:00:12. > :00:18.On Springwatch tonight: There's been tragedy in the woods. On the
:00:18. > :00:23.estuary, some cracking news about a surprised new arrival. In the barn,
:00:23. > :00:33.Bob our barn owl baby, appears to have bitten on more than he can
:00:33. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:07.Welcome to Springwatch. Coming to you live from the somewhat damp
:01:07. > :01:11.Ynyshir RSPB reserve in Wales. We will promise you real wildlife,
:01:11. > :01:15.perhaps with real rain, which is why I have the sense to be wearing
:01:15. > :01:18.a hat! My colleagues are going to get drenched. We will be showing
:01:18. > :01:22.you the best of British wildlife. Catching up on some very important
:01:22. > :01:26.things. If you were watching yesterday, for the first time in
:01:26. > :01:30.400 years, we saw osprey chicks in this part of the world. They didn't
:01:30. > :01:35.get a square meal. We will be finding out to see if they are
:01:35. > :01:41.still alive today. We got an exciting glimpse of a marvellous
:01:41. > :01:47.mammal right here on the reserve, on this body of water right by our
:01:47. > :01:53.studio. More on them later. It's been a day of serious and ongoing
:01:53. > :01:59.drama at our pied flycatcher nest. Lots to catch up with there. First,
:01:59. > :02:03.Martin... The quiz. Let's do the quiz. A little bit different. First
:02:03. > :02:09.part of the question is what are these? Because you are all getting
:02:09. > :02:15.so good, there is another bit. What bird that we have featured on
:02:15. > :02:21.Springwatch is associated with these. Get your answers in now to
:02:21. > :02:26.the website - bbc.co.uk/springwatch. That is a difficult one. Without
:02:26. > :02:32.further ado, let's go across the Skomer to our guest naturalist this
:02:32. > :02:36.week, the one and only Iolo Williams. We have had another
:02:36. > :02:41.fantastic day here on Skomer. The sun has shone and the wildlife has
:02:41. > :02:46.been magnificent. Later on we will be introducing you to some exciting
:02:46. > :02:52.new animals. Thank you very much. Lots to look
:02:52. > :02:56.forward to there. Now, we must go straight to the woods and a story
:02:56. > :03:01.that we have been following from the edge of our seats, really, all
:03:01. > :03:06.day. This morning, when we came to work, the story developers told us
:03:06. > :03:10.that sadly one of the pied fly chicks had died. You can see it
:03:10. > :03:16.there in the bottom of the nest. The other three looking quite
:03:16. > :03:20.robust at this stage. Of course, we wanted to find out what was going
:03:20. > :03:24.on and, Chris, they have been amassing some information for us.
:03:24. > :03:28.They have been keeping really good notes so we have been able to
:03:28. > :03:33.generate this bar chart. This is from yesterday. In the morning,
:03:33. > :03:39.both the male and female were feeding very well, nearly 30 times
:03:39. > :03:42.in an hour. During the course of the day yesterday, the feeding rate
:03:43. > :03:47.fell off so by the evening they were only coming in a couple of
:03:47. > :03:51.times in an hour. That is a significantly huge loss in food
:03:51. > :04:01.when it comes to the youngsters. is. Yesterday, I don't know whether
:04:01. > :04:02.
:04:02. > :04:05.it was getting chilly where you were. But it dropped to nine
:04:05. > :04:11.degrees yesterday evening here. What was causing the feeding rate
:04:11. > :04:15.to drop off? We looked again at the female. This is from yesterday. The
:04:15. > :04:21.story developers noticed this strange behaviour, this quivering
:04:21. > :04:27.and she doesn't look well. No. It wasn't only that. She is suffering.
:04:27. > :04:32.She disappeared for 55 minutes last night at about 5.45 leaving the
:04:32. > :04:35.chicks with no food and no brooding at all. That meant we had then lost
:04:35. > :04:39.this one chick. By this morning, she was back, she was bringing in
:04:39. > :04:43.food so we thought maybe the other three will be OK. Look at what is
:04:43. > :04:46.happening. None of them are opening their gapes... She wants to feed
:04:46. > :04:50.them. She is pushing her head towards them with the food. They
:04:50. > :04:54.are not giving her the signal which she needs, the target opening of
:04:54. > :04:58.the mouth. They do it after she's brooded them when they are nice and
:04:58. > :05:04.warm. Again, the male comes in. There is no gaping from the
:05:04. > :05:08.youngsters. He is frustrated, he is chucking away so he goes out again.
:05:08. > :05:12.Every time they get chilled, they don't react to when the adults come
:05:12. > :05:17.in with food and so the problem gets worse and worse. Once again,
:05:17. > :05:22.it is demonstrated here with the female. She does sort of seem to
:05:22. > :05:25.get on and brood them and they do make a recovery, the two of them
:05:25. > :05:29.have here. You can see the second chick, another chick, not looking
:05:29. > :05:32.good there. When she comes in to brood this time, there seems to be
:05:32. > :05:36.something going on with her eye. She doesn't look right. Rethsing an
:05:36. > :05:41.eye is one thing, but I have -- resting an eye is one thing, but I
:05:41. > :05:48.have looked at her, and sometime she is is brooding with a wing
:05:48. > :05:58.stuck out at a weird angle. This was 5.00 and she did come in.
:05:58. > :06:00.
:06:00. > :06:03.chicks. However, and this is the The male came in and fed one of
:06:03. > :06:09.them. He's been in again since we have been on air. We are keeping a
:06:09. > :06:15.very close eye on them. Let's go to them live now. There's the box. If
:06:15. > :06:19.we go inside the nest now, we can see her - she's - we have one chick
:06:19. > :06:22.poking its head out, Chris, but at least she is brooding. She looks a
:06:22. > :06:26.bit more settled. Earlier on, she was looking very uncomfortable.
:06:26. > :06:30.Let's keep watching. The chick still has energy. What we have to
:06:30. > :06:34.look at is the feeding rate has decreased whatever today. The big
:06:34. > :06:38.question remains, I think, have they enough energy to get through
:06:38. > :06:42.the night particularly if she keeps leaving them cold like this? Yes.
:06:42. > :06:46.They will need to get through the evening and hopefully get some food
:06:46. > :06:49.first thing. That other chick is not looking so bright. No, it is
:06:49. > :06:54.only one of them that is getting the food. The one at the top of the
:06:54. > :06:57.screen is not as lively. Look, fingers crossed for that last chick.
