All language subtitles for Great British 01

The British countryside in winter.

Cold, unforgiving.

As temperatures plunge,

the skies open, the winds rage
and the light fades early.

This winter, we've seen extremes
of weather,

mild, wet and freezing cold.

Conditions that have been
treacherous,

sometimes even deadly for wildlife
and people here.

Britain in the winter can seem
devoid of life,

as if the natural world
has shut up shop.

But scratch below the surface
and it's amazing what you can find.

In this series,

I'm exploring five of our most
extreme winter landscapes.

I'll be including some of my BBC
colleagues' experiences

from over the years.

Hello. Together, we'll reveal what's
really out there

during this challenging season.

Warmth is one of those simple
pleasures

that we just take for granted.

Today, I'm looking at mountains,

and where better
than the Scottish Highlands?

I'll be discovering secrets hidden
deep in its past,

learning how to spot signs of an
impending avalanche.

Oh, look. Look, look, look!
That's quite terrifying.

SHE LAUGHS

And meeting a shepherd who looks
after a rather unique herd.

Is this a good spot?
Yes, this will be fine.

# Loh-oh-h. #

Welcome to The Great
British Winter.

The British Isles celebrates a
wealth of landscapes,

from windswept estuaries...

..to dense woodlands.

And in parts of England, Wales,

Scotland and Northern Island,

majestic mountains dominate
the horizon.

These impressive ranges embrace
the cold weather,

clutching the snow and mist to them
like a warm winter coat.

But it's much tougher
for people and wildlife

to survive out here.

I've come to the Cairngorm mountains
in Scotland.

It's a range that features
the tallest,

coldest and the snowiest
plateau in the British Isles.

In the winter,
it's the closest you can get

to experiencing
the Arctic in Britain.

It is these conditions

which make the range both
breathtakingly beautiful

and extremely dangerous.

Tragedy struck here for the third
time this year just weeks ago.

Police in the Scottish Highlands
have confirmed tonight that a man

and a woman have died following an
avalanche in the Cairngorms.

There had been warnings
of the potential for avalanches,

and it is yet another reminder

of just how dangerous the Scottish
mountains can be in winter.

The risks are considerable up here,

but the allure of the mountains
keeps drawing people back.

This is the most extensive range of
high mountains in the UK.

At just over 4,200 feet,
the Ben Macdui peak

is the second highest mountain
in the UK after Ben Nevis.

The Cairngorms plateau
is 18 miles long and 12 miles wide

and in the depths of winter,

winds of up to 170mph can blast
across it.

These mountains are made of some of
the Earth's oldest walls of granite.

INDISTINCT

Dr Stuart Archer, a geologist
from Aberdeen University,

has spent years studying
the rock formation here.

You have to go back
500 million years

to understand how the
Cairngorms were created.

It's hard to get your head around
those figures, isn't it?

Really is. 500 million years ago.

A long time ago,
but essentially, at that point,

Scotland was much further
south latitudinally,

and there was a large collision
between England and Scotland.

England suddenly came in,
rammed into Scotland,

and basically
the two plates collided

and they created a mountain chain.

Wow. And so when was the ice age
that we talk about?

How long ago was that?

The classic ice age would seem to
be about 2.5 million years old,

but it's lasted right up to today,

so we're actually still in the grips
of an ice age, technically speaking.

The best examples
are of rows of valleys.

Those were all
created around 24,000 years ago,

as the ice was probably
at its maximum extent.

So, 24,000 years ago,

I want you to imagine a mile
thick of ice at this location,

eroding and scouring all these
borders and leaving this

beautiful scenery we've got at the
Cairngorms, these U-shaped valleys.

What about this? Tell me what
you're carrying this for.

Well, it's a very simple tool
but what it allows us to do

is explain the age of the Earth
in one metre.

So this is how old the Earth is?
Yes, 4.6 billion years. Ooh.

So if this is the age of the Earth,
I just want to tell you

that Scotland's oldest rocks,
or the UK's oldest rocks

are basically created here. Wow.
And as we come up through time,

this is when the Cairngorms
were actually created,

at this point here.

That's 500 million years ago.

So fairly recent in...
the age of the Earth?

Exactly, if you look at the full
extent of the Earth.

Now the mountains were
created 500 million years ago

and the granites we see in the
Cairngorms were intruded here,

nine centimetres ago, on this stick.

Now to tell you about the ice age,
the last ice age,

I have to go and get another prop,
an even smaller piece of paper

and this is just
a set of Post-it Notes.

These Post-it Notes represent

the Ice Age that we see
the evidence for here. Very recent?

Really, really recent.

And then this last piece
of the Post-it Note,

just that last sheet, would be
man's influence on the Earth and...

..the actual Homo sapiens
evolutionary story.

It's that tiny, skinny one page at
the top? That one page at the top.

That's impressive.

It's a great way of visualising the
age of what we're seeing around us.

It's a simple tool, but it shows
the antiquity of the Earth

and all the events relative
to each other.

So the mountains here are mostly
made up of granite? Exactly, yes.

All of the Cairngorm plateau,

all the Cairngorm massif
is made of granite.

It's much harder than
the surrounding rock.

Because it's much harder,
it's remained proud and stood high.

That's why really we're dealing with
high altitudes in the Cairngorms,

as the granite's so really hard.

We could open a piece if you want
and see what's inside. Yes.

So to do so, we'll just have to take
a safety precaution,

so if you don't mind sticking these
glasses on. Oh, go on, then. He-he.

Good thinking.

