Northumberland Countryfile


Northumberland

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This is the big country.

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Big skies, big beaches, the biggest vistas.

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The coastline of Northumberland stretches for 70 glorious miles.

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It's wild and remote and it's often empty and it's somewhere

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that I keep coming back to.

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This part of the world might feel timeless

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but the coastline is constantly changing.

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The power of the sea is ripping out great chunks revealing ancient

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treasures.

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And there are treasures of a different kind waiting for me

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beneath the waves.

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One-two-three

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four-five-six-seven...

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Eight-nine...wow!

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Tom is finding out about some pioneering pigs.

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You've heard about genetically modified crops -

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what about genetically modified animals?

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These pigs are on a farm with the only GM livestock in Britain.

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It's all about tackling animal diseases

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but would you eat the meat? I'll be investigating.

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And Adam's looking forward to reaping what he's sown.

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With the crops on the farm summer is a busy time of year with

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harvest just around the corner.

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But the crops and animals are very much dominated by the weather

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patterns we have throughout the year.

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So, I'm taking a look back to remind myself how difficult it's

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been over the last eight months.

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Northumberland is England's most northerly county.

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As a young man my first reporting job for the BBC was in the nearest

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big city, Newcastle upon Tyne.

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At weekends I'd head north to these beaches.

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I loved the sense of space and scale.

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And the dramatic remains of castles,

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reminders of this coastline's bloodthirsty history.

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Today, this land is once again under threat.

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Not from Viking hordes or wild gangs of Border Reivers but from the sea.

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Coastal erosion is hitting the east of the country hard.

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Storms are getting rougher, the land is taking a battering.

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Here, in this part of Northumberland,

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they're losing more than a metre of their coastline every year.

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But here at Druridge Bay coasted erosion is forcing the land to

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give up its secrets in a spectacular way.

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And those secrets are quite surprising.

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Archaeologist Clive Waddington

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and his mostly volunteer team are busy uncovering the past.

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Well, just what is this place revealing?

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We've got this well-preserved Bronze Age cairn here.

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This is an old tomb, something like about 4,500 years ago.

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It's quite large - about 16 metres in diameter but,

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unfortunately, we've lost about half of it to the sea so the cliff

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edge here has been eaten away by the winter storms particularly.

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How was it discovered?

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It was discovered by a man walking his dog here

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and he saw the remains of one of these stone graves falling

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out of the cliff face and realised there was human bones in it.

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So, he called the police and the police came with an archaeologist

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and it was at that point we realised there was this large burial

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mound that was basically falling out of the cliff.

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So, you found lots of Bronze Age human remains - anything with them?

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We found quite a bit of prehistoric pottery as well, so...

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you can see this material.

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This one's rather nice, this is a piece of, what we call,

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food vessel, for the afterlife, for the journey into...

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-Nice pattern on there.

-Yeah, you can see this is fingernail impressions.

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And it's in a kind of herring bone pattern.

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-Very elaborate, really.

-Yeah, and that's about 4,000 years old.

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And this piece,

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this is either another kind of food vessel or a burial urn.

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And, typically, these are found upside down,

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sometimes with a cremation inside.

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The erosion is giving up more than just long-dead remains,

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beneath the burial mound there's a story in the rocks themselves.

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What we've got here is this incredible

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sequence below the Bronze Age archaeology.

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It's like a layer cake.

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You can see the different layers of strata in there.

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This is very different, this is all little bits of stuff.

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It is, you can see it's very beach-rounded,

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we've got kind of gravel in there but also larger,

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blocks as well and this would have resulted from a very powerful

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event, basically it's a storm surge so, today we'd call it a tsunami

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and it's brought these large blocks up and thrown them

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high onto the shoreline...

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Could that have been what created the North Sea and the English Channel?

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Yes, we think this could date so far back,

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probably around 6,500BC and that's the time when, we think,

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Britain finally got separated from the Continent

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and this could have been the event that finally broke that land bridge.

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Today there's an early sea fret and the waves are benign.

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Often they are tempestuous but no matter what the conditions each tide

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can reveal new secrets.

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A rich seam for the archaeologists and for, perhaps,

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an unexpected partner, the Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

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I'm joining Steve Low from the trust.

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So, how come you are involved in an archaeological project?

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Well John, we know a lot about the area at the moment

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- its environment, its wildlife -

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but we don't know much about how it's changed over time

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and this dig is giving us

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a real window into the past to tell us

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more about what was here before, the animals

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and the people that lived here and how they exploited them.

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-Hello, Philippa, what are you up to?

-At the moment, what I'm doing is

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removing this layer of sand from on top of the ancient peat bed

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-to expose these footprints.

-What are you coming across?

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-That could be an ancient cattle footprint.

-Uh-huh.

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And this looks like a human footprint.

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You can see the heel there, the instep and the toes.

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-Smaller footprint than mine!

-Definitely.

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What kind of person would that footprint have belonged to?

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We think that would have belonged to someone perhaps who

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lived in the dig nearby.

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A hunter gatherer using the environment to gather

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all of their food.

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Eating the wild boar,

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the deer and everything else we are finding in here.

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And it's really quite inspirational to think that that's been

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there for thousands of years and here we are seeing it today.

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So, what is all this telling us about the way that Druridge Bay has

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changed over the many thousands of years?

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This used to be part of the mainland

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and now that is much further back from us.

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Coastal erosion is continuing to happen

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and we try to fight it all of the time but, of course, I think

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we need to recognise we can't always be successful with that.

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Erosion here is opening up for us an extraordinary window into our past.

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But sights like these are vulnerable, for many of the secrets

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they keep are being lost to the sea all up and down our east coast.

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Here at Druridge Bay at least there's a chance to learn

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something before all trace is lost.

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Now, the idea of growing GM crops in the UK is hugely controversial.

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But what about the genetic modification of animals?

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Tom has been investigating.

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The lowlands of Scotland.

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A wealth of natural beauty.

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Untouched, you might think, by interference from the modern world.

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But appearances can be deceptive.

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Just over there, nestling amongst the trees is Roslin.

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Home to some of the most extraordinary scientific

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breakthroughs.

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Dolly, the cloned sheep was created there and now another radical

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achievement - full of potential but stalked by controversy.

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SHOUTING

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We've been arguing about the rights and wrongs of GM crops for 30 years.

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And in Europe they are so tightly regulated one of the leading

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biotech companies, Monsanto,

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has just scrapped plans to develop new GM varieties in the EU.

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But here, at the Roslin Institute, south of Edinburgh,

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little noticed by the opponents of GM some remarkable things have

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been happening.

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This is the tail of a pig, but no ordinary pig.

