:00:36. > :00:57.Don't go anywhere, it is Springwatch.
:00:58. > :01:06.Hello and welcome to Springwatch 2014. It is a rare sunny evening on
:01:07. > :01:11.the Suffolk coast. We are live and our mission throughout this week and
:01:12. > :01:15.the rest of next is to bring you the best of British wildlife ringing you
:01:16. > :01:16.the rest of next is to bring you the with the technology we have got. I
:01:17. > :01:22.have got to tell you, with the technology we have got. I
:01:23. > :01:26.least two things I guarantee you have never seen before. Something
:01:27. > :01:31.which is completely weird where an animal has something in common with
:01:32. > :01:40.Alexander the great. And we have the cutest animals ever. It is going to
:01:41. > :01:47.be fantastic. We are in such a beautiful place, it is 1000 hectares
:01:48. > :01:52.of managed habitat which supports a great diversity of life. All sorts
:01:53. > :01:58.of mammals live here, Marsh Harriers, bitterns, they are
:01:59. > :02:07.feeding. The dear are here and they are chewing away. We have lots of
:02:08. > :02:12.birds, including this little Wren. Doing a lovely performance. We have
:02:13. > :02:18.cameras all over the reserve and we have exciting news because we have a
:02:19. > :02:25.hatching. We predicted it would happen and it has. Let's meet the
:02:26. > :02:34.proud parents. They are the reed warbler is. We don't know if this is
:02:35. > :02:37.the male or female, they difficult to tell apart. If we look into the
:02:38. > :02:45.nest, we can see three little chicks have hatched. The parent is in their
:02:46. > :02:48.feeding them. There is one egg left. We will be keeping our eye on it to
:02:49. > :02:55.see if the fourth egg hatches. But let's have a look at what happened
:02:56. > :03:02.just after 2pm today. Quite fidgety. Looks down. Almost looks confused.
:03:03. > :03:09.Something is obviously going on underneath. Indeed it is, the first
:03:10. > :03:17.egg is hatching. She has a look in. If we take a close look, she comes
:03:18. > :03:26.out with a bit of the egg showing us the trick -- baby. She removes the
:03:27. > :03:38.shell so it does not attract editors. Then the baby uses the rest
:03:39. > :03:46.of the shell as a helmet. Throughout the day, two others hatched as well.
:03:47. > :03:53.We are extremely lucky to see this. It is the first for Springwatch. We
:03:54. > :03:56.have never seen a hatching of one of those small, brown birds that has a
:03:57. > :04:04.hidden nest before. We see things in the open hatching, but not like
:04:05. > :04:10.that. Fascinating to see the adults turned over to feeding. It is almost
:04:11. > :04:18.like they had never seen young before. They could be first-time
:04:19. > :04:35.parents. When you left us last night we were enjoying the company of a
:04:36. > :04:42.suite baby tawny owl. You called him or her Grub. Let's have a look Grub
:04:43. > :04:46.now. Where is he in there? If you walk past the tree you would never
:04:47. > :04:54.notice him. It is only when he moves. You can just see him moving
:04:55. > :04:57.around in there. He is half asleep now and he will wait until it gets
:04:58. > :05:06.dark and the parents will come in and basically stuff him with food.
:05:07. > :05:08.Interestingly, we have been able to watch the parents. Definitely tawny
:05:09. > :05:13.owl is going out and hunting. We have filmed at this over the last
:05:14. > :05:22.couple of nights. It is pitch lack in reality. He is going down. We
:05:23. > :05:28.think it might have been a worm or a baby Newt. It looks like the towel
:05:29. > :05:37.is hunting using site. It is not, it is using its hearing. They generally
:05:38. > :05:42.use their hearing as a primary way of hunting. It will drop down
:05:43. > :05:53.silently and grab what is ever down there. It has got to feed itself as
:05:54. > :06:01.well. It is having a nibble of something, cannot see what it is.
:06:02. > :06:08.What was amazing is the number of prey items the Owls brought back. 18
:06:09. > :06:16.different things. A huge variety. First of all it was feeding those
:06:17. > :06:20.awful slugs. Then it brought a sort of a slug sand wedge because it had
:06:21. > :06:32.leaves either side. Sensible really, to stop slime. Oh dear! Then the
:06:33. > :06:38.adult came back with a strange prey. Difficult to see to begin
:06:39. > :06:45.with. That is a fully grown adult slow worm and it is very much alive.
:06:46. > :06:54.It is huge, Martin. How will it get that down? Every time it stopped and
:06:55. > :07:05.took a rest, it tried to come out again. I feel sorry for that slow
:07:06. > :07:11.worm, it is like a live endoscope. Can you imagine what the poor owl
:07:12. > :07:20.alike with that wriggling around in its tummy. Live spaghetti. It had
:07:21. > :07:28.not even finished then. It does look like hard work. This is also
:07:29. > :07:34.fascinating. We were expecting small rodents, but look at this. Partially
:07:35. > :07:41.hidden but that is a more hen. We weren't sure. It is a huge male and
:07:42. > :07:50.a big thing for a tawny owl to grab and kill at night. Must have heard
:07:51. > :07:56.it rustling around. Visit an adult? Is it a chick? We had a close look
:07:57. > :08:04.at it. Those are pin feathers so we thought it was probably a very large
:08:05. > :08:10.chick. It is a huge variety isn't it? Different things being brought
:08:11. > :08:14.in, yes. Lots of you have been watching this online and on the red
:08:15. > :08:18.button so if you have spotted something we haven't, let us know.
