Episode 1 Springwatch

We have rocked up in a new location. It is absolutely fabulous. It is the

RSPB's spectacular Minsmere Reserve. We are here on a mission to explore

every inch of the reserve and the fabulous wildlife in it. From a

bounty of beautiful birds to a melee marvellous mammals. Our new home is

by the sea. Grab a deckchair because it is Springwatch.

I think a deckchair and ice cream might be ambitious this evening, but

welcome to Spring watch 2014. The first of our programmes coming from

the Minsmere Reserve. I have had the fortune of visiting nature reserves

all over the world and this is one of the finest in the world, packed

with William stuff. We will be here for the next three weeks. We want to

understand more about the habitat and species. And we have the place

bugged. One of the key species is the avocet, emblem of the RSPB. It

is pertinent to start with this bird, a great conservation success

story. This is your sort of bird. A tiny bit of colour, very neat and

tidy. The Audrey Hepburn of birds. We have been watching them and we

have noticed interesting behaviour. Look at this. Look at this bird, it

is shaking its feet to get rid of the water. It settles down on its

nest. And it is wiping the marred from the feet before it tucks them

underneath -- mud. Is there a reason for that? There is a good reason. It

does not want to get the eggs wept. It does not want to cover them in

mud. The bird might suffocate. There is a good reason for the behaviour.

We are not just celebrating the start of Springwatch but the 10th

anniversary. Springwatch has been on television for ten years. Certain

animals define Springwatch. Ten years ago, we started with badgers

and we have them back the 2014. This is one of the setts. There is

nothing happening, because it is early for the badgers to come out.

The quest is to find out as much as we can about the badgers here. A

personal challenge is to get them live on air before we come off at

9pm every night. There is a good chance. Look at what we saw at 9pm

last night. The badger comes out, sniffing around. Hopefully, we can

bring that forward to 8:55pm and we will have them on the programme. I

think we will. Particularly if it is overcast weather. I think they might

come out earlier. Another Springwatch mantra is to reveal new

things about familiar species. Garden birds. 98% of us have this

species in the garden every winter. It is the bluetit. We have a camera

live on a nest. It has a brood of youngsters in it.

It is the bluetit. We have a camera live on a nest. It has a Most have

already fledged. Mind fledged 14 days ago. These are still inside the

nest. already fledged. Mind fledged 14

days ago. These are still Why is that? We have plenty of questions

about these and other birds and we will try to uncover the reasons for

that. But we can get to know Minsmere better. It's habitats and

some of its most exciting species. Minsmere, on the Suffolk coast. It

is a ten square kilometres haven for wildlife. This flagship RSPB reserve

boasts an unprecedented array of internationally important habitats.

From reed beds to woodland. He's learned to grassland. Lagoon to the

beach. On the shoreline, a unique community of plants and birds. The

forests are a sanctuary for visitors and for natives. There is life and

death. Out on the grasslands, where one of the largest herds of red year

in England greys. -- graze. There are hunters and the hunted. All in

all, a staggering 5600 species make their home here. Minsmere is one of

the most wildlife rich places in the UK. What better place to watch the

drama of spring on fold? -- unfold.

It really is a special place to spend the next three weeks. And look

at this Armitage point. We can see a lot of the different habitats, the

reed bed, lagoon, grasslands and woodland. From here is a great place

to do some bird spotting. 329 species. How is your bird list

coming on? Probably about 50, 60 species. We have improved on the

cabin. Somebody has been keeping up appearances. We have been living the

good life. I reckon that is a 1950s teapot, it is likely antiques road

show. Where are we geographically? If you have been watching for the

past three years, we were in west Wales. We have leapt across to the

east coast of England, East Anglia, and to the Suffolk coast line, and

Minsmere is close to Norwich and Ipswich. The series will not be all

about East Anglia and we have scattered ourselves around the UK,

making films we will show you later. We want it live as well. We have a

reporter, the brilliant naturalist. Iolo. He will be in Scotland. He

will be whether ask for the next three weeks, bringing reports from

the west of Scotland. He is with us live tonight. You are in a gorgeous

place. Hello, welcome to the beautiful West Coast of Scotland.

