:00:00. > :00:13.It is our last show, what a shame. It has gone so quickly. It has been
:00:14. > :00:16.an amazing autumn, full of colour, a cast of characters and a wonderful
:00:17. > :00:23.collection of creatures. But it's not over yet. So, rather like a
:00:24. > :00:27.kestrel around your television set because we are about to bring you
:00:28. > :00:52.the very best of British seasonal wildlife. It's Autumnwatch!
:00:53. > :01:00.Yes, hello and welcome to the final programme of 2016's Autumnwatch from
:01:01. > :01:07.the wonderful RSPB reserve here at Arne. A fabulous week and a fabulous
:01:08. > :01:11.morning as well. We got up early and when the sun came up it was
:01:12. > :01:17.gorgeous. A bit misty, one of the Stags in the mist. This has been the
:01:18. > :01:20.week when the fungal fruiting bodies, the toadstools and so on,
:01:21. > :01:25.have come out in force and there is a tremendous variety. In fact there
:01:26. > :01:34.are probably 1 million species around the world, 17,000 in the UK.
:01:35. > :01:37.They come with some fantastic names. This is flyer Garrick, a fairy tale
:01:38. > :01:46.mushroom and there is another one called the which's egg. Perhaps my
:01:47. > :01:56.favourite, the Wolf fight Puffball. Presumably it smells like a wolf.
:01:57. > :01:59.Have you ever eaten a parasol mushroom? I haven't, I like seeing
:02:00. > :02:04.them standing in the woods but I can't bring myself to eat them. I
:02:05. > :02:09.used to pick the blue ones and they are one of the only purple coloured
:02:10. > :02:15.foods that people regularly eat. Do you see a little fairy sitting on
:02:16. > :02:17.top of one of them? OK, moving on! This week we have been peering into
:02:18. > :02:26.the darkness with our special thermal camera. Let's go live now.
:02:27. > :02:31.We have deer here. What's exciting about the camera, you never know
:02:32. > :02:37.what you are going to see. There is a stag, you can just see the
:02:38. > :02:41.antlers. If anything particularly exciting happens, we will bring it
:02:42. > :02:46.to you as it happens. They were meeting last night. Indeed come
:02:47. > :02:50.Meeting! We will give you the finale of the Mouse Maze. We have been
:02:51. > :02:53.testing out the Arne mice, they have been challenged and now the tiny
:02:54. > :02:58.mice are vertically challenged, so to speak. This is the maze live. We
:02:59. > :03:04.have flipped it to the vertical position. Nothing in there now but
:03:05. > :03:07.plenty of action and later we will give you the results of whether our
:03:08. > :03:12.mice managed to crack the vertical maze or not. Also there is about 15
:03:13. > :03:19.minutes for you to vote on the name of our eagle. In the spring what's
:03:20. > :03:23.we followed this lovely bird in its nest -- Springwatch. It has been
:03:24. > :03:27.fitted with a tag and we will follow it for as long as it lasts, maybe up
:03:28. > :03:33.to six years. You have a chance to name it, we have Hermione, Freya and
:03:34. > :03:38.Highlander. The details on the 15 minutes left. Our cameramen have
:03:39. > :03:44.been out and about around Arne and it is one of the most spectacularly
:03:45. > :03:48.beautiful places we visited. This is the lowland heath, one of the
:03:49. > :03:55.important habitats here. Low-lying heather. One of the key things is
:03:56. > :03:58.the water, a lot of water bodies providing food for beautiful birds
:03:59. > :04:05.like this kingfisher, this hungry kingfisher. He's going to go down. I
:04:06. > :04:11.think he missed. There are many berries and nuts. We've been
:04:12. > :04:17.watching animals feasting on these berries and nuts. Of course it is
:04:18. > :04:22.the water bodies that are the key to Arne. All of the waders come here,
:04:23. > :04:28.it is a magnet for them. Providing food. Will the kingfisher get
:04:29. > :04:32.something this time? Yes! He got something at last, a little fish.
:04:33. > :04:37.You never tire of watching the kingfisher fishing. They are
:04:38. > :04:43.beautiful. I'm going to go! You are off! To keep this habitat commit
:04:44. > :04:53.this mosaic, the RSPB must work very hard. Ooh! Live wildlife! The RSPB
:04:54. > :04:58.must work very hard, volunteers and staff but they have started
:04:59. > :05:02.employing a brand-new very exciting to to try to keep the mosaic going
:05:03. > :05:08.and I'm going to go and meet the tool! I've got a feeling he's going
:05:09. > :05:14.to get down and dirty! All week, Gillian Burke has been exploring the
:05:15. > :05:19.wildlife around Arne. Red squirrels, reptiles and some beautiful spiders.
:05:20. > :05:29.But tonight she meets some fabulous flying creatures of the night.
:05:30. > :05:42.On the eastern reaches of the Jurassic Coast, a wild peninsular.
