0:00:02 > 0:00:06This is the wildest, most remote part of the British Isles.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10It's called St Kilda.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14A handful of rocks out in the Atlantic Ocean, over 100 miles
0:00:14 > 0:00:18from the mainland, it's the most secret place in Britain.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27Home to sea birds and seals, these islands are also a place of mystery.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Until just 80 years ago,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33St Kilda was inhabited by a race of people
0:00:33 > 0:00:36who lived in an extraordinary way.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40But when they suddenly abandoned their homes,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44they left behind a place full of secrets.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49St Kilda is Britain's very own Lost World.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55Today historian Dan Snow, naturalist Steve Backshall and me, Kate Humble,
0:00:55 > 0:01:02are going to venture there, to explore, to experience, and to unravel the secrets of St Kilda.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04For the first time ever,
0:01:04 > 0:01:11we have the technological know-how to do a really thorough investigation
0:01:11 > 0:01:16of one of the wildest places, if not the wildest, in the British Isles.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21But it's a tough assignment.
0:01:21 > 0:01:27We want to find out just who were the strange and remarkable St Kildans?
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Why did they leave?
0:01:32 > 0:01:37And can St Kilda's amazing wildlife survive in the modern world?
0:01:37 > 0:01:41To do that, we'll be scaling the cliffs...
0:01:42 > 0:01:46..diving into ancient caves beneath the sea...
0:01:46 > 0:01:48..talking to baby puffins...
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Dear little thing!
0:01:51 > 0:01:54..and turning Robinson Crusoe.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58This is going to be really quite something.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02All to unlock the secrets of Britain's Lost World.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15This is one of those adventures that only come along once in a lifetime,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18a chance to sail into the unknown.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But no-one said adventure comes easy.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27The crossing to St Kilda is going to take us six hours in an open boat.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31I'm already wishing that I'd skipped my breakfast!
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I can see why people don't go to St Kilda very often!
0:02:35 > 0:02:37It's Hell!
0:02:38 > 0:02:43The boys stay annoyingly chipper, their eyes fixed on the horizon.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47We've been going for about five hours now and we've just
0:02:47 > 0:02:51really got for the first time these ominous shapes on the skyline.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Although it looks imposing at the moment, it's a really welcome sight.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57We just can't wait to get to dry land.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01- And it, it has a real lost world quality about it.- Yeah!
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The way that the clouds are hanging so low over it, it's just...
0:03:04 > 0:03:08The jagged rocks over on that coast there, that's incredible, isn't it?
0:03:10 > 0:03:14There it is, our first proper sight of St Kilda.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Shrouded in mist, with sea birds pouring off huge sea cliffs coming
0:03:19 > 0:03:23just to check us out, it's like Mother Nature's final frontier.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37I've never seen anything like it.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40It's like, like coming to another world. It's so surreal
0:03:40 > 0:03:43after that six hours of just having your head down and thinking,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46when will this journey be over, when will it be over?
0:03:46 > 0:03:49And suddenly this appears out of the gloom
0:03:49 > 0:03:54and you've got all these gannets ahead, it's like we're coming into their territory.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And there's, oh, my word! Wow.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Everywhere you look there's just another incredible vista.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07I can't believe that humans actually lived there. I mean, it seems like something primeval
0:04:07 > 0:04:10- and yet humans lived on top of that. - I can't believe anyone GOT here!
0:04:12 > 0:04:16At last, Village Bay on the main island.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20It seems like ghosts are watching us from their abandoned homes,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24but only the seals come out to greet us.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29It's a truly eerie place to arrive, but we're glad we have.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35I can see why people kiss the land.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Well done, Kate.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Oh! Dry land!
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Thank God!
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- That was a passage. You all right? - Yep.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02St Kilda is a small cluster of breathtaking islands,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06all that remains of a huge 60 million-year-old volcano.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11The biggest island is Hirta with its horseshoe-shaped harbour bay.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Spectacular Boreray and its sea stacks lie four miles away.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26These islands are shrouded in mystery.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28How long did people live here?
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Why did they leave?
0:05:30 > 0:05:36And can this precious part of our natural heritage survive in the modern world?
0:05:36 > 0:05:40We've got just ten days to find out.
0:05:42 > 0:05:43I can't believe I'm here.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46I can't believe I'm on St Kilda.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51It may look a little bit grey and drizzly but, this place, if you are into wildlife,
0:05:51 > 0:05:57if you are into really remote, wild places, this is the ultimate.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04I just can't wait to go and explore it, to go and stand
0:06:04 > 0:06:09on one of those cliffs and listen to a cacophony of sea birds.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14I've always wanted to come to St Kilda because even though it is within the British Isles, it's as
0:06:14 > 0:06:18isolated as any island community anywhere on the planet.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22It's very exciting because I've got the opportunity to come here and try
0:06:22 > 0:06:26and find out a bit more, like just how long people have been here and how they first got here.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32But for now it's getting dark, and we are all completely shattered.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37There are no hotels on St Kilda, so we're going to make do with three
0:06:37 > 0:06:40tiny tents, but at least we're not sharing!
0:06:40 > 0:06:45Welcome to Camp St Kilda, home sweet home.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Dan, you snore like a train.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06You couldn't possibly have heard him over all this weather.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Oh, no, he doesn't snore at all!
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Right, come on, chaps.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14It's amazing to wake up here,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18surrounded by the remains of centuries of human life.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The extent of these ruins is really... It's a lot of habitation,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24and it's amazing this island would support so many people.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26That's the most surprising thing.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30You'd think that they would have gathered in a little cluster
0:07:30 > 0:07:34for sort of protection, but it's really strung out isn't it? Sort of,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38basically one line of houses all the way along.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41We want to find out what it was like to live here
0:07:41 > 0:07:42and why the St Kildans left,
0:07:42 > 0:07:47so the best place to start is here in the abandoned village.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54This is what remains of Main Street,
0:07:54 > 0:07:5880 years after the St Kildans deserted it,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and this is how it was back then.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08This rare footage gives us a tantalising glimpse into their lives,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11young and old huddled together in these islands
0:08:11 > 0:08:13on the edge of the world.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18From writings and photographs, we know they lived in a very simple but unique way,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22catching the sea birds that nest on St Kilda's rocky cliffs.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Although they were part of Britain,
0:08:28 > 0:08:34they grew up in a world far away from doctors, telephones, newspapers and radios,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38or any home comforts of the 20th century.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Modern life had passed them by.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44It was a community so remote and so strange
0:08:44 > 0:08:48that they were known as "Britain's own primitives."
