Episode 1 Autumnwatch

. The swallows have gone to Africa. . The swallows have gone to Africa.

I can hear the Russell of a wood louse over there. It is the season

of mists and mellow fruit. There is something new around, what is it?

The smell of The smell of something new. The

swallows may have gone but I am here to keep these buys no check for this

year's Autumnwatch Live. SNP. Es s?

Hello and welcome to Autumnwatch Hello and welcome to Autumnwatch

Live 2011. I don't know about you gits, I am excited about this

series. We have eight weeks, we will be spreading ourselves all

the country and our objective as usual is to bring you the very best

of British wildlife at this time of year. We have great things in

bag. We have also, Martin, got a brands new rose in town. I can hug

brands new rose in town. I can hug strak stack whenever I want to. I am

already worried. I know that is not usually this

is not usually this nice, he is easing me in. It will go down. You

easing me in. It will go down. You have been on the programme for 40

seconds and insulted me. We have to explain where we are just

off, we have come to a place we think is the best to bring you the

start of autumn, the National Arboretum in Gloucestershire, an

extraordinary place. 240 hectares, 16,000 trees here, and more than

3,000 different species. I can tell you that 2000 of those are the

exotic maims, which are famed for turning reds in the autumn. Of

course, we will have our eyes on the natives, we will look at the

fantastic spread of colour will which burst here. I love the burst.

I have to say this is for me a really gorgeous place to start

Autumnwatch. I find it romantic, I find autumn romantic with the

changing colours of the leaves, the reds and all that testosterone of

the deer, the rutting deer, the spawning salmon. Steady. Take it

easy. Have you signed the contract. You are jealous you can't compete

with spawning salmon and rutting deer. What I do like about autumn is

the cozy at night-times. For the next eight weeks on Friday

live, I will be getting cozy with these boys. What more could a

want? Chocolates? I was thinking the same. Mussel, wealth, intelligence.

Fortunately, it is not just about Friday nights. All week the

will be out and about to bring the best of British wildlife in the

autumn, all the drama that the season brings. We will feature

places throughout the UK that we think are special, from Exmoor to

Anglesey to the Caledonian forests. It is not just the three of us, we

have special guest have special guest presenters as

well. This autumn, we will

This autumn, we will be visiting This autumn, we will be visiting

some of the most iconic wild places, to bring you the very best of the

season's wildlife. We will be joining familiar faces, sharing wild

And we say hello to new faces and And we say hello to new faces and

Sit back, relax and enjoy watching Sit back, relax and enjoy watching

But of course Autumnwatch crucially But of course Autumnwatch crucially

Sit back, relax is about you. We need to hear from

you. It is your programme. So get in contact with us, if you can. What a

strange summer it has been. It very, very cold, the coldest summer

since 1993. Then we had that blazing ends to it, boiling hot. Must have

had bizarre effects on our wildlife, my garden was aflame with

butterflies. Aflame. That is talk we like on Autumnwatch. Let us

know what you have been seeing in your garden, you have been getting

in contact. . They have seen bunting and waxwing. He is excited already.

I would like to say that. And. There are ladybirds and a humming bird,

quite late. And the hedgehogs have been eating him out of house and

home, they will fatten up for winter. Keep that stuff coming in,

Hold on. Let's keep the Post Office Hold on. Let's keep the Post Office

in business. You could write a letter. Get an envelope and put

stamp on it. I like real letters. Or you could get a pigeon and attach

the letter to the pigeon. Or a cleft stick with a runner. Moving on, I

think it is official. Autumnwatch Live has started. As we

we have been out and about, we started at the beginning of this

week in the glorious weather. We went to a very beautiful part of

What better place to explore the What better place to explore the

autumn season than the for et Dean and the Wye Valley.

Nestling on the border of England Nestling on the border of England

and Wales, this place is not only famed for its iconic scenery

look at that, but also for its great diversity of rich habitats.

This is the River Wye, 130 miles This is the River Wye, 130 miles

wrong, which makes it Britain's fifth longest river. And it is

teeming with wildlife, we have kingfishers, otters and it is the

life-blood of the forest that surrounds it.

Right now in autumn is one of the Right now in autumn is one of the

best times to explore the woods, from the canopy to the forest floor,

it is home to more wildlife than any other habitat in the UK.

