Episode 7 Springwatch Unsprung

Hello and welcome to Unsprung, here at the National Trust's Sherborne

park estate in Gloucestershire. What a nice evening. We are outside for a

change. You know what the programme is all about. About you, we would

like your contributions, send us questions, photographs, any videos

you have, anything to do with wildlife. It is mainly about

wildlife but we have guests, too. I'm pleased to say tonight we've

freed her from the Den on a promise she won't breathe any fire. Deborah

Meaden is here to tell us all about her garden and her passion for

wildlife. And joining her tonight, journalist, author and a security

correspondent for the BBC. Frank Gardner, ornithologists

extraordinaire. And a great passion for birds, not only here in the UK

but around the Worrall. We'll catch up with both guests in a movement --

all around the world. I'm tempted to sprint into the tee

pee. An extraordinary move. I needed a

gold lame jacket. ! Or sparkly snants Have you got some? I haven't.

I'm wearing green pants. Let's start with a live-cam radio and we have

incredible birds of prey. We have pergrinnings, kestrels, kites and

barn owls. Let's look at them now, live. The female is not there. She

is roosting outside. We have been trying to see if they're hunting

during the daylight. They haven't been that much, not until later in

the evening. I think she'sed finding a moment of quiet somewhere else in

the barn and leaving the rowdy youngsters to sleep off their vole

dinner. We have had a question via Twitter. And it says, what what

about the digestion system with the bones they eat? They don't digest

them, they regurgitate them in the form of a pellet. They have a part

of the elementary tract at the top of the throat where they separate

the bones, fur and feathers and compact it together and regurgitate.

Useful for biologists, we can pick them up, break them open and see

what the birds are eating because you are still identify the skulls,

the owls having swallowed them hole. Even youngsters And it is really

good fun dissecting a pellet. You know when you were kids you got

plastic toys in creial packets, built a spitfire. An owl pellet.

Maybe I'll take that to Deborah later for the Den. Owl pellets in

Cornflakes lnchts' move on to the swallow camera. It is looking

crowded now. There are five chicks in there. But that's a traditional

place for swallows to be, to nest in barn like that. We have to call them

barn swallows, the Americans knew them as that. We've changed our

rules on and if you look in our guides they are barn swallows.

Before barns they would nest underneath the bow of a tree, so

they would make their nest there to find shelter. In 1975 in Hampshire I

found a swallow's nest under a treatment of the only one I have

ever seen. Never seen one since Fascinating. Thank you so much. It

is time though, for, tonight's quiz. On to the quiz. Tonight it's been

sent in by Ted Reef. He is a piano tuner. He's also a wildlife

enthusiast. Ted happens to be completely blind, so sound is very

important in his world. He wants us to ask this question - what is

making this sound. SOUND PLAYS Great recording. ! It is

You have 25 minutes to get in touch. And what you species-specific

tonight? I'll open it up and be more generous. Let us know if you think

you know what it is. Now time to move on to our first guest. Thank

you for leaving the Den. Deborah. People know you as a great investor,

a business woman of great repute. At home you let things go a little in

your garden. Don't tell everybody I let things go. Yes, you are right, I

do, but it is the place I go, ah, and breathe. You have set out to

skupt your space. Well nature come n take it back from us, we stopped

spraying, we are laying the hedges, we are allowing all of the wildlife

coming back in. It was amazing. That's one of your birds. Freddie

our pheasant. Is this compost heap in the back? I don't know. High

husband made that. He properly did make that. So, it's lovely. Willow

sculpture in the garden there. What about your passion for wildlife

where, did it come from? Is it lifelong? I don't know Y I wasn't

born in the country or grow up in the country. I have always loved

animals and v a yearning to get my feet under the grass. You are a

patron ambassador for the WWF. I'm a fellow now. Fellow. Yes, a trustee

of Tusk Trust. So, wildlife, it is something I care about. Home is

where the heart s you have rescued a young hare It was sad I had to

rescue T I understand how they behave. We often see baby hares

dotted around and we leave them but it was wet and bedraggled in the car

park, so I phoned secret world, a local charity. They said bring it

along. We took him along, we didn't know it was a him at the time and

they had - look, look... Aw. Stop it. They hand-fed him and the lovely

thing is they brought him back and we released him back on to our land.

Secret World, a wildlife hospital down there. There he is. You

released him back where you found him? We Z our territory is clearly

very good for hares, I was staggered by how quickly he grew in six weeks.

