Browse content similar to Northern Ireland. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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From its high, green mountains to its wide, blue waters. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
From its shaded rivers to its rich pastures, | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
Northern Ireland is a land of boundless beauty. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:37 | |
It's also a big hit with you, our viewers. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
A little while ago, we asked for your suggestions as to where we | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
should go to film and many of you said Northern Ireland. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
So here we are. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
You pointed us in the direction of a little-known but stunning region. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
It's off the beaten track and a world away in time. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
The beautiful Sperrin Mountains, a hidden landscape. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
Magical, mysterious, too, we'll be revealing some of its secrets. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
Tom's continuing his investigation into garden cities. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
It's claimed that garden cities offer the perfect blend | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
of town and country, but will a new wave of these new towns | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
really appeal to people used to rural way of life? | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
And Adam's on the case of the bloodsucking beasties | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
lurking in our countryside. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
Ticks come second only to mosquitoes | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
as transmitters of disease worldwide, | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
and I'll be finding out what problems these little bloodsuckers | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
cause to farmers and anybody else who enjoys the countryside. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
Don't worry, this little bloodsucker's already dead. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
From the Mountains of Mourne to the rugged Antrim coast, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
this is a landscape that stirs the imagination. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:08 | |
Earlier this year, when we asked you for your suggestions | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
of the places Countryfile should go, many of you said here - | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
Northern Ireland. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
And I'll testify to that. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
I am a County Down lass, born and bred, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
and, even though I left here when I was 18, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
I'll always be proud to call this place home. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
But I'm starting in less familiar surroundings, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
somewhere you wanted to tell us about, | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
right at the heart of the country in rural County Londonderry. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:41 | |
Another world - enchanting, timeless and largely unknown. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:46 | |
You'd be forgiven for mistaking this breathtaking terrain | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
for the Peak District or Northumberland National Park, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
but there's a difference - there's nobody here. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:59 | |
These are the Sperrin Mountains. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
They gave us one of the greatest poets of our age, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
the Noble Laureate Seamus Heaney. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
Most of us have heard of him, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
but the stunning landscape that he was nurtured in is barely known. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
Only now is this remote wilderness being put on the map. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:22 | |
Fiona Bryant heads up a project that's opening up | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
more of the Sperrins for people to get out into and enjoy. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
Fiona, I've done a lot of walking in the Mournes, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
but I've never really stopped in the Sperrins | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
and I just don't know why, because it's absolutely beautiful. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
-It's gorgeous. -It really is stunning. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
What's nice about the Sperrins is that it has a completely | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
different character from mountains like the Mourne. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
It's a large, open peat bog, it's blanket bog, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
so the character is different - | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
it's more rolling hills than big, dramatic mountains. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
-Yes, but... -But it gives it its own sense of drama. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
It's kind of bleak, as well, and you don't see a soul. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
No, you can walk here all weekend and you can have | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
the entire hills to yourself. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:05 | |
You'll maybe only see a farmer working in the distance. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
Yet, for all its beauty, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
there are next to no official walks through this pristine landscape. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
You can't just wander off into the distance, | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
because there are no trails up there, there's nothing to follow | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
and unless you've got a map and you're quite confident, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
you could quite easily get lost when the mist comes down. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
Heading out into these hills can be a challenge, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
and it's not just because of a lack of trails. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
The reason people don't come in to walk on the hills | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
is that access is very complicated here. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
-All of the land we see is privately owned... -Right. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
And in some cases it's owned by | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
a number of different farmers together. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
So, if this is privately-owned land, are we effectively trespassing, then? | 0:04:51 | 0:04:56 | |
Well, no, because there is informal access along the mountains here. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
Most farmers don't disagree to people coming along for a walk. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
But in order for us to actually promote this landscape | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
to the rest of the world, to tourists and visitors, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
we have to have formal access. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
We've been working with the farmers to try and get this particular trail | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
up to the national standard, so that people can actually come out | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
and experience this beautiful scenery for themselves. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
The Sperrins inspired one of the world's greatest poets, | 0:05:30 | 0:05:34 | |
a Nobel Prize winner, whose experiences growing up | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
on a farm in the shadow of the Sperrins would never leave him. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
Seamus Heaney was fascinated by this landscape and the way of life here. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
His father dug in the potato fields and his grandfather before him | 0:05:49 | 0:05:53 | |
cut these peat bogs for turf. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
The cold smell of potato mould | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
The squelch and slap | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
Of soggy peat | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
The curt cuts of an edge | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
Through living roots awaken in my head | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
But I've no spade to follow men like them | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
Between my finger and my thumb | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
The squat pen rests | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
I'll dig with it. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
With the pen as his tool, Heaney dug deep, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
precious words evoking the true character of this land. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
He wrote of what he saw and of places and people that still exist. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:38 | |
All I know is a door into the dark | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting | 0:06:44 | 0:06:49 | |
Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
The unpredictable fantail of sparks | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
The anvil must be somewhere in the centre | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
Horned as a unicorn | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
At one end square | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
Set there immoveable as an altar | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
Where he expends himself in shape and music | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
Sometimes, leather-aproned | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
Hairs in his nose | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
He leans out on the jamb | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
Recalls a clatter | 0:07:19 | 0:07:20 | |
Of hoofs where traffic | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
Is flashing in rows | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
Then grunts and goes in | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
With a slam and flick | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
To beat real iron out | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
To work the bellows. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
