Episode 6 Springwatch

On Springwatch tonight: There's been tragedy in the woods. On the

estuary, some cracking news about a surprised new arrival. In the barn,

Bob our barn owl baby, appears to have bitten on more than he can

Welcome to Springwatch. Coming to you live from the somewhat damp

Ynyshir RSPB reserve in Wales. We will promise you real wildlife,

perhaps with real rain, which is why I have the sense to be wearing

a hat! My colleagues are going to get drenched. We will be showing

you the best of British wildlife. Catching up on some very important

things. If you were watching yesterday, for the first time in

400 years, we saw osprey chicks in this part of the world. They didn't

get a square meal. We will be finding out to see if they are

still alive today. We got an exciting glimpse of a marvellous

mammal right here on the reserve, on this body of water right by our

studio. More on them later. It's been a day of serious and ongoing

drama at our pied flycatcher nest. Lots to catch up with there. First,

Martin... The quiz. Let's do the quiz. A little bit different. First

part of the question is what are these? Because you are all getting

so good, there is another bit. What bird that we have featured on

Springwatch is associated with these. Get your answers in now to

the website - bbc.co.uk/springwatch. That is a difficult one. Without

further ado, let's go across the Skomer to our guest naturalist this

week, the one and only Iolo Williams. We have had another

fantastic day here on Skomer. The sun has shone and the wildlife has

been magnificent. Later on we will be introducing you to some exciting

new animals. Thank you very much. Lots to look

forward to there. Now, we must go straight to the woods and a story

that we have been following from the edge of our seats, really, all

day. This morning, when we came to work, the story developers told us

that sadly one of the pied fly chicks had died. You can see it

there in the bottom of the nest. The other three looking quite

robust at this stage. Of course, we wanted to find out what was going

on and, Chris, they have been amassing some information for us.

They have been keeping really good notes so we have been able to

generate this bar chart. This is from yesterday. In the morning,

both the male and female were feeding very well, nearly 30 times

in an hour. During the course of the day yesterday, the feeding rate

fell off so by the evening they were only coming in a couple of

times in an hour. That is a significantly huge loss in food

when it comes to the youngsters. is. Yesterday, I don't know whether

it was getting chilly where you were. But it dropped to nine

degrees yesterday evening here. What was causing the feeding rate

to drop off? We looked again at the female. This is from yesterday. The

story developers noticed this strange behaviour, this quivering

and she doesn't look well. No. It wasn't only that. She is suffering.

She disappeared for 55 minutes last night at about 5.45 leaving the

chicks with no food and no brooding at all. That meant we had then lost

this one chick. By this morning, she was back, she was bringing in

food so we thought maybe the other three will be OK. Look at what is

happening. None of them are opening their gapes... She wants to feed

them. She is pushing her head towards them with the food. They

are not giving her the signal which she needs, the target opening of

the mouth. They do it after she's brooded them when they are nice and

warm. Again, the male comes in. There is no gaping from the

youngsters. He is frustrated, he is chucking away so he goes out again.

Every time they get chilled, they don't react to when the adults come

in with food and so the problem gets worse and worse. Once again,

it is demonstrated here with the female. She does sort of seem to

get on and brood them and they do make a recovery, the two of them

have here. You can see the second chick, another chick, not looking

good there. When she comes in to brood this time, there seems to be

something going on with her eye. She doesn't look right. Rethsing an

eye is one thing, but I have -- resting an eye is one thing, but I

have looked at her, and sometime she is is brooding with a wing

stuck out at a weird angle. This was 5.00 and she did come in.

chicks. However, and this is the The male came in and fed one of

them. He's been in again since we have been on air. We are keeping a

very close eye on them. Let's go to them live now. There's the box. If

we go inside the nest now, we can see her - she's - we have one chick

poking its head out, Chris, but at least she is brooding. She looks a

bit more settled. Earlier on, she was looking very uncomfortable.

Let's keep watching. The chick still has energy. What we have to

look at is the feeding rate has decreased whatever today. The big

question remains, I think, have they enough energy to get through

the night particularly if she keeps leaving them cold like this? Yes.

They will need to get through the evening and hopefully get some food

first thing. That other chick is not looking so bright. No, it is

only one of them that is getting the food. The one at the top of the

screen is not as lively. Look, fingers crossed for that last chick.

