a generation ago, this environment was under threat. hunting as well as rapid coastal development caused much of the area's wildlife to disappear. but now the outlook is a lot sunnier. ibera has become a national park. today, lots of native species are thriving, including wild pampas deer and these giant guinea pigs — capybara. but there's still lots more work to be done. now one of the continent's most feared and revered predators is returning to ibera. i'm on my way to find out how that's going to happen. welcome to estancia, san alonso, the island home

of rewilding argentina — a project aiming to re—introduce this beautiful, terrifying animal to the wild. oh my... guys, this is... when you make eye contact with a beast this size, your heartjust goes... she's isa, she's a brazilian panther, orjaguar. she's about six years old. yeah, she's quite young. and how will the wetlands benefit from introducing this beautiful animal? these animals were part of this ecosystem. they have been here for hundreds and thousands of years. they disappeared from the wetlands, and now this ecosystem is lacking from this top predator. and, of course, we need to maintain the prey populations in natural numbers, and not making them increase so much.

i'm allowed into the enclosure to prepare isa's meal. 0k, we've got one hanging fish, we've got one piece of mystery meat. ready to go? she looks a little bit... a little annoyed. normally i don't think food arrives this late. if we look here, there's two trapdoors, and i'vejust been granted permission to open them. wait... which one do we open? both of them? i don't want to open the wrong one. no, the blue one. the blue one? we open that door. ok, so, i'm... when she makes the whistle, then you can open.

0k. whistles. wow, ok, here she comes, entering into the feed enclosure. we've hung the fish up, let's see if she can find it. 0h! that's a predator, ladies and gentlemen. wow! and breakfast is served. so, talia, this jaguar is not going to be put back in the wild? no, she was donated to our project as a breeder. these animals that come from captivity, they cannot be released. as you saw, they relate humans with food, so if they live free and saw a human, they would go directly to ask for food, and that's not what we want. talia hopes isa will breed with their other captive jaguar,

a reclusive male called nahuel. nearby, two cubs born to another female are being prepared for release. i'm going to ask a question i'm sure everyone at home, including myself, wants to know the answer to. can we see a babyjaguar? no, i'm sorry to tell you we won't see one. but there are some here? yes, right behind us, but they're in another special enclosure where you will see some black meshes, so they can't see people and they don't relate people to food. but we can see them with the cameras. this is a female and she's in her swimming pool. is this... this is one right here? yeah, there, you can see. you have a good eye. thank you.

and when they are released, what do you hope will happen? well, we are all very anxious to get to that moment. we expect them to stay close to this place, to the protected area, to find their food here and their home here. we expect them to reproduce and have more cubs, and it will be successful if that happens. i think it will be time to say that the ibera ecosystem is complete again, as it used to be in the past. including the cubs, a total of five jaguars are set for release, signalling the return of the wetlands‘ most iconic beast. and if you want to keep track of the process, rewilding argentina posts regular updates on its social media pages.

and to end this week, we go from wetlands to islands. orkney is ten miles north of mainland scotland. every winter, islanders and tourists come together for the annual storytelling festival, celebrating the area's folklore traditions. this story takes place on the island of stronsay, one of the north isles in orkney. it involves a young lady... you don't see so many fairies around the west mainland any more, there is a reason for that... she could make her own choices about who she married, and she owned everything... stories have been around as long as language has been around, and these stories are very much part of our cultural identity, part of what makes orcadians ocadians.

0rkney is quite a unique place, you know, we have 5000 year old villages still standing. you know, stone circles. just standing on a shore, watching huge breakers rolling in from the atlantic ocean is really quite hypnotic. violent, but peaceful at the same time. it was always the ever—present risk and danger from the sea, that has a strong influence on the folktales. 0rkney has a very, very rich heritage of folklore. about the strange creatures, about the selkie folk — who are half seal and half human. every mound in a field has its little goblins and fairies and brownies. you know, every age that humans go through, there is this search for some spiritual meaning.

those connections with the land, or the sea, or the sky... i think folklore is a way of exploring those things. the 0rkney storytelling festival is in its tenth year in its present form. we have wonderful invited storytellers who come from all over the world. sometimes the stories are very similar. you know, a lot of places have creation myths, about how an island was formed, how a mountain came to be. there is a lot of similarities. it's wonderful if people come and hear a story from africa, or norway, or north america, or 0rkney, and they think, "i wonder if there are any stories about the place that i come from?" now, we're going to hearfrom a lot of different people today, friends from near and far... you can decide at the end if this really happened... the waves were coming up over the harbour, the wind was blowing... every single time she broke a lump

of beet, a mouse fell out... the next day, hare showed up at 0tter‘s place, and 0tter had prepared a beautiful feast for him... tonight is the last night of the 0rkney storytelling festival, and it's the grand finale so it's the absolute best of the best. she had no money left... spit on the coals of the fire, the coals flame up... i think stories really unite people, and if you have this shared experience and cultural heritage, it does make you stronger, especially if there are values in the stories that you really identify with and that are really important to you, and say, "yes, i belong to the culture that owns these stories." for storytelling and the folklore to survive, it has to have a framework,

it has to be an organised thing. that's one of the reasons we do what we do, it's one of the reasons why we have the festival. well, that's all for this week. but coming up next week: rajan‘s in jerusalem, uncovering an ancient pilgrimage route that's been buried underground. we are now walking on original 2000 year old limestone streets that were the centre of alljerusalem. this is the original limestone? the original. you're not going to want to miss it. but for now — from me, mike corey, and the rest of the team here in argentina — it's goodbye.

i know our weather has been extreme of late, but rewind a couple of years and you will find a very different extreme that we were in the grip of, and that was the beast from the east, where the temperature on this he day two years ago in south wales could only reach a high of —4.7 degrees. that was our coldest march day on record. it has been chilly in the breeze today, but nowhere near that cold. we have still got storm jorge close to north scotland. it has been a blustery day, but the winds are easing a bit now. we still have some rain and hill snow affecting parts of scotland, but for many others it has been a fine afternoon. some showers affecting us, and they will continue to be around as we go through this evening and into night, particularly across north scotland, north—west england and northern ireland and wales. a bit icy tomorrow morning, some rain held sleet and snow as well. don't be surprised if there is something wintry around for you first thing in the morning, temperatures keeping up for us in the south though.

the last of that rain and held so clear the on monday, some heavy showers with thunder on the hills. ganging up in western scotland, the biggest part of wet weather pushing and for the afternoon. temperatures for the most part are in single figures, but quite a bit of sunshine around for many of the show is and not as windy as it has been. this week there will be some sunshine, showers, not as windy or as wet for a time, but it will be quite chilly, temperatures a bit below average for the time of year, with some frosty and icy nights. a selection of places as we go through this week. most of the showers will be towards the north and west at the uk. parts of the southern england and the channel islands still seeing a bit of rain, and then towards the end of the week it looks like low pressure is going to be coming back, meaning the return of some spells of wind and rain, the weather front moving south thursday night into friday and another area of low pressure

coming in for next weekend. we are getting a bit of a respite, but it doesn't look like it is going to last very long. of course, while the weather is turning quieter, there are still plenty of flood warnings. keep up with these and any other weather warnings at the website.

this is bbc news. the headlines at seven. another 12 people in the uk test positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 35. the prime minister has been visiting public health england. coronavirus is of concern. it is a novel illness, but it is something that this country really calmly amply has the resources to deal with. state—of—the—art testing facilities. a fantastic nhs. we will have to get through this, but believe me we are going to be tight. —— beat it. borisjohnson says he has "confidence" in his home secretary priti patel, who faces allegations