Episode 21 Landward


Episode 21

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This week on Landward, we delve into myths and legends,

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hawks and the harvest.

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It's 30 minutes full to the brim.

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Hello, and a very warm welcome to Landward.

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This year is the 200th anniversary

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of one of Scotland's greatest novels -

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Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott.

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In a moment, I'll be looking into the facts behind the fiction,

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and here's what else we've got coming up for you.

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Euan's tracking down sparrowhawks...

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These feathers almost act like human fingerprints.

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..I discover how the wet summer has hit farmers...

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Is this unusable? It's just going to stay in the ground, then?

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This area here, we'll just plough it back in and go again next year.

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Three, two, one.

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..and Arlene's on a dolphin rescue exercise.

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But first, on this damp, misty day,

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I'm here on the shores of Loch Katrine,

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to celebrate an important anniversary.

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Exactly 200 years ago,

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Sir Walter Scott wrote a novel

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about an outlaw who lived around these parts.

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The book, Rob Roy, was a phenomenal success,

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selling over 10,000 copies in the first year,

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making Rob Roy a national folk hero and Scott a household name.

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Scott's novel portrayed Rob Roy as a swashbuckling Scottish Robin Hood,

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but in real life, he was very different.

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-Peter, how are you?

-Really lovely to meet you, Dougie.

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-And you, too.

-What a nice day it is!

-It's absolutely horrific.

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Shall we put our hoods up and wander on?

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-I think that's a pretty good idea.

-It's wild, isn't it?

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Peter Broughan was the producer of the 1995 film Rob Roy,

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and an expert on the man and the myth.

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So, Peter, 22 years since the film came out.

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-Yes!

-I would imagine that you had to do a huge amount of research for it.

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-Yes.

-So, what's the significance of this particular glen?

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Well, this is the place where Rob Roy was born,

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over there at Glengyle.

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You can see the house there,

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and he was born in the bothy behind the house.

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So, this is where it all started in 1671.

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Was he a man of means, then, given the fact that

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-that's not a small kind of area by any means?

-No, no.

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Well, he was reasonably prosperous by the standards of the time,

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but he was a drover. I mean, that was his main source of employment,

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was being a farmer and a drover.

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Because the economy of the Highlands at the time was entirely based on -

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almost entirely based on - cattle.

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The trade got very busy in the sort of mid-17th century,

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and after the Union of the Crowns,

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and then the market got bigger and bigger down south.

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So, these guys would gather up the beasts,

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and then drive them, you know,

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-across that way...

-Uh-huh.

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Going eastwards, either to Crieff or Falkirk, to market.

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Rob Roy's Scotland was a turbulent place,

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riven by political and religious conflict,

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fuelled by the battle for the Crown.

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-Politically, where was he, then?

-He was a Jacobite.

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He was very much involved in trying to get the Stuart

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kings back onto the throne of Scotland, and if that's political,

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-then that's political.

-That certainly is.

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Over the years, Rob Roy became a well-respected cattleman,

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but when he was unable to repay a loan,

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he ended up on the wrong side of the powerful Duke of Montrose.

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-He had a deal with Montrose, he borrowed £1,000...

-Mm-hmm.

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..and that's when his life changed dramatically.

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It did. It was a cattle deal,

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the cattle deal went wrong, so after that,

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Montrose took revenge on him by seizing his properties

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and burning down his buildings and all the rest of it,

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and Rob Roy became an outlaw after that.

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He was officially an outlaw, and he had to live outside the law,

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and he also took revenge on Montrose,

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so it was backwards and forwards, tit-for-tat.

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You know, mutual violence against each other.

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We talk about hard men today, and it's a bit of a pernicious myth,

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the Scottish hard man, but, my God, Rob Roy MacGregor was a hard man,

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a really hard man.

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And the Duke of Argyll had a role to play within all that, as well?

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Yeah, at the same time as he was having the feud

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with Montrose, he also enjoyed the patronage

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and the protection of the Duke of Argyll.

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I think Rob Roy was always a pawn in the game that these larger guys,

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these larger figures, were playing with each other.

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He had the protection over a long period.

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But it wasn't to last.

