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Winter... | 0:00:26 | 0:00:27 | |
when stillness descends and the landscape is transformed. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
The season when the days are short, cold and crisp | 0:00:34 | 0:00:39 | |
and, for our wildlife, their only options are to sleep, | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
feed or flee. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
Winter is the harshest of seasons. Tough going, no matter where you are | 0:00:49 | 0:00:54 | |
in the British countryside, and nowhere more so | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
than right here, in the Scottish Highlands. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
But why do we get the winters we do? Are we the only country that can go | 0:01:02 | 0:01:07 | |
from wash-out to white-out overnight? | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
This makeshift map holds the answers and, with the help | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
of my trusty, and, quite frankly, glamorous assistant, John Hammond, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
we'll be explaining why the geography of our country is unique. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
And this potato is key to our understanding. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
It will also explain how farmers are able to feed us | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
throughout the winter months. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
Carrots! We can't get enough of them. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
In fact, we eat 700,000 tonnes every year. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
On this farm in Suffolk, they work hard to make sure the humble carrot | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
is on the menu, whatever the weather. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
It's our coast that's taken a battering this year, | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
bringing misery for some, creating opportunity for others. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:58 | |
It's now that nature takes over, reclaiming it's shoreline, | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
grabbing it back from the tourists, | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
and it's also a time when the locals can let their hair down | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
and get out into these big waves that only winter brings. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
On our journey from the Highlands of Scotland | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
to Suffolk's fields of gold | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
and the deserted beaches of Cornwall, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
we'll see how our land is touched by this bleak, but beautiful, season. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
Winter... | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
Short days and sombre skies. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
The countryside turns black and white | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
and our wildlife has to tough it out. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
But Mother Nature has a plan. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
Winter blooms like snowdrops thrive. Migrating birds | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
from colder climates fly in | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
and native species put on spectacular seasonal shows. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:59 | |
And our farms can't stop, either. There's work to do. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
That low sun... Well, it lights up the stark landscape | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
like nowhere else on Earth. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Of course, the winter you get | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
depends on the weather and the location. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
I've come to the area of Britain | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
where winter is at its most extreme. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
These are the Cairngorm Mountains and it's the closest you can get | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
to Arctic conditions in the UK. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
Winter here can be stunningly beautiful - | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
snow-dusted mountains and sparkling, ice-coated valleys. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:47 | |
But don't be fooled. It is full-on. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
The Cairngorms are officially the coldest and windiest place | 0:03:51 | 0:03:55 | |
in Britain. The lowest temperature ever recorded was just... | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
Whoo! See what I mean?! ..Just over there, in Braemar... | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
Oh, here we go! ..At minus 27.2 degrees Centigrade, | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
and the highest wind speed was here, on the summit of Cairngorm, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
at 173 miles per hour. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
For most of Britain, these Arctic conditions are a rarity, | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
though winter does sometimes like to shock us. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
For two months in 1963, most of the country | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
was frozen solid, under a layer of snow. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
And it has other extremes, as the west coast has seen this month - | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
crashing seas and devastating floods. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
While in the East, storms are nothing new. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
In 1953, tidal surges engulfed countryside and town, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:46 | |
submerging whole communities. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:47 | |
This split-personality season somehow brings with it both power | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
and inspirational beauty, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
like here in the Cairngorms, where a sudden break in the weather | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
can change everything. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:01 | |
This is such a glorious view. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
This light - and, in fact, the entire scene - | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
changes every few seconds, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
with the clouds and the mist moving so fast across the sky, | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
but I guess that's the British weather for you - | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
entirely unpredictable. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:17 | |
So, what are the forces that affect our weather? | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
After all, it is a national obsession. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
Tilted back from the sun on the Earth's axis, | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
Britain in winter is a thing of beauty... | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
..be it still, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
destructive, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:43 | |
bitter or benign. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
The only thing we can take for granted is it's always different | 0:05:46 | 0:05:51 | |
and like no other. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:52 | |
I've come to meet BBC meteorologist and all-round weather geek | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
John Hammond, to find out what makes Britain's winters so very "British". | 0:05:58 | 0:06:04 | |
Well, well, well, | 0:06:04 | 0:06:05 | |
-you and your maps, John! -Well, you know, as we're in Wendover Woods, | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
I thought I'd bring us closer to nature. It's a whopper, isn't it? | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
It certainly is! All right, tell me what affects our winter weather. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
We are uniquely situated, atmospherically. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
One of the reasons forecasting in this country is so difficult | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
is because it changes every day, the weather. The reason for that, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
we're on the edge between two distinctly different air masses, | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
generated by the cold Continent to the East, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
which gets very, very bitter in the winter, much milder air | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
to the West generated by the warm Atlantic Ocean. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
-And we're stuck in the middle? -Yeah. These two air masses | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
are battling it out in the skies above us every day. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
That's what makes forecasting so difficult, but I would say that! | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
Course you would! You're a hero! | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
In the grand scheme of things, this little island of ours | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
is pretty far north. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
But when you compare our winter weather to countries | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
on similar latitude, there's quite a difference. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
OK, we've drawn this line right the way across the British Isles. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
In fact, right over Wendover Woods, here, which is 52 degrees North. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
That's 52 degrees north of the Equator. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
In other words, it's closer to the North Pole than the Equator. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
Now, remember 52 degrees, because if I give you this flag here | 0:07:12 | 0:07:19 | |
and this dainty pair of ice skates, if you'd like to put it on Sochi. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:24 | |
