Episode 2 Autumnwatch

A The deer are in rut and we will be showing you more of them later. And

I am about to set sail to try to find one of the UK's most elusive

birds. So all aboard - it's Autumnwatch!

Yes, hello and welcome to Autumnwatch 2013. It is our second

programme from the wonderful RSPB Leighton Moss reserve in the

north-west. It is a fabulous reserve. 23 square kilometres, a

great mix of habitats. Here we are looking don on it from the limestone

crags. Our theme this year is migration. We have seen plentiest

plenty of it. These oyster-catchers are wheeling in the sky and plenty

of others already. The thing that strikes me about migration, it is

still mysterious and it is very interesting, but it just looks

great. All those swirling birds. You can just enjoy the moment. We have

cameras all over the reserve and around Morecambe Bay and look into

the lives of elusive animals. We have already seen some really

interesting behaviour. We showed you some last night from the otters here

and in case something else happens with them, we have put up a live

otter cam and you can see... Oh look, we have a Herron on the otter

cam. And what is interesting is that bird is feeding in darkness. This is

an infrared cam RSPCA it is pitch black and the bird, it picked up

some food and then wetted it before it swallowed it. How can it fish in

the dark? There is a question. Because I have never seen them

feeding in the dark. Maybe their eyes are adapted to see in low

light, a bit like owls. You would be able to explore that by looking at

the eye to see which type of cells are there. When it was picking up

the food, it was doing it with accuracy. So it can see well. Later,

maybe we will get you an otter. Now as we have said, the deer are not

rutting, but they have certainly been swimming. This may take you by

surprise, but they're actually very good swimmers and this beautiful

stag has been in for a bathe and what do they do when they get wet?

They shake themselves dry! It is a fantastic shot. We have not only

been watching the deer in the night, but using another type of camera, a

thermal camera to look at these animals at night. This is filmed in

pitch black. This is our larger stag, we are calling our 14-pointer,

on account of the points on his antler. He has a bit of a limp. He

attending his haar recommend -- what recommend -- harem of hinds. We have

been seeing that there is no rut. Would that suggest that maybe the

rut's already happened? Well, historically they do rut earlier

than this period here at Leighton Moss and it has been an unusual

season there has been a massive amount of acorns. Where I am there

is masses of acorn. This has spread the deer out and we think there was

less conflict in this area. But there are plenty of other males out

there. We have seen these couple of young males active out in the fields

and they do spend the day on the Moss among the reeds. At night, they

come into the open. These two are not rutting. This is a couple of

young animals learning what antlers are about. They are locking together

with those individual prongs. I think we are probably postruting and

that animal has already serviced the hinds and so they will produce more

deer next year. We will keep an eye opt one with the limp. Yes. They're

elusive, because they're well dispersed across the reserve. We

have dispersed Martin to another part of the reserve. But you know

that boat he went in, I didn't realise it was that one. I made a

bit of a hole. Shame! Thank you very much. Well we have bunged the hole.

If you were to come here to Leyton Moss to the reserve you would find

the whole place is covered in tracks, paths and walk ways through

the actual reserve. If you want to get to the beating heart of this

reserve, I think you have got to come out like we are on a boat. We

are right out in the reed beds now. It is quite dark. We will come back.

We are going to try an experiment. But first let's look what it looks

like during the day. Here I am actually out in the lake,

right out in the dyke. And the main dyke that I'm rowing on, trying to

row on! Goes out behind me and goes all the way to the sea. That is the

main drainage dyke. There is dykes on either side that are draining the

fields. Here are all the reeds and in them will be flocks of starlings

at night. The bearded tits will be there. And if we were really lucky,

this is fresh water, it is full of fish and that of course is why the

otters are here too. The abundance of fish attracts herons. Cormorants

come here to feast. Egrets also visit in the hope of an easy meal.