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After many turbulent years,

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Rob Roy was eventually convicted of fraud,

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and did time in London's notorious Newgate Prison.

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He was later pardoned, and lived out the rest of his days

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back at his farm, Inverlochlarig.

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We just carry on up here.

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He died in 1734,

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and was laid to rest in the churchyard at Balquhidder.

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So, here we are.

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So, here. This is the man's grave.

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Which people still come and visit, as you can see, and leave offerings.

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"Died 28th December, 1734, aged around 70."

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I don't think he was quite as old as that.

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I think that's giving him a few years that he didn't have.

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So, why do you think, then, he has become such a mythical figure?

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Rob Roy was utterly real.

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Erm...he was struggling against much bigger and greater forces than him,

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and trying to survive at a time when that was very challenging.

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And, you know, I think his story, and triumphing over those kind of

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pressures and those kind of oppositions and obstacles,

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means that, you know, he's a man for his time,

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but he's also a man for all time.

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And that's why the myth has been revisited time and again

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in books, on stage, and on the big screen.

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A legend in his own lifetime and beyond.

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The story of the real Rob Roy was forged in this landscape.

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Now, we're going to Aberdeen Beach,

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where Arlene is about to take part in a rescue mission.

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Stranded marine mammals are one of the most disturbing and perplexing

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wildlife sights.

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Just last week, a dolphin stranded itself in Buckie Harbour,

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and despite the best efforts of specially trained volunteers,

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the white-beaked dolphin died.

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But when these beautiful creatures do become stranded,

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there's no time to ponder the reasons why.

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It's imperative that they are returned to the sea or they'll die.

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These ones aren't real dolphins,

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and this is an exercise run by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue,

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who attended the Buckie incident.

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Founded in 1988,

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the BDMLR now runs training courses for volunteers across the country.

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The training coordinator is Stephen Marsh.

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Well, it's really important.

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I mean, we've got 3,500 volunteers out there.

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Getting them trained up is really important

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for when we do have the mass strandings.

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In the last sort of five or six years,

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we've had five major mass strandings,

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and giving them the skills is great.

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On our day training course, they get to know the basics.

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This is where they actually get to feel what it's like for a whole day,

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actually caring for animals on the beach.

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Because we've got quite a few animals that are on their sides...

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Today's exercise involves the mass stranding

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of pilot whales and dolphins.

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Once the animals are upright, then we can start working on

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first aid with our watering cans and our sheets, OK?

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Members of the public, of course, if they see this,

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it's very distressing, and they'll want to assist,

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they'll want to help, but that can cause problems, though, can't it?

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It can. We had incidences where people have actually

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taken a filler hose and started filling up the blowhole,

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because they know that that's where the water comes out,

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so that's how they breathe.

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These are mammals, so that blowhole is actually a nostril,

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so we can't put anything in there.

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Where members of the public can help is obviously by calling us.

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If they can get the animals upright safely,

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then that really does help us.

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British Divers Marine Life Rescue

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was called out over 850 times last year,

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mostly to help stranded seals,

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but over 80 call-outs were to whale and dolphin strandings.

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Just try and gently pull them together.

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One, two, three.

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In our exercise,

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two of the dolphins are stranded on the beach side-by-side.

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We need to get them separated, so they can be rolled upright,

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treated and monitored.

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Why is it so important to have them upright?

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Just for inside, obviously it's going to injure them,

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so you need to be able to balance out.

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Right, so there's too much pressure if they're on their side?

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Crush injuries.

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What causes these creatures to come up on shore?

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What is it that confuses them?

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Very often, it can be anthropogenic, or man-made, causes.

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There can be natural causes,

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and over the last few years, we've had both.

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With pilot whales, pilot whales are very, very family-oriented,

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so if one animal gets into trouble,

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they will come in, seek shelter close to shore,

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and if they get caught out, if one gets caught out,

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then the others will probably try and come up with them.

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We've had them frightened in by underwater explosions,

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where armaments were being detonated,

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but we do get a lot of natural incidences as well,

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where we've got animals in distress, and they come to shelter.

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My job is collecting water in buckets at the moment,

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because what I've discovered is,

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there are no menial tasks to an exercise like this.

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Everyone has to work as a team.

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I guess the important thing is to avoid the blowhole at all costs.