0:08:50 > 0:08:56In 1930, the St Kildans left, abandoning their homes forever.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59But why did they decide to go?
0:08:59 > 0:09:02And what can we find out from the houses they used to live in?
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Remarkably, many of the traditional buildings still stand,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13and it's the more modern cottages which have fallen into ruin,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16although a few have been recently restored.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20This is great!
0:09:20 > 0:09:24So often with archaeological sites you really have to use your imagination
0:09:24 > 0:09:27to imagine what a building looked like, or a settlement.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31But this is very clear. It was the main street of St Kilda and you can
0:09:31 > 0:09:36see this line of cottages stretching away there to the distance.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40These more modern cottages were brought in, in around the 1860s.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42These were the sort of latest thing in Glasgow,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45zinc plating for roofs, lovely glass windows.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Perfect, you would think, but,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52you look at the cottages over there.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Those ones just show how bad the St Kilda weather can be.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59As soon as the people left, the roofs have disappeared.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02And I think that was probably the problem.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06You know, they lived in these stone huts with turf roofs for hundreds of years,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10they had those raw materials, they knew how to work them.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Bring in zinc, which they can't get here, bring in glass, which they can't replace,
0:10:14 > 0:10:19and suddenly they are living in a noisy, leaky building
0:10:19 > 0:10:22that they have no means or wherewithal to fix.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28So, they were probably an awful lot better off in those little stone piles.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33So what would it have been like to live in one of the older traditional stone houses?
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Dan, our history expert, should know.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41I mean, on the same street, you've got your kind of 18th-century windows and roof tops, and then
0:10:41 > 0:10:45this, which is really older than time itself. Just pile up rocks,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48put a bit of timber and turf on top and it's a house,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50and you keep your animals in there. No window.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52They were called black houses,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56because you lit a fire with nowhere for the smoke to escape so everything went black.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00- Animals as well.- Oh, really! - You slept in here with the animals.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06- Oh, it must have been dark, smelly and rife with kind of...- Everything.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10It was, but funnily enough the body heat from the animals would help to keep this area warm.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15- I suppose.- It was practical but of course, you probably wouldn't want to live in one now.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18No. Which reminds me, have a look at these.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22- Right, hand on a second, through the nettles.- I know, I know, but you know...
0:11:22 > 0:11:26These presumably, all these out here, they aren't...
0:11:26 > 0:11:29They're not like the houses for the kids or anything are they?
0:11:29 > 0:11:33No, they're Wendy houses! That's one of the first thing I noticed
0:11:33 > 0:11:36coming here, all these cleits, they're storehouses.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40- Oh, right!- They're built along the same lines as the black houses, but they're just for storing
0:11:40 > 0:11:44all the bird carcases and rope and everything. Peat that you might cut.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Well, there's no room in the house with your animals and your family.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51There are over 1,000 of these cleits on the islands.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55They are unique, nowhere else in the world has buildings like them.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00They were outdoor larders where the St Kildans would store and dry their food.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01this is very substantial.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Imagine moving these rocks, this is a serious bit of engineering for a family.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- To be honest, there's been a lot of sheep and dead things in there recently, haven't there?- Yeah.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14What do you reckon Kate, a little stroll in?
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Oh, you can actually stand up in this one.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- This is huge! - Yeah, it's huge, isn't it?
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Wow, it's an amazing piece of architecture.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Yeah, I know. And there are hundreds of them. Hundreds of them.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Everywhere you look.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34The St Kildans were clearly accomplished house builders, but their traditional houses
0:12:34 > 0:12:39served their unique lifestyle far better than the more modern houses they ended up in.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42This could have been one reason why they left.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47But what was it that made their lifestyle so unique?
0:12:47 > 0:12:51To find out, we need to look at their almost total reliance
0:12:51 > 0:12:54on the island's greatest natural resource,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56its sea birds.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05St Kilda is one of the most important bird colonies in the world
0:13:05 > 0:13:09with over a million sea birds arriving every spring.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13There are over a hundred different species on the islands
0:13:13 > 0:13:17and you can witness some startling sights throughout the year.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Among them are the gannets
0:13:19 > 0:13:23who dive for fish like fighter planes, at up to 60mph.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27It's also home to thousands of fulmars, who defend themselves
0:13:27 > 0:13:31by vomiting acidic oil at anyone who threatens them.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40And it's famous for its puffin colony, the largest in Europe -
0:13:40 > 0:13:43they nest here throughout the summer.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48It was this abundant birdlife
0:13:48 > 0:13:52the St Kildans ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00But with the birds perched high on the cliffs and sea stacks around St Kilda,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03catching them took death-defying nerve.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08This amazing footage from the 1920s shows the St Kildan men
0:14:08 > 0:14:13abseiling down to collect birds from their nests during the summer months.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17This was a unique and extraordinarily dangerous lifestyle.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21To find out just how they did it, I'm going to give it a go myself.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29The relationship the St Kildans had with the sea birds that live here
0:14:29 > 0:14:32may nowadays seem, well, pretty unpalatable really.
