Episode 1 Springwatch Unsprung

They said it would never work. They said, we needed a script. They said,

we needed to be more serious. They were totally wrong. Welcome to

Unsprung. APPLAUSE

Right, what is Unsprung? Let's clarify that again. Some meem

people might not have seen. We try to answer your questions, look at

your pictures and look at dodgy videos and add in extra things as

well. Who have we in the room tonight? Let's look around. We have

a hand-picked audience. Hand-picked. This is all you could find? Best we

could do at short notice. We hope, I -- we have Charlie. There he is.

Hello, Charlie. Sorry, mate. Loving this delay. I know. There is a

little bit of a delay in sound. Delay in sound, about 10 seconds.

We also have somebody important. We have level-headed, Jo. Some people

may not know who she. Is she is a producer. We have her because she

is level-head and keeps us in order. She is the point of contact for you

out. There you can talk to her directly on the website, on the e-

mail on the twitter. All those things, Facebook. Thank you. Are

they talking to you? They are. Online already. Right. The very -

we always have a quiz. Our first quiz. Can we have these pictures,

please. I have to explain this quiz. please. I have to explain this quiz.

OK. I rather like that. It's nice. This is, actually, an animal. We

have to show you. Run a bit of film. We will show you how we have done

this. It's a King Fisher. We have taken a slice down through it. We

rotate. It by magic it turns into a kind of glamorous bar code. Yeah.

Have you nothing better to do? didn't do it, HE did it! Hello, Sam.

I know what that is. Don't show them the back. Show them around.

Now, there are some people in here who work for the RSPB. If they

don't know, you know what it is, don't you Caroline? I do. We will

not tell you what it is. That one is, a. This one, b. Oh, yes, you

see. There are some wise nodding going on., "yes, we know what that

is". This one, c. Yeah this - that one, believe it or not. I like

that. At the back. You nearly took my nose off. D, quite tricky.

Lovely. There we are. What you have to do, go on to the website now.

to the blog. Tell us what they are. They are all birds. We were going

to cheat and throw-in a butterfly, to cheat and throw-in a butterfly,

but we didn't. Please continue voting for your favourite action

picker -- picture. You can still vote. We will cut it off in a few

moments. Look at that. Beautiful. moments. Look at that. Beautiful.

High action. Can you see them audience? We will ask you as well.

Don't think you will get it easy. love that. I'm not saying anything.

There is one... What about... Chris? Say nothing. We would like

to thank Lynne Hardman, who sends us these wonderful tea cosies. We

have some more. Yes. That is for you, Kate. This came in too late

for the Christmas Special. Next Christmas. That is beautiful after

our butterfly film. Absolutely lovely. Thank you very much.

wonder if she knits anything else? Or is it just tea cosies. First

question from Zach Slater, aged 4. He says," do dung beetles eat their

own poo? Do dung beetles eat fly poo? Do dung beetles eat other dung

beetles poo? Why are you asking Chris? Zach Slater. What a top

question. I like a young man who has his nose into poo. It's

has his nose into poo. It's important stuff. To the best of my

knowledge, dung beetles use the poo of elephants and rye nos Russ. They

are all using that to feed their larvae. The one that is roll it

into a ball. A ball of that die amateur. They roll it across the

plains of Africa, away from the area where they found the poo so

they have it for themselves. They dig a hole and bury it. There is a

huge range of these things. Some of them are very small. They have very

chemical senses. As soon as the poo comes out it releases a certain set

of smells which only they can detect. A couple of hours later it

is releasing different smells which other beetles smell. A succession

of dung beetles move through the dung to use it. If they didn't do

that we would be up to here in dung. Or the people in Africa will be.

Brilliant question to start with. APPLAUSE

Very good. Here is one for everyone from skylark Sue. This is something

I wondered for years. You will answer it, be prepared. Hang on. I

need my paper for this. There are 40,000 feathers on a thrush. How

many feathers are there really on a bird? Let's take that thrush, who

think it is's 400? A show of hands? Not a single taker. One. Not just

hands, folded arms. 4,000 then? A few more takers. 40,000? How many

then? A suggestion? Silence. One of those is right. Kate, enlighten us

I had no idea how many feathers there were on a thrush. But we have

the BTO. They said that a thrush has about 3,000 feathers, but,

here's a challenge for our Unsprung viewers, no-one has actually ever

counted them. The BTO said, "if anyone would like, to please use a

dead thrush said, we would love to know the answer". I have a few

other facts. The bird with the smallest number of feathers. Anyone

want to make a guess. Don't say, a plucked chicken. The hummingbird.

He only has 9 40 Feeters. Largest number of feathers? Any ideas?

swan, with a long neck or a penguin. They have masses of tiny feathers.

