Episode 1 Springwatch Unsprung

programmes which start with a tango dance! So, what could it be? Only

one show does this and that is Springwatch Unsprung!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Now, there is method in our madness. Is there?

There is. That tango dance, that lady is a professor of psychology

from Cambridge, and she is here to answer one of your questions. We'll

come back to that later on. But what's Unsprung all about? It is a

show where we try to answer your questions and record your

observations. You can get in contact with us at any moment, because

level-headed Jo - can we see her? You can contact her any time you

like. If she has a really exciting question from you she is going to

ring the bell and we have to listen to what she has to say. What do you

think of my waistcoast? Very nice for a tango. It is a bit loud and

sparkly. Let us start immediately with a quiz. We have a number of

songs in this quiz. It is not a sound quiz. I'm not going to tell

you how many but every song title has an animal in its title, so

That is really hard! We thought we made them too easy, but that is

quite tough isn't it? Did anyone get any of them? It sounds like someone

retuning a radio. We'll do it once How many did you get? I got a few.I

had two I reckon. One. Good luck. It is on the web, so if you want the

listen to it again, you can listen on the web - bbc.co.uk/springwatch.

The glorious Lynne Hardman. She's excelled herself with our

Springwatch tea cosy. That is fabulous. An extraordinary song

thrush. It is a magpie, and that is not entirely unintentional, because

we have been sent a film from Sue Mayhew from near Southampton. Sue

got in contact with us because over the last couple of years she's

noticed something absolutely We have given them names. We have

Jeremy the jackdaw, Madge the magpie. We spend most of our day

looking out the window going, "There goes Jeremy... Or Madge." What we

have noticed is that Jeremy the jackdaw is actually feeding Madge,

jackdaw is actually feeding Madge, as if she were a chick in the nest.

Last year I didn't see much of them. This year, however, they are

building a nest, but we are not quite sure where and they keep

putting sticks in the beech tree and taking sticks out. I would like to

think that they were a couple, but all the times this going on there is

also this other adult magpie. Sat in the tree, not far away. He is call

called man Friday. I think Madge rather likes Manfried but I'm not

sure Jeremy does. He just enjoys himself. He is a sort of cocky young

man really, a cocky young bird, because he sits there and he puffs

out his chest and I'm sure Madge enjoys it. Jeremy is not so

flamboyant. He is quite happy to feed Madge and to help build the

nest. He obviously likes Madge quite a lot, but they do all get on

together. If you had three birds of the same species together, it would

be unusual, but to actually have two magpies and one jackdaw, it really

is strange. I would really like to know more information about this, so

I'm give giving Unsprung a little challenge: Please find out as much

as you possibly can and find out whether anybody else has seen

anything as strange as this. Absolutely bizarre. Magpies and

jackdaws making a nest together and feeding each other. Of course. We

have with us Professor Nicky Clayton.

APPLAUSE Please come round.

Nicky and Clive, the tango-dancing academics. Nicky, you are a

professor of comparative cognition, have I got that right, in the

department of psychology at Cambridge University. You've seen

that film of the magpie and the jackdaw together. What do you make

of it? We are quite fascinated by the clip. We've looked at ate

carefully and we are interested in it. In fact it is very much, it has

a lot to do with the work that we do which we called the captured

thought. The interesting thing about that clip is that its courtship

feeding. Courtship feeding?Yes. That's right, and it's the boy,

Jeremy, that's feeding the girl, Madge. In our laboratory in

Cambridge we've done quite a lot of research on this courtship feeding

or food sharing. What we've discovered in Eurasian Jays males

know what their females want. Even if it is something quite different

from what they want themselves, they know what to give the females.

the interesting thing here is these birds are different species. Yes,

that's bizarre. So there is a jack you can -- a jackdaw and a magpie

working together. We wonder whether the jackdaw thinks it is a magpie.

Why does it think it is a magpie? That's an interesting question, but

we do know of cases where eggs from the wrong species have ended up in

the wrong nest. I've seen it before with bluetits ending up in great tit

nets and vice versa and then they get confused about their identity.

