I can hear a cockerel.
[Laughs]
Can you?
No.
Why is that funny?
[Laughs]
I'm deaf.
Alright.
Hello.
Good morning.
We've taken a couple of minute walk from the house,
there you go look, cockerel,
can you not hear it?
I'm deaf!
Alright, sorry.
We were supposed to be going adventuring this week,
but have you seen the price of petrol?
[Laughs]
Isn't it?
Yes!
It's like,
We'll going next week.
We need to think of some energy-saving ways to get about
and I've got two ideas.
Oh Yes?
I think you're gonna like these,
I haven't told them about these, I've been saving them up all week in my head.
Oh right.
so right, you remember we bought a trolley
when we moved in the house we bought a little trolley to move the the washing machine,
do you remember?
I do.
So we're going to use that trolley and we're going to put our car on that trolly,
right, it gets better
and then we're going to put a metal plate on the front of the car,
right?
And then we're going to get a big metal arm
that I'm gonna make out of Meccano from the charity shop,
Okay.
right, that goes over the car
and then in front of it there's gonna be a big magnet.
Because what does a magnet do? [Laughs]
Yeah, you see, you've got it already.
You are crackers.
No, think about it.
You're crackers!
Think about it, because the magnet is then going to try and draw the car closer to it
and because it's on the trolley, it's going to move isn't it?
Isn't it?
Why is nobody doing that, come on Nissan!
[Laughs]
What?
Honest, aren't they? They're missing a trick here
and the other thing I thought of
and that's because it started raining before we came out is,
you remember that those two huge umbrellas
we nicked from the Midland Chandler stand at Crick last year?
Yes.
It's them.
Now,
there's a charity shop near us and they've got a couple of skateboards in there,
you're gonna like this one,
if you didn't like the Nissan one.
So we're gonna get a couple of skateboards, we're gonna borrow Arthur's leaf blower
[Laughs]
What?
Yeah?
So we stand on the skateboard, right?
With the umbrellas behind us.
In front of us.
No, because then we'll be traveling backwards
and then turn the leaf blower on.
How cool is that?
How would you be traveling backwards if it's in front and you're pointing the leaf blower, you'll go forward.
It doesn't matter, you're getting blown off on a skateboard.
[Laughing loudly]
what does it matter it's free [Laughing loudly]
isn't it? [Laughing loudly]
[Laughing loudly]
It's free isn't it? [Laughing loudly]
You'll love it, anyway,
there you go, don't nick our ideas,
it's going to be like Homer Simpson isn't it and his invention,
You can't say that.
Homer's makeup gun.
Ooooh!
So today,
so we were going to go on an, are you alright, Maude?
Yes.
So we were going to go on an adventure, but we're going to do something a little bit different instead,
We're going next week for an adventure.
We might go next week for an adventure.
Today well we wanted to show you the chickens again,
I know you're getting bored of the chickens but
if you missed the live vlog the other week, we named the chickens.
Yes!
We haven't got our notes with us, but let's see if we can remember.
So there's, Edie and Ada, Maude and Gert, Mags and Audrey and Elaine
and Ruuuuuby!
Ruuuuuuby!
[Laughing]
Birds have gone now haven't they?
They've gone, yeah.
And we've even gone little plastic name tags,
that we've put around their,
haven't chickens got huge legs?
[Laughs] No not really.
Ruuuuby!
Her calves are bigger than my calf muscles,
I've got a stronger right wrist, but she's got massive leg muscles hasn't she?
No honestly, buy some chickens and look at the feet and legs
So now they've all got their names.
It'd be like us having like size 23 feet wouldn't it?
It would actually.
But, we've had to keep them in this week, because we started,
well the men in suits from the men who count.
who said we could let him out and free range a couple a week ago.
There's been some dead birds found at a nature reserve near us
Yeah.
and so we've kept our in just in case.
In fact, shall we take you there, it's called Loch Fleet.
Yes.
Are you ready, we haven't tried this before.
We haven't, no.
Right so, three, two, one, go!
You alright there?
Ow!
You alright? Are your knees alright?
Oooh!
We're gonna have to find a different way of doing that,
Yes!
save his knees.
There might be like a teleport thing.
We'll have to try, Star Trek.
There might be an app for that.
This is Loch Fleet,
beautiful place.
If you're doing the NC500,
well the A9 goes right across the far part of Loch Fleet
[Shaun] It does.
and there's a little car park where you can get off and you can go and explore
and there's loads of things to see, you might see osprey diving for fish.
[Shaun] There's seals.
[Colin] The seals come up onto the sand bank
just over to our right hand side and just chill out and do seal yoga,
They do actually.
when the tide's coming out, so the sandbanks are there.
There's also otters around
[Shaun] There's even road sign warnings about otters.
and just so many kinds of birds and animals and plants.
There's just so much to see and just look at the views.
[Shaun] It's awesome. [Colin] It's spectaclear.
[Shaun] Spectaclear?
How do you spell that?
