:00:12. > :00:15.Good evening. Welcome to the RSPB's Ynys Hir reserve in Wales. It's a
:00:15. > :00:19.bit damp tonight. But we're live and we have wildlife drama the
:00:19. > :00:22.likes of which you've never seen before. For instance, our
:00:22. > :00:28.Kingfisher family. What is going to happen to them as the rain beats
:00:28. > :00:35.down and the river starts to rise? Did the common sandpiper come back
:00:35. > :00:44.to the nest, after the 8.57 train passed by? The big question about
:00:44. > :00:54.the little guy - has Runty the nuthatch survived another day? To
:00:54. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:09.find out all this and more, with Yes, good evening and welcome to
:01:09. > :01:14.the last of our Springwatch broadcasts this week coming from
:01:14. > :01:17.this fabulous part of Wales. Can you see a little less of it tonight.
:01:17. > :01:21.Previously you could see the hill tops over. There they're currently
:01:21. > :01:26.shrouded in cloud. It doesn't matter. I promise you, we've got a
:01:26. > :01:31.fantastic show for you. Last night, we left you with a cling hanger.
:01:31. > :01:35.don't know about that, it was more like a train hanger. Let me explain.
:01:35. > :01:39.We found a pair of sandpipers that have chose ton nest by the side of
:01:39. > :01:42.a Railtrack, which is in the reserve not very far from where
:01:43. > :01:44.we're standing. Look at what happened live at the end of
:01:44. > :01:48.happened live at the end of yesterday's show. There's the
:01:48. > :01:54.sandpipers, very comfortably. That's the nest on the ground.
:01:54. > :01:59.Here's something in the distance, the 8.57 train. The train passes
:01:59. > :02:04.and that has made the sandpiper get off the nest and wander away. The
:02:04. > :02:08.big question was... Did it come back? Keep watching, it's wandering
:02:08. > :02:15.to the nest. This is minutes after it's left. You'll be pleased to
:02:15. > :02:21.know, yes, the sandpiper came back, sat on the eggs on the nest. We've
:02:21. > :02:26.got live cameras there. Let's have a look. Oh, it looks very cosy,
:02:26. > :02:31.snugled down. No trains must have gone by recently. Look at that,
:02:31. > :02:36.wonderful. A little twitchy there. Just moving around a bit. Our nest
:02:36. > :02:40.watcher says she's become Fitch ety. Maybe the eggs are fidge Eddie.
:02:40. > :02:47.Once they hear them pipping, from inside the egg, they become curious
:02:47. > :02:51.and they will be looking down. We have to keep our eye on her. After
:02:51. > :02:57.that, we were wondering does she or he get off every time the train
:02:57. > :03:04.comes by. Have a look. Sandpiper sitting on the nest, this is just
:03:04. > :03:10.before 3pm, gets off, yes, the train comes by. And predictably,
:03:10. > :03:16.she goes back, so there she is sitting cosy, an hour later, a
:03:16. > :03:21.train comes and off the nest again. By this stage it's raining. We
:03:21. > :03:27.wondered whether she would stay on the nest. No, just before 5pm,
:03:27. > :03:31.she's off the nest once again. Will she continue doing that? We might
:03:31. > :03:36.find out tonight, because if the train is on time, we'll get it live
:03:36. > :03:40.on the programme. Of course there may be puddles on the line, it may
:03:40. > :03:47.be delayed. Holden, the train company are now 94% accurate on
:03:47. > :03:51.this line. Now Runty, our nuthatch baby. All of us here were rooting
:03:51. > :03:56.for that little guy all day yesterday and yesterday evening.
:03:56. > :04:01.Let's remind ourselves. He was doing quite well. Here he's in the
:04:01. > :04:05.nest. He's considerably smaller than his brothers and sisters. When
:04:05. > :04:10.mum or dad coming in with food, in he goes and a big mouthful, he's
:04:10. > :04:15.fighting his way to the front there. Let's look again, when the food
:04:15. > :04:22.come in, he's right at the back of the nest, he's moved round to the
:04:22. > :04:27.front and he gets a good meal. We were all very, very hopeful really.
:04:27. > :04:32.Even though he was small, he wasn't growing that much, he was a fighter.
:04:32. > :04:37.But unfortunately, little is the key word there. What happened next,
:04:37. > :04:41.well, let's have a look at this. He just can't compete with his
:04:41. > :04:46.brothers and sisters. They've been growing before our eyes, but he
:04:46. > :04:54.seems to be marking time. Slowly, they're just treading on top of him.
:04:54. > :04:59.He's being buried in the pile there. As many of you saw on the web cams
:04:59. > :05:05.at 7.48am this morning, I'm afraid Runty did succumb. There was
:05:05. > :05:09.terrific traffic on the tweets, you were all watching it. Tracey says
:05:09. > :05:14."It's so sad when something like this happens. It looked as if he
:05:14. > :05:20.was having a decent amount of food. RIP Runty. It looks that way Chris.
:05:20. > :05:24.I thought he was going to make it. I was confident that the others
:05:24. > :05:27.were large now fledge. But we've had a change in the weather.
:05:27. > :05:33.Basically what we can see is that the temperature here at the
:05:33. > :05:36.beginning of the week drops down to nine degrees today. The blue line
:05:36. > :05:40.here is the rainfall, virtually nothing at the beginning of the
:05:40. > :05:45.week, then it shoots up. We've had all this rain today. What does it
:05:45. > :05:49.mean? It means less insect activity and that it's more difficult for
:05:49. > :05:53.these birds to find their prey. Here are two types of birds we've
:05:53. > :05:58.been watching very closely. Basically, we have the blue tits on
:05:58. > :06:02.this side, feeding rates here for previous days, well down today. And
:06:02. > :06:07.then on this side our nuthatchs today, previous feeding rates and
:06:07. > :06:13.down again today. I think the basic thing was the availability of food
:06:13. > :06:19.has dropped off completely. We've lost Rupty. Let's go live to the
:06:19. > :06:23.nest and see who remains there. His nest mates are doing pretty well at
:06:23. > :06:26.the moment. Whilst we always think that things are really tough for
:06:26. > :06:34.the little guys and they certainly are, as we lose them, that's the
:06:34. > :06:39.way it is. Runty has had his bit of fame. With all the drama of him,
:06:39. > :06:44.we've ignored how well the others are doing. We should celebrate that.
