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