Episode 5 Springwatch

Wales. On this beautiful evening. We have had a really busy weekend here.

Lots of drama. Especially with our jackdaw's nest and the buzzards.

Lots to catch up. We are meeting new characters,

including the colourful Kingfisher. A favourite bird for many.

And we are visiting the bird colonies on the magical Isle of May.

Welcome back, it is week two, it is Springwatch! Yes it is Springwatch

it is week three. Coming from the beautiful RSP B Reserve in Wales.

800 hectares of lovely habitat. Everything from the Morland on the

hill, the salt marsh, the estuary, we have marshes, lakes and nestled

in the woodland we have our studio. Throughout the network of habitats,

we have everything, we have our noses in lots of nests. Now it's

been a cold spring, the coldest in 50 years. This is having an impact

on the wildlife and spring is critical. The clans for most to

reproduce. They have to make it count. Well it is week twochlt

Did I say week three? It is week two this week! We have had a lot of

drama while we have been off air, but let's start with exciting news.

On Thursday last week, week one, we left you with a bird that you

commonly see in your gardens, the nest of the blackbird. We were not

sure if there were chicks or eggs but let's see what we got. This is

but let's see what we got. This is There is the nest, the female, the

male feeding her and she gets up, there are three tiny chicks born o

on Thursday. They hatched on Thursday, but what happened to the

other two eggs? There are five eggs in the nest? Did they hatch out?

Well, yes, they did. This is Friday. You can see one of

those eggs. We got it on film.

Hatching out, a little tiny baby blackbird.

The mum comes back to brood again. What happened to the fifth egg?

Well, I can tell you it hatched out on Saturday. There is the mum eating

the egg. She is taking that calcium back into her system, but, Chris, is

that unusual with the black birds to hatch over three days? Slightly it

depends on when they lay the eggs, but the purpose of birds is to get

them to hatch at the same time to feed them equally and then they

leave at the same time. They may catch up with the others.

Well, let's have a look at them live... There is the female. Easy to

tell the difference. She is brown, the male is more black. Sitting on

the five chicks. They are very vulnerable. Obviously they are only

a few days' old. Keep an eye on them on the live cameras.

It is cosy and snug there. Lovely and warm under the mother. Now we

always want to bring you new nests on Springwatch. We have another one

for you. What do you think this nest is? It is up in a tree on site here

it is rather unlike any of the nests we have had before... It is actually

a bird that many of you will be familiar with. A hole in the tree.

There is is a clue. There it is. The greater spotted woodpecker. The male

and female would have worked together to dig out that hole.

There they are... You can hear the chicks in there.

Watch out now, you can tell the difference between male and female,

the male has a red bit on the back of his head. Brightly coloured.

There he was going in. We don't know how many chick there is are yet.

There is the male again. Very, very obvious. Of course these are the

birds that are a terror of the bird table. Everyone disappears when they

turn up on the garden feeders but what a treat to see them there.

don't know how many chicks are in the nest yet. We will get a look

soon, but it sounds like they will soon come out.

They sound pretty big. Let's have a look at them live.

Listen... You can hear the chicks in the nest there.

They are very noisy. I mean, what do you think? There could be as many as

eight chicks in the hole. They are all trampling on one another,

jumping on each other's heads to get the food. The adults a not taking

the way -- away the faecal sacks, it is getting smelly in there. If the

adults are not visiting it is difficult to locate.

We will only know how many there are when they come out. What do you

reckon? Five.I'm going for four. Six. I'm going up.

Of course, the great spotted woodpeckers are tinkers. They are

naughty. We have a letter from Jeremy who says: I have nest boxes

around the garden. Many come here. This week I had to shoe them away as

they are destroying the entrance to the nest. Is this typical behaviour?

It is. I woke up on Saturday morning. The Tommy gun sound of the

woodpecker outside. It was bluetits being raided from the nest. Then on

Sunday morning, the same weekend, the great tits. They had both

broods. Saturday morning in my house, a

great tit nest, but he has not gotten in, but they are persistent.

