:00:13. > :00:16.Hello. Welcome to Springwatch. Coming to you from the Ynis Hir
:00:16. > :00:22.Reserve, here in Wales. I can promise you, we have a show tonight
:00:22. > :00:27.that is packed with action. There's been a dramatic turn of events down
:00:27. > :00:33.on the river. We're going to go live to our
:00:33. > :00:39.curious peregrine falcon family in Bath. Not only that, we'll devil
:00:39. > :00:43.into the mysterious world of the rabbit. Our small mammals have
:00:43. > :00:53.berserk, to find out why, and so much more, we've entered the launch
:00:53. > :01:11.
:01:11. > :01:15.code, we pressed the big red button Hello and welcome to tonight's
:01:15. > :01:22.Springwatch. And I know that it is a grey, cloudy night but I'm please
:01:22. > :01:26.today say it stopped raining, because it's drizzly all day, so
:01:26. > :01:32.fingers crossed it will stay dry. It's a busy programme. We have lots
:01:32. > :01:37.of things to catch up on, so let's start with your bluetit vx the
:01:37. > :01:41.remaining chicks fledged. They were a family starteded off with ten
:01:41. > :01:45.chicks, they were doing well, adult comeing in regularly to feed. Then
:01:45. > :01:49.they went down to four chicks, six died when we had the terrible
:01:49. > :01:53.weather and we think we lost one of the adult. The remaining adult did
:01:54. > :02:00.well, with the four chicks, yesterday, one of them fledged.
:02:00. > :02:02.What happened to the other three? Well, this happened, at 6am this
:02:02. > :02:07.Well, this happened, at 6am this morning. First chick pokesity head
:02:07. > :02:12.out. Thinking about going. Off it goes. Are the others going to
:02:12. > :02:20.follow? I think they might. The second one comes out, and thinks
:02:20. > :02:25."I'll fancy that, I'll give it a go". Second one, third one hops up,
:02:25. > :02:30.peek out and I think I might join them as well. So the four remaining
:02:30. > :02:36.chicks have fledged. Where do they go? One of them decides to hand on
:02:36. > :02:40.a nearby tree, having a look around. Chris, will they stay together, the
:02:40. > :02:44.bluetit chicks or spread out? Unlike the nuthatchs that will
:02:44. > :02:49.spread out, they'll stay closely together. Probably in the same tree
:02:49. > :02:53.or collection of trees, to make it easy for the adult to feed them.
:02:53. > :02:56.They'll do that for the next couple of weeks. They won't not get on
:02:56. > :03:01.with another brood. They're difficult to find, when they're out
:03:01. > :03:07.in the trees there. Not to difficult as these though. Take a
:03:07. > :03:12.look at this, our cameraman, spotted this, here is a collection
:03:12. > :03:18.of young treecreepers, they're brilliantly cam flainched in that
:03:18. > :03:23.lichen. They become obvious when the adult comes in with food. When
:03:23. > :03:29.they have the heads tucked down, you can't see the beaks, and only
:03:29. > :03:34.when the adult comes in, do they make themselves apparent. We rang
:03:34. > :03:39.all our friends at the British trust ornithology, we know they had
:03:39. > :03:45.treecreepers in the wintertime, but no account of youngsters doing this,
:03:45. > :03:51.as far as we think. Maybe you think differently, if you do, let us know.
:03:51. > :03:57.It is cold, maybe they're huddling up for warmth, which maybe we
:03:57. > :04:03.should do. It could be the camouflage was so profound, they
:04:03. > :04:08.were hiding from predators. You'd never see them, I like treecreepers,
:04:09. > :04:14.because they go to the bottom of the trees and wind them up. The
:04:15. > :04:20.nuthatch goes down. It does go up and down. Treecreepers go up, they
:04:20. > :04:25.don't eat cheese though. Let us go to the latest nest, the goldcrest
:04:25. > :04:30.nest. Let's go live to the nest, which is blown around quite a lot.
:04:30. > :04:34.They feel sea sick in there. I can't see, yes there is a parent
:04:34. > :04:38.sitting there brooding. We want to try and find out what is going on
:04:38. > :04:44.inside the nest. Let's remind ourselves about the goldcrest nest.
:04:44. > :04:48.Have a look, what a gorgeous little bird it is. Britain's smallest bird,
:04:48. > :04:54.beautifully coloured. Here is the nest, we knew they had nine eggs,
:04:54. > :04:59.but how many have hatched out? How many chicks are there there? Here
:04:59. > :05:06.is the parent trying to get an early meal in. We still haven't
:05:06. > :05:10.been able to find out how many chicks, there are. She seems
:05:10. > :05:18.confused, she hasn't got any food in. In fact, that's not good, now
:05:18. > :05:24.she's eating it. Is that a worry? Maybe she's a little bit, quite a
:05:24. > :05:29.new mother, and she's just trying to get the hang of it. Maybe the
:05:29. > :05:34.chicks are just full up. Maybe it is they've had their fill, and they
:05:34. > :05:43.just didn't want any more? That's a good point, because if they were
:05:43. > :05:48.hungry, we would see the beaks. Chris being optimistic, that's a
:05:48. > :05:53.first. Let's go live to the barn owls. That's a remarkable change
:05:53. > :06:00.there, those wing feathers seem to have become more obvious. Let's go
:06:00. > :06:06.and see what's going on inside the nest, particularly with the big
:06:06. > :06:11.fella there, there he is. Look at the fluffy legs. They're great.
:06:11. > :06:17.has Jodhpurs on, there he goes, hoping about, he's starting to
:06:17. > :06:23.think about flying, not elegant. But hoping about, and his friends
:06:23. > :06:27.think, yes, I'll have a go at that too. With a bit of luck, they're
:06:27. > :06:32.progressing, and it is chocing how quickly they develop. With a little
:06:32. > :06:36.bit of luck, we may see the oldest one fly before the end of
:06:36. > :06:42.Springwatch. It is like a toddler trying to walk. Well from one top
:06:42. > :06:46.bird and favourite for many, to another, peregrine falcons, we've
:06:46. > :06:50.been following a family in Bath, which enjoy the high life.