We did find some little gems in the We did find some little gems in the

Wye Valley. It was such a beautiful couple of days to be there. We

looked for slightly different things. I went looking for a rather

unusual mammal that had I lived in mediaeval times would have been

to spot. It disappeared, it has come back to the delight of most people,

but it has caused a lot of controversy. I will be finding out

about that. I didn't need ex-mediaeval ma'am apples, I needed

what Michaela found in an old tree. It was just as exciting. That

coming up later in the show. I had a strange, mysterious nocturnal

encounter with one of my favourite animals right here in the Wye

Have you ever heard the term SSSI, Have you ever heard the term SSSI,

site of special scientific interest. And the smallest site of special

scientific interest in England is right there. So the question is:

What could possibly be inside that building to make it so special?

I am about to find out from the man I am about to find out from the man

responsible for making this a protected site in the first place.

David is a licensed expert, he will keep a careful eye on everything we

are about to do. There are

We will leave them sleeping. Right. We will leave them sleeping. Right.

Let's reveal what they are, these are lesser horseshoe bats.

Excellent. Correct. Autumn is the last chance to see lesser horseshoe

bats, soon, them disperse and disappear into their winter

hibernation sites. Tonight, we will use an array of technology to see

and hear the bats as they emerge. This is fascinating. They

starting to wake up. They are. They are doing their equivalent of

morning abluinges. He is having a good scratch. They will have a good

cleanup. Yes. Why are they called horseshoe bats. That is interesting.

Instead of through the mouth, they hum them through the nose. In order

to get a concentrated beam they have the weird horseshoe shaped

nose leaf. You can see it there. On the nose leaf, yes you can.

That one there has a hole in its That one there has a hole in its

wing. He stretched out. Yes. Can they repair that? They can, yes. It

heals quickly. And amazingly, with virtually no scar tissue. It fades

David, there is a lot more active David, there is a lot more active

now, etc getting darker. They are moving around, everyone is awake.

They will fly around in the to the building to see how dark it

is, only when it is dark enough will they venture out and go into the

night to feed on insects. Shall we go down? Yes. A lot of activity now.

David and our bat detectors. They David and our bat detectors. They

will hiss but this will bring the bat echo location into our hearing

change. These bats make the most extraordinary sound. (bat sounds).

It is the X Files, isn't it? That is It is the X Files, isn't it? That is

the normal flight route. Straight past us into the woods.

I think that one went through our I think that one went through our

legs. Very agile flyers, I have seen one fly under an inch and a half gap

under a door with a level floor. That is good. The sound sick

purchase is so accurate, they can fly in between bushes, trees and

pick a spider off a leaf. Yes. They can twist and turn through the

twigs. They will fly knew these trees without slowing down, right

How many do you think there are in How many do you think there are in

the roost at the moment? At the peak in July, including babies, 739

year. 739. Why is this area in Wye Valley so good for these bats? I

think it is just got the right combination for them. It is fairly

mild still, a lot of woodland they like. And it is less

intensively farmed. Basically, all that builds up to lots of insects

Let's be quiet for a moment and Let's be quiet for a moment and

listen to this extraordinary sound. (bat sounds).

Thank you for to date my top autumn Thank you for to date my top autumn

Thank you for to date my top autumn I tell you what, Martin, it is not

I tell you what, Martin, it is not I tell you what, Martin, it is not

Thank you for unusual for bats to be active

at this time of year, if it is like this. Because like those who

are shoes, many will move to winter roosts. It is worth thinking

about, if you are walking back from the pub, depending which time

to the pub. There will be bat activity if it is warm for the

foreseeable future. We have just asked you to get in contact with us.

And you have. On Twitter says: An owl calling on Autumnwatch. We heard

it. Tawny owl. Right. Bats again, you can, get a bat detector. It

massively enhances your enjoyment, some of them are expensive of the

but anything from �30 to 300 for the fancy ones. They are brilliant. They

bring the bats' worlds into our world. They are fabulous. Plug over.

What fw the bats you encountered, they are extraordinary. One could

say they were grimly fiendish. This picture taken by the guy I was with,

you can properly see that bizarre looking horse sloo face. Isn't that

weird? They emit that sound through it. It comes out through their

noses, not through their mouths. We have had all day you could think

about emiting that sound. You produced a sound that is more akin

to a cow than a bat. Let me move on. I have commissioned something

special here. This is a facsimile of the - make sure you get a perfect

shot. I am pleased with this, it neat, neat. This was made by a

wonderful researcher. This is the bat's nose showing the architecture.

