Episode 1 Springwatch Unsprung

Who's in the house tonight? We have Lloyd Buck and the incredible

raving -- waving raven. We have Kate and her amazing frocks.

We have the inkprobl brain that is Chris Packham.

Sophisticated, glamorous, it's Michaela. We also have our live

audience. And a live crew. And most important,

we have you! It must be time for the first Springwatch Unsprung of

2012. Let's go! APPLAUSE

Right, excuse me, settle down now. Was that part of the dancing over

the music? I meant to jump, but I've got a bad knee. This is

programme where we answer your questions, look at your photographs

and your videos. Straight away I have questions for you. Ready --

are you ready? Mel Jones would like to know, a few years ago when I was

living in central Britney, I heard a cook coo, it was roosting at the

edge of my rural garden. And it went cook coo, but coo-er. Cook coo

with a sor throat. They are quite versatile. They make a whole series

of different calls. We can hear it. Let's hear the cook coo first.

Do you have a bubbling cuckoo. Now perhaps shall we join them

together, male and female. Indeed. Incredible. Did you know that

cuckoos made all those noises? thought it was maybe a French

cuckoo. They have a great repertoire. Two of them together

they get excited. They droop their wings and flutter them and it's

exciting. It's years since I've seen it because cuckoos are in

serious decline. Here's another one, this is a bit gruesome, it's from

Debbie Ward on Facebook, moments after admiring the fledgling

starlings, then I heard a magpie and it pecked the head off one of

the starlings. I was hoping something would eat the remainder

of the bird, but I had to dispose of the body, not pleasant. Do paing

pies only like heads? Some birds like only selected bits? Do -- they

do. Sparrowhawks in particular, the first thing they'll eat if they've

killed the bird or even before they finish killing it, they bite off

the top of the head and eat the brain, if they're disturbed and

don't eat anything else, it's one way to identify the bird that's

handled the corpse. You can be a detective by telling what bit has

been eaten. I am regularly a corpse detective. I keep a few in my

freezer in case I'm bored. Shall we dot quiz, take over and do the quiz.

The quiz is fantastic. It's all to do with fashion. Now take a look,

hello level headed Jo, she's here. Give her a round of applause.

APPLAUSE Thank you. Behind level headed Jo,

we have this beautiful dress. This dress has been inspired by wildlife.

Audience, any guesses? Don't be shy. Did I hear someone say a

Kingfisher? Yes! It's a Kingfisher. It's absolutely stunning. But the

quiz is, what inspires these dresses: this is the first one.

dresses: this is the first one. It's a medieval looking number

there. It's gorgeous. B, this orange number. What animal do you

think inspired this dress? And C is our live model, here she is. Amy

Hemmingway looking very gorgeous there. We want to know what

inspired these three dresses and we will let you know a bit later on.

Send in your answers to level headed Jo on the blog. And the

answers will be revealed by the person who created these dresses,

which is Kate, who's in the audience.

APPLAUSE It's a good quiz. Actually, is it

hard? Tricky? It's very tricky. I think I might have one of them. I'm

not going to say anything. On we go, here's an interesting one, this is

about a bee swarm from Mandy F1968 on flicker, over the last three

days I've had a swarm of bees under my chimney. Last night was cold.

Some of them are dying on the patio. I posted photos. What's going on.

Where are the photos? Am I holding them up? Oh, they're on the thing,

there they are. Another one. She says is this usual? Can you tell us

what is going on? Sometimes the Queen will move from the hive.

Sometimes another Queen will emerge from the hive and move some of the

workers with her. That's something that's quite typical as far as I'm

aware. I'm in the a great expert on domestic honeybees. But I had a

swarm that came out of a nest at my house last year. Having seen those

photographs as people wearing them as beards and things, I plucked up

the courage to go out and stick my hand into the heart of them, and

they did nothing at all. It was cool inside. Amazing. That is

amazing. I didn't know you were going to say that because I've

lined something up. Let us watch what he's just described. This is

my friend Steve Leonard doing what That isn't as brave as you think,

it is a queen, the swarm surround the queen, she's looking for a new

place to form a colony. The scouts are looking everywhere. They come

back and they tell the rest of the hive, the rest of the colony that

they've found a good place. The key thing is they've got nothing to

defend. There's no honey. There's no babies. There's no Harvey,

nothing. They're very docile. If you want to you can put your hands

in. There's no point in attacking if you have nothing to defend.