In the shallows water fowl make use of the rich fertile mud, full of

weeds and animals. And all under the watchful eyes of marsh harriers,

eager to pounce on unsuspecting prey. This watery world is alive

with activity. It is fascinating to see Leighton Moss, I'm out in the

middle of the reserve on a stormy evening. Very nice. I could sit here

and soak it up. Right. Well it is all quiet now. We

can have a little audio adventure. We are going to try to talk to a

bird, a very shy bird that is the out we hope here in the rushes. It

is the water rail. This bird was a star of Springwatch, a beautiful

bird, a real reed specialist. When we saw it it had a nest and chicks

under it as well. Beautiful chicks. I have lost the picture, I can't see

it! Any way that was a water rail. There are water rail around us here.

We know they're in the reserve. With the help of Gary, we have got a

special microphone that can listen for the sound of them. But we have

got to make them call back us to and that is what I'm going to try to do

and play the sound of the water rail and see if they call back. But why

would a water rail call to us? They're very territorial. They're

territorial when they're nesting, but now they call. It is called

charming. It is a nice like grunt, grunt, piglet squeal grunt! So we

have got to listen for piglet squeals. I'm going to use this to

play the sound. Are you ready, Gary? Give it a try. Here we go. Nothing.

Come on. SOUND OF WATER RAIL. Is it behind us? I will try it once

again just quickly. Drat did that sound pig-like to you?

Keep listening, let us know if we can. We know they're out there and

there are resident water rails here, but there are migratory ones that

come from as far as Russia. Their wings are tiny, but they change gear

and they can fly in. So we are here, we are trying to find birds that

have arrived. We got it. I can't believe it. We got it. OK, we will

carry on trying. That was one for real! I never dreamt we would. We

are listening for birds that have arrived and we have been out to find

a bird that is about to make a dramatic departure. I've come to a

small island off the South West coast of Wales. I'm hoping to

witness one of the most spectacular vents, the -- events, the mass

fledgling of a amazing bird. A third of the Manx Shearwater population

come here to breed. The adults have left. But what about the chicks? It

may be hard to believe, but there could be as many as 200,000 Manx

Shearwater chicks at this very moment. They're underground in the

burrows. The reason they say out of day, is because of the large gulls

patrolling the skies. To find out more, I'm meeting with my old friend

Tim, who has dedicated his life to studying these birds. It is like

Swiss cheese. Tim tracked several adult shear waters to pat Goan ya --

Patagonia. A journey of 7,000 thousand miles. How old is this one?

I think he is about 65 days. He or she is just starting to lose the

remains of the down. His parents will have stopped feeding this bird

and abandoned it and hopefully he has enough fat reserves to make the

flight to South America. Many birds follow their parents, but this one

will have to navigate to the far side of the globe alone. After the

chick has been ringed and weighed, Tim carefully returns it to its

burrow. It is late afternoon and the island is quiet. It is amazing to

think just beneath my feed -- feet are thousands of hungry chicks

waiting for the right conditions to leave. These chicks fledge over

several nights. According to Tim, tonight is the night when it comes

to a head. There is very little moon. So it will be very dark. They

need this darkness to get off the island safely. Because they require

the darkness, we won't be using torches, but using night vision.

Timis taking -- Timis taking me to one of the highest points of island.

It looked like I timed my visit to perfection. They are coming out.

Look at that! Minute by minute, more and more emerged from underground.

