Episode 12 Springwatch Unsprung

Thank you very much indeed. Thank you very much. Hello and welcome to

Springwatch Unsprung. I'm Chris pack ha. You have before you a fine

Suffolk audience with smiles on their faces because the downpour has

stopped and the sun has come out! CHEER

Just about. But it had has been raining a lot today. Now that's not

too much trouble for us or our wildlife either.

# I'm singing in the rain # Just singing in the rain

# what a glorious feeling # I'm happy again

# I'm laughing at clouds # So dark up above

# the sun's in my heart # And I'm ready for love

# Come on with the rain # I've a smile on my face

# I walk down the lane # With happy refrain

# Singing, just singing in the rain#

We will crack on tonight in honour of our first guest. You see n 2002

she was treading out quite a fast 400 m, but then she fell for a bloke

called skeleton Bob and after an eight-year relationship which went

very fast downhill shee, scored the first Olympic gold in the Winter

Olympics for 30 years for a British person. She is also into wildlife.

Amy Williams is with us tonight! Thank you very much, Amy. Thank you

for coming in. My second guest is part of a new

guild of nature writers that are reinventing this art and sticking it

forward for the Britons as well proximity dues regular markable

stuff. Her first novel -- producing remarkable stuff. Her first novel

was award winning and her second one was in the summer reading list. Now

she has turned her laptop to a subjected on our minds, if not on

our minds, dripping down our neck, Melissa Harrison has written about

rain. Thank you for coming in. We will catch up with you shoredly.

Lyndsey. ! We have had every weather we could possibly have had today.

The camp is sodden but the sun has come out. The wellies are off

trainers are on. We have had a good day. Philip, on my computer, he has

been to Minsmere and saw a by the earn within 20 feet. Good going

today. Our live-cam radios have had a brilliant today and a lot of

interest from a clip from last night's Springwatch. If you missed

it, here is what happened... Yes this is our bullfinch nest. We are

filming this at night. It is in total darkness. The finch is

sleeping away, but a wood mouse has come up to sniff around, has a

nibble at the bird's tail. It gets away with but doesn't get away with

nibbling at the break. We postulated the wood mouse was after eating the

young as they will do That interesting. We had so muchp sent N

we saw this piece of footage, which is similar. Look at this. OK, a

magpie and a fox. And then... . That old country sport - peck the fox on

the bum. Not many practitioners these days. You need a fox and

magpie. We have two scavenging animals that know about each other.

The fox is ignoring the magpie because it has nothing to prove and

the magpie is cautious of the fox, I admire his gusto. I do. In my peaky

blinder's section I was trying to sneak this in. Look at this,

brilliant. A fly in a conservatory roof.

Hello. I like that. Here I am! Look at this one, fierce. Yes, very

glowing of a little owl, the shadow on the left... And spot peaky

blinder in this one. Can anyone spot it at home. Let's get a close up

there. It is. A husband sparrow s it peaking over

a wall? Yes. . It is peeking so hard you have to peek to see

T We sent set you a quiz in unsprung.

This week, it is set but a group of young naturalists. Look at this.

Wetter RSPB Minsmere young wardens, this is our quiz. This poo is

floppy, dark and colour. Who's is that?

Nice floopy poo, it is what we want. It is a pity the viewers at home

can't smell T so much of the clue is in the smell Our young detectives

keeping you businessy. Spend your answers using the hashtag

#springwatch. I'm watching all the time. The links are on our website.

Because we have Amy in, I thought we'd look at some photographs of

animals attempting skeleton racial. I can't disappoint. There are a few.

Look at this. This is an incoming blue tit. It is. Which is brilliant

And this white throat has been practising his technique. Look at

that. What do you think, Amy? Good streamline there, I like that.

So, keep sending them n thank you very much. Amy I will come over to

you. APPLAUSE

Well, the 400 m, it was going well but you weren't getting in the team

No. How do you get into a tea tray with rails on. We are in a country

without snow, we don't do winter sports, normally No, I grew with up

a garden that was very steep. We used to get bin bags and when it was

snowy off we go and in Bath we have a skeleton start track. I took

myself one day and this is' where I would practise the sprint start,

where you are pushing it and then I went out and had a go on the ice.

Look at that. Eight years later, you got the Olympic gold? Yes, a pretty

fast track in that sense but we would spend six months of the year

in the cold, around the world, competing and training. You couldn't

bring skeleton bob with you, Arthur, we called him Arthur, what happened

to him? He has kind of been pulled apart. I have the belly pan and

runners and saddle. An amount of him. Great photography. A very good

photography. That's good apart from the guy in dark clothing. If he was

in red that would be absolutely super. Amazing stuff. Aside from

skeleton bob and speeding downhill you are into wildlife as W As well.

