Episode 9 Springwatch Unsprung

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Springwatch Unsprung,

coming to you live from RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk,

along with our feisty audience of wildlife loving locals!

When we get here to Minsmere, we bugged this place with lots of

remote cameras. We have got no less than 29 cameras out on the reserve

at the moment, and this is what they are looking at.

That's the wildlife. We have also got a fine array of the human

species in here this evening! We'll also be meeting some

very special guests. Joining us tonight is a renowned

music producer, and founder of not one but two of the most revered

bands of the 1980s, who still tours regularly to sell-out shows,

but whose real passion is creating immersive soundscapes

reflecting the natural world. It's the musical genius

that is Martyn Ware! Also here to tell us

about some of the world's weirdest animal behaviours is a pigeon-loving

actress, writer, broadcaster Who produces a weekly podcast. She

will be telling us why sharks like heavy metal, and why pigeons make

good art critics. From the world of science,

it's Lliana Bird! I am emotionally drained after last

night on the live cameras. And it has been the same today. There is

more to come tonight. If you did not catch Springwatch last night, here's

a quick reminder of what was going on. It was predation everywhere.

This was the white throats' nest, and they all scattered out because

of female adder has appeared. The nest is only about one metre high in

the brambles. The young survived this onslaught. You could hear the

alarm call of the adult, which was to get them to burst out of the nest

and get away from the predator. And they managed to do it. We also had a

stoat on the great tips, and on the woodpecker as well. And there is a

lot more action coming up at eight o'clock tonight. Social media went

absolutely crazy. This one said - nature is brutal! Another one came

straight back and said - nature is brilliant! And this one went

straight in and said - blimey, Game Of Thrones has nothing on the mayhem

which is tonight's Springwatch! But we can't promise you dragons,

unfortunately. That is the one thing we are short of. And of course, this

is the natural world sober up predation is part of it. And our job

is to report on what we see and explain to you, relatively

dispassionately, why it occurs. It is all about the sustenance of life,

and sometimes that sustenance hums to the death of other things. It is

just the way it is. And predation has been going on right across the

country. This is a weasel with a lizard, from Graham Parry. And we

were sent this grass snake, eating a great crested newt. And finally, I

like this one, a cormorant trying to eat a fish! I think it will manage

it because they can eat enormous things. You think it will never go

down marble it does eventually get that fish down. Don't forget to

watch our live cameras, it is so easy to do. When you get to the

website at bbc.co.uk/springwatch, it looks like this... And when you

scroll down... There is a lovely blog, and if you hit live coverage,

you can see the four web streams that we have. It is fantastic.

Now, this month is 30 Days Wild. I went out to see some bats last

night. What have you been doing? I did some wild things in the shower!

Singing! Have a look at this one. This is from someone who has been

counting with her daughter. And this is a picture of a caterpillar in

someone's garden. And this one has been wearing a wild shirt at work.

It is botanically accurate as well so that it gets extra points! Bad

taste AND botanically accurate! I feel out done by that shirt! It is

time for tonight's quiz, which is set by Sophie, so here she is. I am

Sophie, and this is my quiz for you. This further is of a bird which is

mostly white, black and chestnut. Whose feather is this? And here is

the feather. There was a bit of a clue in the opening montage. Get in

touch now, using the hashtag #springwatch. That is quite of an

'80s bird, I would have to say. Which brings us neatly to Martyn!

Thank you very much for coming in! I'm not sure about the nostalgia,

but some say the '80sAPPL come those were the days. They were, it was the

last golden age of great music, I think. And we have got a couple of

shots of you from those days. The Human League, early days, Being

Boiled, I remember the singles. I have still got them. And then you

went on to Heaven 17. More chart success with Heaven 17. A bit like

Robert De Niro there. It must have been good fun? Oh, it was amazing.

It was party time nonstop, really. I think the music was really good, the

credible end of it all. It is not all fancy haircuts and stuff. But we

did dress nicely and I think people like that. You're still touring?

Yes, later this year, all over the country. We're still playing all the

great hits. Temptation, everybody knows that. Well, a few of you do!

