:00:10. > :00:13.We haven't been on air since Thursday! Which means there is a
:00:14. > :00:18.whole mass of great wildlife action to catch up with. Don't go anywhere.
:00:18. > :00:28.Hang on to your hats for the rollercoaster ride that is
:00:28. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:05.Welcome to Springwatch, coming to you live on a beautifulish evening
:01:05. > :01:09.from the truly beautiful RSPB reserve in Wales. Where are we? We
:01:09. > :01:13.have zoomed into Wales. This is an have zoomed into Wales. This is an
:01:13. > :01:16.aerial view of the reserve. Lots of different habitats and that means a
:01:16. > :01:20.great range of species. We met some of them last week and we have
:01:20. > :01:26.plenty more to introduce you to this week as well. It will be a
:01:26. > :01:30.great week. Let's remind you of one of our favourite characters of last
:01:31. > :01:34.week, these are our barn owls. Now the chicks caused a great deal of
:01:34. > :01:41.concern. How did they fare over the weekend? We will be telling you in
:01:41. > :01:51.a moment. What about our waterfall dippers? There's been trouble at
:01:51. > :02:05.
:02:05. > :02:09.nest. This is a mass of snakes on a compost heap. I'm so excited.
:02:09. > :02:17.stop now. Otherwise I will have to do it for this week's guest
:02:18. > :02:23.naturalist. He's the very special Wales' own Iolo Williams. Welcome
:02:23. > :02:28.to my favourite place not just in Wales, not just in Britain, but in
:02:28. > :02:32.the whole wide world. Where am I? Look behind me. You will get a big
:02:32. > :02:36.clue. Wall-to-wall puffins. This place supports the biggest puffin
:02:36. > :02:44.colony in the whole of southern Britain. There's a whole host of
:02:44. > :02:52.other animals here besides. Come back to us later on. Top bloke, top
:02:52. > :02:54.location. Fantastic. You don't think I have peaked too early?
:02:55. > :03:00.might have done. If you were watching last week, you will
:03:00. > :03:05.remember that we introduced you to a delightful family of barn owls, a
:03:05. > :03:10.family that we haven't followed the for fuens of for quite some time. -
:03:10. > :03:14.- fortunes of for quite some time. This is the scene we all watched in
:03:14. > :03:20.horror on Thursday, they are nesting in that barn. It is a slate
:03:20. > :03:25.roof. Chris, you said why not put a thermometer in there? Temperatures
:03:25. > :03:28.did cool down a little bit over the weekend, peaking at 24. Which isn't
:03:28. > :03:32.very hot. A lot of people were worried about the little baby.
:03:32. > :03:37.Nothing to worry about there. The temperature that these things are
:03:37. > :03:41.used to be can be much higher than that. Temperatures can get up to 40
:03:41. > :03:46.degrees. They should be able to deal with it. You can see there's
:03:46. > :03:55.one chick there that is a lot smaller than the others. There is a
:03:55. > :04:01.very good reason for that, isn't there, Chris? There is. Some of the
:04:01. > :04:07.young eat the smaller ones, it is a fairly frequent things. It occurs
:04:07. > :04:11.in up to 33% of the barn owl nests. So 33% of all of the nests with
:04:11. > :04:17.chicks in, they will be eating some of their chicks. The reason for
:04:17. > :04:22.that - and we have seen it before - it is a survival mechanism and it's
:04:22. > :04:26.due to the fact that some times there are bad years for barn owls,
:04:26. > :04:31.there aren't enough voles around, or the weather is very bad which
:04:31. > :04:39.means they find it very difficult to hunt. Those little chicks are
:04:39. > :04:43.sort of like a lader in waiting. However, they have been bringing in
:04:43. > :04:47.lots of food over the weekend. I know that all of you were very
:04:47. > :04:57.worried about that very little chick who now relishes in his new
:04:57. > :05:00.
:05:00. > :05:10.name, Bob - thank you to all of you on the message board. Baby Barn
:05:10. > :05:11.
:05:11. > :05:18.Owl! That doesn't work - Bash Barnacle owl -- that doesn't work
:05:18. > :05:24.Barn Owl Baby! Let's look at them live. There is a huge amount of
:05:24. > :05:30.prey coming into the nest. I have no doubt the adults are stashing
:05:30. > :05:34.field voles elsewhere, so it has cooled down now. They seem to be
:05:35. > :05:39.doing very well. The only thing that we should be a little bit
:05:39. > :05:43.concerned about is the weather forecast. Apparently, it could be
:05:43. > :05:47.quite wet for the rest of the week. That stash presumably will last a
:05:47. > :05:51.little bit? We hope so. Owls don't like hunting in the rain. They hunt
:05:51. > :05:58.using their ears. If it is raining, it is very noisy and they can't
:05:58. > :06:03.hear as well their small prey. Going back to the thermometers - we
:06:03. > :06:07.have one close to the nest, we have another one outside as a control
:06:07. > :06:11.thermometer. I think what we should do - we should monitor the
:06:11. > :06:18.temperature three times a day outside and inside the nest so we
:06:18. > :06:22.could develop a graph and we could maybe look at pants per minute! And
:06:22. > :06:27.we could see if there is any correlation between temperature and
:06:27. > :06:32.pants per minute in Bob! Something to look forward to later in the
:06:32. > :06:36.week. I'm already breathless with anticipation. We tried to introduce
:06:36. > :06:42.you to another new character at the end of last week, but failed
:06:42. > :06:50.because we were utterly upstaged by beavers behaving beautifully and
:06:50. > :06:55.live up in Scotland. So let's go now to this very pretty little bird.
:06:55. > :06:59.It is a common sandpiper. She was - you can see she is feeding with
:06:59. > :07:05.that characteristic bobbing. They bob about. They are pickers, not
:07:05. > :07:11.probers. This was the nest that she had made. It's an open nest.
:07:11. > :07:17.Normally they are deep in a tussock. She was doing very well at this
:07:17. > :07:21.stage. She had been sat on those eggs for some time. We were hoping
:07:21. > :07:28.they might hatch over the weekend. However... You probably noticed
:07:28. > :07:32.Chris is using the past tense and, sadly, we had a bit of a dramatic
:07:32. > :07:36.incident over the weekend. She is agitated here. This is the reason
:07:36. > :07:40.why. It is not a ferocious predator, it is a herbivore. Here are the
:07:40. > :07:46.eggs in the nest. She's been frightened off by the sheep which
:07:46. > :07:52.was passing very close to it. Here she's obviously out of the way.