Sochi, of course, is hosting the Winter Olympics this year. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
Sochi - 43 degrees North, so it's a good deal further south | 0:07:28 | 0:07:32 | |
than here in the UK. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
But we're not going to be hosting the Winter Olympics in the UK, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
not in the short term, anyway. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:38 | |
So, it's a lot colder, even though it's a lot further south. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
OK, there are some mountains at Sochi, but I can give you | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
another example. If we put this flag over on Hudson Bay. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
Polar bears enjoy snow every year almost every day, | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
and temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. This part of Canada | 0:07:52 | 0:07:57 | |
is on exactly the same latitude as... | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
Blackpool. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
Now, I know we complain sometimes of it being a bit bracing | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
by the seaside, but it doesn't get down to minus 30 degrees | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
and I haven't seen any polar bears roaming the beach at Blackpool. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
How come, if we share such similar latitudes, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:17 | |
our winters aren't as cold as Russia? | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
The first reason is that the UK is surrounded by water. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
Water actually keeps us warm. The sea doesn't cool down very quickly | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
during the course of the winter, so that's one very important factor. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
The other one is that, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
to the west of us, we have this huge body of ocean, the Atlantic, | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
which, again, stays pretty warm. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
Over on the eastern side, it's land | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
and land gets cold very, very quickly. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
Now, we have the benefit of winds from the West | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
and it blows across our shores and it keeps us ever so balmy. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:55 | |
However, we do have one problem with these winds. They're quite moist | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
and they generate quite a lot of rain across the UK. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
Very occasionally, the winds flip around and come in from the East. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:08 | |
That has a dramatic effect on us, because it turns it a lot, lot | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
colder across the UK, and we're reminded | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
just how far north we actually are. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
'So, let's have a closer look at this island we call home.' | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
Welcome to Battleground Britannia. We use this word "battleground". | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
Another word is "front". | 0:09:29 | 0:09:30 | |
You hear "front" coming up on weather forecasts all the time, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
because it is exactly what goes on in the atmosphere. You have these | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
warring air masses and they just do act like warring battalions. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:41 | |
If I put on the warm air coming in from the West - | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
the warm army, if you like - bringing high temperatures, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
but a lot of moisture, over on your side, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
let's bring in the cold weather fronts coming in from the East. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
You can see the air masses are converging over the UK. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
This happens a lot across the country in winter time. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
You've got cold, you've got moisture, and that means one thing. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:04 | |
Let me introduce the white stuff. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
-That's where snow comes from? -Yeah. Doesn't happen that often in the UK, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
but, when it does, we know all about it. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
Heavy snow, disruptive snow and blizzards. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
And is this what happens when we experience storm surges | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
and galeforce winds? | 0:10:19 | 0:10:20 | |
Absolutely, because all sorts of extreme weather across our UK | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
are exactly due to fighting air masses taking place over our shores. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:28 | |
These storm surges are felt most keenly on our coast. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
Here, great tides crash into the shore, and, when they retreat, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
they leave rich treasures. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
The North Cornwall coast, where the prevailing winds | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
and warm currents of the Gulf Stream act like a huge conveyor belt, | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
dropping all kinds of things on our beaches. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
Where I live in the Cotswolds, I'm totally landlocked, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
so I love coming to the beach to get my sea fix, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
particularly at this time of year, when it's so wild and unpredictable. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
Even familiar places look very different. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
And it's now that nature takes over, | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
reclaiming its shoreline, grabbing it back from the tourists. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
And it's also a time when the locals can let their hair down | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
and get out into these big waves that only winter brings. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
If you've got the right gear for the cold and are good enough | 0:11:23 | 0:11:27 | |
to handle the conditions, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:28 | |
winter storms out in the Atlantic mean that surfers will find | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
some of the best and most consistent waves at this time of year. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
'Dom Clarke knows all about the effect of storms on our coastline | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
'and the objects that end up where the sea meets the land, | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
'known as a strand line.' | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
-Hi! -Pretty severe out there! -Yeah, some pretty big waves. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
And I suppose these winter storms are bringing it in? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
Yeah, low pressure after low pressure at the moment. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
So, what is a strand line, Dom? | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
A strand line is where debris | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
from the sea gets washed up to the furthest point | 0:11:58 | 0:12:03 | |
of where the tide can get to. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
And what sort of stuff do you find? | 0:12:05 | 0:12:06 | |
There's a lot of rubbish in here, isn't there? | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
One of the big things that you find is what we call sea nuts, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
and that's a hazelnut. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
-Who knows where it's come from. -Could've come from anywhere. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
It really could have. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:18 | |
Are the winter strand lines very different to the summer? | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
We get a lot more wood washed ashore at this time of year. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
And, as you can see, giant logs over there. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
It's a big bit of timber, isn't it? | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
Yeah, it's thrown around like matchsticks in the ocean. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
Is that a cuttlefish? | 0:12:31 | 0:12:32 | |
That is a cuttlebone, yes. That is sort of your classic cuttlebone. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
You get a lot of these washed up after storms as well. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
-They sell them in pet stores for... -Budgies, yeah. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
And what they actually used to do is grind up the body of it, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:47 | |
the bone itself, and put it into toothpaste | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
-as an abrasive to clean your teeth. -Incredible! | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
There you go, I never knew that. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:55 | |
'Dom's not the only person exploring the strand line for bounty. | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
'His friend Susie Ray is an artist | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
'who turns what she finds on the shore into works of art.' | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
-Hi, Susie, good to see you. -Hello, Adam. Hey, Dom! | 0:13:06 | 0:13:10 | |
My word, you've got a lot more in your buckets than I've got in mine! | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
Oh, there's just tons of stuff out there today. The storms are amazing. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
-Do you want to hold that bucket? -That's a big cuttlefish there! | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
