Urban Britain's Big Wildlife Revival

Britain's wildlife needs your help.

Many of our favourite wild creatures are under threat.

From persecution.

From pollution.

And alien predators.

Others are losing their homes.

Suffering from injury or disease.

Or just struggling to survive in the modern world.

Some could be extinct within our lifetime

if we don't act now.

There's nothing in the sky or even in the trees there, is there?

But you can help bring them back from the brink.

Together we can fight their enemies.

Restore the places where they live.

And stop their decline in its tracks.

Release...

ALL: Whoa!

So join our campaign.

To save our wonderful wildlife.

For us all to enjoy.

Oh, look!

Hello to you!

I mean, how can you not just fall in love with that?

You don't have to fly thousands of miles around the world

to see amazing wildlife.

There are great natural spectacles right here on our doorstep.

Isn't this just amazing?

Home to a huge array of wildlife, and just look how close I am

to these normally really flighty red deer.

But the best bit about it is this isn't some remote, hard to reach,

rural location -

I'm in one of the busiest cities in the world.

It's the real urban jungle.

As modern life becomes all-consuming,

our wild neighbours help us reconnect with our surroundings.

They remind us they are part of world in which Mother Nature

was here long before us.

Our cities may be noisy, crowded and polluted,

but they're also home to a wider variety of wildlife

than any other habitat in the country.

But sadly, as our cities have grown, our wildlife has suffered.

And now some of our best-loved wild creatures are struggling

to survive in 21st century urban Britain.

They desperately need our help.

I'm determined to protect anything that brings

a touch of the wild into our busy city lives.

And, thankfully, I'm not alone.

Our team of wildlife experts is on the case to help protect

Britain's most threatened city creatures.

Ben Fogle tries to save one of our best loved animals.

This is a magical, magical experience.

Mike Dilger shows you how to make an urban oasis for wildlife

in your own back yard.

I love getting my hands dirty.

And George McGavin discovers why our largest insect needs a helping hand.

But that is absolutely amazing.

I'm a country girl at heart.

I was born and raised in the Cotswolds

but I'm in the minority because four out of five Britons,

that's 50 million people,

live in our towns and cities.

And as space becomes more and more squeezed,

the more problems there are for our wild neighbours.

Like us, city creatures are suffering from overcrowding,

a housing shortage,

as well as fewer and fewer places to just chill out and relax.

The animals in our cities have to live alongside us.

And for some it's a constant daily battle to survive.

For some of us, fox cubs like this are very sweet.

To others, they are seen as vermin

and their numbers aren't particularly at risk.

But the fact of the matter is that most people don't want to see

animals suffering.

This one has been orphaned, its mother run over by a car.

It's a lucky one cos it's here

but there are many others that are not nearly so lucky

and they're suffering because they are trying to live alongside us.

Every year millions of wild creatures are killed

or injured on our urban roads.

We need to live in harmony alongside nature,

but all too often we're putting ourselves first.

And that's been happening with one of our favourite creatures,

as Ben Fogle went to find out.

These city streets can be a tough place to live.

Especially for a small, nocturnal animal like the hedgehog.

But although we often think of hedgehogs as creatures

of the countryside, they thrive in our cities and towns.

You see, our gardens and parks make ideal habitats

and what's more we've gained something in return

because hedgehogs make ruthless slug killers.

But now hedgehog numbers have plummeted 95% in the last 60 years.

If we don't do anything to reverse its decline,

it could be extinct in Britain by 2025.

So what went so horribly wrong?

How did we force a creature from the age of dinosaurs

to the brink of extinction?

The hedgehog's decline has been investigated

by Professor Chris Baines.

So tell me a little bit about this pretty dramatic decline in hedgehogs.

The clue is in the name, really - hedgehog.

We've lost something like 300,000 miles of hedgerows

from the countryside, in my lifetime.

And hedgehogs are creatures that creep along the edges.

They're a woodland-edge species, really.

If you've lost that much hedgerow,

that's enough hedgerow to travel round the earth 12 times.

That's a massive amount of habitat lost.

Then it's not surprising that the countryside can't accommodate

the hedgehogs any more.

So the hedgehog took refuge in our urban gardens, a forest of hedgerows.

But this ideal home didn't last for long.

For the urban hedgehog there's danger lurking everywhere.

One swipe from a strimmer can do unimaginable damage.

Slug pellets bring an agonising death.

Garden ponds and even something like this

can be a death-trap to a hedgehog.

Log piles make great hideaways for hedgehogs,

but not come Bonfire Night.

There's danger outside the garden, too.

As many as 50,000 hedgehogs die on our roads every year.

So hedgehogs really do need your help.

But what can we do?

Well, in Bristol, they've got just the answer.

Welcome to Hedgehog Street.

Well, it's not really called that but it should be

because this is a fantastic example

of what we could all be doing in the streets where we live.

This is a national neighbourhood watch scheme - with a difference.

The campaign was started by Claudia, who sent a letter round asking

the whole community to join forces to make their street safe for hedgehogs.