:05:43. > :05:54.This is such a dramatic place. The real drama happens after dark. This
:05:55. > :05:58.clifftop quarry, and used by humans, was discovered to be one of the most
:05:59. > :06:05.important sites for bats in all of the UK. Incredibly, 15 of our 18
:06:06. > :06:10.resident species have been found here in the last five years. I'm
:06:11. > :06:15.joining Nick Tomlinson, who would like to know why it is such a hot
:06:16. > :06:20.spot, especially in autumn. We are going to put up this net at the top
:06:21. > :06:24.of the poles into the bottom and it acts like a barrier, so they come
:06:25. > :06:28.around the corner, this is in a corner and we have a net around the
:06:29. > :06:36.corner that they fly into. This is like a dummy net? Yes. Perfect, like
:06:37. > :06:39.a professional. Nick and his team of licensed researchers and enthusiasts
:06:40. > :06:47.must record which bats are here and why. To find out we have all sorts
:06:48. > :06:55.of technology at our disposal. Now we just have two weight. -- now we
:06:56. > :06:59.must wait. The first thing that the thermal imaging camera picks up is a
:07:00. > :07:07.roosting bat coming out of one of the caves. Sally soon picks up some
:07:08. > :07:14.calls on her high-tech bat detector. What are we hearing? It is a
:07:15. > :07:20.confusing picture. It sounds like a frog, it is actually a cricket in
:07:21. > :07:23.the background. What was that? That was the little pipistrelle, the
:07:24. > :07:30.smallest bat. It is calling. Each time you hear that it is catching
:07:31. > :07:35.its prey? It is catching its prey. It is a great sound. What's amazing
:07:36. > :07:40.is that we can't hear this, this piece of kit is converting it to
:07:41. > :07:47.help us, what would otherwise be inaudible. Exactly. The pipistrelles
:07:48. > :07:52.Zunes and ends -- pipistrelle soon ends up in the net and then the team
:07:53. > :08:00.takes down its vital statistics. 30.4. Once in the hand we can see it
:08:01. > :08:14.is an adult female who hasn't read this year. -- hasn't bred. Gorgeous
:08:15. > :08:19.little animal. That is a beauty. This is a long eared bat. They come
:08:20. > :08:25.down here to meet the opposite sex, it is basically a dating site. Speed
:08:26. > :08:30.dating! Pretty much! Like most British species, long eared bats
:08:31. > :08:35.make in the autumn. Gathering in a single place makes it easier to
:08:36. > :08:42.select the best partner -- mate in the autumn. Would you like to have a
:08:43. > :08:48.go with this one? Yes. Very gentle. My gosh, look at his ears! Isn't a
:08:49. > :08:55.fantastic, great little creature. So beautiful to see the ears. The
:08:56. > :08:59.entire time he was being processed, his ears were curled down but at the
:09:00. > :09:04.last moment they opened and he went into the darkness. Beautiful. The
:09:05. > :09:11.thermal imaging camera is picking up more and more activity. There are
:09:12. > :09:16.four bats coming into view. Chasing each other. It's incredible
:09:17. > :09:20.aerobatics. One third of British bats exhibit this behaviour, when
:09:21. > :09:32.the males show off their flying skills. We won't know which species
:09:33. > :09:39.this is until one goes into the net. It is the most numerous catch, the
:09:40. > :09:46.Natterer's bat. They can catch a spider out of the middle of a spider
:09:47. > :09:53.'s web without hitting the web. The species tally increases. This is a
:09:54. > :10:01.Bechstein's bat. Population around 2500 across the UK. There are more
:10:02. > :10:07.hot for this species. A woodland specialist. If it is a woodland
:10:08. > :10:12.species, is it a surprise to find it in the cave overlooking the sea? The
:10:13. > :10:17.fact it is here shows the power of sex because these things are
:10:18. > :10:21.probably not travelling more than one kilometre the whole summer but
:10:22. > :10:28.in the autumn they will travel over 15 kilometres of countryside to get
:10:29. > :10:35.to places like this. There he goes. Off into the darkness. In just one
:10:36. > :10:41.night we have caught 27 bats, five different species. Some of them are
:10:42. > :10:46.using the quarry to roost or fatten up for the winter. But it appears
:10:47. > :10:54.that most are coming here from far and wide to find a mate. This quarry
:10:55. > :10:56.is the biggest pick-up joint in town and one of the most important places
:10:57. > :11:07.for bats in Britain. How fantastic to see so many bats.
:11:08. > :11:13.It is a bit like speed dating at a supermarket. Getting your groceries
:11:14. > :11:19.and everything at the same time. Have you tried it? Speed dating at
:11:20. > :11:25.the supermarket? I'm only putting things straight on shelves, that's
:11:26. > :11:30.as far as I can go, I can pull a trolley but not much else. You saw
:11:31. > :11:40.that the bats were short distance migrants but at this time of year
:11:41. > :11:45.there are some long distance migrants, called Matthews years
:11:46. > :11:50.pipistrelle, and some come from Latvia and Lithuania. Some of them
:11:51. > :11:55.go 4000 kilometres. -- called Nathusius' pipistrelle. They have
:11:56. > :12:00.been found in Kent and other parts of the south-east. At this time of
:12:01. > :12:04.year, these tiny bats, they weigh around six grams, moving from that
:12:05. > :12:09.part of Europe to this to spend their winter. Incredible. Tiny
:12:10. > :12:14.animal like that. We've just been seeing some bats about 200 metres
:12:15. > :12:19.down here across the field where our thermal camera is. They are there
:12:20. > :12:26.now, look at that. Now you're going to ask me which species it is. Yeah,
:12:27. > :12:32.what species is that, Chris? The small, white distant bat! What we
:12:33. > :12:37.can do in situations like this, we can postulate what species it is
:12:38. > :12:42.determined by its behaviour, this bat is going up and down, taking
:12:43. > :12:48.insects close to the ground. It isn't a long eared bat, they can
:12:49. > :12:53.hunt in the trees, it isn't a horseshoe bat. This is a smaller
:12:54. > :12:57.species, it may be a pipistrelle, it is unlikely to be a Daubenton's bat.
:12:58. > :13:03.I'm going for a pipistrelle or Natterer's bat. If you are a bat
:13:04. > :13:08.expert and you are certain what it is, let us know. Happy to be
:13:09. > :13:14.corrected. It flew past the deer and when we arrived there was a deer
:13:15. > :13:18.right behind us. It was a snag. It was warning itself by the fire. We
:13:19. > :13:24.have a lot of live cameras around -- it was a snag. There is nothing on
:13:25. > :13:30.this camera at the moment but we have learned a lot from the Badger
:13:31. > :13:36.Camara. There two badgers around. It is near eight set. You may expect
:13:37. > :13:39.for there to be more of them but he flagged is not rich in Atlanta so
:13:40. > :13:45.you wouldn't expect many badgers around. This fox readily comes, it
:13:46. > :13:51.is a young one, from this year. It hasn't been on its own, it has a
:13:52. > :13:55.sibling too. We've seen a lot of interaction between the Badger and
:13:56. > :14:08.the Fox and the two foxes. Look at that. That is a palmay newt. It was!
