Wild France with Ray Mears (2016): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Vanoise - full transcript

[French music playing]

RAY: France...

For many of us, we picture city sights,

bustling streets,

and cafe culture.

But if we head deeper in to the country,

there's another side that's wild
and untamed.

RAY: I really love France.

It's a naturalist's dream.

The reason for that is all
the different habitats that you find here.

In this series, I'm going to explore them
in search of the many hidden



wonders that there are to be found
in wild France.

I'll be traveling to some of the most
spectacular regions of France.

From the snow-capped mountains...

to the rolling plains.

From deep forest...

to rugged coastline.

And discovering the extraordinary variety
of landscapes that this country offers.

Ah!

That's so much better.

I'll be exploring the unique plants
and wildlife that thrive

in this unspoilt wilderness...

Hello!

And the secrets that are hidden
deep within it...

Wow! That's amazing.



On my adventure through wild France.

[dramatic music playing]

For the first leg of my journey,

I'm in the Alps to explore the mountains.

From the very bottom,
where the meadows are lush and green,

up to the very top
where the life is sparse and the terrain

is bare and tundra-like,

searching for the rare wildlife that
survives in this mountainous landscape.

These are the Alps. In fact,
these are the high Alps,

the tallest mountains in France,

three times higher than anything
we have in Britain.

While they're hostile and imposing,

they're also incredibly rich in habitat,

and, consequently, in wildlife.

The Alps are the largest mountain range
in Europe.

They stretch across eight countries,
all the way from Slovenia

down into the Southeast of France.

I'm visiting the Vanoise National Park
in the Rhone Alps region.

The Alps were formed
over many millions of years,

resulting from the collision of
the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.

And their location,
right in the middle of Europe,

coupled with the extremes of elevation,

mean that the weather here
is as harsh as it comes.

You have everything from sunshine
to snow in a day.

All the wildlife that survives here
has in some way or other to adapt,

from the lowliest plant right up
to the people who live here.

The region is well known for its
ski resorts,

but once the snow melts,
the Spring and Summer months

reveal a new side to the mountain.

This really is the best time of year
to visit.

All around, the meadow is filling
with bursts of color

in plants like these Alpine Pansies
and Blue Gingers.

The Alpine flowers are a feeding ground
for a whole host of insects,

and important grazing grounds
for cattle and goats.

Up here, communities still live
a traditional shepherd lifestyle.

Audrey Chevassu is a local goat herder

and one of the best goat's cheese makers
in the region.

How many goats have you got, Audrey?

- One hundred.
- A hundred.

RAY: Okay, and we're going to move
these today, are we?

Yes, we go up, so can you help me?

Of course I can, yeah.

I give you a stick.

Just stay at the back
and put the last one.

AUDREY: Not too fast.

[calm music playing]

RAY: Today I'm helping Audrey to move
the goats up to their Summer pastures,

which isn't easy
when there's a hundred of them.

[goat bells ringing]

[speaking French]

As Winter turns to Spring,

the snow gradually melts,
uncovering fresh pastures.

As the thaw works its way up the mountain,

the herders move their animals up
to feed on the fresh chutes.

[goat bleating]

A whole different pace of life.

It's like stepping back in time.
It's lovely.

Audrey doesn't come
from a family of herders

but she fell in the love with the
lifestyle when working with a local famer

and decided to become
a goat herder herself.

Even just 200 meters further
up the mountain,

the fresh pasture offers luscious,
soft new grow.

The goats' constant short periods
of grazing keep the meadow healthy.

Looking around this meadow,
it is astonishing how rich it is in herbs.

I can understand clearly
why it's great grazing

for people producing cheese.

These areas, of course, for centuries
were really quite impoverished.

It was a hard life living here
in the mountains.

And if you did, you were quite cut off.

That meant you had to be
very self reliant,

and the people living this lifestyle
with these mobile herds of animals

they had to take up and down the mountains

would rely upon the plants in
the mountains for food and for medicine.

For example, look at this Cowslip.

Now, we wouldn't encourage anyone
to pick Cowslips in the UK

because they're not so common, we don't
have the habitat that we once did.

But here, in this part of France,
they are quite often picked.

People will suck the nectar
out of the flower.

Just a very mild sweetness there.

And it has other uses.

As well as being used to flavor meat
and make wine,

in times gone by, locals believed
Cowslip flowers were a cure for insomnia.

Let's hope that the goats stay here
now tonight.

Uh, we must have to go in the barn to milk

just for one or two days, but after,
when we will be further,

we must have a mobile milking machine.

RAY: So you actually bring the machine
out to the goats?

AUDREY: Yes. The machine
follows the goats.

RAY: So, really, your life
and the life of the goats

is completely at one with the life
of the mountain.

AUDREY: Completely, with more the season
and the nature, yes.

- RAY: I love your office.
- Thank you.

- It's fantastic.
- [laughs]

[calm music playing]

RAY: The meadow really is
an idyllic setting,

and Audrey has laid on a picnic.

