Episode 5 Countryfile Autumn Diaries

It's the season that brings with it a kaleidoscope of colour,

when nature puts on some of its greatest displays.

Autumn.

When our countryside is bursting with bounty.

While some of us are preparing for the colder months ahead.

It's the perfect time to get your boots on,

get out for a walk and enjoy the

changing colours of the countryside...

..and blow away the cobwebs in the great outdoors.

All week, we're travelling the length and breadth of the UK...

Always keen for a chat.

HE GOBBLES

..bringing the very best seasonal stories that matter to you.

If autumn continues to become later,

could that potentially wipe out the dormice?

Could easily disappear completely from the English countryside,

which would be devastating.

Welcome to Countryfile Autumn Diaries.

And here's what we've got for you on today's programme.

Keeley discovers what one flood-hit

community is doing to fight the rising waters...

It was very traumatic.

For a while, you feel totally powerless in the face of nature.

..Greg McKenzie finds out how you

can prepare your pets for the season's noisiest night...

If, as an owner, you know that your dog is frightened of

fireworks, they can actually teach their dogs to associate the sound of

fireworks with something really positive.

..and Paul opens his doors to wildlife in need.

Oh! That's prickly!

-Aren't they sharp?

-They are.

We've been spending this autumn week here in the beautiful Lake District.

18 million of us flock here every year,

making it one of the most popular

all-year-round tourist destinations in the UK.

As well as its magnificent waters,

12% of the Lake District National Park

is made up of woodland,

from large man-made evergreen forests such as Whinlatter,

to smaller broadleaf plantations.

Every year in this country,

we use 17 million tonnes of wood for building and DIY.

But with tree planting hitting a 45-year low,

we're actually felling trees quicker than we can replace them.

So, how will this affect you and your home?

Jules has been finding out.

Architectural fashions are always changing.

But right now, building in wood is all the rage.

From simple summer houses to the latest in skyscraper design,

timber is back in town.

Here in the Forest of Dean on the English-Welsh border,

these normally quiet and leafy woods are alive to the sound of a pretty

intensive forestry operation.

Over the next six weeks, they're planning to extract

some 3,500 tonnes of timber.

And to do it, well,

it's going to take a little more than a couple of lads

and a chainsaw.

To help them get the job done,

they're using the latest in harvesting technology.

It's kind of a mechanical elephant.

Kyle Williams is in charge of the felling.

Kyle, morning. How are you?

-Good.

-Nice to see you, mate.

Some people, I suppose, when looking back on forestry operations might

have a slightly romantic view of it.

You know, gangs out with chainsaws, you know, working hard.

But looking at your harvester there working away, it's all changed,

-the pace, hasn't it?

-Massively changed, massively changed.

I mean, how many trees can that thing fell in a day?

On average, 400 of these per day.

And it's an incredible process to watch it.

I mean, it's like a great, big

prehistoric beast just chomping through

the forest there. He's just about to grab...

-Yeah, he...

-Grab the next one, isn't he?

That's right, yes, he will grab a...

Do you know what? Just for fun, I might just time that.

-There he goes.

-So he's grabbed the tree.

-Yeah.

-He's just cut the tree.

So, the tree then just falls down on its own weight?

He controls the direction of which the tree falls.

He's now processing it.

So, there are rollers on that head that are dragging the trunk through?

And there are teeth, then, which

actually shear off then all the branches.

That's it. That's the tree cut.

That was about 18 seconds.

So, he's cut four logs and a piece of chip wood off the tree.

That is absolutely amazing.

The big kid in me is itching to see this beast close up.

Once, of course, they've switched it off.

Well, Kyle, now we've got a chance to see the business end of this

harvester up close.

It looks absolutely terrifying.

Looking at these logs under our feet here,

how long will it take for those to become a useful building material,

now they've been felled?

It could take as little as three or four days.

That's astonishing. So by the end of this week,

these trees could be holding up a new loft conversion...

-Yep.

-..in the heart of our capital city?

-Yep.

-That's amazing.

Once felled, the freshly-cut logs

are sent to the sawmill for processing.

Jonathan Poynton is managing director of the 60 acre site.

Well, Jon, this is a brilliant view

of the operation here at the sawmill.

Obviously, Kyle sort of walked me through the process as to how timber

is effectively harvested, but this

is where it becomes something useful.

