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It's all action in the woods, what is going on here? | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
It's time to reveal the winner of this year's birds nest competition. | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
Can they beat last year's winners? That was a tough one to beat. | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
this week we have been joined by our guest naturalist who is down in | :02:09. | :02:19. | |
:02:19. | :02:57. | ||
Essex. How are you doing today, It is, of course, our oystercatcher, | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
she's been behaving a little bit strangely and I did hope and wonder | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
that it may be because - don't shake your head, I can see you - it | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
may be that her eggs were about to hatch and yesterday she was doing | :03:11. | :03:21. | |
:03:21. | :03:27. | ||
this, which was really strange. have to admit there was something | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
going on there. Look at this, Chris, she was picking up little bits of | :03:31. | :03:41. | |
:03:41. | :03:42. | ||
stone or slate from the wall as if What would she be doing? My mantra | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
is there's a reason for everything in nature. Nothing is going to | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
waste any time doing anything, I know you might think it's menial | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
lifting up a tiny stone, but there's going to be a reason. I | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
have come up with a theory, it's that she's bored, absolutely bored | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
senseless. It's the best I can come up with. She's so desperate for her | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
eggs to hatch that she's taken to picking up pebbles and chucking | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
them on her back. They place them around the edge of the nest. I | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
think she's possibly doing that and getting it a little bit wrong. | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
you might be wrong. They might have hatched. Let's go to her live. They | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
haven't, though. Sadly. She is sitting firmly on those two eggs. | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
You did concede that this sort of slightly odd behaviour might be an | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
indication that they're hearing the pipping of the chicks inside the | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
eggs. Before they hatch the adult birds can hear the chicks inside | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
the eggs, an for a few days and we think that we know where they were | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
laid and that they might hatch at theened of this week or sometime | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
over the the weekend so you are right, she could be listening to | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
those, and he, and that's what's leading to this behaviour. Because | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
they are behaving differently but I am afraid, they didn't come out. | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
they didn't. One bird we have definitely enjoyed some real | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
success with and it's been great to watch are our herons, let's go live | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
to the nest. I know it's an empty nest, but this is bringing me, well, | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
more joy than Katrina has this evening. This proves is they | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
fledged successfully. It really does. It's amazing timing because | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
this is the first time at this time of evening we have gone live to the | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
heron nest and seen no herons. We have been following them all over | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
the three weeks we have been on air and when we first met them - they | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
haven't changed in size much. They were still hunched grumpy looking, | :05:39. | :05:47. | |
but very much dependent on the adults. Adults coming in and they | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
were pulling down the bills to feed them. Now it seems they're an | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
hunting. They're learning to hunt. We have been watching them and you | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
see them pecking at things all the time. They don't always get it | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
right. The adults today have been out in front of us and we captured | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
them on the marsh-cam. A couple of times they were in there | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
successfully catching eels. The technique is simple. They stand | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
still. Presumably the fish were slow-moving. They twist them around | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
and go down head first. youngsters will continue learning | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
from the adults and how long will it be before they're fully | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
independent do you think? It can be 80 days. Even then they might hang | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
around a family group. Eventually the young will disperse and they go | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
quite a distance away, up to 80 kilometres at least and in any | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
direction. Sometimes towards the south west although they don't | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
migrate in this country. Other parts of Europe they migrate. | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
bird you introduced us to yesterday has also been seen on the reserve | :06:53. | :07:03. | |
:07:03. | :07:06. | ||
today taking full advantage. Look at this. What made us laugh about | :07:06. | :07:16. | |
:07:16. | :07:21. | ||
these is that the heron is standing There are two strategies. One is | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
sit and wait, the other is expend energy, so it has to get more of a | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
return. You would expect it to catch more fish. Let's go live to | :07:30. | :07:38. | |
the buzzards. They have been tremendously entertaining. These | :07:38. | :07:47. | |
two are quite dozy. They have had a great variety of food. These ones | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
are maturing nicely. I am very confident they will survive. The | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
younger of the two has got to a size where it is unlikely they will | :07:57. | :08:05. | |
push out of the nest. There was a lot of bullying earlier on. Now | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
they seem to have caught up with the bigger ones. They seem to be | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