Spectaclear,
it's like nuclear,
isn't it? [laughs]
Anyway, stop laughing at me,
it's raining, we've got to get on with this.
It's spitting!
It's spitting.
Errr,
unfortunately last week, some guy found about 160 dead birds,
so Avian Flu is definitely having an impact around Loch Fleet.
It's not gone yet.
Because we don't live far from Loch Fleet,
that's why we're keeping our chickens in just for another couple of weeks until,
We did let them out, but they're now back in.
Yeah, get a bit more news on this.
Right, it is raining here,
so it's not raining at home, I think we ought to go back home.
Let's go back home.
Three, two, one, go!
Arrrgghh!
This is not doing my knees any good.
My back, I'm too old for this crap!
[Laughs] You can't say that.
Do you want to see a baby's arm?
[Laughing loudly]
I don't mean baby's arm do I? [Laughing loudly]
A baby owl, do you want to see baby owl? [Laughing loudly]
[Laughing loudly]
Passed a baby's arm this morning.
Ohhh dear.
Do you want to see a baby owl?
Yeah.
Do you want to see a baby owl?
[Shaun] Let's go baby owl. [Colin] Come on then.
Even though they're powerless to help any of the poor birds struck by Avian Flu at Loch Fleet,
Jane and Hadassah from Blue Highlands Bird Rescue
are on hand 24 hours a day,
caring for sick injured and orphaned birds,
as well as running educational programs to improve awareness of how to look after them.
Tegan is a perfect example,
this baby Tawny Owl was rescued just a few days ago,
she was found away from her nest
and that's not unusual, but she hadn't moved for about 15 hours,
so she was cold, dehydrated and of course in danger from predators.
Jane manages the chick shed, where most of the youngest birds come in,
so I asked her how she's planning to get Tegan back to full health
and ready to be released back into the wild.
[Jane] She'll have to stay with us until she's properly ready to go,
which means we keep her for a little bit longer
and then we do one of two things.
We either give her what they call a hard release,
where we just take her to suitable area and let her go.
If she's needing it, what we'll do is a soft hack,
where we put her into an enclosure,
we feed her without her seeing us, so that she's fully re-wilded
and then we open the door on the enclosure and let her go,
safe in the knowledge that she can come back to that spot
and and pick up support feed if she needs it.
We'll just see how she develops,
it'll be down to how feisty and boisterous she is
and how ready she is to go, we'll just judge it when the time comes.
[Colin] Most of the chicks in Jane's shed need round-the-clock care and attention,
so she's mostly to be found here
either feeding treating or just keeping the chicks safe
so that they can be released back into their natural habitat.
This is Romeo,
he is gorgeous,
look at those eyes.
He's a 12 year old Bengal Eagle Owl
and he came to the centre after being mistreated for the first few years of his life.
He's still quite nervous, but thanks to the centre,
he's safe, he's well looked after
and gradually he's getting used to his larger surroundings.
Look at these, these two Snowy Owls were captive bred
and they wouldn't survive out in the wild, but they were rescued
and they're helping to maintain the population of these Polar Owls.
Hadassah from the centre explained more.
They have successfully produced three young last year,
they are now one-year-olds and they will be released into the wild,
the whole reason we exist at all.
They will be released on the mainland
and establishing hopefully families for themselves.
They will have provided for the future and their own natural biodiversity
and hopefully will keep the continuance of their species alive.
[Colin] These guys rely totally on donations to keep going,
whether it be financial support, food for the birds,
or things that they couldn't auction to raise money for the charity.
If you want to see more of what they do and maybe lend them your support,
search for the Blue Highlands Bird Rescue on Facebook.
I've also put a link in the video description.
[Music playing]
Sometimes nature can be pretty cruel and sad,
like we saw down at Loch Fleet with all those poor dead birds
and we're lucky that we've got people like Jane and Hadassah and Patrick
to devote the lives to saving birds.
And they do.
They do a great job.
Did I tell you I want an owl now?
We don't want an owl.
I want an owl.
No. they're not meant to be in captivity.
Sometimes nature has to look after itself though
and it doesn't have the privilege of people to help it like those three did.
Yeah.
Remember the fire on the hill behind us?
[Shaun] Ooooh do I.
[Colin] Six, well nearly seven weeks ago now.
[Shaun] WOW!
So quickly, it's like less than two months, we're already starting to see signs of new growth up there.
New life.
Shall we go and have a look?
I think I'll put the kettle on.
I'll go on my own then.
[Music playing]
Well this is it and the fire started just behind where you are now
and because of the wind direction it blew up the hill
right to the top, about 220 meters high.
It spread across the top, it went round that way, heading west
and then the wind changed again and it came back down the hill on the other side
and swept right across the hill, it burnt the whole hillside,
about three square miles of the hill was burned.
Now, there was years of growth that went and it's cleared the hill
and it's actually done some good,
because of the time of year with spring springing up.
So I've come up to the hill to see how it's getting on.
[Music playing]
You can already see like a Phoenix rising from the ashes,
the brand new sprouts of Bracken
coming up from the blackness on the hill.
