Episode 1 Landward

Hello and welcome to Landward. Leading you through the Scottish

countryside until the end of June. In a moment I will be taking a

Whitewater ride in search of wild oysters. Here it is -- here is what

is coming up. We assess the impact of the winter storms in the forests.

It is like a giant hand swept through the forest and knocked

everything down. It is devastation. Nick tries to convince me to eat an

oyster. I have caught them for you. -- Corp. And the link between

grouse, a Highland glen and an ill- fated Arctic exhibition. Every

grass that died on every British Oysters are a bit like Marmite. You

either a love them or you hate them. I fall into the latter category.

Despite my prejudices, I went to find out more about the native

oyster. My quest took me as far as Served in the finest restaurants

around the world, or oysters are synonymous with wealth and luxury.

Famed for their aphrodisiac qualities, their popularity goes

back centuries. But popularity comes at a price. By the 1950s,

over fishing had decimated native oyster populations. As a result,

the majority of oysters are rock oysters. They are not commercially

viable to harvest. Today there is only one wild oyster fishery in

Loch Ryan. The season runs from September through to April. Fishing

stocks to allow the oysters to breathe. I joined the crew to help

bring in the cat. Prof cheat mack put in more back than they are

taking out. We are just taking the big ones. The small ones we leave

him. -- wheelie bin. The larger 85 grams and above. The rest we relay

back into the bed. We do not go back near them for a few years.

That is how they are sustainable? Yes. When oysters are close

together on the seabed, there are more likely to fertilise. Most of

our time at the moment is putting it dents beds of oysters, receding

them. Many oysters per square metre. The fishery is the property of the

Wallace family. They have owned the fishing rights for more than 300

years. We have quite a few of the old books from the individual

fishermen. Perhaps in Bloxwich sales. We have got any number of

books showing the actual catch. They are beautifully maintained

books. We have tens of them going back to the 1850 is. Is it

important to have a record of what is coming out of the water? It is

certainly extremely interesting to know that in the old days there

were hundreds of tons coming out of the loch rather than the Twenties

and Thirties we have got now. We know that the lock in the old days

sustainably had a great deal more oysters than today. We do not think

there is a any reason why it should not be the same again. They do not

necessarily breed every year. -- breed. You have to be kind and not

take out very many. Sustainability is very important? It is

fundamental. Without it, you would have nothing. How many years does

it take for them to get to that stage? 5 to six years. You cannot

control how bouncy the water is! You picked the wrong day. What

percentage do you throw back in? 95%. We only take, if even 5%. We

only take what we need. I guess that makes it a long-term business?

That is the All point, it keeps it going. Like many Scots, I am not a

fan of eating raw oysters. But Nick is trying to persuade more of us to

be more adventurous with our seafood. In the meantime, after you.

Delicious. Absolutely delicious. will have mine Cup. -- Cup. The

National Trust for Scotland has one key purpose, to promote and Concern

of our heritage. It is a mammoth task trying to preserve some of her

most iconic castles and houses. I have been finding out how they do

it. For 80 years, the National Trust for Scotland has been working

to protect and preserve our heritage for future generations.

The charity looks after 129 Heritage buildings, such as castles

and mansions. But it is total -- its total property portfolio runs

to 1600 build structures. -- built. If these buildings are going to be

visited by future generations, it is vital that maintenance and

repair work is are regularly carried out. Last year the trust

spent just under �10 million on the built heritage. The man with the

task of overseeing the maintenance work is Brian Dixon. The National

Trust for Scotland look after a wide variety of buildings and

building types. These can range from the iconic castles, to some of

Scotland's most ground-breaking buildings, like the Hill House in

Helensburgh. We also look after a vast array of buildings in between.

