Episode 3 Autumnwatch

Tonight is going to be a wild wide. There's a hint of spaghetti western

on the show. Wild horses should not drag you away. Welcome from

Hello and welcome to Autumnwatch live, coming to from the National

Arboretum in Westonbirt in Gloucestershire. If you have been

watching for the last three weeks, you will know that every week, we

go somewhere in the UK where we can sample the flavour and bring you

the full glory of Britain's wildlife in the autumn. This week

we have gone to a very special place. 53,000 kilometres of

hedgerows, England's tallest tree, and four species of tree that grow

there and nowhere else in the world. I feel I should get a pen and paper.

Or shall we just badger on? Let's do that. Of course, we're going to

be catching up with all of the badgers, to find out what has been

happening in the set during the past week. We will be following our

osprey chicks, their migration to Africa is full of obstacles, and

not all of them will make it. And our special guest this week is very

special indeed, the Exmoor enigma that is Johnny Kingdom. So, where

is this amazing place that Chris was talking about? I shall give you

a clue. If it is good enough for Johnny Kingdom, it is certainly

This week, we are exploring Exmoor, one of the wonders of the West

Country. It has got these rugged Moorlands, deeply wooded areas,

idyllic little rivers flowing down to the sea. I will be exploring

Exmoor's wonderful ancient woodland. It is full of magical and very

special species. And what makes these unassuming looking animals

one of nature's toughest creatures? I'm here to find out. When the

moorland water has come down to meet the sea in autumn, there is no

finer place to take a dip. A dip into some rock pools. Shall we go

and get an ice cream? Cream tea? Maybe a pair of wellingtons.

never did get that cream tea, did we, Chris? Sadly not. Without

further ado, let's go and see our live badgers. Yes! We have got a

female, do you think that's a female? Let's have a look. She's

eating peanuts, very alert. She's outside the farm. This is Andrew

Cooper's Farm, he has put cameras on the ground, we will have a look

at those in the moment, but we have put cameras outside the farm as

well. This has been a huge success, about 800,000 people have tuned in

on the red button to watch our badgers. We could get to a million.

We could. We have had people from Italy, Serbia, Canada, even

Australia, have been watching them. Easy for the Australians, of course,

because they do not have to stay up late, they can watch them at midday.

Badgers do not just eat peanuts, and we will be coming back to what

they eat later on. Also, let's go underground and see what happened

during the week. A lot of mutual grooming goes on. I think this is

probably a male and female. looks like a male on the left.

do a lot of this, getting rather amorous. Just a little bit. You can

hear them... A little bit of biting, that was a bit cruel. Do you know,

Chris, 16 different sounds have been identified by scientists, made

by badgers. And they have all got different names. I think it is

worth saying that most of these sounds are quite low volume, you

only hear them if you are close to the badgers. It is not like foxes,

you can hear them kilometres away. You have got to be really close.

They seem to be most noisy when they have got cubs in the spring.

Anyway, Chris, over to you. Every week we like to have a little quiz,

So listen very carefully to this, what is this sound? Creaky door!

This one, I have to say, is pretty tricky. Not many people will ever

have heard this. You might have to use some intuition to come up with

the answer. We will probably give you a clue later on. But let us

know if you think you know what it is. I have not eaten properly this

evening! You said you were having problems with your stomach as well.

Thank you very much for sharing that with everybody. This week,

Chris and Martin have been to Exmoor to discover the habitat, but

when a lot of people think of Exmoor, they think of one man in

particular. In fact, to him, Exmoor is his kingdom, he's passionate

about the place. And he has been filming it. So, let's see Exmoor

through the eyes of this week's I never feel lonely on the moors.

Because I'm with something that I really loved - animals. This time

of year, autumn time, when the sun comes up, all over the cush -- all

over the gorse bushes, you have got spider's webs, hundreds of them,

with the light shining through. And Exmoor has got everything. At this

time of year, you can see the swallows. Especially where I live,

they seem to know when it this time, and then they have got that long

journey home to Africa. I have been told, whether or not it is true, I

don't know, that they sleep on the wing. How do they do that, all the

way to Africa? Hard to believe, but The golden plover comes here, in

flocks. I love the golden plover, the display they make in the skies.