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The beach is a hive of activity,

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with 65 volunteers from as far afield as Devon and Durness,

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all learning new skills or having a refresher.

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So, we're trying to rehabilitate this,

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or trying to stabilise this pilot whale here,

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so we can get it back into the water

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when the tide comes back in, so we're just keeping him moist

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just now, keeping him up in temperature,

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and just basically keeping him alive, hopefully.

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Currently, I'm measuring the breath rate to see how anxious

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the animal is, or if he's nice and relaxed.

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So, we've actually got a female here. So I'm waiting to see.

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There should be one breath every minute to have a nice relaxed whale.

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We have got signs up today,

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telling people in the area what's going on today,

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but there are a lot of people coming up to the beach,

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looking over the wall and think it's all real,

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so they run down to come and offer to help with buckets,

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and anything they can do to help, so, in the real thing, yeah,

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there's a lot of emotion involved.

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Someone cover the blowhole for me? Thanks.

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Just hold on to him there.

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As the tide turns, we start refloating the animals.

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Three, two, one.

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Steady.

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Our dolphin is the first to be slowly carried and reintroduced

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to the water.

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Well, these dolphins and whales might just be made out of latex,

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but you do become emotionally involved,

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and I've learned so much today from the volunteers,

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and maybe in the future, should the need arise,

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I'm ready to be part of something special,

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to get these incredible creatures back out to sea.

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For details of courses in your area,

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go to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue website.

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Now, from the coast to our nation's capital,

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where Euan's on the trail of a bird of prey

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making a success of living in the city.

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Sparrowhawks are magnificent hunters...

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..largely preying on small birds.

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I love sparrowhawks.

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There's a pair hunt in the woods near my home in Banffshire,

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and they're fast, cunning and incredibly beautiful,

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but you don't have to live in the countryside to enjoy them,

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because they're doing really well in our towns and in our cities.

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And here at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh,

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there's said to be at least two pairs, and I'm going to try -

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try - and find them.

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See if the workers have seen any.

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Have you seen any sparrowhawks?

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-No.

-No?

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Sparrowhawks are proving pretty elusive so far, but they are here.

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And they have had lunch.

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You'll have to take my word for this - I've just seen one.

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It went whoosh, a flash of grey, and it was gone.

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I think that might be my lot for today.

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But newly published research has actually revealed

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that urban sparrowhawks

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are doing better than their country cousins.

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-Euan.

-Staffan.

-Nice to meet you.

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Staffan Roos from the RSPB is one of the authors of the study.

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-You were quite surprised at what you found?

-I was.

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I thought that the sparrowhawks out in the countryside would have

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higher breeding success than the sparrowhawks here in Edinburgh,

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but to our surprise, it was the opposite.

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Any indication of why?

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I think most of our results suggest that it's better

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food resources here in the city than in the countryside.

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This is because people are putting out bird tables?

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That could be one good reason for it.

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When people feed birds in their gardens,

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it's a bit like calling the sparrowhawk and saying,

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"Dinner is served." And sad as it might be to see your blackbird

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being taken by a sparrowhawk,

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predation is a natural process.

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So, what did the study throw up? What were the results of it?

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The most striking result was that of all the pairs we studied,

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both in the countryside and here in urban Edinburgh,

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there were much higher failure rates in the rural study.

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-This is breeding failures?

-Breeding failures, so they lay eggs,

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but at some point during the breeding cycle, they fail.

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Out of 20 nests where eggs didn't hatch,

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18 were in rural locations.

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Sparrowhawks out in the countryside gave up their breeding attempt,

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and that could have been due to lack of food.

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The years of field work that provided this information

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were put in by members of the Scottish Raptor Study Group,

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among them, Mike Thornton and Ian Todd.

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They are absolute experts at spotting sparrowhawks.

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But not today!

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Morning, guys. Any sparrowhawks this morning?

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I'm afraid not, Euan.

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No, sparrowhawks are very elusive predators.

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They're lovely birds, though!

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They're fantastic birds, but they use cover,

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they use a lot of cover to ambush their prey,

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and hence they're very hard to see, and also very fast on the wing.

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But they're incredible predators, and they've colonised

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-urban environments like this.