Could you please have a lock at that, it's a bit smelly. Tell us

what it is. It does smell a bit I'm sorry. Shall I get it out? Yes.

It's sent to us by Peter and his you know what it is? They're

slipper limb pets. They smell very mariney. What's happening is

they're changing sex. We're watching a sex change in action.

The animals at the bottom as I recall, are the male... The female

on the bottom. That's correct, they grow and grow, others attach at the

top. The bigger they get they will become the females to produce the

eggs. You get this kolum of limpets. The biggest at the about the om are

females. As they move down the kolum, they change from one set to

another. That's right. How does he know this stuff? When the female

gets too old, the male above takes 60 days, she dies and the male

changes into a female. That's extraordinary. I found that quite

coning. -- confusing. We've been sent an extraordinary picture by

Bob Sharples. Oh, it's in my notes apparently. Look at that, Can you

see that? It is a raven and in its mouth, it's carrying an entire

rabbit. That gives you an idea of just how big ravens are. We can get

a better idea of that because we've got one. Please Lloyd bring on Bran.

How is she? All right, very well. Where would you like to sit? Take

my chair. No, I'll put him in from this end. Let's see just how smart

Bran is, we hope. We hope. What do you call him? The great Ravenello.

He has to find the food. He's done this one before. He's done this ten

times. He's not keen. There's a good boy. I think it's the screen.

I need to help him out by ate by moving this from the TV. He's not

too keen on the screen. Can I put it on the ground? For some reason

he's taken a dislike to the screen. Now do you know what to do. Now he

should do it. There he goes. There is food in there. He's now trying

to work out how to get it out. What's going on. There's a

distraction. There's a good boy. See him looking.

APPLAUSE Shall we risk it, trying him on one

he's never seen before. We can do. It only took him 30 seconds to work

that out from never seeing it before. But this is something he's

never seen, OK. There's a good boy. We can put it on the ground. I will

distract him. Where is the other one? Blimey, here we go. There's a

good boy. What's in there? He has to work out how to get in? He's

never seen that before. No, so that's a big risk and there's lots

of distractions in here. What's this? There's a good boy. What's

that? He's a bit jumping Jack, it's probably because it's wobbling a

bit on the ground. Ah, yes, that's why. It's moving. That's it. Come

on lad. Go on then. That's better. There is a weak point to get in and

it looks like, now he has... can't believe it. Wow. He's got to

think, is it safe to put his head in? He's never seen this before. Do

you know what to do. Go on. Go on. Because it's new and he doesn't

know if it's a trap. He's just checking it out. I'll see if I can

help him out a little. There's a good boy, what have I got. What's

there. CHEERING

What a bird. He wants to share it with you Chris. How extraordinary.

They've done experiments where they've reared ravens from eggs and

in the absence of adults and other raven chicks, they put them in so

they don't have any experience like this and they've had a piece of

string hanging from a branch and they have gone along and lifted it

up, put their foot on it and got the meat. It's innate intelligence.

