Part 1, Early evening Midsummer Live

day of the year, when new life is beginning. So, how are you marking

it? Midsummer is a special time in Scotland, where the long hours of

daylight make life seem that bit more magical, as the days don't come

much longer than not here on the island Lewis. We are live on BBC Two

Scotland, and also streaming live on web all over the world. We will be

right here up until the key moment when the sun sets behind the stones

over there. Until then, we will be bringing you stories from across

rare and beautiful clouds that can only be seen in summer. And round

the world cyclist Mark Beaumont has been racing the sun. If I have got

any chance of getting to the west coast by Somerset, -- sunset, I had

better get going. In the natural world, there is an explosion of new

life right now, so we bring you the best wildlife stories, with a sick

that returns to the wild. The seas that come alive as the temperatures

rise. And the red squirrels bringing of Britain's most important seabird

colonies off the coast of Fife. It is teeming with new life at this

time of year. Catriona is there for us this evening. This really is peak

season here on the Isle of Man. Nearly a quarter of a million

seabirds migrate thousands of miles to spend the summer reading on this

island. We have had cameras here for the past 24-hour is, and I can tell

you that it has been busy, noisy, frantic and bursting with activity.

Take a look at this. At first light, the islands sprang into

life, quite literally, in the form of two Arctic turned chip is born

this morning. Thousands of puffins took to the sky. The island is one

of four strategic research sites in the UK, so what is happening here on

the island gives us a picture of what is happening to seabirds

nationally. I will be finding out how the season has been going so

far, and getting up close to some baby puffins. They are very cute,

and you don't need to leave the city to experience the explosion of

wildlife. We are coming live from the heart of Edinburgh, the Royal

botanic Garden, where they are holding a buyer blitz. Hermione is

there for us. A biome lit is when experts record as many species as

they can find in 24 hours. It is a way of taking a snapshot of the

wildlife in an area. It should help us work out what an impact the poor

spring has had. When they made a tally of insects, they counted just

five different species compared to the 35 last year. Hopefully, the

natural cycle has just been delayed, not actually stopped, and the

counted tonight will show that things have improved. Thank you,

Hermione. Lots of great stories, and loads of wildlife. And maybe a party

brewing! They're certainly could be. So

please stay with us as we celebrate this Midsummer evening, right until

the culmination of Midsummer celebrations, the sunset. That will

be happening at 10.20. It is hard to predict the next five minutes, let

alone the next three hours. We are going live to Glasgow for Judith to

tell us the chances of seeing a sunset. Hello, Dougie. Little chance

of seeing the sunset where you are in the Outer Hebrides. The cloud is

-- best place to catch the sunset tonight. I am highly optimistic that

you will see some beautiful sunset in the east of the country. And

temperatures not looking too bad, score, but we need to keep our

fingers crossed. We are asking you to send in your

photos and sunsets taken anywhere in Scotland. You can upload them to our

website, and we will show the best amazing stones. They have been here

for 5000 years and have seen it all. It is no wonder they attract

visitors from all over the place. This young lady here is here for the

summer solstice. Why a you hear? am an artist, and Midsummer is the

peak of the year. And this is like the peak of ancient Britain, and

when I first came here in 1982, I did the whole journey right from

Land's End to reach here, and once I got here, I couldn't believe it. I

couldn't leave, so I live here, and I have been coming to Midsummer ever

since. It certainly is magical. This is the first time I have ever been

here, and they are uniquely beautiful, even from a geological

point of view, and with all these incredible features. There are many

theories about why our ancestors built this place, and later we will

have more on the latest scientific evidence, but first, what do we know

about people who built this all weathers, these stones have

stood. Imposing, intriguing, mysterious. Over the years, they

have captivated and bewildered many. Even the earliest historians

seems to be fascinated by them. In the first century BC, the Greek

historian Dio Dorris wrote about a magnificent spherical temple

dedicated to the lunar god Apollo. Some believed he was describing

these stones. Others speculated that they were giants turned to rock by a

magician. That might be why the locals once knew them as the false

men. The stones have endured, but the landscape around them has

changed dramatically. I know from bitter experience the

weather here in the Western Isles can be wet, wild and windy, but 5000

years ago when these were constructed, it was a different

story. It was warmer, the sea was lower, and write here was at the

area would have been bustling with livestock and Stone Age farming

families tending their crop will stop -- crop. Alison, when I think

of the Stone Age, I think of primitive people. Were they

primitive? They were anything but. Their way of life would have been a

farming way of life, fairly simple. We know that they grew barley and

wheat, and they tended cattle and sheep and pigs. But actually, they

were incredibly sophisticated. were the communities fairly

isolated? We know that they were certainly communicating with other

communities, so 500 years before this stone circles were built, we

know they were going from here to Orkney, it would have taken several

days. The West Coast was a natural trading route. Archaeologists have

found proof of that right here. Basically, this is a bit of a very

fine bowl. It was probably made about 2900 BC, and it dates to the

time when the circle was built. The great thing is that you get

identical pottery in Orkney, and you also get it elsewhere in Scotland.