Saturday morning, knock, knock, knock, the postman! OK. What do you

do if you have a problem with them? Well you can up to a point do

something about it. Many nest boxes now come with a metal plate. You can

make it yourself. You put it around the hole to stop them getting in.

Mine, I have that but they went in down here, but it is better than

nothing. What can you do? There is a heron on

one of our live camera, always a fantastic bird to see. Is it

fishing? Stalking around... They've been eating a lot of eels. I have

been watching them. Eels is a species very much in decline but

clearly not here. This lake, it was about 13 years ago a grassy field

its that been made by the RSP B, it has been colonised. It is good to

see a top of the food predator in place. There is plenty of food for

that animal. That is a success story.

Five minutes in, we have seen a live heron... Hatching birds... Hatching

birds and great spotted woodpecker. You can keep watching the live

cameras on the website. 24 ours a day. -- hours a day. You can observe

them BBC.co.uk/Springwatch. Very exciting.

We have shown you a lot, but look at this, this is what has been

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds

What about that? All in one weekend. Beautiful pictures. Music? A Jimmy

jazz for me! Stop it! I like that music, myself.

I prefer a bit of Rebel Waltz. A beautiful weekend. We got lovely

pictures, but now a more dramatic story we were following last week on

Springwatch. Let me remind you. With the family of jack douse. We had

them in a nest box in the barn. Two adults and chicks, looking healthy,

but they were being attacked by two intruders. We showed you that at the

end of last week. It did not stop. They kept intruding all weekend. Sef

entime -- seven times over the weekend they made brutal attacks.

This is one of them. This happened on Saturday it is not nice to watch.

It is savage. Both of the intruders are having a go. They seem to be

picking on one chick in particular. Here he tries to escape. They pull

him back. It goes on and on.

If you were watching this on the live cams or on the red button, like

me you are probably shouting at the screen, going, " Stop it. Hurry up.

Come back parent bird." The parent bird does come back. There is a

fight and the intruders go off. The chicks are left looking exhausted.

At this stage we wondered if they would r get up again. The parents

are trying to revive them. Let me tell you they did get up again, but

Sunday, the same thing happened. The intruders come back. They seem to

pick on one chick again. I don't know if it is the same one. The

chick is fighting back a little bit... But again, this, it happened

again at 6.00am. They came back. They had another go. They left the

chicks exhausted. The chicks left breathing heavily. Once again, I was

watching it. I didn't know if they would get up. In time they did get

up. Let us show you the recovery. There is the nest box. This is them

inside. Looking at them there, you would never know anything had

happened. They get up when the bird comes

back. They beg for food. They look strong. They look healthy. If we had

not had cameras in there, the day before, you would not have knowning

in had happened. Let's have a look at them live... Let's go in the

box... One of them is asleep. It is breathing. We know it is still

alive. The other one... The adult is there. The other we cannot see.

But I just don't know how long that can go on for. Seven attacks, three

more today. It just does not seem to stop. Some attack go on and on.

It is brutal. It appears cruel, but these are the terms to apply in a

human context. There is a reason for this. Whenever you see this savagery

occurring in the animal kingdom. There is a good reason. Explaining

is tricky. It has not been seen that much before. We spoke to Gill

McIver, he has about 100 nest boxes out there. On one previous occasion

have they documented behaviour like this. It could be we are getting

insight into behaviour that is more common. It is tip ically natural

nest sites where we cannot see in literally. It has been documented in

Holland. The reason it is happening is likely that the pair that come

in, the intruders, as we call them. Are a pair of jack douse, lower in

the social hierarchy. They are desperate to get a nesting space.

They are thinking that they can stake a claim. That the birds think

that this is not a good place to breed, that they have lost their

young, they will not return. These birds, the lower status birds have

to get on the nesting ladder, this is their attempt to do it, so, yes,

savage, brutal but being pragmatic, there is a reason for it.

