:00:12. > :00:18.It's Wednesday, so that means... We've got 90 whole minutes of
:00:18. > :00:24.wonderful wildlife. Including punk herons. A gluttonous buzzard And an
:00:24. > :00:34.insect that builds its own disguise. And that and this little guy too.
:00:34. > :00:59.
:00:59. > :01:05.Hello and welcome to Springwatch, coming to you from the beautiful
:01:05. > :01:08.wooded slopes of the RSPB reserve in Wales. Tonight we've got all the
:01:08. > :01:14.usual ingredients, the best of British wildlife coming to you live
:01:14. > :01:19.in real time. You can't beat that, so stay tuned. If you were watching
:01:19. > :01:25.yesterday, you watched an extraordinary draum yawn fold in
:01:25. > :01:29.our pied flycatcher nest. What happened today? We'll tell you
:01:29. > :01:38.later in the programme. We need your help to solve a mystery, what
:01:38. > :01:43.is scaring our barn owls? The spiky quiffs and the naughty undertones
:01:43. > :01:47.of these herons are going to allow to us bring fantastic music into
:01:47. > :01:53.the show a bit later on. They're teenagers and they kick each other,
:01:53. > :01:58.that's a clue. Normally at this time, I'm setting a quiz for you.
:01:58. > :02:02.We're going to do it differently tonight. We'd like you to ask us
:02:02. > :02:05.questions. If there's any question, any question about anything that
:02:05. > :02:12.comes up tonight, then ask us. We'll try to answer the questions
:02:12. > :02:16.live as it happens. What can you do? Ask them on the web, on Twitter
:02:17. > :02:20.or on our Facebook site. Get them coming in. If we can't answer them
:02:20. > :02:27.on this programme, we'll try to answer them on Unsprung. Talking of
:02:27. > :02:32.that, hop it. Get it ready. I hope he'll leave a trail of breadcrumbs.
:02:33. > :02:38.As well as all, that we have got everybody's Welshman Iolo Williams
:02:38. > :02:42.on an island not too far from here. Welcome to magnificent Skomer
:02:42. > :02:46.Island. Today is United Nations world oceans day, when we should
:02:46. > :02:50.all be celebrating the wealth of our seas. That's exactly what we're
:02:50. > :02:56.going to be doing here on Skomer as well as catching up with our
:02:56. > :03:00.puffins. We're looking forward to that. If
:03:00. > :03:03.you were watching last night's programme, you'll know that we had
:03:03. > :03:08.a very real drama here. Some of the birds that we've been watching over
:03:08. > :03:11.the last couple of weeks, well, they got into all sorts of trouble.
:03:11. > :03:14.It was our pied flycatchers and It was our pied flycatchers and
:03:14. > :03:19.this is what we saw happening until last night. This was the female.
:03:19. > :03:24.She had been looking, not entirely well. Her chicks were OK. She was
:03:24. > :03:29.feeding them. Then she left them for a long time. Sadly one of those
:03:29. > :03:32.chicks perished. She came back with food. Sadly she left them for so
:03:32. > :03:38.long that they'd got rather chilled. As you could see they weren't
:03:38. > :03:42.taking the food then. The male came in and tried to feed. Sadly another
:03:42. > :03:47.chick had died. By the end of last night's programme we just had two
:03:47. > :03:51.of the four chicks surviving. However, we finished the programme
:03:51. > :03:55.feeling cautiously optimistic because the male had been in and
:03:55. > :04:01.fed and the female was still brooding them, but in the middle of
:04:01. > :04:06.the night, she started to lock a bit twitchy, as you can see here.
:04:06. > :04:08.She left the chicks again. Now this was very bad news. She shouldn't
:04:08. > :04:14.have been leaving them in the middle of the night, particularly
:04:14. > :04:17.if they were already feeling a little bit cold. She was back.
:04:17. > :04:21.Still brooding. We kept everything crossed that maybe they were OK.
:04:21. > :04:26.But as you can see here, this was this morning. Three chick has died
:04:26. > :04:30.and one was looking very, very unhealthy indeed. On the brink. She
:04:30. > :04:33.continued to come in. She's got food. Obviously they're not at this
:04:33. > :04:37.stage able to appeal for that food. She has nothing to do with it. She
:04:37. > :04:40.tried to brood them. I'm afraid that the last chick had frankly,
:04:40. > :04:45.run out of energy and despite the fact this she was now trying to
:04:45. > :04:49.keep it warm, when we looked at them at about 6.30am, it had died.
:04:49. > :04:53.This is what's happened through the rest of the day. Both parents are
:04:53. > :04:57.confused by what's happened in here. She's continued to come in and
:04:57. > :05:01.brood them. The male has been in and out a couple of times. But
:05:01. > :05:06.sadly, those chicks have finished and the nest is over for this year
:05:06. > :05:12.at least. It is a great tragedy, nobody wants to watch the great
:05:12. > :05:15.loss of an entire family like that. The confusing thing is that we've
:05:15. > :05:18.seen chicks die over the years. We've been doing Springwatch for a
:05:18. > :05:22.very long time. It's just one of those things that happened, but
:05:22. > :05:29.they seemed so robust, when we first met this family. They do. I
:05:29. > :05:35.have to tell you that 30% of all the pied flycatcher broods that
:05:35. > :05:39.hatch are destined to fail before they fledge. Weather is one
:05:39. > :05:45.contender for why. We haven't had weather that's too rough. It hasn't
:05:45. > :05:50.affected the abundance of food. The adult washlers have been in and out
:05:50. > :05:54.with food. The female's body weight, goes back a few days, as to when
:05:54. > :05:58.the male wasn't attending. You think, she's got a lot of energy
:05:58. > :06:02.into producing this. She'd laid the eggs, sat there brooding them, unk
:06:02. > :06:05.baiting them until they've hatched. Not able to feed at maximum
:06:05. > :06:10.efficiency. What she was hoping for is that as soon as they hatched,
:06:10. > :06:15.the male would help out, so she could build up her reserves again.
:06:15. > :06:19.But it didn't happen. If the male had been more atentive, she could
:06:19. > :06:23.have fed herself. The chicks would be carrying on being fed by the
:06:23. > :06:28.male. Instead, she had this huge pressure to keep the chicks fed,
:06:28. > :06:31.but at the same time, was losing weight herself, needing to feed
:06:31. > :06:35.herself, which meant that she left the chicks for longer periods.
