Episode 6 Autumnwatch


Episode 6

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It's Friday, it's 8.30, which means you're in for a treat of autumnal

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wildlife. We have prer grin falcons, fiesty foxes. And we're be bringing

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you the best of British wildlife. In 1969, Hal David and Burt

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Bacharach wrote Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head. And they were

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right. Welcome to the wetland! And wildlife Centre.

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There are lots of birds here and they have a fabulous cafe, with top

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carrot cake! It's been a very busy week here at

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Slimbridge, lots of action and new arrivals. Including some more

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Bewick's swans. They may be late, but they've started to fly in. Just

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how many have arrived and which characters? We'll be giving you an

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update later on. We'll also catch up with the family of foxes that we

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first met back in the summer, in Springwatch. What has been going on

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in their incident-filled lives? It's a regular soap opera.

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you're regular viewers, you'll know we like to have a guest presenter

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on board for the programmes. And this week, we have one of the best

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birders, the one and only Iolo Williams. But instead of sending

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him out after birds, we've sent him out after something much bigger.

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And the whales show us how rich our waters are around the coastlines.

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So we're going to focus on the glories of our seas in autumn. The

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United Kingdom has 8,000 meals of coastline and a fantastic diversity

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of marine life. Drk-8,000 miles. 28 species of

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marine mammals and hundreds of beautiful invertebrates. But you

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don't have to go underwater to see signs of it. It's a great time of

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year for a walk along the shoreline. The autumn storms throw up all

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sorts of treasure. This is a This is also the time of year when

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some animals choose to give birth. Grey seal pups are apreering on the

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beaches in ever- increasing - appearing on the beaches in ever-

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increasing numbers. Meanwhile, the breeding season for our fabulous

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sea birds has finished so now is the time to take stock of how

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successful the season has been. The many birds, the season to see

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them here in the UK is just getting started. Now is the time that many

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waders come to Britain, and compared to where they've come from,

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it's actually quite warm. We're lucky, aren't we? Our coast

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is absolutely fantastic. In Europe, we have so much more coastline than

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any other country. That's why it's so important for migratory birds.

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Now, we're giving you a tricky quiz tonight. It's a sound. I've never

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heard anything like it. CROAK-LIKE NOISE SKOPS

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-We'll give you clues as we go through the programme, but if you

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have any ideas, do get in contact. As it's a marine show, do get in

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touch with your questions. We'd love to hear from you. You know

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what I've got in my hand? A graphic. A chart! Fantastic. I have a

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graphic representation. Let's start with the basics of marine life.

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This was taken on Monday by the Met Office. This shows water

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temperatures. Here we are, and we have pale green around the United

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Kingdom, but on the same latitude, in Labrador, it's blue. Here we are

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12 to 13 degrees, water temperature, but water temperature over here at

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the same latitude is four degrees. And what makes the UK unique in

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terms of its marine environment is that our seas very rarely freeze.

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Water temperature is controlled by all sorts of things, salinity, but

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the warm current. It comes up here and branches and some goes around

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the top of Scotland, but some combs down and round here. And it's

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fundamently important tot life in our seas. And the autumn winds have

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a profound effect on what goes on in the seas. The winds churn up the

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waves and cause currents on the sea beds. And that releases nutrients

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which are picked up by the smallest creatures in the sea, the plankton.

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This time of year, the seas become immensely rich. Which has a knock-

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on effect, because the plankton are the base of the food chain, and if

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you have tonnes of it in the water, you can have lots of other

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creatures. One that literally scholes to our shores is the

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herring. We get incredible scholes. Sometimes we've looked at these

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things and you can get scholes which fill 4.8 cubic kilometres.

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Three billion fish moving around in a dense mass. And they're always

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listening out for predators. didn't know we had so many herrings

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left They are one of the fish doing well. Now, the herrings and all

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that marine life attracts lots of other fish, some of them - not fish,

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I've done it wrong, other animals into the seas around our shores and

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some are gigantic, epic creatures that I had no idea were here. And

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this week's guest presenter, Iolo Williams, has set sail to find out

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more. I've been watching wildlife across

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Britain for far longer than I care to remember, so it's not often that

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I'm asked to track down an animal that I've never before seen in the

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British Isles, but this week, on Autumnwatch that's exactly what

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I'll be doing. This is a fin whale. After the blue whale it's the

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second-largest animal on the planet. They're found in every ocean on

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Earth and to my surprise, I've been told a real hotspot to watch them

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is off southern Ireland. Helping me track them down is Padraig from the

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Irish wildlife research Centre. We have hundreds of miles of ocean out

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here, how do you pinpoint where to find the whales? It's a great

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challenge. We're in the right place and at the right time of the year.

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November is the peak period. We need to make sure we have good

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coverage on the four corners of the boat and the first tail- - tale-

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tail sign will an big blow, to indicate the fin Wales in the area.

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The blow is the steamy air that shoots away from the whale when it

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exhails its lungs. And another clue is the common

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dolphin. They're often associated with the fin whales, because they

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eat the same prey. Within a few minutes we found them circling the

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boat. Hello, boys!