:06:57. > :07:02.If it can get through tonight, and if there is a problem with those
:07:02. > :07:06.adults, if they can get the feeding going in the morning, it might make
:07:06. > :07:11.it. We will keep... We have bad news down here in the woods. We
:07:11. > :07:15.have to say just down the road we have some really good news.
:07:16. > :07:20.Yesterday, we visited the osprey project to see that their eggs were
:07:20. > :07:25.hatching. The parents have laid three eggs and two of them hatched
:07:25. > :07:30.yesterday. Fantastic news. It was the first time in 406 years that
:07:30. > :07:33.ospreys had hatched in this part of the world. This morning, the news
:07:33. > :07:43.got better. We didn't think that that third egg was actually going
:07:43. > :07:46.
:07:46. > :07:51.to hatch at all. It was another moment! It was. It hatched and
:07:51. > :07:58.things got better still. The female, remember this is her first clutch
:07:58. > :08:04.struggling to feed them yesterday. We were worried would they make it?
:08:04. > :08:07.11.45, the male brought in a nice fat sea trout. She broke it into
:08:07. > :08:17.small pieces and successfully fed all three of the chicks. So at the
:08:17. > :08:21.moment, they are all doing really well. It is just such fantastic
:08:21. > :08:26.news. I know a guy who is going to be pleased about this. We in our
:08:26. > :08:31.lifetime have seen a great increase in the number of raptors. I bet
:08:31. > :08:40.Iolo never thought he would see ospreys in his heartland? What
:08:40. > :08:45.about that, mate. You must be For a Welsh naturalist like me, it
:08:45. > :08:50.has to be the best news to come out of Wales for the past 20 years.
:08:50. > :08:55.Welcome back to Skomer island where it's become a bit blustery. If you
:08:55. > :08:59.look over St Bride's Bay here, see the oil tankers, beyond them a
:08:59. > :09:03.storm has hit the mainland. If you think about it, it's been very
:09:03. > :09:08.difficult for Springwatch to get all of us out here so just for you
:09:08. > :09:18.at home, we thought we would give you a glimpse of just what it takes
:09:18. > :09:44.
:09:44. > :09:48.to bring me, the crew and all of It's a big, very complex operation
:09:48. > :09:53.but it is well worth it. It means that I get back to my favourite
:09:53. > :09:58.island in the whole world and my friends, the puffins. They are the
:09:58. > :10:03.only ones that will talk to me! You will know the most common bird on
:10:03. > :10:07.the island is the Manx shearwater. There are 250,000 birds here, but
:10:07. > :10:10.by day you don't see them. That is because they are underground in
:10:10. > :10:14.these burrows. Some of these burrows have been numbered. That is
:10:14. > :10:19.because there is a great deal of research going on out here at this
:10:19. > :10:26.very moment. The most important burrow of all is this one, number
:10:26. > :10:31.26. That is because this is where we have our burrow-cam. Just below
:10:31. > :10:38.my fingers now is a sitting bird, so let's have a look at some
:10:38. > :10:43.footage we shot earlier. Here is the bird tidying the nest. They do
:10:44. > :10:49.bring in nesting material like grass and twigs and make some
:10:49. > :10:55.attempt to keep it tidy. In fact, we have some shots here from about
:10:55. > :10:59.2.00am, ten days or so ago. Just look here, the bird is leaving the
:10:59. > :11:05.burrow. We thought it was for a change-over. It is leaving its egg.
:11:05. > :11:09.It is doing that to nip outside for a minute, to defecate. They will
:11:09. > :11:16.incubate that egg for the best part of two months. It would get really
:11:16. > :11:20.smelly in there if they didn't. Yes, we showed you some footage of Manx
:11:21. > :11:25.shearwaters fighting over a burrow. We have had a lot of people asking
:11:25. > :11:29.us what makes a good burrow. It is a good question. Quite a difficult
:11:29. > :11:35.one to answer. There are many issues here, a couple of them - one
:11:35. > :11:40.is length. If it is a short burrow, you might get a great black-backed
:11:40. > :11:46.gull grabbing the chick. The most important thing is to have a
:11:46. > :11:52.constant temperature. If it is hot or cold, that is no good. For the
:11:52. > :11:56.development of the egg, it is much better to have a constant
:11:56. > :12:00.temperature. The Manx shearwaters, they only spend six months of the
:12:00. > :12:06.year here. Where do they go for the other six months? That is a
:12:06. > :12:16.question that Tim Gilford has been trying to answer. Yesterday, when
:12:16. > :12:20.
:12:20. > :12:30.he went out to work, they took me. -- he took me. Which one is it?
:12:30. > :12:30.
:12:30. > :12:36.It's a funny job you have got, Tim. It is a lovely job. Wow. Look at
:12:36. > :12:41.that. Fantastic. This probably is the third year we have been
:12:41. > :12:47.tracking this bird. It has come back to the same burrow? Same
:12:47. > :12:51.burrow, same mate. This is a little light logging device. It has a
:12:51. > :12:55.light sensor. This stores information about day length and
:12:55. > :12:59.time every day of the year. From that, you can work out where the
:12:59. > :13:04.bird has been and gone? Like the ancient mariners, if you know the
:13:04. > :13:09.time of dawn and dusk, you know the day length, you can work out where
:13:09. > :13:15.you are anywhere on Earth. You need to download the data from that.
:13:15. > :13:20.That is 12 months' data? It is. is like a couple of jump leads.
:13:20. > :13:23.is downloading now. Excellent. little logger stores information
:13:23. > :13:28.about whether the bird's leg is submerged in water or whether it is
:13:28. > :13:32.in the air. So we can start to see how much time these birds spend
:13:32. > :13:38.resting during the winter, how much time they spend feeding. How much
:13:38. > :13:41.time they spend flying as well. This is important, isn't it? We
:13:41. > :13:46.talk about conserving these birds here, but they are only here for a
:13:46. > :13:50.short time. Most of the time they are on the open ocean? These are
:13:50. > :13:54.truly ocean-going birds. We are lucky enough to see them for a very
:13:55. > :13:58.short period, really. Yes. Once the download is complete, Tim and the
:13:58. > :14:04.team take the bird's vital statistics and there is enough time
:14:04. > :14:09.for me to get a closer look. If I quickly show you this bird, it's
:14:09. > :14:12.built for life on the open ocean. The legs are at the back of the
:14:12. > :14:18.body. That helps to push them along on the water. If you look at the
:14:18. > :14:24.beak, see these tubes? That is a gland that helps to take salt out
:14:24. > :14:28.of seawater so they can and do spend months and several years when
:14:28. > :14:38.they are young out on the open ocean. I really don't want to hold
:14:38. > :14:40.
