Episode 9 Springwatch

and we are coming to you with all of the usual ingredients. We have

drama, cutting edge science and world firsts. What about those

little what real chicks? Absolutely stunning. We have discovered a

family of foxes living on the edge and we have another Springwatch

first. Unique to each of the breeding habits of a lovely little

bird, the long tailed tits. Plus, we catch up with all our live cameras

including our jackdaws. There is another dramatic week ahead, don't

miss a moment. It is Springwatch. Hello and welcome to Springwatch. It

is our final week here. It is a fabulous place here, packed with all

sorts of habitat as you can see here. Nestled down in the vestry is

our studio and that is where we are now. We have been sticking our noses

into the private lives of all the animals here. It has been good but

this week, we have saved the best until last. I would say it has been

an excellent week and one of the highlights for many was the hatching

of our water real chicks. This is a very shy and secretive bird, very

rarely seen during the breeding season and the chicks are absolutely

adorable. We managed to get any access to them with our cameras.

This is what we saw the first week. A pair of birds sitting on the nest,

building the nest up. Then on Thursday morning, we got our first

real glimpse of six absolutely gorgeous little chicks. We were so

excited. We had so many of you commenting on them. What happened

after that? We were not sure how long they would stay in the nest

for. The books say up to 48 hours. They kept falling out of the nest

because they are very active. For 24 hours, they stayed with the parent

bird. You can see them all snuggled up underneath her. This one climbs

up and falls down and manages to get back inside the nest. We were lucky

in that they stayed there all on Thursday but on Friday, the sun came

up and they decided it was time to go. One of the adults came in and

was feeding them. The adult then made their way away from the nest

and you can see that those two last remaining youngsters didn't wait

long until they followed their mates over the edge and into the wider and

wetter world. It is dense, thick reeds and they will be out there,

trying to make their way. It was not the last activity at the nest

because shortly afterwards, one of the adults came back to try to

integrate the last eight. We have postulated that if it did not hatch,

they would throw it out of the nest. Instead of that, they seemed

determined to try and hatch it. After that, they abandoned it and

went out to look after the chicks. am going to read some of the

comments. One says, neither are gone, the real dangers begin. It

would be lovely if you could catch against them on the water. That

would be amazing but we have not yet. Another one on Facebook says,

where do they go and what do they do? Do they hang around the area and

get fed? They are learning to feed and they can feed themselves after

just five days. It is a process of trial and error. They will be

picking at things that catch their eye and if they are edible, they

will learn how to eat them. After five days, they can feed

themselves. After 15 days, they will be left to their own devices. They

cannot fly until 30 days but the parents will have moved on, thinking

of having another brood. The chicks will stay in this area and mature.

Some of the water reels in the north of the UK are not resident and they

will move further site. We do get a large number of birds coming in from

the continent, too. In terms of how many will survive, we cannot tell

you. So little is known about these birds. For a moment, can you turn

the camera around on the rest of the crew? They all have hair nets on and

that is because we are being slaughtered. But we shall press on!

Those were not the only birds to leave the nest on Friday, are

grasshopper warbler as did the same thing. Here we are at the nest site.

So well hidden in their and they move around like mice. There is the

mum and the chicks, to begin with, or a tiny, but very quickly, they

have put on weight. You can see, here they are, grown up. Here was

the nest site and we actually missed the first two chicks fledging

because they left before the sun came up. I think there are three

left in the nest. There goes one fledgling. The parents will just

stand on the edge of the nest, as if urging them to come out. There goes

another. But, there are two left in there. They will not be able to

fully fly, assisted flight if you like. They will hang around that

site for up to four or five days before they can fly fully. Many of

you saw them go on Friday on the live cameras. You can continue

watching the live cameras through the night and all day tomorrow and

for the rest of the week. The address is on screen. Tonight we

will be launching two new cameras. One of them is not a bird, it is a

small fascinating thing and the other is a speckled sensation.

had a beautiful weekend here and I know it wasn't for the whole country

but we got plenty of sunshine. It was quite hot and for some of our

feathered friends, it was a little bit too hot and we had lots of hot

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds

chicks. A lot of our wildlife enjoys On Springwatch we always give you

plenty of beauty and sometimes some surprise drama. On Thursday, but was

the creation of the meadow pipit. This is what happened. There they

are, all in their nest. They hear something and they gathered down.

