Episode 3 Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday

# Gather round, one and all

# You gotta answer the call

# Listen up, look around you

# There's a magical world to explore

# There's a nature

# Adventure

# Coming your way soon

# So come and join us

# In this Green Balloon

# And when we fly

# We're higher than the moon

# So join us

# Ah, ah

# In our Green Balloon. #

Hello, we're going on holiday to the Isle of Arran in our balloon.

Look, there it is down below! We're coming in to land!

# Let's go together

# Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Let's go together Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Oh, it's such a lovely morning out It's good to get away

# Now the Green Balloon is boarding

# It's so good to get away. #

ALL: Hello!

Hi, I'm Megan.

Hi, Megan, I'm Lily-Rose.

Hi, I'm Cat, this is my dog Skipper.

Hi, Skipper. Paw.

-Good girl.

-I think she likes you.

I like her too.

Hi, I'm Ant and this is Nature Chris.

-BOTH: Hi.

-Isn't that castle lovely?

-Is that what you brought us to see, Megan?

-That's not it. Come on.

-Wait!

We need you to do the Green Balloon Club chant.

Oh, I forgot, I really want to join in with that.

Let's do it then.

ALL: We love animals, plants and birds.

We love snails and slugs.

Large and small, we love them all. And we never, ever step on bugs.

Cos we are the Green Balloon Club!

-Come on, then, and we can see what Megan's talking about!

-Come on!

Do you want to give us a clue what we're looking for?

It's got fur.

Fur? Let's have a look around.

-Oooh!

-A deer.

-Deer!

-Red deer.

-Red deer.

-Wow.

-They're in someone's garden.

-They always go in gardens.

Don't the housekeepers shoo them away?

No, they just let them stay there,

-cos they're not really doing anything bad.

-No.

-They're just eating the grass.

-I bet they're very hungry.

I think it's great.

-I'd love to have a red deer in my garden.

-So would I.

Lily-Rose, do you want to describe their colour?

Well, they're orangey-reddish...

Can see why they're called red. They're a red-orange colour.

Like me being ginger.

THEY GIGGLE

What about their ears, Cat?

I think the adults' ears are bigger than children's.

-They stick up and they're quite dark brown.

-Right.

Massive ears. Do you think they can hear well?

-Yeah.

-Me too - whenever we say something,

they turn their heads like they can hear us,

and their ears go up. What about the eyes, Ant? What do you notice?

Well, they've got big brown eyes,

so they must be able to see very good in the dark.

-Can you see its feet? What kind of feet have they got?

-Hooves.

-They've got two hooves like that. You see them?

-Oh.

Look really closely.

One's scratching itself.

Yeah, it's having a good old scratch, isn't it?

What do you think we've got? Males or females?

Females, because stags have antlers,

and if it was a stag, they'd have bumps where their antlers have shed.

Right. The females are does, and the males are stags.

The stags have those antlers, but they only have those in the winter.

So that one, I think, as well,

-that's a bit smaller. Do you think that's a baby?

-Yeah.

-What are the babies called?

-A calf.

That's right. Calves.

Calves? Like cows?

That's funny, isn't it? It's the same word.

Why does it like down like that?

They cross them like this, and fold them in, and then lie down.

Isn't it amazing to see it so close?

Normally, you'd have to sit with your binoculars for ages

on the hills.

Megan, thank you for bringing us to see the red deer.

It's been brilliant.

ALL: Thank you.

We've got to meet another Balloon Club member.

-Can I leave Skipper?

-OK.

-You look after her.

-Come on, guys, we've gotta go.

-ALL: Bye, Megan.

You like deer, don't you, Skipper? Here's something else you'll like.

Hello. There's lots of birds in the Isle of Arran.

Me and Iain are going to try and spot some.

To be a good bird spotter, you need a telescope,

or a pair of binoculars, a bird book...

You need to be very quiet and patient,

and I need my brother Iain.

'My brother is going to teach me about birds.

'I love spotting birds.'

There's some seagulls there.

'The gulls bob up and down on the waves.

'The grey and white ones are called herring gulls.'

There's oystercatchers over there. They're quite special too.

If you want to spot one, they've got a big, long orange beak,

black on the outside of their wings, white on the inside.

They're marching like soldiers!

Look, there's a heron. I see herons quite a lot in Arran.

I can see a horse...

that is not a bird.

I can see a ship. It's not a bird either!

I see...

-one, two, three, four, five, six...

-No.

There isn't. There's 31.

-Are you sure?

-Yes.

I'm going to have a look over here.

