Episode 8 Springwatch Unsprung

Hello! We have got a big show for you tonight. We have got big bugs,

big beatle, big stars, big love and we've even thrown in a live

Peregrine Fal son. -- a live peregrine falcon. What could

possibly go wrong? This is Springwatch Unsprung.

CHEERING Did I mention we've also got a very

big and noisy audience? Let's get straight down the business. I'm

going to sit down, because it is very exciting. You've been sending

in lots of really brilliant stuff. Great photographs, great questions,

and also some great pictures with some fantastic animal behaviour in

them. This is surprising predations. This is from Lou Warrington. A grey

herring eating a duckling. This looks pretty brutal but it's not

that surprising, because grey herons don't just eat fish. I've seen them

eating rats and mice in fields. A duckling is just a parcel of protein

for herons. I've seen mallards feeting on birds -- feasting on

birds underneath bird tables, it is a bird eat bird world. This is a

great photograph. This is a great tit feeding on a long-tailed tit. It

is quite brutal to look at, but it is targeting the headfirst. It looks

horrible to us but the head has the brain in it. It is full of goodness

and lots of birds will start on the head. We asked some of our

colleagues and friends at the RSPB if they had seen anything like this.

They did point us towards a study done in Hungary. Just have a little

look at some of the footage they've gathered. This is a great tit

feeding on a bat. This is a dead bat. These great tits are

Presidentating roosting bats. The bats are completely vulnerable and

the great tits have taken them as parcels of protein. They found when

they fed the great tits regular food like seeds and the rest of it, they

stopped Presidentating the bats. This is op tensedic. They will take

anything as long as they can overcome it and take it into their

beak. Wild photo fails. Some are so good,

or bad, they are rather brilliant. Have you seen some of these? It is a

genius idea. Who came up with that one? I wish it was me, but it was

the more than capable Laura. This is Richard Clarke's photo fail. Oh, for

goodness sake. Didn't notice its head was missing! Where is its head?

Most people take a photo and look at it afterwards, because we have

digital these days. That is wonderful. It is not very wild

though. No, well observed. Another one Laura? This is a white stork, in

brackets, near. I quite like that. It is quite arty. I bet you were

gutted when you looked at your camera after that one. That's

brilliant. We've been bin undated with your photo fails. We love them,

so keep them coming in. We thought we would do in an old-fashioned

style, a little gallery of some of your best, or worst, efforts. I

would like to point out that the people holding these images aren't

responsible for them. This one is really good. I can't even see the

animal in it. There's two in you look carefully, a rabbit or a

pheasant, or a blackbird, who knows? Another photo-bombing goose. This is

a favourite, look at that. A crab swallow. A good fail. Oh, we might

recognise the name on this one. This is the well known Russell Savoury. A

picture of a bungee jumping little owl without a bungee. It is not even

in focus! One of the my favourites, I don't know what that is.

This one's great. I like the one with the bricks. Can't work out if

he is taking a picture of his brickwork, or that bumblebee. Well

done What's the world-famous Chris Packham doing? Here's a picture I

took of a cheetah in the grass. What I hadn't accounted for is the grass

was the same height as the cheetah. So I built my own mound. You have to

control the situation. This might look like a photo fail, but I did

this deliberately. LAUGHTER I quite like that. I've

used a flash for the orange colour. You can see what birds they are?

Woodcock. Starling, mate. Maybe it was a fail after all. Brilliant.

That's very brave of you to share those with us. It makes everyone

feel better if the great Chris Packham has pictures like that in

his collection. If you want to send in your wild photo fails, go to the

website - bbc.co.uk/springwatch. You can get us on Twitter and Facebook.

