DELIGHTFUL DIPS IN SPARKLING LAKES, RIVERS + COVES
COUNTRYFILE ISSUE 180 AUGUST 2021 £4.75
Your
Secret Summer Seek out the hidden treasures of the countryside
Rewild your family! Seven sensational mini-adventures in nature
Riddles of ancient Britain… solved! New science unveils the mysteries of our landscape GRASSHOPPERS & CRICKETS Incredible insects of summer meadows
Discover the lost railways of Wales
NIGHT BIRDS OF MOUSA ISLAND The twilight world of our smallest seabird
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES “It’s the best home improvement we have ever made. Our conservatory is now our dining room in the garden.” Mike Millis, Middleton On Sea
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EDITOR’S LETTER Join Dixe Wills on a walk of discovery across Wales following the old railway line beside tranquil Llangollen Canal
HOW TO CONTACT US To subscribe or for subs enquiries: Domestic telephone: 03330 162112 Overseas telephone: 01604 973720 Contact: www.buysubscriptions.com/ contactus Post: BBC Countryfile Magazine, PO BOX 3320, 3 Queensbridge, The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7BF
Secrets and mysteries I loved reading Dixe Wills’ slow journey across Wales following the atmospheric tracks and pathways of long-lost railway lines (page 18). There is the perfect blend of romance and challenge to make each day feel like an adventure, as well as being off the usual tourist routes. Even if you don’t follow Dixe’s exact itinerary, it’s great encouragement to look at local maps and knit your own walking routes between curious places, strange points of interest and, as Dixe admirably demonstrates, characterful villages and pubs. Not all countryside discoveries can be self-made, however, and technology is helping to uncover all sorts of juicy details about some of our most famous landmarks. Thought you knew everything there is to know about Stonehenge? Think again. As Mary-Ann Ochota reveals on page 52, recent scans of the stones have led to astounding revelations and, of course, more questions. As for the Cerne giant in Dorset, we’re getting closer to knowing when exactly it was created. Some discoveries are best made with children, especially the mini-adventures that come from helping them see the joys of the natural world. Georgie Duckworth offers some easy wins to help rewild the children, and yourself, on page 32. I’m off to look at a map – have a fabulous summer of discovery in the countryside.
To talk to the editorial team: Email: editor@countryfile.com Telephone: 0117 300 8580 (answerphone; please email rather than call) Post: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST Advertising enquiries: 0117 300 8815 App support: http://apps.immediate.co.uk/support Syndication and licensing enquiries (UK and international): richard.bentley@immediate.co.uk +44 (0)207 150 5168
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Fergus Collins, editor@countryfile.com
DON’T MISS OUR POPULAR WEEKLY PODCASTS A chance for a gentle escape into nature and the countryside. You can find all 100 episodes at countryfile.com/podcast
Photo: Dan Struthers
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Dixe Wills, page 18 “I set off to recreate a journey that had probably not been made by anyone since the last train ran the length of the line in December 1964.”
www.countryfile.com
Georgie Duckworth, page 32 “Make this a summer of adventure. Have fun and perhaps rediscover the child in you. Take to the water, set an ambush or simply enjoy the sunset.”
Mary-Ann Ochota, page 52 “You may worry that new scientific techniques might demystify the past... but usually research findings create as many new conundrums as they solve.”
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Contents
11Make the most of mulberries
46 Meet the elusive storm petrel
32 Rewild your family on mini summer adventures
MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
FEATURES
6 13 AUGUST IN THE COUNTRY
18 WALK THE LINE
Take part in the BBC Big Bee Challenge. Make delicious mulberry toast. Build your own simple bird bath.
13 COASTAL FEATURES ID GUIDE
On the cover
Mighty steam trains once traversed the green valleys of Wales to reach the sea at Barmouth. Join Dixe Wills on a walk along the remains of a rail route long since reclaimed by nature.
How to identify tombolos, spits and bars.
32 REWILD YOUR FAMILY 14 ON THE FARM WITH ADAM Cover: Alamy Photos: Oliver Edwards, Alamy. Getty
The future of horticulture in the UK is looking bright.
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On the cover
Go on a riverbank safari, cook over a campfire, put the kids in charge of navigation, build a den and sleep under the stars. Enjoy a summer outdoors with these fun family adventures.
ON YOUR COVER Overlooked by Ludlow Castle, paddleboarders and swimmers enjoy the waters of the River Teme at Ludlow, Shropshire.
38 CAMPER VAN COOK UP
On the cover
Camping and eating outdoors doesn’t mean you have to give up on delicious healthy food. Claire Thomson cooks up four favourite recipes created for her family camper van holidays.
44 BEHIND THE HEADLINES
On the cover
Mark Rowe reports on the new free trade deal with Australia that’s causing alarm among UK farmers.
46 NIGHT BIRDS OF MOUSA
On the cover
A summer’s night on a windswept island and a strange wildlife spectacle is about to begin. James Fair meets the tiny storm petrels of Mousa island.
52 MYSTERIES, SOLVED!
On the cover
Remarkable new technology is transforming our understanding of ancient sites, revealing astonishing finds.
58 GREAT GRASSHOPPERS
On the cover
Join Dave Goulson on a wander through the meadow to learn more about grasshoppers and their cricket cousins. www.countryfile.com
subscribe today and save with our special offer, page 30
52 New technology reveals Stonehenge’s secrets
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58
Follow the old rail route to Barmouth’s sandy shores
Get to know the grasshopper
65 Refreshing dips in lakes and rivers
Great days out
REGULARS
SUMMER SWIMS
On the cover
66 Wild Lakeland swim
17 COUNTRY VIEWS
92 MATT BAKER
Watching oystercatchers nesting in my garden has been a privilege and a treat to behold, says Sara Maitland.
Our pond has burst into life this year – it’s a joyous addition to the garden.
Have your say on rural issues.
Could cash incentives from the Government be enough to encourage older farmers to retire and make way for the next generation?
77 Berwickshire bathing Coldingham Bay, Scottish Borders
98 QUIZ & CROSSWORD Test your country knowledge.
What’s coming up in the next issue.
106 ELLIE HARRISON What to read and listen to this month, plus a Q&A with author Bella Bathurst. www.countryfile.com
74 Loch island escape
The best T-shirts for summer days out.
Your Great Days Out in pictures.
88 BOOKS, RADIO AND TV
River Teme, Herefordshire
96 T SHIRTS FOR WALKS
105 NEXT MONTH 86 READER PHOTOS
Trevellas Porth, Cornwall
Inchcailloch, Stirlingshire
A special offer for new subscribers.
43 JOHN CRAVEN
71 Denizens of the deep 72 Lazy day by the river
94 YOUR LETTERS 30 SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria
After years of filming outdoors in all weathers, I’ve finally found the perfect clothing fit for the job.
77 Magic mountain pool Llyn Cwm Llwch, Powys
78 Summer at the falls Three Shires Head, Derbyshire/Staffs/Cheshire
80 Riverbank rhapsody River Ure, North Yorkshire
82 Swim with scholars River Cam, Cambridgeshire
84 Lidos and pools Top seven, nationwide
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AUGUST IN THE COUNTRY PICTURES › WILDLIFE › PEOPLE & PLACES › COUNTRY KNOW HOW › FOOD
DAWN BELLS Delicate nodding harebells turn to the summer sunrise above Winnats Pass, a stunning limestone gorge that leads to Hope Valley in the Peak District. Grasses and wildflowers, such as the rare Derby hawkweed, thrive in the limey soil above the rock, while underground the pass is riddled with caves and old mine shafts. The name Winnats comes from ‘windy gates’, as winds swirl through here on a blustery day.
PRETTY POLPERRO
Photos Naturepl.com, Alamy, 4Corners
Notorious for smuggling in the 18th and 19th centuries, the picturesque whitewashed Cornish village of Polperro has a fascinating history full of swashbucking tales. Visit the Museum of Smuggling and Fishing – in the old pilchard factory on the harbourside – then watch the small fleet of working fishing boats come and go.
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DOWN TO EARTH
STACKS AT SUNRISE
The distinctive dark stripe of the rare wryneck – and its mottled buff and brown feathers that look like snakeskin – stand out against a green Norfolk field. This little woodpecker migrates in small numbers to east England in spring and autumn. It prefers feeding on the ground, almost entirely on ants, rather than climbing vertical tree trunks.
Battered by waves, rain and winds, the old red sandstone sea stack of Yesnaby Castle has been carved into a natural arch over thousands of years. Located off the west coast of Orkney, south of Skara Brae, it was first ascended in 1967 and remains popular with climbers, who swim to its base before scaling its 30-metre height.
OLE BLUE EYES A magnificent emerald damselfly (Lestes sponsa) covered in dew pauses for a close-up in the morning sun. This metallic-green, mediumsized damselfly can be seen from June to September, fluttering above still waters surrounded by tall, dense rushes and sedges. Commonly found across the UK, it can be distinguished from other emerald species by its dark narrow wingspots.
31 JULY 1 AUGUST
BBC RADIO 2: BIG BEE CHALLENGE WEEKEND BBC Radio 2 and the RHS are joining forces this summer for the Big Bee Challenge Weekend, a two-day event to encourage you to do one thing in your garden, window box or outdoor space that will help pollinating insects. Tune in to Radio 2 over the weekend and find out which flowers and shrubs are good for bees and why you should leave the lawn unmown; listen to the new Bees in a Pod podcast, available on BBC Sounds, or visit one of many supporting events across the UK. The National Garden Scheme will be opening bee-friendly gardens, while National Trust is planning a host of activities, including ‘How to build a bug hotel’ workshops at some of its properties. “It’s already got me thinking about what I can do for them in my garden,” said BBC presenter Zoe Ball, who announced the initiative earlier this summer. bbc.co.uk/ mediacentre/2021/big-bee-challenge
Lavender is very popular with pollinators, such as this white-tailed bumblebee INSET Zoe Ball launched BBC Radio 2’s Big Bee Challenge
BBC GARDENERS’ WORLD LIVE , 26 29 AUGUST Seek inspiration for your garden with this special edition of Gardeners’ World Live This year’s event, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, includes four categories of gardens: Show Gardens, APL Avenue, Showcase Gardens and Beautiful Borders. Wander among this exciting collection of gardens before stepping into the Floral Marquee, where guests Carol Klein, Monty Don and Adam Frost will be sharing ideas about sustainable gardening and wellbeing. bbcgardenersworldlive.com 10
OS Maps’ Secret Stories app brings towns and cities to life with tales of powerful queens, scandalous romances and bloody deaths. The app, which combines audio clips, challenges, directions and more, is free to download and includes tours in Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, with further journeys planned across the UK in the coming months. ordnancesurvey.co.uk www.countryfile.com
Photos: Getty
SECRET STORIES WITH OS
MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
FROM THE BOOKSHELF:
CLASSIC COUNTRYSIDE NOVELS Four brilliant novels that evoke the countryside to enjoy this summer
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by Thomas Hardy Any Hardy novel evokes Wessex, but the tale of farmer Gabriel Oak and beguiling Bathsheba Everdene captures downland life beautifully.
T H E S E A S O N A L TA B L E : A TA ST E O F A U G U ST A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY by JL Carr While restoring a mural in a country church over a lazy summer, war veteran Tom Birkin faces down his traumas – and the eclectic locals.
Join Kathy Bishop and Tom Crowford on their West Country smallholding We love mulberries. Whiskered and juicy-to-bursting, the berries taste of a moreish mix of blackcurrant wine gums and tangy grapes. There are two mulberry trees on our smallholding: a prolific red variety, and a young black mulberry that is just starting to produce its first berries*. Throughout the summer we pick handfuls of mulberries as they ripen, eating most straight from the tree, but we also infuse some in vinegar, bottling their wonderful flavour until the next season comes round.
MULBERRY, GOATS’ CHEESE, ROCKET LEAF AND FENNEL TOASTS COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons A comic parody of melodramatic rural life sees urban socialite Flora Poste attempting to aid her hapless relations in the fictional Sussex village of Howling.
INGREDIENTS Makes 12–16 nibbles
Mulberry vinegar (recipe below) 4 slices of sourdough bread 125g soft, mild goats’ cheese A handful of rocket leaves A few fennel fronds (we use the bronze variety)
2. To make the toasts, lightly toast the bread on each side and let cool. Crush a few thin slices of the goats’ cheese on to each piece. Arrange the rocket leaves and fennel fronds on top. Liberally drizzle the mulberry vinegar over the leaves and finish with a couple of cracks of freshly ground black pepper. Cut the toast into bite-sized pieces before serving, ideally with a glass of white wine on the side.
METHOD
CRANFORD by Elizabeth Gaskell An affectionate portrait of daily life in the rural Cheshire town of Knutsford through a series of episodic stories during the 1840s. www.countryfile.com
1. To make mulberry vinegar: put 500g mulberries and 300ml cider vinegar in a bowl. Cover and leave for five days (stirring once a day). Pour the mixture through a jelly bag, measure the resulting liquid, and add 50g of granulated sugar for every 100ml of fruit vinegar. Pour the juice and sugar into a saucepan and bring gently to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes, remove from the heat, and cool before pouring into sterilised bottles. It should make around 750ml and will keep for about a year.
* Mulberry trees can take up to nine years to start fruiting and berries are rarely available to buy as they spoil quickly after picking. If you don’t grow your own, look for a public tree in your area to forage from (try this map: mulberrytrees.co.uk/locations). Or use raspberries, blackcurrants or redcurrants instead. Discover more recipe ideas from Kathy and Tom on Instagram instagram.com/the_seasonal_table and their website theseasonaltable.co.uk
Wise buy PICNIC BACKPACK Wherever you picnic you can dine in style with VonShef’s Green Geo Picnic Backpack. Waterproof and with comfy shoulder straps, it weighs only 2.25kg but has all you need for four diners, with cutlery, plastic plates and glasses – even cotton napkins. There’s a zipped cooler area for your victuals, a bottle holder on each side and a picnic blanket, too. £59.99, vonhaus.com
Countryfile on TV BBC ONE, 8 AUGUST 7PM Joe Crowley and Charlotte Smith are in the Highlands visiting Natural Capital Laboratory’s 40-hectare rewilding site near Loch Ness, where they’re using the latest technology to map, track and quantify the changes to the landscape and the life in it. Joe and Charlotte meet the team transforming this small slice of Scotland.
P OSITIVE NE WS STORY
Pioneering rewilding project Inspired by Knepp Castle Estate in West Sussex, Bamff Estate in Perthshire is aiming to rewild 182 hectares of upland farm to create Bamff Wildland. Removing all internal fencing on the farm, the project will see 12 fields, six woods and some of the UK’s most impressive beaver territories transformed into a single, connected, nature-rich area of land – the first of its kind in Scotland. Plans include the creation of ponds, planting of native woodlands and wildflower areas, and the introduction of small numbers of native breeds of pigs, cattle and ponies, which will eventually roam freely across the rewilding zone. bamff.land
HOW TO MAKE ...
A SIMPLE BIRD BATH In summer when water is scarce, garden birds rely on bird baths to quench their thirst. Learn how to make your own with this simple step-by-step guide. You will need • Terracotta plant pot • Terracotta plant saucer • Stones
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2
Find a spot for the bird bath in your garden – the position should offer clear visibility so that birds can spot predators, with bushes or trees nearby to provide cover.
3
Put the pot upside down and place the saucer on top. Position stones inside the saucer to provide a place for the birds to perch safely, then fill it with water.
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Be patient, it may take a few days for your garden birds to get used to the new bath. Keep the bath topped up with fresh water and clean the saucer periodically. www.countryfile.com
Photos Getty
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Find a suitable plant saucer, either from your garden or local garden centre. It should be large and shallow with sloping sides. Clean off any dirt.
MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
I D G U I D E : S I X C O A S TA L F E AT U R E S Tides, waves and onshore winds have shaped much of Britain’s coastline, creating often-dramatic features. Here are six to look out for on your next trip to the sea...
Q&A CAVE
ARCH
Abrasion and hydraulic action create zones of weakness at the base of rocky sea cliffs; the resulting cavities can be enlarged by continued wave action to form caves, such as Fingal’s Cave on the Isle of Staffa (above).
Natural bridges, or sea arches, such as Durdle Door in Dorset (above), often form where bedrock resistance varies along a headland. Wave action creates cracks, which eventually break through to form an arch.
TA N N I G R E Y T H O M P S O N Baroness Grey Thompson won 16 medals over five Paralympic Games. Now chair of trustees for the DofE, she’s challenging young people to believe in themselves Q. What is The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)? The DofE is a unique opportunity for young people to challenge themselves by learning a new skill, taking on a physical activity, volunteering and completing an expedition. Since it was set up by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh 65 years ago, 6.7 million young people have taken part. Q. When did you first get involved with the DofE? When I was competing, I was invited by the DofE to be a Gold Award presenter at St James’s Palace. My sister completed her award and I knew many people who had done it. I became a trustee about six years ago and was really proud when I was selected to be the chair.
STACK
SPIT
This tower of free-standing rock forms when a cave or arch collapses, separating the structure from the main shoreline, such as Old Man of Stoer in Sutherland (above). Over time, it erodes to form a sea stump.
Often found where the coast changes direction, these long, curved banks of sand or shingle are joined to the mainland at one end. Prevailing winds can create a hook, such as that of Spurn Point in Yorkshire (above).
TOMBOLO
BAR
This depositional landform, formed by the slowing of longshore drift and the accumulation of sand, connects an island to the mainland. St Ninian’s Isle in Shetland (above) is the largest active sand tombolo in the UK.
A bar is an above-water strip of sand or shingle, created by longshore drift and backwash, that often joins two headlands across a bay. Devon’s famous Slapton Sands bar (above) formed 3,000 years ago.
www.countryfile.com
Q. What is your favourite DofE memory? On a personal level, seeing how much my sister developed doing her DofE and my daughter doing her award. On my daughter’s expedition, her group dropped their pasta in the grass and had to scoop it up and eat it! They found it hard, but they also laughed so much when they told me. But also, my memories of all the young people who have told me about their ups and downs with so much passion and emotion. Q. Why is 2021 a poignant year for the DofE and what’s new? The passing of our patron and founder HRH The Duke of Edinburgh this year was incredibly sad. The DofE has never been more needed as we emerge from lockdown, and we will continue to celebrate his legacy through our work. We’re committed to reaching a million more young people in the UK over the next five years, and have launched Do It 4 Youth, an exciting fundraising challenge for people of all ages. You complete four sponsored challenges over four weeks (such as swimming or volunteering) before the end of September. Every penny raised will help young people from the toughest backgrounds do their DofE. Q. How can people get involved with the DofE? If you’re aged between 13 and 24, you can sign up to begin DofE – just ask your school, college or youth group if they run it. dofe.org/doit4youth
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Adam Henson SCIENCE OF THE SALAD
A
MODERN METHODS You only have to look at the nominees for the BBC Food and Farming Awards every year to realise how valuable the horticultural sector is to the overall food industry. The actual numbers are impressive. UK salad production is worth about £1.8 billion to the nation’s economy annually, and that’s before considering the financial clout of growing fruit, vegetables, plants, flowers, nuts, herbs and many other things that come under the umbrella heading of horticulture. Humans have been horticulturalists for thousands of years, but the way we’re able to cultivate plants today is
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Long rows of frilly green lollo blondo lettuce grow hydroponically in this Hertfordshire glasshouse something that would be unimaginable to our grandparents, let alone our ancient ancestors. For a start, we don’t need soil. Tomatoes, peppers and strawberries are just some of the crops now grown indoors using hydroponics, with the roots fed directly by nutrientrich water. Then there’s aquaponics, which goes further, combining soil-less plants with fish farming. Waste water from fish pools provides the nutrients for hydroponic plants, a process that cleans the water for recycling back to the fish farm. A warehouse on an industrial estate in Essex was the UK’s first commercial-scale aquaponic vertical farm, growing leafy greens, coriander, kale, pea shoots and Thai basil from floor to ceiling. I’ve always encouraged innovation – no business benefits from standing still – so
I’m incredibly excited by all this. And I’m not the only one. Even the 217-year-old gardening charity, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), is embracing the technological revolution with online advice for anyone who fancies a bit of vertical lettucegrowing at home. The RHS also has just opened a £35 million horticultural science centre in Surrey, with three research labs employing 70 specialists, scientists and PhD students to work on the big environmental challenges facing growers and gardeners. The RHS team is researching the causes of some nasty plant pests and diseases, including a serious infection with no-known cure, xylella. There was a time when a horticultural job meant working in a nursery greenhouse or the council parks department, but now there are a broad range of professions for people with all sorts of interests, from public relations to ecology. I’ve heard it said that if you want a career in agriculture, the way forward is horticulture – I suppose there’s some truth in that. If there’s anything that can be salvaged from the pandemic, it’s that millions of us have found a new appreciation for nature, fresh food, greenery and seasonality. That’s got to be positive for agriculture and it’s certainly good news for horticulture.
