In the lands of the north,
it's said that the journey matters much more than the destination.
For the next few months, this Arctic fox will face challenges
that will test his intelligence, resilience
and brute strength to the limit.
If he succeeds, his bloodline will endure...
..the bloodline of the stormborn.
Above 60 degrees north,
winter can be reluctant to release her iron grip.
It's the middle of March,
but the gales and icy blasts endure.
United by the restless Atlantic Ocean,
the wild lands of Iceland, Scotland and Norway
are holding out for redemption.
Holding out for a breath of spring.
These are the realms of the stormborn...
..life that's mastered these hostile lands.
It's a tough place to survive in.
Only the strongest can make it here.
But each spring, the light must return,
and with it another round in the game of life for the Arctic fox.
Concealed beneath this world of snow is the territory he'll need to win.
But he can't claim it alone...
..he needs a partner - he needs his mate.
He hasn't seen her since last autumn.
He doesn't know whether she, too, has made it
through the great darkness.
But he does know where to look for her.
Here - on the windswept beach of Iceland's remote north-west coast.
But he's alone.
There's no sign of his mate.
All he can do is wait,
and hope that she's survived the winter, too.
March is the most volatile month in the lands of the north.
The highest of tides and the fiercest of winds
batter the coastlines.
As the weather changes, so too do the movements of animals.
Some traversing vast distances in their search for food.
An orca pod has crossed the 1,200 kilometres of open water
between Iceland and Scotland's Shetland isles.
This is a tight family unit -
three generations' strong,
led by a matriarch.
They're here to hunt.
Their arrival coincides with a rare period of absolute calm.
A respite for the shoreline animals.
Six months ago, as the light faded,
an otter gave birth in a secret holt near the shore.
Her twins - one male, one female - have made it
through the worst of the winter,
but now their lives have reached the turning point.
They need to learn to hunt for themselves.
At the moment, they rely on their mother to provide
the bulk of their meals.
She leaves them alone onshore, while she goes fishing.
In March, the sea is at its coldest.
Fish are scarcer and harder to find.
She could be away for some time.
OTTER CUB CALLS
Their survival is completely dependent on their mother's skills.
It's a lot of hard work.
Otters need to eat a quarter of their body weight every day.
She feeds herself at sea,
before catching fish for the cubs.
The male cub tries to fish for himself.
Searching for crabs in a rock pool.
For both twins, true independence is still some way off.
Their mother is back with a catch.
An eelpout - one of the most important fish species
for Shetland otters.
OTTER CUBS SQUEAK
Both cubs are desperate for the prize.
OTTER CUBS CALL
They tussle...
..but it's the male that wins the meal.
The female cub will go hungry this time...
OTTER CUB CALLS
..and slopes off back to her mother for comfort.
Further out in the bay, a group of harbour porpoises gather.
They're one of the smallest members of the dolphin family...
..and they're about to be ambushed by the biggest.
PORPOISE CLICK PULSES
The orca pod is here.
A single porpoise has been caught on its own.
With no hope of outpacing the orca,
its only chance is to outmanoeuvre them.
Another orca moves in, closing down its options.
The chase is heading towards the shore.
The porpoise sees its chance and flees for the rocks.
The orca dare not enter water this shallow.
But it's a high-risk strategy for the porpoise...
..and it becomes stranded.
It's now stuck on the rocks.
The hunt has stalled.
But there are plenty of other porpoises around.
This one is outnumbered and has no way of escape.
The orca toy with it...
..before making the fatal strike.
As the tide rises, the stranded porpoise frees itself.
Incredibly, it's high-risk strategy has paid off...
..and it lives to swim another day.
PORPOISE CLICK PULSES
In Iceland, it may be March, but winter still rules.
There are glimmers of hope.
For the first time this year,
there's a little more daylight than darkness.
But the threat of more snow is never far away.
The male Arctic fox is still searching for his mate...
..but the beach seems empty.
A movement amongst the boulders.
A white vixen.
But she's not his mate.
Arctic foxes reunite year after year,
so he'll know her by her scent.
By far, the fox's acutest sense.
There's someone else here.
Another female.
Patiently waiting out the storm.
Her scent is masked by the snow.
He draws closer.
It's her.
Arctic foxes often pair for life.
It's a deep and complex relationship.
They need to get to know each other again...
..before they renew their special bond.
Survival for the stormborn is all about timing.
In the north, life dances to the rhythm of the seasons...
..and you need to make every beat count.
In Shetland, the otter cubs still have a lot to learn.
Once again, their mother is out fishing in the bay
and they await her return.
They sense an otter is near.
But it isn't her.
It's a dog otter, a mature adult...
..and he's caught the mother's scent.
DOG OTTER SNIFFS
OTTER CUB CALLS
This could be very dangerous for the cubs...
..especially the young male.
Dog otters treat unrelated male cubs as rivals
and they may kill them.
The cubs need their mother to protect them,
and there's no sign of her.
The dog is getting dangerously close...
..but it's their mother he's after.
He follows her scent to the water's edge...
..and slips in to the surf.
But he'll be back.
With their ragged ice fields, volcanic wastes and treeless plains,
the lands of the stormborn seem harsh places to bring up a family.
But there are benefits to living here, too.
Though winter is long and bleak,
spring and summer will bring almost 24 hours of light and warmth.
Ideal conditions for the arrival of a new generation.
In the snowy heart of subarctic Norway,
vast numbers of reindeer gather high on the mountain plateau.
Most of this herd are female...
..and they're pregnant.
They've spent the winter months here,
escaping the deep drifts in the valleys.
They dig for the lichen beneath the thin snow,
using their shovel-like hooves.
But this winter diet is sparse in nutrients.
For the calving season, they'll need to migrate back down the mountain
to feed on the rich lowland grasses.
For thousands of years, they've made this journey in an ancient alliance.
An alliance with people.
The reindeer live predominantly wild lives...
..but exist alongside herders who make their living from the animals.
The melee spins in a defensive strategy, evolved to protect them
from wolves and bears.
A vast living carrousel.
And the great march begins.
In Iceland, the dog fox remains completely focused on his vixen.
Females are only in season for 48 hours.
Soon she'll be ready for him.
Their flirtation is growing more intense.
When she walks off, he follows...
..never letting her out of his sight for a moment.
She rests.
He shows off...
..hoping to impress her.
She's allowing him closer.
All he cares about is her.
They flirt, grooming and gently nipping each other.
Now she's taking the initiative,
showing him that she's coming into season.
She's nearly ready to mate.
Only the snowstorm's holding things up.
The Shetland isles are warmed by the gulf stream.
BIRD COOS
As spring advances, the climate becomes more temperate,
drawing new residents in.
Puffins.
Throughout the winter darkness, they were alone in the wild ocean.
But now they're back to breed on their clifftop burrows.
Couples court and flirt...
..reunited after the long winter apart.
By the shore, there's no sign of the dog otter.
It's a good time for the cubs to have a hunting lesson.
It can take nearly two years for an otter cub
to master fishing underwater.
But these two have to start somewhere,
and the water's edge is the ideal place to practise.
Success.
The female cub finds a shore crab.
Her brother wants a piece of the action.
But she's hungry and she is not giving it up.
Her mother takes the male cub to fish in open water nearby.
He's really growing in confidence now,
learning how to hunt and dive, mirroring his mother.
Her crab eaten, the female cub finds herself alone.
OTTER WHISTLES
She grows anxious.
OTTER WHISTLES
Her mother and brother are oblivious to her cries.
They have a problem of their own.
They're being pursued.
