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coming to you live from Wales, where we are unfurling the secret lives of | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
our cast of characters, and to night, we've got a new family for | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
you. As always, we will be celebrating the best of our UK's | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
wildlife, and we will be taking a rather beautiful look at orchards. | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
And looking at a whole host of animals there that are hard at work. | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
And we will bring you right up to date with belated dramas, like this, | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
our buzzards. Last night, we left them battling the wind on cold. What | :00:45. | :00:55. | |
:00:55. | :01:13. | ||
will happen? Find out with us on Springwatch first for the series. Do | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
you know why? It is not raining! Sun has just come out just this | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
second! We are coming to you live from the very beautiful RSPB reserve | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
in Wales. There is 700 hectares. It is a pretty big place and home to a | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
variety of habitats, including moorland, woodland and grassland. We | :01:37. | :01:45. | |
will keep you up-to-date on the post daily dramas of wildlife characters. | :01:45. | :01:46. | |
And it will be especially interesting this year because we | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
will be monitoring the effects of the appalling weather on our | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
wildlife through the series. promised you a new family and we are | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
not going to hold back. Let's go live straightaway. Here it is. It | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
doesn't look much, does it, nestled down in the grass? But you can see | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
the chicks, who hatched just a couple of days ago. What are they? | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
That is the question. Let's reveal all. They are meadow pipits. It is | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
edible brown bird, and underweight -- underrated bird, closely related | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
to the work tale, and it is a bird of open country. It likes moorland | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
and grassland and woodland edges, but not woodlands themselves. You | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
can see the long tail with those characteristic white outer | :02:37. | :02:47. | |
tailfeathers. Sadly, the state of nature, we were mentioning that | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
report last week, and these birds have declined by 25% over the UK, | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
which is a shame because they play an important role in many | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
communities. They are eaten by predators such as Merlin's. But they | :02:58. | :03:08. | |
:03:08. | :03:11. | ||
are also flooded by cookies. They act as a parasite and lay their eggs | :03:11. | :03:18. | |
in their nests. Let's have a look at what they have been up to today. | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
These are the adults feeding them plenty of insects. They eat few | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
seeds in the winter and get all of their food from the ground. They are | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
a walking bird and they walk across the ground to find that food. | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
Because it has been a bit nippy today, you can see that presumably | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
the female is brooding the young. Another bird comes in with a beak | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
full of insects. Crane flies and possibly a wasp. And in the process | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
of poking around, that one masks the other bird depositing the food into | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
their mouths. They are vulnerable on the ground. But the nest is very | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
well hidden. We will be following them over the next couple of weeks. | :04:01. | :04:08. | |
It is nice to see some live birds that are not soggy and wet! Yes, it | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
is delightful! Tonight, you get more bang for your buck on Springwatch. I | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
allowed to say that? Because after the main programme at 8:30pm, we are | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
going to have Unsprung, where we answer your questions and notice | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
your observations on British wildlife. And tonight we have a baby | :04:26. | :04:36. | |
:04:36. | :04:40. | ||
deer coming in. Baby dear -- a baby dear? Great! To get into interactive | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
mood, we have a question... A quiz for you now. This is how it works. | :04:46. | :04:56. | |
:04:56. | :05:07. | ||
Listen to this sound but -- sound... Those are different sorts | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
of crows. There three different calls and we want you to tell us | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
which bird is making which call. This is it wants a game. -- once | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
again. I thought it was quite easy to begin with but now I'm beginning | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
to think it was a bit difficult! If you think you know the answer, get | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
in touch. The website address is below. If you are on Twitter, use | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
the hash tag and Springwatch. have had 20 of tweets and comments | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
after the programme last night. -- plenty. Lots of you talking about | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
the Osprey soap opera. So we thought it was only fair to keep you updated | :05:52. | :06:00. | |
with the latest drama. It has been a dramatic breeding | :06:00. | :06:10. | |
:06:10. | :06:18. | ||
down with his third mate of the season, a massive female. But they | :06:18. | :06:26. | |
are leaving it very late to breed this year. Unusually, she is still | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
catching fish for herself. Females normally rely on the mails to bring | :06:30. | :06:40. | |
:06:40. | :06:40. | ||
food wants -- once the breeding season begins. But this is what she | :06:40. | :06:46. | |