:14:40. > :14:49.her any more. I will put her back. Straight back into the nest chamber.
:14:49. > :14:52.That should be fine. Massive thanks to Tim and Holly. They have gone
:14:52. > :14:56.off to number crunch so hopefully we will have some exciting results
:14:56. > :15:01.for you later on. We will be heading for the heart of the island
:15:01. > :15:05.when you come back to us. Thank you very much, Iolo. We will
:15:05. > :15:09.have some of our own technology later in the programme. Isn't it
:15:09. > :15:13.fascinating that those birds not just come back to the same island,
:15:13. > :15:19.or to the same area, but the same burrow? I know. They will live more
:15:19. > :15:24.than 30 years and do that for 30 years! Extraordinary. Cutting-edge
:15:24. > :15:31.stuff from Skomer. As you can see, Chris and I have come down to the
:15:31. > :15:36.woods and this is where our pied flycatcher nest is. It is just off
:15:36. > :15:40.to the right of us down through the trees there. Now, I want to check
:15:40. > :15:46.have we had any news on the pied fly? She's not back. Let's go to
:15:46. > :15:51.her live now. She's not back. So worrying, Chris? We have the two
:15:51. > :15:55.chicks still alive, she's been off that nest seven or eight minutes.
:15:55. > :15:58.It is 8.15. They are still active in the woods. I saw a male, so they
:15:58. > :16:04.are still out at the moment, possibly hunting, so there is a
:16:04. > :16:09.chance they will go back and brood them. We will follow that. We will.
:16:09. > :16:16.Another bird that has been, well he's captured your heart, is of
:16:16. > :16:21.course Bob our barn owl baby. Let's go live to the owl nest which is
:16:21. > :16:24.just behind us in a barn and there we are, we can see one of the
:16:24. > :16:28.chicks there, Chris. But all of them are looking very good. This
:16:28. > :16:31.view here, you can see they are all looking healthy, dozing at the
:16:31. > :16:35.moment because they have been stuffed full of food. We have been
:16:35. > :16:39.watching them and I have to say there is no shortage of food coming
:16:39. > :16:45.in at all from the adults. They have been stashing it! If we do
:16:45. > :16:48.have a couple of rough days, really wet, they have got plenty in
:16:48. > :16:52.reserve to feed the youngsters, so that is a real treat. I have to
:16:52. > :16:58.tell you, some of you might have seen this at midnight last night,
:16:58. > :17:04.Bob, your favourite barn owl baby, enjoyed a real feast. Look at this.
:17:04. > :17:11.We have looked at it very closely. It appears to be an adult male wood
:17:11. > :17:15.mouse. Everything must go. Look, it's all going down in one thing.
:17:15. > :17:20.It is the biggest plate of spaghetti with the biggest meatball
:17:20. > :17:23.at the end of it! It is. It took him a few minutes to get it down.
:17:23. > :17:29.Three-and-a-half minutes for him to swallow this wood mouse. This is
:17:29. > :17:36.the thing that made me laugh so much, he is getting the last toe
:17:36. > :17:41.down his gullet when what happens? Watch this. I know. The adult
:17:41. > :17:50.arrives. In she comes, it is like, "Oh no, don't make us eat any
:17:50. > :17:57.more!" It is great news because they did cause all of us, I know it
:17:57. > :18:02.did you too, a lot of concern when the temperatures rocketed and they
:18:02. > :18:11.all looked very unhealthy and a bit floppy. As you can see, really
:18:11. > :18:15.fighting fit now and eating like a good u' u -- like a good 'un. The
:18:15. > :18:20.thing we have noticed is just how productive they are. They are full
:18:20. > :18:26.of life, full of birds, insects, which translates into bird food.
:18:26. > :18:32.Amazing strar that of life here. You have -- strata of life here.
:18:32. > :18:36.You have everything from the ground upwards. The place is buzzing here
:18:36. > :18:42.in the daytime. It is. We have a sound recordist working with us
:18:42. > :18:47.this year, a gentleman by the name of Chris Watson. Old fans of
:18:47. > :18:51.Springwatch will remember Chris. He likes to get up extremely early in
:18:51. > :18:57.the morning with his sound equipment and he thought that these
:18:57. > :19:07.woods would be the perfect place to record a dawn chorus. He proved to
:19:07. > :19:38.
:19:38. > :19:43.Isn't that just the most glorious sound? I know. It is not unusual to
:19:43. > :19:46.go out at any time in woodland in early May in the South of England
:19:46. > :19:50.and hear that sort of noise. By this time, it is only happening as
:19:50. > :19:54.you go further north. We have still got a bit of it lingering here in
:19:54. > :19:58.Wales, North of England and Scotland, top tip, if you get any
:19:58. > :20:02.sunshine, and it is quite still, get up at 3.30. It is worth it. If
:20:02. > :20:07.you do it once in your life, it will be worth it. Very quick bit of
:20:07. > :20:11.news. We have heard that the female pied flycatcher is back on the nest.
:20:11. > :20:15.There she is. Did she feed? Does anyone know? Did she bring in food?
:20:15. > :20:20.No, she didn't feed. But she is back on the nest. We will keep an
:20:20. > :20:25.eye on her. OK. From one woodland bird to another, and one which is a
:20:25. > :20:35.great contributor to the dawn chorus, take a look at this. This
:20:35. > :20:54.
:20:54. > :20:59.is the wood warbler. Listen to this. An exquisite song. We have the
:20:59. > :21:04.grasshopper warbler, which has an amazing song, but is a bit dowdy.
:21:04. > :21:09.This one ticks both boxes. Another first for Springwatch. Now that
:21:09. > :21:14.very bird that you saw there was a male, it was filmed by Mark Yates,
:21:14. > :21:21.the sound recorded by our wonderful Chris Watson and that was a male
:21:21. > :21:27.attending this nest. Let's go to it live. We have, for the first time
:21:27. > :21:34.on Springwatch, a wood warbler's nest. It is tucked away. It is like
:21:34. > :21:41.a little tunnel down in the moss and in that tiny little hideaway
:21:41. > :21:47.there were six eggs, they have all hatched and, Chris, isn't this the
:21:47. > :21:52.most delightful family? It is. They have been coming back 48 times an
:21:52. > :21:57.hour and feeding these chicks. In the space of a week, those chicks
:21:57. > :22:01.will weigh the same as an adult. way! They will. Because they are
:22:01. > :22:06.nesting on the ground, which is quite vulnerable, they need to be
:22:06. > :22:09.ready to go to perhaps erupt out of the nest if they are disturbed so
:22:09. > :22:13.they need to be big and strong to do that. They won't leave unless
:22:13. > :22:18.they are disturbed until about 12 days. They will weigh more than the
:22:18. > :22:22.adult by then. That is incredible. Chris is right. It has been like
:22:22. > :22:30.watching a relay, with both adults coming in-and-out and maybe because
:22:30. > :22:35.it is quite buggy at this time in the evening, this is prime hunting
:22:35. > :22:41.time. Chris Watson, the sound recordist. He's a real champion of
:22:41. > :22:44.sound, a man who loves it as much as most people love looking at
:22:44. > :22:54.things. There is one species he has not been able to get close to,
:22:54. > :22:56.
