Browse content similar to Episode 1. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
For me, watching wildlife is one of life's greatest pleasures. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
And my favourite place to do it | 0:00:07 | 0:00:09 | |
is right here, in my beloved West Country. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:12 | |
This captivating corner of the British Isles... | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
There's six right underneath us. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
..has a cast of creatures that is as awe-inspiring, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:22 | |
extraordinary and magical as any. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:26 | |
Oh, come on, no way! | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
I'm hoping to get as close as I can to as many as I can... | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
Right, I'm ready. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
This is great, this is measuring an eel. Whoa, oh, | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
Ants! Off, off! There's one inside. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
..with the help of a band of dedicated nature lovers. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
Some of the patterns on the feathers, they're beautiful! | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
-Good spot. -Look, look, look! -Wonderful. -That's so cool. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
There's one in my hair now, Poppy. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
I'll share the thrill of the chase... | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
-Do you hear them? -I heard something. | 0:00:58 | 0:00:59 | |
Yeah, they're in there. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
Yes. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:04 | |
The sheer joy of the encounter... | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
-She's so golden. -She's fast asleep. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
-OK, ssh! -That's amazing. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
And I'll pitch in to help these local heroes | 0:01:12 | 0:01:16 | |
safeguard the future of our precious animals. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
Bye-bye. There she goes. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
Whoa! | 0:01:24 | 0:01:25 | |
I can't believe I've been living in the West Country for so many years | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
and I've never done this before. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
This will be a year-round adventure... | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
Straight ahead. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:35 | |
..as we explore the natural wonders of the UK's very own Wild West. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:41 | |
This is the Wye Valley. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
From its gently gurgling shady streams, | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
to its dramatic ravines with their thickly forested slopes... | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
This dappled and diverse landscape is the perfect hideaway | 0:02:06 | 0:02:11 | |
for some rather particular species of British wildlife. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
Catching up with them isn't always easy. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
But simply being in these tranquil, secluded surroundings | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
is always a pleasure. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
As soon as you arrive in this part of the Wye Valley, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
you know you've found somewhere really special. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
It feels like one of nature's secret gardens, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
and I just can't wait to uncover some of those secrets. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
The Wye Valley straddles the border | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
between England and Wales. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:48 | |
To the east of the river | 0:02:48 | 0:02:49 | |
is the wooded wonderland | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
of the Forest of Dean. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:52 | |
The scenery here inspired an | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
18th-century tourist boom, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
with spots like Tintern Abbey | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
among its star attractions. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
In the sun-dappled woodland around Tintern, this torrent of clean, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
clear water is typical of the tributaries of the Lower Wye. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
These fast-flowing woodland streams are a really special habitat. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
The combination of dense vegetation and clear, pure water | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
makes for an abundance of invertebrate life in the stream. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
And that's an opportunity for all kinds of creatures. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
But for one special bird, this place is pretty much paradise. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
This is the dipper. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
At first sight, it doesn't look that unusual. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
A brown bird about the size of a thrush, with a tell-tale white bib. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:56 | |
But the understated appearance hides a remarkable talent. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
Its ability to dive and swim in fast-flowing water singles out | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
the unassuming dipper as a total one-off. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
It's Britain's only aquatic songbird. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
In many parts of the UK, dipper numbers are falling sharply, | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
so the Lower Wye really is a very precious stronghold. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
Although the dipper's doing well here, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
it's such a specialised bird that needs a really pristine habitat, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:49 | |
and that means its success | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
is not something we can ever take for granted. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
It needs all the help it can get. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
So, it's great news that, round here, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
the dippers have a remarkable champion - a lady whose devotion | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
to this little bird knows no bounds. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
It's April in the lower reaches of the Wye Valley. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
Stephanie Tyler is the dippers' local hero, | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
and she's fast becoming one of mine. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
Every spring for the past four decades, she has been out on her | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
regular rounds with her ladder and waders checking on dozens of | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
dipper nests along the streams of the Lower Wye. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
It started off like a dipper nest, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
but it's now a lovely little wren nest, but nothing in it. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:35 | |
I'm going to check some of the other holes. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
Just getting to each nest site puts this grandmother of five through an | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
aquatic assault course. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
I've been prancing up and down the rivers for nigh on 40 years now. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:50 | |
So I started as a young woman. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
Some of the sites are quite difficult to get to. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
I've got to scramble down tree roots... | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
..climb up ladders in tunnels and hoist the ladder up after me. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
And check the nest in the tunnel. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
You just have to be careful. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:12 | |
Don't fall in deep water in waders. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
I've done that, and it's not much fun. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
I do it for the pure joy of doing it and the fun of doing it. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
But also, to collect the data. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
Because over the 40 years, I have seen changes, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
you know, the dipper population has declined somewhat. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
I've got the data on occupancy of about 50 territories, give or take. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:36 | |
Clearly, there's no stopping Steph. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
I'm pretty sure there isn't a single nest in this part of the Wye | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
that she can't find a way to reach. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
I've just climbed down to the nest, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
and it's a beautiful big mossy dome hidden in all the moss. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
So nobody would see it, it's just so beautifully camouflaged. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
Long-term studies like this are the only way to get a grip on how the | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
dipper is doing. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:07 | |
I've got a licence to do this, not everybody should. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
She's one I'm familiar with, she's an old bird. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
Beautiful plumage. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
And that lovely chestnut eye. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
And these strong grippy legs and a lovely white breast, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
hence the white-breasted dipper. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:24 | |
Just to weigh her. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:26 | |
Despite being unfunded, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
Steph's study has provided a wealth of information on the dipper. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