So this is what lies behind the door into the dark. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
-This is the forge and this is Barney. Hello. -How are you doing? | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
-How are you? -Oh, tiptop. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:47 | |
'Barney Devlin's forge in Castledawson was | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
'the inspiration for one of Heaney's best-known poems, The Forge. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:55 | |
'Published when Heaney was 30, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
'it's based on his experiences as a child walking to school down the road | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
'in Anahorish, a route that took him past Barney's blacksmith's shop. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:06 | |
'Heaney could hear the sound of hammer on anvil | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
'from the other side of the street. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
'It lit his imagination, | 0:08:10 | 0:08:12 | |
'but he never ventured through the door to see what was inside.' | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
Hair in his nose. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:30 | |
Leaning against the jamb. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
Yes. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:37 | |
So just from his imagination? | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
Is there anything maybe not quite accurate? | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
Definitely. | 0:08:58 | 0:08:59 | |
Yes. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:01 | |
'Many years after writing it, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:02 | |
'Seamus Heaney would return to the subject of his poem, | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
'only this time entering the forge he had conjured up in his imagination.' | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
'Through his poem, Heaney captured a dying art form. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
'94-year-old Barney is the last in a long line of blacksmiths who | 0:09:28 | 0:09:33 | |
'worked iron in this forge.' | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
Of course. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:42 | |
You've seen a lot of changes over the years. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
Queueing up? Really? | 0:09:49 | 0:09:50 | |
Yeah, but it must be great that Seamus wrote the poem, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
so at least that will always live on. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
The horses and carts of Barney's youth may have gone, | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
but here, right in the heart of this beautiful country, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
time has a way of standing still. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
The Ballinderry River flows out from the foothills | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
of the Sperrin Mountains, a silvery sliver, snaking down to | 0:10:47 | 0:10:51 | |
Lough Neagh, the largest body of fresh water in the British Isles. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:56 | |
It's a beautiful river, but it's much more than that. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
It's a last stronghold of one of our most endangered creatures, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
the freshwater pearl mussel. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
Once, there were millions of them on this river, | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
now there's perhaps a thousand. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
Freshwater pearl mussels are slow-growing creatures. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
They can live for up to 150 years, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
but they need absolutely pristine conditions to survive. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
And there's the problem, because the slightest | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
contamination of the water can, and has, wiped out whole populations. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:35 | |
'But help is at hand. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
'Conservationist Mark Horton is heading up a world leading project | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
'to save the pearl mussel.' | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
What's been causing the contamination, Mark? | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
Well, the catchment is full of agricultural land, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
so there's lots and lots of cattle. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:53 | |
They've been getting in and out of the river and eroding the banks | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
and they've simply been doing that to get drinking water | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
and it's been proven in the past that cattle standing in the river | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
are more likely to go to the toilet there anyway, | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
so you've got all sorts of things getting into the water. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
'All this muck and silt can settle on the mussels and suffocate them, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:11 | |
'so keeping cattle away from the river banks is vital. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
'Mark's using an ingenious bit of kit to help do this.' | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
This is a pump and what's great about this is that the cows operate it | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
themselves and the cattle simply come here | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
and nudge the pump with their nose and this fills the trough | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
from the river and so they have access | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
to the drinking water that they need. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
'This device has helped clean up the Ballinderry, | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
'all we need now are some young mussels. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
'The Ballinderry River Trust runs this breeding centre which is | 0:12:40 | 0:12:44 | |
'playing a major part in saving the freshwater pearl mussel.' | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
Well, some of these are pretty big, aren't they, Rebecca? | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
They are, they can grow to quite a large size. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
How old do you reckon this one could be? | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
That one is probably about 100 years old, so to put it into context, | 0:12:56 | 0:13:01 | |
-that mussel was a baby when the Titanic was being built. -Goodness. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
-Yeah. -And they're called pearl mussels, but, er... -Yes. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
Obviously not every one has a pearl in it. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
Not every one, maybe one in every thousand has a pearl. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:14 | |
These are specimens from the university collection. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
-Those are the two very fine ones, aren't they? -Yeah. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
They are very nice ones. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:20 | |
The brown ones are pearls as well, are they? | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
Yes, you can get them in a range of colours. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
So is the reason that they're threatened now | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
because people do hunt them for the pearls? | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
It is one of the main reasons, that, along with habitat destruction. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
'To survive, baby mussels depend almost entirely | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
'upon one of the most unusual relationships in nature, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
'it's with this local species of trout.' | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
Adult mussels will spit out the baby mussels | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
and the fish will eat the baby mussels, essentially, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
and then the mussels will live on the gills of the fish | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
for about nine months | 0:13:54 | 0:13:55 | |
and then they'll drop off into the sediment. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
And what benefit do the baby mussels get from that? | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
The oxygenation of the gills, oxygen passing over the gills of the fishes. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:05 | |
-Helps them grow. -It helps them grow. -Wow! | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
-That's incredible, isn't it? -Mm-hm. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
'I'm heading to a secret location where Mark and his team | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
'are just about to release this year's | 0:14:19 | 0:14:21 | |
'first batch of juvenile mussels.' | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
Mark, what are you doing with that traffic cone? | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
This is called a bathyscope, it's a glass-bottomed traffic cone. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:14:32 | 0:14:34 | |
So you can look down the inside of it with it under the water | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
and you'll be able to see the mussels in the gravel, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
so do you want to have a go? | 0:14:40 | 0:14:41 | |
But I thought we were releasing baby mussels. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
What are you looking at ones that are already in the river for? | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
So this stretch of river that we're in here is where the remaining | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
wild mussels live and it's important that we bring them | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
together into a tight group. It helps in the breeding process. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
It means that the females are more likely to get fertilised | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
and grouped together, they're actually safer. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
Do you put the baby mussels in with the big ones? | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
-You put them in with the bigger ones, yes. -Ah, right. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
-Yeah, and that creates a population. -Have you found any? -Yes, there's | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
three just here, if you want to have a little look under the water. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
Oh, yeah, yes. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:11 | |
