Episode 4 Autumnwatch

Wild fallow deer rutting in our woods. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course,

but they're very sensitive and difficult to get close to.

Seeing the majesty of autumn from a hot-air balloon. Oh, that's very

sensitive to the weather. Eels migrating through our rivers.

Slippery customers difficult to get to grips with. Can we do it? Of

course we can. Welcome to Hello, and welcome to Autumnwatch

Live, coming to you from the beautiful National Arboretum here

at Westonbirt. The aim of our programme is to bring you the full

flavour of autumn all the way from John owe grots to Land's End and

over in Ireland. And we want to bring you the best

of British wildlife. We'll be going underground, for the last time,

sadly, to catch up with our badgers. What have they been up to? We'll be

catching up with our osprey chicks. How have they been getting on with

their migration to West Africa, a journey of 3,000 mile.. Eye and

it's my pleasure to introduce you to Leah Gooding this week, who is

getting up close to the European eel.

But what have we been up to? This week, we've been exploring our

great British woodlands and what better place to do that than here

Right now, the UK's woodlands are a blaze of colour. Everywhere you

look, it's a feast for the eyes. Now is the perfect time for a walk

in the woods. Here at Westonbirt there is one even better way to

take in the full splendour of autumn.

Of course, aside from the beauty, there's an awful lot going on here.

Animals are stocking up on autumn's rich bounty, whilst others are

preparing to hib hibernate. Look at this! What is a spectacle.

It's this time of year that iconic woodland spectaculars can be seen.

The temperatures have dropped and the fallow deer rut is now under

way. Here at Westonbirt, woodland

management reaches its peak and the tree team are out in force.

There's a down side to every balloon flight, and here it comes!

Well, I've get to say we do a lot of travelling for Autumnwatch, it's

usually planes, trains and autumn mobiles. But it was a first, a hot-

air balloon. Was it fun? It was fun. If you have any questions at all

for us, please get them in now and we will try to answer them, live,

in the show. We always say that, don't we, but we're going to make a

big effort tonight. OK, autumn colour, it's all around us in these

trees. What is it? How does it happen? I have been swatting up.

# Would you like to ride in my And now you can see the fabulous

variety here. Some leaves have already dropped off the trees. Some

are still green. You have wonderful oranges, reds, all the colours of

autumn. The change in autumn colour is quite a complicated process and

it depends on three things, rainfall, day length and

temperature. And they all interact. So you might get a beech tree in a

wet place that will hang on to its leaves much longer than a beech

tree in a very dry place. And the critical thing that happens is that

the green pigment in the leaves starts to break down and other

pigments start to show through. You've also got the variety of

trees from around the world so they are changing colour at different

times any way. There can't be a better way to see the full glory of

Westonbirt than from a hot-air balloon. Fabulous.

I love that music! I had you down as disco man.

jazz. It's been a curious autumn, this one. People are calling it a

double-dip autumn. And that's because it started and then it was

like the handbrake was pulled on and it stopped and then it started

again. And that's probably because it got very, very warm at the end

of September, but now, it's really got going. We've noticed the

changes in the leaves in the last few days. But I wonder how this

year compares to other years, because when you get the sunny,

warm days and the freezing nights, that's when you get the spectacular

colours, isn't it It gives us a chance to talk about the magic

chemical. Anthocyanine. It is a regular pigment and it needs warm

days and cold nights. Warm days produce glucose in the leaf. And

that glucose, when it is hit by sunshine starts to go red, and the

cold nights stop the glucose from going back into the tree. But if

it's just about to dump the leaf, why does it go to all the trouble

to produce the pigment. I'll tell you. It could be a warning sign for

insect, because scientists have found that far fewer insects fall

on red leaves than green leaves, and it helps the leaf to stay fully

functional before it falls off the tree. But autumn isn't all about

falling leaves it's about fruiting too. And this week, our cameramen

have been out and about here at Westonbirt and have seen lots of

birds feeding on berries. This is a chaffinch eating Yew berries, but

are thought to be poisonous, but the red on the outside is not.

