Browse content similar to 18/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Our landscape is undergoing an extraordinary transformation... | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
Awakening from its winter slumber. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
As the days get longer and warmer, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
we're all trying to spring back to life. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
A day in spring is a lifetime for some, | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
and the beginning of life for others, | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
and survival is down to one simple thing... | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
timing. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:02 | |
Listen to this. This is the sound of spring. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
BIRDSONG | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
We've got resident and migrating birds that are returning | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
to our shores with the promise of warmer weather. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
But now all they're after is a mate. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
And they're not alone. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:25 | |
Millions of wild creatures are settling down to breed. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
Now, we're out here on the Somerset Levels | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
in pursuit of one of our largest breeds of birds | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
which have disappeared from these wetlands for centuries. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
They're out here somewhere, hopefully breeding. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
Now all we have to do is find them. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
As the spring day unfolds, | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
we'll witness some of the miracles that emerge, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
from the beauty of blossom | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
that will become fruitful later in the year... | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
They've got, on this one site, the largest display of fruit trees | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
and plants anywhere in the world, which means that in springtime, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
this place is blossom heaven. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
..To midday mayflies taking flight. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
And whole communities coming together to celebrate the season. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
But none of this would be possible without our springtime weather. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
Weather depends on where the UK is in relation to the jet stream. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:28 | |
I'll show you where the jet stream is this spring. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
On a spring day, from dawn to dusk, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
we'll see how the season evolves | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
as our countryside is brought back to life. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
BIRDS CHIRP | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
It's just getting light, and already, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
I'm being treated to the sound | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
that represents the beginning of each spring day. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
I'm going to get a front-row seat in what I'm told | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
is the Royal Albert Hall of birdsong venues. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
I'm at Nagshead, in the Forest of Dean. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
It's just about to get a whole lot louder. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
As the sun rises, first light falls on the spring earth below. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:16 | |
Life begins to stir, and the dawn chorus rises in volume. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
Both the ever present and the newly returned, | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
like the pied flycatcher, add their voices to this avian orchestra. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
And a man able to pick out them all is the RSPB's Mark Eaton. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
So can you tell me what we can hear this morning? | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
One of the things I can hear reeling away is wrens. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
That ch-ch-ch noise. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:50 | |
That's a bluetit. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
And you can hear something new just starting up, | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
quip-quip quip over there. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:58 | |
-That's a nuthatch. -This sound is unique to this time of year. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
It's a kind of either "Come and get me" or "Leave me alone"? | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
Yes, it's the male bird singing "This is my territory, stay out." | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
But at the same time, it's saying "Hey, girls, come and get me, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
"I've got a good place to breed. Come here." | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
This ever-evolving soundscape can amaze and inspire. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
That's exactly what it did to a musician I'll be meeting later. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
But before I do, he's asked me to record some raw materials | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
for him to work with, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:31 | |
so we've enlisted the help of our sound recordist, Mary. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
-Are you all right, Mary? -I'm all right. -Good. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
So how do we record birdsong? | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
Well, one of the ways we can do it is with one of these things, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
which is a parabolic reflector. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
The reflector focuses the sound into the centre of the dish, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
and then this microphone is pointed at the centre of the dish, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
so that's picking up that sound, so it's actually pointing backwards. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
So if I give you that... | 0:04:53 | 0:04:54 | |
So hold this, your satellite dish. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
-..and there's a set of headphones there. -I haven't got enough hands. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
-Do you mind holding that? -I have that problem, too. -Oh, wow. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
Don't we all hate the sound of our own voices? | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
Now I can really hear it. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:07 | |
OK, we're recording now. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
BIRDSONG | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
I can hear my own stomach rumbling. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
I reckon that's got to be enough. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:25 | |
-OK, I'll download that and then you can pass it on. -Wonderful. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
With my recording in the bag, I head off to meet Jason Singh, | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
a beatboxer turned vocal sculptor, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
who I'm told can recreate the sound of the dawn chorus | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
using his own voice. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:43 | |
-How are you doing, Jason? -Hey, Ellie. -Good to meet you. -You too. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
So I've been listening to the dawn chorus this morning, | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
and you're into that too. What got you into it? | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
I've always been interested in birdsong and nature. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
I've been inspired by birdsong in terms of their rhythms, | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
and I've looked at ways of translating that. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
It's a lot different from what I do as a beatboxer, | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
which is straightforward... HE BEATBOXES | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
-..sort of beats. -Awesome! -Into more experimental realms. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
HE IMITATES DARTH VADER BREATHING | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
HE IMITATES MOUSE SQUEAKING | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
Those sort of shapes and patterns, but then also using technology | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
to move and pitch shift and manipulate and warp. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
That's incredible. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:26 | |
-Well, I've got you some dawn chorus there on a memory stick. -Thank you! | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
Is there anything I can contribute to this? | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
-This might be a really embarrassing moment for me. -Can you whistle? | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
-Whistle? Yeah. -Perfect! Great. -Let's have a go. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:40 | |
So, when you're ready? | 0:06:43 | 0:06:44 | |
ELLIE WHISTLES | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
-That's great. -So now I need to leave you to it in the studio? -Yeah. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
Cheers. See you in a bit. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
Armed with a rather dodgy Harrison bird whistle | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
and my dawn chorus recording, Jason gets to work. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
After listening to the real thing... | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
..his mission is to make his own version using just his voice. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
HE IMITATES BIRDS CHIRPING | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
HE IMITATES BIRD CALL | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
20 minutes later, he's ready to unveil his ornithological opus. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:27 | |
I'm looking forward to this. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:28 | |
-How did you find your studio? -Yeah, great, really comfy. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:33 | |
