:00:00. > :00:11.Well, it's the end of week one, but there's been no shortage of dramas
:00:12. > :00:16.on Springwatch. On tonight's show, we take a close look at the
:00:17. > :00:21.extraordinary life of a fascinating insect, one that probably goes
:00:22. > :00:25.unnoticed if your gardens. And we have been out and about in the wilds
:00:26. > :00:30.of Scotland looking at this wonderful animal. From beavers to
:00:31. > :00:55.bitterns, barn owls to wildfowls, it's Springwatch!
:00:56. > :01:02.Hello and welcome to Springwatch 2014, the last programme of our
:01:03. > :01:06.first week here at the RSPB Minsmere reserve on the coast of Suffolk. We
:01:07. > :01:11.have had a fantastic week, lots of drama and exciting species. But then
:01:12. > :01:17.this is a fabulous reserve. It's a thousand hectares of a mix of
:01:18. > :01:24.habitats. We have got reed beds, open water this lakes, woodland,
:01:25. > :01:29.medium sized carnivores, a beach, the sea, elegant species like
:01:30. > :01:33.avocets and we've got oystercatchers.
:01:34. > :01:37.We have been trying to get to know some of the mammals. They have been
:01:38. > :01:41.proving a little elieus i. But last night, we saw this. This is one of
:01:42. > :01:45.our badgers. It's difficult to tell the difference between a male and a
:01:46. > :01:50.female, a sow and a bore. We think this is a female. She's got a rather
:01:51. > :01:56.narrow face, elongated body, long tail. But we are trying to find out
:01:57. > :02:00.who is living in which set. That is what we are going to try and find
:02:01. > :02:04.outful we'll keep looking at them next week. In the past, people used
:02:05. > :02:08.to think that badgers lived in a very hire actual society. The top
:02:09. > :02:15.bore and the top sow and lots of underles. But that's all beginning
:02:16. > :02:21.to change -- juling underlings. Back if February, we saw something
:02:22. > :02:26.peculiar. That's a female badger underneath and that's two other
:02:27. > :02:31.female badgers trying to get to know her very, very well indeed. Badger
:02:32. > :02:35.society is a bit more fluid than people began to think. They are more
:02:36. > :02:40.than just good friends. They are, yes. It's fair to say they are into
:02:41. > :02:49.the swinging thing because we have discovered that 5 4% that isn't part
:02:50. > :02:52.of the social group, some other badger clans will come into the
:02:53. > :02:57.territory and mate with the females. February is the time they mate. As
:02:58. > :03:08.soon as the badgers have given birth, the females come into season
:03:09. > :03:14.and then they can do what they do. Sometimes badgers take a year or two
:03:15. > :03:20.years to come into sexual maturity. The big story yesterday was a
:03:21. > :03:24.dramatic one, about the rabbit nest. We had five kids in the nest and we
:03:25. > :03:31.are now down to just these two. One was taken by a Jackdaw and two were
:03:32. > :03:34.taken by a magistrate pyre. Now, did those two survive? The drama
:03:35. > :03:38.continues and there was another attack, but it's not a completely
:03:39. > :03:43.predictable ending and we'll update you with that later on. We have had
:03:44. > :03:49.a fantastic nest for you this week, we really have. We have been excited
:03:50. > :03:54.because we have been delving our noses into the nest of a bittern.
:03:55. > :03:58.Let's go live to it now. Here it is. The light is falling and the young
:03:59. > :04:02.are sleeping. There were two young bitterns in this nest and the behave
:04:03. > :04:08.you that've seen has been quite extraordinary. Yesterday it was
:04:09. > :04:11.something straight out of League of Gentlemen, they were cannibalising
:04:12. > :04:17.one another. Something we have never seen before. Now a bit of wing
:04:18. > :04:21.exercising here. At least another 0 days before they fly, but you can
:04:22. > :04:24.see their feathers beginning to grow, you can see the Spikey bits
:04:25. > :04:38.there. Just hike her, at that stage,
:04:39. > :04:43.they'll blend into the reeds. The big question is, are the bitterns
:04:44. > :04:47.doing it for you? The bitterns this week have really done it for me!
:04:48. > :04:51.From bitterns to blue tits and we have been poised on the edge of our
:04:52. > :04:57.nest boxes waiting for the blue tits to fledge. Have they fledged? Let's
:04:58. > :05:01.have a look at the nest box live. No, they haven't.
:05:02. > :05:06.They very, very nearly have. Just before the show I thought one was
:05:07. > :05:12.going to two, it was right up at that nest box hole. Look! I mean,
:05:13. > :05:18.these chicks have been ready the go for a couple of days and we thought
:05:19. > :05:22.it was the weather keeping them in box. We have only had a bit of rain
:05:23. > :05:29.so it's surprising they haven't gone. Don't speak too soon. They are
:05:30. > :05:33.leaning out of the hole. I think there's a jolly good chance that
:05:34. > :05:35.within the next hour, we could see a live fledging.
:05:36. > :05:38.within the next hour, we could see a on Springwatch, it could happen
:05:39. > :05:43.again. They did it before, didn't they? Look at what they've been
:05:44. > :05:46.doing. They have been doing this all day, all day we have thought, they
:05:47. > :05:49.are going, no they are not, oh they are, no they are not. Look at this
:05:50. > :06:00.one poking its head out. They keep They come half way out, have a
:06:01. > :06:04.little look outdoors. The poor parents have still got to come in
:06:05. > :06:08.and feed this lot. There's nine of them in there! They are getting
:06:09. > :06:13.pretty big. If they stay in any longer they won't be able to get out
:06:14. > :06:18.that hole. I wonder what is the trigger to go, feeding weight from
:06:19. > :06:25.the parents, overcrowding from the sibling, temperature outside, you
:06:26. > :06:31.There must be something that finally triggers them to lead. There's a lot
:06:32. > :06:33.of kids like that though, isn't there, like you are 29 now, isn't it
:06:34. > :06:37.about time you left! there, like you are 29 now, isn't it
:06:38. > :06:40.We have had our cameras on the blue there, like you are 29 now, isn't it
:06:41. > :06:45.tits nest for so long, we have noticed something very curious.
