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00:00There we go, what have you found?
00:02That's a bit of pottery or something.
00:03Yeah, absolutely.
00:04It's got a nice glaze on the other side.
00:05Oh, yes, that's ancient Viking nose.
00:09It's from 1984.
00:46We are at the River Lieben.
00:49This waterway has been shaping communities, powering mills and changing the landscape for centuries.
00:54Yes, for generations people here depended on the river.
00:57But over time, pollution and neglect took their toll.
01:00Now major restoration work is bringing the Lieben back.
01:04Breathing life into the wildlife and the people who live alongside it.
01:10The River Lieben runs for 29 miles through the heart of Fife.
01:15From Loch Lieben to the Firth of Forth at Liebenmouth.
01:20But now this hard-working river is entering a new chapter.
01:24As people are rediscovering its past and rethinking its future.
01:29You could give that a little go.
01:31I'm going this way?
01:32Yeah, anyway, just now, it doesn't matter too much.
01:34Oh, yeah.
01:35That's not too bad, is it?
01:36That's very easy, yeah.
01:37Yeah.
01:38So that's what they would have done back in the day.
01:42What are we doing?
01:43You can help me with fixing the crossbeams to the posts with the structural bolts.
01:47Feed it through that hole on the outside.
01:49But just beware, what number is this?
01:51This might be the wobbly one.
01:53Oh, yeah.
01:54I'll remember.
01:55Yes, I'll remember that.
01:56And in the Cotswolds, Adam's doing some of his own conservation work with his rare breeds.
02:01Wow, well, she's got such long legs when she's only 17 days old.
02:07Here are.
02:09Oh, aren't you beautiful?
02:11It's all right, your mummy's nearly there.
02:18Right, I think I'm going to head upstream and see where all this water's coming from.
02:21What about you?
02:22I'm going back in time about 500 years.
02:24Right, well, save time, travellers.
02:26I'll see you when you get back.
02:27See you later.
02:32To understand how the River Leaven has shaped this landscape over centuries,
02:37we need to dig beneath the surface into its past.
02:43On the banks of the River Leaven at Methyl Mill,
02:46archaeologists have just started breaking ground on a brand new dig,
02:50unearthing one of the earliest industrial sites along the river.
02:54And with it, the first clues of how people began living and working besides the water
02:59that was once a great powerhouse to industry here.
03:05This excavation is the first stage of a three-year project uncovering the River Leaven's past.
03:12Archaeologist Dr Paul Murtagh is one of the managers of the site,
03:16working to understand how it operated and the role the river played in shaping life here.
03:22Hello, Paul.
03:24Hi Anita, how are you doing?
03:24I'm great.
03:25What's happening here?
03:26So we're doing an archaeology project looking at Methyl Mill,
03:29which is one of the earliest mills on the Leaven.
03:32We think it's an old car mill from the 16th century,
03:35but archaeologically we're not quite there yet,
03:37so we're trying to find evidence to date back to that period,
03:39and even earlier as well, hopefully.
03:41So there were a lot of mills and a lot of industry along this?
03:43Yeah, so this river was probably one of the most heavily industrialised in Scotland,
03:49it's one of the most productive in Scotland,
03:51there was mills all along the river.
03:52Why is it important to do these excavations?
03:55What will this reveal to us?
03:57So it will reveal really early industry in this part of Scotland,
04:00so a lot of industrial sites are built over through development in towns or cities,
04:05but this is kind of unique in a certain way because it's in this rural setting,
04:08it means it survives.
04:09So that's quite interesting for us as archaeologists
04:12because that can reveal a lot about early industry,
04:15the kind of practices that took place here at that period in the 16th, 17th century.
04:21Alongside Paul, Madison Revis is managing the archaeological work on site.
04:27I'm coming in to join you. Join me.
04:29What is happening?
04:30So we're trying to excavate one of our trenches here
04:33to try and find if there's anything underneath this layer
04:36that we've got going down the stork layer.
04:38Right, so I'm going to come and give you a hand.
04:40Yeah, absolutely.
04:41Can I use one of these?
04:41How would you even know where to start?
04:44Yeah, it's really just top down.
04:45So we've got our topsoil here and then underneath the topsoil
04:48we found this big hunk of concrete, which was unexpected.
04:51So we're thinking hopefully there's another layer, a surface down here.
04:55So we found other layers on the other trenches,
04:57so we're hoping to find something really similar.
04:59So it's a lot of patience?
05:00A lot of patience and a lot of asking questions
05:03and thinking about what some things are.
05:06What's exciting here?
05:07So we've got a very surprise piece here,
05:09which is potentially a piece of medieval pottery.
05:12How would you even know that?
05:14I guess that's where the skill comes into it.
05:16Yeah.
05:16So it's quite thin, actually,
05:17in terms of what most medieval pottery would be quite chunky,
05:20but there's on the top here, it's green.
05:24Yes.
05:24And it's a really dull kind of sheen on it
05:26and it's kind of chipping away in some places.
05:28And so that's kind of what we'd expect of medieval pottery, green glaze.
05:32That's called expertise.
05:34Very good.
05:35I'm going to follow your lead.
05:37Sure.
05:37So you just start on the wall there or we can trowel around.
05:40I found something.
05:40What is that?
05:42What is that?
05:42Some kind of pipe?
05:43Like a big hunk of metal.
05:44Yeah.
05:45Looks like.
05:46We've got other similar things that's probably like the one
05:49that we've got sticking out of the trench wall there.
05:51Other pieces of more modern metal and things,
05:54and nails and screws and bolts and things coming out.
05:57Because we're expecting that maybe there was something here
05:59and then it was demolished
06:01and then they've maybe built something else.
06:02So we are unearthing history.
06:04Absolutely.
06:06So what is the magic for you of archaeology, Madison?
06:09I just, I love the discovery.
06:11I love knowing that when you pick something out of the ground,
06:14the last person to touch it usually put it there.
06:16So it's like the further down you go, the older it gets
06:19and the more interesting it gets.
06:21And just playing in mud.
06:22Yeah, I'm always just playing in dirt, playing in sand and everything.
06:24So you never really grow up in archaeology.
06:26It's always fun.
06:27It's always exciting.
06:27Always getting a bit dirty as well.
06:30Come on, let's see if I can actually find something.
06:31I've got no, I'm not very hopeful about this.
06:34You're doing fantastic.
06:37Look at that.
06:38That's a bit of pottery or something.
06:39Yeah, absolutely.
06:40You've got a nice glaze on the other side.
06:41Yeah.
06:42That's really nice.
06:43Oh yes, that's ancient Viking.
06:47It's from 1984.
06:52Beyond historical research, the excavation is also part
06:56of a training programme.
06:58Teaching archaeological skills first hand
07:01and connecting the local community with the river's past.
07:06Hello Sam.
07:07Hello Matthew. How are you getting on down here?
07:09I'm all right.
07:09Coming in to join you.
07:10What got you involved?