:06:44. > :06:48.Let's look at the big one at the front there, let's call him maximus.
:06:48. > :06:54.He's going to get out of there. That's what the natural world is
:06:54. > :06:59.about, one of them getting out. last word to David Russell, "Sad
:07:00. > :07:04.about Runty, a timely reminder we're not watching Disney, but real
:07:04. > :07:08.life." I think we agree that the nuthatch family have been one of
:07:08. > :07:13.the stars of the first week of Springwatch. The mammal stars would
:07:14. > :07:18.be our family of foxes. It's an extraordinary family. There are 11
:07:18. > :07:24.cubs, which is a large family. It's quite exceptional. We thought there
:07:24. > :07:29.was one female, until last night, we saw the second female come in.
:07:29. > :07:33.That posed more questions than it gave answers. Who is that female?
:07:33. > :07:43.Is she a sister, a daughter? Or perhaps she's a mother, and half of
:07:43. > :07:43.
:07:43. > :07:50.those cubs are hers. Let's see if we solved the mystery. Cubs are
:07:50. > :07:53.around nine weeks old and looking really healthy and really well fed.
:07:53. > :07:58.Cubs will normally leave their family at about 20 weeks, about
:07:58. > :08:05.five months, but a strong cub can leave earlier or a weak one can
:08:05. > :08:11.even get pushed out. Foxes don't like overcrowded territories.
:08:11. > :08:18.Obviously it means there would be a struggle for food and a tuftle for
:08:18. > :08:24.-- Tuesdayel for supremecy. Those strong -- tussel for supremecy.
:08:24. > :08:28.When the cubs are fully grown female foxes will venture up to ten
:08:28. > :08:38.kilometres from where they're born and the males go further, as far as
:08:38. > :08:40.
:08:40. > :08:47.40 kilometres. With so many to feed, meal Times have turned no a bit of
:08:47. > :08:51.a scrum. The cubs are already eating solid food, but they're
:08:51. > :08:56.going keep trying their luck with the vixen, as they harass her to
:08:56. > :08:59.give them some milk. To be honest, she's becoming a little less
:08:59. > :09:09.tolerant of them and is spending greater amounts of time away from
:09:09. > :09:11.
:09:12. > :09:16.them. Then, when both vixens are absent, another adult appears. Is
:09:16. > :09:21.this the missing father or could it be a potentially danger rival
:09:21. > :09:27.adult? It could be serious, as it's not unheard of for foxes to kill
:09:28. > :09:37.cubs. And then, something remarkable, the cubs seem to
:09:37. > :09:42.recognise it and then mob it. So it's clearly far from a stranger.
:09:42. > :09:50.Unlike our two vixens it's not in tip top condition. It has an injury
:09:50. > :09:53.on its nose and is missing half the fur on its tail. We solved one
:09:53. > :09:58.mystery, we've been left with another. We started with one female.
:09:58. > :10:03.Then there were two. Now we have a third adult. What is going on
:10:03. > :10:06.there? It's been difficult for the cameramen and our editors, because
:10:06. > :10:10.these foxes are all offer the shop. We have to try to identify them as
:10:10. > :10:14.individuals. Look at this, this is our, what we think is the dominant
:10:14. > :10:17.female there, the one that's given birth to most of the cubs or maybe
:10:17. > :10:21.all of the cubs. She has the distinctive patch on her back.
:10:21. > :10:26.She's spent most of the time suckling. We saw a lot of her when
:10:26. > :10:30.the cubs were about. She's clearly lack Tateing and feeding them. This,
:10:30. > :10:36.though, look here's the animal that came in the other day, the animal
:10:36. > :10:43.which was secondary, not as dominant. We found these pictures
:10:43. > :10:46.of her suckling too. If we freeze it when she's run ago way, it
:10:46. > :10:50.hasn't got that dark patch, but what's happening here is she's
:10:50. > :10:55.suckling, which means she must have given birth to some cubs to be
:10:55. > :11:01.producing that milk. So this tends to imply that at least some of
:11:01. > :11:06.those cubs are hers. Why are they all the same size? Very late last
:11:06. > :11:10.night, thanks Tom Webster 1974, for your treat, he pointed out they
:11:10. > :11:15.come into season and they're only capable of breeding for three days.
:11:15. > :11:19.If those two females were associating with one another and a
:11:19. > :11:22.mail impregnated both of them, it would happen at the same time and
:11:22. > :11:26.that could account for the fact that the cubs are the same time. So
:11:26. > :11:31.this is a pooling of two litters. There will be some cubs belonging
:11:31. > :11:34.to one of those mee mails and some to the other. It's perhaps a happy
:11:34. > :11:41.accident they're the same size. Dofrpblgts they all share the milk
:11:41. > :11:46.from both? I think they would have. The cubs have a voracious appetite.
:11:47. > :11:51.Most of the time they feed from the dominant female. Sometimes those
:11:51. > :11:57.Dom nants will kill the other cubs. But if it was her daughter from the
:11:57. > :12:04.year before, which was the other female, and they mated with the
:12:04. > :12:08.same mail, -- male, then killing them wouldn't be the right idea.
:12:08. > :12:11.they are two families. What about the male? We do think he's the male.
:12:11. > :12:17.It was interesting when the cubs first approached him they were
:12:17. > :12:24.timid, all of their ears are down, look. Nevertheless he's one of the
:12:24. > :12:31.group. He's not attacking him. They are approaching him. It might imply
:12:31. > :12:36.he was the dog fox. He was easy to spot because of his tail. He came
:12:36. > :12:40.backwards and forwards close to the cubs. So this is what I reckon: Two
:12:40. > :12:43.females, pooled the cubs, certain number of that 11 broken down
:12:43. > :12:47.between the two of them and that other an ma'am was the dog fox. The
:12:47. > :12:52.question is what's happened now? Our cameramen have been out every
:12:52. > :12:56.day looking for these animals. I'm pleased to say as far as they can
:12:56. > :13:00.discern all the cubs are doing well. They are going back to our family
:13:00. > :13:04.there, on the sniff for food. The cubs have split up. This is
:13:04. > :13:09.something that we would expect in any sort of situation. They're
:13:09. > :13:14.getting lots of natural food too. Here's the alpha female carrying a
:13:14. > :13:17.crow. She's taking it from the houses and she disappears into the
:13:17. > :13:20.wood. The cameramen went into the wood and this is what they found,
:13:20. > :13:25.it's really dense, it's a difficult place to see the animals. They
:13:25. > :13:29.couldn't find them. They found plenty of evidence. They've been
:13:29. > :13:34.munching on a wood pigeon and they've been nicking all the toys.
