Episode 12 Springwatch

Good evening. It's our last programme of the series, but we're

going to finish on a high because we've got some big questions

hanging over us, like will our woodpeckers fledge? That's the

question. And we'll be solving the mystery of where our rabbits by the

barn actually come from. Things have taken a very interesting turn

deep inside our bumblebee colony. Yes, hello, and welcome to the

final programme of Springwatch 2013. We have had a marvellous series

here at the RSPB Reserve in Wales. The weather has been mixed. Today

the rain has rolled in, leaving the hills and all of the vegetation

dripping and damp. But our spirits are not dampened at all because

we've got a fantastic programme coming up for you tonight with some

real highlights, I promise you. If you were watching yesterday, you'll

know we had a bit of a fledge-a- thon. Young birds were bursting out

of their nests making their way into the wired world. There was one

pair that were on the brink, thinking about it, not quite

leaving - our stone chats. What have they been up to today? Here

they are. There were two of them in the nest. It's hidden down in the

grass, and throughout the course of the day, they have been out. They

have gone back in again. They've come out, and they've gone back in

again. LAUGHTER

It's been damp, and we have had some quite heavy showers here today,

not the ideal day to fledge if you're a ground-nesting bird like

this and you're requiring insect food from your parents. I think

what has been leading them out of the nest here is not a desire to

fledge but to get the food first. There has been competition between

these two nestlings. Here they are. They disappeared into the nest

again. Let's go live to those Stonechats to see if they're still

there. There's the nest hidden down to the grass, and they are still

both nestled down there. It's cooling off now, and there is less

feeding activity. What will happen then? My prediction is they will go

if not tomorrow, the day after. Then they'll stick around that nest,

hidden in the vegetation, for four or five days, probably not moving

more than five metres, and in about six week's time, they'll become

independent from their parents, by which stage, the parents will be on

another in a clutch of eggs because they could have four broods this

year if they keep themselves busy. That's your prediction, is it? I do

seem to remember at the beginning of the series - was it week one or

two when you said the redstarts wouldn't go in the evening, but

they did. They went in the evening, and so did the grey tits, so did

our blackbirds - in fact, live on 11.25am. There were four chicks.

They all looked ready to go. They were doing a lot of flapping. There

was a lot of activity. Then we looked at them again in the early

evening. It appeared there were only three left. We must have

missed one of them fledging. 7.50pm, another was thinking about going.

It did fledge. Then live on the programme last night at 7.53 -

because the programme started at 7.15pm last night, to our delight,

both of the blackbird chicks that were left in the nest got confident

enough and flew off. As I say, that was really exciting but surprising

because that's not what birds normally do. They don't normally

fledge in the evening, but it's a good job they did because look what

happened in the early hours of this morning at 2.00am. A rat came into

the nest, and you can see it's sniffing around there, and if those

chicks had still been in the nest, then they would have been set upon.

We set our camera man out to see if he could see the chick, but they do

tend to stay very close to the nest but in thick bush. I hope he'll be

all right in the bush. At this stage, the parents have divided

half of the brood. The male feeding half of them, the female the other

half until she has another clutch of eggs, then he'll take over. 46%

survive the first year, young blackbirds. That might sound less

than half, but I have to tell you that's a good survival rate. So the

blackbirds are gone, but what about our woodpeckers? Let's go live to

the great spotted woodpecker nest. He's always out. Every time we go

live to the nest, that chick is looking out. Is it always the same

one? I think it is. We have identified them by the markings on

the head. That one seems the keenest to look out. It's

fascinating to see how many there are. My goodness, I thought he was

going to fly out. We can't be that lucky - it's not going to happen

again. Let's remind ourselves of what has been happening during the

day. It's him again. He's out. What's happening is the parents are

coming back to the nest - there's a different one. They offer food, but

they'll try, as Chris said, to tempt the chicks out by offering

food, then walking backwards like that around the tree and see if

they'll come out, and this one is doing a little bit of foraging for

himself - pre-foraging I call that. If you slow it down, you can watch

the tongue coming out maybe picking up the odd little tidbit there,

learning to be an adult. Lovely. They're going to come out at any

time. Hang on. Hold the front page. You're not going to tell us about

the mallard? The mallard! Let's good live to the mallard. Wow.Well,

we have heard - one of our wildlife cameramen was down there with her

not two hours ago - a little bit longer - and he saw the eggs were

starting to crack, so I - LAUGHTER

I am convinced that we might see some ducklings tonight. Do you know

what I am convinced of? What?You have gone quackers. If the mallard

fledges tonight I'll eat my stripey cardigan. Jackie CKP has said, "I

don't blame the jackdaws staying put. I would. I wouldn't go out in

this rain". Lisa said, "I haven't done much at work today. I have

been too busy mouthing at my computer for the jackdaw to fledge".

