Episode 5 Autumnwatch

Well, the leaves may be falling. But migration is in full swing.

And we're here to meet it. Het on, Hello, welcome to Autumnwatch live,

coming to you from the wonderful Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre

here at Slimbridge. What a place, a perfect place for us to spend our

last four weeks. It is a migration hot spot. I have to say it is

already packed with birds. A centre of conservation excellence, lots of

research is done here, lots of management, that make this is place

really attractive to lots of our winter visitors. For the next four

weeks I'm sure we're in for a treat here at Slimbridge. Our guest

presenter tonight is one of our own, Richard Taylor-Jones, he has been

out and about on the trail of the great seal mystery.

And the weekend, we had to get up extremely early, but, hey, it was

worth it, because we saw a true autumn spectacle.

You know our remit, it is to bring you the very best of British

wildlife, and the full flavour of a British autumn. So each week we go

to a different location to sample that flavour. This week we headed

to the north and west, one of the southern Hebrides, another

migration hot spot, the wonderful Welcome to the Queen of the

Hebrides, better known as Islay. It may be a fairly small island, but

it is packed with wildlife, and this is a spectacular time of the

year to see it. It is such a diversity of habitat,

and it is easy to think of it island as one giant bird table. But

these cragy cliffs are home to a special clan of aerial hunters.

Whilst these fertile grasslands attract thousands and thousands of

migrating geese. It is a fantastic autumn spectacle, and we're going

to be right in the heart of it. But Islay isn't only famed for its

wildlife, there are one twor distilleries here too. - or two

distilleries here. Eight actually. It will be a long day, cheers!

Tempts as it was to stay in that distillry, how could we stay there

drinking whiskey when there were thousands of barnacle geese here.

It has been the best year ever in Islay. They have had a bumper

44,000 grease have concerned turned up. They have come from greenland,

and travelled 900 miles and to feed and restore their condition before

the winter. It was amazing to see them. Stunning animal, really

striking their black and white plumage. They are distinct among

the geese, they are the noisiest, listen, it is noise, noise, noise,

when you are out with these birds. They arrive in family parties. You

can just about tell the youngsters, they have a slightly different head

pattern, the black from their way goes straight into the beak. They

come as family parties, because the young have to follow the add dulls,

if they didn't, - adults, they if they didn't they would get lost.

They are programmed to go and in what direction, but after that they

get lost. They will stay with them until they get back to Iceland in

the spring. When you see them in the little scales flying, that is

the families. If they didn't have the parents they would keep going.

They would get lost, it is important they stick together at

this time. They stick to the out together through the fields, they

are grazing here. This is a species that eats grass shoots. In the

evening they have to move away to find somewhere secure to roost.

This is important for all sorts of birds, of course. Roosting is all

about security, and social facilitation, commune Kateing in

the flock. These birds move out to the mudflats, they are safe from

predators there. They might find fresh part water or a mash to go,

to be undisturbed. By nightime they have found a secure spot. If you

want to get close to them, you have to get up early, you have to sneak

into the spot while they can't see you. You have to do it in the dark

and it means being a bit of a creep. It was an early 5.00am start to get

into position before dawn. You can really hear that noise. It is going

to get louder. Let's stop here. This is a brilliant spot.

Then we just had to wait for the sun to rise and the spectacle to

begin. There is a whole mass. Look at that. Wow. Look at that lot

there. Oh wow. That is what you call a spectacle, here they come,

look, look: That is beautiful. We decided to get even closer.

Let's hide behind here, they are really close, look.

Look at that. Our timing was perfect. The other

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds

If we were over there, they would be darkening that part of the skie.

That is fantastic, isn't it? We have now get geese stretching

all the way across there. Where are they all going? To find a field

somewhere to spend the day, grazing. That was spectacular, wasn't it?

That was definitely worth the early alarm call. Superb, absolutely

superb. I'm so jealous. I have to saying,

it was a great experience, really exciting, not only to see them but

to hear them. That is it, the sound, I have been to Islay but always

missed t you swaned in and got the whole lot. You have to go at the

right time of year. You might want to see goose spectacle, you don't

have to go to Isla, there are - Islay, you can go to many places to

goose watch. Go to the website, and there is a guide there to where you

can go goose watching. And, by the way, if you have any questions, get

them in right now, and we will do our utmost to try to answer them

live during the programme, some of them any way. One of the

interesting things about Islay, is there are very uground predator,

they don't have badgers and fox, which is why it is a haven for

birds. But they do have some You were in your element, weren't

you? Coincident be dragged away. I couldn't be dragged away. I have to

say our cameramen, Lindsay and Mark, the wildlife cameramen, they didn't

pull a white rabbit out of the hat, they did some magic, they did this.

