Episode 2 Landward

When the sun is shining, there's nothing better

than heading to the coast, breathing some fresh sea air,

and tasting one of life's great joys -

a fish supper.

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward.

In a moment, I'll be heading to Peterhead fish market to find out

about the different types of sustainable fish

being caught by our trawlermen,

but first, here's what else is coming up on the programme.

Sarah plays midwife to 800 expectant ewes.

It's all fairly immediate, isn't it?

-It's "Hello, world," bish-bash-bosh.

-Yes.

We are having a day at the races

with the father-and-daughter racing team.

Go on, Lucy, go for home now.

ALPACA SPITS

And Euan takes one for the team at an alpaca show.

She just spat at me.

It is dawn in Peterhead and the fish market

is already wide awake.

89! 90!

Over one million boxes of white fish pass through here annually

before being exported all over the world.

We Scots aren't known for our adventurous tastes

when it comes to seafood.

Yes, we love our fish and chips,

but there has to be more to life than just cod and haddock.

Where better to find out than the biggest white fish market in Europe?

FISH TRADERS CALL OUT

To tell me about what is on offer today

is assistant harbour master Sandy Watt.

So, Sandy, what have we got on the market today?

Just over 2,000 boxes in the market today.

There was just over 7,000 on Monday, 3,500 yesterday

and 2,000 today and that's generally what happens in Peterhead.

Any chip shop you go into anywhere in Scotland,

it's either cod or haddock and we just don't try any alternatives,

but all the fish that is in here - the red mullet...

Some monkfish as well there.

Monkfish, it's exported as well,

so there is about 20 different species in this market

and we are just scared to try it.

42!

42!

42!

Well, the market is in full swing

and Nick Nairn has set me a challenge

to find a healthy and tasty alternative to cod and haddock.

Then we are going to cook it in the Landward food van.

The thing is, I don't know very much,

so I am going to have to get some tips.

After years of strict quotas,

cod and haddock stocks are now at sustainable levels,

but there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Fraserburgh merchant Mark Stephen is on hand to give me some advice.

What about a healthy alternative to cod and haddock?

-What would you suggest?

-Coley.

Coley is a fantastic species

and it's always available in the UK markets.

I think it is just more about tradition -

the nation doesn't eat coley,

but I think it is something we should definitely look at.

-Do you eat it? Is it tasty?

-It is a nice fish, yes.

Smoked, it's a treat.

Most of the coley that is landed here and sold here is exported.

Where is it actually heading?

Well, I'd think it would be European markets - France, Spain,

Germany, Holland, possibly a good part to Ireland as well.

And what are they doing with it?

A good portion of it would be smoked, but, yeah,

it would just be served in restaurants,

takeaways across Europe,

just like we would eat cod and haddock here, exactly the same.

And why do you think, here in Scotland,

we are just not really prepared to go off of cod and haddock?

Cos there are so many fantastic fish in the sea and they are super tasty.

Yeah, I think it is just tradition.

It just seems to be a nation thing,

everyone is always eating cod and haddock,

but I can see trends changing.

For example, hake on this market is now a very popular species.

That is just in the last maybe five to six years.

I don't know if it is a change in conditions at sea,

there is more being landed, a steadier supply,

so I can see trends changing,

but I think there is still a long way to go in that field.

With over 20 species to choose from, I'm spoiled for choice,

but at these prices, coley is hard to beat.

£50 a box, which is about 40% cheaper than cod,

but what does it taste like?

Later in the programme, Nick Nairn and I will be cooking up

traditional cod and newcomer coley to try out on the people of Perth.

Will they be able to tell the difference?

-I preferred the first one.

-The first one?

-Mm-hm.

Now, from Peterhead on the coast of Aberdeenshire,

200 miles north-west to Armadale in Sutherland,

where Sarah is visiting a sheep farm

at the most crucial time of the year.

Sheep farming is tough and lambing is the toughest of all challenges.

-Hi, Joyce, how are you doing?

-Good, how are you?

-I am Sarah.

'April marks the start of the season at Joyce Campbell's windswept farm

'on the remote Sutherland coast

'and I have come to lend her an inexperienced hand.'

We are going to catch this ewe and see - she has had one lamb

and she is needing to have her second one,

but she is taking quite long and she's maybe stopped pressing,

so we're maybe going to have a wee look.

She has 800 North Country Cheviot ewes and they are all expecting.

I think what I am looking at now is a foot

and it is coming backwards, so that has been her problem.

What we would like to see is the head and the two feet coming,

but what we have got is a back foot.

So how long ago did she have this one?

Maybe about three quarters of an hour ago.