:22:56. > :23:02.until this spring when he went out to do just that. Wooh! Wooh! I get
:23:02. > :23:06.to travel the world recording the voices of nature. There is one
:23:06. > :23:09.animal that is special to me that has a really spectacular call
:23:09. > :23:14.during its breeding season and I have always wanted to record it but
:23:14. > :23:19.I have never managed to get my microphones close enough to the
:23:19. > :23:25.action. This animal lives right on my doorstep here in Northumberland.
:23:25. > :23:31.It has a special connection with the coastline, it goes back over
:23:31. > :23:41.1,000 years. I have come to meet the Reverend Westmoreland who I
:23:41. > :23:42.
:23:42. > :23:45.hope can tell me some more. They there are, Cuddy's ducks. Cuthbert
:23:45. > :23:50.lived on the islands just offshore here. That's right. They are the
:23:50. > :23:56.best thing about that window, really. Traditionally, it is
:23:56. > :24:02.understood that Cuthbert got the birds so tame on Inner Farne that
:24:02. > :24:05.they would come to his hand. fact, Cuthbert grew so fond of the
:24:05. > :24:11.Eider ducks he decreed they should be officially protected. We think
:24:11. > :24:16.it is the first example in history of man safeguarding an animal.
:24:16. > :24:19.There are over 1,500 pairs of Eider ducks that live along the
:24:19. > :24:24.Northumberland coast. Eiders are true sea ducks in that they spend
:24:24. > :24:28.most of their life out on the open sea. At this time of year, the end
:24:28. > :24:33.of February, they return to the coast ready for the breeding season.
:24:33. > :24:37.I know now it is my best opportunity to get close to these
:24:37. > :24:42.Eider ducks whilst they are courting. It is the males that make
:24:42. > :24:49.this wonderful cooing call to attract the females and it is that
:24:49. > :24:55.mating call I am so keen to record. I'm meeting Paul Morrison who is
:24:55. > :24:59.going to help me track down the Eider ducks. We plan to head out
:24:59. > :25:05.around the coast but amazingly these Eider ducks seem to be all
:25:05. > :25:10.around us right here in the marina. It is amazing. I have got on the
:25:10. > :25:13.boat and we are surrounded by Eiders, males and females. It is
:25:13. > :25:18.beautifully calm and quiet and still, so perfect recording
:25:18. > :25:23.conditions without going out there. Listen to that. I have seen these
:25:23. > :25:32.birds and I have heard them in the far distance. I have never been
:25:32. > :25:39.close enough to record it in close perspective. Listen to that. Using
:25:39. > :25:49.a pair of very small microphones, I'm hoping to get some real close
:25:49. > :25:53.
:25:53. > :25:57.intimate recordings. So quiet please, recording. COOING That is
:25:57. > :26:07.fantastic. Doesn't get any better than that. They were so close I
:26:07. > :26:10.
:26:10. > :26:16.The male Eider ducks don't just rely on their voice to attract the
:26:16. > :26:20.females, they make sure they look good, too. At this time of year,
:26:20. > :26:24.their breeding plumage is stunning. Look at these birds in close-up.
:26:24. > :26:32.The green on their neck, the pitch- black on their head and sides so
:26:32. > :26:38.you can hardly see their eyes. This beautiful rosy hue on their chest.
:26:38. > :26:45.The females are very well camouflaged and not very impressed
:26:45. > :26:55.with the boys' earths. Just what a great sound when you hear it so
:26:55. > :26:57.
:26:57. > :27:04.close. It is like nothing else. -- boys' efforts. Just what a great
:27:04. > :27:08.sound when you hear it so close. It is like nothing else. So rich.
:27:08. > :27:13.Glorious birds. It is a glorious sound. It is. The males are
:27:13. > :27:18.stunning. That green... It is the only bird I can properly
:27:18. > :27:21.impersonate. COOING Anyone could do it! Will you stop? You may remember
:27:22. > :27:26.if you were watching last week, the three of us set ourselves a
:27:26. > :27:30.challenge to see if we could capture some exciting mammals on
:27:30. > :27:35.these camera traps so I put one down by the river to see if I could
:27:36. > :27:41.get an otter. Martin tried in the woods to try and get a stoat or a
:27:41. > :27:45.weasel. Chris... I got a pole- dancing squirrel! He put it at the
:27:45. > :27:52.bottom of the bird feeder which doesn't count. Can I tell you...
:27:52. > :28:01.You did cheat! I didn't. No, I didn't. How did I cheat? Look, look,
:28:01. > :28:06.it may be a little bit hard to see, but there are two dark animals, two,
:28:06. > :28:12.TWO, there, and that is enough evidence to send Mark Yates
:28:12. > :28:19.scampering to the side of the river and this is what he caught on
:28:19. > :28:24.camera. Absolutely glorious images of not one otter, but TWO and THREE
:28:24. > :28:30.otters. This is a mum and cubs and I love this scene. I know, Chris,
:28:30. > :28:33.you are going to diss what I am saying. It looks like they are just
:28:33. > :28:38.enjoying a play in that sparkly sunshine. They are. They are
:28:38. > :28:45.probably, you are going to tell me, she is teaching them how to hunt.
:28:45. > :28:48.It might look like a painting, but they are diving down to the bottom
:28:48. > :28:58.and there they will encounter prey as they are learning about where it
:28:58. > :29:02.lives and they might have a nibble at it. Whatever! But I have so won
:29:02. > :29:10.that competition. Thank you, Mark. Look, we have been neglecting one
:29:10. > :29:15.of our cameras. Which one? badger-cam. Shall we have a look?
:29:15. > :29:21.Let us have a look at what it has been getting. Is this a badger?
