Episode 2 Countryfile Autumn Diaries

There's a change in the air.

And with it comes the most spectacular, the most theatrical,

seasonal show of all -

autumn.

It's a time of fruitfulness, of harvest.

When our six million acres of woodland come alive with colour.

It's one of the busiest times of the year across the land.

And for wildlife, it's a chance to stock up before the

harsh winter days ahead.

All this week, we're travelling the length and breadth of Britain,

discovering the very best seasonal stories that matter to you.

Oh, oh, ho, that's a biggie.

Yeah. That is our family walnut tree.

This is Countryfile Autumn Diaries.

Here's what's coming up on today's programme...

-Absolutely perfect.

-Keeley reveals an ingenious idea to protect wild salmon.

If you want to keep farm animals, and you don't have the space,

I'll be showing you how it's possible, even in the heart the city.

And Jules is finding out how your dog could be a killer without you

-even knowing it.

-The parasite eggs in there can last for many weeks.

Even if there's not sheep or cattle here at the moment,

it could be a problem.

We're here all week in the Kielder Forest in Northumberland,

England's biggest man-made forest.

And right in the middle of it is the UK's biggest man-made reservoir.

It's a truly stunning place to be on an autumn day like this.

But we start with one of England's loveliest woodlands, the Chilterns.

They stretch for 322 square miles across four south-east counties.

Beneath the canopy,

there lurks an uninvited guest that's causing devastation.

We sent Margherita to investigate.

OWL HOOTS

This might look like your average,

ancient woodland but these twisted branches are harbouring

a little horror.

SINISTER SCORE

It has razor teeth, a rabid appetite,

it's an unstoppable eating machine.

Meet...the edible dormouse.

Edible dormice, often referred to by their Latin name, Glis glis,

are an invasive species from Europe,

who've made the Chiltern Woods their home.

In the last ten years, their population has exploded.

So much so,

dormouse specialist Roger Trout now leads a team studying their impact

and his findings are alarming.

Roger, this is one of the nesting boxes for the edible dormouse.

Can we see who's inside or how many we've got here?

Yes, of course. We can put your little camera in very carefully.

Hope that nobody's moving about too much.

So, there we are.

You should be able to see two tails, fairly obvious,

crossing each other. There are obviously at least two animals in there.

Roger, I have to say, these look really cute, sweet little things.

Why are they such a problem?

The real problem is that they're an alien species,

they shouldn't be in Britain, and they're interacting with wildlife,

causing quite a lot of damage to the local wildlife here and elsewhere in

the Chilterns.

Edible dormice got their name because the Romans bred these little

critters as a delicacy, often serving them as a snack,

drizzled with honey and poppy seeds.

Autumn was the season they were most in demand.

Now the tables have turned and they're biting back with a vengeance.

They're causing quite significant losses to birds that nest in tree holes

or, in our case, in nest boxes.

They'll climb up the tree, go into the nest box, and eat whatever's in there,

whether eggs, young chicks, the feathered chicks, or even the adults.

It's a free meal in a nice hotel.

Our measurements suggest that up to 50% of breeding birds in those

nest boxes are being killed by glis.

Native woodland bird numbers are already in decline due to

loss of habitat. One more threat could put some local species in danger.

However, the birds are not the only British wildlife who've become a

victim of this ever-growing edible dormouse army.

We have even less hard evidence,

but it's extremely hard now in the Chilterns, which is where the glis are,

to find hazel dormouse populations.

I know of several populations that I was in fact involved in studying

about 15 years ago and they're no longer found there.

The increasingly rare hazel dormouse is our native species and it's a

lightweight by comparison, weighing just 20g.

Its European cousin can be seven times heavier.

It arrived on these shores over 100 years ago.

How did they get here?

Well, they apparently were brought in in about 1902 by Lord Rothschild

into his menagerie at Tring.

Escaped a few years later and they have spread throughout the whole of

the Chilterns area in the 100 years since.

Lord Rothschild was a wealthy banker and zoologist,

whose hobby was collecting exotic animals.

He brought the dormice from Hungary.

17 animals escaped captivity, to live and breed in these woods.

No-one is quite sure how many there are now but Roger believes,

in the right conditions and environment, the population could explode,

and may have already.

