Chronicles of the Glens episode 2 - Winter
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00:00The glens. Nine glacial valleys molded in the Ice Age, cutting their way through the Antrim
00:11Mountains towards the Irish Sea. Situated in the northeast of Northern Ireland, they were
00:20once part of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada that included parts of Scotland often visible
00:27just across the water. The kingdom is no more, but many of its myths and traditions survive.
00:38Told across four seasons, this is the story of moors and farmland, forests and rivers,
00:47of a proud people fighting to preserve their way of life.
00:57INCREDITS
01:23Winter in the glens, a time to nestle in while the weather rages in the high hills and rough
01:37seas batter coastal villages below.
01:42But slowing down can have its benefits, a chance to prepare, take stock and recharge.
01:53It's November and people in the glens are already preparing for next spring.
02:02Under the shadow of Slemish Mountain, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Northern
02:07Ireland are cutting back reeds to encourage the return of Curlew.
02:14On Glenarm Castle Estate, late autumn storms have taken their toll and the damage has to
02:20be assessed.
02:21Winter is predominantly the maintenance time because there's absolutely no time for maintenance
02:27during the summer time and the spring.
02:29Adrian Morrow manages the estate for Viscount Dunloose, the son of the 14th Earl of Antrim.
02:36Adrian's father was the family's chauffeur and he has worked here all his life.
02:41So we lost a very big tree just last week, a big tree probably 350, 400 years old.
02:52It's sad.
02:54So we're heading there now, we're going to have to mark that one.
02:57They're going to make table tops from it.
02:59So it's nice to see it being recycled into tabletops rather than just being chopped up for firewood.
03:13I hate to see them big boys going down now.
03:16He's just come out of the root and over he's went.
03:19It's a bit of a loss.
03:37So he sliced it this way in 10 foot lengths and then he'll be left with a big long table.
03:43Sweet.
03:44I'm an outward lump in this one.
03:49It would be cheaper getting one out of this than buying one somewhere else as well.
03:53And as his lordship would say, Adrian, you're always thinking about the cost, aren't you?
03:57Absolutely.
03:58Where do the boys have to gather it up?
04:09November can be a wet month.
04:14But if you waited for good weather, nothing in the estate would get done.
04:22In the walled garden, head gardener Jordan is preparing for a hugely popular event.
04:27Next in Glenorme's calendar, next spring's tulip festival.
04:31Day one of tulip planting, we've invited three of the local schools in to give us a hand planting up some of the tulips.
04:39How'd you spell Queen?
04:41Queen.
04:45We've got 15,000 to go in in the next couple of weeks between now and Christmas.
04:50We'll probably get about 2,000 a day in and we don't have an awful lot of time so it's quite labour intensive
04:56for the next couple of weeks.
05:03Well, we're pretty well used to rain about this part of the country.
05:07We don't really get a day without a shower somewhere along the line.
05:11We all seem to just keep at it and stick in with it and make it work.
05:17A bit messy in the good trainers but nothing about a run with a hose will not fix.
05:23Do you like the mud?
05:26Yes, I love it.
05:28I roll down a hill in mud.
05:34It'll definitely be interesting to see how it comes together, springtime.
05:38and it's just there's that much mud about the place there knows.
05:43There could be a few missed but we'll still have a nice display.
05:45There we go. Another big flood. Terrible weather.
06:04Teresa O'Hare works with the Heart of the Glens Landscape Partnership.
06:08They award grants and bursaries to promote local culture.
06:15We're headed for the household of the Kinney family and we're going to see Aoife.
06:21She's an 11-year-old young girl who applied for a bursary to learn to play the alien pipes.
06:30The bursary is named after Nettie Jane Johnson, a classical music teacher from Cornelagh,
06:37who also did a lot to promote the traditional music of the area in the early 20th century.
06:42Nettie Johnson run the family grocery store, then an undertaker's out the back as well.
06:48She came across the alien pipes, which were also known as hand organs
06:53and she thought that they were a remarkable instrument.
06:55She got a set made for her in Belfast and she was pretty much self-taught.
07:00We're here now. Oh God, I'm getting excited now.
07:04Oh goodness, this is going to be some shock for this young woman.
07:09The mother's a musician too, so I think the news will go down well.
07:16Hello Aoife. I have great pleasure in telling you that you've won the scholarship.
07:26Are you happy? Yeah.
07:31Oh go on, give her a round of applause.
07:34I can't believe it.
07:38There's a piece in there you'll see your first lesson is in Dublin at Nipi Braylon,
07:43which is the headquarters of the pipers and they'll fit you to your pipes
07:49because you're getting a set of pipes as well.
07:52So you don't have to pinch your mommies anymore.