0:14:32 > 0:14:38But the reality is that the gannets, the guillemots, the puffins, the fulmars were their main harvest
0:14:38 > 0:14:41and without them they would have starved to death.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45The St Kildan men killed tens of thousands of sea birds every year
0:14:45 > 0:14:48using primitive snares like this one here.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54It would consist of a simple split cane, then a gannet quill,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59and a noose at the end here, made probably out of horse hair.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Once the snare was round the bird's neck, there was no escape.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08The St Kildans were extraordinary cragsmen, they could get about on
0:15:08 > 0:15:11even the most vertical of cliff faces going hunting for birds.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17And myself, and my climbing partner, Cubby, are going to see what it must have been like for them
0:15:17 > 0:15:20heading across those cliff faces in any kind of weather.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24The only real nod that we are having for modern safety techniques
0:15:24 > 0:15:30is the helmet and in order for it to be really genuine, I'm going to have to lose the shoes.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36- You OK?- Absolutely, yes.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41The St Kildans climbed barefoot, so I'm going to have to, too.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45I've climbed all over the world but never like this, no chalk,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50no boots, no harness, hanging on the end of hemp rope 400 feet above the sea.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58It certainly takes a bit of getting used to, but the St Kildan men would
0:15:58 > 0:16:02do this all the time, like bringing in the milk from the doorstep!
0:16:07 > 0:16:12And doing this so often completely changes the shape of their feet.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16You can see in this Victorian photo, the St Kildan foot on the right, is
0:16:16 > 0:16:20broader, with a stronger ankle and toes that grip the rock.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29The St Kildans would often go out hunting on a moonless night, over on Boreray.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33They'd go for gannets, and the trick with those,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36was to kill the sentry bird, that was the one that stayed awake.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40And once you'd got that one, getting the rest was comparatively easy.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Here though, it was mostly fulmars that they went for,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49and if you get too close to fulmars, they vomit a nasty oil all over you,
0:16:49 > 0:16:55but that precious oil is one of the main things that they were actually catching them for.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02Fulmar oil was used for medicine, lighting and greasing the ropes that they climbed with.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06But mainly fulmars were just food.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10In the summer season, the St Kildans would eat them freshly boiled,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14but through the winter they'd live off dried and salted fulmar meat.
0:17:14 > 0:17:20It's estimated that every year each St Kildan would eat 350 sea birds.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26You can see how, once you get the hang of it, this is an effective way of moving around the rock face
0:17:26 > 0:17:28from one fixed point at the top.
0:17:28 > 0:17:35You can get yourself in a good position and really move easily about laterally.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37It's a great way of getting to different nests.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42It's no wonder they could catch so many birds in a day.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48I can see now what a good way this was of making your way about
0:17:48 > 0:17:52the cliff, and it would be impossible to catch these birds any other way.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55But it is very potentially very dangerous.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Occasionally St Kildan men would fall hundreds of feet to their deaths
0:17:59 > 0:18:04and some days the prospect of heading out onto these cliffs, in all weathers,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06must have filled them with utter dread.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Despite all that though, part of me does still envy them.
0:18:10 > 0:18:16I guess, to many people the St Kildan way of life must make no sense at all, but for me,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19on the rock with the elements and the sea birds
0:18:19 > 0:18:22I think I'd take this over the banality of mainland life any day.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Today the bird life is no longer on the menu, thank goodness.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34In fact, as a World Heritage Site,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38all the birds are actively protected.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40But that doesn't mean they're not under threat,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43and that includes one of my personal faves.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47I think few people would disagree when I say that the puffin
0:18:47 > 0:18:52is the most adorable of the world's sea birds and St Kilda is famous for them.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Now Sarah Money who works for the National Trust has been monitoring all the sea birds on St Kilda
0:18:56 > 0:19:04for the past three years, and I'm going to join her to go and see the biggest puffin colony in Britain.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07These are North Atlantic puffins, and they live
0:19:07 > 0:19:12by diving for small fish, their favourite being juicy sand eels.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Although there are still lots of puffins here,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22their numbers have dropped by over a 100,000 in the last ten years.
0:19:22 > 0:19:29I've joined Sarah to try and find out why, but I'm rapidly starting to regret that decision!
0:19:29 > 0:19:32- This is so stupid.- It's ridiculous.
0:19:32 > 0:19:39The puffin burrows on Carn Mhor on the west of Hirta are on such steep slippy slopes, down hundreds of feet
0:19:39 > 0:19:45onto the rocks, I don't even dare stand up, but with only a week before the pufflings leave the nest,
0:19:45 > 0:19:51it's essential that Sarah gets an idea as to how well the chicks are developing.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I don't know how she does it.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55You'd think she was walking on a cricket pitch.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00Working on these ridiculously steep slopes is not the only problem though.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05Finding a burrow that's actually occupied can prove to be just as difficult.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09- We've got a burrow here that looks it might be active as well.- Oh, yes.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Yeah, you can see it's been scraped as well. Just take my rucksack off.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16I'll hold that.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Yep. That's great. So the technique is very simple -
0:20:20 > 0:20:22you just put your arm down the burrow
0:20:22 > 0:20:25until you find something fluffy at the end.
0:20:25 > 0:20:26Hopefully.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28Simple but messy.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33They go quite a long way in, don't they?
0:20:33 > 0:20:38I can't actually get to the back of that burrow, but what I might have is a pike fish for you.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Oh, really!
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Oh, my goodness!
0:20:44 > 0:20:45That is not a good sign...
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- Look at that!- ..At all.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Presumably, the main thing that it is not a good sign of
0:20:51 > 0:20:53is that they are simply not eating them.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59Nope, and you can see, and then the chick is going to be that long, these fish are longer than the chick.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02And it's only that little bit that's got meat on,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05it's hardly any meat if you feel it, you can just feel the spine.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08It's a sign that there's not other good fish for them to eat.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13So they are having to catch these in lieu of something like sand eels which would be so much better.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17- Yeah, full of nutrition. - Is this a sign
0:21:17 > 0:21:22that the birds simply aren't adapting quickly enough?
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Yeah. In the last few decades, the temperature of the sea has gone up
0:21:25 > 0:21:29and evolution takes thousands and thousands of years to adapt. So...