Another says "The jackdaws are too comfortable in their nests." Stay

tuned. There are around 50 minutes left. You can watch our cameras

throughout the show. We'll tell you if there is any fledging.

Springwatch Live is available online. You can watch that on our

website. Stay tuned. Over the last three weeks we have been following

the amazing story of Monty the osprey in his efforts to find a new

partner in time for the breeding season. Let's catch up with the

latest news. At the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Reserve, a pair of ospreys

are incubating eggs. After a few fights and a succession of female

admirers, the male, Monty, settled down with his third mate of the

season, a massive female called Glessny. But they're breeding very

late this year. Most other ospreys already have chicks, but this pair

is still brooding their two eggs. Monty is an experienced father, but

this is the first time Glesny has bred. Unusually, she is still

catching food for herself. Females usually rely on the males bringing

them food once they've paired up. She's an independent girl and even

leaves Monty overnight to incubate the eggs alone. Monty and Glesny

have protected the nest from a series of intruders. Crows were

attracted to the nest. It's not clear whether they were just trying

to steal the ospreys' fish or perhaps attack the eggs themselves.

Only time will tell if the eggs were actually damaged by the crows.

Over the past few weeks, lots of other ospreys have been seen around

the nest. There have been at least 42 intrusions since incubation

began with about 20 different ospreys passing through the area.

These ospreys are unlikely to pose a threat to the nest. They're most

likely to be young two-year-old birds returning from Africa for the

first time and looking for potential nest sites for next year.

Monty and Glesny still have their biggest challenge ahead. With luck,

these two should hatch in a couple of weeks' time, and then the trials

of parenthood will really begin. Monty, such a handsome bird. Don't

you think, Chris? I think he's a bit scruffy. What is interesting

and amazing about that is they think they have seen 20 individual

birds passing through this area. If you think about it, for 400 years

there were no ospreys around here, then in 1996, they saw the first

ospreys back, and only a couple of years ago did they have the first

breeding pair here, so that means there are 20 birds coming in

looking for nest sites. Clearly there aren't enough nest sites, but

it's great so many have come back. It is great, but whilst we have one

pair here, the situation is fragile. If something happened to both of

them, we could lose them. What we need here are a few more nesting

platforms. I know what I would be doing on Sunday if I lived around

here - putting up a nesting platform without shadow of a doubt.

Ospreys here have greatly increased here in Wales, Scotland and England.