-They are really smart, though.

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Usually whenever I've seen a sparrowhawk, it's whoosh,

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and it's going through a hole in the hedge and hammering a blackbird

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-or something like that.

-Well, they know what they're doing.

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They're sitting in a tree, watching for their prey species,

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then they plan out what their route of attack will be.

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They'll fly one side of the hedge,

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they'll flip over and surprise the birds,

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and hopefully one comes within its clutches.

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The female, when she's incubating,

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she moults feathers,

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and when you find moulted feathers on the ground,

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you know you're pretty near a nest site.

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And, in fact, here's a sparrowhawk moulted feather.

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These feathers almost act like human fingerprints,

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because you can identify an individual sparrowhawk

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based on the pattern and the number of bars on the feather.

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So, if you've got these feathers, or a few of them,

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you know pretty sure you've got a nesting sparrowhawk?

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They're a funny shape.

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They're not really an elegant bird, are they?

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Oh, they're very elegant. They're designed for speed.

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Long tail, broad wings.

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I would say they're a more charismatic flying bird

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than the peregrine, and everybody speaks about the peregrine,

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but the sparrowhawk is much better, much more charismatic.

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The results of this study are incredible,

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and the fact that the good folk of Edinburgh

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can now see one of Scotland's most iconic birds of prey

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in their back garden is fantastic.

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Now it's time to continue my search across Scotland

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for those weird and wonderful things that have inspired curiosity

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across the ages.

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This week, I'm in Aberdeenshire...

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Oh! Oops!

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..using my ears instead of my eyes.

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Now, when you hit one stone with another,

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it's usually a very disappointing thud or clinking sound,

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but the stone I'm looking for has a very distinctive sound, apparently.

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CLINK

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THWACK

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RINGING

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A-ha! There you go.

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Very different.

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This is the ringing stone,

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known locally as the Ringing Stone of Richachary.

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Wow.

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This isn't the only such stone you can find in Scotland.

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There are other examples dotted around

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of these sonorous, or lithophonic, rocks.

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Now, no-one knows why this rock actually rings.

0:18:060:18:10

Some suggest a high iron content,

0:18:100:18:12

others say that it's full of gold coins,

0:18:120:18:15

but I reckon, and this is a brand-new theory just made up today,

0:18:150:18:18

that there must be some kind of resonator here.

0:18:180:18:21

It's essentially hollow - that's why you get that noise.

0:18:210:18:24

The truth is, no-one really knows why it rings,

0:18:250:18:27

but I urge you to come, along here, pick up a stone and give it a tap.

0:18:270:18:31

And imagine that for thousands and thousands of years,

0:18:310:18:34

people have been doing the exact same thing.

0:18:340:18:36

I'm remaining in the north-east now, to see how the weather

0:18:400:18:43

has been putting a dampener on this year's harvest.

0:18:430:18:46

This summer was Scotland's fifth wettest on record,

0:18:520:18:55

bringing serious trouble for our farmers.

0:18:550:18:58

The high levels of rainfall caused delays to harvesting,

0:18:590:19:03

and led to abandoned crops.

0:19:030:19:04

The effects are still being felt.

0:19:040:19:06

Oh, look at that!

0:19:090:19:10

To find out about the implications of all this unwanted rain,

0:19:100:19:13

I've come to meet Aberdeenshire farmer Andrew Booth,

0:19:130:19:16

who only just managed to finish his harvest in mid-October.

0:19:160:19:20

-How you doing?

-All right, Dougie, yourself?

-Very well.

0:19:200:19:23

-Good to see you.

-And you, too.

-I see you're dressed for the occasion.

0:19:230:19:26

I've got the wellies on, yeah.

0:19:260:19:27

Now, the weather this summer has been truly atrocious.

0:19:270:19:30

How has that affected the farm?

0:19:300:19:32

Well, we're way further behind than we normally are.

0:19:320:19:34

You know, we're now into October. We have finished harvesting,

0:19:340:19:37

but we're still trying to drill next year's crops.

0:19:370:19:39

So, how long did the harvest actually take this year?

0:19:390:19:41

Well, we started early.