doing very well. There was something that a lot all of us that | :08:15. | :08:25. | |
:08:25. | :08:31. | ||
happened earlier today. Have a This was happening somewhere in the | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
vicinity of the buzzard nest. The camera is having a pan around to | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
see if he could spot what is making that is spitting noises and setting | :08:39. | :08:46. | |
of the crows, which it seemed to upset as well. There is a real | :08:46. | :08:54. | |
I think that some of the food that the buzzards are not eating, they | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
picked the bones, they left some of the larger parts, the youngsters, | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
it could be falling off the nest underneath it. The sound we heard | :09:03. | :09:13. | |
:09:13. | :09:14. | ||
is undoubtably foxes. They could be fighting over some food and that | :09:14. | :09:22. | |
might explain the presence of the Crow. Every week we have been very | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
fortunate to be joined by a guest naturalistic. We have had Charlie | :09:28. | :09:35. | |
Hamilton James, this week it has been lose. Where is she? We are up | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
there. If we zoomed out you can see we are in West Wales but if we zoom | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
back into the south-east, of England, in Essex, weekend Liz is | :09:47. | :09:56. | |
on that landfill site. We presume you are having a very nice evening? | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
Very nice. We do get a cacophony of Fox sounds every evening as well | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
which we are laughing. All week, we have been filming the wildlife | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
making a living alongside human landscape and down there is part of | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
the restored land. It dates back to the 1970s, the last time this part | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
of the site was active. It is also where I had an amazing Fox | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
encounter and it is where we will try to bring you live foxes on | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
Springwatch. Let's turn our attention to the active part. We | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
throw out 57 million tonnes of waste in the UK every year. That is | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
more than any other EU country. In 2018, we are going to run out of | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
space in landfill, that is just seven years' time. The government | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
is working on increasing the amount we recycle so it restricts the | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
amount of waste that gets to landfill. It is also looking on | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
more biodegradable waste being put to composting and turning waste | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
into energy. But we need more solutions and we need them fast. | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
Ultimately we need to change our attitude. Until drastic changes are | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
made to our throwaway culture, animals are going to continue to | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
try to make a living alongside all of our discarded rubbish. Some | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
species are doing fairly well with that option. We showed yesterday | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
that wildlife was driving alongside a golf course. What about | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
brownfield sites? They are interesting because they are made | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
by man and then we abandon it and then wildlife moods in and does | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
very well without any help from us whatsoever. Do you remember it says | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
Henshaw from a couple of nights ago? -- Sarah Henshaw? She loves | :11:54. | :12:04. | |
:12:04. | :12:16. | ||
brownfield sites. She showed us one I have always been into cultivation | :12:16. | :12:24. | |
and barks. I have about 1400 species of in vertebrate recorded | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
on this side which puts it in the top three sides in the whole of the | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
UK. -- sites. It has been. Britain's rainforest for | :12:35. | :12:43. | |
invertebrates. When you think about the UK's riches wildlife sites, if | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
you ask the general public, they may think of ancient woodlands, | :12:46. | :12:56. | |
:12:56. | :12:57. | ||
meadows, wetlands. They wouldn't necessarily think about places like | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
this but this is one of the best sites in the whole of the UK. Can | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
be Wick has an interesting history. Historically it was coastal grazing | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
marsh and then in the 60s, two meetings of drudging was put in the | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
site to prepare it for an oil refinery. The oil refinery never | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
actually happened and in 19 SEP- 23, it was abandoned and it has been | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
abandoned since then -- and in 1973, it was abandoned. I like brownfield | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
sites because they are a bit of a diamond in the rough. At first look, | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
they look messy and untidy but if you look a little bit closer, they | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
are real special places which wildlife has taken hold of and | :13:46. | :13:56. | |
:13:56. | :14:03. | ||
I have been working in invertebrate Conservation for two years ago | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
worked for a wildlife charity. When the first survey of this area was | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
done in 2000, we found three species which we thought were | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
extinct and that includes the can be beetle, only found at this site | :14:19. | :14:28. | |
and no where else. -- can feed The ground is not just good for | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
invertebrates, it is also good for amphibians and reptiles. For | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
example, we have basking adders. Common lizards are common all | :14:39. | :14:49. | |
:14:49. | :14:53. | ||
Brownfield sites don't just support native wildlife. They also support | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
alien species. It is the wild flowers which are particularly | :14:59. | :15:09. | |
:15:09. | :15:10. | ||
important for the bumblebee This is an excellent example of | :15:10. | :15:20. | |
:15:20. | :15:34. | ||
what can happen on a site when The Land Trust, along with the RSPB | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
and "By Clive" are planning to make this the first brownfield site | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