-Yeah! -And whelk eggs. -Whelk eggs?! Incredible! | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
Yeah, they look man-made. Some people think they are. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
They look a lot like bubble wrap, packaging, so that's what | 0:13:25 | 0:13:29 | |
a lot of people assume that they are and they'll put them in the bin. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
This one is some hornwrack. This is really great stuff. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
We do some fantastic art stuff with that. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
-That's beautiful, isn't it? -That's really amazing. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
I've got here a couple of sea beans. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
That comes from tropical America or the West Indies. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
And it comes on the Gulf Stream, via the North Atlantic Drift, | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
and what's amazing is that they can float for up to 19 years. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:56 | |
-Goodness me! -Amazing. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
-Shall we take this back to your studio? -Absolutely. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
Can't wait to show you what to do with them. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:02 | |
You've got to go back surfing. Surf's up! | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
Have you got everything you need? Oh, there we go. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
-Dropped a few bits. -OK, thank you. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
'Susie's home and studio are within shouting distance | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
'of the strand line.' | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
-Oh, hang on. -Got a little friend! | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
'She grew up on the south Cornish coast, where | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
'she first developed her love of beachcombing and the natural world. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
'Now, her home's filled with treasures from the beach. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
'She's going to show me how to use a 19th-century Japanese | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
'printing technique to transform flotsam into works of art.' | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
Just be bold. Mix up lots of paints. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
More blue than black, I'd say. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
-Just get it on. -Give it that nice tinge. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
And it always comes out differently, every one you do. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
So just get your scallop shell and cover it in paint. That's it. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
Just get it in there. OK, that's really good. Nearly there. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
-Is that enough paint on that? -Yeah. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
Lift that up and put that onto this sheet here, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
so you don't have the edges. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
-That's it. -Like that, is that OK? -Yes. Keep one hand on it. -Yeah... | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
And then just smooth it down with your fingers. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
That's it. That's it. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
Working right to the edge. Always keep that hand on if you can. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
-You don't want creases. -No. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
It's the edges you need. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
Yeah. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:28 | |
OK, now... That's it. Just do... | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
-The big reveal? -The big reveal. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
-Look at that. -Oh, yes! That's not bad. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
That's not bad, especially for a first attempt. That's brilliant. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
Getting a bit... | 0:15:40 | 0:15:41 | |
'So, while I perfect the technique | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
'using more of our morning's finds...' | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
I'm quite enjoying this. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
'..Susie's showing me what an expert can achieve on a whole John Dory.' | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
Right, I think we can have a go at pulling back the sheet and see. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
OK. It's exciting! | 0:15:56 | 0:15:57 | |
Oh, no pressure(!) | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
-Right, are we ready? -Yeah. -OK. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
-And there we go. -That is wonderful! | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
Well, here we are. This is a result of my day at the seaside. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
Actually, I'm quite pleased with those. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
Not bad for an old farm boy. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:21 | |
Could end up in my bathroom. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
'The objects used in Susie's art | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
'have been on an extraordinary journey, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
'from distant continents and from the seabed. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
'It's all thanks to the winter storms that leave them | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
'like gifts on our shores.' | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
At the summit of the Cairngorm mountain range, | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
temperatures drop well below freezing for much of the winter. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
Even in the valleys, it's so cold, huge lochs freeze over. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
The River Spey carves its way through this landscape, | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
carrying with it icy waters from the mountains on either sides. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
It creates marshland which eventually open up into Loch Insh. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
That's where I'm heading right now, on a canoe safari. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
'My guides are canoeist Graeme Shilland | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
'and Highland Council Ranger Duncan MacDonald, who assures me that, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
'for some of Mother Nature's hardy children, | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
'these chilly waters are home sweet home.' | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
It's such an epic landscape! | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
-Look, the sun's on the Monagh Lea. -Wow! | 0:17:28 | 0:17:33 | |
-Fabulous. -This is glorious! | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
Isn't this something? | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
Surrounded by trees and mountains. Welcome to Loch Insh. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:41 | |
It's beautiful. No wonder this is good for wildlife here. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
It's fabulous. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
There's trees, there's marshland, tons of fresh water. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:48 | |
This great swelling of the loch provides quite a lot | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
of sheltered water for all kinds and all manners of wildlife. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:58 | |
From ducks and geese in the winter time, | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
and through the breeding season as well. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
-There's so much life still here. -There is! | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
And beneath us, as well. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
Loch Insh is famous, I suppose, for its Arctic char, which is | 0:18:07 | 0:18:12 | |
this trout-like fish that is a remnant of the last great | 0:18:12 | 0:18:17 | |
Ice Age, when populations in Britain | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
were then cut off as the ice retreated. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
They love these really cold, dark waters. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
What do you get, in terms of winter birds? | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
We're getting Whooper Swans in from Iceland. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
But here, in the depths of winter, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
what we're waiting for is this loch to freeze solid. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
-Wow. -That happens every year. -Really? | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
So, even though the river's flowing through here, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
this water here will freeze completely solid. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
I'm feeling fairly chilly after being out on the loch, | 0:18:51 | 0:18:55 | |
but clearly wildlife still thrives, even in this harsh Cairngorm winter. | 0:18:55 | 0:19:00 | |
But, if I want to get up close to some of the animals that make | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
these freezing waters their home, | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
I'm going to need to downsize to a lochan or pond, | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
where I'm hoping to catch some winter wildlife. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
'I'm with Dr Patrick Walsh from the University of Edinburgh.' | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
This is an odd time of year to be pond dipping, isn't it? | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
A little bit, a little bit. It depends on what you're looking for. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
I guess it's what surprises people, that even though it's | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
the bleak midwinter, there is quite a lot of life under the water? | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
Yeah, there will be. It depends on the area, obviously. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