At the same time, the population of the kestrel has been plummeting. In

week one we launched our survey this year with the Hawk

Conservatory Trust Kestrels Count. We wanted you to spot them and let

us know. You have done brilliantly. We have had 25,000 reports of these

beautiful birds from all over the country and from all sorts of

people. I can tell you that traffic policeman Mark Wiebeil has reported

one of these birds. His mate Julie has been working for the drugs

squad. She actually saw one on a bus and reported it as well. A

couple of schoolkids, James Johnson, eight, and Howie, 11, saw them

while they were sat having lessons. Boys, we appreciate your sightings,

but if you don't concentrate on your biology, you won't be the next

Attenborough, will you? We have cholated all of these. We have this

map. These show the sightings. Each red dot is a spotted red kestrel

you have seen. The vart majority appear to be around England,

Norfolk here, a few in Lancashire, some in Wales, but there seems to

be a sparse area up in Scotland and indeed in parts of Wales around

here. That doesn't necessarily mean there are no kestrels there. We

have to be very careful with this data and the way we analyse it. It

could be there are fewer people here looking. What we ooh also need

to corroborate this is to spot areas where there are no kestrels,

but let's take a look at this part of the map here. There is something

about Norfolk. You can see there are lines that correspond with

roads. Clearly, lots of people are spotting kestrels while they're

driving. This raises a couple of questions - is it because it's a

good place to spot kestrels because you can see them there or is it

because the road verges is a good place for them to forage? Clearly,

we need to do more work to find out more and need your help, so please

keep contributing to the survey. Details are available on the

website. Do think about getting more involved because if you want

to, there are plenty more things you can do to contribute and let us

know more about the birds. We can conserve them incredible. Well done,

everybody. It has been brilliant. Those kestrels rely small mammals

to feed on. We have had plenty of them in our rodentorium. Let's have

a look at them now, see if anything is in there now. Nothing at the

moment, but we have had quite a variety and lots of different sizes,

going from the very small pigmy shrew, which was a good little spot

for us, then the common shrew, a little bit bigger, going to the

bank vole - you can see the slightly different sizes. Slightly

bigger than that is a mouse. And then you have from the land of the

giants the squirrel. Grey squirrel busted in. He's still in there

apparently. Scoffed all of our bait. Of course, all of these mammals are

part of a food chain. As much as we have enjoyed seeing them in our

rodentorium, we have also enjoyed seeing them in the beaks of some of

our Raptors too. Every now and again we have seen barn owls coming

in, probably the male taking food to the female, who has a clutch of

eggs. We have spotted adders out there, which will opportunistically

empty small mammals' nests. We caught this fabulous view of a

weasel. These things are mammal hunters par excellence. They're

slim enough to fit down the burrows of voles and mice. That's what

they're really after. Throughout the early part of there week, We

celebrated the colonising of our cities by gulls. They were nesting

on the roof, but they're not the only species of bird to have found

In spring, these birds are found feeding and nesting all around the

coast, but in Aberdeen, something strange is going on.

Aberdeen's oystercatcher have abandoned the beach and they are

choosing lofty places to rear their young. Will welcome to the

penthouse suite. So why have Aberdeen's

oystercatchers taken to the rooftops? Alistair Duncan used to

teach at this school in the city. One day, he noticed a pair of

oystercatchers nesting on the school roof. Back in the classroom,

Alistair told me how this moment sparked a life-long interest.

The first sighting was in 1957. Then another pair sat by the pier.

Why do you think that the first pair decided to nest on the roofs?

was a building booms in the 1960s. A lot of roofs were built flat. So

they adopted them. The flat roofs of the new building

were protected with a layer of gravel. This turned out to be

In their natural habitat, oystercatchers usually lay eggs at

ground level on shingle beaches. Nests are a simple scrape in the

ground. These gravel-covered roofs mimic the

oystercatcher's natural nesting territories on the shingle beaches,

but up here they have the added bonus of being 50 feet up in the

air. That means that the eggs and the chicks are safe from ground

predators like foxes and cats. Because of that, high-rise nesting

here in Aberdeen has really taken Remarkably, over 200 pairs of

oystercatcher oystercatchers rest on to tops of roofs in the city, but

over the years, Alistair has noticed that the birds favour educational

buildings. This is the reason why... Playing fields are found adjacent to

most city schools and colleges. They are important for the birds as they

provide a plentiful and nutritious supply of food in the form of earth

warms. Although the birds do occasional eat oysters they feed on

many invertebrates. They have a chick-feeding strategy that is rare

in wading birds. They can carry food to the chicks in the nest instead of

their chicks following them to the food. So this allows them to raise

their young on Aberdeen's rooftops. Oystercatchers are very territorial.

Once they have found a good rooftop, they will return there every spring.

Alistair has seen some birds come back to the same roofs for over 20

years, but over that time things have started to change. Some of the

oystercatchers returning to the city are ering problem. Over the past few

years, many of the flat roofs have been resurfaced and the fashion for

the pebbles has long gone. Fortunately for them, Alistair has

come up with a solution. I have the trays, the seed trays

from the garden centres, I half fill them with gravel and then I pop one

on the roof. They are very adaptable birds, one

little tray and they go in there? Yes, yes.

Very adaptable birds! These oystercatchers have now accepted

Alistair's trays as a substitute for the beach. Because of this ability

to adapt, they are thriving, right in the heart of Aberdeen.

Now there are breeding oystercatchers in towns and cities

all over Europe, but we must not forget that the trend was started

here in Aberdeen, more than 50 years I reckon that Yollow has become the

rooftop correspondent, hasn't he? has great stories. I love the trays.