Still hard to watch. You would not be at the screen shouting stop it,

like I was, would you? Well, I am interested to see it I think that

the chicks are fighting back. Now, you are asking about the

ospreys Monty and Glesny. Let's catch up with their story so far.

This is Monty. He was successful with this court courting game.

Glesni, the female -- the female, laid an egg, but things have not

been going to plan. Here is Glesni but she a is a first-time breeder.

When she is threatened by other ospreys, she is leaving the nest.

That is very worrying. We will have to keep an eye on that and see if

hopefully she will learn and get back on and the eggs will hatch out.

Well, from one charismatic bird to another, our cameramen have been

scouring the river looking for king fishers. Last week we thought we

were too late to see them breeding, but it appears that we may not be.

Kingfisher courtship takes place each spring. Like many birds this

couple are running later than usual. They appear identical. All

apart from the peak of the female which has an orange base. Her

partner's is solid black. These pair of prospecting for the best nest

site and both are digging out the mud from different holes to keep

their options open. During the courtship the mail gifts that female

with a fish. It is conveniently facing head upwards. This is readily

accepted. But the next is reject it. -- -- reject it. Maybe she is

already full or maybe it is just time to cough up a pellet full of

fish bones and leftovers from earlier meals. The purpose of this

courtship feeding is to bring the female into breeding condition.

Making sure that her body weight is up to her reducing a full clutch of

eggs. But this is also a test for the mail. The female is measuring

just how much food he can provide at this critical time. If it is not

enough then maybe he will not be good enough to raise a full clutch.

Kingfishers are more generalised leaders in the name suggests. This

time the mail has brought back a juicy dragonfly is his gift. She

seems reticent about this token of love. Perhaps she is trying to knock

off the legs before she tries to swallow it. With the sunlight

bouncing off the feathers the iridescent blue colour is striking.

But it is an illusion. There is no blue pigment at all. The colour is

reduced by the light refract ting qualities of the feathers and in

reality the Kingfisher is more of a drab grey or brown colour. It seems

that the female now has a taste for the dragonfly and courtship is on

track. With househunting beginning in earnest. Kingfisher, a living

jewel. A beautiful bird. What is interesting, the kingfishers had the

dragonfly lover but that is a massively powerful predator in its

own right, in a pond. You probably have dragonfly lava living in your

pond if you have got one. They have the most incredible weapon, they

tighten up the anal sphincter and then they squeezed their stomach

muscles and build-up pressure in their body. Whenever they comes

close they use the muscles and that pressure to shoot out their

mouthparts. It really is a fearsome weapon. We have been filming it,

take a look. Here is the studio. We have these three different habitats.

Look at that. The dragon fly larva in close-up. Just watch this. The

mouthparts shooting out. He squeezes his body, all the muscles. And then

it is like a balloon, out it comes. And that poor little tadpole did not

stand a chance. Toad tadpoles at toxic, they contain toxins but not

many animals will you. But it does not seem to have any effect on the

dragonfly B. It is an extraordinary thing. It looks like some kind of

alien monster. This has all been filmed in the microworld. How fast

do those mouthparts come out? They shootout at 25 ms. What does that

mean? Well be human eye, we blink at around 400 million seconds. So the

dragonfly is wearing out those most parts about eight times faster than

we can actually link. What we have also been doing, we have a number of

chrysalis is. I went to take a look at them just before we came on air

to see if I could see them wriggling. But they are not doing it

yet. These are Painted Ladies, these butterflies. And the miracle of

metamorphosis is happening inside. The caterpillar is being completely

reorganised into the adult butterfly. Absolutely unbelievable.

This is what the adult butterfly will look like. This is the Painted

Lady. Very few of them are resident in the far south of the country.