:06:46. > :06:51.Right down in amongst them. Watch that parent. What is she doing,
:06:52. > :06:56.digging around in that nest? She's looking for parasites. The nest has
:06:57. > :06:59.been there for a long time and it gets thick with parasites. Watch
:07:00. > :07:05.there, that's a Neal, what is she going to do? She picks it up, does
:07:06. > :07:09.she eat it? No, she leaves the nest with I. That happened quite
:07:10. > :07:18.frequently. She's gone down, burrowed around in the nest, there
:07:19. > :07:26.she goes again. Out she goes. Those nests, having the mites, fleas, they
:07:27. > :07:33.time their life psyche toll the life of the nest so the flea in the nest
:07:34. > :07:41.will hatch out and the really clever thing is that the flea will lay
:07:42. > :07:47.eggs, they'll pupate to pupae then hatch out when spring come and wait
:07:48. > :07:51.for a new batch of chicks. If no chicks come into the nest, the adult
:07:52. > :07:55.fleas will grow and climb up around the entrance hole of the nest and
:07:56. > :07:57.they'll just hang around there. If a single bird comes along and pokes
:07:58. > :08:04.its head in to have a look single bird comes along and pokes
:08:05. > :08:06.they'll be on it bite. You have got to admire parasites, remarkable
:08:07. > :08:10.animals. People often to admire parasites, remarkable
:08:11. > :08:15.question, should we clean our nest boxes out and by that information I
:08:16. > :08:18.guess the answer is yes, you should. Not just that information.
:08:19. > :08:23.Scientists have looked at a come pore son between a parasite load of
:08:24. > :08:32.natural tree hole and that of nest poxes. Nest box are better made
:08:33. > :08:36.drier repositories for nests to be based in -- comparison.
:08:37. > :08:40.I think for the first time emphatically, you have heard it here
:08:41. > :08:44.on Springwatch, it's a better idea to clean out your nest boxes at the
:08:45. > :08:48.end of the season when the birds have foreigned. We've also found
:08:49. > :08:52.that certain species like fly catchers are more likely to choose a
:08:53. > :08:59.nest box which has had the old nest removed. Oneother thing. Nest boxes
:09:00. > :09:03.which are south facing warm up more and this increases the number of
:09:04. > :09:07.parasites in this. It seems that grey tits can predict this and
:09:08. > :09:11.they'll avoid nest boxes which are in south-facing positions. So clean
:09:12. > :09:16.out your nest, if you've got one in there and move your nest box away
:09:17. > :09:20.from a south-facing location, otherwise you won't gate any grey
:09:21. > :09:25.tits. Clean it out after the chicks have gone. Obviously. That's wise.
:09:26. > :09:29.We don't know when the blue tits with going to fledge. We'll keep our
:09:30. > :09:35.eye on them. If they do it in the next hour, we will show it to you.
:09:36. > :09:39.They could go tomorrow when we are not on air or over the weekend, so
:09:40. > :09:41.keep an eye on the webcams which are on the red button and online as
:09:42. > :09:56.well. If you have been watching, you will
:09:57. > :09:59.know that me along with Dr Chris of the ornithology institution have
:10:00. > :10:05.been tagging a bird that disappeared to Africa which is where we went too
:10:06. > :10:08.to try and find it. We missed it. It nipped over to the border in the
:10:09. > :10:12.Ivory Coast and we were stood there waving our pass pores not allowed
:10:13. > :10:22.in. Chris left the Ivory Coast and maid it back to the UK -- passports.
:10:23. > :10:36.-- mad it back into the UK. We couldn't resist the opportunity to
:10:37. > :10:43.find him one more time. Chris and I and cuckoo spotter from the BDO. We
:10:44. > :10:49.have got special permission to use a cacophony of cuckoo mating calls in
:10:50. > :10:54.the hope that we can draw in Chris. We know the bird has been
:10:55. > :10:59.transmitting from here and we are going to call it using the gadget
:11:00. > :11:03.here. I'm think we should do it in the open. If we do it in the woods,
:11:04. > :11:16.we are not going to see it. I think you are right. OK.
:11:17. > :11:26.CUCKism OO -- CUCKOO SOUND. After ten minutes, a male cuckoo
:11:27. > :11:33.comes to investigate and it's flying straight at us.
:11:34. > :11:35.Going back in. No tag though. This is not Chris, but it's a great view
:11:36. > :11:55.of a cuckoo. Then another male cuckoo arrives on
:11:56. > :11:58.the scene. This is chassic territorial
:11:59. > :12:04.behaviour -- classic. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
:12:05. > :12:08.But, neither of them had a transmitter. Neither were Chris.
:12:09. > :12:21.It's so frustrating. We thought we'd try our luck just
:12:22. > :12:23.one last time. This is as good a place as any.
:12:24. > :12:38.Let's pump up the volume. CUCKOO SOUNDS.
:12:39. > :12:44.Then, just as we are about to give up hope...
:12:45. > :12:50.Last willow at the end. Got it, got it!
:12:51. > :12:55.Yes, yes, yes, that's definitely it! I just saw it.
:12:56. > :13:00.There he is, about 100 metres away. I can distinctly see the antennae
:13:01. > :13:13.which means that this is the famous Chris the cuckoo.
:13:14. > :13:18.Oh, I can't tell you, it's like the grail, this little bird has
:13:19. > :13:23.travelled thousands of miles. We are finally in its presence.
:13:24. > :13:28.I can't tell you! Oh, when you think about it, Chris,
:13:29. > :13:33.we were just so close in Ghana, so close at the Ivory Coast border.
:13:34. > :13:36.Yes. So close this morning. It's just sat up there as well giving us
:13:37. > :13:38.a fantastic view. When he turns, you can see the little bit of wire,
:13:39. > :14:02.can't you? He's off, he's off. What a fantastic achievement. All
:14:03. > :14:06.that way to finally see Chris the cuckoo, absolutely astonishing. Even
:14:07. > :14:11.more meI've been following the journey. To see Chris in the flesh
:14:12. > :14:15.like that, absolutely brilliant. Actually, we checked this morning
:14:16. > :14:19.and he's about 43 miles from where I'm standing right now in that
:14:20. > :14:25.direction. But Chris is not going to stay here
:14:26. > :14:29.much longer. He arrived here on April and Th he'll only stay here
:14:30. > :14:34.for six to eight weeks. Two years ago, he left on the 11th
:14:35. > :14:40.June. So he may leave this country while we are still on air.