Yeah, this is where we take 65 lorry-loads of timber a day

and try and get it to whatever final

products the customers are looking for.

-So, yeah.

-65 lorry loads a day!

The first stage of the process is to sort the logs for size and then scan

them for imperfections in the wood.

That's a really clever bit of kit isn't it?

So, it just drops them off one by one into the belt?

It's got one a time, not stacked up,

so we can actually look at them as they come along.

And just as with harvesting, speed is of the essence.

How long will it take you to process a truck full of timber?

We'll come in with about 26 tonnes,

and that'll go through the mill in about 15 minutes.

-So it's...

-15 minutes!

Nothing goes to waste at the sawmill.

Every bit of the tree is put to good use.

It's a great place for a big boy's toy, Jon.

That's fabulous. My son would love that.

Once inside the mill,

the logs are cut into pieces of timber you or I would use at home.

It's a fully automated process,

overseen from a central control room.

Now, that is an incredibly noisy place, isn't it?

-Yes.

-But this all together much calmer,

and presumably the nerve centre of what's going on, Jon.

We're taking the log and Zack's

controlling the logs all the way through

-the line.

-Yeah.

-Through the first set of saws...

I mean, to get from fairly rough trunk,

let's face it, to sawn timber,

it's just a few minutes in here, isn't it?

Yeah. It's all about maximum yield, maximum through per,

with as little human intervention as possible.

It's a low-tech product with a hi-tech industry behind it.

It's amazing to think that the first time the timber will be touched by

human hands is at the builders merchants, where you buy it from.

Having the chance to explore this sawmill has, for me, been absolutely

fascinating. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop.

And, clearly, mills like this one are working hard to try and meet

ever-increasing demand.

But how sustainable is our timber industry?

Well, I think the answer to that is probably back in the forest.

The vast majority of timber used in construction is

softwood, derived from coniferous evergreen trees,

and the reason producers are able to keep up with demand at the moment is

that there was a boom in conifer planting 50 odd years ago.

And those trees are now reaching maturity.

James Williams from the Forestry Commission

is planning for the future.

Now, many people may be surprised to

learn that we'd grow so many conifers

here as we do. They tend to be

associated with countries like Scandinavia,

or indeed Canada.

But what is it about the climate here in Britain that makes conifers

-do so well?

-The UK climate,

we benefit greatly from the effect of the Gulf Stream.

It moderates our climate, makes us

much warmer than we would otherwise be.

The optimal economic felling age on conifers is around 55-60 years in

this country. In Scandinavia, it'll be 80, 100 years, maybe even more.

But fast-growing conifers aren't everyone's cup of tea,

because they don't produce the

golden leaves in autumn that our native,

slower-growing broadleaf trees are famous for.

Many people are now saying they'd

far rather see our areas of forestry,

where they've been felled,

planted with more native hardwood broadleaf deciduous species.

How do you square that one?

The reality is that our bread and butter industries need softwood.

We need to be producing as much conifer softwood as we can,

and we're nowhere near what we need.

Broadleaves can't fill that gap

and we need to recognise that all our homes, businesses, you know,

offices, our gardens are full of softwood.

We really do need this resource.

But it's a resource that's under threat.

Only 15% of the timber we use comes from the UK,

and we're one of the least-forested countries in Europe.

With increasing demand for wood,

what does the future hold for our home-grown timber industry?

Could we reach a point in the future where we're no longer producing any

of our own home-grown timber?

We will always be producing timber in this country.

But it is possible that that 15% figure may reduce because of

population increases. So, the level of demand is continuously going up.

We've actually peaked in production terms in this country already,

and it's now starting to drop off.

We simply don't have the land area available to plant anywhere near the

level of forest cover that we'd need to become self-sufficient.

Well, as we've seen today,

the British timber industry is clearly flourishing

and hard at work in the process.

But when you think these trees next to me were planted

over 50 years ago, if supply in the

future is to meet the increasing demand,

we're going to have to start planting an awful lot, very soon.

All this week we've been enjoying Cumbria's Lake District,

and this is Derwentwater.

Three miles long and surrounded by dramatic fells,

it's been called the Queen Of The Lakes.

There are four small, wooded islands poking out of the water,

and one of them is a private residence.

You can't get more exclusive than that.

But ordinary, everyday homes are badly needed for Britain's injured

animals. It's a busy time for the huge network of rescue centres

caring for our wildlife.

