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The Isle of Portland. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:26 | |
Remaining staunchly robust, whatever the weather throws at it. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
Home to historic lighthouses, | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
one of the largest man-made harbours in the world | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
and host to London 2012's Olympic sailing. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:42 | |
Welcome to Portland. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
For a tiny isle, there's a lot to see, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
and it's a place that many of you wanted us to explore. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
So, here we are. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
Monumental Portland stone. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
It's been quarried here for centuries, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
some say since the Romans. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
It's been used at St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
and even at the United Nations headquarters in New York. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
But today, there are only five working quarries left on the Isle. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
So I will be finding out what happens | 0:01:11 | 0:01:12 | |
when the quarrymen move out, and the artists move in. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:16 | |
Tom's got a dilemma on his hands. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
Sky lanterns, for some a charming source of innocent pleasure. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:25 | |
Others, though, find them guilty of starting fires | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
and killing livestock. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
So, should I let this one go? You can find out later. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
And Adam's finding out how to be a dog's best friend. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
My sheepdogs work very hard for me, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:41 | |
so I need them to be in tiptop condition. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
Today, I'm meeting a dog nutritionist | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
to tell me about what I need to feed them. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
If you've got dogs at home, you might want to watch this. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
The Isle of Portland, a tiny gem of land | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
reaching out from Weymouth | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
five miles into the English Channel. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
Towering limestone cliffs repel the powerful sea below, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
and sitting at its southern tip is a rocky outcrop | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
known as Portland Bill. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
And the reason that we've ventured to this tiny island | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
is all thanks to you, because a couple of weeks ago, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
we asked Countryfile viewers | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
for suggestions of where we should take the programme, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
and Portland inundated our inbox. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
We had endless suggestions of where we should be pointing our cameras. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
And the majority of those e-mails mentioned Portland Bill, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
a place with not one, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
not two, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:42 | |
but three lighthouses. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
Lighthouses have stood here since 1716, and for good reason. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:53 | |
This is one of the most hazardous spots on the Channel, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
with hidden sandbanks and competing currents clashing | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
to create a treacherous race that can run at up to 10 knots. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
But this constant danger has been dwarfed by recent events. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
The worst weather conditions in living memory | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
have seen storms batter this coastline, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
with waves towering 70 feet high, | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
stopping shipping in its tracks | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
and leaving the people of Portland stranded. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
Around the treacherous Bill, it's the candy-striped lighthouse | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
that today warns travellers to steer clear. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
The others were decommissioned more than a century ago, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
but as I'll be discovering, each has a unique tale to tell. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:42 | |
My first stop is the Old Lower Lighthouse, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
now a bird observatory run by warden Martin Cade. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
-Martin, morning. -All right, Matt? -Are you well? -A bit windswept. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:55 | |
-It is a bit blustery. -It's still blowy today. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
So I gather that it's not boats that you're on the lookout for here? | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
No. It's a little bit early in the season, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
but I'd be on the lookout for early migrating birds | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
before very long. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:07 | |
Let's see if we can see anything. Like you said, it's very blustery. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
We're looking for sea birds at this time of year, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
things that have come from further north | 0:04:14 | 0:04:16 | |
that are spending the winter in the English Channel. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
There will be birds like gannets, guillemots, razorbills. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
They'll be going off before long | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
to breed all up around northern Britain. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
But this will be the viewpoint before very long | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
that we're looking for things like swallows arriving. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
Great place to spot them. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
As the spring migration gets under way, not only swallows, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
but birds like chiffchaff, willow warblers and even hoopoes | 0:04:42 | 0:04:47 | |
may all head this way, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:48 | |
heading north to breed from as far away as southern Africa, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:52 | |
in one of the UK's biggest natural events. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:56 | |
Portland Bill's position, | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
dangling deep into the waters of the English Channel, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
makes it an incredibly important spot for migrating birds | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
and keen bird-watchers alike. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
From the bird point of view, it couldn't be in a better place. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
They're coming across the Channel, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
and we're the first place they spot, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:15 | |
so we're the landfall for them, we're the oasis. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
I guess it means it's better to be watching them from this level, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
-as opposed to being at the top. -That's right. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
I get visitors who come and think that somehow, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
there's a very large pair of binoculars at the top of our tower. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
-I thought the same thing. -You're just like the rest! | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
How many birds would you expect to see? | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
Just in this garden here, it will be in the tens of thousands. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
More species of bird have been seen from this patio | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
than probably any other place in Britain. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
It is wonderful to keep that concept of looking out for something. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
Oh, yeah. This is a fabulous viewpoint. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
While lighthouses have for centuries been a welcome sight | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
warning of hazards ahead, | 0:05:57 | 0:05:58 | |
it's claimed that a more recent addition to our skies | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
is putting our countryside at risk, as Tom's been discovering. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
Enchanting and romantic, it's becoming a tradition | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
to release sky lanterns at new year, at weddings and festivals. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
They can look spectacular, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:20 | |
like this world-record launch of 15,000 in the Philippines. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
But there's also a darker side. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
These floating, fire-powered lanterns | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
have the potential to cause destruction on a huge scale. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
You can buy them for as little as 99p, and once you get the hang of it, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
they're pretty easy to handle and light. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
But some people want them banned | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
and believe I certainly shouldn't let this go. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
So let's look at the case for and the case against. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
It's thought that between 3 and 6 million lanterns | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
are released into the UK skies every year. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
A handful of them have started fires that caused massive damage. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
This is my caravan compound, or what's left of it. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
In this area, we had about 100 caravans stored, | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
and on the night of 24th November, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
