Episode 7 Springwatch

especially involving the great tips. We shall be looking at how the late

spring has affected some of our migrating birds, like this gorgeous

one. And we should explore an old bomb site to find out about the

fascinating wildlife there. Tonight, it is a smorgasbord of wildlife - it

this beautiful RSPB reserve in Wales. You can see the estuary on

the right of the screen and this rich mosaic of habitats leading up

to us, somewhere down in the valley amongst the woodland. All of that

means a great range of species, we have many bold with cameras. And

that Thomas is lots of activity. We have lots of different families and

habitats. We have the red stars, looking nice and healthy and also,

the meadow pipit ins. They are in a completely different area. There we

go. The mother is feeding them. Looking lovely. The big news was

last night at the end of the programme and if you were not

watching, it was the great tits, let's look live at their nestbox.

The nestbox is empty, which means they all fledged. That took us by

surprise! It all seemed to happen extremely quickly. Let's take

another look. The parent bird, coming into the nestbox. If we go

into this nestbox. We can see five very healthy chicks. They have been

ready to go for quite a while, flapping wings and stretching and we

have been predicting since the weekend... And then, one popped his

little head out and then flew off, and two minutes later... Another

left the nestbox and then they all quickly followed. One minute later,

I'd goes the third one. Followed very quickly by the fourth one at

8:58pm. There he is. Flying out. This one took a couple of goes but

eventually, off he goes. This one seems to parachute from the top of

the nestbox! Nine 3pm. Nine minutes later, the last check fledged. It

did take us by complete surprise because it is very unusual for it to

happen that quickly, and even the parent bird pops his head back and

is very surprised. Also very unusual for them to go at that time of

night. Very vulnerable. We want to know where they had gone, so we sent

the camera team out, he did not see them in the evening but he did get

one glance at them in the morning. One of them, looking very healthy.

They will be looked after by the parents for a few weeks after

fledging but they are very curious birds. You can see he is already

having a good look around and will be starting feed itself. The parent

bird. We do not know how many the cameraman saw, he thinks he's off

four of them out of the five, obviously very difficult to tell

them apart. That does not necessarily mean the fifth one did

not make it because they are extremely difficult to spot. We were

very chuffed that we have managed to see them. They got through the night

and they are looking good but we do think, if memory serves correctly,

that is a first for Springwatch, watching them fledge live on the

programme! Right at the end of the programme and if you're watching, we

got extremely excited! It was unusual and that is what we have not

seen before. They were going in the evening, typically it is in the

morning to give them the day to settle down. If you were watching

over the last couple of days, you will notice that some of the stars

have been the jackdaws. One pair have been under relentless attack

from another couple logo down the social order and they want their

nesting spot. We saw this this morning. The attacks have continued.

They have been causing quite a lot of distress for people and you can

see why. These birds are intent on removing these youngsters. Frankly,

the youngsters are big enough to withstand these sort of attacks,

certainly for the moment, but they are not only intent on removing the

youngsters because they want at nesting space and they want to build

the nest even if they have not got rid of them. They even started to

bring in nesting material whilst these Jack doors are still in

there, those youngsters. Bring in some will, and they lined the nest.

And another one, bringing in some mud. A typically use that as a

foundation. They are so keen to get in here, and we did get caught out.

One has been grabbed by one of the checks. It has come back. Listen to

this! Pinned down and eventually, after some rough and tumble, it gets

pushed out. And then... The parents come back. The young are hunkered

down. They look shocked, I should imagine. And they have been hiding

from those intruders. Eventually, the adults think, if you will not

take this food, we shall have it ourselves, it cannot go to waste!