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She's the first farm animal in the UK produced using new

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gene-editing technology.

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She goes by the grand name of Pig 26.

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-So, which one is home to Pig 26?

-The pen at the top here.

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'Chief swineherd - well, professor of biotechnology is Bruce Whitelaw.'

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-What do you think, ready for some feed?

-I would imagine they are.

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-Pigs normally are.

-Come on then, ladies.

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Pig 26 has been genetically engineered to have a very

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precise mutation in one specific gene.

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The key thing of that mutation is exactly where we want it to

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be in one of the 20,000 genes this animal has.

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And why are you doing it? What problem are you seeking to solve?

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Pigs suffer from many diseases. One in particular is a swine fever

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and the disease we are looking at is African swine fever.

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The African pig can tolerate this virus - it does not die.

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If one of these animals was infected by African swine fever

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virus it would bleed to death within a couple of days.

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-A pretty nasty way to go.

-A pretty nasty way to go.

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No vaccine, no drugs to treat it.

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African swine fever is spreading, it's already rampant in Russia

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and, it's feared, could reach here.

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How far down the line are you to making Pig 26 resistant?

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If the disease came here would she be immune?

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She would probably not be immune.

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There are two steps to this project, one is showing we can actually

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target a specific sequence in that specific gene

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and that's what Pig 26 demonstrates.

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The next challenge is to change one base in that to the base

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normally found in the African pig and we're working on that just now.

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The traditional genetical modifying or genetic engineering

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technology involves transferring a whole gene or even a hybrid gene.

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Sometimes between species.

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This technology allows us

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to manipulate the endogenous gene very precisely and very subtly.

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Some genes contain thousands of bases,

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we just want to change one single base.

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It's taken the scientists at Roslin years to get this far

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but when you realise the complexity of what they are trying to do

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you start to see why.

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To make sense of it I'm going back to school, in fact, pre-school.

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Imagine this represents the inside of a fertilised egg

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taken from a pregnant sow.

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Now, a bit of a stretch I know,

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in reality it would be smaller than a pinhead.

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And each one of those fertilised eggs would contain 20,000 genes,

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like the balls here,

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and each one of those would control a characteristic like the

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length of the tail or maybe the risk of catching a certain disease.

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But finding the gene you want to modify is just the first step.

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Each gene contains a string of DNA and only by cutting that in exactly

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the right place do you achieve the affect that you want

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and that's exactly what the scientists did at Roslin.

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Admittedly, using chemistry not scissors.

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Before putting the new strand of DNA back in with all the other genes.

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When that fertilised egg grows into an embryo and eventually a pig

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every cell in its body contains that altered gene.

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With a process as complicated as this it's hardly surprising

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that creating a pig that's resistant to swine fever is

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yet to become a reality but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

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And these birds are the proof.

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Here at Roslin they've not only genetically modified pigs they've

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created GM chickens and these guys have some very special qualities.

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They are part of a GM experiment to eradicate bird flu

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which can be passed to humans so the work of Dr Lucy Freem

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and her colleagues is of, potentially, global importance.

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Excitingly, we have already developed a chicken that is

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partially resistant to bird flu so these chickens,

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if they catch bird flu, do get sick and die

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but they don't pass the virus on to other chickens kept in the same

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pen or, potentially, on to humans so that's already a really big advance.

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So, we are trying to improve on that

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and make a chicken that's fully resistant to bird flu,

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that when exposed to it is resistant to catching it as well.

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The team at Roslin is even starting work on the highly complex

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task of tackling foot and mouth disease.

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So, could gene editing be a major part of animal

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health in years to come?

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It has the potential but it's only one of the potential solutions.

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We have huge research going into vaccine technology, drug

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development, husbandry, management of the animals in general.

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All that will come together and give us

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our solutions to these diseases in the future

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but genetic engineering has an opportunity to contribute to that.

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Genetically-modified livestock is confined to the experimental farm,

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unlike GM crops there aren't commercial varieties ready

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to go so broad public opinion is largely unformed.

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But, some objections are starting to emerge,

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as I'll be finding out later.

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Back in May, Ellie was in Portsmouth,

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a town long associated with the Royal Navy but out beyond the warships

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are massive inter-tidal mudflats home to some of our rarest creatures.

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But crossing those mudflats to see them? Well, that's the challenge...

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This is Fareham Creek.

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At low tide the mudflats stretch as far as the eye can see.

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I'm on the hunt for one of our most threatened native shellfish.

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But, to find out if they are here, I need to head out there.

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Not as easy as you might think.

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What I'm hoping to see are native oysters.

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In its heyday the Solent had one of the largest natural populations.

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They were harvested and shipped to London

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and Paris to meet the demands of high society.

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But since 2000 they have been in decline.

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Jolyon Chesworth is running a project to try

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and gauge accurate numbers.

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-Some extraordinary footwear here.

-That's right.

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These are mud shoes and it's what we wear when we go out onto

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the mudflats and carry out surveys, to help stop us sinking.

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They are based on the design of herons' feet

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and they have these expandable wings

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so when you put your foot down the pressure lifts the wings up

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and helps evenly spread your weight

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and stops you going too far into the mud.

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That's the wrong way round, Ellie, you need to turn them round and slip them on like normal shoes.

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-Blimey. There's nothing normal about these shoes.

-HE CHUCKLES

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Nearly there.

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Really tight. There we go.

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-Perfect.

-I was born into them(!) Shall we give them a try?

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-Yeah, let's go.

-SHE LAUGHS

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I feel like a clown.

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MUSIC: "Walking On The Moon" by The Police

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It's tough going in the mud but it's the only way to find them.

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# Giant steps are what you take

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# Walking on the moon

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# I hope my leg don't break...

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Strewth, this is loads of work and why do you do it?

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This area's been recommended for protection through a marine

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conservation zone for native oysters

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but it hasn't progressed cos there's a lack of evidence to suggest

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they are here in enough numbers to actually designate this site

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so what we are going to be doing, over the coming months,

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is to be going out and looking for them, monitoring them and actually

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gathering the evidence to make sure this site does get designated.

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We're not going to do the whole patch today?

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-No, we're just going to have a little recce.

-Cool, we're against the tide as well,

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so let's get on with it, shall we?

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For a full survey, Jolyon will be out here for up to six hours.

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And will cover around two miles.

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What you have found there is a Pacific oyster

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and a large one at that.

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The reason you can tell the difference between a Pacific and

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a native is the Pacific oysters have quite a sharp point

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and they fan out and they have a very corrugated rim.

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The native oysters, as we will hopefully find later,

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are a lot smoother and flatter.

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Jolyon records all Pacific oyster sightings to keep

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track of their numbers too.