I got on the computer and wrote my little note saying,

"We've got hedgehogs in the garden.

"Please don't use un-hedgehog-friendly

"slug pellets and if you make some gaps under your fence..."

and just a few tips, really.

Because this is one of the big misnomers.

Everyone puts down slug pellets but hedgehogs eat slugs.

They're a natural pest control,

-we don't need to put down the slug pellets.

-Yeah, absolutely,

that's what I put in my note. "The hedgehog is the gardener's friend.

"If you look after the hedgehog then they'll take care of the slugs."

Who've we got over here? This isn't hedgehog.

This is Jessie. A lot of hedgehogs end up in wildlife hospitals

because they've been mauled by dogs.

The cats aren't bothered by the hedgehogs at all.

That's not a problem.

The solution is simply at night, if you're letting the dog out

into the garden, is you just put them on an extendable lead

and that's it. It's as simple as that.

I think Jessie also realises they have 6,000 spines.

That's a lot of spines into your mouth. Don't go for hedgehogs.

And one of the most important other things is

-there's access between gardens.

-Yes, yes, absolutely.

Cos we put up barriers, don't we? Every man's house is their castle.

We put up fortification.

But actually having holes like this is crucial, isn't it?

Yeah, it really, really is.

We had this tricky thing where the dog

is obsessed with getting next door. But we don't want to put a fence up

so we've had to put little bits of Trellis

and as you can see here, some railings.

Your neighbours... Hello.

Sorry, I just saw you over there. Hi there, I'm Ben.

-Sorry to interrupt you.

-How do you do? Steve.

-Steve.

-Hello. Lorna.

Lorna, very nice to see you.

-So have you been smitten by hedgehogs as well?

-Oh, certainly.

I think connection with wildlife is essential for health,

happiness and general wellbeing.

And we've always encouraged things here.

We've kept log piles or heaps of stone and bits and pieces.

And things turn up.

Male hedgehogs like to wander up to a mile every night,

especially when looking for love.

So to help them we need to create a network of gardens.

There's a Hedgehog Street website where you can download fact sheets

explaining things like the importance of feeding them cat food and water

and not bread and milk.

This all helps to encourage your community to open up

their green spaces for hedgehogs.

What a brilliant scheme.

And the best thing is that every one of us,

living in any street, in a town or city or a suburb, can get involved.

All you need is neighbours.

Claudia says her hedgehogs arrive

like clockwork as soon as it gets dark.

Sadly, I haven't seen a hedgehog in the wild for a couple of years.

So I'm putting down some extra cat food and I have everything crossed.

-Can I say, it's six o'clock on the dot...

-I told you.

-..and you said that they would be out here at six o'clock.

-Yeah, yeah.

Do you recognise this one in particular?

Yeah, I think this is the smaller one. It is quite thin.

It really needs to fatten up quick, really, before it gets too cold.

They're very noisy eaters.

They really are.

To be honest, this hedgehog doesn't look well at all.

But what can you do if you find a sick or injured hedgehog?

Well, most regions have dedicated rescue centres

run by volunteers like Yvonne Cox.

She nurses hedgehogs back to life at her home.

And I'm joining her for the bit I love -

the big release.

Oh, look.

You see, this is the incredible thing - I never see them.

I never see them cos in my garden in London they just don't come.

-Can I?

-Of course.

Oh, look. I mean, how can you not just fall in love with that?

They're beautiful, aren't they?

-I know that you adore hedgehogs. You gave up your job for them?

-Yes.

And you now have a rescue centre.

I do. Well, my back garden and the side of my house, yes.

So how many others have you got here?

-We have five that we're hoping to release today.

-Right.

What we're going to do is weigh them.

You are going to have to check my pockets before I leave.

-I'm warning you now.

-OK.

So shall we pop him on the scale?

'Hedgehogs must reach a weight of 600 grams before they can be set free.'

Here you go, little man.

-682.

-So he's fine to go.

'He's made it.'

Sometimes they do prickle a little.

I was just going to admit that but I wanted to keep my hard man image.

Ow!

It's a bit like a lucky dip, isn't it?

Except we know what we're going to find.

And is it going to prickle me

or is going to be quite happy to be picked up?

So here we go.

Obviously this is their defensive side here

but they must be more vulnerable on the other side. Oh, look.

Oh, wow, so they can actually fold themselves

-into a complete prickly ball.

-Complete prickly ball.

All these spines can move independently.

You can actually see them.

Yes, they can all move.

That is just amazing.

'Yvonne cares for her hedgehogs by cleaning them up

'and giving them medicine.

'She also coordinates a network of back garden hedgehog carers,

'all dishing out hedgehog food, shelter and TLC.

'Those with more serious injuries are taken to the vet.

'But hedgehogs that recover, like these guys,

'are given a safe new home close to where they were originally rescued.'

This is what we call a "hogitat"

and I've put some bedding inside, a bit of newspaper, some straw.

OK, here we go.

So just point its nose and hopefully...

Go on. In you go.

It's blocking the front door for a moment.

Go on, in you go.

We might have a "hogjam."

Where's the head?

