:00:19. > :00:23.Wild fallow deer rutting in our woods. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course,
:00:24. > :00:30.but they're very sensitive and difficult to get close to.
:00:30. > :00:37.Seeing the majesty of autumn from a hot-air balloon. Oh, that's very
:00:37. > :00:42.sensitive to the weather. Eels migrating through our rivers.
:00:42. > :00:52.Slippery customers difficult to get to grips with. Can we do it? Of
:00:52. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:24.course we can. Welcome to Hello, and welcome to Autumnwatch
:01:24. > :01:30.Live, coming to you from the beautiful National Arboretum here
:01:30. > :01:35.at Westonbirt. The aim of our programme is to bring you the full
:01:35. > :01:40.flavour of autumn all the way from John owe grots to Land's End and
:01:40. > :01:46.over in Ireland. And we want to bring you the best
:01:46. > :01:53.of British wildlife. We'll be going underground, for the last time,
:01:53. > :02:00.sadly, to catch up with our badgers. What have they been up to? We'll be
:02:00. > :02:06.catching up with our osprey chicks. How have they been getting on with
:02:06. > :02:13.their migration to West Africa, a journey of 3,000 mile.. Eye and
:02:13. > :02:17.it's my pleasure to introduce you to Leah Gooding this week, who is
:02:17. > :02:23.getting up close to the European eel.
:02:23. > :02:30.But what have we been up to? This week, we've been exploring our
:02:30. > :02:40.great British woodlands and what better place to do that than here
:02:40. > :02:44.
:02:44. > :02:48.Right now, the UK's woodlands are a blaze of colour. Everywhere you
:02:48. > :02:54.look, it's a feast for the eyes. Now is the perfect time for a walk
:02:54. > :03:03.in the woods. Here at Westonbirt there is one even better way to
:03:03. > :03:08.take in the full splendour of autumn.
:03:08. > :03:15.Of course, aside from the beauty, there's an awful lot going on here.
:03:15. > :03:22.Animals are stocking up on autumn's rich bounty, whilst others are
:03:22. > :03:29.preparing to hib hibernate. Look at this! What is a spectacle.
:03:29. > :03:33.It's this time of year that iconic woodland spectaculars can be seen.
:03:33. > :03:39.The temperatures have dropped and the fallow deer rut is now under
:03:39. > :03:46.way. Here at Westonbirt, woodland
:03:46. > :03:56.management reaches its peak and the tree team are out in force.
:03:56. > :04:04.
:04:04. > :04:12.There's a down side to every balloon flight, and here it comes!
:04:12. > :04:20.Well, I've get to say we do a lot of travelling for Autumnwatch, it's
:04:20. > :04:25.usually planes, trains and autumn mobiles. But it was a first, a hot-
:04:26. > :04:30.air balloon. Was it fun? It was fun. If you have any questions at all
:04:30. > :04:36.for us, please get them in now and we will try to answer them, live,
:04:36. > :04:42.in the show. We always say that, don't we, but we're going to make a
:04:42. > :04:52.big effort tonight. OK, autumn colour, it's all around us in these
:04:52. > :04:55.
:04:55. > :05:05.trees. What is it? How does it happen? I have been swatting up.
:05:05. > :05:12.
:05:12. > :05:15.# Would you like to ride in my And now you can see the fabulous
:05:15. > :05:21.variety here. Some leaves have already dropped off the trees. Some
:05:21. > :05:25.are still green. You have wonderful oranges, reds, all the colours of
:05:25. > :05:30.autumn. The change in autumn colour is quite a complicated process and
:05:30. > :05:35.it depends on three things, rainfall, day length and
:05:35. > :05:41.temperature. And they all interact. So you might get a beech tree in a
:05:41. > :05:46.wet place that will hang on to its leaves much longer than a beech
:05:46. > :05:50.tree in a very dry place. And the critical thing that happens is that
:05:50. > :05:58.the green pigment in the leaves starts to break down and other
:05:58. > :06:02.pigments start to show through. You've also got the variety of
:06:02. > :06:11.trees from around the world so they are changing colour at different
:06:11. > :06:16.times any way. There can't be a better way to see the full glory of
:06:16. > :06:25.Westonbirt than from a hot-air balloon. Fabulous.
:06:25. > :06:30.I love that music! I had you down as disco man.
:06:30. > :06:34.jazz. It's been a curious autumn, this one. People are calling it a
:06:34. > :06:39.double-dip autumn. And that's because it started and then it was
:06:39. > :06:44.like the handbrake was pulled on and it stopped and then it started
:06:44. > :06:48.again. And that's probably because it got very, very warm at the end
:06:48. > :06:54.of September, but now, it's really got going. We've noticed the
:06:54. > :06:58.changes in the leaves in the last few days. But I wonder how this
:06:58. > :07:05.year compares to other years, because when you get the sunny,
:07:05. > :07:11.warm days and the freezing nights, that's when you get the spectacular
:07:11. > :07:20.colours, isn't it It gives us a chance to talk about the magic
:07:20. > :07:25.chemical. Anthocyanine. It is a regular pigment and it needs warm
:07:25. > :07:32.days and cold nights. Warm days produce glucose in the leaf. And
:07:32. > :07:38.that glucose, when it is hit by sunshine starts to go red, and the
:07:38. > :07:44.cold nights stop the glucose from going back into the tree. But if
:07:44. > :07:54.it's just about to dump the leaf, why does it go to all the trouble
:07:54. > :08:00.to produce the pigment. I'll tell you. It could be a warning sign for
:08:00. > :08:07.insect, because scientists have found that far fewer insects fall
:08:07. > :08:13.on red leaves than green leaves, and it helps the leaf to stay fully
:08:13. > :08:17.functional before it falls off the tree. But autumn isn't all about
:08:17. > :08:22.falling leaves it's about fruiting too. And this week, our cameramen
:08:22. > :08:32.have been out and about here at Westonbirt and have seen lots of
:08:32. > :08:39.birds feeding on berries. This is a chaffinch eating Yew berries, but
:08:39. > :08:49.are thought to be poisonous, but the red on the outside is not.
:08:49. > :08:50.
:08:50. > :08:56.And this bluetit is pecking at the soft, fruity part of this Hawthorne
:08:56. > :09:06.berry. And even cold tits, which through
:09:06. > :09:10.the summer are pretty much insect- eating birds, are changing to being
:09:10. > :09:15.herbivores in the winter as well. We've been talking a lot about the
:09:15. > :09:19.changing of the leaves and that's one autumn spectacular, but one of
:09:19. > :09:27.my favourite, which I have mentioned before, is the rutting
:09:27. > :09:33.deer. Last week we talked about the Red deer, but what about the Fallow
:09:33. > :09:38.Deer? This is the perfect time to find them rutting, as I found out.
:09:38. > :09:43.The roaring of fallow deer bucks is a classic sound of British autumn.
:09:43. > :09:53.In many deer parks around the country you can go and see the
:09:53. > :09:55.
:09:55. > :10:00.bucks calling to try to attract as many Roe deer as they can. It has
:10:00. > :10:07.been estimated that 100,000 fallow deer live deep in woods. They are
:10:07. > :10:15.not used to people so to see the shy deer in their rut, I've gone
:10:15. > :10:20.deep into the Cotswold woodland. Here is a classic example of a
:10:20. > :10:27.fallow deer rutting, they're stamping their authority by
:10:27. > :10:33.scraping this bark off. And another sign is a scrape. The ducks trample
:10:33. > :10:40.the mud and urineate in it and roll around to spread their smell. A few
:10:40. > :10:45.days before my visit, our camera team set some cameras out. They are
:10:45. > :10:51.obviously awake and active at night? They are basically nocturnal.
:10:51. > :10:57.The majority of their feeding is at night. Unlike the backs who will
:10:57. > :11:05.fast during the rut. There is one of the bucks, moving away. He was
:11:06. > :11:12.actually at the scrape. He was. could be catch a glimpse of one of
:11:12. > :11:19.these elusive bucks calling deep in the woods?
:11:19. > :11:27.ROARING SOUND SCOOPS. WE KNOW WE'RE GETTING CLOSE NOW, BECAUSE IF YOU
:11:27. > :11:37.CAN HEAR A BELLOWING NOISE. THAT IS That is the male fallow deer,
:11:37. > :11:40.
:11:40. > :11:50.calling the females in. That was great! We actually saw,
:11:50. > :12:00.saw him go past, chase the doe and his antlers just look spectacular.
:12:00. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:15.And he's not stopping, he's not Here he comes. And it's great,
:12:15. > :12:20.because those does haven't spotted us yet. You can pretty much see
:12:20. > :12:25.what is happening here. The buck is trying to keep the does in this
:12:25. > :12:35.area, because this is his territory. Every time the does go off, he
:12:35. > :12:44.starts bellowing, to call them in and then tries to push them back.
:12:44. > :12:54.Now, you do, occasionally, see a young male. It's called a pricket,
:12:54. > :13:00.try to mate one of the does. This one is black, but his colour
:13:00. > :13:07.difference it not unusual in fallow deer. He's been unsuccessful, but
:13:07. > :13:12.they love to have a go. He's been here virtually all week calling
:13:12. > :13:22.right through the night. He's a real good buck. For me, it's been a
:13:22. > :13:23.
:13:23. > :13:28.brilliant day out. Michaela, I think he just said that
:13:28. > :13:36.that buck was growning for a week, night and day? He was unbelievable.
:13:36. > :13:43.He didn't stop. And he didn't stop trying to round the does in. And he
:13:43. > :13:51.doesn't eat all this time. That sound, to you and eye, each one
:13:51. > :13:57.sounds quite similar, but to the doe, they can tell how fit the duck
:13:57. > :14:02.is by the quality of his roar, because of the size of his chest
:14:02. > :14:08.cavity. And they choose to be with the buck, I know he goes round and
:14:08. > :14:12.rounds them up. But it is sort of female choice. It's hard work being
:14:12. > :14:17.a buck. I went to see those in an estate and I went with an expert.
:14:17. > :14:21.And it was very, very difficult to see them. If you want to see the
:14:21. > :14:30.deer in a much easier and accessible place it's eaters to go
:14:30. > :14:36.to a deer park, somewhere like Richmond or Pet worth park. And we
:14:36. > :14:41.don't want to discourage people from going out to look for deer,
:14:41. > :14:44.but they are sensitive. Don't rush in there. So my top advice would be
:14:44. > :14:48.to find someone who is experienced at watching them and go out with
:14:48. > :14:54.at watching them and go out with them.
:14:54. > :14:58.On our website, you'll find some guidance and tips on how to watch
:14:58. > :15:06.deer without disturbing them and top spots to visit. When it comes
:15:06. > :15:12.to larger animals in the UK there are fewer species which are poorlyy
:15:12. > :15:18.underto do so, but there is still one species which is shrouded in
:15:18. > :15:27.mystery and that's really exciting. So we asked Leah gooding to go out
:15:27. > :15:34.and find out what she could about the European eel. With its snake-
:15:34. > :15:40.like appearance, slimy skin and nocturnal habits, the European eel
:15:40. > :15:48.is often the subject of fascination and revulsion. Living in the depths
:15:48. > :15:53.of our murky rivers it's easily of our murky rivers it's easily
:15:53. > :16:01.forgotten or ignored. But eels have been a big part of my
:16:01. > :16:08.life, because we're Londoners. Readily available and cheap, eels
:16:08. > :16:15.have been common fare in London since the 18th century. Jellied
:16:15. > :16:20.eels became the symbol of London's working-class, Cockney cuisine and
:16:20. > :16:27.they're still sold today. When I was younger, my mum used to
:16:27. > :16:33.bring me and my family to this eel and pie shop.