Ah. And so,
when we look inside the granite,

what we can see is that there's
actually three minerals here.

In grey, we see a glassy mineral
here, which is quartz.

In orange, we see a second
mineral called feldspar.

It's this mineral that gives

the granite its classic
orange kind of colouration. Right.

There is one other mineral,
in small quantities,

but can you see this black mineral
here? Oh, yes. Tiny bits.

So the tiny bits are biotech mica,

and this mica is in small
quantities,

but it's actually very important
for the chemistry of this granite.

So bringing it on to nowadays,

erosion happens all the time, I
suppose, whenever water's around,

what sort of erosive processes

are still going on,
particularly in the winter?

Well, we've just broken this up
with a hammer, but essentially

these processes are ongoing in the
landscape all the time, as you say.

And granite, for example, could be
whole and then split apart

just because of the action of frost.

There's a 9% expansion
from water to ice. Wow.

And that 9% volume expansion
allows...

..that process to operate
a bit like a jack,

and you can imagine rocks being
cleaved away from each other

because of that frost process.

For two million years,

Scotland would've been
a frozen wasteland

with the nearest signs of life
on the ice margins

in the south of the country.

Successive ice ages have advanced
and retreated

with cycles of climate change,

moulding this Scottish landscape
into what we see here today.

It's hard to imagine
that just 10,000 years ago,

Scotland would've been in the
grip of a permanent winter.

Back then,
all sorts of unusual animals

would've roamed the frozen
landscape,

as Alan Titchmarsh discovered
on a winter visit to the Highlands.

At the end of the 19th century,
a Mr Peach

and a Mr Horne were exploring
this area,

when they came upon this cave.

And inside it,

they found something almost
unbelievable.

Something that had never been
found in Britain before.

But it wasn't in the mouth of the
cave that they made their discovery.

Oh, no. It was
way down in its darkest recesses.

Imagine exploring this eerie
cave by candlelight.

Especially with what was hidden
deep underground.

What did they find
when they got here?

They found the remains of a bear.

But not just any old bear.

This is the skull of a polar bear.

And for a polar bear to
have lived here,

it must have been as cold
as the Arctic.

We're not talking
millions of years here.

The skull they found wasn't a
fossil. It was real bone.

Polar Bears must have been stalking
the Scottish Highlands

practically yesterday.

So could this have been a scene,

not from the north of Norway,
or the high Canadian Arctic,

but from where Blackpool,
or Bristol are situated today?

A British Isles where musk ox
and polar bears roamed wild?

It's almost impossible
to imagine Britain

in the constant freeze
of the Ice Age.

But the polar bear skull found
in the cave

is a tantalising clue
to a frozen past.

A past when large mammals
roved these Highlands.

Just 300 years ago, the Cairngorms
were the last stronghold

of the grey wolf in Britain.

HOWLING

Roaming wild and feeding on
carrion,

this large mammal is able to hear
another wolf from six miles away

and smell their prey from one
and three quarter miles.

This made them both perfectly suited

to surviving the winter on
exposed mountain terrain

and also very good at keeping
deer numbers down.

But hunting and loss of habitat
through deforestation

resulted in the deer's natural
predator

disappearing from this landscape
and this country altogether.

WOLF HOWLS

However, there is a distant
relative of the wolf on the rise

here in the Cairngorms.

And though they may look very
similar,

they're a very different breed
altogether,

as Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury
discovered on a recent visit here.

Aviemore is home to the biggest dog
sled race in the UK.

200 teams compete over
a four-mile track

and for all of the mushers
that travel here

from right across the country,

it's the culmination of years
of training.

WOLF HOWLS

These sled dogs aren't pets.

They're animal athletes, and need
lots of exercise and training.

Like any sporting star,
you have to start them young.

Well, if you think there's just one
type of sled dog, the husky,

think again and let me
introduce you to this lovely lot.

We've got the Alaskan Malamute.
There you are, my friend.

What about the Siberian Husky?
There you are, just 11 weeks old.

The Canadian Eskimo Dog,
there's a treat for you.

And last but by no means least,
the Samoyed,

all distinctive breeds with
special characteristics.

Once you've picked your breed,
then you have to start training.

Matt Emery and wife Helen

have raised Siberian Huskies
for over a decade.

Let's go!

So, Helen, of all the sled dogs,
why do you go for the Siberian
Husky?

Siberian I like, because
they're an athletic breed, um...

..they run fast and also they're
stunning to look at, as you can see.

They're all different,
they're all beautiful,

but their working capability
is just phenomenal.

Well, there's no doubt about it,
Helen, these dogs are born to run.

But at what age do you start
honing that instinct?

Really start them off

from as soon as they've had
their vaccinations at 12 weeks old.

They come out, watch the team
and they pick up so much

from the excitement that
when they start running

a very short distance at five,
six months old,

they know very much what's going on
because they've watched the others

and picked up on the
vibes coming through from them.

But of course,
basic training is important too.

Before dogs are even
hitched to a sled,

they need to learn their left

from their right.

DOG HOWLS

After they've found their voice,
of course.

Julie, you've got me on a tricycle.

Yes, but this is the best way
to start.

This is actually called a rig,
it's not called a tricycle.

Mmm. The same principles,
I suppose, with three wheels.

But this is what we train and race
on in the UK almost every year.

Right, so, give me some instruction.

The first thing for you to do is
make sure you're balanced OK. Yes.

It's a bit like riding a bike -
make sure you've got your balance,

make sure you know where the brakes
are. Yes. OK?

