They are battered by wild winds, driven to arm themselves against a scourge of geese intent on destroying their crops and cling to traditional farming methods while surrounded by millions of pounds of military might.

And yet, as new three-part programme which explores the unique crofting community of South Uist is set to reveal, despite all the hardships and challenges, few – if any – would opt to leave.

Captured over a number of years, San Fhuil/It’s In The Blood follows islanders throughout 12 months of crofting activities, from gathering heather in winter to use to re-thatch a croft roof, to desperately battling flocks of Greylag geese.

With no natural predator to keep numbers down, the geese threaten to devour and trample precious corn crops at harvest-time, rendering them useless for livestock feed and wrecking islanders’ months’ long efforts to nurture them against the elements.

While villagers embark on their own war against the threat from the flying predators, casting a shadow over centuries-old farming techniques and practices - such as scooping tonnes of seaweed from the island beaches to nurture the fertile crop-growing lands of the machair - is the longest test rocket missile firing range in Europe.

The film, which combines fascinating archive images with interviews with crofters whose families have tended the land for generations, sheds light on a community straddling the time-honoured methods of their ancestors and a modern landscape of rules and regulations.

At its heart, says filmmaker Beatrix A. Wood, is a celebration of an increasingly unique way of life that helps sustain a fragile eco-system, provides nurture for dwindling numbers of threatened birds and where the Gaelic language continues to thrive.

Wood, 53, who moved from Cornwall to South Uist with her husband and two children six years ago, captured four seasons of forbidding skies, howling winds, stunning beaches and unblemished rolling landscape in an effort to create a highly personal portrait of its crofters and their way of life.

She says during the course of filming and living on the island, she discovered a close-knit and hardworking community which strived to support each other, and with a unique bond with the land and their livestock.

“We moved from Cornwall because it was no longer viable to maintain a small traditional farm there,” she says. “We wanted to maintain a life that involved traditional agriculture, close contact with the land and keeping livestock, but that was becoming difficult to do there.

“South Uist is one of the very few remaining places of its kind.

In charting the calendar of crofting activities, Wood’s film shows how a brother and sister who work the neighbouring croft in the township of Drimsdale are passing on traditional skills and knowledge to her teenage son, Cador, 16, and daughter, Isolde, 14, following the death of her husband, Colin, 40. He died just two years after the family arrived to begin their new life as crofters.

The series goes on to explore how the greatest challenge to crofters in South Uist today is not from the rocket missile firing range on their doorstep, but from herds of wild deer that eat crops and the growing population of Greylag geese who feast on corn and contaminate their fields.

Over the last 30 years, the resident population of Greylags has increased from less than 1,000 to over 9,000 birds. With little to check the breeding Greylag, the geese are destroying the cultivation of Uist’s ancient corn seed, which is unique to the island.

Crofters are shown battling to chase the predators away using handmade scarecrows, wire fences and guns, while their wit, humour and determination is a key driver in the narrative.

As sheep and cattle are tended in the township, seaweed is gathered as a fertiliser to cultivate the Uist corn seed, one of Europe’s oldest indigenous seed varieties, on the machair to produce feed for the cattle.

The film, which will be screened on BBC Alba tomorrow/tonight (WED 28 NOV) shows how the crofters play a crucial role in creating a unique eco-system which enables increasingly rare corncrakes and buntings to thrive.

The birds have become sparse on the mainland, as natural meadow habitats have been lost to development and modern farming methods.

Wood adds: “Traditional crofting methods on the island enable rare species of birds and flowers to thrive which are extinct elsewhere in the British Isles. The hills around the township of Drimsdale, where we live, are steeped in stories of survival and resilience.

“And if we don’t keep that relationship with the landscape, there are huge consequences. If we upset one thing, we tip the balance in another way.”

At the heart of the three-part series is a strong sense of community, with crofters working in unity to protect their crops, deliver calves and lambs and who live, work and socialise together.

“Generally people are quite shy and it has taken time for them to trust what I’m doing,” says Wood. “But I think we have captured the raw beauty of this landscape and its resourceful people.

“When we left to come here, friends would say ‘what do you do there?’, but I’ve never been busier than I am in South Uist. And while our neighbours were total strangers when we arrived, they have now become like family.”

She adds: “The series portrays the instincts and wisdom that have always called people to live in close harmony with the land and how they use wits and determination to overcome threats and adapt. As my neighbour Chrissie Laing says, 'It’s in the blood'.

“They are custodians of the landscape and that way of life.”

San Fhuil/It's In The Blood is on BBC Alba at 9pm on Wednesday, 28 November, Wednesday, 5 December and Wednesday, 12 December.