But we'll see if we can find some here. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
'We're hunting for creatures living in the muddy waters. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
'Patrick's been researching how some tadpoles are able to delay | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
'growing legs and turning into frogs in the summer. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
'Instead, they prefer to spend the winter as tadpoles.' | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
So, tadpoles from the same generation, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
one might become an adult and one might... | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
Not decide, but will become an overwintering tadpole? | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
Exactly. It'll be from the same pond in the same area. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
Some of them will carry through development whereas some of them | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
within the same pond will stop the development more or less | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
-as soon as they become free-swimming and hatching out of their eggs. -Wow. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
And then stay at that stage, getting bigger and bigger and bigger | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
and then going through their metamorphosis, | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
the development, in the following spring. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
So your research aims to answer that question - | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
-why some do, why some don't? -We're still trying to figure that out. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
They're actually halting their development | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
so it seems to be a strategy or a plan to get through | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
the winter as a larva rather than going through metamorphosis | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
and coming out as a juvenile. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
Yeah, I've got some life. I've got some, something's... | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
What have we got there? Some nymph of some sort. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
Yeah, it's a larval stage of...probably a dragonfly. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:54 | |
'And Patrick has another interesting find. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
'He caught this overwintering newt tadpole called an eft | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
'a couple of days ago.' | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
They have a breeding season that lasts | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
basically from about April through till August. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
So there's eggs being deposited all through the year | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
and some of those ones laid in August don't obviously hatch | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
and develop before the winter so it's a little bit more common | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
to see these guys, but still unexpected. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
You don't often think to see something that people refer to | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
as being cold-blooded surviving through the winter. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
Absolutely, you don't expect nearly so much life | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
through such a cold month. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:31 | |
'This newt and the other insects we found prove that | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
'even in the depths of winter, life goes on in these icy waters.' | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
While some of our smallest wildlife can cope | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
in Britain's coldest place, what about us humans? | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
Most of us retreat indoors, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
but one man positively embraces the challenges this season brings. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
Chris Townsend has taken the term "going for a walk" | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
to its absolute extreme. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
At 64, he's spent his life taking long-distance walks | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
through the planet's most wild, remote and beautiful places. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:16 | |
Like the 2,700-mile Pacific Crest Trail. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
But he always comes back here to the Cairngorms. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:23 | |
The Cairngorms are as magnificent as any place that I've been. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
Winter's my favourite season in the Cairngorms | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
because under snow, the mountains are more majestic, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:38 | |
they're wilder and they're more unspoiled | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
because all the signs that you get in summer - | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
cairns, paths and so on - have all disappeared | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
so it's like the mountains are brand new again. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
Even in the most severe of winters, there are thaws in the Cairngorms. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
This year's been unseasonably warm. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:59 | |
Well, today, it's very windy. Very windy indeed. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:04 | |
Which isn't unusual for the Cairngorms in winter, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
but it's also surprisingly mild. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
I'm getting a reading of nine degrees, but I'll see... | 0:23:10 | 0:23:15 | |
..what the wind speed is. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
WIND WHISTLES Whoo! | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
Yeah, that's up to 30mph now. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
30 is the speed at which you notice the wind when walking. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:31 | |
Chris's first long-distance walk was from Land's End to John O'Groats. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:38 | |
He doesn't count the Pennine Way, a mere 267 miles(!) | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
It took him ten weeks to walk from one end of the country to the other. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:47 | |
I felt really pleased because it was the first long-distance walk | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
and I completed it, so that was obviously good, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
but I also felt disappointed because it had ended. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
If there'd been another thousand miles, I'd have felt quite happy, | 0:23:57 | 0:24:01 | |
but when you stand at John O'Groats and look out at the ocean, you know | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
there really isn't anywhere else to go. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:06 | |
'I think the longest winter trip I've done in the Cairngorms | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
'is a week, but you could stay out longer than that. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
'The physical challenge is simply, you know, | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
'you've got to be fairly fit. I don't find any mental challenges. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:25 | |
'When I'm out here, you know, I feel at home, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
'I feel I'm in the right place. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
'Mental challenges are in cities and driving and things like this. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
'They're much tougher than being out here.' | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
This is a wonderful area for wildlife. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
I've just seen what is probably the largest flock of ptarmigan | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
that I've ever seen in the Cairngorms. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
This time of year, of course, they're white | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
so they're camouflaged against the snow. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
Even in winter, Chris enjoys sleeping outdoors, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
so he has to find somewhere relatively dry, | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
flat and near water to pitch what he calls a tent. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
It looks more like a tarpaulin to me! | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
I now have shelter. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
I know some people like being... They feel safest camping | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
when they're enclosed, but I prefer not to be. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
Even tents with zip doors, I only do up the door if absolutely essential, | 0:25:18 | 0:25:24 | |
cos I want to feel part of the outside. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
RAIN PATTERS | 0:25:31 | 0:25:32 | |
1:15 and I've just been woken up by really big gusts of wind | 0:25:32 | 0:25:39 | |
shaking the shelter. It's also lashing down with rain. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:44 | |
I hope that this will, er, calm down a little soon, | 0:25:44 | 0:25:50 | |
and I can go back to sleep. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
He might be outdoors in the middle of winter, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
but some things don't change. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
Chris still goes to the effort of making coffee to warm him up | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
and fuel his onward journey. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
Then it's time to load house and home on his back | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
and head out into the wild country once again. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