I've got those tight.
I'm holding on to those. Great.

Hold on tight,
so the dogs don't pull you away.

The next thing for you to learn is
the commands.

We say, "hike" or "hike on".

That's when you want them to go,
"Come on, guys, let's go. Hike on."

And then the other word is
"whoa" when you want to stop them.

That's the most important word
for me to learn.

They might not listen to you. Great.

Because they might just
want to run. OK.

Oh, my God! Go!

Slow, slow. Whoa.

Hike. Hike!

'After a shaky start, I'm getting
the hang of it, I think.'

Hike! Hike! Hike!

Julia and I are going head-to-head
in a race soon,

so I've come to see how her
tuition's going.

Look who it is, it's Miss Marple
in a ski suit.

THEY LAUGH

I'll have you know,

this is a very important part
of the training process. Is it? Yes.

Have you got snow tyres on?

THEY LAUGH

This is what most people race in on.
Uh-huh? It's a rig.

How is it going? All right?
Yes, I think so.

If I were you, I'd be worried.

Would you? Yes. OK, well...
Miss Marple's on fire!

THEY LAUGH

Have fun. I think I'm
going straight for the sledge.
Are you? See what happens. Show off.

DOGS HOWL

'We're not going to tackle the
entire four mile track today.

'We're racing each other against the
clock over a short distance.'

..three, two, one. Go!

There we go, we're off, we're off.
Way-hey, I pulled a wheelie!

Oh, lovely stuff. Come on, girls!

Hike, hike, hike!

Ooh, it's a bit rickety there.
Straight through.

Oh, they're kicking up some snow.
Come on, girls! Get up.

Hike, hike, hike...

Ooh, I've taken a...
Ooh, just caught a bit there.

Hike, hike, hike!

Listen to him. "Hike, hike."

Hike, hike! Hike, hike!

'Approaching the final stretch, I'm
looking for any advantage I can get,

'bobbing down, to make myself
more aerodynamic.'

Hike, hike!

Come on! Go, go, go!

Hand brakes are on.

'One minute 42 to beat.'

Wow, I can't hardly see.

THEY LAUGH

You've got tears in your eyes.

Oh, that is brilliant. It's
literally a take off to start with.

It's a bit tricky on that
left-hand side,

you might sort of go up as the dogs
try and go right. Oh...

Now it's my turn.

Are we going?

DOGS BARK

ALL: Four, three, two, one...

DOGS BARK

Go. Hike, hike, hike,

hike, hike, hike, hike, hike...

'Poor dogs. I can't shut up.'

HE LAUGHS

It's a good start.

I tell you what, she's in the groove
as well. Hike, hike, hike.

Go on, we've got it! Go.
Running! Go! Hike, hike, hike, hike,

hike, hike. Whoa!

Whoa! She's gone! Whoa! Whoa!

SHE SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY
Oi, stop!

This is unbelievable.
I'm still going. I'm still going.

You know that, you know that turn
into the snow? The bit I... Yes?

Bump! Yes, you've got half of
it on your helmet.

Hike! Hike! Whoa!

Are you all right though? I'm
absolutely fine. No aches and pains?

No aches or pains. But I've lost
something quite important.

Not the race, the dogs.

THEY LAUGH

You might want to take that as a
souvenir. Thank you. It might melt.

Dog sled racing
in the mountain lowlands

is becoming ever more
popular as a sport.

And it's not the only winter
activity on the rise here.

The higher slopes have always
attracted climbers and walkers,

but nowadays these slopes also
play host to skiers.

Around 55,000 people a year come
skiing in the Cairngorms.

Conditions between November
and March can be extreme,

so this number of visitors requires
a dedicated team of workers

to ensure their safety
and wellbeing.

The weather can change
in a heartbeat,

so it needs to be monitored 24-7
for all the tourists that come here.

For some, that can mean
a very early start.

Mountain rescue, avalanche
and ski patrol teams are on hand,

making sure the area's ready

for the onslaught of Britain's
winter thrill seekers.

Hi, Adam. How are you, Ellie? Nice
to meet you. All right? Yes, good.

What an amazing piece of kit this
is. It's nice, huh? Yes.

Can you show me how it works?
Yes, job done.

Although it's only 7am,
ski patroller Adam

has already been working
for several hours.

His job, to use his piste basher

to flatten the snow
that's fallen overnight

and prepare the slopes
for the day's skiers.

When it's busy, we'll maybe start
at three or four in the morning.
Ooh.

Um... It depends on what the
weather's been like.

If it's this time of year,
early, like, January, February,

if it's good weather,
we'll work through the night

and leave it prepared
for the next day.

I'm not usually
impressed by machines,

but this is a really
amazing piece of kit.

This slope seems very steep to me.

We're coming up over
the brow of the hill,

but that has been incredibly steep.
How steep can this machine work on?

Er, 45 degrees. Yes, no problem.

Does it ever... Do you ever look
up at a slope and think, no way?

Sometimes, yes.

THEY LAUGH

For the really steep stuff,
we have the winch on here

and that allows
me to work on the steep slopes,

working down to stop us sliding
down.

Have you got any tales of extreme
weather? How bad's it been?

Oh, we get lots of extreme
weather up here,

so there's lots of tales to tell.

We did have to evacuate the guys
from the top station,

the top of our funicular once. Wow.

They had two snowmobiles up there.
They'd gone up there to do some work

while the train was switched off.

Um... When they come out the door,
the weather had closed in

and they could hardly see their hand
in front of them.

They just had to feel their way
down.