Let's start off with a creature born to kill, the sparrowhawk, here

are two females josling in the air. What are they doing? I think it is

territorial, there are 5 pairs and a distinct lack of trees, they will

- 25 payers, and there is a distinct lack of tree, they may set

up nests around Christmas time. Perhaps they are feeding and having

a little jostle, they are not being too agrossive. As this one comes

down, the bird beneath it flips on its back, you can see its legs out,

it demonstrates their extraordinary aerial agility, what they would

display when preying on one another. They don't want to fight as they

are too well armed, it is symbolism. Have you seen that before?

Sparrowhawks typically do the display abovewood land, if you are

in the trees you can't see it. On Islay, where there are so few trees,

we could see them doing all the stuff in the sky, that is unique.

If you want to watch them, March and April is the best time. Get a

advantage point above would theland and you will see the skydiving.

go to Islay. One of the birds I was excited to see apart from the

barnacle geese, is the golden eagle. They have been persecuted over the

years, they are doing well in Islay, there are nine pairs. It is such a

spectacular bird to see in the sky? This is a young bird, getting

harassed by the crows, a crow you get in the north. I can't help

feeling sorry for them, they are constantly being mobbed? If they

get fed up I have seen them flip over, grab the crow and kill it and

drop it. You are talking about a top predator there. Talking of top

predators, we have top shots of one of them. The hooded crows had homed

in and giving the site away. Aside from mobbing the eagles, the other

thing they do is hang around waiting for scraps. This one is

patiently waiting, because just to its left is this golden eagle. It

is eating, what we think is a rabbit, it could be hair, we can't

really see there. You can - hear, we can't really see there, it is

definitely a mammal. Look at the golden sheen on its naip. You can

see why it is called the golden eagle. The cameraman wasn't in a

hide was he? They were on the hill. Look it looks almost straight down

the camera. That is the look, fantastic. When the eagle leaves,

the hooded crows in attendance, it is safe enough for them to move n

and they pick over the remains of the kill. There might be a few

scraps of skin and bone left for them. That is really, really good

stuff to get on camera, isn't it. Fantastic, really. And eagles doing

very well there, not persecuted, which is good to see. It is a top

spot for raptors, we have more of that coming later.

Wonderful shots. Changing gear. 40%, around 40% of

the entire world population of grey seals is around the shores, are

around the shores of the UK. Most of the sites where you find grey

seals and common seals, are very well known. Or so we thought.

Richard Taylor-Jones, our guest present e set out on a mission to

solve a mystery, presenter, set out own a mission to solve a mystery,

almost in his back yard. The Kent coast where I live is a bruised and

battered affair. Humans have concreted over vast swathes of it.

And busy ferry routes plough the turbulent seas. It is not a place

you expect to find our largest and most charasmatic group of mammals.

To my surprise, this summer, I found a common seal pup washed up

outside my house. I certainly don't remember seals here during those

endless childhood days I spent on the beach. So could they really be

living and breathing somewhere around this coast? This is my

mission to track down the secret seals of the south-east. I'm

travelling out to one of the most dangerous ship wrecked sites on the

British coast, the treacherous Goodwin Sands. We are heading over

the English Channel, I'm filled with the mix of excitement and fear.

