:00:21. > :00:23.We've packed our cameras and brought them to a brand new home.
:00:24. > :00:28.The Wildlife is a fabulous as ever and the line up is packed.
:00:29. > :00:30.There are plenty of new faces, plus some old favourites.
:00:31. > :00:52.Welcome to an action packed Springwatch!
:00:53. > :01:01.Hello and welcome to Springwatch. After three years of being in
:01:02. > :01:04.Sussex, we have come to the Gloucestershire countryside. We have
:01:05. > :01:10.come to be wonderful Sherborne Park estate, run by the National Trust
:01:11. > :01:14.since 19 to seven. It is pretty become a 4106 acres of rolling
:01:15. > :01:18.countryside. All sort of different habitats. You can see the wet
:01:19. > :01:24.meadows, all the open would pasture in the Valley, streams and rivers.
:01:25. > :01:28.Scattered across it, plenty of woodland, too. We have adapted our
:01:29. > :01:35.mission, you might have noted, this time. We have not come to a nature
:01:36. > :01:42.reserve. We have played been to places where people have developed a
:01:43. > :01:47.place for wildlife alone. Here, it is different. It is a working
:01:48. > :01:51.landscape. These are farms. People here are producing food that we eat.
:01:52. > :01:55.Wildlife is living alongside it, we have come to explore that
:01:56. > :01:58.relationship, what is good about it, how is working, how it is failing,
:01:59. > :02:03.and how it might improve in the future. We have come to explore
:02:04. > :02:13.rather than reveal and celebrate. A new challenge, and we are going to
:02:14. > :02:19.rise to it. If you zoom in, you can see Sherborne there, relative to
:02:20. > :02:26.Cheltenham, Bristol and... Reading! I get no who chose Reading. It is
:02:27. > :02:31.the Cotswolds which are so pretty. I feel like I am in a Jane Austen
:02:32. > :02:36.movie. What have we done to this beautiful location? We have bugged
:02:37. > :02:41.it with cables and cameras and sound so we can take a peek into the lives
:02:42. > :02:46.of the wonderful wildlife which calls Sherborne its home. Let's take
:02:47. > :02:51.a look at our live cameras. Springwatch would not be Springwatch
:02:52. > :02:58.without these little guys, bluetits. There are nine chicks all doing
:02:59. > :03:02.pretty well so far and they are in a nest box in the woods. And here is
:03:03. > :03:07.another Springwatch favourite, the barn owl. This is arable land so
:03:08. > :03:16.perfect for barn owls. There are five pairs of barn owls on the
:03:17. > :03:23.estate. This is the one we have put the camera on, on a chick and an
:03:24. > :03:28.egg. Another regular is the swallow. That is the female and she is an
:03:29. > :03:34.eggs so hopefully we will see those hatch in the next few days. Look at
:03:35. > :03:39.the light reflecting off the back. It is a gorgeous colour. It is
:03:40. > :03:44.looking at us! Claire-macro fantastic. We have also got our
:03:45. > :03:53.cameras on a tiny little chit chat nest. We think there four chicks in
:03:54. > :04:01.that nest. Is there a chick just there? We will keep an eye on that
:04:02. > :04:10.and find out how many there are. Also another nest, one of our
:04:11. > :04:15.favourite birds. There is the female looking beautiful. We have two
:04:16. > :04:20.chicks looking beautiful there. We will wait to see if the other ones
:04:21. > :04:24.hatch out. The mail is being very proficient, he is coming in,
:04:25. > :04:29.providing her with food and feeding the little chicks as well. Gorgeous.
:04:30. > :04:35.We are here. We have settled down, we are settling in nicely but what
:04:36. > :04:39.makes this place so special? Springwatch has got a new home and
:04:40. > :04:47.this time we are not on a nature reserve, we are in the heart of the
:04:48. > :04:51.great British countryside. There is a wonderful mix of habitats here and
:04:52. > :05:00.these woodlands are home to some of our most iconic animal species. Two
:05:01. > :05:11.rivers run through the estate and they are rich in wildlife. And the
:05:12. > :05:22.surrounding water meadows provide a row habitat for a variety of unique
:05:23. > :05:26.plants and insects. Part of the estate was commandeered as an
:05:27. > :05:34.airbase during the Second World War, but now it is being reclaimed by
:05:35. > :05:43.nature. And the surrounding farmland boasts an array of some of our
:05:44. > :05:48.rarest species. In the middle of it all, a picture perfect village plays
:05:49. > :05:58.host to some of the nation's favourite animals. Welcome to the
:05:59. > :06:02.Cotswolds! Welcome to Sherborne! We have been rummaging around for a
:06:03. > :06:08.few days and my favourite thing so far? What is that? The trees. There
:06:09. > :06:13.are some fantastic trees, chestnuts, beach and line and I found an oak
:06:14. > :06:17.yesterday, massive huge girth, been there for hundreds of years. If
:06:18. > :06:21.trees could talk? They would probably tell you a lot of boring
:06:22. > :06:26.things standing in fields next to cheap most of the time, hundreds of
:06:27. > :06:33.years next to cheap! We have a new location but we also have a new
:06:34. > :06:37.member of our team, Gillian Burke. Thank you, it is amazing to be here.
:06:38. > :06:41.I have been chomping at the bit to get going. I will be looking at a
:06:42. > :06:47.spring spectacle which happened a few days ago right here at this
:06:48. > :06:52.beautiful river. Fantastic, we will be back to Gillian soon. Let's have
:06:53. > :06:56.a closer look at some of our nests. They say it could not be done, crows
:06:57. > :07:01.are notoriously difficult to get cameras on because they are very shy
:07:02. > :07:06.and if you get near the nest you cannot get cameras on but this year
:07:07. > :07:11.we have. Let's have a look at the sight of this nest. You can see that
:07:12. > :07:15.as the camera up there. It is in a spruce tree. Unfortunately, it is
:07:16. > :07:21.right at the end of one of the branches. Can you see what it is? It
:07:22. > :07:27.is a jay 's nest. We have been following that nest. They said we
:07:28. > :07:33.would never be able to do it but we did. Let's catch up with what has
:07:34. > :07:38.been going on at the nest. You may notice something slightly worrying.