The dog otter has returned.
The cub clambers on to the rocks for safety.
The mother lashes out.
But the old male wants to mate with her.
Her son joins the fray.
It's a risky move.
The dog otter could kill him if he gets in the way.
The cub dives clear.
But the old dog is on his tail.
It's a tense stand-off.
But the old male stopped short of an all-out attack,
revealing that this is HIS cub, HIS bloodline.
The mother calls the youngster back to her side.
The dog otter seems to have lost interest.
The twin cubs are still everything to the female.
She's not ready to mate yet.
In Norway, the reindeer are migrating down the mountainside...
..the pregnant females, accompanied by the larger stockier bulls.
They're several days from the calving grounds,
so they must press on.
But as they descend, a neighbouring stormborn clan
is working its way back up.
A herd of musk oxen.
OX GRUNTS
These prehistoric-looking beasts are true Ice Age survivors.
Throughout winter and spring, these herbivores climb to seek out
patches of vegetation on the mountain ridges
exposed by the wind.
But although this group looks peaceful,
someone is always vying to be in charge.
In the calving season, decisions are made by the cows.
But in the summer rut,
it's the dominant bulls who control the herd.
The rut is a long way off,
but there's something in the air today.
A young male seems to fancy his chances
at displacing an older, more dominant animal.
The young male prepares to launch his attack.
But the old male has the advantage of gravity and experience.
He forces the youngster down the slope.
One final shove...
..and it's over.
OX GRUNTS
In Iceland, the snow is unrelenting.
But the female Arctic fox is ready to mate at last.
Even the raging blizzard can't stop the pair now.
They become locked together...
..a union that can last over an hour.
Being joined like this will improve the chance of a successful mating.
But it's painful and tiring for them.
If they try to force themselves apart, it could result in injury.
They must simply wait until their muscles relax.
The storm is rising,
drawing up the power of the restless Atlantic.
Across the north, extreme weather, caused by climate change,
is making this world even more unpredictable.
In Shetland, the swell is growing.
The otter family are becoming bolder, fishing in deeper water.
The mother takes her cubs further out into the bay.
They follow her every move.
Hungry for a good catch.
It's a race back to the shore.
The female cub grabs the prize and scurries off to enjoy it.
It's a scorpionfish, a huge meal.
Her mother and brother venture in to the choppy waters once more.
Getting the most out of a hard and bony catch like this
will take the female cub some time.
Her family is now way offshore and she hasn't noticed.
The cub looks up for her mother and brother.
But there's no sign of either.
She's alone.
She heads back into the surf.
But it's a poor decision.
She's now moving even further away from her family,
straight into the growing swell.
The Icelandic weather system has crossed the Atlantic.
A hailstorm pounds the puffin colony.
Time to seek shelter underground.
Further east, across the North Sea, the blizzard hits the reindeer
migration with full force.
3,000 beasts halt in their tracks.
But with a double-layer coat made from thousands of hollow hairs,
they're adapted to withstand anything the storm
can throw at them.
In Iceland, too, the blizzard still rages on.
Now separated and exhausted after an hour of mating,
the Arctic fox pair hunker down.
Like the reindeer, they're well protected against temperatures
as low as minus 30 degrees
by some of the best insulating fur in the animal world.
The only place without fur is the nose.
So the vixen buries her snout deep into her tail
and waits for the weather to ease.
Even a supreme cold-weather specialist like an Arctic fox
can do nothing in conditions like this.
Calm is returning to Shetland.
The female cub has survived.
But the storm has swept her far out of her mother's territory.
Alone, she searches the unfamiliar beach for any signs of her family.
She's picked up a scent trail.
Otters use many sleeping holts across their territory.
The trail leads her towards a peat bank at the edge of the beach.
But the wild weather has driven the mother otter and the male cub
much further up the coast.
The holt is empty.
And the female cub heads back to the shore.
At six months old, she has the instincts to survive.
But her hunting skills simply aren't advanced enough.
Because of his mating campaign,
the dog fox hasn't eaten for five days.
But now his focus switches to the search for food.
In the winter, the foxes rely on the beach to provide invertebrates
and washed-up carrion.
It's sparse pickings.
But the chances of finding something are greater after a storm.
And he's in luck.
A dead gull has washed ashore.
The vixen is happy to finish off the scraps.
Now their attention turns to territory.
A litter of cubs is on the way.
And they need to find a den to raise them in.
Soon, the snow will clear, revealing den entrances among the rocky
hollows in this stark landscape.
For their bloodline to succeed,
they must secure the best den possible.
The reindeer are also heading for somewhere safe to give birth.
They're nearing the end of their epic journey.
The herders and their dogs bring the last group
down towards the lower pasture.
These are the calving grounds.
Here in just a few weeks' time, thousands of reindeer calves
will start their journey of life.
In Shetland, the orca family is leaving.
But they will return.
Soon, the harbour seals will start to pup,
presenting them with new prey.
ORCA CALLS
For now, there's time to play.
Enjoying the support and companionship of family life.
But a family is the very thing that the female otter cub needs so much.
She hasn't seen her mother and brother in days and she's tired...
..seemingly unable to even feed herself.
Just a kilometre along the coast, her mother and brother are swimming
to shore with an enormous catch.
An octopus.
This is the very spot where they last saw the female cub.
So while the male cub starts to feed,
the mother seeks her missing offspring.
She calls for her daughter.
OTTER WHISTLES
But there's no answering whistle.
The female cub is alone.
She's exhausted and starving.
They're so close...
..but not quite close enough.
Summer will bring momentous change to the animals of the north.
The Arctic foxes try a cunning hunt technique
to feed their new litter of cubs.
Tiny guillemot chicks leap for their lives on Scotland's east coast.
And the otter family face up to a brave, new world.
To try and capture the behaviour of the elusive Arctic foxes,
the Stormborn team travelled over 900 miles from their base
in Glasgow to the remotest corner of Iceland.
It's too dangerous for the boat to land at the shore, so everything
needed for a week's filming must be transferred by dinghy,
including every essential.
For the next seven days, the crew will be based in a small house
near this isolated beach, a two-and-a-half-hour boat trip
from the nearest town.
Turn the boat around.
And splash.
But even getting ashore in one piece is not easy.
This is all falling apart.
The crew has picked the end of winter to come here, in the hope
of capturing the behaviour of a pair of Arctic foxes.
So at this time of year, they're pairing up,
establishing a territory and hopefully, hopefully mating.
So that's what we're here to see.
But the challenge is vast.
Hornstrandir Reserve is 360 square miles of tundra,
sheer cliffs and ice.
Spread across this wild terrain,
live about 19 Arctic foxes.
The crew are going to need help.
So they've brought along scientist Ester.
She's been coming to these shores to study the foxes
for the last 30 years.
I think... With her expertise, cameraman Neil and producer Iain
can begin to make a plan.
Yeah. On the house.
These are the most active locations
and you should keep an eye on that site too. Yeah.
Because it's a hot spot.
And I think you should have also someone keeping an eye on the beach.
Yeah, we'll have someone where these territories meet.
And then it's good for you to keep eyes on the shore, isn't it?
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Finding the foxes will be a challenge in itself.
But this is also Iceland in winter.
And a storm can roll in at a moment's notice.
Neil sets off as a blizzard begins.
The temperature drops to well below zero.
Walking keeps you warm, though,
so I'm not complaining.
But the strategy of keeping a close eye on the beach starts to pay off.
A lone male fox has returned to the shore to look for his mate.
And eventually, Neil's patience is rewarded...
..as the male is reunited with the same female he bred with last year.
