ORF-E
English
1 x 50 min
Worldwide

You might think you were in Ireland, you might sense the vastness of Castile in Spain, but you’d never believe this was the heart of the Austrian Alps: The Nock Mountains are – geologically – Austria’s oldest landscape. For a hundred million years, the land around them has risen and fallen, while the mountains themselves hardly moved. And for the past thousand years, the same has been true of the harmonious co-existence of wild nature and rural culture. Wreathed in gentle clouds circling the smooth green mountain tops, there is a serenity to this region that makes it easy to believe you’re not far from heaven’s door.

The Nock mountains have been made a biosphere reserve; that and traditional farming have kept out the mass tourism that blighted other Alpine regions. The wide open spaces and wealth of small natural wonders that characterize these gentle, green mountains have been successfully preserved: wild rivers, endless woodland, lush mountain meadows, wildflowers, and wild animals, from the largest: red deer and golden eagles, to foxes, marmots and capercaillies, and the tiny frogs, newts and dragonflies that populate the secret world of mountain lakes. This is perfect territory for creatures shrouded in myth and mystery: the swift, elusive stone marten, the dark and intelligent raven and the inquisitive and aggressive European adder, that gives birth to live young. And watch what happens when a great spotted woodpecker chick falls from it’s nest…

Awards: Orobie Film Festival Award 2015