Today, there has been mixed weather with rain and sunshine and no wind,

which makes it perfect for the most famous Scottish beast, more famous

than the Loch Ness Monster, the Scottish midge. Why have we come

here? This is why. We have otters for you. We have eagles for you. We

have seals for you. And we have even as, as well. There is plenty to keep

you occupied. -- beavers. And we will be filming local Wildcats. And

I will be learning more about this beautiful bird. Here we are from the

West Coast of Scotland, we have come to the east coast of England. If you

went out there, you would hit the North Sea and it is looking wild

tonight. This looks like an ordinary beach. But it is very special. We

can go to try to see what it looks like from the air. This area was

flooded to stop the German invasion in 1940. The beach where I am

standing, you can see the little zipper mark. They are tank track

that were supposed to stop the panzers coming up the beach. If they

had come up, they would have trashed these plants. This is CK all. -- sea

kale. It is like a cabbage, you can eat it, but we are asked not to, it

is very precious. The community of plants is precious, because it is

delicate. It can easily be rubbed out, even by a big tide, and that

would be a shame, because it would take years to recover. In some ways

these plants are more precious than some of the birds nesting just over

there, according to the RSPB. Nesting birds. If you were a bird,

would you dream of trying to nest on that? Surely not. And making a

scrape in the pebbles, that would not work? But there are birds

nesting right here, now. How can they do it? There could be

predators, anything could get them. They have to rely on camouflage. We

have managed to film a bird nesting on this beach. We can look at the

bird and see if you can see where it is. Just to show you how good the

camouflage is. It is a remit plover. I cannot see it yet. -- ringed

plover. It will nest for between 22 and 25 days sitting on the eggs

before they hatch. Amazing camouflage. Both parents will be

there. The other partner will be some way off and warn the other one

if there is a predator coming in. When they are sitting on eggs, it is

fairly safe. What happens when they hatch? That is a different story. A

few days ago, we filmed them after hatching. Almost as soon as they

hatched, the chicks leave the nest. Almost within minutes, within an

hour. They do not sit in the nest being fed by their parents. The

parents do not feed the chicks. Bailey them to a place where there

-- they lead them to a place with a lot of food. If they stand still,

the chicks, they disappear, because they looked like tiny pebbles. They

are more visible when they are moving and so the best place to be

is underneath mother. If she settles, they disappear into the

beach once again. An extraordinary example of camouflage and the

natural world. We will keep our eye on this for the

next few weeks. Come with me. Keep up! At the top, look at this. That

is the reserve of Minsmere. Ten square kilometres of it. The wet

area, over there, that is the scrape. We will go there later in

the programme to explore it, because it is teeming with birdlife. And in

the woodland, there is a Michaela Strachan at large.

The chicks are adorable. They look vulnerable, despite the fact it is

the perfect habitat. That is the beauty of Minsmere. There are so

many different habitats, from the beach, to the woodland. And all

sorts of wildlife makes its home here, including the badger. They

have been in the news a lot because of the debate with TB and also the

connection between badgers and cattle. And the badger cull in the

south-west of England. Here, there has been no culling, because it is

predominantly arable farming. Look at the soil, it may be dark but it

is very sandy and that is not ideal for their favourite food,

earthworms. Despite that, there are quite a few sets here. We have been

investigating a couple of the sets and one of them is right behind me

in the woods. We want to know a lot more about badgers, we want to

investigate what exactly they do eat, how they fit into the ecology,

and what effect they have on other animals. First of all, I wanted to

see the sets in the daytime so I went out with Penny looms to have a

look. That is a good entrance, look at that. They have kicked the soil.

Lots of prints. A lovely print there. You can actually see the

clause. They used their claws to dig soil at. How many entrances do they

have in this set? I think there are something like 14 entrances but not

all of them are used at the same time. The badgers come in and out

every day. Others will fill up with debris and some will disappear. Do

you know how many badgers used this set? There is no telling from the

number of entrances. The only way is by doing a DNA analysis to get a

fingerprint for each badger. Or else, you can use cameras and count

them out of the set. The beauty of Springwatch is we have cameras.