And this bluetit is pecking at the soft, fruity part of this Hawthorne

berry. And even cold tits, which through

the summer are pretty much insect- eating birds, are changing to being

herbivores in the winter as well. We've been talking a lot about the

changing of the leaves and that's one autumn spectacular, but one of

my favourite, which I have mentioned before, is the rutting

deer. Last week we talked about the Red deer, but what about the Fallow

Deer? This is the perfect time to find them rutting, as I found out.

The roaring of fallow deer bucks is a classic sound of British autumn.

In many deer parks around the country you can go and see the

bucks calling to try to attract as many Roe deer as they can. It has

been estimated that 100,000 fallow deer live deep in woods. They are

not used to people so to see the shy deer in their rut, I've gone

deep into the Cotswold woodland. Here is a classic example of a

fallow deer rutting, they're stamping their authority by

scraping this bark off. And another sign is a scrape. The ducks trample

the mud and urineate in it and roll around to spread their smell. A few

days before my visit, our camera team set some cameras out. They are

obviously awake and active at night? They are basically nocturnal.

The majority of their feeding is at night. Unlike the backs who will

fast during the rut. There is one of the bucks, moving away. He was

actually at the scrape. He was. could be catch a glimpse of one of

these elusive bucks calling deep in the woods?

ROARING SOUND SCOOPS. WE KNOW WE'RE GETTING CLOSE NOW, BECAUSE IF YOU

CAN HEAR A BELLOWING NOISE. THAT IS That is the male fallow deer,

calling the females in. That was great! We actually saw,

saw him go past, chase the doe and his antlers just look spectacular.

And he's not stopping, he's not Here he comes. And it's great,

because those does haven't spotted us yet. You can pretty much see

what is happening here. The buck is trying to keep the does in this

area, because this is his territory. Every time the does go off, he

starts bellowing, to call them in and then tries to push them back.

Now, you do, occasionally, see a young male. It's called a pricket,

try to mate one of the does. This one is black, but his colour

difference it not unusual in fallow deer. He's been unsuccessful, but

they love to have a go. He's been here virtually all week calling

right through the night. He's a real good buck. For me, it's been a

brilliant day out. Michaela, I think he just said that

that buck was growning for a week, night and day? He was unbelievable.

He didn't stop. And he didn't stop trying to round the does in. And he

doesn't eat all this time. That sound, to you and eye, each one

sounds quite similar, but to the doe, they can tell how fit the duck

is by the quality of his roar, because of the size of his chest

cavity. And they choose to be with the buck, I know he goes round and

rounds them up. But it is sort of female choice. It's hard work being

a buck. I went to see those in an estate and I went with an expert.

And it was very, very difficult to see them. If you want to see the

deer in a much easier and accessible place it's eaters to go

to a deer park, somewhere like Richmond or Pet worth park. And we

don't want to discourage people from going out to look for deer,

but they are sensitive. Don't rush in there. So my top advice would be

to find someone who is experienced at watching them and go out with

at watching them and go out with them.

On our website, you'll find some guidance and tips on how to watch

deer without disturbing them and top spots to visit. When it comes

to larger animals in the UK there are fewer species which are poorlyy

underto do so, but there is still one species which is shrouded in

mystery and that's really exciting. So we asked Leah gooding to go out

and find out what she could about the European eel. With its snake-

like appearance, slimy skin and nocturnal habits, the European eel

is often the subject of fascination and revulsion. Living in the depths

of our murky rivers it's easily of our murky rivers it's easily

forgotten or ignored. But eels have been a big part of my

life, because we're Londoners. Readily available and cheap, eels

have been common fare in London since the 18th century. Jellied

eels became the symbol of London's working-class, Cockney cuisine and

they're still sold today. When I was younger, my mum used to

bring me and my family to this eel and pie shop.

Peter Hak's family have run the place since 1911 and recently he's

noticed things are changing. People aren't eating eels like they were

20 or 30 years ago. I think the price has sky rocketed. It's

cheaper now to eat pie and mash than eels. Where do you get them

from? Mine come from Holland. We used to get there from England, but

they've been in decline. So, if right in the heart of London

they're having to get their eels from Holland, what has happened to

the English eel? Well, the Autumnwatch team have sent me on a

mission to find out. First of all, I need to know more about what I'm

dealing with. I've come to meet Matt at the London Zoo aquarium.