:07:52. > :08:02.Here you can see the nest. Watch this, the sheep is unbelievable -
:08:02. > :08:02.
:08:02. > :08:08.the problt of that the probability of that happening! Shortly, after
:08:08. > :08:13.that, the eggs had been kicked out of the nest and she deserted.
:08:13. > :08:19.may be wondering what is a sheep doing in the middle of an RSPB
:08:19. > :08:23.reserve? Well, this reserve is a huge area, 700 hectares. One of the
:08:23. > :08:28.key management strategies of this reserve is for it to be grazed - it
:08:28. > :08:34.is grazed by sheep and horses. As you saw, the sandpipers do nest on
:08:34. > :08:38.the ground. So it is a bit of an occupational hazard. It is a bit of
:08:38. > :08:42.a freak. It is rather sad. There are 200 pairs of these birds in
:08:42. > :08:47.Wales. They live a long time. They are designed to reproduce over a
:08:47. > :08:51.succession of years. I should imagine now that although they will
:08:52. > :08:55.relay if they lose eggs - these ones were about to hatch - so I
:08:55. > :09:00.think that they will probably hang around the adults and move back
:09:00. > :09:06.towards their wintering grounds. These birds will migrate to western
:09:06. > :09:09.Africa for the winter. That is what they will do at the end of June if
:09:09. > :09:15.they fail. The sheep are performing an essential duty so no hate mail
:09:16. > :09:20.for the sheep! Now, from a little bit of sad news to a really
:09:20. > :09:24.wonderful find by one of our wildlife cameramen. It was this
:09:24. > :09:30.gorgeous family, it is of course a dipper. Look at that shot. Isn't
:09:30. > :09:34.that beautiful? Stunning! That is what they do. We saw there were
:09:34. > :09:38.what we thought three chicks in the nest. We couldn't see any more than
:09:38. > :09:42.that. This was on Thursday. So you can see that they looked well
:09:42. > :09:47.developed. They had a bit of the tuft still on their heads.
:09:47. > :09:51.couldn't rig them with a live camera. You can't put cameras in at
:09:51. > :09:54.this stage because there is a chance they will burst out of the
:09:54. > :10:03.nest. Nevertheless, our cameramen were able to get back there over
:10:03. > :10:06.the weekend and this is some of the We have two that are having an
:10:06. > :10:13.argument over some food. I think what's happened here is that the
:10:13. > :10:17.male bird, at the top... We think these are the parents of our
:10:17. > :10:20.chicks? I think it is undoubtedly the fact these are the parents of
:10:20. > :10:25.those chicks. I think the male has come back, has started courtship
:10:25. > :10:32.feeding the female, perhaps, because they do that. He's rather
:10:32. > :10:37.changed his mind and thought, "No, I would rather have that myself!"
:10:37. > :10:41.Eventually, he gets it from the female and flies off. We didn't see
:10:41. > :10:45.whether he went to the chicks or not. Of course, what we were really
:10:45. > :10:49.keen to know is whether those chicks were going to fledge and if
:10:49. > :10:57.they did fledge, whether the cameraman who found this nest would
:10:57. > :11:06.be able to catch the moment. Of course he was! We can see the adult
:11:06. > :11:11.bird. Watch. It drops down into the water. Does that mean disaster? No.
:11:11. > :11:17.Incredible that it manages to climb up that rock. They do like to nest
:11:17. > :11:23.over water for security. A grey wagtail is very confused there.
:11:23. > :11:27.Here is another one. Bit more of a struggle this one. Gets up on to a
:11:27. > :11:32.very slippery rock. It is dipping already. It is out of the nest for
:11:32. > :11:36.a few seconds and it has already got that dipping behaviour and
:11:36. > :11:40.slipping-dipping! The other one comes in so the two are now
:11:40. > :11:45.together, that is a gorgeous shot of being able to see the two of
:11:45. > :11:49.them dipping in synchro nighisation. There, we have the adult just to
:11:49. > :11:54.persuade the third one out - does it come? Yes. All three safely out
:11:54. > :12:00.of the nest. We were so worried. This is extraordinary, Chris.
:12:00. > :12:04.Straight into the water. These birds have a huge gland which is
:12:04. > :12:06.their gland behind the tail and they are applying oil to their
:12:06. > :12:11.feathers. I can only presume that the young have been doing the same
:12:11. > :12:16.in the nest and they are waterproof when they come out for this very
:12:16. > :12:20.reason. That dipping straightaway. There is still confusion over why
:12:20. > :12:24.these animals that live near rushing water dips. Some people
:12:24. > :12:31.think it is to camouflage themselves in amongst the turbulent
:12:31. > :12:36.water. They have that characteristic bobbing stance.
:12:36. > :12:40.Within seconds of getting out of the nest, it has to have an
:12:40. > :12:44.advantage or it wouldn't happen. Thank you for getting those
:12:44. > :12:48.beautiful pictures. Now, we like to challenge you always on Springwatch
:12:48. > :12:58.as you know. We have a little question for you today. Have a
:12:58. > :13:01.
:13:01. > :13:07.DISCORDANT CRY You can get your answers in. What
:13:07. > :13:12.is that? Is it the Joker on Batman? No, it is definitely not that. Tell
:13:12. > :13:17.us what you think was making that noise. I have heard that noise on a
:13:17. > :13:22.number of occasions, when I tell you a joke in a caravan! Or is that
:13:22. > :13:29.you slamming the door?! We are joined by a guest naturalist here
:13:29. > :13:33.on Springwatch and this week we can join Iolo Williams. Last week we
:13:33. > :13:39.were up here with Charlie Hamilton- James. This week we are down here
:13:39. > :13:44.off the West Wales coast here on the Isle of Skomer. This is where
:13:44. > :13:54.Iolo will be bringing us a number of treats when it comes to the
:13:54. > :13:56.
:13:56. > :14:02.local wildlife. Hello, Chris. Welcome to Skomer Island where we
:14:02. > :14:06.are broadcasting live from a veritable jewel in the Welsh crown.
