:00:13. > :00:22.Hello, and welcome to Springwatch. Coming to you, on a beautiful June
:00:23. > :00:29.evening, from the RSPB's reserve. We'll see who fledgeed over the
:00:29. > :00:35.last couple of days, and catching up with our common sand piper who
:00:35. > :00:39.has taken Trainspotting a step too far on this very Railtrack. We'll
:00:39. > :00:44.meet the Peregrine family living the high life in the heart of the
:00:45. > :00:54.city. And which animal is this? Hotting up, in the middle of the
:00:55. > :01:12.
:01:12. > :01:16.compost heap? We'll be live for the Hello, then and welcome to
:01:16. > :01:21.Springwatch. It is our second week here, broadcasting to you live all
:01:21. > :01:27.week. Now, of course, the whole country is griped with fervour
:01:27. > :01:30.surrounding the pageantry of the Jubilee. But our cameras are
:01:30. > :01:36.functional and concentrating on the wildlife here. We will bring you
:01:36. > :01:46.the excitement and drama. Let's go to the most dramatic story of last
:01:46. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :01:52.week, which is our hut nuthatchs, let's go live to the nest, it looks
:01:52. > :01:57.like an abandoned bowel of cereal. But that's good news. Let's look at
:01:57. > :02:01.what happened earlier, on Saturday. Here they go, they're about to
:02:01. > :02:06.fledge, looking fantastic. First bird out. Bang, so wonderful to see
:02:06. > :02:12.this after the sadness of Runty, here they're coming out looking
:02:12. > :02:18.hail and hearty. Bang, another one comes out. Two down. Takeing it
:02:18. > :02:25.nice and steady, a bit of cheaping. They've been in the security of the
:02:25. > :02:31.nest boox all that time, and now out in the big wild world.
:02:31. > :02:36.This last one, seems not that keen to go. Mum has to come along and
:02:36. > :02:46.give encouragement, comeen. Still not coming out and then at
:02:46. > :02:50.last, go on. Away. I love the way they disappear into the tree behind.
:02:50. > :02:54.Good to see all those getting out there. What happened to the one
:02:54. > :02:58.they left. Nuthatchs are odd when they leave. Our cameramen were able
:02:58. > :03:03.to find them and follow them, this is what they saw. They're fed by
:03:03. > :03:08.one of the adults outside, but learning to get to grips with
:03:08. > :03:17.climbing up and down the tree. It is going to take a bit of practice.
:03:17. > :03:21.They did go up and down, unlike our tree creepers. They've all split up.
:03:21. > :03:28.This one seems to be troubleed findingity feet. They're not
:03:28. > :03:33.altogether in a group, they're fed separately. This is separately,
:03:33. > :03:38.because nuthatchs, when they're split up, it is like theykind stand
:03:38. > :03:41.each other, but twhen they go, they separate, which poses a huge
:03:42. > :03:46.problem for the parent, because they have to find the chicks,
:03:46. > :03:50.dotted around all over the place. Sometimes they'll be giving out the
:03:50. > :03:57.contact call which makes it easy for the parents to find them. But
:03:57. > :04:01.nuthatchs, as soon as they're out, they're out of the shop. This
:04:01. > :04:07.footage is unusual behaviour, an adult is moving down, it finds the
:04:07. > :04:10.youngster on the ground, clearly the youngster isn't happy, it is
:04:10. > :04:14.frozen, and it is attacked by an frozen, and it is attacked by an
:04:14. > :04:20.adult. Exactly what is going on here is difficult to discern. It is
:04:20. > :04:25.giving a threat postture there. It may be an adult intrudeer in the
:04:25. > :04:28.territory. But within two weeks, these young nuthatchs will be
:04:28. > :04:32.setting up their own territories. The males will be singing and
:04:32. > :04:38.finding mates, two weeks out of the nest and competing with their
:04:38. > :04:43.parents, so maybe this is early friction. On the one hand the
:04:44. > :04:48.parents want to feed them and then kick them out of the territory.
:04:49. > :04:52.They're terrified being overthrown by your kids, it is like a teenager,
:04:53. > :04:57.that goes downstairs and occupies the living room and never leaves.
:04:57. > :05:02.It happens a lot doesn't it. Last week, we were watching the nuthatch
:05:02. > :05:06.chicks, and we thought there was one parent feeding them, the female.
:05:06. > :05:10.We did, but Chris was sceptical, because he said that female is
:05:10. > :05:16.doing regular feeds and short intervals, so he said there must be
:05:16. > :05:24.an adult male around somewhere. We sent our cameramen out and this is
:05:24. > :05:30.what they found. Take a look. Can you see one adult going up.
:05:30. > :05:33.there's another one, in the background. It is so close to the
:05:33. > :05:40.nest box. But there wasn't aggression there, obviously, and it
:05:40. > :05:46.is right next to the nest box. If it wasn't another related one, that
:05:46. > :05:50.nuthatch would have attracted attacked. I'm not entirely
:05:50. > :05:56.convinced Chris was right. hiding the smug look, I thought
:05:56. > :06:02.there was a male there all along. Otherwise she was supermum wasn't
:06:02. > :06:06.she. But they all fledgeed. Let's catch up live with our common sand
:06:06. > :06:13.piper, she's not on the nest, but you can see the three eggs there,
:06:13. > :06:17.this is the sand piper that decided to nest right by the railway track.
:06:17. > :06:21.Look what happened over the last couple of days. There she is, she
:06:21. > :06:26.regularly get off the nest every time a train comes past. She gets
:06:26. > :06:33.off the nest, but seems to be walking alongside the track, a
:06:33. > :06:38.little bit too close, if you ask me. She goes back, the next train comes,
:06:38. > :06:43.and look at her, she's going towards the railway track, oh my
:06:43. > :06:47.goodness, she flies away just in time t get worse. She's actually,
:06:47. > :06:53.right next to the track now, you can hear the train in the distance,
:06:53. > :06:59.guess what she does, she goes along the railway track.
:06:59. > :07:05.Oh my goodness, what happened? Well you'll be glad to hear, she flew
:07:05. > :07:11.off in time and there she is, safely coming back to the nest,
:07:11. > :07:15.that's Bobing a bit more than usual. She's one crazy common sand piper.