reserve in the area. That is not just for the amazing what life but | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
the people of Canvey Island to win joined appreciate the wildlife on | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
their doorstep. Brownfield sites, fast becoming a very important | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
wildlife habitat in this country and proves that nature once again | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
can be very resilient and adaptable. Let's take a look at some of our | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
cameras on the restored land. Any foxes? No. We will endeavour to get | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
you wild foxes by the end of the show live on Springwatch. See you | :16:13. | :16:23. | |
:16:23. | :16:28. | ||
Thank you! We have come to the place that we call heron point. | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
Something happened at the buzzard nest today. Let's have a look. You | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
can see in an earlier rain shower, the adult was sheltering those two | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
chicks from the rain but look, as we all comes in, the adult gives it | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
quite a beady look but does not go for it. I think it is preoccupied | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
with brooding the chicks in the rain but the squirrel, potentially | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
dicing with death. Once an animal knows a predator is looking at it, | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
the predator is at a disadvantage because it hasn't got the element | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
of surprise. It was dicing with death because it seems for buzzard | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
families, the squirrel is very high up on their list of favourite foods. | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
Here is and adult bringing in a school for the two little chicks | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
which they attack him to with relish -- bringing in a squirrel. | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
grey squirrels have been brought him in both of the nests. They are | :17:29. | :17:38. | |
good, rich meat for the youngsters. They are quite heavy. I was going | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
to say there must be quite difficult for the buzzards to get | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
because they are big and agile and I imagine they would fight like | :17:44. | :17:53. | |
hell. If this will all those above that is coming, it will get it. But | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
the buzzards are capable of catching things up to 500 grams, | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
considerably larger than a squirrel. Let's go to this... It almost looks | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
like an adult bird. A couple of weeks ago, it was still covered | :18:09. | :18:16. | |
with lots of doubt. There is no doubt on visible at all. It will be | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
out of their nest within the next couple of weeks and it will then | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
hang around with the adults up to four and a half months. Presumably, | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
it is real tactics that they need to learn to be able to feed | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
themselves. The adults will continue to feed them as well. They | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
make a terrible noise. If you hear that call repeatedly, it is the | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
youngster, they go out begging for a couple of months. But this one | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
has been preparing for the moment when it will leave the nest. A lot | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
of wings flapping. Looking like it almost wants to take off. Do you | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
think it is thinking about a maiden flight? I think it is building up | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
its flight muscles. It is exercising. It is learning the | :19:00. | :19:10. | |
:19:10. | :19:11. | ||
mechanics of flying, hanging on to Also thing it's been doing is | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
practising grabbing things. Obviously, the prey there well and | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
truly dead, but as you say it looks like it's practising pouncing, | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
using its talons to pin down that prey. It's there, all the instinct | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
is there. You see its tail there, well down. Well developed. | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
Presumably, for its fledgeling to be successful it needs to keep | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
exercising, it needs to be as fit and strong as possible. Exercise is | :19:37. | :19:47. | |
:19:47. | :20:00. | ||
Mo, that's enough of that. It's the Olympics next year and I am | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
considering two strategies. One, I could lay back, relax, eat a few | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
chocolates and enjoy the action on the big screen. Or two, I could | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
spend more time on the exercise bike. I will never be as fit as the | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
athletes winning but at least I will get into the spirit of things. | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
But what about wildlife when it comes to health and fitness? It | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
might surprise you to know that birds will actually exercise. Young | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
birds and migrants spent more time flapping their wings to build up | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
muscles before the big day. But they're also involved in doping | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
scandals. Scientists have discovered that sandpipers will | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
concentrate by feeding on shrimps which are rich in emega three and | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
when this chemical gets into their muscles it greatly enhances their | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
ability to use oxygen. So, they make it to their wintering grounds | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
but they'd fail a drugs test. It's not just birds that use chemicals | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
either. Bees when they're out foraging will collect pine pine | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
resins which they turn into a compound which they line the | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
complete inside of their nest with as a sterilising agent. You might | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
remember last year those blue tits that were bringing mint into one of | :21:15. | :21:23. | |
the nests. Kind teuss have determined this has anti-terial | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