The crew are keen to film the pair mating,
but they're always on the move.
And Neil's problem is keeping up with them over such vast distances.
It's going to be difficult, this kit's quite big.
I've got to carry it around.
These foxes...these foxes just shoot over, they're so light,
they just shoot over the top of the snow,
whereas my feet go straight through the snow,
you know, up to my knees in snow.
They can run straight uphill.
It'll take them a minute to get up that hill.
It'll probably take me half an hour, an hour.
They can quite easily disappear and
be carrying out all this behaviour we want to see, you know,
this mating behaviour.
It could happen anywhere.
To better their chances of capturing the pair on film,
Ester and producer Iain head off in different directions to act
as spotters, radioing back information to Neil.
WALKIE TALKIE BLEEPS
There's a fox in the gully, a little bit north of the house.
Shall I wait here and see...? Was it heading my way?
Yeah, stay there and see if it comes any lower.
OK, great. Cheers.
But the weather gets worse
and starts playing havoc with the equipment.
The battery is low.
The batteries are lasting half as long as they should do.
But there's one advantage to the blizzard.
The foxes finally settle in one place, hunkering down for the storm,
giving Neil a chance to get really close.
Been out here for a few hours now,
and the wind is just swirling round all over the place.
So you think you've got your back to the wind,
and all of a sudden it's changing.
So, aye, it's challenging conditions for sure.
But the foxes are definitely making up for it.
WIND HOWLS
Oh, it's wild.
But unlike Neil, the foxes are well-adapted to this weather.
They're not bothered by this weather at all.
Whereas I'm...
I've got seven layers on,
and still I can feel this wind going right through me.
Neil's managed to capture stunning close-up shots of the pair.
But the all-important mating is still evading him.
They're now five days into the trip and time is running out.
Back at the house, Iain and Neil consult Ester.
Do you have any idea when it's going to happen in terms of
if it would be day or night or where it might be?
It's impossible to say. Oh, really. It's impossible to say.
But they hang out a lot close to the beach.
But then they can just run off, run up over the top
of the cliff... And then we've lost them.
Even if they go down to the beach, there's so many corners, inlets.
It's going can be a bit of a challenge to even keep
up with them and see the mating,
It looks like the chances of capturing the pair mating
will be one in a million.
But then, the day before the crew are due to leave,
and return to Glasgow...
..an incredible stroke of luck.
As another snowstorm starts, Neil sets up near the house
and spots the foxes run down to the beach.
He finally captures them mating.
But before long, the experience evolves into something
far more extreme than he had ever imagined.
That was an amazing moment.
All of a sudden, they started mating.
It took me completely by surprise.
They started tumbling down the hill, tumbling around,
obviously in quite a bit of, sort of distress.
They just sort of did this dance, a spiral dance rolling on the ground.
And it was quite dangerous cos they were on the rocks,
and they were down by the sea, so they could eventually
have ended up in the sea.
And if they get that coat that wet with saltwater,
you know, it's quite a dangerous thing,
especially when they're both locked together like that.
Neil filmed the pair for over an hour in the blizzard,
until finally they separated.
And after such an ordeal,
his admiration for them had grown all the more.
They're incredible little things to be able to survive out here.
Impressive. Very impressive.
Yeah, yeah.
But the Arctic foxes here are under threat from the impact
of climate change.
It's affecting their main food source.
I see some differences in the past 20 years I've been here.
Most of the sea birds have been declining a lot.
For the foxes to be able to survive here, the birds need to do well.
But while food is getting scarcer, Ester believes there's an advantage
to being in such a remote location,
which could help the foxes in their struggle to survive.
I'm pretty hopeful because this is so isolated
and so far away from humans.
The weather here can be so bad that it is kind of self-protecting.
I'm hoping it will sustain.
It's been a remarkable first trip.
But the crew hope to capture plenty more over the coming months.
In the lands of the north, spring can be the cruellest season.
Despite months of dedicated care,
this mother otter has lost one of her precious offspring.
Separated from her by a March storm,
the cub is alone and running out of chances.
Time, tide, wind and weather will now determine her fate.
The fate of the stormborn.
Light is breathing warmth into the lands of the north.
The snows have all but vanished from the jagged shores of Iceland.
And now the melt waters flood the valleys.
Soon, the sun will rule for nearly 24 hours a day.
For the animals of Iceland, Scotland and Norway,
this is a time of opportunity...
..but it's also the most intense season.
When every moment must be focused on raising young to independence.
Before the darkness returns.
In the Shetland Isles, off the north coast of Scotland,
the weather is calm, and the female otter is working her territory.
Everything has changed for this mother.
Three months ago, she lost her young female cub in a fierce March storm.
Although the mother searched many miles of coastline,
they were never reunited.
The cub simply wasn't strong enough to survive alone.
She now has just her single male cub to care for.
But otters are not sentimental.
They will even sacrifice one cub if it means another will grow stronger.
And her remaining cub IS growing stronger.
At the moment, he's still dependent on his mother,
but he's growing up fast.
She still catches most of the meals...
..but he's quick to take them.
And this is the ideal catch.
A lumpsucker fish is full of nutrition...
..and it'll sustain him for a while.
His mother is scent marking her territory.
It's a message to local males.
With her son nearly grown up, she'll soon be ready to mate again.
And when that happens, she'll no longer provide for him,
and the new male will force him out.
On Iceland's north-west coast,
a swathe of colour has transformed the landscape.
Life must now seize its chance as the light returns.
The male arctic fox has also changed.
FOX CALLS
Just a few tufts of his thick winter coat remain.
He's now darker, sleeker,
and completely focused on a single critical mission.
He's become a father.
Concealed in the long grass near an abandoned summerhouse
is his newborn family.
Six tiny cubs.
At ten days old, their eyes have only just opened...
..and they're starting to make sense of their world.
CUBS CALL
Their mother will remain close
to them for the next few weeks while they suckle.
It's the male's job to feed her until the cubs are fully weaned.
The shore foxes' choice of territory is crucial.
It must provide all the food the family needs.
The den lies close to the same beach where the pair mated in March.
Now, in June, the feeding here is much richer.
There's the pick of what they can scavenge from the shore.
And the meadows are full of breeding birds,
whose eggs and nestlings form the bulk of the foxes' diet.
For now, it's a good place to make a home in.
The shore foxes have high-living neighbours.
Above the beach loom the crags of the Hornbjarg mountain.
It's the home of the cliff foxes.
The female has held this territory for several years,
but this year she has a new mate.
He's young, strong, and willing,
but very inexperienced.
Their six cubs are bigger and stronger than the shore litter.
They're already weaned and hungry for solid food.
BIRDS CALL
The female heads to her regular hunting ground...
..where she's hoping to ambush nesting fulmars.
But this year, birds numbers are low,
and many nests are empty.
All the pressure is on her young mate.
He's working the shores of the crater lake that sits 300 metres up,
among the mountain peaks.
There are sea birds here, too...
..kittiwakes.
A flock this big is a fabulous food source.
But this is open ground.
There's no way to reach them.
Or is there?
Perhaps this is a puzzle he can crack.
The kittiwakes preen on the rocks after their bath.
Maybe this is where they can be snatched.
No luck this time.
If he can only find a way to catch them,
it would throw a lifeline to his growing family.
Newborns are arriving across the stormborn lands.
And while some bask in the sunshine,
for others, conditions are still harsh.
In Norway, the herds of reindeer have swelled
with this summer's calves.
Last winter was exceptionally cold,
and deep in the interior, the warmth of the summer sun
hasn't yet melted the vast snowfields.