And we can all do our bit this

autumn to help those sick and orphaned

to get back to the wild.

Here's Paul to show you how.

Last autumn, I had my garden

assessed by my local animal rescue centre to

see if it was suitable as an adoption site.

Got the wooded area over there, and out here lots of things to eat.

You could certainly have a release site. I think it's perfect!

I'm going to take you up on that offer next year.

That would be fantastic for us, too.

Well, the day's finally here.

My garden has passed the test,

so we're ready to welcome some new arrivals.

And I can't wait to go inside and

look around and see what they've got for me.

The centre cares for all creatures great and small,

from bashful fawns to floundering fledglings.

I'm meeting centre manager Serena Stevens,

who's been caring for injured animals for over 20 years.

-Hi, Serena!

-Hiya, Paul!

How many animals have you had in so far this autumn?

So, September was about 560.

We're expecting about 300-400 in this next month.

-That's a lot!

-It's a lot, it's a lot lot.

What kinds of animals?

It's a mixture of different animals. Foxes, hedgehogs, birds of prey.

It's that time of year where you get

all the autumn-y things that have got

to try and get through the winter.

And they're either going to be too small, or they're young,

-or they're weaker.

-Well, about six months ago,

somebody came to assess my garden and we've passed the test,

so we're ready to take something.

So, can we have a look around and see what you've got,

and what I can go away with and give a home?

-Certainly.

-Come on then.

-Certainly, we'll go in around the pens.

As autumn is such a busy time at the centre,

there are always new arrivals.

Something's just come in - a fox that has been caught in a horrible

-football net.

-Oh, can I have a look?

Oh, was he trapped in that all night long?

Oh, wow! Look, gosh!

-Yes, he's big.

-He's not very happy about it.

-No.

-Luckily, it looks like a superficial wound,

where it's just been like a rope burn around the back of the leg.

The leg wasn't working at the time, but is working now, so...

So, he put his head through the net of the goalpost and just got stuck?

Basically it sounds like he just ran through it and got tangled up in it.

-And he's exhausted?

-Yep,

and it's all had to be cut out.

So, today it'll have a little rest and then it'll go back out later on.

You'll release him back out in the dark, tonight?

-Back to...

-Exactly where...?

-Back to the park where he came from.

-Where he was found.

-Yep.

Putting this fox back into the wild without any

further assistance is called a hard release.

He's old enough and well enough to look after himself.

But for foxes smaller and weaker than he is, they'll need some help.

How many are in this one?

In that pen, there are five.

They are actually going to go out on Friday.

Is this one family or just different foxes?

No, these are all different individuals that have all been

matched up. I hand reared most of these, or the girls did.

-Oh, did you?

-Yeah, so, they came in like this big.

All orphans, all different reasons.

Aw. And will they all go off to separate sites?

No. They will go out in groups of five.

-Oh, and you'll keep them as five together?

-Yes.

The natural size for a litter of foxes is four or five,

and in a soft release this group

will slowly be given more freedom from

their pen, but given less and less food,

to acclimatize them back into a wild habitat.

But choosing the right site for the release is paramount.

We've got chickens...

-Yes.

-..and we've got ducks, and we have dogs.

So, the dogs kind of keep the foxes at bay from around the house where

the chickens are. So, I'm not a good candidate for more foxes then, am I?

Not really. It doesn't bode well.

-No.

-No. So, it won't be foxes for me this time?

No, it won't, I'm afraid.

So, what else have we got that we can look at?

Well, hedgehogs.

How many have you got in there?

We have Mum, and three babies.

Oh, how sweet!

And how old are they, the babies?

The babies are about 2-3 weeks old now.

-OK.

-And basically,

the nest was disturbed and sadly

couldn't go back to where they came from.

And Mum was with babies, and we've had them in a stable

and Mum's been doing a fantastic job of bringing them up,

but they're now ready for a nice little release site.

-Can I have a look?

-You certainly can.

-One of the babies.

-Oh, how sweet!

Oh, look at his nose!

What do you feed these?

You will be feeding them cat food and dog food.

-Oh, well that's OK.

-Dry cat food, dog food.

-Got plenty of that.

-Good, good.

What dangers face wild hedgehogs?

In your gardens, it could be awful things like slug pellets...

-Right.

-..and things like that. Ponds.

If they fall into something that they can't get out of,

then sadly that's their demise.