0:19:410:19:42

We thought we were going to have a great nice early harvest,

0:19:420:19:45

but it's 70 days from start to finish, and yet harvest being a...

0:19:450:19:49

My father tells me harvest month is September,

0:19:490:19:51

and the combines only rolled for five days in September.

0:19:510:19:53

-Wow, that's a huge difference.

-A huge difference to normal.

0:19:530:19:56

-So, do you still have fields with a lot of water on it?

-Yeah, yeah.

0:19:560:19:59

We've got a serious amount of water-logging in some areas

0:19:590:20:01

of the fields. You can see just in the distance here,

0:20:010:20:03

there's a bit in the middle of that field that we never got to,

0:20:030:20:06

and we won't get to now.

0:20:060:20:07

Can we have a wee look at the rest of the farm?

0:20:070:20:09

Certainly. Let's jump in the car.

0:20:090:20:11

Andrew's farm covers 3,000 acres just north of Aberdeen.

0:20:110:20:14

He grows barley, wheat and oats.

0:20:140:20:17

So, has the major problem for you been getting to the crops

0:20:180:20:22

because it's so wet?

0:20:220:20:23

Yeah, we've certainly had to choose our fields wisely.

0:20:230:20:26

Machinery is so much bigger

0:20:260:20:27

these days that when you do eventually get to it,

0:20:270:20:29

you can harvest a lot of crop in a short period of time.

0:20:290:20:32

Uh-huh.

0:20:320:20:33

But even then, there could still be problems.

0:20:330:20:36

We've just had to leave that bit. You'll see the bit through there.

0:20:360:20:39

-Oh, look at that. That's pretty bad, isn't it?!

-Yeah.

0:20:390:20:42

So, to be fair, you know, in the spring,

0:20:470:20:50

this was wet in the spring when it was sewn, hence it's pretty thin,

0:20:500:20:55

but it's now just impossible to pass.

0:20:550:20:58

You can see that the quality has gone.

0:20:580:21:00

This is a milling oat, and we don't really want any blemishes.

0:21:000:21:04

And you've got the black in there.

0:21:040:21:05

-You've got the blackening a bit, part of it, yeah.

-Is this unusable?

0:21:050:21:08

-It's just going to stay in the ground, then?

-This area here,

0:21:080:21:11

-we won't, because we'll do more damage to the soil...

-Yes.

0:21:110:21:13

..by trying to come in here and get this than what it's worth.

0:21:130:21:16

-A-ha.

-So we'll just leave this,

0:21:160:21:18

and hopefully in the spring, when we can travel,

0:21:180:21:21

we'll just plough it back in, and go again next year.

0:21:210:21:23

So, the harvest has been late and difficult,

0:21:240:21:27

and there have been some losses.

0:21:270:21:30

But is there any good news?

0:21:300:21:31

Yields are actually, to be fair, when we've got to harvest,

0:21:330:21:36

have actually been quite good, and quality, apart from maybe this,

0:21:360:21:39

has stood up.

0:21:390:21:41

My concerns are more with what we're trying to drill just now

0:21:410:21:44

for next year.

0:21:440:21:45

We already,

0:21:450:21:46

we feel like we're on the back foot a little bit for next year.

0:21:460:21:49

It all depends on how mild a winter or not we have.

0:21:490:21:53

As well as the crops, Andrew farms livestock,

0:21:550:21:58

and the problems with the harvest affect the animals, too.

0:21:580:22:02

Just in here. Yeah.

0:22:020:22:03

The price of straw has rocketed by almost 30%,

0:22:040:22:08

from around £10 per bale in 2016

0:22:080:22:11

to around £13 per bale this year.

0:22:110:22:14

Ultimately, this is some wheat straw that we very nearly ploughed

0:22:140:22:17

into the ground because we couldn't get to it for a month -

0:22:170:22:20

it lay on the ground for a month.

0:22:200:22:22

We eventually had two days back-to-back, were able to bale it,

0:22:220:22:25

but it's lost its body,

0:22:250:22:27

so it's not going to last as long as it normally would.

0:22:270:22:29

-So that...?

-So we'll have to use more.

-Yeah.

0:22:290:22:32

And ultimately there'll be potentially a shortage,

0:22:320:22:35

and that doesn't just affect us up here in the north-east of Scotland.