has brought to the nest. Things begin to look up when she brings in | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
soft nesting material, a sure sign she is beginning to get Rudy and | :06:50. | :07:00. | |
:07:00. | :07:06. | ||
mother Courage and site -- encouraging sign that she might lay | :07:06. | :07:14. | |
eggs soon. There is no doubt that they are committed to each other as | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
they mantle to cut -- detect their nest. But still no eggs. The other | :07:20. | :07:30. | |
:07:30. | :07:36. | ||
three weeks since they paired up, she lays a single egg. She steps | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
carefully around the precious egg but when the crows start to pester | :07:40. | :07:50. | |
:07:50. | :08:00. | ||
intruders... But she leaves the nest unprotected. Could this crow have | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
cracked the vulnerable egg? Three days after the first egg, she lays | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
her second. It's great news, but this pair have got a real challenge | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
ahead. Will these eggs hatch in time? Will this first time mum learn | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
to protect them better? And even if they hatch successfully, the chicks | :08:22. | :08:29. | |
will need to grow big enough to migrate to Africa by autumn. | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
A little hole like that. If it has prompted the interior membrane, | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
infection can get in. But my chickens had holes and they have | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
still hatched out. There is no way of knowing, is there, of how big | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
that hole is? Fingers crossed it will hatch. More drama, and take a | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
look at what happened yesterday with the ospreys. There is our female, | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
our young mum, sitting on the nest, protecting her two eggs. And then | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
she gets up. Something is obviously coming in. That is not Monty, it is | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
an intruder, and this happens a lot. But she is quite clumsy. She is | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
stepping all over the eggs. She is still learning what to do. There is | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
a big difference there. If you are watching carefully, as you said, she | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
folded her talons in and they walk around on their fists if they are | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
turning their eggs or anything like that. But in the blind panic she was | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
jumping around with her talons out and she could easily puncture one of | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
her own eggs if she is not careful. That is a first-time mum habit. | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
will certainly keep you updated with that drama. And we had drama without | :09:44. | :09:51. | |
jackdaws. We have a nest box with two young chicks. Now, remember, | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
these are intruders, not the pairs. This in true debt is attacking those | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
chicks. It is very aggressive. It is packing them and stamping on them. | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
Ashley this intruder. Then what happens? One of the pair of birds | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
comes back and chases them off. That is what we showed last night. What | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
has happened since? Fortunately, it has not been quite such a lot of | :10:20. | :10:27. | |
hassle. No aggression at all. Let's have a look live to see how the | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
chicks are. Because we were concerned about them and it was an | :10:30. | :10:40. | |
:10:40. | :10:44. | ||
attack. But they look pretty and healthy. And their feathers | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
growing pretty rapidly. Every day they are more and more feathered. | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
These are quite large and robust birds. Take a look at this as well. | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Because the actual parents are constantly reasserting their pair | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
bond. Because jackdaws are one of those birds which truly mate for | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
life. Once they have found a mate, normally in their second year, they | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
will stick with them all the way through their lives. If one of them | :11:10. | :11:20. | |
dies, female jackdaws normally find high-ranking males to pair up with, | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
so if a higher ranking male dies and you are the mate, you lose your | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
ranking and you have to find a lower ranking mail if you are lucky enough | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
to find one at all. But all that beautiful posturing - we see quite a | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
lot of that in the crows, and it is something you can watch for | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
yourselves. Like in the book King Solomon's Ring, , all about watching | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
jackdaws and their behaviour. just say that everything seems to | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
have calmed down now with the jackdaws. We don't write the | :11:52. | :12:00. | |
scripts. They do! And anything could happen. Many of you have got in | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
contact to report unusual behaviour and animals behaving in inventive | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
and Strangeways in response to this very unusual spring we've been | :12:07. | :12:17. | |
having. -- strange ways. I went down to the seaside to investigate one | :12:17. | :12:27. | |
:12:27. | :12:32. | ||
Beautiful! Beautiful but slightly smelly! Yet these great piles of | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
decomposing seaweed are a crucial resource for a host of wildlife. | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
Now, whereas you or I might give it a miss on our way down to the | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
beach, the strand line here is a really rich habitat. And in fact, on | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