What this is about, as you know, is about projecting a cone of sound

forward from the nose so it will bounce back from the objects the

bats encounter and be received in their ears. This is what this

leaf-like structure is about, shaping a cone of sound. What a

triumph of evolution and modelling clay this is. Are you sure that is a

bat's nose? It looks donlg to me. Dodge? A bit of a worry. Going

to the photograph, the photograph of the bat, that looks like a player in

the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. That has been smacked in the face.

Look at that nose. Can she stay? Only a mother could love. We follow

the beautiful game. I can't believe inthe one talking about rugby, my

partner would be proud. Something people are talking about, mind you,

it is a British pasttime to be talking about the weather, it is

this extraordinary weather we had this week. We started off this

week in t-shirts. It was beautiful, glorious sunny weather. We had a

record temperature for October in Cambridge, 29.

Cambridge, 29.3C. Now it is turned into autumn, this is what you would

expect. How does that affect the wildlife. We have monitored it, the

cameramen got these pictures. is a species that over winters as an

adult. What you can see it doing, along with this is topping up on

late summer nectar, to they have enough reserves to

through the hibernation period. soon as it gets nasty, they

hibernate. We saw large dragonflies. Look at this, an adder basking.

Depending on the weather, this can be unusual. They will be thinking

about moving under ground to hibernate. Can I say something about

adders. I think this last letters burst of warm weather may have been

a huge benefit to our adders. I found out that adders eat between 7

and 9 approximately mice or voles per year. Not very many. It takes

them ten to 14 days to digest that. They are thinking about going into

hibernation now. They cannot start to hibernate with a halfdy jerted

mouse in their stomaches. Who can. Terrible wind. This burst of

might have raised their metabolism and digest that last mouse. They

hibernate earlier. With a full stomach to see them through the

winter. Adders are in trouble. I guess this discussion about the

weather throws out the question what is in autumn and when does it

start? Martin, what would you say? I would say the 1 October. I would say

21 September, the equinox. There is no conSeine us. I have to ask, what

Just look at this, there can't be a Just look at this, there can't be a

finer place anywhere in the lands to answer this question. Than

National Arboretum. Complete the collection of exotic trees,

including these acer species North America and Asia.

the ones famed for having their leaves turn red during this season.

Autumn, what in a word? We used to call this harvest before we moved

into towns and took up the French autumn. Then the Americans call it

the fall. Not for the falling leaves actually but because it comes from

the old Norse, to fall from a great height, meaning the change in

seasons. That of course is what autumn is all about, the season

between summer and winter. It is governed by the astronomical

exknocks, in reality nature doesn't listen. We enjoy thermal lag,

basically, the ground warms up it delays all of the changes that we

equate to that season. Of course, one of the joys of autumn no autumn

is like the other, we is like the other, we get a new one.

Some people think autumn might be early on account of the dry spring.

If you have looked at horse chestnuts, they are yellow earlier.

That is likely to be due to that spring, perhaps the insidious leaf

bug. Other trees, we will be carefully monitoring the turn in

colour here at the National Arboretum. Stay tuned to see when

I feel that answered the question. I feel that answered the question.

Thank you very much, we now know. Good. Now, if you remember

springwatch, one of springwatch, one of the highlights

for me was our ospreys. We joined forces with the project. They put a

camera in an osprey's nest. Let's remind ourselves what it looked

For the first time in hundreds of For the first time in hundreds of

years, a pair of ospreys bred on the estuary in west Wales. Nora, the

play, had three eggs, all of them hatched out. It was great

at the as tray project, which is down the road from where we were.

far as anyone knows, there are three breeding pairs in the whole country.

That makes these chicks very important for the recovery of the

osprey in Wales. When we left at the end of Springwatch the

were less than two weeks old, tiny things crouched in the nest, reliant

on on their parents, Monty and Nora.

We couldn't just leave those chicks We couldn't just leave those chicks

all alone, we wanted to find out we could what happened to them next

in their lives. They are not going to stay in Wales, they will

undertake a migration. How are going to do that? We had to get in

contact with someone very special to fit satellite trackers on them. This

would not be easy. We called the when it comes to ospreys. He will be

embarrassed by me, he is a legend. Some people call him the Clint

Eastwood. He has the right haircut. It is more about his attitude, they

acconservationist who gets things done. He is a ledge jemdz.

Brilliant. Roy Dennis is the man with a licence to fit these

satellite trackers to ospreys. One other thing, when he started his

work, if I got in right, there was one osprey nest in the UK, now 250.