58 grams. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:37 | |
Steph has measured, weighed and ringed around 9,000 of these | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
little birds over the years. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
Right, I think we'll let her go now and she can get back to her eggs. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
I've finally caught up with Steph, which is clearly a feat in itself. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:02 | |
I've jumped at the chance to help her ring some of the season's | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
newly hatched chicks. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
So, where is this nest you're after? | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
Well, that tunnel there, | 0:08:10 | 0:08:11 | |
it's about seven or eight metres into the tunnel. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
-We'll have to crawl up that. -Oh, really? It looks dark in there. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:16 | |
It is a bit, but you get a bit of light as you come through. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
So, I'm going to use this... | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
..little mini cam, see if I can get some pictures of you | 0:08:21 | 0:08:26 | |
-getting the chick from the nest. -OK. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
Dippers like to nest in concealed spots where their chicks are safe | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
from the hungry eyes of predators like sparrowhawks or jays. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:38 | |
-Right, I'm ready. -OK, watch your head, it's quite low. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
Normally I'd do this with waders on | 0:08:45 | 0:08:46 | |
because the water's normally pouring down. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
That's OK. I can get wet. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
It's your knees, your knees will get wet. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
You're quicker than I am in here, Steph, I can tell you that. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
Oh, well, I've spent a lot of my life crawling up tunnels. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
I can see the nest. I might be able to get a shot of it. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
Get a bit of light on it there. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
So, there's you, Steph. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
Beautiful structures, aren't they? | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
And here's the nest. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
Right here. You can see the opening. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
In you go. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
Yep, there is still chicks in here. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
I'll just bring one out, there's only or two. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
Ooh, let's have a look! Let's have a look. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
-Oh! Big beaks. -Yes. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
Well, they need that big flange, don't they? | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
Really impressive big beak. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
The parents can see where to pop the food. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
And so, that's what sort of age? | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
-That's about seven days old now. -Seven days. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
They haven't grown very well. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:41 | |
In fact, they started off as four, and there's only two now. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
Oh, dear. So you really want to... | 0:09:45 | 0:09:46 | |
-You're really hoping that these two will... -Will survive, yes. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
The other one, let's see... | 0:09:49 | 0:09:50 | |
Yes, that's roughly the same. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
It's slightly bigger, that one. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
Are you going to bring them both out? | 0:09:54 | 0:09:55 | |
No, because if the parent comes back from there and finds the nest empty, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
I hate the thought of that. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:01 | |
So we'll leave one in, and then I'll come back for it. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
HE CHUCKLES This is quite something. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
You found another way of travelling through this. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
-I'm like a crab. -Yeah, I quite like it! | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
Different technique to exit the cave. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
OK. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
-That was brilliant. -OK. It's a nice nest, isn't it? | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
-Nice and safe. -I'm the intrepid cameraman, me! | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
Ooh, he's got an enormous gob on him, hasn't he? | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
And they've also got these very strong legs. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:34 | |
You see, even at this age, they can grip onto things. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
And that's for gripping onto the rocks underwater while they are | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
-hunting for insects and invertebrate? -That's right. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
And it might look brutal, | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
but it doesn't touch the leg at all, it just rounds it up. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
You can press as much as you like | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
and you're not going to impinge on the leg. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
-That's big enough to stay on even as it's an adult? -Yes. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
I mean, they often have a bit of puppy fat at this age, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
so the legs of the adults get slightly longer, but not any wider. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:05 | |
So it's the right ring size for the whole of its life. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
Anyway, I'll pop this one back and go and get the other one. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
That's a slightly bigger one. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:17 | |
Yes, stronger legs. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
-Does that look to you to be a pretty healthy chick? -It's OK. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
It's just getting towards the end of the season now for dippers. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
And this is timed with the explosion | 0:11:28 | 0:11:29 | |
of insect life and larvae in the water itself? | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
In the water before all the mayflies and caddisfly emerge. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
They're that much earlier cos | 0:11:35 | 0:11:36 | |
they want to get the larval stage in the water? | 0:11:36 | 0:11:38 | |
The larvae and the nymphs, that's right, yes. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
Once they are adults, the dippers can't catch them. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
Wagtails can, but not dippers. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
-You really love these birds. -I love them, and I can't stop. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
My husband's really keen that I stop, you know? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
But when you've got a long-term monitoring programme and you know | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
each individual site so well, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
I can't resist to go back to see what's happening each year. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
If your husband's trying to persuade you to stop, | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
I think he's got a job on his hands. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
-It's not going to happen, is it? -He knows that. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
-He knows that, yes. -It's not going to happen any time soon. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
I don't think so. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:10 | |
With apologies to Steph's husband, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
I'll be stealing her away for a little bit longer today, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
to see what more I can find out about the delightful dipper. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
On the English side of the River Wye is a majestic treescape. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:37 | |
The Forest of Dean. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:47 | |
BIRD SINGS | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
Once the private hunting ground of Norman kings, it's home | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
to some of England's last surviving patches of ancient woodland. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
And it provides plenty of cover and hiding places for some | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
very special British wildlife. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
It's a late February morning and spring hasn't quite arrived. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
This is a good time to see another winged wonder of the region. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:31 | |
If you know where to look, that is. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:32 | |
There's one main way in and out, really. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
And that's the way we go. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
The Clearwell Caves were formed naturally, then extended by | 0:13:44 | 0:13:49 | |
the ancient Britons, who mined them for iron over hundreds of years. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:53 | |
This is my playground, really, this is where I grew up. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
It was a great place to bring friends and have a look round. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
Jonathan Wright's family owns these caves, and still mines them, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:06 | |
not for iron, but for one of its by-products. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
Ochre. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:11 | |
This red mineral makes a powerful dye, | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
which has been used by artists for millennia. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
We get lots of different shades, you can just rub it off. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