There are three adults using this set, a large male with battle scars,

a younger male, and one other who could be a female or a very young

male. The jury is out on that one. The second set, known as the Warren,

is 800 metres away. We have rigged it with cameras. We have picked up a

well worn badger part, running into this next set. This is why we have

this camera here, and many more! Yes. This is a good post for

scratching and nibbling. Do they bring in their little gripes as

well? I think so. They love to use their clause. This is a

well-established set. There is this one the main entrance which splits

into two channels and runs for several metres under the trees. You

can see where the roof of the tunnel has collapsed, creating a shaft.

Sometimes they use it as an entrance point but that looks too deep for

them to make it out easily. The cameras have proved this whole to be

a bit of a hazard. -- hole. Forcefully, mother was on hand to

rescue her errant cup. Here we have a play area. You can see it is worn

and muddy. The badgers have been running up and down here. How sweet!

They have almost like an armchair here! They have sat back and had a

good scratch. Because they have been around here, you can often find

their hair. You can tell it is from a badger because it is ridged. We

have five cups and two adults. -- cubs. We do not know whether one is

a male or female. It is quite a big litter and will be quite a struggle

for them to survive over the next few weeks and months to adults.

Hopefully, we will find out with the cameras. Hopefully, we will see more

of them. What are their chances, Chris? Their mortality is 50 or 60%

but you do not have to worry about the young ones. I am sure they are

going to be fine. Let's take a look at the badger sets. If you are a

budding badger watch, now is the time to go before the sets are

hidden. Also, there are a few about but not that many. We have had some

unusual behaviour. Have a look at this, what you make of it? This is

interesting because the badger is a robust animal, rather terrestrial.

Look at it, it goes up the trunk of a tree. I have seen them climbing

before but only on trees with branches where they can get a grip.

This one goes up the tree like it is a bear. Look at the way it is

hanging on! That is incredible behaviour. I wonder whether that is

usual for that one badger or for the whole set. It has long clause and it

was gripping round the tree like a bear does. They were not climbing

for no reason, it was sniffing something, probably food. If they

are able to climb trees, it's easily means they can go over fences, and

there are many fences on the Minsmere Reserve which are designed

to keep predators out. We will have to keep our eye on those badgers.

Lots of questions about the badgers and hopefully we will give you lots

of answers. Let's go from the woods of Suffolk to the West Coast of

Scotland to find one of our favourite birds of prey. Thank you.

Welcome back to the stunning West Coast of Scotland. Look at that, the

sun is going down behind me. I am here in Argyll, and this will be our

base for the next three weeks. We are going to explore the wonderful

scenery and the wonderful wildlife we have all around us. Shirley, the

most majestic bird in this area must be the white tailed eagle. --

surely. Sadly, these birds were hunted to extinction in the UK in

1918. They were reintroduced from 1975 onwards, using birds from

Norway, and they been reintroduced to the east coast. The population is

doing well again and it is fantastic to see these magnificent birds back

in our skies. The wonderful thing is that we have one here with us with

our handler, Roxanne. Thank you for coming on. Who is this? This is

Moira. I have heard them described as flying vandals. How big is she?

She is 730. -- seven foot. Is that to keep her calm, that mask on her?

That is right. With all the people here, she would probably get quite

upset. Going forward, she may be more comfortable after this. I hear

they do not like Welshman as well! Look at the tell, it is not white.

That is right. It is the last feather she has of the juvenile

plumage from a first year. The other feathers are more white. -- the

tail. All birds moult their feathers and grow new ones but this one does

not grow their full white tail until they are eight or nine years old.

Thank you, Roxanne. We will see more of her later on but we will hop over

this wall behind me to the wonderful island of mole. We have been

following the white tailed eagles for a few weeks. These birds are

prone to disturbance but the cameraman is licensed and is filming

them from a distance of 200 metres. -- Mull. White tailed eagles

continued to flock to Mull in the 1970s. Since 2012, this pair has

nested here on the edge of a conifer plantation. The male is a descendant

of the original birds reintroduced to the West Coast. The female was

raised in Fife on the East Coast. In 2011, she flew 144 miles from East

to West and set up with the mail. -- male. This year, they have one chick

who is three weeks old. The female stays near the nest to keep an eye

on him so it is up to the mail to provide for the family. At the

moment, he is bringing food in once. The female does most of the feeding,

telling the food up into tiny pieces for the chick. There are a few

scraps for herself. Dinner over, the chick does some spectacular pooping.