All right, do you want me to play you back what you did? | 0:07:33 | 0:07:38 | |
Yeah, let's hear my bit. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
ELLIE'S BIRD WHISTLE | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
-Remember that? -Yeah! | 0:07:42 | 0:07:43 | |
That's how it was, and then basically what I've done is EQ'ed, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
and cut out certain frequencies. Here we go, here's the sound now. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
HIGHER-PITCHED TWEETING | 0:07:51 | 0:07:52 | |
-You've birdified me! -Birdified you! -That's amazing. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
And now here's the whole piece, with everything. | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
VARIED TYPES OF BIRDSONG | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
That's amazing, because it sounds like a piece of music | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
rather than just the dawn chorus, there's a lot of rhythm in there. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
How much of that is Mary's recording? | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
None of that is Mary's recording. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
-It's all vocal. -None of that is Mary's? -No. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
So you've got your whistle | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
and then loads of layers of sounds of listening to Mary's recording | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
and mimicking as much as I can of those birds. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
That is incredible. That sounds like the dawn chorus from this morning. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
You are the man of many birdsongs. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
-I don't even need to get up at four now. -Amazing. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
-This is it, no more dawn starts. -Great. -I'll just take this with me. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
'But I'm still not sure you can beat the real thing.' | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
Here on the farm, | 0:09:00 | 0:09:01 | |
the sights and sounds of the new season are all around. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
It's mid-morning here on the farm, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
and Ellie's not the only one being treated to birdsong. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
One bird that we've got a lot of here are the skylarks, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
and although they're difficult to see, | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
they're very distinctive in their song, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
and they're dancing around up there, | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
calling to one another. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
So spring is quite literally in the air. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
For me, spring is a time of new beginnings. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
The fields are filled with new life. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
LAMBS BLEAT | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
And earth sown with crops is revealing green shoots | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
and the promise of a good harvest to come. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
All I need now is perfect weather, a rare thing in this country. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
But knowing what's heading my way | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
can help me cope with whatever's in store. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
So I've called in Countryfile weather favourite John Hammond, | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
to explain the science behind our spring weather. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
Well, it's a bit different to last year, John. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
You can say that again, but that's the beauty of our weather. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
No two years are the same. A bit warmer this time around, isn't it? | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
Now, you asked me to get these things together for you. What's the plan? | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
Today, Adam, we're going to build | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
-a stylised version of the UK, all right? -Right. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
We're not getting all the details right, | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
admittedly, of the British Isles, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
but we're drawing a broad picture of the shape of the UK. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
We haven't put on things like the Shetland Isles, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
the Isles of Scilly, etc. It doesn't matter, | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
because what I'm trying to describe to you | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
is a general outline of the UK | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
and where it sits in relation to the Atlantic Ocean, etc. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:51 | |
Where am I going with this one? | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
You're in southern England now, whether you like it or not. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:57 | |
I'll chuck you another one. | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
Then I want Cornwall sort of here. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
And last but not least, | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
if you put Northern Ireland over here... | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
Could you shove the Midlands this way a bit, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
because we haven't got Wales at the moment. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
My mother's Welsh, we can't forget Wales. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
We don't want to upset her, no. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
With our straw bale United Kingdom built, | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
it's time to add the finishing touches. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
If I just dribble Scandinavia over here, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
and if you could put Holland and Denmark roughly there. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
That's Holland. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
Denmark. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:31 | |
If I might say so, it's probably the best weather map | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
I've ever stood in front of. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:35 | |
So what we've got is admittedly | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
a rather agricultural version of the British Isles | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
in relation to Denmark and Holland and Scandinavia | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
and the surrounding seas. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
But our weather depends on where the UK is in relation to the jet stream. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:50 | |
I'll show you where the jet stream is this spring, OK? | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
The jet stream is like a conveyor belt of weather. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
Along the jet stream, weather systems go, | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
and it's also a dividing line, if you like. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
It divides cold air to the north from much warmer air to the south. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:07 | |
So you may have noticed that it's a lot warmer than it was last year, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
and that's because the jet stream is so far north. And basically, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
it's allowed a lot of warm air to come up from the south, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
and the cold Arctic air has been kept way to the north, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
and that's why it's so lovely. Last winter - very different. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
-Let's move the jet stream. -OK. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
The jet stream just stayed way, way far south. It was way down here. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
And that made all the difference. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
That's why we had the coldest spring in living memory. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
-You asked me to do some snow. -The snow, yes. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
Not only were we on the cold side of the jet stream, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
but what made matters worse is that it kept on snowing. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
It snowed well on into the spring | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
and white stuff is reflective, | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
so all the sun's radiation - the sun gets stronger in the spring - | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
most of it was reflected straight back into space | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
for month after month after month. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
So last spring - completely different compared to this spring. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
A transformation in the countryside. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
So this jet stream has a huge impact on our weather, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
-but how easy is it to predict? -Well, in the short term, | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
we've come on leaps and bounds with our forecasting skills. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
But when you look beyond that, it gets a lot more tricky. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
But what we can say is that, long term, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
there is a definite warming going on. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
So the growing season, of course, | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
which has so much an impact on the farming community, | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
when you and I were little in the early '70s, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
the growing season was 20 or 30 days shorter than it is now. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:36 | |
So the growing season is significantly longer | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
-than it used to be. -It's fascinating, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
and I think I understand all that. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
Well done. Hard work, and I'm certainly getting quite warm. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