:08:19. > :08:31.We have had a question on Twitter. Would a tawny owl get a adder? It
:08:32. > :08:39.probably would. I'd don't see any reason why it wouldn't take it. What
:08:40. > :08:46.if it was a black adder? It would never be seen. I am going to go off
:08:47. > :08:56.and give you a guided tour of our production village over there. Let's
:08:57. > :09:01.take a look at another live camera. This is a popular place for our
:09:02. > :09:05.ground nesting birds. Black-headed gull is, we have seen avocets
:09:06. > :09:12.ground nesting birds. Black-headed there. It is a busy place. Every
:09:13. > :09:16.year it changes, it is very dynamic. It has different number of birds and
:09:17. > :09:24.avocets. It is always busy and noisy. We have had a question, is
:09:25. > :09:32.this scrape man-made or natural? It was one of the first man-made
:09:33. > :09:37.wetlands in the world. The RSPB started working on it in the 1940s.
:09:38. > :09:41.Underneath it is a complex system of pipes. There is water management and
:09:42. > :09:48.then it is about the islands providing good nesting habitat for
:09:49. > :09:54.birds like the avocet, sandwich turns and waders like this. They
:09:55. > :10:00.have to control the water. It is fenced off to keep predators out.
:10:01. > :10:05.They have spent a lot of time and effort working on it. When the
:10:06. > :10:10.avocets first came back, there were just a few pairs. Now they have
:10:11. > :10:15.increased that they are all round the southern coast of the UK. They
:10:16. > :10:20.have exported the idea overseas. I was in mortar earlier
:10:21. > :10:22.have exported the idea overseas. I them was designed by the guy who
:10:23. > :10:27.built the scrape here. It is also about good feeding habitat. We have
:10:28. > :10:33.been looking at the avocet on the nest, but let's look at them
:10:34. > :10:40.feeding. They have these bills, and they go through the water and the
:10:41. > :10:47.mud, holding them slightly open. And they can feel any prey in the water.
:10:48. > :10:54.Shrimps, crustaceans, beta la vie, fly la vie. If they feel them in the
:10:55. > :10:58.water and catch them, they will swallow them down. If there is a
:10:59. > :11:06.rich patch of trade, we will seek communal feeding. One of the
:11:07. > :11:10.benefits is it is easy to see the birds, it is a wide open habitat.
:11:11. > :11:18.When you have a species as striking as the avocet, it will attract
:11:19. > :11:23.attention. The courtship of these birds is understood and ritualised.
:11:24. > :11:27.The bird on the left is the female and she is in the mood. She has gone
:11:28. > :11:38.into a position which is soliciting the male. She is being very patient.
:11:39. > :11:46.He is not really paying the correct amount of attention initially. When
:11:47. > :11:57.he gets more interested in begins to splash her with water. Here he is,
:11:58. > :12:00.he starts splashing her. It is important he does not pass in front
:12:01. > :12:05.of her. It is a massive turn-off from her point of view. He makes his
:12:06. > :12:07.way to the other side. She is being very patient. He is building himself
:12:08. > :12:09.up for it. He climbs on top for a quick copulation. But look what
:12:10. > :12:16.happens. He wraps his wing around her. Bowers down and walks off. They
:12:17. > :12:25.do that every time. Beautiful copulation. It is, what are you
:12:26. > :12:34.doing? Don't climb on top of me. Do you know what happens when they do
:12:35. > :12:36.that successfully? They lay eggs. Look at this, it is a unique piece
:12:37. > :12:38.of filming. that successfully? They lay eggs.
:12:39. > :12:44.Look at this, it is a If you look at the bottom of the female, you can
:12:45. > :12:52.see the egg beginning to appear. Being squeezed out and very gently
:12:53. > :12:58.down onto the ground. The freshest avocet egg you are ever going to
:12:59. > :13:03.see. It might look like it has just been laid on to the ground. But she
:13:04. > :13:08.may have made a small ring of stones or a small amount of vegetable
:13:09. > :13:13.material. She will lay another three and then she will begin to incubate
:13:14. > :13:19.them. What a sight. It is not just the avocets, so have some of the
:13:20. > :13:27.goals. It means the scrape is very dangerous and very dramatic, as you
:13:28. > :13:32.will see. This is a lack headed goal chick. It has wandered away from the
:13:33. > :13:39.nest, which is very dangerous. All of the other birds go crazy and
:13:40. > :13:53.start mobbing it. It flies off. Keep your eye on the chick. It comes in,
:13:54. > :14:01.gets the chick in its beak. It keeps hold of the chick. Takes a break and
:14:02. > :14:05.swallows it whole. I was wondering if it was taking it back to its
:14:06. > :14:11.babies, but it does not seem to be because then we noticed this. They
:14:12. > :14:17.had a feeding themselves or they were feeding each other. This is two
:14:18. > :14:23.goals which looks like they are fighting over this dead chick. This
:14:24. > :14:30.is courtship behaviour. They are having a tug of war. The male would
:14:31. > :14:33.have swallowed that chick and regurgitated it and given it as a
:14:34. > :14:40.gift to the female. He is trying to get her into peak, breeding
:14:41. > :14:43.condition. He did not digestive clean-up because it is still a
:14:44. > :14:51.little bit tough and a bit big for the female. Eventually, the male
:14:52. > :14:59.pulls it away and decides to give up and just swallow it himself. She is
:15:00. > :15:04.following him. Doing that are being head which is a begging posture. He
:15:05. > :15:13.will swallow it, re-regurgitated it and probably offer it up to her
:15:14. > :15:16.later. Everything is regurgitating, the
:15:17. > :15:19.Britons, the woodpeckers. Now we have got these things. I do it
:15:20. > :15:36.myself in a minute. The avocet has been patiently
:15:37. > :15:41.sitting on those X. What is going to happen when they hatch last remark
:15:42. > :15:47.the chicks are going to be extremely vulnerable. Or drip at the other we
:15:48. > :15:54.have called her full stop -- Audrey burn we have called her. Keep your
:15:55. > :16:04.eye on her. You can keep an eye on the live cameras on the red button.