properties. The chemicals in plants are thought to have anti-pesticidal | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
qualities to keep the number of parasites down, which is a | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
brilliant idea, of course. I have got a brilliant idea of my own, and | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
that is when I am working on this theory that chocolate has lots of | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
very important chemical qualities in it so I think the best thing to | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
do throughout the course of the Olympics is to get masses of it or | :21:46. | :21:56. | |
:21:56. | :21:59. | ||
maybe get some mint in. Or Minty There will be more top sporting | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
tips from Professor Packham in Autumnwatch later in the year. It's | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
time to catch up with one of my favourite animals on Springwatch. | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
How my going to tpwet up here! That's the little owlsment we were | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
lucky enough to have caught up with a project by Emily and she managed | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
to get cameras inside the little owls' nest giving us that | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
privileged view. So, let's have a look inside the nest. This is how | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
we left our little owls last time. This is the very latest that we | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
have had from Emily. They look fabulous. | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
During there was a children's show called The Flumps. All four of them | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
have grown up, they're looking magnificent and they're almost | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
ready to go out and branch, I think. They're almost ready to leave that | :22:51. | :23:01. | |
:23:01. | :23:02. | ||
nest and Emily had to ring these owllets. There they are. Four | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
little owllets, so that's a very happy ending to our owl story. | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
Thank you, Emily. Happy ending. We have also had a happy beginning | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
here. If you have been watching the show you will know up stream from | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
here the first Ospreys to nest in this part of Wales have done so for | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
more than 400 years. Now, Ospreys move back to Wales in 2004, and | :23:24. | :23:34. | |
:23:34. | :23:53. | ||
they began to nest in the north, The good news is, as Chris said, we | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
have Ospreys nesting just a kilometre along the Estuary from | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
here. We have been following their fortunes. There are three chicks in | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
this nest. The adults both in attendance and bringing in plenty | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
of food, including... This looks dangerous! A rather alive mullet. | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
The chick close toast the camera has sense -- closest to the camera | :24:17. | :24:27. | |
:24:27. | :24:27. | ||
has has taken refuge. What's really scary, Amir, who has been | :24:27. | :24:34. | |
monitoring these birds, was poised rushing out to go in one - in case | :24:34. | :24:43. | |
one of them got butted out of the nest by this fish. Poor little | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
thing. We were worried initially because these are the first - this | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
is the first time these adults have bred and they were having | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
difficulty fighting -- feeding the chicks, you can see no difficulty | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
catching fish and those chicks are thriving. Would you help me do a | :24:59. | :25:09. | |
little experiment? Put your hand out flat. Do you know, Kate, I | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
think they're going to be OK! That's not science either. Look, | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
take that because I have a present for you. Look, you will be very | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
impressed. This was sent by Amir, and it's a breakdown of what they | :25:24. | :25:32. | |
have been feeding on and mostly it is mullet. 53%. 28% sea trout. 9% | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
flounder and a few other fish. A healthy diet, I would say. I am | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
pleased with that and pleased with your enthusiasm. I too have a bar | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
chart. This is other statistics. In week one we had two, in week two, | :25:47. | :25:54. | |
we had two. But this week we have had a fantastic three statistical | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
representations bar charts, diagrams... I think that could be a | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
bar chart too far. You can't throw that down, Kate. | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
The shame of Kate Humble. It's not war. But it's the end of love. | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
Tantrums, kids kids! It's just us now. Let's talk about toads one | :26:15. | :26:22. | |
final time. We saw all those tiny little toadlets around here and | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
they're all common toads but there's another sort of toad, much | :26:25. | :26:35. | |
:26:35. | :26:39. | ||
rarer, it's fast, it's flashy. Let's have a look. | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
I have come here to Cumbria on this blustery day to meet Richard Irvine. | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
When Richard started farming here he would go out at night and hear | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
the most bizarre sounds. It took him ten years to find out what was | :26:53. | :27:02. | |
making those sounds. It turned out to be something rather special. | :27:02. | :27:09. | |
They're nocturnal animals. In the spring they congregate around the | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
breeding ponds. When you approach the noise they're making you can | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
find them, and there they were. Something we hadn't seen before. I | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
didn't realise it was anything special, so it's a real joy. | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
What is this special animal? I have come out with Richard to uncover | :27:25. | :27:34. | |
the mystery. Loads! Loads of them! Have a look. | :27:34. | :27:44. | |
:27:44. | :27:49. | ||
Look at that. They're beautiful. This is a natterjack toad and you | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
can tell it is because they have this bright yellow stripe down | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
their back and a common toad would never have that. My friend Chris | :27:59. | :28:09. | |
:28:09. | :28:09. | ||
Packham, calls these the Lamborghini of theam fibian -- | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