And if you rub it on your hand, you get quite a nice colour immediately. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:30 | |
And you can see why the ancient Britons would have used this. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
And pigment from this mine has been used by people like Michelangelo. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:39 | |
Which I find mind-boggling, really. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
Walk very carefully. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
Today, these dedicated nature lovers | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
are looking for something else entirely. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
A cave dwelling creature that's | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
found only in south-west England and Wales. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
This is what's called the bear pits. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
There are no bears here, obviously. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
So we have five up in this chamber. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
But there are a lot of bats. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
Lesser horseshoe bats. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:09 | |
We've got several bats here... | 0:15:10 | 0:15:12 | |
The caves here in the Dean are the winter home to more than 1,000 | 0:15:12 | 0:15:16 | |
of this highly endangered mammal. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
Bats are considered by the miners | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
to actually be like canaries in the mine, so they actually... | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
If you see a bat, you know the air and the conditions are good. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
It's a sign, an omen of good luck, really. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
41 so far. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:33 | |
Jonathan and the team are from the Gloucestershire Bat Group. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
They have a special licence to survey these caves, which make up | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
the largest lesser horseshoe hibernation site in Britain. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
These little bats are about the size of a plum. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
They feed mainly on flying insects | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
like midges, lacewings and caddisfly. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
But they are themselves an important prey species for raptors like | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
sparrowhawks and barn owls. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
With only 50,000 left in the UK, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
it's good to know that these ones are carefully monitored. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
David Priddis has collected bat data here since the 1970s. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
I just got hooked! | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
Just because so many things about them seemed so strange. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
One of those strange quirks is the bat strategy for saving energy | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
over winter, when there just aren't enough insects to eat. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:41 | |
They allow their body temperature to drop from a cosy 37 degrees - | 0:16:41 | 0:16:46 | |
about the same as ours - to a chilly seven centigrade. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
This takes them to a state of semi-hibernation, known as torpor. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
So, if we use this little thermal imaging camera at the rock, | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
you see it's not showing up an awful lot of very warm areas of rock. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:04 | |
But if I turn around to you, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
then I'm getting a massive flare | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
of the heat coming through your caving suits, and your faces. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:15 | |
Very warm, glowing. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
And if I put it up here where the bat is... | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
..there's a bat hanging there. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
It's just glowing slightly warmer than the rock, but not very much. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:30 | |
But the contrast with my finger, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
you can see how much hotter my finger is than the bat. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
Every ten days or so, | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
they shiver their way out of the torpor to forage for food again. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
And as the weather warms, those feeding forays become more regular. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
And when spring arrives, it's time for the bats to break cover. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
Horseshoe bats navigate their way out of the caves using echolocation. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:18 | |
Emitting high-pitched squawks from the horseshoe-shaped nose | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
that gives them their name. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:23 | |
They detect the reflected sound to locate their prey, too. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
So effectively, they can snap a moth out of the air in mid-flight. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
Their eyes are almost blind but their sonic skills give them sight. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
COCKEREL CROWS | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
A few miles away, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
this lesser horseshoe has found a perfect spot to hang out and | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
devour its latest catch. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
In the porch of a house. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:06 | |
A tell-tale sign of a bat perch are the mouse-like droppings underneath. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:12 | |
But not all homeowners know their bat poo as well as this one. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
So you can tell bat poo because when you squeeze it like this, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
it turns into dust. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
When wildlife fanatic Gareth Jones realised he had bats roosting in his | 0:19:24 | 0:19:29 | |
porch, he jumped at the chance to get a close-up view. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
The bats rest at the top here, | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
and I've got a camera and an infrared light here so it | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
doesn't disturb them or anything like that. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
Now Gareth can indulge in some armchair wildlife watching, | 0:19:41 | 0:19:46 | |
while Horace the horseshoe bat goes about his nightly routine. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
Here's Horace, our bat, he's a bit wet at the moment, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
um, where he's been out hunting. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
And what he's doing is cleaning his wings before he goes back out again. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
So, it's amazing when you see them pushing through his wing, | 0:20:02 | 0:20:07 | |
and you can see his little mouth as he goes and cleans there. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
There's another one that's just flown in there around the back. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
And, also, he's holding on to nothing, really, | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
it's just the end of a bit of wood that keeps the light up. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:28 | |
It's incredible dexterity to do that. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
The bat's powerful grip is down to an impressive adaptation. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:37 | |
It works the opposite way to our fingers and hands. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
Bats flex their muscles to release their grip and their talons shut | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
when they relax. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
So a resting bat's foot is in autolock, | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
with the tendons pulled taught by its own body weight, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
enabling the bat to dangle by one leg almost effortlessly. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:58 | |
You see him doing everything. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
You know, weeing, pooing, anything, really. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
It's pretty clear that this continuing saga has a | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
dedicated viewer in Gareth. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
It's his very own bat soap opera. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
It's certainly more interesting than most of the TV around. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
Which is why Gareth has taken things a bit further. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
Bugging and rigging his garden | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
to see what other wildlife he can watch. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
Gareth's garden is now chock-full of mini cams, CCTV and trail cams. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
The ground is crisscrossed with buried data cables and his shed is | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
converted to a high-tech hub. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
It's all way beyond my technical know-how. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
But Gareth is in IT, so naturally, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
he knows all the tricks of the trade. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
Have you tried switching it off and then on again? | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
Yeah, that is the standard one! | 0:21:59 | 0:22:00 | |
With his own personal wildlife network, | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
Gareth has privileged access to some very special garden visitors. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:09 | |
You've got goshawks, you've got peregrines, you've got ravens, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
you've got fallow deer, muntjac deer, roe deer, you've got the boar. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:17 | |