Most of them migrate. We will keep a careful eye on that. They should

emerge in the next couple of days. You do not have to go somewhere like

this, 800 years of wonderful wilderness, to see wildlife in all

with glory. Sometimes all you have to do is step outside your own back

door. Today I have come to take a look at

what is potentially the largest nature reserve in Britain. Occupying

a greater area than all other reserves put together. An area the

size of Suffolk. I'm talking of course about our gardens. I am going

to explore them as an ecological resource. It may look like a normal

suburban garden and it is but it is also a functioning and living

ecosystem. What does that actually mean? It is a self-contained

ecological entity made up of all the bits organise and is. -- --

organisms. It sounds complicated. Let us break it down to understand

how it works. We can start with biodiversity. That means the number

of different living things living in an area at a given time. Gardens can

be incredibly rich in life. One lady called Jennifer Owens studied her

garden for 30 years and counted no less than 2673 different species.

How can they all live in a garden at the same time? There are several

factors. Firstly, time. If your garden has been here for a long time

that is plenty of time for things to come and find it. Then

productivity, lots of growth and energy meaning lots of life. But

perhaps most importantly, spatial complexity. Here is how it works.

You have got graphs, down on the ground here. Then you have this

small shrub. That towers above it. You have got bushes and then all the

way up here, the mature trees. So in essence the more complex your garden

is, the more nooks and crannies it offers, the more animals it can

support. For variety really is the spice of life. Bushes, rocks, ponds,

they all offer different resources for wildlife. Let us pick one

species. The pond skater. Firstly the niche is where it lives, on the

surface of the pond. Then what it actually does, this is an insect

predator. Skating across the surface to grab anything else that has been

unlucky enough to fall in. And then its position, how it sits with all

the other organisms in this wider community. As Ade Gardner your

choices can have a big impact on which animals thrive. You can

maximise the amount of food available for insects by providing a

wide range of plants. That is because each shape of flower offers

nectar to a particular group of insects. Bumblebees can gather

nectar from open balloons. But only butterflies can reach the nectar at

the bottom of the deeper flowers. So plans form the foundation of any

garden diversity. In our garden community here plans are what we

call primary producers. They take energy from the sun, nutrients from

the soil, carbon dioxide from the air the sphere and they grow. But

then things eat them and they are called primary consumers.

Caterpillar for example. It turn gets eaten by a secondary consumer,

perhaps they Blue Tit. And then we could get a tertiary consumer, a

predator. So all the species in the garden become linked from dance

through to predators. In simple terms that is how the garden

ecosystem works. But as an ecosystem, what is it? For me it is

a mosaic, the lawn we can think of as a miniature Meadow. The pond, a

freshwater pool and then the compost heap, the leaf litter on the

woodland floor. And most often British gardens" to little pieces of

woodland. So they attract woodland species like hedgehogs and wood

pigeons. But no ecosystem can exist in isolation. If this garden was

surrounded by Tarmac there would not be nearly as many species living

here acted would not be nearly as sustainable. If you fancy yourself a

good wildlife gardener over you want to be an ecosystem engineer to

maximise your patch, you need to think about what is living in your

entire neighbourhood. It will give you the perfect excuse to be a nosy

neighbour. Is that what you are, a nosy neighbour? Twitching the

curtains! Is that how you see me? I never have been a nosy neighbour. We

did try to encourage you to get in your garden is last week because we

asked everyone to go out and conduct a I/O grid last weekend. 1000 people

did that and recorded 1702 species in their gardens. That was a great

showing. We also had some national rarities. A very rare ladybird. And

then someone found an Australian flatworm that could be new to

science. What about that? That is amazing. That was just one weekend.