Since the adults left, the youngsters have been burning off

their fat and developing their wing muscles. They are ready for their

maiden flight. They need to get as high as possible to give them the

best chance of making it off the island. A lot of birds climb up the

rocks. You have actually got one on your head. I have never seen

somebody look quite so foolish! Clearly ACS not as a threat but as

an extension of the rock face. -- clearly they see us . First time I

have ever been a climbing frame, it is a unique experience. Stop

squabbling. Go on, up you go. Be gentle. With this modern camera

technology it is easy to forget that neither we nor the shearwaters can't

see anything at all but they are making their presence felt. This one

has got very sharp claws. That is better. You have got more hair than

I have. They are quite argumentative. The whole purpose of

this is for these birds to gain height, to try to get the best

possible vantage point for launching themselves off. They have to clear

the vegetation, the rock, the breakers, to get out to the open sea

before first light. If they can do that they have got a chance for

survival. It is a huge transition for them, isn't it? It is. They will

come back to breed in five years time, most of them, the ones that

survive. For the next hour the procession of ego shearwaters stream

over our bodies and take the plunge. -- eager. It may be a surreal

experience for me but it is a crucial moment in the lives of these

young birds. This might look quite comical but

these are remarkable birds, leaving their burrows for the first time,

launching themselves off out into the open ocean, they have no map,

nobody to guide them, yet they will make it all the way down to southern

Argentina. There goes one now. It is an amazing journey, for a remarkable

word. Bird. That is a really harsh launch into

independence. Imagine they were teenagers, left at home on their

own, no food, not even a forwarding address and they are expected to get

out in the middle of the night and throughout thousands of miles

without any parental guidance. That is what happened to me, I

bought myself a microwave. They are out there now, somewhere in the

Atlantic, in the dark, in the sea. Can you imagine there's little birds

out there? It is still a bit of a mystery where they go.

It is thought they follow their parents and go to Brazil and

Argentina. It is also thought they do not stop to feed, they go all

that way on their reserve of fact. Incredible. That is like not eating

all the way to shop for the microwave. Last night we launched

our MigrationWatch in conjunction with the RSPB and ask you to look

out for three types of birds, Red Wings, bramblings and waxwings full.

We have had reports from the strangest of places. We have got one

on an oil platform. And somebody else works here. This is the album

break and he has been spotting redwings. -- Alba oil rig. We have

got a map here. We have got the oil rigs out here, 130 miles into the

North Sea. They are like our early warning system. A ramp the coast we

have got our bird observatory 's -- around the coast. At spurn head, 92

hoop this once. -- Cooper is ones. -- Hooper swans. Each one of these

dots represent a different species. The yellow one is the waxwing. One

of the spotted off the coast of Scotland. Another in the East

Midlands, and the black ones, these are bramblings. These have moved

inland already. They have moved away from the coast. Lastly, the

redwings. They are all the way down into the West Country. They have

found one in Ireland as well. Keep your spotting is coming in. --

sightings. By the end of the week we would like

to see a lot more reports. You know the storm has slowed a lot

of them up? Does that mean in a few days time we will get masses of them

and it will be a real article? We are thinking towards the end of the

week. -- a real spectacle. The smaller birds will just wait. Then

all of a sudden you get a full of them. They appear to drop out of the

sky. That can be very exciting if conditions persist. The great week

for bird-watchers. It is not just birds which migrate. Many other

animals do including fish. For some fish the north-west is a hotspot. A

couple of days ago one of our cameramen went to film on the River

Kent. He was filming this lovely scenic shot when suddenly he spotted

this. If you look closely, there is a salmon. They are migrating

upstream. They have come from the North Atlantic, they have gone

through the Irish Sea, into the river through Morecambe Bay. They

have huge obstacles to cross. Just like the Manx shearwater they do

that River migration without eating. Amazing. Why would you do all of

that? You have got to have a good reason. They have gone there to

breed. This is what it is all about, they go all the way up to the

shallows. Here they form what is called a read. They are using the

tales to move the pedals so they create a shallow depression --

pebbles. The females deposit the eggs and the males fertilise them.

There is plenty of water flowing through to keep the eggs well

oxygenated and they lay lots of egg. -- eggs. One of the things we

have spotted on the river is this. Whether they take salmon eggs I am

not entirely sure, I wouldn't put it past them. One bird that takes

salmon fry, developing fish, is this, designed, a lovely bird, a

female. It appears beneath the surface looking out for its prey. It

will dive down and catch fish. It has got is rated edge to its peak so

it doesn't the grip. -- a so rated edge to its beak. Sometimes they

make it back, but sometimes they get a second chance and breed again.