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One minute we've got half a dozen common dolphins, and the next

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minute, the sea is boiling with them. There's a good eight, nine,

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ten here, and another dozen or so out there.

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The dolphins come to the boat to ride the bow wave created by the

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hull in the water. They surf along the water at great speed and it's

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thought it saves them energy. Although I find it hard to believe

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that they don't just do this for fun!

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With so many dolphins about, there must be plenty of fish, the same

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prey that the fin whales will be looking for. And sure enough, word

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has come that the whales are close by. We have the spoter on the boat

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telling us there are whales nearby. Oh, look, two!

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Look at the size of it! The dark colour and the fin is

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about two-thirds of the way. See the fin coming now, about two-

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thirds of the way down the back. What an experience! No sooner do

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the whales surface than they disappear again to hunt. Whilst the

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team watches for their return, Padraig has brought along a section

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of the whale's mouth to explain how they catch their prey.

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These hang from the top jaw and when the whale feeds it uses its

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tongue. And the tongue pushes out all the water. So the water comes

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out through this curtain and through these plates, and the whale

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uses his enormous tongue to lick the moustache clean, and takes up

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all the good stuff. It allows the animal to prey on

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lots and lots of small animals. After a 12 minute wait we get our

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second sighting. We're just going to park up and let the whales come

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to us, nice and gentle. Look at that. Huge, huge animals. They look

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about 25m long and they just keep coming.

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And there's the fin. Being so close to the whales gives

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Padraig a chance to photograph the animals. Each one has a uniquely

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marked fin so the pictures allow him to build up a catalogue of

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You could see the shape of the head then when he came up. They're right

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by the boat. To date, Padraig has identified 67 different whales,

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many of which return every year. His work proves that these waters

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are vitally important for large numbers of the animals and it

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should help to keep them protected well into the future. 20m away from

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the second-biggest animal that has ever lived on this planet! You

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ever lived on this planet! You cannot beat that!

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I'm not easily given to envy, but that was phenomenal. It was. When I

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was stood on that boat, bright sunshine, and flat-calm seas, and

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fin whales emerging all around me. Have you never seen them before?

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have once, but not in UK waters. I knew they came to UK waters, off

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the Irish coast, but not in those numbers. We were there for a day-

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and-a-half and we must have seen about 30. And they were enormous.

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About 22m long. The thing is, you were looking at them on the surface,

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to get a good idea of their form, you need to see them underwater?

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You do. They're enormous ys huge things. A 15 tonne head. They're

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incredible mammals. Three times the length of a double-decker bus,

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apparently. When it emerges it nerver ends. More of it comes up

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and then the fin and then more comes up. It's never-ending. I have

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a chart here to give an idea of scale.

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Here is the fin whale, and the humpedback, and some of the smaller

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species. And this is you. It's a good job you stayed on the boat.

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gives an idea of the scale. They are the second-biggest animal that

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has ever lived.. There was lots of food there, did you see them

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feeding? We saw this amazing thing called lunge feeding. That's the

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schole of herring. That schole was three kilometres long. Three

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kilometres! And it was herring from sea floor right up to the top. And

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here we are, it thrusts itself up into the centre of the schole and

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opens its mouth. 70 cubic metres of fish in one go. And it has a huge,

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extended belly. It was absolutely incredible. We were surrounded by

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them. Goodness me. And they're not the only whales that do the lunge

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feeding, minkes, and humpbacked do it as well. Yes, these are some

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minke whales lunge feeding as well. What's interesting, when you go

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looking for whales, you find sea birds and dolphins feeding as well.

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Often it's gannets, gulls and dolphins picking up the fish that

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have been stunned by the whales and left behind. They always say if you

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want to find whales or dolphins, look for the gannets. A lot of

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people will be surprised that they are so close to the UK coast, but

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what do we know about them? Are they well-known? Well, I'm quite

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sad. Yes, they might be the second- biggest animal on earth, but very

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little is known about them. But whilst I was in Ireland, I was in

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the company of one of the best whale experts who is carrying out

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research as we speak. Simon wants to build up a picture of where the

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fin whales visiting the Irish shores are coming from and going to.

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The best way for him to do this is to get DNA samples. If he can find

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a DNA match from fin whales that have spwn sampled elsewhere in the

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world, it is a clue as to which populations these animals belong to.

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He gets the samples by firing an arrow into the whale's skin. This

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is like a little corerer, and it's fired into the blubber of the whale,

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and it take as small amount. About a centimetre. The biggest trouble

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is actually hitting the whales. They move at 25 knots, which is

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fast, and more often than not the arrow misses. But on this attempt,

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there is success. With an average of only three samples a year, this

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piece of blubber and skin is very valuable. One of only 28 samples

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recovered over an eight-year period. It is wrapped up, free of

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contamination and sent to a lab in Holland for analysis. How important

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is this research? I think it's critical. I still find it amazing

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that we're only three or four miles off the coast and we're so close to

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the biggest animal. It's a project we should keep a close eye on to

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learn more about these magnificent whales that we know so little B And

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that, Chris, is ground-breaking research. Hopefully, before too

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long, we'll have an idea, not only of sex, but what they're eating and

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where they come from and where they're going to, to help us

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preserve these whales. And we have other species in British water?