We would like you to do this for the rest of the summer. Species new to

science! And people have been sending in their comments. One lady

centres in Limerick. The morning spent loading and snapping, resizing

and recapping. The evening online filling in forms until I should have

been snapping! Well done for that. I love it when we get pictures of

children doing this. This is Jacob, taking part in the BioBlitz. He

discovered the eyelash fungus. Absolutely brilliant. That is just

what we want to encourage as part of the BBC summer of wildlife. We want

to inspire you to get out in your own patch and further afield as

well. We have all the ideas on the website. But if you like a bit of a

brochure, like me, you can send off for one of those. And you can then

take that with you when you're out and about. There are masses of

ideas. We are all in it. And lots of ideas particularly for the kids.

Let's take a quick look at the camera. The owl, , we have a rabbit.

Michaela just said, it would be great if the owl came down! She is

not all lovely and sweet! This one is perhaps two weeks old. Now we

take a look at the black birds. They are just being fed. Now we have been

watching the water rail over the weekend.

Now they have been regular as clockwork. It is unusual to share

the duties of incubation. This is the male coming in. They have been

doing it absolutely on time. On Thursday at 1. 15pm. On Sunday they

changed over at 1. 30pm. It is like a water railway timetable! Oh, no!

You have been working on that all afternoon! I have been working on

that They are very shy birds. So the

views we are getting of this pair at the nest are really privileged

indeed. We like to bring you a first on Springwatch. Last week we gave

you the rodentorium. Last week, the loved art of a snail and even a puff

of breath riding from a shrew. Watch this it is a water rail dreaming...

The beak is under the wing. That was a water rail having a dream. What

was it thinking about? It is extraordinary. Of course it is not

the only sound we have heard. These birds are vocal. Listen to this...

You never normally get to hear this, unless you are close to a nest.

That is a very quiet sound that is being produced. Listen to this

one... Martin, last week when you were introducing a bird, you

mentioned a sound like the purring of young squirrels, do you think

that was it? I think it was. But I think, Chris, I think that

they are talking to the chicks in the egg.

Do you? Yes. My chicken eggs, before they hatch you can hear them

cheeping. I think that they communicate with the eggs before

they hatch out. So she is producing the sound, it

may be her responding to the chicks? I think so.

That means that they are going to hatch soon? That would be brilliant.

We have been saying about how cute they are when they pop out. I

thought I would show you a photograph to whet your appetite. In

case we see them later on this week. They are like two black cotton wool

balls. If we see that on Springwatch. That

will be a first of some note. I can tell you.

Now of the birds here have been coping well with the terrible

weather we have had. Now it is lovely for them, but many seabirds

have not been doing so well. We went up to the lovely Isle of May to see

how the colonies up there were The Isle of May, one of the UK's

largest and best-studied seabird colonies. Records have been kept of

the birds since 1934. This year is proving very different.

The long harsh winter storms have taken their toll. Far fewer birds

are returning. It's early May, the birds are almost

six weeks behind schedule. So the race is now on to breed.

The lower rocky ledges are dom natd by the shags.

Research has revealed that they are promiscuous.

-- dominated. Even in a good year, there is is a

divorce rate of 30%. That is a lot of partner-swapping! But this

disastrous winter has taken its toll on the population.

Many birds now need to find a new meat.

-- mate. And with shags it is all about the

size of your crest. Both males and females have them.

And for shags, the bigger, the better.

Males set up territories, honking and twisting in display.

The females arrive to make their choice of the male and his nest

But there is always a risk that the male may not accept her attentions.

His rejection is brutal, but he quickly accepts the next female who

has a far sue peer yore quiff to her rival. Then it is the female who

jumps on the male's back as the courtship begins.

On the other side of the island, guillemots and razorbills are

massing on perilous cliffs. And on the grassy cliff-tops,

colourful puffins are returning from their winter at sea.

Puffin numbers have been hit hard. It's likely that they died of

starvation as a result of the severe weather, stirring up the water and

making it difficult for the diving birds to hunt.

But the puffins that have returned quickly re-establish their

partnerships with a frenzy of colourful beak waggling.

Then they need to look for a place to nest, which is protected and dry.