That is in part. A testament to his work. OK. He agreed to join us. Roy

takes up the story in his takes up the story in his own words.

The big day was planned very The big day was planned very

carefully. It was the first time anyone had approached the nest since

the chicks hatched. Mum, Nora, flew high above us calling out to her

chicks. She was keeping a very close eye on what we were up to. The

osprey project team and I had to get everything just right. We have three

birds, great that they were fed on fresh food. The weather is perfect.

Excellent opportunity to do it. The timing was crucial, the chicks

to be exactly the right to be exactly the right size so

their satellite tags would fit. They are a good size but still have

growth in the tail and wings. We ringed all three chicks to give

a unique ID. That is a 99 on there. These rings will help us identify

the individual chicks by sight. it was time tort more important

of the day, fitting each chick with its own satellite transmitter. These

have a solar panel. They take a GPS reading every hour of daylight. If

the bird is flying, they give the speed of the night, direction of

night and the altitude the flying. They tell us a lot of

information. Each sat lie tag wares just 30 grams. The same as a packet

of crisps. I will sew these together with pure cotton. Assix or

years, the cotton rots. Then the raid yok can fall off. Having the

birds outof the nest like that was a rare opportunity to see them up

close. This is the last one, this is the female. It is heavily

on the front of each weather. they are adult, the females are much

more heavily streaked males. The other noticable thing is

the juvenile eyes are oaker. When the adult is full, the adult eyes

are yellow. Tremendous change. These are our three chicks. How will

When will they set off on their When will they set off on their

migration? Will all three of them make it safely to west Africa?

will be exciting following them on their autumn migration. That is a

really good brood, two males and female, excellent type for ringing

and tagging them, fully grown, not ready to fly, another week or so

before they nigh. They are back into the nest, laying down, we

go away, and the female should be back within ten minutes, quarter of

an hour. The rain held off, it wasn't windy, perfect conditions. I

That was fantastic. Roy said she That was fantastic. Roy said she

should be back in ten mitts, she was back in eight minutes. Everybody

safe. No problems. Got the expert atz work. Look, I have one of the

transmitters, this is one of the ones we are using, 30 grams as

has said. This is very exciting times for us to live. Whilst a lot

of birds are in troubling, we are able to learn so much more about

them, so much more quickly. Ten years ago, we wouldn't have been

able to do this. This would have been the size of a double-decker

bus, way too heavy for an osprey. It wares the same as 211,

wares the same as 211,666 packets of crisps. What flavour, Chris? Smoky

trout. We will continue to osprey story later on. Now, Michaela. Do

you what I love is they reintroduced themselves into Wales. Normally,

when we talk about reintroducing an animal into the UK, there is endless

forums and discussions and analysis that takes a couple of years, if you

are lucky, the animal will go back into the wild like the beavers.

There is a management plan in place. What happens When an animal escapes

into the wild? Thz what happened in the forest of Dean. Although the

escapeees are a great tourist attraction, they have also caused a

There is one animal that you might There is one animal that you might

be lucky enough to spot here in Forest of Dean, that you won't get a

chance to see in many UK. That is the wild boar.

Historically, the forest of Dean was a royal hunting ground. Wild boar

was so popular at mediaeval banquets, they were hunted to

extinction by the 13th century. The boar have reappeared in the forest,

by escaping from farms and illegal dumping. Their comeback has

controversy. They can overturn a lot of soil when they are feeding, this

digging is beneficial for the forest as it encourage new species,

understandably, isn't so popular in gardens and parks. Some people,

especially dog walkers, are worried about the boar being aggressive. But

the biggest concern is that they are prolific breeders, one sow can have

100 piglets. As the population grew, there was a public consultation, the

commission, who are responsible for managing the forest, introduced

cull. Ian Harvey needs to balance at the needs of the boar and people who

use the forest. The balance is to keep a low population in the forest,

not to eradicate them, hopefully away from the communities and the

centres of population, where people are living, so the interactions

where they are getting into gardens and causing problems are reduced.