:13:34. > :13:38.Cheeky chappies! Look at this, what a treat we've had with these
:13:38. > :13:44.animals, watching these beautiful little cubs growing up there,
:13:44. > :13:50.absolutely stunning. Little glimmer in his eye. How can you not love
:13:50. > :13:54.him? One of your favourites, aren't they? One of my favourites, no
:13:54. > :13:57.doubt about that. All this week we've been following the fortunes
:13:57. > :14:01.of a pair of kingfishers. We started filming them on the river
:14:01. > :14:05.at the beginning of February. Last night, they were doing very well.
:14:05. > :14:15.They had some chicks until they were doing well, until it started
:14:15. > :14:24.
:14:24. > :14:30.to rain. That was at beginning of a and our kingfisher's precious eggs
:14:30. > :14:36.have hatched right in the middle of the worst of it.
:14:36. > :14:43.So far, our pair have done well. The chicks seem lively and strong.
:14:43. > :14:53.But conditions on the river are horrendous.
:14:53. > :15:07.
:15:07. > :15:12.Storms blow in. The river starts to but the river's too murky and
:15:12. > :15:22.running too fast. She struggles to find fish. Kingfishers need to be
:15:22. > :15:28.
:15:28. > :15:33.able to see their prey. More and more rain falls. In the burrow, the
:15:33. > :15:40.chicks are sheltered, but are they getting enough food? The male
:15:40. > :15:50.catches a fish, turning it round, head facing forward, and prepares
:15:50. > :16:00.to feed it to the hungry chicks. He enters the nest. At least
:16:00. > :16:01.
:16:01. > :16:08.they're getting fed. Straight away, he's back out. The fish, still in
:16:08. > :16:18.his mouth - why haven't the chicks taken it? This is not a good sign.
:16:18. > :16:28.Over the day, the river continues to rise. Against all hope, the
:16:28. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:36.female desperately tries to hunt in the murky torrents. She's got a
:16:36. > :16:42.fish, but she can't physically get into the nest. Again, she attempts
:16:42. > :16:52.to get just to the nest - the fish poised to be fed, but the waters
:16:52. > :16:59.
:16:59. > :17:04.are so high, she can't get in. She keeps trying and trying. Each
:17:04. > :17:14.hungry chick needs to be kept warm and fed throughout the day. This
:17:14. > :17:17.
:17:17. > :17:26.can't go on. It's the male now. Once again he tries to get to the
:17:26. > :17:35.nest, but the rushing water blocks his path.
:17:35. > :17:44.He disappears. He's in! But inside the nest, it's bleak. He seems
:17:44. > :17:54.confused, lost. It's pitchblack to him. Perhaps he can't sense the
:17:54. > :17:58.
:17:58. > :18:06.exhausted chicks. He turns and leaves.
:18:06. > :18:14.Back in the nest, movement. They're still alive! They're just too weak
:18:14. > :18:22.to feed. Now in full flood, the river's risen three feet in one
:18:22. > :18:32.morning. With the water so high, he can't dip down under the ivy, but
:18:32. > :18:36.
:18:36. > :18:46.the persistent male makes it to the burrow again. It's too late. The
:18:46. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:21.time. Outside, he doesn't know what to do, and the female hasn't been
:19:21. > :19:44.
:19:44. > :19:49.Extraordinary pictures, but a really tragic story, but there's
:19:49. > :19:52.two things that we ought to think about. One is that life is very
:19:52. > :19:56.precarious, both for kingfisher chicks, but for all the chicks we
:19:56. > :20:01.have here on the series as well, indeed, every nest in the country
:20:01. > :20:04.right now. Nature has strategies - evolved strategies to cope with
:20:04. > :20:08.these sort of tragedies, and in the long term, they will survive, and
:20:08. > :20:14.there's another very important point. Those kingfishers were
:20:14. > :20:24.filmed back in April, and it's not the end of their story. Let's go
:20:24. > :20:28.
:20:28. > :20:33.tragic story, but I think it's made worse for us because we saw the
:20:33. > :20:38.whole thing unfold. You know, we saw them laying their first egg. We
:20:39. > :20:42.saw the first chicks hatching. We saw how hard those adults worked to
:20:42. > :20:46.keep that nest going and keep the chicks alive, but you know, it
:20:46. > :20:49.happens all the time. It's not a one-off. I have seen it countless
:20:49. > :20:53.times on this stretch of river alone, and we have just had the
:20:53. > :20:59.wettest April on record, so I would imagine it's happened to
:20:59. > :21:03.kingfishers all over the country. If 20% of young kingfishers can
:21:03. > :21:07.survive to adulthood, they're doing well, so it's kind of factored in,
:21:07. > :21:16.but there is some good news, and when you come back to me, I'm going
:21:16. > :21:20.We'll certainly look forward to that because we need some good news,
:21:20. > :21:24.don't we? Michaela, definitely. he said, it has been raining here
:21:24. > :21:28.most of the day here in Wales, and I must say the birds look very wet.
:21:28. > :21:35.Has it affected them? Let's have a look at some of the birds today.
:21:35. > :21:39.It's a beautiful shot - very misty... Moody, mysterious.
:21:39. > :21:42.atmospheric. Those crows aren't enjoying it, just sitting there
:21:42. > :21:45.preening. I think they preferred the beginning of the week when the
:21:45. > :21:50.sun was out. You can see the raindrops falling on the water.
:21:50. > :21:55.This is sweet - obviously a bird that's used to getting wet. They
:21:55. > :21:59.have found somewhere to shelter, but there is only room for two.
:21:59. > :22:02.There is a sunny umbrella. That poor swallow that's come from
:22:02. > :22:06.Africa is having to put up with this. It's a tough time. It affects
:22:06. > :22:11.all birds. Those ones are just looking wet. Fingers crossed all
:22:11. > :22:18.the rest of the birds will be OK. Those birds are outside. Of course,
:22:18. > :22:24.some of our birds are inside. Let's check up on our barn owl chicks -
:22:24. > :22:29.lovely. They're looking a bit sleepy. They are, aren't they?
