:00:14. > :00:19.It is Springwatch and we are live, and it is our penultimate show, but
:00:20. > :00:24.we have masses to pack in. Like a trip to the romantic island of Lundy
:00:24. > :00:27.off the North Devon coast. We will bring you the latest chapter in our
:00:27. > :00:33.seagull saga. Iolo Williams will be joining us from the seagull's home
:00:33. > :00:38.in Bristol. We will keep you updated on our feathered star cast. Did the
:00:38. > :00:42.redstarts fly the nest? Or did they decide to enjoy the security of the
:00:42. > :00:49.nest box for another day. They said they wanted more. They
:00:49. > :00:59.did. We are giving you almost 15 minutes more. Welcome to a
:00:59. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:18.superspecial slightly extended I don't know where she gets that
:01:19. > :01:23.energy from. If I had half of that I could probably rule the world.
:01:23. > :01:28.Welcome to Springwatch coming to you from the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir in
:01:28. > :01:31.Wales. We have had a mixture of weather, we have had sunshine, we
:01:31. > :01:35.have had showers, tonight, it is threatening to rain, I have to say,
:01:36. > :01:40.but whatever happens, it won't dampen our spirits. We have had the
:01:40. > :01:44.woods bugged here. We have been sticking our noses into the species
:01:44. > :01:49.of animals. We have great action tonight, and we are saving more for
:01:49. > :01:52.tomorrow. Not only am I full of energy, I am full of positive
:01:52. > :01:57.attitude. It is not going to rain in the next hour and 15 minutes. We
:01:57. > :02:01.have a lot to pack in tonight. We have a little bit of drama, a
:02:01. > :02:08.spattering of science and a sprin ing willing of beauty. Mix that up,
:02:08. > :02:14.what do you get? A trifle.Among the other things you get top naturalist
:02:14. > :02:20.Nick Baber, he is live tonight to inspire us to get involved with the
:02:21. > :02:24.BBC's Summer of Wildlife. Today it has not been Springwatch it has been
:02:24. > :02:29.fledge watch. All the birds here have been fledging or threatening to
:02:29. > :02:34.fledge. It has been like a departure lounge. We haven't been able to keep
:02:35. > :02:41.up. One that has been keeping us on tenterhooks has been the redstarts.
:02:41. > :02:43.Let us go live to the nest. There it is on the outside. And inside...
:02:44. > :02:48.is on the outside. And inside... Absolutely nothing. I have to tell
:02:48. > :02:53.you that this has happened in the last few minutes. It all started
:02:53. > :02:59.last night, when we came off air, let us remind oust, let us go back a
:02:59. > :03:04.bit to the 1 June. Here were the chick, eight of them. There is the
:03:04. > :03:09.male. Now they were really ready to go out. Exercising those wings. We
:03:09. > :03:13.didn't see them leave. They were threatening to. Last night, the
:03:13. > :03:17.parents were still going in. The chicks were going, having a look out
:03:17. > :03:21.of the nest hole. The parents seem to be urging them
:03:22. > :03:26.to come out. Offering them titbit, come out, come out. Very odd,
:03:26. > :03:31.because we thought they would wait until the morning. But they didn't.
:03:31. > :03:36.There goes the first one. We thought, are they all going to
:03:36. > :03:40.come out now? The parents coming back, come on, come out. Little bit
:03:40. > :03:44.difficult this, because when they do come out, here comes the second. Two
:03:44. > :03:48.minutes later. They should go up into a tree. Don't go down on to the
:03:48. > :03:52.ground. It is starting to get, another one, starting to get dark
:03:52. > :03:57.now. Hard for us to see and record what is going on. Here we are,
:03:57. > :04:05.nearly 9.30. That went downwards, not so good. This one stood on his
:04:05. > :04:09.brothers and sisters, looked out. But did not go. So we ended up with
:04:09. > :04:13.a very curious situation there, with four out and four in. It is really
:04:13. > :04:17.surprising, that they went at that time of night. That is exactly what
:04:17. > :04:21.our great tits did, which is unusual behaviour, isn't it. It is. Since we
:04:21. > :04:26.have been watching our nest on Springwatch we find that these types
:04:26. > :04:29.of birds flergely in the morning, and this morning I read through the
:04:29. > :04:34.scientific literature, not much work has been done but in American
:04:35. > :04:40.sparrow, which have been studied more intensetively most fledge
:04:40. > :04:44.between 6.30 and 12.30 midday. Most of the brood leaves within a two
:04:44. > :04:51.hour her youed. Which makes sense, you want them to be together so it
:04:51. > :04:55.is easy for the adults to feed them. The morning our cameramen went down
:04:55. > :04:59.to see what was going on. Here we are, I don't know how they managed
:04:59. > :05:03.to do this. Here are the chick, they found them in among the trees there.
:05:03. > :05:07.The parents are going to have to feed them. Here comes the parent.
:05:07. > :05:12.This chick is doing the sensible thing. It sup on a branch. Out of
:05:12. > :05:17.harm's way. This is not so good. We have seen grass snake, weasels
:05:17. > :05:22.coming in down there. This one also is down on the ground, in a
:05:22. > :05:26.sheltered spot. They should get up. This one tries to get up. He has the
:05:27. > :05:33.right idea but it hasn't got the wing power yet. Here is dad, coming
:05:33. > :05:38.down, to carry on feeding them. So there we are, in a very curious
:05:38. > :05:44.situation. We have got four still in the box, four out of the box. So
:05:44. > :05:49.what was going to happen? This the very latest information. The last
:05:49. > :05:53.four still inside the box, come on mum says, get out. I am not going to
:05:53. > :05:58.spend the time feeding you in here. It is time to go out into the big
:05:58. > :06:03.wide world. There goings one. No that was mum coming out. Here comes
:06:03. > :06:08.a chick. Waiting. Quite late lunchtime. They haven't read the
:06:08. > :06:13.literature, Chris. Second one. Sixth one rather. Seventh. Look how late
:06:13. > :06:17.this is getting. We have been trying to follow this all day. This is,
:06:17. > :06:23.just hours ago, a couple of hours ago.
:06:23. > :06:28.And the last one is out. There it is. Empty nest and we have been
:06:28. > :06:32.following, here they are, out again, we got this footage just minutes
:06:32. > :06:40.before we came on air. The parents are feeding them. What a
:06:40. > :06:44.wonderful success story this is. There is a little chick. Watch what
:06:44. > :06:49.this chick does in a second. Look at that little tail.
:06:49. > :06:53.Typical, adult redstart behaviour, in that tiny little chick.
:06:53. > :06:58.Brilliant. Fantastic all eight of them successfully fledged. Which is
:06:59. > :07:02.a huge number, really for redstarts. What triggers them to fledge?
:07:03. > :07:07.question. We think it is physiological. There is blood
:07:07. > :07:14.components which trigger it. But it is their wing length. They seem to
:07:14. > :07:17.sense when the wings are long enough they might be able to fly. Other
:07:17. > :07:22.studies have shown the heavier they are when they leap out of the box,
:07:22. > :07:27.the greater chance of survival that they have. One last thing, which we
:07:28. > :07:31.have only reKently discovered. The BTO let us know this today, another
:07:31. > :07:36.study has shown if they fledge early, they have a greater chance of
:07:36. > :07:43.survival. Why is that?That is a good question. We don't have the
:07:43. > :07:49.answer. More work needs to be done. That is very odd. Of course it has
:07:49. > :07:54.been a fledge then here. Not just the redstarts, let us go live to
:07:54. > :07:58.black birds. Typically they will fledge after 13.6 days. These black
:07:59. > :08:02.birds are in their 14th day, so at the moment they are running eight
:08:02. > :08:06.hours late. They have been up, they have been jumping about today, but
:08:06. > :08:10.they have returned to the nest. They are hanging on. They will hang on
:08:10. > :08:14.some times for a few more days but if they are disturbed, they might
:08:14. > :08:20.leave slightly earlier. We hope of course they won't get disturbed. Let
:08:20. > :08:27.us go live to the woodpecker, they are involved in this fledge athen.
