1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,394 This is a story of Britain, but not as you've seen her before. 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,035 If you really want to understand how this country works, 3 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:18,719 then there's only one way to get the big picture - 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:20,432 from above. 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,474 Already in this series, we've unpacked 24 hours in our nation's life, 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,751 looked at how we all survive on the very lip of chaos. 7 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,317 We've plummeted head-first 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,875 over the classic patchwork quilt of the British countryside... 9 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,037 ...and discovered how our natural landscape 10 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,596 has, in fact, been moulded by human hands for centuries. 11 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:54,274 In this third and final episode, we're going to explore untamed Britain. 12 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:01,440 We're going to strip bare patterns and rhythms of forces we can't control, 13 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:05,189 but can at least try to understand. 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,909 We're going to uncover the powers deep in the Earth 15 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:11,996 that have shaped these islands for millennia 16 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,875 and the riches they've left under our feet to plunder. 17 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,275 We're going to reveal the course of the wind 18 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,757 and the weather as it sweeps across us every hour of the day... 19 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,593 ...and sometimes overwhelms us. 20 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,353 We're going to track and expose the habits of the untamed creatures of our landscape, 21 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,994 from sika deer 22 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:39,917 to school children. 23 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,709 And finally, we're going to meet 150,000 people 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:46,751 doing the wild British pleasure hunt. 25 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,191 Biggles, off the leash at Glastonbury. 26 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,193 This is Britain From Above. 27 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,669 The island of Skye, on the west coast of Scotland. 28 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,315 The Skye mountain rescue team are on exercise. 29 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:39,634 Their task? To practise picking up an injured climber 30 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,035 from a 2,000-foot-high crag 31 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:47,359 in what is perhaps the wildest and most untamed corner of Britain. 32 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:51,995 As the helicopter closes in, 33 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,190 so does the weather. 34 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,909 Swirling rain clouds cut visibility to yards. 35 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,470 It's no easier on the ground. 36 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,798 This mountainside is formed from crystallised volcanic lava, 37 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:10,719 sharp enough to cut a climber's hands to ribbons. 38 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:17,191 The rocks produce so much magnetic interference, 39 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:18,719 compasses are useless. 40 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,236 You don't mock nature round here. 41 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,954 So extreme is this landscape, 42 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,232 rescue teams like this are out on call almost every day of the year. 43 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:46,954 We tend to think of this country as having a rather genial, almost cosy landscape. 44 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:53,314 And yet, all around us, there are great forces at work, mostly out of sight. 45 00:03:53,360 --> 00:04:00,994 Below our feet, the rocks are shifting, squeezing, pushing, muscling. 46 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,751 Over our heads, there are vast jets of air, constantly moving. 47 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:12,158 And all around us, the untamed world of nature is fluttering 48 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,668 and burrowing and migrating. 49 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:20,955 And it's really only from above that you get some sense of the delicacy 50 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,516 and sheer scale of this country we don't really own 51 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,757 and a lot of the time, can't control. 52 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:38,153 The island of Skye is one ripped corner of a great, rumpled wildness 53 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,430 that stretches across the entire north of Britain. 54 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:46,271 These are the Scottish Highlands and Islands. 55 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,598 Even now, you get off the usual tourist routes 56 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,679 and there are just a handful of roads, dodging mountain and water, 57 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,280 to link scattered settlements. 58 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,919 And there are great tracts with no roads at all, 59 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,238 a vast hinterland, to be explored from above. 60 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,718 (BUZZ OF CONVERSATION) 61 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,399 I've headed to the Northeast of Scotland, 62 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,159 to the Black Isle, just north of Inverness. 63 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,671 I'm going to take a trip in the air, with Dougal Jerram, a geologist. 64 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,396 He's going to explain how this epic landscape first came into existence. 65 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,676 We're going up in a pair of microlights 66 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,111 and we'll be talking to each other over a radio link. 67 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,839 - Perfect. - I'm wrapped up like a very fat onion. 68 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,270 - With many layers! - With many layers. 69 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,871 These microlights are strange, slightly disconcerting little machines. 70 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,072 They look like a motorised tricycle, attached to a paper dart 71 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,716 and powered by what appears to be a giant desk fan. 72 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,311 But they do give you an extraordinary view. It's like being in a plane 73 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,158 except there's no plane around you. 74 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,760 (ENGINE DRONES) 75 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,348 And here is Loch Ness. 76 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:45,834 Most of us think of it as the home of a mysterious and probably mythical monster. 77 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,714 But it's also the largest stretch of fresh water in Britain... 78 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,477 ...holding more water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined. 79 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,513 And, for Dougal, it has an even greater significance. 80 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,439 DOUGALJERRAM: Loch Ness has the great monster as its popularisation, 81 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:04,959 but it's a fantastic body of water. 82 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,434 It's about two cubic miles of water. 83 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,755 It's about 23 miles long in a straight line 84 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,270 and it has a straight line for a particularly important geological reason. 85 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:21,194 ANDREW MARR: Loch Ness is just one part of a giant crack, 86 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,915 millions of years old, that slices, ruler-straight, 87 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,997 across the entire width of Scotland. 88 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,077 It's known as the Great Glen Fault. 89 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:37,434 DOUGALJERRAM: It's a fault where two bits of crust have torn themselves apart. 90 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:42,031 It wouldn't be too dramatic to say that this is the San Andreas Fault of the UK. 91 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,432 ANDREW MARR: We peel away from the loch and out onto the high mountains beyond. 92 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:59,795 And here, the landscape becomes even more breathtaking. 93 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:14,115 These mountains piled around the Great Glen Fault, 94 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,711 the silent witnesses to an extraordinary geological event 95 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,309 where the north of Scotland once hit the rest of Britain. 