I'd say to people, even if they're only going to take a short stroll | 0:26:13 | 0:26:17 | |
away from the road into a natural forest, do that. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:22 | |
It really is different when you're out there. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
Some of us aren't as roughty-toughty as Chris. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
Even through all those extra layers, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
we feel it more than any other season. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
I've been getting to the bare bones of what makes our winters | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
the way they are, from the cold snaps to the wash-outs | 0:26:48 | 0:26:52 | |
with meteorological maestro, John Hammond, | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
who's a mine of information when it comes to wintry wisdom. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:58 | |
-I've brought this to warm you up. -Thank you very much. -A jacket potato. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:03 | |
-A hot jacket potato? -Yeah. I'll explain that in a moment. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
Any other surprises up your sleeve? | 0:27:06 | 0:27:08 | |
Well, I have, as a matter of fact, yeah, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
because some people don't realise that the temperature | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
actually falls all the way through the night | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
so that the coldest time of the night is actually after dawn. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
In the middle of winter, | 0:27:18 | 0:27:19 | |
that means eight or nine o'clock in the morning. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
Just at the time when people are getting out of bed, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
-having a shower, getting naked. -Yeah, I know! | 0:27:23 | 0:27:26 | |
It's coldest in the morning. A few other things. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
For example, you might think the lowest temperatures | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
during the course of the year is at the winter solstice. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
The longest night, the shortest day. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
That's not the case because there's a lag. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
It gets colder and colder and colder through the winter, | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
so the coldest months are actually January, February, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
sometimes even March. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
-THAT'S when you should go on holiday. -Yeah. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:47 | |
-Why have I got a potato in my hand? -A-ha, I'm glad you asked me that | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
because a potato is a little bit like the Earth, if you like. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
The surface of the Earth might start off very warm. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
During the autumn, though, it cools down, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
in the winter, it gets colder and colder and colder. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
But, with my knife, if I cut... | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
-Such a Boy Scout! -Well, be prepared and all that. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
If I cut through the surface of the potato, underneath... | 0:28:06 | 0:28:11 | |
-It's still warm. -It's still warm, there's steam coming out | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
and that's just what happens, really, in the winter time | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
with the Earth. The ground surface gets colder and colder | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
and colder, but underneath, you only have to go | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
a few centimetres and it's several degrees warmer. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
Farmers use this to their advantage. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
They plant the crops and during the course of the winter, | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
although the surface is frosty and snowy, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
underneath, we retain the warmth and plants continue to grow. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:36 | |
You know what? You're a magician. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
A potato, a knife, and you've explained the winter to me. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
-Hey presto, it's magic. -Can we go home now? -Yes, come on. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
While Julia heads inside for a cup of tea | 0:28:47 | 0:28:50 | |
and a now-lukewarm jacket potato, | 0:28:50 | 0:28:52 | |
I'm heading out for the winter vegetable harvest. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:55 | |
Across Britain, our hardiest vegetables stubbornly | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
stand their ground against the worst | 0:29:02 | 0:29:04 | |
that our winter weather can throw at them. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:07 | |
Thick-skinned celeriacs... | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
bulletproof Brussels... | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
cast-iron caulis. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
These tough nuts of the vegetable world know how | 0:29:22 | 0:29:24 | |
to look after themselves, | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
and they keep Britain's larder well-stocked till spring. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:30 | |
Perfect for coping with the cold are the root vegetables, | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
like carrots... | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
and swede. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
Underground, the heat of the sun lingers longer than on top, | 0:29:41 | 0:29:45 | |
while the soil provides protection against frost. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:49 | |
On the Suffolk coast, Ian Hall grows both carrots and parsnips. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:53 | |
As one is hardier than the other, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
they need farming slightly differently. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:58 | |
This variety is Eskimo, | 0:29:58 | 0:30:01 | |
and we grow them, | 0:30:01 | 0:30:02 | |
just, really, this time of year. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
Right, OK, and as the name suggests, then, | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
it's good for the winter, Eskimo? | 0:30:07 | 0:30:09 | |
Yeah, it's got a little bit more frost tolerance | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
than traditional varieties. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:12 | |
How cold can they go? | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
-Up to about minus seven. -OK. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
If you get any colder than that, for any prolonged period, | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
that splits down the carrot. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
How does that compare to parsnips? | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
Well, we've had temperatures round here down here down to minus 20. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:28 | |
Parsnip's been fine in the ground. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
It just sits there, lays dormant, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
and when the temperature warms up, it seems to be fine. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:36 | |
So, these Sunday roast staples | 0:30:38 | 0:30:39 | |
can both withstand sub-zero temperatures. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
But the carrot needs a little more mollycoddling | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
when winter really bites. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
So, Ian snuggles them up under a duvet of straw and plastic. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
Look under there, you'll see, these have been strawed about three weeks. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:57 | |
And once we get to midwinter, we can experience | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
temperatures of minus ten, minus 15, | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
-so the straw will keep that frost out. -I see, yeah. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
You're not stingy, are you, with the amount of straw you put on? | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
We put about 20 tonne an acre of straw on, which can, | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
will keep out up to minus 20 frost. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
Looks quite cosy under there, doesn't it? | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
Just get under there, hunker down under the straw! | 0:31:19 | 0:31:23 | |
But it's not just farmed winter veg | 0:31:27 | 0:31:29 | |
that can tolerate the season's harsh conditions. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
There's life in the wilds of our countryside, too. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:36 | |
Paul Foster's a chef who collects wild produce on the Suffolk coast. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:41 | |
For him, winter supplies a unique range of flavours. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
And he finds plenty of hardy morsels. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
So, this is sea purslane, one of my favourite sea vegetables. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
It grows where you'll find samphire, in marshes. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
It's got a lovely, salty flavour. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
In the winter, it's quite sparse pickings | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
but if you look hard enough, you'll find some lovely stuff. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
This is the Alexander seed. As you can see, it comes | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
when the Alexander turns to what's called a skeleton. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
When it's in its second year, it has these lovely, black seeds. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
I was surprised to see it after the floods they've had here, | 0:32:19 | 0:32:22 | |
