:00:15. > :00:32.APPLAUSE On the Fuser. -- unbridled
:00:33. > :00:35.enthusiasm. We are here on a fine sunny evening, all of these kind
:00:36. > :00:42.folks have given up the opportunity of being outside to come in for the
:00:43. > :00:49.show. But what is the show all about? We are up here broadcasting
:00:50. > :00:54.live for three weeks from the RSPB Minsmere reserve. More than 5000
:00:55. > :01:02.different species here, not just mammals but 20 of birds, like this
:01:03. > :01:10.magnificent shelduck, and we have been sticking our cameras into all
:01:11. > :01:14.sorts of nests. The curlew are now sitting on one egg. It is all about
:01:15. > :01:20.getting intermittent use of wildlife. It is all about you,
:01:21. > :01:25.because this show is about the way that people connect with wildlife,
:01:26. > :01:28.so do get involved. We also have guests, we have a couple of cracking
:01:29. > :01:35.guests to start the week, the first of which makes a mockery of our week
:01:36. > :01:38.sometimes. He has frequently got News for you, but I bet you don't
:01:39. > :01:50.know he is keen on bagging Monroes. It is the one and only Mr Ed Byrne.
:01:51. > :01:56.APPLAUSE Ed will be helping a little later on
:01:57. > :01:59.to make a joke out of this series! Next, a polymath, zoologist, author,
:02:00. > :02:03.he has written a couple of excellent books, the first about the sticky
:02:04. > :02:11.subject of sex, and Gnabry is the tricky taboo death. -- next it is
:02:12. > :02:17.tricky taboo. It is Jules Howard. APPLAUSE
:02:18. > :02:22.What happened in the wake of last week's ro grams? What a weekend it
:02:23. > :02:25.has been on the live cameras. If you haven't had chance to have a look at
:02:26. > :02:34.them, go to the website right now. All you do is type BBC .co .uk into
:02:35. > :02:39.your browser, and if you scroll down, you can see live coverage,
:02:40. > :02:56.click on that, and you can see the webcams. This is our Wiedwald --
:02:57. > :03:02.reed warbler live. You can just see it speak picking up. There will be a
:03:03. > :03:10.lot more about this species on our show at 8pm. They have been a treat
:03:11. > :03:16.this weekend, because on Sunday two of them hatch, which was amazing,
:03:17. > :03:21.you could see it live. Then this morning, another one hatched, and
:03:22. > :03:25.about two hours ago, the fourth one, so it has been an amazing nest to
:03:26. > :03:32.watch. And the bearded tips have left the nest. You mean long tails.
:03:33. > :03:38.This weekend there were six of them, and they left in about half an hour.
:03:39. > :03:45.Initially we could only see four, but eventually, when the nest is
:03:46. > :03:51.this disintegrates on the process of hatching, they come out one after
:03:52. > :03:55.the other, because they stick together, they even roost together
:03:56. > :03:58.to make sure that when the adult comeback it can find them all. And
:03:59. > :04:06.the nest is made out of spiders webs. It is lined with a lot of
:04:07. > :04:12.feathers, and covered with lichen to make it camouflaged. But it is not
:04:13. > :04:16.just hatching and fledging, it has been going on all over the country,
:04:17. > :04:21.and you have been getting in touch. Have a look at this picture from
:04:22. > :04:26.Matthew. Goldcrest fledgling is all on a branch. A whole group of them,
:04:27. > :04:42.they have all come out at the same time, and like long tails
:04:43. > :04:52.tits, they have stayed together. And that is a fledgling wren as well, it
:04:53. > :04:56.is bigger than the adult because it is fluffed up, but it is one thing
:04:57. > :05:00.the birds do, they feed the youngsters a little more so they are
:05:01. > :05:04.big, to give them reserves to keep them going while they are learning
:05:05. > :05:08.to find food. And we have had a question about the live cameras,
:05:09. > :05:14.this is about sand martins, and they have been fledging as well, this
:05:15. > :05:19.footage is interesting. The sand martin, says this viewer, is the
:05:20. > :05:24.most confusing thing I have seen. They appear to be pulling the young
:05:25. > :05:27.ones I'd. I do that to my stepdaughter! She is away at
:05:28. > :05:32.university, but when she comes back, I will be doing it again! I haven't
:05:33. > :05:37.seen it before in a bird species. And now we need to set the quiz.
