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00:00left hand over the front left hand over the front and up it comes that's it I know just
00:07about 20 times quicker that salmon's about two miles ahead of us
00:30this is stunning Joe isn't it yeah look at this half light the shimmering silver water this is
00:46just the perfect time to see this today we're on this breathtaking stretch of the Solway Coast and
00:51isn't it stunning it's absolutely extraordinary very different to the Cotswolds now the Firth out
00:56there may mark the divide between England and Scotland but the people here are united by a
01:00deep-rooted love of the land the waters and the wildlife they're doing all they can to protect
01:06this fragile landscape but there's one ancient tradition here that's facing an uncertain future
01:12the Solway Coast is a borderland between England and Scotland and home to some of the world's most
01:20precious habitats we'll explore vast peatlands rare dune systems tidal salt marshes and wade into the
01:30Firth itself where Huffnet fishing battles to stay afloat in changing tides and I've got my life jacket
01:37on you've got your buoyancy stuff on quite safe everyone can swim no no this is absolutely incredible
01:47isn't it I'm loving I'm living the dream perfect that sounds good and healthy doesn't it bingo
01:58wow and this is remarkable and with the biggest event in sheepdog trialing on the horizon are we
02:08Adam's been putting his dog Gwen Gwen come by through her paces stand well she's not
02:16resistant to me at all yeah no more practice is what you say always more practice
02:20the solway's vast tidal range and shifting sands have created a unique environment a rich tapestry of
02:34peatlands dunes and salt marshes and this is Rockcliffe salt marsh
02:43the farmland here is owned by the castle town estate where families have been grazing livestock on
02:52this rugged land for nine generations I've done many cattle roundups in my time but never quite like
03:00this luckily I've got farm director Rory Martin leading the way
03:06this is absolutely incredible isn't it yeah it's fantastic I uh I pinch myself most days when I come
03:19out here and think you know this this is my office this is my well five to nine rather than nine to
03:23five but yeah it's it's brilliant what sort of expanse of landscape have we got here then we're on
03:28Rockcliffe salt marsh and we're bordered by two rivers so with the the river esk on the north side
03:33with the river Eden to the south of us and the the marsh is a triangle within that there's roughly
03:38two and a half thousand acres of grass and then we have about five thousand acres of sand running off
03:44to where the two rivers meet in the distance we'll have certain times of the year where the whole of
03:48this grass expanse that we're on will be underwater and you'll have tree branches and full trees
03:54floating about and sounds obviously very movable and what was a nice sand bank gradually going down
03:59into the river all suddenly become a cliff edge crikey goodness me quite treacherous terrain I'm I'm glad
04:05I was following you because I'd have ended up in a ditch yeah it's uh you have to have your wits
04:10about you when you're out here definitely and some cattle over there we'll head over shall we we'll
04:13check this creek as we come round and we'll head off away over towards those cattle okay nice one
04:17the marshland changes throughout the year providing a diverse diet for a thousand cattle but it's
04:29shifting nature means regular herding to keep them on safe ground
04:33you could so easily get lost out here couldn't you if the fog comes down you're a bit stuck
04:43the sword is it's not rye grass it's not meadow fescues it's a mix of all different herbs and
04:49grass species and it changes from the the marsh bank out to the very pioneer grass species out on
04:54the sand we get what we call a marsh boost so the the animals have been out here they've been grazing
04:59all all different types of herbage so when we bring them back inside we'll find on that system we're
05:04actually getting just fantastic growth rates that you would you normally wouldn't expect in it
05:08incredible finishing system and you can see with these guys that are coming in here they're they're
05:12perfectly happy they're nice and curious they're yeah they're fit and ready to go and so gathering
05:17then you have to do that with the tides yes so each month we'll gather them all off and put them
05:24behind the marsh bank into safety for up to five days maybe that the tide might be high we take the
05:29opportunity to to fold that into the commercial aspect of what we do and start pulling off the
05:34biggest animals and it must be a bit of a logistical nightmare is it it can be yeah my team are already
05:39getting organized back in line getting all the quads fueled up and you're not getting out of it you've
05:43got some more work to do as soon as we get the nod we'll uh we'll go and join in i'm so pleased to
05:47be here it's fascinating i'll follow you no problem the marsh not only provides a rich diet for the cattle
05:57but their grazing also helps local wildlife thrive ornithologist bart donato works with rory to keep an eye
06:04on how the two support each other hello lovely to meet you bart my word what a day for it it is
06:14cumbria is best it really is so tell me about your role here then and we've been working with the
06:20estate for working 20 years i think my predecessors well before that trying to make the the farming work
06:27with the wildlife and get the you know the right swords all the way through the year for the birds
06:32this marsh is the most important marsh on the solway for breeding birds it's fulfilling different roles
06:39for different species all the way through the year what sort of stuff have we got out here so the sort
06:44of headline is in the winter we have all the barnacle geese come down from svalbard from march april time
06:50onwards the red shank are on here the lapwing are on here the oyster catches are on here the sky is alive
06:55with skylarks it's a beautiful spot in spring the nice thing on the cakes when you see the the young
07:00lapwing taking their first flight in late may early june then you can relax a bit and so when you've got
07:06the the nests out here the eggs the fledglings you definitely don't want a herd of a thousand cattle
07:10walking about no and that's that's the hard bit to manage because you don't want the cattle out
07:15when they're nesting but if you don't get the cattle out when they've got the chicks then you're not
07:20going to get enough of the grass taken off this year for it to be good marsh next year it seems like a
07:26incredible balancing act that you've both got to try and work with very much so it feels like walking
07:31across a tight rope sometimes but it's it's something that's integral to the ethos and the management
07:37of of the whole farm landscape here very much about working hand in hand with the experts and and the
07:43wildlife and making the system work for you know both sides of the same coin do you get frustrated sometimes you think oh that's not quite right
07:50all the time but every year's different and it's it's a you know it's a constantly evolving story and species like lapwing and redshank have declined by 60-70% over the last 50 years but on the marsh their population stayed stable all the way through and every year we're coming out here and we're finding way to chicks at the end of the day and that's that's what's key you know the birds are getting their chicks away and that's absolutely critical so yeah it's working and it's working at scale which is just so fantastic.