Over 1,000 ships and even more lives have been lost on the

Goodwins. Offshore sand banks stretching 12 miles down the

straits of Dover. They are dangerous place to visit,

but potentially an ideal home for seals. Could I really find them

living in this busy shipping lane. I have just marooned myself on a

tidal sand bank in the middle of the English Channel. There goes my

lift, I have got two hours to try to find the seals here. The

pressure is on, because as the tide comes in, this desolate desert

island turns to quick sand, eventually being engulfed by the

sea, if we stay here we drown. I have found the first seal, they are

just out here in the surf. They spotted us first. Look so

inquisitive. They are so inquisitive, no wonder, human

beings don't come out here. There is no doubt about it, these are

grey seals. It is very obvious because they have parallel nostrils

running down their nose. Common seals it is much more of a V,

almost a heart-shape. It is an absolute dead givaway. This colony

here is a group of greys. It looks like a group of males, with their

long, wide noses, along with dainter looking females, just as

you might expect in the autumn, their breeding season. Something

doesn't add up. These seals can't breed here, this is a tidal sand

bank, every few hours it is covered in water, and grey seal pup, if

they were born here, they can't look after themselves in the water

for at least three weeks, they would be just washed away. So what

on earth are they doing here. This is one of the few local people

looking at the animals, I hope he can help in the mystery? I think

these are non-breeding populations, they are trying out their

interactions until they get to the breeding stage. Give them a couple

of years and then they will be off for the breeding stations. This is

like a grey seal youth club. think that's right. If it is

juveniles here, why? Why are they coming here to the middle of the

English Channel, we have massive great big container ships passing

through, an urbanised coastline, why the Goodwin Sands? Good fish

stock, no disturbance and quiet spots. I see over here we have a

cracking big male? Fantastic, that is a fully mature male. While he's

not gone up to the farms, why he has not gone to Norfolk to breed I

don't know. They take years off do they? Yes, fantastic male. I was

expect to go see common seals out here, I haven't seen any? Common

seals have never been common here. It might be partly to do with the

conditions they face here, a bit rougher and more unpredictable.

greys are a bigger, bulker, stronger seal? It could be one of

the factors. It looks like the tide is coming in!

It doesn't answer the question of why the common seal pup I found

came from. However, I have just had a tip-off about more seals on the

mainland. So that's where I'm headed next.

I thought it was apocalypse seals, I love the smell of seals in the

morning. He only needed a stetson and boots, and he would have been

Robert Duval. That is an extraordinary place. They sound a

Second World War aircraft that crashed there. They are trying to

get it out of the sand. Can I say how much I'm enjoying standing here

at Slimbridge, surrounded by the gorgeous swan, that look absolutely

stunning, lit by our lights. When they were in Westenboroug h we were

listening out for owls, but here we have geese and swans. I have been

coming here since I was a kid, I have had great moments here, it is

a super spot. Good place to get a view of it is where Martin has

scooted off to, he's up in the tower? I have just jogged

gracefully up the 70 steps that lead to the stop here, this viewing

tower. From here, the main viewing tower, you can see out over the

whole 325 hectares that make up the reserve.

Earlier this week, on Monday, I came here to find out a little bit

more about Slimbridge and the man who started all this.

Right now, birds are arriving here from all over Europe, some as far

away as Russia. They will have travelled, a few of them, thousands

of miles to get here. Eventually around 35,000 wildfowl will turn up

here in Slimbridge. All of this is down to the ideas and inspiration

of one man. Naturalist and painter, Sir Peter Scott, founded Slimbridge

in 1946, to create a protective reserve for the flocks of wildfowl

that arrive each winter. I have been lucky enough to be allowed

into the study and studio of this remarkable man. It is full of

memories, mementos of what an extraordinary man he was.

But there is something I particularly want to have a look at,

it's over here. Back in 1964, Peter Scott started

to study the migratery swans, the Buick swans that come here every

year, with his artist's eye, he noticed something nobody else had

seen. You can see it here in the book. These are the actual

paintings Peter Scott made. Look at the beaks, he noticed that in Buick

swans, the beak pattern was unique to each individual, the pattern of

the black and yellow. By recognising that and drawing the

paintings, they go on and on, he could follow the individual life

histories of each bird. Three Buick swans have just arrived at slim

bridge, after breeding in Arctic Russia this summer, they have made

the journey of around 2,000 miles, to spend the winter here. I met up

with Dave Painter, reserve manager, to find out more about their story.

Do you know these three individuals? We do now, but one of

them we know particularly well. It is a bird called Dario, who if we

had to place a bet on who would arrive first, it would be this swan.