07:55You just sound completely different to any other instrument.
08:06Like, it just sounds like, it's louder, it fills the room.
08:10It just sounds so much sweeter.
08:14Whenever I started, I was the only paper around here,
08:17but now we have 12 or 13 young papers coming up,
08:20so it's starting to get quite strong.
08:23And they're all falling in love with the pipes.
08:50I hate gates. Detest them in every way.
08:58There should be a rule that every farmer should have a cattle grid
09:02where there's a gate.
09:03I dare say every day I'd probably spend up to an hour opening gates.
09:08Alex Rogers works as a gamekeeper for Glen Arm Estate
09:12and the Grouse Conservation Trust.
09:14Originally from England, he's been managing the moor on Glenmary Hill
09:18for five years.
09:19I've just got a trap just up this wall.
09:27Just rebaiting these traps.
09:29I've been trying to get around them for a while,
09:31so it's just mostly for rats, really,
09:34especially, like, wintertime,
09:36when the farmers have got sheep out on the hill.
09:38They're always putting out meal just to give them a boost of energy
09:41through the winter, so it attracts the rats.
09:43The rats can be a huge pain to the ground-nesting birds,
09:46especially for the eggs and the chicks.
09:48So it's good to get them under control now rather than later on in the spring
09:53when they can do damage.
09:54Get the heater on.
09:58We have a little entry hole here.
10:04I'm just on the old classic medium free-range eggs.
10:08I like to just give it a little tap as well on a rock just to get the yolk out a little bit and the white.
10:14It makes it a little bit easier for the rats to smell it.
10:18You have to be cruel to be kind.
10:21You know, we're not trying to eradicate one species in order for another to survive.
10:27It's all about keeping the balance.
10:29Ground-nesting birds in Northern Ireland are struggling.
10:33We don't want the curlew or the hen harrier to go extinct.
10:42I love wintertime.
10:43I like the colours.
10:44I like the way how the weather turns a lot darker.
10:46It's a bleak place, especially this time of year.
10:49You know, it's a lonely job.
10:50There's not many people out here.
10:52But I enjoy it.
10:55I like my own company.
10:56I always have done, really.
10:58In Fairhead, Gerard and Sean McBride have moved their sheep away from the cliff edges
11:14to more sheltered fields closer to the farm.
11:19The sheep's diet is now supplemented by silage cut in the summer.
11:23Their sheepdog, Jess, is now six months old.
11:27Jess.
11:28Up.
11:29And her training is going well.
11:31Ye-ho!
11:34I discovered that wee trick when I had to go up and move the silo cover back
11:37so we could get more silage out.
11:39Next thing, she jumped up along with me.
11:42Today, as well as extra feed, the sheep also need medicine.
11:46We're going to dose them today for fluke.
11:48It's a wee thing they pick up off the ground.
11:50Damages the liver if it's not treated.
11:54That's always been a sheep farm.
11:56I think you can fairly safely say that North Antrim is the most densely populated area of sheep in Europe.
12:01This parish would almost be the most densely populated area in North Antrim.
12:05So, at least we claim that anyway.
12:11There's intensive periods of work in it and then other times when it's not as busy.
12:14For example, during the winter.
12:15They sort of need constant attention to healthcare.
12:18They would need more medication maybe than cattle would need.
12:21If you don't want them all facing towards you.
12:25They'll get a nice slap on the leg.
12:28Especially if you get hit with these.
12:31They could rip your leg in. It's pretty easy.
12:33No, they don't know what's good for them.
12:40Trying to keep them healthy.
12:51Christmas is coming.
12:53The towns and villages that hug the glen's coastline are about to switch on their lights.
13:01In Cornelock, it will be the first public performance for their newly formed choir.
13:06One, two, here we go.
13:07It will be a big night for Robert and Tiffany Mackay too, at their recently opened cafe.
13:20We could maybe pull it back a little bit because people will probably turn their chairs.
13:24Robert was born and bred in Cornelock, but his wife Tiffany is from Louisiana in the USA.
13:30They met in Houston, Texas.
13:32Our first Christmas open, we just opened a couple of months ago, so this is us kind of seeing what the season is going to be like here.
13:44I think it's a little bit more subdued here.
13:47I don't know, there's a bit of a madness about it in the US that you don't necessarily see here to the same degree.
13:53But it's interesting to see the differences because in other ways I think people are quite keen.
13:57Like we don't have, like where I grew up, we wouldn't have a big light to turn on in the village.
14:03There wouldn't be like a massive production, so it's interesting.
14:09Just stamping up some takeaway cups.
14:12Just with the event being outside, I'm kind of hoping that there will be requests for takeaway drinks tonight.
14:18So we're on the little loop.
