0:00:08 > 0:00:10What a beautiful day it's been here in Sherborne.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Some autumn sun bursting through.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17It has brought out the very best of our birds.But at night something
0:00:17 > 0:00:22has been flashing through. Our cameras have picked up on some
0:00:22 > 0:00:27surprise visitors. What are they? We've got magic, we've got mystery,
0:00:27 > 0:00:32we've got Autumnwatch.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Hello and welcome to Autumnwatch 2017 coming to you from the National
0:00:54 > 0:00:55Trust Sherbourne Park estate appear in Gloucestershire.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Trust Sherbourne Park estate appear in Gloucestershire. We've been
0:00:59 > 0:01:03bringing you the very best of British wildlife. We started last
0:01:03 > 0:01:09night brilliantly with a live mouse. Tonight I think we can do a little
0:01:09 > 0:01:12bit better.We're going to try the mouse because tonight we've got
0:01:12 > 0:01:15something more exciting than our live camera, not that a mouse isn't,
0:01:15 > 0:01:21but I think you'll like this even more. This...A mouse and a badger.
0:01:21 > 0:01:28Where is the badger?He's really well camouflaged. Look at that!I
0:01:28 > 0:01:33promise you, literally.Look at his head, the leaves rustling, Michaela.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38Seconds before we came on air it was the perfect shot of a badger.The
0:01:38 > 0:01:44mouse jumped as well! Mouse and badger, absolutely fantastic. Just
0:01:44 > 0:01:48before we came on air we saw something else. Amazing thing. Let's
0:01:48 > 0:01:55have a look at it. Owl, tawny owl. That's nice.It's very close to
0:01:55 > 0:01:59where we're sitting, probably not more than 100 yards and we keep
0:01:59 > 0:02:02hearing them. Through the programme you might hear them too.It
0:02:02 > 0:02:10definitely trumped the badger in the bush.Listen, listen. Keep your ears
0:02:10 > 0:02:15pinned because there was a lot of tawny owl activity going on all
0:02:15 > 0:02:20around us.A good start. Badger, mouse, tawny owl, what could be
0:02:20 > 0:02:23better? What about that mystery animal that we teased you with in
0:02:23 > 0:02:30the pre-titles, as we call them? Let's take a look again. This was
0:02:30 > 0:02:35caught on camera covering our badger set, dashing through. It's a weasel
0:02:35 > 0:02:39or stoats like animal, but much larger and darker. When it passes
0:02:39 > 0:02:44the fence you get quite a good few of its face. It doesn't stop for
0:02:44 > 0:02:50long. Disappears behind the tree. But if we rewind it, look at the
0:02:50 > 0:02:55very distinct facial markings on this animal. It looks very much like
0:02:55 > 0:03:00a polecat. Could it be a polecat? They were once widespread across the
0:03:00 > 0:03:03UK. After years of persecution they disappeared pretty much into the
0:03:03 > 0:03:12Welsh marches, then expanded their population from there. Have they
0:03:12 > 0:03:18reached Sherbourne? We asked Lizzie Cruise from the Vincent wildlife
0:03:18 > 0:03:21trust and she said this is part of their core area, there was a good
0:03:21 > 0:03:25chance it could be a polecat. The ambiguity is there are lots of feral
0:03:25 > 0:03:29ferret out there and ferrets were domesticated from polecat about 2000
0:03:29 > 0:03:33years ago and escape into the countryside and often they hybridise
0:03:33 > 0:03:37with real polecats. We seem to think we're in a core area, so there was a
0:03:37 > 0:03:41good chance there could be real ones. We would have to DNA test them
0:03:41 > 0:03:45to absolutely prove it.They've been seen before he haven't they?Sadly
0:03:45 > 0:03:49they've been picked up on the road, that's how we've noticed the polecat
0:03:49 > 0:03:54has been moving out of this area it was hemmed into and spreading across
0:03:54 > 0:03:57England and Wales. Because people see them knocked over on the road,
0:03:57 > 0:04:03sadly.Fantastic so, to see.Very exciting. If you were watching last
0:04:03 > 0:04:08night you'll know we had lots of activity by the river. Tawny owls
0:04:08 > 0:04:11hunting rats and mice. We went down this morning and put a new camera on
0:04:11 > 0:04:16that leaning blog. Grace Krul arrived pretty promptly. Rooting
0:04:16 > 0:04:27around. Finding food this time of year to cash it away. Lots of
0:04:27 > 0:04:38activity from the ground rats. More rat activity. But I've got to say,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41for all of that, we watched all night long and there was no tawny
0:04:41 > 0:04:47owl action.No tawny owl action there, Chris, but we did have tawny
0:04:47 > 0:04:55owl action in the garden, our garden camera. We don't know if it was the
0:04:55 > 0:04:59same tawny owl. It flies off and lands on some of our filming
0:04:59 > 0:05:03equipment. It's obviously looking at something and if you look down by
0:05:03 > 0:05:10the bench, look very closely, this is the owl's eye view because he's
0:05:10 > 0:05:15sitting on top of the camera. The camera focuses in, can you see just
0:05:15 > 0:05:20as the camera gets it the owl also spots that mouse on the grass. Flies
0:05:20 > 0:05:27down...That was close.Tries to catch it. If we look at that
0:05:27 > 0:05:31again... It's a near miss, not a successful hunt this time. That
0:05:31 > 0:05:36little mouse lives another day. And it flies off. Once it flies off,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40though, there's quite a lot of noise going on, there's a lot of
0:05:40 > 0:05:45vocalisation. As you were saying, Martin Kaymer at the beginning, at
0:05:45 > 0:05:50this time of the year you hear that. Listen to that, listen to that. --
0:05:50 > 0:05:57as you were saying, Martin, at the beginning. You are a bit hard of
0:05:57 > 0:06:04hearing, but we can hear it. Now we've got something really exciting
0:06:04 > 0:06:09to show you, we saw this last night. If you take a look we don't know
0:06:09 > 0:06:12what it is, we almost thought it could be a rabbit or a hair until
0:06:12 > 0:06:22you look closer, you can clearly see that these are two deer. You were
0:06:22 > 0:06:29focusing yesterday on fallow deer, but these ones are roe deer. They
0:06:29 > 0:06:33are not adult males, not writing as such, because it's not the right
0:06:33 > 0:06:41time of year, but what are they doingit is a false note, the Rodeo
0:06:41 > 0:06:46what is generally over by August. It's young males, 18 months old,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49bursting with hormones, this is them sort of practising. By golly they
0:06:49 > 0:06:54were really going at it. You can see how hot they've got with this
0:06:54 > 0:06:59thermal camera. Look closely around the head. He's panting away. The
0:06:59 > 0:07:03blood vessels around the ears and head have violated and all the blood
0:07:03 > 0:07:07has gone to the periphery to try and cool down. No way you'd see that