So they're bedded down into the gravel and they have a foot that | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
sticks out the bottom of the shell and that holds them into the gravel. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
Am I allowed to touch them here or what? | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
Well, you have to have a special licence to even touch them, | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
you're not allowed to take them from the wild, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
but I think, John, given that you're with us today on the river... | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
I'm allowed to pick one up. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:30 | |
..you can lift one out and have a look at them, yes. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
-That's a good size, isn't it? -It is a good one, yeah. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
So you'll cluster them all together, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
-what, along the bank somewhere? -In a safe place | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
-behind a big boulder. -Right. -And then we'll bring the juveniles | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
and we'll put the juveniles out between the adult mussels. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
Rebecca, you've brought the young ones along, haven't you? | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
-How old are these? -These ones are about 15 to 16 years old. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
-They're the teenagers, then? -They are the teenagers of the group, yeah. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
-I hope they get on with the oldies. -I hope they behave themselves. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
So how many teenagers are we planting in today? | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
In this patch, we're going to plant 20 teenagers altogether. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
'500 in total will be released this year, | 0:16:10 | 0:16:12 | |
'that's half as many again | 0:16:12 | 0:16:14 | |
'as already live in the Ballinderry River. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
'From where I'm standing, things are looking rather more | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
'hopeful for the freshwater pearl mussel.' | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
A couple of weeks ago on the programme, | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
we heard about plans to create a new wave of garden cities, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
but can they really deliver the perfect blend of city | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
and country living and even help solve the rural housing crisis? | 0:16:38 | 0:16:42 | |
Here's Tom. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:43 | |
Many of us would love to capture the essence of the countryside, | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
bottle it and take it back home with us, | 0:16:57 | 0:16:59 | |
especially if we live in a built-up area. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
Well, there was one man who did much more than just imagine that. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:07 | |
That man was the Victorian social reformer Ebenezer Howard, | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
founder of the garden city movement. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
He firmly believed that a town could be built where, | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
to quote from his own book - "the advantages of the most | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
"energetic and active town life with all the beauty | 0:17:21 | 0:17:24 | |
"and the delight of the country may be secured in perfect combination." | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
It was more than just a dream and in 1903, this place was founded - | 0:17:32 | 0:17:37 | |
Letchworth, the first ever garden city. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
'Letchworth in Hertfordshire was a revelation. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
'Its unique blend of town | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
'and country meant no more crowded industrial streets. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
'This garden city had wide, tree-lined boulevards | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
'and an unprecedented amount of open spaces, greens and parks | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
'where nature could flourish | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
'and these features are still enjoyed today.' | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
I hope we might see some butterflies, seen one or two whites | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
in the distance, but I think I saw something come down just over here. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
'Brian Sawford was born and bred in Letchworth | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
'and used to work as a countryside officer for the local council. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
'I'm joining him on his weekly nature walk on a common | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
'near the town centre.' | 0:18:19 | 0:18:20 | |
Oh, there's something there with a black spot on its wing, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
a brown and orange top to it. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
-That is a meadow brown. -There it goes. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
Some of the ideals of Ebenezer Howard, I think, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
have followed through, like he wanted to keep open spaces like this. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
He wanted countryside | 0:18:38 | 0:18:40 | |
and town to meld in and you still have that to a degree, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
which from a natural history point of view, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
is very good because along those areas, | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
which are, I would call them biogenetic corridors, by which, | 0:18:49 | 0:18:53 | |
you know, wildlife can move and spread, bring | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
stuff from the outer countryside almost into the town centre here. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
It's good for the soul. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:01 | |
'It is extraordinary what you can find | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
'right in the heart of Letchworth, | 0:19:05 | 0:19:07 | |
'but can we recapture this blend of town and country today? | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
'Well, the government hopes to do just that | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
'with a new wave of garden cities. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
'Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
'the man and behind the modern scheme.' | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
Do you want to be known as the new father of garden cities, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
-a new Ebenezer Howard? -Ebenezer Clegg, that would be nice. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:28 | |
No, look, if I can play a role in my time in government | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
to kind of rediscover the spirit of Ebenezer Howard | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
and Raymond Unwin and these great, great pioneers | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
who at the turn of the last century realised | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
that we needed to think big, think creatively, think green, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
I'd be delighted to be able to do so. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
'But how realistic is that aim | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
'and who will want to live in these new garden cities? | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
'Would they help address the lack of affordable rural housing or | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
'just provide a greener alternative for city slickers? | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
'It's hard to know until we've built them, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
'but some would-be planners have already been putting pen to paper.' | 0:20:00 | 0:20:04 | |
The Wolfson Economics Prize recently challenged people to design | 0:20:05 | 0:20:10 | |
a new garden city | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
and the housing charity Shelter is one of the five finalists. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:17 | |
'I'm meeting Adam Terry who's worked on the plans to find out | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
'what their garden city would be like.' | 0:20:20 | 0:20:23 | |
We've proposed a plan for a city on the Medway, | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
on the Hoo Peninsular in Medway, in south-east England, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
but our point is really that we've developed a model | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
that can be applied across the country and what we've tried | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
to do is integrate town and country as best as possible. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
You can see we've got greenery running right the way through. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
We wanted to make it part of people's daily lives, | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
not just building a park that people would go to once a month or so. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
We wanted to really bring the country into the town. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
'You can see the appeal of a scheme like this, | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
'a town with affordable housing, its own services and jobs | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
'and a connection to the natural world that many | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
'living in built-up areas can currently only dream of, | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
'but what about those living in the rural areas | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
'where a garden city could be built, what's in it for them?' | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
Do you think this will appeal to people actually | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
-living in the countryside around here? -I think it will. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
We've spoken to people in that area and we know that they have some hopes | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
and aspirations and want to see their children get a home of their own. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
At the moment, that's not looking possible. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
They also have some concerns and that's understandable | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
and we've sought to address those concerns in the design. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
One of those is, of course, about preserving the nature | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