OK. You're all right, you're all right.

OK, you're OK, you're OK, all right.

So that is the tail there.

-I need to be quite quick because the umbilical cord will break.

-OK.

Down and out.

-All right, how is it looking?

-Looking good.

He's got a lovely black foot.

He's just a wee gurgly, so we'll just give him a wee...

Upside down to get some fluid out of his lungs.

It's all fairly immediate, isn't it? It's "Hello, world," bish-bash-bosh.

Yes.

Joyce treats the lamb's navel with iodine to prevent infection

and then lets the new family bond in a pen.

-IMITATING BLEATING:

-Meh, meh, meh!

Meh, meh, meh, meh!

Meh!

LAMB BLEATS

That's good.

Excellent.

It's a 24-hour operation over the course of a month.

Joyce's shift runs from five in the morning until ten at night.

Most of our ewes will have single lambs,

but many will have twins and some, even triplets.

They get special treatment.

If we put them out with them,

they wouldn't just maybe make a good job of them,

they would make three poor lambs,

so what we do is we lift the third lamb,

usually the smallest lamb.

So you would pair them with another ewe, come the time?

That's right, yeah.

I always think it's a good news story

cos you've got this guy and he's getting a mum and he's a triplet

and he wouldn't have maybe survived in the world otherwise

and you're putting him onto a ewe that's lost her lamb,

so it's a win-win. You're making the best of a bad situation all round.

Before their adoption, the lambs are fed from a rubber teat,

but it takes a bit of getting used to.

He'll be maybe a bit reluctant to suck, he'll not be used to it yet,

whereas I'll try this guy. He should go on quite good, hopefully.

Try him on that one, where it's nice and warm, the milk coming up.

There we go. All right, it's all right.

-That's him, he's coming...

-He's sort of licking it a bit, I think.

He's not quite sure what's going on.

-Oh, he's going. Good on you, Sarah.

-There's something going on.

-You've got the knack of that job.

-Have I got the touch?

-I think you have.

-Is this the first time he's done it?

Yes, not been near it at all.

I'd like to say that I got rid of his L-plates.

I think you maybe have.

-You're all right.

-I think he'll be OK. A bit of TLC.

Right, off you go and have a play.

-Back to the heat lamp, I think.

-I think so. I think I'll join them.

It's time now to feed the new mums

and I'm keen to see how the lamb we delivered earlier is getting on.

I'll maybe leave that and just pick him up, see how he is,

-make sure he's OK.

-Is this Mr Black Foot?

-This is Mr Black Foot, or Mrs Black Foot, I think.

-Mrs Black Foot?

-Have we checked yet?

-Yes, Mrs Black Foot has a very, very fat belly

and is looking really well

and from having a really bad start in life is looking excellent.

I thought we got quite a healthy one, didn't we?

I think she's just a wee darling.

Quite like her, actually, quite love her.

She's a good size for a twin and really had a good start.

She's still wet and after coming out backwards,

she's looking really well cos it could easily have been

not such a good ending for her, but it was excellent.

-It's the Landward lamb.

-It definitely is the Landward lamb.

A good 'un!

A very good one.

There's only one more thing to do -

take them outside and let the lambs see the spring sunshine

for the very first time.

Just give them a bit of room?

Give them a bit of space and let them get mothered up

and sorted out and then she'll go away with them

and hide them from us all afternoon, I think.

That's what it's all about,

all the work we've had all year is to get the lambs on the ground

and now my job and our job is to look after them

and get them through to the end of the summer in one bit.

I was going to say, "Satisfied?" but you've got a long way to go.

Yeah, it's so satisfying, you have to enjoy the moments

and this is one of the really satisfying jobs of the year.

Absolutely, absolutely.

LAMBS BLEAT

LAMB BLEATS

Sheep farming may have been going on in Scotland for centuries,

but it's only in the last few decades

that we've started to farm alpaca.

The industry is growing

and Euan has been to the first-ever Scottish alpaca show in Lanark

to find out what makes a champion.

Cute, cuddly,

and exotic.

And the alpaca aren't half bad either.

Scotland may be very different from the mountains of Peru and Chile,

where historically these animals come from,

but quite a few have made their home here

and today, we're going to find out which is the fairest of the fair.

Yes! Yes, you are!

These alpaca have travelled from all over Scotland

and the north of England to take part in these championships.

Stuart Ramsay from Innerleithen in the Borders

has brought along some of his herd.

So why alpacas?

Why alpacas?

Well, we saw them at the Border Union Show

and we sat down and watched the show for what we thought was 15 minutes

and it ended up being an hour and a half

and ended up buying four pet boys and our herd's grown now to 22...23.

