Episode 3 Springwatch Unsprung

APPLAUSE. Thank you very much. Thank you very much indeed, outrageous!

Never clapped at the beginning, it might be rubbish! Hello and welcome

to Unsprung live from the RSPB's Minsmere in Suffolk, with 5,500

different species of animal and we have some of the most interesting

creatures here tonight by way of the audience. From the local community

and from the RSPB itself. We are about coming to Suffolk and getting

fantastic pictures of the wildlife and we are very involved and we want

you to take part. This is entry-level, we are not big, clever

scientists. If you have just got into birds, Unsprung is the place

for you and we have experts and guests and it is my pleasure to

introduce the first, his name is Jason Singh and he can do

extraordinary things with his foes. He does the boxing and he creates

acoustic sculptures. -- face. Thank you very much she.

Jason has been here before and what he does is remarkable. We will set

him a challenge, we have got some pictures of Minsmere and you will

produce a vocal sculpture of this environment to kick us off.

APPLAUSE. That is fantastic. That was really

good. Very popular, you have just put lots of natural history sound

man out of business! Our next guest is a gentleman I have

known many years, he is an author and broadcaster and amongst the most

accomplished general naturalist I have ever met, Mike Dilger. He knows

his plants. You know you'll insects and uplands. A great all-rounder.

Jack of all trades, master of none, goods to be here. We will catch up

with you later. Lindsey, good guests alike, what have we got? We have had

tweeted about the start of the show, people living the beat-boxing. The

best way to get in touch is by using Twitter so if you use the hash tag

Springwatch, joining the conversation right now. A lot of

people got in touch last night about Martin's moth trap. Many pictures

came in. The -- was the stinky socks in the truck? I think it was the

trap! This is the first. This is fantastic, this is a lying hawk

moth, by Mark. Which is which? I like the cemetery but not about the

demonic staring! This is from Bob Whitfield. Yes, very beautiful

animal. And this has been sent in, which is a beautiful picture. Yes,

very striking moths. Do not taste them, but very better! That is

weird. I speak from experience. -- better. Russell says, if moths like

the light from the track, why not come out during the day? Good

question. They basically do what other animals do in the day at night

when they have it to themselves. It is like orcs and falcons out in the

day catching birds and small mammals but they sleep at night -- Hawks.

They can get the nectar at night when butterflies sleep. It is a

massive anise -- niche separation. Keep sending your stuff, and we have

the amazing website so keep getting in touch. On Monday, I showed you a

picture of a Gosling peeking out of its mother's feathers. I thought

that was fabulous and I went to look for other peeking animals and it is

a bit of a theme on mine. I came up with this. I came up with a gallery.

It is called PQ blinders. It is good, isn't it? This is the first

one. It is a broad body chaser dragonfly but it is smiling. And

peeping! This is a fledgling grey tit. How cute? That might be a photo

fail really. This is so cute. That is a little fox. Keep sending those

in. Let's move on to our quiz. Every night this week, we have set you a

quiz. Melanie has an incredible collection of bones and skulls, we

will hand over for the night's quiz. Hello, I am Melanie and this is my

quiz for you. This is the skull of a very small Persian bird found in the

UK which is on the decline. The beak is very short and powerful which

tells you this is a seedy to love them insect eater which would have a

longer and thinner week. What do you think the goal is? -- peak. She is

so good. I like Melanie. A young naturalist and when -- and she isn't

one thing, a collection, a skull collection. You can follow her on

Twitter. You can go to the website to see that again and you have 25

minutes to get those in. Click now! Our first guest will know the answer

but he will not say is that at the moment. He would not say so! I not!

Delighted to be here back here, I started working here a long time ago

and I cut my natural history teeth in here. And you had great moments,

we all do at Minsmere. It is one of the most biologically diverse

places, woodlands, he fund, it has everything. I was working here as a

volunteer wardens after I left university. I know, what went wrong?

