Episode 14 Springwatch Unsprung

APPLAUSE Wrote unbridled enthusiasm for

Springwatch Unsprung, coming to you from the very sunny Minsmere RSPCA

reserve in Suffolk. What an evening. You could be outside birding but you

have come here to join us. Thank you. The wildlife has been enjoying

the sunshine as well, as we can see. Sunshine puts a smile on our faces

and the wildlife too. This programme isn't just about wildlife, it's

about people who engage with it and we invite guests to the studio. The

first guest, when we met he said, trust me I'm a doctor but I'm always

sceptical so I put into the test by dissecting a seal on a Greenland

beach. Halfway through I thought I might have two contact the General

Medical Council but he reminded me that he was already a double back

the winner for Operation Ouch, and more recently teamed up with Angela

Matton to tell us how we can prevent ageing -- double Bafta winning.

Tonight he is here to talk about the psychology of our sentiment is when

it comes to cute and cuddly animals. It is my pleasure to introduce,

Chris van Tulleken. But nearly gone puttable with all of

the blackcurrants. -- I've nearly gone purple. They are doing

something. By doing a lot! Our next guest, an unlikely marriage, you may

think. Firstly an artist who produces extremely spectacular

elegant public installations which are designed to evoke a sense of

place. He's teamed up with an academic who is into ionising

radiation and forensic audiology. How would that work? It has worked

to great effect because they have sculpted something amazing, the

hive, opening at Kew Gardens this weekend. It is my pleasure to

introduce Wolfgang Buttress and Doctor Martin Bencsik. You have

jointly retro club. We have to talk about it, fashion! Those Internet

sites that sell things very cheaply, we are all drawn to them, as we can

see. I like it. Thank you, you have been going for it, so I thought I

would join the party. You have divided Twitter, although Claire

says that she likes your top. These were my dead uncle Derek's curtains!

The hair band as well, I have gone full out on it. Nothing is missed.

The wildlife has been trying to impersonate you as well, this

picture, brilliant. Asking who wore it best, the caterpillar or you? The

caterpillar, I think! I am quite distasteful, but don't eat the

Caterpillar. Then it got more serious because we got this picture

as well. That's almost a perfect match! Uncle Derek and the moth, I

wouldn't believe it. I thought, not having I'm joining the party and

this happened! Brilliant. You're a Caterpillar and I'm a butterfly, so

there we go! Does that mean you are more mature than me? I think it

means I am pretty a! With the football I decided to have some more

fun today and I made this Minsmere 5-a-side. I think that's a

particularly strong line-up. In goal I have the sparrowhawk because she

is very protective, she would fill the goal, which is good. I have the

jay in attack upfront and sand Martins on the wing. On the wing!

And bestowed, I feel that she is good so I have put her in midfield

to cover the ground. Top work, I'm not sure it's going to go to the

final but I'm not sure that England will get to the final although we

had a good result. We did. Apologies to our Welsh viewers. I think there

is a chance for Wales. Sticking on the sporting theme, we had a look

around and we found this bluetit who is a fan of tennis! And this bluetit

is actually trying to be a tennis ball! LAUGHTER

That finds cute, really. Well done to Andy Murray as well. It is time

to set the quiz, which has been set by the young wardens here at

Minsmere. The Dung Detectives are here with the quiz. We are the RSPB

Minsmere volunteers and this is our quiz for you. It is round. Whose is

that? If you would like to comment on who

is wearing the best fashion, I'm fine with that. Just use the

hashtag. I'm going over to my first guest. Thanks for that. Almost

medicine for kids, there is a lot of medical programming, it is kind of

popular medical science, on TV at the moment. I guess we feel we can

show it to a room of medical professors and they will learn at

least one thing. I think more than one thing. We have done a few first

is. I was just telling them, we filmed a belch for the first time,

trying to do it live and we established that it is not from the

movement of the epiglottis but you'll have to wait and find out

where it comes from. I can't wait! But then you have gone on with a

programme I watched recently which I found quite, Pulse it, actually. We

all worry about ageing, effectively and you were suggesting that it is

dietary things, a number of Japanese people eat a particular kind of

potato. I get nervous about being too dogmatic about it. I would say,

load your plate with colour, mainly plants, and don't eat too much. You

heard it from the Doctor's mouth. I won't tell you what I saw him eating

at lunchtime! You grew up in Canada, you are into wildlife, catching

snakes and getting up to all sorts of things. I don't know who is who

here. Bad wouldn't know either. One of them is a large female turtle.