Badgers, foxes, you've got otters, you've got polecats, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
you've got all sorts of things that really, | 0:22:20 | 0:22:24 | |
people don't really see unless they start looking. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:27 | |
But the arrival of a tawny owl | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
family could give Gareth's garden gogglebox | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
its most gripping story of the year. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
Meanwhile, I'm back on the river to learn more about Britain's only | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
aquatic songbird, the dipper. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
And I'm with one of the most devoted wildlife watchers I've ever met. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:58 | |
40 years of research have made Steph a world authority on dippers, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
so I'm thrilled to be spending a bit of time with her. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
What's the net for, Steph? | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
Well, I was going to do some kick sampling. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
So, put the net downriver and then kick amongst these stones, | 0:23:10 | 0:23:15 | |
and see what invertebrates we can dislodge. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:17 | |
-Kick sampling? -Kick sampling, yes. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:18 | |
-That's a thing, is it? -Yeah, absolutely. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
-Want me to hold the net? -Yes. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
If you could hold the net and I'll | 0:23:22 | 0:23:23 | |
just try and move some of these stones. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
So, it is quite literally... | 0:23:25 | 0:23:26 | |
Kicking the stones and getting them into the net. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
Right, let's see what we've got. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:32 | |
Oh, lots of big stones. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:33 | |
Let's put these out into a tray. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
Quite a lot of critters coming out. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
What we're looking for are some mayfly nymphs, | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
and they're funny little invertebrates, flattened, | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
and they've got three tail prongs, and they have gills. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
Is that there...? | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
-Yep. Yes, that's one. -Beautiful. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
Freshwater shrimps, would they be food for the dipper? | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
They'd certainly be food for the dipper, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
and it eats a lot of freshwater shrimps. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
Particularly in the winter months. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
And it will also eat small fish as well in the winter months. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
Presumably, anything in here that wriggles... | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
-Is dipper food. -..is dipper food. -Yeah. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
I think we've got a caddisfly larvae still in its casing there. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
-Do you see, with its antennae coming out? -Oh, yes. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
It's amazing just how much invertebrate life there is | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
in this stream. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:27 | |
This lot really did turn up after just a few kicks along riverbed. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
These streams are the perfect dipper habitat. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
Clean, rocky, fast-flowing stretches of water | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
with plenty of shallow ripples. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
All containing an abundance of good dipper grub. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
So we must have at least four species here. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
We've got mayflies, we've got freshwater shrimps, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
we've got case caddis and we've got the web-spinning caddis. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:57 | |
But they're tiny little things. The dipper's got to catch | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
quite a few of these to feed those hungry chicks. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
It has got to catch a lot, but it can take nine or ten. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
And it can provision, you know, 30 times an hour if it wants to. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
-So, it can get the food into them. -Really? | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
But don't forget, at this time of the year, a lot of the bigger caddis | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
and the bigger mayflies are already on the wing, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
so it's lost that food source. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
The natural bounty in the stream doesn't last long. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
So female dippers have to time their brood carefully, | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
then forage tirelessly. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:30 | |
They're just superbly adapted. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
I mean, they've got very short wings for a bird of their size. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
And very, very strong musculature, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
so they can use them like little flippers to stay down. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
-Almost like penguins. -Like penguins, yes. | 0:25:40 | 0:25:42 | |
And then they've got the very strong legs and strong claws | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
to help them stay down. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
They've got the good eyesight and they don't get wet. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
They've got a very large preen gland and they're forever preening, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
as you've probably seen. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
And they just keep the feathers beautifully waterproof. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
The dipper's famed underwater agility is something I'd love | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
to catch on camera. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
That won't be easy. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
But I've heard about another local dipper obsessive who has a better | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
chance than most of filming it. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
Wildlife cameraman Robin Smith makes his living filming animals | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
all over the world. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
But he lives right here in the Wye Valley, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
and today his filming location is just a short stroll from home. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:34 | |
-Knock knock. -Just scooch in. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
It's a little bit snug, I'm afraid. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:37 | |
-Perfect! How are you doing? -Yeah, good. -Great to see you. -You too. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:41 | |
What a brilliant spot. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
Yes, it's pretty special, really. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:45 | |
Robin's expert eye has honed in on a dipper with what must be the | 0:26:46 | 0:26:50 | |
most picturesque nest site in the country. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
I just get them in the frame for you. We're about there somewhere. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
So, just behind that plume on the weir there, | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
there's a nest just up in the little culvert. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
The nest is literally in there? | 0:27:02 | 0:27:03 | |
Literally in there, yes. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:04 | |
This is an ingenious place to keep the chicks safe from predators. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
Robin's been watching the parents fly food into the chicks, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
straight through the middle of the waterfall. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
Now I'm hoping to see a repeat performance. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
But first, our dipper needs to find some food. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
And that little stick out of the water, that's the perch? | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
Yes, she'll come up on that perch, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
and then when she's happy the coast is clear, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
she'll just fly up into the weir there | 0:27:31 | 0:27:32 | |
and just go behind the waterfall. There she goes. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
Oh, fantastic. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
That's beautiful. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:40 | |
And that little rock, is that a favourite perch, too? | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
Yes, she seems to stop on that, not that often - | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
she was there this morning, actually. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
I love those white eyelids when they flutter those. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
Can you just see that white eyelid? | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
When she blinks, yes, that's amazing. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
She's got to move soon, hasn't she? | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
Yes. She's preparing herself for a flight or a swim. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
Come on. She's thinking about it. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
Here she goes, here she goes. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
Ooh! Nice. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
Perfect. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
So, from here, there will be a dive through the waterfall? | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 | |
Yeah, pretty much. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:23 | |
You'll hear the chicks. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
Oh, brilliant. And out again. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