:14:06. > :14:10.Remarkably, it's not particularly big, a mile-long by a mile wide,
:14:10. > :14:15.but it is jam-packed full of wildlife. We are here all week
:14:15. > :14:20.thanks to the kindness of staff from the Wildlife Trust for south
:14:20. > :14:24.and West Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales. Our wildlife
:14:24. > :14:34.cameramen have been here throughout the spring. Filming what? Here is a
:14:34. > :15:10.
:15:10. > :15:16.What a fantastic place and we will be seeing much more later on in the
:15:16. > :15:20.week. What is it that makes Skomer so special? The fact that it is an
:15:20. > :15:27.island. The Pembrokeshire mainland is over there and between us is a
:15:27. > :15:31.treacherous piece of water called Jack Sound. That keeps away foxes,
:15:32. > :15:37.stoats, weasels, rats so that means burrowing nesting birds can thrive
:15:37. > :15:42.here. The there are 13,000 puffins. It's the biggest puffin colony in
:15:42. > :15:47.the whole of southern Britain. The puffins at the moment are looking
:15:47. > :15:57.pretty settled. Our wildlife cameraman was here to catch the
:15:57. > :16:03.
:16:03. > :16:08.Through winter, Skomer is a lonely place, battered by Atlantic storms.
:16:08. > :16:15.Things start to liven up in mid- March when the island's most
:16:15. > :16:21.colourful residents return from a winter spent feeding far out at sea.
:16:21. > :16:28.As breeding season approaches, the puffins start to re-colonise the
:16:28. > :16:35.island. The birds reunite with their same mate from the previous
:16:35. > :16:41.year. And they get to know each other again with a spot of bill
:16:41. > :16:46.rubbing, that is a puffin foreplay. Puffins can live for up to 25 years
:16:46. > :16:49.so these birds could have spent many breeding seasons together,
:16:49. > :16:56.perhaps they first courted when Margaret Thatcher was still Prime
:16:56. > :17:06.Minister. When the birds have rekindled their relationship, it is
:17:06. > :17:09.
:17:09. > :17:13.The birds come back to the same part of the island every year. They
:17:13. > :17:19.can dig a new burrow but usually they just make use of an already-
:17:19. > :17:27.established one from a previous year. And this is where they will
:17:27. > :17:33.settle down to make the next generation of puffins.
:17:33. > :17:39.It all looks so peaceful, doesn't it? Don't be fooled. Puffins can be
:17:39. > :17:42.neighbours from hell! Have a look at this. This is early in the
:17:42. > :17:46.season, one puffin has already established territory around the
:17:46. > :17:51.entrance to its burrow, another one encroachs and all of a sudden they
:17:51. > :17:57.are fighting away. You thought those beaks were colourful and used
:17:57. > :18:01.to love each other's partners, they are used for fighting as well,
:18:01. > :18:10.intertwined beaks. These fights can go on for several minutes. This one
:18:10. > :18:15.was over quite quickly and the victor takes the spoils! Beautiful
:18:15. > :18:19.birds? They can be. On the mainland, we all know that the housing market
:18:19. > :18:24.is in recession. But here on the island it isn't. Business is
:18:24. > :18:29.booming. All the birds fighting for the best burrows. It is all about
:18:29. > :18:32.breeding because the best burrows hold the more experienced birds and
:18:32. > :18:37.they are the more successful breeders. We know the puffins here,
:18:37. > :18:41.the first ones laid eggs around the middle of April and those first
:18:41. > :18:46.eggs hatched roughly ten days ago. We will be following those puffins
:18:46. > :18:53.through our cameraman, Steve - say hello - and before the end of the
:18:53. > :18:58.week, we also hope to be able to show you a puffling! That is what a
:18:58. > :19:06.baby puffin is called. We will also of course be showing you a lot more
:19:06. > :19:16.birds from the island. For now, it is back to Kate and Chris. To help
:19:16. > :19:20.
:19:20. > :19:30.you with your Welsh... Thanks! Martin, come in to Dick Squires'
:19:30. > :19:33.
:19:33. > :19:41.and Fiona Evans Eagar den. What is that? That is an F91W alarm
:19:41. > :19:46.chronograph! It is a crime against taste! Remember our buzzards? We
:19:46. > :19:50.can go live to the nest. There it is. Chicks looking rather well-fed.
:19:50. > :19:55.I think it is looking well-fed. It's changed a lot since we last
:19:55. > :20:00.saw it. A lot more of the body feathers have come through. It is
:20:00. > :20:06.looking browner. Still a speckling of down on its head. It has been
:20:06. > :20:12.enjoying a great range of diet. Last week we saw it eating some
:20:12. > :20:16.young tits, a duckling, a frog, but also snakes. In fact, today I
:20:16. > :20:21.looked at this and it had brought in a snake that was still alive.
:20:21. > :20:29.That is a bit unfortunate. It is for me. I'm a great fan of the
:20:29. > :20:35.grass snake. Imagine swallowing it! What is this? This is a book. This
:20:35. > :20:44.is my notebook from 1974. I'm not surprised! You can't put your arms
:20:44. > :20:50.around a memory. Look at this. 23Rd March, 1974 - I was into grass
:20:50. > :20:54.snakes. I caught it. He smelled immediately, he did not bite. I
:20:54. > :20:58.measured him 24 inches long, and later, he was stolen the day before
:20:58. > :21:03.I went to the Isle of Wight. who? Look, I know it was the best
:21:03. > :21:10.part - it is more than 40 years ago now. A bloke called Dave came round
:21:10. > :21:14.my garden and stole my grass snake. I will see you in court. He never
:21:14. > :21:20.forgets! Look... Shall we go across here? We can see the place where
:21:20. > :21:25.the snakes are. This is the snake - what would you call it? They have
:21:25. > :21:30.all come here to lay their eggs. Now, they are in bed. It is too
:21:30. > :21:35.cold for them. We can approach fairly close. We can move in. All
:21:35. > :21:40.of the snakes would have disappeared in there, and this is
:21:40. > :21:45.the... This is the live camera. There's a watch! Earlier in the day
:21:45. > :21:50.- was it earlier? Have a look at what this looked like earlier as
:21:50. > :21:55.well. You can see the snakes. This is a time lapse. Not one Chris, not
:21:55. > :21:59.two, loads of snakes! It is not masses against the grasses here. We
:21:59. > :22:05.have a huge number of female grass snakes that have come to this
:22:05. > :22:13.compost heap to lay their eggs. It as ferments there, it generates
:22:13. > :22:19.heat. They get in amongst that, lay between 10 and 40 - there could be
:22:19. > :22:24.hundreds of eggs in there. Let's dig in! No, no! In August or
:22:24. > :22:29.September, all of the young snakes will come out, about pencil-sized.