amphibian world. Look at the back legs. They are very short. They | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
would be no use to the French. Richard! How long could they live | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
to potentially? Teenagers, 14, 15. They are pretty rare, aren't they? | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
Very rare. There's about 50 sites in the country where they are. | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
do they need to be successful? the sites that do exist, all seem | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
to be on the coast and I think that's probably because it stops | :28:35. | :28:42. | |
the encroachment of the common toad, the competition. Natterjacks are in | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
trouble. Their numbers have declined all over the country. But | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
Cumbria is a stronghold with over 50% of the population living here. | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
On Richard's farm he does everything he can to help these | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
increasingly rare animals thrive. Grazing sheep help produce short | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
grass runways for that's Lamborghini legs to run around in | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
and find food. And by digging shallow pools he has created | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
perfect breeding habitats. But to have the full natterjack experience | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
I need to come back at night and discover them more or less the same | :29:18. | :29:24. | |
way Richard did 30 years ago. Here we are, Richard, on a chilly | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
Cumbrian night. Too cold, I am afraid. It's quiet at the moment. | :29:28. | :29:33. | |
What do we do, wait and hope? and it will happen, I am sure. If | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
you shine your torch on these ponds you will probably see a toad's head | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
sticking up. We are listening out for, if it does happen, it's the | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
males? It's only the males that call, yeah. They'll be down here | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
every night. Can you hear that one? One will start up and then another | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
one will join in. Before you know where you are, you will have a | :29:58. | :30:06. | |
whole gang. That's exactly what's happening. | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
That's absolutely bizarre. Chilly Cumbrian evening, it sounds | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
like we are in the pooling tropics, doesn't it? Absolutely. Think you | :30:18. | :30:26. | |
are in Africa. Or the rainforest. It's a lovely sound. We reckon they | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
travel three miles from here. Natterjacks are the livelyest | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
amphibians we have in Europe and the call is made by their voicebox | :30:33. | :30:43. | |
:30:43. | :30:45. | ||
and the balloon-like pouch helps I am staggered that such a tiny | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
creature can make such a dim! Do you think the female can tell the | :30:49. | :30:56. | |
difference? There must be something about the quality of the sound that | :30:56. | :31:04. | |
is an indicator of how tough and fit he is! The it has completely | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
stopped now. There is an eerie silence and the wind blowing about | :31:10. | :31:20. | |
:31:20. | :31:24. | ||
our ears. The tropics have left us, Made it! The few knew what we had | :31:24. | :31:31. | |
just done! We have had some fascinating and beautiful birds and | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
my favourites had been the Pied flycatchers, a typical small bird | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
of these wonderful woodlands. There of 38,000 pairs in the UK and we | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
have seen a couple of nests failed here this year but Malcolm Burgess | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
has told us it has been quite a good year. The males have a right | :31:51. | :31:55. | |
up to eight days earlier and their first lie in was the earliest since | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
1955. The clutch size was higher and they had been fledging 4.24 | :32:01. | :32:07. | |
young per nest. Some of the young birds will move out of woodland and | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
into farmland and then by mid-July and August, they will start to | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
migrate. They will make the jump all the way down to Congo and | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
Guinea. What a bird! There is a bird you have been missing and it | :32:21. | :32:27. | |
is the blue tit. We often see blue tits on Springwatch. Have they been | :32:27. | :32:32. | |
affected this spring? They are laying 10 days earlier than they | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
were in 1968. Not a huge difference this year than previous years but | :32:37. | :32:47. | |
:32:47. | :32:49. | ||
most of the blue tits had laid by 27th May before we were on air. | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
They too were making use of the caterpillar bonanza that allowed | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
the Pied flycatchers that nested only to be successful. | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
blackbirds are in real trouble. Their weight has dropped, then | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
nests have failed, the X haven't hatched, all sorts of problems for | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
the blackbirds. -- the eggs. Open up the compost if you can so they | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
can have some food. It is all because the rain didn't come. There | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
we know were Ms. Let's switch from birds to what I think has been the | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
stars of this series. We never expected we would come across grass | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
snakes but that compost heap provided us with a rare insight | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
into this creature's ecology. These are mainly females that have turned | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
up to deposit their eggs. One treat would be to be here in July and | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
August and see the youngsters come out. I think we will throw down the | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
gauntlet to our wildlife cameramen. If our wildlife camera men fancy a | :33:55. | :34:01. | |
trip back here in August and September... I am just getting in | :34:01. | :34:09. | |
my ear, we can cut live to would last camp. That is a highlight, | :34:09. | :34:16. | |
Chris! Two woodlice moving! They are moving! You see, you were | :34:16. | :34:22. | |
waiting for live foxes, and we have got woodlice. It is now time from | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
our final wildlife adventure and after a little snack and cake, | :34:26. | :34:36. | |