Out of the nest so he does not dirty the nest. With the chick and the

female content, the male heads off. Flying through the plantation, he

comes under fire from a nearby buzzard. The buzzard feels

threatened by the size. You can see the incredible size difference in

the sky. The male white tailed eagle has an average wingspan of seven

feet. Over the coming weeks, the male will have to bring back more

and more food for the growing chick. The next day, a small fish is

brought in. From a nearby tree, the female spots in trying to feed the

chick. She is not happy with that. That is her job. She pushes him away

and the male retreats. The chick will not fledge for another eight

weeks or so. He has got to put on weight and grow proper feathers

before leaving the nest. They are such majestic birds, aren't they?

When you come back to us, we will see them in action. That is worth

seeing. Or those seagulls have increased in number to such an

extent that the young birds wonder to the end of the year, they wonder

over the UK. They are on the Minsmere list. One drifted down the

east coast, and it excited everyone here. From great rarities to the

back garden favourites. Bluetits have been on Spring -- Springwatch

for ten years. Here they were in series one, and here is W we got

inside the nest. It is quite good because you can see what the birds

are up to the when you contrast it to the quality of the pictures we

can get you today, you can appreciate the difference. We all

like to see bluetits in HD today. There is no doubt about that. That

is a fantastic quality picture. You can see the difference. That nest is

situated not far behind us here. Let's go to it live and see what is

happening. I am sure they are not going to fledge tonight. They are

tucked up inside. They are well feathered. That has been lots of

activity and wing flapping today. They could go tomorrow but the

weather forecast is not great so it may be the next day. We have noticed

something very interesting about the chicks in the box and if you look at

this, you can see that every time the adult bird comes in, the way the

nest is inside means it has to go to the far right-hand corner to feed

the chicks. Does that mean that only the chicks at the front are getting

fed? Look, the same corner. It has been doing that all the time. That

is the only place. They are all pretty healthy so we were rather

curious about that. We set up an experiment for tomorrow to see how

they are all being fed. Interesting. Stay with us. More bluetit science

coming up. Let's leave the woodlands and heads to the grassy heathlands

here. We have discovered something which is pretty similar to an

African water hole. It is the red deer that we have here. There are

450 animals here. The water hole is open all hours and the deer are

constantly coming down and drinking. They are malting at this time of

year and they like to roll in it because it makes them less itchy and

get rid of parasites too. There are loads of different animals you can

see around the water hole and the grassy plains are the perfect place

for one of the most common animals on Minsmere. It is the rabbit. As

you can see, there are a lot of them. Hundreds of rabbits. They are

adorable, abundance, prolific breeders. Does that mean that the

whole of Minsmere is going to be overrun by rabbits? No, it does not

because they are also perfect for the four a lot of birds of prey and

also this mammal. The Fox. The foxes prowling. -- is prowling, looking

for a bite to eat. He is chasing the rabbit. Does he

for a bite to eat. He is chasing the rabbit. get it? The others do not

seem too concerned. He has fluff in his mouth. He must have come close.

And yes, he finally grabs his data. They are kept under control by the

predators. They do a lot of eating themselves and through grazing

maintain another habitat, it is the short grassy heathlands we have. It

is sandy. And we have this set of birds. The stone curlew, they are

very rare, with two centres of population, including Salisbury

plain and a few up here. They are crepuscular. They hunt in low light

and need a big eye. In days gone by, people would catch them, put

them in a box and cover it with cloth, and charge people who had

jaundice to look at them because they thought it is I would suck the

jaundice out of you. -- thought it would. What a weird and wonderful

bird. And now, Martin. We can leave the sure and go along

to hear and look across Minsmere. And the wet area, that is the

scrape. We will keep coming back to this for the next three weeks. Why

is it called the scrape? The top surface, the vegetation, is scraped

off by the RSPB to provide bare earth. Some of the rare birds need

it to actually nest. They do that regularly to keep it there. What is

nesting? We have live cameras. We can look at the scrape.

nesting? We have live cameras. We avocet. And the black headed gulls.

The avocet was extinct in the UK for 100 years. In 1947, it reappeared

here, and it was such a conservation success, it was the reason the RSPB

used this bird as its symbol. We have been following them. There are

45 pairs nesting on the scrape. The first thing they do when they arrive

is they have a beautiful courtship behaviour. They get very excited.