a Chinese lantern caused a tremendous blaze. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
Alan Newell's caravan park in Gloucestershire | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
was devastated after a sky lantern came down on his land. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
This is what's left. A few chassis and a bit of rubbish. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
A few personal possessions, but not a lot else. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
That's astonishing that 100 or so caravans | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
-were reduced to this by a lantern? -It was terrible. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
100 families were obviously extremely distressed | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
that their caravans were completely destroyed, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:47 | |
with nothing they could save. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
We're looking at in excess of half a million pounds' damage. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
So your advice if someone's thinking of using a lantern? | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
Forget it. Forget it. Just don't do it. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
The fire here wasn't simply a one-off, | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
and while most sky lanterns pose little danger, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
a tiny number have had a huge impact. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
To find out how easily sky lanterns can start a fire, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
we've enrolled the experts, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
and because we don't want either lanterns or sparks | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
going up into the air, we're doing it all inside their firehouse. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
The question here is, if used properly, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
can a sky lantern present a fire risk | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
as it returns to earth at the end of its flight? | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
So at this point, | 0:08:29 | 0:08:30 | |
whatever it touches that's flammable will ignite. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:34 | |
But it's towards the end, the important part. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:36 | |
When it actually drops down, it will still be very hot. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
So even though the flame is not visible, the heat is still there, | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
so whatever it comes into contact with potentially could burn. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
The fire service thermal imaging camera shows just how hot it is. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:50 | |
In the centre, the hottest part is over 500 degrees. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
That's interesting, because I thought when they fell to earth, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
the fire had gone out, but clearly, that's not the case. | 0:08:57 | 0:08:59 | |
And as the lantern is dropped onto the straw, sure enough, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
it catches light. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:04 | |
Now, our test doesn't fully replicate normal outdoor use, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
but of the six lanterns we tried, one did set light to the straw | 0:09:09 | 0:09:13 | |
and two set fire to their own canopies. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:16 | |
The paper's gone again. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
You can see how quickly that can start a blaze, | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
and it's getting smoky in here, | 0:09:22 | 0:09:23 | |
so I'll back off and leave these guys to do their job. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
Not sure I want to spend any longer in your firehouse. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
-No, it's not the pleasantest place to be. -It's making my eyes water. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
Well, I can see, as an amateur, how easily they start fires. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
But as an expert, what are you thinking about this? | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
We have real concerns about it, because at the end of the day, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
you're talking about a naked flame that is floating around uncontrolled | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
and can land on combustible material. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
The problem with the lanterns is that unlike a firework, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
which goes up and comes straight down, a lantern goes up | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
and can drift around on the wind and we don't know where it'll land. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
Phil was in charge when a sky lantern | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
started the West Midlands' biggest ever fire, | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
destroying 100,000 tonnes of plastic at a recycling plant. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
It took 200 firemen and 35 engines to get it under control. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
What do you think should be done about them? | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
We'd like to see them banned. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
We don't want to sound like we're spoiling everybody's party | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
but the bottom line is, this is an uncontrolled fire that can land | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
and cause a lot of damage, and we have seen that. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
But it's not just the fire risk. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
They can also be lethal to wildlife and farm animals. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
So this field here is some of our grazing. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
And this is the kind of place where we find these lanterns. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
Will Lacey is the seventh generation of his family | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
to farm this land in Buckinghamshire. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
The danger to his cattle comes | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
when they eat lanterns which have landed in his fields. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
We've had nine die in the period of about 18 months, | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
all from similar causes. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
To start with we weren't sure what it was | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
and then, working with the vet, we said we'd do a postmortem | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
and that's when we started to find the problem with the wires. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
This is one we pulled out of a cow. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:10 | |
As you can see, it's got two very sharp edges on there. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
If it's not too gruesome, how does the cow actually die as a result? | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
So it's inside the cow's gut and then more than likely it's when | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
it needs to exert extra pressure, so when it's starting to calve | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
then that will dislodge and it will start poking holes in her. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
It won't die from those holes, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
it will die from the infection caused by them, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
so it's a slow and it's a painful death. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
It's not a matter of hours, it might be weeks it's suffering. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
Wire is increasingly being replaced by string in sky lanterns | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
but there are still concerns | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
that the bamboo frame could injure animals too, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
so farmers, firemen and landowners all have their reasons | 0:11:47 | 0:11:51 | |
to be against sky lanterns. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
After hearing all that, you might well want me to keep | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
a very tight hold of this. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:57 | |
But, if they're that dangerous, should they be banned? | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
I'll be finding out later. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
The Isle of Portland, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:11 | |
tethered to the mainland by the ever-changing Chesil Beach. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
From above, the landscape looks craggy and weathered. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
Its exposed, hard-bitten edges have a story to tell. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
What makes this place special isn't just the views, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
it's this stuff under my feet, the limestone. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
It's tough, durable, attractive | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
and, most importantly here on the Isle of Portland, it's accessible. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:38 | |
You, the viewer, wanted to know more about it | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
so, as ever, your wish is my command. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
The island formed millions of years ago when the sea bed was | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
forced up out of the water as the Earth's plates moved. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
This brought limestone to the surface, and it's the Romans | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
who are thought to have made the first cuts to get to it. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
Since then, quarrying has been as much a part of this landscape | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
as the stone itself. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:04 | |
Until very recently every building on the Isle | 0:13:04 | 0:13:06 | |
was made from Portland stone, but its fame has spread worldwide. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
'Local historian Stuart Morris wrote to tell us about | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
'one thing that we couldn't miss here - the history of the quarries.' | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
Let's start with the famous Portland stone, then. Why is it so famous? | 0:13:20 | 0:13:26 | |
Portland is lucky in its location | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
in that stone could be quarried from the cliff edges | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
so it was easy to ship out and transport, | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
but it is the quality of the Portland stone. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
It is still reckoned to be | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