There is good reason for that because incomes are grass snake.

Then, the snake grabs one of the chicks by the head. The more I watch

this, the more dramatic it seems to get. The chick is struggling to get

free. The other chicks decide to get out of the nest, who can blame them?

They all escape. This snake slithers of with one chick. Again, we got

many comments from social media about this. I wonder how far the

chicks will have scattered from the nest, it will properly take some

time for them to regroup. Another one says if one chick is meant to

satisfy the grass snake for a week, why did it return to the nest

shortly afterwards. If there were more chicks in the nest, would he

have eaten them as well? Certainly, when they happen a great source of

food like that, they had to take advantage of it. Sometimes these

snakes will only feed three or four times in the course of summer. It is

so tough for them to find food. What has happened to the rest of the

chicks? We had not seen them but we have seen that the parents are still

returning to that area and this suggests very strongly that at least

some of those chicks have scattered into the surrounding vegetation and

they are still being fed by the parent. Here, there is a food chain

going on. The grass snake in this case is the predator, eating the

chick and it was eating the caterpillars but that doesn't mean

the grass snake will not get eaten. We have been watching and we have

noticed behind us, there has been a heron very active and it is the top

of the food chain predator dine on the marsh. We have seen it eating

all sorts of things, fish, frogs, it stalks around with patience, looking

for things and then striking out very quickly. Look in the bottom

left hand corner of the screen, what is that in the water? The head of a

grass snake. It appears that initially, the heron does not see it

and is walking in the other direction. Quite clearly, that head

catches the eye. I think it knows it is there and this is their strategy,

they will stop things and they will delicately approach them. What

happened next? Let us see. The heron sees the snake and makes the turn.

Not quite within range so it has two approach slowly but this snake is

wary enough to know that he is potential prey here and it sets off

at speed across the surface of the water. These grass snake are able

swimmers, both below and on the surface. Look at this, grass snakes

can certainly serve. Look at the speed of him! That is fantastic.

Making a great escape on this occasion from the heron. The grass

snake, we have seen them as prey items here. They have been in the

nests of our words earlier in the year. The meadow pipit don't have it

all against them, the grass snake 's get their comeuppance as well.

grass snake would have been even faster if it had not eaten the

chicks! The speed was amazing. A lot of you were very concerned over the

weekend about our jackdaws come not surprisingly. They have been doing

all right. Let us go like light to the jack. Nest. There is a parent I

decide and this is interesting. The chicks are almost looking grown-up.

They are very interested in the outside. They are looking to go. I

don't think they will be in there for very much longer. There has been

trouble over the weekend. The invaders did come in but to much

less perfect. Here they are outside, the intruders, coming in.

The chicks fight back. We have noticed they spend less and less

time in the nest box, intruders. I think they have given it up as a bad

job, I am glad to say. But they don't seem, I don't think, they are

fine now. You're taking sides, that is not allowed! It is good to see

those chicks because I was worried. I think they will make it. A good

job because Kate McRae who we featured on Springwatch, has also

had cameras on a jack. Nest and this of the nest box. One has gone, the

other is cowering. The jackdaw returns and get hold of it by the

beak. It pulls it out. I think that is what they have been trying to do,

not kill them in the nest but drag them out so they can take over. They

have gone quite close to different, but they did not fall out. We cannot

identify which are which, unless they are marked. We have learned a

lot, but we could learn more. going off to the hub, I will go to a

brand-new camera. Buzz off! That was not rude, that was a tease! We have

learned a long from the nest boxes, with the cameras, but there is only

so much we can speculate when we are watching them for a short time and

they are not marked. You can learn more. Last week, we introduced you

to a well studied community of long tailed tips. When we caught up with

them again, the court unique footage of their breeding habits.