0:22:350:22:38

We've straw in the shed

0:22:380:22:39

that's destined for the south-west of Scotland.

0:22:390:22:41

It'll travel from the north-east

0:22:410:22:43

all the way to the south-west of Scotland.

0:22:430:22:44

So it's not just... There's the veg farmers as well.

0:22:440:22:47

So, carrots will need to be protected with straw

0:22:470:22:50

to keep the frost off them, and they need a huge amount of straw as well,

0:22:500:22:53

so there's a real knock-on effect to all parts of the industry.

0:22:530:22:56

Well, Andrew, thank you very much indeed for telling me

0:22:560:22:58

all about the difficulties you've had.

0:22:580:23:00

Hopefully we'll have a nice winter,

0:23:000:23:02

and you'll have a good summer next year.

0:23:020:23:04

Let's get out of the road of these beasties.

0:23:040:23:05

-Let them back to where they...

-Yeah.

-Enjoying the bedding.

0:23:050:23:08

-Exactly.

-Exactly.

0:23:080:23:09

COW MOOS

0:23:090:23:11

Dairy farmers also suffered because of the wet summer,

0:23:110:23:14

with waterlogged pastures providing poor grazing.

0:23:140:23:18

An extra difficulty for an industry

0:23:180:23:20

with tight margins and strong competition.

0:23:200:23:23

Willingness to adapt is often the only way to survive.

0:23:230:23:27

Arlene is heading to East Lothian now, to meet a husband and wife team

0:23:270:23:31

who've been nominated

0:23:310:23:32

for this year's Farmers Weekly Diversification Award.

0:23:320:23:36

Daddy did it.

0:23:360:23:38

Yester Farm Dairies, with its herd of 400 Holstein Friesian cows,

0:23:380:23:43

is owned and run by Simon and Jackie McCreery.

0:23:430:23:45

-Nice to meet you, Simon.

-And you.

-Jackie.

-Welcome, hi.

0:23:480:23:50

You've brought the weather with you!

0:23:500:23:52

I have, thank you. Specially for you.

0:23:520:23:54

Faced with a volatile market,

0:23:540:23:55

they changed the way they did business.

0:23:550:23:57

Frustrated with the low price of milk in the early 2000s,

0:23:590:24:02

Simon and Jackie took matters into their own hands,

0:24:020:24:05

and with Scottish Government cash,

0:24:050:24:07

they installed their own milk processing plant.

0:24:070:24:11

By 2007, they were selling their produce, including soft cheeses,

0:24:110:24:15

locally in East Lothian.

0:24:150:24:17

You decided to expand, develop, do something different,

0:24:190:24:22

and that's where the soft cheeses came in?

0:24:220:24:24

That's right, because we were making our own milk and cream,

0:24:240:24:27

which was going fine, selling locally, we had a local market,

0:24:270:24:30

but we undertook a review of the business

0:24:300:24:34

in 2011 or so, and realised there were lots of farmhouse cheddars,

0:24:340:24:37

lots of farmhouse hard cheeses, ice creams,

0:24:370:24:40

but there seemed to be a gap for Scottish artisan soft cheeses.

0:24:400:24:45

In 2015, with another round of funding,

0:24:450:24:48

Simon and Jackie were able to convert an old grain shed

0:24:480:24:52

into a state-of-the-art cheese production room,

0:24:520:24:54

where they're making their own take on an Italian favourite.

0:24:540:24:57

It's our fior di latte mozzarella,

0:24:590:25:01

which really means cows' milk mozzarella.

0:25:010:25:04

It's made in the traditional way,

0:25:040:25:06

in the open vats, and it makes a really good quality,

0:25:060:25:10

stretchy, tasty pizza mozzarella.

0:25:100:25:13

Hmm, all this talk of cheese has got my taste buds tingling.

0:25:180:25:21

Time to don my hairnet and find out how the mozza is made.

0:25:210:25:26

-Hello, Arlene!

-How are you?

-I'm well.

-Oh, cheesy hands, very nice!

0:25:260:25:29

Welcome, yes, lovely bit of whey on my hands!

0:25:290:25:31

Well, listen, this looks very interesting.

