0:00:05 > 0:00:08Imagine walking away from your normal life
0:00:08 > 0:00:12to live on a beautiful island packed with spectacular wildlife.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Whoa!
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Well, that's what I'm doing,
0:00:17 > 0:00:22working as a volunteer nature ranger in the Outer Hebrides.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Welcome to my Great Escape.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27Come on Reubs, come on.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43It's four months since I arrived in the Outer Hebrides.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44270? Yeah. Going once.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47I've hosted a fund-raising dinner to get some working capital.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51There we are, that's the first cheque.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55'And now I'm ready to start spending.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59'The first priority is way-marking the new nature trails.'
0:00:59 > 0:01:01All right Reubs, I'd move if I were you.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05'Including the escape route taken by Bonnie Prince Charlie.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Now I need to just go and pepper the landscape with posts, like a man possessed!
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Ow! BLEEP!
0:01:11 > 0:01:16'Along the way I discover the secret of surviving in the Outer Hebrides.'
0:01:16 > 0:01:19A big factor in people living here for all these
0:01:19 > 0:01:24thousands of years has been the community, it's still the case today. Everyone has to muck in.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29And as winter hits the islands, I'm left stranded.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32- What's going on? - My car's broken down.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48I had a sudden burst of enthusiasm-stroke-mild panic.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52It's a bit like studying for an exam and then suddenly realising the exam
0:01:52 > 0:01:55is two days away and you haven't done enough.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59So I've been doing the trails, there we are, and just figuring out
0:01:59 > 0:02:04exactly where they're going to be, and just an awesome amount of work to do.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16These nature trails are a really important way of opening up the islands to tourists.
0:02:16 > 0:02:23My job as ranger is to write a guide booklet for each one and to make sure they're easy to follow.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30'One of the great historic trails on these islands is the Bonnie Prince Charlie trail.'
0:02:30 > 0:02:31Come on, Reubs.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Suppose it may be myth, may be legend, it may be history, no-one really knows, but it's the route
0:02:36 > 0:02:38that Bonnie Prince Charlie followed over these islands kind of when he
0:02:38 > 0:02:43was in exile, when he was running away, and a group of local people have got in touch with the forum
0:02:43 > 0:02:47to say it would be really great to actually follow that route and turn it into a bit of a feature
0:02:47 > 0:02:51of the islands, and I thought a really nice way to do it would be on horseback.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Is that easier?
0:02:53 > 0:02:54- Perfect.- It's the biggest size you can get.- Really?- Yeah.
0:02:54 > 0:03:01It's a while since I've ridden so stable hand Danielle McGillivray has selected a horse who sounds perfect.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03And the horse you've got for me is...? Is Webster.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06He's an old gentleman. The army gave him to us.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Doesn't like drums and pipe bands so he didn't quite pass.
0:03:10 > 0:03:16Rather ambitiously, I've ticked cantering as my level of ability.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21'Danielle's clearly heard it all before and insists on an assessment of my true abilities.'
0:03:21 > 0:03:23I should be all right with him.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27- So how long have you been doing this?- Eh, 16 years.- Wow.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Since I was three.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34It's a great sight, these big horses, and many years ago I got really interested in kind of
0:03:34 > 0:03:38medieval history, and these were the horses the guys used to ride into battle in.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43These sort of crosses between the shires and those great big legs and great stout thighs.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47The animal that built an empire, that is. Come on then, Webster.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51- Walk on. There we go.- Oh, perfect.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- Are you OK?- Yeah. - This is my kind of pace on a horse.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Reubs seems completely unfazed, doesn't he?
0:03:58 > 0:04:00- Good lad.- I assume, Danielle, you're going to lead me
0:04:00 > 0:04:03right round the Bonnie Prince Charlie trail. I think that would be a...
0:04:03 > 0:04:09- Lead you? No.- Come on. - Try not to tip forward because Webster's got that naughty habit
0:04:09 > 0:04:13- of dropping his shoulder, then you're down. Off we go. - Come on, then.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16- Come on, mister. - Shorten up your reins a wee bit.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19That's the first stage and use your legs to squeeze
0:04:19 > 0:04:22and using your voice with a raised voice, "Trot on, Webby!"
0:04:22 > 0:04:26- Trot on, Webby, come on, Webby come on.- Trot on, shoulders back.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Looks very good, see the bounce, well done.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Very good, Webster, very good.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32Watch...Reubs.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Shoulders back.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'I hardly think I've passed the test with flying colours.'
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Ah, that was close.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45'But we're off on the trail anyway.'
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Go on, Webster, go on.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Bonnie Prince Charlie spent the summer of 1746 on Benbecula
0:04:52 > 0:04:56hiding from the English army after his crushing defeat at Culloden,
0:04:56 > 0:05:02and eventually escaped over the sea to Skye, disguised as a woman.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Bit of off-roading.
0:05:04 > 0:05:12There was a £30,000 price on his head, which is the equivalent of £4.5 million in modern money.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15So this guy was Public Enemy Number One.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19If Bonnie Prince Charlie had been on you, Webster, he would have been caught.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Come on Webster, good lad, come on.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Webster, come on, it's the camera crew, Webster.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Come on Webster, come on.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34You can see from this countryside how easy it would be to hide someone here, and this area was saturated
0:05:34 > 0:05:40with Redcoats from the Hanoverian army, and he moved through this countryside with two people.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44There was a local lady called Flora MacDonald, there was a local man called Neil MacEachen,
0:05:44 > 0:05:51they were loyal Jacobites, the Hanoverian army was hot on his heels and they spirited him away to
0:05:51 > 0:05:57the coast and from there he caught a boat to Skye, and this is thought to be the exact route that he followed.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02It's a lovely walk, obviously, and that's all Webster's done, is walk and stand still.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Webster, that way, come on, come on, Webster, good lad.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Come on, come on, come on, Webster.
