:00:21. > :00:26.Look at this! It is a beautiful may spring evening and we are live.
:00:27. > :00:34.have extraordinary access to British wildlife. We're going to
:00:34. > :00:44.bring you foxes. These are live pictures of box praise. Also live
:00:44. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:55.pictures of blue tits. That is just a taster. -- ospreys. Springwatch
:00:55. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :01:12.Hello and welcome to Springwatch 2012 - the first of our live
:01:12. > :01:19.programmes that was bound over the next three weeks. We are here at
:01:19. > :01:28.the RSPB Ynys Hir reserve in mid central Wales. We'll show you where
:01:28. > :01:34.we are plaister -- later. It has a fantastic diversity of habitats.
:01:34. > :01:39.There is heathland, Marsh and plenty of oak wood land. There is
:01:39. > :01:47.plenty of wildlife. Our mission is the same, to bring you the best of
:01:47. > :01:54.the world live in sound and vision. What an evening! This spring
:01:54. > :01:59.started off nice and then it went horribly wet and cold. Now it is
:01:59. > :02:07.beautiful. This spring has been unpredictable and extraordinary.
:02:07. > :02:13.That is how this series will be. It will be extraordinary and
:02:13. > :02:19.exceptional. That was good! We have cameras absolutely everywhere.
:02:19. > :02:29.Let's begin with an attached. Let's go live to the nest. We have six
:02:29. > :02:30.
:02:30. > :02:37.chicks. -- a nut hatch. That nest looks extraordinarily uncomfortable.
:02:37. > :02:45.There will be a lot more of that later. What is a nut hatch? Let's
:02:45. > :02:52.remind ourselves of what an adult looks like. They have a slate grey
:02:52. > :02:58.back and that dramatic eye stripe. Numbers have gone up 99% in the
:02:58. > :03:03.last 10 years in the UK. Possibly because a lot of people are feeding
:03:04. > :03:08.them. They are full of character and be aggressive. They chase other
:03:08. > :03:15.things of the feeder. If you want something bigger with a more
:03:15. > :03:20.demonstrative attitude, go up a km away to me Montgomerie share
:03:21. > :03:27.wildlife project. We have live pictures from this nest. This is
:03:27. > :03:32.hour osprey nest. The Mail is incubating at the moment. The
:03:32. > :03:39.female has been diligently applying herself to those as well. Let's
:03:39. > :03:43.remind you a bit more about the birds. It is the osprey earlier in
:03:43. > :03:53.the season. It is quite close to the season. It is quite close to
:03:53. > :03:56.
:03:56. > :04:05.They are bringing in nesting material. They are very precious -
:04:05. > :04:11.the three X. You know when you're up on a school trip, I always
:04:11. > :04:17.opened the pot as still -- as soon as I went out of the school gate.
:04:17. > :04:24.It would be amazing to see those chicks coming out. It is not just
:04:24. > :04:30.nests, we have to live cameras all around the reserve. One is not far
:04:30. > :04:36.away from us. It is called master Cam. There are stunning pictures of
:04:36. > :04:42.the waters, the lake and the marshes around. There are resident
:04:42. > :04:50.swans on the lake. They have signets. Neither of them made it.
:04:50. > :05:00.They have three now. There are two there. Even you are going to like
:05:00. > :05:10.this. Take a look at this! We filmed it earlier on. How sweet are
:05:10. > :05:11.
:05:11. > :05:20.they? There are two babies there. Where is the third? Show us.
:05:20. > :05:27.sweet is that? It is on the back of the adult. I have to say it looked
:05:27. > :05:34.like a Pre-Raphaelite dream. It was explained -- exquisite. It is not
:05:34. > :05:44.just about us here. We will go all around the country. The first
:05:44. > :05:44.
:05:44. > :05:50.friend of Springwatch is Yana Williams. We sent him to Potters
:05:50. > :05:56.Bar. Welcome to a wonderful evening in Potters Bar. Where is Potters
:05:56. > :06:00.Bar? Within earshot of the M25 and a few miles north of London. I know
:06:00. > :06:07.you are very concerned about how I will get back into Wales. I have my
:06:07. > :06:12.passport with me! When the family moved into his three short months
:06:12. > :06:17.ago, they had no idea of the adventures they had in store for
:06:17. > :06:24.them. Through his it is the garden and this is home to an incredible
:06:24. > :06:29.family of animals. -- through here is the garden. This is what they
:06:30. > :06:34.sent in to us at Springwatch. 15- year-old on other film this at the
:06:34. > :06:43.beginning of April. The most staggering thing about this family
:06:43. > :06:53.of foxes is the sheer number. Are you ready? One, two, three, four, 5,
:06:53. > :06:57.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. 11 foxes is incredible. It is more than double
:06:57. > :07:03.the amount you would expect to see in a single letter. We have never
:07:03. > :07:08.seen anything like this before. We are going to pop quickly and
:07:08. > :07:16.quietly into the garden here. I want to show you something. That is
:07:16. > :07:22.the garden shed. The Earth is underneath. I want a quick look. No
:07:22. > :07:28.foxes as yet. We want to give the fox every chance to come into the
:07:28. > :07:35.garden. That is incredible footage. I have heard of seven, even eight
:07:35. > :07:42.foxes, but never 11. We had to send our camera down immediately when we
:07:42. > :07:52.heard. The Xbox den, also known as a foxes earth, his underneath this
:07:52. > :07:52.
:07:52. > :07:58.shared in the back garden. -- the fox's den. They are still quite shy
:07:59. > :08:02.to any danger, any sudden noises, any sudden movement. Then they go
:08:02. > :08:08.back into the earth. They are spending more time in the field
:08:08. > :08:14.with their mother, the vixen. The cubs are begging her to regurgitate
:08:14. > :08:20.food. How will she cope with 11 cubs? We will find out over the
:08:20. > :08:25.next few days. That posed more questions than answers. Is it just
:08:25. > :08:30.the one female? How will she cope with all these cubs? If we are
:08:30. > :08:38.incredibly lucky, we may have footage of live foxes. Back to
:08:38. > :08:44.Wales now and Martin. Thank you. I love the mystery. 11 cubs! I have
:08:44. > :08:54.never seen anything like that. We love to hear from you. Please do
:08:54. > :08:56.
