:00:28. > :00:33.Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward it as week officially move
:00:33. > :00:36.into the cold months. I will be finding out how one of Scotland's
:00:36. > :00:42.ski centres are gearing up for what they hope will be a successful
:00:42. > :00:47.season. But first, here is what else is coming up on the programme.
:00:47. > :00:52.We celebrate 40 years of civilian search and rescue helicopters.
:00:52. > :00:58.not feel scared doing the job because we are continually training
:00:58. > :01:02.in all weather conditions. Tackling Scotland's Bracken menace. If we
:01:02. > :01:09.lose this chemical to control bracken, we will lose a heather as
:01:09. > :01:15.well. And the countdown to Christmas with some top Turkey tips.
:01:15. > :01:22.I like to open the legs so that the heat get in from both sides. It
:01:22. > :01:27.means that the whole bird cooks at the same rate. The last two winters
:01:27. > :01:31.have been pretty tough for farmers, livestock and wildlife, but pretty
:01:31. > :01:36.good for the ski industry. This season lasted from December into
:01:36. > :01:44.the spring. I have been to the Lecht Ski Centre to help with
:01:44. > :01:50.preparations for what they hope will be another bumper season.
:01:50. > :01:58.High up in the eastern Cairngorms, tucked away in the heart of
:01:58. > :02:06.Scotland's largest national park is the Lecht ski centre. It sits on
:02:06. > :02:09.this road, which is one of the highest in the UK. It has been an
:02:09. > :02:15.unusually mild November but things in Scotland can change pretty fast
:02:15. > :02:21.and with another Arctic winter predicted, there is a lot of
:02:21. > :02:27.excitement amongst Snow's sport enthusiasts. Final preparations are
:02:27. > :02:31.under way here at the Lecht for the forthcoming season and this fresh
:02:31. > :02:36.dump of Snower is hopefully the sign of good things to come. How
:02:36. > :02:42.does it feel to see some white stuff up here? It is fantastic.
:02:42. > :02:47.Right on the same day as last year, so we are happy. What things do you
:02:47. > :02:57.need to do to prepare for the season? The lifts are all prepared.
:02:57. > :02:58.
:02:58. > :03:03.We did that only in the year. We are doing some workshops as well.
:03:03. > :03:08.We have been at it a long time. I had been up here for 35 years, so I
:03:08. > :03:13.think I know what I am doing. Last year it we got caught out because
:03:13. > :03:16.the snow arrived early and we were running about getting lifts ready.
:03:16. > :03:23.The phones were ringing and we were not ready to open and that did not
:03:23. > :03:29.go down well. You have had a couple of good seasons. How would it be to
:03:29. > :03:34.have another good one? It would be great. The machinery is getting old
:03:34. > :03:41.and we have to spend a lot of money on maintenance, so a good season
:03:41. > :03:44.would help us invest in new equipment. Any one that listens to
:03:44. > :03:54.traffic reports will know that the local road here often gets blocked.
:03:54. > :03:55.
:03:55. > :04:03.Is that a bad thing for you? He it isn't. It is good advertising. --
:04:03. > :04:08.it isn't. The upkeep of the ski centre isn't just confined to the
:04:08. > :04:14.mechanical equipment. Every year is a big investment in ski and
:04:14. > :04:20.snowboard hire and this year is no exception. How much to buy is a
:04:20. > :04:27.finally balanced decision. It is always a gamble for the conditions
:04:27. > :04:33.here. In terms of employing people, the equipment we have to buy, it is
:04:33. > :04:39.a bit of a nerve-racking time. is a similar story across all of
:04:39. > :04:45.Scotland's ski centres. A lot of hopes are pinned on another Arctic
:04:45. > :04:50.winter and many improvements had been made. Glencoe of building new
:04:50. > :05:00.accommodation. Cairngorms have installed a de-icing system. There
:05:00. > :05:02.