07:13I've always had sort of an interest in history and what not.
07:16But actually being able to do it, you know, sort of helped
07:19with the experience of just understanding the area,
07:22what happened in it.
07:23What about you Sam?
07:24For me it's not just finding the things,
07:27it's piecing together what might have happened,
07:30the history behind them, why they're there.
07:33Yeah.
07:34So have I got my feet on something quite interesting then?
07:37What's going on down here?
07:39So we've got sort of a section of brick flooring that we've uncovered.
07:42What do we think it might be?
07:44So we're not entirely sure.
07:47Money's on fireplace I reckon.
07:49Yeah?
07:49Yeah.
07:49All right, yeah, nice half.
07:51Oh, it'd be nice wouldn't it?
07:52Yeah, lovely.
07:53Like you say, it's all about stories isn't it?
07:55I'm with you, like as soon as you unearth something,
07:57even if it's just a tiny little bit of cracked pot,
07:59there is a whole life around it.
08:03What have you found there Sam?
08:04Oh, it's a bit of glass, you see I look very nice and thick.
08:08Isn't that solid?
08:09They don't make it like that anymore.
08:11I'm enthused by your enthusiasm for it.
08:14Yeah, well done. Carry on.
08:16And I think you're right, maybe a hearth of some kind.
08:19But not every artefact has to be centuries old
08:22to tell us something about the site.
08:24Obviously medieval pottery is very exciting,
08:26but we do have some more recent archaeology.
08:28So this is an old iron brew bottle.
08:31Probably fairly old.
08:32Well, you're an expert to have a look at that.
08:34Look how solid that is.
08:34But that's a good 50 years old, yeah.
08:35I mean, you can think how thick that is.
08:37That's super thick.
08:37How much that had cost the company to make.
08:39So again, that tells us about the more social history
08:41of more recent past.
08:43We know the site was used up until the 1970s
08:45for various different purposes.
08:46So that's probably a more recent kind of a bit of,
08:50you know, consuming
08:51and having a nice drink of iron brew at the end of the day.
08:54And properly Scottish as well.
08:55That's beautiful.
08:57Each layer uncovered at Methyl Mill offers a glimpse
09:01into centuries of life that existed around the River Leven.
09:05And with two years of excavation still ahead,
09:08this river is far from finished telling its story.
09:19The dig at Methyl Mill reveals how early communities
09:22first depended on the River Leven.
09:24But as industry expanded,
09:27people didn't just settle beside the river,
09:29they learned to manage it.
09:31To ensure a consistent year-round flow of water
09:34from Loch Leven.
09:36These sluice gates are where the River Leven begins.
09:39They've controlled the flow of water out of the Loch
09:41for nearly 200 years.
09:43That's important because there was once more than 30 mills
09:46downstream of here, all reliant on this water.
09:49And today, this gateway still shapes life along the river.
09:55This sluice gate can only be operated by a select few.
09:59Among them, electrical manager Jim Carr,
10:02who knows these waters better than most.
10:06This looks spectacular. Tell me about this place.
10:09This is the sluice house.
10:10It was built by Robert Hutchison around about 1836.
10:15And the building itself is sitting over, what, five gates you've got there
10:19that can let water through?
10:21Yeah, there's five gates.
10:22The whole channel was then allowed to be dug all the way up,
10:26all the way to the sluice house.
10:28To build the sluice gates here, engineers had to change the course
10:32of the River Leven.
10:33The result was the new cut, a man-made straight channel
10:38nearly four miles long.
10:41Dug entirely by hand, it took more than two years to complete.
10:46So how much was the Loch lowered by back in the 1830s?
10:49It was round about 1.4 metres.
10:52And it was to expose farmland.
10:55Ah, OK.
10:55And all the farmland you see on the east side was totally
10:59underwater before.
11:00Now it's all exposed and it gets worked by farmers.
11:02And what sort of mills were on the river?
11:03A lot of corn mills, spinning mills, linen mills, lint, papermaking.
11:08And so it's all just harnessing that power?
11:10Yes, exactly.
11:11They all needed it.
11:12And it brought a lot of employment.
11:14I mean, this was the lifeblood of Central Fife to East Fife.
11:18As in the sluice keepers, we keep it within a range all the time.
11:22So the industries down the river were able to get the correct amount of water for the time of year.
11:28Are there still mills on the river today or have they all gone?
11:30Well, there's a paper mill there just now and that's where I generally work.
11:33So it's still productive then?
11:35Oh, yeah.
11:35And therefore this is still very relevant.
11:37Yeah.
11:37I've noticed that with the levels of the river, as it comes into the paper mill,
11:41everything's balanced to the closest inch almost.
11:43And I always marvel at that.
11:45Well, can we go and have a look inside? I'm itching to see.
11:47I mean, imagine that you can still get inside it, can we?
11:49Yeah, of course. Let's go.
12:05Oh, wow. Look at this.
12:06With all the gears.
12:07It's the same original ones as they were the day they went in.
12:11Original ones. Wow.
12:12The basics of a sluice is essentially you're raising or lowering a gate.
12:16Yes.
12:16Which either blocks the water or lets more water through.
12:19Yeah. It controls the flow of water and that's what our job is as sluice keepers.
12:22Mm-hmm.
12:23So you could give that a little go.
12:24I'm going this way?
12:25Yeah. Anyway, just now. It doesn't matter too much.
12:28Oh, yeah.
12:28That's not too bad, is it?
12:29That's very easy, yeah.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So that's what they would have done back in the day.
12:33So how low is it now?
12:35So that's you at 49 already, so that's fine. Just leave it there, Joe.
12:38Right.
12:38So quite quickly, you can change.
12:40I mean, it's only millimetres though, isn't it?
12:41And Jim, there's no clues around here in terms of how much to bring it up or put it down.
12:45How would you know the heights?
12:46Yeah.
12:46I would go with the charts. Today we're on week 18.
12:49Week 18?
12:50Right, okay.
12:51So we're going along and we've got to know what height the lock is.
12:55So we'll just do that if we just happen.
12:56Yeah, yeah.
12:56Look around there, I'll click on my sensors and the top figure is what?
13:01It's 995, so it's just a five mil under a metre.
13:05So go back to 18 there, follow it to the right.
13:07It's greater than 941, but it's less than 1117.
13:12So today's flow should be 112 mega litres per day.
13:16So I would set four gates at 40 to create a 112 mega litre flow.
13:21It's brilliant. So how old would this graph be?
13:23This will be about 200 years old probably.
13:27Right. So they knew what they were doing and you're still using it today.
13:29I still use that as a guide.
13:30And they thought if you can get the lock to this level at this time of year and you're only
13:33letting this amount out, then this is the right amount to ensure we've got the flow throughout the summer.
13:40That's right.
13:41Until 15 years ago, these gates were still manually operated.
13:44But today, they're powered by electric motors, saving Jim the hard work.
13:51Oh, that is quick. That is much quicker than I can do it.