He's obviously an older birds and he's been trying all sorts of

trials and learning all sorts of tricks. As soon as they come from

the egg, they have innate intelligence. We're learn soing

much more, you know they're no longer bird brains. I have to say,

I thought you did a great effort to continue that while everyone was

giggling. Take us to junior school, LothesDale primary school have sent

as you can see, loads of them here. The first one is, "How long will it

take for the chicks to fly?" I should explain they have put nest

boxes up in their school with cameras, and they have had some

blue tits in. "There are nine eggs in the nest. We know how many there

are because we have a camera in there, so how long will it take for

the chicks to fly?"? From hatching, it will depend on how wet it is,

but somewhere between 14 and 18 days will be average. They all tend

to hang on. They want to get out at the same time so when parents come

back, we find them all together. If you're lucky, you see them popping

out one after the other. Make sure they have somewhere to perch

outside so they can land safely. That's from Alys, aged eight. She

sent that a couple of days ago. She might have seen them already. Look

at the writing. I don't know if you can see that - that's so sweet. It

had to have a little bit of adult writing at the bottom, and it says,

"Will the mummy carry water in her beak to the babies?" that's from

Ellis. That's very interesting because we did that in the main

programme, didn't we? We did, but they don't require any water

because the caterpillars are so full of water - I should imagine

75-80% of moisture, and they get all the water from those

caterpillars. Another question, Michaela? Another from Ed Wood.

you see how he wrote it? He spelled "grow" - "groa" - he's only little.

How do the eggs crack? They grow a tooth on top of the beak. Sometimes

it falls off, sometimes it absorbs. They have a special pipping muscle

which runs from the neck all the way down the back. They're able to

contract this muscle which makes them tense up inside the egg, and

it is that that helps them crack. They have what's called a pipping

muscle to give them superstrength to get out of that eggshell. What's

fantastic is if you think about an arch or a bridge, you squeeze it,

and you can't break it, but if you're pushing from inside, it's

slightly easier to get out. A bit of biology. Shall we recap the quiz,

Michaela? A fantastic quiz, which was, what has inspired these

dresss? Just to remind you, the dress at the back, we know the

answer to that one. Shout it out, audience. Kingfisher. The lady who

made that dress, Kate Plumtree - here she is - was unspired by a

kingfisher to make that dress, but what was she inspired by to make

this dress, this rather medieval- looking number - that's A, this

dress, B, the orange one, and C, the one worn by our model - let us

know what you think. Get on to the website and give us your answers.

Have there been any right answers? A few. Has anyone got it right?

someone suspiciously called Chris Packham - secretly on your laptop!

Some people have managed to get them right? Yes. Nice one. We'll

reveal all a little bit later on. Right. We do love your videos, and

very kindly, you have cement us a couple. Let's have a look at this

one from Lucy Boynton. This is a very, very strange-looking thing.

I have never seen anything like Michaela, do you know what that is?

Yes, I do, actually. I do. Do you know why I know? Because we asked

somebody else. I actually have into idea what that

is, but the information from the Marine Conservation Society says

it's an Akira Bola ta. Who has heard of one of those? I know what

it is but I have never heard of that particular species. They come

in a range of colour. Apparently it's a darker move. The Marine

Conservation Society says they get a lot of reports at this time of

year. They seem to be quite active. It's not a jellyfish, but it's a

species of shelled sea slgu. Try saying that. Shelled sea slug,

shelled sea slug! Not sure what it's doing - possibly reproducing.

They said at the Society a lot of people there had never seen it

before, and they thought that footage was absolutely fantastic.

Lucy Boynton, thank you very much indeed. That's another first. Here

is a slightly curious one. I won't give it away. Peter Bell has sent

Us this lovely footage of a little blue tit in its nest. Oh, look.

It's probably a little chick, isn't it? It's going to make its first

little flight. It's just going to - LAUGHTER

Oh, no! Can we see that again? Oh. That's terrible! Now, magpies have

got a pretty bad made, but let's face it... Woodpeckers do a lot of

predation, to be honest with you. Sometimes they open nest holes.

That's why we put metal guards over the nest hole. Sometimes they're

not defeated by that because they'll listen for where the chicks

are and hammer a hole at nest level and get in and pinch them.

Woodpeckers have increased a lot - 161% in the last 25 years. We think

they might be exacting a lot of pressure in the wild by eating

young birds, particularly the young of spotted woodpeckers, which have

gone into decline. We're not sure about that. They don't exist, the

spotted woodpeckers. Now, another question on buzzards - I can't find

it. I have lost it. Anyway, this chap - Simon Hill on the blog - he

says he saw up to 60 buzzards all in one place over a hill together.