-It's that way round.

-That way round?

It's so rare to see a hedgehog these days.

This is a magical, magical experience.

Good luck.

In you go.

Time is running out for the hedgehog and we simply can't let this

magnificent creature disappear from the urban jungle.

So it's up to all of us to make sure

that our gardens are where the hedgehog can take refuge and thrive.

CAR HORN BLARES

As our towns and cities become more and more crowded,

outdoor space is becoming even more precious.

In the East End borough of Tower Hamlets,

a quarter of a million people live amongst less green space

than almost any other neighbourhood in Britain.

So where do all these people go

when they want to escape the hustle and bustle of city life?

They come here.

Welcome to Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

That's right, a cemetery.

But one with a difference - a cemetery park.

Nestling between the concrete high rises is a magical urban oasis.

And for a place so closely linked with death, it's full of life.

This place is a Victorian graveyard that was nearly lost to developers

until local people fought a really hard battle to save it.

And I've never been anywhere like this. I absolutely love it.

It's got this mystery of graveyards,

all the lives that you wish you knew more about,

while at the same time feeling like a calm woodland

right in the middle of the city,

that is bursting with life.

These days it's haven for wildlife, with a wealth of different

species living harmoniously amongst the hundreds of graves here.

If you just stop for a second and listen...

BIRDS CHIRP

..there's so much birdsong.

And yet you can hear a plane just behind it.

We're right under a flight path.

There's this constant reminder that you're in the city.

But while you're here the song is loud enough

almost to drown out where you are.

Just over there, right in the middle of the day,

is a fox just pottering about. He's not in any hurry at all.

Back at home in the countryside they run a mile as soon as they see

you but this one is very relaxed.

With the local wildlife flourishing,

this has been transformed into the kind of place you'd never expect

to find in the heart of the urban jungle.

Right in the middle of this city we've got all these wild flowers

and a lot of them are woodland species, too.

There's bluebells,

there's some primroses and cowslips.

And that...

is a parakeet, which is eating blossom.

Still find it hard to get used to seeing them here.

When you reconnect with nature it reminds you of the cycle of life,

and this place is no exception.

It has become a sanctuary for local residents to escape the daily grind

of urban living,

and for city children to get hands on with nature.

Look, there's a damselfly nymph.

-You know what dragonflies look like?

-Yeah.

So it looks a bit like a dragonfly when he's an adult.

And it's all thanks to the efforts of local people including

Ken Greenway, who has played a pivotal role in protecting

this park for the local community.

What sort of people come here to use it?

All kinds of people, really.

Your dog walker's your main user,

they always want to be in outdoor spaces.

Mums with their kids just using it as an informal place to view nature.

Schools are a massive user here.

-We see about 8,500 school children a year.

-Wow.

I love it. I've never come across anything like it.

It feels like it's got the real mystery,

the intrigue of being a grave site as well as having this lovely,

safe park, woodland feel to it.

It's a little bit of the countryside in the city.

It's the only woodland in Tower Hamlets

and the most urban woodland in London.

It looks like you've just left it, like it's completely wild.

-But that's not the case, is it?

-No, not at all.

To make it look as it does requires 3,000 volunteers a year,

all approximately giving seven hours each to help manage the park

across our three themes of wildlife, people and education.

This urban oasis could easily have disappeared

under tonnes of concrete.

Instead, it's become home to an amazing variety of wildlife.

We really must make sure that these important green spaces survive.

How do you go about winning a fight to protect a place like this?

It's people.

People coming together and seeing the value in what it offers as a green

space, but also historically its value, as one of London's

"Magnificent Seven" cemeteries and a place of local history and heritage.

So if there is a little bit of green space that someone sees value in,

yeah, get involved. Contact your council, ask them about it.

Is anyone doing anything about it? Can they be involved?

Run an event, do a walk, go out and look for butterflies, yeah, do it.

Get on with it, you know.

Cos I think places are only protected when they're valued and used.

And if they seem ignored or neglected they'll disappear

if no-one's there to enjoy it.

You sound like the right pair of hands to be looking after it, Ken.

Hopefully, hopefully.

Sadly, around one third of the UK's green spaces and wildlife habitats

are in danger of being lost for ever to development or neglect.

People power has triumphed here.

And there are places in towns and cities all over Britain

that have been saved from the developers.

Creatures depend on places like this, as George McGavin discovered

when he went in search of an amazing insect

that's struggling to cope in a changing world.

Amazingly, one in four of all life forms on earth are beetles.

And in the UK alone, we've more than 4,000 different species.

They're eaters of aphids, wood chewers, bark burrowers

and leaf munchers.

And as far as I'm concerned, beetles are among the most beautiful

and interesting things you'll ever see.

British beetles are part of our heritage.

Characters in our nursery rhymes, myths and legends.

And one particular beetle was thought to bring

lightning strikes down to earth.

Meet the most incredible beetle you'll ever find in the UK.

The awesome stag beetle.

Over the last 40 years, stag beetles have suffered

a huge decline in their numbers.