Can you tell us what the eel is? Just in case anyone wasn't sure,

because they don't look obviously like a fish, they are a fish. Most

of these are yellow eels. They're the fresh-water version of the

European eel. Some of these are getting close to being silver eels,

and that's the marine form. amazing to discover the incredible

life of the European eel. Every year, they go to the Sargasso Sea

where they spawn and die. From there, the baby eels make the

incredible 3,000 mile journey back to our rivers where they grow big..

When they reach the estuaries of Europe, they elongate into what we

call glass eels, which are completely see-through. Then they

become elvers, and feed and grow to become the yellow eel and when this

is ready to go, it becomes a silver eel. So within the life cycle there

are four or five different stages, all of which are still the same

European eel. But they're not having a good time at the moment,

are they? No, in the past 30 or 40 years, the number of juvenile

elvers we've found returning is up to 30% to 35% less. So we're

worried about the populations in fresh water. The European eel is

facing a whole raft of problems. And next, I'm going to be looking

at some of the issues surrounding them. As well as trying to find out

what is being done to help the juvenile eels when they return from

the ocean to our British rivers. It's a first for Autumnwatch and

what fascinating animals. Extraordinary creatures and so much

still isn't known. Jellied eels? don't think so, it didn't look nice.

It's now our last time with our badgers underground. Ryan asks,

"How deep is a badger's sett?." Because badgers tend to go into the

side of hills, not straight down, but about eight metres.

Let's look at what has been going on in the sett in the past week.

This is Andrew Cooper's farm. He's been feeding this particular bunch

of badgers for many years. And they come out every night to have a

feast. He doesn't give them too much. He doesn't overfeed them,

because he has to be careful that they have their normal food as well

as the peanuts. They follow clear tracks. And now we're right inside

the sett. An awful lot of grooming. If we're quiet, we can hear them

snufling around. This is the bit that has been magical for me, to

see this. Have the hidden cameras in the sett. Badgers are very

solitary animals, the same group as stoats and weasles. So to have them

living socially is unusual. there's no mating going on, they're

just grooming. Yes, grooming and marking them with the sett scent.

We think this is Fancy Claws, and Boris here.

And what is fascinating is that Fancy Clause, here, she could have

conceived but not yet be pregnant. How does that work? Most badgers

will mate in spring time, but even though they conceive it doesn't

implant in the womb. It goes into suspended animation. And nearly all

the females, it will implant the egg into the womb in December and

it takes seven weeks to develop and all the baby badgers will be born

in the first couple of weeks in February. So they conceive at

different times but all have their babies at the same time. Yes.

