:00:13. > :00:18.Let's be honest, it is quite a damp, midgey evening here in Wales, but
:00:18. > :00:23.we're very cheerful, because I know, we're going to bring you a
:00:23. > :00:29.fantastic programme. Tonight we check out our pied fly catchers,
:00:29. > :00:33.they're looking childreny and there's good reason. Charlie
:00:33. > :00:39.Hamilton James brings us tales from the river bank and more exciting
:00:39. > :00:49.than life on Mars, we show a butterfly emerging from its
:00:49. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:10.chrysalis. Stay with us, for Yes, hello and welcome back to the
:01:10. > :01:14.RSPB's beautiful reserve here in central Wales. It is our
:01:14. > :01:18.penultimate programme, this one and only tomorrow night to go this
:01:18. > :01:22.season. Let's crack on, last night we were keen to see what was
:01:22. > :01:27.happening with our pied fly catchers, we had seven of them
:01:27. > :01:30.almost on the bridge of fledging, in a nest box. Let's go live and
:01:30. > :01:35.see what happened. That's provided us with the answer, there is one
:01:35. > :01:40.left, six have gone, and I can tell you, they left very early this
:01:40. > :01:45.morning. In fact, it was still dark, when they started popping out of
:01:45. > :01:49.the nest box. That's why you're looking at pictures that have been
:01:49. > :01:55.shot in infrared. Two have gone, this was attended by the male,
:01:55. > :01:59.acted very early in the morning, and later, at 5.10am, another one
:01:59. > :02:05.popped out in the murk of the Welsh morning. It was much later when the
:02:05. > :02:09.others decided to come out, it was after lunch. Can't avoid repetition
:02:09. > :02:14.here, but that's what it is all about. These little birds, hoping
:02:14. > :02:19.out into the wider world. When I look at these, they've a short tail,
:02:19. > :02:25.there's no down, but they're still very chicky. They look very small,
:02:25. > :02:30.very young. Is that normal? Do you think they've come out too early?
:02:30. > :02:35.It is part of the strategy, you have seven birds in a confined
:02:35. > :02:39.space, it is getting messy and busy, in order to exercise their wings is
:02:39. > :02:44.to get more space. Perhaps the strategy is to find yourself a
:02:44. > :02:47.perch and take the development process on. Our cameramen found
:02:47. > :02:51.them straightaway and they were being attended by the adults. The
:02:51. > :02:54.birds that have left the six out there, female bringing in food
:02:54. > :03:00.there. Then we saw something interesting. Here is a little chick,
:03:00. > :03:04.there's a bluetit there, as soon as the tiny baby sees even another
:03:04. > :03:10.bird, a shadow coming close, it starts to beg, later we saw another
:03:10. > :03:16.bird coming. This is a young Robin, and once again, you get the same
:03:16. > :03:19.reaction, from the fly catch Cher chick, it starts to beg. Actually,
:03:19. > :03:24.curiously, sometimes, they will get fed, by birds of another species,
:03:24. > :03:29.won't they? The impulse to feed them F the bird has food is so
:03:29. > :03:33.strong, it is looking down at the massive food, yellow in this
:03:33. > :03:38.instance, otherwise brightly coloured and it can't resist to
:03:38. > :03:44.stick the food in. Even though on this occasion it failed. They're
:03:44. > :03:49.getting fed, but would there be be food for something else? This one
:03:49. > :03:55.of our brood, sat on a branch, there it is, but look what is above
:03:55. > :04:01.it, it is a great spoted woodpecker, these are underestimated as a
:04:01. > :04:09.predator in our wood left-hand side. Thing is, would the woodpecker spot
:04:09. > :04:17.it? Well it certainly has. The chick is still being attended by
:04:17. > :04:23.the parents, still being fed but the woodpecker didn't leave. Oh, in
:04:23. > :04:30.fact it launched an attack. If we look at that again, there's no
:04:30. > :04:34.debate about its intentions. What about that, that's an amazing piece
:04:34. > :04:39.of behaviour. The little chick, I have to say, survived and it
:04:39. > :04:45.carried on being fed by its parents. Do you think the kingfisher went
:04:45. > :04:51.for the chick. Woodpecker. thought it is too big, I won't
:04:51. > :04:53.bother? Had it manage today get hold tf, it would kill it. They're
:04:54. > :05:01.formidable predators, if they came across the nest yesterday with all
:05:01. > :05:05.of them in there, it would have killed it and had them so. I am
:05:05. > :05:10.sure they would have had him outside. They're beautiful and we
:05:10. > :05:15.love them. Woodpeckers, we do. should remind ourselves, there's
:05:15. > :05:20.one pied fly catch Cher, still in the nest box, maybe it will fledge
:05:20. > :05:30.during the programme? If it comes out, I would be more worried if it
:05:30. > :05:34.left in the morning. Six out of seven are out. Let's take a look at
:05:34. > :05:38.our common sandpiper, this is nested by the railtrack. This is
:05:38. > :05:43.the adult who has been sitting on four eggs for sometime, and nothing
:05:43. > :05:48.is happening. Those eggs, really should have hatched, the latest,
:05:48. > :05:51.today. So, maybe they're never going to. The adults have been off
:05:51. > :05:56.the nest for long intervals, sometimes an hour or so at a time.