She's asked me to forage for the salad.

We've done quite well, haven't we?

I found some Lady's Mantle for you.

Of course, there's the Dandelion,

which gets its name from dent-de-lion,
tooth of the lion

because of the jagged edge to the leaf.

But I think you also call it pissenlit?

- AUDREY: Pissenlit.
- Pissenlit.

And that's an Old English word for it too,

which is "piss a bed"
because it can make people wet the bed.

- AUDREY: Okay.
- It's fascinating.

But a little in a salad's all right.

And then there are some...
I found quite a lot of medicines.

There's Yarrow, and umm...

We've got wound wort,

and colts foot, very good for coughs,
sore throats.

It's amazing what medicines
there are here.

There's some bilberry,
you can make tea from that.

Plantain. I'm going to leave that
out though because it is very bitter.

Shall I start cutting up some salad?
I'll get rid of the medicine plants.

In the past, these mountains would have
been completely cut off in winter time,

so food items like goats cheese
were preserved to be eaten

when the villagers were snowbound.

That's lovely.

It does taste a little bit
like the meadow.

- [laughs] Yes. Sure.
- RAY: There is a floral aroma.

AUDREY: So it's raw milk.
And this one...

RAY: I think I'm going to add
a little bit of salad to mine.

- AUDREY: Yes.
- RAY: That's wonderful.

Delicious. Mm.

Oi! Stop chewing me. I'm not your food.

Clear off.
[chuckles]

It's wonderful, you really listen
to the sound of the bells on these goats.

And of course, the meadows
and the goats and the people,

they've become one
over all those centuries.

Oi! Stop rubbing your head
on my backside.

Little rascal.

Audrey and her goats are staying here
to enjoy the pastures,

but it's time for me to move on.

Further up the mountain,
the landscape starts to change.

The ground gets rougher beneath my feet,
and it's tough going.

But these steep broken slopes
are the ideal habitat

for one particular animal.

So this is the reason I've come
to the Vanoise National Park,

the ibex. This is a real
mountain specialist.

The ibex is a type of wild goat.

A hundred thousand years ago,
ibex lived all over central Europe,

but they're a rare sight these days.

Today, this herd of ibex have been tagged

so that the national park
can keep track of them.

But they remain a wild animal,
free to roam the mountains

just as their ancestors did.

This is a bachelor herd,
mostly male animals,

and you can see they've got very stocky,
long horns.

You can tell how old the ibex is
by the number of rings on its horns.

The horns stop growing in the winter,

when extreme cold and lack of food

means they need to preserve
all their strength just to stay alive.

When the Spring comes,
they start growing again,

making it easy to age them as one
full ring represents one year of life

a bit like on a tree trunk.

The male's horns are much bigger
than the female's,

and there's a good reason for that:

they're also used as a crucial weapon.

And they're testing each other,
trying to work out social hierarchy.

It's something they'll continue to do
throughout the year.

It may look like playful fighting,

but these young males are working out
their position in the herd.

At the start of the Summer,

their ranking is based on age,
size, and strength.

As the Summer goes on,
they start these play fights

to gain practice with the hope
of moving up in the hierarchy.

You could see how they delicately balance
on their hind legs when fighting.

They're incredibly agile,

and this skill helps them travel
through the rugged terrain.

They're so light-footed that they can
hop down sheer cliff bases

with no effort at all.

They don't even need a warmup;

an ibex can jump 1.8 meters
on a standing start.

For thousands of years,
the steep cliff faces

were a refuge for the ibex
from animal predators,

but when man starting hunting
in the mountains,

the bare slopes made them an easy target.

I've been joined by local park ranger
Alex Garnier to find out more.

RAY: 30 meters...

and they're still coming towards us.

If the hunter is here,
ibex never run away very fast.

I can really understand
the problem that they face,

I mean, their natural defense mechanism
is to climb up unto the rock

where no other animal can go.

But the man with the rifle,
that's no protection for the ibex.

It's easy to understand
how the numbers decline.

By 1963, when the park was started,

there were only 50 ibex left
in the Vanoise.

Why were they hunted?

ALEX: They were hunted for meat

because before in the mountains,
people...

- RAY: It was a hard life.
- ALEX: Had a hard life.

RAY: They were also hunted
for their horns,

which were thought to have
medicinal qualities,

and for the small bone in their heart
that was used as a lucky talisman.

But here in the Vanoise,
they've done an amazing job

of increasing the population,
and they take animals from here

and relocate them to other
mountain regions and reserves

throughout France.
It's been a tremendous success story.

Now there are 1500
of these wonderful creatures

living in the Vanoise alone.

Hunting ibexs is now forbidden.

These ibex give me a glimpse of what life
was like here thousands of years ago.

I believe that a few years ago,

that in Britain they found a Stone Age
engraving of an ibex on a rock

in the peak district, so you never know,

one day perhaps you will
have reintroduced some

to the United Kingdom as well.

