Original version

BBC Four

BBC 4

BBC Two

BBC Four HD

BBC Two Scotland

Adam Nicolson

KEO North

Andrew Palmer

Nigel Pope

James Nutt

Stuart Housden

Davide Scridel

Phil Taylor

Bob Furness

John Baldwin

Roddy MacLeod

Donald McLeod

Donald Morrison

Maggie Sheddan

Donald Murray

Harpa Porey Sigurdardottir

Sigurdur Henningsson

Jim Lennon

Dave Dutton

Penny Holiday

The Last Seabird Summer?: Episode 1: Living with the Birds

Living with the Birds

Episode 1

Episode 1: Living with the Birds

The Last Seabird Summer?

BBC Four - The Last Seabird Summer?, Living with the Birds

As they arrive from the Atlantic, Adam traces our history of dependence on seabirds.

Series following Adam Nicolson and the threatened seabirds of the Shiants. As they arrive from the Atlantic, he traces our history of dependence on seabirds.

In episode one, Adam Nicolson follows the story of the seabirds on the Shiant Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, one of the most important bird places of Europe. As the puffins, guillemots and razorbills arrive from far out in the north Atlantic, Adam traces our long history of dependence on seabirds - thousands of years of collecting eggs and hunting the birds for meat, oil and feathers. 

But there is crisis in our seabird population - in the last 15 years in Scotland alone, 40 per cent have been lost. And although in Britain our relationship is now one of conservation, there are countries who still hunt the seabird. To understand how this tradition continues today, Adam travels to Iceland, home to over half the world's puffins, and meets those for whom the puffin hunt is still part of everyday life.

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Series following Adam Nicolson and the crisis-threatened seabirds of the Shiants.

Series following Adam Nicolson and the seabirds of the Shiants, a small cluster of Scottish islands. With crisis threatening their future, Adam traces the history of our relationship with seabirds.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Last Seabird Summer?

Episode 1: Living with the Birds

Contributors

Genres

Series

BBC Four

About BBC Four