:00:26. > :00:32.Landward, putting the spotlight on our great landscape, wildlife and
:00:32. > :00:35.produce. In a moment, I will be setting off on the final part of my
:00:36. > :00:40.journey between Barra and the Butt of Lewis. But, first, here is what
:00:40. > :00:43.else is coming up on the programme. Nick visits the Royal Botanical
:00:43. > :00:45.Gardens. Some of these are now extinct in the
:00:45. > :00:49.wild. And, if it wasn't for collections like this, we might
:00:49. > :00:53.never even have known that they existed.
:00:53. > :00:58.Euan joins the Air Ambulance Service. OK? Yeah, you survived,
:00:58. > :01:02.Euan. You know, closing your eyes is good advice. Yeah.
:01:02. > :01:04.And we meet the rare ponies with a Greek heritage.
:01:04. > :01:14.??VYAN They look after themselves all winter and then, come next
:01:14. > :01:26.
:01:26. > :01:29.spring, the locals caught them again I'm on the final leg of my trip
:01:29. > :01:39.through the Western Isles, on the increasingly popular cycle route
:01:39. > :01:41.
:01:41. > :01:46.will cycle straight to Stornoway, where the ferry port is to the
:01:46. > :01:56.mainland. But some will insist on cycling all the way to the northern
:01:56. > :02:02.
:02:02. > :02:12.tip of the island, or the Butt of in the tiny township of Arnal, to
:02:12. > :02:14.
:02:14. > :02:18.see a slice of Hebridean life, a black house. And it is as
:02:18. > :02:25.Hebridean as peat fires and Bannock cakes. This one, at number 42 Arnal,
:02:26. > :02:32.is almost exactly as it was when the last family moved out in 1966.
:02:32. > :02:36.Marlene Macleod from Historic Scotland is here to show me round.
:02:36. > :02:39.So tell me this - why is it called a black house, then? See over there?
:02:39. > :02:41.In the 1900s, when the white houses were built, they had to
:02:41. > :02:46.differentiate the two, so they called them the white houses and,
:02:46. > :02:48.behind you, the black houses. that's a white house and that's a
:02:48. > :02:51.black house? But what about the architectural significance of this
:02:51. > :02:55.place? What's going on here? Well, the black house is double-walled
:02:55. > :02:59.and, in the centre of the wall, they used the ash from the fire and the
:02:59. > :03:01.peat dust and blue clay and mixed it together, compacted it and that was
:03:01. > :03:08.their insulation. See could call it your cavity wall insulation of
:03:08. > :03:11.today. Shall we have a look inside? Yes, come on. Shall we go that way?
:03:11. > :03:16.The occupants of the black house shared the living space with their
:03:16. > :03:19.livestock. People at one end, animals at the other. Now, I would
:03:19. > :03:23.imagine it would be quite smelly in here. Well, yes, the cows, as you
:03:23. > :03:26.can see over there, that's where the cows were and hens were there as
:03:26. > :03:29.well. But, in 1886, with the new legislations coming about, that's
:03:29. > :03:34.why the white house was built as it wasn't very good for animals and
:03:34. > :03:40.humans to be in the same house. Right. They thought there was health
:03:40. > :03:42.risks. So the white house had a byre attached to it? Yes, it was an
:03:42. > :03:44.outside byre. It was actually completely separate from the
:03:44. > :03:54.building, they weren't built attached, the way the black houses
:03:54. > :03:57.were. This is the bedroom area of the black house and, as you can see,
:03:57. > :04:01.there's the two box beds and each of the box beds would probably sleep
:04:01. > :04:05.about four or five. Four or five?! My goodness, they're tiny. So it
:04:05. > :04:08.might be all women in one and all men in the other. That's the kind of
:04:08. > :04:11.thing it was. But the families all shared and there was another box bed
:04:11. > :04:15.in the living area as well. That was traditionally Granny's bed because
:04:15. > :04:21.it was in beside the fire and that's where the older person in the house
:04:21. > :04:31.would sleep. That's a great heat. Now, the one thing you notice
:04:31. > :04:31.
