Episode 2 Springwatch Unsprung

Never clap at the beginning t might be rubbish!

Welcome. We might have science, a little bit of guest and you, it's

your programme. We want to hear from you, any questions you have,y

photographs you would like to send us, anything to contribute we would

like to see them. . We got off to a flying start last

night. But I am pleased to welcome some fabulous guests tonight.

First of all, Dwayne Fields, a man who is an adventurer, but also an

ambassador, a man with a mission to get children out of cities and into

the countryside. We will be meeting Dwayne later. Now, Erica McAlister

from the natural history museum. A lady who is never undone when it

comes it flies because they are her specialty and you will be telling us

about their lifestyles and others. I am pleased to welcome Levon Biss.

You may know that I have a reputation for being ferociously

critical when it comes to photographry but I am pleased to say

that yours meet the mark and more. We have got some fantastic

photographs to see later that are extraordinary. Look forward to

those. Lindsey. Chris, hello. What a day we have had weather-wise. It has

been unbelievable, sun, rain, thunder a moment ago and our

wildlife has been suffering. We are in here, yeah, the wildlife is out

there. Absolutely. Look at this, this was our Robins last night, it

was pretty damp. Rose got in touch and said, those robins aren't going

to fledge today, that was yesterday. Who would blame them? Actually you

are wrong, they did go. One of them went last night and the rest this

morning. The one that went last night was a fool! Complete fool,

heading out into darkness in rain like this. I wasn't telling the

whole story, we will see this later. It did get one feed. We think that

after watching them today they're still OK at the moment. I hope so

because that robin was brave. We also had this picture sent in. This

was during last night's show. This is from Scott. He wants to know what

this is. It's a fantastic insect. I have to be honest here, we sometimes

rehearse the top of this. Lindsey asked me what this was a minute ago

and I said probably a spurdge moth. It wasn't. It's years since I have

seen a private moth. I will get my coat and leave! Erica will never

forgive me. I couldn't believe how huge it was. Let me show you this.

Nothing I like more than an unusual nest on Unsprung. This one is

beautiful. It's been sent in by Natasha, the nest inside a post box

and it's closed for birds nesting. I wonder what it is in there. Do send

me your unusual nests, I love them. Now time for tonight's quiz. It's a

fab quiz. Look at the picture. There it is. What we have done is we have

enlarged a section of an insect. The question is what is that insect? Get

in touch right now. You can do that if you use the hashtag Springwatch.

We are on Facebook and Twitter. Get in touch with us, links on the

website. It is tough. We might give clues. Our first guest, Dwayne

Fields, thank you very much for coming in.