So the wind was over...
in excess of 130mph. You're kidding.

And, yes, the whole machine was
getting blown about.

Even you must have thought, "I'm not
sure if we're going to make this."

That must have been
touch and go for you.

We have all the snow fences,
so if you find a fence,

you can follow it down,
like a road map.

But you're driving
with your head out the window

and when you're outside...

all the fresh, drifting snow
is taking your breath away.

It was so, so wild. That's extreme.

The threat of danger up here

in the Scottish Highlands
in winter is very real.

Two PhD students and a junior doctor

have been named
among the four climbers

who were killed in an avalanche
in Glencoe in the Highlands.

The climbers who died had
fallen about 1,000 feet...

A man and a woman have died

following an avalanche
in the Cairngorms...

The avalanche happened at 12:30.

Three people were
caught in the avalanche...

This is thought to be one of
Scotland's worst climbing accidents.

We know...

Only last winter, there
were 178 known avalanches here,

ranging from a one to a four,
with five being the worst.

And 22 of those were thought
to have been caused by humans.

Although it's incredibly beautiful
here,

it's also very dangerous.

As a senior forecaster,

Mark is one of the unseen heroes
of the mountain.

He helps determine the likelihood
of a snow event,

such as an avalanche.

He has various ways of profiling
the snow

to judge which areas
might be at greatest risk,

but no-one way can provide
a definitive answer

whether an avalanche will
happen or not.

So there's a whole
different raft of tools,

I suppose, that you use in order to
assess the likelihood of avalanches?

That's right.
We can see what we've got.

I'm amazed you fit it all into that
small rucksack there.

Obviously, I've got a shovel,
which I'm going to use to
excavate...

a hole, if you like, so I can
sort of see the different layers.

Really, what we're interested in is
how those layers knit to one
another.

OK. Because that really is how
an avalanche occurs.

If the layers aren't knitting
together,

then you get one layer
sliding on top of another.

And especially now
when we have such stormy weather,

it's really unstable at the moment.

This gives me an idea of how those
layers are sticking together.

And is this something you would do
every day that you're out

looking for signs of avalanche
potential?

Yes, every day. Every day? Wow.

So what can we see here? To me,
this just looks like a wall of snow.

Right. If you look at it we can
see... Oh, yes.

..there's a very distinct layer.
Yes.

Obviously, that's really light
and that gets really icy and hard

and that's because it really rained
and began to freeze

and so that's this top layer.

So this snow here's
all since yesterday.

This is really sort of what's
come through last night

and during the day.

I mean, we are
quite low down in the mountains.

We're about 500 metres here.

Higher up, in certain places,
that would be really deep.

I mean, it may well be chest
deep in places. Wow.

Because the wind is
pushed into those areas. Yes.

So is that any kind of risk? Would
that profile be of concern? Yes.

What we need to do now is explore
and see how the snow behaves.

This top stuff, you'll see,
see how loose it is.

You squeeze
and it's not exactly gone into...

With one squeeze,
into a really good snowball. Yes.

It's quite dusty even, isn't it?
Dry looking. Dusty, light.

I would say that given how loose
and powdery it is,

there's going to
be weaknesses in there.

What else do you look for?

Um, well, what we can do is actually
see how this top layer

is adhering to this icy layer.

All right? Yes. So what I can do is
take a sample, isolate a little area

and tap it from below
and see how it behaves.

OK, so, now we're going to see

if there's any layers in that new
snow that may fail, all right?
Right.

So, we're putting a shock on it,
a bit like a person would

if they were on the surface,
all right? So we tap it underneath.

Not so much yet.
Let's give it a bit firmer... Oh.

And see how it cleaves.
It cleaves right off there.

OK, so if there's a little
layer in there,

there's something in there
that made it slide. All right?

And that might only be
a millimetre thick,

but you can see how it builds up
and builds up. Yes.

So that layer will remain weak,
but more and more snow on top of
that

will make that much more
significant, won't it? Yes.

So then with a magnifying glass,
you can look at what the grain is.

In this layer that's
cleaved off, you look at that...

Because that's what producing
the sliding surface. Right.

See how... Ooh, that looks
different. Fluffy. Yes, it is.

Like dust, almost.

Yes. So you pick up, you build up
a picture from all these

different tests that you
do as well as looking around you.

What do you do with that
information?

Right, well, this is only part of
it.

The next most important thing
is to actually travel

because this sample, it's
only a little metre square.

You know, we want to make sure how
relevant it is

to the whole landscape.

And from that, we can then produce
a true avalanche report,

because we know what the
distribution is of any weak snow.

And they'll range from
relatively small-scale events

to the more epic ones
that potentially cause...

cause harm. That's right.
We scale them in different sizes.

So one... Zero's not quite big
enough to bury somebody,

then another size
is big enough to bury somebody

and the next is big enough
to bury a car.

Then the next one,
which would be a three, or a four,

would bury a train carriage.

So that's how we sort of grade the
size of the avalanches, if you like.

Avalanches rarely occur unprovoked

and there are some other telltale
signs to look out for.

Light snow drifting over
a frozen surface,

large, irregular collections of snow
on rounded contours,

or overhanging crags

and cracks radiating
outward from your footprints.

These are just some things that can
indicate avalanche-prone snow.

With Mark's expert guidance,
he takes me to a safe place

to show just what
can happen if you're caught out.

So, we can do a little test
if you like.

We'll go across towards that edge

and see if it fractures
near our feet.

OK, that sounds quite nerve-racking.
Do you want to go first?

