Anglesey Countryfile


Anglesey

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In the shadow of the Snowdonia and Carneddau mountain range

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sits the stunning island of Anglesey.

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Before that magnificent bridge was built,

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the only way to get to the island was to navigate these waters and,

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as I'll be finding out, it's not quite as easy as you think.

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Matt is putting his best foot forward as he launches

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That's right. The Countryfile ramble for BBC Children In Need is back.

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and I'll be telling you how you can join us.

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Tom takes a look at the worrying state of British nature.

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More than 50 conservation and research organisations have pulled

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their data from the last 40 years to produce this,

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who are getting ready to battle it out for this year's

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the way that dog cast out round the back of those sheep

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and brought them to us in no time at all.

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I can see why John has got such a good reputation

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A glorious coastline, carved by the sea.

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Wildlife that is eye-wateringly wonderful.

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And gentle landscapes that roll on, unspoilt for miles.

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The island of Anglesey is just off the coast of North West Wales.

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It's separated from the mainland by a wide strip of water,

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At first glance, it may look like a gentle,

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it's a tidal waterway with a fearsome reputation.

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And, of course, the best and only way to experience it

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Come on, Phil, let's see what this baby's got.

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passing under the stunning Menai Suspension Bridge.

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Completed in 1826, it was the first permanent link to mainland Wales.

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As well as this being a very iconic bridge,

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it is also the gateway to the Swillies.

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In Welsh it is the Swillies, in English the Swellies.

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And the Swillies has a very formidable reputation

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Back in the day, Lord Nelson, who was familiar with these waters,

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used to refer to the Swillies as being one of the most dangerous

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So we are in it now? We are in the Swillies?

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Why did Nelson say that it was so hard to navigate?

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you match that with the speed of the current,

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you get it wrong by a margin, a small margin,

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There must have been so many shipwrecks through here.

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So through here, around the island of Anglesey,

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but how would they have navigated it in rowing boats or sail boats?

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You had to be able to read the tides,

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you had to be able to read the winds,

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you had to be able to read the currents,

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and with all of those different skills pulled together,

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We just push the throttle forward and off we go.

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'We can't see them, but lurking under this swirling water

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'are jagged rocks and dangerous sandbanks,

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'so Phil is going to give me a brief lesson in navigating the Swillies.'

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So, what we have off our side, this is a navigational marker.

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What it does, it sits atop of a rock

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and points us towards where the danger is.

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And then following that we have got what we call a transit line.

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and that gives us our safe passage all the way through the rocks.

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There they are against the left-hand pillar

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of Britannia Bridge, the southerly pillar.

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do let me know and we will turn the boat towards them. OK.

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So the markers are in line now. We follow those.

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It's proper Swallows And Amazons territory, isn't it?

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Give yourself a little dinghy and a bit of adventure,

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and you can have the time of your life through here. Fantastic.

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'Back in the day, sailing folk sought to master

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'these dangerous currents by mapping the underwater landscape.'

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They'd use one of these, a plum or a lead line.

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and they'd just put it into the water

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It could take a while. It's still going.

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I'm going to run out of... Oh, no, it's gone. There we go.

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Right, now just to chart the rest of it.

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New technology means today we can get a much more accurate view

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This is the research vessel Prince Madog, from Bangor University,

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which has a school of ocean sciences on Anglesey.

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I am meeting scientist Guy Walker-Springett.

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Hi, Guy. Hello, Anita. Lovely to see you. You too.

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So, what's all this fancy kit you've got?

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What we have here is a screenshot of the seabed

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running up the Menai Strait. This was charted using

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a piece of kit called a multi-beam echo sounder,

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This is incredible. This is state-of-the-art, isn't it?

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As you can see, there are different textures of the seabed.

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You've got this blocky-natured texture just here,

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which relates to bedrock and actual rock itself.

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You've got these long-tailed soft sediment areas.

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Look at that. Have a look from different regions, different angles.

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You can really see how treacherous it is from this angle, can't you?

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which is the only navigable route through it,

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it actually hugs the mainland side of the Menai Strait,

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which is this end, and runs around here,

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down through this small notch and through to the Menai Bridge.

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It's extraordinary to get this view of the narrow stretch of water

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could have brought about a rocky ending.

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There are tens of thousands of wild species in Britain,

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from birds to butterflies, mammals to marine life.

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Now a brand-new report is due out next week,

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bringing us up-to-date information about how they're all doing,

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That old familiar friend, our countryside,

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Plants and wildlife that have endured for centuries.

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and an entirely different story is revealed.

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and potential loss of precious wildlife.

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More than 1,000 endangered, land-dwelling and freshwater species

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are at risk of extinction from the British Isles.

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It is a sombre story told in a major new report

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due to be released this week called The State Of Nature.

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more than 50 scientific and conservation organisations

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have pooled four decades' worth of data, and Countryfile has been given

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an exclusive preview of the findings.

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suggesting the majority of British species have declined since 1970.

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Out of nearly 4,000 species included in the report,

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some that are really struggling include water voles, hedgehogs,

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turtle doves, and white-letter hairstreak butterflies.

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Some are on the up, such as bats, otters,

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red kites and silver-spotted skipper butterflies.

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But while individual species go up and down,

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Britain has lost more biodiversity than the global average.

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In fact, numbers suggest we are amongst the most

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nature-depleted countries in the world.

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And some of the most dramatic losses are in one particular habitat -

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More than half the species associated with our farmed landscape

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Mark Eaton, lead author of this report,

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was a huge increase in agricultural productivity.

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Wheat yields went up by two thirds in just two decades.

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Farmers got better at producing food.

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Crops now tend to be sown in the autumn

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which means that farmers plough their fields

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and all the seed that was on the surface

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that used to feed birds through the winter is turned underground.

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So these sorts of impacts are squeezing nature out.

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So, changes in farming practices triggered changes in nature.