-Did she deliver the goods there? -Yeah, absolutely. -That was quick. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
-Yeah, oh, yeah. -Blimey. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:34 | |
She doesn't hang about. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
Absolutely brilliant, Robin, that's made my day. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
And you've seen a tonne of that, basically? | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
Quite a bit. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:42 | |
-My first time. -It never gets old. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
-No, wonderful. -It's always good. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
Absolutely wonderful. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:49 | |
This fantastic feeding-flight shows how at home the dipper is | 0:29:01 | 0:29:06 | |
in this watery world. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:07 | |
But it's only whetted my appetite. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:10 | |
Now I really want to see how it moves and swims under the water. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:14 | |
It almost looks like they fly under water, | 0:29:15 | 0:29:17 | |
so they use their wings, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
and they, literally, they go negatively buoyant, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
they get right under the surface. They've got really strong claws, | 0:29:21 | 0:29:23 | |
they can grip onto the rocks underneath the surface. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:26 | |
They can almost... | 0:29:26 | 0:29:27 | |
The rumour used to be that they could walk on the bottom. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
I think that's a bit of a myth. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:30 | |
Actually, it's more like they are flying. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
So, is there any way of getting shots of them | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
doing this amazing swimming action? | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
Yes, I mean, that's the Holy Grail, really. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:41 | |
Well, that's a challenge. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:43 | |
And it's pretty obvious that Robin can't resist taking it on. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
Our best chance to capture the dipper's underwater flight | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
on camera is right now. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
The chicks are due to leave the nest any day. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:56 | |
So the parents are at their busiest, diving over and over again | 0:29:56 | 0:30:00 | |
to find enough food for their hungry brood. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
So the hotspot is just the other side of the waterfall. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:08 | |
So, as soon as Mum delivers | 0:30:08 | 0:30:10 | |
another beak full of dinner and moves upstream, | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
we leap into action to set up some of Robin's kit. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
The little waterproof mini camera. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
With a bit of luck, this could give us the perfect view | 0:30:19 | 0:30:21 | |
of a dipper dive. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
So what we will do, Hugh, if you just want to plonk it down, | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
you have to sort of go into the river. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
But only if we can entice them to this precise spot. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
For that, we need to use a wildlife cameraman's trick of the trade. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:36 | |
Mealworms. A favourite bird table food | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
that also happens to work underwater. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
Now, just think of the start you're giving those chicks, | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
the calorific content in those mealworms for a small chick... | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
-It's a real boost, isn't it? -It's a real boost. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:53 | |
It's a great start to life, those things. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
I'm very excited that I actually got to place the camera | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
because if we get this shot, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:01 | |
which, as far as we know, has never happened before, | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
I actually get some of the credit! | 0:31:04 | 0:31:06 | |
So, the stage is set, and now, for Robin, it's a waiting game. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:15 | |
But these wildlife cameramen are used to that. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:18 | |
Dippers are one good sign of a healthy river. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
And as we've seen, | 0:31:33 | 0:31:34 | |
that health begins with the small stuff | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
that's food for everything else. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:38 | |
With that in mind, I'm off to look for a tiny fish | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
that's very close to my heart. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
It's pretty much at the bottom of the fishy food chain, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
but it's been delighting me ever since I first caught one as a boy. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:56 | |
Local fishing guide, the appropriately named Adam Fisher, | 0:31:57 | 0:32:01 | |
knows just the place to look. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:02 | |
A stunning spot, Alan. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
-It's great, isn't it? -And the fish. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
-Oh, look. I can see... -Yeah. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
..tons of little guys. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
These are the small fry that play a big part in the life of a river, | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
and the one we're after is the minnow. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
I've come prepared, with the kit I've used to catch them for decades. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:24 | |
-So, I brought this... -OK. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:28 | |
..for that old-school minnow trap, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:29 | |
where you cut the top off and turn it round. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
I haven't done that for a while. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
-If you can you remember the right way round to do it... -I'll try. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
They get in, they can't get back out. Yeah? | 0:32:35 | 0:32:37 | |
What have you got there? That looks a bit fancy to me. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
This is a slightly more modern version, off-the-shelf. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
This is an off-the-shelf minnow trap? | 0:32:41 | 0:32:43 | |
-It is off-the-shelf, yeah. -I didn't know those things existed. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
Nor did I. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:47 | |
So, we're going to have a bit of a minnow-off. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
I think so. What bait have you got? | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
Classic. Somewhere, I've got a bread roll. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
Have you got something more fancy for your bait as well? | 0:32:56 | 0:32:59 | |
Well, of course. More modern bait to match the modern trap. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
I'm not sure if they like brown bread, but... | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
Oh, you think they prefer sliced white? | 0:33:04 | 0:33:05 | |
Yeah, I think they do! | 0:33:05 | 0:33:07 | |
-What have you got? -Well, a bit of a secret. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
That's some kind of proprietary trout-pellety type thing? | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
It is, it's oily, and they love the oil, and they just swarm round it. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
There could be some skill involved too, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
and that's picking the location. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:20 | |
OK. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:21 | |
We'll get to that, but first I need to engineer my trap. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
So, it's as simple as that. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
That's the theory. Minnow swims in here... | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
..a little bit of food in there, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
stone to anchor it to the bottom. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
Minnow swims in, swims around, can't really find its way out. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:46 | |
It's the lobster-pot principle, | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
a kind of funnel taking it into the trap, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
but it's not to say he'll never get out, but it will take a bit of time, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
and hopefully while he's in there, I can pick up the trap | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
and we'll have ourselves a minnow | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
to get a really close look at. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
I'm telling you, they don't like brown bread. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
Stop it! Stop it! | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
It's mind tricks, isn't it, Adam? | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
You're just trying to dent my confidence, get the upper hand! | 0:34:07 | 0:34:09 | |
Yeah, well, it's a competition of sorts, isn't it? | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
Apparently you've made it one! | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
Are they carnivorous or are they vegetarian? | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
I think, like most fish, they are omnivores, | 0:34:18 | 0:34:20 | |
they'll eat a bit of everything. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:22 | |
They're opportunist, there's weed there, there's going to be larvae, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:26 | |
there's going to be insects washed in. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
-There is all sorts. So, yeah, they'll eat everything. -OK. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:31 | |
-Including bread? -Apart from brown bread. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:33 | |