:06:50. > :06:56.Yesterday we saw the two chicks, successfully reared by three adult
:06:56. > :07:01.which was surprising. Well, today, Lolo Williams is live with us in
:07:01. > :07:05.Bath and he's there to give us an update. Welcome to the heart of the
:07:05. > :07:09.beautiful city of Bath where it is raining hard all afternoon, but now
:07:09. > :07:14.the rain has gone and the sun is trying to come out. Over the water,
:07:14. > :07:23.that is St John's church, home to our family of peregrine falcons.
:07:23. > :07:27.For those who are my age, it is remarkable that peregrine was put
:07:27. > :07:32.in the remote rugged parts of the UK is now nesting in our towns and
:07:32. > :07:40.cities. If we go live, we have a bird up there now. It is the young
:07:40. > :07:47.male. Just up there, perched, this is the bow GATTy fastest bird in
:07:47. > :07:52.the world. Here he is looking down at his world. Fantastic birds. This
:07:53. > :07:58.maybe recap and remind you of the main characters involved in this
:07:58. > :08:02.tale. We'll start with the adult female this. Is her, earlier on in
:08:02. > :08:08.the spring. Her back is grey/ brownish, she's a big, powerful
:08:09. > :08:13.bird. This female is experienced, because she first nested in 2006,
:08:14. > :08:18.so she's in her prime now. This is the male. He's smaller. He is about
:08:18. > :08:24.two-thirds the size of the female. A grey back, and white breast there.
:08:24. > :08:28.Of course, the odd character here, is the one on the right there. This
:08:28. > :08:32.is the young male the juvenile male, the chick from last year, who has
:08:32. > :08:38.been doing his best to help out. Helping out to incubate the eggs,
:08:38. > :08:42.not doing particularly well, and helping out to bring in food to the
:08:43. > :08:47.family. Now, all three of these birds have doing their very best to
:08:47. > :08:54.make sure that the young fledge successfully from that nest. That's
:08:54. > :09:02.why we're here. Let's talk dates on this very date, 12 months ago,
:09:02. > :09:09.three chicks fledged from that nest. This year May 2nd, first egg
:09:09. > :09:13.hatched. So they could go around 40 days, we will be keeping an eye on
:09:13. > :09:21.them for you. Let's pick up where we left off last night. And give
:09:21. > :09:31.you an insight into why we know so much about this wonderful peregrine
:09:31. > :09:31.
:09:31. > :09:37.At 20 days old the peregrine chicks are turning into gawky adolescents.
:09:37. > :09:41.They're ready for the rite-of- passage undertaken by modern
:09:41. > :09:46.peregrines. Ed is one of the few licensed
:09:46. > :09:50.peregrine ringers in the south-west. It is only possible to work out the
:09:50. > :09:57.remarkable stories of individual birds if it is certain exactly who
:09:57. > :10:02.they are. And leg rings are a which way of telling them apart. It is
:10:02. > :10:07.through Ed's work we know this is last year's chick, now helping to
:10:07. > :10:16.feed this year's brood. A behaviour never filmed before.
:10:16. > :10:20.And now, it's time to put rings on the next generation. The Bath
:10:20. > :10:28.peregrines chosen site makes them an eminent part of the local
:10:28. > :10:38.community. Ed knows from our camera the chicks have fed this morning,
:10:38. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:45.and are now robust enough to be handled. The adult birds watch on
:10:45. > :10:54.as the chicks are taken from the nest. Ed's aim is to ring and
:10:55. > :10:58.return them within 20 minutes so their parents will hardly miss them.
:10:58. > :11:03.After weeks of distant observation, it is an opportunitytor
:11:03. > :11:12.congregation to take a closer look at their closest neighbours.
:11:12. > :11:17.Nice and healthy looking. So, pop the ring on the right leg. First he
:11:17. > :11:25.clips on the metal ring of British trust of ornithology. Then a
:11:25. > :11:29.coloured ring with a code that can be read from a distance. Ed has now
:11:29. > :11:34.ringed over 60 peregrine chickness the south-west in the last five
:11:34. > :11:39.years. It is the only time in their lives these birds will be handled.
:11:39. > :11:46.Such a unique chance to record their weight.
:11:47. > :11:56.They're put back in the bags and Edicly returns them to the nest.
:11:57. > :12:01.
:12:02. > :12:11.The parents closely monitor the Within minutes their mother is back
:12:11. > :12:15.to check them over. After an hour or so, she brings them a pigeon,
:12:15. > :12:25.they seem fully recovered from their morning, and now researchers
:12:25. > :12:33.
:12:33. > :12:37.like Ed can track them throughout Ringing is such a fantastic tool,
:12:37. > :12:41.we learn so much from it. We know the juvenile male is last year's
:12:41. > :12:48.chick because of the ring. And we have another revelation, and Chris
:12:48. > :12:53.you're going to like this, we know the adult male here, is coupleed
:12:53. > :13:00.with his own mother. The adult female is his mother, that
:13:00. > :13:06.revelation, I hand you back over to Wales. It is a revelation. Well I'm
:13:06. > :13:12.confused by that. So, is he saying that the adult pair, a are mother
:13:12. > :13:18.and son and they've had not just the juvenile chick but the other
:13:18. > :13:24.chicks as well. It is time to rub the old latch. Let me show you this
:13:24. > :13:29.here. Here is a family tree of the peregrines. The female's paired
:13:29. > :13:34.with the male and given birth to a young male. Shortly there, the
:13:34. > :13:37.other male disappeared. She then has been mating with her son and
:13:37. > :13:43.last year she produced the male which is helping with the nest. She
:13:43. > :13:48.is mateing with this, means they share 50% of their genetic teal.
:13:48. > :13:54.But now she's mated with him again, and produced these two chicks, this
:13:54. > :13:57.in turn means the young helper there, is sharing 75% of his DNA,
:13:58. > :14:02.his genes the most important thing of all with the other two chicks.
:14:02. > :14:08.And that's why, that's why, he's staying there to help them out.
:14:08. > :14:12.Because if he went off on his own and found a female and mateed, the
:14:12. > :14:17.offspring would be carrying 50% of his genes. So it is unbelieveable.
:14:17. > :14:23.But, genetically at least, it makes sense for him, to invest his energy
:14:23. > :14:29.in looking after these birds because they've 25% more of his own
:14:29. > :14:39.get netcal material. Is that usual? It's seen a couple of times before.