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Easy to miss unless you pay close attention to the wild environment.

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Ornithologist and author James Lowen has been watching farmland birds

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since he was a boy and charting the changes in their habitat.

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Fundamentally, it's a massive decline in the species

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So for every 100 turtle doves that lived in Norfolk 25 years ago,

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there's just eight now. I mean, what a tragedy that is.

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So, what was once common has become exceptional and exciting,

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and you may need all this kit even to spot one.

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Well, exciting, but also demoralising, depressing.

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What a shame it is that the birds that we've looked after

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The loss of farmland wildlife was not deliberate.

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In the years after the Second World War,

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the government was terrified of the country going hungry again.

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Farmers were encouraged, and paid, to plough up millions of acres.

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One man who remembers all that is 66-year-old John Mitchell,

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We had to produce as much as we could then.

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This field had about 3km of hedges in it,

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which we removed to make it more efficient

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or did it just not come into the equation?

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If you mentioned wildlife when I was a boy, it was adversarial, I think.

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It was something that was in the way of your aim.

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John wouldn't have known it at the time,

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have captured an agricultural revolution on camera.

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Is that an example of the kind of pesticide use

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as regards blight spraying and insecticide spraying, yes.

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The State of Nature report is rather pointing the finger

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at your generation of farmers for this decline in wildlife.

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I don't feel guilty because I had to respond to

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and farmers and the science gave it to them, very cheaply.

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Do you think the way you did farm then resulted in less wildlife?

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but I think probably through other predators rather than farming.

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Some farmers like John feel they are not entirely to blame

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for the decline in farmland species, pointing instead to other wildlife.

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I want to put that to leading conservationist Mark Eaton.

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Many people look at the rise of predators, like birds of prey,

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and say that's what is holding down the numbers of the other species,

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and you're ignoring that. I don't think we're ignoring that.

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There's good evidence to show that, by and large,

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these species aren't having a negative impact

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and are not the causes of the declines we've seen.

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For example, many people look at the rise of sparrowhawks

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and decline in songbirds and say the two are related.

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There's good science to show that is not the fact.

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Badgers? Badgers are increasing, you're right there, and we do know -

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shouldn't ignore it - we do know that in some places

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there is an impact of predators on ground-nesting birds,

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There is a problem that has to be addressed.

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But in terms of the wider context of our report,

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which is looking at butterflies and flowers,

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and all sorts of things that we have data on,

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we know that this wider impact is happening,

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there's losses across all of nature,

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and although there is a small problem with these predators,

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it isn't the big issue, I don't want to be distracted by that.

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Whatever the cause is, one thing is clear.

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The State Of Nature report has flagged up a worrying

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general decline in our wild plants, birds, insects and animals.

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We know the problem, so what could be some of the solutions?

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Well, that's what I'll be trying to find out later.

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Now, one countryside staple that's still going strong after 40 years

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and Countryfile has the honour in two weeks of playing host

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Adam has been meeting some of the hopefuls who are competing

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This week, he's starting with Team England.

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The competitors representing England this year are poles apart,

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Junior competitor Tom Blease is based here in the mountainous

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sheep farming Mecca of the Lake District.

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But this year's senior representative, Dick Roper,

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farms several hundred miles south of here in my stomping ground

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Down in the rolling hills of Gloucestershire,

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you get a very different type of farm,

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We caught up with Dick to see how his preparations were going.

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This is where your dogs really are working dogs.

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Because over that hill now I can't see them at all.

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They've just got to do what they've got to do.

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In other words, gather all those sheep,

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not leave any behind, and bring them to me.

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I can't command them because I can't see them.

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So the trial work is very much showing off what we do every day

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at work, but there's lots of other things they do at work as well,

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which is gathering up a bunch of 350 ewes like this,

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totally out of sight, and bringing them to me.

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These are two really good flock dogs.

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Sometimes a little bit tough in competition,

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is a work dog first and a competition dog second.

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My sort of dogs, they tend not to be good until they're four or five

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because they're a little bit tough to handle.

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But this isn't the only challenge that Dick's facing

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This time last year, I started to lose the sight of my right eye

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and over the summer it has died, and so I've just got my left eye now.

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because I don't judge my distances so well.

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It's a shepherding competition, and that's what we're showing off.

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We're trying to show off our shepherding skills...

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..as well as show off the dog, obviously.

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Dick works a huge farm with more than 7,000 sheep,

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and so has a few working dogs to choose from

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I've got seven dogs, one old one and two youngsters,

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so I've got four which are capable of doing a day's work.

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These two now are my best two, Will and Pete,

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because he's just got a little bit more class than Pete.

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He's hard to handle, but he's a quality dog

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and I hope on the day he'll come up trumps.

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He's five years old, just coming into his own now for trialling.

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So I hope he's not going to let me down.

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Keep my fingers crossed and see how we go.

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Will is the latest in a long line of champion dogs that Dick has reared

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Well, my absolute favourite is this little chap called Dan.

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I'm sure these are all future champions for Dick.

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I competed at the National Championships, and I didn't actually

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feel that the eye was too much of a disadvantage.

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So I'm actually looking forward to the competition,

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and anyway, I've got a really good excuse if it all goes wrong.

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It's nice to have excuses before you start, but I think I'll be fine,

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I think I'll be good. No, you're going to do really well.

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Here's hoping all goes well for England's senior representative,

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From the rolling hills of The Cotswolds,

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I am heading to the Lakeland Fells to meet England's

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16-year-old Tom Blease and his dog Queen.

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Tom and his family moved to a 22-acre plot of land

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Tom's dad Jim, a former project manager,

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told me how Tom caught the trialling bug.

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Thomas had always wanted to have a dog ever since he was as young

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as we can remember, and at that stage it was just about

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getting a black and white collie and having a pup and a pet,

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but things kind of evolved from there, I suppose.