:08:28. > :08:31.One of the youngsters has its head out. They typically fledge after 24
:08:31. > :08:35.days, that is how old we think they are. The parents have to work very
:08:35. > :08:41.hard to coke these chicks out. -- coax. What they typically do is
:08:41. > :08:46.land, go up to the entrance, offer the youngsters a titbit, an insect
:08:46. > :08:51.of choice and back down the trunk and theems out. To get the lot out
:08:51. > :08:56.can take a whole day. If today is a fledging airport, the jaw Dawes are
:08:56. > :09:00.also in the waiting room. Ready to depart. I reckon they should be
:09:00. > :09:06.flying out too. Let us look at the single jackdaw. That is the nest
:09:06. > :09:11.box, in the barn. And this jackdaw is looking amazingly fit and strong,
:09:11. > :09:16.and really rather old, and should be flying out of that box any time now.
:09:16. > :09:21.It is about four to five weeks old, so, keep your eye on the jackdaws as
:09:21. > :09:24.well. Could be busy with those little departure birds taking off.
:09:24. > :09:29.Now, since Monday we have been following the fortunes of two pairs
:09:29. > :09:36.of gulls that are nesting on a rooftop in Bristol. Well, Iolo joins
:09:36. > :09:42.us live from the city centre to give us an update.
:09:42. > :09:47.Welcome to to Bristol. We have been dodging rain storms for the last two
:09:47. > :09:52.hour, it is dry now. From the balcony, a lovely view, the old
:09:52. > :09:57.docks, and for the last couple of days we have been following a family
:09:57. > :10:02.of herring gulls here on Springwatch. The nest is up on top
:10:02. > :10:08.of that travel blue building you can see. We have a camera there -- tall.
:10:08. > :10:12.We can go live to the camera. We can see what is going on. The chicks are
:10:12. > :10:16.huddled down on the nest. I am not surprised because we have had heavy
:10:17. > :10:20.rain, they were preening but they have given up the ghost. If you were
:10:20. > :10:24.watching yesterday, you will know that the chicks have started to
:10:24. > :10:34.wander out of that nest. Of course the older and the bolder they get,
:10:34. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:44.the further they wander. Often, that High above the hustle and bustle of
:10:45. > :10:49.the city, the drama has continued to unfold.
:10:49. > :10:54.The herring gull chicks are two weeks old, and growing in size and
:10:54. > :10:59.confidence. On the other side of the roof, their
:10:59. > :11:04.neighbours brood of three, the hers black back chicks are also keen to
:11:04. > :11:09.explore. -- hers. The territory of both
:11:09. > :11:13.families is marked by a distinct but invisible boundary. This is
:11:13. > :11:18.something the chicks are struggling to understand.
:11:18. > :11:25.The sight and smell of a tasty more sell is enough to tempt one of the
:11:25. > :11:30.black backed chicks into herring gull territory.
:11:30. > :11:35.The tiny trespasser treats to his parents' side of the roof unscathed
:11:35. > :11:45.but the incursion doesn't go unnoticed by the herring gulls.
:11:45. > :11:58.
:11:58. > :12:06.It prompts a flurry of territorial BIRDS CRY THE LONG CALL MEANS KEEP
:12:06. > :12:09.OUT. Spreading your wings makes you look bigger.
:12:09. > :12:16.And sitting down may be a way of calming the situation, without
:12:16. > :12:19.either of the birds losing face. All this helps to avert a real
:12:19. > :12:26.fight. It is rare that encounters like this
:12:26. > :12:30.result in serious injury. With so many gulls raising their
:12:30. > :12:37.families on roofs across the city, it is just as well they have a way
:12:37. > :12:41.of settling disputes peacefully. Gull, they are quarrel some birds
:12:41. > :12:45.but we are lucky, the two pairs on the roof behind me, they have nested
:12:45. > :12:51.together that the site for several year, so they kind of know each
:12:51. > :12:58.other, they tolerate each other. Come with me, I have a couple of
:12:58. > :13:02.props, don't worry, these are dead gull, given to us by Bristol museum.
:13:02. > :13:07.These are full adult, it is easy to distinguish between them. Look at
:13:07. > :13:13.the colour on the back. This the herring gull. The back is a light
:13:13. > :13:19.blue grey colour. If we are go over to the lesser black back gull. It is
:13:19. > :13:23.darker, slaty grey back. The herring gull, it is a big bird. You are
:13:23. > :13:27.talking about a five feet, a metre and a half wing span. There is
:13:27. > :13:32.something I wanted to show you, that we filmed the other day. Have a look
:13:32. > :13:39.at this. These are the two herring gull chick, they are in bright
:13:39. > :13:43.sunshine here now. They are only two weeks old, but despite that, they
:13:43. > :13:47.are exercising their wings, they are making sure the big flight muscles
:13:47. > :13:51.are developing. They will be in that nest for another four week, they
:13:51. > :13:54.won't fledge until they are six weeks old, but they are already
:13:54. > :13:59.exercising the wing, and this is happening all over Bristol, and when
:13:59. > :14:05.you think there are over 2,000 pairs here, that is incredible and later
:14:05. > :14:15.on, I will look at how, what is fundamentally a seaside bird has
:14:15. > :14:17.
:14:17. > :14:22.become so successful in a human decline in bird species what is a
:14:22. > :14:31.pleasure it is to see a group of birds surviving inspite of us,
:14:31. > :14:36.living in our environment and blooming. Let us go live to our
:14:36. > :14:44.wrens. You see, we think this little chicks in here are about 13 days
:14:44. > :14:52.old. They typically will only fledge early at 14. More typically, 15, 16
:14:52. > :14:57.days old. If you look at their beaks they look quite young. The a adults
:14:57. > :15:01.have been bringing in food to them. The female is the principal adult
:15:01. > :15:11.involved in this. It would be rare for the male to be feed feeding
:15:11. > :15:17.them. He has probably found another female somewhere. She is doing
:15:17. > :15:22.brooding today. Tidying up. It could be another couple of days before
:15:22. > :15:28.they go. Lovely to see her working, building that nest. The wrens will
:15:28. > :15:32.be going all around here looking for small tiny little insects to feed to
:15:32. > :15:40.those chicks. They might have been looking for an insect that we have
:15:40. > :15:43.been exploring in micro world. In the past week there has been cuckoo
:15:43. > :15:51.spit. It looks like someone has been spitting on the plants around you.
:15:51. > :15:59.In the old days they thought cuckoos came out of cuckoo spit. They were
:15:59. > :16:05.chumps. How could they think that? We have been exploring it. There is
:16:05. > :16:13.the cuckoo spit. You have seen it around. What is inside? It is
:16:13. > :16:18.actually the nimph of a froghopper. It's tiny. To protect itself it
:16:18. > :16:28.plugs its mouth parts into the plant. It absorbs the fluid going up
:16:28. > :16:36.into the plant. The sap. It starts to blow bubbles out of its bottom.
:16:36. > :16:43.Just filling the zap moving through its body with air bubbles. That is
:16:43. > :16:49.it his little bottom. The spit protects it in two ways. It stop it
:16:49. > :16:54.is drying out. It's distasteful to predators. That is how big it is.