If it can get through tonight, and if there is a problem with those

adults, if they can get the feeding going in the morning, it might make

it. We will keep... We have bad news down here in the woods. We

have to say just down the road we have some really good news.

Yesterday, we visited the osprey project to see that their eggs were

hatching. The parents have laid three eggs and two of them hatched

yesterday. Fantastic news. It was the first time in 406 years that

ospreys had hatched in this part of the world. This morning, the news

got better. We didn't think that that third egg was actually going

to hatch at all. It was another moment! It was. It hatched and

things got better still. The female, remember this is her first clutch

struggling to feed them yesterday. We were worried would they make it?

11.45, the male brought in a nice fat sea trout. She broke it into

small pieces and successfully fed all three of the chicks. So at the

moment, they are all doing really well. It is just such fantastic

news. I know a guy who is going to be pleased about this. We in our

lifetime have seen a great increase in the number of raptors. I bet

Iolo never thought he would see ospreys in his heartland? What

about that, mate. You must be For a Welsh naturalist like me, it

has to be the best news to come out of Wales for the past 20 years.

Welcome back to Skomer island where it's become a bit blustery. If you

look over St Bride's Bay here, see the oil tankers, beyond them a

storm has hit the mainland. If you think about it, it's been very

difficult for Springwatch to get all of us out here so just for you

at home, we thought we would give you a glimpse of just what it takes

to bring me, the crew and all of It's a big, very complex operation

but it is well worth it. It means that I get back to my favourite

island in the whole world and my friends, the puffins. They are the

only ones that will talk to me! You will know the most common bird on

the island is the Manx shearwater. There are 250,000 birds here, but

by day you don't see them. That is because they are underground in

these burrows. Some of these burrows have been numbered. That is

because there is a great deal of research going on out here at this

very moment. The most important burrow of all is this one, number

26. That is because this is where we have our burrow-cam. Just below

my fingers now is a sitting bird, so let's have a look at some

footage we shot earlier. Here is the bird tidying the nest. They do

bring in nesting material like grass and twigs and make some

attempt to keep it tidy. In fact, we have some shots here from about

2.00am, ten days or so ago. Just look here, the bird is leaving the

burrow. We thought it was for a change-over. It is leaving its egg.

It is doing that to nip outside for a minute, to defecate. They will

incubate that egg for the best part of two months. It would get really

smelly in there if they didn't. Yes, we showed you some footage of Manx

shearwaters fighting over a burrow. We have had a lot of people asking

us what makes a good burrow. It is a good question. Quite a difficult

one to answer. There are many issues here, a couple of them - one

is length. If it is a short burrow, you might get a great black-backed

gull grabbing the chick. The most important thing is to have a

constant temperature. If it is hot or cold, that is no good. For the

development of the egg, it is much better to have a constant

temperature. The Manx shearwaters, they only spend six months of the

year here. Where do they go for the other six months? That is a

question that Tim Gilford has been trying to answer. Yesterday, when

he went out to work, they took me. -- he took me. Which one is it?

It's a funny job you have got, Tim. It is a lovely job. Wow. Look at

that. Fantastic. This probably is the third year we have been

tracking this bird. It has come back to the same burrow? Same

burrow, same mate. This is a little light logging device. It has a

light sensor. This stores information about day length and

time every day of the year. From that, you can work out where the

bird has been and gone? Like the ancient mariners, if you know the

time of dawn and dusk, you know the day length, you can work out where

you are anywhere on Earth. You need to download the data from that.

That is 12 months' data? It is. is like a couple of jump leads.

is downloading now. Excellent. little logger stores information

about whether the bird's leg is submerged in water or whether it is

in the air. So we can start to see how much time these birds spend

resting during the winter, how much time they spend feeding. How much

time they spend flying as well. This is important, isn't it? We

talk about conserving these birds here, but they are only here for a

short time. Most of the time they are on the open ocean? These are

truly ocean-going birds. We are lucky enough to see them for a very

short period, really. Yes. Once the download is complete, Tim and the

team take the bird's vital statistics and there is enough time

for me to get a closer look. If I quickly show you this bird, it's

built for life on the open ocean. The legs are at the back of the

body. That helps to push them along on the water. If you look at the

beak, see these tubes? That is a gland that helps to take salt out

of seawater so they can and do spend months and several years when

they are young out on the open ocean. I really don't want to hold

her any more. I will put her back. Straight back into the nest chamber.

