The Humber Countryfile

The open-skied landscape of the Humber

on the east coast of Yorkshire is a bird's paradise.

Its lush pastoral countryside takes in the Rivers Ouse and Trent

as they flood into the North Sea.

For centuries, people here have been defending the flatlands

against an encroaching tide.

And now it's home to another form of defence.

This is MoD Leconfield,

the UK's only defence school of transport

and it's where every military driver must come to train

before they head off for active service.

Lying deep within the Humber countryside,

the MoD's taken advantage of this secluded and malleable landscape

to carve out a playground for vehicles big and small.

There are 1,300 on site of all shapes and sizes,

and it's Commandant Colonel Rob Peacock's job to look after them.

So, Rob, what exactly goes on here?

This is where we take everyone from across defence,

young soldiers, airmen, Royal Marines,

and we teach them everything they need to know about military driving.

And you've got all sorts of vehicles, all shapes and sizes,

-and a lot of them.

-Absolutely everything.

People come here aged 17, 18, might not even have a car licence,

so we take them through the car licence,

the early stages of getting a truck licence,

truck and trailer licence,

but then the serious business is we put them onto the military vehicles.

They learn on the MAN trucks,

Mastiffs you've seen. DROPS truck is the old stuff.

We've got the sort of Oshkosh fuel tankers over there.

The point is, they've got to learn to drive in all conditions,

day and night, all sorts of terrain

because they need to do this on operations.

The driving part of it is almost the easy bit.

We need to teach them to be soldiers on the battlefield,

it's just that they have to drive vehicles.

The reality of what these recruits are training for

was brought home just a few weeks ago when a Mastiff,

the MoD's most armoured wheeled vehicle

was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

I feel very sorry for the families at the moment.

We really shouldn't forget how tragic it is for them.

But we do our very best to train them

in these vehicles in every condition we can think of.

Trying to replicate as closely as possible

what's going to happen to them in Afghanistan.

And we need to wait and see what we can learn from that

and see if there's any tiny improvements we can make

on the driving side of it.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have come through here

in the past five years.

Jason Figgett's been a DST instructor since 2006.

After 15 years as a tank commander,

he's now passing on his wisdom to the next generation.

'And today, it's my turn in the hot-seat.

'Not in an armoured vehicle, but in our 4X4.'

Let's hope she's up to the job!

CAR REVS

It's not about speed, you know. It's all about control.'

OK, all we're going to do now then is come out of this area here,

just carry on, follow the truck.

So this is meant to recreate surroundings and terrain

that you will come across in a military environment?

It is. Yeah. We actually bring all sorts of vehicles on here.

The Mastiff, the Foxhound,

but also our LGVs, our normal military trucks.

-Just watch these dips.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK.

What we're going to do now is accelerate,

and as you're going over the brow of the hill,

I want you to release the accelerator,

just as you go over the tipping point.

If you don't, you'll end up going back the way you've just come up.

If you don't do it as we're on the descent,

-you'll end up balancing on top.

-OK.

-OK.

OK, foot off the accelerator.

-Well done.

-Wow... Whoo!

-Did you like that?

-Yeah, I liked that.

-Good, good.

-That'll do you nicely. Nice and gentle.

-Yeah.

OK, so start to turn now.

-Yeah.

-Turn now.

-Yeah.

-Turn now.

-Straight.

-Keep it nice and straight.

-Yeah.

-There we go.

-OK.

-Cushty.

And we're going to go right again.

So this is very real training,

but it's very real training for the kind of terrain

that you will face at some stage in your military career.

Yeah, we're now putting them into a cross-country environment,

which can simulate all the different types of conditions

that they could come up against, especially on operational tours.

So with the kind of obstacles that they have got here,

at least they're getting experience prior to going into operations.

So you've experienced this environment in places like Iraq,

Afghanistan, and all over the world and it's real, it makes sense?

Yeah, especially with the urban village that we now have here.