Life is wild and a lot of people have been very upset about this and

one comment is, if nestbox boxes are in such short supply, why don't we

put up some more? They might occupy one of the newer ones? The first

thing is, there are more nest boxes anyway but there will always be a

shortage of nests for these birds and the other thing is, we don't

interfere, that is not our policy. Life is wild. These things might

look brutal and savage but these are human emotions, you cannot allow

that sort of thing, you must be pragmatic and must be practical. I

did get a tweet saying, would you be quite as pragmatic and dispassionate

if a great white shark bit your leg of? ! Yes, I would! Seriously, that

is it. Let us see if those jackdaws are still alive, and they are doing

well. I have got high hopes. I think the birds coming in have failed to

kill them, which they might have done if they were smaller but they

have learned how to hide and they are fighting back and in another

week, they might fledge and then there will be a question of whether

those adults can hang on to that site, they might still get pushed

out. High drama and another bird be looked at was this beautiful nest of

dippers and we wondered if they were going to fledge. Let us look at what

happened. We filmed this at the beautiful waterfall and those young

birds are right of the nest. We knew that there were two of them and we

eventually solved for work minds and they are all out, being visibly fed

by those parents. They do that characteristic dipping, the adult

coming in. The water droplets on them, they are very watery birds.

All this by a river. To begin with, he has dropped it. The parent thinks

they will have it. Nothing goes to waste! It is tougher there. But

within just one hour, the young are starting to pack around, looking for

food. Picking bits of leaf and twigs but all four of them are seen --

seem to be doing well. One does not seem to be quite as bright as the

others but they are looking very lovely. Doing some training.

Fantastic success story. Stunning location. Beautiful.Absolutely

gorgeous. When you look at those animals bathed in sunlight, it is

very easy to forget the miserable spring we have had, bitterly cold

and went on and on and that will an effect on some wildlife. Back in

April, six weeks ago, we were getting worried so I went down to

Dorset to find out more about the spring migration. Every year in

early spring, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of migrating birds

streak across the sea, fed the south coast and carry on North, pouring

into the UK. But not this one. Here, we are in the middle of April, we

should be at the peak of migration, and it has hardly happened. He

spring migration is one of the UK's biggest natural events. Iconic

summer birds wax swallows, chiffchaff, and willow warblers,

making a monumental journey from as far away as Southern Africa to breed

here. Sitting in one of the cyclist 's most southerly promontories, this

bird observatory has been at the front line monitoring this migration

for over 50 years. The head warden has never experienced a spring like

this. It has been quite uniquely abysmal, this year. Everything has

been set back so dramatically and one of the common migrants is the

willow warbler and last week rent 1200 of them and this year, until

yesterday, we had only 120. With such a cold start, in mid-April, the

trees are still there. There is very little sign of caterpillars or other

insects for arriving birds to feed upon. Today, the temperatures are

definitely rising, so we might be in with a chance. Let's have a look.

The Observatory Gardens are crisscrossed with delicate nets to

gently catch any unsuspecting arrivals. It is like fishing for

birds. Chiffchaff? I reckon so. Shall we ring it? Any bird god isn't

very safe hands. Martin and his team have decades of experience between

them. Each bird gets measured and ringed as part of this long-term

study on migration. This is the bit I love best. Right, let's go.

Chiffchaff. Some of these, if you get very favourable weather, they

might have made tremendously long flights to get you. They might have

left North Africa, almost flown here in one go. Across the Bay of Biscay.

Letter sent on her way. Every 15 minutes, the nets are checked for

any new arrivals. And is a delightful surprise. It is like

Christmas! We have no idea. This is a nice bit. We have no idea what it

is. Well! That is minute. Firecrest? Portland special.Look at

that crime. These are what visiting bird-watchers want to see. It is

minuscule! They were the joint smallest British bird. 4.7 grams.