:16:54. > :16:59.Kids don't try that at home. Don't try that at home. What amazing
:16:59. > :17:04.footage. They have done, very, very well. Incredible.Now, the
:17:04. > :17:09.froghopper itself, the adult that one turns into, is one of nature's
:17:09. > :17:15.Olympians. It can leap far, far higher than a flea. We have managed
:17:15. > :17:20.to film it leaping. Don't blink. Have a look at this. Here is a
:17:20. > :17:28.froghopper, the adult. And that it was actually leaping. Hang on. A
:17:28. > :17:36.scientists in Cambridge has filmed that in slow motion. Look at that.
:17:36. > :17:41.That leaps in one Milly second. We blink it takes us 400 Milly seconds
:17:42. > :17:50.to blink. When they are joined together, the poor male at the back
:17:50. > :17:59.is taken for a Don't ride. That the a home either? They leap incredibly
:17:59. > :18:05.fast, they experience 400 g as they leap. Someone, an astro not -- ahs
:18:05. > :18:11.row nought will experience 5g. reason they create the foam is to
:18:11. > :18:17.were text the nymph it's distasteful. Have you tried it?
:18:17. > :18:24.I would like to. We will find some and do it. We have been looking at a
:18:24. > :18:28.group of bees. They are in one of our birdboxes. They are buff-tailed
:18:28. > :18:31.bumblebees. They seem to be constantly removing and then
:18:31. > :18:36.replacing the envelope which covers the cells. If you look into the
:18:36. > :18:46.centre there, this means we can now see the Queen. The leader of this
:18:46. > :18:50.
:18:50. > :18:53.colony of bees. You can see those little round cells. These
:18:53. > :18:57.buff-tailed bees are essential pollinators in the environment here.
:18:57. > :19:02.They are large insects. They will be busy first thing in the morning and
:19:02. > :19:04.last thing at night. They are a group of insects, the bumblebees, we
:19:05. > :19:08.are quite worried about in terms of their numbers. We have been watching
:19:08. > :19:14.them now for the last few days. We noticed all sorts of things
:19:14. > :19:19.happening. The colony is expanding. Look to the top of your screen. This
:19:19. > :19:26.bee looks paler. Its stripes are not yellow, they are in fact white. This
:19:26. > :19:30.is what we call a callow. It means it's a freshly emerged bee. You see
:19:30. > :19:36.it in wasps, hornetings and bees. After a couple of day it is will
:19:36. > :19:41.turn yellow. Its wings will harden. It will tend the nest or forage.
:19:41. > :19:47.When they go out to forage they have a favourite plant these group of
:19:47. > :19:51.bumblebees, the foxglove. Look at this. There are plenty of foxgloves
:19:51. > :19:55.growing close to our nestbox. They are frequently being visited by our
:19:55. > :20:02.bees. The flowers are very obvious to the bees. They are nice and tall.
:20:02. > :20:05.They stand up to a meter-and-a-half tall. There is a good chance they
:20:05. > :20:10.will get pollinated, even if the weather is bad and the bees can't
:20:10. > :20:15.get out. They are purple in colour which means it's easy for the bees
:20:15. > :20:19.to spot them. What we have got here is an extraordinary example of a
:20:19. > :20:24.plant and an insect working together. Here is a cross sectional
:20:24. > :20:28.view of the foxglove flower. It has a massive lip down here, it's
:20:28. > :20:33.perfect for the bee to land upon. There are a number of small hairs
:20:33. > :20:37.here. Now, the large bumblebee will brush straight through those, it
:20:37. > :20:41.will stop smaller insects getting into the flower and pinching all the
:20:41. > :20:46.next Article. The flower wants the bee to go up this tunnel, following
:20:46. > :20:52.this line of spots, which increase in their density up here, it reaches
:20:52. > :20:57.down into here with its tongue. By which stage, essentially, these here
:20:57. > :21:02.are touching the back of the bee. So, the reward for the bee is the
:21:02. > :21:07.next Article. The reward for the plant is the fact it puts pollen
:21:07. > :21:15.onto the back of the bee. A fantastic piece of evolution. I feel
:21:15. > :21:20.a time for a cultural interlude. Fox are poisonious. In old days people
:21:20. > :21:27.used to take it if they had seizures. Someone who took it
:21:27. > :21:32.regularly, we see pictures of foxgloves in his pick too turs is
:21:32. > :21:42.van golf. We think it inspired his yellow period. One of the side
:21:42. > :21:47.
:21:47. > :21:53.effects is see seeing has around starry light. There are other
:21:53. > :22:01.animals that are much more difficult. We have been down to Nick
:22:01. > :22:07.Baker's wood to explore. If there is one habitat that postively screams
:22:07. > :22:13.spring at this time of year, then it is the woodland. Everything is on
:22:13. > :22:17.the spray except for the mammals. Mammals are difficult to see. They
:22:17. > :22:21.are doing a bit of spring cleaning. That means a lot of the holes in
:22:21. > :22:24.which they live are much more obvious. Here are some of the top
:22:24. > :22:31.mammal holes that you might encounter when you are out on a
:22:31. > :22:37.woodland walk. One resident mammal you are likely to see signs of is
:22:37. > :22:43.the badger. They live in a complex lap Brit of under grount tunnels
:22:43. > :22:50.known as a sett. They can have as many as 40 openings. This is a
:22:50. > :22:56.badger hole. It is clearly active. 30cms across, it is badger-shaped.
:22:56. > :23:02.The other give away sign is a huge pile of soil surround being the
:23:02. > :23:06.holes no. Other British animal shifts rocks that big when they are
:23:06. > :23:12.excavating. That is clearly the work of a badger. All the signs tell me
:23:12. > :23:17.badgers live here. There is one sure fire test. A trick I learnt off a
:23:17. > :23:21.Native American. You lick your hand, then you press it on the soil in the
:23:21. > :23:26.mouth of the burrow. Usually what happens, there is one there. A
:23:26. > :23:30.badger hair. It's clearly a badger hair because the hair is
:23:30. > :23:35.fundamentally white. In the middle of that hair is a band of black.
:23:35. > :23:43.That is what makes a badger look grey. There you are. It ticks all
:23:43. > :23:49.those boxes. Right. This is quite a familiar sight along the edge of a
:23:49. > :23:53.foot path or a bank. This place is riddled with quite large runs. These
:23:53. > :24:01.are rabbit holes, the collective for rabbit holes is a rabbit warn, this
:24:01. > :24:07.is it. -- warren. The size of the hole is a give away. Much smaller
:24:07. > :24:14.than a badger. Same short of shape, I guess, 8-15cms across. There is
:24:14. > :24:19.one other telling sign to look for. Right down here, you can see these
:24:19. > :24:23.are rabbit droppings. Rabbits are territorial. This is like a little
:24:23. > :24:28.sensory signpost for these animals. This tells me, without doubt, these
:24:28. > :24:33.holes belong to rabbits. Badger and rabbit holes are not too hard to
:24:33. > :24:38.identify. When it comes to foxes it's not quite so straight-forward.
:24:38. > :24:44.Foxes are opportunists and sometimes they inhabit someone else's burrow.
:24:44. > :24:49.Now, this is a bit of a confusing hole. It doesn't have a soil heap
:24:49. > :24:54.outside of it, it could have been a badger at some point. There is a
:24:54. > :24:58.whiff of fox here. It's tricky to get across on camera. If it smells
:24:58. > :25:02.strong and pud gent it's almost certainly fox. To confirm who lives
:25:02. > :25:12.in this hole, I deploy a little technology. Right. Let us see what
:25:12. > :25:22.we get. What did you get? A squirrel. Everybody gets squirrels?
:25:22. > :25:23.
:25:23. > :25:28.We normally get squirrels. We got a result. We got a fox. You got a fox?