Maybe.
[laughing]

I could watch
these incredible creatures for hours.

But there's still a long way to go
to the top of the mountain.

As I continue my journey
through the Vanoise,

this astonishing landscape
changes before me.

I really enjoy these walks
into the mountains because

you go through so many different zones
of vegetation.

Down in the bottom of the valley
we've got fantastic forests

of great big conifer trees.
And as you come up they start to peter out

and you come to larch trees which can cope
with very cold conditions,

until you reach this.
2,000 meters above sea level.

This is the tree line, from this point on
it becomes incredibly harsh for trees

to take foot in the mountains.

The only trees you really are finding here
now are these juniper bushes

that are clinging tight to the rocks.

From this point forward,
we're moving into tundra.

It's a very pleasant 24 degrees
here today,

but, in winter, temperatures can drop
to minus 26 degrees Celsius.

There's a fascinating pond here.

But when I look into this pond there are
two things that are immediately apparent;

there are no fish
and there's a lot of amphibian life.

It's absolutely teeming with alpine newts.
Real alpine specialists.

And they have to be because
this is one really harsh terrain.

You won't be surprised to learn
that they are protected by law,

so I'm not going to handle them,
but I am going to take a closer look

using this handy camera.
Let's have a look at what they are up to.

The newts are quite difficult to see
in their full beauty.

The males have this wonderful
fire-colored belly.

And, just occasionally,
I'm catching a glimpse of that.

I think these are pretty hardy creature
to be able to survive here at all.

It looks lovely today doesn't it?
Can you imagine it in winter?

Frozen solid, deeply covered with snow.

[French music playing]

There are less and less signs
of human life the higher I climb,

so this village is my last chance
to find some help.

This afternoon I'm going to be
travelling really light

because I want to head up to the very
highest environment on the mountain,

but on a journey like this I'd be glad
not to be carrying my pack,

so I've enlisted the help
of a couple of donkeys,

and this is of course the historic way
to travel in the mountains.

[French music playing]

The ground here is littered with rocks
fallen from the steep mountain above.

You wouldn't expect to see much life
up here in this barren landscape,

but for some small furry creatures,
this is their playground.

[mischievous music playing]

Out here in this very high meadow
there are marmots

and they are really charismatic to watch
because they are quite active

and haven't been long out of hibernation.

Marmots are very sociable
and live in family groups in burrows.

They hibernate through the cold winters.

They emerge in the spring to feast
on the flowering tundra plant,

like these pansies.

Marmots will mark out their territory
by rubbing their cheeks

on the rocks to leave their scent.

They are fascinating creatures
and like everything else on the mountain,

they have to be especially adapted
for alpine conditions,

and one of the things you can see
is like this marmot over here

sunning itself on the rock,
it's doing that to save energy

rather than having to burn food supplies
for that process.

Members of the groups
act as lookouts for potential predators.

They keep their eyes to the sky
as that's where danger lies.

At this high altitude,
I can feel the air thinning around me.

It's been a really tough climb, but
we've made it to the top of the mountain.

This is home to one of the shyest
and rarest creatures

I've ever had the privilege of seeing.

There it is. There it is, I've got it.

That's one
of the most protected birds in Europe.

That is a bearded vulture and it's
just gone over the back of the mountain,

it's tremendously exciting to see.

The bearded vulture gets its name

from the small black bristles
that grow under its chin.

What I'm looking at is the bird that
brought about the legend of the griffin,

and if you look at it,
it has this ruthless color,

this orangey, red color to its breast.
And people used to believe

that came from the bird bathing
in the blood of its victims.

Really macabre. In fact they feared it;

they thought that if it caught them
in the mountains here,

it could cut their throat and bathe itself
in their blood to get this red color.

But, of course, nothing could be further
from the truth.

In fact, today we know that the bird
actually bathes

in a water rich in iron
which dries in its feathers,

leaving a bright rusty orange stain.

And it's also not really
a predator either,

it's a very specialist feeder,
it feeds on bone.

After predators have feasted
and left carcasses on the mountainside,

the bearded vulture swoops down
to eat the bones,

which gives it all the nutrients
it needs to survive.

This bird is one of only two pairs in
the region and it's returning to its nest.

Just one breeding every three years,
and only one in three birds

that are reared successfully
making it to adult life.

It stretches the limits of conservation
efforts, so I'm thrilled to have seen it.

Wow, that's the best view yet.

[dramatic music playing]

Well you know it's been brilliant
coming to the alps,

there are so many different zones
of vegetation, so many things to see here.

And I'm going to take away some
incredible memories, but absolutely,

the best thing has been this:
seeing the bearded vulture.

Sitting there,
literally on top of the alps.

So coming right to the tops
of the mountains has really paid off.

I'm so glad I carted a spotting scope
up here.

Mind you, I did have the help of a donkey.

[dramatic music playing]