I'm pretty sure Adam's pulling my leg, | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
but there's only one way to find out. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:39 | |
So, the opening facing downstream? | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
-You've got it. -OK, here we go. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:50 | |
Right, well, I'm ahead of the game, Adam. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:04 | |
Yeah, I think so. I'm itching, if I'm honest. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
You just don't want to get your feet wet, is that it? | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
Well, if I don't have to... | 0:35:08 | 0:35:10 | |
..then I won't. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:14 | |
That's it. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:15 | |
It's as simple as that, is it? | 0:35:16 | 0:35:17 | |
I think so, I think that's bang on. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:19 | |
I hate to tell you this, but they're already going in there. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:23 | |
You're kidding. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:25 | |
Very casual. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
You think you've... Go on, prove that, | 0:35:27 | 0:35:28 | |
if you really think in ten seconds... | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
Come on, let's see it right now. In ten seconds, you've caught a fish. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
-There you go. -Unbelievable. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
I think there's two in there. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:39 | |
-That's extraordinary. -One's definitely a minnow, | 0:35:39 | 0:35:41 | |
I'm not sure what the other one is. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:43 | |
-That's insane. -It's the fisherman in me, sorry. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:47 | |
I think my old-school trap might need a little more time to work. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
But there are worse places to wait. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
Look at this, Alan, look who's coming down the river. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
I know, magnificent, aren't they? | 0:36:00 | 0:36:01 | |
They own the river, don't they? | 0:36:04 | 0:36:05 | |
Yeah, they certainly do. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:06 | |
They certainly do, they've got a presence, for sure. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
Above the water, all is calm, | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
but beneath the surface it's a different story. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
I have lured them all over here. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:17 | |
So there is literally a feeding frenzy going on. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:20 | |
Pete, see if you can pick this up because it's quite interesting. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:22 | |
They are on a pellet, that's why. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
Can you see the grey that they are on? | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
Yeah. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:28 | |
-That's one pellet. -That's one of your pellets? -Yeah. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
It's literally caused a feeding frenzy. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:33 | |
Well, enough's enough. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
Time to show Adam how it's done old school. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
If you can get two in ten seconds, | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
surely I can get a couple in ten minutes. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
They can't hate brown bread that much! | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
ALAN LAUGHS | 0:36:50 | 0:36:52 | |
Stop cackling! | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
Sorry. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
-I shouldn't laugh. -There is not a single minnow in here. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:59 | |
Hiding under the stone? No. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:01 | |
Let's have a look what your magic pellets can do in a few minutes. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:06 | |
There's that many fish down there, | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
I can't really see the minnow trap. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
Stop it! ALAN LAUGHS | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
Oh, wow! | 0:37:16 | 0:37:17 | |
-Big guys. -Yeah, proper ones, eh? | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
Proper grown-up minnows, and maybe seven or eight of them, | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
and a few little ones, too. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
I have to say, that is stunning. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
I mean, look at this guy there. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:30 | |
That golden line, there's a luminous golden line | 0:37:30 | 0:37:34 | |
just above the lateral line. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:36 | |
Lovely silver belly, little black spots down the tail. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
I mean, almost any fish, when you look at it close-up, | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
-just reveals its beauty, doesn't it? -It does. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
Any fish is admirable close-up, as you say. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
But these guys, you know, you catch them when you're young as kids, | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
and then you look at them now, and they are awesome. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
And of course they are a massively important food source. | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
Yeah, they are a massive part of the food chain, | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
they're really important. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:04 | |
They are there for other fish to feed on, | 0:38:04 | 0:38:06 | |
they are there for avian predators, | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
fish-wise we're looking at perch and pike, | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
avian predators, kingfisher, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:13 | |
cormorants, although they like larger fish, | 0:38:13 | 0:38:16 | |
they are going to eat these, too. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:17 | |
The fact that everybody wants to eat these guys, | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
and there are still thousands or millions of them in the river, | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
that's pretty good news as far as the ecology of the river goes. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
Well, I think so. It's sustainable, isn't it? | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
If there is that many of them, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:28 | |
you can just see that lots and lots of minnows, you know, | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
is the sign of a good, healthy river. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:33 | |
And it's time for this mob of minnows to get back to the shoal, | 0:38:35 | 0:38:39 | |
and their precious but precarious position | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
at the bottom of the fishy food chain. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:44 | |
There is little doubt that the River Wye | 0:38:51 | 0:38:53 | |
is absolutely teeming with life. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:55 | |
And so too is the forest around it. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
In Roman times, this place was prized for its wild game, | 0:39:07 | 0:39:11 | |
and in the Middle Ages, | 0:39:11 | 0:39:12 | |
it was protected by the Royal Court as a hunting ground. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:16 | |
This is some of Britain's best-preserved ancient woodland. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
So it's no surprise in this rare and very special forest | 0:39:23 | 0:39:27 | |
that a complex variety of life has found a place to flourish. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:32 | |
The mature deciduous woodland isn't just a habitat, | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
it's an amazing diversity of different habitats, | 0:39:38 | 0:39:42 | |
each of which provides for an extraordinary array of wildlife. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:45 | |
The tree tops here in the Forest of Dean | 0:39:47 | 0:39:49 | |
are a stronghold for the elusive goshawk, the phantom of the forest. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:54 | |
And above our heads, squirrels and woodland birds | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
make good use of branches and tree holes. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
But an equally vital sign of a healthy forest | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
is what happens beneath the canopy. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
The rich forest floor is a world of its own, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:12 | |
where creatures of all shapes and sizes forage for food. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
Embedded in the rich mulch of decaying leaves | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
is new plant life, too - | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
seedlings and saplings that support all kinds of bugs and invertebrates. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:25 | |
Including over 30 species of butterfly. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
Like this one, the critically endangered Wood White. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
Its slow lumbering flight makes it stand out from a distance | 0:40:34 | 0:40:39 | |
from any other species of white butterfly. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
In spring, a carpet of bluebells are an early source of nectar | 0:40:45 | 0:40:50 | |
for burgeoning insect life. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
And a sure sign of a woodland that has stood for hundreds of years. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:55 | |
Of all the animals that prosper in this timeless woodland world, | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
one in particular stands out. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
Not least for its size. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
A big and beautiful herbivore. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:13 | |
And a great success story of our woodland habitat. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
Just a glimpse can be electrifying. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
It's the fallow deer. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
Their coats vary from reddish-brown | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