Was working as a modern, cleaning windows and showing people around

and identifying birds. I was doing a common bird census. Identifying

birds and putting it onto a map and Albert Ramos the backside of a

reserve and I flushed a bird in front of me. It was instantly

identifiable, the Crest went up. -- I was walking along the backside. I

turned round to tell somebody and behind me was a wry neck. So I found

my first two after spending five years working the tropical

rainforests and never having a 32nd is like that before. Did you get a

soft drink and a plastic toy with that? -- 30 seconds. But then you

went on and started working in TV, everything went wrong and you went

to work in TV. I sold my soul. What about the early days on TV? I loved

it. I worked as a researcher for Bill body and I worked on something

called nature's calendar -- goal body. Somebody called Christopher

Pack. We worked together back in the day. You are under employed and we

came together on this series on BBC Two and you went to BBC Two to do

Springwatch and I went to do The One Show on BBC One. More than 250

reports. 450, everything from bumblebees to busking sharks.

Nowhere I have not travelled. Some things I have not seen, I have never

seen quail before. This issue in the old days. -- this is you. You have

been on Whitehill duty. I am the Guardian of the wagtail. When she

gets hungry, she hops away and flies into the middle of the road and

plays chicken with the lorries and tractors because she is feeding on

the flies that get hit. So they are doing the hunting and she is

gathering the spoils? She is reaping the dividends.

That was the start of a very humble career. A great career. Did the

Whitehill gets squashed? My job was to get to look after the wagtail, I

was a contributor and I was in the pub and it got picked up by a magpie

so it was an epic fail. It was not on my watch because I was in the

pub. Sorry! You have written a new book. This is Nightingale is in

November. You have chosen 12 species of bird and you tell us what happens

during the year, when they are here. Birds are not out of mind and I

followed 12 throughout the year. Like most people, I was keen on

natural history and I mock my year not by Easter and Christmas but when

the Mayflower is out and when the Nightingale starts to sink and when

the cocoon returns. When the Red Wings, over in the autumn and

Christmas Day is about the Robin. It is visitors like Swallow, puffin,

winter visitors like this one and residents like the Robin and

polluted and try and peeled the layers of what they do. Abell said

to me, my swallow is back on April one. -- people. I tell the story of

what they do when they are here and breeding and when they go down to

the Western Cape. It is amazing because the technology is massively

increasing and we follow birds now. Cocoon especially in the Nightingale

and we know more about what they are doing when they are not here when

they have gone away. This is Nightingale we can listen to now,

they have only just stopped singing in this country. If I had has on the

top of my head, they would be standing right now! -- have. It is

an immensely beautiful song. The only sing for a couple of weeks

while they are here and they migrate back to Africa. But I have heard

they will sing in the winter time in West Africa. It is about holding

territory and keeping the Mail birds at bay and attracting the ladies.

And in Senegal and Gambia, they do small songs, practising their song

and holding territory, which is their piece of real estate for the

winter. So they are keeping other birds away to get the food? Yes, it

is not for our listening pleasure, it is for the Nightingale. This is

another sound from your book. That is a puffin underground. The most

amazing thing, everybody knows when they come back, what are they doing

the rest of the year? We still do not really know. They spread all

over the Northwest Atlantic. Some have been found in Newfoundland.

They have been found near North Africa. It needs to exchange its

feathers, malts during the winter and when it is flightless, it goes

into the water and it spends two monster swimming and diving for food

and spends most of the winter underwater because it has to feed or

the time to keep going. I cannot wait, I will read it over the year

and dip into it every day. You have divided the month into three. Yes,

early, middle and late. So you will know what is going on. You around,

you can hinge and boxed set it. -- all year around. That sounded good

in my head! Every guest on the programme, we set them a challenge.