A burrow a perfect. Though often second-hand. They're happy to take

advantage of the rabbits' handiwork. As more Post Officins arrive, the

pressure on nest holes can get intense.

Having seen off the challenge, it's time to check out the interior.

For s it is the males that gather nesting materials. Seaweed and drift

wood are favourites, but getting it home is the tricky bit.

Their feet may be brilliant for driving but not for clambering over

the rocks. The females are not much better at

building, but even a shabby nest on these uneven rocks is enough for

their eggs. With their clush laid, both parents

enqueue bait the eggs -- incubate the eggs, turning them so that the

warmth spread spreads evil. If all three eggs hatch and fledge, then

that is an encouraging trend. Here is hoping that after a tragic

winter, the shag population on the Isle of May is on the rise. That the

puffins and the great wealth of seabirds that also nest on this

magical island will do the same. I love a puffin. I absolutely love

puffins. A bit Gaudi for me.

They are brilliant and comical. Chavvy! Now, seabirds, we hear about

serious declines in these birds it is worrying, but there is a solid

glimmer of hope for them. Take the shags for instance, we looked at the

nest with the eggs, I am pleased to re-count that here is a photograph

that we have received that shows that one egg has hatched already.

That is good news. Now, what is really important is that many

species of seabird are long lived. So they get lots of opportunities to

So they get lots of opportunities to reproduce themselves.

Things like cormerants and shags as well. So if they fail, they have had

a bad winter, if the three eggs hatch and do really well and next

year and the year after, they have probably done their job. Living long

enough to have that opportunity. So we do which are about many declines

in many species but those that are long-lived have a little more grace

to bide time. It does not mean we can relax our conservation efforts.

As you say a glimmer of hope. Well from possibly good news, to not

such good news. In fact it is shocking news it happened this

afternoon with a star character. The buzzards. Let me remind you there

were two parent birds and a chick on a nest looking healthy. The parents

doing a good job of feeding it, but this afternoon. It big surprise.

Let's have a look at the nest live... One of the adult birds is

there looking at the chick, but going closer, you can see, very

sadly, that chick is not moving. This afternoon, unfortunately, the

chick died. That came as a complete surprise to all of us.

At this point we just don't know why, do we Chris? We are not sure

why at all, but we are finding it interesting to see the behaviour of

the bird. She is very sadly, bemused by the death of the chick. She is

not getting the response you would expect. The chick is not raising its

head, not asking for food, so she is curious as to what is the change. So

you may think when you are looking at this, that there is is a mourning

process going on but she is just not getting the behaviour responses, but

what happened to the chick? Last week it was very wet here. The

female was doing a great job of brooding with the youngster. Keeping

it warm. They even adapted what they were eating. We saw them finding

things that they would not typically eat in the normal course of the

diet. Things like a mole, probably driven to the surface by flooding.

Lots of frogs. Now buzzards eat frogs but lots of them coming in,

but then most odd of all, an eel. The chicks was taking them all.

Growing. Then Thursday, the diet changed. We saw small mammals

brought in. That is the main prey of things like buzzards. Here is shrew.

We saw the voles coming in. A number of birds. Even this, grass snakes.

If you were watching a couple of years ago, you know that the

buzzards brought in lots of grass nakes. They are common. The chicks

are used to eating them. So it did seem that the chick was getting a

seem that the chick was getting a diet of lots of food.

There was one chick in the nest it was growing well. So a mystery as to

what happened. We thought it may have choked, but we reviewed the

pictures. You can clearly see when a bird is choking but nothing it just

seemed to fizzle out. We can't explain it.

We can have a look at it dying. This is this morning.