:34:36. | :34:40. | ||
Chris said he wanted to take me Superb. With a belly full of fine | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
tea and carrot cake, I think it is time to show Martin the woodlands | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
that Newcastle has to offer. Just outside the city is Gosford Park | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
nature reserve. Top place. I am very conscious of the fact | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
that we very often neglect plants on Springwatch. People often | :34:58. | :35:04. | |
complain. Justifiably because they are fascinating and beautiful. | :35:04. | :35:14. | |
:35:14. | :35:16. | ||
These are gorgeous. The way they unravelled... It is called Sir... | :35:16. | :35:22. | |
That is known as the closure. The design of the Bishop's one is based | :35:22. | :35:30. | |
upon the firm. I have never heard such stuff! Second year, botany, at | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
Reading University. I have been waiting years to tell you that! | :35:35. | :35:42. | |
have brought you here to show you a terrific, a genuine atrophied. -- | :35:42. | :35:52. | |
:35:52. | :35:55. | ||
-- triffid. It is actually an orchid, my favourite plant! It is | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
something I had been hunting for years and I must prostrate myself | :35:59. | :36:07. | |
before this magnificent specimen! It is in Slough! -- flower! The | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
reason it is so rare is because it relies on a specific fungus that is | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
in itself only found near Rottenberg trees. It doesn't | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
photosynthesise, it gets all its nutrients from its fungal root part | :36:20. | :36:30. | |
:36:30. | :36:34. | ||
This is about as exotic as orchids get. To come across it now is a | :36:34. | :36:40. | |
lifetime's challenge realised. It is a dream come true. I will not | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
forget this. Amazing. But now it is getting late. The light is fading | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
and with it, nature's somnolence symphony of the evening sound. What | :36:50. | :36:56. | |
more could Chris often the? The Orchid was fantastic, thank you. | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
Splendid. But the evening is drawing on. This is the gloaming. | :37:01. | :37:09. | |
Should we not hail our host? can't waste the gloaming. You never | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
know when the next gloaming will come and it is at this time that | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
one of our most exciting batss emerges and over there in that tree | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
there are three holes. You can see one, a woodpecker holes. These are | :37:23. | :37:30. | |
used by a very large, active colony of batss. I will teach you a fine | :37:30. | :37:38. | |
art. The fine art of bad stoning. am vegetarian, I am sorry. Do you | :37:38. | :37:45. | |
just love it at them? It is a tradition. As kids, we were always | :37:45. | :37:51. | |
out stoning bats. All you do, you take the stone and place it there | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
in between your thumb and forefinger so you can flick it | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
upwards, and you hold it ready for a bat to come over. The objective | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
obviously is not to hit the bat with the stone but to attempt it. | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
If you have about flying past, you can judge its so you flick it up in | :38:08. | :38:14. | |
front of it so that the stone falls back as close to you as possible. | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
The batss will respond thinking they were large airborne insects, a | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
beetle perhaps, and they would swoop down. The winner is the one | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
that can get the bat to swoop closest to them. It works! That | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
stoning. I have never heard of it. I want to do it. Armed with a bag | :38:34. | :38:44. | |
:38:44. | :38:49. | ||
of stones, we waited for the bats That is classic... They are really | :38:49. | :38:56. | |
big. I would be surprised if there were not 30 or 40 in there. In that | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
tree?! The time was now. The gloaming had transmogrified into | :39:02. | :39:08. | |
darkness. Perfect conditions for that stoning. I lost my hat in the | :39:08. | :39:18. | |
:39:18. | :39:26. | ||
These are not big enough to be the nocturnal bats. These feed on much | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
smaller insects. This to them would be like throwing an oven-ready | :39:33. | :39:43. | |
:39:43. | :39:48. | ||
Yes! Look at that! Right in front of us! The sport of it! Honestly, | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
is there anything more satisfying and stoning aback to of an evening? | :39:53. | :40:03. | |
:40:03. | :40:04. | ||
Look at that! -- stoning a bat of an evening? Loop the loop! Yes!! | :40:04. | :40:14. | |
:40:14. | :40:15. | ||
really did turn around! I believe in that stoning. -- that stoning. | :40:15. | :40:22. | |
That is a song title! Can we go? One More! We will be here all night. | :40:22. | :40:30. | |
I think we have got the knack! Come on! What is he like? You don't get | :40:30. | :40:38. | |
a chance like this every night. Welcome back to Springwatch life. - | :40:38. | :40:47. | |
- live. Three foxes... Playing... Please don't go. This is fantastic. | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
They have been giving us such a display right here on the grass. It | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
has been absolutely wonderful. We have done it, kind of. There is a | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
brave little fellow that is hanging around and hopefully he will come | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
back. The rain has been threatening, it has been nerve-racking, but | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
there you have it, foxes! The reason why there is a high charge | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
of doing this live in the first place is because there is a very | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
high density of foxes here and it is all because of all the food they | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
can get at the land fill. That very much changes their territories and | :41:23. | :41:29. | |
how they interact. First of all the density here is really high. We | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
have 50 territories on this site. The territories themselves are not | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
as big as usual as they would be in the wild because the foxes don't | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
have to forage as far afield to get their food and the territories | :41:41. | :41:48. | |
overlap a little bit. When it comes to family groups, this is my | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
favourite by the way, we have been watching him all afternoon and a | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
handful in love with him, but family groups a very different as | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
well. Sometimes you get foxes that remain there that would usually | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
disburse in the wild. For example, an old fox that was the dominant | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
fox earlier on or younger foxes. This date in the group and they | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
help feed this year's cups -- the base date in the group. There are a | :42:18. | :42:26. | |
lot of encounters happening which changes the interaction. It has | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
been a fairly unusual week so we wanted to also find out where that | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
urbanisation ever affect wildlife detrimentally so we headed to | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
Southend on Sea, we hung out with Essex boy racers and we did a | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
little experiment to find out whether snails are affected by a | :42:45. | :42:54. | |
:42:55. | :43:18. | ||
We humans affect wildlife in lots of different ways. One of the most | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
obvious being the amount of traffic absolutely everywhere. One | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
scientist is looking into how that traffic is affecting one particular | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
species. This male. These lot know how to get the most out of their | :43:31. | :43:39. | |
motors so we will enlist their help -- snails. This is Dr Rupert | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
Marshall from Aberystwyth University. What exactly is going | :43:42. | :43:50. | |
We have a speaker capable of putting out large sounds. Down the | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
bottom, snails. One from the middle of the city and once on the | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
countryside. What we will do is put the snails on top of the platform | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
and see how they behave and what we expect to see is that the one from | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
the City will carry on cruising around when we start playing loud | :44:07. | :44:14. | |
music. But the roof of snails should stay in its shell or shrink | :44:14. | :44:24. | |
:44:24. | :44:30. | ||
back into its shell -- that rural You have got the country bumpkin. | :44:30. | :44:40. | |
:44:40. | :44:46. | ||
Graham, turn up your speaker. BASS. The city boy is out. Even the | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
platform is moving on top of the speaker. That is how loud the base | :44:50. | :44:57. | |
is. He seems to be OK. He is moving. Nothing going on with the other one, | :44:57. | :45:06. | |
If he spent his life in the middle of a field we should not be | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
surprised he is apprehensive to come out to the sound of this. | :45:09. | :45:17. | |
is thus telling us about snails? shows that some species are capable | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
of adapting to urban life. The noise of the buses and the cars and | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
everything, the City snell was happy with it, but the country one | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
was not used to it. What is the advantage of the snails being able | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
to stay out in spite of the noise? If they do not stay out and they go | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
into their shells all the time, they will never eat and they will | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
stays more. They need to come out. The shrinking violets on the | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
countryside, when they come into the city, they will not do very | :45:46. | :45:53. | |
well. It is all about survival. is. I guess you could look at all | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
different types of species and how urbanisation is affecting their | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
behaviour. Absolutely. Building a car park and a railway line, we are | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
always affecting our environment. It has been a blast, excuse the pun. | :46:08. | :46:18. | |
:46:18. | :46:27. | ||
He is not feeling it! It is the Welcome back. Is that a sight for | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
sore eyes? We have really been enjoying watching the different | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
personality types. Some of these are bold as brass, others extremely | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
shy and really - you couldn't describe them as tame and it's | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
beautiful to watch that. Stunning animals. Come back to us soon and | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
we will try and get you more tpbgses -- foxes. | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
Amazing live pictures of foxes, I never thought they'd do it. It's | :46:54. | :47:01. | |
now time to start the build-up to our winner of Britain's Barmiest | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
Bird's Nest. Before we do that, we have noticed something very, very | :47:05. | :47:15. | |
:47:15. | :47:45. | ||
Come on, Martin. Here is the moment. Britain's Barmiest Bird's Nest. | :47:45. | :47:55. | |
:47:55. | :47:56. | ||
Let's start with a runner-up, it's from James. Have a look at this. | :47:56. | :48:02. | |
Where is it? It's in front of the electrical shop. What on earth is | :48:02. | :48:11. | |
on the telly! No way! You said they get a bit bored, clearly watching | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
Springwatch is a perfect way to spend your incubation time. Here is | :48:15. | :48:22. | |
the winner from Pauline Hocking. Have a look at what Pauline sent us. | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
Look closely. This is a fairground in South End and this is the | :48:28. | :48:35. | |
rollercoaster. Look in the middle of that loop. No No way! It's a | :48:35. | :48:41. | |
crow and it's not just landed there, it has its nest. Every time they | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
come around the crow has to leave the nest for fear of having its | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
head lopped off. Thank you very much indeed. That's a worthy winner | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
this year. Congratulations, Pauline. Of course, we always love to hear | :48:55. | :49:05. | |
:49:05. | :49:09. | ||
from you and our website will be up If you are not confident about | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
being online there is the First Click campaign, all you do is | :49:13. | :49:23. | |
:49:23. | :49:26. | ||
They will tell you where there is a bebeginner's computer course close | :49:26. | :49:32. | |
to you and there will be no excuse. The stars for most people this year | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
were our barn owls. Let's go live to our barn owls now to see how | :49:35. | :49:45. | |
:49:45. | :49:51. | ||
they're getting on. They've been They're all busy sleeping. The real | :49:51. | :49:55. | |
star of all of these was a little baby barn owl you called Bob. Here | :49:55. | :50:05. | |
:50:05. | :50:05. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 61 seconds | :50:05. | :51:07. | |
Fantastic. Here's to you, Bob, thank you for being a star. But | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
without further ado we should head back to Essex to Liz and see if | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
she's any more live foxes. It looks like she has. | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
Yeah, we do. The adults getting ever closer and | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
it's usually the adults that are much more wary but what's | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
interesting is within the fox cubs one sibling is very brave and is | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
going to get more food when the truckers that do feed the foxes | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
occasionally do feed them, but it can also be a disadvantage because | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
the braver cubs tend to wander further away, they're courageous | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
and tend to get into trouble, whether it's encroaching on another | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
male fox's territory or, unfortunately, with traffic. It's | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
usually the shier sibling that shadows his mother that will end up | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
doing well and often times inher its the territory. Beautiful | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
interactions this evening on a gorgeous evening here. Something | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
else really wonderful happened, another surprise that was offered | :52:06. | :52:13. | |
up to us here. Gary, our soundman, specialist soundman, I hasten to | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
add, was setting up a couple of nights ago and he heard something | :52:16. | :52:26. | |
:52:26. | :52:28. | ||
rather wonderful in the trees. Look When I first heard these these | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
doves, we sat on the edge of the grass and I became aware of the | :52:32. | :52:39. | |
fact I could hear turtle doves. It's like a really warm cooing, | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
it's a little bit like a lullaby. It's become incredibly rare in | :52:44. | :52:51. | |
Britain. I think since the 1970s their numbers are down by 89%. I | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
genuinely couldn't believe that I was hearing turtle doves. For two | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
years now I have pursued this bird, so I went to all the classic | :53:00. | :53:08. | |
British places, farmland in Norfolk, Wiltshire, and I have not really | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
got good recordings. The last place I expected to find these birds | :53:11. | :53:21. | |
:53:21. | :53:22. | ||
would be on a landfill site in Essex. I guess why it's so great | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
for these birds is because of the regeneration, there's scrub for | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
them to nest in and areas of regeneration and wild flowers which | :53:29. | :53:36. | |
is basically the food. Because these birds are hunted so | :53:36. | :53:44. | |
much on their migration route they have a real% real persecution | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
complex. They're not that easy to see. An you will hear them and | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
never see them. Honestly, this place has given us | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
so many surprises this week. It's been a wonderful experience. | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
Another wonderful reminder of how resilient, how resourceful, | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
adaptable wildlife can be, despite the challenges that we throw at it. | :54:08. | :54:18. | |
:54:18. | :54:55. | ||
Here is a little reminder of what It's been a wonderful week. A big | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
thank you to Shaun Taylor and all the team here, they've been amazing | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
and a massive thank you to Phil Shaw for allowing us to have this | :55:03. | :55:08. | |
experience with the foxes. Lots of love. Thank you and good night. | :55:08. | :55:16. | |
Thank you, Liz. Bye. What a fantastic job. Thank you so much. | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
Now, she had such a fantastic time. Our live cameras are about to be | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
switched off, which one would you like to look at before we do? | :55:26. | :55:36. | |
:55:36. | :55:38. | ||
contest, for the younger viewer. I hope these, tickling the palm of a | :55:38. | :55:47. | |
youngster this summer will seed a lifelong interest. I would like to | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
see Buzzard-cam. I shall miss them. Feathers are coming. I am wondering, | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
have our herons come back to the nest for a final goodbye? They | :55:58. | :56:04. | |
have! Brilliant. Well, as I said, sadly, our webcams will be turned | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
off now, but our website will keep going and you can continue to | :56:09. | :56:19. | |
:56:19. | :56:19. | ||
follow us on Twitter and on Facebook. We would love your ideas | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
for Autumnwatch. Have you somewhere brilliant we should film? Let us | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
know via the website. Sadly, I can't be with us for Autumnwatch, | :56:26. | :56:29. | |
so I am going to leave new the extremely capable, if not slightly | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
mad hands of these two. I will be back in the spring and I think we | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
all agree this is the place to come back to. I have another message, | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
look you have seen us enjoying all of this fabulous wildlife. Now it's | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
your turn. Get out there, enjoy it for yourself. If you want top tips | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
go to that website, that will still be running and you know that you | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
can get all the way close up to British wildlife and help look | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
after it. Time to end on a highlight. Now a Welsh icon, the | :56:58. | :57:08. | |
:57:08. | :57:20. | ||
way you have never seen it before. It's not usual. To be loved. | :57:20. | :57:30. | |
:57:30. | :57:32. | ||
anyone. When I see you hanging about with anyone. It's not unusual. | :57:32. | :57:42. | |
:57:42. | :57:42. | ||
To see me cry. I wanna die. It's not unusual to go out. At any time. | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
When I see. You. Out and about. It's such a crime. | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
If you should ever want to be loved by anyone. | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
It's not unusual. It happens. day. | :57:57. | :58:07. | |
:58:07. | :58:31. | ||
No matter. What you say. It's not unusual to be mad with | :58:31. | :58:36. | |
anyone. It's not unusual to be sad with | :58:36. | :58:42. |