:22:30. > :22:34.Here is a closer view of the snakes. The female is a bit more robust.
:22:35. > :22:39.Their heads are a bit wider. There might be some males in here, too.
:22:39. > :22:45.They do return to these breeding sites - sorry not breeding sites,
:22:45. > :22:48.they mated a long time ago in April - these egg-laying sites. They are
:22:48. > :22:53.very important. So many compost heaps have been lost. They won't
:22:53. > :22:57.come to a compost heap if it is in a bucket! They need to be open like
:22:57. > :23:02.this one. They travel enormous distances. Most mobile of all of
:23:02. > :23:06.our snakes. They might have come half a kilometre at least to get to
:23:06. > :23:13.this site. Now the snakes - we have noticed something curious about
:23:14. > :23:23.them. If you look closely at them, can you see there are tiny animals
:23:24. > :23:25.
:23:25. > :23:30.- mites - rushing around - they are infested. They are young ones
:23:30. > :23:33.because they are white and adults would be brown. That is my guess.
:23:33. > :23:37.Normally, you don't see this many on them. The mites are taking
:23:37. > :23:41.advantage of the fact there are a large number of snakes here.
:23:41. > :23:45.Perhaps there's been a hatch of these mites in the compost heap.
:23:45. > :23:52.You don't find that many on them typically. Before we move on,
:23:52. > :23:57.something I want to put down here. I will put that very gently there
:23:58. > :24:04.like that. Martin, during the course of the year, snakes will eat
:24:04. > :24:09.somewhere between four and five toads? This whole area is crammed
:24:09. > :24:18.with amphibians and many different types. I went out and I saw a
:24:18. > :24:22.remarkable sight. Have a look at this. Oh my Lord! Look, there are
:24:22. > :24:31.literally hundreds, if not thousands of tiny toads here. Look
:24:31. > :24:41.at this. I am going to wet my hands first. I have never ever seen
:24:41. > :24:42.
:24:42. > :24:46.anything like this. They are Dick Whittington toads, if you like -
:24:46. > :24:52.they are setting off to seek their fortune elsewhere! It is quite a
:24:52. > :24:55.dangerous thing for them to do as well. The local blackbirds, all the
:24:55. > :25:00.other things that will come down and eat them, they will find out
:25:00. > :25:06.soon. A lot of these won't make it. I had no idea you would ever get so
:25:06. > :25:11.many altogether. Extraordinary sight. I have never
:25:11. > :25:18.ever seen anything like that. Kate, have you ever seen anything like
:25:18. > :25:23.that? Absolutely never. I don't think I have ever seen such a mass
:25:23. > :25:28.of new life all in one place. We have seen frogs hopping out of a
:25:28. > :25:35.pond but never that great mass of toads. Springwatch is made thanks
:25:35. > :25:40.to the help of an amazing number of wildlife experts. This year, we
:25:40. > :25:47.have really taken advantage of the extraordinary expertise of two men
:25:47. > :25:49.- Steve Roberts and Paul Hatfield. They are licensed nest-finders.
:25:49. > :25:53.Because of their extraordinary knowledge of birds and their
:25:53. > :25:59.nesting behaviour, they have been able to find a first for
:25:59. > :26:06.Springwatch. Just to give you an idea of how skilful these two men
:26:06. > :26:12.are, the nest is just down there in front of the water, Chris. I'm
:26:12. > :26:20.going to point it out to you. You have the crescent of bushes. Then
:26:20. > :26:27.there is a sick mother sapling just to the -- sycamore sapling just to
:26:27. > :26:32.the right. It belongs to this bird. It is a grasshopper warbler. Isn't
:26:32. > :26:36.that special? Very special. They are hard to find. I only found one
:26:36. > :26:42.of these when I was a kid. A lot of people might think here is a little
:26:42. > :26:46.brown bird, it is not a special species. It is a little brown bird.
:26:46. > :26:55.It advertises itself in a very different way and that is through
:26:55. > :27:03.its song. Take a listen to this. It's extraordinary. It's very
:27:03. > :27:06.mechanical. It is two notes repeated. It goes on and on and on.
:27:06. > :27:16.The males produce this when they get back here in the spring to
:27:16. > :27:21.attract the females. They will sing for about four and a half minutes.
:27:21. > :27:26.One bird made that noise for two hours! No way! Sometimes they will
:27:26. > :27:36.produce 1,400 notes in an hour. During the course of a night, they
:27:36. > :27:38.
:27:38. > :27:43.might produce 250,000 notes in one night. It can be terribly
:27:43. > :27:48.ventriloqual! I now find it quite difficult to hear these things!
:27:48. > :27:51.They can be, when you were younger, very loud, but difficult to locate.
:27:51. > :27:57.Let's have an update on what our grasshopper warblers have been
:27:57. > :28:00.doing so far. Here is the nest. They had six eggs. They have
:28:00. > :28:10.hatched all six of their chicks. If you look very closely, what they
:28:10. > :28:19.seem to be feeding them are lots of spiders. The white there is the egg
:28:19. > :28:24.sac. So they are very busy and the young are doing... They have bright
:28:24. > :28:27.orange gapes. If we are able to see their tongues, they have three
:28:27. > :28:36.spots which further mark the target point where they have to get the
:28:36. > :28:41.food into. The nest is so tucked away as well. The chicks are tiny.
:28:41. > :28:46.They hatched just over the weekend. So the adults really do need that
:28:46. > :28:49.target to come in and be able to teed them? They do. Fantastic --
:28:50. > :28:55.be able to feed them? They do. Fantastic little birds. Look,
:28:55. > :29:01.another bird that we haven't seen for a little while, the oyster
:29:01. > :29:05.catcher. It's a beautiful scene. The sun dipping down. We don't know
:29:05. > :29:10.whether that is the male or female. If you were watching last week, you
:29:10. > :29:15.will know that one of them had a slight limp. That bird is sitting
:29:16. > :29:19.on two eggs and the nest is sitting on a wall about eight foot off the
:29:19. > :29:25.ground. Let's have a look at what they were up to over the weekend.