Ask Adam: What topic would you like to know more about? Email your suggestions to editor@countryfile.com
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Photo: A amy, Sean Malyon
ugust is the month when our tastes (and taste buds) demand something seasonal. Hot summer days, long balmy nights and outdoor living means salad comes in to its own. Crisp lettuce, sweet tomatoes, juicy beetroot, fresh herbs, a handful of pumpkin seeds… a mouth-watering prospect. This is the time of year when one of our most important, and often overlooked, industries is literally put on a plate in front of us: horticulture. The strict definition is “the cultivation of a garden, orchard or nursery” but most people accept that modern horticulture has scaled up to include the production in fields of many commercial food crops.
Your questions answered Will I need to take a Coronavirus test every time I visit a port? =SY PP RIIH XS XEOI E PEXIVEP S[ XIWX FIJSVI travelling on a UK coastal cruise. Once on board, you won’t need to take another test, but daily temperature checks will be standard practice. More regular testing may be required for international destinations and Marella Cruises will update travellers if this is the case.
What happens if someone on board tests positive for Coronavirus?
PLAIN SAILING Marella Cruises is doing everything possible to ensure \RX FDQ WUDYHO ZLWK FRPSOHWH FRQ GHQFH t DQG WKDW includes answering any questions you may have
A
fter months of staying close to home, you’re no doubt excited about the thought of exploring new horizons again. And, with plenty of inspiring itineraries and wonderful destinations, a Marella Cruise holiday can help you do just that. Of course, while you may be looking forward to your maritime adventure,
it’s also natural to have some questions about how it will all work. Resident Marella Cruise expert, Tori McCrindle, has been answering a range of queries and concerns, so you can have total peace of mind before you set sail. Here are just a few of the important questions that have been asked...
Ready to plan your trip? Visit tui.co.uk/cruise or call 0203 636 1862 today
In the unlikely event that someone tests positive, there are comprehensive isolation protocols in place on each ship, as well as a response plan created in liaison with the local authorities.
Will we have to wear masks while on the ship? In line with the current guidelines, you’ll need to wear a mask when social distancing isn’t possible and when you’re walking around the ship. There will be social distancing measures in place in the restaurants and by the pool.
Are guests able to explore the GL HUHQW SRUWV E\ WKHPVHOYHV" In line with current guidance, guests may only go ashore as part of a Marella Cruises excursion and will not be able to disembark SR XLIMV S[R =SY GER RH QSVI HIXEMPW EFSYX the many exciting excursions available online.
What happens if a port on the itinerary moves onto the red list? As part of the Marella Cruise Promise you can change your booking for free or cancel with a full refund if you’re travelling to a redlist destination that we know requires you to quarantine in a hotel on your return.
Correct at time of print
to grow delicious oats – and they put as much effort into creating habitats for wildlife, too
T
he countryside just wouldn’t be the same without our wildlife, but, according to The Wildlife Trusts’ latest State of Nature Report, one in seven native UK species are at risk of extinction – and it’s farmland creatures, particularly birds, that are in real trouble. Jordans knows it doesn’t have to be this way, that’s why it created the Jordans Farm Partnership. This unique collaboration between Jordans, The Wildlife Trusts, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) and the Prince’s Countryside Fund, sees each of Jordans’ 31 British oat farmers work in harmony with nature, dedicating at least 10% of their land to wildlife with help from a local Wildlife Trust advisor. Here are just some of the ways the farmers are helping the species on their farms…
A passion for ponds Hamish Stewart is busy restoring the 46 ponds on Ragley Hall Farm in Warwickshire. He’s cleared out silt and rotting leaves and removed tree branches from their stagnant, wildlife-depleted waters. He’s also placed a six-metre-wide buffer strip of grass around the ponds to protect them from activities that occur on the wider farm. Already, insects are on the up, and so are the birds that feed on them, including moorhens and herons. Toads, frogs and newts use the rejuvenated ponds for breeding in spring, too.
A farm for the future Passionate farmer Stephen Honeywood wants to enhance the countryside for future generations, that’s why he gives nature the space to follow its own path at Halls Farm, Suffolk.
He lets hedgerows thicken and spill out to create wide scrubby habitat, and sows plenty of cover crops for wild birds. His work has also seen silverwashed fritillary butterflies (a species of conservation concern that occupy the nearby woodlands) start to colonise on the farm, making the population larger and less vulnerable.
Top of the crops The arable fields at Ralph Parker’s Highfield Farm in Cambridgeshire are a key habitat for many farmland birds, including corn bunting and lapwing. To help them out, rather than sowing all his crops in autumn, he instead sows around a third of his crops in the spring. This way, the winter stubble left from the previous crop provides cover for wildlife and a vital area of foraging for farmland birds. Broad-leaved plants are also encouraged to grow in the unplanted fields, offering seeds for the birds to eat.
To find out more about how Jordans is helping nature, visit jordanscereals.co.uk
OPINION
Sara Maitland Oystercatchers are nesting in my garden – what a treat Illustration: Lynn Hatzius
One of the first signs of spring on the upland moor where I live is the weird haunting ‘song’ of the newly arriving oystercatchers. Oystercatchers, like curlews, are short-distance migrants. They travel up to 20 miles inland from the coast where they spend most of the year, to their favoured nesting grounds, which tend to be on open rough grassland. But it is not just in their capacity as heralds of spring that I enjoy them. Oystercatchers are both beautiful and weird; large, complexly patterned in black and white and with remarkable long, straight, bright-red bills and matching legs. And should you wonder how they could possibly use these bills to catch and eat oysters, the answer is they don’t – they are misnamed. They do eat other molluscs, such as cockles, though. I list oystercatchers high among my favourite birds. So it is of some real excitement to me that this year I have a pair nesting in my garden. And not simply in my garden, but less than 14 metres from my large bedroom window, so that I can lie in bed and watch them. I built my house on the foundations of a long-ruined steading. Attached to the back of the house was a single-storey barn that had in fact been the byre (milking parlour) and the dairy. It had a solid stone wall about three metres high, with two doorways and four small www.countryfile.com
windows, but the roof was more or less rotten. I cleared the roof off but I kept the wall, which is partly drystone and partly cemented, so that I could have a sheltered walled garden, as I live on a very windy hill. The top of this wall is only about 50 centimetres wide and it is not capped or finished. It seems an extraordinary place for such large birds to nest – although oystercatchers don’t ‘nest’ in the usual sense but just lay their eggs in an unlined little hollow of grass or stones.
FEAR OF FALLING When I first realised that oystercatchers were nesting here – and had indeed laid four large white eggs with black patches on them – I was anxious that, after they hatched, the chicks might fall off the wall, which seemed potentially disastrous. But I have learned that, although they may
Sara Maitland is a writer who lives in Dumfries and Galloway. Her works include A Book of Silence and Gossip from the Forest
indeed fall off, it will not do them much harm. It seems the parents often lay in such apparently stupid places, but oystercatcher chicks have a very unusual characteristic: they are born able to feed themselves on grubs and worms. Most newly hatched chicks need their parents as much as any mammal does, not for milk, obviously, but for food of whatever kind is appropriate for each species. The usual way of providing nutrition is by the parent birds bringing it directly to the nest, but although – I’m told – the parent oystercatchers (and especially the males, interestingly) do supervise their broods after they hatch, they do not need to feed them. Even falling off a three-metre-high wall will not do the young any harm. So now I’m hoping that if the chicks do fall off, they will tumble into my walled garden, rather than the other side of the wall. This is partly because I think they will be safer from predators, but more because, once there, they will not be able to escape until they’re fully fledged and can fly over the wall. The delight of watching four oystercatcher chicks from the comfort of my own bed will do something to make up for this long winter we’ve endured.
Have your say What do you think about the issues raised here? Write to the address on page three or email editor@countryfile.com 17
DISCOVER
WALKING THE LINE Mighty steam trains once traversed the tranquil green valleys at the heart of Wales to reach the sea at Barmouth. Dixe Wills traces Photos: Dan Struthers
With a tent in his rucksack, writer Dixe follows the ghost of the Ruabon to Barmouth Junction line, starting out along the woodland-fringed Old Railway Line Trail from Trevor TOP RIGHT Waiting patiently for the Bala Lake Railway narrow-gauge steam locomotive, which takes passengers on a delightful nine-mile return journey along the lake’s shore BOTTOM RIGHT See many marvels of engineering along Llangollen Canal, including the remarkable Pontycysyllte Aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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TOP The world’s tallest navigable aqueduct and a 19-pillared marvel of engineering, Thomas Telford’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – ‘the stream in the sky’ – carries the Llangollen Canal 38 metres above the Dee Valley ABOVE Dixe starts out on his quest from the platform at Ruabon Station
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more of an adventure to load up with maps and follow a disused line that remains largely unconverted. I certainly had plenty from which to choose. At the rail network’s peak in 1950, Britain had around 21,000 miles of track. Nowadays, it’s nearer 12,000 miles, leaving about 9,000 miles of disused line, only a small fraction of which has been rehabilitated. Scouring an old map of the railway network for possibilities, the Ruabon to Barmouth Junction line caught my eye. Stretching 54.5 miles from Offa’s Dyke in the east to Barmouth Bay in the west by way of three river valleys – the Dee, Wnion and Mawddach – it’s very nearly a fully-fledged cross-Wales route. Much of the line is inaccessible since it crosses private land, so while following it as closely as possible, I would favour footpaths over tracks, tracks over minor roads, and only use major roads as a last resort.
“I SET OFF TO RECREATE A JOURNEY NOT MADE BY ANYONE SINCE THE LAST TRAIN IN 1964”
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Photos Getty
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ou could once take a direct train from here to London,” 88-yearold John Roberts tells me as we sit down for a chat about his life on the railway. What’s surprising about his statement is that the ‘here’ in question is Llanuwchllyn, a small and obscure station in mid-Wales that now serves as a terminus of the tiny Bala Lake Railway, many miles from the mainline. With that direct Great Western Railway (GWR) service long since gone, my own journey there from London had involved taking an Avanti West Coast train to Birmingham, two Transport for Wales trains to Ruabon, two steam trains and a lot of walking. But then that’s all part of the fun of discovering a long-lost railway line. There are plenty of disused railway lines in Britain that have been turned into footpaths and cycle ways. However, I felt it would be
Dixe walks along the old railway line beside the Llangollen Canal. In 1945, the proximity of canal and track led to a tragic accident, when water from a canal breach east of Llangollen destroyed a railway embankment downhill, causing a goods train to derail
Popping a tent in my rucksack, I set off to recreate a journey that had probably not been made by anyone since the last train ran the length of the line back in December 1964.
WAYMARKERS AND WATERWAYS I hit trouble almost immediately. Having identified the point where the Barmouth line once split from the mainline near Ruabon, I became lost in a modern housing estate in Acrefair. It was a sign pointing to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct that came to my rescue. Flying nearly 40m above the River Dee, the world’s highest aqueduct forms the most spectacular section of the Llangollen Canal, a waterway whose history I knew to be bound up with the railway line. Sure enough, soon afterwards I was on a footpath following the lost track, beginning, appropriately, from Station Road in Trevor. Brambles have largely reclaimed this space – on the narrow path, I greeted droves of blackberry pickers happily risking pricked fingers in the afternoon sunshine. And before long I was on the canal towpath. The railway line was once squashed up against it, with steep mountain slopes to one side www.countryfile.com
RELICS OF THE RAILWAY Fascinating relics from the railway are still scattered along the line and enrich the experience of walking it. Between Corwen and Cynwyd, a workmen’s lineside hut complete with fireplace is now a walkers’ shelter. At Penmaenpool, the former signal box is an RSPB information centre with binoculars for birdwatching (above left),
while the station-master’s house, waiting room and ticket office form an annexe of the George III Hotel. A little further west, the ruins of a railwayman’s house moulder beside the Mawddach. And do visit the award-winning heritage centre at Bala Lake Railway’s Llanuwchllyn Station (above right), for locomotives, carriages and memorabilia.
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Dixe pauses for a breather beside Llangollen Canal. An incredible feat of engineering, the 46-mile canal crosses the English/Welsh border, linking Hurleston in South Cheshire with Llangollen in Denbighshire
and the River Dee far below on the other. Sombrely, I passed the site of the now vanished Sun Bank Halt, where, on the night of 6 September 1945, the canal burst its banks, washing away the trackbed. An early morning goods train plummeted down the embankment, killing the driver. The official report blamed poor canal maintenance. It was another canal breach, 19 years later, that cut the line for good, though it had been due to close a month later anyway, a victim of Dr Beeching’s infamous axe. It was a dismal end for an ambitious project that had begun in 1862 when the first passenger train left Ruabon for Llangollen on the Vale of Llangollen Railway. Over the next six years, the line went snaking across this mountainous and sometimes marshy countryside, with separate short sections built by four other tiny railway companies until the link to the coast was complete. Not all of the line has been lost: two stretches have been revived as heritage railways. Dropping down from the canal, I found Llangollen Station thronging with holidaymakers as a steam locomotive hooted happily away. Almost tumbling into the Dee, the station has been beautifully 22
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Carrog Station was restored and reopened in 1996; four-arched, 18th-century Pont Dyfrdwy crosses the Dee at Cynwyd; camping beside the Mawddach Trail www.countryfile.com
restored, repainted and polished to a shine – it’s the sort of spectacle that gives the past a good name. I enjoyed half an hour of lush riverside views as we slipped between hills and mountains to the backdrop of the engine’s reassuring ‘chuffa-puffa-chuffa-puffa’. The half-timbered Tudor stylings of Berwyn Station were especially delightful – chosen apparently to match the neighbouring Chain Bridge Hotel. Although the station at Carrog currently acts as the terminus, track has been laid to the village of Corwen. When the station there reopens, the heritage line will have recreated the original Llangollen & Corwen Railway, which began operations in 1865. I myself made it into Corwen by tramping along a lofty bridleway beneath the Iron Age hillfort of Caer Drewyn. For a few miles beyond the village, the North Berwyn Way piggybacks the old trackbed and I all but
stumbled over a small metal plate beside it. Closer inspection revealed it to be a GWR boundary marker, one of many relics of the old line I was to come across (see box, page 21). Wearied by my exertions, as night fell, I pitched my tent beside a quiet wood and exchanged sleepers for sleep.
“WE SLIPPED BETWEEN MOUNTAINS TO THE BACKDROP OF THE ENGINE’S CHUFFA PUFFA CHUFFA PUFFA”
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RAIL REVIVAL
The next morning, in a wet and windy Bala, I met up with Julian Birley, the dynamic chairman of the trust that supports the Bala Lake Railway (Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid in Welsh). He had a surprise in store. “For years we’ve wanted to get the railway into the town,” he told me. And then he walked me along the proposed 1,200m course of a brand new line from the current terminus just outside Bala right into the heart of the small community. “We’re hoping to open the new line and station by 2022,” Julian continued with infectious enthusiasm.
TOP Steam locomotives still pull into Llangollen Station, which seems perilously close to the roiling white waters of the River Dee ABOVE A life-size bronze statue of Welsh leader Owain Glynd r – crowned Prince of Wales in 1404 – graces Corwen’s square
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Bala Lake – Llyn Tegid in Welsh – is the largest natural freshwater lake in Wales, at over four miles long, and the home of a rare and threatened whitefish, the gwyniad
The extension would constitute a remarkable new chapter for the Bala Lake Railway. Opened in 1972, less than a decade after the line’s closure, it was the work of enthusiasts who laid 4.5 miles of narrowgauge tracks to accommodate a handful of petite Victorian steam locomotives from the Dinorwic slate quarry near Llanberis. I had the joy of sitting right behind one of those venerable pocket rockets in an open-sided carriage that rolled from side to side as we rattled along the largest lake in Wales. John Roberts was waiting for me when I alighted at Llanuwchllyn. Weighed down with folders full of black-and-white photos, old tickets and faded documents, he’s a walking history of the Ruabon to Barmouth Junction Line. Born and bred in Llanuwchllyn, John was 15 in 1947 when he got his first job at the station “cleaning signal lamps and delivering parcels”. He shared with me a welter of stories, from transporting live rabbits to the sad day he helped remove a passenger who had passed away in a carriage en route. With my head full of railway reminiscences I pushed further west. From Llanuwchllyn, 24
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP A sweet station building at Llanuwchllyn; now a request stop, Morfa Mawddach once boasted five platforms; Dixe chats with trust chairman Julian Birley www.countryfile.com
DISCOVER
the line cleaved briefly to the Afon Dyfrdwy before transferring its affections to the Wnion, so I spent the whole afternoon on parallel footpaths tracing a contour of the foothills above the valley. I shared views of the mountains that form Snowdonia’s south-eastern border with numerous sheep and cattle but barely a single human being. But for some pesky clouds, the lofty summit of Cadair Idris would have been in full majestic view as I approached the pretty town of Dolgellau.
stop on the Cambrian Coast Line. Holidaymakers going to the seaside resort of Barmouth in days of yore would doubtless have harboured cherished memories of this final stretch of line, now a cycleway/footpath called the Mawddach Trail. The wide sandy estuary flanked by sylvan slopes and crossed by a wooden toll bridge and a half-mile Victorian railway viaduct is visually stunning and made for a dramatic end both to their journey and mine. Whisper it but, with the railway line from Ruabon now mostly swallowed up by the landscape, my slower, quieter passage might even have been more pleasurable than theirs. CF
“THE WIDE SANDY ESTUARY FLANKED BY SYLVAN SLOPES MADE FOR A DRAMATIC END TO MY JOURNEY”
SHUNTING TO SANDY SHORES I awoke the next morning a little beyond the town, in the midst of a forest overlooking the Mawddach Estuary and just a few miles from my journey’s end. The final station on the line, Barmouth Junction, once boasted five platforms. Nowadays, the renamed Morfa Mawddach (Mawddach Marsh) is reduced to just one and is a mere request www.countryfile.com
TOP The Wales Coast Path crosses Mawddach Estuary on beautiful Barmouth Bridge, a 900m-long wood and iron viaduct completed in 1867. Network Rail is now restoring the Grade II-listed bridge in a £25 million upgrade ABOVE See superb vintage railway posters at Bala Lake Railway’s museum in Llanuwchllyn Station
As a non-flying travel writer, Dixe Wills spends large tracts of time happily on trains. He’s the author of Tiny Stations, a book about his odyssey in search of Britain’s railway request stops (including Morfa Mawddach). 25
Crab apple jelly Ingredients As many crab apples as you want to use White sugar – 450g for every 600ml of strained juice
Method
IMAGE: TimmyDidIt
1 Tip the crab apples into a preserving pan (there’s no need to cut them up). Add enough water just to cover them. Bring to the boil, then simmer, stirring every now and then until the fruit has turned mushy.