Not really, but go on...
So, go across there.

Sort of go in that direction. Let's
see what happens underneath our
feet.

Keep going. Whoa.
It's quite deep, so...

Are you sure this isn't going to
send me down the edge? Let's see.

I'm up to thigh level here. And...
There's some cracking over there.

Oh, my God. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Wow.

THEY LAUGH

I'm quite close to the edge.

Yes, I can see how that happens.
That's quite terrifying.

There it goes, there it goes.

SHE LAUGHS

Do you need any more clues
than that?

I'm convinced. I am convinced.

THEY LAUGH

There we go. Ah...

I'm relieved to be back up here,

I can tell you.

SHE STRAINS

Jobs like Mark's are vital,

because tragedy can often
just be a step away.

It's clear this terrain deserves
the utmost respect,

because temperatures can often
go below minus 15

and blizzards are pretty
commonplace.

Extreme climber John Lyle
knows this better than most.

Last winter, BBC cameras joined him
on the mountains.

At this time of year,

only the most skilled mountaineers
can tackle this range.

And though John's climbed the Andes
and the Himalayas,

it is these mountains in winter

that keep drawing him back,
time and time again.

The Cairngorms have got
a vastness...

..a sort of beauty to tap into that
other areas don't have.

To get to some of the more
remote spots,

John will often overnight
on the mountain

and this means building a snow hole,

which is a
skill he's still perfecting...

I think over years, mountaineers
have, sort of improved them,

and learned, as we all do, by our
mistakes, of getting dropped on.

John and his companion
need to work fast,

as daylight hours in winter
are limited.

He works out which part of the snow
bank is least likely to collapse

and gets stuck in.

Getting through the most recent
snowfall is the easy part.

As you dig further and further in,

you just get through all
the ages of the snow, really.

All the months going back, all
the way back to the end of November.

If there are two of you,
you normally dig two tunnels in,

and then you dig
towards one another.

Ah. Mr Preston, I presume.

A snow hole is the only way
to get through the night up
here during the winter.

The temperature on the inside of the
snow cave is around
20 degrees higher

than on the outside.

Up here, without shelter,
you could freeze to death.

It makes for a decent night's rest

and means John can make the
most of the next day's climbing.

'I think it's great. One candle
lights up the whole place

'and it makes a really cosy
place, out of the wind.'

Cheers. Slange.

The Cairngorms can be
just as testing as the Arctic.

When it comes to the weather,
no two days are the same up here

and the next morning high winds

and temperatures way
below freezing greet them.

In the Cairngorms, temperatures can
dip as low as minus 27 degrees,

but it's the wind chill that
makes the peaks so hostile.

170mph winds, the highest ever
in the UK, have been recorded here
on the summit of Cairngorm.

This is the sheer crag
known as Helm's Lan.

The climb is a mix of rock and ice,

perilous because the conditions
of the ice are ever-changing.

'The snow will be blowing down onto
the face you're climbing on.

'You can't see where your ice axes

'and crampons are because there is
so much snow moving around you.

'But you can still
climb in those conditions.

'Ah, winter climbing
in the Cairngorms is the
best climbing there is.

'I think it's very special.'

Despite its dangers,
for someone like John the appeal
of pitting himself against this

terrain in winter easily
outweighs the risks involved.

'The big, wild expanses of
plateaus, the hidden quarries,

'the places that take a lot
of effort to get to,

'to me they've got as many
challenges as I can want in my whole
life.'

John Lyle shares the mountain in
winter with a variety of wildlife.

All of them, like him,
incredibly tough.

One of the most resilient here in
the Cairngorms is the mountain hare.

This mammal is very well
adapted to withstand the
arctic conditions here

and will be found living
above 1,600 feet.

In winter, its fur changes colour
from russet brown to grey or white,

which helps to camouflage the hare
against the snow from potential
predators like peregrine falcons.

Indigenous to Scotland, with
around 350,000 of them in all,

the mountain hare is smaller
and more compact than the more
common brown hare in Britain.

Their smaller size helps to conserve
body heat in the cold of winter.

This mammal will
also conserve food.

As there's little to eat,
it has one meal,

and then consumes it
again by eating its droppings,

getting every last nutrient
out of each feed.

Mountain hares are perfectly
adapted to life up here,

but they're not alone.

At more than 1,000 feet,
there is a surprising winter

resident in these mountains
as Alan Titchmarsh explains.

There's a creature living
here that defies the odds.

I'm pond dipping.

Now, I know it sounds bizarre, and
although this pond's been frozen,

on and off, for the last
couple of months,

it still contains some rather
surprisingly forms of life.

What's more, I'm collecting
something you'd expect to see

at a very different time of year.

Tadpoles. What are they doing here
in the middle of winter?

Well, to find the answer to that,
we have to discover what

went on here last spring.

In early spring, our Highland
pools are often fringed with snow

and covered by ice but it doesn't
deter the frogs around here.

They're common frogs,
the sort you find in your garden

but these are undoubtedly
the Sherpa Tenzings of the species.

They are busy even when
the temperature is below zero.

They mate in the snow and the
females lay their eggs in ice cold
ponds.

Then they leave them
to grow on their own.

But their development into
froglets is far from ordinary.

In my garden in the south of
England,

the frogspawn appears in the pond
towards the end of February.

The tadpoles follow and
the young frogs emerge from
the pond in around July.

But up here, it's so cold
they don't have a chance to complete

the life cycle in a single season.

So although these little
fellows hatched last spring,

they won't turn into frogs
until this coming summer,

which means they'll have taken
a record 1.5 years to develop.