08:18so you would celebrate having the cattle here it wouldn't be the environment without no not at all it's it's absolutely essential to the managing the marsh as it is and it's been that way for hundreds of years I've never seen a landscape like it
08:32and with a nod from the team I can join in with a final leg of the herding the moment I've been waiting for
08:40don't leave me behind I could be out here for weeks
08:56moving the cattle to higher ground might be a regular job for a Ruri
09:00but for me it's a great experience even in the soggy Cumbrian weather
09:15I'm loving I'm living the dream
09:18to the southwest of rock cliff marsh lies another vital habitat in this extraordinary stretch of coastline
09:40peatland
09:42the plants beneath my feet may not look dramatic but they're quietly doing some of the most important climate work in the UK
09:50this thick spongy layer of peat is crucial for locking away carbon preventing flooding and boosting biodiversity
09:59Wedham flow is part of the south solway mosses some of the largest and most intact lowland peatlands in the UK
10:08peat was traditionally used for fuel and later for horticulture but its removal came at a price to the environment and the practice was stopped
10:17the centuries of peat extraction has damaged the land and removed water drying the peat
10:26senior nature reserve manager Emma Austin looks after the ongoing work to restore and preserve this peatland
10:34to paint a picture for me what was this like when when the extraction was going on here
10:38noisy busy with people a lot of local people were employed here there was a mixture of
10:43machinery cutting the peat quite efficiently and then latterly almost hoovering dried peat
10:522002 was when the commercial extraction stopped here and then what's followed really is trials and experiments in
11:00how do you re-wet peat how do you restore peat how do you get the water levels back
11:04how do you get the vegetation back when you start with nothing
11:08Emma and the team have been working to re-wet this landscape and some of the peat here is already on the mend
11:16now what is this this is so well i'm actually heading down and down and down
11:22well we're in the middle of installing some water level sensors so um you've landed just at the right time
11:28to twist this is that how it works you can you can give that a go
11:31oh it goes down quite nice and easily
11:33all right and now you need to bend your knees and not your back
11:35okay and get it out okay
11:37perfect that sounds good and healthy doesn't it
11:43are these modern roots these must be modern roots preserved are they not they're old roots they're that well preserved
11:47yeah we know about sphagnum bog mosses which form this sort of living skin over our peat
11:54yeah really what we're looking at is the the pickled remains the pickled vegetation
11:59wow emma's clever new kit detects tiny amounts of energy given off as the plants break down
12:06powering the monitor to give her continuous data on the water level in the peatland
12:11do they work this is this is our trial all we need to do is is push this in now
12:18and we want it to go in so about half a meter is sticking up so between the two of us
12:24if you've cleared out enough we'll be able to just push that in
12:29oh yeah a bit more i think that's about right
12:31the sensor down at the bottom actually measures the water pressure
12:35if all goes well with the with the sensor stick then this could be the thing of the future
12:40great well all in place delighted to experience solway's new high-tech monitors
12:45thank you very much good job done
12:49about six miles away is a peatland that's flourishing through continuous restoration
12:53work rspb campfield marsh is a blueprint for wedham flow and similar projects nationwide
13:03helping maintain this precious ecosystem is warden dan cropper
13:10that this looks really interesting it's kind of a prehistoric bog it looks like
13:14yeah so this is a really special part of the reserve sort of my favorite parts as well actually we call it troglans
13:19and it's sort of got this like almost like petrified forest look hasn't it i believe this is maybe excavated at some point for pete
13:25um and trees are sort of colonized it died off and become dead standing dead wood
13:29we've started this year a project to introduce the white-faced data dragonfly to the site and i actually had a really exciting sighting here in may
13:37so you actually saw one in this very spot
13:39very spot i did yeah on this path just over there i've got a photograph of you oh yeah go on yeah i'd love to
13:43yeah there we go
13:45so oh i see yeah so it's just sat on the short grass yeah and then is that red or is that orange
13:49it's sort of reddy orange it is exactly exactly what the book says
13:53reddy orange and black yeah the males yeah and they're just really um charismatic actually they
13:57they come and look kind of inspect you and they they land in front of you and
14:01it's a really rare species for for this country is you know a handful of sites left in england
14:07it's synonymous with lowland raised bogs 95 of which we've we've lost in this country so we haven't
14:12had white-faced darts here um ever we don't think we haven't got any records of it very exciting then
14:20the presence of the white-faced data suggests that this peatland is in top condition
14:25and it actually supports a further 12 species of dragonfly but maintaining the habitats of campfield
14:31marsh takes constant care wow dan this is remarkable it just completely opens up doesn't it and healthy
14:41bog in and amongst it absolutely yeah yeah loads of cotton grass um bog myrtle bog asphodel lovely
14:47smell to it yeah and the odd bit of birch as well which which is what we're here for we don't want
14:51too much of it and we sort of manage a little bit every year just to kind of stop it from taking
14:56over and drying the bog out obviously trees take up a lot of water don't they so they reduce the
15:01height of the water table if we if they're left and that releases carbon into the atmosphere that would
15:05have always be stored stored in the peat oh i see lovely and spongy isn't it you can feel the water
15:12underneath keeping the bog wet is everything removing birch saplings can help keep the water table high
