Episode 8 Springwatch

It's a magical evening here at RSPB Minsmere, the stuff of fairy tales,

which is just as well, because we are going to be putting the beauty

into our beasts. Tonight our buties and our beasts have got competition

from one of the nation's most loved - the spiky but adorable hedgehog.

The sun is shining, things are hotting up. Welcome to Springwatch.

Hello and welcome to Springwatch 2014, and what an amazing evening

we've got. It is beautiful. It is warm, it's sunny. I don't think

there's a rain cloud in the sky, for once. It is a pleasure to be live

here at the RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast. We've been here a

couple of weeks looking at the habitats and the species. It is a

tremendous spot to base ourselves. Part of the Sussex coast area of

outstanding natural beauty. It is full of beauty. A range of species,

including our raptors, plenty of insects, the scarlet tiger, otters,

some deer lurking in the reeds, and one of our favourite reed bed

species, the bearded tit. It is a good variety. We arrived here with a

truck load of cameras and cables and we've been filming all over the

reserve, so we got to know not just the ecology but the wild life, and

not just our cast of characters. It is hard to keep up with them. Kev

got some A-listers and top of the poppers, and our leading lady is the

bittern and her chicks. And there she is, live. Really fantastic to

see her and herself go growing chicks. Looks like she's settling

down for a rest. Brooding and she is reaching over the side of the nest.

They do continue to add to the nest but you would have thought she would

given up. She's been off the nest a lot in the last few days. She has.

Let's look and really enjoy her chicks. They are growing day by day,

but make the most of them, because in the next day or so they are going

to do what I'm calling semi-fledging. What do you mean

"semi-fledging"? They will still rely on their mother for another for

our five weeks. You can't just come on this programme and make up your

own ornithological terminology. I might semi fledge myself! Those

bitternses are doing it for Chris, but there is another contender for

the most popular animal of Springwatch this year. He's scruffy,

he's squawky, he's covered in slime. It is Grub, the tawny owl chick, and

he lives in this tree. You sold him well, Martin. There he is, sitting

there. He's showing himself tonight, sitting is out and about. Oh look at

that face. Isn't it cute? Very sweet. It is a face only a mother

could love. Well, some mothers do after 'em don't they? No! He isn't

very beautiful, he wants a wet-wipe to clean that face up. It is hard to

imagine that beautiful thing will turn into a beautiful owl one day.

Gorgeous. We asked you last night if you could help us by going on

#grubsgrub This one says a. 15am, another big fat slug. At this rate

they'll be extinct by dawn. It's We had our cameras on Grub and it was

slug night last night. The parents brought in 13 slugs. It is grub

slugs. I don't think Grub's all that keen, do you? It is pitch black

there, so we can't, but I think he can see it, Chris. He knows it is

there. Just like your kids when they try and hated under a fork. That's

the avian equivalent of an overboiled sprout. I used to do this

as a kid, I would push the sprouts to the edge of the plate and pretend

my fork couldn't stick in them. I've got another theory. I think he's not

eating it because he's heard we are taking the Mickey out of his name.

He's got it! The dinner lady used to get me by the scruff of the neck and

push it into my mouth. If you would like to keep an eye on Grub over the

weekend it is bbc.co.uk/springwatch. I shall be watching. At 4. 04 in the

morning? No! Last week we had a lot of drama with our rabbits nest. This

week it's happened on the scrape. This is where we've got our

ground-nesting birds, our gulls, our avocets. A bit of noise now but it

is quite calm. There's been a lot of commotion on that scrape. There's

been a lot of predation, so we wanted to know what happens there at

night. We sent down a cameraman with a thermal camera. Remember, white is

the cold, where you see the dark patches, that is heat, which is why

you can see all the bats. Wonderful to see bats. It looks eerie.

Remember, it is dark. There's a lot of our nesting birds, our

black-headed gulls. You can see how hot their heads are. And look at

Audrey, how hot her feet are, and the eggs. They are glowing. And

those are the avocets. It is dark. They are feeling for their food.

They can't see it. All seems very calm. Then something clearly

disturbs the peace. There's a whole load of squawking. Look at what's

appeared on one of the islands. It's a badger. That must have travelled

some distance to get there. At least a kilometre. It is having a real

sniff around, nose to the ground. a kilometre. It is having a real

Looking for something to eat, Chris. Yes, it is. And it finds something.