strand line is all around the country this spring, some very | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
curious things have been going on. And this year, it is not just our | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
usual coastal birds like goals and work tales that have been seen on | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
the beach. There have also been sightings of garden birds. Robbins, | :13:05. | :13:15. | |
friends. So what are they doing down here? To unravel the mystery, marine | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
biologist Meyer is rooting around in the rotting seaweed. Heaps of | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
rotting vegetation. It really is! You can see on the surface, and when | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
we peel back, take a look at this... It is absolutely packed. You | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
can see already we have sand hoppers... And look, a whole load of | :13:37. | :13:44. | |
maggots. Look at that! And it is so warm here! Yes, and it is not the | :13:44. | :13:50. | |
sun warming this, it is the rotting he week -- rotting seaweed which is | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
rotting to create this microclimate for these insects and animals to | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
grow. Sheltered under the layer of seaweed, the maggots can breed all | :14:00. | :14:09. | |
year round. I have a thermometer... Of course you have! So we can see | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
exactly what the temperature is. This green one measures the | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
temperature of the air and we can stick this probe into the seaweed. | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
Already we can see this is going up to 19... In the aerial temperature | :14:22. | :14:29. | |
is 13. So we have an additional six degrees. So I suppose this year it | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
has been so freezing cold inland, there's nothing going on. | :14:33. | :14:40. | |
Absolutely. Here, we have managed to maintain this warm temperature from | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
all this lovely rotting seaweed. the mystery this year of these | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
curious birds that have come down, you have solved it, because they are | :14:47. | :14:55. | |
coming down to feed on these invertebrates. That's right.A few | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
moments later we were joined by a wren-mac. We believe this is the | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
first time one has been seen here on the beach. It may even be building a | :15:07. | :15:14. | |
nest on the bank. It is certainly feasting on all these flying | :15:14. | :15:24. | |
:15:24. | :15:25. | ||
beetles. To get a closer look at the wealth of life, we put down some | :15:25. | :15:35. | |
:15:35. | :15:44. | ||
markers. Look at that! That is a lot of sand hoppers! Look at so much | :15:44. | :15:51. | |
biology is going on here. There are not many places on land you would | :15:51. | :16:00. | |
find quite so many invertebrates. Sand hoppers are crustaceans that | :16:00. | :16:09. | |
leap. They also navigate using the sun and the moon. The total biomass | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
on this beach must be astronomical. In this small area we have got | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
hundreds. Multiply that over the strand line and it is astronomic. | :16:17. | :16:27. | |
:16:27. | :16:28. | ||
You can see why so many birds come here to feed. While people may want | :16:28. | :16:37. | |
to tidy it up, it would be a disaster, wouldn't it? This mobile | :16:37. | :16:45. | |
restaurant feeds so many creatures. This year it has become a J Lifeline | :16:45. | :16:54. | |
for a lot of our favourite birds. really has. It just goes to show | :16:54. | :17:04. | |
:17:04. | :17:09. | ||
that it is the animals that adapt well. It reminds us that we should | :17:09. | :17:17. | |
leave debris on the beaches because it provides habitat. Can you see the | :17:18. | :17:25. | |
beaches of Malibu with all of the celebrities on the sand with rotting | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
seaweed behind them? Then just leave some of it! We are going to be | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
looking at how wildlife is coping with the late spring. Let us know | :17:34. | :17:43. | |
what you have noticed about the beautiful rebels all around. Send | :17:43. | :17:52. | |
all of your comments to the website. That is also the place to go if you | :17:52. | :18:02. | |
want to continue watching on the live cameras once you -- we have | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
gone off air. This looks like a natural lake but just 13 years ago | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
this was artificial grassland. The RSPB have done a fantastic job. It | :18:14. | :18:23. | |
is now full of life. We have got a live camera on it. We have also got | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
a cameraman getting all sorts of interesting wildlife. I think we | :18:26. | :18:33. | |
might have something on the camera at the moment. Let's have a look. It | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
is always a beautiful sight, isn't it? Always beautiful. It does not | :18:37. | :18:47. | |
:18:47. | :18:48. | ||
have any cygnets. This time last year, we had cygnets. This is one of | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
our favourite animals that we have been lucky enough to catch. It is an | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
otter. We have seen them here in the last couple of years on | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
Springwatch, but this one has turned up in daylight, which is always a | :18:59. | :19:06. | |
treat. This is one of the few species that are doing really well | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
here at the moment. They have spread back into all of the English | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
counties. They always do well in Scotland and Wales. It is always a | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
treat to see them. Otters are not a major threat to wetland birds | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
although they will take them opportunistically. Yes, they will | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
do, especially ones which are nesting close. Typically, their diet | :19:32. | :19:39. | |
is fish. A bigger threat is a weasel. We have lots of nesting | :19:39. | :19:47. | |
birds around the wetland area. We saw this last night. This is our | :19:47. | :19:56. | |
family of chicks and the weasel got all of them. It could be a problem | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
for some of our other families. We have got lots around the wetland | :20:01. | :20:09. | |