:05:02. > :05:06.have been improvements to chairlifts as well. Snow sports
:05:06. > :05:11.generate around �30 million a year for the Scottish economy and
:05:11. > :05:16.supports hundreds of jobs, so fingers are crossed all round for
:05:16. > :05:20.another bumper crop of snow. You do not leave me to tell you there is
:05:20. > :05:26.less than a month to go until Christmas and thought turned to
:05:26. > :05:30.that big turkey feast. Over the next four programmes, Nick is going
:05:30. > :05:36.to deconstruct the Turkey to make sure nothing is wasted in these
:05:36. > :05:40.difficult economic times. This year the Christmas budget is going to be
:05:40. > :05:44.stretched to the limit, so I am going to show you how to get the
:05:44. > :05:48.most out of your Christmas Turkey to make sure that not one scrap of
:05:48. > :05:56.it goes to waste. This week, it is my perfect Christmas Day turkey
:05:56. > :06:01.with all the trimmings. And here is how to cook it. When I am cooking
:06:01. > :06:06.my Turkey, I like to open the Lex out so the heat get in from both
:06:06. > :06:11.sides and it means that the Lex, drumsticks and thighs look at the
:06:11. > :06:17.same speed as the breast. I like to add some Christmas festive flavour
:06:17. > :06:22.by squeezing over fresh orange juice and tucking some herbs into
:06:22. > :06:27.the cavity. Next, I'm going to cover the bird in olive oil and
:06:27. > :06:35.then finally I am going to season with sea salt and ground black
:06:35. > :06:45.pepper. I'm going to cut this in a fan oven set at 180 degrees
:06:45. > :06:48.
:06:48. > :06:51.centigrade. I'm going to allow 25 minutes for each kilo. Now, for the
:06:51. > :06:58.perfect roast potatoes. Normally, when you are cooking potatoes you
:06:58. > :07:05.want to call them on a low temperature of, but for roast
:07:05. > :07:09.potatoes, you want to bore them as hard as you can. By doing so, what
:07:09. > :07:17.we get this crust on the outside and just by shaking them around, it
:07:17. > :07:26.you get more of that starchy potato on the outside. Be careful you do
:07:26. > :07:33.not spit the oil over yourself. Make sure they are completely
:07:33. > :07:39.coated in the oil. These are going to go into a hot oven, 220 degrees
:07:40. > :07:44.centigrade for about 35 minutes. Now, for the parsnips. They are at
:07:44. > :07:49.their very best at this time of year. I am going to cut these into
:07:49. > :07:54.quarters. You will need a heavy knife. First of all down in two
:07:54. > :08:00.halves and then each half through the centre and into quarters. I
:08:00. > :08:10.like to remove the would be part of the parsnips. I take the knife and
:08:10. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:20.cut down like so. And that is them ready for the oven. Traditional
:08:20. > :08:26.wisdom would have it that you stuff the cavity of the turkey with
:08:26. > :08:30.stuffing, but I find you end up with undercooked Grace Stopping. I
:08:30. > :08:36.like Mike stuffing crispy and this is just a good-quality sausage meat
:08:36. > :08:43.with some herbs. I'm going to roll it up into little balls and cook
:08:43. > :08:48.them in a hot frying pan with a little bit of olive-oil until they
:08:48. > :08:55.start to colour. I will finish the cooking in the oven. Call them for
:08:55. > :09:05.about 15 minutes and you can take them out and let them call down and
:09:05. > :09:08.
:09:08. > :09:18.reheat them when you are ready to serve. So, the moment of truth. A
:09:18. > :09:25.
:09:25. > :09:31.beautifully roasted nice and moist Turkey. There we habit - My Perfect
:09:31. > :09:36.roast Christmas dinner. If you want the recipes, they are on the
:09:36. > :09:43.Landward webpage. Next week, I will show you how to make a perfect
:09:43. > :09:50.stock and what to do with the leftovers. Still to come, we are in
:09:50. > :09:56.Doncaster where Eric Gilly's team of top horse transporters. They are
:09:56. > :10:01.fantastic. They will do whatever you want. And the elite helicopter
:10:01. > :10:11.crew saving lives around our coast. The adrenalin kicks in and away you
:10:11. > :10:14.
:10:14. > :10:24.go. At the end of this year, at the European Union's ban on asulam,
:10:24. > :10:25.
:10:25. > :10:31.used to control bracken, comes into force.