Once they have hatched they stay in the river for two years, it go

through a transformation. At that point they need to go from the

freshwater, back to the sea water so they migrate back again. They do

that through Morecambe Bay. Morecambe Bay is a remarkable place

for wildlife, not just the salmon, but the wading birds as well. A

couple of days ago I took my binoculars down there to really

enjoyed the spectacle. -- enjoyed. Morecambe Bay is a magnet for wading

birds from all over the world. Local ornithologist Pete Marsh is on hand

to help me identify a few of the more common species. Oyster catchers

are fairly easy, black and white, red eye, read beak. -- red. You may

get one from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, North Scotland, and maybe

one from the local river valleys. They will all get together in one

flock at winter. The large tidal range at Morecambe exposes a vast

mud off a. -- buffet. The grey and white birds, the big spectacle is

when they get together. About 5500. 5500 birds in the sky doing their

beautiful bird ballet. A beautiful spectacle but not one of

nature 's most magnificent migratory machines. In the winter time they

all move south. But where do ours come from? They start their summer

in northern Canada, but when they start to move their go across to

Greenland, some will stop in Iceland, and then they come down to

the north-west covering this great distance. If I get read of a shred

of this line, another group come from here, they pass through the UK,

but they go down to Spain and Africa, and some of these go all the

way down to South Africa. Even these are not the champions. The North

American ones will come from the top of Canada, all the way down to the

Caribbean, down to Argentina, and in the spring they go back up here to

Delaware Bay before going back again. One of these make this

journey in six days and six nights, 5000 miles, nonstop, in six days and

six nights. One of these birds is 20 years old, it has been doing this

journey, 16,500 miles every year, it has been doing it for 20 years, it

has gone to the moon and halfway back. Unbelievable, they must be so

fit. These little grey birds you were disparaging of. I love the way

they flash. I love the murmuration. Mark has been on a slightly less

epic journey. He has risked life and limb. Maybe just a pair of white

socks. It is pretty epic out here. We were trying to see whether we

could get the water rails to call back to us. We had about five. It

does work. Gary has pointed out this isn't just for fun, the RSPB to

monitor them like this during the summer, they are to be is to know

whether it would work monitoring them in autumn as well. We will

report back to them. We will try it one more time. Let's go for the

piglike sound. Have I rewound it the wrong way? I

have got the pause button on. This is live television X commission Mark

Bash! Well we have been waiting we have

heard a whole lot of different sounds, things like this. You

probably heard that cute. -- coot. We have heard this. Coot We have

heard this sound and a lot of you have been hearing this. A Tawney

owl. Now this sound. A harsh sound. We heard that over there. Very

harsh. And believe it or not, we have heard this. Red deer. But a

sound we haven't heard is much more subtle. It's this. Kind of a

Wittering sound. What do you think might be out here making that sound?

Well we have got pictures of what made that sound. Yes that is an

otter. This is a young otter. We filmed this. It is obviously

slightly worried about something. Here comes the other otter and it

slaps it in the face. We think that is the first time that behaviour has

been seen. It is a kind of aggression. It is an adult on the

left and a youngster, probably related on the right. It is UK

Wittering -- it is Wittering all the time. The adult is feeding and it is

huffing. You can hear it huffing. Remarkable close up pictures. The

youngster still do that wickering. We think they must be related,

because otters can be very aggressive to one another. This one

is nervous. It wants to move in and feed. Extraordinary sound. And now

it moves off. To the right. And then watch what happens on the left. Here

is the adult still feeding. Here is something. More wickering. And

another otter. That is three otters. Again it doesn't attack it. It runs

away and now the two youngsters start to play here. Now the otters

are just over there. They're not very far away tr me. That is where

the otter camp is. That tail-slapping, we think that has

never been seen before. No one has seen that. We will continue to get

as many picture as we can. Chris, ever seen that before? I have never

seen that and I have never heard it. Listening to the vocalisations that

the otterses were making was extraordinary. This is a radio

tracking device attached to a collar. When I was a teenager I

would have given anything for one of these, my first snog, my ticket to

the first Clash gig. These let you know where an animal is. This is

state of the art and this gives us a fix on the animal wearing it in real

time. So you can sit there with your tablet in the dry looking where the

animal is. What better animal then for - therefore than to put this on

the urban fox. We need to learn more about it so we can learn to live

with it. Dr Dawn Scott from Brighton University is doing just that. To

understand how the 21st Century fox is adapting to her urban

environment, Dawn Scott is heading into the inner city part of

Brighton. It is a great area for them. There is loads of takeaways

and places they can get food. They coming and eating what people have

left behind. I am sure there is food there in the middle of the night. To

get a more complete picture of what is happening, Dawn's colleague is in

the more open outskirts of Hove. This is quite a suburban area. There

are nice big houses and quite a lot of space. The plan is to catch and

collar two fox families to find out how they're adapting to these

contrasting environments. They have already set up the traps. So the

foxes get used to them. Now, to bait them. Can I come into your house. We

will set this. It is about 6 o'clock at night and we will check it in six

hours and then again in six hours. So we are Ute at -- out at midnight

and again at 6 in the morning. It seems spin, but we know -- it seems

simple, but we know how cunning foxes can be. Time to check the

traps. We have a fox. We have a fox. Fantastic. Let's get the blanket and

get it covered. It looks like a large adult male. So hopefully it is

the dominant male of the area. You're a big lad. I think he is

going to be a hefty fox. By collaring this large male, Dawn

hopes to establish his range, his feeding habits and how he interacts

with other foxes. Behaviour that is impossible to see first hand. She

hopes this will help her understand how urban foxes and humans can

coexist. This is one of the new detection collars. This will be a

red band. The red is to tr inner city foxes. If we get a female, we

will do red and another colour. This is the inner city red fox.

This is the fist time this state of the art tracking technology has been

used on any British animal. So this one in a male it going to be

called silver. Once his matterment -- measurements have been taken,

Silver is put back in the holding cage and given an anti-sedative. In

this built up environment, Dawn is cautious. We want to make sure that

he is not drowsy. We don't want him make up and run into a road or run

into a wall and get injured. He has to be fully awake before we let him

go. What we will be able to do is find out where he goes and when

using the GPS in the collar and the detection system we will be able to

find out which gardens he goes into and how long he spends in there. 40

minutes later and it is time to let T silver -- to let Silver go. They

aim to collar another seven foxes. We are going to follow the lives of

the animals through winter and into spring to allow us to present a more

detailed picture of urban foxes than we have ever been able to before.

Fantastic. I'm so excited about this project. For a couple of reasons.

First the technology, which is Astoningly -- astonishingly good and

we are going to put the collars can on some more fox and follow them all

the way through Autumnwatch and through Winter Watch and into

Springwatch and so we should get to know them all. The more we learn,

the better we will be able to live with these animals. Now the theme

this searry -- searies is -- see Rhys is migration. You have sent in

some picture. Here are some waders. Would make a good jigsaw. Give it to

your grandmother at Christmas, you won't here from her until August.

This is migrating godwins. And Paul sent this of pink-footed geese.

Thank you for all those. Keep sending them in and go to the

web-site if you want to know about things to do. Put your post code in

and it will give you ideas, including places to go to see

migrating birds. Now, I have often said all birds are equal, but some

are more equal than others. Some are just a bit more special. Martin has

been missing out on one of these special birds that is a specialist

of these reed beds, so I took him out the other morning to make his

dreams come true. I like this environment. You call

them rushes or reeds. I call them reeds, at this time of year the

seeds are very important for one very special species, the bearded

reedling. Or bearded tit. Called the bearded tit, but they're not a

member of the tit family. They're a member of the parrot bill. Might we

see one? This is one of the best places to see them and today I feel

confident. They're so good. Brace yourself. Is it what I think it

might be. You're going to get very excited. Oh no clam Look at that! A

male. They are so xatic. How can people say British burpeds are

Dowdy. Look at that. It looks like a lady whose Mascara has run. Why are

they picking up bits of grit. At this time of year, they're switching

their diet from insects to feeding on seeds. To aid the process,

they're taking grit into their guess ard to -- gizzard to help grinned up

the -- grind up the seeds. They're quite vocal and they can be more an

may wanted. They are not -- and more animated. Sometimes if there is a

sufficient number of birds and they have had a good breeding season,

they go through an eare uptive -- eruptive of movement. They fly all

looking for more reeds, a portion of group and sometimes they will go

great distances. They are partial migrants. We heard a funny, was that

the pinging sound? The zinging, pinging call. Many times you can't

see them, all you hear is this ping, ping call. I need that to keep in

contact with each other. They can't see each other. It is a contact call

and they do cantally -- continually. If you hear ping, ping. It is less

electronic than that. More of a zing, zing sound. That sounds more

electronic. But I know what you mean, mate. I had an inkling we

might see a bearded tit today. So I wear this shirt and this top.