Now, have you ever seen anything like that, Chris? In winter, large

number, not at this time of year, though. If you talk about it, I'll

try and find it. I think in winter you an unsee buzzard, and they'll

aGregg ate into fields where they're going worming. I have seen

20-25 buzzards just off the A36 all in one field wandering around lax

daysically picking up worms. If lots of worms come to the surface

of a field, they'll aggregate there. They'll disperse themselves out. I

can't see it at this time of year. On the 19th of May. I found it now.

Maybe it was a buzzard fest on. LAUGHTER

I have seen 32 above a field, and I have never had a good explanation.

Even the BTO couldn't give a clear explanation. So did you out there

think you know why buzzards gather together in such numbers in May,

please let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We never do gist to

the photos you send in, but here is our little homage to some of the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 54 seconds

extraordinary pictures you have pictures. Thank you. Please keep

them coming in. Michaela, time to reveal the quiz, I think.

Absolutely. Here we go. I think this is a really special quiz. This

is the woman who made the dresses. You're incredibly clever. Thank you.

So are you. Mutual appreciation. So if we come this way, what is this

dress? What was your inspiration? This was inspired by the golden

eagle, and I wanted to give the impression of it being very sleek

and streamlined, the flight - but also show a bit of shagginess about

it. I have worked in he isian, which is an incredibly versatile

fabric, because not only can it be sculptural, you can rip into it,

tear into it and create Textural effects with it. It also has a very

long train to highlight the imagine industry of the bird. This is part

of my Born to Be Wild Exhibition. It is a collection, of which each

has been inspired by a different bird or mammal. Let me ask the

audience - what did you think it was? You didn't have a clue! Before

you tell me, what do you think B was inspired by? Red squirrel?

Were any of them right, Kate? have been the fox, yes. I wanted to

get across the impression of the foxes - the kind of urban fox,

really, so although, you know, it's obviously seen in amongst the

countryside, it also goes into urban territory, so it starts to...

Yeah, the colour gave that away a little bit. Let's go to our live

model, Amy. What do you think that is? A raven? A crow? No. Look at

the gossamer-like bottom of the dress. Give us the answer. It's a

Pippa-industrialed bat. How long does it take to make these? A

Roughly to completion, three weeks. That's putting in a lot of hours.

How many have you done? 17. What's the most unusual? That's a good

question. The jay! The jay is bizarre. That's inspired by a '60s

dress. They're all inspired by different periods of fashion. You

have crinoline here. The jay is inspired by the dresses of Pacco

Rabanne. It's made of little plastic circles that I have put

laminated fabric and cut the circles and linked them together. I

have used the abstract patterns of the jay, a little bit like part of

what was going on in the '60s. I combined different things together.

If I am going out tonight, could I borrow one?Ing You can. I think you

would look fantastic in the kingfisher. I thought I would see

if I could get it on before the show, but there wasn't enough time.

Actually, there is a link between you two in your distant past.

only found this out. When I was 16, I was in a band in Surrey, and when

I left the band, guess who took my place! Tah-dah! Seriously!

Can you tell us, who got it right? Quite a few. Jackie and Ann were

amongst the first. Fantastic. We're running out of stuff now. Quickly,

Chris, we have had another question - Ronna on Twitter - "Can birds

taste?" Yes, they must be able to because they make selective choices,

particularly those birds tunnelling down into the mud. I should imagine

they make a choice. What's the point of ladybirds if they can't

taste? If they picked them up and tasted awful, they wouldn't do it

again, would they? As ever, he has the answer. How much longer do we

have to go? 30 seconds. Quickly, Lynne Hardman has sent us our

traditional tea cosy. But where is the teapot to put it on? That's

what I want to know. Oh, here it is. Hey! Thank you very much, Lynne.

Oh. Never mind. We'll do that - thank you very much indeed. Please