Swan. Particular swan. Trumpeter swan. Whistling swan. There you go,

mostly on the neck. We like to see your videos. Marcus Lord sent us a

more peculiar crow. Have a look at this, please. He said, "we couldn't

this, please. He said, "we couldn't believe our eyes". Look. It's

having such a laugh. I love that What do you think is going on

What do you think is going on there? What is it doing? It's like

the rest of us. It sees snow and goes, "I have to roll in it".

animals appear to play. There is always a function. Is that it's

trying to bathe in the snow, wash itself. OK. We should ask Charlie.

He is always out there. What is he doing? Hello. I think it's playing.

You think it's playing. It looks very cute, doesn't it. Maybe I'm

being unscientific. Maybe it is playing. I'm sure some animals play.

We saw chuffss playing? They were learning. OK. We are having a bit

of a tawny owl, owl generally fest today. The man with the

sparrowhawks has sent us footage of tawny owls. They are doing a

beautiful love thing. Have a look at this. Tawny owl love. Isn't that

gorgeous. Ah... Are you going to tell us now that owls don't love?

Exactly. It's not unusual to be in love with anyone. I don't think

that tawny owls actually love. They are preening to seal the pair bond,

honestly. OK. Am I the old scientists in the corner? Never.

will do something we never attempted before now. We have to

shut the doors. Shut the doors and put up the blinds. OK. I will ask

everyone to be very, very quiet. This is really important. Just keep

your voice right down. OK. Have we got the blinds up? OK. You will see

why in a minute. All the doors are shut, the windows are shut. Right.

Friends, you can hear what that noise is. I said we were having an

owl fest. Friend of Unsprung come on over, Lloyd. Hi. Sit down a bit.

Are you all right there? Let me perch up here. We have seen barn

owls. Tell us about this beautiful owl. It's Johan ya. She is a tawny

owl. She is one--year-old. You have seen her before, if you remember.

We did see her before. Then she was a he. We didn't know. We didn't

know if she was male or female. We now know that Johan is Johan ya.

Why do we have to put everything up around the walls and be quiet?

her safety. A lot of owls are not particularly good at seeing glass

and windows. I want want her to think, I'll have a fly out there,

it wouldn't be a problem, it wouldn't be a problem with the

glass being there. She may not see it. It's nice abs and safe for her.

We have to be quiet? Her world, as you know, resolves -- revolves

around sound. If we want her to do something it's nice if it's quiet

for her. She lives in the wood and has to be agile as she moves

around? They are like a nocturnal gos hawk I always think. We will

spry an experiment to see how agile she is. Can I borrow you two,

please. Can you come up and stand here. Kate, if you would like,

thank you very much, if you'd like to, hang on, right, let's have a

look. What have we got here. A little bit of that. If you would

like to stand, Kate in front there, towards Lloyd. OK. Chris, stand in

position. Closer to Kate. That is it. You take over. Make a, like

this. Like the YMCA video. No. way. She is not going to fly

through here. Keep your head back. You know the call. And again.

Martin, you are so good with birds. Come on, girl. She's not going to

do it. A bit of patience. Shall we Closer, please, Martin.

Johanna. Come along. Is this the point where you tell us

Johanna. What's that? She's not Come on, darling.

Good girl! Ah, that was amazing. It worked. Thank God for that.

Shall we do it again? We can see it on the telly.

Let's sit down and watch the replay. And now we can applaud.

That was fantastic. That was a telly first. She went

going to go, was she? On next week's Unsprung we are not going to

sit and watch voles dry, are we? LAUGHTER How much longer have we

got? 12 minutes? Can we ski Tony Higgins' fly, please?

-- can we see. Tony Higgins wants to know - we've got a video of one

Chris, can you please tell us what is it? It is a bee fly, so named

because of its fluffy body. It has two wings and hairs at the back. It

has this extraordinary proboss is which it will sip nectar from

plants with deep tubes in their flowers. I saw a lot of these

insects this year on prim roses. it is a bee fly. Beautiful aren't

they? Kate, here is a question for you. Matt said I was in the sea off

the north Cornish coast today when I saw... Today? 30th May, sorry. He

saw blue jelly-like animals floating near the shore. They

looked like Portuguese man of war. Do we get them? Very occasionally

you do get Portuguese man of war in British waters, but more likely

they were blue jellyfish, beautifully named. There was a big

bloom of them off the coast of Cornwall. That's most likely what

he was looking for. But Matt, a great spot. Anyone out there going

to the beach, celebrate our jellyfish. Don't get too close.

They will sting you. It is nor like a nettle sting, it won't kill you,

like the Portuguese man of war might do a bit of harm. The British

Marine Society wants to do a survey of our jellyfish. The details are

on our website - bbc.co.uk/springwatch. Thank you.

Here is one for Charlie. Can Charlie see our videos up there? He

can. He can't? Well, I can't give him... He is saying he. This is

live telly, folks! Okay. Can we see Dr Andy Hibberd's video. It is a

hare. Charlie, try and watch this That's a hare and it has come right

up to him. OK, that's unusual. That's happened to me. I have no

idea what's going on but a hare did exactly the same thing to me once

when I was sitting on a bridge. But I don't know. Why with woo a hare

run up to you and sniff you? Probably inquisitive. The I was on

a bridge on the Somerset levels and a hare runs up and sniffs my boot.