So there is just a chance it might have hatched out in a magpie's nest

and thinks it is a magpie? Yes, but there is another thing that goes on

with jackdaws in particular. Because they are cavity nesters, they love

nest boxes but also tree holes had, in order to defend one of those nest

sites it takes two. One on its own doesn't stand a chance. It is

difficult enough with two, as other jackdaws come in and create havoc.

But you need two, so if you are a jackdaw on your own, better to pair

with the wrong species than not pair at all. Brilliant. And they were

good at synchronicity. That's interesting interesting. What has

tango dancing got to do with crows, please? Not a lot as a direct link,

but what we notice is that many birds dance. They do beautiful

synchronous movements. In fact the rooks in our colony in Cambridge are

fantastically synchronous in the way they move. We can see that. Here

they are. Look at that! So they are almost behaving like your tango

dance. They are having a little dance. We would say it is a

conversation without words. Amazing stuff. An avian tango. Which is what

we do. Professor, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

APPLAUSE Do you concur, Chris? I did think

about the egg in the other nest, the mistaken identity. The thing about

these birds is they don't necessarily have self awareness,

knowing what you are and what another thing is restricted to...

Well, some birds show this. Pigeons know which plumage they have, but

normally it is animals with much higher cognition that have self

awareness. But the only species to pass the mark test in birds is

magpies. That's where you put a mark on them and they identify the mark

on themselves and know that it is on them. A sense of self. We shall move

on now to frogs. Thank you very much indeed.

APPLAUSE Chris. Hello,From the sublime to

the ridiculous. Hold on... Sorry, I thought I heard a helicopter. It was

mistaken. Grace asks why do flogs have slimy smooth skin and toads

have bumpy skin? They growth through it. They exchange oxygen through

their skin. Frogs have a greater capacity to do this than toads, and

they will do it in the water, whereas toads do it on the land and

don't have that capacity to breathe through their skin. Breathing

implies they use their lungs but it is the ability to absorb oxygen

through their skin. And they are toxic aren't they? They have grand

behind their head. They have dry, watery skin, whereas -- warty skin.

And there's our toad. The latest research says the common toad may

sense chemical changes in ground water when an earthquake is about to

strike. This is latest research from 2012. We had an earthquake, did

anyone feel it last night? No!But if you had been a toad you would

have known all about it and gone. What benefit would it be for toads

to know there are earthquakes coming? To get out of the water,

mate and get to higher ground. a toad! I will pass you the paper

later. Let us bring in a beautiful little animal to be with us. Paul

earnings bring him in. -- Pauline, bring him in. I'm so desperate to

bottle feed a baby on Springwatch. This is Pauline Kidner from Secret

World. I don't think I have ever seen you when you haven't had an

animal to bottle feed. How old is this one? It is only about a week

old. And it is a little bit nervous. What's its story? He was just found

following people in a village actually. He was brought to us,

because he lost his mum. That's what they do, they follow mum around, so

he follows me around. Seeing as he is only about a week old... Come

here, you. That's a good boy. too much light Pauline? I think it

is just the excitement of everything being on. Let him go.That's better.

How much bottle feeding do you have to do at the moment? It is only four

time as day. Not too bad then.No. I'm over here! This is a fallow

deer? That's right.And that's a good thing to rescue a fallow deer

fawn, but you shouldn't be other deer should you? No, we have a roe

deer and it should never have been picked up. People don't realise it

is quite natural for them. When he is tired he goes into the long

grass. It is natural for them to be on their own. It is difficult

because a lot of people don't know the difference at this age. We can

show the difference. It is very important. What's this? This is a

much bigger red, with a shorter tail, with a calf. The youngster is

called a calf. That's your fallow and the fallow is the only one

that's called a fawn. When you come to a roe it is known as a kid. They

are all different. Let's clarify, how do people tell the difference?