13:53Yeah, it was.
13:55It will stop automatically virtually on the button.
13:59Gosh. So that is pushing it down at the moment, isn't it?
14:02Yeah.
14:03What I love about this is it's all so tangible. You can see it all, can't you?
14:07And in some ways, it's so simple and sometimes the best things are.
14:10And it's not just heritage. This is what still controls the flow of the river, shapes the river and the
14:15communities around it.
14:16I would imagine these would still control the river from now till the end of time, really.
14:21Rooted in the area's heritage, these sluice gates remain vital, controlling the height of the lock and the flow of
14:28water
14:29which are the industries along the river Lieven still depend on.
14:42It's not just rivers being managed this carefully. More and more farmers, like Adam, are taking the same approach on
14:49land.
14:52The transition from spring to summer is a beautiful time of year. The winter is long behind us.
14:58The countryside is full of bright green and colour.
15:01And here on the farm, we've been really trying to build up the biodiversity over the years.
15:05But to get an idea of how well we're doing and the impact that's having, we need solid data.
15:11One of the ways we keep track of all of that is through the National Plant Monitoring Scheme.
15:17Botanist Alan Sumnell from PlantLife is here to explain what it can teach us about our farm.
15:23And a fair bit about birds and mammals, very little about plants. So tell me about the survey, how does
15:28that work?
15:29It's a national survey throughout the UK, lots of other monitoring schemes throughout the UK, but this is the only
15:34one that focuses on plants.
15:36It focuses on broad habitat types and we're looking for changes in abundance, diversity and it's all volunteer led.
15:43We get huge amounts of data, we've just celebrated our 10 year anniversary and in that time we had over
15:49a quarter million records.
15:51That's huge, absolutely brilliant.
15:57So I recognise that one Alan, the cuckoo flower.
15:59That's correct, cuckoo flower.
16:01Named so because it flowers when the cuckoos arrive, so people call that name there.
16:05It's also very important for, I say common butterfly, but orange chip butterflies, they'll have their eggs in it as
16:10well.
16:11It's not a rare plant, but not an overly common one.
16:13Sure.
16:13It likes these damp meadow areas, so to see that to me, that's a good sign.
16:17And this one?
16:18This is silverweed.
16:19Yeah, not even flower yet, but again another one to show the nice good water quality here.
16:23I mean life obviously starts in the soil, but then the botany, the plant life, is the beginning of everything,
16:30isn't it?
16:30Absolutely it is, looking for what is here and what isn't here, that helps paint the picture.
16:35And start with the plants, you get everything else that comes along with it.
16:38Sure.
16:42So this is one that came up this year, this is the Opposite Leaves Golden Saxifrage,
16:46and that was something that wasn't here when we first started.
16:49This just shows you monitoring the same plot, the change that comes over time,
16:52and we can let you know that this is absolutely brilliant, I'm so delighted we found it.
16:56Tell me the name again.
16:57It's Opposite Leaves Golden Saxifrage.
16:58Opposite Leaves Golden Saxifrage.
17:01Goodness me, I'm going to struggle to remember that one.
17:03Oh, but it's really lovely to see, thank you for showing me that.
17:06No point, yep.
17:07Over the last decade, the number of plant species recorded here by the stream has steadily increased, which is great.
17:15And with the help of environmental subsidies supporting nature-friendly farming,
17:19we're seeing similar results across the rest of the farm too.
17:23At Agricultural College I didn't learn anything about this, and as farmers now, you know, I'm really keen and I
17:29absolutely love it.
17:30It does seem that in the agricultural world there's a lot of conversation, a lot of action, around soil health,
17:36plant biodiversity, regenerative farming.
17:38Are you excited by that?
17:41Everyone's talking about it, everybody wants to do it, so it's taking advantage of the opportunity now,
17:45it's supporting the farmers to make these differences and let's have wildlife alongside our food production and we've all got
17:51a much better place to live.
17:52Sure. And if you've got that data, you can prove what's happening.
17:55Absolutely, that's what's key. It's the data these volunteers are collecting for us, we can't thank them enough for the
17:59hours they put in, these positive and negatives.
18:02It tells us what's working and also what isn't, and that's exactly what people like yourself need to manage your
18:07farm appropriately.
18:08Well, thanks for coming along.
18:09Oh, thank you.
18:10I've learnt loads.
18:12Improving biodiversity is only one part of the challenge on the farm.
18:16We're also trying to breed livestock that can thrive with fewer inputs.
18:22So these are our rams and last year we set off with a bit of an experiment.
18:27We bought in two new breeds.
18:29The Romneys, the white-faced ones, we got two mature rams in there and they were to breed replacements.
18:35So they go on to our ewes and we keep their daughters.
18:37They came from a flock where they'd been concentrating on working out that those lambs needed less wormers that you
18:43put into the gut of the animal to kill the stomach worms.
18:46They're expensive to ewes but they're also a little bit damaging to the environment.
18:50The other rams over there are the Hampshire Down.
18:53And for the Hampshire, you know, it is all about meat production.
18:56But for them, last year's lambs, it was a difficult trial because we had a terrible drought with very little
19:01grass.
19:02And so this year we've just got to work out whether they're producing the quality of lamb we need to
19:08be able to send into the markets.
19:10The Hampshire rams were brought in to breed lambs that grow well on just their mother's milk and grass, removing
19:17the need for manufactured feeds, which lowers cost and our environmental impact.
19:23Last year's drought made them hard to judge but with more typical conditions this season, my livestock manager Sam and
19:29I are starting to see results.
19:32Last year we had that hideous drought, didn't we, when I was feeding hard food to the ewes and lambs,
19:37which is very unusual, quite difficult to judge, even though we got the lambs away well in the autumn when
19:42you started with us.
19:43Yeah, they really did go backwards. I mean, it was a tough time. Again, there was nothing we could do.
19:48We were feeding loads of nuts out and creep and we'd gone into the ag bag, we were feeding silage,
19:52but it was a tough time.
19:53So, fingers crossed, we have a fairly stable year weather-wise and that would be great. So these will thrive.
20:00They look tremendous. You've got these lovely set of twins here with a big back end on them. What do
20:04you think?
20:05Really impressed. The conformation of the lambs, the way they've grown, they've done really well on grass, just really strong,
20:11thick set lambs that have just absolutely grown over the last few weeks.
20:15So you're convinced by the Hampshire? Yeah.
20:17Stick with it? I think so. They're beautiful tops to look at, really lovely to work with as well. So
20:22yeah, I think we'll stick with those.
20:23Won't be long before you start selecting some to go to market, will it?
20:26I think so. You start to look at them now and there's not a lot of size difference between the
20:29ewes and the lambs, which is usually the first indicator that we need to think about weaning. So yeah, they've
20:34done really well.
20:35In the next field over, the first daughters from our resilient Romney rams are nearly old enough to breed themselves.
20:42It takes years to change the genetics of the breeding flock.
