:00:26. > :00:30.Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward - putting a spotlight on
:00:30. > :00:33.Scotland's countryside. In a moment, I'll be trying to catch a glimpse
:00:33. > :00:41.of some elusive sika deer. But first, here is what else is coming
:00:41. > :00:47.up: Nick compares red venison with sika venison.
:00:47. > :00:53.One of the things that surprised me about this is how much paler it is
:00:53. > :00:59.than red. We meet the victims of live stepped
:00:59. > :01:06.off -- livestock theft. Why were these animals stolen?
:01:06. > :01:10.have no idea. And we meet the men and women who
:01:10. > :01:17.work for the National Trust. Sometimes you find more work than
:01:17. > :01:21.you can actually handle. Sika Arran export -- an exotic
:01:21. > :01:27.species of deer who can beef -- that can be found in increasing
:01:27. > :01:37.numbers across the country. I went to Dawyck Estate in the Borders to
:01:37. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:51.find out what impact they are Red deer and their smaller cousins,
:01:51. > :01:54.roe, are the only species native to the UK, but there are four other
:01:54. > :01:59.species that can be found living and breeding in the wild. Here in
:01:59. > :02:03.Scotland, the most common of those is sika. Sika were first imported
:02:03. > :02:09.to Britain in the 1860s from the Far East and released into deer
:02:09. > :02:15.parks. Over the next 150 years, Menie Estate and began breeding
:02:15. > :02:21.successfully in the wild. Today there is a substantial population
:02:21. > :02:26.of sika deer living in Peeblesshire. They are the descendants of a small
:02:26. > :02:36.group that were brought to the Dawyck Estate in 1909.
:02:36. > :02:42.
:02:42. > :02:50.grandfather imported them from Japan in 1909. One was born on the
:02:50. > :03:00.board on the way over. When would be put on their estate? -- when
:03:00. > :03:02.
:03:02. > :03:06.would they put on the estate? were put out in the wild in 1922.
:03:06. > :03:10.They opened the gate and out they went. That was the start of their
:03:10. > :03:15.spread here. The release of sika deer into the wild may have been a
:03:15. > :03:25.boy scout accident but today the state coffers are boosted by their
:03:25. > :03:31.presence. People come from far and wide to stock on the Dawyck Estate.
:03:31. > :03:40.And the main reason is the sika. They are the purest of any breed in
:03:40. > :03:48.the world, including in Japan. They are incredibly secretive, very hard
:03:48. > :03:58.to find. You may be lucky to shoot three or four in an hour. You can
:03:58. > :03:59.
:03:59. > :04:07.go what time after time and not see Filming them in the wild could
:04:07. > :04:17.prove to be quite a challenge. I joined gamekeeper Leon to see if we
:04:17. > :04:17.
:04:17. > :04:22.could catch a glimpse of these elusive beasts. They have a Forest
:04:22. > :04:28.to stay in during the day and then they come out just one dark in the
:04:28. > :04:34.evenings. As dusk began to fall over the estate, we had yet to see
:04:34. > :04:41.any sika deer. Leon decided to our best chance of a sighting was to
:04:41. > :04:48.settle down in a hide on the edge of the wood. There are some coming
:04:48. > :04:54.out. I have to say, I did not think we would see any. They are just
:04:54. > :05:02.coming out on the edge of the bracken there. They really shine
:05:02. > :05:06.out. Yes, they are very white. While Dawyck Estate has turned the
:05:06. > :05:16.presence of the sika deer to their advantage, they are not welcomed by
:05:16. > :05:16.
:05:16. > :05:25.everyone. Unlike roe deer, sika can cross-breed with a red deer,
:05:25. > :05:29.threatening the identity of one of our most iconic native species.
:05:30. > :05:36.What do you say to people who think that the sika should not really be
:05:36. > :05:41.here? I think that, now they are here, it is virtually impossible to
:05:41. > :05:46.wipe them out now. Most of the animals that have turned up in this
:05:46. > :05:56.country have come from other places, generally. Look at rabbits -- the
:05:56. > :06:05.