Now, Bracken is a large type of fern,
it is pretty big, it can grow up to five feet tall and really wide and it packs the area so much that
smaller plants underneath don't get a chance at the sun because it's so thick.
Although it does make great shelter for insects and small mammals and birds.
It is poisonous though, so you won't see cattle and sheep up here eating it,
it will do them harm and if ever you're walking through it,
make sure you got long trousers on and maybe tuck them into your socks, because
it's popular with sheep and deer ticks
and ticks are tiny little things that wait for somebody to pass and then jump on
and then they'll bury their head in you and suck your blood out.
Yeah, not pleasant and some of them carry a disease called Lyme's Disease, which,
it's not a pleasant thing to have if you get it, so just be aware if you're walking through it.
[Music playing]
there's a plant across Scotland and the Highlands
called Gorse or Whin as the locals call it
and you can't miss it,
between January and June, it's just covered in these bright yellow flowers.
Now this is what's left of it on the hill after the fire,
because when it's dry it goes up like a firework, honestly it burns really quickly.
But it is starting to grow back from the edges, inwards
and that's a good thing, because the bees love,
speak the devil,
because the bees love the flowers.
But you can also put the flowers in teas and in salads too,
sorry the bee put me off then,
[Laughs]
Not everybody likes gorse, some people see it as a pest because it does grow really easily
and in the summer the seed pods explode in the heat
and that spreads the seeds and it grows everywhere,
so some people like to keep it under control.
But back in the day it was really useful, because it's a really spiky hard-wearing plant
and it used to be bound together to make sweeping brushes and chimney brushes out of
and it's even rumoured that back in the day,
brides would wear a sprig of gorse on their wedding dress, because it was a symbol of fertility.
Mmmm!
What have you got that for?
You should have been watching the video and you'd know wouldn't you?
Have you forgotten already?
We were talking about it in the production meeting.
Production meeting?
I'm going to buy you a pair of the memory foam slippers,
because then you'll remember stuff,
you'll remember what you went into the kitchen for.
Oh I never remember that.
There's a lot of bugs about today isn't there?
There is.
It's a sign of fertility, I was just talking about it up on the hill.
What, it's coconut.
I don't know, gorse flower is a sign of fertility
It smells like coconut
and they used to, brides used to put it on their dress,
you know, I've just been talking to you about it.
You weren't listening, you probably can't hear it from down here can you?
I was making a cuppa.
Not that I need help with my fertility, people.
There you go, you can have it.
I don't want it, it's prickly
It is very prickly [Laughs] It's very prickly.
What a day.
It's been brilliant.
It's been ace, I've always loved owls,
because they're kind of solitary and wise, a bit like me, apart from the wise bit.
I was going to say, you're not wise.
No, I'm daft, is there a bird that's solitary and daft, because that's me isn't it?
A chicken.
[Laughing]
We hope you've enjoyed your day with us up the hill and seeing the birds
and the owls and the hawks and the eagles and everything.
Everyfink!
It's been a great day hasn't it? and lovely the sun's back out again.
Next week something a bit different.
We've got a delivery coming.
Jeeeeep!
Jeep.
[Laughs]
So, Silver Fox used to carry us around the canals and take us to new places
and now that the spring is sprung
and the summer is coming
We have jeep!
we have got a new mode of transport and so from next week we're going to be out exploring
the history and the sights around the Highlands of Scotland.
It's going to be ace.
I'm looking forward to it.
I cannae wait.
See, I'm picking up the lingo.
Are we having a tent?
A wee little bit anyway,
We might have a tent, we've been practicing haven't we, making tents under the sheets and stuff.
[Laughs]
We hope you've enjoyed this little outing with us,
if you have and you're not already, please subscribe to the channel.
Hit the thumbs up button,
you're a bit late there.
Or that, we don't care.
and the notifications bell and YouTube will let you know
whenever we release a new vlog.
I can see a like a, a, not a pandemic.
Errr!
[Shaun] A pandemic? we just had one. [Colin] That's been and gone hasn't it.
Like a, like a reflection and it looks like I've got nuclear war on the right hand side of my face.
Anyway,
if you'd like to support the channel,
you can either become a YouTube member,
which is like subscribing to youtube but with
extra things.
Chocolate?
No, you know when you used to sit and have your hair cut
and the barber used to say, anything for the weekend?
we say, yes, I'll be a member of Foxes Afloat on YouTube please
[Laughs]
Or you can join via Patreon, you get the same perks and exclusives on each one,
Yeah.
It's just whichever one is better for you, because some people are like,
I'm not joining YouTube, I'll join Patreon,
or I'm not joining Patreon, I'll join YouTube.
It doesn't matter.
There's a link up above Shaun's head
Shaun's off for a nap, because he's very tired.
I Am, I'm tired now.
It's taken us three weeks to film this one.
It's been a busy day.
We'll see you next time, take care of yourself, bye bye.
Ta-ra!
[Music playing]