These are really very tiny birds. The weight of a 20p piece. That is

less. And it has come hundreds of miles from France. Great to see one

of those. But where are those willow warblers. Good things come to those

who wait. Brilliant. Fantastic, thank you very much. The willow

warbler. You have saved the day! This is only the second one we have

caught this year. The 15th of April. It should be the commonest bird we

catch. They go right down to south-west Africa for the winter.

get a lot of those here. This bird could well be going out? From one of

the other observatories, Bardsley Island, in North Wales, and a

remarkable thing is we have had several nextday recoveries so the

ones that we ring at Portland, the warden of their -- over their house

find that wasn't he catch have been ringed here the day before. We could

have a camera on his nest! If he does well. Let him on his way? It is

a sure sign that the migration is finally underway, albeit well behind

schedule. The willow warblers are not arriving in droves, as expected.

But they will do. Just not today. So far, he has made all the right

decisions, staying on the other side of the Channel, waiting until it

warms up. But he is on the move. Who knows what the future will hold? On

his way... Did numbers pick up in Portland

Bill? They carried on counting until the end of the season, and they

counted 473, which means that embers are down 75% on last year. That is

quite significant. At Portland, but very often there, if it is good

weather, the birds fly over, so there could have been bad weather,

and they only got a few. This is a graph that we have been given. The

red line shows the normal arrival. They arrive slightly earlier

normally. This year, the blue line is their arrival. Within the space

of a few days, the abundance is the same as normal. They just arrived

later. What is odd is that they dropped off a little bit. A lot of

them missed it, but did they miss us here? They arrived, and I will

introduce you to our new nest today. It is the willow warblers. Let's

have a look live. Very well hidden. that hatched last week. Look at

them, I love the hairstyle! It is like two ears sticking out. They

look asleep. They have got downy puffs on the top of their head,

which indicate they are quite young. And the flanges, the targets for the

adults to put the food into. They are looking healthy, though they are

on the ground. What about them, what is the bird all about? It is about

the size of a polluted. A bit smaller and slimmer. They have a

characteristic song. They are sub-Saharan migrants, so for the

winter, they go back to the sub Sahar in Africa. They come back here

to breed. They are insectivores. They are ground nesters, as we have

seen. They make a domed nest. Both adults coming in. Feeding the

youngsters. It has got damselfly. It looks enormous. The wind will be so

dry, he needs a beer to wash it down! He thinks, I will share it

out, he eventually gets it down. It is a lovely bird, but it looks

really like a chiffchaff. How do you tell the difference? Initially, they

look similar. For a great number of years, ornithologists thought they

were the same. It was Gilbert White in the 1700 that separated them.

Let's take a look, because there are differences. Look at the legs.

Chiffchaff have dark legs and a small eye. Willow warblers have pink

legs and a much brighter eye stripe. They are more washed with yellow.

You do to get a good few of them to see that, at that is one other

thing. The character of a bird in all of its forms. Chiffchaff

struggle their tale from side to side, not up and down, but from side

to side. If you are trying to spot one and you see their tale going

from side to side, it is a chiffchaff. You get a quick glimpse

and you do not have a clue. But if you manage to hear this song, it is

easier to tell them apart, because it is very different. Let's have a

down the scale. That is a willow warbler. What does a chiffchaff

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 318 seconds

the sound of youngsters until mid-June. But the blow -- the barn

plays host to more than just owls. Many mammals venture around the

building. A pair of rabbits graze the grass. Usually, they live in

groups. But this pair of youngsters appear to be living away from the

safety of a warrant. Barn living could sue them. It offers protection

and warmth. But to try and discover more about their habits, our remote

camera is moved to a more rabbit friendly height. So, what more will

this camera reveal about loan rabbits of the barn? I am worried

about them. Surely they are sociable, they should be in a group.