I think perhaps it's time to
put them back into this pond

and let them get on with growing.

You know, it's tough
being a Cairngorm tadpole.

Well, it's hard being
a Cairngorms anything.

Regardless of size, you have to be
pretty tough to survive out here

in these hostile
conditions in winter,

and that goes for plants, too.

In the colder months,

heather dominates many of the UK's
mountain ranges when our other
native plants die back.

It is this humble plant that is food

for many of the Cairngorms' winter
residents

and forms an essential part of
the intricate ecosystem here.

David Lambie is a
local heather expert.

Hi, David. How are you doing?
Hi, how are you? Good to meet you.

Pleased to meet you.
What are you digging for here?

Well, believe it or not,
I'm digging for heather. Really?
Are you having much luck?

We've gradually got down to it.

There's a sprig down here which
I'll get for you. There we are.

There it is.

So how is it able to survive in
these incredibly cold conditions?

They have needlelike leaves.
Little tiny ones there.

Yeah, the needles are covered in
hair, which helps to insulate it.

And actually, calluna,
this is Calluna vulgaris,

wild heather, we've got about
three million acres of that here.

And it produces its
own antifreeze protein,

which I believe has been used for
some confectionery,

ice cream and suchlike. Amazing.

But it's these three factors,
which help to protect

the plant during the winter months.

And it seems to survive pretty
well, even under the snow.

Well, the snow actually is
good for it in many respects

and underneath the snow, a blanket
of snow, it's probably a degree

or two warmer under the snow
than it is without any snow.

So it's preferable to be under
the snow? Absolutely.

A degree or so warmer.

How high in altitude can
you find heather growing?

It diminishes in size
the higher you go.

When you get up
to probably around the 2,500,

3,000 foot contour,

you are probably going to get very
prostrate heather. Very flat.

In latitude terms,
where are we level with now?

In latitude terms,
believe it or not,

we are level with Moscow, Hudson Bay
and the Gulf of Alaska. So chilly.

That's our latitude.

So it's not really surprising that
we have these conditions. Indeed.

What kind of wildlife does
the heather sustain?

Does anything dig down for it
or does anything live on it?

At high attitude, you'll probably
get ptarmigan, mountain hare.

The main beneficiary, probably,
of heather is the red grouse.

Black grouse feeds on it as well.

The grouse needs the young
shoots for nutritional value,

but it also needs the long, rank
heather to hide from prey

like peregrine falcons and suchlike.

Do humans make use
of the heather in the winter?

Yeah, they very often use it for...
or would do in days gone by,

they would use it for insulation,
insulating the houses,

for kindling, pots, covers,
floor tiles, doormats, besoms.

Wow, plenty of uses! Lots
of different uses. That's wonderful.

Our humble heather is used in such
a variety of ways by both wildlife

and humans living here. It's a key
ingredient to sustaining life

during this most unforgiving season.

To survive the tough conditions
of the British mountains in winter,

you have to be fairly resourceful.

From December to March, it can be
a pretty uncomfortable place to be.

But there are those who are
not put off by the demands
of this environment.

Over in Snowdonia,
it can be a welcome challenge.

Last winter, the BBC came
here to film park warden
Rhys Gwynn as he headed to work.

Winter down here in the southern end
of the park can be very different

to the weather north
in the high mountains.

Snowdonia's only about 40 miles long
or thereabouts,

but my patch can seem like
a different world altogether.

For Rhys,
there's nowhere he'd rather be than

here in southern Snowdonia
in wintertime.

Humans have been living here
for over 6,000 years,

but it's only in the last 60 years

that we've sought to preserve it
with a national park,

and Rhys's role as park warden
is relatively new.

Over the space of a year,

the challenges of his job will
change as often as the weather.

He has to balance protecting
Snowdonia's wildlife

and culture with the coming
and going of some 9 million people

who visit the park every year.

In the quieter months,
his only distraction

comes from the animals
which remain over the winter.

The sound of winter for me
is the sound of ravens.

This is the time of year, January,

when the ravens start to
establish their territories.

It won't be long before
they'll be nest-building.

They are perhaps
the spirit of the mountain,

they keep an eye on the Welsh.

It's almost like an open-air
concert for free.

But Snowdonia is more
renowned for its unique plant
life than its birdsong.

And it falls upon Rhys to
know the flora in minute detail,

even though they're spread across
an area larger than Liverpool.

And winter is the time to visit
one of the area's rarest residents.

Juniper's a very rare plant
in the southern part of the park.

They seem to be limited
to three individual shrubs.

The male ones produce
cones with pollen on them

and the female ones obviously
produce the berries,

the juniper berries that are
so famous for flavouring gin.

They are obviously in
difficult circumstances,

and anything we can do to help
should be done, really.

By taking hardwood
cuttings at the end

of their growing season when
the plant is at its strongest,

Rhys is ensuring that these
rare junipers

have the best chance of taking root.

It'll be another year before
he can return the sapling

to its mountainside home,
but the pay-off is worth it.

A healthy juniper plant
can live another 250 years.

Higher up in the mountains
of North Snowdonia,

shepherd Gwyn Thomas was
also filmed facing his own
challenges last winter.

He sees his job
as more of a calling.

If you asked any shepherd
or any farmer,

very few would say that
it's just a job.

You farm from your heart.

People often say how lucky I am.

And over the years,
I'd be thinking, "Me, lucky?

"Running after sheep
and wrestling with cattle?"

And now that I'm getting older,
I think, "Yes, I am lucky."