The reindeer must keep moving.
Mothers search out any patches of rich, new growth
to sustain them and their calves.
Further south, across the North Sea,
Scotland's snow has already retreated.
The reindeer here calve much later.
This tiny calf is just an hour old.
Covered in thick, hollow hair,
he's well protected from the worst of the weather.
He looks peaceful, but he should have fed by now.
His mother is struggling.
It's her very first calf, and she's completely exhausted.
He needs to stand and suckle soon if he's to gain enough strength.
Others are faring better.
This little female is her mother's fourth calf.
She may seem wobbly, but reindeer calves need to be mobile
almost straight away
to outrun predators, like eagles.
Guided in by her experienced mother's stance,
she's already getting the right idea.
At last, the tiny calf struggles to his feet.
He just needs to straighten his legs.
Finally, he locks on for his first feed of milk.
Now he can start to build strength.
In Iceland, clouds are building around the Hornbjarg mountain.
Near the beach, the shore cubs rest peacefully.
High above on the mountain,
the kittiwakes are flocking to the crater lake.
The young male cliff fox is forming a new plan.
If he hides under a boulder,
there may be a chance to grab the birds as they alight on the rocks.
It's just a case of waiting...
..and picking exactly the right moment to strike.
The kittiwakes haven't spotted the danger.
The enterprising young fox is right underneath them.
So close.
But the birds are spooked now. The hunt is over.
His young family will go hungry this time.
For the stormborn, the great race of summer is now in full swing.
Warmed by the Gulf stream, the Shetland coast has a head start.
And the puffin colony has been busy for weeks already.
But this puffin is late to the party.
He's a young bird, ready to breed for the first time.
Puffins pair for life,
and most of the old hands have found their mates from last year.
But that doesn't mean every female is taken.
And this young rookie has managed to find an empty burrow...
..making him an attractive prospect.
Could this female be the one?
PUFFINS CALL
Their courtship is tender.
Interceptors are not welcome.
The intruder gives up for now.
She's yet to inspect the burrow.
All seems to be in order.
She sits firm, ensuring no-one else lays claim.
He just needs to line it.
A particular spot seems to have taken his fancy.
But while he's busy collecting grass,
his rival moves in for a burrow hijack...
..and she's not happy.
PUFFIN CALLS
The intruder is heading in.
There's going to be a showdown.
The young puffin's not going to give up his new mate
or his precious burrow without a fight.
He returns victorious.
The pair look set for success.
Just a few miles away, the otter cub and his mother are still together.
She's raised him well, and he's much closer to independence now...
..catching more meals for himself.
But he doesn't seem ready to leave her quite yet.
He's still keen to play, enjoying her company.
The bond between mother and son is a hard one to sever.
But she's starting to come into season,
and her scent is already attracting interest.
This dog otter has pursued her before.
The deep scar on his face - a result of their last meeting.
The cub needs to prepare for the inevitable.
Soon, he'll be forced out.
But summer is the best possible time for a young otter to go it alone.
The sun barely sinks below the horizon now.
With almost 24 hours of daylight,
all the animals of the north can thrive.
In Iceland, the shore family's cubs are now taking solid food.
Both parents are now free to hunt.
There's still just enough to cache the odd chick or egg.
But as the meadow birds' breeding season ends,
food here is growing less plentiful.
Leaner times lie ahead for this family.
FOX CALLS
High above them on the mountain,
the cliff foxes, too, face a challenge.
They must catch at least one bird a day for each of their cubs.
But the female is struggling
to catch enough fulmars from the cliffs.
So the pressure is on for her young mate to succeed
in his kittiwake ambush.
He's learning that he must be very, very patient.
He needs to get it right this time.
Tonight his family will eat well at last.
In Shetland, the weather is exceptionally calm and clear.
The otter cub takes the opportunity to embark on a solo fishing trip.
With the dog otter around, he's now spending longer alone.
He's been able to catch crabs for many months...
..but they're not nutritious enough for a young male
on the cusp of adulthood.
He needs to go after a fish.
It's not easy.
Otters take nearly two years to fully master this skill.
On the shore nearby, his mother seeks out the dog otter.
OTTER CALLS
She calls to him.
Flirting.
Telling him she'll be ready soon.
But the dog is still unsure.
The wound caused by their last encounter still hurts.
It'll take time for them to build trust.
Completely unaware of his mother's liaison,
the cub has been successful.
He's landed a sea scorpion. It's a good catch.
Just the sort of thing he needs to be landing every day.
It's time to take charge of his destiny and leave.
For if he stays here, the adult male will surely drive him out.
In the lands of the north, July is a make or break month.
Now with their offspring hatching,
the sea birds are in a race to the finish.
Scotland's vast colonies seethe with life.
Towering cliffs and bare ledges seem an inhospitable place to nest.
But for every guillemot, this is where life begins.
GUILLEMOTS CALL
Each breeding territory is no more than a few centimetres wide.
Safely incubating an egg is a major feat.
A newly hatched chick is carefully shielded from the edge.
But it's being watched.
Predatory herring gulls patrol these cliffs.
Eggs are easy to snatch...
..but an exposed chick is a much richer prize.
GULL CALLS
But this pressure will soon end.
In a few days, before the chick can even fly,
its parents will encourage it to leap 200 metres to the ocean below.
Here, it can be fed safely and dive out of danger.
For some of the stormborn,
the bounty of the summer continues to provide.
In Iceland, the male cliff fox is enjoying success.
His territory is rich,
and he's learned to exploit the potential here.
Thanks to his ingenuity and persistence,
the cubs are thriving.
CUBS CALL
His bloodline is secure.
The kittiwake hunt is now a daily routine.
And the kittiwakes never learn to keep away from the danger.
His family will not go hungry.
And his hunting skills have ensured his cubs gain
something else just as important...
..his time.
With the excess kittiwakes cached, he can now afford to play...
FOXES CALL
..and play is how his cubs will learn the hunting skills they need.
Each climb or tumble tests them,
building their strength and teaching them how to use this landscape.
Not all young foxes will get this start in life.
Far below, the situation for the shore family is bleak.
The parents are now struggling to feed their cubs.
Unlike the cliff family, they're not putting on weight
and have hardly grown.
With all the meadow birds fledged,
both parents have returned to their winter routine...
..scavenging.
A washed up flounder is a welcome prize for the female.
But it's not enough to feed her increasingly hungry cubs.
Their parents resort to digging up old caches of food.
But these won't last long.
Only half of arctic fox cubs survive their first year.
The future for this family looks very uncertain.
In desperation, the shore male tries a new strategy...
..a raid on the cliff fox territory.
He's sneaking into his neighbour's patch.
But trespassing is against the rules of clan fox.
The shore male is quickly chased out.
The best territories are hard won...
..and not willingly surrendered.
It's back to a life of scavenging for the shore male.
On Scotland's coast, a sea fog has settled.
In the guillemot colony, the mood is tense.
The strain of constantly bringing back fish
to the ledges is now too much for the adults.
Their hungry young must go with them to the ocean if they are to feed.
This chick can't yet fly...
..so it will have to jump.
Tonight, protected by the evening light,
its parents will encourage it off the ledge.
Many won't make it.
With the encroaching darkness,
the jumpling begins its tentative descent to the edge of the cliff.
While its mother stays at the nest site,
its father follows it closely...
..defending the path down.
But each ledge is someone else's territory...
GUILLEMOTS CALL
..and danger awaits at every level.
At last, it's at the very edge -
just one step from the 200-metre drop.
