:00:14. > :00:18.It is the Highlands of Scotland. It is live and it is the best of
:00:18. > :00:23.British wildlife for you this autumn. The pressure is on for many
:00:23. > :00:27.of our animals as they prepare for tough times ahead. We have been
:00:27. > :00:37.watching the wildlife 24 hours a day. Don't go anywhere. It is
:00:37. > :00:55.
:00:55. > :01:01.Yes, hello and welcome to Autumnwatch. It is our third night
:01:01. > :01:05.from the fabulous Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland. We have been
:01:05. > :01:08.up here and we have completely barred to this area with live
:01:08. > :01:12.cameras and our objective is to get under the skin, into the personal
:01:12. > :01:16.lives of the animals that live here, so we can get to know them as
:01:16. > :01:26.individuals. We have been watching Beavis and pine martens and all
:01:26. > :01:26.
:01:26. > :01:32.sorts of other things. -- beavers. There is lots more for you as well
:01:32. > :01:41.as the pine martens. We go down at the River Tay on beaver patrol.
:01:41. > :01:46.go to Norfolk for the incredible spectacle of thousands of Norfolk
:01:46. > :01:52.birds. And I will be meeting some of Scotland's most specialist birds.
:01:52. > :01:56.A last night it was quite nippy. You could almost say Parky. In a
:01:57. > :02:01.light, it really was because the temperature dropped to minus 2.5
:02:01. > :02:11.degrees. When we work up in the morning, the sun came up and the
:02:11. > :02:14.
:02:14. > :02:18.The trees were dusted with frost. It was not frozen on the lake but
:02:18. > :02:21.it was headed that way. It was a reminder that the weather is
:02:21. > :02:24.changing and times are going to get much harder for the animals that we
:02:25. > :02:32.are watching, as they prepare for the winter that is rapidly
:02:32. > :02:40.approaching. I think it is warmer tonight, not minus two. Look at
:02:40. > :02:45.that! You have six players on! You are wearing six of the local sheep!
:02:45. > :02:49.How has the cold weather affected the animals? Are they out and about
:02:49. > :02:55.and active at the moment? Let's look at the live cameras. Is there
:02:55. > :03:00.anything? Before we came on air, literally 30 seconds ago, there was
:03:00. > :03:06.a pine marten there. Let's just have a look. It could be sniffing
:03:06. > :03:10.around. It was there just minutes ago. So frustrating. It does not
:03:10. > :03:14.mean that it is not going to come back in the next hour. I have a
:03:14. > :03:21.good feeling that it will come back. We have had a lot of action
:03:21. > :03:25.throughout the night. Yes, we met a new character. This is Lily. She is
:03:25. > :03:30.the adult female beaver that has been here with Boris, whom we have
:03:30. > :03:37.seen before. We spotted her last night, doing to be called beaver
:03:37. > :03:41.things, dragging that branch under water. -- typical of beaver things.
:03:41. > :03:47.She will preserve the bark if things get tough. On the back, one
:03:47. > :03:55.of her kittens from this year. Muscling around. He or she is
:03:55. > :03:59.snoring on that. -- chewing on that. We have seen lots of that behaviour.
:03:59. > :04:05.They are taking on as much weight as possible and they will store it
:04:05. > :04:08.as fact, in their tails, in fact. I was talking a lot, and we will be
:04:08. > :04:18.played that clip so that you can listen carefully to the sound of
:04:18. > :04:22.
:04:22. > :04:26.the cheering. -- the sound of the At first I thought that was birds,
:04:26. > :04:32.perhaps an owl. But listen and watch the little one. If you look
:04:32. > :04:38.really carefully, you can see that the sound coincides with some
:04:38. > :04:43.nouveau on the beaver's mouth. It is the sound of music for the
:04:43. > :04:47.beaver. The youngsters will be whining, begging for food, up to
:04:47. > :04:50.two years old. This particular sound is like a contact call.
:04:50. > :04:55.Perhaps one of their terms of endearment. None of the Rangers
:04:55. > :05:02.here has ever heard this before. Another first for Autumnwatch. The
:05:02. > :05:11.sound of the beaver. The singing Viva! Only on Autumnwatch. --
:05:11. > :05:16.singing at beaver! We have also got a camera in the lodge. We have seen
:05:16. > :05:26.a beaver, the Tote, and a spider. And now we have got their little
:05:26. > :05:28.
:05:28. > :05:36.vole. And what is that? This is really special. It is a water shrew.
:05:36. > :05:40.That is very rare. I did not think you had them in Scotland. When I
:05:40. > :05:44.checked my handbook of the British mammals, as you do! They come up to
:05:44. > :05:52.the North of Scotland, typically on the coast, and up to the Arctic
:05:52. > :05:58.Circle. But they are very tough. Yes. Edward says, in 16 07, a
:05:59. > :06:06.ravening beast, pretending to be gentle and tame but it bites deep
:06:06. > :06:10.and poisons deadly. Theatre! work. We have also been watching
:06:10. > :06:14.the pine martens. We have been very interested in the fact that there
:06:14. > :06:24.have been several individuals arriving. You can identify them by
:06:24. > :06:28.looking at their neck. You can tell that we have been taxing our
:06:28. > :06:38.imagination when it comes to naming the animals! And we noticed another
:06:38. > :06:40.
:06:40. > :06:44.one last night. Spotless, a triumph when it comes to lament to! --
:06:44. > :06:48.comes to naming them! Why are they all visiting the same feeding
:06:48. > :06:52.station when they are normally territorial? They are still being a
:06:52. > :06:56.bit like that because this one is scent marking. You can see
:06:56. > :06:59.impressing his backside down. They are rubbing their necks on their
:06:59. > :07:04.because they have got glance in their necks and on their bodies and
:07:04. > :07:08.in their feet as well. Despite the fact they are sharing this place,
:07:08. > :07:14.in terms of the food, they are staking their claim that the same
:07:14. > :07:24.time. But I cannot believe that you mocked the name Spotless. Guess who
:07:24. > :07:26.