:05:56. > :06:00.It's been raining and cold, perhaps those eggs are never going to
:06:00. > :06:05.hatch? Or perhaps they might be delayed. If it has been that cold
:06:05. > :06:10.and they hadn't been chilled to the point they died effectively T could
:06:10. > :06:15.extend the incubation period. But ultimately, you know. We have a
:06:15. > :06:19.question coming in from Denise on Facebook F the sandpiper eggs don't
:06:19. > :06:23.hatch, when will the adult give up and leave the nest? That's a
:06:23. > :06:27.difficult answer, it will get to the point it senses it's gone
:06:27. > :06:32.beyond hope of them hatching, I guess the reserves will be running
:06:32. > :06:35.down. If if you're sat on a nest for 50% of the time, you're not
:06:35. > :06:41.feeding and gradually losing energy, so there must be a trigger in the
:06:41. > :06:47.mind of the bird, that clicks. It says I will have to look after
:06:47. > :06:52.myself. The post important part of the population is the adult
:06:52. > :06:59.breeding bird, not the eggs, so they should look after themselves
:06:59. > :07:04.first. Now the live marsh cam. A beautiful Swan, let's see where the
:07:04. > :07:10.cygnets are, hitching a ride on the back. It is very sensible. Lovely,
:07:10. > :07:16.why paddle if you can take a ride. Interestingly, swans, they won't
:07:16. > :07:21.fledge those baby swans for up to 150 days. Maybe four months before
:07:21. > :07:25.they become independent from mum and dad. That's very sweet. A Swany
:07:25. > :07:32.back. I won't mention the fact there's one there. We want to keep
:07:32. > :07:38.smiling. Let's go to the extremely thrilling, mammal cam. We have
:07:38. > :07:42.something in there live. That is vole fantastic. We have been
:07:42. > :07:47.watching, interesting things have been going on inside the mammal
:07:47. > :07:53.stump. Let's have a little look. Yes, there's more ham bags,
:07:53. > :07:58.definitely, but actually we've seen handbags, they're going, I've seen
:07:58. > :08:05.some of the moves before - but it has developed beyond this, and
:08:05. > :08:09.we've gone from fight club, to Love Actually. More later. Earlier, Lolo
:08:09. > :08:15.Williams went to the island of Mull, in Scotland, he was on the tracks
:08:15. > :08:25.of a different mammal, bigger mammal than a vole, and one whose
:08:25. > :08:41.
:08:41. > :08:48.life had become entwined with your Thousands of people come to murks
:08:48. > :08:56.ull for the spectacular wildlife. Visitors are divided aboutity most
:08:56. > :09:02.carries massic creatures, it is a mysterious animal, who is linked to
:09:02. > :09:12.Vikings, Spanish Armada and Stonehenge, don't get too excited,
:09:12. > :09:22.
:09:22. > :09:27.If their name is underwhelming, their story is anything but.
:09:27. > :09:32.Domesticed in persa and Greece, goats were brought to the British
:09:32. > :09:39.Isles around 6,000 years ago, they would have fed and clothed the
:09:39. > :09:44.builders of stoning heng. In Mull many believe they're survivors of a
:09:44. > :09:49.Spanish galleon, shipwrecked in the 16th century. But the ancestors of
:09:49. > :09:55.today's small population were probably freed by crofters, around
:09:55. > :10:02.250 years ago. Since then, they've fended for themselves, reverting to
:10:02. > :10:06.the looks and waves to their wild ancestors. I see why they're so
:10:06. > :10:14.well adapted to life, in a harsh environment. They have the hoofs,
:10:14. > :10:19.that are able to climb the steepest cliffs and the shaggy coats, can
:10:19. > :10:24.withstand the worst weather Mull can throw at them, even in deepist
:10:24. > :10:31.mid-winter. They spent the day up on the high tops above me here,
:10:31. > :10:36.feeding. They've come down of a evening, and relax. You see them
:10:36. > :10:41.munching on that, and what is unique about the goats up here is
:10:41. > :10:51.they'll come down to the shore and feed on kelp. From that they get
:10:51. > :10:56.minerals, which they won't get from the land plants. In fact they have
:10:56. > :11:01.a justified reputation for eating anything. They munch back scrub and
:11:01. > :11:08.create an important habitat for insects and grazeers. But they can
:11:08. > :11:14.eat, and damage, native plants in the process.
:11:14. > :11:24.I must confess, I quite like goats. I know they do damage in some areas,
:11:24. > :11:33.
:11:33. > :11:38.but, I think that they epitomise some of the wilder areas of Britain.
:11:38. > :11:43.The bigger the horns the more powerful the fighter and skirmishs
:11:43. > :11:53.can break out at any time. Status and mating rights are at
:11:53. > :11:56.
:11:56. > :12:06.stake here. But the ruting season doesn't start until September.
:12:06. > :12:15.
:12:15. > :12:21.This is just practice. Every growth ring equates to a year of life. And
:12:21. > :12:31.some of these, are five, one or two, maybe six years old, that's old for
:12:31. > :12:35.a goat. They've done well. Because of the effect they have have on
:12:35. > :12:40.native vegation, the total of population on feral goats has been
:12:40. > :12:45.managed and reduced. Today, just 40 tribes as they're known are
:12:45. > :12:50.scattered across the UK. They're not always welcome, but I have a
:12:50. > :12:54.bit of a soft spot for them. I just think that because they've been
:12:54. > :12:58.here for so long, they have such a fascinating history, because they
:12:58. > :13:06.so well adapted to this harsh environment, they deserve to be
:13:06. > :13:10.accepted as a true part of the British fauna. Well goats may be
:13:10. > :13:16.controversial to have them roaming around in the wild, but it is great
:13:16. > :13:21.to have goat natural behaviour. Chris, I wanted to ask you, when is
:13:21. > :13:26.an introduced animal, become a native animal? I can't give an
:13:26. > :13:30.answer, because it is subjective. The general dating point is when
:13:30. > :13:35.the UK became a separateed from Europe at the end of the last Ice
:13:35. > :13:43.age, when the sea levels rose and we got cut off from Continental
:13:43. > :13:49.Europe whafplt is living here then is truly native. That means 48% of
:13:49. > :13:56.our terrestrial mammal fauna, not bats and dolphins are non-native.
:13:56. > :14:00.Four of six deer species, brown hare, rabbit, both rats, mice
:14:00. > :14:09.species, so people are flexible what they call native. Everyone
:14:09. > :14:15.loves little owls, they didn't get here until 200 years. What about
:14:15. > :14:18.the others, there isn't a fixed answer. They're considered aliens.
