Episode 2 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward - putting a spotlight on

Scotland's countryside. In a moment, I'll be trying to catch a glimpse

of some elusive sika deer. But first, here is what else is coming

up: Nick compares red venison with sika venison.

One of the things that surprised me about this is how much paler it is

than red. We meet the victims of live stepped

off -- livestock theft. Why were these animals stolen?

have no idea. And we meet the men and women who

work for the National Trust. Sometimes you find more work than

you can actually handle. Sika Arran export -- an exotic

species of deer who can beef -- that can be found in increasing

numbers across the country. I went to Dawyck Estate in the Borders to

find out what impact they are Red deer and their smaller cousins,

roe, are the only species native to the UK, but there are four other

species that can be found living and breeding in the wild. Here in

Scotland, the most common of those is sika. Sika were first imported

to Britain in the 1860s from the Far East and released into deer

parks. Over the next 150 years, Menie Estate and began breeding

successfully in the wild. Today there is a substantial population

of sika deer living in Peeblesshire. They are the descendants of a small

group that were brought to the Dawyck Estate in 1909.

grandfather imported them from Japan in 1909. One was born on the

board on the way over. When would be put on their estate? -- when

would they put on the estate? were put out in the wild in 1922.

They opened the gate and out they went. That was the start of their

spread here. The release of sika deer into the wild may have been a

boy scout accident but today the state coffers are boosted by their

presence. People come from far and wide to stock on the Dawyck Estate.

And the main reason is the sika. They are the purest of any breed in

the world, including in Japan. They are incredibly secretive, very hard

to find. You may be lucky to shoot three or four in an hour. You can

go what time after time and not see Filming them in the wild could

prove to be quite a challenge. I joined gamekeeper Leon to see if we

could catch a glimpse of these elusive beasts. They have a Forest

to stay in during the day and then they come out just one dark in the

evenings. As dusk began to fall over the estate, we had yet to see

any sika deer. Leon decided to our best chance of a sighting was to

settle down in a hide on the edge of the wood. There are some coming

out. I have to say, I did not think we would see any. They are just

coming out on the edge of the bracken there. They really shine

out. Yes, they are very white. While Dawyck Estate has turned the

presence of the sika deer to their advantage, they are not welcomed by

everyone. Unlike roe deer, sika can cross-breed with a red deer,

threatening the identity of one of our most iconic native species.

What do you say to people who think that the sika should not really be

here? I think that, now they are here, it is virtually impossible to

wipe them out now. Most of the animals that have turned up in this

country have come from other places, generally. Look at rabbits -- the

Romans brought them. -- lookout So how does the finished product

compare to red deer venison? We will find out later in the

programme. The National Trust for Scotland has

one key purpose - to promote and conserve our heritage. It is a

mammoth task trying to protect some of our most iconic castles and

great houses. I have been to find out how they do it.

For 80 years at the National Trust for Scotland has been working to

protect and preserve our built heritage. The charity looks after

129 heritage buildings, such as castles and mansions. Its total

property portfolio runs to 1,600 built structures. If these

buildings are going to be visited by future generations it is vital

that regular repair and maintenance work is carried out. Last year, the

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

the task of overseeing the maintenance work is Brian Dixon,

head of buildings at MTS. -- the National Trust for Scotland. �10

million is a huge amount of money and a huge amount of work. Who

carries it out? Most of the work that is undertaking is done through

contracts - we procure local schools and local trades. In some

cases there are instances where we had second and third generation

tradesmen working on the properties. Does the National Trust employee

any trades men themselves? Here at Culzean we have our own masonry

squad. We have a full-time Mason, an adult apprentice mason and a

young apprentice mason on the site as well.

We can see Culzean castle behind us, a blonde sandstone building next to

the sea. I imagine that erosion is a problem. Do the Masons just work

here at Culzean or do they go out across the estate? It is really

about maintenance. It is a stitch in time activity. They

predominantly work here. As you can imagine, three Dai Rees on this

site, they have their work cut out. Projects are never the same. It

might be a bridge or high-level repair work. There is quite a

variety of work on the estate. you are finishing wind job, are you

walking round the estate going, that needs done. So intense I walk

around with my head down because you find more work then you can

actually handle. This is absolutely extraordinary. It is amazing. How

long have you spent on this? This has been a bit of a labour of love

in my free time to try and keep my skills up on the carving side of

things, which is normal and -- not normally the kind of thing we would

get to do on the estate. Next week I will be in

Aberdeenshire to find out how the National Trust for Scotland looks

after the 100,000 artifacts in its care.

Still to come: People come out on top in the great venison taste

test? -- who will come out on top? And tracking the wandering woodcock.

We want this to stay on for the lifetime of the birds and maximise

the chances of getting him back. The Scottish countryside is not

generally thought of as a location for organised crime, but these days

far more even than the most remote corners of the country are having

to beat increasingly aware. Euan investigates a worrying new trend

in rural crime. Hundreds of years ago, rustling

livestock was a way of life for many. But it is not something that

you would imagine the farmer of today would lose much sleep over.