0:07:07 > 0:07:10without the thermal camera. Extraordinary.Incredible they do
0:07:10 > 0:07:15that at night, that they can see each other well enough to have a
0:07:15 > 0:07:19fight at night.I don't get this deer at night thing, Chris, in the
0:07:19 > 0:07:23pitch black it's almost as if they can see.They've got very large
0:07:23 > 0:07:28eyes, roe -, maybe they're nocturnal vision is quite good. It's not
0:07:28 > 0:07:32really pitch Black, there is so much light pollution.They really were
0:07:32 > 0:07:36going at it. I'm glad I don't have to fight like that for access to my
0:07:36 > 0:07:42wife.Anyway, moving on.That is black and white stuff, what about in
0:07:42 > 0:07:47colour? Let's have some brightness and go to the bird feeder. We have a
0:07:47 > 0:07:50bird feeder full of peanuts and garden birds like tips coming in to
0:07:50 > 0:07:57feast. And their woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, you'd probably
0:07:57 > 0:08:06get those on your feeders at home. It's taking the food away and
0:08:06 > 0:08:12feeding immediately. In it comes, the nuthatch, it won't eat here,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16takes the peanut away. It does some feeding, then something interesting
0:08:16 > 0:08:23happens. It picks up some moss Orbach and it cashes the remain of
0:08:23 > 0:08:37the nuts. -- caches. The J is a legendary cache. They can cache up
0:08:37 > 0:08:41to 5000 acorns in a day. They take them away, they can carry up to nine
0:08:41 > 0:08:45in their gizzard and buried in the ground. This one puts a bit of moss
0:08:45 > 0:08:50there, takes it in. And put a leaf on top which is really silly because
0:08:50 > 0:08:56it'll blow straightaway.It's a nice touch, though.He is the fascinating
0:08:56 > 0:09:03thing, it has been shown that some jays are able to remember where they
0:09:03 > 0:09:08have put 75% of the nuts they buried. There are 5000 and they can
0:09:08 > 0:09:14remember where 75% are.How many you remember? Three. You would remember
0:09:14 > 0:09:20loads because you've got that sort of memory.I'm not as wise as the
0:09:20 > 0:09:25jay. Good memory but can't hear a word you're saying. Called selective
0:09:25 > 0:09:29memory. We've been concerned about the plight of Britain's sea birds.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Some seasons they fail to produce young in some colonies and some
0:09:32 > 0:09:35species are on the brink of extinction. We were asking for your
0:09:35 > 0:09:40help in a brilliant project called sea bird watch. It couldn't be
0:09:40 > 0:09:44simpler to do. If you visit our website will link you to the sea
0:09:44 > 0:09:49bird watch website. There were six to 1000 photographs. What you've got
0:09:49 > 0:09:54to do is click on all of the birds that you see. One at a time. These
0:09:54 > 0:09:58are kittiwakes. We want you to count guillemots and their young and any
0:09:58 > 0:10:04other species you will see. Now the photographs come from the UK, the
0:10:04 > 0:10:12Pharaohs, from Iceland and from Svalbard. -- the Faroe s. Those
0:10:12 > 0:10:18photographs start from 2014 through to 2017. Couldn't be simpler, very
0:10:18 > 0:10:21easy to do, generate good data that could inform effective conservation.
0:10:21 > 0:10:28There is just one problem. Only 11% of them have been done. 11, 11%,
0:10:28 > 0:10:33you've only done 11%. It's not very good at all, is it, really. Can I
0:10:33 > 0:10:36ask you when the programme finishes rather than having a cup of tea or
0:10:36 > 0:10:41turning over and watching some in facile on the other side, you sit
0:10:41 > 0:10:44down and click through a few photos for us, it'll make a difference for
0:10:44 > 0:10:48sea birds. If you don't they could die in their thousands. I don't want
0:10:48 > 0:10:51to get on your conscience but they could die in their thousands. Go to
0:10:51 > 0:10:53the website...
0:10:53 > 0:10:57could die in their thousands. Go to the website...
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Please don't upset him, he wants to get this figure right up. Let's join
0:11:02 > 0:11:07in. When it comes to wildlife we very quick to celebrate the quick,
0:11:07 > 0:11:12bold and beautiful. But as we seen so many times on watches, it's often
0:11:12 > 0:11:17the little guys who are so fascinating. We're going to give you
0:11:17 > 0:11:22a glimpse into the weird and wonderful world of life in a dried
0:11:22 > 0:11:28up puddle. Don't prejudge, open your eyes! Be ready to be amazed.
0:11:36 > 0:11:45It's summer 's end, and the land is parched. As autumn rain is beginning
0:11:45 > 0:11:49to fall, the caked mud softens and long hidden secrets emerge from the
0:11:49 > 0:11:54earth itself.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03Desiccated eggs, dormant all summer in the dry substrate begin to hatch
0:12:03 > 0:12:25in the vernal pool. Here life multiplies rapidly. Tiny daphnia
0:12:25 > 0:12:32dance in shafts of life while in the darkness of the creatures 12. --
0:12:32 > 0:12:41shafts of light. -- in the darkness other creatures
0:12:41 > 0:12:44dwell.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58The tadpole shrimp. Triops. These crustaceans appeared on Earth over
0:12:58 > 0:13:02200 million years ago. They've evolved to thrive in low oxygen
0:13:02 > 0:13:07pools and have heightened levels of haemoglobin, giving them a red hue.
0:13:07 > 0:13:16But they must grow quickly in this, the most temporary of homes. With
0:13:16 > 0:13:25voracious determination, they begin to feed. Moving across the rocks
0:13:25 > 0:13:29with their undulating gills, these omnivores feed on anything they can
0:13:29 > 0:13:36find.
0:13:44 > 0:13:53In the waters above, hang fairy shrimp. The males, with tusk like
0:13:53 > 0:13:59appendages, hunt for females.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04They, too, must act quickly, because a fairy shrimp would make a tasty
0:14:04 > 0:14:12meal for the Widnes. The males chase down any females they see. -- a
0:14:12 > 0:14:15tasty meal for the triops.
0:14:20 > 0:14:27And after mating the female produces eggs, which she keeps in a special
0:14:27 > 0:14:30abdominal sac until spreading them around the pool where they will
0:14:30 > 0:14:40hatch into a new generation of fairy shrimp. As the season progresses,
0:14:40 > 0:14:53the pool fills with autumn spoil. Meanwhile, the triops have almost
0:14:53 > 0:14:57doubled in size, taking on a greenish hue. There are floating
0:14:57 > 0:15:05skins, ghosts of their former selves. As the pool begins to dry
0:15:05 > 0:15:11up, the triops are running out of time. They must lay their eggs
0:15:11 > 0:15:18before it's too late. Luckily, they don't need to make, they can self
0:15:18 > 0:15:24fertilise their eggs, which they lay in their thousands. Mixing them with
0:15:24 > 0:15:32the sediment ensures their safety.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50With no new rain for weeks, conditions are getting tougher.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Food is becoming scarce.