0:06:09 > 0:06:15Webster, it's another horse. You can't be scared of another horse, that's ridiculous.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Come on. Tide'll be in by the time we get there.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Come on, Webster, come on.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23- Good lad, good lad, come on, come on, come on.- Keep kicking.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26That's it and once he's walking, keep going even though he's kept walking,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28keep it, that's it, keep after him.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Come on, Webster, come on, good lad good lad, come on come on, come on.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37The next part of the trail isn't strictly where Bonnie Prince Charlie went
0:06:37 > 0:06:40but there's some sand flats down here
0:06:40 > 0:06:44that make for fantastic riding apparently so we're going to have a little go at that.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00What we've got to do now is actually step off the horse and do
0:07:00 > 0:07:06the rest of the journey on foot because it's over there, there's no sort of tracks any more.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Over there is the actual spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie
0:07:09 > 0:07:12was supposed to have got on the boat to Skye.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17So stable manager Sue MacDonald has sent the horses back
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and a boat is going to pick us up at the very place he left.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25So this is one of the places, Monty, that Bonnie Prince Charlie allegedly threw his gold in.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Should have brought my Speedos!
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Yeah, and you can just imagine here I mean do you think this could have been the very point?
0:07:30 > 0:07:36This looks very... I love the trees, you know, it looks kind of a bit gnarly, a bit...
0:07:36 > 0:07:41it looks the sort of place where gold should be hidden, doesn't it, really.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49- This is DJ, Sue's husband.- Hiya.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52The man is going to help us make good our escape.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55- You're here to rescue us. - Ah, well...
0:07:55 > 0:07:59So this was the ruin where he's supposed to have spent the night?
0:07:59 > 0:08:02That's right, well, a few nights, actually, more than one.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05So this would have been an old black house or...
0:08:05 > 0:08:08It would have been a turf house, it's a sheiling really.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13There's no signs of any rocks left so it was obviously completely made of turf.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17It's very big, that's what we wondered why it's such a big area
0:08:17 > 0:08:19for a very ancient house, it must have been pretty large.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21A house fit for a prince.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23They lived quite a grand life...
0:08:23 > 0:08:25It's surprisingly moving to be in the exact place
0:08:25 > 0:08:28immortalised in the famous song -
0:08:28 > 0:08:31# Speed, bonnie boat like a bird on the wing
0:08:31 > 0:08:32# Over the sea to Skye... #
0:08:32 > 0:08:36'Well, this is it, journey's end.
0:08:36 > 0:08:44'All this happened in 1745 and a whole new era of Scottish history started.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46'This was the final leg of his journey'
0:08:46 > 0:08:50of a guy who'd got his armies to within a 120 miles of London,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and he left here a broken man and he left behind him a legacy which meant
0:08:54 > 0:08:57that the clans were rent asunder,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00traditional Highland life ceased to exist,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04it was almost ethnic cleansing that he was leaving behind him...
0:09:04 > 0:09:09So...heavens only knows what was going through his head as he moved out of this inlet.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19I'm just writing up the thing for the Bonnie Prince Charlie trail.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25It's a very famous piece of Scottish history and I find it extraordinary
0:09:25 > 0:09:29that it's not marked up, you know, it's not on maps, it's not a
0:09:29 > 0:09:34significant part of the islands, you know for anyone to come and visit,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37to do the Bonnie Prince Charlie trail.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41I particularly enjoyed it with the horses, of course I'm no horseman, and I was pretty nervous
0:09:41 > 0:09:46about the old cantering and galloping bit across the mud flats.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51They say, don't they, that one of the things you should do before you die
0:09:51 > 0:09:53is gallop a horse along a seashore
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and I thought I could do them both together.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00I thought I could you know gallop a horse along the seashore and then die,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04but I just didn't do the last bit.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07I just did the galloping bit. Fantastic, you know really life affirming, great feeling.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Come on, Reubs.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26We're doing a barbecue for Fergus' kids.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Cook 'em a few burgers and poison them.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34That's good, that's kind of going, I've only got seven firelighters in there.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Fergus is the Laird of North Uist and he's been a huge help to me, and a really good mate,
0:10:39 > 0:10:45so a Halloween barbecue for George, Rosie, Violet, and their childminder, Shona,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47is the least I can do in return.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Well, I think this is going to take about...
0:10:50 > 0:10:52sort of four or five days to cook your burgers.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Well, we've brought a kite down, haven't we?
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Oh, I've got... you know it's Halloween?
0:10:59 > 0:11:03I've got some horror teeth. Who wants that mask?
0:11:03 > 0:11:10Now that is scary! That is hideous, which, George, sadly leaves you with a wig.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17Days like today, you know... it's not easy living up here sometimes, you get rotten days and you know,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20short days, especially in the winter, but every now and then you get a day like today
0:11:20 > 0:11:28where the kids come down the beach and I think things like this, you remember forever, don't you,
0:11:28 > 0:11:34a day that's stolen from the summer and barbecuing and playing with the dogs, and perfect weather.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51That's Smokey and that's Streaky - you can tell by the ears.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54- Reuben's very jealous, isn't he? - FRANTIC BARKING
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Reuben gets jealous, he gets very jealous.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59Here we go.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02It's amazing how much the pigs have grown,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05you know I'm going to have to come over there with piglets and,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and they're amazing animals, you know, they're great company.
0:12:08 > 0:12:14The old pig is, he's very bright and they've got a lot of character to them and, of course the idea at
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Christmas is that I'm going to slaughter 'em... (going to slaughter 'em,)
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and you know make them into sausages and save the money for the ranger,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27for the ranger position, and that's going to be a tricky one, let me tell you,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33cos you know we've bonded, me and the pigs.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Still there we are, we'll see, cross that bridge when we come to it.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Come on, Reubs, this way, this way, this way, go on, good lad.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20It's a nice feeling this morning, because I'm heading to Barra,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23which is always nice cos it's a great island,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25and I'm doing some good solid ranger work there,
0:13:25 > 0:13:30exploring a project about the effects of erosion on the islands.
0:13:30 > 0:13:31Smell any dolphins?
0:13:48 > 0:13:53This is the southernmost tip of the southernmost island that's occupied in the Western Isles.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58This is the island of Vatersay and beyond here you're starting
0:13:58 > 0:14:04to get to uninhabited islands that have been given over to the birds and the beasts and the wilderness.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08You're never too far from wilderness here, but out that way is the real deal.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Come on then, come on.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15You've got these lovely white dunes at the top of these beaches
0:14:15 > 0:14:19leading, of course, to a hugely significant environment
0:14:19 > 0:14:23which is the machair, which is pretty much unique here in the Outer Hebrides,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and machair is essentially grass that grows in sandy soils,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30and the locals have learnt to farm it, so they grow crops and they graze animals on it.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35But of course this is facing straight down the barrel of these
0:14:35 > 0:14:39huge winter storms that come along and erosion is a massive factor.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43But there's some local people doing something very positive about it
0:14:43 > 0:14:46and recycling in the truest sense of the word.
