- 19 hours ago
Explores Britain and Ireland's grasslands, from beautiful flower meadows to the rich open landscapes of our mountains, and reveals some extraordinary and dramatic wildlife stories....
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:05¶¶
00:30Our isles were once covered by ice.
00:35As the earth warmed, grasses became the first plants to reclaim the land.
00:44Today, they cover more than 40% of it.
00:50Most of that is farmed.
00:53But when these lands are well managed, they still provide homes for wildlife.
01:04It's early spring.
01:08In the fields of barley, a male brown hare is searching for a female.
01:16Using his excellent sense of smell, he can tell that there is one nearby.
01:30But getting to mate with her won't be easy.
01:39He must deal with three challenges before she'll consider him.
01:49First, boxing.
01:53To impress her, he must match her strength, but be careful not to hurt her.
02:02Only if he can hold his own will he be allowed to move to the next stage.
02:14He puts up a good fight and so passes her first test.
02:20Her second test?
02:24Stamina.
02:27Ares are Britain's fastest mammal and can reach speeds of 45 miles an hour.
02:37The taste attracts other males, all fired up and eager to mate.
02:49His final test is to get rid of his rivals.
03:01Despite their competition, he hangs on to the top spot.
03:10But distracted hares must be careful.
03:24Their courtship competitions have made them conspicuous.
03:32A golden eagle can spot one from two miles away.
03:42In a straight line, the eagle is faster.
03:46But by twisting and turning, the hare dodges its attacks.
03:53Nonetheless, she is relentless.
04:11Golden eagles once chased hares across all of our isles.
04:18But as our wild grasslands have diminished, these contests have become a rare sight.
04:45When I was a boy back in the 1930s growing up in Leicester, I spent days on my bicycle exploring
04:54the local country.
04:56Back then, it was easy to find hay meadows like this one, rich with wildflowers and swarming with butterflies and
05:07insects of all kinds.
05:09But since then, we have lost more than 95% of these wonderful habitats.
05:17In this episode, we will show why our wildlife needs rich wild grasslands.
05:24And take you on a journey from the rare coastal flower meadows of the Scottish Hebrides, right up to the
05:33heather moorlands in the high mountains.
05:42Few things can tame this fierce landscape.
05:55But grasses can.
05:59Here in the outer Hebrides, their roots have bound the loose grains together and created a formidable barrier.
06:12Miles of sand dunes form a natural sea wall, protecting one of the most important habitats in the world.
06:21Macher Grassland.
06:27Five and a half thousand years of traditional non-intensive farming on shell sand soils has created these rich wildflower
06:37meadows, unique to Scotland and Ireland.
06:42Free from pesticides, they're home to hundreds of rare flowers and insects.
06:52Each spring, the Macher becomes a nursery for ground-nesting birds.
07:02It's alive with chicks, all doing their best to escape from their parents.
07:10Since 1960, lapwing numbers in Britain and Ireland have dropped by 80%, which makes every one of these chicks very
07:24valuable.
07:27Just a day old, this youngster is starting off on its first food-finding mission.
07:41Common gulls patrol the nursery, hoping to pick off an unwary chick.
07:53Adult lapwings have excellent eyesight and attack at the first sign of threat.
08:08And there are other wading birds here too.
08:15And a multi-species air force takes to the wing.
08:24A lamb calls wool all the chicks, whatever their species, to stay hidden.
08:47But the gull knows that the grass is full of chicks and won't give up.
08:58This time, it takes a young oyster catcher.
09:07And the lapwing chick gets back to its mother.
09:15Across Britain and Ireland, habitat lost to intensive agriculture has caused numbers of birds like these to greatly reduce.
09:28But thanks to nature-friendly farming methods, the Outer Hebrides remain a vital sanctuary for our most endangered ground-nesting
09:38species.
09:46All our grasslands are now managed by people.
09:53But they weren't always like this.
09:58Once, there were vast, scrub-covered wildernesses studded with patches of grassland.
10:11Roaming freely across them were herds of wild cattle and wild horses.
10:21In some areas, such species are being reintroduced.