So is it for the meat, or is it for the fleece?

There is a very small meat market, but, primarily,

we keep these alpacas for the fleece.

You can get anything from £8 to £20, £25 a kilo.

And you're going to let me show one today?

-Yes.

-Hello! Oww!

They're a bit nippy.

This is Hejira, so this is the one that you'll be taking into the ring.

So what's involved?

The only thing the judge is going to ask you to do is to show her teeth.

You just make sure you've got a tight hold of her head

and you just open up, lift the top lip,

and push the bottom one down,

so the judge can clearly see the teeth and the top palate.

-So has she got a chance?

-We're keeping our fingers crossed.

There are some very good alpacas here.

This is the first Scottish show

and we're quite surprised at the level of alpaca that's here today.

And the man given the task of finding the top alpaca

is judge Matthew Lloyd from Australia.

So what's he looking for amongst the 120 animals here?

We're judging 60% fleece, 40% confirmation,

so I'm looking for a well-balanced, well put together, conformed alpaca

that's free-flowing, but I'm also looking for crimp definition,

organisation in that crimp,

a lovely, soft-handling fleece

and as dense as possible.

Right, so, a free-flowing alpaca with a good crimp definition.

Personally, I'm more concerned about leaving the ring

with my fingers intact.

As owner Stuart looks on, it's time for Hejira and me to enter the ring.

I don't know what's worse - waiting for the judge,

or Stuart's eyes burning into my back.

Lift that top lip for me, please.

Uh... Yep, perfect, thank you.

Luckily, I cope well with the teeth check

and I seem to be hiding my anxiety from Stuart.

Euan looks quite relaxed, actually.

He's not under any pressure, he's taking it all in his stride.

But then this happens.

Sorry.

ALPACA SPITS

That's a bad sign.

Judge Matthew doesn't seem impressed.

And it's done nothing to relax Stuart.

She just spat at me.

Not proper spit, but it was the start of a spit.

It turns out we had nothing to worry about anyway.

She gets first place in her class.

And Euan's done it.

-Lovely female, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Aw, fantastic.

Clever girl!

And there's a bonus.

How about that?

First.

First in class and reserve champion.

Wow!

And if you've got any great ideas for things

you'd like to see on the programme, alpaca or otherwise,

you can get in touch via our Facebook page or e-mail...

TYRES SCREECH

Throughout the series,

as I travel thousands of miles crisscrossing Scotland,

I'm going to stop off from time to time

to show you some of my favourite places for a pit stop.

Today, I'm in Peterhead.

Peterhead may be the white fish capital of Europe today,

but back in the mid-19th century,

it was at the very heart of the Arctic whaling industry.

This hole in the wall here is all that remains of an archway

made of the jaw bones of a whale and this archway

was the entrance to the Keith Inch boil yards,

where whale blubber was rendered down to make oils.

It is said that the stench from here could be smelled from miles away.

HE SNIFFS It doesn't smell too bad today.

Getting fish, though.

But if you want to find out about the Blue Toon's whaling past,

you need to come to the Arbuthnot Museum.

The museum is jam-packed with artefacts

brought back from the Arctic by whalers.

This ginormous harpoon, models of the ships they sailed in,

but this is my personal favourite -

Peterhead's very own polar bear.

Yes, he's looking a wee bit scabby and moth-eaten now,

but he has been here for over 100 years.

Now, there are all sorts of markers

for the change from winter to spring.

In the world of horse racing, it's the end of the National Hunt season.

Sarah's been spending time with a top Scottish trainer

to find out about the ups and downs of the sport.

Here at Kinneston Stables in Fife, the horses are in training

for the upcoming three-day festival at Perth Racecourse.

They do a 25-minute warm-up every morning

and it's just basically to make sure

that all their muscles are properly warmed up

before they go on to the gallop, which is steep.

Watching every move is yard owner and trainer Nick Alexander.

His family has bred, reared

and trained thoroughbreds for more than 50 years.

We ride three lots each morning, six days a week and on a Sunday,

we maybe ride one lot and most of them just go on the horse walker.

It's quite a family affair, the yard.

-Yep.

-How many of the family are involved?

Well, Lucy's a stable jockey, Kit is a stable amateur jockey

and Clare, she's at Edinburgh University,

but she rides out here three or four days a week.

She's riding this morning.

So three of your children are riding at the moment?

Yep, Kit, Lucy and Clare.

Now that the horses are warmed up, it's time for the gallop.

Three times up for everyone today, please.

Over the past decade,

Kinneston has become one of the top National Hunt yards in Scotland,

picking up wins north and south of the border.