:22:30. > :22:34."Hello, yes!" It's fine for them. They're keeping nice and dry, but
:22:34. > :22:40.it's not so great for the parents because the parents hunt using
:22:40. > :22:45.their sense of hearing, so if the rain is pitterpattering down, it
:22:45. > :22:50.makes it difficult for them to catch food for the chicks. Oh, he's
:22:50. > :22:54.coughing up a Pellest live on British television. Nice! We
:22:54. > :23:00.weren't quite sure how old these chicks were actually were, but in
:23:00. > :23:02.fact Colin got in contact with us. He runs the Barn Owl Conservation
:23:02. > :23:07.Trust, and he did an extraordinary thing. When he saw the birds
:23:07. > :23:11.opening up their wings - I think we're going to see that in a minute.
:23:11. > :23:16.Look - first of all, this is what happened earlier, and it can always
:23:16. > :23:20.make you smile. We can always rely on our barn owls. What is that one
:23:20. > :23:24.doing? Where is its body? Their necks are just ridiculously
:23:24. > :23:29.flexible, aren't they? And the one at the front looks like it's
:23:29. > :23:33.already seen the camera and is doing a little head dance there.
:23:33. > :23:38.Aren't they lovely? This is where you see them come out. We weren't
:23:38. > :23:42.sure how old they were, but Colin watched this, and off his own
:23:42. > :23:46.television he measured the length of the primary wing feathers of
:23:46. > :23:50.this bird. He measured the fourth primary wing feather, and from its
:23:50. > :23:56.development, incredibly, he could tell us that they're exactly 36
:23:56. > :24:02.days old. The oldest one is 36 days old. And he managed to do that from
:24:02. > :24:06.measuring the wing on the telly the telly. Thanks, Colin -
:24:06. > :24:10.fantastic skills. They'll fledge - it takes 60 days for them. They're
:24:10. > :24:15.two-thirds of the way through their time in the nest. They're slow
:24:15. > :24:19.developers, unlike our chaffinches. Let's take a look at them live.
:24:19. > :24:23.They're actually pretty snuggled right now. But you can see some of
:24:23. > :24:27.the patterns on the wing starting to develop. They're moving so fast,
:24:27. > :24:30.Michaela. They'll fledge, chaffinches, on average, in 14 days,
:24:30. > :24:36.so fast. There were five chicks. They hatched we think about the
:24:36. > :24:40.24th of May, so they could in fact fledge this weekend. They could.
:24:40. > :24:44.The cold weather could slow it down. They could stay in there as long as
:24:44. > :24:50.14 days. I had a word. I told them to wait until Monday. That would be
:24:50. > :24:53.nice. Shall we have a look at the blue tits? They're doing well,
:24:54. > :24:59.aren't they? They're all there. We have seen them being fed, and they,
:24:59. > :25:02.again - I don't know. I think by Monday they could be out of the
:25:03. > :25:06.nest. Both chaffinches and blue tits are birds you regularly see in
:25:06. > :25:16.your garden, and Chris is about to tell you something you can do to
:25:16. > :25:17.
:25:17. > :25:21.little bit eccentric here, but I am very excited to tell you about a
:25:21. > :25:25.new survey we're doing in conjunction with the British Trust
:25:25. > :25:28.of Ornithology. We'd like you to join in over this long Bank Holiday
:25:28. > :25:32.weekend. It's going to take just an hour of your time. When we normally
:25:32. > :25:34.survey garden bird, we count the number of birds and the number of
:25:34. > :25:41.different species, but this time we're interested in something
:25:41. > :25:46.lightly different. We're interested in what we call the biomass of the
:25:46. > :25:50.birds, the living weight of these birds. Let's imagine we have one
:25:51. > :25:55.wood pigeon that measures 400 grammes. That therefore would be
:25:55. > :25:59.the equivalent to 40 blue tits. It would also add up to no less than
:26:00. > :26:05.80 gold crests. If you have one wood pigeon in your garden, you
:26:05. > :26:09.could in some way, shape and form say it's the equivalent to 80 gold
:26:09. > :26:15.crests, and what's important is this living weight of birds is
:26:15. > :26:20.actually a very good way of showing how productive your garden is. The
:26:20. > :26:25.higher the biomass of birds, the better your garden is, so what we'd
:26:25. > :26:30.like you to do is settle down with a cup of tea and a piece of carrot
:26:30. > :26:35.cake, look out the window for one hour and record the number of any
:26:35. > :26:40.species of bird you see in your garden. You can fill out the
:26:40. > :26:45.information at our website, bbc.co.uk/springwatch. What's more,
:26:45. > :26:49.we'll bring you an update next week. Not only that, the BTO will analyse
:26:49. > :26:57.all of this and publish it in a proper scientific paper, so this is
:26:57. > :27:02.your chance to get involved in some Now, about eight years ago when he
:27:02. > :27:05.was just 15, we met a remarkable young man, Lindsay McCray. He was
:27:05. > :27:11.filming his wildlife in the Lake District where he was growing up,
:27:12. > :27:15.and he made us a lovely film. This year he has been back to the Lake
:27:15. > :27:25.District. He has been out there now. He's working as one of our
:27:25. > :27:49.
:27:49. > :27:59.established wildlife cameramen season. It's just amazing how
:27:59. > :28:23.
:28:23. > :28:31.quickly things change. The whole are in full bloom. The smell is
:28:31. > :28:39.unreal, just the fresh blue smell of a wooden spring. Insects really
:28:39. > :28:45.start to become more active when the flyers start appearing. I feel
:28:45. > :28:49.the only way to learn about wildlife is by observing it. A lot
:28:49. > :28:54.of people say to me you must be really patient and wait for hours,
:28:54. > :28:58.but if you just sit still in a place like this for just ten
:28:58. > :29:02.minutes, the stuff that starts happening around you is
:29:02. > :29:07.unbelievable. There was one day where I was just sat quiet, as I do,
:29:07. > :29:13.and a pair of chaffinches were just coming and going from this small
:29:13. > :29:19.patch of Bramble. I found where the female was building a nest. She
:29:19. > :29:22.must have just started building it, and it was this tiny little cup.