A lot of buildings. How do you prioritise the work? One of the

main elements to that is the planned preventive maintenance

programme. It is those sick of the works that happen on our sights on

a regular basis. -- cyclical. We make sure those activities happen

first. Your annual maintenance goes on. What about long-term? We have a

system of five to seven-year surveys. Those are undertaken at

the main houses. The information from that gives us a snapshot of

the help of that building at that particular time. -- health. We get

a list of urgent, necessary and desirable works. Today I Matt Hill

of target Meir Cupar. -- I am at. - - Hill of Tarvit. I cannot go up

there. There is another house on the estate in need of TLC. Tim is

one of the team of surveyors. Hi there, Tim. Good to see you. It is

a cold day. He is. At least the sun is shining. We will have a look

inside. What is the significance of this place? It is a lovely

Victorian cabbage. It retains a lot of nice features. -- Cottage. We

are now in a position where we have an opportunity to refurbish this

property and put it back on the market as a let property. He is not

just houses of significant historical importance? No, we look

after everything. They are all- important to us. Wigan have a

I think I will leave Tim to get on with the job. He knows what he is

doing. Next week I will be heading to Ayrshire to visit a stone mason

entrusted with the job of preserving the beauty of some of

our most iconic castles. Still ahead, Glen Prosen's role in the

Antarctic adventure 100 years ago. Scott, when he was planning his

second exhibition, he had to discuss things with my great uncle.

A lot of the scientific work was planned right here. And I face my

fear of oysters. Straight away, you Last winter, we experienced some of

the worst storms in more than a decade. Trees fell through routes,

crushed cars and closed roads. The trees were cleared up pretty

quickly by the emergency services. For the forests, the emergency

operation has only just begun. The headlines: Red Alert, a violent

Growing a Forest takes time and dedication. It can be decades

before the trees reach maturity. But just one big storm can destroy

This winter, not one but two ferocious storms caused massive

damage across the country. For the Forestry Commission, with more than

1 million acres of trees to manage, dealing with the aftermath has been

a major task. The biggest impact through the central belt of

Scotland and to the north. Over one evening in January we lost about

80% of our production. What we would normally fell in one year

blew over in one night. We had already lost trees in the storms in

I am going across the country to assess the scale of the damage. I

need one of these. As you can see, we are well in the air. You can get

the most visual impact of the damage. It is pretty dramatic. The

Forestry Commission logging as we go along. Why do you have to do it

from a helicopter? We were prepared for this storm. We got alerts from

the Met Office. We knew there was a significant weather event on the

way. We had staff who went out on the ground. We realised we had a

pretty significant problem. The best way to get on top of that is

to get into the air and get a good look from above. It is like a giant

hand swept through the forest and knock everything down. It is

devastation down there. There is quite a lot of damage. We have an

area equivalent to 200 football pitches blown over in one night. We

need to get a clearer picture of how much has blown over, what

species have blown over and the volume we need to clean up. It is

pretty dramatic. You get a much better impression from above.

the damage has been assessed, the Forestry Commission can begin to

co-ordinate the clean-up operation on the ground. This operation, how

big is it? It is quite a large scale. It just means rearranging

things and prioritising certain areas. Anything that has got

adjacent roads to rip, access routes. Anything you utilities. We

do it through that location. This was be quite a dangerous and

Bernard? Trees can go down at any time! Yes, it is a dangerous

environment. We're good in terms of health and safety. We're looking at

letting the public in when they are ready to be let in. When we have

But the forestry sector has been hard hit by no worst storm a normal

one decade. With careful management, the choristers will recover and to

nor was? Maybe better. If you have a comment about

anything, or have a wonderful story, got us an e-mail... The weather at

Dollarbeg it is cool, not bad for Good evening. What an unusually

warm week? It is all change. Here is the lovely warm air. It is being

shot down two of the week by call there. A cold front will sink so

Torrance. When I say colder air, I mean closer to averages. Not too

bad a weekend. There will be some sunny spells developing as we got

through the day. The difference will be in those temperatures.

Further north, colder still. It will feel much cooler. In Shetland,

he even colder still. They may even be the odd light wintry shower.