I have been very, very fortunate to
spend all my life on the mountains.

This is one of the hardest places
in Britain to farm sheep.

The unpredictable climate in winter
means that Gywn has to be

constantly aware of the conditions.

Penning sheep down here in the
Ogden Valley is done much the same

as it was three centuries ago when
Gwyn's family first started farming.

Because the winter is coming in now,

we're preparing the sheep
for the winter holidays,

checking that they're fit
and healthy on their feet,

and also it's been
a very wet season,

so we're giving them a drench
against fluke, liver fluke.

That can affect them.

And because I'm organic, I'm limited
to the treatments I can give.

So we're just preparing the ewes
now, ready for them to leave the
farm,

go down to lowland pastures
for the winter.

Welsh mountain sheep have been bred
especially to cope with

the inhospitable mountain
conditions, but Gwyn still has to

send his flock to lowland pastures
just to survive the winter.

Little grass grows at high
altitude at this time of year,

and without it,
the sheep could starve.

When they've gone away,
at least you know,

well, if the weather does turn bad,

at least they've got a better
opportunity to stay alive.

I like a good, hard winter,
where things do go to sleep.

It charges the battery of the Earth,

you know, to kick-start it
for spring.

People might think that I'm a bit
odd, but maybe they're right too.

But I really enjoyed
the quietness of this period.

There are not many farmers
left who can make a living
in these mountains.

In winter, Gwyn has to rely
on a lifetime of experience

if he is to keep his flock
from succumbing to Snowdonia's
unpredictable environment.

Conditions like this can really
test the mettle of anyone working

with animals in the mountains,
where it's just you

and your herd against the elements.

Here in the Cairngorms,
there's a shepherd with a
herd that's unique in Britain.

Although there are no longer any
completely wild reindeer here,

Tilly's herd, brought over
from Scandinavia in the 1950s,

comes fairly close.

So how do you call a reindeer?
Loudly! Right, OK.

And quite melodically. So it's...
# Lohhhh-ohhhhh, come, now. #

But a bit louder than that. OK.
Louder still? If possible.

OK, I'll do my best.

# Lohhhhhhh-ohhhhhhh. #

Let's see what happens.
Very melodic, isn't it?

Very tuneful. It is.

You want your sound to
carry and interestingly, even
if the wind's against you,

and it is today,
the wind's blowing down to us,

it's amazing how they
just hear that sound.

'The call we're making is
meant to replicate the sound

'a reindeer herder's horn
would have historically made.'

Although it's very snowy,
and it's very cold,

and we're hungry, actually,
the reindeer aren't.

Their appetite falls
in the wintertime

and they have a much
lower metabolic rate.

They've done all their feasting
in the summertime,

all their growing, all their
getting ready for the winter,

preparing themselves.

They're then in calf

and they survive in calf
right through the winter time,

just feeding on lichens
and heathers and sedges,

and it's their own body fat that
helps the calf grow. No sign yet.

We'll give another shout,
I think. OK, go for it.

# Lohhhhhhhh-ohhhhhhhhh. #

So here they are, just
coming over the skyline now.

And actually the leader is
a young female called Diddly.

There's plenty! I'm not expecting
this many. How many in the herd?

Well, there should be 65 or
so in the group here today.

Some of them have calves born last
year, so they're now nine months
old,

and the cows will be in calf.
They're calving in May.

Some of the reindeer will have their
antlers still from last year.
Some of them may have lost them.

Am I right in thinking
they sometimes chew on
the antlers once they've shed?

Very much so. It's a real recycling
process. Full of calcium,

that's how they've grown.
And to grow new ones, they need
the calcium back in their bodies.

And for a female
reindeer in particular,

it's quite important
because not only does

she have to grow antlers, which need
calcium, she produces milk. Wow.

Hello! And as we see,

we've got mothers coming
down with their calves.

Not getting any milk now, the
calves,

but still enjoying the
bond with their mother

because if the mother does nothing
else for them, it gives them status
in the herd.

Their antlers are there for pushing
other reindeer around and Hopper,

although she doesn't protect her
calves, she certainly doesn't...

You know, if anyone
gives it a hard time,

she would certainly have something
to say about it! Wow!

This is fantastic.

As you can see, a lot of bolshiness,
a lot of pushing around.

When the food's under the snow
and you've got to dig a hole for it,

you want to protect that.
So the antlers are there for that.

What adaptations do the reindeers
have to living in this climate?

Well, it's all about their coats.

They have hair from the tips of
their noses to the bottom of their
feet.

And that coat is so well insulating,
when they lie on the snow,

they don't even melt it. No cold
gets in and no heat gets out.

Everything says we
live in a cold climate.

And you may be cold today
and I may be cold today,

but these reindeer are in their
element! Extraordinary.

Winds of 170mph have been
known on the top of Cairngorm.

Do they come down when the
conditions are that bad? No.

They stay out here all the time.

And in fact, they don't even
seek shelter, these reindeer,

because if they seek shelter, they
go to areas where the snowdrifts,

and then it will be
completely heaped up with snow.

So they actually go up on
these exposed ridges

and they just sit it out.

But this is really one of the few
places in the UK that's ideal for
them, this sort of environment.

It's actually the only
place in the UK.

The Cairngorms is the only Arctic
and sub-Arctic area

left in Great Britain and that's
because of its positioning

in Great Britain, centrally placed
in the Highlands, and its height.

So that's why they were originally
brought here back in 1952.

And you've got the space, of course.
And they like to roam.

