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Landward episode 14 2025

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Fun
Transcript
00:00As the Lambs arrive for sale, we've arrived with a brand new series.
00:07Welcome to Lamberts.
00:09Hi there, it's great to have you with us.
00:32I've come to one of the biggest one-day markets in the country, the lamb sales at Laird.
00:37The rest of the Lamberts team have been out and about, busy during the summer,
00:40meeting the people and visiting the places at the heart of the Scottish countryside.
00:45So, lots coming up on this programme.
00:49I try and make sense of the Laird sheep system.
00:52There is no logic to the pen numbers. You could jump from one to 101.
00:58Cammie makes hay while the sun shines.
01:02I mean, looking back, it looks like it's doing the right thing,
01:04apart from all the bits that are going flying into the hedge.
01:07And Shabazz sees the aftermath of our biggest ever wildfire.
01:16But first, it's been a long wait.
01:18But finally, Arlene's going back to the Lambert field.
01:22All year, she's been following the progress of one field of barley belonging to Neil White in the borders.
01:27But it's been a patchy growing season. What would the harvest be like?
01:31Now, it's crunch time.
01:36Sown in March and fertilised in April, I've had a hand in every stage of this barley's growth.
01:42Now, when this grows really well, you can say, well, I not only sowed it, but I actually put fertilised on it too.
01:51It survived spring and summer's lack of rain and the winds of storm florists in August.
01:58All that's left to do is harvest it.
02:00And today will be the day, if it passes Neil's tooth test.
02:05Take some of the seed, just put it between your teeth.
02:10Oh, yeah.
02:11Got a good crack to it.
02:12Yeah.
02:13Yeah.
02:14So that, you know, it's dry anyway, but then that's not very precise.
02:18So you can then also use technology.
02:21Okay.
02:22You know, I would guess that that's in around 14 or 15% moisture just by how hard it was biting.
02:28Right.
02:29But that's experience.
02:30This will tell us exactly what it is.
02:32Definitively.
02:33There you go.
02:34Good.
02:35What does that say?
02:36It says 14.6%.
02:37Yep.
02:3814.6%.
02:39I think we'll have to go at that.
02:42Neil is hoping the field's 20-acre crop will be good enough to go to the whisky industry for malting.
02:49If it doesn't meet their strict criteria for distilling, it'll be sold as livestock feed.
02:55And that has a big impact on price.
02:58For the malting, there's certain parameters that you have to hit.
03:01You know, it has to be, well, this one has to be below 1.6 nitrogen.
03:04If you miss the spec, it's just a rejection and it becomes feed.
03:08Okay.
03:09What's the difference in price per tonne?
03:11It can be quite eye-watering.
03:12You might be talking the difference between 220 pounds a tonne and 140 pounds a tonne.
03:20It's quite different.
03:21It's off a cliff edge, really.
03:22Right.
03:23And that can be the difference between making money out of the crop or basically only covering your costs or less.
03:32We're now getting into the bit that you sowed, actually, Arlene.
03:35Ooh!
03:36Yeah.
03:37So, I was thinking maybe if we got to the bottom here, we could have a crash course in combine.
03:41Not literally a crash course.
03:43Don't say that.
03:44No, no.
03:45That was a bad choice of words.
03:46You were letting me drive your combine.
03:48That's it.
03:49It's like completing the circle.
03:50Completing the circle.
03:51Exactly.
03:52Yeah.
03:53So, you get yourself comfortable.
03:54Yeah.
03:55Oh, my goodness.
03:56It's very responsive.
03:57It is, isn't it?
03:58Yes.
03:59Wow.
04:00A Ferrari.
04:01Yes.
04:02A combine harvester.
04:03Yeah.
04:04Ready with a down.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Now.
04:07Ooh!
04:08Ooh!
04:09Did I miss a little bit?
04:10Yeah, you did.
04:11Oh, no!
04:12We'll get it next time.
04:13Thankfully, though, I have GPS to keep me in line.
04:17Now, this is the Arlene barley here, so...
04:20This is my own barley.
04:22You're harvesting your own work.
04:24I even get to unload it into the cart, too.
04:28Was he ready for it?
04:29Well, he's ready now, anyway.
04:31Oh!
04:34While Neil carries on harvesting,
04:36I take a sample of the crop a few miles down the road
04:39to the Maltsters at Berwick.
04:41Hello!
04:42Very important sample for you.
04:44Perfect.
04:46They'll test it to determine if it's good enough
04:49for the whisky industry.
04:52Two of his neighbouring fields have already hit the magic number
04:56for nitrogen of 1.65 or less, so expectation is high
05:01for the stack yard fields' barley.