:07:15. > :07:20.I'm surprised, she's been on the nest for a long time. The trains
:07:20. > :07:26.are regular and predictable, and never do her harm but she jumps off.
:07:26. > :07:31.How about a quiz with a Jubilee theme? Take a look at this. Here is
:07:31. > :07:35.a iconic image which we changed slightly, we want you to identify
:07:35. > :07:39.the three species that are there, and tell us how they're linked in
:07:39. > :07:49.that Jubilee theme. If you think you know the answers, which species
:07:49. > :07:57.
:07:57. > :08:00.and what links them, contact us on Peregrines went through a dip, it
:08:00. > :08:07.was because of pesticides, it was thought it be less than a hundred
:08:07. > :08:13.pairs in the whole of the UK, but now they've recovered superbly.
:08:13. > :08:18.Latest figures is we have 1,437, that means they're having trouble
:08:18. > :08:24.finding natural nest. Where do they nest? They nest in high trees, but
:08:24. > :08:29.also on cliff tops, and in quarries as well. This one I actually know,
:08:29. > :08:33.I can see her nest in a minute, flying around. I know this nest
:08:33. > :08:37.site well, in there there's a peregrine nest. Now, because the
:08:37. > :08:47.natural nest sites are largely occupied, our per grins are having
:08:47. > :08:52.
:08:52. > :09:01.The historic city of scam bath and above all the traffic and people,
:09:01. > :09:07.perched on the tallest spire, a peregrine falcon. Strengthth, speed
:09:07. > :09:12.and raw beauty make this bird and of prey one of the UK's most
:09:12. > :09:18.impressive animals. How much do we know about their lives in the heart
:09:18. > :09:23.of this city? To find out, Springwatch has made a specialist
:09:23. > :09:31.cameras on their nest, for the first time we can reveal every
:09:31. > :09:39.detail as they attempt to bring up a family. The peregrines decided to
:09:39. > :09:43.nest on St John's church in 2006, after the hawk and owl trust put up
:09:43. > :09:49.a box. They think this is the same female nesting ever since. This
:09:49. > :09:53.male bird has been with her for our years. Now, peregrines are usually
:09:53. > :10:02.loyal to a successful nest site and this pair seem content with their
:10:02. > :10:11.high rise living arrangements. Although, there are obvious quirks
:10:11. > :10:16.become bell tolls become). The male falcon keeps watch and chase off
:10:17. > :10:23.any intruders. He will bring food in as a gift, to reestablish the
:10:23. > :10:30.pair bond between them. And he doesn't have to look far for a meal.
:10:30. > :10:40.The church is an ideal roosting site for pigeons and pigeons can
:10:40. > :10:50.make up half of a peregrines diet. These birds attack their prey in
:10:50. > :11:11.
:11:11. > :11:21.midair, building up to speeds of up The pair were seen mating from mid-
:11:21. > :11:24.
:11:24. > :11:34.By the 25th of March the male is keeping watch as his mate sits on
:11:34. > :11:34.
:11:34. > :11:38.The eggs will be incubateed for up to 33 days, both parents will sit
:11:38. > :11:48.tight through every weather to keep them warm and protected and the
:11:48. > :11:48.
:11:48. > :11:53.camera will capture every detail as the eggs develop. But is this happy
:11:53. > :11:58.family scene about to be disrupted? You see, a strange peregrine has
:11:58. > :12:02.turned up at the church. It is a juvenile, much browner than the
:12:02. > :12:07.steely grey adults. And the adult birds aren't showing any signs of
:12:07. > :12:17.chasing it off. The youngster has a ring on its leg, and our camera
:12:17. > :12:24.
:12:24. > :12:30.reveals its identity. It is a male As. To confirm this the juvenile
:12:30. > :12:34.approach is begging for food and the male giving up his kill, just
:12:34. > :12:40.as he would have done when the youngster just fledgeed. The male
:12:40. > :12:45.is allowing him to stay. This extra food is a bonus to a young bird,
:12:45. > :12:53.starvation is the biggest threat to a peregrine in its first year of
:12:53. > :12:59.life. Remarkably, this juvenile bird, seems to be interested in the
:12:59. > :13:07.eggs. As he lands on the nest box the female willingly hands over the
:13:08. > :13:15.brooding duties to this bird, just as he would to her mate. The
:13:15. > :13:19.juvenile however, seems unsure what to do, he approaches really
:13:19. > :13:29.columnyly, he is not folding over thealons, and there's a chance the
:13:29. > :13:29.
:13:29. > :13:34.eggs could be damageed. Eventually he settles down, a juvenile
:13:34. > :13:40.peregrine, incubateing the eggs of his own parents is very unusual t's
:13:40. > :13:46.never filmed before. So why is he doing this? If he's trying to move
:13:46. > :13:50.into this territory, the adult male might have a future rival.
:13:51. > :13:56.But there's more immediate concern. You see, first time nesters, can
:13:56. > :14:06.and do break eggs they're looking after. Could his inexperience put
:14:06. > :14:12.
:14:12. > :14:15.Wow, what an extraordinary story, what is going on? Very difficult to
:14:15. > :14:25.discern other that's a related male tolerated in the territory. But
:14:25. > :14:26.
:14:26. > :14:34.this is an extremely rare eye vent. Peregrines do do strange things owe
:14:34. > :14:39.occasionally, they're called to kestrel's eggs, and breaking them
:14:39. > :14:44.and nesting them. But we don't know why it is tolerate. We know it is
:14:44. > :14:48.related, they're one of the offspring from last year, maybe it
:14:48. > :14:52.is that. It could also be the other territories surrounding this one,
:14:52. > :14:57.are occupied. Like you were saying earlier, we have carrying capacity.