0:21:29 > 0:21:32God, that's extraordinary.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36That must be quite a gloomy sight for you.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It's never a good sign, I mean we've seen them early on in the season,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41bring quite a lot of sand eels back.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46And then in the last week or so they are starting to bring in pike fish, so it's not great.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51The search for an occupied burrow goes on for another precarious hour,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54until finally, we hit puffling pay dirt.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- Oh, I've got one.- You've got one!
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Fantastic! OK.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Not coming out willingly, is it?
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Oh, oh, look at
0:22:18 > 0:22:20that pike fish.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24I've got him. Oh, look, little thing.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28That's no fun is it? You don't want to be eating that.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29Should we remove that?
0:22:29 > 0:22:32I think it would probably cause more damage than good.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35I think we'd leave it. It seems to be quite floppy, so it hasn't
0:22:35 > 0:22:38dried out, so it's not going to choke it, it doesn't seem too distressed.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44It's extraordinary that that bill, completely different.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Picking up this chick, you would never know that it was a puffin, would you?
0:22:48 > 0:22:52- Cos the colours really only come out in the breeding season.- Yeah.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Yes, of the adults, the coloured bit on the bill is just plates,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58and they fall off, so if you see them in the winter,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02- they look nothing like an adult puffin at all. - Just the plain, dark coloured bill.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Not happy. Come on, I know.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09There you are, look. And then just...
0:23:10 > 0:23:13There just, on the top of it.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17So this age, a healthy chick, what sort of weight would you expect?
0:23:17 > 0:23:18You are looking for about 250.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22- 250 grams?- Yeah, I think yeah, between 200 and 250.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Hmmm... It's not too bad actually,
0:23:26 > 0:23:32that's saying 240g, so if we take the 50 off for the bag,
0:23:32 > 0:23:37that's 190, so it's not disastrous but it's not great.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And as you say, it's obviously pike fish that they are bringing in now.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Yeah but I think he has had an OK start, he's not doing too bad.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46So you think that this little fella...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48- Yeah, if he gets...- ..might make it.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50A few more good meals,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I think. Less of these I think.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58So the warmer sea water means fewer sand eels and some pretty hungry pufflings.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Scurrying back in quite quickly.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06- In he goes. Not disastrous news.- No.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09- But not great either.- But not enough to have us whooping down the cliff.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Let's hope that St Kilda still has puffins for many years to come.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18- They are St Kilda, so...- They are. They are, they are St Kilda for sure.
0:24:30 > 0:24:36Back at base camp, we can't help but wonder how people survived here on St Kilda.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39It is a joy to be here, though I have to say that physically,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44visually, this place has lived up to all my expectations and then some.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48What's interesting is I wonder whether a human population could
0:24:48 > 0:24:53survive here, now, with the pressure that's being put on the birds.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58It would be a very, very tough job having to feed a family on the birds that live here.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03You know, they seem to be everywhere but you approach close to them, with anything other than
0:25:03 > 0:25:08utter silence when you are going down a hemp rope from you know, 80-90 metres up and they disappear.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12So, you know, it's not exactly easy grub.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15That's when the weather is good, there's plenty around, and you're fit.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18You know, any, any one of those legs gets knocked out from the table
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and you are in big trouble, your family is starving.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Yes, imagine you have a kid with a guillemot allergy, then what do you do?
0:25:25 > 0:25:26Eat the kid!
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Next morning I'm taking our quest to reveal how the St Kildans used to live to the next level.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46I'm preparing to venture to the furthest reaches of the annual
0:25:46 > 0:25:48bird harvest, to somewhere so inaccessible,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51I'm having to take my own camera to document it.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54One two, one two, one two.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Boreray, St Kilda's second largest island,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03lies four miles away across often hostile seas.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12The island is protected by jagged cliffs up to four times the height of the white cliffs of Dover.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25It's home to one of the world's largest northern gannet colonies, and the St Kildans would go there
0:26:25 > 0:26:29once or twice a year to harvest the birds from the cliffs and sea stacks.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35One of these expeditions led to high drama when three men
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and eight boys were trapped there for nine months back in 1724.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48How did they survive there for so long?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51And what did that sort of isolation feel like?
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Well, I'm going to get a taster for myself by spending the night there.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59It's going to be a real challenge.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Not least because Dan's going to be taking me there,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05in the traditional St Kildan way.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08What on earth is that?!
0:27:08 > 0:27:12This, my boy, is the boat that's going to get you...to Boreray.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14No questions asked.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17These are the kind of boats, clinker-built wooden boats,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20they would've been using for the last hundred years in St Kilda.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25We've got perfect weather for it, light wind out of the west, beautiful flat seas.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30- I've got a good feeling about this! - This isn't going to get us out the harbour, I gave you one job!
0:27:30 > 0:27:32One job and you come us with this!
0:27:32 > 0:27:34You've got one job which is holding that bailing.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Luxury...
0:27:41 > 0:27:43a finer vessel I've never seen.
0:27:47 > 0:27:48Nicely done.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Two hours' time, my boy, we're going to be in Boreray.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56I can't believe I'm bailing already, this is insane!
0:27:56 > 0:27:58There is a lot of water in this boat.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05The last time I was in a boat like this I was on the Serpentine with a beautiful girl in the back.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08It gets better for you, doesn't it?
0:28:10 > 0:28:14- We've got the first bit of equipment failure here, look at this thing... - Oh, dear!
0:28:14 > 0:28:17LAUGHTER
0:28:17 > 0:28:21The water is absolutely p...ing in!
0:28:21 > 0:28:24100 metres out.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26A few running repairs already.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33I've been reading up about how the St Kildans did this. They only had one boat for the one
0:28:33 > 0:28:37village up until sort of 1870s, and there was one famous story
0:28:37 > 0:28:41of a loaded boat full of cargo which set off for the Harris Islands,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and was never heard of again, completely disappeared.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46That won't happen to us.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54I'm very impressed, mate, you can tell you are a rower.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Well...one of my few talents.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Being as your two talents are rowing and history and we are rowing
0:29:00 > 0:29:03in a boat that should've been consigned to a museum...