It is mid-May, and scientists from Sheffield University are monitoring

a population. They have identified most of them, which has allowed them

to make remarkable discoveries about their breeding strategy, which is

unique among UK species and has followed since early spring. This

pair has built in a bramble patch and laid their eggs on the 20th of

April. At the same time, another pair was putting the finishing

has 1000 chicks. They are five days old, and the female is brooding and

to keep them warm. The mail is busy bringing in insects for the young.

Survival rates for the long tailed tits are low. This female and her

mate both lost all of their bramble now has seven slightly older

these payments are supplementing the winged insects they have been

feeding their chicks with caterpillars, which are more

The male bird reveals something special as he comes and goes.

Hovering flight. Nobody really knows It is remarkable that the Hollybush

nest and the bramble best have survived so far. 72% of long tailed

tits best in the River lune Valley of destroyed by other birds or

mammals that take the eggs or the chicks. Parent birds may build

another nest and try to breed again. But it is in the aftermath of these

kinds of losses that many long tailed tits reveal a unique strategy

for self forging something from apparent disaster. This one is two

years old and he has decided to give up on breeding this year. Instead,

he is going to help a relative nearby at the Hollybush best. He is

a relative of the Hollybush mail. The bubbly a cousin or a nephew. The

systems that help a bird is to help feed the chicks. Usually male ones

helping feed male relatives. This remarkable behaviour has never been

filmed before. It is called cooperative breeding. Now, the

helper bird, the father and the mother of all feeding the chicks.

Even though the male helper bird will not raise any chicks of his own

this year, he is increasing the chances that his relatives' once

will survive. The jeans he shares with his male relative will

therefore be passed on to the next generation. With the extra help, the

chicks are prospering. But they are still about five days from fledging.

Up the valley, the dung of the bramble pair are on the brink of

leading -- leaving the nest at 17 Unlike many other species, these

fledgeling 's will stay together. Not just for a few days, but

throughout the summer and into the autumn. The research has revealed

secrets of the long tailed tits success. From the moment they hatch

and throughout their adult lives, What a brilliant study, I am in awe

of that, that is absolutely fantastic. If those helpers attend

the best, there is a greater chance they will be accepted into the

winter flocks of long tailed tits. That might sound inconsequential,

but it is very important. Take a look at this, which was sent into us

by John last winter. This shows some long tailed tits roosting. One of

the things they have to do in the winter is hobbled together to stay

warm. When you are a long tailed tit, you need to know your rights.

When you arrive, you can push the others out the way and set up in the

middle! This is important, these are tiny birds, they lose lots of heat,

so being a member of the flock is a great advantage. It is a great

advantage so that you can keep an eye out for predators. Staying in

that flock after being accept it by feeding the chicks is a really good

idea. Kids do that, they get in the middle of you in bed! They certainly

do! How do birds know which other birds are their relatives? They

could use smell, but they do not have a developed sense of smell.

They use sound. Listen to these three recordings. This is the first

one. Let's hear number two. And then, number three. OK, which one of

those is the odd one out? Two of them are related, one was the odd

one out. There is a slight tonal difference. To our ears, they are

the same, we cannot tell them apart, unless we produce these, these are

sonograms, a graphical representation. Each of those chirps

leads to a peak in the sound. When you look at the sonogram, which one

did you think is the odd one out? would say that one. You looked at

the back of the card! I did not!You are right, these two are related,

but there is a great big blob which indicates that this one is the odd

one out. What is interesting, when they fledge, they stick together in

family groups for quite a long time, and it is then that they learn the

calls of the adults and they mimic them so they sound alike. Just as we

might sound like our parents, because we hear their vocabulary,

language and dialect, the same is true for long tailed tits, so they

can continue to identify those which are closely related to them. That is

incredible. Cracking. That information can only be gained

because there is hours of study. That is something our nest watchers

know about, they watch our nesting birds 24 hours a day. Martin has

gone down to meet some of them. All these fans and tents are full of

people making the programme live. What we are interested in is this

truck, because we are going to see the nest watchers. Firstly, the

output of all of our cameras go into this truck, there are 21 cameras

going into this truck, with this spaghetti Junction. Let's see the

output of all of those cameras. Be careful up the stairs. It is a bit

dark in here. Here we go, here are the nest watchers. Hello.