:07:26. > :07:31.named it? Chris! I had only just got up. It is not like a matinee
:07:31. > :07:41.name, from an epic drama. Let me tell you, tonight is an epic drama
:07:41. > :07:43.
:07:43. > :07:53.with the red stags. This is what is It is early October. The atmosphere
:07:53. > :07:54.
:07:55. > :08:00.is tense. The red deer rut is reaching its peak. In the last few
:08:00. > :08:10.days, Lucius has become the dominant stag. But in the wings,
:08:10. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:21.many other contenders are gathering. One of them is Cassius, and all the
:08:21. > :08:24.
:08:24. > :08:34.stag -- more aged stag. Lucius will not give up without a serious fight.
:08:34. > :08:34.
:08:34. > :08:44.Right now, Lucius is in total control. He has easily fended off
:08:44. > :08:44.
:08:44. > :08:49.every challenge. But he can only fight for so long. With little time
:08:49. > :08:53.to eat, they can lose as much as 20% of their body weight during
:08:53. > :09:03.these fights. And it is not just the big boys giving them a headache.
:09:03. > :09:05.
:09:05. > :09:10.The younger ones are also a This male is about for to five
:09:10. > :09:20.years old. He would be a pushover in a straight fight. But his
:09:20. > :09:20.
:09:20. > :09:28.strategy is to street -- sneak up, in the hopes of a quick liaison.
:09:28. > :09:36.Lucius sees the threat. He is tireless in defence, but there is
:09:36. > :09:46.little reward for all this effort. He has only mated once so far and
:09:46. > :09:47.
:09:47. > :09:57.wild the ladies are not in season, On the other side of the river,
:09:57. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:11.He curls his upper lip to taste the air. Cassius has sensed that one of
:10:11. > :10:21.Lucius's women is on season. It is the motivation that he has been
:10:21. > :10:22.
:10:22. > :10:28.waiting for. At last it is time to make his move. With an intruder
:10:28. > :10:33.amongst the women, Lucius is on the warpath. There is no time for
:10:33. > :10:43.preliminaries. It is game on. Cassius on the right, Lucius on the
:10:43. > :11:00.
:11:00. > :11:10.Lucius appears so much stronger. But with a female on heat, there is
:11:10. > :11:11.
:11:11. > :11:20.so much to fight for. Lucius is in trouble. It is a knockout blow. He
:11:20. > :11:30.is wounded. Lucius is left with just a handful of the females that
:11:30. > :11:37.
:11:37. > :11:45.he had. It is Cassius in charge now. Despite his age, or perhaps because
:11:45. > :11:55.of it, he has timed his attack perfectly. Age has certainly not
:11:55. > :12:08.
:12:08. > :12:16.dimmed his... Enthusiasm. Lucius is An injury like this would end of
:12:16. > :12:24.the fight for most stags. But not this one. Throughout the afternoon,
:12:24. > :12:34.he soldiers on, defending the few females that he has got. He might
:12:34. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:59.be injured, but he is definitely With a resounding win against yet
:12:59. > :13:04.
:13:04. > :13:11.another stag, he is still a contender. But he must be hurting.
:13:11. > :13:17.Cassius tasted sweet success today. But there is definitely unfinished
:13:17. > :13:25.business between these two stags. Only a stone's throw apart, a
:13:25. > :13:33.rematch could be just around the corner. Will it Lucius have the
:13:33. > :13:40.strength to take his revenge and win back what he wants? Now it is
:13:40. > :13:43.getting serious! A cliffhanger. crucial thing for the stags, that
:13:43. > :13:49.those antlers engage like that. am going to interrupt you and go
:13:49. > :13:57.live to a pine marten. Yes! Look at that. Do we have any idea which
:13:57. > :14:06.one? Dice, they are telling me that in my ear. How far away from where
:14:06. > :14:16.we are standing now? The other side of the loch, so just 100 metres or
:14:16. > :14:29.
:14:29. > :14:32.something. Gorgeous. There he is. Would she be caching? No. It's
:14:32. > :14:38.early in the evening. You never know what might have led her to
:14:38. > :14:42.leave. She's having a feast now. Those peanuts and jam there.
:14:42. > :14:48.would be nice if another one turned up. Very interesting to see. It was
:14:48. > :14:52.Dice that was there with Spot. two were being very tolerant.
:14:52. > :14:56.were both females. We haven't seen two together, is a male and female
:14:56. > :14:59.at the same time at the moment. That would be interesting. Dice and
:14:59. > :15:04.Spotless that would be interesting to see together. Fantastic. These
:15:04. > :15:08.are the images that we are getting live as you are watching. It's
:15:08. > :15:14.always great to get that. It is. We always really want that. Will I go
:15:14. > :15:19.back to the deer? You should. interrupted me! Theantlers have to
:15:19. > :15:25.engage like that, really lock and then it's a titanic wrestling match.
:15:25. > :15:31.If they go sideways it gets dangerous. Let's look at that fight
:15:31. > :15:34.with Cassius and Lucius. Sideways, really bad! You can see
:15:34. > :15:38.how dangerous it is. Run it backwards. You can just see there
:15:38. > :15:43.is a moment there they come in. He slips sideways. In goes the point
:15:43. > :15:48.of that antler. Really, really dangerous. Actually, if you look,
:15:48. > :15:54.there is kasious on the right -- Cassius on the right. That point is
:15:54. > :15:59.covered in blood. It has driven into the flank of Lucius. Martin,
:15:59. > :16:04.that was quite a nasty blow. How many of those blows are fatal?