So, this time of the year, this autumn, we'll feed them,

let them move on and hopefully, come the next winter,

that's their first winter fending for themselves?

-Yep.

-If they've made up their right

-weight they should be all right.

-Yeah.

But we'll put food out for them all the time.

Yes, please. They need as much help as possible.

As long as the fox doesn't pinch it.

-Or your dogs.

-Or the dogs, yeah.

Yes.

With their natural habitats dwindling,

the British hedgehog population has fallen by 30% since 2002.

And it's believed there are now fewer than a million left.

That might still sound a lot, but in the 1950s,

it was estimated we had 35 million of these wonderful creatures.

Mrs Tiggy-winkle and her brood need our help,

so the Martin family are pitching in.

Well, you know what they say, it's

all about location, location, location,

and that's exactly it.

For my hedgehogs, I want to give them a good start.

So, I'm giving them a detached house with a pitch roof,

and it's going to sit inside my

spare aviary next to the quail house,

so we can keep an eye on them all at once.

And with Serena's arrival, we're

ready to relocate my new prickly lodgers,

although they'll need a lot of soft furnishings.

How are they? Did they travel well?

-They did, yep.

-What I'll do is I'm

going to cut like a little cat flap in

the side there, because they can go

in and out that way straight into the undergrowth,

-rather than out onto the lawn.

-I think that's perfect.

Then we don't need to leave the door open.

I've looked on the other side and that is perfect,

because there's a nice undergrowth they'd like out there.

-Shall we pop them in and then pop the roof on?

-Yes.

-Shall we?

-Sounds good.

-This is the big moment, isn't it?

-It is.

-I mean, this is the release.

-Absolutely.

This is the soft release, and I'm excited!

The hedgehog got its name because it roots under hedges and undergrowth

for its food, emitting pig-like grunts.

Oh, that's prickly!

-Aren't they sharp?

-They are, I'm afraid,

but that is their way of safeguarding themselves.

Well, it's their defence, isn't it?

Very, very good defence.

During hibernation, a hedgehog lives off of its fat reserves.

If a young hedgehog or hoglet weighs less than 500g at the end of

autumn, it's unlikely to survive a harsh winter.

Now, this is the one that you have to really look after.

Oh, this one's cute.

This one's the quieter one of the family.

And basically, that one needs to be kept an eye on.

-Aw.

-That's why it's best to weigh them.

If you were to weigh them, we have actually got all their weights on a

chart. So, then you can go it from there,

and it gives you a rough idea or indication of their health, as well.

-Sure.

-Because if they're putting on weight, then they're doing well.

And now it's in its new home, this baby, and its family should be OK.

Perhaps it's time I introduced them to my family.

Come on, come in and I'll show you what's in here.

In you go.

Aw! Is it soft?

-Would you like to hold it?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

-Is he light?

Oh, this guy is cute.

-Isn't that cute?

-It is really cute.

Whether you live in town or country, there are ways to help a hedgehog

visiting your garden.

Leaving out a titbit like dog or

cat food will help, but nothing fishy.

Goodnight, guys.

And a small bowl of drinking water will be welcome, too, but not milk -

it upsets Mrs Tiggy-winkle's tummy.

We can all do our bit to help

animals in need as winter approaches.

Now, if you cannot provide refuge,

you can at least leave some tasty healthy treats out for them.

Because believe me, if you leave them, they will find them.

The nights are drawing in, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Here's what you can do to cheer up the darkness this season.

For photographers, the hour before sunset is the golden hour when the

light is wonderfully soft and warm.

And a low autumn sun means that hour lasts even longer,

making the season even more photogenic.

This is one of the best times to capture sunset,

as the sky is aglow with the most

spectacular shepherd's delight of colours.

As well as Bonfire Night,

there are events right across the country that light up the night sky.

In Perthshire,

prepare to be dazzled as Faskally Woods

is turned into an enchanted forest.

Trees are bedecked in a neon

rainbow of colour for an annual light and music show.

But if it's a natural display you're after,

why not visit one of the UK's dark skies locations for some stargazing?

With a longer night-time sky and no freezing winter temperatures,

autumn is the perfect time to peer through the telescope.

We recommend Exmoor and the Kielder forest,

but you might be able to find a spot locally to get a really good view.

The sky's the limit in autumn.

Yes, on Countryfile we really love stunning views.

How about that one?

And how about this one?

This is the winning picture on the cover

of the Countryfile calendar for 2018,

and if you'd like to buy one, this is what you do.

It costs £9.50, including free UK delivery.

You can go to our website where

you'll find a link to the order page.

Or you can phone the order line on...

Standard geographic charges will apply to both landlines and mobiles.

If you prefer to order by post, then send your name,

address and a cheque to...

A minimum of £4.50 from the sale of

each calendar will be donated to BBC Children In Need.

If you visit the Lake District,

there's one thing you can expect.

It's probably at some time going to rain,

because Cumbria is one of the wettest parts of the UK.

It's no stranger to disastrous flooding,

and some of the worst happened in the winter of 2009.

I was here at the time and I spoke

to some of the people in Cockermouth,

whose homes and lives have been devastated by the floodwater.

Well, now Keeley is there talking to

some of the residents to find out how

they're preparing for what could be another wet winter.

The RNLI has described the situation in Cockermouth as dire.

Although the flood levels have now stabilised,

rescue teams continue to search for people stranded.

Overnight, RAF helicopters have airlifted

more than 50 people to safety,

with some people forced to break through the roofs of their houses to

escape the rising water.

The weather beforehand had been wet.

The rivers were swollen and the grounds were saturated.

But on Wednesday the 18th of November 2009,

the Environment Agency issued

the lowest in their rank of flood warnings.

By the time we got to the weekend,

things had escalated so much that hundreds of people

had been evacuated,

homes and businesses devastated,

and one man had died.

The level of these floods has been described as unprecedented.

Nearly two months' rain fell in just 24 hours.

No-one could've predicted the amount of devastation it would cause.

Cockermouth was particularly

affected because of its position, nestled

right where the River Cocker meets the River Derwent.

For Karen Nicholson, the effect of

the flood wasn't just felt at the time -

it took a much longer term toll on her farm and B&B business.

The weather was horrendous. The rain never stopped coming down.

It was a nightmare, because we lost our bridge down in Low Lorton,

so for 12 months we had no bridge.

So for 12 months you had to make that long journey?

12 months, yeah, we had to make that long journey around.

And what about the bed and breakfast?

Yeah, the bed and breakfast was very quiet.

My bookings were half that year.

I had a lot of cancellations and people wasn't phoning up,

because they just thought, you know, the Lake District was closed.

-So, there's been a long lasting effect of this?

-It has, yeah.

The damage caused by the water here in Cockermouth is said to have

totalled over £187 million.

But Cumbrians are made of strong

stuff and they decided to fight back.

So, they clubbed together and they used their own money to put towards

new flood barriers. And what they came up with was ground-breaking.

Andy Brown is from the Environment Agency who worked with local people

to design and build the defences.

You look very busy here. What's going on?

What we're doing today is practising the raising of the self-raising

flood barriers to make sure that they work when we need them.

Communities rightly want to be

assured that everything is in tip-top

condition for when we enter the winter season.

And is there anything I can do to help?

Yeah, absolutely. What I want you to do is put on these gloves.

-OK.

-I'm going to open this valve.

Normally the river would fill these gaps underneath these barriers

naturally, but today we're going to accelerate it by using the pump.

OK, you'd better show me how to do this.

So, grab hold with your left hand on there and there,

and then turn it away from you. That's it.

-OK.

-Just keep doing that until you can't do it any more.

-That's it, perfect.

-That's it, I think.

Brilliant.

Once the water is pumping, it takes

about an hour for the barrier to rise

to its full height, so we're moving to the bridge for a better view.

So, should I be seeing something right now?

-You are actually seeing something.

-Am I?

-If you look really closely,

on the top of that red wall behind you, on the piece nearest to you,

you can just see a little thin grey line and that's just growing ever so

-much all the time.

-Ever so slightly moving?

I expected it to kind of shoot up to protect everyone?

No, so it's designed to act just like a river does,

just gradually rise and rise and rise and rise.

So, the water pushes up the barriers until they're fully erect up to

probably about another half a metre on top of the wall that you see

-behind us.

-So, no-one's actually pressing a button or saying,

"Oh, gosh, it's flooding! Let's get the barrier up."

-It does it by itself?

-Absolutely.

This simple but effective idea is

designed to hold back 77 metric tonnes of water

from reaching Cockermouth's homes and shops.

So, what can people do to protect themselves, as well?

So, there's three really important things I think.