so it's a real good find, to get this. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:25 | |
-Paul, was it a successful forage? -Yeah, it was a brilliant forage. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
-We found loads of stuff. -What have you got, then? | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
I've got some young Alexander seeds, which are really nice and delicate. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:40 | |
The seeds which come up in the second year, and I've got | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
-some sea purslane from the marshes as well. -Oh, OK. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:45 | |
And are all these kind of enhancers for a dish | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
or would you use any of them as a main? | 0:32:48 | 0:32:50 | |
The Alexander's great as its own ingredient in its own right. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:54 | |
The Alexander seed I use as a spice, | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
it's great with chocolate. | 0:32:57 | 0:32:58 | |
And the sea purslane, it's great in a salad, raw, when it's young, | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
or blanched with fish, it's perfect. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
Ooh, that sounds good. And what are your thoughts on carrots? | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
I've got some beautiful carrots here, | 0:33:07 | 0:33:08 | |
-pretty much fresh out the ground. -I love carrots. Really versatile. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:11 | |
Great ingredient, you can do them from starter to dessert, | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
and I should be able to cook something really nice for you today. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
Yeah? Good! Right, well, listen, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
I think you're going to cook something up | 0:33:18 | 0:33:20 | |
for what is going to be a very special performance, | 0:33:20 | 0:33:23 | |
because I've heard, and this is remarkable, | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
you can do a phenomenal thing with the carrot, | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
and, quite frankly, I can't wait to have a go. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:30 | |
So, I tell you what, I'll leave those with you | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
and see you in a little while. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
OK, thank you. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:36 | |
It's not exactly a carrot concerto, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
but I'll just say we do have an orchestra and we do have carrots. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:43 | |
Find out what on earth I'm on about later. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:46 | |
From the farmlands of Suffolk's east coast to the Highlands of Scotland. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:55 | |
Here, the terrain is unforgiving. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
While most things struggle to cope and adapt to winter, | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
there's one breed of cattle | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
that's able to thrive in these harsh conditions. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
The Highland. | 0:34:07 | 0:34:08 | |
The herd I've come to see are particularly special. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
They're the Queen's own cattle that live on her Scottish estate, | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
Balmoral Castle. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:20 | |
For me, this is a perfect, picture-postcard scene, | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
with these fantastic Highland cattle, set below the Scottish mountains. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:30 | |
It's a warm, sunny winter's day today. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
The weather up here can get incredibly harsh and I've come | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
to find out how on earth these cattle can manage up here. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
In 1953, the Queen introduced a small herd here. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:45 | |
And today, they've grown to be one of the best in the UK. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:48 | |
Stockman Dockie Ormanston looks after the royal herd. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
There's not much he doesn't know about farming this ancient breed. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
Dockie, he's looking lovely. Thanks for bringing him out. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:02 | |
-How old's this one? -He's just about 20 months, 22 months. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
-He's well grown, isn't he? -He seems to have done very well. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
-We're very pleased with him at the moment. -Lovely. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
And does the Queen come out and look at them much? | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
Well, we're in the fields in front of the castle, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
so they see them all the time when they go past. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:18 | |
And I know she adores her Highland ponies. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:20 | |
Does she have the same empathy for Highlands? | 0:35:20 | 0:35:22 | |
I'm not very sure about that! | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
ADAM LAUGHS | 0:35:24 | 0:35:25 | |
-They certainly like to eat them, anyway! -Ha-ha! | 0:35:25 | 0:35:28 | |
I see you've still got a bit of snow on the tops. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
Well, if you were here a day ago, | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
we had about an inch of snow down here. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
So, you're just a day late. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:35:36 | 0:35:37 | |
Conditions in the Scottish Highlands can be pretty severe. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
Temperatures can fall below minus 20, with snow often a metre deep. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:47 | |
But these Highlands are born survivors. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
These animals have got incredible coats. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
You can see this long hair on the surface, | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
and the sleet and rain and snow will just run off that. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:59 | |
And then underneath is this downy fluff, like a duvet, wonderful | 0:35:59 | 0:36:03 | |
for insulating all that warmth that's coming off the bull's body. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:07 | |
-So, tell me what the front bit, this fringe, is called. -The Dossan. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:11 | |
The Dossan. I'm always pronouncing it wrong. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
That's to keep the snow out his eyes. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
ADAM LAUGHS | 0:36:15 | 0:36:17 | |
And the hair is all over him. It goes right inside his ears. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:21 | |
And then right down his legs to the tips of his toes. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:25 | |
Just a great, big bundle of hair, | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
keeping him incredibly warm. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
So, come minus 15, minus 20 degrees, chucking it down with snow, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:35 | |
they'll just stand out there, solid, happy as anything. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:39 | |
This bull is part of a 60-strong herd and, at the moment, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
they're making the most of the mild weather, grazing on pasture. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:48 | |
I've got five Highlands at home but it's lovely to see such a big herd. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:54 | |
They look magnificent. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
Normally, we'd have them down on rougher ground, | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
or up on the banks, let them forage for themselves. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
If the snow does get deep and stuff like that, they can forage, | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
pick with their feet, their horns, just rake the snow away. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
-They seem to be quite versatile at doing most things. -Real survivors. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:10 | |
They are. They are. Yeah. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
And we calf them in February time. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
-So they can be calving out in pretty cold conditions? -No bother at all. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
When the calves are born, they're all fluffy and hairy, aren't they? | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
Just like teddy bears. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
Dockie supplements their feed with silage, a pickled grass. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
He's enjoying making a mess of that! | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
As long as it's the silage bale, not me, it's fine! | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
ADAM LAUGHS | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
Well, it's been a real treat for me to come up to Scotland | 0:37:39 | 0:37:41 | |
and see them in their homeland. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
With their amazing coats, they do look absolutely wonderful. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:47 | |
Although, today, it's like Cornwall. I don't know what the fuss is about. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:50 | |
I thought you Scots were supposed to be tough! | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
What can... What can we say? | 0:37:53 | 0:37:55 | |
We just laid on this, just for you! | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
It'll snow tomorrow! | 0:38:00 | 0:38:01 | |
Andy Goldsworthy is one of the UK's foremost environmental artists. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:23 | |
He works all over the world, in wood and stone and ice. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:28 | |
But, when winter comes, he returns to his Scottish home. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