This morning I went to, I got very excite, because I heard there was

another creature here at RSPB Minsmere, a creature I've never

seen, so this morning I snuck off to the local pond and found one. If you

want to see wildlife quickly, you can do a lot worse than going pond

dipping. I prefer to call it pond exploration. All you need is a net,

preferably a good one but a rubbish one will do. And a white tray. You

can get them from catering suppliers. And then it's just a case

of getting stuck in. Invert the contents of your net into

the white tray. This is the best way of seeing a huge variety of wildlife

quickly. All these weird and wonderful creatures appear. Some

have big eyes, some have monstrous jaws. Some are so strange you can't

tell which end is which. This pond is special, because there's an

animal I've never seen in the UK. It is the second largest beating in

this country. -- beatle in this country. That there is the egg case

of the animal I'm looking form. It is an egg case, laid on the surface

of the importanceding close to the -- surface of the importanceding

close to the water. It is -- surface of the pond. Close to the surface.

How am I doing for time? That's pretty good. I think between 30 and

40 minutes into my lunch break and I've got one. Look at this. It's

great. I have to be careful because per spike perspiky. - they are

spiky. I'm pleased I found them. What a brilliant end to the week.

The only thing I really want to see is this animal underneath, in its

own element. To do that I have to take this guy back to our

macrophotographers to see if we can get the true essence of the silver

water beatle on craft. How was that?!

APPLAUSE We have got it here in the studio. Have you ever seen a

creature as beautiful as, that Chris? I've never seen one of which

these species. These are the robo-Beatles of the pond. Beautiful.

There's something about them. This made my day. This is why we knew

they were there. Our resident naturalist tipped me off. That is

the actual egg case of a silver beatle. It is like a praying mantis,

spongy. And they breathe through that snorkel? Do they bite? They

will eat snails and vegetation. It is more the spikes on the legs and

the thorax. Sometimes when you are in the water in your pants, you get

in this your pants, they will be getting, biting you. Is they were

7-9 cm long. They are huge. If that enthusiastic outburst hasn't sold

you this as the bug of the day, have a look at what Ryan managed to get.

That's why they are called the great silver beetle, because they are big.

The silver is the layer of hair. You can almost see him breathe prog from

the breathing holes underneath. Aren't they great? Well done, Ryan.

He didn't have long to knock these together. Starship Troop teres, do

you remember the bugs? Sucking the brains out of people. Yes!

Brilliant. That for me, I'm going to be self indulgent, that is my bug of

the day. It is, but hang on, there's another contender here. John has

taken a photograph. Look at this. This is the muslin moth. Are

telealways black and white like that? No they are not. That's a

bilateral gynandromorph. It has lots of names. Sit half lady and half

man? If you are getting kwurfgsd look at the antennae. The boy has

this -- if you are getting the confused, look at the antennae.

John, enough very much. There's an Indian God that's half male and half

female as well. : Culture in Unsprung. If you can get this animal

out. This letter says dear Springwatch, nigh name is Laila and

imwant to give you this. I found this insect outside my pond. I hope

you will show it on your programme. I'm a great fan. Yours sincerely

Laila Moore. It is very fine. However, it is not a brown Hawker.

It is fine. Dragon flies are incredibly confusing. We've had

everyone trying to look at this one. This one is old and faded, so it is

difficult. Its wings aren't brown. Fit was a brown Hawker it what have

a brown staining. We've got Norfolk Hawker and migrant Hawker. We think

it might be migrant. It's faded, so it is difficult to say. Before we

move on from Laila's wonderful letter, there is a PS at the bottom.

The bitterns are great. She hadn't seen the great silver water beetle

at this point. Which one should be the bug of the day? We are going to

open it to the clapometer. If you think the moth is the bug of the

day, cheer... CHEERING What about the migrant

Hawker? APPLAUSE And what about the great

silver water beetle? APPLAUSE Oh, well, with I think our

clapometer's got stuck. I'm going to put them in as all bugs of the day.

Right you may have noticed that there are fantastic sculptures

hanging around the studio. There is a wonderful dragonfly. Not sure what

kind of a hawker that is. If you are an arack nar phobe, you may not wish

to look the scene. And here, they are amazing. All made

of wood by Alex Jones. Welcome to the studio Alex.