:14:41. > :14:46.Of course, you can follow Chris, if you want to, and all the other
:14:47. > :14:51.cuckoos that the BTO have tagged on your computer as they head back that
:14:52. > :14:55.5,000 mile journey to Africa. Log on and follow them and all the links
:14:56. > :15:00.are on our website. Hang on a minute, why has Chris come
:15:01. > :15:05.here? In the last 25 years, we've lost about half of our cuckoos. You
:15:06. > :15:10.probably have noticed that. I just don't hear them cuckoo any more. The
:15:11. > :15:14.trouble is, intensive agriculture is not good for cuckoos, but here at
:15:15. > :15:25.Minsmere, it's great for them. Why is that? Because there's food here.
:15:26. > :15:30.What they are after is caterpillars. What they like is hairy
:15:31. > :15:37.caterpillars, some of the most socksic ones, ones that other birds
:15:38. > :15:40.may not take. See that hairy caterpillar, a cuckoo could eat
:15:41. > :15:48.that. They try to knock off the hairs and swallow the caterpillar
:15:49. > :15:53.but even then if they swallow the hairs they cough them up. Many of
:15:54. > :16:01.the caterpillars are poisonous. One of them, the Woolly Bear creates its
:16:02. > :16:08.own poison but adds it by getting it from foxgloves. I have one, believe
:16:09. > :16:14.it or not, in my pocket! I have a Woolly Bear. You can see it...
:16:15. > :16:18.it or not, in my pocket! I have a on. Excuse me! There we go. Can you
:16:19. > :16:20.see that? He is covered in the hairs. Most caterpillars look hairy,
:16:21. > :16:30.they will not do you harm but a few are very irritating. If I tap him on
:16:31. > :16:36.the nose, no, he does like me! Often they curl up into a ball, making it
:16:37. > :16:40.very hard for a cuckoo to swallow. Isn't that a beautiful looking
:16:41. > :16:46.thing? That will turn into a lovely, lovely moth one day. That is one of
:16:47. > :16:53.the caterpillars that cuckoos like to eat. There are others too, there
:16:54. > :16:59.is one called a Drinker caterpillar. A drinker Moth. The caterpillar
:17:00. > :17:03.drinks the due off the grass in the morning it is a mystery why it does
:17:04. > :17:10.that. You would think it gets the fluid from the grass it eats. But
:17:11. > :17:14.sure enough, if you see one of these, you will see it drinking the
:17:15. > :17:18.due in the morning. Gorgeous. So, that is what they are here for,
:17:19. > :17:19.food. But they are also here for something else.
:17:20. > :17:27.Chris, come and tell me something else.
:17:28. > :17:30.isn't that gorgeous, what else are they here for? There
:17:31. > :17:42.isn't that gorgeous, what else are better than the feel of a sticky
:17:43. > :17:42.isn't that gorgeous, what else are right, they come
:17:43. > :17:56.isn't that gorgeous, what else are also to breed. They are parasites.
:17:57. > :17:58.isn't that gorgeous, what else are eggs in a nest. They choose a range
:17:59. > :18:06.of nests, eggs in a nest. They choose a range
:18:07. > :18:11.reed washlers. Well, we found a reed warbler nest up the road from here
:18:12. > :18:16.with a cuckoo's egg in it. Look at this... There on the left it is
:18:17. > :18:20.slightly larger. But a remarkable match in terms of its colouring.
:18:21. > :18:27.What the scientists have found is that those species of birds which
:18:28. > :18:35.are aggressive to cuckoos, like reed warblers, if they see a cuckoo, they
:18:36. > :18:38.go berserk for it, in that instance, the female cuckoos go the
:18:39. > :18:42.go berserk for it, in that instance, it comes to producing an egg to
:18:43. > :18:48.match the host's species. Well we found the egg. Of course, we wanted
:18:49. > :18:54.to see it hatch. The cameraman went there. He waited all day but look
:18:55. > :18:58.what happened in the morning if you look down between the reed warblers
:18:59. > :19:05.there, it is the chick. It is the cuckoo chick. It hatched first.
:19:06. > :19:11.Female cuckoos hold the eggs in the overduct for a day longer than
:19:12. > :19:16.normal. So preincubating them. So when they are in the host' species
:19:17. > :19:21.nest they hatch first and there is a good reason for this.
:19:22. > :19:27.There it is... You can see the youngster in there with the eggs.
:19:28. > :19:33.He is not exactly a looker, is he? You say that but it will turn into a
:19:34. > :19:37.splendid bird in the end, isn't it? So we have seen the bird in the
:19:38. > :19:43.nest. We then wanted to see what happens next. That is that the
:19:44. > :19:49.cuckoo ejects the eggs or the young. So our cameraman waited all day. It
:19:50. > :19:53.got dark. Guess what happened? He went home. In the morning he
:19:54. > :19:58.returned to find this... Just the cuckoo chick in the nest. So at some
:19:59. > :20:04.stage in the night it managed to push all of the reed warbler's eggs
:20:05. > :20:09.out of the nest. And if you look around you can see that this, down
:20:10. > :20:16.in the water, there they are, that is the discarded eggs of the reed
:20:17. > :20:22.warbler. They are tossed out. The benefit is simple. There were five
:20:23. > :20:27.or six eggs, the female cuckoo would have laid one. Now that one chick
:20:28. > :20:31.gets all of the food that would have been spread amongst the brood.
:20:32. > :20:38.Extraordinary evolution. But the question is how does the cuckoo
:20:39. > :20:43.chick get the reed warbler eggs out of the nest? We have missed that one
:20:44. > :20:47.this time but it has been filmed before. We can see it here.
:20:48. > :20:54.There is the cuckoo chick with the ridge on its back to catch on the
:20:55. > :20:59.host' eggs. It is a bit cruel. Not cruel, that is the wrong word...
