:00:00. > :00:10.It's October, the nights are drawing in...
:00:11. > :00:16.We've got a packed new series lined up in glorious
:00:17. > :00:19.And our wildlife cameras are live, to sneak a peek
:00:20. > :00:23.And I'm at a secret location in Bournemouth, putting some wild
:00:24. > :00:37.So settle down and snuggle around the television set because it is Tom
:00:38. > :01:07.Watson! -- Autumnwatch. What are you doing? I have lost my
:01:08. > :01:10.pipe. Welcome to Autumnwatch. We are in Gloucestershire. If you were
:01:11. > :01:18.watching in spring you will know that we did Springwatch here as
:01:19. > :01:26.well. Here we have the UK, zooming into the South West and there you
:01:27. > :01:30.can see Sherborne, nestled into that constellation. It is great to be
:01:31. > :01:35.back. We were here for Springwatch and we are excited to come back and
:01:36. > :01:41.catch up with the stars as well as carry on with our mission looking at
:01:42. > :01:47.how the wildlife changes through the season. Our studio has changed. We
:01:48. > :01:55.had a teepee and now we are in the cow shed. I think it is rather chic.
:01:56. > :02:00.We have got camera is carefully placed around the estate and we have
:02:01. > :02:05.managed to pick up some surprising pictures already. This was last
:02:06. > :02:11.night. If you see bats like this whizzing over the water, they will
:02:12. > :02:18.be specifically adapted to catch their prey over water. They have got
:02:19. > :02:24.very long hairy feet to pluck insects. There is a rat! Superb
:02:25. > :02:33.swimmer, brilliant acrobat. Marvellous climber. They are
:02:34. > :02:43.incredible. A superb swimmer. A marvellous acrobat. Down by the
:02:44. > :02:53.badger sets, there they are. Fantastic. We have got our live
:02:54. > :02:59.cameras. This is our thermal camera. The image we are looking at is
:03:00. > :03:06.recording heat. We can zoom in and see that we have got some fallow
:03:07. > :03:11.deer. That is as far as we can go. They are likely to be fallow since
:03:12. > :03:16.there are three of them together. Is that a rabbit? Something else
:03:17. > :03:19.glowing in the dark. We will be scanning the hedgerows and the
:03:20. > :03:25.fields with our thermal camera. We saw them when we were driving in.
:03:26. > :03:32.Our cameramen have been struggling. That is a tiny taste of what we have
:03:33. > :03:39.got. We will be cramming in so much more. Back in the spring we
:03:40. > :03:47.introduce you to the glorious Sherborne Park estate, pretty new
:03:48. > :03:50.beauty, drama and excitement. Fast forward to Autumn and the vivid
:03:51. > :03:58.colours of the Cotswolds are mellowing into Auburn Hughes. We
:03:59. > :04:03.will see how some of our key characters have fared as the seasons
:04:04. > :04:09.change. And we will be meeting some new faces that call this place home.
:04:10. > :04:13.At introducing a test for some cunning creatures on the south
:04:14. > :04:20.coast. We have been up and down the country to collect the biggest and
:04:21. > :04:29.the smallest stories of the season. Filming tales of passion, intrigue
:04:30. > :04:39.and revelation. It is the best of British wildlife. From the very
:04:40. > :04:44.heart of the British countryside. It is going to be good. Before we get
:04:45. > :04:50.started, let's cast our minds back to Springwatch, we watched a number
:04:51. > :04:55.of birds here, some of which fledged and others that didn't and one of
:04:56. > :05:00.those was our kestrels. They were up in the church tower down in the
:05:01. > :05:07.village and there were four of them nestled up there. Here they are. One
:05:08. > :05:12.is quite close to the camera. There was a discrepancy in size. The one
:05:13. > :05:20.on the right is a very small kestrel. He was not getting much of
:05:21. > :05:24.the food, it was getting pushed out here by its siblings. Although the
:05:25. > :05:29.female did her best to make sure it got some food, it was Lucy Knight
:05:30. > :05:39.and it was also yellow, an unusual colour and we were worried. It
:05:40. > :05:43.fought back. I am having that, lads! When we left, it was still going
:05:44. > :05:48.strong but everyone wanted to know whether our young kestrel would
:05:49. > :05:52.survive. Let's see what happens. We went back, a few days later and you
:05:53. > :05:56.can see the birds are becoming feathered but the one on the left is
:05:57. > :06:01.the youngster that still has more down. It is still behind the rest of
:06:02. > :06:07.its siblings. Still not getting the food, it kicks the female with a
:06:08. > :06:11.demand to get more. It looks like they have all gone, but look who is
:06:12. > :06:17.loitering at their back, it is the young kestrel but it is looking fit
:06:18. > :06:24.and it was fit enough to fledge and there you can see, all of them made
:06:25. > :06:28.it out. What happens after that? In the post-fledging period, the mail
:06:29. > :06:34.looks after them, after three days with the meal stops feeding them and
:06:35. > :06:46.depending how fit they are, they can be fed for another 18 days but after
:06:47. > :06:49.that they start to disperse. Up until this time of year there is no
:06:50. > :06:51.real direction in which way they will go, by now they are starting to
:06:52. > :06:53.probably drift south and they have probably travelled up to 100
:06:54. > :06:57.kilometres so it is unlikely that any of those young kestrel is that
:06:58. > :07:04.we saw fledging are still on the estate including the young yellow
:07:05. > :07:10.runt. Great to see them all fledge. As well as the kestrels we also had
:07:11. > :07:20.barred owls. This is what happened with the spring. This is an adult
:07:21. > :07:27.nesting in a barn on site. Three Appleton -- chicks hatched. You can
:07:28. > :07:35.see the one that hatched last. Despite the fact that it was a runt,
:07:36. > :07:41.it was quite feisty and managed to get a little bit of the food. What
:07:42. > :07:48.we were concerned about was if there was not enough food, and if the food
:07:49. > :07:52.was scarce and the runt would not make it, there was a huge difference
:07:53. > :07:57.in size there. Look at that one, it is towering above the little one.