And what sort of year has it been for the yard in general?

It's been a very good year.

We've had our most number of winners that we've ever had,

so it's been a good year.

They've been running very consistently

since the end of September, really.

The ace up Nick's sleeve is daughter Lucy,

who is the top-ranking female jockey in the UK.

So how are they looking this morning?

Very pleased with all of them. Yep, everything is going up nicely.

So what are your hopes for Perth?

Well, this year, Bertie Milan is one that's being specifically trained...

-Who Lucy's on at the moment?

-Who Lucy's on here.

He won there in September and we deliberately put him away

to miss all the bad ground in the winter

and we're training him for the race,

so I just hope we have him fit enough on the day.

And the day is the last day of the Perth Festival,

which opens the 2016 racing season at Perth Racecourse.

It's big business,

with racing contributing £173 million to the Scottish economy.

Nick and Lucy have travelled the short distance from Fife

with two of their stable.

That's the two horses just gone in, Dutch Canyon and Bertie Milan.

How are they looking?

Yeah, they've both travelled up well, looking nice and relaxed.

They both look alert and up for it, so we'll be OK.

The sun is shining. Conditions, are you happy with them?

Uh, it'll be all right for Dutch Canyon.

I'm very nervous about them for Bertie Milan.

Both horses will be ridden by Nick's daughter Lucy.

She's looking for her 19th win of the season

and I'm joining her as she checks out the course before racing starts.

What do you do when you come to a meet like this?

It's just to partly see what the ground conditions are like

and partly to see if they've moved the rails,

if there's any fresh ground and stuff like that

and, yeah, here it's been a dry week -

just seeing if the ground will suit the horses.

The atmosphere is building as Lucy prepares for her first race

riding Dutch Canyon.

A 10-1 shot, any kind of place would be a good result,

but I've got faith in Lucy.

Hi.

OK, I'd like to put £5 on Dutch Canyon to win, please.

-COMMENTATOR:

-And they are off and racing...

That's her, she's off.

'I'm watching the race with Nick,

'who surely is the most nervous man here -

'trainer of the horse, father of the jockey.'

She's getting a little bit squeezed up there.

She just ran out of space going round that bend there.

'14 runners over two-and-a-half miles, Lucy has her work cut out.'

RACE COMMENTARY

Come on!

'But Dad is pleased.'

CROWD CHEERS

Yeah, she has run a brilliant race.

-Fourth.

-Yes.

She certainly seems to look all right.

'They don't have long to recover,

'as their next race is the highlight of the festival,

'the Highland National.

'There's £20,000 up for grabs, including £13,000 for first place.'

-COMMENTATOR:

-And they're off and racing...

Lucy is in the dark cap on the left.

Bertie Milan won the race two years ago,

but it's his first time out in six months.

I'm happier with where he is now.

The ground will be a bit softer,

so he should jump better on the home straight.

Conditions for him are far from ideal.

He likes the going soft

and with three-and-three-quarter miles to cover,

it's going to be tough.

He's jumped it better that time.

His blood must be up now. The adrenaline will be pumping.

I wish they didn't have another circuit!

Considering he was a bit outpaced early on,

I'm delighted with how he's run now,

whatever happens, even if he runs out of puff

down this back straight this time.

-Come on, Lucy, go for home now.

-Come on!

-Just got a bit tired in the end.

-A bit tired.

But he has run a tremendous race.

Bertie Milan finishes fifth, just out of the prize money.

Pulled a blinder, hasn't he?

But Nick and Lucy are satisfied.

Delighted with him, yeah.

He travelled really well, jumped really well.

I thought, on that ground, he might not really go for it,

but he really tried.

I'd have loved him to have been in the first four,

but he has run better than I expected.

-You win some, you lose some.

-Yes, win some.

That's the thing about this sport, you're always looking ahead.

That's good. I like that positive attitude. Thanks, Nick.

A positive attitude that will take Nick

and Lucy all the way to the top, but I'm still a fiver down.

Earlier in the programme, I was up at the crack of dawn to see

the range of sustainable fish on sale at Peterhead fish market.

Now I've come to Perth to see

if the people of the Fair City will take to coley.

I'm joining chef Nick Nairn in the Landward food van

for a cod versus coley challenge.

Earlier in the programme, Nick, I was up in Peterhead

learning all about coley, and cod, of course,

and we have pieces of coley and cod here.

So what are we going to do with them?

Well, first of all, which is the coley and which is the cod?

Well, that's the coley there, and that's the cod.

Same family, very similar size of flake,

but which one tastes the best?

So what are you going to do with them, then?