:14:39. > :14:43.But as Lolo said, unless they're ringed and you can check the DDNA
:14:43. > :14:49.this is a problem. Will it cause problems with inbreeding? That's
:14:49. > :14:52.the down side. Of course there's a likelihood of some sort of
:14:52. > :14:56.unpleasant characteristics in the young. It is seen, the kite
:14:56. > :15:01.population, when it becomes inbred their productivity was going
:15:01. > :15:08.through the floor. Hardly at all. But it also throws up genes which
:15:08. > :15:12.are useful. In human terms the Darwin and Wedgwood family, both
:15:12. > :15:19.came through families which were closely intwineed, cousin to cousin
:15:19. > :15:29.marriages, and yet he was a genius. Down side was he became ill in life.
:15:29. > :15:33.Peregrines may be a faist. But my faist, this series is our common
:15:33. > :15:37.sandpaper, because they are he a on the edge. Let's have a look at our
:15:37. > :15:41.sandpiper live, sitting on the nest, comfortable there. One of the
:15:41. > :15:45.things we've been concerned about, first, it is difficult to tell the
:15:45. > :15:49.difference between the male and female. But, we've never seen two
:15:49. > :15:55.birds, and there should be two birds, tending to the nest. The
:15:55. > :16:02.good news is, take a look at what our nesters saw, there's one bird
:16:02. > :16:08.and a second one, comes in. They hear something, one runs and the
:16:08. > :16:12.second one Bobs around, hears the train, and what would they do, run
:16:12. > :16:18.towards the rain. It's always a little bit of a worry, isn't it.
:16:18. > :16:23.You see the train, you see them take off. If they take off, that
:16:23. > :16:29.could be a problem, but up until now, they're veering out of its way.
:16:29. > :16:35.This is something the nestwatchers saw, look, there's a little bank
:16:35. > :16:38.vole looking around the nest, looking at the eggs, unhatched,
:16:38. > :16:42.we're not sure when they'll hatch, hopefully before the end of the
:16:42. > :16:49.series, and then we move over, and there's our vole eating something,
:16:49. > :16:54.not the eggs, because the eggs will be a bit big for the bank vole, and
:16:54. > :16:59.then you can hear the train comes, and the sandpiper is on the nest,
:16:59. > :17:03.and this time the vole is running away and runs off in a different
:17:03. > :17:10.direction to the train. Fingers crossed for the sandpipers. Whilst
:17:10. > :17:15.we're on voles, let's take a look at our mammal stump, this is a
:17:15. > :17:19.hollow tree we put come ras into. We're using infrared to look at the
:17:19. > :17:22.small Mam mass in there, because we've been feeding them. Initially
:17:22. > :17:27.we gave them bird food, and yesterday we gave them fruit. I
:17:27. > :17:35.have to say, they greatly enjoyed it. They've been fighting a little
:17:35. > :17:40.bit, and when the fruit came in, it became a fracas, and how, the
:17:40. > :17:45.fighting now has moved beyond mere boxing. They get up, and it's
:17:45. > :17:50.turned into cunning few, kicks going in as well. I recognise some
:17:50. > :17:55.of these moves. And, they really are, it is fascinating, when we put
:17:55. > :17:59.the fruit in, it seemed to really kick off in there. It was something
:17:59. > :18:05.about the fruit that was, there's a beetle coming in, to referee, some
:18:06. > :18:15.of the scraps, and look at that. Let's have a look, it is like the
:18:16. > :18:16.
:18:16. > :18:21.Matrix this, they're leaping around. Here they go, wow! It is fight club.
:18:21. > :18:26.There is no mammal stump. What's fascinating is what we think the
:18:26. > :18:31.fruit provides them with a sugar hit, which it wouldn't get, and
:18:31. > :18:38.that's what they need, it's a hit of energy. No breeze, nothing out
:18:38. > :18:44.here naturally so they're wild for it. Let's go live into the mammal
:18:44. > :18:49.stump. Look what we've got, two voles. I hope it doesn't kick off
:18:49. > :18:54.again. We've changed the diet, we have a meaty diet, because we want
:18:54. > :19:01.to see, domestic science this, whether they prefer a meaty diet or
:19:01. > :19:10.fruit. So far they like the fruit. Voles like this, will go for a few
:19:10. > :19:18.insects if they happen across them. The wood mice, they eat more invert
:19:18. > :19:23.berates. But it is a basic experiment. What have you got in
:19:23. > :19:27.there, chocolate? We keep talking about the mice, and the voles, and
:19:27. > :19:31.these are field mice and bank voles, but how do you tell the difference
:19:31. > :19:39.between the two? Here is our guide. The first thing you want to look at
:19:39. > :19:44.are the eyes. Look at the wood mouse, large eyes, the vole, much
:19:44. > :19:54.smaller eyes. Now the tail is long with the wood mouse, the vole is
:19:54. > :19:56.
:19:56. > :20:02.short and stupy. Vole much smaller, the mouse nose is pointed and the
:20:02. > :20:08.vole is blunt and short. Pocket guide to wood mouse and bank vole.
:20:08. > :20:13.I prefer a vole myself. You've got treecreepers and vole, I'm getting
:20:13. > :20:19.a measure of what you're into. Credit where credit is due, we
:20:19. > :20:29.don't all have the ideas on Springwatch and mammal stump is one
:20:29. > :20:30.
:20:30. > :20:37.we Nicked from Kate ma - McRae, she thought putting her garden into her
:20:37. > :20:43.own Springwatch. This is what they came up with. Kate's garden is a
:20:43. > :20:49.nature reserve in miniature, a rig of 20 cameras record the every day
:20:50. > :20:57.life of visitors. It is a quite a set up. My first camera kit was
:20:57. > :21:01.bought for me for my 40th birthday present. When I watched Springwatch,
:21:01. > :21:09.I thought maybe I could try a camera on a bird feeder, and
:21:09. > :21:13.different nest boxes. So it all escalated quickly from there.
:21:13. > :21:20.cameras revealed animals that Kate never knew was there. When I first
:21:20. > :21:25.saw the hedgehogs, I was so excite about that. I lived nine, ten years
:21:25. > :21:28.before I had seen hedgehogs, and most I've seen is through my
:21:28. > :21:34.infrared cameras. This is most certainly turned into an obsession.