14:19There's not too much to do in Cornelock when you're a teenager, so I was pretty keen to get away.
14:27Left at 18 a bit of Belfast, and at 18 that was a big move.
14:31But then Belfast quickly gets small, so I just moved on from there and as I travelled I realised how beautiful Cornelock was and what I'd left behind.
14:39So we got engaged in London Castle. She said yes straight away, yeah, yeah, yeah. A few tears and then a squeal and yeah. She said yes, thank God.
14:56Yeah.
14:57I kind of like to joke that I promised her London and delivered Cornelock instead.
15:17Glenorm Castle is also getting ready to celebrate Christmas.
15:21Gathering the Christmas vegetable order for Christmas dinner.
15:25I don't mind carrots, maybe some parsnips with honey on it, would probably be the limit of my vegetables.
15:43Tonight is the start of their annual Christmas fair and estate manager Adrian has a brand new job.
15:49Volunteered as a conductor, but that's a promotion in my book because when I started this job I started as the reindeer animal.
15:59Oh, there's, there's, there's the, there's the dungie. That, that was my old job.
16:06The amount of extra elves that you need at this time of year, you know, so we employ so many people within the community for the next three to four weeks.
16:24That's all right, all aboard! All aboard! All aboard!
16:32There's the ticket now. That's all right now. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. What's she doing? Hold on tight. That's it. You got it. You got it. Oh, there you are now.
16:40It's what you make of Christmas. I believe in Christmas myself. Now, because I see the change in young kids and what it can do, so it has a magical time of year.
16:55I grew up in an extremely small community, smaller than here, and I also lived in the fourth largest city in the United States, but I never experienced anything like the way the community operates here.
17:12So, I think that's really one of the unique things about Karnloch and the Glens.
17:28Maybe just with the heritage of the Glens and the way that it was isolated for so long, it's a leftover from that time when it used to be really hard to access this area.
17:43It feels that people just got used to relying on each other and looking after each other.
17:47It's January. A new year in the Glens.
18:12Give her a good posh.
18:16She should go now, yeah.
18:22Wild cherry.
18:24At the Tibara View allotments in Cushingdall, Margaret and other members of the Cairns resident group are clearing ground for new trees.
18:33Where are you going to put it?
18:35Where?
18:36Down like that.
18:39Those are no mice then.
18:42We're hoping that these will be here for generations and so that the kids can enjoy in the future as well.
18:55We've all got grandchildren now and so it'll be them that'll be the next generation coming up.
19:01Oh, I should be eating tea.
19:02Good woman, Barney.
19:03150 miles away in Dublin.
19:14You put your hand up and you want to put that belt around your waist there.
19:28Aoife is with her mum, Marie, getting fitted for new illin pipes, the first set she has ever owned.
19:35Your right leg's going to be 12 o'clock and your left leg's going to be at 2 o'clock.
19:39So, I mean size-wise I think those are okay.
19:41We can shorten that rubber connecting tube if you need, Marie, you know, just to get them to kind of fit bang on if you want to make that bag bellows connection a bit smaller.
19:49Aoife is embarking on a journey first started by pioneering Glenn's woman, Nettie Jane Johnson, over 100 years ago.
19:56At a time when playing traditional music, particularly the pipes, was dominated by men.
20:02I'm just going to pump with the bellows, press in the bag and just get a sound there.
20:07I can try and keep on no content.
20:12If you were to look through our archives and the pictures on the walls of the famous pipes of the past,
20:16where there were some notable female players, the majority of players would have been male.
20:20And it was certainly, it was a stereotype of it being a male instrument.
20:23In actual fact, there's no reason why women and girls couldn't play the pipes.
20:30Piping isn't something which was really defined by regional styles.
20:33It was often by notable players and all it would take was one strong player in an area to promote the growth.
20:38Nettie Jane Johnson would be a great example.
20:40I think it's fantastic that she's been remembered through the scholarship.
20:43She does provide a role model, there's a bit of history there that for a young female player in the area,
20:48she's thinking, oh, she's not breaking the mould by doing this, you know, there's so much she can follow behind.
20:52So it's really positive and really encouraging.
20:56I like to record all the big moments and this is definitely one of them.
21:03It's really nice to have my own now.
21:05She won't be stealing mine now, so we can play together.
21:09Yeah.
21:29It's February, but winter still has a grip on the glens.
21:33Transforming the bleak uplands into a fairytale landscape.
21:42But crisp winter beauty can soon be swept away by raging storms.
22:03Harsh conditions for farmers whose livestock depend on their care.
22:21Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!
22:30Glenshesk in the north often bears the brunt of any blizzards.
22:34In a few weeks' time we're going to be lawing and hopefully the sun will be shining for that.