of the countryside in that area, that's why we have a big swathe | 0:21:26 | 0:21:29 | |
of protected land around this and that's why we've tried to bring | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
the country into the town where possible, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
but we also know that people have concerns about things | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
like services and jobs and we've sought to address those as well. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
'Not everyone's convinced. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
'The Country Land And Business Association, for example, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
'feels that garden cities may address | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
'the current urban housing shortage, | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
'but would have limited appeal to those currently | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
'living in the countryside. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
'It feels a better solution is starting small, rather than big.' | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
Instead of creating whole new cities, | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
they suggest that adding ten homes to thousands of villages would | 0:22:03 | 0:22:08 | |
make a pretty big difference to the national shortage of places to live. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:13 | |
'Martin Collett is from the English Rural Housing Association, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
'which already builds small amounts of housing in villages, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
'like Winford in North Somerset.' | 0:22:20 | 0:22:22 | |
What we're doing here is building | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
eight affordable homes for local people. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
We're adding to some we built about nine years ago. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
If you look at the houses, you can see that we're building using | 0:22:32 | 0:22:35 | |
local styles, local materials, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
so it blends into what's already existing in the village. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
'Although Martin's not against the principle of garden cities, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
'he feels modest local building schemes are a better way forward.' | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
Small developments like this are generally well received | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
by communities especially when they initiate | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
and support them in the first instance, | 0:22:56 | 0:22:59 | |
but if you were to scale that up, I think | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
there would probably be serious concerns from the local community. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
Do villagers in smaller settlements say to you or others, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
"We need a few more houses here"? | 0:23:08 | 0:23:09 | |
Yeah, that's exactly why we're here today. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
This is a second phase development. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
We built ten houses in this village about nine years ago | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
and we've been invited back to build another eight, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
because those initial ten were so successful | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
and they managed to keep people in that rural community that wanted | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
to be there, that worked there, that had family networks there, | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
that rely on Mum and Dad for child support, for example. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
'The patron of the English Rural Housing Association | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
'is the Princess Royal. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:38 | |
'She recently told Countryfile of her preference for adding | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
'small amounts of housing to existing villages, | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
'rather than starting from scratch, but the Deputy Prime Minister | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
'says his plan will have rural benefits too.' | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
Here's the irony, by planning big, if you like, | 0:23:51 | 0:23:55 | |
thinking big about creating larger, new, settled communities, | 0:23:55 | 0:24:00 | |
garden cities, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:01 | |
ironically, you do a lot of good for the countryside as well, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
because you can help stop this endless encroachment on one piece | 0:24:05 | 0:24:11 | |
of green field after the next. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
You can stop this rash of planning disputes, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
the tendency towards urban sprawl. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
We spoke to Princess Anne recently on the programme | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
and she said she very much favoured that idea of | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
small, five or six house developments | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
round a lot of villages rather than big new developments, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
do you disagree with the Princess Royal on this one? | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
-I'm not going to disagree with Princess Anne. -Well, you are. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
I'm not, slightly different to urban sprawl, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
what she's talking about is if you can find ways in villages, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
attractive villages, to expand them a little bit more with local support, | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
why would anyone object to that? | 0:24:44 | 0:24:45 | |
I'm talking about something quite, quite different, which is | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
a national crisis, we're not building enough homes, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
we're stuck in a series of very confrontational | 0:24:51 | 0:24:56 | |
planning disputes, lots of small-scale planning disputes | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
across the country, people fear endless urban sprawl, | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
I think garden cities are one of the solutions | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
and that's why I want to do my bit to push them ahead. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
To satisfy the need for both rural and urban housing, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
we're going to have to look at a range of measures. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
Brownfield sites are part of the solution. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
But whether we're talking garden cities | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
or thousands of smaller projects, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
a large increase in the number | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
of rural homes seems inevitable. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:30 | |
And creating an appetite for a lot more | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
settlements in our cherished countryside? | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
That's going to be a challenge. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
You may remember that earlier this year | 0:25:40 | 0:25:43 | |
we were working with Kew Gardens "Grow Wild" campaign to give | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
away 230,000 free wild flower seed packs to Countryfile viewers. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:52 | |
So how did you get on with them? We asked James Wong to find out. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
Wild flowers are not just a sight for sore eyes, | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
they're an essential part of our natural world. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
Once a splash of colour in our green and pleasant land, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
a staggering 97% of British meadows have been lost in the last 75 years. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:21 | |
But there are people who are fighting to turn the tide, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
including 230,000 of you. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
Kew Gardens sent out the packets of seed in the spring | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
and a few weeks ago, we asked you to send in photos of what developed. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
And THIS is one of them. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
So I've come here to Ellerton in East Yorkshire to meet | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
the family that sent it in. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:43 | |
-Hello there. -Hello, hi, come in. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
'David and Lindsay Rocket and their three-year-old son Jacob | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
'now have a thriving wild flower patch in their back garden.' | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
Shall we go and look at your flowers then? | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
-You going to water them? -Look at this, Jacob! | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
That's a pretty fantastic mini meadow you've got going on here. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
You going to have a little water of them? | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
-Cos they haven't been watered for a while, have they? -Good boy. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
So when did you guys plant these? Cos they're taller than Jacob now. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
We planted them in April, we got the seed packet | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
through about the middle of April and planted them then. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
-He really enjoyed it. -And watered them very well! | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
Watered them very well, yeah. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:22 | |
But you planted them all and he raked them all in, | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
-and has been looking after them ever since. -Incredible. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
-What do you think about these flowers, Jacob? -It's a bit brilliant! -It's a bit brilliant? | 0:27:27 | 0:27:32 | |
That is the best description ever, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
meadows are definitely a bit brilliant. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
That is a red one. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