Traditional handshake! How long have you been up here today? We have been

on since four o'clock. The shift goes from 4pm until 4am. They work

hard for their cash! What have you got that you are interested in?

are keeping our eye on the willow warbler. The nest has various

checks, they will be fledging. Anything else? The jackdaws, we have

the redstarts chicks. The one that we are interested in now is this.

This is the new one. This is the bees nest camera. This is

fascinating, it is inside a nest box, these are workers, and it is

quite advanced, this nest. It has had to grow to that size. It did not

start like that. In the beginning, it was just one day, a queen bee.

Early in the year, in springtime, you see these flying around, and the

first ones of the queens, because they survive the winter, and they

build up their reserves, because they alone stop the nest. -- start

the nest. They start off on their own, creating the nest, and they

hatch out, they make a pot of honey, and they will hatch out eight

workers. They will stop to help her. Let's go live to the nest. This is

quite far advanced, there are lots of workers. I am looking for the

Queen, because she is much eager. I cannot see her, but we have been

recording this nest action, and we can see her earlier today. There she

is, she is much, much bigger than they are. She rules the nest with a

rod of iron, everything OK so, it is a disciplined operation. Around now,

the nest will start to break down, the Queen will produce other

Queens, junk Queens, and mail once, and you might be able to see

squabbles breaking out, which is the beginning of the end of the nest.

She is still in control, but it might break down. We have noticed

how they have built the nest. This is sped up. They produce wax from

special plans in their bodies, they scrape it off with their legs, and

they use it to build up the nest. That is wax from the bees' own

bodies. Completely different from wasps, they'd use paper, but the

bees use special wax from lands in their own body. Something else, the

nest needs to be kept Cork. The bees have been standing around outside.

We are looking down at the entrance hole. They are not trying to take

off, this is their air conditioning system. They are circulating the air

within the nest. Chris has been keeping a careful eye on the Hill.

There is the production village and over on the other side, Chris went

up there to a specialised habitat. It is quite a hike, 120 metres up. I

am not complaining. What have you! Look, dine here, that is the

production village, where all the action happens. Just along here, but

as the barn where the jackdaws have been having such a torrid time. If

you follow dine through the woodland here, you can just see the studio

peeping out of the woods and in fact, in the middle of that lake, I

can see the camera on the marsh. It is a beautiful view of this arduous

place. To be honest, I have not, for the view, I have come because he

thinned is a completely different habitat than that dine on the nature

reserve. When the sun shines down here, without the shade of the

trees, this is a very dry and warm environment. That means it is good

for insects, a perfect place for birds to come and raise their young.

This is a place I would expect to find stonechat, meadow pipit, may be

treated and cuckoo. Cuckoos are rude parasites, meaning they will lay

their eggs into the nest of unsuspecting birds, which then raise

the chick is that it is their own. The nest of the meadow pipit is top

of the cuckoohit list. These have a nest of eggs nearby which they will

defend vigorously. The cuckoos are not just appear to lay their eggs,

there appear to feed and food for cuckoos is big fat, juicy moth

caterpillars like this one. They feed on Fox moths, anything like

that and at this time of year, when these insects are moving to find

somewhere to pupate, cuckoos are on them. You can see them sometimes

beating them against the branches before they swallow them. It is not

just moths that are up here, there are specialist species of butterfly

as well. One of them is the small Heath butterfly. These pretty little

butterflies thrive in this dry heat and habitat. My next find is one I

have been really hoping to see. It is a wind chat and she is on X. Look

at that! Sat up on top of the Bracken, a female wind chat.