:08:56. > :09:04.get in contact. Probably the best There are lots of blocks on that.
:09:04. > :09:11.We do have the Springwatch Facebook page. You can get in contact on
:09:11. > :09:19.Twitter. What we really love I your videos, the ones you have shot at
:09:19. > :09:27.home. You can film things we never see. Here is a shining example of
:09:27. > :09:31.exactly that. Andrew Hutchinson from York has filled this. Two male
:09:31. > :09:39.adders. This is called the added dance. This is how they compete
:09:39. > :09:44.with one another. -- at their dance. I have read about it but never seen
:09:44. > :09:52.anything like that before. Thank you, Andrew. Keep those videos
:09:52. > :09:58.coming in. Ever seen anything like it? Never. The thing about that
:09:58. > :10:05.footage is the adders were out in the open. You could see them so
:10:05. > :10:15.clearly. It is astonishing. That could be a series Highlight bombing.
:10:15. > :10:15.
:10:15. > :10:25.I see a new series, slither come Dancing. -- highlight for me.
:10:25. > :10:33.have 40 miles of cabling out into these would skied down on to the
:10:33. > :10:39.marshes. -- these words, down on to the marshes. I am going to pick a
:10:39. > :10:44.bird which is familiar, the blue tit. It nested so early last year
:10:44. > :10:52.that by the time Springwatch came, they had all fledged. This year
:10:52. > :10:58.they have nested later and we can enjoy them. This is a very cosy
:10:58. > :11:04.nest. It is made out of sheep's wool. How many are in there? We
:11:04. > :11:10.have 10. We did actually think it had gone down to nine and de
:11:10. > :11:19.Menezes that the sibling was sitting on the 10th one. -- and
:11:19. > :11:26.then we noticed that a sibling. The parents have been so busy. About
:11:26. > :11:31.500 visits a day. They generally have one brood. If they get the
:11:32. > :11:36.timing wrong and they cannot make successful visits, then obviously
:11:36. > :11:42.the numbers that were fledged will go down. At the moment, in this
:11:42. > :11:47.fine weather up with the lack of rain, they are doing really well.
:11:47. > :11:55.Let's take a look at how they looked earlier. They were more pink
:11:55. > :12:03.a few days ago. It has been amazing to watch. The parents are so
:12:03. > :12:06.attentive. They have been coming in and out 50 to 70 times an hour to
:12:06. > :12:11.feed the chicks. They were still come to the bird table occasionally
:12:11. > :12:16.for themselves and have seats. is why you should continue to feed
:12:16. > :12:22.them throughout the summer. Adults would take the food and they were
:12:22. > :12:27.not think of giving it to the chicks. -- will not think. What
:12:27. > :12:31.other chances? It depends on the weather but they're doing really
:12:31. > :12:41.well. It was windy yesterday's so the parents of brooding them to
:12:41. > :12:48.keep them warm. It was sunny this weekend. Where we were of was very
:12:48. > :12:53.windy. Let's go live to the nuthatch nest. They have grown a
:12:53. > :12:58.lot in the short time we have been watching them. The feathers are
:12:58. > :13:05.wrapped in a bomb racks -- waxy sheath and they are beginning to
:13:05. > :13:12.preen them out. You can see the smallest of the brood. That is No.
:13:12. > :13:18.8 and it is smaller than the rest. We have been worried about that one.
:13:18. > :13:23.Let's have a look at what they have been up to. They have been really
:13:23. > :13:30.busy. They are in a nest box. Typically they choose a natural
:13:30. > :13:36.hole but my will go into nest boxes. The adults are in and out all of
:13:36. > :13:42.the time, bringing in lots of caterpillars. We think it might be
:13:42. > :13:50.a clouded still the moth caterpillar. The air were actually
:13:50. > :14:00.eight and now it is down to 6. -- there were actually eight. We hope
:14:00. > :14:03.
:14:03. > :14:08.not. Nest watches -- watches think it is a single parent. Females have
:14:08. > :14:17.less Chesnutt on their body. Looking down on her, it is
:14:17. > :14:21.impossible to tell. She has her work cut out. I have some grass!
:14:21. > :14:28.These showed the number of visits that bird has been making into the
:14:28. > :14:36.nest during the course of the day. This is 5am and the coterie to 7pm.
:14:36. > :14:42.27 times and that is the peak. -- and we go. The red one was on
:14:42. > :14:49.Sunday and the blue was Saturday. That individual bird has come in
:14:49. > :14:55.213 times on Saturday and 188 times on Sunday. It is very busy. The
:14:55. > :15:03.rent has not been getting its fair share. This bar chart shows the man
:15:03. > :15:10.typically going to the rest of the brood, which is 45 feeds. -- the
:15:10. > :15:20.amount. On Sunday 30 feeds and the rent the few more - significantly
:15:20. > :15:20.
:15:20. > :15:24.We have seen that single bird coming in and out of the nest.
:15:24. > :15:29.We're presuming it's a single parent, but what about it's going
:15:29. > :15:34.out and collecting food from the other bird, the male? Sometimes she
:15:34. > :15:36.goes out so quickly and comes back in an instant with a mouthful of
:15:36. > :15:40.caterpillars. I can't believe she can get them that quickly. I think
:15:40. > :15:45.she's going out, getting them from the male and that does happen
:15:45. > :15:48.sometimes. My task then is to send one of our cameramen out to the
:15:48. > :15:54.nuthatch site to see if they can record that - just a theory.