:25:28. > :25:32.It explains the smell. We thought he would go down the bank into the
:25:32. > :25:36.hole. He looked around slowly and walked off. At night he comes back.
:25:36. > :25:41.He is going to go in the hole this time, he doesn't do that either. The
:25:41. > :25:46.jury is still out. That could be his hole. Good tracking skills. You
:25:46. > :25:52.smelt there was a fox. There was. That is what you got on the camera.
:25:52. > :25:57.It's not an exact science. You have to feel your way round. I have been
:25:57. > :26:03.looking for signs in our local patch. All these holes, woodpecker
:26:04. > :26:09.holes, they are getting the grubs out. What are the smaller holes?
:26:09. > :26:14.It's like woodworm. This is great. Like woodworm a beetle comes along
:26:14. > :26:20.and lays its egg under the bark, this grubb chews away underneath the
:26:21. > :26:27.surface of the wood, digesting the wood. As he chews away, then... We
:26:27. > :26:35.have some footage of one there. is it. Not high action. It's slow
:26:35. > :26:38.process. Digesting wood is tricky, hard work. He is like a piece of
:26:38. > :26:43.blown-glass sculpture. That transparent skin. He doesn't need
:26:43. > :26:47.pigments because he is in the wood. He doesn't need camouflage. Wouldn't
:26:47. > :26:56.life be amacing if we were transparent. You could see what you
:26:56. > :27:06.had for dinner. Like telling a story with wood. Track animals whether it
:27:06. > :27:10.is badgers or rabbits, it's all here. You string them together and
:27:10. > :27:14.you get a story. It's amazing what you can find if you take time to
:27:14. > :27:24.look. It's something you can do as part of summer of wildlife. Look
:27:24. > :27:27.
:27:27. > :27:33.more tips. One thing to look for signs of wildlife, another to create
:27:33. > :27:39.habitats for wildlife. It's one thing that the RSPB here at Ynys-hir
:27:40. > :27:44.are particularly good at. For example, the raised bog where we
:27:44. > :27:54.filmed our nesting birds this series that was a bog makeover on a massive
:27:54. > :28:01.
:28:01. > :28:06.scale. Martin went out to find out Ynys-hir. It's a tremendously
:28:06. > :28:16.important habitat. Just to give you some idea, the birds we have had
:28:16. > :28:23.cameras on, the stonechat, the willow warbler, the reed bunting,
:28:23. > :28:27.and the water rail have all nested here. That's just the birds.
:28:27. > :28:33.Unfortunately, over the last couple of hundred of years we have lost
:28:33. > :28:40.over 90% of our low land raised bog. Drained and used for agriculture or
:28:40. > :28:43.dug up for peat. This 10 hectares here is very, very precious. If you
:28:43. > :28:52.had come here 30 years ago, it wouldn't have looked anything like
:28:52. > :28:59.this. Until just a few years ago, the bog was hidden under a dense
:28:59. > :29:04.thick et of rhododendrons. They all but blocked out the sun. Little
:29:04. > :29:13.native flora could grow here. The bog habitat had all but disappeared.
:29:13. > :29:18.RSPB area manager, Squires had a master plan. How would this area
:29:18. > :29:24.have looked say 30 years ago? Completely different. I mean the
:29:24. > :29:28.thing was it was... Looked from the outside like a woodland, like a pine
:29:28. > :29:32.plantation with very dense rhododendron. It was so dense you
:29:32. > :29:36.couldn't walk through into it at all. The only way was either on your
:29:36. > :29:42.hands or knees or lying flat, so crawling your way through like a
:29:42. > :29:50.snake. He was determined to clear the plants and return the area to
:29:50. > :29:53.its original habitat. With funding from the Country side Council for
:29:53. > :30:00.Wales and the Forestry Commission plus help from hundreds of
:30:00. > :30:04.volunteers they started work. But they faced some serious challenges.
:30:04. > :30:14.Especially, when it came to the heaval ril machinery they brought
:30:14. > :30:22.
:30:22. > :30:30.Across here it got about to just about here, and then sunk.
:30:30. > :30:34.It has lain here ever since. All that remains of the giant ex
:30:34. > :30:39.excavation, so the whole thing is still buried underneath here.
:30:39. > :30:44.Fascinating. It also gives you an idea of how deep it S We measured it
:30:44. > :30:49.as six metres of peat. So there is a wet soup of peat.
:30:49. > :30:53.Raising the water levels of the area was crucial to revive that
:30:53. > :30:59.underlying peat, and make the bog a haven for plants and animals once
:30:59. > :31:02.more. Dick is especially keen to show me
:31:02. > :31:07.one particular plant, called bog Rosemary.
:31:07. > :31:12.It was this that originally inspired him to undertake this massive
:31:12. > :31:18.restoration project. I remember some in this area. There
:31:18. > :31:25.is some there too. Look. It is inconspicuous. But it does look a
:31:25. > :31:31.bit like Rosemary too. There.There it is. That is what set this whole
:31:31. > :31:35.thing. So apart from the Rosemary, apart from the bird species we are
:31:35. > :31:41.busy filming, what other types of wildlife do you get here, particular
:31:41. > :31:45.to the raised bog? It is a fantastic place, some spes Jives I didn't
:31:45. > :31:52.dream of coming back to this area, like nightjars.
:31:52. > :32:02.-- species. It is not just the nightjars that have returned. This
:32:02. > :32:14.
:32:14. > :32:19.So, it must be immensely satisfying to you, to look round now and see
:32:19. > :32:24.this, as it is. It is. What a fantastic place we have created. We
:32:24. > :32:30.have so proud and pleaded with it. It is amazing to think what it was
:32:30. > :32:36.looking like recently. -- pleased. Ten years ago it was a dense pine
:32:36. > :32:40.plantation. Springwatch will be much the poorer without your work, we
:32:40. > :32:45.wouldn't have all those birds' nests. Can you lead the way please.
:32:45. > :32:50.I am slightly nervous of the bog. A massive hats off to Dick and his
:32:50. > :32:54.team. What a tremendous achievement that is. We can't underestimate the
:32:54. > :32:59.value of Yvonnes tiers in conservation, without their work
:32:59. > :33:02.that couldn't have happened. Now the area is home to a mass of different
:33:02. > :33:06.bird species. The thing about conservation, many people think it
:33:06. > :33:12.is about leaving nature to take its own course, that is a nice idea, but
:33:12. > :33:18.unless we manage it, we can't sculpt all of the different habitats we
:33:18. > :33:22.need to support the life of tree pipits, meadow pipit, reed
:33:22. > :33:26.buantings, so in this one small area now, because we have intervened and
:33:26. > :33:30.put in hard worker, we have grasshopper warblers and white
:33:31. > :33:35.throat, so we have to work hard at this. It cost a lot love money and
:33:35. > :33:41.effort from the volunteers. Top work. Top work and not only have
:33:41. > :33:45.they got those birds, they have something very special. We filmed
:33:45. > :33:51.it, here it is. Up in the tree, unusual to see it up so conspicuous
:33:51. > :33:56.as this. It is a nightjar. This is a nocturnal bird. They fly
:33:56. > :34:00.and hunt at night. Generally, they are well camouflaged. They normally
:34:00. > :34:05.stay round a tree. So it is odd to see it up there.
:34:05. > :34:09.I am told, I think they haven't seen a nightjar there for 20 year, so
:34:09. > :34:15.part of that amazing work they have done. So the nightjar, the bill, the
:34:15. > :34:19.beak, in those pictures looks fairly normal but it is enormous in fact.