:06:35. > :06:40.they got chilled. In the end she's going to make the decision that she
:06:40. > :06:44.looks after herself. She's an adult breeding member of the population,
:06:44. > :06:48.that's the most valuable part of any population. She had to feed
:06:48. > :06:52.herself up and as a result, the chicks have sadly been sacrificed
:06:52. > :06:56.this year. Fingers crossed she'll be back this year and successfully
:06:56. > :07:02.rear a brood. That nest was full of bad news but we had fascinating
:07:02. > :07:06.behaviour in another nest. This is what we saw last night. Our barn
:07:06. > :07:10.owls were coming back to the nest with plenty of food. There's voles
:07:10. > :07:14.and mice being brought in. When this one comes in, they kick off at
:07:14. > :07:19.something. This is very, very strange. The chicks are looking
:07:19. > :07:25.like there's a threat out there. Then the female or adult bird, at
:07:25. > :07:31.least, is making this really distinct warning or alarm call,
:07:31. > :07:34.very typical of barn owls. This hissing, they will also go into a
:07:34. > :07:40.powerful display. They fold their wings forward and sway from side to
:07:41. > :07:45.side if they get really upset. You can also hear a clicking sound that
:07:45. > :07:49.the chicks and adults are making. This is typical of tawny owls and
:07:49. > :07:53.barn owls. What's really interesting is that she is clearly
:07:53. > :07:59.looking at something, there is something and unfortunately
:07:59. > :08:03.whatever that something is or was was out of sight of our cameras. We
:08:03. > :08:08.just didn't know what she was looking at, but then we remembered
:08:08. > :08:13.something that the story developers recorded last week. Have a look at
:08:13. > :08:23.this, it's the chicks and they are making that same sort of alarm call,
:08:23. > :08:24.
:08:24. > :08:28.just listen to this: (HISS) You can see again fixated on something, as
:08:28. > :08:32.is the adult bird. They're looking down out of the window. They're not
:08:32. > :08:36.looking at the camera. It sounds like they're trying to inflate a
:08:36. > :08:41.Zeppelin or something. This is antagonistic behaviour. Something
:08:41. > :08:50.is outside. If you were listening carefully, just before they got
:08:50. > :08:55.agitated can you hear this sound... That might have been the thing that
:08:55. > :08:59.set them off. I honestly don't know what that sound is. We've asked
:08:59. > :09:06.everyone around here. None of the other tholjists know what it is
:09:06. > :09:12.either. Frankly, if you do, let us know.
:09:12. > :09:18.Do you think you know what that is that might have antagonised those
:09:18. > :09:23.chicks? Contact us on the website. You could contact us via Twitter or
:09:23. > :09:27.the Facebook pace as well. Now we've got a bit of news about the
:09:27. > :09:35.Ospreys. We certainly have. Great news, as you saw yesterday. For the
:09:35. > :09:39.first time in more than 447 -- 400 years three chicks have hatched.
:09:39. > :09:43.They've been fed today Kate. They were worried about them. It was a
:09:43. > :09:48.first time breeder this parent. They've all been fed and doing
:09:48. > :09:52.really well. We will keep you updated. We will. Now as Iolo
:09:52. > :09:56.Williams said, it is world ocean day today. He is going to be
:09:56. > :10:03.celebrating the beauty of the seas around Britain. Let's just remind
:10:03. > :10:07.you where he is. We're just off the coast of mid-Wales. He's a little
:10:07. > :10:11.bit further south, just off the tip of the coast. If you want to be
:10:11. > :10:17.more precise, he is extractly at that point there.
:10:17. > :10:22.Over to you. Warm welcome back here to Skomer
:10:22. > :10:27.Island, where it has been a stunning day. I've escaped for a
:10:27. > :10:30.while. I've come down to north while. I've come down to north
:10:30. > :10:34.haven to this lovely beach. This is probably the most cosy and peaceful
:10:34. > :10:39.part of the whole island. It's also a wonderful place for me
:10:39. > :10:44.to introduce you to Skomer's amazing marine life. Now the seas
:10:44. > :10:48.around the island and the nearby Marlowe's peninsula, are one of
:10:48. > :10:52.only three marine nature reserves in the whole of the UK and
:10:52. > :10:56.deservedly so. The strong currents and upWellings mix nutrients into a
:10:56. > :11:01.soup. You have the gulf stream, this warm current of water that
:11:01. > :11:05.comes all the way from the Caribbean. This is where it hits
:11:05. > :11:10.Europe. You have a mixture of cold water loving species and species
:11:10. > :11:13.that we would generally associate with the Mediterranean. When I had
:11:13. > :11:23.the opportunity to go diving beneath the waves, I grasped it
:11:23. > :11:31.
:11:31. > :11:36.thing is under water might not be as clear as I'd like it to be. When
:11:36. > :11:46.the visibility is good, it is out of this world, but I'm just hoping
:11:46. > :11:59.
:11:59. > :12:04.the murk in the water is tiny particles of food that most of the
:12:04. > :12:13.animals here feed on. The sheer variety of creatures and colours
:12:13. > :12:18.down here is just mind blowing. This is a sea cucumber and the
:12:18. > :12:24.whole floor here is covered with them. Spider crab here. This is a
:12:24. > :12:30.small one. They can grow to be a metre across and more.
:12:30. > :12:33.But a lot of the animals that Skomer's rich in could easily be
:12:33. > :12:41.taken for plants at first sight. They're brightly coloured and don't
:12:41. > :12:46.move. They wait for the currents of the sea to bring their food to them.
:12:46. > :12:54.These are yellow anemones, one of several species found around the
:12:54. > :13:04.coast of Skomer. They simply grow another anemone, hence the carpet
:13:04. > :13:17.
:13:17. > :13:22.Ross coral or a potato crisp rhyosome. It's a series of minute
:13:22. > :13:26.creatures living together. You can see a pale fuzz along the service,
:13:26. > :13:30.those are the tentacles filtering these nutrients out of the water
:13:30. > :13:34.and these other things are able to flourish here on Skomer because it
:13:34. > :13:37.is a protected area. There's no trawling with nets, there are no
:13:38. > :13:44.boats mooring everywhere. These are beautiful, but very, very fragile
:13:44. > :13:53.too. But there was one animal above all
:13:53. > :14:00.the others that I wanted to see. This is the pink sea fan, usually
:14:00. > :14:04.associated with warmer waters. It's at the northern edge of its range.
:14:05. > :14:11.It gives the place a tropical feel to it. It's a soft coral, quite
:14:11. > :14:16.fragile. It will bend with the swell. They say this in cold water
:14:16. > :14:24.grows at most a centimetre every year. This must be 50, 60 years old
:14:24. > :14:31.here. Wrapped in it is a dog fish egg case. Look at that.
:14:31. > :14:41.Every square sentiment -- centimetre of rock is covers in
:14:41. > :14:49.
:14:49. > :14:53.It's like diving in tropical waters. Some of the things I've seen down
:14:53. > :14:57.there, I've never seen before and I never, ever thought you'd find them
:14:57. > :15:07.here off the seas of Skomer. It's an incredible place. If you get the
:15:07. > :15:11.