What are you into? My family, we have brought up, outside. This was

my great spotted wood pecker I saw T I had to zoom in a lot. I'll refrain

from offering a critique of that foe. In a really restrained fashion.

It is not the best quality. On my phone. Good bird, though. We haven't

have a TV growing up my family, we were always outside in the garden,

country walks with my dad. So many guests have come in and talked about

when they were kids and talked about they and we were outside. The

audience agree it is a shame the kids aren't outside. You have been

outside today. You have picked the right day for T make sure you are

outside tomorrow, on a bin bag, going down a steep slope. I'm always

in the garden, always looking out at birds. I have noticed there are more

bees night. ' A honey monster. I'm into making sure I have all the

flowers to make sure the bees are kept happy and spotting. My grandpa

was a massive kingfisher fan, we were always trying to spot them when

we went for walks and grey tits, blue tit, chaffinches, whatever.

There is one bird in your garden you have struggled to identify not

because you can't see it, you can hear it. Yes, the owl. I have heard

t I have never spotted T it is always at 10.00 at night, I can hear

it through my bedroom window. I aim to please. We have three calls of

owls, the most likely you will hear in the UK. We'll play T see if you

can match the sound you hear with the owls. -- we'll play it.

Here is the first one. BARN OWL

CALL NEXT UP.

NO. Little owl call

No. The last one. That's my owl. That's most people's owl. That's

tawny owl. The commonest species we have in the UK. A widespread

distribution just about from the south to the entire north. Also very

common in towns. It'll come into towns, nest in parks or even in

buildings. Feeds on birds as well as mammals. I was going to say what can

I leave out that it might come more? I met a bloke who used to feed the

owls in his garden, he used to feed day-old chicks. You would have to

get yourself a freezer, order dead chickens, defrost them, he had a

pulley system. He put them up, to the velux window. So if you within

the to go to that trouble I'll let it the be. -- so if you want to go.

So when you were speeding down, what was your terminal velocity? 92 miles

per hour. On a detray. Amy, come over -- on a tea tray. Amy come over

here. We have speedy animals. First, we have a badger, OK. Then we have a

roe deer in action. Then we have a hare, famed of course for racing

tortoises and loosing but nevertheless fast. A bird, which by

its very name defines speed, a swift, of course and lastly at the

end a peregrine falcon. I would like you to place yourself in a position

whereby you thinker faster than those, but not quite as fast as

those. Tricky. I hope I'm faster than the badger. Bless him but he is

trying hard but he has to be pretty slow. Yes, running away from prey,

he has to be quick. They have definitely a good, old leapy bound.

I think I'm going to be somewhere either between the hare and the

swift or - I mean I know they are super fast. Um, mind you - do I go

in here or in there? I'm going to go for it and go in here. OK. You think

that the only thing faster in our line-up is the peregrine falcon? !

OK, we have the badger, I'm not entirely sure how fast the badger is

going even if it has been on steroids roids and being trained by

East Germans in 1970s, but not much more than 15 to 20 miles per hour

running downhill. The roe deer, they have to scope walls, as you said.

They'll put on a turn of speed. I'll go for 30 to maybe 40 miles per

hour. Hare, short bursts of speed, being predated by all sorts of

things that are going to chase them. I don't know what to says on the

back in kilometres an hour, it says 72, so we are looking at about 50

miles per hour for the hare, then up to swift. So you are auto in the

right position as it stands. Shall you are in the right position. Swift

they look like they are moving fast because they are smaller but they

probably aren't moving that fast. I'm going to go between 50 and 60

miles per hour. It says 112 kilometres. That's about 80-odd I

suppose. 80 or 90 Don't forget they are eating as they are going, it is

not easy. So, that leaves with us with the peregrine falcon, which, as

we know, can stoop at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour for a short

space of time. So I think that we are going to offer you silver medal

here, because you got yourself in the right position. Faster than a

swift. But not as fast... Oh, thank you.

As the world's fastest an marblings the peregrine falcon. All of our

guests when they come on to the programme face a challenge. In this

case it is not about speed. It is an artistic challenge. We give them ten

minutes and a range of artist materials, they have to go out here

with guidance, find something, it could be the landscape oer something

they see or find and do an artistic representation. What have you come

up with today then with your ten minutes' of artistry. I have more

nervous doing this, than standing on the start line. I was panicking.

This is what I drew. Inspiration from my top. Would you like to

identify the species? I'm going to struggle? This is the new fire bird

that has yet to come to the UK. And this is the pink-motled, slight

cousin of the swift. A pink-motled swift and the Asiatic firebird. What

do the audience think? A few cameramen and bird boxes hid in the

trees. Glad you pointed those out. What do we think, then?

APPLAUSE We liking on tholing onical

imagination. There is no doubt about that -- on tholing onical.

