:00:11. > :00:16.What are we going to do tonight, then? Well, we could start with a
:00:16. > :00:26.red start. We could catch up with a flycatcher. We could go with a dip
:00:26. > :00:52.
:00:52. > :00:58.-- for a dip in the river. Hello, welcome to Springwatch. It's
:00:58. > :01:02.the last of our programmes in the first week, coming to you live from
:01:02. > :01:06.the RSPB reserve in Wales. We've had a fantastically warm day today.
:01:06. > :01:12.Some of you might know, I'm in the a man for predictions, I'm thinking
:01:12. > :01:16.along the lines of an Indian summer. I'm keeping quiet. Whatever, we
:01:16. > :01:22.have real wildlife in real time. A great show tonight. We really V we
:01:22. > :01:25.said we might start with red starts, so why don't we. If you were
:01:25. > :01:32.watching yesterday two of our six chicks fledged the nest. What has
:01:32. > :01:37.happened to the other four? By this beautiful water fall, magnificent,
:01:37. > :01:40.who would live in a nest like this? If you've been looking at our
:01:40. > :01:45.cameras online today, you might have noticed that our barn owls
:01:45. > :01:48.have had a tough one. It's been so hot. They've been panting away and
:01:48. > :01:56.one of the youngsters has been struggling.
:01:56. > :02:01.Without further ado, let's head up to Scotland and to Charlie. Welcome
:02:01. > :02:05.back to Knapdale, home of the Scottish beaver trial. Tonight,
:02:05. > :02:10.it's the night, we're sticking our necks out tonight. We're going to
:02:10. > :02:15.try to bring you live pictures of live beavers on this loch. It's a
:02:15. > :02:20.bit of a Mission Impossible. But we have gorgeous footage, that we've
:02:20. > :02:24.been shooting over the last couple of weeks. Stay tuned.
:02:24. > :02:27.Our lovely little red start family, what has happened to them? Let's
:02:27. > :02:33.get the full story. Let's go live get the full story. Let's go live
:02:33. > :02:39.to the nest first of all. Outside all is quiet. Inside it's totally
:02:39. > :02:43.quiet. Nobody is there. They've all gone. Now last night, while we were
:02:43. > :02:46.doing Unsprung, the programme after the main show, we took our eyes off
:02:46. > :02:56.the ball and something happened. Luckily the story developers were
:02:56. > :03:00.watching and this is the full story. We saw two had pledged and at 9pm
:03:00. > :03:04.last night, just before the third one made his escape. There he is,
:03:04. > :03:10.going and it's away. I was surprised about that. I thought he
:03:10. > :03:16.might have ht night, a comfy night in there. He didn't, he went. In
:03:16. > :03:20.the morning, the third one went at 6.02 then 8.10 and then at 9.20am,
:03:20. > :03:27.needed a bit of edge couragement. Mum gave a bit of food. He had a
:03:27. > :03:32.final poo there. Our last little chick and there he was waiting, is
:03:32. > :03:36.he going to go? And he was away. Now the parents, there's dad coming
:03:36. > :03:40.back to make sure everything is all right. Now the parents' work
:03:40. > :03:44.doesn't finish there. They'll continue to feed the chicks outside.
:03:44. > :03:48.There they R clever cameraman to catch this. Here's one in the grass,
:03:48. > :03:52.which may not be quiet the safeest place to be.
:03:52. > :03:56.There's quite a lot of tension for the parents. They want to stop
:03:56. > :04:02.feeding those chicks as soon as they can and strt a second brood.
:04:02. > :04:07.Just think, those little chicks, relatively soon will fly away from
:04:07. > :04:11.here, 5,000 kilometres, back to Africa. Absolutely incredible. But,
:04:11. > :04:17.those story developers that got those pictures, who are they? Where
:04:17. > :04:23.are they? I'm about to find out. Join me later.
:04:23. > :04:28.Kate? What? I don't like a baby receipt startd on the ground. I
:04:28. > :04:33.tell you something though, much of what we know about the behaviour
:04:33. > :04:41.and ecology of red starts was found out by John Buxton. He discover
:04:41. > :04:45.today while he was in a POW camp in Bavaria. He wrote this amongst his
:04:45. > :04:50.notes, "One of the chief joys of watching these birds in prison, was
:04:50. > :04:55.that they inhanted another world than I. They lived wholey and
:04:55. > :04:59.enviablely to themselves, unconcerned in our fatuous politics,
:04:59. > :05:04.without the limitations imposed by our knowledge. They lived only in
:05:04. > :05:09.the moment, without foresight and with memory only of things of
:05:09. > :05:14.immediate practical concern to them." What an incredible sentiment,
:05:14. > :05:19.whain cred insight. That's made the hairs on the back of my neck stand
:05:19. > :05:24.up. That guy is in prison and enjoying freedom that he saw in
:05:24. > :05:28.those beautiful birds. He wrote a book afterwards, the New Naturalist.
:05:28. > :05:32.We owe what we know about these birds to him. Thanks to our red
:05:32. > :05:37.starts, a first for Springwatch. They have kept us going beautifully
:05:37. > :05:41.through yot the first week. Now let's meet a bird that will be with
:05:41. > :05:47.us maybe until the end of the series. There's their box, in the
:05:47. > :05:50.woods by the studio. Let's go inside. There she is. She is a pied
:05:50. > :05:55.flycatcher. We introduced you to her yesterday. If you missed it,
:05:55. > :06:01.she's sitting on four chicks. She did lay six eggs, but only four of
:06:01. > :06:04.them hatched. The chicks are doing well. Lovely stretch there. She's
:06:04. > :06:09.such a pretty bird. She's been working extremely hard today,
:06:09. > :06:14.feeding up these chicks as we caught on camera earlier. Amazing
:06:14. > :06:18.energy, this bird was in and out, in and out all day. And a great
:06:18. > :06:26.range of prey. You might think she's only catching flies or flying
:06:26. > :06:31.insects, no beetles, grubz of many kinds much here she's given a chick
:06:31. > :06:34.the caterpillar. It's stuck to his beak. She's trying to get that
:06:35. > :06:39.caterpillar out and trying to refeed it. Her instincts are
:06:39. > :06:44.telling her to get it into the gape, to get it swallowed, not left on
:06:44. > :06:49.the side. That's point of the gape, that great yellow gawping hole is
:06:49. > :06:54.like a target for them. Exactly that. Each species has a different
:06:54. > :06:59.gape, some of them with strong patterning inside their mouths to
:06:59. > :07:03.say, hit this mark. What we have noticed today is that the female
:07:03. > :07:08.seems to be doing all the work. The male has been suspiciously absent.