-I need to cool off. -Have you got a duck pond anywhere? | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
Where's this going? Yes, due west. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
Well, Adam, welcome to the Atlantic duck pond. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
We're going to do a little experiment, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:06 | |
and you, my friend, have drawn the short straw | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
because while I'm sitting on the coast here | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
with my feet dangling in the sea with Wellington boots on, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
you, I notice, have taken your shoes and socks off | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
because I want you to feel | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
just how cold that sea is at this time of year. Take a dip. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
-So this is supposed to be the UK, and this is the sea? -That's right. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
This is the UK. We're surrounded by the oceans. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
-Let's just see how... -Ahh! | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
..cold it is. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
That is really chilly! | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
Good, I'm glad you said that, because it demonstrates really well | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
just how cold the sea is at this time of year. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
Water takes a long time to warm up and a long time to cool down. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
So late winter and spring, the sea around the UK is at its coldest, | 0:14:43 | 0:14:48 | |
around seven or eight degrees. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
So for holidaymakers wanting to take a dip | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
going to the coast in the spring, | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
they have a bit of a shock to the system, just as you have. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
When you get a sea breeze developing on a spring afternoon, | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
the temperature can drop by seven | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
or eight degrees in a matter of minutes. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
So it has a fundamental effect on the weather in the UK in springtime. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
Well, it's fascinating and I'm learning a lot here, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
-but my feet are freezing. Let's go and get a cup of tea. -OK. -Go. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
Perhaps because of winter's extreme weather, | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
spring seems especially welcome this year. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
No more so than here, on the low-lying Somerset Levels. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:35 | |
This landscape is still in recovery, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
but the changing season brings hope to everything in the natural world. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
This spring, it's hoped | 0:15:45 | 0:15:46 | |
that new life will help boost the slow recovery | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
of a mighty bird that has been lost from these wetlands for centuries, | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
the common crane. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
The common, or now not so common crane | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
was wiped out as a breeding bird in the south-west corner of Britain | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
around 400 years ago as a result of hunting | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
and then widespread drainage of the wetlands. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
But now, to secure the future of the species, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
for the past five years, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
95 baby cranes have been hand-reared from eggs sourced from the wild. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:18 | |
The work is undertaken here, at a purpose-built crane school | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
Now, we've put in quite a bit of preparation for meeting the cranes. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
I haven't been near my chickens for a whole week, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
and all of the camera equipment has been scrubbed and cleaned. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
So I think we're ready. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
Well, not quite. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:39 | |
Next, we have to put on these disinfected shoes. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
Then, there's the outfits. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:45 | |
All of this may look a bit odd and extreme, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
but I'm told it's vital to protect the cranes, | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
and it's not just me that's dressed like this. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
There we are, lads. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
There we go. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:00 | |
Nigel Jarrett is the lead | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
feathery-fingered expert on the project. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
With a history of saving species from the brink of extinction, | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
he is one of the surrogate parents to the crane chicks. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
-(I think this might be Nigel, but I can't tell. Is it Nigel?) -Yes. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:19 | |
-(How are you?) -I'm good. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:20 | |
We don't need to be wearing hoods, by the way. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
(OK, hoods down, lads.) | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
(And the reason we are keeping our voices down as well?) | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
Yes, it's because we've got baby cranes behind us. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
That's the reason we're disguising our bodies | 0:17:31 | 0:17:33 | |
with this sort of sackcloth costume, it's not to look like cranes, | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
but to disguise our body shape | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
so that the babies that we have grow up thinking they're cranes and... | 0:17:38 | 0:17:43 | |
well, not people, anyway. That's the important thing. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
In the crane school behind us, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
where we'll feed the birds in a second, | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
we teach cranes from day-old chicks until they're ten weeks old, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
how to avoid predators like foxes, what to eat, what not to eat, | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
basically how to become cranes that can survive | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
in the British countryside. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
-And right now, we've got some eggs that are about to hatch. -Really? | 0:18:01 | 0:18:05 | |
-How close are they? -Just around the corner. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
-Do we need hoods up for this? -Not at this point. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
Upon graduation, these cranes will be free to explore the wild. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:17 | |
But even before they hatch, they've been on quite a journey. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
It started 800 miles away in Brandenburg, Germany, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
as the thriving population of cranes there | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
started to nest in early spring. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
Eggs were carefully selected under a special licence, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
without depleting their numbers. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
After sign-off by a local vet, | 0:18:35 | 0:18:37 | |
the eggs were transported back to the UK | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
on an 18-hour, non-stop road trip, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
and into the crane school incubator at Slimbridge. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
Just days later, here they are. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
15 and 17 and 20 are moving. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:52 | |
-Did you see that? -Massive, that was. -Fantastic. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
That's like a baby kicking inside its mummy's tummy. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
That egg is about a week from hatching. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
What is fantastic for me to see is that it's the first time | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
we've seen that there's still life in that egg | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
after having just been driven | 0:19:05 | 0:19:06 | |
-800 miles from Germany two nights ago. -Wow, look at it! | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
Amazing. That makes the hairs on my neck stand on end every time. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
There's a while to go in this incubator, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
but two have actually started to hatch, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
and we've got those in this incubator just over here. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
-Even from this lot here? -Yeah. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
What I'm about to do is play a brood call, | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
the sound that Mum and Dad make to babies that are hatching, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
and that encourages the chick to come out of the shell. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
If I just press it, you'll hear the growing sound. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
-You can hear the baby calling. -Yeah. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
BROOD CALL RECORDING PLAYS | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
-Is that the little beak there? -That's the beak just coming through. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
And on the end of that beak is something called an egg tooth, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
a little calcified sort of thing | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
that is used to break through the shell. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
-Wow. -That then drops off as soon as the baby's hatched. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