:29:22. > :29:27.She intricately built this nest, and it didn't take her long at all
:29:27. > :29:37.to build that up - a matter of days, really. There was just this frantic
:29:37. > :29:42.
:29:42. > :29:49.was taking bluebell leaves for his nest, which I thought was bizarre.
:29:49. > :29:59.I never knew they did that. In a dry stone wall at the side of the
:29:59. > :30:03.wood, there were voles all over the place. They seemed bold as brass.
:30:03. > :30:13.Everything at this time of year gets me going in this wood, but the
:30:13. > :30:14.
:30:14. > :30:22.badgers have to be my favourite. They lead such a secretive life.
:30:22. > :30:29.First badger of the year. Still no sign of any cubs. Usually the
:30:29. > :30:36.parents come out first. Then the cubs would follow. I suppose it's
:30:36. > :30:46.still early days and those cubs would be quite young. There's a
:30:46. > :30:52.
:30:52. > :31:02.cub! No way. He's absolutely tiny. Here he comes. There's two. At
:31:02. > :31:36.
:31:36. > :31:46.sound, like a little squeezy toy. - - squeaky toy. There's nowhere,
:31:46. > :31:47.
:31:47. > :31:50.absolutely nowhere, I'd prefer to be right now. It's just brilliant.
:31:50. > :31:54.Lindsay's absolutely right, ever so often when you're in a wild place,
:31:54. > :31:59.it's so important to stop and listen. It can be amazing what you
:31:59. > :32:03.see and indeed, hear. Now Lindsay know that's wood intimately. He's
:32:03. > :32:06.passionate about the wildlife. Another one of our cameramen
:32:06. > :32:10.passionate about the wildlife in his patch is Charlie. He's live
:32:10. > :32:17.with us on today's programme and he's in his favourite place down by
:32:17. > :32:22.the river bank, where he filmed the kingfishers.
:32:22. > :32:27.Thanks Michaela. Now, kingfishers, highly territorial birds and
:32:27. > :32:33.particularly on a river like this. This is a really clean, healthy
:32:33. > :32:36.river, packed with small fish, stickle backs and bull heads and
:32:36. > :32:43.particularly minnows. That's what a Kingfisher needs to live on. If you
:32:43. > :32:48.look here, every bend on this river has a lovely high, steep mud bank.
:32:48. > :32:53.That's what we need to nest. That makes this stretch of river prime
:32:53. > :32:59.real estate for kingfishers. That's worth fighting for. They do. They
:32:59. > :33:04.will defend their territory fiercely, even to the death. I've
:33:04. > :33:09.seen kingfishers actually drown each other. What does it mean for
:33:09. > :33:13.our pair? It means this is too good a territory to abandon. Last week,
:33:13. > :33:23.I went out to try and find them again on this stretch and catch up
:33:23. > :33:40.
:33:40. > :33:44.with them, see how they're coping high the river's got. You know,
:33:44. > :33:50.it's been dumping these grasses and sticks and debris right up into
:33:50. > :33:57.these root systems. That is right at the top of the bank. You can see
:33:57. > :34:02.here where all the mud has been cut out from under this bank. There's
:34:02. > :34:12.almost no sign at all there was ever a Kingfisher nest there.
:34:12. > :34:12.
:34:12. > :34:16.It's kind of gutting really. I feel so sorry for them. But, living in
:34:16. > :34:22.such an unpredictable habitat, right next to water, kingfishers
:34:22. > :34:27.have learned to cope. Our kingfishers nested quite early this
:34:27. > :34:32.year. The nest failed, but the good news is that kingfishers will often
:34:32. > :34:42.nest two or three times in a season. So there's every chance that
:34:42. > :34:43.
:34:43. > :34:49.somewhere on this stretch of river, they're nesting again. Finding the
:34:49. > :34:55.kingfishers shouldn't be too hard. You listen for the distinctive call.
:34:55. > :35:02.Look out for flashes of blue and other clues. What I'm looking for
:35:02. > :35:06.are signs kingfishers are using the area. If you look here, that's
:35:06. > :35:10.exactly what you can see, all these white droppings are because the
:35:10. > :35:14.Kingfisher has been sitting on this branch. That mean that's they're in
:35:14. > :35:24.the area. There's a good chance if I carry on down river from here, I
:35:24. > :35:41.
:35:41. > :35:47.Kingfisher nest. I know every single nest hole on this river and
:35:47. > :35:52.that's a brand new one. I don't know how old it is. I don't know if
:35:52. > :35:58.they're in it, even. I'm going to stick my hide up river a bit and
:35:58. > :36:04.stake it out with my camera. I can't get my nest camera in there,
:36:04. > :36:13.as I don't want to disturb the family at this critical stage. So I
:36:13. > :36:23.move a bit further back, set up my hide and wait. I don't have to wait
:36:23. > :36:25.
:36:25. > :36:29.long. That looks like the male bird, just suddenly appeared. He's
:36:29. > :36:39.sitting on the branch right opposite the bank. Is he going to
:36:39. > :36:43.
:36:43. > :36:50.fly in? Is he going to fly? Come on. Yes! Oh, that's amazing. He's gone
:36:50. > :36:55.in. That is definitely a nest that's being used. After the male
:36:55. > :37:04.bird goes in, the female emerges. It looks like they have eggs in the
:37:04. > :37:13.nest and are taking their turns to incubate them. Oh, that's great
:37:13. > :37:17.news. OK, fingers crossed that this nest works. It's hard to know how
:37:17. > :37:23.old these Kingfisher eggs are, but as they're only incubated for
:37:23. > :37:30.around 21 days, I think they could be hatching any day soon. That's
:37:30. > :37:34.great news for our Kingfisher parents.
:37:34. > :37:38.Just down river from here is the new nest. Although it looked lovely
:37:38. > :37:42.in those pictures, I wonder whether it's just a bit low and we could
:37:42. > :37:46.actually be at risk from flooding again. That's what happened to the
:37:46. > :37:52.old nest. Enough of my pessimism. What I want to know is are they on
:37:52. > :37:56.eggs or on chicks? And there's only one way to find out, and that's for
:37:56. > :38:00.me to go down river, get in my hide, sit and wait and watch them. That's
:38:00. > :38:06.exactly what I'm going to do. Come back to me in a bit, and we'll be
:38:06. > :38:09.live from the hide. It will be so fantastic if there
:38:09. > :38:15.are chicks. Even bet fer he saw them taking small fish in, because
:38:15. > :38:20.that would mean they'd hatched. Fingers crossed. Yeah hopefully.