It focuses on this one spot for quite some time. I think that's

probably a blackheaded gull's nest with eggs and it is helping itself

to those eggs. It stays there snuffling about for quite a while.

It's got to get off that bit of the scrape somehow. What's it going to

do? This is what it's got to do. Amazingly, the badger takes to the

water. It turns out it is a powerful swimmer. I've never seen a badger

swim like that before. It looks like a mini polar bear. Those avocets

can't see it but they can hear something flashing behind them. That

frightens them off the water. He's swimming powerfully across that

water. I've never seen a badger swim before, but I'm sure they do. When

we had the floods, they are on the banks. It eventually gets to one of

the other islands on the scrape, has a bit of a shake, gets rid of that

cold water. Sniffing about, a bit of a scent mark there. A bit more

shaking, but nose to the ground again. He's clearly after more food.

On this occasion, it doesn't appear to find it. He's just going to move

off now. Disappear into the rushes. That's amazing. It was. We didn't

expect to get that at all did we? Not at all. I was interested to see

what they are eating. We know they are omnivores. We've seen the

badgers here eat earthworms and that's the main diet of badgers. But

they are opportunistic. They like, they are like stoats and weasels,

they will eat whatever they can find - trying, fungus, carrion, Beatles.

The diet of the badger has been studied over the UK. While they do

occasionally take birds, their eggs and nestlings, that's only for a

couple of months a year. It is thought they have little or no

impact at all on bird population. It is just during this particular time

of the year, if they come across them, they will help themselves to a

nestful of eggs. The RSPB have fences if up, so how did the badger

get on to the scrape? We have filmed the badgers climbing. Here's the

badger. You will probably remember this from last week. They turned out

to be remarkably good climbers. There is just a chance it might have

climbed up and over the fences, the RSPB have put in place. On the other

hand, badgers are tremendously good diggers. They could have dug

underneath that fence. Or that's the Steve McQueen of badgers, it could

have got on to a motorcycle and jumped over the fence. They will try

something like that. Joking apart, RSPB are glad we managed to film

that. Before, they had only heard apocryphal stories. We wanted to

find out about badgearies and we certainly found out some really

interesting things. It is great to know what we found out will help the

RSPB We hoped we found out something for the RSPB, but the people of Holt

in Norfolk have helped scientists find out something very significant

about a much-favoured bird in our back gardens, the blackbird.

We all know what small towns can be like. Everyone knows everyone else's

business. But here in the suburbs of Holt in Norfolk, these are not nosey

neighbours. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are in fact key

players in what I can only describe as cutting edge scientific research.