:06:05. > :06:09.Romans brought them. -- lookout So how does the finished product
:06:09. > :06:12.compare to red deer venison? We will find out later in the
:06:12. > :06:15.programme. The National Trust for Scotland has
:06:15. > :06:19.one key purpose - to promote and conserve our heritage. It is a
:06:19. > :06:24.mammoth task trying to protect some of our most iconic castles and
:06:24. > :06:28.great houses. I have been to find out how they do it.
:06:28. > :06:36.For 80 years at the National Trust for Scotland has been working to
:06:36. > :06:44.protect and preserve our built heritage. The charity looks after
:06:44. > :06:51.129 heritage buildings, such as castles and mansions. Its total
:06:51. > :06:55.property portfolio runs to 1,600 built structures. If these
:06:55. > :07:00.buildings are going to be visited by future generations it is vital
:07:01. > :07:08.that regular repair and maintenance work is carried out. Last year, the
:07:08. > :07:12.trust spent just under �10 million on our built heritage. The man with
:07:12. > :07:20.the task of overseeing the maintenance work is Brian Dixon,
:07:20. > :07:23.head of buildings at MTS. -- the National Trust for Scotland. �10
:07:23. > :07:28.million is a huge amount of money and a huge amount of work. Who
:07:28. > :07:32.carries it out? Most of the work that is undertaking is done through
:07:32. > :07:38.contracts - we procure local schools and local trades. In some
:07:38. > :07:47.cases there are instances where we had second and third generation
:07:47. > :07:53.tradesmen working on the properties. Does the National Trust employee
:07:53. > :08:03.any trades men themselves? Here at Culzean we have our own masonry
:08:03. > :08:06.
:08:06. > :08:10.squad. We have a full-time Mason, an adult apprentice mason and a
:08:10. > :08:15.young apprentice mason on the site as well.
:08:15. > :08:20.We can see Culzean castle behind us, a blonde sandstone building next to
:08:20. > :08:25.the sea. I imagine that erosion is a problem. Do the Masons just work
:08:25. > :08:31.here at Culzean or do they go out across the estate? It is really
:08:31. > :08:39.about maintenance. It is a stitch in time activity. They
:08:39. > :08:49.predominantly work here. As you can imagine, three Dai Rees on this
:08:49. > :08:54.
:08:54. > :08:57.site, they have their work cut out. Projects are never the same. It
:08:57. > :09:03.might be a bridge or high-level repair work. There is quite a
:09:03. > :09:09.variety of work on the estate. you are finishing wind job, are you
:09:09. > :09:13.walking round the estate going, that needs done. So intense I walk
:09:13. > :09:19.around with my head down because you find more work then you can
:09:19. > :09:24.actually handle. This is absolutely extraordinary. It is amazing. How
:09:24. > :09:28.long have you spent on this? This has been a bit of a labour of love
:09:28. > :09:32.in my free time to try and keep my skills up on the carving side of
:09:33. > :09:42.things, which is normal and -- not normally the kind of thing we would
:09:42. > :09:47.get to do on the estate. Next week I will be in
:09:47. > :09:50.Aberdeenshire to find out how the National Trust for Scotland looks
:09:50. > :09:57.after the 100,000 artifacts in its care.
:09:57. > :10:07.Still to come: People come out on top in the great venison taste
:10:07. > :10:09.
:10:09. > :10:14.test? -- who will come out on top? And tracking the wandering woodcock.
:10:14. > :10:21.We want this to stay on for the lifetime of the birds and maximise
:10:21. > :10:25.the chances of getting him back. The Scottish countryside is not
:10:25. > :10:28.generally thought of as a location for organised crime, but these days
:10:28. > :10:34.far more even than the most remote corners of the country are having
:10:34. > :10:44.to beat increasingly aware. Euan investigates a worrying new trend
:10:44. > :10:56.