15:20so the peat keeps building and those specialist bog plants have space to thrive
15:25okay let's have a look at this
15:29there we are and that's excellent fantastic i mean it does feel a bit weird to be
15:35going at nice healthy trees but it's always about the right tree in the right place i guess
15:38exactly yeah yeah here we go how big's the bog and how much of this are you doing every year
15:44so the bog is 60 hectares that we look after we clear birch from two hectares every year so it's a
15:4930 year cycle really as we all know from the news and everywhere else it's been probably
15:55one of the driest years in recent memory and yet it seems to be doing okay it's it's it's amazing how
16:02much peat bogs save us from flooding in the wet periods and they and they provide us with water when
16:06it's when it's dry they're absolutely crucial i was able to send water down from from from the bog
16:12onto the grasslands in august to the rest of the farm yeah wonderful right come on i'm gonna give
16:17this stump one more go good luck looking forward the proof that this work is paying off
16:24will be in the diverse species that continue to call this site home so close yes i can feel it
16:30there we are oh excellent work that put that on your mantelpiece there we go my peatland restoration
16:36trophy if down the line white face darters are breeding here it'll show this peatland really is
16:43in top condition at the southern edge of the solway is a vast expanse of sand dunes
16:56at marlboro banks nature reserve two conservationists are combining their efforts to protect this delicate
17:02ecosystem and the creatures that live in it including a rarely seen amphibian
17:08it's down to landscape officer sophie badrick to look after this ever-changing environment
17:15so this reserve is so special because it's a fantastic example of the sand dune system we've
17:20got lovely sand dunes on here and the other species that are associated with that like the natterjack
17:25toads despite working towards that natterjack goal seeing the rare nocturnal toad is no mean feat
17:34i've been working here for a few years and we do all this work and i've never
17:37seen an adult natterjack so it would be fantastic to to see one and know that we're we're doing all
17:41the right things for them today sophie hopes her luck will change because also on the dunes is
17:48howard inns vice chairman of the amphibian and reptile conservation trust
17:55the natterjack toad is probably the amphibian that we've got that is most vulnerable to extinction
18:01natterjack toads need to breed in very shallow water some years the breeding ponds that they choose can
18:06dry up you only find the types of pools that they like in certain habitats and sand dunes is probably
18:14one of the key habitats for for natterjack toads we must do what we can to maintain habitats like this
18:22so that they remain suitable for the natterjack
18:27one of the main challenges that we have is the sand dune system is really dynamic and the sand dunes if
18:32they're healthy they move and they don't move quickly but they do move over time so we want
18:37to try and stop them getting fully vegetated with lots of different species that will put their roots
18:42down and make them really solid and stable so we want some open sand we want some lower growing
18:48vegetation not the the really dense gorse that we have which stabilize the dunes and stop them from
18:54moving and stop other species coming in and colonizing
18:56some of the species that we have here that are exploiting them they don't have that elsewhere so
19:03we're providing quite a unique habitat for them we've got some very dense banks of gorse that are
19:10along the side of the site and we are trying to cut some rides through and we'll get a much more
19:15species-rich area we've got a fantastic small team of volunteers who who come and help out and they
19:21get stuck into everything that we ask them to and we couldn't function without them
19:28while sophie's team tackle the gorse howard has his own mission today i'm on a natterjack hunt
19:36there's a good reason why 2025 is an important year for us to come and look for natterjacks
19:41at this site when we count natterjacks what we typically count in the spring
19:46and the number of spawn strings and in 2022 there was a really good count made here
19:52of something like 70 different spawn strings the one thing i will be looking for are burrows in the
19:59open sand because once they've come out of the water they will make their way up to the sandy areas
20:05and they will dig a burrow and they'll use that burrow to spend the day in then come out at night to
20:10hunt but as it starts to get cooler in the autumn they'll eventually dig that burrow deeper and
20:16that's where they'll spend the winter the class of 22's offspring are now old enough to breed
20:22themselves but despite having a license to handle them there's no guarantee howard will find any of
20:28these vulnerable creatures while his search continues sophie recruits additional help for her gorse clearing
20:36we have eight belted galloway here on site as well um we call them our conservation grazing team um and
20:47they are really vital to the management of the site not only do they eat some of the the grasses and
20:51things and keep the vegetation lower but by their nature they are turning the ground over
20:57looking for natterjacks is always a challenge but it is always a great thrill you never lose that thrill
21:05of coming across something that is such a pretty little animal and is so rare so yeah you never
21:10lose that thrill it's fantastic so we've got howard here today and i'm really excited to see how he's
21:15getting on bingo
21:33so this is definitely one of this year's toads um so this would have come out of the pond probably a
21:40month or so ago and they they feed quickly so quite quickly they get to this sort of size and they're
21:48preparing now to hibernate so it won't be long before this chap retreats into a burrow to spend
21:54the winter and you can see that beautiful yellow stripe which is typical of a natterjack
21:58um so yes a 2025 toadlet which is wonderful to see
22:13look at that fruits of your labor sophie that's amazing that's brilliant good to see good to see
22:18that so we're obviously doing doing the right thing you are doing the right thing and that's