:21:34. > :21:38.At this time of the year, I can't drag myself away. Birds we're
:21:38. > :21:45.familiar with with, like the bluetits and grey tits, but seeing
:21:45. > :21:52.them build a nest inside a nest box and raise their family and trials
:21:52. > :21:56.and tribulations linked into that, I'm aDick theed to it. The more I
:21:56. > :22:00.do it, the more questions. The bluetit building a nest, she starts
:22:00. > :22:05.with the moss and they're bringing in moss, and something triggers
:22:05. > :22:10.them to think I've enough of that, I will collect soft materials, and
:22:10. > :22:13.I think what is that is causing that? Watching the black bird, the
:22:13. > :22:18.female builds the nest and male comes and watches every now and
:22:18. > :22:23.then, but as soon as she sits on that, he brings her food. So he's
:22:23. > :22:28.watching and waiting for the trigger that change changes his
:22:28. > :22:34.behaviour. The more you watch the more you discover about those
:22:34. > :22:39.creatures. She has a few more tricks up her sleeve to entice the
:22:39. > :22:45.birds in her barreden. I'm well known for my obsession with bird
:22:45. > :22:49.feed as I have all sorts. Not only do I serve different kinds of foods
:22:49. > :22:56.but dispense them in different ways. One of the feeders that's
:22:56. > :23:00.successful in the garden is made out of three tiny tea strainers, I
:23:00. > :23:07.bought three, screwed them on a log and mounted a camera behind them
:23:07. > :23:12.and I pack those with fat and various different foods and they're
:23:12. > :23:18.the right size for birds to land. Another project is taking a whisk
:23:18. > :23:24.and then pack it with a range of nesting materials, moss, fur, hay
:23:24. > :23:31.and straw, and I hang them up in various places and the bird takes
:23:31. > :23:36.those to build their nests. inventions aren't only used for
:23:36. > :23:42.birds. She's discovered a way of looking at mammals. I knew there
:23:42. > :23:48.was mice, you can hear them. I built clay cabin, which is a hollow
:23:48. > :23:54.that mimics a buttero, I get three species meeting in there, the bank
:23:54. > :23:58.vols, wood mouse and shrews, and oven, all three will be trying to
:23:58. > :24:03.feed at the same time, I imagine happens in the wild all the time,
:24:03. > :24:08.when they're foraging in hedge rows, but we would never see that.
:24:08. > :24:14.Cameras record mammal behaviour that's difficult to see. Footage so
:24:14. > :24:21.special the research scientists are now interested in it. In total, 15
:24:21. > :24:27.different Mam mass have been recorded here and 47 species of
:24:27. > :24:32.birds, not bad for a back garden. enjoy watching all of the wildlife
:24:32. > :24:40.in my garden. I get the same pleasure from seeing blue and grey
:24:40. > :24:46.tits on my feeders than I do the more unusual. But my Finch pair
:24:46. > :24:50.give me a lot of pleasure and long tail tits. Every day I learn
:24:50. > :24:56.something knew about the animals, plants, insects that are right here
:24:56. > :25:06.in my own back garden. It is completely taken over my life, but
:25:06. > :25:12.And next year's Springwatch will be coming to you live from Kate's
:25:12. > :25:18.garden. It is not a bad idea. Did you see, she's got three mammals, a
:25:18. > :25:23.shrew, mouse and vole, and we've only ever got two. What I love is
:25:23. > :25:31.Springwatch, certainly inspired Kate, then she inspired us by put
:25:31. > :25:37.the mammal touch up. I love the bird feeders, so we decided to make
:25:37. > :25:43.our own today. We haven't seen birds on it yet, but that's because
:25:43. > :25:48.it takes a little while for birds to get used to something knew,
:25:49. > :25:53.hopefully by tomorrow. We should put the whisk up for the birds
:25:54. > :26:00.nests, that would look cool. Rebel, I don't want to be a rebel, I don't
:26:00. > :26:06.want Kate advising me when it comes to garden onmentation, I don't
:26:06. > :26:11.fancy that. Come on, it inspired me how Kate was feeding the birds but
:26:11. > :26:16.providing the crucial nesting material. But you have kindly sent
:26:16. > :26:22.us photographs of birds using unusual nesting materials. Have a
:26:22. > :26:25.look at that, Abb are pulling fur out of the back of a horse, I hope
:26:25. > :26:32.it doesn't hurt and they're dragging that to make their mests.
:26:32. > :26:36.Have a look at this one, bluetit, tennis balls, turn out to be
:26:36. > :26:41.popular items. They rip the yellow off and stick it in their nest.
:26:41. > :26:45.Itch the fabric is amazing, and making the nest, take a look at
:26:45. > :26:52.making the nest, take a look at this. These are old nests. We found
:26:52. > :27:00.around the reserve. This bird has been raiding the moss garden and
:27:00. > :27:08.made this fabulous mud flap inside, that's a song thrush. This one made
:27:08. > :27:12.out of fine twigs and grass, that's black cap or garden warbler, hardly
:27:12. > :27:17.any lining in there, quite how it manage today fashion that, I don't
:27:17. > :27:25.know. Lastly the wren here, this one's a domeed nest and completely
:27:25. > :27:33.covered in barracken, like a camouflage. Let us go around some
:27:33. > :27:40.of the nests here and see how birds created them. Here is a pie catch
:27:40. > :27:45.Cher, here is a treecreeper, they don't make one, they'll use a
:27:46. > :27:54.convenient crack. The wood pecker will whack holes in the tree, we
:27:54. > :28:01.saw that nest earlier. A meadow pippet at ground level it will make
:28:01. > :28:08.the nest. The wren, much more come employee kaited structure tur, the
:28:08. > :28:14.male will entice the female there. The crow, not a great nest, just a
:28:14. > :28:18.few sticks, a little bit of softier lining, but it is up a tree. One of
:28:18. > :28:24.the key features is security. It was a nest we were looking at
:28:24. > :28:30.yesterday, where security is taken to an extreme. They make a tunnel
:28:30. > :28:35.over the water. I'm talking about kingfishers, these were on our
:28:35. > :28:40.river, close to our studio. When we left them yesterday, they were
:28:40. > :28:45.going in and out there showing us, they had chickness their nest,
:28:45. > :28:51.because they were bathing. wasn't actually the safe haven the
:28:51. > :28:57.two adults were hoping for. Yesterday we had a dramatic turn of
:28:57. > :28:59.events. One of our cameramen noticed this on the river. He
:28:59. > :29:06.noticed this on the river. He noticed that Something was swimming
:29:06. > :29:09.towards the nest. Was continue ater, it was a mink. It was, once a mink
:29:09. > :29:15.finds something, it doesn't forget about it, because the mink almost
:29:15. > :29:18.immediately came back to the nest. Look at this. It approaches it
:29:19. > :29:25.across the river, I think it heard the youngsters, because they're
:29:25. > :29:31.large. When it climbs up, when it does with remarkable agility. One
:29:31. > :29:36.of the eggs fell out, that must have been an unhatched egg in the
:29:36. > :29:44.nest. In the mink goes, into the burrow, and almost immediately, it
:29:44. > :29:49.is backing out and in its mouth, it has one of the young kingfishers.