:15:54. > :15:59.know you were saying the runt isn't getting as much food, but ever so
:15:59. > :16:08.often it gets lucky. Take a look at this. There they all are. Mum comes
:16:08. > :16:15.You might have missed it. I am going to show that again. Comes in,
:16:15. > :16:19.tries to put it in one mouth, takes it out again. It jumps and flies
:16:19. > :16:27.into runty's mouth. How lucky was that? It's good a good square meal.
:16:27. > :16:33.Quick question has come in from Facebird. What'll happen when they
:16:33. > :16:37.begin to fledge if he's left behind? Will the mother continue to
:16:37. > :16:45.feed him? It does become difficult for the
:16:45. > :16:50.mother to feed the brood once they leave the nest. Once they break up,
:16:50. > :16:54.they don't huddle together, which means the adults will make separate
:16:54. > :16:58.visits to the chicks, so if one is left in the box, it will be at a
:16:58. > :17:03.disadvantage, so we'll have to see how things progress in the next
:17:03. > :17:06.couple of days in terms of the runt making it, if at all. In the next
:17:06. > :17:11.few weeks we have challenged our cameramen to go out and get under
:17:11. > :17:16.the skin of some of our most charismatic animals in the UK. We
:17:16. > :17:19.want to learn all about them and see all the dramas that unfold in
:17:19. > :17:26.our lives. Our first task has been set to Charlie Hamilton James.
:17:26. > :17:30.You'll remember him. Hoe has done work for Springwatch and
:17:30. > :17:36.Autumnwatch before. He's a lad insane to be down by the river bank
:17:36. > :17:46.because it's there that he finds some of his favourite animals,
:17:46. > :17:54.
:17:54. > :18:04.including one of our most splendid Early spring on the river - my
:18:04. > :18:08.
:18:08. > :18:18.favourite time of year, and there's no bird on the planet I'd rather be
:18:18. > :18:19.
:18:19. > :18:27.watching than a kingfisher. Kingfishers are magical birds -
:18:27. > :18:37.vibrant, charismatic, captivating. As the seasons move from the late
:18:37. > :18:41.
:18:41. > :18:46.winter to early spring, they come I'm back on the same small, humble
:18:46. > :18:50.river where I have been watching kingfishers for most of my life.
:18:51. > :18:58.What always excites me is each year and each season, life on the river
:18:58. > :19:03.is so different, so unpredictable. There is one particular pair of
:19:03. > :19:07.kingfishers I'm desperate to catch up with. I have followed them
:19:07. > :19:14.before, but have no idea what they have been up to over the long,
:19:14. > :19:19.harsh winter. This is the female. We're pretty
:19:19. > :19:25.certain she's the same girl I followed before - mature,
:19:25. > :19:30.experienced - perhaps even wise. Female kingfishers have orange
:19:30. > :19:36.lower bills, whereas with the males, it's all black, making them easy to
:19:36. > :19:43.tell apart. This is her patch of river. She's
:19:43. > :19:48.nested on this same short stretch for a couple of years.
:19:48. > :19:55.The male of the pair, with his all- black beak I know less about, but
:19:55. > :20:02.in many ways, intrigues me more. He was new to the river last year
:20:02. > :20:12.when the pair first mated. Back then, he had to work tirelessly to
:20:12. > :20:16.
:20:16. > :20:20.woo the female, and he's going to Once a strong bond is formed,
:20:20. > :20:25.kingfishers can mate for life, but they may try a few different
:20:25. > :20:31.partners first, so our boy is still out to impress his older, more
:20:31. > :20:38.experienced mate. It's mid-March, and the sun beats
:20:38. > :20:43.down. It seems spring has come early this year, and the river
:20:43. > :20:47.looks idyllic, but early spring is always particularly tough on the
:20:47. > :20:52.male birds. Kingfishers have a delightful and endearing mating
:20:52. > :20:58.ritual. It involves catching a lot of fish, which means that our young
:20:58. > :21:01.guy is going to be rushed off his feet for the next few weeks.
:21:01. > :21:11.Kingfishers always eat fish head first - carefully, delicately
:21:11. > :21:15.turning them around in their beak before swallowing them whole.
:21:15. > :21:20.This avoids spines and scales getting stuck in their throats.
:21:20. > :21:29.However, if you see a kingfisher turning the fish around the other
:21:29. > :21:35.way, head facing forward, you know To another. To court the girls and
:21:35. > :21:39.reaffirm their bond, male kingfishers feed a series of these
:21:39. > :21:49.engagement fish to their chosen female. Our male is ready to go.
:21:49. > :22:01.
:22:02. > :22:06.But it looks like the female has He tries again, and this time his
:22:06. > :22:13.persistence pays off. She accepts the fish.
:22:13. > :22:21.Their bond is strengthened. Fish passing is a way of proving
:22:21. > :22:26.his worth. He'll need to support her
:22:26. > :22:32.throughout the spring, to wants to show her that he's got what it
:22:32. > :22:42.takes. He'll carry on this way for the
:22:42. > :22:49.
:22:49. > :22:59.whole season, delicately feeding It's lovely to watch the pair in
:22:59. > :23:06.
:23:06. > :23:09.Once he's confident he's enticed her with his fish suppers, our male
:23:09. > :23:14.builds up his courage and goes to mate with the female. It's a
:23:14. > :23:18.wonderful thing to watch and the first steps towards the
:23:18. > :23:22.pitterpatter of baby kingfishers. But I can't get carried away. It's
:23:22. > :23:25.still so early in the season, and our pair have many, many hurdles to
:23:25. > :23:30.overcome. Who knows what the spring might
:23:30. > :23:34.hold for them. Right now they must defend their
:23:35. > :23:44.territory and guard their nest. Soon, the eggs will arrive, and as
:23:45. > :23:45.