:14:19. > :14:23.They're definitely aliens. They're survivors and let's have a look at
:14:23. > :14:27.our goldcrest, a tiny little bird in that tree that survived the
:14:27. > :14:31.storm at the weekend. The adult may be a survivor S it in the nest at
:14:31. > :14:36.the moment? Yes it is. But, what about the chick, we've only ever
:14:36. > :14:41.seen one chick. And I have to tell you, we are a little bit concerned
:14:41. > :14:45.about the chick. Have a look at what we saw earlier today. Because,
:14:45. > :14:50.look, the two adults are coming in with a lot of food and they're
:14:50. > :14:58.trying to give it to the chick, but the chick isn't considering for the
:14:58. > :15:03.food, in the end it takes it, but, we actually sent someone out to
:15:03. > :15:07.look at it, and it is not developing how it should. The eyes
:15:07. > :15:12.are closed, it has no feathers. don't know, they spend a long time
:15:12. > :15:16.in the nest. Bluetits and things like this, maximum 14 days,
:15:16. > :15:21.goldcrests being smaller, up to 19, 20 days before they pledge. And
:15:21. > :15:26.because they're smaller birds, they're fed on what we call knew
:15:26. > :15:33.treent pour, the small Erekat ter pillars, so it may take them longer
:15:33. > :15:38.to grow. It is vigorous, it's got its head up and still fed. If
:15:38. > :15:43.there's one in there, the parents are tending that, and maybe it is
:15:43. > :15:49.just full up. Maybe it is stuffed, positive pack them on Springwatch.
:15:49. > :15:54.Let me ask you about this little chick then, our pied fly catch Cher,
:15:54. > :16:00.one chick left in there, we saw, Chris, is it going to go, no you
:16:00. > :16:05.say? It is calling for food, and although the birds not there now,
:16:05. > :16:11.the female, I've seen a few times bringing in food. So it is not
:16:11. > :16:16.neglected yet. It looks forlorn though. Strangely, pied flies,
:16:16. > :16:20.don't turn on to gardens, because in the first week, we were pleased
:16:20. > :16:23.to launch our garden weigh in with the British Trust for Ornithology.
:16:23. > :16:29.We asked people to go in the gardens and count the number of
:16:29. > :16:33.birds we saw, so we could count the weight of living birds, to assess
:16:33. > :16:39.how productive the garden were. More than 4,000 people, took part.
:16:39. > :16:45.And we really please bed that. There were gardens that had lots of
:16:45. > :16:49.birds, one reported 71 kilograms of birds, most mallardz. So that's a
:16:49. > :16:54.conreally. Someone was chucking bread on the lawn and boosting the
:16:54. > :16:59.statistics. The man who solid the world was living in Laeth in
:16:59. > :17:06.Scotland, he looked in the garden and in the course of a hour, he saw
:17:06. > :17:09.one cold tit. Those were the extreme results, on average it was
:17:09. > :17:14.3.3 kilograms. The British ornithology is going to write this,
:17:14. > :17:19.and publish it at some stage next year. They're only able to do that
:17:19. > :17:23.because you took part, so thank you very much for helping them and us
:17:23. > :17:29.out. Yesterday we saw some birds that you will watch in your garden,
:17:29. > :17:35.in a totally new light by using a specialist, slow motion cam rafplt
:17:35. > :17:40.we got absolutely fabulous images of them. -- camera. We have been
:17:40. > :17:44.filming today, so what treats have you got in store for us tonight,
:17:44. > :17:49.Martin? It is birds again, but a different way of looking at birds.
:17:49. > :17:53.It is actually looking at our tree creepers, let's go to them live,
:17:54. > :18:00.and have a look the at the nest. There's the chicks, moving around,
:18:00. > :18:04.this is at normal speed, obviously, we have been watching all day, it
:18:04. > :18:08.is now snuggleed down time. What is interesting, is when the adults
:18:08. > :18:13.hunt they work their way up the tree trunk. That's quite, uses a
:18:13. > :18:21.lot of energy. But then, when they leave the tree trunk, they save
:18:21. > :18:27.energy, how do they do that? Have a look at this. Here's the adult.
:18:27. > :18:32.you'll see, it is not using its wings much. In fact, they belied
:18:32. > :18:36.oft tree. They'll go all the way down to the bottom and they'll div
:18:36. > :18:43.to another tree and start working their way up. They use the
:18:43. > :18:48.occasional flap, to glide. This one is actively flying, you may see a
:18:48. > :18:54.tiny dot, it is seeing a prey item, to goes towards it and thinks, time
:18:54. > :19:03.to save energy, and it goes into the extraordinary glide again. Have
:19:03. > :19:12.a look at this, when they come into land, little bit of steadying, it
:19:12. > :19:19.is all about conservation, and it comes in, perfectly judged, didn't
:19:19. > :19:22.waste a Jule of energy, balancinging on its tail,
:19:22. > :19:29.extraordinary. Now that was a tree creeper, but thinking about energy
:19:29. > :19:34.again, we had a look at a moth. Look at this moth. Oh we haven't
:19:34. > :19:39.got the moth, we lost one. We were having a look at moth as well, but
:19:39. > :19:44.we'll try and see that one tomorrow. All this week, Chris and I have
:19:44. > :19:54.been recaptureing the joys of our youth. The sun was always shineing,
:19:54. > :20:28.
:20:28. > :20:38.it wasn't like this. But when we Martin, are you familiar with the
:20:38. > :20:41.
:20:41. > :20:48.80s, boy band, AHa. Yes. They were wrong? Why They said the sun will
:20:48. > :20:53.always shine on TV. We've come to Dorset, to look for fossils as I
:20:53. > :20:59.used to do when I was a lad. Me too, I came here as well. This coastline
:20:59. > :21:05.is famous, it is called the Jew rasic coast, it is between 200 and
:21:05. > :21:11.240 million years old. So we are about to start looking for historic
:21:11. > :21:21.treasure. How about a look at a contest here, about he who finds
:21:21. > :21:24.
:21:24. > :21:29.the best fossil doesn't pay for the beer? I remember doing this as a
:21:29. > :21:35.kid, and the excitement is you never know what you might find any
:21:35. > :21:41.minute. I found my first couple of fossils. This is a bell am knight.
:21:41. > :21:46.It is pointed at one end, here is another one, but it is missing the
:21:46. > :21:56.end, so it would have joined on to there. These are part of the body
:21:56. > :22:23.
:22:23. > :22:31.of a sea creature, that would have Chris, I think you might be
:22:31. > :22:36.slightly interested in this, unprepossessing, but we both know,
:22:36. > :22:41.it is a fossilised poo with fish scales still inside it. I think
:22:41. > :22:51.you'll find that's the winning entry into our competition.