I think they have been kicked out of the group by a dominant female. That

might be a sub dominant female with her youngster, and they are in

danger. Are they social outcasts? think so. They have not got lots of

others to warn them of danger. I am worried. You could not have painted

a bleak picture! Although they all three weeks late, those are now

takes are in a good place to be, because the summer is improving, the

adults will find more food. Over the winter, there was a higher than

normal mortality. But it is about the abundance of food. Although they

will not hatch in time for us, they will make it. We will keep an eye on

the camera. Let's see what is happening with the cameras on the

other birds. Let's go to the pickets. The nest is well hidden on

the ground. The youngsters have been sweat. To stay cool under heat, they

have to gape and lose any heat through their mouths. They have

closed them now. They are getting rid of the down. They are on the

ground, so there is a good chance they will fledge early. They can

fledge after ten or 12 days. They will not fly until much longer after

that. I have already stuck my neck out. I thought the eggs were about

to hatch. They are. Let's go live to the nest. We have been watching it

carefully. They have not actually hatched, but they have crazed. We

have not seen a hole in them, there is a mosaic on the surface. Again,

they are just about to hatch out. 50p? More than that! Let's go to the

stonechat. A bit of movement there. Beneath the feather. They are

hunkered down all the time. We have seen the adult come in and feed, but

they are not there now. They have not flattened the nest out, because

they do not have the younger there. Perhaps as they grow, we might get a

better view. All quiet, but they look OK. Let's have a look at the

March camera. A couple of swans. It always makes a pretty picture. It

always gives us gorgeous shots. We featured the heaven yesterday. The

heaven is a superb hunter and it would go for some of the other

ground nesting birds we have been featuring. They face a lot of

threats. In fact, some of the birds that we featured earlier on last

week did get predated on by a weasel. The weasel did not just take

one, it took the whole lot. It is important to remember the weasel has

a family of its own, it has to feed its young, and that is the circle of

life. We think the weasel comes out, it notices the cameraman is there

and disappears, probably smells him. Once to go out hunting but does not

want to be out in the open for too long. Naughtiness in animal form!

The most wonderful creatures. Small enough to go down a my soul. They

were very tiny. You have a good picture! Thank you for reminding me.

Look at this wonderful picture! This has come from Ronald Corp, yesterday

we were talking about how you can protect your box. From woodpeckers,

were putting this plate on. But this will not work with a weasel.

Balancing out predator and prey and people think weasels are ground

predators but studies looking at birds has found that they are

principally predators up trees, and when they hear those birds, the MTV

nestbox, just as we saw them finish off those Daleks. -- they empty. In

the compost heap behind us this morning, our cameraman finds some

grass snakes emerging. The compost heap is obviously decomposing and

generating heat so it is perfect for reptiles but that is not the only

reason they would have come here. They are likely females and they

have come here to lay eggs. It is at time of year and they will lay them

deep into the compost, up to 30 eggs in -- and they have a leathery,

softshell, which will hatch at the end of August. In perfect condition.

So glossy and shiny. Shiny as a brand-new Cadillac. Look at that. I

love them. One of my favourite animals. They are like little

pencils. Springwatch has not always been a celebration of the UK 's

wildlife, wherever it is found, we sent cameraman Richard Taylor Jones

defined wildlife inspiration in a location which on face value could

appear rather less of it. -- to Orford Ness. The most eastern edge

of Suffolk. Nature owns this place. But it was not always so. Here, in

this isolated world, our nation once investigated the secrets of British

engineering and design. And, for me, that is what this landscape is all

about. Design. But the design of what? Yellow Sun is a clue.

Codename. For bombs that were born here. Nuclear bombs. Tested,

stressed. Pushed and pounded. Designing the end of the world. Now,

they have gone. The buildings fade into the land. Replaced in nature.

And it's accidental designs of evolution. The barn owl. Its wings

beat silently. Special feathers make no noise. Helping it here its prey.

Detected by a carefree convex face. Following signed to accurate years.

Secrecy means surprise. And success for this feathered bomb from above.

In the reedbeds, there is a rare glimpse of a secret sentinel of what

really worlds. -- watery. The chinese water deer. They have an

unusual look. Tasks for fighting. No antlers. Just long enough to be

dangerous but sharp -- short enough not to get in the way. And oddly

designed Oriental secret. Living in this very British place. Orford Ness

was not only designing the literary secrets, but finding them also.

