202101-BBC Countryfile

PLANT BRITAIN HOW TO PLANT A TREE 4 If planting in an exposed site, stake the BY GARDENERS’ WORLD MAGAZINE tree to prevent windrock, which can tear the roots You can buy native trees from most good garden centres. and create a gap around Some will come already in pots, but bare-rooted trees are the base of the trunk that also commonly sold. Autumn is the best time to plant trees, can fill with water and giving them ample time to establish a good root system for encourage rot. The stake strong branches and lush foliage in the following growing should be hammered in at season. To encourage roots to grow out in search of water a 45° angle. Attach the and nutrients, prepare the soil thoroughly over a much trunk to the stake using an larger area than just the planting hole; break up compaction adjustable tree tie. Water at the base of the planting hole to allow deep rooting. For the tree thoroughly, then more information, see gardenersworld.com/how-to/ keep it watered during grow-plants/how-to-plant-trees/ dry spells for at least the first year. 1 Stand the tree in water to ensure its roots are damp. Dig a square hole that’s slightly wider than the pot your tree is in, but no deeper. Square holes help the roots to spread via the corners. Lightly fork the base and sides of the hole to ensure the soil isn’t compacted. 2 Remove the pot from container-grown trees and any wrapping from bare-root ones. Tease out and unwind any circling roots and cut o any damaged ones. This will encourage the roots to venture out into the soil. Stand the tree in the planting hole, then lay a cane across the hole to check that the top of the rootball – or the dark soil mark on bare-root trees – is level with the soil surface. 3 Backfill around the rootball with the excavated soil, shaking the tree a little to help the soil settle around the roots. Then use your heel to firm gently all around the rootball and ensure there is good contact between the roots and the soil. This is important as roots will die if left sitting in air pockets. You may need to top up the soil again to ground level, then firm it down once more. www.countryfile.com 51

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Advertisement Meet the MidCat - the eco-friendly woodburning solution ere really is nothing quite like a homely We know how much your trusty woodburner means woodburning stove on a gloomy winter’s day. to you, it matches your décor and was only installed Despite wood being a renewable energy source – a few years ago. at’s why the tting of a MidCat and widely regarded as carbon neutral – there is is the most e ective solution for anyone wishing to increasing awareness and concern about the impact reduce their environmental impact, whilst enjoying of the resultant smoke on air quality. With the new the bene ts of a woodburner. It will improve the Environmental Bill, which promises to protect the environmental impact of all older stoves as well as UK’s natural environment and take measures to further enhancing new models. ere’s no need to go tackle pollution, the question must be asked, what is out and buy a new stove - well, unless of course you the future of woodburning? want to! Well, what if I told you that there is now a way to What are you waiting for? Are you ready to take keep your beloved woodburner and use it with a your woodburning stove into a greener age? clean conscience? Trefor Jenkins, managing director of Midtec Products Ltd, has for many years been looking to address the potential environmental impact that comes with woodburning stoves. With the introduction of the Clean Air Strategy in 2019, it provided the perfect opportunity for Trefor and his team of highly skilled individuals to develop a product to nally push the industry boundaries and make woodburning an environmentally friendly and sustainable heating solution. e MidCat is conveniently designed to be retro tted to your existing stove or will equally improve a new stove. Using specially developed catalysis-emissions-technology (CET), the new MidCat guarantees to: • Reduce carbon monoxide output by more than 75% • Reduce organic gaseous compounds by 35% • Reduce the solids and liquids which create particulate matter by 25% • Increase heat output from the ue gas • Improve the performance of many older stoves and make them compliant with the new Ecodesign Regulations • Enhance newer models and future-proof them against further tightening of environmental regulations For further information, please visit: www.midtec.co.uk or email [email protected]

FORGOTTEN WONDERS OF ANCIENT BRITAIN Stonehenge is a global icon, yet up and down the UK, in fields, churchyards and forests, lie other mysterious and fascinating remnants of our distant past. Mary-Ann Ochota seeks out some of the country’s more obscure ancient marvels

ANCIENT WHEORNDTAEGRSE Photo: Guy Edwardes In Britain’s past there are cannibals, shamans, sun-, moon- and water-worshippers. We have mummies, mandrakes and magic. The range and depth of fascinating, complex archaeology is unrivalled anywhere else in the world, and all around us there are exquisite ancient treasures that are almost forgotten. Many open-air sites o er just the slightest hint of their previous grandeur. Many astonishing artefacts sit quietly among thousands of others in museum collections. At times when the future feels spectacularly unpredictable and worrying, I find solace in exploring our shared and mysterious past. Take a minute to wonder why Ice Age people in Somerset made cups out of human skulls (as at Gough’s Cave), Neolithic people on Anglesey built decorated tombs (such as Barclodiad y Gawres), or why medieval people in Herefordshire carved naked ladies on their churches (like at Kilpeck church) and you stop worrying for a bit. Sometimes these mysteries make you marvel, or laugh. Sometimes they’re poignant reminders of sorrow and loss. Just like the people who built and used them – and just like us – they’re complex, contrary and defy easy explanation. In Britain we have a wealth of ancient mysteries to explore. This winter we might not be able to journey geographically. Instead, I invite you to time travel to new cultures and intriguing perspectives. 12 ‘forgotten wonders’ 1. KNOWLTON CIRCLES, DORSET People began building earthworks in Knowlton around 2500 BC (about the same time as Stonehenge and the Ancient Egyptian pyramid at Giza). On one side there’s a confluence of rivers. On the other there’s a field of natural sinkholes. Although it’s eroded and now mostly forgotten, it’s likely that Knowlton was once renowned – Dorset’s equivalent of a great temple by the River Ganges, between water and the underworld. One of the earthworks still provokes wonder because, in the middle, bizarrely, someone built a church. The church was built in the 1100s – some 3,500 years after the circle was dug. At many ancient sites across the country, Christian builders tried to destroy evidence of earlier pagan beliefs. Others, they reinterpreted – sacred springs became holy wells, for example. But here at Knowlton, the ancient features appear to be celebrated. We don’t know how the locals explained the story of their church inside the circle; perhaps they imagined they were purging its pagan wickedness and claiming it for a Christian God. Or perhaps they didn’t see a conflict – this was a special place, even if the rituals changed. When the village declined the church fell into ruin. But tales of Knowlton’s ghosts and magic persist, firing our imaginations for 4,000 years and counting. english-heritage.org.uk 55

2. GREENSTED CHURCH, ESSEX This unassuming building is the oldest wooden church in the world. A church has been standing on this spot since 650AD when St Cedd, a monk sent from Holy Island in Northumbria, was invited to convert the East Saxons, who still give their name to the county, Essex. The main body of the church that stands now dates to 1053AD. Fifty-one of the original oak wall timbers survive. You can see the tool marks made by medieval carpenters, and a thousand years later the timbers are still standing strong. greenstedchurch.org.uk/history.html 3. ROYSTON CAVE, HERTFORDSHIRE 4. THORNBOROUGH HENGES, NORTH YORKSHIRE In August 1742, workmen digging next to an ancient Between Yorkshire’s Pennine hills and the North York Moors is the greatest crossroads discovered the entrance to a bottle-shaped concentration of prehistoric henge monuments in the British Isles. Thornborough cavern cut out of the chalk bedrock below. The walls are is at the centre of this vast ritual landscape, where three henges – ceremonial covered in carvings, including people, hearts and swords. spaces encircled by earth banks and ditches – are joined together by wide Many of the images are Christian – St Catherine and the earthwork avenues. The line runs roughly north-west to south-east, and the crucifixion, for example – and one theory is this might have slight dog-leg in the alignment perfectly mirrors the three stars of Orion’s Belt. been a secret chapel used by the Knights Templar. Their Coincidence? You decide. organisation was destroyed in the early 1300s by King Philip Photos: Alamy, Pidfair, British Museum Images IV of France, who owed them a fortune. But not all Templars were killed; in England, some disappeared into secular life or to other religious orders. Could this cave be a meeting place from a time when the Templars had o cially ceased to exist? We can’t date the chalk carvings, but from the details of crowns and clothing on the figures, historians have speculated they must date from the 1350s or later. Which might mean the order survived for longer than thought. roystoncave.co.uk 56

6. SUNKENKIRK, CUMBRIA One of three astonishing stone circles in the Lake District (the others are Castlerigg near Keswick and Long Meg and her Daughters near Penrith), this circle is one of the earliest built in Britain. The stones marked a meeting place for Neolithic communities, probably both spiritual and sociable. 7. STAR CARR ANTLERS, NORTH YORKSHIRE About 11,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers here foraged wild plants and hunted deer, elk and fish. They didn’t have pottery, writing or metal tools. But they did devote hundreds of hours to shaping the skulls and antlers of deer into head- dresses. Were they used by tribal leaders? Shamans during rituals? They’ve survived so long because they were carefully dropped into a lake that eventually turned into peaty soil and preserved them. Headdresses from Star Carr can be seen at the Rotunda Museum Scarborough, The British Museum, and The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. starcarr.com 5. GRIME’S GRAVES, NORFOLK The only known late-Neolithic flint mine in England, this field boasts the remains of more than 400 ancient mine shafts, dug about 4,500 years ago. Miners dug more than 10m deep with deer-antler picks to reach lumps of prized black flint that they then shaped into axes, arrowheads, scraper and piercing tools. Archaeologists have found o erings including chalk figures and animal remains inside the mine, a dangerous and perhaps sacred underworld. english-heritage.org.uk www.countryfile.com