:22:51. > :23:01.
:23:01. > :23:11.Fossilised poo, that's something, Rather nice amanite, old chap.
:23:11. > :23:21.
:23:21. > :23:26.did not just find that. No, Chris, you know this river
:23:27. > :23:30.extremely don't you, you came here as a child. I know all of its parts
:23:30. > :23:38.intimately. I could tell you a thousand tales. A little owl's nest,
:23:38. > :23:43.in a tree which is still there. A moor hen's egg hatching, that I
:23:43. > :23:49.photographed and 100 metre up there. It was a frolicing ground, but
:23:49. > :23:59.world famed when I was a youngster for diping, mate, so let get in
:23:59. > :24:02.
:24:02. > :24:12.there and catch things and put them into jars. That's is the terror of
:24:12. > :24:14.
:24:14. > :24:22.the river, it's a damzel fly lava and aerve - afternoon predator.
:24:22. > :24:27.They impale their prey. Two sweeps of the net and we have a tray full
:24:27. > :24:33.of life. We have a may fly laugha, and stickel back, which I haven't
:24:33. > :24:39.seen for years, and what's that snail. Ram zelsnail and a pond
:24:39. > :24:46.snail. Just teaming. What is it to rob
:24:46. > :24:52.children to put these products to put it in a jam jar, to gaze into
:24:52. > :24:57.it before they dropped asleep. is all happening in there. I had
:24:57. > :25:03.forgotten how exciting it is. been fas it's astic. There's one
:25:03. > :25:13.more thing I want to do, is take that jar and put it on to the fence
:25:13. > :25:15.
:25:16. > :25:24.and look into it for a couple of Do you know what that is? That's
:25:24. > :25:30.joy. Joy. That's a jar of joy. jar full of joy, never knew you
:25:30. > :25:33.were so poetcal. They haven't changed much have they, they're as
:25:33. > :25:37.enthusiastic and passionate now about wildlife as they were when
:25:37. > :25:42.they were in their teens. Now, I'm passionate and enthusiastic
:25:42. > :25:47.something tonight and it is in here. Now, in this studio yesterday, we
:25:47. > :25:52.set up this little contraption with three different species of
:25:52. > :25:57.chrysaliss, we have come yas, small tortoise shell and pointed lady.
:25:57. > :26:03.The first one is this one. Because, this looks like it is just about to
:26:03. > :26:08.emerge, and we know that because the pupa, becomes transparent and
:26:08. > :26:12.you can see the patterns on the wings. So that could hatch, pretty
:26:12. > :26:20.soon. Just imagine, what that is like, when the butterfly emerges,
:26:20. > :26:25.you don't have to imagine, because it 457 earlier and we caught it on
:26:25. > :26:29.camera. Surface-to-air drawn into the chrysalis, and enables the
:26:29. > :26:36.butterfly to pump up its body and pupa splits. You can see the
:26:36. > :26:42.butterfly is making its way out of that chrysalis, it then has to rest,
:26:42. > :26:47.and pump the blood into ilt wings. The pumped up blood dries, and the
:26:47. > :26:53.wings form a rigid structure. This takes a while, so we sped this film
:26:53. > :26:57.up, it takes an hour to emerge and pump up the wings. And another hour
:26:57. > :27:03.for the wings to harden. In a few hours, before the butterfly is
:27:03. > :27:08.ready to fly. It then has to search for a mate, and reproduce.
:27:08. > :27:15.And look at that, it is absolutely beautiful.
:27:15. > :27:19.It is a real miracle of nature. I'm really pleased to say, we managed
:27:19. > :27:22.to capture that, for a first on Springwatch.
:27:22. > :27:26.But actually, unfortunately, the moment, it looks like it is not
:27:26. > :27:31.going to be a great year for butterfly this year, and they think
:27:31. > :27:36.the numbers are down by 20%. Chris, has some details. Well that's
:27:36. > :27:41.certainly the case, and it's got to be something due to the weather
:27:41. > :27:46.this spring. We had the damp period in April and this will hit species
:27:46. > :27:51.hard. Butterflies are volatile animals. They can respond very
:27:51. > :27:56.quickly, they can fly and lay lots of eggs, so one bad season, doesn't
:27:56. > :28:00.always spell disaster. However, we do have these figures, which we've
:28:00. > :28:04.got from butterfly conservation and centre for ecology and hydrology,
:28:04. > :28:07.and they show a decline in one of the most familiar and commonest
:28:07. > :28:11.butterflies, the smalltor ois shell. In fact there are other species,
:28:11. > :28:17.which are declineing too. However, some, look at this, from the same
:28:17. > :28:21.sources, we see, a very clear increase, in the number of come yas,
:28:21. > :28:26.we had a comma butterfly emerge today. There's not only an increase
:28:26. > :28:34.in population, but spread. Look at this, this map shows the dark
:28:34. > :28:37.squares here, where commas, where, before 1962, but after that, they
:28:38. > :28:42.started to spread into Scotland. We think that has something to do with
:28:42. > :28:48.climate change. So, there are winners, and losers in the
:28:48. > :28:53.butterfly population at the moment. Martin, how about a cultural
:28:53. > :29:00.interlude. Eight line poem. William Wordswortth.
:29:00. > :29:04.I watch you now a full half hour, self poised upon the yellow flour,
:29:04. > :29:09.and little butterfly indeed, I know not if you sleep or feed. How
:29:09. > :29:17.motionless, not frozen seas, more motionless, then, what joy awaits
:29:17. > :29:24.you, when the breeze has found you out among the trees and calls you
:29:24. > :29:29.forth again. It is nice to have culture on Springwatch. A bit of
:29:29. > :29:34.poetry from Chris. Butterflies start as caterpillars and they're
:29:34. > :29:40.crucially important with our redstarts.
:29:40. > :29:44.There they are, looking small and very vulnerable, frankly.
:29:44. > :29:48.Now the parents will continue to feed them, possibly up to four
:29:48. > :29:51.weeks, but they'll start to look after themselves after about two
:29:51. > :29:56.weeks. The question is will the adults,
:29:56. > :30:01.lay again, will have a second nest. The answer that is no they won't.