:16:05. > :16:07.We have been back down to Brighton looking at our urban foxes. We have
:16:08. > :16:14.been working with the University of Brighton we have got radio collared
:16:15. > :16:19.foxes and we have found two females making a dent. We have located the
:16:20. > :16:26.area and put the cameras in. We are waiting to see if any cubs appeared.
:16:27. > :16:29.We now know that central Brighton is home to over 20 foxes per Square
:16:30. > :16:36.Kilometre Array, a pretty surprising statistic given the apparent lack of
:16:37. > :16:42.suitable habitat. But hidden behind this row of houses is a suspected
:16:43. > :16:49.down. We know it is being used by two females. Our camera traps can
:16:50. > :16:55.reveal just what they have been hiding beneath the decking. It is
:16:56. > :17:01.just what we have been hoping for. Tiny cups, only about three weeks
:17:02. > :17:11.old, so young they can barely stumble around in the dark. Dawn
:17:12. > :17:15.wastes no time at all in introducing the owners of the house to their
:17:16. > :17:20.beautiful new neighbours. Oh, my goodness, fantastic. Three cups,
:17:21. > :17:33.they are all the same age. They are a bit wobbly on their feet. Five
:17:34. > :17:37.cubs. Is it possible they could have two litters? I think it is one
:17:38. > :17:45.letter. Maybe one of the adults has lost its other litter. They are very
:17:46. > :17:49.close to exploring outside. They will be coming close in the next
:17:50. > :17:59.couple of days, they will get more confident. You should see them
:18:00. > :18:03.outside at any time. Even with help Sugar is suffering full stop victims
:18:04. > :18:11.use a quarter of their body weight by the time their cubs are weaned
:18:12. > :18:18.and her coat is thinning. She's spending less time at the Den. Her
:18:19. > :18:20.cubs need more solid food. Sugar is going to faced competition out on
:18:21. > :18:31.the streets. Tonight, torn by the demands of our
:18:32. > :18:43.growing family, she returns to the garden. With just a supply of milk.
:18:44. > :18:45.Now they are getting hungrier, the clubs of finally emerging from
:18:46. > :19:00.underground. -- the cubs. And we can see that in fact there
:19:01. > :19:04.are actually eight of them, and they are fiercely competitive for their
:19:05. > :19:12.mother's supplies. Sugar suckles the best she can before the cubs'
:19:13. > :19:23.demands for so back on to the street. -- force her back. Stumpy
:19:24. > :19:31.has taken over cubs sitting. She has been spending much less time at the
:19:32. > :19:37.Den but she provides valuable support. Under her watchful eye that
:19:38. > :19:40.cubs free to explore. They are six weeks old and ready to learn the
:19:41. > :20:00.rough and tumble of life. As they investigate the New World,
:20:01. > :20:05.they are learning new skills. And different personalities seem to be
:20:06. > :20:13.emerging. Some of them, they look a bit like future explorers. Others,
:20:14. > :20:17.champion wrestlers. Some are honing their moves, others have aspirations
:20:18. > :20:45.to be high achievers. Or not. And others are simply more
:20:46. > :20:53.laid-back. After all, growing up is a tiring business.
:20:54. > :21:03.Sugar returns, this time it is with some solid food, but it is not for
:21:04. > :21:10.her full stop --. They must supply several deliveries and night for
:21:11. > :21:14.this fast-growing letter. The cubs have a full set of milk teeth so the
:21:15. > :21:18.sooner they are weaned, the better for them the well hidden, highly
:21:19. > :21:24.fortified garden, has been a perfect nursery in some ways but it is
:21:25. > :21:26.devoid of natural food or natural vegetation. The cubs will need
:21:27. > :21:31.somewhere larger and wilder to prepare for the world beyond. Their
:21:32. > :21:36.curiosity means they will not be contained for much longer. One of
:21:37. > :21:43.the boulder cubs seems to have noticed where Sugar has been coming
:21:44. > :21:48.in and out of the yard and spots is chance to escape. It takes all of
:21:49. > :21:53.its strength and all of its determination, but eventually it
:21:54. > :22:01.succeeds in clambering up the wall. It makes it out. With her cubs keen
:22:02. > :22:09.to leave the safety of the Den, what will be Sugar's next move?
:22:10. > :22:12.Entertaining, playful, mischievous and quite adorable. There are eight
:22:13. > :22:17.of them, that has got to be to families. It would be difficult to
:22:18. > :22:21.know for sure. The only way if we were to capture them DNA test them.