I would love an oystercatcher on my roof in a tray.

All of those birds to live more harmoniously than our jackdaws. We

have been following two families in nest boxes, both have been attacked

by intruders. Let's see how they are getting on. This is the single

jackdaw chick. He is looking really bigment almost like an adult. He is

is sleeping at the moment, but this is a jackdaw ready to go without a

doubt. Let's have a look at what has been going on in 24 hours. Believe

it or not, that is the chick. I know it looks like the adult but he has a

paler bake. There is the adult -- beak, there is the adult, almost

calling him, tickling his foot. Look at that, but he thinks, it is a

little chilly out there. He will go back. In but look at all of that

flapping. Really exercising the wings.

The adult goes behind and almost tries to lead the chick out. Follow

me! So he comes to the hole, has a good look. Most of the body is out.

He flaps a bit. He almost seems to lose his balance... Is he going to

go? Nearly out but, no, he goes back in, but I really don't think that it

will be long. I think, basically, he has bought his ticket. He is in the

departure lounge, the flight is delayed.

Not by long. Let's have a look at our other

jackdaws. There are two chicks in the nest box. They've been attacked

so many times it is fantastic that they have gotten this far. There

they are, they are peaking out the front of the nest box. They've also

been thinking about fledging, but not quite so much activity as the

single jackdaw. There they are again, looking out. The adults come.

They are about the same age. They are four to five weeks old. This is

the time they should go. It is not surprising, really, that the single

jackdaw is bigger, stronger and certainly more third degreeic than

those two. It is a single child. Spoiled. Many of you are surprised

that the birds made it at all. During the first week there was a

huge amount of aggression towards them from intruders, coming in,

trying to steal this nest hole. They kept coming into the nest box.

Whenever the adults were absent. Pecking the chicks. Occasionally

being caught by the adults. Here they are in again. Hopping outside,

another big fracas taking place. This went on an on. Then the birds

went into the nest box with the single chick it was larger and

better able to fight back. We think that this is all about a dominant

hierarchy. A social hierarchy that is established in the species, where

those higher up have not only the nesting sites but the best nesting

sites. Yes a question from Francis

Brightman who says do the jackdaws automatically inherent the social

status from their parents or do they have to work their way up in the

social order? They start from the bottom. When they fledge they find

their meats in the second year. The female jackdaws pick males a little

older than them. We can make a parallel between us

and Howells. I can tell you that women pick partners, not one or two

years older but typically three years older and on average seven

years older. Really? Yes, this is true. The

jackdaws once they find a partner, it is higher up in the social

status. So they are moving up a class, the females. The bad news, if

the male dies, the female goes back to the bottom. She may do so to the

extent she will never find another pat ner nor breed again. Again, a

bit of human social biology, in 1958, 38% of women in the UK married

up their social class. By 19-77, 32% were going up their social class.

Now only 16% of women in the UK marry up their social class and 28%

marry lower in terms of earnings and so on and so forth. So this leaves

me to a question, Michaela, how much money do you have? At the moment?I

think you are richer than me... is lovely but I am taken. Funnily

enough, seven years difference! I wonder what Martin is? I think he is

a few years more? Now, the jackdaw society, complex, but not so as the

bee society. We have been noticing interesting things going on within

our beehive. Let's go inside it. Now here we can see the Queen.

is bigger than the workers. Always attended to by them. We noticed that

they have opened up the side of the nest to allow her to move around a

bit. We think she's been laying eggs in there. She has been laying eggs

but she has started to lay some very special eggs. Look down at the

bottom. There is that larger white pupa down there, that is is a young

Queen. That will turn into a queen. She has begun to sow the seeds of

her own destruction. Because once that Queen hatches out. It may be

anything between a handful up to 100 new queens, the whole of the colony

will start to break down. It will become apocalyptic, post dystopia

nightmare in there! We have been having to look to see whether there

are signs of aggression. When it does start to break down, here they

are, they are starting to squabble a little in there.

So that is what is going to happen in the end. Once the new queens

hatch out, that is the normal thing. They will fly off, they will meat it

will start to slowly break down that is the whole purpose of the nest. It

is to produce the new queens to be fertilised. So it will get messy in

there, unfortunately, in the end. Will be every little bee for

herself. Now those bees, they will be flying around, what they need is

honey, nectar to make the honey. What they need for that is beautiful

meadows. That is what Chris has been investigating.

This year's late spring means that many meadows with the greatest

floral divert have yet to show their true colours.

But this field at the RSPB Reserve is in full bloom. Look it is a

carpet of butter cups. It has not been agriculturally imfrooufd more

than ten years but that said, it is not being managed specifically as a

wild flower meadow. The primary use is to provide pasture for the

reserve's ponies it is that and the biological properties of the butter

cup that mean that it is this manage enough cent sea of yellow.

There are several species of butter cups found in the fields. They have

some surprise being secrets. -- surprising secrets. All contain a

toxin. It is poisonous to livestock. It is said it can cause severe

irritation to human skin as well. In addition to being toxic, they are

also unpalatable, so the ponies do not eat them. They focus on the

grasses and the edible flowering plants. This means that the butter

cups are left standing whilst the other plants never get a chance to

flower or produce seeds, so they getting ahead, and there are two

species growing in this field here. The first one is low to the ground.

It's called the creeping buttercup, and it's very clever because it

spreads using these. This is what we call a stolon, so it grows out

from the base of the plant this long extension, and then it

produces more leaves, and if you look on the side there, just a

little root, and this means it can spread throughout the field without

using sexual reproduction. Furthermore, when this takes root

in the soil, it depletes the sidium in the soil and discourages other

plants from greeing there. Good stuff. The other species that's

here is this one. It's a far-more upright plant, far more leggy. This

is the meadow buttercup. Buttercups are a hugely successful group of

plants. There are more than 600 species worldwide and more than 20

in the UK, and the reason for this is they have been around a long

time - 138 million years. Of course, the reason they're called

buttercups is because of the colour, and when you look at the shiny

inside of the petals, it does look like melted butter. This shiny-

looking surface is created by a thin layer of just two cells with

air between them, and it makes them highly visible and highly

attractive to would-be pollinators, insects like beetles and aphids,

and this enables buttercups to really stand out from other flowers,

think one of the most uplifting to be in is a lovely speckled wild

flower meadow, and yet sadly in the last 75 years we've lost 97 - yes -

97% of these. There are still wild flowers out there. We'd like you to

go out and survey them. If you visit our website, you can find out

about a survey called Wild flowers Count. You can visit the website.

You can download informs there, send off for a survey pack. You can

get involved counting wild flowers. Do you know, we lose a species of

wild flower from every county every two years. Unless we know where

they are and what their populations are doing, we can't effectively

conserve them, so do please try to get involved. It would be great if

you did. Now, over the last week we have been having a bit of a fledge-

a-thon with lots of our birds fledging the nest, but there is one

lot of birds that definitely haven't gone. They haven't even

bought their tickets yet. That's the song thrushes. Let's have a

look at the chicks. There they are live. Now, what's in there? Oh,

they're just sleeping. You can see they have grown. They were a little

pink when we introduced them to you at the beginning of the week, and

now they have got a few feathers on. They don't quite look so like alien

species anymore, do they, Chris? they have fluffed up a little bit,

and they have gotten three, four perhaps five days old. They have at

least another nine days in the nest. I felt a bit sorry for them because

it's turned chilly, and we have had a lot of rain, and there are the

chicks being fed, but you can hear the rain, and there's one of the

parent birds eating the faecal sacks - very tidy. In fact, they

really have been very good parents. Both the male and the female are

coming regularly doing feeds, and the chicks are doing well. Look at

this. This is interesting. This is probably the male bird because

study has shown it's usually the male bird that does this. It's got

on the top of the nest, so you can still hear the rain, and look what

it's doing with its wings. It's almost using them like an avian

umbrella. It's shaking off the water and keeping those little

chicks dry because obviously it's very important that they keep warm

and dry. It's great that, though, isn't it? It's amusing, an

instinctive thing as well. That male knows when it's raining, it

has to make an umbrella out of its wings to keep its young dry,

incredible. Let's go to our wrens because they too are too young to

fledge yet, but they have been developing nicely. You can see them

now nicely. Their beaks are peeping out of the nest, eagerly

anticipating the return of the mother with some food, and she has

been really busy throughout the course of the day bringing plenty

of things in. The nest is well hidden, tucked in the ivy, and here

she is coming back in. She's doing all the rearing of these youngsters.

The male has gone off, probably found another female that he's got

in another nest he built earlier in the spring. She's still taking the

faecal sacks out trying to keep the inside of that nest clean as the

birds have got plenty more time. Occasionally - and you can hear the

rain again - she goes back into the nest to brood them and has a little

bit of tidying up as well - a bit of OCD around the entrance - a bit

of grass around the entrance out of place. I know where she's coming

from. I think she's such a pretty little bird. Very special.Chris,

calm yourself. Don't get too excited because we are going live

to our mallards. We did have reports that the eggs were

beginning to crack, but I think it's more the production lot that

are beginning to crack, quite frankly, because there has been a

little talk - sort of split the camp a bit, this mallard. Some

people adore it. Others think it's a bit boring. Seriously, they could

be hatching underneath. They could be, but we can't see them. It's

going to take awhile. She could have ten eggs there. They could be

hatching. She's not going to do much until they have all hatched.

She has to wait for all of them to hatch and dry before she'll lead

them away from that nest. I am afraid it's unlike there will be an

eruption of fluffy ducklings emerging from under her breast.

Some have said perhaps we should recast her. She hasn't done a good

performance and we should get Donald in next year. Sll we have a

look at our live cameras? The barn- cam - here we are. Not too much

activity, I have to say, but we have seen plenty of rabbits out

here - we saw initially two, then masses of rabbits. The big question

is where were they coming from? Exactly. We had Nick Baker with us

yesterday on the programme, who is good about doing a bit of tracking,

so we sent him out to see where those rabbits have been coming from.

Pretty much every predator we have here eats rabbits, so if you're a

rabbit, you want to hide, and this barnyard is rabbit paradise, so the

question is where are they coming from? We know they're here, but

have they got a warrant? I don't think it's right here, but it is

nearby. There is a bank behind the barn, so I'm going to go behind the

barn. Look up here - rabbits have been here. That is where they wear

the ground down. This is a run. This is classic rabbit science.

What I am looking for is a burrow. There we go - bingo. There is a

rabbit hole. Can you see that? If we move the Bracken out of the way,

there is a rabbit hole. There is a rabbit run. There's more holes here,

more holes that way. So Michaela, this is where the bunnys are coming

from. Well done, Nick. I knew I could rely on you. Basically,

that's a mystery solved, case closed. Over the last couple of

weeks we have been using our cameras here to get an intimate

insight into a unique species of animals, but we're not the only

people doing this. Across the country people have cameras up on

one of our most exciting birds, peregrines. These cameras have

allowed us to find out how these birds are coping with our very

unusual spring. There are thought to be around 50 pairs of peregrines

living in our city's centres, and these cameras at nest in Norwich,

Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham allow us unique access to behaviour

that otherwise would go completely unnoticed. The harsh conditions in

early spring were a real challenge. Snow arrived in March in Derby

after the eggs had been laid. The parent frantically tries to reach

them to incubate before they freeze. In Nottingham, this parent appears

frozen to death. It's a desperate improvement in the weather ensured

that eggs survived and successfully hatched. In Sheffield, it wasn't

the weather, but a structural problem that almost scuppered this

peregrine's chances of raising a family. But repairs came in time,

and she went on to produce three healthy chicks. That's the same

number as hatched in Nottingham. Nests in Derby and Norwich each had

four. These cameras have been instrumental in deepening our

understanding of peregrine behaviour. In Derby, 353 different

species of prey have been counted, including collared dove, like this

thriving. At this stage of their development, it's time for a little

training. This young starling is brought into the large nest where

it takes a bit of a beating. Peregrines very often choose young

starlings to train their young. They make a lot of noise, and they

exhausted too - death seems inevitable for this one. It makes a

lucky escape. Last week, almost 70 days since the eggs were laid, the

chicks at Norwich were the first to peregrines. I can't believe the one

in the snow. I know, tough birds. Amazing that those chicks actually

hatched. They nest quite far north above the Arctic Circle, so they're

used to cold conditions. But those ones falling off the edge - what

happened to those? I can tell you there is a good chance they'll

survive and turn into beautiful birds. They're likely to flutter

down then land on the building itself or an adjacent roof. If they

don't make it there, because they're in the city centre, often

they get picked up and brought back on to the roof. I have an update.

