Episode 11 Springwatch


Episode 11

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It is Wednesday. And the most important sporting event for four

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years has not just started. But our wildlife squad is fully fit and we

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have plenty of support waiting on the bench. A returning Springwatch

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star slithers into the limelight yet again bringing drama with it. For

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the next 70 minutes we will be sharing our lives with some of our

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beautiful British wildlife. It is Springwatch.

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Yes, hello and welcome to the ultimate Springwatch of 2014, coming

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to you live from the beautiful RSPB reserve at Minismere won the Suffolk

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coast. What a place it is. This is just part of the Suffolk coast and

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Heath area of outstanding natural beauty. There you can see Minismere.

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Another important habitat we have here is the sandy lowland heath

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managed by the National trust and also the Suffolk wildlife trust.

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This is an important habitat for a unique Guild of species which

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prosper here and nowhere else. It is a beautiful place for a special

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group of animals. Sandy lowland heath is one of the most spectacular

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habitats. It is rarer than tropical rainforests. Is it really? That is

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an amazing fact to start the show with. I am going to tell you that we

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have 24 hours left to make the most of our fantastic cast of animal

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characters. Some have left us already. Some have not made it and

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others have stuck around much longer than anticipated. They seem to be

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making the most of their profile and enjoying the limelight. Particularly

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our family of bitterns. They might be the stars of Springwatch. There

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is their nest in the reeds and they are looking very chilled and

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relaxed. Still doing it for me after three weeks. Still amazing that they

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are doing it for anyone because we thought they would semi-fletch at

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the weekend and we thought they would have gone by now but they are

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still here. We will tell you more about that later. It has undeniably

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been an extraordinary treat that we were able to get our cameras on the

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bittern nest but sometimes it is the unplanned things which can be even

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more surprising. Earlier in this series, we saw a snake attending the

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nest of goldfinches. And I'd had climbed up and positioned itself to

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strike at one of the chicks and it dragged it out. This was a surprise.

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We know adders feed on small animals and on the ground, not at chest

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height in the brambles. It was a remarkable observation. Let me tell

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you that we were going to launch a new nest today. It was the nest of

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quite a common garden species, a blackbird. This blackbird is nesting

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quite low down in the scrub. It has four chicks about a week and a half

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old. The adult female disappeared a couple of days ago and the adult

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male is a super dad. He has been very attentive and is feeding the

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chicks extremely well. He's about to really earn his stripes. Look at

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this. This is what we saw yesterday. Three of the chicks have burst from

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the nest. The male is agitated. You can see the approach of an adder.

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Another one pops the nest. This is a female snake. It is a different one

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to the other. The adult male is like super dad. He comes in and attacks

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the adder. You can see the chick comes across the screen. It has

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fangs out and jaws open wide. There is the little one coming back. It is

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chaos in there. It is not a case of predation. This is the snake looking

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after itself. It is being attacked by the adult blackbird. It is having

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a sniff. It probably smelt the chicks and was curious as to what

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they were. But it has got itself into some trouble because the male

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blackbird was defending the nest extremely vigorously. Rattlesnakes

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can strike at 14 metres per second. I am not sure how fast adders can

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strike. In the end, the blackbird drives the snake off with a final

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flourish. I think the adder got more than she bargained for. Good night

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Sweetheart, off it goes. What an amazing observation. Incredible. To

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see one I do predation is amazing for a series. To see two, I know it

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was not successful. Over the last couple of days it has been extremely

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hot here. You might think snakes like it hot but not as hot as it has

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been. If it is 15 degrees in the air, on the ground it can be 40

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degrees which is way too hot for these reptiles. One theory as they

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have been going into the bushes to get away from the sun and the heat

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and that is why they are hunting there aren't coming across these

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birds' nests as well as the small mammals. Let's have a look at the

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blackbird best live. It is empty. The chicks did not come back. The

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reason is probably because they were due to fledge anyway. Their chances

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of survival are pretty high. They have super dad looking after them.

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They would have scattered into the vegetation and he will be feeding

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them and the snake I would imagine has long gone. Martin is out and

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about as usual. Where has he gone? About two miles north. Yes, I am on

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Dunwich Heath managed by the National trust. This is heath land.

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Our is to explore the specialised wildlife. If you look over there

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that is where Minismere is about two miles away. Over here, we have got

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our special lies heath camera. We can go to live and see what we have

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got. It is panning about the heathlands. Nothing out and about

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right now but we will keep watching throughout the programme because we

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have seen some very interesting creatures. Last night, just after we

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came off air, that camera was panning around and saw this. Two

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young little fox cubs. All over the country, at this time of year, the

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cubs will be emerging in towns and the country. Chris doesn't let me

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say they are playing! It looks like it but he is right. All this playing

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about has a purpose. These two are starting to establish some kind of

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hierarchy, bouncing off each other, bumping. Look at that, I am the

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boss. They look in superb condition and they look gorgeous, that russet

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ground -- russet brown against the green of the heathland. They have

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got to learn to do that characteristic jumping thing they do

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when they leap up into the air and bounced down onto a vole or a mouse.

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I love that. It is a specialised technique. It takes them a while to

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get proficient at doing that. Fantastic. We will keep an eye on

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the heath camera just in case. The news keeps coming. We got some

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interesting news earlier in the spring, down on the south coast,

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something odd was going on. We sent agent Packham to investigate.

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This street in Sussex has a secret. And I am on a covert mission to

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investigate the murder of an exotic Lady and the hidden treasure that

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she left behind. Amanda, tell me the story from the

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very start. What was happening, when and how the whole thing unfolded. I

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was doing a bit of artwork actually. I wanted a butterfly. I found an old

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book in our house with a swallowtail. It was the first

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picture in the book. I had drawn half of it and my eyes were hurting.

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I went out to see where Poppy, the cat was. She was in the process of

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catching a swallowtail. Say you were drawing one, the first time you had

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drawn one and half way through the process you see your cat catching a

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real one in the garden. Yes, I came to rescue it but it was a bit

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damaged unfortunately. This is the scene of a great crime. You have got

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the insect here. Oh deer, look at that. But let's be positive.