:21:00. > :21:04.Remarkable! Look at that! There it goes. The instinct to know how to
:21:05. > :21:09.get into the right position, get thing ares on the back and climb up
:21:10. > :21:13.using your wings. Sometimes they slip, tumble, it takes some time to
:21:14. > :21:18.get the eggs out. Of course we are going back to the nest to watch the
:21:19. > :21:24.progress as the chick grows into, hopefully, an adult cuckoo, you
:21:25. > :21:31.never know it could get a tag and go to and fro Africa. If you were
:21:32. > :21:36.watching last night, you will know that our fabulous Lolo was watching
:21:37. > :21:44.the otter. Tonight he is in pursuit of another. A species not seen here
:21:45. > :21:50.in the wild for 400 years but now stands a chance of coming back.
:21:51. > :21:54.For the past few years on Springwatch! We have been following
:21:55. > :21:59.the story of the Scottish beaver trail. This weekend the trial comes
:22:00. > :22:04.to an end. We have come back to find out how the beavers have been
:22:05. > :22:09.getting on. Exactly five years ago four beaver families were
:22:10. > :22:18.transported from Norway and released into the llochs of Napdale. Beavers
:22:19. > :22:23.fell trees and build damns, this means that they can alter the
:22:24. > :22:29.landscape. People are not always keen for them to stay. But we wanted
:22:30. > :22:34.to bring you the life of the beaver but it has not all gone according to
:22:35. > :22:39.plan. Filming beavers take patience and persistence. We staked out a
:22:40. > :22:45.beaver lodge for five nights in a row.
:22:46. > :22:49.But apart from a couple of brief distant glimpses, we have not had
:22:50. > :22:54.great success. The truth is, you don't get much
:22:55. > :22:56.sense of the world of these wonderful animals from above the
:22:57. > :23:02.surface. We are going to try a different
:23:03. > :23:08.approach. Now beavers do spend time on land. They fell trees for
:23:09. > :23:15.construction and food. But they much prefer life under water. That's
:23:16. > :23:19.where I'm going. It is mid-morning. I have scanned
:23:20. > :23:26.the lake and there are no beavers about. It is a perfect moment for
:23:27. > :23:29.cameraman Mark, and for me, to don the snorkel and fins and explore
:23:30. > :23:53.their watery world without disturbing them.
:23:54. > :24:00.This is the beaver lodge. There is a family of beaver in there right now.
:24:01. > :24:05.I have to tell you it is like an iceburg. You think it looks big from
:24:06. > :24:09.up here, you swim down it is massive. There must be about a
:24:10. > :24:14.tonne-and-a-half of wood in there. They are amazing engineers. There is
:24:15. > :24:18.an entrance on this is side and another on the far side over there.
:24:19. > :24:23.They have entrances under the water for a variety of reasons, one is
:24:24. > :24:29.predators. If you think in Canada, northern Europe they have wolves,
:24:30. > :24:33.bears, both of which hunt beaver. So if they come out under the water
:24:34. > :24:38.they are safe. In the northern areas it can freeze. There could be a
:24:39. > :24:42.metre of ice. It does not matter to them, the entrances are about a
:24:43. > :24:48.metre-and-a-half under the water. They can get out and freeze. Even if
:24:49. > :24:53.it freezes for six months it is fantastic. The first time I have
:24:54. > :24:59.ever been under the water to see a beaver hut. What an experience.
:25:00. > :25:03.But we wanted to go one step further.
:25:04. > :25:13.With the help of the beaver trial team we decided to stake out the
:25:14. > :25:22.lodge with underwater cameras. For five nights we put cameras,
:25:23. > :25:34.around the lodge we saw a lot of fish... Eels... A happy of mud and
:25:35. > :25:44.not much else! Here we came closer but we had staked out the wrong
:25:45. > :25:50.exit! Finally, we got our shot. We found a beaver leafing the lodge for
:25:51. > :25:55.a night of foraging. You can see how well adapted they are to an
:25:56. > :26:02.underwater life. The silver colour comes from a layer of air trapped by
:26:03. > :26:12.the fur. It acts as insulation. The massive tail powering the steamlined
:26:13. > :26:17.body through the water. -- streamlined body through the
:26:18. > :26:24.water. How fantastic was that? Next weekend
:26:25. > :26:29.is the end of the five-year reintroduction project. Next I will
:26:30. > :26:33.be catching up with the scientists who followed the animals and doing a
:26:34. > :26:36.bit of research ourselves and discovering what the future holds
:26:37. > :26:41.for the Scottish beaver. Well, it is amazing to just get that
:26:42. > :26:48.tiny glimpse of the beavers underwater world. Now you may wonder
:26:49. > :26:53.where I am. I am at our production village, which is where the
:26:54. > :26:57.production and technical team are based and near the location of a
:26:58. > :27:02.couple of our nests. This is the closest one. The pile of straw here
:27:03. > :27:07.is our rabbit's nest it provided us with a lot of drama. I know that the
:27:08. > :27:12.predation of three of the kits was a tough watch. Well the #2kr578a
:27:13. > :27:18.continues, so I am just warning you. This is what happened yesterday. --
:27:19. > :27:24.well the drama continues, so I am just warning you. This is what we
:27:25. > :27:30.found yesterday. The nest was helped to by a jackdaw with a kit. The
:27:31. > :27:35.magpie was watching followed the jackdaw and went off with two more
:27:36. > :27:39.baby rabbits. That left us with two surviving kits. Obviously they are
:27:40. > :27:43.extremely vulnerable. We wondered what would happen to them. Well, in
:27:44. > :27:47.the wee hours of the morning this is what happened.
:27:48. > :27:53.The magpie came back. He knew exactly where to go.
:27:54. > :27:58.But just keep a close look at the scene it grabs one but the mother
:27:59. > :28:02.rabbit, this is the sort of time you expect the rabbit to come back and
:28:03. > :28:07.feed the baby rabbits, chases her off. Unfortunately, it was
:28:08. > :28:12.unsuccessful. The jackdaw then comes and takes another one. That was the
:28:13. > :28:16.last remaining kit. You can see the mother chases it again. This time
:28:17. > :28:23.she is more successful. The jackdaw drops the baby.
:28:24. > :28:27.But it doesn't stop there. The magpie comes back. The chase
:28:28. > :28:36.conditions. This goes on for quite some time.
:28:37. > :28:42.Then out of nowhere... Some other adult rabbits come along to join in
:28:43. > :28:46.the battle. You can only see two there but there were actually six
:28:47. > :28:51.the battle. You can only see two rabbits in all. It is like a rabbit
:28:52. > :28:57.army. You can see the kit still blind, the eyes haven't opened.