That is, until now. We're going to investigate the

theft of 11 coward's. Do you know who is doing it? Looking at the

amount that has been taken and the resources required for that, it

looks like an organised theft. must be difficult to trace. The

nature of the countryside - it is quiet, it is remote, there are not

many people around. That is true. People can move about in these

areas undetected. They will have driven in round the

steading in the wagon and reversed up to one of these two dates. I

suspect there would be more than one person involved. Someone would

have got out of the wagon, probably rattled a spanner against one of

these gates and the beasts will have run out. There were 11 animals

stolen out of 42. Why 11? I have no idea. It may be to do with the side

-- the size of the wagon. We think they could be on a hill now,

somewhere remote. They could be kept and made to breed of they

could be slaughtered. They could be taken to illegal

slaughterhouses and put into the food chain, sold to restaurants and

fast-food takeaway places anywhere. People will pay a cheap price for

the meat. Stealing cattle from a shed in

broad daylight is an audacious and thankfully rare crime, but it is

not just cattle that are being taken. Increasingly, sheep are

being targeted at all over the country. -- targeted all over the

country. We found that we were missing 97 of

our lambs in the field about one mile away from here. Is that the

first time that this had happened? No, the second time. We are half-a-

mile from a junction with the motorway, so I would hazard a guess

that it was easy access and eat an easy get away. How difficult a job

would it have been to load up that many sheep? Extremely difficult. It

would require people with experience of working the

countryside, it would require dogs, and people with a shepherding

background in order to do it at night, quietly.

The increase in rural theft now means that more farmers are not

only ensure it -- insuring their machinery but also their livestock.

Over the last ten years or so it is fair to say that thieves have

concentrated for Mullally on expensive machinery - power tools,

tractors and the like. But due to their increased security levels of

equipment we are now seeing a really worrying increase in terms

of livestock theft. Having livestock stall and has

obvious financial implications. But, for farmers who have spent years

developing the bloodlines of their heard, the loss is a lot more than

money. You never recover what it truly cost. Breeding stock is hard

to replace. It is not about the money, it is about breeding up the

genetics of a flock. And that takes five or six years. Not only that,

our stock adapted to our ground so whatever you bring in is not just

If you have a comment about anything you have seen on the

programme or you have a wonderful story, drug busts and e-mail.

The weather here is sunny but as ever, a fairly breezy. What about

the prospects for this weekend and beyond, here is the weather

The weather over the next few days is fairly consistent. It will be

cloudy and damp with outbreaks of rain at a time. We do have high

pressure out towards the Atlantic but we have these whether France

just sneaking in around the north- west, bringing cloud and some rain

at times. Tomorrow morning, the best of the dry conditions in

eastern parts of the country but clouding over later. Temperatures

up to around nine are ten Celsius, which is close to average for the

time of year, but there will be continuing outbreaks of rain or

drizzle. The further east you are, the drier it will be. Temperatures

tomorrow afternoon there, just about five Celsius at best. If you

are out and about her walking or climbing tomorrow, in western areas

it will be fairly cloudy. We could see snow above the 800 metres. Also

hill fog to contend with as well and winds, generally very well.

Eastern Rangers, the snow is at 500 metres and above. Inshore waters,

we can expect light rain and drizzle. Over towards the South

East, after a generally bright start, it will cloud over and we

could see a risk of rain later on. Saturday into Sunday, again staying

dry with just outbreaks of rain or drizzle but temperatures are not

too bad overnight. Once again, the Shetlands have the colder air with

temperatures there at around two degrees. Sunday, we have the warm

front pushing its way towards the North Sea. A cold front following

in behind that as well so for Sunday, it will be fairly dry and

cloudy. Later on, more in the wake of consistent rain pushing across

the whole of the country. Next week, it is staying unsettled

unfortunately. Monday we have several frontal zones moving across

bringing showery rain. We could see a wintry mix across the hills and

mountains. The further south and east you are, falling as rain.

Looking ahead to Tuesday, that no pressure still dominates the

weather. We will see outbreaks assuredly in but there will be some

cloudy skies and some dry skies in between. By midweek, that no

pressure is once again still in charge so there will be some

showery outbreaks of rain across the north-east and south-east part

Earlier in the programme I went in search of the shy Sika deer. We

wondered if there was any difference in taste between the

native red deer and the Sika so we asked Nick to prepare a taste test.

One of the things that surprised me the first time I could with Sika

deer was how much cooler it was. These are the lines from a Sika

deer and this is the saddle of a red deer that we got from a local

game dealer but I want to know is how to the flavours compare. I will

start with the red deer. Just cutting across the saddle, about

three-quarters of an inch. You can see that beautiful, dark, lean meat.

Then we will take the Sika deer and I will make just these slightly

larger. I will season the Dennison with a little salt. Some freshly

ground black pepper and we will start off with a little bit of

olive oil into the pan, in with the Sika deer. A nice sizzle tells me

the planners have the right temperature. In goes the better.