:10:31. > :10:36.Bracken is a common sight across the countryside. Its roots are
:10:36. > :10:45.toxic, it is a haven for ticks and despite the best efforts of land
:10:45. > :10:50.managers, it has proved almost impossible to eradicate. It has
:10:50. > :10:56.been around for 50 million years, it is native to Scotland and it is
:10:56. > :11:01.aggressive. Whenever it encroaches, it almost always damages it. It
:11:01. > :11:07.spreads at something like 2% a year in Scotland, so you can imagine how
:11:07. > :11:12.quickly it can get out of hand. main method of controlling bracken
:11:12. > :11:15.is by spring in with the chemical asulam, but a recent European Union
:11:15. > :11:19.ban that comes into force that they ended the year means this will no
:11:19. > :11:26.longer be an option. The ban has been put in place because they is
:11:26. > :11:29.not enough current research data on the environmental impact of the
:11:30. > :11:35.chemical. For farmers with a lot of bracken on their land, the loss of
:11:35. > :11:45.the main method of control is a major problem. There are
:11:45. > :11:48.implications do this. Yacht dense bracken is ineligible. Any areas
:11:48. > :11:57.where you have heavy Bracken infestation, you cannot clear it.
:11:57. > :12:07.That is a big issue. In Argyll where there are substantial Bracken
:12:07. > :12:07.
:12:07. > :12:12.fields, it can reduce income so for farmers. Bracken is also a serious
:12:12. > :12:17.problem on sporting estates where it can take over valuable habitat.
:12:17. > :12:27.If we lose this chemical to control bracken, we will lose a heather as
:12:27. > :12:28.
:12:28. > :12:33.well. It is also a hotbed for kicks. It is on the increase and if we
:12:33. > :12:43.lose it, it will be a serious loss to industry. The alternative is to
:12:43. > :12:45.
:12:45. > :12:50.cut it, which is dangerous. You could spray around it, but you
:12:50. > :12:58.could claw other plants. As early as the 1940s, the Scottish
:12:58. > :13:08.Agricultural college was studying ways of have to control bracken.
:13:08. > :13:13.You can cut it by hand, which is laborious. You could roll it, which
:13:13. > :13:17.reduces the vigour of the plant and does not kill it immediately.
:13:17. > :13:27.of the more of fashion ways of controlling bracken is using a
:13:27. > :13:32.horse drawn Brasher, and method still practised by this company.
:13:32. > :13:38.Basically, there is a horse pulling a roller. As it rolls over it, it
:13:38. > :13:44.breaks into the outer shell of the bracken, like this. The roots
:13:44. > :13:48.continue to try and feed out and they kill themselves off. But it
:13:48. > :13:53.needs to be a to certain height before it is successful, so it
:13:53. > :13:59.depends on the land and the height of the bracken. They say if you
:13:59. > :14:05.roll it twice a year and you run it to you successfully, you may get a-
:14:05. > :14:15.10 years of broken up coming back. With this new band coming into the
:14:15. > :14:32.
:14:32. > :14:36.force at the end of the year, how We have tried mechanical means
:14:36. > :14:42.editors not Wordwell. At the moment, we don't think we have got a decent
:14:42. > :14:44.tool to keep on top of it. -- and it has not worked well. Farmers,
:14:44. > :14:48.land managers and the Scottish government are united in their
:14:48. > :14:51.support of the use of Asulam, but unless the EU ban can be overturned,
:14:51. > :15:00.there seem to be few options left to prevent the bracken menace from
:15:00. > :15:04.If you have a comment about anything you see on the programme,
:15:04. > :15:07.or have a wonderful story to share with us, please drop us an e-mail.
:15:07. > :15:10.Now, the weather here in Turnberry - wet, windy, not the best. What
:15:10. > :15:20.about the prospects for this weekend and beyond? To find out,
:15:20. > :15:27.