0:16:04 > 0:16:12So in desperation, the triops resort to cannibalism.
0:16:22 > 0:16:29But it's no use. The unrelenting sun leaves the last of the triops
0:16:29 > 0:16:31helpless.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43And as the land returned to its apparently barren state, it harbours
0:16:43 > 0:16:49a secret store of eggs once more. And when the rains finally returned,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53so will this alien world.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Remarkable, aren't they, triops? I really like them, they are one of
0:17:04 > 0:17:07those animals that you always hear people say they've been around since
0:17:07 > 0:17:11the dinosaurs but it is not strictly true, those sorts of animals might
0:17:11 > 0:17:14have been around from the time of the dinosaurs but not the same
0:17:14 > 0:17:17species but in the case of the triops and a number of species
0:17:17 > 0:17:20around the world, one of them has been around unchanged as a single
0:17:20 > 0:17:24species for millions of years. Absolutely phenomenal but it looks
0:17:24 > 0:17:28very alien, it has an alien look about it but it's not the only
0:17:28 > 0:17:34animal that takes advantage of those vernal or temporary pools. So does
0:17:34 > 0:17:41this creature, the natterjack toad. He uses a similar strategy in vernal
0:17:41 > 0:17:45pools found in sandy soil, like sand dunes and things but for them it is
0:17:45 > 0:17:49a race against time to complete the whole breeding cycle from reading to
0:17:49 > 0:17:57laying eggs, to hatching the tadpoles, to becoming toadlets
0:17:57 > 0:18:02before the pond dries out. It is a slight risk but there are huge
0:18:02 > 0:18:07advantages because in a vernal pool, there are less predators, no fish or
0:18:07 > 0:18:11dragonfly larvae so it has more chance of growing into one of those
0:18:11 > 0:18:15fantastic adults and after that show -- natterjack toads.And a bizarre
0:18:15 > 0:18:19instance, John Buckley, who was my biology teacher, was responsible for
0:18:19 > 0:18:22lots of effective natterjack toad conservation and came into the
0:18:22 > 0:18:26classroom Monday with a packet of mud. He told me to put it in a
0:18:26 > 0:18:31bucket and it had been scooped up from a pond in the new Forest where
0:18:31 > 0:18:33triops live and they hatched the eggs in the bucket and I got to keep
0:18:33 > 0:18:39them time. Fantastic.Because they are only found in places.The new
0:18:39 > 0:18:44Forest and Blackrock recently. A man who is also happy to be messing
0:18:44 > 0:18:51around in the mud is Martin. Thanks, Chris. Here's a little quiz
0:18:51 > 0:18:55for you, this is a quote from Charles Darwin, none other than
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Charles Darwin, describing a particular sort of animal. I wonder
0:18:58 > 0:19:03if you can guess what it is? "It May be doubted whether there are many
0:19:03 > 0:19:07other animals who have played a more important part in the history of the
0:19:07 > 0:19:13world". He said that in 1881. What do you think it was? It was worms
0:19:13 > 0:19:16and at this time of year, worms are critically important because what
0:19:16 > 0:19:20they do is they will drag the leaves that are falling from the trees all
0:19:20 > 0:19:24around us now under the ground and start the whole process of rotting
0:19:24 > 0:19:30them down and recycling the nutrients. Here comes one, look at
0:19:30 > 0:19:35that, going under, dragging it under the ground. Fantastic images. Look
0:19:35 > 0:19:40at this, that is going on all around us now, as the leaves come down,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45under the cover of darkness, the worms tidy them up. Just to give
0:19:45 > 0:19:49UNIDO of just how important they are, we have been filming, well,
0:19:49 > 0:19:56somebody filmed them for 15 weeks. Watch this. Those are the leaves and
0:19:56 > 0:20:00the mud. 15 weeks, time-lapse, and you can see what is happening to the
0:20:00 > 0:20:04leaves, they are being broken up into little pieces by the worms and
0:20:04 > 0:20:06other invertebrates and the whole pile is sinking down into the
0:20:06 > 0:20:14ground. If we didn't have worms, by the end of the autumn, we would be
0:20:14 > 0:20:17walking around with leaves up to year. They are absolutely brilliant
0:20:17 > 0:20:22and they don't just recycle the mud and detritus. They are a crucial
0:20:22 > 0:20:27food resource for lots of the animals we feature on the Watches.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33This is Jimmy buzzard, eating worms. Up to 20% of the buzzard's diet can
0:20:33 > 0:20:40be invertebrates like worms. The bad job, up to 80% of the badger's diet
0:20:40 > 0:20:45can be worms, Fox is a lot less, maybe only 4% but they are still
0:20:45 > 0:20:51important to foxes. That is out in the countryside. Those animals are
0:20:51 > 0:20:55not munching the worms here but there are worms in the city as well.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59They are just as important to animals there. Have you seen a
0:20:59 > 0:21:01seagull doing this, paddling like this? What do you think they are
0:21:01 > 0:21:10doing? By doing the paddling, they are making noise like falling rain.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15What happens is that if the worm's hole in the ground fills up with
0:21:15 > 0:21:18water, they might start to lose oxygen to quickly and that makes
0:21:18 > 0:21:23them come up to the surface so by paddling and mimicking the rain, the
0:21:23 > 0:21:29seagulls hope the worms will come to the surface. An amazing stat, for
0:21:29 > 0:21:33some gulls, worms are 90% of their diet. OK, what we are going to do
0:21:33 > 0:21:41now is start the Sherborne worm grunting event. A car alarm is going
0:21:41 > 0:21:46off over there! What we are going to try to do is bring the worms are up
0:21:46 > 0:21:50from under the ground. The first way we are going to do it is by
0:21:50 > 0:21:56grunting, this is a genuine thing. What you have got to do is... Do
0:21:56 > 0:22:01this, and if I keep going with this, eventually, some worms might come
0:22:01 > 0:22:10up. That is grunting. I always get this wrong, it is not twerking, it
0:22:10 > 0:22:15is twanging. Get a fork in the garden and do it like this. It is
0:22:15 > 0:22:19not twerking, is it? It is worm twanging and if you keep doing that,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23with a bit of luck, the worms will turn up and there's another amazing
0:22:23 > 0:22:27way of trying to get hold of worms. What we need is a bassoon player. If
0:22:27 > 0:22:32only we had one. Oh!