:29:25. > :29:30.We did see, Chris, both adults in attendance and they are sharing the
:29:30. > :29:34.incubation of those eggs? They have the two eggs there. They are very
:29:34. > :29:37.well camouflaged on top of the wall. I am sure that is probably why they
:29:37. > :29:42.put them there. It is a fantastic location. We don't know how long
:29:42. > :29:46.they have been on those eggs. They may not hatch before the end of our
:29:46. > :29:52.series. A hot weekend so they were cooling off there. We also saw a
:29:52. > :29:56.little bit of housekeeping, Chris? The nest is pretty sparse to be
:29:56. > :30:01.honest. They are picking there at those stones around the edge of the
:30:01. > :30:10.nest. They lay them on bare ground typically. The eggs are well
:30:10. > :30:16.camouflaged. They also are trying to stay cool in the warm weather.
:30:16. > :30:22.We have seen a lot of very hot birds over the last couple of days.
:30:22. > :30:26.You saw the owls panting, so, Chris, how do birds and animals regulate
:30:26. > :30:36.temperature when the temperature gets extreme? I stroke my imaginary
:30:36. > :30:48.
:30:48. > :30:53.The great British weather is a thermo-regulatory nightmare. We can
:30:53. > :30:59.put on nice warm hats and coats. What about the wildlife? It is out
:31:00. > :31:03.there 365 days a year. Some of those days it has to take all four
:31:04. > :31:08.seasons in just 24 hours. How does it cope? The first thing that
:31:08. > :31:13.wildlife can do is get big, get fat, get blubber. It is brilliant
:31:13. > :31:23.insulation. Just ask the seals. The next thing that it can do - we can
:31:23. > :31:27.
:31:27. > :31:37.do it too - is getting goosebumps. So other mammals have another neat
:31:37. > :31:39.
:31:39. > :31:44.trick. They have a counter-current heat exchange system. The vessels
:31:44. > :31:50.run very close to those carrying the very warm blood. The warm blood
:31:50. > :31:54.heats up the cool blood so it doesn't shot the animal's
:31:54. > :31:58.metabolism when it gets back to the core. What about when the sun comes
:31:58. > :32:03.out? And it is all about staying cool when it is hot. Well, the
:32:03. > :32:08.first thing you can do is get lazy. Think of all of those deer sat
:32:08. > :32:13.around on a warm summer's afternoon. They are not moving so they don't
:32:14. > :32:20.generate any heat which they have to lose. If they do get hot, you
:32:20. > :32:26.might see them panting. Cue the poodle! We don't need to pant
:32:26. > :32:29.because we can sweat. Both achieve the same thing, though. It is about
:32:29. > :32:33.evaporating water from the skin surface to keep the body cool.
:32:33. > :32:39.There is one other trick that mammals have. Basically, they can
:32:39. > :32:47.pump the blood very close to the skin so any air currents that come
:32:47. > :32:52.by cool it and the blood is transported back to the inner parts
:32:52. > :33:01.of the body to keep it cool - it is called blushing! I used to tell all
:33:01. > :33:08.the girls it was cool. Sadly, they never believed me! Have I ever made
:33:08. > :33:13.you blush? There's still time! then, let's go back to Skomer and
:33:13. > :33:19.to Iolo Williams. Welcome back to Skomer Island and I tell you, it's
:33:19. > :33:24.all going on here now. Puffins galore, gulls every where. This
:33:24. > :33:29.often happens when the puffins come back, they will spend a bit of time
:33:29. > :33:36.on the water preening, cleaning the feathers. It is very important for
:33:36. > :33:46.a bird that spends most of its time out at sea. Then they will come on
:33:46. > :33:50.these cliffs in their hundreds. Also, a few fulmar here nesting. I
:33:50. > :33:55.do like fulmar - stiff-winged birds. I went over to the far side of the
:33:55. > :34:04.island to see how some of these nesting birds make use of the sea
:34:04. > :34:09.cliffs. This is the Wick, the most impressive seabird colony on the
:34:09. > :34:14.whole island. It's fascinating to watch the birds here. You have four
:34:14. > :34:23.different species - they don't compete for nest sites. All four
:34:23. > :34:28.nest in different areas on that one cliff. Guillemots are the most
:34:28. > :34:35.numerous bird on this cliff, hundreds of them. They will nest
:34:35. > :34:39.along long, narrow ledges packed tightly together there. Then you
:34:39. > :34:46.have razorbills, they nest in a different place. They look for
:34:47. > :34:50.smaller ledges and they nest in ones, twos, threes and fours. Then
:34:51. > :34:56.the fulmar, they nest higher up towards the top. Sometimes two,
:34:56. > :35:02.three, four in a row. Finally, the kittiwakes, the bravest of all.
:35:02. > :35:06.They are nesting right down just above these crashing waves where
:35:06. > :35:13.they have built their nests. So you have four different species nesting
:35:13. > :35:21.in completely different sections of the cliff.
:35:21. > :35:23.It is amazing how precarious some of those nests are. Not just the
:35:24. > :35:29.kittiwakes, how about the guillemots? Hundreds of them
:35:29. > :35:35.nesting on a very narrow ledge. How do they avoid kicking the eggs into
:35:35. > :35:43.the sea? Here I have a guillemot egg - an old egg - and look at the
:35:43. > :35:48.shape of it. It is almost triangular. Imagine this is a
:35:48. > :35:54.narrow ledge. A guillemot kicks the egg. What happens? It goes round
:35:54. > :35:58.and round and round. Thus avoiding being kicked into the sea. Those
:35:58. > :36:03.birds we saw there, that footage was from two weeks' ago, but we
:36:03. > :36:09.have got up-to-date footage from yesterday morning so let's have a
:36:09. > :36:13.look and see how things have developed. You will see these are
:36:13. > :36:18.razorbills, beautiful black-and- white birds with this wedge of a
:36:18. > :36:22.bill. They have chicks. One of the adults has brought in probably a
:36:22. > :36:27.sprat. That chick is well over a week old. They will be on those
:36:27. > :36:31.cliffs for two weeks before they venture forth to the wide-open sea.