Very, very attractive bird. Of course, then you get the fieldfare,

I shall never forget, once I picked out one bird, and warned of a

sudden, I saw him get hold of a worm. He had warned about this

September, October, if you get the rains at the right term, you know

that the salmon will run. It is beautiful to watch. You can sit for

hours and hours waiting for one to jump. They fight so hard to get up.

My dad always said to me, a salmon from the sea is everybody's, so got

on the moors and get one! That is what he used to say, and that is

what I used to do. No poaching any I think the wild boar have about

three litters every year. In the autumn you can still see tiny

babies, born not that long ago. Once I went to my hide and I never

got there. I film to them, it was beautiful to see. It could not

To my feeling inside of me, there is no other place in the whole

world like Exmoor. I just love this Doesn't it just makes you want to

get in the car and head to Exmoor? He's so enthusiastic about it. But

yes, swallows do sleep on the wing. It is incredible, how do they do

it? It is not just swallows, lots of birds which migrate, mammals,

like dolphins, which constantly swim. In simple terms, they have

the capacity to shut off one side of their brain and use the other to

control of the functions. They do this because every brain that we

know of needs to rest. We do not understand exactly why, but it has

got to take a chemical break to rebuild itself. So they shut down

one side. The other half can get them to fly along. It is hard for

us to get our heads around, isn't it? It is, I have tried. I think

I'm working with about a quarter of my brain at the moment, to be

honest. We have already introduced you to the Clint Eastwood of

conservation. But what we did not realise was that we had our own

horseless cowboy in our midst. Martin went up to Exmoor himself to

Exmoor is looking beautiful today, but don't be fooled. When the rain

lashes down, this is one of the harshest environments in the UK.

Very few animals can live out here all year round. But amongst those

animals is one intriguing survivor from a dim and distant past. Wild

ponies have roamed Britain for at least 130,000 years. Exmoor ponies

are thought to be the closest surviving breed from those

prehistoric ancestors. I met up with an expert, who has been

studying them for 30 years. So, what characteristics do they have

which enable them to live in this environment? They are born with an

arsenal of weapons to defend themselves against the elements.

They grow a special winter coat, in two layers. Underneath, they have

very soft, fine hair. That is if you like their thermal underwear.

And then over the top, if you can see, their winter coats are growing.

They have got greasy, long hairs on the outside, that is like their

waxed jacket. It helps to get the rain off the body. They have got

very small ears, and they have a toad eye, a ridge of fat. They have

the forelock coming between the ears, the rain runs down there, and

the rain is then channelled away from the eyes. Then they have got

this tail, everything is about getting the water off the body.

Another secret is that the ponies have evolved into superbly

efficient grazers. Their grazing shapes the structure of the more.

The ones that roam Exmoor 300-400. There are another 2,500 away from

Exmoor, so a pretty rare animal. That is why they are on the

endangered list. We have to work very hard to look after them. These

ponies we are looking at, would you call them truly wild ponies? They

are a bit of an enigma. All these ponies have owners, which is not

the norm with a wild animal. They live out here all year around. They

find their own food, shelter. Give them enough of the right habitat

they don't need it at all. They are behaviour rally wild. Everything

talks about being wild, yet they are owned. I like to think of them,

they are essentially a part of a wild animal, part of the British

fauna, but they are in a managed situation. Part of that process is

the annual pony gather, when the herds are brought in off the moor

to be counted and checked over. Good morning, everybody we will

start at this end. I was invited to witness the largest herd in Exmoor.

Push all the ponies back to the gate. Thank you all very much for

coming. The gather of nearly 100 wild ponies is quite an operation.

Nothing could be more redilant, this picture we are seeing now.

Something which has been going on for hundreds of years.

We've only just begun. Already we're in trouble. One group of

ponies has split up and gone back to where we have come from. It may

be a long day. There must have been 40 there. They

managed to turn them around. They are heading in the right direction,

at last. That's magnificent. Isn't it a sight. It kind of vibrated as

So this is the end of the line now. We hope that all the ponies are

going to appear down this lane at any moment now. It is very tense.

Fantastic! There it is - you are privileged to see the end of the

annual autumnal Exmoor pony gather - a bit of living history. A very

tiny foal, with a very round mum. Another successful gather complete.

