Ten thousand years ago the Ice Age ended in Britain. The melting glaciers revealed a bare and lifeless landscape. The magnificent golden eagle takes us to the coldest peaks of Scotland where ice-age animals still survive.
Leaping salmon return every year to British lakes and rivers that after the Ice Age became the lifeblood of a reawakened landscape. From its source a river carves a richly varied course before mingling with the sea.
The seas surrounding the British Isles are their greatest untouched wilderness. They have a natural history as fascinating as the land. Beneath the surface lies a mysterious world that teems with wildlife.
In the wake of the woodland felled and burned by our ancestors, spread the new landscapes of heathland and moor. This is the natural history of most ancient landscapes made by man.
As our ancestors cleared the forest, so nature responded with fields of flowers. The colorful sights and sounds of these first pastures can still be discovered.
With farming came a new way of life for the plants and animals that took to the fields and hedgerows fashioned from the forest. The crops sown by first farmers battled with wild flowers that bloomed on the bare soil
Ever since our ancestors lived in caves we have shared our homes with wildlife. To the animals that live with us, our modern world is simply a backdrop for the natural drama of their lives.
Much of our wildlife has found refuge in our 20th-century landscapes. These unofficial nature reserves supplement those that preserve more ancient, fragile landscapes.