There's some lovely swans.

They have orange beaks.

These are Mallard ducks.

The male Mallard ducks have a green head.

Look, Iain, there's a shelduck.

It has a red beak which is quite thick.

Bird watching is fun. Why don't you have a go?

ALL: Hi!

I thought we could go on a pony trek.

-Wow! Great idea. What do you reckon?

-ALL: Yeah!

-Come on, let's go see the ponies.

-OK.

This is Karen. She's coming with us and she's got our hats ready.

-Hi, guys.

-ALL: Hi!

Thank you.

-Here we go.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much.

How's that? There.

-Everyone ready?

-ALL: Yeah.

Let's go find some ponies.

Let's do it.

-Cat, this is Nemo, who you'll be riding.

-Hello, Nemo.

-He's very cute.

-He is.

He's so soft!

Hi.

Oh, yeah, no problem.

Hold your reins in one hand.

While the others get ready, I'm gonna have a little sit here,

cos I've seen something really cool in the stable.

Let's just sit and listen.

BIRDS CHIRRUP

Do you know what that is in there?

There! Did you see that? This barn...

And another! ..is absolutely full of swallows.

They're so fast when they fly. But they perch on wires around here,

so you can get a good look at them then.

I'm not gonna tell the guys yet,

cos I'm hoping when we're on our trek we'll see some more.

Fantastic. It's full of them!

Good boy.

Pull up and swing your leg over.

Good boy, Nemo.

Up and over. There we go.

Now you hold the reins there.

I'll sort out your stirrups for you.

I'm ready.

Oh!

GIGGLING

It's great up here, but I wonder what Jay's been up to today.

Hi! I'm at the WWT London Wetlands Centre today,

-with my friend Martha.

-Hi!

We're very excited, cos we're going to do some pond dipping. Come on!

This is Bill. He works here.

He's going to help us find some creatures.

-What might we find?

-If you're lucky, you might catch newts.

Will we find some fish or shrimps?

-I think if we're lucky we will do.

-Let's get dipping!

-Oh! A newt!

-That's amazing, Martha!

-Let's have a closer look.

-It's got very slimy thin tail.

-I think it looks like a lizard.

-It does,

but it's not. It's in the same family as frogs and toads.

It's an amphibian.

If we put it in this tub, we can have a look at it.

I have to do this very gently.

And up into the tub, there you go.

-It's feet are all thin.

-All thin? And how many toes has it got?

-Can you count?

-I think four.

-Yeah. If you look underneath,

tell me what it's belly looks like.

-It's all spotty!

-Would you say it's got big spots or little spots?

-Some are big and some are little.

-Yeah.

-Let me have a look.

Because it's got mostly big spots,

this is a boy. Boy newts have big spots.

If it's a girl, it has very small spots. What did it just do?

-It went to the top to breathe.

-Right.

-How long can it stay underwater for at one time?

-Much longer than you.

THEY LAUGH

See if you can get a girl newt to go with the boy newt, Jay.

I've found some kind of beetle!

Let's have a closer look. Martha, that's brilliant.

You've caught a dragonfly nymph. That's a baby dragonfly.

-That's gonna be a dragonfly?

-It is. It doesn't look like one,

but that will stay in the pond for three years, then it will come out,

climb up a plant stem, spread its wings

and fly off to another pond.

Oh, look, I've got a little thing there.

That's a baby stickleback. That's one or two days old.

When it grows up, it'll have spikes on its back.

Why do you think it'll have spikes?

So it protects him from other animals

-if they want to try and eat him.

-Absolutely. For protection.

-I've got a stickleback!

-Wow, you have.

-Look at that.

-He's got blue eyes.

-What can you see, Martha?

-He's got green and greyish skin.

-He has.

-It has got a little bit of red on its belly as well.

-Yes.

What are those things - it's fast -

-on its side its doing this with?

-Fins.

They're fins. Controlling how it moves in the water.

That's a good catch, Jay. I haven't seen one of those for a long time.

Let's see what else we find!

-I've found another newt!

-Well done.

-I think it's female.

-I'll put it in with Mr Newt.

-How can we tell it's a girl?

It won't have as many spots.

No, it has smaller spots.

Absolutely. Shall we look all together?

Let's have a look. That's a girl.

-The one we caught before has bigger spots - boy.

-Yeah.

Well done.

-Thanks for helping us pond dip.

-You're welcome, Jay.

-Great day.

-I hope you've enjoyed it too.

-ALL: Bye!

-There's sheep over there.

-Yes.

-And lambs.