:15:27. > :15:31.here's the Landward weather This weekend's weather looks
:15:31. > :15:41.decidedly wintry. Let's start by looking under pressure charge. This
:15:41. > :15:44.area of low pressure shows as the source region for the air. Strong
:15:44. > :15:49.to gale-force winds across the whole of the country tomorrow. A
:15:49. > :15:54.cold day. The further east you are, drier and brighter with some
:15:54. > :15:58.sunshine on the coast. By mid- afternoon, temperatures around
:15:58. > :16:04.seven degrees for many, but add on the wind and it feels closer to
:16:04. > :16:09.freezing. Showers in the West turning wintry. The further east
:16:09. > :16:14.you are, dry and brighter. Be showers continued to go up the West
:16:14. > :16:19.coast. If you are out and about hill-walking or climbing, the wind
:16:19. > :16:27.will be the main feature, coming from or westerly direction. It
:16:27. > :16:32.August at times up to 95 in the Munrow region. Slightly drier the
:16:32. > :16:36.further east you are, but called and freezing across all the hills
:16:36. > :16:45.and summits. If you're on the inshore waters across the South
:16:45. > :16:54.West, you can expect 4624-80 westerly winds. -- force six, to
:16:54. > :16:58.force eight. For the second half of Saturday, into Saturday evening,
:16:58. > :17:08.showers continued up the West coast. The further east you are, dry and
:17:08. > :17:12.clear skies. It will be called, down to freezing or lower,
:17:12. > :17:16.particularly the further north you are. The isobars are still coming
:17:16. > :17:21.down from the north-west with more cold air for the second half of the
:17:21. > :17:29.weekend. The wins less strong but there will still be feeling cold. -
:17:29. > :17:33.- winds. The further east you are, drier and brighter conditions. It
:17:33. > :17:38.is on Sunday that we have an early- warning in force from the Met
:17:38. > :17:42.Office. It is for snow because we will see accumulations down towards
:17:42. > :17:47.the lower levels. The areas affected as we go into Monday will
:17:47. > :17:51.include Argyll, the Highlands, Stirling and into Strathclyde.
:17:51. > :17:57.Accumulations up to three centimetres even to lower levels.
:17:57. > :18:02.In the high ground, up to 10 centimetres. Into Tuesday, we have
:18:02. > :18:09.this little bridge-building which will help to try things out. --
:18:09. > :18:13.readership. Dry and brighter with some sunshine starting to pick up
:18:13. > :18:18.the further east you are. On Wednesday, a wet day. You can see
:18:19. > :18:28.the rain making its way in. Across the north-east, drier and brighter
:18:28. > :18:30.Over the past couple of weeks, we've been following the working
:18:30. > :18:35.lives of the Gillie family, Scotland's premier horse
:18:35. > :18:45.transporters. This week, we're following them touting for business
:18:45. > :18:55.
:18:55. > :18:57.Eric Gillie Ltd is Scotland's premier horse transport firm.
:18:58. > :19:04.Serving the equestrian public for nearly 40 years, the Gillie family
:19:04. > :19:06.pick up and deliver horses anywhere across the UK. This week, the team
:19:06. > :19:15.are at the Doncaster bloodstock sales, where over 500 racehorses
:19:15. > :19:19.will go under the hammer. Finding out who is at the sale is all part
:19:19. > :19:25.of the job, and Linda takes to the floor to search for potential
:19:25. > :19:28.clients. I'm going to make myself known to the clients that are here,
:19:28. > :19:34.and just let them know that we are here and we've got boxes coming in,
:19:34. > :19:40.ready to travel the horses north of the border. Lucinda Russell is one
:19:40. > :19:49.of the regular buyers at the Doncaster sales. Good to see you.
:19:49. > :19:53.Excellent. Are you interested in anything? Yes, we've got two or
:19:53. > :19:56.three that we're looking at. So, if it's OK, can I meet you? Yes, we'll
:19:56. > :20:01.be at the office, or you've got our number. Just give us a call. Thanks,
:20:01. > :20:04.Linda. Thanks. Bye. Well, we're always on the lookout for new
:20:04. > :20:07.talent and new horses, and Doncaster sales are quite good -
:20:07. > :20:11.they have quite a broad spectrum of horses for sale. We don't know
:20:11. > :20:15.exactly how many we're going to buy every time we come to the sales.
:20:15. > :20:19.You might have three or four orders to fill, but you might not be able
:20:19. > :20:22.to buy all of them. As soon as we buy a horse, we just go and see one
:20:22. > :20:26.of the girls here. They're fantastic. They're always here. You
:20:26. > :20:29.can ask them to take back one horse, you can ask them to take back eight
:20:29. > :20:32.horses. They're always able to send more lorries down if they need to.