Now, I, when I first saw these earlier, I was gobsmacked. I was

standing behind a fantastic dandelion as well, look at that. All

made of wood? Yes. Why these creatures? I don't think

that they get enough press. We have seen the carvings of fluffy rabbits

but these are beautiful. These are the beasts, the dragons of now, if

you make them big enough, that is what they become.

I definitely think so. How long does it take to make something like this?

I definitely think so. How long does Like the long horned beetle? It

takes months. We go right down to the original speaks mens and have a

proper look. It can take up to a year.

Wow! I love them. Now we have questions from the

audience. One from Karen. She says, how long does the sculptures take to

produce, sorry, I have done that one. What about this one, what do

you use for inspiration? I have not grown up basically. I am still a

kid. I love insects. I tap into that.

You have a good story about the house spider? Yes, I caught one and

kept him as a pet for a couple of months. Just as I finished he died,

so maybe a part of his spirit is in there.

Oh, no! But look at that, fabulous. And this is how they look. If you

have gotten down on your hands and niece and gotten to look at a spider

have gotten down on your hands and but that is exactly right it is spot

on, biological, accurate, everything. We love them. Great,

great stuff. One more here: Do you use a speaksic kind of wood? All

types. Traditional woods. They carve well. I like to ground it in

traditional stuff and then do the weird stuff with it.

Talking about weird stuff, you do this with wood, it is a task, what

are you doing? One of the things that I use, with the heligon beetle,

the oak is darkened. I don't use paint but an ebonizing process. It

is a mixture of wire wool and vinegar. When you paint it on to the

oak it goes dark in front of your eyes.

That is lovely. Well, you are a man of your words?

Absolutely. Well, here we go.

The first time we are ebonizing live.

You are trying to cover the whole leg. It will be smelly. That is OK,

they are often smelly. Do I stir it up? Just go straight in. Oh, it is

pecuniary. When ebony ran out, they found out a way of turning the oak

black. That is a reaction with the tannin. It is the iron turning it

black. It does that. If you build something out of oak it has black

stains on it is that when it is going on this process? Yes, and

especially with nails. It is ebonizing. Look at that. Will it

stain me? No. You need to go right up there. Alex, you are not pulling

my leg? I will go black, won't I? Well from two men brilliant with

their hands to another one, Euan. From stunning artwork in the studio

to amazing sculptures on the marsh, look at that. That is brilliant. I

am proud of it. Not Alex' standards but I am proud of this. And I have

Nigel, one of the team responsible for putting the cameras out on the

marsh. Somewhere out there is one camera and the bittern's nest.

That was the dream one to get. It was the top of the list. We got it.

That is why the whole team are here? It is. We had a dream list, we got

the bittern and the marsh area. We got the bittern.

You must be chuffed? It is fantastic. A dream come true to get

the bittern. It has really captured the attention

of people. To get the shot, to see the scenes that nobody has seen

before. It must be great. Is it a sense of relief or pleasure?

Initially it is relief. You build it up so much and put all of the effort

and energy into it, the bird accepting the camera is a relief.

After a few days you enjoy it and enjoy the revelations that we get

watching that nest. The potential for it to go wrong is

high. Putting the camera in the wrong nest, you don't know that they

will go for it? That nest was found with eggs. It was found with the

help of the RSPB, they were watching. So we knew there was a

nest with eggs in it. How did you get the camera in there?

You get pretty scratched up. It is a painful business.

Lorraine says how much time and people are involved in getting the

cameras out there? It is weeks and months of planning. Then a team of

five of us on site with the cameras and then we rely on the help with

the local RSPB, a huge amount of investment and time.

So, from the marsh here down to your madness in the studio.

Madness for sure. There is a lot of giggling here,

what is happening? Well, you had Best Bug and I have T-shirt titters.

I was subtle, you clearly were not. But I think this is beautiful. Which

one do you like the best? Mine! Thank you very much.

I told you anything can happen. No idea what is going on now! Right, we

have had loads of questions from you. Absolutely loads of questions.

What we, well, we feel we are getting behind. So a quick-fire

round now. To get through as many questions as possible. I may have to

throw them out to you. I don't always know the answers.