You get it as far south as southern England and the area around

Stonehenge. It means people in contact over these are vast areas.

2000 years after the stones were erected, the landscape began to

change. The climate grew colder and wetter. Between 900 and 400 BC, a

blanket of Pete built up over the islands. It even smothered the

stones. They were partially buried by it for more than 2000 years. It

wasn't until 1857 that it was finally cut away. And average of

five feet of soil was peeled back to rid -- reveal these towering stones.

In other areas of the island, it is even deeper than it was here. Who

knows what else could be hidden beneath this vast expanse? In an

area like this, how much a wee standing on? It could be as much as

five metres, 16 feet. So we could see evidence of potentially other

stone circles? Absolutely. We know that they're Arfield walls

underneath. Let's start digging it something very special and fragile

here. Alison Sheridan has brought something truly amazing that came

out of the earth here. It is a perfectly preserved Stone Age axe,

complete with its wooden handle. It is made of Hawthorne. The axe head

comes from Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1982. And the reason it

is still in this great shape, is That is absolutely incredible. Lucky

you being inside, it is freezing out here. 200 miles away over on the

Firth of Forth, Catriona Shearer is waiting to tell us what the puffins

are up to. Midsummer for puffins is all about raising their newborn

chicks. All around this area beside me are boroughs, and the puffins

live safely underground. The parents have been flying in and out to feed

their chicks. It has been a really tough year for puffins. Back in

March when the birds should have been coming here to the island to

breed, three and a half thousand were washed up on the east coast of

Britain, and that caused concern to the people here on the island. If

you come down here with me, this is Professor Mike Carys, and he has

spent years researching the island. Here is a wee baby, four or five

days old. We weigh a few every year to see how well they are going to

grow. We are worried this year because they are late. So we are

interested in how well they grow. We weigh them every four days for about

a month. So what does this little guy way? Let's have a look. In he

goes. He would have hatched and about 40 grams, and now he weighs

120, so he is doing well. They winter right out to sea, and they

can cope with almost anything, but this year they came back early

because of the wind. They dive perhaps ten metres down, and the

turbulence makes feeding very difficult. So have you seen the

effects of the puffin wreck on the island's population? We have 46,000

nests this year, and four years ago, we also had 46,000. We think the

numbers slowly increased over the last few years, but we have lost the

extra. So how many are on the island now? 46,000 nests, so about a

including the chicks. We had better get this little guy safely back in

his burrow. Thank you. It sounds like the puffins could do with a bit

of good summer weather. Later I will be meeting some other seabirds which

love the sun. Join us later for more of that. She keeps talking about the

sun, doesn't she? Midsummer is another busy time for the red

squirrel. They are busy feeding their young and scouting out

territories. They are threatened species and high Hermione Cockburn

has been meeting someone who is determined to help them survive.

There is no doubt that summer is a good time for much of the natural

world and it is a good time for us humans as well. More lights, more

vitamin D, suddenly you want to get up and go. Watching some animals can

get you that feeling too. Just one look at these is enough to raise

squirrels. There is nowhere better to see them than here, a small wood

on the outskirts of the city of Dundee. It is owned by Jimmie and

Rosie Reid. Rosie has MS and Jimmie now spends a lot of his time caring

for her. But this remarkable couple are perhaps Scotland's greatest red

squirrel conservationists and have turned there would enter a squirrel

sanctuary. I have lived here almost 50 years and all through my

childhood and youth I never saw a squirrel. It was one afternoon. I

was sitting in the living room having a bit of a rest and I saw a

red squirrel running right along the top wire of the fence and I could

not believe it. It was so clever. It gripped hold of the wire fence with

its hind legs and hung upside down beside the bird feeder and started

helping itself to the peanuts. I said, right, Jimmie, we need to get

more feeders. We thought if we could give them supplementary feed, give

them a place of sanctuary, a place where they could all meet up, then

that might help their breeding and so far it would appear that it has

been working. We were lucky and we were able to buy the little corner

of the ward. Now, it is part of our lives. It is what we are. It has

given Rosie a new lease of life. Rosie was a biologist and chemist

originally our past was going to castles and walking up hills. We

can't do that with a wheelchair. So we have had to move our sights and

we have been focused on trying to do what we can for the local wildlife

and we bounce everything off each other and it is great. Jimmie

supplies the squirrels with half a tonne of nuts that year. Keeping

them going whatever the weather. But there is more to Rosie and Jimmie's

work than simply providing food. Their sanctuary is radical jumping

off point for red squirrel recovery and retention. The Tayside wildlife

officer explained how it works. How is it that red squirrels are able to

thrive here so close to such a big city? There has been a population of

squirrels in and around Dundee historically, but what was starting

to happen was that the number of ways squirrels was beginning to

build up to the extent that red squirrels were being pushed into

woodlands like this and they were able to hang on here. Along with

that there has been a fair measure of control of the great population,

trying to hold it at bay and not let them overwhelm them completely.

do you feel about the work that Rosie and Jimmie have done here?

think what Rosie and Jimmie have achieved here is quite remarkable.