96 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,034 DOUGALJERRAM: Over 400 million years ago, 97 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,993 two huge continents that were floating on the Earth's surface collided 98 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:35,636 and they were moving together as much as the speed our nails grow on our hands, 99 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:38,319 but over millions of years. 100 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:42,399 ANDREW MARR: As these two land masses crushed together, 101 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,671 the mountains were pushed up like molten toffee 102 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,518 although, 400 million years ago, 103 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:51,438 they'd have been even more spectacular. 104 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,076 DOUGALJERRAM: The mountains that we see now 105 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,953 are remnants of probably a much bigger mountain chain, 106 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,070 possibly even of Himalayan proportions. 107 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,436 ANDREW MARR: It took millions of years and several ice ages 108 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:12,952 for these Himalayan peaks to be ground down to the worn stumps we see today. 109 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,395 Flying by microlight is a cold but extraordinary way 110 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,671 to discover the untouched landscapes of Britain. 111 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,871 And yet, I've not even scratched the surface 112 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,037 of the geological history that formed them. 113 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:36,272 For over 150 years, 114 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:41,314 geologists like Dougal have been surveying every corner of the country 115 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,033 with maps and little picksxes. 116 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:49,036 Now, locked inside computers, they have the most comprehensive picture 117 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,833 of Britain from above there's ever been. 118 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,353 I'm going to be escorted through this virtual landscape 119 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,868 by geologist Kathryn Goodenough. 120 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:04,152 So, Kathryn, this is a three-dimensional map of the country, 121 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:05,679 but what are you able to do with it? 122 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,234 Well, that's right. This is the geovisionary system... 123 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:10,111 - Geovision? - Geovision. Exactly. 124 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:11,957 A terrain model, essentially. 125 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,629 We've got a 3-D impression of the countryside of Great Britain. 126 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,518 This isn't just a video game of our landscape. 127 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:23,951 Kathryn could overlay detailed aerial photographs... 128 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,509 ...Ordnance Survey maps... 129 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,752 ...infrared satellite imagery that strips away vegetation 130 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,553 to reveal the raw land underneath. 131 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,434 And layer upon layer of geological maps 132 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,234 that show a maze of different rock types spread across the land. 133 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,595 Then she shows me how we can drill down 134 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,518 to see what's happening far beneath the surface. 135 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:55,473 We can actually turn it round and have a look at what we could see 136 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,318 - if we went under the surface of Britain. - That is astonishing! 137 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:02,069 - So you're slicing the cake, as it were. - That's right, absolutely. 138 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,839 The grey lines that you can see coming down there, 139 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:09,317 that's your faults extending down at depth underneath Britain. 140 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:13,069 And the Great Glen Fault goes down really deep. 141 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,311 ANDREW MARR: But this whirling kaleidoscope of views 142 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,874 isn't just geological eye candy. 143 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:25,870 For its size, Britain has the most diverse geology in the world. 144 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:31,278 And this has given us an equally vast range of natural resources. 145 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:36,553 Kathryn whisks us from the far north of Scotland to South Wales 146 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:38,079 in a matter of moments 147 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,592 to demonstrate how our geology has shaped the Britain we know and live in today. 148 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:49,030 So this abstract pattern here, what is it? 149 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,152 Well, it's an example of a geological map, of course. 150 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,318 The important thing here is that grey stripe you can see going along. 151 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:57,759 - Zig-zag, yeah. - Exactly. 152 00:11:57,800 --> 00:11:59,472 And what it actually represents 153 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,637 is where you've got rocks that might have coal in them at the surface. 154 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:03,669 Ah. 155 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,713 And it's the area where there's some of the largest opencast coal mines in Europe. 156 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,116 Look at that. Yeah. OK, so these are the Welsh coal-mining valleys. 157 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:12,149 Exactly. 158 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:22,239 If it wasn't for the coal that lies under them, the valleys of South Wales 159 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:27,479 might be almost as wild and untouched as the Scottish Highlands are. 160 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,434 But when you look down, villages snake along every valley. 161 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,117 Slag heaps punctuate the scenery. 162 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:45,591 Giant excavators are still clawing away at the land. 163 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:52,869 And coal mines have reshaped more than South Wales. 164 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:58,313 Many of our greatest cities - Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle - 165 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:03,673 are there because they've been built next to or on top of major coal reserves. 166 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:08,396 And it's not just coal that's built the Britain we know today. 167 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:14,436 Our iron ore has been forged into steel, into bridges and railways. 168 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,519 Our clay has been moulded into billions of bricks. 169 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:24,038 Great plants are still transforming our limestone 170 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,629 into everything from cement to roads to toothpaste. 171 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:31,753 And some of our mineral resources remain unique in the world. 172 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:36,794 These are the china clay pits of St Austell in Cornwall. 173 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:42,551 120 million tonnes of clay have been pulled out of this lunar landscape. 174 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,272 And it's still working, 175 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:48,472 producing everything from paper to electrical insulators 176 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,670 to ladies'foundation powder. 177 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:56,072 Back in the 18th century, these mines were the original source 178 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,192 of almost all the fine china in the world. 179 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:06,037 The great trove of underground wealth revealed by Kathryn's geovisionary system 180 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,392 offers a key to unlocking great parts of our island's history. 181 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,435 This actually changes the shape of the country. 182 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,914 Absolutely. Geology underpins absolutely everything. 183 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,353 Even now, we're still discovering buried treasure in the landscape. 184 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,389 Garth Earls is senior geologist with Northern Ireland Geological Survey. 185 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,560 He's the first man to strike gold in Britain for 2,000 years. 186 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,118 He knew there were some tiny traces of this most precious of metals 187 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,357 in the water of a small stream in County Tyrone. 