The but it just helps to cover the meat and get it and mice, rich

flavour. I will serve these quite rare. Emerson is very low in fat

but if you overcook it, it can be dry and tasteless. The meat is

nicely caramelised so we will take the red deer out first on to a cold

tray to get it relax. Then at the Sika deer and straight away, I will

start adding the ingredients for the sauce. We'll start with the

bacon. Am going to add a tablespoon of finely chopped shallots, along

with chopped mushrooms. Once the mushrooms, bacon and shallots start

to caramelise, I will add a splash of whisky. As soon as that dies

down, then with a little bit of a light chicken and beef stock. Once

the sauce has thickened, I will add some double cream. That is done.

This is Sika deer, this is the red deer. Let's start with the Sika

deer. Totally delicious., that is wonderful. It is nothing in the

light. The red deer will have to go some to be dashed. -- to beat that.

Here we go with the red deer. is pretty good, too. It is quite

different, it is more robust. wouldn't expect a difference to be

quite so great but it really is different, isn't it? If I was to

choose, I would choose the Sika deer. The Sika deer is excellent

but I would choose the red deer. It is robust and I prefer it that.

truth is, there is no winner, they are both fantastic, but different

at it comes down to personal preference. Best just keep trying!

During the winter there are over a million woodcock in Britain but

only a small percentage are resident all year round. It's one

of Britain's unsolved natural mysteries - just where do the rest

of them go? Research is now taking place to solve the mystery.

Woodcock are relatively common in Britain but they are extremely

elusive. They generally spent the day hidden in dense cover, only

coming out at night to feed. In Britain there is a population of

almost 80,000 breeding pairs but in the winter, migrants from northern

Europe swell that number towards 1.5 million birds. It is these

migratory birds that Andrew from the game and why that Conservation

Trust is studying. During the winter, he has travelled the length

and breadth of the country, capturing and tagging woodcock.

get this huge influx of migrant birds from northern Europe in

autumn and they are with us through the winter but we know very little

about where exactly they are coming from, what timings they arrive so

we are trying to Tighe birds to learn more about where they're

coming from, how long they stay with us and high fearful they are

two sides through the winter. We're using two different technologies. A

light sensitive Tighe that stores light levels on board every two

minutes from which we can work out timings of sunset and sunrise and

accrued location across the globe to within about 100 kilometres. The

other one is a satellite tag so it does much the same thing but it

transmits to satellites and gives us data in a near real-time. This

one, you've got to get it back from the bird? That is a hard bird, so

that is much cheaper and we have to come back a year later to capture

those birds. Andrew might use high- tech kit but to capture the birds,

he uses much nor technology. They are listed in the daytime but they

are flying out on to fields to feed at night. It really is literally a

big landing net on a long pole and I just dazzle them with a car

headlight. A windy night helps. you hope for? Yes, I am hopeful for

tonight. Tonight, we were not just be tagging. Chris swift runs a

couple of chutes each year on his farm. He is keen to know more about

the birds on his land. It's fascinating to see what they are

doing, discover more about them, knowing if there is a surplus, it

is fantastic. Is it not a dilemma because you shoot woodcock but

you're also involved in conservation? There is, especially

when you see the immensely amazing travels they do. We had to shoot a

year here and that is it. As you can see, at dusk has well and truly

fallen. The birds are coming out of the trees, hopefully, and on to the

fields and they will start to feed. We will give them about 30 minutes

to settle before we go out and try to catch them. The wind has dropped

so these birds will be pretty jumpy and we will have to go slowly and

quietly and hope there is a bird or two that has not seen the land

before. We have just seen one that took off. Andrew has won in the

spotlight at the moment so I had dropped back. He is about 15 feet

from us at the moment. And it is down! Beautiful birds, aren't they?

With the Bird in Hand, we can switch on our lights and see her in

her full glory. I am going to see alligator on have a little bird. We

use this as a harmless because we want to have the stay on for the

lifetime of the bird and maximise the chances of getting it back. I

am hoping that I will come here this time next year and get this

one back. Is that not going to affect its flying? It doesn't

interfere with the wings at all. It is quite low down, above the bird's

centre of gravity. The bird will croon that in. If you would like to

release her, we will face her into the wind and hopefully, she will

jump. Not too hard. Face heard this way and on the ground. Sad to let

her go! Such a beautiful birds. she goes! Good luck to her.

Hopefully next year, and you can recapture her and find it exactly

where she spent her summer. We'll bring you the results of that

research next year. But you only have to wait for another week for

your next Landward programme. Here's what's on the programme. How

North Sea fishermen helped secure the future of the industry. Getting

Fishermen to stay away from areas that historically and instinctively

they know or awash with fish is extremely difficult. We meet an

award winning veteran of nature conservation. I think if you really

make an effort to restore natural habitats in urban areas, people to

understand what it is about and they do begin to appreciate it.

how to protect a castle full of antiques. Daylight causes