:16:04. > :16:09.Actually less than you might expect. On Rum, where that study's been
:16:09. > :16:12.going on n the last 40 years there have been 15 fatalities of stags,
:16:12. > :16:16.as a direct result of fighting on the green. Less than would you
:16:16. > :16:20.expect actually. Yeah, it is. But then you don't know, some will
:16:20. > :16:23.exhaust themselves fighting and they may die because they can't get
:16:23. > :16:26.through the winter. Whilst it's very exciting for us, it can be a
:16:26. > :16:31.matter of life and death for these things and it's not only about the
:16:31. > :16:36.injury, it's about that exhaustion and tomorrow we are going to find
:16:36. > :16:42.out who's the last emperor, the top stag! It's not just red deer native
:16:43. > :16:48.to this area. We had a surprise visitor on pine marten-cam. There
:16:48. > :16:53.is a roe deer coming in. They've finished their rut. They're chilled
:16:53. > :16:58.and relaxed at this time. You get to see it there again. You can see
:16:58. > :17:03.the black teddy bear nose and that's how you can tell it's a roe
:17:03. > :17:07.deer. They gather together in the winter, you can get 20 or so. Sorry,
:17:07. > :17:14.I have just seen a bat! It's too cold for bats! You are getting
:17:14. > :17:17.distracted there. On Twitter: Someone's been looking at a bird
:17:17. > :17:23.table and noticed how the smallest birds want to fight everyone? We
:17:23. > :17:28.have noticed a similar thing. Look at this.
:17:28. > :17:36.Here are our bird feeders and they've been immensely busy. Here
:17:36. > :17:45.is a feisty coal tit, next to a blue tit. He saw it off then. Watch
:17:45. > :17:52.this. Brambling. Difficult one for me, not Chris. Here is the coal tit.
:17:52. > :17:56.Look at it. Sees off a great tit. It's the Jack Russell of the bird
:17:56. > :18:02.world. It's lovely to watch them on a bird feeder. There is a real
:18:02. > :18:07.hierarchy. Here is the bully boy. Really quite dangerous for some of
:18:07. > :18:13.these little birds. Watch this now. In comes a tit. I don't think he's
:18:13. > :18:17.seen - oh! Look, a little fluff of feathers. Dangerous work. You don't
:18:17. > :18:21.want to get too close to those on the bird bird table. He doesn't
:18:21. > :18:26.want to share. It's not just conflict on the bird feeders. Look
:18:26. > :18:30.at what we saw on the pine marten- cam. Here we have Jay enjoying some
:18:30. > :18:34.of the nuts no doubt that we put out for the pine martens. Then what
:18:34. > :18:40.comes along? He is minding his own business and one of the red
:18:40. > :18:45.squirrels comes, and look at that. Completely chases the Jay off.
:18:45. > :18:50.these animals are caching animals. We have spoken about the squirrels
:18:50. > :18:54.and the Jays as well. We know the Jays will pinch the squirrels' food.
:18:54. > :18:58.Whether there is a natural animosity between these species on
:18:58. > :19:01.account of that, that might account for that adepression. We have been
:19:01. > :19:05.watching -- that aggression. We have been watching the squirrels
:19:05. > :19:08.and earlier in the week we said that red squirrels weren't as good
:19:08. > :19:12.at remembering where they had hidden things as grey squirrels.
:19:12. > :19:15.That's what it says in the handbook, I have to say. But we have been
:19:15. > :19:19.contacted by the people at the University of Aberdeen and they
:19:19. > :19:23.said a paper was published in 2001 which said they're just as good at
:19:23. > :19:28.remembering but the problem is where you get Grays and reds, the
:19:28. > :19:32.greys are better at stealing reds' food so they can remember allegedly,
:19:32. > :19:35.there is disparity of view here. But we like that in signs and -- in
:19:35. > :19:39.science and I am not afraid to say we got something wrong but at the
:19:39. > :19:43.same time when science - it's constantly changing, that's what
:19:43. > :19:48.makes it exciting. Also, take a look at this.
:19:48. > :19:53.We have been looking at our pine martens and typically we have been
:19:53. > :19:57.seeing them foraging for strawberry jam and peanuts. But this animal
:19:57. > :20:00.looked like it was doing something a little bit more natural. Our
:20:00. > :20:06.cameras have found it away from the feeding station and it's found
:20:06. > :20:11.something down in the ground. Look at that.
:20:11. > :20:18.Listen to that. Now, I think that what it's doing
:20:18. > :20:22.is finding a squirrel's cache and it's digging up peanuts. If you
:20:22. > :20:28.listen carefully, when it gets this nut out, to me that sounds like a
:20:28. > :20:33.pine marten eating a peanut. From memory! You are an expert?! That is
:20:33. > :20:38.what it sounds like. It's likely, I think. I was going to say, that if
:20:38. > :20:43.you look at their diet through the year the pine martens do all sorts
:20:43. > :20:47.of bizarre - honey, all sorts much they don't -- all sorts of things.
:20:47. > :20:52.They have a Catholic diet, so I am not surprised. When it comes to
:20:52. > :20:57.nature it's not always just about beautiful animals like the pine
:20:57. > :21:01.marten or the greatest woodpecker, there is a beauty in the way all
:21:01. > :21:06.those animals function together as a whole, in a community in an eco
:21:06. > :21:16.system. One of the UK's most important, one of its rarest, but
:21:16. > :21:37.
:21:37. > :21:40.certainly most exciting ecosystems Look at this. This is a Scots pine
:21:40. > :21:47.tree. Normally this species lives for 150 years, exceptionally 300
:21:47. > :21:53.but we think this tree might be 400 years old. It truly is a living
:21:54. > :22:03.monument. It's a great part of our heritage and it has a haunting
:22:04. > :22:07.
:22:07. > :22:12.beauty. It's cragged bark here and foal foliage. It was living when
:22:12. > :22:17.there were wolves howling in this forest if it's 400 years old. It's
:22:17. > :22:23.fundamentally important as the primal building block in one of the
:22:23. > :22:33.UK's most exciting and important ecosystems, the Caledonian Forest.
