:00:15. > :00:19.You know, a lot can happen in three days, and it did. We had reptiles
:00:19. > :00:24.turning unwhere they shouldn't. Emergency fledglings. Smash and
:00:24. > :00:34.grab raids by complete strangers. All that and lots and lots of rain.
:00:34. > :01:01.
:01:01. > :01:07.But no matter what, it's Hello and welcome to Springwatch.
:01:07. > :01:10.Coming to you from a beautiful clear... Hello and welcome to
:01:10. > :01:18.Springwatch coming to you live on this beautiful summer's evening,
:01:18. > :01:23.from the one and only RSPB's Ynys- hir reserve in Wales. The geography
:01:23. > :01:28.of this place is quite impressive. We don't only havest ris but lots
:01:28. > :01:32.of fresh water. Woodland, too, and if you look in there you can see
:01:32. > :01:36.our studio. So tonight we've got real wildlife in real-time. And
:01:36. > :01:41.we're going to be telling you not only about nuances and the ecology
:01:41. > :01:45.and the behaviour of this wildlife but they are here to have fun, too.
:01:45. > :01:48.We'll have time, will we? Excellent! And we were also here to
:01:48. > :01:53.tell you about what happened over the weekend. One thing that
:01:53. > :01:58.happened was that the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse. The
:01:58. > :02:05.black clouds rolled in. The rain came down. And we were on tenter
:02:05. > :02:10.hooks wondering how that was going to affect our Springwatch families.
:02:10. > :02:15.Like our grasshopper warblers. Would they stay or would they go?
:02:15. > :02:23.Last week there was an intruder annoying the barn owls, it was cat.
:02:23. > :02:27.But something else has snuck in amount of stress. Now, as usual, we
:02:27. > :02:33.shall have a quiz. It is a slightly smelly quiz. Come over here and
:02:33. > :02:40.look underneath this pot. Something has left a little deposit in the
:02:40. > :02:44.studio. A fine deposit, I should say. What did that and how do you
:02:44. > :02:49.know what are the clues? If you know the answer, get on the web,
:02:49. > :02:52.tweet us or go to our new Facebook site. By the end of the programme.
:02:52. > :02:57.Absolutely. We'll reveal all at the end of the programme.
:02:57. > :03:02.Every week we have a guest presenter with us. And this week
:03:02. > :03:07.over in Essex is the lovely and extremely fragrant Liz Bonnin.
:03:07. > :03:12.Thank you very much, Kate. It is so lovely to be back on the team, but
:03:12. > :03:14.very a bit of a confession for you. I'm really sorry about this, but
:03:15. > :03:19.all this week the Springwatch adventure team and I are going to
:03:19. > :03:25.bring you a load of rubbish. And I'm not even skidding. It's a
:03:25. > :03:30.massive load of rubbish. Welcome to pit Sealand fill site in Essex.
:03:30. > :03:34.Come back to me very soon, when I'm going to show you how an incredible
:03:34. > :03:40.amount of flora and fauna mansion to thrive here.
:03:40. > :03:44.Thank you. I have to say I'm really looking forward to that. I like the
:03:45. > :03:47.contrast between the mess we make and the way that wildlife can
:03:47. > :03:52.thrive in it, and the picturesque beauty here.
:03:52. > :03:55.If you were watching last week we were enjoying a feast of warblers.
:03:55. > :04:01.You could have followed up the stories on the webcams over the
:04:01. > :04:06.weekend. One of the stars was the grass hopper warblers. They had a
:04:07. > :04:10.nest in the marsh. The question was, would these animals fledge or not?
:04:10. > :04:14.This is how they started at the This is how they started at the
:04:14. > :04:19.beginning of last week. Tiny little things, just about able to peep
:04:19. > :04:25.over the cup of the nest. But just a few days later they got to this
:04:25. > :04:27.size. That's an incredible growth rate, Kate. Unbelievable the
:04:27. > :04:32.transformation. I think we were pretty right to say these were
:04:32. > :04:36.birds to watch, when we left you on Thursday. However, what we couldn't
:04:37. > :04:41.predict is what did happen over the weekend. So we were watching the
:04:41. > :04:45.nest and, as ever, the adults were in feeding the cheeks. You can see
:04:45. > :04:49.how active they are getting, looking really strong and lively.
:04:49. > :04:53.But, look at this. Just watch carefully.
:04:53. > :04:57.One chick goes. Why is that? Look at the back of the nest, in the
:04:57. > :05:07.grass, and the adult is coming in and really seems agitated by
:05:07. > :05:08.
:05:09. > :05:13.almost certainly that snake slithering through the grass behind
:05:13. > :05:19.the nest that pushed out that chick, maybe forced it to fledge earlier
:05:19. > :05:23.than it should have done, and caused the panic with the adults.
:05:23. > :05:29.As you can seekers within the next ten minutes other chicks started to
:05:29. > :05:35.fledge. Chris, what I wonder is, are they also doing a panic
:05:35. > :05:42.response to that snake, or are they thinking, one of them's gone, so
:05:42. > :05:48.why don't we go too? They can fledge at 11 days, sometimes 12,
:05:48. > :05:53.sometimes 13. It seems the snake stimulated it and once one had gone
:05:53. > :06:01.perhaps the others thought it was safer. Perhaps the adult was trying
:06:01. > :06:05.to drive the snake away. For me it was a close shave. But two of them
:06:05. > :06:09.did stay in the nest and they stayed inover night. You can see
:06:09. > :06:19.the adult coming back and, presumably, Chris, the other four
:06:19. > :06:25.will still be close by tucked in in the grass. They might come together
:06:25. > :06:33.once the adults come back with food. In the fledging stakes this
:06:33. > :06:36.probably has to rank as the most unspectacular fledging we've seen.
:06:36. > :06:41.That's quite typical of the bird itself, isn't it? They tend to move
:06:41. > :06:48.through the grass like little mice. They will move under the grass,
:06:48. > :06:51.like a rodent. The adults coming back to the nest are secretive. I'm
:06:51. > :06:55.sure that's what the youngsters are doing at the moment. They might
:06:55. > :07:00.have Frenched but they are not safe from the predators. I've seen a lot
:07:00. > :07:07.of grass snakes here at Ynys-hir. It is pretty much a grass snake
:07:07. > :07:12.Heaven. These are serious predators. They like to eat amphibians, small
:07:12. > :07:16.mammals occasionally, even fish underwater. When I was about 17 I
:07:16. > :07:20.found a willow warbler's nest on the side of the track and the
:07:20. > :07:25.adults were making a terrible noise. They were going down to the opening
:07:25. > :07:30.of the nest but not going Curiosity got the better of me. I looked into
:07:30. > :07:36.the nest and curled up inside it was a grass snake. When I prodded
:07:36. > :07:41.it, it slithered across the path and running down its body were a
:07:41. > :07:47.number of little bumps. They were the young wibble o wash lers, so I
:07:47. > :07:54.have no doubt these things have -- they were the young willow warblers,
:07:54. > :07:59.so I have no doubt these things have had a close shave. Some of you
:07:59. > :08:05.have mentioned the strange goings- on in your gardens. They noticed a
:08:05. > :08:10.blackbird was taking newly-hatched chicks from a nest. Pat said she
:08:10. > :08:14.saw a blackbird eating a shreview. We are all familiar with blackbirds
:08:15. > :08:19.on the lawn pulling up worms, so what's happening here? We spoke to
:08:19. > :08:26.our friends at the BTO and they told us that back birds are having
:08:26. > :08:30.a tough time due to the dry weather. The worms have gone deep into the
:08:30. > :08:35.ground. They are struggling. Their bood size that collapsed in some
:08:35. > :08:40.places, so it is not surprising they will go after other food. They
:08:40. > :08:47.will eat newts, small frogs, lizards, even baby grass snakes.
:08:47. > :08:51.And occasionally nestlings too. That brings us on to our wood
:08:51. > :08:59.warbler nest, the other wood woorb ler family in the woods. A
:08:59. > :09:03.wonderful family. Both adults are feeding up to 80 times an hour the
:09:03. > :09:10.six chicks. But this blackbird was caught on camera. When I first saw
:09:10. > :09:14.this, it has got some sort of worm or insect in its beak. I thought,
:09:14. > :09:21.hate got distracted by that huge gape which tells the it it has to
:09:21. > :09:25.feed this chick? It could be it was out foraging and it heard the call
:09:25. > :09:29.and thought, are those my chicks. But it could have picked up on that
:09:29. > :09:32.and gone to investigate. Given the way it was peering into that nest
:09:32. > :09:37.with intense curiosity I think it was getting a measure of the chicks.
:09:37. > :09:42.Are these big enough for me to carry away in one go and will they
:09:42. > :09:47.fit down the throat of my chicks? I think thankfully for our wood
:09:47. > :09:53.warblers, they were just a bit too big for that blackbird. To see if
:09:53. > :09:57.they are still there, let's go live to our wood warblers. They have
:09:57. > :10:02.been a difficult nest to seekers because it is so beautifully
:10:02. > :10:08.disguides. Fat, healthy chicks nestling in the moss, definitely
:10:08. > :10:12.one to keep yours on. They will go in the next day or two. If you've
:10:12. > :10:19.been watching for the also couple of weeks, you will have noticed
:10:19. > :10:27.we've been joined by a guest naturalist. Initially Charlie
:10:27. > :10:34.Hamilton James was looking in Scotland, but now we are going to
:10:34. > :10:38.Essex, to join Liz Bonnin. Liz, how is life on the landfill?
:10:38. > :10:46.Chris, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am loving this place.
:10:46. > :10:51.It has to be said that a 50 tonne compactor isn't the run-of-the-mill
:10:51. > :10:57.wildlife safari vehicle, but hey! This is not your normal Springwatch
:10:57. > :11:01.location. We've covered urban wildlife before but we thought we
:11:01. > :11:06.would bring awe human-created landscape that most of us would
:11:06. > :11:11.rather forget about, maybe because we think of it as a blot on the
:11:11. > :11:16.landscape, where we throw our rubbish and don't think of again.
:11:16. > :11:21.The UK dumps 57 million tonnes of rubbish every year, more than any
:11:21. > :11:26.other country in the European Union. There are a thousand landfill sites
:11:27. > :11:32.in the UK and pit sea is one of the biggest. This skpactor is sitting
:11:32. > :11:37.on top of 75 metres of landfill. Until we run out of space for these
:11:37. > :11:42.places they are a going to remain a fact of life. It is part of how our
:11:42. > :11:48.society operates. This week we are looking at what a landfill is, how
:11:48. > :11:55.it works, and how wildlife can thrive. How did we come to be here?
:11:55. > :11:59.Sean Taylor is a site manager here and I met him earlier.
:11:59. > :12:05.Sean, so this is where all the action is, the top of the landfill?
:12:05. > :12:11.Yes. What you can see there is the landfill site we are operating
:12:11. > :12:18.today. It's a huge site. We are tipping in an area of about 400
:12:18. > :12:22.acres. We have in the region of 5 00 lorries coming to use the
:12:22. > :12:32.facilities each day. How many tonnes of waste a day? That relates
:12:32. > :12:36.to around 2,000 to 3 ,000 tonnes a day. On top of that we have
:12:36. > :12:40.restoration soil lorries as well. This is what I expected to see, but
:12:40. > :12:45.that's only a small part of what you guys do here, is that right?
:12:45. > :12:49.That's my day job but yes, there is lots of other things that go to
:12:49. > :12:55.make up a well-run landfill. that's your day job, what's the
:12:55. > :12:59.rest of it? That's the important bit I have to take care of every
:12:59. > :13:05.day but I actually love land film. Over the time I've been here I like
:13:05. > :13:11.to look at this as my kind of mini wildlife park. I like to operate
:13:11. > :13:17.this in a way that's beneficial to biodiversity and to the plants and
:13:18. > :13:22.animals here. This is a vast area. No-one comes here. I'm the Earl of
:13:22. > :13:27.this. I take care of this. This is my patch. When there is no landfill
:13:27. > :13:32.going on there is an opportunity for different kinds of wildlife and
:13:32. > :13:37.plants. It's a nice place to be. The wider site is 800 acres, much
:13:37. > :13:42.of it landfill that's long since been restored, creating a complex
:13:42. > :13:46.mix of waterways, woodlands, meadows and scrubland. These places
:13:46. > :13:50.can never be built on because of the landfill that lies beneath, but
:13:50. > :13:55.can they really be a haven for wildlife that chooses to live
:13:55. > :14:05.above? If you drive around the soil, the time you are with us, you are
:14:05. > :14:07.
:14:07. > :14:10.going to see a vast variety of wild life. So you see this, place is not
:14:10. > :14:14.just a rubbish dump. This is massive. There is much more to it
:14:14. > :14:19.than just this top active part. Have you wondered what happens to
:14:20. > :14:24.the rubbish you throw away after five weeks? After five years? After
:14:24. > :14:28.50 years even? This week the team and I are going to find out. We are
:14:28. > :14:38.starting at the top and moving out and down to the areas that nature
:14:38. > :14:45.
:14:45. > :14:55.has reclaimed. Here is a taster of on a landfill site, but this is
:14:55. > :15:34.
:15:34. > :15:38.this week. Next up though, we're checking out the bird life at the
:15:39. > :15:45.very top of this landfill site. See you very soon. Thank you very much,
:15:45. > :15:50.Liz. You were right, Chris, it is teeming with wildlife. Lots of food.
:15:51. > :15:55.We waste one-third of the food we buy in the UK. A lot is going to
:15:56. > :16:01.the landfill. Most of it is potatoes I leave under... Never
:16:01. > :16:07.mind! Right, we have had a brand new nest for you, absolutely brand
:16:07. > :16:13.new. Some of you may have seen this over the weekend. It's a wren nest.
:16:13. > :16:16.There's been high drama there. Let's look at this wren's nest.
:16:16. > :16:21.Adults are coming in and feeding. That is what people have been
:16:21. > :16:24.watching. We could not see exactly how many young are in there. I
:16:24. > :16:29.think there's at least four in there. There is four in there. You
:16:29. > :16:35.can definitely see four. Mum is trying to feed them a snail. That
:16:35. > :16:40.is a little bit too big. My mum tried to do it with sprouts. They
:16:40. > :16:43.wouldn't go in, to be honest with you. It was doing very, very well.
:16:44. > :16:50.Then something strange you noticed about it. One thing we were able to
:16:50. > :16:54.do was look at this at night. This allowed us to take a closer look at
:16:54. > :16:59.the birds' behaviour whilst they were overnighting in there. We
:16:59. > :17:04.don't normally get views like this of birds. Here is the adult with
:17:04. > :17:08.the youngsters, no doubt keeping them warm. If you look closely,
:17:08. > :17:15.what at what is crawling around on top of the youngsters, it is
:17:15. > :17:20.mosquitos. What is all that about? I like moss
:17:20. > :17:24.ket toes. I have -- mosquitos. I have an admiration for them. We
:17:24. > :17:29.don't have to worry about malaria. There are 33 species in this
:17:29. > :17:34.country. Some are rare, I have to say. The females of them now need
:17:34. > :17:38.to suck the blood of other animals to get enough protein to produce
:17:38. > :17:43.their eggs. For me it is part of being a community. I like sharing
:17:43. > :17:52.myself. I offer a little bit of blood. That is what the WRENS were
:17:53. > :17:58.doing too. Do you think they itch? Mosquitos have to find other hosts,
:17:58. > :18:04.birds, mammals, they are bitten too. It is not just us. OK, the nest
:18:04. > :18:08.started off, everything was calm, then things took a dramatic turn.
:18:08. > :18:15.They are, everything seems calm, now the most enormous threat. There
:18:16. > :18:20.it is. It is a jai. They will try to take -- jay. They will try and
:18:20. > :18:28.take those fledglings. At this time of year they are keen on finding
:18:28. > :18:36.eggs and youngsters. A hole appeared in the back. Now explos
:18:36. > :18:41.sieve fledgling. -- expo sieve fledgling.
:18:41. > :18:51.The jai did get one of those little chicks. That motivated the others
:18:51. > :18:54.
:18:54. > :18:57.to burst out explosively. minutes later this bird came back.
:18:57. > :19:02.Jay have phenomenal memories. Over the space of two minutes it is
:19:02. > :19:07.obvious it will go back and try and harvest the rest of these chicks.
:19:07. > :19:11.This happens every day. No matter what you say jays are not a bad
:19:11. > :19:19.animal. It is part and parcel of the ecology. They only do this when
:19:19. > :19:24.they have young to feed. The rest of the time they eat invertebrates.
:19:24. > :19:29.If it had been a day earlier those chicks would not have been able to
:19:29. > :19:35.go. It is the third close shave for our chicks we've had this evening.
:19:35. > :19:39.What happened to them? We sent our cameraman, who got this fantastic
:19:39. > :19:43.sequence out for us. The adult goes back. She finds them because they
:19:43. > :19:49.produce a call of their own. Despite some searching around here,
:19:49. > :19:53.they have moved to a spot where they are well hidden down on the
:19:53. > :19:57.ground. Eventually she locates them. They are, tucked up under cover
:19:57. > :20:03.down there. They are all back together. And being fed. We have
:20:03. > :20:08.been out today. I will bring you an update tomorrow. We can still find
:20:08. > :20:12.those chicks. I will tell you how they are. That is lovely to see.
:20:12. > :20:17.Now, tomorrow I'm going to investigate about exactly that sort
:20:17. > :20:21.of thing, jays, crows, particularly magpies. How much of an effect do
:20:21. > :20:26.they have on our song bird populations? We will find out
:20:26. > :20:31.tomorrow. We will try and get clear answers to this emotionally-charged
:20:31. > :20:36.story. Who's poo? A quick update on the poo. Let's look at it now. I
:20:36. > :20:42.have to say, quite a lot of you are getting it right.
:20:42. > :20:46.Really? Yes. When I see it I think what a triumph of television we
:20:46. > :20:51.have created! This is what real biology is all about. Particularly
:20:51. > :20:56.some of the younger viewers. When it comes to younger viewers it is
:20:56. > :21:02.time to celebrate a couple of lads from Suffolk, Paul and Ryan Edwards.
:21:02. > :21:07.We met them in 200. They were 16. We joined up with them again. They
:21:07. > :21:14.are 19, at their home in Suffolk, where they have taken a close look
:21:14. > :21:19.at some barn owls. A beautiful film. Take a look.
:21:19. > :21:23.When you spend so much time in an area you begin to get a bit like
:21:23. > :21:29.the animals in it. You get territorial in a way, which is
:21:29. > :21:35.silly, but you do. We're really lucky to have a place
:21:35. > :21:41.where we can go. The oak will always be from where our passion
:21:41. > :21:45.stemmed. It's only until you see them poking their heads out of the
:21:45. > :21:55.box for the first time, the first time you make eye contact with them,
:21:55. > :21:56.
:21:56. > :22:00.it's when you realise, wow, that's a really good moment. We think of
:22:00. > :22:07.them as our owls. They are obviously not our owls, but we feel
:22:07. > :22:12.we've played a part in rearing them in a way. They have a mystical
:22:12. > :22:16.quality to them. You know, spending time with them, following them, you
:22:16. > :22:22.soon realise they have different characters and different ways of
:22:22. > :22:27.living to other creatures. It's all about their life cycle.
:22:27. > :22:37.Not just seeing the creature, but realising there's another life
:22:37. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:45.within the meadow. It's pretty breathtaking as they come towards
:22:45. > :22:49.you and it looks almost as if they can feel the wind underneath their
:22:49. > :22:55.wings. They are hunting. They have one thing on their mind. I don't
:22:55. > :23:05.know, they are so in tune with what they want to do. They forget about
:23:05. > :23:14.
:23:14. > :23:23.It's also there -- always there, whereas the river is constantly
:23:23. > :23:27.changing with the creatures that come and go. When the kingfishers
:23:27. > :23:32.start heading up-stream, it sort of slaps you in the face and you are
:23:32. > :23:40.like, wow, there are kingfishers here, they are back. It is special
:23:40. > :23:45.when he comes and chooses our area. When you are sitting waiting your
:23:45. > :23:55.mind starts to wonder. You start this think about all the other
:23:55. > :24:10.
:24:10. > :24:14.free-flowing in a way. Things come and go.
:24:14. > :24:19.When you're filming the barn owl, when you are watching that life
:24:19. > :24:23.cycle, and you tend to forget about all the other animals in the oaks.
:24:23. > :24:30.You can see the little owls watching the barn owls. They
:24:30. > :24:37.certainly know each other is there. When we're actually filming the
:24:37. > :24:44.owls, it does seem to go on forever. It seems to take a long time. Then
:24:44. > :24:49.when you actually think of how long ago these chicks you are watching
:24:49. > :24:59.fledged, it was only 14 weeks ago they were eggs. I think that's
:24:59. > :25:10.
:25:10. > :25:17.and diving down. It would be cool to be inside their head for a bit.
:25:17. > :25:27.That is the way you are sucked into when you are filming them, you are
:25:27. > :25:31.
:25:31. > :25:36.almost having a shared moment with hunting barn owl. A beautiful film.
:25:36. > :25:41.Thank you guys. Thank you very much indeed. I've come out to the
:25:41. > :25:46.estuary from the other end of the reserve. You can see absolutely
:25:46. > :25:52.stunning views out here. If you could see just past the end of the
:25:52. > :25:56.trees there, you'd be able to see our oystercatchers. We have a pair
:25:56. > :26:00.of oystercatchers, sitting on two eggs. They've made a nest on top of
:26:00. > :26:06.a wall. They've been sitting on those eggs. This is some glarryous
:26:07. > :26:11.shots we got at the weekend -- glorious shots we got at the
:26:11. > :26:16.weekend. They choose the spot not just because it is eight feet above
:26:16. > :26:23.that wall, but I think they choose it because of that view. We caught
:26:23. > :26:27.on camera two birds looking a bit distressed. That is a typical
:26:27. > :26:33.oystercatcher call, something you'll recognise from beach
:26:33. > :26:38.holidays. We think this was the culprit. It is a crow. We saw how
:26:38. > :26:44.that jay behaved. A crow would certainly have a go at those
:26:44. > :26:49.oystercatcher eggs if it managed to find them. You can see the adults
:26:49. > :26:55.are being very attentive. Chris, Chris, perfect, come here, you've
:26:55. > :26:59.got here, well done. I just wanted you to have a look.... Nice
:26:59. > :27:05.dramatic entrance! Let's go to the oystercatchers live. I was watching
:27:05. > :27:09.them earlier. If we can zoom in a bit. Is that possible? Perfect! We
:27:09. > :27:15.are used to these birds looking very pristine. They are beautifully
:27:15. > :27:22.turned out. They look like they are going to the opera, or something.
:27:22. > :27:27.But uncharacteristically a bit scruffy. They seem to be ragged
:27:27. > :27:32.around the edges. I notice their back feathers are looking a little
:27:32. > :27:37.bit, as I say scruffy and brown. You can notice the brown feathers
:27:37. > :27:41.really show up. These are last year's feathers which have aged and
:27:41. > :27:47.weathered. What makes them stand out is the contour feathers are
:27:47. > :27:53.coming through. This makes sense. The birds won't want to molt their
:27:53. > :27:56.flight feathers at this time. They need to be able to fly, defend the
:27:56. > :28:01.nest or forage for food. Since they sit around they are not using up a
:28:01. > :28:05.lot of energy. That would be time to put it into their contour body
:28:06. > :28:10.feathers. This is what has made them have this appearance. They are
:28:10. > :28:17.using this inactive time to molt. You would never see that with the
:28:17. > :28:27.smaller song birds because they have so much to do. I am going to
:28:27. > :28:27.
:28:27. > :28:33.do an impersonation. I need a coat. Are you ready?
:28:33. > :28:38.LAUGHTER I know what you are being. Shall we ask the crew? A heron. He
:28:38. > :28:41.is being a heron, aren't you? being a heron. You know, our herons
:28:41. > :28:45.are just over there. We have been following their progress throughout
:28:45. > :28:49.the course of our series. Let's take a look at this because they've
:28:49. > :28:52.been more active over the weekend. They have spepbtd an increasing
:28:52. > :28:58.amount of time away from the -- spent an increasing amount of time
:28:58. > :29:02.away from the nest. They have been practicing their stabbing and
:29:02. > :29:07.foraging skills. They are still not brilliant at it. They are being
:29:07. > :29:14.bullied a bit by some of the estuary's more belig grant
:29:15. > :29:19.residents. The tables will turn when it realises how well armed it
:29:19. > :29:24.is. It is investigating an object. Watch this one - if you watch
:29:24. > :29:29.closely, it stabs and then it swallows a little silver fish it
:29:29. > :29:34.has caught. We have been watching them. We did wonder, they've had
:29:34. > :29:39.all those slightly useless attempts and you think, are they ever going
:29:39. > :29:43.to find any type of prey they can catch? And are they ever going to
:29:43. > :29:53.leave the nest? Let's go live to our herons to see what has happened.
:29:53. > :30:00.
:30:00. > :30:04.posters, everything they can to get the teenagers out of the home.
:30:04. > :30:12.Joking aside, I wouldn't mind betting that occasionally the
:30:12. > :30:19.adults are coming back with food. Our sharp-eyed wildlife camera man
:30:19. > :30:26.Mark Yeates spends a lot of time here at the estuary. We think it is
:30:26. > :30:30.that he is not only a keen Fisherman but he likes the wildlife.
:30:30. > :30:35.He spotted a ripple on the water and look at this, it's a grey seal
:30:35. > :30:38.coming inland away from the sea. We were not 100 miles from the sea
:30:38. > :30:44.here. It is just beyond where we can see from this point, but he
:30:44. > :30:48.thinks it was probably coming up because there are a lot of sea
:30:48. > :30:56.trout heading up this estuary, probably as a result of the rain at
:30:56. > :31:01.the weekend. A big flush of rain is a real signal to sea trout and
:31:01. > :31:07.other fish waiting to spawn up the river. They need to know there is
:31:07. > :31:13.going to be enough water when they spawn. He was going up there
:31:13. > :31:18.forehis meal. Liz Bonnin is going to introduce us
:31:18. > :31:23.to some birds. I'm a keen birder myself.
:31:23. > :31:29.Welcome back to pit Sealand fill site. Over the next few nights I'm
:31:29. > :31:34.hoping to show you how a well- managed site like this one can have
:31:34. > :31:37.all the makings of a nature reserve. It is some of the stuff that's been
:31:37. > :31:45.thrown away here that's attracting probably the most obvious species
:31:45. > :31:48.on show here at pit sea, the gulls. For them this is a massive fast
:31:48. > :31:52.food outlet. There is food absolutely everywhere. Look at this,
:31:52. > :31:58.a potato, and something else there I don't want to pick up! But
:31:58. > :32:03.there's a lot of food here. We throw out 60 million tonnes or so
:32:03. > :32:09.of food in the UK every year. That's ridiculous. Of this area,
:32:09. > :32:16.36% of it is organic matter - that's garden and food waste. The
:32:16. > :32:21.gulls seem to be doing very well on this diet, but it is not a happy
:32:21. > :32:26.ever after story author these birds, as the site is set to close in five
:32:26. > :32:36.years. What is going to happen to the gulls then? Scientists are
:32:36. > :32:46.
:32:46. > :32:50.Pitsea during the spring and summer, but in the winter numbers can reach
:32:50. > :32:54.40,000. It is one of the most astonishing collection of birds in
:32:54. > :32:59.the whole of Britain. It is a contrasting mix of natural beauty
:32:59. > :33:07.and the darker side of our human world. And this mass of swirling
:33:07. > :33:11.feathers has an unfolding story to tell. The birds have been cannon
:33:11. > :33:16.netted by the Thames gull group, who are involved with a major
:33:16. > :33:21.scientific study to monitor the population here. Today they've got
:33:21. > :33:29.an interesting catch. How many different types of gulls do we have
:33:29. > :33:36.on this landfill site in general? Herring, lesser-blacked back and
:33:36. > :33:44.great-blacked back. There are five. We'll get them bagged up, back to
:33:44. > :33:50.the processing site. This is if Med gull? That's the Mediterranean Gull.
:33:50. > :33:54.This colouring will allow bird watchers to see them easier in the
:33:54. > :33:59.field. Mediterranean gull makes me think they come from the Med, but
:33:59. > :34:03.do they? They don't actually. The population of Mediterranean gulls
:34:03. > :34:07.in the UK probably came from Germany and central Europe. And now
:34:07. > :34:12.we've got a population breeding in the UK as well. If we are getting
:34:12. > :34:17.more Mediterranean gull this is this country it might be difficult
:34:17. > :34:23.to differentiate between black- headed gulls and Med gulls?
:34:23. > :34:28.Absolutely. The black-headed gulls has moor of a chocolate brown hood,
:34:28. > :34:38.whereas the Mediterranean gull has a deep, blackhead and it goes
:34:38. > :34:40.
:34:40. > :34:45.further down the Med. It is much more of a ver million red. Thank
:34:45. > :34:49.you very much for all the information. It is so lovely for me
:34:49. > :34:53.to see the gulls here, but the reason for this work is to monitor
:34:53. > :34:58.how the population at the landfill site is changing, and ho help us
:34:58. > :35:02.understand the wider problems facing these birds. Paul, is there
:35:02. > :35:06.anywhere like this landfill site for helping you get this kind of
:35:06. > :35:10.information in about these gulls? Absolutely not. In the winter
:35:10. > :35:17.numbers that we are catching here, very large numbers, we had one
:35:17. > :35:27.catch last year, our total in the net was 760 birds in one catch.
:35:27. > :35:29.
:35:29. > :35:37.There is nowhere else you can catch that number of birds. Herring gulls
:35:37. > :35:43.-- heron guls. These have declined in the last 30 or 40 years. The
:35:43. > :35:50.number of girds the towns the hasn't matched the decrease in the
:35:50. > :35:56.populations. When this landfill site is covered over, could you all
:35:56. > :36:01.move out to the coastline and replenish the numbers there? It is
:36:01. > :36:04.not as simple. This will help our understanding of how we can
:36:04. > :36:09.understand population numbers without them crashing here once
:36:09. > :36:14.this site is covered up. That information we are collecting now
:36:14. > :36:21.we are bank sog that when the landfill sites close we understand
:36:21. > :36:28.what happens to this population of birds. Will they all move to the
:36:28. > :36:38.coast, or move to France or into London? We can hopefully monitor
:36:38. > :36:38.
:36:38. > :36:43.that in future. One of the greatest birding spectacles in Britain.
:36:43. > :36:46.Considering this location, it was so unexpectedly stunning. Paul's
:36:47. > :36:51.work is so important. We've got to make sure these gulls have a
:36:51. > :36:56.promising future in this country. Join me later to find out how
:36:56. > :37:04.wildlife find foods here and also a home.
:37:04. > :37:08.Thank you very much indeed, Liz. It is absolutely eye opening isn't it?
:37:08. > :37:12.Teeming with life. We'll join Liz lafrplt
:37:13. > :37:18.Now, no-one I think in the country escaped the weather. It was quite a
:37:18. > :37:26.wet weekend. In fact here in Wales a quarter of the average rainfall
:37:26. > :37:36.for June fell in a 24 hour period over this weekend. It was wellies
:37:36. > :37:36.
:37:36. > :38:33.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:38:33. > :38:37.Isn't that what some people call jazz? Now stop. We've got a big
:38:37. > :38:47.story to tell. You can't have weather like that without it having
:38:47. > :38:57.some sort of impact on the wildlife. Last week we fold the -- followed
:38:57. > :39:00.
:39:00. > :39:05.the tragic tale of the pied catchers. Things change. Initially
:39:05. > :39:09.it was all good news. The sun was shining and the male was giving
:39:09. > :39:15.food to the female and she was passing it to the chicks. But one
:39:15. > :39:20.of the chicks started looking off- colour at the weekend. She carried
:39:20. > :39:25.on feeding but it wasn't good. The weather had kicked in. She sensibly
:39:25. > :39:30.removed the animal which had died. It was a small size, so it might
:39:30. > :39:35.have begun to rot and cause a problem, but here the wind has come,
:39:35. > :39:39.the sun has gone in, there is less food and it was another disaster in
:39:39. > :39:46.this nest. But this morning sadly all the chicks had died. You can
:39:46. > :39:51.see the female was coming back in to check, but to no avail. What on
:39:51. > :39:57.earth was going on? Let's just have a look at what they were eating.
:39:57. > :40:01.This was the thing that started leading us to suspect that it
:40:01. > :40:07.wasn't the health of the adults, it was just the food that they were
:40:07. > :40:15.able to find. You can see they are bringing in food but there are no
:40:15. > :40:24.big fat protein-laden juicy caterpillars, just a few flies.
:40:24. > :40:31.Sometimes you can't even see what's in the beak it was so small. So, it
:40:31. > :40:36.came down obviously to the need of a bar chart. A rather useful bar
:40:36. > :40:41.chart for Saturday Shows us that they started slowly with the number
:40:41. > :40:46.of feeds being just over 20. That's not unusual. That's early in the
:40:46. > :40:51.morning. It is not warm. As the day heats up you can see they are
:40:51. > :40:56.bringing in plenty of food, but that peak doesn't last. It drops
:40:56. > :41:01.off really quickly. By the end of the day, look here between 4 and 5,
:41:01. > :41:04.it is light until after 9 o'clock, they should be really feeding those
:41:04. > :41:10.chicks but they weren't. That was Saturday's picture. On Sunday the
:41:10. > :41:15.rain came in, so the combination of the feeding really dropping off,
:41:15. > :41:22.the bad quality of the food, and then the rain meaning that finding
:41:22. > :41:31.any other food became in increasingly difficult probably led
:41:31. > :41:38.to that nest failing. This continued on Sunday. This bar chart,
:41:38. > :41:42.I'm giving you 10 for statistical accuracyy. 10 for presentation.
:41:42. > :41:49.Thank you. We've got a theory, that food is at the centre of all of
:41:49. > :41:52.this, but we are not experts the pied flycatcher but we know a man
:41:52. > :41:58.who is. Earlier this afternoon I had a word
:41:58. > :42:03.with him. Malcolm, in the last couple of
:42:03. > :42:09.weeks we've seen both our broods of pied flycatchers fail is. This to
:42:09. > :42:15.be expected at this time of year? It is. I mind on my own population
:42:15. > :42:25.in Dartmoor. Later-nesting broods are much more likely to fail than
:42:25. > :42:29.materialier-nesting ones. Why is it? Others have done terribly well.
:42:29. > :42:34.In my population productivity is affected by the weather. They do
:42:34. > :42:43.suffer with prolonged rain. But I think one of the main reasons
:42:43. > :42:48.probably they are just breeding too late, so they've missed the peak in
:42:48. > :42:55.abundance of food, with the catter pillars. Spring has been coming
:42:55. > :43:00.earlier and if they don't time their brood with this, they will
:43:00. > :43:05.suffer increased failure. If the birds are able to calibrate this in
:43:05. > :43:11.anyway, why are these late ones bottering to raise a brood?
:43:11. > :43:18.could be a second clutch, where the female has failed earlier in the
:43:18. > :43:24.nesting cycle, either on eggs or small chicks. Or it could be they
:43:24. > :43:28.are first-time breeders. And they just get it wrong. Thank you very
:43:28. > :43:34.much Malcolm for that insight. We've got to say, it is not just
:43:34. > :43:40.our nests that are failing. 19% of the broods here at Ynys-hir have
:43:40. > :43:45.failed recently. But it is not all doom and gloom. Look at these
:43:45. > :43:49.delightful pictures taken by our wildlife cameramen. These are pied
:43:49. > :43:56.flycatcher fledglings, so not all the families here have failed. Some
:43:56. > :44:01.of them are thriving and doing very well indeed. It is not a total
:44:01. > :44:11.wipeout as far as that species is concerned. Not at all, if you go
:44:11. > :44:17.
:44:17. > :44:21.out here in the morning it is alive explore the Isle of Man. If you
:44:21. > :44:29.have suffered motorcycle emptiness over the weekend, here's our second
:44:29. > :44:36.instalment of boy's weekend away. Martin, come on. Good morning. A
:44:36. > :44:46.croissant and some lukewarm tea. Come on, mate!
:44:46. > :44:48.
:44:48. > :44:55.A strange trail here. What's going on? Oh, my....! Come
:44:55. > :45:03.on, Chris. The water's lovely. See what you're missing out on. Have
:45:03. > :45:11.some decorum, man! It's a family programme.
:45:11. > :45:15.He's barking - absolutely barking! Now, Chris, you may have noticed
:45:15. > :45:21.that in the Isle of Man there are beautiful rivers. Can't argue with
:45:21. > :45:24.that. Look at this! I would like to show you something which has been
:45:24. > :45:30.rediscovered living in the river. Not that something I found living
:45:30. > :45:37.in the river this morning, I hope! I seriously think Martin's trying
:45:37. > :45:43.to freak me out. What's this? Ghostbusters? This team from the
:45:43. > :45:47.department of environment, food and agriculture are electro fishing.
:45:48. > :45:57.This sends a small charge into the water. It does not harm the fish,
:45:58. > :46:01.
:46:01. > :46:07.it stuns them briefly, so they can be safely caught. This gives us an
:46:07. > :46:11.ideal chance to study them. We look at this evolutionary
:46:11. > :46:15.throwback. I can see you have something. We are trying to put
:46:15. > :46:21.them into different categories. The very small ones there we are
:46:21. > :46:28.looking at they could be one-plus stage. One year? These ones here
:46:28. > :46:33.then? Two-plus. They are getting more defined tails. There's a
:46:33. > :46:39.massive change as they go through - it's a proper met more foe sis.
:46:39. > :46:46.This one here? That is an adult, looking at the definition of the
:46:46. > :46:51.fins. There are clear gill openings. It has developed eyes. Obviously
:46:51. > :46:58.that will be in preparation nor the spawning period. Once mature the
:46:58. > :47:02.adults stop eating. That sucker- like mouth becomes a tool used in
:47:02. > :47:06.breeding and nest building. They will use their suckers in the
:47:06. > :47:12.current of the water. They will move their bodies and move the
:47:12. > :47:16.stones. You get clumps of them. There has been up to 50 recorded in
:47:16. > :47:24.some surveys. Sometimes they are referred to as a ball of spawning
:47:24. > :47:32.activity. A ball of spawning activity. We caught one once, under
:47:33. > :47:40.a stone. I remember all the little kids coming around when kids looked
:47:40. > :47:46.at lamprays. They are slightly intimidating.
:47:46. > :47:56.Even thoi they are not going to feed, that does mean they are a
:47:56. > :47:57.
:47:57. > :48:03.little important. Why are they doing this? J they spawn they will
:48:03. > :48:10.be in the same areas as other fish, brown trout. It is good for other
:48:10. > :48:17.fish to spawn in as well. The water has to be good quality for them to
:48:17. > :48:21.stay in that area. It has been a treat to see these lamprays. I have
:48:21. > :48:30.never seen them before. It has been fascinating. Thank you.
:48:30. > :48:34.You know, all this fresh air and fishing has given me an appetite.
:48:34. > :48:40.There's no doubt the Isle of Man is a feast for the senses. Frankly
:48:40. > :48:46.there's something distinct lilacing in this trip so far - the lesser
:48:46. > :48:55.spotted toasted tea cake. At last! That is amazing. Definitely the
:48:55. > :49:01.closest thing we've got to river monsters in the UK. The sun is
:49:01. > :49:04.setting over the pit. It is a beautiful site. Who would have
:49:04. > :49:08.thought it? We talked about the gulls coming here to get their food.
:49:08. > :49:13.They are not the only to do so. A beautiful popular mammal does that
:49:13. > :49:18.as well. More of that in a little bit. Animals don't just need food
:49:18. > :49:22.to survive, they also need shelter. Can our discarded rubbish provide a
:49:22. > :49:29.home for wildlife. Take a look at this.
:49:29. > :49:32.Thanks a million. So, we were having lunch here yesterday. Two of
:49:32. > :49:40.the team spotted something interesting over here. This is Rod,
:49:40. > :49:46.our special macro-cameraman. This is an old disused road sweeper
:49:46. > :49:56.brush. If you wait you may see it. We will stick a mic in there as
:49:56. > :49:57.
:49:57. > :50:02.well. Make-Sinn Fein boom. I love it! Now we -- make shift boom. I
:50:02. > :50:12.love it. It's not long before our mystery animals emerge. It is the
:50:12. > :50:16.
:50:16. > :50:20.sound which gives them away. That's what we've been waiting for
:50:20. > :50:24.- bumblebees. Loads of them, coming in and out of this bit of discarded
:50:24. > :50:32.rubbish. That is what is interesting. Here, this is part of
:50:32. > :50:37.the site which is not managed at all. It has been over grown. These
:50:37. > :50:42.amazing little bumblebees are adding to the biodiversity of this
:50:42. > :50:47.entire site. Bumblebees do well here because a
:50:47. > :50:57.lot of wiltd flowers, many of which we -- wild flowers, many of which
:50:57. > :50:58.
:50:58. > :51:07.we may think of as weeds, are flour Irishing. I am not sure --
:51:07. > :51:14.flourishing. The clue is in their legs. Sarah
:51:14. > :51:23.from Bug skaf Life is here to help. Can you identify what is on you?
:51:23. > :51:29.What we are looking for.... There you go, you've got it.
:51:29. > :51:39.So, she sat still for a minute there. The hind legs are black, are
:51:39. > :51:39.
:51:39. > :51:44.they? They are not black, they are red. The red-tailed bumblebee. We
:51:44. > :51:48.have 24 species. Generally their experience is declining in range
:51:48. > :51:56.and numbers, which is a shame. are in decline because of what
:51:56. > :52:00.factors? Loss of habitat. There are not enough wild flowers to support
:52:00. > :52:08.these wonderful creatures. Great news then for the bumblebees here.
:52:09. > :52:15.There are plenty of these waste land flowers. Shall we let it go
:52:15. > :52:20.then? Yes. Back to the nest. Fly, fly, fly.
:52:20. > :52:28.It goes to show, lovers of wildlife don't have to keep everything neat
:52:28. > :52:33.and tidy. Sometimes a little bit of scruffyness can -- scruffiness can
:52:34. > :52:38.go a long way. We did not plan it, we came across it. That is what
:52:38. > :52:43.Springwatch is all about. To mammals who woman here to feed, I
:52:43. > :52:52.am talking about red foxes. Watching them here is an incredible
:52:52. > :53:02.experience, I can tell you. Look at what the cameras managed to capture.
:53:02. > :53:11.Just like the gulls, the foxes here make use of our discarded waste.
:53:11. > :53:16.They are natural zavevengers and the bountiful -- savengers, and the
:53:16. > :53:21.bountiful food means they hardly have to hunt for anything. The food
:53:21. > :53:29.is delivered on their doorstep. Around the edges of the active
:53:29. > :53:39.landfill one pair has set up home in a log-pile house. In April, the
:53:39. > :53:47.
:53:47. > :53:55.looking after them, bringing them scraps of food zavevenged from --
:53:55. > :54:02.savenged from the landfill above. Living right next door, in some
:54:02. > :54:12.dense bushes, were another four cubs, with one lone vixen looking
:54:12. > :54:15.
:54:15. > :54:20.after them. The cubs played all the time, practicing their hunting
:54:20. > :54:30.techniques on passing magpies and scrapping with each other, already
:54:30. > :54:34.
:54:35. > :54:42.determining a pecking order. All adorable scenes that did well
:54:42. > :54:47.with my arrival with the adventure team a few weeks later.
:54:47. > :54:51.How utterly devine was that? It gets better, I had been amazing
:54:51. > :54:57.experience with those foxes. Come back to me tomorrow for that and
:54:57. > :55:00.more surprising wildlife. Thank you very much, Liz.
:55:00. > :55:04.Absolutely gorgeous stuff. As she said, there'll be more from Liz of
:55:04. > :55:08.the dump tomorrow on the programme. Now, you have been rightly
:55:08. > :55:13.concerned about our barn owl, so Bob and his family, let's go live
:55:13. > :55:18.to them now. As you can see, I think your concerns, well, I
:55:18. > :55:23.wouldn't waste them, if I was you. This is a very happy, healthy
:55:23. > :55:28.looking bunch of chicks don't you think, Chris? Too happy for my
:55:28. > :55:34.liking. They are not doing much. We had the hard weather, but they
:55:34. > :55:40.continued to bring in prey at the same rate when it was not raining.
:55:40. > :55:46.They had cacheed some where. We did have a barn owl incident over the
:55:46. > :55:49.weekend. Look at this. Last week we saw a cat generating in and
:55:49. > :55:54.generating animosity. This time we saw same behaviour. Who was the
:55:54. > :55:58.intruder this time? Yes, it is one of the country's least favourite
:55:58. > :56:03.mammals, I am afraid, a grey squirrel. Would a squirrel attack
:56:03. > :56:09.those chicks, or would a barn owl attack that squirrel? If the
:56:09. > :56:14.squirrel got too close to the nest, there is no doubt the adult barn
:56:14. > :56:19.owl would attack. They will take young birds.... It is like, don't
:56:19. > :56:23.you come near, or I'll punch your lights out. She has the flick knife
:56:23. > :56:30.out and she is demonstrating what is happenedy there. I don't think
:56:30. > :56:37.the squirrel represents a threat to the chicks. You have forgotten the
:56:37. > :56:42.badger-cam. Let's go live to the badger-cam. Oh, there's no badger.
:56:42. > :56:49.Nothing at all. We have recorded something very exciting. Was it
:56:49. > :56:52.badgers? Let's have a look! No, it was cubs.
:56:52. > :56:56.Looking slightly shocked. Strange we've seen cubs a couple of times
:56:57. > :57:02.on that camera, but never with adults. I think they were born
:57:02. > :57:07.somewhere in that badger sett, but out of reach from our cameras. The
:57:07. > :57:11.vixen will be there somewhere. We only see them playing like this.
:57:11. > :57:17.There might be badgers in that sett. It is not uncommon for them to
:57:17. > :57:22.share a sett. Foxs will go into a badger sett. When I was a kid I
:57:22. > :57:32.used to speak to an old fisherman. He told me foxes would make their
:57:32. > :57:39.den at the top, badgers at the bottom and otters too.
:57:39. > :57:45.From the blog, Jim, dark indicates karnnivor size and the twist at the
:57:45. > :57:50.end -- karnnivor size and the twist at the end means fox.
:57:50. > :57:56.The reason it is a fox is it has that twisty tail. It is dark in
:57:56. > :58:00.colour F you look into the soul of this poo, I can see there is fur in
:58:00. > :58:10.there. It means it has eaten something like a rabbit. You can
:58:10. > :58:15.keep your eye on the web-cam. What do we have tomorrow? We get to meet
:58:15. > :58:22.a handsome bird. We will bring you news of our beautiful Red Kite