Not everyone believes the boar are managed effectively. I am meeting

Alastair Frazier from the boar, who thinks the cull is no

longer necessary. I have a lot of sympathy with the force industry

commission. They don't there are, I don't

there are. What I do know, there aren't as many as there were. I

think we reaped the stage where we need a proper scientific

of the boar numbers. That is exactly what the commission are trying to

do. I am joining Ian on a boar census to get a better idea

many boar are living in the forest. Ian has a night scope he uses for

Can you see them. Yes. On the bank Can you see them. Yes. On the bank

That is the coolest thing. I can see That is the coolest thing. I can see

three of them, is that what you saw? Three. What sort of age

is it difficult to tell? Looking at the body size and shape, about six

to eight months. Why do you have to do this census at night? It

difficult. Without this, you see them. No. That is right. It

gives us a better chance of seeing a true reflection on the number of

animals because they are nocturnal in their feeding patterns. They come

out and feed through the night and lay back up in thick cover in the

day. When they first were released, they were much tamer? Yes. They have

become shier and nocturnal. That is right. They were

people, they came from a boar farm. In a natural state, they are more

nocturnal and wary. Before we out tonight, I did think

they have a vague idea of how there are. I see the problem. This

is guesstimate stuff? It is the first time woe carried out, the more

frequently we do it, the more accurate it becomes. Will these

three stay for hours. It is fallen acorns which are nutritious, a

of energy. If they are happy, they will feed until they push on

feed on something else or they have had enough. Very cool to see them. I

I would like to explain something, I would like to explain something,

Martin and Chris. Because that film makes me look half blind. You can

see me looking at the boar. But it was actually pitch black. Unless you

use the scope or at the special its camera equipment, you couldn't see

You are a fine one to talk. Joking You are a fine one to talk. Joking

aside, there is something important to say. Boar can be a great asset to

the environment. When it comes to woodland, what they do is smash it

up literally. Their eco-system engineers. What they are doing

turning over the soil and one thing this does is allows the seed bank,

all of those seeds left in the soy, which are perfectly able to become

active, to germinate, seeds that might have been there for 50 years.

If they do it over a wide area, you get new plants growing. They clear

away the Bracken and the bramble all of this increases the

biodiversity. If you get more species of plant, you get more

species of insect and then birds everything else. Boar can be a great

enhancement to woodland. Another crucial point, they are indigenous,

not an invasive species fmtdz they are set to be here. They are

controversial. What concerns of the boar is if there is

be a cull, you need to know how many boar are there? That is a crucial

question and secondly, when would you cull? You don't want to cull

sows when they have piglets. I personally have a suspicion we are

zoophobic, we are fine with cuddly animals, when they are big and

fierce and can't control them, we don't like them. That is just me. We

don't live withmy large predators, the only country that doesn't have

any large predators. Do you think we are intolerant? We are used to

living outthem. You are right. We have our own opinions. It is not our

opinions that count on this. We want to know what you think, what are

your views and get a discussion going on our blog. Check out our

website and let us know what you think. Where did he go? He

the boar is chasing him. Look at him. I haven't seen him go so fast.

We have talked as boars as foragers. He is not a hairy boar, he is a

hairy bringsly Andy. Sorry for that intro. Andy will prepare something

from things he found around here, in the wild. In the wild. It smells

strange. Gorgeous. We will find out more about this later on. Smells

like booze. Back to Chris Michaela.

I feel Sendentory. Have you had Andy's delights? Put it this way,

I had cons pace - I couldn't get the words out. It would have solved the

problem. Was it a natural enema. Public enemy. Chris doesn't like

surprises, I found something a little special that I wanted to keep

as a surprise for him. I think, Chris, you weren't disappointed. It

Start looking up and tell me what Start looking up and tell me what

you can see. Trees. Look around. A wonderful dead tree. What is

wonderful dead tree. What wonderful dead tree. What is in it?

I can't believe you can't see it. Can't you see? Wow. One of my

favourite animals. Hornetss,. They are going strong. Look at that

gorgeous nest. The interesting thing once one has a role like the

century, it does that every day. It does that one thing. That animal

there poised, waiting to see if anything intrudes, if it does, it

will investigate, if it thinks it a threat, it will warn it first by

head butting. We are very safe here. Because these insects cannot sting

you. They won't say sting unless you move. If I were to go up to the nest

slowly, coy stick my nose into it, they don't like mammal breath. They

probably equate it to a bear. You can get close and the guards will be

like this. Then if you go like in with your arm, them immediately

sting you. They are easy to live with, you have to be passive,

out of their way. Looking at the nest, it is almost a paper bark

nest. That is chewed up old wood and saliva. . Yes. They chew specific

wood of the right dense at this. They will put their saliva with it,

if they are thirsty, they will have a drink and go out with water

land on the wood, turn it into a pulp and lay it down in these

delicate ribbons. The purpose of that is to twofold, it is to protect

the comb inside. It is principally about thermal regulation, to keep

the comb at the optimum for the development of the young, to

keep it kooltd awarm. Sometimes if it gets hot, you will see the

animals around the outside fanning with their wings to ventilate

nest. Are you impressed? You didn't think it would be hornets. I thought

you found funghi or something. An impressive top of the food chain

insect predator, a terminator. loves them.