:30:01. > :30:06.What they have got to do is molt. The adults have to change their
:30:06. > :30:09.feathers, get a new set of feathers, so they're ready to make the long
:30:09. > :30:15.migration, all the way back to Africa. That little tiny one there,
:30:15. > :30:22.is also in a few months, going to go back to Africa. It never ceases
:30:22. > :30:29.to amaze me. Extraordinary stuff. Right, pied fly catch Cher, we're
:30:29. > :30:32.worried about. Let's go in the nest. Has it been fed, I haven't seen it
:30:32. > :30:40.be fed. Late in the evening, feeding would have gone down. Let's
:30:40. > :30:45.go live to our barn owls. Live to our barn owls. And one of them has
:30:45. > :30:52.just jumped off the perch we hear. That's what is fascinating these
:30:52. > :30:56.two. That could be the first prot toe flight, of the warn owls. One
:30:56. > :31:02.of them is over in the corner, it is hiding there most of the day.
:31:02. > :31:10.Two is on the platform, the reason is why they're agitateed, is, let's
:31:10. > :31:17.listen, a bit of wing-flapping there, is that apparently we can
:31:17. > :31:27.see it, jumping off. This is the moment it fledged. Here we go.
:31:27. > :31:27.
:31:27. > :31:34.before we cut live to them. Fantastic, that's got to be a telly
:31:35. > :31:40.first. Almost. We'd like to know where it's gone now. Quick question,
:31:40. > :31:46.we got, where would barn owls, from Ian Hill on Twitter, where would
:31:46. > :31:51.barn owls nested before we built barns? No hollow trees is the
:31:51. > :31:59.answer. Still do, if a tree bends over and breaks, they'll nest, and
:31:59. > :32:04.on cliff sides and caves. Right all this week, Charlie Hamilton James
:32:04. > :32:07.has been showing us family of otters. Here they are. And they're
:32:07. > :32:11.a very unusual family this family, because, they've been coming out
:32:11. > :32:21.during the day. Very unusual for otters to do that. But Charlie
:32:21. > :32:28.
:32:28. > :32:34.wanted to find out what do the A great trick for finding dark
:32:34. > :32:43.otters on a dark night is to look for eye shine. But my otter family
:32:43. > :32:49.is nowhere in sight. I bring out my thermal imageing
:32:49. > :32:54.camera which detects heat t should show up warm-blooded animals,
:32:54. > :33:04.living on this cold river. Suddenly, I hear ducks alarm calling,
:33:04. > :33:11.
:33:11. > :33:18.something must have disturbed them. The drugs are up against the edge.
:33:18. > :33:28.Hard to see it, got the otter, it is right near the ducks. They can't
:33:28. > :33:36.
:33:36. > :33:42.see it. He's right next to the Otters not only catch fish, they
:33:42. > :33:48.are also rather fond of birds. I can't see if it is mum or if the
:33:48. > :33:55.cubs are there, so I switch from the thermal to the infrared camera,
:33:55. > :34:00.which can see more detail. It is hard to tell but I think, it is the
:34:00. > :34:06.mum. As this otter is using the same stretch of river to fish as
:34:06. > :34:12.the otter was during the day. I know from previous filming I've
:34:12. > :34:16.done the otter eyesight is poor. Instead they use their
:34:16. > :34:22.supersensitive and large whiskers to navigate and hunt. Tonight, it
:34:22. > :34:27.is just so hard to keep track of them, let alone see how or what
:34:27. > :34:33.they're hunting. These otters are keeping a really low profile. They
:34:33. > :34:37.seem more skitish than they were in the day. I've picked them up on the
:34:37. > :34:44.heat sensitive cameras. I can't see the cubs, I think the
:34:44. > :34:51.mum must have hidden them in the bushes nearby. Something very
:34:51. > :34:58.special, about seeing an otter at night like this. And I guess it is
:34:58. > :35:02.because you're seeing something that you shouldn't really be seeing.
:35:02. > :35:09.They are around, that's the key thing. They're using the river at
:35:09. > :35:14.night as much as they are in the day. What's interesting me most, is
:35:14. > :35:19.they're more nervous at night than during the day. And that's wrong,
:35:19. > :35:25.otters should be the other way around. This family really have
:35:25. > :35:29.changed my views on how otters may have. Views I'd held for over 20
:35:29. > :35:37.years. My long night time search reminds me, that it really is
:35:37. > :35:40.special to see a mother bringing up her cubs in daylight. Perhaps this
:35:40. > :35:50.new behaviour, is the future of otters on our rivers. Something for
:35:50. > :35:56.
:35:56. > :36:00.Well Charlie's dragged himself away to come and have a chat. Charlie,
:36:00. > :36:03.lovely films for Springwatch, absolutely beautiful. Great fun
:36:03. > :36:08.doing it. You've said about the otters you were surprised how much
:36:08. > :36:13.you saw them in the day time, do you think we're going to see more
:36:13. > :36:16.families in the day? There's a lot more otters in Britain now,
:36:16. > :36:23.certainly in southern England and Wales, which were never great
:36:23. > :36:26.strongholds and the result is we're seeing more of them and more during
:36:26. > :36:31.the day. They're adapting to a urban environment? They have to,
:36:32. > :36:36.because there's so many, and fish are plentiful in the middle of the
:36:36. > :36:41.city and countryside, and otters realised this and adapted this, and
:36:41. > :36:47.this is why we're seeing them in the city. Lovely goldfish, so why
:36:47. > :36:52.not, snack bar. ? This is an otter that adapted to
:36:52. > :36:57.an urban environment, because it is having a wander around Manchester
:36:57. > :37:03.City centre, it is wandering across the road and payments and amongst
:37:03. > :37:10.all the shops. Is this, Charlie, an otter, that really has adapted to
:37:10. > :37:16.living in the city, or is it just lost? I think it is an otter that's
:37:16. > :37:20.lost. I think you're right. They don't have good eyesight. They've
:37:20. > :37:28.probably taken the wrong turn. love the guy in the car stopped,
:37:28. > :37:32.let him go behind him and backed up. They do turn up in canals and
:37:32. > :37:36.rivers right across town. Every major town or city, with a river,
:37:36. > :37:40.has otters in it, basically. So they're everywhere.