Photos: Alamy, Getty, National Museums of Scotland 8. CALANAIS, ISLE OF LEWIS, OUTER HEBRIDES Ancient Greek writers describe a race of people known as the Hyperboreans, who live beyond the North Wind and have a temple dedicated to the moon god. It’s just possible that they were describing the astonishing stone monument of Calanais on the Isle of Lewis. It’s the Stonehenge most people have never heard of. historicenvironment.scot 9. PAVILAND CAVE BURIAL, GOWER PENINSULA, WALES During the Ice Age 33,000 years ago, this cave overlooked a wide, dry plain. When the weather allowed, people walked across the land-bridge from Europe to hunt wild game. During one visit, a young man died and for unknown reasons, his body was covered with powdered red ochre and he was carefully buried in the cave with a mammoth skull and carved rods of mammoth ivory. This is the earliest human burial ever found in Britain – and one of the strangest. oumnh.ox.ac.uk/red-lady-of-paviland-0 10. TOWIE STONE BALL, ABERDEENSHIRE Archaeologists have found 500 of these carved stone balls across north-eastern Scotland, dating to around 3000BC. This one is just larger than a tennis ball and has four ‘knobs’: three carved with intricate swirls, one completely blank. We don’t know what they’re for. Perhaps they were symbols of power or vessels for spirits or ancestors, or for divining the future or casting spells. Some think they might have been for ritual human sacrifice – a knock to the head would have done some damage! You can see the Towie Stone Ball on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh (Scotland Galleries, Level 0, Glimpses of The Sacred). nms.ac.uk 58 www.countryfile.com

ANCIENT WONDERS 12. RUDSTON MONOLITH, EAST YORKSHIRE This is the tallest standing stone in Britain at almost eight metres high, with possibly the same again below ground. And it stands just four metres from the corner of the parish church. Of course, the stone was here first – it dates from around 1600BC, about 2,700 years before the church. There’s a hole at the top of the stone, probably drilled in medieval times to hold a wooden cross. It’s very likely that’s why the village has its name: in Old English, rood means ‘cross’ and stane means ‘stone’, hence Rood-Stane, or Rudston. 11. WENHASTON DOOM, SUFFOLK In 1892, the chancel arch of St Peter’s was being replaced and the old whitewashed planks were dumped outside. The next morning the rain had washed o the white to reveal images beneath – a medieval painting of the Last Judgement, or Doom. The Doom’s survival is itself a miracle. medievalart.co.uk/2016/07/02/the-great-and-terrible-day-of-the- lord-the-wenhaston-doom Photos: Getty, Alamy Mary-Ann Ochota is a familiar face on TV archaeology programmes, including Time Team, and Smithsonian Channel’s Mystic Britain. Find Mary-Ann on Twitter and Instagram @MaryAnnOchota and at maryannochota.com. Mary-Ann’s book, Secret Britain: Unearthing our Mysterious Past (Frances Lincoln, £20) is out now. Hear Mary-Ann talk about her book on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, available on BBC Sounds. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000my37 59

Hog in the specific individuals. They are not misled by limelight people dressing in identical outfits or changing other attributes of their appearance. Forget the stereotypes – pigs are oinkcredibly smart, as one famous 18th-century hog Pigs are emotional. In 2015, researchers at proved. Clare Balding tells the tale of the Wageningen University in the Netherlands Learned Pig, the swine whose feats of memory proved that pigs can share their feelings. astonished the world of Georgian Britain They have displayed empathy and sympathy. They care. Clare Balding is a writer Photos BBC, Mary Evans The word ‘pig’ is hurled as an insult. and broadcaster, whose You’re a greedy pig or a dirty pig, One famous example of an outstandingly many programmes for the never a clever pig or a handsome clever pig was the Georgian wonder, the BBC include the Wimbledon pig. Pig is a derogatory name for a Learned Pig, who wowed audiences across the Championships and the police o cer or the worst of male country in the 1780s. The pig had been trained long-running Radio 4 series chauvinists. Selfish drivers are road hogs. by Samuel Bisset, proprietor of a travelling Ramblings, each of which is An untrustworthy, unfaithful or unkind novelty show, and exhibited with great success based on a walk in the UK person is a swine. It’s really not fair. Pigs in Dublin. When Bisset died, the pig passed countryside, available on are thought of as smelly, dirty and stupid into the hands of a man called John Nicholson BBC iPlayer (bbc.co.uk/ but that couldn’t be further from the truth. who, according to All Things Georgian, programmes/b006xrr2). “possessed a peculiar power over animals: he Her latest book is Heroic Pigs are clean. Forget the stereotypes. Given taught a turtle to fetch and carry, a hare to Animals, a collection of enough space, they will always avoid soiling the beat a drum with its hind feet; he taught six true tales about feats of areas where they sleep or eat. They wallow in cocks to perform a country dance; his three exceptional skill or bravery mud only to cool themselves down, as they cats to play several tunes on the dulcimer with among the animal world. have no sweat glands – which, by the way, brings their paws and to imitate Italian opera”. me to another fallacy. You can’t possibly ‘sweat 60 like a pig’ if a pig doesn’t sweat. His pig, however, dwarfed all of the menagerie’scollectiveachievements.Nicholson Pigs are intelligent. Studies in the 1990s at ‘taught’ the pig how to tell the time and count Emory University, Atlanta, showed that they the number of people in a room. He could spell were able to use a cursor on a computer out a name and answer direct questions. As screen to distinguish between images they one newspaper described it: “This entertaining had seen before or were seeing for the first and sagacious animal casts accounts by means time. They learned to do this just as quickly of Typographical cards, in the same manner as as chimpanzees. a Printer composes, and by the same method sets down any capital or Surname, reckons the CLEVER AND COLLABORATIVE number of People present, tells by evoking on a Gentleman’s Watch in company what is the Pigs are also able to move mirrors to search for Hour and Minutes; he likewise tells any Lady’s hidden food. They can collaborate and Thoughts in company, and distinguishes all communicate through symbols. They have sorts of colours.” excellent memories and are able to recognise Nicholson took his ‘Wonderful Pig’ on tour. The crowds flocked to see the spectacle in “Pigs have excellent memories and are able to recognise specific individuals... Pigs are emotional” www.countryfile.com



ABOVE A 19th-century Leeds, Wakefield, Derby, Nottingham and improper questions which were put to this illustration of Toby the Northampton. Nicholson netted over 100 grunting philosopher. He counted the Sapient Pig reading a guineas a week from his “grunting company well enough; but when he was asked book. His owner, philosopher”and the newspapers spilled over how many patriots were present, snorted at magician Nicholas with comic superlatives. every member, and looked around for fresh Hoare, claimed Toby order... ‘How many are there present who are could also read minds Samuel Johnson never saw the Learned six pence clear of encumbrances?’ The pig Pig, but he is said to have read a report of stood still. ‘How many honest gentlemen?’ The Extract from Heroic a Nottingham show and commented: “The pig would not stir. Here the master was obliged Animals: 100 Amazing pigs are a race unjustly calumniated. Pig has, to apologise and in a confounded passion Creatures Great and it seems not been wanting to man, but man whipped the pig and beat a hasty retreat.” Small by Clare Balding to pig.” (Hachette, £19.99). On reflection, I wonder if the Learned Pig HONEST HOG read his audience with perfect accuracy. He may have been even cleverer than Nicholson All was going swimmingly until April 1785, realised. His bacon saved, he trotted o to when the pig and his owner were invited to Europe to play to packed houses across perform at a private exhibition at Brooks’s, the continent. one of the most eminent gentlemen’s clubs in London. According to a newspaper report: “A What happened after this is a matter of good deal of confusion arose to the master of speculation. Some say that the pig died in 1788. the pig and the company present, from the Others that he survived the French Revolution in 1789 to make a triumphant return to his home soil, whereupon he was ready “to discourse on the Feudal System, the Rights of Kings and the Destruction of the Bastille”. The Learned Pig proved to be something of a trendsetter. Others to follow in his footsteps included Toby the Sapient Pig, who was the talk of London in the early 19th century. According to his owner, illusionist Nicholas Hoare, Toby could “discern a person’s thoughts”, something “never heard of before to be exhibited by an animal of the swine race”. He published an autobiography “written by himself” in 1817. CF THE TAMWORTH TWO: A VERY PIG ADVENTURE Photos Alamy, Shutterstock The shadow of death hung over two Tamworth Their owner, council road sweeper Arnoldo were able to visit them. The BBC even made a pigs. At just five months, their end was nigh, Dijulio, declared that once the pigs were drama about them in 2004 called The Legend their destiny sealed, or so it seemed. However, recaptured, he would send them back to the of the Tamworth Two. these two brave piglets had other ideas. slaughterhouse. Animal lovers and newspapers were quick to o er large sums of money to save Butch and Sundance died within six months Their slaughter was marked for 8 January the pigs’ bacon. The Daily Mail eventually of each other in 2011, at the age of 14. 1998. The day dawned, with the young brother secured a deal to save ‘Butch Cassidy and the and sister being loaded into a lorry heading for Sundance Pig’ in return for exclusive rights to the local abattoir in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, their story and the photographs. when they decided to make their great escape. They ran away from the abattoir, squeezed After a week of freedom, the pigs were through a fence and swam across the river Avon spotted foraging in the garden of Harold and before dashing through nearby gardens into a Mary Clarke. Butch was recaptured but dense thicket near Tetbury Hill. That’s where Sundance gave everyone the slip once again and they hid out for the following six days. headed into the thicket. It took two spaniels and a couple of tranquiliser darts to catch him. The tale of a pair of piglets avoiding the butcher was lapped up by the media. They were The Daily Mail sent Butch and Sundance to dubbed the ‘Tamworth Two’. Reporters from all live at the Rare Breeds Centre, an animal over the world were sent to cover the story. sanctuary in Kent, where many of their fans 62 www.countryfile.com