They're only found in the south-east corner of Britain

and their natural woodland habitat is under threat.

So our city gardens have become a vital refuge

for these monarchs of the beetle world.

Growing up in Scotland, I never saw a stag beetle

until I came south at the age of about 25.

And the first time I saw one, I was absolutely blown away.

Most British beetles are small, retiring things,

but these are big, boisterous, stunning creatures.

The stag beetle's life cycle is one of the most astonishing I know.

After hatching out, the larva spends up to seven years

underground before it pupates.

When the adult beetle finally emerges,

it lives for just a few weeks,

during which time, its only goal is to find a mate,

using its menacing mandibles to fight off any rival males.

These stag beetles haven't made it very far from where they grew up.

As soon as they emerged, they fell prey to magpies.

And their tough armour and jaws were no defence.

It's vital we keep track of how many of these beetles

make it to adulthood.

Colin Hawes runs the Suffolk stag beetle watch.

When neighbours spot one in their garden, Colin is the guy to call.

How much of a decline has there been in stag beetles in recent years?

It's pretty serious.

They've disappeared altogether from Denmark and Latvia,

declining in Germany and France

and we think they're declining here, too.

Gardens are just too tidy.

And so there's no habitat for the larvae.

But it's not just the lack of food that can be a problem.

Paving and decking can trap the creatures underground.

Colin is taking me to a back garden

where stag beetles have had a narrow escape.

The greenhouse was once in the middle of the lawn,

so they moved it to the side.

-And right on top of a stag beetle breeding site.

-Yeah.

There's a hidden stump under there.

It's rotting away and the larvae are feeing on it.

The adults are emerging into the greenhouse.

There's one up there, yes.

-There he is.

-Gorgeous. Male.

-Yep.

-Very active, too.

-It's very hot in here.

-Very hot.

-He'll be active in that warmth.

-He'll want a girl.

He wants a girl, that's right.

Just down the road in Colchester, stag beetles have friends, too.

Locals call this wooded passageway, Stag Beetle Alley.

And living next door is passionate beetle fan Maria Fremlin.

She's turned her back garden into a beetle sanctuary.

That is ideal habitat.

Absolutely. You cut a tree and you leave the stump.

In a stag beetle area, you should never dig up the roots.

You leave a tall stump

and then you plant another tree to ensure succession.

So now you know what to do

if you want to encourage wood-feeding insects in your garden.

Leave stumps lying around, don't dig them out.

Maria's gone one step further,

helping the larvae along with slow-rotting wood and leaves.

And they appear to be thriving.

Now, inside this box, I can see things moving the soil.

-What have you got in here?

-We've got some wonderful larvae.

-Oh, look at the size of them!

-They've accumulated quite a bit of fat.

So perhaps they are ready to pupate.

See the head, come and have a look.

It can be very difficult to tell if your dead tree or stump

contains stag beetle larvae.

You don't want to dig them up and disturb them.

But there could be a clever way of finding out.

And that's by listening in to their conversations.

Dave Chesmore has developed a microphone so sensitive,

it can do just that.

Dave, you can actually eavesdrop on what's happening in this stump.

That's right, yes.

I have a contact microphone which picks up all the vibrations.

-If there's a larva inside this stump chewing away, you'll hear it?

-Yes.

And also, we've got the stridulation sounds,

which are deliberate sounds that the stag beetle

-and the lesser stag beetle make.

-As larvae?

-As larvae, yes.

-I can't wait to hear this.

-OK.

Have a listen.

I think I can hear a slight... Yes, I heard it there.

'Incredible! I'm hearing the actual sound

'of the larva's jaws munching away inside the tree stump.

'And now to hear its call.'

-Here's one I prepared earlier(!)

-HE LAUGHS

-Stridulation.

-CHIRPING

That's a very distinctive sound.

That's absolutely unmistakable.

Not chewing, not moving around.

That's two parts of the insect being rubbed together.

Yeah. I'll play it again.

CHIRPING

It's not every day that you hear something or see something

you've never heard or seen before.

But that is absolutely amazing.

'So this tree stump has proved to be a safe home for the stag beetle.

'And hopefully will be for many years to come.'

I would love more people to see these beetles for what they really are.

Fantastic creatures living a precarious existence

amongst our urban lives.

So if you want to help them,

and incidentally, lots of other wildlife, it couldn't be simpler.

Leave tree stumps and dead wood lying around and whatever you do,

resist the urge to be too tidy in your garden.

Britain's suburban gardens are so good for wildlife,

they contain a greater variety of species per square metre

than the equivalent area of the Amazon rainforest.

Our flowers, lawns and shrubs offer wild creatures everything

they need throughout their lives.

And there is one other crucial factor - us.

Two out of three British households

lend a hand to our wild neighbours in the form of food,

water and a place to raise a family.

It's thanks to our generosity that our gardens have become

a five-star restaurant, hotel and service station for wildlife.

Well over 100 different kinds of birds

now come to feeders in our gardens.

But each year in London alone, an area of gardens

the size of ten Olympic stadiums disappears under concrete.

And the same thing is happening all over Britain.