:22:33. > :22:45.
:22:45. > :22:48.What a thing. Look at that. Scots pine has a wide global
:22:48. > :22:53.distribution. It grows in Spain, all the way up through Europe
:22:53. > :22:58.across the top of signeria. What was unique when the ice retreated
:22:58. > :23:04.from the UK after the last Ice Age it was the only conifer growing
:23:04. > :23:10.here and in our strange oceanic climate, that gave birth to the
:23:10. > :23:13.mythical great wood of the Caledonian Forest. Boy, did we
:23:13. > :23:18.abuse this habitat. As soon as the Vikings arrived they started
:23:18. > :23:23.burning it down. Things got worse in the 16th and 17th century. We
:23:23. > :23:26.ran out of wood in England and in lowland Scotland. So they came up
:23:26. > :23:35.here and started cutting all of this down to fuel the industrial
:23:35. > :23:41.revolution. It got worse. We imported Canadian lumbermen and
:23:41. > :23:47.they virtually felled a side. Saddest of all, between 1960 and
:23:47. > :23:55.1990, when many of us were alive, 50% of what remain was cut down and
:23:55. > :24:01.destroyed. What remains is 17,000 hectares, 37
:24:01. > :24:05.blocks of this unique environment some as small as 150 trees but they
:24:05. > :24:15.are absolute jewels in our landscape and they support a
:24:15. > :24:23.
:24:23. > :24:25.Perhaps the most exciting bird that lives in Caledonian Forest is the
:24:25. > :24:30.remarkable capercaillie. What is their link with the trees? Quite
:24:30. > :24:40.simply, that they feed on the freshly growing shoots at the tips
:24:40. > :24:47.
:24:47. > :24:51.Another specialist of the Caledonian Forest is the crested
:24:51. > :24:55.tit. In the case of this species it's not about finding food here,
:24:55. > :25:00.but nesting habitat. You see, it needs standing dead
:25:00. > :25:03.pines that are well rotted so that it can excavate a nesting borough
:25:03. > :25:07.into those. In fact, it's such a specialist of this woodland that if
:25:07. > :25:17.you want to see a crested tit you have to come here to the Caledonian
:25:17. > :25:25.
:25:25. > :25:29.Forest. They really are a bird of Those are the bird specialists.
:25:29. > :25:33.What about mammals? You might think of pine marten and wild cat and
:25:33. > :25:38.they do occur here, but they're not dependent directly on the pine
:25:38. > :25:43.trees but there is a species that is and of course it's the red
:25:43. > :25:48.squirrel. They really are a Scots pine cone specialist. They're
:25:48. > :25:51.lighter than greys and as a consequence they can reach to the
:25:51. > :26:01.end of the branches. And then get the rich rewards from the seeds
:26:01. > :26:10.
:26:10. > :26:14.The Caledonian Forest isn't just a gathering of beautiful old trees,
:26:14. > :26:21.it's a complex association of all of the species that live here. But
:26:21. > :26:26.they are dependent upon those trees, these craggy old survivors showing
:26:26. > :26:30.great courage to make a last stand here. So what of the future? Well,
:26:30. > :26:36.there are plenty of problems. This area was overstocked with sheep for
:26:36. > :26:41.a long time which prevented regeneration. These days, in many
:26:41. > :26:44.places too many deer. Also they're not the fires there used to be and
:26:44. > :26:48.fire was important when it came to maintaining these forests. It
:26:48. > :26:54.burned away all of the ground level so that the little saplings could
:26:54. > :26:58.find their way up through into the light. But I am optimistic because
:26:58. > :27:04.we understand these processes and if we understand them, then we can
:27:04. > :27:14.manage them. And look, regeneration is taking place. Perhaps these
:27:14. > :27:20.
:27:20. > :27:24.Caledonian Forest of tomorrow. And There is a sting in the tail, you
:27:24. > :27:28.know. That is that not all Caledonian Forest is the same.
:27:28. > :27:32.There is what we call bio chemical variation between the west and east
:27:32. > :27:36.and the trees are different. In the east they have thicker bark because
:27:36. > :27:39.it was drier there and there were a lot more fires. Not like those in
:27:39. > :27:46.the west which is much thinner because that's where there was a
:27:46. > :27:51.lot more rain. Now we are doing a good job of putting it back,
:27:51. > :27:55.Wisheartening because -- Wisheartening, -- which is
:27:55. > :28:05.heartening. If you fancy a walk into the woods or looking at other
:28:05. > :28:07.
:28:07. > :28:11.Go to the website and go to the bit that says "things to do" you can
:28:11. > :28:14.put in your postcode and hopefully all sorts of exciting things will
:28:14. > :28:21.appear on the screen by magic. you are really lucky, you might
:28:21. > :28:25.come across one of these as our Bomb this is a female capercaillie
:28:25. > :28:29.-- this is a female capercaillie, not like the male we saw.
:28:29. > :28:36.They get up in there to eat those pine shoots having spent the summer
:28:36. > :28:40.on the ground eating bilberrys. When you are matching these birds
:28:40. > :28:45.on the TV it's getting a sense of scale. It's difficult to. Would you
:28:45. > :28:49.bring in Jimmy, please. Jimmy belongs to Sir John our kind host
:28:49. > :28:55.and he is 100 years old, actually, this male capercaillie here. To
:28:55. > :28:59.give you an idea of scale, here is a 10p piece. You can see exactly
:28:59. > :29:05.how big the capercaillie is compared to the 10p piece. Males
:29:05. > :29:09.are significantly larger than females, 40% bigger. Females, they
:29:09. > :29:13.probably weigh about 1.5 kilogrammes. A male like this, a
:29:13. > :29:23.big male, over 3 kilogrammes much bird. That's enormous. Have you
:29:23. > :29:23.