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LOVE Walking above clouds: Our gardens, parks and countryside are full of hidden beauty at this 01roaming high hills made time of year – and enjoying these ethereal by snow moments of magic can help us through the darkest of times S o we’re settling in for what could be a tough winter. The short days of cold and damp can feel remorseless at the best of times but throw in coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns and it would be easy to feel overwhelmed with the challenges of family life, job uncertainty and the frightening threat to our health. There is a lot of despairing talk about digging in, gritting teeth and getting through it with grim resolution. And yet we are all forgetting that many of our most treasured memories come from the moody, atmospheric days of winter. We at BBC Countryfile Magazine had a big conversation about how to remain upbeat and inspiring during the cold months of the year but when we started talking about what we loved about this darkest of seasons, the ideas flowed and flowed until we had filled several pages of notes. We realised that we all loved winter. Or parts of it! There is much joy to be found every single day, in the big and small. The plaintive evensong of robins; watching a fox dash across an icy field; the magical low light of a still, cold January afternoon; a blood-pumping walk over frost-hardened ground; the smell of wood-smoke at dusk; admiring the emerald lustre of holly leaves; curling up post-walk by a fire with well-earned tea and cake. It only takes one or two experiences – even quite small ones – to transform an entire day. Here are some of winter’s enchantments that we’d like to share with you. 65

02 Animal tracks in the snow 03The mushroomy smell of woodland 04Spindrift sparkling on your face 05The squeak of snow underfoot 06The sound of rain pounding on the roof 07Torchlit walks 08 Buttered 11 crumpets The silhouette of an oak on the skyline 09The dark power of winter storms 10Gathering firewood 12Amazing 14 Exhilarating murmurations: winter swims hundreds of thousands Bracing, invigorating and thrilling, of starlings flock at dusk studies show wild swimming is a powerful mood-booster and stress reliever, and it makes you feel astoundingly alive. Our isles are full of beautiful tidal pools, lakes and rivers perfect for a midwinter dip. Be sure to enter slowly and bring a flask of hot tea to warm you up afterwards. For camaraderie and moral support, join a swimming club: outdoorswimmingsociety. com/uk-wild-swimming-groups/ 13The frosted breath of a stag 15 Wander in misty woodlands

16The adrenaline surge of a sledge ride 20 Goldenlight on reedbeds 17 Castles wreathed in mist There’s always a thrill of excitement on spying the romantic towers and weather-worn battlements of a castle appearing out of the mist on a wintry day out. Lose yourself within walls that have witnessed 1,000 years of intrigue at Dorset’s Corfe Castle (left); stride across Northumbrian sands to reach Bamburgh Castle, towering above the North Sea; or in Anglesey, marvel at Beaumaris Castle’s perfect symmetry mirrored in its magnificent moat. 18 Visitingcheery 21 Building market towns snowpeople 22A fox darting 26 Bonfires and across a braziers, frozen field fire pits and chimineas 23 Crunching through frosty leaves 24Coming home to a warm house 25The fresh smell of pine woods 19Watching big winter waves crash and draw on the beach

27Low sunlight filtering through trees

28 31Chucking snowballs Fur-coated seal pups resting on a frozen beach 29Topiary dusted 32 Snow on with snow distant hills Some may say winter is the best season of the year to walk in our spectacular hills and mountains. Bundled up against the cold, sturdy walking boots on and a flask of hot tea in you backpack, there’s nothing quite as uplifting for the soul as working up some winter warmth on an energetic upland hike. Whether you reach that snow-dusted summit in the distance or not, no matter – the joyous sight of a peak on the horizon will help your spirit soar. 33 The first snowdrops in flower 30Your breath 35A snowplough frosting in the lane 36Piping Photos: Getty, Alamy, Guy Edwardes, Jason Ingram hot stews 34Steaming mugs of homemade soup 37 Squelching through mud 38 Snowflakes falling 39Rosy red cheeks 69

40Robins pu ng up 44Your footprints their winter plumage in the snow 41 Rivers in spate: winter torrents caused by rainfall Following heavy rain, the rush, spray and noise of a river in spate is an invigorating sight. Once familiar banks disappear and the rolling, frothing fall of water is enthralling to watch. Some of the most spectacular spate rivers can be found in the Highlands, such as the Alness, but don’t expect to see salmon leaping turbulent waters – these sensible fish hug the banks and wait for the current to weaken. 42 Pale-blue skies as clear as water 45 Birds fluttering on a garden feeder 46A winter-white 47 Woolly gloves Photos: Getty, Alamy, Naturepl.com mountain hare and mittens, 43 Drinking cocoa racing over snow chunky scarves, thick from a thermos socks and winter hats 48Muddy wellies 49Glints from the hedgerow – bright fruits of dog rose, rowan, holly and spindle 50Bright night skies full of stars www.countryfile.com

51 The 59 60 smell of woodsmoke The snap of Watching at dusk icy puddles ducks slip underfoot and slide on 52 Brisk walks to keep icy ponds the chill at bay 61 The cacophony of 53 Hot porridge wild geese honking for breakfast in the estuary From November, winter migrants, 54Candles including white-fronted geese from and Arctic climes, bring their many lanterns voices to our estuaries creating one of nature’s most spectacular 55Hailstones soundscapes. Visit RSPB Stour bouncing Estuary in Essex for a sight of flocks of brent geese, overwintering from 56 Cosying up at Siberia; hear the calls of pink-footed home, guilt-free geese at The Wash, West Norfolk, or find ‘wild’ visiting greylags at RSPB 57Sunshine gleaming on Mersehead, Dumfries and Galloway. a wet country lane 62Winter light on water 58A winter rainbow

63Hoar frost at dawn 64Moonlight 71Snow on a and stars thatched cottage Winter’s early sunsets o er superb opportunities for magical stargazing without the late nights – perfect for junior astronomers. Make the most of a crisp clear evening and head to the darkest spot you can find as night falls. Venus is often the first bright light to appear, then see if you can spot Orion’s Belt. If you get the timing right you may be able to sight the Quadrantids meteor shower, due to be visible from the UK around 3–4 January this year. 66Opening your 72 Barn owls quartering curtains to the over farmland sight of the first snowfall Photos: Getty, Alamy 65 Sculptural seed heads 67Tumbling into a rimed with frost cosy country pub 68Long shadows 69Reading by the fireside 70 Striking monochrome

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January COVID-19 daGyrseoautt Please abide by www.countryfile.com/walks Government advice on travel. The information on these pages is meant to assist you once restrictions have been lifted. WINTER WILDLIFE WALKS Witness some of Britain’s greatest wildlife spectacles this winter – from mountain hares and red squirrels to coastal waders and seals – all within a stone’s throw of our towns and cities Thick coats and long, snow-shielding manes allow Exmoor ponies to thrive in wintry weather on the slopes of Dunkery Beacon, Somerset (page 86) OS map images: © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey Photo: Alamy IN ASSOCIATION WITH www.countryfile.com/walks 75