:05:38. > :05:41.Last week's quiz was about animal skills, but now it is about birds
:05:42. > :05:49.wings and feathers, and it is set by Sophie who collect them. I am
:05:50. > :05:53.Sophie, and this is my quiz for you. This bird gets its name from the
:05:54. > :05:58.bright band of colour in its wing. The male drops and opened its wings
:05:59. > :06:03.in courtship, showing these bright yellow wing flashes. Whose feather
:06:04. > :06:10.is this? APPLAUSE
:06:11. > :06:13.I like a young person that collect wings and feathers, because I have
:06:14. > :06:17.got millions of them under my bed, and they do get eaten by moths. You
:06:18. > :06:23.have to keep the moths away otherwise you open them years later
:06:24. > :06:26.and it is a pile of dust. I had a nightjar's wing in an envelope, and
:06:27. > :06:32.I was going to display it one day and it was just bones, the rest was
:06:33. > :06:46.gone. Do get in touch with what you think the answer is. Our first
:06:47. > :06:55.guest, aired, thank you very much. You have studied horticulture? I was
:06:56. > :07:04.enrolled in a university course. But Eubank died and got into comedy.
:07:05. > :07:10.What led to the job? If I had stuck with it, I might have a gardening
:07:11. > :07:16.show now. -- you left and joined comedy. I could have got into public
:07:17. > :07:24.speaking from that. And here is a clip of you from Live At The Apollo.
:07:25. > :07:30.The reason we have a cat is we found a cat by the bins, he looked hungry,
:07:31. > :07:34.so now he lives with us. You wouldn't do that first human being,
:07:35. > :07:38.would you? Mate, what are you doing by the bins? Are you hungry? Would
:07:39. > :07:45.you like to come and live in the house? Come on in, I knew go. It's
:07:46. > :07:55.much better than being by the bins. APPLAUSE
:07:56. > :07:59.We have two of them now, a friend move to Canada. Just as I was trying
:08:00. > :08:03.to turn the garden into a proper wildlife Sanctuary. You get loads of
:08:04. > :08:11.things hanging around your bins now waiting to be invited in! What about
:08:12. > :08:15.growing up in Ireland, because you did have an early interest in
:08:16. > :08:21.natural history. Off the coast of Ireland is good marine life, sharks
:08:22. > :08:26.and things, but I grew up in Dublin, suburban Dublin, and there was
:08:27. > :08:31.really nothing, and I would read books about exotic creatures like a
:08:32. > :08:39.jazz and think, one day. #
:08:40. > :08:54.domestic pets, a rat was the biggest I ever got. You do get domestic
:08:55. > :08:58.badgers. I have never seen one. The Irish Sea came up, and left you with
:08:59. > :09:04.a smaller complement of mammals than we have on the mainland, and we have
:09:05. > :09:09.a smaller complement than we left in continental Europe, so you have 25,
:09:10. > :09:15.26 mammals, no moles, no common shrew. I remember watching Jasper
:09:16. > :09:20.Carrott do a routine about moles in his garden, and I couldn't imagine
:09:21. > :09:29.what it would be like. And Patrick put paid to the snakes, so their
:09:30. > :09:33.worries very little. And now you have it in your garden! We have Matt
:09:34. > :09:50.Jack -- muntjack in the garden!
:09:51. > :09:57.APPLAUSE I have never seen such enthusiasm
:09:58. > :10:03.for muntjack. Kevin Robinson has a better picture. Let's see if he can
:10:04. > :10:10.do a ten minute stand-up routine about having a cat. I bought my wife
:10:11. > :10:14.nest box camera for Christmases ago, and I finally read it up this year,
:10:15. > :10:20.and we have tit Sennett. You have some youngsters in the bottom
:10:21. > :10:32.left-hand corner, the camera is not exactly tilted at the right angle!
:10:33. > :10:45.You do Live At The Apollo and we will do Springwatch! By the way,
:10:46. > :10:51.those baby tits... Went to live on a farm. I went away, and I came back,
:10:52. > :10:55.and they were dead in the box. It might have been because of the cold,
:10:56. > :11:00.or it could have been a sparrowhawk killed the parents. They do that. We
:11:01. > :11:03.have been watching our sparrowhawks very closely, and this is what
:11:04. > :11:17.happens to blue tit in the men's mere vicinity. This is a young blue
:11:18. > :11:24.tit here, it is easy to identify. This is what could have happened to
:11:25. > :11:29.the parents of our once. It is as much about death is about life. What
:11:30. > :11:36.about the Highlands, what is bagging a Munro? A Munro is a mountain in
:11:37. > :11:41.Scotland above 3000 feet, and when you do one, it is called bagging it,
:11:42. > :11:47.and if you have done them all, you are a complete. There are 282. There
:11:48. > :11:55.was 283, then they decided one wasn't tall enough and they booted
:11:56. > :12:03.it out. How many have you done? 77, not adverse one who lives in Essex!