Somebody had estimated the population at something like 10,000

a couple of decades ago. But in the whole of the Chilterns,

you've got nearly 1,000 square miles.

We've probably got well in excess of 2,000 or 3,000 in this wood alone.

So, multiply up, and you'll probably come to millions.

All from 17?

All apparently from 17.

Later, I'll be finding out that it's not only wildlife that's under attack,

it could be your home.

They are a nightmare. They got into our water tanks.

To replace both tanks, it was about £3,500.

I mean, I catch them in built-up areas,

places you wouldn't even expect to find these things.

Well, I used to live on the Chilterns myself and I know at first-hand

just what damage those edible dormice can do.

And as we'll be discovering later, the threat they pose is spreading.

Now, how can you experience country life if you live in a town or a city?

Well, maybe Paul has the answer.

Well, I've heard of urban foxes and seagulls in a city,

but a herd of goats in the back streets of Bristol?

You've got to be kidding me!

And this one's eating my script.

HE CHUCKLES

This gang of light-fingered pickpockets make up street goat,

a tough-as-you-like pack of billies taking over neglected city spaces.

The project's run by Lynne Davis.

-Hi, Lynne. Hello.

-Hi, Paul. How you doing?

-All right, thanks.

What possessed you to come up with such a mad - but brilliant - idea?

I guess this idea came about from my own experience, working on farms.

And finding a connection with the animals and with my food,

how food is produced, and how the animals are fed, how they're kept.

When I moved to Bristol,

I really wanted to bring that connection to people here,

and to really help people understand where their food comes from,

how it's produced.

So, bringing the community together.

Lynne first found this seven-acre allotment space in the St George

neighbourhood in Bristol, where many plots had been abandoned,

due to the tough growing conditions.

With local authority permission,

she and some dedicated locals raised £9,000 through crowdfunding,

to buy seven goats and turn part of the allotment into a mini farm.

Now the goats, which can eat up to 8lbs of food a day,

are clearing the jungle of brambles and bracken,

ready for some new gardeners.

People want to grow a few vegetables on Sunday mornings.

It's going to take years before something like that gets under control.

So...goats?

-Goats.

-Are they capable of doing all of that, then?

I know they can graze like sheep but will they tackle all of this as well?

They don't really graze like sheep.

Sheep like to graze down to the ground but goats really like to browse.

They like to reach up and forage from higher up.

So, brambles are perfect for them.

This plot here, we've only just put them onto.

But give it a few weeks and it will be pulled right back down to the ground.

-That's incredible.

-Yeah.

So they do do the hard work.

They do the hard work. Why are we doing this work when we could have

-amazing animals doing it for us?

-Yeah.

Although unusual in this country,

almost a billion goats are farmed and herded around the world.

Part of their attraction is they'll survive almost anywhere

and eat anything.

Now, they've got tough mouths,

so the thorns don't seem to bother them because their lips are so

dextrous. They can wrap around everything, avoiding those sharp thorns.

That's very clever.

GOATS BLEAT

Yeah. I second that.

The goats now have nine households from the local community taking it

in turns to look after them.

And for hardworking city folk, what's not to like?

I'm originally from the countryside and I moved to the city to have more

going on. But I also want that kind of connection with animals and land.

We would have really struggled to have goats and keep them on our own.

But to work together in community, and to share the costs and the joys,

is absolutely brilliant.

To do it by yourself is a commitment that I think

most people don't really want to commit to these days.

-People in the city have busy lives.

-Exactly.

But this project isn't just about reclaiming neglected land.

Two of the seven goats are nannies,

and provide this community with fresh milk.

It's a twice-a-day job and today Matt has the honour.

-Hi, Matt.

-Hiya.

-Hello. So, this is the milking parlour.

-Yeah.

-I love it. Absolutely love it. Quite rough-and-ready and she's at the right height.

-What's her name?

-This is Blossom.

-Blossom.

Around the world, more people drink milk from goats than cows.

It has more calcium, double the potassium, and higher vitamin content.

Now, that's a glass and a half.

So, what's the technique?

Because I've never milked anything in my life.

Squeezing with the fingers into the palm of my hand.