That should be fine. Massive thanks to Tim and Holly. They have gone

off to number crunch so hopefully we will have some exciting results

for you later on. We will be heading for the heart of the island

when you come back to us. Thank you very much, Iolo. We will

have some of our own technology later in the programme. Isn't it

fascinating that those birds not just come back to the same island,

or to the same area, but the same burrow? I know. They will live more

than 30 years and do that for 30 years! Extraordinary. Cutting-edge

stuff from Skomer. As you can see, Chris and I have come down to the

woods and this is where our pied flycatcher nest is. It is just off

to the right of us down through the trees there. Now, I want to check

have we had any news on the pied fly? She's not back. Let's go to

her live now. She's not back. So worrying, Chris? We have the two

chicks still alive, she's been off that nest seven or eight minutes.

It is 8.15. They are still active in the woods. I saw a male, so they

are still out at the moment, possibly hunting, so there is a

chance they will go back and brood them. We will follow that. We will.

Another bird that has been, well he's captured your heart, is of

course Bob our barn owl baby. Let's go live to the owl nest which is

just behind us in a barn and there we are, we can see one of the

chicks there, Chris. But all of them are looking very good. This

view here, you can see they are all looking healthy, dozing at the

moment because they have been stuffed full of food. We have been

watching them and I have to say there is no shortage of food coming

in at all from the adults. They have been stashing it! If we do

have a couple of rough days, really wet, they have got plenty in

reserve to feed the youngsters, so that is a real treat. I have to

tell you, some of you might have seen this at midnight last night,

Bob, your favourite barn owl baby, enjoyed a real feast. Look at this.

We have looked at it very closely. It appears to be an adult male wood

mouse. Everything must go. Look, it's all going down in one thing.

It is the biggest plate of spaghetti with the biggest meatball

at the end of it! It is. It took him a few minutes to get it down.

Three-and-a-half minutes for him to swallow this wood mouse. This is

the thing that made me laugh so much, he is getting the last toe

down his gullet when what happens? Watch this. I know. The adult

arrives. In she comes, it is like, "Oh no, don't make us eat any

more!" It is great news because they did cause all of us, I know it

did you too, a lot of concern when the temperatures rocketed and they

all looked very unhealthy and a bit floppy. As you can see, really

fighting fit now and eating like a good u' u -- like a good 'un. The

thing we have noticed is just how productive they are. They are full

of life, full of birds, insects, which translates into bird food.

Amazing strar that of life here. You have -- strata of life here.

You have everything from the ground upwards. The place is buzzing here

in the daytime. It is. We have a sound recordist working with us

this year, a gentleman by the name of Chris Watson. Old fans of

Springwatch will remember Chris. He likes to get up extremely early in

the morning with his sound equipment and he thought that these

woods would be the perfect place to record a dawn chorus. He proved to

Isn't that just the most glorious sound? I know. It is not unusual to

go out at any time in woodland in early May in the South of England

and hear that sort of noise. By this time, it is only happening as

you go further north. We have still got a bit of it lingering here in

Wales, North of England and Scotland, top tip, if you get any

sunshine, and it is quite still, get up at 3.30. It is worth it. If

you do it once in your life, it will be worth it. Very quick bit of

news. We have heard that the female pied flycatcher is back on the nest.

There she is. Did she feed? Does anyone know? Did she bring in food?

No, she didn't feed. But she is back on the nest. We will keep an

eye on her. OK. From one woodland bird to another, and one which is a

great contributor to the dawn chorus, take a look at this. This

is the wood warbler. Listen to this. An exquisite song. We have the

grasshopper warbler, which has an amazing song, but is a bit dowdy.