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Because they are a known invasive species.

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Are they a problem for our native oysters?

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In some areas, possibly, in this area we don't have them

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in such numbers that they are likely to compete.

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Also, the native oysters prefer deeper water whereas these prefer

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shallow, inter-tidal areas so their ranges don't necessarily overlap.

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It doesn't take long before we find what we're looking for.

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Here we've got a native oyster.

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Sometimes called a flat oyster

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because it has a very flat shell to it.

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-You can see it's quite a different shape...

-Yes.

-..from the Pacific.

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It's much rounder, much smoother. Obviously, this one's a lot smaller

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but that's because it's quite a few years younger than this one.

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These can get, like you say, quite a bit bigger,

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-though, so the size isn't the give away.

-No, no.

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This is probably a year or two old

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whereas that one is more like seven years.

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Hopefully, Jolyon can find enough native oysters to get these

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mudflats protected ensuring their survival for years to come.

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On the other side of Portsmouth harbour,

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a once-thriving oyster farm lies dormant.

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Back in the 1900s this would have been a hive of fishing activity.

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But pollution brought business to a standstill after

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The First World War.

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Today, this man-made farm now plays host to thousands of birds

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rather than oysters, including one of our rarest seabirds,

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the little tern.

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The RSPB are using some rather unusual methods to try

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and protect it.

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And that's where this beast comes in.

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Thank you. These are cockleshells and it's on this surface that

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little terns like to nest but because they are fairly

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particular they prefer to nest on this - crushed-up cockleshells.

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Hence the roller. Cheers, Wes.

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All bagged up, I head to the oyster beds with RSPB warden Wes Smith.

0:19:540:19:59

-They'd better appreciate it.

-I'm sure they will.

0:20:000:20:03

What's happening with this lot, then?

0:20:030:20:05

We're going to get this lot across to the island

0:20:050:20:07

here where we are going to put the shells out

0:20:070:20:10

and create some perfect nesting material for the little terns.

0:20:100:20:14

Little terns only visit the UK in the summer to nest

0:20:140:20:17

and rear their young.

0:20:170:20:19

This is the perfect time to do it, right now.

0:20:190:20:21

-We had two circling overhead today.

-Wow.

0:20:210:20:24

So, they're just on their way back.

0:20:240:20:26

The little tern has been in decline right across Europe.

0:20:270:20:31

During the summer months 8% of the UK's entire

0:20:310:20:34

population are found right here.

0:20:340:20:37

Why this island as opposed to anywhere else along this coast?

0:20:380:20:41

Well, this one here is currently empty.

0:20:410:20:45

We've got some black-headed gulls

0:20:450:20:46

and Mediterranean gulls on some of the islands

0:20:460:20:49

which are very suitable for them.

0:20:490:20:51

Little terns, being small birds, they tend to get bullied,

0:20:510:20:53

pushed out of the main cluster so this one here if they can get

0:20:530:20:56

it just at this timing it will be absolutely perfect for them.

0:20:560:20:59

Finally, it's time to help volunteer warden Chris Coburn cover

0:21:030:21:06

the newly-weeded surface with shells.

0:21:060:21:08

Then, some hard landscaping is needed.

0:21:090:21:12

-What's with the bricks, Chris?

-Well, this looks very uniform.

0:21:130:21:18

So, you area little tern, you are coming back to your nest -

0:21:180:21:20

-where is it?

-I would never know.

0:21:200:21:23

Right, so let's have a little marker.

0:21:230:21:26

Are we playing boules with the bricks?

0:21:260:21:28

-Yeah.

-Just anywhere?

0:21:280:21:29

A bit of set dressing to try and really encourage them in?

0:21:290:21:32

If you've got little terns nesting here they've now got

0:21:320:21:35

identifiable locations - they go flying over, "Ah, that's my brick.

0:21:350:21:39

-"Now, where was my nest?" And this is where we are very cunning.

-Oh!

0:21:390:21:42

I'm going to put done some decoys to see if we can attract them.

0:21:420:21:45

So, these handmade jobs are life-size...

0:21:450:21:48

HE CHUCKLES

0:21:480:21:50

-Shows how small they are.

-Yeah.

0:21:500:21:51

-That's why they are called little terns.

-Yeah, yeah.

0:21:510:21:53

Does this work, putting a decoy in?

0:21:530:21:56

In America they've moved colonies of 2,000 birds.

0:21:560:22:00

-It's taken a little while but...

-By using these decoys?

0:22:000:22:03

By using these decoys it just works a treat.

0:22:030:22:06

With the decoys set the only thing left to do is wait.

0:22:060:22:09

Hopefully, these lifelike models will transform these derelict

0:22:110:22:14

oyster beds into a little-tern haven.

0:22:140:22:17

BIRDS CRY

0:22:170:22:19

There's more to Northumberland than its long swathes of sandy

0:22:260:22:30

beaches and wide open skies.

0:22:300:22:33

There's all the drama of the national park, its brooding valleys

0:22:330:22:37

and sweeping hillsides.

0:22:370:22:39

And down there, hidden amongst the trees,

0:22:390:22:41

is something unique in the British landscape.

0:22:410:22:44

A graveyard of sorts, of once proud metal.

0:22:490:22:53

Row upon row of rusting machines that used to dominate harvest time.

0:22:530:22:58

So many, that you can see them from space.

0:22:580:23:00

They all belong to farmer John Manners. 350 combine harvesters.

0:23:120:23:18

John's taking farming diversification to a new level.

0:23:180:23:22

John, this is an amazing sight.

0:23:240:23:26

I've never seen anything like it, 350 dead combine harvesters.

0:23:260:23:30

Yes, well they are not going to go again.

0:23:300:23:32

-When they get here I'm called the undertaker.

-JOHN CRAVEN CHUCKLES

0:23:320:23:35

How did it all start? What made you begin this job?

0:23:350:23:39

I needed some wheels and tyres for a tractor which were very

0:23:390:23:44

expensive and I found this combine which was local...

0:23:440:23:47

..and I got it for the same price as the wheels and tyres

0:23:490:23:51

so I brought it home, took the wheels and tyres off

0:23:510:23:53

put them onto my tractor and then somebody came wanting the engine,

0:23:530:23:57

somebody came wanting something else and it just mushroomed.

0:23:570:23:59

-It grewed and grewed!

-Yes, it did. It just went on and on and on.

0:23:590:24:03

That one looks as though it's been on fire.

0:24:150:24:18

Yes, that's a fire-damaged combine.

0:24:180:24:20

-Is it a common thing for combines to burn out?

-Oh, yes, it is.

0:24:200:24:24

You've got to look after them.