Driving in built-in areas,

what you're constantly looking at is how you can escape,

especially if you're ambushed,

and the urban village here simulates that very well.

And there we go.

Jason, I really enjoyed that. How did I do?

I've really enjoyed being with you. Very good!

Driving aside, there's more to Leconfield than meets the eye.

Later, I'll be joining some soldiers doing their bit for conservation.

I'm on the Outer Humber, where the estuary meets the North Sea.

This unique salty landscape is being given over to farming,

and I'm finding out how farming is giving back.

This is a place both ravaged and nourished by the waves.

The Holderness coast, which stretches to the north,

is the fastest-eroding coastline in Europe.

But while the cliffs lose out to the sea,

the estuary has something to gain from all of this erosion.

Sea water ladened with sediments from the cliffs

is deposited on the banks of the Humber,

creating one of the most fertile

and richest breeding grounds in Britain.

Salt marsh.

I'm meeting Andrew Gibson from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

He's heading up an innovative project

that hopes to conserve the Welwick salt marsh.

Salt marsh is a special habitat. It's a unique habitat,

it needs that twice daily saline water to push over and onto it

to maintain these succulent species that we see below our feet.

And so often, this is the type of habitat that is reclaimed.

We reclaim it for ports, for farmland,

and it's being lost in Britain,

and here we have a large expanse of it, but it's changing.

OK. Well, let's have a look around our feet

and see what it is that the birds are coming here for.

The plants that we have here are sea lavender,

you have arrowgrass,

and then you go onto these domes of fescue, or salt marsh grass.

So, you can see the really special bit is

there's only a couple of centimetres difference in this height,

and yet that changes the mosaic of the species in there.

And with that, changes the mosaic of insects that are in there,

-and the birds that feed on those insects.

-A lot going on, then.

A hell of a lot going on, yes.

But this is a changing landscape.

Human attempts to drain the land and reclaim it for farming

has altered the dynamics of the salt marsh.

Taller grasses now dominate,

choking out some of the important shorter species.

What we have is this large expanse of land.

How do you manage this?

How do you bring about positive change for wildlife?

You could do it with mechanical means,

you could do it with volunteers.

Often the Wildlife Trust uses lots of volunteers.

But to make it sustainable,

you need grazing animals.

And what better way than having farming grazing animals,

and involving the community that live on its boundary?

Andrew was keen that involvement included

the next generation of farmers.

He had the sheep.

All he needed was a local young farmer to shepherd them.

That's where Jack Johnson comes in.

Farming's in his blood.

He grew up helping his dad Charlie out on the family sheep farm,

started up by his great-grandfather,

a stone's throw from the saltmarshes of the Humber Estuary.

-Now then, lads. How are we doing?

-Now, then.

Good to see you, Jack. Hello, Charlie. How's everything?

Good, thank you.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has loaned Jack and Charlie

an area of the salt marsh, along with a flock of sheep,

and it's 17-year-old Jack's responsibility to look after them.

I've just noticed.

Do you have your own set of traffic lights on the farm?

-Now, that's something!

-JACK CHUCKLES

That is amazing!

And so this is the first time in the history of your family

-that you've grazed sheep down on this marsh.

-Yeah, it is.

It's kind of an important thing, like, so...

-Did you feel a big weight of responsibility there?

-Kind of, yeah.

And these sheep are all registered to you, they are your flock,

-as such?

-Yeah, they are.

So your dad's basically given you this responsibility.

He can look after all the sheep up there,

nice and easy on the fresh pasture up there,

and then you get the challenges of the salt marsh down the bottom.

LAUGHTER

Right you are, yeah!

I know how it works, Charlie!

THEY LAUGH

With the average age of farmers at 58,

a project like this is invaluable in giving young people an opportunity.

Well, the first thing to do really is just to keep an eye out,

see whether any sheep's fallen down or are stuck or anything like that.

-Yeah.

-Then second thing is try getting them in the pen over there.