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killer whales, humpbacked whales, minke whales, and recently there

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was a dwarf sperm whale seen off the coast of Wales. And they are

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actually quite accessible, because if you're on a ferry crossing,

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especially one I was on, across the Bay of Biscay, you see loads of

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these animals. You do. But you only have to go over to Ireland and

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you'll see them. You're enthusiasm means I've almost forgiven you.

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Stick around because we'll see you later in the programme. All

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afternoon, I've been trying to think of a clever link, but I

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haven't come up with one, the best I can think of is that baby swans

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grow into the most attractive birds we have, don't they Michaela.

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swans are here in their numbers at Slimbridge, and we're talking about

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Bewick's, and they should be arriving in their hundreds here.

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These swans behind us are mute swans. They are resident birds here

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at Slimbridge, so there are often many on the lake. Their beaks are

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orange, whereas the Bewick's are yellow. So, how many turned up? I

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came to Slimbridge yesterday, which my Britain clars to find out.

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-- binoculars to find out. Julie, it was looking a bit thin for

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Bewick's last week, but now it's looking good. Yes, a lot have

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suddenly turned up. You've been studying them for years, which have

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turned up? Yesterday, Ridler turned up. He's 20 years old and he's been

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visiting Slimbridge since 1991. And Winky turned up, but sadly without

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his mate, Tinky. With all the new arrivals jostling for position on

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the lake, things can get heated. As Winky no longer has a mate, it

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looks like he might be slipping down the pecking order. We featured

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Dario last week as the first arrival, how he is getting on now?

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He's doing well. He was making the most of the food whilst there

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weren't many birds here. Now, Dario will be slipping down the pecking

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order as more arrive. As a single bird he'll slip down. It's the

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families that pull the weight on the pond. Do you have favourites?

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I'm particularly hoping that one swan will come back this winter.

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She's called Winterling. And she is 28. If she comes back, she'll equal

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the record for the oldest Bewick's swan on record if she comes back.

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So fingers crossed That was fascinating. And that last bit of

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behaviour that we saw, I don't think those swans were being

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aggressive, I think it was pair bonding. I think you're right.

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Because they have to get all that bonding and pairing up here,

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because by the time they fly back to the Arctic to do the breeding

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there isn't time, the Arctic summer is so short, they have to get on

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with the pairing up here. And it's beautiful to watch. So what are the

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numbers? Last night, seven turned numbers? Last night, seven turned

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up and that's the first family. There are two adults that have come

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with five cygnets. Eye and one of the adult's ancestors have been

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coming to Slimbridge since the 196s. And now, winterling could come back

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and she would be 28 years old. But they're doing well, because that

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was a fantastic family that returned. And next Friday we're

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:24:08.:24:08.

going to have Swancam. So you can watch them! Swancam. Yes.

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There are so many birds around here, which will act as a magnet for

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predators. One of the guys here, James, set up a camera on a low

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perch to see if he could get any footage of a spectacular predator.

:24:26.:24:36.
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There it is, a peregrin falcon. The fastest living creature.

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And not only did our cameraman get this fabulous shot, but in

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beautiful light! Yes, hard to measure, but possibly exceeding 200

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miles an hour when they go off for their prey. That was brilliant.

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our cameraman, Lindsey, got the peregrin doing a bit of hunting.

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Let's look at that. You can see it's highlighted there.

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And it's chasing gulls on the beach on the estuary. Very hard for the

:25:09.:25:14.

peregrin here. It would much rather catch the birds higher off the

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water. It's an aerial predator. It doesn't like to take them off the

:25:18.:25:21.

water, because it's dangerous and it could end up in the water.

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the gulls are flocking together. Safety in numbers. I guess their

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best strategy would be to go down and sit on the water, if they can.

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Which they're doing there. And now they're following the predator.

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This is interesting. Often they follow the predator. They want to

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keep their eyes on the biver, because if they can't see it, they

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don't know what it's up to. Some peregrins, they have different

:25:51.:25:58.

characters. Some are lazy and go after small birds, but some will go

:25:58.:26:03.

after whopping great prey. They're all individuals. An update on the

:26:03.:26:13.
:26:13.:26:15.

quiz. Yes, I think it's hard. freckle says is it orcas? Wrong.