Nature comes with up dull birds. I like the idea of a new species of

swift flower he issing in the skies above Minsmere and the firebird

disturbing them -- f locks uresin. There are flourescing.

I'll go in here. George has been in touch in Twitter and asked if Chris

is going to do a ten manufacture minute drawing as part of the series

maybe I can judge. I'll tribe get it down hill at 90 miles per hour. This

year we're celebrating hundreds of people up and down the country who

devote their time to vital conner have vagus work. Today it is Steve

Roberts who is our -- vital conservation work. Today it is Steve

Roberts. He does important work throughout the country, breeding

birds and also does lost of research into bird nesting hab tatss. His

research has helped us understand much more about different species

including the honey buzzard. Springwatch presenter, Martin

Hughes-Games went to meet him. Here is our unsprung hero.

I have never really properly understood the tapping stick. What

do you do? Well some species sit tight and you can tap the

undergrowth quietly, a little tap and you can hear the bird fluttering

off in the vegetation or you can see it fluttering off. That's some.

Other species won't do that, some you have to watch, some you can tap,

others you have to listen for movements.

Because it is dense vegetation. Basically, folks, if we didn't have

this bloke, we wouldn't have Springwatch. That is an actual fact.

! I would have to say that Steve is a top nest finder in the whole of

the UK. His outstanding contribution is for the study of honey buzzards.

We know so much more worldwide about them now than we did 20 years ago

because of Steve. The vast majority of what he does is unpaid in his own

time. There is your Lined a. #1234r where

-- linard. Oh, look at, that a beautiful little

nest in there. Five pegs. Isn't it lovely -- five eggs.

How could you find that? Unbelievable. I right, let us get

out of here and let the bird come back in. I think you manage it think

like a bird put your head in like a honey finch or whatever. Nine times

out of ten, he is right. He has never lost that child-like

enthusiasm for T it is really good thing. How old did you say you were,

Steve? 63. 63 years' young. Oh, there is a nest

up here. Is there? Oh, it is a thrush. Still working on it. Oh, we

might have found a new nest. A world class ornithologist He can't

be here tonight. He is up a mountain in Finland, searching for snow

buzzards. He will find them. We presented him with his certificate

and badge last week. Here it is. Nest-finder extraordinaire. Steve it

gives me no end of pleasure to present you with this Unsprung Hero.

It is a small badge but a means a lot and it has a certificate to go

with it. We are not worthy but you certain will you are, Sir, one of

Britain's greatest nesters, we salute you.

APPLAUSE Thank you.

It is so, so, important. You can see our unsprung heroes on the website V

a look and if would you like to suggest one, please do so, using

#springwatch. There are many more out there. If you know one, let us

know. Melissa, thank youp very much for coming in today. Before we move

on to your books and writing, you are a London dweller, in the city

but you like living in the city, there is plenty of wildlife? When I

first moved to London I became disconnected from the natural world.

It is not inevitable by any means but it is easy in a city to loose

touch. It made me miserable. Eventually I found my way back to

you nature, partly through getting a dog and walking her and discovering

places to walk here and through reading and literature. We have an

amazing tradition of nature writing in this country, that goes back all

the way to Gilbert White. I found my way back to the natural world

through books and decided that I'd try and contribute to that. Your

first book was a novel, play, and it was about a young boy growing

newspaper a very urban envoornment. That is he a right. It was based on

south London and the streets around my home. It started off as

nonfiction, as a series of sketches about the natural world, really and

people began creeping into the sketches and before long I realised

it was turning into something bigger and stitched them together and

created a novel. My feeling was that there are a lot of people that

perhaps wouldn't pick up a book about urban wildlife but would pick

up a novel and I could get the messages that I wanted to get out

there, to a range of people that perhaps wouldn't otherwise hear it.

British writers are enjoying a renaissance when it comes to

wildlife writing, why do you think that? We have a rich tradition but a

resurgence taking place? There is. It has been an unbroken line. There

hasn't been a period when we haven't written about the natural world. But

certainly at the moment I think - perhaps it is the fact that a lot of

wruters at the moment are from the same generation of me, pretty much

the last generation that were allowed to play outside unsupervised

all day and are now looking at the world and finding it a different

place and there is some anxiety about that. Let's move to the book

you have written here, and it is pertinent after today. Rain, you

have taken four walks across the UK and you are talking about it

impacting immediately on the wildlife that lives there. It is

partly about the landscape and countryside in weather but when I

was researching it, I found out a bit about what happens to animals.

Things like owls find it difficult it hunt in the rain, partly because

of their feather structure and there is that lovely world, finbriate to

the margins, and they become easily waterlogged. A long period of wet

weather is bad for owls. But hares do well. They have two layers of

fur, they have guard fur and insulating level underneath. I spoke

to a farmer in Norfolks to a great hare lover. He told me about seeing

ha wreckses swi. When part of his land became flooded they struck out.