:07:39. > :07:43.That whole nest is at an angle, those chicks are in danger of
:07:44. > :07:48.falling out of the nest. The adults are being very solicitors. They come
:07:49. > :07:53.in and feed the chicks on a mixture of beetles, caterpillars, fruit and
:07:54. > :07:58.seeds, but the nest itself, as the chicks are getting bigger is tilting
:07:59. > :08:04.more and more. The chicks are really starting to slither down the nest.
:08:05. > :08:12.They are having to scrabble back-up. The other day, the wind got up and
:08:13. > :08:15.we were seriously worried. Crows are meant to be highly intelligent.
:08:16. > :08:20.Let's go live to the nest now and see the distilled air. It is. There
:08:21. > :08:25.is one of the adults. Very difficult to see if it is male or female.
:08:26. > :08:29.Those chicks are now so big that I think they would go at any time.
:08:30. > :08:35.Possibly in the next couple of days. It is a race against time. Is the
:08:36. > :08:41.nest going to go before the chicks go? It is a bit of a pig's ear. That
:08:42. > :08:48.is not what I would call it! They are meant to be intelligent. Maybe
:08:49. > :08:52.they built the nest when the branch was straight. It is just a build.
:08:53. > :09:00.They went to Italy and saw the leaning Tower of Pisa. It is
:09:01. > :09:03.fantastic because it is a first for Springwatch and we have another
:09:04. > :09:10.first and it is this bird. Red kites. We regularly see them flying
:09:11. > :09:17.overhead here. This is a bird that made a huge comeback. It was almost
:09:18. > :09:20.extinct in the 1950s in the UK, but thanks to reintroduction programmes
:09:21. > :09:26.and protection, it has now recovered. The last survey was done
:09:27. > :09:31.in 2013 and there were 1600 pairs so it is a fantastic success story. The
:09:32. > :09:36.Chilterns in Oxfordshire is their real stronghold but there are plenty
:09:37. > :09:42.here in the Cotswolds. I'm going to ask you two question. Where do you
:09:43. > :09:48.think they were first recorded breeding in Gloucestershire? Here?
:09:49. > :09:55.Exactly right. 2013. You get ten out of ten. We read the notes! There are
:09:56. > :10:05.now two to three pairs here. We are really excited we can get a camera
:10:06. > :10:09.on a nest. Let's have a look at where that nest is. It is outside
:10:10. > :10:12.the estate. It is in a private woodland high up in the trees. If
:10:13. > :10:15.you look in the middle of the screen, that is where we are based.
:10:16. > :10:19.Let's have a look at the nest live. There are three chicks in it. That
:10:20. > :10:24.is the adults on the right feeding those three chicks. They are
:10:25. > :10:29.actually looking pretty bedraggled. It has been raining here quite a lot
:10:30. > :10:33.today. I have seen that nest, I did not think it was that exposed but
:10:34. > :10:38.clearly the rain is coming through the leaves and getting onto the nest
:10:39. > :10:43.because they are definitely wet. Let's have a look at what has been
:10:44. > :10:47.happening with them. We will be watching them grow. They do not
:10:48. > :10:52.fledge until they are 50 or 60 days old. They are really fluffy. This
:10:53. > :10:57.was a few days ago. That is the adults coming in and feeding them
:10:58. > :11:03.something like a vole which it would have caught itself. This is unusual.
:11:04. > :11:10.This is the leg of a buzzard. The adults would not catch that itself,
:11:11. > :11:14.so that is probably carry on, may be roadkill. It does not look as if
:11:15. > :11:19.there is much meat on there. That chip is saying, that was absolutely
:11:20. > :11:25.rubbish! This is then yesterday and you can see already they are
:11:26. > :11:31.changing. A lot more than others. A sweet shot of the little chick
:11:32. > :11:35.there. We will see these chicks developing. It was very hot
:11:36. > :11:40.yesterday. That chick looks exhausted. This is the adults coming
:11:41. > :11:47.in. This is the mail. It is difficult to tell the difference. It
:11:48. > :11:53.is smaller than the female. You can see it is slightly bigger. It is
:11:54. > :12:02.coming in with more prey. That will be a really exciting nest to follow.
:12:03. > :12:07.That male looked shifty. It looked nervous! Great views. What a
:12:08. > :12:12.fantastic bird. It will be very interesting. One of the greatest
:12:13. > :12:16.joys in the countryside at this time of year is undoubtedly foxes. Fox
:12:17. > :12:20.cubs if you can find them. In the city they are easy to watch, they
:12:21. > :12:26.are used to people. Out here in the countryside they can be quite shy
:12:27. > :12:31.and wary. One of our cameramen found a vixen and no less than six, maybe
:12:32. > :12:39.even seven cubs. Here they are outside of their den playing around.
:12:40. > :12:45.It sounds like a lot, typically four or five are born in a litter. If
:12:46. > :12:51.there is a high mortality rate in foxes, the females will give birth
:12:52. > :12:56.to larger litters. The record unbelievably is 13. She is off to do
:12:57. > :13:01.some hunting. It is her who provides most of the food for them.
:13:02. > :13:05.Occasionally, the dog fox will bring some feedback. At this time of year
:13:06. > :13:10.if you can settle down and watch a group of fox cubs playing like this,
:13:11. > :13:19.it is absolute bliss. I say play but there is a purpose to it. They are
:13:20. > :13:22.establishing a hierarchy. By seven or eight weeks old, that one makes a
:13:23. > :13:27.mistake and fools in the nettles! That hierarchy is probably already
:13:28. > :13:32.established. It might be play but it is also very important. What about
:13:33. > :13:36.that? This one looks a little bit smaller. The one on the right. It is
:13:37. > :13:44.almost certainly from the same litter. It is unlikely to be a cub
:13:45. > :13:49.which has come from another female that have given birth, because of a
:13:50. > :13:52.subordinate female gives birth the dominant one will kill the cubs. It
:13:53. > :13:58.is likely the little one is the runt of the letter but it seems to be
:13:59. > :14:01.going OK. The people of the National Trust have been keeping a diligent
:14:02. > :14:04.eye on the mammals but we wanted to take a more comprehensive look at
:14:05. > :14:08.the whole estate to see which species where here. I called in my
:14:09. > :14:14.very good friend Doctor Dawn Scott from the University of Brighton and
:14:15. > :14:19.we set out to conduct an up-to-date census.