:34:19. > :34:24.Their head is a massive mouth and a couple of massive eye, you mention
:34:24. > :34:30.they come out at night. They are after moths and flying insects and
:34:30. > :34:35.they have a massive gape they will use to catch them as they are flying
:34:35. > :34:40.hawk like over the ground. Wouldn't it be brilliant if they stayed here
:34:40. > :34:45.to breed? Brilliant. We are going to go to the live
:34:45. > :34:50.stonechat s. I am am losing track a bit tonight. Let us go live to the
:34:50. > :34:55.last of our birds that is nesting on that bog. That is the stonechat s.
:34:55. > :35:01.All the others have gone. Let, there they are. The chicks there.
:35:01. > :35:06.That is two of them. All stripy. Now they still look to me fairly sort of
:35:06. > :35:10.underdeveloped but they have done pretty well. 14 days old. Yeah, and
:35:11. > :35:16.they can leave at this time. I mean, they will stay for another three
:35:16. > :35:20.days in some nest, but they are on the ground. They are a species that
:35:20. > :35:24.can leave before they can fly, and make their way through the grass,
:35:24. > :35:30.but there we are. Let us go live to our song thrushes. Live to our song
:35:30. > :35:35.thrushes. Oh. OK. Live to the black birds. We
:35:35. > :35:39.have a change of plan. It is all happening you see. What are they
:35:39. > :35:42.doing? One has hopped out of the nest. You see, one of the others.
:35:42. > :35:46.is going. That looks like it might be going. Here in this particular
:35:46. > :35:52.area, nay have a choice, I think, Martin o, of being able to explore,
:35:52. > :35:57.we can see the nest looks empty. Can we pan down an see if we can see the
:35:57. > :36:02.nest. The nest is empty. They have fledged live. They have gone back in
:36:03. > :36:07.again. They haven't fledged live. They are going. They are going.They
:36:07. > :36:12.are going as we watch. If that is empty that means the other two have
:36:12. > :36:16.gone. Look at that. It is almost as if
:36:16. > :36:20.they can't make up their mind. They have been there all that time. It is
:36:20. > :36:23.nice and cosy. It is home to them, but they have to go. They want to go
:36:23. > :36:27.but they can't. They are doing it in the evening. What is interesting
:36:27. > :36:31.about black birds, when they leave the nest, the female will look after
:36:31. > :36:35.one half of the brood, and the male will look after the other half of
:36:35. > :36:39.the brood. And they stay separate. Until the female starts another
:36:39. > :36:45.clutch, and then the male will look after all of them and they will do
:36:45. > :36:51.that for 20 days. Look at that! It's gone. Perfect timing. Shall we move
:36:51. > :36:56.on. Live fledging. The fledgeathon has produced. Let us go back to
:36:56. > :37:01.Bristol, back to the gull, and find out what Iolo is up to.
:37:01. > :37:06.-- gulls. They really should rename Bristol
:37:06. > :37:10.and call it gull city. On a crept national survey they found more
:37:10. > :37:14.breeding pairs in this city than any other in the whole of Great Britain
:37:14. > :37:17.and Northern Ireland. We have a nest exam on a herring gull nest. Let us
:37:18. > :37:23.go over there, because they are doing something interesting. They
:37:23. > :37:26.huddle down at the nest, but earlier on one of them popped out and they
:37:26. > :37:30.were huddled round a vent where it was warm. It is nice to see them
:37:30. > :37:38.doing well. The lesser Ngola Bakaed gulls are doing well. What is
:37:38. > :37:47.pulling these birds into our cities? -- the black backed gulls. Gulls.
:37:47. > :37:51.The sight and sound of the seaside. And among our most familiar birds.
:37:51. > :37:57.But despite their seeming abundance, the number of gulls living on our
:37:57. > :38:04.coast has plummeted in cent decades. -- recent. The reasons why, are not
:38:04. > :38:14.yet clear. But where they are still thriving,
:38:14. > :38:14.
:38:14. > :38:18.is in our towns and cities. If I had been stood up here looking
:38:18. > :38:25.out over Bristol 45 years ago, I wouldn't have seen a single nesting
:38:25. > :38:30.pair of gulls, but now, there are over 2,500 breeding pairs. So why
:38:30. > :38:33.are our urban gulls doing well, when their country Couzins are in
:38:33. > :38:43.decline? -- cousins. Could the answer lie in
:38:43. > :38:53.our throw away culture? To find out more, I am paying a
:38:53. > :38:55.
:38:55. > :38:59.visit to our gull families. These gulls would be on the sixth
:38:59. > :39:03.floor wouldn't they! Look how high up we are here. You can tell we have
:39:03. > :39:13.gulls, look at that. Whitewash all over the window. Let us go through
:39:13. > :39:16.
:39:16. > :39:21.Cameraman Ian has been watching and filming the two pairs of nesting
:39:21. > :39:26.gulls since the breeding season began, sick weeks ago.
:39:26. > :39:30.-- six weeks' ago. We have a camera rout side Ian can operate and he can
:39:30. > :39:33.watch everything and record everything on this monitor.
:39:33. > :39:38.So the nest, the bird is just up here now.
:39:38. > :39:46.Here we are. So that is just above our window, isn't it. That is right.
:39:46. > :39:50.So what have the adult gulls been feeding chicks? It started off to be
:39:50. > :39:57.mostly regurgitated worms but over the last week it has been the
:39:57. > :40:02.majority of take away food, street trash, chickens, ham sandwich.
:40:03. > :40:09.look at that. Oh. Are those chips? Yes, a big bowl of
:40:09. > :40:12.chips. There is seven or eight chips in there! As I expected both sets of
:40:12. > :40:17.parents are taking full advantage of the plentiful supply of food,
:40:17. > :40:23.provided by the city streets. But their chicks are not just eating
:40:23. > :40:28.junk food. Among the take aways, there are plenty of nutritious meals
:40:28. > :40:32.on offer. While the herring gulls seem to have a preference for worms,
:40:32. > :40:36.the black back parents have found a supply of freshwater fish.
:40:36. > :40:39.Both of which provide their growing chicks with a rich source of
:40:39. > :40:47.protein. So it looks like urban gulls are
:40:47. > :40:51.finding a huge variety of food in and round the city.
:40:51. > :40:58.These birds are incredibly adaptable and there are so many opportunities
:40:58. > :41:02.now in urban areas and the gulls are learning to take advantage of them.
:41:02. > :41:08.Well, apologies to anyone who is eating, because I am going to talk
:41:08. > :41:13.about one of the great adaptations that gulls have, and that is
:41:13. > :41:17.regurgitation, it might not be appeal appealing to think about
:41:17. > :41:23.regurgitating food for children to eat, but that is what gulls do. Have
:41:23. > :41:27.a look at this. Here she is, the chicks are pecking at the beak, she
:41:27. > :41:32.regurgitates a whole ham sandwich. It means they can go vast distance,
:41:32. > :41:36.they can fill their crop, they can fly back, then they can feed the
:41:37. > :41:40.youngsters and they feed very well. On the whole, they are eating waste
:41:40. > :41:46.that we throw away. It is not always good food for them. They need
:41:46. > :41:50.natural food as well, and I was going to have this ham sandwich, but
:41:50. > :41:54.to be honest, I don't think I can face it now. The food we throw away,
:41:54. > :41:59.excuse me, is often high in salt, high in fat, so they also need
:41:59. > :42:03.natural food. They need the vitamins and minerals in there, look at this.
:42:03. > :42:07.This is the lesser black backed gulls on the roof and she is
:42:07. > :42:11.bringing back a few fish. And they are clever birds, because what they
:42:11. > :42:16.do is they build up a mental map of everything that is round them. Not
:42:16. > :42:19.just in Bristol, but in the surrounding countryside too, so in
:42:19. > :42:25.that way, they know, no matter what time of day it is, what time of the
:42:25. > :42:28.week it is, they know the areas where there is plenty of food.