22:21uh a good sort of testament to breeding success this year brilliant news it's the first time i've
22:28seen them seeing the adults on site and being with howard and and learning from his his skills and
22:34his handling being able to see them so close is is brilliant when i got here this morning i thought
22:43we've got a chance of seeing natterjack today but i would have put it below 50 percent we've seen
22:50five natterjack toes and to me that is absolutely brilliant i saw my first natterjack toe probably over
22:5740 years ago um that was a great thrill and do you know what i still get the same thrill today when
23:03i when i find a natterjack toe they really are a cracking little amphibian love them
23:15now before i traveled north to the solway coast i was busy doing a bit of training back on my farm in
23:22the cotswolds across the country the sheepdog trialing season is in full swing and i've been learning what
23:30it takes to swap farming for the trial field the country's best sheepdogs and handlers work at a
23:38level few can match but this isn't just performance it's the same sharp instinct and precise control
23:45that's vital every day for moving stock and managing the land good good girl that'll do so
23:52gwen's a really lovely dog her and i work well together she's one of the best i've ever had really
23:58but i'd really like to know what she's capable of and what i can do to sort of hone my skills to get
24:04the best out of her and so to do that what i've done is invited well one of the best in the business
24:11to give me some lessons to find out what's in her tank and what i can do to make her better
24:18right sheep are in the pen i'll go meet them come on then last year ben smith was the only english
24:25handler to make it through to the toughest sheepdog trialing event in the calendar the international
24:31supreme hear that whistle amazing skill to get a dog to understand that and teaching
24:40the dog what the commands mean ben's brought along his partner lisa kaisel seabird also
24:47a national competitor she'll really put gwen and i through our paces you're happy with those little
24:52ones lisa we're starting by marking out a little training course in this field and they've got to
24:58be seven yards apart okay let's make them 20 yards for me no you'll be fine we'll make yours three
25:04so it's cones trees and whatever else ben can throw at me all lined up to test my handling skills
25:12drop the sheep out there so we'll do a little out run yes a fetch straight as we can through
25:17the center of them yes around the back of us yes this will be the drive yeah cross drive will be
25:22across around the back of the tree back to our feet and then a split well i might as well go home now
25:27now you'll be fine easy before gwen and i take to the field lisa's running the course with her dog ben
25:37while the other ben gives me a much needed crash course in trialing
25:43on a trial you'll start with 100 points every time you deviate from a line or an extra command on
25:48an outrun you're losing points so for me and gwen she's got reasonable skill yeah but when she gets a
25:54little bit further away tends to sort of stop listening to me yeah yeah and goes into work mode
26:00she does really with the trial you take a little bit of that you still want the natural ability but
26:05we create situations that aren't always natural so the more you do that she's then taking your command
26:10not her natural ability yeah but you say you don't want to take all the natural ability out because at
26:14work you don't want to have to give every single command you want to bring them to you
26:17more practice is what you say always more practice the other half of the battle is the
26:23sheep and it turns out i've got a few troublemakers in the flock but lisa's dog ben is doing a great
26:30job of muscling them around the course the final test is the shed where lisa and the dog work together
26:37to neatly split the packet of sheep expertly done lisa
26:45brilliant yeah works really well challenging enough and for you how does that feel being
26:51able to control a dog is that just a lovely feeling yeah it is it is really good um i really enjoy working
26:57them and um he's really responsive and he doesn't really fight me so that's the type of dog i like you
27:02know he's just he wants to work with me we swap the sheep so the others can catch their breath
27:10and now it's our turn to have a crack at it
27:15okay so i'll send her off to the right yep so it's about calmness okay yes straight lines
27:21layer down create a bit of gap yeah and then start again good luck are we so going out a bit wide no
27:30it's nice that that's that's a good trial different than work clean and i would stop her now and try
27:37and stop her stop her that's it nice and now it's about you reading sheep because when they lift they
27:44might go one way or the other and this is the look of dog trial you don't always get the perfect packet
27:50stubborn sheep like lisa i've got a tricky packet of sheep and because gwen's not having an easy time of
27:57it she's reverting to work mode so her problem is she struggled she's fighting sheep all i want to
28:03do is get them back yeah sure so she's trying to help you probably over helping for trialing that's
28:07where you don't need a dog that over helps so what do you do when they split like that come by that's
28:13where you've got to control your dog to tuck him in so you want to cover right around the corner if you
28:16can we've missed the first gate by a mile but at least the sheep are in a group and moving towards us
28:22they even go around us fairly neatly and off towards the second gate so far it's mostly been
28:33the sheep testing me but now gwen's decided my commands aren't worth listening to gwen come by
28:39right stand stand so this is where sometimes so so now she'll want to go to the right yeah because
28:46i want her natural thing is she wants to go round her but i want her to come to the left yeah if you
28:50were in a training situation you do a lot of them that she doesn't want to do gwen soon settles
28:54down and shows a bit of patience you're getting the gate perfect we even get some good fortune at
28:59the second gate so you can let her cross drive now to be honest the sheep the sheep have helped you