:29:21. > :29:29.Surely. No, it is a small fox cub, Chris. A bit of a surprise. Here is
:29:29. > :29:37.the - what was that, a bat? A mouse. About to be nailed! It is eating an
:29:37. > :29:44.insect or a beetle. Are you ready? Here is the most exciting bit. Look
:29:44. > :29:53.carefully. It's the magic of mustard lids, the wonders of
:29:53. > :29:56.weasels. Fantastic to see that. So... Enough of badger-cam. Let's
:29:56. > :30:03.cut to the real action. The best thing on Springwatch this year
:30:03. > :30:08.without a doubt. It is snake-cam. Look what we got today. A slow worm.
:30:09. > :30:12.Not a worm, really. It is a lizard without legs. It is, indeed. You
:30:12. > :30:16.see them on compost heaps. They go for the same reason that the snakes
:30:16. > :30:22.are there. It is heading dangerously close to the grass
:30:22. > :30:27.snake. Is there any threat to it? No grass snakes won't eat these.
:30:27. > :30:31.They are amphibian and fish-feeders. They will take the odd small mammal.
:30:31. > :30:34.Smooth snakes would have gobbled this up. This slow worm is safe.
:30:34. > :30:42.you think there is any advantage to it being in the same compost heap
:30:42. > :30:48.with a lot of grass snakes is there safety in numbers? Sadly not if the
:30:48. > :30:56.buzzard is around! As we have seen. Look, let's get to the snakes. Look
:30:56. > :31:00.at what we have seen also with our female snakes here. This is
:31:00. > :31:03.fascinating. Somewhere between 10 and 40 eggs, it is difficult to say
:31:03. > :31:09.how many snakes. Mark thought he saw 20 at once. You can imagine the
:31:09. > :31:14.mass of eggs down in there. There's some head twitching going on. That
:31:15. > :31:20.is the males. They twitch their heads. Here is a male beside a
:31:20. > :31:24.female. It is a narrower head. The females are more robust. Mating
:31:24. > :31:29.should have finished in April. They have come here to lay the eggs as a
:31:29. > :31:34.result of that. The males are just curious. Look at this. They will
:31:34. > :31:43.twitch like that and they are scenting to see if there is a
:31:43. > :31:48.female still left there. One left. Why not? Come in and try! Look at
:31:48. > :31:58.that. It is a fantastic vision to get, that camera. I have big hopes
:31:58. > :31:59.
:31:59. > :32:07.next year for our first wood lice- cam! Shall we recap the quiz?
:32:07. > :32:14.Let's have another look. What are these? Most importantly, what bird
:32:14. > :32:21.that we have featured is associated with these? Let's have a look. Can
:32:21. > :32:30.we have a look at some answers? That was a unfortunate close-up of
:32:30. > :32:39.that watch! It's a beauty. Stickleback nests. Kingfishers love
:32:39. > :32:45.them. Not quite right. Allison, "Little bones from a barn owl
:32:45. > :32:50.spraint." Pellets. Could be. Lots of people think barn owl pellets.
:32:50. > :32:56.Lots of people have got it right. Already! We will give you the
:32:56. > :33:06.answer for those of you who haven't guessed later in the programme. Now,
:33:06. > :33:10.let's go back to Skomer and to Iolo Williams. Welcome back to Skomer
:33:10. > :33:13.island. So far, we have concentrated on the birds and we
:33:13. > :33:19.have neglected the mammals. One mammal in particular. If you walk
:33:19. > :33:24.around the island, you are sure to see rabbits. There is one just
:33:24. > :33:29.behind me as I speak. I have been coming to the island for over 25
:33:29. > :33:38.years and I have never seen rabbit population as high as it is now.
:33:39. > :33:43.It's cyclical, it will build-up and it is hit by RHV and then there is
:33:43. > :33:49.a crash and the recovery begins all over again. It was introduced here
:33:49. > :33:59.600 years ago. It was farmed for its fur and its meat but today, the
:33:59. > :33:59.
:33:59. > :34:03.rabbit has an important role in the ecology of the island. The puffins
:34:03. > :34:07.generally ignore the rabbits, but they will nest in old rabbit
:34:07. > :34:12.burrows and other birds benefit, too. The rabbits graze the grass
:34:12. > :34:16.very short and this keeps the ground clear for some ground-
:34:16. > :34:21.nesting birds. There is a downside to all these rabbits. It's been so
:34:21. > :34:28.dry this year that the grass has been struggling for water and then
:34:28. > :34:33.the rabbits can overgraze. So a high population of rabbits can lead
:34:33. > :34:36.to overgrazing. Look at this patch on my left. This can lead to
:34:36. > :34:42.erosion. When the population crashes, that gives the vegetation,
:34:42. > :34:46.it gives the grass that opportunity to recover. Nowadays, all you have
:34:46. > :34:52.living here is a handful of wardens and a few research staff. They live
:34:52. > :34:56.in this building here. If you look back into the past, man has had a
:34:56. > :35:01.significant impact here on the island and the evidence is in the
:35:01. > :35:11.plants. What do I mean? Come over here and have a look at this. This
:35:11. > :35:12.
:35:12. > :35:20.is a bluebell and it gives us a clue to the past. It's spring, the
:35:20. > :35:24.island is carpeted with huge fields of bluebells. It's a beautiful
:35:24. > :35:28.sight but unusual. Bluebells are a woodland plant and this shows us
:35:28. > :35:33.that Skomer was once wooded and those woods were cut down by people.
:35:33. > :35:37.There have been people on Skomer for perhaps as long as 5,000 years.
:35:37. > :35:45.You could still see the remains of ancient field walls and farm
:35:45. > :35:49.buildings today. And can you believe this, there are so many
:35:49. > :35:55.Manx shearwaters, the people used to plough the birds into the soil
:35:55. > :36:00.as fertiliser. What a place this must have been to live!
:36:00. > :36:05.Isn't it amazing to think one time this was all woodland. Now of
:36:05. > :36:08.course, it is an artificial habitat, but none the less still beautiful,
:36:08. > :36:13.just because it is man-made doesn't mean to say it can't be stunning
:36:14. > :36:17.because after all, we are part of this ecosystem. I referred to
:36:17. > :36:25.bluebells earlier. The wood has gone but the bluebells still need
:36:25. > :36:34.shade and this it gets from bracken that covers large swathes of the
:36:34. > :36:43.island. Have a look at this, another Springwatch first. Believe
:36:43. > :36:46.it or not, there is an owl in this shot. There it is. That is a short-
:36:46. > :36:51.eared owl - beautifully camouflaged. We have been following these birds
:36:51. > :36:57.for the last month or so. They hunt mostly during the daytime and they
:36:57. > :37:02.really are lovely flyers. It is a very buoyant moth-like flight.