probably the best building material in the world. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
But it was tremendous effort to extract the stone. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
They had to clear off the overburden, the rubble, | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
from the top before they could get down to the workable beds, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
tumble them down over the very steep hillsides, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
right down onto what we call the weirs, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:55 | |
and then these stones would be roughly shaped | 0:13:55 | 0:13:58 | |
and loaded onto stone-carrying barges from three or four little piers. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:03 | |
There's still evidence here, right behind us. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
Yeah, the stone blocks, as you can see, standing there | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
would have been swung around and loaded into the barges. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
It was a skilled operation because those barges could easily | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
fall to pieces if they hit the rocks there. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
There was a turning point, wasn't there, for Portland stone? | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
Yes, that's right. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:20 | |
The Banqueting House in London was designed by Inigo Jones, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
and he specified Portland stone. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
Sir Christopher Wren saw Inigo Jones's work, | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
he investigated the qualities of Portland stone himself | 0:14:29 | 0:14:33 | |
and realised that this is an ideal building material | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
to be a structural element as well as a decorative one. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
So in 1669, after the Great Fire of London, | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
Wren embarked on the project which was to make his name - | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
rebuilding the majestic St Paul's Cathedral from Portland stone. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:51 | |
The project provided 35 years of work for the Portland quarries. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:57 | |
It represented a lifetime's work for many, many quarrymen. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
-How important is it still today? -It is still very important. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:05 | |
Obviously it only employs a fraction of the number of people, | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
because of mechanisation, but it still engenders | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
a lot of pride to the area and the name of Portland stone. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
And so it should. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:18 | |
Its distinctive grey-white tones can be seen | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
in some of the most significant buildings in the UK. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
Not only St Paul's Cathedral, but also Whitehall, | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
Regent Street, | 0:15:28 | 0:15:30 | |
Buckingham Palace | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
and even the BBC's very own Broadcasting House. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
Today Portland stone is still big business. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
There are five quarries on the isle, and last year alone | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
around 25,000 tonnes were shipped off around the globe. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
However, not all the stone departs these shores. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
This is the Tout Quarry Sculpture Park. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
What was once a tough working quarry | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
is now a place of artistic contemplation. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
Opened in 1983 by the Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust, | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
it was the first sculpture park | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
to be sited in a disused quarry in the UK. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
Local residents and visiting artists, | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
including Sir Antony Gormley, wanted to use this space | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
to create, educate and celebrate the brilliance of Portland stone. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
'The weather might have taken a turn | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
'but I'm meeting artist Hannah Sofaer for a soggy tour.' | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
So, Hannah, I'm a fan of sculpture parks | 0:16:37 | 0:16:39 | |
but this is the most unusual location for one. Why here? | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
Tout is a really inspirational quarry. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
It means "lookout", it's on the edge of the west cliff, | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
it's got sea, sky, stone, it's got all the elements, | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
and it was bringing people to the site | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
rather than the material going away. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
As an artist, what's it like working in a quarry, | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
this environment that you can't control? | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
Well, it's working with the elements, really. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
You're working with material in its place of origin, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
you're working with natural light, and every time you carve something, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:17 | |
that area has not been exposed since the beginning of time. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
And this is a really good example, Antony's piece. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:24 | |
So this is Antony Gormley? | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
Antony Gormley carved this in 1983 and it's called Still Falling. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
It's a life-sized figure on the living rock face, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
just where the good building stone is. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
Everything above it is waste, it's been stacked all around here. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:42 | |
But, you know, it tells you the history of time on this rock, | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
it's an original land surface. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
It's been estimated that around a third of Portland's limestone | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
has been used up, but here you have a chance to really see its beauty. | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
Everywhere you look there are tributes in stone. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
Some are so much a part of the landscape they came out of, | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
it's hard to tell if they're natural or man-made. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:10 | |
Hannah has really inspired me. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
The sun's out and now I want to get my hands on some stone. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:18 | |
There's a thriving community of sculptors on the Isle. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
Phil Doherty is Portland born and bred. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
By day he works in a sand quarry on the mainland | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
and by night he works Portland stone. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
So you're a quarryman and a sculptor. You must pretty much know | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
-everything there is to know about Portland stone. -A reasonable amount. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
Is it hard to work with? | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
Depends whereabouts on the island you get the stone from, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
cos it varies in density, so some quarries might be really hard, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
some areas would be a bit softer. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:48 | |
-So that's just experience, you get to know? -Yes. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
What kind of stone do you prefer to work with? | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
The harder stone, because it holds a better line. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
You get a much better edge on it. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
Your work - some of it's here - is so intricate. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
You start with a circle | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
and then you draw 12 evenly spaced points around the outside, then you | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
basically just use a straight edge and connect all the dots together. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
-You make it sound so easy! -Well, it's reasonably easy. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
-Once you've seen someone do it! -Don't undersell it! | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
'OK...let's see if I can crack this. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
'Don't hold your breath.' | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
Hold the chisel like that and then you just basically | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
-roll your hand round it, not hold it too tight. -OK. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
Position it at the angle you want and then work a line across there. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:32 | |
I'm so frightened that I'm going to take a massive chunk | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
out of this beautiful stone. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
And this pattern, with you doing it, not with me doing it, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
-will take how long? -Four hours, maybe? | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
With me doing it, I think maybe four days. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
'Working with stone seems to be in the very genes | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
'of the people of Portland, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
'and if Phil's skill is anything to go by | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
'the love and respect they have for it is monumental.' | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
Well, I don't think the professionals of Portland | 0:20:01 | 0:20:03 | |
have anything to worry about, but it is a lovely experience. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
Sculpted onto the northeast coast of this isle is Portland Harbour. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:21 | |
The distinctive breakwater that shapes this harbour was built from | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
that famous Portland stone back in the mid-1800s. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
It was one of the most expensive building projects of its day, | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
but thought to be well worth it | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
because this port has played a vital role in our maritime history. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
So special is this harbour that Countryfile viewer Andy Straw | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
wanted to show it off. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:45 | |
For Andy, it's not just an historic site, but his workplace, | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
because he is one of the harbour's two tug boat captains. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
-Andy. -Hello, John. Welcome aboard. -Good to see you. -How you doing? | 0:20:53 | 0:20:57 | |
-Going out today? -We're going out, and you're welcome to join us. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
'A Portlander born and bred, he's worked this small patch of sea | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
'for the last 12 years, and it is his job to know every inch intimately.' | 0:21:05 | 0:21:09 | |
So what made you become a tug master, Andy? | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
Well, it's something I've always wanted to do since I was a child. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:17 | |
My father, he worked on the tug boats as he was younger | 0:21:17 | 0:21:21 | |
and I got that from him, really. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
I thought, "One day, I'll be on those tugs," and I am. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
But I never thought I would ever be a tug skipper. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
Nowadays, this is a commercial port, a kind of marine service station, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:35 | |
repairing and refuelling more than 500 ships a year. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
But from the mid-1800s until 1996, it was a Royal Navy dockyard. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:45 | |
To me, there's little sign of it on the surface, | 0:21:45 | 0:21:49 | |
but 150 years of naval might has left its mark | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
if, like Andy, you know where to look. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
What's that building over there? | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
That building is where they used to test torpedoes. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
-Torpedoes? -Yeah, yeah. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:01 | |
They used to, um, fire off torpedoes to test them | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
into the Weymouth Bay. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
And then they would monitor them from a large radar to see | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
how far of a distance they went with how much fuel they had on them. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
So, really, this was the birthplace of the torpedo, then? | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
Pretty much, yeah, yeah. For better or for worse. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
In 1890, the inventor of the modern torpedo, Robert Whitehead, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
began testing his weapons here at Portland Harbour. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:27 | |
Production reached its peak during World War II, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
a time when this port played a key role in the action, with over | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
half a million troops leaving here for the Normandy landings. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
And, of course, the two blocks over there are the Mulberry blocks. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
-From the old Mulberry Harbour? -That's right, the Mulberry harbours. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
They were used during the D-day landings. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
Three days after the initial Normandy landings, | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
two temporary harbours, code-named Mulberry A and B, | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
were constructed from massive concrete blocks | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
towed across the Channel. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
Although one was soon destroyed by storms, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
the other kept operating for ten months. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
Altogether, 2.5 million men, half a million vehicles | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
and four million tonnes of supplies were landed. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
Two of these blocks now sit here, in Portland Harbour, | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
as a lasting memorial to that great achievement. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
So what's the job you're about to do now, then? | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
We're going to lean onto a vessel just to help them | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
whilst they tighten up their mooring ropes. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
They're alongside a berth at the moment. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
Although there is little navy presence here now, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:32 | |
fleet auxiliary ships still often call in to stock up. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:36 | |
It's one of these, the 38,000-tonne Orangeleaf, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
that Andy's little tug is helping out today. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
How is it that, really, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
a very small boat like this can boss about a huge tanker? | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
It's all in the engines, John. The manoeuvrability, it helps as well. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
And a great deal of skill on your part. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
Oh, of course, there is a little bit of that. Yeah, yeah! | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
So you're very gently pushing the ship towards the quay now. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:03 | |
-How do you know when to stop? -We know when to stop when we go, "Ugh!" | 0:24:03 | 0:24:07 | |
Orangeleaf, Wyke Castle. Yes, that's all complete with you. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
Thanks ever so much for that, and we'll see you again. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
With the job done, before we head back to the quayside, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
Andy makes me an offer I just can't refuse. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:21 | |
-Would you like a play, John? -Yes, please! | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
-Right, OK. At the moment... -A tug master! -Yeah. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
-Push it forward. Lightly forward. -Yeah. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
-Forward. -But we don't seem to be moving. -We are. -Are we? -Yeah. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
-Oh, good! -If you move your joystick now to your right-hand side... | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
'With Captain Craven at the controls, things quickly get into a spin.' | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
This is fun. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
Not in danger of hitting anything? | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
-No, you're all right at the moment. -Just going round and round. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
It just shows how manoeuvrable it is. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
We're doing a full 360 in a very tiny space, aren't we? | 0:24:56 | 0:25:02 | |
If you want to put some more power on, you'd go round faster. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
Ho-ho-ho-ho! How about that?! | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
Buoyed with confidence, I'm soon venturing out of my depth. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
-What about going sideways? -You want to have a go at going sideways? | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
-Yeah, is that... -OK. -..an easy manoeuvre or not? -It can be. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
There's a little bit of a knack to it. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
-Bring the joystick directly towards me. -Yeah. -Not too much. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
-Oh! -Bring it back a bit. -Right. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
Not too much power. Once you start moving... | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
-Like I say, there is a bit of a knack to it. -Yeah. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
-We're still going round in circles! -Yeah! | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
'Before I get too out of control, the weather, cursing so many, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
'comes to the rescue of a rather relieved Andy.' | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
The wind's picking up. So we need to go back to berth. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
-I'd better take it, John. -You'd better. Hand over to you. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
-Yeah, the wind... -But that was fantastic. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
That's like a schoolboy's dream. Thank you very much! | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
While the sea may have helped put Portland on the map, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
it's also a danger to be navigated with care. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
For nearly 200 years, the higher and lower lighthouses worked in unison | 0:26:05 | 0:26:09 | |
to guide sailors safely past the notorious waters of Portland Bill. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
In the 1920s, the Old Higher Lighthouse became the home | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
of a lady called Dr Marie Stopes, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
a figure who was both celebrated and controversial. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
A champion of women's rights, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
she founded Britain's first family planning clinics. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
From these beginnings, her ideas would change the lives | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
of men and women for generations to come, right around the world. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
I'm following in her footsteps | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
with current lighthouse owner Fran Lockyer. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
-What was she like? -A very, very strong, powerful lady. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
She thought it was wrong that women should be burdened | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
with maybe 12 children, a child year after year after year. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:56 | |
So she set about being a pioneer in birth control | 0:26:56 | 0:26:59 | |
and she was a very, very powerful lady. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
Of course, while she was here, a lot of famous people came. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:06 | |
George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Hardy. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
There you are, he's outside with his wife and Marie. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
And what was the reason, Fran, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
for all of these very well-known people to come and visit her here? | 0:27:15 | 0:27:19 | |
She was a very magnetic character | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
-and she moved in very aristocratic circles. -Right. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:26 | |
Very well known. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:28 | |
And I expect, really, | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
quite admired by an awful lot of people who were influential. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
It was Stopes' ground-breaking books on birth control, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
first published in 1918, that made her a household name. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:43 | |
Through them, she hoped to empower women. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
They became bestsellers | 0:27:46 | 0:27:47 | |
and did nothing less than start a social revolution. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
She was certainly very popular with women that didn't want | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
to increase the size of their family, so... | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
You see, she is talking, really, | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
about people who haven't got a lot of money, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
because if they're having very, very big families, it makes them poor. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
So, really, they haven't got a lot of money, so they are going to try | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
anything that is not going to cost them a lot. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
But the advice was only for married women. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
Women wouldn't be where they are today without Marie Stopes. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:18 | |
She made life for women totally different. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
In 1921, she went on to found the UK's first family planning clinic. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
Today, there are more than 600 Marie Stopes clinics worldwide. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
By the time she settled in Portland, she was already notorious. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
Her unconventional life caused a stir amongst the locals. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:43 | |
She loved to sunbathe. She was a sun worshipper. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
So this was an ideal place, really, | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
because you get so much sunshine here on Dorset anyway. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:51 | |
She used to lie between the boats, | 0:28:51 | 0:28:52 | |
but there, she used to lie naked, most of the time. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:55 | |
I do have a photograph of her here with some clothes on, | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
which is quite unusual. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:00 | |
But I guess we wouldn't have one with no clothes on! | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:29:03 | 0:29:04 | |
But Marie Stopes had another passion - | 0:29:04 | 0:29:06 | |
the ancient landscape of Portland itself. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
Its fossilised Jurassic forests | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
drew her into a serious academic piece of work. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
Stopes was also a renowned palaeobotanist, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
which basically means that she was a plant fossil hunter. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
Now, she was so taken with all of the finds made in Portland's | 0:29:23 | 0:29:27 | |
quarries and cliffs that she set up a museum in 1930 to display them. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:31 | |
And we've got just a few of the artefacts from the museum here. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
David, you're going to talk us through them, aren't you? | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
Let's start with this book, because that in itself is fascinating. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
This book is the original manual | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
that Marie Stopes wrote in her own hand. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:45 | |
If I open it up, it's very fragile. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
Here we have item number one, a toe bone of a megalosaurus. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:51 | |
-And this is what we have here. -This is it? Right. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
This is actually the fossilised toe bone here of this vast creature, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
a sort of mini Tyrannosaurus rex. | 0:29:57 | 0:29:59 | |
It was one of the many fossils that we actually have on the island. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:02 | |
If we went down the register, you'll find item number three - | 0:30:02 | 0:30:06 | |
"Found in the quarry near Portland Bill," where we are today, | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
"Presented by Dr Marie Stopes" is one of the cycads, | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
which is her big interest. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
They looked like very large, pineapple-type plants | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
and they grow to enormous size. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:20 | |
By preserving finds like these, | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
Stopes highlighted Portland's importance on the Jurassic Coast, | 0:30:23 | 0:30:27 | |
a place where fossils can date back up to 250 million years. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:32 | |
She recognised that quarrying acted like an archaeological dig, | 0:30:32 | 0:30:37 | |
exposing ancient finds on a vast scale. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
Dr Marie Stopes died in 1958 at the age of 77. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:46 | |
The work she started preserved an important part of Portland's past, | 0:30:46 | 0:30:51 | |
while her legacy changed millions of lives across the world. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
And there was life in her till the end. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
She had a thing with a much, much younger man and she stopped it | 0:31:00 | 0:31:05 | |
because she didn't think it was quite nice. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
He apparently was in his 30s, but it is still a huge age gap. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
-40 years is a big age gap. -Right. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
Especially with her at 72! | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
We'd better get out of here, Fran, | 0:31:16 | 0:31:17 | |
cos people are going to start making comparisons! | 0:31:17 | 0:31:20 | |
I don't think so. I don't think so. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
I'm a lot older than she was! | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
Every year, millions of sky lanterns light the skies over Britain. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:32 | |
But are they safe? | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
Tom has been investigating. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
Sky lanterns have been blamed for serious fires | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
and deaths of farm animals. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
There are growing calls for them to be banned. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
But could a ban on lanterns be the thin end of the wedge? | 0:31:46 | 0:31:49 | |
After all, fireworks contain explosives | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
and lead to serious injuries every year. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
And then, of course, there are the old favourites - rockets. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
They shoot up into the sky. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
Who knows where they'll land? | 0:32:02 | 0:32:03 | |
And they are pretty scary for animals, too. | 0:32:03 | 0:32:07 | |
Even helium balloons, so innocently released by children, | 0:32:07 | 0:32:11 | |
once they come down to earth, they can be eaten, | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
and that can be deadly to animals and sea life. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
There have been calls for all of these | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
to be banned at one time or another, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
so should sky lanterns be singled out? | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
Members of the public we spoke to have mixed views. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
I think a ban is quite extreme. Maybe regulated a little bit more, | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
but I think it's just harmless fun. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
If used in the right areas, there's nothing wrong with it. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
We think they're dangerous, because there's lots | 0:32:37 | 0:32:41 | |
of thatched properties around here and I think they could cause damage. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:46 | |
I don't think they should. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:48 | |
If they catch on fire, then, yeah, fair enough, but I quite like them. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:53 | |
Are fireworks banned for the same reasons? | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
The fact that millions are launched in the UK every year | 0:32:56 | 0:32:59 | |
would indicate that many of us don't think they should be banned. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:03 | |
So what do people who sell them say? | 0:33:03 | 0:33:05 | |
A sky lantern was blamed for a huge fire at a recycling plant | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
in Smethwick last year. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
Nearby shopkeeper, Surinder Josan, stopped selling sky lanterns | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
out of sensitivity, but says they are no worse | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
than many other everyday items. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:20 | |
We tried them a few times, had lots of fun. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:24 | |
We had a little birthday party, set loads and loads off, | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
and they went right up high in the sky | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
and they're really, really good fun. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
But, obviously, there has been a few incidents, | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
and I do stress that of all the ones that are sold worldwide, | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
it's just a few incidents. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
Certainly shouldn't be a reason to ban them totally. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:42 | |
Fireworks are dangerous. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
We sell a lot of other inflammable things, like gas for blowlamps | 0:33:44 | 0:33:47 | |
and things like that. We sell gardening chemicals. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:51 | |
They are also dangerous if they're put in the wrong hands, | 0:33:51 | 0:33:54 | |
used inappropriately. So where do you stop? | 0:33:54 | 0:33:57 | |
Rather than banning them, Defra has recently met with retailers | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
and opponents of sky lanterns with a view to drawing up | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
a code of conduct which may govern their sale and safety standards. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:07 | |
That has been welcomed by Alan Hawkins | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
from the British Independent Retailers Association. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
I would prefer a code of conduct than to an outright ban. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
I personally like sky lanterns. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:23 | |
I think they are an alternative to fireworks. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:25 | |
A firework will go off very quickly, | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
a sky lantern is a much more tranquil thing, it goes up slowly, | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
and you can have, you know, 20 or 30 going off at the same time | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
if you're planning them right. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:34 | |
So, they are a nice alternative to fireworks. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
As long as there is a code of conduct | 0:34:36 | 0:34:38 | |
but not an outright ban, provided that is what the bodies decide, | 0:34:38 | 0:34:42 | |
is the right way forward. I think that is the way it should go. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
But some aren't waiting for the new code. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:49 | |
Tesco and Poundland recently stopped selling sky lanterns. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
In other parts of the world, they have been banned altogether, | 0:34:52 | 0:34:56 | |
including Denmark, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
In the UK, 22 councils have banned them from their land | 0:34:58 | 0:35:02 | |
and even some festivals, like Glastonbury, have outlawed their use. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
So, is the idea of a legal ban here still a possibility? | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
Well, in England, Defra has held meetings with opponents | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
and supporters of sky lanterns and they commissioned a study along with | 0:35:13 | 0:35:18 | |
the Assembly here in Wales, where it's an even hotter topic. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:22 | |
That study said that while the risk to farm animals and nuisance | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
from litter did not warrant action, there was a significant fire risk. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:33 | |
In Wales, that has led to government calls for a voluntary ban | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
on lanterns, but for Welsh Assembly minister, Alun Davies, | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
making their sale illegal is still a step too far. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:43 | |
The report did not come back with the sort of evidence | 0:35:43 | 0:35:47 | |
that we would require at the moment to institute a ban in Wales. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:51 | |
But it's not something which is forgotten, it is | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
something which remains under consideration at the moment. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
But I understand this report talked about a significant fire risk. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
I'm wondering what more evidence you need than that to say, | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
"These are dangerous, they should be banned"? | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
I think there is significant anecdotal evidence | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
of the potential dangers of sky lanterns. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
It's another thing altogether to say, right, this is the risk | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
that we can understand or we can describe or we can tabulate, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
if you like, and on that basis, we would go forward to legislate. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:21 | |
In the meantime, I have written to all local authorities in Wales | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
and said to them, "I want you to start considering the impact | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
"of sky lanterns on the countryside | 0:36:27 | 0:36:29 | |
"and I want you to ban sky lanterns voluntarily from your own property." | 0:36:29 | 0:36:34 | |
Is that not just passing the buck down to those politicians | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
rather than taking the responsibility yourself? | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
I don't think it's helpful for politicians to react | 0:36:39 | 0:36:42 | |
to every challenge by saying, "We'll legislate here, legislate there. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:46 | |
"We'll create a ban here, we'll have more regulation somewhere else." | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
I would prefer people worked together | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
to try and resolve these sorts of problems. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
The minister says there's not enough hard evidence for a ban, | 0:36:53 | 0:36:57 | |
and that's the problem. | 0:36:57 | 0:36:59 | |
No-one can say if the chance of an individual sky lantern | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
causing an incident is one in 100 or one in a million. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:06 | |
So, harmless fun or a flying firelighter? | 0:37:07 | 0:37:11 | |
We began this programme asking if I should let this go. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:15 | |
Well, what do you think? | 0:37:15 | 0:37:16 | |
We'd like to know if you are for or against a ban | 0:37:16 | 0:37:20 | |
via the Countryfile website. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
The stony Isle of Portland is a geological paradise. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:32 | |
It sits smack bang in the middle of the Jurassic Coast. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:35 | |
At its heart lies a rich seam of limestone, | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
and it is this that has shaped the lives of the people living here. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
Now, you might think, with all the quarrying that's going on here, | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
the wildlife would struggle to find a home. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
But, in fact, the exact opposite has happened. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
Quarrying has actually created homes. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
Hundreds of species of plants and animals | 0:38:02 | 0:38:05 | |
rely on the limestone grasslands of Portland. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
It might be a rotten old day, | 0:38:08 | 0:38:09 | |
but it all helps to produce this special habitat. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
'I'm meeting Dorset Wildlife Trust officer Sam Hamer to find out more.' | 0:38:14 | 0:38:19 | |
I know it might take a bit of imagination on a day like today, | 0:38:19 | 0:38:21 | |
but trust me, in the summer, this is just awash with colour. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:25 | |
The nature of the quarrying itself has meant | 0:38:25 | 0:38:29 | |
that the landscape has been completely changed. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:31 | |
And we've got here really unique, special, | 0:38:31 | 0:38:35 | |
undulating south-facing slopes which wouldn't normally be here. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
And they provide that niche habitat. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:41 | |
What species are unique to this location? | 0:38:41 | 0:38:44 | |
Across the island, we've got things like Portland hawkweed, | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
maidenhair fern and spleenworts, and those are very special plants. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
-Some of them are only found here. -And why are they only found here? | 0:38:51 | 0:38:55 | |
Where we've got the Portland stone, the limestone, that soil chemistry | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
gives rise to a very special kind of limestone grassland. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
And it's that, including the grasses, the mosses and the liverworts, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:08 | |
that are the building blocks of that habitat | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
that then underpins so many other things. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
And eventually, it all comes back to this magical Portland stone again, | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
-doesn't it? -Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
But this landscape is under threat from invasive species. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:28 | |
Things like cotoneaster, buddleia | 0:39:28 | 0:39:30 | |
and sycamore all outcompete the precious limestone grasses, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
placing the whole habitat at risk. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:36 | |
The Portland Living Landscapes Project aims to restore 500 acres | 0:39:39 | 0:39:44 | |
of limestone grassland, but with such a huge area to survey, | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
how on earth do you keep track of the progress that you are making? | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
Step forward Sam and some big boys' toys. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
They've fixed a high-definition mini-camera onto a zip wire | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
using kids' building blocks, providing a unique view | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
and sense of the quarry space. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:03 | |
You've got a camera fixed onto a toy. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
-SAM LAUGHS -Why? | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
It's to help us monitor our progress | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
and the work we're doing within the landscape. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
We've done so many fixed-point photography things | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
and we've done a lot of monitoring quadrats and they are all great | 0:40:19 | 0:40:22 | |
for getting that scientific data that we need. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
But we're trying to capture the effort | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
within the context of this open, dynamic landscape. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
-So how long has the high wire been in place? -About two years now. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
And if you showed me footage from two years ago, what would I see? | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
What would be different? | 0:40:37 | 0:40:38 | |
Well, it was just full of cotoneaster. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