0:14:46 > 0:14:47Come on, Reubs, come on.
0:14:47 > 0:14:48Hi, Rod.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51How's it going?
0:14:51 > 0:14:55'Roddy MacLeod left the islands when he was 16 to join the Merchant Navy.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00'He returned to Vatersay, the home of his wife and grandparents, in 2002.'
0:15:00 > 0:15:02So we'll get these in the van and...
0:15:02 > 0:15:06- Right, let me give you a hand, by the way. - Oh, it's no problem.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11'He's been working on an innovative anti-erosion project for the last four years.'
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Good to see you make the same noise bending down as I do!
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- That'll do.- Perfect.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19- OK right.- OK. We'll head over.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23- Yeah, shall I hop in?- Yeah. - Right Reubs, in.
0:15:26 > 0:15:33Oh, as I said it's luxury. My Land Rover's being devoured from the inside by the dog
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and destroyed from the outside by the Uists.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43It was thought a little while back that the obvious solution to the erosion of the dunes was just
0:15:43 > 0:15:46dumping soil on top and this is an attempt to do that,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51but when you dump the soil, you dump all the seeds and everything that's contained in the soil,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56and you can see what's happened here is basically all the plants have grown up, these are not
0:15:56 > 0:16:03plants from dunes and from machair, they're from soil much further inland, so it just wasn't practical.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07It in terms of retaining the environment the way it is, this was not a solution.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11The nets ARE a solution.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Overgrazing has killed the vegetation that binds
0:16:17 > 0:16:21the dunes together, leaving the sand exposed to the winds and the waves.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27And what's the problem with the sand blowing away?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Well, the problem is that there's a possibility if the dunes go,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34then the sea'll start to come in onto the machair which then blocks us off.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Right.- There's the village.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39That's away to the, the main island, Barra, so we're going to be left with...
0:16:39 > 0:16:44So this is your natural defence against the sea, isn't it?
0:16:44 > 0:16:47I'll put that down there and I'll go and get the others.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I'm sure when I throw it down, Reubs will probably bring it back.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53It'll be a recurring problem all day.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59- Maybe not, oh, no he's... Obviously a bit too heavy for him. - Even for him.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04'The sand-blow fences are designed to trap the shifting sand and slowly restore the dunes.'
0:17:06 > 0:17:08At last, a use for the dog.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21You, you can see exactly what Roddy's trying to do here because
0:17:21 > 0:17:29this used to be all this level and now the sea's carving a channel and unnatural erosion is taking place
0:17:29 > 0:17:32because there's been a certain amount of grazing taken place here.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37So all, essentially the idea here is to, to give Mother Nature a bit of a hand and give something
0:17:37 > 0:17:44for the sand to get, to hold of basically to pile up against, and then the marram grass takes hold
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and this starts acting as a natural defence against the sea, between the sea and the land.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58This is a salmon net from a fish farm.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59Out of the way, Bruno.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02And this is one of the nets that goes round the side.
0:18:02 > 0:18:09Now the problem the salmon farmers have is when these nets get, you know, a bit old and a bit tired
0:18:09 > 0:18:13and full of holes, salmon escape, so they have to change them.
0:18:13 > 0:18:20Normally the nets are just dumped, so this is just a perfect way to recycle these nets.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23There's the hammer. Do you want me to go and get some rocks?
0:18:23 > 0:18:25- Yeah, please, yeah.- Yeah, no problem.
0:18:27 > 0:18:33If ever you wanted a representation of the power of the sea here, just look at that,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36you know, pounding away on this beach.
0:18:36 > 0:18:43This was the scene of a terrible, terrible tragedy, 150 years ago.
0:18:43 > 0:18:50Basically there was a boat going from Liverpool to Canada and it sank, it foundered here,
0:18:50 > 0:18:57and it was full of people, full of passengers and 350 people drowned, men, women, children, all ages.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59You know what a sight that must have been and in a way,
0:18:59 > 0:19:04the people of the Outer Hebrides fight a constant battle with the sea.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09They use it to obviously earn their living, but there's huge respect for it here and it's
0:19:09 > 0:19:15constantly assaulting the land they live on and programmes like this try to keep it at bay, really.
0:19:15 > 0:19:22As you see where I'm standing here, I've got to walk uphill with this big pile of rocks to get to Roddy,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26but that's a very good thing cos this whole channel was the level I'm standing at at the moment
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and the sea was gradually winning the battle.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34So you can see the effect these nets have had already and that's just in a couple of years.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38- There we go.- Take the end...
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Right, and then just roll it over, yeah?
0:19:57 > 0:20:01These islands are a last refuge for some of Britain's rarest birds.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07But in recent years they've come under attack from the most unlikely of predators.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Several years ago, someone on the island introduced a hedgehog to his garden.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22He brought it over from the mainland to eat the slugs in the garden.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28From that point on, predictably, things very quickly got out of hand and the numbers spiralled...
0:20:28 > 0:20:33presumably there must have been two hedgehogs for the numbers to spiral, now I come to think of it,
0:20:33 > 0:20:41and hedgehogs look pretty cute but actually they're voracious predators and scavengers, very opportunistic,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and there's a hedgehog-trapping programme taking place in Benbecula.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48In, in, in, in, in, come on.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Doug Bartholomew is employed by Scottish Natural Heritage,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56the official conservation agency to run the hedgehog project.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59You go out in all weathers, don't you?
0:20:59 > 0:21:04Pretty much. We've got, like, a threshold that we don't go out in but it's not like that yet.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07- So this is presumably under that threshold.- Yeah.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11- That makes me very sad that we've got to go out in this today but... - You get used to it.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16I'm sure! 'His job is to capture the hedgehogs so they can be repatriated to the mainland.'
0:21:16 > 0:21:18So how many traps do you have out?
0:21:18 > 0:21:24Here is a map of Benbecula and it shows the whole trap distribution over the island.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28- So, a lot.- So it's, yeah, it's a great many, yeah.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33OK, so today, where are we going on here, today, do you know?