:04:31. > :04:34.straight away... There's no chimney. No. They didn't want a chimney
:04:34. > :04:37.because the smoke actually helped seal the roof and, because all of
:04:37. > :04:41.the roof materials are organic, that is what keeps it... Otherwise, if
:04:41. > :04:45.there was no fire, the roof would cave in. The peat, when you look up
:04:45. > :04:48.there, it turns into soot. And, every year, they would take off the
:04:48. > :04:53.thatch above the fire, and they used the scrapings of soot and that was
:04:53. > :05:03.used as a fertiliser for the potatoes. Oh, right.So everything
:05:03. > :05:07.
:05:07. > :05:10.local traditions have never died. And this includes the cutting of
:05:10. > :05:17.peat to use as fuel, which is traditionally done in the spring,
:05:17. > :05:27.when the peat is often at its driest. I'm here to meet John D
:05:27. > :05:28.
:05:28. > :05:32.right. How are you doing? I'm very well. How are you doing? I can shake
:05:32. > :05:36.your hand. That's fine! They're not dirty, they're just mucky. Take me
:05:36. > :05:39.through the process. How do you go about cutting it and can I give you
:05:39. > :05:42.a hand here? This tool you are using here, is that a specific
:05:42. > :05:48.peat-cutting tool? Yes, it is. It's specifically for peat stripping. He
:05:48. > :05:52.puts it in, steps on here and that cuts it down, all the way down. Keep
:05:52. > :05:58.going, keep going. That's it. Now take it forward a wee bit. And then
:05:58. > :06:01.back, all the way. That's it. There we are. That's good. So what is this
:06:01. > :06:05.tool called, John? I never got the name of it. It's called... It's
:06:05. > :06:10.called a talisker. Talisker. Like the whisky? Yeah, same thing.Same
:06:10. > :06:13.thing. There you go. Unfortunately, it doesn't taste quite as good.
:06:13. > :06:16.how would this have worked in a crofting township, then? How would
:06:16. > :06:23.the process have worked? They would have set six or eight men, working
:06:23. > :06:29.the talisker. So two men here, two men here, two men here, at the
:06:29. > :06:33.various levels. So, in one day, you could cover the whole family.
:06:33. > :06:37.And this went all round the village. And you take your turns the help out
:06:37. > :06:46.your neighbour? Exactly. Do more or less exactly the same thing every
:06:46. > :06:51.time. Well, thanks to John and Marlene for a real taste of
:06:51. > :07:01.traditional Hebridean life. Only a couple of miles to go now to
:07:01. > :07:07.
:07:07. > :07:17.wind is at your back, the road is so flat most of the way that the bike
:07:17. > :07:22.
:07:22. > :07:32.winds and horizontal rain can be just as common. So take all-weather
:07:32. > :07:37.
:07:37. > :07:42.landscape is pristine and you'll see some of the best beaches in the
:07:42. > :07:52.world. There's wildlife everywhere and the people are always welcoming.
:07:52. > :07:56.
:07:57. > :08:01.So would I recommend cycling the Scotland. Earlier in the series, we
:08:01. > :08:11.featured our top five iconic wild animals. Over the next four weeks,
:08:11. > :08:17.
:08:17. > :08:21.Nick will be finding out about our has a collection of over 15,000
:08:21. > :08:23.plant species, making it the second richest collection in the world. As
:08:23. > :08:33.well as being one of Edinburgh's premier tourist attractions, the
:08:33. > :08:40.