But the feeling you must get from doing this, and, you know, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:04 | |
-giving them a chance... -Like any expectant parent, | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
that exhilaration, that sort of pride you feel | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
isn't really there, you're just worried all the time. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
These are the most precious things that we've got. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
We literally have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
The important thing is that these babies | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
come out fit, well and healthy, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
ready to receive food and plenty of exercise, | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
which is what we're about to do for those that have already been hatched. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
Once the birds are a few days old, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
it's time to introduce them to their lessons - | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
learning to walk, run, feed and forage. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
It's all part of the process leading up to their graduation and release. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:42 | |
Finally, I get to pop my hood up. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
-WHISPERS: -Oh, my goodness me! | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
Now that is just adorable! | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
The ones that we're about to walk are between three and ten days old. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
-I think we're going to walk some five-day-olds. -I see. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
These babies grow by almost a centimetre a day. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:01 | |
They need the exercise for those legs to grow long and straight. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:05 | |
'Time for me to be Daddy Crane.' | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
-WHISPERS: -Oh, gosh, look! He's grabbed the whole stone! | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
Let's have a little wander. Come on. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
'The chicks are encouraged to exercise by being rewarded with food | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
'fed to them by dummy crane heads.' | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
-WHISPERS: -Well, I've taken some animals for a walk in my time, | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
never a baby crane. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
This is wonderful. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
As the days lengthen and the temperatures rise, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:40 | |
dark waters begin to stir. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
The Tweed is one of Britain's great rivers. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
For centuries, man has fished these waters | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
for salmon and trout. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
It's a place where fly fishing takes on almost artistic form. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:01 | |
See the fish jump out that time? | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
The spring awakening attracts fishermen like Kenny Galt, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
keen to take advantage of a spring miracle, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
where tiny creatures emerge from the depths. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
So I'm out fishing today to take advantage of the March Brown Hatch. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
The March Brown is a mayfly that we have in many Scottish rivers. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
And it's the time of year | 0:22:25 | 0:22:26 | |
when it changes from the juvenile form to the adult, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
and when it does that, it comes to the surface of the water, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
changes into the adult and flies off. When that happens, | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
quite often trout will come up and feed on them. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
And as such, you can imitate the adult March Brown | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
and catch lots of trout. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:40 | |
Timing is everything for the mayfly hatch. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
The temperature has to be just right. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
The light has to be perfect. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
Only then will the March Browns rise and take flight. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:54 | |
It's just approaching one o'clock, and the March Brown hatches | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
generally occur around lunchtime, generally starting about one o'clock. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
Just how long the hatch will last varies from day to day, | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
but for the most part you can set your watch by the timing. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
Mayflies are one of the most primitive life forms on the planet. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:15 | |
Underwater, the March Browns live amongst the rocks | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
for up to a year, avoiding predators with stealth and camouflage. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
Their feather-light gills extract oxygen from the fast-flowing water. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
The mayfly, as adults, only live for a few days, | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
maybe a week or so at most. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
Their sole purpose as the adult is to reproduce, | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
so they don't even have mouths for feeding. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
They just emerge out the water, reproduce, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
go back to lay their eggs, then die. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
The art of the angler is to wait for the perfect moment. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
Until at last, the hatch begins. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
The river becomes a frenzy of activity | 0:24:04 | 0:24:06 | |
above and below the water. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
You can see the gulls are flocking down, | 0:24:10 | 0:24:12 | |
swooping down and taking the March Browns off the surface of the water. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
The hatch is carefully choreographed. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
Millions of March Browns will emerge during early spring, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
ensuring that enough insects survive the waiting predators. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
On the river banks, the newly emerged adults | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
dry off in the spring sunshine. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
Mottled wings feel the air for the first time, | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
the three nymph tails now down to just two. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:39 | |
The trout also start to feed on the plentiful supplies | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
and finally, Kenny is rewarded for his patience. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
Got it. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
What we do now is, we just wet our hands | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
and quickly get the hook out the fish's mouth. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
We wet our hands so as not to burn the flesh of the fish. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
The hook's barbless, so it just slips out. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
And I'll just... Before putting him back, just for our records, | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
we'll record the length of the fish. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
This trout is, to the fork of the tail, 31.5cm. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:16 | |
Not bad, yeah. It's still quite slim, this one, | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
it's not started feeding after the winter. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
Most anglers release their trout nowadays | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
so they can go on and reproduce. It's good to see a trout like that | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
cos it really is an indicator of a clean, healthy river full of food. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:29 | |
The Tweed has lots of trout like that in it. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
Just cradle the fish at first, to make sure it's OK. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
And then once it's ready, once it's breathing strong, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
off it goes. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
Just as quickly as it started, the hatching stops. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
The remaining nymphs will have to wait until another day. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
A mini miracle, missed by most, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
but for the lucky few, one of spring's defining moments. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
The first golden rays of morning begin to unfurl | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
the pink and white petals of apple blossom. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
Soon, they'll be creating boughs of nature's glorious confetti. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:10 | |
It's a magical moment that signals spring is here - | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
the season of rejuvenation, renewal and regrowth. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
And here at the National Fruit Collection | 0:26:17 | 0:26:20 | |
at Brogdale in Kent, they've got on this one site | 0:26:20 | 0:26:24 | |
the largest display of fruit trees and plants | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
anywhere in the world, which means that in springtime, | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
this place is blossom heaven. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
Known as the Queen of Apples for her encyclopaedic knowledge, | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
Dr Joan Morgan is Britain's leading fruit historian. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
People wanting to know more about their fruit trees | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
bring her apples and pears to identify, | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
and today she's taking me on a blossom walk | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