I think it's important for them to know about nature | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
and where things come from and how plants grow and stuff. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
But he loves it, he absolutely loves it, he's really into it. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
Ah-ha! You got a last little one there? That's a poppy. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
'Now, some wild flowers like poppies | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
'and corncockle do contain tiny amounts of natural toxin. | 0:27:55 | 0:28:00 | |
'Eating them in large quantities, especially the seeds, | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
'could make you ill.' | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
You should always keep an eye on your kids and pets in the garden. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
We should always wash our hands as well, shouldn't we, Jacob? | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
-Shall we drift off and do that? -Shall we go and wash our hands? | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
Now we've been picking flowers in the garden? | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
-Yeah! -Come along, come along. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
Let's see who can get the wettest. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
DAVID AND LINDSAY LAUGH | 0:28:18 | 0:28:19 | |
Jacob's patch is fairly typical of many. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
But you've grown the seeds in all sorts of places - in pots, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:30 | |
in planters, in beds, in borders. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
Anywhere you could grow them, you did grow them, | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
and you've sent us the pictures to prove it. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
Now, for some people, nothing grew. And that includes our very own Ellie. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:48 | |
But for most people, it was a riot of colour across the country. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
The giveaway has been a huge success, | 0:28:52 | 0:28:55 | |
and we'd like to thank everyone who took part. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
The Grow Wild campaign isn't just about getting wild flowers into | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
OUR gardens, it's also funding | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
community projects right across the UK. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
This one at St Nicholas Fields is just a mile from the centre of York. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:14 | |
Jonathan Dent is the reserve manager. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
Look at this place. What's going on here? | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
-Talk about an unexpected location for a nature reserve. -Yeah, yeah, it is. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:24 | |
In recent years, this area has been used as a brickworks | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
and a landfill site. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:28 | |
Now it's been turned back into wild flower meadow, | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
and Grow Wild have donated 300 plug plants to help it along. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
This is a yarrow, | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
which will grow up into kind of a nice white flowering plant, | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
and we've got other ones we've spread across the meadow in | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
little clusters, and hopefully | 0:29:47 | 0:29:48 | |
they'll thrive and spread out themselves. | 0:29:48 | 0:29:50 | |
What kind of management do you do to keep these things healthy? | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
We've had to water them a few times, which is | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
quite unusual for being on a nature reserve. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:58 | |
But the other way we manage them is scything, | 0:29:58 | 0:30:00 | |
the traditional heritage skill of scything. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:04 | |
That's what those Grim Reaper types are doing. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
-Yeah, you can see a few over there. -Why a scythe and not a lawn mower? | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
Surely it's quicker to get round the site? | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
Well, you'd think that, but this area we're on isn't flat, | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
and we've also got all these wild flowers in here, | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
so sometimes we have to do targeted cutting. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:19 | |
And it's not just Kew Gardens campaigning to get | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
wild flowers back into the British landscape. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
Other big organisations are joining the party too. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:30 | |
Plantlife is persuading councils to manage their roadside verges | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
for wildlife, which means mowing them less often | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
and letting wild flowers thrive. And last year, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:41 | |
the Queen's Jubilee was celebrated with an ambitious plan - | 0:30:41 | 0:30:44 | |
to establish Coronation meadows | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
in every county in the country. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:48 | |
This one, Brockadale, is in Yorkshire. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
Many of the wild flowers here have finished flowering, | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
but one of the reasons Coronation meadows were established | 0:30:58 | 0:31:01 | |
was as a source of wild flower seed. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:03 | |
'Karen McDermott is the reserves officer here.' | 0:31:05 | 0:31:07 | |
Hello, Karen, what's this bad boy in the back here? | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
-Just a minute. -Oh, right. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:12 | |
-Just switch it off. -OK, OK. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
-Ah, that's better. -What is it? Now that we can hear each other. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
It's a seed harvester that we use for harvesting | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
wild flower seeds from meadows like this. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
-So... -Oh, is this it through here? | 0:31:28 | 0:31:32 | |
Great big roller with stiff bristles on, | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
it literally sweeps the top of the plants. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:37 | |
So you get a big bushel full of wild flower seeds - then what happens? | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
In this specific example, we're using this as a donor site and we're | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
transferring the seeds to another meadow that is not | 0:31:44 | 0:31:48 | |
nearly as diverse in species and is quite isolated. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
There's no way the seed is going to spread there naturally, | 0:31:51 | 0:31:53 | |
so for this meadow, we're going to be creating a brand-new meadow. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:57 | |
As loads of you have discovered, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
growing your own wild flowers really can be a piece of cake. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
And it's not just the insects that are enjoying the results. | 0:32:09 | 0:32:13 | |
Many of you have told us your friends and neighbours are admiring them too. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:18 | |
For most of us, they've exceeded expectations, and you're | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
planning on growing them again next year, but bigger and better. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:25 | |
-SHAUNA: -At this time of year, the landscape | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
is full of summer splendour. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
But there's a dark side to our countryside. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
Adam's been getting up close to a | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
tiny but sinister creature that can affect livestock, pets and us. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
And be warned - this story might make you feel a bit itchy. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:46 | |
Here on the farm in the Cotswolds, we've got about 2,000 animals. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:57 | |
From livestock to my family pets. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
Stay there, sit. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:11 | |
Like humans, all animals are susceptible to | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
disease and parasites, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
and it's important that we look after the welfare of our animals, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
not only because we care about them, but also because | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
happy, healthy animals are productive animals, | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
producing lots of good quality meat and milk and rearing their young. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
So we keep a careful eye out for all sort of bugs, really, | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
and there's one that really makes my skin crawl. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
Ticks. These bloodsuckers are some of the worst. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:39 | |
On a global scale, they come second only | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
to mosquitoes as transmitters of disease. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:43 | |
They've been around for millions of years, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:47 | |
as have some of the diseases they carry. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:49 | |
One man who knows all about ticks and the problems they can cause is | 0:33:51 | 0:33:55 | |
Dr James Logan, an entomologist from | 0:33:55 | 0:33:57 | |
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
-Hi, James. -Hi, Adam. -I see you've come armed with some ticks. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:04 | |
-I have indeed, yes. -These are some we've got off dogs on the farm. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:07 | |
-OK, brilliant. -So tell me about them, | 0:34:07 | 0:34:08 | |
-they're horrible little creatures, aren't they? -Yeah, they are indeed. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
Ticks are arachnids, so they're related to spiders, | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
they've got eight legs, so they're not actually insects. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
They can be found in vegetation, they go on our pets, | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