188 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,791 And there were ancient tales of gold mines in the area. 189 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,071 Historical records of gold in Northern Ireland go back to the 16th century. 190 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,590 There is a mystery of Irish gold artefacts as to where they came from 191 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,552 and it would be nice to think that some of the Irish gold artefacts 192 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:04,431 came from ancient mines in the Sperrin Mountains. 193 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,439 Although people have been panning for tiny quantities of gold 194 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:13,429 in this stream for years, Garth set out to try and find proper veins of gold, 195 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:14,595 buried in the rocks. 196 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:18,952 At one spot, they found a vein of gold-bearing quartz 197 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,992 in a stretch of the river bank. 198 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,998 The white material in the middle is quartz. 199 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:29,591 But it's within the dull, brassy iron pyrite that the gold is contained. 200 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:35,590 Garth now knew that there was one vein of gold in one spot of the river bank, 201 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:37,119 but could there be more? 202 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,469 Looking down from above, at an aerial photograph of the site, 203 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,310 Garth realised that the stream followed a peculiar, winding path 204 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,388 and that his gold-bearing rock occurred at a bend in the stream. 205 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,989 Every time the stream comes across one of these veins, 206 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,952 it's much, much harder than the bedrock. 207 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,992 So it flows along, it hits one of these veins 208 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,793 and then flows along the vein. It changes direction. 209 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,832 And every time we see one of those doglegs, 210 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,952 you find a quartz vein that contains the gold. 211 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,079 With the aerial photographs as a guide, 212 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:20,148 Garth and his surveyors started to investigate the whole hillside. 213 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:24,352 They came to an astonishing calculation. 214 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,871 There are 600,000oz of gold - minimum - under this particular hillside. 215 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,718 So, with gold at approximately $1,000 an ounce, 216 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,469 there's $600 million worth of gold - at least. 217 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,718 If there was this much gold in this one hill, 218 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,389 perhaps there were further deposits spread across Northern Ireland. 219 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,034 Garth and his team at the geological survey 220 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,629 decided to look at the whole of the country from above 221 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,195 using something rather more sophisticated than just an aerial photograph. 222 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:59,156 For three years, they flew in a survey plane, packed with scientific instruments, 223 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,589 up and down the countryside. 224 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:12,719 It scanned the landscape below for geological clues, testing for magnetism... 225 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,030 ...for electrical conductivity... 226 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:18,917 ...even for radiation. 227 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:26,157 Probing up to three miles below the ground, this survey made Northern Ireland 228 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,476 one of the most intensively analysed pieces of land 229 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,636 anywhere on the Earth's surface. 230 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,798 We knew the broad skeletal structure of Northern Ireland, 231 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:37,273 but we didn't know the detail. 232 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,710 And this information provided a lot more detail for us. 233 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,797 Some of the results we found were absolutely outstanding. 234 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,799 It was like putting flesh on a skeleton. 235 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,193 By tying these images to soil records, 236 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,199 Garth and his team worked out that there were possible gold deposits 237 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:03,032 scattered across all of Northern Ireland - a huge economic opportunity. 238 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,910 This is Cavanacaw Gold Mine. 239 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:14,956 Opened in 2007, it's just 30 miles down the road from Garth's original stream, 240 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,310 sitting on almost the same rock formation. 241 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:24,549 It's the first working gold mine in Northern Ireland in recorded history. 242 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,879 And it's a matter of great personal and patriotic pride to Garth Earls. 243 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,232 This gold mine produces 30,000oz of gold per year. 244 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:39,273 And most of that is sold on the open market, but some 10% is retained 245 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,029 and makes genuine Irish gold jewellery. 246 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,634 Natural resources like these were forged millions of years ago 247 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,318 by forces deep in the Earth. 248 00:18:54,400 --> 00:19:00,999 Our landscape, our heritage, have been shaped by the hidden power of geology. 249 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,957 But these natural forces don't just work deep in the ground below us. 250 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:12,154 Over our heads, there is another great cauldron of activity, 251 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:16,318 an atmosphere that simmers and churns 252 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:21,514 and then, sometimes, swoops down on us with almost unimaginable force. 253 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:29,119 There are 800,000 cubic miles of air sweeping across the country 254 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:34,029 every single day, moving at, sometimes, hundreds of miles an hour. 255 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,828 And the higher you go, the more extreme it gets. 256 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:50,271 Down on the ground, we can see the wind, eddying and gusting over the land, 257 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,357 the direction and speed constantly changing 258 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,789 with the contours of the landscape. 259 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,958 But as we rise higher, into the free atmosphere, 260 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,560 the wind becomes more constant and uniform, 261 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,637 whistling over us at around 80mph. 262 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:10,231 And then, six miles up, a high-speed superhighway of air 263 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:15,274 snakes around the entire northern hemisphere - the jet stream - 264 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,470 that moves at hundreds of miles an hour. 265 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,872 We are slowly beginning to harvest this great whirlwind of energy. 266 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,953 Wind farms are appearing in every corner of the country. 267 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:38,354 Here, on the high peaks of the Cairngorms in northern Scotland, 268 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,358 at Scroby Sands off the coast of Norfolk. 269 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:51,715 It's said that the United Kingdom has the best wind resources in Europe. 270 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:57,869 And this tidal wave of air can, of course, also be highly destructive. 271 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:04,555 For most of us, most of the time, the wind is an invisible, 272 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,876 almost mundane presence in our lives. 273 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:14,473 You wouldn't think that it can redraw the very shape of our country. 274 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:18,308 But it can. Why am I so sure? 275 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:24,196 Because not so long ago, out there, there were houses. 276 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,152 This is the village of Happisburgh in the northeast corner of Norfolk. 277 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,397 It won't be here for much longer. 278 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:42,434 This coastline is shifting faster than anywhere else in Britain. 