Distinctive white I stripe. Not a bird that I see down in the south.

They used to nest there, long gone. This is perfect habitat for them and

what a beauty that is in the early morning sunshine. It is really great

to see this. He plans never fail to surprise me with their amazing range

of fantastic wildlife. It just goes to prove, getting up and getting out

always pays dividends. Look at it! Absolutely amazing!

I want a confession, you didn't look up that hill, did you? That's right,

I ran up there! Once the cuckoos have laid eggs in somebody else's

nest, what did they do? The females are active, they have too late a

clutch of eggs, not just one egg, not just one. Their challenge is,

they have too fine a nest that is exactly at the right stage because

it has chicks in them, it won't hatch in time. They have to spend a

lot of time sat in trees and they watch all of the other birds going

about their nesting business so they can time it at the right time.

a lot of sitting around, watching and waiting. It is not easy, you

have to find caterpillars. Let us have a look at the woodpecker. We

might be able to hear them. We cannot hear them, which is unusual.

We have been hearing them quite a lot. They are being very quiet. Let

us see them from earlier on. That is the barring and just behind the

barring, this is the tree where the woodpeckers are nesting. An adult

flies out and the other adult goes in. We do not know how many chicks

are in there but the nest watchers have been diligently watching and

they reckon they have spotted three individuals and they reckon that can

tell the difference by the red patch on their ahead and they think each

one is slightly different. They all come to that whole and wait to be

fed. They seem to take it in turns to be fed but what is interesting

is, there could be lots of chicks in there and few years ago, we only saw

three individuals but when I came to fledge, there were six of them. We

could have it in there, we never know. Look at this, these are birds

that live in a completely different environment, lots of fresh air in

this open spot. We have been following a nest of two youngsters.

The adult is feeding them and they set up on those purchase, swoop down

and bring them into the nest. There were six eggs in that nest but only

to have them hatched and they were regularly attended by both parents.

He can see the adult coming in and they have been feeding them lots of

insects. The interesting thing is, yesterday, the female disappeared

and she didn't feed all day, she completely vanished. She came back

here this morning and she popped into the nest just a couple of times

with food but for the rest of the time, it was the male bird that was

providing all of the sustenance for this blurred. Is going on there!

Very often, the female bird will start another nest and lay another

clutch of eggs before these birds have even fledged. She will then

leave the male bird to do all of eating while she gets onto it.

is hard work, no bric-a-brac are. They can have up to four or five.

The stonechat numbers have gone down in the last few years but if they

can breed for times this year, those numbers will rapidly, again. Is it

unusual they only have two chicks? Yes, normally they would have up to

six. Let us have a look at them live. They still have the little

fluffy ears. They will be lost before they fledge but these birds

can stay in the nest, if they are undisturbed, they can stay for their

for up to 17 days. 9/11 have a look at some of those insects in a

close-up. Let us head back to Springwatch microworld. You may

member but last week we had some chrysalis of painted ladies and we

had a camera on them because we were hoping that the adults would emerge

from the chrysalis, and they did. Have a look at this. It is speeded

up slightly. Here is the adult emerging from the chrysalis. It

didn't take long at all, only 30 seconds. The wings are all crumpled

up and they need to be extended. The adult closes up, pumps blood out

into those wings and it was pumping so hard, drops of it was pumping so

hard, dropped that were falling out onto believes below. It took about

30 minutes for the wings to come out fully and here they are, pumped out.

Usable. It has had my part as a caterpillar but you can see there by

its eyes, getting used to this new life apart but it will use for

drinking nectar. What a strange looking thing! There it was as an

adult, beautiful. Imagine suddenly being faced with that. Let us have a

look at caterpillars because that is how the painted Lady started out.