How long has Dario been coming to Slimbridge? He was first seen here

in 1999, as a cignit with his family. I believe they formally,

they often travel as a pair, as a couple, has he got his mate here as

well? We don't know, Dario has had a bit of a checkered history with

his mates, he has two in the time we have known him, but not one in

the last two winters. We are watching what is going on at the

moment, we hope there might be a new mate here for Dario. His last

mate died, so the researchers at Slimbridge are hoping this swan,

name Bridges, could go on to become Dario's new mate. We have Dario and

Bridges, it sounds like Strictly. Do they look exhausted when they

come? We see a lot of sleepy behaviour after the migration.

far we have three here. How many would you expect to arrive

throughout the whole season? Last year, for example, was well over

300, we are hoping that kind of number will come through again. We

know one of the big triggers for the timing of all sorts of bird

behaviour is day length. So we have reached that period, the day length

is right, birds want to migrate now, we are waiting for the weather to

be good enough to allow them to do This will do me good. How many

steps to the tower? 70, I counted them. That is an exaggeration?

was, I counted them. Why does Dario always arrive first? That is an

interesting question. Four times in the last six years he has been the

first one to arrive. And although they are creatures of habit, they

do turn up, they tend to turn up at the same time during the migration.

He hasn't got a family, has he. So he doesn't have to stop along the

way and show his offspring the best places to feed and what the route

is. He doesn't have to look at the toy shop, buy the ice-cream, all

that stuff! But Chris, we only have three here now, where are they?

is so mild where they are, it is not push them across here. Some of

the Buicks, we do expect to have up to 400 year when they all arrive.

They have got as far as the north of the Netherlands, but the bulk of

them at the moment are still? Latvia, we are waiting for some

really cold weather over there, that will snow cover the ground or

freeze it and that will push them on. They will arrive here in the

next four week, and we will be covering T at the moment we have

just got the three. We have, but we have loads and loads of other

wildfowl here as well, haven't we. We have my absolute favourite, the

pintail. Have a look at the pintail. Look at the elagance, the way it is

dressed, the neatness of it. I believe, Chris, it is the most

common wildfowl, the most common duck. Widespread. Here is a bird I

took very much for granted, a pochard, I see them out all the

time, some of these may have migrated further than the swans,

4,000 miles. 4,000 incredible miles to get here to Slimbridge. New

respect for the pochard. 450,000 get here eventually, and 1.25

million on the Black Sea. Let me take you up with your love for the

pintail. They are elegant, but not a harm Quin duck? They are a lot

more attractive. Let's be honest. He's so messed up this guy! When we

were out on Islay, we saw some other swans, not Buicks, but

hoopers. Rather interestingly, we saw some on the flashes there, on

the fresh water, we also spotted this group supplying out to sea,

rough sea it was too. I love this, look how they go straight down into

the trough, and then they reappear again. You might wonder, if they

have come all the way from iceland and settled themselves in Islay,

what were they doing heading out to sea, they were heading westwards,

likely to Northern Ireland. A good number of these animals winter at

Loch Neg ah there, it is one of their top - Negg h bs there, it is

one - Neag h, it is one of their top spots there.

What makes Islay such a good spot for the word? A lot of hard work

goes into it. Michael la met up with some people to find out what

makes Islay such a wonderful place for sorts of birds.

One of the reasons Islay has such a large variety of visiting birds is

the rich density of habitats. I met up with James how we will from the

RSPB, to find out how their land management contributes to the large

numbers of birds here. On the reserve the RSPB manages it,

how does it manage it and how does it benefit different birds? Down

the bottom you have the mudflats, great for the geese, somewhere to

roost for them, they feel protected. That is not managed, that is

natural? It is managed in way, the salt marshes graze by sheep to keep

the vegetation short which is what the geez like. So a lot of it is

tweaking. We recede the grassland every year, the better the grass

the better the geese like T those fields are important in the summer,

we let them grow and get a grass silage crop off for the cattle. We

cut it late, because the corn crakes will be there, and they will

get the breeds off before we cut it in August. It is not just the RSPB

reserve that attracts wildlife to the island, industry plays very

much a role? The reason why it is farmed is the link between the

distilleries and the agricultural community. The distilleries need

barley, which is great, the distilleries use the barley to make

the whiskey, the by-product is called draft, and that is fed to

the cattle as cheap feed that mixes terribly well with grass silage.

Listen to that, they are right behind us. Coming up towards us.

doesn't stop, does it. I really like the geese. The chattering.