20:46But Sam's already seeing signs that the hardy genes have passed on to these ewes.
20:51This group, you know, they outwintered this year. They've never been inside through the winter.
20:55They were absolutely fine outside. At the minute, there's absolutely no sign of wormy sheep at all.
21:00We will monitor it. But all the signs at the minute are really good that the resilience in them is
21:05working.
21:06Of course, with our flock, for the number of replacements we need to replace the old ewes leaving, you put,
21:12what, 100, 125 Romney ewes to the resilient Romney.
21:16Yeah. How are you selecting those ewes now?
21:18We're looking at them at the minute. We go back sort of historically, you know, their breeding.
21:23We've got loads of criteria that we look at really to decide when we're going to keep them to come
21:26back into the flock.
21:27And the good thing about the EID tags, the electronic identification tags, you've got all that history, haven't you?
21:32So if she's had a bad lambing or she was a bad mother or, you know, she hasn't performed as
21:37a ewe, she can go to the Hampshire.
21:39But if she's a cracker and done really well, you know, an elite ewe, she can go to the Romney
21:44and hopefully that genetics will come through to her daughters.
21:47So all those criteria, stuff that it'll single out for us the best ewes to keep back and breed again
21:52with.
21:52She likes you, that donkey. Lovely look. My friend.
21:57Now this lot will have to go to the Hampshire ram, won't they, because the resilient Romneys we've got as
22:03their dads.
22:04Yes. And there'll come a time when we're going to have to buy some more.
22:07And, you know, how do we decide then? Should we just wait and see?
22:10I'd be really keen to carry on with the Romneys, really, just off the success we've had with the previous
22:15ones.
22:16Brilliant. All right. Well, thanks, Sam. I'm glad they're looking well. Perfect.
22:21While much of the farm is constantly changing, our rare breeds conservation is all about continuity,
22:27helping keep some of Britain's native livestock breeds going for the future.
22:32One of the rarest breeds we have on the farm is the Suffolk Punch Horse.
22:36And we've been working with Lexi, our mare, producing foals over the last ten years.
22:42And what's really exciting is he's just turning up with the latest one.
22:47Lexi gave birth at Hole Beach Stud, which specialises in Suffolk Punches.
22:51Hello, Alison. Hello, Adam.
22:53Where Alison looked after her. Hey. Oh, hello.
22:57So this is the little filly. She's not little.
23:00She's huge. What is she, a couple of weeks?
23:0317 days.
23:04Wow.
23:08So the Suffolk Punch is a very rare breed of horse.
23:12So every foal that we can get that's fit and healthy is very, very valuable to the breed.
23:17And particularly if you can have fillies.
23:20Wow.
23:21She's got such long legs when she's only 17 days old.
23:25Here are.
23:28Oh, aren't you beautiful. It's all right. Your mummy's nearly there.
23:32Whoop, whoop.
23:35She's coming.
23:37Come on, then.
23:38Come on, then.
23:39Trots beautifully.
23:40Of course, the foal is only 17 days old.
23:43Never been in a vehicle before.
23:45What's beautiful is that that bond between mother and foal is really strong.
23:49So it just followed her mum into the paddock and now having a little drink from Lexi.
23:54She seems pretty relaxed.
23:56Yeah.
23:57And how many Suffolk foals have been born this year?
24:0018.
24:01Right.
24:01So there's 11 fillies and 7 colts so far.
24:04So far. Wow.
24:05So when she went, she was like a barrel, wasn't she?
24:08Yeah.
24:09And I thought she was looking quite podgy.
24:11But now she's had the foal.
24:12Yeah.
24:13She's lost a lot of weight, hasn't she?
24:14She's put everything into that foal.
24:16Yeah, put all her energy into that.
24:17She'll put it back on slowly.
24:19She'll be fine.
24:20And do you think in the country, you, Alison Clark, have foaled more Suffolk punches than anyone else who's around?
24:27Well, we're going to, if all our foals are okay this year, we'll be over the 150 mark.
24:32Wow, congratulations.
24:34Oh, well, it's really successful to have a healthy foal.
24:36Well done.
24:37And to have a little filly.
24:39And we've decided to call her Hera.
24:41Hera is a Greek goddess and a lady of protection.
24:45And so I need to do a bit of work with her.
24:47She's still quite nervous, isn't she?
24:49Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:50There's a good girl.
24:51Oh, it's lovely to have her back.
24:52You've made a brilliant job of it, Alison.
24:55Little Hera there.
24:56Well, be a little superstar.
25:00Farming's always evolving.
25:01But whether it's wildlife, commercial livestock or rare breeds, it all comes back to the same thing.
25:07Looking after the land for the future.
25:26Earlier, I saw how 19th century engineers controlled the flow of water into the river Lieven.
25:32The 20th century also saw an important moment in its history when, in the 1960s, scientists started regularly monitoring the
25:41health of the river's source.
25:44Creating an unbroken data record that continues today.
25:51Well, Loch Lieven here is the source of the river Lieven.
25:54And this is one of the most studied shallow lakes in Europe and has been for decades, even centuries.
25:59It's a special site because of its specific ecology, making it a natural laboratory to study shallow lakes.
26:08And to find out how healthy Loch Lieven is today, I'm heading out with freshwater ecologist, Dr Linda May.
26:16She's from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and has been monitoring the Loch for nearly 50 years.
26:24Hello, Linda. How are you? Permission to come aboard?
26:26Permission to come aboard.
26:27Thank you very much.
26:29We've got quite a lot of boats out. They're all hoping to catch some trout and bring them back in.
26:33We're going for something else to bring back in then.
26:34We're going for smaller things. Smaller things.
26:36Mainly, I would say, the things the trout probably eat.
26:40Our locks are changing so much at the minute because in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, there was a lot of
26:47pollution going into them from sewage works and from industry.
26:52And we addressed that at the time when things improved and now things are going backwards because of climate change.
26:58So, warming changes in rainfall patterns are increasing the numbers of algal blooms that we see in these sorts of
27:05things.
27:05And am I right in thinking freshwater ecosystems are some of the most endangered sort of on planet Earth, aren't
27:10they?
27:10Absolutely. And we take what we've learned from here to all other lakes and locks across the UK and internationally
27:18too.
27:19Shall we cast off?
27:21Helping us with our monitoring is one of Linda's colleagues, environmental technician Dr Rebecca Mackenzie, who's also our pilot.
27:29Looks like you've done this before.
27:31Monitoring here stepped up after a major pollution event in the early 1990s.
27:37Locals still remember the 13th of June 1992 as Scum Saturday, when Loch Leven suffered an extreme blue-green algal
27:46bloom.
27:47Triggered by excess nutrients in the water, the bloom drained oxygen from the loch and fish stocks crashed.
27:57I hear a lot about this being a eutrophic lake, which means essentially it's quite nutrient rich.
28:02Yes.
28:03Is that a blessing or a curse?
28:05It's eutrophic naturally, because it's a very low landlock.
28:10But when there's too many nutrients going in, then it causes some of these problems that we're looking at at
28:15the minute, which are algal blooms.
28:17You need nutrients to grow algae at the bottom of the food chain to feed the little beasties that the
28:23fish feed on.
28:24But you don't need too much that then creates an overgrowth of algae and cyanobacteria, which will cause the problems
28:31that we see sometimes.
28:32I see.
28:32If you've got a lot of algae in the water, they block the light for the underwater plants, and the
28:36underwater plants don't grow as well.
28:38And that means there's more nutrients available for the algae to grow.
28:41And people will be familiar with blue-green algae, sometimes you go for a walk with your dog and you
28:45say,
28:45don't let your dog go in the water, there's blue-green algae, it's toxic.
28:48Correct.
28:49And so that's the bacteria.
28:50That's the bacteria, but we don't know when they're toxic, so the warning to people is just assume they are,
28:57because sometimes they produce these toxins, sometimes they don't.
29:00Right.
29:00And we don't really know what triggers that at the minute.
29:02OK.
29:03So we put up the signs, tell people not to let their dogs in the water, not to swim in
29:06the water, don't drink it.
29:07And we also encourage them to use our Blooming Algae app to record it.
29:11Anybody can record an algal bloom that they see and submit it to us for checking.
29:16To keep a close eye on algae levels in the loch, Linda and her team use an algal torch,
29:22which shines different colours of light into the water.
29:25By measuring how the algae fluoresce, it shows how much is ordinary algae and how much is blue-green algae,
29:32the type that can cause problems when levels get too high.
29:38Oh, it's buzzing, it says calculating.
29:41So we've got 5.8 micrograms per litre of total algae and cyanobacteria, green stuff,
29:48and then the cyanobacteria, about half of that, 3.2.
29:52Ah, so it tells you the nasty algae, the stuff you don't want, the cyanobacteria.
29:58What proportion that is of the total amount of green.
30:02Got you. So what do you make of that?
30:04Well, it means they're growing. They weren't quite as high as that last week.
30:08At the moment, it's pretty good water quality for this time of view.
30:11The frequency at which we sample and the number of things we measure
30:15tell us how the system works, how lakes work.
30:18And if we're going to restore them to better water quality,
30:21we need to know what's degraded them and focus on the things that are causing the problems.
30:25But the main point of the monitoring is how locks like this respond to pollution,
30:31to nutrients coming in.
30:32And climate change.
30:34To get a sense of the lock's current health,
30:37we're going to collect a sample of the tiny organisms living in the water.
30:41What could go wrong?
30:44That's it.
30:45And then pull it.
30:48There you go.
30:49Right.
30:50Is that a good sample?
30:52Yes.
30:55Just let the water out.
30:57And what do we have in there? It looks very green.
31:00Is that good?
31:00We need to look at them under the microscope.
31:12These are cyanobacteria, the black things.
31:15And there's a spiky one there.
31:17These spiky creatures hitch a lift on the cyanobacteria,
31:21allowing them to rise to the surface to access food.
31:25You can see them filtering.
31:26Oh, they're alive.
31:27They're just grazing.
31:28Yeah, they're just grazing.
31:33So cyanobacteria is the blue-green algae, is it?
31:36That's the blue-green algae, yes.
31:38But there is a healthy indicator in the lockwater sample.
31:42That's a water flea.
31:43Water flea?
31:44Oh, my goodness.
31:44The youngest baby water flea that looks as if it's just hatched.
31:49Wow.
31:49And you can see all its internal organs.
31:51That's right.
31:52But these make you quite excited, do they?
31:53They do, because they clean the water.
31:55They're like big hoovers.
31:56If you get enough in the lock, say, in the summer, they clean the algae out of the water for
32:04the whole lock,
32:05maybe filter the whole lock every couple of days.
32:08It's absolutely amazing what they do.
32:11These tiny little things, and we're so dependent on them, but we do know that the slightest little bit of
32:16pesticide or anything getting into the water just kills them.
32:18So it's really encouraging seeing them here like this?
32:21Yes.
32:24Linda and her team's continued regular monitoring of the lock's water is essential in tracking the health of the lock
32:31as well as the river it feeds.
32:47While the waters of Lock Leaven have been studied for decades, along the river Leaven itself, a new chapter is
32:54beginning, as communities reconnect with the river after generations of industrial use.
33:02When industry declined here, stretches of this river became cut off from the communities that live alongside it.
33:09But today, four kilometres of it in Leavenmouth is being rediscovered and reshaped.
33:16Transforming industrial land into wetlands, paths and public green space built around the river once again.
33:24And I'm meeting Helen McCafferty, the programme manager at Green Action Trust, to see how this space is changing for
33:30the better.
33:31Tell me about your project. What are you doing to bring life back to the river and this area?
33:36There's been a huge amount of investment and vision in the local area, starting from the train.
33:44There we go. Right on cue. So this is new?
33:46Yeah. There's two new train stations and they opened two years ago in 2024.
33:50And there's been a huge amount of project activity and regeneration that surrounded that.
33:57And it comes from things like a river restoration project.
34:00Two years ago, this was a dam. And it was a dam which had been created to take water to
34:07drive the mills.
34:09And it acted as a real barrier to fish passage coming up this river.
34:13And it's now been turned into a natural rock ramp. And that's been part of the river restoration project.
34:20If you couple that with a whole series of other projects, making connected active travel routes that are flood lit,
34:28they join the communities together. And we've got a whole series of natural paths that will run through this park,
34:35bring people back into the heart of the park.
34:38With the area reshaped, new habitats are now being introduced.
34:43Head of landscape, Joanne Glennie, is leading the way to bring life to the park.
34:50Talk me through what I'm looking at. What's been going on? There seems like so much is happening.
34:54There's a lot going on. Where do we start?
34:55Well, immediately around us, we've got our woodland planting, which is all native species.
35:00What we're trying to form here, as I say, is the nature network.
35:02So we're making stepping stones for nature to come in and evolve habitats.
35:07We've got blossom trees running along the newly restored mill laid, which is a historic feature that was put in
35:16200 years ago.
35:17It's obviously in transformation now, but what was it before?
35:20Recently, it was a dump.
35:21Right.
35:21It was filled with rubbish, and it was no good to anybody, basically.
35:25So what we've done is we've retraced the historical line of it, dug it out, and it's now a wetland
35:30habitat,
35:31and it forms a major part of our water management in this area.
35:34Amazing. And so tell me what the plan is and how it's all going to work together.
35:37Well, what we've got at the top here, we've got Poplar Road,
35:40and we've actually taken water that was coming off the road, going into the combined sewers.
35:45We've stopped that, and it's actually coming into filter drains now,
35:48which actually mitigate for a lot of the pollution.
35:50It slows everything down, but what we're trying to do here is slowing the flow of the water down,
35:55allowing it to just basically filter through the area much slower
35:59and form habitats for nature as we're coming through.