:38:20. > :38:25.Let's check out some of the live cameras. This is marsh cam. I don't
:38:25. > :38:31.think we'll have the beautiful pink light today. Got the swan though.
:38:32. > :38:38.Are the cygnets there? I can see them where I'm standing. We've just
:38:38. > :38:43.got that one. Let's go to the feeder cam to see if there are more
:38:43. > :38:48.birds. We have drawn a blank there actually. Which is vur prizing,
:38:48. > :38:54.with the weather you'd have thought they would take advantage. What
:38:54. > :39:00.about the mammal stump? Nothing in there either. There was a funny
:39:00. > :39:08.moment earlier. Look, oh, it's a parachuting wood mouse.
:39:08. > :39:15.Then sudden thri goes again. And then watch, it parachutes back in
:39:15. > :39:18.again. It's the Tom Cruise of the wood mouse world. They are quite an
:39:18. > :39:23.arborial animal. They climb high in the Autumn, sometimes into the
:39:23. > :39:28.trees too. The bank voles are more terrestrial. They tend to stay on
:39:28. > :39:32.the ground. It might be caching some of the food, hiding it at the
:39:32. > :39:37.top so other animals can't find. It I thought there was a top on that
:39:37. > :39:42.blocking it. Yeah he could stick it into a crevice. Now let's go live
:39:42. > :39:46.to the wood warbler. Look at that! There's a hardening sight. This is
:39:46. > :39:50.one of our wood washlers. We think there are six in there. One of them
:39:50. > :39:57.is getting a very healthy feed. What has it got? It's difficult to
:39:57. > :40:01.see, is it a beetle of some kind? Or did it have wings? It's gone now.
:40:01. > :40:04.It's gone down the throat of the small chick. They seem to have been
:40:04. > :40:08.doing really well today. Every time we look back we see the little
:40:08. > :40:14.heads coming up, stunning little things. Let's see what they've been
:40:14. > :40:20.up to. It's quite an active nest. Oh, it's a thrush. I think it's
:40:20. > :40:23.come down here because it's curious. I don't think it's at risk of
:40:23. > :40:27.predation there. It's normally Jays that find them and rob them.
:40:27. > :40:31.Beautiful sight there, a healthy chick. Look at that. Look, this was
:40:31. > :40:39.interesting, because this bird comes in and it's actually brought
:40:39. > :40:42.in a damsel fly. It turns it around, puts it in head first into the
:40:42. > :40:47.chick's mouth, but trying to swallow that is quite difficult and
:40:47. > :40:54.much later in the day, if you look at this chick now, you can see it's
:40:54. > :41:00.still got the little bit of abdomen sticking out of its throat. Don't
:41:00. > :41:10.worry, it break up and be swallowed. They're known for their beautiful
:41:10. > :41:27.
:41:27. > :41:30.the woods early in the morning, everything's quiet and you're very
:41:30. > :41:34.close. They're really loud when you're close to them. You hear that
:41:35. > :41:38.piping tune in that mass of emerald green, it's pretty good. We are
:41:38. > :41:44.just about to go to Martin who is in the studio, where the midges
:41:44. > :41:49.aren't, just list ton this. -- listen to this.
:41:49. > :41:56.What do you think? Beautiful. Lovely sounds. But the midges are
:41:56. > :42:00.in here too! We have seen birds, adult birds, bringing all sorts of
:42:00. > :42:06.food into the nest for their chicks. But what are they bringing in and
:42:06. > :42:10.why? Let's have a closer look. Here's a chaffinch, can't see what
:42:10. > :42:15.that is. We've seen a lot of caterpillars. This warbler is
:42:15. > :42:19.stuffed with them. It's very fascinating, because some of the
:42:19. > :42:23.birds that come to the bird tables and eat nuts and so on, completely
:42:23. > :42:31.change their diet when they're feeding the chicks. Here are the
:42:31. > :42:36.blue tits, caterpillars again. So I wonder, what is it that's so great
:42:36. > :42:39.about caterpillars? Well, because we've had Alastair MacEwen here
:42:40. > :42:43.with us, a macrophotographer, he's been able to get right in close.
:42:43. > :42:50.Let's have a closer look at the caterpillar.
:42:50. > :42:56.Here it is, why do birds want to eat them? There's two excellent
:42:56. > :43:01.reasons: First, the caterpillar is about 25% protein, essential for
:43:01. > :43:07.building muscle and all the things that the chick needs to grow. But
:43:07. > :43:11.the other important thing is, and many people have asked, how do the
:43:11. > :43:15.parents get water into the chicks in the nest? They don't bring water
:43:15. > :43:19.because a caterpillar is about 80% water. If they're eating
:43:19. > :43:29.caterpillars they're getting both food and drink as well. Excellent
:43:29. > :43:33.pictures. Now we've also seen them bringing in spiders. Fantastic
:43:33. > :43:38.images this, glistening. Looks like it's made of glass. Constantly
:43:38. > :43:43.cleaning its legs there. The crucial thing about spiders, they
:43:43. > :43:46.have silk. The silk stays in a sort of pool of liquid protein in its
:43:46. > :43:50.abdomen. It has to draw it out with its legs, that's exactly what it's
:43:50. > :43:56.doing here. It's using the back legs to pull out the silk. As soon
:43:56. > :44:00.as it hits the air, the lick paid protein turns no a solid. Of course,
:44:00. > :44:06.spiders use that silk for all sorts of things, building webs, wrapping
:44:06. > :44:15.up their eggs. They even, some of them, withdraw a long thread of
:44:16. > :44:20.silk and catch the wind and fly using the silk. Now let's look at
:44:20. > :44:30.the aphid. Here they are. Probably all over my broad beans back home.
:44:30. > :44:32.