For the last seven years, Dave Leech from the British Trust for

Ornithology has been running an intensive study on one of the

nation's favourites - blackbirds. They are a fascinating species. They

have done really well in urban garden environments. Part of me

wants to know why that is. Originally woodland bird, 30% of

blackbirds are now thought to breed in gardens. Dave wants to know how

well they survive in a suburb an environment. They are pretty tricky

to tell apart, so Dave tags them with different combinations of

coloured rings. I think a blackbird would look rather snappy with those

around his leg. I've already rung 450 individuals since 2007 in this

garden. So birds that look identical suddenly become identifiable to

anyone. Everybody in the neighbourhood can essentially do the

job I'm doing. With all the people around, a you've got all these other

pairs of eyes looking out. I've got all these spotters waiting to tell

me where my birds are, are it is fantastic. This is proper community

signs in action. Brilliant. Over the past seven years Dave's had 46,000

records of sightings of his colouring birds sent to him by his

crack team of spotters. Most of them are living pretty much in front of

us. We've got a few to the right of us, just a couple down the road. And

we've got one all the way over there in the distance on the other side of

the bypass. Meet the Holt bird observers, affectionately known

(Inaudible) The good old blackbird has provided us with enormous

entertainment. I did have one in the playground. One was on the swings,

swooped in and the bird swooped off with it. Even now we are seeing new

ones coming into the garden every day. I think it could really catch

on. Neighbourhood Watch with a twixts You can identify them very

easily. Blue over black, green over metal. There's a female coming into

the garden, she's triple orange, known as Jaffa. Yellow over orange

and red. Bet you can't remember its ring pattern. If it was red over

blue and metal over white. Serious skills. Just like humans they have

personalities. We are fond of them, because these colours have given us

a chance to because these colours have given us

a chance positively identify individual birds. A lot of people

look out for the first swallow. We look out for the first blackbird. It

is great to be part of it. I'm hooked from the start. The whole

neighbourhood seems to have caught the blackbird bug, but top of the

spotters with 33,000 records to her name is Dave's mum, Barbara. Can eat

my breakfast while I'm recording. Then I stop for lunch. You get

cross-eyed if you have been doing it for hours! You are addicted! Dave

rings the birds in his mum's garden, so she gets to know them right from

the start. Orange black green will chase anyone

off, male or female. You know them as individuals.

Orange, black, green, a bit of a tartar! Absolutely.

I know birds like that! This mountain of data has shown that the

black birds here are living up to eight years. And the survival rate

from one year to the next is about 59%. Almost the same as in their

original woodland habitat. But Barbara's records have revealed

something else, something truly astonishing. How many different

individual black birds might you see? Today it has been 73 ringed

ones... 73 different birds have come through your garden today? ! Yep.

Did you think when you started that there would be anything like that

number? No. Or perhaps I wouldn't have been prepared to do it! So hang

on, I think, when I look out in my garden, that I have got maybe one

male and female, that is wrong. I will never look at my black birds

the same again. I had no idea! 73? ! That is staggering. I found that

surprising. I knew I had more than two. In the winter we get the

Scandinavians with the dark bakes but if you had said how many black

birds in the garden? I would have said ten, 15, maximum.

Dave would like more members of the community to get involved in the

project. He has good coverage but the more the better. We are learn

being the black birds, about where they travel to, how long they live.

They were a species in decline for a while. We can never rest. There is

no sign of complacency when it comes to conservation. So if you are in

Hoult, get hold of Dave and the BTA to join the project.

Now, bitterns are doing it for some. The tawny owl for others but for

some of you it is cuckoozilla, the fastest-growing chick in the

Springwatch cast. This is a reminder of who cuckoozilla is. This is a

reed warbler's nest, a cuckoo has parasitised it with a cuckoo chick.

Here are the parents, looking confused but feeding it. With

strength, the strength of Hercules, the chick ejected the bird's chick

into the water and then end the cuckoozilla begged for food and grew

and grew, as if training for an iron man contest and just about squeezed

in the nest. That was Monday. He is looking huge and still very hungry.

Look at that. Both of them atentively feeding.

An unbelievable appetite. Well, would you like to see what he looks

like today? A few days later, a drum roll... This is what he looks like.

Pretty enormous. He has a massive gape. The feathers have developed.

The parents are not sure what to do. They are working hard to keep

feeding him. It is not fair. Constantly begging.

But he is getting a brood load of food. They would have had five, or

maybe six lots of food going into the one chick now.

But this is cometical. The poor reed warbler parent is trying to get on

top of him and brood him. That is funny.

It is. Cuckoozilla, I can't wait until he grows bigger and starts to

stamp add through a city like a giant reptile. In 3D, actually.

He does not fledge for another few days.

Maybe at the end of our time here. It will be interesting to see just

how big he gets. If it gets windy, cuckoos can blow

out of the nest as they are so heavy. And if there is a lot of rain

it washes the food off the leaves. That could make him fly off.

An interesting question, lots of you have been asking this, how do the

cuckoos match the egg colour to the host species? The answer is

evolution but let's have a look at the process. Here is a female cuckoo

on a reed warbler's nest it has found the nest, flies in, it picks

up the egg, and eats that for its own source of protein.

Then she reaches down into the nest and picks up her egg. Sometimes they

remove one, sometimes a couple, never all. But then look at this.