:29:49. > :29:53.The adults are tenacious, they're dive bombing the mink. But, within
:29:53. > :29:58.a matter of seconds, it is coming back, look at that, in again the
:29:58. > :30:02.parent dive bombing, but it won't be put off. It knows where it is
:30:02. > :30:07.going, it is up and in, and backing out with another one of the chicks.
:30:07. > :30:12.It is removing it, it is puting it somewhere safe, where it knows it
:30:12. > :30:16.can access it. This is like supermarket shopping, you don't go
:30:16. > :30:20.home with one tin of beans, you fill up the trolley and this is
:30:20. > :30:26.what the mink is doing here. It is taking advantage of a source of
:30:26. > :30:32.food which might run out. It looks like it's run out. It has come back
:30:32. > :30:37.out, but then drops down in the water, heads back across the other
:30:37. > :30:42.side and finds something else to eat. What is interesting about this,
:30:42. > :30:48.is it won't waste, nature doesn't waste things, but the mink did
:30:48. > :30:54.something interesting. Have a look at this. Having eaten the egg, it
:30:54. > :31:00.then started to move, sadly the Kingfisher bodies around. It will
:31:00. > :31:05.be cacheing them, what it is doing, it found the wonderful food source
:31:05. > :31:11.for T and it will hide away all the chicks, so that it will be
:31:11. > :31:16.returning later on, and gather them up again, and probably,
:31:17. > :31:22.interestingly, May is the peak time for mink to give birth, so it may
:31:22. > :31:27.well be, this mink has kids. Its own, and it will be storeing this
:31:27. > :31:33.food supply, which will then, refined, nothing ever gets wasted
:31:33. > :31:38.and bring back to its chicks in the nest. You can see the size of the
:31:39. > :31:44.chicks, we thought they would be bigger and they were. Nearly ready
:31:44. > :31:49.to g That's why they were making so much noise. They make more noise,
:31:49. > :31:56.more visits from the adults, more obvious to predators. All that work,
:31:56. > :32:00.weeks and weeks of work from the kingfishers and over in seconds.
:32:00. > :32:05.is rare behaviour, and obviously, that was a good day for our mink
:32:05. > :32:10.and its young, not a good day for our Kingfisher pair. And this is
:32:10. > :32:16.what happened after. One of the adults came back with a fish in its
:32:16. > :32:19.mouth, all ready to feed the chicks, you can see the head of fish is
:32:19. > :32:24.facing forward, to put in the chicks mouths. It comes out,
:32:24. > :32:30.because there are no chicks in there, confused, it starts turning
:32:30. > :32:34.the fish around, so that the head is pointing inside its beak,
:32:34. > :32:42.because that's how the kingfishers eat. Having a little bit of a job
:32:42. > :32:47.there. Massive fish. Eventually it swallows it. But it
:32:47. > :32:51.is a healthy adult and should be able to have more chicks. It is
:32:51. > :32:54.going in the right direction, it is building up the reserves, and
:32:54. > :33:00.there's no doubts the kingfishers will try again. Let's have a close
:33:00. > :33:04.up of the mink. You didn't see the face here, this is a non-native
:33:04. > :33:08.animal, brought in from North America. It's made a nuisance for
:33:08. > :33:14.itself, we think it is responsible for a decline in water voles and
:33:14. > :33:22.eats a third of their diet is bird, normally ground-nesting birds. If
:33:22. > :33:28.you think of picking on the mink, on thetors eat birds, and it takes
:33:28. > :33:32.a lot to take the world go around. To the very common place rabbit.
:33:32. > :33:42.Rabbits, everyone knows about rabbits and surely there's nothing
:33:42. > :33:46.
:33:46. > :33:56.more to say about them? You'd be The rabbit, they're cute, they're
:33:56. > :34:02.
:34:02. > :34:07.fluffy, and there's around 45 These are the grassy holes of East
:34:07. > :34:11.Anglia, sandy soil, ideal, and enough cover close by.
:34:11. > :34:21.And the perfect opportunity for long-term research into rabbits.
:34:21. > :34:24.Which is revealed a side of rabbits we rarely see. Rabbit Warrens
:34:24. > :34:30.contain large populations but within these, they live in small
:34:30. > :34:36.social groups of up to nine. The female produce two or three litters
:34:37. > :34:41.a year, each litter with up to ten young or kits. Once the kits emerge
:34:41. > :34:47.from the warren, they're no longer fed by their mother, even though
:34:47. > :34:57.they're three weeks old. In spring, the females fur appears
:34:57. > :34:58.
:34:59. > :35:07.patchy, as she removes it to use as The dominant male here on the right,
:35:07. > :35:15.can stay with the dominant female for life. The male must remain
:35:15. > :35:21.vigilant against any rivals. He controls his territory. He
:35:21. > :35:31.uernates in scent marks by rubbing his chin and paw scrapes. This
:35:31. > :35:33.
:35:33. > :35:43.marks his patch. While he waits for the depe male to be ready to mate
:35:43. > :36:03.
:36:03. > :36:09.The female shows she's now ready. Then a rival male attempts to
:36:09. > :36:19.separate her from the dominant male. The contender runs in parallel and
:36:19. > :36:24.