29:03nicely just watch she doesn't drift to the front because that's what she naturally wants to do
29:11come by come by but then straight back into trouble she's good there though she's doing the best
29:17can without being nasty and that's the best ability of a dog when you get that bit of gap they flow off
29:22her stand well she's not listening to me at all yeah no we'll let you off you go around either tree
29:29yeah steady but with my right hand command still failing the trees are out of reach altogether
29:37she's completely lost the plot yeah she's uh she's just feeling the pressure a little bit our way
29:41maybe bring them back and try and do a shed now a nice clean split of the sheep is our last chance
29:50to impress ben and lisa i'll just do this shed yeah stand stand stand stand come by stand yeah yeah yeah
30:01go on go on yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that'll do that'll do that'll do well very very average i
30:09have to say back to the back to the drawing board but she had a bad packet and she's tried her best
30:15if you put a couple of months working and and that you would go out and you would get around
30:19the track course it's just homing everything in it's like tightening everything up and a little bit
30:23better stop and finesse so if she came to you how long before you had a shortage reckon if i had her a
30:29month she would be clean she would be stopping yeah you know the the finesse would be on i would
30:34say in a month so nine times out of ten it's down to the person not the dog oh nine and a half it's
30:39easier to blame the dog sometimes absolutely for my final lesson of the day ben's giving me a master
30:47class showing me what his collie roy can do he's just earned a place on the international team at the
30:53english national it's moving those sheep straight away absolutely brilliant every time ben seems to
31:04whistle the dog will move left right onwards slow down almost robotic
31:21it's a skill it's a job but it's also an art right down the competition is tough but ben's hoping
31:30his run at the internationals will be good enough to land him a place at the supreme for the second year
31:36running for me if the international is the big big goal yeah but it's a big ask big big ask yeah well
31:46good luck thank you very much thank you lisa thank you the action doesn't stop here next week we'll have
31:53all the highlights from the international supreme taking place at the historic brink and alt estate near
31:59wrexham
32:05and in two weeks time it's our country file ramble for children in need
32:09here's john and pudsey to tell us more let's get ready to ramble the country file ramble for bbc
32:18children in need 2025 will be on your screens on the 5th of october well putsy i'm told that you have
32:27organized a very special location for this year's ramble what details are in here are they
32:33all right all right ah it's going to be on a farm great choice pudsey
32:44this year pudsey is asking you to challenge yourself and help us make life lighter for children
32:50only with your support can we continue to help to lighten the load
32:55for hundreds of thousands of children when they need us the most
32:58children like elissa
33:10elissa is very full-on she's very bubbly
33:19i love musicals my favorite greatest showman but i also like wicked and matilda
33:2510 year old elissa lives in newport south wales with her dad philip she was always dancing and
33:33singing she never can't stay still for longer than five minutes
33:39elissa has her mum christine to thank for her love of musicals and the fun things in life
33:45i think i'm saying more to my mum we're both a bit silly because i've got the same hair as her which
33:55is one thing i always get complimented on you've got your dad's eyes but you've got your mummy's hair
34:01and also we both like pizza but to be honest who doesn't like pizza
34:06we love going away we like going to the theme parks she loved the caravans going around being
34:14eating the fresh air being able to ride a bike and you know it was happy times
34:21she was very fun energetic person she was very kind and she could always make me happy when i was
34:27upset about something but while on holiday in 2023 christine fell ill and had to be taken to hospital
34:39and we was in a room three of us was there doctor come in and she said you know can your daughter
34:45leave and go with the nurse then we thought oh something's not good and um
34:52um doctor then told us we think you've got liver cancer christine was eventually diagnosed with bile duct
35:03cancer and despite treatment the family were told the heartbreaking news that it was incurable
35:14it's just again it was just total shock totally shocked christine was 48 you know
35:21too young to uh to die you know so their first thoughts were alissa um how are we going to tell her
35:35christine and philip turned to saint david's hospice in newport that runs the unicorn service
35:42part funded by bbc children in need the service gives children and young people access to the support
35:49they need when a significant adult in their life is seriously ill or has died so we went there just
35:57me and christine we went to see a lady called elaine so she talked to us we said how do we tell our
36:07our daughter that her mom is going to die
36:16elaine robinson is the children and young persons support lead and her role is part funded by bbc
36:23children in need and she said the best thing to do is just tell her make a date stick to the date
36:29and just tell her sooner the better and so we did it felt like the world was gonna end i didn't know what
36:42to do and i just felt alone everybody was in tears it was all in a big hug all three of us
36:53and this is like why is it gonna be me why is it gonna be my mommy
37:04to help her through this difficult time elissa began regular visits to see elaine
37:09at the hospice for one-to-one support hi nice to see you i met elaine and she was really nice to me
37:17because like i felt like somebody i could talk to so we said last time didn't we that we were going to
37:23do a memory box yeah elaine's a very nice person she's very comforting and she's very good with kids
37:33the sessions that we had together gave her the opportunity to validate what was happening and to
37:40form her own narrative around the situation that was going on it gave christine peace of mind you