This is a funny look, this is her laying the egg into that nest. And

when we look into the nest, you can see although it is larger it is

almost a perfect match. The closer the match, the greater chance that

the reed warblers will accept that egg. Look at this: Here are two of

David Leech's photographs. The one on the left that showance egg that

is a good match, larger. Look at the one on the right, though that egg is

a lot more red. Each female cuckoo can only lay one type of egg. They

basically lay one pattern of egg. So a reed warbler cuckoo will always

lay them. But there is a greater likelihood that they will not be

rejected if they are closer in match. He is finding that there are

ten lots of eggs laid by the one female but only three with the red

eggs, that is because the reed warblers are seeing them and

chucking them out. So evolution drives the design of a better

camouflaged egg. Incredible. Nature is amazing. It

never creases to amaze me. Here in Minsmere, we are in the heart of

Suffolk, surrounded by the countryside. But in the heart of the

city you need a little wildlife tranquility. Sophie Darlington went

to film hers in a surprising place, right near King's Cross station.

London... One of the busiest capital cities in Europe.

It is chaotic, frenetic, busy, hassled.

The building sites go nonstop from dawn to dust. The biggest building

site in Europe is just a couple of metres away. There is the Eurostar

terminal. And literally, you turn a corner and there is a sense of peace

and sanctuary. In the midst of all of this urban

madness, Camney Street Natural Park is a haven, not only for us but for

all of the wildlife. Coming in to the park here is like

coming into a different world. It is almost a secret garden.

It's not managed, it is not manicured. It feels untouched and

wild. It's the most wonderful place for children to come and connect

with nature. I've watched school visits come in and the kids light

up. They get down on their bellies and they get lost in that world with

their magnifying glasses and it's an amazing thing to see!

Watching the coots with the chick, the bakes, almost as if they are

dipped in mercury... -- beaks. There is pretty much beauty, everywhere

you look. The yellow-flagged irises are just popping. The bees are going

to them and all the kids are going to them too, like everyone is drawn

to their bright colour. The cow parsley is a personal

favourite. There is an ethereal beauty to it that I find very

moving, actually. Listening to the wrens in the morning, shouting! It

is so out of proportion to their size. We found a swan and there she

is with a huge clutch of egg, maybe eight eggs. Her nest is carefully

tended bags and flip-flops. She's right by a really busy restaurant.

The pair are just getting on with turning their egg, breeding, doing

what nature tells them to do - it is springtime, get busy! Every city,

every borough needs a place like Camney Street.

It's not a place that shouts, it doesn't not say look at me, look at

me, I am full of rare and exciting animals. It does the opposite but

that is its beauty it is wild. It is a little piece of the countryside

right in the centre of London where people can escape... Where wildlife

can escape... And find a haven. It's a place that inspires children

and makes people smile. What a magical oasis in the heart of the

city. But this does not look like an oasis it is full of prambles. But

bromblees are amazing things. They grow so fast. Look at this. This is

classic footage. It is speeded up, of course but they do grow prambles

astonishingly at about three inches per day if the conditions are

perfect! Look at that! Right, let's start lopping. Stop! Don't lop your

brmblees! It turns out bromblees are the most astonishing habitat for

birds. In this area here, our camera team have found no less than ten

different species of birds nesting here. But why? What makes the

prambles so good? I want you to here. But why? What makes the

imagine you are a sparrowhawk. Throaty is a nest there. You plunge

in... Ouch! You would not plunge in, would you? You would get stuck,

completely stuck. So if you nest in here it is wonderful protection,

especially gets the cats below. So you are protected inside here but

look at these, these lovely flowers here. Lots and lots of insects come

to the flowers. They will feed. These insects that we filmed, they

are feeding on the flowers, so all sorts of things come to feed if you

are a bird nesting herings, you can whip down and get a ready meal. So

the bromblees are like bed and breakfast. They are protected but it

is also food as well. Now perhaps the most precious bird that is

nesting here is actually over there, a little further over it is the

nightingale. Nightingales have dropped in numbers. We have lost

about 60% of them. They are very, very precious. There is a chick.

That nest is immaculate. They are clean and tidy parents.