When they leave the island actually goes quite quiet. You walk out the

door and the first thing you realise is they have gone, because

the noise. Not because you can't see them. Obviously when the geese

leave the wetland areas down there, the grass is very, very short, that

is what the breeding waders are looking for, it is all linked

together. I have to say, whatever you are doing, management wise, you

are doing it right. Let's hope so. So farming and wildlife on Islay,

at least, works well together. Fatastically well. Win heard there

were 44,000 barnacle geese turning up, I thought maybe the farmers

would be very concerned about it, but they usually manage to get the

barley harvest in before the geese arrive. It works very well With the

grazing and growing of barley with the early harvest it works well, if

they were working winter week and the 40,000 geese would come in, the

farmers wouldn't be happy because they would damage the crop. It is

not just the geese, it is the waders and raptors. It is a whole

circle of life. It is. Wildlife and whiskey. It is birds and booze,

nothing better! But Martin, does whiskey help you have a wildlife?

don't actually like whizz kee, it is too strong, I can't take it.

Any way, Richard Taylor-Jones, our guest presenter, had one surprise

already, where he found a colony of grey seals where they didn't ought

to be, nobody knew they were there. But there were more surprises in

store. I'm on a mission to uncover the

life of seals on the Kent coast. I particularly want to find out where

a young seal pup, washed up outside my house, may have come from.

Scientists have no record of a breeding colony of seals along the

mainland here. But a brand new seal safari business, based in the port

of Dover, thinks there is one. I'm joining members of the public,

not to see grey seals, but to find our only other UK species.

We have got common seals, about six miles down the coast, that is where

we are headed today. I know the bay we are being taken

to very well, I used to spend hours building sandcastles on the beach

here years ago. To find common seals here is just astonishing.

With the boat keeping its distance, they are clearly relaxed in our

presence. What an incredible sight. Just underneath the power station

towers here, fantastic, look at this. I'm not the only one

impressed. I didn't really think we'd see any. To come round that

corner and just see them was really amazing. We have lived round here

in Kent all our lives. We didn't know. To see something like this is

quite amazing. I have been speaking to researchers up in Scotland, who

are trying to co-ordinate all the data on seals around Britain. They

had no idea that this colony existed. Really. None at all.

best kept secret. Skipper, James Salmon, thinks the

reason skiens haven't noticed the colony is simple, he's sure it

hasn't been there that long. I have been seeing them seven or eight

years, I remember coming originally there were only three or four down

here, gradually the numbers have increased, this year we saw 84 back

in August time. 4 of them. I have never seen that amount here before.

It is fantastic to see the numbers increasing. The grey seals like it

more rough and ready out by the sands, but this is nice and

peaceful for them, they have found this spot now. Is that a seal right

by the boat. A seal is coming right up to the boat, very inquisitive.

That inquisitive nature is very important when living in a murky

environment like this, seeing fish is not going to be an easy thing to

do. They will have to be down in these murky waters, using those

whiskers, that are very sensitive, to hunt out their prey, prodding

and probing everything and being inquisitive.

The common seals are clearly doing well here, so well that I suspect

it could be somewhere they are happy to give birth.

We saw one pup here in July time, which was very rare to see.

Generally they reckon the breeding grounds are elsewhere. So, there

may not be many pups being born here, but this colony is only a few

miles from my house, and from what James tells me, I think it is just

possible that this is where the seal pup, I found, came from. I

won't be seeing any more pups today, as common seals breed in the summer.

Autumn is simply a moment for the seals to kick back and have some

Popping up out of the water, going bonkers.

I suspect that it could just be a bit of horse play, he might

literally be playing around. Perhaps showing off to some of the

other males, it could all be to do with dominance and getting place in

the hierarchy. It is great to watch. I just can't believe I'm seeing

this, in front of an airport, a power station and a busy main road.

A fleeting moment from so many people's busy lives. These seals

are simply enchanting. And, as the trip comes to answered, it seems

all of us on board have been swept up in their hypnotic charm. This is

the first time I have seen them, and there is something miskal about

them, there is - mystical about them, they are so calm. Everyone

should come and do this, it is just once, it would be nice just to come

and see this. Seals, I think they bring out the spiritual side in

everyone. Do you feel spiritual when you see seals? Oh my goodness.

I think that's a no. If you want to know what where to watch seals,

there are many places around that there are many places around that

you can do that. Go to the website, and there is a great guide to seal

watching on the website. We are migrating now, inside. We are

leaving Swan Lake and jette into the new studio. Same old chairs.

will wipe my feet, nobody else Z I think it is looking very kosy.