Our urban wildlife is being squeezed out of its homes.

So we need to protect the gardens in our towns and cities.

But what can you do to maximise your outdoor space?

Our wildlife gardening expert Mike Dilger has some ideas.

As much as us natural history fanatics would love every garden

to be transformed into a dedicated wildlife zone,

in reality, that's never going to happen.

Our outdoor spaces are places where we park bikes or cars.

So, how do we create a home for wildlife

in a space that's small and already heavily used?

A touch of greenery can be introduced

into the most unusual places.

One clever idea is to raise up your garden and put it on the roof.

Thierry Suzanne, a Frenchman living in East London,

has plans to do just that.

He'd like to bring the top of his bike shed to life.

To encourage him, I've brought Thierry and his wife Sarah

to see an urban roof flourishing with birds and wild flowers.

And it's in one of the last places you'd expect.

We're in the heart of the city of glass and steel,

under the shadow of the Shard on London's South Bank.

-Guys...check this out!

-Wow!

That's amazing!

How cool!

Slightly larger than your bike shed roof.

Will my roof look like this?

On a miniature scale, there's no reason why not.

The building is only two years old,

so this living roof is a very recent addition to the skyline.

It was created with plants and flowers

that can survive a dry environment,

and already, others have moved in.

This weed is called groundsel.

And the seeds are really light and fluffy.

And this would've blown up into the London sky,

landed on this roof and colonised.

And in the late summer, the seeds will provide food for birds.

So it's evolving all the time.

It'll get better and better and better with age.

It's like a fine wine. You can understand that, being a Frenchman.

-Fine wine, of course.

-THEY LAUGH

Amongst the flowers, different habitats have been designed

to maximise the living space for wild creatures.

You wouldn't think a pile of stones would be any good

for any wildlife, would you?

No, you wouldn't, but you imagine in there,

it's the perfect area for insects to hibernate over winter.

Ladybirds, for example, and bumblebees

can easily hibernate down here, out of the frost.

And this, of course, people think dead wood

should just be placed on the fire,

but these are the most fantastic habitat.

Because, basically, lots of invertebrates eat wood.

If I peel this back... Oh, look, there's a woodlouse!

You can see the woodlouse in there. And lots of wild flowers.

You can see this is a lovely plant called yarrow.

The honeybees will find this green roof

from probably at least three miles away.

So if there is a honey hive within three miles,

I'm almost sure they're coming down to this roof to feed.

Have a look at that. It's just dropped in.

Oh, two of them, actually!

-Oh, yeah!

-Just wandering around, pied wagtails.

It's one of those birds that does exactly what it says on the tin.

It's pied, it's black and white, and it constantly wags its tail.

And that's vindication that this green roof really works.

They wouldn't be here without this habitat.

Because the plants attract the insects

and the insects, of course, attract the birds.

Back in East London, we're going to use the same ideas

on a slightly smaller scale.

A green roof is really just like a huge hanging basket.

Once you have a waterproof layer,

you line it with felt for the plant roots to bury into.

I have a certificate in dry stone walling, you know.

Can you show me how it's done, please?

Adding a stone wall creates hibernating space for invertebrates.

A small area like this can really provide everything

the insect about town could ever want.

It's starting to look quite nice if you get down here, Thierry.

There are some holes there.

-It should be perfect.

-THEY LAUGH

Another layer of felt keeps the soil in place.

I love getting my hands dirty.

Do you know, that's great!

I've never seen that on a bike shed roof before.

And the important thing is this is not just any old soil, is it?

It's quite poor, very low in nutrients

and it includes things like recycled bricks in it.

Because if it was really rich, we'd get aggressive grasses

and one or two species of flowering plants and they'd take over

and then completely dominate. What you want is diversity.

And that's why the soil is so critical.

OK. One, two, three.

Final step, put in the plants. What have you got?

Some chives, marjoram, oregano, thyme and some lavender here.

Kitchen herbs. I think it's brilliant.

Because not only is it a different habitat for wildlife there,

but it's also providing something extra for the kitchen.

So we make it work twice.

The great thing is they don't need a whole lot of maintenance.

Possibly a bit of weeding every now and again.

Certainly won't need watering.

I think everyone's going to be really jealous.

-It looks amazing.

-The more it blossoms and matures,

the more biological diversity you're going to attract.

And it's a brilliant home for a whole variety of wildlife.

You know, in the city, turning small or unusual places green

can easily be done with just a little bit of imagination.

So if you've got a concrete front garden,

a roof like this or maybe just even a windowsill,

given the opportunity, they'll all provide both bed and breakfast

to a whole range of great British wildlife.

If you've been inspired to turn your garden

into a great place for wildlife,

then Mike has loads of advice on our website.

Along with information on what you can do to help save

Britain's city creatures.

Still to come, David Lindo goes in search of a much-loved songbird

that has disappeared from our skies.

ALL: Save the sparrow!

And amongst the doom and gloom, a fabulous success story

as I get a bird's-eye view of the fastest creature on the planet.

This is the very first time I've done this.

