Fife Countryfile

The historic Kingdom of Fife,

ancestral home of Scottish monarchs

and a land famed for its fairways.

The coastline is a dot-to-dot of fishing harbours

and mining villages.

Inland, a lacework of lochs, forests and fells.

The natural peninsula lies an hour north of Edinburgh,

bounded by the River Tay and the Firth of Forth.

I'm exploring the north-eastern corner, known as Tentsmuir.

This is one of the most dynamic landscapes in the country,

and I'm not talking about what is going on around me.

It's what's going on under my feet.

For the last 5,000 years,

this coastline has been expanding outwards,

as much as five metres a year in some places.

All that extra land has made this a highly desirable location

to set up home...for wildlife.

With a range of habitats,

it's a des-res for some of our most elusive creatures.

To be in with a chance of seeing the wild locals, you need time,

you need patience and to be a little bit inconspicuous,

so, with our schedule and this lot in tow, it's never going to be easy.

Come on, then, you lot!

Ssh!

Luckily, here at Tentsmuir,

they have come up with a hi-tech solution for wildlife spotting.

All you need is your walking boots and one of these.

Or one of these.

Thanks.

Apparently, it's dead simple.

All I have to do is take a scan of this QR code...

-BEEP

-There we are.

And I can access a whole virtual reality of all of the wildlife

that lives right here.

The web page that opens up offers me

a sneak peek at some of the wild residents of Tentsmuir,

as well as sketches and paintings created at that very spot.

The main man behind the project is Derek Robertson,

wildlife artist, local lad and all-round nature lover.

-How are you doing? All right?

-Hiya.

What a beautiful part of the forest to be sketching.

It's amazing, isn't it? It's beautiful.

Derek will be artist-in-residence here for the next 12 months

to celebrate the Year of Natural Scotland.

So, where did the idea of this artist trail come from?

-Was this something you came up with?

-Yeah.

I was doing a whole load of drawings and paintings

and I was looking for a way of exhibiting them on-site,

and also, I've been taking video footage of the animals around us.

To be honest, Derek, I try and leave my phone at home

when I come to places like this,

and the last thing I want to be doing is looking down at a screen.

I agree. If it was either-or, then I would agree with you,

but it's the choice of the person coming along and it can give a much richer context

and seeing footage of wild animals that otherwise, they wouldn't see.

These are things which often come out at night

-or are difficult to get close to.

-What have you been busy with?

-You've got a beautiful red squirrel here.

-Yes, red squirrels.

We've been watching some earlier on today.

They been coming down to the feeder.

You've captured their characteristics so brilliantly.

-Can we have a little flick through your pad?

-Yeah, sure.

This is what I've been doing the last couple of days,

so this is my watercolour sketchbook.

So, this is woodcock in the forest nearby,

and then a couple of days ago I was down on the shore

drawing the seals, but it started to rain so I had to dive for cover.

So this never got anywhere near finished,

so I'll have to go back in a couple of days' time.

Derek spends much of his time outdoors,

but his work isn't all about the canvas.

As an enthusiastic naturalist,

he has also pioneered an unusual way of counting birds.

In the past, I've been looking at different ways of researching

the animals here on-site so, for example,

we've done studies of water rails,

which are really difficult to count because they hide in the reeds,

and we used "call playback", where they're played a tape

-and then the birds call back.

-Answer back, basically?

-Yes,

-so we know how many are there.

-Did it work?

-It worked great.

We thought we had two or three on the site,

and we found out we had 110 at this reserve nearby.

So, that model's being used as the standard research tool now

for surveying water rails.

While I leave Derek to his squirrel sketching,

I'm going to try out this bird counting technique for myself.

Right, let's give this a go. I'm quite excited about this.

So, water rail... Play.

CHIRPING FROM MACHINE

PIERCING CALLS IN REPLY

How about that? Listen to that.

I'm having a conversation with a water rail. That is incredible.

Well, while I continue communicating,

let's turn our attention to this week's investigation.

And plans to trial badger culling may well be dividing

much of the nation, but as Tom has been finding out, England is

not the first place to try and tackle bovine TB in this way.

Ireland, a rich and fertile land.

From traditional Irish homesteads to modern working farms,

agriculture is at heart of this economy,

and most of that is livestock farming.

But just like their British counterparts,

Irish beef and dairy farmers

are struggling with the problem of bovine TB,

a chronic and highly infectious disease that,

if left unchecked, can weaken and ultimately kill infected livestock.