:07:08. > :07:13.Well, he has. Over the last few days we've hardly seen him at all.
:07:13. > :07:18.He came back a few times at all. He has a mouthful of food, you think
:07:18. > :07:26.he's going to give it to the chicks and he leaves. Then he comes back
:07:26. > :07:32.and arrives back to the female. She's displaying to him. Is that
:07:32. > :07:38.flirting or defensive I think defensive You think he's her mate?
:07:38. > :07:41.He must be, to go to the nest and go into it. Later, he arrives at
:07:41. > :07:48.the nest. She's not. There he goes in. Once again, he doesn't take the
:07:48. > :07:52.opportunity to feed them. She ariefdz back. He then panics,
:07:52. > :07:58.starts fluttering around in the nest. Like he's being caught in the
:07:58. > :08:02.act. He's not feeding them. He's not feeding them. He jumped up in
:08:02. > :08:10.the corner and she comes in. Her instinct is she's got food and has
:08:10. > :08:14.to get it into their mouths. She is perplexed by the fact that he's
:08:14. > :08:19.putting her in an embarrassing position. He's in the wardrobe. She
:08:19. > :08:25.takes a peck at him. He then flies out and leaves her to dot rest of
:08:25. > :08:29.the stuff. It is very, very strange behaviour or is it? If you keep an
:08:29. > :08:34.eye on these pied flycatchers over the weekend, and you can do that by
:08:34. > :08:40.looking at our webcams, you may see a pattern emerging. Don't you
:08:40. > :08:44.think? When your female pied catcher love
:08:44. > :08:49.will never do what you want it to. This is an example now, I'm going
:08:49. > :08:59.to say this now, so they can't cut out the science next week, there's
:08:59. > :09:01.
:09:01. > :09:08.going to be geekery, polytear er to -- polyterer to. Now I have a
:09:08. > :09:12.teaser to pose to you while the show is going on. Have a look at
:09:12. > :09:19.this extraordinary photograph sent by JEL1969, I don't know if that's
:09:19. > :09:28.a girl or boy. They live n in chat nam Kent. Our question is, what is
:09:28. > :09:34.this photograph of? Get in touch via Twitter, our Facebook face or
:09:34. > :09:38.viate website. We will be giving you some of your answers right and
:09:38. > :09:42.wrong later in the programme. give a clue? No, it's too early.
:09:42. > :09:46.Soy couldn't say that they're floating on water? Sorry. Every
:09:46. > :09:50.week we're very lucky to be joined by a guest naturalist. This week
:09:50. > :09:55.it's been Charlie Hamilton-James, who's been up here in Scotland. If
:09:55. > :10:00.we zoom in, we can see exactly where he is. He's at Knapdale. He's
:10:00. > :10:05.been here at the top of the loch. Then we cracked him down here. This
:10:05. > :10:12.time he's off the map. What is it, pub, tearoom or Charlie or are you
:10:12. > :10:16.on Beaver Patrol? Welcome back, guys. We're still in
:10:16. > :10:22.Knapdale, home of the Scottish beaver trial. We're trying to bring
:10:22. > :10:26.you tonight a first live shots, ever, of wild beavers in Britain.
:10:26. > :10:34.Now, we're not having much luck so far. I think they're probably still
:10:34. > :10:39.in bed. But, over there, in the marshes lushes specialist wildlife
:10:39. > :10:43.cameraman oon. He has a great, big long lens and he's pointing at the
:10:43. > :10:46.beaver lodge. That's why the beavers live. Most of the day they
:10:46. > :10:50.sleep. They sleep in their lodges and come out at night. This is
:10:50. > :10:54.where they breed. This year we're hoping they will have kids. That is
:10:54. > :10:58.what the Scottish beaver trial is all about. As we haven't got any
:10:58. > :11:02.live beavers to show you, at the moment, I thought we'd show you a
:11:02. > :11:12.piece from the other day. I went out with the Scottish beaver trial
:11:12. > :11:32.
:11:32. > :11:36.to see just how hot a beaver can environments. They don't really
:11:36. > :11:41.have modern clothing like to us keep warm. Their fur has to do the
:11:41. > :11:46.job for them. It's incredibly well insulated. Tonight, I've come out
:11:46. > :11:53.with a thermal camera to see if we can look at one. Because what this
:11:53. > :11:58.does is it looks at the heat coming off things. Now, we have got more
:11:58. > :12:06.of the beaver team there. We will throw the thermal camera on them
:12:06. > :12:10.and say, can you take your hats off please? Look at that. Now that head
:12:10. > :12:14.is glowing bright yellow, a lot of heat coming off that. The rest is
:12:14. > :12:18.blue, where the coat is, which is well insulated. This is exactly
:12:18. > :12:22.what we're trying to do with the beaver. We're going to see where
:12:22. > :12:30.the hot spots r, where the heat's coming off, but also where the
:12:30. > :12:33.darker spots r, which bits of the beaver are most well insulated.
:12:33. > :12:37.All we've got to do is find a beaver.
:12:37. > :12:44.The guys have just flashed their torch in the darkness, which means
:12:44. > :12:54.they've got a beaver. We're racing over there, literally amph, to see
:12:54. > :12:57.
:12:57. > :13:02.if we can get there. -- literally onemph, to see if we can get there.
:13:02. > :13:05.That's the back of his tail there? Yes, that's the back. He's coming
:13:05. > :13:11.right past us. The head is a lot hotter than I would have thought.
:13:11. > :13:18.What do you think? It's really bright. It really stands out. It's
:13:18. > :13:22.really exciting seeing that white and red shape moving along.
:13:22. > :13:27.What we really want is this beaver to get out on the bank. At the
:13:27. > :13:30.moment we're just seeing the back and top of his head. She seems
:13:30. > :13:38.quite relaxed F we keep our distance she might come out onto
:13:38. > :13:42.the land. She's coming out. You can see most
:13:42. > :13:45.of the heat is coming off the back. It's bright white. That's where
:13:45. > :13:51.it's less dense hair wise. They're more dense on the fronts of their
:13:51. > :13:55.bodies. Having dense fur on its belly makes a lot of sense. This is
:13:55. > :14:03.the area its body that spends a lot of time in cold water and needs to
:14:03. > :14:07.hold in heat. The tail's red. It's not putting out as much heat as its
:14:07. > :14:12.back. That's weird, though, because it hasn't got any hair on it.