through some of the nearly 4,000 fruit varieties here at Brogdale. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:58 | |
The Queen of Apples, Joan, that's quite a title, isn't it? | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
I'm not sure about that! But I'm very fond of apples. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
You must be! And this year has been | 0:27:04 | 0:27:06 | |
a fantastic year for blossom, hasn't it? | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
Yes, yes, it's wonderful. It's looking beautiful now. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
Yes. These are all ornamental, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
not the ones that produce edible apples | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
but the ones that produce apples you can make crab-apple jelly from. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
-They certainly produce wonderful flowers! -Yes, yeah. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
Joan has already chronicled in precise detail | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
Britain's great range of apples, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
and produced the definitive reference book. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
Now she's almost completed a definitive work on pears. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
So far, it's taken more than 15 years. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
Why has it taken so long to compile this book on pears? | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
Ah, well, there's so many hurdles in the way, you know. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
With pears, not every variety fruits well every year. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
Sometimes you might just miss the moment | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
when you should have collected the fruit. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
-So a long-time labour of love, then? -Yes, yes. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
I noticed that in your apple book, | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
you chose to have botanical illustrations | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
rather than photographs. Why's that? | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
Well, first of all, they're very beautiful. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
I mean, this produces a really lovely plate. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
And it's also possible to show | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
different stages in the apple's development, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
you can have it here as it is on the tree when it's picked, | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
and then as it is when it's perfectly ripe. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
I know you're going to be doing the same thing with the pear book, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
-cos I'm about to go and meet the illustrator! -Yes, yes. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
And perhaps you would be kind enough to take with you | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
-a sprig of blossom so that she can paint. -What have we got here? | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 | |
This is Onward, and if I cut this just there, a little spring... | 0:28:47 | 0:28:52 | |
-Thank you. -There we are. -I'll take this carefully | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
-and give it to Elisabeth. -Thank you very much. | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
This sprig will join many other specimens | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
that have already been received by Elisabeth Dowle, | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
a leading botanical illustrator. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
-Hello, Elisabeth. -Hello. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
-Busy sketching there? -Yes. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
-What is it? -This is a Williams pear. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
I thought it looked familiar! | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
And here's another one. This is an Onward from Joan for you to sketch. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:24 | |
-Yes. It does look a bit limp. -It does, doesn't it? | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
But I've got a solution in the house if you'd like to come with me. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
Right. Onward, then! | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
At her studio in East Sussex, | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
blossom samples are stored in the fridge | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
to prolong the fleeting moment | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
Elisabeth has to record their ephemeral beauty. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:46 | |
-So this is your studio. -It is, yes. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
And obviously a degree of urgency when the raw material first arrives. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:54 | |
Yes, it does put you under a bit of pressure. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
But as soon as Joan gives me the material, | 0:29:56 | 0:29:58 | |
I make careful colour notes of all parts of the plant, | 0:29:58 | 0:30:02 | |
and measurements, and any other characteristics | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
that need to be noted. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
The painstaking work of painting the process | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
as blossom matures into fruit | 0:30:10 | 0:30:12 | |
means a single plate can take more than two years to complete. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:16 | |
-Is this a finished plate? -This is a finished plate, yes. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
This would show the fruit as you pick it, | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
and that's the eating stage, when it's ripe. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
You've been painting pears now for 15 years or more. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
-Do you get sick of them? -Not at all. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
Like a lot of people, I just thought all pears were yellow, | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
when I started, but the diversity in colour and shape | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
is quite amazing. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
Which goes for the blossom as well, to some extent. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
But, er, no, it's been quite an education. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:46 | |
And also I get to eat them at the end, which is nice. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:50 | |
The passing seasons in a humble pear orchard | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
so vividly depicted by Elisabeth | 0:30:54 | 0:30:56 | |
have now been captured forever in these beautiful pages. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
Every year, blossom reminds us that winter is over, spring is here, | 0:31:01 | 0:31:05 | |
and summer is just around the corner. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
Blossom time brings colour back into our natural world, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
and it's just a fleeting moment in the great scale of things - | 0:31:11 | 0:31:15 | |
all too quickly, it's gone. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
The majestic beauty of spring | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
has inspired some of our best-loved classical music composers. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
And now the countryside at this time of year is having | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
deep impact on an altogether different type of musician. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:43 | |
The rock star/gentleman farmer. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:45 | |
MUSIC: "Song 2" by Blur | 0:31:45 | 0:31:46 | |
Good afternoon. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
As the bass player of Britpop band Blur, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
Alex James pursued a fast, urban lifestyle. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
But then in 2003, | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
he called time on all of that. | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
# Oh, yeah. # | 0:32:00 | 0:32:01 | |
He gave up his bachelor pad in Covent Garden | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
for this idyllic 200-acre farm in rural Oxfordshire. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:08 | |
I remember the day that I got the keys to the farm. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
It was utterly silent except for the trill of birdsong. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
I'm sitting just above the Evenlode, which is a tributary of the Thames. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:18 | |
So this flows down through Oxford and eventually gets to London, | 0:32:18 | 0:32:22 | |
and I love the idea of sort of sitting upstream of my past. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:26 | |
Faced with all this open space and silence, | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
my musical taste sort of went upstream. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:32 | |
I remember putting the William Tell Overture on one Monday morning | 0:32:32 | 0:32:36 | |
and I was in tears by the end. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
It completely blew me away what an accomplished, | 0:32:38 | 0:32:41 | |
enormous piece of music it is. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
There's something about the countryside | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
which just invites expansive, lyrical melodies. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:50 | |
You can put on a piece of classical music and it looks... | 0:32:50 | 0:32:54 | |
and look out the window and it looks like | 0:32:54 | 0:32:56 | |
a massive-budget music video. | 0:32:56 | 0:32:59 | |
The kids have called this wood the Star Wars wood. | 0:33:05 | 0:33:08 | |
Never found an Ewok in there, but I wouldn't be surprised, actually. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:12 | |
Today, it's a creature closer to home that's on Alex's mind. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:16 | |
Over recent years, the call of the common cuckoo has been heard here - | 0:33:16 | 0:33:20 | |
the first harbinger of spring. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:22 | |
CUCKOO CALLS | 0:33:22 | 0:33:23 | |
I suppose the cuckoo is the most famous bird call of all. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
I remember the first time I heard one, it was a complete surprise. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
It was a wonderful thing. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
The cuckoo's call is actually, it's a descending minor third, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
it's a really important interval in music. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:41 | |