0:24:240:24:27

Hose them out, blow them out,

0:24:270:24:29

clean the engines out cos of the dust and the muck and everything.

0:24:290:24:32

Cos, a brand-new combine is incredibly expensive, isn't it?

0:24:450:24:48

About 300,000 for the top of the range.

0:24:480:24:52

So, it's understandable why people want a lot of spares.

0:24:520:24:56

Well, I don't cater for the new boy.

0:24:560:24:58

I cater for the smaller market...the banger market, should we say,

0:24:580:25:03

in the combine world.

0:25:030:25:04

And how much - can you tell me - how much do you pay for a combine?

0:25:120:25:16

-I can't tell you that!

-BOTH LAUGH

0:25:160:25:19

Trade secret.

0:25:190:25:21

It's business, isn't it? Competitors might start!

0:25:210:25:24

Earlier, we heard how, deep in the Scottish countryside scientists

0:25:340:25:38

have produced Britain's first genetically-modified farm animals.

0:25:380:25:42

But, as Tom's been finding out, not everyone's comfortable with the idea.

0:25:420:25:47

Genetically-modified pigs that can't catch swine fever?

0:25:490:25:53

GM chickens that can't catch bird flu?

0:25:560:25:58

This is the kind of future that

0:26:000:26:02

scientists at the Roslin Institute are working towards.

0:26:020:26:05

But if GM animals become part of the future of British farming it

0:26:070:26:10

raises some questions.

0:26:100:26:12

How would farmers feel about rearing them?

0:26:120:26:14

How would the government regulate them?

0:26:140:26:16

And, perhaps most importantly, how would you and I,

0:26:160:26:19

the consumers, feel about eating lamb from a GM sheep or

0:26:190:26:23

bacon from a genetically-engineered pig?

0:26:230:26:26

At Stagehall farm in the Scottish Borders they rear cattle

0:26:330:26:36

the conventional way.

0:26:360:26:38

Most of the calves are Angus.

0:26:390:26:41

What we are looking for is short-horn cows

0:26:410:26:43

and a lot of Angus to sell.

0:26:430:26:46

-So, most of the calves are black, as you see.

-Hello.

0:26:460:26:48

-Has he got a name?

-He's Elwood.

-Elwood.

0:26:500:26:52

He was bred here, he's got a brother as well.

0:26:520:26:55

Him and his brother are very similar.

0:26:550:26:57

Elwood's family is the result of generations of careful

0:26:570:27:01

cross-breeding by beef farmer Nigel Miller,

0:27:010:27:04

president of the National Farmers' Union in Scotland.

0:27:040:27:07

Come on!

0:27:070:27:09

Come on, there's a bit of food here too. Come on.

0:27:090:27:11

He thinks traditional methods have worked well

0:27:110:27:14

but feels there is room for the precision of GM.

0:27:140:27:17

With this sort of very precise technology you can start

0:27:170:27:20

looking at health and welfare issues and building them into our breeds.

0:27:200:27:24

One of the things they said they were just beginning to

0:27:240:27:27

work on at Roslin was foot and mouth disease.

0:27:270:27:29

What would you think if they did something with that?

0:27:290:27:31

Well, that would be a miraculous change for me if you could break

0:27:310:27:36

out of the whole problem of foot and mouth, it would be fantastic.

0:27:360:27:40

Nigel does have his reservations, though.

0:27:400:27:43

He's worried about the possible influence of big business.

0:27:430:27:46

We don't want this to be a commercial

0:27:460:27:49

lock on breeding of livestock.

0:27:490:27:51

So, you're worried, are you, if someone gets their patent on the super cow?

0:27:510:27:54

And that then they could control everything?

0:27:540:27:56

Yeah, I think that's a real fear and that's one of the reasons why

0:27:560:28:01

genetic modification in plants has got a bad name

0:28:010:28:04

and I don't think we want to go there.

0:28:040:28:05

We don't want to have farmers or communities held to

0:28:050:28:08

ransom by a commercial organisation.

0:28:080:28:11

But for others, the objections go much deeper.

0:28:130:28:17

Environmental scientist Dr Helen Wallace is from GeneWatch -

0:28:210:28:24

an organisation with concerns about GM crops and animals.

0:28:240:28:29

Here at Roslin, not far behind us,

0:28:300:28:32

they are actually working on animals that are resistant to disease.

0:28:320:28:35

Surely that's good for the animals' welfare?

0:28:350:28:38

Well, there's not very much understood about how that

0:28:380:28:41

resistance might work in practice, so one concern is that

0:28:410:28:45

disease-resistant animals could act as a reservoir for the virus,

0:28:450:28:49

be infected and pass it on to other animals but without you knowing.

0:28:490:28:53

And when it comes to eating this meat, which, of course,

0:28:530:28:55

we aren't doing yet - what are your worries there?

0:28:550:28:59

I think it will be up to consumers to decide

0:28:590:29:01

whether they really want to eat this meat.

0:29:010:29:03

They'll have concerns about food safety

0:29:030:29:05

because it's difficult to provide definitive evidence that the

0:29:050:29:09

changes in the meat,

0:29:090:29:10

or the changes in the milk are safe for humans in the longer term.

0:29:100:29:13

These small fry are the first GM animals anyone's likely to eat.

0:29:160:29:21

American scientists are genetically modifying salmon

0:29:210:29:24

so they grow bigger faster.

0:29:240:29:27

And they could go on sale over there later this year.

0:29:270:29:30

So, what will that mean here in Scotland where salmon has

0:29:320:29:35

spawned a huge industry?

0:29:350:29:38

Salmon and Trout Association chairman Hugh Campbell Adamson

0:29:380:29:42

says GM fish pose many threats to wild salmon.

0:29:420:29:46

The worst one is getting genetics muddled up with our wild fish.

0:29:460:29:50

And these wonderful fish we have that swim thousands of miles

0:29:500:29:53

yet still get back to their original river

0:29:530:29:55

and still do that extraordinary life cycle -

0:29:550:29:58

there's a real danger, I think, and a lot of people would think of these

0:29:580:30:02

fish being polluted to a degree by genes coming in artificially.

0:30:020:30:06

But if they are properly contained, as they say,

0:30:060:30:08

in tanks away from the sea, surely that's not a problem?

0:30:080:30:11

If you could swear to me,

0:30:120:30:14

Tom, that every single fish is going to stay inside that cage

0:30:140:30:17

and never get into the wild,

0:30:170:30:18

and that was to be proved I think a lot of the problems would go.

0:30:180:30:22

But, I don't think, our record, as humans,

0:30:220:30:25

on this is particularly good.