Its father can do little but call it on...
GUILLEMOT CALLS
..for this is the leap that each chick must make alone.
Father and chick are reunited.
They will spend the rest of the summer together far out at sea.
The mighty seas and oceans define these stormborn lands.
United through tide and current,
these are the great highways of the north.
One family knows these pathways intimately.
The orca pod.
Able to move at pace from Norway to Iceland to Scotland.
The matriarch has learned these routes
to ensure her family will prosper.
Her pod is now eight strong.
And this year on the journey is a baby.
The newest grandchild of the matriarch.
Her oldest son is fully grown,
his mighty dorsal fin over two metres tall.
He's been her constant companion for over 20 years.
It's likely neither he nor his brother will ever leave this pod.
Their allegiance to the matriarch runs deep.
ORCA WHISTLES AND CLICKS
Now, at the end of summer,
it's Shetland's seal pups they have in their sights.
They must work out their hunting strategy.
All, even the youngest, take part...
..as they scout the coastline to check channels...
..and plan their short cuts through the shallows.
They're ready.
Along the coastline, things have changed for the otter family.
The male cub is now fully independent.
But he's still lingering in his mother's territory.
He needs to keep his distance.
There's a new male in her life.
Without a cub to protect, she's finally keen to mate.
The dog otter is still nervous...
..and it's she who takes the initiative.
But the dog's instinct to mate is strong...
..and at last his desire conquers his fear.
He trails her closely...
..hoping for an opportunity.
She's giving him all the right signals...
..teasing and rolling over to invite him close.
OTTERS CALL
At last, they settle together.
A new chapter in their lives begins.
Along the shore, the cub is moving on...
..travelling farther than he's ever ventured in his life before.
It's time for him to make his own future.
In the lands of the north, the only certainty is constant change.
Even on the calmest day, a gale can rise from nowhere.
In Iceland, as the gale gives way to rain,
the shore foxes scour the beach for casualties of the storm.
For many days now, they've survived on nothing more
than tiny invertebrates.
They need something more substantial to save the cubs from starving.
The male has found a washed-up guillemot.
It could be a life-saver for his family.
CUBS CALL
His cubs are ravenous.
The female holds back...
..but the male can't control his hunger.
FOX GROWLS
His cubs are desperate to feed,
but the dog fox won't relinquish his prize.
While some cubs watch, others bravely try to hold on.
But the male eventually succumbs to his own needs,
and carries the food away.
The cubs will go hungry again.
In Shetland, the storm has long passed.
Harbour seals play in the shallows...
..unaware that danger is coming.
The orca.
These are the ultimate predators of the north.
The apex of all life here.
The pod is no longer in training.
This time, they're ready to hunt.
Seals caught off-guard make a desperate dash
for shallow water when they can.
Each member of the orca pod knows its place.
They twist and turn through the shallows...
..trying to flush the seals away from the rocks and into deep water.
They're driving them into a trap.
It's a fruitful hunting session for the pod.
There's plenty for each member of the family.
The last kill is toyed with.
Useful hunting practice for the new generation.
Autumn is now well on its way.
In the lands of the stormborn, there's little middle ground -
only victory and defeat.
In Iceland, the cliff foxes are winners.
BARKING
Thanks to the male's hunting ability, every one of their cubs
is strong and ready to face the tough season to come.
But their neighbours, the shore cubs, are growing weaker by the day.
There's simply not enough food for them all.
To keep this family's bloodline alive,
only one of their cubs needs to make it.
But will any of them have what it takes to pull through?
Autumn will bring new challenges to the stormborn of the north.
Seal pups face danger from their own kind.
The great reindeer migration begins...
..and the arctic fox saga takes a surprising turn.
The best place to try and film orca in the UK
is 105 miles north of the Scottish mainland,
off the coast of Shetland.
Cameraman Fergus Gill is tasked with the job of capturing them on film.
SHEEP BLEAT
Out to the lighthouse we go.
Just look north, see what we can see.
Hopefully some orca, right there...
..bobbing around, waiting on us.
That'd be nice.
But spotting them will not be easy.
With over 1,700 miles of coastline,
it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Fergus is joined by drone pilot Pete Barden,
and together, they start the tricky challenge of searching the sea.
It is really quite a guessing game.
You put a lot of thought into where you go,
but at the end of the day, it's up to the orca where they'll go
and where they won't.
We're just going to try and spend as much time out looking for them
as possible. We're definitely going to get something.
It's just putting in the time.
But as the hours stack up, there's still no sighting.
There's plenty of other wildlife to see in Shetland,
but Fergus and Pete are here for one reason only.
We're here for orca.
And there's no orca.
LAUGHING: And I'm desperate to see an orca,
so it's just...tough.
This should be the optimum time to see orca in Shetland.
Late summer is pupping time for the harbour seals,
and the orca return here year after year to hunt them.
And it's the hunt that the team is desperate to capture.
But, with no sign of the elusive predator,
Fergus and Pete are driven to desperate measures.
I spy with my little eye something beginning with T.
Tern. No.
Tuft of grass.
LAUGHING: No.
Think geographic features, Pete.
Tombolo? Yes!
HE LAUGHS
Not a tombola.
I'd quite like a tombola, though.
THEY LAUGH
But when it comes to spotting orca, things can change in a moment.
There's been a sighting,
and local wildlife expert Richard Shucksmith joins the chase.
Here we are, running across the moorland.
Fergus's camera assistant.
There's Fergus, legging it.
Oh!
This is Shetland at its best.
Where are they, Richard?
There just coming about 700, 800 metres down the coast.
The orca have just gone into the bay behind us,
so we've legged it as quick as we can to get round here,
hopefully get ahead of them and see them coming.
It's a lot of running, but it's definitely going to be worth it.
What do you think, Richard? Let's hope so.
Pete launches the drone.
And, with his eye in the sky, gets his first look at the pod.
Wow! This is my first orca.
As Pete captures some incredible shots,
the ground team rushes into position.
They're coming. So, they're coming round the headland.
They're just off this headland now, just out here.
Fergus is on it, filming.
Perfect.
BIRDS CALL
But, just as fast as the orca arrive...
..they vanish.
And there's no guarantee they'll be back.
The team has no choice but to call it a day.
So, it is nearly one in the morning.
We've been out for nine hours today filming orca,
and we lost them a few hours ago.
I think today was kind of an amazing and frustrating day
all at the same time.
And I think it's just kind of reiterating how difficult
it's going to be for us to manage to film them hunting seals.
It's, it's not just seeing them,
it's being able to stick with them,
and then even being in the right place at the right time
to see all this happen.
I think it's really going to be quite a challenge for us, but...
The odds are better than they were yesterday,
so if we pick them up in the morning...
That is in three hours' time.
We are going to be back out filming orca, hopefully.
It's another 4am start for the crew.
It's a bit deflating after being with them,
and it's like reality kicking back in once again
of that needle in a haystack of looking for eight orca
on 1,000 miles of coast again.
After days of getting up at the crack of dawn,
exhaustion starts to kick in.
So, it's Sunday morning.
We're back out on the trail of orca.
Had a few hours' sleep.
Erm, we're working hard.
Let's have a look and see how Fergus is getting on.
HE CHUCKLES
More days pass without a sighting.
After spending 14 hours sitting in a car,
looking, seeing nothing...
..day after day,
I've started to feel a bit demoralised, quite honestly.
The team has been on Shetland for three weeks.
They head out once again towards a popular gathering place for seals.
And, finally, their luck starts to change.
Something down there. What is it?
Get in here, let's get in here, have a look.