One is to sign-up for our flood warning service,

which they can do online or with the Floodline telephone number they can

ring. Second thing is to make an emergency plan for their home,

for their business. So, that's

things like turning off the utilities in

their house, maybe moving particular valuable possessions upstairs,

making sure they've got their particularly important personal

documents. And then the final thing is to think about

how they can make their home and business more resilient.

So, that's things like flood guards, flood doors, flood windows.

Whole range of different things like that that people can do

to make their home more flood-resilient.

Watching the practise run today is shop owner

Jonty Chippendale,

who has first-hand experience of seeing the barrier in action.

Because in December 2015, six years after the town was flooded,

the rivers in Cockermouth rose again.

It's difficult to explain the impact it has,

because for a while you feel totally powerless in the face of nature.

In 2015, these defences protected the town for hours.

-Did you witness that?

-I did.

I was standing just about here when these were at full height,

and you could feel them shaking with the force of the water behind them.

But there was no water coming through.

Later on, the water got even higher

and it came through under the bridge.

But the Environment Agency have now fitted a gate to that bridge,

so hopefully that's one little weakness that's been sorted out.

But the fact is that they bought us the time to make the preparations

and to get people to safety.

Does it make you feel better knowing this is here?

Yes. I mean, I can't say that when

the alerts go off it doesn't make your

stomach churn, but your head knows that we have the defences in place

to help protect us against floods in the future.

And for every time in the next 20 years that these are over-topped,

there will be countless times when these stop us being flooded.

The barrier should withstand the elements for many years to come,

and residents hope it'll prove its worth once again this winter.

I've been forecasting the weather now for about ten years,

and time and time again I've seen devastating floods.

The predictions for the future are

that extreme weather could become more common.

So, ideas like this in Cumbria might just be our best defence.

While some animals are preparing to hibernate through this unpredictable

weather, others are pumped up and ready for a fight.

Autumn is the season to watch one of the greatest events in nature,

deer rutting.

But with the British deer population

now standing at one and half million,

farmers have their work cut out to make sure that no-one gets hurt,

as Adam discovered on a stag do in the Cotswolds.

I've been a farmer my whole life,

and I've worked with some pretty dangerous animals.

But today's a first for me.

Deer are one of the least-domesticated livestock,

and generally they need little looking after.

Which is great,

until they need handling.

At this time of year, the stags are fuelled with aggression,

and for our safety and theirs, we plan to remove their antlers.

Something tells me this isn't going to be easy.

Richard Ward manages this herd and is on hand to tell me more.

-So, exciting day today.

-It is.

Today is the beginning of the rut,

as far as we're concerned and

especially as regard to the stags are concerned.

And the rut being the time when the stags go in and start

-mating with the hinds?

-Exactly.

He's going to have 30 ladies to cope with,

but he knows that his next-door

neighbour's got another 30 to cope with.

And although he's got his 30, he'd far rather be with the other 30.

So, the best thing is to remove his antlers.

-Yeah.

-Bambi is a home-bred, reared-in-my-garden stag.

-Bambi.

-So he's very, very friendly.

Which is why he is allowing us to get quite close to him today.

We're going to administer something that will knock him out and allow us

to remove his antlers.

Once we've removed his antlers,

we'll put him in the back of a

trailer behind the quad bike and take him

to his respective wives.

Oh, there we go. So, that's gone in now, has it?

Yeah. So, now we wait a few minutes for the drugs to take effect

and eventually he will just go to sleep.

Just ten minutes later,

with a little bit of persuasion, Bambi nods off.

That's it, that's it.

Perfect. We're just putting a towel over his eyes so that he doesn't get

any of the shavings in his eyes.

So, no blood or nerves in the antler?

No, no.

Antler is the fastest growing bone material we know of.

And, I mean, look there, nothing at all.

-No.

-OK.

And believe it or not, this is just 12 months growth.

There's quite a weight there.

Incredible.

Growing up to an inch a day during peak season,

cutting the antlers back is an annual task.

-So, he's ready to go, is he?

-He is.

Let's get him loaded up on the trailer and take him to his wives.

OK. Watch...

OK.

-How heavy is he?

-Perfect.

He's about 200 - 250 kilos.

That's a fair weight, quarter of a tonne.

Yeah.

A short trip to a neighbouring field,

where Bambi will soon have the pick of the ladies.

The antidote is administered and

immediately he starts to come around.

OK.

So, his hinds are waiting for him just over there.

He'll wake up fairly quickly now,

and either they will come to him or he will go to them,

-but it won't take long.

-Quite exciting.

More exciting for him or you?

Um, I think probably for him.

That was relatively straightforward,

but I've been told the next stag could be a bit of a handful,

so we need to keep our distance.

And that's why we need Dave with his dart gun.

So, the deer are now in this handling system,

but they need to be darted,

so Dave is going to shoot the dart into the deer, hopefully.

So, where do you aim at, Dave?

I'm going to aim for the top of the front shoulder

towards the neck there.

As long as it goes into a muscle.

That was a good shot, Dave. And he didn't even flinch when it went in.

No. No, he didn't.

Every animal reacts differently to the darting situation.

He looks fairly wound up there actually, doesn't he?

Oh, he's very, very wound up I think,

through being brought into this small enclosure.

Full of adrenaline.

-Yeah, yeah.

-What a handsome looking fellow, isn't he?

He is, isn't he?

We wait and wait,

but this stag is determined to fight the drugs.

It's a good 15 minutes before he succumbs.

So, the team are now moving in just to make sure he's fully asleep,

and to remove his antlers.

That's what we want, a nice clean cut, no jagged edges.

Yeah, perfect.

Although people might think this looks cruel,

cutting off the antlers doesn't hurt at all.

It's like clipping your toenails.

And it's essential that it's done,

so that the deer don't hurt each other or hurt the people working

with them. And this happens on deer farms all over the country.

The stag is now ready to be taken to his ladies.

That's the wormer, is it?

No, that's the antidote.

Oh, that's the revival!

That's the antidote.

With the antidote already given,

there's no time to hang around.

He's almost too long for the trailer.

-Right.

-Just let him be.

There's a good boy. He'll be up in a minute.

-There we go.

-And how long does the rut go on for?

Towards the end of November.

-Yeah.

-Otherwise the calves will be born too late,

and won't have much of a chance of surviving the following winter.

OK.

We're going to give this chap a bit of space to recover.

And we'll see how Bambi, the first and friendlier stag, is getting on.

BAMBI ROARS

Bambi's woken up, looking for his wives already.

And all this roaring, is that to sort of warn off other stags?

No. No, that's to let all his hinds know that he's about and he's ready

-for them.

-I'm here and present.

What better autumn statement could

you have than a stag at the beginning of the rut?

Well, I think it's probably best that we leave him to it.

Now, other distinctive sounds that

we associate with autumn are the pops,

whizzes and bangs from fireworks.

As the evenings draw in and the weather cools,

the dark skies come alive with

colour as Guy Fawkes night is celebrated

this weekend. 20 million of us will be attending a display.

That's how much we love them, but for some people,

they are a real passion.

Greg McKenzie has been to rural

Cambridgeshire to meet a rather unusual

fireworks expert.

Before we find out the impact of fireworks on our countryside and

wildlife, I'm visiting the spiritual

home of Britain's fireworks industry.

Ronald Lancaster may be a priest,

but the rural Reverend is also responsible for some of the most

spectacular firework displays the country's ever seen.

What do you like about fireworks, Ron?

What's your fascination with them?

Fireworks have life. Fireworks have got a life of their own...

Of course. And, Ron, in terms of your achievements, I mean,

what are you most proud of?

-The Olympics.

-Wow.

Or the London Eye.

It was a great privilege to do it as a company.

In Britain, we spend around 20

million a year on personal fireworks,

but one big city new year celebration can cost millions,

even though it might only last a few minutes.

Basically, we're still using the old stuff, which is gunpowder.

-Wow.

-Which has been around a long time.

The discovery of gunpowder occurred in ancient China and was used in

Chinese firecrackers to ward off evil spirits.

Soon, gunpowder spread to the west to be used in warfare,

and, of course, the infamous

gunpowder plot which Guy Fawkes night commemorates.

But how did the practising pastor turn master blaster?

Ron learnt everything he knows about pyrotechnics from his time as a

chemistry teacher at the local school in Kimbolton.

A burning firework is a good example of a chemical reaction.

I think chemistry would have been so much more interesting had you taught

me, Ron, because my chemistry lessons were dull!

Over the years, Ron has been inspiring many,

many children with his love of

chemistry and, of course, blowing things up.

And today, he's helping out in a lesson with a former pupil.