:14:09. > :14:12.It is great to see this, at night they looked like white foxes but of
:14:13. > :14:18.course that is their colouring and this is a very healthy looking fox.
:14:19. > :14:23.These guys are doing very well at Arne and it is lovely to see them. I
:14:24. > :14:28.think we should rename the camera at the Fox camera because we have seen
:14:29. > :14:33.more foxes than badgers. Not a great place for badgers, though. This acid
:14:34. > :14:38.soil, not many earthworms. We have seen the badgers out in the fields
:14:39. > :14:44.where the deer are. Not the only live camera we have, we have rowboat
:14:45. > :14:46.spoony, a artificial spoonbill out there on the edges of Poole Harbour.
:14:47. > :15:03.There it is. We cannot see too much at the
:15:04. > :15:08.moment. On the wader cam... Having given me the challenge to identify a
:15:09. > :15:20.small bat from a distance, what is out there? Widgeon? Teal? I cannot
:15:21. > :15:27.see it, I am afraid. We have seen plenty more, I have to say. Here we
:15:28. > :15:32.are, this was our success, a spoonbill that has come to forage in
:15:33. > :15:41.front of our robotic spoonbill camera. Up to 60 of these will
:15:42. > :15:48.gather at Poole Harbour, the largest roost in the UK. They have started
:15:49. > :15:52.breeding again recently. With the summer we have better views and
:15:53. > :15:55.there was a host of wages. The numbers are building all the time as
:15:56. > :16:02.we move to winter, coming from various parts of Europe. They might
:16:03. > :16:08.not all stay in Poole Harbour, they might move on to other parts of the
:16:09. > :16:19.UK or Europe. It is nice to see a curlew. And a snipe. This is a
:16:20. > :16:30.fantastic thing. Becoming rarer in the UK. An extremely sensitive tip,
:16:31. > :16:34.touching the surface of the mud. It can detect pressures and it will
:16:35. > :16:39.tell it if there is any pray and it will seize it. We will be here for
:16:40. > :16:44.Winterwatch and it should be bursting at the seams with birds.
:16:45. > :16:50.Martin is finding out sometimes you need more than a tractor and digger
:16:51. > :16:57.to manage a reserve. Very true. Some get agitated when
:16:58. > :17:03.people chop down trees. I am not going to really. That is quite
:17:04. > :17:07.right, you get agitated, but habitat management is having the right trees
:17:08. > :17:12.in the right place and sadly this is the wrong tree in the wrong place.
:17:13. > :17:17.It is a pine tree and these were planted all over the reserve just
:17:18. > :17:25.after the war because we needed softwood to make pit props down
:17:26. > :17:31.coalmines. This is no good on the heath. When the trees grow up, they
:17:32. > :17:35.suffocate everything else. Down here there is nothing growing. It is
:17:36. > :17:41.completely covered in needles, debris from the trees. This should
:17:42. > :17:48.be Heather, Lola and Heather. Chopping the trees down is not so
:17:49. > :17:55.bad -- low land. To remove this, you need a lot of heavy machinery. It is
:17:56. > :18:01.difficult to get up here, very expensive and so the RSPB came up
:18:02. > :18:14.with a novel solution. Come with me. Here is the novel solution. These
:18:15. > :18:21.are pigs. They do not look like pigs because they have curly further. It
:18:22. > :18:28.is snuffling with the snout. They like a banana. Here, mate, do you
:18:29. > :18:33.want a banana? # Have a banana. That does not work.
:18:34. > :18:39.I went out to see the effect these can have on the habitat under the
:18:40. > :18:44.pine trees. It was astonishing. Look at this. That is how the whole
:18:45. > :18:51.area looked. A lot of conifer and scrub underground. That is almost a
:18:52. > :18:56.monoculture, not good for wildlife generally. Now look at this,
:18:57. > :19:03.completely ploughed up. Hello. That is what the pigs have been able to
:19:04. > :19:07.do, they have cleared the area completely. They will now go away
:19:08. > :19:16.and new plants, things that we want here such as heather will grow up.
:19:17. > :19:22.Look at this, the poodles of the pig world!
:19:23. > :19:33.This is my favourite, this golden pig. They are busy, they never stop.
:19:34. > :19:39.You would think the snout would be sensitive but it is unstoppable.
:19:40. > :19:46.When it has cleared, heather will grow in the cleared area and that is
:19:47. > :19:50.perfect for the lowland heathland specialities, things like the
:19:51. > :19:55.Dartford warbler. 50 years ago there were only two pairs here and now
:19:56. > :20:04.there are 60. This is Britain's rarest snake. The smooth snake. And
:20:05. > :20:10.this is a lovely sand lizard. And on acid water you get specialist
:20:11. > :20:18.animals such as the raft spider. An enormous spider. The pigs are doing
:20:19. > :20:23.a wonderful job and it says the RSPB money and the pigs are getting a lot
:20:24. > :20:34.of lovely food. I will give this one a little bit of a massage and see if
:20:35. > :20:37.we can get more friendly. He looks very at home with the pigs. I like
:20:38. > :20:44.the idea of animals doing conservation work. Do you know why?