with distinctive white spots to a more muted grey. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:29 | |
The antlers are flattened out like the palm of a hand. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
Not a native species, it was brought here after 1066 by the Normans, | 0:41:34 | 0:41:39 | |
who stocked the forest for hunting. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
And with no natural predators | 0:41:42 | 0:41:44 | |
since the wolf's demise soon after the fallow arrived here, | 0:41:44 | 0:41:47 | |
they've prospered, | 0:41:47 | 0:41:49 | |
browsing freely on the fresh vegetation to be found | 0:41:49 | 0:41:52 | |
among the taller trees. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:53 | |
A recent estimate has put the number of deer | 0:41:56 | 0:41:58 | |
in the Forest of Dean at over 1,000. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
We're really entering a state that hasn't existed before. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
The numbers of deer we have in the British Isles now | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
are higher than probably they've ever been. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
Dr Markus Eichhorn has been investigating | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
the impact on the forest of all these deer. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
So, that's clear deer damage. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
That one there has very clearly been nibbled. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
And you can see here on this tree, | 0:42:25 | 0:42:28 | |
you can see where something has shredded the leaves off. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
The signs are easy to spot. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:38 | |
But without an accurate measurement, | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
it's impossible to assess the extent of the problem. | 0:42:42 | 0:42:45 | |
That calls for a more scientific approach, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
and a modern piece of kit being pioneered | 0:42:49 | 0:42:51 | |
by Markus and his colleague, Joe Ryding. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:53 | |
Basically, what this does, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
it's going to project a laser all the way round the forest. | 0:42:56 | 0:43:01 | |
So, if you think of it like taking a panoramic photo. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:05 | |
Is it a dangerous laser? | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
No, no, it's not going to cut anybody's parts off, no. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 | |
This is where we have to keep up with the scanner | 0:43:14 | 0:43:17 | |
so we don't get a laser in the face. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:19 | |
This is the first time this technique | 0:43:20 | 0:43:22 | |
has been used for conservation. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
Marcus and Joe have scanned 40 locations in total, | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
and thanks to their work, the bigger picture is now becoming clear. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
So, we've got the animation here. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:37 | |
It hasn't snowed. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:38 | |
No! | 0:43:40 | 0:43:41 | |
You can see very clearly that there is no foliage on the trees | 0:43:41 | 0:43:45 | |
below a certain level. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:46 | |
Their data has revealed a startling fact. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
Two-thirds of the foliage has gone from the lower part of the forest, | 0:43:52 | 0:43:57 | |
that's below head height. | 0:43:57 | 0:43:58 | |
The area that you actually see as you walk around, | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
the stuff that you're picking your way through in the forest. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:03 | |
When there's lots of deer, | 0:44:03 | 0:44:04 | |
two-thirds of those leaves have gone. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:06 | |
The fallow deer's true impact on the forest is starting to emerge. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:12 | |
You can see the level at which the deer are browsing. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
Because they can only reach so high. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:19 | |
They'll reach up with their necks, | 0:44:19 | 0:44:21 | |
and some of them will walk up the side of a tree, | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
and will bite off the foliage that they can reach, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:26 | |
but they can only reach so far, | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
and that gives you this characteristic line | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
in the understorey of the forest. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
The scale of the impact is leading to concern | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
for the very future of the forest. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
In a healthy woodland, | 0:44:45 | 0:44:46 | |
these smaller shrubs and saplings | 0:44:46 | 0:44:48 | |
are not only an important habitat for wildlife... | 0:44:48 | 0:44:51 | |
..they are also the nursery for the new canopy trees, | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
the forest's precious next generation. | 0:44:56 | 0:44:58 | |
Right now, all of that has been eaten away, it's been stripped away, | 0:45:04 | 0:45:07 | |
so there's no habitat left at ground level. | 0:45:07 | 0:45:09 | |
You could walk through this without hitting a bush or a plant | 0:45:09 | 0:45:13 | |
or getting your feet tangled, | 0:45:13 | 0:45:15 | |
in fact, you could drive a car through this. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:17 | |
Markus's data makes clear that the density of the deer population here | 0:45:19 | 0:45:23 | |
is a threat to this ancient forest's survival. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
The question now is what's to be done? | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
Fencing out the deer would mean enclosing forest | 0:45:33 | 0:45:35 | |
that people have had access to for centuries. | 0:45:35 | 0:45:38 | |
One suggestion is indeed the reintroduction | 0:45:41 | 0:45:44 | |
of the deer's natural predators, the lynx and the wolf. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:48 | |
But in such a populated and visited forest, | 0:45:48 | 0:45:51 | |
that is going to be a hard sell. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:53 | |
So Markus favours a more practical way | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
to deal with the UK's booming population of deer. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
So, I've got a much simpler alternative | 0:46:03 | 0:46:05 | |
that I'm trying to encourage people to do, | 0:46:05 | 0:46:06 | |
and that's to eat them. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:07 | |
We should be eating wild-caught British deer. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:13 | |
It's free-range, they are widely available, they are easy to catch, | 0:46:13 | 0:46:17 | |
and if we found those in our butchers and restaurants, | 0:46:17 | 0:46:21 | |
and if those became a characteristic feature | 0:46:21 | 0:46:23 | |
of the British diet once again, | 0:46:23 | 0:46:25 | |
then I think that we collectively could do a great deal of good | 0:46:25 | 0:46:28 | |
for conservation just by changing what we eat and eating British deer. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
In fact, here in the Forest of Dean, | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
this idea is already being implemented. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
A controlled annual cull by trained marksmen | 0:46:40 | 0:46:43 | |
aims to bring down the fallow deer population | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
to reduce the impact on young trees | 0:46:46 | 0:46:48 | |
and allow the forest to regenerate. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
The resulting venison is being sold in local butchers, | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
which in turn helps finance the cull. | 0:46:54 | 0:46:56 | |
Wildlife enthusiasts living near the Forest of Dean | 0:47:07 | 0:47:10 | |
don't have to travel far to get their fix. | 0:47:10 | 0:47:13 | |
But local IT specialist Gareth Jones has elevated the art | 0:47:14 | 0:47:18 | |
of stay-at-home wildlife watching to a whole new level. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:22 | |
Probably a bit excessive sometimes, | 0:47:22 | 0:47:24 | |
and probably takes up too much of my time. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
A great variety of the Forest of Dean's animals | 0:47:27 | 0:47:30 | |
pass through his garden, | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
and Gareth encourages quite a few of them to stick around to be filmed. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:37 | |
So, we have a nest box down in that tree over there. | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
I put up a new nest box just here. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:42 | |
The box next to that, I have tree bumblebees in. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:46 | |
Quite often, we feed the badgers just down there. | 0:47:46 | 0:47:49 | |
We can have all different sorts of birds. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:51 | |
We also sometimes find harvest mice nests. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
Great tits, blue tits, long-tailed tits. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
This is my latest camera. | 0:47:57 | 0:47:59 | |
We get glow-worms as well. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
We have around about three pairs of bullfinches. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
We get through 25 kilos of sunflower seed in about three weeks, | 0:48:04 | 0:48:08 | |
so it can become an expensive thing. | 0:48:08 | 0:48:10 | |
This year, Gareth's owl box | 0:48:13 | 0:48:15 | |
gave him a rare peek into the family life of the tawny owl, | 0:48:15 | 0:48:19 | |
one of our most captivating raptors. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:22 | |
It's a saga I'm ready to get stuck into. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:24 | |
So, these are my cameras here. | 0:48:24 | 0:48:26 | |
So, at the moment, I've got pictures of the tawny owl up. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:30 | |
Tawnies are our most common owl, | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
and they've adapted well to living close to people. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
Gareth's cameras recorded pictures and sound | 0:48:40 | 0:48:42 | |
of this nocturnal predator around the clock. | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
OWL WARBLES | 0:48:45 | 0:48:47 | |
The story begins when the tawny owl pair decide to set up home | 0:48:47 | 0:48:51 | |
in Gareth's nest box. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
I think the noises that tawnies make are just so much more | 0:48:56 | 0:48:59 | |