:20:32. > :20:35.And Lucinda isn't the only Scottish buyer in Doncaster today. Linda has
:20:35. > :20:38.heard on the grapevine that Hawick- based trainer Alistair Whillans has
:20:38. > :20:43.just made a purchase. I bought this young fella. He's going back to
:20:43. > :20:46.Scotland to run next summer. He'll get a break for maybe two months.
:20:46. > :20:50.We'll get him back after Christmas and get him ready to run. There's
:20:50. > :20:54.about six lads up there wanting a syndicate horse, and he looks ideal.
:20:54. > :20:59.Hi, Alistair. Congratulations. Are you wanting us to transport it up
:20:59. > :21:03.for you? Aye, well, I need something. You've not got your own
:21:03. > :21:07.transport? No, I need somebody to take him up the road. Right, yeah,
:21:07. > :21:15.that's not a problem. Back in the auction ring, Lucinda is bidding on
:21:15. > :21:21.Navy List, a promising four-year- After some tense moments, Lucinda
:21:21. > :21:25.is the winning bidder, and another horse can be loaded onto the lorry.
:21:25. > :21:28.Well, that's us safely loaded up now. Next drop, Scotland.
:21:28. > :21:38.Everything seemed to go OK and hopefully, we might even have a
:21:38. > :21:40.potential Grand National winner It's 40 years since the first
:21:40. > :21:44.civilian search and rescue helicopter service started in the
:21:44. > :21:47.north-east of Scotland. In 1983, the base moved from Aberdeen to the
:21:47. > :21:56.Shetland Isles and this book has just been published, documenting
:21:56. > :22:01.its history there. Euan joined one of the crews on a training exercise.
:22:01. > :22:11.Moving on one and two. Under control. Rising nicely. APU is off.
:22:11. > :22:18.Control is on. Set to 630. On the deck at about 66. Three, two, one,
:22:18. > :22:21.now go. As a yachtsman, I know that things can go wrong at sea, but
:22:21. > :22:27.it's reassuring that when it does go from bad to worse, you can
:22:27. > :22:34.always rely on one of these. I'm on final approach now. Whenever you
:22:34. > :22:43.like. Ready to go. This is rescue 102, more commonly known as Oscar
:22:43. > :22:46.Charlie. He has the hook. He's hooked on and winch him in. There
:22:46. > :22:50.are 12 search and rescue helicopters based in the UK. Six
:22:50. > :22:59.belong to the RAF, two to the Royal Navy and four are contracted to the
:22:59. > :23:09.Coastguard, like this one in the south of Shetland. Approaching the
:23:09. > :23:13.
:23:13. > :23:17.door. Mind the doorway. And It's difficult to say typical jobs.
:23:17. > :23:20.They are wide and varied, from medivacs, where we will go to the
:23:20. > :23:25.most remote islands. We go to oil rigs to help the guys out there
:23:25. > :23:29.that are ill and bring them back to hospital. We've had boats on fire,
:23:29. > :23:31.boats that are sinking. We've got a paramedic in the back and we've got
:23:31. > :23:36.a huge amount of medical support equipment, such as defibrillators,
:23:36. > :23:40.life-support systems. What's it like as a job? Yeah, it's a great
:23:40. > :23:44.job. It's got to be any schoolboy's dream to fly a helicopter and to be
:23:44. > :23:50.part of a team that is involved with search and rescue. So it
:23:50. > :23:54.certainly keeps you young in mind, anyway. For the last four years,
:23:54. > :23:57.the base has been using these Sikorsky S-92 helicopters. Before
:23:57. > :24:04.that, they used the S-61N, which started service here in the early
:24:04. > :24:10.1980s. At the time, callsign Oscar Charlie was the most advanced
:24:10. > :24:14.civilian search and rescue helicopter anywhere in the world.
:24:14. > :24:21.And its arrival in Shetland brought solace to the men and women who use
:24:21. > :24:27.these treacherous waters. One man who's worked here since its
:24:27. > :24:33.beginning is winch operator Kieran Murray. His career started back in
:24:33. > :24:38.1969, when he joined the Royal Navy as a search and rescue diver.