Interesting the nightingales as what the chicks do, they don't actually

fledge, well they don't fly before leaving the nest. They will leave

that nest quickly very soon in a few days. Possibly at the weekend. They

will spend three to five days walking around inside the prambles,

being protected by them so. This is very, very important for the

nightingales. Brambles can you see just over there is a light and a

little lamp? That is our goldfinch nest. We can go live to it right

now. It is looking absolutely revolting. These are the slobs. The

whole of the side of the nest is oathed with poo. They are just not

taking it away. That was live. Let's see how the slobs have been dealing

with the nest. We think this is a bit of a timing problem. The parents

have been great. They are feeding the chicks, feeding them looks like

a mush of seeds, but they are being very attentive, feeding all the

chicks. But when the chicks poo, it seems parents don't time it right,

don't seem to pick it up. They are picking it up now and eating it,

which is fine, because it is not fully digested. It is quite

nutritious for the parent. Then the parent flies off and the chick poos.

They were not doing a tremendously good job. Such a beautiful bird with

such a filthy nest. Let's go deeper into the brambles. I'm following

these cables. Inside the brambles and just down there you can't see

it, that is our bullfinch nest. Let's go live to it. These,

remember, are lovebirds. That nest, the chicks are asleep. Look at the

thorns. You can see how the brambles are protecting that nest. We've been

following those birds, our lovebirds. Let's catch up with them.

Remember, he's a bit of a toy boy. The male, that beautiful pink

breast. He is one-year-old. She's two-year-old, we know that because

of the ring on her leg. They do everything together - feed the

chicks together, fly around together. They are the lovebirds in

their lovely nest. Beautiful, the bullfinches. Now one more thing. I'm

going to launch a new nest. I don't know if you can see, but just over

there in the brambles is a brand-new nest, our whitethroat. He's just

flown off! We must be quiet. Let's watch what the whitethroats have

been doing. Beautiful little birds. A real specialist, a bramble

specialist. They've come all the way from Africa. Can you imagine that,

to nest here beside me. They tend to come back to the same area every

single year. Here they are, both parents, very attentive. There are

five chicks in there. We'll be keeping an eye on them over the

weekend as they develop. Hate come back? Let me have a -- has

it come back? Yes it is, it is sitting up there. Never mind. You

can't do that sort of thing live. Back to Michaela.

It is amazing how many nests are in those brambles, so put the secateurs

away. We are going to ask you to get involved in a feed count, which

involves you watching the nest, see how many times the chicks are fed.

All the details are on the website - bbc.co.uk/springwatch.

At the beginning of the show we promised you one of the Britain's

most loved mammal arguments the hedgehog. Sadly we are seeing less

and less of it. The UK's hedgehogs are in serious trouble. Changes in

farming have meant we've lost thousands of miles of hedgerows,

depriving hedgehogs of places to feed, shelter and find a partner.

Although hedgehogs and badgers have coexisted for thousands of years,

such changes in our countryside could mean that they are now

competing for food. Badgers are also known to prey on hedgehogs, and in

certain hot spots they might even be affecting hedgehog numbers. We are

also putting pressure on hedgehogs in our towns and cities. To a

hedgehog, overly manicured gardens are barren waste lands. Fences make

gardens into fortresses, stopping movement between areas. And a cosy

place to sleep can quickly turn into a death trap.

Dr Phil Baker at the University of Reading wants to understand just how

bad the decline is. Do we know how many hedgehogs there are roughly?

The simple answer is nobody knows for sure, but we do know they've

been declining. The study we are planning to undertake will begin to

fill in the void. Phil is conducting this new research with the people's

trust for endangered species and the British Hedgehog Preservation

Society. They and every British hedgehog need your help. Hedgehogs

do pose a bit of a problem when it comes to surveying. These footprint

tunnels are ideal for this. This is a mammal trap. We've used these

before on Springwatch. All we have a couple of pieces of paper at either

end, some ink and food bait. The animal comes through, gets inky

paws, has a nice meal and when he leaves, he leaveses his footprints

behind. These publicy footprints are from hedgehogs. Could that footprint

be mistaken for anything else? Fortunately not. They are very

distinctive. And this is the sort of mammal trap you want people to use

in the survey? Yes. It involves us supplying you with a set of ten

tunnels and asking you to go to a particular location in England and

Wales. Set the tunnels for five days and once we have that information,

it will tell us where we do have hedgehogs at present. More

importantly where we don't have hedgehogs. That information as a

whole will enable us to quantify the factors that are affect hedgehogs.