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And another says it could be a corncrake. None of those are right

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yet. Let's give a clue. Whatever it is, you'll see in the programme

:26:25.:26:30.

today. Good clue. And also, maybe the bubbles you heard in the sound

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clue, that's another one. Here at Slimbridge we enjoy watching birds

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in great numbers and when you see them in large numbers, it's easy to

:26:40.:26:44.

forget they face a lot of threats. Chris has been out and about

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finding out about some of them. At this time of year, our sea birds

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have finished breeding and many have headed far out to sea. But

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this gives our scientists a chance to assess what sort of breeding

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season they've had and in 2011 it's been mixed. Razorbills and

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guillemots have done well in England and Wales and on the north-

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east side of Scotland, but on the western side of Scotland and up in

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the islands, they have not fared as well. The Orkneys have had a

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particularly bad season for nearly all of the sea birds. Kittiwakes

:27:32.:27:38.

were badly hit. In some places no chicks were raised at all. So why

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is this happening? It's complicated. Sometimes breeding success or

:27:42.:27:46.

failure can just be down to a bad storm striking at the wrong time.

:27:46.:27:52.

But there are other factors at work too. Warming sea temperatures and

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changing fishing picturess probably change the availability of prey.

:27:55.:28:01.

One thing is for sure, sea birds need protection more than ever. But

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it's not just governments that need to act. Now, one thing we could all

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do to look after our sea birds a little better, in fact, all marine

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life, is to be more careful with all of our litter. I've collected

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this in the last ten minutes on this very remote Hebredian beach.

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And look at the tile I've got here. Plastic of all kinds, milk bottles,

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juice bottles and this nylon cord, which is particularly dangerous. A

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couple of weeks ago, we went out with a team from the RSPB to see

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just how damaging this stuff can be for wildlifement

:28:40.:28:46.

It's 15th October and a boat load of dedicated bird lovers is leaving

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the west coast of Wales to travel out to a colony of our largest and

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most spectacular sea birds. Northern gannets, these are the

:28:57.:29:02.

missiles of the SeaWorld, diving deep to catch their fish. About

:29:02.:29:08.

two-thirds of the population of gannets come to breed off rocky

:29:08.:29:13.

islands off our coasts packing together in large numbers. They

:29:13.:29:19.

breed and then fledge in the early autumn. The RSPB team have dome

:29:19.:29:24.

Grassholm Island, the third largest colony in the UK, with 30,000 pairs

:29:24.:29:28.

of gannets. By mid-October, all of the chicks should have left the

:29:28.:29:34.

nest but some have not been able to go, because of a man-made problem.

:29:34.:29:41.

We estimate that there's around 20 tonnes of plastic on the island.

:29:41.:29:46.

About four hundred to 500 grams per nest on average. Some say, "Why

:29:46.:29:52.

don't you clear it away" but the nests are interwoven with it, it

:29:52.:29:58.

would be an impossible task. for the baby gannets, it's much

:29:58.:30:03.

more than an eyesore. We're too late getting to this one. Look at

:30:03.:30:07.

the plastic around the leg. This is one of this year's youngsters.

:30:07.:30:12.

These birds sit on the nest for 90 days, and as they grow they're

:30:12.:30:16.

turning all the time and it twists around the leg and this one has

:30:16.:30:21.

starved to death. The team has only been able to come ashore now that

:30:21.:30:24.

most of the adult birds have left and their job is to set free as

:30:24.:30:32.

many of the remaining trapped birds as they possibly K

:30:32.:30:36.

This season, they successfully freed 27 birds, although in some

:30:36.:30:46.
:30:46.:30:57.

It's an animal welfare issue now. It's a man-made issue and we come

:30:57.:31:01.

here to prevent these birds starving to death. It happens to

:31:01.:31:06.

the adults as well. Not as many, but we do find it. He's not very

:31:06.:31:16.
:31:16.:31:18.

grateful for it, but there you go! I don't know about you, but that

:31:18.:31:22.

was harrowing. You could feel the pain of those little birds. I think

:31:22.:31:28.

it's really shocking to see how much damage our rubbish does to the

:31:28.:31:33.

birds. That's a sobering thought. You've seen that first-hand,

:31:33.:31:39.

because you've been to grassome. Yes, I worked with the RSPB and one

:31:39.:31:45.

of my jobs was to go and stay with these birds. And it breaks your

:31:45.:31:50.

heart. The parents have put so much effort in that one chick, three

:31:50.:31:56.

months before it fries off, and it's caught by the legs and unless

:31:56.:32:01.

we go there and free it, it dies. But when you go there, you come

:32:01.:32:06.

away with a sense that you've achieved something. You've done

:32:06.:32:10.

something successful. You've let the birds go and they could live a

:32:10.:32:15.

long life. But it's so sad that eight miles off shore they're not

:32:15.:32:20.

immune to man's pollution. I think you've made a point there,

:32:20.:32:27.

sometimes we feel so helpless. But we're not going to focus on what

:32:27.:32:32.

man does, but it's simple what we can do to help. You go to the beach

:32:32.:32:37.

with a bag and pick the rubbish up. They do have beach clean-up days

:32:37.:32:42.

and I went with my son. And we went with a bin liner and filled it

:32:42.:32:47.

within half an hour. But you don't have to wait for an official day,

:32:47.:32:53.

you can go for a walk with the kids or the daughter, and pick up the

:32:53.:32:58.

liter I It's no point moaning about it, empower yourself to make a

:32:58.:33:03.

it, empower yourself to make a difference.

:33:03.:33:12.

Iolo, you're a diver. You must have dived with loads of animals,

:33:12.:33:17.

including seals, but have you ever seen them mating? Well, yes, I've

:33:17.:33:22.

seen them mating is shallow water, but look at this wonderful footage,

:33:22.:33:26.

seals mating underwater. Something seals mating underwater. Something

:33:26.:33:30.

I've never seen beforement At this time of year, grey seal

:33:30.:33:36.

pups are being born around our coasts. Males fight for the chance

:33:36.:33:41.

to mate. Usely copulation is a very torrid

:33:41.:33:48.

affair. But we've been sent this, by underwater cameraman, Ben.

:33:48.:33:52.

You can see the male and the female in the kelp there. One or two

:33:52.:33:57.

females in the background. Now I've been watching grey seals for

:33:57.:34:01.

decades and I've never seen anything like this before. They

:34:01.:34:11.

emerge out of the kelp into mid- water. And the male grasps the

:34:11.:34:18.

water, and gently caresses her. Usely they force themselves upon

:34:18.:34:25.

the female. But here, they grasp together. Using the flippers. And

:34:25.:34:31.

successful mating takes place. And of course he won't just mate with

:34:31.:34:36.

this one female, he'll have a harem of anything up to six, seven or

:34:36.:34:43.

eight, maybe even ten females. And then gentle biting there. She's had

:34:43.:34:49.

enough, and he'll go off and look for other females. Amazing footage

:34:49.:34:54.

there, and they did mate there. It wasn't clear there. They did mate.

:34:54.:34:59.

And I've never seen anything quite like that before. I've always

:34:59.:35:05.

watched it from land. They were incredibly gentle. Usually the male

:35:06.:35:13.

gives such a rough time, but he was very tender there. Now, watching

:35:13.:35:19.

underwater is incedsable, but you have to be - incredible, but you

:35:20.:35:25.

have to be careful, and respect the fact that they're wild animals.

:35:26.:35:30.

go down very gently and don't interfere with the seals, because,

:35:30.:35:34.

please, they have a nasty bite. Leave them well alone.

:35:34.:35:40.

sometimes they don't leave you alone, as they didn't to me in

:35:40.:35:44.

Scilly Isles. Now, you may remember back in

:35:44.:35:47.

Springwatch, back in the summer, we were featuring a very special

:35:47.:35:51.

family of foxes. Let's remind ourselves about the Springwatch

:35:51.:35:56.

foxes. They were actually down in a

:35:56.:36:01.

landfill site, Pitsea, in Essex. And there was a very high density

:36:01.:36:07.

of them. There was so much food around, it there were foxes

:36:07.:36:12.

everywhere. Here is the vixen, and she had four cubs, three males and

:36:12.:36:19.

one female. And because they were so used to humans, we got very

:36:19.:36:23.

privileged views into their secret lives. Sweet little foxes! But it

:36:23.:36:29.

turned out that she was kind of a single parent. There was no dog fox

:36:29.:36:36.

apparently around there. She was trying to bring those cubs up all

:36:36.:36:42.

on her own. But then a male did turn up. And she seemed happy about

:36:42.:36:50.

it, but things didn't go well with the cubs. This is Judge, who got a

:36:51.:36:54.

nasty bite from that male. So we had to try to find out what

:36:54.:37:00.

happened next. Would Judge be OK? So we went back to Pitsea to try to

:37:00.:37:06.

catch up with the storyment It's business as usual, here at

:37:06.:37:10.

Pitsea. This is one of the biggest landfill sites in the whole country

:37:10.:37:20.
:37:20.:37:29.

and that is what supports the large There were certainly lots of foxes

:37:29.:37:39.

around, but where is jap junior, our injured cub? There me is, a bit

:37:39.:37:44.

battle scarred around his ears, but the wound on his forehead has

:37:44.:37:51.

healed well. He's a youngster with an inquisitive streak. He's always

:37:51.:37:58.

investigating things he finds on the tip.

:37:58.:38:05.

Of the four cubs, Junior is the only one still looking for his

:38:05.:38:09.

mum's attention. His brothers and sister are hanging back in the

:38:09.:38:15.

bushes, perhaps, because the new adult male that injured Junior is

:38:16.:38:22.

still very much around. Junior is often out in the open so he's an

:38:22.:38:25.

easy target. This new male is trying to establish himself in the

:38:25.:38:30.

area, so he'll have a good chance of breeding next season. And the

:38:30.:38:36.

Springwatch family's mum seems quite happy to have him around.

:38:36.:38:46.
:38:46.:38:46.

They're even picking blackberries together!

:38:46.:38:52.

This is the new male scent marking, a clear sign that he's feeling at

:38:52.:38:56.

home here, and the mum goes right in and marks in the same place. Any

:38:56.:39:01.

other foxes in the area will definitely know they have

:39:01.:39:09.

competition. Raggedy- eared Junior has learnt from watching the others

:39:09.:39:14.

that blackberries are good to eat. But what will the presence of the

:39:14.:39:20.

new male mean for him and his brothers and sisters. He's not

:39:21.:39:26.

their biological father, so perhaps he sees them as competition.