APPLAUSE. Before we get on your arrival into

the UK, you found yourself here locked in a city and needed to get

out of it and you took some rather extreme measures. You didn't just go

to the park or a day out, you went to the North Pole. Yeah. Why? Sounds

strange when you say it like that. I went to the North Pole because it

was a great way to announce that I love the outdoors. I wanted people

to look at me and say that's an odd thing to do and like you did, why

did you do it and it would give me a chance to speak because I love the

sound of my own voice. I love the outdoors, as extreme and cold as it

is and hot, I just love it. It is, here you are sporting a mandatory

beard. And the icicles show up. You walked to the Pole, let's not forget

that. 440-mile journey, I walked it. That image, I wanted to capture the

vintage look of a real Polar explorer, I grew a beard especially

and that happened, it was great. Fantastic experience. It's not just

about going to the Pole. Now you have a venture which is to get young

people out of cities. You came to the UK having lived in the

countryside. Yes. In Jamaica. Yes. We have a picture of you here as a

young lad. There you are. That's me at age six years old, five years

old, just before I came here to the UK. That was actually in a rural

part of Jamaica, so loads of countryside and open spaces, trees,

you name it, it was a dream to be there. There were wild animals,

nests and I was a real explorer and adventurer at the time. I would see

termites nests and I would climb a tree to find out what's living in

there. Fast forward, I get brought to the UK and all of a sudden it's

concrete areas, less trees, less open spaces. I find myself in a

place where actually I don't fit in. How did you feel? To be honest I

felt really, I felt low. I went through a period I probably would

liken it to depression. As a young child you don't understand changes

as much and you can see a picture of me holding a squirrel and... This is

in London. I climbed a tree, found a squirrel's nest and rescued a squirm

from the nest. That was me trying to hold on to what I thought was the

real me, which is the boy that loves to investigate and inspect and look

and learn and tried to recreate it here in London and it didn't work

out from such a young age actually. One of the problems I presume is

like many young people who have a keen interest in natural history you

are the only one in the class, the only one in the school that has that

interest, none of your peers share it? Definitely. An example of what

happened to me at one point where I tried to share my interest, picture

a seven-year-old boy in primary school, and I had a handful of, I

think it was wood lice and they were in a plastic container, I realised

one was carrying live wood lice on the stomach, I thought it would be a

good idea to share with friends and the school. As soon as I showed them

the tub and urgh, what are you doing and left me standing by myself. That

happened throughout my life. It got to the stage where I almost gave up

on the fact that I loved nature and loved the outdoors because of it.

But now your mission is to make sure that doesn't happen to other young

people of course. Exactly right. I don't want other young people to

feel isolated because they like the outdoors, like insects and animals

or like the natural world as a whole. I am now working to get more

young people out there, the more that enjoy it, the more they'll see

they have it in common and hopefully will go on to protect it in the

future. We are talking not just about white middle-class kids, we

are talking about black people and I am if honest, the last time I saw a

black person out exploring the countryside was probably about five

or six years ago. Why is it, why do you think that black people don't

get into it that way? I think it's a combination of things actually,

Chris. I think if you look at the cultural heritage, for example, in

Jamaica, if you go to a town and announce that you are from the

country, there is a stigma and stereo type associated with it, they

describe you as someone coming from the back of the bush. That's not a

very pleasant way of being described. On the flipside, here in

London, most of the people this that we see on TV are white middle-class

men, in particular, who are adventurers and explorers and have

done things. And working-class. Gravitate to middle-class now. You

see what I mean. I agree. It's a great sadness to us that we don't

have the full racial mix of people, Asian, as well, not just black.

Absolutely. It's just, we can look back and say most of the people that

are doing adventures right now come from a military background, from a

private school background. They've been encouraged to do these things,

it's a way of carrying on that, I am macho, strong, male, and young

people aren't encouraged to do it as such because it is seen a place that

may not be safe and we don't know that area, we know our cities and

our streets and Marble Arches but don't know the countryside that

well. What we don't know, we look at as that might be dangerous and I

will stay in a safe place. There can be wildlife on Oxford Street, no

doubt about it and certainly at Marble Arch. We encourage you to

carry on doing what you are doing, it's a fantastic job. We have to get

more kids, particularly black kids out in the countryside. Catch up

with you later. Lindsey. There are loads of groups out there

if young people want to get involved in nature. Many of you have been in

touch, loads in touch, to say you are enjoying our live cameras. If

you head over to our website you can watch them 20 hours of the day. Here

are nine of them. Let's have a closer look at a camera live now.

It's our Wrens nest. Absolutely beautiful.

But if you think watching nine cameras is tough, you should try

watching 30, it's what our story developers do. We went to see how it

all works. This is Unsprung Undressed.

On Springwatch the biggest stamps are the animals we -- the biggest

stars are the animals we love to follow. There are over 30 live

cameras monitoring them 24 hours a day.

So that we don't miss a moment of the action.

From 4pm to 4am, story developers Harry and Clare have their eyes

glued to the screens but it's not such a long and lonely night, they

have the wildlife for company. When do we get to see Robins sleeping at

night so close or badgers coming out of their setts or peregrines? It's

special and crucial for the show. We have seen some badgers, that would

be great. One of the most lively characters at night is the barn owl.

We have named her Beatrice. Don't think anyone else calls her that. I

wanted a strong female name. I think she's gross, to be honest. Keeps us

company. I like how she's looking out of the box. Looks nice. In the

early hours of the morning some camera-shy animals finally turn up.