279 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:51,351 The wind and the waves are eating it away at the rate of 40 foot a year. 280 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:57,555 In a matter of months, this house will have fallen into the sea. 281 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:12,393 Mike Page is Norfolk born and bred 282 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:16,831 and he's watched this village steadily crumble away. 283 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:23,513 This feels like a very solid, English seaside lane. 284 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,394 We've got some pretty solid-looking brick-built... 285 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,510 What are these houses worth, would you say? 286 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,869 I would say, at the moment, very little. 287 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,069 Very, very little. 288 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:34,917 How much is ''very little''? 289 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:36,279 Probably £1? 290 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,993 - £1?! - £1, yes. You could buy one for £1. 291 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,551 - So, the road finishes pretty abruptly. - It does. 292 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,718 The road ran, more or less, out to the metal stake which we can just see. 293 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,275 There were 15 or 20 properties along there. 294 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:54,719 They've all been lost to the sea. 295 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:01,758 Mike Page hasn't just watched this story of destruction from the ground. 296 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,759 He's also been observing it from the air. 297 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:16,510 In medieval times, much of this land was salt marsh. 298 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:20,269 It was drained in the 11th century to make farmland. 299 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:25,917 The trouble is, it lies, at best, just a few feet above sea level. 300 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,078 Holding back the wind and the waves has been a never-ending battle. 301 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:34,432 And it's a battle that, in places, we are now losing. 302 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,032 - This is Happisburgh here? - This is Happisburgh village, yeah. 303 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,675 ANDREW MARR: Being above it gives you a perspective on what's really happening. 304 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,188 MIKE PAGE: It's the only way you can see what's happening. 305 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,789 From up here, I can see lines of wooden fencing, 306 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,957 stretching out along a full mile of the shoreline. 307 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,117 Mike explains that these are revetments, 308 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,436 barriers designed to hold back the force of the sea. 309 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,799 But they were first installed back in the 1950s 310 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:11,789 and the ceaseless battering of the wind and waves has now reduced them to stumps. 311 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:19,119 - So you can see the revetments. - They're the wooden lines of... 312 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,550 Now, all the wooden boards have gone off the front of them. This is the trouble. 313 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,674 - So they were a very simple... - Very simple thing. 314 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,550 As we buffet on down the shoreline, 315 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,478 I'm shown the sheer number of different methods 316 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:43,311 that have been used to try and preserve this one little piece of coast. 317 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:48,229 Thousands of tonnes of rock have been dropped into the water, 318 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:54,469 kind of home-made protective reefs, except they've only been partially successful. 319 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,399 In actual fact, the first four, as you can see, aren't working, 320 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:05,118 because they're too far apart and the sea erodes in between each reef. 321 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,833 I see, yes. 322 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:13,113 Further down the shore, there's yet another coastal defence system, 323 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,469 this time a big, concrete wall. 324 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,590 It's the only thing protecting the farmland behind it, 325 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,438 land that, here, lies below sea level. 326 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:33,475 But, like the revetments at Happisburgh, the wall's now more than 50 years old 327 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,876 and the Government says it's just too expensive to maintain. 328 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:42,358 Ministers are now pursuing a policy of managed retreat. 329 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,871 In other words, they're going to let the wall crumble away. 330 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,549 25 square miles of Norfolk could end up under water. 331 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:56,038 This is the area that will flood if they let the sea defences go. 332 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,153 So those churches, those farms, those woods...all go. 333 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:01,519 Yeah. 334 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:22,472 This hill is in the rolling Welsh borders. 335 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,990 More than 60 hang-gliders have gathered here 336 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:30,238 for the final day of the British Open Hang-gliding Championships 337 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,430 and it's a remarkable sight. 338 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:42,038 The pilots launch into the air like ungainly insects 339 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:47,359 and then, they start gently spiralling upwards, thousands of feet. 340 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,950 No propellers, no engines, 341 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:55,718 no flapping, 342 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,548 because these hang-gliders are riding on thermals, 343 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,718 invisible columns of warm air, pushing up through the atmosphere. 344 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:09,357 But riding thermals is a skill that takes years to learn 345 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,392 and there's only room for one in a hang-glider. 346 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:17,389 So I'm going to be spirited up into the heavens in a paraglider, 347 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,557 a kind of ground-to-air parachute, 348 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:25,435 by Jockey Sanderson, one of Britain's great experts in powerless flight. 349 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,268 You'll run forwards and as long as you keep your feet on the ground, 350 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:31,311 - keep running... - Yep. 351 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,749 - Your feet will get lighter and lighter. - I have to run to get us going? 352 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,916 We both do the running. And we'll start soaring. 353 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,873 - Clip. So, now you're in. - Right. 354 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,117 At first, I feel rather like a distressed chicken, 355 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,118 being prepared for the Sunday dinner. 356 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,037 OK, ready? Three, two, one. 357 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,119 But then, suddenly, in the absence of feathers, 358 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,628 I'm launched into the air. 359 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,188 Wow! We're off! 360 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:06,308 Controlled by nothing more than a plastic bag, some string 361 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:10,672 and a great deal of ingenuity and wisdom behind me. 362 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,073 I hope! 363 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:17,273 We climb steadily into the busy skies above. 364 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,036 We're completely surrounded by hang-gliders. 365 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,073 It's astonishing. It's like swimming through a shoal of fish at the moment. 366 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,557 Jockey begins to show me how he can ''read''the skies around us, 367 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,195 searching out thermals to lift us higher. 368 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,676 - What are you looking for? - We're looking for cumulus clouds. 369 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,110 They mark the top of the column of air that's rising. 370 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,152 Cos as the warm air rises, as it gets into cooler air, 371 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,679 it condenses and forms a cloud. 