That is looking for snakes, and I think that's me. And that is holding

the deadly northern water snake. Deadly! Not that deadly, I don't

think, we aren't going to fall for that! I love your book and you

eating the tadpoles reminded me of minnows. I got stick for that, by

the way. I imagine that the tadpoles were not unharmed. We had Minow

snorting contests in Canada. What was the purpose? It sounds like I

have a bad habit. I have quit snorting minnows now! As we say on

Operation Ouch, do not do this at home. I wouldn't tell anybody to do

it. We would swallow from one bucket and spit them into the next, totally

unharmed! Also, some more protein. What about the bone collection?

Fighting over a walrus. I was briefly in the military and I was on

a training run in Wales and a group of us ran past a dead Welsh mountain

pony. I came back the following weekend, cut its head off and the

following weekend I came back with a group of army guys, ran past it and

I thought, good God, somebody has cut the head off and they were

disgusted, they were baffled about who would do it. A few years later,

I still have the head. Elaborate the skeleton iced over a long period of

time. You can see the bone, the maxilla has become Seibu because I

had to boil it in bleach. I love a man who boils a head in bleach. --

has become see-through. Soak it in water and change it frequently.

Let's move on to sentiment that because through the programme we've

been looking at a of young animals and part of the way this place runs,

they consumed by other animals and some of our viewers were upset. What

motivates them? Cuteness is interesting, it is like an emotion,

you want to somehow physically interact with these things, pick

them up and squash them, but I think it misleads us about the way that

nature works. I think that Springwatch represents the way that

nature works, I see it as a battle scape and when I'm not presenting an

Operation Ouch, I work in the laboratory, looking at how viruses

move from nonhuman primates, to humans, mainly HIV, and it is based

on the red queen hypothesis, that everything is chasing everything

else, everything is being constantly predatory. Like this, we have

probation here. Cuteness takes us to a useful place, sometimes, but it

misrepresents what is fragile in the food chain. Kestrels don't manage to

feed, then buy on the brink of death, constantly. Everything is

constantly in battle and that is how evolution moves forward. I think

that the red queen is in broadcast form an spring which -- Springwatch.

You're not actually making any progress, so you are implying that

we have everything in turmoil, trying to make progress but not

quite making it because it's being eaten. What we know is that the rate

of extinction, I'm going to get a bit science here, but for any

taxonomic unit, any species or border, they are equally likely to

get extinct because they are all using the same capital, there's a

certain amount of ecological capital and it is a finite resource. As one

of them adapts, it must necessarily kill off the others but it will

leave one of the others that is a little bit faster and stronger, and

that will be better at predating the remaining and you get the dynamic

oscillation between species. It means that everything has a half

life and we are part of that. We are due to have a viable pandemic. You

can think about it as stoats and rabbits, when I arrived I saw a

stoat killing a rabbit, or you can think about viruses and humans. We

are due a pandemic. An Operation Ouch, we tried to be blunt. Kids can

handle that information, if it is presented accurately. By going to

ask for a round of applause for a superbly elegant discussion of how

the natural world works. Moving on, what about human health?