As in the UK, badgers are getting much of the blame for spreading

the disease amongst cattle, but until now, England and Ireland

have had two very different strategies for dealing with it,

the main difference being that, in Ireland, they've had

a systematic badger culling programme in its current form since 2004.

But is it working?

On his farm in County Cork, Mark Chambers

is bringing in his herd for their annual TB test.

It's still a nerve-wracking process.

Just one positive result could lock down his whole farm.

So, what is happening today, Mark?

Reading of our TB test.

They were done on Tuesday, and today is the day we get our results.

So results day. Is that always a bit nerve-wracking for you?

Yes, I suppose. You just never know what can happen.

-When did you last have a case here?

-Seven years ago.

How did it affect your business during that time?

Well, then, you cannot sell any stock, so therefore...

It depends on the time of year.

If you're coming into winter time when it happened,

and I usually sell my cows in October,

I wouldn't be able to sell them.

I'd have to carry more stock, which would increase

the feed that is wanted, so it would be a disaster.

The next few hours are crucial for Mark.

Local vet Michael Sexton is tasked with carrying out the test today.

OK. See the lump?

That is 15.

He gave each cow in Mark's herd a skin test 72 hours ago.

Now he is back looking for lumps on the cows' necks

to diagnose whether they have TB.

It's nine on top, seven on the bottom.

A reactor would be very bad news for the herd, and the cow

will have to be slaughtered and Mark's farm will be locked down.

-No reaction on either side.

-Well, so far, so good.

The first batch is clear.

In the past, this area had a high incidence of TB,

but Michael believes there has been a dramatic decrease

since the TB eradication policy was introduced.

In southern Ireland, the incidence from 2000 to 2011 has...

There has been a drop of 50%.

And how important is badger culling in the story of that decline?

I wouldn't say badger culling specifically,

but I think wildlife control is definitely a big part of that.

TB is a problem for cattle and for wildlife,

and I don't it's possible to control it in one

-without controlling it in the other.

-It seems to me

you've got little doubt that is not

a question of it being the fault of the cattle or the badgers.

You've got to get on top of both of them.

The disease afflicts both species

and for the disease control of cattle and for badgers,

and the welfare of cattle and for badgers, they go hand in hand.

You can't separate them.

The decision to cull badgers was no easy step, but here it was felt

to be the most effective solution to an escalating problem.

Tomas Bourke is the livestock officer at the IFA,

the Irish equivalent of the National Farmers' Union.

It's a horrendous sight for farmers

and their families, to see these animals, perfectly good,

at the peak of production, being loaded onto a truck for slaughter.

While we have made significant progress over the past 10, 12 years,

-it's vital that this disease is eradicated.

-Put simply,

do you think your experience in Ireland shows that culling works?

Yes, based on our figures.

Our figures are published annually

and show reduction of over 50%, but obviously we need to go further.

Why do you think there is such a difference in attitude

to a cull here, and England?

I suppose, from an Irish perspective, there is

probably a closer association with the land,

and most people are only one generation removed from it.

There's also a better understanding, I suppose,

of the value of agriculture to the economy.

Because the number of tests has varied over the years,

not everyone agrees that a 50% reduction in bovine TB

is an accurate figure for Ireland, but between 1995 and 2010,

the proportion of infected herds has fallen from just over 9.5%

to just under 7.5%.

In England, in the same period, the proportion of infected herds

rose substantially, from less than 1% to 9%.

Back on Mark's farm, the tests are now complete.

-OK, Mark.

-Good news?

Good news. Clear round. That's it for another year.

-That's all of them done, is it?

-That's the whole herd. Perfect.

-It feels good?

-It feels good. Yes. A bit nervous, but we got there.

Very good to have that feeling.

-OK. Let them out.

-Are you ready, Robert?

Well, good news for Mark, and that's a happy ending we're hearing

more and more often across Ireland,

but to what extent is that down to the culling of badgers?

Or are other factors involved, like bio-security amongst the cattle?

That's what I'll be finding out later.

Fife, a historic Scottish county, romantically known as a kingdom.

Right at its heart is the Royal Burgh of Falkland.

Surrounded by the handsome wilderness of the hills

and flatlands of Fife, Falkland was thrust into the limelight

in the 16th century.

This place, Falkland Palace,

was built as a playground for the Kings and Queens of Scotland.

For around 200 years, the palace was visited by the House of Stuart,

and this is the family hall of fame.

Be warned, there are a lot of Jameses.

That is James V.