This one ticks both boxes. Another first for Springwatch. Now that

very bird that you saw there was a male, it was filmed by Mark Yates,

the sound recorded by our wonderful Chris Watson and that was a male

attending this nest. Let's go to it live. We have, for the first time

on Springwatch, a wood warbler's nest. It is tucked away. It is like

a little tunnel down in the moss and in that tiny little hideaway

there were six eggs, they have all hatched and, Chris, isn't this the

most delightful family? It is. They have been coming back 48 times an

hour and feeding these chicks. In the space of a week, those chicks

will weigh the same as an adult. way! They will. Because they are

nesting on the ground, which is quite vulnerable, they need to be

ready to go to perhaps erupt out of the nest if they are disturbed so

they need to be big and strong to do that. They won't leave unless

they are disturbed until about 12 days. They will weigh more than the

adult by then. That is incredible. Chris is right. It has been like

watching a relay, with both adults coming in-and-out and maybe because

it is quite buggy at this time in the evening, this is prime hunting

time. Chris Watson, the sound recordist. He's a real champion of

sound, a man who loves it as much as most people love looking at

things. There is one species he has not been able to get close to,

until this spring when he went out to do just that. Wooh! Wooh! I get

to travel the world recording the voices of nature. There is one

animal that is special to me that has a really spectacular call

during its breeding season and I have always wanted to record it but

I have never managed to get my microphones close enough to the

action. This animal lives right on my doorstep here in Northumberland.

It has a special connection with the coastline, it goes back over

1,000 years. I have come to meet the Reverend Westmoreland who I

hope can tell me some more. They there are, Cuddy's ducks. Cuthbert

lived on the islands just offshore here. That's right. They are the

best thing about that window, really. Traditionally, it is

understood that Cuthbert got the birds so tame on Inner Farne that

they would come to his hand. fact, Cuthbert grew so fond of the

Eider ducks he decreed they should be officially protected. We think

it is the first example in history of man safeguarding an animal.

There are over 1,500 pairs of Eider ducks that live along the

Northumberland coast. Eiders are true sea ducks in that they spend

most of their life out on the open sea. At this time of year, the end

of February, they return to the coast ready for the breeding season.

I know now it is my best opportunity to get close to these

Eider ducks whilst they are courting. It is the males that make

this wonderful cooing call to attract the females and it is that

mating call I am so keen to record. I'm meeting Paul Morrison who is

going to help me track down the Eider ducks. We plan to head out

around the coast but amazingly these Eider ducks seem to be all

around us right here in the marina. It is amazing. I have got on the

boat and we are surrounded by Eiders, males and females. It is

beautifully calm and quiet and still, so perfect recording

conditions without going out there. Listen to that. I have seen these

birds and I have heard them in the far distance. I have never been

close enough to record it in close perspective. Listen to that. Using

a pair of very small microphones, I'm hoping to get some real close

intimate recordings. So quiet please, recording. COOING That is

fantastic. Doesn't get any better than that. They were so close I

The male Eider ducks don't just rely on their voice to attract the

females, they make sure they look good, too. At this time of year,

their breeding plumage is stunning. Look at these birds in close-up.

The green on their neck, the pitch- black on their head and sides so

you can hardly see their eyes. This beautiful rosy hue on their chest.

The females are very well camouflaged and not very impressed

with the boys' earths. Just what a great sound when you hear it so

close. It is like nothing else. -- boys' efforts. Just what a great

sound when you hear it so close. It is like nothing else. So rich.

Glorious birds. It is a glorious sound. It is. The males are

stunning. That green... It is the only bird I can properly

impersonate. COOING Anyone could do it! Will you stop? You may remember

if you were watching last week, the three of us set ourselves a

challenge to see if we could capture some exciting mammals on

these camera traps so I put one down by the river to see if I could

get an otter. Martin tried in the woods to try and get a stoat or a

weasel. Chris... I got a pole- dancing squirrel! He put it at the

bottom of the bird feeder which doesn't count. Can I tell you...

You did cheat! I didn't. No, I didn't. How did I cheat? Look, look,

it may be a little bit hard to see, but there are two dark animals, two,

TWO, there, and that is enough evidence to send Mark Yates

scampering to the side of the river and this is what he caught on

camera. Absolutely glorious images of not one otter, but TWO and THREE

otters. This is a mum and cubs and I love this scene. I know, Chris,

you are going to diss what I am saying. It looks like they are just

enjoying a play in that sparkly sunshine. They are. They are

probably, you are going to tell me, she is teaching them how to hunt.

It might look like a painting, but they are diving down to the bottom

and there they will encounter prey as they are learning about where it

lives and they might have a nibble at it. Whatever! But I have so won

that competition. Thank you, Mark. Look, we have been neglecting one

of our cameras. Which one? badger-cam. Shall we have a look?

Let us have a look at what it has been getting. Is this a badger?