:39:26.:39:30.

Fox cubs, especially male ones, do usually leave the territory where

:39:30.:39:35.

they are born towards the ends of the year, and with this level of

:39:35.:39:41.

harassment it looks like Junior and the others might be pushed out

:39:41.:39:45.

sooner rather than later. But can the new Springwatch family male

:39:46.:39:50.

stay as top fox in the area? When there's a standoff with another

:39:50.:39:56.

adult male it looks like things are about to get serious.

:39:56.:40:02.

Fascinating to see that out in the open, Chris. It is a rare treat.

:40:02.:40:08.

Beautiful animals as well. I know they have a mixed reputation with

:40:08.:40:14.

some people, but for me, they hold a torch to the tiger. You look

:40:14.:40:19.

better without the hat. Out there it was useful!

:40:19.:40:25.

But we did see a lot of complicated aggressive interactions. Yes, let's

:40:25.:40:30.

go back to the step-father and the cub. Look at this posture, where

:40:30.:40:35.

the tail has been brought round underneath it, and the head is

:40:35.:40:40.

going round. Now, a sub missive fox will get the head lower and lower

:40:40.:40:44.

and lower. I've seen them put their head on the ground and rub their

:40:44.:40:50.

chin on the ground. They can't get lower than that. And they're

:40:50.:40:56.

offering the other animal the back of the neck to bite. He didn't look

:40:56.:41:00.

totally convinced by his submissive behaviour. He was keeping an eye

:41:01.:41:06.

all the way through. But I think the other adult knew. They don't

:41:06.:41:13.

want to fight. They'll give as many signals as they can. The golden

:41:13.:41:17.

rule is don't cry wolf, don't pretend to be something you're not,

:41:17.:41:22.

because you could get injured. That's interesting, because another

:41:22.:41:28.

big male came along and they did face up to each other. Look at that,

:41:28.:41:35.

fabulous. Look at the ears back, that's another submissive sign. And

:41:35.:41:40.

when I've seen some go for each over, they start with the ears down

:41:40.:41:45.

and as soon as they decide who is top fox, the ears will come up.

:41:45.:41:51.

This is unusual, because typically, if they're having these

:41:51.:41:58.

altercations it's under deep cover, in bram - brambles, not in the open.

:41:58.:42:04.

But it could be because this is such a big site they are outs in

:42:04.:42:09.

the open. In fact, that did not stop there, it did progress to

:42:09.:42:13.

something far more dramatic, so we'll show you that next week, and

:42:13.:42:18.

there is a lot more to come. As well as a punch-up. Now, Michaela

:42:18.:42:23.

is out in the pouring rain. It has been noted, boys, that you've left

:42:23.:42:30.

me in the rain! Today we've been focusing on marine life and one of

:42:30.:42:34.

the major issues facing our marine life is the fishing industry. There

:42:34.:42:41.

are many neem this country who rely on fishing for their - many people

:42:41.:42:51.
:42:51.:42:52.

in this country who rely on fishing for their livelihood. So, how can

:42:52.:42:56.

we preserve the future of one of our many fascinating marine

:42:56.:43:04.

creatures? The lobster. It's a remarkable

:43:04.:43:10.

animal. Ten legs, three stomachs, one with teeth. Its blood is blue.

:43:10.:43:16.

It can live for 50 years, maybe 100 years. And some scientists think

:43:16.:43:22.

that if they are not disturbed they can live indefinitely.

:43:22.:43:27.

4 But of course, they are disturbed. Because lobsters are at the heart

:43:27.:43:37.
:43:37.:43:39.

of a thriving fishing industry. In the late 1980s and early '90s,

:43:39.:43:44.

the fishery around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly saw a declining

:43:44.:43:54.

catch, despite an increased fishing effort. A by law was passed that

:43:54.:44:00.

prevented fishermen from catching a lobster below a certain size, but

:44:00.:44:06.

it hasn't stopped there. Don has run a lobster breeding project for

:44:06.:44:11.

the past six years, with the key objective to increase numbers. This

:44:11.:44:16.

is the starting point of the process. What's the first step?

:44:17.:44:24.

get pregnant, or egg- bearing females from the fishermen.

:44:24.:44:29.

Normally we get them in just before they are ready to hatch. And this

:44:29.:44:35.

one, the eggs are just about to hatch. Can we have a look? Yes,

:44:35.:44:39.

they're attached to these feathery structures under the tail. And

:44:39.:44:48.

they'll hatch over the next week or two. Into what? Into lava. Which

:44:48.:44:53.

float around in the surface layers of the sea. And they're very

:44:53.:44:58.

vulnerable to predation. So we're taking them through that vulnerable

:44:58.:45:04.

stage in life, where they can be eaten by sardines, and mackerel,

:45:04.:45:08.

and taking them through to a less vulnerable stage. So in the wild,

:45:08.:45:15.

how many of the eggs would survive to the lava stage? It's difficult

:45:15.:45:22.

to quantify, but something like 0.006% survival. Very, very low.