:23:45. > :23:48.the spring moves on, I hope the He's good, isn't he? Not only great
:23:48. > :23:51.behaviour, but beautiful pictures too. Of course, we'll be back with
:23:51. > :23:55.Charlie tomorrow to catch up with the next part of that kingfisher
:23:55. > :24:00.story - might even get the pitterpatter of kingfisher feet.
:24:00. > :24:05.Followed by the flippy flappy of little wings. And we're fired. We
:24:06. > :24:10.have another live camera down here. It's about 50 metres from our
:24:10. > :24:18.studio. Hanging down from the oak tree is monstrous bird feeder
:24:18. > :24:23.packed with sunflower hearts. We can go live to it, now, and there
:24:23. > :24:30.is absolutely nothing. There is a siskin in the background. That's
:24:30. > :24:35.not fair, Chris. It is not what we wanted. It has been heaving.
:24:35. > :24:43.have recorded earlier in the day birds on it. That's more like it.
:24:43. > :24:47.fest! It is. I get them on mine at home as well. Then look at them!
:24:47. > :24:51.It's the nuthatch. They all flew off. That's the point. That's the
:24:51. > :24:55.adult nuthatch toping up so it's got enough emergency for itself to
:24:55. > :25:00.go out and feed its chicks. Woodpecker there, the boss really
:25:00. > :25:09.of any bird table - everyone goes off when one come, but there is a
:25:09. > :25:15.little siskin hiding around the back sort of enjoying himself.
:25:15. > :25:19.the nuthatch would bow down to a woodpecker. Well armed, those
:25:19. > :25:22.woodpeckers. In keeping with trying see more mammals this Springwatch,
:25:22. > :25:26.we've got the mammal stump. doesn't sound good, but look at
:25:26. > :25:36.this. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. If you look in the
:25:36. > :25:36.
:25:36. > :25:41.distance, you might just be able to Let's have a closer look. In we go.
:25:41. > :25:47.It's hidden behind the tree. Let's have a closer look at it. Right -
:25:47. > :25:51.there it is! It's that stump. It was carefully made by experts...
:25:51. > :25:55.Experts! Who drilled holes - they put cameras in it and filled it
:25:55. > :25:59.with food, and we're hoping small mammals will come and enjoy this
:25:59. > :26:04.feast, Chris. There is one enjoying it straight way. You see the green
:26:04. > :26:09.thing around the hole there? That's to stop the squirrels from getting
:26:09. > :26:12.in. Oh, oh! That was a vole there. Let's have another look. It was a
:26:12. > :26:18.vole that had a surprise. There is a little vole - comes in, looking
:26:18. > :26:25.around thinking, look at all of this lovely food just for me - then
:26:25. > :26:29.- ooh! Who is that? These are bank voles, I should say. A couple of
:26:29. > :26:34.bank voles. Superb, a common little animal, the bank vole - not the
:26:34. > :26:39.type you would find in fields, field voles, but they're lovely red
:26:39. > :26:44.colour when you see them. If you ever pick them up, you will get
:26:44. > :26:49.bitten. Take a look at this, though, because other visitors have been in
:26:49. > :26:52.our mammal stump. We have a wood mouse, but a vole has come in. It's
:26:52. > :26:58.all kicking off with a bit of sparring between the two. You can
:26:58. > :27:02.hear them too. Top trumps, isn't it? Who is going
:27:02. > :27:08.to win? I would put money on the wood mouse. I don't know. They're
:27:08. > :27:14.feisty little things. Look how feisty he's looking. I like a bit
:27:14. > :27:18.of gladatoryial fighting, don't you?
:27:18. > :27:28.Let's move on! More mammals. Let's go from the small mammals to
:27:28. > :27:32.something slightly bigger, slightly Welcome back to Potters Bar where
:27:32. > :27:36.we have an incredible family of foxes in the back garden. Now, I am
:27:36. > :27:40.coming inside because the sun has gone down, and now is an excellent
:27:40. > :27:44.time for foxs to appear, and the last thing I want to do is stumble
:27:44. > :27:49.out and scare them away. A quick introduction for you. This is the
:27:49. > :27:52.Alt family. Say hello. When they moved in here a few months ago,
:27:52. > :27:55.this back garden was a veritable jungle. It was cleared, and in
:27:55. > :28:04.March, a couple of fox cubs appeared. Can you imagine their
:28:05. > :28:09.surprise when a lot more came Mandy and her family moved into
:28:09. > :28:14.their North London home earlier this year, and what started as a
:28:14. > :28:19.simple garden clear-up revealed some unexpected residents.
:28:19. > :28:26.We moved in in the middle of Facebook. There were loads of
:28:26. > :28:30.conifer trees that had grown up around the garden. We cut the trees
:28:30. > :28:38.down, and it came to light it was a summer shed, so it was a great
:28:38. > :28:42.surprise to see not only this lovely big shed, but to find out
:28:42. > :28:46.days later there were loads of baby foxes coming out from underneath.
:28:46. > :28:52.My thoughts were, would it be a problem? So I did phone the Fox
:28:52. > :28:55.Association and asked them, did they think it's appropriate where
:28:55. > :28:59.they are? They said it was perfectly OK.
:28:59. > :29:09.Foxes are shy by nature, and Mandy and her family are very lucky to
:29:09. > :29:13.
:29:13. > :29:17.We only have to open our doors slightly, and the noise of the door
:29:17. > :29:21.opening, all the foxes will scatter and run back to the den. And yeah,
:29:21. > :29:26.we're all getting very attacked, really.
:29:26. > :29:32.My oldest son, he loves filming them and watching them. There is
:29:32. > :29:36.one particular fox which comes up to the window, and - yeah, that's
:29:36. > :29:40.probably my favourite out of all of them because it's so small.
:29:40. > :29:50.And a couple of days ago, they were eating birds, literally. There was
:29:50. > :29:53.