'Jack's been given 35 ewes to graze the salt marsh,

'which, after five years, he'll have to give back.'

Come on, you've got your lambs, don't worry.

The cost of the upkeep falls to Jack and his dad,

but any money they make from selling lambs for meat

is theirs to keep.

Basically, so we don't trample too much over the salt marsh

and disturb any of the birds that may be in there,

we just slowly and gently walk to the edge so that the sheep funnel

down through this gateway.

Now we pop them up there and into the corral.

Lie down, lie down!

At this time of year, the marsh is a busy stop-off point

for a whole host of migrating birds,

and an important breeding ground for many species,

like roe deer and redshank.

We've seen a lot more birds coming in in wintertime,

especially down where it's been nagged down at that far end,

and then hopefully they're going to keep on coming here.

If all goes to plan,

farming will help enrich this environment for flora and fauna,

and Jack and Charlie will benefit, too,

from sales of their tasty lamb.

So, have you tried salt marsh lamb?

-Er... No, not yet!

-No?

-Have you, Charlie?

-No.

-No?!

-First year, so no.

-Good! This is exciting stuff, then!

-It'll be on the shelves before long.

-Which one's going on the table?

-Pick one!

LAUGHTER

-Pick one, we'll all get some lunch.

-Pick one, pick a big 'un.

There's no substitute for hands-on experience like this,

and it's great to see Jack's making the most of it.

He's not only finding out

what comes with the responsibility of owning your own livestock,

but he's helping to preserve this unique habitat

for generations to come.

Later, I'll be meeting young female farmers

hoping to make their mark in the farming world.

Here at MoD Leconfield,

I've been experiencing the rough-and-tumble

of a military driver's training.

But there's a whole lot more going on in this part of East Yorkshire

than first meets the eye.

This site has been owned by the military since 1937.

There are 16 miles of off-road routes and 1,300 vehicles.

Last year, 18,000 soldiers trained here.

But they're not the only ones passing through.

Birds.

Thousands of them love this not-so-tranquil paradise,

and it's the job of MoD conservation officer Alan Bakewell

to look out for them.

Alan, why is this such a cracking place for wildlife?

Because it's slightly unexpected.

It's the same as a lot of MoD sites.

Because of the nature of our business,

they tend to be in sort of wild, secluded places.

This used to be an old World War II airfield,

and because of the fact it has been in Defence ownership for so long,

it hasn't had all of the agrochemicals and pesticides.

It's about as near to organic East Yorkshire as you're going to get.

So it's such a natural environment, that's why the wildlife flocks here?

Yes, that's right.

We never know what we're going to find next on the site.

Do you manage the wildlife?

We don't manage it.

What we're really doing is surveying to see what species are on-site.

We, as a group, have to rely on our expertise,

but to actually assist us, we get experts in.

We learn lots, and gain from all of their experience.

So even the MoD needs help sometimes with some things?

-Even the MoD.

-SHE CHUCKLES

But with a site the size of Leconfield,

it's not easy keeping track of all the wildlife

that's coming and going,

so the conservation team has come up with a plan.

Retired Major Tim Cowley is heading up

the tri-service bird-ringing initiative

to monitor the birdlife here.

The project involves people from across the three services,

the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force,

who net and ring birds together.

There are several benefits that come out of this.

First of all, we get to find out some of the birds that are here,

and there's always the potential

that we might find something we don't know is here.

There are over 100 species of bird on this site.

We also find out something about the condition of the birds,

because if they are breeding they might have a brood patch,

and we get to, if we're lucky,

catch birds that have been caught before, which they call controls,

and then we find out where this bird's been in the past,

and it might be that in future someone will catch the birds

that have been ringed here in the first instance.

As owners of nearly 600,000 acres of land across the UK,

the MoD claims to take its duty of care for any wildlife

that takes up residence very seriously.

And it's encouraging to see how enthusiastic

the servicemen and women are about the animals.