CONTENTS WALK: St Mary’s Island, Northumberland/Tyne and Wear Your handy guide to this MIDWINTER LIFE ON month’s Great Days Out NORTH SEA SHORES p89 Even in the midst of winter, Britain’s north-eastern shores are home to p76 a spectacular array of wildlife, including white-feathered snow buntings, playful seals and flocks of golden plovers, says Anthony Toole p90 p84 p80 p88 Lying within 10 miles migrants have long departed congregate in large flocks, p86 of Newcastle upon p83 Tyne’s city centre, south, the resident birdlife – rising en masse for little the short stretch of shoreline between Seaton Sluice and including redshanks, curlews, apparent reason, then settling Whitley Bay is typical of the Northumberland and Tyne oystercatchers, dunlins and again. Sanderlings dart back and Wear coast. Industrial relics, rocky headlands, various species of plovers and and forth mere inches from the sandy coves and fossil NORTH SEA SHORES shales follow each other in gulls – is augmented in winter creep of the tide. Colourful St Mary’s Island quick succession, with an abundance and variety of by visitors from Scandinavia snow buntings hop about in Northumberland/Tyne and Wear, wildlife wherever you look. close proximity p76 Central to the scene, and a “GREY SEALS HAUL OUT tohumans,while dominant feature from almost whimbrels and ART IN THE SKY all viewpoints, is St Mary’s ON TO THE ISLAND’S bar-tailed Attenborough Island, standing just a few godwits maintain hundred metres o shore. ROCKS TO REST IN their distance Nottinghamshire, p80 An island only at high tide, it’s easily reached when the THE WINTRY SUN” at the edge of MIDWINTER MARSHES waters recede by means of a the rocks. Tollesbury Wick causeway that leads through an extensive area of rockpools. and Russia. Many of these are SEALS AND DOLPHINS Essex, p83 passage migrants, such as BIRDS APLENTY redwings, fieldfares and A viewing area and hide on the CANOPY CREATURES pink-footed geese, glimpsed seaward side of the lighthouse Llyn Parc Mawr Though the terns, swifts, as they fly inland toward more looks over the outer rocks, swallows and other summer sheltered farmlands and where grey seals haul Anglesey, p84 freshwater ponds. themselves out to rest in the wintry sun. They will have swum PREHISTORIC PONIES Others will remain through here from Lindisfarne and the Dunkery Beacon the cold months, finding a rich Farne Islands to the north, harvest of invertebrates in the where they gave birth to their Somerset, p86 sands and seaweed-covered pups during the autumn. rocks. Golden plovers ANGELS OF THE NORTH Harbour porpoises and Welney white-beaked dolphins might also make brief appearances, Norfolk, p88 the latter being more abundant in these North Sea waters than GOLD ON THE WATER their bottlenose cousins. Gartmorn Dam Wheatears and pied wagtails can be seen skipping across Clackmannanshire, p89 the rocks, and out to sea you might catch sight of passing HARE RAISING WALK cormorants, shearwaters, Bleaklow petrels and skuas, or rafts of floating scoters and eiders. Derbyshire, p90 ABOVE Snow buntings adopt a streaky russet plumage in winter 1 TO THE LIGHTHOUSE PLACES TO SEE WINTER FLORA From the car park beside the roundabout to the north of Top seven Seaton Sluice, follow the Nationwide, p92 76 www.countryfile.com/walks

Photos: Alamy, Getty GREAT DAYS OUT 77

ABOVE Grey seals can be seen resting on the rocks around St Mary’s Island, digesting after hunting at sea 2 WINTER WETLANDS footpath to the harbour. channel to the sea, 270 metres Follow the footpath along Return to the mainland and The surrounding low hills are long, nine metres wide and five the cli edge past Crag Point follow the promenade south largely composed of chalk, metres deep – was dug in 1761. and on to the car park east of around the bend to a car park sand and flint, once used as the Delaval Arms. Continue on at the northern end of Whitley ballast by ships that carried From the footbridge over the cli -top path around the Sands. A viewing screen allows coal to London. An 18th- The Cut, continue south around next bay. Fossils of prehistoric you to observe the gulls, century glass factory here was Collywell Bay. The bay is plants can be found in the mallards, moorhens, coots and once the biggest manufacturer dominated by a large boulder shale beds beneath this possibly short-eared owls that of bottles in England. The known as Charlie’s Rock, stretch of cli . If the tide is frequent the small wetland harbour mouth su ered from which was named after a local out, cross the causeway on nature reserve. silting, so The Cut – a straight character who planted a to St Mary’s Island. garden on its summit. From the western end of the car park, take the bridle path northwards – this will bring you back to the Delaval Arms. Across the road is Old Hartley. In 1862, the nearby Hartley colliery was the scene of one of the worst disasters in British mining history, when a blocked shaft led to the deaths of 204 men and boys. Following the tragedy, new legislation was written making it compulsory for all mines to have two separate shafts. 3 DENE AND POND Cross the road to Old Hartley and continue downhill past the remains of a railway bridge. At the bottom of the hill, enter Holywell Dene and take the surfaced road to a bridge over Seaton Burn. Cross the bridge and stile and follow the WILDLIFE HAVENS ON WINTER SHORES SNETTISHAM, NORFOLK CAERLAVEROCK, LOUGH FOYLE, RSPB CONWY, CONWY DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY COUNTRY DERRY Watch the pre-dawn spectacle of Lagoons, reed beds and saltmarsh tens of thousands of pink-footed Waders and wildfowl gather in large An area of sea lough and intertidal attract many waders and waterfowl, geese flying in from The Wash to numbers on the extensive wet mud, habitats where flocks of whooper including godwits, lapwings, forage in Norfolk’s fields, while sands and saltmarsh, mixing with swans from Iceland and pale-bellied shelducks, water rails and great knots and bar-tailed godwits feed huge flocks of whooper swans and brent geese from the Canadian white egrets. Starling murmurations on the mudflats. barnacle geese from Greenland. Arctic mix with wildfowl and waders. can be seen at dusk. 78 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT THE ROUTE SCAN HERE How to use OS Maps 6.6 MILES 10.5KM 4 HOURS EASY to access this on your device route on your 1 mobile device OS Maps gives unlimited access to OS maps 3 2 4 throughout Great Britain. IN ASSOCIATION WITH 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. 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. HOW TO GET STARTED 1. To access BBC Countryfile Magazine routes, download a QR code reader app on to your phone. Photos: Getty, Alamy riverbank through semi-natural the next field and an open with the nearby National Trust 2. Hold the phone woodland with a dense hide looking over the southern property of Seaton Delaval above the QR code understorey of shrubs and shore of Holywell Pond, where Hall, while about a mile in front beside the map. brambles. The path leads past pink-footed geese, flying in over of you, rising above the field a cataract and several fallen St Mary’s Island, mix with boundaries, is the lighthouse 3. The map will appear on trees that bridge the river. resident greylags. Curlews and of St Mary’s Island. your device, and o you go! redshanks forage at the pond’s Where the stream emerges edge and a kingfisher can often The footpath continues 79 from a constructed tunnel, be seen perching among the through an avenue of gorse go uphill to a junction with an nearby reed beds. and hawthorns before old waggonway. Go through descending over a stile and the old railway bridge to meet 4 NORTHERN ARRIVALS along a series of steps into a straight path that runs the northern part of Holywell between hawthorns – there Return past the scrape and Dene. Turn left and follow the may still be berries on the trees, continue through open fields, west bank into Seaton Sluice. providing a valuable winter possibly accompanied by The final stretches of the burn food source for flocks of flocks of hedgerow birds, such are tidal and lined by muddy redwings, fieldfares and as tits, buntings and finches. banks that provide good possibly even waxwings. Some of these will be residents, foraging for waders. but a substantial number will When you reach a second have arrived in the autumn Anthony Toole track crossing the footpath, from northern Europe. is a prize-winning follow this to the left. Look out To your left stands an 18th- outdoors writer who for waders as you pass a field century obelisk, associated grew up in Cumbria. with a wet scrape. Continue to www.countryfile.com/walks

