01x03 - Grasslands

[bunniefuu]

Our isles were once
covered by ice.

As the Earth warmed,

grasses became the first plants
to reclaim the land.

Today,

they cover more than 40% of it.

Most of that is farmed,

but when these lands are
well managed,

they still provide homes
for wildlife.

It's early spring.

In a field of barley,

a male brown hare
is searching for a female.

Using his excellent sense of smell,

he can tell that there is one
nearby.

But getting to mate with her won't
be easy

He must deal with three challenges,

before she'll consider him.

First...

DRUM ROLL

..boxing.

To impress her,

he must match her strength,

but be careful not to hurt her.

Only if he can hold his own,

will he be allowed to move
to the next stage.

He puts up a good fight
and, so, passes her first test.

Her second test?

Stamina.

Hares are Britain's
fastest mammal,

and can reach speeds of 45mph.

The chase attracts other males,

all fired up and eager to mate.

His final test

is to get rid of his rivals.

HIGH-SPIRITED MUSIC PLAYS

Despite their competition,

he hangs on to the top spot.

But distracted hares must be
careful.

OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS

Their courtship competitions have
made them conspicuous.

A golden eagle can spot one
from two miles away.

In a straight line,
the eagle is faster,

but by twisting and turning,

the hare dodges its attacks.

Nonetheless, she is relentless.

DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

Golden eagles once chased hares

across all of our isles.

But as our wild grasslands
have diminished,

these contests have become
a rare sight.

When I was a boy, back in the
1930s, growing up in Leicester,

I spent days on my bicycle
exploring the local countryside.

Back then, it was easy to find hay
meadows like this one,

rich with wild flowers

and swarming with butterflies

and insects of all kinds.

But since then, we have lost more
than 95%

of these wonderful habitats.

In this episode,

we will show why our wildlife needs
rich, wild grasslands

and take you on a journey from the
rare coastal flower meadows

of the Scottish Hebrides,

right up to the heather moorlands

in the high mountains.

WIND WHISTLES

Few things can tame this
fierce landscape...

..but grasses can.

Here in the Outer Hebrides,

their roots have bound the loose
grains together

and created a formidable barrier.

Miles of sand dunes
form a natural sea wall,

protecting one of the most important
habitats in the world -

the machair grassland.

BIRDSONG AND BUZZING

5,500 years of traditional,
non-intensive farming

on shell-sand soils has created
these rich, wild flower meadows,

unique to Scotland and Ireland.

Free from pesticides,

they are home to hundreds of rare
flowers and insects.

BUZZING

Each spring, the machair becomes
a nursery for ground-nesting birds.

CHIRPING

It's alive with chicks,

all doing their best to escape
from their parents.

Since 1960,

lapwing numbers in Britain
and Ireland

have dropped by 80%...

..which makes every one
of these chicks

very valuable.

Just a day old, this youngster is
starting off on

its first food-finding mission.

Common gulls patrol the nursery,

hoping to pick off an unwary chick.

Adult lapwings have excellent
eyesight,

and attack at the first
sign of threat.

DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

SQUAWKING

And there are other wading birds
here, too...

..and a multi-species air force
takes to the wing.

Alarm calls warn all the chicks,

whatever their species,
to stay hidden.

SIREN CALL

But the gull knows that the grass is
full of chicks

and won't give up.

CHIRPING

SQUAWKING

This time, it takes a young
oystercatcher...

..and the lapwing chick gets
back to its mother.

MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYS

SQUAWKING

Across Britain and Ireland,

habitat loss to intensive
agriculture

has caused numbers of birds like
these to greatly reduce.

But thanks to nature-friendly
farming methods,

the Outer Hebrides
remain a vital sanctuary

for our most endangered
ground-nesting species.

All our grasslands
are now managed by people.

But they weren't always like this.

Once there were vast scrub-covered
wildernesses,

studded with patches of grassland.

Roaming freely across them

were herds of wild cattle

and wild horses.

HORSES WHINNY

In some areas, such
species are being reintroduced

in the hope of recreating these once
extensive grasslands.

HORSES NEIGH

In Cambridgeshire, there are large
free-ranging herds of horses.

There are five family units
in this herd...

..each ruled by a dominant stallion.

THEY GRUNT AND WHINNY

They're regularly on the move,

searching for the best food.

They eat young trees,

and so prevent grassland
turning into forest.

By disturbing the ground,

they allow many species that
were once common in such places,

to return.

It's late spring,

and the herd's numbers
are increasing.

Just 24 hours old, this youngster is
taking his first faltering steps.

The stallion guards the mare
closely.

WHINNIES

Having just given birth,

she will soon be ready
to mate again.

A rival stallion
notices her condition

and tensions begin to rise.

WHINNYING AND SNORTING

Looks might be tolerated
by the dominant stallion...

WHINNIES

..but anything else
will bring trouble.

A well-placed kick

could do serious damage.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

NEIGHING

GRUNTING AND BRAYING

This time, the challenger retreats.

Traditional breeds of horses are now
being gradually reintroduced

to isolated grasslands across
the British Isles.

By expanding and connecting
these reserves,

we could restore large swathes of
our lost wilderness,

if we wanted to.

HORSE NEIGHS

Grasses, when allowed to grow tall
and wild,

can conceal animals that few people
get to see.

Here, there is a network
of hidden trails,

made by Britain's
most abundant mammal.

Yet, despite there being more than
50-million of them...

..this little rodent
is tricky to spot.

It's NOT a mouse.

It's a vole - a small rodent with
teeth specially adapted

for chewing grass.

This female is in a hurry...

ANIMATED MUSIC PLAYS

..because it's time to feed
her babies.

SQUEAKING

She has six.

They're just ten-days-old

and still reliant on her for milk
and body heat.

She doesn't leave them

for more than
half an hour at a time.

But to feed them all and herself,

she must eat almost her entire
body weight in grass

every day.

Knowing every turn
in her maze of trails,

she can reach her favourite feeding
spots without being seen...

CRUNCHING

..but she can be heard.

Short-eared owls have
excellent hearing,

and field voles make up
90% of their diet.

At the slightest hint of danger,

the mother vole
deploys her best defence.

DRAMATIC MUSIC CRESCENDOS

She freezes.

Short-eared owls can hear a whisker
scratching against grass.

But she must get back to her babies.

SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC

Field voles breed successfully
when grasses aren't cut short,

meaning the owl's next meal
won't be far away.

BELL TOLLS

In southern England,
a few precious pockets

of chalk grassland have remained
unchanged for thousands of years.

Light grazing by livestock maintains
their rich variety of plants.

On a hillside near Dorchester,

an apparently empty snail
shell is moving.

JOCULAR MUSIC

A mason bee.

There are a dozen different species
of mason bee in Britain.

Most nest in holes.

But this one,
the two-coloured mason bee,

prefers to rear her family
in snail shells.

Many of those, of course,
are still occupied.

She needs help.

Glow worm larvae are always hungry.

These little insects might
be slow...

..but that doesn't matter

when you're hunting a snail.

SINISTER MUSIC

The meal may take a week,

but once it's finished,
all that is left is an empty shell.

And that is perfect

for the bee.

Fresh shells are the strongest

and will give her young the best
chance of survival.

She sets about filling it
with pollen,

food for her young, when the egg
she lays inside hatches.

BUZZING

Using tiny pieces of rubble, and
glue made from chewed-up leaves,

she carefully seals the front door.

But that isn't the end of this
mother's care.

And her last trick is
extraordinary...

..because this bee
is something of a witch!

There are more than 250 species
of wild bees in Britain,

but this is the only one
that rides a broomstick!

She's collecting hundreds
of dry grass stems

to hide her snail-shell nests.

She may build up to 20 of them.

About a third of our food comes from
plants pollinated by bees,

but due to habitat loss
and use of pesticides,

wild bee species are in decline.

We can help them recover,

by restoring wild areas between our
intensively-managed fields.

If grasslands are to be rich and
diverse, they have to be grazed.

And we can thank the Romans and the
Normans for bringing with them

one of nature's best lawnmowers...

..rabbits.

Unlike their cousins,

the larger hares,

they dig tunnels.

Bolt holes are essential...

..if you're the favourite
food of a buzzard.

OMINOUS MUSIC

A foot-thump raises the alarm.

But not everyone pays attention.

DRAMATIC MUSIC CRESCENDOS

One less youngster,

..but then, rabbits are rather good
at breeding.

A male - a buck -

offers a female two kinds of gift.

First, perfume.

A gland under his chin produces
a c*ck of pheromones.

His second gift
is rather less romantic.

He pees on her.

JOCULAR MUSIC PLAYS

His particular smell
helps her decide whether or not

she will let him father her babies.

His choice of aftershave, however,

hasn't yet convinced her.

Darkness does nothing

to dampen his enthusiasm.

Finally, the buck is in luck!

This giant warren in Dorset

is one of the largest in Britain.

OWL HOOTS

It's home to more
than a thousand rabbits...

..and at night, they all feel
sufficiently confident

to leave their burrows.

And foxes know that.

So this is when they usually hunt.

DROLL MUSIC PLAYS

That was just a vole.

Back at the den,

his vixen is looking
after their four hungry pups.

PUPS WHINE

Make that five!

The rabbits watch the fox
closely.

As long as they can see him,

they can outrun him.

But they can't hide.

It's a mistake to think that you are
always safe in a burrow.

If there is only one way out,

a tunnel could become a trap.

SHRIEK

SOMBRE MUSIC

A rabbit's life is full of danger.

A big warren
can lose hundreds each year,

but without losses to foxes
and buzzards,

rabbits could soon eat themselves
into starvation.

BIRDSONG

As farming has intensified,

most of our traditional meadows
have disappeared.

Species-rich grasslands now occupy
only about 1% of the land.

BUZZING

Their reduction in numbers is
one of the reasons

why half of our butterfly species
are now at risk of extinction.

But, in Gloucestershire, one species
is making a comeback.

It has one of the most extraordinary
lifecycles of any insect anywhere.

Most caterpillars find their food
among flowers.

This particular species, however,
feeds in an entirely different way.

A way that is full of risks.

Ants eat caterpillars.

But this caterpillar
is a master trickster.

First, she releases a droplet of
honeydew from a gland on her back...

..encouraging the worker ant
to tend to her.

Next, she does something even more
remarkable.

She takes in air,

inflating her body...

..and then she releases it...

MIMICS CHIRRUPING

..making a sound that resembles the
distress call of a queen ant...

..whilst bathing the worker
in intoxicating pheromones.

In response, the worker ant picks up
the caterpillar

and takes it back to the nest -
as if rescuing it.

But will the other ants accept
the caterpillar as a queen?

SQUEAKS

She continues her royal squeaking

and, amazingly, they do.

Once inside the nest,

the caterpillar can go wherever
she likes.

Surrounded by thousands of ants that
could easily k*ll her,

she finally gets the reward
for her trickery.

This caterpillar is one of the very
few in the world

that becomes carnivorous.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Over the next six months,

this fake queen eats the defenceless
ant larvae,

until she's 100 times her
original size.

Then, having consumed
almost the entire ant colony...

..she pupates...

..and becomes a chrysalis.

Nearly a year later,

on one warm spring day...

..she performs her final trick.

ENTHRALLING MUSIC

She emerges from the shroud
of her chrysalis

as an adult Large Blue butterfly.

40 years ago, the Large Blue
was extinct in Britain.

But once its extraordinary
life cycle was understood,

it was reintroduced from Europe
to restored meadows here

and now we have one of the densest
populations to be found anywhere.

Throughout the British Isles
there are rugged uplands,

where grasses are replaced
by other kinds of plants.

For thousands of years, people have
farmed these seemingly wild places,

creating a landscape
that is now dominated by heather.

And in the wilder parts,

lives one of Britain's rarest
birds...

..black grouse.

The males come here at dawn
to display competitively

throughout the spring
in special places called leks.

Each male competes to claim a small
area in the centre of the lek

and then invites females
to visit him

by producing an extraordinary
bubbling song.

GROUSE SINGS

This particular lek
in the Cairngorms

is dominated by a formidable male,

nicknamed The Boss.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Each morning,
he fights off challengers.

IRATE COOING

But now, a new c*ck on the block
has arrived...

HISSING

..Half Tail.

He's no stranger to a fight,

having already lost
some of his tail feathers

in a close shave
with a golden eagle.

And now, he's set his sights
on The Boss's crown.

For the past week, the two of them
have been sizing each other up.

And now, it's the showdown.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Half Tail has triumphed.

This lek has a new boss.

And his timing couldn't be better.

A female has arrived.

HALF TAIL COOS

This is his chance to impress.

She might only visit this lek
once this year.

COOING CONTINUES

He's been lucky this morning,

but Half Tail must hold his position
at the centre of the lek

if he's to get another chance.

Our uplands have harsh winters.

But there are some sheltered
and undisturbed places

that suit one surprising
year-round resident.

As the spring sun warms
these slopes in Northumbria...

..a rare reptile becomes active.

A male adder sheds his winter skin,

revealing his zigzag stripe,

the distinctive pattern
that identifies

Britain's only venomous snake.

Now, he needs to find a female.

Guided by an acute sense of smell,

this 40cm long male
sets off to find a female.

He may have to travel
a mile or more.

But he's in luck.

A female,
newly emerged from hibernation.

Sliding over her back...

..he begins a delicate courtship.

But he's not the only one
around here searching for a mate.

Rearing up as high as he can,

he uses his whole body to try
and pin his opponent to the ground.

These duels can last
for up to an hour.

Eventually,
the challenger gives way.

The male continues his courtship,

gently tapping the female
with his head

while using his coils
to massage her...

..until she allows him to mate.

But then, more eager males arrive.

He must stay attached to her
long enough to transfer his sperm.

And fortunately, he has
just the equipment needed

to help him do that...

..a p*nis with barbs.

Once mating has started,

the adders remain locked together
for up to an hour.

And that means
wherever the female goes,

the male is also dragged along.

She will mate with many males
in the coming months.

So for her other suitors,

all is not lost.

At the end of spring,
a more relaxed courtship takes place

in the skies
of the Scottish Highlands.

A sky dance.

SOARING VIOLIN MUSIC

A male hen harrier.

Weaving and rolling through the air,

he's doing his best to catch
the attention of a female.

But conspicuous behaviour
can bring danger.

Decades of ill*gal persecution
of hen harriers on some grouse moors

has meant that this dance
almost vanished from our skies.

Fortunately,
in a few protected places,

hen harriers are now
slowly starting to recover.

And this male's efforts
have paid off.

CHIRPING

But being a great aerial dancer
isn't enough.

He must also provide his mate
with a meal.

And he must deliver it
in exactly the right way.

CHIRPING

Convinced by his performance...

..she chooses a nest
deep in the heather.

Six weeks later, it's full of
hungry mouths waiting for food.

The female has chosen a good mate.

Only with both parents
working full-time

will the chicks get enough food
to enable them to fledge

and eventually help these rare birds
to recover their numbers.

Even in our crowded isles,

there are still places
that retain their wildness.

In Ireland's County Kerry lies a
land that looks almost untouched.

This is a landscape
being returned to wilderness.

And it's the scene
of an age-old battle.

This red deer stag has spent
his summer feeding in the mountains.

HE BELLOWS

But as autumn approaches,

he comes down to lower ground

to compete in the rut
and fight for females.

But a more experienced stag

has already claimed this
group of females.

STAG GRUNTS

The newcomer declares
his intentions.

To win these females however...

..he will have to fight.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

An antler in the eye
would blind him.

An antler to the body
could k*ll him.

ANTLERS CLATTER

His inexperience
has cost him this victory.

But losing one battle
doesn't necessarily mean

that he's lost his chance to mate.

Over the next few weeks,
the dominant stag

is so busy guarding his harem
of females, that he doesn't eat.

And that leaves him weak.

This is the opportunity
the newcomer has been waiting for.

The dominant stag is tired,

but he has to fight once again
if he is to keep his females.

For the newcomer, it's now or never.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

MUSIC CRESCENDOS

BELLOWING

The harem has been taken over
by the newcomer.

At the end of this season,

he will return to the mountains,
victorious.

Almost all the grasslands
in our isles

are now managed by and for people.

Whether in the future we choose
to make room in them for wildlife...

..is up to us.

Wild eagles have never been
filmed hunting in the UK before.

The challenge was to capture
this behaviour

with not just golden eagles,

but also the larger and rarer
white-tailed eagles.

The team travelled to Islay
in the Scottish Hebrides.

The eagle numbers here have been
increasing year-on-year

and in a good year, you can have
eight or ten different eagles

visiting this reserve
during the winter.

The reserve is part
of a working farm

and managed in a way
that benefits nature.

Reserve manager James How
was the first to witness

the returning white-tailed eagles
doing something extraordinary.

It was probably four years ago

that we started to see
the eagles coming in

and having a look at the geese.

At that stage it was just one eagle.

Over the last few years,
that behaviour has just increased.

So you've got these phenomenal
flocks of geese here

and now we have apex predators
hunting them, which...

It feels complete somehow.

But it wasn't always like this.

White-tailed eagles once
lived across Britain and Ireland,

but were so heavily persecuted
that they became extinct

at the start of the 20th century.

These giants needed
a helping hand to return.

The first attempt at releases
was back in 1968.

I was, crikey,

27, on the island of Fiaraidh.

And my boss said,

"Look, I'm going to get four young
white-tailed eagles from Norway

"and I want you
to reintroduce them to the island."

Back then, re-introductions were new
and not always welcome.

But these early efforts
eventually paid off

and today, there are more than 100
breeding pairs across Scotland.

On Islay, the team focus their work
around the eagles' favourite prey -

brown hares and barnacle geese.

What we're trying to attempt
is so difficult here

because we are filming birds

that can be over two mountains
in five or ten minutes.

And to get ahead of them

and try and work out where
their pray are going to be,

there's no choice,

you just have to put hours and hours
and hours into it.

The team spread out to watch as
many geese and hares as possible.

We have to have static camera teams,
hide camera teams,

roving camera teams.

And we also have to have
a huge team of spotters.

But the famous Hebridean weather
had other ideas.

Ouch! These hailstones
are about 2mm or 3mm across.

They are like being hit
with BB pellets!

How are we supposed to film in this?

No wonder there are no eagles
this morning!

And one team member couldn't even
make it across from the mainland.

We've been grounded.

Because the bad weather
and the storm,

the ferries are not going any more.

But all I can do is wait
until the storm finishes

and then I can head over
and see them.

Once the storm blows through and the
whole team are safely on the island,

filming can finally begin.

The tower hides enable views
right across the grassland

where the eagles' prey congregate.

But first, the team need to learn
the habits of the individual birds

and each day, the challenge
is to find them.

OK, I think I've got them
very distant, way to the east.

The white-tails went off with
an escort of jackdaws, over.

OK. One's taken off
and is flying south-east now

towards the fields. Hamza,
be much closer to you now.

No, we don't have eyes
on it just yet.

If you guys can direct me to it,
that would be ace.

Still just going over the field.

It doesn't look like it's got
any hunting on the brain

at the moment though.

Eagles don't always
hunt for their food.

Young birds often scavenge
for an easy meal.

So learning when they are in
hunt mode is key for the team.

Getting the hang of who's who,

because we can recognise four
different young eagles now

and they do have a pattern
and they do have favourite places.

There is a hierarchy where
they boss each other around.

We've had four different
golden eagles today.

We've had six different
white-tailed eagles.

And we're still expecting
more to come in.

As the team get to know
these birds intimately,

it becomes clear
how special this place is.

You can only really describe it
as an eagle school.

You know, these young birds
are coming here to learn to hunt.

It's basically Top g*n for eagles.

We are surrounded by eagles.
That is amazing.

We've just had birds fighting.

Really, really lovely footage of all
of them, kind of, like, tumbling.

After six weeks,
Jesse captures their first hunt.

A young golden eagle
flushes a hare out on the flats.

He bolted straight
out across the short grass.

He jinked from side to side.

The power that the eagle would
have had in a straight line,

he could have just
mown down the hare.

Who needs lions?
Who needs polar bears?

This is just as impressive.

After weeks of watching
and learning the eagles' routines,

the white-tails finally begin
hunting in range of the cameras.

Eagle!

Eagle on the flats just going down.

Whoa!

Jesse's patience in the hide
gives him a front row seat

at the start of the chase.

And in the tower, John and Rachael
can pick up where he left off.

Oh, he caught it by its tail
and then claws at the goose

and is now carrying it
by its neck and its head.

Whoa, that's incredible!

That was something else.

She just took off
and went straight into the flock.

One went up, singled one out,

plucked it out of mid air
and landed with it.

That was a very special
thing to witness.

The team's dogged persistence
has paid off

and they film these wild eagles
hunting for the first time.

I feel so happy that we
managed to get it. Like...

..words can't explain
how excited I am.

The return of these majestic hunters
has taken decades of effort

and Roy is now broadening his
horizons to the south of England.

This is a young female
white-tailed eagle

and it's come
from the island of Skye.

Two more will arrive
from the Hebrides tomorrow.

And then they will
go by plane to the Isle of Wight.

In the early part of my life,
nature was losing.

And suddenly in this
last 20 years...

..people have realised that we
can't live a future without nature.

Top predators like eagles
play a key role

in maintaining healthy,
robust, natural habitats.

This crucial work will ensure
eagles might once again

be seen across all of Britain
and Ireland.

Next time - freshwater.

From source...

..to sea...

..it connects everything.

The Open University has
produced a free poster,

exploring our wild isles and their
diverse habitats and species.

Order your copy by calling...

or go to...

..and follow the links
to the Open University.

If you'd like to play your part
in restoring our wild isles

and learn more about
what you can do to help,

just search Wild Isles
on the BBC website.