Because it was the closest colours I could get. I was going to put some

black down there as well. You have gone a bit droopy. It passed me by.

I should have paid attention. I feel a fool now. I have come as like a

water rail. A bit water railish. I'm bearded reedling. I have got the

wrong gear on? What do you think? 7.9. It maybe the excitement of

seeing it for the first time. But the beauty and the shading of the

colours with the grey nape. We must finish there. You have wrapped that

up beautifully. Thank you for my early morning treat. Oh, it was

good. Where is he? Martin? Have you survived? How was Das Boot. You have

got it. I never dreamt they would call back. I said I was talking

about life tick. What is a life tick. It is when you see for the

first time in your life a particular bird. That is a live tick. What I do

it get my bird book. Here it is. This what is I have done. Here is

the bearded tit and I have given it a tick. In the autumn of my years, I

will think back to the golden days when I was birding and met you. I

don't want to be a prophet of doom, but this could be the autumn of your

years. Stop! I came themed as a bird. I will give you one guess.

Megan skshgs a. -- Meganza. A lot of birds had rippings on their legs. I

that has enabled us to identify individuals. This the work of John

Wilson. This is a female. And this is a young male. Purple over blue.

And they are a pair. They mate for life. Here they are. The young

female and the young male. Love's young dream. They will remain

together. This is the oldest beard tit on the reserve. She is four. She

was ringed in 2009. And she actually had a partner in the first year of

her life, a male. And he died. But this is her new partner. Was that a

Sparrow hawk, mate? This is her new partner and they have been together

for three years now and they have probably. Probably this will be the

last year. Not because of the Sparrow hawk. They're in the autumn

of their years. We know all the individual tits and their life

history. You have been quite interested. -- Intrepid. You went to

getting windswept on the beach with something rather blubbery. I have

come to the north side of Morecambe Bay to Walney Island on a wild and

windy day to see a rather unusual group of visitors. This group of

seals has been growing steadily over the past few years. It is thought

they originated from a breeding colony on the Isle of Man 66 miles

away. Each individual seal can be identified by markings. In the last

two years scientists have been trying to work out just what they

are doing here. This is very curious, what is happening on this

beach. These seals, grey seals, you can tell that because it was a

straight line between the top of their head and the end of their

nose. This time of year, we would expect them to be breeding, there

would be pups on this beach. But there are no pups at all. What there

are are some great big old balls, but many more youngsters. -- bulls.

This is a sign of a teenage get-together. The youngsters have

come to this beach to learn how to be grey seals, the males are

squabbling, play fighting, and there is a bit of flirtation going on

between the young males and the young females. And the big old

bulls, I think they are too old to breed, they have come here to relax

and keep a fatherly eye on the youngsters. The Latin name for the

grey seal mains hook nosed sea pig. Mail grey seals don't get the chance

to breed until they are ten years old. This playground sparring will

give these youngsters the skills they need for later in life when

they will fight for real, to then the chance to make. Thereafter to

teenage lads, and that big old bull giving them some tips on etiquette.