:08:40. > :08:44.garden is also a globally important of the Botanic Garden, the part the
:08:44. > :08:47.public don't get to see very often. What happens in here? Well, we use
:08:47. > :08:50.these plants for all sorts of different types of research and, in
:08:50. > :08:54.this one house alone, we're doing research on pollination and on
:08:54. > :08:57.evolution and many other things. In fact, all the plants outside are
:08:57. > :09:00.also of research potential and could be used for research because they
:09:00. > :09:03.are carefully recorded, we know where they've come from, who's
:09:03. > :09:08.collected them and so on. But, like any museum or library, we specialise
:09:08. > :09:11.in particular areas. So we don't try to grow every single plant in the
:09:11. > :09:14.world. We couldn't, we'd get in a complete mess. What we do is we
:09:14. > :09:20.specialise on particular groups of plants which are relevant, either
:09:20. > :09:22.historically or from our research or, indeed, climactically. Now, in
:09:22. > :09:29.world terms, where does the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden
:09:29. > :09:32.figure? Well, we like to think we're pretty high up there. There are more
:09:32. > :09:35.botanic gardens in the world than people might think. There are nearly
:09:35. > :09:38.2,500 botanic gardens. Some botanic Gardens only specialise in plants
:09:38. > :09:41.from their own country. But we have a global reach. Partly because of
:09:41. > :09:45.our empire and colonial background. We've got a lot of historic material
:09:45. > :09:47.but we are working in 44 different countries at the moment and we have
:09:47. > :09:57.contacts with at least 80 different countries' and botanic gardens
:09:57. > :09:58.
:09:58. > :10:03.around the world. So we are truly the Royal Botanic Garden also houses
:10:03. > :10:13.the dead collection. There's a herbarium. It has over three million
:10:13. > :10:15.
:10:15. > :10:18.preserved specimens. That is half of Dried flowers - why do we need to
:10:18. > :10:22.collect dried flowers? Well, the thing is, the plants are pressed
:10:22. > :10:25.flat and dried out and then they're stored in these cabinets. We have
:10:25. > :10:28.about three million of them here, going back to the early 18th century
:10:28. > :10:31.and some a little bit earlier, including plants collected by Darwin
:10:31. > :10:36.on the Beagle. So quite historic as well. So this little dried flower,
:10:36. > :10:40.that was actually collected by Darwin's expedition on the Beagle?
:10:40. > :10:44.Yes, indeed. In 1831 to 1836, during that voyage. So there are some very
:10:44. > :10:47.interesting historic collections here. But most of it is here to
:10:47. > :10:50.support research. These plants are collected in the field by scientists
:10:50. > :10:54.working in the countries that they specialise in or in a particular
:10:55. > :10:58.plant group they specialise in. And it's not just the flowering planys
:10:58. > :11:01.like the daisies and the lilies and the trees but also we work on mosses
:11:01. > :11:05.and liverworts and lichens as well, so a whole range of the plant
:11:05. > :11:09.kingdom. Sometimes when you try to describe a plant, you need to have
:11:09. > :11:13.the flowers and the fruits and maybe look at the roots as well and the
:11:13. > :11:16.shoots and leaves and, if you look at a plant out in the garden, at one
:11:16. > :11:18.time of year, it's maybe only flowering. Another time of year,
:11:18. > :11:22.it's only seeding. But the thing about having herbarium specimens is
:11:22. > :11:25.you can have a group of specimens covering all the different stages of
:11:25. > :11:27.growth, so you can get all of that information together and then
:11:27. > :11:30.describe the size and shape and arrangement. Are you still
:11:30. > :11:33.collecting and adding to it? Absolutely. This is work that's
:11:33. > :11:35.required now more than ever before. And so one of the latest
:11:35. > :11:38.conservation projects, called the Global Strategy for Plant
:11:38. > :11:45.Conservation, the number one target is to recognise that we must have a
:11:45. > :11:49.complete world checklists of all the known plants. We must know what's in
:11:49. > :11:52.the world before we can ever hope to conserve it. And while there are
:11:52. > :11:55.about 400,000 species of plants in the world, we think, there are more
:11:55. > :11:58.being discovered all the time and places like botanic gardens are
:11:58. > :12:03.cataloguing and listing plants, liverworts, lichens and mosses.