We provide them with a range of materials and we give them ten

minutes to represent Minsmere or one of the species they find. What have

you got today? I came up with an incredible

mediocre picture. What do we think, audience? APPLAUSE

Isn't it appalling? I am clapping my own mediocre art. I may have just

done a Freudian slip. I have to judge this, Mike, it is pretty hard,

I have to say. We have got Clive's here, and Lloyd's was propping up

the bottom, it is a bit of a caricature, but I like it's punky

quiff. I will give you middle ground. You are going in the middle,

it could be revised later. I will take fair to middling any day of the

week. Time to revisit our new feature, called Hide Chair, which we

thought was a good name for a feature of sitting in a hide and

having a chat. But Peter says we have missed a trick and it should

have been called Hide and Speak, so for one week only, and with no

expense spared, this is Hide and Speak. One hot chocolate, sir. Thank

you very much, I am very grateful, where is the silver tray? We don't

do silver trays with hot chocolate is, not dressed like this! Thank you

very much, this is splendid, isn't it? In the heart of the city. Under

a flight path. I know, but look at the landscape, it was not for those

skyscrapers we could be in April landmark. Terrific. Some of the

guests we have, to be discreet about it, they are novices but you are

not. It was to keep our daughter interested, really. We would spot

the birds in the garden, put out a lot of bird food, ten feeders out

and bird boxes and we would keep a list of what came in. It got up to

36 birds in the end. Many people know you for down to Nabi,

obviously, but when you are birding on location, what do the rest of the

cast make of it? -- we know you from downturn. -- from down to

from Downton. That is a Czech EU's warbler. -- Chitty 's warbler. They

have that erupted cool. I love this place, what a testament to one of

our greatest conservationists, Peter Scott. He was fantastic. Shell but

out there, can you see that? Very bold and bright leap marked bird. I

have got something on you to do for me, this is the small boy coming out

here. This is my dragonfly laver, is it? This is what we call the

exuberant yay, the larvae has emerged from this into the adult

insect. The dragonfly is twice the size of that. You could not see

better in an African safari. In your own back garden. It shows you can

enjoy it if you make a small resource. We have core bids out

here. Carrion crows. One has got an egg. It is on that island. There is

a great revival going on. It is flying with the egg coming towards

us. That looks like a tufted duck's egg. What about that? Life and death

in the city. Fantastic absolutely. APPLAUSE

He was very keen on stuff, he counted birds. We had his own list.

Lotsa people asking where that was filmed. Mind your own business! It

was at the London Wetland Centre, at Barnes, south London, accessible by

Chu, train, bus. Or walking. You can see wildlife anywhere and I have

been searching around and there are some really strange places you can

find wildlife, like this. This is a robin nesting in a bicycle helmet,

if you can see that. I can come it is a helmet in a basket with a

Robins nest. Quite a confusing mosaic to take in initially. This is

a bluetit stuck in a feeder. Two seconds later he opened the bottom

and it flew off. It must have squeezed through the hole, they are

not meant to be to do that but I would take that feeder back to the

manufacturers! I have found this brilliant picture of a bluetits

nesting in some brick wall. Yes, any other hole in a building they can,

let's hope that is not going into the system with the outlet coming

in. That would be awkward. Excellent, OK, Jason please come and

join us on the sofa. APPLAUSE Have a seat. Now, Jason, you have

gravitated towards the musical but you have always had an interest in

natural history. Absolutely, for as long as I can remember my world has

been sound, before it was music. I have just always been aware of sound

is coming in from, all sorts of sounds, as well as nature, but

mechanical. Abstract. All sorts of weird stuff, trying to listen into

the smallest of sounds as well as the biggest things I am surrounded

by. You were out on the reserve today, did Jason give you an insight

into the sound or are you visually orientated? I love birdsong but we

got it from a different perspective, I was identifying the birdsong and

Jason was doing an amazing rendition, picking up things I would

never have picked up on. To be fair, we had a blast. Let's have a look.

That is incredible! That is really good, you have got the rhythm of it!

25 years ago I worked here as a volunteer warden but three months

and this bird wasn't really here and now it is everywhere. As soon as you

left, it came! Think there is a bidder the pattern, Mike Dilshan is

gone, let's pile in the! Clubb chatty's warbler was the third.

What about your musical instruments because they are varied? Started off

with drums, percussion and turntable. Britain has gravitated

towards drums. It then naturally started to open up. Now it is very

much the voice and technology and the marriage of those two things.