-Do you want me to hold the bird, or...?

-Probably wise.

Don't you just wish that after the daily grind of life in a city,

there was a place that you could go

that was serene and tranquil and full of wildlife?

This is the London Wetland Centre.

A wild oasis just six miles from London's West End.

For the urban wildlife watcher, this place really is hard to beat.

It borders one of the most crowded areas of London,

yet incredibly, over 200 species of birds have been seen here.

One of the things that sets this place apart is that it is big.

It's 100 acres, the same size as 60 football pitches.

That's a lot of land for the middle of a city.

And what it shows is that when it comes to making a difference

for urban wildlife, bigger really does mean better.

As well as birds, this place is teeming with other wildlife.

Including some species you'd never expect to see

living wild in the heart of a city.

And there are all kinds of hidden creatures

that are easy to overlook.

Check out this gorgeous bronze-coloured slowworm

which is neither slow, nor a worm.

It is, in fact, a legless lizard.

The name comes from an old English phrase for slayer of worms,

because they will eat worms, as well as slugs and snails.

I'm handling this one...

Whaa! ..pretty carefully.

Not least because they're known to nip.

And, er...when they nip,

they apparently tear, as well.

A technique for getting snails out of shells.

Which, no doubt, will hurt a little bit.

So there's your natural pest controller, native to this country.

What a beaut!

It's easy to imagine this amazing habitat has been here for ever.

But until 20 years ago,

all this was a mass of concrete reservoirs

supplying Londoners with drinking water.

This looks completely natural, doesn't it?

But in actual fact, every single bit of it has been handcrafted.

So we've got pools that have been dug here,

islands have been created

and tens of thousands of trees have been planted out there.

All to create this perfectly natural-looking wetland habitat

right in the middle of a city. Check out that skyline.

The Wetland Centre was built in the mid '90s

and was the first urban conservation project of its kind

anywhere in the world.

Amazingly, it's all thanks to the vision of one man.

Sir Peter Scott was the son of Captain Scott of the Antarctic.

He was a renowned wildlife artist.

And even more importantly, he was the godfather of conservation.

Peter helped found the World Wildlife Fund

and was instrumental in protecting the world's wetlands.

His ambition was to create a nature reserve in the heart of London

to bring people and wildlife together.

Sadly, he died before his dream became a reality.

But every year, more than a quarter of a million visitors

get to enjoy the fruits of his vision.

His legacy demonstrates how one person can make a real difference

and how we have to be proactive

to ensure that wildlife doesn't vanish from our cities.

That is exactly what's happened to one of our best-loved city birds.

David Lindo is a lifelong Londoner and a fanatical bird-watcher

and so he really wants to find out why.

Since I was a little boy, there's been one bird that has actually

declined more than any other in the whole of the United Kingdom.

I've always loved this bird,

partly because it belongs to the city, just like I do.

But here in London and cities throughout the UK,

you'd be lucky to find even one.

The house sparrow.

Once a staple of urban life,

it's disappeared from many places where it used to be common.

For hundreds of years, the cheerful, chatty call

of these little brown birds has been part of our urban landscape,

the soundtrack to our city lives.

But sadly today, their chirruping and chirping

has all but disappeared from many of our city centres.

I bet most Londoners have absolutely no idea

that this humble little brown bird

has been slowly vanishing without trace.

-Four birds here.

-OK.

-This is a red kite.

That's a robin. House sparrow.

And that's a golden eagle.

Which do you think is the most threatened in the UK?

I think it's the robin.

Maybe the eagle.

Um, you hardly see robins.

-The golden eagle.

-Yeah?

-Maybe the golden eagle.

-You may not believe it, but it's actually the sparrow.

-Is it really?

-Yeah.

When was the last time you saw a sparrow in London?

I don't actually remember.

-Why?

-That's a big question.

And there's no simple answer

because many other common birds like robins and blue tits are thriving.

I've come back to my childhood home

where there were hundreds of sparrows when I was a kid.

I'm here in Wembley, North London, and this is where it all began for me

when it came to birds. I saw my first ever sparrow on this very street.

'The house sparrow means everything to me.

'My passion for wildlife was born from it.'

-How are you?

-I'm fine, thank you. And you?

Doing good, yeah. Doing good.

He used to stand at the window in his bedroom

and watch them from there.

My mum got me my first-ever pair of binoculars when I was eight years

old. Do you remember when I was hassling you to get me a pair?

-You got them on hire purchase, didn't you? Was it £14.99?

-14.99.

On HP which was a lot of money in those days.

I used to stand right here

and put my feet on this bit here

and look out into the back gardens.

But I can't see sparrows from this window anymore.

There were quite a few of them.

They were very numerous and the most obvious bird to be seen.

That was when I was five and I kind of grew up with them.

There were a lot more hedgerows and trees.

Now, a tonne more wooden fencing and a lot less bushes

so the habitat's changed considerably.

I just took them for granted,

and now I've come back

and I can't even see one.

The fact that kids are growing up without sparrows,

it's a sad loss and I think we need to turn that completely round.