Badgers on two cameras, that's amazing. It's moments like that we

get to watch an elusive animal that doesn't know we are here, definitely

makes it worth it. Then it's time for a shift change before it all

happens again. APPLAUSE.

Let's hear it for our story developers. I have to say, amongst

all the team they probably have one of the toughest jobs of all because

they've got to stay awake and the rest of us fall asleep at some

point. Not now. Erica, thank you very much for coming in. Pleasure to

see you. Thank you. I am going to play devil's advocate. Why flies?

Why not? Quite. Flies are fascinating. The problem is they've

such bad press, everyone hates them and ignores them and thinks they're

revolting and actually one in every ten animals is a fly. It's about

time we actually properly communicated what they do, how they

live and all of that. Once you start looking you don't go back. It's all

about the flies from there on. It's a tough sell. Let's listen to a

famous fly. BUZZING. That's the buzz of a

mosquito. The males we really need them, they're pollinators. We need

these little males out there. And they're quite attractive. They are.

Very attractive. Let's look at more attractive flies. You brought a tray

from the museum here. These are all British species. We can appreciate

the diversity of one group of animals. All the ones I picked out

are the large ones to show you what's going on. You have got things

that are a couple of millimetres in size, all the way up to the largest

species, which is this, one of the crane flies. Amazing animal really.

What about the favourite British fly, sell me your favourite British

fly? Well, I have quite a few soft spots. It varies depending which

week. One of my favourites is this one. I know everyone goes on about

the revolting lifestyles of some flies, and this one is probably a

little bit cheeky. This is the deerbot fly. We call these the

snotbots, she gives birth to the young, fire it is out into the

nostrils of the red deer and these deer know when she's looping around

them and they can hear her and all try and snort and she fires in the

lavcae to live under the tongue of deer. It fires up the nose of a

deer! Who could rebuff a fly like that? You have also been travelling

around the world. It's not just UK flies, you have been to

I am going to the Caribbean tomorrow. Looking for flies? Yes.

All round the world. They can answer so many questions. We can look at

food security, disease spread, pollination studies, climate

control, climate change. Flies are there, answering our questions. Can

I ask your question about flies. I used to lie on a watching houseflies

around the lake in the centre of the room and occasionally they would

grapple with one another, and they would fall onto the carpet, and I

would watch them before they took off. At one point, someone told me

that I fly can meet in the time it takes to fall from the Chanticleer

to the carpet. -- chandelier. Some are very quick. One of the flies

that we love, it has an amazing ability to meet and they can do it

really quickly. Others take a lot longer. Is that true? On the

species. Show us the biggest one. I love these. These are great. You can

tell the difference between the sex very easily because this is a

female. The male has no separation between his eyeballs. And they are

biting flies? The males are vegetarians. You've got to be

careful when you say we've got to get rid of them because they are

terrible. These look like they can break into metal. They've got these

massive shredding mouthparts. They are the fattest fly in Europe. We've

got a close-up view with her camera but not as close as we can get. This

is a relatively common species but we will zoom in and in until you can

just see the light sensitive organs between its eyes. People get angry

because the arrangement of these hairs here and there, that is how we

identify it. Come with me to Levon coming in. -- Levon Biss. The

photographs are remarkable. You're not interested in etymological

photography. Yes, I photographed humans. It came from my boy. It was

when he brought in a beetle from the Garden and I looked at it under the

microscope and I saw how beautiful it was. This is not an ordinary

picture of a tropical fly. It is a wasp. I photographed with microscope

lenses. I squash the layers of focus together to create a final image.

This is made up of 8000 separate shots. It takes four weeks to

create. And all of that time you've got to keep this specimen dead still

on your microscope? These are already dead. They are from the

Oxford University Museum. I need to photographic in three days. You

crunch 8000 images through software and produce this image. It is

remarkable. I will photograph and then I will

move it but the lighting setup will change completely. I bring those 20

sections together to produce the final image. This is absolutely

remarkable and you get the sense of that iridescence that they are

using. It is beautiful. This is a fantastic Tiger beetle. What next?