That's the last we're going to see of them and we hope you have

enjoyed our badgercam. But although lots of people love watching

badgers, they have been a contentious subject in the

countryside. We've had a lot of people on the message board. Many

want to know more about the more serious, controversial story that

surrounds badgers. It is a complex issue that concerns a lot of

farmers. We've tried to unravel it for you. Here is Martin with an

update. The number of badger setts, like

this, have been increasing all over the UK in the past few decades. And

that's because in the '70s, the law was changed to protect badgers and

since then their numbers have gradually increased. But at the

same time the number of badgers have increased so too as the number

of bovine TB. It accounted for the slaughter of 29,000 cattle last

year, at a cost of �90 million to the taxpayer last year. Badgers

often dig for earthworms in the farmers' fields and there is some

evidence that they play a role in spreading the disease. The

Government's badger culling trials ran between 1988 and 2005. It

showed that culling badgers intensively within an area could

lead to a drop of bovine TB cases of 28%. But the same experiment

also showed an increase in cattle TB of up to 9% in the areas

surrounding the culling zones. That's probably because the

badgers' territorial boundaries had broken down, so the badgers were

able to travel further afield and spread the disease. We looked into

this in detail in last year's Christmas special. And we reported

that any such cull would have to be widespread, rigorous and repeated

over a number of years to be effective. That could be expensive

and the Government are considering its options. So what has happened

since Christmas? Well, in July, Caroline Spelman, the English

Environment Minister, said she was strongly minded to allow a badger

cull to go ahead in areas with a high instance of TB some time in

20126789 We spoke to DEFRA, the department, this week and their

spokesman said the decision on whether that cull would go ahead

would be expected some time later this year. DEFRA also said they

were working hard to develop a vaccine for both badgers and cattle

that was affordable and practical. We've been out to find out more

about that. Here in Gloucestershire, there is a trial going on to see

how effective vaccinating badgers might be. Traps are set out in the

evening and baited with peanuts. In the morning, any badgers that are

caught are vaccinated. They are then marked to make sure they are

not vaccinated twice if they get trapped again. It will probably be

at least five years before we can expect to see a drop in the

instance of TB in the vaccination trial area. It could turn out to be

very effective. But there are concerns that it may be an

expensive solution in the long-term. Other researchers are trying to

develop an oral vaccine for badgers. But they will also have to work out

how to get the badgers to eat enough of the baited food. Perhaps

the best solution is a vaccine for cattle. But it could take a number

of years for such a vaccine to be developed and regulated. Meanwhile,

the debate rages on. And the problem is this: No-one can be surn

how effective a badger cull will be certain how effective a badger cull

will be in the control of cattle TB. The Government is under pressure to

do something. The question is, will that something be effective in

helping our beleaguered farmers? It is a very complex issue and an

emotive one as well. We would like to know what you think. Please let

us know on the blog This year, we've been lucky enough to visit

one of Westonbirt's neighbours. Prince Charles lives just down the

road at Highgrove, and he manages his gardens very much with wildlife

in mind. The Highgrove Estate is the home of

the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. For many years now,

the gardens have been managed organically and sustainably and

they have become a haven for wildlife. John ridgely is the

assistant head gardener and he has a lifetime's experience of

gardening with wildlife in mind. I'm tidying up the herbaceous

border for winter. But taking out the untidy stuff and dead stuff and

leaving plenty of habitat and environment for wildlife to

overwinter. You find ladybirds, hover flies, lace wings. Solitary

bees that live inside hollow stems. So it is really important to leave

room for hem to overwinter. Frogs and toads, newts, even possibly

slow worms live in the undergrowth w' often uncover them when we're

clearing the beds. And if leaves blow into hedgerows that's a good

habitat for hedgehogs. All the cleared vegetation is put to good

use. All the vegetation goes into compost. Nothing is wasted at

Highgrove. Anyone with a garden can create a compost heap. It provides

habitats for invertebrates, which in turn attract their pred -

predators. And if you're lucky a habitat for low worms. It's easy to

have a little corner where you can pile twigs that fall out of the

trees, pruning, or blown down leaves. You can create little

habitat piles, it doesn't have to look a mess, but it has the same

benefit. The gardening team are busy throughout the harvest in

autumn. We're picking crab apples, but the birds do well, because we

can only reach so far to leave lots for the birds, the thushes and the

lapwings. And of course, autumn is a great time to start planning for

spring with wildlife in mind and there's nolg better than planting

crocus bulbs. One of the reasons why we plant crocuses, apart from

they look beautiful, is that they provide early nectar for the bees

in the spring. Other bulb plants for bees are the early-flowering

daffodils, snowdrops, that provides lots of food for them. This might

be a grand estate but there are things that everyone can do to help

make space for wildlife in the garden.

What I like about wildlife gardening is that we are all

managers of that resource. And we can do whatever we like in our back

gardens, within reason. So it's your chance to be a nature

your chance to be a nature reservist.

Go to our website for lots of tips and hints. And a lady from the

wildlife truffle has written a blog on how best to prepare your garden

for wildlife for the winter. A question from squeaky Ted. He says

how many badgers can live together? The most I've seen from my study of

setts is 15. But I have known of 50-odd. But it doesn't last long,

because they fight with each other and disperse. Thank you very much

for that. Squeaky Ted, what have Fleur, fox, 57y and many others of

you got in common? It is because you have heard, as we have, strange

sounds emanating from the woods all I set off in the dark of the night,

with Camillaman Mark to find....tawny owls. And you may

well be hearing tawny owls a lot this year, because this is the time

they're most vocal. And the established breeding pairs are

saying, "Don't come here, this is our territory" and they will defend

that place. But at the same time, the youngsters are trying to find

their own area, and sadly if they don't find an area, they will die.

So a lot of this calling is saying, "Don't come here, this is ours."

Tawny owls donth just - don't just to-twit-to-woo. They have 12 basic

calls. Get out there and listen to them, it's magic.