Radio masts reached to the heavens. A reminder of a secret listening

station of the Cold War. Known as Cobra missed. The old masts are long

defunct, the listening belongs to the long years of the hairs. They

have made the shingle here they are shines against the concrete. The

golden hair of Orford Ness. A single, showy creature that stands

out from the crowd. A genetic oddity. In an odd place. From the

long years of the hair, to the long legs of the avocet. Helping it

weighed shallow pools and using its uniquely sculpted will to sweep back

and forth on the hunt for food. As does the spindle. -- spoonbill. Ed

dairy different design. A very different design. So many new and

different lives in a landscape that plotted to take life away. Just as

nature is rising here, so the buildings of Orford Ness are falling

down. The passing of days and nights rasping and grasping their time

away. Leaving a question for the nation. Renovate this unique British

design symbol or forget it? Alive continued ruination, a redesigned by

nature. It is a big question facing many unusual places in our nation.

An idea to explore, even if you have never been here. Beautiful film.

Stunning. Interesting animals but let us go live to our water rails

because we think that Martin might have got it right. The female, who

we presume is on the list because she has been doing most of the

incubation, has been seen picking up some eggshell. At the moment she is

fidgeting with nest material, I think, and she has just a little

bit? That is a little bit of eggshell. It is.This happened just

a few moments ago. We saw this. Eggshell. On the side of the nest,

look at that. They are hatching. The thing is, with many species like

this, as soon as they hatch, they leave the nest, instantaneously, but

with water rails, and we think, and they are not terribly well-known,

but they will stay in that nest for up to 24 or 48 hours, which might

give us a unique opportunity to see them. And we have been so looking

forward to this because they are very sweet, frothy chicks.

because they were so shy and retiring that no nest has ever been

filmed like this before. Let's go back to Orford Ness because the

great thing we did see was chinese water deer and we do not often get

the opportunity to show you those. Let's take another look. As the name

suggests, they are from China, they east gate into the countryside in

the 1920s. Did you know there are about 10,000 of them here? I thought

there were far fewer? Far more than in China. What you shall notice are

those canine teeth, those tasks. Males have bigger ones than females

and they have a muscle that country or those back in when they feed and

then push them back about when they use them for fighting. Articulated

fangs! Really smart. Very small, knee-high. One of those animals that

when you see them on television, you imagine them being large but I

thought it was a youngster and they are about the size of my poodle.

Amazing we have so many. Let's look at another bird life. The redstarts.