:12:04. > :12:11.Here you are. Not bad for somebody, one foot on top of the rock. That
:12:12. > :12:15.one is slightly less attractive. I didn't know I was going to be on TV
:12:16. > :12:26.on that. What about wildlife at 3000 feet? There is some. That is some
:12:27. > :12:30.wild life! They probably wouldn't have thanked me for putting that on
:12:31. > :12:36.TV. Or they would have looked a bit happier about it. That is in snow.
:12:37. > :12:40.Yes, they found a patch of snow to do it on, there were plenty of
:12:41. > :12:51.patches with no snow that they could have used. Maybe slowed the whole
:12:52. > :13:04.thing down. We will get to that in a moment. What is next? For me? Myself
:13:05. > :13:10.and Dara O Briain are heading to the Far East to do another show. We did
:13:11. > :13:12.one a couple of years ago, they are repeating it on BBC Two, we
:13:13. > :13:19.travelled through Central America on a road trip, so we're doing another
:13:20. > :13:26.one now in Thailand. You will see plenty of wildlife. Don't get bitten
:13:27. > :13:30.by it. I will do my best. Wasn't for you, I would have gone with my arm
:13:31. > :13:40.out at any creature I saw! All of our guests take part in a challenge
:13:41. > :13:45.called Drawn To Be Wild. We ask them to draw a species they have seen
:13:46. > :13:51.here at Minsmere. What have you come up with? I was very impressed with
:13:52. > :13:56.one of the camera trunks. I decided I would do a charcoal and pastel
:13:57. > :14:03.drawing of it. I can't draw, but I thought it was a reasonable
:14:04. > :14:11.representation. APPLAUSE
:14:12. > :14:18.I ran out of time! I think we have a picture of this.
:14:19. > :14:25.We can judge it for accuracy. It isn't too bad. I am astonished you
:14:26. > :14:31.came to a place of such outstanding natural beauty and drew a camera
:14:32. > :14:35.truck. I have had so many amazing pictures that have come in. I have
:14:36. > :14:47.one right here with me now that has been drawn by hand, and it is so
:14:48. > :14:50.much better than that, I'm sorry. But was it drawn in ten minutes
:14:51. > :14:58.under the pressure of having to do it here at Minsmere? Ed, your camera
:14:59. > :15:07.truck, I can't really... LAUGHTER
:15:08. > :15:14.All those natural resources. I totally agree. If you were with us
:15:15. > :15:19.last week, you will have seen Chris sharing a bird-watching hide with
:15:20. > :15:21.lots of famous faces. Back in our highchair tonight, things are
:15:22. > :15:36.getting just a little bit spicy. Sitting here you would never think
:15:37. > :15:43.you were in central London. I can kind of blank that. I have walked
:15:44. > :15:48.here with my nephews, it was a few years ago but this is fantastic.
:15:49. > :15:55.Let's do some birding. The birds we have in front of us to tufted ducks.
:15:56. > :16:05.The mail has the white panels on the side. Why are the males more
:16:06. > :16:12.flamboyant? We just! They could in theory have up to about 30 young.
:16:13. > :16:18.How many will survive on average? This is where things go bad. A
:16:19. > :16:25.duckling is like a bird burger and everything wants a slice! I don't
:16:26. > :16:31.like that. Sorry. You're like animals? I was brought up with
:16:32. > :16:35.animals, not on a farm but near the coast in Kent, I left school at 16
:16:36. > :16:39.and started in the music industry. I was lucky, like you, we are
:16:40. > :16:44.passionate about what we do and hopefully we do it OK. Did you not
:16:45. > :16:50.represent the Spice Girls and David Batty and takes out and all these
:16:51. > :16:56.other people doing OK? -- and David Batty?
:16:57. > :17:03.I have to tell you about the infanticide because it is a good
:17:04. > :17:06.story if there is not much good about. She can recognise that you
:17:07. > :17:12.cannot get all of those youngsters to survive. It is important that
:17:13. > :17:18.there is some guaranteed success. So the weakest one gets killed. What
:17:19. > :17:24.does she do with the body? She brutally packs it to death in the
:17:25. > :17:28.open. Did the Spice Girls at any stage... Yes, they did, they did
:17:29. > :17:34.eventually Italy Pack one another to death in public! We are struggling
:17:35. > :17:41.to get kids into this stuff. How can we make this as sexy as the Spice
:17:42. > :17:46.Girls? But a band together, each with a different personality. We
:17:47. > :17:55.would have the coot, they would be the bad guys. Who would be the good
:17:56. > :18:00.guys? Moorhens, they are closely related. A Canada goose getting on
:18:01. > :18:04.with its neighbours? A bit of a message. You could vote for who
:18:05. > :18:11.should be the next bird band member and get the kids to vote on it. I am
:18:12. > :18:17.loving it. I will manage them. Isn't that gorgeous? I will put together a
:18:18. > :18:21.band of birds and with your guidance we will get them topping the charts!