372 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:57,838 And each of these clouds is the top of an invisible column of air? 373 00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:59,598 - Warm air? - That's correct, yeah. 374 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,035 Jockey's also on the lookout for other creatures 375 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,514 riding the same currents of warm air. 376 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,916 There's a kite. So, because he's going up, 377 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,236 we're gonna go over to him. He's not flapping, so if he can stay up, 378 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,909 then we can, generally. So we're gonna glide over 379 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,110 and you can see, he's right underneath a cumulus cloud. 380 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:19,673 - Yeah. - That's a good thermal. 381 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,793 - That bucking is the thermal. - Yeah. 382 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,190 This feels extraordinary. 383 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,835 Just in terms of how high up we are already. 384 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:40,392 But Jockey's using more than just his eyes to work out where the thermals might be. 385 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,274 JOCKEY SANDERSON: Sounds also travels up in a thermal. 386 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,950 So you could actually fly over a village and all you can hear is wind noise now, 387 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:50,399 but suddenly, as you go over a village, 388 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,078 you'll hear children playing in a playground 389 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,112 - or you'll hear roadworks going on. - That's fantastic! 390 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,039 And also, smell. If we went over a pine forest, for example, 391 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,469 and a thermal bubbles up from the top of it, 392 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,718 - then you'll smell the pine... - Get the resin. Ah! Fantastic! 393 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,672 We end up in the air for almost an hour, 394 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:12,235 held aloft only by Jockey's amazing ability 395 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,193 to read and understand invisible movements all around us. 396 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:23,310 At last, it's time to get back down again, but Jockey has one final treat in store. 397 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,638 He throws us into an extraordinary, spiralling dive, 398 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,638 plummeting down towards the fields below. 399 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,556 The acceleration pushes me back into the seat, 400 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,672 forcing my face into a slightly manic grin. 401 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,594 That was amazing! 402 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,319 That's fantastic. 403 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:54,629 - It's a nice feeling, isn't it? - Ah, it's wonderful! Ha! 404 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,230 Jockey now has to find a field with, preferably, 405 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,635 no cows, bulls or sheep, to land in. 406 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:06,991 It is amazing to think there's been, 407 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,589 what, a hundred and something years of air travel 408 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,997 getting evermore sophisticated and you can just do it like this. 409 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,315 Absolutely extraordinary. 410 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,158 And then we hit the ground. 411 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,554 All in all, not the most graceful experience! 412 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:45,868 But there are others who understand our skies in even greater detail. 413 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:54,793 Looking down from space through the eyes of robots, not angels. 414 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:01,515 Satellites gazing unblinkingly on this crowded little planet, 415 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,792 taking measurements from every angle of the globe... 416 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:12,758 ...men, using computers that are amongst the most powerful ever made. 417 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,236 And why? 418 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,558 To try and find out if there's going to be a bit of drizzle over Swindon. 419 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:27,149 Welcome to the world of the weathermen. 420 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:32,069 The Met's chief meteorologist is Ewan McCallum. 421 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,190 To forecast for the British Isles, 422 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,710 we actually need the weather reports from the whole world 423 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,228 and not just from the surface, from land and from sea, 424 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,909 but in three dimensions, from the upper atmosphere, using balloons and aircraft. 425 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:49,671 And that sheer mass of information floods in here to the hub, here in Exeter. 426 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,910 Forecasting Britain's weather is notoriously difficult 427 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,679 as every one of us knows. 428 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:03,669 It isn't the weathermen's fault. We are plonked at a weather crossroads. 429 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:09,636 We're an island surrounded by seas, nestled slap-bang between the Tropics 430 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:14,515 and the North Pole and our weather can be blown to us from almost any direction. 431 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,348 Britain, actually, doesn't have its own weather in some senses, 432 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,072 but it gets its weather from somewhere else. 433 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:25,513 The most important element is the wind direction. 434 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:32,635 But this position, sitting between six different weather systems, 435 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:38,357 also gives us a notoriously unpredictable and occasionally extreme climate. 436 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,431 The summer of 2007 was a good example. 437 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,075 In some places, 438 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,078 a month's rainfall fell in just an hour. 439 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,111 Rivers burst their banks, 440 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,628 leaving towns yards deep in water. 441 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,433 And suddenly the only way 442 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,358 to see large tracts of Britain 443 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:05,879 was from above. 444 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:10,194 And the reason? 445 00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:13,471 We were caught between a great bank of cold, wet air 446 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,078 coming in from the Atlantic 447 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,680 and hot air, sweeping in off the Continent. 448 00:34:17,720 --> 00:34:21,395 We've basically got cool, unstable air coming in from the west. 449 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,876 We've got hot air over the near Continent and if you look here, 450 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,878 where the two air masses meet, look at the development of storms. 451 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:28,909 There's the spiral, 452 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,430 right at the centre of the low itself that was over the Worcester area. 453 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,916 Swathes of Britain were paralysed 454 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:37,439 as hundreds of thousands of people 455 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,234 were left without drinking water or electricity. 456 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,396 The RAF carried out 457 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,353 its biggest ever rescue effort in peacetime Britain. 458 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,029 Although in the grand timescale of nature, 459 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,799 floods like this aren't actually that unusual - 460 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,992 they happen once every 20 or 30 years. 461 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:03,239 It's just that in the meantime, we have modified our landscape. 462 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,269 We have concreted over Britain. 463 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,349 In London alone, at least two-thirds of front gardens 464 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,029 have been paved in the last 20 years. 465 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:25,591 Elsewhere, we've built houses in flood plain. 