You see that was a little surprise You see that was a little surprise

gem for you in the woods. Started so well. You have led me astray in the

woods, now we have had fun in the bushes. It is getting worse. Going

back to the hornets, which we should, is it normal to see hornets

that late? They are a larger insect than wasp. Critical is firstly

making sure all the males can the nest. They will hang about for a

couple of weeks. Then the Queens. The males will mate with them,

fertilise them, all the workers will die and the males. It will be the

Queens which will over winter and find somewhere to hibernate and go

into November sometimes. Look out for them. It was a treat. I

thoroughly enjoyed watching those hornets. Good stuff. I have been

corrected. Right at the thing, I said the swallows had gone. David on

Facebook said house Martens today. It is still summer, folks. Sorry. He

had his surprise, I am a surprise of my own in Autumnwatch.

I am going badger watching. With a difference. For the very

we will go live underground with badgers, not today, later on in the

week. Monday will start that. Are you sure? I am positive. Is it going

to work? Are you like a Womble that goes underground? I hope so. It is

bugged, it is bugged with cameras. Hopefully fantastic. That is not a

cultural point of reference. To another surprise, our cameramen,

whilst down to the forest of Dean, saw these birds. Cross bills, two of

them up there feeding on the cones. You can see a male regurgitating

food to a youngster. Using its cross bill to prise open to get the

out. The youngster is flickering, begging behaviour. Look at this,

look at the bird's bill. If it turns, you can see that it has

cross there. These crossing starts whilst they are in the nest.

the male, larger, much more formidable bill, matured for opening

cones. When they hatch, their bill is conventional, they begin to cross

in the nest. 50% of them cross to one side, 50% to the other side. The

reason is they open cones, therefore, from one side or another.

This means that half of the cross bills can feed on one side,

the other, you can have twice as many in the same place at the same

time. That is extraordinary. How do you know that? He is so clever. It

is a miracle of nature. As well as of those, there are other animals

storing up for the winter. Lots people do it, put on extra fat. For

animals, it is a crucial time to get thosecalries in. Where do they

for that special autumn meal? What do they get out of it? I think we

When it comes tots autumn harvest When it comes tots autumn harvest

for birds, there can't be richer pickings than our hedgerows. In

UK, we are lucky to have masses of them, fact, dp we lined them end

end, they would stretch 20 times around the planet. They are a rich

habitat. Replicating woodland edge, they can contain 600 different

species of plants and trees. Many of which produce fruit and berries. In

the wintertime, birds would do best by eating seeds and insects, the

trouble is they have to find them and handle them. Berries occur in

vast numbers and they are easy to spot. In one metre of a hedge like

this one, in a bumper year, you can find 10,000 berries. They are

to spot. Bright red against the green. What do the birds get out

them, energy and lots of it. In 100 grams of blackberries, 50 calories:

That is the birds get out of it? That is the birds get out of it?

What about the plants? What they are demonstrating is a fantastic example

of co-evolution. You see these plants have put energy and resources

into producing these berries. They have invested. What do they get?

Dispersal. The birds eat the berries, they digest them, but not

the seed inside. They fly many away, it passes through them to

germinate? Where where it is not in competition with the parent plant

and colonised a new area. It is win-win. As you shall ooh, in

science, we have a name for it, we call it:

How many calories in 100 grams of How many calories in 100 grams of

blackberries? 80. I don't know why I bother. I speak to farmers

be watching the programme, think about leaving your hedges to grow

into longer. If they don't frz the longer growth patterns in them, they

can't produce the frurtd for the birds. We shouldn't underestimate

how important hedges are, 80% of birds rely on hence for food and

shelter. Talking of shelter, we haven't been into the studio. Follow

me, Chris. You are excited about this. It is lush. It looks gorgeous.

It is all cozy. These windows looking out are fantastic. We have

our little cushions, leather sofa. Do you like it? Yes, OK. Understated

reaction. It is very, very posh. Way too posh for me. I can't get that

excited about domestic thingsment however, there are - aside from

getting food from hedgerows, other animals have different strategies.