By setting up these traps you'll be able to collect valuable scientific

data. If you are lucky, you may get a visitor. It is amazing this is the

first scientific survey of hedgehogs in the UK. It is amazing for a

species as iconic as hedgehogs that we don't know where they are at the

current time. This is a valuable piece of work. And a great thing to

do with the kids. Children love it. It is a great thing to do with the

kids, but it is proper science. What you have to do, you have to give a

bit of commitment. It is five nights thaw have to do it over, but you

send off for all the stuff. You get September this and all the bits and

pieces. If you do it, it will really help us understand how hedgehogs are

doing nationwide and help us to make plans for the conservation of one of

our most loved mammals and one of our most threatened. We think they

have gone down by 35% in the last ten years, which is catastrophic.

For this survey to work we need 400 sites all over the UK by next year,

so if you can join, in it would be fabulous - bbc.co.uk/springwatch.

The scrape so far has been a scene of turmoil. Predation and regurn

takes. But sometimes it can be a Sea of Tranquillity.

Absolutely gorgeous. It is really beautiful down there. In fact

there's been more good news today on the scrape. We've seen these gulls,

blackheaded gulls. They are starting to display to one another again.

Despite having lost eggs. They are displaying, courting and mating

again. We've even seen them starting to build nests as well. What we are

thinking is that they may have lost eggs, but now they are thinking

about doing it all over again. So life springs eternal. They are going

to have another go. Do you think they will do that? If they've lost

eggs I think there's a chance they'll start again. Normally if

they've gone through the process of incubating the eggs, they've lost so

much body mass and energy that starting from that point is too much

to ask. But if they've lost eggs, they might start again. If you are a

regular viewer and you've been watching Autumnwatch and winter

watch, we've been involved with an exciting project with Dr Dawn Scott.

We've radio collared a set of urban foxes. Let's see what we've found

out so far. We have a fox. Fantastic, fantastic. It all started

in September, with the collaring of foxes in the leafy suburbs and the

tinker city. The data came pouring in, showing that foxes in both areas

had spirit small home ranges. Just a few streets, and a handful of

gardens. Dawn, look! That's brilliant. Fast food, either

offered... Or taken, soon revealed why. We've had a great day. By going

out into the field we've literally found out more, because this big

clump here, which previously we knew was a Stott that the foxes were

visiting, we now know is all down to the people in this flat throwing out

foot at 8. 30pm. So, there field objects investigation, state of the

art technology, we are learning a lot more about foxes already. By

winter, with we were getting to know some remarkable characters. In the

tinker city Silver was clearly the Dom. Come breeding position he was

perfectly position to do so further his line. There's two on the roof.

That's fantastic. I think that may be Silver. It looks like they are

grooming. You can see the two together. But in the suburbs --

suburbs, Fleet the fox embarked on a record-break journey. He cleared out

of Brighton and headed off into rural krixtds there's so many foxes

around and so many fox territories there was no space for him, so he

kept on going. I think we are walking to find our friend, Fleet.

We've got a bit of a road trip to go yet. His epic odyssey gave us new

insight into the way urban foxes are spreading across the country. 315

kilometres travelled in learn a month. That's amazing. -- in less

than a month. That's amazing. Spring has revealed another side to these

hugely adaptable creatures. Even in the most built-up areas they find

places and ways to rear the next generation. It is no wonder the

urban fox is a common sight in nearly every British city.

Dawn, thank you very much for making the long journey all the way to

Brighton. We appreciate that. We've learned a tremendous amount about

these animals. What are the key findings from your point of view? I

think Fleet showed us there's no spatial boundaries between urban fox

in the intermingle. The data shows us how they use the human

environment and how important we are to affecting their behaviour. And

sometimes that leads to conflict and people are concerned about the

growing population of urban foxes. What do you say to them? They are

spreading into other areas, but very few animals can adapt to turban

happen at that time take. We should appreciate and respect them for that

and learn to live with them and enjoy them being there. It is going

to take a little bit of adaptation of our own behaviour to be able to

reduce the conflict so we can appreciate them. And the rewards are

fantastic. Many of the people we've net in Brighton love their foxes.

