with a big bit of machinery, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
you've got to cut a wide track for the machine to get in, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
a big turning space for them to be able to manoeuvre. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
With the horses, you can leave more of the crop in the woodland | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
and just work through in a much smaller space. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
'But today Kate is working in a densely planted coniferous forest. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:13 | |
'The trees are so close together that only a horse can get in here. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
'And she's given the reins to me.' | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
-Good boy. -Steady. Steady. Whoa, whoa, whoa! | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
Step over. Good boy. Good boy. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
Stop him there. Whoa. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
-Steady. -Steady. Nice and gentle. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
Nice and steady. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
Nice and steady, love. Nice and steady, mate. Good boy. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Nice and steady. Whoa-hoa. Steady. Steady. Nice and gentle. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
-That is absolutely spot-on. -Is that OK? -That's perfect. Yes, well done. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
RENEE SIGHS, KATE LAUGHS | 0:20:51 | 0:20:53 | |
I should have had some L-plates issued this morning. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
I think so, but once you do another 20 tonnes, you'll be absolutely fine. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
-Stand there, love. -Stand. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
It's quite full-on, isn't it? | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
I was ready for a nice relax in the forest. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
I'm looking at the leaves and suddenly you have to really zone in | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
-and think about what you're doing, haven't you? -Yes, you do. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
-It's less work for everybody if you can be quite precise. -Good boy. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
Good boy. Nice and slowly. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
Steady, love, steady. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
'Now, leading a horse with 200kg of tree dragging behind it | 0:21:23 | 0:21:28 | |
'is quite a different prospect than when Kip was on his own.' | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
-If you want to jump over to this side of the timber... -Yep. -That's it. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
-Then you won't bash your ankles as we turn around. -Whoa, whoa, whoa! | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
Come right over. Come over, love. Sorry. Go on. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
-We're stuck. -You can do it. Good boy. Good boy. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
Keeping those two trees on your... That's it. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
Keep him tight to the left. That's it. Left. Left. Whoa! Whoa! | 0:21:48 | 0:21:53 | |
I'm going to take the lines for a minute. Whoa! | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
-Sorry, Renee. -That's OK. -Come right over, love. Come right over, love. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
Now stand there. Stand there. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:01 | |
-OK. -Come over. Whoa-hoa. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:05 | |
OK, you need to be really aware of what's going wrong. What's going on. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:11 | |
-If you try and turn it too tight then it can... -It can jackknife. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
-Yep. -Which is what I nearly just did. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
-I've got a bit of a sweat on! -RENEE LAUGHS | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
'Many logging horses weigh close to a tonne | 0:22:20 | 0:22:24 | |
'but they're often able to lift and drag almost twice their own weight | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
'and when an experienced logger like Kate is working fast | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
'she can move over 50 logs in a day.' | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
Good boy! Good lad. Whoa-hoa! Stand there. And back. Perfect. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:40 | |
Well done, love. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:41 | |
It's a really special relationship that Kate's got with Kip. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:45 | |
She's brought him up from when he was a tiny foal | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
and he just really knows her voice | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
and they can almost kind of read each other's minds. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
It's extraordinary. There's me trying to direct him along, | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
which is all well and good and I can kind of do it a little bit | 0:22:57 | 0:23:01 | |
but nothing quite like what she's doing. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
Good boy. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
'Whilst horse logging will never replace industrial machinery | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
'in the forests, it's fantastic to see it thriving | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
'and the benefits it brings to the autumn woodland.' | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
'Autumn's nearly over. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
'I'm heading south for one last chance to witness a magical event | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
'that brings alive a unique part of the autumn landscape.' | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
This time of year we are surrounded by all different signs | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
and colours of autumn and it's not just on the ground | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
and in the hedges and the treetops that we can see the signs of autumn. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:46 | |
There's something really special that goes on above our heads. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:51 | |
'I'm at the Newport Wetlands Centre on the Gwent Levels. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:54 | |
'438 hectares of marshes | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
'and reed beds stretch out towards the River Severn.' | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
Kevin. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:01 | |
'Kevin Dupe has been in charge here for the last two years | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
'and he's invited me to glimpse a special local spectacle.' | 0:24:05 | 0:24:10 | |
What kind of thing can we expect to see this time of year? | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
In the autumn, one of the wildlife spectacles you can see in Britain | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
is the big starling roosts, | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
and they gather together just before dusk | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
and fly around in these big formations | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
before they go down for the night. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
OK, and what kind of numbers are we talking? | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
Well, we've had about 55,000 here in the last few weeks, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
so hopefully you might see them tonight. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
The reed beds provide a rich source of food | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
and protection for the visiting birds. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
So eyes to the skies, | 0:24:40 | 0:24:41 | |
just waiting in anticipation for what's going to happen. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
Any minute now we should start seeing the first few starlings gathering. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
They're arriving back here from a 30-mile radius all around this area. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:57 | |
The first group of starlings have arrived. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
There's about 30 of them in one little mini-cloud, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
just kind of dancing around. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
So hopefully that'll be the signal for more to arrive. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
There's more and more arriving all the time. More groups. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
It's brilliant watching them twist and turn and dance | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
in perfect acrobatic formation. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
Ah, look at that! | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
These gatherings of starlings are called murmurations. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
Like giant shoals of fish, they're constantly changing shape, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:03 | |
twisting and turning in the evening sky. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
They do this to protect themselves from predators. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
It's much harder for a peregrine falcon to isolate a single bird | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
when they're flying in such tight formation. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:17 | |
And their shape is constantly shifting. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
They're all constantly in a nervous state of energy, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
trying to get into the middle. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
Like other swarms, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:27 | |
starlings do this by watching birds right next to them. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:32 | |
Studies have shown that each starling tracks the movements | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
of seven of its neighbours at a time. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:37 | |
By monitoring these birds, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
the flock is able to maintain itself as a cohesive force. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
We have starlings in the UK all year round, | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
but not in these sorts of numbers. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
The reason that there are so many here at the moment | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
is because thousands upon thousands | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
have been forced over from Eastern Europe, | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
looking for a warmer place to spend the winter | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
and more available food, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:02 | |
but they're not going to hang around here for too long | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
because just as it starts to get a bit colder | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
here in South Wales, they'll start to head further south again. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:11 | |
It just is one of the most incredible things | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
I think I've ever, ever seen. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
It's partly this area's protected status that encourages | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
this acrobatic show. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
If this reserve was lost there is a high chance | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
that these starlings would move elsewhere for their murmuration. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
That's it, they've gone. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
Like that, it's over. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:02 | |
My journey this autumn has taken me to places where landscape, | 0:28:05 | 0:28:10 | |
wildlife and the seasons come together for moments of real beauty. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
GUNSHOTS | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
'Next time I head back up to Gareth's farm | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
'to join his winter pheasant shoot. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
'I'll be working with the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
'in one of their busiest seasons.' | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
Thank you. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:27 | |
'I'll join the outdoor swimming society for a winter dip.' Ohh, good Lord! | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
'And help out at Aberglasny House | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
'as they deal with a particularly mild winter.' | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 |