Is it orca? Might be.
Do you see a fin? Yeah, yeah, there's something there.
Let's go.
Pete locates the pod with the drone.
100m, did you say?
He radios their position to Fergus...
Yeah, got them.
..who's set up near a group of seals gathered on the rocks.
So the orca are just coming in behind this island here
that I'm watching.
There's about five seals hauled out on the end.
Can't see any in the water, but it is a really good haul-out for them.
This could be really amazing if they come right in.
They'll be so close if they do.
One of the seals is just looking up.
He must have spotted something.
Oh! They're just off the back of him.
Oh! Fins passing right behind them.
It's huge. He's got a big nick out the top of his dorsal fin.
They're about to turn in right in front of me.
More of them! Mum and two calves, big pool.
This is unbelievable.
There's nothing else in the world like seeing killer whales
that close.
They're just cruising through.
Oh! No seals so far.
A very lucky escape for them all at that.
They're just going at such a speed.
Pete and Fergus rush to keep up with them...
..following them up the coast to the next seal haul-out.
This could be the chance they've been waiting for.
Pete, they're like 20 feet away from me. It's unreal!
Oh, there's a female.
She's just gone, she's just gone right after a seal.
See her working through.
That is, that was a close call.
Whoa! He's jumping.
Did you see that? He jumped, he jumped.
The bull's just going for one, there's a pup right behind him,
right behind him, he's going.
Oh, I think they got it.
Yeah, I think they've got it.
Finally, the crew have the shots they came for.
This is in Shetland. This is unreal.
You just don't think about things like this happening in the UK.
Where else could you go and see killer whales like 20 yards away?
Amazing.
In the lands of the north, territory is everything.
Your choice of home may determine your fate.
After claiming a den on the shore, this pair of Arctic foxes is now
struggling to feed their new family.
Unless their fortunes change soon,
the six cubs will face starvation.
Here in the realms of the Stormborn.
FOX SQUEALS
Summer is giving way to autumn in the lands of the north.
There's a crisp chill in the air.
The days are shortening.
Across Scotland, Norway and Iceland,
nature prepares herself for the last act of the year.
The great darkness.
In Iceland, the sea birds that thronged the cliffs are leaving.
For two Arctic fox families, it's the start of a new chapter.
Three months have passed since they each brought a litter
of six cubs into the world.
High on the slopes of the mountain, the cliff family is thriving.
Five cubs here have made it.
And armed with their mother's strength
and their father's ingenuity,
they're now equipped for independent life.
There's still some contact with their mother,
but increasingly, they're making forays onto the mountain alone.
On the beach below, it's a very different story.
Forced to survive solely on scavenging,
the shore foxes have failed to provide for their family.
Just one of their six cubs has survived.
A female.
Unlike the cliff cubs, she's already alone.
Once her siblings died, her mother abandoned the den.
And though her father is still here,
he might as well be a stranger to her now.
Like all foxes on the shore, her way is now the way of the scavenger.
With no siblings for companionship
and a father who is now her competitor,
she needs to find her own way on the beach.
If she can avoid the other foxes and find a few choice scraps,
she might just make it.
As some face their first test of independent life,
others are just arriving into the world.
1,000km south of Iceland lie the Monach Isles.
Remote and uninhabited,
every autumn they become the stage
for one of Scotland's most spectacular wild events.
The grey seal pupping season.
35,000 animals are spread over the tiny islands -
the biggest concentration in the world.
SEAL GRUNTS
Each female produces a single snowy-white pup.
These fluffy newborns have just a few weeks to achieve independence
before the great darkness closes in and the door of winter slams shut.
This little female, just a few hours old,
eyes the world for the first time.
Her mother has spent many months feeding herself into peak condition
so she can nurse her pup throughout life's first chapter.
Great challenges lie ahead.
The pupping beach may seem calm, but it's full of danger.
The female seals come back into season just two weeks
after giving birth.
Hormones run high here.
The place is ruled by a dominant bull, a beachmaster.
He'll mate any female who's ready,
but he's not alone.
An unruly mob of smaller bulls will attempt to claim mating rights too.
Any pup caught up in the crossfire must be very careful.
For now, the newborn pup has her mother's undivided attention.
But any peace here is likely to be short-lived.
Autumn is now picking up pace in the lands of the north.
Across the sea to the east, in the mountains of central Norway,
the grass has turned russet brown.
The reindeer herds are back on the move.
Calves are nearly fully grown.
The seclusion of their early months passed,
they're now running with the herd.
Soon, they'll return to the mountains for the winter.
But one more rite of passage awaits.
The females will soon be in season...
..ready for the annual rut.
In Shetland, thousands of gannets still line the cliffs.
They're among the last sea birds to raise their chicks.
It's now a race to the finish.
Summer fish supplies are dwindling,
so every last one will be the target of an underwater free-for-all.
Soon, these chicks will be forced to leave the sanctuary of the cliffs
to spend a lonely winter in the storm-tossed waves.
The orca family is also departing Shetland's waters.
After a summer of seal hunting,
they're setting out across the Atlantic
to hunt shoals of herring.
In Iceland, the lone fox cub has left the den.
She's exploring.
Her parents stopped bringing her food weeks ago
so she's been scavenging whatever scraps she can find near her den.
She needs something more substantial now.
These games help her build agility and sharpen her reactions.
But there's no nourishment in a stick.
She really does need to find something to eat today.
Further up the beach is a scavenger's dream.
A grey seal carcass has washed ashore.
The cub's father has picked up the scent.
But there's another adult male here too.
He proves the more dominant.
The carcass is sitting right on the border of their territories,
so the rules of hierarchy dictate the cub's father must wait.
Arctic foxes are extremely wary of each other and will avoid a fight
at all costs.
The cub's father makes a tentative approach.
He's in luck - the dominant fox has had his fill.
There's food here for days.
But he'll only feed himself, he won't even share a scrap
with his surviving cub.
She can smell the carcass too.
She's achingly close to it, but far too low in the pecking order
to get anything yet.
This is just the sort of windfall that will see the little scavenger
through the winter.
But for now, she must wait her turn.
On Scotland's cliffs, the puffins are rushing to feed up
the last of the summer pufflings.
PUFFLING CHIRPS
Hatched underground in a burrow,
this chick still relies on its parents to bring him
a steady supply of sand eels.
Outside, the world is full of danger.
PUFFIN SQUAWKS
The colony is mercilessly targeted by gulls.
They're opportunists.
Always ready to seize a puffling venturing out for the first time.
The mother puffin runs the gauntlet
as she returns from the sea with a bill full of fish.
She's fast and determined.
But a gull waits in ambush, hoping to mug her.
She's outwitted the gull this time.
For now, the puffling can feed safely,
but soon, he'll have to take his chances outside.
On the white sandy shores of the Monach Isles...
..the little seal pup stays close to her mother.
She's safe from the beachmaster and the mob of younger males for now.
For the next few weeks, she'll feed on the richest milk
in the animal world.
It contains 50% fat...
..helping the pups nearly double their weight in just one week.
At this time of year, female grey seals don't feed at all.
Before arriving here to give birth,
they feasted on fish in the Atlantic,
building up large stores of fat.
Carrying all this blubber around means they easily overheat.
So the mother seal heads to the sea to cool off...
..leaving the little pup alone.
She's looking for her mother, but she can't see her.
A group of females. Perhaps one of these is her mother.
SEAL GRUNTS
She's not welcome here.
Female seals are very territorial.
They protect their own offspring and may attack strays.
The pup thinks she's found her mother.