They are sleeping at the moment. There are eight chicks in there,

this is a big brood and they are owing to need a lot of feeding. And

both parents have been feeding them very well. Nest watchers have been

looking at these and they have noticed the female coming in, she

didn't have much of her big, but the mail, without blackhead, comes in

with a lot of food. They have noticed that this is typical of this

redstart pair. And they think it is because the female stays close and

bring back smaller amounts and the mail has time to explore,

particularly while the female was sitting on the eggs, so he has the

knowledge of where the good feeding spots are. And the female obviously

needs to stay close unless -- in case the weather changes. In the

female tends to clear the nest and that is quite typical with

songbirds. We have noticed that the cars we have cameras and we have

been able to notice those differences because it is easy to

tell the difference between male and female in redstarts. The males are

beautiful but very often they get preoccupied by how beautiful they

are. But there is greater beauty in the way that they work together and

we have been seeing that here. In this woodland ecosystem. Seeing just

how productive it is, all of those birds bringing back beaks full of

insects for their young. A great mixture of species and without

these, or type that productivity of all of these trees supporting

caterpillars, supporting insects, we would not be supporting all of those

groups of birds. One thing you notice is they sometimes come with

so much in amounts, you wonder how they manage to feed one caterpillar

to one cheque without dropping the lot? IMs -- I am pleased you ask

that. Would you call that? I shall get my pen out. This looks like a

red Nostra 's Warren. It reminds me of the time that Salvador Dali went

to the liver in France in 1955 and he drew a rhinoceros horn. But it

was the same composition as per year and he went to complete this, in the

zoo in Paris. What relevance is that? That was a cultural interlude,

thank you very much! This is a birds time, anchored here and pointed at

the front. The top mandible is here. -- Tong. It has been flexed by this

stock, shaped by these barbs at the back and the Tong has more barbs on

it. The bird can hold the food in a smart. This is how they can pick up

one thing after another without dropping the first thing. When it

needs to deposit them in the mouth of its chicks, it really lowers its

time using this stock and then it is able, using its top mandible, to

deposit the food into the mouth of the young. On eBay, not as valuable

as Salvador Dali! Nest watchers have been watching them feed and they

notice quite comic moments, like this one. Sometimes the birds come

in with such huge things to feed their chicks with, you wonder if

they will ever get them down. Look at this. The redstarts coming in

with a massive caterpillar. Eventually managing to shove it into

the big of one of those chicks. is a mouthful. It is a measure of

the productivity of the woodland. We have been watching the nest and our

story developers watch them around the clock, but human error creeps

in. But not when you have got one of these. This is a computer, produced

by a charitable foundation, keen to get computer into schools. They are

not expensive, the price of a Chinese takeaway. Andrew Robinson

has set a nest box up out here which is linked to a weather station and

one of these computers. It is measuring the wind speed, the

temperature, and every time a bird comes in and out. It knows the

difference between the two. This means we can count the number of

visits relative to the weather. What we see here, when the temperature is

relatively low, there is a peak of activity first thing in the morning.

They must go out and feed so they can satisfy the hunger of their

checks overnight. Through the day, when the temperatures are low, not

much foraging, but in the evening, they have to forage again. When the

temperature increased, insects will be active throughout the day, so we

see a levelling down. Constant foraging activity. There are other

parameters involved, the age of the checks, the number, but this is an

interesting project. Pretty soon, young ornithologists, kids in

school, could have these and manage -- measure parameters so we can

learn more and more about these birds. We always need to learn about

what animals eat, and they need to eat to survive, otherwise they will

starve. But one animal 's death is often another's survival, as Martin

is finding out. What a gorgeous evening, beautiful.

I wonder if this has ever happened to you. You have found the dead body

of a mouse or blurred in the evening and in the morning it has gone. What

has happened, it is still there, but it has been buried. Something has

buried it. With the help of microworld, we will solve that Mr

Ray. We saw this start in 2011. Peer it is, it is a warbler. You can see

beetles around it. It had just died. They are not feeding on it. They are

doing something more interesting. I have got one of those beetles in my

hand. This is a sexton beetle. They are incredibly tough. Very strong.

They have got clubbed and ten I. Let's get a closer look at the face

of this beetle. There it is, they are obviously coloured, orange and

black. It is the face that is interesting. They have got huge

antenna, they can smell a bit animal from up to a mile off. The cabbie

Jules, they need them, very strong. When they find a mouse or dead bird,

they try to bury it, and they will cut their way through routes,

anything that is in their way, to open up the soil, they will even

sometimes nip off any wings or things sticking out. Why are they

burying the animal? Look at this. We have filmed this last night. Here

are the Beatles, it is a dead mouse. We did not kill it! They are shaving

off the further. They are starting to take the fur of the mouse. The

beetles will fly in from all over the place. This is a tremendous

prize, worth fighting for. They will have a scrap. In the end, it is a

family affair, a male and a female will work together to try to start

varying the animal. This is speeded up, this was filmed here last night.

It is starting to go underground. Once they have got it underground,

and they do it remarkably quickly, the female will lay eggs on it, and

they smear it with a chemical that stops it kitsch of fine. As the

ex-developed, the male and female will start to feed the developing

laugher. Those are the sexton beetle is, a fascinating world. Last year,

we visited a wonderful lady, Kate McRae. She has transformed her

garden in Staffordshire. It is a nature reserve in miniature. It is

her very own mini Springwatch. We have learned from her, she started

us off on our mammals. Last year, she did wonderful things, and we

could not resist going back up there to find out what she was up to.