Another thing we've been saying and recognising is that when we go into

green spaces, it is good for our physical and mental health. There is

buckets of research, which is nice but I think there is something that

transcends what you can actually discover with science about this,

that it is so evidently good for us to be involved with nature, in so

many deep and complex ways. Yes, if I wield a dog into an exam you are

doing I can measure the effect on your blood pressure, you will live

longer. People with pets live longer. If you take dogs into the

old peoples home Common People with outsiders, they will survive longer

and have your infections. -- old people's home, people with

Alzheimer's. There could be the infection risk but the benefit to

kids with animals, so clinically measurable. It made me feel good

again. I am feasting on blackcurrants and I sleep with two

boodles! I'm going to live for ever! -- poodles. Every guest coming to

the programme is given ten minutes and a range of artists materials and

they are sent on to the reserve to enter the challenge, drawn to be

wild. Chris, eloquent scientist, great broadcaster, great charm, what

have you done? An explanation or an excuse? It is

not political. This is my vision of a post-Brexit Minsmere. That is

Donald Trump. It is a concrete car park, which is also a golf course,

and Trump is waving his putter. I don't want to influence voting, I'm

just saying that that might happen, and you can vote as you please. You

have set a very interesting challenge, because you produced an

interesting piece of work. I see a little Lowry in it. I see a lot of

postapocalypse work. But since you have moral lies did, I am left with

absolutely no choice whatsoever... BOOING

We have to not add yours to the board because it has gone so low, it

has gone lower than Ed Byrne's. We can't have politics on this

programme! That wasn't a political statement by me, it was a reading of

the political statement. Now, presenter Michaela Strachan is

passionate about wildlife rehabilitation, and she went to see

the volunteers at one of the UK's biggest wildlife rescue centres. We

went along to see how she got on. It is my last day as a volunteer at

stately Grange RSPCA centre. It really has been a fantastic

experience, and I have enjoyed every minute. I wonder what will be in

store for me on my final day. What have you got? A buzzard that has had

an argument with a truck. We're just checking for broken bones files.

Would they react with pain? We wouldn't see that necessarily. I'm

just looking for any haemorrhage in the back of the eye, any signs of

damage to his head. We will reassess him and 48 hours, see how he is

flying in the aviary, and it may be that we can release him. And what

are we doing in here? We're going to weigh the swans. Some of them were

caught by dogs, crash landings, that sort of thing. Fishing lines are

problem, too. We need to herd them up. Herding swans? We weigh them

every week to check how they are doing, check that they are putting

on weight nicely, up to the point we can release them. I go for the net?

Yes and get hold of both sides of his wings, and just scoop him up and

left him. What about all these flapping legs?

Last one. I nearly at the end of my last day of volunteering, and I have

really enjoyed it. I have learned so much, it has been really varied. I

have handled so many different dish while animals, and I have met so

many great people. The RSPCA wouldn't function without

volunteers, so they are absolutely invaluable to the RSPCA. I just

thought I would have a quick cup of tea and five minutes out, because I

have just heard that the gorgeous buzzard that looked so bright and

looked like he would be able to be released quite quickly actually

isn't going to make it. Internal examinations showed it had a

fractured pelvis, so unfortunately they are going to have to put it

down. It is really sad, but that is the reality of a place like this.

But it is tough. But luckily there are many happy endings are Stapeley

Grange. This is a good enough spot, I think. I know this is probably the

best part for you, but as a volunteer, it is definitely the best

part for me. Sadly, my time at the centre has come to an end, but it

really has been an incredibly rewarding experience. He's off!

Seeing a bird released back into the wild is definitely a highlight.

APPLAUSE Michaela and doing amazing things

for wildlife. This is St Mary's primary school, and they have been

helping hedgehogs by making hedgehog houses in their school. Top work!

APPLAUSE We do get a question a lot on the

watches asking what to do if you find an injured or baby animal you

think has been abandoned, because we have been sent this poster. This is

from Brian May, and he says he has ten fawns brought him in the last

few months that have been rescued to early. Again, it is a big problem.

We are reaching out something think needs help, but it probably doesn't.

Leave it there so the adults can look after it. If you find a bird on

the ground, and you have cats around, put it up in a bush. If you

find a deer like that, walked directly away from it following your

own tracks, the adult will be nearby and will come back later. Unless it

is in direct threats like the middle-of-the-road or something,

your best advice is to leave it alone. And there is more advice on

the website. Now, let's move on to our next guest, Martin Bencsik. The

theme for our last work was feeding the planet, and it is a laudable

aim, but how do you express that? I used the idea of the theme of Polly

nation, and more specifically about the honey bee. -- pollination. The

honey bee is affected by lack of diversity, climate change,

pesticides. I wanted to create something that the visitor would

feel would be an emotional experience. Visually, it is

stunning, but Martin, the role you played was the auditory part of

this. Tell me how you managed integrate your research into this

artwork. Wolfgang came to me and asked me if it would be possible to

eliminate his artwork or somehow feed it with live signal coming from

honeybees. He had heard of my research, and we made the plan to

change the colour coding of Wolfgang's artwork, and to change it

with the status of the honey bee colony using a live signal that was

fed through the Internet all the way to Milan, and changing the colour

coding of the artwork. And in addition to that, he also managed to

have the live signal being heard by the visitor, so we use the signal

both to change the colours and to have acoustic stimuli heard by the

visitor. We have some sand now of some honeybees. This was the raw

material. BUZZING.

Say you have heard an accelerated version of the stages of honey bee

swarm. People might have seen a swarm visually, people might have

heard it, but this particular document was captured from within

the colony, so you have shared the experience of honeybees swarming

from within the heart of the colony, something that we do with Excel

aroma to technology. That is where Wolfgang comes in, because aside

from having those natural sounds, there is also a musical soundtrack,

so tell me about that. We had a live stream of bees which came at the

recording studio, a couple of friends of mine play in a band

called Spiritualised. Deirdre started to play the cello along with

this sound, and we very quick to realise that they hive itself harms

in the key of C. Does it? You learn something new every night on

Unsprung. Let's have a listen. SOLEMN NOTES.

APPLAUSE A bit of Cocteau Twins in there,

perhaps! You have reinstalled it at Kew. Why did you choose to Kew in

terms of the peace? The landscape is as important as the piece itself,

and what we have at Kew is the ability to send the live signal

directed to the hive, and as the bees use more energy, this triggers

signals which trigger noise gates which open up a violin or a piano or

some strings, so the idea is that the sculpture is talking to you.

There is almost a conversation between the bees and the human. . We

have actually been sent a fabulous picture of a bee. Some sensory hairs

there, we will maybe be talking about those later on. On the full

film is available on the website, so do have a look. Wolfgang, Martin,

thank you very much. I can't wait to see it, it looks incredible. It will

probably be too busy, I will go very late indeed. Night-time, you can see

a glow in the evenings. Amazing. You have risen to the arts challenge. We

were expecting great things on yours. It was right in the middle of

the inland football game, so we were a bit distracted. Let's have a look

at what you have got. Pass it over. You have done an egg. It was

inspired this morning by the sparrowhawk, it is the lines of the

nest and the void in the middle inspired by the sparrowhawk leaving

the nest. What we think? APPLAUSE

I was brought up to believe in a meritocracy, and on that account, I

have to say, that despite all of the endeavours of our previous guest

here, and they have really tried hard, bearing in mind they are not

artists, they are simply not as good as yours, mate.

Yours is absolutely... APPLAUSE

If you produced lithograph of that, you would sell ten or 15 the

audience here! Absolutely fantastic, thank you very much indeed.

Continuing on the bee theme, there is a bee survey we can identify

plants in your local area and see if it is great for bees. As well as

taking you on in the fashion department and night, Chris, I have

also decided to challenge you photographically. Yesterday I showed

you this picture. I have shown a previous nine, this is an 8.1. I was

agonising about that in the middle of the night. Here we come with this

one. Look at that. This is water droplet refractions. But there is

one fundamental problem with this. Go one, then. You have got it upside

down. Surely they are hanging, those water droplets, art they? Not that

it matters. I quite like it, but I won't score it as high as the grass

snake. I will give that one 4.8. What about if I turned up the other

we? I don't deal too well with detail, and as much as I like that

meadow, and its reflection in the droplets, there are too many

colours, the green, the Orange... Move on! Let's find the answer to

the quiz. Earlier we showed you this picture and we asked you what animal

this belongs to. Does anybody in the audience have any ideas? Dear. And

here is the answer. This is the pool of a muntjac deer. I only saw one

person with muntjac deer, and that was Max Martin, so well done, you.

And I will offer this as a souvenir to some of our guests here. There

you go, superb. There is due more to go around a little later on. Sadly

that is all we have time for on this Unsprung. We're coming up with

another programme at 6:30pm tomorrow on BBC Two.

Thank you very much to my guests, Dr Chris van Tulleken,

Wolfgang Buttress and Dr Martin Bencsik.

And I'll leave you with this historic moment of a sparrowhawk

chick hatching here at Minsmere today.

It is one of the most beautiful things that we have ever seen. Do

join us at eight o'clock Springwatch. Good night.

APPLAUSE who want to show us how good they

are in the kitchen. Many of them can sing, dance, act.

We don't care about that. What we care about is

whether they can cook. That's raw meat. I want to learn

how to cook an ice cream. There will be shocks...

It looks horrible... ..and surprises.

..but it tastes great.