:18:22. > :18:32.APPLAUSE I want to see the bird band. I might
:18:33. > :18:37.change some of the species to things that are more flamboyant. It is hard
:18:38. > :18:44.to make a girl band out of birds because they are a bit dowdy. Be
:18:45. > :18:47.careful because in that film you said the male birds were more
:18:48. > :18:52.flamboyant. I want to pick you up on that. There must be a reason for it
:18:53. > :18:57.within birds. If you look at this, starting with the Mullard, the male
:18:58. > :19:03.is more striking than the female and there must be a reason for that. The
:19:04. > :19:07.female is making the choice. So the males are advertising themselves,
:19:08. > :19:12.one way is through their physical appearance, sometimes it is strong
:19:13. > :19:15.and sometimes display, sometimes a combination, generally their
:19:16. > :19:20.physical form so they can be more brightly coloured, and a distant and
:19:21. > :19:24.the females to make the choice. A couple of exceptions, where you get
:19:25. > :19:31.the role reversal, the females are more brightly coloured although this
:19:32. > :19:36.is rare. And Robbins. Female robins will sometimes sing, you cannot tell
:19:37. > :19:39.them apart in your garden unless they are brooding over sometimes you
:19:40. > :19:45.can see patches on the female because she incubates. Gayle has
:19:46. > :19:50.written to ask why Chris is wearing that shirt and Jan says she cannot
:19:51. > :19:57.hear you above that top. So I think tonight I have won this one! I don't
:19:58. > :20:03.think so. This is retro flamboyant. And very low cost from an Internet
:20:04. > :20:12.auction site! Let's move on to Jules. Thank you for coming in.
:20:13. > :20:18.APPLAUSE You have gone from sex to death. For
:20:19. > :20:20.your latest tome. The first was a great read, I have not had the
:20:21. > :20:30.pleasure of this one, how did you get into death? When you spend a lot
:20:31. > :20:38.of time looking at animals reproducing, we OK to talk about
:20:39. > :20:45.sex? We OK. This is why I like this show, death, your blue tits,
:20:46. > :20:49.unfortunately, going. When you study animals, and you look at their
:20:50. > :20:52.behaviour and sex lives, you see that death is there in the
:20:53. > :21:03.background, so to speak. Basically you think of pound animals, for
:21:04. > :21:09.instance, dragonfly larvae, in a pond, there is a lot of death.
:21:10. > :21:12.Animals, on the whole, they are in a hurry to reproduce. There is a
:21:13. > :21:18.reason that tadpoles grows quickly, they don't spend to or three years
:21:19. > :21:22.growing up, they need to get onto the business... Before they get
:21:23. > :21:27.nailed by a dragonfly. Even dragonflies, they come out in a few
:21:28. > :21:34.months as adults, they will get eaten, they evolved to live quicker
:21:35. > :21:39.and get the kids done quickly. When do we give up on death and start
:21:40. > :21:45.thinking it is unpleasant, when we get closer to it ourselves? It is
:21:46. > :21:49.better for me thinking about death and spending time contemplating it
:21:50. > :21:57.in nature, I feel better about this alive bit that we are in right now.
:21:58. > :22:04.I think we all do! Just being with you guys in this room. Stop. When
:22:05. > :22:08.you worked with kids, as many of you guys have done, with nature they are
:22:09. > :22:11.particularly interested in that. I suspect it is because it is the one
:22:12. > :22:15.topic that families are sometimes awkward talking about with their
:22:16. > :22:21.kids. And the kids are like, I've heard about this death thing, let's
:22:22. > :22:27.see what it looks like. And sometimes animals fake it which is
:22:28. > :22:33.interesting. It's like a personality thing. I used to catch a load of
:22:34. > :22:39.grass snakes and not all of them do this. Sticking their tongue out,
:22:40. > :22:44.giving it the whole thing. And they roll bark. Basically trying to look
:22:45. > :22:53.dead so the predator who does not want to scavenge them wants to kill
:22:54. > :22:59.their prey so they know it is fresh. Some frogs did it, they flipped over
:23:00. > :23:03.on their backs. A couple of lizard species do that, thorny devil, one
:23:04. > :23:08.of those insects. I would argue, Jules, is that there are not enough
:23:09. > :23:14.dead things in the environment. We'll need more dead things! This is
:23:15. > :23:20.one of my childhood dreams! We do need more! People with rifles are on
:23:21. > :23:36.their way in! LAUGHTER
:23:37. > :23:40.There is a shortage of stag. I spent the weirdest day watching the corpse
:23:41. > :23:46.of a dead pig and the amount of animals going in and out... This is
:23:47. > :23:50.why people pay their licence fee. Do you people talking about watching
:23:51. > :23:54.dead pigs for a day. In the book I get a lyrical and talk about
:23:55. > :24:00.everything like a circus. It really was. I didn't know much about rove
:24:01. > :24:04.beetles but a lot of these species were walking in and grubbing maggots
:24:05. > :24:11.and then stamping out again, absolutely amazing. A dead pig's
:24:12. > :24:17.carcass is in fact full of life. If we had more carcasses we would have
:24:18. > :24:20.more kites. One reason that we like scavenging birds, vultures are
:24:21. > :24:27.absent of a much of Europe because we have cleaned up the environment.