:20:45. > :20:50.Why? You do not have too pay them. You have to feed them and look after
:20:51. > :20:54.them. Volunteer pigs are like that. The live cameras have got a lot of
:20:55. > :21:00.action tonight and we saw this on the badger cam a couple of hours ago
:21:01. > :21:05.and these are the foxes we were talking about. They are siblings and
:21:06. > :21:11.doing exactly what you would expect young puppies to do, playing,
:21:12. > :21:16.testing each other out. I have a puppy and it does a lot of biting
:21:17. > :21:21.and that is what they are doing. One is mail the other is female and the
:21:22. > :21:27.male will disperse, the female will probably stick around but it is
:21:28. > :21:31.lovely to see. It is. I take umbrage with playing, I think they are
:21:32. > :21:38.sorting out the hierarchy. They are playing, like we do. A little bit of
:21:39. > :21:45.biting. Moving on. We have been watching the sika deer and the Stags
:21:46. > :21:53.can be spectacular. They are not as big as red Stags, nor as small as
:21:54. > :21:59.the roe deer, they are in between. They have been growing their antlers
:22:00. > :22:03.since the summer. This is the rutting season and they are
:22:04. > :22:08.vocalising a lot. Among the species they are perhaps the most vocal,
:22:09. > :22:13.producing a range of grunting and groans and bleats. These are the
:22:14. > :22:22.hinds, we have been watching these each night. This stag we have been
:22:23. > :22:27.following. He is moving towards the Highness, because he has one idea on
:22:28. > :22:35.his mind and that is mating. -- towards the hinds. They only have
:22:36. > :22:43.one opportunity a year to do this and they are only in season for 24
:22:44. > :22:47.hours. We have had cameras on the hyenas and it is this time of year
:22:48. > :22:55.they come together in a herd. There is one of last year's Young. The
:22:56. > :22:59.tale is beautifully flared. Still trying to suckle. It will probably
:23:00. > :23:05.stay with its mother until its third year and that is the time it will
:23:06. > :23:10.successfully breed. They are tender with their young. This is the time
:23:11. > :23:14.of year you see them in a herd. After the rutting season they tend
:23:15. > :23:28.to only come together for grazing. We have watched them at night. They
:23:29. > :23:32.are very vocal. SQUEAKING SOUND. That is an alarm call. The mother
:23:33. > :23:38.will make it and her young will copy it, almost do it back to each other.
:23:39. > :23:45.They start breeding in their third year and they continue to breed
:23:46. > :23:49.until they are about 15 and so they are very productive. They can be
:23:50. > :23:55.very productive. When we think of dear rutting there are classic
:23:56. > :24:00.models with fallow deer, which establishes a rotting stand from
:24:01. > :24:05.which he will bellow. The classic red deer where the males move to an
:24:06. > :24:13.arena to compete with fighting and they manage a harem of females. The
:24:14. > :24:17.sika deer behave differently, because it is a different set of
:24:18. > :24:22.resources and habitats and animals. When they are in the woodland in the
:24:23. > :24:27.daytime there is not much to eat. They have to come out at night and
:24:28. > :24:32.the females go to the best foraging areas. These are the grassy fields
:24:33. > :24:38.where we have watched them. The male deer followed them to the grassy
:24:39. > :24:43.fields and patrol around behind the females, seeing if one of them will
:24:44. > :24:46.come into season. There are other male deer about and occasionally
:24:47. > :24:53.jostles, but not as much fighting as with the red deer. A lot of young
:24:54. > :25:01.males will turn up, sniff about, see if there's a chance to sneak in.
:25:02. > :25:04.Throughout the course of the day the biggest male deer will stick as
:25:05. > :25:09.close as they can to the females and if there is an opportunity they will
:25:10. > :25:13.mate. What leads to this difference in behaviour is the degree of
:25:14. > :25:17.competition, the density of the male deer and distribution of the females
:25:18. > :25:22.relative to their food. It is an unusual rut then you see another
:25:23. > :25:28.species of deer in the UK. They are less studied the sika deer in the UK
:25:29. > :25:33.than red deer and there is still stuff we need to learn about them.
:25:34. > :25:40.One way of learning about animal behaviour is to use infrared cameras
:25:41. > :25:43.and tracking technology. We have investigated how tracking technology
:25:44. > :25:51.is helping us to understand the behaviour of badgers. I am a
:25:52. > :26:00.journalist who has always had a passion for British wildlife. An
:26:01. > :26:04.invitation to join scientist Rosie, who has just published a new study
:26:05. > :26:10.into the movements of countryside badgers was something I could not
:26:11. > :26:20.refuse. This is one of this year's Cubs. I will release it. By tracking
:26:21. > :26:27.them closely raise dash-macro is the is investigating how bovine TB is
:26:28. > :26:33.spread. They are a source of TB in cattle. It has never been there and
:26:34. > :26:37.how they transmit it. The tracking work has examined how often and how
:26:38. > :26:46.closely badgers and cattle interact with each other.
:26:47. > :26:55.You can see the difference. This one is wearing a GPS collar. Rosie has
:26:56. > :26:59.fitted collars on 50 badgers and their secret lives are being
:27:00. > :27:06.revealed. You hope to tag more badgers? We hope to be able to do
:27:07. > :27:10.more. We try to get at least one macro in each social groups so we
:27:11. > :27:15.get a picture of where they are going across the whole farm. This
:27:16. > :27:21.valuable location data is stored on the collars and can be downloaded
:27:22. > :27:27.remotely. Now, onto a nearby sett. This is the sort of place badgers
:27:28. > :27:33.and cattle have an opportunity to come into contact. We have a field
:27:34. > :27:42.with cattle and a sett in the hedge. We will try to track it down and try
:27:43. > :27:51.to download data. The beeping means it is nearby. There it is. Now that
:27:52. > :27:55.we have located the badger, remarkably we can dramatically
:27:56. > :28:02.download the data. Despite the badger being underground. We get a
:28:03. > :28:07.location every 20 minutes. It like some fields, like this one, and
:28:08. > :28:14.others not so much. Mrs one badger, incredible how far he has travel. --
:28:15. > :28:19.this is one badger. People think they come a short distance but in
:28:20. > :28:26.this landscape, it is divided into territories. In the farmland site,
:28:27. > :28:33.they love to be on the cattle pasture, because it is a rich source
:28:34. > :28:37.of earthworms, their preferred food. They also put collars on cows in the
:28:38. > :28:44.same area to find out where they spend their time. If I switch on,
:28:45. > :28:48.you can overlay locations of cattle on the same farm. And from this data
:28:49. > :28:55.you collate it to work out the behaviour pattern. We put the
:28:56. > :29:01.collars on 54 badgers. The big question you try to answer is if
:29:02. > :29:06.they come together. The short answer is no. We found badgers and cattle
:29:07. > :29:13.use the same fields but they seldom use them at the same time. With
:29:14. > :29:17.badgers mostly active at night, when cows are normally asleep, it is
:29:18. > :29:21.thought they are selectively avoiding fields with cows and so
:29:22. > :29:28.they rarely meet. To be sure of this, Rosie has taken the technology
:29:29. > :29:32.one step further. The GPS collars are not a good way of looking at
:29:33. > :29:38.meeting because they take the location every 20 minutes. A better
:29:39. > :29:46.way is this technology. This is a radio transmitter on a collar and it
:29:47. > :29:51.can be detected by this cam Carla at distances of two metres or less.