It is all here. A live question, Lorraine on the

blog says do Kingfishers migrate, an interesting question? They

certainly intertrain steerm movements, if we get cold weather,

they are fresh water birds and if it gets cold they move to the coast.

If it gets cold in the north they migrate to the coast. They suffer a

lot if it they migrate. The term LBJ, "little brown job", is fairly

derogatry one when applied to birds. A lot of people use it for birds,

but it is a shame, a lot of little brown jobs are my favourites.

These are special little birds, these are twite, they are closely

related and similar to linnets, they are a fich, they have that

fich bill, they are much warmer in terms of the colouring the RSPB

have planted this fabulous field. It has radish, kale, mustard, they

have left it to go to seed, to cater for these birds in the winter

time. It is certainly working, there is a fantastic flock of them

here. They frequently fly out on to this track, they will all gather

down here, they seem to keep going back to the same spot, they have

found some grit of exactly the right size and texture. This is

what it is about, they will pick up very small pieces of this. It

passes into their stomach, they eat the seeds, the stomach moves it

around, it helps grind the seeds up, which speeds the process of

digestion. This passes through the bird, so they are constantly having

Look at this hen Harrier coming over here, look at that.

They are finding refuge in the tree. What a view, who an absolutely

stunning view. It is a female, or a young bird, look at that. It is

just hoping to flush one loitering twite, out of the field. It will

snatch it. It is doing what they do, quarter back wards and forwards.

Very much like a barn owl. That is because harriers use their ears as

well as their eyes for hunting. It is listening. This bird is so close,

look at that. Of course, these raptors couldn't

prosper here unless there was a healthy population of the smaller

birds. This is what conservation is all about, it is starting,

literally, from the ground upwards. Listen to that. I have seen twite,

but I have never heard them producing that flock call. It has

been a great day for flocks, not just flocks of geese, but flocks of

twite. Look at this, big smile! Chris is also very happy, because I

have just made a howling error, live on British television. I said

that Kingfishers migrate to Shetland, that would surprise

people there, I meant the silly Isles.

Serious moment, I have to give a public service announcement, if you

are watching your screen now with a keen ornithologyist, you might want

to shackle them. We are about to see some images that could easily

lead to an excess of leg rubbing, if this happens, sometimes you can

get so carried away you can rub someone else's leg, this could lead

to unforeseen circumstances. Are they shackled, I give you the male

hen harrier. You can't contain yourself. It is a

beautiful bird, what is interesting is it is very different from the

female. The male on the right is very

sexually diamore moveric, they are the same size but distinct in

colouring. As it turns and flies underneath it is paler, a black

line that runs around the edge of its second rees, the black

primaries and pale grey make it distinctive from the female. Islay

has 40 pairs of hen harrier, they are persecuted elsewhere. Really

drug struggling in England. You didn't know where to put your

binoculars there. Scourging thighs, I went through three pairs of

trousers! Remember the Twite tree, there are no twite in it, but

something else exciting. We can watch that again if you like.

is not my twite tree, clearly not. Let's have a look. Here it is. You

see, no twite, but what is there. little bird has sneaked in here,

the smallest British falcon, the female Merlin, a dashing little

bird. It is having a sniff around for the twite in the tree. They are

not in that tree, they have gone off to the bottom. That is what the

Merlin does, this bird is all about speed. Watch it hunting, it

absolutely rockets in. What it hopes to do, as soon as it hops off

the tree, having spyed the twite at the bottom there, it comes in low

across the top of the grass and swoops straight into the middle of

that flock of twite. It then rises up, hoping to catch one, it has

missed one, but it has one other strategy, it gets underneath one of

the small birds, it drives it up and up in the air, they both circle

round and round often to a get high. About 300ms, finally the little

bird is so in fear of a shadow to fall, that is it starts to dive

down and then the Merlin puts in repeated stoops at the small

birbgsd you can just see it there. It is amazing. It is called ringing.