Over the last three years, Kate McRae has been filming the wildlife

in her garden with ingenious home-made spy cameras. Last year,

she created a mouse sized burro, and this year, to catch even more

revealing footage, she has revamped it. I have created a new space, this

time with lights, and within a week, the wood mice were back in. But now,

I can see them in full colour. The colour images tell me lots more and

give me much more pleasure, because I can see the characters much more

clearly. With birds, it is very hard to recognise individuals, but with

mammals, it is easy. I have got hedgehogs visiting now. He has got a

slightly smaller eye. When I watch the footage back, I can see how many

times he is visiting each night. He is incredibly greedy, the fact that

he visits some nights four or five times and on occasions has been

feeding for 40 minutes at a time, and he clears the ball, so I will

field next to my garden to three years. Rural foxes here are very

wary. That is why they survive. Despite my hardest efforts, I have

not yet found a den until this year. I was really lucky to locate one of

my Dixons' dens and get a camera in their and filmed the Cubs when they

first emerged, and the colour was just coming through and their

muscles were just starting to appear. Their eyes were still blue,

they were starting to explore their local area. They are so beautiful,

so gorgeous, and to be able to capture footage of them when they

are so tiny, in a way I could never capture on my wired cameras, that

was really special this year. hedgehogs, mice, voles, they are

already the guests. But this year, there have been some new visitors.

And not one that everybody would welcome. I was absolutely amazed at

the reaction I had when people first saw my footage of rats visiting. A

lot of the reaction was, what are you going to do about it, how are

you going to get rid of them? I was surprised, I am not going to get rid

of them! They have had a bad press, what with the plague and black

death, people just think of them as Birmingham carrying disease --

vermin carrying disease. But when you see them in a natural

environment, shiny coats, great whiskers, in a balanced ecosystem,

they are no more dangerous or horrible than any other creature

that is living here. They are fantastic. We should not be worried

about having them in an environment like this at all. On the bird

feeders, when the rats are feeding, the birds sit to the side, and they

ignore each other. The only time I have seen the rat react was when he

was feeding on the feeder and a magpie appeared. For a little while,

it sat on the edge, but then the rat chased it off. That is the first

time I have seen it. Magpies will be predatory towards young rats, they

would take a young rat, given half the chance. The rats are great. They

are fitting in with the other animals. They are almost the

cleaners, they come when the light fades, they clear up everything

afterwards, the debris left over from the birds. My interest and

enthusiasm and passion for this is constantly increasing, the more I

do, the more interested I become. I will never, ever get bored of doing

this, I can guarantee that. We love her, she is so

enthusiastic, and what she has done is fabulous. If you see the hedgehog

camera next year, you will know where the idea comes from! She has

gone big, but you can do it in your garden by using a nest box and

putting one camera in. It will give you such rich rewards. There are

lots of ideas in our brochure that you can download from the Internet.

Hats off to Kate from me for her attitude towards rats. Everything

has got a job to do. Look at this. She is busy and constantly

fidgeting. She is turning round, reaching beneath herself. She has

fluffed herself up. We have not seen her sitting in this position before.

She is brooding something. You both only 50p! I got it right! You said

that last week as well. Spread your bets! How excited will you be? One

little frigid, please! It would be an amazing thing, because very few

people get a chance to see this. have never seen it at all. Keep your

eye on the live cameras. We have got cliffhangers galore, let's remind

ourselves, we still have the jackdaws, let's go live to them.

There is a parent in there. Let's hope that they are going to be all

right. The youngsters look OK for tonight. Let's go back again. No!

will have to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will take a look at a

fabulous red kite. And also, another Springwatch first, longtailed tips,