They're super. I've become addicted to them. You're a little bit deaf,

Chris, so you can't hear them. But tawny owls, fantastic to see them.

Have a look at this tawny owl hunting. Now, you would think,

wouldn't you - look at those enormous eyes, not the mouse, the

tawny owl. You'd think they'd use sight - great shot! But no, it's

their ears that they use. And that facial disc is like the gristley

bit of our ears, so that's used to channel the sound down. So they're

out listening to mice rustle on the floor. And they have a really

problem in the rain, because they can't hear because of the rain and

afterwards they can't here because the leaves are all sauftened by the

rain. And if it's raining the call is reduced by 40%. So it carries

far further when it's die. So when it's raining only about 5% of the

owls actually call. So a rain storm may be inconvenient Foro us, but

for owls it could mean life and death Now, there is a lot of hard

work that goes into Westonbirt. And I went out with the curator here,

especially about looking after trees that might have some problem.

Here is your beech getting some high tech treatment. I presume this

is what led you to investigate this further? Yes, this is a fungus that

is causing decay inside the tree. But it is only one bill body on a

huge tree. Is this enough to cause a lot of damage? It is. All the rot

is from the base, from the buttresses, into the roots. This is

a picus sonic tomograph, which allows sound waves to pick up

sounds inside the tree. And when the results are annualised, a

decision is made to fell the tree because of the decay inside it.

You can see how spongey that is. Yes, it is. Look at this, the data

revealed by the tomograph was very, very accurate. Although the fungus

has led to the death of this tree, death isn't the end of its value in

terms of wildlife. Westonbirt has a large area of natural woodland. You

may think this is looking pretty sterile and inert, but look again.

On the surface there's lots of algae and liken and lower down

there is ddlichen And lower done there is a lot of

moss. To see lava of the insects we'd have to break this open, so

we've not going flood that. But you can see the holes where they have

gone in or, more likely, come out. So this is still a very, very

valuable piece of the woodland eco- system, despite the fact that it

has been dead for a long time. So there is plenty of dead wood here

at Westonbirt. But they have a very active tree nursery, so once that

tree has been cut down, they're going to replace it with another

tree. We're surrounded by trees here, but that's not the same

elsewhere in the UK. The UK has only 12% of tree cover so we need

more trees. And you can do something about it. If you have a

garden, you could put a tree in it, or lots of trees. The woodland

Trust are up for giving away 1.6 million trees. You can apply for

these and you can plant them in community areas, and the Government

community areas, and the Government is backing it.

Take a look at our website. planting trees, I've asked for them

for Christmas It's time now to go to Leah. Yes, to learn more about

to Leah. Yes, to learn more about the European eels.

The European eel is in terrible decline. Numbers of juvenile eels

reaching the UK from their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea are

down an aastonishing 90% since the 1970s. And for those that do reach

the UK, the rivers ahead are fraught with challenges. When the

young eels first enter our rivers it is there they first face the

problems. Sluice gates act as a barrier for eels trying to migrate

up river. The problem is, eels cannot jump. There is a cascade

there, which the eels can't get over. Andy Don from the Environment

Agency has come up with the idea of eel passes to help them navigate

this obstacle. We have them on each bank, because eels, as they migrate

hug the banks as they go upstream. So we're trying to replicate what

happens naturally with the moss and weeds on the banks, with this

artificial substrate. We get elvers using this, but we've

seen some big eels of two feet using this pass. And this is a

camera that counts on a daily basis how many eels pass, because all the

action happens in the night-time. It's not unusual to have several

thousand eels using the passes. With more eel passes on thousands

of obstacles in English waterways, the migrating eels are happened

every year. But eel passes are not the only way to boost our eel

population. Businessman, Peter Wood makes his money exporting eels for

restocking projects. Today, for the first time, he's going to be

restocking a lake in written. I've heard you're about to release

25,000 eels back into the wild. To be honest, it only looks like

you've got a few hundred here. you look on the screen, you can see

thousands and thousands with their little heads sticking out of the

box. Peter has spent the past few months raising thousands and

thousands of tiny elvers in these tanks and they can be released

today. Time to pull the plug. We're ready. The elvers shoot down

the plug hole and pour into the packing area, where they're boxed,

ready for the journey. commercial value of these juveniles

is, say, 50p a piece. For every 10,000 eels, it will be �5,000. So

altogether more than �10,000 worth of eels going into the lake. So, as

a businessman, what does it feel chucking �10,000 into a lake?

have to invest in our future. We can't take things out without

putting something back. By catching the tiny glass eels and bringing

them on in captivity, Peter has dramatically improved their

survival rate. Hepatitising me release them is Julian. Why is this

such a good lake to release the eels? Here you have swamp areas and

reed beds which is great for fish like this to take refuge in.