Cloudy picture, too. Winds, mainly moderate. Into tomorrow evening and

overnight, we will see some clear spells. Temperatures will that down

quite significantly. -- debt. On Sunday, a fairly similar picture.

Drier and brighter in the south. It will turn colder again at the start

of the week. On Monday, a cold front will sink southwards. Monday

is a cloudy picture. As that fronts thinks southwards, we will see

showers turning to Hill's know. As that front sinks south words, there

will be more or wintry weather. It will be brighter and dry in the

West. Wednesday, turning unsettled, Earlier in the programme, I visited

Loch Ryan Oystery. In the year, net he and his going to try to force

feed me. A new have need of oysters, as fresh as this, he it is a shame

to kick them. You just don't know what you're missing. I appreciate

most Scots are not overly fond of eating raw fish. This is simple way

to cook them. This is a variation of oysters Rockefeller. I have

spent rich enough plan. I will put some of that in the bottom of each

shell. The oyster is returned to the shell and sits on top. This can

be done in advance. It is good for entertaining. I will news some

parsley, may get tables in. Some fresh red cup -- fresh breadcrumbs.

Then some Parmesan. Next for the crumbs together. -- mix. I will

saying that from next on top of the oysters. A little bit of seasoning,

a touch of salt. Some freshly ground black pepper. I will sit

them on a tree of sea salt so the state operate under the grill.

Preheat the grill to a maximum. These will take about three minutes

under the Gell -- and grilled. You would not eat them raw. I have

cooked them. A bet of spinach, the oyster kit and no more. That is

good. It is not a mouthful of C. There is that oyster flavour. This

is a niche at the bottom. You have turned me around completely.

Fantastic. 100 years ago or, yesterday, Captain Scott wrote his

last diary entry. The heroic deaths of the team may have happened

10,000 miles from Scotland, but we have been finding out about the

connection with an Angus glen. Captain Scott's and doomed

expedition is a story that has captured Hearts and imagination for

centuries. -- a century. In 1912, Scott and four colleagues reached

the North Pole only to discover -- South Pole that a Norwegian team

had beaten them to it. The ship which to Captain Scott on their

expedition connect Scotland to that great age of politics writ --

exploration. Her connection to the Antarctic expedition does not end

there. Dr David Wilson is a historian and the great nephew of a

self-taught naturalist and artist who died with Scott in 1912. How

did he become involved? Through the expedition. My great-uncle was

drawing and painting in London Zoo. The President of the Zoological

Society asked him to be involved. That was the first expedition. My

great uncle was elected to make reverse journey. They had all kinds

-- made all kinds of zoological discoveries. They became firm

friends. Scott asked him to go back on the second expedition. He was

the chief of scientific staff on that one. Before he left, Wilson

spent much of his time in Angus. In 1905, he was appointed by the Board

of Agriculture to research grouse. No one understood why grouse were

dying in such large numbers. He spent four years looking for the

cause of the grouse disease. It was down to a little threadworm. This

was the birth of modern Ornithology. It took someone to come into the

field and take powers watching the gross, watching how they behaved.

It is said he was told by a halo of gross intestines and feathers. He

leapt year because it was originally owned by his publishers.

When he came here to do the grouse work, he stayed here. He loved

being here. Captain Scott had to come here to discuss the expedition.

A lot of the scientific work was planned here. What happened to his

work, his research? He had not finished writing his reports. He

carried on finishing the writing. He never actually saw the grouse

disease Report. There would not be a growth industry if it was not for

the gross commission's report. It is for that piece of work alone

that he is remembered as one of their top 10 ornithologists than

the world. One of Vettel Wilson's last letters home was to his

publisher who have given him the use of the house. Annette, Wilson

mentions how he was disappointed that he would never see his grouse

work published. Even in those final days, he was thinking of all the

work he had done here. If you are interested in finding out more,

this series of a activities celebrating Wilson will be held

until 22nd June. Next week, are we going search of sika deer. The a

run that Bracken. Cattle and sheep brush line,.

would involve people with the right background. And the craft of the