05:03The results are in, and it's time to deliver them.
05:07Now?
05:08Now.
05:09You better tell me.
05:10How did it get on?
05:11Came in at 1.76.
05:131.76.
05:141.76.
05:15Oh, no!
05:16Oh, that's not so good.
05:17That's not so good.
05:18Oh, you!
05:20Oh!
05:21I wish it wasn't that.
05:23That is farming.
05:24You can do all the things, and if it doesn't get the weather
05:26or there's some other factor, that's just the way it goes.
05:29What difference will that make financially?
05:31Just for this field alone, I suppose that'll be between 4,000 and 5,000.
05:35You know, that'll be the difference.
05:36Of a difference?
05:37Of a difference, yeah.
05:38Yeah, that's the kind of thing that you're...
05:40the jeopardy that you sort of put yourself into
05:42when you're trying to hit that spec.
05:44It's been a really fascinating journey,
05:46seeing it from start to finish,
05:48and I just wish it had a happier ending.
05:51However, it might not be going in to make whisky,
05:54but I think we should have a dram anyway soon.
05:56Oh, I think we need that, definitely.
05:58Maybe a double.
06:04As well as a busy harvest,
06:06sheep farmers from across the north of Scotland
06:08are bringing their lambs here to Lairg.
06:11Kicking off the autumn sales season,
06:13this one-day event will see thousands of lambs
06:16go under the hammer.
06:21In its heyday, this Sutherland sale
06:23would see 40,000 lambs in a day.
06:26So, numbers may have dropped,
06:28but this is still a vital mart for sheep farmers.
06:32Ten pounds at ten.
06:34Right, sir. Thank you.
06:36But, with 13,000 north country cheviot lambs about to arrive,
06:40how do you organise and sell them all in one day?
06:44There's something odd about being at the market the day before a sale.
06:48At the moment, these pens are silent and empty.
06:50Tomorrow, they'll be alive with the sound of bleathing lambs
06:54and farmers anticipating the best possible prices.
06:58One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
07:00One, two, three, four.
07:02Donald Young knows the routine at Lairg well.
07:04He heads up the team from United Auctions running the sales.
07:08The Lairg is very much a spread out market
07:12because it used to hold so many.
07:14So, you need a lot of people just to bring them
07:16from the loading banks to the pens and the pens to the ring.
07:18How many folk will you actually have working here tomorrow?
07:20We'll have about 20 to 25 working tomorrow.
07:24We've got good staff, yard staff and our auctioneers
07:27and everything's ready to hopefully make it run smoothly.
07:37It's the morning of the sale.
07:39This place has been transformed.
07:41The lambs are arriving, but where do they go?
07:43It seems pretty chaotic.
07:45Surely someone must know.
07:53Someone like Kirsty Morton.
07:55Now Kirsty, your job is to make sure they go into a particular place.
08:00Is there a system?
08:01No, there is no system in Lairg.
08:03It's the most unique place you've probably ever market there ever been.
08:06But there is no logic to the pen numbers.
08:08It doesn't flow from one to two to three.
08:11You could jump from one to 101 next to each other.
08:15You could be running from one side of the pens to the other quite as easily.
08:20But the most important thing is the right things go into the pens at the time of the auction.
08:23The right things go into the pens at the right time.
08:25Right.
08:34With the lambs filling up the pens, in their own particular order, I catch up with Donald.
08:41About half an hour until the sale starts. How's it all looking this morning?
08:44Yeah, it's looking good. The sun's going to shine and hopefully it shines in the ring as well.
08:48There's a big crowd of people and it's looking quite promising.
08:51I was going to ask you how your day entails, but I saw you earlier on directing traffic.
08:56You just have to, it's a place you muck in at everything.
08:59You've got to get on with it, but no, it's good.
09:01We're going just at 10 o'clock and start the sale then.
09:06The lambs go through the ring in their lots, organised into ewes and wedders, castrated males.
09:18Most will go south for fattening and finishing. But with 400 lots to get through, the team must keep the sale moving along.
09:39I've been here for 35 years and I can miss to the pens. And most of the boys can the pens as well.
09:51The boy in the bottom, use the pen number, they chase them up and we can't wait to go.
09:55So clearly, hands-on experience of the Lairc system helps.
10:00They're moving everywhere. How do you know which pen to put them in?
10:04Well, the man tells us just for an empty pen. So we just put them in an empty pen and it's got the numbers on it.
10:10So that one there is 612 and then we shout back 612 and he writes in his book 612 and then he knows who they are.