area. Let's have a look at the reed bunting's -- hunting s. They are not | :20:09. | :20:17. | |
far away. They have got a strategy for survival. Let's have a look at | :20:17. | :20:26. | |
this. This is one of the little chicks fledging. They fledge really | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
early. That is part of their survival strategy. They fledge after | :20:31. | :20:39. | |
nine or ten days, which is three or four days before they can try. It is | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
death or glory. They have got to get out of the way of the predators. In | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
order to do that, they fledge early and disperse. When we saw the weasel | :20:47. | :20:53. | |
coming, all of the chicks were in one basket and it just kept going | :20:53. | :21:03. | |
:21:03. | :21:08. | ||
back. In the case of these birds, it might just find one. I am concerned | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
about the chick that did come out, surely it is more obvious for a | :21:13. | :21:23. | |
:21:23. | :21:23. | ||
predator? Let's have a look at the nest. How many are in there now? | :21:23. | :21:30. | |
This is the reed bunting. Let's get as close as we can. I have a | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
suspicion they may have all gone. We only saw one leaving through the | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
front. That would be typical. It looks empty to me. I think all of | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
those youngsters have gone into the thick grass and they have probably | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
spread themselves out over a few metres. They are not going to go far | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
because the adults will study to find them when they come back. They | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
might even go back into the nest overnight, or they may stay | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
separate. We will have to see what happens. Another nest very close is | :22:03. | :22:11. | |
the water rail. This is quite a precarious nest. Again, a weasel | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
could come in. What I have noticed is one of the adults is never really | :22:15. | :22:22. | |
off the nest. There is always one protecting the nest. I suppose a | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
weasel could take the adults, there is nothing to stop that happening. | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
This story developers have been watching. The longest they have seen | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
either the male or the female away from the nest is eight minutes. They | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
are typically only awake for 20 seconds that they are sitting tight, | :22:39. | :22:47. | |
which is perfect. You can see how difficult they would be to be spot. | :22:47. | :22:53. | |
They are not difficult to hear, they are very noisy birds. This is a | :22:53. | :23:00. | |
unique opportunity to listen to some of their calls. Listen to this will | :23:00. | :23:10. | |
:23:10. | :23:21. | ||
gives a little groan, and then goes back to sleep. We think this is a | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
contact call between the female and the mail, that the other bird was | :23:25. | :23:35. | |
:23:35. | :23:36. | ||
close to the nest. There are seven calls listed, but it turns out it | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
has been heard before, as has this one. This is the one you would | :23:39. | :23:49. | |
:23:49. | :23:54. | ||
typically hear if you went out listening for a water rail. Sounds | :23:54. | :24:02. | |
like a squealing pig, doesn't it? is a fantastic noise. What you | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
cannot appreciate is how noisy it is. They do call our lot at night. | :24:07. | :24:17. | |
:24:17. | :24:18. | ||
You will soon detect whether there is a water rail there. You can hear | :24:18. | :24:28. | |
their call. We call it shining. I am not sure where the word comes from. | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
If you know, let us know. Is it a surprise that they make so much | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
noise when they are sitting on the nest? Calling from the nest and | :24:40. | :24:50. | |
:24:50. | :25:02. | ||
making all of the noise is slightly unusual. Flooding is also a problem. | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
The terrible weather last year played havoc for the people and the | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
wildlife. Earlier I went down to the river that feeds this march to see | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
the long-term damage of those floods. | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
This is the river that runs through the reserve. It divides amazing | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
habitats for the wildlife. It is also the river that last year rose | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
so high that it burst its banks after a weekend of torrential rain, | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
causing mayhem and destruction not only for us and the wildlife, but | :25:33. | :25:41. | |
also for the river system itself. It was a year later that it was a very | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
different river. Just look at this. This was caused by last year's | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
floods. The water was so high that it caused the whole side of the bank | :25:52. | :26:02. | |
:26:02. | :26:07. | ||
to collapse. Floods do not just destroy, they also create. Birds are | :26:07. | :26:14. | |
taking advantage of the breed left by the flood. We are just behind the | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
course, where the river came up. This female blackbird has woven | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
herself quite a delicious little nest. She is currently sitting on | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
Aix. How many? And Mike the last time I looked she had three, she may | :26:32. | :26:42. | |
have another. Further upstream, a rain has also built a nest. But Ian | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
wants to show me the home of an iconic river bird that for the full | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
force of nature. It is the Kingfisher. Ian has a special | :26:52. | :27:00. | |
license that allows us to take a special look. This is where the link | :27:00. | :27:10. | |
:27:10. | :27:22. | ||
was filmed last year. Last year, a mink killed all of the chicks in the | :27:22. | :27:32. | |
nest. Is this a sensible place to nest? It is a bit low. A good | :27:32. | :27:38. | |
Kingfisher nest should be 6.5 feet off the ground. The rats could go | :27:38. | :27:48. | |
