:00:26. > :00:33.Good afternoon team CBBC. You are with Nel and Ricky this Thursday.
:00:33. > :00:36.Stay where you are for all the top stories. Coming up: We'll have news
:00:36. > :00:40.of the largest solar storm to hit the UK in years. And Russia's
:00:40. > :00:44.amazing Eurovision grannies. First, we're talking about Her
:00:44. > :00:46.Majesty, the Queen. This week, we've seen Prince Harry having a
:00:46. > :00:50.right Royal time in the Caribbean, out-sprinting Usain Bolt and
:00:50. > :00:55.throwing some shapes on the dance floor - all to mark 60 years of his
:00:55. > :00:59.gran being on the throne. Today, the Queen kicked off her own
:00:59. > :01:03.Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK in style in Leicester. Take a look.
:01:03. > :01:10.It may not be as exotic as Jamaica, but Leicester's got its attractions,
:01:10. > :01:14.too. Famous for crisps, its covered market and, of course, Gary Lineker.
:01:14. > :01:18.Today, it got a special visit from the Queen.
:01:18. > :01:22.It's all to celebrate 60 years of her being on the throne, which is
:01:22. > :01:26.pretty special. Only Queen Victoria has managed to sit in the big chair
:01:26. > :01:31.for so long. Although hopefully we will be taoeubl see a lot more of
:01:31. > :01:35.the celebrations this time. It's not the first time Queen
:01:35. > :01:39.Elizabeth II has visited Leicester. Here she is taking a tour of the
:01:39. > :01:43.city back in 1958. Since then, Leicester's changed a lot. It has
:01:43. > :01:47.gone from being a quiet provincal town to one of the most
:01:47. > :01:50.multicultural cities in Europe, with some of the biggest Diwali
:01:50. > :01:54.celebrations outside India. One thing that hasn't changed is the
:01:54. > :01:58.reception she gets. I am here to see the Queen and I have been here
:01:58. > :02:02.since 9.00am. I am here to see the Queen because it's once-in-a-
:02:02. > :02:06.lifetime I am ever going to be taoeubl see her. I have never seen
:02:06. > :02:10.her before. Actually live. They have to go to a lot of places and
:02:10. > :02:17.it's nice of them to come to the city that I live in. I am going to
:02:17. > :02:20.give her a rose. The Queen's been shown some Leicester love today and
:02:20. > :02:29.you may get a chance to see her, she's travelling the length of the
:02:29. > :02:32.UK until the tour ends on July 25th. The six British soldiers killed
:02:32. > :02:34.after their armoured vehicle was blown up in Afghanistan on Tuesday
:02:34. > :02:36.have been named. Privates Daniel Wade, Daniel Wilford, Anthony
:02:36. > :02:39.Frampton and Christopher Kershaw, along with Sergeant Nigel Coupe and
:02:39. > :02:42.Corporal Jake Hartley died when their vehicle was hit by a Taliban
:02:42. > :02:51.bomb. Their deaths make it 404 loses for the British military
:02:51. > :02:54.personnel in Afghanistan since 2001. Let's move on to other news.
:02:54. > :02:57.You might not have noticed, but when you were at school this
:02:57. > :03:00.morning the planet was being battered by the largest solar storm
:03:00. > :03:03.in five years. The storms are caused by flares on the sun and are
:03:03. > :03:07.not harmful to us but the good thing is they can increase our
:03:07. > :03:11.chances of seeing the Northern Lights, as I've been finding out.
:03:11. > :03:15.The sun, our very own star. But something is stirring on its
:03:15. > :03:21.surface. Now two explosions have sparked the
:03:21. > :03:24.biggest magnetic storm the earth has experienced in five years. Tim
:03:24. > :03:29.O'Brien is from the University of Manchester and has been studying
:03:29. > :03:34.stars for 25 years. If You imagine on the surface of the sun there's
:03:34. > :03:38.all this energy that's pushing out bubbles from the surface of the sun,
:03:38. > :03:42.sometimes those bubbles don't escape and are pulled back on to
:03:42. > :03:46.the sun. Other Other times if there is enough energy the bubble heads
:03:46. > :03:50.out into space towards the earth. When this happens, particles are
:03:50. > :03:55.released and when they reach earth they collide with our planet's
:03:55. > :04:01.magnetic field, causing a natural light show, known as the Northern
:04:01. > :04:05.Lights. The storms can also interfere with technology and
:04:05. > :04:15.planes travelling sometimes have to change routes T might affect sat
:04:15. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:19.lies too -- satellites. This solar activity peaks every 11 years.