:22:22. > :22:24.We can say female foxes typically have six, but they can push the
:22:25. > :22:29.We can say female foxes typically out and have eight. There were two
:22:30. > :22:32.foxes in attendance. There could be two litters will stop when we first
:22:33. > :22:37.started looking at them some of them did appear to be smaller than the
:22:38. > :22:44.others and they caught up. Perhaps Stumpy dropped the letter as well
:22:45. > :22:48.and they crashed. Who knows? Doctor Dawn Scott will be worthless on
:22:49. > :22:54.Thursday to unfold a view more things about these foxes.
:22:55. > :22:59.Our fox cubs are about to explore away from the Den, many of our chips
:23:00. > :23:05.are exploring away from the nest, and Martin is exploring a waif to
:23:06. > :23:09.look at the production village. -- exploring away. I am in the heart
:23:10. > :23:15.of wet Springwatch gets me. People are working right now making the
:23:16. > :23:20.programme. To see the whole of the production village you have to go up
:23:21. > :23:25.into the air. There is the reserve, Minsmere, and down in the corner,
:23:26. > :23:30.that is the production village, that big tent, that is where we have our
:23:31. > :23:35.meals. And you can see all the trucks lined up, that is where I am.
:23:36. > :23:41.Here are the trucks. Down on the ground are these cables. We have 22
:23:42. > :23:47.kilometres of cables, one of these cables here goes two kilometres away
:23:48. > :23:51.from the back of this truck to someone else on the reserve. All the
:23:52. > :23:56.cameras are coming in right here. If I was to get hold of that and give
:23:57. > :24:03.it a good target, it would be very bad news. I would be in trouble. The
:24:04. > :24:08.cameras are going in here to our story developers area. We will go
:24:09. > :24:19.and meet a story developer. Watch yourself. This is where all the
:24:20. > :24:27.stories,, they all comment. What have we got here? It is Nick. Have
:24:28. > :24:38.you started your shift, Wendy do begin? I started today at 4pm, so I
:24:39. > :24:44.am doing for BM until 4am. 12 hours. We do alternate 12 hour shifts. Do
:24:45. > :24:47.you go straight home to bed? This morning I went out to be bitten
:24:48. > :25:02.Hyde, did three hours filming so I caught water bowls in front of me.
:25:03. > :25:10.--. Can you go live to the Britons? This is the closer. Mum is away. She
:25:11. > :25:17.has been away since 7:30pm. She has been away about an hour.
:25:18. > :25:21.The chicks, what are they doing, snuggled up together keeping warm.
:25:22. > :25:27.Most of the time they huddle up together, stay warm. They have just
:25:28. > :25:32.started to explore a bit more, to a half weeks old. Starting to get a
:25:33. > :25:41.bit more bold. You can chose them being bowled. I
:25:42. > :25:46.certainly can. Here we go, there it is.
:25:47. > :25:52.We noticed one of them, the ginger and one, walks up into shot, looked
:25:53. > :26:00.at the camera. Posed, and then went back to the nest. The size of the
:26:01. > :26:09.feet, they are enormous. Sometimes they go through deep water. These
:26:10. > :26:17.birds are quite small. Here is the mother, she leaves the nest. Look at
:26:18. > :26:21.that. Using those feet to move sideways onto the reads, walks her
:26:22. > :26:28.way through. Just gripping on. It is like being on stilts. I so up this
:26:29. > :26:34.morning when I went down to film them.
:26:35. > :26:39.Carry on watching, if anything exciting happens, let us know.
:26:40. > :26:43.Because we have got all these cameras here it has enabled us to
:26:44. > :26:49.note something very interesting. Our birds have different ways of
:26:50. > :26:52.parenting. The bitten is a single mother, the males are still out
:26:53. > :26:58.there. They are still booming, looking for a mate. You have got the
:26:59. > :27:03.single mum, in complete contrast to our beautiful bullfinches. These to
:27:04. > :27:11.work together very closely. The female is dominant, he is a bit of a
:27:12. > :27:19.toy boy, she is two years old, he's only one-year-old. They work very
:27:20. > :27:22.closely together. The mail tends to show the female possible nest sites
:27:23. > :27:32.and she makes the decision where to go.
:27:33. > :27:36.Very tidy, he has taken that away. That is a Bulfinch nest but we have
:27:37. > :27:42.also noticed interesting things going on in the Nightingale 's nest.
:27:43. > :27:49.The Nightingale 's, beautiful. That nest is immaculate. They keep it
:27:50. > :28:00.absolutely perfect. They keep it completely clean. It is spotless. We
:28:01. > :28:06.think that maybe because the nest is very close to the ground. If they
:28:07. > :28:10.leave any debris it might attract predators. This is beautifully
:28:11. > :28:20.cleaned. They are keeping it spotless.
:28:21. > :28:24.Again, completely different to the next but we are going to look at.
:28:25. > :28:28.This is a brand-new nest. It is a bird you may see in your garden is
:28:29. > :28:36.these days. Years ago you would never see them, it is the Goldfinch.
:28:37. > :28:43.Where is our Goldfinch? We have got a single angle. Both mum
:28:44. > :28:49.and dad are away. You can see that life. Let's have a closer look.
:28:50. > :29:08.Let's have a look around the edge. It is disgusting. There is to all
:29:09. > :29:14.the way round the edge. The chicks poo all the way round the side. The
:29:15. > :29:19.parents are picking it up and eating it. At first that looks revolting.