We'll make mini cod fishcakes and mini coley fishcakes,

take them out to the good folk of Perth and see which they prefer.

Good stuff. Let's do it.

First of all, we need to cook the fish.

I have a frying pan, which is hot.

We need to put a little bit of butter in it and then,

when the butter melts, you need to add the fish.

So let the butter start to get that little noisette,

that hazelnut-y thing, and in with the fish, skin side down.

-Skin side down.

-Always. Coley in first.

And always do it so that it doesn't spit over me or you.

Perfect. And then the cod in there. Superb.

Back on top of the stove for just about two minutes, turn them over,

in the oven, four minutes, job done.

Once the fish is cooked, it's left to cool,

and it's then ready to be made into fishcakes.

You do remember which is which?

-I think this is the cod.

-Correct.

-And that's the coley.

-Yes.

-And they look quite similar.

Very similar. I've roasted them with the skin on.

It helps keep them moist.

-But the first thing you do is take the skin off.

-OK.

The cod may be very slightly softer, slightly more translucent,

but I honestly think, once they are in a fishcakes,

nobody is going to know the difference.

Flake them down and then we're going to add just enough

mashed potato to bind them.

A good fishcakes should be mainly fish with a little mash.

It shouldn't be the other way around. Work those together.

You can break the flakes down a little bit.

Not too much because you want to keep some texture in here.

So, why do you think, Nick, people are so reticent to eat coley?

I think it's because they don't know what it is,

and everybody is just brought up with cod.

Cod and haddock are the two most popular fish.

Coley, very similar in flavour, as I hope we're about to find out.

Fully sustainable, certified sustainable, which is fantastic.

Slightly cheaper as well.

Available all year round.

There's no reason why we shouldn't be eating a lot more coley.

We need to season these mixes.

So a little bit of salt, a little bit of freshly ground black pepper,

a squeeze of lemon juice,

and a generous pinch of freshly chopped parsley.

Take about a tablespoon of mix and shape it into a wee ball.

Is that working for you?

Well, not quite as well as you were doing it, I have to say.

"Coorse but hamely" would be my assertion here.

So they go into a bit of flour, then into eggwash, and the eggwash

will stick to the flour, and then straight out into some breadcrumbs.

Just shake them in the breadcrumbs,

and there you have a little mini fishcake.

The fishcakes are deep-fried for around two minutes,

drained in some paper and left to cool.

Then they're ready for the slavering citizens of Perth.

So, what we've got here - coley on this side...

-Shh, Don't tell anybody.

-Let's see which they prefer.

-Good luck.

-OK. So, fishcake A or fishcake B?

Do I have to finish it or...

You not throwing it away. It's delicious!

-Nice fishcake?

-Lovely.

Which one do you prefer? The first one or the second?

-The first one.

-I like that one.

-You like the first one better?

-Mm-hm.

-Interesting.

-The first one is tastier.

-The first one is coley.

-There you go.

-It was more moist.

-Excellent. It was lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-Coley 2-0. Fabulous.

Madam!

-Number one.

-Number one?!

-I like fish.

-The first one.

-The first one?

Pensioners getting any food during the day is really good.

-Would you know where to get coley?

-I would never have tried it.

-The second one.

-The second one?

-I prefer the first one.

-The first one?

-Mm-hm.

-That one is better.

-The second one is better?

-I like this one.

-That's interesting. You are preferring the coley.

Surprising results.

-Yeah, mine are too.

-So you would ask for...

-Coley.

Well, you've made an old man very happy. Thank you very much indeed.

Good, good.

George Clooney, News At Ten, goodbye!

-So, the results are in.

-They are indeed.

-What did you get?

Three cod, three coley. Right down the middle.

-Well, I was 4-1.

-That would be for the cod, yeah?

For the coley.

-The coley?

-Yeah.

-Quite extraordinary.

-Wow.

I honestly thought they would go for the cod.

-Personally, I'd have gone for cod.

-And probably I would have too,

but that just shows we know absolutely nothing!

-But you've got to go with what the public thinks.

-We certainly do.

Coley is the clear winner,

and here is what's coming up on next week's programme.

We take a look at the controversy over tail-docking...

If you're talking about amputating part of a dog's anatomy,

you need to be very, very sure that it's the right thing to do.

..Sarah meets the artist trying to paint

every castle in the Highlands...

You just have to paint, get out there and paint as much as possible.

..and I tried my hand at making rare-breed sausages.

It's amazing how tense I'm becoming!

So, join us for that, and much more, at the same time next week,

that's 7.30pm, Friday night, BBC One Scotland.

From Nick, me and all the Landward team here in Perth,

thanks so much for your company. Bye for now.