:14:57. > :15:00.So basically it's got nowhere to go. As a sequence of that, it is
:15:00. > :15:04.hanging around its original nest site and the parents are
:15:04. > :15:09.tolerateing it. It is interesting, Ed, one of the friends of the
:15:09. > :15:13.programme, said he's seen this, in Bath, close by in a quarry in
:15:13. > :15:18.recent times. So this is the second time it is reported, but first time
:15:18. > :15:26.it is filmed. It is scary to watch the youngster, because he doesn't
:15:26. > :15:31.look good, and the alons are so close to the eggs, and it is the
:15:31. > :15:35.most precious thing, and the female let's them go in for it. The female
:15:35. > :15:38.inqueue Bates, so he and the other male is sharing the duties. It is
:15:38. > :15:45.precarious, we've been following the story since the spring when
:15:45. > :15:50.they first paired up. Of course, we'll be bringing you an update
:15:50. > :15:57.tomorrow. A proper bird. But still a bird. Come on let's have mammals.
:15:57. > :16:04.Let's us go inside, live the mammal stump. What have we got? We can't
:16:04. > :16:10.see because our monitor's just gone down. You're offering me a vole A
:16:10. > :16:17.wood mouse, instead of a peregrine falcon, I'm not playing top trumps
:16:17. > :16:25.with you, mate, it will be tedious. It is live, there he is, it's a
:16:25. > :16:29.beautiful animal. Gorgeous animal. It couldn't stoop at 200mph.
:16:29. > :16:34.have seen other wood mouse behaviour, earlier, which is a
:16:34. > :16:40.little more exciting. Take a look. Here we have a couple of wood mice.
:16:40. > :16:46.Friendly to begin with, benign. Pushing each other. And then it all
:16:46. > :16:51.goes wrong, somebody says the wrong thing. And then it is handbags.
:16:51. > :16:55.is no more than handbags. If we want to attract a younger audience,
:16:55. > :17:00.because an audience into violence on television, we have to up the
:17:00. > :17:06.anti-, fighting wood mice isn't going to do it is it? What is the
:17:06. > :17:16.most dangerous, exciting, thrilling small mammal in the UK snuck Robo
:17:16. > :17:20.rat. Vole van Dame. It's got to be a shrew. These are the most
:17:20. > :17:28.thrilling. This is down at the herrin hide, and I don't know who
:17:28. > :17:33.it was, but somebody saw this. Look at that. Brute. It is a pigmy shrew
:17:33. > :17:37.and look at the speed of the thing. These animals have to feed every
:17:37. > :17:44.two or three hours, unless they starve to death. They live their
:17:44. > :17:50.life at breath-neck speed. heartbeat can reach, 1,043 a minute,
:17:50. > :17:54.because they've such a high met bolic rate. They live life in hyper
:17:55. > :17:58.drive. And, I don't know if you, now that's very interesting. Nice
:17:58. > :18:04.to freeze that. It is carrying something, it is not going to eat
:18:04. > :18:10.that. That looks like nesting material. The timing's right,
:18:10. > :18:13.between March and May, have you ever walked down the hedgerow and
:18:14. > :18:20.you hear the squeaking, they're fighting in the hedgerows, so
:18:20. > :18:29.they'll be breeding now, so we may see a bit of shrew breeding. The
:18:29. > :18:33.man who called a pigmy shrew, a "brute" live on BBC Two. Next.
:18:33. > :18:38.Well I'vedom down to the Springwatch village and this is the
:18:38. > :18:45.truck that our cameras are monitored 24-hour a day. It is a
:18:45. > :18:50.cool place to be. Watching the cams at the moment, let's first take a
:18:51. > :18:54.look at our life chaffinchs, there they are, they've grown so much,
:18:54. > :18:58.but you may have noticed there's only three of them in the nest.
:18:59. > :19:04.Well I can tell you it is good news, because, take a look at what
:19:04. > :19:09.happened earlier this morning. Now you have feeding going on there,
:19:09. > :19:14.and then you have a lot of activity. The adult goes, and you got one of
:19:14. > :19:19.the chicks, stretching its wings, gets to the edge of the nest, and
:19:19. > :19:24.it's take-off time. Come back to the nest, another one
:19:24. > :19:31.standing on the edge. Looking like it's very keen to follow its sib I
:19:31. > :19:34.will and off it goes, leaving three chicks behind. Fingers crossed the
:19:34. > :19:38.might fledge while we do the programme this. Is a dramatic place
:19:38. > :19:44.to be, especially this weekend. I came in on Saturday to have a look
:19:45. > :19:52.at bluetits and this is what I saw. There's ten chicks being fed and
:19:52. > :19:57.they're all looking well and healthly, I was amazed how much
:19:57. > :20:03.they had grown in two days. When I came in this morning, imagine my
:20:03. > :20:09.surprise, that six out of ten of the chicks hadn't made it and had
:20:09. > :20:15.had indeed perished in the nest. Let's have a look at them now, live.
:20:15. > :20:20.You can see it is a very sad sight in the nest. You've got four chicks,
:20:21. > :20:26.that are still there, being fed. And very sadly, you've got the dead
:20:26. > :20:30.chicks still in the nest. I think we all know, it was an awful
:20:30. > :20:35.weekend, especially Sunday, it was wet and cold and windy, especially
:20:35. > :20:42.here, so the weather plays a big factor. Harry, you noticed
:20:42. > :20:48.something else, didn't you? As the cold weather progressed, we noticed
:20:48. > :20:52.both parents were never in the nest box and increasingly, one of them
:20:53. > :20:58.may have been predated, but we're watching them closely, to see both
:20:58. > :21:04.return or not. It is noticeable, because the bluetits in particular,
:21:04. > :21:08.you oven saw two adults in the nest, or if one went, the other one came
:21:08. > :21:14.immediately, there was definitely two birds. That's a big problem,
:21:14. > :21:18.let's keep your fingers crossed, that the four remaining chicks do
:21:18. > :21:23.fledge. Chris, are you surprised by what's happened? Well, you say,
:21:23. > :21:29.surprised, look at the nest of our bluetit here, it is right out on
:21:29. > :21:34.the western side of our reserve. If you take a look at the location of
:21:34. > :21:38.this nest here, you'll see it is right out by the seaside. You know,
:21:38. > :21:44.the wind blew in here, wild as the wind in Wales, so I have to tell
:21:44. > :21:49.you, at 35mph, from the North-East it was coming in this weekend, and
:21:49. > :21:53.the temperatures plummeted, in the day time they didn't get above 7
:21:53. > :21:58.degrees and the night down to five. You can see the sea beyond that
:21:58. > :22:03.nest, so that was getting a pounding when it came to the cold.