Rich pickings Do you have a crab apple tree in your garden, but not sure what to do with the fruit? The Woodland Trust can help… he crab apple tree is the UK’s only truly native apple tree. It is commonly found throughout the UK, and its fruit is ripe and ready from late summer into autumn (usually August to October). Crab apples can turn red when they’re ripe, or even be a yellowish-green or orange. The birds in your garden will love tucking into the apples, and voles, mice and other small garden mammals will feast on any fallen fruit, but there’s no reason why
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you can’t enjoy them too. They are quite bitter, so while they may not be suitable to eat as they are, they can be added to any jam you’re making, as their high pectin content will ensure a good set. You can even use them to make a liqueur and toffee apples, and they make the most incredible, sunset-coloured jelly. It literally glows and is delicious on bread or as an accompaniment to meat, particularly chicken. Why not try the taste bud-tingling recipe here and see for yourself?
2 Allow to cool a little, then pour into a jelly bag and leave to strain overnight into a large bowl. Don’t squeeze the bag, or the jelly will be cloudy. 3 Measure the strained juice, then pour it back into the preserving pan and heat slowly. Add the appropriate amount of sugar, stir on a low heat until the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil. 4 Boil rapidly until the setting point is reached (you can test this by dropping a spoonful of mixture onto a fridge cold saucer. As it cools, it should wrinkle on the surface). Pour the hot jelly into hot, sterile jars and seal immediately.
For more information, and to become a member of the Woodland Trust from just £4 a month, visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/CF Registered charity numbers 294344 and SC038885
COVID-19
NOW GO THERE Essential information for walking the Ruabon to Barmouth line, by Dixe Wills
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Please abide by Government advice on travel, and remain at home if recommended to do so. The information on these pages is meant to assist you once restrictions have been lifted.
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Llangollen Station
REFRESHMENTS
TRAINS
Map Laura Hallett Photo Alamy
• Avanti West Coast runs services from London and Scotland to Birmingham New Street. London Euston to Birmingham New Street single is from £11.80. avantiwestcoast.co.uk • From Birmingham New Street to Ruabon take Transport for Wales services (single from £27.30). After you’ve finished your walk, board a train from Morfa Mawddach or Barmouth back to Birmingham New Street via Machynlleth. tfwrail.wales www.countryfile.com
1 Hoffi Coffi, Bala With its excellent-value meals and very friendly service, the Hoffi Coffi café (below left) provides an authentic Bala experience. 07990 626811, hofficoffibala.co.uk
George III Hotel, Penmaenpool
2 The Grouse Inn, Carrog The Grouse Inn at Carrog offers traditional pub grub, cask ales and, from the beer garden, a bird’s eye view of a beautiful 17th-century river
Penmaenpool’s recently renovated 17th-century George III inn beside the River Mawddach estuary serves quality food and incorporates some of the old station buildings. 01341 422525, georgethethird.pub
bridge and the railway station beyond. 01490 430272, thegrouseinncarrog.co.uk 3
• Since Dixe’s trip, Llangollen Railway sadly went into administration. Happily, a trust has bought it and plans to reopen the line on a limited basis in summer 2021. 01978 860979, llangollenrailwaytrust.org • The Bala Lake Railway operates between Bala and Llanuwchllyn – a one-hour round trip – employing a variety of steam and diesel locomotives. 01678 540666, bala-lake-railway.co.uk 27
HOSTELS AND OTHER ACCOMMODATION
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Llangollen, Bala and Dolgellau have a wide choice of guesthouses, B&Bs or hotels to suit most pockets. The three small towns each have an independent hostel, too. 4 7 The Llangollen Hostel in the centre of the village provides complimentary breakfast and a book exchange. 01978 861773, llangollenhostel.co.uk
CAMPSITES Three conveniently located campsites split the walk into easily manageable sections. 4 Carrog Station Campsite Handily located right outside the western terminus of the Llangollen Railway, this also has several camping pods. stationcampsite.com 5 Ty Isaf, near Bala A couple of miles east of Bala and very close to
the former railway line, its two sites include a pretty riverside field exclusively for tents. tyisafbala.co.uk
8 Bala Backpackers occupies premises built in the 1800s and has a range of small dorms and private twin bedrooms. 01678 521700, bala-backpackers.co.uk
6 Torrent Walk, near Dolgellau For those who want to stay on the south side of the River Wnion, this campsite and bunkhouse provides a gorgeous spot to pitch up. And should your tent spring a leak, the owners run a B&B on the site, too. guesthousessnowdonia.com
9 Byncws HYB is an attractive stone-built bunkhouse with a quartet of four-bed rooms in the heart of Dolgellau. 01341 421755, independenthostels. co.uk/members/hybbunkhousedolgellau
SHOPS
10 Graig Wen, at the end of the walk, sits in a beautiful isolated spot overlooking the Mawddach Trail and offers B&B, yurts, a shepherd’s hut, a bell tent, a campsite and holiday cottages converted from a Victorian slate-cutting shed. graigwen.co.uk
Once you leave Ruabon, there are four evenly spaced shopping hubs: Llangollen, Corwen, Bala (right, where you’ll find Rowlands Sbaner a Hanner, a charming old-fashioned camping shop) and Dolgellau. The seaside resort of Barmouth is 1.5 miles from Morfa Mawddach Station across Barmouth Bridge and is full of shops and cafés.
NATURE RESERVE
Photo Getty
11 Arthog Bog Right at the end of the walk, just by Morfa Mawddach Station, you’ll find Arthog Bog. This small RSPB wetland reserve is home to a wide range of birds, including siskins and long-tailed tits. In summer, it’s also a great place for spotting butterflies, dragonflies and grass snakes. rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reservesa-z/mawddach-valley-arthog-bog/ 28
WHAT TO PACK Along with the usual camping equipment and wet-weather gear, a good pair of walking boots will stand you in good stead, particularly on the many bridleways and tracks. Since this is not a waymarked trail, good mapping is essential, either digital or in paper form. The Ordnance Survey maps covering the route are Landranger (1:50,000) 117, 124 and 125 or, better still, Explorer (1:25,000) 255, 256 and OL18. www.countryfile.com
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ABOVE An example of the gardens and interior living spaces at McCarthy Stone developments INSET BELOW An example of a roof terrace at a McCarthy Stone development
A fresh start Living at a McCarthy Stone development has given Barbara and Stelios more opportunities to spend time in the great outdoors
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Stelios teaches backgammon and is a regular at the weekly coffee mornings. In this tight-knit community of like-minded people, social events are commonplace, and have helped the couple make friends for life: “You’ll venture out and end up stopping to chat to five different people along the way,” laughs Stelios. “It’s such a welcoming environment.”
f the secret to happiness is keeping busy, Barbara and Stelios have cracked it. Between their passion for travel, Happy days music and good company, the couple Barbara and Stelios are extremely have a true zest for life – and it’s only satisfied with their decision to move. grown stronger since moving to Portland “Some people mistakenly think this is Grange, a McCarthy Stone development a care home, but it couldn’t be more in Leek, Staffordshire. different. We go out such a lot and lead “I look at our apartment as a home a really varied life,” they say. Looking within a house,” says Stelios. “We’ve forward, Stelios is excited to visit loved got our own front door and we feel ones in Greece, and Barbara can’t “Some people mistakenly safe, plus we’re part of a thriving wait for theatres and choirs to flourish think this is a care home, but it community. There’s even room for again. “We’re here to relax, take it day EOT FN¥ DG MORG FK GRGN £ Barbara’s piano!” by day and make the most of our free “I’ve met a lady here who plays time,” she says – and no doubt, that the organ and a gentleman who plays will involve lots of adventure! our doorstep.” the piano. I’m really looking forward to If, like Barbara and Stelios, you’re ready Barbara also enjoys the outdoor spaces singsongs in the communal lounge,” to begin a new, exciting chapter, you within the development. “I’m part of a adds Barbara. can buy or rent a one- or two-bedroom gardening club,” she says. “We recently apartment at the Portland Grange had a competition to see who could development – or explore what’s available grow the tallest sunflower!” As well as Life well lived at the many other McCarthy Stone her horticultural undertakings, Barbara Portland Grange is just a stone’s throw developments across the country. volunteers at the local theatre, while from the Peak District, which is great news for this pair of nature lovers. “From here, it doesn’t take long to get to the To find out more, call Roaches, the last rocks in the Pennine 0800 310 0646 or visit chain,” explains Barbara. “It’s a beautiful mccarthystone.co.uk place and we’re very lucky to have it on
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Rewild your family Get close to nature and enjoy a summer spent outdoors with these fun mini-adventures Words: Georgie Duckworth Photos: Oliver Edwards
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A Writer Georgie, her partner Mike and sons Charlie and Max explore the magical world of river-dwellers B Campfire bannocks make a perfect snack C Max practices his map-reading skills and plots the route ahead D Charlie chooses his snail race champion E Finding the best tree to climb is an adventure in itself E
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“Listen for the churr of the grasshopper and the distinctive plop of a diving water vole”
F t used to be the case that we didn’t have to go looking for ‘nature’. It was just there, all around. The summer days of childhood were spent outdoors exploring the wild – chasing butterflies, climbing trees and making mischief in the woods. Those adventures are still there to be had, if you want to get out and find them. The UK contains a myriad of beautiful wild havens with woods, meadows and streams just waiting to be explored. And escapades in nature are not reserved for the countryside. In urban areas, ponds, parks, canals and gardens offer just as much opportunity to uncover the secret world of wildlife. Make this a summer of adventure. Whether you have children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews, have some fun and perhaps rediscover the child in you. Take to the water, set an ambush or simply sit and enjoy the sunset. Here are some mini-adventure ideas to inspire you to get out there and make the most of it.
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F Georgie and her family journey along abundant lanes in Chew Valley, Somerset, on the start of a new wildlife adventure
1. SEEK OUT THE RIVERBANK’S SECRETS Bustling with life, the meandering rivers and streams of the UK are a nature-lover’s dream. Dragonflies perch on favourite reeds; fish shimmer in the shallows; kingfishers zip past with a bolt of blue. Our rivers are beautiful, mysterious and exciting, and instil in children a sense of wonder and awe. It’s easy to uncover a river’s secrets if you know where to look. Become a wildlife detective: Armed with a net, a bucket and a pair of wellies, take your kids on a quest to discover a magical world of river-dwellers. Every waterway has its own fantastic ecosystem. Minibeasts such as bloodworms and waterfleas might seem less glamorous compared to national treasures such as the heron, dipper and otter, but they all play their part and are equally fascinating when viewed up close. As a starting point, find a shallow stream to paddle and explore. Scoop a net carefully along the riverbed to investigate the minibeasts living beneath the surface. Lift submerged stones to discover what’s lurking beneath.
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A magnifying glass can help you get a better view of any intricate creatures you find. Look for the stickleback, a small, aggressive predatory fish with spikes up its spine; a whirligig beetle swimming in circles, or wonderful cased caddisfly larvae hiding in cocoon-like homes built from small leaves, twigs and stones. Stand still in the water for a while and see if you can catch a passing fish with your hands – quite the challenge. Peer deep into the riverbank undergrowth and you may spy fish of all sizes lurking among the stems. Look for brown trout, with its distinctive spots, the two big eyes of the common frog staring up from the water’s surface, and birds such as moorhens nesting in the bankside vegetation. Use your ears, too – listen for the churr of the grasshopper and, if you’re very lucky, you may hear the distinctive ‘plop’ of a diving water vole. Many mammals use rivers, too, but prefer to hide from us humans. Fortunately, they leave plenty of clues to their presence. Tracks in wet mud reveal who came to the water to drink – you could be on the trail of a badger, deer or fox. Otters leave droppings known as spraints, which help them find mates and defend their territory. Look closely at a spraint and you might see the remains of fishbones; have a sniff and you’ll note a distinctive smell, just like jasmine tea. Peering at poo might not seem all that fun, but there’s a lot it can tell you. Rivers are vital for so much life. Become a wildlife detective to learn all about it. Adventure upstream: Miles of waterways criss-cross the UK, from trickling streams to great rivers. We tend to experience the water from above, looking down as we walk alongside it. But you can discover so much more by actually getting in. Wildlife tends to be less wary when you’re at its level, so immerse yourself – see what the ducks and otters see. Streams are shallower during the dry summer months, so now is the perfect time to try navigating along one. As you wade in your wellies, feeling the rocks and stones beneath your feet, you may stumble across a secret waterfall or mysterious tunnel. Scramble along old fallen trees, duck under curtains of trailing ivy and explore abandoned, crumbling walls, long since forgotten and reclaimed by nature. www.countryfile.com
STAY SAFE ON THE RIVER The river is a wonderful place to enjoy a summer adventure, but it must be treated with respect. Supervise your mini explorers at all times. As you adventure upstream, use a stick to check the depth of any pools before jumping in, and avoid waterways after heavy rain. After your day by the river, take all your rubbish home with you.
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G Wellies, a net and bucket are all you need to discover underwater worlds H What can you find beneath river rocks? I Max studies a dead fish found on the stream bed J Wade in to get the same viewpoint as the ducks K Use a tray to identify your minibeast finds J
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L Stage a stealthy ambush from a tree, but try to be quiet! M Max prepares the campfire bannocks N Get set, go... Which snail will win the race? O Watching the sunset together creates memories to treasure forever P Build a den ready for a night under the stars
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You can never be sure where a stream will take you, but that’s part of the fun. If you reach a dead end, simply retrace your steps or jump back up on to the footpath. To add excitement to your river adventure, bring your bathers and try wild swimming. Or pack a picnic and take to the water by boat, kayak or paddleboard. There’s no better summer day than one spent like Ratty and Mole, plodding along on the river. If you find a bridge along the way, stop for a game of pooh sticks. It’s amazing how competitive a game of throwing twigs into the water can become.
2. SET AN AMBUSH Summon your inner primordial warrior by setting an ambush. Woods are the obvious place, but any area of undergrowth where children can hide will work. Ambushers can blend in with their surroundings by painting their faces using camo cream or mud, donning dark clothing and making headdresses from leaves and feathers. Let them vanish into the bushes and await their target.
3. SLEEP UNDER THE STARS Enjoy a wilder camping adventure by sleeping out under the stars in bivvy bags (waterproof covers for sleeping bags). Set up a tarpaulin base in your garden, a campsite or in the wild (with the landowner’s permission) and drift off to sleep by the light of the moon while listening to the gentle hooting of owls. Children will be so excited to get into their bivvy bags that they’ll be asking to go to bed early!
1 tsp salt and approximately 175ml of warm water. Mix the dry ingredients together, then slowly add the water until you have a smooth, fairly dry dough. Ask the children to search for a good bannock-cooking stick. This should be a green stick of non-toxic wood, such as birch, sycamore or holly. As a rough guide, the stick should be about thumb-width. If possible, help the children to whittle off the bark using a knife, leaving the stick smooth. Twist the dough around the stick and hover the bannocks over the fire until they’re cooked through. These are a delicious, healthy snack made even more fun by cooking over a campfire you’ve built yourself.
6. MINI NAVIGATORS
Forgive any past grievances with your plantmunching garden snails and welcome them as competitors in a high-adrenaline slithering contest. Ask participants to search high and low around the garden or park for a speedylooking snail. When chosen, use sticks to mark out a race start and finish line, then line up the competitors and get ready for a nail-biting display of snail speed. The snails may occasionally get distracted and veer off course, in which case give them a gentle usher in the right direction. Great for a rainy summer day.
Why are the ‘grown-ups’ always in charge of choosing where to go on an adventure? Show the children the basics of navigating using a map, following footpaths and identifying interesting landmarks, then let them chart a route for an adventure. You can always mark a particular destination, good picnic spot or maybe even the pub, and ask the children to navigate the way there. Setting a navigation challenge sparks the excitement of adventure and avoids any potential moaning over the prospect of going for a walk. As an additional challenge, try flipping a coin over your local map and navigating as close as possible to the point at which the coin drops, ideally getting there by cycling or walking.
5. COOK CAMPFIRE BANNOCKS
7. ENJOY THE SUNSET
There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting around a campfire, watching the fire dancing and enjoying its warmth. As an alternative to roasting marshmallows, why not try cooking campfire bannocks, or bread twists? Prepare your bannock dough in advance. You’ll need 250g flour, 2 tsp baking powder,
In August, the evenings are still warm but drawing in earlier than at the start of summer. Transform the end of your day into a sunset adventure and hike up a westward-facing hill to enjoy the incredible colours of the sinking sun. Make sure you pack a head torch for the walk back down. CF
4. SNAIL RACING
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ABOVE Add excitement by setting the children a navigation challenge, with binoculars and a compass as helpful tools; can they find their way to the ice-cream kiosk?
Georgie Duckworth is one half of family adventure company Go Wild Go West, run with her sister Becks. She lives in Somerset and is always seeking out new adventures. gowildgowest.co.uk 37
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OUTDOOR FOOD
Camper van cooking Just because you’re camping, you don’t have to give up on good food – there are delicious and easy recipes to enjoy on your summer travels in the countryside, says food writer Claire Thomson Words: Claire Thomson and Matt Williamson Photos: Sam Folan hese past five or six years, my family and I have found ourselves driving off in a camper van in search of secluded camping spots. It is a remarkable feeling to take to the road in search of high adventures. While camping may be a more hand-to-mouth existence than normal life, I happen to think that our camping diet
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should not be inferior to the one we enjoy from the comfort of the home kitchen. Different, absolutely; more portable, or more likely to be eaten off your lap – but never less than completely delicious. Here are four favourite recipes from our camper van adventures to be enjoyed in the open air this summer, whether you are camping or not. I hope you enjoy them!
FRIED MACKEREL with horseradish butter, gherkins and lettuce in brioche buns Mackerel is a splendid oily fish for kids to have a go at cooking, because it is fairly forgiving. You can grill the fillets with their skin on (or use a pan), and because they are slim, they take just minutes to cook. Mackerel has a beautiful texture, and especially so if the skin crisps and chars in places as it cooks. In this recipe, I’ve served them with gherkins and soft lettuce on buttered brioche rolls with a spoonful of horseradish. Eat these buns on the beach – you won’t regret it. www.countryfile.com
SERVES 4 4 tbsp butter, softened 2–4 tbsp horseradish, to taste Salt and black pepper 4 large or 8 small mackerel fillets 4 brioche buns (or any soft roll), split open, to serve 1 soft round lettuce, leaves separated 4 large gherkins, sliced 1. Beat the butter and horseradish together in a bowl, adding pepper to taste, then put the mixture to one side.
2. Season the mackerel fillets on both sides and grill them over a high heat, skinside down, for two minutes. Carefully flip the fillets over with a spatula and cook for another one minute, until just cooked through. (Cook in a pan with a splash of cooking oil, if you prefer.) 3. Lightly toast the inside of the rolls on the grill, then generously spread each with the horseradish butter. Add lettuce and gherkins to each bun, then finally the cooked mackerel, sandwiching shut to serve. 39
HALLOUMI, POTATO AND JALAPEÑO SKEWERS with sour cream Skewers are sensible barbecue and camping tools because – stating the obvious here – they keep everything in place when cooking over a fire. Hot off the grill and doused with sour cream, this is a wonderful recipe. I’ve cut the lemon into quarters and grilled it along with the halloumi skewers because blistered, hot-grilled lemons are magic, and super juicy. You’ll need wooden or metal skewers for this recipe; if you’re using wooden, soak them in a little water for 30 minutes before threading. SERVES 4 2 x 225g packets of halloumi, cut into 3cm cubes 40
500g baby new potatoes, boiled until tender 2 jalapeño chillies (or other green chilli), cut into six pieces (deseeded if you want less heat) 1 large red onion, cut into six wedges 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more to serve 1 tsp sweet or hot, smoked or unsmoked paprika 1 lemon, quartered 150g sour cream (1 small tub) Salt and black pepper chilli flakes, to serve 1. In a bowl, toss together the halloumi, cooked potatoes, jalapeños and onion in the olive oil, paprika and juice from two of the lemon quarters. Season with salt and
pepper (remembering the halloumi is salty). 2. Thread everything in equal proportions on to the skewers. Grill over a moderate to high heat for about five minutes, turning every so often, until everything is golden and lightly charred. At the same time, grill the remaining lemon quarters, cut-side down, until charred and juicy. 3. Season the sour cream to taste with a good pinch of salt and put to one side in a bowl. Remove the skewers from the grill and drizzle with the sour cream. Trickle over a splash more olive oil and juice from the grilled lemon quarters, then sprinkle with chilli flakes to serve. www.countryfile.com
HARISSA COURGETTE SALAD with peaches, toasted couscous and feta cheese Harissa is marvellous stuff. Hot, with a pungent, sweet heat, it is a paste of red (bell) peppers and chillies with assorted spices that brings huge flavour to everything it touches. There are many good brands on the market, although you could also make your own (there are plenty of recipes, too). This is a gorgeous and substantial salad dish. SERVES 4 5 tbsp olive oil, plus more to drizzle 4 small firm, green or yellow courgettes (zucchini), trimmed and sliced in 1cm slices Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, then cut the lemon in half Salt and black pepper 3 tbsp harissa 1 cup couscous (about 190g) 3 cups water (about 700ml), freshly boiled 3 ripe peaches, stoned and sliced 200g feta, crumbled 1. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a moderate to high heat. Add the courgettes and the lemon zest and lemon halves and fry with a generous pinch of salt for about five minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, but still with some crunch, and the lemon flesh is soft and juicy.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside the lemons, then add the harissa and remaining olive oil to the pan. Check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze over the juice from the fried lemons. Transfer the courgettes to a bowl. 3. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper or a clean cloth and add the couscous. Toast, stirring, over a medium heat for three to five minutes, then add the boiling water to the pan. Remove from the heat, cover, and leave to stand for five minutes before fluffing the couscous with a fork. 4. To serve or pack up and take with you, mix the cooked courgettes along with all their juices into the couscous, drizzle with oil and top with the peach slices and crumbled feta.
STROOPWAFFLES with fried banana and dulce de leche Stroopwaffles are Dutch waffled caramel biscuits – two thin waffles sandwiched together with caramel. Dulce de leche is wicked stuff; cooked and caramelised condensed milk, it is an instant dessert on a spoon. Frying the banana in a bit of salted butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar, then loading the caramelised slices on to a stroopwaffle with a dollop of dulce de leche… well, you’ll need to go for a surf, or a long walk, jog or run to be on the safe side, won’t you? Good-size knob of butter (ideally salted) banana per person, sliced lengthways Big pinch of soft light brown sugar 1 or 2 stroopwaffles per person 1 heaped tsp dulce de leche per stroopwaffle 1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a moderate heat. Add the banana slices cut-side down and the sugar and cook for about 1 minutes, until the undersides of the bananas are soft and slightly caramelised. Carefully turn the slices and cook on the other side for another 1 minutes, then remove from the heat. 2. To serve, add the caramelised banana to each stroopwaffle along with a dollop of dulce de leche. CF
These delicious recipes are from Camper Van Cooking by Claire Thomson and Matt Williamson (Quadrille, £20). 41
COUNTRYFILE ISSUES
JOHN CRAVEN CAN CASH INCENTIVES BRING NEW BLOOD TO FARMING? have lost count of the times over the years when farmers’ sons or daughters have told me they want to modernise the way things are done, “but dad isn’t keen”. That reluctance to embrace new methods has driven some younger members of farming families to quit, while others wait in frustration as the parents work on, often beyond normal retirement age. Yet, as I highlighted in my June column, British farming urgently needs new, young blood – coming from both inside and outside the industry – to meet the massive challenges of a post-Brexit era. Production subsidies will be phased out and potentially threatening competition will emerge in the form of free trade deals with countries such as Australia. Environment secretary George Eustice believes some older farmers (nearly four in 10 are over 65) are “standing in the way of change” and resisting new “green” measures. Now he plans to offer farmers, both tenants and owner occupiers, lump sums of up to £100,000 (the average is expected to be half that) if they hang up their wellies for good. The scheme, says Eustice, will assist them clear bills, settle debts and retire with dignity, while helping others fulfil their dreams. Countless would-be newcomers long for that chance but have real fears about raising the necessary funds. For example, one council demands applicants have at least £70,000 worth of capital before they can
Photo: Getty
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On many farms the generations work alongside each other, but younger members’ desire to innovate can often be frustrated put their name forward for a farm tenancy. So, expect demands for practical government support for them, too – investment that would reap benefits in the long term.
RESPONSIBLE RETIREMENT “Younger farmers are more likely to be innovative and boost productivity and be more interested in environmentally friendly methods of farming,” says Professor Wyn Grant, an expert in agricultural policy at Warwick University. Before the ‘exit strategy’ was announced, a survey revealed that almost half the UK’s farmers don’t intend to retire until they are over 70. Many believe they have dealt effectively with past challenges – from foot and mouth disease to quotas and EU agriculture reforms – and can ably handle those still to come. Will this incentive change their minds?
“From my point of view, they can forget it,” 60-year-old Cumbrian farmer Alistair Mackintosh told me. “If you already have everything set up to leave your farm, you might well take the package, but it’s a very small golden handshake that does not reflect a lifetime of work and investment. “The way the payment is framed at the moment, once you have taken it, the farm can’t claim future subsidies. The older generation has a duty of care to make sure that when you do hand over, your successors have a realistic chance,” Alistair adds. “I don’t see this package delivering that.” Others, though, seem more than ready to reap their last harvest. The Tenant Farmers Association says three quarters of its members questioned about the scheme were seriously interested, though it would have to be easy to follow and not “drown them in bureaucracy”. Tenants giving up their home as well as their way of life will need a new place to live, which can be a huge disruption at their stage in life. And ownerfarmers, who would be able to sell, rent out or transfer their land by gift, must carefully examine their financial affairs before making any commitment. They all have time to ponder – a consultation process is underway and final details of the scheme will be announced later this year.
Watch John on Countryfile, Sunday evenings on BBC One. 43
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
THE AUSTRALIAN TRADE DEAL A post-Brexit free trade agriculture deal with Australia has caused alarm among UK farmers who fear cheap imports will undermine the sector. What are the issues and is the Australian livestock industry really as bad as it’s portrayed? Mark Rowe reports Quota increase:
Quota increase:
from 35,000 to 110,000 tonnes
WHAT DOES THE DEAL INVOLVE? The fine details of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be settled this autumn but the broad outline covers agricultural products – from meat to cheese – as well as wine, Scotch whisky, biscuits, cars and ceramics. The quota for Australian beef allowed into the UK will rise from 35,000 tonnes to
110,000 tonnes a year and from 25,000 tonnes to 75,000 tonnes for sheep meat. Michael McCormack, the then-acting Australian Prime Minister, called these “big numbers”. Downing Street says there will be a cap on the level of tariff-free imports from Australia for 15 years, while safeguards will be brought in to protect British farmers.
WHAT’S THE CASE FOR A DEAL? The trade deal is expected to give UK and Angus and Hereford, together with the Australian food producers and other French breed Charolais. A report by businesses easier access to each PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded other’s markets. UK Government that “the disease-free status and projections suggest it will add traceability of the Australian The UK between 0.01% and 0.02% beef industry provides a imported to GDP over 15 years. competitive advantage”. Trade in meat between Hugh Killen, chief the two countries is small, of Australian lamb executive of the Australian with 0.15% of all Australian Agricultural Company, has and mutton beef exports going to the UK, forecast that meat imports last year at a value of £4.1m; the UK into the UK could increase from imported £45.8m of lamb and anything from twofold to 10-times mutton from Australia last year. current levels. UK cheese exporters would A variety of cattle breeds are used by benefit, as tariffs on cheese sent to Australian producers, including British Australia currently stand at 20%.
£45.8m
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WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS? The deal has far-reaching implications for UK farmers who believe they won’t be able to compete with Australian livestock farmers , who work on a much larger scale. There are particular concerns that hill farmers in Wales, the north of England and Scotland would be uncompetitive against the economies of scale applied in Australia (the country contains eight of the 10 largest farms in the world). NFU President Minette Batters says the deal “will have a massive impact on British farming”. She adds: “A tariff-free trade deal with Australia will jeopardise our own farming industry and will cause the demise of many, many beef and sheep farms throughout the UK.” Sean Rickard, former chief economist at the NFU, says: “Trade agreements always have winners and losers and the losses in this deal are laid squarely on agriculture.” The Country, Land and Business Association has criticised animal welfare and environmental standards in Australia. Its deputy president Mark Tufnell says: “The focus should be on the Government putting suitable checks and balances in place to safeguard standards and production methods. Our farmers are subject to stringent environmental and animal health and welfare standards, so it would be totally unacceptable to allow them to be undercut by imports produced to lower standards.” UK trade secretary Liz Truss has promised not to lower food import standards. www.countryfile.com
Photos Getty
from 25,000 to 75,000 tonnes
NEWS
IS THE AUSTRALIAN LIVESTOCK SYSTEM AS INTENSIVE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFRIENDLY AS IT IS PORTRAYED?
24.7 MILLION
HOW BIG IS AUSTRALIA’S MEAT MARKET?
45,712 registered agricultural businesses in the cattle industry
189,000 people are employed across on-farm production, processing and retail
25kg
of beef was eaten per person in Australia in 2018–19
YES
The RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association point to pigs kept in confined sow stalls that are banned in the UK; sheep subjected to mulesing (a painful procedure where folds of skin and flesh are cut off without anaesthetic to prevent flystrike), a practice illegal in the UK; powdered eggs from battery-caged hens, outlawed in Britain since 2012, plus the use of some hormone growth promoters, pesticides and feed additives that are banned in the UK. WWF says clearing native vegetation for pasture has sacrificed wildlife habitat, while poor grazing practices have seen excess sediments enter waterways and damage sites such as the Great Barrier Reef. Critics also point to the fossil fuel required to transport meat 10,000 miles to the UK.
NO
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) rejects criticisms over the country’s welfare standards and says it has strict farm assurance and chain-traceability mechanisms. MLA says Australian farmers work hard to produce food in the face of extreme climatic conditions, including heatwaves, droughts, fires and floods. In 2019, Australia experienced its hottest and driest year on record and cattle and sheep producers were forced to destock paddocks, driving the national herd and flock to historical lows. A series of nationwide bushfires placed further pressure on cattle rearing. The extreme weather experienced in Australia means livestock farmers have for some time been making investments into the efficient and effective management of soil health, water and methane emission as well as introducing grazing systems that incorporate pastures resilient to hotter and more variable climates, says MLA. It also claims agriculture is contributing more to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector in the Australian economy. It highlights progress in biosecurity, the increased use of pain relief for livestock and compliance with Australian standards for chemical residues and reduced water usage. www.countryfile.com
2.4 million tonnes
Approximate carcass weight of beef and veal produced in Australia in 2018–19
Second-largest beef exporter in the world behind Brazil. The gross value of Australian cattle and calf production (including live cattle exports) in 2019–20 is estimated at A$15.1 billion (£8.25bn).
head of cattle (around 2% of the world’s cattle)
76% of its total beef and veal production in 2019 was exported, primarily to China, Japan, United States, South Korea and Indonesia
DOES THE DEAL SIGNAL A WIDER CHANGE FOR UK FARMING? The Australia deal is the first agreement to be built from scratch since the UK left the EU (others simply rolled over the UK’s existing EU deals). The NFU and other farming organisations fear this FTA sets a precedent and gives Britain a potential entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership, of which Australia is a member. This could see similar deals struck with other nations, such as the US and Mexico, and major beef producers, such as Brazil. In the post-Brexit world, subsidies that UK farmers enjoyed under the EU’s Common Agricultural Payments (CAP) system are being phased out and replaced by a concept of ‘public money for public good’. Details have yet to be published
but this would include payments to incentivise farmers to farm in ways that secure better air and water quality, higher standards of animal welfare and implement measures to curb flooding. Some argue this approach is incompatible with large-scale food production and may mean the UK must import more to feed the nation. “People seem to think that if we decide to hug more trees we will produce more food, but we won’t,” says economist Sean Rickard. “The Australia FTA is a template for other deals in the pipeline with countries that are major food exporters and you can be sure they will insist on and get access to our market. The significance won’t be seen instantly but within 10–15 years this will lead to a slimmed-down UK farming sector.”
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of Mousa island A summer night in the North Atlantic and one of Britain’s strangest wildlife spectacles is about to begin. On a treeless, windswept island, James Fair watches small and secretive creatures emerge to flock around an ancient ruin... t is night-time on the isle of Mousa, but while the clock has crept well past 11pm, it’s not yet dark. At this time of year, so far north – this small island off the coast of Mainland Shetland is on the same latitude as Stockholm – night-time is a relative concept. Locals call these twilight nights “da simmer dim”. Yet stranger and more magical is the sound issuing from the rocks by my knees: a soothing churr that ends in a breathy hiccup and then repeats on an endless, hypnotic loop. I had come across by boat from Sandsayre Wick, with a group of other sightseers. Before we were let loose on the island, we had been given a stern lecture on the fragility of this environment and the potential risk we pose to the wildlife, so after lingering a while longer, I reluctantly move on. Mousa is tiny and treeless, so the sight of an obviously ancient building towering at the water’s edge is
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startling. The broch of Mousa is 2,000 years old and rises 13 metres from the ground. It was probably built either as a place to live or as a fortification against invaders; no one knows for sure (see page 50). Tonight its slightly concave drystone walls are subtly silhouetted against the inky-blue sky. The 30 or 40 people who arrived with me are now sitting around the broch in small, quiet groups, soaking up the sense of place and time and history. And they’re watching the walls of the broch, because from a few metres away, you can clearly see there are animals fluttering around it resembling dark, gothic butterflies. If I were anywhere but Mousa, or a handful of other islands around the coast of Britain, I would assume they were bats. They’re bat-sized and it’s night-time. What else could they be? They’re clearly not owls. Moving closer, I can hear that strange hypnotic sound again, but bats don’t churr and hiccup like this, to the best
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STORM PETRELS
Listen! Hear the calls of storm petrels when James Fair recorded a BBC Countryfile Magazine podcast on Mousa: pod.fo/e/220cb
Photo: Alamy
Under the cover of darkness, a European storm petrel – Britain’s smallest seabird, only a little bigger than a sparrow – finds the right nesting hole, and moves in to greet its partner. These delicate birds lay only one egg a year and the male and female take turns sitting on the nest, for 38–50 days of incubation www.countryfile.com
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Now uninhabited, Mousa was populated from the Bronze Age to the mid-19th century. The Haa or laird’s house was built near the broch in 1783 for Lerwick merchant John Pyper, who bought the island. His widow lived there until her death in 1852
of my knowledge. The noise has famously been described as sounding like a fairy being sick.
BRAVEHEART BIRDS
SPECIES IN BRIEF: STORM PETREL • There are two theories about where the ‘petrel’ part of the name comes from. One says it derives from St Peter, because they appear to walk on water (as he did) while feeding, but another claims that it is a corruption of ‘pitteral’, which refers to its habit of pitter-pattering on the water. The ‘storm’ part comes from sailors associating the bird with bad weather.
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• The European storm petrel is one of 17 species in the northern storm petrel family Hydrobatidae (one of which is believed to be extinct). • All storm petrels are small, but the European is one of the smallest, at 14–17cm from tip to tail, about the size of a house sparrow. Despite their size, they spend most of their lives at sea.
They’re not fairies, of course, but European storm petrels, sparrow-sized seabirds so heroic and hardy they make Ernest Shackleton look like a Sunday morning rambler. They’re returning under the cover of whatever darkness there is – on clear nights with a full moon they don’t come back at all – to their nests, which they make either under natural boulders or in the walls of the broch. An estimated 11,000 pairs breed on the island, with roughly 400 using the broch, making it surely the UK’s largest and most remarkable nestbox. That hypnotic churring sound is the sound of their mates. The returning birds use a combination of that and their sense of smell to find their partners, who have either been sitting on a single egg or tending to the chick. Kevin Kelly, of the RSPB which manages Mousa on behalf of the island’s owner, tells me he took a crew from National Geographic out to film the storm petrels last year and says the footage was amazing. “You could see them attempting a fly-past – ‘is that the right hole, is that it?’ They flutter around, then go on and come back,” he says. “We even managed to film them inside the nest [in the broch] and saw www.countryfile.com
STORM PETRELS
ABOVE Inside the beautifully constructed drystone broch of Mousa, historian Vinnie Butler explains the history of this well-preserved 13m-high roundhouse, thought to have been built around 300BC feed, scooping up tiny fish and plankton from the surface. But it also makes them ridiculously clumsy on land. I’ve never seen a storm petrel walk, but on the island of Skomer off West Wales I’ve watched shearwaters wander about like drunks. They make a good meal for the blackbacked gulls that sit around in thuggishlooking gangs. The desiccated remains – quite often just a pair of wings – of those that made the mistake of returning when it wasn’t quite dark litter the island, a reminder of the deadly perils they face.
Photos: Getty, Alamy, RSPB Images, Naturepl.com
ABOVE Storm petrels – with their distinctive white patch on the rump – choose high nesting spots to protect them from predatory mammals, including rats and mice
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them re-establishing their pair bonds after one of them has been out at sea fishing.” But why all the subterfuge? Why come back like thieves in the night, when seabirds such as puffins, guillemots and razorbills quite happily come and go all day long? Well, not only are storm petrels tiny – a perfect snack for predatory birds, such as great and lesser black-backed gulls and menacing great and Arctic skuas – they are also, like shearwaters, surprisingly badly adapted to life on land. Their feet are set far back on their bodies, and this anatomical adaptation enables them to quite literally walk on water – it’s where they get their name (see box, left) – and this is how they
INTREPID TRAVELLERS Once the handover between mates is complete, the bird that has been confined to the nest can now escape for a day or two to feed. Some may just go for the night, flying a relatively short distance, while others have been recorded travelling up to 300km in search of food. Some time in September, the single chick will fledge, then they will all head out into the North Atlantic and down to the coast of South Africa for the winter, an epic journey of some 12,000km. Indeed, these tiny birds weighing just 30 grams – the equivalent of just three or four cherry tomatoes – spend more than half their lives out at sea, frequently buffeted by 49
James Fair is an experienced wildlife journalist with a longstanding passion for the environment. He specialises in investigating controversial issues such as badger culling and the illegal wildlife trade. 50
ABOVE Storm petrels’ scientific name, Hydrobates pelagicus, roughly translates as ‘to step on water on the sea’ – their feet flutter on the surface as they feed without alighting, dining on plankton, small fish and crustaceons
EXPLORE SCOTLAND’S SOLITARY TOWERS NOW GO THERE The Mousa Boat is the only company that runs trips to the island. Evening trips run in May, June and July only; departure at 10.30pm. Day trips (also recommended to see skuas, terns and seals) run from April to September. Booking is recommended for both. 07901 872339, info@mousa.co.uk, mousa.co.uk
There are more than 500 Iron Age brochs – drystone hollow-walled roundhouses that were possibly defensive towers – in Scotland, with the majority located on Shetland, Orkney and the north-east of the mainland. Others are found on Harris in the Outer Hebrides and on the north-west of the mainland. The Broch of Gurness, overlooking Eynhallow Sound on Orkney Mainland, is described as “Scotland’s best-preserved broch village”. Dun Dornaigil (above) in Sutherland is another excellent example of these unique structures. See historicenvironment.scot There are relatively few brochs in southern Scotland, but Doon Castle Broch, in the Rhines of Galloway, is one. canmore.org.uk/site/60487
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Photos Alamy
gale-force winds. Hardy and heroic doesn’t begin to do them justice. I wander inside the broch, which is so well preserved it even has a functional staircase (making it the oldest one in Britain, I’m told). I walk to the top, listening out for petrels nesting under the stairs and in the walls as I go, and sit on a small flat area looking out over the island. By now, it’s midnight. During the day, the boulder beach at West Pool – a short distance from the broch on the other side of the island – is alive with the calls of Arctic terns and fly-pasts from skuas. Common seals – ironically, the less common of the two seal species regularly found in UK waters – are pupping, too. But only the petrels are active at this time of night. Meanwhile, the water in the sound between Mousa and the mainland is visible, with everything cast in a soft blue cloak. Occasionally, a fluttering form will rise up above the level of the wall, then dive back down as it homes in on its partner. But with the dawn of a new day just hours away, the crew of the Solan IV want to head back to the mainland, and they round us up like sheep for the short passage across the sound. It feels about time. CF
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ARCHAEOLOGY
Mysteries of ancient Britain
SOLVED Remarkable new technology is helping to transform our understanding of Britain’s past, revealing a series of astonishing finds, reports Mary-Ann Ochota s you cross the open grassland of Salisbury Plain, the low sun sends raking shadows across dozens of ancient earthworks. As you near the stones, rooks croak and wheel away in the breeze. The sense of history – and mystery – is palpable. For hundreds of years, Stonehenge – the most famous stone circle in the world – has been a focus of wonder and speculation. Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the 1100s, declared that the wizard Merlin had stolen a stone circle from a mountainside in Ireland and brought it to this site with the help of giants. In the 1600s, it was accepted that Stonehenge must have been built by the Romans because, well, surely it was a bit too complicated for the native Brits to have come up with on their own. With a similar lack of faith in the Brits, Swiss author Erich von Däniken claimed in 1968 that the henge was built by extraterrestrials. But with the advent of new techniques and technology, some mysteries have been laid to rest. Radiocarbon dating of bone, antler and burned wood shows that the central stone circle we can see at Stonehenge today was built around 2,500BC – some 1,700 years before the Roman Empire began.
Ground-penetrating radar and 3D modelling technology, combined with radiocarbon dating, have uncovered fascinating new information about the sarsen stones and bluestones that make up the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge, seen here from above
Photo: Getty
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ABOVE This year, archaeologists working at Waun Mawn in the Preseli Hills used ground-penetrating radar to discover the ‘footprint’ of a dismantled stone circle – revealed to have intriguing parallels to Stonehenge, including a summer solstice sunrise alignment. Some of the stone holes they found are circled And what of the stones themselves? New science and ingenious detective work are helping us to learn more here, too. Now we know where the stones came from. The massive sarsens were probably dragged from West Woods near Marlborough, about 19 miles away. The bluestones have been geologically ‘fingerprinted’ to rock outcrops in the Preseli Hills of West Wales, including Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin – both around 137 miles away from Salisbury Plain. This year, research led by a team from University College London led to the latest major breakthrough in our understanding of the history of Stonehenge, backing up a theory first floated in the 1920s. It suggests the stones didn’t go directly from the quarries to Salisbury Plain; for hundreds of years, they stood in the Preseli Hills. Using ground-penetrating radar, researchers identified the site of a dismantled stone circle on moorland at Waun Mawn, near the village of Brynberian. It bore striking similarities to the Stonehenge circle. Both were 110m in diameter. Bluestone chippings in some of the empty stone holes were an exact match to stones at Stonehenge. And 3D modelling technology shows that one surviving stone hole at Waun 54
ABOVE Visit Gough’s Cave to see a replica of Cheddar Man’s skeleton INSET DNA analysis revealed it was likely that Cheddar Man had dark brown skin, dark hair and blue or green eyes, as this reconstruction shows
Mawn has a distinctive pentagonal shape that appears to be a perfect fit for one of the surviving bluestones at Stonehenge. Using both radiocarbon and sediment-dating techniques, the researchers built a new timeline: the bluestones were quarried, then erected at Waun Mawn sometime around 3,000BC, before being uprooted and dragged to Wiltshire a few hundred years later. www.countryfile.com
ARCHAEOLOGY
TIME TRAVEL TECH 1910 GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR
ABOVE The rocky outcrop of Carn Goedog in Wales’ Preseli Mountains where some of Stonehenge’s bluestones were quarried BELOW A remaining stone at Waun Mawn still stands tall, 5,000 years after it was erected
A transmitter sends electromagnetic waves into the ground and measures the reflection, to build up a picture of what lies beneath. It means wide-ranging surveys are possible, research can be done without disturbing the remains, and excavations can be targeted to areas of particular interest.
1925 METAL DETECTORS A detector was hastily invented in 1881 by Alexander Graham Bell, to search for a bullet that had wounded US president, James Garfield. That didn’t work, but by 1925 a patent was granted to Gerhard Fisher for the first portable metal detector. For info on responsible metal detecting, see ncmd.co.uk
1946 RADIOCARBON DATING American physical chemist Willard Libby proposed a method for dating organic materials by measuring the 14C content – a newly discovered radioactive isotope of carbon that decays at a known rate. The technology transformed archaeology.
Photos: Adam Stanford, Alamy, Getty, Sketchfab
LASERS AND GENETICS It’s not just at Stonehenge that technology is transforming the ways we can see the past. In one technique, a powerful laser beam attached to a drone or aircraft sends out pulses that build up a detailed model of the Earth’s surface. Used in archaeology, LiDAR – Light Detection And Ranging – systems help researchers identify patterns in the landscape that might be invisible to the eye, or hidden in woodland. LiDAR has traced 14,000 previously unknown archaeological features in Britain alone, including the possible routes of Roman roads and identified lost settlements on Dartmoor. Meanwhile, DNA analysis is throwing up new evidence about our ancient ancestors, including their looks and origins. In 1903, workers improving drainage at Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge – already a tourist attraction – discovered a skeleton that came to be known as Cheddar Man. Early speculation that the remains were up to 80,000 years old was debunked in the 1970s, when radiocarbon dating suggested that he lived around 10,000 years ago – but that still makes him the oldest whole human skeleton ever found in the UK. In 2018, researchers from the Natural History Museum used DNA from a bone in Cheddar www.countryfile.com
1970s ISOTOPE ANALYSIS Based on the principle that ‘you are what you eat’, scientists measure levels of naturally occuring versions (isotopes) of elements such as carbon, oxygen and strontium in a skeleton’s bones and teeth. This signature can indicate where they grew up, what age they were weaned and what foods they ate.
1980s LiDAR Laser was invented in the 1960s, but it was only with accurate GPS systems that archaeological LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) could really take off. With lightweight drones, 5G networks and smartphones, researchers can now conduct cutting-edge research in real time in the field. Literally.
2010s PHOTOGRAMMETRY Thousands of digital photographs are used to create an accurate 3D model and then map the detail of the surface, creating an exact virtual replica. Check out some models here: sketchfab.com/tags/ photogrammetry-archaeology 55
A new LiDAR scan of the Cerne Abbas Giant recently revealed some evidence that the line across the giant’s waist was at some point – perhaps originally – continuous. Which might mean the giant started off wearing trousers and his most prominent asset is a later addition. The faint pentagon shape you might spot surrounding the giant is the remains of a 1920s fence line. The squarish enclosure above the giant’s head is ‘The Trendle’, an enclosure that may be more than 2,000 years old
ARCHAEOLOGY
Man’s inner ear to show that it was likely he had dark brown skin, blue or green eyes and dark hair. Previously, it had been thought that northern Europeans had developed paler skin much earlier, as an adaptation to lower levels of sunlight. Find out more here: nhm.ac.uk/ discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britainblue-eyed-boy.html
A RIDDLE IN CHALK You might worry that these new scientific techniques might demystify the past, and destroy the romance and magic of well-loved sites in the process. But usually research findings create as many new conundrums as they solve. The Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset is a perfect example. For a long time, experts believed the 55m-high chalk figure was made either during the Iron Age (800BC to 43AD) or the Roman occupation of Britain (43AD to 410AD). The most controversial theory was that the giant’s origins were much more recent – an insult aimed at Oliver Cromwell, puritanical Lord Protector of England from 1653 to 1658. But a dating technique known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) has recently solved at least part of this giant riddle. OSL dating measures the amount of energy stored in naturally occurring grains of quartz. This can be used as a ‘clock’ to show when soil containing the quartz particles was last exposed to light. Unexpectedly, the OSL dates for the giant, published in May this year, indicate that he was built at some time between 700AD and 1100AD; that’s nowhere close to the Iron Age, Romans or Oliver Cromwell. Instead, it appears that he was created in the medieval period, a time when Anglo-Saxon kings ruled over south and west, and Vikings were in the north and east of Britain. Intriguingly, Cerne Abbey, just 300m from the giant, was founded in 987AD, meaning that the giant and the abbey lived side by side for centuries. The new mystery arises: once established, why would the Christian abbey have tolerated a hill-sized pagan idol with a giant phallus? It’s difficult to explain and the
new dates raise as many questions as they answer. That’s the beauty of science; it doesn’t solve the riddles completely, it simply opens up new avenues of analysis and investigation.
THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY Finally, rest assured that it doesn’t always take cutting-edge laboratory techniques to make new discoveries. Earlier this year, on a whim, Hamish Fenton picked up a torch and decided to explore Dunchraigaig Cairn in Argyll’s Kilmartin Glen, an early Bronze Age burial monument with stone-lined compartments. Despite the fact this site has been surveyed and studied for more than 100 years, in the torchlight Hamish spotted something entirely new: across the enormous rock roof slab of one of the compartments were carvings of deer. This kind of figurative art is incredibly rare – only a couple of examples dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age have ever been found in Britain. Most British prehistoric rock art is abstract – concentric circles, dots, lines and swirls – with no pictures of identifiable things. But two of the carvings at Dunchraigaig clearly show red deer stags with full-grown antlers, others show smaller animals, perhaps females or juvenile deer. A sharp eye and a curious spirit – it’s still how some of the most remarkable discoveries are made. And it’s what unites us with our adventurous ancestors, who populated Britain and created the landscapes and ancient sites we can still explore and study today. CF
ABOVE Earlier this year, amateur archaeologist Hamish Fenton slipped inside a burial chamber on a side of Dunchraigaig Cairn and, using only a torch, discovered delicate rock carvings, thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old INSET The layout of the Dunchraigaig carvings, with two red deer stags plus three smaller animals, possibly females
Photo: Alamy, University of Edinburgh, Santiago Arribas Pena, Historic Environment Scotland
“Science doesn’t solve the riddles, it simply opens up new avenues of analysis and investigation”
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Mary-Ann Ochota is a BBC TV presenter and author. Her books, Secret Britain: Unearthing Our Mysterious Past and Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape, explore archaeological treasures across Britain. maryannochota.com @MaryAnnOchota on Twitter and Instagram 57
GRASSHOPPER The churr of grasshoppers in the meadow is one of the sounds of summer. But how much do you know about the lives of these long-legged insects? Dave Goulson leads you into the world of grasshoppers and their cousins, the crickets vividly recall a primary school day-trip to walk up Pontesbury Hill in Shropshire. It was a glorious day, and we ate our packed lunches sitting in the sunshine near the hilltop. After lunch, my friends and I spent a happy half hour or so trying to pounce on grasshoppers and catch them with our hands. The little insects were warm and quick, more often than not at least one jump ahead of our clumsy efforts, but we managed to catch a few and imprisoned them in a lunchbox until our teacher – who was a great lover of wildlife – sternly told us to let them go. To this day I love nothing more than to lie on my stomach in a grassy meadow, watching male grasshoppers as they bustle about, chirping amorously at passing females and seeing off rivals. Their sound is as much the sound of summer as the buzz of bumblebees, both immediately bringing to mind flowers and grasses swaying in a gentle breeze, and the aromatic smell of meadow herbs baking in the sunshine.
Photo Naturepl.com
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GRASSHOPPER FIELD GUIDE Principal UK species of grasshoppers and crickets It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list, and identification of grasshoppers in particular can be quite tricky.
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Meadow grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus
One of our most common grasshoppers, found in meadows, downland, road verges and sometimes in gardens. Females are easily recognised by their very short wings.
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Large marsh grasshopper Stethophyma grossum Our largest grasshopper is a splendid but now very rare insect found in heathland bogs and marshes in Dorset and the New Forest.
PREHISTORIC ECHOES It is odd to think that dinosaurs would have heard these same noises, for grasshoppers and crickets are an ancient group of insects and their song may have been the first on Earth. They originated about 350 million years ago among the giant tree ferns of the Carboniferous period, a time when insects were the only creatures able to fly, and giant dragonfly-like Meganeura, with a wingspan of 60cm, soared among the trees. Grasshoppers lived through the rise and eventual fall of the dinosaurs, surviving the meteor strike 65 million years ago that wiped out most larger animals, and proliferating so 60
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Common ground-hopper Tetrix undulata One of three groundhoppers found in the UK, these insects resemble small chubby grasshoppers. They are usually found on bare earth, but are hard to spot as they are beautifully camouflaged in a variable array of mottled grey, green and russet.
that there are now about 20,000 species of grasshopper and cricket in the world. Grasshoppers and crickets would make a tasty meal for a bird or lizard, and many have evolved impressive camouflage to avoid being eaten. While most UK species have streaks of green or yellow to blend among grasses, some exotic species resemble small rocks, while others mimic leaves or clumps of lichen. A few species deliberately consume toxic plants to become poisonous themselves, and advertise this with bright red, black and yellow stripes or spots. Of course, their incessant singing would seem to be a giveaway to potential predators, but www.countryfile.com
Photos Naturepl.com, Alamy. Getty
Grasshoppers are somehow more endearing than many insects, though it’s hard to say why. Perhaps it’s their largish eyes and slightly cross-eyed appearance, or their usually tuneless but cheerful zithering chirrups and chirps, or maybe the huge hind legs that enable their impressive leaps. For me, I think it is just their association with summer days, or in the case of their crepuscular relatives, the crickets, the association with warm evenings on holiday in France, listening to them singing softly from the shadows.
GRASSHOPPERS
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Common green grasshopper Omocestus viridulus This handsome deep-green insect is one of the most widespread UK species, found almost everywhere in damp grasslands and woodland rides.
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Speckled bush cricket Leptophyes punctatissima
SPOTTING GRASSHOPPERS The UK has 33 native species of grasshoppers and crickets, made up of 11 species of grasshopper, 13 species of bush cricket, four species of true cricket, three groundhoppers, plus one scaly cricket and one mole cricket. Grasshoppers and crickets are easily distinguished by their antennae; grasshoppers have short, blunt antennae, while crickets have very long, tapering antennae that may be much longer than their body. This reflects their different lifestyles – grasshoppers are diurnal, while crickets are active at night, using their long antennae to feel their way around. Three species of grasshoppers (the meadow, field and common green grasshoppers) remain widespread and fairly common in grassy meadows across most of the UK, but most of the remainder are now scarce to very rare creatures. In gardens and urban areas you’re more likely to encounter bush crickets than grasshoppers, at least in the southern half of Britain, for three species commonly turn up in garden shrubs, hedges and tall vegetation (the speckled, dark and oak bush crickets). The bush crickets also include some spectacular large species, such as the great green bush cricket and the very
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One of the most common crickets in gardens, these small but stout bright-green insects have vestigial wings and are peppered with small black spots.
6 rare wart-biter bush cricket (so named because in Sweden they were once used to bite warts from the skin). Ground-hoppers resemble very small, well camouflaged grasshoppers, and so are easily overlooked, but they can be quite common – I have them in my garden in Sussex. The scaly cricket is extremely rare, living among the shingle on Chesil Beach in Dorset, and recorded sporadically on a couple of other similar beaches in the south. The mole cricket, a magnificently weird-looking creature with hugely powerful forelegs for digging, was once widespread but now is known only from a tiny population in the New Forest. Male mole crickets are the loudest UK insects, their call audible at over 500 metres.
Oak bush cricket Meconema thalassinum
Fairly common in the southern half of England, these small, delicate, almost translucent pale-green crickets are attracted to light so frequently turn up indoors.
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Great green bush cricket Tettigonia viridissima One of the UK’s largest insects, this cricket is still moderately common near the coast in the south of England and Wales, where its loud rattling call can be a familiar sound in summer. The female is equipped with a huge pointed ovipositor which she uses to insert eggs into the ground.
FADING OUT Sadly, the song of grasshoppers and crickets is not as common as it once was. Most of the flower-rich meadow habitats in which they thrived were swept away by intensified farming in the 20th century, so that today’s children may never get the chance to catch grasshoppers in their lunch break. One small way in which we can help is by reducing mowing of our lawns. Grasshoppers cannot survive in a short-mown lawn and, along with many other insects, 62
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Dark bush cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera These distinctive darkbrown insects with yellow undersides are often found in hedgerows, woodland edges, scrub and gardens. Their pleasant, short chirp is a common sound on warm evenings in the southern half of Britain.
they are often killed by the blades of mowers, but if you reduce the mowing, ideally leaving part of your lawn for a single late-summer cut, you may be lucky enough to tempt them in to breed. Write to your local council asking them to reduce cutting of road verges and roundabouts, and perhaps our gardens and road verges could create a network of habitat for these charming insects. CF
Dave Goulson is professor of biology at University of Sussex. He has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology of bumblebees and other insects, and is author of several popular books including A Sting in the Tale and The Garden Jungle. www.countryfile.com
Photos Naturepl.com, Getty
the sound can be remarkably hard to locate. Grasshoppers generate the noise – officially known as stridulating – by rubbing their hind leg against their wings, very like a bow sliding across the strings of a violin. Crickets rub their forewings together to similar effect. In some UK species, such as Roesel’s bush cricket and the great green bush cricket, the sound they create is so high pitched that older people often cannot hear them at all. Although we might struggle to hear or locate these insects from their song, this is clearly not a problem for potential mates or rivals, which can quickly hone in on the source of the noise. Oddly, while grasshoppers have their ears on their abdomen, cricket ears are on their forelegs.
GRASSHOPPERS
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Wart-biter cricket Decticus verrucivorus
Field cricket Gryllus campestris
Beautiful, sturdy, emerald green insects camouflaged with black speckles, wart-biters are now found at only a few southern sites, mainly on chalk downland. There have been some successful reintroductions to former sites recently.
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Very handsome black insects with a bulbous head, the field cricket nearly became extinct in the UK, but has been bred in captivity and successfully re-established in the wild at a small number of sites in the south of England.
Field grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus
Another common grasshopper species, found in a range of open, warm habitats including road verges, it can be distinguished from the similar meadow grasshopper by the sharply kinked keels on the ‘pronotum’ – the section immediately behind the head.
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ANATOMY OF A GRASSHOPPER Head
Thorax
Abdomen
Antennae Compound eye Tibia Ocellus
Vertex Pronotum
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Long-winged cone-head Conocephalus discolour These slender green insects with very long, tan-coloured wings have expanded their range in the southern UK in recent years, and may turn up in long grass left uncut in gardens.
Ear
Frons Mandible Clypeus
Femur
Wing
Cercus
Labrum Mouth Palpus
Femur Tibia
Ovipositor
Tarsus Claws
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August
Great days out
COVID-19 Please abide by Government advice on travel. The information on these pages is meant to assist you once restrictions have been lifted.
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SUMMER DIPS
OS map images: © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey Photo: Alamy
Cool off on warm summer days with our selection of lovely walks to enticing swim and paddle spots, from tranquil rivers and azure bays to wild mountain lakes
Swimmers languidly drift down the River Cam from Grantchester to Sheep’s Green on the outskirts of Cambridge (page 82)
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CONTENTS
SWIM: Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria
Your handy guide to this month’s Great Days Out
SUMMER SWIMMING IN LAKELAND’S QUIET NORTH Wild swimming guide Suzanna Cruickshank explores the soothing benefits of bathing, and reveals her favourite place in the Lake District to take a dip
p74 p77 p66 p80 p78 p72 p77
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WILD LAKELAND SWIM Bassenthwaite Lake Cumbria, p66
DENIZENS OF THE DEEP Trevellas Porth Cornwall, p71
LAZY DAY BY THE RIVER River Teme Herefordshire, p72
LOCH ISLAND ESCAPE Inchcailloch Stirlingshire, p74
BERWICKSHIRE BATHING Coldingham Bay Scottish Borders, p77
MAGIC MOUNTAIN POOL Llyn Cwm Llwch Powys, p77
SUMMER AT THE FALLS Three Shires Head Derbyshire/Staffs/Cheshire, p78
RIVERBANK RHAPSODY River Ure North Yorkshire, p80
SWIM WITH SCHOLARS River Cam Cambridgeshire, p82
LIDOS AND POOLS Top seven
t’s lovely once you’re in” comes the shout from the water to the ankle-deep ditherers. Wild swimming is one of the great mindover-matter challenges – the lure of cool water on a hot day, the intangible thrill of the unknown. It’s an activity that has become more than just a quick splash and paddle in the heat of summer, with people taking to the water all year round. So why do so many people love it?
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SWIMMING FOR THE SOUL Wild swimming is a great equaliser, one of life’s simplest pleasures requiring next to no equipment or money. If you can swim, you can swim wild. Swimming in general is fantastic as an exercise or a leisure pursuit. Leave aches and pains on the shore as you float, entirely supported, and enjoy the anti-inflammatory effect of cooler water. For many people, unheated natural water brings mental clarity and a chance to press reset. Rhythmic
strokes in open water or a pool create a meditative state, helping to clear your mind and calm your thoughts. In our comfortable and convenient modern lives, we have lost the ability to be uncomfortable. We have power, light, warmth, food, information, all at the flick of a switch. We are frequently
Coventry, with its 50m indoor pool, to Keswick in Cumbria, the only options for a decent swim were a 30-minute drive away. Or the lake. My friend Jude was already a committed daily lake swimmer and one morning she enticed me down to Derwentwater for my first swim. I’ve not looked back since. It’s even my full-time job now! Swimming in lakes and wild water gave me a fresh perspective on the landscape that I was already familiar with as a fell walker. Now I enjoy both. Walks are no longer just walks, they are routes to new and interesting places to swim.
“ WILD SWIMMING BRINGS
MENTALCLARITYANDA CHANCE TO PRESS RESET” frazzled and overstimulated by the pace of life. Wild swimming strips you back to basics and asks you to leave it all behind: phone, car keys, wallet. Those security blankets of modern life are no use to you in the water. It’s just you and the swim.
INTO THE LAKES My love of swimming wild developed out of necessity and curiosity. When I moved from
BASSENTHWAITE BATHING Derwentwater will always have a special place in my heart but I have other favourites, too. Crummock Water is where I swim most regularly but it’s
SAFE SWIMMING: TOP TIPS There is no such thing as a safe place to swim, only a safe swimmer • Don’t jump in. Wade in slowly and acclimatise by patting • Cover cuts and grazes with a waterproof plaster. yourself with water before immersion. • Consider wearing a wetsuit. This keeps you warm • Some lakes shelve quickly, taking you immediately out and buoyant. of your depth. Check the ability of those you might be • A tow float and bright swim cap keep you visible to other swimming with and keep an eye on non-swimmers who lake users. A whistle will help attract attention should you might be paddling. need it. • Avoid swimming in stagnant water or after heavy rain. • Bring plenty of warm things to wear after, and a hot drink. • Be aware of your own ability. Don’t stay in too long. I wear a hat and gloves after swimming, even in summer! • Don’t swim alone, or under the influence of alcohol • Consider a safety and first aid course for yourself or with or drugs. your swimming friends.
Nationwide, p84 66
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GREAT DAYS OUT
Photos: Stewart Smith, James Kirby
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Bassenthwaite Lake is the only ‘real’ lake in the Lake District, as it is a lake in name, while the rest are called ‘meres’ or ‘waters’; cuckoo flowers flourish on the banks of the lake in spring; Suzanna Cruickshank is a wild swimming guide who calls West Cumbria home
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Hursthole Point, just north of the Blackstock Point peninsula, is a great place to look for the languorous circling flight of the resident ospreys
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shore allowing quick and easy access to the water. The principal swim spots are Peel Wyke, Blackstock Point, Hursthole Point and Beck Wythop, with additional options at Banks Point on the north-west shore and Scarness Bay on the east.
take a stand-up paddleboard, kayak or other type of boat on the lake. Once you are in the water, the road noise soon fades, especially as the stirring view of Ullock Pike and Dodd Wood opens up in front of you. This is one of the best places for an evening swim, as the light falls magnificently on the flanks of Ullock Pike, highlighting every craggy detail.
“BASSENTHWAITE LAKE
IS WHERE I HEAD WHEN I WANT TO ESCAPE” SUNSET DIP
OUT WITH THE OSPREYS
Peel Wyke is the least Lake District-y location you could find. It’s a small car park next to a concrete slipway with a busy overpass above the water. Despite the somewhat disparate setting, the car park is rarely empty, favoured by swimmers, fishermen, rowers, and other water users. Swimmers can enter the water freely here, though you will need a permit if you’re planning to
Blackstock Point, Hursthole Point and Beck Wythop are part of a series of small peninsulas close to the road with lots of tree cover. They are ideal locations for catching a glimpse of one of the UK’s rarer birds of prey, the osprey. In 2001, a programme to reintroduce ospreys to the lake was successful when a pair nested on a specially built platform in Wythop Woods,
the first recorded breeding pair for over 150 years. The ospreys have returned and bred every year since. Seeing one fly overhead as you swim is thrilling. Bassenthwaite Lake is a National Nature Reserve so lake users need to be responsible in their actions, not disturb any wildlife and leave no trace of their visit. There are two ‘no boating zones’ – one at the head of the lake and one in Bowness Bay – which swimmers should avoid also. These protected areas, and much of the eastern shore, are important for nesting and over-wintering birds. The birdlife in and around Bassenthwaite is one of the most diverse in the Lake District, with 85 different species recorded by the local bird club. For more swim ideas, check out Suzanna’s book Swimming Wild in the Lake District (£20).
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Photos Stewart Smith
Bassenthwaite Lake I head to when I want to escape. It’s often overlooked due to its slightly aloof northern position. It’s much quieter than most other lakes in the Lake District as it doesn’t have a distinctive hook to lure people in. There’s no path all the way round, no town or village (Bassenthwaite village is a mile north-east of the lake). Even Skiddaw, the huge mountain rising on the eastern shore, is slightly distant and feels more attached to nearby Keswick. But I don’t think Bassenthwaite Lake needs a hook; the lack of status is what makes it special to me. I always root for the underdog. The four-mile expanse of water is a familiar sight to commuters on the A66 as the road hugs the western shore. Some people might find the proximity of a busy road an annoying distraction, but it makes the lake very accessible for those with limited mobility. There are several handy car parks along the roadside
GREAT DAYS OUT
WHERE TO SWIM?
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SIX ACCESS POINTS ON THE LAKE
How to use OS Maps on your device OS Maps gives unlimited access to OS maps throughout Great Britain.
BANKS POINT
Discover hundreds of thousands of ready-made routes at your fingertips. No signal? No problem. Download maps and routes and use them wherever you go.
PEEL WYKE
SCARNESS BAY
Visualise your routes in full 3D, and print out as required. Use the AR Viewer to pan across the landscape and rediscover your view. Get access to the whole of Britain for only £23.95 for a 12-month subscription.
BECK WYTHOP
HURSTHOLE POINT
HOW TO GET STARTED 1. To access BBC Countryfile Magazine routes, download a QR code reader app on to your phone.
BLACKSTOCK POINT
2. Hold the phone above the QR code beside the map.
RESPONSIBLE SWIMMING: TOP TIPS Respect the water, wildlife and people around you • Plan ahead. Research local details such as facilities and environmental status. • Make sure your swimwear and equipment are clean and dry before you swim to help prevent the transfer of invasive species between bodies of water. • Check rights of way on an Ordnance Survey map. Some might be closed seasonally for nesting birds or lambing. • Park responsibly and without blocking access or damaging verges. • Leave gates as you find them.
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• Keep dogs on a lead and under control. • Don’t light fires or barbecues. • Take away your litter (and any you find). • Be prepared to move on if your desired location is busy. • Be respectful to other people using the location. • Try to swim in a variety of locations. Too much traffic to one section of riverbank or lake shore can result in trampling of vegetation and soil erosion, leading to habitat loss.
3. The map will appear on your device, and off you go!
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GREAT DAYS OUT
Copper and tin mining once dominated Trevellas Porth and the surrounding Cornish landscape
SWIM: Trevellas Porth, Cornwall
DENIZENS OF THE DEEP Quiet Cornish coves are hard to find in the middle of August, but they do exist, reveals Neil Coates t Agnes’s popular Trevaunance Cove is a busy surfing, bathing and sandcastle-building Cornish haven. Just to its north-east is a secret little bay where snorkelling, rockpooling, dips and paddling are the main draws. Trevellas Porth takes a little effort to reach and thus remains refreshingly uncrowded. Choose a day with tranquil seas to explore the Heritage Coast here.
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Photo: Getty
EXPLORE THE SEASHORE Before you visit the cove, make a note of tide times at St Agnes (tideschart.com). Follow the waymarked coast path north up beside the Driftwood Spars Inn (175m inland from
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the beach), over the headland – with magnificent views – to reach Trevellas Porth in just under half a mile. Plan to arrive on a falling tide. Mostly shingle, sandier areas appear as the sea retreats. The huge intertidal zone here is studded with rock pools that amply reward careful exploration. Small fish, crustaceans, starfish and anemones hide amid drifts of seaweed. It’s a paddling paradise, but wear flip-flops – limpet shells are sharp. If you’re itching to encounter denizens of the deep, let the tide pull back from the northern side of the cove. Walk past the vast cave/ crack in the cliff and across the elevated, largely gently
sloping rock strata, through gullies and past further deep rockpools to reach the raised, cliff-foot corner slabs and a captivating view across to looming, thrift-thatched sea-stacks. Stop here to spread towels, sunbathe and carefully explore the tideline.
BENEATH THE WAVES On calm days when the water is flat, the snorkelling can be wonderful (never swim alone and be sensible about water conditions), with deeper channels secreting spider crabs, lobsters and colourful wrasse. With luck, a common seal may appear. Low tide exposes enticing, miniature sandy bays to explore and take a refreshing dip. Allow,
at most, a couple of hours over low-tide before returning past the cave, well ahead of the incoming water. Heading back, walk the stream-side path up Trevellas Coombe, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. Gaunt, tin-mine engine houses and chimneys pepper the deep valley. At the lane, turn right (or visit the intriguing Blue Hills Tin works nearby), then right again off the hairpin bend on to the coast path back to Trevaunance Cove. Neil Coates is a Manchester-based writer specialising in walks and pubs.
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WALK AND SWIM: River Teme, Leintwardine, Herefordshire
A LAZY STROLL AND A RIVER SWIM Abigail Whyte reveals her favourite family-friendly walk and swim spot in bucolic Herefordshire magine gliding along in a gentle backstroke past weeping willows; sand martins swooping overhead catching insects on the wing before disappearing into their holes in the riverbank; children paddling in the shallows and catching minnows in jars. Perhaps even the local coracle maker shimmies past in a freshly made craft, leaving ripples in his wake. This is a typical scene on a summer’s day on the River Teme in Leintwardine, a lively village close to the Shropshire border in the Welsh Marches that boasts an award-winning fish-and-chip shop and two excellent pubs, The Lion and the Sun Inn.
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A DIP IN THE TEME I grew up here (after my family upped sticks from Luton in Bedfordshire) and return most Sundays with my husband and daughters to visit my parents, often working up an appetite for roast lunch with a few lengths of the deep pool just upstream of the packhorse bridge. Further upstream are lots of shallow stretches for paddling, fun rapids for riding on with bodyboards, and pebble beaches to lay out your picnic blanket. If there’s time, we also like to squeeze in a walk before our dip – an easy 3.5-mile loop that takes in a stretch of the River Clun (which joins the Teme in Leintwardine), sheep pastures and views of the Wigmore Rolls.
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Abigail’s daughters hitch a ride in Peter Faulkner’s home-made coracle (a type of traditional boat)
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another pasture until you come to a stile on to a lane. 3
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GOLDEN FINISH
Turn left on this lane towards Buckton, then turn left at the T-junction and continue until you reach the footbridge and Mill Lane, where you started, calling in at The Lion for a pint of Ludlow Gold in the riverside beer garden.
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ALONG THE CLUN
Start your walk on Mill Lane at the southern end of the village. Cross the second footbridge that you come to, then follow the designated path along the edge of the
sheep field. You’ll come to another bridge. 2
THROUGH PASTURE
Don’t cross the bridge – instead continue straight then head west to pass through
Access to the river: You can access the riverbank by crossing the stile into Brockley Meadow (you’ll find the stile just past the road bridge heading out of the village). The meadow is privately owned with permissive access, so please be respectful. Writer Abigail Whyte swims regularly in the River Teme with her family.
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As far as the eye can see: climb to the summit of Inchcailloch and gaze north across the 24-mile loch to the arresting peaks of Ben Lomond and Ben Vorlich
WALK AND SWIM: Inchcailloch, Loch Lomond, Stirlingshire
ISLAND OF THE COWLED WOMAN ll of Loch Lomond’s 22 beautiful islands, and 27 islets, are divine in summer. Perhaps the prettiest island is Inchcailloch, at the south end of the loch. It’s less than a mile long, with a superb lookout point, ancient ruins and an abundance of flora and fauna, and can be reached on a two-minute ferry ride from Balmaha. Once you’re there, a gentle walk leads
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across the island to Port Bawn (Port Bán), where a welldeserved swim awaits. 1 ARBOREAL CANOPY From Inchcailloch’s north pier, a path leads up through the woods. The trees were replanted some 200 years ago after their earlier decimation for their tannins, which were used to soften leather machine belts. The trees now form a roof over the island and, on
sunny days, the path is covered in dappled green light. Butterflies add splashes of colour while birds, such as redstarts, woodpeckers, treecreepers and migrant warblers fill the air with sound. If luck is on your side, you may even get a sighting of an osprey. After 200m take the first right turn; look right again for a side-path that soon appears. This leads to a ruined church and cemetery.
2 RELIGIOUS RUINS An Irish missionary and the daughter of an Irish king, Saint Kentigerna settled here in the 8th century; Inchcailloch’s Gaelic name, which means ‘island of the old or cowled woman’ refers to this early holy preacher. She died on the island in 743AD. A church was built here in the 12th century to honour Kentigerna and was in use until 1670 by the local people who rowed across
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Photos Getty, Alamy
Soft white sands, a delectable swim and a mini mountain await on the enchanted island of Inchcailloch, part of the Loch Lomond National Nature Reserve, says Fergal MacErlean
GREAT DAYS OUT
for mass and to bury their dead. The last burial took place in 1947 and the church is now ruined. Return to the path, which leads to the northern edge of the island, before making for the sheltered cover of Port Bawn in the south-west. 3
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BEACH BATHING
At Port Bawn you’ll find an amazing beach with soft white sand. Its south-west aspect makes it a real sun trap. There are barbecue stands, too, and the swimming is safe in the cool, peaty water by the shore. You may need to pinch yourself to realise you’re in Scotland. The return leads inland, rejoining the island’s main path. After about five minutes, take the first path on the right. This rises to the island’s highest point on Tom na Nigheanan. Watch for fallow deer foraging among the trees along the way.
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4 ISLAND PEAK At 85m, the island summit might not be particularly high but it gives a magnificent panorama, more than justifying the effort to get there. It is arguably the best view you can enjoy of the loch. The other islands appear like green floating jewels, with the Munros Ben Lomond and Ben Vorlich to the north. The path runs back into the woods and down to your starting point. Next to the pier back in Balmaha is the Oak Tree Inn, which has a beer garden and good food.
Getting there: The ferry runs every half hour from 9.30am–5.00pm in the summer. It’s turn-up-and-go (no booking). balmahaboatyard.co.uk Fergal MacErlean is an outdoors writer who loves exploring Scotland on foot, bike and boat.
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ABOVE Pitch up for an overnight stay at the basic campsite at the southern end of the island (open 1 March to 30 September, £5 per person, per night) then catch this historic ferry back to Balmaha from North Pier 75
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GREAT DAYS OUT
WALK AND SWIM: Coldingham Bay, Scottish Borders
BERWICKSHIRE BATHING Head to Scotland’s eastern shores for a morning of seabird watching before dipping your toes into the lapping waves of a sheltered bay, suggests Daniel Graham hen summer hits the Berwickshire Coast, its sky-high cliffs, buzzing with the clamour and spoor of fledgling seabirds and their appeasing parents, are hard to resist. This exhilarating spectacle shouldn’t be missed, but after a morning gazing down at that sparkling sea, you may well feel it’s time to get in it. Happily, just down the coast from the mighty cliffs of St Abb’s Head is an equally magnificent beach, and the perfect spot for a cooling afternoon swim. Coldingham Sands is a beach for everyone. Lifeguards
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keep watch over the waters seven days a week from 30 June–8 September, so you can swim in confidence. After your dip, build sandcastles in the clean, soft sand, hunt for hermit crabs and anemones in the rockpools, and explore the dunes behind a string of technicoloured huts. Dogs are allowed on the beach (on a lead over summer), and there is a café, toilets, disabled access and car parking.
Stretching for a kilometre, Coldingham Sands sits at the mouth of the Buskin Burn
Daniel Graham visited Coldingham Bay while walking the Berwickshire coast.
WALK AND SWIM: Llyn Cwm Llwch, Powys
MAGIC MOUNTAIN POOL Climb to the summit of South Wales’ highest peak and cool off in the deep, dark waters of its neighbouring llyn, says Christopher Ridout
Photos: Getty, Alamy
The deep blue of Llyn Cwm Llwch viewed from the ridge of Craig Cwm Llwch in the Brecon Beacons
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ne of the quietest and most beautiful pathways to popular Pen y Fan passes another natural wonder that is even more alluring if you wish to submerge yourself in the landscape rather than tower over it. The glacial lake of Llyn Cwm Llwch makes for a refreshing dip on a hot day after the steady climb up the verdant valley. The lofty Old Red Sandstone wall of the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, buttressed by ridges reaching north, afford the pool shelter.
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This is a dip for hardy souls only. The rusty-coloured water at the lake margins gets darker, deeper and colder as you head towards the centre. Here an invisible magical island is said to have once existed, sadly no longer accessible to mortal beings. However, the mountain view, with the visceral experience of being immersed in its waters, is a worthy consolation prize.
Christopher Ridout is a writer with a keen interest in literature, mythology and walking.
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WALK AND SWIM: Three Shires Head, Derbyshire/Staffordshire/Cheshire
SUMMER AT THE FALLS Join Helen Moat on a figure-of-eight walk through the uplands of the Peak District National Park, pausing for a paddle and picnic at a series of magical cascades
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1 ABOVE THE DANE From the back of the Wildlife Trust car park in the mill hamlet of Gradbach in Staffordshire, head along the waterside path. Go through the wall gap on to the lane, immediately crossing a footbridge to cut across to the Flash road. Turn right, then left into Dane View House drive. A signboard points you through a field gate. Continue over a series of fields, then follow the metal sign north-west for the three counties tripoint. 2 TRIPOINT TIME Drop down the wide grassy path, then gravel farm track.
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Turn left past farm outbuildings before veering right to climb the stony path above the River Dane to Three Shires Head. Submerge yourself in the freezing water – painful but wonderfully reenergising. Once you’re dry and warm, drink in the watery scene with its lovely packhorse bridge. It once carried a valuable trading route – the Peak’s very own Silk Road.
Danebower quarries, an atmospheric place of peaty water, spoil heaps and ruined drystone huts.
your left, and look out for a footpath cutting down through fields to the hamlet of Knar. 5 HIGH VISTA Follow the quiet gated lane west and south, savouring the wide-reaching views to Ramshaw Rocks and The Roaches. A left-hand path, immediately after the second road gate, descends through gorse to the Flash road. Turn left to cross the bridge, then retrace your steps to the car park.
4 HUT TO HAMLET Cross the brook’s stepping stones into Cheshire and climb the hill past a round hut and quarry pond. Look out for a narrow left-hand path that leaves the broad track to drop to the stream, which winds its way back to Three Shires Head. At the tripoint, climb the stony track, keeping the River Dane on
“ DRINK IN THE WATERY
SCENE WITH ITS LOVELY ARCHED PACKHORSE BRIDGE” 3 MOORLAND MEANDER Go through the gate to the right of the bridge and follow the brook upwards through the moorlands of Derbyshire. Continue to a fingerpost where slabs cross the track. Turn left, backtracking initially to follow a broad grassy path up on to the moorlands. Reaching a metal gate, turn left again to follow the Dane Valley Way as far as Reeve Edge and
Helen Moat is a travel writer, walker, cyclist and swimmer, happiest when outdoors.
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6.2 MILES 10KM 4 HOURS MODERATE
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Photos Alamy
n England there are an astonishing 68 county tripoints, but perhaps none as lovely as Three Shires Head where Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire converge in an isolated Peak District valley. Here, two bridges span the meeting of waters, a duo of waterfalls cascading over rocks to gather in mountaincold plunge pools. Hikers, photographers and wild swimmers are all drawn to this beauty spot, so it’s best to come early in the day. Enjoy an invigorating swim, a hot drink and the first rays of the summer sun before continuing on your figure-of-eight hike. In the nesting season, the plaintive cries of curlew are a constant soundtrack above the upland streams, while the surrounding moorlands are splashed with purple heather towards summer’s end.
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GREAT DAYS OUT
ABOVE A Grade II-listed packhorse bridge spans the River Dane and its cooling pools at Three Shires Head BELOW Looking south from the hillside above Three Shires Head towards The Roaches, a prominent gritstone ridge said to be the home of a wicked mermaid known as Jenny Greenteeth
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Tune in to Petroc Trelawny’s A Yorkshire River Journey, 6.30am–9am, 12–16 July on BBC Radio 3
SWIM: River Ure, North Yorkshire
REFRESHING FALLS AND POOLS During last year’s summer holidays, Paul Kirkwood and his family discovered two fabulous Yorkshire swimming spots, perfect for whiling away a hot August day or two contrasting wild swims combined with a pleasant short walk, head for the River Ure north of West Witton in Wensleydale.
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about three-quarters of a mile to a bend in the river (grid ref SE 053 899) which causes the water to back up and create a large, gradually shelving pool. It’s screened and sheltered by a steep, wooded bank and
WATERING HOLE First walk north-west along a bridleway from the village to Redmire Force, a trio of waterfalls deep in the trees. It’s a popular spot but most swimmers approach from, and stay on, the more readily accessible opposite bank. You can paddle in pools at the top of the falls or, with care, slide straight into the much deeper water at the bottom. For a more peaceful, gentler swim, walk downstream for
undiscovered. My family visited twice on scorching days last summer and practically had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect place to while away an afternoon. On one occasion, a herd of cows came down in single file for a drink and then marched back up again to their meadow. A magical moment.
“ THE STONY BEACH,
BACKED BY GRASS, IS PERFECT FOR A PICNIC” there’s also a stony beach backed by grass, perfect for picnicking. You can easily swim right across the river to rocks on the north side. I almost hesitate to share this spot because it is so
AFTERNOON AT THE INN You can walk back via Wanless Park and Flats Lane (making a total distance of five miles) or continue east on the
river to the grand Lords Bridge, the former main access to Bolton Hall, and return via Back Lane (6.5 miles). Finish your outing in West Witton with a drink or meal at either the Fox and Hounds pub (with beer garden) or the upmarket 17th-century Wensleydale Heifer hotel, a favourite haunt of fabled Dales vet, James Herriot. Access: On-street parking in West Witton can be difficult but there’s plenty of space in a lay-by just to the east of the village. Writer Paul Kirkwood loves exploring the UK with his family.
ABOVE Paul and his family wander downstream from the popular pools of Redmire Force to a secluded bend of the River Ure, on the eastern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales. The 74-mile river, whose name is thought to mean ‘the swift river’, eventually runs into the Ouse
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SWIM: River Cam, Cambridgeshire
SWIMMING WITH SCHOLARS Join Christopher Ridout on an aquatic adventure down the River Cam, from Lord Byron’s old bathing grounds to Cambridge’s punt-filled waters
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nusually for a river, the tranquil Cam derives its name from Cambridge rather than the other way around. Less than a mile from the convergence of the Cam’s two main tributaries, the Rhee and the Granta, is Byron’s Pool, a nature reserve that marks the start of a 2.5-mile (4km) stretch of water, designated for swimming and free from motorboats, which ends at the university city.
PADDLING POETS
Photo: Alamy
Times have changed since the Romantic poet Lord Byron began studies at Trinity in 1805 and famously swam in the seclusion of this spot south of the city. Sadly, a weir was installed in 1949 and swimming is forbidden within 36 metres of any weir, lock or sluice, so today you can’t submerge in the same spot as Byron, although a visit is still worthwhile. Hairstreak butterflies flit about the sycamore-dominated wood and you may catch a shimmering blue fizz in the air as a kingfisher takes flight over the water. Grantchester is a classic English village named for the River Granta and is the next stop on a lazy drift downriver. A century after Byron took to the waters, the poet Rupert Brooke made this village his home. Brooke and the group that gathered around him would probably have welcomed the
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recent revival of wild swimming as they led a liberal, bohemian lifestyle, desiring to get closer to nature. Brooke and Virginia Stephen (later Woolf) are said to have swum naked by the moonlight in Byron’s Pool.
WATERSIDE MEADOW Continue north of the village to reach Grantchester Meadows, a series of fields on the floodplain. Red poll cattle gently graze on the low-sided riverbank dotted with ash trees and pollarded willows. Easy access makes this a popular spot to take to the water. Though named for its role as a place of grazing, Sheeps Green was once home to separate bathing spots for men and women. Punts become more prominent as you approach the city, and you may see egrets rhythmically totter about the water meadow or herons fly overhead as you swim. Cattle still roam during the summer months at Coe Fen, where the permitted swimming stretch ends. Although a 16th-century vice chancellor of the university banned scholars from swimming, thankfully his opinion does not prevail for those of us who enjoy a dip these days. Christopher Ridout is a walker and writer with a keen interest in literature and mythology.
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GREAT DAYS OUT
“ YOU MAY SEE EGRETS
RHYTHMICALLY TOTTER ABOVE THE WATER MEADOW OR HERONS FLY OVERHEAD”
Pleasure-seekers flock to the pastures of Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge to picnic, swim, canoe or fish along this stretch of the River Cam
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TOP SEVEN LIDOS AND POOLS
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This Grade II-listed lido was built in 1935, its curved shape and central fountain quintessentially Art Deco in their sleek simplicity. A café, sundeck and views out to sea complete the saltwater bathing experience. everyoneactive.com/centre/tinside-lido
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2 There are more than 100 lidos and 7 outdoor swimming pools in the UK – Julie 3 Brominicks picks seven of the best for a summer swim
TINSIDE LIDO, PLYMOUTH, DEVON
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HATHERSAGE SWIMMING POOL, HATHERSAGE, DERBYSHIRE
Located in the heart of the Peak District, this pool is heated and the showers are hot, adding a certain decadence to your hill country swim, as do the solarium and bandstand. Cold-water swims are available off-season. hathersageswimmingpool.co.uk
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MILLISLE SEA POOL, ARDS PENINSULA, COUNTY DOWN
The bucket-and-spade village of Millisle is a summer holiday favourite for many families, thanks in part to its large open-air pool (free), flanked by rockpools and a jetty. Beaches to the north and south offer more options for swimming. ardspeninsula.com/millisle
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GOUROCK OUTDOOR POOL, GOUROCK, RENFREWSHIRE
Scotland’s oldest lido boasts views of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park across the Clyde Estuary. Watch boats and perhaps even occasional orcas while you swim or bathe under the stars on summer nights. inverclydeleisure.com/facilities/gourock-pool
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GREAT DAYS OUT
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PELLS POOL, LEWES, EAST SUSSEX
Pells Pool is the oldest documented freshwater outdoor swimming pool in the UK, dating to 1860. Fed by an underwater spring and warmed by the oftenwhimsical sun, it can be deliciously, skin-tinglingly cold, so you may need to warm up on the sun terrace before jumping in. There is ramp access to the pool for people with mobility needs, as well as an accessible toilet, shower and changing area. pellspool.org.uk
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ILKLEY POOL AND LIDO, ILKLEY, WEST YORKSHIRE
Its upland location makes this well-preserved freshwater lido a rather unusual example of 1930s passion for outdoor leisure. The timber-framed building with glazed concertina café doors opening on to a sun terrace is Grade II listed. bradford.gov.uk/sport-and-activities/sports-centres-and-pools/ilkley-pooland-lido
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BLACKPILL LIDO, SWANSEA
Photos: Alamy, Getty
A large paddling pool rather than a swimming spot, Blackpill Lido is much loved by locals and is especially good for families, with free entry and a play area. Overlooking the seafront, Blackpill Beach is known for wading birds, despite the hustle and bustle of the city. Make a day of it and visit neighbouring Clyne Gardens, home to the tallest recorded magnolia tree in Britain. swansea.gov.uk/blackpilllido
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READER IMAGES
YOUR GREAT DAYS OUT… IN PHOTOS Share your best photos of the British countryside with us and you could see your image published in print or online and win a great prize. Email your images to photos@countryfile.com photo of the month
TIDAL WINGS By: Helen Brassington Where: RSPB Snettisham Nature Reserve, Norfolk “I love to visit Snettisham when the tides are high in winter. When the high tide comes in to meet the shore, the waders – knots, redshanks, oystercatchers – take to the air in an extravaganza of birds. It takes your breath away.”
WHITE WAVES By: Julie Taylor Where: Bedruthan Beach, Cornwall “The view from the cliffs above the steps leading down to this stunning beach is awe-inspiring. I love these dramatic craggy stacks and the layers of frothy waves rolling in to the sandy shore.”
THE PRIZE This month’s winner receives a pair of Ariat Skyline Summit Gore-Tex® boots, worth £170. The boots are mesh-lined and made with a waterproof, breathable membrane, plus a shock-absorbing EVA midsole and leather upper with nylon panels. A dualdensity Duratread™ outsole provides extra traction for sure footing on rough terrain. Sizes: women’s 3–8.5; men’s 7–12.
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GREAT DAYS OUT SPRING MIRROR By: Julia Amies-Green Where: River Exe at Exebridge, Devon “I regularly visit this beautiful spot on the Somerset-Devon border. I love the reflection of the bridge and the trees in the beautifully still water. I find it calming and restful.”
NARROW VISION By: Zoe Hodkinson Where: St Annes-on-theSea, Lancashire “I liked the colours, how the beach huts naturally frame the shot, and the spontaneity. It encapsulates what you can see at the seaside.”
BRIGHT EYES By: Shaun Woodward Where: Sprotborough Flash, South Yorkshire “This beautiful peacock butterfly caught my attention because its colours were so vivid – it seemed to like the sun beaming down on it, with wings spread wide.”
FLORAL CLIFFS By: Peter Walton Where: Ll n Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales “In the foreground is Nant Eiddon, there’s a glimpse of the beach in the centre, and the Irish sea beneath the sky. The thrift is fantastic in May, and choughs were flying around the cliff edge.”
TOAD IN GRASS By: Gary Bridge Where: Stanley Bank Wood, Merseyside “Every March, my two boys and I head to the local pond to see if we can glimpse the spawning frogs and toads. This year we timed it perfectly, as all the toads were in the long damp grass and we got some great shots.”
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August
Lazy days BOOKS TV RADIO PODCASTS LETTERS PUZZLES Reviews editors: Margaret Bartlett, Maria Hodson
Eating sun-ripened tomatoes straight from the vine is one of the many pleasures of owning a smallholding, but there are pressures, too
LOVE AND TEARS ON THE SMALLHOLDING A moving no-holds-barred memoir that reveals the daily struggles of living on the land BOOK At first, after the writer and her young depression and, eventually, a breakdown. family take the plunge and leave London, It takes her a while to realise the family’s EARTHED BY REBECCA SCHILLER ELLIOT & THOMPSON, £14.99 HB
around her like autumn leaves, Rebecca Schiller observes wryly that the phrase ‘the simple life’ wasn’t coined by anyone who actually tried to live it.
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everything in south Kent seems idyllic. They live the rural dream, replete with adorable kid goats, broody hens, tomatoes eaten off the vine, muddy wild play, home-made jam, posies picked from their gorgeous cottage garden. So far so familiar, but this soul-baring memoir instead focuses on the next 18 months, when the pressures of tending to nearly two acres of Wealden clay, while earning a living and being a parent, quickly become overwhelming. Schiller experiences crippling anxiety,
smallholding has become part of the problem – as well as the solution. Schiller charts her daily struggles with poor mental health and the impact it has on those around her and relates how the earthy pleasures of toiling on the land through the seasons provide a system for coping. She also digs into the plot’s past and imagines the lives of its former inhabitants – particularly the women, who, she notes, tend to get written out of history. Ben Hoare, naturalist and author
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LAZY DAYS
BOOK FORECAST: A DIARY OF THE LOST SEASONS
A native species, red squirrels are rapidly being pushed out of many UK habitats by their grey cousins
BY JOE SHUTE, BLOOMSBURY, £16.99 HB “Overall, our weather is becoming duller, greyer,
So declares author Joe Shute, and I dare say it would be a job to find many people in Britain who would disagree. The writer of a national newspaper column about the weather, Shute uses his own reporting experiences to catalogue the many and diverse ways that our seasons have become less well defined and, indeed, increasingly unpredictable. Marshalling his material engagingly, he takes the reader to a flooded village in Kent, to the shores of Lake Chad in pursuit of cuckoos, to vineyards in absurdly northern climes, to Saddleworth Moor to witness a devastating fire, and to many more locations besides. Shute intersperses his narrative with the unfolding story of the difficulties he and his wife endure while attempting to conceive – their own personal experience of a disruption of the natural order. With a journalist’s eye for detail, he backs up his captivating anecdotal evidence regarding the seasons with the results of solid scientific research to finger the culprit: global warming. While we may associate the phenomenon merely with hotter weather and wetter winters, the author shows only too clearly how the rise in temperatures is affecting a whole raft of characteristics we associate with the four seasons. And unless we do something about it, the seasons as we’ve known them will be lost forever. Dixe Wills, travel writer and author
BOOK A SCURRY OF SQUIRRELS: NURTURING THE WILD BY POLLY PULLAR, BIRLINN, £14.99 PB Polly Pullar brings her lifetime’s experience of
Perthshire home. The squirrels of the title are just some of many creatures that have passed through her hands, where knowledge and compassion have made the difference between life and death. For someone who has never thought about the complexity of hand-rearing an orphan, the level of understanding of an animal’s natural upbringing and the dedication needed to ensure success are sobering. Your admiration of Polly grows with every chapter. You might
RADIO SONG OF THE REED BBC RADIO 4 PART ONE AVAILABLE ON BBC SOUNDS
Photos: Getty
Follow one year in the life of Fleggwick Fen, a fictional wetlands nature reserve set in the Norfolk Broads, in this compelling four-part radio drama. With a beautiful soundscape of seasonal birdsong captured on location, among reedbeds and woodland, the story is informed by the real conservation work underway at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk. The drama follows the seasons,
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imagine someone who has raised many animals would develop a knack for keeping an emotional distance, but Polly is clearly fully invested in every one of her charges. The description of the release into the wild of three squirrels she has raised from four days old is beautifully simple – full of joy at setting them free but sorrow at seeing them go. But this book is more than just a story of animal rescue. Throughout, Polly also describes the historic degradation of Scotland’s wild lands and loss of native species, and the effects of this on our modern lives. She is a passionate advocate for rewilding and uses atmospheric descriptions of her own restored smallholding to highlight what’s possible and why it’s so important. It’s a very personal tale of paradise lost and hope that it can be regained. Sheena Harvey, former editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine
with three-month intervals between episodes, and stars Sophie Okonedo as Olivia and Mark Rylance as Ian. After the death of her father, the reserve’s founder, Olivia takes over and struggles to find a way to make the reserve financially sustainable. Meanwhile, long-serving warden Ian sets himself against change and “trendy” versions of conservation. On a summer’s day, the reserve is hosting a ‘Swallowtail Safari’, inviting the manager of a larger conservation charity. Will they sight the elusive swallowtail butterfly? The future of the reserve could depend upon it.
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LAZY DAYS
Q&A
REVEALING THE REALITIES OF RURAL LIFE We speak to author of Field Work, Bella Bathurst, whose insightful and humane record of life on Rise Hill Farm uncovers some painful truths about Britain’s relationship with its farms and the people who work on them What was your intention when setting out to write Field Work? I just wanted to stand and translate – to say, this is how things might seem if you were a farmer, and to offer an image of farmers from their own words. There are already plenty of people telling us we should be farming differently – rewilding, going small-scale, reducing dependence on meat, whatever – but not so many about farmers themselves. Farming isn’t like any other profession: it’s a business, but it’s also family, identity, past, money, inheritance, politics, heart, soul, future. Everything is entangled, and I wanted to say, have a look. It’s not like you think it is. What was your experience of farming and rural life before you went to live at Rise Hill Farm in Wales? I didn’t grow up on a farm – I grew up in London and the Scottish Borders. I spent a lot of time around farming but not in it, watching the seasonal cycles (lambing, haymaking, harvesting etc) but only taking part occasionally. I understood farming’s role in Britain’s sense of identity but it wasn’t until I moved to Wales that I realised how exceptional farming is, but also how dramatic and contradictory. After Brexit and lockdowns, do you think the British farmer still has a bad reputation among the public? I think it’s improving, but that’s not saying
MUSIC HUNTER BY CHRISTINA ALDEN AND ALEX PATTERSON Established folk musicians Christina Patterson make their
transports the listener to wild landscapes and wild lives.
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much – it’s coming from a pretty low base. At some stage over the past 30 years farming became like the police; it was once the sort of profession the middle classes respected without really understanding, now it’s the sort of profession that everyone disrespects without really understanding either. I’d say there’s still a fair amount of suspicion on both sides. How did you feel about witnessing the knackerman at work, and then writing about it? Why did you choose to include this in the book? Because where there’s livestock, there’s dead stock, as the saying goes. The knackerman (and it is usually men) is as essential to farming as grass is, or weather. But I was curious – outside of farming, I’d never seen their world represented in print before. How did I feel about it? I think they do a difficult job with professionalism and skill. Many aspects of it are not easy to watch, but it felt like it was important to do so, and to try to report honestly on it. Now that you know all the intricacies of farming, would you choose to work on the land? On the land, yes, as a farmer, no. Farming’s hard! And though there are plenty of extremely talented new entrants to farming, I did come to the conclusion that
The Norfolk-based multiinstrumentalists create gorgeous harmonies and lush melodies on guitar, fiddle, banjo, strings and shruti box, reflecting their connection with the natural world. Alden’s voice lilts and lifts, dancing over pretty plucking and sweeping strings, as the pair play songs of land corridors and the Arctic fox; of New Year waltzing and the centuries-old Greenland shark.
it really helps to be born into it, or at least to grow up connected to it. If you keep stock, those animals don’t stop being dependent on you because it’s Christmas or you’re ill or there’s some family crisis. For anyone who’s grown up with the concept of holidays and weekends and the occasional trip away from home, the relentlessness of it can be hard. I loved the need to be 10 professions in a day (vet, economist, negotiator, haulier, chippy, plumber…), and I love the understanding between land and people. But I haven’t got the skill or the patience to be a real farmer. Do you have any worries about the future of UK farming? Are there enough young people willing to farm? For various reasons (cost of land etc), there’s a bottleneck at the moment. There are lots of young people bursting with ideas but very few opportunities to farm. I don’t know how it’s going to resolve itself but I’m fairly sure that it will. Farmers are like writers: there are always some in every generation. It doesn’t really matter what obstacles you put in their way, they’ll still make it through in the end.
TO PEOPLE AND WHAT PEOPLE BY BELLA BATHURST PROFILE BOOKS, £16.99, HB IS OUT NOW.
Their songwriting roams wide, exploring the environment, ecology and folk history. The title track relates an unlikely friendship between a brown bear and a grey wolf in Finland; ‘Reed Cutting’ is inspired by summer’s end in East Anglia; ‘My Flower, My Companion and Me’ is a lovely rendition of the traditional song about love and loss. A magical album that captures the beauty of nature and bestows a sense of peace on the listener. Maria Hodson, production editor
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Matt Baker THE COUNTRYFILE PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM THE NATURAL GLORIES OF A GARDEN POND frogs, toads, frogspawn, damselflies, dragonflies, water boatmen, newts, bats, squirrels and foxes, all in and around the pond at some point. Our most recent surprise visitors were a pair of ducks and we even had a bit of duck drama. A pair of ducks turned up out of the blue one day and stayed around for a couple of weeks. One day, two males were with the female, so there was a bit of argy-bargy going on to win her affections. We were all rooting for the original Mr Duck and I’m happy to say he did indeed triumph in the end. They have stuck around for quite a while now, so are obviously quite happy, although I still haven’t quite got used to the sound of ducks quacking accompanying the cockerel in the morning!
“Putting the pond in has been one of the best things we have ever done to our garden”
BELOW Adding a pond to a garden offers sanctuary to frogs and a huge range of wildlife
BRIMMING WITH LIFE
We’ve left the pond to grow quite wild around the edges so there are plenty of places for animals to hide and get shade in the summer months – it’s constantly buzzing with insects at the moment. We are delighted by how mature it seems to be already. All the pond plants we put in that had died back over winter have come back brilliantly this spring and summer. The young native lily is doing really well; the leaves are enormous and we’re hoping it will flower. We didn’t get too much trouble with algae in the summer either, the little bit we did get was easily managed by adding barley straw extract to the water. It has been lovely to watch the new pond develop and change through the seasons in its first year and now that it’s in year two, it’s really flourishing. The final addition was the garden bench that sits by the water’s edge – a lovely setting for a G and T and some quality time with my wife Nicola.
Watch Matt on Countryfile, Sunday nights on BBC One.
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www.countryfile.com
Photos Oliver Edwards, Getty
Over the past year or so, there’s one thing I get asked about a lot, and that’s my pond. As some of you may know, at the start of the first lockdown, my family and I put a pond in our back garden. We filmed it and it was broadcast in a Countryfile episode from our garden. Since then, many people have asked me how the pond is doing and for any advice I may have so that they can put in their own pond. I’m not an expert but as a family we have learnt a lot – from working out the best design and features a pond should have, to how to manage our pond through the seasons. I have to say, putting the pond in has been one of the best things we have ever done in our garden. It’s now well over a year since it was created and it has been a total wildlife haven. We don’t have any fish or water pumps in it, it’s purely there for the wildlife. It’s a hive of activity for the birds, who all love to have a bath in it and drink from the pebbled beach area. We have had
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Your countryside HAVE YOUR SAY ON RURAL ISSUES Share your views and opinions by writing to us at: Have your say: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST; or email editor@countryfile.com, tweet us @CountryfileMag or via Facebook www.facebook.com/countryfilemagazine *We reserve the right to edit correspondence
letter of the month
WILD JOY ON YOUR DOORSTEP
It seems many people think that in order to find countryside, you need to head miles out into the country. We could all name areas of Britain renowned for their excellent countryside. We could probably all name areas where we have national parks. I live in the West Midlands, in the part called the Black Country. Contrary to popular belief, it would be fairly accurate these days to call it the Green Country, certainly in many areas. In 2005, I retired due to ill health. By 2008, I had discovered a nearby woodland, much neglected. In 2012, I started a friends group to work alongside Dudley Council to manage the ancient woodland and open it up for local residents. In 2019, Natural England granted us Local Nature Reserve status,
and so was born Alder Coppice LNR (right). There are 10 nature reserves in Dudley and it even boasts two nationally recognised sites: the Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve, also known for its geology, and Saltwells National Nature Reserve. Not bad for a metropolitan borough council in the Black Country. However, it’s not just the nature reserves, it’s all the other countryside that exists in the area. You don’t have to travel deep into the countryside to find nature. In fact, you’re more likely to find foxes in suburban areas. My local nature reserve, Alder Coppice, boasts foxes, badgers, two types of deer, a host of smaller mammals, beautiful birds, fantastic fungi and a plethora of wildflowers. So don’t overlook what’s on your doorstep when seeking the countryside.
Why not come to the Black Country for a country holiday? Simon Biggs, chairman, Friends of Alder Coppice LNR Editor Fergus Collins replies: You’ll have no argument from me – we ran a big feature on the Black Country Geopark in October 2020 celebrating the nature and history of the area. And huge congratulations on your success with Alder Coppice LNR.
THE PRIZE This star letter wins a portable and lightweight Helinox Chair One, worth £90. Easy to assemble thanks to DAC aluminium alloy technology and with breathable fabric for great comfort, the Helinox Chair One comes in a tiny pack size and weighs only 850g. helinox.eu
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OVERLOOKED OSPREYS
INACCESSIBLE ROUTES
In a highly enjoyable article on ospreys in your June issue, I was surprised to find no mention of the Dyfi Osprey Project near Machynlleth in mid-Wales. There is an observatory, hides and a 24-hour camera streaming live. For more information and a link to the live stream of the nests, see dyfiospreyproject.com, or visit the Facebook page, facebook. com/dyfiospreyproject. Roger Stevenson, Upper Cwmbran
People just don’t realise the problems of disabled access. My gripe, as the pusher of my wife’s wheelchair, is the loose gravel paths found at so many National Trust properties. Impossible! And as for your article in the May issue, very few disabled people have access to all-terrain scooters. Most of those available at sites are just ruggedised mobility scooters, like the Tramper at Blashford Lakes. Fine on rough level paths, but no use up rocky hills. And we
have only found one example of a beach wheelchair, in Jersey. Fortunately, we live near Hengistbury Head in Dorset and can use the paved level path by Christchurch Harbour, through the woods and to the beach. Disused railway lines converted to footpaths can be good too, although access is difficult in some places. It would be good to hear of the experiences of other disabled people and their carers in trying to access the countryside. Mike Lacey, Dorset
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Down to a T The T-shirt has a humble reputation, but choosing the right one can make summer walks so much more comfortable. Emma Lewis seeks the perfect T for hikers • All T-shirts featured come in men’s and women’s sizes
Cool-Lite Merino Amplify Short Sleeve Crewe T-shirt Icebreaker, £65, icebreaker.com
BBC Countryfile Magazine favourite
Not normally a merino fan? Try this. The ‘130 featherweight’ fabric in this odour-resistant top is superlight, cooler and softer than pure merino. The secret? Cool-Lite: a blend of 50% merino, 35% TENCEL and 15% nylon. TENCEL is a brand name for lyocell, an environmentally sustainable fibre made from wood pulp (usually the fast-growing, low-maintenance eucalyptus), which can absorb 50% more water than cotton. This impressive lightweight top also has mesh at the back and under the arms to allow more freedom of movement, as well as offset shoulder seams to reduce backpack rub and a dropped back hem. It would work well for layering year-round. VERDICT Lightweight, breathable and excellent quality. 9/10
BEST value
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LIFA Active Solen T-shirt Helly Hansen, £35, hellyhansen.com
Dart Zip T-shirt Montane, £34, montane.com
24/7 Short Sleeve Tech Baselayer Berghaus, £25, berghaus.com
Perfect for hot, sunny hikes, this lightweight crew neck features S.Café technology, which infuses recycled coffee grounds into the fibre to give permanent sun-protection of UPF 50+ (ultraviolet protection factor, giving you UVA and B protection). The tiny pores on the coffee grounds also absorb odours and help the top dry ‘four times quicker than cotton’. Meanwhile, the durable, double-layered LIFA Active fabric wicks moisture really speedily. VERDICT Sun-safe and durable. 8/10
Have you considered a slight collar for a little more sun protection, and a quarter zip to add ventilation? The supersoft knitted fabric on this one is 100% recycled APEX ECO polyester, which wicks and dries quickly and includes Polygiene permanent odour control, allowing you to reduce your pack weight by taking fewer tops on multiday trips. You’ll get UPF 40+, flat-locked seams and a fairly relaxed fit, too. This tee doubles up nicely as a cycling top. VERDICT Smart and supersoft. 8/10
This one punches well above its weight for the low price tag. Made from bluesignapproved polyester ARGENTIUM fabric that is kinder to the planet, the simplelooking top is lightweight, fast-wicking and drying, odour-resistant (thanks to silver-ion technology that gives permanent odour protection), breathable and stretchy. Closefitting and a good length, with flat-locked seams for comfort when wearing a pack, it comes in a wide range of sizes and colours. VERDICT Comfy and great value. 8/10
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LAZY DAYS BEST green
Capilene Cool Merino Shirt, Patagonia, £65 (£70 with graphics), eu.patagonia.com
Alpine Hemp T-shirt Salewa, £65, salewa.com
Insect Shield T-shirt Keela, £29.95, keelaoutdoors.com
Synthetic fabrics and merino wool both have their merits (synthetic is hard-wearing and can be stretchy; merino is less stinky) but a mix of the two can give you the best of both worlds. This superlight (88g for the women’s) new design is a good balance, at 65% merino and 35% Capilene, or recycled polyester. The back dips slightly on the women’s. It’s Fair Trade-certified sewn and one per cent of sales goes to eco causes. VERDICT Lightweight and Fair Trade. 9/10
This top gives great all-day comfort, has a relaxed fit and features 23% hemp fibres blended with 55% organic cotton for a cool feel. Recycled polyester (22%) provides stretch, even in the seams. Reinforced Durastretch (polyamide and elastane) panelling in the shoulder helps wick moisture caused by your backpack. Hemp is durable, breathable, thermo-regulating and can absorb a lot of moisture before it feels damp. VERDICT Eco-friendly, breathable. 9/10
With Lyme disease from ticks an issue, not to mention midgies and the like, this top could be useful for local forays as well as to more exotic locations. How does the tech work? The treatment, which lasts for 70 washes, contains permethrin, which affects insects’ nervous systems when they come into contact with it. It’s predominantly cotton, so works best without a backpack. The faint chemical odour disappears after one wash. VERDICT Good bug protection. 7/10
BEST styling
Cambia Short Sleeved T-shirt Páramo, £40, paramo-clothing.com
Zero Ice Cirro-Cool T-shirt Columbia, £45, columbiasportswear.co.uk
Mountain T-shirt Mammut, £40, mammut.com
This reversible tee works well in both hot and cool conditions. Wear the smooth surface of the polyester Parameta T+ fabric on the inside when it’s hot, so more of the fabric touches your skin, absorbing moisture fast and helping it spread to aid cooling. Wear the more textured side next to skin in cooler conditions to wick moisture faster. You get SPF25+, flat seams and a bit of stretch in this recyclable, Fair Trade top, but no anti-pong treatment. VERDICT Cool and versatile. 8/10
If you’re going somewhere hot or tend to overheat easily, this tee might keep you walking comfortably for longer. The cooling technology features tiny blue rings, visible on the inside, along with snowflake images. These rings provide a greater surface area of material to help absorb moisture, plus react with your sweat to lower the temperature of the fabric and help cool you. Made from 100% polyester (around half of it recycled), it has plenty of stretch. VERDICT Good for hot days. 8/10
The relaxed fit, bold graphics and colours plus rolled-up sleeves (women’s version) means this looks great in the pub post-hike, but it’s pretty technical too. It features ‘drirelease’ fabric, which wicks moisture and dries four times faster than cotton. The 14% cotton (blended with 81% polyester and 5% stretchy Spandex) helps give it a more natural, cooler feel against the skin than some, while an antimicrobial treatment keeps whiffs at bay. VERDICT Stylish and sporty too. 8/10
For more reviews of outdoor gear, go to countryfile.com/country-kit
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Country puzzles RACK YOUR COUNTRYFILE BRAIN WITH THESE WILD AND WONDERFUL GAMES COUNTRYSIDE QUIZ
answers at bottom of page 99
10. Clapper, bascule and packhorse are all types of what? a) Basket b) Wagon c) Tractor d) Bridge 11. How many young people have taken part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award since it was set up by The Duke of Edinburgh 65 years ago? a) 2.2 million b) 4.3 million c) 6.7 million d) 9.1 million Loch Lomond viewed from the slopes of Ben Lomond 1. What is the name of the small, rounded, lightweight boat traditionally used in Wales, parts of the West Country and in Ireland? a) Clinker b) Coracle c) Coble d) Puffer
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4. The Rhee and the Granta are the two principal tributaries of which river? a) The Cam b) The Dee c) The Wye d) The Tay
7. How many islands and islets are there in total on Loch Lomond? a) 17 b) 23 c) 49 d) 56
2. Which seabird is known to Shetlanders as ‘alamootie’? a) Black guillemot b) Storm petrel c) Arctic tern d) Arctic skua
5. Which is the only body of water in the Lake District to feature the word ‘lake’ in its official name? a) Windermere b) Derwentwater c) Rydal d) Bassenthwaite
8. ‘Innis’ is the Gaelic word for what? a) Hill b) River c) Island d) Cave
3. How many county tripoints are there in England? a) 12 b) 31 c) 46 d) 68
6. Which British butterfly is pictured, right? a) Peacock b) Comma c) Red admiral d) Painted lady
9. What is the earliest grasshopper to appear in spring, hatching in April? a) Common green b) Meadow c) Common field d) Mottled grasshopper
12. The Snowdon Mountain Railway takes passengers to the top of Snowdon from which village station? a) Llanberis b) Nant Peris c) Rhyd-Ddu d) Bettws Garmon 13. What is a gwyniad? a) A Welsh mythical beast b) A wildflower c) A rare whitefish d) A style of folk song 14. Which British beetle is metallic green? a) Rose chafer b) Violet ground beetle c) Oil beetle d) Sexton beetle 15. Where will you find Scotland’s oldest lido? a) Stonehaven b) Edinburgh c) Gourock d) Tarlair
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LAZY DAYS
CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS
COUNTRYSIDE CROSSWORD by Eddie James
JUNE ACROSS 1 Puts together, roughly... small paving stones (7) 5 River in Gloucestershire – once a large container of milk! (5) 8 Small mountain lake... in west Arnside (4) 9 Spiny shrub also called furze or whin (5) 10 March in front of this swift animal? (4) 11 One of Norfolk’s wide expanses of water (5) 13 Orange/black/white butterfly, a rare visitor to Britain (7) 14 Agatha Christie’s home in Devon... and eco-friendly path? (8) 15 Thoroughly soak (6) 17 Separates wool fibres for spinning – and winds up? (6) 19 Plucky grouse, say? (4,4) 21 Craven’s top prophet ... “it’s a wicker-framed boat!” (7) 23 Desiccated, like hops in an oast house (5) 24 Bird of prey with striped underparts (4) 25 Burrowing animals and undercover spies (5) 27 Glen ___, valley in Cairngorms NP... an incline (4) 28 Small relative of the stoat (6) 29 Cornish beach owned by Nat. Trust – gets dog very excited (7)
This magazine is published by Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited under licence from BBC Worldwide.
DOWN: 2 Plantsmen 3 Treen 4 Rannoch 5 Lichens 6 Swansea 7 Rue 8 False 13 Alloa 15 Orton 17 Wicken Fen 19 Avebury 20 Lowther 21 Priests 22 Flash 24 Beach 26 Moo.
JULY DOWN 1/21 down The first AONB awarded, in its entirety, ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ status – bear has concern, sadly! (9,5) 2 A Munro on Isle of Mull, in Gaelic ‘Big Mountain’ (3,4) 3 Another name for a shoe’s cleat (3) 4 West Country cider (7) 5 State of beaches awarded a Blue Flag (5) 6 Dislodge an equestrian... upsetting our hens! (7) 7/12 down Ridge of chalk hills from Surrey to the Kent coast (5,5)
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15 Shaped like the Great Glasshouse in Botanic Garden of Wales (5) 16 Straw figure made from last few stalks of harvested wheat (4,5) 18 Gets a plant cutting to take root... stops work (7) 19 Large European goose (7) 20 A stiff hair (7) 21 See 1 down 22 Cornish river – desert transport! (5) 26 Devon’s smallest river... in countryside (3)
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ACROSS: 1 Punches 5 Common 8 Crew 9 Reaps 10 Dump 11 Cheshire 12 Allows 14/24 Butter Mountain 16 The Knott 18 Hen-coops 21 Sussex 22 Dorset 26 Shod 28 Lured 29 Aran 30/7 Old Man of Mow 31 Striped. DOWN: 1 Parkhouse 2 Newts 3 Harrier 4 Sea beet 5 Cascade 6 Mud 13 Lancs 15 Ticks 17 The Lizard 19 Ortolan 20 St Marys 21 Sounder 23 Ochil 25 Tramp 27 Dam.
MANAGEMENT CEO Tom Bureau BBC STUDIOS UK PUBLISHING Chair, Editorial Review Boards Nicholas Brett Managing director, consumer products and licensing Stephen Davies Director, Magazines Mandy Thwaites Compliance manager Cameron McEwan UK publishing co-ordinator Eva Abramik uk.publishing@bbc.com www.bbcstudios.com SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Annual subscription rates (inc P&P): UK/BFPO £61.75; Europe and Republic of Ireland £72.50; rest of world £76.50. July–Dec 2019 40,226
ANSWERS QUIZ: 1b, 2b, 3d, 4a, 5d, 6d, 7c, 8c, 9a, 10d, 11c, 12a, 13c, 14a, 15c
Photos: Getty,
EDITORIAL Editor Fergus Collins Production editors Margaret Bartlett and Maria Hodson Features editor Joe Pontin Art editor Tim Bates Deputy art editor Laura Phillips Picture editor Hilary Clothier Section editor Daniel Graham Group digital editor Carys Matthews Editorial and digital coordinator Megan Shersby
ACROSS: 1 Spot 4 Rolls 7 Ruff 9 Cavern 10 Cranefly 11 Stanhope 14/12 Smooth snake 16 Swallow 18 Nuttall 21 Plaice 22 Fence 23 Whimbrel 25 Barmouth 27 Staffa 28 Shoo 29 Yorks 30 Hunt
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