Episode 4 Springwatch Unsprung

Hello. Welcome to Unsprung. The wildlife show with a difference. The

show all about you. We want your content. Please contact us either

before or during the show. If you were watching last night, I gave a

young visitor to the set here a souvenir. A piece of badger poo. I

was saddened at the end fted show when I found it lying on the side.

He had left it behind. If you were that young viewer, contact us as

soon as possible, and I can proims you, we'll send it to you, signed

for and you can have your poo afterall. What a tragedy, leaving it

behind. What do we have tonight? Super guests, Helen Glover

extraordinaire. Olympic champion, World Cup champion, European

champion. General all-round champion with the oars, we will be chatting

to you later and also Robert Fuller, photograph and artist, skas

Springwatch contributor and also his special guest, Fidget the weasel.

What about that? A weasel in the hand is worth how much in the bush?

Chris an xrierd jumper you have had on. Straight away one of our

live-cam radios, the red kites. I think this might be possibly my

favourite camera, I have enjoyed watching them of. Fabulous. They are

doing really, very wet but before that came down, they were

well-feathered and they were waterproof. Had it done when they

were younger, they may have suffered. Won't see them when

they're fully fledged but they may jump around in the trees neck week.

We have had someone in touch saying - when do kite chicks, their eyes

turn that piercing yellow? Good question. Many birds' eyes change

colour, they start off, tawny owls eyes are blue and then go brown. In

the case of kites, I should imagine certainly going through to their

first year when they are mature. Spar yes halks, for instance, their

eyes turn from brown to yellow in first year. Part of the breeding

colour. I heard it said on one occasion, the longer they live, the

redder the high of the sparrowhawk becomes, but apparently it is not

true, they just get red after a couple of years and stay the same

degree of redness. So by this time next year, they'll be yellow-eyed

and sharp. Now, last night I showed you what I thought was a stung

photograph. It was of a kingfisher. Here it is, it was by Scald wildlife

tog. What did you say? I said I would rather see the fish's face

than the tail So he got back in touch and said - all right then, and

sent this through to us. And he said, just to keep you happy. Very

kind. I do like to seat fish's face before it is swallowed by the

kingfisher. How obviously, rob cert a fantastic painter and photographer

as well but occasionally gets it wrong, we've made one of his shots

that isn't quite right into a quiz. Here it is - which want to know

which - well who's tail this is? A bit of a photo fail. A complete

fail. This animal literally has its rear end in the picture. So if you

would like to get in touch, use the hashtag Springwatch. Quiz awane I'll

get back to you at the end of the show. We would like to see more

photo fails. We certainly do. On to our first

guest, Robert Fuller and Fidget the weasel. Fidget is fidgeting. All the

smells, he wants to explore. How did you come by him? He was brought to

me as a tiny kit, I hand reared him. He was lost by his mother when she

moved from den site to den site and he was found in York. He can't go

into the wild now because he is very, very friendly. He is. Now

Fidget will perform an interesting stunt which displays some of his

natural behaviour I have watched weasels a lot in the wild above

ground but I wanted to see sort of what happens underground. So I built

the maze here to give us an idea of what they get up to underground and

it is fascinating to see him. They go down tunnels, catching small

rodents Yes, they are. Shall we put him in the tunnel? ! So this is

replicating his hunting arena, isn't it, really, he would be going down

into mouse burrows and he is in there. Look at that. Look now

flexible he is. That is fantastic, isn't it, really? He is quite quick

as well. They use the tail as a reversing sensor, so fascinating and

they have whiskers on their elbows, all sensory.

APPLAUSE The only thing that was missing was

my sister's pet hamster that would've lightened things up

considerably. He did a brilliant job. Is he going to be all right? No

he is coming back in. What a performer. We can see the

flexibility and how narrow a chamber. He can reverse up He uses

the tail like a reversing sensor. If he hits an object, he will go

forward again. He can not turn in here, so he has to come down via the

maze. He can't actually go all the way back through. ! A reversing

sensor on the tail and whiskers on the arms so they can detect that

chamber the whole time. Yes. And when they were hunting they wouldn't

be doing this in light, it would be dark. Yes, pitch. What about that?