Since Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup

just down the road from here in 1966,

over 20 million house sparrows have disappeared

and I want to find out what has gone wrong.

It's cold out there.

'I've been visiting one place in central London for years

'where I know there's still a surviving colony of sparrows

'and maybe some answers to why they have declined.'

Have you seen any recently, cos you're a cab driver,

you're travelling over London all the time?

No, I don't see many around at all, actually. In the past, yeah.

When I was a kid, we always used to see the sparrows.

I mean, as we're driving around, there's nothing in the sky

or even in the trees there, is there?

Now, it's just pigeons.

Sparrows are creatures of habit.

Once they've found a place to live, they rarely wander very far away.

CHIRPING

I can hear chirping.

There must be about 20 of them. You can hear the musical sounds.

Fantastic to hear the chirping.

If you're lucky enough to stumble across a colony of sparrows,

they're shy creatures and easily startled,

but give them a moment to settle down and their cheeky chirps will return.

It's great. You can sit here and just chill

and then all of a sudden they'll start coming to you. It's fantastic.

Against the odds, this colony has survived

with food provided by locals, shrubbery to protect them

from predators such as cats and sparrowhawks

and spaces to nest.

'But there's more to the mystery surrounding their decline

'and hopefully, the woman I'm about to meet can provide some answers.'

Daria Dadam has been studying the humble sparrow for six years.

Why are there sparrows here and not anywhere else?

Well, it is quite a tricky question and this is probably

THE main question that people want to know, really.

One is loss of habitat. For example, housing renovation.

That takes away nesting sites.

Second one is loss of food.

The streets are much cleaner and there's less food for the sparrows.

I've heard another one which is to do with petrol, unleaded petrol.

Yes. So, the idea was that unleaded petrol has some VOC,

volatile organic compounds, that actually kill aphids.

And these little insects are vital food for sparrow chicks.

Sparrows share our cities with other birds like robins, blue tits,

blackbirds, how come they are so badly affected though?

The answer is probably to do with the sedentary nature of the species.

House sparrows don't like to move very far from the colony at all.

Because they don't travel far, if their habitat is taken away,

they will struggle to find a new home.

What can we do to help save sparrows?

Provide them with nesting sites,

food, and the most important thing, I think,

is keep your eyes open and keep monitoring.

Report it to the British Trust for Ornithology.

We can monitor and try to save the species.

We still don't have all the answers,

but we've got to act now to save the few colonies that remain

so we can solve the deeper mysteries

that people like Daria are investigating.

If we work together, we CAN save the sparrow

and down in East London, they're doing just that.

At a city farm, the next generation of children are lending a hand.

-What's that chirping?

-Sparrow.

Let's find it.

-That's a crow.

-No, that one.

That's funny looking, but it isn't a crow.

A magpie maybe.

We're getting warmer. Look, look. There's one there. Look.

-Oh, yeah!

-Did you say you'd do a dance once we found the sparrows?

-Yeah.

-The stage is yours.

'It's great seeing kids getting as excited about birds

'as I did when I was growing up.

'And they're taking the next important step -

'building special nest boxes to encourage

'the last few surviving sparrows to make their home and start a family.'

House sparrows seriously need our help, not just in London,

but across the whole of the nation.

So, I'd like YOU to join me to bring sparrows back.

ALL: Save our sparrows!

Peace out.

I think it's pretty shocking that the house sparrow,

a bird that was so common we took it for granted,

is in this much trouble. But while there are some animals

in need of our help, there are plenty of others

that have turned a corner and are making an impressive comeback.

And the biggest urban success story of all is a spectacular bird,

a real record-breaker.

At a top speed of almost 250 miles-per-hour,

it's quicker than a Formula One car

and more than three times as fast as a cheetah.

It's not only the fastest bird in the world,

but the fastest of several million species that live on planet Earth.

The peregrine falcon.

The peregrine hunts like no other bird.

It rises high into the sky until it spots a pigeon flying below,

then it folds its wings and plummets down towards Earth,

using the force of gravity and its streamlined shape

to reach incredible speeds

before striking its unsuspecting prey.

The peregrine can now be seen hunting across almost every major

city skyline in Britain, from Cardiff to Manchester,

Edinburgh, all the way down to Bath,

and now finally it's arrived at the easternmost city in the UK

here in Norwich.

Norwich is said to have a pub for every day of the year

and a church for every Sunday.

Of all its magnificent churches,

none is taller than the city's splendid 900-year-old cathedral.

And this is where a pair of peregrines has chosen to nest

and raise a family.

What I can see from down here is the box the chicks are in.

Occasionally, either the male or the female will be back.

Peregrines first set up home on the spire in 2009.

They liked what they saw and stayed

and now are breeding here on a specially-made nesting platform.

If I'd have been here 50 years ago, I wouldn't have seen any peregrines.

In fact, I'd have struggled to find one across the whole of Britain.

Peregrine numbers nosedived during the Second World War.

RAF pilots carried homing pigeons to send messages

if they were shot down,

but because peregrines killed many of these pigeons,

they became public enemy number one and were ruthlessly killed.