Red has a short, triangular tail. That's the easiest way, as they are

all red with dots when they are tiny. The fallow has a tail which it

swishes, and the, are oe has a tiny tail but a powder puff when it is

running. What will happen to this little chap? It will go with our

roe. Although they are the same age, it is half the size. One of the

things we've been asking a lot on Springwatch is about the late

spring. How has that affected you as a rescue centre? It has affect us a

lot. Our casualties in April were 50% down. Our badgers and foxes have

been late. We've never had a winter where people are -- where animals

with coming in starving there. Has been no insects for emerging animals

and no voles. You say it has been down 50%? Down 50%.Does that mean

there's less animals around? I think because it has been so bitterly cold

that orphans have not survived, because it has been so cold. What

was noticeable is most of the things that have come into us... Come over

here! Do you want the milk?There's lots of legs isn't there?

LAUGHTER No, I think it is the fact that it has been very cold when they

emerged and they lost mum and there haven't been people out walking. It

has been very noticeable. Let's try and see, it has been very noticeable

that most of the birds that have come into us have been brought in by

farmers. That shows you that he isn't worried about being here.

Pauline, thank you very much indeed. We are going to move on to something

else that you've brought in for us. If we leave him where he is...

shall unravel this. Hello gorgeous. Look at that. This is... Ow! They

have had a really, really rough time. I find it amazing that

although they are in such decline, every year all the rescue centres

get more and more being brought in during the winter. It is almost as

if they don't go into the autumn ready to get through the winter.

Well, for Autumnwatch I made a little film about hedgehogs with

Duncan Richardson. You are prickly! I think Duncan is on the line. Can

you hear me? Yes, I can, hello Martin. Hi, I've got a hedgehog on

my lap as I'm talking to you. to hear. I know you were following

17 hedgehogs in your garden in Newport. How many of them have

turned up this spring? In the end the it turned out to be a total of

28 hedgehogs in the end. Gosh!Yes, it grew rapidly after I did my

census. So far returning we've had 15 different hedge hogs. What

percentage do you think? Are they down this year? They do seem to be

down. Most of the regulars that we have have returned. All the ones

that we saw on Autumnwatch have returned and made it through the

winter, but they've been very late coming out. I think a lot of them

have not made it through hibernation. We are probably about a

month behind in hedgehog numbers so far. OK. I know that you looked

after seven hogs in your house, little hoglets, that were

underweight. Are you able to... How have they fed? Are you returning

them to the wild now? Yes, they've all gone back to the wild. Lovely.I

have had to, the unlike last year, where they were being released in

March, I've had to wait until middle to end of April before the weather

conditions have been OK to let them go again. There's a lack of natural

food out there. They are struggling to find, as I mentioned just now,

all the right insects and stuff. They don't seem to be around.

the thought of you with your seven little hoglets. Thank you so much

for looking after them and getting them back to the wild. It is a

pleasure. Right, if you want to know how to help hedge hogs, Duncan has a

website that gives you lots of advice on how to modify your garden

for these creatures and there is advice on our website -

bbc.co.uk/springwatch. There's lots of advice there, links

on how to help these hedge hogs. I'm going to put this one back. We've

got a studio full of rather beautiful animals.

A quick reminder of that incredibly difficult quiz.

No-one's getting all of them right. One person has got up to nine right.

People are get getting Back To Black and Albatross, but it is tricky.

Pauline, are you all right for her to go now? Am. Thank you.Goodbye,

gorgeous. APPLAUSE

It is always a joy when Pauline comes up, especially as all her

animal animals are returned to the wild. You may have heard strange

sounds, car alarms going off, things like this.

That's a little bit like an ambulance. That came in from Tim in

Bristol. It keeps him awake most of the time. This is from Charlie

Kelly. Not bad is it? That's pretty good.

Incredibly, Tim Bolt's was a blackbird. That was a star laying.