:15:11. > :15:16.I have to tell you that was a wonderful experience. A huge thank
:15:16. > :15:21.you to Phil and the marine nature reserve team there and, of course,
:15:21. > :15:25.rich seas mean a rich Skomer island. When you come back to us, we are
:15:25. > :15:31.not going to stay on dry land and wait for the puffins to come to us.
:15:31. > :15:35.Oh no, we are going to go out there to look for the puffins.
:15:35. > :15:40.How wonderful, I have to say I was extremely jealous of that dive. It
:15:40. > :15:45.looked fantastic. Getting cold and wet in Welsh water! The wildlife
:15:45. > :15:51.and the animals and plants there are mind-blowing. We look forward
:15:51. > :15:54.to joining Iolo later. We have come down to what we are calling heron
:15:54. > :15:58.point. The studio is half a kilometre back there. We are here
:15:58. > :16:03.and beyond the trees over there is where our herons are. You can't
:16:03. > :16:09.quite see the nest because of the foliage but we can cut to them live.
:16:09. > :16:15.Let's see what they're up to. are getting fairly typical views of
:16:15. > :16:20.this. We see two hunched young herons looking, well, a little bit
:16:20. > :16:24.brassed off with the weather. They're sulking really. Their heads
:16:24. > :16:28.are are under their wings. They're going to stay nice and warm.
:16:28. > :16:33.They've been very active. They have been very active. They don't just
:16:33. > :16:37.sit hunched lying that all day long. Have a look at what they've been up
:16:37. > :16:43.to over the last day or so. As you can see, one looks like it's
:16:43. > :16:48.just taken off and fledged, but, Chris, both of them have really
:16:48. > :16:54.been trying out their wings and amazing legs. They are jumping
:16:54. > :16:57.right up and about in the trees, using air currents to help them
:16:57. > :17:00.because they're not accomplished fliers. They keep coming back to
:17:00. > :17:04.the nest, this is where they're getting the food from the adult and
:17:04. > :17:11.they know they're safe from predators. But they're great little
:17:11. > :17:19.characters these herons, I like them. I like the quiff. You have a
:17:19. > :17:23.still a bit... -- a style a bit. used to be. This has inspired us,
:17:23. > :17:31.we thought why not play the greatest pop record of all time, as
:17:31. > :17:41.defined by John Peel and underlined by the Undertones, I give you
:17:41. > :17:48.
:17:48. > :17:53.# A teenager dreams so hard to beat # Every time she walks down the
:17:53. > :17:56.street # Another girl in the neighbourhood
:17:56. > :18:03.# Wish she was mine, she looks so good
:18:03. > :18:13.# I wanna hold you, hold you tight # Get teenager kicks right through
:18:13. > :18:25.
:18:25. > :18:32.Nothing beats that! Not my choice, Kevin Carter suggested that one
:18:32. > :18:36.actually. Did he? Well done Kevin. Exhausted! Now, they haven't just
:18:36. > :18:41.been falling around in the nest, there is the serious business of
:18:41. > :18:45.learning how to feed. Our wildlife cameraman caught this wonderful bit
:18:46. > :18:50.of behaviour, these are our fledgeling herons, doing what they
:18:50. > :18:53.do best, stabbing those great beaks into it's water to find food. But
:18:53. > :18:56.not very successfully. No, they're getting bits of grass and weed and
:18:56. > :19:01.mud at the moment. But what will happen is they'll probably follow
:19:01. > :19:06.the adults to an area where there is a rich supply of food and the
:19:06. > :19:10.side of a small fish will catch air air attention -- will catch their
:19:10. > :19:13.attention. They'll realise the reward is sa meal for themselves.
:19:13. > :19:16.It's a case of practice makes perfect and I am glad to see
:19:16. > :19:21.they're out there doing that. will be fed by the adults, they're
:19:21. > :19:29.not just going to be relying on mud and leaves? Not at the moment.
:19:29. > :19:33.That's why they're back on the nest. We will see the adults carrying, or
:19:33. > :19:38.still regurtitating food into that nest. It's not just the herons,
:19:38. > :19:43.again beyond the trees, we have our Buzzards. Let's see what's going on
:19:43. > :19:47.there. There is the adult bird. Fresh greenery that's come in
:19:47. > :19:52.recently. We have been noticing this over the time we have been on
:19:52. > :19:55.air, bringing in fresh green leaves which you think, Chris, might have
:19:55. > :20:00.some sort of effect to keep insects or parasites away. There's got to
:20:00. > :20:03.be a reason for it. No Buzzard is going to spend its valuable time
:20:03. > :20:07.snapping off fresh greenary, carrying it back to the nest and
:20:07. > :20:17.putting it there. We think, in some birds of prey, that when they
:20:17. > :20:18.
:20:18. > :20:23.trample the leaves they give give off chemicals which have - insect
:20:23. > :20:27.icidle qualities. Now, as you saw there, the chick
:20:27. > :20:32.was quite well hidden, both by the adult bird and all those fresh oak
:20:32. > :20:36.leaves, but if you have been watching on our webcams, which you
:20:36. > :20:39.can do by going to our website, you will have seen the remarkable
:20:39. > :20:42.transformation that has happened to our chicks since we have been on
:20:42. > :20:44.air. This was just before we came on air
:20:45. > :20:51.when the cameras went first on the nest.
:20:51. > :20:55.This is now, today. Look at that, from one grey fluffy
:20:55. > :20:58.Downey chick, to a bird that's looking not far off atkuplthood --
:20:58. > :21:01.adulthood. They have a couple of down coats before they get real
:21:01. > :21:06.feathers. They don't want to invest too much material in feathers early
:21:06. > :21:13.on because they want the skeleton to grow. When they get rid of the
:21:13. > :21:18.down coats the real feathers come true and we started to see them.
:21:18. > :21:22.Vicky wanted to know, a great question, how do feathers grow?
:21:22. > :21:26.They come out like hair, don't they? It's a follicle like our
:21:26. > :21:30.hair? You are exactly right. Birds have thin skin. But in that skin
:21:30. > :21:35.and growing from the time they first emerge from the egg, at the
:21:35. > :21:39.embryo stage, they have a series of follicles all over the body that
:21:39. > :21:43.produce feathers. Initially the feather is a living thing, it's
:21:43. > :21:47.full of blood and keeps carrying material to make the feather there,
:21:47. > :21:50.so at the moment the young Buzzard will be fragile. If you snap the
:21:50. > :21:54.feathers off it will bleed and they would die and it would have to grow
:21:54. > :21:59.another one but when the growth is finished it's all sealed off, the
:21:59. > :22:03.feather is dead tissue, like our fingernail as it were. When they
:22:03. > :22:07.moult them they grow a new one. If a feather does get lost that
:22:07. > :22:12.stimulates the follicle to start a new one. Quite complicated.