466 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,150 Out-of-town shopping centres and business parks 467 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,317 have concreted over thousands more acres 468 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,319 and suddenly, there's nowhere for the rain to go... 469 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,158 except gurgling into drains 470 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,351 that were never designed for freak storms like this. 471 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:52,080 But, for Ewan McCallum, these great moments of atmospheric turmoil 472 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:53,872 still hold a terrible fascination. 473 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,514 This is the atmosphere in motion. 474 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,835 This is the sheer dynamics, the energy, the heat 475 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,634 producing these massive cumulonimbus clouds and heavy rainfall. 476 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:04,352 Absolutely spectacular event, but, of course, 477 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,757 if you're one of the poor people that were underneath these storms, not so good. 478 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,554 We've explored the geological forces under our feet 479 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,512 and the weather patterns over our heads. 480 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:25,556 And we've seen how they shape our lives in ways we often struggle to control. 481 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:31,948 But we share these landscapes with countless millions of untamed creatures. 482 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,788 Hordes flocking and migrating all around us 483 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:40,038 and, frankly, trying to avoid us a lot of the time. 484 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:45,791 And their lives, their secrets, are lit up when you look down from above. 485 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,518 Every year, the winds above our heads bring with them 486 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,711 more than 50 million flying creatures, 487 00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:01,871 migrating from as far afield as Russia, South Africa, Greenland. 488 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:13,954 This area of soggy, waterlogged ground in the heart of West London 489 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,878 is, in fact, a carefully maintained bird sanctuary. 490 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:23,519 It's just down the road from Heathrow Airport. Welcome to Terminal Quack. 491 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,951 Less shopping, but fewer delays and almost no cancellations. 492 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:36,074 Mark Grantham is an expert in this ever-shifting aerial population. 493 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,031 We have arrivals, we have departures 494 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,594 and we have a lot of birds that are just in transit. 495 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,191 It's incredibly important they have staging posts like this 496 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:49,392 where they can drop in, birds that need to refuel can refuel. 497 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,795 It's a tiny piece of land, really. 498 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,469 But here, there are birds that have flocked from the other side of the world. 499 00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:00,196 MARK GRANTHAM: We have sand martins from places like Senegal in West Africa. 500 00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:04,677 The ducks will be coming from places as far east as Central Siberia. 501 00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:06,358 In the scrubby bushes along the side, 502 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,960 we'll also have things like lesser whitethroat. 503 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,709 These are birds that spend the winter in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, 504 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,797 so it's a real mix of birds coming in from all directions, really. 505 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:21,836 This being Britain, a country of migrants, it's a cosmopolitan, chattering place. 506 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,954 Mind you, how do they get here? 507 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,313 These days, it isn't only aircraft that have GPS tracking. 508 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,989 You can put them onto birds as well. 509 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,350 This is the GPS trace of a single osprey 510 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:42,791 as it makes its journey all the way from West Africa 511 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,992 to northern Scotland, three and a half thousand miles. 512 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:53,878 These are the traces of five barnacle geese as they migrate 1,500 miles 513 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,959 from Svalbard in the Arctic Circle to the Solway Firth. 514 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:04,239 And these mark the extraordinary journey of three brent geese, 515 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:08,068 all the way from the Canadian Arctic, over Greenland, 516 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,429 Iceland and into Ireland. 517 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:20,677 We still don't really know how these millions of migrating birds 518 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:28,035 manage so accurately to find their way over thousands of miles to our shores. 519 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:33,558 To a degree, they have an innate sense of where they're going, an internal compass, 520 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:35,909 that helps guide them on theirjourneys. 521 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,635 They can also use stars, so they can get a rough bearing looking at stars. 522 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,672 ''I want to go south, so I'll head away from the North Star.'' 523 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:50,988 What we do know is that birds are also using the landscape we've created 524 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,828 in order to guide them in the final stages of theirjourney. 525 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:59,595 Tracking has shown that some pigeons will follow motorways 526 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,756 to navigate their way home. 527 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:06,715 They've even been seen to fly around roundabouts. 528 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:11,550 Birds have a mental picture of where home is, so once they're close in, 529 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,673 they bring up their map, birdie sat nav, and home in on where they want to be. 530 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:24,037 (GUNFIRE) 531 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,231 But birds aren't the only beasts 532 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,592 leading their lives in the hidden corners of our nation with scant regard for man. 533 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,679 This is Lulworth Range in Dorset. 534 00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:38,678 It's where the army practises. 535 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,593 (GUNFIRE) 536 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,552 Tanks blast off tons of explosive shells 537 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:49,036 into the surrounding, defenceless hillsides. 538 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,918 Sharing the land with these machines of war 539 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:57,269 is a community of squatters - 540 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,710 an ever-growing population of sika deer. 541 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:02,955 Like many of our birds, 542 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,594 sika deer are also immigrants. 543 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:07,676 (GUNSHOT) 544 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:10,553 Originally brought here as pets from the Far East, 545 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,354 they soon escaped from an island, swam ashore 546 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:18,313 and are now running wild across the country. 547 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,875 So, how do we know how many there are? 548 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:23,319 And where? 549 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,793 We're going to use the thermal-imaging camera? 550 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,035 I'm taking to the air with Matt Wilcock. 551 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:34,676 In his day job, he's an Apache helicopter pilot for the British Army, 552 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:40,078 and when the light falls, he turns into a deer-tracker. 553 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:47,719 Matt has chased Taleban guerrilla fighters across the mountains of Afghanistan 554 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:54,359 and, rather bizarrely, the sika deer present him with much the same challenge. 555 00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:57,949 So he uses much the same gear - 556 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,834 a high-resolution thermal-imaging camera - to find them. 557 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,399 Normally, we're either looking for the enemy who are either hiding in wood lines 558 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:18,998 or tanks moving in the open, 559 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:23,033 or even, potentially, looking for friendly forces, our soldiers on the ground. 