:29:23. > :29:28.seen one in the wild? I have I am being told that the beaver is
:29:28. > :29:37.still there. We have got live beavers! Which one do we think this
:29:37. > :29:41.is? Timber, one of the kittens. They go out on their own. They are
:29:41. > :29:51.quite independent of their parents. That is one thing that we have
:29:51. > :29:51.
:29:51. > :29:55.noticed. Looking for something nice to eat. Looking for a snack. Then
:29:55. > :30:02.into the water and swimming away. Pat and in with the tail. That is
:30:02. > :30:07.just across from where we are sitting. Tonight is the night, like
:30:07. > :30:11.pine marten and live beaver. It is all happening! We have got the big
:30:11. > :30:15.things, beavers, stags, capercaillie, but there are also
:30:15. > :30:21.miniature things around here. One of the things that we see on all of
:30:21. > :30:28.the trees around us, lichen. Within it, there is a hole miniature world.
:30:28. > :30:38.The trees are coated with them. It is beautiful. Inside is a miniature
:30:38. > :30:43.
:30:43. > :30:47.world. A little snail, a beetle, a harvest man. And a lovely millipede.
:30:47. > :30:54.Absolutely beautiful. I was going to give you some serious love
:30:54. > :30:58.tonight. For the lichen lovers, but there is not time! Maybe another
:30:58. > :31:02.night we will talk about it. the little things are equally
:31:02. > :31:06.important as the big things, because quite obviously the big
:31:06. > :31:10.things are feeding on them. Those little invertebrates living in the
:31:10. > :31:13.lichen are part of the community supporting the ecosystem. If you
:31:13. > :31:17.take them away and make them inaccessible, you can get into all
:31:17. > :31:27.sorts of trouble. This might have happened to one of our most common
:31:27. > :31:28.
:31:28. > :31:34.The autumnal displays of starlings, surely one of the world's greatest
:31:34. > :31:39.natural wonders? At this time of year they put on an amazing show as
:31:39. > :31:47.they come together to roost. Watching these fast numbers, it
:31:47. > :31:51.looks like we have got a thriving British population. But to be
:31:51. > :31:59.honest, a lot of these birds are migrants coming from Europe to find
:31:59. > :32:03.food over the winter. These displays are obscuring an
:32:04. > :32:12.unsettling truth, the fact that the UK starlings are actually
:32:12. > :32:17.disappearing. Back in the 1980s, things were very different. The
:32:17. > :32:23.national population was about 20 million starlings. There were huge
:32:23. > :32:33.roosts throughout the year, in the countryside and in the cities. They
:32:33. > :32:33.
:32:33. > :32:36.were so successful that they were considered by some to be a past. --
:32:36. > :32:42.a problem and there were some ingenious and not so ingenious
:32:42. > :32:49.methods to get rid of them. Surveys have shown that the Starling
:32:49. > :32:54.population has dropped by a staggering 80%. So what is causing
:32:54. > :32:58.is potentially disastrous decline in one of our most iconic birds?
:32:58. > :33:08.Researchers are starting to look in earnest at the life of starlings,
:33:08. > :33:12.
:33:12. > :33:15.trying to find out exactly what is Like many animals, the first year
:33:15. > :33:19.of the starling is particularly tough. When they fled, they have to
:33:19. > :33:24.learn to survive without the help of their parents. They have to do
:33:24. > :33:31.this after just a couple of weeks. They join flocks with other
:33:31. > :33:34.starlings that provide protection from predators. These flocks mainly
:33:34. > :33:40.feed on grasslands, and they probe the soil for invertebrates with
:33:40. > :33:45.their strong beaks. It is surprisingly difficult for these
:33:45. > :33:51.young birds. It takes time to learn how to find their food and to learn
:33:51. > :33:54.the correct technique to get it out of the ground. It is also thought
:33:54. > :33:58.that the way that we manage our grasslands could be a problem. But
:33:58. > :34:02.what does that actually mean? Improved drainage could mean less
:34:02. > :34:06.moisture in the topsoil. Soil compaction could make the service
:34:06. > :34:13.harder and changing from permanent pasture to faster-growing grass
:34:13. > :34:16.species that mean less exposed areas. -- could mean. Perhaps a
:34:16. > :34:20.combination of these factors and even other factors could be
:34:20. > :34:28.producing less food, and making it more difficult for the starlings to
:34:28. > :34:34.find it and eat it. And when autumn descends, the pressure is really on,
:34:34. > :34:37.as a migrant European starlings start to arrive. Then our young
:34:38. > :34:40.birds have to compete with an even greater number of adults, and these
:34:40. > :34:46.birds are more experienced at finding and getting the food that
:34:46. > :34:49.is available. It is likely that some of these challenges might
:34:49. > :34:58.explain the 50% reduction in the survival of young starlings in the
:34:58. > :35:02.past 40 years. Spurred on by these drastic declines, the RSPB and
:35:02. > :35:07.other organisations are beginning to do more research into the
:35:07. > :35:11.complex issues that impact on our starlings and their food sources.
:35:11. > :35:19.This is good news. If we can solve the mystery behind these declines,
:35:19. > :35:29.then there is some hope that we can stop them. Our British starlings
:35:29. > :35:37.
:35:37. > :35:41.will then play a big part in these That has to be my favourite autumn
:35:41. > :35:47.spectacle, the starling. You can never tire of it. It is beatable.
:35:47. > :35:51.absolutely stunning. I go to see one near me every night and tried
:35:51. > :35:55.to take photographs and I fail! I always get entranced by them.