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He's semi-responsible for all of this, really.

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Without him, who knows whether this would have happened?

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Because he helped us get a connection with local sheep farms

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and went out and did some gathering and bringing in the sheep,

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and that was our first taste of trialling, dog trialling, really,

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and Thomas discovered he had a real love of it

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and a bit of a knack for it, and has taken it on from there.

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Hi, Tom. Good to see you. Hi, Adam, how you doing?

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Now, you've had this meteoric rise in sheep dog trialling

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and you're up against some pretty seasoned farmers.

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How do you feel about that? Yeah, I'm excited.

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I'm hoping that I can get some tips off them.

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I've met Kip, but he's not your trialling dog of choice.

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He's not quite got the brain for it, I don't think.

:20:04.:20:08.

So this is the one? Yeah, this is Queen.

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She's two, two and a bit, and she's a great little dog.

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On the trialling field, it will be quite a big paddock.

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Here you're working in smaller fields.

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Will she cope? Yeah, she should do.

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When we're out on the fell, you know,

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there's no boundaries and gathering and stuff.

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She's generally all right as long as she can see a sheep and, yeah,

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Now, I'm from a farming background and I've worked sheepdogs,

:20:34.:20:38.

but the idea of going into trials, it's a different league.

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I suppose just by working sheep on the land and, you know,

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all the locals just being really helpful,

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Just through doing it, I suppose, and learning on the job.

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has been doing it for a long time but you're fairly new to the game.

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Do you get nervous? Yeah. Well, I have done in the past.

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I think I'm getting used to it now, but it's...

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No, I think I'll still have a bit of nerves before I get to the posts.

:21:06.:21:08.

Hopefully not, but we'll see on the day.

:21:09.:21:15.

Best of luck. Cheers, thank you very much.

:21:16.:21:20.

And that's this year's England team -

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seasoned pro Dick Roper from Gloucestershire

:21:23.:21:25.

and 16-year-old Cumbrian newcomer Tom Blease

:21:26.:21:31.

Earlier, we heard how the State Of Nature report,

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reveals a worrying decline in many British species.

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The State Of Nature report is not a quick read.

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It's 85 pages of data and research stretching back to 1970.

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Most of our wild species are falling in numbers

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and Britain's biodiversity is below the global average.

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As for what causes these losses, well, one word crops up regularly -

:22:17.:22:21.

Intensifying the way we manage land for food production has,

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But it also makes clear we can still save it.

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I want to find out what farmers can do to halt the downward spiral

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and that mission has brought me to a farm in Gloucestershire.

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This farm is all about demonstrating that you can do right by wildlife

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and also have profitable agriculture.

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Take this field. They've got an extraordinary range of things

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they've planted for the benefit of birds, insects and other wildlife -

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they've got barley, they've obviously got sunflowers -

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and it's all about providing food throughout the year.

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It's a demonstration farm for an organisation called Leaf,

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which stands for Linking Environment And Farming.

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And its chief executive, Caroline Drummond,

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Pollinating species love this because small flowers,

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So a good example of what this farm is doing overall,

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but tell me about what this place is delivering for wildlife.

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So they've got a fantastic range of species here.

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skylarks, of course, and in fact, one of my favourites,

:23:43.:23:46.

You say that farmers on the whole have been doing good things

:23:47.:23:50.

for the environment but this report paints a very different picture.

:23:51.:23:53.

Are you being too rosy in your outlook?

:23:54.:23:55.

Well, I mean, if we look at some of the stewardship schemes

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that have come out now, 70% of farmers have been involved

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in things like the creation of margins against fields,

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enhancing hedgerows and things like that, digging ponds.

:24:05.:24:08.

So we've actually already seen farmers take up

:24:09.:24:11.

Those efforts are largely paid for by the European Union

:24:12.:24:19.

Farmers receive money for environmental work as well as

:24:20.:24:25.

Hopefully good Mum's bees. Make lots of good honey there.

:24:26.:24:32.

John Mitchell and his son Joe are inspecting a beetle bank,

:24:33.:24:38.

40 years ago, every inch of this farm was used to grow food.

:24:39.:24:45.

Today, nearly 30 acres are managed purely for wildlife.

:24:46.:24:51.

Now, this is an unharvested field margin and what we've got in here,

:24:52.:24:56.

..wheat... We've got poppies, we've got daisies here as well

:24:57.:25:02.

to produce a lovely habitat for wildlife.

:25:03.:25:05.

What would you have thought, say, back in the 1970s

:25:06.:25:07.

"Look, we're going to pay you to produce nothing"?

:25:08.:25:11.

I'd worry what the neighbours would think of me, actually.

:25:12.:25:14.

I was brought up, you know, to feed people.

:25:15.:25:17.

Well, my point of view now is if I see birds on the farm,

:25:18.:25:20.

Following our vote to leave the European Union,

:25:21.:25:29.

the whole system of farm payments is a bit up in the air.

:25:30.:25:31.

towards supporting environmental goods. What do you think?

:25:32.:25:36.

From my point of view, if we're going do that,

:25:37.:25:38.

these agri-environment schemes have got to be worth three times,

:25:39.:25:42.

four times their value in order to compensate for you

:25:43.:25:44.

what you would lose in the direct payment.

:25:45.:25:46.

You can't be green when you're in the red.

:25:47.:25:52.

The UK Government has committed to funding all agri-environment schemes

:25:53.:25:56.

Beyond that and post-Brexit, there are no guarantees.

:25:57.:26:03.

But Mark Eaton, the man leading the State Of Nature report,

:26:04.:26:07.

says that's exactly what's needed - guarantees.

:26:08.:26:11.

We need to shift funding, the public funding that goes into this,

:26:12.:26:15.

towards enabling farmers to farm in a sustainable way

:26:16.:26:18.

that's good for food production, good for wildlife.

:26:19.:26:21.