:24:38. > :24:42.days of being a search and rescue diver are long gone. In fact, it's
:24:42. > :24:45.finished in the Royal Navy, as well. We have the situation where the
:24:45. > :24:52.winch man, generally, will stay on the cable. Obviously, he detaches
:24:52. > :24:56.on the ground or on the mountains. It looks scary. How scary is it?
:24:56. > :24:59.I've always said - and from my heart, I mean it - that I do not
:24:59. > :25:03.feel scared at all doing the job. One reason for that, perhaps, is
:25:03. > :25:07.the amount of training we do. We are continually training, in all
:25:07. > :25:14.weather conditions. One date that Kieran remembers well is 9 November
:25:14. > :25:16.1993. Storm-force winds battered the coast of Shetland and the
:25:16. > :25:24.Latvian registered factory ship Lunokhods came crashing onto the
:25:24. > :25:27.rocks at Bressay. The exceptionally strong winds that night gave the
:25:27. > :25:33.helicopter more lifting power, and the reduced fuel load increased its
:25:33. > :25:36.carrying capacity further. These factors allowed the group to winch
:25:36. > :25:44.up a record number of survivors - far greater than the normal limit
:25:44. > :25:49.of 19. The big lift was 32, plus a winch man, so 33 winched into the
:25:49. > :25:52.aircraft. It was standing room only in the back of the aircraft. That
:25:52. > :25:56.is a mammoth task. Physically, doing that so many times must be
:25:56. > :26:06.really draining. You don't notice it at the time. Adrenaline kicks in
:26:06. > :26:11.
:26:11. > :26:15.and away you go. Your training as a crew works perfectly. There was a
:26:15. > :26:18.time we thought we were going to lose a winch man because the vessel
:26:18. > :26:21.did sink as we were watching this. We pulled away with our first lot
:26:21. > :26:25.thinking, "Sorry, boys, we can't help you again". But the vessel did
:26:25. > :26:28.remain on the rocks with its boughs under the water and the rest of the
:26:28. > :26:31.survivors came to the back end. We came back with an empty aircraft
:26:31. > :26:35.and winched 32. We'll get back to a heading of 200, please.
:26:35. > :26:40.Searchlight's now switched on. key to success is constant training,
:26:40. > :26:48.and the attention to detail is impressive. He's happy? Dispatch
:26:48. > :26:50.him. He is out the door. Continue to winch him. Today, the team are
:26:50. > :27:00.practising part of a complex manoeuvre to lower the winch
:27:00. > :27:02.
:27:02. > :27:08.manonto a cluttered fishing boat deck. --man onto. My target? Your
:27:08. > :27:11.target. Happy with that? Happy? It's a procedure known as tie-line
:27:11. > :27:14.winching, and this part is completed with ease. The job is a
:27:14. > :27:24.great job. It's a very rewarding job. We work with some fabulous
:27:24. > :27:27.
:27:27. > :27:30.people and it's a proper and body of teamwork. -- embodiment. It must
:27:30. > :27:34.be quite scary, though, putting your life in another three people's
:27:34. > :27:37.hands. You trust them completely. You know. And we work out who's
:27:37. > :27:40.buying the beer at the end of the day. Well, it's now dark and
:27:40. > :27:44.Stephen the crew have now finished their shift. The helicopter's going
:27:44. > :27:47.to be put away for the night but as we speak, another helicopter is
:27:47. > :27:50.getting ready to be put into service and another crew are being
:27:50. > :27:54.briefed to give cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a
:27:54. > :27:57.year. And you know what? That's very reassuring.
:27:57. > :27:59.Now, I've just got time to tell you what's coming up on next week's
:27:59. > :28:03.Landward. We look at what reform of the
:28:03. > :28:06.common agricultural policy could mean for Scotland's farmers.
:28:06. > :28:09.pumps about half a billion pounds a year into Scottish farms and we
:28:09. > :28:11.need that resource to underpin farming. I begin a journey
:28:11. > :28:15.exploring some of Scotland's dramatic caves.
:28:15. > :28:20.If I want to explore the inner chambers, I'm going to have to go
:28:20. > :28:25.on a subterranean boat ride. And Nick tears a turkey to bits.
:28:25. > :28:33.Not one little bit is going to go to waste. So please join us for