Episode
Natural World: Within A Garden Wall
Overview
A Cotswold dry-stone wall, built 400 years ago, is a haven for wildlife. The cracks, crevices and man-made crags of a Cotswold dry-stone wall form one of the harshest places for wildlife to live. There are plants that survive deluge and drought, 'wall-fish' that swim in a bed of slime, and royal households that each year rise to power, decline and die. There are creatures that emerge from the ghostly skins of their former selves, woody stems that keep demons from the door, and lichens, with a calendar spanning the four centuries etched into their patterns, that turn the stone wall into an enchanted wilderness; in all, a remarkable place and probably the most overlooked nature reserve in the world.
Details
- Series
- Natural World
- Season
- Season 3
- Episode
- Episode 15
- Air date
- 1985-02-17
- Runtime
- 50 min
Episode context
Within A Garden Wall is Episode 15 in Season 3 of Natural World. It aired on 1985-02-17. The runtime is 50 min.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 13: The Year Of The Rat
Rats - should we like them? Some people hate and despise these rodents. As the Chinese Year of the Rat draws to a close, down on the farm the rats' year goes on. Resourceful and adaptable, these successful invaders have enjoyed our unwitting hospitality for over two centuries.
But this Jekyll and Hyde of animals challenges our prejudices. Is it not also an attractive pet, and a clever animal; and don't we all owe our lives to the rat as a tool of research into good health? This animal opportunist should be watched - even from behind your chair....
Episode 12: Battle Of The Leaves
Leaves are nature's pacifists -or so it seems. Leaves hang there green and uncomplaining, while animals chew them to death, birds tear them from their stems for nest building, and dusky maidens (it's rumored) roll them on their thighs to provide grandad with a fragrant cigar. But foliage fights back.
Leaves struggle for survival in ice and in desert. They battle to the death for life-giving sunlight. Above all, they wage a relentless war against the animals who live on them. Above our heads, beneath our feet, the battle continues....
Episode 11: Water - A Fresh Look
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Episode 10: Wild Ireland
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Episode 9: Kinabalu - Summit Of Borneo
The highest peak in south-east Asia, Kinabalu, was once a mountain of legend and fable. To Chinese adventurers it was the abode of a dragon, rumored to guard a pearl by a lake at the very summit. Today's visitors have yet to find a pearl.... or see a dragon ... but there are riches of another kind. A cool island rearing precipitously from the hot and humid lowlands, Kinabalu is a treasure-house of plant and animal life. Bizarre carnivorous pitcher plants, big enough to drown a rat, share its slopes with huge begonias and stately tree-ferns. Flamboyant rhododendrons shelter the elusive ferret badger as it hunts for giant worms, and there are nearly 1,500 kinds of orchid, many found nowhere else in the world.
Episode 8: The Lost World Of Medusa
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Episode 7: Land Of Ice And Fire
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Episode 6: Peacocks, Parasites And The Puzzle Of Sex
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Out of the puzzle emerges a sparkling new theory of sex that looks set to keep biologists buzzing for years.
Episode 5: A Question Of Space
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Episode 4: The Desire Of The Moth
The largest known moth in the world has wings the size of a dove, the smallest lives inside a leaf. Although they are creatures of darkness, the bizarre designs and garish colors of moths rival those of butterflies in the hide-and-seek game of life. Among the stories of their double lives are tales of heroes that rescued Queensland from the prickly pear, blizzards of bogongs that were a summer feast for the first Australians, and the story of that irresistible desire that draws the moth to the flame and sudden death.