And it's that enthusiasm that led to a rediscovery a few years ago

of a rare bird.

I'm hoping I might see one.

Between 1997 and 2010,

just three turtledoves were recorded at Leconfield.

But this year alone,

they've already counted seven.

This iconic songbird has declined by 93% in the UK since the 1970s,

and it's a species likely to be extinct by 2020

unless we do something to save it.

I'm joining Chris Tomson from the RSPB

to find out why these beautiful birds are in trouble.

So, Chris, what's so special about the turtledove?

It comes here for the summer, it spends a third of its life here.

It's come all the way from Africa to try and breed in this country.

-That's pretty special.

-It's very special, it's part of our heritage.

And it is a very attractive bird,

and it's a quintessential sound of summer

that's really disappearing fast.

Why has there been this rapid decline?

Well, there's a number of problems. They're not finding enough food.

Having made that vast journey of 3,000 miles,

they can't get into good breeding condition,

so they're not breeding as frequently as we would like.

They might get one brood off,

but for the population to actually increase,

they need to get two, preferably three broods off,

-and that's what's not happening.

-So where's the food?

What did they have 100 years ago that they don't have today?

They eat weed seeds, basically.

Weeds is perhaps not the right word, it's wild flowers,

it's...sort of traditional weeds that we're used to seeing,

like birdsfoot trefoil, knotgrass, redshank,

those sorts of things that these birds are feeding on.

Farmland is very efficient,

it's very well farmed,

and lots of chemicals are used to control these weeds,

and so it's harder for them to find food.

Why is this such a good habitat for them here at Leconfield?

They've got the sort of habitat that they need to breed in.

They're quite secretive,

so they nest in scrub,

or in this case, they're in a small spruce plantation.

All this, the trucks, the tanks, the cars, the lorries, the digging,

-doesn't put them off?

-Well, they were here last year.

Tim Cowley tells me that there are six here today and a pair,

so there's six singing males,

so they've obviously voted with their feet,

-or with their wings, should we say?

-With their wings!

I'll give you £1.50 if you show me a turtledove now.

If we look in the right direction, we might see one.

THEY CHUCKLE Come on, then, let's see.

This is very exciting.

You won't be able to see it because it's tiny, tiny, tiny,

at the top of a tree just over there,

but you'll hear the song of a turtledove.

BIRDSONG

I didn't think I was going to get to see one.

Earlier, I was out on the exposed coastal salt marsh

at the edge of the Humber Estuary,

with 17-year-old Jack Johnson.

He's part of a scheme to encourage young farmers

to get first-hand experience of the industry.

I'm heading deeper into Yorkshire,

where there's something of a sea change happening

at grassroots level.

Here at Bishop Burton Agricultural College near Beverley,

there's an irrepressible force at work

amongst our next generation of farmers.

And it's all to do with girl power.

Bishop Burton has witnessed a surge in female applicants

for their farming courses.

One in five of their agricultural students are now women,

compared to less than one in ten five years ago.

17-year-old identical twins Vicky and Lizzie Appleyard

are studying for their level three agriculture course, and today,

they're preparing for the college's 52nd annual stockmanship show.

-Now then, girls. How are you doing?

-Hello.

-Lovely to see you.

-Who's this?

-This is Delilah.

-Why did you choose Delilah?

-I like the song.

-You know the song.

-Fair enough. And, Lizzie?

-This is Miranda.

Good, right. Well, let me give you a hand with a bit of sponging.

We'll do the armpits down here.

Yeah, just get all the yellow patches.

And so, as identical twins, then,

-you've chosen an identical profession.

-Yeah.

Have you always been into it? Do you come from a farming family?

None of our family are anything to do with farming.

So in that respect, it's quite hard for us to get anywhere.

As well as being girls.

So...we came into it through our auntie.

-She got some Cade lambs to look after.

-OK!

and we spent a couple of weeks looking after them,

and we were just hooked.