:28:58. > :29:04.army. You can see the kit still on. The magpie does not give up. It
:29:05. > :29:08.keeps trying to get its breakfast. And the adult rabbits are still
:29:09. > :29:13.chasing it. It is absolutely incredible that the
:29:14. > :29:17.other rabbits join in. We thought that was a subordinate female, yet
:29:18. > :29:24.it is getting help from other adults.
:29:25. > :29:34.They clearly want to protect it. A lot of effort has gone into
:29:35. > :29:41.getting ting of rabbits. Weak it decides to go to the mother and have
:29:42. > :29:49.a quick feed. Then the mother sort of pushes it into safety underneath
:29:50. > :29:53.one of the vehicles. Absolutely incredible to see that. Now the
:29:54. > :29:56.mother thought that was a safe place but unfortunately that vehicle had
:29:57. > :30:03.to be moved and in the morning this is a very, very busy area with cars
:30:04. > :30:09.moving around. We took the decision to remove it from the road and from
:30:10. > :30:14.the cars and put it into the grass. That is pretty much nest protocol.
:30:15. > :30:20.We didn't put a camera tonne after that but it is very, very unlikely
:30:21. > :30:24.that little kit would survive. It would be extremely weak. I know it
:30:25. > :30:29.is sad and tough to watch but you have to look at the bigger picture.
:30:30. > :30:34.Those rabbits provide food for an awful lot of other animals. The
:30:35. > :30:42.survival rate is very, very low. It is the circle of life. I'm only a
:30:43. > :30:45.few metres away from our production village near another one of our
:30:46. > :30:50.mess. I don't know if you can see a bit of elder there with some flowers
:30:51. > :30:54.on it. Just down below it, in the brambles, there's our bull finch
:30:55. > :30:57.nest. Let's go to it live. There it is.
:30:58. > :31:02.Can't see anything. The parents aren't there. I'm slightly worried
:31:03. > :31:05.about this because I haven't seen them on the nest for a while. Let's
:31:06. > :31:10.go right in. Can't see anything there at the moment. We have been
:31:11. > :31:18.watching that nest the whole day. Let's see what's been going on. Bull
:31:19. > :31:23.finches are remarkably close in relationship, like little love
:31:24. > :31:27.birds, they fly around together, and they'll share the duties of feeding
:31:28. > :31:34.the chicks. The female is quite brown, but the
:31:35. > :31:41.males are more Gaudi. You always see them together. They won't stray far
:31:42. > :31:45.from one another at all, fabulous colour there.
:31:46. > :31:49.Passes food to the female and they both share in the duties of feeding
:31:50. > :31:53.them. Absolutely gorgeous, aren't they,
:31:54. > :31:57.Michaela. I like the fact that you are dressed like a bull finch! You
:31:58. > :32:05.dressed appropriately. You are a female one! Role reversal!
:32:06. > :32:11.There are a lot of animals that you can't help but notice a bull finch
:32:12. > :32:18.being one of them, but others tend to two unnoticed, especially inSeb,
:32:19. > :32:23.yet some have remarkable lifestyles. Every spring, our gardens play host
:32:24. > :32:29.to a strange creature. And the Natural History Museum in London
:32:30. > :32:34.gets reports of a furry flying creature.
:32:35. > :32:38.These miniature mysteries are drawn to any early spring neck tear that's
:32:39. > :32:41.on offer. On a warm day, the garden can be
:32:42. > :32:51.abuzz with them. So what are they? They appear to have the body of a
:32:52. > :32:58.bee, but the face of a giant mosquito.
:32:59. > :33:06.Actually, they are neither. These little insects are bee flies,
:33:07. > :33:12.bombilious major, to be precise. They look just like bees, but
:33:13. > :33:15.whereas bees have two pairs of wing, these only have one and therefore
:33:16. > :33:28.they are flies. Bee flies start to appear the
:33:29. > :33:36.mid-March onwards. But only on warm dies.
:33:37. > :33:41.-- days. In the cool of an early morning, it can take a little time
:33:42. > :33:48.to warm up their flight muscles. But their wings beat more than 100 times
:33:49. > :33:52.per second. They are one of the most acrobatic insects in our gardens. By
:33:53. > :33:55.mimicking bees, they are able to scare off some predators wary of a
:33:56. > :34:16.nasty sting. It's easy to see why they get called
:34:17. > :34:22.furry narwals. They reach deep for nectar within flowers.
:34:23. > :34:26.As fluffy and friendly as they appear, when it comes to raising
:34:27. > :34:33.their young, things take a darker turn.
:34:34. > :34:38.Bee flies are brood parasites, the cuckoos of the insect world. They
:34:39. > :34:48.lay eggs in the nests of grand dwelling mining bees.
:34:49. > :34:56.Tell male bee flies scan the ground for signs of their host. They are
:34:57. > :35:03.looking for Shadow toes of dark areas where there might be nests.
:35:04. > :35:09.-- shadows of dark areas. Then the female gets ready.
:35:10. > :35:14.Her body pivots, her abdomen swings and she flings an egg Into the
:35:15. > :35:20.Shadows. It's a hit and miss strategy.
:35:21. > :35:28.One the female repeat again and again in the hope that some eggs
:35:29. > :35:31.land in the right place. These furry fancies are only out and
:35:32. > :35:35.about for a couple of months a year, so make the most of them.
:35:36. > :35:45.They are one of the high lites of spring.
:35:46. > :35:50.-- highlights of spring. What a completely brilliant insect. Amake.
:35:51. > :35:55.How on earth do they know where to flick the eggs into? See the little
:35:56. > :36:00.dark cracks, I think they must be able to scent the nectar there or
:36:01. > :36:05.the honey or something, they couldn't just shower them all over
:36:06. > :36:08.the place, it's hit and miss. We should look at that again because
:36:09. > :36:15.it's very cool the way they do the flicking. Look at that! It's pretty
:36:16. > :36:19.unpredictable. Hundreds of eggs are fired in the hope that some at least
:36:20. > :36:27.will land in the bee nest. I love the action though, don't you?