They are mimicking fantastically well. Chris, why do some of our

garden birds mimic? Stashlgs are -- starlings are particularly good

mimics. There was a story of one mimicking a referee and was stop

stopping football matches. If only with had some of those in certain

England games we might have done better! Many birds mimic because

they want two things. Firstly, they can make it seem to other males that

there are more birds present in their territory. That's the first

thing. Territory is crowded. The other thing is that, to many

females, it is more attractive if your male has a greater repertoire

of songs. Some birds in the UK don't learn their songs until after

they've migrated back to Africa. When they come back here in the

springtime their mimicry includes African bird song. It can be

confusing if you are out in the reeds and you hear African bird

songs being performed by a marsh warbler that's learned them after

its migration. The more songs, the fit ter you are. Chris, you are

notorious - that isn't the right word - more analysis of people 's

photographs are sometimes overly created. You've chosen some that you

quite like? I have. These are fine photographs but these aren't the

ones that I chose. OK, here we go. This is a photograph which I think

is technically excellent. What I liked about it was the rather

artificial blue look of the water which mirrors electric blue of the

kingfisher. This high -speed photograph has all the spume, which

is attractive. This is an impressive feat of photography. Who sent it in?

Richard Rogers. I thought it was a famous architect? No, it was Richard

Schofield. This is the portrait. This is a simple photograph to take,

because it is basically just a close-up portrait of a hornet, but

it is a striking insect. By using shallow departmenth of field we can

concentrate on the head of the animal. It is extremely beautiful if

not a little menacing. Thank you Richard. Quite a good photo but

stick to the architecture. This is from Jam mrbgs mo under underscore

S. This is a Peregrine falcon food pass. Two birds are passing food in

the centre and splitting up again here. This is a multiple exposure, a

series of shots stitched together to show this food pass. That's

particularly good. Jammo underscore S. I have to resolve the quiz.A

helicopter? Has someone got them all right? No, I'm afraid not. Sorry.

No-one's beat opinion nine. That was Andy Goldsmith. What were the nine?

Goodness! Now you're asking me. In My Kitchen, Bat Out Of Hell, The

Buzzard Song, Shark In The Water, Albatross, Fox On The Run, Pigeons,

Batman, Eagle, His Eyes On The really tough. That's the hardest I

think that we've ever done. Just quickly, a lot of people are very

worried about the swallows and the martens turning up. This is from Rob

Guest. Normally at this time of year we have hundreds of house martens,

but I've seen so few of them. What's happened, Chris? There is a graph

somewhere. We spoke to our good friends and they provided us with

this information. What it shows, the red line is the typical arrival date

and numbers of each of these species. Swallows at the top. The

blue line is this year, so our swallows arrived later but they

rapidly got up to the typical numbers, that we had last year. The

house marten a different case. Arrived later but it doesn't make it

up to here yet. So there are still less house martins here than

international os and there is a second secondary peak in migration

in July. Birds will arrive in July and then nest. They can then get a

brood off in time to get back to Africa. So there is still hope.

Michaela? Someone wrote in and said, 2011, you do remember on Springwatch

the star of the show was a baby barn owl called Bob, do you remember it?

Barn owl Bob, yes. It brought together people on chat boortsdz

which supported him. After Springwatch finished Bob got his own

Facebook page and the friendship continued. We all met for a Bob fest

in Wales, at Ynis-hir. Two members of that club started to get rather

close. This is where you play the music. And they eventually fell in

lurve. They got engaged and get what happened in May? They had a baby!

And guess what they name named him... Bob. Luke! Congratulations,

that's the first real baby. Luke Morris So why didn't they call him

Bob? ! One quick... Can you hear a helicopter? They are coming aren't

they? Itchy and Scratchy, it is their birthday. Itchy and Scratchy

are his poodles, if you didn't know. We should have tried to get them in

but shall we sing happy birthday to Itchy and Scratchy? No. Thank you

very much indeed. We are slowly coming to the end of the programme.

We would like to get all of your questions, more questions, we need

more questions to try to answer. And more objects. We haven't got any