0:00:22 > 0:00:25Strangford Lough in County Down.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27It's beautiful in all seasons.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Especially in autumn, when tens of thousands of brent geese take
0:00:31 > 0:00:34advantage of tailwinds to carry them from their summer breeding
0:00:34 > 0:00:38grounds in Canada to their winter retreat in Ireland.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48I've come to Castle Espie to meet up with John McCulloch,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50and to see these remarkable birds for myself.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02This is a lovely little sheltered bay here.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04It's got plenty of eelgrass in it.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06This sort of green stuff that you can see, Barra?
0:01:06 > 0:01:07This is what they're here to eat.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10So this bay holds quite a few brent geese.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12When the tide's coming in, you'll get them
0:01:12 > 0:01:15flying over this pier here, and they'll drop in here.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18It's a massive number of the birds that come here.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Yeah, completely significant.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22I mean, brent geese put Strangford Lough on the map.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24This is why this area is so protected.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Because you're really talking about the nearly entire
0:01:27 > 0:01:28world's population of this bird,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31that comes here. It's extremely significant.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38They might be small, but these birds have made
0:01:38 > 0:01:44an incredible 2,500 mile journey to reach our shores.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49They're really relying on a strong northwesterly wind to get here.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50Oh, very much so.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53If the wind is blowing in the wrong direction on migration,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55they'll not move. There's no point. They've only so much energy.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57So what they need is northwesterlies.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59If you can imagine, they're in the Arctic,
0:01:59 > 0:02:01they need to be pushed from behind.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04They're not going to fly into any southerlies coming up, because why?
0:02:04 > 0:02:06You'll expend so much energy.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14How long will they stay here once they arrive?
0:02:14 > 0:02:15Well, they arrive in the autumn.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17And they'll stay right through the winter.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19And then when we hit about April, May,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22what we would consider hopefully to be springtime here,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24they're going to be turning round and they're going to be
0:02:24 > 0:02:26heading back up towards the Arctic.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29They need a good northwesterly wind to get here, so I suppose
0:02:29 > 0:02:32they're looking for a good southeasterly wind to blow back?
0:02:32 > 0:02:33Exactly.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36It's actually even potentially more hazardous on the return,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38because you've probably got the female bird, they've bred,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40the male's got to look after her.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43So they want everything to be perfect on their way back.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47- That's them just out there?- Yeah.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Just in a big raft there. Now that the tide's fully in,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53the birds can't reach the eelgrass below them.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56So they'll actually just go and float out to sea.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58And generally just have a snooze.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01- They just chill on the water until they can feed again?- That's it.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04All it is is sleeping and feeding. That's it.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Five hours of doing nothing, floating on the water?
0:03:06 > 0:03:09- Sound perfect, doesn't it? - Sounds great, doesn't it?
0:03:17 > 0:03:20There's plenty of truth in the saying that a bird in the hand
0:03:20 > 0:03:22is worth two in the bush.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25And I'm going to attempt to get up close, nose to beak,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27with the resident geese.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29I think we've got somebody a little bit hungry.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31Absolutely magnificent bird.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34It's weird, you kind of expect them to bite your hand.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36No biting the hand that feeds you now!
0:03:37 > 0:03:39No? No more, all done?
0:03:49 > 0:03:52As evening falls over Strangford Lough, the brent geese feed
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and settle down for the night in their winter home.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Also, thanks to the Gulfstream, the north coast of Ireland picks up
0:04:17 > 0:04:20consistent amounts of Atlantic swell.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24People say to me, "Barra, I remember summer last year.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26"It was on a Tuesday!"
0:04:26 > 0:04:30We have some of the best beaches in Europe, but it's very rare that
0:04:30 > 0:04:33someone feels brave or optimistic enough to go into the sea.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37But one man who's not afraid to look into the eye of the storm
0:04:37 > 0:04:39is big-wave surfer Al Mennie.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Al has surfed all over the world in search of that perfect wave.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56And weather is the hinge on which surfing depends.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06A surfing globetrotter Al may be,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10but he caught his first wave closer to home.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I got into surfing through being on the beach at Castlerock.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15At the age of nine, my brother and I surfed.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Mum and Dad, we've always had boats in the family,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and that sort of thing. So it seemed normal to be in the sea, you know?
0:05:21 > 0:05:23And when lots of people think of surfing,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25they picture Australia, they picture California.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28But we have people coming from all around the world to surf
0:05:28 > 0:05:30here on the north coast and along the west coast.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Yeah, we have excellent waves here.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36It's colder here, obviously, and it's wild in the winter.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37But we do have very good waves.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40But when you're thinking about surfing,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43you're looking at systems around the globe, almost?
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Yeah, in order for us to get surf here on the north coast, we need
0:05:46 > 0:05:50weather to happen in other parts of the world to send those waves to us.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52There's a misconception where people think, it's really
0:05:52 > 0:05:55windy by the sea today, it'll be really good waves for surfing.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58That's not how it is, that's not the kind of waves we look for.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00In particular, I look for these storms,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03these deep depressions starting to form down in the Atlantic,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05over towards the Caribbean.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Believe it or not, if we see hurricanes down there,
0:06:08 > 0:06:09we're sitting here going,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13there's going to be waves in 7-10 days, sort of thing.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Al's taking me around the coast now to check out
0:06:23 > 0:06:25a few of his favourite surfing spots.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30What's the highest wave you've surfed off the coast of Ireland?
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Probably over 60 feet.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Impressive. Was that during a storm of some sort?
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Yeah, that was actually back in 2008.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40At the time, it was the biggest recorded swell in the Atlantic.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42All this technology, we can see all the different swells
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and the wind forecast and everything coming together,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47and they can predict where the waves are coming to.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56And sometimes, Al finds big waves in unexpected locations.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00# Lady, running down to the riptide
0:07:00 > 0:07:02# Taken away to the dark side
0:07:02 > 0:07:04# I want to be your left-hand man. #
0:07:06 > 0:07:10And sometimes it's Al who provides the photo opportunity.
0:07:11 > 0:07:12We're at the Giant's Causeway,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16one of our most popular tourist destinations, to see all the rocks.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19But you like to come here to surf. How dangerous is it?
0:07:19 > 0:07:21This is one of the most dangerous places you can go surfing,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23and I would not advise it to anybody.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27It is dangerous here, because of all the rocks in particular.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28It just gets battered here,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31it's an extremely rough, wild part of the coast.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34And these are the charts that you use to figure out where to go?
0:07:34 > 0:07:37This is an Admiralty chart, it shows the depth of the ocean
0:07:37 > 0:07:39and various currents and various things on it.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42If you look on here, this is where we are at the minute, just here.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44I look at the depth of the sea, and then
0:07:44 > 0:07:48I look at what direction we're going to get our swell, things like that.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50So if you imagine, I'm sitting out here normally.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53On a big day, I'd be sitting around here, where we are,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57I'm looking for a big storm way up in the North Atlantic.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58Way, way up there.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So the winds are kept away from us, it's all crazy chaos out there.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03And it pushes these swells in towards the coast, like that.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05And then locally, we've got local weather system,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07which is giving us light offshore winds, that's ideal.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11- They push off against the swell, clean it all up. - Smoothing out the waves.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Smoothing it out. And if you look here, we've got these massive cliffs.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16They kill the wind, so if it's a really strong, windy day,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19for example, say it's 25mph wind, that big cliff
0:08:19 > 0:08:21will knock that wind out of it, so it could be down to ten.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23So in here it can be nice and smooth and clean,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26despite out here being very rough.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Al's enthusiasm is infectious.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30And I certainly wasn't going to let
0:08:30 > 0:08:33one of the best surfers in the world go without a lesson.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35# I got knocked down
0:08:35 > 0:08:37# But I'll get up
0:08:37 > 0:08:39# I got knocked down
0:08:39 > 0:08:41# But I'll get up
0:08:41 > 0:08:45# I got knocked down...
0:08:45 > 0:08:47OK, it isn't a 60 foot wave,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49but it's still a huge achievement for me.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51# I got knocked down
0:08:51 > 0:08:52# But I'll get up. #