Especially at this young stage in their lives, where there are a lot

of things that want to eat them. When we're releasing this

significant number there will be a lot that will survive into

adulthood. These elvers will spend the next seven to 12 years here

growing up into silver eels and then in the autumn they'll migrate

3,000 miles into the Sargasso Sea to spawn. And it's the problems

they face on that journey that I'll And Camilla will serve the

breakfast "here you are, love". Apparently Charles will have

specialised servants in the hotel. What is one particularly good at?

The chap who squeezes the toothpaste. Or gives you the

naughty images on the TV. Such a great image of your life. Is that

some sort of slang? According to a book on the history of Buckingham

According to the same book, what is so special about the white drawing

room at Buckingham Palace? It's black. The actual answer is that

it's yellow, but also it has a full length mirror in one corner and

during functions, a footman is A quarter of a million migrant

birds of prey fly over here every autumn on their way south. Some

will have come all the way from the United Kingdom. They congregate on

this part of the coastline, looking for the shortest sea crossing to

Africa. So they funnel down from western and northern Europe and

choose this point to make their exit from Europe into Africa. Which

is just about nine miles across the straits of glib tar. You can see

the ships going into the Mediterranean. Just like the watch

point I was at in the Pyrenees, on throlgss have been watching birds

here for decades. Today, it seems to be short-tailed

eagles. How many do you think might go through today? How many? Perhaps

3,000. 3,000. That's more than I've ever seen in my life, by a long,

long way. But it's not just raptors that come here to cross the waters

to Africa. It's also a famous crossing for storks. 150,000 of

them pass over this point every autumn. Many of these birds rely on

the uplift created by warm air rising from the land. So the birds

circle upwards until they gain enough height to soar across the

sea and land in Africa. But not all birds have the same strategy for

crossing. Ospreys are very strong flyers and don't rely on thermals

in the same way. They can leave Europe anywhere along the Spanish

coast and make slightly longer sea crossings to Africa. But what about

our ospreys? What did they do? Eamonn was the first one to set off

on his miing glags, and he was also migration and he was the first one

to make this crossing. This is the spot where Einion left. He flew

across Malaga and passed over here at exactly two o'clock in the

afternoon and flew out over the coast and on to Morocco. So great

news, Einion made it successfully to North Africa. But what about his

brother Dulas, and we haven't even mentionedlery, the sister.

Einion got to Africa on 6th December. Dulas made it to north

Africa on 19 September, because he blew a little off course.Lery left

the nest in Wales a week after her brother got to North Africa. She

left on 13th September and made quite quick progress through Europe,

but she got to North Africa on 20th September. So all three of them

have made it this far. Where do they have to go now? They go down

the west coast of Africa and their biggest obstacle and biggest

challenge will be if they cross the Sahara desert. How will they get

on? We'll find out next week. Isn't it amazing that they have all made

it. It is. Why do beech hedges hold on to their leaves but a tree dunts.