:35:55. > :36:01.figures about their decline are always worrying. They are back
:36:01. > :36:05.doubt by the RSPB garden bird watch, it and the results came in to say
:36:05. > :36:12.that the number of Stalin's is down compared to any other time in 30
:36:12. > :36:17.years. -- starlings. The average demand in most people's gardens has
:36:17. > :36:21.gone down from 15 to three. I have noticed it. When I was a little
:36:21. > :36:28.guilt there was always a starling on the bird feeder and now they are
:36:28. > :36:31.much more rare. Now they cannot get hold of leather jackets, the larvae
:36:31. > :36:36.of the daddy-longlegs. If the soil is compacted, they cannot get the
:36:36. > :36:41.leather jackets out, which is a problem. And harvesting efficiency,
:36:41. > :36:47.how good farmers are at taking groups of the land, has improved
:36:47. > :36:53.dramatically, standing at 99.9%. That means that 99.9% of the corn,
:36:53. > :36:56.for example, is removed, leaving just 0.1% for the birds, which is
:36:56. > :37:03.not enough. It is good for farming and food prices but not for the
:37:03. > :37:07.birds. Certainly. Let's bring it back to our family of beavers. We
:37:07. > :37:16.have been enjoying them but there have been lots of questions. How
:37:16. > :37:20.have they adapted to life on the loch? This is Boris, the adore Le -
:37:20. > :37:25.- adult male, doing what he does. It is important for them to be
:37:25. > :37:32.swimming. They use their webbed feet, which frees up the front paws
:37:32. > :37:36.to carry their stash. That is different to the kittens. They are
:37:36. > :37:40.six months old. They are doing some sort of doggy paddle. That is
:37:40. > :37:45.probably because their back legs are not big enough yet? The wedding
:37:45. > :37:50.does not seem to be big enough to push them through, or maybe they do
:37:50. > :37:55.not have the technique. I don't know. We have a comment and this
:37:55. > :37:59.comes from the blog. They were watching the beaver cameras at 3
:37:59. > :38:03.o'clock in the morning, well done! They thought it was great to see
:38:03. > :38:08.their human-like hands, full dexterity. They had a full face
:38:08. > :38:11.Wash and did not forget to claim behind their ears. Their manual
:38:11. > :38:17.dexterity is amazing. We can see them manipulating the sticks that
:38:17. > :38:21.they are holding to remove the bark. This one is grooming, and on the
:38:21. > :38:31.back foot, the second claw is divided into two, and they use it
:38:31. > :38:31.
:38:31. > :38:35.to comb their hair. You can see how the front paws are holding things.
:38:35. > :38:40.And here, in the water. This is what you were saying, one of the
:38:40. > :38:44.adults able to hold it and be doing it in the water. They have the
:38:44. > :38:48.capacity to close their guns behind their front teeth so that they can
:38:48. > :38:54.chew in the water without the water going down their throat. That is a
:38:54. > :38:57.very neat trick to have. And a question from Evelyn Wilson.
:38:57. > :39:02.Beavers have small eyes, so do they have good eyesight? They do have
:39:02. > :39:04.very small eyes and they do not have good eyesight. They tend to
:39:04. > :39:10.use the other senses like their whiskers and they have a good sense
:39:10. > :39:14.of smell. But the eyes are perfectly adapted for swimming.
:39:14. > :39:20.They have a membrane, which is the third clear Eilidh, like us wearing
:39:20. > :39:27.goggles, so that they can see under water. They also have a sphincter
:39:27. > :39:33.that enables them to close their nose. Very well adapted to the
:39:33. > :39:39.water. And the tale can be used to paddle, but it is also a fat
:39:39. > :39:43.storage organ. It is good for thermoregulation. In the summertime
:39:43. > :39:46.they pump lots of blood into the tail when they are hot. And in the
:39:46. > :39:51.winter they can control the blood flow so that much less goes into
:39:51. > :39:56.their tail and they can stop losing body heat. Another extraordinary
:39:56. > :40:05.adaptation, their coach, very thick. We thought we would have tested. We
:40:05. > :40:10.got our thermal camera out. This is as rehearsing in the heat of the
:40:10. > :40:15.night, glowing. Then we found one of the beavers, on land. It is a
:40:15. > :40:20.distance away. We waited until we saw one of the kittens swimming
:40:20. > :40:25.across the water. You will notice that the only areas losing heat,
:40:25. > :40:30.the eyes which cannot be covered in fur, and the ears. The ears are
:40:30. > :40:40.particularly small because they do not want to lose heat through them.
:40:40. > :40:41.
:40:41. > :40:46.The fur is remarkable, bring it insulation. 23,000 hairs per
:40:47. > :40:54.centimetre. A remarkable set of adaptations for an aquatic
:40:54. > :40:58.lifestyle. And the eyes and ears are higher up on their heads so
:40:58. > :41:04.they stay out of the water when they are swimming. They can see,
:41:04. > :41:11.smell, here or, all at the same time, like hippos, otters and
:41:11. > :41:15.crocodiles. Any more?! We have some interesting footage here. They are
:41:15. > :41:20.beavers. What is intriguing, not just the strange behaviour of the
:41:20. > :41:28.one on the left, but also their location. This fitted was taken
:41:28. > :41:32.much further South than here, Tayside. -- this fitted. There has
:41:32. > :41:40.been the odd bead on the River Tay, but it appears there may be many
:41:40. > :41:44.more than people thought. -- the odd beaver. We went off in a canoe
:41:44. > :41:49.to find out more. On the River Tay, a group of believers seem to be
:41:49. > :41:55.living wild and free. Some accidentally escaped, others
:41:55. > :42:00.perhaps deliberately released. You have been studying them on this
:42:00. > :42:05.river here, haven't you? To begin with people thought there was just
:42:05. > :42:13.a handful, but you would beg to differ. How many do you think there
:42:13. > :42:18.are on the river? Probably about 140-150. 140 beavers here? What
:42:18. > :42:23.makes it so good? They really like slow flowing mature river systems.
:42:23. > :42:27.Rivers passing through deciduous forest as well. At this time of
:42:27. > :42:34.year, autumn, is that a good time to look for the beaver? Yes, you
:42:34. > :42:40.will see activity at this time. They are preparing for winter,
:42:40. > :42:43.preparing their lodge for winter. Covering it in moss. With so many
:42:43. > :42:49.beavers and Tayside, it does not take long to find evidence of their
:42:49. > :42:59.behaviour. That is a classic sign of beavers. Great chunks taken out
:42:59. > :43:04.of it and it looks fresh as well. Yes, very fresh. Look at this!