:29:20. > :29:23.In fact, the chicks don't fully digest the food brought to them, and
:29:24. > :29:33.actually the parents are getting sick nutrition from that food. --
:29:34. > :29:36.getting some nutrition. Here it goes against we noticed this in previous
:29:37. > :29:56.broadcasts, it is a characteristic of these birds. Beautiful birds. You
:29:57. > :30:02.can keep watching. Just go to our website. Have them in the corner of
:30:03. > :30:11.your computer at work. Now we will go from the cosy warmth of the
:30:12. > :30:15.interior into the wilds of Scotland. Every time you have come up to us it
:30:16. > :30:21.has been dry and most times it has been beautiful. The rain has finally
:30:22. > :30:27.arrived but it is keeping the mosquitoes at bay. I have been
:30:28. > :30:33.looking at animals on the West Coast of Scotland like the otter, the
:30:34. > :30:40.beaver and the white tailed eagle. But there is another creature in
:30:41. > :30:48.this area and it is difficult to find. But having come all the way
:30:49. > :30:55.up, I had to have another go. Clinging to the south facing
:30:56. > :31:06.slopes, this is the perfect habitat for a colourful secret naturists
:31:07. > :31:09.have long made pilgrimages to see. Just got a four-week window to see
:31:10. > :31:17.these creatures around the end of May and the beginning of June, that
:31:18. > :31:25.is it. I have come from Newbury in Berks. I have come 500 miles. We
:31:26. > :31:41.have come from Bedfordshire to see it. Have you seen it yet? Not yet,
:31:42. > :32:00.but we are hoping. I have got one over here. It is here. Yes. This is
:32:01. > :32:08.it, it is the chequered skipper. They became extinct in England in
:32:09. > :32:12.1976 and now it is only found on the West Coast of Scotland and it is one
:32:13. > :32:19.of our rarest butterflies. It is a real beauty. It's lack body and
:32:20. > :32:27.orange and brown wings, is only here for four short weeks. It does not
:32:28. > :32:31.have long to find a mate and lay an egg before the flying season ends.
:32:32. > :32:39.But they are fascinating creatures, they like lots of nectar for food
:32:40. > :32:44.and clumps of grass for the next generation. This is our purple moor
:32:45. > :32:48.grass. It is the food plans for the Caterpillar. The female lays her
:32:49. > :32:55.eggs on these green leaves, two weeks later they hatch out. The
:32:56. > :33:00.caterpillars feed on this and in this area, what is critical, because
:33:01. > :33:06.it is so mild and wet, believes stay green until October. That means food
:33:07. > :33:10.is available to those caterpillars much later in the year than it is in
:33:11. > :33:16.the UK. So it is key to their survival. The caterpillars have to
:33:17. > :33:24.do their feeding before winter because once it turns brown, that is
:33:25. > :33:28.it. It will not feed until after they pupate, this time next year.
:33:29. > :33:32.You cannot tell the difference between the males and females by
:33:33. > :33:37.looking at the abdomen. The females are full of eggs so the abdomen is
:33:38. > :33:43.short and fat were as the male's abdomen is longer and thinner. If
:33:44. > :33:52.the abdomen extends beyond the wing, it is a male. Like this one. They
:33:53. > :33:57.are easier to spot than the females, who are hiding in the undergrowth
:33:58. > :34:01.looking for a precious place to lay their eggs. It was such a lovely day
:34:02. > :34:11.out. It was lovely to meet such an use elastic pilgrims as well. I can
:34:12. > :34:15.guarantee you it is great fun. It is a charming little butterfly and
:34:16. > :34:20.Butterfly conservation Scotland would like you to volunteer to see
:34:21. > :34:24.if you can find a few more. If you are living in Scotland are going on
:34:25. > :34:30.holiday in the next couple of weeks, you can choose yourself a one
:34:31. > :34:38.kilometre square on our website. If you visit that website, you might
:34:39. > :34:42.find one. If we don't know where the we cannot provide any conservation
:34:43. > :34:48.for them. This is the bit of the show you have been waiting for. It
:34:49. > :34:54.is bitten time. Tonight we thought we would look buttons away from the
:34:55. > :34:58.nest. One of our cameramen is out there and is on top of a piece of
:34:59. > :35:06.scaffolding. He is looking over the reeds. He has a Marsh Harrier.
:35:07. > :35:09.Another one of the reed bed specialists we have here. We have
:35:10. > :35:17.been watching these birds flying round. We have not managed to get a
:35:18. > :35:19.camera on their nest yet. The cameraman will keep his eyes peeled
:35:20. > :35:24.throughout the rest of the programme. But we have seen other
:35:25. > :35:32.interesting behaviour including its hunting. They can't like a heron.
:35:33. > :35:36.Still, standing in the reeds. A bit of stalking and then when they find
:35:37. > :35:40.something, they snatch at it. Often they will change from one part of
:35:41. > :35:45.the reeds to the other. It is the only chance you will get if you come
:35:46. > :35:50.at this time of the year, of seeing the bitterns moving from one patch
:35:51. > :35:54.of reeds. If you are lucky you will catch them at the edge where they
:35:55. > :36:01.fish. They will catch small fish, crustaceans, amphibians, all sorts
:36:02. > :36:08.of things. It is a rare piece of behaviour to see. It is swimming.