None of you are old enough! You did some stuff... Yes, some of the young

artists really liked the stuff we did, and a lot of the electro DJs

really like our stuff. Well, you were known as the "crown prince of

the British synthesiser sound of the 1980s". My goodness, where did you

read that one?! It was an amazing time. We had been through punk, and

with the development of synthesisers, you were the guys,

along with a few others, like OMD and others, who developed it? Yes,

we developed it from Kraftwerk and other places. But you still like

your wildlife, you get out and about? Yes, I do. We see plenty of

foxes in Primrose Hill. And lots of birds, jays, blue kits, etc. And you

have got the park? The park is fantastic. The zoo is nearby, so I

wake up at four o'clock in the morning listening to lemurs calling,

of all things! And Robins. We get all of that stuff, yes. How did you

go from pop music into these soundscapes? You are involved with

the National Trust, and the Sounds Of Our Shores? That's right. I have

got a system which does realistic natural sound. And they approached

us. They said, would you be interested in recording people's

memories of the sea? And together with their recordings of the

wildlife from the sea come from the seaside. And I merged it all

together into a 3D soundscape which was played at Somerset house. Also

it is free to download on the website. So the purpose is to

generate an acoustic feeling of a place using natural sounds?

Precisely. It is like magic realism for sound, really. Well, we have put

some pictures to part of your soundscape. Let's have a look and

listen. Favourite sounds of our shores. I

would have to go back to our childhood, and it would be the sound

of skylarks in the air. Not just natural sounds, there was a

bit of shanty in there as well? Yes, of these were all contributed by

members of the public, via their smartphones. Which actually is a bit

of a lesson. Everybody probably has a smartphone, and you can go and

record your natural environment and upload it to various things on the

internet so that other people can hear it. And actually some of the

music in that was written by my son Gabriel as well. In your honour,

Martyn, we have put together a bit of a gallery from our Twitter

account of 80s-looking birds! This is my favourite, it is a great

crested grebe. Do you like the Herrera? Flock of seagulls, it is

quite good, really! And this one, the parakeet, for the colouring,

obviously. What are you thinking? Camden, where I live, we see this

stuff all the time! And this one as well, check out the Herrera on that!

Oh, my goodness! What is that?! I don't know, it is a bit of Duran on

a bad day. And have a look at this '80s icon... Very questionable phone

that you have got there! Just the phone, that's right. That's semi

adult plumage! Every one of our guests here is set a challenge, and

we call it Drawn To Be Wild. We give them art materials and just ten

minutes to reproduce something about Minsmere. You are accomplished at

soundscapes, we know that. And a terrible artist! I am appealing to

you! OK, well, let's see what you have done. Here it is. What it is,

in case you can't tell... Oh, I feel a justification coming on! I am

excited by the whole feeding thing, so this is just a giant big, really,

with an abstract nest and a bit of a bird in the background. It has got

energy, I think. It has got energy, I am drawn to it, I almost want to

put a worm into it. What is that at the bottom? It had a bit of a

scrawny neck so I put a bit of colour into it. Ten minutes is not

long, you know?! What do we think? You see, I am always drawn to the

unusual and the abstract, Martyn. I like the fact that you have got the

central point of colour, and the bird's big, I am drawn to it. As I

say, I do want to put a worm into it, so I'm going to score this one

really highly, actually. I'm going to demote this one and put you into

joint second. So, you have gone above Will Young

and Jason as well. Pretty good. What do you think? I like it, and we are

getting a lot of cheers over here as well. Springwatch presenter Michaela

Strachan is passionate about wildlife rehabilitation. She went to

one of the biggest rescue centres in the country to see what volunteers

do there. We went along with her. It is day two of my volunteering for

Stately Grange RSPCA. I learnt so much on the first day. I have done

rehabilitation and volunteering work before, but it makes you realise

that the more you do, the more useful you can be. I am ready to get

my hands dirty, and hopefully I can be really useful. Here, I have got a

gull for you. It has been moving in that box. I will get it out and just

see if it can walk. I am a bit worried about his spine. You can see

the way he was desperately trying to use his wings to move. We're going

to have to do an X-ray. All you need to do is hold his head lice and

still. How do you know when he has done

down. He will feel heavy, #234r507y. That looks good from that angle. The

legs look good. The good news is no obvious spinal fracture. -- that

looks good. Time to get on with my other duties.

Keeps you busy but all for a good cause. Make sure to wipe down. I

have sneaked out for a cup of tea. I tell you, it is so busy in there. If

you are hanging around, they will find a job for you. I thought I'd

get myself a cup of tea and have five minutes off. It's tiring.