:14:12. > :14:17.a big layer of fat really. It's quite well insulated. Sometimes you
:14:17. > :14:23.see beavers largely sit on their tails just to keep their feet that
:14:23. > :14:27.wee bit warmer. It's not too cold tonight. She's probably quite
:14:27. > :14:33.comfortable. She's out feeding, so we'll leave her alone. Leave her to
:14:33. > :14:38.Give her the night off from the weird camera crews with weird
:14:38. > :14:42.cameras. I have to admit, I was surprised.
:14:42. > :14:45.With all that thick fur, the beavers would be more well
:14:45. > :14:51.insulated than that and put out less heat. I suppose if you think
:14:52. > :14:55.about it, beavers generally live in very cold places, like Canada and
:14:55. > :14:59.Norway, which are much colder than here in Scotland, where actually
:14:59. > :15:03.it's very warm at the moment. Maybe the beavers are trying to dump heat,
:15:03. > :15:08.maybe they're getting too hot. I don't know. I'm still waiting to
:15:08. > :15:11.see a live beaver. I'm not seeing anything. I'm seeing lake, forest,
:15:11. > :15:15.camera crew, but the beavers still sleeping.
:15:15. > :15:19.Come back to me. I'm sure we'll find you one.
:15:19. > :15:26.Thank you Charlie. I have to say, you've set yourself a tough task,
:15:26. > :15:31.live beaver. Look at this, we've come from our studio over there,
:15:31. > :15:35.about almost three quarters of a kilometre to the estuary. It's a
:15:35. > :15:39.wonderful evening down here. What a picturesque landscape we've got.
:15:39. > :15:44.First time I've been up here. It's absolutely stunning. At the top of
:15:44. > :15:49.the programme we teased you with a new nest. Well time to reveal all.
:15:50. > :15:55.Firstly, here it is. It's difficult to identify. But its habitat might
:15:55. > :16:01.give it away, rushing, fast moving Welsh stream. It's a species which
:16:01. > :16:05.like that's sort of habitat a lot. Now, of course, you find a nest
:16:05. > :16:13.like that, well that's challenge number one, sorted, but then, if
:16:13. > :16:23.you're a wildlife cameraman, you want to get a camera on it. For
:16:23. > :16:43.
:16:44. > :16:51.Lynsey McCree that was something of now bring you pictures from that
:16:51. > :16:56.nest, but first, this is the bird who made it. This is, of course, a
:16:56. > :17:04.dipper, dipping beautifully for us. That is why it has its name. It is.
:17:04. > :17:08.It's one of a group of birds, like the wagtails, even the sandpipers
:17:09. > :17:13.do this bobbing. This is what it's all about. This is lovely. We're
:17:13. > :17:19.not sure how many chicks are in the nest or how old they are. We've
:17:19. > :17:23.seen three chicks, you can see clearly there. But we're not sure
:17:23. > :17:27.how long it is going to be before they fledge. They look quite well
:17:27. > :17:33.developed. I think they do. They typically have a couple of ear
:17:33. > :17:37.tufts of down. You saw a wisp on one of their heads. Once they lose
:17:37. > :17:42.those it's not long before they think of jumping out of the nest.
:17:42. > :17:47.That's going to be a perilous journey. They are perched above
:17:47. > :17:51.that river. Can they swim? Will they drown? Where do they go?
:17:51. > :17:55.will bob about, but not in the rushing currents. These animals
:17:55. > :17:57.have to jump out of there and deal with the force of nature. The first
:17:57. > :18:01.flight is going to be critical. They need to clear the water and
:18:01. > :18:05.land on some stones and bolders, where they can be attended by the
:18:05. > :18:09.parents. Yes, first flight, given that there's little room for wing
:18:09. > :18:12.exercising in the domed nest that they've made there, it will be
:18:12. > :18:16.critical. At the end of the day, this species has evofld to be able
:18:17. > :18:21.to dole with that. I'm pretty confident about that.
:18:21. > :18:25.Sadly that camera isn't connected to the internet. You won't be able
:18:25. > :18:28.to keep an eye on them. You can be absolutely assured that our
:18:28. > :18:34.wildlife cameramen will. We will bring you news of those lovely
:18:34. > :18:40.little birds on Monday. We've had a lot of fledging this week. I'm sure
:18:40. > :18:50.you have fledglings in your gardens or local parks. These are some of
:18:50. > :18:51.
:18:51. > :18:55.the ones we found here. Long tailed tits up here. Gorgeous.
:18:55. > :19:00.Adorable. We have a treecreeper as well. No, wagtail. That's just on
:19:00. > :19:04.the wall where the oyster catchers nested. Here's a treecreeper.
:19:04. > :19:09.Nipping up the tree. Of course, there's a tremendous noise here at
:19:09. > :19:13.the moment. Can I hear it, at this moment, I can hear a family of tits
:19:13. > :19:17.up in the tree peep ago way. At this time of year there's a vast
:19:17. > :19:21.number of birds out here. The adults have bred, some of them
:19:21. > :19:25.producing five, six, seven, eight, nine young, think of the amount of
:19:25. > :19:31.food that must be out there to feed them all. That's what the noise is
:19:31. > :19:36.about, the begging call that's people are hearing. Conversely,
:19:37. > :19:41.those fledglings are becoming food for other things. Now, you see this
:19:41. > :19:49.bank of oak trees just across here, well around about where I'm
:19:49. > :19:53.pointing is where our buzzard nest is. Earlier today we caught this on
:19:54. > :20:00.camera, atentive adult, as ever, bringing in, this is probably the
:20:00. > :20:05.male, bringing in food for the female to pass. That is a tit of
:20:05. > :20:09.some kind. It's a young, it could be a young bird. It could be,
:20:09. > :20:14.actually I say it was a tit. That could have been a willow warbler.
:20:14. > :20:18.It was yellow underneath. They are foraging at the moment on birds.
:20:18. > :20:25.These youngsters, not terribly worldly wise, are frankly easy prey.
:20:25. > :20:33.This one eating another bird. was today. That is a Pipette,
:20:33. > :20:36.either a meadow or tree pippit. All sorts of birds are going in here.