Surely. No, it is a small fox cub, Chris. A bit of a surprise. Here is

the - what was that, a bat? A mouse. About to be nailed! It is eating an

insect or a beetle. Are you ready? Here is the most exciting bit. Look

carefully. It's the magic of mustard lids, the wonders of

weasels. Fantastic to see that. So... Enough of badger-cam. Let's

cut to the real action. The best thing on Springwatch this year

without a doubt. It is snake-cam. Look what we got today. A slow worm.

Not a worm, really. It is a lizard without legs. It is, indeed. You

see them on compost heaps. They go for the same reason that the snakes

are there. It is heading dangerously close to the grass

snake. Is there any threat to it? No grass snakes won't eat these.

They are amphibian and fish-feeders. They will take the odd small mammal.

Smooth snakes would have gobbled this up. This slow worm is safe.

you think there is any advantage to it being in the same compost heap

with a lot of grass snakes is there safety in numbers? Sadly not if the

buzzard is around! As we have seen. Look, let's get to the snakes. Look

at what we have seen also with our female snakes here. This is

fascinating. Somewhere between 10 and 40 eggs, it is difficult to say

how many snakes. Mark thought he saw 20 at once. You can imagine the

mass of eggs down in there. There's some head twitching going on. That

is the males. They twitch their heads. Here is a male beside a

female. It is a narrower head. The females are more robust. Mating

should have finished in April. They have come here to lay the eggs as a

result of that. The males are just curious. Look at this. They will

twitch like that and they are scenting to see if there is a

female still left there. One left. Why not? Come in and try! Look at

that. It is a fantastic vision to get, that camera. I have big hopes

next year for our first wood lice- cam! Shall we recap the quiz?

Let's have another look. What are these? Most importantly, what bird

that we have featured is associated with these? Let's have a look. Can

we have a look at some answers? That was a unfortunate close-up of

that watch! It's a beauty. Stickleback nests. Kingfishers love

them. Not quite right. Allison, "Little bones from a barn owl

spraint." Pellets. Could be. Lots of people think barn owl pellets.

Lots of people have got it right. Already! We will give you the

answer for those of you who haven't guessed later in the programme. Now,

let's go back to Skomer and to Iolo Williams. Welcome back to Skomer

island. So far, we have concentrated on the birds and we

have neglected the mammals. One mammal in particular. If you walk

around the island, you are sure to see rabbits. There is one just

behind me as I speak. I have been coming to the island for over 25

years and I have never seen rabbit population as high as it is now.

It's cyclical, it will build-up and it is hit by RHV and then there is

a crash and the recovery begins all over again. It was introduced here

600 years ago. It was farmed for its fur and its meat but today, the

rabbit has an important role in the ecology of the island. The puffins

generally ignore the rabbits, but they will nest in old rabbit

burrows and other birds benefit, too. The rabbits graze the grass

very short and this keeps the ground clear for some ground-

nesting birds. There is a downside to all these rabbits. It's been so

dry this year that the grass has been struggling for water and then

the rabbits can overgraze. So a high population of rabbits can lead

to overgrazing. Look at this patch on my left. This can lead to

erosion. When the population crashes, that gives the vegetation,

it gives the grass that opportunity to recover. Nowadays, all you have

living here is a handful of wardens and a few research staff. They live

in this building here. If you look back into the past, man has had a

significant impact here on the island and the evidence is in the

plants. What do I mean? Come over here and have a look at this. This

is a bluebell and it gives us a clue to the past. It's spring, the

island is carpeted with huge fields of bluebells. It's a beautiful

sight but unusual. Bluebells are a woodland plant and this shows us

that Skomer was once wooded and those woods were cut down by people.

There have been people on Skomer for perhaps as long as 5,000 years.

You could still see the remains of ancient field walls and farm

buildings today. And can you believe this, there are so many

Manx shearwaters, the people used to plough the birds into the soil

as fertiliser. What a place this must have been to live!

Isn't it amazing to think one time this was all woodland. Now of

course, it is an artificial habitat, but none the less still beautiful,

just because it is man-made doesn't mean to say it can't be stunning

because after all, we are part of this ecosystem. I referred to

bluebells earlier. The wood has gone but the bluebells still need

shade and this it gets from bracken that covers large swathes of the

island. Have a look at this, another Springwatch first. Believe

it or not, there is an owl in this shot. There it is. That is a short-

eared owl - beautifully camouflaged. We have been following these birds

for the last month or so. They hunt mostly during the daytime and they

really are lovely flyers. It is a very buoyant moth-like flight.