Dressing up for the next task in hand. Time to meet my next customer.

What is next? We'll catch up with a group of fox cubs. We are going to

go to one of the outdoor enclosures to give them more space. Oh my gosh.

How many? There should be five here. They are gorgeous animals. Wow, they

really do smell, don't they? Yes. What will happen to the foxes now?

We will put them into the outdoor enclosures. So this is where the

foxes will stay for the next six months. We will make a bit of a den

here for them. Like that? Yes. Some places for them to hide. I quite

like the look of that den ie. ' Liking it. It needs more colour if

you ask me. Looking lovely. -- I'm liking it. I think we are just about

sorted. I think we are. I have had another great day's volunteering. It

has been fun getting to meet and help these wonderful wild animals

and it is incredibly rewarding to know you can really make a

difference. APPLAUSE

? Complaining about the smell. I think they smell nice. Really? I

used to have them in the house. I got used to t my mum didn't.

And of course, this spring and summer sees the launch

of the BBC Do Something Great season - if you want get involved,

And get in touch to tell us about your own

Lots getting in touch already. This is from David Richards. He has been

be planting and he has a pond. Hoping wildlife will come. Which it

will. Any outdoor water is a goot thing to do. Let's move offer to our

next guest. Lliana, come over and join us on the sofa.

APPLAUSE You have always been into wildlife.

And so has the rest of your family. Yes, I was interested when I was a

kid and my family shared in my obsession with wildlife. Even though

living in London, my mum used it take me and my sister to Portobello

and we used to visit Smarty the parrot. We have a picture. Me in the

'80s. We used to go to Devon on the weekends. My sister she was

obsessed. She wented on to do conservation work in Africa. I got

to visit her. I remember one time I came home and she was six and told

me not to go into her bedroom. I thought she hated me. I snuck in and

found out she was keeping an injured baby blackbird under the bed. We

started looking after it together. It brought us closer. You and your

sister? What about the blackbird? He was all right. Retallick leased him.

Not the best place to keep one, under the bed. You have to start

somewhere. I did equally unspeakal things to an matches you are now

keen on science and trying to get a new audience. I read you want to

make it as cool as rock 'n' roll. Science gets a bad wrap and some

people can say it is boring. I disagree, it is boring and funny. I

do a music show on Radio X and decided to bring in the science and

nature elements and do a segment with Dr Jack Lewis called geek chic

with science. We turned it into a podcast and into a book. We are in a

mission. If it is as cool as rock 'n' roll. We'll have to put up with

groupies and hedonism. It must have been terrible, Martyn. I don't know

how I dealt with it. You have put this book together. The Mice Who

Sing For Sex. I have reading some. Sharks who enjoy heavy metal. We

discovered by accident by a cage driver. They put cages there and

they would come up. He put in the speakers. Why would you be playing

it? He put it in the water and the first thing on the iPod was ACDC. He

discovered the sharks were coming up 209 cage and rubbing their faces up

off it. Did he 209 cage and rubbing their faces up

off it. Did he try -- to the cage. Did he try Heaven 17? And def metal.

It is to do with the sound. It mimics the sound of dying fish. What

about the mice who sing for sex. We know that mice and rats will sing,

don't we? They have known for 50 years now that male mice will sing

for sex and when they smell female's pee, they do ultrasonic love

squeaks. We cannot hear it. Great name for a band. Ultrasonic love

squeaks. We cannot hear it. It is too high pitched for us. Recently

they discovered the female mice sing back. It is a duet going on. They

take each other around and match songs to each other. It is a

boughtively thing. The most fascinating thing I read, I have a

keen interest in birds. Pigeons becoming art critics. Yes, I think

they get a bad wrap, pigeons, the underdogs of the dog world and

people think they cause problems in Trafalgar Square. Actually they are

super smart. They have a visual system, complex. It was discovered

by a were fesor that they can tell the difference between Monet and

Picasso and van goe and other artists. They can do it as well as

humans and they can tell the difference between good and bad art.