:14:20. > :14:23.Here we are. This is our new home. Pretty spectacular, lots of
:14:24. > :14:26.habitats. Spread out on the map you can see the field systems and the
:14:27. > :14:31.woods and the rivers that run through it. We would like to get to
:14:32. > :14:34.know the mammals better which is why we have dialled you and you have
:14:35. > :14:38.turned up with a van full of paraphernalia. I would like to focus
:14:39. > :14:42.on three different habitat types. I would like to go to the wetland
:14:43. > :14:47.area, we will go into the woodland and I am interested in the linear
:14:48. > :14:54.features like the stone walls. Our first mission is a recce down at the
:14:55. > :15:03.water meadow to look for a aquatic mammals. The best way to identify
:15:04. > :15:07.water vole activity is to look for their food stores, piles of nibbled
:15:08. > :15:10.reads with an exact 45 degrees angle edge. And of course, what goes in
:15:11. > :15:23.must come out. Waterfall poo, excellent. They poo
:15:24. > :15:27.in the same place again and again to reinforce territory. It will be the
:15:28. > :15:33.female. I used to do that myself, Dawn. It didn't pay off, I have to
:15:34. > :15:37.tell you. There were males encroaching on my territory the
:15:38. > :15:43.whole time. Anyway... But it seems it is not just water
:15:44. > :15:51.voles living here. We think we just saw an otter, well
:15:52. > :15:56.a glimpse. It couldn't have been anything else. It made so much
:15:57. > :16:05.noise. Crashing through all of that. That was the last of him.
:16:06. > :16:12.Signs of water voles and otters. But I want to know if water shrews live
:16:13. > :16:18.here, too. So we set feeding tunnels along the river to find out. We put
:16:19. > :16:23.casters into these. While they are eating, they poo in the tube. You
:16:24. > :16:28.can tell the shrew by the poo. What about that. I would love to see some
:16:29. > :16:36.water shrew. We headed to the woodland. Dear Prince back there. --
:16:37. > :16:44.prints. What is the best thing you have ever
:16:45. > :16:49.caught? A weasel. Yes! I got a weasel once in one of my, so heavy,
:16:50. > :16:55.and the smell. You knew instantly what it was. You never know what
:16:56. > :17:01.you're going to get in. We'll see what we get in the morning.
:17:02. > :17:09.Wood mice, they are exactly what we would expect to find in a wood like
:17:10. > :17:20.this. It is a wood mouse. These feisty little creatures have a
:17:21. > :17:24.range that's in the trees. We have them climbing up in the canopy. It
:17:25. > :17:29.has the tail for balance when climbing as well.
:17:30. > :17:32.To start to build a picture of the structure of the population of the
:17:33. > :17:40.small mammals here at Sherborne, Dawn sexes. That is a female. And
:17:41. > :17:45.she weighs all that we find. That is ten with the bag.
:17:46. > :17:52.Then there is just enough time for a slick, TV friendly release. Sorry!
:17:53. > :17:57.She got out. On to the next chapter. When there is grass and the tunnel,
:17:58. > :18:05.you know you are on for a hit. A common woodland rodents, and they
:18:06. > :18:11.eat a wide variety of food, not just nuts, but insects, too. Their home
:18:12. > :18:15.range is also much smaller. You can see the difference between
:18:16. > :18:21.the voles and mice, they have smaller ears, more fur, and the nose
:18:22. > :18:25.is stumpy. Big eyes as well. These have smaller eyes.
:18:26. > :18:28.The last woodland trap is successful, too.
:18:29. > :18:35.Another wood mouse. As well as water vole and otter, we
:18:36. > :18:40.now know we have bank vole and wood mice, too. This is skimming the
:18:41. > :18:44.surface of what is here. In the long term, we are putting out door mouse
:18:45. > :18:47.nest boxes. What do you think? I like the tree,
:18:48. > :18:55.it has lots of honeysuckle. And putting out hedgehog observation
:18:56. > :18:59.tunnels. How much do you want to wager that
:19:00. > :19:05.you get a footprint? Piece of cake. Piece of cake, of course, carrot.
:19:06. > :19:11.Our last stop today is a small mammal trap left in the hedgerow.
:19:12. > :19:19.Well, I never, yellow necked mouse. This is a male, he is a breeding
:19:20. > :19:23.mouse. These animals are carnivorous, they
:19:24. > :19:27.do not have insects as well, and they are quite carnivorous, in the
:19:28. > :19:32.sense they will eat wood mice young in the nest if they find them. They
:19:33. > :19:37.are pretty formidable animals. I've seen them bigger than this as well,
:19:38. > :19:53.stronger. More powerful. The ultimate mouse.
:19:54. > :20:12.Yellow necked mouse. I was so pleased to see them. The last time I
:20:13. > :20:16.saw one, I must have been 15, and it was biting my hand furiously. They
:20:17. > :20:22.do bite, mate. When you hold them, they can get their teeth into you.
:20:23. > :20:27.Dripping blood. Pleased to see them, though. Also pleased to see the
:20:28. > :20:32.shrew traps work. Yes, we found some poo in the water shrew tubes. The
:20:33. > :20:37.question was, was it common shrew poo, or water shrew blue?? Here is a
:20:38. > :20:42.photograph of that poo. Underneath the microscope. What you see here,
:20:43. > :20:46.quite a lot of white fragments. These are the exoskeleton, the outer
:20:47. > :20:52.skin of invertebrates that are found in water, aquatic invertebrates.
:20:53. > :20:57.They have a clear exoskeleton. Those on land have a patent exoskeleton.
:20:58. > :21:05.There is a little leg. That is potentially the leg of a caddis fly,
:21:06. > :21:09.perhaps a mayfly, and 50% of the food aid, you get from the service.
:21:10. > :21:15.We can add water shrew to the list. A thrilling animal, the UK's only
:21:16. > :21:19.venomous animal. Fascinating. They produce then in their saliva. They
:21:20. > :21:24.don't inject it through a hole like a snake, they have a crevice down
:21:25. > :21:32.the side of the two. As they bite, the then trickle is down. -- the
:21:33. > :21:39.tooth. In the 80s, are used to catch them. If they do bite, it will hurt.
:21:40. > :21:45.You will feel the venom. I want to feel it. I can arrange that. I am a
:21:46. > :21:49.member of a club that can arrange that. We will speak later! Chris
:21:50. > :21:57.also put down those tubes for the stoats. They will leave footprints.
:21:58. > :22:01.Sadly, it didn't leave any footprints, but we have seen a
:22:02. > :22:14.stoped on the wall. Look at this, on this glorious architectural wall. A
:22:15. > :22:19.little bit bigger than a weasel. It may have a nest in that wall. We
:22:20. > :22:23.will be following it and trying to see if we can catch her with a
:22:24. > :22:29.family of stoats. It wouldn't be Springwatch without a family of
:22:30. > :22:36.stoats. One of our nest finders has been out looking for bird nests, but
:22:37. > :22:42.he found this. Chris, no, no, no! This is a
:22:43. > :22:46.glorious thing. It looks like a load of straw, but it is an animal I
:22:47. > :22:51.studied for about a year, watched you think it might be? It is not a
:22:52. > :23:00.bird. Thanks to the magical photography of Planet Earth Two, we
:23:01. > :23:05.can see what made this nest. Any ideas? Have a look as we go in
:23:06. > :23:13.closer. There it is. A harvest mouse, a tiny, little mouse. Only
:23:14. > :23:18.one weighing eight grams, the weight of a 2p piece. Incredibly acrobatic.
:23:19. > :23:24.Not quite so acrobatic, that one. They live their lives high up in
:23:25. > :23:30.stalks of grass. You can see its tail, it around to give it extra
:23:31. > :23:34.balance. I have often caught those and they
:23:35. > :23:40.never bite me. I have never been bitten by a harvest mouse. Same
:23:41. > :23:47.club, mate, if you are up for it! This is Gilbert White, published in
:23:48. > :23:53.1978, and he identified harvest mice for the first time. He says, "I
:23:54. > :23:57.procured a nest this autumn. It was about the size of a cricket ball
:23:58. > :24:01.with the aperture so ingenuously closed, there was no discovering to
:24:02. > :24:04.what part it belonged. It was so compact and it rolled across the
:24:05. > :24:14.table without being discomposed. Eight mice, naked and blind. " That
:24:15. > :24:18.is a bit harsh. There was a day when naturist could do that, to see if
:24:19. > :24:22.the young fell out. Writing a bestselling book about it.
:24:23. > :24:27.Brilliant. We are also looking for the hedgehog. We have set out traps
:24:28. > :24:30.and tubes come like those for the stoped, in the village, because we
:24:31. > :24:37.thought there was a good chance there. Here is the paper from one of
:24:38. > :24:43.those traps. The village's dog pulled it out. Had it not, we
:24:44. > :24:47.wouldn't have discovered that these footprints are the footprint of
:24:48. > :24:51.hedgehog. This piece of paper, equally chewed by the village dog,
:24:52. > :24:56.this one has been trampled by loads of mice and rats. If you look, there
:24:57. > :25:01.are hedgehog footprints. It proves that there are hedgehogs peasant
:25:02. > :25:04.on-site. We are putting together a much more competent picture of all
:25:05. > :25:12.other mammals living on the estate. Over here, it is something really
:25:13. > :25:16.fantastic. We have a map of the estate. Look at this. Here are the
:25:17. > :25:22.fields. Here is where we are, up here, this is where our base is.
:25:23. > :25:26.Here is Sherborne Brooke, Gillian is somewhere down here. The village of
:25:27. > :25:34.Sherborne is on this side. He is the Windrush Valley. This is where we
:25:35. > :25:38.found the bank vole. On that part of the Brooke is where we found the
:25:39. > :25:44.water vole and otter. That was your games of to? Very exciting. Very
:25:45. > :25:52.much a glimpse as well. The foxes were plaguing over here. We can move
:25:53. > :25:56.these in, Martin. I'm going to move this squadron of water shrews in
:25:57. > :26:04.over here are pressing down from North, in here. Where is it?
:26:05. > :26:10.Somewhere over there, the stoped was there. Then we have a squadron of
:26:11. > :26:14.harvest mice in that field, there. I am going to be this regiment of
:26:15. > :26:18.hedgehogs all the way down here, and push them down into the heart of the
:26:19. > :26:22.village, where they will act as a resistance to all of the mollusc in
:26:23. > :26:27.the village's Gardens. They will go out and eat the slugs and snails,
:26:28. > :26:30.making a good job of that. Making themselves popular. Chris, we will
:26:31. > :26:40.add to this map. We certainly are. We have been waiting years for a toy
:26:41. > :26:43.like this to play with! We have got our own map, marvellous! We are also
:26:44. > :26:47.interested in the mammals you might have in your garden, but in a
:26:48. > :26:51.slightly different way. What we would like to know is if there are
:26:52. > :26:55.any interactions taking place. Because out here in the countryside,
:26:56. > :26:59.most of these animals try not to bump into one another. They try to
:27:00. > :27:03.feed in different places at different times. Even if they feed
:27:04. > :27:08.in the same place, they try to come at a different time. If you put food
:27:09. > :27:11.out for foxes, badgers, hedgehogs or next-door's cat, there is a chance
:27:12. > :27:15.they might come together, and that is what we are interested in.
:27:16. > :27:22.Interactions like this one. Look carefully. There is a hedgehog here,
:27:23. > :27:26.and a fox. The fox doesn't attack the hedgehog, but steals all his
:27:27. > :27:31.food. Dawn Scott is interested in this. If you can record any video of
:27:32. > :27:35.similar interactions, go to our website and send it into us, and we
:27:36. > :27:38.will pass it on. We will catch up through the series to see what we
:27:39. > :27:45.have found, she will analyse it, and we will see what these interactions
:27:46. > :27:52.mean. If we can just move Michaela here, this is where the studio is.
:27:53. > :27:56.She is waiting for us right now. Bless them. I can't tell you how
:27:57. > :28:03.excited they were to be given a military map to play with. It a bit
:28:04. > :28:07.Dad's Army! I think we have established that we have a good
:28:08. > :28:13.righty of small mammals on the estate, which is good news for large
:28:14. > :28:17.predators, especially birds of prey. We have seen birds of prey all the
:28:18. > :28:21.time here. There is a great variety. We have cameras on quite a funeral
:28:22. > :28:26.guests. We introduced them to you at the beginning of the show, barn owls
:28:27. > :28:30.in one particular test. Let's look at where the nest is. It is on a
:28:31. > :28:38.working farm, and arable farm, bordering a water meadow. There is
:28:39. > :28:42.the adult barn owl, and the nest is inside the barn. Let's look at them
:28:43. > :28:46.live and see what they are up to. This is probably the female.
:28:47. > :28:53.Usually, it is the female but in debates and broods chicks and the
:28:54. > :28:59.eggs. I can tell you, underneath there, there are chicks, and there
:29:00. > :29:03.is an egg. Let's have a look. You can see, there are two chicks, a
:29:04. > :29:10.huge difference in size. The first one, the large one, hatched on the
:29:11. > :29:16.21st, eight days ago. The smaller one hatched a few days later. Much
:29:17. > :29:21.excitement this morning, because at 4:22am, the third one hatched. This
:29:22. > :29:27.isn't unusual. This is typical, very deliberate. A female barn owl will
:29:28. > :29:34.lay those eggs, probably, too- three days will be the difference between
:29:35. > :29:40.the first, second, third or fourth, 4-6 is usual in a clutch. That means
:29:41. > :29:45.it will obviously take anything from eight days to three weeks for that
:29:46. > :29:49.whole clutch to hatch. So we have got three there. There is another
:29:50. > :29:54.egg still waiting to hatch. Let's have a look at what has happened
:29:55. > :30:01.over the last few days. This is when there are just two chicks, I think.
:30:02. > :30:07.That is the male bringing some food. They are both roles, yes, they. This
:30:08. > :30:11.more recently. That is the bigger chick. The bigger chick is already
:30:12. > :30:18.trying to feed itself. It is struggling a little bit to get that
:30:19. > :30:23.chunk of meat down. It took about ten minutes to gulp it down. But you
:30:24. > :30:28.can see the female is still very tenderly feeding the other chick. We
:30:29. > :30:36.will be able to keep an eye on those chicks. Our nest watchers will watch
:30:37. > :30:41.closely to see when and if that egg hatches. You can do the same,
:30:42. > :30:43.because we have the cameras on nest 24 hours a day, and there are plenty
:30:44. > :30:53.of ways you can watch. The Springwatch cameras I live for
:30:54. > :30:57.20 hours every day from 4am to midnight. To find them go to the
:30:58. > :31:04.Springwatch website and click play or you can watch them on the red
:31:05. > :31:08.button on your TV. Sit back, relax and enjoy the best of British
:31:09. > :31:11.wildlife this spring. You can really enjoy Springwatch and
:31:12. > :31:16.get totally involved. We want you all to become part of the
:31:17. > :31:20.Springwatch family. As we know, nesting birds are an obvious sign of
:31:21. > :31:24.spring but I think other people look out for other things like emerging
:31:25. > :31:29.bees. That is another sign of spring as well. Do you know which one of
:31:30. > :31:38.our UK bees is the first to emerge? I am not talking bumblebees, I am
:31:39. > :31:40.talking a solitary bee which has a fantastically descriptive name.
:31:41. > :31:48.It is mid-March and spring is in the air in this Devonshire churchyard.
:31:49. > :31:56.The first flowers of the year braved the bright but chilly morning.
:31:57. > :32:10.At-large among the foliage, a bee forages for food. His legs are
:32:11. > :32:19.covered in feathery hairs, he is a hairy fitted flower bee. As well as
:32:20. > :32:28.hairy feet, he swaddled in a thick fur coat, so he can fly in the cold
:32:29. > :32:40.of early spring. Which means he has free run of the flower beds and the
:32:41. > :32:45.early nectar on offer. His proboscis is extremely long. Like a straw it
:32:46. > :32:57.reaches nectar deep within the flower's trumpet. This is his
:32:58. > :33:08.favourite tipple. Great hyacinth will do as well. -- grape hyacinth.
:33:09. > :33:14.Appetite sated, our male can turn his attention to matters of the
:33:15. > :33:22.heart. Because the male bees are also at large in the churchyard. --
:33:23. > :33:24.because female bees. Unlike their golden counterparts, the ladies are
:33:25. > :33:32.covered in beautiful jet black hairs. Having breakfasted early, the
:33:33. > :33:42.males are full of fuel and raring to go while the females are still
:33:43. > :33:57.sluggish and peckish. Our male patrols the churchyard. Finally, he
:33:58. > :34:04.spots a lady. Flower bees are aerial acrobats and are brilliant at
:34:05. > :34:13.hovering. Wings beating 400 times per second, our male hangs behind
:34:14. > :34:22.her. He waits patiently. Females are very choosy and only mate once so
:34:23. > :34:31.winning one is a tricky business. Just a practice pounced to get his
:34:32. > :34:37.iron. It is OK, no 14. Success! And now, the feathery legs come into
:34:38. > :34:47.their own. A gentle caress to entice her to mate or a shoulder massage to
:34:48. > :34:57.help her relax. In truth, the full purpose of this gentle dance isn't
:34:58. > :35:09.known, a mystery still to be solved. Other males have spotted the amorous
:35:10. > :35:16.couple. An abrupt end to an otherwise beautiful moment. As
:35:17. > :35:21.evening nears, a south facing wall in the corner of the churchyard
:35:22. > :35:27.sucks up the last of the sun's raise. Its surface is covered in
:35:28. > :35:34.tiny holes, each home to a single flower bee. They like their own
:35:35. > :35:38.space, as long as there are plenty others of their kind close by, but
:35:39. > :35:52.not everything living here is friendly. A neighbour from hell.
:35:53. > :36:07.The tube web spider. It is an ambush predator.
:36:08. > :36:30.A grisly end for this bee. But for our male, after a busy day,
:36:31. > :36:35.safety. Tomorrow, he will start all over again, rising early to have the
:36:36. > :36:41.best chance to find a female and maybe mate again.
:36:42. > :36:47.I have done my aerial acrobatics, I have pounced and now I am massaging
:36:48. > :36:53.because I am the male hairy-footed flower bee and you are the female.
:36:54. > :36:57.Is it working for you? I feel very stimulated! Seriously, Martin, it is
:36:58. > :37:05.amazing behaviour. No one knows why they do it but it was reported in
:37:06. > :37:20.1978 in a paper that Suzanne Batra noticed a female be stroking the --
:37:21. > :37:24.the male was stroking the female. The female has definitely calmed
:37:25. > :37:31.down. I think it is trying to prevent her being visually the
:37:32. > :37:34.related because then if she is distracted she might buzz off
:37:35. > :37:46.halfway through mating and no male wants that, do they? That would be
:37:47. > :37:50.useless. I think what is going on here is Tomic inability. You can
:37:51. > :37:54.hypnotise chickens and sharks. If you turned upside down they stopped
:37:55. > :38:00.moving. Even with lobsters, there is a particular area, if you stray pit
:38:01. > :38:06.they become static. I think this might be tonic inability to make
:38:07. > :38:10.sure the female remains absolutely still during mating. The
:38:11. > :38:15.hairy-footed female only mate once so it is really important for the
:38:16. > :38:20.male to get his hairy feet over how whichever way, whether it is
:38:21. > :38:24.drumming or Massiah Jen and successfully mate. Get his hairy
:38:25. > :38:29.feet over her. Let's move on briskly! Friends of the Earth are
:38:30. > :38:32.conducting the Great British Bee Count and it goes between the 19th
:38:33. > :38:37.of May and 30th of June and they want your help in trying to identify
:38:38. > :38:43.these. What you're thinking is, there too many, how can I possibly
:38:44. > :38:47.identify all those bees? There are 250 different species but don't
:38:48. > :38:52.worry, because they only want certain types to be identified and
:38:53. > :38:58.help is at hand. If you go onto our website they will show you how to
:38:59. > :39:09.download this app and this is how to identify these. That is great fun, I
:39:10. > :39:17.want to do that. Disabling app, it is Fred descriptive, very clear and
:39:18. > :39:22.it helps you learn your bees. -- it is a brilliant app, it is very
:39:23. > :39:32.descriptive. They are a crucial part of the ecosystem. Let's have a look.
:39:33. > :39:37.We have seen them. Aren't they hairy? Honeybee, crucial for us.
:39:38. > :39:44.There is the hairy-footed. We know all about that now. We do! Look at
:39:45. > :39:50.that, the longhorned bee, I have never seen one of those. Definitely
:39:51. > :39:58.a good thing to get involved with. The problem is a lot of flies mimic
:39:59. > :40:02.bees and they look almost identical. As you might have noticed, Chris has
:40:03. > :40:09.left us. He has gone down to the river with Gillian to see another
:40:10. > :40:14.sign of spring. We certainly are. I have never heard of the hairy-footed
:40:15. > :40:21.flower bee. I feel bad about that. I really must get to grips with my
:40:22. > :40:27.bees and that app would be perfect. Absolutely. Onto mayflies. Lastly,
:40:28. > :40:32.this river was bursting with life for Spring's big event, the mayfly
:40:33. > :40:39.hatch. When these insects begin life, they spend two years
:40:40. > :40:43.underwater. Feeding, filter feeding and waiting for their big moment to
:40:44. > :40:47.burst through the water surface and take flight. There are so mini
:40:48. > :40:52.things to say about mayflies. One of the things you can see this
:40:53. > :40:57.beautiful shot here, one of the things they say about mayflies is
:40:58. > :41:01.there are many species. In the British Isles there are precisely 51
:41:02. > :41:07.species and I am being precise because I know you like a bit of
:41:08. > :41:11.precision! The devil is always in the detail. The other interesting
:41:12. > :41:16.thing about mayflies is they have this developmental quirk in their
:41:17. > :41:20.life cycle. Whereas most insects will emerge once they have their
:41:21. > :41:24.wings they are raring to go and ready to mate. Mayflies have one
:41:25. > :41:29.extra step to go through so the first flies we see emerging from the
:41:30. > :41:39.water are not fully mature adults. They are called subimagos. If you
:41:40. > :41:45.just hold the net. We have a few mayflies in here. That is a tiny
:41:46. > :41:52.one. Let's try and get a nice big one. This insect here, I'm just
:41:53. > :42:00.going to put it on my hand and hope it stays. If you just swing that net
:42:01. > :42:06.closed, Gillian. Look at that. That is a spectacular insect. It has
:42:07. > :42:13.three tales. It folds its wings above its back and that is a sign it
:42:14. > :42:18.is a primitive insect. They have been around for 300 million years,
:42:19. > :42:24.not this species but this type of animal. It reminds me of dragonflies
:42:25. > :42:29.and damselflies. They cannot fold their wings flap over their bodies.
:42:30. > :42:38.That is right. This is ephemera vulgata. The clue is in the name,
:42:39. > :42:44.ephemera, it does not live long. Absolutely fantastic. When these
:42:45. > :42:50.things urge, they do not do so in ones and twos. They do it en masse.
:42:51. > :42:55.This is a juicy little insect. I will not eat it. In other parts of
:42:56. > :43:02.the world humans deep them. They gather them up and eat them. Here
:43:03. > :43:08.the humans do not do that. So many other species are gorging on the
:43:09. > :43:13.mayflies. This is the lake and it is covered in housemartins, swallows
:43:14. > :43:18.and of course, it is not just birds that are after them, fish as well.
:43:19. > :43:23.This is an extraordinary bonanza. The larvae of the species are in the
:43:24. > :43:31.mud, not accessible to these trout. As they come to the surface to catch
:43:32. > :43:34.into their subimagos, the trout are having a complete feast. Look at
:43:35. > :43:42.that swallow coming down and taking that one of the surface. So all they
:43:43. > :43:47.water birds here are taking advantage of this enormous number of
:43:48. > :43:51.insects, lots of protein instantaneously available. This is
:43:52. > :43:55.what we call predator swamping. The idea is so many mayflies hatch out,
:43:56. > :44:01.even if they are eating by Coutts and swallows and ducks and trout,
:44:02. > :44:05.enough of them will survive. It is not just water birds who are after
:44:06. > :44:10.them either. This little Wren has caught one. For a young Wren in the
:44:11. > :44:21.nest, I have to say it is a little feast in itself. That is a decent
:44:22. > :44:26.meal for a little rent. Those shots are a bit like mayfly Armageddon,
:44:27. > :44:30.don't you think? If they get past all those hungry mouths, they have
:44:31. > :44:36.to go through their last stage of their life cycle, the grand finale.
:44:37. > :44:42.There are quite vulnerable so they find a secret little spot in a blade
:44:43. > :44:47.of grass and discard their old exoskeleton and emerging their full
:44:48. > :44:53.glory, fully sexually mature adults ready to go away and mate. You can
:44:54. > :44:58.see the beautiful wings. And these huge eyes, particularly the males,
:44:59. > :45:04.they need those defined their females. And of course, once they
:45:05. > :45:08.take flight, once you get are these clouds of males who go into this
:45:09. > :45:16.nuptial dance and they fly up and down. It is like a rise and fall, a
:45:17. > :45:20.courtship dance, it is so elegant, absolutely breathtaking. The females
:45:21. > :45:25.will fly through these clouds and the males with very long front legs
:45:26. > :45:31.when they can, will grab hold of a female, hopefully we will see that
:45:32. > :45:35.in a minute and once they start making, it doesn't take very long,
:45:36. > :45:45.to be honest, it lasts a few seconds. They land and it is done.
:45:46. > :45:59.They have paired sexual all organs. Why do you need two sets of sexual
:46:00. > :46:03.organs? I had to dig out the facts. It is characteristic of this
:46:04. > :46:10.particular group. There she is, once the female lays her eggs, she dies.
:46:11. > :46:14.That's it. She's spent. Two years in the making, and that's it. Some, in
:46:15. > :46:21.the adult phase like this only live a couple of hours. Some are not day
:46:22. > :46:25.flies, as some people call them, they go on for a few days, depending
:46:26. > :46:31.on how long they need to find a mate. They go upstream to lay eggs,
:46:32. > :46:34.lay them in the water and drift down. The most amazing thing about
:46:35. > :46:40.these things is the fact that they are capable of removing pollutants
:46:41. > :46:47.from a stream, and keeping the stream healthy. Impurities settle in
:46:48. > :46:55.the mud, where the larvae are, they absorb them, lots of organic
:46:56. > :46:59.material. They emerge in such large numbers, they remove it from the
:47:00. > :47:04.stream and keep it healthy. These tiny little things our ecosystem
:47:05. > :47:08.engineers. These insects are manipulating and managing this
:47:09. > :47:11.environment. Basically, it is a great sign to see them in this
:47:12. > :47:20.river. It certainly is. What a treat. What an absolute treat. I
:47:21. > :47:24.have got a friend for life here. This spring has been, in my opinion,
:47:25. > :47:31.I was about to say it has been dry, but not in the last 24 hours. Storms
:47:32. > :47:35.across the south of England, lightning and thunderstorms. The
:47:36. > :47:37.question is, has the spring been dry? The answer is with Nick Miller
:47:38. > :47:46.at the BBC weather Centre. Spring has been on the dry side for
:47:47. > :47:52.many of us, and some dry moments in spring, particularly in April. In
:47:53. > :47:56.Edinburgh, and in London at Kew Gardens, a funeral metres of rain. A
:47:57. > :48:04.record dry April. But since then, things have got daft, in Scotland
:48:05. > :48:10.last Friday, 29 Celsius, the UK's highest temperature of the year so
:48:11. > :48:13.far. For many of us, turning back, Northolt in north-west London,
:48:14. > :48:19.average May rainfall, but warmer on the Northumberland coast,.
:48:20. > :48:25.Think about the wildlife, we have had torrential thunderstorms as
:48:26. > :48:30.well. They may wake us up in the night, but think about the wildlife
:48:31. > :48:35.going out to find food to feed chicks. Like the barn owls, it could
:48:36. > :48:39.be a matter of life and death. For them and us, the weather is getting
:48:40. > :48:43.quieter. More rain to come for a time tomorrow, but from midweek for
:48:44. > :48:49.a few days, high pressure building in. The flow of pressure around
:48:50. > :48:57.gives a favourable breeze, good news for that precarious nest. A very
:48:58. > :49:02.light wind midweek, if it lasts that long. Good hunting as well in this
:49:03. > :49:07.weather for the red Kite feeding their chicks. What about Sherborne?
:49:08. > :49:11.Getting dry and warm this week, but there is still a lot of Springwatch
:49:12. > :49:12.to go. For you and all the characters, a lot of Springwatch
:49:13. > :49:20.weather, too. I hope it is not whether we have had
:49:21. > :49:25.in the last 24 hours if I am honest. What it looks like it might be.
:49:26. > :49:30.Could be. It is not just about the cameras here at Sherborne, we have
:49:31. > :49:31.cameras all over the country. One of the most interesting we have set up
:49:32. > :49:50.is down in Salisbury. Salisbury Cathedral, at its founding
:49:51. > :49:55.stones were laid in the 13th century, and pilgrims have flocked
:49:56. > :49:58.here ever since. But recently, these lofty spires, have also provided
:49:59. > :50:06.sanctuary to some feathered residents. Peregrine Falklands. --
:50:07. > :50:21.Peregrine falcons. Their nest is 70 metres up on the
:50:22. > :50:29.south parapet. And the pair have successfully raised chicks here for
:50:30. > :50:38.the last two years. Now in late March, they are getting ready to do
:50:39. > :50:44.the same again. Heads held low, the pair cold to each other to reaffirm
:50:45. > :50:54.their bonds. This early courtship is a brief
:50:55. > :51:02.affair. It's just a quick catch up. Then, the smaller male is off.
:51:03. > :51:04.Around the country, other peregrines already have a guess. But this
:51:05. > :51:07.couple like to take their time. But this couple like
:51:08. > :51:09.to take their time. The nest remains empty.
:51:10. > :51:38.Days go by. But with the arrival of April, two
:51:39. > :51:41.eggs are finally revealed. Peregrines normally lay between
:51:42. > :51:49.three and four eggs at 48 hour intervals. They won't incubate until
:51:50. > :52:00.the clutch is almost complete, but this doesn't harm the eggs.
:52:01. > :52:08.Two days go by. The next egg is now late.
:52:09. > :52:13.Throughout the laying process, the mail brings food to the female to
:52:14. > :52:17.strengthen their bonds. The cathedral's tall spires are the
:52:18. > :52:26.perfect bondage point for spotting prey. A more hen is going to make a
:52:27. > :52:30.tasty meal. Once the incubation starts, she's
:52:31. > :52:38.going to be stuck on the nest, so he needs to make sure that she's well
:52:39. > :52:43.fed and in the peak of condition. He calls to the female to tell her
:52:44. > :52:52.that he has food. But she is not at the nest.
:52:53. > :53:05.Two more days pass. The eggs are often left unattended,
:53:06. > :53:20.and in the absence of the female, they are vulnerable.
:53:21. > :53:30.Jackdaws, they are attracted to the scraps dropped above the nest. But
:53:31. > :53:36.an egg would make an even tasty meal.
:53:37. > :53:50.The jackdaw spots the dramatic return of the female.
:53:51. > :54:10.When the mail also returns, the couple mate. The process is
:54:11. > :54:13.haphazard and clumsy, so meeting continues all the way through the
:54:14. > :54:24.lady in period to ensure that its successful.
:54:25. > :54:33.And it seems to pay off. Finally, more than a hundred hours after the
:54:34. > :54:45.second leg, the third appears. Seven days later, on Good Friday,
:54:46. > :54:55.there were not just four, but five eggs in the nest. I'm usually, it's
:54:56. > :54:56.taken 15 days to lay them all. And now, finally, the hard work of
:54:57. > :55:17.incubation can begin. What about that, not just beautiful,
:55:18. > :55:22.but imposing, those peregrines. You get a sense of presence with them.
:55:23. > :55:28.Unusual laying pattern their back. Stay with us, more from that nest
:55:29. > :55:32.tomorrow. Now, we saw the swallows coming in, dipping in and eating the
:55:33. > :55:37.mayflies, amazing pictures. I wonder if they were taking the mayflies to
:55:38. > :55:44.this nest. There she is. She just arrived. This is another one, a new
:55:45. > :55:49.nest for us, a swallow nest. The female has come back. We are not
:55:50. > :55:55.sure how many eggs there are in there. There were five, but I'm not
:55:56. > :56:01.sure myself. They are due to hatch the more we think, probably in the
:56:02. > :56:04.next five days, those eggs. She is a beautiful bird, Martin, but she is
:56:05. > :56:14.slightly highly strung. Take a look at this. She is sitting,, but
:56:15. > :56:20.something disturbs her. In comes a wasp. She is scared by this wasp.
:56:21. > :56:25.Mind you, we think it is a Queen wasp possibly looking for a new
:56:26. > :56:31.nesting site. I would want a wasp nest next to my bed. The eggs are
:56:32. > :56:42.tiny, much smaller than I thought. Fantastic. What are we doing now?
:56:43. > :56:47.Yes, we had some questions. A tweet, someone has worked out the angle of
:56:48. > :56:55.the jays nest, working it out with his protractor. I love that. 35
:56:56. > :57:00.degrees. We have a hashtag that has got going on Twitter. 85% of you
:57:01. > :57:05.think they are going to fledge. I love a positive audience! Very
:57:06. > :57:09.optimistic. We had to make sure it is not windy in the next few days.
:57:10. > :57:14.We are running out of time now, but I would like to show you this before
:57:15. > :57:19.we go. Look at these may fly. It shows you the abundance of these
:57:20. > :57:24.insects. There was a breeze blowing these insects across the river.
:57:25. > :57:28.There are not tens of thousands, probably not hundreds of thousands,
:57:29. > :57:32.but millions on the river when the hatch takes place. Truly
:57:33. > :57:38.spectacular. Let's go live to the red Kite nest quickly. It is
:57:39. > :57:42.beginning to rain again. Just as we are coming off air, it is starting
:57:43. > :57:47.to rain again. The poor chicks in that nest. It has been amazing. It
:57:48. > :57:52.was sunny, then training, dry for the show, and we get this at the
:57:53. > :57:59.end. Sadly, that's all we have got time for tonight. Tomorrow, we will
:58:00. > :58:03.move further afield to a World War II airfield. We are trying to get
:58:04. > :58:08.friendly to find one of the rarest animals, difficult to see here at
:58:09. > :58:16.Sherborne. We are heading to Scotland to meet perhaps the most
:58:17. > :58:23.bolshie bird in Britain. We will also be introducing a new family, a
:58:24. > :58:26.stoat and her kids. They were star characters last year on Springwatch,
:58:27. > :58:31.and I am sure they will be again this year. It will be a stunning
:58:32. > :59:03.show full of heavy highlights, stay tuned for tomorrow, 8pm. Goodbye!
:59:04. > :59:11.We need to trap the beast which killed him.
:59:12. > :59:16.Tear him apart! I want him found! Now!