The ponies will make the most of this lush grass for just a couple

of days while they are inspected and marked, before being returned

to the wilds of Exmoor. And we must say a massive thank you

to Emma and David Wallace who allowed us to take part n a funny

sort of way. I love the point where you see the ponies come over the

morning. It made it feel like a spaghetti western. When you see all

those ponies, numbers during World War II went down to 50. They nearly

went extinct. It was very close. That was because people were very

hungry and some of the ponies were carted off for meat. Now the

numbers have built up. There are 300-350 on the moors. They've

survived. A successful conservation story those things we should

celebrate. They are useful because they are

useful at grazing laning grass. They hell -- lank grass. They help

with the bad undergrowth and new growth come. In Yorkshire they have

40 of the ponies. Yorkshire pony lawn mowers!

Shall we go back and have a look at some badgers. Any live badgers?

we had them earlier. We did have them feeding. We saw her feeding on

peanuts, didn't we. They don't just feed on peanuts. What's that fancy

claws, the one earlier. We thought we could identify Fancy Claws.

if you could see the claws. They all have massive claws. Many people

on the messages hoped they would see her tonight. Yes, it definitely

was Fancy Claws. Let's see what we filmed earlier in the orchard. This

is a good advert for leaving apples out. There is a badger in the

background. Many other things will eat them, red hornets, things like

this. Later in the winner it is birds. Redwings and thrushes too.

Any fallen apples you can leave beneath your tree. Is this badger

hungry for fruit? Of course he goes. Of course they are of my vors.

Chris, I have something exciting here. I have a pie chart. This is a

chart showing what the badgers will be feeding on, it's from the Badger

Trust, during autumn. Here we are. We've got earth worms. Pink for

earth worms. We've got insects. 25% of these different things. What's

interesting, if I can do this, that's what they are going to be

feeding on later on in winter - an awful lot of earth worms. When it

comes to badgers it is not a hit or miss affair. They are earth-worm

specialist behaviour. The things is they are not always available to

them. If it is too windy, if it's too dry, various conditions change

in their territory they cannot access them. They have to be able

to switch to feeding something else. If their ability to catch earth-

worms drops below a certain threshold they will eat other

things. The increase in mammals and birds in the winter time is

possibly savaging. I was watching a set years ago where there were a

lot of holly trees. It was a big roost. When I analysed the badger's

poo. Which I did every Thursday night for four years. I found the

remains of the redwings in there. They were taking them from savaging.

It is nice to see a pie diai gram. After analysing all that poo, I

could have brought them in. badger's stomach content were

inspected, there were 200 worms. You can carry on watching those

badgers, live, right up to Sunday between 5-11pm on red button. Let's

crack the million. This is what our wildlife cameraman found on Exmoor.

I know it is just a humble cha finch. Here's another on --

chaffinch. Here's another on the ground. Look at where the flock has

assembled. It is actually on the road. What I think is happening

here is the birds are actually indirectly using the cars which

drive over the masts to crack them open. That makes the colonel more

accessible to them and cuts down the handling time, trying to remove

the seed and then crack the outer shell. I think that is chaffinches

foraging. If you were watching Springwatch you could have known we

had drama with our dippers. They are widespread on Exmoor. There are

483kms of river here. It is a wet place. In some places there are

2,000 millimetres of rain every year in Exmoor, so these bumbleing

broobgs are always bubbling, I have to say. It is -- brooks are always

bubbling. I have to say. It is when the clouds lift up over the high

moor, there they discharge their moisture. Lots and lots of rain.

There is also ancient woodland there. When you get ancient

woodland and rain, you get Britain's rainforest. A very

special place. Take a look at this. The wet oak woodlands of Exmoor are

a magical place to explore. Take the time to stop and look. There's

so much to see here. Quite often it's the little things that keep

this place alive that are actually missed.

Lichens are often overlooked. This is a shame. They are unique and

fascinating organisms, no roots, flowers, stems, leaves and they are

successful too, you know. 1400 species in the UK.

They are a mix of fungi and algae living together. The plant provides

the food, the fungi the protection. Look at this. I don't know what

type of lichen this is. In a way I don't need to know. What's

important is developing an appreciation for the little things.

In this case these lichens growing on here. If nothing more they are a

beautiful colour and they feel great.

Now, at this time of year, wood lands are a feast for the senses.

It's not just what you can see and feel, it's also what you can smell.

It's just so rich. So rich. Principally of course it's about

decay. All this bracken tumbling over and breaking down. All the

leaves coming off the trees. This rich little layer here. But of

course it's also about the dampness and the warmth and moisture in the

air, and together it produces a cocktail which is unique to this

environment. That... I can recognise that anywhere in the

world as the smell of English oak woodland in the autumn.