:42:28. > :42:33.But is it just food that is drawing them in or is there something else?
:42:33. > :42:36.Well, that is what I will be looking at later on.
:42:36. > :42:41.Iolo, that is definitely enough to put anyone off their dinner,
:42:41. > :42:46.especially if you were planning on fish and chips. Enjoy it! It is an
:42:46. > :42:50.amazing strategy for survival. It it is why I am glad we don't have to do
:42:50. > :42:54.it. From birds you can see on the rooftops to one you can see in and
:42:54. > :42:58.round the river. We sent Nick off to look at the wealth of wildlife you
:42:58. > :43:04.can find round the river here at Ynys-hir. But not only to find it,
:43:04. > :43:08.but to show us what to look for, and but to show us what to look for, and
:43:08. > :43:15.also, show us how to enjoy it. Exploring your local river you could
:43:15. > :43:22.start by getting local advice. I began by meeting up with Springwatch
:43:22. > :43:28.cameraman Ian. What you up to? Because I am fascinated by rivers I
:43:28. > :43:32.got given the river as my area of patrol. My species are dippers and
:43:32. > :43:35.kingfishers. For someone who spend their life next to a river, how do
:43:35. > :43:39.you encourage others who may be haven't done this or wouldn't know
:43:39. > :43:43.where to start? What could they do? Maybe stop for a moment, like we are
:43:43. > :43:47.and sit down and take it all in, things will start to come alive. If
:43:47. > :43:52.you want to see a kingfisher listen to their vocalisation. They double
:43:52. > :43:55.whistle in flight. You will hear that, if you turn you will see them,
:43:55. > :44:00.dart past, that blue electric pulse of happiness.
:44:00. > :44:05.So there is an expert tip on how to spot and listen out for kingfishers.
:44:05. > :44:08.But it is not just all about the birds. Looking for what they eat
:44:08. > :44:14.opens up the whole ecosystem to explore.
:44:14. > :44:18.On the river, the birds are after fish and a whole variety of insect
:44:18. > :44:22.larvae and caddisflies and dragonfly, they are masters of the
:44:22. > :44:24.skies and keep themselves well hidden so finding them presents a
:44:24. > :44:28.challenge. Put yourself in the position of a
:44:28. > :44:33.river creature, you have all the dippers and kingfishers up and down
:44:33. > :44:37.the river. You don't want to be seen by them, so the best play for you to
:44:37. > :44:42.be is under a rock. So turn over some of the rocks, and have a poke
:44:42. > :44:46.round, see if you can see anything. It doesn't matter if you can't put a
:44:46. > :44:56.name to the creature, enjoy them being there, look into their world.
:44:56. > :45:00.
:45:00. > :45:06.feet wet. Be careful, it's slippy. feet wet. Be careful, it's slippy.
:45:06. > :45:12.We place the net downstream then we move a few stones out of the way.
:45:12. > :45:17.Any creature caught out will drift with the current into your net. You
:45:17. > :45:23.are using the current to your benefit. Sometimes, just seeing is
:45:23. > :45:31.enough. This under water viewer can help you do this. I have made this
:45:31. > :45:41.rather quickly out of Springwatch office bin, that I cut the bottom
:45:41. > :45:43.
:45:44. > :45:48.office bin, that I cut the bottom out of. I got plastic, with -- which
:45:48. > :45:52.I taped to the bin. It's like looking into an aquarium. If you
:45:52. > :45:57.want to really know the river, you have to get into it. In a cold
:45:58. > :46:01.mountain stream that means changing into a wetsuit. All over the country
:46:02. > :46:11.just below the surface of our rivers there is a whole new world to
:46:12. > :46:21.
:46:21. > :46:26.explore. So get out there and find I got out of the water left in my
:46:26. > :46:33.wet pants, I had left my towel at home. What a sight. What did you
:46:33. > :46:40.see? Trout and minowws, pretty fish. Amazing what you can find in rivers
:46:40. > :46:48.and streams. You don't need to have to be near a mountain stream. This
:46:48. > :46:52.is a stream in the middle of Grantham. Look at what was found.
:46:52. > :46:58.These are all familiar sights to any 10-year-old that has dreamed of
:46:58. > :47:02.seeing fish. Get in the water. Those are the eggs, those are the
:47:02. > :47:08.Fishguarding the eggs. Wonderful behaviour. Brilliant stuff. This is
:47:08. > :47:17.beautiful. This is an indicator of really clean water. These were
:47:17. > :47:21.prizes. When I used to go pond dipping this was it. Look at the
:47:21. > :47:29.minowws, these are breeding colours. This is a scene with so much going
:47:29. > :47:32.on. You have a perch, a can of larger. He ate a dragonfly.
:47:32. > :47:36.Brilliant stuff. Those are things you would expect to find in any
:47:36. > :47:39.river or stream? As long as it is reasonably clean, yes, you will find
:47:39. > :47:45.all these things everywhere. We don't look under the surface enough.
:47:45. > :47:50.We don't see fish enough on telly. I'm really pleased. If you look in
:47:50. > :47:58.river and streams take care, don't go in deep ones. You don't need a
:47:58. > :48:03.camera or a mask or snorkel or one of those buckets you tried to make.
:48:03. > :48:09.What? All you need is a pond and a bit of equipment. This is what we
:48:09. > :48:14.found in our pond earlier on, it is a stickleback. Is the fish. The best
:48:14. > :48:20.fish in Britain. Look at it. This is a male. In the springtime it has a
:48:20. > :48:24.red throat. He has beautiful blue eyes. Fantastic colour that.They
:48:24. > :48:29.get up to great stuff. He builds a nest for the female. He guards the
:48:29. > :48:36.female. He attacks other males that are red. You can see all this in any
:48:36. > :48:39.pond near you. Brilliant stuff. tend to be sizist, don't we? It's a
:48:39. > :48:43.little fish but, but really interesting. Big personality.It's
:48:43. > :48:49.fantastic the way you get people so enthused about looking for wildlife.
:48:49. > :48:54.Nick has taken his daughter out many times pond dipping. Yes. She
:48:54. > :49:00.absolutely loves this. This is all real. It isn't put on for the
:49:00. > :49:06.camera. She loves this. We shot this for Springwatch in the Afternoon.
:49:06. > :49:13.Try stopping her. She always says, "daddy, can we go pond dipping?"
:49:13. > :49:18.It's a great bonding experience. If you don't have kids of your own take
:49:18. > :49:24.your grandkids, hide behind them and enjoy pond dipping. It's a brilliant
:49:24. > :49:29.thing to do with your kids. On our website we have an ID of creature
:49:29. > :49:34.you might find while pond dipping. Really good thing. There are so many
:49:34. > :49:41.ways you can enjoy and engage with wildlife whether on your local patch
:49:41. > :49:48.or further afield. Cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones showed us how to enjoy
:49:48. > :49:58.the beauty of wild places. Today, we go on a special journey to a special
:49:58. > :50:06.
:50:06. > :50:16.island in the Bristol channel the nation. A nation of islands. In this
:50:16. > :50:16.
:50:16. > :50:25.unique and special place, there is one island I love, Lundy. For me,
:50:25. > :50:29.it's Britain in miniature. A journey around this landscape, watching its
:50:29. > :50:39.wildlife, is like a journey discovering what, I believe, is the
:50:39. > :50:56.
:50:56. > :51:00.our greatest natural assets. Granite cliffs acting as seabird cities.
:51:00. > :51:10.It's early spring and the birds are just beginning to gather here to
:51:10. > :51:19.
:51:19. > :51:26.breed. Razorbills. Guillemots. Fullmars. Puffins. Fusing together
:51:26. > :51:35.in this feathered metropolis, reflecting our own concrete cities,
:51:35. > :51:45.reflecting our own concrete cities, far from this wild place. Above the
:51:45. > :51:46.
:51:46. > :51:56.loud cliffs wander feral goats. These billies, rugged and tough, are
:51:56. > :51:56.
:51:56. > :52:02.willing to fight. They will scrap and brawl and will have a bashed
:52:02. > :52:11.head or two, but of course fights don't dominate Lundy. The plenty of
:52:11. > :52:18.time to relax too. Like so many places, the pub is the centre of
:52:18. > :52:27.Lundy's human world. But not the only important building on the
:52:27. > :52:37.island. We have been building and shaping the countryside for
:52:37. > :52:39.
:52:39. > :52:49.centuries. None more so than with our ancient dry stonewalls. Home to
:52:49. > :52:50.
:52:50. > :52:59.natures ancient or beganisms. -- organisms. Miniature sculptures. A
:52:59. > :53:09.fusion of a fungus and algae that thrive in this clean sea air. So
:53:09. > :53:18.
:53:18. > :53:23.much to enjoy on this journey. So much more to see. Lundy's calmer
:53:23. > :53:30.eastern shores offer us a glimpse of childhood. Rock pooling days by the
:53:30. > :53:40.seaside. The creature here, some of the best you might find. --
:53:40. > :53:46.
:53:46. > :53:51.creatures. A sea hare browses. Delicate comb jellies pulsate.
:53:51. > :53:57.Strawberry anemones search for suss stand nens. Sadly, of course, the
:53:57. > :54:04.British weather must always turn on a day on the beach -- suss ten nens.
:54:04. > :54:14.Rock pools are covered by the in coming tide and land by an in coming
:54:14. > :54:19.
:54:19. > :54:29.fog. So out to sea it is. -- sustenance. Home to some serious sea
:54:29. > :54:31.
:54:31. > :54:41.going vessels. Greyseals, so cumbersome and ungainly on land,
:54:41. > :54:41.
:54:41. > :55:45.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 64 seconds
:55:45. > :55:55.the marine. So much to share, so much to enjoy. So much to remind us
:55:55. > :55:56.
:55:56. > :56:05.of why Britain is great. And now, at journey's end, through the fog, my
:56:05. > :56:14.mind is clear. This Lundy island, these British isles are the home and
:56:14. > :56:19.the land I love. Lundy really is a very beautiful place even when it's
:56:19. > :56:23.foggy and misty. Now, not everyone though can get out to an island like
:56:23. > :56:28.lundy, most of us can get to a beach. There is a lot more to do at
:56:28. > :56:38.a beach other than eat an ice-cream and make sandcastles, as I found out
:56:38. > :56:43.last weekend when I went to the nearby beach of Aberdovey with a
:56:43. > :56:49.marine biologist. I have never been crabbing before. No. This is the
:56:49. > :56:55.best thing on the beach. Do you do it? You need to have bait. This is
:56:55. > :57:05.great, squid. It comes from the sea. Nice and smelly as well. Lovely.
:57:05. > :57:11.
:57:11. > :57:21.Great for attracting the crabs crabs. You put them in the mesh
:57:21. > :57:33.
:57:33. > :57:38.bags. You you then just lower it been at least five minutes. W-very
:57:38. > :57:42.something. You have to be careful they don't pinch you? There is it a
:57:42. > :57:48.way I recommend people to pick them up. Thumb one side, the finger the
:57:48. > :57:54.other side. The these are shore crabs? Yes. You will commonly find
:57:54. > :57:58.them around the British sea shore. With the male it has a pointed
:57:58. > :58:03.triangle under here. The female has a more rounded section. If you think
:58:03. > :58:08.of a lobster with a long lobster tail. That is the lobster tail, but
:58:08. > :58:12.curled underneath. That is the abdomen of the crab Do they get
:58:12. > :58:17.stressed? They don't like it very much. Look after them while doing
:58:17. > :58:21.this and put them back carefully. can't believe I have never been
:58:21. > :58:27.crabbing before. I'm a convert. It's a great thing to do with your
:58:28. > :58:31.family. The best places to do it with beaches with piers or harbour
:58:31. > :58:37.walls or rocks and stones. Can you find details of where to crab on our
:58:38. > :58:42.website: it's all part of summer of wildlife, to get you out there and
:58:42. > :58:45.enjoy the wildlife in the countryside. Chris, I bet you have
:58:45. > :58:55.been crabbing before, haven't you? #6r7b8g9s I certainly have and
:58:55. > :58:58.
:58:58. > :59:02.enjoyed it too. This is a television first. Don't eat the nymph. Is it
:59:02. > :59:09.bitter? It is not too bad. It wouldn't put me off eating the whole
:59:09. > :59:15.lot if I wasn't vegetarian. You are not going to do that. Has it got an
:59:15. > :59:19.aftertaste? A bit. We should go forth with to the woodpecker, let us
:59:19. > :59:26.go live to the woodpeckers. See what is happening. I can hear
:59:26. > :59:30.them. Can you?They are calling from inside the hole. They have been
:59:30. > :59:35.popping in and out all night. Do you think, Chris, shall we look at what
:59:35. > :59:40.has been going on. Yes.Let us look at what was going on earlier in the
:59:40. > :59:45.day. Here they are.Parents coming. Chicks coming out to the nest being
:59:45. > :59:49.fed. Do you think they will use this nest hole again? They don't. Other
:59:49. > :59:54.birds might use them. You might get something like a nuthatch going in,
:59:54. > :59:59.they will reduce the size of the hole with mud and you will get other
:59:59. > :00:04.animals using it like wasps and hornets. Not small birds like
:00:04. > :00:14.bluetits or great tits, if they go in there the woodpeckers will eat
:00:14. > :00:22.them. Do you like them? I do. Do you? It is funny your taste change.
:00:22. > :00:26.Rock the Casbah used to be my favourite Clash song. Now it is
:00:26. > :00:30.another one. Our nest watchers have been recording the activity patterns
:00:30. > :00:38.of the mammals that visit this. Let us see what they have been looking
:00:38. > :00:45.at. What they found, here it is, between the hours of six in the
:00:45. > :00:53.morning and 10pm at night, they are looking at voles and slews active
:00:53. > :00:58.there. From ten at night to four in the morning. -- shrews, these are
:00:58. > :01:08.seeing these animal, the wood mice, there seems to be an activity split
:01:08. > :01:14.there. Does that surs price you? you read my paper, I have come to
:01:14. > :01:20.the same conclusion. Have you read it? I enjoyed the bit where Mole and
:01:20. > :01:27.Ratty went on the river. That is a different one! If they were eating
:01:27. > :01:31.the same food resource they separated themselves in time. They
:01:31. > :01:36.avoided conflict. So many of the animals featured rely on woods to
:01:36. > :01:39.nest in. It makes you realise how important woodland is, but our
:01:39. > :01:43.woodlands are constantly changing and some of that change is due to
:01:43. > :01:49.disease. I mean think back to Dutch elm disease, changed the woodlands
:01:49. > :01:54.in the UK forever. Now the concern is about ash trees. It has been a
:01:54. > :01:58.year since we discover discovered ash dieback disease. It is still a
:01:58. > :02:03.threat and it is still spreading. Let us look at this ash tree. This
:02:03. > :02:08.is a healthy looking ash tree. I am pleased to say. But this is what an
:02:08. > :02:13.ash tree looks like, that has the die back disease. These are the
:02:13. > :02:18.signs to look for. Dead or dying tops of trees. You can
:02:18. > :02:24.see that there. Dark wilting leaves. They are going
:02:24. > :02:31.to turn black. You can see those on that picture. Large brown diamond
:02:31. > :02:35.shape lesions, on the bark. We need to get a better idea of how far the
:02:35. > :02:39.disease has spread. That is where you can help. So look out for the
:02:39. > :02:43.health of your ash tree, a reminder of what to look out for is on the
:02:43. > :02:47.website and where to send the find, but there is a bit of positive news,
:02:47. > :02:51.it hasn't spread as quickly as they thought it might, and they are
:02:51. > :02:59.hoping that they will be able to find a tree that has resistance to
:02:59. > :03:06.it. Let us hope so. It is a lovely tree. It has a lovely Latin name. It
:03:06. > :03:10.is time to go back to Bristol and the gulls and Iolo.
:03:10. > :03:14.Urban gull, they are the Marmite of the bird world. You love them your
:03:14. > :03:17.don't. But all the birds have done is take advantage of our
:03:17. > :03:21.wastefullness, but the question is, is it just food that is bringing
:03:21. > :03:25.them into our towns and cities? Well, to answer that we will go live
:03:25. > :03:29.to our herring gull nest cam, which is up on top of that tall building
:03:29. > :03:33.over there, let us look at see what is going on there now. There is one
:03:33. > :03:39.of the chick, they are very mobile again. Healthy looking chick, so
:03:39. > :03:45.they should be too, because they are six storeys up there, out of the way
:03:45. > :03:51.of urban fox, of cat, of dogs, of cars. -- foxes. They are doing
:03:51. > :03:58.really really well. The breeding success is far hiring than it is in
:03:58. > :04:01.their rural cousins. So, these gulls, they have plenty of food.
:04:01. > :04:06.There are precious few predators but there is one other factors look
:04:06. > :04:09.round me, on the floor, we have cobbled streets. It could be
:04:09. > :04:16.tarmacked. Behind me brick and mortar, I have glass, metal and all
:04:16. > :04:19.of that means in urban areas it is a degree or two warmer than in the
:04:19. > :04:24.surrounding countryside, and that means that urban gull, they can if
:04:24. > :04:29.they want to, they can start breeding earlier and the breeding
:04:29. > :04:32.season can extend a lot later, they have several advantages over their
:04:33. > :04:37.rural cousin, I wanted to find out more. I am getting into this gull
:04:37. > :04:43.business. If you want to know about Gavin -- urban Gills there is only
:04:43. > :04:48.one man you can go and see. -- gulls.
:04:48. > :04:53.Peter Rock is the leading expert oner Gavin gulls and is based here
:04:53. > :04:56.in Bristol. -- urban gulls. In the last 30 years he has caught and
:04:56. > :05:05.ringed 7,000 different birds. Allowing him to monitor their
:05:05. > :05:10.breeding habits. I have brought you here to look at
:05:10. > :05:17.one particular bird. Right.A very old one. And just on cue, there he
:05:18. > :05:25.is. The one on the chimney look. can see. He has a ring on.
:05:25. > :05:30.24-year-old. 24-year-old? So you ringed that? Yes, in 1989.As a
:05:30. > :05:35.chick. As a chick, yes. If you look down into the right, see there are
:05:35. > :05:41.chick, there is two or three chick, these guys here are raising three
:05:41. > :05:51.chicks, between them. Every year. He is 24-year-old. He has been breeding
:05:51. > :05:53.
:05:53. > :05:58.for 20 years. So this bird may have reared as many as 60 chicks.
:05:58. > :06:04.It is not unusual for gulls to live for more than 20 years, and some can
:06:04. > :06:11.reach 30. Within cities, the survival rate of
:06:11. > :06:20.their offspring maybe as high as 90%.
:06:20. > :06:24.-- may be. It is no wonder that urban living is proving so popular.
:06:24. > :06:29.The same story is occurring all over the country. All over the country.
:06:29. > :06:32.And not just here in Britain, all over the western sea board of
:06:33. > :06:37.continental Europe all round the Mediterranean, the great lakes in
:06:37. > :06:42.US, Canada, Australia, you name it. Urban gulls will take over the
:06:42. > :06:46.world! So the gulls are moving in because
:06:46. > :06:49.it is a great environment for them to rear their young. Right, tell you
:06:49. > :06:53.what, let us go over to the live camera one last time. Let us see
:06:53. > :06:59.what is going on up there, on the roof. There we are. Look at them.
:06:59. > :07:03.Looking very happy, preening away there. Do you know what? There are
:07:03. > :07:09.estimated over 2,000 pairs of gulls nesting here in Bristol. Say they
:07:09. > :07:13.rear two to three young each. At the end of the summer that could mean
:07:13. > :07:17.5,000 newly fledged young flying over the roofs here in Bristol. That
:07:17. > :07:21.is an incredible number, and the chicks will hang round for a few
:07:21. > :07:26.money, it is only in the winter really they move away. The herring
:07:26. > :07:31.gulls usually to the coast. The lesser black backed gulls may go to
:07:31. > :07:38.southern Europe and North Africa. What is fascinating is that urban
:07:38. > :07:41.and rural gulls are two separate populations, they do not mix at all.
:07:41. > :07:45.And, well, do you know it is a funny thing, you either love these birds
:07:45. > :07:49.or you don't. I have a grudging respect for them. Whether you like
:07:49. > :07:55.it or not the birds are here to stay. I have grown so fond of them,
:07:56. > :08:00.when we go off air in a moment I am going to share a kebab with my new
:08:00. > :08:08.found best friends! Superb. Big thank to Iolo Williams,
:08:08. > :08:12.man who will share a kebab with a gull. It is fledge watch so we
:08:12. > :08:16.should have a quick look life at our birds, see if any are ready to
:08:16. > :08:22.fledge. Let us look at the song thrush. Definitely not ready to
:08:22. > :08:28.fledge. They have a long way to go, those little chicks, Also a long way
:08:28. > :08:33.go is the Mall lard. There she is. Is she going to go. I keep saying
:08:33. > :08:40.she is. I think she might, might let us down. You have respect for the
:08:40. > :08:44.Mall lard? Look at the endurance she is putting in there.
:08:44. > :08:49.A quick look at the stonechat, they could go. They are in the waiting
:08:49. > :08:54.room at the fledging airport. are, duty free. They are nodding
:08:54. > :08:58.off. It is not just our birds that have been fledging. Viewers have
:08:58. > :09:04.been sending in birds which have fledged in their gardens. I like
:09:04. > :09:12.this one. This is a Starling adult feeding a youngster, this is from...
:09:12. > :09:19.Sorry Greg Coin. This is a Robin, which is very
:09:19. > :09:26.sweet. It looks a bit wet. Andy, river behind, and stretching its
:09:26. > :09:31.wing. Look that the. I love that. This is a young coal tit. He looks
:09:31. > :09:39.so grumpy. It is already not happy. This is from Daniel.
:09:39. > :09:44.It is a crabby coal tit. This is from Alan. It says log tail tit. But
:09:44. > :09:50.I think it's a long tail tit. that the peregrine chick. Jamie
:09:50. > :09:55.skipper. Which birds will fledge tomorrow?
:09:55. > :09:59.Who can tell, let us go to the woodpeckers, have a look, there is
:09:59. > :10:03.the chick. That is live. They have got to go. They will be tempted out
:10:03. > :10:08.by the parents and then of course, don't forget our jackdaws as well.
:10:08. > :10:13.There they are, filling the nest, they have to go.
:10:13. > :10:16.Coming up we have a film about large white butterflies. Now don't think
:10:16. > :10:20.pest in the lettuce patch, they are fantastic.
:10:20. > :10:25.Well, it is our last show of the series tomorrow. We will be back at