We just need to grasp the opportunity we've been presented now

:26:22.:26:26.

with both hands and make our farming better for us all.

:26:27.:26:32.

The State Of Nature report sends out a bold message

:26:33.:26:36.

that agricultural change was the main driver of decline in wildlife

:26:37.:26:40.

But whether it continues to be in the next 40 years, well,

:26:41.:26:48.

that depends on governments, farmers,

:26:49.:26:51.

because we all have a stake in the state of nature.

:26:52.:27:05.

I'm visiting Anglesey and exploring the Menai Strait,

:27:06.:27:09.

the stretch of water that separates it from mainland Wales.

:27:10.:27:13.

But Anglesey isn't the only island around here.

:27:14.:27:16.

This little house is perched on a rocky outcrop

:27:17.:27:18.

This is the teeny, tiny Ynys Gorad Goch,

:27:19.:27:24.

This watery idyll is owned by Peter Betts.

:27:25.:27:31.

So this is it, king of the castle. This is your place. This is it.

:27:32.:27:34.

24 years ago. And why did you buy it?

:27:35.:27:38.

Why? Because I've always loved fishing

:27:39.:27:41.

and I've always restored listed buildings and this was derelict

:27:42.:27:46.

at the time and had been bare for a long time.

:27:47.:27:48.

Yeah, lots of people like fishing, lots of people restore buildings,

:27:49.:27:51.

but not everyone thinks to buy an island.

:27:52.:27:54.

I mean, you are in the middle of the Swellies here.

:27:55.:27:57.

It's just you. I mean, what's it like living here?

:27:58.:27:59.

Fantastic. It's nice in the winter, it's great in the summer.

:28:00.:28:03.

We've got fish records going back to about 1550.

:28:04.:28:09.

Do you feel like a bit of a hermit living here yourself?

:28:10.:28:11.

No, not at all. It's lovely to be here.

:28:12.:28:13.

It's only two minutes by boat to the land, so it's very simple for us

:28:14.:28:16.

It's tremendous. And that's your view -

:28:17.:28:23.

and you've got the Menai Bridge on the other.

:28:24.:28:26.

The monks who used to live here took advantage of the tidal waters

:28:27.:28:37.

to catch fish. It's a tradition that Peter is keeping alive.

:28:38.:28:42.

And what's this here? This is the fish trap.

:28:43.:28:44.

When the fish come into here, they're held in

:28:45.:28:54.

by this large wall, which is a dry-stone wall,

:28:55.:28:57.

the fish get stuck in the trap and the fishermen,

:28:58.:29:02.

the monks that were here, would come in and pick them up and take them

:29:03.:29:04.

You catch little fish, it catches lots of whitebait.

:29:05.:29:10.

And there is a history of whitebait here, is there? There is.

:29:11.:29:13.

it was called Whitebait Island for a while and people used to walk down

:29:14.:29:18.

from the lay-by, stand at the bottom and ring a bell,

:29:19.:29:21.

and the old man would row across and pick them up

:29:22.:29:23.

And they were charged a shilling for a whitebait tea.

:29:24.:29:27.

How nice! We caught some whitebait this morning,

:29:28.:29:30.

so if you'd like to try some, we can do it for you.

:29:31.:29:33.

I can't leave this island and not have some whitebait.

:29:34.:29:38.

If you want, you can cook it yourself.

:29:39.:29:40.

Yeah. And we've rubbed it in flour and now you're going to cook it.

:29:41.:29:49.

So that's hot oil back there. Hot oil.

:29:50.:29:50.

I'm only going to do a bit. I've never cooked whitebait before.

:29:51.:29:53.

Shall I just dunk it in, see what happens?

:29:54.:29:54.

Just dunk it in. How long does it need?

:29:55.:29:56.

POT SIZZLES Woohoo!

:29:57.:29:59.

This is the way to cook it, isn't it? Outdoors.

:30:00.:30:02.

It's going to be beautiful. It's getting nice and brown now.

:30:03.:30:06.

We've got a few more there. On the towel.

:30:07.:30:10.

Little bit of salt. Anglesey sea salt.

:30:11.:30:15.

Cheers. Cheers. Oh, that's delicious.

:30:16.:30:26.

Beautiful. We are eating whitebait on the island that has been eating

:30:27.:30:29.

Freshly caught. This morning.

:30:30.:30:33.

Earlier, Adam met Team England, who are hoping to claim the title

:30:34.:30:41.

Now he's heading north to meet the Scottish pairing who have their own

:30:42.:30:46.

Much of Scotland's wild and inaccessible uplands

:30:47.:30:55.

Having a good dog on this kind of rough ground

:30:56.:31:00.

And no-one knows that better than senior competitor John McKillop,

:31:01.:31:07.

who manages the farms on this huge Highland estate

:31:08.:31:10.

that runs right down to the banks of Loch Ness itself.

:31:11.:31:15.

high in the hills on the kind of ground he works all year round.

:31:16.:31:21.

but there is a certain amount of arable

:31:22.:31:31.

land where we make about 1,000 bales of silage.

:31:32.:31:34.

It's incredible, isn't it? It's a huge scale.

:31:35.:31:37.

Well, there's 1,600 breeding ewes on it and

:31:38.:31:43.

Yeah. So when you go to gather them and bring them all in,

:31:44.:31:53.

Quite often, they are out of sight, a long distance away.

:31:54.:32:10.

I think it does. I think it probably gives me an advantage insomuch as

:32:11.:32:18.

when you are working in tricky situations where sheep can get away,

:32:19.:32:22.

you have got to have sheep sense, where you can read the sheep.

:32:23.:32:25.

You're actually working with your own mind,

:32:26.:32:27.

Yeah. Can I watch you running one of your dogs?

:32:28.:32:35.

John has represented Scotland nine times and has won

:32:36.:32:43.

he's using his experienced seven-year-old dog Joe.