in, straight to the Dominic Bradley mink -- straight to where the mink | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
went. Some birds are still at the mercy of the river. Let's hope we do | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
not have a repeat of last year 's torrential weather. My fingers are | :27:59. | :28:06. | |
crossed. We do not want to see it repeated. Despite the fact that a | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
Kingfisher was flying across it does not look like they are going to be | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
used this year. Those birds were using all of the flotsam and jets in | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
to make a nest and birds will use all sorts of materials to form a | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
nest. It is probably easier to have a list of things they do not use. | :28:23. | :28:33. | |
:28:33. | :28:36. | ||
They do not use corrugated irony! They use all sorts of natural | :28:36. | :28:46. | |
:28:46. | :28:49. | ||
materials. We spotted this mail wren earlier. They make up to five nests | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
to attract a female. He has hidden his nest very cleverly in this bank. | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
You can just make out some of the mosque. When the nest is chosen by | :29:00. | :29:08. | |
the female it is lined with fine grasses and is much softer inside. | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
This siskin is not going to find a softer cop because it is going to | :29:13. | :29:23. | |
:29:23. | :29:27. | ||
use this fleece to lying its nest. Let's go live to the jackdaws. It is | :29:27. | :29:33. | |
not just siskins who have monopolised the fleece, there is a | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
whole pile. Jackdaws will add all sorts of things into their nest. You | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
can see plastic and tweaks and all sorts of unnatural material. | :29:44. | :29:54. | |
:29:54. | :29:56. | ||
Jackdaws are famous for bringing in twinkling materials. You will have | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
to test them - put some outside the nest! They don't just use discarded | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
bits of animals either. Look at this photo. She says a holidaymaker saw | :30:07. | :30:16. | |
the jackdaws and came running to the door to tell her that the pony was | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
being pecked by the jackdaws! But if their willpower site is there, they | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
will peck at those while taking nesting material from the live | :30:23. | :30:33. | |
:30:33. | :30:35. | ||
horse! -- but if there are parasites there. A photo like that is great | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
because it tells a story. You can take fantastic spectacle photographs | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
and photos that tell stories, and that is exactly what we are | :30:45. | :30:50. | |
encouraging you to do as part of the BBC some of wildlife. We want you to | :30:50. | :31:00. | |
:31:00. | :31:01. | ||
see it, snap it and share it. You can do that by going to our website. | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
There's also lots of details on the website about how to take good | :31:05. | :31:12. | |
wildlife photos as well. Another thing on there is a guide as to how | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
to feed wildlife. This is really important. Not just birds but also | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
is of wildlife - mammals, insects with nectar. That sort of thing. | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
Let's go live to our feeders. I didn't expect to see too much there | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
at this time of night. Principally, because many birds have groups of | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
young, and at this time of year they will concentrate on insects because | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
they want the protein. However, we have seen birds on the feeder | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
earlier today. And we have some adult birds having a quick snack in | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
between gathering all of those insects. And up here, look, there's | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
a great tit. It is snacking on the seeds before it nips off and carries | :31:56. | :32:02. | |
on, presumably, feeding its young. If these are non-breeding birds or | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
birds who have failed, they might spend more time at the feeder. But | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
this is what we expect to see at this time of year. A lot more birds | :32:11. | :32:21. | |
with invertebrate food. Song thrush with worms. Let's have a quick read | :32:21. | :32:28. | |
cap about corvid conundrum. There three different sorts of birds | :32:28. | :32:36. | |
singing here. -- a quick re-cap. If you know what those birds are and | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
the order in which they are making those sounds, send us an email or a | :32:43. | :32:50. | |
message on Twitter. Springwatch is a celebration of wildlife but | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
sometimes wildlife and beauty can be found working hand-in-hand in | :32:54. | :33:04. | |
:33:04. | :33:08. | ||
surprising places, as our cameraman Britain is an industrious nation. | :33:08. | :33:18. | |
:33:18. | :33:19. | ||
Built on a willingness to work. And in Somerset, there is an ancient | :33:19. | :33:27. | |
tradition centuries-old of working the land for apples. Whose golden | :33:27. | :33:37. | |
:33:37. | :33:39. | ||
drink has long sustained our busy trees, the lines of wooden workers, | :33:39. | :33:49. | |
I have come to find our British wildlife. Because it works here two. | :33:49. | :33:58. | |
-- too. Roe deer come to graze. The Orchard hedgerow offering a tasty | :33:58. | :34:08. | |
:34:08. | :34:20. | ||
insistent. It must eat and eat and eat to satisfy its hunger. There's | :34:20. | :34:28. | |
little goodness in its leafy diet. But finally, after the longest of | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
winters, sustenance will arrive in the Orchard. The warmth of spring. | :34:35. | :34:45. | |
:34:45. | :35:07. | ||
year there will be autumn fruit. It is a beautiful promise but it comes | :35:07. | :35:17. | |
:35:17. | :35:52. | ||
Shipped in to pollinate the their harvest. They take nectar and | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
move pollen between the blooms, helping to fertilise them. And in | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
their hives, they are working to build their comb and attend to their | :36:01. | :36:11. | |