They have made a safe haven right on the edge of the city. The fact they

can come here through the winter, they can feed, they can be fit and

healthy, means that you have got a really good strong breeding

population. Can squirrels from here moved to other parts of the

neighbourhood # At this time of year what is happening is that young

squirrels are starting to spread out now. They were maybe born in early

spring, late winter, and they stay in the nest for nine or ten years

and after that date. To spread out. The facts we have a good healthy

population building up all the time means there is a population that

will move. That is happening in midsummer? It is all happening in

midsummer, they are on the move. With a threefold increase in the

local red squirrel population, Rosie and Jimmie's wood has helped make

Dundee one of Scotland's greenest cities. So do happy squirrels mean

happy people? Rosie, do you buy into this whole idea that is good for you

to get out and watch wildlife? How does it make you feel? Just

wonderful. I am at my happiest when I am outside in the sanctuary with

the wildlife. It just lifts my soul and you forget all the worries, just

put that behind you. I don't look at it, don't look back. I am in the

sanctuary and this is now. It is the best place to be, now. There are

times that I can't get outside with my disabilities, but I have the

second-best option. I have had a very special huge window but in and

I can sit on my bed and look out of the window and after a minute or two

macro window on the surrounds disappear and I am outside the wood

with the wildlife and occasionally feels like the wood and the wildlife

in the bedroom with me. There is never a day goes by that I do not

Jimmie and Rosie are remarkable couple, well here at Callanish the

drums have started, the Bells have started, two and a half hours until

sunset. The party is going strong. They are on the edge of Europe,

almost as far north-west as you can go, was over 18 hours of daylight on

midsummer stay. Let's see how the sky is looking across Scotland

today. Let's head straight to the east, the Royal botanic Garden in

Edinburgh. Look at those clouds and shadows, is not beautiful? What

about the West Coast, the west of Glasgow? It is looking brighter than

here, that is for sure. Very nice. There is Callanish, not quite so

bright and breezy! All these hours of daylight mean we can pack so much

more into one day, especially up here. We challenged Mark Beaumont,

adventure and round the world cyclist, to chase the sun along the

north coast of mainland Scotland. He is going to try and follow it from

the moment the sun rises in the east to when it sets in the West, 120

miles in a single day. On the way he will discover how the locals are

morning, sitting outside my tent at the most north easterly point in

North Britain. Any further and I would be in the North Sea. It has

been up to pretty mystery night. I woke up a couple of times. I could

have sat up and read, it was so light. It is amazing how quickly the

sun is climbing off the horizon. I need to pack up, get up on the bike

here right across the top of Scotland to Sandalwood Bay, on the

West Coast. I am hoping to catch the journey. Just enough time to meet

some people also enjoying these long are biting. Eddie McCarthy is the

superintendent for the river. If there is anything you need to know

about fishing, he is your man. are you doing question mark good to

see you. An early start. Are you used to being on your river at this

time? We tend to use the extra daylight to fish for the salmon.

midsummer particularly good time to fish a question at Yes. As year

progresses, probably peaking around midsummer, we have the arrival of

the grouse which is a smaller version of the salmon so I would say

this is a much more productive in midsummer. All this chat about fish

has made me very hungry but fortunately Eddie's colleague Pat

has rustled up some freshly caught brown trout. That is absolutely

delicious! Washed away start the day. -- what a way to start the

day. The fish are perfect fuel for the road and I am going to need it.

I am leaning -- leaving Caithness behind and heading into Sutherland

which really marks the start of the hills. This is also the part of

Scotland I know nothing about. I have explored all corners of the

globe but never this part of Scotland. However, today I am making

up for that and my next stop is a dramatic headlines slap bang in the

middle of the North Coast. -- headlined. The views from the light

house that struck the point are stunning, stretching far out to the

east and west. I can't afford to spend too long here but it is the

perfect place and the perfect time of year to spot the mammals like

dolphins and whales. Paul Castle is the local ranger. It looks a bit

rough out there to spot anything interesting. It is, unfortunately

the wind got up last night and it has made the water to be. Throughout

the summer there are daily sightings here. It is a young minty wail.

There is a long back section and a small Finn. This is the porpoise, a

small triangular fin. What brings the whales, dolphins, porpoises,

around this point? They are following the fish around as the

summer goes on and the water gets warmer. There is two things you

need, patience and a big slice of luck but I think the look is maybe

not on our side today. I wish I could spend longer here in the hope

of seeing something at the sun is already ahead of me and I need to

catch up. Although I just can't resist stopping off at this

viewpoint to check out the amazing scenery. From here I can pretty much

see the north-west of Scotland stretching ahead of me. There is

still a long way to go. It is going to be the longest day I have done on

a bike for a long, long time and if I've got the chance of getting right

across the West Coast by sunset I had better get going. There is quite

when we come back. We will be back, live, on BBC Two at nine o'clock but

before we go, don't forget to keep sending your best Scottish sunsets.