0:21:33 > 0:21:35- We're going to do this loop here.- Right, OK.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41You must walk a lot of miles. You must be...
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Yeah, we walk... like field workers' routes, they're about 20K.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48- Right - good grief. - So walk about 20 kilometres.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52- So 20K a day?- Yeah, we work six-day weeks most weeks, as well.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55And this is one of the traps.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01Beautifully camouflaged. Is that costhe hedgehog is a perceptive animal that can spot a trap, or...?
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Yeah, well, basically you want to get it
0:22:04 > 0:22:08as natural as possible so you can see we've got it along the fence line.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12What happens is the hedgehog will walk in, you see we bait it with mackerel,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17that's just cos it's readily available and also quite smelly so air,
0:22:17 > 0:22:22you stand on the treadle plate the door will close behind it and it's trapped.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24So there's nothing in that one, obviously.
0:22:24 > 0:22:25No there's nothing, you just check the bait and we usually see
0:22:25 > 0:22:26from a distance cos the door will be closed.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29The hedgehogs used to be killed, didn't they?
0:22:29 > 0:22:34Yeah, at the beginning of the project that was thought to be the most humane way,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36but things have moved on and there was quite a public outcry, so...
0:22:36 > 0:22:40- Right. Oh, my knees.- Getting old.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I am getting old, unequivocally.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Not that you'd know anything about creaky joints yet.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51- No, not yet.- So you rely on the support of the local population and the public here, don't you?
0:22:51 > 0:22:57- Yeah definitely, definitely.- Yeah. So if someone sights a hedgehog do they give you a call?
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Yeah, we've got a hedgehog hotline so...
0:23:00 > 0:23:04It's important work, this. You shouldn't underestimate it because the one thing Uists are...
0:23:04 > 0:23:10absolutely world renowned... well, for many things but one of them is the wading bird population isn't it?
0:23:10 > 0:23:14- Definitely.- And these transient species coming through and migratory birds and stuff.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Yeah, it's sort of one of the first stop-off points
0:23:16 > 0:23:18for migratory birds as well so...
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The problem isn't that hedgehogs attack the birds, it's that they
0:23:22 > 0:23:26eat their eggs, which has had a dramatic impact on bird numbers.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29There it is.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It is actually closed. Do you want to have a look inside?
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Yeah, definitely.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38There is actually a hedgehog in.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41There's a hedgehog in there, look at that, fantastic.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44So that's one of this year's young.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Yeah. That's the unlikely source
0:23:48 > 0:23:51of a serious conservation issue here,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54tiny little hedgehog.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59These introduced species can have just a catastrophic impact on quite a delicate environment.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Well, I'm just going to get the hedgehog out of the trap,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04just putting on gloves, it's a bit prickly,
0:24:04 > 0:24:05and I'll put it in the case and, well...
0:24:07 > 0:24:10There we are, and there's that sort of instant defence, rolling into a ball.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15- Makes my job easier.- Yeah. And you say these guys don't have fleas?
0:24:15 > 0:24:19No, they don't, well, the ones on the mainland, they have a really big problem with fleas
0:24:19 > 0:24:24but the people that brought them across - well, started the problem, they de-fleaed them.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26You can see why this animal's been so successful in a way.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28It's quite a unique creature, really.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Yeah, completely unique and you know this perfect defence
0:24:32 > 0:24:38but he doesn't belong here, does he? He needs to be - he's going to rack up the air miles.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Yeah, off to a new home. So yeah, just going to make some space.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47Well done, mate, you're as good as your word. You said the last one would have one in.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Well, fantastic, we return triumphant.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Yeah, well, much to my surprise.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Yeah, well done, well done, brilliant.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59You've made my day, I'm quite, I'm genuinely chuffed.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Yeah.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07Every evening, the day's haul of hedgehogs are delivered to a holding centre run by Pat and John Holtham.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10- Hello, Pat.- Hello.- Hello, I'm Monty.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13They first visited the islands when the hedgehogs were still
0:25:13 > 0:25:18being killed and they spent their whole holiday trying to rescue as many hedgehogs as they could find.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Now they're permanent residents.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Yes, you have a bit of a thing for hedgehogs.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26I am absolutely besotted with hedgehogs, yes. I love them.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30You do, don't you? I can tell, I can tell. Do you have a particular favourite?
0:25:30 > 0:25:37I've got two favourites at the moment, a very tiny one that was found in Lochboisdale...
0:25:37 > 0:25:40I think you know where this conversation's going, Pat.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42- Can you see him. - Yeah, would that be all right?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Ah, look at that, tiny little thing.
0:25:45 > 0:25:52And she has her own hat, tiny little girl, but she's very used to being handled, very sweet little thing.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Look at that, that's fantastic.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58- Do you mind if I... - No, you can certainly hold her.
0:26:02 > 0:26:09A beautiful appealing little animal but doesn't belong on these islands. Very destructive presence...
0:26:09 > 0:26:11There we are, there we go.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17'When John's got a car load of hedgehogs he takes them to the
0:26:17 > 0:26:22'Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust, near Glasgow, where they're tagged and released back into the wild.'
0:26:22 > 0:26:26- And John takes them to Hessilhead. - Right.- Lochboisdale to Oban.- Right.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31The little one will not go out until the spring because it's not big enough
0:26:31 > 0:26:36and it hasn't got time to get big enough before the bad weather comes.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- Yeah, it's fantastic, I can see why you get excited about hedgehogs. - Tell me about it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44- Thank you very much. - Thank you.- That was very very interesting,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46and it's good to know they're in safe hands.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55The days are starting to shorten now, you can hear that wind outside,
0:26:55 > 0:27:02that's a cold wind, and the cottage, I've made the cottage kind of warm and fuggy, always got a fire going,
0:27:02 > 0:27:08and with the days getting shorter and the wind getting colder, you get a bit tireder.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11It's weird, it's this kind of hibernating thing going on.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13I've been really tired today.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I've heard other people talk about this up here, this kind of
0:27:16 > 0:27:19seasonal thing where you just want to hibernate.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I wonder if it's the mammal in you that just wants to go and find
0:27:22 > 0:27:26somewhere warm and quiet and dark and go to sleep until it's summer.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31So I'm tired, you know, I'm really tired as I wander round.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36But ironically, I've got more work to do now than I've had at any point in my time here.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Reubs, you're tired aren't you?