:20:36. > :20:39.These fledglings, and we've seen it, they tuck themselves away, in the
:20:40. > :20:46.trees or down in the grass. But they have a lot of cover. The
:20:46. > :20:50.adults make sure that happens. Buzzards quite big, clumsy birds,
:20:50. > :20:54.you know they're not like goshawks, not famed for folder their wings up
:20:54. > :20:59.and being able to navigate through woods. So how on earth are they
:20:59. > :21:02.finding and catching those little birds? They fly through the woods,
:21:03. > :21:06.relatively quietly. They take perch on a branch. Then they watch and
:21:07. > :21:10.listen. Once they find a family, they don't move too far. They will
:21:10. > :21:14.farm them. They will take one of the youngsters and then go back for
:21:14. > :21:18.another one. They know where they are. They are listening. You
:21:18. > :21:24.mention goshawk though, we have to think here they might be eating the
:21:24. > :21:33.young tits and the other birds here. That buzzard chick, let's go to it
:21:33. > :21:37.live, that buzzard chick is potential prey for a goshawk.
:21:37. > :21:43.Goshawks will visit other rap tores' nests and take the young out.
:21:43. > :21:46.In the food chain buzzards, unbelievably, not at the top.
:21:46. > :21:52.another bird for to you keep your eye on over the weekend. Certainly
:21:52. > :21:57.is. Now, very occasionally, I get offers in car parks. I turn most of
:21:57. > :22:02.them down. But I couldn't turn this down. Matt Hamilton is a student
:22:02. > :22:07.film maker. He came up to me and said "Chris, I've made a film about
:22:07. > :22:17.an area you love." I looked at it and I have to say it's absolutely
:22:17. > :22:23.
:22:23. > :22:31.beautiful. I couldn't keep it to ago I was lucky enough to move into
:22:31. > :22:37.a cottage by Ichin navigation. This runs for ten miles between
:22:37. > :22:44.Winchester and Southampton here in Hampshire.
:22:45. > :22:49.There's an incredible diversity and wealth of wildlife here.
:22:49. > :22:59.I woos doing a course in wildlife documentary production, and for
:22:59. > :23:02.that summer, my diser taigs was to make a film.
:23:02. > :23:07.I thought about all the exotic locations I could fly off to and
:23:07. > :23:11.what I could shoot. Eventually I realised you don't need to go to
:23:12. > :23:14.those places. On my doorstep is this wonderful habitat with
:23:14. > :23:24.spectacular creatures of its own and I set about telling the story
:23:24. > :23:32.
:23:32. > :23:36.a Kingfisher will come and land on it. I put a perch out and a
:23:36. > :23:43.Kingfisher didn't land on it. I sat there for hours staring at a stick.
:23:43. > :23:53.Nothing happens for ages, then all of a sudden, you'll look out and
:23:53. > :23:56.
:23:56. > :23:59.They have extraordinary colours, orange breast feathers and
:23:59. > :24:09.iridescent blue. They look fantastic in the sun, glowing
:24:09. > :24:14.
:24:14. > :24:18.To tell the story of spring I thought I should focus on some of
:24:18. > :24:25.the invertebrates. Nothing is better for that than the May fly.
:24:25. > :24:32.They live as any more ofs under water. They burrow db nymphs, under
:24:32. > :24:42.water. At the end of the two-year period they rise up to the surface
:24:42. > :24:48.
:24:48. > :24:52.and hatch out to live for just one One or two that come up and they're
:24:52. > :24:59.able toe merge straight away, they sort of burst out of their skins
:24:59. > :25:05.and take off instantly. The whole place is just alive with thousands
:25:05. > :25:09.and thousands of May fly. You see them fluttering up and they
:25:09. > :25:13.fall back down like miniature skydivers. It's a beautiful time of
:25:13. > :25:17.year. It lasts for just the shortest amount of time, like so
:25:17. > :25:24.many things in nature, that's what make it's so spectacular. It really
:25:25. > :25:34.marks the start of summer and the end of spring.
:25:35. > :25:36.
:25:36. > :25:41.One thing I really wanted to do was film the demoiselles emerging. It
:25:41. > :25:47.happens at night. I thought if I managed to get a result then it
:25:47. > :25:52.would be something we would rarely see. I spent about two weeks
:25:52. > :25:56.waiting all night waiter for one to emerge. I never thought I would get
:25:56. > :26:00.to see this moment, when something in its life is so vulnerable and
:26:00. > :26:04.going through these changes. It was breath taking. I felt like I had
:26:04. > :26:10.been let in on a secret world that not many people would be able to
:26:10. > :26:17.witness. Having filmed the emergence, I felt
:26:17. > :26:23.I had come into their world. I need -- needed to film the adult form as
:26:23. > :26:26.well. I decided to put the waders on and get in the river. It's an
:26:26. > :26:33.amazing perspective from the water level, among the reeds with them or
:26:34. > :26:43.see them perching. The whole place looks completely different from
:26:44. > :26:45.
:26:45. > :26:50.river level. It was a great One thing I really found through
:26:50. > :26:53.making the film was that I sort of, really stepped into the world of a
:26:54. > :26:57.lot of the wildlife here and learned a huge amount about it and
:26:57. > :27:01.feel much closer to the place as a result. What I really discovered is
:27:01. > :27:04.that there's absolutely no substitute from just spending time,
:27:04. > :27:07.quietly, sitting and watching and waiting for things to happen. Only
:27:07. > :27:17.by doing that, will you really get to know the river and see what
:27:17. > :27:25.
:27:25. > :27:29.I think you're going to be going down the Jobcentre. It was
:27:29. > :27:32.beautiful wasn't it? What a fantastic film. Well done Matt.
:27:32. > :27:38.just great behaviour. The framing, composition of everything was spot
:27:38. > :27:42.on. Matt, you've done a good job mate. We have a bit more gear than
:27:42. > :27:48.you at the moment. We have to try to match up. We have a camera here,
:27:48. > :27:58.not far from the studio, we're calling it marsh-cam. It's a
:27:58. > :28:03.lovelyer is reen -- lovely serene evening. We get those pictures
:28:03. > :28:07.because of the magic of technology and an awful lot of cable. So if we
:28:07. > :28:10.can mix from this picture through to well that's the scene where it
:28:11. > :28:16.is, we're zooming in, so you can see exactly where the camera is.