0:30:250:30:26

Back at Roslin, Britain's only genetically-modified livestock

0:30:290:30:33

are safely behind bars, including these latest additions, GM sheep.

0:30:330:30:38

So, what's the view here of contaminating the gene pool?

0:30:400:30:44

If, for example, Pig 26 escaped and bred with ordinary farm pigs?

0:30:440:30:50

All it would do was transfer disease resistance to that animal.

0:30:510:30:54

But, as far as people who don't like GM are concerned,

0:30:540:30:57

you have then got a GM-contaminated stock of pigs.

0:30:570:31:00

So, it's a natural mutation we have with Pig 26, it's a

0:31:010:31:04

normal mutation which could be found in that population.

0:31:040:31:07

We've engineered it into Pig 26.

0:31:070:31:09

It is possible that some time in the future a natural mating would

0:31:090:31:13

produce that mutation.

0:31:130:31:14

There's no additional risk to a GM as in Pig 26 compared to that

0:31:140:31:18

natural mutation.

0:31:180:31:19

There's no doubt it's a challenging thought, the idea of GM livestock

0:31:230:31:28

grazing these fields, sentient beings whose genes we've tweaked.

0:31:280:31:33

But, cutting disease and boosting productivity is a huge prize.

0:31:330:31:39

Leaving us plenty to chew on.

0:31:390:31:41

You never know what any season will bring

0:31:460:31:48

until Mother Nature plays her hand.

0:31:480:31:51

The hot summer finally arrived last month

0:31:510:31:54

and for Adam it was time to make hay while the sun shone.

0:31:540:31:57

Come on, lambs.

0:32:170:32:18

HE WHISTLES

0:32:210:32:22

Come on, lambs.

0:32:230:32:25

The pastures have been flourishing in the much-needed sunshine

0:32:250:32:28

which is great for the livestock and for my sanity.

0:32:280:32:32

I thought the British summer was a thing of the past.

0:32:320:32:34

And this field has got a lot of lovely natural shade and water.

0:32:340:32:38

And, as the temperature's warming up, these lambs need it.

0:32:380:32:42

Go on, Millie, good girl.

0:32:430:32:45

In the summer months the pasture in this valley is valuable grazing.

0:32:460:32:50

The moist soil combined with lots of sunshine is ideal for grass growth.

0:32:500:32:54

But, earlier in the year it was a different story.

0:32:560:32:58

I hoped that when we turned the corner from winter to spring

0:32:580:33:01

we'd have perfect growing conditions.

0:33:010:33:03

But it wasn't to be. Spring was dreadful.

0:33:050:33:07

When we were expecting the weather to warm up it stayed cold

0:33:070:33:10

and rained a lot. There was no sunshine.

0:33:100:33:13

And it had an immense effect across the UK and particularly in Ireland

0:33:130:33:17

where they had a lack of fodder or feed for their sheep and cattle.

0:33:170:33:20

And because the grass didn't grow,

0:33:200:33:23

the ewes weren't producing milk and the lambs suffered.

0:33:230:33:26

We weren't too badly affected here but in some

0:33:260:33:28

parts of the country sheep were dying and dying in their hundreds.

0:33:280:33:32

I visited Welsh sheep farmer Errol Morris.

0:33:370:33:39

He lost nearly 200 sheep during the prolonged heavy snow in April.

0:33:390:33:43

-Is that a dead one up there?

-Ah, there's another one up there, yes.

0:33:450:33:48

When the storm came they ran for shelter

0:33:490:33:51

and the walls were where they went.

0:33:510:33:54

And have they died mainly of the cold?

0:33:540:33:57

Yes, it's the cold and suffocation in the drifts.

0:33:570:34:00

If they are under the snow at this...like concrete...they

0:34:010:34:06

have no hope, have they?

0:34:060:34:07

Eventually, the snow cleared, spring arrived and it was onwards

0:34:100:34:13

and upwards.

0:34:130:34:15

It's amazing how the tides can turn.

0:34:170:34:19

July brought sunshine and plenty of it

0:34:190:34:21

and I didn't meet a single farmer who wasn't pleased to see the

0:34:210:34:24

warmer weather and for the grassland it was perfect to get it growing.

0:34:240:34:28

For the sheep it couldn't have come a moment sooner.

0:34:310:34:33

At last, the lush green pasture bloomed, the grass flourished

0:34:330:34:38

and the fresh food supply for my animals was plentiful.

0:34:380:34:40

And it wasn't just the grazing pastures like this one that improved.

0:34:410:34:45

Some of the other fields were in perfect condition too

0:34:450:34:47

so it was all hands to the deck to make hay while the sun shone.

0:34:470:34:51

There's usually only a small window

0:34:550:34:57

when hay is at the right stage for harvesting.

0:34:570:34:59

And that came in July.

0:34:590:35:01

The grass was cut and left to dry in the fields.

0:35:060:35:09

This hay turner helps accelerate this process by turning

0:35:090:35:12

the grass to remove moisture.

0:35:120:35:14

In this fine weather it's turned twice a day.

0:35:180:35:20

Hay can be made in around four days and that's exactly what we did.

0:35:200:35:24

And as soon as it's ready it's baled for storage.

0:35:280:35:31

This machine compresses the hay into bales making it easy to handle,

0:35:320:35:36

transport and store.

0:35:360:35:37

Once it's done eight it releases them together.

0:35:410:35:44

Then we bring in a tractor with a front loader to collect them.

0:35:440:35:48

And that's when the real hard graft starts.

0:35:490:35:51

The farm team have to lug and stack the bales in hot

0:35:530:35:55

and dusty conditions.

0:35:550:35:57

It's no easy task.

0:35:570:35:58

But it's a job well done.

0:36:000:36:02

We had more grass than we expected this year

0:36:060:36:09

so the hay stores are brimful and we've got some surplus hay to

0:36:090:36:12

sell which is absolutely brilliant, it's a bit of a bonus.

0:36:120:36:16

This hay's going off to Wales.

0:36:160:36:18

It's quite an art, loading these lorries, so they're safe?

0:36:210:36:24

Yes, got to be safe to go down the road.

0:36:240:36:26

-And how many will you get on?

-It will be 50.

0:36:260:36:29

But, there's a lot of grass about this year

0:36:290:36:31

-so the price has been falling, hasn't it?

-Yeah, weather's been

0:36:310:36:34

-so good everybody has made hay rather than silage.

-Yeah.

0:36:340:36:37

So it means there's a lot of hay about.

0:36:370:36:39

-You're buying this at £60 a ton?

-Yeah.

0:36:390:36:41

And what will you sell it on for?

0:36:410:36:43

Hopefully 80 or something around there, as much as I can get.

0:36:430:36:46

And that will pay for you haulage and make a living as well?

0:36:460:36:49

Hopefully, yes.

0:36:490:36:51

It's really important that the load is totally secure for the motorway.

0:36:510:36:54

So, the driver's just put a strap across and he'll hold that

0:36:540:36:58

bale on so that Dave can back out and get his spikes out of the bale.

0:36:580:37:01

Well done, Dave. Good skills.

0:37:050:37:07

Hay needs to be stored indoors but as we don't have enough barn

0:37:080:37:12

space we make silage too that can be kept outside.

0:37:120:37:15

This is a stack of silage bales.

0:37:180:37:21

Silage is similar to hay in that they are both grass

0:37:210:37:25

that are mown and then made into the product but hay is kept very dry.

0:37:250:37:31

And silage is baled when the grass is still a bit green

0:37:310:37:34

and a bit younger so it's higher in protein and sugars

0:37:340:37:38

and it was only three weeks ago that the contractors were

0:37:380:37:40

out in the field working hard

0:37:400:37:42

and in those rows of grass the baler goes along and creates the bale and

0:37:420:37:46

that's followed by the wrapper,

0:37:460:37:48

a really clever machine that picks up the bale and spins it

0:37:480:37:51

and while it's being spun the wrap is going round

0:37:510:37:54

and round the bale and it has two or three wraps of plastic on it.

0:37:540:37:59

And what's happening inside here -

0:37:590:38:01

the plastic has created anaerobic conditions, so with no air.

0:38:010:38:05

And the grass is starting to ferment and pickle

0:38:050:38:08

and that means it can be stored for over a year

0:38:080:38:11

and we feed it to the cattle and sheep in the winter.

0:38:110:38:13

It's a really good feed.

0:38:130:38:15

One of the downsides is that we end up with lots of plastic

0:38:150:38:19

but now we recycle it

0:38:190:38:20

and we send it to a company that make it into chicken houses.

0:38:200:38:23

-In fact, my dog kennels were made out of it.

-HE WHISTLES

0:38:230:38:26

Here, dogs.

0:38:260:38:27

While this has been a success story the same can't be

0:38:320:38:35

said for our arable crops.

0:38:350:38:37

The oilseed rape suffered during the prolonged cold spring and it

0:38:380:38:42

wasn't until the end of June that it finally flowered,

0:38:420:38:44

a month later than normal.

0:38:440:38:46

The crop has now started to set seed and in this pod - if you open it up

0:38:480:38:52

you can see the little green seeds that will turn red

0:38:520:38:56

and then black ready for harvest.

0:38:560:38:58

And this spring oilseed rape replaced the failed winter crop

0:38:580:39:02

so I'm relying on it to do quite well.

0:39:020:39:05

It's grown reasonably well and we're probably a few weeks off harvest

0:39:050:39:08

but the ground has started to crack and what

0:39:080:39:11

we need now to help these seeds grow a bit more is some more rain.

0:39:110:39:15

And it gets worse.

0:39:200:39:21

In another field of oilseed rape it's not just the weather

0:39:210:39:24

that was the problem, it's the common poppy.

0:39:240:39:26

About a month ago this oilseed rape was in flower

0:39:280:39:30

and the flowers are bright yellow but they were mixed with red,

0:39:300:39:34

cos it was also full of poppies.

0:39:340:39:36

Lovely if you are a photographer, not so good if you're a farmer.

0:39:360:39:40

And this oilseed rape struggled in the spring

0:39:400:39:42

and usually the leaf makes a canopy

0:39:420:39:45

and competes with all the weeds around it but because it was quite

0:39:450:39:49

thin the weeds have come through so now it's got all sorts in it.

0:39:490:39:52

There's thistles, these daisies, we've got rayless mayweed

0:39:520:39:56

and then the poppies.

0:39:560:39:58

And that's going to cause a bit of a problem at harvest.

0:39:580:40:00

But, also, in next year's crop.

0:40:000:40:02

So, if I grab a poppy seed...you can see there's the seed head...

0:40:020:40:08

..and in there are thousands of little seeds that will shed

0:40:080:40:12

onto the soil and grow next year.

0:40:120:40:14

So, that's going to be a bit of a challenge when we are growing

0:40:140:40:17

wheat in here that we are going to plant in September, October time.

0:40:170:40:21

My barley also had a tough start in the spring

0:40:270:40:30

but it made a great recovery.

0:40:300:40:32

Well, that was until the heatwave came.

0:40:320:40:34

The intense heat and dry weather back in July really set this

0:40:340:40:39

crop back.

0:40:390:40:40

It's still doing OK,

0:40:400:40:41

it's flowered and now it's got the seeds growing in the head

0:40:410:40:45

and this will be ready in about three-weeks time.

0:40:450:40:49

And this grain, once it's harvested will go for making beer.

0:40:490:40:52

And the straw that's left behind is quite a good animal feed.

0:40:520:40:56

Farmers are always moaning about the weather -

0:41:040:41:06

it's either too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry

0:41:060:41:09

but when it comes to the weather we really are in the lap of the gods.

0:41:090:41:12

And we have to deal with whatever Mother Nature throws at us.

0:41:120:41:16

Next week, I'm shopping for a special animal

0:41:180:41:21

that's from one of the oldest rare breeds in the world.

0:41:210:41:24

Today, I'm in Northumberland

0:41:330:41:35

and soon I'll be heading out into the North Sea.

0:41:350:41:38

It's rich in natural resources

0:41:380:41:40

and home to an astonishing range of wildlife.

0:41:400:41:43

It's here you'll find England's largest colony of grey seals

0:41:430:41:47

thriving in the waters around the Farne Islands.

0:41:470:41:50

And each year hundreds of thousands of seabirds arrive here to breed.

0:41:500:41:55

But today I'm going in search of a creature out there whose life

0:42:030:42:07

we know very little about.

0:42:070:42:09

Underwater cameraman Ben Burville is at the start of a five-year

0:42:120:42:16

project to learn more about the life of this elusive mammal.

0:42:160:42:21

What are the chances of us seeing this creature?

0:42:210:42:24

-With nature you never know, John.

-Fingers crossed!

-Fingers crossed.

0:42:240:42:27

Our high-speed rib will take us

0:42:320:42:34

far out to sea to an area where they've been spotted in the past.

0:42:340:42:37

So, what exactly is it that we're looking for?

0:42:410:42:42

What we are looking for today, John, is this.

0:42:420:42:46

This is a white-beaked dolphin.

0:42:460:42:47

The most abundant of dolphins in the North Sea

0:42:470:42:50

with about 8,000 to 10,000 of them in there

0:42:500:42:52

-but one that very few people know much about.