than the too-wit, too-woo that everyone thinks. | 0:48:59 | 0:49:01 | |
The warbling and all that courtship type of noises | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
that they make are really different, | 0:49:04 | 0:49:05 | |
and something that you just don't know unless you have a nest box | 0:49:05 | 0:49:08 | |
with sound in it. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:10 | |
OWL CALLS | 0:49:10 | 0:49:13 | |
Once her courtship calls have successfully attracted a mate, | 0:49:16 | 0:49:20 | |
the female bird gives the nest box a makeover | 0:49:20 | 0:49:24 | |
and scrapes a hollow for her eggs to rest in. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:26 | |
She's been incubating her first egg for a week | 0:49:28 | 0:49:31 | |
when she lays a second one. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:33 | |
It's a deliberate strategy. | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
The second will only survive if the food supply is good. | 0:49:35 | 0:49:38 | |
And the 28-day incubation period isn't without distractions. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:46 | |
We've seen a mandarin duck try to take over the nest box. | 0:49:46 | 0:49:51 | |
You can just see the beak pointing in there. | 0:49:52 | 0:49:55 | |
And then going in. That's the female mandarin. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:59 | |
And it's sent packing by the tawny. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
Then one evening in April, the first chick begins to hatch. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:12 | |
Here is the female... | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
..and she is helping to break the egg open. | 0:50:18 | 0:50:20 | |
You can actually see the chick coming out. | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
Trying to work its way out of the egg. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:32 | |
Mum just helping her, really. | 0:50:32 | 0:50:34 | |
You know, it's a privilege for you to see that sort of thing, really. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:40 | |
But this intimate view of the owl family | 0:50:42 | 0:50:45 | |
takes a less heart-warming turn. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:46 | |
The first chick grew quite quickly, | 0:50:48 | 0:50:51 | |
and the second chick didn't grow so quickly, so in the end, | 0:50:51 | 0:50:54 | |
unfortunately, what happened was that the second chick perished. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:59 | |
The harsh reality is that tawny owls often hatch two chicks, | 0:51:01 | 0:51:05 | |
but only rarely do both of them survive. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
The mother's priority now is to get her remaining chick to adulthood. | 0:51:11 | 0:51:15 | |
And she hunts tirelessly to feed its growing appetite. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:20 | |
At four weeks old, | 0:51:31 | 0:51:33 | |
the chick's almost ready to emerge from the nest. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
As it got bigger, | 0:51:38 | 0:51:40 | |
it moved out and onto the platform and onto the little perch. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
And in the end, it made the big jump to jump up onto the top of the box. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:48 | |
And the first time that Mum came back, she dived into the box, | 0:51:52 | 0:51:56 | |
looked around and thought, "Where has my chick gone?" | 0:51:56 | 0:51:58 | |
And then the chick was calling on top and she hopped up and fed it. | 0:51:58 | 0:52:02 | |
I think it was the second day, it was around there, | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
made the big flight, | 0:52:10 | 0:52:11 | |
the first flight, and disappeared into the undergrowth. | 0:52:11 | 0:52:14 | |
Tawny owl chicks don't simply fledge and leave the nest. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:24 | |
Like most raptors, | 0:52:24 | 0:52:26 | |
they continue to rely on their parents for food | 0:52:26 | 0:52:28 | |
and for hunting lessons | 0:52:28 | 0:52:30 | |
for a good couple of months after they can fly. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:32 | |
But before long, this tawny youngster will have to go it alone. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:39 | |
The parent birds will protect their territory | 0:52:40 | 0:52:43 | |
and drive the young owl away if needs be. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:46 | |
So, it's goodbye from Gareth to these tawnies for now. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:51 | |
Let's hope this family, or another, uses the nest box next year, | 0:52:51 | 0:52:55 | |
and keeps Gareth's wildlife show on the road. | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
I am back with dipper expert Steph and cameraman Robin, | 0:53:07 | 0:53:11 | |
to see if our mission to film these lovely birds diving underwater | 0:53:11 | 0:53:15 | |
has come good. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:16 | |
We've rigged some of Robin's special camera kit | 0:53:19 | 0:53:22 | |
in a prime spot in the stream. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
And with a bit of luck, we'll have captured a dipper-cam first. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:28 | |
So, the moment of truth. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
Right. I need my glasses for this. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:33 | |
-Ready? -Robin's playing his cards close to his chest, | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
but I think he's looking pretty pleased with himself. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
Ready? There we go. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:42 | |
-Oh, come on, no way! -Brilliant. -No way! | 0:53:44 | 0:53:48 | |
-There he is. -That is brilliant. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
And it's the male, yeah. | 0:53:50 | 0:53:52 | |
-Clever boy. -Oh, fantastic. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:54 | |
That is just brilliant. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:55 | |
Steph, have you ever seen any footage like this before? | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
Not like this, not like this, no. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:01 | |
Something about the way it's using its wings... | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
-..it's just a brilliant swimmer. -Oh, they are incredible. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:12 | |
The way he's using his feet to steer. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:16 | |
Yeah, it's not using its tail much, is it? | 0:54:16 | 0:54:18 | |
Rudders. No, it's the wings and the feet. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
It's the wings and the feet, yeah. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:21 | |
A little turn away to just come up again with a flick of the feet. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:25 | |
Yeah, the tail might be important. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:26 | |
Look at that little foot, one on the rock. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
It is beating the tail there a bit. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:30 | |
-Just a little. -Yeah, just using it as a rudder. -Yeah. | 0:54:30 | 0:54:32 | |
These rare shots show the effect of some very special adaptations | 0:54:37 | 0:54:42 | |
that make the dipper so well suited to these underwater stunts. | 0:54:42 | 0:54:45 | |
Special flaps of skin protect its nose and eyes from the rush of water | 0:54:48 | 0:54:52 | |
as it dives. | 0:54:52 | 0:54:54 | |
And unlike most birds, the dipper's bones aren't hollow, but solid, | 0:54:56 | 0:55:00 | |
making them less buoyant, | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
and allowing the bird to stay submerged for longer. | 0:55:02 | 0:55:05 | |
Does this footage tell you anything you didn't know | 0:55:09 | 0:55:11 | |
or confirm what you were thinking? | 0:55:11 | 0:55:13 | |
Well, it confirms, I mean, | 0:55:13 | 0:55:15 | |
the brilliant eyesight and the brilliant ability | 0:55:15 | 0:55:17 | |
to dive and find prey. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:19 | |
When Robin told me about trying to get it, | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
I had my doubts that he would. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:25 | |
-Sorry, Robin. -That's OK, I had my doubts, as well! | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
Well, the two of you are both incredibly good at what you do, | 0:55:29 | 0:55:32 | |
and for me, it's been such a treat. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:34 | |
-Look at that. -Just brilliant. -Yeah. | 0:55:34 | 0:55:36 | |
-Great job. -Absolutely superb. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:39 | |
But these dippers haven't revealed all their secrets just yet. | 0:55:46 | 0:55:50 | |
Early the next morning, Robin witnesses a very special moment. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:56 | |
Just starting to see the first little sign | 0:56:01 | 0:56:03 | |
of a beak at the waterfall. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
Just a little... | 0:56:05 | 0:56:06 | |
..head looking out. Just trying to gauge what... | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
..the outside world is all about, I guess. | 0:56:11 | 0:56:13 | |
So, so close, come on, you can do it. | 0:56:15 | 0:56:17 | |
Then, for the very first time in their life, | 0:56:20 | 0:56:23 | |
two brave little dipper chicks take a leap into the unknown. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:27 | |
Finally, the youngsters our dipper parents | 0:56:44 | 0:56:46 | |
have been working so hard to feed are off their hands. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:49 | |
Well, almost. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:52 | |
The chicks will rely on their parents to provide their meals | 0:56:55 | 0:56:58 | |
for another week or two, quivering their wings to beg for food. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:01 | |
And it will be another month or so before they moult | 0:57:08 | 0:57:10 | |
into their glossy waterproof adult plumage. | 0:57:10 | 0:57:13 | |
These birds have had an incredible start to their lives, | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
and within hours of fledging, | 0:57:22 | 0:57:24 | |
they are already demonstrating the delightful behaviour | 0:57:24 | 0:57:27 | |
that gives the dipper its name. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:28 | |
But despite decades of research into this signature dipping movement, | 0:57:36 | 0:57:40 | |
there is no definitive theory as to why they do it. | 0:57:40 | 0:57:43 | |
All I can say is if they didn't dip, well, | 0:57:46 | 0:57:50 | |
they wouldn't be quite the fantastic little birds they are. | 0:57:50 | 0:57:53 | |
If you'd like to explore Britain's diverse landscapes in more detail | 0:58:01 | 0:58:05 | |
and find out how to create your own wildlife habitats, | 0:58:05 | 0:58:09 | |
the Open University has produced a free booklet with bookmarks. | 0:58:09 | 0:58:12 | |
Order your copy by calling... | 0:58:14 | 0:58:15 | |
Or go to... | 0:58:19 | 0:58:21 | |
..and follow the links to the Open University. | 0:58:24 | 0:58:27 |