One we saw in the Wye Valley was animals caching food. Here is a

vole, if you look, she picked up a beech nut. Look, rather eat it,

takes it away and hides it. Scirls are famous for caching. They bury

lots of acorns. They do mischievous things lie pretending to bury them.

Look at the wiggle. Bum wiggle that goes on. Cool. That is excellent. Of

course, people will see all this going on in their gardens and

woodlands. Look out for it, see if you see squirrel or the birds and

mammals getting their nuts. Or caching them in strange places.

Animals will cache them into flower pots. You never know. You might get

cache in the attic. Oh! Mind you, it would only be worth peanuts. Peanuts

to coffee apples, out with Martin. She gave it away. I would say

are you going to make? It are you going to make? It is toffee

apples. It is coffee with a twist. We are using sloes and things you

can collect. I don't know if you can see this. It is boiling away. This

one is ready to go. That is almost ready, sticky. You will roll the

apples in the coffee. To give the flavour, you have wide herbs and

things. It is the wild fruit which gives it colour. Depending on what

colours you colours you are using. I can't wait.

Chris, here is your helper. Coffee apples. He

apples. Chris, here is your helper. Coffee

April always. Right. It is time for the second instalment of the osprey

story. We have left Roy Dennis, who managed to put the satellite tags on

the osprey chicks. Over a month later, he went back to see how they

Throughout the summer, the chicks Throughout the summer, the chicks

were monitored at their nest site in west Wales. The project had their

cameras recording the birds' move. I was keen to find out how

they got on, at the end of met up with one of the staff at the

project who spent hours watching our family grow up. What we are seeing

is a selection of highlights to show you. They certainly developed into

individual characters, firstly, we have the elder male, blue ringed.

When it came to fledgling, he was more advanced. He was calm and did

very sensible flights, was quick explore the area more. The next one

down seemed a little more wet. Him and the little girl stayed in the

nest, were afraid to go. The of the three birds, she is very keen

on her food, it took her longer to fly. She got a reputation as a sit

around and eat a lot of kind of girl. It seems this is the confident

one. This is the anxious chick, a slow starter. And the

laidback one to sit and watch they are brothers tested

wings. All three chicks took to the air eventually, only after a lot of

practice. They were constantly doing what I call helicopter flying, build

up the flight muscles, which is concerningment you see them drifting

up and going off the screen and back down. They are worried they

make it. Then they finally go. Yes. Especially our baby girl. Being the

heaviest, it took her more effort to off the nest. She helicoptered up,

wasn't as controlled as the males and went over the edge. I think it

panicked her more than anything. She flew and landed on the ash tree and

sat there for half an hour before back to the nest. That is one of the

risks, if they fall in the vegetation, I have known ospreys

occupied the tree. A few days earlier, when we

earlier, when we panned down, there was a fox under the nest. They would

Once the young flenned, mum set off Once the young flenned, mum set off

on her migration, leaving dad in charge. It was up to him to make

sure his chicks were well fed, in the best possible condition for

This is a wonderful viewpoint This is a wonderful viewpoint

looking across the estuary. Yes. You can see dad is not having to go

far, the main part, which is he is getting their supply of food.

At this stage, even though they are fledged and not far away from a big

journey, our youngsters are be catching any fish for themselves.

They are reliant on a good supply of food from dad. This is a superb

habitat, you can see why your chicks are so good. It's deal to have such

easily accessible food is undoubtedly what led to all

going on successfully. It is no different to having a supermarket on

your doorstep. Our three chicks have had the best possible start to life

here in Wales. They will need They

They are about to undertake an extraordinary 3,000-mile journey all

the way to west Africa. Our studies show only half of ospreys survive

their first migration. In the next few days or next week, they will

head over those hills? That will a happy and sad occasion when we see

that. When we had the pair settle April, we never expected three eggs.

We never expected three to hatch. We never expected three to fledge.

Extremely pleased and proud. Qualitily, from will be that tinge

of sadness. We know the statistics, we know what a hard journey they

will have and have to prepare ourselves to let them go and

Such beautiful birds. Stunning. Such beautiful birds. Stunning.

Powerful birds, every step of their lives is fraught with danger from

now on. It has already. He said they will go down, fly south to Africa.