The oldest surviving piece of music | 0:33:47 | 0:33:50 | |
which demonstrates sophisticated harmony | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
is a song about spring - Summer Is Icumen In. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
This time of year, I do find myself | 0:34:00 | 0:34:02 | |
wandering around whistling it. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
And the constant refrain throughout it is, | 0:34:04 | 0:34:06 | |
# Sing cuckoo nu | 0:34:06 | 0:34:08 | |
# Sing cuckoo | 0:34:08 | 0:34:10 | |
# Sing cuckoo nu | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
# Sing cuckoo. # | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
It's... It's brilliant. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
With spring, comes the impetus to start new work, | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
and with a new-found love of classical music, | 0:34:29 | 0:34:32 | |
Alex is beginning the process of creating his own classical work | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
with neighbour and composer William Lovelady. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
THEY PLAY GUITAR | 0:34:42 | 0:34:46 | |
If there's a difference between pop music and classical music, | 0:34:55 | 0:34:58 | |
pop music is a lot bolder lines, you know. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:02 | |
It's very simple, it's like big crayons. Everything is essential. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:07 | |
I think...classical music has more sort of layering | 0:35:07 | 0:35:13 | |
in terms of, er, orchestration. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:15 | |
Pop music is very much about keeping things as simple as you can. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:29 | |
Maybe if you've got a 90-piece symphony orchestra | 0:35:29 | 0:35:33 | |
at your fingertips, there's room for a bit more sophistication. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
There's a really fantastic sense of celebration and jubilation | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
about the music of spring. Never fails to knock me over. | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
I don't know what that is that we just played... | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
-Just play an instrument! -..or why we need it, | 0:36:07 | 0:36:11 | |
-but it sure felt good. -Mmm. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
Springtime. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
CHEEPING | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
And the miracle of birth. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
For the past five years, the Great Crane Project | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
has hand-reared 95 baby cranes | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
to help restore the future of the species | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
in the south-west of Britain. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
Earlier, I met Nigel Jarrett, one of the surrogate fathers to the chicks, | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
who, at Crane School, introduces them to their lessons - | 0:36:45 | 0:36:48 | |
learning to walk, run, feed and forage. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:53 | |
Well done, Matt. You're a natural Crane Daddy. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
-WHISPERS: -I'm not sure if I've ever looked so silly | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
and felt so good at the same time before! | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
After graduating at between 10 and 14 weeks old, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
the cranes are released onto the Somerset Levels. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
Damon Bridge from the RSPB closely monitors them | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
as they learn to adapt to the rigours of life in the wild. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
-Now then, Damon. -Hello. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
Are we getting some positive beeps on that radio tracker? | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
Yeah, we're picking up all last year's released birds, | 0:37:23 | 0:37:25 | |
programmed into here and they've got radio tags. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
What age are those that are down there? | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
The big group are all last year's young, | 0:37:30 | 0:37:32 | |
and then mixed in with them are some of the previous year's cohort, | 0:37:32 | 0:37:36 | |
-and the year before. -Well, as I've been experiencing, | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
a lot of effort goes into making sure they're not too used to humans. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
How close would we be able to get? | 0:37:42 | 0:37:44 | |
Well, about 300 metres, probably. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
But we can go down one of the tracks and see if we can get nearer | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
-to record some more information. -Great. I'll get your bits. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
Thanks! Great. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
But of course, as wild birds, they're prone to flying off... | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
just as you're getting close. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:02 | |
They've got to be out here somewhere. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
Hang on a minute, what's over there? | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
Oh, that's a heron. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
You're just looking at necks! | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
Oh, hang on. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:13 | |
-There we go. -There they are. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:15 | |
Got them, got them. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:17 | |
-They're up and flying as well. -How did they get over there? | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
Now, that is a beautiful sight. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
It's amazing, isn't it? | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
They've got such a wingspan - it's about eight feet across. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:27 | |
The spring's obviously a very exciting time for the cranes, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
that's when they form their pairs. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
By the ring combinations you can pick up which bird's which, | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
you can tell that certain birds are always together. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
Is that where this comes in? | 0:38:38 | 0:38:39 | |
-Yeah, it is. So we've got... -It's a bit like a dating agency form. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:44 | |
It is, yeah. These are all the birds released in the different years. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
These are two that have often been together - | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
-Swampy here and a bird over here, Mennis. -Right. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
When you see the group land, the pairs will always take themselves off | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
and they'll be just kind of walking around... | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
-Is that them calling? -See, there are some still down here. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:04 | |
And that was a classic duet call, it's called, | 0:39:04 | 0:39:08 | |
with one bird doing the lower note and the other the higher. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
How many pairs have you definitely got, then, | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
and what is the goal? | 0:39:13 | 0:39:15 | |
There's about seven pairs that we know of | 0:39:15 | 0:39:18 | |
spread around the South-West. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:20 | |
The goal is to get 20 breeding pairs by 2025. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:25 | |
Hopefully, this spring the first wild cranes | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
will hatch and flourish in the South-West, | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
something not seen for around 400 years. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
However, it's not set to happen here on the Somerset Levels. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
'I'm heading 80 miles north, back to the bird sanctuary at Slimbridge. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
'Two cranes, Chris and Monty, | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
'were raised and released from here last year onto the Somerset Levels, | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
'but have somehow found their way back to breed.' | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
Nigel, you couldn't write this story, could you? | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
You really can't, no. | 0:39:54 | 0:39:55 | |
It's four years ago that we actually hatched this pair | 0:39:55 | 0:40:00 | |
about 300 metres away from here where we have our "crane school" | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
where we hatch cranes every year and release them | 0:40:03 | 0:40:05 | |
and this pair, Chris and Monty, have come back | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
and make a nest of their own and are incubating eggs at the moment. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
That's after driving them, | 0:40:10 | 0:40:11 | |
what, an hour and a half away from here and how are they here? | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
What's your theory for them coming back? | 0:40:14 | 0:40:16 | |
Well, I think what's happened is, they've gone up in the air | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
in Somerset and they've seen the Severn Estuary | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
and just followed the river north. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
When they fly over "crane school", you can | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
actually see them clock you clocking them. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
Their head will tilt and they'll go down. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
Cranes are one of those birds that actually make eye contact | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
and look at you, so I think they do know where they came from, | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
but they definitely are unafraid and register | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
that that was where they were raised too. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
What's happening at the moment and what kind of stage are they at? | 0:40:42 | 0:40:45 | |
One of the birds is just sitting on the eggs now, keeping them warm, | 0:40:45 | 0:40:49 | |
keeping them safe from predators. The male also helps her. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
They do take it in turns to sit on the eggs. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:55 | |