So would the ultimate goal then be for you two to have a farm together?

-That would be pretty cool.

-It would.

-We work brilliantly together.

-Yeah.

So it wouldn't be a problem. We never fall out.

And what would you have on your farm?

-Sheep!

-Sheep!

-Sheep?

-Just sheep!

-And a pink tractor maybe!

LAUGHTER

So all of your friends at your age, I guess on the girls side of it,

not many of them would wander round farms.

Not really.

My friends would be sat there reading their Glamour magazine,

and I'd have my Farmers Weekly.

We're a bit different, I'd say!

Time for a run through for tomorrow's parade

with teacher Helen Martin.

-Oh, we've got a sitter.

-We have!

-We've got a protest on our hands!

-Well, what can you do

when you've got a big animal like that lying on the ground?

You can't. I'm afraid 500 kilos of cow has the final say in this case!

The girls are doing incredibly well, aren't they?

They're doing so, so well.

They seem to have that touch,

and Lizzie and Vicky had them on a halter within two days.

Some of the lads couldn't match that at all.

Women in farming is nothing new,

but we've seen an increase in the amount that want to come in,

and take top management jobs and actually build a career out of this.

Well, they're lining up, so I'll let you get back to the class

and you can continue with the rehearsals for tomorrow.

-Thank you.

-Good luck with it!

-Thank you!

One example of Bishop Burton's new breed of business-minded young women

is 17-year-old Jess Graves.

She runs her own bacon business from home, Jess's Porky Pigs.

You're quite unique. There's not many students that are obsessed

-with pigs like you are.

-I know, yeah. Really obsessed!

LAUGHTER

-When did that start?

-When I was eight.

My dad bought me two little pigs and I loved them to bits.

And I sold them and I saw the money and thought,

"Oh, my God, yes!" So then I bought some more pigs, like 25 and then 50.

-Even at the age of ten?

-Yeah. I've never stopped.

So do you just come here to learn about pigs?

Or are you doing the wider business as well?

Pig nutrition, and we do business management.

It's learning more about business.

There are 23,000 female farmers nationwide.

But Jess finds there are still some barriers for women to get over.

I'm filling the troughs up here and my wellies are being nibbled.

-I thought you'd want the feed!

-Yeah.

What is it about my wellies that is so exciting and so lovely?

-Are you taken quite seriously, then, as a young lady?

-No.

No, they don't believe that a woman can do a guy's job.

You've got to like, believe in yourself, to be honest,

and think that you can do it, and just do it.

It's the eagerly awaited Bishop Burton Stockmanship Show.

Nearly time for Jess and the twins to display their wares,

and Lizzie's up first.

I'm really nervous! Really nervous!

I hope she behaves. She's not behaving so far.

But Lizzie's heifer Miranda isn't playing ball.

As the rest of her class head into the judging area,

Miranda decides she's not having any of it.

I think she just got a little bit freaked out with everyone

and just decided she wasn't going to do it.

Meanwhile, her twin sister Vicky is having problems of her own.

After some conferring,

the judges decide to give Lizzie a second chance.

She gets to show in the same class as her sister,

and this time manages to persuade Miranda into the arena.

The judges are looking for a well-kept animal,

and good knowledge from their handler.

And Vicky and Delilah seem to be making a good impression.

-In third place, Vicky Appleyard.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

What, I'm third place?

-Well done, Vicky.

-Yay!

Feel quite happy, actually. Least I came somewhere.

Better luck with Miranda next time, Lizzie.

And remember young Jack from the salt marsh?

Well, he's here with his ewe, known simply as 3-2-1.

They pick up a silver in the sheep class.

Good result. Done well, I think.

-Good enough.

-HE CHUCKLES

It's a nice ewe, yeah, very nice ewe.

Done well. It's done very well. Yeah.

-Thank you!

-Come on, boy.

Seeing the work ethic of these young stockmen and stockwomen,

I'd say the future of farming looks incredibly bright.