:10:56. > :11:03.in rural crime. Hundreds of years ago, rustling
:11:03. > :11:07.livestock was a way of life for many. But it is not something that
:11:07. > :11:17.you would imagine the farmer of today would lose much sleep over.
:11:17. > :11:17.
:11:18. > :11:23.That is, until now. We're going to investigate the
:11:23. > :11:30.theft of 11 coward's. Do you know who is doing it? Looking at the
:11:30. > :11:35.amount that has been taken and the resources required for that, it
:11:35. > :11:39.looks like an organised theft. must be difficult to trace. The
:11:39. > :11:46.nature of the countryside - it is quiet, it is remote, there are not
:11:46. > :11:54.many people around. That is true. People can move about in these
:11:54. > :12:00.areas undetected. They will have driven in round the
:12:00. > :12:03.steading in the wagon and reversed up to one of these two dates. I
:12:03. > :12:09.suspect there would be more than one person involved. Someone would
:12:09. > :12:17.have got out of the wagon, probably rattled a spanner against one of
:12:17. > :12:24.these gates and the beasts will have run out. There were 11 animals
:12:24. > :12:31.stolen out of 42. Why 11? I have no idea. It may be to do with the side
:12:31. > :12:39.-- the size of the wagon. We think they could be on a hill now,
:12:39. > :12:46.somewhere remote. They could be kept and made to breed of they
:12:46. > :12:49.could be slaughtered. They could be taken to illegal
:12:49. > :12:56.slaughterhouses and put into the food chain, sold to restaurants and
:12:56. > :13:00.fast-food takeaway places anywhere. People will pay a cheap price for
:13:01. > :13:04.the meat. Stealing cattle from a shed in
:13:04. > :13:07.broad daylight is an audacious and thankfully rare crime, but it is
:13:07. > :13:15.not just cattle that are being taken. Increasingly, sheep are
:13:15. > :13:20.being targeted at all over the country. -- targeted all over the
:13:20. > :13:26.country. We found that we were missing 97 of
:13:26. > :13:33.our lambs in the field about one mile away from here. Is that the
:13:33. > :13:38.first time that this had happened? No, the second time. We are half-a-
:13:38. > :13:45.mile from a junction with the motorway, so I would hazard a guess
:13:45. > :13:50.that it was easy access and eat an easy get away. How difficult a job
:13:50. > :13:53.would it have been to load up that many sheep? Extremely difficult. It
:13:53. > :13:59.would require people with experience of working the
:13:59. > :14:03.countryside, it would require dogs, and people with a shepherding
:14:03. > :14:07.background in order to do it at night, quietly.
:14:07. > :14:13.The increase in rural theft now means that more farmers are not
:14:13. > :14:18.only ensure it -- insuring their machinery but also their livestock.
:14:18. > :14:21.Over the last ten years or so it is fair to say that thieves have
:14:21. > :14:26.concentrated for Mullally on expensive machinery - power tools,
:14:26. > :14:29.tractors and the like. But due to their increased security levels of
:14:29. > :14:33.equipment we are now seeing a really worrying increase in terms
:14:33. > :14:39.of livestock theft. Having livestock stall and has
:14:39. > :14:42.obvious financial implications. But, for farmers who have spent years
:14:42. > :14:49.developing the bloodlines of their heard, the loss is a lot more than
:14:49. > :14:53.money. You never recover what it truly cost. Breeding stock is hard
:14:53. > :15:02.to replace. It is not about the money, it is about breeding up the
:15:02. > :15:05.genetics of a flock. And that takes five or six years. Not only that,
:15:05. > :15:15.our stock adapted to our ground so whatever you bring in is not just
:15:15. > :15:21.If you have a comment about anything you have seen on the
:15:21. > :15:26.programme or you have a wonderful story, drug busts and e-mail.