It was really interesting hearing your anticipation earlier on | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
when you said you paced the corridors | 0:40:58 | 0:41:00 | |
when the eggs are about to hatch | 0:41:00 | 0:41:01 | |
-cos you're that kind of surrogate father. -Yeah. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:04 | |
Here you are with two of your surrogate offspring. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:07 | |
Life marches on, doesn't it? | 0:41:07 | 0:41:09 | |
And, yeah, we're going to become surrogate grandparents, I suppose. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
Of course, it's not just me, there's a lot of us working on this | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
and so we're quite a big, happy family at the moment, just with | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
everything crossed that those babies and those eggs are going to hatch. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:22 | |
It's hoped, this spring, these chicks will hatch in the wild, | 0:41:24 | 0:41:28 | |
not reared by humans in costumes or fed by artificial heads. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
Cranes Chris and Monty will be doing it all on their own. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
Whilst the joy of new life | 0:41:42 | 0:41:43 | |
is one of spring's most welcome spectacles, | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
there's another staple of the season that's seen and felt by us all... | 0:41:46 | 0:41:50 | |
THUNDER RUMBLES | 0:41:52 | 0:41:53 | |
..April showers. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
Despite their name, they happen all through the spring | 0:41:56 | 0:42:00 | |
and weatherman John Hammond | 0:42:00 | 0:42:02 | |
is taking me on a trip to Tiverton in search of some. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
I've brought you somewhere where we use state-of-the-art, | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
high technology, literally, to forecast the weather. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
Grab hold of that. Let me show you where we're off to. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
'John's brought me to one of the Met Office's radar stations, | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
'part of a network that tracks cloud | 0:42:18 | 0:42:21 | |
'and rainfall as it passes across the country.' | 0:42:21 | 0:42:24 | |
This is just one, Adam. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:25 | |
There are several of these around the UK, | 0:42:25 | 0:42:28 | |
so there's a whole network of them, they're all joined up, | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
so that, at any one time, we forecasters can instantaneously see | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
where the rainfall is across the UK. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:37 | |
So, when I go to a market and I see an amazing looking bull, | 0:42:37 | 0:42:40 | |
you know, I love that, and this thing rocks your boat, doesn't it? | 0:42:40 | 0:42:43 | |
Sorry, not interested - this is what gets me excited. Let's go upstairs. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
-I've got something else to show you, got some experiments to do. -OK. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
Here we are, Adam. Have a look at this little beauty, have a gander. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
-What do you think? -Amazing. I can see why you get so excited about it. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
-I really do. -Now, is this one of your little experiments here? | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
Yeah, we've gone from bales of straw to plastic bottles. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:04 | |
A bit like Blue Peter, isn't it? ADAM LAUGHS | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
I want to demonstrate, and hopefully generate, a cloud, OK? | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 | |
So, let's, first of all, fill the bottle a little bit with some water, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:16 | |
some smoke, because in the atmosphere naturally you get dust. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:21 | |
Now we need to pressurise that bottle. Right, that's... | 0:43:21 | 0:43:27 | |
How are we doing? That'll do, that'll do. OK, fine. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
What we're going to do now is suddenly decompress | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
that chamber and hopefully... | 0:43:34 | 0:43:35 | |
Wow! Look at that! How about that? | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
-Incredible! -We've produced... It is quite impressive, isn't it? | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
We have produced our own cloud. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:46 | |
'We get more of these showery clouds at this time of year | 0:43:47 | 0:43:51 | |
'as the spring sun begins to heat up the ground, | 0:43:51 | 0:43:54 | |
causing warm air to rise. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:55 | |
'As this warm air meets the cool atmosphere above, | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
'it turns from gas into liquid with rain droplets forming | 0:43:58 | 0:44:02 | |
'around microscopic dust particles that fall on us as showers. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
'But, of course, what we all want to know | 0:44:06 | 0:44:08 | |
'is when and where they're going to happen, so it's time | 0:44:08 | 0:44:12 | |
'to put the technology to the test with one final experiment - | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
'April shower chasing.' | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
It's April showers we're after. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:19 | |
And it's April showers we've got on the screen there, Adam. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
In fact, there's a whole lot of them. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:24 | |
The blue echoes indicate relatively light showers, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
but the yellow and the oranges are a pretty intense echo, | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
ie, some very heavy showers, some storms. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
In fact if we look down in the Devon area, | 0:44:32 | 0:44:34 | |
I can see some showers moving their way in from the south-west | 0:44:34 | 0:44:37 | |
and then not a million miles away, so I reckon if you jump | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
in your car, there's a good chance | 0:44:40 | 0:44:41 | |
we might encounter some of those showers. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:43 | |
-I think it's about time we see you getting wet. -Lovely. See you later. | 0:44:43 | 0:44:48 | |
Good luck. | 0:44:48 | 0:44:49 | |
Let's go and find some rain. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:57 | |
OK, well, I hope this does come off, because it's the last chance saloon. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
I've sent Adam to into South Molton to coincide with this shower | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
which is moving up from the south-west, | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
but, as you can see, it is the last shower for a long time | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
because the wind is coming up from the south-west | 0:45:14 | 0:45:16 | |
and there are no showers at all - after this shower has gone through, | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
it's going to be completely dry. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:22 | |
So, fingers crossed, Adam gets to South Molton in time, | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
he gets thoroughly wet and the experiment would have worked. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
As I race towards the rainbow, | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
it looks like I might be cutting it fine. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:34 | |
There's cars coming the other way with their headlights on, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:38 | |
so it may be that there's a heavy shower head of us. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:41 | |
We may have just missed it. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:44 | |
'The only thing to do is to follow that cloud. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:47 | |
'Back at base, I can see that South Molton is soon going to be | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
'shower central. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
'Time to check in on Adam's progress.' | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:45:55 | 0:45:57 | |
-Hello. -'How are you doing?' | 0:45:57 | 0:45:58 | |
All right, yeah, we've got black clouds all around us | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
but we haven't hit a shower ourselves yet. | 0:46:01 | 0:46:04 | |
I think we may be just behind it. | 0:46:04 | 0:46:06 | |
OK, how far away are you from South Molton now? | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
-We've passed South Molton. -Oh. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:13 | |
Were going to turn off, I think, and go towards the north more. | 0:46:13 | 0:46:18 | |
-OK, good luck. -Bye. -Cheers. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
He's gone through South Molton, surprise surprise, | 0:46:21 | 0:46:24 | |
he says the shower was behind him. I told him to go to South Molton, | 0:46:24 | 0:46:27 | |
but he's sailing off towards Barnstable. | 0:46:27 | 0:46:29 | |
It's hardly surprising the shower is behind him. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
I don't know, some people just don't take instruction. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:36 | |
'I reckon I'm getting pretty close to that shower.' | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
Well, the road's a bit wet here | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
and these Exmoor ponies are stood in puddles. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:45 | |
Have you seen any rain lately? | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
'Before I can work out my next move, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
'weather-hound Hammond is back on my case.' | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
I've looked at the radar | 0:46:54 | 0:46:55 | |
and the showers are literally disintegrating before my eyes. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
'You need to get a move on. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
'OK. We'll jump back in the car.' | 0:47:00 | 0:47:01 | |
I've had to put my windscreen wipers on. | 0:47:05 | 0:47:07 | |
We're getting a little bit of drizzle. | 0:47:07 | 0:47:09 | |
I think we've got behind the shower and I can see dark clouds ahead, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
so I'm now chasing it. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:14 | |
'20 minutes later and the question is, was this just a dry run?' | 0:47:16 | 0:47:21 | |
So, Adam, talk me through it. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:25 | |
-Your car looks remarkably dry, I have to say. -I got so close. | 0:47:25 | 0:47:29 | |
I could see the showers and dark clouds all around us, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
we had a little bit of drizzle, but it wasn't a downpour. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