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Although Poppy the cat murdered the butterfly it had essentially done

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its duty, it had laid some eggs. You No sometime in September we saw some

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amazing caterpillars, eight in total. We contacted somebody from

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the butterfly conservation trust. He became animated and then you

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realised what a to fly gold mine you had in your garden. Michael quickly

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identified the remains of the continental swallowtail butterfly.

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Our British swallowtail is confined to Norfolk so this European vagrant

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was quite a remarkable discovery. The British version is a darker

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yellow with a narrow thorax and it only lays its eggs on milk parsley.

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However, the continent to list but less fussy, laying its eggs on a

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wider variety of plants such as the fennel in Amanda's garden. When you

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got the phone call from Amanda, you probably didn't sleep, did you? I

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was very excited. I said to Amanda the key thing is we have to find out

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where they keep eight. But they all dropped to the ground pretty much

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the same morning. Amanda was following one up the garden but then

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there was another one. Sometimes they will go down. These

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swallowtails could really move. She got her neighbours involved to make

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sure they did not lose any. But amazingly, they chased them and we

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know where everyone of the caterpillars has gone. You have got

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some in a box over here. This green one looks like a little jewel. It is

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a fantastic colour, very vivid. This is exciting times. Yes, we could see

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the emergence of these swallowtails. It will be the first known an urgent

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of the continental swallowtail in England. The best place for Poppy

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the cat in my mind for the next three weeks might be in Tasmania.

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It looks so innocent, doesn't it? But I think Amanda might have taken

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your advice and sent Poppy the cat to Tasmania because look what

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happened on May the 17th. This is the chrysalis. If you look closely,

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it starts to fidget a bit which means something is going to happen.

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Then we have emerging continental swallowtail butterfly. You can see

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it is drying its wings there. It is hardening up before it is ready to

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fly off. That is the first documented emergence of a

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continental swallowtail in Britain ever, we think. Absolutely amazing.

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We think five out of eight of those have emerged now. Those are the ones

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we knew about in that garden. There could have been plenty more out in

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the countryside. Already this year we have had reports of continental

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swallowtails in Devon, Dorset and Hampshire as well. It could be these

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insects are the vanguard of an invasion of butterflies coming over

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to the UK. But, as we saw in the film, we do have our own

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swallowtail. It is a subspecies of swallowtail and it is formed by

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geographical isolation. It has been stuck here in Britain since the land

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bridge to continental Europe closed. That is why it is slightly darker.

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It has got itself into a bit of a botanical bottleneck because it only

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feeds on milk parsley, nothing else. It is very difficult to keep Mark

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parsley going and therefore to keep the butterfly going. The question

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is, does it matter if we lose it? If it is such a specialist, it needs

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open firm, milk parsley, is it really sustainable? That is like

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opening a very dangerous can of worms because I made comments about

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the panda asking if it was sustainable and I never heard the

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last of it! In some ways yes, because it is a valuable subspecies

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but in the long term we have to think that nature is dynamic and

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fluid and if the other swallowtails come here, they would end up into

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breeding with the UK subspecies and therefore, dilutes it and change it.

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Sometimes I do not think we can be that precious and we have to focus

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on conserving things we can achieve. In the meantime, I think we have to

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focus on looking after the species we can. And Michael Blincoe who you

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saw in the film will be talking online when we have finished and he

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will ask you if you have seen any solid tiles. I wonder if Martin has

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seen any? I guess he has not gone far enough North.

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We will explore the wildlife here. Before we do, come up here a second,

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look at this. A bit of cultural history. Can you see that trench

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there. The Heath has been used, by the army, it was used in World War

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II, to train, to see how we could defend ourselves against German

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tanks. Those sort of ditches were some way to find out, how can we get

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our tanks across. Here is how they did that? See that load of twigs,

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put them on the ground and rode over it. The fantastic. Sort of cultural

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history all around us as well. We are here to look for the animals.

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This habitat here is fantastic for repitiles. We have already seen

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adders in the programme. Let us have a look at another reptile. --

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reptiles. Hello. Oh, dear. Here it is. The what a gorgeous tiny little

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animal. This is a baby grass snake. It has the yellow collar around its

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neck. It's calm this one. They can grow to be four or five feet long.

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This has a lot of growing to do. It has the yellow collar, it hasn't the

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zig-zag. If you see a snake that is more than two foot long it will be a

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grass snake. Adders don't grow much bigger than that. It's like a living

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jewel. The let us put them back. These will be released. They were

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found in a site where there was going fob building. They will be

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released, not here, but in a safe place. Now, look at this. If you are

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very lucky, if you are digging in a compost heap, you might find one of

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these. I will look into the difference between the breeding

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strategies of a grass snakes and adders. Grass snakes lay eggs. You

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can see one here. Here's the grass snake. Here is the egg actually

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coming out. They will bury the eggs in maybe a compost heap, somewhere

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warm where vegetation is fermenting, they need heat to help the eggs to

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hatch out. Amazing shots. I've never seen any in my compost heap, I wish

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I could. That is how grass snakes do it, by laying eggs. Adders do it

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completely differently. They give birth to live young. In fact, when

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they come out the young they have a membrane around them. The they soon

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break out of that. Perfect little replicas of their mum come out. They

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develop, the baby adders develop inside their mother, unlike the

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grass snakes. That has a profound impact on how far, north and south,

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the two different snakes can go. Because grass snakes, they need the

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warmth. They can't go so far north. Adders, they are astonishing, they

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can go above the Arctic Circle because of their breeding strategy.

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Let us look at one more snake. You are screaming at me at home. It is

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not a snake. It's a slow worm. It's a legless lizard. Beautiful things.