:37:02. > :37:09.Generally, short-eared owls only breed on moorland in the north of
:37:09. > :37:14.Britain. You get 20 or 30 breeding pairs on the Welsh mainland but on
:37:14. > :37:18.Skomer they get four pairs breeding every year on average. They are
:37:18. > :37:27.adept at hunting. They have amazing eyesight but their hearing is very
:37:27. > :37:37.good. That dish-shaped face helps carry sound to them. Look at that.
:37:37. > :37:41.
:37:41. > :37:46.Amazing precision to go in there and catch the small prey. What a
:37:46. > :37:51.gorgeous bird, incredibly buoyant. It reminds me of the old vampire
:37:51. > :37:56.films when you had a plastic bat, that is a short-eared owl. What are
:37:56. > :37:59.they hunting? They are hunting a unique mammal. We will spoil you
:37:59. > :38:03.here because when cou come back later, we will not only -- when you
:38:03. > :38:09.come back later, we will not only show you the mammal, we will show
:38:09. > :38:13.you a short-eared owl's nest. Well worth waiting for. You will know
:38:13. > :38:17.that many of the pairs of birds, the individual pairs, have been
:38:17. > :38:21.suffering their own trials and tribulations. Of course, out there,
:38:21. > :38:31.in the wider countryside, entire species are suffering this. One of
:38:31. > :38:35.
:38:35. > :38:42.them is a bird that's very close to If there is one defining sound of
:38:42. > :38:46.spring, then this is it, the call of the cuckoo. You know, over the
:38:46. > :38:52.last 25 years, cuckoo numbers have been declining drastically. They
:38:53. > :38:57.are now down by 65% and this was made really evident in 2009 when
:38:57. > :39:04.our Springwatch viewers let us know how few they were hearing in one of
:39:04. > :39:14.our biggest surveys yet. The problem doesn't seem to be with the
:39:14. > :39:19.cuckoo's host species, birds like the Reed warbler, their population
:39:19. > :39:27.seems to be stable. Maybe it is not down to a lack of their favourite
:39:27. > :39:32.food either. So what is going wrong? We have to find out because
:39:32. > :39:35.this species is in very serious decline. You might wonder why we
:39:35. > :39:41.haven't found out where they are going in the winter. 6,000 cuckoos
:39:41. > :39:44.have been ringed. We have only had one ringing recovery from sub-
:39:44. > :39:49.Saharan Africa. They are all important and critical wintering
:39:49. > :39:53.grounds. The one UK bird went to Cameroon. We need to find out more
:39:53. > :40:03.about these birds, when they disappear from Britain. To do that,
:40:03. > :40:04.
:40:04. > :40:10.the British Trust for Ornithology have put this in the hands of a
:40:10. > :40:14.fantastic scientist, Chris Hewson. We are hoping the cuckoo is going
:40:14. > :40:24.to fly towards the lure. When it does that, it will be so keen on
:40:24. > :40:29.
:40:29. > :40:38.getting there that it will fly into the net without seeing it. We will
:40:38. > :40:42.put tags on them to track their migration. They are not limited by
:40:42. > :40:46.battery life. We are hoping to track the birds for at least a year,
:40:46. > :40:51.or two years. The cuckoo's annual cycle is so poorly known, we
:40:51. > :40:54.haven't got an idea of what might be happening in Europe and by
:40:54. > :40:58.tracking their migration, we are hoping we can learn more about what
:40:58. > :41:02.they need at different times of the year and how their annual cycle
:41:02. > :41:06.fits together so we can work out what might be the causes of their
:41:06. > :41:12.decline. If we don't find out what is going on, and hopefully find a
:41:12. > :41:22.way of doing something about it, we could see the cuckoos becoming
:41:22. > :41:23.
:41:23. > :41:29.extinct. Those gadgets don't come cheap. They cost �2,500 each. I can
:41:29. > :41:34.also tell you, that you might have contributed to the funding. The BBC
:41:34. > :41:41.wildlife fund put up �20,000 into this project and also it's been
:41:41. > :41:44.helped by Essex and Suffolk Water. We will find out so much and so
:41:44. > :41:49.quickly if we can track these birds. They have named a couple after
:41:49. > :41:54.myself and Martin. Chris has moved from up here down to the coast of
:41:54. > :42:00.Sussex here. Martin has moved from here in central East Anglia to
:42:00. > :42:03.Norfolk and that is as far as he's gone so far. I know you are fond of
:42:04. > :42:13.Norfolk, but isn't it time you started migrating?! I'm resting
:42:13. > :42:20.there. I am building up my reserves. I will leap into the lead!
:42:20. > :42:26.slightly disappointed there is no Kate! What is fascinating, a third
:42:26. > :42:32.cuckoo was hanging about at the beginning of last week near the BTO
:42:32. > :42:42.headquarters in Norfolk. On Thursday, he went offline. Then on
:42:42. > :42:49.Sunday he popped up about 100 miles south of Paris. Amazing. I thought
:42:49. > :42:54.it was an aberration. He's a one- year-old cuckoo and he has started
:42:54. > :43:00.migrating early. Fantastic. We can follow their progress. We can
:43:00. > :43:05.follow their progress on the website. You can follow the cuckoos
:43:05. > :43:11.to who knows where. We have come out to admire our bird feeder that
:43:11. > :43:17.is feeding a squirrel. How many people recognise that particular
:43:17. > :43:21.sight! That is Chris's pole-dancing squirrel. Martin, you have been
:43:21. > :43:26.doing a little bit of digging around. We always say you should
:43:26. > :43:32.feed your birds. I feed my birds. I know you do, too. Chris does his.
:43:32. > :43:39.But are we doing the right thing? had quite a shock earlier this year.
:43:39. > :43:46.I read a paper and sometimes it is good to challenge even your most
:43:46. > :43:51.cherished beliefs. I expect that you like me probably feed the birds
:43:51. > :43:57.that come into your garden. It is a lovely thing to do. Have we all
:43:57. > :44:07.been making a huge mistake? Are we actually helping the birds by
:44:07. > :44:07.