They certainly do, and they've
roamed a long way to get here today!

Well, let's make it worth their
while. Shall we give them some food?
That's a good idea.

Right, so we just put the feed
out in a line, basically.

There's a lot of interest here.
There is a lot of interest.

You can see they're very quickly
eating it. All of that will go.

I'm right in their way. They'll soon
tell you if you're in the way.

It's been a strange weather year.
How has that been for the reindeer?

It's actually been a very good year
for them. The farmers have
complained

that the stock have come through
the summer in bad condition

but my reindeer couldn't have come
off the mountain looking better.

And the ones to indicate
that are the calves.

They've come back with lovely
antlers, points on their antlers,

big, stocky chaps all ready
to face the winter time.

Why do you think this is? They just
are adapted for this environment.

So the tougher it is,
the better they do, really?
They certainly do that.

These reindeer are uniquely
adapted for insulation

and conservation of energy.

Down at this low level, for
animals like the reindeer,

life is pretty easy.

Higher up the mountain,
at 2,000 feet,

conditions can get particularly
tough for wildlife and for humans,

as cameraman Gordon Buchanan
discovered when he came here

to try and film Britain's
toughest bird, the ptarmigan.

Is really hard to believe that
anything can exist up here

when the weather's
so harsh like this.

I've got layers
and layers of clothing on.

I don't think I'm going to last
much more than one night here

but there is a bird that spends its
entire life up here in the
mountains.

It's a true Arctic
specialist. The ptarmigan.

It's a type of grouse that adapted
to live in the extreme

conditions of the high mountains,

and it has the reputation of
being the UK's toughest bird.

I've been given special
permission to camp up here.

Winter days are short and it means
that I can be out at first light.

But putting a tent up in gale
force winds isn't easy.

Oh, gosh, that's nice. Warmth is
one of those simple pleasures

that we just take for granted.

Incredible to think that
these ptarmigan are living

out there without all of the kind of
comforts I've brought up with me.

Oh, boy, that's good.
I'm going to try and get some rest.

In the morning, the
weather has closed in.

It is foul out there.

I took all this equipment up,
the tent, all this clothing,

to stay warm, dry, cosy up here
at the top of the mountain,

but I'm having an
increasing appreciation

for what these ptarmigan
are up against.

I'm not warm, I'm not dry
and I'm definitely not cosy.

I'm going to have a look around
this area. Apart from the cold

and wind, the other thing we've
got to compete with is visibility.

Trying to see anything
up here is difficult.

Something as well camouflaged
as a ptarmigan,

I think, is going to be pretty
tough on a day like this.

With conditions so bad,
I've got no choice

but to move down the mountain,
below the cloud line.

It's really incredible, not only how
quickly the weather changes

but the weather down here
is completely different

to how it is up on the top.
Now we can actually see
where we're going.

Oh, there we go. I knew they were
going to be around here. Perfect.

There's lots of cool ways
that ptarmigan have evolved
to exist up here.

They're entirely covered in this
soft, very downy feather.

Even their feet are feathered.

They act as snowshoes as well
as insulating their feet.

They're even feathered
right up to their nostrils.

You can see them
picking away on the vegetation.

It's this kind of Alpine, low,
woody,

kind of shrubby type of stuff
that they're picking on.

They'll actually store food in their
crop so that through the dark,

cold nights, they can sit there,
regurgitating the things

that are in their crop and feed
through the night. It's like a
packed lunch built into your neck.

The thing that
really does it from me

with these birds is their
ability to change colour.

As the mountaintops get
covered in snow and become white,

the ptarmigan also change
their colour and become white.

That's pretty clever.

When the weather's really bad,

the ptarmigan will actually
dig little snow holes

and tuck themselves down in there.

Ptarmigan definitely are one
of my favourite birds.

It incredible that they can exist
up here, 365 days of the year.

And it's not just the birds
themselves that I love,

it's where they live, their habitat,

the mountains of Scotland
that I just simply adore.

It's the most fantastic
place on the planet.

And what I learned after last night

is that they belong
here and I don't.

Ptarmigan are perfectly
suited to these snowy slopes,

but the Cairngorms also boasts
one of our most iconic raptors.

And to see them, you have to
look to the skies.

Golden eagles were originally
found all over Europe,

but like most other raptors, they
were widely killed by farmers

and gamekeepers which
caused serious declines,

both in their numbers and range.

Despite this, the eagle
managed to survive in
small numbers in Scotland.

Aided by conservation measures,

today, over 400 pairs of
golden eagles live here.

One of our largest raptors,
the golden eagle's wingspan

measures around 6.5 feet and
they can range up to 90 miles.

They have over 2,000 feathers,
from tiny, warming, down feathers

to keep out the cold,
to broad flight feathers.

The golden eagle normally hunts
down its prey, but in winter,

snow and ice can deplete the supply
and even this skilful
predator is forced to scavenge,

feeding off hares, grouse and
ptarmigan as well as large mammals.

Its success in the highlands is
partly due to the high stocks

of red deer and sheep
in these glens,

and the inevitable casualties
of the harsh winters here.

The population density of the
golden eagle in Scotland

is now one of the highest
in the world,

and winter here is the perfect time
to observe this majestic bird.

Surviving winter in our British
mountains isn't an easy task

for wildlife or
the people who live here.

It requires adaptation,
specialist skill,

and, ultimately, the acceptance

that it's the weather
that rules the terrain

and decides how each day plays out.

It's a pretty humbling experience

to realise how insignificant we are
in this British winter wonderland.