PUP SQUEALS
But it's a case of mistaken identity.
The older seal tries to shake off her unwanted admirer.
But the little pup follows in hot pursuit...
..determined to try to feed.
She's heading in the wrong direction, away from her mother,
who's now back from the ocean and looking for her offspring.
The pup has crossed to the far side of the beach.
She's struggling on the rocks,
out of both the sight and smell of her mother.
Females rely on scent to find their offspring.
But it's haphazard and time-consuming.
The pup may starve if she isn't found soon.
The sun is sinking over the puffin colony.
This is to be no ordinary night.
The very last of the pufflings are ready to go.
Their parents have stopped feeding them and flown off.
And it's time to leave.
It's a strange, new world outside.
They must find their way to the sea, using the sound of the waves
and the light of the moon.
Darkness gives them protection from the ferocious gulls.
Most of the pufflings make it to the sea.
But one is confused.
He's followed the light of the lighthouse
instead of the moon.
But as the sun starts to rise, he catches the sound of the sea.
He finally reaches the shoreline...
..and takes the plunge.
And he's off.
He won't return here for five years,
when he'll be mature enough to breed.
And until then, the wild sea will be his home.
So many stormborn lives are defined by the sea.
In Shetland, the male otter cub is now fully grown.
He's at ease in the bay and confidently fishes for himself.
His mother, having mated in the summer,
is now expecting a new litter.
Other nearby families are already on this journey of life,
mothers teaching their cubs the life skills they need.
The blood bond between mother and offspring underpins the fate
of all the stormborn.
On the Monach Isles, the lost seal pup has made her way
back onto the beach.
Her mother has tracked her down, and it's just as well.
Like many of the other females here, she's now in season...
..and the bulls know it.
BULL HISSES They're getting testy.
The beachmaster and his rivals are fired up with testosterone.
Adult bulls, weighing a third of a tonne each,
are equipped with powerful jaws and razor-sharp teeth.
A young male pup is caught in the melee.
It's a very dangerous situation.
Fights can be savage.
The pup makes it to the shore.
But the beachmaster himself is right behind him.
His mother bravely sees the dominant bull off,
but the danger is far from over.
She's left her pup unprotected.
The beachmaster is out of control.
He's got the pup in his sights.
There's nothing the mother can do.
The pup's out on his own.
Other females vent their fury at the bull,
pushing him back down to the shore.
The little female pup is safe with her mother.
But for the stranded pup, it's too late.
It is said that in the lands of the north,
autumn sheds her tears for the passing of summer.
This is truly a season of water.
Still warm from summer heat,
liquid from loch, river and sea evaporates...
..forming huge banks of cloud...
..which burst into intense rainstorms.
Gentle rivers become raging torrents.
The surge of fresh water draws migrating salmon upwards and onwards
to their spawning grounds.
High up in the mountains of Norway,
the reindeer rut is now in full swing.
After a summer of rich grazing,
the mature bulls are now in peak condition.
They attempt to corral as many females as they can
into a tight group and claim mating rights.
It's a chaotic and exhausting time.
Bulls eat nothing during the rut.
They seem to run on adrenaline alone.
But the desire to secure their bloodline empowers them.
And so, for more than two weeks, the tempo will rarely slacken.
On Scotland's Monach Isles, the mood is just as tense.
A young bull has slipped past the dominant male
and is looking for a chance to mate.
He'd better take care.
Here comes the beachmaster.
The young bull makes the first strike.
SNARLING
But the boss isn't going to be pushed around.
The beachmaster has size and power.
But the younger bull is fast and agile.
SNARLING
He's gaining the upper hand.
But the beachmaster is an experienced heavyweight.
THUMPING
They're both bloodied and exhausted.
But it's the younger bull that turns tail and flees...
SCREECHING
..the females snapping at him as he passes.
Victorious, the beachmaster still holds his ground.
And his harem.
In Norway, the mists hang heavy over the reindeer herd.
GRUNTING
The rut is in its final throes.
The younger males use the cover of the mist to slip
past the dominant bulls...
..and secure their bloodlines.
GRUNTING
But the cows are almost all out of season now.
It's time for change.
Time to move.
Snow comes early this far north.
The herd will now renew its special bond with humans.
For centuries, the Sami have relied on reindeer...
..each person owning a share of the herd.
With calving and rutting now over, it's time to corral them, take stock
of the numbers of healthy calves and prepare for a great journey.
Heavy drifts will soon bury the summer pasture,
so the herd needs to migrate back to the mountains
where they can dig lichen from beneath the thin snow.
BLEATING
It's a journey that takes nearly a month and the biggest test comes
right at the start.
THRASHING OF WAVES
A two-and-a-half-kilometre swim across a choppy and freezing fjord.
They'll halt here for now until the conditions are calm enough
for the crossing.
On the Monach Isles, the beachmaster wallows in the ocean...
HE BELLOWS
..allowing the salt water to ease his wounds.
The mothers and pups can finally relax in the shallows.
To prepare for independence, the female pup
is having a swimming lesson.
Although they're cumbersome on land,
adult grey seals are surprisingly graceful in the water...
..enabling them to chase and catch fish with ease.
But the pups still have a long way to go.
Their fur isn't waterproof and it can easily drag them down.
If the pup spends too long in the water, she risks drowning.
These calm conditions offer a gentle introduction to a life in the sea.
But in the wild lands of the north,
fine weather rarely lasts long.
The Monach Isles are exposed to the full force of the Atlantic.
And a gale is bearing down on the pupping beach.
The pups closest to the surf are immediately in trouble.
They're not ready to cope with waves of this size.
They need to get onto the beach for safety.
But the surge of the waves has carved out a sandy shelf...
..making it difficult for them to return.
The step may look small, but even the adults struggle to climb up.
For the youngest pups, it might as well be a mountain.
There's a real risk they could drown.
Mothers try to shield their pups from the onslaught...
..whilst others are forced to struggle alone.
The female pup tries desperately to reach safety.
She must make it onto the beach or she'll be swept back out to sea.
Just one more push...
..and she's up.
SHE YELPS
In Iceland, too, the weather is deteriorating.
Rain doesn't trouble the Arctic foxes.
But this is a mere shadow of what's to come.
Once the sun dips below the horizon,
only scent will guide the lone fox cub's search for food.
But these storms can be the bringers of good fortune.
The fiercer the storm, the more food will wash ashore.
This little survivor's diet of insects and shellfish
has kept her going, but it's not enough to sustain her
through the winter.
She's spotted something on the shoreline.
It's a dead gull.
Something to be devoured fast.
Feathers, bill and all.
And there's more too.
This can be cached for later,
in the den that's always been such an important part of her world.
The lone survivor of her litter,
she's proving a tenacious little character.
Clever, adaptable and resilient.
She's got all the best qualities of a stormborn Arctic fox.
On the Monach Isles,
the grey seal pup has nearly tripled her birth weight.
She's on the verge of independence.
Her mother is still in heat to conceive next year's pup.
And the beachmaster is ready.
HE SNORTS AND SNIFFS
HE BELLOWS GENTLY
BARKING
Females lead when it comes to mating.
They let the males know when the time is right.
Coupling is always preceded by a violent tussle.
SNARLING
But eventually, the female relaxes,
signalling the beachmaster can get closer.
SNORTING
The struggle ends with a long embrace.
Sometimes lasting up to half an hour.
It's surprisingly tender after all the tetchiness
of the last few weeks.
In the lands of the north, finding the right mate soothes even
the most ferocious beast.
At just three weeks old, the female pup's time with her mother is over.