ABOVE Attenborough Nature Reserve – now home to thousands of starlings – was once a series of gravel extraction pits, used from 1929 to 1967 Photos Getty, Alamy BELOW Why do starlings form murmurations? It is thought they gather in large groups for safety, confusing predators such as sparrowhawks 80 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT WALK: Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire THREE MORE MURMURATION ART IN THE SKY HOTSPOTS Just a stone’s throw from Nottingham and Derby, this watery reserve is a OXFORD ISLAND beguiling backdrop to one of nature’s greatest masterpieces, says Helen Moat NATURE RESERVE COUNTY ARMAGH At Attenborough superb place to warm up 3 SPOT THE STARLINGS Nature Reserve, with a hot soup and watch Recent murmurations have hundreds of starlings the wildfowl. Returning to Turn right on to North Path, been viewed from this swarm the pale winter sky. the junction, cross over and crossing over Beeston Pond. peninsula on Lough Neagh’s They move as one, twisting continue along Church Path Soon you will meet the River south shore, an ethereal and turning, rapidly changing between Tween and Church Trent. Follow the path between landscape of wetlands, direction, yet never break ponds. Take time to observe the ponds and the river south ponds and reed beds. rank. The formation flows the water birds from the then west. The section like liquid, darkening as the viewing screen on the path. overlooking the Delta between RSPB MERSEHEAD birds cross over each other, the bird hide and the Bunt, as RESERVE then paling again as the 2 PONDS AND DELTA well as at Clifton Pond, have all DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY birds stretch out. played host to great displays of Keep left to follow the path murmurations in recent years. On the stunning Solway Firth, The murmuration is a work of between Attenborough village Mersehead’s salt marshes art in the sky, the birds’ swirling and Corbett’s Meadow then 4 DUSK RETURN have seen murmurations movements reminiscent of the Glebe Field, the most species- of up to 10,000 starlings in practice of t’ai chi. As the sun rich grassland on the reserve. Keep right to follow Barton recent years. sets and the starlings drop to Works Path crosses between Lane through the gathering the reed beds to roost, you Works Pond and Main Pond darkness back to the visitor TEIFI MARSHES know the spectacle is over. before plunging into woodland centre and your starting point. NATURE RESERVE at the Delta Sanctuary. Keep an PEMBROKESHIRE Attenborough Nature eye open for redpolls and siskins Helen Moat is a travel Reserve lies between Derby and in the alders, where thrushes, writer, walker and cyclist, This award-winning reserve Nottingham beside the River tits and finches also gather. happiest when outdoors. sees scores of starlings over Trent and is easily accessed by its reed beds, occasionally train, car and bike from both THE ROUTE IN ASSOCIATION WITH with peregrine falcons and cities. Made up of nine flooded goshawks in hot pursuit. gravel pits, broken up by islands 3.8 MILES 5.6KM 2 HOURS EASY 3 and spits, the reserve is awash with resident and overwintering EASY ACCESS birds. Cattle, little and great TRAIL egrets have all been spotted at Attenborough, while last winter 2 the attractive Slovenian grebe caused much excitement. But it is the starling murmurations at sunset that steal the show. Arrive at the reserve a couple of hours before dusk to walk or cycle the Kingfisher Route for an opportunity to see the full cast of winter wildlife. 1 WILDFOWL ISLAND 1 SCAN HERE 4 At the junction of Barton Lane to access this and Church Path, turn left from route on your the car park to cross the bridge mobile device to the reserve’s island café, visitor centre and shop. With its ceiling-to-floor glass windows and waterside balcony, it is a www.countryfile.com/walks 81

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GREAT DAYS OUT DAY OUT: Tollesbury Wick, Essex MARSHLANDS IN WINTER Essex has one of the longest county coastlines in England, home to haunting marsh harriers, majestic winter wildfowl and Britain’s smallest mammal, says Dixe Wills LEFT Diverse invertebrate populations make Tollesbury the most wildlife-rich part of the Blackwater Estuary TOP RIGHT Look for lapwings, a name derived from their wavering flight BOTTOM RIGHT Common reed, sea club rush and fennel pondweed grow among the brackish waters At the mouth of the wingspan of 1.2m, it is the waders that arrive every and getting in some winter wide Blackwater exercise. From the nearby Estuary lies a lonely largest of Britain’s harriers and winter, including flocks of village of Tollesbury, a flat, peninsula almost as flat five-mile circular walk sticking as the North Sea itself. is identifiable by the shallow golden plovers, lapwings, almost entirely to footpaths Now a 243-hectare reserve, takes visitors out along the the Essex Wildlife Trust’s ‘V’ shape of its wings when wigeon and Brent geese. sea wall, passing close to the Tollesbury Wick marshes is hide en route. It is remarkable a rich medley of reed beds, soaring. Females are a dark And don’t forget to look that this landscape, so salt marsh and mudflats. apparently wild and remote, is It is also a hauntingly brown with a creamy-golden down – field voles and pygmy on the doorstep of so many beautiful place that really people – it is less than 20 miles comes into its own in winter. crown and forewing. The shrews (Britain’s smallest from Colchester, Chelmsford, Braintree and around 30 miles LAGOON LIFE male is more of a patchwork mammal) are numerous here. from Ipswich. The marshes even make for an easy day trip One notable avian resident to creation, with a striking At dusk or dawn you may out of London, providing a look for when the nights draw welcome escape from urban in is the marsh harrier. Once a even spot a life in the depths of winter. rarity in Britain during winter, growing numbers (especially THE MARSHES ARE A“ badgerortwo Dixe Wills has written females) now forgo their annual as well. Their a series of bestselling flight to Africa, preferring to books, including hunker down in refuges such RICH MEDLEY OF REED burrowing has The Wisdom of Nature. as Tollesbury Wick. With a thrown up BEDS AND MUDFLATS” interesting archaeological finds including chestnut belly, brown back earthenware used by Iron Age and black tips to grey wings. and Roman settlers. The reserve also attracts its fair share of migrant SEASIDE STROLL Photos: Getty, Alamy birds. From a hide by a Often swept by a bracing sea lagoon you can watch the breeze, the marshes are ideal thousands of wildfowl and for blowing o the cobwebs www.countryfile.com/walks 83

DAY OUT: Llyn Parc Mawr Community Woodland, Anglesey CREATURES OF THE CANOPY Julie Brominicks visits a little-known woodland on the island of Anglesey in north-west Wales, where local residents have helped to create a refuge for red squirrels They trickle through trees like oil paint; quavers on a music score of twigs. If they’ve noticed me, they are too busy interacting to let on, chasing each other, frisking their tails, making strange ‘chuk-chuk’ sounds. Their tails are loaded paint brushes, tinting the dawn, a Pre-Raphaelite russet contrast to the moss. TIME AMONG TREES Tree-top gymnasts: red squirrels can leap more than two metres, Llyn Parc Mawr Community eight times their body length Woodland is annexed to Coed Niwbwrch (Newborough branches, too, but red cache fungi in a tree for winter. Their ears are at their tuftiest Photo Alamy Forest) yet is di erent from squirrels steal the show. “We Mostly they eat pine cones, at this time of year. Here they it in character, despite having feed them hazelnuts and twisting them round – you’ll come, tumbling through the evolved from the same black sunflower seeds,” says see them discarded on the canopy like cheesy Wotsits. Corsican pine plantation. volunteer Chris, whose ground like apple cores. Eventually I move; disturbed, husband Paul is topping up the Basically, they’re just looking they regard me, their tails a Now it is a biodiverse feeders. “But they’ll also eat for the tiny little seeds inside.” question mark. woodland with shrubs and a things like beechmasts, lake at its heart, due to years of blackberries, flowers, new You have a greater chance Julie Brominicks work by a dedicated group of shoots – they’ll even take of seeing red squirrels by the is a Snowdonia-based locals. Recent transformations lizards and bird’s eggs, but not feeders in winter, when landscape writer include a forage zone with very often. In autumn they daylight foraging hours are and walker. edible fruit trees, toadstool fewer and food scarcer. seat spirals in the forest school area and an education shelter – testament to a very active Niwbwrch and Malltraeth community. Yet it is also within reach of residents from Bangor, Porthaethwy (Menai Bridge) and Llangefni, the hometown of Gary. “I can sit here under the trees and everything’s gone,” says Gary. “There’s no pressure, nothing. And then you realise an hour has passed and you’ve no co ee left.” SPIRITED SQUIRRELS Wigeon overwinter on the lake, aquiver with light. Nuthatches, coal tits and great-spotted woodpeckers flit about the 84 www.countryfile.com/walks