-- seeing ha wreckses swim. They are not famed for that Rabbits would

suffer more than hears. -- more than hares. We havep been

sent some soggy birds because of the weather. This is a soggy blue tit

and this is a damp Starling for you there. I had a haircut like that. A

like the Starling. Now there is this old thing, do you remember, people

used to say that the Eskimo, the Inuit people have a tremendous

number of words for snow. Of course we have so few in our language but

there are plenty of words for rain. That's right. One of the best parts

of writing this book was researching the words. I came up with a glossary

at the back of the book of 100 different words and terms. 100. I

would have done more. I thought it was a round big. We have some of

them. I'll hold them up and ask the audience whether you think they are

true or false. OK. So we have four of these. So is, fox's wedding a

term we in the UK use for rain, true or false?

False. They are saying pretty much false.

Melissa? It is true. A fox's wedding is when drops of rainfall from a

clear sky. It is a term in use almost all the way around the world

and usually in that form or sometimes monkey's wedding. I have a

another one here. Dringey, a term for rain in the UK?

OK. It is a type of rain that is incredibly fine but nonetheless can

soak you to your skin. Not a fan of that the a all. The next one,

drooling. What do we think? A mix there. Largely false, I think. It is

false. We all do drooling, I do drooling over male spar yes halks

but nothing to do with rain. -- sparrowhawks. And the last one,

then, cow-quacker. True. A sudden storm in May after the cows have

been turned out to pasture. Wow, there we are. Thank you very much

for introducing us to those. The one I didn't know was dringey. I will

incorporate that in my vocabulary. With a about your artistic skills?

You have risen to our challenge. You are great on the keyboard. This was

so hard. I I had plans, I thought it would be easy. Ten minute, under

pressure with people watching... Or pointing And laughing. I will show

you what I managed to produce. This is the Springwatch s stoat.

APPLAUSE Liking the Springwatch stoat very

much. I'm thinking that's quite like a wallpaper T could be repeated in

that pattern, perhaps flipped over. It was the one that went in the oak

tree and predated... It is a robust stoat. I can't see it catching too

many rabbits or scaling a tree to get to the wood peckers to be honest

with you, but it is good as a rechlingts it has been

characterised, I have to say. I'm liking it. I will score it highly.

I'll demote Germaine Greer's land scale of the that's coming down. I

will put it into second or third place. I think you are right, for

once I'll go with the audience. I'm putting it into second place.

APPLAUSE It is good. Not bad at all. Actually

we havep been sent lots of art. At the beginning we said it send us

your drawings and creations. Lots of people have been doing that. Look at

these. We have been sent this rather fabulous crocheted kestrel.

Look at that. I have seen one before. Do you know where? Go on. In

my office. I have one. It is brilliant. I love this. This is

watercolours. The cheeky rabbit. This is by Owen and eight years'

old. Inspired by the sea birds. Full of clucks excessive use of felt

tips. Look at, that a golden eagle by Barry Johnson, done in pastels.

Be a I come accomplished illustration. And look at this, just

the species. What is it made of? It is a hare made of wool around

driftwood. Mixed media put to good use. Excellent stuff. I set myself a

challenge. In the first week I picked a picture, you gave it nine

out of ten. I thought I would try to beat it. Yesterday I selected this

picture. I thought was stung. I was generous with 6.1. I want to revise

that down a bit. I will probably get told off. Go on. Here is my picture

of the day for today. Have a look at this. That's called Caught in a

Webb, it by Jo 1966. There are flies there. Given the rain theme I

thought you would like the lines on that. I do. It is a good picture.

You want a marks don't you? Yes. One more time I don't think it is quite

up there with the mouse but it is close. I like the fact that someone

has made something out of virtually nothing and separated it from the

background. I'll score that... 7.8.

That's high. Very high. Very high. But a which to go for 9. I like the

simplicity is superb I'll take it for tonight. Now the quiz, at the

beginning of the show we showedes you some picture of some poo. I have

a live specimen. I have had various answers N Andrew says is it a stoat,

Claire says, a fox, I have had hawks and bullfinch. Audience, any ideas?

Badger. Would you like to sniff it, ma'am?

! Well, here it is... This is the poo of a badger.

It is the poo of a badger. Well done to Alan, aknee too,

Lyndsey, Darren and one person who be wanted a smell for confirmation.

It's not that good. I have never been turned down before, madam, when

I have offered someone the chance it smell poo live on BBC Two. I have

never been turned down. We must have words after. Finally, this poster

has been sent in by Thames College. It is wonderful. A fantastic little

study of those pine martens. Thaw to our guests, Melissa and Amy for

coming in. We'll -- thank you to our guests.

We'll leave you with views of our sparrowhawks.

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