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In fact, there are a few characters that still let you know it is a

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lizard. If you look inside it has shoulder blades there. Even a pelvis

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down the back. No arms and legs. There are a few other things. If you

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look closely at the slow warm, it tells you it is not a snake, it is a

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lizard. Look at its head. Here it is. Watch the tongue. It's forked a

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little bit, but nothing like the tongue of a snake. Quite a big

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tongue, isn't it? Look at the eyes now. A snake can't blink. It has to

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have its eyes open all the time. There, you saw it blink. It has a

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membrane that goes across. Let us look at that again. There we go.

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They also have those round pupils as well. Adders have pupils like your

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cat has. So has an adder. That is not very good. I love the slow worm.

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I get them in the garden. I went outside one night and saw one eating

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my slugs. Slow worms are great, the gardener's friend. We have lots of

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repitiles, we have some very special birds -- reptiles. This bird here,

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it's the Dartford warbler, this is a special at here. -- speciality here.

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They are very rare. They are susceptible to harsh winters. In

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1973 they were reduced to 11 pairs as it was a harsh winter. They are

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doing well here. Like a junior roadrunner. They generally eat

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insects. The crucial thing about them is that they cannot migrate.

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They have to stay here, unlike so many of our birds. They need this

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habitat. The natural trust manage the habitat for the Dartford

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warblers. They have low grass. It is full of little insects. Low heathers

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like this, grasshoppers, perfect for warblers. They want to nest in

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something like this. What they also need is, if the winter comes, they

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need somewhere to hideaway, get in there. Even if it snows they can

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find spiders to feed on. That is the beautiful Dartford warbler. I have

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forgotten where I'm going now! Another animal that you sometimes

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see here. We have never seen one. It will be the hen harrier. That is

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another specialist up here. We asked our wildlife cameraman to film hen

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harriers in the north. All you will see here he filmed in just 24-hours.

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As another day dawns, the wildlife of the upland stirs. A ghost-like

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form skirts the ridge. It's a male hen harrier. His pale

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grey wings, tipped with black, flash as he swoops by.

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It's early spring, and our male needs to find a mate. He'll have to

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work hard to catch a female's eye in this vast, wild land. Hattie, a

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young female, lives on this moor. She is much browner than the male.

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She was fitted with a satellite tracker last year. This is her first

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breeding season. But our male knows how to woo a lady. He dances for

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her. In a spectacular courtship display,

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known as skydancing, a male hen harrier will repeatedly soar, then

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tumble through the sky, showing off his aerial abilities.

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Our male is interrupted by an intruder, a buzzard. The harrier is

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much smaller, but it doesn't stop him from picking a fight.

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Even though the buzzard poses no real threat.

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The show of strength seems to be doing the trick. Hattie even helps

:24:30.:24:35.

our male ward off the buzzard. The intruder has had enough, and

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heads off to find a more peaceful part of the moor.

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The male has won Hattie over, she begins to build a nest.

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Hen harriers are ground-nesting birds, working together, they

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collect twigs and grasses in a shallow depression in the heather.

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Here, they can begin to build the foundations for the next generation

:25:33.:25:36.

of one of our most endangered birds of prey.

:25:37.:25:45.

I wish that human courtship involved a beautiful dance like that. I think

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I would quite like it. I said "beautiful", Chris, that is just

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weird! Stop it. You are freaking me out. The good news is, that Hattieh

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five eggs and all the chicks hatched successfully, as you can see in the

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photo there. That is brilliant news. Up in Scotland they reckon there is

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just over 500 hen harrier pairs, those chicks will help to boost the

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numbers up in Scotland. Natural England plans to put satellite tags

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on this year's chicks we hope to follow them and we will bring you an

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update on Often Watch. They are a beautiful fees species, they should

:26:35.:26:38.

be breeding all over the UK. We seem to think of them now as a bird of

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moorland they could nest absolutely everywhere. When you see them flying

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around, they look stunning. They could be flying over the south of

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England. We've calculated that 300 pairs of them could be nesting in

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England. Last year, no young were raised by hen harriers at all. At

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the moment, there are three nests, some with young and some with eggs.

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What is the problem here? The problem is persecution of raptors,

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it's not just hen harriers. On the black isle in Scotland no fewer than

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22 birds of prey were illegally poisoned. They were red kites, birds

:27:20.:27:24.

like this. They were buzzards too. We are taking this very seriously.

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The RSPB have currently got a ?27,000 reward for any information

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that leads to a successful prosecution in this instance. You

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know, the other day I was recounting a story, when I was a kid I asked my

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dad, begged my dad, do bring me here to see what could be the last pair

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of marsh harriers breeding. He drove from Southampton to bring me up here

:27:53.:28:01.

in Minsmere. What if there is a kid begging his dad to drive him to

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Scotland to see a hen harrier. Lineker, 1990 to Robson it means -

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think about it. You can think about it, you can help, particularly when

:28:13.:28:17.

it comes to hen harriers. The RSPB have a hen harrier hot-line. What we

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would like you to do is con be tact us, via our website,

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bbc.co.u/springwatch, and let us know if you see a hen harrier. By

:28:27.:28:33.

mapping them they can monitor them. If we can monitor them we might be

:28:34.:28:41.

able to look after them. -- contact. We should have a hot-line for

:28:42.:28:45.

Martin. He has spread himself around this area quite a lot during this

:28:46.:28:52.

series, hasn't he? He certainly has. Maybe people could ring in - Or

:28:53.:28:56.

satellite track him. I don't know where he goes all the time, to be

:28:57.:29:03.

honest. He has strange habits! Let us have another look round this

:29:04.:29:12.

heathland. It is good for reptiles and it's managed for some rare

:29:13.:29:18.

birds. We have seen one of the biggest creatures, red deer. It is

:29:19.:29:21.

an interesting time of year for the red deer. These young stags are

:29:22.:29:28.

growing their antlers, they shred them in winter and have to grow them

:29:29.:29:35.

from scratch again. You can see the soft velvet surrounding them. That

:29:36.:29:40.

provides the blood and nutrients to grow the antlers. It's the fasting

:29:41.:29:46.

known growing tissue of any mammal at all. They can grow up to an inch

:29:47.:29:52.

a day. It's a fascinating to think those stags, they are eating

:29:53.:29:56.

peacefully together at the moment, in autumn they will be mortal

:29:57.:30:00.

enemies and at one another. at night and that is when it gets

:30:01.:30:15.

really interesting. All sorts of secrets are revealed. We did not

:30:16.:30:22.

know if we would be able to film the carbs. This is an infrared camera.

:30:23.:30:33.

It is pitch black. Here is a young cast trying to suckle its young. The

:30:34.:30:39.

mother will hide it away during the day. She will only suckle at two or

:30:40.:30:44.

three times, keeping it completely hidden. You can see it has got some

:30:45.:30:53.

spotty camouflage on there to keep it hidden away. It is a little bit

:30:54.:31:01.

unsteady on its pins there. Fantastic pictures. Wonderful to see

:31:02.:31:14.

the deer. By the way, this car here, this is where all our transmission

:31:15.:31:19.

is coming from. You can see all the aerials and there is a little man in

:31:20.:31:23.

there making it all happen for us. As well as the deer, this is a

:31:24.:31:28.

wonderful place at night for some magical birds. Let me set this up

:31:29.:31:33.

for you. We think we have discovered something brand-new here. There is a

:31:34.:31:37.

little tiny bird here called they would laugh. It says on the books

:31:38.:31:41.

they will go up and sing for two or three minutes. -- a wood lark. We

:31:42.:31:48.

went out with our thermal camera and our sound recordist, Gary. We found

:31:49.:31:54.

something completely different. There is Gary with his parabolic

:31:55.:32:00.

listening. Here is the wood lark. Remember, it is completely dark. If

:32:01.:32:06.

you were out here on the heathlands you would hear it. This bird is

:32:07.:32:15.

displaying. It is a male and it is trying to show how strong and tough

:32:16.:32:20.

it is to any female who might be in the dark. What we discovered was it

:32:21.:32:27.

did not sing for two or three minutes. That little bird song for

:32:28.:32:34.

two hours, showing just how tough and strong it was. Let's see what

:32:35.:32:41.

the adult looks like. There it is. That is what it looks like in the

:32:42.:32:47.

daytime, but nondescript bird better night it has a magical song. This

:32:48.:32:54.

one is a real speciality of the heathlands up here, the nightjar.

:32:55.:32:59.

This is with our thermal camera. You would never see anything if you were

:33:00.:33:06.

standing here. The song is called sharing. The mail is making the

:33:07.:33:13.

sound showing off to the female. He can make 48 notes per second and

:33:14.:33:18.

change the pitch. She is picking up something about his song which makes

:33:19.:33:20.

him more attractive. That was an attempted mating. Gary

:33:21.:33:39.

the sound recordist says he thinks the sound changes tone as he comes

:33:40.:33:45.

in towards the mating. We have been following the story of the enormous

:33:46.:33:49.

white tailed eagles up on the island of Mull. The first time we saw them

:33:50.:33:53.

was on the very first Springwatch ten years ago. In that programme, we

:33:54.:34:01.

ringed a little chip. After we had run it the chick disappeared off the

:34:02.:34:05.

radar and we thought it was gone. But Iolo Williams has some very good

:34:06.:34:07.

news. I am heading to a secret location on

:34:08.:34:23.

the west of Scotland to catch up with an old Springwatch favourite.

:34:24.:34:28.

Leading us there is Dave Sexton. After white tailed eagles

:34:29.:34:33.

disappeared from the UK, Dave has toiled for nearly 30 years to help

:34:34.:34:36.

these birds regained their rightful place here. We are going in search

:34:37.:34:44.

of a very special bird, aren't we? A very special bird indeed. He is

:34:45.:34:51.

known as Ichi and he was the first chick that Springwatch featured in

:34:52.:35:00.

2005. Itchy and scratchy were the stars of the first series. Half of

:35:01.:35:07.

all the white tailed eagles do not make it through to being parents pet

:35:08.:35:15.

Ichi's story was different. He fledged in July of 2000 is five. --

:35:16.:35:24.

2005. You have not seen him for ten years? We know he has been seen in

:35:25.:35:32.

the area. We hope he has got a chick but we will not know that until we

:35:33.:35:44.

get there. I just want to see him. It is a chick I have held my arms

:35:45.:35:48.

and now we will be doing it to his chip. It has come full circle. We

:35:49.:35:56.

land a safe distance from the nest but Itchy and his partner are

:35:57.:36:01.

nowhere to be seen. We have to move fast to minimise disruption to the

:36:02.:36:06.

family's routine. We have got to be really quick from now on in. In a

:36:07.:36:14.

cloud of midges, the team of licensed rumours and climbers get to

:36:15.:36:22.

work. We want to discover if Itchy has fathered any chicks. See eagles

:36:23.:36:26.

choose high vantage points for their massive nests and this is no

:36:27.:36:31.

exception. A good 20 metres up the Scots pine. Then Dave spots an adult

:36:32.:36:41.

eagle through the trees. A female, yes? I cannot see it had. It is so

:36:42.:36:48.

hard to get a view. They are both there. There is Itchy. I can see the

:36:49.:36:53.

pound. -- tag. Fantastic. He has come back. Wonderful! Ten

:36:54.:37:15.

years on and he has still got his tag. Look at him. He looks all grown

:37:16.:37:27.

up. He does look all grown up with his resplendent white tail. What a

:37:28.:37:31.

difference from being scruffy looking to growing up to being this

:37:32.:37:35.

enormous eagle. I just cannot believe it.

:37:36.:37:47.

Meanwhile, the nest climb continues. White tailed eagle nests can be two

:37:48.:37:56.

metres across and three metres deep. Climber Justin finds a chick. Itchy

:37:57.:37:59.

has a daughter. Justin carefully places her in a bag

:38:00.:38:11.

and lowers it to the ground. That is good. That is the chick

:38:12.:38:32.

down. Yes, safe and sound. Hello. How old do you think this chick is?

:38:33.:38:37.

About five weeks. The grade down is coming out and the new brown

:38:38.:38:42.

feathers are coming through. It has another five or six weeks before it

:38:43.:38:49.

is fully grown. I cannot get over how enormous it is. Defeat our

:38:50.:38:55.

nearly fully grown. They will get better at moving and grabbing prey.

:38:56.:38:59.

In another couple of weeks she will be grabbing prey and starting to

:39:00.:39:02.

pull at it herself. The parents will still be feeding but for the moment

:39:03.:39:09.

she is totally dependent on Itchy and his mate. Saw this weighing and

:39:10.:39:14.

measuring it is a chance to make sure she is in good health? Yes,

:39:15.:39:18.

there is a pretty good chance she will go on to take her first flight.

:39:19.:39:27.

She is an absolute beauty. The chick, ringed and weighed, Justin

:39:28.:39:34.

returns her to the nest, allowing this magnificent pair of birds to

:39:35.:39:41.

get back to their parenting duties. Itchy has played his part in

:39:42.:39:45.

fathering the next generation of Scottish born see eagles meaning

:39:46.:39:48.

this incredible species is one stage closer to a full UK recovery.

:39:49.:39:56.

What a fabulous bird. It has to be one of my favourites. It must be

:39:57.:40:04.

amazing for days to catch up with Itchy after ten years. Iolo will be

:40:05.:40:08.

joining us tomorrow. He is heading down from the West Coast of

:40:09.:40:13.

Scotland. I am sure he will be covered image by its! Now, let's

:40:14.:40:19.

talk badgers. We have had cameras on a couple of sets of archers ats.

:40:20.:40:25.

They have been shyer than expected but we have seen them and all five

:40:26.:40:31.

of the Cubs. Here are two of them. This one has been building his part

:40:32.:40:36.

up a little bit and rather over enjoying the camera! We have asked

:40:37.:40:41.

many questions about the badgers and one of them is what they are eating.

:40:42.:40:46.

We know the sandy soil is not a earthworm rich. We know they also

:40:47.:40:52.

read small chicks and eggs. What exactly are they eating? To find

:40:53.:40:58.

that out we need a bag of to and someone who is prepared to analyse

:40:59.:41:03.

it. It is a beautiful gift. I accept it. It is fantastic. That is a

:41:04.:41:10.

moment of smug conceit because we are about to analyse agger done live

:41:11.:41:18.

on BBC Two. It is a highlight, folks! Even my family might be

:41:19.:41:24.

slightly proud. We have this magnificent microscope here. If I

:41:25.:41:27.

had one of these and I was seven or eight, or even 53, I would be really

:41:28.:41:33.

pleased. And we have a sample we prepared earlier. Not literally! It

:41:34.:41:45.

is a sample of badger done. That is the win case of a beetle which the

:41:46.:41:51.

badgers have eaten. When I was a teenager I looked at badger to every

:41:52.:41:56.

Thursday night for five years and I learned Dutch amend this amount from

:41:57.:42:01.

it. At last it is paying dividends. Take a look at this. When they feed

:42:02.:42:10.

they ingest vegetable material. This is an oak leaf. I can tell you the

:42:11.:42:14.

badger has been foraging in oak woodland. Then we can look deeper.

:42:15.:42:22.

It has been eating beetles. But if you look further with some different

:42:23.:42:28.

samples, you will find hair. Under the microscope of an expert we would

:42:29.:42:33.

be able to identify this to species level, we would know whether it was

:42:34.:42:38.

rabbit or fold. And there is also a vertebra there, a bone, it could be

:42:39.:42:43.

from a bird or a mammal. The other thing we have to look for is this, a

:42:44.:42:49.

little bristle which are earthworms have won the side of their bodies to

:42:50.:42:54.

stop them slipping backwards through their tunnels.

:42:55.:42:54.

stop them slipping backwards through their When we sample badger to we

:42:55.:43:00.

count these. This will tell us how many worms the badgers are eating.

:43:01.:43:06.

We do not need a microscope like this to analyse dong. You can get an

:43:07.:43:15.

inexpensive magnifying glass and have masses of fun on your own

:43:16.:43:19.

kitchen table or your own dining table and I strongly advocate that,

:43:20.:43:23.

I really do! I can see my mother rushing out to get magnifying glass.

:43:24.:43:33.

It is not too smelly. If you freeze it before you analyse it it keeps

:43:34.:43:43.

the smell down. This is one meal I'm looking at here. Have you to get

:43:44.:43:47.

lots of samples. That is why I did it for five years every Thursday

:43:48.:43:52.

night. No Top of the Pops for me, I can tell you. This is a pie chart of

:43:53.:43:58.

the average over the UK of what badgers are eating. I have made it

:43:59.:44:02.

nice and colourful. It has my own design here. 51%. You are gone too

:44:03.:44:12.

far! Don't be so rude. 51% earthworms. Just 5% birds. Our

:44:13.:44:26.

badgers eaten chicks and eggs, that is unusual they are opportunistic.

:44:27.:44:31.

If the worms aren't about they will turn to something else. That is what

:44:32.:44:36.

you learn from looking at poo live on BBC Two. It's predictable we

:44:37.:44:43.

would have a pie chart, it's surprising I'm holding it up and

:44:44.:44:47.

being proud of it! What is unpredictable and very surprising is

:44:48.:44:51.

the amount of adder action we've had on the series. What are you doing?

:44:52.:45:02.

I'm liking the pie chart. We have seen adder predation. There seems to

:45:03.:45:10.

be a lot of adder action - you are totally putting me off! Chris came

:45:11.:45:16.

here in April with Martin after he had an adder spotter tip-off. Stop

:45:17.:45:25.

it! In early spring adders emerge from their winter hibernation

:45:26.:45:30.

looking for the chance to breed. As mince mean is a bit of a hotspot for

:45:31.:45:35.

this increasingly rare reptile, Chris and I thought we would try our

:45:36.:45:45.

luck at finding some. Skin! Quite big. Yeah, and fresh. Still soft.

:45:46.:45:53.

It's from a female. It's a big adder. She has only just shed this.

:45:54.:45:58.

If it was in the sun, it would dry out really quickly. She is around

:45:59.:46:06.

here somewhere. The first one we spot is a male. Look at that. It's

:46:07.:46:12.

beautiful. They are just gleaming. Do you think that male has just shed

:46:13.:46:21.

as well? I think he's minty, spark ling, shining and completely He

:46:22.:46:26.

wasn't fresh. The only one. We were soon surrounded by male adders. One

:46:27.:46:33.

has gone off that way. Look at that. Moving so fast all the time, Chris.

:46:34.:46:41.

I know. So quick. They are all around us, Chris. I know! I know!

:46:42.:46:50.

Martin, Martin! Look at that. A female and a male. The colour of

:46:51.:46:54.

adders varies from one individual to another. Females tend to be brownie

:46:55.:46:59.

red, the males are striking black-and-white. What on earth do

:47:00.:47:05.

you think is going on here? We have male and female? My theory is there

:47:06.:47:17.

is a female adder here that has recently shred. Shed. They emerge,

:47:18.:47:24.

feed then they molt and then they mate. We have got, what, two, three,

:47:25.:47:31.

males here. Yeah. All looking for that one female? I think so. Wanting

:47:32.:47:35.

to mate with her? I think that is what is going on. Normally, when you

:47:36.:47:41.

see an adder, you are not looking for it, you disturb it you see it

:47:42.:47:47.

wriggling away. You catch one basking. This is brilliant. We can

:47:48.:47:51.

watch their behaviour. We are not annoying them. They don't know we

:47:52.:47:57.

are here. They seem oblivious. One has gone in six inches from my boot.

:47:58.:48:04.

You are fine. He is spreading his body onto the ground, both to get

:48:05.:48:08.

the rays of the sun and the warmth from the ground. You frequently see

:48:09.:48:13.

them do this. They stretch the rib cage right apart like that. Lizards

:48:14.:48:21.

do it too. He is worn out, wants to recharge his solar batteries. When I

:48:22.:48:28.

was a kid I was out after adders, every weekend when it was sunny. Had

:48:29.:48:34.

to look for adders, catch adders, bring them home. Put them on top of

:48:35.:48:39.

the TV. One gave birth on top of the TV. It was Saturday afternoon, when

:48:40.:48:44.

the horseracing was on. Eight young adders. It was a top moment for me,

:48:45.:48:50.

not sure about my parents. Poor mum and dad! These males clearly had one

:48:51.:48:55.

thing on their minds. A few days later we capture this. A male adder

:48:56.:48:59.

finally getting his girl. After some gentle sniffing, he

:49:00.:49:11.

quivers against her to entice her to mate. Female adders only breed every

:49:12.:49:17.

couple of years, but this male is in luck. She's receptive and accepts

:49:18.:49:25.

his advances. Adder mating is a prolonged affair. The pair will stay

:49:26.:49:29.

together for as long as two hours before eventually going their

:49:30.:49:35.

separate ways. The young develop inside their mother, over the

:49:36.:49:39.

spring, and in late summer, she'll give birth to around eight tiny

:49:40.:49:43.

babies, each a perfect minuture of their mum. Fantastic. That was a

:49:44.:49:51.

great little ramble, to be quite honest with you. It looked it. We

:49:52.:49:56.

enjoyed ourselves much we watched the animals behaving naturally. They

:49:57.:50:01.

didn't know we were there. They slithered around. Great to observe

:50:02.:50:06.

them like that. It's been a surprise how much of a star the adder has

:50:07.:50:14.

become. You come to mince mean and expect bitterns, but the adders have

:50:15.:50:19.

performed. Let us look at our family of bitterns. Let us see if the

:50:20.:50:22.

chicks are still there. They are still there, they are still

:50:23.:50:29.

sleeping. Oh, listen! Is that the bittern making that noise? Is I

:50:30.:50:33.

cannot see them moving. That is something else behind the camera. I

:50:34.:50:36.

think you are right. I don't think it's near the camera. It would have

:50:37.:50:40.

woken the bitterns up. That must be coming from somewhere else. You

:50:41.:50:44.

don't think they are dreaming. That is them dreaming - It's a nightmare!

:50:45.:50:52.

We are really surprised that there is -- those bittern chicks are still

:50:53.:50:55.

there. We have been saying they are going to fledge. This happened

:50:56.:50:58.

yesterday. The two chicks are doing what they have seen the parent bird

:50:59.:51:05.

do. Climbing up on the reeds, enjoying the sunshine. Looking at

:51:06.:51:09.

the world outside the nest. Look at the claws gripping on. That is

:51:10.:51:11.

exactly what they are designed to do. Having a good explore. They have

:51:12.:51:16.

basically been leaving the nest quite a lot recently. Then, today,

:51:17.:51:27.

we thought this one was on the roll to semi fledge. . It leaves. In the

:51:28.:51:33.

right hand corner the mother comes in to say - off you go. My mum would

:51:34.:51:37.

talk about something, I would walk out of the room, I was told I was

:51:38.:51:41.

being rude. That is what the bitterns are doing. You do it to me

:51:42.:51:46.

sometimes as well? Fair enough! We thought they were semi fledging.

:51:47.:51:50.

They were going to leave the nest. They won't fly yet. They will wonder

:51:51.:51:54.

around the reed being fed by their mother. They are 24-days old now. So

:51:55.:52:00.

we were - look, there is the mother flying off. We have seen a lot of

:52:01.:52:04.

bitterns flying over here and a lot of people come from all over the UK

:52:05.:52:09.

to enjoy that sight. A few hours later, both of the bitterns came

:52:10.:52:12.

back to the nest. That seems to have become a little bit of a pattern.

:52:13.:52:17.

Yeah, the seconds one is coming in now. The reason they are coming back

:52:18.:52:21.

is that is because the parents come with food. At the moment, at least,

:52:22.:52:24.

they are going back there so that they can be fed via regurgitation.

:52:25.:52:31.

You have to be honest sometimes. We have exaggerated a little. We

:52:32.:52:36.

bragged here on Springwatch we were showing you the bitterns nest for

:52:37.:52:41.

the first time. We had a letter from Chris who says" the sequence on the

:52:42.:52:45.

bittern at the nest showed viewers something never seen before on film.

:52:46.:52:56.

I had a hide on a bittern's nest 56 years ago. Of course with the

:52:57.:53:00.

equipment available to me the quality of digital picture taken now

:53:01.:53:04.

exceeds anything I could have achieved. Five teams of cameramen

:53:05.:53:12.

working for weeks before Springwatch started, not to mention the budget"

:53:13.:53:18.

I have to tell you it's not that great "I venture the opinion that

:53:19.:53:22.

our pioneering achievement was a match and much harder work. I have

:53:23.:53:30.

now just turned 87, I'm still taking wildlife pick turts - just." Chris,

:53:31.:53:35.

we salute you. What a top bloke. 56 years ago he was doing what we were

:53:36.:53:42.

doing. It wasn't live. It was on a black-and-white camera, wasn't it?

:53:43.:53:48.

Pioneer, Chris Mine. He has rained on our parade? Well he has and he

:53:49.:53:54.

hasn't. Credit where credit is due. Martin introduced us to a newest

:53:55.:53:58.

under the tunnel bit of the sluice behind us here. It was swallows, let

:53:59.:54:07.

us look at it live. This nest looks really precarious. It has a few

:54:08.:54:10.

chicks in there. It looks like they will fall out. We have been watching

:54:11.:54:14.

them closely. They are phenomenonal feeders. Look at that. Mother is

:54:15.:54:20.

coming in. They do 70 feeds per hour on average. Just in half an hour, 37

:54:21.:54:27.

feeds were recorded. The feed lasts just half a second. Amazing.

:54:28.:54:31.

Incredible. The other amazing thing we have learnt, that is that when

:54:32.:54:37.

they are 16-days old the adults can identify the sex of their

:54:38.:54:40.

youngsters. They know whether they are male or females, while they are

:54:41.:54:43.

still in the nest. There is some evidence to suggest they can

:54:44.:54:47.

therefore preferentially feed them. When they leave the nest it's an

:54:48.:54:52.

equal sex ratio. After two years there were more surviving male

:54:53.:54:58.

swallows than females we think it could be to do with preferential

:54:59.:55:03.

feeding two years before when at the nestling stage. Sexist swallows

:55:04.:55:10.

aren't they? They must be. There must be an adaptive advantage for

:55:11.:55:13.

that. They must be choosing to feed the males better quality food than

:55:14.:55:17.

the females. They are doing that. The subtlies of nature, you can

:55:18.:55:20.

never under estimate it. When it comes to wanting to advance an

:55:21.:55:24.

understanding of nature what you need is a life-long curiousity and

:55:25.:55:28.

the ability to look at something in a child-like way. In a fundamental

:55:29.:55:33.

way. Sometimes it helps to go back to basics. Here is a simple question

:55:34.:55:38.

- what are flowers for? How does the relationship that they have with

:55:39.:55:40.

insects actually work? Darwin popularised the study of

:55:41.:55:56.

insect pollination. He realised it's all about mutualism. When an insect

:55:57.:56:03.

visits a flower, both benefit. Insects are after fast-food, sweet

:56:04.:56:09.

nectar. Meanwhile, the plants need a bit of help with their reproduction.

:56:10.:56:20.

They have got to get male pollen to the stigma of another plant. Because

:56:21.:56:26.

plants can't move, insects are the perfect match makers. To lure

:56:27.:56:33.

pollinators in, plants have perfected the art of self promotion.

:56:34.:56:43.

Rule one, smell good. Insects antennae are covered with super

:56:44.:56:49.

sensitive receptors which detect chemical compounds released by the

:56:50.:56:56.

flower. These result in the smells that we love. Some insects like

:56:57.:57:03.

different smells. For flies it's the sent of urine. The Lords and Ladies

:57:04.:57:09.

plant is happy to oblige. Rule two, look the part. Moody blues, deep

:57:10.:57:19.

purples and simple reds. These vivid hues may look beautiful to us,

:57:20.:57:24.

through a bee's eyes, another world is revealed. Monochrome petals

:57:25.:57:32.

transform into striking UV nectar guides. Rule three, reward your

:57:33.:57:41.

visitors. Nectar is a watery mix of sugars, it is easy to make and it's

:57:42.:57:45.

high-octane fuel for frequent flyers. Pollen is a more

:57:46.:57:57.

nutritionious mix. Perfect for raising lard have you back at the

:57:58.:58:08.

nest. -- larvae back at the nest. Every year, pollinators contribute

:58:09.:58:16.

almost ?500m to the UK economy. It's more than about money. Insect

:58:17.:58:20.

pollination has been taking place since the time of the dinosaurs it

:58:21.:58:25.

has given rise to an incredible diversity. It seems that foreevery

:58:26.:58:31.

different flower there are matching insects. Without pollination, who

:58:32.:58:35.

knows what life on earth would look like today.

:58:36.:58:43.

It is said if bees become extinct the human race, as we know it, would

:58:44.:58:51.

probably follow within 20 years. That is a sobering thought? Who said

:58:52.:59:00.

that? I thought it was Einstein. It's a general saying. Pollinating

:59:01.:59:05.

insect numbers have declined dramatically. The main reason for

:59:06.:59:11.

that is Agra culture. We have lost 97% of our flower rich grasslands

:59:12.:59:17.

since the 1930s, that is a huge decline. We can do something to

:59:18.:59:22.

help. Councils are doing things to help, they are mowing verges later

:59:23.:59:32.

to allow them to grow. If you have a lawn in your garden put a little bit

:59:33.:59:37.

aside. Set it the aside. Don't mow it. Look at this picture. You can do

:59:38.:59:42.

it at any age, clearly. This is Tom and Henry. They set aside a little

:59:43.:59:46.

bit. They have their diggers there. Then, have a see what wildflowers

:59:47.:59:53.

grow. Get an ID kit from Plantlife and let them know what is growing.

:59:54.:59:56.

All the information for that is on our website. Bbc.co.u/springwatch

:59:57.:00:24.

Tom and Henry, I expect on that patch of grass, they will get plenty

:00:25.:00:28.

of bees. I was worried about the Queen earlier, she seemed to be

:00:29.:00:32.

slowing down. We can hear them buzzing. They are building pots of

:00:33.:00:40.

honey. Above the Queen and they are storing food. It goes through stages

:00:41.:00:44.

this nest. The begin with she has eight workers are now she has more.

:00:45.:00:51.

In might build up to 400. We can have a listen. It is an incredible

:00:52.:01:00.

noise. It has gone a bit quieter. Can I tell you something, my friend

:01:01.:01:06.

Chris Timmins has bees. He said listen to the hives. The first one

:01:07.:01:11.

was quite quiet, then the next one was a bit quieter but then one was

:01:12.:01:17.

really loud. He said those are aggressive. You can tell from the

:01:18.:01:24.

bars how quiet or calm they are. There is 24 hours to continue

:01:25.:01:28.

watching that live camera and our other cameras that you can still

:01:29.:01:31.

stay in contact with Springwatch even when the cameras are turned

:01:32.:01:36.

off. You can join that by joining Twitter and Facebook and you can do

:01:37.:01:40.

that through our website. We will have general updates, we will tell

:01:41.:01:44.

you about surveys and other news as well. Do you know how many people

:01:45.:01:49.

have joined our Twitter and Facebook since the series started three weeks

:01:50.:01:58.

ago? 24,000! Thank you. Do join us. One thing we have been keeping an

:01:59.:02:03.

eye on is the great crane project. This is going on down in the

:02:04.:02:09.

wildlife and wetlands trust in Slimbridge. They have been trying to

:02:10.:02:13.

bring back cranes to the south-west of England. Let's see their two

:02:14.:02:19.

heroes. There is Christine and the mail is called Monty like our osprey

:02:20.:02:25.

but nothing like an osprey. That is Monty the crane. Last do they tried

:02:26.:02:32.

to breed but they were not successful. Let's find out what

:02:33.:02:33.

happened this year. Early spring in Slimbridge and sound

:02:34.:02:46.

like no other echoes across the mudflats.

:02:47.:02:58.

Christine and her partner Monty are back.

:02:59.:03:07.

They check out last year's failed nest but will they try to breed

:03:08.:03:11.

again? Cranes danced to renew their bonds

:03:12.:03:22.

and even the rain cannot dampen the pair's spirits. Christine and Monty

:03:23.:03:28.

begin their unique ungainly tango. The couple begin the process of

:03:29.:04:21.

rebuilding their nest, painstakingly gathering huge quantities of

:04:22.:04:22.

material. It is made April. Christine is

:04:23.:04:45.

spending most of her time sitting in the reeds. She must be incubating

:04:46.:04:47.

one or possibly two eggs. A month later, as Christine and

:04:48.:05:08.

Monty forage close to the nest, something stirs at their feet.

:05:09.:05:20.

Not one but two beautiful chicks, taking their first steps amongst the

:05:21.:05:25.

buttercups. The precious youngsters are dwarfed

:05:26.:05:35.

by their towering parents. It is early days. We'll very young

:05:36.:05:56.

parents be able to protect them? Harsh weather and predators will be

:05:57.:06:06.

constant threats. Gorgeous little animals, beautiful

:06:07.:06:10.

chicks, but sadly they did not make it this year. But all is not lost

:06:11.:06:14.

because those cranes are very long-lived birds. They can live up

:06:15.:06:19.

to 20 years. Christine and Monty are only about four years old so they

:06:20.:06:23.

will, in all probability, try to nest again and maybe next time they

:06:24.:06:28.

will be successful. They are not the only cranes in the country.

:06:29.:06:31.

The East of England has had them since the early 1980s. They have

:06:32.:06:37.

spread out. Some have got as far as North Yorkshire. Lots have moved

:06:38.:06:41.

inland into the Fens and some have bred in the south of England so we

:06:42.:06:45.

have a growing crane population across the UK. What else have we got

:06:46.:06:49.

here on the reserve? One thing we have got our these which is the type

:06:50.:06:56.

of pony looking gorgeous. The stallions are bit of a handful. Only

:06:57.:07:04.

fools would go near them. Only fools. And horses like this are

:07:05.:07:11.

valuable conservation tool. There are great at maintaining the

:07:12.:07:16.

marches. Just going back to the cranes, they were doing a beautiful

:07:17.:07:21.

dance. I think you could learn a lot from our cranes. It was stunning.

:07:22.:07:27.

You men could learn a lot from animals. Never enough, is it? Dung

:07:28.:07:38.

analysis, worthless. Don't go away because immediately after the show

:07:39.:07:42.

it will be Unsprung and tonight, a man called Michael Link oh will be

:07:43.:07:48.

looking at butterflies in depth including those beautiful

:07:49.:07:53.

swallowtails. Tomorrow, we will be back at eight o'clock and yellow

:07:54.:07:57.

Williams will be joining us then to give us the latest update from

:07:58.:08:02.

Scotland. Butterflies are one thing and ospreys are another. Tomorrow,

:08:03.:08:07.

we will be joining Michaela's favourite bird, Monty, as he tries

:08:08.:08:13.

to get his genes into the next generation. And we will be looking

:08:14.:08:18.

at grubby faced Rob, the enormous cuckoo. And bitterns who have got

:08:19.:08:31.

talent. And we will be back at eight o'clock tomorrow. Goodbye.

:08:32.:08:37.

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