10:26In the hope of recreating these once extensive grasslands.
10:41In temperature, there are large, free-ranging herds of horses.
10:54There are five family units in this herd.
10:59Each ruled by a dominant stallion.
11:19They're regularly on the move, searching for the best food.
11:25They eat young trees, and so prevent grassland turning into forests.
11:33By disturbing the ground, they allow many species that were once common in such places, to return.
11:48It's late spring, and the herd's numbers are increasing.
11:56Just 24 hours old, this youngster is taking his first faltering steps.
12:07The stallion guards the mare closely.
12:15Having just given birth, she will soon be ready to mate again.
12:30A rival stallion notices her condition, and tensions begin to rise.
12:41Look's might be tolerated by the dominant stallion.
12:48But anything else will bring trouble.
13:00A well-placed kick could do serious damage.
13:28This time, the challenger retreats.
13:36Traditional breeds of horses are now being gradually reintroduced to isolated grasslands across the British Isles.
13:46By expanding and connecting these reserves, we could restore large swathes of our lost wilderness, if we wanted to.
14:03Grasses, when allowed to grow tall and wild, can conceal animals that few people get to see.
14:12Here there is a network of hidden trails, made by Britain's most abundant mammal.
14:25Yet, despite there being more than 50 million of them, this little rodent is tricky to spot.
14:35It's not a mouse.
14:39It's a vole.
14:40A small rodent with teeth specially adapted for chewing grass.
14:54This female is in a hurry.
15:06Because it's time to feed her babies.
15:15She has six.
15:17She has six.
15:17They're just ten days old and still reliant on her for milk and body heat.
15:23She doesn't leave them for more than half an hour at a time.
15:30But to feed them all and herself, she must eat almost her entire body weight in grass every day.
15:43Knowing every turn in her maze of trails, she can reach her favourite feeding spots without being seen.
15:54But she can be heard.
16:00Short-eared owls have excellent hearing and field voles make up 90% of their diet.
16:21At the slightest hint of danger, the mother vole deploys her best defence.
16:36She freezes.
16:45Short-eared owls can hear a whisker scratching against grass.
16:50Short-eared owls.
16:52Short-eared owls.
17:02Short-eared owls.
17:04Short-eared owls.
17:05Short-eared owls.
17:05Short-eared owls.
17:05Short-eared owls.
17:07Short-eared owls.
17:09Short-eared owls.
17:09Short-eared owls.
17:09Short-eared owls.
17:10Short-eared owls.
17:12Short-eared owls.
17:15Short-eared owls.
17:37Field bolls breed successfully when grasses aren't cut short,
17:43meaning the owl's next meal won't be far away.
17:53In southern England, a few precious pockets of chalk grassland have remained unchanged
18:00for thousands of years.
18:04Light grazing by livestock maintains their rich variety of plants.
18:11On a hillside near Dorchester, an apparently empty snail shell is moving.
18:23The mason bee.
18:29There are a dozen different species of mason bee in Britain.
18:34Most nest in holes, but this one, the two-coloured mason bee, prefers to rear her family in
18:42snail shells.
18:51Many of those, of course, are still occupied.
18:58She needs help.
19:06Glowworm larvae are always hungry.
19:10These little insects might be slow, but that doesn't matter when you're hunting a snail.
19:28The meal may take a week, but once it's finished, all that is left is an empty shell.
19:40And that is perfect for the bee.
19:47Fresh shells are the strongest and will give her young the best chance of survival.
19:55She sets about filling it with pollen, food for her young when the egg she lays inside hatches.
20:10Using tiny pieces of rubble and glue made from chewed up leaves, she carefully seals the front door.
20:25But that isn't the end of this mother's care.
20:31And her last trick is extraordinary, because this bee is something of a witch.
20:45There are more than 250 species of wild bees in Britain, but this is the only one that rides
20:52a broomstick.
20:58She's collecting hundreds of dry grass stems to hide her snail shell nests.
21:12She may build up to 20 of them.
21:19About a third of our food comes from plants pollinated by bees, but due to habitat loss and use of
21:28pesticides,
21:29wild bee species are in decline.