young. Only disrupted by a dance. A waggle dance. To show where a new | :36:11. | :36:21. | |
:36:21. | :36:28. | ||
bounty has been found out amongst Orchard, too. Less celebrated than | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
the honey bee, but still doing an important job. Bumblebees fly in | :36:34. | :36:44. | |
:36:44. | :36:57. | ||
colder weather. They fly in wetter moths, oddly named nocturnal flyers, | :36:57. | :37:07. | |
:37:07. | :37:08. | ||
work in the Orchard, too? Some of us in trying to find out. -- are | :37:08. | :37:18. | |
:37:18. | :37:34. | ||
character. The cloud drab. They are here but are they playing their part | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
:37:44. | :37:44. | ||
in pollinating? The truth is, not even the experts know. They need | :37:44. | :37:54. | |
:37:54. | :38:18. | ||
it's not just the insects who live here. But birds, too. And amongst | :38:18. | :38:26. | |
the blossoms, blue tips. Just as some insects are the Orchard's | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
friends, others are not. And the blue tit of the Orchard's pest | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
control company, bouncing through the bowels. They peck and pick for | :38:38. | :38:45. | |
insects with precision. And take the odd blossom or two for their time. | :38:45. | :38:52. | |
And as they leave, off to work their next tree, in a quest to help the | :38:52. | :38:58. | |
nation's dreams of drink come true, I, too, must take my leave. My | :38:58. | :39:08. | |
:39:08. | :39:21. | ||
thirst for nature... Well and truly beauty in nature but sometimes you | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
have just got to stop, take the time and really appreciate it. Absolutely | :39:27. | :39:33. | |
stunning. Now, still to come onto night's programme, what's now | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
altered chicks' menu? It is something eight at a bit surprise | :39:37. | :39:45. | |
in? -- our buzzard chicks' menu? Martin will be getting his knees | :39:45. | :39:52. | |
dirty as he takes a look at the creatures of the undergrowth. | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
good stuff. Now, we are continuing to explore the reserve and you can | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
see the saltmarsh stretched out behind us. I was meeting one of the | :40:01. | :40:08. | |
locals the other day and set -- they said this was called lovers rock! | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
Oh! OK! We have come down here because there is some woodland | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
behind us and you have been in there and seemed the bluebells are still | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
in flower. They are way behind but they are not the only things that | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
are behind. We have our great tits and they seem to have been doing | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
pretty well. They are nesting. The chicks are looking healthy. What do | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
you reckon, Chris? When are they going to be ready? Well, they have | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
grown considerably in the last few days and you can see their pin | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
feathers and primary flight feathers, which are covered in this | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
waxy sheath, so, yes, they are still huddled together because it is a | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
cool evening but they are being fed well and five of them have survived | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
and are all looking good. Yes, we were worried that one might not be | :40:57. | :41:04. | |
being fed twice a much and we had comments on Twitter about that. | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
Literally over there, 100 metres over there, is our buzzard nest. | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
Let's go live to it now. If you were watching last night you will know we | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
were looking at potentially the most miserable buzzard in Christendom, as | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
it had spent the whole day getting soaking wet in order to properly | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
brewed its young! But here, look, a far more content and attractive | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
looking buzzard. And quite a lot of bitty on the buzzard nest. A lot of | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
different prey food being brought in. -- a lot of activity. And that | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
is a mole. It is not what you would expect a buzzard to be feeding its | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
young? No, it isn't, because moles spend their years being free of | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
predation by remaining below the ground. Only a few youngsters come | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
above the ground in August, so that is interesting. But look at this. | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
This is an eel. And it is quite amusing because it doesn't seem to | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
know exactly what to do with it! not surprised! They probably don't | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
catch to many of them! And that is showing a real sense of opportunity | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
when it comes to diet. But I have got a theory. It is this. We have | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
seen the meeting lots of frogs and it has been very rainy. It is likely | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
these amphibians would have been reactive and so the buzzards would | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
have taken more of them. Then the mole. If it had been flooded, that | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
might have driven the mole up out of the ground onto the surface, and | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
therefore the buzzards might have caught it, and lastly, the eels. | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
Now, these animals will spend large amounts of time and travel long | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
distances out of the water but only when it is flooded or damp. So I | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
think these things we are seeing in the buzzard's diet all to do with | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
the weather. It is basically to do with the situation and they have | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
taken full advantage, which means they will be successful, hopefully. | :43:02. | :43:08. | |