:36:24. > :36:30.Then, a jump fight. It's fleeting and over quickly. The
:36:30. > :36:36.contender loses. But it is not only the males that
:36:36. > :36:40.are aggressive. During breeding from January to June, the dominant
:36:40. > :36:47.female is the most violent rabbit in the Warren. Determined her young
:36:48. > :36:56.have the best food, she'll chase other females away, even one she's
:36:56. > :37:06.closely related to. It is not only other rabbits, for predators
:37:06. > :37:14.
:37:14. > :37:19.Rabbits can detect smell and sound very quickly.
:37:19. > :37:27.Eyes that are set on the sides of their skull give them a wild field
:37:27. > :37:32.of vision. They sit on their behind legs to see further on constant
:37:32. > :37:42.watch for predators. Elsewhere on the site, one of the most
:37:42. > :38:11.
:38:11. > :38:18.Over 90% of all kits are killed by preed stores or disease during
:38:18. > :38:25.their first year. -- predators, with such a high
:38:25. > :38:32.mortality rate, it is a good thing that rabbits breed, well, like
:38:32. > :38:38.rabbits. One female can produce up to 30 kits a year. Life for an
:38:38. > :38:46.individual rabbit is a risky business. But they're phenomenonal
:38:46. > :38:48.breeding rate helps ensure their survival. The secret world of the
:38:48. > :38:54.rabbit. Who'd have thought they were so complex. It is lovely to
:38:54. > :38:58.get the insight into the rabbit's world. But Joyce Griffin, from
:38:58. > :39:04.Glasgow has shown us something about rabbits I thought we would
:39:04. > :39:09.never see. Have a look, this is the footage, this is a subordinate
:39:09. > :39:14.female. The dominant depe male has not allowed her to give bir the in
:39:14. > :39:21.the main warren. But what is she doing. You may think she's digging
:39:21. > :39:26.for food. But out of the hole, come three tiny baby rabbits. And they
:39:26. > :39:32.are are suckling there. She's hidden the rabbits away from the
:39:32. > :39:39.warren, she comes once a day, for a few minutes, she gives them a meal
:39:39. > :39:43.of fantastically rich meal. And then incredibly, she carefully,
:39:44. > :39:49.back fills that hole, she carefully moves the mud over the stop, and
:39:49. > :39:55.won't come back to the three babies, until the next day. Joyce filmed
:39:55. > :39:58.this, apparently at 6am, every single morning, for a week. Joyce,
:39:58. > :40:03.thank you very much indeed. I have read about that, I never dreamt in
:40:03. > :40:12.my life I would actually see it. Please do, keep the films coming
:40:12. > :40:19.into us, we love to see them. it is back to the city of Bath and
:40:19. > :40:22.the cureies family of peregrines, with Lolo Williams. Welcome back to
:40:23. > :40:27.beautiful Bath, where, on St John's church over there, we have a unique
:40:27. > :40:32.family of peregrines. I'm going to show you something, that Chris will
:40:32. > :40:38.be rubbing his thighs with glee. These are he mains collected by Ed,
:40:38. > :40:44.below this irony here. This is a sample, that is a water rail skull.
:40:45. > :40:49.Here I have feathers from an incredibly rare bird, corncrake,
:40:49. > :40:53.and these are from the Woodcock. What are they say doing. I came to
:40:53. > :41:03.Bath a week ago when the chicks were four weeks old to get the
:41:03. > :41:08.
:41:08. > :41:14.The peregrine chicks are thriving. Their adult plum Madge is pokeing
:41:14. > :41:20.through. As they approach fledging, they'll need for food than he was.
:41:20. > :41:24.Their parents will have their work cut out, even with the legendary
:41:24. > :41:28.produce yes. But there's new research that shows, city
:41:28. > :41:32.peregrines might have developed an advantage. Now, this time of the
:41:32. > :41:35.evening, rural peregrines are settling down for the night. But
:41:35. > :41:40.for urban peregrines, it is a different matter.
:41:40. > :41:45.To find out what gives these city predators the edge, I've come to
:41:45. > :41:50.meet Ed for a night on the town with a difference. Even at this
:41:50. > :41:55.time of night you see a few pigeons, they must constitute most of the
:41:55. > :42:02.pray? You would think, but here in cities, they take up 42% of the
:42:02. > :42:07.diet. So the rest, the 60 are the other birds. A lot of wooden birds,
:42:08. > :42:13.garden birds, but things such as corncrake and Woodcock, black neck
:42:13. > :42:19.ceeb and qail and other birds. on, these birds migrate at night?
:42:19. > :42:23.So they're tucked away. But when they migrate at night, they become
:42:23. > :42:28.exposed over cities, because they have pale bellies and there's loads
:42:28. > :42:38.of street latches and all the lights are lighting up the birds
:42:38. > :42:38.
:42:38. > :42:43.like becons. That is amazing. got a pellet here and skull from a
:42:43. > :42:47.little bird. So finding the clues on the ground that we've worked out
:42:47. > :42:52.the peregrines are eating these sorts of birds. Tonight we're not
:42:52. > :42:58.spotting much, even with the help of the street lights. But if we
:42:58. > :43:08.head up in the church tower, we'll see what our peregrine family is up
:43:08. > :43:09.