:36:09. > :36:14.They can swim. Why it has chosen to do so across this narrow body of
:36:15. > :36:20.water, I am not sure. Maybe it is being a bit sneaky and does not want
:36:21. > :36:25.to draw attention to themselves. They are very shy and skulking
:36:26. > :36:30.birds. That was a bit turn swimming. We have seen them in argumentative
:36:31. > :36:37.mood. We have 11 males who are still booming, which means they are still
:36:38. > :36:44.within a chance of mating. Maybe encouraging some of those females of
:36:45. > :36:48.having a second brood. It is puffing up its neck and displaying. It is
:36:49. > :36:54.agitated. What is going on? It goes to the right and then you can see
:36:55. > :37:01.there is another one. It has flown, presumably, into that territory. It
:37:02. > :37:03.has been chased out. They will fight and there are accounts of them
:37:04. > :37:09.fighting to the death. But they tried to avoid that and then they
:37:10. > :37:17.produce a sound. The booming we have been talking about will stop we have
:37:18. > :37:21.heard the signs -- sound, the sound a red deer makes, it is remarkable.
:37:22. > :37:31.But this is an opportunity to see a bitterns booming.
:37:32. > :37:42.It is all puffed up. Head is down and it is pumping out that sound. We
:37:43. > :37:47.have got to see that again. Right in the open. What an amazing
:37:48. > :37:56.opportunity. How do they do it? Unlike most birds who sing through
:37:57. > :38:02.the track ear, the bitterns throat sing like the green land it people.
:38:03. > :38:06.They take in a huge amount of air. They have a Balfe in their mouth,
:38:07. > :38:13.which means once they breathe in they don't let the air out of their
:38:14. > :38:17.throat. They pump themselves up. They take in air until their
:38:18. > :38:27.software does swells up until it is ten centimetres in diameter! --
:38:28. > :38:37.oesophagus. Let's have it one more time. Booming away. I have been
:38:38. > :38:44.reading through the literature and I have noticed people try to represent
:38:45. > :39:04.this remarkable sound in letters. So they have come up with this. I
:39:05. > :39:09.cannot imagine this. Never read so much rubbish in my life! If you
:39:10. > :39:21.think you can represent the booming sound of a bitterns in 26 letters,
:39:22. > :39:26.sent us a tweet. Scientists do so much good work but sometimes they
:39:27. > :39:31.cannot get it right. Moving on, from an animal I have great passion for,
:39:32. > :39:36.to a creature a lot of people haven't got a lot of passion for. It
:39:37. > :39:47.is a shame because it is fascinating as Michaela has found out. With big
:39:48. > :39:50.ears, dark eyes, long whiskers and a fairy coat, the rat should be cute
:39:51. > :39:58.and love it. At the many, it is the opposite. The English-language is
:39:59. > :40:03.littered with negative associations for the poor old rat. Things like
:40:04. > :40:09.drowned rat, gutter rat, dirty rat, are all too familiar. What ever you
:40:10. > :40:13.think, beauty or beast, there is no getting away from it, the rat is one
:40:14. > :40:19.of the most successful invasive species ever. It is not surprising
:40:20. > :40:24.they have a bad reputation. Rats were the cause of the Black Death,
:40:25. > :40:28.the worst plague in history. And today rats are responsible for
:40:29. > :40:35.spreading vials disease and other infections. But look past that and
:40:36. > :40:40.you find a truly fascinating animal. There are two species in the UK. The
:40:41. > :40:49.brown and the black. Neither is native. Both are Asian species. They
:40:50. > :40:55.arrived here as stowaways on ships from as far back as Roman times. The
:40:56. > :40:59.rat we see in our towns, cities and back gardens is the brown rat. Like
:41:00. > :41:05.all rats, they have some interesting adaptations which have helped to
:41:06. > :41:10.make them so successful. This large robust rodent can big, arrow and
:41:11. > :41:18.swim. And it breeds at an alarming rate. Black or brown, the fear of
:41:19. > :41:22.rats is one of the most common phobias in the entire world. For a
:41:23. > :41:30.lot of people, having them anywhere near would send them into a complete
:41:31. > :41:33.panic. I am here to meet Kate, who is a wildlife enthusiast, who not
:41:34. > :41:41.only has them in her garden, but encourages these wild rodents. Kate
:41:42. > :41:44.is an old friend of Springwatch and her garden is covered in mini
:41:45. > :41:52.cameras. They filmed everything the wildlife gets up to, both day and
:41:53. > :41:58.night. Where are the rats hiding out? I have a mature hedge. This is
:41:59. > :42:04.perfect. On the far side there is a steep bank and networks, usually
:42:05. > :42:09.underneath feeders. They are picking up the debris off the bird feeders.
:42:10. > :42:15.Where you were read there might be a bit of conflict between the bird
:42:16. > :42:21.feeders and the rats? Yes, I did worry how all of the wildlife would
:42:22. > :42:28.interact. But the rats come out when the birds have finished. How many do
:42:29. > :42:38.you think you have got? Two probably about 40. They are prolific
:42:39. > :42:45.breeders. The most I have seen on the cameras is six or seven. To get
:42:46. > :42:50.the best views of these visitors, she shows me her favourite clips. I
:42:51. > :42:57.have picked a few clips. The first one is showing hedgehogs and wrap
:42:58. > :43:01.feeding together. What I find astonishing is when you look at
:43:02. > :43:11.that, how can anyone love a hedgehog and not love a rat? This is where I
:43:12. > :43:15.found a little row so I put an apple there. So they hang around. If you
:43:16. > :43:23.put loose food, they grab it and go back in. But here they are coming
:43:24. > :43:30.out. Look at that beautiful face. Very cute. People think they are
:43:31. > :43:38.dirty and horrible but they are very clean, always grooming. I have a
:43:39. > :43:44.clip that was captured on my Fox camera. They come out to eat the
:43:45. > :43:56.food I put out for the Foxes. No, Shane. Watch again, you have to be
:43:57. > :44:00.quick. Straight in, got it. This is a nice one of them trying to figure
:44:01. > :44:07.out how to get to the feeders, which are just out of reach. You can see
:44:08. > :44:12.them gripping on with their back feet and using their tail to
:44:13. > :44:17.balance. How frustrating. The other one is climbing on. Look at their
:44:18. > :44:29.whiskers, you can see them twist Ching. That is how they judge
:44:30. > :44:47.distances. -- twitching. Going to go for it on the next one. Total
:44:48. > :44:51.wipe-out. If left to their own devices in the wild, they can find a
:44:52. > :44:57.natural balance, becoming just another part of our rich ecosystem.