That's a good technique. It's a rhythm - one, then the other...

-Yeah.

-Can I have a go? Do you mind?

-Definitely.

-I don't want to sort of, you know, annoy her.

I'll keep an eye on the bucket, just in case she does kick out.

Thank you.

She's quite content there, eating away.

So, grip around the tops.

-It's going.

-She doesn't mind yet.

-That's it.

-I got it, I got it.

Most of the milk sold in the UK is pasteurised,

so it's heated and quickly cooled to kill harmful bacteria,

keeping it fresher for longer.

But this is straight from the source.

That's good, actually.

-Just tastes like normal milk, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It really does. That's really good.

That is really, really good.

Most healthy adults can drink fresh,

unpasteurised milk safely but small children, pregnant women,

the elderly and the unwell should avoid it.

The goats don't just produce the white stuff.

The ever-resourceful St George community are turning the milk into cheese.

Here you are. Look! The milkman's here.

-Great. We've got our goat's milk.

-It's all fresh.

To make soft goat's cheese,

the milk has to be heated back up to body temperature.

-What's that in there?

-So, this is our culture.

It sours the milk.

It actually turns into something delicious.

As well as adding the culture, Lynne adds rennet,

an enzyme which turns the milk into solid curds and liquid whey.

So, now, we're just going to let this sit for a day,

could leave it for two days, to have a stronger flavour.

And the curds and the whey will separate and we'll get some cheese.

Thankfully, I won't have to wait that long as Lynn has a crowd to feed

back at the allotments.

Hi, everyone. 'And she has a batch of home-made,

'unpasteurised goat's cheese she made earlier in the week.'

I feel guilty to take the first bite.

Well, we can all eat some together. It's fine.

Oh, that's delicious. It's quite sharp as well, isn't it?

Mm.

It's beautiful. I love it.

This gang of goats have certainly proved their worth.

But if you want to keep a goat, remember to buy more than one,

as they are a herd animal and they like company.

As well as good fencing and easy access to water and food,

they'll need year-round shelter as goats hate the rain and you'll need

to register them - and the land they're on - just as a farmer would.

Well, it just goes to show, with the right bit of urban space,

you too can have a bit of countryside on your doorstep and

provide fresh food, grown locally, for your plate.

And that's something to bleat about.

There are nine million dogs in Britain.

And taking your pet for a long walk in the autumn leaves can be one of

the joys of the season.

But are we in danger of allowing our four-legged friends to become

countryside killers without even realising it?

Jules reports.

Teddy...

Come on! Good boy.

Good boy. Good boy.

Now, it's estimated that one in four homes in the UK has a canine companion.

And I am very lucky to have two of them.

This is Teddy, he's the youngest of the pair.

And together, we love exploring the countryside.

And with thousands of miles of footpaths and bridleways to enjoy

across the countryside, there's a lot of exploring for Teddy and I to do.

But when you're out in the countryside, and nature calls, well,

what do you do?

In our towns, cities, and public places, it goes without saying.

Bag it and bin it.

But out here in the countryside,

isn't it OK to let nature take its course?

Absolutely not, say farmers like Charles Sercombe.

He farms more than 4,000 head of sheep on 1,000 acres of rural Leicestershire.

He says dog poo creates a microscopic menace that's

quietly infecting livestock.

Most of us, as dog walkers, would be horrified to think

that in walking our dogs out in the countryside,

we might be putting animals like this at risk.

It's one of these widely held misconceptions that actually the best thing

to do is to take your dog for the toilet and let it do its business in

the countryside. Unfortunately, there's a serious worm carried by dogs,

and can be left behind in their poo,

which gets into the grazing and the animals ingest it into their system.

This parasite, called sarcocystosis, can cause neurological disease,

and even death in sheep.

And that's not all. Dogs can also carry a nasty little parasite called

Neospora, which can cause cattle to miscarry.

It's estimated to cost an average-sized dairy herd

about £3,000 a year.

Now, how do you know if one of your animals is infected?

Unfortunately, we can't tell by looking at it.

It's only on postmortem.

The report is sent back to us by the Meat Hygiene Service.

In sheep, it can lead to carcasses being condemned in the abattoir.

It is a sobering thought to think our four-legged friends could,

in effect, be harbouring ticking time bombs for farmers like you.

Personally, we have had some years where we've had 4% or

5% of our lambs infected.

Across the country, that's a huge number.

But as a keen dog walker myself, I have to confess,

I don't think I've ever seen a sign on a footpath, or anywhere else,

making me aware of just how dangerous these parasites are.

I suppose that's the duty we've got now - to educate the wider public -

to make them realise the implications of their actions.

Now, where public rights of way exist,

farmers lack any power to prevent people from exercising their pooches.

In fact, landowners and tenants have a duty to maintain access to all

their rights of way. Trying to obstruct them in any way,

shape or shape or form to anyone is a criminal offence.

Come on, Teddy!

Farmers like Charles aren't trying to stop dog walkers using

public footpaths. They just want them to be more aware.

Steve Jenkinson, from The Kennel Club,

is one of those trying to get the message out there.

He's having a great time. This is a classic footpath, Steve.

Most of us would wander along here.

The dog has done what he's supposed to do, just like Teddy has,

-just there.

-Absolutely.

-I would think, surely, I can leave it here.

Let nature take its course and let it biodegrade.

And in many ways, that can seem like a sensible thing to do.

But actually, we know from science, and increasing knowledge,

the parasite eggs in there can last for many weeks.

So even if there's not sheep or cattle here at the moment,

it could be a problem.

The best approach really is to remember to pick it up wherever you are.

If only Teddy could be trained to tie knots, we might get somewhere.

THEY LAUGH

Come on, Teddy.

-Good boy.

-This is so nice when you see the trees.

-Just starting to go as well, aren't they?

-Absolutely.

So, in this most beautiful of seasons,

is there any way to encourage people to scoop up their pet's poop?

Much as I'm enjoying my walk,

carrying that around for the next hour or so isn't that appealing.

I suppose it also raises one of my big bugbears.

People who bag it and then leave it hanging around in hedgerows,

and on gates, surely making the problem doubly worse.

Absolutely. It's the worst of both worlds.

In essence, you've got the dog poo there,

providing a nice greenhouse for those parasite eggs to grow and then

either the bag will eventually break open or somebody might come along

and be strimming the path. And that's a pretty yucky job to be doing.

It's like, no wonder dog owners get a bad rap in some places.

-What's the solution?

-There's all sorts of designer products...

I like that! Look at this, Teddy!

You can get these in Labrador size, or Great Dane size,

or whatever you might want. So, in here,

you've got some storage space for your bags, and then there's deodoriser.

You can pop your dog poo in there, seal it up.

And nobody would know your secret.

If that black wasn't really your colour,

do you want to just take that one? For the design-conscious,

here's one in Harris Tweed.

There's all sorts there that can deal with your intimate problem.

-That seems perfectly practical. Can I try it?

-Absolutely.

When you make it easier for people to do the right thing, it works.

That's what we're here for. Come on, Teddy.

-Let's go.

-Good boy.

And with a whopping annual clean-up bill of around £22 million,

getting people to do the right thing is high on the agenda.

But serial offenders beware because some local councils...

Good boy! ..are now beginning to harness the full force of forensic science

to track down offending owners and their dogs.

Gary Downie is at the forefront of tracking down mucky mutts and their owners.

You could say he's a kind of dog poo detective.

-Hello, Gary.

-Good afternoon, Jules.

-Nice to see you, mate. How are you?

-I'm very well. Who's this?

-This is Teddy.

-Hello, Teddy.

Good boy, Teddy. This all looks very scientific, Gary.

-What are you doing?

-This is all about dog DNA registration.

We're encouraging dog owners to be more responsible dog owners by

registering their dog's DNA.

So, does this mean you can link dogs to their poo?

-Yes, absolutely.

-It's a fascinating initiative.

Has it been trialled anywhere?

We're just coming out the trail end of a pilot with, can't make it up,

Barking and Dagenham Council.

LAUGHTER

We didn't miss the irony. And it has shown to be an effective solution to

reducing the amount of uncollected dog waste.

In fact, despite DNA registration here being voluntary,

in its first few months,

the number of people failing to bag it and bin halved.

I'm in. I think you've just been volunteered, Teddy bear,

to have your DNA done.

Like farmers,

local councils are working hard to keep access open to dog walkers,

without being left to clear up after those that don't.

That's it. Well done!

Well, I'm delighted that we've got our badge of honour.

This is for you. Our day is done.

With one exception, Gary.

You did promise him a treat.

-OK if I get that?

-Didn't let you down.

A nice treat. Good job.

And who knows? In the future,

it could be just registered pets who are allowed the right to roam our

towns, cities and countryside.

Well, it's been a really sobering lesson to see just how vulnerable much of our

livestock is to the perils of these parasites.

But also heart-warming to think that actually we can all do something

about it. Enjoy the countryside, yes.

Just remember to pick up your poo.

Hey, Teddy. Come on, then.

Well, autumn is the key time for gathering in our apples.

In fact, we harvest 200,000 tonnes of them in the UK every year.

And I joined a rather senior group of seasonal workers,

who've swapped their bus passes for picking aprons.

Just look what I've borrowed.

A motorhome is just the job for an apple picker if you're going to

spend the night in an orchard, which I'm going to do.

And as you can see, I won't be on my own.

You could call them picking pensioners.

Most of them are well into retirement.

But here, they're working five days a week,

earning up to £50 for an eight-hour day.

Money that comes in very useful when many of them turn their motorhomes

southwards and head for Spain and Portugal for the winter.

How's it gone today, then?

LAUGHTER

How hard is it, this job?

-Very hard.

-It's hard work, John.

Yeah.

It depends how many apples you put in your bucket.

Roughly, how many apples do you reckon you pick in a day?

-A tonne.

-I would probably say the average is about seven boxes.

You know, the boxes.

You're probably thinking about 3,000 apples.

Wow! That's a lot, isn't it?

That sounds like hard work tomorrow. I'd better turn in.

And there's no chance of a lie-in, as the pickers' day starts at 6:30am.

-John...

-Hello, Barry.

-Good morning!

-Thanks for the knock earlier.

-Yes, it's time, it's time.

Did you hear that rain during the night?

-Absolutely threw it down.

-Didn't it?

Before I join the others, I'm going to be shown the ropes by John Hillier.

He's the farm manager and he'll be keeping a strict eye on my performance.

Always treat apples like eggs, actually.

What you do, you just lift them up. Pretend they're on hooks.

A quick check over and then place them gently in the picking bag.

If it's smaller than that, it goes on the ground.

Bigger than that, it goes in the bag.

I've got a bagful now, John.

-What happens?

-Right, you go to the bin,

always fill the lowest part of the bin first.

As it's on a slope, fill this part of the bin.

Just gently release the catch. Bend down.

Yeah, oh, I see. That's clever.

And just gently roll them gently out.

-Gently out.

-My target is to fill three of these bins,

that's a tonne of apples, 6,000 of them, in just eight hours.

Only a few hundred more to go before 4:30pm.

Well, I've been going for about three hours now.

And it really is hard work.

I'm starting to feel the weight.

Gently does it.

Barry and Sheila Eales are dab hands.

Barry's 63 and spent more than 20 years in the Army.

Sheila took early retirement from her office job and spent the

redundancy on their motorhome.

There's some speed picking going on there, Barry.

-Yes, John.

-You're putting me to shame.

Why do you do this, you and Sheila?

You've been coming here for years, haven't you?

We've been coming here for about five years now.

And we absolutely love it.

We're working outside.

-We're getting fit.

-It is quite backbreaking work, isn't it?

It is.

Sheila, you must be very fit.

Well, I'm getting fitter.

I must say. I didn't feel too good at the start.

Every morning, I don't want to get up but I'm glad when I have.

You think of it as being a young person's job, really.

You would do. But we don't get very many young people coming.

I think they might lack a bit of concentration.

Do you get sick of the sight of apples?

No, not really. We have apples for lunch every day.

LAUGHTER

And lunchtime can't come too soon.

I'm joining Ernie and Rose Sellars from Lincolnshire.

This is their sixth year of picking.

What were you doing before you retired?

We had a fish and chip shop

in Lincolnshire.

Down near Cleethorpes, actually.

We had that for seven years and then we thought, let's retire.

You seem to be busier than ever, actually.

Only for a short, condensed period.

The rest of the time you take it easy, do you?

Right. Yep.

All told, there are 26 pensioner pickers here.

John, the boss, says they're all good timekeepers and steady workers,

and can be relied on to show up each August when picking begins.

Time to get back to work but I'm getting tired and could this be good news?

Here comes the rain.

Getting a bit heavier, this rain, isn't it?

Here's John. John, does it mean we're going to call things off now

-with this rain?

-Not yet, John.

It's just a shower, actually. It should pass over and we'll carry on.

OK. right, we'll keep on going.

Did you hear that, Willie? We've got to keep going.

I think it's stopped raining now.

The sun's out. So, no interruption of the picking process but, somehow,

I don't think I'm going to make my target.

Nearly, but not quite, I think.

At last, 4:30pm comes round and John sounds the horn that signals the end of the shift.

HORN TOOTS

I thought I'd never hear that.

-I'm aching all over.

-You've done well today.

-You think so?

-Absolutely!

-I didn't quite get to my target but I've had a wonderful day.

Thank you all very much.

And when I eat an apple like this, some time in the winter,

I'll think of all you people who've picked it.

But you'll be in Portugal, won't you?

Sunning it up with your motorhome.

Hopefully, with brown knees.

LAUGHTER

Thank you.

It's been a great day. Thank you all.

Earlier, Margherita was discovering about edible dormice,

also called Glis glis,

which are decimating native British species and damaging property in

the Chilterns. And even more worrying is the news that they're now starting to

escape to other parts of the country.

And they could even be eyeing up YOUR house.

The edible dormouse might look harmless enough but,

as I'm learning from dormouse specialist Roger Trout and his team,

they're incredibly destructive and growing in number.

Are you going to go back in your box now?

For 100 years, they've been contained in the Chilterns.

But is there really a danger of this dormouse pest spreading?

Yes. That is certainly now starting to happen because of the pressure

from the inside. Most records of glis outside the Chilterns have been

where people have rather unwisely taken them,

having caught them in their houses and let them go somewhere.

And if that's outside the Chilterns, and in a big woodland with

big trees, that is a distinct, future problem.

So, we could be part of the problem in the population moving beyond

-these boundaries.

-We're definitely part of the problem,

either wittingly or unwittingly.

Edible dormice have been spotted as far afield as Dorset,

Hampshire and Essex.

And in looking for a new home, they might choose yours.

Home owners like Richard and Beryl Milne have been blighted by dormice

for years.

We've lived here for nearly 11 years.

I don't think we were aware of them for the first couple of years but we

have had them consistently every summer since then.

Edible dormice seek out shelter to build their nests, rear their young,

and, from October, hibernate through the winter.

And these squatters have a way of letting you know they're there.

They are a nightmare. They've defecated everywhere.

They chew through cables.

They got into our water tanks.

To replace both tanks was about £3,500.

We didn't know until we turned the taps on and got this awful,

smelly water coming out.

It's not cheap to have them up there but you can't get rid of them.

We heard of someone who had to have lots of cupboards ripped out of their

kitchen because glis got in there destroying things in their kitchen,

and we have another neighbour down the lane who told me this week she

has them in her workshop at the bottom of her garden.

You can't get rid of them.

They will always come back no matter what you do.

On the front line doing battle with the invading dormice are

pest controllers like Kev.

As edible dormice are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act,

strict guidelines mean it's only registered pest controllers like him

who can catch and dispatch them.

-There we go.

-Hi, well, a successful visit to this property, then.

Yeah, we got it eventually.

Took some catching but we got that one.

How big a problem are these edible dormice?

Big at the moment. Their numbers seem to be getting bigger and to be fair,

-we just can't keep up with them.

-You've been in the business a long time...

-About 20 years.

-And how many were you catching when you started out?

We was catching, when I worked in environmental health,

probably 30 or 40 across the borough,

and now I work for myself and we're catching anywhere between 250 and

-400 in a season.

-So in the last few years there's just been an explosion?

Massive amount, and we seem to be catching more and more.

And you're finding these dormice in places that you wouldn't expect now.

Yeah, I mean, when we first started doing this, 20 years ago,

it was prominently the rural areas, rural villages,

but now I catch them in built-up areas,

places you wouldn't even expect to find these things, and it's a

-surprise, you think, "Cor, there we go."

-And autumn is the busiest time?

I think sort of September is the busiest month for them,

I know, as they're getting ready to fatten to go into hibernation.

-So, nonstop at the minute?

-Nonstop. Nonstop.

At Rob Murray's home, four edible dormice are having an afternoon nap

in a cardboard box.

So although they look very sweet and angelic in this box here,

they're keeping you up at night, these little fellas?

Yes, four o'clock in the morning, five o'clock in the morning,

you hear scratch, scratch, scratch, and you can't do anything with them.

They're in the floor cavities,

either below you or above you,

and they'll just go on scratching until they finish making their nest,

and they'll do it night after night

-without stopping.

-And once they're in, almost impossible to get rid of?

Yeah.

There's definitely a battle brewing with this determined dormice army.

Roger's study suggests the outcome will be neither quick nor easy.

So this isn't an issue we're going to fix in six months.

This is a long-term plan that we need to come up with.

Well, we need strategic plans that allow us to find chinks in the armour,

so when people in houses and other buildings need to control glis,

and they need serious control in some locations,

that we actually can use as much evidence as we get here to assist the way

in which we manage them in those areas where they actually need to be culled.

And if we don't keep an eye on what's happening,

this could become a problem for all of us.

Well, it's the classic issue for government often that sometimes an issue

is very small or very localised,

so it doesn't really come above the radar, and then all of a sudden,

a number of years, it's too big a problem to solve,

so it's a difficult one for decision makers.

As yet, there seems no answer to the dominance of this dormice,

but the householders playing host to them want solutions fast.

The fear is we're already too late to protect some of our native species

from the impact of the edible dormice,

and although these little fellas aren't causing national headlines just yet,

it won't be long before they are adding to the estimated 1.7 billion

that we spend tackling the problem of invasive non-native species.

For centuries in the autumn,

our rivers have come alive with the king of fish,

the wild Atlantic salmon, on their way to their spawning grounds.

But in the last 40 years, their numbers have decreased by 60%.

They are now on the list of protected species,

so could salmon ever disappear altogether from our rivers?

Keeley reports.

The autumn salmon run is in full swing.

For the majestic king of the fish,

this is the final hurdle in a journey

that's taken over 1,000 miles.

Each year, vast schools of wild Atlantic salmon return from the

deep ocean to the relative safety of their birthplace,

the UK rivers which house their breeding grounds.

And the Tyne is one of the country's best rivers to see this magnificent

migration in action.

For local fishermen like James Stokoe,

the continued fishing of salmon is vital to the fish's existence in

Northumberland rivers.

I'm casting my line at the start of the salmon season.

How long would you be doing this for before you caught one?

You've got a good chance this time of the year. I think if you have a day's fishing on the river,

you've got a good chance of getting one.

And an incredible journey for the fish, isn't it? An incredible fish.

These fish, what they go through in a lifetime,

you've got to respect them.

They start at the top of the river, fish, what we call fry, about that big,

they spend a few years feeding, head back to sea,

thousands of miles past predators, seals, whales, sharks,

swim all the way back to their place of birth.

They come up the same river, they can smell it, all the way to the top,

to the stream they were born in, and then the cycle starts again.

This is a beautiful spot here, and as you say, teeming with salmon.

This river has had its problems, though, hasn't it?

Yeah, the river previously in the past, I mean,

long before I started fishing, even born, the river was highly polluted.

There was people putting sewage into the river but it's been cleaned up so much,

it's nice having this river on your doorstep and it's even nicer

being in the condition it is now.

I didn't catch a fish,

and that's an experience shared by a lot of anglers.

Wild Atlantic salmon at sea have declined by more than 60% and are

now extinct in more than 300 North Atlantic rivers.

Thankfully, people like Paul Atkinson from the

Tyne Rivers Trust are battling to stop this happening here.

What a fantastic backdrop.

What exactly do the salmon do when they get to this point in the river?

Well, the salmon which come along the River Tyne,

they meet this man-made obstruction,

which is the bridge footings of Hexham Bridge.

As you can see today,

there is quite a large leap there and they will then try and leap over

that to try and get access to the spawning grounds above.

But they find it difficult, don't they?

They do find it quite difficult, yeah.

As you can see, there is quite a leap there,

and when they land on the stone they can become damaged.

Around 95% of salmon don't make it back to their breeding grounds.

Having travelled thousands of miles and not eaten for most of the journey,

man-made barriers like this weir are a jump too far.

So what have you done to try and improve things,

try to help them along a little bit?

Last year, this new fish pass was installed,

which has already proved to be successful.

Built at a cost of £400,000,

the pass is a concrete channel at the side of the weir which the fish

can swim up. So it gives them a helping hand.

It does give them a helping hand.

How are you going to persuade them to get right over to the left-hand side?

The best available technique is to provide a strong,

attractive flow for the fish, so that's what they'll naturally follow,

the salmon, and also to make it extend as far downstream as possible,

so it's one of the first things that they find.

To keep track of how well the salmon use the new fish pass,

Paul's colleague Phil Rippon is using the very latest sonar technology.

So, is this looking at the fish pass now?

It is, yeah, exactly as it is at the moment.

Because there doesn't look to be very many fish in there.

We wouldn't expect to be seeing many fish at the moment because it's

under low flows and salmon in particular like a little bit of extra water to

move upstream, but also, when there isn't much water,

they tend to move during night-time,

so we'll see a lot of fish during the night,

and a few days ago we did do some recording at night and we saw quite

a few fish. I can maybe show you those.

When salmon actually run can depend on the strength of the flowing river,

how clear the water is and its temperature.

So, on a good night, how many would you expect to use the fish pass?

From our fish counting, which is further downstream,

you could get potentially 800 to 1,000 fish in a night.

The pass has only been in place for six months,

so we have yet to see how much it may help returning salmon numbers.

But it's not the only help the Tyne salmon receive,

as Richard Bond from the Environment Agency can explain.

Tell me what you do here at the centre.

We grow salmon for stocking back into the River Tyne as part of

-mitigation for Kielder Reservoir.

-Why do you even need to do that?

Well, when they built Kielder Reservoir,

they cut off about 7% of all of the River Tyne's catchment,

and that's really important, a really important area for salmon,

not only for spawning but for juveniles too,

so we're sort of compensating for that loss.

These large freshwater tanks hold juvenile salmon reared from

spawning fish Richard caught last year.

OK, so how do I do this?

You just push your net down the side of the tank, just a bit like this,

and then gently sweep across the bottom.

That's it.

Richard rears more than 300,000 juvenile salmon each year.

And it's time for this generation to be released into the river.

Probably just about here, I think, Keeley.

And why have you chosen this stretch of the river?

This particular part of the river is sort of a usual habitat that salmon

would be found in. They like really high water quality, nice,

fast-flowing streams, so it's really perfect for them,

so we'll just go to the edge here, just lower our bucket in.

And then

just release them.

And how long will they remain in this part of the water, then?

These salmon, these should stay here for about another year and a half,

so they'll be migrating down towards the sea in April or May,

in 18 months' time.

The young salmon will stay in the river, feeding on small aquatic insects.

In nature, only 8% of juvenile salmon will reach this stage of maturity,

so these harvested youngsters are upping those odds.

They'll come back not only to the river they were born in but actually to the area they grew up in.

That is amazing. I wouldn't be able to find my way back here on the roads!

I can't believe they can.

It's heartening to see that at long last we're helping rather than

hindering the Atlantic salmon to make one of nature's

most extraordinary journeys. There you go.

Good luck, guys!

And that, I'm afraid, is all we've got time for today,

but please do join us again tomorrow for more entries in

our Autumn Diaries...

when Margherita helps protect the UK's favourite wild animal...

It's feeding time for Mr Prickles.

Jules is on the front line with the police unit trying to stamp out

-rural crime.

-So, what's happening now?

They've spotted a baiter he believes is involved with hare coursing.

And Paralympic reporter Diana Man investigates the latest fad for

-horse decoration.

-I've never seen anything like it.

No, not very many people have.

Until the same time tomorrow, bye-bye.