:29:52. > :29:56.After that, the badgers, the cows, did they meet?
:29:57. > :30:04.The short answer is, no. We had these on 421 cattle on four
:30:05. > :30:07.different farms but we never detected contact between a collar
:30:08. > :30:12.that was on a Badger and one that was on a cow. So the TB isn't coming
:30:13. > :30:18.from the badgers and cows meeting, where is it coming from? Why
:30:19. > :30:23.elimination it must be happening through the environment, the ground,
:30:24. > :30:29.so we must find out where. We are sampling the soil, the Badger faeces
:30:30. > :30:32.and water sources, trying to locate where in the environment the
:30:33. > :30:39.bacteria are hiding. Rosie is continuing to work out how TB is
:30:40. > :30:44.transmitted between animals in fields which will be invaluable
:30:45. > :30:50.information in the ongoing debate into the control of this disease.
:30:51. > :30:53.Rosie's investigations into badgers and cattle will continue and we will
:30:54. > :31:00.bring you her results as they are published. If you want the latest on
:31:01. > :31:05.badgers and bovine TB you can check out the BBC News website because
:31:06. > :31:10.they have constant updates. I have just heard, talking of badgers, we
:31:11. > :31:17.have them on the infrared camera. Is that two? It is the thermal camera,
:31:18. > :31:26.and just behind the tree! Hopefully he comes out the other side. He is
:31:27. > :31:31.playing peekaboo. Is that his tail? I don't think we'll wait. On Tuesday
:31:32. > :31:41.we introduced you to a remarkable woman, brave and intrepid, called
:31:42. > :31:46.Sasha Dench and she is doing a crazy mission of trying to follow the
:31:47. > :31:50.migratory root of swans from the tundra in Russia all the way to the
:31:51. > :31:55.UK. The film we showed you on Tuesday, she went from here, the
:31:56. > :32:01.first leg of the journey, getting her to there. The update is that
:32:02. > :32:07.unfortunately she had an accident, she has dislocated her knee. Was
:32:08. > :32:17.that going to stop her? Of course not! This woman is on a mission, so
:32:18. > :32:22.she modified her parrot motor -- para motor, it looks like a flying
:32:23. > :32:26.tricycle and she did this so there was no pressure on her knee on
:32:27. > :32:31.take-off and there it goes, precariously taking off and she is
:32:32. > :32:37.continuing her mission to follow the buick swans. Over the last four
:32:38. > :32:42.weeks she has been flying food Northern Europe and she has gone
:32:43. > :32:47.here, to Estonia, where she landed a couple of days ago and she's been
:32:48. > :32:51.grounded because of the weather. There is a lot of snow around but
:32:52. > :32:57.the good news is that she isn't alone, she's with a lot the buick
:32:58. > :33:02.swans, 3000 out of the 18,000 that are migrating have decided to stay
:33:03. > :33:10.there. It is their staging post where they refuel. Some of them have
:33:11. > :33:16.flown down to the Netherlands, they have seen 100 of them there. Some of
:33:17. > :33:22.them will stay there, some of them will carry on to the UK and in fact
:33:23. > :33:28.in Welney they've already had 20, more arriving and they will keep
:33:29. > :33:32.arriving until February. She's going to carry on, hopefully the weather
:33:33. > :33:36.will change and she will continue her journey. She has learned a lot
:33:37. > :33:43.already but the most brilliant thing is that she has raised awareness for
:33:44. > :33:47.the plight of Bewick's swans because their numbers have dropped
:33:48. > :33:52.dramatically by one third over the last 15 years. When she has done
:33:53. > :33:57.that journey, she hopes to understand the threats that they
:33:58. > :34:04.face. But it is an incredible thing that she's taken on. To get that far
:34:05. > :34:07.is amazing, she is two weeks behind schedule but we wish her luck and if
:34:08. > :34:13.you would like to continue following her journey you can do that online,
:34:14. > :34:16.details on our website. At the moment she is stuck in the snow in
:34:17. > :34:21.Estonia so I bet she wants to know what the weather has in store for
:34:22. > :34:32.us. One man may be able to give her good news, it is Nick Miller. There
:34:33. > :34:37.may be a brief window of opportunity for Sacha and the swans at the end
:34:38. > :34:42.of the weekend. It is low pressure in Estonia, it is rain and snow, a
:34:43. > :34:45.headwind for much of the distance between there and here but if we
:34:46. > :34:49.follow the wind and how they develop over the weekend, at the end of the
:34:50. > :34:55.weekend the arrows will disappear for a brief time, high pressure and
:34:56. > :34:59.then the wind will pick up on Tuesday and then we are back to
:35:00. > :35:04.square one, another area of low pressure, rain and snow. Not just
:35:05. > :35:08.difficult for Sacha and the swans but other birds that are trying to
:35:09. > :35:16.migrate from Scandinavia. They have had an easy ride so far. For us next
:35:17. > :35:20.week, hints of something coming from the north, cooling things down from
:35:21. > :35:25.the mild levels at the moment. And we will look further ahead for
:35:26. > :35:29.autumn into November. Something cooler, that would make sense but
:35:30. > :35:33.perhaps temperatures falling below average, looking less likely than
:35:34. > :35:38.usual for the time of year, strong storms with big winds, which is good
:35:39. > :35:42.news for the very young, those seal pups we saw yesterday, they don't
:35:43. > :35:48.want so many big waves crashing onto the shore line. It is good for us
:35:49. > :35:51.too. What do you want to do after Autumnwatch, you want to see autumn
:35:52. > :35:57.for yourself and if the weather is like this it won't get in your way.