:16:33. > :16:38.Peter Hak's family have run the place since 1911 and recently he's
:16:38. > :16:45.noticed things are changing. People aren't eating eels like they were
:16:45. > :16:51.20 or 30 years ago. I think the price has sky rocketed. It's
:16:51. > :16:58.cheaper now to eat pie and mash than eels. Where do you get them
:16:58. > :17:01.from? Mine come from Holland. We used to get there from England, but
:17:01. > :17:05.they've been in decline. So, if right in the heart of London
:17:05. > :17:10.they're having to get their eels from Holland, what has happened to
:17:10. > :17:18.the English eel? Well, the Autumnwatch team have sent me on a
:17:18. > :17:25.mission to find out. First of all, I need to know more about what I'm
:17:25. > :17:31.dealing with. I've come to meet Matt at the London Zoo aquarium.
:17:31. > :17:36.Can you tell us what the eel is? Just in case anyone wasn't sure,
:17:36. > :17:42.because they don't look obviously like a fish, they are a fish. Most
:17:42. > :17:47.of these are yellow eels. They're the fresh-water version of the
:17:47. > :17:57.European eel. Some of these are getting close to being silver eels,
:17:57. > :17:58.
:17:58. > :18:06.and that's the marine form. amazing to discover the incredible
:18:06. > :18:13.life of the European eel. Every year, they go to the Sargasso Sea
:18:13. > :18:19.where they spawn and die. From there, the baby eels make the
:18:19. > :18:26.incredible 3,000 mile journey back to our rivers where they grow big..
:18:26. > :18:35.When they reach the estuaries of Europe, they elongate into what we
:18:35. > :18:41.call glass eels, which are completely see-through. Then they
:18:41. > :18:48.become elvers, and feed and grow to become the yellow eel and when this
:18:48. > :18:53.is ready to go, it becomes a silver eel. So within the life cycle there
:18:53. > :18:57.are four or five different stages, all of which are still the same
:18:57. > :19:07.European eel. But they're not having a good time at the moment,
:19:07. > :19:13.are they? No, in the past 30 or 40 years, the number of juvenile
:19:13. > :19:17.elvers we've found returning is up to 30% to 35% less. So we're
:19:17. > :19:22.worried about the populations in fresh water. The European eel is
:19:22. > :19:27.facing a whole raft of problems. And next, I'm going to be looking
:19:27. > :19:32.at some of the issues surrounding them. As well as trying to find out
:19:32. > :19:41.what is being done to help the juvenile eels when they return from
:19:41. > :19:45.the ocean to our British rivers. It's a first for Autumnwatch and
:19:45. > :19:55.what fascinating animals. Extraordinary creatures and so much
:19:55. > :20:02.still isn't known. Jellied eels? don't think so, it didn't look nice.
:20:02. > :20:08.It's now our last time with our badgers underground. Ryan asks,
:20:08. > :20:13."How deep is a badger's sett?." Because badgers tend to go into the
:20:13. > :20:20.side of hills, not straight down, but about eight metres.
:20:20. > :20:25.Let's look at what has been going on in the sett in the past week.
:20:25. > :20:29.This is Andrew Cooper's farm. He's been feeding this particular bunch
:20:30. > :20:34.of badgers for many years. And they come out every night to have a
:20:34. > :20:40.feast. He doesn't give them too much. He doesn't overfeed them,
:20:40. > :20:46.because he has to be careful that they have their normal food as well
:20:46. > :20:53.as the peanuts. They follow clear tracks. And now we're right inside
:20:53. > :20:59.the sett. An awful lot of grooming. If we're quiet, we can hear them
:20:59. > :21:07.snufling around. This is the bit that has been magical for me, to
:21:07. > :21:12.see this. Have the hidden cameras in the sett. Badgers are very
:21:12. > :21:17.solitary animals, the same group as stoats and weasles. So to have them
:21:18. > :21:23.living socially is unusual. there's no mating going on, they're
:21:23. > :21:30.just grooming. Yes, grooming and marking them with the sett scent.
:21:30. > :21:37.We think this is Fancy Claws, and Boris here.
:21:37. > :21:43.And what is fascinating is that Fancy Clause, here, she could have
:21:43. > :21:47.conceived but not yet be pregnant. How does that work? Most badgers
:21:47. > :21:52.will mate in spring time, but even though they conceive it doesn't
:21:52. > :21:58.implant in the womb. It goes into suspended animation. And nearly all
:21:58. > :22:02.the females, it will implant the egg into the womb in December and
:22:02. > :22:07.it takes seven weeks to develop and all the baby badgers will be born
:22:07. > :22:13.in the first couple of weeks in February. So they conceive at
:22:13. > :22:18.different times but all have their babies at the same time. Yes.
:22:18. > :22:23.That's the last we're going to see of them and we hope you have
:22:23. > :22:27.enjoyed our badgercam. But although lots of people love watching
:22:27. > :22:33.badgers, they have been a contentious subject in the
:22:33. > :22:38.countryside. We've had a lot of people on the message board. Many
:22:38. > :22:41.want to know more about the more serious, controversial story that
:22:41. > :22:45.surrounds badgers. It is a complex issue that concerns a lot of
:22:45. > :22:52.farmers. We've tried to unravel it for you. Here is Martin with an
:22:52. > :22:56.update. The number of badger setts, like
:22:56. > :23:02.this, have been increasing all over the UK in the past few decades. And
:23:02. > :23:06.that's because in the '70s, the law was changed to protect badgers and
:23:06. > :23:12.since then their numbers have gradually increased. But at the
:23:12. > :23:17.same time the number of badgers have increased so too as the number
:23:17. > :23:25.of bovine TB. It accounted for the slaughter of 29,000 cattle last
:23:25. > :23:29.year, at a cost of �90 million to the taxpayer last year. Badgers
:23:29. > :23:34.often dig for earthworms in the farmers' fields and there is some
:23:34. > :23:39.evidence that they play a role in spreading the disease. The
:23:39. > :23:42.Government's badger culling trials ran between 1988 and 2005. It
:23:42. > :23:49.showed that culling badgers intensively within an area could
:23:49. > :23:55.lead to a drop of bovine TB cases of 28%. But the same experiment
:23:55. > :24:00.also showed an increase in cattle TB of up to 9% in the areas
:24:00. > :24:05.surrounding the culling zones. That's probably because the
:24:05. > :24:10.badgers' territorial boundaries had broken down, so the badgers were
:24:10. > :24:14.able to travel further afield and spread the disease. We looked into
:24:14. > :24:19.this in detail in last year's Christmas special. And we reported
:24:19. > :24:23.that any such cull would have to be widespread, rigorous and repeated
:24:23. > :24:27.over a number of years to be effective. That could be expensive
:24:27. > :24:33.and the Government are considering its options. So what has happened
:24:33. > :24:37.since Christmas? Well, in July, Caroline Spelman, the English
:24:37. > :24:43.Environment Minister, said she was strongly minded to allow a badger
:24:44. > :24:48.cull to go ahead in areas with a high instance of TB some time in
:24:48. > :24:52.20126789 We spoke to DEFRA, the department, this week and their
:24:52. > :24:57.spokesman said the decision on whether that cull would go ahead
:24:57. > :25:03.would be expected some time later this year. DEFRA also said they
:25:03. > :25:07.were working hard to develop a vaccine for both badgers and cattle
:25:07. > :25:12.that was affordable and practical. We've been out to find out more
:25:12. > :25:17.about that. Here in Gloucestershire, there is a trial going on to see
:25:17. > :25:21.how effective vaccinating badgers might be. Traps are set out in the
:25:21. > :25:27.evening and baited with peanuts. In the morning, any badgers that are
:25:27. > :25:31.caught are vaccinated. They are then marked to make sure they are
:25:31. > :25:35.not vaccinated twice if they get trapped again. It will probably be
:25:35. > :25:40.at least five years before we can expect to see a drop in the
:25:40. > :25:43.instance of TB in the vaccination trial area. It could turn out to be
:25:43. > :25:47.very effective. But there are concerns that it may be an
:25:47. > :25:52.expensive solution in the long-term. Other researchers are trying to
:25:52. > :25:56.develop an oral vaccine for badgers. But they will also have to work out
:25:56. > :26:00.how to get the badgers to eat enough of the baited food. Perhaps
:26:00. > :26:07.the best solution is a vaccine for cattle. But it could take a number
:26:08. > :26:14.of years for such a vaccine to be developed and regulated. Meanwhile,
:26:14. > :26:20.the debate rages on. And the problem is this: No-one can be surn
:26:20. > :26:25.how effective a badger cull will be certain how effective a badger cull
:26:25. > :26:30.will be in the control of cattle TB. The Government is under pressure to
:26:30. > :26:37.do something. The question is, will that something be effective in
:26:37. > :26:43.helping our beleaguered farmers? It is a very complex issue and an
:26:43. > :26:51.emotive one as well. We would like to know what you think. Please let
:26:51. > :26:57.us know on the blog This year, we've been lucky enough to visit
:26:57. > :27:03.one of Westonbirt's neighbours. Prince Charles lives just down the
:27:03. > :27:08.road at Highgrove, and he manages his gardens very much with wildlife
:27:08. > :27:13.in mind. The Highgrove Estate is the home of
:27:13. > :27:18.the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. For many years now,
:27:18. > :27:24.the gardens have been managed organically and sustainably and
:27:24. > :27:29.they have become a haven for wildlife. John ridgely is the
:27:29. > :27:34.assistant head gardener and he has a lifetime's experience of
:27:34. > :27:42.gardening with wildlife in mind. I'm tidying up the herbaceous
:27:42. > :27:45.border for winter. But taking out the untidy stuff and dead stuff and
:27:45. > :27:51.leaving plenty of habitat and environment for wildlife to
:27:51. > :27:56.overwinter. You find ladybirds, hover flies, lace wings. Solitary
:27:56. > :28:05.bees that live inside hollow stems. So it is really important to leave
:28:05. > :28:12.room for hem to overwinter. Frogs and toads, newts, even possibly
:28:12. > :28:18.slow worms live in the undergrowth w' often uncover them when we're
:28:18. > :28:25.clearing the beds. And if leaves blow into hedgerows that's a good
:28:25. > :28:32.habitat for hedgehogs. All the cleared vegetation is put to good
:28:32. > :28:39.use. All the vegetation goes into compost. Nothing is wasted at
:28:39. > :28:49.Highgrove. Anyone with a garden can create a compost heap. It provides
:28:49. > :28:50.
:28:50. > :28:55.habitats for invertebrates, which in turn attract their pred -
:28:56. > :29:00.predators. And if you're lucky a habitat for low worms. It's easy to
:29:00. > :29:08.have a little corner where you can pile twigs that fall out of the
:29:08. > :29:13.trees, pruning, or blown down leaves. You can create little
:29:13. > :29:21.habitat piles, it doesn't have to look a mess, but it has the same
:29:21. > :29:26.benefit. The gardening team are busy throughout the harvest in
:29:26. > :29:34.autumn. We're picking crab apples, but the birds do well, because we
:29:34. > :29:39.can only reach so far to leave lots for the birds, the thushes and the
:29:39. > :29:46.lapwings. And of course, autumn is a great time to start planning for
:29:46. > :29:54.spring with wildlife in mind and there's nolg better than planting
:29:54. > :29:59.crocus bulbs. One of the reasons why we plant crocuses, apart from
:29:59. > :30:09.they look beautiful, is that they provide early nectar for the bees
:30:09. > :30:09.
:30:09. > :30:13.in the spring. Other bulb plants for bees are the early-flowering
:30:13. > :30:18.daffodils, snowdrops, that provides lots of food for them. This might
:30:18. > :30:21.be a grand estate but there are things that everyone can do to help
:30:21. > :30:25.make space for wildlife in the garden.
:30:25. > :30:31.What I like about wildlife gardening is that we are all
:30:31. > :30:36.managers of that resource. And we can do whatever we like in our back
:30:36. > :30:39.gardens, within reason. So it's your chance to be a nature
:30:39. > :30:45.your chance to be a nature reservist.
:30:45. > :30:50.Go to our website for lots of tips and hints. And a lady from the
:30:50. > :30:57.wildlife truffle has written a blog on how best to prepare your garden
:30:57. > :31:04.for wildlife for the winter. A question from squeaky Ted. He says
:31:04. > :31:11.how many badgers can live together? The most I've seen from my study of
:31:11. > :31:16.setts is 15. But I have known of 50-odd. But it doesn't last long,
:31:16. > :31:26.because they fight with each other and disperse. Thank you very much
:31:26. > :31:33.for that. Squeaky Ted, what have Fleur, fox, 57y and many others of
:31:33. > :31:43.you got in common? It is because you have heard, as we have, strange
:31:43. > :31:48.
:31:48. > :31:54.sounds emanating from the woods all I set off in the dark of the night,
:31:54. > :32:03.with Camillaman Mark to find....tawny owls. And you may
:32:03. > :32:11.well be hearing tawny owls a lot this year, because this is the time
:32:11. > :32:17.they're most vocal. And the established breeding pairs are
:32:18. > :32:22.saying, "Don't come here, this is our territory" and they will defend
:32:22. > :32:29.that place. But at the same time, the youngsters are trying to find
:32:29. > :32:39.their own area, and sadly if they don't find an area, they will die.
:32:39. > :32:40.
:32:40. > :32:50.So a lot of this calling is saying, "Don't come here, this is ours."
:32:50. > :32:55.
:32:55. > :33:02.Tawny owls donth just - don't just to-twit-to-woo. They have 12 basic
:33:02. > :33:10.calls. Get out there and listen to them, it's magic.
:33:10. > :33:16.They're super. I've become addicted to them. You're a little bit deaf,
:33:16. > :33:22.Chris, so you can't hear them. But tawny owls, fantastic to see them.
:33:22. > :33:29.Have a look at this tawny owl hunting. Now, you would think,
:33:29. > :33:36.wouldn't you - look at those enormous eyes, not the mouse, the
:33:36. > :33:43.tawny owl. You'd think they'd use sight - great shot! But no, it's
:33:43. > :33:50.their ears that they use. And that facial disc is like the gristley
:33:50. > :33:55.bit of our ears, so that's used to channel the sound down. So they're
:33:55. > :34:00.out listening to mice rustle on the floor. And they have a really
:34:00. > :34:06.problem in the rain, because they can't hear because of the rain and
:34:06. > :34:13.afterwards they can't here because the leaves are all sauftened by the
:34:13. > :34:18.rain. And if it's raining the call is reduced by 40%. So it carries
:34:18. > :34:28.far further when it's die. So when it's raining only about 5% of the
:34:28. > :34:29.
:34:29. > :34:35.owls actually call. So a rain storm may be inconvenient Foro us, but
:34:35. > :34:42.for owls it could mean life and death Now, there is a lot of hard
:34:42. > :34:51.work that goes into Westonbirt. And I went out with the curator here,
:34:51. > :34:57.especially about looking after trees that might have some problem.
:34:57. > :35:04.Here is your beech getting some high tech treatment. I presume this
:35:04. > :35:14.is what led you to investigate this further? Yes, this is a fungus that
:35:14. > :35:20.is causing decay inside the tree. But it is only one bill body on a
:35:20. > :35:30.huge tree. Is this enough to cause a lot of damage? It is. All the rot
:35:30. > :35:34.
:35:34. > :35:44.is from the base, from the buttresses, into the roots. This is
:35:44. > :35:45.
:35:45. > :35:54.a picus sonic tomograph, which allows sound waves to pick up
:35:54. > :36:01.sounds inside the tree. And when the results are annualised, a
:36:01. > :36:08.decision is made to fell the tree because of the decay inside it.
:36:08. > :36:12.You can see how spongey that is. Yes, it is. Look at this, the data
:36:12. > :36:17.revealed by the tomograph was very, very accurate. Although the fungus
:36:17. > :36:24.has led to the death of this tree, death isn't the end of its value in
:36:24. > :36:31.terms of wildlife. Westonbirt has a large area of natural woodland. You
:36:31. > :36:38.may think this is looking pretty sterile and inert, but look again.
:36:38. > :36:47.On the surface there's lots of algae and liken and lower down
:36:47. > :36:55.there is ddlichen And lower done there is a lot of
:36:55. > :37:00.moss. To see lava of the insects we'd have to break this open, so
:37:00. > :37:05.we've not going flood that. But you can see the holes where they have
:37:05. > :37:09.gone in or, more likely, come out. So this is still a very, very
:37:09. > :37:15.valuable piece of the woodland eco- system, despite the fact that it
:37:15. > :37:20.has been dead for a long time. So there is plenty of dead wood here
:37:20. > :37:25.at Westonbirt. But they have a very active tree nursery, so once that
:37:25. > :37:30.tree has been cut down, they're going to replace it with another
:37:30. > :37:38.tree. We're surrounded by trees here, but that's not the same
:37:38. > :37:42.elsewhere in the UK. The UK has only 12% of tree cover so we need
:37:42. > :37:48.more trees. And you can do something about it. If you have a
:37:48. > :37:53.garden, you could put a tree in it, or lots of trees. The woodland
:37:53. > :38:01.Trust are up for giving away 1.6 million trees. You can apply for
:38:01. > :38:07.these and you can plant them in community areas, and the Government
:38:07. > :38:14.community areas, and the Government is backing it.
:38:14. > :38:19.Take a look at our website. planting trees, I've asked for them
:38:19. > :38:25.for Christmas It's time now to go to Leah. Yes, to learn more about
:38:25. > :38:30.to Leah. Yes, to learn more about the European eels.
:38:30. > :38:36.The European eel is in terrible decline. Numbers of juvenile eels
:38:36. > :38:45.reaching the UK from their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea are
:38:45. > :38:52.down an aastonishing 90% since the 1970s. And for those that do reach
:38:52. > :39:00.the UK, the rivers ahead are fraught with challenges. When the
:39:00. > :39:06.young eels first enter our rivers it is there they first face the
:39:06. > :39:11.problems. Sluice gates act as a barrier for eels trying to migrate
:39:11. > :39:16.up river. The problem is, eels cannot jump. There is a cascade
:39:16. > :39:22.there, which the eels can't get over. Andy Don from the Environment
:39:22. > :39:29.Agency has come up with the idea of eel passes to help them navigate
:39:29. > :39:36.this obstacle. We have them on each bank, because eels, as they migrate
:39:36. > :39:43.hug the banks as they go upstream. So we're trying to replicate what
:39:43. > :39:51.happens naturally with the moss and weeds on the banks, with this
:39:51. > :39:58.artificial substrate. We get elvers using this, but we've
:39:58. > :40:04.seen some big eels of two feet using this pass. And this is a
:40:04. > :40:09.camera that counts on a daily basis how many eels pass, because all the
:40:09. > :40:19.action happens in the night-time. It's not unusual to have several
:40:19. > :40:25.thousand eels using the passes. With more eel passes on thousands
:40:25. > :40:32.of obstacles in English waterways, the migrating eels are happened
:40:32. > :40:38.every year. But eel passes are not the only way to boost our eel
:40:38. > :40:42.population. Businessman, Peter Wood makes his money exporting eels for
:40:42. > :40:47.restocking projects. Today, for the first time, he's going to be
:40:47. > :40:52.restocking a lake in written. I've heard you're about to release
:40:52. > :40:57.25,000 eels back into the wild. To be honest, it only looks like
:40:57. > :41:02.you've got a few hundred here. you look on the screen, you can see
:41:02. > :41:09.thousands and thousands with their little heads sticking out of the
:41:09. > :41:13.box. Peter has spent the past few months raising thousands and
:41:13. > :41:20.thousands of tiny elvers in these tanks and they can be released
:41:20. > :41:26.today. Time to pull the plug. We're ready. The elvers shoot down
:41:26. > :41:31.the plug hole and pour into the packing area, where they're boxed,
:41:31. > :41:41.ready for the journey. commercial value of these juveniles
:41:41. > :41:48.is, say, 50p a piece. For every 10,000 eels, it will be �5,000. So
:41:48. > :41:54.altogether more than �10,000 worth of eels going into the lake. So, as
:41:54. > :42:03.a businessman, what does it feel chucking �10,000 into a lake?
:42:03. > :42:10.have to invest in our future. We can't take things out without
:42:10. > :42:18.putting something back. By catching the tiny glass eels and bringing
:42:18. > :42:24.them on in captivity, Peter has dramatically improved their
:42:25. > :42:33.survival rate. Hepatitising me release them is Julian. Why is this
:42:33. > :42:40.such a good lake to release the eels? Here you have swamp areas and
:42:40. > :42:44.reed beds which is great for fish like this to take refuge in.
:42:44. > :42:50.Especially at this young stage in their lives, where there are a lot
:42:50. > :42:56.of things that want to eat them. When we're releasing this
:42:56. > :43:02.significant number there will be a lot that will survive into
:43:02. > :43:08.adulthood. These elvers will spend the next seven to 12 years here
:43:08. > :43:12.growing up into silver eels and then in the autumn they'll migrate
:43:12. > :43:22.3,000 miles into the Sargasso Sea to spawn. And it's the problems
:43:22. > :43:30.
:43:30. > :43:36.they face on that journey that I'll And Camilla will serve the
:43:36. > :43:39.breakfast "here you are, love". Apparently Charles will have
:43:39. > :43:47.specialised servants in the hotel. What is one particularly good at?
:43:47. > :43:57.The chap who squeezes the toothpaste. Or gives you the
:43:57. > :44:03.naughty images on the TV. Such a great image of your life. Is that
:44:03. > :44:11.some sort of slang? According to a book on the history of Buckingham
:44:11. > :44:16.According to the same book, what is so special about the white drawing
:44:16. > :44:20.room at Buckingham Palace? It's black. The actual answer is that
:44:20. > :44:30.it's yellow, but also it has a full length mirror in one corner and
:44:30. > :44:36.
:44:36. > :44:40.during functions, a footman is A quarter of a million migrant
:44:40. > :44:44.birds of prey fly over here every autumn on their way south. Some
:44:44. > :44:50.will have come all the way from the United Kingdom. They congregate on
:44:50. > :44:54.this part of the coastline, looking for the shortest sea crossing to
:44:54. > :44:59.Africa. So they funnel down from western and northern Europe and
:44:59. > :45:06.choose this point to make their exit from Europe into Africa. Which
:45:06. > :45:12.is just about nine miles across the straits of glib tar. You can see
:45:12. > :45:19.the ships going into the Mediterranean. Just like the watch
:45:19. > :45:25.point I was at in the Pyrenees, on throlgss have been watching birds
:45:25. > :45:31.here for decades. Today, it seems to be short-tailed
:45:31. > :45:38.eagles. How many do you think might go through today? How many? Perhaps
:45:38. > :45:46.3,000. 3,000. That's more than I've ever seen in my life, by a long,
:45:46. > :45:51.long way. But it's not just raptors that come here to cross the waters
:45:51. > :45:57.to Africa. It's also a famous crossing for storks. 150,000 of
:45:57. > :46:04.them pass over this point every autumn. Many of these birds rely on
:46:04. > :46:07.the uplift created by warm air rising from the land. So the birds
:46:08. > :46:14.circle upwards until they gain enough height to soar across the
:46:15. > :46:19.sea and land in Africa. But not all birds have the same strategy for
:46:19. > :46:23.crossing. Ospreys are very strong flyers and don't rely on thermals
:46:23. > :46:29.in the same way. They can leave Europe anywhere along the Spanish
:46:30. > :46:35.coast and make slightly longer sea crossings to Africa. But what about
:46:36. > :46:44.our ospreys? What did they do? Eamonn was the first one to set off
:46:44. > :46:54.on his miing glags, and he was also migration and he was the first one
:46:54. > :46:58.
:46:58. > :47:02.to make this crossing. This is the spot where Einion left. He flew
:47:03. > :47:09.across Malaga and passed over here at exactly two o'clock in the
:47:09. > :47:16.afternoon and flew out over the coast and on to Morocco. So great
:47:16. > :47:26.news, Einion made it successfully to North Africa. But what about his
:47:26. > :47:34.brother Dulas, and we haven't even mentionedlery, the sister.
:47:34. > :47:40.Einion got to Africa on 6th December. Dulas made it to north
:47:40. > :47:47.Africa on 19 September, because he blew a little off course.Lery left
:47:47. > :47:53.the nest in Wales a week after her brother got to North Africa. She
:47:53. > :47:57.left on 13th September and made quite quick progress through Europe,
:47:57. > :48:02.but she got to North Africa on 20th September. So all three of them
:48:02. > :48:08.have made it this far. Where do they have to go now? They go down
:48:08. > :48:15.the west coast of Africa and their biggest obstacle and biggest
:48:15. > :48:22.challenge will be if they cross the Sahara desert. How will they get
:48:22. > :48:32.on? We'll find out next week. Isn't it amazing that they have all made
:48:32. > :48:34.
:48:34. > :48:39.it. It is. Why do beech hedges hold on to their leaves but a tree dunts.
:48:39. > :48:46.I'm not a tree person. But apparently if a tree is stressed
:48:46. > :48:52.they hang on to their leaves. So if you've trimmed a beech tree to
:48:52. > :49:02.become a hedge, that's why they hang on to them.. Now the final
:49:02. > :49:11.
:49:11. > :49:16.report about efforts across the UK There were claims that he had an
:49:16. > :49:21.affair with his first wife while married to his second wife. He's
:49:21. > :49:28.lifting the injunction now. No-one was allowed the talk about it or
:49:28. > :49:38.report it. Was it generally known? Yes. Did you know it Yes. Did you
:49:38. > :49:48.
:49:48. > :49:56.know it? Yes, Ian told me. Did you You have two big bags of eels. Why
:49:56. > :50:02.are we catching them? We catch these eels as they migrate out so
:50:02. > :50:09.that they can go to sea and spawn. It's a big effort to make sure
:50:09. > :50:16.these guys get on their way. It is a huge effort. Last year we caught
:50:17. > :50:23.39 tonnes of eels. Although this trap and release plan only occurs
:50:23. > :50:26.in Ireland it is helping scientists in England. David is running a
:50:26. > :50:33.satellite tracking programme to see what happens to the eels when they
:50:33. > :50:41.go out to sea. This trapping project is the best way he can get
:50:41. > :50:47.the large silver eels he can fit with the tags. These eels have
:50:47. > :50:54.eaten their last meal and they'll get to the Sargasso Sea without any
:50:54. > :50:59.food so we can pop these tags into their bodies, and they'll record
:50:59. > :51:07.the depths and temperatures. And when the eel dies this tag will
:51:07. > :51:13.come to the surface, where it might be collected by a beachcomber, who
:51:13. > :51:22.returns it to us. But this eel had an unfortunate end. He was eaten by
:51:22. > :51:32.a whale. How do you know that? dive pattern is similar to that of
:51:32. > :51:32.
:51:32. > :51:39.a short-fined whale. The eel kept diving, then had a siesta before
:51:39. > :51:47.lunch, and then it kept diving again, following the same pattern
:51:47. > :51:52.as the whole, so we think it was inside.
:51:52. > :51:58.But people must keep sending us these tags, because it unlocks
:51:58. > :52:02.crucial information for us. Now the rest of the tagged eels are
:52:02. > :52:09.sent off to the release site. They're not going to be released
:52:09. > :52:15.into the sea, but back into the river just below the dam. Why don't
:52:15. > :52:21.we put them into the sea, why do we do this process? These are released
:52:21. > :52:26.into the fresh water to give those eels a period of adjustment before
:52:26. > :52:36.they hit the saltwater. Let's do it. Finally, it's time to release the
:52:36. > :52:39.
:52:39. > :52:47.eels. They're about to undergo some huge physiological changes as they
:52:47. > :52:53.people to go into the sea water, but they no longer face any more
:52:53. > :52:57.man-made obstacles. How does it make you feel? It's a good job, a
:52:57. > :53:02.good story, the conservation of fish and it works. How many will
:53:02. > :53:07.reach their spawning grounds, we simply don't know, but Denis and
:53:08. > :53:13.his team have helped them on their way Now, I was watching that and I
:53:13. > :53:21.thought to myself, it's inside a whale and then all of a sudden
:53:21. > :53:28.they've recovered it. How did they do that? So we thought possibly it
:53:28. > :53:33.had passed right through the whale and poo-ed out into the sea and
:53:33. > :53:39.recovered on the beach. So you won't be surprised to find that if
:53:39. > :53:45.you recover one of these things, you get a �50 reward. 40 have been
:53:46. > :53:53.recovered and that's really, really, really good. That is impressive.
:53:53. > :54:01.can learn a lot from these tags. I put a tag in a piece of carrot cake
:54:01. > :54:06.I gave to Michaela in 1992, and I know everywhere she has been ever
:54:06. > :54:10.since. We also have a blog, which you should check out. Which with
:54:10. > :54:16.Leah has written into all about the eels and the tagging.
:54:16. > :54:20.What a thing! I will have travelled all over the world since 19926789.
:54:20. > :54:25.But if you're out travelling you'll want to know the weather this
:54:25. > :54:30.weekend. And I think for some of us it might be wet. What do you think?
:54:31. > :54:36.I think it will be a wet weekend, but it depends where you are?
:54:36. > :54:40.whole country is going to be different. I think it's going to be
:54:40. > :54:49.pouring with rain where you're going. To find out exactly what is
:54:49. > :54:58.going on. Let's see from the professionals. What has John
:54:58. > :55:03.Hammond got to say? I'm going to confuse you even more,
:55:03. > :55:10.because depending where you live, you might want your wet things or
:55:10. > :55:14.warm things. Tonight, it will be turning wet
:55:15. > :55:18.across Scotland. Wet and windy coming up from the
:55:18. > :55:24.south-west. The best of the sunshine tomorrow across eastern
:55:24. > :55:28.parts of England and pretty mild. 16 degrees. So quite pleasant. On
:55:28. > :55:35.Sunday, we keep the mild south- westerly winds. A lot of cloud
:55:35. > :55:40.around but it dampens across the south for a time and then rain
:55:40. > :55:45.returning to Scotland. So, yes, this weekend, variety is the spice
:55:45. > :55:52.of life. Thank you very much. Obviously a
:55:52. > :55:58.mixed weekend, but we all have coats and wellies, so plenty of
:55:58. > :56:03.chance to still get out tonight, but what about the wind for the
:56:03. > :56:09.migrating birds? Yes, wind is a key feature. This
:56:09. > :56:17.October we've had weather fronts in the north bringing a lot of rain to
:56:17. > :56:22.northern parts of the UK. Further south, not much rain, but we've had
:56:22. > :56:28.strong southerly winds in the early part of next week, and mild ones
:56:28. > :56:34.too. How mild? Much, much milder than it should be this time of year.
:56:34. > :56:40.In fact, if we look back at October this year, the average temperature
:56:40. > :56:45.has been 11.5 Celsius. It looks like it will come in as the seventh
:56:45. > :56:50.warmest October on record, a record that goes back 100 years. So
:56:50. > :56:55.significant, windy and pretty warm. Thank you, John. Windy and warm,
:56:55. > :57:01.what sort of impact will that have? With the lessening of the winds, we
:57:01. > :57:08.might see some of the birds that have been hanging on in Scandinavia
:57:08. > :57:14.and Iceland, they might use this decrease in wind to come over. And
:57:14. > :57:20.a few birds moving in from the low countries. Perhaps some of the
:57:20. > :57:25.blackbirds from Germany and Poland might come over. But equally
:57:25. > :57:32.swallows from the UK might depart from the southern shores. But I
:57:32. > :57:38.think we're going to have a massive surge of moths coming up on the
:57:38. > :57:45.southerly winds. So if you're a mother out there, tell us if there
:57:45. > :57:55.are lots of moths coming up this weekend. So, what about next week?
:57:55. > :57:56.
:57:56. > :58:06.We're heading to the isles of Islay. To see thousands and thousands of
:58:06. > :58:08.
:58:08. > :58:16.barnacle geese. And Richard Tailor- Jones will be investigating seals.
:58:16. > :58:21.And we're going to slim bridge for four weeks, and we're interested in
:58:21. > :58:27.the Bewick's swans. They did have four, but they're now down to three.
:58:27. > :58:31.But we'd like to thank all the staff at Westonbirt here. They've
:58:31. > :58:35.made us all very welcome. Thank you made us all very welcome. Thank you