10:18So it's all down to that one guy then. If he shouts the wrong number or writes the wrong number down.
10:22Aye, well. Or we go put in the wrong pen.
10:25Yeah, it can be carnage.
10:27It's reassuring that this old-fashioned sale is run by one person writing down numbers in the book.
10:33And their ability to count lots of sheep very quickly.
10:3732. Down to the lorry.
10:40With the sheep heading off to their new homes and Donald's shift now over, time for a well-earned break to reflect back on the day.
10:50It's been nice and there's a lovely atmosphere in the ring. There's people in that ring that's been coming for 40 years and I was speaking to one guy and he said his father was coming for 60 years before that.
11:00A lot of these farmers, this is their income from the sheep for the year and trade's been pretty good, well up in the year.
11:06So that's a huge deal, right?
11:07That's huge, yeah. I mean, it's make or break.
11:09It seems like organised chaos and what do you think is the secret to running a really good market?
11:14It's certainly unique within all our markets, the various ways it runs, the size of the pens, the way they arrive in, disappear again, it's very unique.
11:23But all our staff here, they are stock people and I think if you've got the right people, you can do anything.
11:29Now to one of the most dramatic stories of the summer months. We were witness to the biggest wildfires ever in Scotland.
11:44Shabazz is heading to Moray now to find out the extent of the damage and to see how habitats have been impacted.
11:59Back in July, I saw the shocking news reports that looked more like a disaster movie as the line of fire raged through this area.
12:15Two separate wildfires, one at Carr Bridge and one at Dava, combined and burned for days, destroying over 11,000 hectares.
12:25But with the flames now out, vast areas have been left charred and blackened.
12:34So what's the longer term impact on these habitats?
12:38I'm joining Colin McLean, land manager of the Cairngorms National Park.
12:43Hi Colin. Hi Shabazz. Nice to meet you.
12:46Hi. Let's go and see some of the damage.
12:48He was one of the many volunteers tackling the fire.
12:53I've helped in a lot of wildfires in the past, but I've never seen anything on this scale.
12:56It was quite scary really, the power and ferocity of a fire of this size.
13:01This is the biggest wildfire in living memory in Scotland.
13:05It's clear to see the wildfire area stretching for miles, but up close its effects are all around.
13:12A pile of bones here, Shabazz, which is probably something that died in the fire.
13:16It's probably a leveret that's that tight for too long.
13:20It's their instinct to do that when danger comes.
13:23And they just sit in front of the flames, unfortunately, and perish.
13:26And that must have happened to thousands of animals, you would think.
13:29A fire of this scale.
13:31So sad.
13:33And the mountain hares weren't the only species.
13:41As a result of this fire, we'll have lost curlews, black grouse, red grouse, all those chicks will have gone.
13:48I would think it came through quite quickly and it's come through the header.
13:51So the header regrows quite quickly.
13:54In a couple of years, there'll be shoots coming back and we'll see quite a quick recovery of that.
14:00Obviously, there's grass coming through already, but here the peat has been quite well protected
14:06because the fire's come through quite quickly.
14:07It hasn't been down to any depth.
14:09There's parts of this fire elsewhere where the fire has penetrated metres down
14:14and it's burnt away literally thousands of years accumulation of peat as a result.
14:18And that's something that we can't restore.
14:21But it's not just moorland.
14:26I've come north to Aichnach on the Murray Estate to meet Woodlands Badger, Ben Clinch.
14:32Hi, you must be Ben.
14:33Hiya, Shibaz, yeah?
14:34Nice to meet you.
14:35Yeah, nice to meet you.
14:36And who's this?
14:37This is Remy.
14:38He saw the flames approaching on the second day of the fire.
14:42So tell me about what you first saw when you came here.
14:44Well, just up here, that's that hill, is where the two fires converged.
14:52The fire came down and it was just like a biblical scene, just meeting at the road.
14:57The fire jumped about 150 metres over the road as well.
15:01There's nothing really you could do.
15:06Nothing at all, no.
15:07Should we go and take a look?
15:08Yes, let's do that.
15:09Ben estimates that they've lost over 200 hectares of non-commercial woodland.
15:27So this here is naturally regenerated pine, so it's not plantation at all.
15:32The trees are really closely spaced together because they've regenerated at high densities.
15:37Yeah, this is native pine wood.
15:39Further into the forest, where the pine wood is much older, the fire burns longer and deeper.
15:46It is really eerie just seeing and looking around and how beautiful this must have been.
15:50Yeah, it's got lots of ancient and old gnarly characteristics in it.