560 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:26,868 We're doing similar tasks, but we're going to look for wildlife, 561 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,309 looking for deer in wooded margins. 562 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,470 I can't see a thing, but it doesn't take long for Matt's trained eye 563 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:37,158 to spot his first target. 564 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:41,398 OK, what we've got here, you can see. You've got two hot spots there. 565 00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:45,479 You've got probably a hind there, so a mother with her calf. 566 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,080 The calf's just tucked away in the bushes there. 567 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:52,318 So if we go to the normal day camera, you can't see, even if we zoom in. 568 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,511 Let's zoom in on that...bushes. She's hiding in that gorse there. 569 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:57,994 Very, very hard to see her. 570 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:02,670 That's astonishing. If you just go back to the thermal, then back to the real, 571 00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:06,110 the real thing, you can barely see them. 572 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,113 MATT WILCOCK: We've got a couple of stags here, 573 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:15,280 with the antlers on. This time of year, they've got velvet on their antlers, 574 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,709 so they're growing their antlers. Gives a lot of heat away. 575 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,116 This is the only way that Matt and the Ministry of Defence 576 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,311 can properly get a handle on their skipping tenants. 577 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:26,669 We can pick up a number of things in this. 578 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,235 We can pick up their movement patterns, the time of day they feed, 579 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:31,713 the time of night they feed. 580 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,593 We can also actually count them fairly accurately. 581 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,313 But what's perhaps even more surprising 582 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:42,388 is that the Ministry of Defence actually wants to protect and nurture 583 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,317 these intruders. 584 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,318 It seems a bit hippy of them. 585 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,919 And yet, these military ranges 586 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:57,671 are actually some of the least tamed and cultivated parts of Britain left. 587 00:43:57,720 --> 00:44:04,432 Here at Lulworth, no farmer has tilled these fields in over 50 years, 588 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:10,191 and the wild sika deer are exactly what the wilderness needs. 589 00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:14,313 Lulworth Range, obviously, it's a unique lowland habitat. 590 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:18,478 Because it's been untouched by intensive agricultural pressures 591 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:21,512 and, basically, man's influence on the land, 592 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:26,395 it would overgrow with trees, given time. 593 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:30,399 Now, to maintain that, they need something to browse and graze 594 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,795 and to keep this heathland habitat growing, 595 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:35,673 and the sika deer, we believe, is helping us do that. 596 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:41,716 It would surprise people that, um, an Army range is a centre for wildlife. 597 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,958 Actually, these military ranges, the animals have thrived. 598 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,515 They've been enhanced, they've found shelter and refuge on here, 599 00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:52,870 and they've been able to really adapt to this unique environment 600 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:54,558 that they find themselves in. 601 00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:58,957 So, unless you're blown up by a shell, if you're an animal, 602 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,309 - this is a very good place to be? - Yeah. 603 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:13,390 There's another fast-multiplying species infiltrating the British landscape. 604 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:19,199 All around us, with their own mysterious language, 605 00:45:19,240 --> 00:45:22,630 wild instincts and strange rules, 606 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:27,435 and at certain points of the day, they take over. 607 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:30,517 Take, for most of the year, the middle of the afternoon, 608 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:34,269 when suddenly, gates across the land slide open 609 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:38,074 and eight million kids pour out onto the pavements. 610 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,752 Every afternoon, you'll find mobs of school kids 611 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,268 whooping their way to the bus stop, 612 00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:55,880 hanging round street corners, 613 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,151 slouching on benches in the parks... 614 00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:06,029 It tends to make many adults rather uncomfortable. 615 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:10,392 We just want to get on with where we're going as quickly as possible. 616 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:15,434 But our children seem to have their own maverick agenda. 617 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:19,314 Celia Hannon spends her time trying to understand 618 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:23,876 the rhythms and movements of the younger generation. 619 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,515 Adults have been schooled, they've been socialised in how to move. 620 00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:30,870 They've been told that you walk along the street in a certain way, 621 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:33,115 you go from A to B, and you get things done. 622 00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:37,711 If you look at how a child might find their way to a certain point, for example, 623 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:42,276 you might find that they are doubling back, taking inexplicable detours, 624 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,995 and that's something adults find quite hard to wrap their head around. 625 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,116 To try to understand these baffling patterns of movements, 626 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,550 we gave a bunch of children some GPS trackers, 627 00:46:56,600 --> 00:47:01,196 trying to find out what they get up to on their way home from school. 628 00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:03,276 And looking from above, 629 00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:05,515 we can catch all kinds of strange 630 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:11,430 and, at first, seemingly pointless little squiggles of movement. 631 00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:15,951 Here's one group meandering up and down a street corner 632 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:17,991 over and over again. 633 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:29,393 Another child has gone to the tennis courts but isn't playing tennis. 634 00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:39,430 And one more has gone to a football pitch 635 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:44,156 but spends as much of his time on the touchline as playing. 636 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:47,078 Children use spaces in unexpected ways. 637 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:50,874 They're interested in in-between places and in-between activities, 638 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,913 so finding those little slivers of land, playing on them, 639 00:47:54,960 --> 00:48:00,114 foraging, exploring them, and perhaps loitering round the edges 640 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,515 of places like playing fields, for example. 641 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:10,552 Hanging out seems to be one of our children's favourite pursuits. 642 00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:14,548 This is the corner where the local sweet shop is, 643 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:19,196 and there's a great smudge of loitering youth right there. 644 00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:23,960 This is the cafe in the local park and, yes, 645 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,879 another smudge of young folk seemingly doing nothing. 646 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:35,072 When adults see a group of children loitering, they jump to some conclusions. 647 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:36,758 They're up to no good. 648 00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:41,237 Actually, this is a really important part of developing as an adult. 649 00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:45,751 You can test out your social interactions, define your identity away from the family. 650 00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:51,511 To be honest, even in these allegedly dangerous, 651 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:54,199 health-and-safety-obsessed times, 652 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:59,234 I think we could afford to be a bit more relsxed about what our children get up to. 653 00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:03,478 But there is another kind of urban mass movement 654 00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:05,750 I have never understood. 655 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:09,554 (INAUDIBLE) 656 00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:12,672 It's Saturday afternoon in Glasgow, 657 00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:14,358 where I was born. 658 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:17,153 50,000 fans are gathering for what is 659 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:21,432 one of the highest-stakes football fixtures in Britain. 660 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:25,519 Glasgow Rangers are playing Glasgow Celtic - 661 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:29,109 a footballing rivalry that stretches back over a century. 662 00:49:29,140 --> 00:49:34,373 These so-called Old Firm games used to have a terrible reputation 663 00:49:34,420 --> 00:49:36,775 for tipping into violence. 664 00:49:36,820 --> 00:49:40,335 Boozed-up bigotry in full-colour tribe vision. 665 00:49:43,100 --> 00:49:45,534 But things are changing. 666 00:49:52,620 --> 00:49:56,215 I've taken to the air over Ibrox, the Rangers ground. 667 00:49:56,260 --> 00:49:58,410 Flying with me is Clifford Stott, 668 00:49:58,460 --> 00:50:02,009 the UK's premier football crowd psychologist. 669 00:50:02,060 --> 00:50:06,929 CLIFFORD: What we have here is a massive football match, a massive cultural event. 670 00:50:06,980 --> 00:50:11,019 We can see the real significant build-up of the fans moving into the stadium. 671 00:50:11,060 --> 00:50:14,609 You can see how densely crowded these areas are. 672 00:50:16,500 --> 00:50:20,778 Down on the ground, I've always found football crowds a bit awe-inspiring. 673 00:50:20,820 --> 00:50:23,334 You want untamed Britain? 674 00:50:23,380 --> 00:50:25,371 This is it! 675 00:50:25,420 --> 00:50:31,529 Except that from 1,000ft up, you get a completely different perspective. 676 00:50:33,540 --> 00:50:37,658 We tend to think of football crowds as meaty, clammy, violent, 677 00:50:37,700 --> 00:50:39,099 aggressive and anarchic. 678 00:50:39,140 --> 00:50:43,736 Looking down from above, it's rather delicate. 679 00:50:43,780 --> 00:50:46,419 It's almost ballet-like, what we're seeing here. 680 00:50:46,460 --> 00:50:52,137 What's also striking is the lack of heavy police weaponry - 681 00:50:52,180 --> 00:50:55,138 vans, Land Rovers, riot gear. 682 00:50:55,180 --> 00:50:59,332 It's a long kind of ripple of blue, quite relaxed-looking, 683 00:50:59,380 --> 00:51:04,773 and only a couple of specks of fluorescent-yellow policing. 684 00:51:08,380 --> 00:51:10,848 These police don't look like they're equipped 685 00:51:10,900 --> 00:51:13,130 to deal with any kind of violence. 686 00:51:14,940 --> 00:51:16,692 There's no batons, 687 00:51:16,740 --> 00:51:19,652 no shields... 688 00:51:19,700 --> 00:51:22,851 CLIFFORD: They're in ordinary uniform, 689 00:51:22,900 --> 00:51:27,655 they're communicating with fans, interacting positively. That sets a tone. 690 00:51:27,700 --> 00:51:31,249 It sets a friendly tone for the crowd as a whole that, in effect, 691 00:51:31,300 --> 00:51:35,691 undermines the opportunity for anybody seeking to create widespread disorder. 692 00:51:37,540 --> 00:51:41,818 Strathclyde Police are in fact one of the very few forces in the country 693 00:51:41,860 --> 00:51:46,490 who don't deploy riot police at major football matches like this. 694 00:51:46,540 --> 00:51:48,974 They still keep an eye out for troublemakers 695 00:51:49,020 --> 00:51:52,171 but they do it from above, at a distance... 696 00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:58,332 ...because, according to Clifford, squads of riot police on the ground 697 00:51:58,380 --> 00:52:01,690 can actually encourage outbreaks of violence. 698 00:52:01,740 --> 00:52:06,814 Heavy-handed policing can inadvertently create the conditions 699 00:52:06,860 --> 00:52:12,810 where hooligan minorities can create more disorder and more influence in the crowd 700 00:52:12,860 --> 00:52:14,930 than they might otherwise achieve. 701 00:52:17,060 --> 00:52:20,814 At the one spot where the rival fans could meet, 702 00:52:20,860 --> 00:52:22,691 at the corner of the stadium, 703 00:52:22,740 --> 00:52:26,255 the police have carved out a buffer zone. 704 00:52:26,300 --> 00:52:31,328 Even though the Rangers fans have gathered here to goad and taunt their opponents, 705 00:52:31,380 --> 00:52:35,009 they stick behind the thin line of officers. 706 00:52:35,060 --> 00:52:36,937 Why? 707 00:52:36,980 --> 00:52:39,858 It seems as if the fans have tacitly agreed 708 00:52:39,900 --> 00:52:43,939 just how untamed they're going to be. 709 00:52:45,740 --> 00:52:50,018 The match itself ends without any major incidents. 710 00:52:50,060 --> 00:52:53,211 (FANS SINGING) 711 00:52:53,260 --> 00:52:55,854 Rangers win by a single goal, 712 00:52:55,900 --> 00:53:00,178 and as the two rival tribes stream out of the stadium, 713 00:53:00,220 --> 00:53:05,135 I summon up the courage to head back down and see what it feels like on the ground. 714 00:53:13,100 --> 00:53:17,013 I mean, this is what I would expect a football match to be like. 715 00:53:17,060 --> 00:53:19,255 It's... No, it's not. That's not true. 716 00:53:19,300 --> 00:53:21,450 It's better humoured, you know. 717 00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:25,413 There's a lot of abuse. There's a lot of very rude things being said, 718 00:53:25,460 --> 00:53:27,451 but in a genial and cheerful way. 719 00:53:27,500 --> 00:53:32,130 It's a lot less threatening than it would have been five, ten years ago, I suspect. 720 00:53:32,180 --> 00:53:33,295 Is that right? 721 00:53:33,340 --> 00:53:36,138 Despite the notorious reputation of this fixture, 722 00:53:36,180 --> 00:53:40,139 what we're actually looking at is a relatively jovial, boisterous 723 00:53:40,180 --> 00:53:42,899 - level of confrontation. - A lot of smiling people. 724 00:53:42,940 --> 00:53:45,329 And the smiles are on that side of the fence. 725 00:53:45,380 --> 00:53:47,291 And not that side. Exactly, yeah. 726 00:53:57,860 --> 00:54:01,216 Here, the patterns and movements of two rival tribes 727 00:54:01,260 --> 00:54:04,616 are being traced out on the urban landscape. 728 00:54:11,140 --> 00:54:14,132 But there are other times when we, the British, 729 00:54:14,180 --> 00:54:17,217 decide we're all on the same side, 730 00:54:17,260 --> 00:54:21,094 when the ordered landscape of the country 731 00:54:21,140 --> 00:54:24,815 is reshaped by our desire to band together 732 00:54:24,860 --> 00:54:29,729 and have a thoroughly, riotously good time. 733 00:54:41,500 --> 00:54:43,491 Below me is Glastonbury. 734 00:54:43,540 --> 00:54:47,692 It's the biggest festival of its kind in the world. 735 00:54:47,740 --> 00:54:51,938 Around 150,000 people have created 736 00:54:51,980 --> 00:54:55,734 an impermanent, makeshift city. 737 00:54:55,780 --> 00:55:00,854 You'd think it'd be utter chaos and madness down there. 738 00:55:02,660 --> 00:55:04,173 But it isn't. 739 00:55:04,220 --> 00:55:05,972 Well, not entirely. 740 00:55:08,860 --> 00:55:15,333 What we're looking at is a briefly-flowering miniature society 741 00:55:15,380 --> 00:55:18,497 with the tents and the wigwams... 742 00:55:20,300 --> 00:55:24,054 ...market stalls and high streets... 743 00:55:26,220 --> 00:55:31,578 It's a society that's developed its own rituals, its own rules, 744 00:55:31,620 --> 00:55:33,372 its own folklore... 745 00:55:36,060 --> 00:55:40,258 It's got its own border. 746 00:55:40,300 --> 00:55:41,813 It's crowded. 747 00:55:41,860 --> 00:55:43,578 Cheerful. 748 00:55:43,620 --> 00:55:45,611 Dirty. 749 00:55:45,660 --> 00:55:48,128 Mildly anarchic. 750 00:55:49,420 --> 00:55:50,978 It's got a celebrity culture. 751 00:55:51,020 --> 00:55:54,251 It's got a transport system which barely works. 752 00:55:54,300 --> 00:55:56,768 Now, what does that remind you of? 753 00:56:01,940 --> 00:56:05,728 In fact, it's a little like Britain in miniature... 754 00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:08,340 with one significant difference. 755 00:56:11,620 --> 00:56:14,180 Everybody is here just to have fun. 756 00:56:18,420 --> 00:56:22,777 During the course of this series, we've flown, hovered, staggered, 757 00:56:22,820 --> 00:56:27,177 driven and plummeted up and down this crowded, busy little country. 758 00:56:29,900 --> 00:56:33,370 The question is, what have we discovered? 759 00:56:36,180 --> 00:56:41,413 Well, I've been struck by how embedded we still are in our history, 760 00:56:41,460 --> 00:56:46,818 how shaped we are by our geology and our geography... 761 00:56:46,860 --> 00:56:51,854 ...and how extraordinarily intricate and difficult it is 762 00:56:51,900 --> 00:56:53,970 simply to keep the show on the road. 763 00:57:00,140 --> 00:57:04,577 Day after day, we grumble and moan when something goes wrong. 764 00:57:04,620 --> 00:57:07,214 Looked at from above, 765 00:57:07,260 --> 00:57:11,048 it is remarkable that more doesn't go wrong - 766 00:57:11,100 --> 00:57:16,174 all the time we are living absolutely on the lip of chaos. 767 00:57:16,220 --> 00:57:17,653 So, why does it work? 768 00:57:17,700 --> 00:57:19,213 Is it down to the experts? 769 00:57:19,260 --> 00:57:21,376 Well, yes, and we've met plenty of them. 770 00:57:21,420 --> 00:57:26,448 But it's also really about the quality of the people, 771 00:57:26,500 --> 00:57:30,459 our mutual patience, good humour and tolerance. 772 00:57:36,580 --> 00:57:40,698 You can learn a great deal about Britain from above... 773 00:57:42,740 --> 00:57:44,856 ...but it's time to land again. 774 00:58:06,900 --> 00:58:10,939 And on our website, you can go behind the scenes of the series, 775 00:58:10,980 --> 00:58:14,609 and find a whole new perspective on Britain from above. 776 00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:29,960 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 777 00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,960 Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk