Episode 15 Springwatch Unsprung

APPLAUSE Thank you very much indeed. Possibly

the warmest welcome we have had for Springwatch Unsprung. You are not

watching me at the moment, I am not here. I am in a suburb of

Southampton and getting out of my car. I am having a haircut, this

programme was recorded on Thursday. We have had a fantastic time here at

the RSPB Minsmere reserved. Let's see some of the highlights.

APPLAUSE Amazing three weeks here. I am going

to sneak an opportunity here, Adam, the warden, thank you so much.

APPLAUSE Thank you to all of the RSPB team,

so helpful and so hospitable, we are so grateful. Let's move onto our

first guest, an author, entomologist and broadcaster. Has made a couple

of fabulous programmes. Afterlife, catch up with that one. He is

passionate about insects, but he thinks we should eat them and be

farming them. He will invest in farming insects. It is George

McGavin. We will find out more about that later. My next guest did spend

a lot of time in South America and was going for the glamorous, the big

and the exotic but then he came back to the UK and he was... Awoken by

the wealth of wildlife we have here. He started photographing it and then

started writing about it. He came up with a book which describes 100

things to do on 100 days throughout the course of the British summer.

James, thank you very much for coming in. There was a huge

outpouring of emotion after Springwatch last night, but the

wildlife are the stars. What an amazing opportunity to watch those

animals. We have stuck with them throughout the three weeks and the

final scene of all of those kids with their mother. Another tweet

says thank you for the privilege. We have also had another tweet,

downloading all the available episodes of Springwatch to watch

later as a boxed set. It is a great idea. We have had so many questions

in. I wanted to ask of you. The first one is to do with the sparrow

hawk. The chicks have hatched, but we had them making noises from

inside the shelves. Steve wants to note how do they breathe in the egg

before they hatch? Eggs are porous and they have to be breathing

through the course of their development. In the structure of the

egg, there are tiny pores and they are small enough to allow air in,

but not a gain of to allow water in. Water can move out through them so

the structure of the egg shell is complex. Constantly, the young are

perspiring inside it. It is amazing. Onto the blue tits story. We talked

about how the great tit wouldn't be able to breed because it had

imprinted on the blue tit. Katherine wants to know why doesn't this

happen with cookies because they are raised by other birds. There is a

behavioural difference, when does the birds learn what it is? It is

controlled genetically. If blue tits rare great tit 's, the great tit 's

rarely successfully breed. If great tit 's rear blue tits, higher

percentage of the blue tits can actually go through the breeding

process. It depends on the genetics of the bird and how they learn. It

is a simplistic way of answering that in that time. Now, I would like

to show you some animals peeking out from different places. Look at this

first one here. Can you spot it? Mouse in a bird feeder. I really

like this one. This is from Mark and you can see the emotion in its eyes.

It is looking at the photographer but I like the way its nose is

missing and you have just the eyes and the ears. The out of focus lock

on the left-hand side channels your attention. Chris! That is a good

thing. I like that one, I am a bit perturbed by the metal on the left.

Brilliant. Check this one out. We have seen a lot of that. This is

them learning how to focus and judge distance. They are frequently

twisting their heads about. I like that, it is cheeky. Now it is time

for the quiz. It has been said by the RSPB Young wardens. We are the

young wardens at Minsmere and this is our quiz. It has a white feather

next to it. It has Russ and vegetation inside it. Who's scat is

that? We are not alive tonight, so don't get in touch with your

answers, but play along at home. We will ask at the end. George, thank

you very much for coming in. We finally meet after years of

correspondence. Let's talk about oak tree. I enjoyed this documentary. On

the surface it is simple, but you get into some fantastic science?

Absolutely, one of the great thing about oak trees is how long they

live. I live not far from Windsor great Park and I can walk past a

tree that was knee-high when Henry VIII wrote past to hear a Canon

being fired from the tower to tell him that and Berlin's head had been

shot. It is 1200 years old. This is a clip. This may not look very much,

but it is one of the oak's most fearsome enemies. This little chapel

eat an incredible amount of food to become an adult. It will eat up to

27,000 times its own weight in young oak leaves. There are countless

thousands of bees infesting the tree.

The 0 minutes and I was gripped the whole way through. But you are

passionate, George but insects.ent moll guilty is your background. You

found a super species here? Absolutely. I think insects should

be valued a little more. Your blue tits, all of the blue tits in the UK

in a year will eat 35 billion insects. That is a staggering

amount. If there is a decline of insects, the first thing you will

see is a decline in birds. But I find it fantastic. I filmed a

documentary called the Ant Lion, it is fantastic to see it here, all of

the way from Africa. They have been discovered in recent times? They

have been around for 30 to 40 years but it is something you think you

might only see... Look at the jaws! This is the laugha of an ant family.

It has made a pit in the sand. It is incredible.

It flicks the sand grains. They flick the grains to make an

avalanche so that the ant tumbles down. It is a genius trick. A few

have long necks. They are deep down with their jaws poking out.

You know my favourite thing? They don't defecate. They store that Is

pupil case, is that right? It is a useful trick if you are on a long

trip! Let's have a rummage through your bag. This is good.

If you are a bug man, this is all you need. A bug man or a girl. You

need a potatoer. I make these ones. This is for collecting the small

animals. We suck them up by the tube.

Suck them up with the blue on it. Colour coded, sensible.

It does not go down the throat. You need a small net and suck it up.

You can't handle insects easily. Now, a pair of binoculars. You may

think that they are good for birds but these focus really close. The

one thing about insects that is annoying, you can't see them without

getting on top of them. About with these you confocus to about... There

and see the ants behaving without interruption. They are brilliant.

But the best thing, the thing that everybody should buy when you you

are 10 years old, is a times ten hand lens. This is a simple piece of

kit. It costs about ?8 to ?10. You can spend more if you want a

gold-plated one! But it opens up a world of wonder.

You can as spire to a Cartier-made one.

A window to the world. We have images of some of the

insects we recorded. Oh! Green Tiger Beetle! Face of

death. I was going to say that, you read my

mind! The scales of a Moth Wing. Munch, munch.

That is a hunting moth. A hot moth. Very nice. Beautiful. I

would like a shirt in that colour! We have a cool picture of a moth.

This is from Ace, a bugmadgirl, moustache! That is a film? Close. It

is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Before we move from the insects, I

have to ask you quickly, why should we be eating them? We can't feed the

world on beef or fish. It is simfully just that there is not

enough around. When I was born there were 2.4 billion people, now there

are 7.4 billion. Insect protein is efficient in converting into animal

protein. Which is what we need. Farming them is a doddle. Anywhere

in the world where it is hot, insects are large, they are eaten.

That makes sense but you have to get people to put them in their mouths?

Have it as a dry flour, as a bread. I showed Heston how to make bread

flour with insect flour in it. He thought that my bug bread was pretty

good. Is he serving it in his restaurant?

He would be. He is. Now each guest has a challenge, to

make them wild. They have a range of artist materials to produce a piece

of art while this they are out there. George, what did you come up

with? It is embarrassing. I wanted to make a sponge... I wanted to make

something ethereal. What do we have? Oak leaves! Oak leaves. It is my

duty to pronounce judgment. Of course on our board tonight we will

reveal who has won this. There is a range of talent, ranging from Ed

Byrne. Not even on the board it is on the floor it was appalling. There

is Wolfgang, Martin. I don't mind the oak leaves too much. But it must

be here, George. Honourestly, you are a brilliant entomologist, you

have made remarkable documentaries but stick with that.

Not so bad. Now the last high chair of the series. This is where Chris

meets a famous face in a bird watching hive. Tonight he is hoping

to hit the headlines. Hello! How lovely. What a window you

have. A window on the water. Look at that.

These are swifts. I saw them. They have just arrived.

They are the latest of the three that we have here. There are some

over there. Those are the sand martins. See they

bank, that is an artificial sand martin nesting bank. The sandbanks

are in short supply and the birds have taken to them. They are in

short supply in London. Given we are in London, there is a

huge variety along the Thames here. Lots and lots of herons. In fact,

one landed in our garden recently it just sat that. I see herons,

cormorants and shags, and all of the amazing birds.

You have been before but you are not a regular. This worries me, Sophie!

You are right, it is the first time I have had a look at the birds with

a pair of binoculars since Is with with my grandfather as a kid. He had

all kinds of birds from his garden near the mill pond and watch the

birds. All kinds of things.

What about Chelsea? I am tempted to do a Springwatch garden. You should,

why don't you? Next year. I will help you plant it.

It would put a message out. Consult the viewers. There are enough

gardening viewers amongst the audience to come up with good ideas.

Get a designer in. And make sure that we cater for a great range of

Flora and fauna. 2017, Chelsea. Springwatch Garden. What do you get

if I win? I love it. You benefit the birds! Oh, that kind of thing. But

they do judge them, don't they? They do! Are you judging? I will not have

any influence. None at all. It is the prestige, thing of the

benefit you are doing, the wildlife. Britain's wildlife.

I will keep that in mind. It is very therapeutic. It is very calming.

APPLAUSE. Now, I have headlines of my own with

things you have been involved with. With start with the bee app. We

asked you to download the app, up to 6,000 people. That is 200,000

records already. That is fab. You have until the end of June. So keep

downloading as next week it is National Insect Week.

We asked you to get involved with the National Bio Blitz. Lots of you

did. It takes a while to log the details but so far, 1481 species

have been recorded. That is good. Pretty good. It is important to get

out and meet the animals. That is an achievement. And the two-minute

beach clean. We asked you to get involved over the weekend. Since

Friday, they have had 450 tweets saying that people have done it,

that is the equivalent of 900 minutes of beach cleaning. Keep

looking at the website, there is lots of things there, ideas of how

to do something great. So, the book you have written, 100

days throughout the course of the summer with well proposed and laid

out suggestions of where to go and what to see? Absolutely. The idea is

to have a suggestion for an itenary for every day between mid-May and

August, 100 days of summer. Every day has a child friendliness rating.

How did you come up with the child friendliness rating? The best

advice, my six-year-old daughter. If she didn't like it, it didn't make

the book. You have musky frogs, frog orchids.

Where do you find those? That is Nore Hill.

Not too far away? It is in Chalk Downham.

We have a love affair with chalk. We have also exploited it. This is down

quite low to see those. This is musk orchid.

This is half a size of your little finger.

But once you have seen them you are tempted to find out about them and

the life history of the plants are extraordinary. I have to move on.

This is June the 19th. Manksy and Thefty? Thrift Clearwing. A moth

that mimics a moth. But, Manc sheer waters, they borough

underground and they caw... We can hear it. Let's have a listen... They

caw at night. And through the day. When I took

that picture, I was sat there, thinking what was that? Had I been a

north sailor a couple of thousand and years ago, I would have thought

it was a troll but it is a mankshearwater.

Now, I have an insect here, George. Are you feeling hungry? It is like a

wasp. Come on, get it, George. Where is your potatoer! ?! George is

sorting that out. You are telling us about mi in, kies.

So, seaside, summer holidays. Our seas are full of great minky whales

in the North Sea. Basking shark off the Hebrides, there is so much in

our seas. All you have to do is to take a boat trip to go to see it.

I will jump to this one, this is pertinent. August the 2nd with the

British lions with George's ant lions.

Masai Mara are great predators but that ant lion is incredible. Amazing

creatures. This is the adult.

I prefer the larvae. They can be dainty. Like a damselfly

that from thors. Very cute, unlike the larvae. The

best place to see them is by the visitors centre here. Come back in

August to see them. OK? Everyone back in August! And a

after, straight into the cafe for the cake! James, tell us something

good about you? Passing my GCSE exam was the greatest academic period of

my life. And secondly, only ever use black felt water soluble pen... OK,

let's see what you have made. Is it an iconic species? Let's have it

here. It is the brilliant shell duck... Absolutely. When you said

that you were using materials at the kitchen table that a six-year-old

uses, I was not expecting you to mimic the skills of a six-year-old.

I know, cruel! That is down the bottom. This means, of course, that,

yes, Wolfgang here... Let's have the original. We suspected it would win.

That Wolfgang and Martin are the winners of our Drawn To Be Wild

competition. APPLAUSE.

What about that? I would frame it and put it on the wall. I will frame

it and put it on the wall. I will take it away with me as an original.

Well done to Wolfgang. Now, this is my picture of the day. On the 2nd of

June I showed you this picture. You gave it a 9. I thought I would

challenge myself. So I showed you this snake. It got 8.1 out of you.

But not more than a 9. So leer is the final try... Here it is... A

European wood louse... Reflection. We see a lot of reflections.

We have seen reflections of everything but I have not seen a

crustacean reflection before. That scores a point. But the out of focus

highlight, that little black line, that shadow, another highlight on

the right-hand, these are marking it down. Get rid of it with the

Photoshop. I am scoring that a... 3.8.

No! You have to tell me what to do to get a 10.

The mouse on the rope is a corker. That is class. That is art. Look at

that. Mike McKenzie, I salute you. I really wish I had taken that

photograph. We really love the photographs. Do

keep sending them in. They are absolutely brilliant. Now, the

answer to the quiz. So we asked you at the beginning of the programme

what you thought this was? Whose pooh is that? We have left the

hardest one to the end of the series. Anyone in the audience with

ideas? Silence. Even silence from Adam.

What do you think? Swan. Let's hand over to the RSPB young

wardens to tell us. This is the pooh of a mute swan...

APPLAUSE. The young wardens would have been

the new wardens if he had not got that right. Mopping his borrow.

Let's hear it for the young wardens, we salute them for their pooh

identification skills. Excellent work. And so much

reaction. Check this out. This is a happy frog for you... Oh, yes. What

about a sad puffin... That's right. And of course a surprised gannet.

All the different reactions. But mainly we want to say a huge thank

you to you for sending everything in. It has been brilliant looking

through your photographs and to our guests who shared their passion for

wildlife. Here is our tribute to you.

Hello and welcome to Springwatch Unsprung. It is about the way that

people connect with wildlife. Have a whiff of that... Wow! I will

kneel for you... What is here, Erin? This is a dolphin. This is a pigeon.

We have experts in the studio and famous guests too. Larry Lamb.

These are rather nice. Heather Small.

Acris Matthews. Mr Will Young.

I think it is a gear falcon? It is a Gyrfalcon.

We are offering you a silver medal. You got yourself in the right

position. Show many pictures came in, I wanted

to show you some of them. Now that is class... I am giving

that, I'm going to give that an astonishing nine. That is one of the

best pictures on Springwatch Unsprung. It has been a pleasure. I

have to thank all of the contributors for sending in the

pictures. Brilliant and from all of our remarkable guests. What

enlightening things that they have had to say to us. George, Martin,

thank you for coming in. This has been fantastic. This has been

Springwatch, 2016. Join us again for Autumnwatch coming up in a couple

MUSIC: Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele

# We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts

# Send my love to your new lover... #