:44:58. > :45:00.With up to 15 million rats living in the UK during springtime, whether
:45:01. > :45:06.you like it or not, the rat is here to stay. Personally, I think they're
:45:07. > :45:09.rather adorable and it is time we started to put them in a more
:45:10. > :45:13.positive light. There we might need to manage the way we live alongside
:45:14. > :45:21.them, there should be no reason to fear one of the most successful
:45:22. > :45:25.mammals on the planet. How can you not love rat, look at that little
:45:26. > :45:29.face? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want one in my kitchen, but out in
:45:30. > :45:34.the wild, they are fabulous creatures. Because we have gotten
:45:35. > :45:42.closer we can take a good look at them. Look at the eyes. Their
:45:43. > :45:46.eyesight didn't actually that good, so probably look a bit blurry to
:45:47. > :45:52.this brat but it can hear me pretty well. Bestival, it can smell me.
:45:53. > :45:58.They have a phenomenal sense of smell.
:45:59. > :46:04.Some people see them as a problem, others see them as the most
:46:05. > :46:08.wonderful solution. In some places they are taking the place of sniffer
:46:09. > :46:12.dogs, there are sniffer rats. They have been used to look for mines in
:46:13. > :46:15.Africa and the one I like best of all is in Holland they are using
:46:16. > :46:21.them in the police force. A lady called money is training them to
:46:22. > :46:25.take the place of sniffer dogs. She says the rats are as good as dogs,
:46:26. > :46:33.you can train them much more quickly, it takes about ten days,
:46:34. > :46:36.and they are being used to find and shot residue of suspects and that
:46:37. > :46:41.would normally take a couple of hours, but a rat can sense it in
:46:42. > :46:45.seconds, almost immediately. We rang them up today in Rotterdam and they
:46:46. > :46:49.told us the sniffer rats are still undergoing training but they hope to
:46:50. > :46:57.be on active service soon. That is a great story. Stand-by sniffer rats.
:46:58. > :47:05.I have got a rat in my pocket, what will I do? Especially as I think it
:47:06. > :47:09.might be doing a poo in my pocket. Rats are denizens of the night and
:47:10. > :47:12.we have had that special camera out looking round Minsmere trying to see
:47:13. > :47:17.what else is out there under the cover of darkness. There we are. The
:47:18. > :47:23.darker they are, the warmer they are. These are all the rabbits. It
:47:24. > :47:28.must be quite a nice warm nights because they are losing a lot of
:47:29. > :47:36.heat. Here is their nemesis. The Fox. It looks like quite a young
:47:37. > :47:45.Fox. The head is quite big. This is in pitch black. It is a it is
:47:46. > :47:50.listening, smelling. See how clean they are. I touched him and he is
:47:51. > :47:54.having a thorough body wash. Around the UK we have lots of iconic
:47:55. > :47:57.monuments including places like Stonehenge which happens to be
:47:58. > :48:02.surrounded by grassland. Because it has been protected for hundreds of
:48:03. > :48:07.years it is a very special place to visit. You can go there, not just to
:48:08. > :48:13.enjoy the mystery of the stones, but also the fantastic wildlife that
:48:14. > :48:25.surrounds it. As our cameraman found out when he went to film there.
:48:26. > :48:44.I am drawn to Mystic places. Places that have an atmosphere. Everybody
:48:45. > :48:51.thinks the stones marked Midsummer solstice. But a lot of current
:48:52. > :48:54.thinking believes the most important time for the people that build these
:48:55. > :49:04.stones was in fact the winter solstice. It marked when the days
:49:05. > :49:07.are going to start getting longer, when there is rebirth, when the
:49:08. > :49:19.landscape starts coming back to life.
:49:20. > :49:28.If you go out early, if you are lucky, there will be missed burning
:49:29. > :49:41.orange by the rising sun. You might see shapes moving about. It is
:49:42. > :49:44.hares, it is their ability to appear and disappear that gives them
:49:45. > :49:49.mysticism. People used to think they were goddesses or witches that had
:49:50. > :50:11.secret abilities. They are exceptionally good at hiding.
:50:12. > :50:23.You can see males crisscrossing the landscape, looking for a female.
:50:24. > :50:27.Once a male has found a female in season he sticks right by her side
:50:28. > :50:28.because he doesn't want any other male to get the opportunity to mate
:50:29. > :50:52.with her. As a cameraman, if I stand still and
:50:53. > :51:00.wait just as the stones stand still and wait, you will see life,
:51:01. > :51:11.nature, pass you by. You just simply have to take the time to enjoy it. I
:51:12. > :51:14.spotted a field fair, that is surprising to see a winter birds
:51:15. > :51:20.still here. We flew down under the ground to joint starlings. Right
:51:21. > :51:24.behind it landed a week here, they are a spring migrant. You have this
:51:25. > :51:34.lovely juxtaposition of winter and spring meeting.