Definitely. But a key component of any woodland is its deadwood. And we | :43:08. | :43:18. | |
:43:18. | :43:18. | ||
have used some of this to form our rodent patch. It is an old, dead | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
blog. But deadwood is very important. As Martin knows, don't | :43:22. | :43:30. | |
you? Yes, I do. Here I am in the beautiful open woods. But I am going | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
to go into microworld. These bluebells are so late for this time | :43:35. | :43:42. | |
of year. The wood is full of rotting wood, and that is a terribly | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
important habitat. Let's quickly go back to the rodent house. Which is | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
essentially rotting wood. In the year last night, we recorded this. | :43:52. | :43:59. | |
Do you see that Beatle? It is a violet ground beetle and it is a | :43:59. | :44:05. | |
tremendous predator. It has fearsome jaws. I was told it was eating a | :44:05. | :44:11. | |
woodlouse. It is so definitely not eating a woodlouse at all! It is | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
eating a seed, which is very curious, but, member, I was out in a | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
god in and heard a squelching noise and I found a violet ground beetle. | :44:23. | :44:33. | |
:44:33. | :44:39. | ||
Let's have a closer look at one. I over... Sorry, mate! Can you see the | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
beautiful colour underneath? That violet colour. Let's have a look. We | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
have been filming it in the studio. There it is moving along. On rotten | :44:50. | :44:56. | |
wood - important to see. And look at the antennae, detecting allsorts of | :44:56. | :45:05. | |
smells and things. That is a door beetle. Lovely things. Now, | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
beetles, look upon. This is one of this -- most successful designs on | :45:10. | :45:17. | |
earth. The great biologist JB holding was asked, what could be | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
inferred by the creator about studying his works? And he said, God | :45:21. | :45:28. | |
had an inordinate fondness for Beatles! -- beetles. And that is | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
because a quarter of the species on the planet are beetles. We have | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
400,000 in the UK like this alone. And one of the reasons they are so | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
successful is they live in different adult areas. The larvae of many | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
beetles will live in rotting wood. It is a terribly important habitat. | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
There's nothing in here Bob... Ooh, a centipede! But there is a beetle | :45:54. | :46:02. | |
lava. Completely and utterly different. Munching its way through. | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
And they are very important because they break down the wood and help | :46:07. | :46:17. | |
:46:17. | :46:17. | ||
recycle all the nutrients in the garden. Another reason they are so | :46:17. | :46:27. | |
:46:27. | :46:27. | ||
successful, the adults have another trick up their sleeves. This is a | :46:28. | :46:33. | |
longhorned beetle, for obvious reasons. It is very protected, very | :46:33. | :46:40. | |
are plated. It has fantastic sensory systems. It has another wonderful | :46:40. | :46:50. | |
:46:50. | :46:52. | ||
trick that makes Beatles so successful. Those cases on the back | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
are actually modified wings. What else can do? This wonderful trick. | :46:57. | :47:07. | |
:47:07. | :47:09. | ||
Here it goes... They can fly, they can disperse over enormous areas. | :47:09. | :47:15. | |
They are fabulously successful creatures. And now, one animal that | :47:16. | :47:25. | |
:47:26. | :47:31. | ||
was successful but now it seems to be in trouble. | :47:31. | :47:39. | |
Last night I ride around the few people I know who bird watch and | :47:39. | :47:46. | |
asking if they knew if there was any work I could see a kestrel. There | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
was nothing on my patch, not a single pair of kestrels in my area. | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
To me, this is almost unthinkable. They used to be an most common bird | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
of prey. My childhood was completely defined by these wonderful birds. I | :48:02. | :48:10. | |
have been obsessed with them since I was a teenager. Finding might first | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
kestrel's nest at 14 was one of the greatest moments of my life. I | :48:14. | :48:24. | |
:48:24. | :48:24. | ||
remember the day, it was 6th of June. It says in my diary, I found | :48:24. | :48:31. | |
it! I heard the young birds screaming. I watched at least three | :48:31. | :48:38. | |
birds. I was so excited about finding a nest that I was torn | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
between staying there and watching the birds, or cycling furiously home | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
to tell my dad about my trophy find. I plumped for the latter and I | :48:51. | :49:00. | |
remember cycling on my chopper singing Seasons In The Sun and then | :49:00. | :49:10. | |
getting home, running up the driveway, saying, dad! I have found | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
my first kestrel's nest! I know exactly where the tree is. Sometimes | :49:13. | :49:19. | |
I take over -- fly over it when I take off from Southampton airport. | :49:19. | :49:29. | |
:49:29. | :49:30. | ||
Every time, my heart misses a beat. Ted Hughes wrote, effortlessly, at | :49:30. | :49:38. | |
height, Hanks is still five. I think that describes them perfectly. They | :49:38. | :49:46. | |
hover effortlessly, even in high winds, by constantly making small | :49:46. | :49:54. | |
adjustments. They can keep their head and eyes constantly steady. | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
They had a wide range of animals including lizards, beetles and | :49:58. | :50:03. | |
worms. Their main food is the sealed phone. They are fantastic predators | :50:03. | :50:10. | |
and even now I take every opportunity to get close to one. | :50:10. | :50:19. | |
When I was 14 I got my first pet kestrel. It was the absolute | :50:19. | :50:25. | |
epicentre of my adolescent life. I loved that bird dearly. I got it on | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
June 20 1975 and sadly on December six that year, it died. It was | :50:31. | :50:39. | |
heartbreaking. I still remember those days, taking it out to a patch | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
of wasteland behind my house and flying it. This pretty little bird | :50:43. | :50:52. | |
is a two-year-old male kestrel. You can tell it is a meal, it has eight | :50:52. | :51:01. | |