:12:03. > :12:06.There still may be thousands out there to be discovered. And we must
:12:06. > :12:08.find out what there is out there before it's all lost and it's too
:12:08. > :12:11.late. Now, even little, small, seemingly insignificant things like
:12:11. > :12:16.mosses and liverworts, they're very important to the environment, aren't
:12:16. > :12:19.they? They are, absolutely. They are too easily neglected and overseen
:12:19. > :12:22.but they are important in what we sometimes call ecosystem services,
:12:22. > :12:26.making sure the water we drink and have is clean, making sure the air
:12:26. > :12:31.we have is clean, stopping erosion and they lock up carbon as well, so
:12:31. > :12:41.every species plays an important role. Even the smallest little
:12:41. > :12:42.
:12:42. > :12:48.plants, they are all there and they glimpses of the present, the past
:12:48. > :12:52.and even the future. And it's poignant to think that some of these
:12:52. > :13:00.are now extinct in the wild. And, if it wasn't for collections like this,
:13:00. > :13:10.we might never even have known that they existed. Next week, I'll be
:13:10. > :13:13.
:13:13. > :13:19.finding out about the nation's fighting to save the rare Skyrian
:13:19. > :13:23.ponies. Recent research has shown that they're unrelated to any other
:13:23. > :13:33.horse and pony breeds that we have tested so far. So they constitute a
:13:33. > :13:36.
:13:37. > :13:40.a vital service, getting sick and injured people from remote areas to
:13:40. > :13:49.hospital as quickly as possible. Euan spend the day with one of their
:13:49. > :13:52.crews to find out more about their Every year, thousands of people rely
:13:52. > :14:00.on an air ambulance to get them to hospital fast and in remote, rural
:14:00. > :14:04.areas, that airlift could be a matter of life or death. I will just
:14:04. > :14:07.sit here for now. All right, nice and still. Today I am on a training
:14:07. > :14:13.exercise with Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance. The latest addition to
:14:13. > :14:15.front-line emergency services. Predictably, I am the casualty. Not
:14:15. > :14:18.the most comfortable experience in the world(!) I know. Ready, steady,
:14:18. > :14:20.roll. There you go. Get us the head blocks, please.
:14:20. > :14:25.Here in Scotland, the government funds two helicopters and two
:14:25. > :14:32.fixed-wing air ambulances based in Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. But
:14:32. > :14:35.this helicopter is funded entirely by charity. I think there is a limit
:14:35. > :14:40.to the government funding, it is finite funding. It is not possible
:14:40. > :14:45.to stretch that any further. So a charity comes in. They are 18
:14:45. > :14:47.charity air ambulances in England. It works very well down there. It is
:14:47. > :14:50.a coming together of the state-funded part and the
:14:50. > :14:58.charity-funded part to provide more value and capacity across the
:14:58. > :15:03.country. You OK in there, sir? Yep, as good
:15:03. > :15:07.as it gets. Once we are up in the air we will get you sitting up a
:15:07. > :15:16.bit. All ready?Yeah, I'm good. Fuel's come in, temperatures rising,
:15:16. > :15:19.blades are turning... The helicopter crew is made up of
:15:19. > :15:29.two paramedics and a pilot. Alex Holden is the paramedic charged with
:15:29. > :15:29.
:15:29. > :15:38.looking after me on this flight. Do you know what you are going to be
:15:38. > :15:40.doing when you get into the chopper? Yeah, we all have specific roles.
:15:40. > :15:43.Obviously, starting with safety and then obviously navigation and once
:15:44. > :15:47.we get to the patient it is patient care. And then arranging hospitals
:15:47. > :15:51.that we are going to go to. Some of these hospitals we have never been
:15:51. > :15:56.in before, so they will be new to us. Any further treatment that we
:15:56. > :15:58.would need to give you, we would be giving you at the moment. Yeah.We
:15:58. > :16:02.would be making radio communications with the hospital explaining what
:16:02. > :16:05.was wrong with you, when we would be there and if you were needing any
:16:05. > :16:08.further interventions once we got there. As well as that, we are
:16:08. > :16:16.obviously planning navigation things such as how to get to hospital, if
:16:16. > :16:26.there is any risks en route and... We take you in, drop you off, hand
:16:26. > :16:28.
:16:29. > :16:32.you over to the doctors and then It has been identified that there
:16:32. > :16:35.will be a rise over the next eight years so in demand on helicopter air
:16:35. > :16:38.ambulances in Scotland. If the Inverness aircraft has gone north,
:16:38. > :16:41.the Glasgow one has gone west to support the islands then we can
:16:41. > :16:44.support the main part of mainland Scotland. We are looking at 450
:16:44. > :16:48.hours flying in the first year, an average mission length of maybe an
:16:48. > :16:51.hour to one hour 15 minutes and that works out to be affecting the lives
:16:51. > :17:01.of over 300 people in year one. That is a hugely significant number.
:17:01. > :17:05.
:17:05. > :17:09.Especially if you are on the That is us down now. Once we
:17:09. > :17:19.shutdown we will get you out of the aircraft to get you back on your
:17:19. > :17:23.feet, OK? It is fine after the initial
:17:23. > :17:25.You know, now it is over it is fantastic, but it must be a real
:17:25. > :17:33.daunting experience. It is quite disorientating, but now we are back
:17:33. > :17:39.on the land it is quite relaxing. Just close your eyes. Keep them
:17:39. > :17:42.close until you get to the end, OK? Closing your eyes is good advice.
:17:42. > :17:45.is very rewarding. Being part of this operation with the charity and
:17:45. > :17:48.the ambulance service coming together, it is really a new venture
:17:48. > :17:55.for Scotland and a new challenge for everyone involved. It is exciting
:17:55. > :18:01.times. It will take off and be successful and we will save lives.
:18:01. > :18:11.Is he OK? Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance went live this week and I
:18:11. > :18:15.
:18:15. > :18:18.think it is going to be a fantastic If you have a comment about anything
:18:18. > :18:19.you see on the programme or have a wonderful story to share with us,
:18:19. > :18:28.wonderful story to share with us, wonderful story to share with us,
:18:28. > :18:31.drop us an e-mail The weather here in Glen Clova is
:18:31. > :18:34.breezy and a bit overcast but what about the prospects for this weekend
:18:34. > :18:44.and beyond? To find out here is Christopher Blanchett with the
:18:44. > :19:02.
:19:02. > :19:06.morning. We have this thick cloud across the Hebrides. For the
:19:06. > :19:09.mainland in the Northern Isles tomorrow it is dry and find with
:19:09. > :19:13.blue skies and plenty of bright sunshine. It will feel pleasantly
:19:13. > :19:17.sunshine. It will feel pleasantly warm. By the time you reach mid
:19:17. > :19:20.afternoon it will feel quite pleasant.
:19:20. > :19:26.Slightly cooler across the West calls across the island. 11 or 12
:19:26. > :19:30.Celsius. Coming inland through part of Aberdeenshire and Perthshire it
:19:30. > :19:35.will be around 19 or 12 Celsius. Lovely conditions on the hills and
:19:35. > :19:41.for climbing. Winds will be light. Some chance of that workload and
:19:42. > :19:47.outbreaks of rain. Similar for the eastern ranges. Fantastic
:19:47. > :19:57.visibility. We have very clean air. Good conditions. For the seventh at
:19:57. > :20:02.
:20:02. > :20:12.target. The wind is very light. Over towards the ease, there should be
:20:12. > :20:16.
:20:16. > :20:26.smooth seas and good as ability. -- good visibility. That weather front
:20:26. > :20:29.
:20:29. > :20:33.works its way inland overnight but it will fragment as it does so. As
:20:33. > :20:39.we head through toward Sunday, that weather front continues to track its
:20:40. > :20:48.way forward. It will bring brighter skies but it will still be dry also.
:20:48. > :20:53.One or two spots of rain here and there. It should be dry and bright.
:20:53. > :20:57.Temperatures around 15 or 16 Celsius. Foreman baby have this area
:20:57. > :21:03.of low pressure working its way. The winds will strengthen and there will
:21:03. > :21:10.be some heavy rain, particularly across the south-west. Temperatures
:21:10. > :21:16.will drop down to 12 Celsius at best. For Tuesday and Wednesday that
:21:16. > :21:21.area of low pressure tracks its way southwards. A number of showers will
:21:21. > :21:25.be feeding and on that east to south-east wind. In between the
:21:25. > :21:30.showers there are some bright skies to enjoy. Temperatures around 13 or
:21:30. > :21:40.14 Celsius. On Wednesday it is a similar story with brighter skies
:21:40. > :21:41.
:21:41. > :21:47.and a number of showers. Winds while the later and they are towards the
:21:47. > :21:50.the later and they are towards the north-east.
:21:50. > :21:53.An award-winning Jedburgh vet is behind a project to save a rare
:21:53. > :21:56.breed of pony that originates in the Greek Islands. Sarah has been to
:21:56. > :22:00.find out more about the ponies and to meet this year's foals.
:22:00. > :22:04.The Skyrian horse is a breed native to the Greek island of Skyros. They
:22:04. > :22:14.are one of the rarest breeds in the world and standing at an average of
:22:14. > :22:17.
:22:17. > :22:22.nine to 11 hands high, they are also Outside Greece, the only breeding
:22:22. > :22:28.programme for Skyrians is right here in Scotland. Borders vet Sheila
:22:28. > :22:30.Brown is dedicated to preserving the diminutive breed. How rare are they?
:22:30. > :22:32.They are on the Food and Agricultural Organisation
:22:32. > :22:38.Critical-Maintained List, which means that globally we have less
:22:38. > :22:43.than 120 breeding mares and stallions. And the only breeding
:22:43. > :22:51.herd outside Greece is right here in Scotland. It is in Scotland, yes.
:22:51. > :22:54.And currently it numbers 28 altogether. They look totally
:22:54. > :22:56.different from any other horse or pony certainly that I have seen
:22:56. > :23:00.anyway. Characterwise, they are so curious about people, they do not
:23:00. > :23:03.shy away from people they do not know, they will come up and
:23:03. > :23:05.introduce themselves to you. They are also so kind, very gentle and
:23:05. > :23:15.very docile animals, which makes them so responsive and rewarding to
:23:15. > :23:21.
:23:21. > :23:25.How these little horses came to be in Skyros is lost in the mists of
:23:25. > :23:28.time. Legend has it that they pulled the chariot that took Achilles into
:23:28. > :23:38.battle against Troy and that these tiny horses are the equines depicted
:23:38. > :23:42.
:23:42. > :23:45.Up until mechanisation reached Skyros in the 1960s, the locals used
:23:45. > :23:49.them for farming and for traction. They were brilliant tied up to
:23:49. > :23:52.thresh and they used to go round and round in circles threshing the corn.
:23:52. > :23:55.And then when they had finished, they would let them go and they
:23:55. > :23:58.would look after themselves on the mountains of Skyros. They would look
:23:58. > :24:04.after themselves all winter and then come next spring, next harvest time,
:24:04. > :24:06.the locals caught them again and use them for farming and traction. But
:24:07. > :24:16.then when they got machines to do that, that became unnecessary so
:24:17. > :24:19.
:24:19. > :24:22.nobody bred them and their numbers fell. What are numbers like in
:24:22. > :24:32.Greece at the moment? In Greece itself, only about 100-110 breeding
:24:32. > :24:34.