:43:09. > :43:17.to. How is he going? Two sleeping chicks. I've never see a peregrine
:43:17. > :43:23.nest at night, so it is great for an infrared. It seems they're old
:43:23. > :43:30.enough for them to be unattend. When one wakes them, I wonder if
:43:30. > :43:35.one of the adults is returning. We've been staking out the nest for
:43:35. > :43:41.weeks, and yet have an adult visit at night. Because there are two of
:43:41. > :43:46.them, and three, adultish birds bringing food in, there's enough
:43:46. > :43:53.food brought in. There's evidence, elsewhere, of chicks fed throughout
:43:53. > :44:01.the night and adult birds hunting at night. This is archive footage
:44:01. > :44:08.from Derby cathedral. A Woodcock, brought back at 11pm. The shots
:44:08. > :44:13.aren't sharp but prove that peregrines hunt at night. With
:44:13. > :44:19.committed parents a full time helper, and the option of around
:44:19. > :44:28.the clock care, our chicks are perfectly Kateerd for. It won't be
:44:28. > :44:33.long before they join the growing ranks of adult peregrines. That's
:44:33. > :44:39.fascinating, isn't it. That's evolution in action. With a
:44:39. > :44:43.increasing numbers of peregrines moving in the urban areas, who
:44:43. > :44:48.knows what the next discoveries will be. It is long overdue time we
:44:48. > :44:56.went and caught up with our chicks. So let's go live to our nest camera
:44:56. > :45:02.up on the church there. Look at that, what a difference a week
:45:02. > :45:04.makes. How they've come on, they're trying to get rid of the downy
:45:04. > :45:09.feathers, they're looking magnificent. They must be five
:45:09. > :45:15.weeks old now, and for the first year, they'll have the brown
:45:15. > :45:23.feathers, they look like juveniles, until they get in the second year,
:45:23. > :45:29.when the male will get the slatey grey black. The female is on the
:45:29. > :45:34.right, she's bigger, she Bobs up her head. Beautiful birds, don't
:45:34. > :45:38.forget these are the fastest birds in the world. Diveing at speeds of
:45:38. > :45:44.well over 120mph. If you look at the church now,
:45:44. > :45:49.you'll see a few pigeons, scattered around, they're safe as long as
:45:49. > :45:54.they're perch, but once they launch themselves off in the wild blue
:45:54. > :46:00.beyonder, that's when they become peregrine food. Thaick a look at
:46:00. > :46:04.this. This is the female, feeding, one of the chicks there. At this
:46:04. > :46:10.stage, the chicks can feed themselves. That's the young female,
:46:10. > :46:15.pecking away, probably at a pigeon leg. But the female will carry on
:46:15. > :46:21.coming in with food. They'll Dutch food more and more, so they'll be
:46:21. > :46:28.feeding themselves. This is the footage I like, this is like a
:46:28. > :46:35.scene from lady and the tramp. The female is fighting for a bit of
:46:35. > :46:44.intestine, with one of the chicks. Nowhere near as tastey as is a
:46:44. > :46:51.Getty. - spaghetti. They're probably going to settle down soon.
:46:51. > :46:55.The evening is a time when Bath comes alive. And nightclubs here
:46:55. > :47:01.are heaveing, so I've been working on my dances all day, I have the
:47:01. > :47:06.moves, so I'm going to hand you back to Wales, while I disco the
:47:06. > :47:11.night away. You have a great time. We have our moves working out
:47:11. > :47:17.mainly to avoid the Midges. Let's stick with the nest theme, the
:47:17. > :47:22.siting of the nest and structure. Here is a greater wood pecker's
:47:22. > :47:26.nest, the young have fledged so we're not disturbing them. But
:47:26. > :47:30.that's a structure which excavated itself. It has, all this week,
:47:30. > :47:35.we've been using a specialist thermal camera to reveal, give us
:47:35. > :47:42.insights into wildlife. And we have avenue turned the camera, today, on
:47:42. > :47:48.to some of our nests. Now, there's a nest, that's a fly kite catcher,
:47:48. > :47:52.and look at it with a thermal camera, it is like a volcanic vent.
:47:52. > :47:55.But that's is beautifully insul late. Here is a nest box, nothing
:47:55. > :48:01.in that, and the temperature's exactly the same as the true, but
:48:01. > :48:06.here is one in use, it is a fly catch Cher, have a look as it goes
:48:06. > :48:11.in, you can see the bird there, very warm. Actually tkphros as the
:48:11. > :48:17.parent goes in, but on the bottom there, it is quite well insul late,
:48:17. > :48:22.that nest box. But I'm surprised how much heat is getting out of it.
:48:22. > :48:28.Here we've got a crow's nest. You may think it is a bunch of sticks,
:48:28. > :48:35.but we were given a bit of a surprise, when the put the thermal
:48:35. > :48:41.camera on it, it is not bad. But on the bad, it is leaking heat. That
:48:41. > :48:45.surprises me, because although the nest is made of sticks, the crows
:48:45. > :48:49.line them. Here is our goldcrest nest, you would think it is like a
:48:49. > :48:55.do you have vai, but leaking heat out. This is a shot from underneath.
:48:55. > :49:01.You can see the adults moving there, but, not quite as insul lateed as I
:49:01. > :49:09.thought. I would have thought the moss, woven together with spider's
:49:09. > :49:16.web, strong and flexible would be a perfect insul lateier. We came with
:49:16. > :49:21.our nest efficiency rating. The higher, the pied fly catch Cher,
:49:21. > :49:26.crow not bad, pied fly catch Cher, leaking lots of energy, and
:49:26. > :49:33.goldcrest at the bottom. So if you think of selling your nest, you
:49:33. > :49:39.have to do one of these. I want to bring you breaking news, this paper,
:49:39. > :49:44.I was speaking to Dr Charles Dening, this paper was published on 21st of
:49:44. > :49:50.May, this year, what it says in essence, is bluetits and grey tits,
:49:50. > :49:53.modify the insullaigs in their nest, as you go north to south, across
:49:53. > :49:57.the country. So the birds in the south of the country have less
:49:57. > :50:02.insullaigs, than ones right up in the north. So in Scotland, the
:50:02. > :50:09.nests will be heavily insul lateed, that's breaking news. They modify
:50:09. > :50:17.the sin you willation. - insulation. It is colder in the north than the
:50:17. > :50:24.south, so you may expect that. You think if that much heat is leaking
:50:24. > :50:29.out of an artificial nest box, when you're sight siting your nest box
:50:29. > :50:34.you have to put it in out of the way of the wind to give them a
:50:34. > :50:41.better chance. It must count, because otherwise there wouldn't be
:50:41. > :50:47.more material in the northern nests. Roy Denis has taken us to the north,
:50:47. > :50:53.almost as far as you can get, it's a place he's travelling do, all his
:50:53. > :50:58.life. This is Fair Isle, a unique, remote and beautiful place. A haven
:50:58. > :51:03.for wildlife and an island that is very close to my heart. More
:51:03. > :51:13.species of bird have been recorded here, than on any other piece of
:51:13. > :51:26.