slate who -- a slate blue head and tail. They are used to just grasping | :51:01. | :51:08. | |
hold of their prey. They are not a killing, constricting bird. They | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
would usually kill with a pinch to the back of the neck once they have | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
grabbed hold of their prey. I can remember being in the back-seat of | :51:18. | :51:25. | |
my dad 's old Vauxhall and I always the kestrels hovering alongside the | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
road. Many people took them for granted but sadly, in the time it | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
has taken me to grow up, the population of this bird has | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
collapsed. They have gone down by 30% in the last 25 years, perhaps | :51:39. | :51:45. | |
more. It has become a species of conservation concern. The cause of | :51:45. | :51:51. | |
the kestrels decline is a mystery. One factor could be a lack of | :51:51. | :52:01. | |
:52:01. | :52:01. | ||
natural nest sites. Last autumn, a host of volunteers put up 70 nest | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
boxes across Hampshire, Wiltshire and Surrey. They are hoping to | :52:06. | :52:14. | |
discover if putting boxes across the country could help kestrels recover. | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
There are other theories as to why the birds are in trouble. Some | :52:17. | :52:24. | |
people think it is an increase in the number of buzzards, that they | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
are competing for food. Others think it is the intensification of | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
agriculture, too many pesticides for too long. One thing is for sure, the | :52:33. | :52:39. | |
last couple of harsh winters will not have helped. The message it | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
really sense to me is that we can never afford complacency when it | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
comes to conservation because what is a common bird today could be a | :52:47. | :52:57. | |
:52:57. | :52:57. | ||
rarity tomorrow. It is so true. You used to take that | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
completely for granted, the kestrel hovering as you were driving along | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
the motorway. We asked one of our cameramen to go and get a shot of | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
the kestrel on the reserve but he could not find one. There is | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
something we can do, isn't there? The key to conservation is that you | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
have to know what has happened to the population and where it is. We | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
are pleased to team up with the Hawk Conservancy Trust for the kestrel | :53:25. | :53:33. | |
survey. We want you to report all of your kestrel sightings over the next | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
couple of weeks. We want to know where you have seen them, so you can | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
give us a postcode. We want to know the time and place and we also want | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
to know what you and eight were doing. If you are eating a sandwich | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
we would like to know, if the kestrel was eating a sandwich it | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
would be very interesting! We want to reduce a map by the end of the | :53:54. | :54:01. | |
series so we can see if there are any kestrel hotspots and also, where | :54:01. | :54:07. | |
they have disappeared, so we can see if putting up nest boxes would make | :54:07. | :54:13. | |
a difference. Please fill in the report on our website. Can you do an | :54:13. | :54:20. | |
impersonation of a kestrel? You mean sit like one? No, make a kestrel | :54:20. | :54:30. | |
:54:30. | :54:32. | ||
sound. Of course not.Martin, can you? That is not bad!They make a | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
very shrill sound. Barn owl is make a very different sound. Can you do | :54:36. | :54:46. | |
:54:46. | :54:48. | ||
that one? That is pretty good! Here is the barn owl on the reserve. They | :54:48. | :54:58. | |
:54:58. | :55:08. | ||
tend to be very noisy birds. It is a sort of shriek. They make a great | :55:08. | :55:09. | |
range of sounds, everything from high-pitched squeals to all of the | :55:09. | :55:19. | |
:55:19. | :55:20. | ||
hisses will stop -- hisses. This is what we saw earlier on. This is a | :55:20. | :55:30. | |
:55:30. | :55:32. | ||
bit unusual. The squirrel is chased in by the barn owl, and then comes | :55:32. | :55:39. | |
out, looking agitated. It is a little bit too big to be prey. | :55:39. | :55:46. | |
would be a little bit big. But the barn owl would give a good account | :55:46. | :55:53. | |
of itself, keeping the squirrel away from its nest. Let's hear the corvid | :55:53. | :56:01. | |
mash up once again for the quiz. A lot of you were close, but only a | :56:01. | :56:11. | |
:56:11. | :56:13. | ||
few were bang on. It was, the first one was... Let's hear it. Sounds | :56:14. | :56:23. | |
:56:24. | :56:25. | ||
like a magpie, doesn't it? The second was... That was a wreck. -- | :56:25. | :56:35. | |
:56:35. | :56:35. | ||
rook. The third was a raven. There will be more quizzes after the show | :56:35. | :56:42. | |
in Unsprung. We will be answering all of your questions and having a | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
good time. For those of you who enjoy the baby rabbit yesterday, I | :56:49. | :56:52. | |
thought you might enjoy this. This is very close to the production | :56:52. | :56:59. | |
village. We saw this in the middle of the day, a hare, which is unusual | :57:00. | :57:09. | |
:57:10. | :57:16. | ||
and fabulous to get on camera. I am not sure we have seen it this late, | :57:16. | :57:25. | |
but that was a hare a couple of days ago. Duncan Richardson said this in. | :57:25. | :57:35. | |
We will speak to him later in the show. We are almost at the end of | :57:35. | :57:45. | |
:57:45. | :57:45. | ||
the programme. Tomorrow, Iolo Williams is going to see one of the | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
best raptors we have in the UK, the hen Harrier. It is in a precarious | :57:49. | :57:56. | |
position. We will be keeping our eye on the live cameras, will there be | :57:56. | :58:01. | |
more jeopardy with the jackdaws? We do not know what is going to | :58:01. | :58:08. | |
happen, nature writes the script. And with the weasel prowling around, | :58:08. | :58:14. | |
what will happen to the reed bunting and meadow pipit nests? Will the | :58:14. | :58:19. | |
weasel have an unfortunate ending for them. We are back tomorrow at | :58:19. | :58:27. |