Episode 6 Springwatch Unsprung

APPLAUSE. Thank you very much indeed! Thank you for coming as

well, Unsprung! And welcome back on Monday, our third week at the

National Trust Sherborne Park estate in Gloucester. We are never half

baked and we have a fully fledged show with a drizzle of wildlife and

a -- of excited guests. And I have the pleasure of introducing Michael

Caines! 'S Road. You run a farm and farms are about producing food and

he puts fresh fruit to very good use, joining him tonight is Darren

Wood had. He has been with us before painting in the field, but tonight,

he is painting in a rather challenging location and we will

catch up with that later. Lindsey. Good evening, how are you? Very

well, very busy weekend. So many people got in touch, lotsa people

doing 30 days, we enjoy looking at the pictures. I really thought this

was fantastic. This is from Fiona, she says, wonderful Hertfordshire

meadow, what a view! It is great. We also challenged you to get in touch

if you are looking for wild flowers. Along with plants live. Many of you

did and we particularly like this. We ran an Instagram challenge and

this was the winner, what you think that? I like the contrast between

the yellow and the blue. The grass on the left-hand side and that

striking piece in the middle of the frame compromises the photographic

integrity! I will carry right in! It was really good! That is what

Instagram is about, not perfect composition, but communicating

through photography. I'd give it three points. That is high! Chris

committee remember on Friday I showed you this picture? It was a

bug sent him, it was bright yellow and we did not know what it was. It

sparked off a chat on Twitter, a lot of people talking about it. They

think possibly it is a newly emerged Ladybird. And you did your own

investigation. Yes, we did miss something, in the photograph, you

could see the Ladybird la vie, the Shell in the corner of the frame.

And I spoke to a guy in the new Forest and he explained quite simply

it is a freshly emerged Ladybird and when they emerge, they do not have a

colour in place. And we have a picture here. And you can see

clearly what remains of the larvae at the bottom of the life. It is

pumping up its colour. We see this in animals like Wasps and bees. We

call it a callow. That turned into this. This is the same species a

couple of hours later, mystery solved! A great question, thank you

so much. The quiz now. Tonight, we have got, I think this is quite hard

to note. This is an object. Can you give any clues?

It is symmetrical. We could say it was a jawbone, most people would

recognise that. That is the root of the draw here. Look at the teeth on

the top. They are very unusual. And I will give a clue as well. Will you

be more generous? No, it is hard, I will leave it with you. So easy to

get in touch, this is how. It has never been easier to get in

touch with us in Unsprung, wherever you are and where the use a phone,

laptop, tablet. The easiest way is to go online and be our friend in

social media. So alike us on Facebook and post comments and

pictures to our wall. Follow us on Instagram and tag us into your

photographs or tweet... And it is explained in our website.

We would like you to be species specific and get in touch now, all

the best! That is tough, give them another clear later. OK, later. Our

first guest of the evening, Michael Caines, welcome. Thank you so much.

Before we get onto food, were you an early clock, were you cooking

alongside your mother or was it a late epiphany wished Mark know,

cooking at home with the family, I was the youngest of six children and

my mother did the cooking in our garden and we grew things. She good

clock? No, she's not with us any more bless her but her legacy like

this on. Humble food, everything and we had seasonality and freshness and

that was the connection we had and that is the thing about food and

hospitality, cooking around a table and enjoying fresh food and I took

it for granted and I thought everybody did that. But you realise

that is quite a luxury to have the time to do that. To grow your own

food at home. And to take the time around the family table and is to

break things, and these days people are so busy that it is something

they do not enjoy so much. I grew up as a large family having meals

around the table and that inspired me. Where did you grow up? Exeter

was my hometown. Small-town until the age of eight and I grew up in

Exeter. On the moors? Yes, live on the edge of Dartmoor and I love the

children campaign and I trail run on Dartmoor. It is a beautiful area and

we are very lucky to have the chance to live in such a wonderful place.

And you go out foraging. We have a clip of you in action. Here we are

looking for field mushrooms. These are some here. I am going to cook

the stock more steak with our foraged field mushrooms. Here we go.

I am cooking for two, look at that! These are in the field, they were

picked a couple of hours ago and we made this lovely steak, that for me,

I feel connected to the landscape and the land and the produce I use.