It just gives you an idea, | 0:47:35 | 0:47:36 | |
Adam, of how difficult it is to predict showers and where they're | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
going to go, because they're not just moving along like that in time. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
They're forming and they're disappearing and forming again | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
all the while - it's a real nebulous thing, forecasting showers. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
I mean, really tricky, then, just to track one down at all. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:51 | |
Yes, although, if you'd actually stayed where I told you to be, | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
you'd probably have had better luck. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:56 | |
You weathermen, you're just full of excuses. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
You farmers are always complaining. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:00 | |
-Come on. I'll give you a lift home. -OK. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
Spring - traditionally a time for communities to come together | 0:48:22 | 0:48:26 | |
and celebrate the changing season, | 0:48:26 | 0:48:28 | |
with many a city, town or village having its own custom or ritual. | 0:48:28 | 0:48:33 | |
The oldest one of all is said to be here in Padstow, | 0:48:34 | 0:48:38 | |
down on the Cornish coast. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
On May Day, the narrow streets are ablaze with colour, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
decorated with boughs of fresh spring greenery through which | 0:48:45 | 0:48:49 | |
dancing black stallions, known as "obby oss", will parade. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:54 | |
And right now, I'm waiting for the old oss to frolic | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
out of its stable, otherwise known as the pub. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
CHEERING | 0:49:01 | 0:49:02 | |
Now, at large, the two prancing obby oss | 0:49:06 | 0:49:09 | |
will be carried by passionate locals, | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
who dance, sing and drink their way through these old streets. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:15 | |
It is bizarrely emotional. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
There's something about the collective singing | 0:49:18 | 0:49:21 | |
and the collective dancing that actually makes you a bit choked. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:25 | |
'So what's it all about? | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
'If anyone knows the origins of this festival, it's Doc Rowe, | 0:49:27 | 0:49:30 | |
'who has spent a lifetime collecting material | 0:49:30 | 0:49:33 | |
'relating to British folklore.' | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
So, Doc, is this about fertility or the bringing in of summer or | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
warding off French sailors from the 14th century, what's it all about? | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
Everyone wants these things to go back to pagan times, | 0:49:42 | 0:49:45 | |
you know, that's what we desperately want, | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
but it's Padstow celebrating themselves. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
It's like a pacemaker, you know, so it's the heart of the community | 0:49:50 | 0:49:54 | |
and on May Day they charge it up again for the rest of the year. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
So where did the two different osses come from, the old oss, | 0:49:58 | 0:50:01 | |
the red one and then the blue ribbon one, that was later? | 0:50:01 | 0:50:04 | |
It's said that the turn of the last century, | 0:50:04 | 0:50:06 | |
some of the people in Padstow thought they were getting | 0:50:06 | 0:50:09 | |
rather inebriated on the day, so they brought in the blue ribbon | 0:50:09 | 0:50:13 | |
which was the sign of temperance, so it was actually a temperance oss. | 0:50:13 | 0:50:17 | |
They were sober. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:18 | |
And, again, the story goes, that within a year or so, | 0:50:18 | 0:50:20 | |
they were as intemperate as the others. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
MAN SHOUTS | 0:50:23 | 0:50:24 | |
CROWD RESPONDS | 0:50:24 | 0:50:26 | |
'The origins of this festival may have been | 0:50:26 | 0:50:28 | |
'lost in the mists of time, | 0:50:28 | 0:50:29 | |
'but its customs live on, woven into the fabric of the community | 0:50:29 | 0:50:33 | |
'by principal families reprising the same roles | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
'they've had for generations.' | 0:50:36 | 0:50:38 | |
'Old Mack, he's 84 now and his dancing days are over | 0:50:38 | 0:50:41 | |
'and he's handing the club over to his little grandson Willie. | 0:50:41 | 0:50:44 | |
'Now, believe you me, little Willie is a grand dancer.' | 0:50:44 | 0:50:47 | |
'More than 60 years ago, the talk of the town was Willie McOwen, | 0:50:49 | 0:50:53 | |
'the artful teaser and terror of the oss. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:56 | |
'A generation later, Willie's all grown up | 0:50:56 | 0:50:59 | |
'and no longer teases the swirling beast, | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
'but his son Jamie has taken on the family mantle.' | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
What was that first experience like doing it? | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
Well, it's tremendous, isn't it? | 0:51:08 | 0:51:09 | |
When you come out with the club, you're in charge of that horse. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
We've been brought up with it since we was little kiddies | 0:51:12 | 0:51:15 | |
cos your mam's brought you down here and you heard the drums | 0:51:15 | 0:51:17 | |
and once you hear them drums, it's in your head the rest of your life. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:21 | |
And that's when you've either got it then or you ain't. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:23 | |
And, Jamie, why tease the oss, what's that all about? | 0:51:23 | 0:51:25 | |
It's for the horse to follow, otherwise, if you just comes out, | 0:51:25 | 0:51:28 | |
he's just dancing blind. Like my dad said, you're brought up with it | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
from such a young age, you think of all your families going back | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
and you always hope you can do 'em proud and do it well. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:37 | |
And this is purely for people from Padstow, isn't it? You can't join | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
what you guys are doing if you're a girl from Gloucestershire, can you? | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
-Unless you married into a family. -Oh, really? -Yeah. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:45 | |
So the only way I could get in on this is | 0:51:45 | 0:51:47 | |
-if I was to marry someone from Padstow, is that right? -Yeah. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:50 | |
-Pretty much. -Pretty much. -Well, that can be arranged. -Can it? -Yeah. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
-I may get lucky today. -You might be, I think. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:55 | |
'On their winding route through Padstow, | 0:51:55 | 0:51:58 | |
'both osses visit the nearby stately home of Prideaux Place - | 0:51:58 | 0:52:02 | |
'traditionally, the old oss stays outside, | 0:52:02 | 0:52:05 | |
'but the blue ribbon oss is welcomed inside.' | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
Well, I haven't managed to track down the groom, | 0:52:08 | 0:52:10 | |
but I have been given a special invitation | 0:52:10 | 0:52:13 | |
from the lord of the manor, Peter Prideaux-Brune, who has allowed me | 0:52:13 | 0:52:16 | |
special access to see what goes on in Padstow behind closed doors. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:21 | |
So, Peter, I understand it's a bit of a coup, then, | 0:52:24 | 0:52:26 | |
I'm allowed in here today when I'm not from Cornwall. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
Well, it is, but I love Countryfile, so you're very welcome. | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
Well, that's very kind of you. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:34 | |
So when the blue ribbon oss come in, they will all be local people, | 0:52:34 | 0:52:38 | |
-will they? -Oh, yes, absolutely. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:40 | |
You have to be a sixth generation Padstow. | 0:52:40 | 0:52:43 | |
There are occasionally the odd fistfights about who gets in | 0:52:43 | 0:52:46 | |
-and who doesn't. -Do you have any allegiances? | 0:52:46 | 0:52:48 | |
The blue ribbon oss team get to come in here | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
whereas the old oss are outside. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:53 | |
I've no allegiance at all. I'm not allowed to. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:57 | |
-In fact, we had the red oss up here this morning. -Yes. | 0:52:57 | 0:53:02 | |
-And I wore my red tie. -So the ties are appropriate. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
And then, when they go, I have to change quickly | 0:53:05 | 0:53:08 | |
and put my blue tie on. | 0:53:08 | 0:53:09 | |
So it's just tradition, then, that the blue ribbon oss come inside? | 0:53:09 | 0:53:12 | |
Yes, I don't know why, I've always said to the red oss | 0:53:12 | 0:53:14 | |
that they can come in, they're very welcome, | 0:53:14 | 0:53:16 | |
but they say, "No, we like to dance outside | 0:53:16 | 0:53:18 | |
"and the blue oss dances inside, traditionally." | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
And do you know? It still sends a prickle down the back of my neck. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:26 | |
TRADITIONAL SINGING | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
It's amazing, it's gone from an empty space to an instant party | 0:53:32 | 0:53:36 | |
and they love to party. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:38 | |
'I'm being caught up in the party atmosphere - | 0:53:38 | 0:53:41 | |
'it looks like the unexpected has happened.' | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
-Do you want a go with the club? -Me? Really? Can I? | 0:53:44 | 0:53:46 | |
'I'd been invited to tease the oss.' | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
Come on then. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
I'm allowed to have a go! | 0:53:50 | 0:53:51 | |
Am I allowed a go? | 0:53:51 | 0:53:53 | |
Sorry. | 0:54:02 | 0:54:03 | |
This is amazing. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:08 | |
Thank you so much. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:13 | |
I can't believe I got to have a go. What a privilege. What a privilege. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:19 | |
I thought I wasn't allowed. I'm certainly not from Padstow. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
Oh-h! | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
With this crisp night drawing in, | 0:54:28 | 0:54:30 | |
it's time to bid farewell to the osses | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
and our glorious spring until next year. | 0:54:33 | 0:54:36 |