:07:58. > :08:05.What did happen over the summer? Well, I am pleased to say that the
:08:06. > :08:10.little runt made it. It has actually caught up quite well with its
:08:11. > :08:16.siblings. There are was enough food during the spring and the summer and
:08:17. > :08:23.all of them grew up and shared the nest. Adults were still coming back
:08:24. > :08:28.to feed them. All three of them were ringed and I am pleased to tell you
:08:29. > :08:32.that all three fledged and it is this time that they have probably
:08:33. > :08:35.either dispersed or they are starting to disperse but because
:08:36. > :08:40.they are named, we have a small chance of spotting them because they
:08:41. > :08:47.do not go far, they look for a home range and the average is about 7.5
:08:48. > :08:51.miles and the average means they do not go far. Some of them do go a
:08:52. > :08:56.long way, one went from Cornwall to Germany. If they do that, we have
:08:57. > :09:04.not much chance of finding them. That is unusual but it is a risky
:09:05. > :09:08.time and more tend to die during juvenile dispersal than at any other
:09:09. > :09:13.time in their life cycle. 50% of all barn owls die during the dispersal
:09:14. > :09:23.which is quite interesting. It is that that regulates the population.
:09:24. > :09:27.50% of all of these birds are killed on the roads and that is the one
:09:28. > :09:31.thing that seems to be holding our barn owls back in this country. They
:09:32. > :09:37.can have good seasons but when the young star to disperse they do get
:09:38. > :09:43.knocked over on the roads. It is because they are on the verges and
:09:44. > :09:52.get knocked over by bands. Let us hope that the runt is not out there
:09:53. > :09:56.on the A40! I have heard... There is a barn owl actually quartering. It
:09:57. > :10:06.has gone behind a tree. It was there. Anyway it is out hunting. Let
:10:07. > :10:12.us look at the adult barn owls now. Very quiet. They have had a tough
:10:13. > :10:15.season bringing up those chicks. They are now relaxing, mutual
:10:16. > :10:21.preening, they go out independently and feed out in the field, they do
:10:22. > :10:27.not bring any food back. They look a little bit tired. I think they look
:10:28. > :10:31.fabulous! They really do. That is lovely to see. Great to catch up
:10:32. > :10:37.with them. Incredibly successful pair. That is the barn owls, what
:10:38. > :10:40.about the other animals that we saw in Springwatch? What about our
:10:41. > :10:46.stilts? You may remember that there was a family of stoats and this is
:10:47. > :10:52.fascinating. The females tend to stay in the same areas as the
:10:53. > :10:58.mother, but the males go off. They are like foxes. Some of them
:10:59. > :11:05.disperse enormous distances. What about the Jays? They are the
:11:06. > :11:09.opposite of the long-distance stoats, the chicks will remain
:11:10. > :11:16.close, less than one kilometre to where they were born. That is great.
:11:17. > :11:21.It is great to be able to catch up with some of the animals that we met
:11:22. > :11:27.I keep doing up through the series. One of our colleagues, Gillian, has
:11:28. > :11:34.gone down to the south coast where she has discovered a place with
:11:35. > :11:39.marvellous animal banter watching. I am in Bournemouth. I am here to see
:11:40. > :11:46.an animal that has been doing really well. You might have guessed it, it
:11:47. > :11:51.is the fox. Bournemouth has one of the highest densities of urban foxes
:11:52. > :11:58.in the whole country and this garden is becoming a hot spot. Come and
:11:59. > :12:08.take a look. We had a fox out here and we still do! There are two foxes
:12:09. > :12:18.out there. They are absolutely beautiful. Oh my goodness. Now, over
:12:19. > :12:24.the summer there have been six individuals visiting this garden.
:12:25. > :12:27.Two vixens, three adults and a dog fox that makes an occasional
:12:28. > :12:31.appearance. They are beautiful. Right now at this time of year they
:12:32. > :12:38.are putting on their winter coats and they are looking at their very
:12:39. > :12:42.best. They have been visiting this garden for 15 years, every night,
:12:43. > :12:49.without fail and we have a very special lady to thank for that. My
:12:50. > :12:54.name is Sandy and some years ago I was sitting at the end of the garden
:12:55. > :12:58.and this fox just walked right past me, I could not believe it! And I
:12:59. > :13:03.think that is where the relationship really started with the foxes. I
:13:04. > :13:08.think I have been feeding them for 15 years and I feed them every
:13:09. > :13:13.night. I do not miss a night. If we are away, we have a house sitter to
:13:14. > :13:19.come and feed them. We scattered food around in different places and
:13:20. > :13:23.then I go to the edge of the garden and look over the forest and
:13:24. > :13:35.whistles. And they come up immediately. Foxes bring such
:13:36. > :13:41.pleasure. Some of them are quite timid, some of them are really bold,
:13:42. > :13:44.they come right up to the window, they sometimes appear right inside
:13:45. > :13:52.at you and they appear totally relaxed, just as they are in nature,
:13:53. > :14:01.so it is lovely. We are in town and how wonderful to see wildlife in
:14:02. > :14:05.town! I am always going to seed the foxes in the garden, it really gives
:14:06. > :14:15.us so much pleasure and it gives so many other people pleasure as well.
:14:16. > :14:20.It is so wonderful to see wildlife in our gardens, in our cities just
:14:21. > :14:25.like this and we have people like Sandy to thank for it. Foxes only
:14:26. > :14:29.really started moving into our cities in the 1930s and 1940s and it
:14:30. > :14:33.seemed to track the rise of suburbia, houses like this built on
:14:34. > :14:36.the edge of cities and towns with large gardens provide the perfect
:14:37. > :14:42.habitat and beastly plenty of food but that is one reason why foxes are
:14:43. > :14:49.doing well in our cities. The other reason either themselves. The traits
:14:50. > :14:54.of the archetypal fox, they are not fussy eaters, as you can see, they
:14:55. > :14:58.will take pretty much everything. They are really agile, look at those
:14:59. > :15:04.long legs, relative to the body size, it means they are fast and
:15:05. > :15:07.they can negotiate this complex urban environment. The most
:15:08. > :15:12.important reason of all is that they are smart and that is why we are
:15:13. > :15:17.here. Later on we will run some experiments to test just how clever
:15:18. > :15:20.urban foxes are and whether they are smarter than the rural cousins,
:15:21. > :15:28.maybe like the ones at Sherborne. What do you think?
:15:29. > :15:37.I think you're extremely lucky to get that close to foxes. They're a
:15:38. > :15:44.beautiful animal, undeniably, for me at least. I have got a question for
:15:45. > :15:52.you. Which British mammal weighs the same as a 2p piece? I'm going to say
:15:53. > :16:02.Pippa Straw backed maybe? Maybe I should have said terrestrial Ariel
:16:03. > :16:06.harvest mouse. Exactly right, they're absolutely tiny and
:16:07. > :16:10.extremely difficult to spot in the. Wild the only chance you really have
:16:11. > :16:13.his sporting their nest, and if doesn't really lucky you might even
:16:14. > :16:17.see one at this time of year, because the adorable harvest mouse
:16:18. > :16:24.continues to breed throughout the autumn.
:16:25. > :16:34.It's mid-autumn. In the setting sun, a harvest mouse makes her secretive
:16:35. > :16:43.way through the long grass. What is she up to? She's looking for the
:16:44. > :16:49.right place to build a nest. She will weave the nest out of living
:16:50. > :16:53.grass, and needs to find a strong stem surrounded by Hood building
:16:54. > :17:08.material before she can start her new home.
:17:09. > :17:19.This dense clump is perfect, and she begins to build. Delicately caring
:17:20. > :17:28.and weaving the leaves around herself. Building from the inside
:17:29. > :17:33.makes sure she stays hidden from potential predators, and safety is
:17:34. > :17:43.important, because she's not just build it for herself... As she
:17:44. > :17:51.leaves to forage, three tiny new lives have begun deep in the safety
:17:52. > :17:56.of the nest. Helpless and blind, these young will have to wait in
:17:57. > :18:06.this woven sanctuary for their mother's return.
:18:07. > :18:28.But out in the fields, autumn's bounty is on the wane. A few morsels
:18:29. > :18:32.are all she can find. The harvest mouse must leave the safety of the
:18:33. > :18:37.long grass if she's going to find food for her young. And that means
:18:38. > :18:58.keeping out of harm's way. It's a dangerous world out there for
:18:59. > :19:14.a tiny harvest mouse. Recent rain has brought new challenges. She ages
:19:15. > :19:30.tentatively towards the pool. And leaps. Like all harvest mice, she's
:19:31. > :19:39.a very competent swimmer. And she gets her reward - shame stumbled
:19:40. > :19:46.across. Delicious windfall. In fact the Orchard offers a veritable
:19:47. > :19:58.cornucopia, a banquet of faintly festering fruit.
:19:59. > :20:31.She returns to the nest. Over the next few weeks, she will continue to
:20:32. > :20:37.care for her young. With winter on the horizon, she's found a
:20:38. > :20:45.well-stocked larder that should see her through the harshest months. And
:20:46. > :20:54.gave her a hungry baby is the perfect start in life.
:20:55. > :21:01.What do you think of the harvest mouse? I think it's so clever the
:21:02. > :21:11.way it does its little nest! There's only one word for it, it's cute!
:21:12. > :21:17.From this point onwards every time you use that word, I shall be
:21:18. > :21:21.brandishing this sign! It is unacceptable when it comes to
:21:22. > :21:28.describing small mice! Can I use the word adorable, then? Just about! We
:21:29. > :21:34.always like to hear from you, and there are a number of ways you can
:21:35. > :21:36.get in touch. The easiest way to reach us is to go online and be our
:21:37. > :21:53.friend on social media. And if you still can't get enough,
:21:54. > :21:59.our website is full of exclusive videos, in-depth articles and extra
:22:00. > :22:03.information. We absolutely love it when you do get in touch and get
:22:04. > :22:09.involved, and in Springwatch we asked you to get involved in lots of
:22:10. > :22:14.surveys, but one in particular was quashed by the RSPB and we asked you
:22:15. > :22:18.to take pictures of puffins, and in particular of puffins with food in
:22:19. > :22:23.their mouths. Let's have a look at some of the ones that you got. This
:22:24. > :22:34.is from fair Isle and you can see, it's sand eels. And this one is from
:22:35. > :22:40.Yorkshire... Plenty of fish in that! Plenty of fish! And is that a squid,
:22:41. > :22:50.do you think? I'm going cuttlefish on that. So many of you got
:22:51. > :22:52.involved, so thank you so much, because it's not exactly
:22:53. > :22:56.straightforward, you don't get puffins in your back garden unless
:22:57. > :23:01.you're... Thank you for getting involved. We are asking people to
:23:02. > :23:15.monitor these sea birds as we know they're in terrible trouble, things
:23:16. > :23:18.like the kittiwake and the terns, some years they're not producing any
:23:19. > :23:26.young at all and it can be difficult to monitor and it can require an
:23:27. > :23:29.enormous amount of time and energy. But there is an alternative and we
:23:30. > :23:36.are pleased to launch another way that you can monitor our sea birds
:23:37. > :23:42.and it is called seabird watch and it is being launched right now.
:23:43. > :23:47.There are no fewer than 61,000 photographs on this site, and what
:23:48. > :23:53.we want you to do is to count the number of birds. It is quite easy,
:23:54. > :23:59.isn't it? Yeah, the kittiwakes, there is a guide to remind you of
:24:00. > :24:04.what it looks like, we have already pressed kittiwake, so basically you
:24:05. > :24:15.just have to mark all the different kittiwake... Are there any guillemot
:24:16. > :24:19.in there? Obviously, this could take some time! It is the sort of thing
:24:20. > :24:27.your kids can get involved in as well. The photographs were collected
:24:28. > :24:30.between 2014 and 2017 in a number of sites and we're hoping that by
:24:31. > :24:33.looking at these and counting the birds, also counting the young, we
:24:34. > :24:38.can look at the timing of the breeding season and the success of
:24:39. > :24:44.the breeding season as well. Does this kind of science work? I
:24:45. > :24:47.continue it does. A little while ago 14,000 viewers of stargazing live
:24:48. > :24:55.over a period of three days analysed no less than 2 million images of the
:24:56. > :25:01.night sky, and they discovered a solar system with a few planets. But
:25:02. > :25:10.I've got to tell you, friends of Brian and Dara - they're just stars!
:25:11. > :25:16.Light-years away! And if one of them is short on sand eels or squid, we
:25:17. > :25:20.can't do much about it! But we CAN do something about our sea birds!
:25:21. > :25:26.And that's why we want you to get involved by going to our website and
:25:27. > :25:28.there you will find a link to this website and over the next few days
:25:29. > :25:33.we would like you to count kittiwake, please. Which are
:25:34. > :25:43.competitive, we do want loads of you to get involved! In the meantime,
:25:44. > :25:49.let's go to Martin. Light-years away, these are real birds...! Our
:25:50. > :25:53.mission is to explore as much of the wildlife here at Sherborne as we can
:25:54. > :26:00.and that includes animals which live underwater, animals like trout. This
:26:01. > :26:05.is our main studio area, and this blue bit, that is the Sherborne
:26:06. > :26:11.Brooke, which is beautiful, a clear little stream. In Springwatch we had
:26:12. > :26:16.a camera down there, we didn't know what it was going to film, but it
:26:17. > :26:22.did film trout. This is a brown trout, our native trout, and we got
:26:23. > :26:30.lovely shots but then we got these beautiful pictures of the brown
:26:31. > :26:37.trout, which are very carnivorous, leaping up and gorging themselves.
:26:38. > :26:40.Fantastic. This is a crucial time of year for brown trout, because
:26:41. > :26:45.they're thinking about making, so we thought, debts go down to the Brooke
:26:46. > :26:55.and try and find out where they're going to goes pawning. So I am about
:26:56. > :26:56.to fulfil a childhood dream by entering the secret world of the
:26:57. > :27:26.brown trout. Here I am in the world of the trout,
:27:27. > :27:32.but I haven't seen a single one yet. Surprisingly trout can change colour
:27:33. > :27:36.almost like a chameleon, from silver to brown to black even. And it's
:27:37. > :27:43.partially dependent on their mood but also on the substrata. Here is a
:27:44. > :27:49.weird thing - if a trout becomes blind in one eye, the opposite side
:27:50. > :27:55.of its body goes black. So, clearly a whole Communion like ability is
:27:56. > :28:10.mediated through their eyes. -- chameleon-like ability. We might see
:28:11. > :28:16.crayfish, anything... Or nothing! It is just as magical as I dreamt it
:28:17. > :28:26.would be. There are beautiful green lush weeds... Not many trout! If I'm
:28:27. > :28:32.looking for spawning areas, this is all wrong, the we'd is much too
:28:33. > :28:44.dense. I think I need to hop out and have a rethink.
:28:45. > :28:59.I've seen a beetle - it was black and shiny, it was lovely! I like
:29:00. > :29:02.beetles. The water has got in! Well, that was my childhood dream come
:29:03. > :29:11.true, but I wasn't finding the spawning grounds. I needed help and
:29:12. > :29:19.I turned to a 15th century nun for advice. In 1493 she wrote a book
:29:20. > :29:22.which was called "A Treatyse of Fysshynge" and it was all about
:29:23. > :29:30.fishing. He was a keen Fisher woman and this is her advice... The trout,
:29:31. > :29:39.because he is a right dainty fish and also a fervent biter, he is on a
:29:40. > :29:47.clean gravel bottom in the stream, I need to look for a clean gravel
:29:48. > :29:56.bottom. This reminds me exactly of those childhood days - perfect
:29:57. > :30:03.crystal clear pool. If there isn't a trout there, I will eat my hat.
:30:04. > :30:37.Oh! Two. Yes, yes, yes six! There is a whole shoal of them. All
:30:38. > :30:48.squirrelling around and around. A fabulous show Best site. That is
:30:49. > :30:55.just wonderful. We found the trout. How about the spawning area? If I
:30:56. > :31:01.was a brown trout, this would be the end of my migration. The perfect
:31:02. > :31:08.place to lay my eggs and to breed. Lovely clean gravel beds, just the
:31:09. > :31:13.job, nice and shallow, crystal clear water, this is where it they will be
:31:14. > :31:19.arriving to mate and lay their eggs. It is gorgeous. Mission
:31:20. > :31:24.accomplished, we found the spawning area and with a bit of luck, we
:31:25. > :31:29.might be able to film them. I want to tell you something astonishing
:31:30. > :31:36.about the Brown trout, look at this. This beautifully painted by Alex our
:31:37. > :31:41.runner is about the size of the trout I used to catch in the stream
:31:42. > :31:49.near me as a kid. This is an adult fish. Drawn to the same scale,
:31:50. > :31:54.incredibly, this is another adult brown trout. An adult brown trout
:31:55. > :32:00.can either be that size or can get as big as this. How on earth is that
:32:01. > :32:05.possible? It is all about nutrition. This little one is probably not in a
:32:06. > :32:12.rich environment, does not have much to eat but this one will have come
:32:13. > :32:15.from a really rich environment where it has had mountains of food and can
:32:16. > :32:20.get to this said that matter the size. This is the same scale. I
:32:21. > :32:25.cannot think of another animal on the whole of the planet where the
:32:26. > :32:30.adult has such an enormous size discrepancy. Extraordinary. We have
:32:31. > :32:36.a live camera down in the river, let us go live to the camera now. It is
:32:37. > :32:41.very mysterious. Like creature from the Black Lagoon. There is a little
:32:42. > :32:48.trout down there and another one. Look at them in the darkness. It is
:32:49. > :32:54.brilliant. Fantastic. Trout have been with us ever since time began
:32:55. > :32:55.practically but some species have only just arrived, Michaela went to
:32:56. > :33:23.investigate. This is probably not an obvious
:33:24. > :33:28.place to come and do a spot of bird-watching but in the last few
:33:29. > :33:34.weeks over 10,000 people have come here to do just that. They have come
:33:35. > :33:41.hoping to get a glimpse of an exotic and very colourful bird that has
:33:42. > :33:46.chosen this quarry to Neston. It is there be eat. Widespread in warm and
:33:47. > :33:50.Southern climbs, the eaters are rare visitors to the UK but in the last
:33:51. > :33:55.few years they have been spotted more and more, to the delight of
:33:56. > :34:03.eager twitchers. At the scene and? Know. Have you seen anything yet?
:34:04. > :34:12.Not yet. Have you ever seen bee eaters before? Not in the UK. Are
:34:13. > :34:18.you excited? Yes. Excited and patient, four hours and still no
:34:19. > :34:23.sign. We think a loud cry will go up with something appears. Is that your
:34:24. > :34:32.technique, wait for everyone else to do the hard work? I like that. There
:34:33. > :34:41.is an bee eater on the way, it is miles away. I saw it flying. You can
:34:42. > :34:44.just about make it out. Hopefully we will see it close, but that is the
:34:45. > :34:49.first time that most of us have seen a bee eater in the UK. Let us have a
:34:50. > :34:57.round of applause. APPLAUSE. There is not just one bee
:34:58. > :35:01.eater here, there are seven, vibrant group that has been mesmerising
:35:02. > :35:06.RSPB's Mark Thomas since they arrived. You have spotted them. They
:35:07. > :35:15.are just on the water level on a branch. Look at that! They are
:35:16. > :35:18.amazing. They are such stunning birds. Probably bigger than people
:35:19. > :35:23.expect. They are about the size of a starling but with a longer tail.
:35:24. > :35:30.That flash of yellow. With the water in the background, we could be in
:35:31. > :35:42.Africa! Maybe not! It is going to be the one on the right.
:35:43. > :35:52.It is going to land back down. Look at that! That is what they do, they
:35:53. > :35:59.catch their honey bee, they come back and thrash the sting out of it.
:36:00. > :36:06.Yes. -- they catch there be. You must be so chuffed that you have got
:36:07. > :36:11.to -- bee eaters here. We have got three nests and we have got chicks
:36:12. > :36:15.in the nest. There has been a huge amount of excitement. They are the
:36:16. > :36:20.most colourful birds, they are the rainbow bird and it is the kind of
:36:21. > :36:25.thing, if you gave a three-year-old some crayons and told them to draw
:36:26. > :36:29.an imaginary bird, they will come up with something like bee eater. It is
:36:30. > :36:35.worth getting out of bed for. They are brilliant. Did you discover
:36:36. > :36:40.them? It was a local bird-watcher who came here occasionally and just
:36:41. > :36:46.happened across a flock of seven bee eaters. What a day for him! I would
:36:47. > :36:52.love to find seven bee eaters. It is really exciting. The question is why
:36:53. > :36:54.are they here? Why have they chosen this quarry? In recent years,
:36:55. > :37:13.greater numbers have been coming to the UK and we think it is
:37:14. > :37:16.linked to climate change. This is the fifth breeding attempt in the
:37:17. > :37:19.last ten years, this is the largest group of birds we have had one goal.
:37:20. > :37:21.There are seven of them, obviously they have paired up, what about the
:37:22. > :37:24.extra one? Bee eaters are unique, they often travel with a helper
:37:25. > :37:27.bird, a young bird and its duty is to basically service the nests with
:37:28. > :37:35.food. There can be several, but they are related, they are thought to be
:37:36. > :37:38.the offspring of one of the pairs from a previous year. So, what do
:37:39. > :37:41.you think the chances are of bee eaters making the UK their home in
:37:42. > :37:46.the future? It is highly likely they could colonise in the UK. How
:37:47. > :37:51.exciting without the? The rainbow bird in Britain, it does not really
:37:52. > :38:02.fit, but they are great birds to see. More than great, fantastic, had
:38:03. > :38:07.you seen them? Yes, many years ago in South Wales in the 1970s. And
:38:08. > :38:11.again more recently, they bred on the Isle of Wight. Very sad that
:38:12. > :38:15.they did not actually have a successful rearing in the end.
:38:16. > :38:19.People have speculated why that would be and some people think it is
:38:20. > :38:28.because of this. This is where they mess, you can see one of the bee
:38:29. > :38:35.eaters go" but a kestrel follows it in and flies off. Would the kestrel
:38:36. > :38:43.be a threat to the bee eater? Let us look at how big the bee eater is
:38:44. > :38:48.compared to the woodpecker. It is a similar size, about the size of a
:38:49. > :38:53.starling, I guess. What do you reckon? Would kestrel take a bee
:38:54. > :39:03.eater? It certainly would. Do you know how much it weighs? Eight 2p
:39:04. > :39:09.pieces, about 50 grams. Starlings are about 75 grams and kestrel 's
:39:10. > :39:16.feed on starlings, particularly young starlings. A robust kestrel
:39:17. > :39:21.would take a blackbird as well, but a bee eater is a easy meal for a
:39:22. > :39:24.kestrel. The RSPB thinks there was not enough food around and if I tell
:39:25. > :39:34.you that when they are rearing their young they need to catch about 225
:39:35. > :39:39.flying insects every day, that is wasps and bees and that sort of
:39:40. > :39:44.thing. Sadly they did not make it this year, but they have nested
:39:45. > :39:47.eight times since the 1920s and they have successfully reared young and
:39:48. > :39:52.four times but what is interesting is the last couple of times, 2014
:39:53. > :39:57.and 2015, it is getting more regular. The question is, how
:39:58. > :40:04.regular does it have to be before they colonise the UK? These birds
:40:05. > :40:07.are responding to climate change, we are having a milder winters and
:40:08. > :40:15.warmer and wetter summers and we see a trend like this, we got this
:40:16. > :40:20.information. This bird, this is dated from 1990 and this indicates
:40:21. > :40:25.the number of them in the UK and it comes up to here and when you get
:40:26. > :40:29.your first breeding in 2012. What seems to happen is that these birds
:40:30. > :40:33.need to increase their population up to the point where they can find
:40:34. > :40:37.mates, if they are returning to the site, it is a site they know and it
:40:38. > :40:46.reaches a threshold where they start to breed. The reason that this has
:40:47. > :40:48.escalated is that egrets are breeding every year and producing
:40:49. > :40:52.young in this country. That is what we will predict will happen with the
:40:53. > :40:57.bee eaters. Since 2000 they have been here six times, trying to
:40:58. > :41:00.breed, I think, so this will continue and I think in about ten
:41:01. > :41:04.years' time they will be regular breeders. It would be fantastic to
:41:05. > :41:10.have them here, they are beautiful birds. Are we going to have a look
:41:11. > :41:14.at the other birds? They are not the only things that have colonise. It
:41:15. > :41:19.was the first time this year that night herons have bred here. They
:41:20. > :41:24.will come from the continent, hot on the heels of other herons that have
:41:25. > :41:30.come. Others from the same family have been breeding for the last
:41:31. > :41:34.couple of seasons. These birds have been visiting for the last number of
:41:35. > :41:39.years and they have been breeding regularly, this year producing 13
:41:40. > :41:44.young. They are bit ahead of the bee eaters. It is exciting to get these
:41:45. > :41:48.rare birds arriving. The main reason that they are coming is all to do
:41:49. > :41:52.with the weather and I must say some birds must be very confused by the
:41:53. > :41:57.autumn weather because we can sum it up by saying it has been unsettled
:41:58. > :42:09.and stormy and I am sure that Nick Miller will enlighten us more. Story
:42:10. > :42:13.does not quite cover it, this time last week, former hurricane hit us
:42:14. > :42:15.and this is what storm Brian look like as it moved across through the
:42:16. > :42:17.weekend. Bird-watchers get excited about powerful weather systems in
:42:18. > :42:20.the Atlantic because the strong winds can drag birds of course and
:42:21. > :42:23.bring rare birds all the way from North America to our shores. There
:42:24. > :42:28.are plenty of birds that intend to come here for the autumn and winter,
:42:29. > :42:33.those from Scandinavia are facing a head wind. Look at the wind change,
:42:34. > :42:37.later this week and into the weekend and this developing north-westerly
:42:38. > :42:42.could get an easier arrival for birds from Iceland, like the red
:42:43. > :42:52.Wing. Most red Wings will come from Scandinavia and Russia. There is no
:42:53. > :42:54.easterly wind to help them but plenty are still arriving. Those
:42:55. > :42:57.birds that have already arrived found a cooler than average
:42:58. > :43:03.September, very mild October and hardly any frost, but that could
:43:04. > :43:09.change next week. Cherbourg for Autumnwatch this week is mild and
:43:10. > :43:14.cloudy. Some birds, like the red Wing migrate at night, so take
:43:15. > :43:22.advantage of the mild evenings, give them a wave and say welcome back!
:43:23. > :43:27.Welcome back, we will be staying inside, because until just a few
:43:28. > :43:32.moments ago, we had wild foxes out here. We are in Bournemouth because
:43:33. > :43:35.this place has had Fox's visiting here for 15 years, almost every
:43:36. > :43:40.single night without fail and it makes it a great place for us to
:43:41. > :43:45.come here and test whether urban foxes are smarter than rural foxes.
:43:46. > :43:59.Now, to do that, we are going to do is we are going to use a jam jar
:44:00. > :44:02.lid, a piece of string and a shed load of Perspex. Out here in the
:44:03. > :44:05.open is a piece of string. And over here, in the box is a food reward.
:44:06. > :44:09.The foxes will be able to see and smell it but the only way to get at
:44:10. > :44:15.it is if they pull the string. Easy enough for us, but will the Fox
:44:16. > :44:20.figure out The Fox Box? We have teamed up with an old friend, Doctor
:44:21. > :44:27.Dawn Scott from the university of Brighton. She studies urban wildlife
:44:28. > :44:31.and she is really interested in this question about urban foxes being
:44:32. > :44:36.smarter than rural ones. She reckons that in a complex urban environment
:44:37. > :44:39.where there are lots of new objects and unfamiliar things, boldness and
:44:40. > :44:43.problem solving and intelligence will be a trait that is selected
:44:44. > :44:48.for, something that urban foxes will do better. For us, before we could
:44:49. > :44:56.even begin the intelligence testing, we had to work out whether the foxes
:44:57. > :45:01.were going to be afraid of our The Fox Box. We had to test for Neal
:45:02. > :45:03.phobia. Would our foxes even approach The Fox Box in the first
:45:04. > :45:17.place? On the first night we put pieces of
:45:18. > :45:23.chicken out there. This adult could smell it but thought better of it
:45:24. > :45:29.and left. Another fox, this one is called Blondie by Sandy, could smell
:45:30. > :45:34.the chicken but you could see how nervous it was, just a little smash
:45:35. > :45:41.and off it went. It was so nervous it would not eat it near the box, it
:45:42. > :45:52.took it some distance away. Now, this one is called Teardrop a sub
:45:53. > :45:56.adult again, born this spring. So cautious but it takes it, and just
:45:57. > :46:02.like Blondie, off it goes. Chimdi Chekwa this out. On Teardrop's
:46:03. > :46:13.second visit, it just goes for it, takes it and eats it right there,
:46:14. > :46:20.right next to the box. Now, we have got some interesting numbers
:46:21. > :46:28.relating to this. The time it took Teardrop from approaching the box to
:46:29. > :46:31.actually taking it, first time it took three for minutes and one
:46:32. > :46:36.second. The second time it took just 13 seconds. And on its third attempt
:46:37. > :46:40.it was just three seconds. And the other one was similar. What is
:46:41. > :46:46.interesting is that no adults approached the box at all. Dorn said
:46:47. > :46:50.this was something she would expect - at this time of year, the
:46:51. > :46:55.sub-adults are getting ready to disperse, to leave their native
:46:56. > :47:01.territory, so they've got to be bold and curious if they're going to make
:47:02. > :47:06.it in the wide world. So, the sub-adults overcame their fear of
:47:07. > :47:15.the box, but how did they get on in the intelligence test? So, here we
:47:16. > :47:21.see Blondie. Food is in the box, you can see the jamjar laid. Blondie
:47:22. > :47:28.pulls it back and startles herself! But then comes back. She can just
:47:29. > :47:43.reach the chicken, she's got it, she's off. Now, what happens when
:47:44. > :47:49.Teardrop visits? Teardrop was quite bold, slightly distracted but keeps
:47:50. > :47:54.going - so assistant! Works the whole perimeter of the box looking
:47:55. > :48:02.for a point of weakness. -- so per assistant. Pulls the strings and
:48:03. > :48:14.makes a little bit of a mess of it, actually. He's got it! And he enjoys
:48:15. > :48:20.that tasty morsel. Now, this was just two nights of the experiment.
:48:21. > :48:24.It is a great start and it exceeded our expectations - we had no idea
:48:25. > :48:30.how they would react to the box. But we have to accept that it could just
:48:31. > :48:36.be beginner's look, because if you look here, especially watching
:48:37. > :48:39.Teardrop, it is possible that Teardrop is trying to pour its way
:48:40. > :48:46.towards the food and catching the string accidentally. In order to
:48:47. > :48:51.test whether they are really making the connection between string and
:48:52. > :48:57.the food and whether they know that pulling it leads them to the food,
:48:58. > :49:03.well, we had to make the test a lot harder. And it generates some
:49:04. > :49:09.really, really fascinating results, which we will show you tomorrow
:49:10. > :49:16.night. So, now, we're going to hang out here, and it's back to
:49:17. > :49:20.Sherborne. Fantastic. Really simple, the kind of thing that you could do
:49:21. > :49:25.in your own back garden to test the foxes! You may already have some
:49:26. > :49:35.camera footage and if you have, please send them to us at our
:49:36. > :49:45.website. It could be coming foxes, crafty... Hedgehogs with high IQs!
:49:46. > :49:50.Anyway...! Over the years many of you have put up nest boxes and put
:49:51. > :49:55.cameras in them and for some of you it has become a real passion. One
:49:56. > :49:59.such passion is Kate, who over the years we have featured many times,
:50:00. > :50:02.because she made a fantastic mini Springwatch in her garden. In recent
:50:03. > :50:05.years she has taken her talent and passion to a much larger site in
:50:06. > :50:21.Worcestershire. This is a stunning seven April
:50:22. > :50:28.Bardon which is fronted by the River Severn -- seven acre garden. I'm
:50:29. > :50:36.lucky enough to work here one or two days a week and I manage the site,
:50:37. > :50:40.everything from putting in habitats to installing the 30 cameras that we
:50:41. > :50:48.have on-site. Those cameras are everywhere, quite literally. We've
:50:49. > :50:53.got nearly 70 species of birds that visit here are, mammals... The more
:50:54. > :51:04.habitats we put in, the more species that come and visit. About ten years
:51:05. > :51:09.ago, an artificial sett was put in on site. The camera showed that the
:51:10. > :51:13.badgers were actually using it, so then I started to think, wouldn't it
:51:14. > :51:19.be really amazing if we could see what happened inside the sett? And
:51:20. > :51:23.that's when probably the biggest camera project I've ever done
:51:24. > :51:32.started to take shape. It took about three days to build the sett. We
:51:33. > :51:38.created two large chambers out of sleepers with two entrances. Their
:51:39. > :51:48.me sett is in the woodland about half a mile from here. Badgers often
:51:49. > :51:51.have an satellite to lick some distance from the main sett. Nobody
:51:52. > :51:57.really knows how they are used because it is very rarely filmed.
:51:58. > :52:03.So, these badgers are using the two setts we've got on site, and then
:52:04. > :52:07.I'm able to film how they're using them. There were youngsters
:52:08. > :52:15.visiting, and then I was amazed to see a female come in, but she wasn't
:52:16. > :52:21.on her own, she brought a cub. So, she would have given birth possibly
:52:22. > :52:28.in another annex sett if she was not the dominant female and then brought
:52:29. > :52:42.her cub to this place. And then she suckled that cub within our chamber.
:52:43. > :52:53.It wasn't just youngsters coming. We had a very elderly female come into
:52:54. > :53:01.the sett, who visited over a one-month period. She was very, very
:53:02. > :53:07.frail looking. Often the weaker members would be ousted out of the
:53:08. > :53:11.main sett and would have to use satellite setts, and this is what
:53:12. > :53:16.was happening here. One night she snuggled down in the hay, her
:53:17. > :53:26.breathing got slower and slower and she actually died within that
:53:27. > :53:31.chamber. There were multiple invertebrates, beetles and all sorts
:53:32. > :53:36.of flies, came into the sett and I could see the body beginning to
:53:37. > :53:41.break down. The cameras then went down you to a power cut. When I
:53:42. > :53:44.turned them back on about a week later, the whole body was covered in
:53:45. > :53:48.soil. And I can only presume that the other badgers came in and
:53:49. > :53:55.covered her body to ensure that the corpse would not contaminate the
:53:56. > :53:59.whole sett. We don't know if that happens in the wild. It makes
:54:00. > :54:02.complete sense, but to me it is incredible because we have filmed
:54:03. > :54:11.something which has never been seen before.
:54:12. > :54:18.There is an incredible amount of wildlife here, and I don't think we
:54:19. > :54:25.appreciated it until we started to film. Things like the polecat, we've
:54:26. > :54:28.captured footage of them inside our setts and outside. You don't often
:54:29. > :54:38.see them in the wild, but it's fantastic to know that they're here.
:54:39. > :54:43.We've filmed sparrowhawk catching a bat on our kingfisher post. Every
:54:44. > :54:53.now and then you get a piece of footage but blows your mind. I love
:54:54. > :54:57.the changing of the seasons here, particularly when we move out of the
:54:58. > :55:04.summer into the autumn. As the leaves start turning, the site is
:55:05. > :55:11.full of natural food, a lot of berries and fruit and we start to
:55:12. > :55:14.see other species coming in. Kingfisher often hunt here, but in
:55:15. > :55:25.the autumn and winter, especially when the river levels rise, they
:55:26. > :55:31.start to come more. The badgers start to pull down hay and straw and
:55:32. > :55:38.grass ready for the winter months, when they're going to be snuggled up
:55:39. > :55:46.underground. I don't think I will ever finish with this project. The
:55:47. > :55:52.phrase find a job you love and you will never work again comes to mind.
:55:53. > :55:55.This has become my second home. I can quite honestly say it's the best
:55:56. > :56:04.job in the world. Fantastic, intimate which is! I
:56:05. > :56:10.remember when Kate used to do things with kitchen and Clements! She's
:56:11. > :56:13.gone large now! She said in the wild people do not know whether hedges
:56:14. > :56:25.bury their dead, but there have been reports. 1942 one person saw a
:56:26. > :56:29.female badger, a male joined her and the two of them dragged a dead
:56:30. > :56:37.badger Oddy out of sett and buried it in a rabbit warren. We spoke to a
:56:38. > :56:40.doctor adulthood university and he suggested there were three very good
:56:41. > :56:46.reasons why badgers would do this. Firstly, hygiene. Secondly, if the
:56:47. > :56:52.badger starts to decompose in the sett it would bring in all sorts of
:56:53. > :56:56.predators. And then lastly, of course, it would be smelling, it
:56:57. > :57:03.would be rotting, and badgers have got such a keen sense of smell they
:57:04. > :57:06.would not want to be locked in small chambers with something which was
:57:07. > :57:10.stinking like that, so it makes sense. It is a shame the cameras
:57:11. > :57:15.went off, but we have got an update from Kate. There has been some
:57:16. > :57:22.action just outside the sett, with two individuals doing what is called
:57:23. > :57:28.banal rubbing! First of all they have a little cuddle! And this is
:57:29. > :57:32.exactly what they're doing, scent marking each other, and they do that
:57:33. > :57:41.when it is individuals in the same clan. Interestingly they have got a
:57:42. > :57:47.number of anal glands, not just the ones which produce pungent smells
:57:48. > :57:51.but ones which are specifically for the rubbing and they give a much
:57:52. > :57:56.sweeter smell. Each one is individual to the animal, so they
:57:57. > :58:00.can recognise each other individually through the scent.
:58:01. > :58:03.Isn't that absolutely delicious?! We've managed to film on the thermal
:58:04. > :58:23.camera during this programme... Any banal rubbing? It takes two, you
:58:24. > :58:28.can't do it on your own! Tomorrow, Gillian will be live in Bournemouth
:58:29. > :58:39.when she will be updating us with her fox experiment. And there is an
:58:40. > :58:45.update on the damselfly. And I will be continuing my investigation, and
:58:46. > :58:51.I will be going undercover. Send in your wildlife clips, we want animals
:58:52. > :59:00.being clever in your garden. Seabird watch! Get involved in that as well!
:59:01. > :59:06.We will see you tomorrow, same time, same place, same cosy cow shed!