Stunning. APPLAUSE. Presumably an unusual

guest at your table! Yes, very good. A very big surprise to have a fox

training is and it shows out in the wild, you can almost expect anything

and I cooked him his best meal he has ever had! I have a question, do

you have to be careful foraging in the countryside? Definitely, if you

are picking mushrooms, you have to know what to pick and you can die

from picking the wrong mushroom. And do not over forage. People ravish

the land and it is important people do not overdo it. You can pick these

items and you can grow it at home to do more. Just leave stuff behind and

be careful. We have a problem in the new Forest and Epping Forest with

people over collecting mushrooms. I do not collect for themselves but to

sell them and it is filled, their car, that is not good and we have to

be reasonable. Yes, food is an important part of the countryside

and we need to make sure we preserve it for generations in the future and

these areas sustain an environmental system which relies on that. Over

foraging can be an issue and greed is an issue in society. No point in

just taking it all. What about food in general? We spend less on our

food in the UK than any other country in Western Europe. I

sometimes think we are not paying enough because we do not put our

money in the pocket of the farmers. I agree, it is important to look to

improve the average spend and put more back into our local economy and

farming and that is why we buy and support local farmers and the larder

of south-western Devon is fantastic. You are about to display that, you

are opening a new hotel. It looks splendid. Have named the bedrooms

after birds. That is heron. Egret. Oystercatcher. Rachel Tull, a

wonderful artist, did wonderful scenes of the street digitised in

wallpaper connecting the downstairs to the bedrooms upstairs. The

colours of the birds, the plumage, that is the colour of the bedroom.

That ecosystem, buying local, we have glamour, we have beef, and we

are buying chickens from a farm, and we know we are putting money back

into the local economy and keeping the farming community strong in

terms of the economic cycle and the land and landscape is kept and

preserved for generations. Fabulous stuff, it is fabulous.

APPLAUSE. Birds in every room, it is about

joining those things together. Top work. We will be back with you in a

moment to catch up, thank you very much. From stunning art to stunning

art with me. I have been joined by Katherine, who is from the Wellcome

Collection and you have been working on a project connecting art with the

natural world? Yes, I am from the youth programme from Wellcome

Collection, a museum in London. We have been working on a production

with Central Foundation Boys' School school and Verity-Jane Keefe to

exploit the relationship of the children with our natural world to

go into our exhibition of modern nature. Sounds like a fantastic

project and you are the artist. What have you been up to? We have done

four or five months worth of intensive workshops involving lots

of different making and in doing what we might think nature is and

what it could be looking at the future. We have gone on some trips.

Resulting in the 7.5 metre by 2.5 metre very large 3-D diorama. It is

stunning! I think everybody is quite happy with it. It is called natural

habitat and it is supposed to represent the version of London of

the boys and everybody's, the experience of being in the city and

what nature could be in the city. So pleased we have a couple of the boys

here today. You have been part of the project. What has been the best

thing about taking part in this? It has been really good to go on a trip

and to go around to see loads of good stuff, especially our trip to

Rainham Marshes. And it is good working with a professional artist.

One of the best thing is having our work exhibited in a professional

museum, a really famous museum. What an opportunity! I think this is the

first time you have seen this art work and is there anything you can

save your own? I noticed a Church near my house and the buildings from

our route to school. Every day. Has it connected you with the natural

world? It gives me a deeper understanding of it and I can see it

in everyday life now. Teacher Rob, you are very proud, what a great

project and you can see it in London from June 22. Art is something I am

crazy about, and I am also crazy about something else, it is Unsprung

and dressed. There are hundreds of stories and

they all start with one thing in Springwatch, an idea. We're big as a

family and if you find a story, you go to them and they really run with

it. Gary and bat enthusiast Lily want to make a film using the latest

in bat detection technology. The first step is to check out a known

wrist with a local expert Mike. The question is, will the technology

perform? We have identified it, it is a horseshoe. We have never heard

it. Gary's detector is delivering on its promise, quickly identifying

species by their unique ultrasound calls.