our dogs and cats, and livestock as well, but they also climb | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
onto us, and the big problem is that they suck our blood. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
And when they do that, they can also transmit disease. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
One of the biggest problems we have in this country is | 0:34:28 | 0:34:31 | |
Lyme disease, which is transmitted by tick. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:33 | |
It can become quite serious and you can get neurological problems, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
it can even develop into meningitis in some cases. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
Worth being aware, but just cos you've had a tick on you | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
doesn't mean you're going to get Lyme disease. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:43 | |
That's right, not every tick will have Lyme disease, | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
and the chances are, if you're bitten by a tick | 0:34:46 | 0:34:48 | |
and you remove it early enough, you'll be absolutely fine. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
But if you do get any symptoms quite soon after being bitten, | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
like a rash that spreads or flu-like symptoms, go to your GP, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
get some advice, they'll give you the medication, | 0:34:57 | 0:34:59 | |
it's very simple to treat early on. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
So is this fairly typical? | 0:35:01 | 0:35:02 | |
The sheep go into the deep vegetation to get out of the sun | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
and into the shade, would they be picking up ticks? | 0:35:05 | 0:35:08 | |
Yeah, absolutely, this is exactly the type of habitat you find ticks. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:11 | |
So, these ones are dead, most of them, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
I'll tip one out onto the cloth and you can... | 0:35:14 | 0:35:16 | |
Cos it's quite an art getting them off once you've got a tick on. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
-LAUGHING: -Yes, it is. -So using one of these dead ones... | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
because you don't want to put a live one on your hand, | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
-attach itself to you. How do you remove them? -OK, let me show you. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:29 | |
When the tick is attached, | 0:35:29 | 0:35:30 | |
its mouth part is deeply embedded in your skin. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
The best thing to use are fine-tipped tweezers. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:35 | |
You want to get in as close to the skin as possible | 0:35:35 | 0:35:38 | |
and grab hold of the mouth part. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:40 | |
Then you want to pull very firmly... | 0:35:40 | 0:35:43 | |
with even pressure, upwards. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:46 | |
So there's no twisting involved at all when you use tweezers, | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
and that is the best way to remove ticks. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:50 | |
Ticks can carry a whole host of diseases. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
Lyme disease is one for us humans to watch out for, | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
but animals can also come under attack. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
As Mark Hoskins found out on his dairy farm in Wiltshire. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
When did you realise you had a tick problem here? | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
About three-and-a-half years ago when we took this parcel of land on. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:12 | |
We moved some cows to this particular field, actually, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
and I came to check them one day, | 0:36:15 | 0:36:17 | |
and there was an animal stood on its own. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:19 | |
On further investigation, | 0:36:19 | 0:36:20 | |
I noticed it was passing urine that was deep red. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:24 | |
So I contacted the vet straightaway and went from there. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
-And what was it? -It proved to be redwater, which is | 0:36:27 | 0:36:31 | |
a parasite passed on from the ticks called Babesia. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:35 | |
As the tick latches onto the animal to feed, | 0:36:35 | 0:36:39 | |
it passes the parasite through to the blood stream. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:43 | |
This then ruptures the red blood cells, hence the redwater, | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
the passing of the red urine. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
And what happened to the cow? | 0:36:50 | 0:36:51 | |
We actually lost the cow, but I saved a further five, | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
so at least those are still living. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:57 | |
And are you not nervous grazing all your calves down here then? | 0:36:57 | 0:37:00 | |
We have to get them onto the pasture within the first eight months | 0:37:00 | 0:37:04 | |
of life, and then that creates an immunity to redwater. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
We haven't had a problem since. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
Ticks have always been part of our countryside, brought over | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
by animals that colonised the land before we were even an island. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:20 | |
Of course, you can't insecticide the whole countryside to get rid of them, | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
so it's a case of being more aware | 0:37:24 | 0:37:25 | |
and making sure you wear long trousers in tick areas. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:29 | |
There's little definitive data on the number of ticks across the UK, | 0:37:29 | 0:37:32 | |
and that's why Jolean Medlock | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
and Mica Peach from Public Health England have been collecting | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
and studying these creepy-crawlies for the last ten years. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
-Hi, Jolean. -Hi, Adam. -Good to see you. -And you. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:44 | |
Looks like you're dusting the grass, | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
-what are you up to here? -Well, we've got this cloth | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
and we're dragging it over the vegetation to pick up ticks. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
So the ticks are on the vegetation and they've got little hooks | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
on the end of their legs, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:55 | |
and they think this is an animal and climb on. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
We're measuring the number of ticks you get on this cotton cloth. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
So you're literally sort of harvesting ticks? | 0:38:01 | 0:38:05 | |
Yeah, that's right, the ticks spend about three years in this kind of | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
environment and they feed for about | 0:38:08 | 0:38:10 | |
three weeks during those three years. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
So they climb up the vegetation when they're ready to quest, | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
-looking for an animal. -So what is it when a tick "quests", what's that? | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
It's when it's climbed up the vegetation to the | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
top of the grass and is waving its front legs around, | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
and it's got special organs on the end of its legs that pick up | 0:38:23 | 0:38:26 | |
vibrations and carbon dioxide. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:28 | |
No eyes, they can smell and sense the animal coming. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:32 | |
They have little hooks, and they climb onto the animal, | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
there's no jumping out of trees or running up to them. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
-And have you got any? -Yeah, we've got a couple of nymphs over here. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:42 | |
We use these fine forceps to pick them up. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
And there's an adult female down here. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
-Goodness me, she's a bit bigger, isn't she? -She is. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
She looks quite red, her body distends about 200 sizes. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:55 | |
When she's fully fed she'll be on the animal for about a week. | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
She'll drop off into the vegetation | 0:38:59 | 0:39:00 | |
and over the next month lay about 2,000 eggs | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
and really sustain that population. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
So now you've got the little critters in there, what happens now? | 0:39:05 | 0:39:08 | |
-Now we take these back to the lab to identify them. -OK. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
Back at tick HQ, | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
the tick surveillance team can get a closer look at these beasties. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
And while we can't eradicate them from the countryside, | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
we can at least identify what we've found. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
The nymph is detecting our presence here by carbon dioxide, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
heat and changes in light. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
-And it's walking towards its meal. -Wants to come and get a feed off us! | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
It does, yeah. And once they've fed... | 0:39:37 | 0:39:40 | |
Before I change this over, you can see the kind of size they get to. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:43 | |
-Here is a fully engorged female. -Oh, my word. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:47 | |
And you can barely see her legs and the rest of her features | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
because that's now full of blood. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
And what species is this one? | 0:39:52 | 0:39:53 | |
This is Ixodes ricinus female, which is the sheep or deer tick. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:57 | |
So that's the common one? | 0:39:57 | 0:39:59 | |
Yes, this is our most common, widely-distributed, | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
most abundant species. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:04 | |
It is that because it feeds on pretty much anything - | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