It's not just the smell of woodland, it's actually the structure of it

that builds the full picture. Look at that - that's a feast of all

those limbs interlocking, interweaving. They are all

providing surfaces for life. It's like a giant sponge, through which

birds fly and over which squirrels scurry. It's just fantastic. That

is what woodland is really all about. It's about all of this. It's

about being in it, not on it. This is a pretty spairbl place and

glistening in the sunshine -- special place and glistening in the

Now, you're going to have to forgive me because I am going to

seize the moment to champion the underdog. Lichens are finally on

the agenda. Don't switch off. These things are a fascinating mix of

algae and fungi. Clearly the algae gets the benefit of the algae

because the algae is a plant and it's producing sugars through using

sunlight. What does the algae get out of it? Well, we think it's the

protection from the fungus. Some of these things can be extraordinary

long lived and they come in a great range of forms. Look at this. Some

are like this. The form is dependant on which are living

together. These things can live for 3,000 years. The ones on Antarctica

which think have lived 3,000 years. Sometimes they have been dried out.

Years later, people have taken them out of these dusty drawers, added

water and they have sprung back to life. Those which looked like

patches of material, they are called lepros lichen, because they

look like the skins of leopards. Very romantic in a very perverse

way. We've had lichen sent into Flickr. This shows the fruiting

bodies. The top of each of these, they are spores which are dispersed

when the rain drops on them. Some other lichens are dispersed by

birds, other animals, they break them off and they start to grow

again. The fact is, as I said in the film, there are 1400 speciess

in the UK. They were coating the trees in the wood. Clearly they

play an important role in that community. Ladies and gentlemen,

thank you very much - lichens. lot of people don't get into them

because they don't understand them or know the name. That doesn't

matter. You look at that photograph and it a Esso stunning that you can

appreciate a lichen, even if you don't really understand it. They

are all so difficult to identify. Sometimes you have to take their

sexual apparatus, crush it under a microscope and only then can you

identify it to species level. I appreciate that puts people off

naming them. When it comes to wildlife it's all about naming, was

How are they getting on? A lot of people are getting it wrong. One

person thinks it might be an otter. One person thinks, it might be a

porpoise. That's an interesting idea. Anyway, keep them coming in.

Right, here we go. It is time for another one of those wonderful

open-air laboratory surveys. This time, it is all about hedges. You

might want to do this over the weekend, get out, have a bit of fun,

and do some proper science. Let's see what we get in the pack? First

of all, this magnifying glass. Measuring tape. All the

instructions. You do four things. First of all, you measure out with

your tape measure three metres of hedge. The first thing is, what

type of hedge is it? Second - what fruit is in there? Thirdly, what

creatures are in the hedge. You can use a tray or a bit of paper, and

literally just sweep things in. Look at that, straightaway, a

lovely spider. You use this bit - I love these - to identify the

creatures. And then finally, you can get in the hedge and look for

exciting holes made by mice and rabbits. Here's a brilliant bit.

You sent the results in, and they are genuinely useful in scientific

research about hedgerows. Those are great, those surveys. The packs are

brilliant. Let's quickly go to the live badgers. Somebody just told me

we had a badger. There it is! It is slipping. It does look a bit like a

shadow. It could be the same one that we saw eating the peanuts.

Then they go for a bit of this news, then go back out again. Let's move

on. Autumn certainly is not a time to just have a Kip in the afternoon,

because there are so many things to do. Very many of the big spectacles

are easy for us to go and see. One of my favourites is one that you

can see all over the UK, and in particular in Exmoor. Let's join

Johnny Kingdom again for his reflections on one of the most

Autumn time is my best time because the rutting season starts. That

sound, which I can't do very well... I just wait for that sound. When

the rut starts, it starts like this. You see a herd of, and there are

young stags in there. Then finally, you will see a big stag arrive.