I'm not a tree person. But apparently if a tree is stressed

they hang on to their leaves. So if you've trimmed a beech tree to

become a hedge, that's why they hang on to them.. Now the final

report about efforts across the UK There were claims that he had an

affair with his first wife while married to his second wife. He's

lifting the injunction now. No-one was allowed the talk about it or

report it. Was it generally known? Yes. Did you know it Yes. Did you

know it? Yes, Ian told me. Did you You have two big bags of eels. Why

are we catching them? We catch these eels as they migrate out so

that they can go to sea and spawn. It's a big effort to make sure

these guys get on their way. It is a huge effort. Last year we caught

39 tonnes of eels. Although this trap and release plan only occurs

in Ireland it is helping scientists in England. David is running a

satellite tracking programme to see what happens to the eels when they

go out to sea. This trapping project is the best way he can get

the large silver eels he can fit with the tags. These eels have

eaten their last meal and they'll get to the Sargasso Sea without any

food so we can pop these tags into their bodies, and they'll record

the depths and temperatures. And when the eel dies this tag will

come to the surface, where it might be collected by a beachcomber, who

returns it to us. But this eel had an unfortunate end. He was eaten by

a whale. How do you know that? dive pattern is similar to that of

a short-fined whale. The eel kept diving, then had a siesta before

lunch, and then it kept diving again, following the same pattern

as the whole, so we think it was inside.

But people must keep sending us these tags, because it unlocks

crucial information for us. Now the rest of the tagged eels are

sent off to the release site. They're not going to be released

into the sea, but back into the river just below the dam. Why don't

we put them into the sea, why do we do this process? These are released

into the fresh water to give those eels a period of adjustment before

they hit the saltwater. Let's do it. Finally, it's time to release the

eels. They're about to undergo some huge physiological changes as they

people to go into the sea water, but they no longer face any more

man-made obstacles. How does it make you feel? It's a good job, a

good story, the conservation of fish and it works. How many will

reach their spawning grounds, we simply don't know, but Denis and

his team have helped them on their way Now, I was watching that and I

thought to myself, it's inside a whale and then all of a sudden

they've recovered it. How did they do that? So we thought possibly it

had passed right through the whale and poo-ed out into the sea and

recovered on the beach. So you won't be surprised to find that if

you recover one of these things, you get a �50 reward. 40 have been

recovered and that's really, really, really good. That is impressive.

can learn a lot from these tags. I put a tag in a piece of carrot cake

I gave to Michaela in 1992, and I know everywhere she has been ever

since. We also have a blog, which you should check out. Which with

Leah has written into all about the eels and the tagging.

What a thing! I will have travelled all over the world since 19926789.

But if you're out travelling you'll want to know the weather this

weekend. And I think for some of us it might be wet. What do you think?

I think it will be a wet weekend, but it depends where you are?

whole country is going to be different. I think it's going to be

pouring with rain where you're going. To find out exactly what is

going on. Let's see from the professionals. What has John

Hammond got to say? I'm going to confuse you even more,

because depending where you live, you might want your wet things or

warm things. Tonight, it will be turning wet

across Scotland. Wet and windy coming up from the

south-west. The best of the sunshine tomorrow across eastern

parts of England and pretty mild. 16 degrees. So quite pleasant. On

Sunday, we keep the mild south- westerly winds. A lot of cloud

around but it dampens across the south for a time and then rain

returning to Scotland. So, yes, this weekend, variety is the spice

of life. Thank you very much. Obviously a

mixed weekend, but we all have coats and wellies, so plenty of

chance to still get out tonight, but what about the wind for the

migrating birds? Yes, wind is a key feature. This

October we've had weather fronts in the north bringing a lot of rain to

northern parts of the UK. Further south, not much rain, but we've had

strong southerly winds in the early part of next week, and mild ones

too. How mild? Much, much milder than it should be this time of year.

In fact, if we look back at October this year, the average temperature

has been 11.5 Celsius. It looks like it will come in as the seventh

warmest October on record, a record that goes back 100 years. So

significant, windy and pretty warm. Thank you, John. Windy and warm,

what sort of impact will that have? With the lessening of the winds, we

might see some of the birds that have been hanging on in Scandinavia

and Iceland, they might use this decrease in wind to come over. And

a few birds moving in from the low countries. Perhaps some of the

blackbirds from Germany and Poland might come over. But equally

swallows from the UK might depart from the southern shores. But I

think we're going to have a massive surge of moths coming up on the

southerly winds. So if you're a mother out there, tell us if there

are lots of moths coming up this weekend. So, what about next week?

We're heading to the isles of Islay. To see thousands and thousands of

barnacle geese. And Richard Tailor- Jones will be investigating seals.

And we're going to slim bridge for four weeks, and we're interested in

the Bewick's swans. They did have four, but they're now down to three.

But we'd like to thank all the staff at Westonbirt here. They've

made us all very welcome. Thank you made us all very welcome. Thank you