:36:28. > :36:31.Yes, swings it, baby! It really is that sort of action, yes. Absolutely
:36:32. > :36:34.Yes, swings it, baby! It really is remarkable. It does something else
:36:35. > :36:39.quite astonishing before it does the flicking and it's this. It has a
:36:40. > :36:45.little dust bath. It collects fine dust in a basket of hairs underneath
:36:46. > :36:49.the abdomen. Covers the eggs and it's thought that that makes the
:36:50. > :36:55.eggs heavier so the female can flick them a little more accurately. It's
:36:56. > :36:59.so complex, isn't it? Amazing. I suppose if it's got a little bit
:37:00. > :37:02.so complex, isn't it? Amazing. I weight, it's same as throwing a
:37:03. > :37:10.Ping-Pong ball, you have got a bit more up. Yes.
:37:11. > :37:14.-- a bit more oomph. Whenner filming in slow-motion, you sometimes find
:37:15. > :37:21.things out you never Noel knew about. We think we have discovered
:37:22. > :37:27.something awesome! -- know about. That's a male bee fly. He looks
:37:28. > :37:34.drunk. Watch what he does. He goes into a complete tail spin again and
:37:35. > :37:40.again. It's almost like he dozen quite know where he is and he bails
:37:41. > :37:44.out of it. Spinning out of control. He's going to be so dizzy. He's
:37:45. > :37:49.going to go again. There he is. Incredible. Why on earth do they do
:37:50. > :37:54.it? We think that's probably... That's slowed down maybe 300 times
:37:55. > :37:57.it? We think that's probably... to actually see that. The best guess
:37:58. > :38:02.we have come up with so some kind of display for the females. Did you
:38:03. > :38:08.like it? A lot. Talking about things spinning out of
:38:09. > :38:13.control, where's Chris? And completely sloshed? ! I'll
:38:14. > :38:16.ignore that! Favnt animal, but there were lots here at Minsmere. We have
:38:17. > :38:23.been featuring some of the rarer ones. We have seen the marsh
:38:24. > :38:27.harriers, and the bitterns. There is another national rarity nesting
:38:28. > :38:35.here. It's the extraordinary stone curlew. This is a remarkable bird of
:38:36. > :38:39.open country. It likes to have no impediments to its running forward.
:38:40. > :38:46.It doesn't like to take off if it can run so it lakes rabbit greys
:38:47. > :38:57.pastures. The scientific name of this bird is paranus nukdeus which
:38:58. > :39:03.means bull nosed thick beak. It appears to have a thick knee. That's
:39:04. > :39:07.not a particularly good name because it's not actually its knee. Let me
:39:08. > :39:12.draw a bird skeleton for you. Imagine this is the hip joint. The
:39:13. > :39:16.bird has its femur, this part of our leg here going up like this. That's
:39:17. > :39:20.normally hidden under the feathers on its breast. It then has the lower
:39:21. > :39:24.part of its limb coming down here, to that point which we have called
:39:25. > :39:31.the thick knee, which goes down to the foot which is at the bottom
:39:32. > :39:36.here. So this here isn't in fact any part that's joining to a knee. This
:39:37. > :39:47.is the ankle. And this part of the limb is called the tarso metatarsis.
:39:48. > :39:51.In bird, they are greatly extended to give their leg three separate
:39:52. > :39:58.sections, so not the knee at all, not a particularly good Latin name.
:39:59. > :40:04.But these are incredible birds and we are lucky enough to have found a
:40:05. > :40:08.nest here. Earlier on, we went to see what was going on at the nest.
:40:09. > :40:12.The bird was sat very still. This gave us the opportunity to get a
:40:13. > :40:17.good close-up of its head and that extraordinary eye. The reason it's
:40:18. > :40:21.got such a large eye is because they are nocturnal, they spend a lot of
:40:22. > :40:26.time active at night looking for their food. Look at that! My
:40:27. > :40:30.question is, why is the eye yellow? There's got a be a reason for this.
:40:31. > :40:33.In some species of birds, we see different colour eyes in the sexes,
:40:34. > :40:38.males will have one colour, females the other. In other species, we
:40:39. > :40:42.notice the eye gets brighter throughout their life so it's a sign
:40:43. > :40:47.of sexual maturity. Here, it might be something else. We also know that
:40:48. > :40:53.yellow filters out blue, so perhaps it's got a yellow eye so it can
:40:54. > :40:56.filter out the blue of the skies to increase the contrast so it might be
:40:57. > :41:01.able to spot predators there. I don't know, it's just a theory, but
:41:02. > :41:05.no-one's entirely sure why these birds have bright yellow eyes.
:41:06. > :41:11.Back to the nest though. Once we started looking in more detail, we
:41:12. > :41:15.saw that one of the eggs was on the brink of hatching.
:41:16. > :41:19.They do these remarkable nest changeovers. The male is the bird
:41:20. > :41:26.with the colour wins and in comes the female. As she sits down,
:41:27. > :41:32.there's the hole in one of the two eggs, a typical size for these
:41:33. > :41:43.birds, they only have two. She settles down, continues to incubate
:41:44. > :41:47.and then, overnight, she does her work and look, there it is, still
:41:48. > :41:54.hatching. Inside the egg, the chick is
:41:55. > :41:59.communicating to her. And then, first thing in the morning, out
:42:00. > :42:06.comes one of the chicks. Look at it. It might be fluffy, but it's just as
:42:07. > :42:11.well camouflaged as that adult. Taking a few steps into its world.
:42:12. > :42:16.That's what they do if they are spotted by a predator. They freeze
:42:17. > :42:22.and lay down on the soil and they are incredibly difficult to spot.
:42:23. > :42:25.They are what we call precocial chicks, they leave the nest
:42:26. > :42:29.straightaway and begin to follow the female around. She feeds them
:42:30. > :42:33.initially. She's found a worm and she's dropping it down in front of
:42:34. > :42:38.the chick, which is taking it at the second attempt, and of course, after
:42:39. > :42:43.a few days, they'll begin to find invertebrates of their own. They
:42:44. > :42:48.like to eat beetles, grasshoppers, that sort of thing. She'll lead them
:42:49. > :42:53.across the open plain, keeping a wary eye for predators. They can be
:42:54. > :43:00.incredibly difficult to spot. What about the snail? The -- name.