Generally, short-eared owls only breed on moorland in the north of

Britain. You get 20 or 30 breeding pairs on the Welsh mainland but on

Skomer they get four pairs breeding every year on average. They are

adept at hunting. They have amazing eyesight but their hearing is very

good. That dish-shaped face helps carry sound to them. Look at that.

Amazing precision to go in there and catch the small prey. What a

gorgeous bird, incredibly buoyant. It reminds me of the old vampire

films when you had a plastic bat, that is a short-eared owl. What are

they hunting? They are hunting a unique mammal. We will spoil you

here because when cou come back later, we will not only -- when you

come back later, we will not only show you the mammal, we will show

you a short-eared owl's nest. Well worth waiting for. You will know

that many of the pairs of birds, the individual pairs, have been

suffering their own trials and tribulations. Of course, out there,

in the wider countryside, entire species are suffering this. One of

them is a bird that's very close to If there is one defining sound of

spring, then this is it, the call of the cuckoo. You know, over the

last 25 years, cuckoo numbers have been declining drastically. They

are now down by 65% and this was made really evident in 2009 when

our Springwatch viewers let us know how few they were hearing in one of

our biggest surveys yet. The problem doesn't seem to be with the

cuckoo's host species, birds like the Reed warbler, their population

seems to be stable. Maybe it is not down to a lack of their favourite

food either. So what is going wrong? We have to find out because

this species is in very serious decline. You might wonder why we

haven't found out where they are going in the winter. 6,000 cuckoos

have been ringed. We have only had one ringing recovery from sub-

Saharan Africa. They are all important and critical wintering

grounds. The one UK bird went to Cameroon. We need to find out more

about these birds, when they disappear from Britain. To do that,

the British Trust for Ornithology have put this in the hands of a

fantastic scientist, Chris Hewson. We are hoping the cuckoo is going

to fly towards the lure. When it does that, it will be so keen on

getting there that it will fly into the net without seeing it. We will

put tags on them to track their migration. They are not limited by

battery life. We are hoping to track the birds for at least a year,

or two years. The cuckoo's annual cycle is so poorly known, we

haven't got an idea of what might be happening in Europe and by

tracking their migration, we are hoping we can learn more about what

they need at different times of the year and how their annual cycle

fits together so we can work out what might be the causes of their

decline. If we don't find out what is going on, and hopefully find a

way of doing something about it, we could see the cuckoos becoming

extinct. Those gadgets don't come cheap. They cost �2,500 each. I can

also tell you, that you might have contributed to the funding. The BBC

wildlife fund put up �20,000 into this project and also it's been

helped by Essex and Suffolk Water. We will find out so much and so

quickly if we can track these birds. They have named a couple after

myself and Martin. Chris has moved from up here down to the coast of

Sussex here. Martin has moved from here in central East Anglia to

Norfolk and that is as far as he's gone so far. I know you are fond of

Norfolk, but isn't it time you started migrating?! I'm resting

there. I am building up my reserves. I will leap into the lead!

slightly disappointed there is no Kate! What is fascinating, a third

cuckoo was hanging about at the beginning of last week near the BTO

headquarters in Norfolk. On Thursday, he went offline. Then on

Sunday he popped up about 100 miles south of Paris. Amazing. I thought

it was an aberration. He's a one- year-old cuckoo and he has started

migrating early. Fantastic. We can follow their progress. We can

follow their progress on the website. You can follow the cuckoos

to who knows where. We have come out to admire our bird feeder that

is feeding a squirrel. How many people recognise that particular

sight! That is Chris's pole-dancing squirrel. Martin, you have been

doing a little bit of digging around. We always say you should

feed your birds. I feed my birds. I know you do, too. Chris does his.

But are we doing the right thing? had quite a shock earlier this year.

I read a paper and sometimes it is good to challenge even your most

cherished beliefs. I expect that you like me probably feed the birds

that come into your garden. It is a lovely thing to do. Have we all

been making a huge mistake? Are we actually helping the birds by

feeding them, or are we actually Last year, some researchers

published that showed that when-of- you fed bluetits and great tits,

they produced less chicks. Shocking research. So is it really such a

good thing to feed our garden birds? To get some answers, I'm

going to meet the man that carried out the study. Tim, a great

privilege to meet the author of this paper that gave me such a

terrible shock. Have I been doing the wrong thing, feeding the birds

in my garden? Absolutely not. However, what this study shows up

is that there can be some affects of feeding that we weren't

expecting and we are trying to work out why that might sometimes happen.