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On a clear winter’s day, views from Dunkery Beacon stretch as far as Wales to the north and Dartmoor to the south WALK: Dunkery Beacon, Somerset PREHISTORIC PONIES Conquer Somerset’s highest peak for far-reaching vistas and the chance to spot a breed of ponies that has grazed these hills for millennia, says Paul Bloomfield For a glimpse into A long forelock and mane provides necessary warmth 1 LANES AND DELLS Britain’s prehistoric past, scale the wild shield its neck from rain and and water resistance. On a raw Turning left from Wheddon heights of Exmoor National Cross car park over the Park to meet some of its snow, fleshy pads – known as winter’s day, an encounter with crossroads, fork right at the earliest extant inhabitants: war memorial and left on to distinctive ponies that have a herd Higher Park Lane. After 250m, grazed its heather-clad turn left at the quill waymark, flanks for thousands of “THIS ANCIENT RACE roaming signed Dunkery Hill Gate. years. According to the Dunkery Descend through fields, cross Exmoor Pony Society, the A396 and follow the founded a century ago OF PONIES REMAINS Beacon, the driveway opposite; take the in 1921 to preserve the highest point second bridleway to the right, now-rare horse breed, this another right-fork down into ancient race remains VIRTUALLY UNCHANGED in Somerset woods alongside Raleigh virtually unchanged since at 519m, Manor, then climb steps on the last Ice Age. to Tom’s Path. Cross a lane SINCE THE LAST ICE AGE” echoes the (Drapers Way) and emerge experiences of our distant ‘toad eyes’ – protect vision and, ancestors some 10,000 years in winter, its two-layer pelage – ago. Dunkery is close to Photos Alamy a short, woolly undercoat and Minehead and Dunster, also thick, greasy outer coat – magical in winter. 86 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT from the pinewood through a gate into a steeply sloping field. Hop over a stream in a narrow combe, then veer right into Blagdon Wood. At the four-way fingerpost, turn sharp right (for Dunkery) steeply down to the valley floor. Go left to follow the stream, crossing side rivulets to reach a ford and signpost. 2 ON TO THE MOOR ABOVE There are around 20 herds of Exmoor ponies on the commons of Exmoor – two herds are owned by the National Park. In winter, the ponies grow a thick, two-layered coat to protect them against the bitter cold Take the left-hand track that climbs out of the combe going THE ROUTE IN ASSOCIATION WITH west across open ground above the River Avill, through two 8 MILES 12.8KM 4 HOURS MODERATE sparse hedges. After 500m, turn right through another hedge then left, climbing west still through a final hedge to reach Dunkery Bridge and a small car park. Turn right along the road for 75m, then take the clear path left, rising north- north-west across open moor to the cairn marking Dunkery Beacon. On a clear winter’s day, views unfold north to Porlock Bay and beyond to Wales; keep a look out, too, for red deer and Exmoor ponies grazing the surrounding slopes. 3 SNOWDROP VALLEY 3 2 1 Take the track right (east), SCAN HERE cross a road then, 300m beyond, turn right on to the path to access this descending south. Turn right route on your at the field boundary and follow mobile device it as it veers left, dropping steeply back to the signpost beneath Blagdon Wood, retracing your steps to Drapers Way. To reach ‘Snowdrop Valley’ – private woods flanking the Avill that, in February, open for the public to admire a pristine carpet of white flowers – turn left and follow the lane for 500m. Otherwise, follow the quill waymarks back to Wheddon Cross. Paul Bloomfield is a travel and heritage writer, happiest when on the trail. www.countryfile.com/walks 87

DAY OUT: Welney Wetland Centre, Norfolk ANGELS OF THE NORTH Seek refuge from the brisk winter air inside a heated bird hide, where cosy seats look out across the swan-filled wetlands of Norfolk, recommends Ben Hoare Winter brings us Three times a day, wardens below sea level, you might see TWO MORE angels of the north: throw corn to the jostling your first swans feasting on SWAN LAKES great flocks of throng of hundreds of eager sugar-beet tops or potatoes Arctic swans, whose snow- swans as they crowd up to the left in the black fields. CAERLAVEROCK WWT white plumage and evocative glass of the heated, carpeted DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY trumpeting suit the season. observatory. At 6.30pm The reserve itself has on Saturdays and Sundays half-a-mile of raised paths that Located on the shores of the There are whooper swans there is an extra floodlit give superb views over the Solway Firth in Scotland, this from Iceland and similar but performance. The swans’ wild surrounding bird-filled WWT centre hosts daily smaller Bewick’s swans from music, piped to loudspeakers wetland. As well as swans, whooper swan feeds in front Russia, both sporting inside, is like a big – and very there are ducks aplenty – of its comfortable main hide. distinctive yellow-and-black loud – brass band. Quite a din, pochard, pintail, tufted, teal Up to 40,000 barnacle geese beaks. They are a di erent but strangely beautiful. – and flocks of wading birds, also flock to the estuary’s salt beast to the familiar orange- such as godwits, lapwings marshes and rich pasture. billed mute swans at your AVIAN ARRIVALS and golden plovers. Hares Nearby, visit the 13th-century local park – prettier and frequent a new 300-acre Caerlaverock Castle. altogether wilder. Welney forms part of the Ouse wetland next to the main Washes, an area of fertile timber-clad visitor centre. Pop One of the best places to pasture that is grazed all in to the centre, reminiscent experience these heavenly summer and in winter of a huge upturned sailing visitations is the Wildfowl and provides flood alleviation boat, to warm up in the gift Wetlands Trust reserve at for the River Great Ouse. shop or Wigeon Café. Welney, in the peaty flatlands It’s under an hour by car of west Norfolk. A bit bleak, from Peterborough or Ben Hoare is a science maybe? Not at all. If you like Cambridge, yet feels a world writer and author of your creature comforts, this away. As you drive there along The Wonders of Nature. is the winter wildlife spectacle razor-straight roads, mostly for you. Up to 10,000 Bewick’s and whooper swans spend winter on the lakes at Welney SLIMBRIDGE WWT Photo Getty GLOUCESTERSHIRE The former home of Sir Peter Scott, now WWT headquarters, is on the banks of the River Severn just a 30-minute drive from Bristol. Wintering Bewick’s swans have been fed here for over 50 years. Highlights include the floodlit swan feeds, captive waterfowl collection and Kingfisher Kitchen café. 88 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT Thought to be Scotland’s oldest reservoir, Gartmorn Dam is home to a huge range of wildlife, including birds such as goldeneyes (inset) DAY OUT: Gartmorn Dam, Clackmannanshire GOLD ON THE WATER Take a flutter to the central Lowlands of Scotland where secluded Gartmorn Dam is a haven for feathered winter migrants, including mesmerising goldeneyes, says Fergal MacErlean Photos: Getty, Alamy Set in a hidden corner DIVING IN of white on the inner wing, invertebrates and fish. In fact, of Clackmannanshire, while on the water they give an the diversity of pondweed in to the north of the Visiting goldeneye and air of unperturbed calm, their the dam – a Site of Special River Forth, is picturesque pochard can be seen diving dramatic eye an unmistakable Scientific Interest – is of Gartmorn Dam. Surrounded for food along with the local presence. Watch as they dive national importance. by woods beneath the tufted ducks. Less common abruptly, resurfacing after a Ochil Hills, it lies within ducks to look for include minute or so. And though Greylag and pink-footed minutes of Stirling, Alloa gadwall, shoveler, goosander slightly comical due to their geese also roost in winter, and the ancient county and ruddy. oversized, bulbous heads, they filling the dusk air with their town of Clackmannan, are masters of the cold thanks wild evocative calls. Large making it a perfect Goldeneye feed on the to their winter fat reserves. flocks of swans add plenty of destination for an easy open water, generally in small, drama too, sometimes joined escape. Gartmorn is loose congregations. The FLIGHT FOR FOOD by their noisy Icelandic particularly appealing now male in particular is a cousins, yellow-billed for its overwintering birdlife. handsome, medium-sized As winter sets in, wildfowl whooper swans. diving duck. It is black and breeding in Northern Europe The dam forms Scotland’s white with a greenish black find it di cult to find food and, Explore Gartmorn Dam on oldest reservoir, dating from head and a circular white as a result, many migrate to the largely flat, three-mile path 1713, but even before that, its patch in front of the striking spend the season at places that encircles the water. name suggests that this was golden eye – a feature it such as shallow Gartmorn a watery place; the word shares with the smaller Dam, where food is available Fergal MacErlean Gartmorn means ‘the farm females, who are mottled grey throughout the year thanks to is an outdoors writer (gart) over the marsh’. with a chocolate-brown head. the abundance of pondweed, who loves exploring In flight, they show a large area Scotland on foot. www.countryfile.com/walks 89

DAY OUT: Bleaklow, Derbyshire Adult mountain hares must stay alert to avoid predators such as buzzards, while HARE RAISING leverets – hares less than a year old – are ENCOUNTER preyed upon by foxes, stoats and cats Roly Smith recalls a thrilling midwinter meeting with one of the Peak District’s most elusive, fleet-footed and charismatic mammals Idon’t know who was the thriving, especially on the most surprised, the pure- northern and eastern Dark white mountain hare that Peak moors. But the lack of bolted out from a snow-filled any lasting snow cover in our grough just as I was about to rapidly warming winters has step across it, or myself. meant that nature’s ploy of camouflaging the hare in its I was tramping across the winter-white coat has had the peaty wastes of the aptly opposite e ect. The trouble is, named Bleaklow, the Peak’s no one seems to have told the second highest summit, in the hares about global warming, so middle of an icy winter some nowadays they often stand out years ago, and had no warning conspicuously against the dark that I was about to step on one heather and chocolate-brown of the national park’s most peat in their brilliant white coats. secretive and charming animals. As I recovered from BRAVING BLEAKLOW the shock of my first encounter, the hare bounded across the The 633m-high plateau of hags and groughs at a speed Bleaklow is easily accessible that left me breathless. via the Pennine Way from the summit of the Snake Road STANDING OUT (A57) or from the former mill town of Glossop via the ancient Mountain, Arctic or blue Roman Road of Doctor’s Gate hares are a relatively recent to the west. But Bleaklow is not introduction to the Peak a place to be underestimated, District. Thought to be native especially in winter. It is best to only to the Highlands of follow well-trodden routes and Scotland and Ireland, they were be competent with map and successfully introduced to the compass before you venture Peak from Perthshire in the on to its peaty wilderness. late-19th century, purely as an interesting diversion for the Roly Smith has sporting guns of the Pennines. written more than 90 books about walking Today, the Peak District and the countryside. population is the only one left in England and seems to be Photo: Alamy WINTER CAMOUFLAGE SPECIALISTS Mountain hares are not the only British animals to don a winter coat. Stoats – known as ermines in their white winter attire – also change colour. Members of the weasel family, stoats are found throughout Britain, favouring places such as drystone walls for their nests. The grouse-like ptarmigan, a resident of the highest mountains of the Scottish Highlands, is another camouflage specialist, changing its feathers to pure white in a bid to escape the attention of predators. 90 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT “THE HARE BOUNDED ACROSS THE HAGS AND GROUGHS AT A SPEED THAT LEFT ME BREATHLESS” www.countryfile.com/walks 91