Here is a painted Adey caterpillar. They tend to feed on specific things

like nettles. Other caterpillars will prefer other different

vegetations. Look at the legs. All caterpillars have three pairs of

legs at the front and then these funny little pods, like sticking out

sucker legs. If you ever try to remove a caterpillar from a leaf,

they can hang on fantastically strongly. There they are, munching

their way through all the leads in our garden. That is how the

caterpillar works but there is an enormous Friday, different shapes

and sizes of butterflies. You can see these front legs and those

suckers at the back. This looks like a porcupine! Again, the useful legs

at the front. The hair is one of their defence mechanisms. All sorts

of bizarre shapes and sizes. Critically important for so many of

the birds here, are vital food resource. I said caterpillars come

in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Look at this one, this is a

fantastic insect, the caterpillar of the lobster mob. If legs at the

front are extraordinarily long. You can see them munching and eating

away. They are shipped into a body here which is said to resemble a

lobster. You can see them eating. You can see them articulating those

for lemons which are so much longer than normal caterpillars. They feed

on Birch, beech and oak. They are widely distributed across the UK but

I had only ever find one of these before. I saw this one a couple of

days ago. They really are extraordinary. It is thought that

they appear like this because they mimic ants when they first touch

from the egg. They want to keep the and away from the egg shell because

they eat it but there is a lot more going on with this than just wanting

to look like an ant. They are spectacular caterpillars but take a

look at this, this is the adult, a rather unassuming large but Brian

Moffat. Here is a tiny little caterpillar. Or maybe not. Look at

that! This is a death head caterpillar. This one has started to

shrink. It is starting to go into its pupil form, smaller than it was

a few days ago. Nigel very kindly brought these into us. Let us have a

look at this caterpillar in action. Look at the size of the thing! If

you saw one of those! It has this little strange tale like a Jack

Russell. Not a very well Jack Russell! Here we put a coin to give

you an idea of the size of it but what a fabulous creature! They have

powerful jaws and they are said to give you a little bit of about and

they rattle their jobs if they are threatened. I have never heard that.

The caterpillar eats lead but the adult eats honey. That animal you

had, very soon it will lose the skin that is covering it now. It will

turn into one of the most spectacular moths of all. Here it is

inside a beehive and they break into beehives to drink the honey will

stop they have my parts that are specially designed to get into these

honey cells. They will use this as fuel or so they can find mates and

lay their eggs. They also squeak, don't they? That is supposed to stop

the bees attacking them. It stops the bees moving in the hive and that

is what they are trying to mimic this and it doesn't work sometimes.

In the field of human conflict, never has so much blood been shared

for the entertainment of so many. We are being eaten alive! Let us

introduce you to some of the most beautiful animals we have in the

UK. We have been following a family Beside this busy a rogue... Family

on the edge. These foxes were spotted by a wildlife cameraman

whilst travelling to work at 4am in the morning. He thought they must

have a den nearby, so he set up a hide to see if he could film them.

That evening, he got his first glint Foxes generally fall into two

categories, town foxes or country foxes. But this family has the best

of both. This hedgerow and the surrounding fields are home to lots

of species, meaning there is plenty of wild prey for them to feast on.

But over the road is a housing estate, offering tantalising treats

An examination of the den area reveals that the sum foxes have a

very broad diet. They have already their menu, the Cubs instinctively

respond with some mouse hops. Displaying the tech week they will

use as adults to catch small In the evening, it seems that the

family follows a strict routine. The dominant male cub sits and waits for

the mum to arrive back from the day's foraging. They wait around the

den. A bit of time exploring. A bit The oldest one tries to suckle, but

it is too old for this now. Mum is All of these cubs are mature enough

to feed themselves now. The evening routine ends with a spot of mutual

grooming. It has to be said, they all look in remarkably good

condition, so the mother's strategy streetwise, these Cubs may not be.

This life on the edge may ultimately be a very risky one.

Beautiful animal, but you have got to feel sorry for them on that road,

it is a real worry. Yes, and some do get knocked over, but they also

learn how to cross the road, so let's hope that favours them.

have given up hope! If you can wear that jumper, I can wear this net!