Do hedgehogs lose their spines? Yes. They malt them like hair.

Urban fox is burying a chicken's eggs, why do it? Why not eat them?

It is storing them up. I had a fox last year, I had a nest,

the foxes ate the babies, then I noticed a little egg. I excavated it

and the fox had buried it under the nest.

That is sad but not a question! How do we attract foxes to the garden

without getting them into trouble? Feed them at the bottom end of the

garden as far from the house as possible. You can enjoy them but

they don't associate you with the food. Whilst you may want to enjoy

them, the neighbours may not want to. So do this strictly and feed

them every night. Do build up dependency. Feed them I regularly so

they come opportunistally. So a top tip.

Responsible fox feeding. Where do articlings nest? We see

them in thousands in the winter, where are they now? They like

woodpecker holes, or under the eves. Thank you very much.

That is a few out of the way. Thank you very much.

Now we have a peregrine picture here. It is from Tom Harris. He has

beaten himself up about this, as he feels he failed to get the falcon or

the prey in focus. I would not worry about it. Very few people get fall

cans in this kind of pose as they are very, very fast.

Now, I did promise a peregrine falcon but it seem it is is not

here. But it does not matter as we have lots of peregrine questions.

They have been sent in from you. We are going to answer them. The first

from Paul Thompson, have the peregrines recovered from the '60s

after the problems with DTT? The answer is that they were down to 62

pairs, now they are up higher. I think the last sensus was something

like 1,500 pairs, so bouncing back to pre-DDT levels.

And one from Harry, how long do they live... I can't answer that. What is

the top speed, we know that one, we think, it can be up to 200 miles and

plus if they are going good guns. Now, we have a very special question

from the floor... Yes, I have a question. Is it a myth that the

peregrine falcon can actually kill a bird, break its neck on the wing? It

is not a myth. No. They are incredibly fast. Amazingly fast

animals and of course they are chunky. So a female per screen a

big, big bird. I have heard of peregrines taking out herons. A

female peregrine can weigh the same. So it is not surprising.

If it is plummeting at anything -- 200 miles an hour, you can throw

anything, and in case you recognise that voice... Do you recognise that

voice? If you were a fan of the Archers, you will know Trevor as...

Eddie Grundy. This is our surprise guest that our audience did not

know! So good! Welcome. Welcome. One of the things I wanted to ask

you, thank you very much for coming here but the sound effects on the

Archers seemed so accurate. Lots of good stuff. We have a little

recording of a clip of the Archers. That's right.

Imagine that a lot of effort went into getting the sound right? On the

radio sound is very important. In the radio studio we have a radio

script saying if my character were washing my hands, I am holding the

script, so I can't do it but we have lovely people, spot effect people

washing my hands while I'm reading. So they are almost the actor's hands

and feet. And wildlife, of course. Where we are today. A wonderful day.

You will be pleased to know we record the birds for example, the

bird song all through the seasons. So if someone was listening to the

Archers tonight. I hoped you were. If there was a bird song in the

background it would be the birds singing on June 5th here.

I will listen more carefully now. A big round of applause. Thank you

very much for coming in. Now we have got some captions. I

can't remember asking for them. But we asked on the web for captions to

go with the photos. We have one from Luke R, gg which is just:

Springbotch. And one from Tim who says: I could rescue this with

Photoshop but I'm not a cheetah! Very good.

And from Keith in the audience: Blurs of a feather. Very, very good.

So, do we have time for anymore questions? Not sure you do.

We could do a quick one. Do female cuckoos only lay eggs in the species

that they were brought up by? The answer is yes. Thank you very much

that was great. Right, well, I think that is all we

have time for. I told you anything can happen it

really has. And we are back Monday. BBC Two, 8.00pm. And the red button

continues throughout the weekend. BBC Two, 8.00pm. And the red button

continues throughout the Keep an eye on the cameras. We will be. We will

see you the same time on Monday. See you on Monday. Goodbye.