Well, I like to spend most of December, January | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
and February in Dumfriesshire, because when we do get snow | 0:38:44 | 0:38:49 | |
and ice, I like to be here for that. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
Whilst there is this expectation or this idea | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
that winter equates with snow and ice, it's not always the case. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:01 | |
Especially in Britain. This is a very mild climate. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
But when it does get cold, | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
there's that intensity about that weather condition, | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
the fact that it's not going to be there for that long | 0:39:10 | 0:39:13 | |
when it's sub-zero temperatures, | 0:39:13 | 0:39:15 | |
and it does provoke an intense response from me as an artist. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:18 | |
It's a very creative time to work with | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
and it does allow me to do things that I couldn't do normally. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:26 | |
I've worked in this place many times. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
I'm kind of attracted to the wall, the now-derelict wall. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:41 | |
And with there being a gap, there's this space to fill. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
So, it's asking to be filled. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
This one was with branches. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:50 | |
I've gapped this section with ice, three times now. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
The first one, I laid it horizontally. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
The second time I placed it vertically. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
And then the last one was actually kind of an explosion of ice | 0:40:08 | 0:40:10 | |
that just kind of radiated from the centre. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
When you get sunlight on it, it's just an amazing place. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:21 | |
And you can see now how the light | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
is just kind of animating these branches | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
and giving them such a sense of movement and flow. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
Light is very important to this place | 0:40:30 | 0:40:34 | |
and to the works that I make here. They to respond to that. | 0:40:34 | 0:40:37 | |
These are grass stalks that are obviously getting whiter, | 0:40:57 | 0:41:01 | |
now they're dead, and getting bleached. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:04 | |
And there's a strong sense of falling water and these lines | 0:41:04 | 0:41:07 | |
of the water as it's seeping through the ground and over the rocks. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:12 | |
And I'm just wanting to draw that, | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
to understand that kind of drop. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
And it's a drawing, it's drawing water, | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
just like the water is drawn through the landscape, these grass stalks | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
are drawing that movement, trying to understand that movement. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:28 | |
It's quite strong. And then when I try to separate these, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
they're almost glued together. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:42 | |
And just look at this here. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
See the water, there? It's really beautiful. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:47 | |
This is the same process | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
that creates the icicles that I work with. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
If it's cold then this is the place I come to work with the ice | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
and the icicles. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
In the early days, I harvested the icicles | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
and would make sculptures from them on top of the rocks | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
and freeze one icicle to another, | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
and when I'm doing that, | 0:42:09 | 0:42:11 | |
I will often have an icicle in my mouth that I'm sucking on, | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
and as I hold one to another, I'll spit onto the end of it | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
in a form of spit-welding that I've perfected for ice, you know? | 0:42:18 | 0:42:21 | |
And then there's that moment when you have to let go. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:24 | |
And is it going to hold? And I have had so many collapses here, | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
you can imagine, working with something like ice. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:30 | |
Winter is a very, very important and creative time for me. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:40 | |
The freedoms that sub-zero temperatures give me are enormous. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:44 | |
The cold becomes like a glue where I can stick one piece of ice to | 0:42:44 | 0:42:49 | |
another. And the colder it is, the quicker I can do it. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:51 | |
So the quicker I can make work, the more I can do, | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
so the colder it is, it actually is a fantastic thing. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
It's important for me to work with the land as a whole. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
And that means working with those things that don't last. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:08 | |
I can't just work... I don't want to work with just wood or stone. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:12 | |
And I do want to understand the flesh of nature, not just its bones. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
Some of the great things that I've done | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
have come out of fighting something, | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
to realise actually what's happening is more interesting than the thing | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
I'm trying to make, and to allow those changes to occur. | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
And that happens most acutely with winter. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
Learning to work with the British winter is one of the most | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
difficult things that I can imagine, because it is so elusive. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:39 | |
And that's its beauty. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
Andy is not alone in finding the art of winter difficult to capture. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:53 | |
It also presents challenges | 0:43:53 | 0:43:55 | |
for wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
When I'm in Scotland, three species really come to mind | 0:43:58 | 0:44:02 | |
and that's the red squirrel, the red deer and the crested tit. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
And winter is THE best time to film them, I think, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
because of one simple thing. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:11 | |
They're hungry. | 0:44:11 | 0:44:12 | |
So, a very friendly group of conservationists | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
have come to the woodland here and they've set up a feeding station. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
You've got this lovely big mesh of peanuts here, | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
which the birds are going to absolutely love, | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
and then just over behind me we have a squirrel feeding box. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:35 | |
The squirrel will come and sit on this platform here, | 0:44:35 | 0:44:38 | |
use its head to flip the lid up | 0:44:38 | 0:44:40 | |
and get to the lovely peanuts inside. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:43 | |
Well, it hasn't taken long before we've got coal tits... | 0:44:48 | 0:44:51 | |
..which are distinctive by the lovely white stripe | 0:44:54 | 0:44:56 | |
down the back of their head. | 0:44:56 | 0:44:58 | |
And they're all... Look at this! | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
Masses of long-tailed tits. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:04 | |
They've almost... They've completely taken over the feeder. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
And actually, the crested tit, the bird I was after, | 0:45:09 | 0:45:12 | |
has just snuck in whilst I wasn't looking. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
And it's over by the squirrel feeder. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:17 | |
It's gone underneath the squirrel feeder. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:19 | |
And is feeding that way | 0:45:19 | 0:45:21 | |
because the long-tails have just completely hogged the bird feeder. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:26 | |
The crested tits are a real treat. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:34 | |
They're a specialist of the Caledonian pine forests, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
and there are probably only about 1,500 breeding pairs | 0:45:37 | 0:45:41 | |
in the whole of the UK. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:43 | |
They're quite common here, in Scotland, | 0:45:43 | 0:45:46 | |
but, you know, nationally, they're incredibly scarce. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:50 | |
So, an absolute treat and a real symbol of the Scottish woods here. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:55 | |
(Here he goes!) | 0:45:59 | 0:46:01 | |
Lovely, lovely animal. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
Now, you'll notice that there's actually a bit of grey in his coat, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:20 | |
and that's not because he's halfway between a red or a grey squirrel. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
This is what happens to red squirrels in the winter time. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