:44:32. > :44:35.The fascinating thing is they don't need a male, females at all, they
:44:35. > :44:42.proproduce parthnogenetically. The baby is genetically identical. It's
:44:43. > :44:47.a bit like a Russian doll. Already inside that baby, as it emerges,
:44:47. > :44:53.there's another baby waiting to be born. It will plug into the plant
:44:53. > :44:58.and it too will give birth at any moment. The fascinating thing here
:44:58. > :45:03.as well,ants look after the aphids, as we do with kaus. The aphids
:45:03. > :45:08.produce a sugar solution out of their abdomens. The ants drink that
:45:08. > :45:18.and in return the ants protect the aphids, like us with our cows.
:45:18. > :45:29.
:45:29. > :45:32.have. It's a particularly important feeding source for the birds. Can
:45:32. > :45:37.you see - I have brought a few friends with me. There are a few
:45:37. > :45:41.out there tonight. There are a few out there. You are being bitten as
:45:41. > :45:46.we speak. All of that fabulous macro has been shot in the last few
:45:46. > :45:50.days, and we thought we'd task Alison of one last job - to get
:45:50. > :45:55.some close-ups of these biting midges. We got a volunteer. There
:45:55. > :45:59.was a long queue for this job! Because this is a Midgeee biting
:45:59. > :46:03.into human flesh. They have specialised mouth parts. They make
:46:03. > :46:06.the hole, then stick those mouth parts back in to suck out the blood.
:46:06. > :46:11.There are 50 species in the UK. Only about 20 of those regularly
:46:11. > :46:16.bite mammals, and only two of them normally bite us. Now, I am sure a
:46:16. > :46:22.lot of you will be saying what in the world use are midges? Well, let
:46:22. > :46:26.me tell you. They play a very important part in the community.
:46:26. > :46:30.The male is a really important pollinator, so without them
:46:30. > :46:40.pollinating, we wouldn't have the flowers. Secondly, the males and
:46:40. > :46:41.
:46:41. > :46:45.females are really important insects for food like bats. I wish
:46:45. > :46:49.there were squadrons out there tonight. It would be more
:46:49. > :46:53.comfortable for us. In the north- west of Scotland, the midge
:46:53. > :46:57.population is profound. There are vast numbers of these, and there
:46:57. > :47:02.always has been. It's thought this is one of the reasons it's sparsely
:47:02. > :47:06.populated. Therefore we think that's one of the reasons our most
:47:06. > :47:11.enchanting animals, the golden eagles and pine martins actually
:47:11. > :47:14.survive, so the reason we have those left in the UK come down to
:47:14. > :47:20.midges, so no more swatting. They're part of your community.
:47:20. > :47:27.Learn to - love them! He doesn't even flinch as he's being bitten.
:47:27. > :47:37.We all - what is it with you?! Right. Let us go from the minute
:47:37. > :47:43.
:47:43. > :47:53.midges to something a little bit It's late March in Wellny on the
:47:53. > :47:56.
:47:56. > :48:03.edge of the Norfolk fens. In the dew-drenched grass, something stirs.
:48:03. > :48:10.It's a jill, a female brown hare. This is the story of her day, and
:48:10. > :48:20.it's going to be quite a day. Normally, nocturnal, solitary and
:48:20. > :48:20.
:48:21. > :48:30.shy, at this time of year, hares are anything but shy. And today,
:48:31. > :48:37.
:48:37. > :48:43.the jill will be at the centre of The mad march hare - famous for
:48:43. > :48:53.their eccentric and erratic behaviour! And often brutal boxing
:48:53. > :49:08.
:49:08. > :49:16.bouts. Fur flies, but what's going their rabbit cousins, longer ears
:49:16. > :49:20.with black tips distinguish them. Their faces are longer, chiselled.
:49:20. > :49:23.Their eyes bulge. There is something otherworldly about a hare.
:49:24. > :49:33.The jill will come into heat for just a few hours, and the local
:49:34. > :49:34.
:49:34. > :49:40.males, the jack hares, are all fired up. However, all is not as it
:49:40. > :49:47.seems. These aren't the vows of fervent jack hares scrapping for
:49:47. > :49:51.the females. It's actually the females themselves fighting off the
:49:51. > :49:57.unwelcome advances of the persistent jacks. Male and female
:49:57. > :50:02.hares are virtually identical, so for a long time, it was assumed
:50:02. > :50:09.these violent confrontations were males boxing over the females.
:50:09. > :50:16.As a female comes into heat, she releases pheromones, whipping the
:50:16. > :50:20.males into a frenzy. From one suitor, more and more join in. She
:50:20. > :50:26.could be battling off up to ten at a time. She's only receptive for a
:50:26. > :50:30.matter of hours, so the jack hares can't resist this opportunity. The
:50:30. > :50:36.males will chase and chase her, but she's picky. She only wants the
:50:36. > :50:45.best. It's a test of strength. She'll shake off and beat back the
:50:45. > :50:52.males until only one remains. Stalemate as five jacks surround
:50:52. > :51:00.the jill. She's taking a break from all of this unwanted attention. She
:51:00. > :51:09.needs to feed, chewing on grass as she goes, but the jacks, they're
:51:09. > :51:17.twitchy. They won't let her eat. The idea that hares are only mad
:51:17. > :51:22.march hares in March isn't true. Hares will box all year around, but
:51:22. > :51:27.it does reach a crescendo in March. As the day wears on, the jill needs
:51:27. > :51:31.to go about her business, feeding and cleaning as she goes,
:51:31. > :51:39.constantly shadowed by her suitors. As another jack gets a sniff of the
:51:39. > :51:44.action, it all kicks off again. Hares are built for speed - long
:51:44. > :51:49.front and back legs pound at the ground.
:51:49. > :51:56.At full pelt, they can reach 45mph! They'd finish a 100-metre Olympic
:51:56. > :52:00.final in just five seconds! Not only are they fast, but they're
:52:00. > :52:10.also amazingly manoeuvrable. Their low centre of gravity enables them
:52:10. > :52:18.
:52:19. > :52:22.to bob and weave. Hares are our convinced the jill that he is a
:52:23. > :52:28.suitable match. He's outshone the others and will now sit and guard
:52:28. > :52:35.her, following her every move, protecting his prize.
:52:35. > :52:44.As the day draws to a close, our jill seems content with her new
:52:44. > :52:47.mate. The March madness is over - It's obviously a common
:52:47. > :52:51.misconception. Lots of people used to think it was two males boxing,
:52:51. > :52:55.but now we know it's a male and a female. We love it when we get
:52:55. > :52:59.unusual footage from viewers, and we have a fantastic piece of film
:52:59. > :53:09.to show you. It's from Norman, who filmed this. Have a look. It's so
:53:09. > :53:10.