Aside from composing using that repertoire of insurance, you're

working with young people. Performing is one thing and that is

great, but to be able to share what you do and pass on something,

especially experience is, it is a great honour. Working with young

people is something very important to me. You go to the schools, get

them out into the natural environment, what are you asking

them to do? I am asking them to listen to themselves, their own

voices, listen to the environment that they are in, and the sounds

they are surrounded by, and in a way connecting them back to themselves

but also where sounds come from, what is making the sounds, so it is

more about questions, kids ask what is that, and one day that sound

might not be there, that bird might not be there, so it is about raising

the awareness. So they have got out and experienced that environment,

and you have taught them to listen to something they have not heard

before, and then let's take a look at them going back inside and

reproducing the sounds. You are standing in front of the microphone,

imagine that is the head of a person and you are looking at them face on.

And again? LAUGHTER That's great.

When you hear the nature sounds how do they make you feel? Happy, good,

relaxed and every other positive feeling ever. Excellent stuff. You

have got the microphone here. It is a binaural microphone. Basically, it

records sounds as we hear sounds, in a similar kind of way. It is 360 and

surround, and the whole idea was basically getting kids to sort of

localised into it, but then in different parts, so you played it

back they could get the feeling of space, and where sounds were coming

from to again raise that awareness. You take the sounds they produce and

go into your studio and mix all of this to create a soundscape, I

suppose. For me, like I said before, it is bringing together voice and

technology, so it is about taking the voice, shaping it, manipulating

it, shifting it, so when it is played back, the question is is that

my voice, is at the sound of a bird, is it a tropical bird? It is about

questioning that. Let's take a look at some of the finished product, as

it were. BIRD SOUNDS. It was relaxing. It

made me feel like I was in a tropical island with lots of birds.

Part of it, I felt like there was a real beef. If out like I was in the

jungle. It was a beautiful experience being here. -- real be.

Thank you for the lovely experience. APPLAUSE

They obviously really enjoyed it but can we listen to some of your

composition? It is amazing, it's fantastic. And

those are the voices of the kids, that is all there voices. It sounds

like an exotic jungle. It sounds like a rainforest. You can hear the

full version on the website, all you need some headphones. Jason, that

was absolutely top, mate, thank you very much. APPLAUSE

Now, Jason, you have joined in the artist's challenge, show me your

work, sir. This is where it all falls on the floor! You are good at

sound, what about pictures? What do we think that? Industrial. On.

APPLAUSE I have got to say, Jason, I think

you are not only gifted in the world of sound but in the world of art, I

would hang it, almost. I am not saying where, I might hang it in the

toilet, but as far as I am concerned, that is top of the

leaderboard so far. APPLAUSE I'm loving that, I'm truly loving

it. Sort of Impressionist, you've got the colours, the feeling there,

it is really good stuff! That's good, straight up there, good work.

We have been so busy during the show that I have managed to pull out a

tweet from an Erskine that says just watching Springwatch, does it count

as an activity of 30 days wild, which starts today, doing 30 wild

things from now on? Do you think it counts? I think it counts, I read

somebody giving a hedgehog a topiary, the first thing for 30 days

of wild. That was a joke, don't do that! Now the quiz, we set this

challenge at the top of the show, have a look at what this scale is.

This is what it looks like. -- what this skull is. A couple of thoughts

online, a linnet, a chaffinch, any thoughts on the ED -- in the

audience? Greenfinch? Letters find out what it is.

This is the skull of a house sparrow. APPLAUSE

I really liked the way she has prepared attempt ones, also clean

and so white, just brilliant. Load people getting it right, though it

trick people as well, Annie Davies, Neil Hoskins, so may people getting

it right. Well done, and thank you to getting in touch forced up Chris,

I just want to show you a couple of drawings that have come in because

you set an arts challenge last night. Sorry, we can't, we have to

get those tomorrow. Running out of time, keep sending your drawings

income or we will try to feature them. This is coming up in the 8pm

show, Lloyd, this is a guy falcon, absolutely beautiful. In the HPM

show, we will see this against a Peregrine, Martin is testing their

hunting styles on the back of a motorbike. Top Gear, eat your heart

out. Many thanks to all of my guests, we are back at 6:30pm

tomorrow on BBC Two, or It welcomes

a million citizens a day,