They have a summer coat, which they moult out in the autumn | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
for a thicker, warmer, winter coat that has a greyish tinge to it. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:33 | |
And he's doing exactly what I'd hoped. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
He's using his head to flip up that lid | 0:46:39 | 0:46:42 | |
and reach down to grab some nuts. | 0:46:42 | 0:46:44 | |
Now, you can hear the road, you can hear cars whizzing behind me. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:49 | |
It just goes to show you. These aren't difficult animals to see. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
You could just park up, pop out | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
and see this very, very easily for yourself. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
Red squirrels and crested tits, tick. Two down, one to go. | 0:47:07 | 0:47:12 | |
The red deer. And I have a plan. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
I've had a tip that just 15 minutes away on a grouse estate, | 0:47:20 | 0:47:23 | |
I'm guaranteed great shots. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
How's about that for a truly Scottish winter scene? | 0:47:30 | 0:47:35 | |
A beautiful herd of red deer stags. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
There have got to be at least 20 up there. And these are wild animals. | 0:47:38 | 0:47:42 | |
Normally I'd never be able to get this close to them. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
But there's a very good reason why I can. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
And it's all down to the keeper here. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
You can see that there's one of the stags here who has | 0:48:13 | 0:48:16 | |
a really curved antler at the top. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:18 | |
He's called Droopy, apparently. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:20 | |
And the reason that he's got the antler like that | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
is probably that it was damaged when it was growing. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
It's a very soft material as it initially comes out of the head, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:30 | |
and it probably just got a knock and it sent it in the wrong direction. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
But, of course, the stag will lose those antlers | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
and then grow a whole new set next summer. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
So it's a deformity that probably isn't going to cause him | 0:48:41 | 0:48:44 | |
a problem for long, if it's even caused him a problem at all. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
So, there you go. Three animals in one day. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:52 | |
Red squirrels, red deer and crested tits. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:55 | |
It just goes to show that winter can be a great time | 0:48:55 | 0:48:58 | |
to get out and watch wildlife. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:00 | |
We've travelled the length and breadth of Britain, | 0:49:13 | 0:49:16 | |
seeing how winter grips our land, | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
from the dramatic landscape of the Scottish Highlands, | 0:49:19 | 0:49:21 | |
to the salty, sea air of Cornwall. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:23 | |
From wildlife, | 0:49:23 | 0:49:25 | |
to wild beauty. | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
I've been in Suffolk, seeing how farmers and foragers | 0:49:27 | 0:49:30 | |
make the most of this season. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:32 | |
While chef Paul Foster's been finding | 0:49:32 | 0:49:34 | |
the ingredients for an alfresco feast, | 0:49:34 | 0:49:36 | |
I've been out in the fields, | 0:49:36 | 0:49:38 | |
harvesting some of the hundreds of thousands of carrots | 0:49:38 | 0:49:41 | |
we eat each year. There were a few spare, though, | 0:49:41 | 0:49:44 | |
so time for a seasonal musical interlude. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:46 | |
MUSICAL WHISTLE | 0:49:46 | 0:49:49 | |
On carrot, Tim Cranmore... | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
..and Clare Graham. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:01 | |
TRUMPETTING BLAST | 0:50:01 | 0:50:03 | |
Soloing on the butternut squash, it's Zebedee Tonkin. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:08 | |
THEY PLAY "COUNTRYFILE" THEME | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
These professional musicians | 0:50:15 | 0:50:17 | |
have taken the idea of five-a-day to a whole new level. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:20 | |
They've formed The London Vegetable Orchestra | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
and I'm going to be making up the quartet, with my Eskimo carrot. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:27 | |
FANFARE CONCLUSION | 0:50:27 | 0:50:29 | |
How tremendous! The Countryfile theme tune! | 0:50:29 | 0:50:32 | |
How wonderful to see you all! I have to ask the obvious question | 0:50:32 | 0:50:35 | |
of why? Why, how and when did this all start? | 0:50:35 | 0:50:40 | |
I think "why"... The question's really "why not?" | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
You know, kids are told not to play with their food, so we're trying to | 0:50:43 | 0:50:47 | |
change things up a little bit. | 0:50:47 | 0:50:49 | |
Playing with your food can mean more than just throwing it around. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:52 | |
So we've decided to make some instruments out of it. | 0:50:52 | 0:50:54 | |
Yours is half-carrot, half-butternut squash? | 0:50:54 | 0:50:57 | |
Yes, a mix and match. We have a mouthpiece, | 0:50:57 | 0:50:59 | |
which is pretty much the same as a brass instrument mouthpiece. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
We stick that on the end of this, which acts in the same way | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
as a trumpet would to a mouthpiece - amplifies the sound. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:09 | |
And when you go shopping, do you shop in a different way now? | 0:51:09 | 0:51:13 | |
Very much so! I've got some... I've built up some really good | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
relationships with our local greengrocer. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
When I walk in, they know exactly what to expect now. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
-And what you're after? -Exactly. They know that I'll walk out | 0:51:21 | 0:51:25 | |
with a lot of vegetables and probably not eat most of them. | 0:51:25 | 0:51:27 | |
Brilliant! | 0:51:30 | 0:51:31 | |
Tim Cranmore's a professional recorder maker. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:37 | |
He'll help me fashion my carrot, to join this vegetable medley. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:41 | |
Right, then, Tim. So, I have the drill, obviously. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
I'm going to now bore a hole through the middle of the carrot? | 0:51:44 | 0:51:47 | |
That's right. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:48 | |
Brilliant. OK, clear out the coleslaw. | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
-Yeah! It's a good way of making coleslaw! -It is, yeah. | 0:51:54 | 0:51:58 | |
-So, then up through the bottom? -That's right. | 0:51:58 | 0:52:01 | |
Yep! It's gone all the way through. | 0:52:03 | 0:52:05 | |
'The exact recipe for a carrot recorder | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
'is a closely-guarded secret that I've promised to keep a lid on.' | 0:52:08 | 0:52:11 | |
We've got the body of the carrot, | 0:52:13 | 0:52:15 | |
we've got the bore - the hole down the middle - and the window. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:19 | |
'As Tim puts the finishing touches to my instrument,' | 0:52:19 | 0:52:23 | |
over in his rather unconventional makeshift kitchen, | 0:52:23 | 0:52:26 | |
Paul's busy catering for an intrigued audience. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:30 | |
His braised Eskimo carrots, | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
with goat's curd and winter sea vegetables, | 0:52:42 | 0:52:44 | |
served alongside... what else but carrot juice? | 0:52:44 | 0:52:48 | |
It's all going down a treat with the locals... | 0:52:48 | 0:52:50 | |
ORCHESTRA REHEARSES | 0:52:50 | 0:52:53 | |
..but everyone's hungry to hear the vegetable entertainment, | 0:52:56 | 0:53:00 | |
with their newest member on recorder. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
Welcome, everyone. Are you all enjoying your food? | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
-Is it nice? -Yes. -It's all been foraged within a few miles of here, | 0:53:06 | 0:53:10 | |
so I hope you really are enjoying it. Anyway, can I introduce you all | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
to this afternoon's entertainment? | 0:53:13 | 0:53:15 | |
This is The London Vegetable Orchestra. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:18 | |
Tonight, there's going to be one extra vegetable - that's me - | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
and this is our rendition of Build Me Up, Butternut. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:26 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
-Are we ready? -Ready, everyone? | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
-MATT TOOTS -Sorry. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:33 | |
Ready? I'm ready now. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:35 | |
MUSIC STARTS | 0:53:35 | 0:53:37 | |
Stop laughing. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:39 | |
ALL PLAY "Build Me Up, Buttercup" | 0:53:41 | 0:53:47 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:54:14 | 0:54:15 | |
Oh, look at that! Thank you ever so much for that heartfelt applause. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:20 | |
It's been wonderful. Music has never tasted so good. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
Mmm. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:25 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:54:25 | 0:54:26 | |
We've explored the fairy-tale beauty | 0:54:32 | 0:54:34 | |
and the fight for survival in wintertime. | 0:54:34 | 0:54:37 | |
We've seen how our creatures revel in the season, | 0:54:39 | 0:54:42 | |
great and small. | 0:54:42 | 0:54:44 | |
We've seen extreme weather and extreme adventures. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:49 | |
But so often, even the toughest conditions | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
bring out the very best in our winter countryside. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 |