0:29:03 > 0:29:06- this is perfect! - This should just be my speed.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14It really doesn't look that far away now.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18- From where you're sitting! - No, seriously, I think we are going to make this.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20We're taking lots of water, but it's...
0:29:20 > 0:29:23hopefully manageable, and the waves aren't too big.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30I tell you what, there's an almighty leak just down there.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34- Bubbling up?- Yeah. It's squirting through the boards.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36- Is it a squirter?- Yeah.
0:29:36 > 0:29:37LAUGHTER
0:29:37 > 0:29:39This is now a first.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47I don't want to be a killjoy, but we're looking low at the stern,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49it's getting pretty hard to...
0:29:49 > 0:29:53We've got a major leak right underneath, you'll see it, sprung up.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05It's like having three extra people in here.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14I don't want to be the first guy to say this, but do you think we should get a safety boat in?
0:30:14 > 0:30:18We're up to our knees now, actually! Shall I bounce?
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Oh, that's not helping.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29No, pass me that bucket!
0:30:36 > 0:30:43- It was a valiant attempt. - Aren't we supposed to go down with a sinking ship? Oh, ooh ooh ooh!
0:30:43 > 0:30:45OK, get your kit out, let's go.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47It was a good voyage!
0:30:51 > 0:30:54I'm the last man out, see you later.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Oh, it was...a noble attempt, Steve.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06LAUGHTER
0:31:07 > 0:31:10I don't suppose you'd give me a lift to that island?
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Oh, oh!
0:31:12 > 0:31:14To be honest...
0:31:14 > 0:31:17I'm having trouble pretending that I'm disappointed.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Oh, well, another piece of St Kildan history lost!
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Look at that, that is unbelievable these are all gannets, all of them!
0:31:40 > 0:31:43That is fantastic!
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Very few people have ever set foot on Boreray.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57Its treacherous rocky sides make it impossible to land a boat.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Listen, I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm gonna hop in,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06and then if you can chuck me a rope, pull over the gear on the rope...
0:32:06 > 0:32:08- No problem. - ..and then wave you goodbye.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12So there's nothing else for it, and if I'm honest,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14I quite fancy a swim.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23How is it, Steve?
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Very cold is how it is, Dan!
0:32:39 > 0:32:41All right, buddy, well...
0:32:41 > 0:32:43I'll see you later then.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44See you later, guys.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53For the next 24 hours I'm going to be left to explore Boreray without my fellow presenters...
0:32:55 > 0:32:58..and to tell you the truth, I can't wait.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05That's the first difficult bit over and done with.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Now I've got the great privilege of being able to explore this island
0:33:08 > 0:33:12which probably receives less than a visitor every couple of years.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16This is going to be really quite something.
0:33:16 > 0:33:17I'm heading up there.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Boreray and its sea stacks, are the only place on St Kilda
0:33:31 > 0:33:33that has northern gannets,
0:33:33 > 0:33:37and the St Kildans would come here every September to catch them.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39They were mainly after the babies
0:33:39 > 0:33:42which were oilier and fattier than the adults.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46In just a day or so each collector would catch up to 300 birds.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Borerary's ledges were like supermarket shelves -
0:33:49 > 0:33:52there were certainly plenty to chose from here.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Oh, wow!
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Just got my first view...
0:33:56 > 0:33:57of the two stacks, oh!
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Surrounded by...more birds than I've ever seen in my life.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The air is just thick with gannets.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14It's...the most majestic thing I've ever seen in the British Isles.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37This is the largest breeding colony of gannets in the world.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43They are such beautiful birds. It's our largest sea bird.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47It looks as if it's kind of dunked its head in butterscotch
0:34:47 > 0:34:50and it has almost kohl like an Egyptian around the eyes.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Really delightful birds.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59It's fabulous watching all the jostling going on on the ledges.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03Some of them have got chicks, others you can see nuzzling each other,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07preening each other, obviously little rituals going on between partnerships.
0:35:07 > 0:35:13Occasionally because the ledges are so small, they knock other gannets off the ledges which turn off,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16do a couple of circuits, and come back in and land again.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39Catching the gannets on these cliffs must have been incredibly dangerous.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45The St Kildans themselves had wonderful names for these places.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48This is known as the "Cliff of Thunders",
0:35:48 > 0:35:51and that below me is "Vertigo Slope",
0:35:51 > 0:35:53and...it's very well named.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Maybe if I take this off the tripod I can show you why.
0:36:11 > 0:36:17The ground here is pockmarked with puffin burrows, incredibly unstable
0:36:17 > 0:36:22and dropping away thousands of feet down to the sea below.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27It's not a place you would want to be in a howling gale, but right now
0:36:27 > 0:36:30it's about the most beautiful place I think I've ever seen.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35Beautiful but perilous.
0:36:35 > 0:36:41In 1724 there was an expedition that went spectacularly wrong.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Three men and eight boys came to harvest the gannets,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48but the boat to collect them didn't return.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53They were stranded here for nine, long months, all through the winter.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59How they managed to survive, no-one really knows.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02They must've eaten the gannets for food, probably raw.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08I can see there are some cleats they could have slept in,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10but what did they drink?
0:37:11 > 0:37:16Despite the amount of rainfall here there's precious little fresh water on Boreray.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19The guys who were stuck here
0:37:19 > 0:37:22must have had to survive on little puddles like this.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30Yeah, it's kind of sweet, but there's an awful lot of bugs and things in there.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33You live on that for long, you'd get all sorts of nasty diseases.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40They had absolutely no idea why no-one had come to pick them up.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42All they could do was wait...
0:37:44 > 0:37:45..and wait.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57It's just unimaginably beautiful.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03But for the St Kildans who were trapped here,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05you know, they can see their homeland,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07their families are just there,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10but it would be totally impossible to make any contact with them.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16They'd have been sat here every evening just praying to see a boat,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19but never knowing if anyone was going to come and rescue them.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24It must have been just the most incredibly melancholy experience.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30It was only when a boat from mainland Scotland came by
0:38:30 > 0:38:33that the stranded St Kildans were rescued.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36And when they sailed back in to Village Bay,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39they finally discovered why no-one had come to get them.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43The community had been devastated by smallpox.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47They had left behind them 120 family and friends.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52They came home to find only 30 of them still alive.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Perhaps the stranded men and boys had been the lucky ones after all.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06My short time on Boreray has been magical.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09But just as I'm getting myself comfortable,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11I get an unexpected call from the producer.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18'Just to keep you informed, it looks like there's a severe
0:39:18 > 0:39:22'weather front coming in faster than previously forecast.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24'If sea conditions worsen,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27'there's a chance the boat won't be able to collect you, over.'
0:39:29 > 0:39:32It seems hard to believe the weather could change so quickly,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36but I'll just have to wait and see what the morning holds.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50Just woken up.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53It's really rather early...
0:39:53 > 0:39:56and although it's beautiful still,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59the waves here are starting to break into white caps.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03There's quite a lot of swell and the wind is really racing,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06and the clouds are moving at a terrific pace.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11So, I'm not sure that the little boat is going to be able to come out and get me.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed and wait for a call.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Soon the whole scenery of the islands starts to change,
0:40:19 > 0:40:24the clouds darken, and the waves pick up even further.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27It seems things are taking a turn for the worse.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34'The situation this morning is the tide and the surge
0:40:34 > 0:40:37'is too strong for a RIB to get to you, over.'
0:40:39 > 0:40:42OK, so what's your solution, then?
0:40:42 > 0:40:46'The solution has become that the coast guard are going
0:40:46 > 0:40:49'to come in, and they are going to winch you off, over.'
0:40:53 > 0:40:57OK, approximately what time will that happen then, John?
0:40:57 > 0:41:01'That's going to happen in the next, possibly half an hour, over.'
0:41:04 > 0:41:08With no boat able reach me and a storm apparently on the way,
0:41:08 > 0:41:09my options are limited.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13This is the St Kilda I'd been told to expect.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Everyone on the main island has been monitoring the weather closely
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and they're insisting there's a heavy weather pattern coming in
0:41:24 > 0:41:27which could see me stranded here for several days.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30So they've sent in this helicopter to pick me up.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35As the helicopter gets closer I'm going to have to put the camera away
0:41:35 > 0:41:40because we can't have anything flapping around that might get entangled in the rotors.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42So I think these are my last words for a bit.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03I never imagined that I'd be leaving Boreray quite like this.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Though I can see that leaving me high on the cliffs exposed
0:42:08 > 0:42:11to the elements would be risky, part of me still wants to stay.
0:42:11 > 0:42:17Especially as I know the St Kildans never had the luxury of a helicopter to rescue them.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21I guess I've learnt the hard way how dangerous and changeable the weather can be here.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24And how precarious life was for the people of these islands.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43It's only a few days into our mission and we're making progress.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46We've found out how the St Kildans hunted,
0:42:46 > 0:42:48what they ate, where they lived
0:42:48 > 0:42:53and just how tough and unpredictable life could be on these islands.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56But for how long were these islands inhabited?
0:42:56 > 0:42:59We know the St Kildans in these photographs spoke Gaelic
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and so must have come originally from Ireland or Scotland.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05But who, if anyone, lived here before them?
0:43:05 > 0:43:09And are there clues on the island to help us find out?
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Using a simple map of St Kildan place names, I'm going to do a bit of detective work.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22I've been poking around the village and there's evidence of all the settlement,
0:43:22 > 0:43:27but there's some clues on St Kilda which makes me think it's been settled for a lot longer.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32There's Viking names all around the coast. Now 1,200 years ago the Vikings burst out across the
0:43:32 > 0:43:35North Atlantic, they conquered and settled and raided, and this island
0:43:35 > 0:43:38was no exception. They were excellent sailors.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42They'd have known to come in here during a big northerly or westerly gale for shelter.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45Where I am now, I am coming up to Orseval
0:43:45 > 0:43:48which means Eastern Hill in Old Norse.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52I mean the name St Kilda itself, or the name Hirta, in fact is possibly
0:43:52 > 0:43:56the Old Norse for stag, and perhaps that refers to its jagged outline.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58At sea, the silhouette looks like a stag's horn.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Then there's Boreray which means Fort Island.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05It might've been used as a fort by the Vikings, or just looked like a fort.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09This is Askin and Scarab, the rock of the cormorant.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11All around the coast we've got Norse names.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16The big question I'm wondering is, did they just come here and raid and plunder
0:44:16 > 0:44:19or did they come on a more permanent basis and settle?
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Hiking back inland, I'm looking for any names
0:44:22 > 0:44:26on the map that will give me clues about the Vikings settling here.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Now this little dry burn here, this little dry stream has got
0:44:29 > 0:44:33my favourite name I think it's called 'Alvin Aleshkow' which is very interesting.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36It's a mixture of the Gaelic and the Viking names
0:44:36 > 0:44:39for this stream, it means, "stream stream of the spring."
0:44:39 > 0:44:45The reason stream is repeated is cos Gaelic settlers would've learnt the name of this and then renamed it.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49It's like an English person going to Scotland and calling something Lake of the Loch.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53I think it means that later Gaelic settlers learnt lots
0:44:53 > 0:44:56of these place names from the Vikings and adapted them.
0:44:57 > 0:45:03I can see that there are more Viking names inland, and one for an important source of water.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07OK, somewhere around here is the well for the village called Toba Kilda, which again is
0:45:07 > 0:45:13an interesting example of the Gaelic and the Viking names mixed together. It means "Well, cold well".
0:45:13 > 0:45:15So more evidence that the Vikings were here.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19The other thing is, for my money, the Vikings settled vast parts
0:45:19 > 0:45:22of Northern Europe, up into Russia, even into Northern France,
0:45:22 > 0:45:27big parts of England, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and even a bit in Canada.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30So, I can't believe they wouldn't have come to St Kilda to settle.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32I think this is the well just up here.
0:45:32 > 0:45:37There have also been Vikings finds - there's a spear tip, a sword
0:45:37 > 0:45:41and a couple of broaches were found here, clearly of Viking origin.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43And lastly, like this well,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47things are named with Viking names that were for everyday domestic use.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52I mean, there's fields on the island, called Land Fallin, for example - Paul's Land.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Queen Oscot, which means a hollow. They were naming...
0:45:55 > 0:46:00pieces of the land, and if you're naming the land, you're not here to raid, you're here to stay.
0:46:02 > 0:46:08These place names I think prove that the Vikings did colonise St Kilda over 1,000 years ago.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13But now I'm wondering, were they the first people to live here?
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Did anyone come before them?
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Now we know from the Viking field names
0:46:31 > 0:46:35that people have been farming on St Kilda for over 1,000 years.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42But after centuries of surviving here, could the soil itself provide
0:46:42 > 0:46:45a clue as to why the St Kildans eventually left?
0:46:46 > 0:46:50In the mid-18th Century, their meagre crops started to fail.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55This little piece of land in front of Main Street was the only place
0:46:55 > 0:46:57on the island to grow barley,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01but the harvest gradually got smaller and smaller.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07The St Kildans didn't know why this was happening, but one theory
0:47:07 > 0:47:10I'm going to investigate is that their farming land
0:47:10 > 0:47:12had somehow become poisoned.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17I'm joining the National Trust's Sam Dennis to put this theory to the test.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21What I'm doing is just going to reveal some of the agricultural soil.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24We've got a new machine that points out the soil
0:47:24 > 0:47:26and gives us a reading of the toxins that are in there.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30OK, so how does this work? Shall I do it? You're covered in mud.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32So, what do I need to do?
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Stick it in there, press down really hard and just...
0:47:36 > 0:47:41- Push it into the mud? OK. And then part fire the triggery thing.- Yes.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44This hand-held gun acts like an X-ray machine
0:47:44 > 0:47:48to test the soil for high levels of specific toxins.
0:47:48 > 0:47:55OK, so for lead the PB, we've got 40.7 ppm - what's that?
0:47:55 > 0:48:00- That's parts per million.- What would be a safe level of lead in soil?
0:48:00 > 0:48:04A safe one would be something under ten, so 40 is very high,
0:48:04 > 0:48:05it's four times.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09That's incredible. And the zinc ZN here is 60.1.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13We would expect something below 50 for that to be at safe levels.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I can't believe that it's so toxic after so long.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20It's frightening. These levels sound like, you know... You just think
0:48:20 > 0:48:24this is such a lovely, pure, environment, away from it all.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29But these are the sort of things you'd expect in a really polluted city or something.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33They are about equal to modern-day industrial cities, those levels.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37The soil does seem to be toxic, but how can this have happened?
0:48:37 > 0:48:41Well, the thought is it comes from burning peat ash, thrown out on the
0:48:41 > 0:48:46fields, and then throwing sea bird carcasses and even human waste as a type of manure.
0:48:46 > 0:48:53- So, presumably, a pretty unhealthy environment if they are using that sort of thing to fertilise it?- Yeah.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55It's extraordinary.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59It seems nowadays that that was incredibly stupid, that they were
0:48:59 > 0:49:05living in such close proximity to fields that they were fertilising with dead birds and human waste.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09I don't think they were stupid, they perhaps didn't realise the effect
0:49:09 > 0:49:12it was going to have on their soil in the future.
0:49:12 > 0:49:18Perhaps the same as just a few years ago we were unaware of how we'd been polluting our own environment.
0:49:19 > 0:49:26This evidence does seem to confirm the St Kildans' own farming methods were actually poisoning the ground,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29making crops more difficult to grow, and unwittingly
0:49:29 > 0:49:33making an already hard life even harder.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37Could this have been another reason why they eventually left St Kilda?
0:49:40 > 0:49:45It was a precarious existence, with little to fall back on if things went wrong.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49In September 1885, there was a terrible storm
0:49:49 > 0:49:53and the St Kildans lost much of their harvest, both birds and barley.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58By Christmas they were nearly starving, with only seaweed to eat.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Making contact with the distant mainland became a matter of survival.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13My first experience of St Kilda, the first time I heard about the place, was when I saw an exhibition
0:50:13 > 0:50:19of St Kilda with pictures of men with huge beards living in cottages, totally unaware of what was going on
0:50:19 > 0:50:25in the rest of civilisation, sending their mail back to the mainland on a boat they just tossed into the waves.
0:50:25 > 0:50:31And it seemed to me to be the most remote, bizarre outpost, that you could barely believe was British.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37It stuck in my mind, so I've decided to rope Kate into creating our own
0:50:37 > 0:50:42mail boat, just like the St Kildans did when they were starving in 1885.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47But our mail boat has been dragged into the 21st Century.
0:50:47 > 0:50:53This has got a satellite tracking device on, which obviously the St Kildans wouldn't have used.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56But this really was the way that they communicated...
0:50:56 > 0:50:58- Yeah.- ..with the outside world.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Their bright yellow plastic buoy would have been a sheep's bladder.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05But otherwise it was the same as this, and they put it together
0:51:05 > 0:51:09in a boat, cast it off to sea, and then anything from several weeks
0:51:09 > 0:51:15to several months later, that message usually arrived back at the mainland and in some cases, it saved lives.
0:51:15 > 0:51:16So do you want to be rescued?
0:51:16 > 0:51:21- What shall I write?- I quite like it here, I'd quite like to stay here, but what are you saying, Kate?
0:51:21 > 0:51:26I'm going to say, "If you find this message, please phone this number".
0:51:26 > 0:51:29Do I trust you enough to hold them while you hammer?