:32:44.:32:50.

We'd struggle to see what Joe can do up in the hills

:32:51.:32:53.

to one of his lower-lying silage fields to demonstrate just what

:32:54.:32:58.

Will he be able to find some somewhere?

:32:59.:33:04.

Yeah, there should be sheep over there in the trees.

:33:05.:33:06.

That's, what? Nearly half a mile away, isn't it?

:33:07.:33:09.

Maybe not quite, but it's quite a distance.

:33:10.:33:11.

I'm sure he'll find them. OK, let's see him go.

:33:12.:33:14.

Oh, you can really see the way what the dog has learnt up in the

:33:15.:33:25.

mountains is coming into its own here with a really wide outcast,

:33:26.:33:28.

Here he comes with the sheep now, John.

:33:29.:33:34.

This trialling must take up a lot of your time.

:33:35.:33:56.

It does, it takes most weekends up, yes, during the summer.

:33:57.:34:00.

And in the winter, we have the nursery trials for the young dogs.

:34:01.:34:02.

Stand, stand! And what do the family think?

:34:03.:34:05.

They are a big support to me, always have been.

:34:06.:34:08.

I've been told that this is your lucky crook.

:34:09.:34:17.

I actually bought this little stick for Jane, my wife.

:34:18.:34:23.

And I was fortunate enough to win the Scottish National with it.

:34:24.:34:26.

So... Well, make sure you don't forget it

:34:27.:34:28.

for the One Man And His Dog competition.

:34:29.:34:30.

That's right. And best of luck on the day.

:34:31.:34:32.

OK, thanks very much. Cheers. Thanks.

:34:33.:34:34.

With several Scottish titles under his belt,

:34:35.:34:36.

senior competitor John McKillop and his dog, Joe,

:34:37.:34:39.

could do well in this year's competition.

:34:40.:34:43.

15-year-old Jocky Welsh and his dog are this year's junior Scottish

:34:44.:34:47.

competitors. They farm several hours south of John in lowland Ayrshire.

:34:48.:34:52.

They are lovely, these Scottish blackface.

:34:53.:34:54.

Jock hails from a well-known dog trialling family, and like John,

:34:55.:35:06.

in some very challenging countryside.

:35:07.:35:15.

Now, your family's been working sheepdogs for a long time.

:35:16.:35:19.

Does that put pressure on you or do you feel some help from it?

:35:20.:35:22.

Yeah, there's a lot of help coming from them, but,

:35:23.:35:25.

yeah, there is a bit of pressure but it makes you a wee bit better,

:35:26.:35:29.

Aye. You were never tempted to move away and do something different?

:35:30.:35:36.

No, I just kind of started working with dogs when I was about 11,

:35:37.:35:40.

Jock, this is a pretty unforgiving environment to train a sheepdog in.

:35:41.:35:47.

Yeah, there's lots of burns and hills and...

:35:48.:35:51.

It's not easy. And you sometimes lose sight of your sheepdog?

:35:52.:35:56.

Yeah, yeah, sometimes they disappear in wet bits and bracken and stuff

:35:57.:36:02.

but you just keep whistling and hope!

:36:03.:36:08.

It's great to see dogs working this rough farmland.

:36:09.:36:12.

Jocky has a few well-managed fields where it is easier to put Nell

:36:13.:36:19.

What are the advantages of training a dog down here, then?

:36:20.:36:24.

Well, you just get better contact with the sheep.

:36:25.:36:27.

It's just easier to train when you're closer.

:36:28.:36:30.

Yeah, you can just nip out for 15 minutes at night, just easy.

:36:31.:36:35.

So tell me about your little bitch, then.

:36:36.:36:37.

It's not often you get to see a red Border collie.

:36:38.:36:39.

He gave me her when she was just a pup.

:36:40.:36:46.

She's a wee bit sensitive but if you just play it cool with her,

:36:47.:36:52.

she is fine. You don't want to shout at her too much, then?

:36:53.:36:54.

I put a wee bit of polish on her for the trial field!

:36:55.:37:04.

So when you talk about polish, you've got to shed sheep,

:37:05.:37:07.

haven't you, split them up, put them into pens, through gates?

:37:08.:37:11.

Quite a lot of technical stuff you have to do on the trialling day.

:37:12.:37:14.

Aye, just slow them down a wee bit from their work because they're

:37:15.:37:17.

normally going a wee bit faster but if you can slow them down,

:37:18.:37:20.

it's much better. So you've got a puppy from your grandfather,

:37:21.:37:23.

you're third-generation One Man And His Dog,

:37:24.:37:26.

Yeah, there's a bit of pressure but I'll try my hardest anyway.

:37:27.:37:30.

So here's the duo representing Scotland

:37:31.:37:38.

Red Nell and 15-year-old handler Jocky Welsh,

:37:39.:37:45.

and two-time Scottish champion John McKillop and his dog, Joe.

:37:46.:37:57.

Last year, we launched the Countryfile Ramble

:37:58.:38:00.

for BBC Children In Need and you took part in your thousands.

:38:01.:38:04.

For one weekend, all across the land,

:38:05.:38:07.

you put on your boots and headed out into the countryside to do your bit.

:38:08.:38:13.

From mountain to dale, from coast to coast, wherever you were,

:38:14.:38:16.

you put on your own rambles and you did us proud.

:38:17.:38:20.

Whether rambling or donating from home,

:38:21.:38:24.

you helped us raise almost ?1 million.

:38:25.:38:29.

It was a truly incredible sight but it was just the beginning.

:38:30.:38:33.

Because this year, the rambles are back and with your help,

:38:34.:38:37.

we want to make them bigger and better than ever as we celebrate the

:38:38.:38:41.

power of the countryside and its people to help transform lives.

:38:42.:38:48.

Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of October.

:38:49.:38:53.

And once again, the Countryfile gang will be leading the way.

:38:54.:38:57.

We have already got our own rambles planned and would love some of you

:38:58.:39:03.

I'll be swapping the farm for forest in the South Downs,

:39:04.:39:08.

on the border of Hampshire and Surrey.

:39:09.:39:11.

While I'll be exploring the vast vistas

:39:12.:39:14.

and wide-open spaces of the Black Mountains in Wales.

:39:15.:39:19.

This year, my ramble will be taking in the countryside around Scotland's

:39:20.:39:23.

And I'll be leading a coastal ramble in Northern Ireland,

:39:24.:39:31.

one that promises some simply stunning views.

:39:32.:39:38.

You can apply to join these presenter-led rambles right now.

:39:39.:39:42.

Simply visit the BBC Countryfile website...

:39:43.:39:48.

Entry is free and you have until midnight on Saturday the 17th of

:39:49.:39:54.

Places will be limited, so get your entries in quickly.

:39:55.:40:01.

Winners will be decided at random in a draw once the deadline has closed.

:40:02.:40:07.

But as well as some of you joining us,

:40:08.:40:10.

what we really want is for as many of you as possible

:40:11.:40:13.

to organise your own sponsored rambles.

:40:14.:40:19.

For one weekend, we want the countryside to be filled with

:40:20.:40:22.

Countryfile viewers, because we know that what we can achieve when we

:40:23.:40:27.

So, please, join in and do what you can.

:40:28.:40:32.

It doesn't matter if it's a mile or a marathon.

:40:33.:40:34.

And every penny that you raise whilst rambling will help families

:40:35.:40:39.

The Shilston family live near Esher in Surrey.

:40:40.:40:49.

Mum Carla, dad Simon and children Betsy, Johnny

:40:50.:40:54.

This close-knit family had their world turned upside down

:40:55.:41:10.

I think it was two years ago that he got diagnosed with

:41:11.:41:17.

I noticed when walking our new dog that my left foot was

:41:18.:41:24.

So I just thought it was an old injury and just, you know,

:41:25.:41:28.

Motor neurone disease is a rare condition affecting around

:41:29.:41:36.

It stops the motor nerves in the brain and spine from telling

:41:37.:41:42.

the muscles what to do. There is no cure,

:41:43.:41:45.

and Simon probably only has about 18 months left to live.

:41:46.:41:50.

We went in. He said, "From your results, from the examinations,

:41:51.:41:54.

"I can confirm you've got motor neurone disease."

:41:55.:41:57.

And I think, as much as you think it's coming,

:41:58.:42:00.

when a professional actually tells you face-to-face,

:42:01.:42:03.

I think we were just absolutely shellshocked.

:42:04.:42:08.

I think sometimes still, now, I can't quite believe

:42:09.:42:11.

But you notice on a daily basis how things stop working.

:42:12.:42:19.

then it was the whole of that same leg and then the other leg just went

:42:20.:42:24.

very quickly. And this hand was fine, and now, you can see,

:42:25.:42:28.

it has just stopped working like that.

:42:29.:42:30.

The family had always been incredibly active,

:42:31.:42:38.

Every weekend, rain or shine, get in the car, off we go, walking. Yeah.

:42:39.:42:47.

Youngest twin Nancy has got lots of fond memories of

:42:48.:42:51.

We walked eight miles, so three to Margate,

:42:52.:42:56.

two around Margate and three back because there is this really,

:42:57.:43:00.

really good, old-fashioned sweet shop.

:43:01.:43:04.

Being in a house that is very female dominated,

:43:05.:43:12.

those two kind of stuck together and I think Johnny's felt

:43:13.:43:15.

For Johnny, he understands it better in terms of the severity of it.

:43:16.:43:22.

I know what will happen in the end, but it's, you know,

:43:23.:43:26.

It's like, it's not very nice to see it every day,

:43:27.:43:31.

Every now and then, I think it hits them hard.

:43:32.:43:42.

They have this reality check of, actually,

:43:43.:43:45.

"Will Daddy be around on my 12th birthday?"

:43:46.:43:49.

It is still hard for them to take in.

:43:50.:43:58.

because she's not going to really remember Daddy very well.

:43:59.:44:04.

After the diagnosis confirmed that Simon had motor neurone disease,

:44:05.:44:08.

he was referred to the Princess Alice Hospice in Surrey,

:44:09.:44:12.

which receives vital funding from Children In Need.

:44:13.:44:16.

They cater for both the patient and the broader family.

:44:17.:44:20.

I think the whole idea of going to a hospice is, oh, gosh,

:44:21.:44:23.

it's doom and gloom, but it is beautiful.

:44:24.:44:26.

The grounds, the staff, it is a place of serenity.

:44:27.:44:34.

The hospice provides essential help for children, too.

:44:35.:44:38.

counsellor Caroline Scollick spends time with the children, to help them

:44:39.:44:48.

deal with the situation and to help them with their feelings.

:44:49.:44:52.

Caroline's been seeing us for nearly a year now.

:44:53.:44:56.

On the first page, you have got all about me.

:44:57.:44:59.

It's all about you. And then you've got all about Daddy,

:45:00.:45:04.

where he was born and who his best friend is,

:45:05.:45:06.

She's just got this air of calmness which...

:45:07.:45:13.

It's so reassuring to know that the girls can talk to somebody else

:45:14.:45:17.

about this. It's... It's lovely, really lovely.

:45:18.:45:25.

"it's just better to cry or let it out than keep it inside and get

:45:26.:45:30.

I love him very much and he probably loves me very much.

:45:31.:45:38.

I don't think there's any "probably" about it.

:45:39.:45:40.

I think he does love you all very much.

:45:41.:45:44.

I think of what's happening now and the happy times,

:45:45.:45:48.

not in the future and stuff like that.

:45:49.:45:50.

We talk and we show them that it's OK to cry.

:45:51.:45:59.

We show them that it's good to laugh, it's good to get the giggles,

:46:00.:46:03.

you know? So we try and keep things as...

:46:04.:46:07.

We just have to take each day as it comes with them, you know?

:46:08.:46:13.

But I can still talk. I can still breathe and I can still enjoy life.

:46:14.:46:17.

Caroline's caring support is helping Simon,

:46:18.:46:21.

Carla and the children to cope with this impossible time and they are

:46:22.:46:25.

just one of the many families the caring staff at

:46:26.:46:28.

Princess Alice Hospice, funded by Children In Need, is helping.

:46:29.:46:33.

She looks at the whole picture of everything.

:46:34.:46:38.

When I'm upset that he's got motor neurone disease,

:46:39.:46:48.

he says that, "I'm the one that has got it and I'm not worrying,"

:46:49.:46:51.

The Princess Alice Hospice is just one of thousands of projects that

:46:52.:47:10.

rely on funding from Children In Need.

:47:11.:47:12.

Of course, we know that some of you won't be able to go on a ramble but

:47:13.:47:15.

Please donate now, if you are able, because your contribution could help

:47:16.:47:22.

Suzy and Betsy get that vital support that they need.

:47:23.:48:05.

So either donate now or join our Children In Need Countryfile Ramble

:48:06.:48:17.

We want you all to get ready to ramble and to get out there

:48:18.:48:26.

on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of October.

:48:27.:48:31.

Whether you want to head out with some friends or go it alone.

:48:32.:48:36.

Maybe you'd like to ramble in fancy dress or ride on four legs.

:48:37.:48:43.

However you do it, do it your way but, please, do ramble.

:48:44.:48:46.

..to download a sponsorship form and find all the information that you

:48:47.:48:54.

Now, we all love getting out into our glorious countryside,

:48:55.:48:58.

let's join together and give that passion

:48:59.:49:03.

Now, if you're thinking of getting in a bit of walking this week,

:49:04.:49:08.

you'll need to know what the weather's doing,

:49:09.:49:10.

If you are rambling this week, there is a view hazard to watch out for,

:49:11.:49:31.

hill fog, lightning in the West, dehydration, because of the heat

:49:32.:49:35.

that will return this week further east.

:49:36.:49:38.

We may be into the meteorological autumn but some has other ideas,

:49:39.:49:46.

coming back, could see 31 degrees on Tuesday, looking at a lot of heat

:49:47.:49:50.

and humidity returning, particularly to England and Wales, this is not

:49:51.:49:52.

true across the country, further west, it will be different. Sundry

:49:53.:49:57.

showers, fairly brisk southerly wind, and some fog around over the

:49:58.:50:01.

hills, because of this weather front, meandering across the western

:50:02.:50:06.

side of the country, for much of the waste, to the east of that,

:50:07.:50:09.

southerly wind. -- for much of the week. Southerly wind stretching from

:50:10.:50:14.

North Africa, through Iberia, and France, into our shores.

:50:15.:50:18.

Exceptionally high temperatures for this time of year. If we get 31,

:50:19.:50:23.

that'll be the first time in about 40 years. 23 today, very pleasant

:50:24.:50:27.

out there for most, even the cloud in the north has only just started

:50:28.:50:31.

to bring rain into western Scotland, it may well be the wind which is

:50:32.:50:34.

more of a feature, they'll force winds or even sillier. With lighter

:50:35.:50:39.

wind, further east, it will not be as cool as last night, but there

:50:40.:50:43.

could be more fog for the morning rush, at this time of year, as the

:50:44.:50:47.

nights draw in, we will linger through the rush. Could cause travel

:50:48.:50:51.

problems. Tomorrow looks set fair for many, more cloud, bright rather

:50:52.:50:56.

than sunny, potentially the odd rogue shower, no more, except for

:50:57.:51:01.

Northern Ireland and then west and central Scotland, through the day,

:51:02.:51:05.

the rain will turn heavier. The humidity is building, even with more

:51:06.:51:09.

cloud further east it is warmer. We keep the feet of southerly wind into

:51:10.:51:13.

Tuesday, we can see the weather front, still stuck there, in the

:51:14.:51:18.

West, does not know quite what to do with itself. A lot of caveatss for

:51:19.:51:22.

the forecast, where and when the heaviest rain will be, stay tuned.

:51:23.:51:27.

Tuesday we will see heavier pulses running up the western side of

:51:28.:51:30.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but warm rain, further

:51:31.:51:34.

east, that is when we see the potential peak in the temperatures.

:51:35.:51:37.

Tuesday, that is when we will see the hottest weather. Goes

:51:38.:51:42.

hand-in-hand with uncomfortable nights, these temperatures on

:51:43.:51:45.

Tuesday night normally what we would see during the day at this time of

:51:46.:51:48.

year, you can expect Wednesday and Thursday night to be pretty similar.

:51:49.:51:51.

Wednesday whether pretty similar, as to the sunshine will be in central

:51:52.:51:57.

and eastern areas, risk of southerly downpours and showers around further

:51:58.:52:01.

west, Northern Ireland and Scotland, similarly so as we move into

:52:02.:52:04.

Thursday. Starting to cut off the southerly flow by that point.

:52:05.:52:08.

Low-pressure winding up. That will eventually culminate in a breakdown

:52:09.:52:13.

of the heat. Again, quite cloudy, muddy across many Western and

:52:14.:52:17.

Northern areas, later on, the potential for something heavier and

:52:18.:52:21.

boundary to develop. We will pick up an easterly breeze coming off the

:52:22.:52:25.

North Sea. Cooling down in north-east Scotland and the East of

:52:26.:52:28.

England. Finally, by the end of the week, Friday, that weather will be

:52:29.:52:33.

pushed in from the Atlantic, clearing out the hot, humid, hazy

:52:34.:52:38.

error, bringing in the Atlantic air. It will go with a bang, there could

:52:39.:52:41.

be big showers and thunderstorms around when it happens. There are

:52:42.:52:45.

some uncertainties for the week ahead, stay tuned if you are

:52:46.:52:46.

rambling or you I've been navigating

:52:47.:52:56.

the treacherous Menai Strait... ..and sampling a local

:52:57.:53:02.

delicacy, whitebait. I've come inland but I haven't quite

:53:03.:53:06.

left the waters behind because I'm here to search out an alien-like

:53:07.:53:14.

creature that lives in the muddy depths of this marsh, which means

:53:15.:53:18.

I'm going to have to get in... Meet Chris Wynne,

:53:19.:53:22.

a man who loves leeches. He's working for

:53:23.:53:29.

North Wales Wildlife Trust, catching the little suckers

:53:30.:53:31.

for a survey. Right, Chris. I made it

:53:32.:53:35.

through the bog. This is a very technical method,

:53:36.:53:38.

wiggling my net about very gently, just mimicking the movements

:53:39.:53:45.

of animals in the water, Leeches used to be regarded

:53:46.:53:49.

as a medical cure-all. 200 years ago, ladies even

:53:50.:53:56.

paddled in marshes like this But now this variety, the medicinal

:53:57.:54:00.

leech, is a rare creature. There's only about 20 sites

:54:01.:54:08.

in the whole of the UK. As you can see, around us,

:54:09.:54:13.

we've got this nice pond here, which is great but the medicinal

:54:14.:54:15.

leeches are down in the water and in the mud and

:54:16.:54:18.

in amongst the vegetation, really hard to find them.

:54:19.:54:20.

It would be hard to find a person. If I were to get lost here, it might

:54:21.:54:23.

take all day tracking me. What they can detect through

:54:24.:54:27.

the water is the movement, the pressure waves that go through

:54:28.:54:32.

the water from movement, so it could be my net

:54:33.:54:35.

or a cow or a horse or anything like that, and they sort of

:54:36.:54:38.

find their prey, they attach with their suckers

:54:39.:54:40.

and they have three sets of teeth and then they release anaesthetics

:54:41.:54:43.

as they bite you, And then they release

:54:44.:54:46.

anticoagulants, and this is the really important

:54:47.:54:49.

chemical that they have. It's a very powerful anticoagulant

:54:50.:54:51.

so the blood will just flow. So they're quite amazing,

:54:52.:54:54.

really, aren't they? Yeah. Really, really amazing and then

:54:55.:54:56.

they can eat, or take in, about nine to 11 times their own

:54:57.:55:01.

volume in blood which is... I always think it's like a lion

:55:02.:55:04.

eating an elephant in one sitting. So they can keep that blood more or

:55:05.:55:08.

less fresh so they can eat it for weeks or months. The whole thing

:55:09.:55:10.

is just amazingly complex. I have to say, I did come here

:55:11.:55:14.

a little bit sceptical about this whole leech business but these

:55:15.:55:17.

sound absolutely remarkable. That's why they call him

:55:18.:55:21.

the leech man of Anglesey. Chris can't find one so I'll let him

:55:22.:55:35.

carry on hunting while I am meeting Hannah Shaw, from the

:55:36.:55:42.

Freshwater Habitats Trust, for a close encounter

:55:43.:55:45.

with her pet leech, Leslie. Hannah, it's not every day you meet

:55:46.:55:50.

a woman with a pet leech. What's the attraction?

:55:51.:55:53.

Well, they are just... and they're a

:55:54.:55:56.

really interesting creature. Oh, he's coming out.

:55:57.:56:01.

What type of leech is this? Well, this is a medicinal leech

:56:02.:56:06.

but it's actually... It's not the native

:56:07.:56:09.

medicinal leech. And does it make a good pet?

:56:10.:56:11.

Is it a he or is it a she? They have got eight eyes on the

:56:12.:56:15.

front, so they've got four down this You are obviously having

:56:16.:56:22.

to handle it very carefully. What would happen if it got onto

:56:23.:56:28.

your finger or your hand? Well, she would just find a suitable

:56:29.:56:32.

place and then start to attach and work her jaws

:56:33.:56:38.

to suck my blood, really. Well, you just gently would pull

:56:39.:56:41.

them off. You would bleed for quite a long

:56:42.:56:45.

time afterwards because of the That's why they're good

:56:46.:56:50.

in medical use as well, because you're not getting

:56:51.:56:54.

a blood clot there and it allows capillaries to heal

:56:55.:56:57.

in an amputated finger. They are amazing creatures, really,

:56:58.:57:00.

for something so strange. Well, Anglesey has got these

:57:01.:57:04.

lovely fens and the wetlands, which is one of the reasons why the

:57:05.:57:10.

medicinal leech has become so rare, because the wetlands have been

:57:11.:57:13.

drained for agricultural to see a rare native

:57:14.:57:17.

medicinal leech. Right on cue,

:57:18.:57:27.

Chris has a treat for me. There's one in there. Is there?

:57:28.:57:29.

Yeah, yeah. It's hanging onto the tray.

:57:30.:57:33.

What fantastic markings! It's got orange stripes, and you

:57:34.:57:44.

can't really see them in the light but there are pale blue stripes

:57:45.:57:48.

as well, down the side. Success. Yes, it's good

:57:49.:57:50.

to find that here. I know you've got a few more to find

:57:51.:57:54.

so I'm going to leave you... Well, Anglesey has been

:57:55.:57:59.

quite the adventure. But that's it from this gorgeous

:58:00.:58:05.

and diverse Welsh island. Next week,

:58:06.:58:08.

John is in Buckinghamshire, discovering how Roald Dahl

:58:09.:58:11.

was inspired 50 years ago,

:58:12.:58:56.

they became superstars in astronomy,

:58:57.:59:00.

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