Then, the small ones, they know that when that big man comes, there

could be trouble. The big stag will come to the rut in top form, and he

will lose more than half of his body weight chasing after them. You

hear that sound all the time. He chases one this way, chases another

one another way, no wonder he loses half his body weight. Then, the

challenge comes. A big stack like himself, more or less the same size,

they go to fight. They size each other up. They will look this way

and that way, they walk together, roaring at the same time. All of a

sudden, one of the will stop, the sudden, one of the will stop, the

other one will do the same, then they will fight. Sometimes they

will kill each other. You can hear the antlers crashing. I have seen

all this. When he has won his flight, he will turn his lips up

like that, sniffing the air. You will see the females trying to ride

each other, telling the male they are ready. Telling him to get on

with it, it only happens once a year. They will make several times

before they get it right. Don't forget, one stag will take 30 or 40

females. At very, very Lucky! He will know when the females are

coming into season, because he can smell them. But that is not the

only sign. They play, they Downs. She's splashing, look at that for a

You can always tell the end of the rut. The big stag will live away

from the rest of them. I'm saying to myself, how many more ruts am I

to myself, how many more ruts am I going to see, at the age of 72? Not

many. We have managed to bring him into the studio now. It is amazing

to see your passion. You have obviously seen loads of red deer

ruts. Have you ever seen a fatal one? Yes. Actually, not me, my who

are. He came back one night and found two big stags, dead. On one

of them, it was stuck in the neck, the other one, it was in the side

of his body. These were two really big ones. They will fight to the

death, and they will kill you as well. Especially if you go filming,

like I do, be very careful. If he stamps his feet like that, he's

telling you not to go any closer. This time of the year it is very,

very dangerous. I have been up a tree for 2.5 hours, waiting for the

stag to go away. Basically, you have to be careful. Do not go too

close. You have got to use a bit of common sense. I have learnt now to

weight behind a tree or something, and let them come to you. I know

you have got a question which want to ask Chris. Chris, nice to meet

you. October, late October, the calves are still circling,

something is wrong... Yes. Some of them will go on to the end of July.

This film looks like a bit of a problem child to me. You have got

an animal which has still got spots on, meaning it is still quite young,

so it is probably one of those which was born at the end of July.

The problem is that the mother will not go into season if it is still

producing milk for that calf, obviously. So, she may not be able

to mother another calf this year. What this means in terms of the rut

is that I guess it might be going on longer, is that what you have

seen? Yes, last year we recorded a stag actually roaring at the

beginning of December. I think that is very wrong. This year, I think

the rut is going to go on and on and on. Every year, for the last

few years, it has been extending all the time. You would have to

make these observations over a series of years, because we do have

unusual seasons. Take a look at this. This is some film shot by our

Cameron and this week. See if you recognise any of these stags.

I do. I know that stag. I can guarantee you that. That has been

the main object of the rut. A lot of cameramen filming this massive

stag. I know that one, it is an excellent piste. Pressure what we

try and keep. We take out the oldies, they have got to be taken

out, that is a natural thing to do. You have got to maintain a healthy

population. Thanks ever so much for coming in. If you have got any

questions for Johnny, please send them into us. If you are interested

in seeing red deer, you can visit our website. There's a whole

selection of sites where you can go and look at them. But bear in mind

that at this time of year, these animals get wound up, the males

have got one thing on their mind. A significant part of that is

aggression towards other males. Do not get too close. And do not get

too close with your dogs, either. Richmond Park is my favourite spot,

you can get a nice cup of tea and a muffin in the van. You are obsessed

with cups of tea! Anyway, it is time to catch up with our osprey

chicks. We are following three of them, which were born in Wales. We

tacked them, and we are watching their migration to Africa. Last

week, we followed the eldest one, and he left Wales and went south,

over the Bay of Biscay, rested here in Spain and then continued south.

But what about his siblings? Well, one of them set off soon after, but

unfortunately, he set off in that store we had just over a month ago,

and instead of following his brother south, he drifted east,

across the country to the coast of Essex. This is where there were

restarted. The data coming from his satellite transmitter was showing

that he was floating about five miles off the coast. This is at

night, so he should have been roosting. So, what has happened to

him? There was huge concern, because many people thought maybe

he had not made it, maybe his satellite transmitter was floating

in the ocean, and that's why it was moving. It was a night fraught with

worry. During that night, some detective work was done, and they

found this. This is an offshore wind farm, and it was in exactly

the same space as our osprey. We think the transmitter was moving

around because he was trying to find somewhere to roost, going from

one platform to another. So there was huge relief, and even more

relief the next morning, when the transmitter moved, and obviously,

he was on his way, back on track, flying south. He did not actually

go right down here, like his brother. He flew inland, into

France. That's where we caught up When the ospreys come from the

United Kingdom in the autumn, they can either come to Brittany and

come across the Bay of Biscay, like one of ours did. Others crossed the

hall of France, and then, at the southernmost extreme of France,

they're coming up into the Pyrenees here. GPS data shows that since

that first eventful night away from home, he has made good progress

down through France. Will these mountains be his next big test?