:53:10. > :53:15.Female hare, and she has three babies, and a rabbit is coming to
:53:15. > :53:20.have a suckle as well. It's very rare because the female will only
:53:20. > :53:24.suckle those babies for three or four minutes per day. She'll
:53:24. > :53:27.normally hide them in the grass. Look at that naughty little rabbit.
:53:27. > :53:33.She doesn't seem particularly bothered. She's in another world,
:53:33. > :53:38.Michaela. I tell you, there is no such thing as a free meal, and he
:53:38. > :53:45.hops off with nothing. Great footage! Keep them coming in, keep
:53:45. > :53:51.your questions coming in, and we'll be back with Springwatch Unsprung.
:53:51. > :53:54.We have been getting in pictures from the Montgomeryshire Wildlife
:53:54. > :54:01.Trust project. Where is the nest? Let's stand back and have a look at
:54:01. > :54:05.it. It's at the top of that great big, top pole. That's great for
:54:05. > :54:08.stopping ground predators from damaging the nest in any way, but
:54:08. > :54:12.they're terribly exposed up there, and you can see today they have
:54:12. > :54:16.gotten absolutely soaked. We have been watching these ospreys all
:54:16. > :54:20.week, and we have some really good news about this species. They had
:54:20. > :54:23.three eggs, and previously we had seen two of those youngsters hatch.
:54:23. > :54:28.Yesterday we thought the third head had actually cracked open. Take a
:54:28. > :54:31.look at this, because this is what we have been watching today. We had
:54:31. > :54:36.those two chicks. We knew they'd already hatched. What we were
:54:36. > :54:40.hoping to see was the third one. It has been very, very wet and pretty
:54:40. > :54:44.cold too, but nonetheless - there is the sign we were looking for -
:54:44. > :54:48.an empty eggshell and new youngster, and these animals work really hard
:54:48. > :54:50.to keep the youngsters warm. They were brooding them. Their body
:54:51. > :54:54.temperature is 40 degrees. The chicks will be just a little bit
:54:54. > :54:58.lower than that, but as I say, it's a tough job when they have
:54:58. > :55:02.youngsters this size. We have been saying all evening that the change
:55:02. > :55:07.in the weather makes all the chicks very vulnerable. Let's think about
:55:07. > :55:09.those ospreys. They're on that very open nest. They're small. The
:55:09. > :55:13.chicks are small, very, very vulnerable to a change in weather
:55:14. > :55:17.because they're not covered in down, so if they get cold, it could spell
:55:17. > :55:21.disaster for them, and I am afraid to tell you that just before the
:55:21. > :55:25.show today, we found out that the weather has taken its toll on just
:55:26. > :55:30.one of the chicks, and it's not the one that hatched. It was one of the
:55:30. > :55:36.older ones that hatched a couple of days ago. Let's take a look at them
:55:36. > :55:40.live now. It's obviously really sad that we've lost one, especially as
:55:40. > :55:43.this couple managed to get three successfully hatched and fledged
:55:43. > :55:47.last year. Yeah. But the good news is, I have been watching the
:55:47. > :55:52.monitors this evening, and they are successfully feeding the other two,
:55:52. > :55:56.which are looking good. The rain came just at the wrong moment.
:55:56. > :55:59.afraid it did. Today's show really has been an emotional roller
:55:59. > :56:04.coaster. There is no doubt about that so let's try and end on a high.
:56:04. > :56:08.We're going back to Charlie. He's hiding in a hide. Please tell us
:56:08. > :56:13.some good news about your kingfishers. Welcome back to my
:56:13. > :56:18.very cosy, very dark hide. Now, I wanted to film a kingfisher live.
:56:18. > :56:23.Sitting in a hide really is the only way to do it. It's a very shy,
:56:23. > :56:26.very secretive bird. What I really wanted to see was an adult bird
:56:26. > :56:30.with a fish flying into the nest because that would mean that the
:56:30. > :56:33.chicks have hatched, but I haven't seen any of that all I have seen is
:56:34. > :56:41.an increasingly dark nest bank. It's very quiet. I would have
:56:41. > :56:44.thought mum is sitting in the nest now on eggs. So I am afraid I can't
:56:44. > :56:48.show you the kingfisher tonight. She'll probably sit there all night.
:56:48. > :56:53.In the morning, the male will come in. They'll swap over. They'll do
:56:53. > :56:56.that every two to three hours. That'll be going on all across
:56:56. > :57:04.Britain. All the kingfishers will be doing it. They'll either be on
:57:04. > :57:09.their nests or feeding their chicks. It has been a tragic year for our
:57:09. > :57:13.chicks on Springwatch, but they have dusted themselves off and
:57:13. > :57:16.started again, and if it doesn't rain, they have every chance of
:57:16. > :57:20.success. Now, we will keep following them and keep updating
:57:20. > :57:23.you on them. So from me, in a very dark hide, it's back to you in
:57:23. > :57:27.Wales. Thank you very much, Charlie. We're coming to the end of our
:57:27. > :57:31.programme, so let's take a quick look around our live nest. Let's go
:57:31. > :57:34.to our sandpiper. We have been following the antics of this little
:57:34. > :57:38.bird as the trains have been moving station to station, and we know
:57:38. > :57:43.there is a train due any minute now. You never know. We might be seeing
:57:43. > :57:47.her get off the nest. I tell you - it's a bit of a worry on Saturday.
:57:47. > :57:51.Oh, no! The train. It happened again. I don't believe it. It's on
:57:51. > :57:56.time. I don't believe it! This is the most efficient railway
:57:56. > :58:00.in the country. We can actually tell the time by
:58:00. > :58:05.the train! That's sandpiper time! You know what it means, though? It
:58:05. > :58:10.means it's the end of the programme. Yes, takes us out. Next week we
:58:10. > :58:16.have fantastic things for you. We have some real birds coming up next
:58:16. > :58:20.week - none other than peregrine falcons. Also we'll find out will
:58:20. > :58:28.those nuthatchs fledge? I am look at them. They're ready to go.
:58:28. > :58:32.That's it for us. Stay tuned for Springwatch Unsprung, where we'll