If they are trained well with hemp seed - we have to give them a reward

- he they can tell the difference between kids' art that we rate as

good or bad. Incredible. It didn't matter if they were upside down, the

paintings. Only the Picasso. They were able to look at the

construction of that. Explain why some people hang their paintings

upside down. I have seen a Rothco upside down in someone's house I

would like to see pigeons judging next year's Turner Prize. OK, you

think animals don't like you, despite the fact rather like them. I

know, it is an unrequited love. I have an affinity for them but they

don't seem to share that for me. I think it is because I'm needy. I'm

pleading with them to love me, they can sense that. I remember I was

travelling around and this monkey in a temple came up to me and I was

smug because it came up and sat on my shoulder. I thought - the monkey

loves me. It smacked me in the face and stole my camera and ran off. It

might have been something else. Maybe a signal you were sending out

to the monkey. I won't debt into the detail of that -- get into the

detail. Let's have a look, you have been out on the reserve with Martyn

this afternoon, enjoying the sunshine. Thank you. Oh, that's just

amazing. I have come all the way from London and I've just spotted a

pigeon. I think it has followed me up. Oh, look, the ducklings. They

make such a racket, don't they? Showing off now. Er That's amazing.

We would like to see unicorns next. Unicorns and rainbows next. An

amazing place up here. It is beautiful. I'm going to come back.

Everything we said we wanted to see magically appeared, except for

unicorns. And woodpeckers. You must stick around. Time to have a look at

your challenge now. Maybe we need a pigeon to judge it. Any pigeons in

the audience? OK, let's have a look. Here we are.

Oh my goodness me. This is pretty good. Look at this. I think it is

good. If in doubt, collage. That looks pretty good. Very good. I

have to say, in pigeon mode, looking at, that I don't recognise it as a

Monet or Picasso but I do recognise it as top of the board.

APPLAUSE I mean, look at that.

There is a fair degree of on tholing onical accuracy, and mixed media and

a message - feed me. Scoring multiple points and I'm not even a

pigeon. She said at the top of the show she was pretty competitive.

Good. In your honour I have had a look through all our pictures in

social media to find some weird and wonderful an ma.s you didn't

disappoint. Thank you so much. Have a look at this. These are from an

interesting perfective. A double-headed badger, as it were.

Oh, yes. A clever picture. #2w0 Badgers

squeezed together on a patio. I thought - what else can I find and I

found a double-headed gull. What do you think of that -- Two Badgers.

Conadvicing, until you count the legs. Finally, here we go, a

four-headed stoat. It is a really nice photograph. The light is on the

head there. All the others newsling around. All the background. Shame

about the leaf in the foreground. It is good. I would be happy. That's

our Minsmere stoat. That was taken here. Is it? It is our stoat. Next

to our cameraman. Time to resolve the quiz. At the top of the show we

asked you what you thought this feather belonged to. A few people

got in touch. A lot of people. A a lot thought it was an eyeder duck.

Jack, and some people thought it was a muskby duck. Any idea in the

audience? Shelduck. Shelduck the audience say. Let's find out. Here

is Sophie. This is the feather of a shelduck.

Very '80s. I like the colouring of a shelduck.

They are bold, aren't they? They are goo.d many people got it right.

Kathy, Sam Washington, Wendy, Paul high #2350e8d. -- Paul Highfield.

Amy Davis. Thank you for sending those in. Yesterday I mentioned at

the start of the show it was epic with predation. I thought I would

smother new cuteness. I hope it is OK. And I know how you like T have a

look at this first picture here. Awww.

Stop T Very cute. A water vole. I think this next picture is even

cuter. Looking supercute. Bulging eyes.

That puts me off the water vole. They have their eyes on the top of

their skull. They are predated by all sorts of things. I presume it is

an adaptation to that but exquis etly beautiful. I have done cute and

predation. Now gross. So if you are eating your tea get ready. This was

filmed earlier. It is our sparrowhawk.

It is Olympian. It really is. I hope that's

representing us in Rio. Absolutely. I will sneak a quick question in. I

never get to do them. Crawford asks - why are birds legs and mouths

often yellow. Just like the picture S there an advantage? An interesting

question -- is there an advantage? I don't think I can answer it. It

might be pigment in terms of which are available. We don't see many

blue, most of the substances that form blue is toxic but yellow is

frequent in the legs of birds of prey. There must be an adaptive

advantage. I think I will have to get back to you on that. If anyone

in the audience knows or at home, tell us. We are running out of time.

Thank you to my guests for coming. In a round of applause for them. I

will leave you with this, the bluetits, only two left in the nest.

What happened to the rest? Find out at 8.00pm.