:37:40. > :37:47.Your otters were doing well, fishing in the day time and then
:37:47. > :37:51.fishing at night, why would they bother, if they're doing so well in
:37:51. > :37:55.the daylight? Otters do everything intensively, they'll hunt and then
:37:55. > :38:02.sleep. It doesn't matter to them, whether it is the day or the night.
:38:02. > :38:06.They can hunt very well at night. On this shot it is pitch black?
:38:06. > :38:10.This is infrared image, it is pitch black to the otter, and I'm
:38:10. > :38:16.interested to find out how they're hunting. If a fish is moving you
:38:16. > :38:21.can understand it you can detect did with the whiskers or see it.
:38:21. > :38:25.How is an otter finding small dead piece of fish at night. So I have
:38:25. > :38:29.been putting dead fish under the stones and they can find them. I'm
:38:29. > :38:33.thinking, how, they can't see or feel them. I had a theory they
:38:34. > :38:38.could smell them. How do they do that? I got a camera, and I got a
:38:38. > :38:42.dead fish, and I put it in the river, and film it had, all at
:38:43. > :38:49.night frbgs pitch black. You can see there, the otter finds it, and
:38:49. > :38:54.what it is doing is swimming up, watch the nose, a bubble comes up,
:38:54. > :38:59.bounces off the fish, straight up the nostril and it is smelling it.
:38:59. > :39:04.This is the first time we've really found out about this. It puts a
:39:04. > :39:09.bubble out of the nose and smells it back in? Now I've been doing
:39:09. > :39:12.this for years, that's just one of the things I filmed, but I
:39:13. > :39:16.photographed them, holding bubbles, just under their chin and mouth,
:39:16. > :39:20.while they're swimming along. And I'm wondering, if they're tasting
:39:20. > :39:25.as well as doing the bubble- sniffing thing, but there's more
:39:25. > :39:32.going on than we know. The bubble is absorbing the scent and
:39:32. > :39:38.reabsorbing it into the body. Either taking it into the mouth and
:39:38. > :39:43.nose and analysing the chemical signals. That's a knew scientific
:39:43. > :39:47.theory from Charlie. You brought us back a kingfisher story and you and
:39:47. > :39:51.the team brought us truly astonishing pictures. I never
:39:51. > :39:57.thought I would see inside a kingfisher nest like this. Here
:39:57. > :40:04.they are, if you could remind us of the story. The female on the left,
:40:04. > :40:11.she's the red lower beak, and male feeding her, that's classic bonding
:40:11. > :40:15.behaviour, she wants to know if he was a good fisherman. Here, right
:40:15. > :40:20.inside the nest, shiny, beautiful eggs, it is very dark in there, and
:40:20. > :40:26.this, the tiny chicks, they look like they're made of paper, and
:40:26. > :40:31.there they are. How do the chicks and parent find each other in the
:40:31. > :40:36.darkness to get the first, meal of the tiny fish? The chicks are blind,
:40:36. > :40:42.they can't see, but they have the tiny little white tips on the beaks,
:40:42. > :40:46.so, like there is in that nest hole, the parents can just about see them.
:40:46. > :40:52.And the parents offering them the fish, between them they're feeling
:40:52. > :40:57.around, but the parents are doing the work to put the fish in the
:40:57. > :41:02.chicks' mouth. It is not pitch black. Jiefplt there was one
:41:02. > :41:06.looking totally the wrong direction. It did turn out to be a sad story
:41:06. > :41:11.that, because that nest was the floods, made it impossible for the
:41:11. > :41:15.adults to get in there, which is extremely sad for us. You went back
:41:15. > :41:20.and continueed to watch the kingfishers, can we get an update
:41:20. > :41:26.from you. What's happening? I went out last Sunday, that's the male
:41:26. > :41:31.bird. And what I wanted to see was a bird with a fish. Because that
:41:32. > :41:41.would tell you. If they went in the nest with a fish, it means the
:41:42. > :41:43.
:41:43. > :41:49.chicks have hatched. He is turning it, nice minnow, and going in there.
:41:49. > :41:53.So there's only reason he will go in the nest is feeding chicks.
:41:53. > :41:58.pleased you say you did that on Sunday, because all the floods we
:41:58. > :42:02.had here, that could have been flooded again, if it was as bad as
:42:02. > :42:06.west Wales. We were all right. also think, that there may be a
:42:06. > :42:12.second nest on the go, is that right. While I was filming this,
:42:12. > :42:17.the male was doing all the work, he was catching the fish and the
:42:17. > :42:20.female would turn up occasionally and then go down river, I would
:42:20. > :42:26.suspect she's getting a nest ready, and before the chicks fledge, she
:42:26. > :42:36.will be on eggs. Because they will do, three, even four in a year.
:42:36. > :42:36.
:42:36. > :42:42.it is able to end a kingfisher story on an up.
:42:42. > :42:46.Let's cut live to the pied flies and see if the youngster is still
:42:46. > :42:52.in there. I'm hoping it will stay. The reason I'm whispering is I
:42:52. > :42:58.snuck down into the woods, because behind me, behind the fox gloves is
:42:58. > :43:03.our mammal stump. Let's cut to it live, there is a bank vole nibbling
:43:03. > :43:07.away at some of the food. I have to say, out of all the cameras, this
:43:07. > :43:11.one is productive. They've got used to feeding in there, and we've been
:43:11. > :43:15.able to watch all sorts of may have your. Earlier, we have avenue
:43:15. > :43:25.recorded this. It hasn't always been pleasant may have your. Here
:43:25. > :43:25.
:43:25. > :43:30.are two vols. We have to say, it is quite a confined space. Oddity, the
:43:30. > :43:37.bank vole, two in there together. They're not fighting any longer.
:43:37. > :43:40.There's quite a lot of noise and remember this is in darkness. These
:43:40. > :43:43.animals are communicating smell, touch with whiskers and that sound.