37:49know it was a great relief that she was in good hands much better just let's just your memory box
37:58is absolutely gorgeous i could tell elaine and she would be able to like have a solution which comforted
38:07me knowing that she knew what to do i remember you doing that you made that didn't you yes and i
38:15made that here and there yeah i went a bit sticker overload yeah and did mum like it yeah she loved it
38:22elaine would explain to her that you know her mum had a cancer it wasn't her mum's fault
38:30you know and you've got to enjoy the time with your mum because we don't know how long she's got
38:39in september 2024 elissa and her family's world turned upside down when christine passed away
38:47elissa got to do one very important last performance for her mum doing the funeral preparations we had to
38:56choose three songs for the funeral and um my mum said oh why don't you record elissa singing castle
39:06in the cloud it was called castle in the cloud it was from les mishrabel and it was um we chose it
39:14because it felt like we could represent me and them as the characters and we did change one lyric which
39:20words from cosette's name to my name because we thought that made it feel more meaningful
39:32you know she loved being a mum she loved being with her daughter and um she loved watching her perform
39:51so is that going to go in your memory box yeah yeah you've got loads of things after the funeral
39:57the unicorn service was there again to support elissa and when mum passed i went to the group sessions
40:04elaine felt i was ready then to and i should be able to connect with kids who have also gone from my
40:11experiences i felt not so alone anymore because i felt like there were other kids and it felt comforting to
40:18know i wasn't the only one and i wasn't alone many many young people with the extra support like the
40:28unicorn service do better in the long run they do better in being able to see a future without feeling
40:37that the loss is defining their future alissa kind of got through how she did vivate the unicorn service
40:46they kind of taught her that you still gotta have a life you still gotta make your journey and
40:52alissa really took that on board and she did she just carried on and we asked did she miss a moment
40:59she said no because she's always in my heart
41:01i think about her often and i feel like she's in a better place she's not in pain anymore and that
41:09she's still looking down on me
41:13so she does miss a month you know she might not show it she does miss her we all miss her
41:20projects like the unicorn service at st david's hospice care can help change the lives of young
41:31people like alissa and this is how you can help
41:37you can donate any amount of money online to bbc children in need by scanning the qr code on your
41:44screen right now or head to bbc.co.uk forward slash country farm or to donate 5 10 20 30 or 40 pounds
41:57text the word 5 10 20 30 or 40 to 70705 text will cost your donation amount plus your standard network
42:09message charge and a hundred percent of your donation will go to bbc children in need
42:16you must be 16 or over and please ask the bill payers permission
42:21for full terms and more information go to bbc.co.uk forward slash country farm
42:27we're exploring the extraordinary solway coast in north cumbria with the uk's second highest tidal
42:41range this stretch of coastline supports a rare and rich aquatic environment
42:47i've crossed over to the scottish side of the firth to learn of an age-old fishing tradition
42:52now i must admit i am obsessed with underwater wildlife so i'm always keen to hear what's going
43:00on in the fishing world and here on the solway there is a method of catching fish which is unique
43:06to this part of the world it's been practiced for about a thousand years and i'm here to see it before
43:11it's too late george renwick is one of the last remaining half netters george hi how's it going
43:22hi joe good to see you now this looks quite impressive um start at the beginning george what
43:27is half netting half netting is a tradition that's been done in the solway i think it went back to
43:32viking times where they hung the nets off doors on the boats to catch a fish and we carry a beam
43:38which you can see behind me which is 16 foot long on three legs with one mid stick in the middle for
43:45carrying it and so you can lift it when you're fishing by the middle so the beam is what you call
43:49the sort of the the thing across the main bit of wood is it yeah that's wood is it it's wood yeah
43:53and then this is to catch what what are you fishing for we're fishing for salmon and sea trout and how
43:58long have you been doing this i'm one of the shortest people i've been doing it for 25 years oh you're a
44:04newcomer tell me about the nets here george well these i make these myself i've made a couple but
44:12they're very time consuming and this will take me about 60 hours 60 60 60 hours and about a mile
44:20and a half a string with about 26 000 knots in it oh my time i've finished goodness that's amazing
44:27this is obviously a labor of love so maybe this is not the best thing to me have a go on but is
44:31there a way i can experience a bit of yeah half net building i've got a little one here that started
44:36for you okay so you can have a go at this so you get this this is your kyle you put it over the kyle
44:43so every mesh is exactly the same pull it down tight then pinch it with your fingertips flick it over
44:50to the right come up through between the two bars pull down but keep it tight and then pull so as
44:57a knot is there so it doesn't slip that's not going to slip right i'd like to do an extra demonstration
45:03of how hard it actually is even though you've made it look so easy so so you pick it up from underneath
45:08up through there yeah up through there around the back of the kyle you've got to keep it on the back
45:12of the kyle pull down on the back of the kyle yeah pull down ah now i've got a gap can i hold that on
45:17there further up no no right up on there right up on there right up on there with your back finger
45:22as well oh back finger as well okay and now no no flick flick flick don't forget this way i don't
45:28consider myself to be particularly slow but this is not going in it's because you're a lefty easily yeah so i'm