:43:04. > :43:14.Chippings as well. Yes, very fresh by the looks of it. Why do they do
:43:14. > :43:14.
:43:14. > :43:18.that? There is not much of the Tory Left? They have felt the treat --
:43:18. > :43:22.the tree, actually. It brings it down to their level. They have
:43:22. > :43:26.brought it down to their level. They have been partially successful.
:43:26. > :43:32.It has fallen badly, so they still cannot access it, so they have just
:43:32. > :43:42.made do with this. There is a whole story here. And this one is epic,
:43:42. > :43:45.
:43:45. > :43:50.enormous. It is a sycamore. look at this. My goodness! That is
:43:51. > :43:54.just comedy beaver work! Like a sharpened pencil. This has to be
:43:54. > :43:59.ridiculously fresh. Yes, by the looks of they are working on this
:43:59. > :44:02.right now. They have been working on this the past couple of days.
:44:02. > :44:07.And here they made a start and then they gave up, and then they started
:44:07. > :44:12.again. With one this size, they might work intermittently for weeks
:44:12. > :44:16.and weeks. This is a massive tree, and it is slightly unnerving to be
:44:16. > :44:21.here because it is going to go pretty soon. It could do. A few
:44:21. > :44:30.more chance and it will be gone. When beavers fell trees, the
:44:30. > :44:34.technique is simple. Just get out The changes caused by felling has
:44:34. > :44:38.benefits. The extra light and space encourages new growth and creates
:44:38. > :44:44.diversity in the habitat. This one is quite an old one. They've given
:44:44. > :44:49.up on it but it's going to go, isn't it? Yeah. This is good for
:44:49. > :44:54.insects which feed on the dead wood and birds and woodpeckers and
:44:54. > :45:01.smaller birds coming and they'll be feeding on insects and it creates
:45:01. > :45:05.habitat. A good species of beetle found in wood like this. You want
:45:05. > :45:12.want want to build a nest on this one! You wouldn't know when it was
:45:12. > :45:17.going to go. We go further down stream to see
:45:17. > :45:21.more evidence of beavers at work. You see all the sticks next to the
:45:21. > :45:26.shore, that's what we call a feeding station. The beavers will
:45:27. > :45:30.be felling some of the willow saplings around here and eating
:45:30. > :45:35.them here. This is beaver snack bar really. Here are the snacks. Yeah,
:45:35. > :45:42.this is their favourite habitat. These gravel bars we are on here
:45:42. > :45:49.with lots of young willow here, it's full of young tender willow.
:45:49. > :45:52.If we were here at night we would see them just... Away from the main
:45:52. > :45:59.water course is where you will find the most notorious signs of beaver
:45:59. > :46:03.activity. Dams. Look at that. That can't be, that's
:46:03. > :46:07.all beavers have done that? Yes. But it's enormous! It stretches for
:46:08. > :46:13.miles. How many beavers would have created this? A family group. This
:46:13. > :46:19.is one of three drams -- dams here. Why do they need dams? They have
:46:19. > :46:24.big food stores in winter which is their sustenance over the winter.
:46:24. > :46:28.They store saplings. Under water here now? They use water as
:46:28. > :46:32.protection against predators, to avoid traditionally - they do that
:46:32. > :46:37.by diving under water and if they need a certain amount of water to
:46:37. > :46:39.cover the lodge entrance to predators can't get in. This shows
:46:40. > :46:43.the beavers can profoundly change the landscape and whilst their
:46:44. > :46:50.behaviour has obvious benefits to the natural surroundings, their
:46:50. > :46:57.overall impact remains to be seen. That is amazing. 140 beavers and
:46:57. > :47:02.people thought thought -- there were only a few. The evidence of
:47:02. > :47:06.what they're doing is dramatic. Let's remind ourselves again, this
:47:06. > :47:11.isn't an alien invading the UK. It was here for thousands of years and
:47:11. > :47:15.only sort of became extinct 400 years ago. Yes, the evidence is
:47:15. > :47:23.very obvious and if you have seen anything like that we would really
:47:23. > :47:30.Beavers have been seen in Kent and Devon, they're out there. We need
:47:30. > :47:36.to find out exactly where they are. Go to the website. That will link
:47:36. > :47:40.through to the official trial, we would love to know where the
:47:40. > :47:44.beavers really are. They're on the loch behind us. It's not just
:47:44. > :47:51.beavers we have seen on the loch, we have seen lovely cormorants.
:47:51. > :47:55.In fact, we have seen quite a lot That one is doing what they do so
:47:55. > :48:01.beautifully, that's a classic pose. They're the most extraordinary
:48:01. > :48:04.animals. How can they fly and then also be so efficient under water?
:48:04. > :48:08.They can catch fish. Look at the efficiency of this one. Look at
:48:09. > :48:13.that! That's enormous! You don't think it's going to be able to get
:48:13. > :48:19.it down. This is what they do. They kind of flick it before swallowing
:48:19. > :48:23.it. It looks like it's about to sink. It was like a submarine.
:48:24. > :48:29.Astonishing. You see more of them this time of year, they'll come
:48:29. > :48:32.inland. I see a lot locally around me, making the fishermen annoyed!
:48:32. > :48:37.As well as that we have seen something else quite close to us
:48:37. > :48:41.and we have called this banana seals.
:48:41. > :48:46.It's very close to us. Here is a common seal. They get into this
:48:46. > :48:52.characteristic. That's classic. can see why they're banana seals.
:48:52. > :48:56.They do that. Another one coming up. Look at it!