They put their upturned bill in the water. When they have finished

copulating, the male bird puts its wing around its mate and they walk

off together. They work together throughout the whole year, selecting

reeds to make the nest. They will take it in turns to incubate the

eggs. Very difficult to tell the difference between the two sexes.

The bill, it is used by them to sweep through dirty water, looking

for prey. They are looking for these. We have shrimps, damsel fly

larvae. We have a seafood, or brackish water, cocktail.

They are nesting on the scrape. It is a risky strategy. Look at where

they are nesting. This is the avocet coming in. Just behind it, there is

a colony of lack headed -- black-headed gulls. If predators

come in, they go into the air and try to see it off, but unfortunately

the black headed gulls sometimes eat the chicks. Now, to the less rare

but equally wonderful animals. After winter, spring has arrived

early in the garden. Plants and animals alike shake off the shackles

of the cold months. Aid to spot -- a ladybird, a two spot, emerges. She

has spent the winter in the shed and now the warmth has returned, the

race is on to breed. Hungry and dehydrated, her first task is to

find food. In the rose bushes, discarded aphid skins sets her on

the right path. These are the clues she was looking for. Nearby, and

aphid colony. This little lady has not eaten in months and she

immediately gets stuck into the banquet. She will eat up to 60

aphids per day, so little wonder that gardeners love them. The female

is not the only one at large in the garden. Males Also on the hunt and

they are not looking for food. It is love they are after. Encounters are

random. There is no time for tenderness. Individuals literally

bump into each other and get going. And going. And going. The female

ladybirds are highly promiscuous. When the mail gets his girl, it pays

to hang onto her. The pair will mate for up to eight hours.

Not long after this meeting Marathon, she lays clutches of X. --

mating. Over the spring she will lay many eggs. She needs her young to

take advantage of the seasonal glut of prey. Depending on the weather,

the eggs take up to five days to hatch. They darken as the embryo

grows. Finally, they are ready. In merging headfirst, the larvae pump

up their BP to free themselves from the shell. As soon as they are out,

the miniature eating machine set off on their path of destruction. First,

they eat the egg from which they have hatched. And from any that have

not developed. They then turned their attention to their brothers

and sisters. Sibling cannibalism is right and so it pays to hatch first.

There is nothing like a quick entree, before the main course,

which is of course juicy, honey filled aphids. The purpose of the

larvae is to grow. And to grow. And grow.

When it has malted three times, this little beast is ready to make the

penultimate transformation -- moulted.

Emerging from the final larval stage, a pupa.

Soft at first, over the next hours, the outer layer hardens into a solid

casing. After a few days, signs of life are visible.

And what climbs out is open lesson and beautiful. -- opalescent. And a

monochrome ladybird is born. Immediately after the birth, she is

soft-bodied and vulnerable. Over the next few hours, she will harden and

bright colours and spots will develop. By autumn, her own

offspring will be adult ladybirds. They will overwinter back in the

shed and emerge next spring, ready to continue the cycle all over

again. It is fascinating to see such a

familiar species in such detail. It reminds us not to take ladybirds for

granted and we must not take that species for granted because it has

declined 44% in the past ten years. That is largely due to the invasive

harlequin. It looks like this. Difficult to spot because of the

colour variation. You are more likely to see this type

in your houses. They are voracious predators of the two-spot. They have

spread dramatically over the UK. We know this because the public told us

through citizen science and a ladybird survey, which is ongoing,

so let us know everything you find out about ladybirds. Whether they

are inside your house, outside, what species they are, if you do not

know, take a photograph. And the location. Send it to the website.

The details of the survey are on the BBC website.

We will be talking more about ladybirds on title chloro, which

starts after we go off air. The first animal I ever met was a

ladybird. My mother said I was fascinated with them. I would put

them on my finger and stared at them until they flew off. If you put one

on your finger, they release a fluid. It is green. Reflex

bleeding. It contains a chemical. If you lick it, it tastes very bitter.