:45:22.:45:27.

Many more survive here. Once they've gone through the lava stage,

:45:27.:45:37.
:45:37.:45:45.

what do they turn into? Juveniles. The hatchry has juveniles ranging

:45:45.:45:52.

from just hatched to one to two days, like this one. He's sensing

:45:52.:46:00.

things all the time. Yes, they have taste buds on their antenna.

:46:00.:46:04.

what stage do you think about releasing them? How big do they

:46:04.:46:11.

have to get? We've been releasing them at a variety of ages. Some are

:46:11.:46:17.

released a little older than this. That's tiny. And this sort of size.

:46:17.:46:24.

What we'd like to do is release all of our juveniles at this sort of

:46:24.:46:27.

stage. Research indicates that once the juveniles are released back

:46:27.:46:33.

into the sea they stand a 50% to 80% chance of survival. So this

:46:33.:46:39.

work may become an important part in preserving the lobster's future.

:46:39.:46:44.

About 30 years ago in Norway and many other Scandinavian countries,

:46:44.:46:49.

lobster numbers crashed and they never recovered. But hopefully the

:46:49.:46:56.

work going on here in Cornwall will help its future.

:46:56.:47:00.

What a fascinate be animal. And it's great to see a project where

:47:00.:47:05.

fishermen see the need to put something back into the ocean.

:47:05.:47:10.

it's hard for me, a committed vegetarian to talk about lobsters.

:47:10.:47:17.

But it is great. That research sproj ongoing work. Very hard. What

:47:17.:47:24.

do - that research project is ongoing work. It's very hard,

:47:24.:47:31.

because what do you feed the tiny lobster. And they use people going

:47:31.:47:37.

out on a pleasure dive to put them back into the water. But that

:47:37.:47:45.

lobster film leads us nicely into the quiz reveal. Was that a set-up?

:47:45.:47:55.
:47:55.:47:55.

Amazingly, lots of you have got it right. Carol, a purple centipede

:47:55.:48:00.

and Adam and others all got the right answer. You're right. Thanks

:48:00.:48:07.

for giving it away. It's a lobster. They make that noise by rubbing

:48:07.:48:16.

hard pads on their antenna against their scales to day tract a meat.

:48:16.:48:22.

Now, what has happened to the three osprey we've been following on

:48:22.:48:26.

their migration to West Africa? We haven't really caught up with

:48:26.:48:34.

them for a while. So last week, we sent Roy to West Africa. He went to

:48:34.:48:39.

Senegal. And told us it was heaving with osprey. They're all fishing.

:48:39.:48:48.

He thinks he probably saw one of them, but he's not sure. So we'll

:48:48.:48:56.

give you the final update of our three ospreys next week. Let's hope

:48:56.:49:03.

they've all survived. It wasn't looking good for one of them last

:49:03.:49:08.

week, was it. Now, I'm glad to be in the studio

:49:08.:49:14.

now because of the rain outside. It is still mild at the moment. But

:49:14.:49:19.

what does the weather have in store for us. John, what will it be

:49:19.:49:23.

doing? In the short term, it is going to

:49:23.:49:32.

stop raining, but not before the end of the show.

:49:32.:49:39.

This rain should clear through by tomorrow. This belt, some of it is

:49:39.:49:43.

heavy, will continue through to the east coast but clear away from the

:49:43.:49:53.
:49:53.:49:53.

east by morning time. And yet again not cold. Saturday is going to an

:49:54.:49:58.

lovely day. Any showers across western areas will fade away and

:49:58.:50:05.

nearly all of us can look forward to a dry, bright and mild day.

:50:05.:50:09.

Tomorrow, temperatures should get up into the mid-teens. Sunday, more

:50:09.:50:16.

of the same. It will start cloudy along the eastern coast, but once

:50:16.:50:20.

more, the sunshine should come out and the temperatures should climb.

:50:20.:50:25.

It will be a good weekend. Very, very mild, John. Last week, you

:50:25.:50:33.

promised cold weather over Russia, which we were hoping would organise

:50:33.:50:38.

some migration. What happened? the cold weather stayed over Russia.

:50:38.:50:46.

Look at the dark blue colours, that is where the winter is arriving.

:50:46.:50:52.

And unusually across much of Scandinavia and Europe temperatures

:50:52.:50:58.

are higher than they should be. So the migrating birds are not

:50:58.:51:03.

encouraged by the mild weather. Closer to home, we're not going to

:51:03.:51:12.

get the cold air in the near future, that's for sure, but we will get

:51:12.:51:20.

some easterly winds, so there will be some migration. I'll be here

:51:20.:51:24.

next week to see if there is a change, but in the near week, not

:51:24.:51:31.

much changing. Now, I got the prediction wrong

:51:31.:51:36.

last week. We thought the cold weather would push the water foul

:51:36.:51:43.

over here, but only a few Bewick's swans have got here to Slimbridge.