Every autumn, hundreds of thousands of migrating birds fly over the

Pyrenees on their way south. 50,000 of them are channelled through the

mountain passes to this point, making it a fantastic place to

watch and study migration. But crossing these high mountains as a

real challenge for the birds, and they need the best weather

conditions to make it. It is only when the wind picks up and the mist

clears that suddenly, the sky is There are marsh Harriers, kites and

then suddenly.... Osprey. that's very high, isn't it? Yes.

These birds are making the most of the back drafts. Ospreys have been

recorded flying at an altitude of two kilometres over these mountains.

They are flapping away. Two honey buzzards. Orn kolists have been

studying bird migration here since the 1970s. Recording the birds

which come down from all over northern Europe and Scandinavia.

Which birds have you seen today? Buzzards. Sparrowhawk. And two

Ospreys. We even spotted a short toed eagle,

flying over with what appeared to be a snake in its bill. Sometimes

we can see osprey crossing with a fish. Carrying his lunch with him.

It's thrilling to see so many different species of raptor flying

so high up over these mountains. This really is migration in action.

I just hope the weather holds for him as he heads this way. It has

been a stunning morning. Perfect weather and the birds have been

coming over here. We've seen eight Ospreys. A really fantastic

morning's migration. Don't you just love these osprey films? Roy did

see lots of Ospreys that day. He didn't see Dilas. What is amazing

is their paths did cross later. Not that Roy realised at the time. Roy

set off in his car and he was driving towards Bayonne. He was

flying the same way. His transmitter showed that look their

paths crossed, probably at 3-4pm. We'll be catch ug -- catching up

next week with the Ospreys. Exmoor has some excellent coastal woodland.

Oak woodland. Pretty much what we might call pry malwoodland in the

UK, Martin? Yes, what about the beaches themselves. Earlier this

week Chris and I went to the beach What are you up to, great mate?

Look at this, Chris. A few pence, a bit of clingfilm, an old ice cream

tub and you open up with a world of wonder. It looks like a small telly,

doesn't it? There's a lot to see. I'm going to show you another twibg

which only cost a few pence. -- trick which only cost a few pence.

This is a make-up mirror now look at the view you can get underneath.

That is like being in an aquarium. It's a crab's eye view. Snake locks

have up to 3 200 stinging tentacles which they use to -- 200 stinging

tentacles which they use to catch their prey. These are full of

prawns, others and the shy her mit crab. Now anything that has to live

here will be super tough. For many hours, every day, it will be

exposed T higher up the beach you are, the tougher it will be. You

have probably seen these. This gets exposed at low tide. It shuts

itselfen down. All the tentacles -- itself down. All the tentacles are

shut now and it conserves water. The upper parts of the shore line

are a hostile place. One of the toughest things on the beach is

undeniably the limb pet. A cubic tonne of water, many tonnes of

pressure are being forced down on these little mol luss. They can

withstand that. They hold fast on the rock here. Never underestimate

the limb pet. Chris, look at what we have caught here. A crab, a

female. I like the architecture of these. I have to say. They are

essentially so alien from us, aren't they? It is beautiful. Once

you have examined your crab, put him back in the same rock pool.

Exactly the same rock pool. This is an important environment. The

biodiversity here is profound. This beach is healthy. It is teeming

with life. We have only brushed the surface this afternoon.

Martin, when you were young did your parents provision you can

jamboree bags? Yes, they had Mojos and flying saucers. I remember them.

You never knew what you would pull out. That is what a rock pool is

like to me. There is such a mixture of life in there, full of life's

flavours. When you go rockpooling, take care, think about the tide. We

don't want you to get stuck out there. Also sensible footwear, so

you don't slip over on the slippery rocks. Take a good guide with you.