:51:35. > :51:46.The landscape here is more than just stones themselves. So many more
:51:47. > :51:53.things begin to reveal themselves. If you look carefully, you might see
:51:54. > :52:01.a few bits of twigs and dead leaves tucked away in the looks and grace.
:52:02. > :52:05.-- looks and crannies. Jackdaws with their beady eyes, asking what are
:52:06. > :52:32.you doing? This is our place. These stones were engineered to work
:52:33. > :52:38.with the movement of the sun and the stars.
:52:39. > :52:46.The people that built them must have had a real connection with nature.
:52:47. > :52:51.And with the world around them. Even in our busy, modern world,
:52:52. > :52:58.wildlife adapts, changes, finds its way. But the stones have given the
:52:59. > :53:01.animals are real chance. A huge nature reserve has been created
:53:02. > :53:05.around them. This place will be protected for an incredibly long
:53:06. > :53:11.time. This landscape is more than just
:53:12. > :53:19.about our human history, it is about natural history as well.
:53:20. > :53:31.get those stones there from Wales? get those stones there from Wales?
:53:32. > :53:34.We introduced you to the new West, and our story developers noticed
:53:35. > :53:39.something very odd. This is our green woodpecker. It has got a white
:53:40. > :53:46.eye on one side which is typical, but on the other side it is brown.
:53:47. > :53:51.It is an example of hat trick roomier parade. It is all to do with
:53:52. > :53:56.the density of a pigment in the eye, the more melanin, the darker it is.
:53:57. > :54:01.It could be it is an inherited characteristic, it could have been
:54:02. > :54:05.injured or diseased. It is something we see quite frequently. Alexander
:54:06. > :54:11.the great had different colour eyed. So has Simon Pegg. A lot of people
:54:12. > :54:19.will be saying David Bowie. I checked earlier today, he has got
:54:20. > :54:22.one people which is permanently diluted so it makes it look like it
:54:23. > :54:27.is a different colour I've. You learn all sorts of stuff on
:54:28. > :54:32.Springwatch. So full of information. Too much, probably. My old
:54:33. > :54:40.headmaster had that and it made him look very scary.
:54:41. > :54:44.We all know that everybody needs good neighbours but unfortunately
:54:45. > :54:48.our woodpeckers haven't got them. These are jackdaws, and yesterday we
:54:49. > :54:56.saw that they are nesting in an old woodpecker nest just above our new
:54:57. > :54:59.woodpecker nest. And they can be a little bit bullish, they can be
:55:00. > :55:08.noisy. They have got their own chicks in that nest that they are
:55:09. > :55:11.feeding. This is the adult poking its head out. I am not quite sure
:55:12. > :55:23.that hole is big enough. It did make it is self, it is greasing up a
:55:24. > :55:28.whole. -- squeezing. Woodpeckers at the bottom, jackdaws at the top,
:55:29. > :55:32.bickering all the time. They certainly are bickering. As we have
:55:33. > :55:38.noticed plenty of times. The woodpecker is below the jackdaw. It
:55:39. > :55:45.is putting its nose into the nest. I am not sure what is going on, I
:55:46. > :55:55.think it is intolerance. They find each other irritating. The jackdaw
:55:56. > :56:02.just comes in and pushes it away. It is displaying, a bit of a
:56:03. > :56:05.depression. -- aggression. They would certainly have a job
:56:06. > :56:13.getting the chicks out of those holes. Jackdaw versus woodpecker?
:56:14. > :56:18.The jackdaw might go for the woodpecker chicks. I thought the
:56:19. > :56:26.woodpecker might go for the jackdaw. It will be interesting to
:56:27. > :56:32.see what happens. We will keep our eye on that. In all the ledge giant
:56:33. > :56:46.have read, it hasn't happened before. The Ladybird book of jackdaw
:56:47. > :56:50.gradation. Look at this. This was captured by an RSPB volunteer who
:56:51. > :56:54.saw them popping out of the nest box and rushed down with the camera to
:56:55. > :57:05.get the picture. Amazing. So we have a look at our live owl? It is a bit
:57:06. > :57:09.sleepy. Waking up. I think it is waiting for one of its 18 feeds of
:57:10. > :57:14.the night. What they want is people to watch tonight, what it feeds on,
:57:15. > :57:25.and help the story developers and you can go and tell our story
:57:26. > :57:37.developers what it manages to eat. I actually did say that at the
:57:38. > :57:45.beginning of the show. We have one thing on twitter here, Brian
:57:46. > :57:52.Atkinson, about the bit in booming. We have got to go now but don't go
:57:53. > :57:56.away, Springwatch Unsprung will be right afterwards, we will be meeting
:57:57. > :58:01.Russell Savory who got that incredible film of the bowls. Iolo
:58:02. > :58:06.Williams will be up in Scotland going on a snorkel Safari of a
:58:07. > :58:16.Seelaar and very colourful it is as well. Keep your eye on the live
:58:17. > :58:17.cameras. 7:30am, you can watch breakfast and find out what has
:58:18. > :58:20.happened overnight. cameras. 7:30am, you can watch
:58:21. > :58:25.breakfast and find out what has We have got to go now but tomorrow
:58:26. > :59:11.night we will be back at 8pm. We had to see you again. Goodbye for now.
:59:12. > :59:15.This is one of the most fire-prone regions on earth.