Sidhu after the show! Let's take a look at a bird that we think might

fledge tomorrow, the willow warbler. Look how much they have grown. They

have been very fidgety in that nest. They have been getting hot and

bothered, they have been panting, they are squashed. I think we will

see them fledge by this time tomorrow. I will bet you this

cardigan that by this time tomorrow they will have gone! Yes, great,

thank you! At the top of the show we promised you a couple of new cameras

on new nests, he is the first one, it is a fabulous word, known to many

of you the song thrush. They do well in our cities. They feed on worms.

And other soft foodstuff, as well as snails. They make their nests in

bramble patches or bushes. You can see the female brooding. There may

be more decks -- eggs to hatch. They are bringing in plenty of food, a

wide variety, but plenty of caterpillars going into the mouths.

There are three chicks. They are delightful birds, and the nest are

beautiful, they have a smooth mud lining, into which a late blight

blue X with delicate blackspots on. Let's go live to the nest. One of

the adults eating a faecal sac. They must be thinking about brooding them

as it begins to call down. A little yawn! They still have their eyes

closed, they are just a couple of days old. The song thrush does not

just look right, they sound great. A familiar bird, but often, when you

are shopping or sitting in the park, you might not be aware that, height

above your head, there is a soap opera unfolding in the world of

goals. Spring arrives in the city of

Bristol. Some increasingly familiar residents are returning after the

long winter. Gulls. While the populations have declined along the

coast, urban populations have been increasing. Over 100,000 pairs now

live in the UK's towns and cities. Restore is home to a large colony.

Why have they chosen to come into our world? When seen from their

perspective, the city has many advantages. From above, the

cityscape is a collection of man-made clifftops, safe from

disturbance, and pretty much predator free. The perfect place to

breed. And up here, we are going to reveal the secret and often

surprising world of the urban gull. This tower block is home to a

particular pair of herring gulls. They are impressive. The male one is

bigger than the female, 60 centimetres tall, with a wingspan of

one and a half metres. They can live for as long as 35 years. This male

one is definitely in his prime. The female has a leg ring which reveals

she is 11 years old. She was ringed in Chop them, so she is definitely a

West Country girl. This pair have probably spent the winter on the

coast. The moment they return, they must stop the serious business of

courtship. -- they must start. They have to build up a strong bond if

they are going to successfully raise The urban breeding season starts

early. Pairs have been returning to their high-rise breeding sites since

before Christmas. By early April, over 2500 pairs are back. It has

been one of the coldest spring is on record. But the city can be as much

as three degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. This

enables the gulls here to breed to three weeks earlier than those in

rural areas. Herring gulls mate for life. They return to their partner

each spring. On top of their tower block, they sit in the most

prominent position to remind the delightfully placed next to one of

They need to build a nest deep enough to hold the ex-securely.

Winter weather has left potential nesting materials scattered across

The pair worked together to build the female he is capable of

supporting her and rearing a family. He will do this by offering gifts of

advances are clearly being shunned. She is not impressed. He is going to

have to work a lot harder, or all of his efforts so far will come to

nothing. That was great, they are fantastic

things, and it is happening just above our heads. More about them

tomorrow. Let's show some photographs. I will go first. Is it

just me, or does this Jacques Zoua parent look like it is wearing a

pair of novelty slippers? Look at that, that is phenomenal. A

sparrowhawk taking a swift. One of the most agile birds on the planet.

That was from Roy. Lovely, beautiful. Look at that. Jamie,

phenomenal, to adult ones, beautiful. This is meadow flowers by

Steve. I like this one, a really plain background, I would imagine

that on my roof, so I can lay back in bed and imagine I am in a meadow.

Lovely! Shall we go quickly to our live jackdaw camera? There they are,

snuggled down. We think they are going to fledge by tomorrow. Let's

go to the willow warbler. I thought they were going to go. 50p there