TOP SEVEN SITES FOR WINTER FLORA Sonya Patel Ellis 2 reveals her favourite 6 spots in England for seeking winter herbs, 1 flowers, shrubs and trees 47 5 3 01BETH CHATTO’S GARDENS, ELMSTEAD, ESSEX I hold the late, great plantswoman Beth Chatto personally responsible for my hellebores obsession following a visit here in early winter 2011. Head to the Woodland Garden to find the nodding pink, plum, white, green and sometimes mottled heads of this shade-loving, winter blooming perennial nestled among carpets of snowdrops and da odils. 03PORTLAND BILL, ISLE OF PORTLAND, DORSET Portland can be treacherous in winter but if the weather and sea mist allows, it is possible to spot marine life, such as rock and golden samphire, sea campion, sea thrift and rare Portland sea lavender (aimonium recurvum subsp. Portlandicum). Sweet violets and alexanders seedlings also push through at this time. 02 THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD, Photos: Getty, Alamy, Sonya Patel Ellis WAKEFIELD, YORKSHIRE Tom Stuart-Smith and Katy Merrington have created a truly seasonal feast for humans and pollinators at The Hepworth. Be inspired by the bronzed seed heads of echinacea and persicaria, plumes of golden Hakonechloa macra and Stipa calamagrostis and the green-tipped promise of perennials to come. 04 WINKWORTH ARBORETUM, GODALMING, SURREY A dear friend introduced me to this magical arboretum, which houses a dedicated area of one of my favourite winter-flowering shrubs, witch hazel. Find 15 di erent species of this sweetly scented, spidery-flowered medicinal plant in the Winter Garden not far from the entrance among equally fragrant, yellow-spiked mahonias. 92 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT 06 YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK, WEST BRETTON, YORKSHIRE A favourite childhood haunt, winter walks reveal lakeside haws and hips, Scots pine and cedar of Lebanon cones on the sculpture-strewn lawn. There’s a hardy bed of aromatic rosemary, thyme and sage by the Underground Gallery and pink blousy blooms in the Camellia House for colour therapy on a grey day. 05KINGSDOWN BEACH, KINGSDOWN, KENT An idyllically located campsite atop Dover’s White Cli s gifted my first views of this botanically rich landscape. Find winter-hardy wild thyme and salad burnet among the cli -top wildflowers and grasses; head along the shingle beach below for skeleton seed heads or just-emerging (if it’s mild) native wild carrot, red valerian and fennel. www.countryfile.com/walks 07 WANSTEAD FLATS, FOREST GATE, LONDON The southernmost part of Epping Forest, my nearest green space for over a decade, perpetually distracts me with its enigmatic plant life. Winter diversions include sepia-toned seed heads of yarrow, cow parsley and teasels, lichen-covered oak twigs, resolutely green Scotch broom and fading ferns – the perfect ingredients for a foraged seasonal wreath. Sonya Patel Ellis is a writer, editor, artist and the author of several books, including Collins Botanical Bible, The Heritage Herbal and The Collins Garden Birdwatcher’s Bible. 93

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 MORNING LIGHT MIGHTY MOUSE By: Katie Louise Howard By: Lucy Coughlan Where: Dunham Massey, Where: Hythe, Kent Greater Manchester “I took this photo in my back “We enjoyed an atmospheric garden. The little mouse morning walk among the seemed quite unperturbed ancient trees here in and posed for me for quite October, when the leaves a while.” were just starting to fall.” THE PRIZE This month’s winner receives a pair of Ariat Skyline Summit GTX® boots, worth £170. The boots are mesh-lined and made with a waterproof, breathable membrane, plus a shock-absorbing EVA midsole and full-grain leather upper. A dual-density Duratread™ outsole provides extra traction for sure footing on rough terrain. Sizes: women’s 3–8.5; men’s 7–12. 94 www.countryfile.com/walks

GREAT DAYS OUT PATIENCE PAYS OFF By: Verity Hill Where: Chesil Beach, Dorset “Seeing this little ringed plover pull and wrench its morning sand-worm snack out of the wet sand put a smile on my face.” LUCKY LEAP DAWN JOURNEY By: Simon Woodley By: Neil Peacock Where: River Wear, Where: River Ure near Durham Hawes, North Yorkshire “It was the first time I’d seen “Taken on an early autumn the wonderful sight of morning, this bridge seems salmon leaping the weir in to be leading to a world of Durham – and I got a good mysterious landscapes.” shot, too.” SWEET TREATS Congratulations to Nicola Scott and her dog Toby, By: Stuart Watts who has been named Where: Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset BBC Countryfile “I was so lucky to see this hummingbird hawkmoth in my Magazine’s Dog of the garden, making the most of a rich supply of nectar.” Year 2020. Nicola and Toby win £1,000 of www.countryfile.com/walks vouchers to spend at Edgard & Cooper! 95

January Lazy days BOOKS TV RADIO LETTERS PUZZLES Reviews editors: Margaret Bartlett, Maria Hodson book of the month Woodlands are magical playgrounds, places of calm and solace, retreat and healing – trees are life-giving in more ways than one HONOURING THE TREES WE KNOW AND LOVE A collection of stories that celebrates our deep connection to trees BOOK Stories are told by people from all walks these worrying times of the pandemic. FOR THE LOVE OF TREES of life, the well-known and not so well- Many testify about woodland, a magical known – actors, artists, druids, explorers, natural playground for children to enjoy, BY ANNA DEACON AND VICKY ALLAN lawyers, musicians, therapists, poets and where they can climb trees and learn BLACK AND WHITE PUBLISHING, £20 HB writers. What links them is their love of about the wildlife that inhabits this special trees and what they mean to them. place. Photography by Anna Deacon Reading this book reminded makes this a visual treat, too. me of the importance trees The authors, Vicky Allan and Anna have in all of our lives, for Deacon, have brought together stories of We all have a connection to trees, and wellbeing, comfort and happy times and sad, and of trees that in these stories recurring words such as healing, as well as the basic have a special significance, like old friends, “comforting”, “friend”, “healing”, “hope”, act we nee them to produce the air we to be visited time and time again. Many of and “relaxing” are used. The well- breathe. The wide-ranging chapters cover Vicky’s interviewees talk about the documented personal accounts how we interact with trees, fight for their calming e ect of being around trees in throughout this book show there is a protection and cherish the gift of wood, woods and forests, and their beneficial passion for trees deep-rooted in us all. through individual experiences. powers for our wellbeing, particularly in Anthony Hall, head of gardens, Kew 96 www.countryfile.com