He ruled Scotland between 1513 and 1542,

and it was his father, James IV, who started building this palace,

before James V took it on and finished it off.

When James V died in his chamber here at the palace, his daughter,

who was only six days old, became Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary was followed by her son, James VI of Scotland,

who went on to become James I of England.

I told you there were a lot of Jameses.

This is where the Stuarts came to relax and unwind

in the comfortable surroundings of a Renaissance palace,

a French-style chateau in the Fife countryside.

But what drew them to Falkland?

I'm about to get a bird's-eye view with palace manager Wendy Purvis.

Oh, wow.

-Wendy, this is a stunning view.

-Yes. So, all that you can see out there

would have been the hunting park within the forest

that Mary would have appreciated. She could have even stood up here

and watched the hunt as it progressed out in the grounds there.

Hundreds of acres of forest playground.

In this park, the Stuarts used to hawk, hunting with birds of prey.

Today, falconer Stewart Miller is keeping the sport of hawking alive.

In the palace grounds, Stewart, Squeak the young Harris hawk

and Angus the pony are in training.

I'm joining the team to provide a moving target,

though I might come to regret that.

Hawks hunt by sight, and so that our bait moves like a real animal,

I'm going to drag it on a piece of string.

For this training exercise, I'm literally the bait.

For this to be successful, the hawk needs to land on the bait.

Oh, no!

He's up in the tree, look. The tree is not the bait.

I'm going to offer him some food, and here he comes.

I need to get the horse to stand still. Good boy.

-That was brilliant.

-Stand.

Don't worry about it, Squeak, we'll give it another go.

-His coming, he's coming!

-Stop, stop, stop.

-Oh!

-That's good.

That's more like it.

-Yay!

-OK.

-That is so exciting.

He has literally spread his wings to say, "This is mine. Hands off."

This is called mantling.

It's like birds of prey do in the wild - they mantle over their prey -

-and what I'm going to try and do here is offer him a swap.

-OK, right.

-A bit of a trade.

-This is a tricky part.

Oh, wow. Oh, brilliant.

Luckily, he is quite happy to step up.

You can see he is still mantling, because he doesn't want us

to steal what I'm offering him now.

Stewart, you must be delighted with that

because he's done exactly what you wanted him to do.

Yeah, it's the beginning of his training and, really,

he'll just come on in leaps and bounds.

Now he knows what the rabbit is, he'll know to chase it,

-and when he does chase it he gets a reward.

-Yeah. Right.

Time for me to try my hand as the huntress.

That's good, that's right position.

Just bring your elbow in a little bit, that's it. Good to go.

-Brilliant.

-How does it feel?

I've never held a hawk before so I'm fascinated by Squeak.

No offence, Angus! Sitting here feels quite...

I do, I feel very regal,

but I can't imagine galloping through the forest.

There you go.

Even with hawking and hunting,

life for the Royals in the 16th century could get dull.

They were always looking for entertainment.

Luckily, a new sport had recently come to Britain from France,

and had found a place in the grounds of the palace.

This is a real tennis court, also known as royal tennis.

It's the oldest surviving course of its kind in the country

and here today,

I'm going to be taking on a rather nerve-wracking opponent.

It's not Andy Murray, but I am going to be playing another Scot,

one who is a little older

and who is about to make an incredible comeback on this court...

You serve, Your Majesty.

..Mary, Queen of Scots.

Royal tennis is the precursor to modern lawn tennis,

an intricate game where the ball is bounced off the court walls

as well as the floor.

It's a sort of cross between a tennis ball and a squash ball,

so the bounce is incredibly unpredictable.

Our Mary, Queen of Scots is also the palace's education officer,

Aisha Al-Sadie.

Good game, Your Majesty.

-Thank you for coming to play with me.

-Tell me a bit about this court.

Is this the court that Mary, Queen of Scots would have played in?

It was built by her father in 1539, so she would have played here

quite a lot, because she was fond of playing tennis.

It was unusual for anybody to be playing tennis at this time,

especially women playing, so Mary was quite a rebel,

especially in breeches,

because women weren't meant to show their legs,

so the Court found it quite controversial

for her to play in trousers.

-Shall we call it a day, Your Majesty?

-Yes.

Thank you for coming to play with me today.

-So, what would you do now, Queen?

-I think I will go and rest.

And eat lots of food.

Ah, a queen after my own heart.

The perfect end to a Royal day out.

Apparently, she liked hot buttered crumpets after a game.

I quite fancy one of those...