:36:31. > :36:36.We should also have some guillemots to show you here. Here we are,
:36:37. > :36:40.packed in their hundreds. These if the razorbills are black-and-white,
:36:41. > :36:44.these are chocolate brown and white. A chick there again. That chick
:36:44. > :36:49.probably about a week old. That will be there for another week. We
:36:49. > :36:53.will watch these birds. Scientists have been telling me that some of
:36:53. > :36:57.the birds are much earlier this year. Is that because it has been
:36:57. > :37:03.warmer? Who knows. I would like to introduce you to one of the great
:37:03. > :37:10.characters here on the island. I mentioned we have no foxes, no
:37:10. > :37:19.stoats, rats. There is a particularly avian predator, the
:37:19. > :37:23.biggest bird on the island and here it is. This is the great black-
:37:23. > :37:28.backed gull. To give you an indication of its size, it is about
:37:28. > :37:33.as big as a red kite. It is huge. They cruise the area looking for
:37:33. > :37:39.food. This one is walking through a puffin colony. I have seen them eat
:37:39. > :37:42.puffins whole. This puffin is made of sterner stuff. Look at it,
:37:42. > :37:47.battling away. It is only about the third of the size of that gull yet
:37:47. > :37:51.it is standing up to it. Isn't that amazing? If it tried to fly off,
:37:51. > :37:58.the gull would eat it whole. If it tried to dash into a whole, the
:37:58. > :38:01.gull would have it. So it is standing there, looking at it,
:38:02. > :38:06.looking quite hard! Now the gull has moved away. You watch what
:38:06. > :38:10.happens. The puffin dashes into its hole and makes its escape. Isn't
:38:10. > :38:20.that fantastic? I have never seen that before. Every other time the
:38:20. > :38:21.
:38:21. > :38:30.puffin has come off worse. This is another clue to our sound quiz.
:38:30. > :38:36.Locally, these are known as "angels' wings". Everything else
:38:36. > :38:40.has been eaten by a great black- backed gull. This belongs to the
:38:40. > :38:46.commonest bird on this island. By day, all you see are these wings.
:38:46. > :38:53.What is it? I know we gave you a clue - we gave you the noise of
:38:53. > :38:57.this bird earlier on. Let's hear that again. DISCORDANT CRY Another
:38:57. > :39:03.fantastic noise. It is an amazing noise. If you come back to us later
:39:03. > :39:11.on, we will reveal what our mystery bird is.
:39:11. > :39:17.Thank you very much. We have had a few answers in. Robert got in touch
:39:17. > :39:23.with us via Twitter. He thinks it is bats. It is not. Iolo did say it
:39:23. > :39:31.was a bird. Another one thinking it might be starlings. He will give
:39:31. > :39:35.you those answers in just a little bit. We are out on the estuary and
:39:35. > :39:42.our heronry is just over there. Let's see how they are doing. The
:39:42. > :39:44.sun is setting behind them. They have been really active jumping
:39:44. > :39:48.about over the course of the weekend. They have both come back
:39:48. > :39:52.to the nest this evening. We will see that sort of behaviour over the
:39:52. > :39:55.next few days as they build-up their confidence and their flying
:39:55. > :40:02.abilities. The adults will continue to feed them there. We haven't come
:40:02. > :40:08.all the way down here tonight to look at the heir Rons -- to look at
:40:08. > :40:13.the herons, but to introduce you to another fantastic bird. The studio
:40:13. > :40:18.is up here. That is where we are. That is where our studio is. If we
:40:18. > :40:24.move up the estuary by about a kilometre, moving inland following
:40:24. > :40:27.the estuary up here, past the railway line, you will see here is
:40:27. > :40:31.another reserve where a very special couple of birds have turned
:40:31. > :40:34.up after a long wait. I couldn't wait any longer. I went down there
:40:34. > :40:38.this morning to see them and to find out what had happened. Take a
:40:38. > :40:43.look at this. The magnificent osprey, a bird that we very much
:40:43. > :40:51.come to think of as a Scottish speciality but now it's come to
:40:51. > :40:56.this part of Wales. In fact, it's come to a Montgomeryshire Wild Life
:40:56. > :41:00.Trust reserve just necks door. Four years ago, they put up an
:41:00. > :41:05.artificial nest to tempt them to stay. It took a year to get a male,
:41:05. > :41:11.but it's taken another three years to find him a female. Then in April
:41:11. > :41:16.this year, the first ospreys' eggs were laid in Wales for 470 years.
:41:16. > :41:23.After 33 days of waiting, yesterday the first one hatched. So this
:41:23. > :41:28.morning with great excitement I went to meet Emma Evans, the warden.
:41:28. > :41:35.It all kicked off yesterday. It must have been amazingly exciting
:41:35. > :41:42.here? We got a thousand people here for the first time ever. A lot of
:41:42. > :41:46.excitement. We witnessed history in the making yesterday. Last time the
:41:46. > :41:49.ospreys bred on the estuary was 1604. To witness this live is a day
:41:49. > :41:58.I will never forget. Round about midday, one of the volunteers
:41:58. > :42:03.shouted down, "I think I can see a hole in the egg." By 3.00, 3.30pm,
:42:03. > :42:08.this tiny osprey chick made its way out into the world. What about the
:42:08. > :42:15.second one? The second one was slower. At 3.00 we saw another hole
:42:15. > :42:22.in another egg and that is when the excitement hotted up. This chick
:42:22. > :42:31.didn't emerge until 4.30 this morning. What a sight! Fantastic.
:42:31. > :42:35.That chick has got meat on the edge of its beak there. Go on. They are
:42:35. > :42:41.so close to it. Everything is here ready to happen. They are begging
:42:41. > :42:46.for food. She's got food. She's taking it in her beak. She is not
:42:46. > :42:50.quite getting it in their mouth. is all in the genes. It is
:42:50. > :42:57.translating that into behaviour and doing what the genes are meant to
:42:57. > :43:02.tell her to do. No shortage of food and the male, it is a question of
:43:02. > :43:10.practice making perfect? It is. New behaviours, will they get it right
:43:10. > :43:17.the first time? Who knows. Time will only tell. Kate, before we
:43:17. > :43:22.came on air, I spoke to him, and he told me they had a successful feed
:43:22. > :43:28.at 11.00 this morning. We are going to have to keep our eyes on those
:43:28. > :43:36.birds. Now, our next film was made by a man who is a surfer and a
:43:36. > :43:46.photographer, his name is Mickey Smith and this celebrates the glory
:43:46. > :43:50.