:43:43. > :43:48.The appropriate malon the left is defniltly curious about the one on
:43:48. > :43:53.the right who is not so keen on that curiosity. And look there, I
:43:53. > :43:59.think one on the left is a male, and he was making a move on the
:43:59. > :44:07.female there. It's gone from fight club, to love club, to be honest
:44:07. > :44:16.with you. But, she, is just a bit too busy feeding.
:44:16. > :44:23.Look at that. The mating behaviour of the bank vole.
:44:23. > :44:27.Once again, that's got to be worth your licence fee. Voles at it, in a
:44:27. > :44:32.stump. It is the love stump. They could be at it, we don't know.
:44:32. > :44:36.wouldn't want to disturb. Fight love to Love Actually, to cash in
:44:36. > :44:41.the attic, I'm going to go now, we've seen fighting and love in
:44:41. > :44:45.there, but we've seen an awful lot of eating. Have a look, they're not
:44:45. > :44:52.just eating because they're hungry now, but that little vole is
:44:52. > :44:58.putting food inity cheeks and come out, and cache it, basically hide
:44:58. > :45:03.it. Unfortunately the cacheer has been eaten by the barn owl. That's
:45:03. > :45:08.a cash converter. I don't think that was the very Cole vole. But
:45:08. > :45:13.we've seen a lot of that with the owls. They've been putting food
:45:13. > :45:16.aside, because there's plenty around. Whenever there's plenty of
:45:16. > :45:21.food around, nothing will miss a free meal. Look at this, this is
:45:21. > :45:29.one of our foxes that returned to the garden, where we were watching
:45:29. > :45:32.them in week one, it found a piece of chicken, and digging a hole and
:45:32. > :45:37.burying it. Typically the behaviour of foxes.
:45:37. > :45:42.Super cacheer, though, is without a doubt, the squirrel. Of course, in
:45:42. > :45:47.the Autumn time they bury vast numbers of nuts which they aim to
:45:47. > :45:52.return to, even the little mole, which again, will cache the
:45:52. > :45:55.earthworms. If it can catch them T bites them and particle liess them,
:45:55. > :46:02.so they can't wriggling away and leaves them in piles in the tunnels
:46:02. > :46:06.so it can return to them later. But the supercacheers are the birds.
:46:06. > :46:12.And sometimes they're birds living around us. Bluetit will cache lots
:46:12. > :46:18.of things. Cold tits in the space of just four weeks, will cache lots
:46:18. > :46:23.of things and return to nearly 70% of them. Jays, 5,000 acorns a year
:46:23. > :46:26.they cache, it is not just birds, but even spiders, if they catch,
:46:26. > :46:30.extra prey, will kill it, wrap it up and put it in the corner of the
:46:30. > :46:35.web to keep it there. It makes sense really, if you have available
:46:35. > :46:40.food, to store it until later. is like panic buying, and I saw a
:46:40. > :46:45.lot of people doing that this weekend, they saw bread and milk,
:46:45. > :46:51.in case there was a problem. Will any of the cache go off, I presume
:46:51. > :46:56.it would? Some will. But, they're not designed to remember all of it,
:46:56. > :47:02.otherwise it wouldn't work for the tree. What would be the point of an
:47:02. > :47:12.acorn, from an oak tree, if they were eaten. They will germate, this
:47:12. > :47:13.
:47:13. > :47:21.is how many species get 57. - around. They depend on the birds to
:47:21. > :47:31.help oak trees move uphill, which Jays carry the acorns up the hill
:47:31. > :47:31.
:47:31. > :47:37.and over the mountain. That reminds me, I put chocolate behind the sofa.
:47:37. > :47:42.We are watching a colony of seabirds fishing, how are they
:47:42. > :47:47.doing around the coastline? Roy Denis reflects and investigates.
:47:47. > :47:52.Our dramatic and varied coastline is home to countless globally
:47:52. > :48:02.important seabirds. 70% of the entire world population,
:48:02. > :48:12.of northern ganets nest on our shores. For great secures it is 60%,
:48:12. > :48:13.
:48:13. > :48:21.yet many seabirds are in serious decline. Here or Fair Isle, numbers
:48:21. > :48:24.have dropped 70% in 18 years. Puff fins are one of Britain's well
:48:24. > :48:29.known birds and they're comecal to watch as they run around on the
:48:29. > :48:34.cliff top. But sadly, the kind of iconic photographs we used to be
:48:34. > :48:41.able to take of them coming ashore in summer, with the gills full of
:48:41. > :48:46.sand eels is nearly a thing of the past. Seabirds are tied to the
:48:46. > :48:53.oceans they depend upon. They're great indicators of the health of
:48:53. > :48:58.our seas. If seabirds are doing badly, something must be wrong. The
:48:58. > :49:05.sand eels used to be so super abundant and now they're so scarce,
:49:05. > :49:12.and that's a problem, not just for Puffins, but also for razor bills
:49:12. > :49:16.and kitty wakes. Commercial fishing of sand eels was banned in the
:49:16. > :49:21.1909s, but now it seems the North Sea population of these small fish
:49:21. > :49:26.is suffering from a different threat. Sea temperature, has risen
:49:26. > :49:33.by 1 degree in the last 50 years, this warming, changes the ecology
:49:33. > :49:36.of the sea. And the fish the birds need, are struggling.
:49:36. > :49:40.As the food becomes scarceier, the birds have to fly further and
:49:40. > :49:45.further away to find food in the seas. And that means, they make
:49:45. > :49:51.less trips back home to feed their young. Without food, nests are
:49:51. > :49:57.failing, chicks are dying, and the adults are suffering. It seems
:49:58. > :50:04.crazy to me, that the cliffs where the seabirds nest, are strictly
:50:04. > :50:10.protected and yet metres away the sea isn't. But the Welsh island of
:50:10. > :50:14.Skomer is a good example of how things can be improved. The waters
:50:14. > :50:20.surrounding the island have been protected as a marine nature
:50:20. > :50:24.reserve for the last 21 years and here the seabirds are fareing much
:50:25. > :50:30.better. Species declineing elsewhere, are actually increasing.
:50:30. > :50:35.Somehow we've got to stop the downward spiral of these seabirds.