:28:16. > :28:21.That's what it looks like. Then it's connected, as are all our
:28:21. > :28:26.cameras, via miles and miles of cable that race through the woods
:28:26. > :28:30.and join up, well from here it's about a kilometre, to our
:28:30. > :28:35.production village, there it is. I hope that Martin is standing in
:28:35. > :28:41.amongst those trucks somewhere. Martin, are you there? Kate, I am
:28:41. > :28:46.here. Here I am at mission control. It took seven months to plan this.
:28:46. > :28:50.It took two weeks to build and there are 90 kilometres of cables
:28:50. > :28:53.around here. I'll show you around. That building there, that's where
:28:53. > :29:00.we have our production meetings in the morning to plan the day's
:29:00. > :29:05.program. There's informer a cross here, let me show you this. This is
:29:05. > :29:09.interesting. I don't know if you can see through there, that dish
:29:09. > :29:15.there is transmitting the pictures as I speak to you now. The signal
:29:15. > :29:20.goes into the satellite and it goes 72,000 kilometres to get to your
:29:20. > :29:24.telly. Now these big vans here is where the film editors are. They're
:29:24. > :29:28.putting together all the films of the animals we see on Springwatch.
:29:28. > :29:38.We came down here to find the story developers. They gave us, oh, let's
:29:38. > :29:43.see if we can find them in here. Careful up the stairs. Up you come.
:29:43. > :29:48.We have to go through here. Now this is the, hello everyone! Come
:29:48. > :29:54.on in. These are the producers, directors, there's James or
:29:54. > :30:01.director. Don't be shy chaps. They're not used to being on telly.
:30:01. > :30:05.Come through here, if you would. Going very well. Well done everyone.
:30:05. > :30:14.This is what we've really come to see, story developers. Hello all of
:30:14. > :30:18.you. Hi Martin. This is Sara. This is Jess and Scott. Now you actually
:30:18. > :30:22.got our lovely red start story, were you here to see that? We were
:30:22. > :30:26.indeed. We saw them fledging last night during the show. Fantastic.
:30:26. > :30:31.Thank you very much. We are completely off the ball we werement
:30:31. > :30:36.I forgot to do that, I'll remember now. What's been going on now?
:30:36. > :30:40.What's catching your attention? the moment, we're keeping an eye on
:30:40. > :30:44.the two heron nestlings. They look like they've settled down for the
:30:44. > :30:48.evening a bit. They've been teasing us all day with wing flapping and
:30:48. > :30:53.preening. We keep thinking they're going and then they don't. What's
:30:53. > :31:00.this up here? Here's a sandpiper, now that's a brand new nest for us?
:31:00. > :31:06.Chris and Kate, can you see that? That is a brand new sandpiper nest.
:31:06. > :31:10.Look at that! I'm really pleased about this. I like the sandpipers.
:31:10. > :31:14.Hang on, I think we have just heard from Charlie Hamilton-James, we
:31:14. > :31:15.have live pictures of beavers. It's coming from Knapdale. Can we
:31:15. > :31:25.coming from Knapdale. Can we connect to Charlie? Can we hear
:31:25. > :31:31.him? Hello guys! Look at this, this guy is so close. You can -- he can
:31:31. > :31:34.hear me talking, look. He's probably about 20 metres away. I
:31:35. > :31:42.say he, it could be a she. It's difficult to tell the difference.
:31:42. > :31:48.If it's a he, this is Christian, who we met the other night. He was
:31:48. > :31:53.trying to fell a tree and trying not to get squashed by it. He's
:31:53. > :31:57.speeding up now because he can hear me. He's out on evening patrol.
:31:57. > :32:07.They come out about this time and head off on a patrol around the
:32:07. > :32:10.loch here. They don't really start work until it gets dark. At the
:32:10. > :32:19.moment, he's having his evening feed. That is pretty special, isn't
:32:19. > :32:25.it? I have to let him go, while I reposition myself. I can't quite
:32:25. > :32:28.believe how close he is. He's just there.
:32:28. > :32:34.Let's hunt for him with that lens again. It's all a bit back to front
:32:34. > :32:39.to me. There he is. I'll doom in on him again.
:32:39. > :32:47.Now he's come, we're about 200 yards away from the lodge now. He's
:32:47. > :32:57.come up quite a long way. I keep calling this a he. It could be his
:32:57. > :32:58.
:32:58. > :33:02.wife. Now this just proves that anyone can come out here, to
:33:02. > :33:08.Knapdale, and see this. This isn't private. This trial isn't a private
:33:08. > :33:13.thing. Anyone can do it. And you don't have to come out with loads
:33:13. > :33:19.of specialist kit, you don't need infrared lights. I've no idea what
:33:19. > :33:22.the time is probably 8.20pm and there's a beaver swimming around.
:33:22. > :33:27.The sun's not quite sext anyone can do this. If you want to, don't
:33:27. > :33:37.bring your dog. There's one thing beavers don't like, it's dogs.
:33:37. > :33:39.But if you came out, sat here quietly, on one of these lobgz, --
:33:39. > :33:46.lochs, there's every chance you could see something as special as
:33:46. > :33:50.this. Look at that! That's a tail snap. He's come back up, that means
:33:50. > :33:56.he's a bit nervous, probably because we're all here, giving us a
:33:56. > :34:04.tail slap, bit of an alarm. He's not too fazed. He's come straight
:34:04. > :34:11.back up and just carrying on. Hopefully, going to get into the
:34:11. > :34:16.reeds and find some food. So now, he's heading back down the
:34:16. > :34:24.loch. If I can zoom out on this thing, you can have a look. He's
:34:24. > :34:31.going back down the loch towards his lodge. Beavers don't just,
:34:31. > :34:36.sorry I'm jerking the camera around now. They don't just use their
:34:36. > :34:42.lodges for sleeping in. They also use them for eating in. They have a
:34:42. > :34:50.secret, underwater tunnel, that heads up from underwater into the
:34:50. > :34:54.middle of the lodge. In there they've got, let's just zoom in,
:34:54. > :34:59.inside the tunnel just at water level as you go in the tunnel, a
:34:59. > :35:05.little area where they like to eat. They'll take food in there and eat
:35:05. > :35:11.in complete safety knowing that no predators can get them.
:35:11. > :35:16.I think he's just heading down. This could be the last we see of
:35:16. > :35:26.him tonight. It's just starting to get dark. I think he knows where we
:35:26. > :35:30.are. Well there you go guys, it's got a
:35:30. > :35:36.bit far away now. I'm so chuffed we got you then. It's been a big thing
:35:36. > :35:42.all week, can we get it for you and we did. I hope you enjoyed it.
:35:42. > :35:47.Oh, I say, honestly. That was brilliant - Charlie Hamilton-James,
:35:47. > :35:51.you are a genius! That was fan of theic. He stole our thunder. We
:35:51. > :35:56.were going to introduce our beautiful sandpiper, now you have
:35:56. > :36:00.to wait till Monday. I'm sorry about that. But you wanted to talk
:36:00. > :36:05.About some historical stuff that you found out. One of the thing
:36:05. > :36:09.that's people say about - hi Martin. Sorry. One of the things that
:36:09. > :36:13.people say about the wee introduction of beavers in Scotland
:36:13. > :36:18.is that they didn't used to occur there. I was checking out my
:36:18. > :36:20.history and recently they've discovered no less than five ark
:36:21. > :36:23.logical sites with beaver bones in Scotland and there are place names
:36:23. > :36:29.with beaver in it, suggesting that the animals used to live there.
:36:29. > :36:34.Beavers were in Scotland. Can I just do another literary reference.
:36:34. > :36:39.Gerald of Wales - You just have the one book, do you? Help yourself to
:36:39. > :36:43.a second. Gerald says in Scotland or so they tell me, there is again,
:36:43. > :36:47.only one stream where beavers live and even there they're rare, but
:36:47. > :36:54.they were in Scotland, Gerald says it. It must be true. It must be
:36:54. > :36:58.true. Now, many of you have been contacting us via the message board
:36:58. > :37:02.to talk about our barn owls. Before we get to the nitty gritty of that
:37:02. > :37:06.story. For those of you who aren't familiar with barn owls, have a
:37:06. > :37:16.look at the perhaps non-geeky version what have makes up these
:37:16. > :37:20.amazing birds.?. A barn owl weighs about as much as a grape fruit and
:37:20. > :37:25.lives for around four years. Though the oldest reached precisely 14
:37:25. > :37:30.years seven months and two days. Very impressive. They're easily
:37:30. > :37:37.identified by their pale colour and heart shaped face. I love you.
:37:37. > :37:42.right, that's enough! If you hear this... (screech) Don't be alarmed,
:37:42. > :37:46.it may sound like something out of a horror movie, but that's your
:37:46. > :37:52.barn owl. They have also hiss, yap and snore.
:37:52. > :37:56.The barn owl has the motion acute hearing of any known animal. It's
:37:56. > :38:00.all to do with the placement of their ears. They're placed a
:38:00. > :38:07.similar et Rickally. One is slightly higher than the other.
:38:07. > :38:11.About there. The owl cannical being late the
:38:11. > :38:20.exact position of the sound source, which allows them to catch 2,000
:38:20. > :38:24.mice, voles and other small mammals every year (. That was one minute
:38:24. > :38:27.eight seconds actually. If you've been watching our webcams today,
:38:28. > :38:31.you'll notice that our barn owls have been terribly hot. Everyone
:38:31. > :38:35.was really concerned about this. Not only you at home, look at this,
:38:35. > :38:41.we got back to the studio and found the ep tire crew gathered around
:38:41. > :38:45.the monitors, literally sweating it out with the barn owls, such was
:38:45. > :38:51.the worry. They had reason to be, because this was the scene that you
:38:51. > :38:56.were all watching. The barn owl chicks, as you can see, panting in
:38:56. > :39:02.the heat. This little one actually collapsing and seeming Chris, it's
:39:02. > :39:05.at the back now, unable to get up. They just look like, now two of
:39:06. > :39:10.them down on the ground looking moments away from expiring. When
:39:10. > :39:15.you think about, it they're covered in a thick, warm coat of down to
:39:15. > :39:18.keep them warm. The young one is the least with -- is the one with
:39:18. > :39:23.the least energy. They're expanding a lot of energy panting like that,
:39:23. > :39:28.energy they need to building up their bodies. It's quite an
:39:28. > :39:32.expensive process, this what we call goolating, panting to lose
:39:32. > :39:36.heat. The nest is at the top of a barn, under a roof, about the
:39:36. > :39:40.hottest place it could possibly be. Wood peckers, anything that nests
:39:40. > :39:45.in hay confined space like this, barn owls, they are set up for it.
:39:45. > :39:49.They have to go through these changes in temperature. It's better
:39:49. > :39:52.that they're warm than cold. The adult will be trying to brood
:39:52. > :39:56.what's now a large collection of young probably not being able to
:39:56. > :40:02.keep them warm. Here's a challenge to the camera crew, next week maybe
:40:02. > :40:06.we could get a thermometer into the roof of the barn so we can see how
:40:06. > :40:10.hot it is. Then how cold as well and what they do when it's cold. We
:40:10. > :40:20.could try. It has cooled down a little now, lovely evening now.
:40:20. > :40:21.
:40:21. > :40:28.Cooler than this afternoon. Let's go now live to the barn owl nest.
:40:28. > :40:31.What do you think? I can't see that flutter going on now. Is that the
:40:31. > :40:35.little one in the middle? I don't think it's going to expire. It's
:40:35. > :40:38.pretty strong at the moment. There's so much food there. It's
:40:38. > :40:44.not hungry. It's just a bit behind of others in terms of development.
:40:44. > :40:48.It doesn't look that perky, though, to be fair? Well, no. But they're
:40:48. > :40:52.sleepy animals. He's sleeping, that's all Kate. Let's not be
:40:52. > :40:56.negative. Eating and sleeping, that's all they have to do. Is it
:40:56. > :41:03.not very perky or just sleeping? Keep an eye on the owlles over the
:41:03. > :41:10.weekend by going to the website. Bbc.co.uk/Springwatch. The web kams
:41:10. > :41:16.are there. Keep updated with them. And our quiz. Can we, Becky,
:41:16. > :41:24.where's Becky with questions, please? Answers rather. Thanks
:41:24. > :41:30.Becks. Lucy aged eight says hedgehog. I'm getting that. Sally
:41:30. > :41:33.monster says damsel fly eggs on the blog. Ella says leeches or worms.
:41:33. > :41:37.Good effort. Keep them coming in. None of them quite right. Earlier
:41:37. > :41:41.in the week, we had a competition where we were setting out these
:41:41. > :41:45.camera traps in the woods. We were trying to see which mammals are out
:41:45. > :41:51.there in the course of the night. I won the competition actually with
:41:51. > :41:55.pictures - Rubbish! Steady on. also asked to you send your
:41:55. > :42:04.pictures in, if you were using camera traps. The viewers got much
:42:04. > :42:11.better pictures than we did. put us to shame. Marvellous fox.
:42:11. > :42:15.Beautiful badgers. This is fox and badger. I wouldn't have bet on that
:42:15. > :42:19.in a million years. So we are going to have another go next week. But
:42:19. > :42:24.keep your photos coming in. Now many of you will have seen on the
:42:24. > :42:28.news today and in the newspapers that our hedgehogs appear to be in
:42:28. > :42:31.decline. I had an e-mail from an old friend, Jennie, saying that
:42:31. > :42:35.she's not seeing hedgehogs in her garden any more. What's going on
:42:35. > :42:39.Martin? It's all to do with our gardens. I've been going out and
:42:39. > :42:46.trying to find out about a potential solution to a very
:42:46. > :42:52.serious problem. This is a story about these...
:42:52. > :42:56.Hedgehogs. This is hue Deany. But it's also a story about something
:42:56. > :43:00.much, much bigger than just hedgehogs alone. It's something
:43:00. > :43:06.that, and she's sharp! All of us potentially, nearly all of us could
:43:06. > :43:09.get involved with this. Hedgehogs are one of those garden
:43:09. > :43:16.visitors that we assume are somewhere in the backyards. But
:43:16. > :43:21.when was the last time you actually saw one? If you had seen a hedgehog
:43:21. > :43:28.recently, you're lucky. We've lost about half of all our hedgehogs in
:43:28. > :43:32.the last 25 years. Now our gardens are potentially a great habitat for
:43:32. > :43:39.hedgehogs, but we all tend to overtidy them and that is actually
:43:39. > :43:42.one factor in the hedgehogs' decline. But help is at hand. The
:43:42. > :43:47.people's trust for endangered species and the hedgehog
:43:47. > :43:53.conservation trust have started a really exciting scheme, called
:43:53. > :43:57.Hedgehog Street. I caught up with volunteer Fiona. The idea is that
:43:57. > :44:02.you talk to your neighbours in your street and encourage them to look
:44:02. > :44:07.for hedgehogs, to talk to each other about hedgehogs and look at
:44:07. > :44:13.how to improve their own gardens and in particular... This is the
:44:13. > :44:17.big idea, right? To connect gardens. Then hedgehogs can go between
:44:17. > :44:22.gardens so they have more areas to forage over. They range for up to a
:44:22. > :44:25.mile or more than a mile a night in search of food. So they need to get
:44:25. > :44:29.between more than one garden in order to find owl the food they
:44:29. > :44:35.need. Collectively we have over a million
:44:35. > :44:39.acres of gardens in the UK. Unfortunately, because most of our
:44:40. > :44:45.gardens are fenced in with wire and wood, they've become just isolated
:44:45. > :44:49.pockets of habitat. But it doesn't take much to make a big difference.
:44:49. > :44:53.All you need to do is look at your garden from a hedgehog's
:44:53. > :44:58.perspective and that's exactly what Fiona is trying to encourage her
:44:58. > :45:01.neighbours to do. From a wildlife perspective, one of the first
:45:01. > :45:05.things that you would notice is that there's a hedge row, so they
:45:05. > :45:11.can get access to the garden. the one to the next door neighbour,
:45:11. > :45:15.it looks great at first sight, ah, but it's not. No, there's a hidden
:45:15. > :45:20.barrier behind here. You can see there's a mixture of rabbit netting
:45:20. > :45:30.and plastic netting behind there. Soy doubt very much that there
:45:30. > :45:30.
:45:30. > :45:40.would be a way through. What will we do? Maybe a hole.
:45:40. > :45:42.
:45:42. > :45:45.Ideally, we're looking to make 15 inch gaps for our prickly friends.
:45:45. > :45:50.Talking to neighbours, connecting your gardens and generally thinking
:45:50. > :45:55.like the animals that live in them could not only help your hedgehog,
:45:55. > :46:00.but all of our garden wildlife. We've been lucky so far, we've just
:46:00. > :46:04.had to cut through wire, what about if somebody's got a solid fence,
:46:04. > :46:14.could you dig a hole under it? Indeed you could. Shall we try one
:46:14. > :46:20.
:46:20. > :46:24.of those then? I think that might holes here and there, what
:46:24. > :46:28.difference can that make? Well it can make a difference in a small
:46:28. > :46:33.garden. If you can imagine everybody in their gardens doing
:46:33. > :46:37.that across the country, that is going to make a huge difference.
:46:37. > :46:40.There's 23 million gardens across the country. I have this vision of
:46:40. > :46:45.them all starting to interconnect. It could be the start of something
:46:45. > :46:52.really big. Not just a wildlife corridor, but a
:46:52. > :46:57.massive wildlife network. I like it! It's such a thrilling idea.
:46:57. > :47:00.Simple. A million acres, we could connect them up. It's a lovely,
:47:00. > :47:04.easy thing for anybody to be able to do and make a huge difference.
:47:04. > :47:08.If you want to get involved in hedgehog street, here it is, we've
:47:08. > :47:11.got a link on the website and maybe get to know your neighbours, cut a
:47:11. > :47:16.hole in the hedge and make a massive difference. It's a strange
:47:16. > :47:25.way to get to know your neighbours. Can we go straight back to Scotland
:47:25. > :47:29.because I'm just hearing, look at this! This is absolutely live guys.
:47:29. > :47:34.This is from Charlie Hamilton- James's cameras in Scotland.
:47:34. > :47:38.Beautiful shot of a beaver doing what it does best. It's a bit of
:47:38. > :47:43.bark. Back with Charlie in a moment. Now let's answer the question that
:47:43. > :47:53.we set you earlier in the programme. We asked, what on earth was this
:47:53. > :47:54.
:47:55. > :48:04.photograph of? Who got it right? Remo knew was a species of mosquito
:48:04. > :48:09.eggs. Zoe on Facebook and Lynsey Edwards congratulations to you all.