Got an item. It is a success. All that is needed now is a crew and

Chris. And it will not make... No match found. Your finger is not a

bat, your bat impersonation with your thumb is pathetic. Yes. Chris

can be hard to impress, what will he be thinking of the new gear in

action? Look at that, you can see The Voice of the bat! Fantastic!

Like any idea, it can snowball and Chris wants to step it up a notch.

Take your gadgets are where we can see bats and we do not know what

they are. To the lake, Batman! Look at that! Look at that, look at that!

This is the future of bats. After three hours of filming, the portage

is rushed to the edit for the next morning where Dan turns it into four

minutes of television. This is the final showdown.

And you can see the future of bats in Springwatch tomorrow. Now we are

welcoming Darren Woodhead back again, ladies and gentlemen. Artist

extraordinaire. You have been here before and we cannot keep you out of

the field. You have been out this morning of course. I have. I found

an amazing poppy field on the road. I have been sat amongst the poppies

painting the skyline. What has been going on here, eatable poppy field?

That is the palate, I need to point out, the mixing palette. You are

busy at work and we have got the finished... It looks good to me,

how'd do you do it so quickly? You put a lot of paint in the right

place very quickly. That is the beauty of watercolour,

so quick, you can capture so much. It is amazing how much you can

capture. I like the competition. Howick Arch

is up, with the skylarks. It is terrestrial, you have gone Saab

aquatic. I have done something slightly

different. I am all for pushing boundaries.

Let us have a look, you have brought along a gadget.

Yes. I won an award last year, a bursary from the wildlife trust

which funds artists to learn to dive and produce a body of work to

celebrate the wealth of vegetation and marine life below the surface.

I did not really want to draw underwater but take watercolours

under water. I have developed a mini diving Bell which holds bug it

stands upright. It holds my materials. I have a

buoyancy aid so it doesn't get wet. What I did not know would happen, as

I went underwater, the air would compress and when I come up it

expands so it creates a vacuum. As well as the paper getting damp,

changing the texture, it pulls on the paper surface giving an amazing

effect. We have a couple of pictures of you

in action. Yes.

There we are, on your weight in, snorkelling. Painting underwater.

These are the results. This is one where it imploded!

The very first one. What happened is, the texture... I am using sea

water with a chopped off brush which gives incredible textures. I could

not predict what would happen. I am a fan of abstract

Impressionism, this is scoring points.

This is slightly more finished. Yes. Again, what you find is the

bottom bird is purely the swell from moving around the water, because it

is getting wet. So the top is more defined. The textures, this is what

my work is about. This is on almost a different level which is gorgeous

for me. The premise is you can create

something underwater in that environment. And you transferred

that experience on to the paper which is more complete.

In a totally different way. So many things affect it, the swell, the way

the paint is behaving. I don't think we have time for your

sparrowhawk but I will overrule them.

It looks fantastic. I was painting kingfishers. You get totally in the

zone, look up and within a Turner the sparrowhawk appeared.

The head of the sparrowhawk, its wings, folded down. Isn't that

beautiful, that cameo. Sensational. APPLAUSE Thank you.

I love that. If you are a regular viewer, you know I like to ensconced

myself in a small tent with a celebrity to sea birds, who will it

be this time? This year, we have gone mobile.

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

So, who is next? I am about to wait one of our favourite children's

authors, he has written more than 100 books many featuring animals and

the countryside, perhaps the most famous detailing the remarkable

history of A force in the First World War. Yes, we are talking about

War Horse, of course. I am on Springwatch's home turf

with... Michael Morpurgo. At large in the

countryside. Yes. Quite a scene here on the

Sherborne estate, this lovely little lake, the sheep.

And the flight of swallows, wonderful.

I have two favourite birds, the first is a swallow, they are

unbelievably beautiful. The other would S1. Having ballets

and operas making their stories. You mentioned stories and you have

written hundreds. Far too many, I can't stop.

It is a bad habit! Loads of mayfly at the moment, the place is alive

with these insects emerging from the water.

They are a real nuisance. I have got them.

Yes. Jackdaws over there on the lawn.

I like a jackdaw. We are full of crows and magpies in Devon which are

bound, not particularly good for the small birds in the garden.

Hold on, I will stick up for the magpie.

How do you stick up for them, the Ainsty Robin's nests all the time.

Basically, all predator populations are regulated by the abundance of

their prey. What we have found when we have investigated large numbers

of magpies is you only get those large numbers where there are large

numbers of small birds enough to support them.

No comfort to the robins in my gardens.

You have written stories about this. Yes, fox attacking a swan's nest,

taking the mother swan. It is uncomfortable. I have learned

that to tell a story that way is a way of introducing kids to something

that are difficult. If you are going to write a story about the war on

long time ago, the First World War, it seems antique and not relevant,

if you tell it with a horse connected to a young person, it

takes them into that time and engages them with a subject which is

deeply serious. One thing where we have a mutual

concern is young people engaging with the rural environment. A few

years ago you started farms for city children, tell me the origins?

1976, 40 years ago. We did a lot of research and everyone said the most

important thing for young children now are really positive experiences.

Usually something they had never seen or done before, they should be

able to contribute to feel connected. All these things you took

to heart. My wife set up a charity, bought a big house in Devon. Kids

would come down from primary schools in the cities and work on the farm

to get to know where their food came from, how it was to be in the

countryside. No one leaves without remembering something extraordinary.

It may be how numb fingers are in winter, buzzards in the air, a

skylark. It is a connection. That is the gulf we have fallen into in our

post-industrial society. It is very important that the thread

between the human species and the species they love and exploit is

strengthened. Nature belongs to all of us so what we do is say to

people, there is a story in every lake, every hillside, every tree, it

is yours to look at and wonder at, it is not just for a few people, it

is for all of us, look after it. Certainly right. APPLAUSE It is

really lovely. War Horse made me cry more than that

beauty, says this viewer. And a great book. That city farm

project has engaged thousands of children over those years and is

still going strong. Michael has been contributing to that. If you are

cooking, I will come down. Who wants to join in!

Quiz time. We set a hard quiz at the top of the show, it is this fabulous

object here, incredible, so any suggestions. Stoat, fox, parrotfish,

so many different guesses. They weren't right. I will name those who

got it right. Matthew Pitkin, Tina Beck, jay Caldwell, Alfie Grant, Sue

in the Lakes. They got it to species level. This

is what it actually is, have a look. It is a guilt head bream. Goodness

me, I didn't think anyone would get that.

Amazing. Hats off to them. Extraordinary dentition, these pads

for grinding food. Presumably a similar thing in the top part of the

head as well. Fish have flaky bones, there heads are difficult to

preserve. A brilliant find, thank you. It is

about time for fantastical beasts. Have a look at this. This is from

Charlie who is seven. Aquarabbit! Driven from his habitat

because of roads and new houses, and has evolved to live in streams and

eat algae and recycled bottles are nesting material.

Marvellous imagination! APPLAUSE We love aquarabbit.

It is time for fantastical beasts. Michael, the purpose of this is our

guests had to come up with a relatively feasible animal of the

future which has an ecology, a feasible morphology. At the rabbit

was brilliant in concept. I have come up... I didn't, I gave

it to my daughter who is five. Her class came up with magical backs. A

giraffe necked with rabbit is, eagle wings. It can fly and scoop out

trout from the river, a pouch, it says for babies but really it is the

strawberries! And a neck that reaches to the top

to take fruit. The kids did a great job. They are

all five and have put together this. This is Saint Peters, actually, they

are very young, in reception. Let us hear it for them!

APPLAUSE India is my daughter. An extraordinary mash up of an

animal, I am not sure what it would feed on. I would fear going out, I

would stay indoors if this was on the loose.

Top work. Darren? Mine, I think we share the

same love for this bird. This has evolved to be big to take prey, this

would use mobile phone masts which are in abundance.

Catching invasive pests and impaling them on phone masts exhibition mark

that is quite dark. The things I think about when I am

out. We are running out of time.

We have to be quick... I have a great prop. A pellet I made earlier.

A shrike that produces a pellet the size of a coconut, who would

straight into the fields in winter with one of those?

I am loving it. We have ten seconds left. This one...

I am sorry! Join us again for more Unsprung and for the main programme

at 8pm tonight, thank you very much! In Japan, art and life are

intrinsically connected. Understanding the principles

behind the art