reptiles, birds and mammals. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:09 | |
It's very well adapted. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
If people find ticks, you want them to send them into you. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
Yes, we run the Tick Recording Scheme, anybody can send us | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
a tick - farmers, vets, members of the public. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
We ask them to record some information on where | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
they found the tick and it all goes into our database. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
'So if you find a tick making a meal out of you or your animals, | 0:40:24 | 0:40:28 | |
'rather than flush it down the loo, pop it in the post instead, | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
'and you'll be helping this lot build a map of ticks across the country.' | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
Ticks have been around for millions of years | 0:40:36 | 0:40:38 | |
and they're likely to be around for millions more. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
But hopefully, with all the research that's going on, | 0:40:41 | 0:40:44 | |
we should learn how to protect our animals | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
and ourselves from these horrible little bloodsuckers. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
Don't know about you, I'm feeling a bit itchy. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:52 | |
I'll be giving myself a good check over when I get home. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:55 | |
We've been exploring the captivating landscape of Northern Ireland, | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
and we came here because some of you told us to. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:09 | |
When we asked for your suggestions of where to film a few months back, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
Northern Ireland came out pretty near the top. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
And I'm in my favourite bit, | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
back on the County Down coastline of my childhood. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
Mm, just the smell of the sea makes me feel at home here, | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
because I have so many happy memories. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
Growing up in Lisburn, we'd head to this coast | 0:41:29 | 0:41:31 | |
most weekends on holidays, for endless salty days | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
and nights spent dreaming of living in a stripy lighthouse. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:38 | |
To me, County Down will always be plundering | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
the rockpools of Tyrella Beach to fill your boots with crab or | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
riding out into the forest on your favourite steed. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:51 | |
And for an aquatic adventure, nowhere beats Strangford Lough. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:55 | |
With 150 miles of its own twisting coastline, | 0:41:58 | 0:42:02 | |
Strangford Lough is the largest body of salt water in the UK. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
A vast inland sea of shipwrecks, | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
whirlpools and strange green islands. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:14 | |
As local legend has it, there are 365 islands on the lough, | 0:42:15 | 0:42:20 | |
one for every day of the year. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
Actually, there are just 120, | 0:42:23 | 0:42:26 | |
and they make Strangford a great place for sailing. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
But as the wild weather this week showed, | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
the lough can be challenging, and conditions can change quickly. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
Today though, it's pretty calm, so I'm out with my cousin Heather, | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
who inspired me to take up sailing as a child in these waters. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:42 | |
-Ready to jibe? -Ready. -Jibe out... | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
Just let her come round. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
It's all coming back to me, I'm a bit rusty, I'm afraid! | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
Twice daily tides renew and refresh the lough, | 0:42:56 | 0:42:58 | |
enriching its shorelines with nutrients, | 0:42:58 | 0:43:01 | |
making Strangford one of the most fertile breeding grounds in the UK. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:06 | |
A staggering three-quarters of all of Northern Ireland's | 0:43:06 | 0:43:09 | |
plant and animal life can be found here. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
And it's the drumlins that are the real draw. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:16 | |
One in particular has always intrigued me, | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
but has remained off limits until now. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:22 | |
I'm getting a special pass to go somewhere even | 0:43:22 | 0:43:25 | |
we locals don't get to go. | 0:43:25 | 0:43:26 | |
Where I'm going next, unfortunately this trusty gig won't cut it. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:33 | |
So I'm going to have to change boats. In we go. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
Hugh Thurgate from the National Trust is | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 | |
the warden of the aptly named Bird Island. | 0:43:44 | 0:43:47 | |
It's renowned for its cormorants. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
There are just a few weeks left to ring the last of this | 0:43:51 | 0:43:54 | |
year's chicks before they fledge and fly away. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:57 | |
So, Hugh, I've always heard about Bird Island | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
and wanted to come on here, but I was never allowed. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
Well, we're privileged today to be on the island. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:08 | |
The birds are protected by law, | 0:44:08 | 0:44:10 | |
and if you're going to disturb a breeding colony, which is | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
what you inevitably do if you're monitoring them, | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
you need a licence from the Environment Agency. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
-OK, so you've got the licence? -I've got the licence. | 0:44:20 | 0:44:22 | |
-We're good to go? -Good to go. -Brilliant. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:24 | |
We need to work quickly. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
Hugh has limited our time on the island | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
so we cause the minimum disturbance. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
-There should be some in here. -They're so cute. -They're fluffy. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:37 | |
-They're fluffy and...kind of awkward. -Yeah. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
But they're quite big, aren't they? | 0:44:40 | 0:44:42 | |
'These cormorant chicks are three to four weeks old | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
'and about a week from fledging.' | 0:44:45 | 0:44:47 | |
So probably the best way to handle it is if we put it down. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:52 | |
And all you need to do, you just need to resist a wee bit, | 0:44:52 | 0:44:58 | |
and clasp your hands round the wings and under the tummy. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:02 | |
The data Hugh collects helps track the young cormorants. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
On leaving the lough, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:06 | |
some will migrate as far away as the north coast of Spain, spending | 0:45:06 | 0:45:11 | |
their first winter an incredible 1,000km from their birthplace. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:15 | |
And about 60% will return to Strangford in two years to breed. | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
So what is it about Bird Island that attracts them so much? | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
Well, they've chosen it because it's a good distance from the mainland. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:30 | |
That, for a sea bird, is a massive plus, | 0:45:30 | 0:45:33 | |
because what they're most concerned about are mammalian predators. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:37 | |
Strangford Lough is famous for its marine diversity, | 0:45:37 | 0:45:39 | |
so I presume these sea birds feed right off it in these salty waters. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:43 | |
A lot of them do, | 0:45:43 | 0:45:45 | |
but the cormorants actually spend a lot of time feeding in fresh water | 0:45:45 | 0:45:50 | |
-inland, and they go to Lough Neagh. -Right, 30 miles or so away? Wow. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:55 | |
You're talking a 60 mile round trip on a feeding foray, | 0:45:55 | 0:46:00 | |
and it's energetically worthwhile for them to do that, | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
because they're getting a highly nutritious freshwater fish, | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
and that generally is eels. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
So they're healthy... | 0:46:10 | 0:46:12 | |
Healthy, vigorous and I always feel - although numbers do fluctuate - | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
with Bird Island they consistently get young away. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
-They generally don't have calamitous years. -It's pretty successful. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
It's a successful colony and it's the biggest in Northern Ireland. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
-I know, it's fantastic, thank you so much for bringing me here. -Pleasure. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
We better leave them in peace now. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
'A lifelong ambition achieved, and Bird Island | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
'was well worth the wait.' | 0:46:35 | 0:46:36 | |
The Sperrins - a 600 million-year-old range of mountains. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:51 | |
A vast and barren landscape | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
of peat-clad hills and heather-topped moors, | 0:46:53 | 0:46:56 | |
with countless stories to tell. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:58 | |
The ancient landscape is draped in myths and legends | 0:47:00 | 0:47:04 | |
and holds many secrets. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:06 | |
Among those secrets are these, the mysterious Beaghmore Stones. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:14 | |
There are no less than seven stone circles here, | 0:47:17 | 0:47:20 | |
the biggest set of them in Northern Ireland. | 0:47:20 | 0:47:22 | |
Archaeologist Ken Neill has been studying the Northern Ireland | 0:47:25 | 0:47:28 | |