:43:01. > :43:05.Goggle-eyed Glover is the name, but what about stone curlew, the more
:43:06. > :43:07.familiar name, the curlew comes from the sound it makes. Listen to the
:43:08. > :43:21.call of a stone curlew. Normally delivered at night. It's a
:43:22. > :43:27.very plain eerie call. When they -- very eerie call. The curlew part
:43:28. > :43:33.comes from the fact that this is a call very much like the common
:43:34. > :43:37.curlew. Listening to that, we sometimes take sound for granted I
:43:38. > :43:42.think. We didn't ought to. Some might have seen earlier this year
:43:43. > :43:46.the extraordinary story of a lady called Jo Millen, it was on
:43:47. > :43:51.Breakfast news when I saw it, she had been deaf since birth and she
:43:52. > :43:55.was fitted with a double cochlear implant and this is what happened
:43:56. > :44:01.when she first heard a human voice, her nurse's voice.
:44:02. > :44:13.Do you know, I watched that on Breakfast news before I went out
:44:14. > :44:17.with my doings and was genuinely moved by that. That morning walking
:44:18. > :44:21.through the woods I listened harder to everything around me to really
:44:22. > :44:25.take advantage of it. We thought if she got that sort of response to a
:44:26. > :44:32.human voice, what would Jo think if she heard bird song, the dawn Corus?
:44:33. > :44:47.We sent sound recordest Chris Watson and Jo out into the woods to give
:44:48. > :44:55.her this experience -- -- chorus. It is 4. 30am.
:44:56. > :45:00.Chris and Jo are here as the dawn approaches.
:45:01. > :45:04.Can you hear that cockerel? A cockerel? Wow! It is just the third
:45:05. > :45:16.time I have heard it. It's not long before they hear the
:45:17. > :45:31.more traditional members of the dawn chorus.
:45:32. > :45:49.That's a blackbird. That's my favourite song.
:45:50. > :45:52.It's beautiful. Another blackbird. They are all
:45:53. > :46:13.over. So, Jo, we are now surrounded by
:46:14. > :46:18.bird song. There is lots of birds all around us.
:46:19. > :46:26.You can see bare branches but up there are dozens of birds singing
:46:27. > :46:31.their hearts out. It's hard to pick out individuals,
:46:32. > :46:34.so that is why it is called a chorus.
:46:35. > :46:38.It is like the chorus. But now it is getting lighter it is
:46:39. > :46:43.getting louder. There is more and more bird song.
:46:44. > :46:49.You are right. This is really the most intense part of the dawn chorus
:46:50. > :47:04.it is actually before dawn. In fact, there is a robin right over your
:47:05. > :47:09.head, singing in the tree above. It's very high-pitched warbling.
:47:10. > :47:14.It is singing from a high point, It's very high-pitched warbling.
:47:15. > :47:34.warning other robins not to come into this territory.
:47:35. > :47:46.That's great. Another new one. That is a chaffinch. It has just
:47:47. > :47:51.woken up that bird and started to sing.
:47:52. > :47:59.Can you imagine the energy it takes? sing.
:48:00. > :48:02.To sing with that power? Yes, it is just completely different for me to
:48:03. > :48:24.hear that sound. So, Jo, it is daylight, we can see
:48:25. > :48:26.everything around us now. The dawn chorus has been and gone. It was
:48:27. > :48:33.fantastic for he to chorus has been and gone. It was
:48:34. > :48:38.you. How was it as an experience? Wow! It was an experience I have
:48:39. > :48:43.never had before. It has been absolutely fantastic. I didn't
:48:44. > :48:44.realise that there were so many different birds, you mentioned so
:48:45. > :48:49.many different birds different birds, you mentioned so
:48:50. > :48:55.And how different they all sound. I think that I could actually identify
:48:56. > :48:59.the blackbird and the robin from the different dawn chorus that
:49:00. > :49:01.the blackbird and the robin from the It is a good place to start, the
:49:02. > :49:06.blackbird and the robin. It is a good place to start, the
:49:07. > :49:11.I might start getting up earlier in the morning now! Just imagine
:49:12. > :49:12.hearing bird song for the very first time.
:49:13. > :49:19.Most of us take time.
:49:20. > :49:22.are so familiar for it. But I can't imagine taking a dawn chorus for
:49:23. > :49:27.granted it is incredible. If you have never done it, I suggest you
:49:28. > :49:31.get up early one morning this weekend and enjoy it. If you have
:49:32. > :49:37.done it before, do it again, listen to it with fresh ears. We are also
:49:38. > :49:43.encouraging you to do the garden bio blitz. This is something we did on
:49:44. > :49:47.Springwatch last year. It is a blitz of your garden to see how many
:49:48. > :49:56.different species you can find it is great to do with the kids. All of
:49:57. > :50:03.the details of that are on the website at: Chris, you have brought
:50:04. > :50:05.a beautiful bird! I have indeed. We would like you to look out for these
:50:06. > :50:10.this weekend would like you to look out for these
:50:11. > :50:13.It is a barn owl. If you are lucky enough to have one near you, they
:50:14. > :50:18.are apparent, they could enough to have one near you, they
:50:19. > :50:22.in daylight as they have young. This enough to have one near you, they
:50:23. > :50:30.is a species in crisis, I'm afraid. From 1900 to 1908, they declined.
:50:31. > :50:35.Then we managed to stabilise them. The reasons for them going down in
:50:36. > :50:41.numbers is the loss of habitat and food and many young birds are hit by
:50:42. > :50:46.cars. And some thought that bacteria is building up in the bodies. So the
:50:47. > :50:50.Barn Owl Trust has launched a full barn owl survey for ten years. Find
:50:51. > :51:05.that at; If you find a nest note it. If you
:51:06. > :51:12.see a bird that is good or find a dead one or a roosting bird, we
:51:13. > :51:19.would like to know about it to get a handle on their area.
:51:20. > :51:26.It is nice to see an owl bird up close. You are so soft. Stunning.
:51:27. > :51:32.With a beautiful heart-shaped face. It endears them to people with the
:51:33. > :51:37.slightly baky nose there. And that is the equivalent of the owl ears.