:51:26. > :51:35.land in the same size in the British Isles. I first came to Fair
:51:35. > :51:40.Isle in 1959 when I was just 18. I never believeed more than 50 years
:51:40. > :51:46.later, I'd still be coming back to this fantastic island. Just others,
:51:46. > :51:51.I just fell under the spell of it. It is wildlife and scenery which
:51:51. > :51:57.were so special to me. I want to show you why I think this is one of
:51:57. > :52:02.the UK's best places to see wildlife. Four years after my first
:52:02. > :52:07.visit I returned to Fair Isle to work as the warden of the bird
:52:07. > :52:14.observatory. I found my dairy for 1959. It is the first day that I
:52:14. > :52:20.visited Fair Isle. I saw lots of raiseer vils, guillemots. At the
:52:20. > :52:27.end of the day I write, "Very impressed" and I've been very
:52:27. > :52:31.impressed ever since. I lived here for seven years, it was a wonderful
:52:31. > :52:37.time, surrounded by wildlife and being part of a warm, friendly
:52:37. > :52:43.community. Every time I return, there's one bird I can't wait to
:52:43. > :52:48.catch up with. Black guillemots are one of my favourite birds. There's
:52:48. > :52:51.six pairs here, engaged in this beautiful dancing display.
:52:51. > :52:57.Sometimes they're chasing each other in pairs, and then suddenly,
:52:57. > :53:07.they turn into lines, and different shapes. It is really beautiful to
:53:07. > :53:13.watch. You can see they're furiously paddling bright red legs,
:53:13. > :53:23.and when they call, it is equally brilliant red. They're engaging
:53:23. > :53:26.
:53:26. > :53:32.birds. Here in Fair Isle they have the lovely name, the Tisty We're
:53:32. > :53:38.going around the rock, which is a distinctive feature of Fair Isle.
:53:38. > :53:44.The cliffs are scattered with sea bird colonies. And every bird has a
:53:44. > :53:52.prefered place to nest. In the caves at the bottom, you'll find
:53:52. > :54:02.shag nests and black guillemot. The lower ledges have kit kitty wakes,
:54:02. > :54:09.and once you get on the grassier slopes, there will be fumora and
:54:09. > :54:14.the ganets, right up will, and on the grass at the very top, are
:54:14. > :54:19.nesting Puffins, herring gulls and greater black gulls, it is like a
:54:19. > :54:26.big city. It is fantastic wildlife encounters like these, that have
:54:26. > :54:33.excited me right from my very first visit. There's even a bird named
:54:33. > :54:41.after the island, the Fair Isle wren. But at this time of year, the
:54:41. > :54:46.local residents are joined by a huge minority of migrants. 7 birds
:54:46. > :54:49.on the British list were first seen right here.
:54:49. > :54:55.The recent Fair Isle is so fantastic for bird watching is that
:54:55. > :55:01.it is a tiny island in a vast ocean. When migratory birds need to rest,
:55:01. > :55:07.they come here, and you never know what you're going to see. And after
:55:07. > :55:12.60 years of field research, Fair Isle is built up a huge bank of
:55:12. > :55:17.valuable data on the migrant species. But not all the
:55:17. > :55:23.discoveries have been good news. In the last ten years, Fair Isle has
:55:23. > :55:28.seen a dramatic fall in sea bird numbers. Do you know I'm staggered
:55:28. > :55:35.by some of the changes. Certain sea birds have gone. This was a great
:55:35. > :55:41.place for shags, and the other noticeable bird that is missing is
:55:41. > :55:47.the kitty wake, and they were nesting along that cliff over will.
:55:47. > :55:53.And they're gone. The numbers of some is he birds have crashed. In
:55:53. > :55:58.1989 there were 23,000 breeding pairs of Puffins, yet just 18 years
:55:58. > :56:02.later, numbers have dropped by around 70%.
:56:02. > :56:08.Sadly, it is not just here on Fair Isle. It is throughout most of
:56:08. > :56:13.Britain, that our sea birds are in a really serious and rapid decline.
:56:13. > :56:19.But for many species, Fair Isle is still a UK strong hold and
:56:19. > :56:24.important refuge for sea birds that are globally throatened. That's why
:56:24. > :56:28.I think Fair Isle is such a very special place.
:56:28. > :56:33.Isn't it great to get a personal insight to a place like the Fair
:56:33. > :56:38.Isle, by a man who has such an indepth knowledge of how it's
:56:38. > :56:48.changed in the last 50 years, ever been? No it is between the Orkneys
:56:48. > :56:52.and Shetlands, never up there. No but I have the sweat on. Talking
:56:52. > :56:57.of moving on, we have bluetit that fledged today. So that means we can
:56:57. > :57:01.introduce you to a new nest. I'm going to give awe clue, the male is
:57:01. > :57:06.a gorgeous little black and white bird and not a bird you'd commonly
:57:06. > :57:12.see in the average garden. That's the clue, let take a look. That's
:57:12. > :57:16.not going to help you out very much. But I'm going to tell you, seven
:57:16. > :57:26.little chicks there, born on the 2nd of June. To help you out, I
:57:26. > :57:31.should show you the adult bird. Let's see adult bird. The chicks
:57:31. > :57:34.look sleepy. There, that doesn't help you out much. Because that's
:57:34. > :57:43.the female, which predictably is duller than the male. But then we
:57:43. > :57:49.see the male come in. There it is. It is, guys a? Pied my catch Cher.
:57:49. > :57:56.Both the male and female are coming in feeding. These are birds, that
:57:56. > :58:03.arrive from West Africa, mid-April and May, and 60 million of them
:58:03. > :58:07.that come from Africa each year. Here there's an abundance of
:58:07. > :58:12.insects. In Africa, it would be very dry. So, it is an ideal place
:58:12. > :58:17.for them to come. The western Oakwood lands have been their
:58:17. > :58:21.strong hold. They're not a garden species but the male is a very
:58:21. > :58:26.striking bird to be honest with you. And sadly, we're going to wrap it
:58:26. > :58:33.up there. Join us tomorrow, where we will be bringing you another
:58:33. > :58:38.update from Lolo in Bath with the falcons. I will have a encounter
:58:38. > :58:43.with a monster from the deep, and of course, you can carry on
:58:43. > :58:47.watching the nests on the website. We will be back tomorrow, not only
:58:47. > :58:52.with Springwatch, but also with Springwatch unsprung, where we will
:58:52. > :58:57.answer many of your questions, and showing your photos as well. But I