It has gone wrong here again. Very to turn round When he runs the maze

he has to do it the other way. He now has to remember how to do it in

reverse, so it'll be interesting. What a brilliant way of

demonstrating the flexibility of the weasel underground. I think he is

just showing off now, do you? We have a clip here of him at home. Is

he going to be all right in there? Yes, he is fine. He will find his

way out. Look at this. He is dashing around your studio. He does the maze

and goes up on to the high wire. He is on a normal wall there but with

fabric on it, so he can run on actual walls of fabric. Is it not

distracting if you are trying to paint if you have a weasel there

above you. Very. But good fun. He sleeps in a sock next to my drawing

board. He comes out and presses me, I have to try to paint with my other

hand. He is the best companion in my studio. Fabulous. Absolutely. Thank

you for bringing him in. You have been helping us out on Springwatch

with your kingfisher diaries, you built a nest table I love your

passion. Your favourite bit was - I can't believe I am eight sitting

here and a kingfisher a metre away sat on the leg. She was laying the

leg. You have to be careful. They are very sensitive. Especially with

egg-laying. I got into the hide before it was light. She would

arrive on the outside four metres away. I would watch her fly into the

nest chamber, watch on camera and lay an egg and then going out again.

I did that for nearly all of the clutch. I missed the last egg. It

was quite incredible. So around about 7.00am she came in for an hour

and laid an egg. You could actually see it. Literally she is there

behind a screen and you could have reached out and touched the nest

box. Aside from the lust to get close to the animals, your desire as

a naturalist, another benefit of getting so close up to the birds was

you wanted to paint them, of course? That's right. The end result of all

the videoing and photographing. It is more than a month to build the

high. It was a 5-metre-long be bank I built with a hide enclosed in it

and two sheds. I think we can see one of your pictures here in a

process of completion. The time lapse. This is the male in the nest

chamber, he is sat on young chicks. I used a grab from the video to help

me paint the picture at home. How long did it take in real time? Just

about ten days, two weeks this one. It is quite a big painting. It is

here behind us. Fulltime? Yeah, yeah. We have the finished result

over here. It looks magnificent I have to say. I like the fact that it

is not only a great paint bug it comes from the moment you shared

with the bird in the hide You try to relive - you are back at home in the

studio, you have to relive that moment that you were there watching

the kingfishers and that's what it is all about. You get almost back

into the zone of when you are watching the animals. It can be

years later sometimes but you have to remember how you felt about it at

the time to convert into a picture. Getting close to the animals and

getting great views is part and parcel of what you do. You have your

garden rigged up as a kind of Springcatch next. One is a kestrel's

nest. I think we have a clip from that. They've been turfed out by the

jack dues what happened here -- the jackdaw? Yes the male kestrel has

two nests, he has two females. This is another nest 100 m away from the

other one and this is actually a young kestrel this one, in August.

So these birds don't just nest in the spring they are actually

starting, we have got records of them making nest chambers from the

end of July right the way through to Christmas. They will occupy them all

the way through They try to keep sort of possession of them. It was

interesting the jackdaws doing that. They used a mob rule technique to

overthrow the kestrel there. Might be 16 of them fighting the kestrel.

They try to push the kestrels awane once they get rid of them they fight

amongst themselves. They are unbelievably intelligent. Much more

than kestrel and peregrines. What happened there? The kestrels won. We

have had near fights to the death where I have gone up a ladder and

separated the birds. The male kestrel has been in my garden for

ten years, I know him, he knows me, I supplement feed him, which is why

he has two females. O to actually see him nearly have a fight to the

death, I was up the ladder but within seven minutes I separated

them. The backjaw was losing at the time. The kestrel was trying to take

his throat out. They are evenly matched but the kestrel is like a

terrier. They want to win. I always thought kestrels started looking for

necessary sites in January and February not all year round. That's

when they really get fixed but that kestrel I was watch, it was a young

bird, particularly big but she was doing nest scrapes in August. That

was just a few months old. Incredible. Amazing. Ladies and

gentlemen, Robert Fuller. Photographer, artist, and weasel

West Bankler. -- weasel wrangler. Probably the country's only one.

Everybody going crazy for Fidget and a quick question - what is the

difference between a weasel and a stoat? Very simple. A fleeting

glimpse, stoats have a black tip and are large. A weasel weighs, a male

one, 140 grams, a male stoat 340. Double the size at least. They vary

in size and scale but it gives you an idea of the scale of them. Much

bigger. Thank you so much. With the weekend approaching, I want to tell

you about 30 Days Wild, with the Wildlife Trust. Encouraging everyone

to get out and do something wild each day in June. So 30 acts of

wildness for every day. You have been sending us your pictures

already. I have a couple to show you. This first one is from Miriam,

she is exploring leaves with her granddad. I think that's beautiful

and this from Laura Jones who says - my hedge who is house has arrived.

Absolutely brilliant. Send them in. We have an amazing digital team

watching your photographs and comments come in. Now, every single

day is difference on Springwatch but there's always something going on.

This is Unsprung Undressed. . No matter what the conditions,

Springwatch makes it to your skreevenlts The weather is going to

be quite a big character in this show. -- makes it to your screens.