Yes, and they get a lot of pleasure from them. They do cause some issues

and we need to make sure we reduce our behaviour to reduce that

conflict. What about our cubs. We've been did -- watching them. Ollie

lives with the natal den was. He's picked up Stumpy back at the deck,

and with four other cubs. One of them is quite distinctive. Issuing

Sugar has been visiting those cubs, and there's two cubs on the other

side a few doors down. She's been visiting both of them. The group's

separated. This one's got strange ears. People find that attractive. I

would rather see proper fox ears, what's going on? We have nicknamed

him Fluffy. Fluffy ears in poodles? Come on! A week later his ears were

back up. They use audit tricues for hunting. What about the feels? They

were both in pretty low condition when we saw them. What does the

future hold for them? They have done a fantastic job, but in September

the family will break up, they will start to separate and go on their

own way and the feels will get back into condition for breeding next

year. Do you think any of the cubs might join the feels? Some of them,

a lot will Dubai. Some will disperse but there's high densities in those

areas, so they are going to struggle to find their space. One or two

might stay and form the social bond to find that group. And in terms of

the science, what would you be hoping to find out between now and

Autumnwatch? Is the data has shown us how the urban landscape affects

the size of the territory. We know how these are parcelled together. We

have got an understanding of the family group. What controls and

affects the density of foxes? Dawn thank you very much for

catching up with us. We look forward to catching up with you again in

Autumnwatch. Well, I guarantee there is one creature that no-one loves in

their garden, as Martin has found out.

We Brits love our gardens. They are a source of pride and pleasure.

So we do everything we can to keep them looking as lovely as possible.

In spring, there is one animal in particular against which the

gardeners wage war. We know it by derogatory name, plant lice, white

fly, green fly. Unless we are trying to exterminate it, we barely give it

a second thought. But we should. Because this little creature has a

strange tale to tell. Meet the aphid. Aphids come in a

variety of shades and sizes and come into conflict with us as they feed

on our priced plants. They wouldn't be a problem if there were only a

few of them but where there is one you tend to find hundreds. The

reason for this is that at the heart of what makes this animal unique

is... Aphids have two ways of breeding. At this time of year only

females are involved. A rose aphid is about to give birth, even though

she a never mated. She's undergoing a process known as parthenogenisis.

The baby is a clone, an I'dal clone to her. The males can mate with the

fee mails to create eggs to survive the winter. In spring, the plants

are growing. Sap is running and the aphids have to multifly fast to take

advantage of this. One female can produce up to ten young every day.

Within a week these tiny babies are able to replicate themselves as

inside them is an embryo waiting to be born. Like a living Russian doll.

Each female is carrying her daughter's and her granddaughter's

at the same time. Over summer, a single aphid could multifly into

over 15-and-a-half million individuals. -- multiply into over

15-and-a-half million individuals. Luckily for u life for aphids are

fraught with danger. They fall prey to many parasites and predators.

There are parasitic waspses, spiders, buck, mites. Larvae of many

kinds, bluetits and foracious lady birds. Being the favourite food of

so many predators is clearly a problem. But when this colony of

aphids come to the danger zone, knights in armour come to the

rescue. Black ants defend the aphids from aggressors.

So, how have these aphids won the protection of a completely different

species? The secret is in the diet. Aphids drink a lot of sap. And

excrete the excess as honey due. This sugary treat is nectar to the

black ants. So by protecting the aphids, the ants are simply

protecting their own interests. The ant and the aphid. A perfect

partnership. So, by all means spray away the spring and the summer but

don't forget the scourge of the gardener is also a fabulous

opportunist and a living Russian doll. Ladies and gentlemen, I give

you the amazing aphid. What an extraordinary and fascinating

creature! I'm loving the aphid! I know they are not easy to love if

they are all over the roses and the broad beans but look at the amount

of people that feed on them. Not just the waspses and the lady birds

but the warblers and the house matteriness, they gobble them up.

Swallows in particular, time their arrival to coincide with the

arrivals of aphids. It makes up 30% of the diet of their young. Because

of climate change, aphids are swarming earlier b 15 days in the

last 30 years. That mean it is could be a mistiming with the swallows

arriving that is a big problem. Climate change. But temperature is

important for the aphids. The perfect temperature for them to

procreate is 20 to 22 Celsius. I wonder if we will reach the

temperatures this weekend? There is one man to tell me the answer to

that, that is Nick Miller at the BBC Weather Centre.