And that pupil, Alastair Gray,

is now one of the school's current chemistry teachers.

What he and Ron want to demonstrate

is that even the biggest displays boil

down to three key ingredients - sound, light and colour.

I think I'll stand at the back.

Now, what do we know about gunpowder?

-What do we think is going to happen?

-It'll explode?

It explodes. OK.

Well, shall we see that, Ron?

-Yes.

-Shall we see if it does explode?

Well, that was the bang, but what about a firecracker's whistle?

Let me show you this one.

With this one, I think the time has come for a volunteer.

So, hands in the air. Who would like to volunteer?

Now, there's a young man at the

back who I know is desperate to go back

-to school. Greg?

-I'm sorry, guys.

Come on, out you come. Sorry, guys!

If you put the powder in the bottom of the tube and leave the top of the

tube open, it acts like an organ pipe.

Just the very end of it, and then just step back towards me.

Step back. Shouldn't this have a longer fuse?

-Yeah.

-And then retire...

-And run.

And come back!

EXPLOSIVES WHISTLE

-And there you go.

-I've got to turn this off.

That was so loud!

Next, a firework's colours.

For over a thousand years, they were limited to yellow and orange,

but as more chemical elements were discovered,

the 19th century sky was aglow with reds, greens and blues.

Copper produces blue,

but copper only produces blue at a fairly low temperature,

about 500 degrees.

-Fairly low.

-You can have fairly high temperatures with those.

-Fairly low temperature, Greg. Only 500 degrees.

-Wow.

Only 500 degrees?

-Here we go.

-And then if you just poke at each one,

and let's see what happens.

Oh. So, there's our red.

That is amazing, isn't it?

Look at the colours, they're so vivid!

OK. You can do the next one. This should be a green.

There we go, there's our green.

-And our last one.

-Wow, wow!

-And the smoke.

-This one's coming towards me.

I'm disappearing!

There's the smoke.

It's like no chemistry lesson I had at school,

and using fireworks has certainly worked up the students.

It was just, like, so exciting.

Like, it gave you a thrill.

Wow. That's good.

-And what about yourself?

-I liked the screamer.

You know, when it made the really loud whistle.

-That was scary, wasn't it?

-That was loud!

-It was so loud!

It was loud, but it's really cool.

But as much as we love to celebrate autumn with some whizzes and bangs,

what impact is it having on our countryside and wildlife?

I'm meeting Sam Gaines from the RSPCA to find out more.

How much of a problem are firework displays, and, kind of,

fireworks for our wildlife and countryside?

Well, for our wildlife, we don't

have any direct evidence that it does

cause distress and suffering,

but it's highly likely that there are going to be some wild animals

and birds that are frightened by fireworks.

Certainly what we would advise

people to do is that if they want to set

off their own fireworks and they're

near a nature reserve, then don't do it.

So, you can get fireworks that are a lot quieter and they're less

likely to scare animals. But probably what's really important is

if you do let off fireworks, wait until they've cooled and then

collect all the debris and the rubbish, because that actually can

cause quite a lot of harm to wildlife.

And, Sam, how can we be protecting our pets during the season?

If you have cats and dogs, on

the night when fireworks are going off,

you keep them somewhere that is safe and secure.

Close your windows, close the curtains,

put some music on to try and muffle the sounds.

A firework is loud for us...

-Yeah.

-Imagine what it's doing to a cat or a dog.

So, one of the things that we can do is actually plan ahead.

If as an owner you know that your dog is frightened of fireworks,

there is, for example, a treatment programme called Sounds Scary,

and this is a downloadable programme that is available.

And over a period of time, basically,

your dog learns not to respond to the sounds.

Once your dog is not reacting to the sound,

you then start pair that with things that dogs really like.

So, like, playing with toys, giving them chew toys, games,

that sort of thing. So, eventually

what you'll have is a dog that instead of being frightened of

fireworks, actually thinks that they're a very positive thing,

and means that something very pleasant is going to happen.

Fireworks are as much a part of our autumn traditions as falling leaves

or conkers. And it would be such a shame to lose them.

But with a little bit of consideration,

we can help make this time-honoured tradition enjoyable and safe for

everyone. And who knows?

You might even learn some chemistry along the way.

Well, we do like to go out with a bang, because that's the end of our

Autumn Diaries,

but please make a note in your diary for the beginning of February when

we'll be back celebrating winter.

So, until then, goodbye.