Soon she'll leave this beach and start a life in the ocean.
It will be tough for this child of the storm.
The majority of grey seal pups
don't make it through their first year of life.
But if luck is on her side, she'll return to this very same beach
to have her own pups.
GULLS SCREECH
In Norway, there's a break in the weather.
The fjord is calm and the reindeer are ready for the crossing.
The herd is edgy,
especially the calves who've never done this before.
All wait for one bold animal to lead the way.
A female steps forward.
ETHEREAL VOCALISING
She's done this journey many times and knows what to do.
SINGING CONTINUES
As long as she just keeps swimming for the opposite shore,
the rest should follow.
But the current is fierce and the water freezing cold.
For the calves, it's a real test, but they have to keep paddling.
In most years, several succumb to exhaustion or are swept away.
But this is an ancient migration.
There's no other way to the high tops than this perilous swim.
White-tailed eagles patrol the skies.
They know the crossing could provide an easy meal.
The current pulls the herd off course.
But they must keep going.
At last, the first few stumble ashore.
This year, the crossing has been made without loss.
Only another 400 kilometres to go.
The life of the stormborn is never easy.
The countdown into the great darkness has begun.
A darkness that will last for nearly three months...
..lifted only by the ethereal dancing of the Northern Lights.
POUNDING OF WAVES
The children of the north now face their toughest season.
The great darkness will test them to the limit.
The seal pups must learn to master the ocean,
hunting down and catching fish.
The young Arctic fox will need courage and resilience to survive
the freezing Icelandic winter.
And the mother otters will keep their cubs close
as they pass their skills to the next generation.
All these animals face vast challenges
in a rapidly changing world.
Wilder weather and diminishing food supplies make the journey harder,
the outcome less sure.
But these are the stormborn, brave and tenacious.
Whatever it takes, they'll fight through to next year
when the great darkness retreats,
and light finally returns to the lands of the north.
In order to film the grey seals, the crew needs to travel
to the remote Monach Isles in the Outer Hebrides.
We're just loading up the boat, getting ready to go across.
Just putting some fruit pastilles in my pocket, the essentials for a journey to the islands.
It's going to be a lot of lugging kit.
Everything needed for two weeks' filming must be brought by boat.
But excitement is riding high.
Can see where we're going, which is nice as well. Yeah.
And it's not too choppy, which is good.
Certainly travelling in style.
Six miles west of the Uists,
the Monach Isles are a national nature reserve,
every year providing a refuge for the largest
concentration of grey seals in the world.
This is absolutely amazing.
There are seals everywhere around us.
We've got seal pups all along the beach here.
Wow.
Landing on the island with all the equipment, food and fuel
is no small feat.
But at last the crew of three make it.
They'll be left alone here for the next two weeks.
It's the end of civilisation. Wave goodbye to it.
So it's just us three, and seals.
And there are plenty of them.
35,000 grey seals congregate
here every autumn to give birth
and to mate for the following year.
HE GROANS
For centuries, a small population of people lived here
until the last left in 1942.
Most of their homes are now ruins.
But in 2007, the old schoolhouse was restored.
And this is to be home for the next two weeks.
This is our living quarters, which is a pretty nice set-up.
We've got our three beds in here, state-of-the-art bunk beds.
Pete's on the top bunk -
definitely drew the short straw.
I'm beside the window.
And the best part, we have a fire.
So we're settled in.
Looking forward to dinner.
Yeah. We've got a fire and dinner, perfect.
The crew is keen to film the incredible behaviour of the seals -
the young pups, as they grow and become more independent...
..and the extraordinary mating behaviour,
but the real challenge is to capture an aggressive bullfight.
During the breeding season,
hormones rage and bull seals
have been known to battle each other
nearly to death for the rights to the females.
But it's the inquisitive pups that start giving them
more than they bargained for.
He was quite intrigued by us, quite curious.
And now we can't get him to leave us alone, so we're just trying
to tempt him away like a dog.
Come on.
Come on, boy.
With no natural predators on the island,
the pups are fearless and curious.
That's pretty cute.
Sometimes the seals come to you.
Isn't that right, wee one?
A bit too close. Can't film you there.
SEAL MEWS Maybe next time.
There are up to 10,000 pups born on these beaches.
So the crew has plenty of opportunity to capture them
feeding, sleeping and exploring.
For the most part, the beach is calm and the pups are content.
PUP MEWS
But then something happens
that sends shock waves through the team.
SNARLING
I was just watching it and noticed
the bull on the left suddenly grabbed a pup,
started launching it about.
HISSING
It's rare and shocking behaviour that no-one expected to see.
It just happened to be there.
Definitely just in the wrong place.
The bull just grabbed it.
Yeah, well, the pup, the pup's not in a very good way.
Don't think it's going to make it.
It's pretty hard to watch, to be honest.
The crew was expecting aggression, but between two males,
not the brutal killing of an innocent pup by a raging bull.
Over the next few days, the team splits up to continue filming
over several beaches.
There are plenty of aggressive males around, but still no sign of the big
battle the crew's hoping to capture.
We've been out here for quite a while now
watching the seals, waiting for something to happen.
They've been pretty quiet today.
We're really crossing our fingers for, you know, a big bullfight.
They're supposed to be full of testosterone at this point.
So just keep watching and waiting.
It's day five and I'm sitting in my hole in the beach that I've dug.
Eating a mandarin, drinking me coffee, chilling out with...
..my mates.
My little seal mates.
I think these guys could sleep for days and...
..be pretty content.
We all know someone like that.
I wouldn't mind coming back as a seal, in that case.
With little happening on the beach, sights turn to the weather.
So the weather today has been absolutely beautiful
and we've been really lucky so far, frankly.
But I think it's going to change soon.
I think we're going to get some rain coming.
Big weather, maybe.
I think it'd be good for filming in, not necessarily so good for us.
But the weather turns out to be far more severe than anticipated.
The crew receives a call from the Glasgow office.
I think, because I've been just chatting to Murray the whole day,
and he said, because it's so changeable and it's now moving round
to a northerly later in the week,
he's very keen to get you off on Monday.
Yeah, OK, that's fair.
With stormy weather blowing in straight off the Atlantic,
they're at risk of being stranded on the island for several weeks.
But they only have limited supplies.
So the painful decision is taken to cut the shoot short.
This might actually end up being our last full day
of filming. They're worried that if we stay any longer,
we might not get off the island for a couple of weeks,
which is, erm, a bit frustrating.
But still got all the day ahead of us, so wait and see.
While they wait for the boat to arrive to lift them, the crew
has one last chance to try and capture the vital scene
they've been waiting for.
Then, finally...
DRAMATIC MUSIC
A younger bull decides to challenge a much larger, older bull.
ROARING
Kind of caught a bit by surprise with it, in the end.
There was a big bull came from much further along the beach.
The other one was much, much smaller.
It's kind of what was surprising about it,
but actually pretty feisty.
But, come the end of it, he absolutely bolted off,
and the other big bull chased him.
So even though he looked like he was a bit more agile,
I guess his punch didn't have quite the same power
as the big lad.
With the storm blowing in,
it's time to leave the islands.
We've had to come off the islands a bit early,
due to incoming weather,
which is a bit sad, but fortunately,
we managed to get everything we came for.
Yeah, it's been an amazing experience, really, I have to say.
I mean, very privileged because so few people
get to come to this island.
We are the only people here right now during this spectacle.
There's not that many big spectacles in the UK with animals breeding
on this scale. So it's just this incredible process of what they go
through just to produce the next generation.
It's just... It's amazing, amazing to see.