landscape for many years | 0:47:28 | 0:47:30 | |
and has a real soft spot for these curious stones. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:33 | |
Just how old are these stones, Ken? | 0:47:34 | 0:47:37 | |
Well, most of them seem to have been built around 1600BC, | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
so that puts them just about in the middle of the Bronze Age. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:44 | |
Any idea why there are seven circles? | 0:47:44 | 0:47:46 | |
We don't really know, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
the circles are arranged in an interesting pattern. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
Six of the circles are in pairs | 0:47:50 | 0:47:52 | |
and then there's one circle on its own. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:54 | |
There's been lots of theories and I'm sure there'll be lots more | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
for what this site means. | 0:47:57 | 0:47:58 | |
One of the most popular is that some of the straight lines | 0:47:58 | 0:48:00 | |
of stones that lead from the circles were pointing to the | 0:48:00 | 0:48:04 | |
summer solstice and the moon at the solstice as well. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
The interesting thing about that is, if you plot all the circles in | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
Ireland, they're pointing in lots of directions, so there's no agreement. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:14 | |
Bang goes that theory really, yeah. | 0:48:14 | 0:48:16 | |
And were they always like this, above the ground? | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
When they were built they were on the ground surface | 0:48:19 | 0:48:21 | |
and peat built up around them, | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
so when they were rediscovered in the 1930s it was only really | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
the tops of some of the tallest of these stones that were visible. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:30 | |
They were discovered by some local farmers who were hand-cutting peat. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:33 | |
The more they dug, the more they found, | 0:48:35 | 0:48:38 | |
until the entire site was revealed in all its mystical glory. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
Now, this one is different from all the rest, isn't it? | 0:48:52 | 0:48:55 | |
Because the centre is littered with stones. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:57 | |
There are over 800 stones really flooding the inside of this circle. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:02 | |
They don't form any discernible pattern that we can identify. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:06 | |
One theory is that all of these monuments were | 0:49:06 | 0:49:08 | |
built as a response to a deteriorating climate, | 0:49:08 | 0:49:12 | |
and that the peat that eventually encased them | 0:49:12 | 0:49:14 | |
was starting to grow up, | 0:49:14 | 0:49:15 | |
and the people were trying to appease their god, and they built | 0:49:15 | 0:49:19 | |
this whole complex as a response to try to bring back the good weather. | 0:49:19 | 0:49:23 | |
And there's not just the circles, | 0:49:23 | 0:49:24 | |
because I've noticed some straight lines of stones as well. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:29 | |
They run up to this central pile of stones, forming a circle, | 0:49:29 | 0:49:33 | |
it's what we call a stone cairn. | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
It's set centrally between the two stone circles. | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
Yeah, the circles touch the cairn, really. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:41 | |
They do, and the four lines run out from the cairn, so there's | 0:49:41 | 0:49:44 | |
an interrelationship between the cairn, the circles and the lines. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:48 | |
Some very clever design work going on 3,500 years ago! | 0:49:48 | 0:49:52 | |
There was, someone must have had this concept in their head, | 0:49:52 | 0:49:55 | |
and they were able to produce this, | 0:49:55 | 0:49:56 | |
whether they were a king or a priest or whether it was just | 0:49:56 | 0:50:00 | |
a communal effort, people agreed they would work together. | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
A big task. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:04 | |
You're not going to make this sort of effort just on a whim, this | 0:50:04 | 0:50:07 | |
was obviously very, very important to the people that lived here. | 0:50:07 | 0:50:10 | |
And one thing they have done is | 0:50:10 | 0:50:12 | |
-leave us with one huge mystery. -Exactly. | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
JOHN LAUGHS | 0:50:15 | 0:50:16 | |
These circles will be for ever treasured for their | 0:50:21 | 0:50:23 | |
strange links with the distant past. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
But I'm told there's a different kind of treasure still buried | 0:50:26 | 0:50:30 | |
deep inside the Sperrins. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
In a moment, I'll be finding out what else waits to be | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
discovered in these mountains. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
But first, what's the weather going to be like in the week ahead | 0:50:40 | 0:50:42 | |
right across the UK? Here's the Countryfile forecast. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:45 | |
You asked us to return to Northern Ireland, and we have done. | 0:52:08 | 0:52:12 | |
We've seen wondrous things, fabulous countryside, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:16 | |
endangered creatures and met a poet's inspiration. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:20 | |
We've also been exploring the beauty and hidden secrets | 0:52:20 | 0:52:23 | |
of the Sperrin Mountains, but there's one secret more to uncover. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:27 | |
As the old saying goes, "There's gold in them there hills!" | 0:52:28 | 0:52:33 | |
And right now, I'm standing on a gold mine. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
Or rather, a potential one. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:38 | |
MUSIC: "Gold on the Ceiling" by The Black Keys | 0:52:38 | 0:52:40 | |
People have been searching for gold here since ancient times, | 0:52:46 | 0:52:49 | |
but modern-day exploration started in the late 1970s. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:53 | |
I'm meeting geologist Dr Mark Cooper to discover more. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:57 | |
Well, just how much gold do you reckon there is in those hills? | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
The exploration that's been done to date, John, | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
shows there to be three million ounces that's known about. | 0:53:05 | 0:53:10 | |
'Or a cool £2.5 billion worth, | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
'just waiting to be hacked out of the ground.' | 0:53:13 | 0:53:15 | |
And what does the gold actually look like in the hills? | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
This particular sample here is from one of the | 0:53:20 | 0:53:24 | |
exploration boreholes that has been put down. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:26 | |
Within those crystals, there are tiny little cracks, | 0:53:26 | 0:53:29 | |
and the gold is contained within those cracks. | 0:53:29 | 0:53:32 | |
This particular piece of rock will run | 0:53:32 | 0:53:36 | |
maybe 20 grams per ton of gold. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:38 | |
This is really good rock, this contains a lot of gold. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:42 | |
So, economically, this is extremely mineable. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:47 | |
When you think of gold mining, you think of the gold rush | 0:53:47 | 0:53:51 | |
and people panning for gold, do they still pan for gold round here? | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
They're still panning for gold, and I pan for gold sometimes. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:58 | |
-Have you found any? -I've found some. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:00 | |
Doesn't look like much. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:02 | |
Those 30 grains of gold in there represent about | 0:54:02 | 0:54:06 | |
-three hours of my life. -LAUGHING: -Oh, really? | 0:54:06 | 0:54:08 | |
But the actual process of panning for gold, | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
it's one of the ways in which we | 0:54:11 | 0:54:14 | |
explore for the bedrock sources of gold. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:17 | |
So it's actually a very valuable exploration tool. | 0:54:17 | 0:54:19 | |
So if you find a few specs in a stream, it could well | 0:54:19 | 0:54:23 | |
-be that the surrounding rock has a lot of gold in it. -Absolutely. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:27 | |
Maybe there's a pot of gold | 0:54:32 | 0:54:34 | |
at the end of every rainbow in the Sperrins. | 0:54:34 | 0:54:37 | |
'But will I find a pot today?' | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
I've just built a wee dam and I've done a bit of digging. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:44 | |
Some gravel in here, so this is your gold pan, | 0:54:44 | 0:54:47 | |
-let's get some gravel in there. -OK. -Now... | 0:54:47 | 0:54:52 | |
The first thing to do is fill it full of water. | 0:54:52 | 0:54:55 | |
'And I'm not the only prospector today attracted | 0:54:55 | 0:54:58 | |
'by the lure of gold. Here comes Shauna.' | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
-Oh, here's Shauna, hello! This is Mark. -Hello, nice to meet you. | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
-How you doing? -Take this pan. -Thank you. Panning for gold. | 0:55:04 | 0:55:08 | |
Let me get you some of the gravel out of here, so... | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
If there's any gold in here, any heavy minerals, | 0:55:14 | 0:55:18 | |
they'll fall to the bottom of the pan. | 0:55:18 | 0:55:20 | |
These ridges in here will keep the gold nuggets in. | 0:55:20 | 0:55:24 | |
What do you think, Mark, have I got any in there? | 0:55:27 | 0:55:30 | |
-Afraid there isn't any in here? -Is that a bit? | 0:55:30 | 0:55:33 | |
-Fool's gold, I'm afraid, John. -Fool's gold! -Oh, John... | 0:55:33 | 0:55:36 | |
If you know where to look in the Sperrins, you stand a very good | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
chance of finding gold nuggets, you just need the time and the patience. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:45 | |
And we haven't got the time, I'm afraid, | 0:55:45 | 0:55:47 | |
because that's it today from Northern Ireland. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:50 | |
But thanks to all of you who got in touch asking us to come here. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:53 | |
Obviously I'd recommend it. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:54 | |
And next week we're in Herefordshire, | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
where I'm going to be testing some foodie treats, | 0:55:57 | 0:55:59 | |
because the quality of the food has really put that county on the map. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:03 | |
-So, hope you can join us then, bye for now. -Bye-bye. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:06 |