:15:26. > :15:30.The weather here is sunny but as ever, a fairly breezy. What about
:15:30. > :15:40.the prospects for this weekend and beyond, here is the weather
:15:40. > :15:40.
:15:40. > :15:47.The weather over the next few days is fairly consistent. It will be
:15:47. > :15:51.cloudy and damp with outbreaks of rain at a time. We do have high
:15:51. > :15:55.pressure out towards the Atlantic but we have these whether France
:15:55. > :15:59.just sneaking in around the north- west, bringing cloud and some rain
:15:59. > :16:09.at times. Tomorrow morning, the best of the dry conditions in
:16:09. > :16:11.
:16:11. > :16:15.eastern parts of the country but clouding over later. Temperatures
:16:15. > :16:18.up to around nine are ten Celsius, which is close to average for the
:16:18. > :16:24.time of year, but there will be continuing outbreaks of rain or
:16:25. > :16:29.drizzle. The further east you are, the drier it will be. Temperatures
:16:29. > :16:33.tomorrow afternoon there, just about five Celsius at best. If you
:16:33. > :16:39.are out and about her walking or climbing tomorrow, in western areas
:16:39. > :16:44.it will be fairly cloudy. We could see snow above the 800 metres. Also
:16:44. > :16:54.hill fog to contend with as well and winds, generally very well.
:16:54. > :16:55.
:16:55. > :17:03.Eastern Rangers, the snow is at 500 metres and above. Inshore waters,
:17:03. > :17:08.we can expect light rain and drizzle. Over towards the South
:17:08. > :17:15.East, after a generally bright start, it will cloud over and we
:17:15. > :17:19.could see a risk of rain later on. Saturday into Sunday, again staying
:17:19. > :17:24.dry with just outbreaks of rain or drizzle but temperatures are not
:17:24. > :17:29.too bad overnight. Once again, the Shetlands have the colder air with
:17:29. > :17:33.temperatures there at around two degrees. Sunday, we have the warm
:17:33. > :17:38.front pushing its way towards the North Sea. A cold front following
:17:38. > :17:44.in behind that as well so for Sunday, it will be fairly dry and
:17:44. > :17:49.cloudy. Later on, more in the wake of consistent rain pushing across
:17:49. > :17:53.the whole of the country. Next week, it is staying unsettled
:17:53. > :18:00.unfortunately. Monday we have several frontal zones moving across
:18:00. > :18:08.bringing showery rain. We could see a wintry mix across the hills and
:18:08. > :18:11.mountains. The further south and east you are, falling as rain.
:18:11. > :18:15.Looking ahead to Tuesday, that no pressure still dominates the
:18:15. > :18:23.weather. We will see outbreaks assuredly in but there will be some
:18:23. > :18:25.cloudy skies and some dry skies in between. By midweek, that no
:18:25. > :18:29.pressure is once again still in charge so there will be some
:18:30. > :18:39.showery outbreaks of rain across the north-east and south-east part
:18:40. > :18:42.
:18:42. > :18:44.Earlier in the programme I went in search of the shy Sika deer. We
:18:44. > :18:52.wondered if there was any difference in taste between the
:18:53. > :18:56.native red deer and the Sika so we asked Nick to prepare a taste test.
:18:56. > :19:03.One of the things that surprised me the first time I could with Sika
:19:03. > :19:07.deer was how much cooler it was. These are the lines from a Sika
:19:07. > :19:12.deer and this is the saddle of a red deer that we got from a local
:19:12. > :19:18.game dealer but I want to know is how to the flavours compare. I will
:19:18. > :19:25.start with the red deer. Just cutting across the saddle, about
:19:25. > :19:30.three-quarters of an inch. You can see that beautiful, dark, lean meat.