15:56Lots of habitats and niches and, unfortunately, this tree is now seriously undermined
16:01because the humus layer that was covering the root system just totally burnt away.
16:06I mean, this fire around this area was burning three weeks after the initial fire.
16:10So this tree and others, they're gone. The damage is too much.
16:14Probably, yeah.
16:16As we're seeing as we're walking around, there's lots of trees falling over
16:19and that's the concern is we have too many fall over.
16:23So to be able to regenerate the woodland effectively.
16:26So what we're hoping is that there's maybe enough trees that have survived
16:30to be able to shed seed on this area and then we'll get some regeneration.
16:33But if there's not, we'll just end up with woodland loss, really, and pockets of woodland loss.
16:39Like most other wildfires, this was the result of human activity.
16:46It took 11 days to fully extinguish.
16:49But the damage to habitats and wildlife will be around for a long, long time to come.
16:55I think it's fair to say that most people, when they see a butterfly, well, it gladdens their heart.
17:05Moths, though, not so much.
17:07Liana Fernandez absolutely loves them.
17:10Over the next few programmes, Liana will share her entomology expertise
17:16and passion for the winged insects and explain why they deserve a bit more of our attention.
17:26I've always been fascinated by the bugs and beasties on my doorstep here in Deeside.
17:31And my absolute favourite species can be found all around us, day and night. Moths.
17:38Just like butterflies, they're super pollinators, vital for biodiversity.
17:44And there are a lot of them about.
17:47While there are 35 butterfly species in Scotland, you can find more than 1,300 different types of moth.
17:55While some moths fly during the day, many fly about at night.
17:59So I'm going to set up a moth trap to get a closer look at what's around.
18:03The moths are going to fly up to an artificial light like this because they're attracted to lights.
18:14Now, it's not been clearly established why moths are attracted to lights,
18:18but the going theory is that they use lunar navigation, using the moon and other celestial bodies
18:24to orientate themselves while flying around in the darkness.
18:27So they're going to fly up here and then they crawl down into the main enclosed box
18:32where I've placed some egg boxes for them to hide and rest in.
18:36And then we're going to leave this and come back tomorrow morning to see who's visited.
18:43Or you can do it the old fashioned way,
18:45which is using a torch and having a wand around the garden to see who's about.
18:50So let's have a look at today's haul. I can already see that there's some flitting about inside.
19:13It's really important that any moths we do trap, we're going to note down and then upload to the National Moth Recording Scheme,
19:21which is really good for conservation science and letting us know how moths are doing and whereabouts they are in Scotland.
19:28Another piece of equipment may be handy.
19:31Oh.
19:36Yay!
19:37There we go.
19:38Sometimes we get escapees, but that's okay.
19:40I managed to catch him with the net.
19:42We'll just pop him in a tub here to ID him.
19:45There we go.
19:46Managed to catch him, the one that got away.
19:49We'll give him a moment to settle.
19:52And I can clearly see it's a barred straw.
19:55And as the name suggests, he's got straw kind of colouration and very distinct wings.
20:01But he's not been the only one to drop in.
20:04Okay, so we've got a brilliant selection here, but there's too many to pick from.
20:08So I'm going to go with my top three.
20:10And to start off with, I would definitely want to show off the swallow-tailed moth.
20:16It's the only moth in the UK to have tails like this on its hind wings.
20:20Really kind of tropical look to it.
20:22I'd say it's quite exotic.
20:23Not what you'd expect to find here in Scotland.
20:26For my second choice, it's probably what I'd call a fan favourite.
20:31This is the poplar hawk moth.
20:33And don't be too intimidated by the size.
20:35It actually has no mouth parts.
20:37As a caterpillar, it builds up fat reserves.
20:40And that's what it uses as an adult to find a mate.
20:43It's got such a beautiful shape.
20:45So that's the poplar.
20:46And then finally, last but not least, is one of the best examples, I think, of evolution
20:53by natural selection.
20:54And that is the peppered moth.
20:56Back in the industrial revolution, they actually found that cities with more polluted air and
21:03soup-covered trees, the dark form of the peppered moth did better.
21:08But in places like Deside, where the air quality is cleaner, better, we've got this white form,
21:14which does really well against lichen-covered trees.
21:17Beautiful.
21:18All of them are beautiful.
21:19I love all of them.
21:20Each of these species are clearly special.
21:23But what makes them even more special is what good pollinators they are.
21:27They may even be more efficient pollinators than bees.
21:30You know, they pick up the graveyard shift while everyone else is sleeping.
21:34And that's just one of the many reasons why they are so worthy of our protection.
21:39But now it's time to let them go so they can do their job.
21:43Come on.
21:44Come on.
21:53Plenty of lambs going through the ring here at Laird.
21:56Which brings us to mind about our own sheep farmer, Cammie.
21:59What's he been up to over the summer?
22:02He bought his own farm at the start of the year, and we've been following his progress.
22:07He's still got his sheep, but he's taken on a new herd of cattle as well.
22:12When we caught up with him and his partner Lizzie a few weeks ago, they were on familiar territory.
22:19So we're coming towards the end of our shearing now for the summer.
22:22It's one of the biggest and most important jobs that we do on the farm.
22:26And with 1,400 sheep scattered all over Ayrshire, it's a job that just keeps on giving.
22:37Now as many of you will know by now, we shear sheep for the welfare.
22:41It's no longer about the money that's in the wool because there's very little of that.
22:45And it's things like fly strike, getting stuck on our back, and even heat stroke.
22:51And given the summer we've had, getting these fleeces off will make the sheep feel a whole lot cooler.
22:57This cheevi wool is a fantastic product.
23:02And although it might not be huge money, we'll send this off.
23:05And last year, the 1,400 sheep brought in 2,200 pounds.
23:09And with the margins tight, every little helps.
23:12That's the shearing finish for the summer, but the work doesn't stop there.
23:18And I have another essential job to be getting on with.
23:21And I need to do it while the sun's shining.
23:24This field of grass is going to feed my sheep and cattle during the winter.
23:36But there's a bit of preparation involved.
23:38Now this stuff was cut this morning, but that's only one part of the process.
23:45It needs to be dried before it can be baled and stored as winter fodder.
23:51Important to say this is my first time ever using this machine.
23:54I've just borrowed it off a neighbour.
23:56If the grass was fully dried out, we'd have hay.
23:58But we'll just have time to make haylage.
24:01And then, do we just go for it?
24:04That's a bit wetter than hay, but drier than silage.
24:09And then just...
24:11I've thrown it all into the hedge already.
24:13Oh, bad start. Move over one.
24:16Oh, definitely a bad start. Slow down a bit.
24:22Now I'm missing loads of it.
24:25Eh...
24:27Yeah.
24:30Oh no, I'm throwing it all into the hedge now.
24:33Oh my god, what a mess I'm making.
24:38I mean, looking back, it looks like it's doing the right thing.
24:41Apart from all the bits that are going flying into the hedge.
24:44The good thing is...
24:46It's my grass, so there's nobody to phone and get upset about it.
24:50Up the speed a wee bit, eh?
24:57Let's get it going. Here we go!
25:01So this is called tedding, or kicking out grass.
25:04So we're kicking it out so that it spreads it out nicely and turns over the damp stuff underneath.
25:10And exposes it to, of course, the sun and the wind on the top there, and dries it out.
25:15We want this to dry out a bit, especially for sheep feed, and let it wilt.
25:19It'll mean when we're feeding it out in the winter to sheep, that it won't heat as fast, that it'll last that little bit longer and give the sheep a chance to eat it in the bale.
25:31Sheep generally don't eat as much or as quickly as cattle.
25:35So that's where hay luch is absolutely fantastic.
25:40There are hazards in this line of work though.
25:43Hay fever.
25:45Oh, jings, that was good.
25:47I enjoyed that.
25:48And wasps in the cab.
25:50It's actually really satisfying looking across and seeing how it's in nice neat rows, and the difference you make by turning over that green damp stuff underneath and exposing it to the sun, to the elements, to the wind.
26:02I must admit, after a day's shear out, I'm quite glad there's only four acres to do.
26:09So this isn't going to take as long.
26:16Once it's dry, the grass is baled up into tasty bundles, ready for when it's needed.
26:22And this is the end product here.
26:26Our very first bales off of our own farm.
26:28And hopefully, this will keep the sheep and the cattle fed all winter.
26:37And that brings us to the end of this programme.
26:40If you want to watch it again or catch up with any of the previous episodes, go to the BBC iPlayer and search for Lambert.
26:47Here's what's coming up next time.
26:48It's all creatures great and small.
26:53Amazing!
26:55Oh, so pretty!
26:57As the dolphins make a splash for Anne.
27:01It's 50 years since the return of our biggest bird.
27:04And Cammy meets some little cows with big attitudes.
27:11It's empty.
27:13You won!
27:15Let's go!
27:16Leave it! Run! Run!
27:18Please join us for that and much, much more if you can.
27:21In the meantime, from these newly sold lambs at Laird and all the Lambert teams around the country,
27:26thank you so much for your company.
27:28Bye for now.
27:29Bye.
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