As an invasive species, it just covers like a blanket. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:44 | |
So everything it smothers out is shaded out from the light | 0:40:44 | 0:40:47 | |
and outcompeted and then lost. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:48 | |
-And you've cleared it all? -Sort of 98% there. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:52 | |
-Who had the Lego set? -I did. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
I knew you were going to say that! | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
We experimented a few times. | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
It's blown up a number of times and left the wire, | 0:40:59 | 0:41:02 | |
but we've got to the stage with it | 0:41:02 | 0:41:04 | |
and it's producing the results we need. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
So this little toy is going to help to manage | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
this very important habitat for years and years. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
Off you go. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
To infinity and beyond! | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
We Brits have a love affair with our animals. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
In fact, we love them so much, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:34 | |
they are often thought of as part of the family. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
Looking after one animal can be hard enough, | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
but when you're surrounded by them, | 0:41:43 | 0:41:45 | |
it really is a full-time job, as Adam knows all too well. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:48 | |
This week, it's the dogs that need his attention. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
In your bed, in your bed. In your bed. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
When I come down into the kitchen in the morning, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:56 | |
I'm already surrounded by animals. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:58 | |
It's not just farm animals, but pets, | 0:41:58 | 0:42:00 | |
and I keep the three most popular pets there are in the country. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
And you'd be surprised what's number one. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
But coming in at number three are cats. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
This one under here is Frank, and then Widget's sitting over there | 0:42:08 | 0:42:12 | |
by the Aga, keeping nice and warm. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:14 | |
They're lovely pets, but they're also good at catching mice and rats. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
And in the UK, there's 8.5 million cats, so they are pretty popular. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:23 | |
And then coming in at number two are the dogs. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
And there's a similar number of dogs as there are cats, but slightly more. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
And I've got Boo and Dolly here, who are house dogs, | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
and then of course the working dogs outside. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
And, believe it or not, the number one most favourite pet | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
in the UK I have lurking in the corner of my kitchen, which is fish. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
And there's around 20-25 million fish kept in ponds | 0:42:43 | 0:42:48 | |
and the same in fish tanks in people's houses. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
And they're very easy to look after. That's them fed. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
Wish all my farm animals were that easy! Come on, dogs. Come on, Dolly. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:58 | |
Come on, then! Here. | 0:42:58 | 0:43:01 | |
'But regardless of the statistics, | 0:43:01 | 0:43:03 | |
'the trusty old dog is my favourite by far.' | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
HE WHISTLES Here. Dolly. | 0:43:06 | 0:43:08 | |
Millie. Millie! Up, up! | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
Little trick dog. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:14 | |
Come on, then, Pearl. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:15 | |
It's clear that people absolutely love dogs, and why wouldn't you? | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
They are such loyal, fantastic creatures | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
with so many different uses. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:22 | |
Millie, come here! | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
And they're definitely my favourite farm animal. I absolutely adore them. | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
Boo gets very jealous when I give the other dogs attention. | 0:43:28 | 0:43:30 | |
Boo, I love Millie. DOG BARKS | 0:43:30 | 0:43:33 | |
She's my favourite one! | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:43:36 | 0:43:38 | |
Oh, I love you too! Go on, then! | 0:43:38 | 0:43:41 | |
'Research suggests that dogs first became our friends in the ice age, | 0:43:46 | 0:43:49 | |
'tamed by hunter-gatherers to help with hunting | 0:43:49 | 0:43:53 | |
'or protection against predators. | 0:43:53 | 0:43:55 | |
'It's their intelligence and ability to learn that's made them | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
'such useful animals.' | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
HE CALLS OUT AND WHISTLES | 0:43:59 | 0:44:02 | |
'And working dogs still play an important role today. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:05 | |
'Life on the farm would be extremely hard without them.' | 0:44:05 | 0:44:09 | |
Sit! | 0:44:09 | 0:44:10 | |
You can't really replace a working sheepdog with a man or a machine. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:15 | |
Really because they've got this ancient hunting instinct | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
that we're controlling to help them round up the sheep. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
HE WHISTLES Bring them out! By! | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
Our working collies live in the kennels, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:26 | |
but they are warm and dry for them to lie at night, and, really, | 0:44:26 | 0:44:30 | |
like a machine, what you fuel that machine with, it's a bit like a dog. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:34 | |
What you put inside it is what you get out, | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
and I want my animals to be healthy, strong, fit and working well. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
And, in exchange for their hard work, I give them good quality food. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:45 | |
'Their diet is really vital, but with so many options on the market, | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
'how do we know we're getting it right? | 0:44:49 | 0:44:51 | |
'I've invited dog trainer Richard Clarke to the farm, | 0:44:51 | 0:44:54 | |
'to get the low-down on dog nutrition.' | 0:44:54 | 0:44:56 | |
-Richard, hi, good to meet you. -Very nice to meet you. | 0:44:56 | 0:44:58 | |
Good array of dog food you've got here. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
Food plays such a big part in our relationship with training dogs. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:05 | |
The first pet foods came about about 1860. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
A guy called James Spratt got off the boat from America. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
He was an electrician and he saw the dogs | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
scavenging on the dockside, saw an opportunity there to create | 0:45:14 | 0:45:18 | |
some food, for rich English gentleman for their shooting dogs, | 0:45:18 | 0:45:22 | |
and that's where the first processed dog food came about, really. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
So tell me a little bit about them. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:27 | |
Like a dog meat that you get from a tin, what is that like? | 0:45:27 | 0:45:31 | |
This is traditionally the food that we've been using | 0:45:31 | 0:45:35 | |
for the past 40, 50, 60 years, so it appears as meaty chunks in gravy, | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
so it looks really appetising and a lot of the dogs will like it. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
But appearances can be deceiving. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:44 | |
The first thing is, we look at the back of the tin. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:47 | |
How much gravy would you expect to find in that? | 0:45:47 | 0:45:49 | |
-10%, 15%? -80%. So actually, | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
when you look at that tin of dog food, it seems like good value - | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
50p for a tin, but the reality is that | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
only the top 20% is actual food matter. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
Should we be shopping around and choosing some of the other tins? | 0:46:01 | 0:46:05 | |
Undoubtedly, there are some foods that are better than others, | 0:46:05 | 0:46:08 | |
and some dogs, particularly older dogs, prefer wet food. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:11 | |
Dogs are omnivores, they eat meat and vegetables. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:14 | |
So a good mixed diet like this would work, wouldn't it? | 0:46:14 | 0:46:17 | |
It looks great, doesn't it? Nice bit of bone there, a bit of calcium. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:21 | |
A bit of red stuff, assume that that's meat. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:24 | |
You've then got a nice bit of vegetation. | 0:46:24 | 0:46:27 | |
If you argue the point that the dog is supposed to be colour-blind, | 0:46:27 | 0:46:29 | |
why is it lots of fun colours? | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
This is designed for the person buying it, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:33 | |
not for the animal that's going to consume it. | 0:46:33 | 0:46:35 | |
And all of the colours and additives tend to be artificial. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:39 | |
I've got a couple of cans of pop here. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
The same additives and preservatives that are in that | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
are in some of these foods, yet we give them to our dogs | 0:46:44 | 0:46:47 | |
and then expect it not to have a knock-on effect | 0:46:47 | 0:46:50 | |
to their temperament and behaviour. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:52 | |
So what you are saying, then, is if you got a dog that's a bit bonkers | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
and charges around and is always on the go in the house, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
it may be related to its diet. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
Yeah, it will promote things like jumping up at lightshades, | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
pulling curtains down, barking at the front door. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:07 | |
Of course, there's lots of components that add to that, | 0:47:07 | 0:47:09 | |
but certainly it could be the fuel behind the behaviour. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
But what about my working dogs? | 0:47:13 | 0:47:15 | |
I feed them a mixed dry food, and they seem to do well on it. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