Looking at doing a project on insects caught in amber. They are

millions of years old. These are absolutely outstanding, I

will give you ?20 in cash for this one because I would love to see it

on my wall. It is beautiful. Let's hear it for Levon Biss. Stunning

pictures. We love to celebrate the natural world but also the people

who are passionate about it. Here are two of them. My name is Mike, I

am an entomologist who studies insects. That is my life. Mike has

been volunteering at this valley on the edge of Birmingham for 40 years.

He combines his encyclopaedic knowledge of insects with his

vocation. I've been a teacher at the job of the teacher is to teach and

to learn. Then other people might get to enjoy the thing we are

enjoying. Mike has switched on the curiosity of many naturists and one

of them came here 18 months ago. Used to live in the area and I saw

him sweeping through the grass and it was interesting I had never seen

that before. It was obvious he was interested in insects as well. I

used to hate insects, I don't know what happened. Now I find them

incredibly fascinating. They struck up a firm friendship. Why did the

scarecrow win the Nobel Prize? He was outstanding in his own field.

Awful. The best ones come out of Christmas crackers. Aaron is now

studying for a Masters in wildlife conservation and specialising in

bees. It takes a lot to catch them insured and identify them. My

favourite one is this, it is quite cute and it is good to get people to

connect because there is quite a stay, -- quite a lot of stigma

attached. He's got the making of an exceptional entomologist. He's not

afraid to make mistakes. He will experiment, notice mistakes, and

correct them. He's on the path to being a naturalist. He continues to

volunteer at the reserve, teaching the next generation about the

wonders of the natural world. We take classes and use the reserve as

a teaching resource. Just up there. Not many birds going to be using

that box. A couple of the kids noticed the activity and the lesson

was about that. Kids notice everything. There is so much he

knows that I want to know. He is always willing to teach me about

something that he thinks will have value to me. He pops up when he's

needed. APPLAUSE. . I'm delighted to say

that both Mike and Darren are in the studio. We would love to present you

with an award for the excellent work that you do. That was absolutely

fantastic. Well done. Master and pupil. We've got to get back to the

quiz. I asked you at the top of the sure what you thought this was. This

is a large image of an insect but what is it? Sheila has been in touch

to say is it the outspread tale of a peacock. Chris thinks it is eggs

Benedict. You are all wrong. Many of you, it was this. Let's have a look.

It is a green Tiger beetle. Fantastic animals. Merciless

killers. They are a fantastic beasts. Let's go on the fantastical

beasts. We asked people if they would like to make some artwork for

us. We have asked them to come up with a new animal. Here is one, the

Al. A suburban species of large old rest on chimney tops. It is not very

popular. Let's hope Erica has come up with something more popular. I've

realised I could not improve on that so I went for one of the robber

flies in the UK. This is my baby. It is an absolute killer. Can capture

insects on the wing, paralyse them, suck their insides out, drop them

this is the Scottish one. It is fabulous. You're probably right you

cannot improve on an animal does that. They've all moustaches, which

is very cute. When they've got their flailing pre-they need to be careful

-- pray. They released their number dissolves the insight and sucks out

the juices. Just brilliant. Let's hear it. You don't need to use your

imagination when nature has done it for you. I have this, the Brevideer.

It has the body of a deer, the legs are really short because it lives in

the shrub lands of Britain. The premise of this is, if we're not

careful there will be few trees around. This will have to survive in

that environment. It has tasks which it uses to survive by digging

through mud. It is useful because people use it to help trees grow

back and it spread seeds around. What can we say? This is a

scientific treaties. You've invented a whole ecology, not just our

species. Fantastic. How can I judge them both. We've got one master of

reality. I'm going to give the deer of the future joint top. I will put

the robber fly down here because it is a real animal. Big thank you to

our guests. Join us tomorrow and also tonight for Springwatch.

In Japan, art and life are intrinsically connected.