:48:09. > :48:15.Mosquito eggs. I like mosquitoes, I know that's a bit weird, but a
:48:15. > :48:20.fantastic life history. Those eggs hatchupside down. The lar vi hatch
:48:20. > :48:26.through the bottom and drop into the water. I don't think I love
:48:26. > :48:29.mosquitoes quite as much. Neither do I, I've had malaria too many
:48:29. > :48:33.times. This weekend why not think of doing something terribly simple
:48:33. > :48:43.to help the wildlife that lives around you. Here is a really neat
:48:43. > :48:43.
:48:43. > :50:32.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 109 seconds
:50:32. > :50:36.them if you like this sort of thing. You can make your own, as long as
:50:37. > :50:42.you put them on a sunny wall, you'll get the bees. If you haven't
:50:42. > :50:47.got bamboo, but you have Japanese knotweed, that works well as well.
:50:47. > :50:52.Go to our website, bbc.co.uk/Springwatch for lots and
:50:52. > :51:02.lots of ideas of how to help the wildlife in your garden.
:51:02. > :51:03.
:51:03. > :51:07.without further ado, we have to go would. But we did! I think it's
:51:07. > :51:17.still them. I can't see it. It's gone all the way off to the lodge.
:51:17. > :51:17.
:51:17. > :51:22.Ian, our specialist cameraman, can. Look at that. We think this is
:51:22. > :51:28.actually Truda, not Christian. This is who he lives with. Just now she
:51:28. > :51:33.stood up. We got to see her nipples. Now if we can see protruded nipples,
:51:33. > :51:37.it means she's probably pregnant. That is exactly what the Scottish
:51:37. > :51:41.beaver trial wants because they want beavers up here. They want
:51:41. > :51:45.them breeding. That's what the trial is all about. Now, the other
:51:46. > :51:55.day, I went out with a special mission of my own, involving an
:51:56. > :52:05.
:52:06. > :52:10.quirky mission and a personal one. A few years ago, I discovered that
:52:10. > :52:17.otters could smell under water, using my underwater cam ra. I got a
:52:17. > :52:23.hunch that beavers might be able to do the same.
:52:23. > :52:30.What I'm going to do is dump it right in the middle of their canal.
:52:30. > :52:35.When they're swimming up the canal, they should, hopefully, smell right
:52:35. > :52:42.into it. Beavers love apples. So I'm going
:52:42. > :52:50.to tempt them in with one by sticking it on a spike, like that,
:52:50. > :52:54.sticking it in the water right in front of the lens.
:52:54. > :53:04.I can control the underwater camera from my laptop.
:53:04. > :53:06.
:53:06. > :53:12.So all I need to do is retreat into my hide and wait. The crew has left
:53:12. > :53:18.me and I'm bedding in for the night. I've got my monitor here. The
:53:18. > :53:21.monitor is wired to a camera that's in the canal. Hopefully, I'll get
:53:21. > :53:29.it as it arrives, swims down and grabs the apple. That's the plan
:53:29. > :53:39.any way. At least it's not raining.
:53:39. > :53:39.
:53:39. > :53:47.(heavy rain) It's 2am, it's raining a lot heavier now. I've started to
:53:47. > :53:53.get really tired. I still haven't heard a beaver come up the canal,
:53:53. > :54:03.so I'm just going to keep going really. However, an hour later, my
:54:03. > :54:16.
:54:16. > :54:26.it. It's doing it. I got it. He found it straight away. It's right
:54:26. > :54:33.
:54:33. > :54:37.here. It's 2.50am and suddenly the beaver
:54:37. > :54:43.just appeared, out of nowhere and got it. It came up, floated right
:54:43. > :54:53.over the camera, head down, just grabbed the apple. I can't quite
:54:53. > :54:55.
:54:55. > :55:00.believe it though. My heart's going crazy. So chuffed! I was very, very
:55:00. > :55:05.excited when I shot that, but when I looked back at it, I don't think
:55:05. > :55:11.it actually was smelling that am. I think it was probably smelling it
:55:11. > :55:15.on the surface and and using its feet to find it. Maybe some better
:55:15. > :55:19.scientist should discover whether they can smell under water or not.
:55:19. > :55:22.I've had an amazing time up here in the last couple of weeks, getting
:55:22. > :55:29.to know beavers again. And really following the story of them coming
:55:29. > :55:34.back into Britain, after 400 years of being away. It's a very debate.
:55:34. > :55:39.There's three more years to go on this project. So, who knows what
:55:39. > :55:44.will unfold? A few big thank yous to the people who let us do this
:55:44. > :55:46.and made this happen, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish natural
:55:46. > :55:49.heritage, Royal Zoological Socitey for Scotland, the Forestry
:55:49. > :55:59.Commission and let's not forget the Scottish beaver trial team. Thank
:55:59. > :55:59.
:55:59. > :56:43.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 109 seconds
:56:43. > :56:48.viewers at home, I think he deserves three cheers. He's really
:56:48. > :56:51.delivered anded to live beaver. Absolutely, thank you so, so much
:56:51. > :56:56.Charlie. Safe journey home and very, very well done indeed. Shall we
:56:56. > :57:00.have a quick look at our live cameras before we go for the
:57:00. > :57:06.weekend. Let's look at our herons. weekend. Let's look at our herons.
:57:06. > :57:12.Look at that! Do you think they'll disappear over the weekend? I think
:57:12. > :57:16.they'll come back to the next for a few days to get food. Let's look at
:57:16. > :57:21.the sandpiper. We nearly showed you this lovely little bird earlier in
:57:21. > :57:26.the thing. She had her thunder stolen by a beaver. We will
:57:26. > :57:30.introduce you to this beautiful bird on Monday. She's sitting on
:57:30. > :57:37.her eggs. We don't know how many she's got. Keep an eye on her and
:57:37. > :57:40.all our characters do, that by going to our website
:57:40. > :57:45.bbc.co.uk/Springwatch. There's another great thing about that
:57:45. > :57:50.website, if you have a look for a little icon, things to do, click on
:57:50. > :57:55.that. Can you put your postcode in and it will give you great ideas,
:57:55. > :58:00.in where that the live it will give great ideas of things to do over
:58:01. > :58:07.the weekend. What's going on on Monday? We're heading to the island
:58:07. > :58:11.of Skoma. We will meet up with Wales's greatest naturalist. He's
:58:11. > :58:17.going to be looking at some of the iconic wildlife, including of
:58:17. > :58:23.course, puffins. We're keeping a careful eye on the owls of course.