:50:35. > :50:40.And at the same time, we need to protect the marine and species they
:50:40. > :50:46.feed on. However, there are positive things happening. There
:50:46. > :50:51.are one or two species that are bucking this general downward list,
:50:51. > :50:56.one is ganets. One of the best places to see them is here on the
:50:56. > :51:02.east coast of Scotland. I was here seven years ago, and I've just been
:51:02. > :51:11.told by the seabird centre, there's 10,000 more pairs of gannetss here
:51:11. > :51:16.now, and it is now approaching 60,000 parents of - pairs of
:51:16. > :51:22.gannetss, their incredible behaviour, let's them target fish
:51:22. > :51:25.deep in the water. These birds are feeding on big fish, mackerel and
:51:25. > :51:35.herring, and both are doing well in the North Sea. They're not having
:51:35. > :51:35.
:51:35. > :52:18.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds
:52:18. > :52:23.to look for sand eels. And that's Until very recently, European Union
:52:23. > :52:29.regulations meant up to half the fish caught by some fishing boats
:52:29. > :52:32.were unwant by catch and thrown overboard dead. Eye catch is
:52:33. > :52:37.wasteful and good that it is highlighted and being controlled.
:52:37. > :52:44.Because it isn't good for the conservation of fish in the sea n
:52:44. > :52:50.past decades it led to big increaseness those birds that could
:52:50. > :52:55.exploit fish being thrown overboards. So, how these birds
:52:55. > :53:01.will cope with a reduction in by catch is still unclear. The future
:53:01. > :53:05.of our seabirds relies on fish, and the wise amendment of the oceans.
:53:05. > :53:15.These, great seabird colonies of Britain, are one of the great
:53:15. > :53:18.
:53:19. > :53:24.What can you say, why go to the sern Getty, if you can go to the
:53:24. > :53:30.Bass Rock. In 1654, a guy called Robert Gorden went there, and he
:53:30. > :53:34.found a local fishermen doing the same thing, ganets were following
:53:34. > :53:38.the boat, only they threw a piece of board with herring tide to it,
:53:39. > :53:43.the ganets would impale themselves in the board, they were after those
:53:43. > :53:47.ganets, because they called them candle birds. They'd string them up
:53:47. > :53:51.with a wick, and set fire to them because they were so rich in oil,
:53:51. > :53:54.from the her rings they were feeding on, they could use them as
:53:54. > :54:00.a lamp. No way. Way.
:54:00. > :54:04.What an extraordinary story. It is a bit miserable. Let's liven things
:54:04. > :54:10.up. From one bird ta fishs effectively to another, let's have
:54:10. > :54:20.a look Lord Attlee cormorant this. Is controversial bird because it
:54:20. > :54:26.
:54:26. > :54:30.Since then, they've become more and increased in population, it is a
:54:30. > :54:37.cultural change. They're moving inland. Gravel pits have filled up
:54:37. > :54:42.with water, and fish. They found a new resource and exploiting it. I
:54:42. > :54:50.feel cultural interlude number three now. Did you know that almost
:54:50. > :55:00.every weekend, 11 comerant take to the field in the Premiership.
:55:00. > :55:00.
:55:00. > :55:10.they score. They're on the badge of the Manchester, on the badge, the
:55:10. > :55:17.
:55:17. > :55:21.18 foot Liverpool bird is a comerant. I thought Dodo. So did I.
:55:21. > :55:26.Now our birds, our pied ply catch Cher, the one that's left, it is
:55:26. > :55:32.probably not going to go now. you were outside, I saw it being
:55:32. > :55:36.fed. That's great. It is not abandoned, it is still fed. We've
:55:36. > :55:40.had a question about it. Have we, how much longer with the parent of
:55:40. > :55:46.a pied fly catch Cher, feed that little one, will they give up and
:55:46. > :55:50.leave it in a nest? If it doesn't get out tomorrow, that adult has
:55:50. > :55:54.six other chicks, hopefully still out there in the woods, I think the
:55:54. > :56:02.adult will start to concentrate on the others, so it has to get out.
:56:02. > :56:07.It is still being fed. Go tomorrow. Listen, the sound of desperation.
:56:07. > :56:12.Oh stop t Sorry. Let's have a look at what
:56:12. > :56:18.happened 15 minutes ago in the barn owls.
:56:18. > :56:25.We saw the jump, where has it gone? There it is. Looking slightly
:56:25. > :56:29.shame-faced, "What have I done?". Will it try and get back in the
:56:29. > :56:35.nest. Well the typical practice is it will take food back to the nest,
:56:35. > :56:42.it is not far from it, but that bird is secure. Here they are live.
:56:42. > :56:47.The others look, like what have you done. That's like see no evil, hear
:56:47. > :56:53.no evil and speak no evil. They're watching the one on the ground now.
:56:53. > :57:00.They're no way ready to try that. It will juch around, exercising the
:57:00. > :57:05.wings and it won't be long bf it can get back. - before it can get
:57:06. > :57:12.back. Our marsh cam, we have a heron. So we have. Looking
:57:12. > :57:19.beautiful up there. That makes a nice change to the swans. If I was
:57:19. > :57:26.a frog anywhere in the area, I would be very scared. The goldcrest.
:57:26. > :57:29.There, mum or dad, keeping things lovely and cozy and warm. A They're
:57:29. > :57:33.paying a lot of attention to the one youngster, they haven't given
:57:34. > :57:38.up on it. They have the capacity to breed again, if that fails, and at
:57:38. > :57:45.a certain point, they would make a certain decision, do we build a new
:57:45. > :57:55.nest, and start again, and play another crop of nine eggs, the fact
:57:55. > :57:55.
:57:55. > :58:00.Have a "sixth sense". Now the sandpiper, it was moving a lot. I
:58:00. > :58:05.was wondering whether it was happening. I thought maybe they're
:58:05. > :58:09.hatching, that would be great. Maybe they'll hatch tomorrow.
:58:09. > :58:16.That's it from us tonight. Tomorrow, Chris and Martin go for a night out
:58:16. > :58:20.with a Bevy of badgers. Lolo Williams heads to Scotland to meet
:58:20. > :58:25.whield-tailed sea eagles. We'll stay life in the owl nest and try
:58:25. > :58:29.and find out what on earth will go on. Also, we will try and find out