But what will Richard make of it? | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
The first thing we look at is | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
it's got lots of gluten, maize and cereal. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
You could argue that it's almost like a breakfast cereal. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
The problem is when we start looking at wheat and corn, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
these aren't highly digestible foods for dogs, | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
so often you'll see that the dogs have large stools, | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
they'll be passing frequently throughout the day, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:40 | |
because the dog can't metabolise the food. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:42 | |
So what about if we hark right back to the wild dog, | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
the wolf, eating raw meat? Is this something we should be feeding them? | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
Although they enjoy a high protein and calcium-based diet, | 0:47:50 | 0:47:54 | |
flesh and bone, they do need a certain amount of roughage, | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
vitamins, so it's really difficult | 0:47:57 | 0:47:59 | |
to find that balance in a raw food diet. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
It can be a good thing, but it needs to be done properly. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
So to clarify, then, I want something with natural preservatives, | 0:48:05 | 0:48:09 | |
no additives, good meat content of a single meat, | 0:48:09 | 0:48:12 | |
gluten-free, | 0:48:12 | 0:48:13 | |
but going to the supermarket is a bit of a minefield, isn't it? | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
It's about balance. The cheaper the food, the cheaper the ingredients. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:22 | |
Just look at the label. Go by the order of contents. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:26 | |
Look for something that has got a named meat first up. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:30 | |
If it's got cereal on it, I would suggest perhaps avoid it. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:33 | |
And for my working dogs outside, just give them | 0:48:33 | 0:48:36 | |
a little bit of a higher protein? | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
Yeah, and you can add that protein yourself. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:41 | |
Any good-quality complete food, to be honest, | 0:48:41 | 0:48:43 | |
-will serve you well. -There you go, Dolly. What do you reckon? | 0:48:43 | 0:48:46 | |
As a farmer, I always try to do the best by my animals, | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
and hopefully Richard's expert advice will mean | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
a happy and healthy life for all of my dogs. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:56 | |
Heel. | 0:48:58 | 0:48:59 | |
Millie! Heel. | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
I'm exploring the tiny Isle of Portland | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
off the south tip of Dorset. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:13 | |
It's not the most hospitable of coastlines, | 0:49:15 | 0:49:17 | |
and there's not a bit of sand in sight. | 0:49:17 | 0:49:19 | |
There might not be a beach, but there are beach huts. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:24 | |
Apparently, these are quite glam on the inside. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:27 | |
They look a bit like garden sheds to me. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:29 | |
There are more than 300 of these little huts dotted around the Isle, | 0:49:33 | 0:49:37 | |
and hut designer Richard Burgess has built around a third of them. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:42 | |
Time for a nosey, I think. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
-Hi, Julia. -Hi, Richard, nice to see you. -And you. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:51 | |
A welcome break from the weather that's just come back in. | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
-I guess it happens like this here, doesn't it? -It does. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
-It turns, as you say, just like that. -Very, very cosy. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
A little bit more than a garden shed. | 0:50:00 | 0:50:02 | |
Absolutely, yes. I think the owners wouldn't be too pleased | 0:50:02 | 0:50:05 | |
if you called it a shed. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:07 | |
How much would the owners have paid for this? | 0:50:07 | 0:50:09 | |
-Getting on towards £25,000. -Goodness me! | 0:50:09 | 0:50:13 | |
Traditionally, what were these huts used for? | 0:50:14 | 0:50:17 | |
Recreational purposes by the workers of the quarries. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:20 | |
A lot of houses on Portland were back-to-back, no gardens, | 0:50:20 | 0:50:25 | |
so it was a nice bit of breathing space, if you like, | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
-to bring out their families and have a cup of tea on a nice day. -Lovely. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:31 | |
We asked you where in the British Isles | 0:50:39 | 0:50:41 | |
you'd like to see featured on Countryfile. | 0:50:41 | 0:50:44 | |
And you chose here, the Isle of Portland, | 0:50:44 | 0:50:47 | |
so we've been discovering what makes this land so special, | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
how the seas have shaped its history. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
I'm now going to be heading up 153 steps to the top of | 0:50:53 | 0:50:57 | |
the Portland Bill Lighthouse, to meet Larry, | 0:50:57 | 0:50:59 | |
its last lighthouse-keeper. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:01 | |
It was opened in 1906, | 0:51:04 | 0:51:05 | |
replacing Portland's old Higher and Lower Lighthouses. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:09 | |
Although he's not been here quite that long, | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
Larry has got 44 years | 0:51:14 | 0:51:15 | |
and 23 different lighthouses under his belt. | 0:51:15 | 0:51:18 | |
-Larry, good to see you. -And you. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:22 | |
I'm slightly out of breath, I have to say. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:24 | |
Yeah, you've climbed 153 steps to get to us, so welcome, Matthew. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:28 | |
But before I get the chance to relax, | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
Larry's got me limbering up for more lighthouse aerobics. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:35 | |
Show me the pinkie-winkie. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:36 | |
-Right, pinkie-winkie, hook it onto there, look. -Yeah. | 0:51:36 | 0:51:40 | |
And pull towards me. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:41 | |
-Goodness me. -There you are, Matthew, you are moving 3.5 tonnes of lens. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:50 | |
-It's actually floating on the original mercury from 1905. -Wow! | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
I've just something the weight of a car with my little finger. | 0:51:57 | 0:52:01 | |
It just goes to show that up here, a little goes a long way. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:05 | |
In fact, the huge bulb creating the light works off the same power | 0:52:05 | 0:52:09 | |
as your kitchen kettle. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:11 | |
How far will that beam travel? | 0:52:11 | 0:52:13 | |
On a good night, you can see it in excess of 25 miles. | 0:52:13 | 0:52:17 | |
I've had people come here in the summer months saying | 0:52:17 | 0:52:19 | |
they've been to the Channel Islands, | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
coming back on the ferry into Weymouth | 0:52:21 | 0:52:23 | |
20 minutes after leaving the Channel Islands, | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
although they can't see the light, they can see | 0:52:25 | 0:52:28 | |
-the beams crossing the horizon. -Wow! | 0:52:28 | 0:52:30 | |
Like all Britain's lighthouses, | 0:52:32 | 0:52:34 | |
nowadays, Portland Bill is fully automated. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:37 | |
'But Larry thinks I've been such a promising pupil | 0:52:37 | 0:52:39 | |
'that for one night only, he's going to let me light up the Bill.' | 0:52:39 | 0:52:43 | |
-Here we go. -I thought the switch would be inside. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
No, what's go happen now, you're covering a photo-electric cell, | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
-which is going to say it's dark. -Oh, I'm with you. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
Now, the light should be on, Matt, so if you want to go in there, | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
it should be coming on and starting to glow. | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
Yeah. She's on. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
This is definitely the highlight of my Portland adventure, | 0:53:02 | 0:53:06 | |
and just what Captain Baker needs to lure in his trusty first mate. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:11 | |
Now, the phone reception on the Isle is a little bit dodgy | 0:53:12 | 0:53:15 | |
to say the least, but I said to Julia, | 0:53:15 | 0:53:17 | |
"I'll send you some sort of signal." I think she'll have got the message. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
Very predictable! | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
Now, I suppose he wants me to go all the way to the top, | 0:53:23 | 0:53:26 | |
because he's a bit tricky like that. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
Here we go then. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:30 | |
Coming! | 0:53:30 | 0:53:31 | |
I thought she'd be here by now. That's almost it for this week. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:35 | |
Thank you for all of your suggestions. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:38 | |
We'll be visiting many more in the coming weeks. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:40 | |
Ah! Goodness me, it's about time! | 0:53:40 | 0:53:42 | |
Portland was a fantastic suggestion. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:45 | |
You suggesting me going to the top of here, not such a good suggestion. | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
Yeah. Well, according to Larry, the lighthouse-keeper - | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
-watch your head - this really gets the puddings pumping! -Does it?! | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
Well, I like to get my puddings pumping. Excellent news! | 0:53:54 | 0:53:58 | |
-Consider it done. -That is it. Next week, we're going to be in Kent. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:01 | |
I'm going to be on Elmley Marshes, which was once a thriving village, | 0:54:01 | 0:54:05 | |
and is now a spectacular wildlife haven. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:07 | |
And Ellie is going to go behind the scenes at a medieval palace. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:11 | |
-Right, that's it. -See you later. -How do we get down from here? | 0:54:11 | 0:54:14 | |
-Well... You want me to carry you, don't you? -Yeah. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:17 | |
-Thank you. -See you later. -Bye! See you! | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
-Now, don't drop me. -Right. -Because you're dropping the crown jewels! | 0:54:20 | 0:54:24 | |
-I'm actually going to go down backwards, so watch out! -Oh, no! | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 |