:22:03. > :22:07.They looked so good at the end of last week, I'm surprised, what do
:22:07. > :22:13.you think happened? A combination of things. It got very cold. But
:22:13. > :22:16.also, if you look at the bar chart, this is put together by our
:22:16. > :22:24.nestwatchers, and they were counting the number of visit the
:22:24. > :22:28.adults were making. On Friday, 550 visit, Saturday, 600, as they said
:22:28. > :22:32.on Sunday, it dropped off completely, and right down here to
:22:32. > :22:36.400. I know that sounds a lot, but when you have that many young in
:22:36. > :22:41.the nest, that means the amount of food coming in has fallen
:22:41. > :22:49.significantly. A combination of very cold weather, but also, a lot
:22:49. > :22:55.less food. Another thing as well, it rained a lot. And the rain can
:22:55. > :23:01.wash the cat caterpillars off the ground and they won't pick them up?
:23:01. > :23:06.Of course, it's a bonus for Robins and black birds but the other
:23:07. > :23:11.species foraging up in the tree are losing out. So it could be that.
:23:11. > :23:15.Very sad. We like to bring you a new nest every now and again, we
:23:15. > :23:20.had great plans today to bring you this new nest. Let's go to it live.
:23:20. > :23:23.See if you guess what it is. It is set up in some brambles, and
:23:23. > :23:31.unfortunately it is now no longer occupied, but we're going to show
:23:31. > :23:36.you why. Firstly what is it? Up until 9.20am, there was a couple of
:23:36. > :23:42.birds in busy attendance, they were blackcaps, and here, the pair of
:23:42. > :23:48.them together, the male on the left with the characteristic and elegant
:23:48. > :23:56.little birds feeding the young. There were four young in the nest,
:23:56. > :24:02.one unhatcheded egg and they were doing a great job of feeding them.
:24:02. > :24:08.But then, at 9.20 this morning, look at this, a weasel, now, it
:24:08. > :24:12.juched up at the nest, and all the young, despite the young bolted, it
:24:12. > :24:16.returned and what it is doing at the moment is it is actually eating
:24:16. > :24:21.the egg that was remaining in the nest. If you look carefully, the
:24:21. > :24:26.adults are still there, then it dashs out. At this stage, we think
:24:26. > :24:31.the young birds were on the ground and the weasel, was coming
:24:31. > :24:34.backwards and forwards to the nest in order to pick up all the
:24:34. > :24:38.youngsters. Because once it had found it, there was little chance
:24:38. > :24:43.it was ever going to leave it alone. We were on the brink of showing you
:24:43. > :24:49.new birds, but sadly they were taken. The weasel need add meal. It
:24:49. > :24:54.is interesting up to 50% of birds, which nest in that situation, will
:24:54. > :25:01.actually lose their nest before the igs hatch. One interesting thing is
:25:01. > :25:07.the busier the nest, more frequent the visits the adults are making
:25:07. > :25:13.the greatser chance of it being predated.
:25:13. > :25:18.Maybe the weasel heard the adults and that's thousand it clock it had
:25:18. > :25:22.They are wonderful little predators, but it is fantastic to see. Let's
:25:22. > :25:27.talk about a close cousin of the weasel, the pine marten, I went to
:25:27. > :25:30.Scotland to have a look in the last strong hold of the pine marten and
:25:31. > :25:36.here it was. You can see the similarity in body shape at least
:25:36. > :25:42.to the weasel. Of course a pine marten is bigger and it has a
:25:42. > :25:48.lovely bushy tail. What we want, we asked you if you could help us, try
:25:48. > :25:53.to find out whether pine martens, which are thought to be extinction
:25:53. > :25:59.are hanging on in the wild Welsh wood left-hand side. You came back
:25:59. > :26:05.to us, and we had plenty of sightings. People thought they knew
:26:05. > :26:10.where the pine martens were, one site was near here. So we set up
:26:10. > :26:16.remote cameras. They set it up, close to where the sighting was
:26:16. > :26:23.occurring, and with any look, we hope to bring you pictures. We
:26:23. > :26:33.pushed the boat out when it came to bait. They went to the sardine
:26:33. > :26:39.because the smell will go around a long distance. How do we know they
:26:39. > :26:45.like sardines. They're on ne Vlores, so they probably will like them.
:26:45. > :26:50.But, I know that mine pine marten is seen regularly there, and it was
:26:50. > :26:53.seen last Tuesday, the same night we were on air. So, we've a fairly
:26:53. > :27:00.good chance. A time for reflection, everyone is thinking of the Jubilee,
:27:00. > :27:08.so this is the last time to see the last 60 years of our Monarch, so
:27:08. > :27:18.let's look at the last 60 years of birds. To do that, I chose Roy
:27:18. > :27:19.
:27:19. > :27:24.I was a 13-year-old boy living in Hampshire the time of the
:27:24. > :27:28.coronation, and already, I was far more interested in what was going
:27:28. > :27:34.on outside, than staying in for the coronation.