:44:07. > :44:16.feeding them, or are we actually Last year, some researchers
:44:16. > :44:21.published that showed that when-of- you fed bluetits and great tits,
:44:21. > :44:26.they produced less chicks. Shocking research. So is it really such a
:44:26. > :44:32.good thing to feed our garden birds? To get some answers, I'm
:44:32. > :44:35.going to meet the man that carried out the study. Tim, a great
:44:35. > :44:39.privilege to meet the author of this paper that gave me such a
:44:39. > :44:48.terrible shock. Have I been doing the wrong thing, feeding the birds
:44:48. > :44:51.in my garden? Absolutely not. However, what this study shows up
:44:51. > :44:55.is that there can be some affects of feeding that we weren't
:44:55. > :44:59.expecting and we are trying to work out why that might sometimes happen.
:44:59. > :45:03.How come it looked like the breeding success went down when you
:45:03. > :45:07.fed these birds? So, this study was conducted at the University of
:45:07. > :45:12.Birmingham. We would have liked to have conducted this study in
:45:12. > :45:17.gardens. We studied the birds in the woodland. Our surrogate garden
:45:17. > :45:21.birds were bluetits and great tits. Some received extra food. What we
:45:21. > :45:25.found surprisingly was that the fed birds laid slightly smaller
:45:25. > :45:30.clutchers than those that hadn't received any extra food. That was
:45:30. > :45:36.the shock. The clutch size went down! Yes. I think that what we
:45:36. > :45:40.need to do is to consider this in context. The majority of food
:45:40. > :45:43.studies have shown a positive effect. We still need to find out a
:45:43. > :45:47.bit more about this. The weight of evidence suggests that keep on
:45:47. > :45:52.feeding your birds because it is likely to have a positive effect on
:45:52. > :45:56.their breeding and survival over the winter period. Phew. It seems
:45:56. > :46:01.the results are an aberration. Perhaps because the birds are
:46:01. > :46:06.already in a food-rich woodland. Over half of UK households now feed
:46:06. > :46:15.garden birds and the figures are astonishing. The industry has grown
:46:15. > :46:19.from nothing to be worth over �200 million. Chris has researched and
:46:19. > :46:25.developed wild bird food for 25 years. He has his own explanation
:46:25. > :46:29.for the odd results of Tim's research. What was happening was
:46:29. > :46:34.something we have been saying for years, don't feed birds and put
:46:34. > :46:37.nestboxs in the same place. The birds in the supplementary feather
:46:37. > :46:41.area were having to defend their territories therefore didn't look
:46:41. > :46:45.after their chicks as well, didn't produce as many and that is what
:46:45. > :46:49.happened. So what is the lesson for me as someone who loves to feed
:46:49. > :46:59.birds in the garden from that study? What should I do more of or
:46:59. > :46:59.
:47:00. > :47:04.less of? Put your feeders out. Put nestboxs as far away from the
:47:04. > :47:09.feeders as you can. Chris's explanation seems plausible. This
:47:09. > :47:14.has raised all sorts of other questions for me. Does feeding
:47:14. > :47:21.birds in our gardens attract predators? I have some interesting
:47:21. > :47:27.news for you. There is no explicit link between feeding birds and...
:47:27. > :47:33.Wait a minute... With lots of birds coming in, it is creating almost a
:47:33. > :47:37.honeypot for predators. Yeah. we find is that by providing a
:47:37. > :47:44.reliable, regular food resource, it means many of them can pick and
:47:44. > :47:48.choose when they feed. They are choosing the safest times to feed.
:47:48. > :47:54.But here is another thought. Could the bird feed itself be harming the
:47:54. > :48:00.environment in ways we hadn't previously thought of? We are
:48:00. > :48:10.buying all this food for our birds. But it is coming from all around
:48:10. > :48:10.
:48:10. > :48:14.the world. These are Chinese. Whereabouts are these ones from?
:48:14. > :48:17.Nicaragua. The carbon footprint must be enormous? It is
:48:17. > :48:22.surprisingly little because they come in by ship. We try and source
:48:22. > :48:28.as much as we can in the UK. Peanuts don't grow successfully in
:48:28. > :48:33.the UK. Having looked at all the issues, the positives seem to far
:48:34. > :48:40.outweigh the negatives. The 50,000 tonnes of seed we put out every
:48:40. > :48:47.year are helping British birds. Black caps, bluetits and goldfinchs
:48:47. > :48:51.have all increased in recent decades. All things considered, it
:48:51. > :48:56.is still an excellent idea to feed your garden birds. My life would be
:48:56. > :49:04.much the poorer without that stream of colour, the characters, the
:49:04. > :49:10.drama that the feeders bring. What a relief! I thought I was
:49:10. > :49:15.going to have to ditch my feeders. I was really worried. The wonderful
:49:15. > :49:21.thing about bird feeders, it is like lazy birdwatching. You see
:49:21. > :49:26.more species - I saw bramblings because they came to the feeders.
:49:27. > :49:32.If there are any concerns that you have about feeding birds, or you
:49:32. > :49:39.want any advice, go to bbc.co.uk/springwatch. I know there
:49:39. > :49:43.are some of you who must find what we just said really irritating...
:49:43. > :49:49.Not you! You are not online and you don't use the internet. We do get
:49:49. > :49:54.lots of letters saying, "I don't use it." If you would like to start
:49:54. > :49:58.using the internet, getting on the web, there is a campaign called the
:49:58. > :50:08.First Click Campaign and there is a telephone number you can ring. What
:50:08. > :50:16.
:50:16. > :50:19.is the telephone number? It is One more time - 08000 150 950.
:50:19. > :50:28.Excellent idea. If you do get online, it means you can send in
:50:28. > :50:35.lovely films like this one that was sent in by David Denton. The great
:50:35. > :50:45.tits in his household get so large they get stuck! I love that. That
:50:45. > :50:45.
:50:45. > :50:52.is very good. Please keep your footage coming in. We want them!
:50:52. > :51:02.Shall we answer the quiz? We should. Here we go. One more look at them.
:51:02. > :51:06.
:51:06. > :51:10.Remember, what are they? They are caddisfly larvae. Now, and...
:51:10. > :51:15.is amazing. Which of our Springwatch characters are
:51:15. > :51:19.associated with those? Have a look at this film and you will get the
:51:19. > :51:23.answer immediately. It is of course our dippers. There is the adult.
:51:23. > :51:28.She is removing a caddisfly from the shell of it to feed to the
:51:28. > :51:36.chick. There, you can see it. can just see it. There is a better
:51:36. > :51:46.shot coming up. There you are. Fantastic. So, Martin, who got it
:51:46. > :51:47.