Now, earlier, Tom was in Ireland, finding out whether nearly a decade

of systematic badger culling has reduced the spread of bovine TB.

But with trial culls in England planned for this summer,

are there any clear lessons we can learn from the Irish experience?

TB is a serious problem in our livestock.

But while the incidence of the disease has dramatically

increased in England, in Ireland, there has been a significant fall.

On the surface, it looks like badger culling is working here.

But while the statistics look good,

there are still plenty of people who disagree.

Conn Flynn works for the Irish Wildlife Trust.

He believes firmly that culling badgers is not the answer.

Tom, this is baby badger Roisin and the fox is Twiglet.

-Keen to escape.

-She is keen to escape. Out you come.

'One of Conn's chief concerns is the Irish method of culling badgers using snares.'

You grab hold of Roisin there and I shall show you.

OK. Leave me holding the baby.

So this is the device that is used in the Irish culling programme.

So it's a snare.

In Euro-speak, it is a body-stopped restraint,

so obviously the badgers are lumbering into these things.

These are set around the badger setts

and then they get caught in them

so it can be a matter of time where they're actually trapped in it

and then they're dispatched with a rifle bullet.

So that isn't supposed to tighten round the neck

and actually throttle them. It is supposed to just stop them, is it?

It's supposed to hold them in place until somebody can come along and shoot them.

'Snare won't be used in England, where culling will be carried out

'by free-shooting or by caging and then shooting.

'But, like many people who oppose the English call,

'Conn doesn't believe that badgers are the root of the problem.'

I'm wearing a "not guilty" T-shirt here today,

because we feel that they are not the main problem.

They are a part of the problem. I wouldn't argue with the fact that there is an issue there.

It is just that they are being held up as the big factor here and they are a very small factor.

'If, as Conn believes, badgers are a minor factor in spreading TB,

'how come infection rates have dropped since the cull was brought in?'

Well, according to the Irish government, a major factor

in tackling the disease is their rigorous TB testing regime.

While in the UK, we only test low-risk herds every four years,

here in Ireland, all cows are tested annually.

There is also a sophisticated system for tracking the movement of animals,

and farmers are being encouraged to all they can to make their farms TB-proof.

The vet Michael Sexton believes that increased biosecurity has made a significance difference.

What can farmers do to make it less likely that their herd will catch TB?

I think, employing good biosecurity, by containment policies.

Good perimeter fencing at the farm level, whereby

they can prevent their herd coming into contact with

animals from other herds and other wildlife.

And if farmers do all those things, what difference can it make?

It has to help.

A few years ago, biosecurity was not part of the lexicon.

Biosecurity is the buzzword now.

Every farmer is very much aware of it.

'Improvements in biosecurity have helped,

'but exactly how much is impossible to calculate,

'especially when you have a cull going on at the same time.'

Despite this success, in Ireland,

they are now looking to develop a new strategy to combat the disease - vaccination.

Already used in a piecemeal way in England

and the main line of defence in Wales, it has now become

the focus for the next step in Ireland's fight against TB.

The Irish government is making huge investments in a TB vaccination programme for badgers.

And now, to speed things up, they are trying something new.

Rather than injecting badgers, scientists are now trying to see

if they will eat the vaccine instead.

Doctor Nicola Marples is head of the Department of Zoology at Trinity College.

She's trialling these new methods

and has permission to dig near the sett.

What we have got here is the depth that the badgers will be able

to smell the bait, and go down to.

They are really a digging creature, so they are very happy to do that.

They will smell the bait and dig right down to it.

A dog passing by might smell the bait because it has got

a very good sense of smell, but it wouldn't dig that deep.

OK. So what we're going to do is put the baits in now.

The baits look really weird. These are flapjacks for badgers.

They are basically made of flapjack.

-They are made of golden syrup and oats.

-OK.

-But do oral vaccines for badgers work?

-Yes.

There is very good evidence now that if you can get the badger

to eat the vaccine, it will actually protect them against TB.

So you have little doubt that vaccination could shortly be

a useful part of a TB control strategy?

Absolutely. I have very little doubt about that.

'Scientists who have high hopes for the vaccination programme

'and the authorities are optimistic that

'if it is used together with culling and improved biosecurity,

'it can only help reduce levels of the disease even further.'

So, is this the way forward in England too?

There are clearly differences between England

and Ireland in terms of wildlife, farming and public opinion,

but their very active TB eradication policy

does seem to be working here.

And many farmers in England will be looking to our government,

hoping that they take a lead from across the Irish Sea.