0:27:38 > 0:27:44'Yeah, I'm absolutely exhausted. It's the wind and the cold, I think it's a basic mammalian instinct.'
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Yeah, I agree with you, that's just what I was saying a moment ago.
0:27:49 > 0:27:57So, we're two mammals huddled in our den trying to go to sleep and wake up when summer's here.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19As nature ranger, I take my orders from a committee of islanders
0:28:19 > 0:28:23who keep an eye on what I'm doing and hold the purse strings.
0:28:23 > 0:28:29And there's a short-term cost of things like posts, now a lot of the posts
0:28:29 > 0:28:35are completely either not there or they're rotted or, or whatever.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38So I've ordered 30 posts from Ewen MacInnes and I'm hoping
0:28:38 > 0:28:42that's going to cover pretty much putting any extra posts, I think.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45OK, yeah, yeah, I suppose we've sort of picked up,
0:28:45 > 0:28:52- the other island trails as we've been talking, yeah...- And all of that is progressing really nicely.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56We've marked the Barra Trail now, myself and Jonathan,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00and on Thursday I'm doing the Lochboisdale Trail.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03The Benbecula one is obviously the Bonnie Prince Charlie one,
0:29:03 > 0:29:08we've pretty much finished the Berneray one now, the Eriskay one hardly needs any work actually.
0:29:08 > 0:29:15It's almost done, so yeah, we're in great shape with the trails.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18There's another project in the pipeline, next Saturday.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23We want to do a beach cleanup. It's not a huge area of beach to clean.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27I can do it myself, but it'd be nice to have a few volunteers.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32- The weather is 40-knot winds and rain, so...- Oh, that's a good day.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35- That's quite normal then. - Ideal barbecue weather!
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And you'll take delivery of the fence posts?
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Tomorrow, picking them up tomorrow.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43There we are, that's the first cheque that's been written.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47It's taken me months to get that cheque, but we're in business.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Thank you. The days are ridiculously short, it's raining
0:29:50 > 0:29:56a lot, I can't believe the amount of work I've got to do but at last I've got the means to do it.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01So I'm going to go and buy fence posts and hammer them into the landscape like a man possessed.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16This is Ewen MacInnes, local builder's merchant, and...
0:30:16 > 0:30:22he has cut a bunch of posts for me that I'm going to use to mark the trails.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24So I'm here to pick them up.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27This is where the graft begins.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31- Is that, is that all of them? - That's it.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34They'll probably just go in the back, actually.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Reubs, come on.
0:30:38 > 0:30:39Cor. Weighty.
0:30:44 > 0:30:52What you're looking at here is a culmination of committee meetings, the great feast, tramping trails,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54here it is made real.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Come on, Reubs, up, up, up, up, up.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Oh, God.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Loading fence posts, dogs.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17My car's broken down.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21I think it's the old diff-lock's gone.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29You hit a critical mass with any plan, don't you?
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Suddenly you've got the finance there, going to pick up the posts,
0:31:32 > 0:31:38you're all ready to hammer everything in, and then suddenly there was this unholy din from
0:31:38 > 0:31:44underneath the chassis and a large fundamental thing came away from another large fundamental thing...
0:31:44 > 0:31:51That much I know, and suddenly there was no power and oh, it was like
0:31:51 > 0:31:56Beelzebub himself was playing a kettle drum underneath my chassis.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01So now the Land Rover's stuck in a lay-by, there's a local garage going to come pick it up,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05so I've hired a vehicle, and I don't know what the vehicle is, there's a obviously a fairly limited
0:32:05 > 0:32:12range on the island but that's the vehicle that's going to be taking me and my fence posts into the hills.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17My dear old Landy.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27Probably cos of Reubs, probably chewed through some crucial part of the internal mechanism.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Ah, here we go.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40That's my new off-road vehicle.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52Right.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Next time me and the Land Rover are reunited I shall be a bit poorer, I expect.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14This is the kind of flip side of living and working
0:33:14 > 0:33:17in the Outer Hebrides, isn't it?
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Anyway, no time to mope. I've got to get on with marking out
0:33:21 > 0:33:25the nature trail on Berneray which I surveyed back in the summer.
0:33:34 > 0:33:41Probably in about 40- or 50-mile-an- hour winds here. This is the start of the really stormy period,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46but obviously I've got to get the posts in - time's running out for me, basically,
0:33:46 > 0:33:51but it's kind of nice like this. It does feel like you're in the north Atlantic on a rugged lump of rock.
0:33:54 > 0:33:55Come on, dog.
0:33:55 > 0:34:01I'm walking across to the dunes, which is the point on the beach
0:34:01 > 0:34:05where walkers will leave the beach and come down here to the car park
0:34:05 > 0:34:09and obviously it needs to be marked by these posts.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12People of the Outer Hebrides
0:34:12 > 0:34:15have always had a very intense relationship with the sea.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17Wow.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22And in 2005 there was a storm that hit the islands that was unprecedented.
0:34:22 > 0:34:2710 metres of coastline was lost in some places around the islands.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30They'll be here for a year, maybe slightly longer,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34and then gradually the land'll be eaten away and someone will have to come and put new ones in.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44I remember running along this beach
0:34:44 > 0:34:48in a pair of shorts, sweating, on a beautiful summer's day, and I
0:34:48 > 0:34:52think one of the things I've really learnt in my time in the islands
0:34:52 > 0:35:01is that it's not all about cornflower-blue skies and sunshine, it's about winter storms as well.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05It's another face of the islands but it's just as beautiful, I think.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10But those icy tendrils of a really freezing winter wind tugging at your clothes
0:35:10 > 0:35:14and the crash of the waves.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17It's really invigorating stuff.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23All right, Reubs, I'd move if I were you.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33There we go.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35A beacon guiding people
0:35:35 > 0:35:37to the Community Hall.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Right. Are you ready, Reubs, come on.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48This post ain't no ordinary post.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Very early on in my embryonic ranger career.
0:35:53 > 0:35:59I found this post and swore that I'd come back and dig it in.