:51:47. > :51:55.right? Becky, the answers, please. Ian Fletcher on Twitter. Let's head
:51:55. > :52:01.back for the promise of some wonderful things on Skomer. Welcome
:52:01. > :52:07.back to Skomer. I have found myself a lovely seat here hidden amongst
:52:07. > :52:13.the bracken. Earlier, we introduced you to the short-eared owl. I asked
:52:13. > :52:21.what was it hunting? It is hunting a mammal that feeds on bracken. The
:52:21. > :52:31.man who took me to meet this animal, Tim Healey, has been studying it
:52:31. > :52:33.
:52:33. > :52:39.for a very long time. We are coming on to the study area I have been
:52:39. > :52:46.using for a good many years now. Let's see what we have got. What we
:52:46. > :52:49.have got is an adult male vole. Slightly lighter colour on the back.
:52:49. > :52:54.This is the Skomer vole? That's right, the Skomer bank vole.
:52:54. > :52:58.this a unique species? It is a sub- species. We only found this one
:52:58. > :53:01.here on the island. It is not sufficiently different to the one
:53:01. > :53:05.on the mainland to be a different species! Where have these come
:53:05. > :53:09.from? We don't know. They were probably introduced by man at some
:53:09. > :53:14.point since the last Ice Age. They must have been here a good long
:53:14. > :53:16.time. They have been here long enough to be a sub-species but not
:53:16. > :53:20.long enough to be a separate species? That's right. They are
:53:20. > :53:25.quite calm in the hand. This is thought to be because the only
:53:25. > :53:30.predators here are birds. There is no ground-living predators. If
:53:30. > :53:35.birds are hunting you, you stay still. Do you know how many Skomer
:53:35. > :53:39.voles we have got on the island? have done surveys of the whole
:53:39. > :53:45.island. We estimate it at around 25,000 animals. A healthy
:53:45. > :53:50.population? Yes. They are doing fine. Remarkably tame this one.
:53:50. > :53:55.Want to have a go with him? Yes, if he will come on my hand. This is
:53:55. > :54:01.the first time I have seen a live one. You have been coming out to
:54:01. > :54:06.Skomer for a long, long time to do this work? This is my 41st year
:54:06. > :54:14.here. I did my PhD on this little animal. What are you learning now?
:54:14. > :54:21.What we are after is numbers. should let the young chappy here go.
:54:21. > :54:30.I will give you the honour. Thank you. We will see if he will head
:54:30. > :54:35.off. A huge thank you there to Tim. I bet all of you at home went "ahh".
:54:35. > :54:39.Now, that has got to be one of the longest running small mammal
:54:39. > :54:43.surveys anywhere in the UK. Fair play to Tim, he does it in his
:54:43. > :54:49.spare time. The vole is one of four mammals found on the island. The
:54:49. > :54:52.rabbit, the wood mouse and the common shrew. It may be because of
:54:52. > :54:56.a lack of competition that vole numbers are so high here on the
:54:56. > :55:01.island. They are five times higher than vole numbers on the mainland.
:55:01. > :55:05.Good for the vole and good for a vole-hunting specialist like the
:55:05. > :55:09.short-eared owl. We have given you a lot of special things from Skomer.
:55:09. > :55:14.This is really special. Our wildlife cameramen have been busy
:55:14. > :55:17.and have pinpointed the owl's nest. Thanks to a special licence from
:55:17. > :55:24.the Countryside Council for Wales, we have been able to put a hidden
:55:24. > :55:27.camera on that nest. Have a look at this. Look at that. That cave-like
:55:27. > :55:31.nest hidden away in amongst the bracken and the gorse. There are
:55:31. > :55:35.the chicks with their lovely black faces. An adult coming in here with
:55:35. > :55:39.a vole. The male passing the vole to the female and in there, I think
:55:39. > :55:44.she's got five chicks in all. We will have a better look now. There
:55:44. > :55:54.she is with that vole. That is a Skomer vole. That will break Tim's
:55:54. > :55:59.
:55:59. > :56:02.heart! But when there's plentiful supply of food - and they stack
:56:02. > :56:07.them around the edge of the nest. If we see the chicks, they will
:56:07. > :56:14.come in - there they are. There is the biggest one. You have Bob the
:56:14. > :56:19.barn owl. That ate a wood mouse in two-and-a-half minutes. This one
:56:19. > :56:23.ate the Skomer vole in almost exactly five minutes. Gobbling that
:56:23. > :56:27.is the equivalent of me shoving a whole Welsh lamb in my mouth! You
:56:27. > :56:32.see the other chicks, they are huddled together for warmth. I have
:56:32. > :56:38.seen quite a few short-eared owl nests and I have to tell you that
:56:38. > :56:47.really is one of the koziest. It is safe, out of the -- cosiest. It is
:56:47. > :56:50.safe, out of the wind and out of the rain. What a fantastic bird and
:56:50. > :56:55.what wonderful footage. Unfortunately, that is all we have
:56:55. > :57:01.time for from Skomer tonight. Let's have one last look around here. You
:57:01. > :57:04.see St Bride's Bay. A last tourist boat coming round to see the
:57:04. > :57:09.puffins. All the puffins massed here. There is a gull walking
:57:09. > :57:13.around hoping to pick up a few fish, or maybe a small puffin. We will
:57:13. > :57:18.see that. Our cameraman, Steve, has taken a few shots. What are you
:57:18. > :57:23.getting? A few last shots of the puffin. The sea parrot with its
:57:23. > :57:26.bright red blue and yellow bill and that tear-like eye. Well, we will
:57:26. > :57:31.be learning more about the puffins tomorrow. I will be diving below
:57:31. > :57:39.the waves over there so for now, from Skomer island, puffin paradise,
:57:39. > :57:47.back to you in Ynyshir. Thank you very much. I think he
:57:47. > :57:52.outowled us! Those owls were fantastic! Those chicks have such a
:57:52. > :57:58.beautiful face. Let's go and look at some of our live cameras. It is
:57:58. > :58:07.getting dark and we can look at our grasshopper warbler nest. There we
:58:07. > :58:14.are. There she is! A quick last look at our heron. There they are.
:58:14. > :58:20.Buzzards? Look at the chick, it is enormous! I was watching, it's just
:58:20. > :58:26.enjoyed a rabbit supper! With chips?! Sorry. We will keep an eye
:58:26. > :58:30.on all of our cameras. You can do that by going to our website -
:58:30. > :58:40.bbc.co.uk/springwatch. Tomorrow, our show starts at 7.30. A Bute of
:58:40. > :58:44.
:58:44. > :58:49.a bird, a bird with a bill that strikes -- a brute of a bird, a
:58:49. > :58:55.bird with a bill that strikes fear. We will be bringing you the latest