:35:58. > :36:01.Thank you, Nick, that is just the message. If you have kids, take them
:36:02. > :36:07.out into the countryside to meet some wildlife. A few minutes ago out
:36:08. > :36:12.in the fields behind me here we got this on our thermal camera. This is
:36:13. > :36:16.one of the Sikas bags and it is you're innate in, nothing unusual
:36:17. > :36:23.about that apart from the fact that it is covering itself in the you're
:36:24. > :36:31.in Ammar because it uses it to identify itself, to tell other deer
:36:32. > :36:38.about it age. Some of the liquid coming from the deer like that is
:36:39. > :36:42.unique to the individual at this time of year so when he engages with
:36:43. > :36:45.females and other males, they will know from sniffing him all of his
:36:46. > :36:55.background biology. It is like a business card. Like his Internet
:36:56. > :36:59.dating page. So this liquid which is packed with chemicals is very
:37:00. > :37:07.important. If there are any more sites we will go to them. Back at
:37:08. > :37:11.Easter we lost the BBC do something great campaign, we wanted to do
:37:12. > :37:14.something great for nature and we have continued to do that in
:37:15. > :37:22.Springwatch, encouraging people to volunteer to look after British
:37:23. > :37:27.wildlife. We formed a partnership with the Royal Horticultural
:37:28. > :37:32.Society. Martin dug deep into his wardrobe to find some smart clothes
:37:33. > :37:36.and find out who had done well. I have come to the prestigious Royal
:37:37. > :37:43.Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom awards. In this room are the
:37:44. > :37:48.72 finalists. A lot of different categories but they have been
:37:49. > :37:55.entered for the wildlife and conservation award. In a moment we
:37:56. > :37:58.will find out who has won and why. Those who made the cut have created
:37:59. > :38:04.wildlife havens all over the country. One of the most remarkable
:38:05. > :38:11.green spaces isn't what you'd expect. Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
:38:12. > :38:15.is unrivalled and we are in woodland in zone two of Britain, a sense of
:38:16. > :38:18.the countryside in the City where people can see butterflies and birds
:38:19. > :38:26.and flowers and have a sense of escapism. Volunteers help to
:38:27. > :38:30.maintain this site in the heart of London and thousands of people are
:38:31. > :38:37.visiting through the year. In autumn, people come here to seek the
:38:38. > :38:39.season change, the blackberries appearing, the rowan berries, the
:38:40. > :38:48.seeds on the plants and the trees changing colour. That's really
:38:49. > :38:51.powerful. You know, we have rare spiders and beetles and those that
:38:52. > :38:57.are uncommon in the urban context because we want people to enjoy a
:38:58. > :39:03.bit of the countryside in the City. But the award isn't just about
:39:04. > :39:07.individual spaces. The Birmingham Ranger service has been commended
:39:08. > :39:12.for their work across the City. We offer a range of different
:39:13. > :39:21.programmes so people can come to our events. We have 200 year. Pupils
:39:22. > :39:28.will come here and spend the day with a Ranger. The Ranger service
:39:29. > :39:34.looks after 186 wildlife designated parks all over the City, from small
:39:35. > :39:40.green spaces up to Sutton Park, the largest urban nature reserve in
:39:41. > :39:45.Europe. They collaborate with many organisations do inspire the people
:39:46. > :39:49.of Birmingham to get involved. We offer a volunteer programme, over
:39:50. > :39:54.2500 individuals gave us 13,000 hours last year, helping us to get a
:39:55. > :39:59.lot of work done that we wouldn't be able to do as a single team and it
:40:00. > :40:03.engenders ownership of these sites. The parks are very well used and
:40:04. > :40:09.valued and an important part in the life of the City and the people who
:40:10. > :40:14.live here. The ranger service harnesses the power of the people on
:40:15. > :40:20.a large scale. But you don't need to be in a major City to do your bit
:40:21. > :40:29.for wildlife. Farnham, Surrey, where it small-scale people power is being
:40:30. > :40:37.very effective too. We started in 2007, really a special place with a
:40:38. > :40:48.mix of habitats. We are an entirely voluntary group, we have about 30
:40:49. > :40:52.active volunteers. The Bourne conservation group have created an
:40:53. > :40:56.oasis for wildlife all year round with a variety of different
:40:57. > :41:04.features. We have the wildlife pond which has frogs and newts, Aquatics
:41:05. > :41:08.males and dragonflies. -- aquatic snails. We are keen to support the
:41:09. > :41:12.bottom edge along of wildlife, beetles for example and for them we
:41:13. > :41:22.put in a number of artificial habitats, log piles and we have stag
:41:23. > :41:29.beetles in the area. 70% of all stag beetle sightings come from our own
:41:30. > :41:35.gardens and bonds are home to over half of our frogs -- ponds. So
:41:36. > :41:40.reserves and gardens are now crucial habitats for British wildlife and
:41:41. > :41:46.the Britain in Bloom award is one way of encouraging this important
:41:47. > :41:49.work. This is a hard-fought competition between the best of the
:41:50. > :41:56.best and I have the pleasure of announcing the winner of the
:41:57. > :42:00.wildlife and conservation award. OK, the judges were looking for three
:42:01. > :42:09.things, horticulture, environment and community. Tower Hamlets
:42:10. > :42:13.Cemetery Park are deserving and is the race and the winners of this
:42:14. > :42:20.award. With over 30 acres of woodland, extensive wild flower
:42:21. > :42:27.Meadows, the cemetery brings wildlife to people in the middle of
:42:28. > :42:33.London. The Tower Hamlets project is incredible. So are the other
:42:34. > :42:39.contestants. Here is the thing, you don't have to have 30 acres to play
:42:40. > :42:42.with. My sister has sunk a Belfast sink into her back garden in the
:42:43. > :42:45.middle of Bristol and now it is full of frogs. Even small things can make
:42:46. > :42:56.a serious difference. Wise words! It's true, isn't it, we
:42:57. > :43:05.can all do something to help wildlife. What have you done? It has
:43:06. > :43:12.to be ponds. What about you? I am still waiting for some residents in
:43:13. > :43:16.my bat box. Time for the finale of the Mouse Maze, we have been
:43:17. > :43:21.challenging our mice here at Arne, we have a maze which is like a
:43:22. > :43:24.Crystal Maze, we have changed it one way and then the other and then we
:43:25. > :43:32.moved it vertically. How have they got on? Let's watch. Here they come.