:29:53. > :29:58.about 12 of them. One of them is a very interesting, actually. They're
:29:58. > :30:08.all very healthy as well - lovely coats, all different colours, and
:30:08. > :30:13.
:30:13. > :30:17.they were obviously very relaxed Let's meet the family. It must have
:30:17. > :30:24.been a big surprise to find there you had a family of foxes living
:30:24. > :30:29.with you. It has been amazing - really exciting for the children.
:30:29. > :30:34.Tell me this. Do they do their homework or two they spend all of
:30:34. > :30:39.their time looking out of the window at the foxes? We have put
:30:39. > :30:46.their homework beside a bit far we have been enjoying the foxes. It
:30:46. > :30:52.has been really good. I would be doing the same. Many of you will
:30:52. > :31:00.have foxes coming into the garden. I am hoping a fox might come. By it
:31:00. > :31:05.all means Fleet foxes. Especially this time of year with the cubs. Do
:31:05. > :31:11.not put too much food out because you do not want the fox to become
:31:11. > :31:17.dependent on the food to put out for them. They are wild animals. Do
:31:17. > :31:23.not feed them from other hand. Fox cubs are usually leave the mother
:31:23. > :31:28.at about five months. We will try to follow every twist and turn. We
:31:28. > :31:38.will look at this remarkable vixen and how on earth she manages to
:31:38. > :31:38.
:31:38. > :31:43.feed 11 cubs. This is a side of Springwatch you do not see very
:31:43. > :31:48.often. It is the Springwatch village - the epicentre of the
:31:48. > :31:54.programme. There are loads of trucks, loads of cables. Lots of
:31:54. > :32:00.production people and technical people. In here it is a technical
:32:00. > :32:08.place. We have a whole team watching nests. They are watching
:32:08. > :32:14.live cameras 24 hours a Dame -- a day. You can see all the monitors
:32:14. > :32:21.showing different cameras were different birds nests. Let's take a
:32:21. > :32:25.look at the barn owls. They look so fantastic. We have four barn owl
:32:25. > :32:31.chicks. They are looking quite big already. They are slightly
:32:32. > :32:38.different sizes. We love watching them. They have an upright stance.
:32:38. > :32:43.Went it is hot, they pant and look like they're chatting to each other.
:32:43. > :32:48.In it must be boiling in there. Let's have a look at the
:32:48. > :32:54.chaffinches. This camera has only just gone in. It went life
:32:54. > :33:02.yesterday. What have you noticed? There are five chicks and they work
:33:02. > :33:08.only born a few days ago. The mum be sitting among them at the moment.
:33:08. > :33:13.They will develop a lot as the series goes on. The best nest is
:33:14. > :33:21.this one. It is the rare nest. You are looking at that and going,
:33:21. > :33:24.nothing is happening. -- beat Rainer nest. They have fledged. We
:33:25. > :33:31.were watching them earlier this morning and they were poking their
:33:31. > :33:37.little faces out. They were hoping they would fledged life on the
:33:37. > :33:43.programme. They did that this afternoon. Let's have a look at
:33:43. > :33:49.that! There is the mum coming in and trying to entice them out with
:33:49. > :33:55.the food. The little caterpillar, saying, out to come. They have been
:33:55. > :34:05.very active in the last few days. Of that is the first one out. How
:34:05. > :34:11.many came out? There were actually five. We had only seen four in the
:34:11. > :34:17.nest. They are all out successfully. I do not think there will be the
:34:17. > :34:24.stars of this year's Springwatch. We probably will not see them again.
:34:24. > :34:34.You can carry on watching all these monitors, on the red button or on
:34:34. > :34:36.
:34:36. > :34:41.the website. Martin, where are you? I am at Peron Point. This has to
:34:41. > :34:46.beat one of the most beautiful parts of the whole of this RSPB
:34:46. > :34:52.reserve. The Sun has dipped down behind the hills. Absolutely
:34:52. > :34:57.gorgeous! Every week we're going to try something a bit different. We
:34:57. > :35:02.are going to try and explored the hidden world at Ynys Hir. We're
:35:02. > :35:08.going to look at behaviour and wildlife which normal cameras could
:35:08. > :35:17.not possibly see. They are going to look at the very small, Macro world.
:35:17. > :35:24.Things at that are happening under our feet. This is a fly's eye view
:35:24. > :35:34.of its nemesis, the spider. Look at that! I would not like to meet that.
:35:34. > :35:34.
:35:34. > :35:43.Here is a B. Buchan see the thousands of lenses in its eyes. --
:35:43. > :35:49.you can see. Also the pollen it has been collecting. That is a
:35:49. > :35:54.millipede. Now, the person that managed to film all that is
:35:54. > :35:59.Alastair McEwen. Thank you for coming to see us. You are going to
:36:00. > :36:05.be exploring the whole Reserve, trying to film some of that. Do you
:36:05. > :36:10.have any particular targets in mind? We are trying to give a
:36:10. > :36:18.general look at various habitats. We will get as close as possible to
:36:18. > :36:25.the subjects we find. Let's have a look at a normal-sized camera. Film
:36:25. > :36:31.is looking at his. Let's have a look at your camera. -- fail Macro
:36:31. > :36:39.is looking at his. Why does the camera need to be so small?
:36:39. > :36:45.tried to get down into the world. The world is very different to the
:36:45. > :36:49.world we experience. Cameras like this can really dig down match and
:36:49. > :36:59.actually own ticket to a certain extent and give an impression of
:36:59. > :37:05.
:37:05. > :37:14.the place they live in. -- take down and actually. We are going to
:37:14. > :37:20.try to get among spam. It is fierce. -- amongst them. It is very
:37:21. > :37:25.dangerous indeed. Small creatures do not have an easy life. They are
:37:25. > :37:30.designed perfectly for environment and lifestyle. The design criteria
:37:30. > :37:36.for small creatures is completely different to our world - a world
:37:36. > :37:42.dominated by gravity. Nature has used all those differences in ways
:37:42. > :37:45.which create creatures and shapes and senses almost beyond our
:37:45. > :37:51.imagining. We do not need to imagine them because you are going
:37:51. > :37:56.to show them to us, I hope. We are not going to only have these
:37:57. > :38:04.fascinating animals as a first, we're going to look at another
:38:04. > :38:09.animal. We all know this animal well. It has never been felt in its
:38:09. > :38:16.natural environment until now. -- filmed. Peter Stafford has a
:38:17. > :38:20.passion for the very elusive creature - the mole. At the age of
:38:20. > :38:26.16, Peter took this unique photograph of a mole and its pubs
:38:26. > :38:33.under ground. The photograph won him wildlife cameraman of the year
:38:33. > :38:39.in 1967. Over 40 years on and this remains the only known picture of a
:38:39. > :38:45.wild mole must. When I first found the nest, all I had was a wonderful
:38:45. > :38:49.ball of grass. I did not know what was in it. You saw the
:38:49. > :38:56.extraordinary naked creatures which looked like something prehistoric.
:38:56. > :39:04.They were moles, but they had no eyes, note is you could see. I was
:39:04. > :39:08.lucky and patient and I got the photograph. Remarkably, the only
:39:08. > :39:13.footage of European moles underground was shot in an
:39:13. > :39:18.artificial studio of well over a decade ago. Moles are the only
:39:18. > :39:23.mammals which live entirely underground. They are solitary
:39:23. > :39:28.creatures who fiercely defend their territory. Their tunnels have note
:39:28. > :39:34.surface entrance or exit holes. The mole hills we see are piles of
:39:34. > :39:39.earth from the excavated tunnels. All of which makes them incredibly
:39:39. > :39:45.difficult to film. 45 years after Peter took his original photo, he
:39:45. > :39:52.has made it is mission to film a wild Mars for Springwatch. It is a
:39:52. > :40:00.real challenge to film roles under ground. -- molls. It might be as
:40:00. > :40:05.great a challenge filming polar bears. It is a small parochial
:40:05. > :40:10.British animal but the point is, we never see the animal. You have
:40:10. > :40:18.something hidden. The fact it has not been done for quite a while
:40:18. > :40:25.reinforces that. With so many molehills, finding a mile tunnel to
:40:25. > :40:32.put a camera in should be easy. This is the vertical tunnel. It
:40:32. > :40:42.doesn't give you some sense of the extraordinary strength they have.
:40:42. > :40:46.
:40:46. > :40:51.They do what I do with tiny little pause. The bottom is there to there.
:40:51. > :40:58.This would be the normal depth of their permanent tunnel system.
:40:58. > :41:06.Peter has found the tunnel. Now, for the first time, small infrared
:41:06. > :41:12.cameras are placed in a mole's home. Power Springwatch camera man sets
:41:12. > :41:20.up the equipment. The camera is set for -- left for a few nights and
:41:20. > :41:26.reveals this footage. A tantalising glimpse of a mole. It does not like
:41:26. > :41:32.the small hole in its tunnel left by the camera and covers it over.
:41:32. > :41:37.With the few adjustments, the cameras are reset. Moles will bite
:41:37. > :41:46.the heads off worms to immobilise them and stored them in a lather to
:41:46. > :41:51.return to later. This approach years them out. -- stores them in a
:41:51. > :41:55.lather. It is the first time I have seen this underground footage in a
:41:55. > :42:01.completely natural environment. I have got the most amazing picture
:42:02. > :42:11.of an adult marl busy devouring a very large earthworm. It is passing
:42:12. > :42:16.
:42:16. > :42:22.its through -- it through its large front paws. It is being incredibly
:42:22. > :42:27.inquisitive. It is looking to see how it can repair its tunnel.
:42:27. > :42:35.are powerful figures. To help prepare a hill or a new tunnel,
:42:35. > :42:40.they have developed a modified wrist bone - rather like a 6th
:42:40. > :42:47.finger. Moles are not completely blind. As they live in total
:42:47. > :42:55.darkness, they rely on other heightened senses. It is touch and
:42:55. > :43:01.smell, I am short of it. All based in and around its nose. I think
:43:01. > :43:05.what I admire most about moles is the extraordinary existence they
:43:05. > :43:10.left. Completely out of sight and mind as far as we are concerned.
:43:10. > :43:20.You are on your own all the time, moving this extraordinary quantity
:43:20. > :43:22.
:43:22. > :43:26.of soil. It only increases one's admiration for the little creature.
:43:26. > :43:33.Amazing! The first time they have been filmed in the mind - his
:43:33. > :43:40.racket in the wild for 40 years. Being the new girl, I thought we
:43:40. > :43:48.tried to get a few brownie points. I have brought a picture, it shows
:43:48. > :43:58.the 6th finger. Have I gained some points? This shows us the radial
:43:58. > :44:00.
:44:00. > :44:07.sesamoid bone. That is the 6th finger. It is covered in Cartledge.
:44:07. > :44:16.It also has a very strong humus. This hand is great for pushing
:44:16. > :44:22.earth. You can see just how efficient they are at shifting soil.
:44:22. > :44:27.They have one in their back foot. They can push with a force that is
:44:27. > :44:34.32 times their body weight so they can squeeze the soil on to the
:44:34. > :44:39.surface or backwards down the tunnel. What about that! A radial
:44:39. > :44:48.sesamoid. If you're watching that film, you will have noticed they
:44:48. > :44:54.did not have many whiskers on their noses. They have an organ, bulbous
:44:55. > :45:01.papillae. They have masses of nerves in. They can detect seismic
:45:01. > :45:06.movements in the soil. You pay your licence fee, you tune into
:45:06. > :45:12.Springwatch, you get a radial sesamoid and bulbous papillae. It
:45:12. > :45:16.has to be worth every penny! If you want a copy, you can download it
:45:16. > :45:22.from the website and pin it on your bedroom wall. That did make most of
:45:22. > :45:28.us realise how little we knew about an animal that is under our feet.
:45:28. > :45:35.Most people do not know much about moles. I love them. There is a lot
:45:35. > :45:41.to learn. I thought she would like this. This is the grass mound. In
:45:41. > :45:47.here, we have lots of snakes. There is nothing there at the moment. I
:45:47. > :45:53.did come here earlier. I cannot believe the size of them. Take a
:45:53. > :45:59.look at this. This is what we got yesterday. I had no idea they would
:45:59. > :46:04.be that big. The biggest was 6 ft long and seen on the Isle of Wight.
:46:04. > :46:10.When I was a kid, we would regularly catch them up to a metre
:46:10. > :46:19.in size. They are beautiful. Look at the decoration of the scales on
:46:19. > :46:23.the face? --! I imagine they will have eggs. If they lay their eggs,
:46:23. > :46:31.they will be coming out. Is it unusual to have them in your
:46:31. > :46:38.garden? It would not have been. To have them here it is a treat.
:46:38. > :46:48.also unusual to have 11 fox cubs. That is what a family in Potters
:46:48. > :46:53.
:46:53. > :46:58.been into the garden, picked up a bit of chicken and gone into the
:46:58. > :47:01.back. They're spending a lot more time in the field at the moment. We
:47:01. > :47:06.have a cameraman over there. I think we can cut into a couple of
:47:06. > :47:10.cubs in the field now. They have moved over here to the little cops
:47:10. > :47:18.over there, so this vixen every now and again is picking up food and
:47:18. > :47:22.moving it over there. Now is an ideal time. People tend to think of
:47:22. > :47:27.foxes as being active at night-time but they're also active at dawn and
:47:27. > :47:32.dusk. They can be active all day too. The activity may have moved
:47:32. > :47:36.into the field now but when our cameraman came into the field a
:47:36. > :47:38.couple of weeks ago, this is what he saw.
:47:38. > :47:48.We first sent our Springwatch cameraman down to stake out the
:47:48. > :47:51.
:47:51. > :48:01.cubs at the end of April when they nowhere near the number the family
:48:01. > :48:26.
:48:26. > :48:34.encourage the cubs to follow her. There is a large field beside the
:48:34. > :48:44.garden next to the foxes' den. A break in the weather brings out
:48:44. > :48:50.
:48:50. > :48:54.the cubs and allows us to get a demanding food. At this age,
:48:54. > :48:59.they're starting to eat solid food, but will continue to feed on milk
:48:59. > :49:04.from their mother for the next few weeks.
:49:04. > :49:12.She not only suckles them for nourishment, but also for comfort
:49:12. > :49:16.and bonding. The vixen can also feed them by
:49:16. > :49:26.regurgitating solid food. The cubs seem to be begging her to do this,
:49:26. > :49:34.
:49:34. > :49:39.the cubs and feeding herself. To produce such highly nutritious
:49:39. > :49:48.milk for so many hungry mouths, she must spend much of a time away from
:49:48. > :49:54.them searching for food. Mortality rates are high. 60% of
:49:54. > :50:00.cubs don't survive the first year. As our vixen appears to be feeding
:50:00. > :50:04.them without the help of a male or dog fox, she has a huge task ahead
:50:04. > :50:13.of her, so if the vixen is on her own, how is she managing to keep
:50:14. > :50:18.herself and 11 cubs looking so Beautiful cubs there, and one very
:50:18. > :50:21.hungry mother. I think we've still got the two cubs in shot over in
:50:21. > :50:25.the field right at the end of a long lens. I think they're just
:50:25. > :50:28.leaving now. So that's why it's not such a good shot because they're
:50:28. > :50:33.far, far away in the cops over there. The mother comes into the
:50:33. > :50:38.garden, picks up food and takes it over to the cubs over there. The
:50:38. > :50:43.diet of urban foxs is interesting. Many people think they scavenge in
:50:43. > :50:49.bins, but bins are big, and foxes can't knock them over. A remarkable
:50:49. > :50:55.60% of their diet is what I call wild food - grubs, insects, birds,
:50:55. > :51:00.mammals this. Mother here deserves a gold medal. How she's coped this
:51:00. > :51:04.far, I don't know, especially when you think one in five cubs die
:51:04. > :51:07.within the first four weeks of life, but we'll follow this story. Ci,
:51:07. > :51:15.you'll like this. The wonderful thing about watching urban foxs is
:51:15. > :51:20.at the end of it all you can sit down with a warm front family, have
:51:20. > :51:27.a cup of tea and a lovely cake. So from Potters Bar, back to you.
:51:27. > :51:32.We have to watch that man or watch his waistline tucking into those
:51:32. > :51:35.cakes. I think he was a bit smug. I have my own cup of tea. We were
:51:35. > :51:39.saying earlier blue tits have nested later, which means we're
:51:39. > :51:43.lucky to have them on the programme. Barn owl, which we had a sneaky
:51:43. > :51:46.preview of earlier with the nest watchers, nested earlier, so we
:51:46. > :51:51.have some great shots of them. They're incredibly noisy birds.
:51:51. > :52:01.Take a look at this. This is the barn, and the mum - you can see her.
:52:01. > :52:06.that's noisesy, just wait. She's obviously got food. It's been into
:52:06. > :52:16.our mammals' stump! Listen to that sound.
:52:16. > :52:19.
:52:19. > :52:26.It's like a steam engine. The one in the middle thinking, what am I
:52:26. > :52:33.supposed to do with this? It's try to shove it down. It's no wonder
:52:33. > :52:40.people think they have scary monsters in their barn or loft.
:52:40. > :52:44.you see its eyes after its ate it? It was like oh! Let's go to the
:52:45. > :52:49.barn owls live to see what they're doing.
:52:49. > :52:53.You can see the facial features have already formed - those
:52:53. > :52:57.feathers have come through. Those are the exterior part of the bird's
:52:57. > :53:01.ears. They use that for capturing the sound and channelling it down
:53:01. > :53:05.into the ear openings, but it's still covered with that thick coat
:53:05. > :53:09.of down. You can just see it's losing some of it in front of the
:53:09. > :53:12.wing. That down will fall out, won't it, and the feathers will
:53:12. > :53:16.come through? Pretty soon we'll see it change - certainly during the
:53:16. > :53:20.course of our series. Again, as we have seen before, very different in
:53:20. > :53:24.size to the birds. She starts to incubate before she's finished the
:53:24. > :53:27.clutch. This is a good idea because it means one of the birds -
:53:27. > :53:33.successively, they'll be larger. There will always be a smaller one.
:53:33. > :53:36.As you mentioned, 70% of the barn owls we know of nesting in the UK
:53:36. > :53:39.started breeding in the first week of April. This is the earliest for
:53:39. > :53:43.many, many years. It's likely all of that wet, rainy weather wouldn't
:53:43. > :53:47.have done them any good. They can't hear their prey when they're out
:53:47. > :53:51.hunting and are not as active. Some of the chicks might die. If the
:53:51. > :53:56.chicks run really short of food, it could be that the larger ones will
:53:56. > :54:00.eat some of the smaller ones. It's part of the plan. It might strike
:54:00. > :54:07.you as horrible, but it is part of the plan, something seen on
:54:07. > :54:15.Springwatch a few years ago. that common? It's a bit grim.
:54:15. > :54:19.called the cane and Abel strategy. They normally lay two egg, but the
:54:19. > :54:24.larger will eat the smaller. Can I point out? It's good. I was
:54:24. > :54:29.about to show you - the wren came back. You know the little wrens
:54:29. > :54:33.have fledged - it came back. Don't worry! Win some, lose some. Let us
:54:33. > :54:37.have another look at our Ospreys. Let's remind ourselves of the
:54:37. > :54:44.Ospreys' story. Magnificent. Here they are. They've
:54:44. > :54:51.come back. Look at those eyes, and they - they have been apart, of
:54:51. > :54:57.course. Isn't that right, Chris, when they're in Africa, they're not
:54:57. > :55:04.together in Africa. They don't always arrive back at the same time.
:55:04. > :55:08.He arrived nine days before she did. Let's go live to those ospreys, see
:55:08. > :55:13.what they're up to now. Look at that. There is a bit of egg turning
:55:13. > :55:22.going on there. Can we see anything there? Just - just - there they
:55:22. > :55:26.right now because we have actually seen cracks appear in the eggs.
:55:26. > :55:30.That's right. How long does it take generally for them to come out?
:55:30. > :55:33.depends - sometimes up to 24 hours, sometimes longer. The adults don't
:55:33. > :55:37.help them by breaking open the shell of the egg, but the young
:55:37. > :55:41.bird is inside, and it's communicating audibly with the
:55:41. > :55:45.adults. That's why they're particularly fidgety at this time,
:55:45. > :55:49.because they're fascinated by the sound that's coming out of those
:55:49. > :55:52.eggs. Certainly in the next few days we should see these eggs hatch,
:55:52. > :55:58.and that should be a fantastic sight live. Can I say how amazing
:55:58. > :56:02.that is actually because it's only a kilometre from here in the
:56:02. > :56:07.Montgomeryshire WildlifeTrust, and that'll be only the second time
:56:07. > :56:13.that ospreys have bred in this area. It's a great project. The female
:56:13. > :56:19.came from a conservation project at Rutland Water, moved over here and
:56:19. > :56:23.found the male. By seeding the population, they have successfully
:56:23. > :56:28.seeded the Welsh population. I love the way they curl up their tallons.
:56:28. > :56:33.When they're anywhere near the egg, they curl them up so they don't
:56:33. > :56:39.damage the chicks. Even kestrels do the same. A quick question - Karen
:56:39. > :56:44.on Twitter says how do the parents know which chicks to feed and which
:56:44. > :56:51.have been fed already? When you watch the birds, I guess it's the
:56:51. > :56:55.ones the most vigorously displaying that get fed. Fortunately, in our
:56:55. > :57:02.nuthatch, the little one's head is never up. It's the vociferous ones
:57:02. > :57:05.that come back to the nest. They have their wide gape, which is, ie,
:57:05. > :57:12.put food here. Sometimes you see them sticking the food in and out
:57:12. > :57:19.as if the adult is also making the choice as well. Shall we have a
:57:19. > :57:29.look at the photos quickly? Look at this! I don't even know which way
:57:29. > :57:29.
:57:29. > :57:33.this is around - "Wingens in flight" by Lee. That's like a
:57:33. > :57:40.mosaic. I could make a jigsaw out of that for my sister and say "Sort
:57:40. > :57:45.yourself out for Christmas, love." Look at that! The colour is
:57:45. > :57:51.fantastic. It's a beetle inside a poppy. Beautiful. It's on a poppy?
:57:51. > :57:59.A poppy, yeah. Yet it looks like a landscape. What a start. Fantastic.
:57:59. > :58:04.Anything happening in our nests at all? A quick look at the nest.
:58:05. > :58:07.Chaffinch mum in her nest? I am afraid we have to wrap it up.
:58:07. > :58:12.That's all for our first Springwatch 2012 show. Next time,
:58:12. > :58:16.one of the things we'll bring you is an update on the fox story.
:58:16. > :58:20.We'll find out how she's managed to rear 12 cubs? Where did they all
:58:21. > :58:24.come from? We'll find out if our nuthatch runt survive, but of
:58:24. > :58:28.course, you might know that before us because you can carry on
:58:28. > :58:32.watching our live cameras both on the red button and on the website.