:43:50. > :43:55.of the seas around the British I spent a lot of years kind of
:43:55. > :44:01.trying to learn to be comfortable in the sea in all sorts of
:44:01. > :44:08.different situations. Some of the most interesting situations are
:44:08. > :44:18.around big heavy waves. I think some of the movement of waves is
:44:18. > :44:21.
:44:21. > :44:31.quite unique. The power of waves like that is one of the great
:44:31. > :44:32.
:44:32. > :44:42.forces of nature, I suppose. I have always been around the sea since I
:44:42. > :44:43.
:44:43. > :44:49.was born, I guess. I seem to spend half of my life stairing du'
:44:49. > :44:53.staring out at sea. -- staring out at sea. The other half swimming
:44:53. > :44:59.back! Filming, photographing the sea has always come naturally to me.
:44:59. > :45:07.I like to try and open people's eyes a little bit of different
:45:07. > :45:12.perspectives of life around the sea. Photographing waves and the ocean
:45:12. > :45:18.has made me take into account more of the details of every single one
:45:18. > :45:28.of those waves, it is completely individual. No one wave breaks the
:45:28. > :45:32.
:45:32. > :45:36.same. It is like this crazy ever- changing canvas. I like to set
:45:36. > :45:43.myself a challenge of going out and trying to capture one beautiful
:45:43. > :45:47.moment from it each time I'm in the sea, you know. A little thing
:45:47. > :45:54.around you, little details and light moving on the surface of the
:45:54. > :45:57.ocean, kind of the mist hanging in the air after a wave or the
:45:57. > :46:01.rainbows through the spray off the back of a wave, even over a couple
:46:02. > :46:08.of hours things can change, a storm front can move in. The sky can go
:46:08. > :46:18.from purple, to gold, to black, to grey, to a beautiful blue. It is
:46:18. > :46:21.
:46:21. > :46:27.all the stuff is constantly moving. It is nice to be part of that. It
:46:27. > :46:31.is an amazing environment. It is so full of life. Totally mind-blowing
:46:31. > :46:36.experience catching waves with dolphins. They seem to be doing it
:46:36. > :46:40.for fun and enjoying themselves. Sometimes you meet solo dolphins
:46:41. > :46:48.who are like cruising around the coastlines on their own. There is
:46:48. > :46:52.one called Dusty. You can tell she just loves riding waves. She can't
:46:52. > :46:56.really figure it out. We are nowhere near as good at it as she
:46:56. > :47:06.is. She is trying to help us out and teach us a few tricks. Yeah, we
:47:06. > :47:07.
:47:07. > :47:12.are not cut out for it, really. A lot of the time you see birds using
:47:12. > :47:16.waves. Obviously, as the waves move through the ocean, a big wave
:47:16. > :47:21.anyway, it must create some kind of updraft and the birds seem to come
:47:21. > :47:24.along the face of the wave for ages gliding along it. I can't tell
:47:24. > :47:33.whether they are doing that for fun or whether they are doing it
:47:33. > :47:43.looking for fish. It looks fun to me! I wish I could do it. I like
:47:43. > :47:45.
:47:45. > :47:55.that feeling of isolation and being around the wilderness. There's a
:47:55. > :48:00.
:48:00. > :48:04.lot of energy flying around all over the place. I think you end up
:48:04. > :48:07.feeling scared a lot. You are in an environment that is totally beyond
:48:07. > :48:13.your control. If there was no fear involved, it wouldn't be half as
:48:13. > :48:17.much fun most of the time. You learn good lessons for life in
:48:17. > :48:23.general from putting yourself in those situations, really. You can't
:48:23. > :48:29.help but be humbled by that. It is good for you. It is good for you to
:48:29. > :48:39.be taken out of thinking you are in control of your life and put into a
:48:39. > :48:41.
:48:41. > :48:44.situation where you are not. And learn to be OK with that. What a
:48:44. > :48:48.fabulous film! If that doesn't inspire you to get out to the coast,
:48:48. > :48:55.I don't know what will. I know at home you are all itching to find
:48:55. > :49:01.out what our mystery bird is. Well, it's a Manx shearwater. What I hear
:49:01. > :49:10.you say is one of those? All will be revealed in this footage using
:49:10. > :49:19.special night-time cameras. From the middle of April onwards, Skomer
:49:19. > :49:28.starts to come alive at sunset. The greater black-backed gulls can't
:49:28. > :49:35.see to hunt at night. Seen the blackness is pierced by bizarre
:49:35. > :49:43.calls. DISCORDANT CRY Our infrared cameras can reveal the source of
:49:43. > :49:47.this noise. These birds are Manx shearwaters. They are relatives of
:49:47. > :49:52.albatrosses and this is the largest breeding colony of them in the
:49:52. > :49:56.world, 250,000 come here every year. The birds manage to find out
:49:56. > :50:04.exactly the same burrow that they used the previous year. Nobody
:50:04. > :50:10.really knows how they do this, but we think it might be by smell. Just
:50:10. > :50:15.like the puffins, they get very aggressive if another bird tries to
:50:15. > :50:20.occupy their burrow. The fights are serious because the stakes are high.
:50:20. > :50:24.If a pair bred successfully in the previous year, they know it is a
:50:25. > :50:29.good burrow and they will want to use it again. It is the males that
:50:29. > :50:35.arrive back first and a few days later, the females come in. Like
:50:35. > :50:38.the puffins, the birds mate with the same partner every year. Even
:50:38. > :50:43.though they haven't seen each other for six months, somehow in the dark,
:50:43. > :50:49.they manage to find the very same bird they mated with the previous
:50:49. > :50:54.year. That is the pair greeting each other after half a year apart.
:50:54. > :50:59.Isn't that sweet! Some incredible images there. I
:50:59. > :51:04.have spent many a time here on Skomer and it is incredible how the
:51:04. > :51:10.whole atmosphere of the place changes after dark, thousands of
:51:10. > :51:14.Manx shearwaters, that incredible noise, it is a very odd place.