:19:30. > :19:37.Then we will take the Sika deer and I will make just these slightly
:19:37. > :19:40.larger. I will season the Dennison with a little salt. Some freshly
:19:40. > :19:46.ground black pepper and we will start off with a little bit of
:19:46. > :19:53.olive oil into the pan, in with the Sika deer. A nice sizzle tells me
:19:53. > :19:56.the planners have the right temperature. In goes the better.
:19:56. > :20:02.The but it just helps to cover the meat and get it and mice, rich
:20:02. > :20:07.flavour. I will serve these quite rare. Emerson is very low in fat
:20:07. > :20:11.but if you overcook it, it can be dry and tasteless. The meat is
:20:11. > :20:15.nicely caramelised so we will take the red deer out first on to a cold
:20:15. > :20:20.tray to get it relax. Then at the Sika deer and straight away, I will
:20:20. > :20:24.start adding the ingredients for the sauce. We'll start with the
:20:24. > :20:30.bacon. Am going to add a tablespoon of finely chopped shallots, along
:20:30. > :20:36.with chopped mushrooms. Once the mushrooms, bacon and shallots start
:20:36. > :20:41.to caramelise, I will add a splash of whisky. As soon as that dies
:20:41. > :20:51.down, then with a little bit of a light chicken and beef stock. Once
:20:51. > :20:53.
:20:53. > :20:57.the sauce has thickened, I will add some double cream. That is done.
:20:57. > :21:05.This is Sika deer, this is the red deer. Let's start with the Sika
:21:05. > :21:15.deer. Totally delicious., that is wonderful. It is nothing in the
:21:15. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:27.light. The red deer will have to go some to be dashed. -- to beat that.
:21:27. > :21:32.Here we go with the red deer. is pretty good, too. It is quite
:21:32. > :21:36.different, it is more robust. wouldn't expect a difference to be
:21:36. > :21:43.quite so great but it really is different, isn't it? If I was to
:21:43. > :21:52.choose, I would choose the Sika deer. The Sika deer is excellent
:21:52. > :21:56.but I would choose the red deer. It is robust and I prefer it that.
:21:56. > :22:04.truth is, there is no winner, they are both fantastic, but different
:22:04. > :22:07.at it comes down to personal preference. Best just keep trying!
:22:07. > :22:11.During the winter there are over a million woodcock in Britain but
:22:11. > :22:14.only a small percentage are resident all year round. It's one
:22:14. > :22:24.of Britain's unsolved natural mysteries - just where do the rest
:22:24. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:31.of them go? Research is now taking place to solve the mystery.
:22:31. > :22:37.Woodcock are relatively common in Britain but they are extremely
:22:37. > :22:42.elusive. They generally spent the day hidden in dense cover, only
:22:42. > :22:46.coming out at night to feed. In Britain there is a population of
:22:46. > :22:52.almost 80,000 breeding pairs but in the winter, migrants from northern
:22:52. > :22:56.Europe swell that number towards 1.5 million birds. It is these
:22:56. > :23:00.migratory birds that Andrew from the game and why that Conservation
:23:00. > :23:05.Trust is studying. During the winter, he has travelled the length
:23:05. > :23:09.and breadth of the country, capturing and tagging woodcock.