That is what they do, they ring them right up and put repeated

stoops in. I have actually seen that myself, I was on Exmoor

cycling, I suddenly saw the Merlin coming in chasing a skylark, they

were dipping up and down, the sad thing about it was the skylark was

singing loudly the whole time that this was going on. I wonder whether

that was the skylark saying I'm still strong, I can still get out

of your way. It was a bit distressing. Going out with a blaze

of glory. I had the best view of a Merlin ringing flight, right here

in Slimbridge, in the fields behind the centre, he did a serious of

stpe stew pendous stoops and the chaffinch got into a hawthorn bush

and we never saw it again, we hope it got away. How often are they

successful? Not too successful because there is no twite but not

too unsuccessful because it would starve. It is one in five, we

didn't see t but had we hung around we would have done. A quick

question, Sam from Facebook, what is the largest and smallest

migrating bird? The smallest, a fire crest, they are tiny, weigh

the same as a 5p piece, the biggest ones the Hooper swans, I would

imagine the swan would be heaviest. You may remember the Osprey, the

three we had met hatching out from the egg in Springwatch. Let's

remind ourselves about their story so far.

This spring, with the help of Montgomery Wildlife Trust, we

followed three Osprey chicks as they grew up in west Wales, before

setting off on the long migration. Last week we found out all three of

our young Ospreys, had made it safely through Europe. And into

North Africa. But ahead of them lay the biggest challenge of their

lives, crossing The Sahara desert. Deserts are extremely hot during

the day, and bitterly cold at night. Not exactly the place for a fish-

eating bird of prey. And worst of all, they are bone dry, there is

nowhere to stop and fish for the entire 900-mile crossing. So, what

happened next? We left all three birds poised at the northern post

tip of Africa. Right away Einon went down, skirting the edge Sahara,

Dula went the same way, but Leri the little female covered the whole

there, may have exhausted herself a bit. All three ended up in Senegal.

We are very worried about Leri, we are getting strange bleeps from her

transmitter, it is not doing what it should be doing. So we're

concerned about her. Wouldn't it be wonder ffl we could some how go out

there and - if we could some how go out there and try to find out what

our Ospreys are up to. We are going to, tomorrow, Royden nis, our

Osprey expert will - Roy den sis, our Osprey expert, he's going out

to find the Ospreys, he will report back later on in Autumnwatch. Roy,

good look. What are we doing next? Seals. Seals, it's time for the

last report from Richard Taylor- Jones, our guest reporter, what

will he find out about the mystery seals next. This RSPCA centre here

Hastings, is usually home to hedgehogs and birds. But, in the

last few years, they have started to receive some very different

patients. Seal pups. Including the one I found. Which had to be

rescued, having been abandoned. Although, sadly, she didn't make it

back to health, the majority do. I wonder what these new arrivals say

about the population of these animals in the south-east. Good

morning. Wildlife manager, Richard Thomson, is on hand to show me

around. They are just gorgeous.

rehydrate them, and then they get a fish soup. Once they have

progressed from fish soup, they get small fish and bigger and bigger

and bigger. We have herring today. Am I allowed to give him a fish,

has he had enough for the day. might do. How much fish a day will

they eat at this stage? Between two and three kilos. They are putting

on weight, once they get to the target weight, that does drop off.

We just throw the fish in and walk out. There is very little contact.

Is that a gentle hint we need to get out? It is, yes.

Once the pups are up to weight, they are moved to a bigger, deeper

pool. Where they have space to swim and gain strength.