22:38It's where Owen Devlin farms sheep, as his family have done for generations.
22:47They've got a nice thick coat on them.
22:49It's actually underneath the wool, if you pull it apart, they're dry underneath.
22:53It's a great insulator wool.
22:55Look, this coat just doesn't have out there to be honest.
22:58But, have to deal with it.
23:04Once the sheep are fed and the weather is clear,
23:08today's job is to cut back hedging with his dad, Frank, and his mum, Carol.
23:17The birds come and eat the berries off that, even though they're down.
23:20Within a day, within half an hour, it can change.
23:26I mean, five minutes ago it was blowing a blizzard and now the sun's out and it's absolutely glorious.
23:39If you look down here, you see the hill and it's surrounded by fairy trees.
23:43That's known as Dun Finn.
23:46So, Dun means hill and Finn is Finn McCool.
23:50So, this is where supposedly Finn's laid his famous dog, Bran.
23:56After being out hunting for a day in a fit of anger,
23:59he threw a spear and allegedly killed his beloved Bran.
24:03So, it's surrounded by fairy thorns.
24:05As you know, in Ireland, none of the farmers around the place touch the fairy thorns
24:08because it's supposed to bring them bad luck.
24:09So, these are supposed to stand guard around Finn's fort.
24:17That's old hedgerow here.
24:19It's got to the stage now that it's no longer useful to us.
24:24Years ago, we used to provide shelter for that field in there for the sheep in it.
24:28But the trees are that tall now that the wind can blow straight through
24:31because all the foliage is up high.
24:35So, we're going to cut it down sort of three or four bit.
24:37The Hawthorns will come back again.
24:40That's the good thing about those Hawthorns is they're very resilient.
24:44They can take a lot of bartering.
24:49I do feel there's a big role to look after them.
24:52This wee part of our Glen is very lucky to live somewhere like here
24:56and to be able to live and work here.
24:58So, definitely, I think it's my responsibility to make sure it stays the way it is
25:03for a few more generations anyway.
25:06The winter blizzards that make life so challenging for hill farmers
25:22rarely make it down to the coastal villages.
25:25But biting winds blowing in from the sea are still enough to drive most people indoors.
25:35For the next few months, Cornlock Coastal Rowing Team will be avoiding the rough seas and training inside.
25:43Using the winter season to build up strength and endurance.
25:47I think you just missed one, didn't you?
25:51I think that's right, yeah.
25:52But that's good because you checked it and that's when you find that you've done it like that.
25:56So, that's great.
25:58Across the village, there's a peg looming workshop.
26:01It's a chance to shape and craft some of last year's wool.
26:08We're doing a peg loom weaving course and it's women in the community who are learning to do something
26:14that gives them a process but also a product.
26:17Right, so what you've got now is a...
26:19It's not very common.
26:21Most people, when they think of weaving, think of a proper frame and the shuttle that goes in and out.
26:26Whereas this is the other way around.
26:27We make the fabric and then pull the warp through.
26:29I'm actually making a representation of part of Glenravell to show the mountainous area and the heather, the sheep, the peat, the rushes,
26:41and all the different types of lichens and sphagnum mosses and so on that you would see up there.
26:48I love the winter because I love the dark nights and the opportunity that it gives you to stay at home and to nest and to make and create
26:54and to restore yourself and your energies.
27:02On the Glenarm estate, the team are gathering in the tea room to surprise head gamekeeper, Alex Rogers.
27:08Yesterday, Alex won the prestigious Purdy Award in London for his conservation work on the grouse moors of Glenwery Hill.
27:19Do you want me in it as well?
27:22Yeah.
27:24We'll be up against some of the largest estates in England.
27:27Yeah, yeah.
27:28You know, we have loads of resources, ten, twelve keepers.
27:31Yeah.
27:32That's a very humble, wee project up in the Glenwery Hills.
27:36Yeah, yeah.
27:37Massive achievement.
27:39When you're announcing the big awards, they always put like a landscape picture of the estate, you know, up above,
27:45so that was the sort of key thing to look out for.
27:48When they got to the gold and you saw that picture, they had a shiver from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head.
27:55It's been a productive winter in the glens, but spring is stirring and the dark winter days will soon be over.
28:18Soon there will be new life, new challenges, but also a new normal.
28:25you'll find out if I could win.
28:27So, I'm going back.
28:28Thank you very much.
28:31You're a lovely fellow.
28:33You're welcome.
28:34Peace.
28:35Whether you've done it, you're an amazing thing.
28:38You need a phenomenal challenge.
28:40You're welcome.
28:46You'll be a great priest.
28:48You're welcome.
28:50To be sure you're being an amazing dude,
28:51you're welcome.
28:52You're welcome.