:27:34. > :27:38.Being a country boy, I almost certainly a day off would have
:27:38. > :27:44.meant exploring, looking for wildlife in the local woods and
:27:44. > :27:48.marshes where I lived. What amazing changes have taken place in the
:27:48. > :27:56.countryside since then, and the wildlife that lives in the British
:27:56. > :27:59.Isles. In the late 50s, just a few years after the Queen's coronation,
:27:59. > :28:05.something happened here in the Scotland high left-hand side, that
:28:05. > :28:11.would go on to have a huge impact on my life, and also, change the
:28:11. > :28:18.way we viewed wildlife as a nation. A pair of ospreys, reared three
:28:18. > :28:24.young, the foreruner of an amazing recovery. I came here in 1960 to
:28:24. > :28:29.work for the RSPB osprey project. I oven came here to look be for
:28:29. > :28:37.fishing osprey. What I remember most is this tremendous interest
:28:37. > :28:44.and excitement about this one very special pair of nesting birds. By
:28:44. > :28:50.the early 60s, the ospreys have become the first ever eco-
:28:50. > :28:54.attraction and people flocked to come and see them. Until that time,
:28:54. > :29:00.rare birds nests were kept very secret. But here, the public was
:29:00. > :29:06.encourageed to come and view these beautiful birds, from an
:29:06. > :29:12.observation height. Nowadays, that is common place. And it is not just
:29:12. > :29:16.how we're experienced wildlife that's changed over the last few
:29:16. > :29:22.deck decades. Natural habitats have been transformed by increasing you
:29:22. > :29:26.are been sedation and the way we use our land. Even places as fair
:29:26. > :29:33.isle in the shet left-hand side haven't been immune to these
:29:33. > :29:39.changes. I lived here in the observatory in the 60s for seven
:29:39. > :29:43.years and then the casts were family run unit, having hey and
:29:43. > :29:49.cattle and fields echoed to the Corncrakes and in the Autumn when
:29:49. > :29:54.they cut their corn and stacked it in stoops, they were buzzing with
:29:54. > :29:59.twiet and rock doves. Then European subsidies encourageed farmers to
:29:59. > :30:04.replace the traditional crops with sheep. That was true throughout
:30:04. > :30:10.Britain with the intensification of agriculture in the 1970s, and
:30:10. > :30:18.suddenly the way we use the land changed. It had dramatic effects.
:30:18. > :30:25.Lap wings down 80% since the 1960s. Corn bunting down by 87%. Grey
:30:25. > :30:30.partridge, down 91%. But not all our wildlife is decline, stock dove
:30:30. > :30:36.and wood pigeon populations have shot up as the adaptable birds have
:30:36. > :30:42.learnt to live alongside humans. Then there are other species that
:30:42. > :30:47.have had a helping hand from us. In 1968 four young sea eagles were
:30:47. > :30:53.brought from Norway to fair isle. This is the exact place where I
:30:53. > :30:57.built a big cage to rear and release them. Unfortunately, the
:30:57. > :31:04.project wasn't successful. Four was too few and the island was too
:31:04. > :31:11.small but the techniques were used on the island of 157 rum were
:31:11. > :31:19.between 1975 and-85 they brought 90 young eagles and that reestablished
:31:19. > :31:23.the bird in Scotland. What about the ospreys? Back when I first got
:31:23. > :31:30.involved in the osprey project I could never have imagineed how
:31:30. > :31:35.successful it would be. From that first pair back in the 1950s, there
:31:35. > :31:40.are now at least 270 nesting pairs of ospreys in the country. After
:31:40. > :31:48.more than a hundred years of persecution and other problems like
:31:48. > :31:53.the pesticides in the 1950s and 1906s, our raptures have bounced
:31:53. > :32:03.back. It is a example that we can work with the rare birds and we
:32:03. > :32:08.
:32:08. > :32:16.also have them living side by side Absolutely fabulous. When I was a
:32:16. > :32:20.kid, a bit younger than Roy, there was raptures on the brink, but
:32:20. > :32:23.since then some have been enjoying their golden years in terms of
:32:23. > :32:30.reproduction. Greatly increasing numbers and now they're back,
:32:30. > :32:34.ospreys being a case in part. Let's go live to our ospreys. She's
:32:34. > :32:40.brooding two youngsters, if you were watching last week, we had two
:32:40. > :32:45.eggs, all three hatched, sadly we lost one of the youngsters. Let see
:32:45. > :32:51.what has been doing on over the course of the weekend. Here is a
:32:51. > :32:57.shot showing the geography of the nest. This is a male bird bringing
:32:57. > :33:01.in fish, this was earlier than last weekend. He is provisioning the
:33:01. > :33:06.female while she is incubateing at this staipbl. Now of course it is
:33:06. > :33:11.about feeding the youngsters. They've been both been busy.
:33:11. > :33:14.Now a trout sup per for these two, the surviving birds. They're
:33:14. > :33:21.looking pretty good I have to say. Hopefully the increase in ospreys
:33:21. > :33:24.will continue. Who knows what the next 60 years will hold. Some
:33:24. > :33:29.things not doing so well. It is great to see those two doing so
:33:29. > :33:33.well. On Thursday, when we lost the third chick, one of the others
:33:33. > :33:40.wasn't looking too good. Now with the terrible weather we've had, it
:33:40. > :33:46.is looking strong. But they seem to be physically bigger and they're
:33:46. > :33:53.looking tough. Shall we look at the barn owls, live. Observation, what
:33:53. > :33:59.have they seen. All looking off to one side. They're absolutely lovely.
:33:59. > :34:07.This of course, is a very success story as well. Because barn owls,
:34:07. > :34:12.did have a very difficult time. 1932, we had 12,000 pairs, great
:34:12. > :34:17.fantastic, but by 1997 it had dropped to 4,000. Thanks to nest
:34:17. > :34:22.boxes and this idea of creating habitat for them, enlightened
:34:22. > :34:29.policy, we've got around, they think 6,000 pairs, maybe more. So
:34:29. > :34:34.we're doing well. And fascinatingly, over 75% of barn owls now, nest in
:34:34. > :34:38.man-made boxes as well. So it is well worth putting the boxes up.
:34:38. > :34:44.Cheap, easy to make, if you have a barn where there's not a plax, you
:34:44. > :34:50.can make a home for them. They're using them and it is working.
:34:50. > :34:55.a look at this, this is familiar to all parents, here we are, there's
:34:55. > :34:58.mum and the chick on the right hand side has got a mouse, isn't it, but
:34:58. > :35:07.it is ignoreing it, and mum is thinking, hang on, I brought that
:35:07. > :35:12.in for you, so she picks it up. She's going to take it away, you
:35:12. > :35:19.ungrateful children, she's gone, but not for long. Now she's tries a
:35:19. > :35:26.trick to many parents be look a lovely fresh mouse, not! It almost
:35:26. > :35:31.seems to work. We don't know whether that fooled the chick or
:35:31. > :35:40.not. In the sprouts in 1966 it got left in the corner, until they were
:35:40. > :35:47.found covered with dust two weeks later. Next time I bring in a
:35:47. > :35:51.lentil bacon, I will lie and say it's a shepherd's pie. Some animals
:35:51. > :35:57.live amongst us successfully. Things like seagulls and foxes and
:35:57. > :36:04.pigeons, but others need very specialist happen tats. And just
:36:04. > :36:14.this weekend, Michaela went with Lolo Williams, with Boreth Bog, to
:36:14. > :36:30.
:36:30. > :36:36.explore and find out what they This is Boreth bog, and it is a
:36:37. > :36:41.rare and special habitat. It is full of life, insects birds mammals,
:36:41. > :36:44.particularly plants, some of them you'll find nowhere else. You know
:36:44. > :36:51.this bog well? I've been coming here since I was five. You will
:36:51. > :36:57.tell me more about this plant. I find this fascinating. It is sun
:36:57. > :37:02.due and carnivorous plant? It has specialised leaves, and on the red
:37:02. > :37:07.stalks, you can see the due, and that's glue, and small insects get
:37:07. > :37:12.stuck, and it has specialised cells in the leaf that squirt out enzymes,
:37:12. > :37:20.that breaks down the insect, sucks out the nutrients and all you've
:37:20. > :37:25.left is a dry husk. What are we looking for? Mainly insects I
:37:25. > :37:30.guess? It has to be mainly insect. But here, there's a track, like a
:37:30. > :37:35.path going through there, the bogy bit and out, this will be otter.
:37:35. > :37:43.There's really good population of otters here, lovely animals. But
:37:43. > :37:51.that's a typical path. Unlikely to see those today. There we go.
:37:51. > :38:01.spotted. That is a blue damzel fly. That's a real bright colour.
:38:01. > :38:09.
:38:09. > :38:14.Some birds you have to stop and listen out for. But not that one.
:38:14. > :38:24.Skylark. Lovely bird. Very loud and noisy. And just sings and sings, as
:38:24. > :38:24.
:38:24. > :38:30.it goes. As a kid I remember it being common, farmland bird or an
:38:30. > :38:35.upland bird. This habitat is rich in grasses and different mosss
:38:35. > :38:41.isn't it? It is. A host of plants, all adapted so well to life on the
:38:41. > :38:47.wet, wet bog. Take this, lovely name, cotton grass, for obvious
:38:47. > :38:54.reasons. The white heads, seed heads Bobing in the wind. The mosss
:38:54. > :38:58.you see, if you take up a chunk, and if you squeeze that, see it
:38:58. > :39:04.retains so much water. That's the single most important component of
:39:04. > :39:09.the whole bog. This will die and forms peat. If we were to dig down
:39:09. > :39:15.here, the peat can be two metres deep. An interesting factor is in
:39:15. > :39:20.World War I, bandages were hard to come by. What they did, they
:39:20. > :39:30.wrapped them in this, so it was useful.
:39:30. > :39:35.
:39:35. > :39:42.This plant is bog myrhh till - myrtle. If you rub that, it keeps
:39:42. > :39:52.Midges away. I need plenty of that for the live shows then. We are
:39:52. > :39:54.
:39:54. > :40:04.playinged with Midges. - playinged plagueed with Midges. Every one of
:40:04. > :40:11.them is so special. It is a fantastic place. A walk in the bog
:40:11. > :40:18.with Lolo, what more could a girl ask for? You have to get down to
:40:18. > :40:21.see the wildlife. It is famous for having adders, did you see any, see
:40:21. > :40:26.skins? We didn't, but probably because it is not warm enough. And
:40:26. > :40:32.it is not warm enough to see the grass naicks on the cam we have
:40:32. > :40:36.here. This is a pile of old grass cutings. In there, we know we have
:40:36. > :40:43.lots of snakes. And earlier on today, we found a new way of
:40:43. > :40:48.looking at them in a totally different light. Here we go. May I
:40:48. > :40:53.have the camera. Last week, we were looking at the macro world, tiny
:40:53. > :40:58.things that live here. But now, we're going to try something
:40:58. > :41:04.different, this is infrared or thermal camera, which picks up heat
:41:04. > :41:10.differences and we've pointed it at this compost heap. There's a snake
:41:10. > :41:16.on top of the grass heap, that's a grass snake, very individual, has a
:41:16. > :41:24.funny mark on its mouth there. But then it is going in the grass heap.
:41:25. > :41:29.Here is Richard tailor Jones, this is fascinating the hotest bits is
:41:29. > :41:34.yellow, so this camera is looking inside, you can see the entrance
:41:34. > :41:40.holes looking like tubes, and here, is a grass snake. What's absolutely
:41:40. > :41:45.fascinating is instead of basking in the sun, they are using the heat
:41:45. > :41:51.that's generated by decomposition, inside the heap to warm their
:41:51. > :41:58.bodies up The blue bits are the cold bit and yellow are the hot
:41:58. > :42:02.bits. The red thing coming out like moving spaghetti is the grass snake.
:42:02. > :42:07.That's fascinating. Staying inside that heap to warm themselves up
:42:07. > :42:15.enough so that once they're hot enough they can hunt. On that
:42:15. > :42:19.camera, it looks like volcano with lava. I'm going to ask ask for a
:42:19. > :42:25.spade. I'm not, but you and Chris are, I will he tell you more about
:42:25. > :42:30.that in a second. Chris. If you were watching Thursday, we were
:42:30. > :42:36.pleased to laufpb our survey called the Big Garden Weigh In. What we
:42:36. > :42:44.wanted to know was the buy owe mass, living weight of grass in your
:42:44. > :42:51.garden. We wanted you to count the birds over the course of an hour.
:42:51. > :42:55.We are pleased to say, we have 1,677 replies, from our Hebrides
:42:55. > :43:00.and Channel Islands. As usual we're not happy. We want more. And you
:43:00. > :43:03.still have 2 hours to go. So please still have 2 hours to go. So please
:43:03. > :43:13.help us work this out. It is the measure of the productivity the
:43:13. > :43:16.health of our garden. Details on our website.