It is delightful to see the youngsters frolicking around in the

surf. Is there anything more relaxed and relaxing than a sleepy grey

seal? A blubbery seal. It was all very

dental while I was there but after I left the cameramen stared it got a

bit rougher -- very gentle. There is a female, she starts it. Look at

that. She knows she started that. Look at

her. Just a notch and a look. -- nonchalant. The reason they are

fighting is they are thinking about mating with that female. The female

comes ashore to do two things, also to give birth. At this time of

year, 45% of the worlds population of grey seals give birth to 41,000

pups around the UK. They come clad in this remarkable whitecoat --

white coat. You might wonder why they are not camouflaged? We think

it is so the males who get so charged up when they are fighting

one another to fight with females, don't wrestle with the Cubs, so they

stick out like sore thumbs. Other than that it could be they were

further north giving birth on ice where they would have been

camouflaged. We have got this picture of a grey seal pup born

today. Excuse me! Some wildlife in the studio! Why do grey seals breed

at this time of year? You would have thought spring would be better? When

they come ashore they do not feed, they do not return to the sea. They

are fasting. In order to take on enough weight they have to do that

in the summer when there are food is interval -- when their food is

plentiful. It is tough for the pups, but it suits the adults. So I have a

quick look around the live camera. -- shall we have. The heroine is

still there. It is difficult to realise it is so dark. How did it

know that was there. We may see a lot of before the end of the show.

We can only bring you the best of British wildlife because we have got

fantastic wildlife cameramen who are passionate about their subjects. One

of the best in the business is Jon Aitchison. He has filmed all over

the world for programmes you have no doubt seen, Frozen Planet. Ask him

where the best place to film wildlife and he says it is at home

on the West Coast of Scotland, at the beginning of autumn.

I have lived here a long time now. I love it here so much, for the

inspiration. The fact the seasons change so visibly, almost

day-to-day, especially in the autumn. It gives me some sort of

anchor in the year, I know where I am.

Sometimes the autumn can be so pure and still, we get these incredible

mornings when the sea is calm, the sun rises, everything is perfect. It

is like a little reminder of what the summer is like before the winter

comes. The first of the leaves are changing

colour already. The last of the butterflies soaking up a bit of

warmth from the rocks. In the tree the Robins are starting to sink

their autumn song, they are territorial, the only birds that

sing in the autumn. There is a constant sense of movement, you can

see in the sky clouds are moving, the wind is moving, the is changing.

-- the temperature is changing. The autumn is properly established when

the swallows start to gather on the wire like this. The young swallows

stay in family groups when they leave the nest. It is a nice high

place where the adults can find them easily, the adults are flying all

the time searching for food. The young birds see them coming, and

start calling. The young swallows, they have got to feed up, got to be

ready for that gigantic, risky, unknown journey across the Sahara

anti-South Africa. -- down to South Africa. They have got to practice

flying and the adults encouraged them, they view them off the wires.

-- lure. There are just some mornings when the birds line-up like

this, there is just a sense that the journey might start any minute.

Here is the group of swallows, the adults calling to the young birds,

and they go into the upper space, the space where they are just little

dots from the ground. And they are going out over the sea, that is them

leaving Scotland and heading south. It is migration beginning.

It is such a time of change. When the wind starts to switch around, a

northerly wind sends the swallows north and brings the geese. You

never know when they will come. I love it when the geese come. I

hear them before I see them, usually. The sound of the mornings

when the geese go over the house, it is a wonderful time.

They are from the Arctic, they nest in Greenland. They only stop in

Iceland, the only place on the weight varies. -- there is. -- on

the way that never is. They followed the young birds on this evil is not

the first land they see after Iceland is here. -- and the first

land they see. We are just lucky in Britain that we

get these two lots of migrants. We share them with Greenland for the

geese, and we share the swallows with the Africans. It is a global

thing. It is absolutely beautiful to see

wildlife through the eyes of a cameraman who is passionate about

the area he is filming. Take a look at this.

We spotted this two-day, here, at Leighton Moss. It is a hummingbird

hawk moth, and migrant from further south in Europe, that reads as it

moves up to the north of Europe -- that breeds. Stunning. Sadly, we are

coming to the end of our programme. We have been quite good. Getting

those water rails, very good! What have we got tomorrow? I am going

down to Brighton to meet the team researching these urban foxes to see

just how good the high-tech collars. I meet a man doing remarkable

research to try to help our beleaguered freshwater eels. And

cameraman Jon Aitchison continues to bring is the beauty of wildlife in

Scotland. That is it from Autumnwatch but if you want more

stick around. Switch over to the Red Button or you can go online and you

can seem it bacon with Autumnwatch extra. -- Nick Baker. We will be

back from the beautiful Leighton Moss tomorrow. No doubt you will be

interested. We have major into that now. -- Intrepid. We have made you

into that. See you tomorrow. Goodbye.