0:22:39 > 0:22:45Now, you may laugh but Charles Darwin's own son used to sit in the
0:22:45 > 0:22:48garden and play the bassoon like that because those deep vibrations
0:22:48 > 0:22:54would bring up worms. It is called worm charming. I'm going to go back
0:22:54 > 0:22:58to the twerking... No, it's not twerking, and try to get some worms
0:22:58 > 0:23:02up and we will examine the types of worms that thereafter in Sherborne
0:23:02 > 0:23:06in a lot more detail because there's a lot more than one species. See you
0:23:06 > 0:23:12later. I think the only chance he's got
0:23:12 > 0:23:16getting any worms is if he assumes Darwin's Sun using the fork and get
0:23:16 > 0:23:23him back on the bassoon.I want to see Hugh Graham twerking! What are
0:23:23 > 0:23:26thought!When it comes to nature, we have an enormous admiration for it
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and when it comes to exercising our creativity, we draw upon the beauty
0:23:30 > 0:23:35of nature and we try to replicate it and we do that through painting,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37photography and perhaps the most difficult medium, if you like,
0:23:37 > 0:23:43writing. Trying to transform all of this and distil it into words and
0:23:43 > 0:23:46make it just as beautiful is incredibly hard. Having said that,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50we are enjoying a bit of a renaissance in the UK at the moment
0:23:50 > 0:23:55when it comes to top-quality nature writers.Today is the launch of a
0:23:55 > 0:23:59national survey to find out the nation's favourite nature book.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Either written by British author or about British and nature. They want
0:24:04 > 0:24:09to know what your favourite book is and why in 100 words or less. All
0:24:09 > 0:24:13the details for that are on our website. The survey
0:24:13 > 0:24:14the details for that are on our website. The survey will be open
0:24:14 > 0:24:17until the 30th of November and then a panel will would let down to the
0:24:17 > 0:24:22most popular ten and then there will be an online vote in January and we
0:24:22 > 0:24:23will announce the winner,
0:24:23 > 0:24:24be an online vote in January and we will announce the winner, the
0:24:24 > 0:24:30nation's favourite nature book, on Winterwatch. Very exciting.Great
0:24:30 > 0:24:34idea from the arts and humanities research Council. To launch this
0:24:34 > 0:24:37thing, we thought, why can't we get hold of the best nature writer we
0:24:37 > 0:24:43have got in the UK, perhaps Robert McFarlane, author of The Wild
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Places, a commit is also, and find out what inspired him to first pick
0:24:47 > 0:24:54up the pen? 25 years ago, I read a book that
0:24:54 > 0:25:04changed the way I see the world. That book was The Peregrine by JA
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Baker. It gripped me in its talons then and it shows no sign of letting
0:25:07 > 0:25:16go. This extraordinary text was written by a seemingly ordinary man.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Baker worked for much of his life at the automobile Association offices
0:25:20 > 0:25:28in Chelmsford, Essex. But he had a secret obsession. For around ten
0:25:28 > 0:25:34years, from the mid-19 50s, Baker compulsively followed the peregrines
0:25:34 > 0:25:37that wintered among the salt marshes, power stations and
0:25:37 > 0:25:41woodlands of coastal Essex.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52Autumn begins my season of hawk hunting, he wrote. "Spring Ends it
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and wintered glitters between like the arch of Orion"
0:25:55 > 0:25:57and wintered glitters between like the arch of Orion".
0:26:03 > 0:26:07I was fascinated by Baker's longing to become a bird, to transform into
0:26:07 > 0:26:12a peregrine. His quest spoke to my own dreams then of flight and of
0:26:12 > 0:26:18wildness. But it was Baker's startling prose style above all that
0:26:18 > 0:26:28seized me. Reading his descriptions, I was enraptured. "Autumn Rises into
0:26:28 > 0:26:35the bright sky. Corn is down. Fields shine after harvest. Over orchards
0:26:35 > 0:26:40smelling of filigree windfalls, a peregrine glides to a perch in the
0:26:40 > 0:26:49river bank all the". He describes how a barn owl turns in wonderment,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54the dark, prune like guys shining through the sad full's mask of
0:26:54 > 0:27:02feathers. -- prune like eyes. Of a falcon hunts, the sky shredded up
0:27:02 > 0:27:06was torn by whirling birds. The beaches flared and roared with
0:27:06 > 0:27:12salvos of white wings. Like the peregrines themselves, Baker's
0:27:12 > 0:27:15sentences stoop, swerve and shock.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25His writing not only opened my eyes to peregrines, it also transformed
0:27:25 > 0:27:31the southern English landscape in my imagination. Seen through his
0:27:31 > 0:27:35language, Essex, much maligned Essex, became a place as wild to me
0:27:35 > 0:27:41as the Arctic or the Himalayas. It was as if he had given me
0:27:41 > 0:27:45binoculars. Nature leopard forwards, filled with a vivid new energy and
0:27:45 > 0:27:56strangeness. His words rewilded my everyday world. Unlike some of what
0:27:56 > 0:28:02we might call nature writing, The Peregrine cannot be passively
0:28:02 > 0:28:08consumed, it surprises the eye, sticks in the craw, raked the mind.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18In the mid-19 60s, when Baker was writing, pesticide contamination was
0:28:18 > 0:28:20so serious that the peregrine population was crashing towards
0:28:20 > 0:28:26extinction. Eggshell thinning caused by DDT was preventing raptor X from
0:28:26 > 0:28:35hatching. We are the killers, Rob Baker. A man embarrassed by the
0:28:35 > 0:28:38capacity of his species for harm. "We Stink of death"
0:28:38 > 0:28:41capacity of his species for harm. "We Stink of death".