-Why's that?

0:42:520:42:56

It's really the fact it tends to be in deeper waters

0:42:560:42:58

and tends to be offshore.

0:42:580:43:00

Is it important now to find out more about these dolphins?

0:43:000:43:03

It is important for their conservation. And also to find out

0:43:030:43:06

whether activities that we do can affect them in an adverse way.

0:43:060:43:10

We're passing close to the Farne Islands so I want to make

0:43:170:43:20

a short stop to catch up on an important project there.

0:43:200:43:24

For just a little while our quest for white-peaked dolphins is put on hold.

0:43:240:43:28

Ciaran, good to see you. Graeme.

0:43:290:43:31

You are now welcome to the Farne Islands.

0:43:310:43:33

Thank you very much, nice to be back.

0:43:330:43:35

Lovely weather at the moment, isn't it?

0:43:350:43:37

I was here five years ago right at the start of a crucial puffin count.

0:43:370:43:42

Let's hope your egg is...oh! LAUGHTER

0:43:420:43:45

-Let's hope your egg hatches OK, this year!

-Indeed, good luck.

0:43:450:43:48

What the count showed was that puffin numbers had collapsed.

0:43:490:43:53

Ornithologists were fearful for the future.

0:43:530:43:56

Five years on and the latest survey has just ended.

0:43:560:44:00

Is the picture any better?

0:44:000:44:02

In 2008 the population had declined by about a third from the last census.

0:44:020:44:06

Also, this winter was a very, very tough winter. It was a cold winter.

0:44:060:44:10

A lot of onshore winds and we had a big puffin wreck.

0:44:100:44:12

What do you mean by a "wreck" there?

0:44:120:44:14

A puffin wreck basically involves birds washing up on the coast.

0:44:140:44:17

So, people were finding birds all along the north-east

0:44:170:44:20

coast from northern Scotland down to Yorkshire.

0:44:200:44:23

There was about 3,500 birds involved. That sounds a lot

0:44:230:44:25

-and it was the biggest wreck for about 60 years...

-All dead?

0:44:250:44:28

-All dead.

-So, what about this year's census?

0:44:280:44:31

This year's census is good news - we've gone up around 8% on top of

0:44:310:44:35

what we had to around about 40,000 pairs of puffins on these islands.

0:44:350:44:39

The census may be over

0:44:400:44:42

but work goes on to discover more about these colourful birds.

0:44:420:44:46

You are a brave man, Graeme, I've done that once

0:44:460:44:48

and I got a very nasty bite!

0:44:480:44:50

They are pretty vicious, I hope it's just a chick.

0:44:500:44:52

I've got a nibble. It feels like a chick, I'll just bring it out now.

0:44:520:44:56

-And you've got to a few hundred of these to do.

-Indeed.

0:44:560:44:58

A few hundred bites and scratches.

0:44:580:45:01

-There he is. Little fellow here.

-How old will that chick be?

0:45:010:45:05

He's probably around the 35-day mark, he's pretty much ready

0:45:050:45:08

to fledge, he's got his head cleared of down, just a few tufts here.

0:45:080:45:11

-So now you are going to put a ring on him.

-We are.

0:45:130:45:15

We'll get a ring and, hopefully, get some good data.

0:45:150:45:18

And what information do you hope to get from the ringing?

0:45:180:45:21

The basic thing is how long they are living for.

0:45:210:45:23

So if this bird comes back in future years

0:45:230:45:25

and we re-catch it we know when it was ringed,

0:45:250:45:28

we know its exact ring number so it's got its own identity.

0:45:280:45:30

And we know exactly how old it is.

0:45:300:45:32

-Pop him back in again.

-Back in the hole and he'll be happy as Larry

0:45:320:45:36

and he will be out in a few days and head out into the Atlantic Ocean.

0:45:360:45:40

And when would he come back again?

0:45:400:45:41

Maybe in around about four-years time usually to get mature

0:45:410:45:44

and start breeding for the first time.

0:45:440:45:47

But until then he'll just be floating around.

0:45:470:45:49

So, it's nice to know there's good news for the puffins here.

0:45:560:45:59

Photogenic, approachable little birds whose numbers are on the up.

0:45:590:46:03

Everyone loves puffins but there's one bird species

0:46:050:46:08

here on the Farnes which is nowhere near as friendly.

0:46:080:46:12

Just ask Ellie....

0:46:120:46:14

BIRDS SHRIEK

0:46:140:46:15

She was here a few weeks ago filming for a brand-new BBC One

0:46:150:46:19

wildlife series.

0:46:190:46:20

And she had a rather nasty encounter with arctic terns, the bad-tempered

0:46:200:46:25

cousins of the little terns she met earlier on this programme.

0:46:250:46:30

Oh!

0:46:300:46:32

BIRDS SHRIEK

0:46:320:46:34

Oh, my goodness. They are really unhappy.

0:46:340:46:36

Wah! Ahh!

0:46:360:46:38

Got me.

0:46:380:46:39

Ow! This is not fun. Not fun. I'm going to take refuge in here.

0:46:400:46:45

It's actually drawn blood from my head!

0:46:480:46:50

And Britain's Big Wildlife Revival starts next

0:46:510:46:55

Sunday on BBC One at 5:35.

0:46:550:46:58

For me, it's time to say goodbye to the Farnes

0:46:580:47:00

and get back to my main mission.

0:47:000:47:02

Well, I'm off now to search for white-beaked dolphins way

0:47:020:47:05

out in the North Sea,

0:47:050:47:07

but first, here's the Countryfile weather forecast for the week ahead.

0:47:070:47:11

I'm off the coast of Northumberland with Ben Burville.

0:49:080:49:11

Ben's a GP by day but away from the surgery he's an underwater cameraman.

0:49:110:49:15

We're in search of one of the North Sea's best kept secrets,

0:49:210:49:24

white-beaked dolphins.

0:49:240:49:26

If Ben captures underwater footage of them it will be a first for British

0:49:270:49:31

television, never before have these dolphins been shown in UK waters.

0:49:310:49:35

-Dolphin.

-Definitely, dolphin.

0:49:380:49:41

-Yeah, got one, dorsal fin.

-Where?

-Five o'clock.

0:49:410:49:44

-Quarter of a mile.

-Give me a range.

-Quarter of a mile.

0:49:460:49:49

Five o'clock.

0:49:490:49:50

-There it is, you see it there?

-What is it?

0:49:520:49:54

-It's a minke whale.

-A minke whale. It's not a white-beaked dolphin.

0:49:540:49:58

No, that's a minke whale.

0:49:580:50:00

It's a great sighting but thrilling as it is to spot a minke

0:50:010:50:04

whale it's not why we are out here today.