The weather is going to be a big character. Come rain or shine. On

Tuesday it was the wind causing problems. Even the teepee needed

fastening down. Perhaps not the best day for guests that are quite

literally, full of air It is gusting up to 50 miles per hour in the

afternoon. It was lovely a week ago, but that's life, isn't it? That is

life. One of the dolphins is feeling a little deflated after rehearsal

When the sun comes out the air expands, the temperature gets so hot

t melts the glue and pops the seam. After some first aid, Andy nailed

down his first model, a minke whale: You are full of hot a. This must be

the largest prop we have ever had. It is also the most likely to fly

off in the wind. Just before the show, the sun comes out and Andy

moves everything into position Doesn't matter what the weather does

now, we are ready. The whole thing goes swimmingly. This is a life-size

model of a minke whale. I have to say, I was rather willing the whale

to blow off. Blow over Sherborne, drift over Gloucestershire and end

up somewhere over the Bristol channel. Helen thank you for joining

us. The pressure is on, you have been all of those champions that I

mentioned at the start since 2015, how is it going to continue? Hard

work? I have taken a year out. Between London and Rio, a lot of

pressure. I know after Rio I wanted a break. You are going to go back to

it? I don't know. By the end of the summer I will make my mind up. Well,

I trouble with Rs and Ws, so worry something not good for me to say.

When you are not up to the oars what are you up to? Doing a lot of

travelling with my husband and training, kayaking and running.

Staying fit Yes. Not giving up Not resting too much.

You like to do a bit of swimming. This is in Mexico A beautiful

photographs. That was one of my favourite moments. We were free

diving. It was very near a sea lion colony in the sea of Cortes. Steve

said it was like being thrown into a bucket of puppies. It really was.

The sea lines want to come over, look us in the eyes, have

interaction. It was amazing. I was in the water with them at win point,

I was flailing around, at no point did they touch me. They slipped past

really quickly. They are so agile. But they don't touch. You've been

fundraising, it is not just a will have of wildlife you've been out and

about kayaking to raise money? It is something that really means to lot

to me. Steve and I had a chance to save a portion of the rainforest. It

was up for sale for palm oil. We knew we had to do a big challenge. A

big chunk of rainforest. We decided to take part in a kayaking race. It

took just under 24 hours. 24 hours but you're quite good with the other

oars. My rowing race takes seven minutes. It was 125 miles. Over 77

lochs where you take the kayak out and run with it on your shoulder.

Did you win? We won the mixed event. We did not expect to. That was your

competitive edge? I was so competitive. Steve was saying, we

just want to finish. As soon as I started I wanted to win. So many

people got on board and helped us. With it, we saved an environment

which would mean orangutans had somewhere to live for the rest of

their lives. That palm oil plantation in the Far East is a

serious problem. Losing vast amounts of wildlife. I grew up in Cornwall.

I developed a love of anything in the sea. Dolphins, sales, basking

sharks. Now I live right by the Thames. So, the river has become my

new place of interest, really. The wet bit? Yeah. We've swans nesting

at the back of our garden. Here they are. She's got five perfect eggs.

She's being an amazing mum. She's incubating them. She has a couple of

weeks left. They nested very late in the year. We're watching them hoping

they are going to hatch. You're off the oarsmithing. What's next? I'm

not sure what's next. I'll hopefully go to Alaska in the next couple of

weeks. I'm so excited. I've never seen hump-backed whales. You can get

a kayak? I will do that and find some whales. That will be my dream.

Keep up the fund raising you've raid an enormous amount of money for the

World Land Trust. They keep other people from trashing land by buying

it up. Huge amounts of money. A world champion. We do want to see

you back in the boat. We'll see. Skulling away and winning more

medals. Helen Glover. Thank you. APPLAUSE Any good with the oars? In

a kayak, up a creek without a paddle? It is amazing. Helen,

because you're a scouting ambassador, this has been sent to us

by the third Flint brownies. They've been out and about finding out what

springtime means to them. It is lovely to get snail mail. Thank you

so much. It is raining here now again. Another person who doesn't

mind the weather and is always out and about, it's Chris Packham. It's

hideshare. This year, hideshare has gone mobile.

It can pop up anywhere. And anyone could be hiding inside. Jazz hands.

So who's next? For today's celebrity hideshare I'm very pleased to say

I'm finally meeting one of my Twitter friends for the first time.

A man who'll never shy away from debate when it comes to what's in

the news. I'll be asking him the big question about conservation. I've

come to a powerhouse of conservation to meet... There we are. Nicky

Campbell, in a hide. In a hide with you. In a field with the cowslips.

Can't believe it. It's beautiful. It's great. We're here at the Hawk

conservancy reserve. We've had kestrels, buzzards fighting with

cranes as they do. Couple of corvets. How intelligent are those

birds. They are the brightest, around' they. You see a few early

morning. Do you see some with nature involved? I go out into the back

garden and listen to the dawn chorus. It sets me up. About 5.00 in

the morning. I listen to the dawn chorus before I listen to a dawn

chorus of politicians on the radio. We've a very small guard enin

London. We've foxes the other side of the fence. We found this baby fox

behind the shed. My daughter found it. We moved everything from behind

the shed. I think I tweeted you about it at the time. It got out and

it was a happy ending. Do you see a lot of wildlife? Do you

get out and about in the countryside? I go to the north-west

of Scotland. Do a bit of otter-spotting. Any encounter with a

wild animal, you're in a magical bubble. We absolutely need that. I'm

so passionate about conservation. We need to know that there are wild

places there with wild animals running free. You've been

campaigning really forthrightly on this when it comes to elephants? I

try to spread awareness, become a campaigner. When a new orphan comes

into the trust in Nairobi, the other elephants go up, put their trunks

out to tell her everything's all right. It is a beautiful place. This

place is relevant to it. Birds of prey are very important for the

eco-systems. Buzzard. One there, look. Wouldn't it be great to be one

of those for just five minutes? Just to have the freedom to soar up

there. To have their eyesight. Imagine what they can see? Buzzards

are amazing creatures. English eagles. I was going to say. You took

my line away. That's what they call them. Is that because loads of

English people go up there and think they're eagles? That's right. This

is magnificent here. This is wonderful. We need more places like

this. It is a fantastic place. We introduced red kites here. They are

now flying around this part of the world. When we were kids, these were

very rare birds. It shows we have the ability to reshape, rebuild and

reform habitats so these species can survive and we can live in a world

which is rich in other life. We've so much more to find out. The battle

is to find out that stuff and make the world appreciate that stuff

before it's too late. Give nature a chance and nature will bounce back.

APPLAUSE I've I'm very happy tonight. Why? Robert's given me a

present. Oh, yeah? Look at this. Stoat and weasel poo. Such a treat.

It is. For my collection. I will not be handing this out as a souvenir.

I'm keeping it all to myself. You're thinking, how lucky I am. Not giving

out that poo. I'll sneak you some later. At the beginning of the show,

we showed you this picture and said whose tail is this? Lots of you got

in touch. So many people getting it right, tonight, Chris. A few people

got it wrong. Fox was in there, ferret, hare. Someone said

black-tailed godwit. Starting early on the old... Very early. Loads

getting it right. It was this. It was a badger. So Pat, David, Paul

got it right. Janet. So many people. Brilliant. And, we've had phot'

fails in as well. These are my favourites. This is a water bird

missing its cue for a photograph. Not got a head in there. This

beautiful kingfisher come in. Is that a fail? I knew you'd say that.

I think it's an ex-interest ordinary piece of behaviour. The distance the

poo was going was phenomenal. I Shaw it as a fail. Let's get the

trajectory of the poo sorted. Coming out, rocketing out. There it is.

Look at that. It's shooting poo a great distance, isn't it? What about

that? Unbelievable. Thank you for sending that shot in. It's now time

for fantastical beasts. Indeed. This is our little quiz that

we set our guests. In the the past artist particular in invention. This

time, they have to come up with a new animal of their own. It has to

be feasible. Something which might evolve at some stage in the future.

It needs to work fizz logically and ecologically. How does yours work,

Helen? You have the marsh harrier and hen harrier. I have the carrier

harrier. The carrier harrier has developed these, you know like the

arcade claws. Developed these as feet. It's purpose is it will go

round, pick up the hedgehogs and toads struggling to crossroads and

getting squished and acts as a taxi for them. Picks them up and helps

them across the road. A helping carrier harrier? Yeah. I'm quite

liking that. Liking the implied Ben of lance. I don't see how it won't

fancy a nibble of the one of the dogs or hedgehogs. It maybe feeds

the parasites off one of the hedgehogs in terms of a fee, a taxi

fare. What about adapting where the carrier harrier then starts

delivering internet goods ordered over the internet. Door to door

carrier harrier. So much scope for this. I've paint add super-stoat.

What about that. What are the attributes for a super-stoat. They

are in themselves pretty super. They've caused 63 species to go

extinct. But rats and mice combined have killed 75 species. The

super-stoat will be dropped off throughout the world to sort out of

the rats. He can only live off rats and mice. Stoats in New Zealand have

caused mayhem. Super-stoat will go to New Zealand and sort out of the

stoats as well. Go around the world. Sup-stoat. We've not only problems

in New Zealand but in Orkney. They are devastating the population. The

arc any vole and hen harriers around short-eared owls. I like carer in

harrier and super-stoat. I'll stick them somewhere in the middle like

this. Join us again tomorrow night at 6.30 been for another Unsprung.

Thank you to our guests. CHEERING

With you beside me - whatever life sends.