Episode 6 Autumnwatch

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

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

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

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

right. Welcome to the wetland! And wildlife Centre.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

marine mammals and hundreds of beautiful invertebrates. But you

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

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

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

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

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

increasing numbers. Meanwhile, the breeding season for our fabulous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

heard anything like it. CROAK-LIKE NOISE SKOPS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

creatures. One that literally scholes to our shores is the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

more. I've been watching wildlife across

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

exhails its lungs. And another clue is the common

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

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

boat. Hello, boys!

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

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

ten here, and another dozen or so out there.

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

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

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

that they don't just do this for fun!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

about 25m long and they just keep coming.

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

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

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

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

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

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

are vitally important for large numbers of the animals and it

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

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

ever lived on this planet! You cannot beat that!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a chart here to give an idea of scale.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There it is, a peregrin falcon. The fastest living creature.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

changing fishing picturess probably change the availability of prey.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

just how damaging this stuff can be for wildlifement

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

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

most spectacular sea birds. Northern gannets, these are the

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

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

islands off our coasts packing together in large numbers. They

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

many of the remaining trapped birds as they possibly K

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

it, empower yourself to make a difference.

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

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

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

seals mating underwater. Something seals mating underwater. Something

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

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

to mate. Usely copulation is a very torrid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scilly Isles. Now, you may remember back in

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

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

foxes. They were actually down in a

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

investigating things he finds on the tip.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They're even picking blackberries together!

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

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

other foxes in the area will definitely know they have

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

better without the hat. Out there it was useful!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

we preserve the future of one of our many fascinating marine

creatures? The lobster. It's a remarkable

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

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

that if they are not disturbed they can live indefinitely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

stage. Research indicates that once the juveniles are released back

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

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

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

lobster numbers crashed and they never recovered. But hopefully the

work going on here in Cornwall will help its future.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

doing? In the short term, it is going to

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And unusually across much of Scandinavia and Europe temperatures

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

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

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

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

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

much changing. Now, I got the prediction wrong

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

recorded all the species over the years and Lenny has been

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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