0:28:46 > 0:28:50The Peregrine was published 50 years ago this year but it still speaks
0:28:50 > 0:28:55ringing lead to loss of our contemporary predicament. In its
0:28:55 > 0:29:01furious vision, there exists an odd kind of hope. For Baker's peregrines
0:29:01 > 0:29:07did not go extinct. Pesticide use was restricted, public awareness
0:29:07 > 0:29:13grew of the chemical threat. Peregrine numbers began to rise
0:29:13 > 0:29:22again. Now peregrines, though persecuted in the uplands, are back
0:29:22 > 0:29:26in number in our cities, nesting on our cathedrals, office blocks and
0:29:26 > 0:29:32power stations. They are now nesting in the heart of my city, Cambridge,
0:29:32 > 0:29:42and they take my breath away daily. Baker shows us that the best writing
0:29:42 > 0:29:47about the natural world is not dastardly out of date -- dastardly
0:29:47 > 0:29:53out of date. It is vital, urgent, powerful, hard-wired into the wonder
0:29:53 > 0:29:58of wild nature. It works through beauty and anger to change the world
0:29:58 > 0:30:01and change the way we see it.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12Isn't it fantastic, that such an amazing book has inspired an amazing
0:30:12 > 0:30:16wildlife author? We want to know what has inspired you, so head to
0:30:16 > 0:30:21the website for all the details. We love hearing from you as always and
0:30:21 > 0:30:26there are lots of ways you can get in touch. The easiest way to reach
0:30:26 > 0:30:31us is go online and be our friend on social media. You can like us on
0:30:31 > 0:30:36Facebook, and in your pictures and comments to our page. Follow us on
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Instagram and tag us in your photographs, or treat us your
0:30:39 > 0:30:47questions. If you still can't get enough our website is full of
0:30:47 > 0:30:52exclusive videos, in-depth articles and links to extra information.The
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Last couple of nights Gillian has been in Bournemouth looking at urban
0:30:56 > 0:31:00foxes. Not just looking at them, putting them to the test, seeing if
0:31:00 > 0:31:03she can measure how bright and intelligent they are. We thought
0:31:03 > 0:31:06we'd contrast the foxes in Bournemouth with those appear at
0:31:06 > 0:31:11Sherborne. We took the same piece of appointment, the Perspex box, and
0:31:11 > 0:31:16put it out in the woods. Let's see what happened. Here is the box with
0:31:16 > 0:31:24two chunks of chicken out front. And... So far no foxes at all, which
0:31:24 > 0:31:28is as we suspected, the foxes out here are very shy. They are near
0:31:28 > 0:31:33phobic, afraid of new things. It may take them longer to get used the box
0:31:33 > 0:31:37but there were some creatures who couldn't help but rush in and help
0:31:37 > 0:31:45themselves. -- neophobic. The ubiquity was wood mouse, the star of
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Autumnwatch 2017 comes in and helped itself to a massive chunk of
0:31:48 > 0:31:53chicken. I don't blame it, this time of year they are out eating acorns,
0:31:53 > 0:32:01beach and sycamore seeds. They will eat meat, insects, centipedes,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05caterpillars, worms, those sorts of things. If they happen across a
0:32:05 > 0:32:08great big chunk of protein like that I can't blame them for carrying it
0:32:08 > 0:32:12away. Didn't want the second one, full up.The mouse is thinking, this
0:32:12 > 0:32:18is an easy mouse maze this year, it was harder last year.There is that.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21While Gillian was in that garden they had a cat in the garden so she
0:32:21 > 0:32:26sent this clip. This cat looks absolutely enormous through the
0:32:26 > 0:32:33Perspex. We can see it is enormous, quite a large cat. It knows
0:32:33 > 0:32:39something is in the box, it's looking at what it has to do, but
0:32:39 > 0:32:42this is what I love about cats, you've got to admire them, it's
0:32:42 > 0:32:46like, I'm not playing your game, not going to do your experiment, I'm
0:32:46 > 0:32:50going to put my fat pour in there and get the food out, thank you very
0:32:50 > 0:32:56much. I mean you've got to love a cat, they are clever.You've got to
0:32:56 > 0:33:01love the cat, I've always said that. You've always been a champion of the
0:33:01 > 0:33:06cat. We asked you to send in clips of clever animals in your garden.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11Thank you very much for those that did, let's show you a couple. Look
0:33:11 > 0:33:15at this, this is a bird feeder with a cage on it and that is to stop
0:33:15 > 0:33:18things like pigeons getting in, but it isn't going to stop this intrepid
0:33:18 > 0:33:26little hedgehog in Sherry Smith's garden. I love this name, Pat
0:33:26 > 0:33:31sparrowhawk sent this in. This is a blackbird. There is food underneath
0:33:31 > 0:33:35the plant pot. The blackbird is sussing it out, goes round and round
0:33:35 > 0:33:41the plant pot. Sits on top, things, what do we do to get the food out?
0:33:41 > 0:33:46I'm not a stupid blackbird, I can tip that over and gobble laptop.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Thank you very much for the little tip. It doesn't surprise you, does
0:33:50 > 0:33:56it?Blackbirds, thrushes in general, frequently turn things over to find
0:33:56 > 0:33:59food, you'll see them flicking leaves overlooking for worms,
0:33:59 > 0:34:05turning over small twigs, pieces of bark, obviously knew the food was
0:34:05 > 0:34:10there, so quite an easy task.If you have any more clever animals in your
0:34:10 > 0:34:15garden, we'd love to see them.We can go live to a badger I believe.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19There it is in one of the sets we've got out here. We seem to be animals
0:34:19 > 0:34:23this evening while we've been wittering on about other things.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28That is nice to see, it looks like a sour badger, narrow neck, long body.
0:34:28 > 0:34:37Can't see the tail but we might see a long tail. -- it looks like a sow.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41A better view than we got at the beginning. Lovely to see. From a
0:34:41 > 0:34:48badger in the dark to a charming man in the dark.The leather is smooth
0:34:48 > 0:34:53and his passenger seat but let's see if nature has made a man of him yet.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Thanks, Chris, we've been trying to use all sorts of techniques through
0:34:56 > 0:35:01the day to try to find worms here at Sherwood. This is the planning
0:35:01 > 0:35:05method, some of you may use it at home if you are a fisherman. Go
0:35:05 > 0:35:08backwards and forwards and the vibrations are meant to bring up
0:35:08 > 0:35:11worms. We've not had much luck but we've had luck with other
0:35:11 > 0:35:15techniques. We've managed to find some worms and they are crucially
0:35:15 > 0:35:19important to the health of the soil and to lots of the animals that feed
0:35:19 > 0:35:25on them. We found the worms and found a world-class expert here.
0:35:25 > 0:35:33We've got Emma Sherlock, chair of the free-living worms Department.
0:35:33 > 0:35:40Chair of the earthworm society. Curator of the free-living worms
0:35:40 > 0:35:42department at the Natural History Museum, but it right at last. She is
0:35:42 > 0:35:48a world expert. We're going to look at some of the worms we've got here.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52You can take us through. Many different species are there?In the
0:35:52 > 0:35:57UK we've got 29 different species of earthworm so a lot more than people
0:35:57 > 0:36:04think.29? Before we have a look, why do some of those techniques,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07putting those vibrations in the ground, charming with the bassoon,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12why might it work bringing the worms up from underground?What are you
0:36:12 > 0:36:17doing, especially with grunting and twanging, putting lots of vibrations
0:36:17 > 0:36:22deep into the soil. The earthworm sends these vibrations and they
0:36:22 > 0:36:29think a predator is coming. In particular moles. So they think,
0:36:29 > 0:36:34cranky, a mole is coming for me, and they come up to the surface.It's
0:36:34 > 0:36:40not the joke, that really works.It does, it's brilliant.And different
0:36:40 > 0:36:46species, you say?Yeah. Already I can see a very familiar character.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51This one you can see has got a deep redhead, very large. If you give it
0:36:51 > 0:36:57a tap it has a bit of a saddle like shape.If flattened down tail. This
0:36:57 > 0:37:04looks very much like one I would find in the garden.Exactly. This is
0:37:04 > 0:37:09the nightcrawler, the one that comes to the surface and pulls leaves down
0:37:09 > 0:37:14into its burrow.Exactly as we saw in the film. This one does that.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19It's a beautiful thing, it's gorgeous. Sometimes some animals
0:37:19 > 0:37:23have difficulty getting worms out of the ground. They pull and you think,
0:37:23 > 0:37:29it would be easy to get this out. Why is that?No, they are cleverly
0:37:29 > 0:37:33adapted. Basically when these come up at night, this end will come out
0:37:33 > 0:37:38of the borough, looking for leaves to pull down, but this speech like
0:37:38 > 0:37:43tail it makes, that stays in the baroque and they have little hairs,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47I don't know if you can feel them, little hairs...A little bit
0:37:47 > 0:37:52bristly.If anything tries to get them they can retract themselves
0:37:52 > 0:37:56really quickly back into their baroque. They can grip onto the mud.
0:37:56 > 0:38:03Yes. -- back into that Arroyo.
0:38:05 > 0:38:13This is really stripey. When it stretches out in particular can use
0:38:13 > 0:38:20either stripes?Zebra stripes... Not zebra... Yes, I see them. Is this
0:38:20 > 0:38:25the one I would find in my compost heap? Exactly coming must have been
0:38:25 > 0:38:33found around the estate in compost. They are really nice worms to find.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38How do they manage to lead? They've got no teeth, how do they choose a
0:38:38 > 0:38:42compost in my compost heap?Really good question. These worms like
0:38:42 > 0:38:48deep, thick organic matter. They will ingest it. Then they have a
0:38:48 > 0:38:52dessert, like a bird, that is why people ask you to put eggshells in
0:38:52 > 0:38:55the compost, so they have something to take down and used to grind, to
0:38:55 > 0:39:00grind up that food. As it goes down the gut they also have symbiotic
0:39:00 > 0:39:05relationships with bacteria and things that help break it down and
0:39:05 > 0:39:10make it wonderful when it comes out the event.Kind of like my chickens.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15That's amazing.Anything else? Then we've got these kind of smaller,
0:39:15 > 0:39:22grey, pink coloured worms. These are your soil feeders, these ones rarely
0:39:22 > 0:39:27come to the surface. Instead of having vertical boroughs like that
0:39:27 > 0:39:36big one, these have horizontal burrows. They convert all the
0:39:36 > 0:39:42nutrients to a lovely form. For plans. Breaking up the soil, making
0:39:42 > 0:39:47it a wonderful texture.You fascinated the whole crew the whole
0:39:47 > 0:39:50day, you make the earthworm so interesting, I want to join the
0:39:50 > 0:39:55earthworm society, may I join? Absolutely, please do. We'll talk
0:39:55 > 0:40:00about subs later on. You can see once again a lowly, apparently, life
0:40:00 > 0:40:06form, is crucially important to the whole of life on planet Earth.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Gillian has been showing us the foxes in Dorset over the past couple
0:40:10 > 0:40:13of days. She is coming tomorrow to give a final update. She also went
0:40:13 > 0:40:18down to Cornwall to focus in on a really fascinating new conservation
0:40:18 > 0:40:21project.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Ecosystems are complex. Trying to unpick how all these elements
0:40:33 > 0:40:39connect and interact is incredibly difficult. Especially when you're
0:40:39 > 0:40:45trying to measure the impact of one single animal. Here in Cornwall we
0:40:45 > 0:40:49have just that. A keystone species that has been reintroduced and given
0:40:49 > 0:40:53us the chance to study them. Beavers. Originally indigenous to
0:40:53 > 0:40:59Britain they were hunted to extinction almost 400 years ago.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01These large rodents are incredible habitat modifiers. Their dam
0:41:01 > 0:41:08building activity changing water flow and sculpting the landscape.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Skills that could be put to good use here in Cornwall where flash floods
0:41:12 > 0:41:17have caused devastation to homes and villages. In June this year, a
0:41:17 > 0:41:19parent beavers were released upstream of one of the worst hit
0:41:19 > 0:41:26areas. The site was carefully chosen for a unique scientific study, could
0:41:26 > 0:41:32these two individuals really make a difference? Richard Brazier is a
0:41:32 > 0:41:36hydrologist from the University of Exeter. He joined the project over a
0:41:36 > 0:41:41year ago to monitor water flow and quality before the beaver release.
0:41:41 > 0:41:48Tumbles from a recent storm in able Richard to show me the staggering
0:41:48 > 0:41:51difference the beavers have made. This is a sample from the storm last
0:41:51 > 0:41:55night, water that has flowed into the site. If we give it a shake, it
0:41:55 > 0:41:58has quite a lot of sediment in there. Quite a lot of nutrients
0:41:58 > 0:42:03associated with diffuse pollutants from farmland upstream of the beaver
0:42:03 > 0:42:07dams.This is a sample from downstream. The one on the other
0:42:07 > 0:42:13side.Taken from exactly the same time. Immediately easy it is clearer
0:42:13 > 0:42:16water, not as polluted, because the beaver dams have filtered out the
0:42:16 > 0:42:20poor water quality.I know you've got to take it and analyse it but
0:42:20 > 0:42:24even to the eye it is such a noticeable difference, amazing, it
0:42:24 > 0:42:29really is.The other important thing here is slowing the flow. We've got
0:42:29 > 0:42:33water flowing rapidly of the farmland upstream. It enters this
0:42:33 > 0:42:40site that has five beaver dams. Water ponds, the flow has slowed and
0:42:40 > 0:42:45released very gently downstream. So we don't see a flood wave moving
0:42:45 > 0:42:50through the site as we did before the animals started building these
0:42:50 > 0:42:56dams.An incredible success story in just four months.It's a nature
0:42:56 > 0:43:00-based solution to a man-made problem.Or some, I love it. The
0:43:00 > 0:43:05project will be closely monitored for the next five years and the hope
0:43:05 > 0:43:09is that this pair will breed next spring. This would have been
0:43:09 > 0:43:13possible without serious commitment from farmer and landowner Chris
0:43:13 > 0:43:18Jones, who has championed this project from the start. As nocturnal
0:43:18 > 0:43:22animals, the best time to see the beavers at work is at night, so
0:43:22 > 0:43:25we've brought along our thermal imaging camera to try and capture
0:43:25 > 0:43:29them in action. I've never seen a wild beaver before, I'm really
0:43:29 > 0:43:35excited. It's pitch black out here but we've got this thermal imaging
0:43:35 > 0:43:38camera that we can see on this monitor and straightaway we've
0:43:38 > 0:43:42picked up a brown rat out there, got a little bit excited but it isn't
0:43:42 > 0:43:48the beaver, is it?I have not seen it like this, this is absolutely
0:43:48 > 0:43:59phenomenal. There it is. Fabulous. Oh my gosh, that's it. That is it.
0:43:59 > 0:44:06That's an actual, adult, European beaver. Right there.Look at that.
0:44:06 > 0:44:15And it's getting something to read. That's the first thing they do. Oh
0:44:15 > 0:44:23my God, unmistakable, isn't it? This is so exciting. It looks like it's
0:44:23 > 0:44:27gnawing away at some branches. Putting some branches down, little
0:44:27 > 0:44:31twigs, it'll slip those off and find a comfortable place to sit, then
0:44:31 > 0:44:37it'll slowly strip the bark off those. The sticks, often they leave
0:44:37 > 0:44:42them there, but sometimes they will stick them in the dam. He's bobbing
0:44:42 > 0:44:48his nose up and down, having a good smell.This is a working farm with
0:44:48 > 0:44:56dogs and cattle, I mean...Heading towards us. Turning around.
0:44:56 > 0:45:03Patrolling.That was a little tail slap. Probably only ten metres away
0:45:03 > 0:45:08from it. Maybe closer.That's amazing. You can see it blinking at
0:45:08 > 0:45:14the moment. This pair have only been here four months and already we've
0:45:14 > 0:45:19seen this incredible activity and you've seen real changes.It's been
0:45:19 > 0:45:24superb. We knew what they were capable of, but we had no idea that
0:45:24 > 0:45:27they would get down and start working almost as soon as they
0:45:27 > 0:45:34arrived. Creating a habitat for fish, and amphibians, and for a
0:45:34 > 0:45:39whole host of insects, bats. I can just see this becoming like an
0:45:39 > 0:45:45island of intense biodiversity. What I'd like to think is we'll be able
0:45:45 > 0:45:51to demonstrate how these animals can just... Be a part of the British
0:45:51 > 0:45:58landscape. Why not?Absolutely, why not?
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Great to see Gillian so excited to see a beaver. It is a brilliant
0:46:04 > 0:46:09project because it has baseline data and that means they have gathered
0:46:09 > 0:46:12information about flooding, about water flow and about species numbers
0:46:12 > 0:46:17from a year before the Beavers were introduced, which means they can
0:46:17 > 0:46:24have accurate information on before and after. I mean, it's really
0:46:24 > 0:46:27important.They have already got that in the form of biodiversity,
0:46:27 > 0:46:31they looked at the aquatic invertebrates before, 14 species in
0:46:31 > 0:46:38the area where the beaver dams are and the year afterwards, 41 species.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Immediately, the Beavers have increased the biodiversity, the
0:46:41 > 0:46:44species of life there. They are not just about improving things for
0:46:44 > 0:46:48other types of light. They are ecosystem engineers who could help
0:46:48 > 0:46:52us as well and we have a model which we have built over here which shows
0:46:52 > 0:46:57a cross-section of the British countryside. You have got the
0:46:57 > 0:47:00uplands, no trees, we have deforested them in many places,
0:47:00 > 0:47:05sadly, and no trees on the slope, either, and we have drained this
0:47:05 > 0:47:10area. Let's see what happens when we have an extreme weather event with
0:47:10 > 0:47:16lots of very heavy rain, as we are seeing with climate change.This is
0:47:16 > 0:47:21Storm Strachan racing down, getting overly houses.It gets to Compton at
0:47:21 > 0:47:31the bottom and submerges it and immediately, the whole of all of the
0:47:31 > 0:47:35firefighters are rushing out of the fire station to help the village.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38I'm game to try to rebuild the village and we're going to change
0:47:38 > 0:47:43the landscape by adding Beavers. I have to get the water out.Do that
0:47:43 > 0:47:50but I will start adding the Beavers. When I said extreme weather...Did I
0:47:50 > 0:47:54overdo it, storm Strachan got carried away! In goes the Beavers,
0:47:54 > 0:48:00quite a big beaver, look at the size of it! It is not to scale. It is as
0:48:00 > 0:48:05big as the houses. There's another one, another dam that the beaver has
0:48:05 > 0:48:11built which will go in there. I think we have drained it.Pretty
0:48:11 > 0:48:18much.It is not to scale.And the water that came out on that occasion
0:48:18 > 0:48:21was very silky because it was eroding the land it was rushing
0:48:21 > 0:48:25through. Now we have the beaver dams in place and we have transformed the
0:48:25 > 0:48:29landscape and if I just get the glass ready, off you go. An extreme
0:48:29 > 0:48:36weather event. But what happens? The beaver dams are holding up the
0:48:36 > 0:48:44water, slowing the flow, it is merely trickling down and then two,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46the drains are overloaded on the streets but it's not around your
0:48:46 > 0:48:50washing machine and savour. It is still a bit silky but in real life,
0:48:50 > 0:48:54it certainly wouldn't be. Getting serious for a moment, we've had a
0:48:54 > 0:48:58laugh with the model but when we have these kind of events, it ruins
0:48:58 > 0:49:03peoples lives and costs the economy billions of pounds but we have the
0:49:03 > 0:49:06potential for an logical solution. Beavers can make a difference, they
0:49:06 > 0:49:10slow down the water flow through the system that is being monitored down
0:49:10 > 0:49:15on the farm there by up to 30% and the 13 beaver dams he has got on his
0:49:15 > 0:49:21farm hold-up 1 million litres of water. Beavers really can make a
0:49:21 > 0:49:27difference. I think we ought to salute Chris Jones as being one of
0:49:27 > 0:49:31the foremost forward-thinking farmers in the UK in his interest in
0:49:31 > 0:49:35bringing back Beavers.What I like, as it said in the film, a natural
0:49:35 > 0:49:39solution to a man-made problem and I've got to say, it went better than
0:49:39 > 0:49:45we expected, didn't it?Pretty much! Now it's time for an update on a
0:49:45 > 0:49:51really beautiful but rare visitor to the UK, a bird called the Montagu 's
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Harrier. They are right at the limit of their range here but they do
0:49:55 > 0:50:00breed occasionally and I was lucky enough last year to actually join a
0:50:00 > 0:50:05team that were catching and satellite tagging them. We caught
0:50:05 > 0:50:11one and her name was Sally. It is amazing, B Harrier looks quite big
0:50:11 > 0:50:16in the air but in the hand, they are tiny and really liked, and we
0:50:16 > 0:50:21managed to get the satellite tag on and once it was on, we were ready to
0:50:21 > 0:50:32let her go.Three, two, one. Zero. There you go, Sally.Fantastic. We
0:50:32 > 0:50:37knew that Sally had successfully bred for two years in the past with
0:50:37 > 0:50:42her partner, Roger. But now we had the satellite tag, we could track
0:50:42 > 0:50:46exactly where she was going to go and it was quite an extraordinary
0:50:46 > 0:50:52journey. She left the UK, went all the way across France, shot across
0:50:52 > 0:50:56the Mediterranean, went to Tunisia and then swept across here to the
0:50:56 > 0:51:03Western Sahara and ended up down here in Ghana. Quite a story. As far
0:51:03 > 0:51:07as anyone knows, that is the furthest south any Montagu's Harrier
0:51:07 > 0:51:12has ever flown, Sally is a record breaker. Of course, having done the
0:51:12 > 0:51:16journey, earlier this year, she started off coming all the way back
0:51:16 > 0:51:20again and hopefully meeting up with her partner, Roger, to breed this
0:51:20 > 0:51:28year but sadly, that didn't happen. Unexpectedly, suddenly, and
0:51:28 > 0:51:30unexpectedly, her satellite tags stopped transmitting on the 6th of
0:51:30 > 0:51:37August. That was a very surprising event. It is almost certain that
0:51:37 > 0:51:43Sally is dead. And the fact that she disappeared like that suddenly is
0:51:43 > 0:51:49very suspicious. Also, three years ago, another Montagu's Harrier was
0:51:49 > 0:51:55killed in exactly the same area. It is very sad news.It is but I have
0:51:55 > 0:52:01some good news, in 2004, I went out in the south-west and I helped to
0:52:01 > 0:52:07wring some Montagu's Harrier is, as you can see here. It's fingers
0:52:07 > 0:52:09crossed these Montagu's Harriers will not only be successful now and
0:52:09 > 0:52:14fledge but also comeback and have some broods of their own. Fingers
0:52:14 > 0:52:17crossed they would come back and the RSPB went out this year, similar
0:52:17 > 0:52:22kind of area, and they caught two adult Montagu's Harriers, and when
0:52:22 > 0:52:26they looked at the rings, they were two of the female birds from the
0:52:26 > 0:52:31brood that we ringed 13 years ago. That's impossible because they
0:52:31 > 0:52:35surely don't live 13 years?We prove they do, we put the satellite tag
0:52:35 > 0:52:39them and we calculate if they were to migrate back to Senegal like
0:52:39 > 0:52:45usual, that is a distance of over 100,000 kilometres, 65,000 miles.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50What about that?Astonishing.Five pairs trying to breed this year,
0:52:50 > 0:52:55four were successful and they had 12 young this year.That's very
0:52:55 > 0:52:59impressive. I don't like it, Chris, there's a bit of the slope on the
0:52:59 > 0:53:02floor and I know you are a bit taller than me but I feel really
0:53:02 > 0:53:07short and I want an orange box! Now, and Autumnwatch special because
0:53:07 > 0:53:13Chris and I are going head-to-head, testing the abilities of two massive
0:53:13 > 0:53:16migratory birds, swans and geese. In fact, we're going to try to find out
0:53:16 > 0:53:29which one is top gun. The hooper swan and the greylag goose.Supreme
0:53:29 > 0:53:37migratory birds from Iceland. Both top birds.But who is the champion
0:53:37 > 0:53:43flyer? We have come to Abingdon airfield to find out. Now, this is
0:53:43 > 0:53:49Maisie. She is a greylag goose. She is about five years old and she
0:53:49 > 0:53:54weighs 2.8 kilograms and with a wingspan of about 1.6 metres, she is
0:53:54 > 0:54:03a superb flyer. For me, Maisie, you're the one.This is Earth, the
0:54:03 > 0:54:09hooper swan and she is 12 years old. If they were open, you could see she
0:54:09 > 0:54:16has a wingspan of 214 centimetres. She weighs 8.6 kilograms which makes
0:54:16 > 0:54:20her three times heavier than Maisie the greylag goose. Nevertheless,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24there is no doubt at all that hooper swans like this are fantastic
0:54:24 > 0:54:30long-distance migrants. I've got to agree, this species has earned its
0:54:30 > 0:54:40wings. To put these two species to the test... We have come to meet
0:54:40 > 0:54:47bird handlers Lloyd and Rose Buck. They will be scoring the birds on
0:54:47 > 0:54:50their take-off, flight speed and agility in this, the toughest of
0:54:50 > 0:54:57flight schools. Test one, take-off. The number of steps to take off
0:54:57 > 0:55:02made?Number of steps? Our fingers will have to be pretty nippy.Let's
0:55:02 > 0:55:12give it a go. I'm feeling nippy. First up, the goose.Come on!How
0:55:12 > 0:55:17many steps is that? LAUGHTER
0:55:29 > 0:55:35Three.Three steps.Three steps and she was off.She's liked and agile.
0:55:35 > 0:55:43I'm going to win.If the wind picks up we are in with a chance.Well,
0:55:43 > 0:55:50let's find out, it is time for Eartha's run.
0:55:54 > 0:56:02Oh, come on.It was 16.You've got a nervous twitch.You've got 11, it
0:56:02 > 0:56:05was 16, mate, you can't cheat by letting your finger slide off the
0:56:05 > 0:56:12button. It was 16.My finger was always on the button.We will look
0:56:12 > 0:56:17at the action replay.Post-fight analysis reveals Eartha takes 13
0:56:17 > 0:56:20steps to get airborne. It is understandable as this weighty bird
0:56:20 > 0:56:25needs to use its speed to generate enough lift to take-off. 1-0 to the
0:56:25 > 0:56:30goose. Let's see if the Swan fares better in test two, flight speed.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34The quickest birds down one-mile runway wings. It is all very well
0:56:34 > 0:56:41getting into the air, taking off. Yes.It is what you do in the air
0:56:41 > 0:56:46that counts.Good point.You would your goose can disappear down the
0:56:46 > 0:56:54end of the runway. I'm going to stay on the starting with this post. You
0:56:54 > 0:56:58drive a.And the wind the goose takes off, I will say go.I will
0:56:58 > 0:57:03start the stopwatch and then we will do it with this one. The Swan!This
0:57:03 > 0:57:10is going to be so easy.Him in his goose, honestly.First up, Maisie.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15Lloyd will be driving alongside her but she will be dictating the speed.
0:57:15 > 0:57:27Go, go.The goose is apparently airborne.Look at this! Amazing.
0:57:27 > 0:57:38Good girl, Maisie! Look at our go! She is drawing checks her body can
0:57:38 > 0:57:47cash! Woe! This bird can fly like that 600 miles from Iceland to us.
0:57:47 > 0:57:59Unbelievable.Not much chance of a sonic boom, is there?Look at that,
0:57:59 > 0:58:03keep going, Maisie, good girl. A bit faster. LAUGHTER
0:58:03 > 0:58:0645 seconds.
0:58:09 > 0:58:16You've heard of a lame duck.Come on, girl, feel the need, the need
0:58:16 > 0:58:31for speed. Good girl!1:36.80 one. 12.She is stalling, spilling out of
0:58:31 > 0:58:39the air. That is a winning run if ever I saw one.Did you pause for a
0:58:39 > 0:58:41Breen en route.It went like the others, that Bordeaux-Begles
0:58:41 > 0:58:49beautiful to see. What did it do? 1:36.80 one.A spread.It did not
0:58:49 > 0:58:55feel like that, mate.Do you want 50p on this to make this
0:58:55 > 0:58:59readjusting?50p, of the Queens currency?One of those newfangled
0:58:59 > 0:59:05pound I will go that far.Will the Swan bigwig or will I have to become
0:59:05 > 0:59:12pie? Out tomorrow. You won't want to miss the conclusion of Swan against
0:59:12 > 0:59:16goose tomorrow. It will literally take your breath away.Stay with us
0:59:16 > 0:59:22for Facebook live immediately after this.We will be back for the final
0:59:22 > 0:59:25show tomorrow at 8pm and Gillian will be with us. See you then.
0:59:25 > 0:59:27Goodbye.