0:25:310:25:33

-What are you up to right now?

-We're making mozzarella.

0:25:330:25:35

This is mozzarella cheese,

0:25:350:25:37

-and we're preparing it for putting on our pizzas.

-OK.

0:25:370:25:40

And would you like to give me a hand?

0:25:400:25:42

I would love to give you a hand.

0:25:420:25:43

-Let me show you what to do.

-On you go.

0:25:430:25:45

-Hold the knife like this.

-Uh-huh.

0:25:450:25:47

And just slice like that.

0:25:470:25:49

-Very, very soft.

-I can probably do that, I think. OK.

0:25:490:25:52

And then you pick that up...

0:25:520:25:54

-..and throw it over there.

-Ready to get in the machine.

0:25:550:25:57

-Over there, yeah.

-I might fall in, this is the only problem.

0:25:570:26:00

-I'm quite short.

-You wouldn't be the first!

0:26:000:26:02

-And it's quite a long stretch.

-Go on!

0:26:020:26:05

Not just the cheese that's stretching.

0:26:050:26:06

OK, that's actually thicker than I thought it was going to be.

0:26:060:26:10

Nice texture.

0:26:100:26:11

-It's a lovely texture.

-Right, OK.

0:26:110:26:12

And so you're throwing it over there,

0:26:120:26:14

and it's ready for the guys on the machine to put it in to cook it

0:26:140:26:17

and to stretch it, and you're doing a super job there.

0:26:170:26:20

-Oh, thanks very much.

-You might just well find yourself fully

0:26:200:26:23

-employed here!

-That's great - I'm ready for the next stage.

0:26:230:26:26

And that's getting the curd sliced...

0:26:270:26:29

Perfect.

0:26:290:26:30

..cooked,

0:26:300:26:32

and the all-important stretch.

0:26:320:26:35

Look at the texture of it!

0:26:350:26:36

It's beautiful. It forms a lovely sheen.

0:26:360:26:40

It may be all about the stretching, but for this soft cheesemaker,

0:26:400:26:44

cutting the mozza into blocks is just...

0:26:440:26:46

-Ooh!

-Perfect!

0:26:460:26:49

..a stretch too far.

0:26:490:26:51

You're very strong! Jeepers!

0:26:510:26:53

Perfect.

0:26:560:26:57

-Mm-mm!

-There's the stretch!

0:27:010:27:03

SHE LAUGHS

0:27:030:27:06

Oh, that is good.

0:27:080:27:10

That's very good.

0:27:100:27:11

Now, I hear that you've been nominated

0:27:110:27:13

for Diversification Farmer of the Year,

0:27:130:27:15

which is a big deal.

0:27:150:27:17

Well, it was a shock to us to be shortlisted.

0:27:170:27:20

We're up with two other really go-ahead farming families.

0:27:200:27:24

It was great to be recognised.

0:27:240:27:26

It's a great profile for the business, as well,

0:27:260:27:28

and for our whole team, who work really hard to produce.

0:27:280:27:31

We certainly don't do it ourselves.

0:27:310:27:32

We'd lots of other people involved.

0:27:320:27:34

Well, it's been an absolute pleasure being here.

0:27:340:27:36

I wish you every success, and I'm going to take my pizza now.

0:27:360:27:38

Thank you!

0:27:380:27:40

That's about it for this week.

0:27:440:27:45

Here's what on Landward next time around.

0:27:450:27:48

Euan's going to ground - looking for badgers...

0:27:500:27:53

Wow. I'm guessing this is badgery here, is it?

0:27:540:27:56

Yeah, it's been recently dug last night.

0:27:560:27:58

Last night?

0:27:580:28:00

..and Arlene's beside the sea, dealing with the menace of nurdles.

0:28:000:28:05

-Can you start spotting them now?

-Oh, my goodness!

0:28:050:28:07

There are so many of these.

0:28:070:28:09

Yeah, we're going to be here for a long time.

0:28:090:28:12

So, please join us for that and much more a week on Friday,

0:28:120:28:16

as we're taking a break for Children in Need.

0:28:160:28:18

In the meantime, from all of us here, thank you so much

0:28:180:28:20

for your company. Bye for now.

0:28:200:28:22

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