0:35:59 > 0:36:07This wind appears to have blown Reubs' brains out of his ears and he's acting very strangely.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10He thinks he's in Alaska, and I'm food! Don't you dare.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22We're temperate creatures, you know, us Brits.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25I've done a lot of work in the tropics over the course of my life
0:36:25 > 0:36:29and I think it's all very nice, sunshine, relentless hot temperatures and things
0:36:29 > 0:36:33but there's nothing better, is there, than ending a day like today
0:36:33 > 0:36:35and getting back into the cathedral hush
0:36:35 > 0:36:40of your car or a pub with a fire cracking away, and warming up again?
0:36:40 > 0:36:44It's one of the great feelings, which is exactly what I'm about to go and do.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Come on Reubs, come on.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52GUITAR AND FIDDLE PLAY TRADITIONAL MUSIC
0:37:00 > 0:37:03That noise you can hear back there is students from
0:37:03 > 0:37:09the local music college who just kind of get together of an evening here and just have a bit of a jam.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12The music school is based at Lews Castle College on Benbecula.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24It's a completely different matter hearing that kind of music at home
0:37:24 > 0:37:27you know, on a CD or whatever -
0:37:27 > 0:37:29the place to hear that type of music is in a pub
0:37:29 > 0:37:33on North Uist as the winds sort of shriek
0:37:33 > 0:37:39and howl around the building and the waves crash against the coast
0:37:39 > 0:37:41and you're in a storm, a north Atlantic storm in November,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43and then when you hear that music, suddenly it'll sound very different.
0:38:02 > 0:38:08One sure sign that winter is drawing in is the annual lamb sale at Lochmaddy.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11All these sheep have been raised on a hill over the summer, they're being sold today so it's
0:38:11 > 0:38:16a big event and they've all been waiting for the ferry to come in with the buyers from the mainland.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19There's all the sheep from the islands and then it all just kicks off.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23It's a very, very significant event this for the local farmers - this is when
0:38:23 > 0:38:28they find out if all the hard work has been worth it over the course of the summer.
0:38:28 > 0:38:35- Hello, Donald, how are you. nice to see you, how's things? - Oh, pretty good.- Good, good.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37- I wish the weather was better. - Yeah, I know. 'Donald MacLean normally works
0:38:37 > 0:38:41'on the Berneray ferry, so it's a surprise to see him here,
0:38:41 > 0:38:45'but it's clearly all hands on deck at sale time.'
0:38:45 > 0:38:48- There's a lot of animals here. - Oh, yes, there's probably about 2,500 here today.
0:38:48 > 0:38:512,500?
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Yes. A lot of the buyers are from sort of Black Isle area,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57but some of them have come up as far as Carlisle.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59Yeah, oh, really, wow.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02And what would be a good price to get for one of the lambs here?
0:39:02 > 0:39:09Just now the, in the last, this year and last year they've gone up a lot yeah,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12you're getting you know anything between £30 and £50 for them.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13- Right, and per animal?- Yes, yes.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17- Not bad, is it.- I think they're averaging over 30 - that's good, yeah.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Excellent. It sounds like you should get into it yourself.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22- I know, lack of a flock.- Yeah yeah.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27But you know, a few years ago they were struggling to get £10, £8 or £10.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Really, so it's tripled in price, right.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32Well, we're keeping you from your work, Donald, I'll go and lean on
0:39:32 > 0:39:36that gate and try and say something vaguely interesting. Good to see you.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41There's about 40 sheep in here and I'm just listening to the auction going on behind me.
0:39:41 > 0:39:48Sheep are going for about 40 quid or so, so £1,600 worth of sheep and if there's 2,400 sheep here,
0:39:48 > 0:39:54that £96,000 worth of sheep, so suddenly it's become worth it again.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57It's significant, that, cos everyone you see here
0:39:57 > 0:40:00has been through some very, very hard times over the last few years.
0:40:02 > 0:40:08This, this isn't the place to inadvertently recognise someone across the room and wave at them,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12cos if you do that you're suddenly the proud owner of 12 sheep.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23£37 and 50, last chance here... 37 pounds and 50!
0:40:24 > 0:40:29But then I did recognise somebody, Heather, who sold me my pigs, Smokey and Streaky.
0:40:29 > 0:40:35- Just saying that this must have been horrendous when they were going for ten quid.- £1.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37- No!- 50p. Uh-huh.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39No.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41There were, there were sheep and lambs going for...
0:40:41 > 0:40:44My sister sold lambs last year for £5 each.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49No, that's shocking, you're just not going to make anything are you?
0:40:49 > 0:40:55Nothing at all, you're, well once they take the, once they take the commission off them.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57No, so £5, they were going for £5?
0:40:57 > 0:41:03Well, you're, I don't know how much they'd be left of the commission, but not, not much.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11The whole system is set up so the guy who brings them in there, he counts them in
0:41:11 > 0:41:15the pen, that's his job, they're all siphoned off in different ways, everyone's got a subtly different
0:41:15 > 0:41:17job cos they've got to get through all the stock today.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20This will finish at three o'clock this morning.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Candles and a flickering fire - it's a touchingly romantic scene
0:41:38 > 0:41:41but it's actually because all the power's gone down.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44The wind's been howling outside
0:41:44 > 0:41:47all day, the rain's just been lashing away,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51and it went dark and then all the lights went out.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55And apparently it's quite a common thing this time of year and it's probably going to last most
0:41:55 > 0:42:03of the night, but it's rather nice actually just sitting here, my romantic companion down there,
0:42:03 > 0:42:09which you can't see because he's a black dog at night in a dark room.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15But the cottage has sort of come into its own actually because the
0:42:15 > 0:42:17walls are about, it's an old cottage, the walls are
0:42:17 > 0:42:24about four or five feet thick and so the heat generated from the fire has just warmed the place up.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26I'm really toasty.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31So hopefully tomorrow morning just wait for the dawn light I suppose, get an early night.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51I'm just mapping out the walk on North Uist and I'm doing it on the quad,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55cos it's mainly on track so I can do it nice and quickly.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59So I intend to fly across the landscape like a rutting stag.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21Every trail has its own special appeal, but I think this one is my favourite.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29This walk's slightly different because obviously you've got
0:43:29 > 0:43:31the beach and you've got the flats and the dunes.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34It's very beautiful and it's mainly on the beach and the dunes,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37but also it's a big archaeology walk.