45:32trying to do it back to front you want to go the opposite way i may not quite have mastered the art
45:40of making a half net but perhaps i can redeem myself in the water i'm joining some of solway's most
45:47experienced fishermen tony turner and john warwick ready to go and i've got my life jacket on you've got
45:55your buoyancy stuff on quite safe everyone can swim no no don't worry okay have you ever taken a swim
46:04well i have on occasion right but always got out hold on to your beam if you do get carried away
46:09yeah and the beam will float okay excellent last minute safety advice this is brilliant here we go
46:15and to think i mean give or take a few modern materials but this is a site two guys going down
46:20there with their beams to fish it's been going on for hundreds of years i can't wait to get involved
46:35well after a long dry summer we're finally getting some of the autumnal rain we so desperately need
46:41and actually it's come at a good time i'm dressed for it as we're about to go fishing
46:45but what's the weather got in store for the week ahead here's the country fire forecast
46:56good evening thanks joe yes that dry summer a distant memory after that soggy september that
47:01we've been experiencing just take a look at some of the rainfall totals capital keurig 312 millimetres
47:08and parts of wales have actually had twice their monthly average rainfall already not shy from that
47:14across the lake district as well but today well a lot of dry and sunny weather particularly across
47:20north wales very pleasant indeed and actually as we go through the week ahead with high pressure
47:25building in from the atlantic we could actually see a much quieter september week of weather ahead
47:31that high pressure will gradually drift its way steadily east we've had a brisk wind today driving
47:36in some showers through scotland and northern ireland we keep some showers overnight tonight
47:40in the northern isles but with clearing skies elsewhere temperatures are going to fall away
47:45it is going to be a chilly night quite widely across the country in southern scotland northern
47:49england rural parts we could see temperatures just below freezing touch of frost not out of the question
47:55first thing tomorrow morning we still keep the risk of some showers across the northern isles and that
48:00brisk breeze here driving in more cloud through scotland and northern ireland but elsewhere
48:05there'll be a lot of dry settled sunny weather to come temperatures a little bit subdued though
48:10circulating around that high pressure with that northwesterly wind top temperatures of 12 to 16
48:15degrees the air at the moment is originating from the arctic now it's likely that the high pressure
48:21continues to drift its way steadily eastward through tuesday the isobars open up good deal of quiet weather
48:27set to continue fog could be an issue first thing in the morning it'll be slow to clear but it should do so
48:33by lunch time and into the afternoon we keep that dry theme for many so not a bad day in prospect
48:39again those temperatures still a little bit below par for this time of year we're likely to see highs
48:44of 14 to 17 degrees now as we move out of tuesday into wednesday subtle change in wind direction could
48:51mean we could see a few isolated showers with that southeasterly wind across essex and kent and there is
48:58a weakening frontal system trying to push in to the far northwest of scotland particularly the western
49:03isles but at the moment there will continue to be some dry weather and a degree also warmer with each
49:09day as we go through the week those temperatures will start to creep back up a little so into thursday
49:15again quite dry but more of a breeze and this time coming from the south there should be a little
49:19more cloud as well around but essentially a dry quiet theme is set to continue for many and temperatures
49:26a little widely warmer as that southerly winds so 16 degrees in aberdeen 18 degrees in london now as we
49:34move into friday there's a weather front trying to push in from the atlantic this could contain the
49:40remnants of ex-hurricane gabriel so a lot of uncertainty at the moment about what's going to happen towards
49:46the end of the week but some of that rain could be quite heavy if it gradually moves in from the west
49:52but on the whole most of us should stay fine and dry on friday but there's a potential for that
49:57rain to arrive in from the weekend and again those temperatures around 15 to 18 degrees the high
50:03so as we move out of friday into saturday there could be some wetter weather for some but it's not
50:09a write-off as we go through the week ahead a lot of dry fine weather around that's how it's looking
50:15whatever you're doing make sure you enjoy your week let's go back to joe shall we and his fishing take care
50:36i'm on the scottish side of the solway firth for my first ever huffnet fishing experience i don't
50:41you feel i'm putting my weight john can i take this off you for a bit yeah you certainly can the huge
50:46tidal range and shifting sands make it a dangerous place to fish but i'm with some of the solway's
50:52most experienced half netters tony turner and john warwick how do you know where to fish john well
51:00it's experience more than anything else you learn over the years if somebody was just to come down
51:06that had no experience they would probably end up getting stuck in soft sand or getting swept away
51:11and this always changes all the time so you've got the bedrock but you've got the sand on top
51:15and that's always in a state of flux so it depends where the main channel is this year it's very
51:21close into the scotch side so there's a deep channel going down annan this year but normally
51:26where we're going to fish you'd walk through over the sands to find other channels that are nearer
51:31the english side right it's fascinating how much and how sort of dramatically it can change then
51:36can change within a few days totally different in you go it's quite a muddy estuary isn't it yeah
51:45silty you need it muddy so that the fish don't detect the net so when you feel you're comfortable
51:51maybe a few more steps then you can set it into the water facing up water that's it