0:51:33 > 0:51:36It's quite a nice story, how this used to have quite serious
0:51:36 > 0:51:40uses obviously, and saved quite a lot of people from quite nasty situations
0:51:40 > 0:51:46but also in the 1900s when lots of Victorian tourists coming over here to gawp at the St Kildans.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51They started actually making some money out of it, because they'd send back mail boats like these,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55- using them as postcards, and they'd charge the tourists to use them.- Brilliant idea!
0:51:55 > 0:51:58- You're going to go and... - I'll try and get up there.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02- We're going to give it the best start we can.- Yeah. Yeah. OK.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06I still think it's going to end up right here.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10You see, frankly, if I were a St Kildan
0:52:10 > 0:52:13and I'd spent as long as I had with sea birds, you'd think that they'd
0:52:13 > 0:52:17have trained a gannet to do it for them, wouldn't you?
0:52:17 > 0:52:21All right then, I name this ship Wilderness St Kilda.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24God bless her and all who sink in her!
0:52:26 > 0:52:28It's stuck in the seaweed!
0:52:28 > 0:52:31THEY LAUGH
0:52:33 > 0:52:36OK, it's stuck in the seaweed.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Soon the current sets the mailboat free.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43In 1885 when the St Kildans were starving at Christmas,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47their mail boat asking for help landed at Uig in the Hebrides.
0:52:47 > 0:52:53The British Government sent supplies, and the St Kildans were saved from starvation.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58But where will our boat turn up, and will anyone ever find our message?
0:53:08 > 0:53:11Those living on St Kilda had to struggle to survive,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14but life, and love, goes on.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23At times, there were nearly 200 people living here, so when the time
0:53:23 > 0:53:27came for a St Kildan girl to marry, she had a bit of a choice.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29And she used a rather unusual way to pick out a husband.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36Overlooking the southern island of Dun is a view point with a difference.
0:53:36 > 0:53:41A triangular piece of rock that balances precariously over a 300-ft drop.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48This was where boys became men, and women could take their pick.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50That's the mistress stone there.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53- That one there? - What's the story of this place?
0:53:53 > 0:53:57Well, hard as it is to believe, to impress women, to try and get
0:53:57 > 0:54:02a woman to marry them, the guys would go up there and perform an act of daredevil balancing
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and then the ladies would say, "Well, we'll have a bit of that".
0:54:05 > 0:54:09You see, I'm sorry, but from a woman's perspective, if anyone stood
0:54:09 > 0:54:12on there, on one leg or whatever, you'd just think they were insane!
0:54:12 > 0:54:17You wouldn't marry them, you'd think, "What sort of an example is that to my children?!"
0:54:17 > 0:54:21It's to do with the way they made a living, collecting sea birds off the cliffs,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24- they had to be great climbers, have great balance.- That's true.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28Otherwise, they wouldn't make a good husband. It's like evolution.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33- It's like driving a flash car today, it shows you've got money, you can provide for your family.- Yeah.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36Well, you know, as we're here, guys...
0:54:38 > 0:54:39..see if you can impress me!
0:54:39 > 0:54:42- Would you go up there?- Not for you!
0:54:43 > 0:54:50As the boys prepare to take up the challenge on Mistress Stone, they'll be re-enacting the ancient tradition
0:54:50 > 0:54:56carried out by young St Kildan males before proposing to their prospective brides.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02By performing this ritual balancing act, the St Kildan men would prove
0:55:02 > 0:55:06to their women how capable they were of catching sea birds for food,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09high on the cliff edge.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11God, the things I'll go through to get a lady!
0:55:21 > 0:55:25The idea is to balance on one foot, bend forward and line up your other
0:55:25 > 0:55:30foot and both hands on top of each other, all touching.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Pretty darn tricky, even in your front room!
0:55:36 > 0:55:41Well done, mate, that was very good. Right, I want to see the next one now! Send Dan across.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44- Right... Right, your turn.- My turn.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Now Dan, he does worry me a little bit, cos...
0:55:50 > 0:55:54he's a good, active, brave bloke, but he's got a long way to bend.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Yeah, one of these days, Steve, I'd like to challenge...
0:56:02 > 0:56:05on something I'm actually faintly good at.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07OK, here we go.
0:56:11 > 0:56:12Bit tentative there.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18- Ooh, no, oooh!- Hold on!
0:56:18 > 0:56:21He's beginning the bend, bit of a wobble there. Oh!
0:56:24 > 0:56:26Oooh. Oh!
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Brilliant effort, yes!
0:56:30 > 0:56:35Right, come down, and I'll give you your judgement.
0:56:35 > 0:56:36You were very, very, very brave.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40I was extremely impressed, so my verdict is...
0:56:42 > 0:56:45..Steve, you...
0:56:45 > 0:56:46wait, wait.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50No, this is a dramatic pause moment, you did extremely well.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52- However...- Oh, no!
0:56:52 > 0:56:57You've spent a lot of time hanging off cliffs, whereas Dan here has got
0:56:57 > 0:57:01about a third more distance to bend than you have.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05So, my choice is Dan.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07- However...- I'll see you later!
0:57:07 > 0:57:10However, when he's away chasing birds you can come and visit!
0:57:10 > 0:57:12See you, Steve!
0:57:16 > 0:57:21So far in Britain's Lost World, we've found out the St Kildans
0:57:21 > 0:57:25lived mainly off birds, and we know how they caught them.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29We've discovered why their crops failed, and so why they might have left.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35And we've seen that today the puffin colony is in trouble.
0:57:35 > 0:57:36That is not a good sign.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40- Look at that.- Above all, we've started to get a real sense of
0:57:40 > 0:57:45what life was like here, how tough it was, but also how beautiful.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Next time on Britain's Lost World -
0:57:49 > 0:57:53we'll be finding out how the wildlife below the waves is doing.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00We'll discover if anyone lived here before the Vikings.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04And we'll be tracking down the island's biggest menace.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:35 > 0:58:37E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk