Episode 8 Springwatch

It has been quite a week at Minsmere. Our characters have given

us for city and glamour, drama and strength. More twists and more

intrigued and more revelations than a soap opera on Christmas Day. It is

real, it is live, it is Springwatch. What is Martin going in a small

hole, somewhere in the bows of Minsmere? We will find out. Welcome

to Springwatch, coming live from the RSPB Minsmere reserve, we have had a

great week. It has been packed with fascinating action, we have been on

the edges of our seats. Very dramatic. One of our main stories is

with the bluetit nest, you could not make this up, we have a single

mother, adopted chicks and different spaces and a possible break-in,

tragedy. Have a look at the nest box. It is a single bluetit mother

feeding great tit checks, and yesterday we saw that one got

predated by a jay and you can see there is only one left. What has

happened today? These are the three chicks which were left after the one

was taken by the jay. This is what happened, DJ came back to have a

look, it can't get in the hole -- the jay. If they keep doing this, it

will not be good news, but the mother comes back to see them. You

can see how big these chicks have grown, they are much bigger than

their mother, but they are not ready to fledge. Maybe at the weekend. One

pops out its head, the kind of thing you see before fledging, but then it

becomes overly enthusiastic. He does not want to come out now, so it

tries to get back in but it is very precarious, flapping those wings and

it falls to the ground. It is very vulnerable on the ground. It is

trying to attract the attention of its mother. Unfortunately it

attracts the attention of that jay. Two left in the box this evening,

and over an hour ago, the jay takes another one. So fast. It is amazing,

that jay will remember that nest, it has an amazing memory. They can hide

up to 5000 acorns in winter and they can remember where most of them are.

If it knows where there is a nest like this full of meat at this time

of year, it will remember they are there. It is object permanence,

basically they learn to identify separate individual objects and

remember them even when they cannot see them and this is something we

learn to do when we are youngsters. The jay is a very bright bird, they

did not normally feed on birds like this, but when they have got young,

they do. We can go live. There is the chick. Every single one of us is

rooting for that chick that is left. We are keeping our fingers crossed,

we are saying, come on, little great set. We don't want you to stray from

our screen, but you can keep a close eye on this bird by going to the

webcam on the website. We did not know about the Jay Cutler with one

of the problems the tips tips might have is with the sparrowhawk. The

sparrowhawk is very keen to snatch them out of the trees, this is the

female, she has been sitting on five eggs. I reckon tomorrow, Friday, but

that might be optimistic. I said Saturday, but we are not seeing any

signs that they are looking like hatching. In the last few days of

incubation, the eggs start to communicate, the young chips are

peeping and the female is often looking down curiously at them. We

have not seen any of that behaviour. She has been quite static on the

nest, but we discovered another secret place she likes to visit, we

are calling this our sparrowhawk spa. Quite an undisturbed, I'm not

surprised it is not being used at the moment, the sun is going down

and it is not as warm, but in the course of the day it has been very

busy. Many birds coming here to bathe, including our sparrowhawk

female, it she gets involved very enthusiastically. It is a dutiful

site. Not something you normally say, because they are very

vulnerable, even predators like this -- beautiful site. Other small birds

have come, look how attentive this blackbird is, it would like a bath

but would not like to get caught out. This robin is drenched. The

great tit here. The sparrowhawk spa, that could also be the perfect cafe

for afternoon tea, when it next turns up. When you see the

sparrowhawk at the other birds, you presume that is the top predator in

the world, but maybe not. There is another character which could be a

threat to the chicks and the adult, it is the tawny owl. We have seen

this one a few times. It has a rabbit, it has caught a rabbit.

Quite impressive prey, when you look at the size of the rabbit. It could

predate the sparrowhawk adult. Very impressive. Not a fully grown

rabbit, but that is a half grown rabbit and the tawny owl has got it

and that is a fresh kill, as well. There was also a fox that we source

netting around, this is a young fox. -- that we saw sniffing around. The

male sparrowhawk brings the break at the female plucks it and it set away

from the nest. And that draws predators away from where the chicks

are. It is working. Working fine. Scavenging for any scraps, picking

up little bones and even chewing feathers, this is what the

sparrowhawk 's do and that is what the objective of the plucking post

is. Perfect strategy. Yesterday we offered a unique opportunity, the

chance to name a speciation of British animal, a crustacean, a

small crab which has been rediscovered in the South West. In

Cornwall they said if you can come up with a sensible English name,

even though it does have a scientific name. If you can come up

with an appropriate English name for it, they would start to use it. 3000

of you came up with suggestions in the last 24 hours. We had warrior

crab, Cassius crab. Chilli red crab. Because they have red legs. Yes,

they do. The comeback crab. We have chosen the top three and that is

what we want you to cast your vote on and you have until 830. You can

do that on the internet. We have chosen our favourite age, these are

the ones you have suggested and many of you suggested the same names. We

are championing one of them. Mine, I really like this one. Phoenix crab.

The Phoenix was a mythical creature which rose up from the flames and

the fire. This little crab has risen from possible extension, from the

horrible pollution. I like it. That was quite theatrical, maybe a bit

over the top. I will give you another name. St Mirren 's crab, St

Mirren is the patron St of Cornwall and the legend has it, the Irish

heathens threw him into the sea wearing a millstone around his neck.

Rather like the crab shell, and then he crawled out onto a Cornish beach,

like the crab has done, he became a hermit, rather like the habit of the

crab. That is my favourite of those you have chosen. That is good. I

think you could have been more theatrical. Anyway, we have got

those two, what about you, Martin? I like the century crab. -- century.

Centuries make me think of armoured soldiers and they have those

fetching skirts that they used to wear. Anyway. One of the reasons

Minsmere is so fantastically successful for wildlife is because

they carefully control the water level. They do that with a series of

sluice is and that creates habitat, open water for things like otters

and maybe bigger fish. The reed beds, of course. Look out for the

bitterns. And then you have the sluice itself, they controlled the

level because otherwise if it comes up too much the nests will be sunk.

They do that with a series of sluices, that is great for the

wildlife like the birds and the otters, but not so good for another

species. And that is the eel. Eels, mystical animals, so strange. These

ones are yellow eels and they go through a number of different forms

in their lives. All around me here, and at home, there will be yellow

eels, they live in the freshwater, they can live for a long time, the

world record is said to be 155-year is. That is for a Swedish eel, but

normally they live 20 years and then something magical happens, a switch

is thrown and they start heading down towards the sea. Migrating out

to try and spawn and reproduce. Where do they go? No one is sure but

this is the adult eel, it goes out to sea and it turns into a silver

eel. The silver eels, they go out for thousand miles to the Sargasso

Sea, changing their shape, they become just an egg laying machine,

and when they get to the Sargasso Sea they die and lay their eggs.

These little forms, like plankton, they get washed by the ocean

currents back to Europe and they change to these glass eels which are

see-through, rather bizarre and beautiful, and eventually they turn

into elvers. It is when they get back here that those elvers and the

glass eels run into a massive problem, that is the pinch point,

and that is to do with the sluices. If they come along here, we can have

a look at this sluice. This is a sluice. You can see what is

happening, that is the water level, the high water level, over the edge

and down to the lower water level and that is what is keeping it at

that precise level. Imagine if you are a little elver, a glass eel, how

can you get up the lump of concrete? They very good at it. Look at them

struggling to get up. They are not going to do it. We would do

something about that. We will try. What can we do to help those eels? I

will get this. Bizarre looking contraption, like an upside-down

brush. If I put this in here, this will allow the eels to swim up and

get purchase and come all the way up here. Here we go. Oh! Proper little

bit of work. I got the wrong end in it, but you get the idea. The eels

can come from this watery bit all the way to the top and they will be

able to swim from here. We are putting in little ladders all around

Minsmere. I will finish of this job, and I will see you later on. Cheers

for now. He is never happier than when he has a hammer in his hands.

It is great, he has been mucking in, helping the RSPB and volunteers to

do something great for nature and today is do something great for

eels. And now to a rather glamorous bird. The beautiful golden eagle. We

have had very good fortune to have cameras on a golden eagle's nest in

Scotland and we have had great views of the adult and the chick. The nest

is 427 metres above sea level in this quiet glen. Eagles choose their

nest based on the availability of nearby live prey which they required

to feed their young, but the nest changes shape. When the chick was

young there was a very deep cup for it to sit in, and that stopped it

falling out and also protected it from wind and rain, but the adult

has been constantly modifying the nest. I've highlighted part of the

nest. There is a depression left. The bird is adding branches all the

time and changing the structure, this is not a random thing, not just

plonking them anywhere it fancies, this is deliberately placing them to

change the structure of that nest because as the bird grows it is not

one to be contained in a cup and it wants to be able to wander across

the surface and then the adult bone will have transformed this nest into

a platform -- the adult bird. Lynne So it has gone from a

bassinet, baby cot, to a playpen? I have no idea what that is? It sounds

like a piece of armour! It is interesting where it is, as it is

north-facing. In Scotland, where it is colder, you would expect it to be

south-facing to catch the sun. But the chicks are so well insulated.

That this saves them from overheating. That is surprising to

many. I was surprised. The weather can be

very changing. And the one thing we cannot see is that the nest is

protected from an overhang, so protected from the worst of wind and

the rain. Let's have a look. It is three weeks

old, being fed by the mother, the mother has brought in a young fox

cub. Look closely, the mum is trying to tear some off but the chick is

trying to feed itself. This is a real milestone for the chick. It

cannot eat by itself, it can't stand up yet. It has to stand up to hold

the prey down to tear the food. Now it is resting on its ankle. But look

at what it is doing. It has the intestines here! This must be

frustrating, Chris it is sort of sucking it in. It is really like an

incredibly long bit of spaghetti. He is trying.

He has it stuck on the twig it is twisting the twig. That is learning

behaviour. That twisting motion is what it has to do when it tears off

the meat. He is still going with the intestines! That went on for some

time. We have all been there. The spaghetti never seems to end. You

know what I mean? We have not all been there! The birds of prey are

mod feed, their feet, in terms of catching the prey. Of the

three-forward facing toes, this one is enlarged as it is used to hold

the prey down like a fork when they are pulling it to pieces. Perhaps

when it is on the plucking post we can zoom in to see the enlarged toe.

Let's go live to our blue great tit's nest. Well, he is there, or

she is there, being fed! Let's wait to see if the bluetit comes back. I

think it may have had the food. It has flown off but the youngster is

secure in the box. Going back to the golden eagle

chick, hopefully we will see a lot more next week. Maybe it will start

feeding. That will be a great milestone. We are not all lucky to

see golden eagles in the wilds of Scotland but most of us can get

somewhere to see wildlife, even in an urnian area. David Lindo takes on

an urban tour of one of the UK's busiest cities. Newcastle upon Tyne.

Built on industry and trade, now one of the UK's busiest cities. It is

home to nearly half a million people. But if you know where to

look, you can find wildlife in the centre of this bustling met Ron

politician eve no-one the bustling centre and amongst the city's

landmarks. Here, this looks incredible. And the sound, the sound

is phenomenal. The kittiwake is our only true sea gull. Spending most of

the year far out to sea, returning to the coastal cliffs to breed. The

population plummeted by almost a half since the turn of the century.

But since the 1950s, more and more are choosing to nest on the

riverside buildings. They number about 800 pairs here.

They are not universally popular but the council has steadfastly

protected them. And one rather glamorous resident

offer -- residence, offers a fantastic view into their private

lives. The fourth flour of the contemporary arts centre of the

Baltic Arts. I cannot get over it, it is

incredible to be so close to the birds. Getting on with their daily

lives... From this position you can really appreciate the beauty of the

kittiwake. The way that they look so gentle. And their eyes. Look at

their eyes, with the lovely red eye-ring. They really are attractive

birds close-up. You would never get such an intimate

view on the remote cliffs where they normally breed.

I can understand why they are here now. Obviously to a gull, a building

with a ledge like that, that is a great substitute for a cliff's ledge

and safer than being on the coast. You don't have great big black gulls

chasing you or hunting the chicks, so this is a safer environment for a

kittiwake to raise its family. The kittiwakes have chosen

preexisting structures. But not far away from here and the busy #346789

1, a wildlife haven has been especially created.

Steve Purvis, from the Durham Wildlife Trust, wants to show me

this exciting project. As we work from the ground up, we

are looking at the biodiversity of a wild flower meadow. So if we

increase that we should be able to get more creatures in to the area

and the bird life to increase as well. They have created an 16

hectare oasis of wild flower and a buzzing country life in the middle

of the Metropolis. The highlight here is a ribbon of forest that

brings the wildlife right into the heart of the Newcastle.

It's a wonderful place to unwind and there is something really rather

special living here, right under the busy road. Absolutely incredible.

Dippers... I reckon most people in this area would never know that

these birds are here. They actually dive under water in

search of their prey, which is very unusual for a song bird. Oh, look at

that, that is just incredible. Dippers need crystal clear water to

catch their prey. As Newcastle's waterways have been cleaned over the

last 30 years, they have made a comeback.

When I was a kid, imagined them to be in areas that were totally

inaccessible and places that I would never get to, because I didn't have

anyone to take me there. I just can't believe that I'm watching

dippers right here in the middle of an urban area, under a bridge that

has a busy main road! I'm amazed by how much I have seen

in a single day on Tyneside. Thanks to the efforts of councils and

conservationist, and the adaptability of the animals mems,

what was once an industrial powerhouse is now a destination for

watching wildlife. This is a fantastic spot in the

middle of the city. There is life everywhere. I'm looking on and

seeing bluetits here. I'm hearing so many different bird song.

Black cap, wood pigeon, blackbird, chaffinch. And there is a

treecreeper. It looks like a little mouse creeping up the side of that

tree. I could sit here for hours... It's

great isn't it to see pockets of habitat in an urban setting like

that. Great to see that some animals adapt so well to city dwellings.

They don't need much space, do they? Just a tiny patch of greenery, the

opportunity for life to sneak in. But the kittiwakes on the Baltic,

well worth it. You can stand there looking at the

elements and looking at the kittiwakes.

There are some animals to see near a museum, there are some to see that

are difficult to get on demand. If you want to see a badger, go to the

#krid, what about the stoat? For the last two weeks we have had the

extraordinary opportunity to follow the life a is single female stoat, a

mother with eight kits. The cameraman have learned her habitats

and been able to follow her. They have seen her doing all sorts of

different things. She's been out with rabbits but now predating a

green woodpecker's nest seven metres up in a tree.

It is interesting to see what she does here. She positions the chick,

goes up, gets her baring, works out how to get the chick down the

tree... Comes back, grabs it and drags it up to the top a so she can

get it down to the bottom. But it is incredible. That must be quite a

weight for the stoechlt It is quite a weight. This is active

hunting here. This is predation in action.

Bear that in mind. Now, she is taking it to her kits

that are hid no-one the grassland somewhere. But she is back for the

second chick. Look at this, she has a strategy,

Michaela. She's going to balance the chick there. She has it in the right

position. She comes out, climbs back up again but I never realised that

stoats were such good climbers. I thought of them as terrestrial

animals, never up trues. This is amazing.

Look at the muscles in her shoulders as she drags the chick. This is a

hard-working mother. She has eight kits. A lot of mouths to feed. But

look at the way she is going down? I know, like a pine nut. Hanging on

with the legs as she crawls. And off into the reeds there. A nest full of

woodpeckers will keep the youngsters going all day. This is a very

important meal for her. Now the third chick doesn't go quite

as planned. She is trying to drag it out. It gets stuck. It falls down.

That is one way of getting it to the bottom.

She knows where it is, she is going straight down to get it.

But it is not good strategy, any other predator could take it.

But she knew where it was and scam perked down quickly, off through the

log pile towards the kits that are hidden over there.

She's straight back up to the bottom of the tree and up she goes, scam

pers up! Honestly it is amazing! I would never have thoeth that a stoat

could climb like that. This is now the fourth chick. She

can see she is struggling but this one, decides she has it sussed. She

does not need to drag it backwards, she is straight out and down the

tree. This is the fourth chick. It is sangled up in the honeysuckle

there. The energy involved in all of this,

Chris, it is incredible. She is a supermum. No doubt about

it. She's a smart stoat. Smarty! Smarty the Stoat! Look at

what happens here. The adult woodpecker comes back. I'm surprised

that the adult does not attack the stoat. But it doesn't.

It's alarm calling. They do come in. Look the adult is

still collecting food. It is going through the process of starting to

regurgitate it, as if there were young. But not getting close to the

stoat. Meanwhile, the stoat has been inside, there is her bloody chin,

indicating she has been feasting with a well deserved meal after that

hard work. Look at her wiping it on the edge of

that hole. Yes. That really was truly amazing.

Stoat-ally amazing! It really was. It is what happens of having a good

team of cameraman out in the wildlife with the remote cameras

that we have. What a female. Doing a remarkable job rearing the kits. We

hope we don't lose her, that we can continue to follow her next week to

see her. We have seen her catching rabbits. She has been proficient at

that. But fascinating, getting a glimpse into the life of an animal

you rarely see. So from a streamed animal to

another, Iolo Williams up in the farms!

I'm shaking it up a bit today, I'm leaving the islands. We will find

out what is lurking in the waters around here. The rocky outcrops can

number anything up to 28 depending on the state of the tide. As such

they offer perfect purchase, not just the birds, but for our largest

resident carnivore, the grey seal. I've heard they come here in good

numbers, and I'm hoping we are in for a real treat today. Between

three and 6000 seals reside in the Farne Islands, so spotting them is

not hard. You can tell them apart from their common cousins, they have

fewer spots on their bodies and they have a long Roman nose, they have a

Latin name which means that knows CP, which is a bit unfair, I think.

-- which means hook nose sea pig. The Farne Islands is home to one of

the largest colonies of grey seals in the UK. They come here in the

autumn to seek shelter from the North Sea storms and to give shelter

to their pups and they hang around to spring because then they feed on

their favourite food, the sand eels. They are not picky and they can

munch on a variety of other fish, eating up to seven kilograms of fish

every day. They achieved this by diving to depths of 300 metres for

up to 30 minutes at a time. But their talents extend to above water,

as well. These seals can sing. There is a great sound. In the olden days

fishermen said that was the sound of the souls of fishermen who been lost

at sea, incredible, very haunting sound which carries over the water.

Not much is known about why grey seals sing, some say the maybe

between family members, mother and pup, but others say the calls are

made by males to attract females and maintain territories. Whatever the

reason why, in my -- it might well have saved their bacon, due to

escalating numbers, the government looked at doing a grey seal cull but

the fishermen here voted against it, they said the seals were important,

their vocalisations warned them off the rocks, in low visibility, and

the grey seal became a fisherman's friend. An amazing sound. It would

not be fair to come all this way to show you these animals loafing

around on the island. We want to show you how graceful and agile they

are underwater. I've been given a backstage pass to join them for this

underwater show. Oh! I can't begin to tell you just how cold this is.

I've got a thick wet suit but I can feel the cold straightaway. The

seals have a thick layer of blubber, six centimetres thick so they are

built for this. He we go. Oh! -- here we go.

But the longer I'm down here, the more they begin to trust me.

What an amazing experience. I must have had five seals around me, you

see these cumbersome animals on bad, but underwater they are like mini

torpedoes, this is their environment and we can learn a lot from the grey

seal. Down here, in playful serenity of

their underwater world, you really could be anywhere, and we are. That

was absolutely gorgeous, but he must have been freezing. What was he

thinking? Wearing a silly hat all week, the one time he should be

wearing his wet suit hoodie, he goes without. Does he not realise you

lose all of your heat through your head? You sound like his mother. You

just want a nice warm sweater. Yes, and a nice meal at the end of the

day. We will go to see if our remaining great tit is still there.

I think it is relatively unlikely that it will try and French this

evening, but we have to hope that if it jumps up to take any food, that

the Jay has gone home for the time being -- and fledge this evening.

Everyone is hoping it does well. There was another nest we were

watching, it was a nest of these birds, the stone curlews,

remarkable, they come from Africa, they have a big eye for hunting at

night. We have seen them on our thermal cameras, taking worms. They

were incubating. They have an extraordinary sound. What happens?

Last week there was a terrible thunderstorm and more rain fed a one

night than normally does in a month and in the course of that. The stone

curlews came off the nest and we think the egg was chilled. They

carried on incubating it, but staff from the RSPB went out and they took

the egg, disabled happened and they can judge -- to see what happened.

The other thing, if they take the egg there is a very good chance that

the stone curlews will breed again and they another clutch and it makes

good sense, this is good practical conservation biology, learned

through understanding the ecology of the bird. Thing is crossed that they

start over again and they are more successful -- fingers crossed. And

now to the Woodlands, we can have a look at one of our other nests live,

the Little owl chicks. Wings flapping, they are much more active

than they have been. Feeding rates are down but they are being fed much

bigger meals. That one is almost coming out of the nest. They

squabble in this nest as any siblings would, tug-of-war. The one

at the back finally wins, but this nest is full of maggots, absolutely

feted. This one has bitten off more than it can chew, or not, it is

trying to swallow a vole and it is properly the first time it has tried

to do this, rather than taking it in little bits. Has it fallen asleep?

It is seriously struggling. Not a comfortable meal. Like trying to

swallow a Christian. We will see much more of that. -- like trying to

swallow a cushion. Outside one of the adults is giving an alarm call,

and they all rhyme to the back of the nest -- run. It is like a panic

room where they can escape. It could have been a tawny owl. It could have

been a stoat. We could not possibly identify it. Those chicks have been

becoming more active, and that means they come to the front of the nest

and we will see them in the daytime. We will see much more of this kind

of behaviour next week, they will be branching, semi-fledging. It will be

very good. And now another nest, this is the nest of dunnocks. It is

empty at the moment. That is because they have fledged this morning. Here

they are, 626, the female had not been brooding them overnight and

that is a good sign they were big enough to keep themselves warm. When

they stand up they are pretty well feathered, on the tops of their

heads and their backs, their wings are not fully feathered and they

don't fledge in the sense that they will fly out of the nest, but what

we will see happening, they turn around. Rejecting the faecal sacks,

for the female -- ejected. They fly out. The whole family will be there,

they have a special contact call which they have. They will be

calling them in and they will still be being fed, no doubt just a few

metres behind. Some of you were watching this, there are many ways

you can watch. It has never been easier to follow Springwatch, where

ever you are and whatever device you are using, and by going to the

Springwatch website you can enjoy Springwatch live at any time of day.

Catch the action as it happens with live webcams and updates and news

and expert analysis. You can join in the conversation on Facebook,

Twitter and the Springwatch Flickr group. Many of you have been online

to vote for your clap name, we gave you a choice of three and we wanted

you to cast your vote -- crab. The new name for this hermit crab, there

were three names, Centurion Crab, Martin liked that one, that got 16%.

I was championing the name Phoenix Crab, that got 23%. Which means

there was a clear winner. St Piran crab which you were championing, and

I think that is an excellent name for that crab. Do you want to

explain it? Patron St of Cornwall, he was cast into the sea and then he

emerged from it to become a hermit, so that is ideal. Thanks for voting

online. Very exciting. More good news, we like good news. Recently

there was an article in the paper that said May was the first time in

the UK that solar power produced more electricity than coal. That is

good news. How do the solar farms affect wildlife? I went to visit one

just down the road a couple of weeks ago.

Anyone travelling on our motorways will have noticed a change in the

view. Fast solar farms have been springing up everywhere in our

countryside. -- vast. In fact solar power has increased by 50% in the

past year alone. But what impact do these farms have on our wildlife?

Connor has been in the solar farm business for many years. How big is

this site and how much electricity does it produce? Five megawatts

site, 35 acres in size, more than enough to be Jews for

-- more than enough to help 4500 houses. They are not pretty, are

they? Well, I think they are! LAUGHTER

It takes ages to find a site like this, we have looked at a thousand

sites before we got this one. You have to get one where you cannot

obscure pretty viewpoints. You cannot see this from anywhere.

Some locals you will not find complaining are the animals. The

explosion of intensive farming in the second half of the 20th century

had a devastating affect on our wildlife species. In some cases

there some were pesticided into extension. But here, the modules are

built on low-grade land so energy production cuts out the need for

pesticides and fertilisers, while offering the farmer a viable income.

This was a working farm. We leased the land and put up the modules. It

will remain so for 25 to 30 years. What have you done to help the

species like lapwing, skylark and bird barrow bees? We have bird boxes

up. Hedgerows in. Trees in, obviously a lot of wild flower

planting. That in self-has made a huge difference in terms of

biodiversity. We are not cutting the grass low in order to let the lark

wings and the skylarks come here and nest. We also have the fence coming

around the side for security purposes and habitat gates for

mammals to come in through the fence as well. What we have found here

with all of our farms is that biodiversity increased ten-fold.

That will get better as the years go on? We think so. These things are

here for four-and-a-half years. We don't know how good it will get. But

all of the evidence we have is that it is promoting and bringing back

species that were not here before. That is amazing.

Since the industrial revolution, technological advances have often

been bad news for the natural world. Our pursuit of progress ignore the

consequences for decades. But it is great to see an example of

cutting-edge industry, which, if managed well, can benefit us and

nature. Fantastic! I like to see a solar

array, myself. If they are well organised, this have all of the

flowers underneath them. That is great for insects and honey bees. We

know why the honey bees have been in trouble. But a fascinating project,

Bee Bristol has started. What they have done is set up a hive in the

countryside and also set up one almost identical in the town... They

are monitoring all sorts of activities of the bees. Here is the

town one. It is Bee Bristol At Bristol and the University of

Bristol School and Buy logical Sciences. Let's have a look inside

the beehive. Can you see this? These are the brood combs. These are

nearly all worker bees. About 3,000 of them. Somewhere amongst the mass

is the one queen. She has a blue dot. I can't see her at the moment.

What is happening is that the queen is moving around and will lay a

single egg in a honeycomb cell and the workers come along and cap it

off. The workers are females and off spring of the one queen. They cap

them off and look after the larvae as they grow. That will be the new

generation of workers. The worker bees live for 40 days, not long but

the queen can live for five years, probably past her prime at thee

years old. There is one other thing. There are one or two larger bees,

they are the drones, the males. Down the bottom here, see there... Those

bigger lump, Those are the big cell whereas the males hatch out. It is

nearly all female there. What they have done in the project

is that they have carefully, Cleverley set up a system to record

the movement of the worker bees as they move in and out of the hive on

the foraging expeditions, going out to get nectar and pollen, all that

the hive needs. It is early days but they have come up with interesting

results. Ignore this green line. But you can see something here. The

country beehive... This is the time of day on the top. They have woken

up and shot out. These are the numberer of workers leaving the

hive. In the town bee... Much less activity. They slowly going in and

out. They are a bit lazy compared to the country bees! We don't know what

is going on but we think that the country bees are finding huge

supplies of food. A field of rapeseed. They are coming back to

the hive, telling the others where the food resource is and they are

all rushing out to feed. Whereas the town bees, what is happening is that

they are finding smaller supplies of food, maybe in your garden. They are

not so excited and they are not all rushing out to get the food.

But this is just the beginning. They are going to try to find out lots

with the project. I love it. Now, you can follow this.

It is live, live sciences, getting the results as they come in. There

is a link to Bee Bristol on the website.

Now, they normally, normally the bees are out foraging. They can't at

the moment. One more thought that is about ?a pound of honey. That takes

55,000 miles of bee journeys to create that. Value our honey! As

they can't S get out, I'm going to give them a little bit of sugar

solution as they don't have their food. Pouring it in the top here.

Trying not to get it all over everything. Oops, I do! That keeps

them feeding. Just in case you are worried the bees are going home

tonight and will be out foraging flowers tomorrow morning. I could

watch these for hours! They are fabulous, bees, we know that they

are vital pollinators and that they are in decline. We want you to help

us by recording your bee sightings. There are 250 different species of

wild bee in the UK. 225 are solitary bees, not living in hives. We are

focussing on 12 of them. Friends of the Earth have set up an app to do

the great British Bee Count. This is the app. The 12 bees there. It shows

you the difference. If you don't know the bee that you are looking at

you can take a picture and send it in. But a simple app with lots of

information on the app. Obviously all of the details are on the

website. It is a great thing to get involved in. Now, pollution is a

problem for bees, plastic pollution is a big problem for our seas.

The great British seaside. With over 30,000 kilometres of

coastline, the UK has some of the best beaches, rockpools and tidal

estuaries anywhere in the world. A vast habitat, providing food and

shelter to countless species and a place for us all to relax and enjoy

the sunshine. Yet, our seas are facing a huge

problem... The amount of marine litter washing up on the beaches has

almost doubled in the last 15 years. It's the equivalent of five carrier

bags of plastic rubbish for every foot of coastline on the planet.

Over 5 trillion pieces of plastic now bobbing along in the sea

currents, affecting over 600 different species. We need to do

something - now! To savour coast line from drowning in litter... We

need your help. It is a real paradox. A substance so

precious to us, so available to us, so useful in everyday life, is also

becoming a global scourge but we can do something about it. This weekend

is the perfect time for you and us to contribute. We would like you to

go out this weekend and join in a beach clean. The marine conservation

society have these, there are details on the website. And no, this

is not something where they are going to do it, it is something that

we have to do it. Please, if you have a couple of hours this weekend,

go to your local beach, pick up some rubbish and send in photographs and

video of that to celebrate it next week. Tomorrow I will be joined by

Martin Tory, called the Two-minute Beach Clean. We will tell you about

it tomorrow. Don't forward, tonight, today, it is moth night. You can

join? In all sorts of moth-related activities. Watch out for day flying

moths that you can do in your garden. Look at this Cinnabar moth.

If you are lucky you could see this gorgeous one, the Humming bird

Hawk-most. Imagine that. Get out and join in the moth work! What I want

to know is if I do the beach clean, do I wear shorts and T-shirts or

fleece and long trousers or waterproof and wellies? You can't

tell me, can you? You have in idea. Let's ask Nick Miller instead.

If you are moth-counting it is looking good. Warm out there, cloud

moving in, light winds, how they like it. Heading to the beach? Don't

expect to top up the tan. There is a weather change. A weather front

bringing range but not all the time. It will not abwash-out. A downward

trend in temperatures but own to the average. If this sort of weather is

typical for the time of year. It should not cause any problems.

Airborne atrackses like the butterfly, less active but look down

for the slugs and the snails. Looking for something wetter.

There is also a wind change. A south-westerly, it may bring more

painted lady butterflies. Maybe after overshooting bird like a

bee-eater. It is a weather-change but a wildlife opportunity. Here is

the forecast for you at Minsmere. Yes, increasing cloud, the

Springwatch Spa will not be as busy but important, whatever the weather

it is the weekend! It is not just any weekend but a Springwatch

Weekend and its waiting for you! I love it. So Taking everything else

and the backpack. The usual summer! Let's have a look

at the live cameras. This is the bluetit nest box with the one great

tit chick in it. Keep an eye on that tonight obviously and over the

weekend. We are rooting for this little bird.

Shall we look at the great tits? We have not featured them as much. We

have been obsessed with the great tits in the bluetit nest box. But

how many are there now? Five of them and they all seem to be doing well.

That is all we have time for this weeks. We have had a great week of

stoats, next week, a weasel, and not only a weasel but views inside the

weasel's nest. We are catching up with Monty, and

blue 24, our charismatic off spring from Wales. Looking forward to that.

And in the farms I'm investigating Britain's favourite seabird, the

puffin. And tomorrow, my guest is no other

than Germaine Greer in her guise as moth wing.