:22:12. > :22:16.feathery bit of the feather, that's all sort of curled up in the
:22:16. > :22:23.follicle itself or in the quickly? It's curled up in like a waxy
:22:23. > :22:30.sheath. At the moment you might see birds preening and hen they shake
:22:30. > :22:37.dust comes out,. There you are, I hope that helps you, I hope that
:22:37. > :22:47.answers the question. They've been growing furiously. It's had a
:22:47. > :23:23.
:23:23. > :23:28.I love that film, thank you very much to our editors for putting
:23:28. > :23:36.that together. Now you are going to be really impressed. Go on. I have
:23:36. > :23:39.done a pie chart all of my own! Look at that! I just think - now
:23:39. > :23:48.you are going to be impressed, look, we have looked at what the Buzzard
:23:48. > :23:53.has been eating, roughly the same amount of mammals and small birds,
:23:53. > :23:58.a little panchant for the frog and toad. And grass snakes. Are you
:23:58. > :24:05.impressed? I am, if you should ever want to be loved by anyone, put me
:24:05. > :24:10.on the list. Look, it's fantastic. It's statistically accurate, ten
:24:10. > :24:14.out of ten. But the presentation, Kate, I mean, frankly, look it's a
:24:14. > :24:19.bit scrappy. It's not even round. What is that? That's a mouse.
:24:19. > :24:24.a good start. That was my humble pie pie chart. It was a humble pie
:24:24. > :24:28.chart. I think you can do better. am off. I have upset her now. I
:24:28. > :24:32.shouldn't have screwed that up. Let's move on to another film.
:24:32. > :24:35.Charlie elder is a man who wanted to see all of the British birds
:24:35. > :24:45.that were on the amber and red list, those which are critically
:24:45. > :24:49.
:24:49. > :24:54.endangered but there was one that A worrying number of British birds
:24:54. > :24:57.have suffered alarming declines over the last 20 or 30 years. A lot
:24:57. > :25:01.of people talk about saving birds for the next generation, but with
:25:01. > :25:06.some of these species the worry is they might be lost within our life
:25:06. > :25:09.Times. One in five British birds are
:25:09. > :25:19.currently considered threatened, not just rare birds, but also a
:25:19. > :25:21.
:25:21. > :25:24.number of common birds. Birds like house sparrows, Starlings and heron
:25:24. > :25:28.gulls. To help conservationists prioritise
:25:28. > :25:33.which species need the most help, all of the UK's birds are placed on
:25:33. > :25:37.one of three lists, either the green, amber or red list. Those on
:25:37. > :25:44.the red list are the ones in the most trouble.
:25:44. > :25:49.The red list became a very big part of my life. I decided to set out in
:25:49. > :25:54.my free time to find every bird on the red list and also to find out
:25:54. > :25:57.why these birds were in trouble. My quest took me all around the
:25:57. > :26:01.British Isles and led to me writing a book about my endeavours. I
:26:01. > :26:04.wanted to highlight the plight of the birds.
:26:04. > :26:08.As I was nearing the end of my travels, the red list was revised
:26:08. > :26:13.from the 40 that I had originally set out to see, to 52 and over the
:26:13. > :26:16.last year or so I have been trying to see all the new additions to the
:26:16. > :26:22.list but there's one bird that's been added to the list that I would
:26:22. > :26:26.love to see and that's the hawFinch, it's a notoriously elusive bird
:26:26. > :26:32.that I could spend ages travelling around Britain staring at tree-tops
:26:32. > :26:40.so I am going to have to rely on expert help here angery Lewis has
:26:40. > :26:45.been -- Gerry Lewis, I am pinning my hopes on him. I am excited, this
:26:46. > :26:53.is a striking and handsome bird. It's not often I look forward to
:26:53. > :26:58.getting up at 5.00am. The hawfinch is Britain's biggest
:26:59. > :27:03.finch and it's able to crack open cherry stones with that formidable
:27:03. > :27:09.powerful beak. Gerry coaxes them down with this carpet of sunflower
:27:09. > :27:18.seeds. That's amazing. A brilliant view.
:27:18. > :27:24.They can pick out the size of the bill. That's fantastic.
:27:24. > :27:29.Once caught in the net, Gerry carefully retraoefs the bird for --
:27:29. > :27:38.retrieves the bird for processing and is going to let me hold it.
:27:38. > :27:42.OK, got him. Wow.
:27:42. > :27:47.That's incredible. You certainly feel a bit wary
:27:47. > :27:54.holding one. Especially as I am not experienced and you see the size of
:27:54. > :28:01.that bill. If you put your hand right in the bag and then just let
:28:01. > :28:10.go of the pweurbd. -- bird. Oh, he tried me there,
:28:10. > :28:16.look, two indents there. To be almost pecked by a hawfinch
:28:16. > :28:26.is an honour, this one is a handsome male and his bill is a blu
:28:26. > :28:27.
:28:27. > :28:29.y grey colour. It's coming into the breeding season. That purply colour.
:28:29. > :28:35.Gerry inspects the condition, weighs and measures all the birds
:28:35. > :28:43.he catches. You are going to let him join his
:28:43. > :28:49.mates then? Yeah, do you want to... He looks a feisty one!
:28:49. > :28:57.Gerry's work is vital, if we are to understand why hawfinchs, sadly,
:28:57. > :29:02.now find themselves on the red list. They got a pretty powerful flight.
:29:02. > :29:05.That was wonderful. Thank you.
:29:05. > :29:09.There willing something sad for me about my old bird books becoming
:29:09. > :29:14.out of date, simply because many of the birds in them no longer lived
:29:14. > :29:19.in Britain. As much as I love seeing these birds up close, my
:29:19. > :29:23.hope for the future is that the red list decreases in the coming years.
:29:24. > :29:33.After all, my travels had been about celebrating these inspiring
:29:34. > :29:36.
:29:36. > :29:42.Profound and poignant stuff. I'm sorry. It's no good to me now. You
:29:42. > :29:45.really want to see me cry, don't you. Any way... Hawfinchs are
:29:45. > :29:50.fantastic birds. A few days ago, I was at home, I was going to be
:29:50. > :29:58.watching a game of football, office on the line, saying one of our
:29:58. > :30:02.viewers, Kirsty Clayton had rung up and said she had fantastic birds in
:30:02. > :30:06.her garden. The game was kicked into touch and it was worth it.
:30:06. > :30:10.Result, not only a cup of tea, chocolate cake! Better than
:30:10. > :30:16.football. Kirsty, how long have these birds been here? I noticed
:30:16. > :30:22.them last summer. They were calling and feeding and stuff. Male just
:30:23. > :30:27.come out bull finch. For me a big scoring bird. I'm going to give it
:30:27. > :30:33.7.8 and that's a very high score. Obviously, you're a fan too.
:30:33. > :30:39.Absolutely. What is it about them? Their plumage is really amazing.
:30:39. > :30:45.They're bright, beautiful. They go like an old couple together.
:30:45. > :30:49.They're very monogamous. There's a likelihood that these are the
:30:49. > :30:54.couple that were in your garden last year. Where are they nesting?
:30:54. > :30:58.There's a camellia hedge just there. I went past and I heard tweeting,
:30:59. > :31:02.they were reaching up out of it with their fluffy heads. What a
:31:02. > :31:10.treat. In true Springwatch fashion, we couldn't resist putting in a
:31:10. > :31:15.nest cam to try and record the chicks. We got some awesome shots.
:31:15. > :31:17.They're out collecting food for the young at the moment. They feed them
:31:18. > :31:22.through regurgitation. They're basically seed feeders. They're
:31:22. > :31:29.after soft fruits. They peel away the outside. They're not interested
:31:29. > :31:35.in the covering. They're after the seeds inside. Their monstrous bill
:31:35. > :31:40.is that they can snap these open easily. The young are nowhere near
:31:40. > :31:45.as attractive as the adults. They're little monsters. Are they?
:31:45. > :31:49.They're grotesque. All beak, bulgy eyed, but at the moment looking
:31:49. > :31:55.rough. They're in the nest for about 16 days and then they'll
:31:56. > :32:00.fledge. Their flight skills will develop for until Mr and Mrs
:32:00. > :32:05.Sparrowhawk arrives and probably take a couple of them. The thought,
:32:05. > :32:09.personally, of a male sparrowhawk eating a male bull finch is
:32:09. > :32:18.perversely a frequent fantasy of mine. Perhaps I didn't ought to
:32:18. > :32:24.have told Kirsty that. Perhaps it's time for a piece of cake.
:32:24. > :32:30.I think she really regretted asking you round. She looked mortified.
:32:30. > :32:34.But those chicks, don't they look like dinosaurs. They do. Very
:32:34. > :32:40.powerful bill. The crushing power of a hawfinch is 43 kilograms in a
:32:40. > :32:44.bird, that's the equiff lebt of us having jaws to crush with the power
:32:44. > :32:48.of 60 tons. They must come pretty close to that I think. Martin, have
:32:48. > :32:54.you got news? I have got to say, quickly, I had three pairs of bull
:32:54. > :33:00.finches on my apple tree. They ate all the buds, but it's worth it,
:33:00. > :33:10.isn't it? Certainly is. Plant more trees. I will. Our barmyi birds
:33:10. > :33:12.
:33:12. > :33:18.nest challenge. They have been A robins' nest. Yes, this one
:33:18. > :33:23.they'll never get caught short. They're in a toilet site. They're
:33:23. > :33:30.from David Barnes. Are they flushing their faecal sacks? Stop
:33:30. > :33:34.it. This one, lovely Great Tit, little bit under the arm. Brilliant.
:33:34. > :33:40.We would like more please. It's quite a challenge. The bar is very,
:33:40. > :33:43.very high. Please keep them coming in, if you wo. Have we had any
:33:43. > :33:48.questions from our viewers? We have. They started to come in almost
:33:48. > :33:54.immediately. We're running short of time. We'll do one quickly. This is
:33:54. > :34:00.from Julia on Twitter. "Where did barn owls live before we built
:34:00. > :34:03.barns?" Quickly, hollow trees. When a tree breaks over, I found a barn
:34:03. > :34:08.owl's nest in a willow tree that snapped off. It would have been
:34:08. > :34:14.natural calfities. A few of them would have nested in caves and
:34:14. > :34:19.cliff ledges as well. We have unsprung straight after this. We'll
:34:19. > :34:23.answer more then. Now back to Skomer.
:34:23. > :34:28.Welcome back, live to Skomer Island. Now earlier on, I mentioned the
:34:28. > :34:31.fact that it's because of the rich seas with plenty of fish that
:34:31. > :34:35.Skomer Island supports hundreds of thousands of sea birds. For
:34:35. > :34:40.evidence of that, you've only got to look over my shoulder. You've
:34:40. > :34:45.got rafts of hundreds of puffins, bobbing up and down on the water.
:34:45. > :34:51.They do this every evening here in the shelter of north haven. Some
:34:51. > :34:55.will be preening, making sure their feathers are in peak condition,
:34:55. > :35:00.vitally important for a bird who spends most of its life out to sea.
:35:00. > :35:06.They might head out to sea again or head into their burrows. The other
:35:06. > :35:16.day I was able to swim out into the middle of these birds for a close
:35:16. > :35:24.
:35:24. > :35:30.Conditions are perfect this evening. The sun is shining and the puffins
:35:30. > :35:34.are out on the water in their hundreds. Mike, the cameraman and I,
:35:34. > :35:44.are going to see if we can snorkle up to them and have a closer look.
:35:44. > :35:52.
:35:52. > :36:00.If you're patient and move slowly, you really can get right in amongst
:36:00. > :36:05.the birds. Outside the few months of the breeding season puffins
:36:05. > :36:14.spend all their life on the sea. They rest on the surface of the
:36:14. > :36:24.water like this, not on land. And they're expert divers. Look at that,
:36:24. > :36:34.
:36:34. > :36:41.zipping past, they really do fly Sand eels are what they are diving
:36:41. > :36:45.for. They thrive in the sandy sea bed around Skomer. They're a very
:36:45. > :36:50.oily, nutritious fish and definitely the puffins' favourite
:36:50. > :37:00.food. Happiness is a beak full of sand
:37:00. > :37:01.
:37:01. > :37:04.Isn't that amazing. Now puffins are only small birds. Everyone come
:37:04. > :37:09.together island expects to see a bigger bird. They're not much
:37:09. > :37:13.bigger than a blackbird. They dive five or ten metres, sometimes up to
:37:13. > :37:19.30. They're after sand eels. What is a sand eel? Well, that is a sand
:37:19. > :37:25.eel. Not an eel, but a snake-like fish. That body is to burrow into
:37:25. > :37:31.sand to escape from its predators. There are plenty of sandy bays out
:37:31. > :37:35.here so these eels are abundant. How does a puffin catch a sand eel
:37:35. > :37:40.and then catch even more? This is where I go into Chris Packham geek
:37:40. > :37:45.mode. This is a puffin. That is a puffin's bill. One of the key
:37:45. > :37:50.things is that bill doesn't open on a hinge like a blackbird or robins'
:37:50. > :37:56.bill. It has a special bone, the quad rant bone, which allows the
:37:56. > :38:02.mandibles to open parallel to each other. There are small hooks along
:38:02. > :38:06.the edges of that beak. There are barbs on the tongue and also
:38:06. > :38:11.backward-pointing hooks on the roof of the puffins' bill too. That
:38:11. > :38:16.allows it to dive and catch fish. That bill really is like a Swiss
:38:17. > :38:21.army knife. There's a tool in there for absolutely everything! Now, I'm
:38:21. > :38:26.going to need your help here, fast quiz - what do you think is the
:38:26. > :38:36.maximum number of sand eels ever seen and photographed in a puffins'
:38:36. > :38:37.
:38:37. > :38:41.bill? 20, 25, 30? No, it's actually 61. An incredible 61! We spoil our
:38:41. > :38:49.wildlife cameramen here and Steve has spent the last couple of days
:38:50. > :38:54.taking shots of puffins. Have a look at this: Look at that
:38:54. > :38:57.lovely bird, it looks like it has sand eels and sprats in there.
:38:57. > :39:01.That's quite a catch. It's a big day when the first puffin is seen
:39:01. > :39:06.on the island with a beak full of fish, because that means the first
:39:06. > :39:10.chick has hatched. But even the few days we've been here, we've been
:39:10. > :39:14.seeing more and more adult puffins flying in with fish in their beaks,
:39:14. > :39:24.so by now, probably most of the puffin eggs on the island will have
:39:24. > :39:46.
:39:47. > :39:51.Well done sto Steve, lovely stuff there. Later on, we're going to be
:39:51. > :39:57.looking at how sea birds are faring here on Skomer and in the UK, but
:39:57. > :40:01.now it's back to you. Thank you very much. Absolutely
:40:01. > :40:06.fantastic footage that. You know the thing he was saying about the
:40:06. > :40:11.beak, I'd often wondered why and I didn't know, that's the best thing
:40:11. > :40:15.about hanging around with other good naturalists, you constantly
:40:15. > :40:20.learn new things. I've been out geeked tonight! Someone else we've
:40:20. > :40:24.inspired to want to learn something about nature is an extremely
:40:24. > :40:30.unlikely candidate. It's Phil our cameraman. Wave to everybody. Go on
:40:30. > :40:34.put your hand in front. There he is. He has had his heart stolen by a
:40:34. > :40:40.bird not an unusual occurrence, but this particular bird is one, which
:40:40. > :40:45.one is it? Bobbers. Bobbers, dippers to you and me. One of the
:40:45. > :40:51.things that Phil wants to know about bobbers or dippers is why
:40:51. > :40:56.they bob or dip? Actually one of our viewers has written in.
:40:56. > :41:00.Fascinating stuff. Listen carefully, John chambers says "I have a theory
:41:00. > :41:06.concerning dipping activity. These birds live in what is effectively a
:41:06. > :41:11.white noise environment. The action of dipping may be a mechanism used
:41:11. > :41:15.phase displacement of the white noise, generated by the water, to
:41:15. > :41:19.identify prey or predator." He admits that the mathematics is
:41:19. > :41:22.hairy. But in effect, coherent sounds exhibit different
:41:22. > :41:26.characteristics to white noise, when the sensors, the ears, are
:41:26. > :41:30.moved. Stand by a water fall, he says, shake your head and the sound
:41:30. > :41:35.of the water will take on a different character. Coherent
:41:35. > :41:39.sounds tend to be not so masked by the white noise of the water. So
:41:39. > :41:45.what he's saying is that they're dipping so they can hear better.
:41:45. > :41:48.But John, other birds like owls bob their heads so that they can hear
:41:48. > :41:53.more accurately, where a sound is coming from. I'm thinking that
:41:53. > :41:58.bobbing your head doesn't take much energy, but bobbing your whole body
:41:58. > :42:02.up and down, as I'm finding out, requires a lot more energy. If it
:42:02. > :42:07.was just about sound, why not just the head? Things like sandpipers,
:42:07. > :42:10.they bob, and they don't live in such a noisy environment. No, and
:42:10. > :42:15.wagtails wag, and that's got nothing to do with their ears
:42:15. > :42:18.because it's their tail. I think it's a good theory. Thank you very
:42:18. > :42:23.much indeed. We love theories on this programme. We like them when
:42:23. > :42:28.they say things like "phase displacement and hairy mathematics".
:42:28. > :42:34.Keep those coming in. You are probably desperate to know how our
:42:35. > :42:38.dipper fledglings are doing. I know Phil is. Let's look at the footage
:42:39. > :42:45.that our wildlife cameraman has got over the last day or so. Here they
:42:45. > :42:50.are. There are three fledglings out of this nest. The adults very much
:42:51. > :42:54.in attendance with the beak full of caddisfly. You'll admit, they're
:42:54. > :42:58.absolutely thriving. They're doing extremely well. Lots of food down
:42:58. > :43:01.there. Again an adult coming in. Super picture as well. I have to
:43:01. > :43:06.say rather attractive young dipper there, look at that. Really lovely.
:43:06. > :43:12.This one is showing quite independent ten densies at this
:43:12. > :43:16.tender age. It tends to be more on its own. The adult knows exactly
:43:16. > :43:20.where it is and is looking after it. It is starting to feed a bit for
:43:20. > :43:24.itself. This is interesting. This is amazing. These animals are
:43:24. > :43:29.supremely adapted for an aquatic lifestyle, even as soon as they
:43:29. > :43:34.leave the nest. We've seen them, here's the adult doing what dippers
:43:34. > :43:38.do, turning over stones. This is a youngster, only a few days out of
:43:38. > :43:43.the nest already looking beneath the surface. Can you see sometimes
:43:43. > :43:46.a white flash going across their eye. This is the nictating membrane,
:43:46. > :43:50.it's a tough contact lens that stops sand in the water getting in
:43:50. > :43:53.their eyes. Swimming and bobbing about, fantastic. You know, I
:43:53. > :43:58.learned today when I was reading in my books that if dippers get
:43:58. > :44:03.disturbed when they're in the nest, only seven days old, they're not
:44:03. > :44:08.meant to fledge until 22 days old, they can pop out and already swim
:44:08. > :44:16.and dive beneath the surface at seven days old! That is incredible.
:44:16. > :44:19.As you saw, that river is very rich and full of food. We got some
:44:19. > :44:27.lovely underwater footage of what it is our dipper chicks are looking
:44:27. > :44:31.Well, there's so much food in the woods here, a lot gets washed into
:44:31. > :44:34.the water when it rains, lots of insects so so lots of food for fish.
:44:34. > :44:39.The fish eat them but it's a rich environment and on the surface of
:44:39. > :44:43.the stone there, Kate, is a caddisfly and they form up to 75%
:44:43. > :44:49.of the dippers' diet so they're very important and these streams
:44:49. > :44:52.are packed full of them. In fact, we have some right here. These are
:44:52. > :44:57.live caddisflies although they look like bits of stick and the reason
:44:57. > :45:03.for that is that they build these wonderful sort of cases around them.
:45:03. > :45:07.We have some film of them doing exactly that. It's amazing, cryst,
:45:07. > :45:12.that they pull -- Chris, that they pull together lots of things.
:45:12. > :45:17.use a web, not unlike a spider's web and they steupb it over their -
:45:17. > :45:22.- spin it over their back. This is serving two purposes, it's
:45:22. > :45:27.protecting the soft body of the caddisfly and it's fantastic
:45:27. > :45:32.camouflage and caddis is a name for a strip of cloth and people selling
:45:33. > :45:37.cloth in the middle ages used to wear it over their bodies and
:45:37. > :45:43.that's where the name comes from. Absolutely brilliant. I like that
:45:43. > :45:47.sort of information, it's a bit geeky, which brings us on to this,
:45:47. > :45:51.the Springwatch Geek Award, this is to celebrate the depth of knowledge
:45:51. > :45:54.some naturalists have. It's adorned by Mr Scratchy, the one and only
:45:54. > :45:59.and every year, so far, we have met a number of naturalists who we
:45:59. > :46:05.think are worthy of this award. Now, it's time to meet another who
:46:05. > :46:11.certainly is. In a country park in Wiltshire,
:46:12. > :46:21.there is a man who could have found the answer to a real wildlife
:46:22. > :46:24.
:46:24. > :46:30.The emergency has been centred on the busy honeybe, a truly fantastic
:46:30. > :46:33.insect. Bees are vital to our way of life. They're one of the great
:46:33. > :46:38.pollenators of British plants, including many of our food crops.
:46:39. > :46:43.Yet, since 1992 in the UK the honey bee has been under attack from an
:46:43. > :46:50.alien invader which threatens the honey bee's very existence. The man
:46:50. > :46:55.that may have the answer to this problem is Ron Hustings. Ron has
:46:55. > :46:59.been researching a blight that's been having a terrible impab on
:46:59. > :47:04.British bees, and he has got to know them very well. Well, every
:47:04. > :47:12.good geek needs a shed or a lab and you have a lab here, Ron. Sort of.
:47:12. > :47:17.Very nice. What about the the Mythes then -- mites then?
:47:17. > :47:21.wanted to see the mites, there's a few for you.
:47:21. > :47:29.Oh my goodness me! How many are in here do you think?
:47:29. > :47:33.50,000. 50,000 mites in this small tub and you have put them in there
:47:33. > :47:37.there... They've all been under my microscope. It's difficult to see
:47:37. > :47:41.them, although I am in awe of 50,000 mites in a tub. There's the
:47:41. > :47:45.detail. That's what we are looking at. Wow, look at that. That's an
:47:45. > :47:52.alien, if ever you have seen it. This, presumably, is the point of
:47:52. > :47:57.menace. That's what sucks the blood of the baby bee. It's what we could
:47:57. > :48:03.call a proper infestation. Very much so. It's decimated the honey
:48:03. > :48:09.bee population. Ron's own bees were infected with this mite but his
:48:09. > :48:13.close examinations with to reveal incredible results.
:48:13. > :48:21.Underneath all my hives, Chris, we have a special tray that that
:48:21. > :48:25.collects the debris that falls. I also noticed that there are little
:48:25. > :48:31.vermites on there and I collected them and examined them and found a
:48:31. > :48:38.lot of them were damaged. Damaged? I am sure it was done by the bees
:48:38. > :48:42.grooming them off. They're mutually grooming these off. Monkey fashion.
:48:42. > :48:46.We found another breakthrough and I condition show you it because it's
:48:46. > :48:50.so minute but I have a picture here. Ron, I am fortunate to be shown
:48:50. > :48:53.lots of photographs of natural subjects. I don't normally have to
:48:53. > :49:01.ask which way up it goes. This is not a triumph when it comes to
:49:01. > :49:07.photography, but I am assuming it's fascinating. They are the antennae
:49:07. > :49:11.of larvae bees. They're being ripped off by the bee. They're
:49:11. > :49:15.removing it because it's infected? It's never going to be any good to
:49:15. > :49:19.the colony so they get rid of it now. What we have is a strain of
:49:19. > :49:25.bees, or a group of bees carrying genes which make them cleaner bees?
:49:25. > :49:30.Exactly. They're grooming off the mites and removing the infected
:49:30. > :49:34.larvae before they're useless to the colony? That's correct. Ron's
:49:34. > :49:40.next experiment was to move one of these cleaner Queens to an adjacent
:49:40. > :49:45.hive. This Queen bred cleaner drones and instances of the mite
:49:45. > :49:51.fell dramatically. So Ron had proved that this behaviour was
:49:51. > :49:55.genetic, rather than learned. Amazingly, Ron is now breeding
:49:55. > :50:00.cleaner Queen bees to try and alleviate the whole mite problem.
:50:00. > :50:06.Look at that. That works, doesn't it? What about these hooks either
:50:06. > :50:15.side here? Those are micro manipulators, they allow me to open
:50:15. > :50:22.the Queen gently, carefully, not to damage her, and open ready for
:50:22. > :50:28.inseplation of semen. I would inseminate the semen into that
:50:28. > :50:33.Queen. Eight. I normally give it the seven. Astonishing. Absolutely
:50:33. > :50:36.astonishing, Ron. Of course, what it guarantees is that you can get
:50:36. > :50:40.your grooming gene, which you have collected from the male in the
:50:40. > :50:46.semen, into this Queen? That's right. The theory is that we are
:50:46. > :50:55.going to put as many drones as we can until we have got, as it were,
:50:55. > :50:59.Swindon being a gene pool of hygienic bees. Swindon. Swindon
:51:00. > :51:04.saves the world of bees to the work of Ron. On that account, I am going
:51:04. > :51:11.to present you with an extraordinary prize. It's under the
:51:11. > :51:19.microscope, take a look through here. Seriously. Look at that.
:51:19. > :51:24.It's Mr Scratchy. That's the uber geek.
:51:24. > :51:29.What a fantastic bloke. I have to tell you, when I saw his 50,000
:51:29. > :51:34.mites in that tub, the geek award was his. And the impact that he
:51:34. > :51:40.could have for anyone that keeps bees. I am constantly bat battling,
:51:40. > :51:44.so good on you, please keep working. Drop Drop proof that geeks -- top
:51:44. > :51:49.proof that geeks can change the world. Some questions, one on
:51:49. > :51:53.Twitter: How many chicks can a heron have? That's easy, they can
:51:53. > :51:56.have about four or five is a usual clutch but they will often lose
:51:56. > :52:02.them, so two or three is the usual number to fledge. One last quick
:52:02. > :52:09.one, why do some fledgings have no tail? They wait to grow them until
:52:09. > :52:14.they get out of the nest. Let's head over to Iolo on Skomer.
:52:15. > :52:19.Welcome back. Now, I bet you are sitting at home comfy in your chair,
:52:19. > :52:25.wondering how that dashing chap on Skomer finds his way into your
:52:25. > :52:30.living room? Well, I tell you, Toby the cameraman is filming me, that
:52:30. > :52:35.goes by cable through all this here, it's fired across to a van on the
:52:35. > :52:39.mainland, beamed up to a satellite miles above us, beamed back down to
:52:39. > :52:43.us here and then to your living room. The wonders of modern
:52:43. > :52:46.technology. Now, over the past couple of days we have been
:52:46. > :52:49.following the puffins here on Skomer and they've been carrying
:52:49. > :52:53.fish back to the nest. So it would appear that the population is
:52:53. > :52:57.healthy, but is it? Well, the man to answer that is warden Chris
:52:57. > :53:01.Taylor. Hello, Chris. Puffins on Skomer, how many have you got and
:53:01. > :53:05.are they doing doing well? puffins on Skomer, they've been
:53:05. > :53:09.busy the last couple of years, so 1988 there was about 8,000 puffins
:53:09. > :53:14.on the island, now that population expanded to about 12,500, so it's a
:53:14. > :53:17.good sign they're doing fabulously. We have looked at a host of other
:53:17. > :53:27.birds here as well, how are they doing? I think the real stars of
:53:27. > :53:30.the show are the guillemots, the population is under 0,000. There --
:53:30. > :53:38.20,000. It shows there must be so much food to sustain that
:53:38. > :53:42.population. And manx Sheerwater. Are they doing all right? They seem
:53:42. > :53:48.to be. I am sure as you know, it's a tricky species to monitor and
:53:48. > :53:52.record. But we estimate about 120,000 breeding pairs, so lots
:53:52. > :53:57.that we monitor year on year. thank you very much. That really is
:53:57. > :54:01.wonderful news from Skomer. How about the rest of the UK? I posed
:54:01. > :54:09.that question to Professor Tim Guildford of Oxford University over
:54:09. > :54:15.there in the wardens' library. Fantastic old records here, Tim.
:54:15. > :54:18.It's interesting to look back over the decades, over 100 years almost,
:54:18. > :54:23.of records, particularly of sea birds. Now, from my time here I
:54:23. > :54:28.have learned that on Skomer our sea birds appear to be doing rather
:54:28. > :54:31.well. What's the picture for the rest of the UK? There is clearly a
:54:31. > :54:33.difference between what's happening, appears to be happening in
:54:33. > :54:38.Pembrokeshire and what's happening in the north of Britain. Do we know
:54:38. > :54:44.why? What is the difference to our birds here, go to different areas,
:54:44. > :54:54.more fish in the sea? Down here in Pembrokeshire the sand eel
:54:54. > :54:56.
:54:56. > :54:59.productivity seems to have been good and puffins are enjoying that.
:54:59. > :55:03.Poor breeding success in the puffins, and this is almost
:55:03. > :55:06.certainly because the sand eels and other small fish they depend on are
:55:06. > :55:10.not as available so they're starting to try and eat other
:55:10. > :55:13.things which are not good for bringing up their chicks. It's a
:55:13. > :55:18.complex issue though, because I know here in Pembrokeshire the
:55:18. > :55:21.populations of some of the birds have built up on the back of
:55:22. > :55:25.collapse of the commercial fishing industry, for example. That must
:55:25. > :55:29.affect sea birds throughout the UK, if not throughout the world. That's
:55:29. > :55:33.right. I mean, it would be nice to believe that just because sea bird
:55:33. > :55:36.populations are growing or looking healthy, that this is a sign that
:55:36. > :55:40.the oceans are necessarily healthy, but it's not always like that.
:55:40. > :55:43.Because they may be freed from competition because there's been
:55:43. > :55:47.overfishing of their competitors, the big fish that eat the little
:55:48. > :55:50.fish that they depend on and as the fisheries recover, then the
:55:50. > :55:53.competitors are become and the sea birds start to suffer. So we need
:55:53. > :55:58.to be very careful in our interpretation of what's happening.
:55:58. > :56:03.How about the future then? If you were able to look ahead 20, 30, 40
:56:03. > :56:08.years, do you see a flourishing population of sea birds in the UK
:56:08. > :56:13.and here on Skomer? I really hope so. I think they're so important,
:56:13. > :56:16.but, I think we will see changes. Some of those will be positive,
:56:16. > :56:21.probably, but some will be negative. One thing that I think that we can
:56:21. > :56:25.be fairly sure of is that the climate is slowly changing, and
:56:25. > :56:28.that this will lead to changes in marine resources and this will
:56:28. > :56:31.inevitably lead to changes in sea bird populations. I don't think
:56:31. > :56:41.it's all doom and gloom but we certainly need to understand what's
:56:41. > :56:44.going to happen. It's a very difficult issue, but
:56:44. > :56:48.there ar couple of things we can all do. We need to be careful where
:56:48. > :56:54.we buy our fish from. Is it coming from a sustainable well managed
:56:54. > :56:56.source? Also, don't throw plastics into the sea, that affects not just
:56:56. > :57:00.fish but other wildlife too. If you want more information on this
:57:00. > :57:06.complex issue then please go to our website.
:57:06. > :57:11.Well, that's it from here, for now, I am going to hand you back. But I
:57:11. > :57:13.will still be here for UnSprung. See you then.
:57:14. > :57:18.Thank you very much. Now, if you were watching at the
:57:18. > :57:25.top of the programme we set you a challenge. We were struggling to
:57:25. > :57:28.identify this sound: It had upset our baby barn owls.
:57:28. > :57:33.Has anyone come up with any suggestions? Very exciting, they're
:57:33. > :57:40.coming in all the time. Someone thinks it's a magpie. Another
:57:40. > :57:44.thought it was a deathwatch beetle. John, my wife trying to start her
:57:44. > :57:49.Mini! We asked our expert sound recordist here, he thinks that it's
:57:49. > :57:54.actually being made by those young owls, so we have set them a
:57:54. > :57:59.challenge. We put a microphone and camera all around the barn owl nest
:57:59. > :58:06.and hopefully overnight we might find out what is going on. But you
:58:06. > :58:14.can keep watching on our webcams by going to our website.
:58:14. > :58:24.Tomorrow, Christopher? We asked you a question, is it Steve McQueen and
:58:24. > :58:24.