:23:09. > :23:12.get this huge influx of migrant birds from northern Europe in
:23:12. > :23:16.autumn and they are with us through the winter but we know very little
:23:16. > :23:20.about where exactly they are coming from, what timings they arrive so
:23:20. > :23:24.we are trying to Tighe birds to learn more about where they're
:23:24. > :23:33.coming from, how long they stay with us and high fearful they are
:23:33. > :23:36.two sides through the winter. We're using two different technologies. A
:23:36. > :23:41.light sensitive Tighe that stores light levels on board every two
:23:41. > :23:47.minutes from which we can work out timings of sunset and sunrise and
:23:47. > :23:51.accrued location across the globe to within about 100 kilometres. The
:23:51. > :23:57.other one is a satellite tag so it does much the same thing but it
:23:57. > :24:02.transmits to satellites and gives us data in a near real-time. This
:24:02. > :24:07.one, you've got to get it back from the bird? That is a hard bird, so
:24:07. > :24:12.that is much cheaper and we have to come back a year later to capture
:24:12. > :24:17.those birds. Andrew might use high- tech kit but to capture the birds,
:24:17. > :24:25.he uses much nor technology. They are listed in the daytime but they
:24:25. > :24:32.are flying out on to fields to feed at night. It really is literally a
:24:32. > :24:37.big landing net on a long pole and I just dazzle them with a car
:24:37. > :24:46.headlight. A windy night helps. you hope for? Yes, I am hopeful for
:24:46. > :24:51.tonight. Tonight, we were not just be tagging. Chris swift runs a
:24:51. > :24:55.couple of chutes each year on his farm. He is keen to know more about
:24:55. > :25:04.the birds on his land. It's fascinating to see what they are
:25:04. > :25:08.doing, discover more about them, knowing if there is a surplus, it
:25:08. > :25:13.is fantastic. Is it not a dilemma because you shoot woodcock but
:25:13. > :25:17.you're also involved in conservation? There is, especially
:25:18. > :25:25.when you see the immensely amazing travels they do. We had to shoot a
:25:25. > :25:30.year here and that is it. As you can see, at dusk has well and truly
:25:30. > :25:34.fallen. The birds are coming out of the trees, hopefully, and on to the
:25:34. > :25:42.fields and they will start to feed. We will give them about 30 minutes
:25:42. > :25:47.to settle before we go out and try to catch them. The wind has dropped
:25:47. > :25:50.so these birds will be pretty jumpy and we will have to go slowly and
:25:50. > :25:55.quietly and hope there is a bird or two that has not seen the land
:25:55. > :26:00.before. We have just seen one that took off. Andrew has won in the
:26:00. > :26:10.spotlight at the moment so I had dropped back. He is about 15 feet
:26:10. > :26:16.
:26:16. > :26:19.from us at the moment. And it is down! Beautiful birds, aren't they?
:26:19. > :26:24.With the Bird in Hand, we can switch on our lights and see her in
:26:24. > :26:30.her full glory. I am going to see alligator on have a little bird. We
:26:30. > :26:33.use this as a harmless because we want to have the stay on for the
:26:34. > :26:36.lifetime of the bird and maximise the chances of getting it back. I
:26:36. > :26:42.am hoping that I will come here this time next year and get this
:26:42. > :26:48.one back. Is that not going to affect its flying? It doesn't
:26:48. > :26:58.interfere with the wings at all. It is quite low down, above the bird's
:26:58. > :27:00.
:27:00. > :27:04.centre of gravity. The bird will croon that in. If you would like to
:27:04. > :27:13.release her, we will face her into the wind and hopefully, she will
:27:13. > :27:23.jump. Not too hard. Face heard this way and on the ground. Sad to let
:27:23. > :27:27.
:27:27. > :27:31.her go! Such a beautiful birds. she goes! Good luck to her.
:27:31. > :27:36.Hopefully next year, and you can recapture her and find it exactly
:27:36. > :27:39.where she spent her summer. We'll bring you the results of that
:27:40. > :27:42.research next year. But you only have to wait for another week for
:27:42. > :27:49.your next Landward programme. Here's what's on the programme. How
:27:49. > :27:53.North Sea fishermen helped secure the future of the industry. Getting
:27:53. > :27:57.Fishermen to stay away from areas that historically and instinctively
:27:57. > :28:02.they know or awash with fish is extremely difficult. We meet an
:28:03. > :28:09.award winning veteran of nature conservation. I think if you really
:28:09. > :28:13.make an effort to restore natural habitats in urban areas, people to
:28:13. > :28:19.understand what it is about and they do begin to appreciate it.
:28:19. > :28:27.how to protect a castle full of antiques. Daylight causes