The adult birds keep bringing food back but it never seems to take the

food. Our nest watchers said it did not

seem to feed all morning. The bird is bemused and takes the

food off. It is not looking the food. It is

not even turning to the food. But it is walk up to the adult it is

still fairly active. Obviously not looking good there. That was at

12.00pm. It perks up again, there is movement but still not feeding. This

is at 2. 20pm. Again, you would not know that there was anything wrong

from that picture. Then three minutes later at 14. 23pm

in the afternoon, the bird, the little chick, stopped moving.

The adult looks down... It is obviously completely confused.

It is almost like someone took the batteries out of the chick.

It came as a complete surprise to It was not something that we were

expecting at all. Obviously very sad.

I think that the only way to find out to have the chick would to be

collect it and perform a postmortem. It could have had a congenital

disorder it could have been poisoned by something in the food that is

highly unlikely. There are no chemicals used on the RSPB reserve.

We may never know. You have to be pragmatic. Like the jackdaws. I am

not down it is a process and the woods are I live with birds. Yes a

new nest for you where there is lots of life going on. Look at this.

These are redstarts. They have chosen to nest in one of our boxes.

They have eight chicks. Eight blue eggs in there. They have hatched and

all chicks a feeding well throughout the course of the daytime.

No adults there. So let's have a look at the adults. Here is a

redstart. They are great birds. Birds of woodland. They do well in

the oak woodlands in Wales. Here is a male with the white cap. They

spend a lot of time foraging on the ground. Resting on a perch and

jumping down to the ground to collect prey.

Main insects that they feed on. The males arriving first in the spring.

Setting up a territory to sing. Then the females arriving later.

Then the females choose their meat and look for a nest site.

The nest sites are typically in natural holes.

Here we see a pair that have chosen one of those.

They lay a clutch of six to eight eggs, sometimes more. Occasional,

the cuckoos lay into their nests too. They are charming birds. They

are a member of the thrush family. They have come back in numbers, they

have been increasing. One of the reasons is that they have started to

arrive earlier in the spring and the survival rate of the chick has gone

up. They are such attractive birds with that flash of orange. We have

got live cameras on some of them. These are in a nest box. Eight

hungry mouths to feed. That is a pretty high number of chicks. That

is a worry because everyone has been saying that there are not many moths

around or caterpillars this year. That is a lot of miles to carry on

feeding. As they get bigger they will need a lot of caterpillars. Our

friends have been monitoring the number of chicks fledging from these

nests for about 25 years now and it has risen from 4.5 25. So that is a

good thing. I am out in the woods. It seems

incredible to be coming to you live from the woods. There is a greater

spotted woodpecker flying around. We have got more than just birds, we

have got mammals as well. We go now to the rodentorium. It is pitch

black in there. That is a mouse and overall head-to-head. They cannot

see each other. They are working just by sound and whiskers. Look at

that. We have noticed with many of these small mammals, it is not nice.

Look at the side cheek of this mouse. You can just see some tick.

That is like carrying around a pint of light on your head. The poor

things, they are smothered in them. This one seems to have it in his

ears. More than an average number of chicks. On Thursday you could

perhaps remember, if you can see me through this mass of midges, we set

up the trap. That is just for footprints. Inside it is a foot

print trap. You have got some bait and they walk in, their feet get

into the ink and they leave these little marks. They are quite

difficult to interpret so we need to get a guide. You can download this

from the Mammal Society website. Here is some footprints, you can

just about the, just there. Little tiny prints. That is a rat, the

front foot and back foot. If you use this you can hopefully have a bit of

fun at home trying to work out what these are. That is exactly what

Debbie Pearce has done. She did it really well. They look like a rat

print at first sight but it is a heavier mark. It is a hedgehog. As

well as this we also set up cameras to try to capture larger animals.

And we have captured a hair on the camera. A fascinating animal. There

he goes. Sometimes you do not need fancy camera traps like that to find

out what animals live around you. Sometimes you just need your ears

and your eyes. And a bit of field craft. Most British animals are

quite shy which means that they are hard to see. Wherever they go and

whatever they do they leave behind some clues. That is where field

craft comes in. I will try to use field craft to find out what kind of

deer are living in this world. There are six species of deer living wild

in the UK. Fallow Deer, read the and roe deer you're most likely to see.