:48:56. > :49:00.Beautiful balance. It looks impossible, doesn't it? Fantastic
:49:00. > :49:03.that they do that. There is a reason they do that. This time of
:49:03. > :49:06.year they're moulting. They haven't so much fur, they're not so well
:49:06. > :49:13.insulated. They have to keep out of the water and keep nice and warm
:49:13. > :49:17.until the fur comes back. Very important for them. They go to that
:49:17. > :49:20.lovely banana. The coast is a great time at the moment to visit the
:49:20. > :49:24.coast, because there tend to be less people around which gives you
:49:24. > :49:30.a perfect opportunity to really appreciate the wildlife, the beauty,
:49:30. > :49:39.and the space. In some areas true autumn spectacles. Cameraman rich
:49:39. > :49:49.art Taylor -- Richard Taylor Jones went to Snettisham to bring us back
:49:49. > :49:53.
:49:53. > :50:03.In this 24-hour world, we all need space.
:50:03. > :50:12.
:50:12. > :50:22.Another way of feeling alive. Snettisham, a landscape defined by
:50:22. > :50:22.
:50:22. > :50:32.space. A vast estuary. Rivers meeting the
:50:32. > :50:42.
:50:42. > :50:48.Much of it washed down through channels cut by human hand.
:50:48. > :50:58.Across this pancake place autumn arrives. Thousands of birds,
:50:58. > :51:03.
:51:03. > :51:13.parcels of determination, travelled, fasted and spent. Turnstone, avocet
:51:13. > :51:14.
:51:14. > :51:24.and so many more. And not prods and probes. Hunger
:51:24. > :51:26.
:51:26. > :51:36.and hope. For this seemingly empty space, is full, but full of what?
:51:36. > :51:37.
:51:37. > :51:47.People here can show us the answer. They too visit this expans. And
:51:47. > :51:59.
:51:59. > :52:09.explore this space for food. An ancient art practised by few.
:52:09. > :52:10.
:52:10. > :52:16.Cockles, an autumn harvest. Good food for birds and people alike.
:52:16. > :52:26.Stranded, the cockles, the boat, wait for water to return and feed
:52:26. > :52:38.
:52:38. > :52:48.As the tide pushes higher up the estuary, the space changes.
:52:48. > :52:58.
:52:58. > :53:05.The restaurant is closed. Overrun by the sea, birds hustle
:53:05. > :53:15.and hurry to escape the incoming flood.
:53:15. > :53:29.
:53:29. > :53:34.A fury of wings, a knot of twists and turns.
:53:34. > :53:44.A wall of sound. But where can they go to find the
:53:44. > :53:48.
:53:48. > :53:53.space to rest? Here. Water has yet to meet the end
:53:53. > :54:03.of the estuary. An abandoned monument to industry marks the
:54:03. > :54:12.
:54:12. > :54:18.place. And it's here on tiny islands that
:54:18. > :54:23.the feathered mass gathers, hoping to be safe in this place with so
:54:23. > :54:30.little space. Squashed and squeezed on to parcels
:54:30. > :54:39.of land, the flocks make for an uncomfortable beauty. Where an
:54:39. > :54:49.anxious autumn ballet is performed. Anxious for good reason. Delicate
:54:49. > :55:22.
:55:22. > :55:31.Hunted and hungry, the moment the They race back to space. Because in
:55:31. > :55:41.their shrinking and expanding world of time and tide, they need space.
:55:41. > :55:43.
:55:43. > :55:47.We all need space. Beautiful pictures. Absolutely
:55:47. > :55:52.stunning. With the light behind them blurring in that line and then
:55:52. > :56:00.that rolling thunder of all those birds. Fantastic. Knots are
:56:00. > :56:05.migrants, of course. It's been a great week for migration. A desert
:56:05. > :56:10.wheat here has shown up in Essex and Charlie Oliver has told us it's
:56:10. > :56:15.the third one in 100 years. Lots down there enjoying that. I have
:56:16. > :56:21.something to show you you might be interested in, this was sent in
:56:21. > :56:27.from John. Look at this. This is quite astonishing. These are blue
:56:27. > :56:35.tits. What are they doing? Well, they're leaving Sweden! They're all
:56:35. > :56:40.coming out of that bush. Maybe it's Abba! No, seriously, you don't
:56:40. > :56:45.normally see large flocks of blue tits like this on the move. Quite
:56:45. > :56:49.clearly, this could tie in with the bramblings, the failing of the crop.
:56:49. > :56:55.Some have been seen on Scottish islands in the last few days where
:56:55. > :57:02.they've never normally recorded, it it could be those very blue tit
:57:02. > :57:06.circumstances. -- tits. These are migrant thrushes. Here is a redwing
:57:06. > :57:13.feeding on berries. The berries, the wild berries and the berries in
:57:13. > :57:17.our gardens are extremely important to these birds. They're trying to
:57:17. > :57:20.find out how important the berries we grow in our gardens are for them
:57:20. > :57:30.and they would like your help in identifying that. If you go to our
:57:30. > :57:34.Go on to the birds and berries survey, you can help find out how
:57:34. > :57:39.important the berries in your garden are to migrant birds. One
:57:39. > :57:43.other thing, when you are on the website you can download the quiz.
:57:43. > :57:48.Tomorrow we are having a quiz. You can join in and download the paper
:57:48. > :57:53.and put your answers on it from now. Get downloading that quiz. Madness
:57:53. > :57:57.and mayhem with Unsprung. We have come to the end of the show.
:57:57. > :58:03.have. Tomorrow I shall be going to Newport to meet some delightful
:58:03. > :58:09.hedgehogs in a man's back garden in suburbia. Will Lucius make a
:58:09. > :58:13.comeback? Or is it Cassius year to be monarch of the Glen? We will
:58:13. > :58:20.look at how some creatures are preparing for winter. In this case
:58:20. > :58:24.by changing colour. Gorgeous. After this there is another - an owl-
:58:24. > :58:30.prowl and you will help out there. The cameras are live 24 hours a day.