How come it looked like the breeding success went down when you

fed these birds? So, this study was conducted at the University of

Birmingham. We would have liked to have conducted this study in

gardens. We studied the birds in the woodland. Our surrogate garden

birds were bluetits and great tits. Some received extra food. What we

found surprisingly was that the fed birds laid slightly smaller

clutchers than those that hadn't received any extra food. That was

the shock. The clutch size went down! Yes. I think that what we

need to do is to consider this in context. The majority of food

studies have shown a positive effect. We still need to find out a

bit more about this. The weight of evidence suggests that keep on

feeding your birds because it is likely to have a positive effect on

their breeding and survival over the winter period. Phew. It seems

the results are an aberration. Perhaps because the birds are

already in a food-rich woodland. Over half of UK households now feed

garden birds and the figures are astonishing. The industry has grown

from nothing to be worth over �200 million. Chris has researched and

developed wild bird food for 25 years. He has his own explanation

for the odd results of Tim's research. What was happening was

something we have been saying for years, don't feed birds and put

nestboxs in the same place. The birds in the supplementary feather

area were having to defend their territories therefore didn't look

after their chicks as well, didn't produce as many and that is what

happened. So what is the lesson for me as someone who loves to feed

birds in the garden from that study? What should I do more of or

less of? Put your feeders out. Put nestboxs as far away from the

feeders as you can. Chris's explanation seems plausible. This

has raised all sorts of other questions for me. Does feeding

birds in our gardens attract predators? I have some interesting

news for you. There is no explicit link between feeding birds and...

Wait a minute... With lots of birds coming in, it is creating almost a

honeypot for predators. Yeah. we find is that by providing a

reliable, regular food resource, it means many of them can pick and

choose when they feed. They are choosing the safest times to feed.

But here is another thought. Could the bird feed itself be harming the

environment in ways we hadn't previously thought of? We are

buying all this food for our birds. But it is coming from all around

the world. These are Chinese. Whereabouts are these ones from?

Nicaragua. The carbon footprint must be enormous? It is

surprisingly little because they come in by ship. We try and source

as much as we can in the UK. Peanuts don't grow successfully in

the UK. Having looked at all the issues, the positives seem to far

outweigh the negatives. The 50,000 tonnes of seed we put out every

year are helping British birds. Black caps, bluetits and goldfinchs

have all increased in recent decades. All things considered, it

is still an excellent idea to feed your garden birds. My life would be

much the poorer without that stream of colour, the characters, the

drama that the feeders bring. What a relief! I thought I was

going to have to ditch my feeders. I was really worried. The wonderful

thing about bird feeders, it is like lazy birdwatching. You see

more species - I saw bramblings because they came to the feeders.

If there are any concerns that you have about feeding birds, or you

want any advice, go to bbc.co.uk/springwatch. I know there

are some of you who must find what we just said really irritating...

Not you! You are not online and you don't use the internet. We do get

lots of letters saying, "I don't use it." If you would like to start

using the internet, getting on the web, there is a campaign called the

First Click Campaign and there is a telephone number you can ring. What

is the telephone number? It is One more time - 08000 150 950.

Excellent idea. If you do get online, it means you can send in

lovely films like this one that was sent in by David Denton. The great

tits in his household get so large they get stuck! I love that. That

is very good. Please keep your footage coming in. We want them!

Shall we answer the quiz? We should. Here we go. One more look at them.

Remember, what are they? They are caddisfly larvae. Now, and...

is amazing. Which of our Springwatch characters are

associated with those? Have a look at this film and you will get the

answer immediately. It is of course our dippers. There is the adult.

She is removing a caddisfly from the shell of it to feed to the

chick. There, you can see it. can just see it. There is a better

shot coming up. There you are. Fantastic. So, Martin, who got it

right? Becky, the answers, please. Ian Fletcher on Twitter. Let's head

back for the promise of some wonderful things on Skomer. Welcome

back to Skomer. I have found myself a lovely seat here hidden amongst

the bracken. Earlier, we introduced you to the short-eared owl. I asked

what was it hunting? It is hunting a mammal that feeds on bracken. The

man who took me to meet this animal, Tim Healey, has been studying it

for a very long time. We are coming on to the study area I have been

using for a good many years now. Let's see what we have got. What we

have got is an adult male vole. Slightly lighter colour on the back.