After the war, things got even worse because of DDT,

a lethal chemical pesticide which thinned the birds' eggshells,

plunging their population into freefall.

By the 1980s when DDT was finally banned,

only a couple of hundred pairs remained in the UK

and the peregrine was on the brink of extinction here.

Fortunately, they bounced back

and then, to everyone's amazement, moved into our cities,

making their homes on tall buildings.

To a peregrine, a medieval cathedral

is the ideal place to raise a family.

The spire is the urban equivalent of a mountainous crag

or a sea cliff and it gives them

a bird's-eye view of their territory.

Norwich is so proud of its newest residents

that a team of dedicated volunteers have set up watch

to monitor the welfare of the birds and show them to passers-by.

They've even installed a webcam

to gain a privileged insight into the peregrines' family life.

It must be quite a surprise for people in the middle of a city

to get what you'd assume to be quite a rural spectacle.

It is surprising and quite frequently we have people coming in

and saying, "I saw peregrines out of my bedroom window

"and I told my husband and he wouldn't believe me."

For many, many years, we've had to go miles to actually see

peregrines, but to have them living on the cathedral,

on the spire, right in the middle of the city, it's pretty astonishing.

-How successful have they been here?

-Last year, two successfully fledged.

This year, same pair, four chicks,

so it's hopefully going to be more successful than last year.

Local people will come down every day,

watching the young growing and watching them

catching their food and growing older and just getting bigger.

It's got a huge fan club.

So if the chicks don't fledge, that presumably has an impact on people?

It does, yes. You get really emotionally attached to them,

even though you're only watching them on the webcam and seeing them flying around,

you can get really caught up in all aspects of their life.

For the first six weeks of their life,

the young peregrines remain in the nest,

being fed and looked after by their parents.

And this means I can join the volunteers and help ring them

IF I can manage the 318 steps and six ladders to the top.

(You've got to fight vertigo to get through this.

-(Do you do that all the time?

-Yes.

(It's a very narrow and very steep getting up here.

(The next thing we've got to do is get the window out

(and then try and get hold of the chicks.)

WIND WHISTLES

There's one.

The chicks are placed into individual bags

which helps to keep them calm.

This is so exciting. They're looking all right, aren't they?

-Yeah, they're fine. Quite heavy.

-Yeah, yeah.

'Phil Littler is a licensed ringer

'who has handled many hundreds of birds.'

All I need to do is get two legs out.

-Do you get many nips from doing this?

-No. No.

Having said that, we'll probably get a few today.

The process involves putting a small ring

with a unique identification code onto the leg of each chick.

Why is it important to you to do it?

It is important to me because I just love hawks and owls.

To see a bird that has come back from the edge of extinction

and is now breeding successfully,

I can't put into words what a buzz it gives me.

Ringing takes about 30 seconds and causes the chick no pain.

It helps us learn more about these birds and safeguards their future.

-How old's this one?

-This one hatched on 30th April or 1st May.

-So this is approximately three weeks old.

-Three weeks old!

Growing very nicely too.

The feathers are just starting to come through.

-Yeah, I can see those.

-OK.

-How fabulous.

-That's the first one done.

With three more chicks to go,

time for me to ring my first peregrine

under Phil's careful supervision.

-Oh, the spikes on there!

-We keep it tucked in.

-So that's... This is the bird's right leg. OK?

-OK.

-You've got to put the ring on that.

-You can feel that heartbeat.

-Yeah.

Do you want me to hold the bird?

Probably wise. I couldn't bear to hurt it.

I'll hold the bird's legs, then if you can put the ring on...

-Go down a bit. That's it.

-Happy there?

-Yeah.

-Such a responsibility.

Slowly squeeze it shut. There you go.

Then we just make sure that nothing can go in that ring by putting

-that in there. If that can't go in there, that's fine.

-You're happy.

-That's it.

-What we want to hope for is that T4

will either come back here and breed in future years

or we see him breeding elsewhere.

Breeding elsewhere would be fabulous, wouldn't it?

There they are. All safely back in the nest.

It's really incredible to think in about three weeks,

they'll be out hunting over this cityscape.

It's really thanks to people like Phil and their dedication,

their guarding of the nest, their championing of the cause

of the peregrine that we have them back here in the UK

where they belong.

The story of the peregrine reminds us

that however much we think we know about the natural world,

it always has the capacity to surprise us.

We have a responsibility to protect our urban wildlife,

not just for the sake of the creatures that live here,

but because it matters so much to us.

For if we lose touch with nature, we lose touch with who we are.

Sometimes it's the creatures that are right under our noses,

the ones that we take for granted, that mean most to us

and that's why we should all try and save

Britain's amazing urban wildlife.

'Next time on Britain's Big Wildlife Revival,

'our river wildlife is in the spotlight...'

Just below me. Very, very lucky.

'..Mike Dilger soars over a wildlife garden...'

Unleash the hexacopter!

'..and I pursue a spectacular river creature

'that's come back from the brink.'

Oh, he's just gone under...

Squeezy.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd