Mountains Wild UK

Right now, about 4,500 miles away,

the Wild Alaska Live team are witnessing

the world's biggest feast.

After months of being frozen,

the arrival of summer brings a four-month rush to feed and breed,

attracting eagles, sharks, bears and wolves -

all triggered by the annual arrival of Pacific salmon to this vast wilderness.

Wild Alaska Live is capturing this incredible spectacle on TV and online.

The Alaskan wilderness may seem a world away,

but we're here every day this week to reveal the wilder side

closer to home, right here in the UK.

As a wildlife cameraman, I've travelled all over the world,

but the wildlife and wild landscapes of these islands hold a special place

in my heart and are full of surprising wildlife stories.

As a zoologist,

I love getting out and about to the wilder parts of the UK

to check out the inspirational conservation projects that keep places

like this, Glen Coe, wild.

Over this series, we're travelling from rivers to mountains,

from forests to seas and even celebrating some of our wildest cities

to bring you the best our country has to offer.

The UK is a lot wilder than you might think.

This is Wild UK.

Each day this week, we'll be looking at a different wilderness in the UK.

Today, we're revealing the wildness of mountains.

I love mountains, they're just so epic,

the way that they remind you of the huge geographical forces that shape

the planet and, of course, if you can be bothered to climb one,

you get rewarded with spectacular views of the Earth.

Not quite sure how long we're going to have this particular view today

cos there's a great big cloud above our heads that feels like it might

descend upon us at any moment.

But, you know, you don't have to climb very far to feel like

you've entered a very different world.

Yeah, we've got our heads in the clouds.

You always do, Lucy!

Later in the show, Colin travels to Snowdonia to discover the landscape's

surprising past.

It really feels very isolated,

and I've just realised I can't see another living soul.

We're joined by some familiar faces sharing their best past mountain experiences.

I can't believe how big it is!

I'm in awe of that animal.

And I'm on the trail of a much misunderstood bird,

the king of the corvids - the raven.

So, if they're always watching,

does that mean it will be hard for us to watch them today?

We just need to wait and see, see what the ravens say.

First up, we're going to give you a snapshot of Britain's mountains.

Mountains and upland areas, such as moors,

cover almost a third of the UK's land area.

Ten of the 15 UK's treasured national parks are considered mountains

or upland areas.

Of the 120 mountains in the UK over 2,000 feet, 600 metres high,

82 of them are found in Scotland,

creating some of the most dramatic scenery anywhere in the country.

The Cairngorms is the largest, coldest and snowiest plateau in the UK,

where, in winter, temperatures as low as minus 27.2 centigrade have been braved,

and where winds as fast as 170mph have been recorded.

This arctic landscape is home to mountain specialists,

such as ptarmigan and mountain hare.

Wales' highest peak, Snowdon, is a remnant of a long extinct volcano.

Its bleak and difficult terrain was the training ground for Sir Edmund Hillary

before his successful ascent of Mount Everest,

its peak rising into the clouds at over 3,500 feet,

over 1,000 metres.

There's a real sense of isolation and solitude in places like this,

particularly when the cloud descends.

All you can hear is the wind, but it's beautiful, really.

But just occasionally,

you can hear that iconic call that I associated with the mountain tops,

and that's the sound of the raven.

Just a few weeks ago,

Lucy headed off to the mountains on Mull to track them down.

I've enlisted the help of bird expert Matt Wilson.

So what is it about mountains that attracts ravens, do you think?

Well, I think it's because...

One of the reasons is they're so well adapted and so adaptable

to every habitat, really, we have here in Scotland.

And...

Yeah, they've just got this capability of surviving

where a lot of other birds probably wouldn't.

This is a tough environment to live in and you need to be a smart bird

in order to survive it.

Especially going through the winter,

and sometimes you realise, when you're up in the tops,

the only bird that you can hear is a raven in the distance,

and their voice carries a long way, but you know they're watching.

So, if they're always watching,

does that mean it will be hard for us to watch them today?

Oh, we'll just need to wait and see, see what the ravens say.

Here's hoping the ravens say, "Yay"!

THEY CHUCKLE

Ravens are considered to be amongst the most intelligent animals.

Their brain to body mass ratio is comparable to whales and apes.

Their problem-solving abilities are amazingly sophisticated.

This is Bran, he's a tame raven.

His prize is inside this ball but, to get to it,

he needs to first open two boxes.

And within a few minutes, he works out how to solve the puzzle.

Because ravens are clever, they are also suspicious of anything new,

so that makes them surprisingly difficult to observe.

To try and see a raven close up, we've employed a few tricks of our own.

We've brought along Jim, a specialist wildlife cameraman.

He's built a hide that promises a good view of a deer carcass

that's on the mountain.

It's not big enough for the three of us,

but Matt and I will try and find a vantage point a little further up,

but, as is often the case in mountains,

weather conditions can rapidly change.

So, would they nest up here?

They nest on crags, in the hill environment, you know,

where there's a bit of shelter, usually with an overhang.

On a day like this, you can see why they need an overhang.

Yeah. And ravens are one of the earliest nesting birds.

Are they able to protect their chicks from this incredible weather?

They lay, as you say, early, one of the earliest layers in March

and, as we know, we can get a lot of snow in March.

And they're just very well insulated.

They do line their nests with wool.

What else are they foraging for up here?

Well, at this time of year, there's a lot of food around -

various chicks of various kinds, lots of beetles.

They eat a lot of beetles.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah.

And there's natural deaths on the hill as well.

I feel like they're hiding from us today, though, with good reason.

Yeah, and it's low cloud,

just not a good day for spotting them from a distance.

With the elements against us, we head back to the safety of the car,

where Matt has some interesting raven artefacts to show me.

This is a full skull.

As you can see, look at the size of the brain cavity

and that very large, powerful, deep beak.

I believe it's bigger than the other corvids, isn't it?

It is, and that's what enables them to break into carcasses

and also hold large pieces of meat, really.

When they pull them out, they carry them and put them into caches,

they cache them away, and this gives them a food supply

when the weather's not so good or there isn't food available.

Well, this is my raven treat.

THEY CHUCKLE

I understand how hardy and resourceful the raven is for having experienced

its world - for an afternoon, anyway.

Shame I didn't see them today!

Well, I might not have seen a raven, but I do feel like I got a really

good sense of their struggle for survival

because that was July I was up that mountain.

Imagine it in the middle of winter - it'd be covered in snow,

so hard to find food, but the raven survives by being so smart.

And they are clever birds.

I know that as a cameraman because, when you're trying to film at the nest,

you have to be really careful.

A standard technique that we use is to put up a little hide and then you

get someone to come along with you, you disappear into the hide,

they walk off and the animal thinks you've gone.

But you don't fool a raven like that cos they can count

and they know you're still inside.

Wow. That's amazing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-And, of course, you're trying to hide yourself in order to film the animals,

but there are plenty of animals that need to disguise themselves

so they don't get eaten, like the mountain hare.

They're another mountain specialist and they're Britain's only native hare,

and they camouflage themselves by going all white in winter,

but, at this time of year, they've got a kind of mottled brown coat.

They're found throughout the Highlands of Scotland,

but no-one has ever known exactly how many there are.

But right now, a team of scientists are trying to figure out what

their population really is.

But catching them can't be easy.

That's right. That's why they've had to have a three-year study,

just to assess how best to count them.

And in 2015,

Michaela Strachan went along to meet the scientists testing the various counting methods.

The Cairngorms provide a perfect habitat for mountain hares.

And yet, the last census suggests that numbers have declined

a staggering 43% between 1995 and 2013.

The problem for ecologists studying this native species

is obtaining accurate numbers.

Dr Scott Newey from the James Hutton Institute is trying to get to grips

with this surprisingly tricky problem.

Do you have any idea of population numbers?

We don't particularly have a very good idea.

There's one estimate from 1995 which suggested there were about 350,000

hares in the UK, but that estimate was plus or minus 50%.

50%?! That's huge.

That's right, yes. That's from, what, 175,000 to half a million hares.

But that was the best information available at the time.

Some people are concerned that there is an overall decline

in the population of mountain hares in Scotland.

What would have caused that?

We can speculate that there's a land use change.

Heather moorlands are being lost,

sometimes due to forestation or woodland regeneration.

Certainly, in some areas,

it appears the mountain hare numbers are being deliberately reduced

for tick control to benefit red grouse.

There's this virus called the Louping-ill virus which can have devastating effects

on red grouse, and it's carried by the tick, and mountain hares carry the ticks.

But probably not as many as other mammals,

particularly red deer that are a far more important tick host.

However, we need to remember that mountain hares are a traditional game species.

They've been hunted for hundreds of years for sport

and recreation and sometimes mountain hares

can be very numerous locally,

and there may be reasons where the numbers need to be reduced.

But counting this secretive species in this tough terrain is a real challenge.

Scott's currently involved in a trial that aims to find

the most effective way of counting the mountain hare.

His technique involves trapping hares, marking them,

releasing them and then seeing how many marked hares are caught again.

This method results in strong, reliable data,

but is very labour-intensive.

Scott's working with Dr Kathy Fletcher

from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust,

who's testing another technique, and that means going on a night hike.

-We're just going to head up, are we, and hope for the best?

-Yes.

Everything crossed.

Kathy, it's a good job it's not cold and dark or anything like that, hey?

No! Well, hopefully, it will be dark soon.

Obviously, we're doing this in the dark because they're nocturnal.

Yes. During the day, they'll lie up in this long heather but, at night,

they'll start moving around, looking for their food.

And how do we do it, then? Do we shine this lamp and just basically

-look for them?

-Yes, yes.

On these surveys, we walk straight lines,

so we have the GPS and the paperwork and then we start on that transect

and swing the lamp from left to right.

And both of us can watch in the beam and, hopefully,

we'll spot some hares.

I don't know how much looking I'm doing, Kathy. I'm looking more at my feet.

So, Kathy, how far do we have to walk?

Well, these transects are 2km, and then we go along

to the next transect and come 2km back again.

-Oh, look! Grouse.

-Oh, look!

What a grouse!

I should come out at night more often!

-There's a hare up there.

-Oh, is there?

Oh, yes! Oh, fantastic!

-We've got one!

-You can see its eye shine really clearly, can't you?

Yes. Hares have quite a red eye shine, and they're a different colour to

if you see deer or sheep out on the hill.

Well, the hare's not bothered by the rain, is it?

No, they don't seem to be.

We can do these surveys in the rain, as long as there's good visibility.

'Kathy plots the location of each sighting using GPS

'so she can later calculate the total number of hares in each square kilometre.'

Kathy, is that another one?

-Yes.

-That's great, isn't it?

Yes, that's a bit closer, so you can see the nice long ears.

Oh, look, it's going onto the heather.

That's a great view, isn't it?

You can see its shape really clearly.

-Yeah.

-When will you finish your population survey?

We've got another winter survey season to go, so we'll finish...

Hopefully, summer of 2017, we'll be reporting back.

And if you find that there are far fewer than you estimated,

I presume that will affect the management of them?

Yeah, yeah. When we find a robust, reliable method of counting,

we can roll that out across various areas of Scotland and get a really

good handle, and that will feed into management plans for the estates.

The project is hoping to have the results by the end of this year,

and it's going to be interesting to find out how many there are.

Yeah, I'd like to know.

Well, if you were watching Alaska Live last night,

you would have seen the intrepid Steve Backshall abseiling

all the way down an enormous glacier.

Alaska has hundreds of these rivers of ice amongst its mountain ranges,

each one slowly moving down to the sea and each one quite literally

shaping the Alaskan wilderness as they travel.

There are no glaciers here in the UK today,

but that's not to say that they haven't left their mark on these islands.

Now, back in June, I travelled to North Wales to discover how the past

has helped shape what we consider today as one of our truly wild places.

Snowdonia is one of the most stunning national parks in the UK

covering 823 square miles of North Wales.

This is a land of snowcapped peaks,

untamed valleys and breathtaking scenery.

Traveller and author George Burrow toured Wales in 1854.

He wrote of Snowdonia, "Perhaps in all the world,

"there is no region more picturesquely beautiful."

To unravel what makes the wild landscape so special,

I have come to Cwm Idwal,

one of Snowdonia's most beautiful valleys

and also one of the best places

to find clues to its geological past.

One of the first clues was discovered here 186 years ago

when a young Charles Darwin came here on a geology field trip.

Now, he discovered rocks like these

that contained fossilised sea creatures,

so he immediately recognised their significance.

It meant that this entire area was once at the bottom of the sea.

We now know that this was over 400 million years ago

when the volcanic mountains erupted out of the Irish Sea.

But it was a more recent chapter in Snowdonia's geological history

that carved out this distinctive landscape -

the Ice Age.

I've asked Dewi Davies from the National Trust

to recreate that moment in miniature.

So let's use the available resources to demonstrate, shall we?

So, first of all, you've got to build yourself a mountain.

In four seconds, we'll do the work of 400 million years.

Excellent.

And then you'd normally have streams coming off the mountain

running down, cutting nice deep channels in a V-shaped valley.

So it's, you know, it's the sort of narrow gorges

and that kind of thing, typical of what you'd see

in any river system, but reduce that temperature significantly

and you get snow accumulating, and it actually starts eroding

these higher valleys, or the cwms up at the top.

The ice then cascades down here into the lower valley,

so effectively it bulldozes everything in its path,

so what was a normal V-shaped valley

has now become a U-shaped valley.

And all of these steep sides are still to be seen today,

so the ice isn't there anymore,

but there's a lovely example that I could show you

just five minutes away from here.

-Oh, terrific.

-You want to have a look?

-Yeah, you bet.

It's so classic, isn't it?

Yeah. I mean, it is the classic textbook U-shaped glacial valley.

You know, it features in textbooks, so it literally does.

And it just shows you the pure physical power

that was here once upon a time

to just carve away those mountains. Can you imagine?

And you can just about make out Anglesey in the distance there.

Now all of this stuff, all of this material,

would have been carted out to the Irish Sea

probably over Anglesey and that way.

When you see a glacier now, if you ever go to the Alps or something,

they look like static things,

-but of course they are rivers of slow-moving ice, effectively.

-Yeah.

It's only 10,000 years or so ago that the ice actually left,

which given the timescale of Cwm Idwal, you know,

almost 500 million years, it's nothing, is it?

It's just the blink of the eye.

Back up at Cwm Idwal, Dewi takes me to a monument to the power of ice.

These are pretty impressive looking boulders, where do they come from?

Well, they appear to have just landed from space, don't they?

But if you were to analyse the chemistry of the rock,

you'd find that they actually belong way up there

in one of those hanging valleys, so they will have been transported,

but no river of water could carry these down,

so it had to be something bigger, more powerful,

and obviously we know now that that was the ice.

It just is amazing, isn't it, when you look around this landscape,

everything has been gouged and scraped and weathered,

and it just makes you, when you see these rocks,

they're so big.

It just shows you how powerful those glaciers must've been

and how much more powerful ice is than water.

Absolutely.

It's really beautiful up here in the evening light.

Very little sound except for the wind and the odd call of a raven

or meadow pipit singing in the distance.

Voice being carried on the wind.

I can't see another living soul.

It really still feels wild.

Well, that looked absolutely stunning

and it is incredible to think that a glacier

managed to carve that valley out of rock,

it's sort of mind-boggling, really.

I know, the power of frozen water is pretty amazing,

and you know, I've passed through that landscape

many times over the years, but never really quite appreciated

what I was seeing. But the next time I'm there, I'll be able

to look at it with a new set of eyes.

Did you take any photos?

Have you got any photo tips for taking photos in the mountains?

Well, don't take them on days like this.

Because they're not very inspiring, to be honest.

Well, luckily, our viewers have done much better with the weather

than we have and they've sent in some glorious mountain scenery

via our social media hashtag #mywilderness.

All this week as we celebrate our UK wilderness,

over in Alaska, Matt Baker, Steve Backshall and Liz Bonnin

are exploring the most remote parts of that region.

And earlier in the week, on the live show, you will have seen

the man mountain that is Steve Backshall

approaching an animal mountain that is the walrus.

Now, I wonder, how did they manage

to get that close to an animal like a walrus?

I wonder.

The crew travelled to Round Island

where hundreds of male walruses gather each year

on its small, steep-sided beaches.

The boat trip is the last leg of their four-day journey

to this remote part of Alaska,

and as they arrive, it doesn't take long for Steve and the team

to get their first sighting.

That is insane.

It's a great initial encounter,

but the team have got a lot more filming to do

and they've only two more days here.

Their first job is to get onto the island to set up camp.

Director Rosie Gloyns is pleased to have seen the locals.

So we've arrived on Round Island to a welcome of walruses

and we've just ferried all our kit up to the top

over some boulders, scrambled up.

So there's hundreds of walruses on the beach,

which is amazing because the walrus leave the island

for sort of three or four days to go feeding,

and there was a possibility we would get here

and there would be no walrus,

which would be awful considering we've travelled

about four days to get here.

So we're just chuffed the walrus are here!

It's really quite a remarkable place.

I could almost hear in the back of my mind the theme tune

to Jurassic Park playing in my head, you know?

It is a perfect stage for an animal like this.

Once all the tents are set up, the team turn in

with high expectations for the next day's filming.

But overnight, the weather takes a turn for the worse

as heavy clouds descend on the island.

It's a bit miserable, innit?

Didn't order this, I ordered the blue sky and sunshine.

Take it back.

We don't have very long on this island,

we're only here for a couple of days.

And it is an incredible privilege, not many people get to come here,

get to see this.

We are just cast adrift in the middle of the North Pacific

in a very, very wild place.

And so we're going to make the most of it.

The change in weather has caused the walruses to move

to the furthest point on the island,

so now the team have to make a long trek with all their heavy gear.

On their way, they're rewarded with other amazing wildlife

the island has to offer, including an unexpected encounter.

Totally and utterly fearless.

Not many places you can just wander up

and have a red fox taking you out for a walk.

Think he wants me to go this way.

After an hour of heavy trekking,

the team finds just what they're looking for.

And you get up high and get a real sense

of quite how many walrus there are here on Round Island.

It really gives you a sense of quite how rich

the waters of Alaska are at this time of year.

Despite the poor conditions, they finally get what they need,

some amazing footage of walruses.

I love walruses, they're such crazy looking animals,

and not one that you'd expect to find on our shores

but back in 2013, there was a freak event when a male walrus

was found basking on the beach of one of the North Orkney Islands.

It was North Ronaldsay island

and it appeared in seemingly good health, so no-one's really sure

how it ended up so far from its normal Arctic home.

A pretty unusual sight, to be sure,

and not one that's probably going to be repeated anytime soon.

But here on Wild UK, we would really like to encourage you

to get out to wild places

and see as much wildlife as you can for yourself.

And here is a brief guide to where the wild things are.

The mountains of the UK are home

to some of our hardiest and most enchanting wildlife.

In spring and summer,

the hen harrier can be found on upland heather moors.

They nest in dense vegetation

which protects their chicks from the elements.

Red deer can be found in many parts of the UK,

but mountainsides can offer a great vantage point

to view their behaviour,

especially during the rutting season in the autumn.

On the northern edge of the Cairngorms

is ancient Caledonian Forest where you can go in search

of one of our rarest and shyest creatures,

the capercaillie.

During the spring breeding season, listen out for the distinctive calls

as rival cocks show off to impress the females.

The proximity of the sea to the mountains of Snowdonia

means moist air collects in the valleys

creating perfect conditions for lichens and mosses.

Three quarters of all British species of lichen can be found here.

And in fact, Wales is the most diverse lichen environment on earth.

Mountains are often hard to reach and can be quite tough to explore,

but if you do get a chance to get up one,

then the rewards can be fantastic.

They really can. Particularly in this part of the world,

you have a chance of spotting one of our most iconic birds of prey,

the golden eagle.

It's a seriously impressive bird,

with a wingspan of over two metres.

Since the 1960s, the population has been steadily on the rise.

It's mostly restricted to Scotland, but when they did a survey in 2015,

there were actually 508 recorded pairs.

That's really good news, and it's really the results

of some serious conservation efforts by a variety of organisations

that have taken place over the years.

But even with the numbers increasing,

spotting one in the wild is not all that easy,

as Gordon Buchanan realised when he set himself the challenge

to find and film them within just 48 hours in the Scottish mountains.

For me, there is nothing more rewarding

than seeing this iconic and majestic bird in the wild.

They have to be one of the country's most elusive creatures.

I've set myself a challenge.

I've got less than 48 hours to find and film a golden eagle.

But I've got a promising tip-off.

Eagle expert Roy Dennis has satellite-tagged eagles

in this part of the Cairngorms, and says that, right now,

there could be at least four eagles within striking distance.

So, with conditions like this, how difficult is it going to be?

You know, sometimes I'll walk up here or drive up here,

and I see two or three immediately.

And other days I never see any.

At present time, this is very much a nursery, a learning area for eagles.

Because you're getting a succession of immature

and juvenile eagles here.

That's amazing, you've got young birds coming here

and really honing their skills on these hills?

Yeah. A lot of it is learning how to live.

A bit like what you're going to do today,

learning how to get across these bogs.

Even though several juveniles use this area,

they can range over hundreds of miles,

so they're not going to be easy to find.

This wind is quite, quite incredible.

This backpack acts like a sail,

so the wind just pushes you all over the mountaintop.

This is big country,

inhospitable to man

and accessible to only the hardiest creatures.

After a few hours of hard slog,

I find proof that there are young eagles in the area.

Oh, look at this.

We have a pellet.

And I would say, at that sort of size, this is from a golden eagle.

Like other raptors, golden eagles regurgitate a pellet

full of hair and bones that they can't digest.

This one is full of the fur of mountain hare.

After several more hours of being battered about,

I see another encouraging sign,

and find myself face-to-face with the eagle's favourite food,

already in its white, winter coat.

A mountain hare, just hidden down there.

You can imagine a golden eagle soaring over this hilltop

and seeing a white hare running across the hilltop,

it just makes for a really easy target.

Oh, there he goes!

A disappointing day.

No eagles.

They'll be looking for some place to rest up for the night.

For me, this bothy offers shelter

and somewhere to recharge my batteries

for another day.

I set off again.

The going seems tougher today.

And with every step, I become more and more disheartened.

I'm finding it hard to keep my spirits up.

I spend the rest of the day without a single sighting of an eagle.

There's only an hour left before I'm due to leave this mountain.

Once the light goes, my time is up.

Then, in the gloom, I catch a glimpse of something.

Hang on...

There we go, we have an eagle, yay!

Let's try and stay on it.

Wonderful.

OK, it's just...

..stopped on a rock there.

How about that, OK.

Wow!

Great.

Now, it's very distant.

We're about to lose the sun.

A glimpse like this is all the reward that I really need.

They are the ultimate emblem of nature in this country,

the ultimate symbol of the wild.

Mountain areas like these are perfect habitat for golden eagles.

They like these big, wide, open spaces.

They can soar over them and search for food.

And they like those cliff edges,

because that's where they like to build their nests,

as opposed to trees. I guess as large birds,

it's easier for them to get in and out.

It's actually quite striking, isn't it,

the lack of trees on these mountains,

which makes it great for eagles,

but it wasn't always that way.

And they would have been the perfect habitat for one of Britain's

long-lost beasts.

And, earlier this year,

The One Show's Mike Dilger went to find out

about the chance of this particular animal to make a comeback.

Hundreds of years ago, a supreme predator stalked the UK.

The lynx - a cat the size of a Labrador that hunts by stealth.

Deforestation, a decline in prey species

and human persecution are all thought to have contributed

towards the lynx extinction in Britain by the late Middle Ages.

But now, could the cat be on the verge of a comeback?

The potential reintroduction of lynx is now being publicly raised,

in what could be one of the most ambitious rewilding projects

ever attempted in the UK.

The Highlands of Scotland have been put forward

as one of the most appropriate places for a reintroduction.

But what might this mean in practice?

Peter Cairns is a founder of Scotland - The Big Picture,

a conservation initiative supporting rewilding.

There's a moral obligation, in my book.

We got rid of these animals,

and now we sit in judgment over other countries.

We're asking India to look after their tigers,

we're asking Africans to look after their lions,

but we're not prepared to have large predators here in our own backyard.

Aren't you just trying to kind of wind back the clock

to a halcyon period when great beasts were roaming these forests?

No, I don't think so.

I think rewilding, as it's often referred to,

is very much about looking forward.

It's about setting the clock back in motion.

So how would lynx reintroduction affect the wildlife

in these beautiful pine forests?

Well, lynx predominantly prey on medium-size woodland deer.

So in Scotland's case, that would be roe deer, it would be sika deer,

potentially red deer calves.

And of course, what that does is reduces the grazing pressure

that these herbivores bring to the forest.

I'd like to think that, given time,

the public would come to love this animal once they know more about it

and to see the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

Scientific analysis has suggested that a viable population

of around 400 lynx could survive in the Scottish Highlands,

with smaller numbers possible in southern Scotland

and some of the wilder areas of England, like Kielder Forest.

But not all are convinced by the arguments for rewilding

with livestock farmers like Alastair MacLennan remaining sceptical.

I think we should look after the species that we have here.

We've got capercaillie, black grouse, red squirrel, wildcat.

We spent a lot of money on these species to try and maintain them.

My understanding is, this is an animal that's very shy

and it's essentially a woodland animal.

Here in your farm, you're grazing open lands.

Mm-hm, but if you look around,

we've got quite a lot of woodland around our fields,

and there's nothing going to stop it nipping out of the wood

-to take sheep.

-It's a complex picture.

Yes, absolutely.

I've heard arguments for and against reintroducing lynx to the UK.

But to really get an understanding of what it might be like

to bring these animals back to our landscapes,

I need to go to somewhere where they've already done it.

So next, I'm headed off to the mountains of northern Germany.

Wild lynx are incredibly shy, so realistically,

the only way I'm going to see one

is in the enclosure of the Harz lynx project.

I'm under the guidance of project leader, Ola Anders.

I have to say, it's quite unnerving,

cos I know there's a big animal here

that's almost certainly looking at me at the moment.

Here it is, here it is.

Wow! Look at that.

Sharpening his claws, the killing weapons.

I can't believe how big it is.

I'm in awe of that animal.

It's beautiful, it's powerful

and it's totally at one with this incredible environment here.

Since the project began in 2000,

24 lynx have been released back into the wild.

They appear to be thriving here,

but I'm eager to seek out those

whose livelihoods could be impacted by lynx.

Jan Tierling keeps fallow deer close to the Harz Mountains.

Well, I lost seven deers,

and it was horrible for me to see all the dead animals around.

But we got in contact with the Harz project,

and so we got our money back and got help to build up the fence.

If the lynx gets in conflict with people or with deers or sheep,

I think we have to control them.

In the Harz Mountains, the image of the lynx is everywhere,

and it has become a mascot for the area.

The lynx enclosure is a focal point that draws in the tourists.

-Are you happy?

-Yeah.

Feeding time is a highlight at the enclosure,

and Ola has devised a lynx challenge to help us capture

their athletic prowess.

Oh!

Lynx are ambush hunters,

attacking their prey from behind cover rather than chasing it down.

They're capable of jumping over two metres in the air.

But what do the tourists make of this impressive predator living here?

It's a good idea to take them back in the forest we have here, yes.

It's amazing that we've got a big predator back in Germany.

And I think it's amazing for the Harz.

It shows our good nature here.

This project has worked hard to keep people onside.

We would have to do the same if we are to have any chance

of seeing Britain's lost big cat return to our own wild places.

The reintroduction of any predator is always a little controversial,

but I, for one, hope it happens here.

Because I would predict that even if there was

a substantial lynx population once again,

that few of us would even know that they were here.

That's right, and there could even be unforeseen benefits,

like there have been with the reintroduction of other predators,

like wolves, elsewhere.

And so I think what's really encouraging

about this German project is that you can reintroduce an animal

like the lynx back into its original environment.

Tomorrow, on our final Wild UK,

we turn our attention to our wild cities,

and the wildlife that has made our urban landscapes their home.

Colin discovers a sea bird surprise in the heart of Newcastle.

I associate them with isolated islands and abandoned headlands,

but they've made themselves at home here.

Lucy meets Dr Dawn Scott to discover

how our cities have become the playground for the red fox.

And we go behind the scenes with the Wild Alaska team,

as they follow the life of a fisherman who makes a living

in the wilderness.

You can keep up with all the news from the Wild Alaska team

all this week online.

And join us again, tomorrow, 9:15pm, BBC One, for more Wild UK.