-Lambs as well.

What else do you think you might spot up here?

Lots of flowers.

Yeah, there's lots of flowers, isn't there?

Nemo is loving this grass.

-Have you seen the swallows? Look at the field. See them?

-Yeah.

-There's one over there.

-Yeah, I saw it fly.

-What do you think they're doing?

-Trying to find some food.

That's right. What do they eat?

-Flies.

-That's it. Flies.

They can catch things in mid-air.

Wow.

Look at the view, Nature Chris.

-Wow.

-It's lovely.

Right out over the sea.

You can see the whole sea. - Oh, yeah!

I didn't know that was the sea, I thought that was sky.

That's the sea. And the mainland of Scotland.

You can see a little boat with a white sail.

-It's beautiful.

-Peter,

-do you know what that mountain's called?

-The Devil's Punchbowl,

cos when it's really sunny, it makes a shadow of a face,

and it's really scary.

-Whoa. We're really high.

-Wait till you see the view from the top!

-Shall we go up there, then?

-Yeah.

-Let's keep moving.

Look, a boat's coming in so close!

Up the hill we go.

How high are we going?

Up to the brow of the hill.

Oh! Wow, look at that view!

Look, you can see where we came from from up here.

-Isn't it pretty, Lily-Rose?

-Wow, it's beautiful.

Look at the colour.

Wow. Look, we can see over the other side of the sea.

-And look! I can see the stable where we came from.

-It's tiny now.

-It looks like I could pick it up and put it in my pocket.

-Yes.

Great, isn't it? You can see all around.

Look at the cloud on the mountains.

It's beautiful. But I think it's time to get back to Skipper.

Don't you guys think so? ALL: Yeah.

Well, let's head back down then, shall we?

Pull my reins up.

SINGS: Horsey, horsey, don't you stop.

Hear your hooves go clippity-clop.

Let's collect what we can see on the beach.

Come on, let's go.

'I like to see what I can find at the beach.

'I've found lots of shells.

'What have you found, Iain?'

I've found very heavy white stone.

'Wow, seaweed is big and smelly.'

Ta-da!

'I love the seaweed.'

Oh, it's getting heavy.

'Let's collect a bit of wood.

'We can use our beach treasures to make a picture.

'Let's empty the bucket.'

Some wood...

Some seaweed.

Some more seaweed.

A shell.

'What's it going to be?

'I'll give you a clue. It's one of my favourite birds.

'It's got a long neck.

'These birds are special - they belong to the Queen.

'Can you see what it is yet?

'It's a lovely picture.

'It's a swan.

'I love swans.

I loved spotting birds today. This is the last bird I'm going to spot.

It is a swan.

BOTH: Bye!

ALL: Hi!

Hi, Megan. Hi, Skipper.

Did you have a nice time with Megan, Skipper?

Yes, we had a lovely time.

-What did you get up to?

-We went pony trekking.

And our ponies were lovely! - Let's see if we can spot more deer.

Whoa, whoa, Cat, hang on. I'm afraid, oh, dear,

we've run out of time! We've got to get back.

ALL GROAN

OK, maybe there is time for one more thing.

Time for a song!

# Let's go together

# Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Oh, it's such a lovely morning out It's good to get away

# Here on the Isle of Arran Surrounded by the sea

# We can dive for nature's treasures Hear the oystercatchers shriek

# And in the height of summer We'll watch the seals sunbathe

# Lying on the rocks What a life they've got

# Splashed by the waves

# From the cloud-covered mountains To the floating volcano

# There's waterfalls and stepping stones

# And streams so clean and pure

# But be careful of the anthills when you're walking through the glen

# Gonna have such fun I know we'll want to come back again

# Let's go together

# Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Oh, it's such a lovely morning And it's good to get away

# See the red deer by the castle As squirrels jump and pose

# And highland cows put their tongues right out

-# And stick them up their nose

-On the beach

# The crabs and starfish Are hiding in the sand

# And the ducks and gulls

# Spread their wings as they're coming in to land

# It's such a lovely island So full of wondrous things

# It makes me feel so happy Wanna dance and smile and sing

# So next time you feel grumpy And things don't go your way

# Don't feel sad Just pack your bags

# It's time to get away

# Let's go together

# Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Let's go together

# Somewhere we haven't been

# Making friends and doing things In places never seen

# Oh, it might be for a week Or just one day

# Let's go now, the sun is out It's good to get away

# Oh, it's such a lovely morning out It's good to get away

# Now the Green Balloon is boarding

# It was good to get away. #