He has just put seal snot all over my lens. Not much work is being

done on seal numbers across Kent. I wonder if these pups can shed any

light on how healthy the population is. Has there, to your mind, been

an increase in the number of seals on the Kent coast, going on the

pups that are coming? We have seen an increase in the number of seal

up pups entering this senter from the Kent coast in the last number

of years. That must indicate the population is growing? It is hard

to say, whether the population is sicker than normal, that is the

reason we are getting more of them, or they are finding it more

difficult to find places to breed, so they are breeding on the

outsides of the colonies, perhaps they are being driven away, young

parents. It is difficult to know why these animals come into our

care. Whatever the reason, the pups end up here, it is certainly time

for this young male to be released. He came in on the 31st July, with

an infected eye and split lip. After two-and-a-half months of care

and attention, he's ready to go. Look at that fella. There you go,

home. You This seal is desperate to be

released and I can't open the door. There we go, fantastic. Off you go

fella. All the pups need to be release

during the autumn, before winter set - released during the autumn,

before winter, this pup is the second to go this year. There are

three more to follow. How did that make you feel? Really good, really

good to see them go. He will surf out there now. This is a great day

for him. So really pleased. He's heading out into one of the

busiest shipping lanes in the world. He has to live along one of the

most urbanised coastlines in Britain, what do you think his

chances are? We know from evidence that with the tag that is we put on

the animals, and also some work has been done with putting satellite

tags on seals, that have been released from a rehabilitation

centre, they do really well. There isn't a great deal of difference

between them and their rival counterparts, we know survival is

good. Your work here works, it is worth putting the time and effort

putting the guys back to sea. Definitely. This is where they want

to be? Definitely. He's surfing in the waves there. Goodbye seal and

good luck. My journey for Autumnwatch started with an

abandoned seal pup. Although she never made it back to the wild. I

have now learned so much about the seals of the south-east. And

watching this young male bravely head out into the English Channel,

gives me a sense that they might just have a very positive future

here. Richard has written a blog about

his adventures and the seals, that is on our website. In fact, he will

be joining us later on in Un sprung. Can I say we have been incredibly

lucky for the live show, this is the fourth week and it hasn't

rained, the fifth week, it has been raining all day here at Slimbridge.

So much so that my feet are still wet, are they going to stay wet

this weekend? Don't ask me, let's ask the professional, John Hammond,

ask the professional, John Hammond, will it rain all weekend?

No it is not, the good news for you and for most of us, it's going to

be a nice weekend. Lots of sunshine, it should encourage you to get out

in the countryside. Some exception, as we will see here. There is one

blob of blue, wet weather across northern England, that should

largely clear out of the way. For most of us it will be a dry night.

Fog forming, humid air, southern parts of the UK not cold. Maybe a

touch of frost across Scotland and Northern Ireland. We lose that blob

of blue and gain another. It will turn damp across eastern England.

Most of us settling into a fine day. Beautiful across Scotland, Northern

Ireland, more north western parts of England and Wales, that probably

does include Slimbridge, not as mild as it has been, temperatures

pretty good for the time of year. After the fireworks parties and

bonfires, things settled and sunshine. Best of that across the

more north western parts of the country. A bit drab across England.

With the feed off the North Sea we will get a lot of moisture and

cloud. Disappointing across this parts of the world.

Southerly winds, we are going into a different regime, north-eastly

wind, we will talk about it in the moment.

All the mild weather, I'm not happy, it is causing a real hiatus in the

my grai, we need some good cold, windy weather, coming from the east,

are we going to get it? I don't think we are going to get it, for

those birds stuck out there in Moscow, it has been mild, seven

degrees in Moscow, we got a big change in the weather, the general

circulation pattern is having a substantial change. We will see a

plunge of blue. That is properly cold air coming from the Arctic to

affect much of Eastern Europe, with temperatures sub zero in Moscow I

think the birds there will get cold feet for sure, and be more

encouraged to fly westwards. The other factor in the equation, ace

mentioned, up until now we had southerly winds, hence the warmth,

come the weekend and the early parts of next week, easterly winds.

I'm no ornithologyist, I would imagine birds across the continent

and Scandinavia will be encouraged to fly in our direction.

I think what we will do, we will have to wait here, these swans over

in Latvia at the moment, not so much waking for the blackout but

the whiteout. If it does move in, we might see some of these Buicks

towards the end of the week joining those already there at Slimbridge.

In the meantime, with those east lease, we might get the wood

pigeons, they are a migrant bird, they used to come in vast numbers,

not so much now with the weather. Maybe starllings, you might get

those. One wax wing in Orkney, no Woodcock yet, if you are into

rareties, the east lease are always a bonus. We have had an eastern

crowned warbler, it should be in south-east Asia. If you are a

twitcher you might be happy this weekend.

We have a picture haven't we? at this, this was taken by Ian

Watson, in Cumbria, one of four that he saw. And what this is a

lukistic wild geese. Does that mean pale, lukistic? I can't get into

that, we only have a minute left. Next week we have another top show

for you, we are off to investigate how seabirds are affected by

plastic in the environment. We join a team from the RSPB to see just

how negative this litter problem can be.

I'm going to be catching up with our family of foxes down in Pitsy,

and things are getting messy. special guest next week is Yolo, he

will look for these fin whales, the second-biggest whale, off the Irish

coast. He will be joining us in the Send in any questions you have got,

keep uploading your pictures on to flickr. If you have any movies of