It's not important to name everything, but the separate groups

are useful. Rock pool -- rockpooling is one of the amazing

things to do. If they are on half term they can rock pool, look at

the dears rutting, doing the hedge survey. If you do all these things

you will want to know what the weather is going to be like. Let's

find out and go live to the weather studio, to Alex. Will it stay mild

studio, to Alex. Will it stay mild for us? Temperatures will be on the

rise through the weekend. In terms of staying dry and sunny, well that

depends which country you are in. For England and Wales, yes there

should be plenty of sunshine to enjoy. Scotland and Northern

Ireland a little less clear-cut. One thing is for sure, temperatures

will be higher than they have been. Over the north, with much more

cloud around, we'll stay above freezing. In the south, seven in

London. In rural spots we will get closer to freezing. It will not be

anything like as cold as it was on Thursday morning, when we had the

first wide-spread frost. Saturday, England and Wales beautiful. A lot

of sunshine here. It will cloud over in the west. A wet day for

western Scotland and for Northern Ireland. 12-13 Celsius. Maybe 16

Celsius across the south-east. They will be tempered somewhat by a

breeze. Now the winds will be a big feature throughout the weekend,

particularly picking up on Sunday. Blustery around the western coasts.

Gusty on some of the beaches here for rock pools. Through central

Scotland and Northern Ireland it could be a wet day on Sunday. For

the majority across England and Wales no excuses to get out and

about. Yes it will be blowy, but there should be sunshine. Look at

the temperatures on Sunday, up as high as 19 Celsius. Much higher

than they have been and that frosty morning we had on Thursday morning,

well that is a thing of the past. Definitely warming up through the

weekend. No excuse then not to go out and do some wildlifeing this

weekend. I am going to be smug. Last week I predicted a migration

spectacle coming over from Scandinavia. I can tell you that

actually it happened. We had about 5,000 brown wings and 6,000

redwings. Figures from our friends at the BTO. That was dependant on

the wind direction. So, what are the winds going to offer us this

weekend? Well, Chris, it's a complete switch around again. We

have been talking about this for the past couple of weeks. We had

cold winds, as I mentioned earlier. The cold northerly winds for much

of the past few days. The winds will switch around. They will still

be strong, but they are going to be coming up from the south. Bringing

up the warmer air. That change in wind direction will probably have a

significant impact. Thank you very much Alex. Indeed it

will have a significant impact. We cannot see too many more animals

coming over from Iceland. This weather from the south, the wind

will pin all of these birds into Scandinavia. Those migrants will be

hanging on. What we might see is a few finches aboveing over from

France, Holland and Belgium. One thing we have seen which goes

against the winds is some movement of bewick swans. We have had three

reported in East Anglia last night. By the end of the winter we will

expect 6,000 of these in the country. Including a few hundred

down here at slim bridge, where we will visit in a few weeks' time.

The winds driving the migration. You never know what might turn up,

Martin. I have to tell you, I had a text from Helen in Shetland,

something amazing has happened there. She said, "Magic myth and

wonder could be condensed and kothed in feather it is in the

throotd of this beauty. A -- throat of this beauty. A ruby throat. Look

at that beauty." I have to do it. I can not hold myself back. The ferry

now is full of birders trying to see it.

Is that rare then? OK we have to resolve the quiz. Listen to this

Not easy. It is a tricky one. the blog we got daurn and Gary got

it -- Dawn and Gary got it right, Chris on twitter. What is it?

It's a dreaming badger. That is so sweet.

What do they dream of? And if you were watching the badger cam, in

fact somebody was. He said "I heard it on the red button this week."

What about that? Have we time for photos. Christine Winston.

could have taken the leaves out. This beautiful photograph, what are

they? The head is overlapping the wing there. You have to be very...:

Be very careful about that. Take no notice of Chris and keep sending

your photographs in because we love them. Indeed. Lots of pictures on

the website already. Do keep the website already. Do keep

sending them in D they don't always have to be top quality. It is

interesting things that we are interested in too. If you have

questions for Simon King, he'll stay here for -- for Johnnie, he'll

stay here for Unsprung. Can I say I am going to be having an exciting

time because I am going to be going up in a hot-air balloon. A hot-air

balloon. Here I am. I am going to go up in a hot-air balloon and try

and see the wonder of autumn - a bird's eye view, Chris. I am going

to look at wildlife gardening by royal appointment. A visit to

Highgrove. What about that? The royal robin. And we have got a new

face to Autumnwatch, our guest presenter, she is bringing us a

first and in-depth look at eels. That is what we have on the show

next week. We've had live badgers on Autumnwatch, not once, but twice.

Foraging peanuts and also sleeping and snoring and dreaming, which is

pretty good. So, remember it will be a really nice weekend. Do try

and get out. If you have kids take them. We have to get young people

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