:43:33. > :43:37.This is a serious challenge, they need brainpower and athleticism too.
:43:38. > :43:41.Mental and physical. I was concerned, I wondered if they would
:43:42. > :43:46.crack this at all. This one certainly isn't doing a brilliant
:43:47. > :43:51.job so far. Staying quite close to the entrance and it almost looks
:43:52. > :43:57.like it's going to give up. Perhaps it isn't looking for food, it is
:43:58. > :44:04.full ready, Michaela, it is just exploring! It is like an assault
:44:05. > :44:07.course. It is exploring, really. That looks almost impossible, look
:44:08. > :44:12.where the food is now, it's never going to get there. You can see that
:44:13. > :44:16.they have to go over things, they must climb up things. That's an
:44:17. > :44:26.interesting manoeuvre. Jackie Bruce Lee! Is it going to give up? --
:44:27. > :44:28.Jackie Chan. It is giving up. Coming back now. Let's see how long it
:44:29. > :44:41.takes to actually solve this puzzle. Because it is eventually going to do
:44:42. > :44:49.it. This is speeded up, obviously. Here it comes. It nearly popped out.
:44:50. > :44:55.Look at those eyes. The whiskers working all the time. This is the
:44:56. > :45:10.first time it solves the maze and it does it in 93 seconds. Off it goes
:45:11. > :45:16.with a nut. And it decides to settle down in the maze. Why not? It is
:45:17. > :45:24.interesting. When they meet there is often a great deal of aggression and
:45:25. > :45:29.handbags. Remember, this is in the dark. It is probably a surprise when
:45:30. > :45:35.they bump into each other. It is fascinating because when they meet,
:45:36. > :45:40.these two, there is no aggression and I suspect they are probably
:45:41. > :45:48.related. They know each other. We can see them greet each other.
:45:49. > :45:55.Fascinating. I did not think they would crack that. I thought they
:45:56. > :46:01.would. It did take a greater number of attempts to first find it in 93
:46:02. > :46:06.seconds. They have normally done it in eight, ten goes, but this time
:46:07. > :46:15.many more. Once they cracked it, how quickly could they get to the nuts?
:46:16. > :46:26.After a hit of refreshment the mouse enters the maze. Look at it go.
:46:27. > :46:47.17 seconds. Amazing. What a mouse. I think it is brilliant. Fantastic.
:46:48. > :46:53.Behind the fun we have done some science. What have we learned? They
:46:54. > :46:58.are using maps. They are firstly using a visual map and we learned
:46:59. > :47:05.this when we twisted the maze. They use external stimuli they can see
:47:06. > :47:09.through the glass. They use the whiskers, constantly feeling the
:47:10. > :47:16.sides. Maybe they can remember turn left, turn right, who knows? They
:47:17. > :47:27.use a smell map stop they are you're relating constantly in the maze and
:47:28. > :47:36.they can actively choose -- urinating. They are developing a
:47:37. > :47:42.working memory, that once you have learnt it you can repeat it. After
:47:43. > :47:48.14 days the mice will forget that. Why do they do it? At this time of
:47:49. > :47:54.year, going into winter, every second counts. You cannot afford to
:47:55. > :47:59.waste time when finding food because in nature, it is not tolerant of the
:48:00. > :48:03.wastage. They have to shop efficiently and that is what they
:48:04. > :48:11.are doing. Brilliant. It has been really great. We have something even
:48:12. > :48:15.more exciting than the mouse maze. Surely not. It is time to get the
:48:16. > :48:21.result of the naming of the golden eagle, the chick we were watching on
:48:22. > :48:29.Springwatch. What an amazing little chick. We watched it when it was
:48:30. > :48:36.tiny, we have watched it grow up, it it has fledged. We asked you to come
:48:37. > :48:41.up with suggestions of names. Thousands of you did and there was a
:48:42. > :48:48.huge variety. We whittled it down to three. We chose the ones we wanted
:48:49. > :48:52.to back. I went for Hermione, a great Harry Potter name. No
:48:53. > :49:00.surprises, head girl. I went for Freya. A goddess. I went for
:49:01. > :49:07.Highlander, because there can be only one. 10,000 view voted. I can
:49:08. > :49:17.tell you the votes are in. We have the results. Personally delivered by
:49:18. > :49:26.a passing bird. You do not know the result. In third place, with 18%
:49:27. > :49:36.was... Highlander. In second place with 27% was Hermione. In first
:49:37. > :49:43.place with 55% of the votes was... Freya. That is what our golden eagle
:49:44. > :49:50.chick will be named and I think it is a beautiful name and probably the
:49:51. > :49:55.best name of the three. Thanks everybody for getting involved. We
:49:56. > :49:59.have tagged the chick and can bring queue up on Winterwatch when
:50:00. > :50:05.hopefully she will have spread her and fledged further. We are lucky we
:50:06. > :50:10.have a selection of brilliant camera men and women filming. Robin Smith
:50:11. > :50:21.is about to take us to one of his favourite places.
:50:22. > :50:30.I first went canoeing on the River Wye when I was 15 years old. As a
:50:31. > :50:36.boy from the East End of London coming to this part of the current
:50:37. > :50:47.tree for the first time was a pretty big deal. I have had a love affair
:50:48. > :50:54.with it ever since. Autumn is a special time of the year to be on
:50:55. > :50:59.the river. It is very steep valleys and woodland on most of the banks
:51:00. > :51:02.for the majority of the lower sections of the river and this time
:51:03. > :51:08.of year, I don't think there is anywhere like it in the country.
:51:09. > :51:14.Historically going back hundreds of years people have used all over the
:51:15. > :51:18.world to get close to wildlife. The birds see more tolerant, I can get
:51:19. > :51:28.closer as I travel through, from that boat. Because you are moving at
:51:29. > :51:31.the same rate as the current, it is almost like you are part of the
:51:32. > :51:38.environment, it is taking you where it wants to go.
:51:39. > :51:44.The canoe is an excellent way to put camera traps on the river and it
:51:45. > :51:50.gives me access to places I would not normally be able to get to by
:51:51. > :51:54.foot or by car. If I get regular hits on camera trap I know it is a
:51:55. > :52:02.good place to spend time my main camera. I have had pretty good hits
:52:03. > :52:08.so far with a mix of things. The most exciting is we have had otters,
:52:09. > :52:16.a mother with two Cubs and possibly a dog otter on his own, four all
:52:17. > :52:24.visiting the same spot and it looks like they use it as a scent marking
:52:25. > :52:31.place, by leaving a spray, like an oily substance, it almost has a
:52:32. > :52:36.sweet smell. Some people say it smells like jasmine tea. At this
:52:37. > :52:43.time of year it is a time of plenty and the last stop for a lot of
:52:44. > :52:46.animals before winter hits. They try to do everything to store food for
:52:47. > :52:58.the winter and fill their system with food.
:52:59. > :53:04.Good long days paddling along the river and you often feel like you
:53:05. > :53:09.have done some exercise and it is really nice when you find a spot to
:53:10. > :53:13.set up camp and settle for the evening and you have that warm
:53:14. > :53:21.tiredness that only comes from work, really. All you can hear is the
:53:22. > :53:48.running water, just the sound of the wildlife around you.
:53:49. > :53:54.Autumn seems to give the perfect combination of weather conditions to
:53:55. > :54:07.give the most amazing mist on the river. They just hang in the
:54:08. > :54:11.valleys, low down to the water. The snake of mist hugging the river
:54:12. > :54:15.along the valley bottom, whereas on the hillside, it is clear. It is
:54:16. > :54:22.never as good as it is in the autumn.
:54:23. > :54:32.I managed to find a deeper who was frantically foraging in the
:54:33. > :54:39.shallows, catching snails and grubs. I watched him for a couple of hours,
:54:40. > :54:44.he let to be get really close. It is a really healthy sign because it
:54:45. > :54:48.means right down to that microscopic level, the fish and insects life is
:54:49. > :54:57.abundant. To me, it is a sign the river is in good condition, really
:54:58. > :55:01.healthy. There is nothing like being able to pack your boat in minutes
:55:02. > :55:10.and you are gone, you are part of the river again. If somebody told me
:55:11. > :55:16.as that 15-year-old boy that one day I would be living a stone's throw
:55:17. > :55:21.from this river, I would not leave it and I still have to pinch myself
:55:22. > :55:28.now, really. -- I would not have believed it.
:55:29. > :55:35.That looked tranquil. As Robin was saying, camera traps are a great way
:55:36. > :55:45.of finding out what wildlife you have around you. There have been
:55:46. > :55:49.some magic moments. The spider crabs, fantastic, what a spectacle.
:55:50. > :55:58.Thousands appearing off the beaches south Wales. Coming out, finding
:55:59. > :56:08.their way out of their old shells. Awesome. I am going to go for the
:56:09. > :56:14.sand hoppers. We have to champion the underdog look at every aspect of
:56:15. > :56:19.ecology and sometimes the little things mean more because many birds
:56:20. > :56:24.come to feed on the sand hoppers through the course of the winter. I
:56:25. > :56:32.will go for something emotional, the gorgeous golden eagle chick that is
:56:33. > :56:40.now named Freya, fledging. This was the moment she left the nest, spread
:56:41. > :56:44.her wings and flew through the beauty of the Scottish Highlands.
:56:45. > :56:49.Fantastic. It will be exciting to follow the eagle. Sadly we have
:56:50. > :56:55.almost run out of time but join me for a Facebook chat immediately
:56:56. > :57:00.after the show. Ask me some questions and I will do my best to
:57:01. > :57:07.answer. We will be back at RSPB Arne in the winter. This series may have
:57:08. > :57:13.come to an end but you can stay in touch online with a lot going on on
:57:14. > :57:19.social media and the website. We will see you for Winterwatch. We
:57:20. > :57:20.will say goodbye, but we will leave you with some highlights from
:57:21. > :57:38.Autumnwatch 2016. Goodbye. That is why we are here because it
:57:39. > :57:50.is so gorgeous being down on the wetlands.
:57:51. > :58:28.That is a strong look. She is absolutely adorable.
:58:29. > :58:31.Pigs! Our eagle. I am in love.