One of the Sheffield birds fledged yesterday, and two have fledged

today. Let's hope they do really well. It's fantastic to see them

back in our city centres. They're continuing our fledging theme,

aren't they? So many animals make the most of living around human

activity, not just peregrines, insects, perhaps. A fair few.The

Midges have enjoyed our activity, but it's not just midges, is it?

am afraid it's not, Michaela. It's going to be our final visit to the

micro-lab and how it has delivered. We have noticed some creatures that

have been living very close to us in Springwatch headquarters. Have a

look at this. Here we are. Here's one of our portacabins. Have a look

at the lights on top, and at night, ieltsdz been attracting moths.

There are any number of different shapes and sizes. We have about

2,300 different types of moth here in the UK, and that compares with

only about 59 different types of butterfly, and here it is, the

perennial question - how do you tell the difference between a moth

and a butterfly? There is no scientific distinction, actually.

There is a common one, but let us dry and define it. Butterflies are

generally brightly coloured. They have antennae that are clubbed.

They generally fly during the day, and they have wings that fold down

loo that. Here's a moth filmed in micro-world. Their wings are tented

up. They don't hold them flat down. Look at this. Look at the antennae.

They're not clubbed on the moth. This one is warming itself up prior

to flying. What a bizarre face - needs a haircut, like me, some

would say! Look at those antennae. You could never mistake that for a

butterfly. I sent Micro-world a challenge today to film a tiny bit

of a moth. It's a little bristle that goes from the back wing to the

front wing, and it catches - locks them together, and only moths have

that, and they managed to film that. It has been spectacular. They have

achieved minor miracles down there. Sometimes they would film things

that would normally take weeks - just overnight for us. Let's have a

look at some of the things they have filmed. Here is the studio, a

tiny studio, a fantastic caterpillar. Last night we saw this

- the froghopper producing the spittle, and we saw the

metamorphosis of the painted lady, the voracious predators in the pond.

We have seen the metamorphosis of the tad pools changing into frogs.

This is a carnivorous plant - this is one of the least favourites, but

they have made good viewing - the midges hatching out on to the top,

making our lives miserable! Thank you to those guys. Often it's the

little things that have the big year, but finally our gardens burst

appeared. Many of whom had spent months hiding away during the

winter. This butterfly is a large white, often called a cabbage white,

a common species, not as showy as some, and often cursed for being a

gardeners' pest, but dig a little deeper, and there's more to its

life than just catter pillers and cabbages. Puppy, called a chrysalis,

find sheltered places to see out the winter months. This one has

been hanging out under a greenhouse ledge for eight months, but this

mornings temperatures are rising, and that's triggered the next stage

Over a matter of minutes, its emerging as a complex creature with

four wings, six legs, compound eyes and the ability to sexually

reproduce. Beneath this miraculous

transformation, other spring dramas are playing out in the greenhouse. A

Queen wasp is chewing wood, that she will use later to build a nest.

She's being watched. Zebra spiders have excellent eyesight, as well as

the ability to jump. This snail has been disturbed from its daytime

hiding hole it is skimming its way across the door to find another bolt

hole before it gets too hot and dry. It's taken less than five minutes

for the large white butterfly to break free. Its inflated its wings.

It is now ready to take its very It heads straight to the border to

feed on some nectar. The two block spots on her wings

reveal this is a female. Although she's mainly white, the

underneath of her wings is pale green, helping to camouflage her.

Life will be a bit of a lottery for our butterfly and there's always

trouble about. These butterflies are remarkably

strong fliers. Some even journey hundreds of miles on migration. A

number of the large whites, seen in our gardens, will have flown over

from southern Europe. With a life-span of a matter of days,

finding a meat is a priority. The large white's courtship is a flight

of fancy. After meating, the female will lay her eggs in her favourite

place - the vegetable patch. These yellow skittle-shaped eggs are each

fixed to the leaf with a special glue. Every batch has about 40 eggs,

positioned side by side to ensure permanent contact with the cabbage

leaf. The reasons become clear when a few

days later, they have hatched into tiny green caterpillars, a few

millimetres long. After decimating their host plant and molting four

times, they will pupuate, bringing our story full circle. This female

large white is only a week old and yet she is about to die, but she's

done her job, creating the next generation of this common, wret

remarkable butterfly. -- yet. Butterflies, beautiful and

fascinating if you are interested in butterflies, we have a Springwatch

butterfly special coming up in July. We are filming it right now.

Now I think that throughout the course of the series, if I may sob

bold, we've been able to show you truly astonishing things. How about

the water rail dreaming? I never thought we would get a water rail

but watch this. Listen, listen. And then she wakes up, look...

LAUGHTER And then, of course, having dream

dreamed, as we were all dreaming ourselves, of the eggs hatching we

got to see six out of seven water rail chicks. Probably a global

first. A global first! I never dared dream of that. Amazing. Absolutely

amazing. We have had some truly incredible things. That was

adorable. This was a bit more shocking. This was the meadow

pipits. We have seen this a couple of times. You can see that they

hunker down as the snake comes in. Then it gets one of the chicks...

There it is in its mouth by the head. Let's just watch this for a

minute. It manages to slither off with just

one but fortunately the rest of them got away, but it certainly was not

my favourite bit. I felt sorry for the chicks but incredible behaviour

to capture. Once in a lifetime. Those cameras

have allowed to us catch other predators in the act, especially

this weasel. Remember this nest of dunnocks? I'm afraid it is hard to

waf again, look he even has a little look at the camera! Fantastic stuff.

Absolutely brilliant. You could spend several life times

in the field, out there with your nose in the bushes, sat in the shade

of a tree and you would never get to see those things. It really is an

extraordinary privilege. We have been lucky. Let's have a quick look

around the cameras. Let's go to the marsh camera. There are the swans.

They have not bred this year, but decorating away in their, well,

decorative fashion, really. Look at this, swanking across there. And

let's go live to the bishd feeder. Oh, perfect.

They will regurj date the -- regurgitate the food into the mouths

of their youngsters. So probably taking the seeds, crushing it into a

piece and giving it to the young. Unlike many birds who forsake the

boo feeders and two for the insections. Now the mallard. ---er

who forsake the bird feeders and go for the insects. Now the mallard. It

does not look active enough for me to have chicks underneath it

Now remember, Springwatch is the start of the summer of wildlife and

there is a whole lot of events across the entire BBC.

The UK is home to so many amazing creatures. Who needs to go abroad to

see incredible things? This summer is the time to get out there and

enjoy them! # Day dream

# I fell asleep amid the flowers # For a couple of hours

# On a beautiful day. # The BBC's Summer of Wildlife,

brings a raft of special programmes across the BBC.

This country really does have the most incredible wildlife.

It is a nationwide celebration of our natural history.

To be able to crouch here is a dream! And the chance to get

involved. Get out with your camera so we can

see what wild things are living on your doorstep.

Go down to the local pond... Look out for hundreds of wildlife events

and a website packed full of top tips and guides.

All of the advice that you need to get out and meet your extraordinary

neighbours. Information and inspiration for a

truly wild summer. And as part of Summer of Wildlife

there will be events run by our wildlife partners across the

country. The BBC are running one this weekend in Cardiff. So enjoy

that. Of course the truth is, the more interested we are, the more

chance there is that all of our wildlife will be conserved and

looked after for generations to come if you are looking for something to

do this weekend, go to the website, look on the Things To Do, and put in

your postcode and you will find things to do at: The last chance to

catch up with some of the birds involved in dge fledging. Let's go

live to the stone chats. Are they there? Yes they are, they are

sleeping that is what we want at this time of the day. What about the

woodpeckers? Let's go live to them. Yes! On cue! Still peeping out. What

about the jackdaws? A last look at them there. Is the single jackdaw up

and about. Look at the length of the prime Aries. On the brink, I would

say. Fantastic. Well, I have to say a massive vote of thanks to the RSPB

and all of the staff here. We have enjoyed your hospitality and the

fruits of your labours. This is a beautiful reserve, it is packed full

of wildlife. We would like to thank the

hard-working people behind the scenes, the people you don't see to

work so hard to bring Springwatch to our screens and in particular, Ian

Dewar, who is ill in hospital. All of our thoughts are with you, Ian.

And a big thank you to you, the audience. For getting involved are

for contributing so you are really part of our Springwatch family, but

continue to get involved. Get inspired, engage with wierld life