:51:38. > :51:42.They rely on the hearing for hunting. This proved a problem last
:51:43. > :51:46.year, with the wet spring, they cannot hear properly to hunt. They
:51:47. > :51:52.don't like flying in the rain. When people looked at the numbers they
:51:53. > :51:57.found a 71% reduction in next occupancy. So last year was a poor
:51:58. > :52:01.breeding season for the barn owls. We are hoping that those who got
:52:02. > :52:04.through the spring will have a better breeding opportunity this
:52:05. > :52:09.year. We are encouraging you to do lots of
:52:10. > :52:13.things over the next three days, so I guess you will want to know what
:52:14. > :52:18.the weather is going to be like, not just for you but for the wildlife as
:52:19. > :52:23.well. Let's go live to the BBC Weather Centre where I am sure that
:52:24. > :52:29.Nick Miller can enlighten us. I have a forecast but it was a
:52:30. > :52:34.challenge. Prepare the forecast and watch the bluetit weather online.
:52:35. > :52:38.So, now it is looking OK, I managed both. Remember at the start of the
:52:39. > :52:44.week I had low pressure behind me. There was talk of rain. We had a wet
:52:45. > :52:47.day on Tuesday at my Minsmere. Now there is high pressure building for
:52:48. > :52:51.tomorrow and Saturday, with most places dry with a mixture of cloud
:52:52. > :52:54.and sunshine. On Sunday the weather fronts come into Northern Ireland
:52:55. > :52:58.and Scotland. A bit of rain in the west of Scotland. But there is
:52:59. > :53:02.uncertainty of how much of England and Wales will see the rain during
:53:03. > :53:07.the day. So check the forecast. Basically it is good news if you
:53:08. > :53:11.want to get out and discover the wildlife near you, listen to the
:53:12. > :53:16.dawn chorus. For the UK as a whole it is a lovely start to the weekend,
:53:17. > :53:24.some of us getting rain by Sunday. What does it mean for you at
:53:25. > :53:29.Minsmere? Well, it is mainly dry. There could be an isolated shower on
:53:30. > :53:34.Sunday night but generally great weather for the birds gathering to
:53:35. > :53:39.feed the chicks and who knows, the sight of blue sky may get the
:53:40. > :53:45.bluetits to fly the nest scroll I'll be watching.
:53:46. > :53:50.So, it has been grey and rainy and a little miserable all week, when does
:53:51. > :53:54.it brighten up? When we are off air on Friday! Tomorrow! We have one
:53:55. > :54:00.more treat before the end of the programme. Another live nest. It is
:54:01. > :54:06.a reed warbler. Let's go straight to it now. There it is. This nest has
:54:07. > :54:11.four eggs in it. It is down in the scree. Here is the incredible thing,
:54:12. > :54:14.this little bird, we have been talking about the cuckoo, this
:54:15. > :54:18.little bird will have travelled from Africa to be with us tonight. It
:54:19. > :54:23.will have travelled thousands of miles to make that tiny little nest
:54:24. > :54:32.in the reed bed. Isn't that astonishing? It looks
:54:33. > :54:38.sleepy doesn't it? She's had enough of the show! What is interesting, is
:54:39. > :54:45.that this is a host of cuckoos, a cuckoo, if it is lucky, which lay an
:54:46. > :54:51.egg in a reed warbler nest but look at what we have observed, they are
:54:52. > :54:55.very, very attentive parents. They are hardly ever off the nest. As
:54:56. > :55:03.soon as one goes, two seconds later, the other one comes in.
:55:04. > :55:08.We have been watching this and seen 11 changes in three hours. One goes
:55:09. > :55:17.off, two seconds later, the other adult pops back.
:55:18. > :55:22.And again. Off it goes, one, two... Three seconds later. So, Chris, how
:55:23. > :55:27.on earth does a cuckoo get in there to lay an egg? It is a very good
:55:28. > :55:34.question. But the cuckoos have thought about that. On average it
:55:35. > :55:39.takes six seconds for the nest changeover but ten seconds for a
:55:40. > :55:45.cuckoo to lay an egg in the nest. It does not have time. But look at this
:55:46. > :55:49.cuckoo. Over a period of time, they have evolved to look like a
:55:50. > :55:54.sparrowhawk. So when they fly in, they scare the birds off. You may
:55:55. > :55:58.think that they could look like a cuckoo and that would scare them off
:55:59. > :56:02.but if the bird is not sure, it will keep it away for longer. This give
:56:03. > :56:10.it is just enough time for the cuckoo to get in there and lay its
:56:11. > :56:14.egg. This is an example of baitsy and mime I cannery. Fabulous work
:56:15. > :56:23.from the cuckoo! I think we should take a quick look at the teasing
:56:24. > :56:27.tits. Have they left the nest? I don't think they have! They are
:56:28. > :56:31.still there. I have been keeping an IRA on the live cameras throughout
:56:32. > :56:36.the last hour, willing them to fly out of that nest hole! I don't think
:56:37. > :56:42.that they are going to go this evening. They will go in the morning
:56:43. > :56:48.and especially if we get a nice clear warm sunny morning, unlike any
:56:49. > :56:55.we have had so far this week. Of course we will update you on
:56:56. > :57:01.Monday, showing you watch them fledgeling if you have not already
:57:02. > :57:03.watched it online. But we have also had camera teams filming all over
:57:04. > :57:28.the country... Now our mission is to explore the
:57:29. > :57:34.wildlife here. We are going to try to up the ante. The night creatures
:57:35. > :57:41.proved elusive. So we are throwing new technology at it. The same for
:57:42. > :57:47.Winterwatch. Night cameras. We are hoping to explore what is going on.
:57:48. > :57:52.We have had a hot tip that there is a tawny owl making its moves. And
:57:53. > :57:59.also tantalising glimpses of this creature. What is it? Well, it is a
:58:00. > :58:03.predator, it is a stoat. We are on the trail this weekend, hoping to
:58:04. > :58:09.bring you font liesing pictures on them.
:58:10. > :58:15.And more of these, the bittern chicks. They are on the grow and
:58:16. > :58:19.moving off into the reeds. So keep your eyes on those. There should be
:58:20. > :58:25.more of them at the beginning of next week. You can watch us
:58:26. > :58:29.more of them at the beginning of Red Button and on sprung after
:58:30. > :58:35.Unthis. And we look forward to seeing you at 8.00pm on Monday. But
:58:36. > :58:52.for now, it is goodbye from us. Goodbye! Goodbye!