21:38We can help them recover by restoring wild areas between our intensively managed fields.
21:58If grasslands are to be rich and diverse, they have to be grazed.
22:06And we can thank the Romans and the Normans for bringing with them one of nature's best lawn mowers.
22:15Rabbits.
22:22Unlike their cousins, the larger hares, they dig tunnels.
22:30Boat holes are essential if you're the favorite food of a buzzard.
22:40A foot thump raises the alarm.
22:46But not everyone pays attention.
23:16One less youngster.
23:18But then rabbits are rather good at breeding.
23:31A male, a buck, offers a female two kinds of gift.
23:40First, perfume.
23:45The gland under his chin produces a cocktail of pheromones.
24:00His second gift is rather less romantic.
24:08He pees on her.
24:16His particular smell helps her decide whether or not she will let him father her babies.
24:25His choice of aftershave, however, hasn't yet convinced her.
24:41Darkness does nothing to dampen his enthusiasm.
24:54Finally, the buck is in luck.
25:02This giant warren in Dorset is one of the largest in Britain.
25:10It's home to more than a thousand rabbits.
25:14And at night, they all feel sufficiently confident to leave their burrows.
25:22And foxes know that.
25:26So this is when they usually hunt.
25:43That was just a vole.
25:47Back at the den, his vixen is looking after their four hungry pups.
25:58Make that five.
26:12The rabbits watch the fox closely.
26:20As long as they can see him, they can outrun him.
26:33But they can't hide.
26:40It's a mistake to think that you are always safe in a burrow.
26:47If there is only one way out, a tunnel could become a trap.
26:51They can't hide.
27:01It can't hide.
27:09It's an eye.
27:10It can't hide.
27:12It can't hide.
27:21A rabbit's life is full of danger.
27:27A big warren can lose hundreds each year, but without losses to foxes and buzzards, rabbits
27:34could soon eat themselves into starvation.
27:48As farming has intensified, most of our traditional meadows have disappeared.
27:58Species-rich grasslands now occupy only about 1% of the land.
28:07Their reduction in numbers is one of the reasons why half of our butterfly species are now at
28:13risk of extinction.
28:18But in Gloucestershire, one species is making a comeback.
28:25It has one of the most extraordinary life cycles of any insect anywhere.
28:35Most caterpillars find their food among flowers.
28:41This particular species, however, feeds in an entirely different way.
28:52A way that is full of risks.
28:58Ants eat caterpillars.
29:02But this caterpillar is a master trickster.
29:13First, she releases a droplet of honeydew from a gland on her back, encouraging the worker
29:22ant to tend to her.
29:28Next, she does something even more remarkable.
29:35She takes in air, inflating her body.
29:45And then, she releases it, making a sound that resembles the distress call of a queen ant, whilst
29:58bathing the worker in intoxicating pheromones.
30:05In response, the worker ant picks up the caterpillar and takes it back to the nest, as if rescuing
30:12it.
30:16But will the other ants accept the caterpillar as a queen?
30:23She continues her royal squeaking, and amazingly, they do.
30:32Once inside the nest, the caterpillar can go wherever she likes.
30:40Surrounded by thousands of ants that could easily kill her, she finally gets the reward
30:46for her trickery.
30:53This caterpillar is one of the very few in the world that becomes carnivorous.
31:07Over the next six months, this fake queen eats the defenseless ant larvae until she is a hundred
31:16times her original size.
31:28Then, having consumed almost the entire ant colony, she pupates and becomes a chrysalis.
31:46Nearly a year later, on one warm spring day, she performs her final trick.
32:08She emerges from the shroud of her chrysalis as an adult large blue butterfly.
32:24Forty years ago, the large blue was extinct in Britain.
32:30But once its extraordinary life cycle was understood.
32:34It was reintroduced from Europe to restored meadows here.
32:39And now, we have one of the densest populations to be found anywhere.
32:54Throughout the British Isles, there are rugged uplands where grasses are replaced by other kinds
33:01of plants.
33:03For thousands of years, people have farmed these seemingly wild places, creating a landscape
33:10that is now dominated by heather.