0:50:040:50:07

We head further out into the North Sea to continue our search.

0:50:140:50:18

Why have we stopped, Ben? Nobody's seen a dolphin, have they?

0:50:310:50:35

No, we've stopped cos there's quite a few puffins over

0:50:350:50:37

there in the water.

0:50:370:50:38

Is it a sign there are maybe dolphins around?

0:50:380:50:41

It's a sign there may be food in the water, big sand eels...

0:50:410:50:43

-There could be dolphins here as well.

-There could well be dolphins there as well.

0:50:430:50:47

To use an old landlubber saying -

0:50:480:50:50

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

0:50:500:50:53

Now, we are rendezvousing with Newcastle University's marine

0:50:540:50:57

research ship, the Princess Royal.

0:50:570:50:59

Today, Ben is working alongside Simon Laing whose team is hoping to find

0:50:590:51:03

out what effect the construction of wind farms at sea has on dolphins.

0:51:030:51:08

And Simon is using sound, not pictures.

0:51:080:51:11

What have we got here, Simon?

0:51:110:51:13

This is a towed hydrophone, it's a

0:51:130:51:15

special type of microphone that listens...

0:51:150:51:17

-A microphone!

-Yeah.

0:51:170:51:19

I've seen lots of microphones in my time

0:51:190:51:21

but never one that looked like this.

0:51:210:51:23

It is a special microphone that listens for sounds underwater.

0:51:230:51:26

But the really clever part is in here.

0:51:270:51:30

Now the microphone's in the water we can come over to the computer

0:51:300:51:34

and as soon as we press record what we will start to see are some

0:51:340:51:37

of the sounds we are hearing right now, popping up on the screen.

0:51:370:51:40

That's background noise you're seeing on screen.

0:51:400:51:42

What sort of symbol would you see if it was a white-beaked dolphin?

0:51:420:51:46

We would hopefully see a red triangle popping up on screen

0:51:460:51:48

and that would mean we're recording something in real-time

0:51:480:51:51

and it would be about 200 metres behind the vessel.

0:51:510:51:54

Can you actually hear the sound of the dolphins?

0:51:540:51:56

Dolphins make two types of sounds. They make whistles and clicks.

0:51:560:52:00

We can hear the whistles but we can't hear the clicks.

0:52:000:52:03

I've got a recording here of some white-beaked dolphin

0:52:030:52:05

whistles if you'd like to have a listen?

0:52:050:52:08

DOLPHIN WHISTLES

0:52:080:52:11

-That really is a whistle, isn't it?

-Yeah, yeah.

0:52:110:52:14

One of the things we're trying to determine with this project -

0:52:140:52:16

do the dolphins in the north east of England have a different

0:52:160:52:19

whistle to those in Scotland?

0:52:190:52:21

Because that would indicate those two populations are very separate if that is the case.

0:52:210:52:25

And what's the research telling you?

0:52:250:52:27

The research is telling us they may well have different whistles, yeah.

0:52:270:52:31

So, you could have, in this bit of the North Sea, Geordie dolphins?

0:52:310:52:34

With a Geordie accent?!

0:52:340:52:35

Potentially, yes, you could have Geordie dolphins in the north east.

0:52:350:52:39

Whatever the accent there's not a whistle right

0:52:390:52:41

now from the white-beaked dolphins so we're, obviously, in the wrong place.

0:52:410:52:46

I'm going to try my luck again with Ben.

0:52:460:52:48

HE CHUCKLES

0:52:510:52:52

Done it. Whoops!

0:52:520:52:53

Ben reckons our best chance of seeing the dolphins lies 18 miles

0:52:560:52:59

out in the Farne Deeps where the sea floor will be around 100

0:52:590:53:03

metres below us, that's equivalent to the height of Saint Paul's Cathedral.

0:53:030:53:08

We've arrived at our destination.

0:53:220:53:24

All we can do now is keep our eyes peeled and hope.

0:53:240:53:27

There we are, look! Straight there!

0:53:390:53:41

SHOUTING

0:53:410:53:43

It's 15 metres from us.

0:53:430:53:45

-OK, here at the front of the boat.

-I see it.

-Can you see it?

0:53:460:53:50

-There you are.

-Wow!

0:53:500:53:52

So, this is a white-beaked dolphin and it's choosing to bow-ride.

0:53:520:53:55

One-two-three-four-five

0:53:570:53:59

six-seven...

0:53:590:54:01

eight-nine. Wow!

0:54:010:54:03

A beautiful sight, John.

0:54:070:54:09

Isn't it an amazing sight and I can see the white beaks so clearly now.

0:54:090:54:14

What's incredible to me is that these wild creatures want to come

0:54:170:54:21

so close to our boat and just play around.

0:54:210:54:24

It's illegal to disturb dolphins

0:54:240:54:26

so Ben's been granted a special licence to dive close to them.

0:54:260:54:30

-This is a massive pod.

-This is a big pod. An aggregation here.

0:54:310:54:35

-Several pods, you think?

-Without a doubt, mixing.

-See what you find.

0:54:350:54:40

-John, I am surrounded by dolphins.

-What an experience.

0:55:080:55:12

When they are under the water they are using an echo location

0:55:140:55:18

and they are using clicks and whistles.

0:55:180:55:20

And the whistles really are to communicate with each other and...

0:55:200:55:24

..the maximum we can hear is about 20 kHz.

0:55:250:55:28

-Here we go, I'm just going to have a look at that one.

-OK.

0:55:300:55:33

-Quite amazing to see, isn't it?

-What did you get?

0:55:530:55:55

Without doubt, some identification of males and females.

0:55:550:55:59

And what do you notice about their behaviour?

0:55:590:56:01

Their behaviour is that they are inquisitive.

0:56:010:56:03

There are amazing wildlife just off our shores here and...

0:56:030:56:08

-That we know so little about.

-So little about.

0:56:080:56:10

The information you're gathering underwater could be

0:56:100:56:12

vital for the future protection of these creatures.

0:56:120:56:15

It certainly could for the future protection of these creatures. Yes, John, you're right.

0:56:150:56:20

Well, it's been a real privilege spending some time here in one

0:56:240:56:27

of the deepest parts of the North Sea with these wonderful creatures.

0:56:270:56:32

And now, thanks to the underwater footage that Ben's been collecting we

0:56:320:56:36

should know a little bit more about their, up till now, secret lives.

0:56:360:56:41

Next week, Countryfile is in Oxfordshire, where, amongst other things,

0:56:410:56:44

we will be taking part in a tug-of-war with a difference.

0:56:440:56:48

But, from the North Sea, goodbye.

0:56:480:56:50

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