:51:43.:51:48.

And we thought there might be pigeons to the east side of the

:51:48.:51:58.
:51:58.:51:59.

country, by this week, but I was wrong again. I also said the

:51:59.:52:03.

Woodcock wouldn't arrive either. But I was wrong about that as well.

:52:03.:52:08.

Some have arrived in the east of England and one in Scotland was

:52:08.:52:14.

found in a lady's wardrobe. Actually I just made that up,

:52:14.:52:18.

because I couldn't think about anything interesting to say about

:52:18.:52:25.

that lonely Woodcock. We had lots of waxwings last year,

:52:25.:52:32.

and some have arrived this year. That's super. All of this migration,

:52:32.:52:36.

I think what is happening at the moment, the weather isn't hard

:52:36.:52:40.

enough to push these birds over. So the fidgety ones are moving over

:52:40.:52:45.

any way and coming to the UK. If you're at the coast it's a good

:52:45.:52:53.

place to spot them, but if you are in the middle of the North Sea,

:52:53.:52:58.

that's an equally good place to spot them. They are on container

:52:58.:53:03.

ships which have been converted into oil rigs. We have this

:53:04.:53:13.
:53:14.:53:18.

Lenny Simpson has worked on oil rigs for 29 years but his passion

:53:18.:53:25.

is birds. I've been a bird watching, really,

:53:25.:53:31.

since I was a child. A seven or eight-year-old when I got my first

:53:31.:53:37.

pair of binoculars. Working out here we work three weeks on and

:53:37.:53:43.

three weeks off, on rota. So it can be a long time away from your

:53:43.:53:47.

friends and family, but watching the birds helps me get through long

:53:47.:53:53.

hours on board. There are sea birds to watch all year, but autumn is

:53:53.:54:00.

Lenny's favourite time of year, because many migrating birds from

:54:00.:54:03.

the mainland of Northern Europe stop off to rest on the rig on

:54:03.:54:09.

their way to the UK. I've seen about 170 species of birds. Many

:54:09.:54:15.

are common, but quite a few are rare. Early arrivals this year

:54:15.:54:22.

included Blackcap and wheat ear. But he's also seen some hunting the

:54:22.:54:30.

smaller birds. The peregrins have taken some of the other species.

:54:30.:54:37.

You find feathers and bits of birds lying everywhere. A peregrin falcon

:54:37.:54:42.

is a fantastic sighting, but this is his top sighting so far this

:54:42.:54:52.
:54:52.:54:52.

year. A short-eared owl. He stayed and rested for a few days before

:54:52.:54:58.

continuing on to the UK where he'll spend the winter. What a fabulous

:54:58.:55:08.
:55:08.:55:14.

sight 120 miles from land. members of the bird club that I

:55:14.:55:23.

belong to will probably never meet up, because we all work in

:55:23.:55:28.

different areas. The members of the oil rig bird club have been

:55:28.:55:31.

recorded all the species over the years and Lenny has been

:55:31.:55:37.

responsible for one or two records himself. Up until now I've put in

:55:37.:55:47.
:55:47.:55:50.

16,000 records. So a few over the years!

:55:50.:55:56.

Clearly a great place to go birding, but not one we all have access to.

:55:56.:56:03.

But he's given us an update. 23 species in one day, including a

:56:03.:56:12.

Woodcock. He had a bat for a week hanging under the helipad. Three

:56:13.:56:18.

short-eared owls at the same time and a Merlin chasing redwings.

:56:18.:56:23.

That's a real variety. It's astonishing. Pretty good.

:56:24.:56:28.

Thank you very much. Very curious thing, when I was down looking at

:56:28.:56:33.

the lobsters in Cornwall, I noticed something extraordinary I'd never

:56:33.:56:38.

seen before. Lots of little turn stones running around in amongst

:56:38.:56:47.

people's feet. I've nerve seen that, just acting like scavengers. Just

:56:47.:56:52.

eating anything they could get their teeth into. They are strange

:56:52.:56:59.

little birds. I remember in the 1980s, being a subscriber of

:56:59.:57:05.

British Birds, the journal. There was a writer, Mr King who always

:57:05.:57:14.

wrote in little notes about turn Stones eating strange things, the

:57:14.:57:21.

first one was eating human excrement. And the next was picking

:57:21.:57:29.

at a condom. And another was turn Stones picking at a human corpse.

:57:29.:57:38.

Check it out. It just shows how they take advantage of things.

:57:38.:57:45.

Have you got a question? A quick question. How do barnacles get

:57:45.:57:55.
:57:55.:57:56.

attached to whales' skin. Sometimes they form clocities and the

:57:56.:58:02.

barnacles attach to these lumps on the head. We're running out of time.

:58:02.:58:08.

Coming up next week, an old friend of Springwatch comes back to act as

:58:09.:58:13.

an urban correspondent for us. And we'll look deeper still into the

:58:13.:58:20.

lives of the Pitsea foxes. And Roy Davies will be giving our final

:58:20.:58:27.

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