36:04As the water makes its journey through the park, it moves through ditches, lathes and woodland.
36:09At each stage, the water is filtered and absorbed, creating habitat for wildlife
36:14before finally returning to the River Leaven.
36:18But the work isn't done yet, and the next step is building routes through the park
36:22that can be enjoyed all year round.
36:24Hi, so this is the boardwalk, and this is Simon.
36:28Simon, nice to meet you.
36:30Hi, nice to meet you.
36:30Lovely to see you.
36:32Right, I've come to help, Simon.
36:33Go on, go on in there.
36:34Yeah, yeah, you can observe.
36:36Right, what are we doing?
36:38You can help me with fixing the crossbeams to the posts with the structural bolts.
36:43Yeah.
36:43So what we need is this 240mm galvanised bolt.
36:48You want to put the larger washer on it first.
36:50Excellent.
36:51All right.
36:51And then we feed it through that hole on the outside.
36:54But just beware, what number is this?
36:56This might be the wobbly one.
36:58Oh, yeah, I'll remember.
37:00Yes, I'll remember that.
37:01What was here before?
37:02Well, this was an area that occasionally flooded in the winter.
37:06And what we thought this was an ideal area to act as a flood pond for us,
37:11but with water here all year round.
37:13So we've got two ponds that will be here right through the year.
37:16And then in the winter, this will form one large pond
37:19that the boardwalk will cross over.
37:21And it also gives really good connectivity into the water.
37:24Yes, it does.
37:24People can experience it.
37:25What's it going to look like?
37:26Well, we're in a natural glade.
37:28So there's going to be the woodland round about.
37:31So you've got this woodland edge planting that's been put in place.
37:34So you've got that degradation of the taller plants
37:36and then you're coming down to the edge planting,
37:39which is, again, a different habitat.
37:40And then you're sitting in a sun trap here.
37:43So this is a beautiful area for somebody to be and enjoy the water.
37:48And then?
37:50And a little bit more and that's it.
37:55Perfect.
37:56There we go.
37:57And that's structurally science.
37:58Oh, that's good, isn't it?
37:59Yeah.
38:00But the river park isn't finished when the building stops.
38:03Its future depends on the people from the local community to care for it.
38:09Andrew grew up here in Leavenmouth
38:12and is part of the Rural Skills Scheme that looks after the park
38:16and provides training.
38:18So when you were growing up, would you have used this area?
38:21Yeah, we used this area a lot growing up.
38:22Just like walking my dog and stuff like that.
38:24What was it like?
38:25It was pretty London.
38:28There wasn't a real interest in the area.
38:30Since the paths have been put in and people are actually getting more into the community,
38:34it's actually doing a lot better.
38:35So I've had a little wander around and I've seen what's happening,
38:39all the trees that are being planted.
38:40Yeah.
38:41The things that are being put in to just filter the water,
38:44the lovely boardwalk that's being built,
38:46and now meeting you who is from the community
38:48and actually you're part of the regeneration of this place.
38:51What does this mean to you that all of this is happening?
38:54It means to me a little...
38:55I feel really good because I'm putting it back into my community.
38:58I do hope it will be a lot better for the next generation.
39:00If people just look after it and put their rubbish in the bins,
39:04there'll be a lot safer community down here as well.
39:07Beautiful.
39:07I think you're a great example.
39:09Yeah.
39:09And you get to use a strimmer.
39:11Yeah.
39:13The people of Leavenmouth are starting to feel the benefit
39:16of the work being done here.
39:18But for Helen, it's the result of years of planning
39:21and the start of the park's next chapter.
39:23So the hope is that we have a space that people choose to come
39:28and it's a place that people can pass through to get somewhere.
39:33They can come here as a destination,
39:35but we hope that they'll stay longer than they used to
39:37because of the facilities that we're creating.
39:40And it's really common now for people to stop
39:43and tell you how much they already like the change
39:46and like the space.
39:47They're finding new uses for it.
39:49There's people walking, running.
39:52A local group is organising a new park run already.
39:55Ah, I love it.
39:55And that's going to start in the autumn.
39:57So you just have to create the opportunity.
40:00And there's such a dedicated, passionate local community
40:03that they bring the joy back.
40:24The weather is glorious.
40:26Apparently, according to the locals, it's always like this.
40:29But what about the week ahead?
40:30Here's the five-day forecast.
40:38Hello. Good evening.
40:39This week is set to bring a change in our weather prospects.
40:42And I think you really will feel the difference.
40:45Last Friday, temperatures in the UK peaked close to 17 degrees Celsius.
40:49Fast forward to next Friday, and we are looking at highs of 26, perhaps 27 degrees Celsius.
40:56Why the change?
40:57Well, it's down to a change in wind direction.
41:00For much of the last week, we have had northerly winds bringing cold air our way.
41:04Quite a few showers as well.
41:05Over the weekends, the wind direction has shifted to more of a westerly wind.
41:08And then through the coming week, we will start to pick up these southerly winds.
41:12And as you can see from the deep orange colors, some warm air is coming our way.
41:17It should start to turn drier for many of us as well.
41:20But in the short term, low pressure is still in charge.
41:22Most of today's showers will fade through tonight.
41:25But this little weather system here will bring some clouds and outbreaks of rain
41:29in across the western side of the UK.
41:31Where skies stay clear in northern Scotland, we could see a touch of frost.
41:34That is likely to be the last frost we see for quite some time.
41:38So tomorrow morning, this band of cloud and rain pushes its way erratically northwards and east,
41:42with breaking up into showers.
41:44And actually for Scotland, England and Wales, it's a day of sunny spells and heavy showers.
41:48Not as many showers for Northern Ireland.
41:50But here, cloud will be thickening ahead of the arrival of this weather system.
41:53Some outbreaks of rain, 16 degrees, our top temperature on Monday.
41:57But then we see this weather system pushing its way northwards and eastwards through Monday nights.
42:01A band of rain lingering across parts of northern and eastern England and Scotland
42:06as we head through Tuesday morning.
42:08Behind that, we're back to sunny spells and heavy showers.
42:11It'll be quite blustery, I think, down towards the southwest.
42:14Generally quite a breezy day, but just starting to feel a little bit warmer.
42:18Temperatures of around 12 to 18 degrees.
42:21That is a sign of things to come.
42:23But low pressure will stay close by for Wednesday.
42:26Centred across the north of the UK.
42:28So that is where we'll see the bulk of the shower activity across parts of Scotland,
42:32Northern Ireland, northern England.
42:33Could see some quite heavy, thundery showers here.
42:36Further south, Wales, the Midlands, East Anglia, the south of England.
42:38Not as many showers.
42:39More dry weather.
42:40Some spells of sunshine.
42:41Still quite breezy, but starting to feel warmer.
42:4414 degrees in Stornoway.
42:4620 degrees in Norwich.
42:48Now, as we move out of Wednesday into Thursday,
42:50high pressure starts to build from the south.
42:52We do also see this warm front pushing across the western side of the UK.
42:55That'll bring some cloud, maybe a few showers.
42:58But it will start to usher in this wedge of very warm air indeed.
43:03So Thursday is when temperatures really start to accelerate upwards.
43:07But we do see some areas of mist and fog to start off.
43:10That warm front bringing some cloud, maybe some showers out towards the west.
43:13Best of the sunshine will be found further east.
43:16But those temperatures, 17 degrees in Aberdeen.
43:1923 degrees in London.
43:21Those temperatures do have further to climb.
43:23As we move into Friday, high pressure builds more strongly.
43:25Likely to be centred across the southeast of the UK.
43:29Some frontal systems out towards the west.
43:31So we will see more in the way of cloud.
43:33Maybe a few showers for Northern Ireland.
43:35Scotland, perhaps the odd sharp shower into Northern England later in the day.
43:38But generally we see more in the way of dry weather.
43:40Some spells of sunshine.
43:42And with those southerly winds, it starts to warm up.
43:44Just 12 degrees in Lerwick, but elsewhere.
43:4721 in Glasgow.
43:4826, maybe 27 degrees in the London area.
43:51And as we head into next weekend, bank holiday weekend of course.
43:55It looks most likely that the weather will stay fine and dry.
43:59With some spells of warm sunshine.
44:01Just the small chance of a shower.
44:03That's how it's looking.
44:04Let's go back to Benita.
44:16We've been tracing the story of the River Leaven through time.
44:20Hearing how it shaped communities, powered industry and is being rediscovered once again.
44:27Back on Loch Leaven, where the river begins, we're meeting its longest serving fishery manager.
44:33For him, Loch Leaven isn't just a place to fish.
44:36It's a landscape he's watched evolve over a lifetime.
44:40And to most people around here, he's known as Willie the Gilly.
44:44My name's Willie Wilson.
44:47I've been employed at Loch Leaven for some 64 years.
44:52Since 1962, in fact.
44:55I came with my parents.
44:57I had just left school.
44:59I was 15 years old.
45:00And I was employed as a sort of young lad.
45:04Done all the jobs that was asked of me.
45:09Instantly fell in love with Loch Leaven.
45:11And it just happened.
45:14I think what makes Loch Leaven so special is the Loch Leaven trout.
45:19They have been afforded a name all to themselves.
45:22They are, in fact, a brown trout.
45:24But they are particularly healthy, very athletic and beautiful to look at.
45:31This morning, a bit dull, but we are actually going out to try and catch a fish.
45:36You're dealing with somebody that's playing well into the second half, should I say, of their fishing career.
45:44So hopefully, Lady Luck smiles on us.
46:11Well, I was thinking we've just got a shot here just to see there's a few flies hatching.
46:16The flies that are hatching just now are hatching from the water and are occasionally flying past us.
46:23When these flies are hatching from the water, the trout are inclined to get active.
46:48Fishing to a sort of bystander, it can look very benign, if you like.
46:54A huge percentage of the time, not much goes on, sometimes less than nothing.
47:00And when a trout does take care, that's all forgotten.
47:07When I started at Loch Leaven, we would have relatively clear water for most of the season.
47:16With the onset of the algal blooms, the fish are affected by it.
47:21But the other thing that it's caused is we don't have the diversity in the water that we used to
47:26have.
47:26We don't have the amount of plant life.
47:29And this has affected the fishing.
47:34I have fished other lochs. I travel quite far and wide to fish.
47:39And I measure everything else against Loch Leaven.
47:44It's a place that would be very, very difficult to replicate.
47:51It's very peaceful.
47:53It's not difficult to find a spot where you're totally on your own and you can have the most peaceful
48:02day.
48:03It's perhaps not the most prolific loch to fish, but the rewards when you do catch them are wonderful.
48:12The fishing just now is proving challenging.
48:17That's a posh way of saying that we've not got one yet.
48:23I, for one, feel that you don't need to catch a fish.
48:27It's a healthy pastime, plenty of fresh air.
48:30To catch a fish is a bonus.
48:33If you're focused totally on the fishing, you're for sure missing out on other things.
48:37I mean, all the bird life on Loch Leaven is well represented.
48:41We have several pairs of osprey fish on the loch.
48:45We always have a lot of mallard.
48:47And it'll have one of the biggest concentrations of wildfowl in the winter,
48:51probably in the whole of Britain.
48:54It's quite exciting to be part of all that.
49:03I've been fishing since I was a boy.
49:06I can just remember the first fish I caught.
49:10I hope I've not caught my last one.
49:13You can just carry on.
49:15You're driven by something that you can't quite explain.
49:19You're catching something that you don't see until it makes its presence known on the end of a line.
49:25I mean, if I didn't have Loch Leaven, I couldn't do what I've done all my life.
49:31Loch Leaven is a special environment, a very enjoyable place to be part of.
49:52Having followed the river Leaven through its past and present, I'm now looking to its future.
49:57and the wildlife of Loch Leven is already offering clues to what lies ahead.
50:04Loch Leven is one of Scotland's most important wildlife habitats.
50:07Now, as we know, scientists have been monitoring the water here for decades,
50:12but it's the bird life here that's perhaps one of the most visible indicators
50:15of the health of this loch.
50:19Jeremy Squire is the reserve manager.
50:21He moved to Loch Leven 25 years ago to monitor its birds
50:25and is dedicated to protecting the wildlife that depends on the loch's rich ecosystem.
50:32So, Loch Leven is a unique habitat.
50:36It's a lowland loch.
50:37It is quite shallow. It's also very large.
50:41We think of big lochs like Loch Ness.
50:44They're very deep, whereas Loch Leven only has an average depth of about 4 metres.
50:49But what this means is that light can penetrate to the bottom of the loch
50:53and we get aquatic plants growing.
50:56And with that, we get insects and with that, we get birds.
50:59And we get a lot of birds here at Loch Leven.
51:01Is it the same birds all year round? Do you get many visitors coming in?
51:03This time of year, we have main three duck species that breed here.
51:08They are the tufted duck, the mallard and the gabwal.
51:12Because geographically, we're here on the east coast of Scotland.
51:15So, birds are coming over from sort of Norway and ending up,
51:19this is a nice big place for them to find.
51:21So, looking out in front of us, what else can we see?
51:24So, yeah, if we look towards the castle, you'll see a group of tufted ducks.
51:27And they're starting to pair up.
51:29And last night, the loch was covered in San Martins and swallows.
51:33I was taking photos of several thousand birds.
51:36Several thousand?
51:37Yeah, yeah.
51:38In fact, I think the biggest flock of San Martins,
51:41we estimated, was about 13,000 here.
51:43Oh, my goodness.
51:44And similar numbers of swallows.
51:46And so, what can you do from here?
51:47How do you monitor the bird life on the loch?
51:49So, firstly, throughout the year, we'll count every duck,
51:54every swan, every goose that's on the water fortnightly on the loch.
51:57And then, in the summertime, we'll go out and do nest counts on the islands.
52:02So, we'll mark them.
52:04And then we'll see whether they've been hatched, predated,
52:07or whether they've been abandoned.
52:08And then we follow that on by going out in the boat,
52:11doing a full lap of the loch,
52:13and we will map every single brood that we find.
52:17It sounds like you're gathering a tremendous amount of data.
52:20What does that tell you?
52:21Well, it gives us an idea of population trends here on the loch.
52:25And it does sort of feed back to the sort of water quality issues
52:28that we have had in the past here.
52:30Its long-term data is always very useful.
52:33Data's been collected here since the 1960s.
52:36We've got trends on how our ducks are doing
52:39and how that matches in with birds throughout the United Kingdom.
52:43We're going to head out to collect some data on mallard nests on the loch.
52:48Joining us is Sally Ray,
52:50who works alongside Jeremy as a reserve officer,
52:53helping to monitor the island's migratory and native species.
52:58A 20-minute boat journey drops us on St. Cerf's Island.
53:02Close to the public, isolated and rich in habitat,
53:06this island is a paradise for birds.
53:13So we're going to be having a quick look for mallard nests.
53:16When we do these surveys, we kind of get a group of people
53:20and you walk in a transect line across the island,
53:23quite close together,
53:24because these ducks can hide really well in amongst the tusks of grass.
53:27Fine, OK, where shall we start then?
53:29I think we're going to head in this direction first.
53:39And what are these markers here?
53:41So this is just to mark the nest so we can find it in the future,
53:46because what we'll probably want to do
53:47is maybe come back in about six weeks' time
53:50to see what the outcome of the nest has been,
53:52so if it's hatched or not.
53:54So it's right in here.
53:56Oh, my goodness.
53:56Yeah, they're really, really well hidden.
53:58Oh, that's amazing. Look at all those.
54:01One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
54:04Eleven, yep. Yep, that's a good number of eggs.
54:07Wow.
54:07Yeah, you can see she's got it lined with all of her downy feathers
54:10to keep it nice and cosy and warm for them.
54:12Oh, that's fantastic. Gosh, I really wouldn't have seen that.
54:15That's very well sort of chosen by mum, isn't it?
54:18Yeah.
54:19So what would you do now? What data would you record?
54:21So I'll take a GPS coordinate
54:23and I will take note of the clutch size
54:26and then what we are looking into is the height of the vegetation.
54:29We do think that that might be having an effect on the numbers here.
54:32So mallards are quite early breeders here
54:35and we're finding more often
54:37that they're nesting in areas where the grass hasn't quite grown up yet.
54:41And this could be because we're having these colder springs up here in Scotland.
54:44Oh, right.
54:45So they're out of sync with the changing climate then.
54:49They're sort of having to nest and breed
54:51before the grass has grown up to give them a good nesting location.
54:54Ever so slightly, yeah.
54:56You know what happens, the grass does suddenly just boom
54:58and it grows up very fast.
54:59Yeah.
55:00And these are happening just before that happens
55:02which means that the eggs might be exposed
55:04and there may be predators find the eggs.
55:07Predators can include foxes, other birds
55:10and dogs can even scare away mothers.
55:12So if you come across a nest while out walking
55:15it's best not to approach and to keep dogs on the lead.
55:18So what we also do is before we leave we'll cover it up
55:21and we'll put the grass back over
55:22and we'll get away so that the duck can get back on our eggs.
55:27Although more than 100 pairs of mallards nest here annually
55:32generally mortality rates for chicks are over 60%
55:36making conservation here all the more vital.
55:40How satisfying is that seeing such a perfect nest?
55:43Yeah, really satisfying.
55:45It's great that we can come out here and see these
55:48and that when we've done the survey
55:50we've successfully found quite a lot of nests.
55:52Because you said they have declined here.
55:54How are they doing now?
55:55They seem to have plateaued out a bit.
55:57There used to be a lot more.
55:58This is back in like the 60s, 70s, 80s.
56:01So it's great that we can find them that easily
56:03and that when we do our surveys we're getting okay numbers.
56:06Compared to the past couple of years of data
56:08it's not a decline.
56:09Well that's why it's so important to keep an eye on these numbers
56:11and measure the nest, right?
56:12Yeah, because if there's something going wrong out there
56:15then we can try and work out what is going wrong
56:17and why the numbers are dropping.
56:19Earlier I was learning about algal blooms
56:21and the problems with water quality on the lake.
56:23Would that affect mallards?
56:25Yeah, it can.
56:25And it means that their areas where they're rearing their ducklings
56:29might be choked up with algae
56:31which means that they can't get the nutrition they need to grow.
56:34And what it also can do is can push the ducklings
56:37that are searching for food out into the middle of the loch
56:40so they are more vulnerable to predators.
56:42What do you hope for this place?
56:43More ducks.
56:44More ducks would be great.
56:46I mean it's someone's highlight if they get to see ducks with ducklings.
56:49It just makes someone's day
56:50and they're going to actually maybe connect a bit more with nature
56:53if they see it first-hand themselves.
56:59Well many of the bird species here seem to be doing quite well
57:02but the environment they depend on is changing
57:04and understanding those changes, tracking them, monitoring them
57:08is absolutely key in protecting this loch
57:11and the river that runs from it well into the future.
57:27Nita, how's it going?
57:29Yeah, great.
57:30Just thinking about all the stories along this waterway
57:33and how long after we're gone it will continue.
57:36Yeah, a lot of history here.
57:37And actually, I mean, from being on the loch and being on the river
57:39clearly it's also quite a fragile place.
57:42It can change quickly but there are an amazing group of people
57:44monitoring it, caring for it and helping shape its future.
57:48Yeah, that gives me heart.
57:49That's it for this week but do join Matt and Sammy next week
57:52in the wooded valleys of South Wales.
57:56Wow.
57:57It just kind of like takes off, doesn't it?
58:00Beautiful, isn't it?
58:00He's really stunning.
58:02So that pattern is as individual to them as a fingerprint is to us.
58:07I can see how this would really change the way you work.
58:10Yeah, it's a game changer.
58:12And round.
58:14Oh, lovely.
58:15This is cool.
58:17And up we go.
58:19Whoa.
58:20That.
58:22That was fun.
58:23That's next Sunday at 5.15 on BBC2.
58:26Do join us then.
58:27Bye-bye.
58:27Bye.
58:28I bet you've brought your fishing rods.
58:29Oh, man, this looks gorgeous.
58:31We need Willie the Gilly here to show us how it's done.
58:33Willie the Gilly?
58:34I bet there's some big brown trout lurking over there.
58:36What do you think?
58:36I bet you can spot them.
58:37Yes.
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58:57New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
58:58New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
59:01New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
59:04New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
59:06New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
59:06New to BBC2, Steve Backshaw and a team of kayakers boldly go where no one has gone before.
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