51:57that's it now you're going to pull the tails off this is the tail that's it so you've got one tail
52:07out take the shallow tail out and then this is the shallow tail let's just it's actually a lot longer
52:12than i thought it would be okay yeah you need enough room for the fish to get in and and not be able to
52:18turn so you rest against your shoulder because you're going to take a bit of net with your left fingers
52:23yeah and on the right hand side you're going to take some net in your right hand fingers oh i see
52:27so the idea is that if a fish swims in you'll feel a pull on the net yeah yeah okay and at that point
52:34you need to step back okay step back step back lift the beam yeah left hand over the front left hand over
52:40the front and up it comes that's it and just about 20 times quicker right that salmon's about two miles
52:48are headed yes it will be by then yeah that's right with a bit more practice i may just get the
52:54hang of this one more time fingers on that i feel i'm up against it because i've got my shoulders here
52:58yeah i'm doing this yeah i feel a pull and that's it stand back left that's it
53:07when my father fished it was a living for some people but when i started fishing that was already
53:15in decline and gradually over the years it's slowed and slowed and slowed and now it's basically just
53:21a hobby with people that are interested in fishing but particularly in the tradition of the ann and
53:26half nets and the royal charter do you have any idea how many are doing it here now there's about 15
53:31license holders but there's only a handful that do it regularly yeah gosh and what would it be in
53:35its heyday do you think all the way up the sawway on both sides they would have been half netting gosh
53:41so you could have had in any one day you could have over 100 people out fishing wow wow wow wow so
53:47that is some significant decline it is back in the day the nets and the sawway provided a lot of the food
53:55for britain so the fish would be sent down to billingsgate market in london yeah but once farm
54:00fishing came in the price dropped so commercial nets the stake nets they had less influence but also then
54:10that's when the not wild fish number started to decline as well george that you spoke to earlier
54:17is one of the youngest half netters tony's the oldest i'm in my 70s most of us are in the 60s
54:23or 70s so i think with this generation it's likely to die out unless there's some sort of incentive
54:30to keep fishing right okay with atlantic salmon threatened with extinction the scottish government
54:37has put a ban on the fish being taken from areas where they're most at risk here in the solway firth
54:42any wild salmon caught must be released but i guess the regulations are there because
54:47you know salmon are are in a really bad way so we agree with conservation yeah um
54:53the thing that annoys us is that the regulation is mainly designed for anglers the two approaches
55:04for catching salmon differ past research suggests that catch and release angling may result in a
55:10higher mortality rate than half netting with that in mind john believes he should be able to keep a
55:15small percentage of the salmon he catches with angling you have to catch the fish hook it play it bring
55:23it into the side take the hook out and then let it go so that could say for a 10 pound salmon take 10
55:32minutes yeah we can release a 10 pound salmon in seconds just by flipping it into the water
55:37so there's a known mortality with angling which is acceptable under the regulations as they stand just
55:45now yeah whereas we are practically zero so if we were given the equivalent of that mortality yeah
55:53it might just keep the tradition going okay i suppose the government would say it's better for them to
56:00work on making sure there's no mortality in angling rather than allowing other fisheries like the
56:06half net fishery to kill well they encourage good um practice in catch and release on the river
56:12but regardless of that there's still going to be some mortality on the river
56:15it feels slightly meditative doesn't it when you're just sort of here with both arms up
56:23despite not being able to keep any salmon tony still gets a thrill from being out here
56:27they decline the salmon the sea top there's no doubt about it no doubt about it they've declined
56:34tremendously but uh i still come here because i like the tug i like the pull the puller than the
56:41salmon when you feel the net oh it's the adrenaline rush i probably should have asked this earlier but
56:48when was the last time you caught a fish about three weeks ago are you going to keep going for as long
56:54as you can oh yes oh yes yes the things that you see it's amazing you know well life we've seen deer
57:01on the shore swimming across the solway we've seen hares we've seen porpoise and dolphins you know it's
57:06it's absolutely terrific it's a magical part of the world isn't it yeah it is it really is
57:11i could happily fish with john and tony all day but i know the tide's on the way in again hopefully
57:19not for the last time for this age-old practice
57:30well joe what a day what a landscape and i've been doing some pretty extreme farming yeah we've both
57:35been immersed in it i think it's fair to say although i'm pleased to be back on firmland and not
57:38still being a bit chilly in the fur i'm pleased too now next week matt and charlotte will be in
57:44wrexham where they'll be watching one of the toughest challenges in the sheepdog trialing world
57:49the international supreme is this the point at which you start getting nervous it's when he
57:54actually walks onto the field then i start hyperventilating there's two there she's got them
58:01she's got them good good work oh she's got a bed well done joe
58:09right get this group in the pen job done come back later come on come me come by play down
58:21hope to see you then see you then bye-bye now i'm sorry there's no fish for dinner
58:25maybe the farmer's got something we can i'm sure he's got a joint to beef there we go come on
58:31dream away this sunday unwind and let radio through soothe your soul on sounds bbc 2 dives into the deep
58:45ocean prepare to enter the kingdom with sir david attenborough at ten past eight
58:50and hicks road show next on bbc one
58:59you
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