33:14And in the wilder parts, lives one of Britain's rarest birds.
33:20Black grouse.
33:26The males come here at dawn to display competitively throughout the spring
33:31in special places called leks.
33:36Each male competes to claim a small area in the center of the lek,
33:41and then invites females to visit him by producing an extraordinary bubbling song.
33:57This particular lek in the Cairngorms is dominated by a formidable male nicknamed the boss.
34:09Each morning, she fights off challenges.
34:20But now, a new cock-on-the-block has arrived.
34:26Half-tail.
34:30He's no stranger to a fight, having already lost some of his tail feathers in a close shave with a
34:38golden eagle.
34:41And now, he's set his sights on the boss's crown.
34:50For the past week, the two of them have been sizing each other up.
34:58And now, it's the showdown.
35:00Who's chasing each other up?
35:09Just defend him.
35:12Oh
35:38Half tail has triumphed
35:42This lek has a new boss
35:46And his timing couldn't be better
35:50A female has arrived
35:58This is his chance to impress
36:01She might only visit this lek once this year
36:27Half tail must hold his position at the centre of the lek if he's to get another chance
36:41Our uplands have harsh winters
36:46But there are some sheltered and undisturbed places that suit one surprising year-round resident
36:57As the spring sun warms these slopes in Northumbria
37:03A rare reptile becomes active
37:13A male adder
37:15Sheds his winter skin
37:16Revealing his zigzag stripe
37:19The distinctive pattern
37:21That identifies Britain's only venomous snake
37:30Now he needs to find a female
37:37Guided by an acute sense of smell
37:40This 40cm long male sets off to find a female
37:47He may have to travel a mile or more
37:51But he's in luck
37:53A female newly emerged from hibernation
38:05Sliding over her back
38:08He begins a delicate courtship
38:29But he's not the only one around here searching for a mate
38:48Rearing up as high as he can
38:50He uses his whole body
38:52To try and pin his opponent to the ground
39:04These duels can last for up to an hour
39:24Eventually, the challenger gives way
39:31The male continues his courtship
39:34Gently tapping the female with his head
39:37While using his coils to massage her
39:41Until she allows him to mate
39:48But then more eager males arrive
39:56He must stay attached to her
39:58Long enough to transfer his sperm
40:01And fortunately
40:03He has just the equipment needed
40:05To help him do that
40:10Her penis
40:11Her penis
40:12With barbs
40:17Once mating has started
40:18The adders remain locked together
40:21For up to an hour
40:22And that means
40:25Wherever the female goes
40:27The male is also dragged along
40:40She will mate with many males
40:42In the coming months
40:43She will mate with many males
40:45So for her other suitors
40:47All is not lost
40:55At the end of spring
40:56At the end of spring
40:57A more relaxed courtship
40:59Takes place
40:59In the skies
41:01Of the Scottish Highlands
41:07A sky dance
41:21The male hen harrier
41:25The male hen harrier
41:38Is walking through the air
41:39He's doing his best
41:41He's doing his best
41:41To catch the attention
41:42Of a female
41:51But conspicuous behaviour
41:53Can bring danger
41:58Decades of illegal persecution
41:59Of hen harriers
42:00On some grouse moors
42:02Has meant
42:03That this dance
42:04Almost vanished
42:05From our skies
42:13Fortunately
42:14In a few protected places
42:16Hen harriers
42:17Are now slowly starting
42:19To recover
42:23And this male's efforts
42:25Have paid off
42:32But being a great aerial dancer
42:35Isn't enough
42:42He must also provide his mate
42:44With a meal
42:48And he must deliver it
42:50In exactly the right way
43:07Convinced by his performance
43:10She chooses a nest
43:11Deep in the heather
43:19Six weeks later
43:20Is full of hungry mouths
43:22Waiting for food
43:26The female
43:27Has chosen
43:28A good mate
43:35Only with both parents
43:37Working full time
43:38Will the chicks
43:39Get enough food
43:40To enable them
43:41To fledge
43:42And eventually
43:43Help these rare birds
43:44To recover
43:45Their numbers
44:04Even in our crowded isles
44:07There are still places
44:09That retain their wildness
44:15In Ireland's County Kerry
44:17Lies a land
44:18That looks almost untouched
44:28This is a landscape
44:30Being returned
44:32To wilderness
44:33This is a landscape
44:36And it's the scene
44:37Of an age-old battle
44:46This red deer stag
44:48Has spent his summer
44:50Feeding in the mountains
44:56But as autumn approaches
44:59He comes down to lower ground
45:02To compete in the rut
45:04And fight for females
45:13But a more experienced stag
45:16Has already claimed
45:18This group of females
45:23The newcomer
45:25Declares his intentions
45:31To win these females
45:33To win these females
45:33However
45:35He will have to fight
45:44An antler in the eye
45:46Would blind him
45:48An antler to the body
45:50Could kill him
46:13His inexperience
46:15Has cost him
46:16This victory
46:17But losing one battle
46:20Doesn't necessarily mean
46:22That he's lost his chance
46:24To mate
46:33Over the next few weeks
46:35The dominant stag
46:37Is so busy
46:37Guarding his harim
46:39Of females
46:39That he doesn't eat
46:44And that leaves him weak
46:50This is the opportunity
46:51The newcomer
46:52Has been waiting for
46:56The dominant stag
46:58The dominant stag
46:58Is tired
46:58But he has to fight
47:00Once again
47:01If he is to keep
47:02His females
47:13For the newcomer
47:15It's now
47:16Or never
47:23For the newcomer
47:33If he is or Gent
47:35The OMER
47:36The
47:37The
47:37The
47:37The
47:37This is the
47:38The
47:39The
47:39The
47:39Let's go.
48:12The harem has been taken over by the newcomer.
48:18At the end of this season, he will return to the mountains victorious.
48:33Almost all the grasslands in our isles are now managed by and for people.
48:40Whether in the future we choose to make room in them for wildlife is up to us.
49:00Wild eagles have never been filmed hunting in the UK before.
49:05The challenge was to capture this behaviour with not just golden eagles, but also the
49:11larger and rarer white-tailed eagles.
49:14The team travelled to Islay in the Scottish Hebrides.
49:19The eagle numbers here have been increasing year on year, and in a good year you can
49:23have eight or ten different eagles visiting this reserve during the winter.
49:28The reserve is part of a working farm and managed in a way that benefits nature.
49:33Preserve manager James Howe was the first to witness the returning white-tailed eagles
49:39doing something extraordinary.
49:41It was probably four years ago that we started to see the eagles coming in and having a look
49:48at the geese.
49:49At that stage it was just one eagle.
49:51Over the last few years that behaviour has just increased.
49:54So you've got these phenomenal flocks of geese here, and now we have apex predators hunting
50:00them, which it feels complete somehow.
50:03But it wasn't always like this.
50:06White-tailed eagles once lived across Britain and Ireland, but were so heavily persecuted
50:12that they became extinct at the start of the 20th century.
50:16These giants needed a helping hand to return.
50:21The first attempt at releases was back in 1968.
50:26I was, oh, crikey, 27, on the island of Fair Isle, and my boss said, look, I'm going to
50:33get four young white-tailed eagles from Norway and I want you to reintroduce them to the island.
50:39Back then, reintroductions were new and not always welcome, but these early efforts eventually
50:47paid off, and today there are more than 100 breeding pairs across Scotland.
50:54On Islay, the team focused their work around the eagle's favourite prey, brown hares and
51:00barnacle geese.
51:02What we're trying to attempt is so difficult here, because we're filming birds that can be
51:08over two mountains in five or ten minutes, and to get ahead of them, try and work out
51:13where their prey are going to be, there's no choice.
51:16You just have to put hours and hours and hours into it.
51:18The team spread out to watch as many geese and hares as possible.
51:24We have to have static camera teams, hide camera teams, roving camera teams, and we also have
51:30to have a huge team of spotters.
51:53And one team member couldn't even make it across from the mainland.
51:58But we've been grounded, because the bad weather and the storm, the ferries are not going anymore.
52:04But all I can do is wait until the storm finishes, and then I can head over and see them.
52:12Once the storm blows through and the whole team are safely on the island, filming can finally begin.
52:20The tower hides enable views right across the grassland, where the eagle's prey congregate.
52:27But first the team need to learn the habits of the individual birds, and each day the challenge
52:33is to find them.
52:35OK, I think I've got them very distant, way to the east.
52:39The white tails went off with an escort of jackdaws. Over.
52:43OK, one's taken off and is flying south-east now towards the field.
52:47Hamza, be much closer to you now.
52:51No, we don't have eyes on it just yet.
52:53If you guys can direct me to it, that will be ace.
52:57Still just going over the field.
53:00It doesn't look like it's got any hunting on the brain at the moment, though.
53:04Eagles don't always hunt for their food.
53:07Young birds often scavenge for an easy meal.
53:10So learning when they're in hunt mode is key to the team.
53:14It's getting the hang of who's who, because we can recognise four different young eagles now.
53:19And they do have a pattern, and they do have favourite places.
53:21There's a hierarchy where they boss each other around.
53:24We've had four different golden eagles today.
53:27We've had six different white-tailed eagles, and we're still expecting more to come in.
53:32As the team get to know these birds intimately, it becomes clear how special this place is.
53:38You can only really describe it as an eagle school.
53:41You know, these young birds are coming here to learn to hunt.
53:43It's basically Top Gun for eagles.
53:46We are surrounded by eagles. That is amazing.
53:51We've just had birds fighting.
53:54Really, really lovely footage of all of them kind of, like, tumbling.
54:00After six weeks, Jesse captures their first hunt.
54:03A young golden eagle flushes a hare out on the flats.
54:09He bolted straight out across the short grass.
54:13He jinked from side to side, and the power that the eagle would have had in a straight line
54:18could have just mown down the hare.
54:20Who needs lions? Who needs polar bears?
54:23This is just as impressive.
54:25After weeks of watching and learning the eagle's routines,
54:30the white-tails finally begin hunting in range of the cameras.
54:35Eagle! Eagle on the flats, just going down.
54:40Whoa!
54:42Jesse's patience in the hide gives him a front row seat at the start of the chase.
54:48And in the tower, John and Rachel can pick up where he left off.
54:54Oh, he caught it by his tail, and then pulls up the goose,
54:58and is now carrying it by its neck and its head.
55:01Whoa, that's incredible.
55:04That was something else.
55:07She just took off and went straight into the flock.
55:09One went up, singled one out, plucked it out of mid-air, and landed with it.
55:13That was a very special thing to witness.
55:16The team's dogged persistence has paid off,
55:19and they film these wild eagles hunting for the first time.
55:24I feel so happy that we managed to get it.
55:27Like, words can't explain how excited I am.
55:33The return of these majestic hunters has taken decades of effort,
55:38and Roy is now broadening his horizons to the south of England.
55:43This is a young female white-tailed eagle,
55:46and it's come from the island of Skye.
55:49Two more will arrive from the Hebrides tomorrow,
55:52and then they'll go by plane to the Isle of Wight.
55:56In the early part of my life, nature was losing.
56:00And suddenly, in this last 20 years,
56:03people realized that we can't live a future without nature.
56:09Top predators like eagles play a key role
56:12in maintaining healthy, robust natural habitats.
56:18This crucial work will ensure eagles might once again be seen across all of Britain and Ireland.
56:32Next time, fresh water.
56:39From source...
56:57The open university has produced a free poster exploring our wild isles and their diverse habitats and species.
57:06Order your copy by calling 0300 303 0265,
57:12or go to bbc.co.uk forward slash wild isles and follow the links to the open university.
57:21If you'd like to play your part in restoring our wild isles and learn more about what you can do
57:27to help,
57:27just search Wild Isles on the BBC website.
57:35And there's also a book to accompany the series Wild Isles, and it's available now.
57:41A medal awarded to one of the first soldiers to land on D-Day.
57:45Poignant discoveries on the Antiques Roadshow.
57:48Next, on BBC One.
57:49And on BBC Two, raging weather as Britain's biggest warship goes to sea.