-- we did. If you are a small vulnerable mammal and you have the

predators like kites and buzzards, you want to g big as quickly as

possible. What happened, did you ever come back, was there a Disney

end? Are they territorial, we have three hares, I don't know if if they

are the same one but we always see them around our property. They are

for forrial in the breeding system. The females boxing, fighting off the

males, so they occupy a home range. The size will be dependent on how

much lush grass you have there, but it is likely that they are animals

that stayed there. But there are rabbits and hares, and many other

things eat them so if you have foxes they will be out after them as well

but fingers crossed at least that one made it and bred. Another garden

favourite. And an aggressive bird, really, one which has a reputation

which is not accurate when you see it posted on Christmas cards is the

Robin? I saw they were really sweet and spent a day filming with them,

and they are quite feisty, aren't they? Very territorial. I quite

admire them. I knew you would. You know. They don't take it lying down.

They don't. Do you know what, it is not just robins that are angry

birds. We have sent in fabulous angry birds. Look at this one. This

is from Neil. It is a wood pecker. I think it is about the eyebrows in

the anger there, not happy. And then this one as well. Very grumpy.

Edward Payne sent this owl N like that one? Yes, the fibbed eyebrows

and squinty look and human-like face, communicating what we perceive

as a very grumpy little owl. I have saved the best to last, check out

this bluetit that Bluetit is not happy. Furious. I quite like that.

Early in the morning, hungry and grumpy. What next for your patch?

What are you going to do? Are you continuing to plant? Are you

planting trees? We are. We planted probably a couple of hundred trees,

we put in mature ones, it was sterile, farming land. We put in

full-grown, big mature trees and hundreds of natural species, we

looked around the hedgerows, ash groves, willow groves, we are part

way through planting that. We haven't finished our hedge laying

yet, so we are just working, you know. I give you some advice, I

think you should invite Brett Westwood who you have had here this

afternoon, he is one of the most fantastic naturalists, get him down

to your patch, lure him in with a cup of tea and cake. He will give

you advice to how to improve the scope not just for hares and birds

but insects We do have livestock and it is the contention between the

graze land and natural land. But graze land can be good if it is

grazed at the right time in the right way. That's the thing. OK

thank you very much Deborah. Let me paint you a picture. We have lots of

fantastic celebrities on Unsprung, like you Deborah. We don't let them

sit around during the day waiting for the 6 #30i7b 30pm show. Oh no,

we put them to woncht -- 6.30pm. This is Unsprung UnStressed.

When Michael Cain came along we wanted to see if he could cut the

mustard. I think we've been sold a duff one, they said come on to

Springwatch and here I am in the kitchen. If you could find me some

of those, while you are here Whilst Michael was wokking hard I was

having a lovely time brushing up on my painting with my other guest,

Darren Woodhead. What a boutively day to be outside. Here I was

thinking I was going to watch some amazing nature programme and it is a

busman's holiday I'm afraid. In the kitchen, yet again. Sweating away

here. Smells good, chef. Smells all right. Tastes awful. Well, I have

cooked in many kitchens but this has to be a career highlight. You might

get a job! From a MasterChef to a Master piece in the making. I'm

reasonably proud of this one, though. That's all right. Now I'm

just trying to copy yours, if I'm honest. Back at base, the hungry

crew start to gather. Ready for catch We have the cavalry in now. We

have roast badger. Sticky fried pheasant. Are you on work

experience? I'm hoping to get a job. What do you want? Don't say it is

better than normal or you won't get fed tomorrow. Well I have done my

bit. This plate is for me, I'm off. I get the big queue. Michael hard at

work, you mincing around in the wild environment, daubing something on to

paper, it better be good. I would like to offer you the once in a

lifetime opportunity to purchase from me this unique Chapman. Oh,

I've lost my wallet. Well, OK, let's have a look. It is quite abstract. I

like the abstract nature of it. It looks like a blood splatter, maybe a

nod to the poppies in the First World War Clearly some beautiful

wildflowers and could possibly, I don't know, be hung in your

downstairs toilet. I like the minimalist aspect to it. It has

charm. Is that a compliment? I'm trying hard to find one. Thank you

for recognising that. I'll leave it with you. Many of you got in touch

with us last night after the 8.00pm saying how worried you were of the

decline of butterflies but there are things you can do to help and

planting wailed flowers could help. If you put flants that produce

necter, you will help the insects. They don't vb to be native species.

Studies have shown that many species will not only take plant from native

species but they'll adapt. You need nect oar in abundance, and some

their lavae will feed on It people are planting flowers in their

gardens which is brilliant. Look at this, this is a Forget Me Not

through a rain drop, very pretty and well-taken. I comment, I cannot see

the picture, our monitor has gone down. You' sure me it is a stonker

of a photo We'll give it a 9. It is really, really good. Here we are, it

has come up quickly, cut to that picture. I like the artistic

invention. I would crop it more tightly to focus on the detail in

the middle but clever. Not a 9. I think you are being a bit

overgenerous. You know what, Bury C of E have been in much because they

are leaving part of their field to grow wildflowers and they are

studying the wildlife around them and a once in a lifetime opportunity

for me I'm going to call from the skies now a quite wonderful kestrel

they have made out of the homework they have been doing and the

studying they have been doing. They've moulded it into the kestrel

and we've put it on our Gibb, wonderful. Magnificent. They have

the lovely on the barks spotty verbs good indeed. A magnificent model.

Deserves to be hung in the school hall for many years. Watch it fly

off. Thank you very much for sending that

in. That is a cue to move to my next guest, who has had the privilege of

birding in many places around the world, I am envious of his list.

Frank Gardner, thank you very much for coming in. That's talk about the

list, 1400. Very nearly. It is geeky I keep a list. It is not, we all do

that. You has got a list? Hands up! Hands up who has not! There are

quite a few here. And you had been birding all your life, you started

and he went away and you came back. Yes, there was a teacher when I was

13 who was really keen on birds and I was really not keen on him at all,

he was not cool so I dropped it. He was an anti-mental. He was, so I

dropped it for 20 years. I was living in Bahrain and my mother came

out to visit and we went to visit. She was keen on birding? Yes, she

got me into it. This bright yellow bird came past and it was a golden

oriel. And at that moment, I got into birds again. That is enough to

tempt anybody back. These are some of the species you might have

encountered around the world. I took these comments this was in Svalbard

is in the Arctic. And this was in Malaysia, chest beaters. That was a

superb styling in tenure and I get a lot of pleasure from it, it is a

lovely thing to do. That was Tuscany. I cover security and

counterterrorism and bird-watching is therapeutic, back to nature. So

much nicer than terrorism. It certainly is, is that therapeutic

release? You go to places where it is tough to beat. When you go

birding, is it a serious winds down? Sometimes it comes into conflict.

Before Christmas, was in the Saudi and Yemeni border and there was a

war and we could not stay on the border fall in and out of the corner

of my eye, I saw a Nile Valley Sunbird which is a spectacular

miniature bird of paradise. I said, we have got to get out of here, but

I just want to see this little bird. Probably best to leave and see that

again. What about birding in the UK? A lot of places to go in London. I

love birding in the UK. I have got serious gaps. Lancashire water.

Dartford warbler. And I have never seen a puffin. Don't you worry about

that, I can supply you with one. This is fabulous. That is a flying

Penguin! It is a puffin flying fabulous picture. There you go. You

have to go at the right time. I got shot 13 years ago and I am in a

wheelchair but I can get around fields, but that our limitations.

You will not find the abseiling down the cliffs. No, but I have seen you

in the jungles of purple in New Guinea, that is a tough environment

if you are not in a wheelchair. I had help. We had to paddle through

swamps and pushing and pulling to get through the jungle. It was so

worth it because at the end of it was this amazing King of Saxony bird

of paradise sweeping forward these feathers. Giving out this weird

electrical sound. It was from another world. I felt justified

going there. Fantastic, envy is increasing from me. You have not

done too badly! But the birds of paradise, they are extraordinarily

special. What is next for birding? I really want to go to brew and see

some of the jungle birds -- three. The bird you get to see deep in the

jungle. -- and want to go to Peru. I have not told the family yet, I

guess they know. Tell the BBC, I'm sure the security issues in Peru.

They might need more investigation. I am sure they do. Frank Gardner,

thank you very much. We will be back with you shortly, until then, let's

meet another wildlife hero. Wildlife rescue is often a very

challenging field because it is run by people who are largely

unsupported, ordinary people who put in a tremendous amount of energy to

make it work. Today, I have come to meet one of them. This house is

jam-packed with hundreds of rescued terrapins of all shapes and sizes.

Michael Butcher, a man with a thousand terrapins. Let's have a

look at these, look at that. Beautiful animals, and they? They

are stunning animals, no denying that. And you have got 1,000?

Somewhere around there, it is hard to count, I am afraid. Definitely

that way, yes. How did you get started on terrapin rescue? When I

was a kid, I was into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And seven years ago,

I have not been very well and somebody was saying they were going

to chuck one out and I literally ran at it. I picked it up from Maidstone

and I brought it home and I've found out how bad the plight was for

terrapins worldwide. They are abandoned everywhere. These are

non-native animals and they come in from the pet trade. They disposed of

like rubbish, the way I see it, it hateful. Aside from rescuing the

terrapins, you also do a public service. When they are out in the

wild. They are damaging the ecosystem. They are eating

everything. Sally is beautiful. Big Sally. They are my babies. You are

unusual, a lot of people see these animals as a non-native introduced

pest, damaging the ecosystem. I do not see them like that. They are not

from our country, it is not their fault. How can you blame that? Look

at her, she is beautiful. She is lovely. She really is gorgeous. How

could you want to destroy her? My dream is to build the largest turtle

century in Britain and gradually spread it across the UK because if I

stop, who else is going to do it? And I love these animals so much. I

cannot bear to see them be destroyed. I am very pleased to

present you with our Unsprung hero award. A lot of people will think,

hold on, this is not native wildlife. But I am with you. It is

not the fault of these animals and that is a beautiful animal and it

does not deserve to be dumped, but looked after and the only person I

know looking after them is you so you are our Unsprung Hero. There you

go. It is lovely. Thank you for that.

APPLAUSE. That is an interesting film and take on things. His respect

for life means he wants to protect those animals and it is not their

fault they are in the wrong place, at the wrong time. They do an

enormous amount of damage. So he is helping that situation by taking

them into captivity and not leaving them in the Wales to gobble up

everything. We have a lot of non-native species in this country

and we cannot wipe them all out, that is not the way to go forward,

you have to think creatively about conservation and he is doing that.

Interesting, thank you. This is Jane Price, a member of our lovely

audience, and you have a fabulous object, where did you find that? In

a conifer hedge, given to me as a dormouse nest. Much too big for

that, they are the size of my best, and loosely woven together, I think

most tourney owls would be to go hunting at night with this. It is

massive. June what this is? I have given it to various answers and had

different responses. A conifer hedge local to hear? Yes, in

Gloucestershire. This it is a loosely woven bundle of very coarse

reads and it is stripped wood. Stripped bark. And it is lined with

man-made fabric. This is not fat or down, this is nylon. It has been

inside somebody's police. The stripped bark says Grey squirrel to

me. Which would make it a nest Ato give birth to their young in the

Summertime and they might have a number perched on the tree, but they

are not normally open like this. Like a harvest mouse and dormouse,

it does not have an official entry, they pushing through the sides, but

this does have an opening. If a viewer knows any better suggestions,

we would love to know. I would go for a grey squirrel. If I went for

red squirrel, and would be very optimistic! We will stick with grey

squirrel, but we have another quiz question which brings you and our

quiz from the top of the show. It is time for the quiz. At the top of the

show, we said what did you think this sound might be? This is a

brilliant sound. Many people got in touch once again and thank you. Some

people got it wrong. Suzanne Coleman said water rail, young Crow,

popping. We had a toad. Close, but not right. Many of you got it right.

Super well done if you got this. What is it? It is a marsh frog. If

you said a frog, well done, if you said marsh frog, extra kudos. I have

a characteristic call from the males, when it is warm and wet. They

love it when it rains, they really kick. It is time for fantastical

beasts and another quiz. Go to Twitter and we have seven sounds in

our fantastical beasts. Tell us what they are, have a look. ANIMAL CALLS.

Listening carefully to identical the sounds and if you think they can,

tweet us. You know the premise, we as our best -- our guests to invent

an animal which might exist in the future and have its own physiology

and morphology. It is tentatively real. What have you come up with,

Deborah? Something out of Dragons' Den? The next step in flight

revolution. A flindow that opens its own windows because they spend so

much time trying to get out! Very good. Adapted fly. This is the hands

to get hold of something. This is a soccer to push and pull because when

the window swings, it needs something to hold onto. It is tiny

and it needs extra propulsion so it has... To propel it while it is

pushing the window open and strong muscles in here in the drastic

cavity. We love a fly that opens windows, that would save a lot of

buzzing. Those flies on the windowsill. I collected them on my

windowsill once and made some artwork for my stepdaughter which is

still on top of her wardrobe. Moving swiftly on, Frank? You know

parakeets, not everybody loves them, they are very colourful, but they

are an invasive species. This is a woodpecker on steroids, invented by

a former buddy builder and this will drive them out. Theoretically. They

are implanted with a chip to control them by people in central

headquarters. You have a giant woodpecker which is controlled by

somebody underground with a demonic character. It is all classified. It

is sent out to destroy the parakeets in this country. What would they

think about that? Let's hear them. What would they think about that?

Let's hear them CALLS. I do not think they are happy. They

are no match for this character. I do like your invention, I love the

fly that opens its own windows and that is going to go to the top. I

like this controlled and humongous woodpecker on steroids that is going

there. This is a budgie. I must speak to the artist later. So I have

to wedge that here, very good indeed. That is all we have got time

for today, please thank my guests, see you again at 6:30pm tomorrow

night, goodbye! For the first time, the Science

Museum is opening its doors so you can vote for

Britain's greatest invention.