Having said that all deer are secretive so even catching a glimpse

can be hard. But that does not matter because to me finding signs

of their activity can be just as rewarding. I cannot see any deer at

the moment but in fact this area is absolutely packed with Fallow deer.

The evidence is everywhere. For prints, all Fallow deer. Here they

have jumped, they have come along and just sprung across. That is

where it has jumped and put the whole weight of his body digging in

there. Over here is pure magic. Fallow Deer have a long history in

the UK and there are some wonderful names. These are known as different

names. The black colour is very much seen in the spring because of the

grass that they eat. In the autumn they eat more leaves which contain

tannin so their droppings are brown. This is a fantastic example of the

playfulness of the Fallow deer. This whole area has been rubbed down to

the soil because the Fallow deer has been running round and around just

playing. It is astonishing when you begin to look. Fallow Deer with

their antlers have very recently been rubbing those antlers, scraping

the bark off the tree. Fallow Deer will thrash vegetation throughout

the year but in the spring they often do it to try to break off the

old antlers so that they can grow a new pair. I have discovered a lot

about them from the signs in this world but what else is living here?

This is perfect. Seeker deer have been driving their antlers in,

probably in frustration. That is quite different. There are signs of

the deer everywhere. But I still had not seen one. Fallow deer and seeker

deer live in groups so at any one time there are many individuals

making lots of signs. But the signs can be much more subtle and harder

to find. How do you find them? For a start, slow down. You are more

likely to spot things if you're not marching along. Try sinking down to

the eyelevel of the animal which gives a completely different live on

the world. You will see much more. Look at this. Just what we wanted to

find. This is a bed, the deer has lain down here. But what type? This

is where the magic word comes in. There are foot 20, this is about

four centimetres long. That means it is the bed of a roe deer. But

overhear is something even more interesting. This is so subtle, it

is the scrape of a roe deer. You would hardly notice it. Perhaps that

same deer has come along and scraped away the ground. Why has it done

that? It is a territorial mark. This will be a male leaving sent from in

between his feet on the ground to tell other males, this is my

territory come here. So all these subtle signs are here for those who

care to look. You are particularly likely to see the scrapes of the roe

deer now in the spring as they are gearing up for the breeding season.

I have not seen a single deer today but it does not matter because by

interpreting the signs in the forest I know that there are three types.

The Fallow Deer, the seeker, and the roe deer. On top of that I gained an

insight into their secretive lives. It just goes to show that a bit of

field craft can turn an ordinary walk in the woods into something

much more interesting. Let me give you a strange tip. Instead of

looking from left to right, scan from right to left and you will see

more. Your brain just picks up more stuff. Nonsense! It is true!

margin and Michaela, then Martin and Michaela! One tip is to go to

Richmond Park! Then you do not need to use any field craft. Normally in

the woods all you see is their bottom. So I will give you a test.

That is the roe deer. It has a tiny white tail, hardly visible. What

about this one, the red Deer? Thanks very much! That is easy because it

is a big bottom and it has got a red tail. What about the one in the

middle? Muntjac. It is.It has got quite edging around the dark tale.

And this one down here? That is a seeker deer. Off-white bottom with

this black and across the top. the last one? That is the Fallow

deer. It has got this heart shape and this black mark going like that.

So have a test later and see if you can get them all. We're finishing

with a bunch of artists! Plenty more coming throughout the rest of the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds

It is going to be a great week. Tomorrow we have got Iolo Williams

out with the dolphins. And we can leave you with a cliffhanger.

Jack doors. Will they survive those continual attacks? And after all

that cheap being and the curious noises, by the water will then to

hatch out? Only one way to find out. That is to join us tomorrow

forced to watch at eight o'clock. Nick Baker will be back with