0:43:37 > 0:43:43This headland has got some of the best archaeology in all of the islands, and loads of local people
0:43:43 > 0:43:48have said that to me and this route takes in several of the sites.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51The problem is it's like having a book that you can't read.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I'm no archaeologist,
0:43:54 > 0:44:01but I know, I've got a local contact who is, and I'm going to get her to actually walk me round this headland
0:44:01 > 0:44:06before I lay the walk out to make sure we take in the very best of these truly magical
0:44:06 > 0:44:09archaeological sites that everyone keeps talking about.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Kirsty MacDonald is a North Uist native
0:44:19 > 0:44:25who got interested in archaeology when she was ten years old and found a coin from 810 AD on a local beach.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27Nothing like being out in the rain.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30No, no, that's it, nice to meet you. How's it going?
0:44:30 > 0:44:32This is a, this is a very appropriate setting for you, isn't it?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34In the midst of ruins and...and all that.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38I love it. And this is actually one of my favourite spots in North Uist.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Yeah. Do you want to gives us the Neolithic estate agent
0:44:40 > 0:44:43tour of the place - imagine I'm a prospective buyer.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Iron, Iron Age, sorry.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49Wheelhouses like this are unique to the Outer Hebrides and Shetland.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55They were built underground with cobblestone domed roofs.
0:44:55 > 0:45:02OK, this is the entrance, so you come in here. Yeah? Nice little view out of the door.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05If we come round this way, there's
0:45:05 > 0:45:09a nice little bit over here.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13Quite often the entrance to wheelhouses you get these funny little cells and nobody's quite sure
0:45:13 > 0:45:15what they were for, whether they were sort of guard cells
0:45:15 > 0:45:17or, I kind of like to think that it was just sort
0:45:17 > 0:45:23of a porch where they dumped their things as they came in from the wet and windy day.
0:45:23 > 0:45:29I guess you can't really see quite so well, this bit's kind of collapsed a bit.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31You can see the, the hearth in the middle where the fire would be,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35everybody would have gathered round, the focal point really.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38But over here on that side
0:45:38 > 0:45:42you can see these spokes coming out
0:45:42 > 0:45:44- which is where the... - As in these distinct...
0:45:44 > 0:45:46Yeah, which is where the wheelhouse gets its name from, cos,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49obviously, you, you know it's kind of like spokes of a wheel.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Quite often as well you would have sort of stones
0:45:52 > 0:45:59coming across the front in sort of a curve which kind of makes it even more of a separation in a way.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01- from the main...- And I suppose these places would have been vital to
0:46:01 > 0:46:05communities wouldn't they, a real focal point, strong points...
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Absolutely, and I mean that's something I think that has been
0:46:08 > 0:46:15a big factor in people living here for all these thousands of years has been the community.
0:46:15 > 0:46:21It's still the case today. I mean people are so close-knit in the way that they go about their business.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Everybody helps each other and I think that's basically what
0:46:23 > 0:46:26has to happen when you live out in a wild place like this.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30Yeah, it's the ultimate sort of egalitarian society.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35Absolutely, it's about survival. I mean, everyone has to muck in and, and do whatever they can.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46This is a really strange place for me to come across, you know just as
0:46:46 > 0:46:51someone visiting the islands, and it seems a really kind of incongruous place to want to be buried.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58It's the middle of nowhere, it's a bit kind of rundown and do you know anything about the...
0:46:58 > 0:47:02Well, it seems like the middle of nowhere but
0:47:02 > 0:47:08if you think about the fact that in the past, people's main mode of transport would have been boats,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11you know, the sea?
0:47:11 > 0:47:12The sea would have been the road,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16then actually it's in quite a central place if you look around you.
0:47:16 > 0:47:22This was the burial place for the MacLeans, who were from the island of Boreray, which is just up there
0:47:22 > 0:47:31and they had a long-term lease of Boreray. There's lots of various stories attached to that as well.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35Right, well a long-term lease there's that sort of...
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Well, one of the stories goes that MacDonald of Sleat who owned North Uist
0:47:38 > 0:47:45was in danger of losing Boreray to, I think it was the MacLeods,
0:47:45 > 0:47:50and this guy MacLean stepped in and came up with some clever plan
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and managed to, to save the island of Boreray
0:47:53 > 0:47:57and so MacDonald said to him that he could have the lease
0:47:57 > 0:48:05of Boreray and he said, in Gaelic, it was something like... SHE SPEAKS GAELIC
0:48:05 > 0:48:06which means...
0:48:06 > 0:48:10"as long as the black cow gives birth to a calf,
0:48:10 > 0:48:15"and as long as the waves hit the shore, you can have Boreray."
0:48:15 > 0:48:21Wow, so that's quite a nice sort of leasing contract, isn't it? That means for a fairly long time.
0:48:21 > 0:48:22Yeah.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Of course, at a superficial level these walks are great
0:48:26 > 0:48:29but it's only when you do a walk like this with a local person
0:48:29 > 0:48:32who descends from the people who used to live here,
0:48:32 > 0:48:37and especially when there's a bit of archaeological knowledge there as well that you
0:48:37 > 0:48:40suddenly feel the echo of people who've gone before you, and you suddenly realise
0:48:40 > 0:48:45the significance of the things you're looking at and it just adds that little extra something I think.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58It's the day of the big beach cleanup.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Go on then Reubs, off you get.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06Horses, dogs, people, beach, litter, perfect.
0:49:06 > 0:49:12Joining me again to head up the team representing the stables is manager Sue MacDonald.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Thank you very much for turning out, fantastic.
0:49:14 > 0:49:15That's all right, you might not be thanking us in
0:49:15 > 0:49:18a couple of hours' time when it goes to complete mayhem.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20Really? Oh, don't worry, we've got, we've got Reubs,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24- a quad bike, and lots of horses. I can't think of a single thing that could possibly go wrong.- Well, no.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32This is the infantry we've got here, and the cavalry are going to be round the corner in a second.
0:49:32 > 0:49:39They're coming in a second wave, but this is the beach cleanup team,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43which is a fantastic effort because it's a Baltic day.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47It's really cold, but cleaning this beach is very, very important
0:49:47 > 0:49:50because of the number of young seals that seem to be coming up here just to rest.