This is the Skomer vole? That's right, the Skomer bank vole.

this a unique species? It is a sub- species. We only found this one

here on the island. It is not sufficiently different to the one

on the mainland to be a different species! Where have these come

from? We don't know. They were probably introduced by man at some

point since the last Ice Age. They must have been here a good long

time. They have been here long enough to be a sub-species but not

long enough to be a separate species? That's right. They are

quite calm in the hand. This is thought to be because the only

predators here are birds. There is no ground-living predators. If

birds are hunting you, you stay still. Do you know how many Skomer

voles we have got on the island? have done surveys of the whole

island. We estimate it at around 25,000 animals. A healthy

population? Yes. They are doing fine. Remarkably tame this one.

Want to have a go with him? Yes, if he will come on my hand. This is

the first time I have seen a live one. You have been coming out to

Skomer for a long, long time to do this work? This is my 41st year

here. I did my PhD on this little animal. What are you learning now?

What we are after is numbers. should let the young chappy here go.

I will give you the honour. Thank you. We will see if he will head

off. A huge thank you there to Tim. I bet all of you at home went "ahh".

Now, that has got to be one of the longest running small mammal

surveys anywhere in the UK. Fair play to Tim, he does it in his

spare time. The vole is one of four mammals found on the island. The

rabbit, the wood mouse and the common shrew. It may be because of

a lack of competition that vole numbers are so high here on the

island. They are five times higher than vole numbers on the mainland.

Good for the vole and good for a vole-hunting specialist like the

short-eared owl. We have given you a lot of special things from Skomer.

This is really special. Our wildlife cameramen have been busy

and have pinpointed the owl's nest. Thanks to a special licence from

the Countryside Council for Wales, we have been able to put a hidden

camera on that nest. Have a look at this. Look at that. That cave-like

nest hidden away in amongst the bracken and the gorse. There are

the chicks with their lovely black faces. An adult coming in here with

a vole. The male passing the vole to the female and in there, I think

she's got five chicks in all. We will have a better look now. There

she is with that vole. That is a Skomer vole. That will break Tim's

heart! But when there's plentiful supply of food - and they stack

them around the edge of the nest. If we see the chicks, they will

come in - there they are. There is the biggest one. You have Bob the

barn owl. That ate a wood mouse in two-and-a-half minutes. This one

ate the Skomer vole in almost exactly five minutes. Gobbling that

is the equivalent of me shoving a whole Welsh lamb in my mouth! You

see the other chicks, they are huddled together for warmth. I have

seen quite a few short-eared owl nests and I have to tell you that

really is one of the koziest. It is safe, out of the -- cosiest. It is

safe, out of the wind and out of the rain. What a fantastic bird and

what wonderful footage. Unfortunately, that is all we have

time for from Skomer tonight. Let's have one last look around here. You

see St Bride's Bay. A last tourist boat coming round to see the

puffins. All the puffins massed here. There is a gull walking

around hoping to pick up a few fish, or maybe a small puffin. We will

see that. Our cameraman, Steve, has taken a few shots. What are you

getting? A few last shots of the puffin. The sea parrot with its

bright red blue and yellow bill and that tear-like eye. Well, we will

be learning more about the puffins tomorrow. I will be diving below

the waves over there so for now, from Skomer island, puffin paradise,

back to you in Ynyshir. Thank you very much. I think he

outowled us! Those owls were fantastic! Those chicks have such a

beautiful face. Let's go and look at some of our live cameras. It is

getting dark and we can look at our grasshopper warbler nest. There we

are. There she is! A quick last look at our heron. There they are.

Buzzards? Look at the chick, it is enormous! I was watching, it's just

enjoyed a rabbit supper! With chips?! Sorry. We will keep an eye

on all of our cameras. You can do that by going to our website -

bbc.co.uk/springwatch. Tomorrow, our show starts at 7.30. A Bute of

a bird, a bird with a bill that strikes -- a brute of a bird, a

bird with a bill that strikes fear. We will be bringing you the latest