:43:16. > :43:22.Result will be published on Thursday. Initial results. What
:43:22. > :43:26.about the quiz? We showed you this image earlier and asked you to
:43:26. > :43:31.identify the three animals that were there, tangleed up in the
:43:31. > :43:36.iconic flag. We wanted to know, not only the species names but what
:43:36. > :43:43.linked them in a Jubilee theme. If you think you know the answer, go
:43:43. > :43:51.back to the website I've just given you. You will need this, Martin has
:43:51. > :43:58.his, because I'm going to get you to dig, the little patch here,
:43:58. > :44:04.which is 20X20 centimetres. But the reason I'm going to get you to do
:44:04. > :44:11.this is a challenge, I want to see how many worms you can find in that
:44:11. > :44:17.bit of vegtable patch. I'll tell you why, in a minute. Do you accept
:44:17. > :44:22.the challenge? I accept. I have to find more worms than Martin. So if
:44:22. > :44:27.you want to start drig, you have about four-and-a-half minutes. Now
:44:27. > :44:30.if you have kids you might know this song, nobody loves me,
:44:31. > :44:36.everybody hates me going down the garden to worms. Here is a woman
:44:36. > :44:43.that has such a passion for worms, that her love is completely
:44:43. > :44:51.infectious. Most of us wouldn't give earthworms a second glance.
:44:51. > :44:54.But not Emma sherlock, Earl worms are her passion. You see, Emma is
:44:54. > :44:59.curator of worms at the Natural History Museum in London. She's
:44:59. > :45:05.President of the earthworm society of Britain. As Emma is about to
:45:05. > :45:10.reveal, there's far more to the humble earthworm than first meelts
:45:10. > :45:16.the eye. Most people, think we've only one species of earthworm in
:45:16. > :45:21.the UK. But that's really not true. We actually have about 27 different
:45:21. > :45:24.species. We've got stumpy green ones and they're bright green,
:45:24. > :45:28.stripey ones, these ones when they stretch out you will see the
:45:28. > :45:35.stripes on them, we call them tiger worms because of the stripes. We
:45:35. > :45:40.have pink ones, and grey ones, ones with black heads, a keep red ones,
:45:40. > :45:45.some are really large, 20 centimetres in length, right down
:45:45. > :45:51.to a few centimetres so. Magsive diversity. Surprisingly, scientists
:45:51. > :45:56.know little about the distribution of the different earthworm species.
:45:56. > :46:00.Sam piling the worms in your garden can help fill in the gaps.
:46:00. > :46:05.better way to sample earthworms is to dig a hole in the ground. So I
:46:05. > :46:11.generally dig around a plot, pull out the square I've dug, and just
:46:11. > :46:16.go through it, and try and see how many earthworms are here n a plot
:46:17. > :46:23.this size, potentially it could be 50-100, maybe even if it was a rich
:46:23. > :46:31.patch up to 200 earthworms. So in an area the size of a fool field,
:46:31. > :46:36.you could get as many as two million earthworms. All gardeners
:46:36. > :46:41.know earthworms are good for the soil. But the reason that is, is
:46:41. > :46:46.because they are they're burrowing down in the soil, letting air in,
:46:46. > :46:51.carbon die on identify out. They're the repsych letters of the planet,
:46:51. > :46:59.breaking down the organic rubbish and releasing the knew treents to
:46:59. > :47:03.be used by the plants. Without earthworms life would dry up
:47:03. > :47:11.quickly. Earthworms aren't just good for the soil, they're juicey
:47:11. > :47:17.musclar bodies are perfect food for other wildlife. Birds just can't
:47:17. > :47:24.resist them. Badgers gorge on them. 60% of their diet is made up of
:47:25. > :47:32.worms. And mols, they can eat 50 grams of worms a day. It does seem
:47:32. > :47:39.they get picked on by other animals. One neat little trick I'm going to
:47:39. > :47:45.share with you, is to get the deep burrowing earthworms to the surface,
:47:45. > :47:49.without the heavy digging, and that's it this. This is mustard
:47:49. > :47:55.powder with water, around two tablespoons per litre-and-a-half
:47:55. > :48:03.bolt. And then pour it on the ground. What this technique does is
:48:03. > :48:08.it irritate the worms slightly, so they come up to the surface.
:48:08. > :48:14.Earthworms behaviour is fascinating, not least the way they reproduce.
:48:14. > :48:19.Earthworms are male and female parts, but they still sexually
:48:19. > :48:25.reproduce. So they find another earthworm, glue themselves together,
:48:25. > :48:30.pass each other's sperm, when they've broken off they both
:48:30. > :48:35.produce a cock coon, which sits in the soil, until conditions are
:48:35. > :48:39.right and then babies emerge. I love them because they're so
:48:39. > :48:45.amazing important for your soils. They're fascinating animals, and
:48:45. > :48:50.when you start to look at them, it is amazing the diversity the sizes
:48:50. > :48:56.colours, and different jobs they all do. And yet no-one's looking at
:48:56. > :49:06.them. They're work something hard under our feet. I hope you see them
:49:06. > :49:13.
:49:13. > :49:21.Well I have to say, I'm completely with Emma, I'm a fan, and I have a
:49:21. > :49:27.wormry where I make compost. He's not having a pee, but as I was
:49:27. > :49:34.saying, I have a wormry, I make compost, but the worms in the
:49:34. > :49:42.wormry don't do well when you put them he on the earth. I spend ages
:49:42. > :49:52.picking them out before putting them on the vegtables. Right, stop.
:49:52. > :49:53.
:49:53. > :50:03.Why are you digging, are you going to Australia? How many did you get?
:50:03. > :50:04.
:50:04. > :50:14.29, 30, 35, worms. One. Two worms actually. Here is a real worm.
:50:14. > :50:14.
:50:14. > :50:23.got one! That's a worm too. That's pathetic. Did you seriously
:50:23. > :50:27.get them. Here is another one. many? 14 and I've got a mill peed.
:50:27. > :50:32.You know he will be tkpwruchy for the rest of the show. It is a good
:50:32. > :50:39.job we're near the end, because he get competitive. You did your best
:50:39. > :50:48.and that's all that matters. Shall we explain, it is not just for fun,
:50:48. > :50:52.is one coming up. I have a Midge in my contact lens now. I found one.