Michaela, I can give you warmth but also a chance of thunder storms. Her

is why. Low pressure is lurking to the west of the country later

tomorrow. Here it clashes against the cooler

Atlantic air and then uplifting the atmosphere with a chance of storms

on Saturday. Some feeding north but by no means will everyone get one.

But there will be downpours, when they pop up it is bad news for the

newly fledged birds. The feathers are not properly waterproofed.

Central and eastern England see the highest temperature, Sunday feeling

fresher and sunnier with fewer showers around. What about for

Minsmere? Sunday a looking lovely. Saturday not in the greatest Rick

area for the thunder storms. Cloud and showers moving through but not

so bad for the bitterns should they decide to semi-fledge. What did you

say that the perfect temperature was for the aphid repro druks, 20 to 22

Celsius? Drum roll, please, your wish is my command, aphids of the UK

unite, let's get it on! Aphids of the UK unite! And semi-fledging! But

a nice weekend. So no excuse. Get out and enjoy the wildlife. For

inspiration for ideas, go tonne the website and look up things to do.

Put in your postcode and lots of wildlife things will come up.

Now, there has been a lot of wildlife but now it is bittern time.

Let's go live to the bittern nest. Look at that, that is gorgeous. Into

the reeds. Blimey, I can't see what is going on there. Is that her

shielding them? The chicks are big. So to cover them properly she has

stretched her wings. Being a very good mum.

Definitely. Surprising as it is warm this evening. You would not think

she would need to brood? Well, let's see what they look like. They are

well feathered. This is fascinating.

This is earlier. Watch the youngster looking for the feet. That is the

mother, sorry. This is the baby trying to copy what mum just did.

Look at his feet. They are gawky. What he is trying to do is grabs

five or six stems and actually climb up the stems. Using them like stilts

but he does not have the hang of it. Look, right underneath the camera.

Basically doing what the adult does. Impersonating a reed whilst doing a

bit of tight rope walking. He is not so steady on his pins just

yet. There he goes. Look at the size of them. Big strong legs.

Oops. Not that strong but getting there.

Thick leg, though. Long toes. A good span. And the

feathers are coming through. They are beginning to look a little more

like a bittern. That stilt walking is amazing. As we

said at the beginning of the show, make the most of the chicks if you

are watching them online. They could be possibly not there on Monday.

They could have semi-fledged! Moving on to the coast.

The bitterns will not properly fledge for another 20 to 25 days.

This is a good question, how big is a bittern. You don't see them in

relation to anything. I can tell you they have a wing span

of 130 centimetres. I know what you are saying, how many inches is that?

But we have a model of a bittern. Look at this, on loan from the RSPB.

But to give an idea of scale, I can tell you that here is a 6ft man. He

is a Trojan, pulling an arrow. This is probably Hector. This shows how

big a bittern is! Massive! So, that is where you were at lunch time, at

the toy shop! I think you should keep this in case the bitterns have

gone on Monday. You could be mourning.

Pining for a bittern. Shall we have a look at something we

shot here a few days ago? Sometimes you may have seen this, a massive

hatch of fly but look at the ducklings. They are taking advantage

of the hatch. Leaping up. Sometimes taking them from the surface of the

water but I have not seen the duckling leaps into the air to grab

them. Have you two done yoga? The tree pose. Look at this. I was

showing an Avocet and look it copied me on the water. That is Audrey the

Avocet doing yoga. Good balance! It could just be

resting the legs and conserving heat. Don't spoil it.

Don't go anywhere. After we have finished it is Unsprung. And there

are models in the cabin. All to be explained. BBC Two.

Unbelievably, we have almost come to the end of our first two weeks. We

have another week to go. This is what is coming up next week.

Yes, more of Monthy the osprey. And Yolo Williams giving us more

information from Scotland. -- Monty. We are back on Monday at

8.00pm on BBC Two. But the three of us are sticking around for Unsprung

with Nick Baker. So stick around for us then. Goodbye!

This is one of the most fire-prone regions on earth.