I have no idea why. I have to apologise for the delay, I believe

I'm suffering from the same thing that Lloyd's owl is suffering from.

Just eat a vote, mate. That will perk you um. Chris? If they catch a

sight of you, they go in the opposite direction. Sometimes

people get approached by wild rabbits and unfortunately it could

be the early stages of myxomatosis, as they become a bit Dopey at that

time. Are hares affected by myxomatosis? I don't know.

Obviously the rabbit is the main host of flea which transmits the

disease. Sometimes before the symptoms develop they will come up.

I've had the same experience, sniffed by a hare. Because they've

got vision all the way round, this is my theory, they see a big leg

and think, "What's this?" The man who sent in that film was wearing

camouflage trousers. We always have a guest. We've got a very special

guest tonight. It is Ben gar odds. Ben, where are you? -- Ben Garrod.

Ben, tell us what this is, please. This is a skeleton of a kestrel

with a bluetit in its clutches. And it is a moment, Victorians used to

do it, but they were taxi determinists, with a whole animal.

It really died out and very few people work with skeletons nowadays.

It is something that I am passionate about. Is the fox there?

passionate about. Is the fox there? This is fantastic, this jumping fox.

Let's make a space for it. Mind that green fridge nest.

Wow! Look at that! Look at the cowering rat. How did it all start?

How did you start to do this? grew up in Norfolk. What a great

place to grow up, mate, in pubs. was. We had a lecturer who brought

in a sheep's skull one day. I was fascinated and two weeks later I

had a Stanley knife and a Dead Sea gull on mum's kitchen table and

that was it... As you do. What do you actually do, we've got a

videotape of you in action. Talk us through what is going on here?

Charlie, can we see this videotape, please. Here is a not very well

badger. I found a badger by the road. I picked her up, took her

home, stuck her in the shed. what happens next? I usually take

out as much as I. To see why they died, and then take as much of the

soft tissue off and get into it a skeleton. Her I left on the verge a

couple of days to loosen up a bit and stuck her in as it for a couple

of weeks. I used to use beetles. Knees are beetles that eat

everything but the bofpblt unfortunately if they escape they

eat your -- everything but the bone. Unfortunately if they escape they

eat the house. This one you discovered was shot? If fox had

been shot. There were lots of pellet marks on the skull, and it

was dumped by the road. And you had a bit of trouble on the golf

course? I did. Mum and dad run a golf course in Norfolk. A bird

watcher happened to walk through the forest, which is fair enough,

but he happened to come across the sheet covering up an 8 foot grey

seal. And he phoned the police. Five police cars turned up full of

police officers, two forensic teams and a vet. Cordoned off the golf

course on the busiest day of the year, a Championship tournament.

Nice! Were you forced to leave home? These bird bones are

incredibly fragile. This is testament to a steady hand. It is a

dying art. When you've finished them? Some I keep and some go to

educational collections - zoos, muse yuplsz, universities. There's

a couple hanging -- museums, universities. Ben, when my time

runs out. LAUGHTER We have to move on, Chris. Carry on this

conversation afterwards... Joe, which quiz shall we resolve first?

The colour scheme one. It is very popular. 850 entries so far. We can

see them being resolved. Here is the first one. This one was

a Jay. The next one, what do you reckon? Bluetit. The next one...

reckon? Bluetit. The next one... Did you get it? And the last one,

which is difficult. Tought fin. Who got it right? Zoe, Little Owl

95 and Katherine 4. We should try to resolve the vote for the

favourite photograph. Which one, please. In reverse order? The top

three. Three was bluetit. In second was

the swan. But favourite it was badger, by Tim.

Well done, Tim. The airborne badger. Swan as Tony McLean and the flu at

this time was glen Dinning. That was robbed. That was by far the

best. You can't say that! I'm sorry. They were all fabulous. We've got a

goody bag full of inexpensive items. I've got to say that. It's BBC

policy. We are going to send that off to Tim Bird, for the badger.

Charlie has been trying to tell us about these animals. If you could

reintroduce an animal to the UK, what would it be? Clearly lions,

Martin. No, I don't know. I would like to say Wolves, but maybe that

would be going a bit too far. Lynx would be good. They used to be here.

Thank you Charlie. Kate? Woolly mammoth. A sense you

believe one for you! I'm going for lynx. They were incredibly shy and

would keep the number of deer down. With Charlie on this one. I have to

tell you, I will tell you mine first of all. I would like to have

alligators. I would put them in all these ponds that Fishermen go to to

level it out a bit. It seems that we might by a miracle have a lynx

in the studio next week. Do you think we might? Look at them

looking frightened. Anyway, thank you very much for joining us today.