Whereabouts? What is your journey. I have

Map of journey, here is Scotland and Wales. We expect them to go across

the channel, some of them go around the coast of France, some cut across

the middle, many of them will nip across Spain to this area,

across Spain to this area,gy bral tar, across the Bay of Biscay. They

seem to work their way down the coast of Africa down here, Gambia,

great river system for them forage in. We know this because 2,

forage in. We know this because have been ringed in the UK, we only

had 145 recoveries ever. We will learn so much more about these

things now we have the satellites. Something strikes me, they have

feed on the way, find fish. They don't fatten up, they feed. Every

day. We know only half of them will survive. We are going to be able to

follow every step of their journey. Very exciting.

We think the weather is important to us, just think what it must be

like for the osprey chicks flying thousands of kilometres. If there is

a dramatic change, it is a matter of life of death, not just can we have

a nice day out on Sunday. To find out what the weather holds for us

and the wildlife who has to battle, let's go live to the BBC weather

stenter. Is it going to stay autumnal or summer?

Hello. I love your studio, it is better than mine. It is going to

change a lot over the next few days, my advice is if you are heading

this weekend, leave it until Sunday when it is warmer. This weekend sees

a lot of cloud heading our way, a freshening breeze. As far as rain,

Saturday is mainly in the west, Northern Ireland and western

Scotland. Eastern areas, dry but not much sunshine and really cold.

We have this chunk of cold air in We have this chunk of cold air in

the east on Saturday. There is warmer air in the west. That pushes

eastwards overnight, into Sunday. you are badger watching, you

notice the rise in temperature. You will notice a stronger wind

Sunday. We have rain to come towards the northwest, most other areas will

be dry. We will be warmer, noticeably so in the southeast,

sunshine and temperatures hitting 20 or 21C. Of course, it is no

heatwave. It seems if you want to see an adder

go on Sunday. They will keep their heads down on the Saturday. When it

comes to wildlife and weather, one thing we are interested in is what

thing we are interested in is what the winds are doing. Can you tell us

about that? It is about the wind direction. Let

me take you back to last weekend. We had this southerly wind bringing the

record temperatures from North Africa, I understand it brought

insects, some of which we wouldn't find on our shores. The last few

days has seen the wind direction switching, much colder. The wind has

been particularly strong, so much so the conquer championships had to be

cancelled. This weekends see sees a westerly wind, it won't be strong on

Saturday but a stronger wind if you are heading out during the course of

Sunday. What impact that has on the wildlife and bird, you can tell

Chris. Thanks for accurate information. I

tell you what happens in terms of wildlife. Darren mentioned the

warmer weather at the the week. We had these crimson

footmen from Africa, the moths. A few of those appeared as is becoming

typical, we also had glossy ibis coming from southern Europe, some

have appeared in the UK. The infamous - I will leave it down

there, the infamous magnetic map has failed. With an unsticky ibis.

Hoping for more traction, from up north, the winds will be blowing

birds from Iceland. We can expect Hooper swans into the northwest.

Along with grey legged gOes and pink footed geese, staying in this area,

a few might push south. Next week, I promise you no slippage.

I am getting over the fact that the I am getting over the fact that the

conker championships were cancelled. They look fantastic. Help

yourselves. Will this gum my together? I cannot get through that.

I thought Roman and now I have a toffee apple. Doubling as a mallet.

Your recipes are on the website. This is on at the website.

I am try that later on. Cheers. I am try that later on. Cheers.

I hand you that? I don't know to do with it? We are coming

the end of the programme. I would like to show the photographs we have

had sent in to our Flickr site. at this super photograph of a red

squirrel, taken by Highland Andy. We had this red deer stag.

That is a Roman take photo. I love That is a Roman take photo. I love

Tell us about this one. This is Tell us about this one. This is

That is a something I did earlier, a few days

ago. This is what my six-year-old and I did with these leaves. It is a

butterfly. If you fan at this yourself as a Michaela Strachan,

take your photographs of badly crafted butter nice. We would

to see them. You have upset a six-year-old now. We are coming to

the ends of the show, we will be back next week. We will be back for

back next week. We will be back Autumnwatch Unsprung. And where are

we going? We are spending to Spurn Point. It is a wild and wind swept

place but fantastic for migrating birds. We are hoping to find plenty

down there. Amazing looking spot. will be a tempting to go underground

with the badgers. Will they turn up? Will our cameras work? I am hopeful

this year, I think they will. We have extraordinary views of one of

the most exciting migrants, salmon, with Charlie Hamilton-James. Stay