:24:28. > :24:33.Look at this, the sky is full of kites. On this site was common for
:24:34. > :24:40.Hundred years ago. They were acting as natural scavengers, 400 years
:24:41. > :24:44.ago. We are quick to say that crows and foxes of evidence, and the
:24:45. > :24:48.animals that are associated with death, we are kind of weird about
:24:49. > :24:53.them and I think that says more about us than about them. We are
:24:54. > :24:58.running out of time but must ask you, some animals effectively do not
:24:59. > :25:13.die. Absolutely. In the pond there is a hydro, and I once held a
:25:14. > :25:19.507-year-old clown. - stag. It was like a soap dish although I did not
:25:20. > :25:23.use it like a soap dish! -- it was a clam. We want to learn more from
:25:24. > :25:28.animals so that we can live longer if we want to. While you have a
:25:29. > :25:32.life, read this book by Jules. I'm looking forward to getting into it,
:25:33. > :25:36.I like death and everything that surrounds it. Now I know that things
:25:37. > :25:46.like death may be on the cards, show us your artwork. Audio, do you want
:25:47. > :25:54.to come on Springwatch Unsprung this week! Sure! Explain this? Thinking
:25:55. > :25:58.about food webs and energy, and getting it's transferred into all
:25:59. > :26:04.these different creatures, it is kind of about that. I am feeling the
:26:05. > :26:14.room and I am thinking... ! You are feeling wrong. Because I love the
:26:15. > :26:18.abstract idea. , And! I love the fact that you are involving science
:26:19. > :26:24.in this and it is diagrammatic. It has a bit of Tracey Emlyn about it.
:26:25. > :26:31.I'm giving it a high score. I'm going to stick it about Jason. I'm
:26:32. > :26:49.going to put it in second place. -- I will stick it above Jason. You
:26:50. > :26:53.identity and! -- you are dead to me. He is angry, isn't he! We have
:26:54. > :26:58.created a storm on Twitter about the jumpers. Mine is clearly the best!
:26:59. > :27:12.This weekend we asked you to go into your gardens and do a bio blitz.
:27:13. > :27:17.This viewers found as many species as she could and Elaine Wright got
:27:18. > :27:23.in touch and said, let's do this. So you can do a bio blitz anywhere.
:27:24. > :27:27.It's not a total of animals you find, it's a compliment. If you have
:27:28. > :27:30.as many as you can have in your window box or in your garden or on
:27:31. > :27:34.your country estate that is when you are doing well. It is not about
:27:35. > :27:38.having the biggest total. Absolutely. Let's go back to the
:27:39. > :27:44.quiz set at the start of the show. The question, the wing of a bird,
:27:45. > :27:50.we've got a few clues at the start of the show, loads of responses
:27:51. > :27:56.online, Dawn asks if it was a yellow whitetail, Neil has asked if it is a
:27:57. > :28:06.waxwing. Donna asks if it is a blue tit. Any ideas? Goldfinch. Goldfinch
:28:07. > :28:11.is the general consensus. Let's take a look. Here is Sophie. These are
:28:12. > :28:16.the wing feathers of a goldfinch. APPLAUSE
:28:17. > :28:33.I have to say they were very flamboyant. So many people are
:28:34. > :28:38.getting it right. Well done you. Excellent, thank you. More quizzes
:28:39. > :28:44.and more programmes tomorrow at 6:30pm on BBC Two. Don't go away,
:28:45. > :28:54.still with us online between 7pm and 8pm, Spring Springwatch is coming
:28:55. > :28:58.up. Our blue tits not what they seem. I would like to say thank you
:28:59. > :29:01.to our guests. Good night!