:24:34. > :24:36.animals, throughout the whole of Over the last decade, the number of
:24:36. > :24:39.Skyrian horses in Greece has increased as the importance of
:24:39. > :24:46.preserving rare breeds is recognised and in Scotland, numbers are growing
:24:46. > :24:49.too. Some of the original herd were brought here to the Campbell Estate
:24:49. > :24:59.in Fife and our timing couldn't be more perfect because last night one
:24:59. > :25:10.
:25:10. > :25:14.So, Catherine, we are pretty lucky today, aren't we, because you have
:25:14. > :25:17.just had a recent addition? It is perfect timing, isn't it? Yes. This
:25:17. > :25:22.one arrived on Saturday and the new little filly arrived yesterday
:25:22. > :25:28.morning. So two new foals?Two new foals in the last few days and one
:25:28. > :25:31.more to go. How big a herd do you have? Well, we just have the three
:25:31. > :25:36.mares and the one stallion. We got the mares two years ago and the
:25:36. > :25:38.stallion arrived this time last year. I suppose in terms of the
:25:38. > :25:42.breeding herd generally, how important is it that we recognise
:25:42. > :25:44.that this breed is very rare and preserve it? I think it is very
:25:44. > :25:48.important with all breeds. Once you have discovered this rare breed,
:25:48. > :25:58.yes, you have to try to keep them as pure as you can and spread them
:25:58. > :26:01.
:26:01. > :26:04.around Scotland so that we get more Now, I understand you are on the
:26:04. > :26:10.lookout for people to help keep the breed alive in this country, is that
:26:10. > :26:13.right? That is correct. Because they are such a unique genotype. I mean,
:26:13. > :26:16.recent research has shown that they are unrelated to any other horse and
:26:16. > :26:21.pony breed that we have tested so far, so they constitute a unique
:26:21. > :26:25.genetic resource and it beholds us to not let them get extinct at all.
:26:25. > :26:28.Our aim is to promote and maintain them as much as possible. Now in
:26:28. > :26:31.Scotland at the moment, we have breeders and keepers in Dumfries,
:26:31. > :26:38.East Lothian, in Fife and Perthshire and recently in Argyll, but we have
:26:38. > :26:40.very, very limited numbers. We have one breeding pair that we would like
:26:41. > :26:43.to find a knowledgeable and experienced home for, someone to
:26:43. > :26:47.help us join our breeding programme in Scotland. So you are basically
:26:47. > :26:50.looking for someone to take on a pair of these ponies and look after
:26:50. > :26:54.them? That's right and eventually as they get old enough to breed from
:26:54. > :27:04.them and then to join us in keeping the numbers up to a satisfactory
:27:04. > :27:05.
:27:05. > :27:09.With less than and 200 Skyrian horses left in the world, the breed
:27:09. > :27:19.are in critical danger. So any increase in their herd numbers here
:27:19. > :27:30.
:27:30. > :27:33.in Scotland will help to secure The rare and rather beautiful
:27:33. > :27:36.Skyrian ponies and their Border saviour. Now, I've just got time to
:27:36. > :27:39.tell you what's coming up on next weeks programme: Nick explores the
:27:39. > :27:42.Royal Botanical Gardens. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
:27:42. > :27:47.has started its own search for Scotland's top five plants.
:27:47. > :27:51.We find out how sheep are helping to tackle the problem of giant hogweed.
:27:51. > :27:54.The black-faced sheep because of the pigment in their skin was very rare
:27:55. > :27:57.if not at all affected. And we meet the first of three
:27:57. > :28:03.amateur weather forecasters. long do you actually spend each day
:28:03. > :28:13.forecasting? Probably about six-plus hours! And you are still married?!
:28:13. > :28:16.
:28:17. > :28:20.Yes, exactly. She's got a lot of So please join us for that and much