Anita Rani goes back to her Yorkshire roots, exploring the lesser-known River Burn in the glorious Swinton Park estate. She discovers why we’ve fallen in love with fishing since lockdown and how the humble willow is the perfect weapon against river bank erosion.

Meanwhile, there are competitions all round as Adam Henson meets this year’s One Man and His Dog competitors from Northern Ireland and Wales with their amazing sheepdogs, and John Craven joins Cerys Matthews and Simon King for the photographic competition as they all battle to get their favourites from the thousands of entries into the final twelve for the Childen in Need 2021 Countryfile.

Fishing is one of the most popular outdoor pursuits in the UK, with three million anglers casting their lines each year. The UK’s coastlines and rivers offer incredible fishing opportunities, from bass swimming in our seas to trout meandering through our rivers. Some fish, however, are trickier to catch than others.

Joe Crowley visits the Dorset coast to team up with a local fly fisherman as he takes on one of the UK’s most difficult fish to catch – the mullet. Joe learns about a very specific method, using unique flies created to hopefully entice one in. Along the way, we trawl the Countryfile archives in search of stories about our relationship with the fish that call our rivers and seas home.