If there are any parents out there, if your children have not licked

their fingers after they have been bled upon by ladybirds, you are

doing them a disservice. Now, listen to this. The unmistakable sound of

the cuckoo. It is a fabulous bird that comes to the UK each summer. It

looks like a hawk. It is famed for being a harbinger of spring will

stop people use to write to The Times newspaper, claiming they had

heard the first cuckoo of spring. It is famous for being a nest parasite,

laying eggs in another bird's nest. The host species has to rear the

cuckoo. It is a lovely bird. Very much part of our culture. But it is

in decline. It has gone down by 65% since the 1980s. When a bird is in

critical trouble, we have to find out what the problem is. We might

understand the problem when it is in the UK, but it is only here for six

weeks, it spends the rest of the year in Africa, migrating back

there. They have come up with gadgets, satellite tracking devices.

They weigh less than five grams. A few years ago they put them on a

number of cuckoos close to here in Sussex. They called one of the

Martin, another Iolo , and another Chris, . The first two are dead. But

Chris is still migrating. The Cuckoo stance here, goes across Europe,

sometimes goes to Italy, across the Mediterranean, and then the obstacle

of the Sahara desert. We discovered that the cuckoos are spending the

first part of the winter down in the basin here, down in the rainforest,

given habitat. What is surprising is when they make the journey back

because you would expect them to take the straight journey north.

This machine is so troublesome! Look at that. That is the route you would

expect them to take but they do not take that route. What they actually

do is when they are down here in Cameroon, they go over into this

part do is when they are down here in

Cameroon, they go over of west Africa, and every year, Chris the

cuckoo... Did you see that? Chris the cuckoo has travelled to Ghana

where he has spent a lot of time. We were thinking that we needed to

understand what is happening to them in Ghana, so I went out there a

month ago to meet my namesake, Chris the cuckoo. The capital of Ghana, a

typically do rustling West African city. -- a typically bustling. I am

keen to find out whether this iconic bird is as well known here as it is

in the UK. I am showing you a photograph of the bird we are

looking to, it is called the cuckoo. Have you seen one? You have never

seen it. Let me play you the call of the bird. Cuckoo, cuckoo! They are

out here somewhere. Maybe outside. Outside of the city. Now, if I have

to find out what attracts Chris and the other cuckoos to Ghana, I have

two heads north. Aside from the bizarre nature of this quest, I

really want to find this birds. What really interests me is the

opportunity to see where it is living in terms of its habitat. When

I was a child, and I looked on the map to find out where birds went in

the winter, it was that big ring of green around Africa, the tropical

rainforest. But the reason no rainforest here, although there

might have been 150 years ago. It has now been cleared. Of course, the

cuckoos are not looking for the Forest itself, they are looking for

food. Now, at the start of the rainy season, what food could these birds

be homing in on and how? Their tags reveal that the cuckoos usually

migrate at night and temperature recordings reveal they fly up to one

mile high. From this vantage point, they seem to be able to zero in on

lightning storms. The evidence suggests that these birds are

actually storm chasing. But why? When they are in the UK, cuckoos are

famed for eating caterpillars, especially the hairy ones which are

toxic to many other birds. We might expect that when they come here they

would be after caterpillars as well. If they are following the storms,

this may not work in terms of the diet. You see, this animal would

have to grow after the vegetation has grown after the rain. That would

take some period of time so if the cuckoos are storm chasing, they need

something far more immediate and I might be sacked on literally tens of

kilograms of it. This is a termite and when it rains here in Africa the

sexual generation of termites will emerge. The art winged insects. --

they are winged insects. So, Caterpillar, I think you might be

said from cuckoos in this part of the world, or at least that is my

theory. But I soon find evidence that it could be the cuckoos

themselves that are at risk. What have you got here? Can I have this

one? This is a young civet. Do people eat these here? For food?

Yes. OK, see you later. Thank you. Thank you. It is staggering, the

amount of wildlife you see on the side of the road that is sold for

food. Everything is on the menu here. A large birds like a cuckoo

would make a good meal. -- a large bird. After six hours, I finally

enter cuckoo country. I make my rendezvous with the scientist

leading the study. Come on, let's talk about cuckoos. If anyone can

take me to Chris the cuckoo, this is the man. So, we'll Chris find his

namesake? It as a conundrum. We will find out more tomorrow. We certainly

well. In the meantime, let's go straight back to Scotland with the

sea eagle. Welcome back to the East Coast -- West Coast of Scotland.

Images are here and the white tailed eagle is also here. These birds are

consummate hunters and we thought we would put the birds to the test.

This is what we got up to this afternoon. Here she is waiting on a

rock. Roxanne throws a fish into the loch, and the talents come out and

she grabs the fish effortlessly. That fish ways almost ?3 and she

makes it look so easy. -- weighs almost ?3. It shows you how big the

birdies. Look at that, magnificent. Oh, I have to say, you are

brilliant. It was a real privilege to see her here. You have fed her a

fish but in the wilds they feed on a variety of animals. That is right.

The main part of the diet is fish and that is the speciality but they

are agile and they can catch ducks and geese as well in-flight.

Roxanne, thank you for coming in and bringing in the bird. Now, we are

based here for three weeks in mid Argyll and we are on the banks of

sea loch so that is salt water in there. In the distance you can see

the famous islands of Jura. We will be wondering this whole area for the

next three weeks, looking at the fantastic wildlife, so we thought we

would give you a taste of what is to come. We have travelled to the wild

west coast of Scotland. A place dominated by its position on the

edge of the Atlantic. The climate is mild and damp. The weather is always

honourable. Wooded glens, secluded lochs and rugged coastline are home

to some of the UK's most spectacular wildlife. Majestic birds...

Fascinating insects... And large mammals. Over the next three weeks,

we are going to meet some of the inhabitants of this magical place.

Isn't that fabulous? We have got so many things to show you over the

next three weeks and over the last hour I have eaten a three course

meal of midges! That is all from us in Scotland, we will see you

tomorrow. Thank you. I have to say, I rather like the midges, but not in

the abundance you have got them up there. It is perfect weather for

midges in Scotland, and the weather governs the lives of all sorts of

wildlife. We have had unusual weather over the last few years.

Late summers and wet winters, what is going on? We needs are met you

jiggle expertise. -- ecological. There is interesting weather on the

way for you guys at Minsmere every next week 's top you are right, the

weather has given way for you guys at Minsmere every

next week 's top you are right, us a rough ride recently. The wettest

winter on record, who can forget? Inland flooding last weeks or even

months. In Scotland, hardly any snow to talk about. The weather has

quietened down a bit since then and become kinder to wildlife. There is

a big difference between the start of this year and last year. This

year has been warmer than normal. The same four months last year were

colder than normal. It was the coldest spring in 50 years.

Migrating cuckoos came in from Africa and went to France. They

said, I am not having this, it is too cold. What is to come? Over the

next few days, we look to the east for our weather. Low pressure brings

in bands of rain across the UK. A cool wind and plenty of cloud. Not

so good for the back yard nesting birds and there will be mixed

weather in Scotland with some rain at times. In Minsmere, have I got

news for you rest are heavy rain is about to move in and there will be

heavy rain for the next few days although not all the time. There

will be dry interludes. It will not feel like spring. Better weather for

the weekend but for the UK as a whole, no sign of the wet weather

stopping. It is going to be unpredictable, isn't it? It does not

look good but he can be wrong. Martin, that is going to affect you.

I cannot wait until tomorrow. I'm going to be up to mind neck in the

pouring rain. Let's take a look at the live cameras of the avocet. I am

very worried about another avocet that we have been filming. This one,

look. It has not nested in a sensible place, let's have a look.

It is not there! It is basically surrounded by water soaked if it

rains a lot tomorrow, it is not looking good for that avocet. It

could be a case of rising damp. What have we got for you tomorrow? Oh,

look, there it is! We can see it. have we got for you tomorrow? Oh,

look, there it is! What have we got for you tomorrow? Well, here's

back, he is with us, he is wild and he is wearing beads. It is Bill

Oddie. He is back on Springwatch. He is going to look at the changing

fortunes of our wildlife over the last ten years, since Springwatch

has been on air. Tomorrow, we have one of the most phenomenal birds in

the world 's coming up. If you do not watch it, it will be the biggest

mistake in your life if you have the slightest interest in birds, you

must watch tomorrow. You must watch from 7am on the website. You may get

post-traumatic ornithological disorders! We will be back tomorrow

but if you would like to revel in more Springwatch beauty, press the

Red Button now. Goodbye.