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It’s time for the most epic of autumnal harvests! Forget Bake Off and Masterchef – we join Margherita Taylor and the 65,000

visitors at The National Giant Vegetable Competition in Malvern. Here, seventy-nine vast veg growers from all over Britain gather

to compare their colossal carrots and towering turnips. We root out the secrets to growing giant vegetables from the countries

leading growers and reveal who will be win best in class – and maybe break a world record in this years competition.

The Red squirrel – traditionally, a quintessential part of our autumn landscape. But shockingly, the UK Red squirrel population

has declined almost 95% since the 1950’s. The culprit is the Red’s nemesis - the American Grey Squirrel - an imposter introduced

in Victorian times. Join Keeley up in Kielder Forest as she finds out about the latest work in the fight for survival of one of our

most endangered species - could the squirrel contraceptive pill be the answer?

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Ellie Harrison takes a rocky boat ride out to the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast to discover what autumn brings to the Islands.Ìý She meets the dedicated Farne Island Wardens, Kieran and Graham, who are busily preparing for the seal pupping season. She tries her hand at paint tagging a seal pup as part of an on-going 60-year research study of the colony.

Autumn is a spectacular season to get out and about and enjoy our woodlands as they transform from lush greens into stunning displays of red, gold and brown. Paul Martin gets some expert advice from the Woodland Trust about how to look after his own trees this autumn. He learns how to future proof his smallholding with some clever seed collecting and planting ideas. He puts his passion for woodwork to good use with a little bit of help from the RSPB, building and sighting a wonderful home-made Barn owl box to help encourage wildlife to his land.

In the Highlands of Scotland, one of autumn’s standout events – the annual rutting of red deer stags competing for a mate.Ìý Matt Baker goes in search of these notoriously shy animals and encounters one of the rarest and most magical spectacles of the season in Britain.Ìý It’s caused by a unique combination of atmospheric effects, which give rise to an illusion called a Brocken Spectre.

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