:50:52. > :50:58.Two that's great. There is a proint to all this,
:50:58. > :51:03.because this is not just fun, it is open air lab surveys, and they're
:51:03. > :51:08.trying to find out, they want your help to find out the distribution
:51:08. > :51:14.of the 26 or 27 species of worm in the UK. If you want to join in, it
:51:14. > :51:23.is great fun, they give you a key to all the different worm species,
:51:23. > :51:27.all the details how you can get the packs, and they're great. It is a
:51:27. > :51:32.fantastic thing to do with kids. Because kids love to get their
:51:32. > :51:36.hands in the soil and pick the worms. One lucky child might find
:51:36. > :51:40.the golden worm. If you find the golden worm, children, you get to
:51:40. > :51:45.go to the big worm place under the ground and hang out with worms for
:51:45. > :51:49.a couple of weeks. For the rest of your life you can wriggling. He's
:51:49. > :51:55.made that up. It is not just the worms but the soil. Soil is
:51:55. > :52:02.important and that's what the survey is about too. While you two
:52:02. > :52:12.wash your hands, let's take a look at some of the photographs you sent
:52:12. > :52:12.
:52:12. > :53:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 55 seconds
:53:07. > :53:11.Fabulous pictures frbgs thanks very much, keeping sending them in. We
:53:11. > :53:15.showed you photographs of cryptic quiz and we asked you to tell us
:53:15. > :53:22.the species of the three animals we were showing you and tell us what
:53:22. > :53:26.connection they had to the Jubilee. We had wrong suggestions, one was a
:53:26. > :53:33.whitethroated, dragonfly. Lots thought it was a golden eagle.
:53:33. > :53:42.Let's take a look at the photograph. And I can tell you, that it was a
:53:42. > :53:49.red start. It was a white-tailed sea eagle. And a common blue damzel
:53:49. > :53:58.fly. What did they have to do with the Jubilee? Red white and blue.
:53:58. > :54:04.was indeed. Well done to people who got it right. Lots of you got it
:54:04. > :54:10.right so well done. Do you have an occasional dream where you meet a
:54:10. > :54:14.superbird. A bird like that red start? Well, stay tuneed because
:54:15. > :54:20.now, in glorious technicolour and full HD, we're bringing you had,
:54:20. > :54:27.the red start, a bird, not the female, which is dull, but, a male
:54:27. > :54:31.red start, which is a bird amongst birds, look at that splendid animal.
:54:31. > :54:36.What an absolutely extraordinary thing it is. Well, fortunately, the
:54:36. > :54:41.strong hold of this species, is now in these western oak woods and
:54:41. > :54:46.there are plenty of them here. This is where our nest is. It is down in
:54:46. > :54:52.the woods there. Quite close to the edge of the woods, they lock the
:54:52. > :54:57.Oakwood, the natural holes and foraging for caterpillars,
:54:57. > :55:04.butterflies and spiders too. Let go live inside the nest. Take a look
:55:04. > :55:10.at this, because, all the young dueds are in there. Seven of them.
:55:10. > :55:14.Absolutely fantastic little birds, beautiful. Till young. I reckon
:55:14. > :55:20.they're ten days old, they'll fledge another couple of days.
:55:20. > :55:25.They've still got the rudements of gape flanges on their mouth, but we
:55:25. > :55:29.reckon we might see them going on Thursday. Then they'll going to
:55:29. > :55:34.Africa. At the end of August, beginning of September, the parents
:55:34. > :55:38.and they move to the south coast, hop across and down through Spain,
:55:38. > :55:44.and France and into Spain and across to North Africa. Some going
:55:44. > :55:50.down the coast and south of the Sahara. Unlike many of the others,
:55:50. > :55:58.which are declineing rapidly, 2% of redstarts and they're calling their
:55:58. > :56:04.own at 100,000 pairs. You're a fan? A male red start. A question, we
:56:04. > :56:09.have got a question, here and animosity, on Twitter says what
:56:09. > :56:16.happens to the chicks that die in the nest, does the parent remove
:56:16. > :56:20.them, is there danger to the rest from puet refaction. It would be if
:56:20. > :56:25.the others would stay in the nest for a long time. But those birds
:56:25. > :56:30.were on the brink of fledging and too big for the adults to get out.
:56:30. > :56:35.But what we noticed over the weekend was there, in your ospreys
:56:35. > :56:40.nest. We lost one of the three chicks last week. But what we saw
:56:40. > :56:44.this weekend is the adult bird, picking up the chick and taking it
:56:44. > :56:51.away. This makes sense, although it is small, the other two chicks will
:56:51. > :56:56.stay for weeks, and what they do not want to be doing is sitting on
:56:56. > :57:00.a decomposing mate. Bluetits, we lost six of them. But they'll stay
:57:00. > :57:06.there, because it is hard to get them out, even though the our
:57:06. > :57:10.foremight not fledge for a few days. At this stage they would leave them.
:57:10. > :57:14.Normally they get trodden down into the bolt of the nest and
:57:14. > :57:18.occasionally, if they're small enough, it is early during the
:57:19. > :57:24.fledging process, the adults will chuck them outside. So it various,
:57:24. > :57:30.but the longer they're in the nest the more sense it is to remove them.
:57:30. > :57:40.Let's take a look at our bats. Look at them. They're huddleed up, how
:57:40. > :57:45.many, 13. That's unusual because they cluster but don't huddle.
:57:45. > :57:51.one, they seem to spend a lot of time preening, looking after their
:57:51. > :57:57.wings. They're up and down every square centimetre to make sure they
:57:57. > :58:03.can fly tonight. My dream is that we might see them giving birth live.
:58:03. > :58:08.Imagine that? What a tease you are. Risky dream. Well, tomorrow, we're
:58:08. > :58:13.going to follow our peregrines, again, we're going to have a look
:58:13. > :58:19.at them. They got caught out by pouring rain. How will they do.
:58:19. > :58:22.have an old friend looking at his favourite birds. You can carry on
:58:22. > :58:28.watching us on the website not on the red button because that's the