:04:19. > :04:22.Don't forget to look at the night sky, especially if you live in the
:04:22. > :04:32.north because thanks to the sun you may be lucky enough to see the
:04:32. > :04:33.
:04:33. > :04:36.greatest light show on earth. From the sun to the seas. Leah's
:04:36. > :04:38.been reporting on the issues affecting wildlife around the great
:04:38. > :04:41.British coast. That's right, and today she heads to the Orkney
:04:41. > :04:51.Islands in Scotland to find out more about the mysterious decline
:04:51. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:57.of harbour seals. The UK is the number one spot for
:04:57. > :05:00.seals in Europe. There are two different types that are permanent
:05:00. > :05:05.residents across our shorelines, you will find most of them here on
:05:05. > :05:10.Orkney, but can you tell the difference?
:05:10. > :05:16.Harbour seals have a dipped forehead, V-shaped nostrils, and a
:05:16. > :05:19.shorter snub nose. Grey seals have a flat face, no real forehead,
:05:19. > :05:23.their nostrils are flared and they have a broad snout. Over the last
:05:23. > :05:28.decade there's been a big drop in the number of harbour seals spotted
:05:28. > :05:35.off our coasts. It's here on Orkney where one of the biggest drops has
:05:35. > :05:40.been recorded. That's why these animals make it on to the card, 20
:05:40. > :05:44.years ago on Orkney there were over 8,000. Now there's less than 3,000.
:05:44. > :05:48.Efforts are being made to find out what's happening to them. Lots of
:05:48. > :05:52.work's going on at St Andrew's University where scientists are
:05:52. > :05:56.tagging harbour and grey seals to track where they're going. Footage
:05:56. > :05:59.here shows the seals' movements over four months. They hope it will
:05:59. > :06:04.give them some clue as to why so many are disappearing and help them
:06:04. > :06:08.come up with a way of stopping the decline. Ross is also one of the
:06:08. > :06:11.people trying to figure out what's going on. Can you tell us why we
:06:11. > :06:15.are seeing a decline with the harbour seals and not the grey
:06:15. > :06:21.seals? It's something to do with the supply of food I think. The
:06:21. > :06:25.grey seals tend to stay out in deeper waters, mid-Atlantic. The
:06:25. > :06:29.harbour seals are more inshore around the waters of the UK and
:06:29. > :06:35.Orkney. It's a different species of fish. What would it mean to Orkney
:06:35. > :06:40.if they days peered? The harbour seals are a very important part of
:06:40. > :06:44.the system here. Time head tout sea to get a closer look at these
:06:44. > :06:49.curious kraoe turs. It wasn't long before we spotted a male and female.
:06:49. > :06:54.The question is will sights like this become rare? We have to keep
:06:54. > :06:58.an open mind and hopefully we will find out and be able to stop any
:06:58. > :07:01.problem that's causing the death. The future is still very uncertain
:07:01. > :07:05.for harbour seals but the good news is there are lots of people working
:07:06. > :07:14.hard to try to stop these incredibly cute creatures
:07:14. > :07:16.disappearing from our coastlines. Let's hope they're successful.
:07:16. > :07:21.Tomorrow Leah's visits Lundy Island - one of Britain's greatest natural
:07:21. > :07:27.wonder. She must be exhausted! Now time to listen to something
:07:27. > :07:34.special. These grannies have been picked to represent Russia in this
:07:34. > :07:39.year's Eurovision Song Contest. Let's hope they don't steal the
:07:39. > :07:43.grey vote from our own Engelbert Humperdink! What do you think of
:07:43. > :07:46.that? I think they're fantastic. The red, everything about it is
:07:46. > :07:51.perfect. I think we have more of a chance of winning the Eurovision