0:49:50 > 0:49:56170 different species of marine animals around the world have been found
0:49:56 > 0:50:00to have ingested plastic, and it's had a real detrimental effect
0:50:00 > 0:50:03on them so cleaning up the plastic here's really, really important.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13What we're doing is working from this end up, as it were, but Sue, it's up to you with the horses.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17If you wanna get 'em away from the bags and everything, take them a bit further up.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22Come on, then.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27Are you going to come and help Mummy lift it down, yes? Come on, then.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32An Icelandic wind shrieking off the sea.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36- How are you getting on?- It's OK. Does this have to go in the skip?
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Really, I think that should go in the skip as well.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43It's quite amazing as well when you get down into the weeds,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46the sheer range of stuff that is actually washing up here.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54How you getting on, chaps?
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Fantastic.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59We've sent the New Forest pony up the top of the beach out of harm's way.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Brilliant. Well, it's quite amazing.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05If you look at this, this is like 20 minutes, half an hour's work, just awful.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08This is the scale of this problem.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13For every square mile of ocean right the way round the world, and just
0:51:13 > 0:51:19think of that, the great open spaces of the Pacific and the Atlantic
0:51:19 > 0:51:24and the blue wilderness of these big oceanic basins,
0:51:24 > 0:51:30for every square mile of that, there's 46,000 pieces of plastic.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Right, I don't think I need to say anything else cos my spokesman is going to say it.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39We've cleaned up all of the beach.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45So, there we are, job done, fantastic, fantastic, a transformation.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48You know, it took two hours, an absolute transformation,
0:51:48 > 0:51:54and it's made such a difference for the young animals coming ashore, and for people just walking their
0:51:54 > 0:51:58dogs on the beach and walking their kids on the beach, and look at that pile of rubbish.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25£1,000 later, I've got the Land Rover back.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32And I've called in help to start work on the Udal peninsular trail.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Hi there, how you doing? I'm Monty.
0:52:38 > 0:52:39- Alistair.- Alistair. Yeah.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43'Alistair MacDonald is a local driver and a passionate crofter.'
0:52:43 > 0:52:48This is a really important part of the walk, you know, marking this bit here.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50'He's also a member of the local township, who are committed
0:52:50 > 0:52:53'to preserving this archaeologically rich trail.'
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Well, look, I'll let you crack on and presumably you need me to give you a hand to...
0:52:57 > 0:53:01We'll probably need a hand once I get a hole dug and we'll see how it goes.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Once we've done this one, we'll go round the rest of the islands
0:53:04 > 0:53:06- putting the posts in. All right?!- Yeah!
0:53:17 > 0:53:22The local people in this particular area, in the area of Udal, are really delighted about this
0:53:22 > 0:53:28walk, because they've wanted to open this peninsular up to tourists for a long time.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37- Do you want that off? - That's it, Monty, yeah.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41We'll slide the chain up that way a bit, give it a wee lift to get us started.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44No worries. There we go.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59- Can you hold it there, Monty? I'll come out to you?- OK.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Ah, it's too heavy!
0:54:06 > 0:54:08- OK?- Nearly, yeah. Off we go.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13Considering where we are, I'm quite disappointed we didn't
0:54:13 > 0:54:16just toss it into the hole from about 30 yards away!
0:54:16 > 0:54:19- Caber tossing, yeah?- Yeah!
0:54:19 > 0:54:21If we can move it slightly... There we go.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22Perfect.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28Of all the walks... I've really enjoyed doing all the walks, but this one's been really
0:54:28 > 0:54:31special for me, cos it's the North Uist walk,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35and that's the island I've lived on for my whole time here,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and also archaeologically it's a very significant walk,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42because this is the history of the people
0:54:42 > 0:54:43on the island of North Uist.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47I think they feel a strong attachment to this peninsular, their support's been
0:54:47 > 0:54:51absolutely tremendous, and there's the living embodiment of it.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56- Life's a lot easier when you've got a digger, isn't it?- It sure is!
0:54:57 > 0:55:00- Is it solid?- Rock-solid, tremendous.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05I'll plunge into the hinterland now and hammer in my pathetic little
0:55:05 > 0:55:07toothpicks that I'm covering the islands with.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09- Well, I'll let you go and get warm. - OK, then.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11- So thanks so much.- No problem.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13- Really appreciate it.- Good.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18- I'm very impressed with your digger driving. You've obviously done that before!- Once or twice, yes!
0:55:18 > 0:55:20- See you later. Cheers. - Cheers, then.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46Out the way, Reubs. Thank you!
0:56:04 > 0:56:05- Agh!- BLEEP!
0:56:10 > 0:56:17I've just managed to hit my own foot with the hammer, the sledgehammer,
0:56:17 > 0:56:22and you'll be pleased to hear it was a good, enthusiastic, full-bloodied swing of the sledgehammer.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25There's a good lump there,
0:56:25 > 0:56:32so I'm going to go and dunk it in the sea, the kind of old-style Outer Hebridean first aid.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35I was just starting to think how good I was at hammering, as well.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40It is absolutely freezing.
0:56:40 > 0:56:46You see that over there? That's snow. It's not rain, it's too cold for rain.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52All right, Reubs, thank you for your touching concern.
0:56:52 > 0:56:53Right, that's it.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00It's a choice between a fracture or frostbite, I think!
0:57:17 > 0:57:19I've finished hammering in the fenceposts.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24There's a couple more still to do, though, and I'll come back with Jimmy and do those.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27But, as you can see, I've been defeated by the conditions.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30I can't imagine what it'll be like tomorrow morning,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33because this has come in in the last few minutes.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38It was sunny about ten minutes ago. So, beautiful, winter's here, with a vengeance.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40'Next time...'
0:57:40 > 0:57:44This is my debut ceilidh lesson, and it ain't going to be pretty.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49- Hold that hand out. - Sorry, always the wrong hand!
0:57:49 > 0:57:51- Merry Christmas.- Merry Christmas.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54'..I take part in the local Christmas ritual...'
0:57:54 > 0:57:58I think everyone's edging down to the beach for the traditional plunge.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09- I'd like to point out that is very cold.- Well done, mate.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13'..and, Jimmy McLetchie and I bang in the final post.'
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Good. Thank you so much for coming here.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18Thank you for your hospitality, and many cheers.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Slainte mhath.