:51:14. > :51:22.Right, the competition. Congratulations to those who got it
:51:22. > :51:28.right. Two winners - Alex Berryman and also to Ranger Bob. Some of you
:51:28. > :51:34.correctly identified that call as that of a male Manx shearwater.
:51:34. > :51:41.They come to Skomer of course to breed. So watch this. We have a
:51:41. > :51:46.Springwatch first for you. If you read the books, they will all tell
:51:46. > :51:51.you that they breed underground in their burrows. Thankfully for us,
:51:51. > :51:56.they don't read the books. Here, thanks to our tight camera, here is
:51:56. > :52:00.a pair mating out in the open at night. It is pitch-dark. We can see
:52:00. > :52:04.it only because of the infrared camera. Isn't that amazing? I have
:52:04. > :52:09.spoken to some experts. All of them say that is the first time they
:52:09. > :52:14.have ever seen that. What I find incredible is as I talk to you, as
:52:14. > :52:21.I walk, there are thousands of Manx shearwaters underground now in
:52:21. > :52:25.their burrows. Most of the burrows will be occupied by these birds.
:52:25. > :52:29.This being Springwatch, we have a camera in one of those burrows.
:52:29. > :52:35.Let's look at some of the footage from earlier on. This bird, we
:52:35. > :52:41.don't know if it is a male or a female. It is incubating a single
:52:41. > :52:47.egg down there in that burrow. Its mate might not come back for up to
:52:47. > :52:52.ten days so it has to sit there and if we look carefully, she will move,
:52:52. > :53:02.or he, and we will see that egg. It is quite a big egg considering the
:53:02. > :53:03.
:53:03. > :53:08.size of the bird. That egg is about the size of a hen's egg. They
:53:08. > :53:14.really are incredible birds with an amazing life history. We learn more
:53:14. > :53:24.about those birds and several of the other birds here on the island
:53:24. > :53:30.later on in the week. For now, from Skomer Island, goodbye. Thank you
:53:30. > :53:36.very much. A Welsh lesson at the same time! Now we have come back
:53:36. > :53:42.into our lovely studio and let's go to our flycatcher. If you were
:53:42. > :53:47.watching last week, we introduced you to this lovely bird. It is a
:53:47. > :53:54.pied flycatcher. It is in that box. There you can see the female tucked
:53:54. > :53:58.down on her chicks. She laid six eggs, four of them hatched. They
:53:58. > :54:05.were absolutely tiny when we left them last week. But they are
:54:05. > :54:12.feeding very well. Yes, every two minutes during the peak of the
:54:12. > :54:17.feeding during the daytime. Not just fly catching. If you were
:54:17. > :54:22.watching last week, you saw some strange behaviour from the male
:54:22. > :54:28.which had been attending this nest. Look at this. We were worried
:54:28. > :54:32.because he disappeared. Here is the female. She was doing her duty. He
:54:32. > :54:37.did appear from time to time. And he turned up with food. He would
:54:37. > :54:44.come into the nest, she would not be too keen to see him and he would
:54:44. > :54:47.disappear with the food. She was doing her duty. She kept the young
:54:47. > :54:52.fed. He does come in later on and he did start to feed them from time
:54:52. > :54:56.to time. Things then took another twist. Take a look at this. There
:54:57. > :55:01.is one male outside here. If you look on the right-hand side, you
:55:01. > :55:11.can see another male fluttering about. They are territorial birds.
:55:11. > :55:11.
:55:11. > :55:21.The epicentre of their territory of course is the nest hole. I do have
:55:21. > :55:22.
:55:22. > :55:29.a few theories. One of them is poly-territoriality! I promise you
:55:29. > :55:35.I will explain it tomorrow and we can have a good old hard piece of
:55:35. > :55:45.science! So stay tuned for geek behaviour tomorrow. From me and the
:55:45. > :55:50.birds! Now, Martin is going to show us another nest. I am, Kate. First,
:55:50. > :55:59.I have to make a confession. You may remember last thursz I talked
:55:59. > :56:04.about hedgehog -- last Thursday I talked about Hedgehog Street. You
:56:04. > :56:07.linked up Britain's gardens by cutting a hole in your hedge to
:56:07. > :56:11.allow hedgehogs to move between the gardens. I said that the hole
:56:11. > :56:16.should be 15 inches round, I meant 15 centimetres. That was the bad
:56:16. > :56:22.news. When we made the film, there were 15 hedgehog champions in the
:56:22. > :56:28.UK. There are now 3,335 hedgehog champions. Thank you to everyone!
:56:28. > :56:34.Now, have a look in here. I don't know if you can see up here. We
:56:34. > :56:39.have got a swallow's nest. We have two parents there sitting up on the
:56:39. > :56:44.top. That is a slightly crazy place to build the nest. They are
:56:44. > :56:50.settling down for the night. You know where we are going with this.
:56:50. > :56:58.We have asked you to tell us the most extraordinary nest sites in
:56:58. > :57:02.the UK. This is last year's winner. This was sent to us by Vanessa
:57:02. > :57:06.Hague. Despite building the nest in a fire training station, where they
:57:06. > :57:11.were regularly inundated by fire and doused with foam, they hatched
:57:11. > :57:17.out the eggs and they all fledged safely. My personal favourite was
:57:17. > :57:22.the year before from the Alan family, a family of bluetits in a
:57:22. > :57:26.level crossing. They came in-and- out and the whole world changed
:57:26. > :57:31.through 90 degrees every time the train west past. Please tell us
:57:31. > :57:36.about your nest sites. We will beat those! Straight back to Kate. How
:57:36. > :57:42.are you? Thank you very much. We are going to have a very quick look
:57:42. > :57:48.at our grasshopper warbler. She is our latest star of Springwatch.
:57:48. > :57:57.Beautifully crouched down on her nest keeping her chicks warm. You
:57:57. > :58:00.can keep an eye on all of our live cameras by going to
:58:00. > :58:05.bbc.co.uk/springwatch. What have we got tomorrow? Cutting-edge science
:58:05. > :58:09.will tell us a lot more about the cuckoo. This will be tremendously
:58:09. > :58:15.exciting. Even more exciting I think is otters. Right here on the
:58:15. > :58:20.reserve, caught on camera, more of them tomorrow. What about you,
:58:20. > :58:29.Martin? The ospreys. Looks pretty good. We don't know. The latest