BOOK LAZY DAYS CLANLANDS The song thrush loves to eat snails, BY SAM HEUGHAN AND GRAHAM MCTAVISH making it a gardener’s favourite HODDER & STOUGHTON, £20 HB BOOK you feel good about birdwatching, but Two actors from the popular THE COMPLETE GARDEN with dip-in-able text that actually does time-travelling broadsword- BIRDWATCHER’S BIBLE have some meat to o er anyone swinging kilt-fest Outlander embarking on an avian-spotting voyage. set o in a motorhome in BY CHRISTOPHER PERRINS, SONYA PATEL ELLIS, search of the real history of PAUL STERRY AND DOMINIC COUZENS There are sections on natural history their beloved Highlands while engaging in WILLIAM COLLINS, £30 HB of birds, their biology, their behaviour, a massive inter-generational bromance. their eggs and their flight. There’s advice What could possibly go wrong? “Birdwatching,” states the on when, where and how to birdwatch Well, not much, as it turns out. But introduction to this hefty, and with what equipment. There’s a because this is television – the book is a lavishly illustrated tome, “is history of birdwatching as well as a large tie-in to a documentary series (since the perfect hobby for the section on bird art and photography renamed Men in Kilts) – everything from 21st century,” before going on to list through the ages. Such breadth and getting o a boat to riding a chairlift is such things as identification apps, diversity comes at the cost of some framed as some kind of extreme sport smartphone cameras, foreign travel, detail, but it’s written with an infectious fraught with danger and/or comedic citizen science projects and social enthusiasm and friendly clarity. possibilities. The action is interspersed media as reasons for a massively with prodigious bouts of drinking and growing interest in the hobby. Admittedly, the bird identification Sam Heughan’s oddly 1970s sexism, So this book is aimed at that section is a little dry and su ers from continually ‘insulting’ his co-star by burgeoning army of newcomers, but the odd fact that nowhere in the book referring to him jocularly as a woman. despite the cover’s claim to be “a does it define “garden bird”, which may Written during lockdown, the rush to get practical guide to understanding leave some newcomers a tad ba ed by the book out before Christmas is sadly garden birds” this is no field guide – it’s what’s included and what’s not. That evidenced by a slew of factual errors, too heavy. It’s more of a co ee table said, any fledgling birdwatcher who ba ing inconsistencies and multiple book full of amazing images to make gets this as a present will be chu ed. repeats of information. Dave Golder, writer That said, Heughan writes touchingly Photos: Getty about his single-mum upbringing; RADIO landscape transformation and outer- Outlander fans will doubtless enjoy the 40 WAYS TO SAVE space hardware, each episode views many behind-the-scenes reminiscences; THE PLANET the problem from a fresh perspective. and the authors do occasionally take time out from their continual (and wearingly BBC RADIO 4 Environment journalist Tom Heap will one-note) jousting to throw the spotlight DAILY FROM 4 JANUARY FOR 14 DAYS, 1.45PM look into the 40 practical ideas, which on Highland history and culture. In the end include tiny forests in Oxfordshire that – as with most reality TV shows – your We got ourselves into this climate pack a big carbon-cutting punch, the enjoyment of Clanlands is likely to be change mess, so how can we get reflooding of peatbogs in Ireland, directly proportionate to your attachment ourselves out of it? From this month, seaweed farming in Scotland and to its stars… and your capacity to suspend BBC Radio 4, in partnership with the replanting seagrass in Pembrokeshire. your disbelief. Royal Geographical Society (RGS), will Tom is then joined by climate scientist Dixe Wills, travel writer present 40 ideas to relieve the stress Dr Tamsin Edwards to gauge the climate change is exerting on the quantity of carbon dioxide each idea www.countryfile.com planet. From perovskite solar cells to could remove from the atmosphere. 97

LAZY DAYS Q&A WITH MACKENZIE CROOK The actor, writer and director is back with another episode of his much-loved Worzel Gummidge adaptations, called Saucy Nancy. He talks about nature, filming and lockdown life with Maria Hodson TV Q: Saucy Nancy is the third Worzel Is that your experience of rural life? Photos: Shutterstock WORZEL GUMMIDGE: Gummidge adventure and this time A: I think it probably is. I think that’s SAUCY NANCY Worzel leaves Scatterbrook and because I’ve only ever been a visitor to heads to Seashells. Where in Britain the countryside – I’ve never lived in the BBC ONE, AVAILABLE ON IPLAYER did you film? country, so I suppose I only see the good A: The seaside scenes were shot in bits of it, as a tourist, and it’s always a Q: Did you grow up surrounded Seaford, on the south coast and right delight to see. So I suppose I’m presenting by nature? next to the Seven Sisters white cli s, so a bit of a chocolate-box image of the A: I grew up in suburbia but very close to that was spectacular. Other locations are countryside, in Worzel especially. nature and all of my spare time was spent all pretty much around Watford area and down by the river, or in the woods, and my round the M25. We did that for cost and Q: What’s your favourite pastime holidays were spent on the family farm in environmental reasons on the first one when you get into the great outdoors? Zimbabwe so I then had all the African and we stuck to a lot of those locations. A: I have a woodland. I bought about eight wildlife and nature in my school holidays. But we took a few days down to acres of woodland in Essex about 10 I imagined that was what I would go into Eastbourne, on the south coast. years ago, and that’s my country bolthole. for a while – conservation or something. We used to go on lots of British holidays Q: Are you always lucky with the to the coutryside, to Su olk in particular, Q: Did your parents encourage an weather when you film? but my eight acres of woodland in Essex interest in the natural world? A: The first series of Detectorists [which is a long-term project. At the moment, I’m A: My dad grew up in London in the city. I Mackenzie wrote and starred in], I don’t replacing the fence – I guess there’s don’t think he had much access to nature think we had any rain at all. It was idyllic about a kilometre of fence and I’m slowly so when he moved out to Dartford to and I thought that’s how it was always taking that away and dead-hedging. And suburbia he started going on bike rides going to go for me. This last episode of so, a day out in my woods, sledge- and started learning the names of the Worzel Gummidge, I think we had nine hammering stakes into the ground and birds and flowers and taught that to me days of rain in a row… it was just relentless then filling it with branches, that’s just and my sisters. I’ve taken that further and and I was worried we would not get it but about the best day ever. I love it. it’s became a real passion of mine while it it doesn’t show up on screen. It looks was a passing interest of his. beautiful in the episode so we got away Whenever I go there, I expect to see the with it. But yes, it was tough. remains of a campfire or some beer cans Q: Are you passing that on to your but there’s never any evidence of anyone children as well? Q: In both Detectorists and Worzel having been there. So it doesn’t need me, A: Yeah, my son especially. He’s 17, and he Gummidge, the countryside is bucolic. it gets on with whatever it has to do by surprises me by identifying a bird that I itself. There are badgers there, all three didn’t think he knew and that makes me types of woodpecker and deer. very proud. Q: Did you manage to get a bit of Q: In Worzel, you’re writer, director nature in your life during lockdown? and, of course, Worzel. Do you have A: I’ve had probably the best lockdown a favourite hat of those three? that I was able to have. I’m incredibly A: I love the writing. It’s just me in my lucky that I’ve got a house and a garden o ce and and I love that process. I love and we all get on very well together. I playing Worzel. I feel really fond of him, found it very creative. I had a workshop- and it’s quite a revelation, in that I feel that cum-shed finished at the end of my I know him better than any other garden just before lockdown, thankfully, character before. I know that because I’m and I’ve been creating and looking out of able to improvise as Worzel and I’ve never my window and noticing nature coming been good at improvisation. Last year, to me. I spotted red kites above Muswell some kids from our local primary school Hill for the first time, I saw peregrine came down to set and I was able to just falcons, a bunch of jackdaws moved in, be Worzel with them and know exactly and hedgehogs came to my garden for what he’d say, and I was making them the first time in nearly 20 years, so it’s laugh – it was a lovely feeling. been great. 98 www.countryfile.com

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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 facebook.com/countryfilemagazine *We reserve the right to edit correspondence letter of the LAPWING LAMENT month On sorting through some family possessions ABOVE Lapwings nest on rough or broken farmland recently, I discovered a collection of bird ID cigarette cards LEFT Ogden’s British Birds series was issued in 1939 tucked neatly inside a colourful cardboard chocolate box. In this case, it was a collection of Ogden’s cigarette cards of farming fraternity for the decline in lapwing numbers, British Birds and their Eggs available just before the Second when the encouragement of birds of prey has been the World War. work of conservationists themselves. The buzzard is no friend to lapwing chicks that make their hazardous Examining the cards, it was clear that the eggs were of journeys to feeding sites. There can be no mistake that significance to collectors in those days for the colour, shape the buzzard is a success story, but given their sheer and size of the eggs, featured in the foreground of the picture. numbers today, they are a species that needs to be kept Egg collecting was a common practice among in check. Personally, I would rather see a flock of 30 lapwings in country children during the last century; my local area than 30 buzzards in a local wood. thankfully today the collection of wild-bird eggs Monica Norgate, Oakham, Rutland is now illegal. But despite legislation, there are bird species that have become extinct in some Editor Fergus Collins replies: parts of the UK. The lapwing being one of them. A really interesting letter. Predators will have an impact on prey numbers and, if that species is already su ering due to habitat Lapwing numbers had been in decline since loss, predation can cause steeper declines. But buzzards and the middle of the 19th century, and during the lapwings have co-existed for millennia. It is us who have tilted early decades of the 20th century there were the balance, particularly with regard to reducing suitable large scale collections of lapwing eggs for food. breeding habitats for waders. If we address that, then there This situation led to the passing of the Lapwing will be plentiful lapwings and predation will be a less Act 1926, after which there was a recovery in acute problem. bird numbers. There was again another catastrophic decline during the second half of the 20th century with large scale changes in farming practises, further intensification and a shift away from mixed farming. Lapwings need low vegetation and grassland prone to damp patches and flood pools. In short, they need unimproved pasture, meadows and fallow fields. The autumn 2019 floods were catastrophic for many farmers, making autumn sowing impossible. Consequently, many arable farmers were forced to engage in spring rather than autumn tillage. I would like to see more spring-grown crops to see whether this increases lapwing numbers. Flocks of lapwings were a common sight on farmland in the East Midlands where I live. This is not the case today. There is another factor that has led to the lapwing’s decline and that is predation. It has been far too easy to blame the 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 seat fabric for great comfort, The Helinox Chair One comes in a tiny pack size and weighs only 850g. helinox.eu 100 www.countryfile.com