:00:08. > :00:10.It's hard to believe we've already reached this year's half way mark!
:00:11. > :00:12.But the wildlife is far from doing things by halves!
:00:13. > :00:17.Predation, devastation, jubilation...
:00:18. > :00:56.All will be revealed...it's Springwatch.
:00:57. > :01:03.Welcome to Springwatch coming from this very wet estate in
:01:04. > :01:08.Gloucestershire. The National Trust manage this place and do a very good
:01:09. > :01:12.job. Last night it was wild and wet and tonight it is wicked and wet and
:01:13. > :01:18.windy. We've had all of the weather today. Earlier it was thunderstorms,
:01:19. > :01:24.the TP was nearly lifted off, we thought we would land in Kansas.
:01:25. > :01:29.We've got a beautiful rainbow behind us. It is stunning. It was even
:01:30. > :01:36.better five minutes ago. I wanted to dig up the treasurer at the end.
:01:37. > :01:43.Wildlife has been battling against these conditions. Despite the
:01:44. > :01:47.constantly changing weather, some decided to fledge over the last 24
:01:48. > :02:01.hours. What kind of check would do that? It was the Robins. This was
:02:02. > :02:08.one little bonkers Robin. It was a gamble but it landed on a nearby
:02:09. > :02:11.branch and one of the parents came along and said it. What about the
:02:12. > :02:25.other three. They decided to fledge here. I
:02:26. > :02:32.reckon there must've been a break in the weather because when I woke at
:02:33. > :02:41.5am, it was really windy. This was the only sensible one amongst them.
:02:42. > :02:48.It's decided to stay put. Eventually it decided to join the others. It
:02:49. > :02:54.seems crazy to fledge in this weather but they don't fly
:02:55. > :03:05.straightaway, they stay for two to three weeks. Maybe it is quite
:03:06. > :03:10.protected. It is quite sheltered. They've got plenty of food. A lot of
:03:11. > :03:20.insects. We saw them being fed last night. Fingers crossed they will
:03:21. > :03:24.make it. Johnny on Twitter says, do young birds steering and sheer
:03:25. > :03:28.territory without getting attacked? That is sort of correct, they have
:03:29. > :03:33.the spotty front instead of the red breast. That is for camouflage and
:03:34. > :03:40.partly so the parents don't attack their own checks. The red breast is
:03:41. > :03:49.used in territorial battles. They threw her head back, they shove
:03:50. > :03:54.their red breast to the fore and they show off as much as they
:03:55. > :03:58.possibly can. It is unnecessary for them to have a red breast because
:03:59. > :04:11.they are not looking for territory at this stage. What are you looking
:04:12. > :04:16.at me like that for? The expertise! I don't know why you are surprised
:04:17. > :04:25.when I give a good answer. I am always pleasantly surprised! Arch in
:04:26. > :04:32.Staffs and Jays have gone but we have found a new nest in the Barden.
:04:33. > :04:41.We can cut to live. It is a nest within a nest. The top part of it,
:04:42. > :04:48.you can see at least four youngsters in there. It is in the same farmyard
:04:49. > :04:55.as the swallows. You can see the buildings where they were nesting.
:04:56. > :05:06.Here is one of the parents with a mouthful of insects. There are all
:05:07. > :05:11.sorts of things to feed them. They are one of the most successful birds
:05:12. > :05:17.in the country. We will keep an eye on them. Lovely to have around.
:05:18. > :05:23.Remember we have one before and we called it Sophia Lorenz.
:05:24. > :05:30.One evening, it was very hot and sunny, we looked into the nest and
:05:31. > :05:32.the youngsters were completely covered in mosquitoes. I had never
:05:33. > :05:47.seen that before. They were smothered. Let's check up on the
:05:48. > :05:56.bullfinches. We've got two checks, 12 days old. The parents are doing a
:05:57. > :06:07.pretty good job. They are out foraging. Maybe they are collecting
:06:08. > :06:10.lots of seeds. They will bring back a sackful. Let's have a look at what
:06:11. > :06:18.has been happening over the last 24 hours. The adult female has had to
:06:19. > :06:25.shelter the checks from the rain. Doing a very good job. You can see
:06:26. > :06:32.how much they've developed. The beak, it is really looking like an
:06:33. > :06:42.adult speak. They might fledge but for now they are contented. They
:06:43. > :06:47.will get out of that nest, they are nesting in very dense brambles. They
:06:48. > :06:54.could easily hop out. We've been enjoying a bit of a raptor festival.
:06:55. > :07:01.Let's go to the kites to see how wet they are. A little bit dry cold. We
:07:02. > :07:14.had a rainstorm. They are quite well sheltered.
:07:15. > :07:26.One of the adults has brought in a young jackdaw. Doing a good job of
:07:27. > :07:33.tearing it up. They are sharing the food. This was earlier in the
:07:34. > :07:40.evening when they were getting this food. You can see that they are
:07:41. > :07:52.quite well feathered. Things got quite windy. Here they are looking
:07:53. > :08:08.sodden. That is exactly right. Joking aside, they are big enough
:08:09. > :08:16.and it is not cold enough. They have been bringing it in since. It is
:08:17. > :08:22.amazing how they are coping with this weather. Two weeks ago it was
:08:23. > :08:28.boiling hot, we were all wearing shorts. It is a massive contrast for
:08:29. > :08:37.them to deal with. That is what we love about Britain, isn't it? Last
:08:38. > :08:44.week we saw Martin in Wales and he was looking for sand lizards. He
:08:45. > :08:58.also went on a mission to look for a rather more warty creature.
:08:59. > :09:06.I've come to the north-eastern tip of Wales, to the most of the DS
:09:07. > :09:12.tree. Liverpool is just over there. It is a glorious coastline. We are
:09:13. > :09:25.not here for the birds. We are here for something much rarer and
:09:26. > :09:33.arguably, more exciting. This is a 165 acres of rear ecosystem. With
:09:34. > :09:41.some local knowledge I can assure you exactly what I am after. This is
:09:42. > :09:52.a toad but not just any old toad. How does it look different? It has
:09:53. > :09:59.the same warty skin. Don't her back, there's a yellow stripe. The
:10:00. > :10:09.crowning glory is the beautiful iridescent eyes. Let's put her back
:10:10. > :10:25.where she wants to be. In the early 1900, people began to
:10:26. > :10:30.live on the dunes and the Second World War, German bombing raids on
:10:31. > :10:42.Merseyside saw many more fleeing to the safe retreat, eventually
:10:43. > :10:48.driving the natterjacks away. They were finally reintroduced into the
:10:49. > :11:00.most successful reintroduction site in Britain. All thanks to John
:11:01. > :11:05.Buckley. Where did you get the natterjacks to repopulate this? They
:11:06. > :11:11.came from the Sefton Coast. That is just over a near the Wirral. I
:11:12. > :11:20.collected them and I drove them around down to here. So they are
:11:21. > :11:30.descendants from your car journey through the tunnel? Yes. Fantastic.
:11:31. > :11:35.April and May are the breeding season for the natterjacks and
:11:36. > :11:42.though they are nocturnal, John monitors numbers by monitoring spawn
:11:43. > :11:49.strings. Hang about. This is absolutely perfect. The eggs are
:11:50. > :11:56.lying one behind the other in a single line. This will give you an
:11:57. > :12:04.indication of the health of the population in this area. That gives
:12:05. > :12:13.us an idea of the total breeding population. How is it doing? It is
:12:14. > :12:21.getting better and better. They are breeding here but John needs to
:12:22. > :12:27.study the adults to get a better picture. After dark, the males
:12:28. > :12:31.emerge from the boroughs and call to the females from the shallows of the
:12:32. > :12:40.ponds. They are very civilised. They are not like common toads. They tend
:12:41. > :12:46.to be left to their own devices. Is that why it's called the common
:12:47. > :12:51.toad? Natterjacks are famous for having one of the loudest amphibian
:12:52. > :13:04.calls in Britain but not tonight. It is probably too cold for them
:13:05. > :13:10.tonight. They will be here in the pond. They are sitting hunkered down
:13:11. > :13:18.in the water. I should not have had so much supper. A little squeak. A
:13:19. > :13:27.little crook. Do you reckon this is a male? I think so. I can see the
:13:28. > :13:34.black thumb pads. So can I! Before we release him, John wants to record
:13:35. > :13:40.some vital data to help him monitored the population of the
:13:41. > :13:46.natterjacks. We try to get him to sit with his nose on one end. I
:13:47. > :13:54.would be happy with 61 millimetres at the moment. That means this mail
:13:55. > :14:04.is over four years old. Now for his weight. 25.2 grams. They give John
:14:05. > :14:11.an idea of the overall condition and ultimately the health of the colony.
:14:12. > :14:17.Let's put him back. Lovely. Excellent. Ready for his lady love.
:14:18. > :14:29.Hopefully there is one tonight. She might come. The women of his dreams.
:14:30. > :14:38.Let's look for another one. Hopefully, with more projects like
:14:39. > :14:44.this, at Talacre, the natterjack could be on the road to recovery.
:14:45. > :14:56.I like those natterjacks. 93% of them are found on sites of special
:14:57. > :15:01.scientific interest. The RSPB is a press release out from a reserve in
:15:02. > :15:04.Scotland to say that they have a record number of put there. 209 male
:15:05. > :15:13.toads. John the man in the film. He buzz my
:15:14. > :15:18.biology teacher at comprehensive in the '70s. No way! I have to say
:15:19. > :15:22.something with clarity that I wouldn't be sat here today if it
:15:23. > :15:27.weren't for him. My goodness. He was a fantastic mentor when I was a kid.
:15:28. > :15:33.He is to blame! Blame John Buckley for that. Top bloke We salute you
:15:34. > :15:37.John Buckley. A top bloke. We introduced you to a family of pine
:15:38. > :15:42.martens who has chosen to nest in the loft of Ian Mason's workshop in
:15:43. > :15:47.Pitlochrie north of Perth in Scotland. We showed you some amazing
:15:48. > :15:52.footage and I am please to say we have more to show you. There are two
:15:53. > :15:58.kits, and an adult female in this. One of the kits, it looks like it is
:15:59. > :16:02.kissing its mother. This is probably bonding or it could be begging for
:16:03. > :16:08.food. This is something I see my puppy do all the time when it meets
:16:09. > :16:12.older dogs, it licks the side of their face hoping to get food. It is
:16:13. > :16:16.very important for that strong bond to continue while they are this
:16:17. > :16:22.young. Also you can see them doing a lot of playing. It is play fighting.
:16:23. > :16:26.And between the ages of five to eight weeks it can get very
:16:27. > :16:32.boisterous but it is important hunting training. They need to learn
:16:33. > :16:37.to pounce, and they need to learn how to stealthily go up to any prey.
:16:38. > :16:41.With our foxes the other day. This is about also setting up a
:16:42. > :16:45.hierarchy, it lasts a live time. Look at that. You have heard of
:16:46. > :16:50.pulling your leg, this is pulling your tail! One kit doesn't look so
:16:51. > :16:53.happy about that. But that is a great somersault. That is
:16:54. > :16:58.impressive. After a sort of tiring day, with a load of playing it is
:16:59. > :17:04.time go back and snuggle up with mum. It almost look like they are
:17:05. > :17:08.playing in cotton wool but that is roof insulation. Rolling round. It
:17:09. > :17:13.is irritating stuff but with their fur they don't feel it the way we
:17:14. > :17:17.do. Watching the animals has given us the opportunity to see what they
:17:18. > :17:21.are eating so we have been trying to identify as many things as possible
:17:22. > :17:26.they bring in. Here you see the female squeezing through the gap in
:17:27. > :17:30.the roof. Dashing to where the den is S this is obviously a mammal,
:17:31. > :17:35.that could be a vole or a mouse, can't see enough of it to determine
:17:36. > :17:40.really. That looks definitely looks more vole like I think. That one has
:17:41. > :17:46.decided to have that to itself. Oh no, a bit of fight taking place.
:17:47. > :17:52.You can see them, it's a vole, definitely a vole. It is like a fold
:17:53. > :17:57.vole well the short tail. Listen... There is a fledgling of
:17:58. > :18:07.some kind. What about this. Look at that. Do you recognise the red tail
:18:08. > :18:11.of that prey? It is a red squirrel. And the female brings it in and
:18:12. > :18:18.initially tries to cache it underneath its bedding there.
:18:19. > :18:22.Of course, as soon as her back is turned... The kits are straight in
:18:23. > :18:25.the cupboard with their noses in the sweet jab and they have found the
:18:26. > :18:32.squirrel. Now this is relatively unusual. I mean for pine martens to
:18:33. > :18:36.kill red squirrel, in studies in Scotland and Ireland they only
:18:37. > :18:42.appear between 0% and 5% of their diet. What is interesting, is they
:18:43. > :18:48.do tend to focus on grey squirrels rather than reds. Reds. There are
:18:49. > :18:53.probably a couple of reason, pine martens and red squirrels co-existed
:18:54. > :18:59.together. Basically they are smaller and lighter and more agile and they
:19:00. > :19:02.spend more time up trees. Grey squirrels, never very popular spend
:19:03. > :19:07.more time on the ground. That is where pine martens forage most of
:19:08. > :19:12.the time. A study that was conducted in Ireland in 2014 showed when pine
:19:13. > :19:16.martens moved back to an area where greys had been dominant for as long
:19:17. > :19:23.as 30 years, they reduced the number of greys and the number of reds
:19:24. > :19:27.increased. So we are interesting in red squirrel conservation, aside
:19:28. > :19:31.from shooting and trapping greys which is difficult, perhaps the
:19:32. > :19:37.answer is to reintroduce pine martens. It has been done a Wildlife
:19:38. > :19:40.Trust has put 39 animals back in to Wales, they will release some more
:19:41. > :19:44.in the autumn. They are looking about more in the Forest of Dean.
:19:45. > :19:47.Really interesting stuff. Let us go back to our pine martens, in the
:19:48. > :19:54.loft, because on May 25th this happened.
:19:55. > :19:59.Mum decided it was time to move out. This usually happens when the kits
:20:00. > :20:04.are seven to eight weeks old. They start explore, it is the first time
:20:05. > :20:10.they left the barn. She brought both out. You can see how incredibly
:20:11. > :20:17.agile she is going down that wall. After she brought them out, they
:20:18. > :20:22.disappeared. Did they come back? Tomorrow, Martin's going to be up in
:20:23. > :20:29.Pitlochrie, in Ian's house to see if he can find them. Should be good. I
:20:30. > :20:33.hope he does. Live pine marten would be fantastic. Fantastic. Interestly
:20:34. > :20:38.if they are outside. Over to Gillian.
:20:39. > :20:44.Wouldn't we all love to have pine martens in our loft. But we can't
:20:45. > :20:48.all be as lucky as Ian may son, however, some of you might have
:20:49. > :21:02.something like this in your garden. A badger. And a fox. And, wait for
:21:03. > :21:05.it, who's that? If you do, we, along with Dawn Scott at the University of
:21:06. > :21:13.Brighton would love to hear from you. And this is how you can get in
:21:14. > :21:18.touch. Look an our website bbc.co.uk/Springwatch and click on
:21:19. > :21:24.the link springtails. If you want to get in touch with us, here is how.
:21:25. > :21:29.The easiest way to reach us at Springwatch is to goonline and be
:21:30. > :21:37.our friend on social media. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram
:21:38. > :21:39.and tag us in your photographses or this is how you can get in touch.
:21:40. > :21:42.Look an our website bbc.co.uk/Springwatch and click on
:21:43. > :21:44.the link springtails. If you want to get in touch with us, here is how.
:21:45. > :21:47.The easiest way to reach us at Springwatch is to go online and be
:21:48. > :21:50.our friend on social media. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram
:21:51. > :21:52.and tag us in your photographses or this is how you can get in touch.
:21:53. > :21:54.Look an our website bbc.co.uk/Springwatch and click on
:21:55. > :21:57.the link springtails. If you want to get in touch with us, here is how.
:21:58. > :22:00.The easiest way to reach us at Springwatch is to go online and be
:22:01. > :22:03.our friend on social media. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram
:22:04. > :22:05.and tag us in your photographses or Tweet us using #Springwatch to make
:22:06. > :22:08.sure we spot it. If you can't remember all of this, it is
:22:09. > :22:10.explained on our web side. Get in touch. Send us your questions
:22:11. > :22:13.and picture, we hope to catch up with the best at some stage. Martin
:22:14. > :22:15.is after the pine martens in Scotland. We have been after badgers
:22:16. > :22:18.here on the Sherborne Estate. We have got a couple of groups here,
:22:19. > :22:21.there is one on this side where we think there could be five animals.
:22:22. > :22:23.Over here, about, 800 metres to one,000 metres away, there is what
:22:24. > :22:26.we can calling our Sandy hill sett, where we think there were seven
:22:27. > :22:29.badger, we can go to that life. Let us look at what is happening. You
:22:30. > :22:31.can see there is have been little ground vegetation, that is because
:22:32. > :22:34.there has been a huge amount of badger activity. There were cubs
:22:35. > :22:37.here and they have been cavorting all over the place, plenty of
:22:38. > :22:43.digging going on. It was at this nest we marked one of our badgers,
:22:44. > :22:50.about three or four weeks' ago, came up with Dr Dawn Scotland and we put
:22:51. > :22:55.a satellite tracking device, we called it mad a, Madge for short. We
:22:56. > :23:00.thought we would take a look. It has been rainy, we wanted to know if
:23:01. > :23:04.this had any influence on her behaviour. That is where the sett
:23:05. > :23:08.is. You can see she hasn't been spending much time there, she has
:23:09. > :23:15.moved herself, up to this block of woodland here, and again, over to
:23:16. > :23:20.this woodland here. Foraging down in fields here. Most of her foraging,
:23:21. > :23:25.again along the side of this field, which is Durrantly full of oil-seed
:23:26. > :23:33.rape, she is on the mar givens there. So why has she moved grey the
:23:34. > :23:36.area we tagged her? Well, we know that there is a lack Taiting female
:23:37. > :23:42.badger there, the dominant female with her cubs, and it is likely that
:23:43. > :23:45.at this time of year she is keeping all of the other badger,
:23:46. > :23:51.particularly the females away from the cubs. It looks like imagine has
:23:52. > :23:55.been pushed out and spending her time in other parts of the woodland.
:23:56. > :24:01.It's a same we haven't seen Madge the badge. But we have seen others.
:24:02. > :24:07.In fact we have had an unexpected visitor. Here is one of the badgers
:24:08. > :24:14.out and about. Look, this is Munt, the muntjac. It is mooching round
:24:15. > :24:20.the sett. It is curious, but is the batcher going to be happy. Happy. It
:24:21. > :24:26.is not. It doesn't stay away for very long. I decide to come back,
:24:27. > :24:29.intr interested in picking up that leaf.
:24:30. > :24:35.That interesting because this time the badger is tolerating it. This is
:24:36. > :24:42.the sort of interaction that down Scot is interested in in her
:24:43. > :24:46.springtails survey. It seems curious, it is coming up. It is
:24:47. > :24:53.alert. Look at that very long tongue. And then another badger
:24:54. > :25:01.comes, a not so happy about it being around, toll railway stations it for
:25:02. > :25:05.a bit. But thing it has that enough, chases it off and the tail goes up
:25:06. > :25:10.in that typical flight mode. Interesting stuff. Why is it doing
:25:11. > :25:16.that? Well, I mean maybe it has just come for a bit of company, we asked
:25:17. > :25:24.Dawn Scott, she says she hasn't seen it before, what she thinks is it has
:25:25. > :25:31.come to find nutrients in the soil. It has a nutrient poor diet. Maybe
:25:32. > :25:37.it was coming there to lick the salt. It cam back last night. If you
:25:38. > :25:45.are watching the webcamings on the remember Button and internet. Let us
:25:46. > :25:49.now. 5.31 this afternoon. Did it? That's news to me. I know. I was
:25:50. > :25:56.looking at the screens this afternoon and the muntjac was back
:25:57. > :26:02.on the sent. The deer frequently are lacking in certain mineral, we have
:26:03. > :26:06.a problem with deer in the forest. They don't have to lick the soil.
:26:07. > :26:10.They can eat the plants that are growing in that soil to get that.
:26:11. > :26:16.Keep an eye on that. You might see the Muntz as well. One of Britain's
:26:17. > :26:21.most popular birds or most colourful birds is the kingfisher. Robert
:26:22. > :26:26.fuller who is an artist and photographer has been watching these
:26:27. > :26:34.birds from a special hide close to his home.
:26:35. > :26:41.Every time a see a kingfisher you get this adrenaline rush. They are
:26:42. > :26:45.like little bolts of cobalt blue. You hear the missile and they go
:26:46. > :26:52.flying buy. It is such a brilliant moment.
:26:53. > :26:55.I have spend hundreds of hour watching them over year, I paint
:26:56. > :27:00.them and I have probably painted more than any other bird. They are
:27:01. > :27:03.an interesting subject to study. What I wanted to do this year is
:27:04. > :27:11.learn more about them. What happens inside the nest.
:27:12. > :27:15.Eknew a friend who had fishing legs and they had kingfishers nesting
:27:16. > :27:24.there. The bank collapsed. I knew this was the moment to build an
:27:25. > :27:29.artificial bank. I clad it with a render mixture, making the nesting
:27:30. > :27:36.chamber, so it is a big project. It is all suspended over the water.
:27:37. > :27:39.Kingfishers are such a sensitive subject, you have to have have a
:27:40. > :27:49.licence for these birds. When the kingfisher first went into
:27:50. > :27:51.the nest chamber I couldn't believe my luck.
:27:52. > :27:55.Nesting chamber, so when the kingfisher first went into
:27:56. > :27:57.the nest chamber I couldn't believe my luck.
:27:58. > :27:59.It was like "Yes" punching the air, I couldn't believe that the
:28:00. > :28:03.kingfishers had taken this nest chamber on.
:28:04. > :28:08.The birds are part of the winter and they Coll breed in early spring.
:28:09. > :28:15.There is always aggression but it is part of the courtship. It is like
:28:16. > :28:19.gold almost. You are watching magical moments. Gradually over the
:28:20. > :28:22.period a month it starts mating the female, which is brilliant. You know
:28:23. > :28:39.then you have got it. The first egg came quite early. That
:28:40. > :28:44.was a magical moment. I was there for most of the eggs being laid.
:28:45. > :28:50.Quite incredible to think you are a metre away from a kingfisher laying
:28:51. > :28:54.its eggs, you barely dare breathe. In between seven and eight every
:28:55. > :29:05.morning she laid an egg for seven consecutive days.
:29:06. > :29:10.The birth got interesting, she the steady one of the two. She is the
:29:11. > :29:17.more highly strung, aggressive, demanding. I think she is a first
:29:18. > :29:23.year bird. Inexperienced. Quite a special bird because she almost has
:29:24. > :29:27.a necklace of blue markings and an orange bib. Tensions can still run
:29:28. > :29:31.high with this couple. So he went to go and do a nest change over.
:29:32. > :29:38.Instead of calling her out she wouldn't be call confidence out so
:29:39. > :29:46.he went in. They ended up having almost a sword
:29:47. > :29:48.fight. A tussle in the nest box. During this they cracked one of
:29:49. > :30:23.their own eggs. It was sort of thing seeing eggs
:30:24. > :30:29.hatch. -- so exciting. The small cheques are usually helpless but
:30:30. > :30:35.Kingfisher checks stand proud. -- small chicks. They were quite
:30:36. > :30:39.upright. You expect them to be beautiful but the chicks are like
:30:40. > :30:48.little pink pterodactyls. They are very unusual things. You wonder how
:30:49. > :31:00.they get these sticklebacks down and then but it's quite amazing to see.
:31:01. > :31:09.Only four hatched out of the seven eggs. It is dark in there so it is a
:31:10. > :31:29.difficult thing to do. Kingfishers are really unusual.
:31:30. > :31:36.Because they live in a messy environment, they come right at the
:31:37. > :31:39.last minute. 19, 20 days, showing a bit of colour, and all of a sudden
:31:40. > :31:47.these beautiful feathers come through. Just starting to poke
:31:48. > :31:55.through a little bit of colour. It has been an amazing experience to
:31:56. > :32:04.have this sensitive subject so intimately viewed. It is a circus of
:32:05. > :32:15.colourful characters. They are beautiful birds, kingfishers. An
:32:16. > :32:21.insight into the private life of the Kingfisher. It is great to see
:32:22. > :32:27.Robert being so enthusiastic. At this stage, they look like scruffy
:32:28. > :32:33.adults and their curiosity will be excited by sparkling things. They
:32:34. > :32:44.will plunge down and learn how to catch things for themselves. Robert
:32:45. > :32:53.will be joining us on Thursday and I urge you not to miss that. He is
:32:54. > :32:57.bringing a friend and a most amazing picture. Tomorrow we'll be looking
:32:58. > :33:06.at the kingfishers we have on the Sherborne estate. Her cameramen have
:33:07. > :33:11.been filming them. Such a beautiful bird. So often, you catch a glimpse
:33:12. > :33:13.of them as the colour flashes by on the river. Another catch a glimpse
:33:14. > :33:29.of is the stoat. We saw the mother bringing in
:33:30. > :33:38.lots of food. With so much in the den it was getting fetid, attracting
:33:39. > :33:46.flies and the attention of the kit. The kit started to get adventurous,
:33:47. > :33:51.starting to tumble out of the den. There are five of them but as they
:33:52. > :33:56.were going in and out, quite hard to count. But it seems like a jolly
:33:57. > :34:06.good game. As they are getting the hang of it, mother comes along and
:34:07. > :34:11.decide it is time to move. When you want to move quickly, it is easier
:34:12. > :34:25.to drag them off. As we've seen, she has dragged rabbits pray. She's
:34:26. > :34:37.incredibly strong. She's got five to transport and it is something she
:34:38. > :34:46.will need to do regularly. She is back to explore the Stonewall. She
:34:47. > :34:54.will continue to follow them but now they are out and about we should get
:34:55. > :35:06.some interesting behaviour. From one to another, this one I am very
:35:07. > :35:14.excited about. This long tube was constructed by our own 13. What do
:35:15. > :35:23.you think they will try to entice into this? Rabbits. They are quite
:35:24. > :35:28.flighty. They don't take easily to this kind of thing. Here is the
:35:29. > :35:40.Warren. It is very active. They are quite suspicious. It was sometime
:35:41. > :35:48.before I done came into the burrow. I don't know how old that wonders.
:35:49. > :35:54.-- one is. You can see that it is a youngster. Immediately curious. One
:35:55. > :36:01.came in and was then joined by his mate. Here are three. I knew
:36:02. > :36:08.immediately. There could be as many as seven rabbits in a burrow we
:36:09. > :36:17.placed beneath the ground. Top work! I did not think it would work. Seven
:36:18. > :36:23.bunnies! That is what you pay your license fee for. Let's have a look
:36:24. > :36:33.at them. What a shame, nothing there. We seem so much action. -- we
:36:34. > :36:44.have seen. Let's have a look at what has been going on. It is tiring
:36:45. > :36:54.being a bunny. That was a downward bunny. If you don't do joker that
:36:55. > :37:05.has gone over head. -- Yoga. It has gone stratospherically over my head.
:37:06. > :37:13.Keep your eyes on the live camera. The bar now although there, all the
:37:14. > :37:20.creatures. When you think of British animals you mostly think of deer and
:37:21. > :37:26.foxes and stoats. Maybe we remember the bats but do we ever think of
:37:27. > :37:32.whales and dolphins? They are as much part of the animals as the
:37:33. > :37:36.others, they just live in the sea. Some of these species are on the
:37:37. > :37:39.increase. The number of sightings is up and there is some exciting action
:37:40. > :37:45.up on the west country with a humpback whale. Sadly, it got
:37:46. > :37:47.entangled in some fishing equipment so we went down to see how they
:37:48. > :37:58.released it. I am here we are earlier this year
:37:59. > :38:03.humpback whale was caught off the coast. Dragging the lines behind it,
:38:04. > :38:08.the whale was struggling and the British divers monitoring the
:38:09. > :38:15.situation decided to try and help the whale. The divers were present,
:38:16. > :38:22.Dan Jarvis and Tim Coleman, and have the dramatic footage to prove it.
:38:23. > :38:30.That is going straight from the onto the tail. They waited to get out of
:38:31. > :38:36.the water to keep a safe zone. We've got three of our team plus the
:38:37. > :38:46.fishermen, hauling the whale. Trying to cut the lines around it. You're
:38:47. > :38:50.fighting a 15 tonne animal. This is genuinely dangerous work. They were
:38:51. > :39:02.putting themselves at risk to help those whale. When it works, the
:39:03. > :39:06.rewards are worth it. There it is. How do they get tangled up in these
:39:07. > :39:13.lines? When they are fishing they come towards the shallows. That is
:39:14. > :39:18.where the mines are. If it gets tangled in the first one, it gets
:39:19. > :39:24.caught up. It swings round and drags the pots down. No sooner had you cut
:39:25. > :39:28.it you loose than, a few weeks later, it came back, and it was
:39:29. > :39:35.tangled up again. It was tangled in very similar deer. We got hold of
:39:36. > :39:41.the ropes and brought it up onto the main winch. That made this rescue
:39:42. > :39:50.easier than the first. With one quick cut, the whale is free once
:39:51. > :39:59.more. It must be fantastic after all that hard work. Brilliant. The work
:40:00. > :40:04.people like Dan and Tim do is of huge importance but prevention would
:40:05. > :40:13.be so much better. What can we do to stop entanglement like this? Many
:40:14. > :40:18.other incidents occur. I've come to meet Ross King, a third-generation
:40:19. > :40:26.fishermen who has been using sound to keep animals away from his nets.
:40:27. > :40:37.You are trialling new technology. What is it? It is called a banana
:40:38. > :40:41.pinger, inside is a little device. It gives off a noise which they hope
:40:42. > :40:46.will keep dolphins and porpoises away from the net. Yes, it gives
:40:47. > :40:51.them a signal that it must be dangerous so they will avoid it. If
:40:52. > :40:58.they were going along normally they might tangle it. You've been using
:40:59. > :41:05.this for 12 months. Have you caught any? Still haven't. I have not
:41:06. > :41:12.caught a dolphin in the net. It does not affect the way I fish with it.
:41:13. > :41:19.That is good news. It is nice to see that fishermen can live alongside,
:41:20. > :41:34.all fitting together. We like to see it as well. Riding the wave for 30
:41:35. > :41:38.seconds. Around the world there is an effort to solve this problem.
:41:39. > :41:51.There is effort to bring entanglement to an end. Over 300,000
:41:52. > :41:56.whales and dolphins are killed worldwide by being entangled every
:41:57. > :42:02.year. Would it not be wonderful if the pioneering work resulted in
:42:03. > :42:11.these figures coming tumbling down? It is certainly a step in the right
:42:12. > :42:20.direction. 300,000 whales and dolphins killed every year. Way too
:42:21. > :42:25.many. The good news is it has been a bumpy year for sightings. There's
:42:26. > :42:35.been more sightings than ever before. It includes this one. This
:42:36. > :42:44.was humpbacks breaching. Look at that. An amazing thing to see. We
:42:45. > :42:50.don't know why they do this but it is thought it is for immune
:42:51. > :42:57.occasion. I have seen a lot of males do it around one female but it is
:42:58. > :43:02.certainly exciting to see. How are they doing? A recent survey said
:43:03. > :43:10.12,000 of them are in the north Atlantic sea. That sounds good, like
:43:11. > :43:19.a lot, but there is no room for complacency, especially in some
:43:20. > :43:27.areas. A recent study has concluded that Scottish inshore waters are
:43:28. > :43:33.unlikely to sustain any population of humpbacks because of
:43:34. > :43:41.entanglement. Foetal probability was 12%. That's a shocking statistic,
:43:42. > :43:45.especially for such a strong animal. But new codes of practice are being
:43:46. > :43:52.developed by the Scottish Government. What about the rest of
:43:53. > :43:58.them rest in mark another survey was done in this part of the North
:43:59. > :44:03.Atlantic, coming up from Portugal, around the coastline and past Norway
:44:04. > :44:09.and Sweden. This survey is done every ten years to give an estimate
:44:10. > :44:21.of what we had in those waters. This is what they came up with.
:44:22. > :44:35.All those results were better than expected. But it's so important we
:44:36. > :44:43.keep monitoring the surveys because there are so many pressures. How
:44:44. > :44:50.many of you know the difference between a harbour porpoise and a
:44:51. > :44:59.pilot wheel? We are with some life-size inflatables to develop.
:45:00. > :45:06.I am in a field with an inflatable whale. If you wonder why, stick with
:45:07. > :45:13.me. This is a life-sized model of a Minke whale. It is eight metres long
:45:14. > :45:20.but it is only half the size of the humpback whale you saw in Iolo's
:45:21. > :45:24.film. If you can imagine coming up alongside an animal that size,
:45:25. > :45:31.entangled and obviously not very happy. I would say hats off to those
:45:32. > :45:36.rescuers who rescued that whale. This Minke whale, this replica of a
:45:37. > :45:41.Minke whale is the sort of thing a they would use to train, along with
:45:42. > :45:45.these, this eare not souped up beach toyed, these are really important
:45:46. > :45:50.training tools. And we will start with the smallest one. This is a
:45:51. > :45:56.replica of a harbour porpoise. It is the thing you would most likely see
:45:57. > :46:01.in British waters. Moving on, we have the common doll finger it has a
:46:02. > :46:06.classic hour glass shape here, you can see that, running along its
:46:07. > :46:11.flank. Much less common is the striped dolphin. It has white
:46:12. > :46:15.flashes, they swoop up, almost meeting the dorsal fin up here. Last
:46:16. > :46:22.but not least, we have the bottlenose here. This has a much
:46:23. > :46:28.shorter beak and it has this bull Egyptian melon, waxy fatty melon it
:46:29. > :46:32.used for echolocation. Sadly, lot Oz these animals turn up on the shores
:46:33. > :46:35.dead, but they are still really valuable to science, because they
:46:36. > :46:40.have loads of important information that tell us about the state of our
:46:41. > :46:47.marine ecosystems, so if you are heading to the seaside this summer,
:46:48. > :46:50.and you happen to find one of these dead, the UK cetacean strandings
:46:51. > :46:56.investigation programme would like to hear from you. Of details of how
:46:57. > :47:00.to accurately and safely report one of these dead strandings, visit the
:47:01. > :47:06.website. But please, remember, if you find a live stranding, you need
:47:07. > :47:11.to get in touch we the RSPCA or the British divers Marine Life Rescue,
:47:12. > :47:16.details on the website again. Now, when it comes to hunting, this
:47:17. > :47:20.weather can have a negative effect on certain species, one is the barn
:47:21. > :47:24.owl. They don't like heavy rain and wind. They get blown round, they get
:47:25. > :47:28.wet and they can't hear their prey. Let us watch one of them hunting in
:47:29. > :47:35.good weather so we can see what it needs to get up to. This is the
:47:36. > :47:40.technique, they go back and forwards across the fields. They are
:47:41. > :47:44.listening for their prey. That large face shall disk is capturing the
:47:45. > :47:49.sounds. Once they hear something, then they slow up and hover, and
:47:50. > :47:58.look down, to see if they can actually spot it. This is where
:47:59. > :48:01.their eyes come into play. They have exceptional nocturnal vision, it
:48:02. > :48:08.seems to have not seen something. Quickly it spots something. Look how
:48:09. > :48:12.it uses its head. It it as if it is going to headbutt the prey. We
:48:13. > :48:18.didn't see the feel pulling round. Here you can see if you look at that
:48:19. > :48:24.animal coming through, short tail, means it is a vowel, it has come
:48:25. > :48:31.from a field. That is one of the most prey items for these animals.
:48:32. > :48:35.We have several pairs. We can look now at this nest. We have three
:48:36. > :48:42.youngsters in there. The oldest of which, the largest you can see, is
:48:43. > :48:46.16 days old. It is eight days ahead oaf the smallest, which you can
:48:47. > :48:54.equally see tucked in there. If adult oil is eating some of the food
:48:55. > :48:58.itself. We have been concerned over the last 24 hours the birds wouldn't
:48:59. > :49:03.get enough food because conditions have been difficult for the oils.
:49:04. > :49:09.Well, I have a bar chart here. I love a bar chart. We can see the
:49:10. > :49:14.number of items brought in every day, from the 27th May, all the way
:49:15. > :49:18.through to yesterday. So what we see is a steady growth here, that as the
:49:19. > :49:22.chicks are getting bigger they are bringing more and prisoner of war
:49:23. > :49:31.prey in. Then it starts to rain over the last couple of days. Unusually
:49:32. > :49:36.we will a spike. How can this be? Could it be they're hunting
:49:37. > :49:41.successful or could it be that they have just eaten everything in their
:49:42. > :49:46.cache, because that nest box had a lot of stores food. That is what
:49:47. > :49:51.accounts for this. When things get tough they turn to the cache they
:49:52. > :49:56.have there of all that food. Look, the food falls right down. If it g
:49:57. > :50:00.going to be windy and raining tonight, things could be perilous
:50:01. > :50:05.for that smallest of chicks we have there. They are not it will only
:50:06. > :50:10.species after voles. During the daytime it is our kestrels are after
:50:11. > :50:16.the voles. We can go live to our nest. We have four young in here,
:50:17. > :50:20.they are all snuggled up together. It's a chilly wind here and the wind
:50:21. > :50:23.blows directly in on that nest. So I am not surprised to see them
:50:24. > :50:28.smuggling together. They have got this much thicker down coat now,
:50:29. > :50:32.this grey down coat. That is will probably serve them well when it
:50:33. > :50:36.comes to keeping them warm. I know we have been watching the adults
:50:37. > :50:42.going in and out as well. Here is the female.
:50:43. > :50:46.She has been coming in from time to time with food.
:50:47. > :50:50.But on this occasion she is coming back to the nest for another reason,
:50:51. > :50:56.which becomes apparent as she swoops in. Just listen.
:50:57. > :51:02.She immediately turns round. That is jackdaws we can hear outside.
:51:03. > :51:14.Chicks nibbling the tail. Your can see them swooping round there.
:51:15. > :51:18.And eventually look at this. They are interested to find out what the
:51:19. > :51:23.is inside that window. We have seen the jackdaws already removing the
:51:24. > :51:29.swallow chick, I said although they spent 80% of their time feeding on
:51:30. > :51:32.meat, they take chick, they took the swallows and they would take others
:51:33. > :51:37.so that kestrel will have to be sharp. The chicks are big, they
:51:38. > :51:40.might be able to fight off jackdaw, I am not sure so the kestrel will
:51:41. > :51:44.have to be there. We showed you something extraordinary from the
:51:45. > :51:52.nest and this was a kestrel sneezing on the lens. We think we can top it.
:51:53. > :51:57.Preponderance look at this. The chick turns round and what a beauty.
:51:58. > :52:06.You need to see that again. Look at that. It flexes its heinous and
:52:07. > :52:14.empties its bowels all over the lens. Contrast that with those small
:52:15. > :52:17.birds like the blue tips and robins that produce faecal sacks, they do
:52:18. > :52:23.it to keep the nests clean and stop those being a sign that predators
:52:24. > :52:27.would see and find the nest. Here the kestrels do something different.
:52:28. > :52:32.They shuffled to the edge of the net nest and they spray their droppings
:52:33. > :52:42.over the edge, and wrapped as a -- Raptors are good. They can shoot
:52:43. > :52:49.their droppings far from the nest. Top pooing. Wet up an experiment and
:52:50. > :52:53.we were looking at different colours of bird feeder, we had green, blue,
:52:54. > :52:58.orange and red. We wanted to see which of these if any the birds
:52:59. > :53:01.favoured. The minute we set it up we found a couple of young scientists
:53:02. > :53:05.who were doing a better job than we were. So we teamed up with them,
:53:06. > :53:10.they suggested they come up with good results and it now turns out
:53:11. > :53:14.they will spin their results out into schools, they will get schools
:53:15. > :53:19.to do this so they can learn more about the choices birds have. The
:53:20. > :53:23.other day Michaela and I met up with Ed and George, down in the local
:53:24. > :53:29.school here, in Sherborne, as they showed the kids there how to set
:53:30. > :53:34.this experiment up. Ed and George's experiment use five
:53:35. > :53:38.different colour feeders and analysed the effect colour had on
:53:39. > :53:42.the birds' preference, they won a National Science prize for their
:53:43. > :53:48.work, but they didn't want to stop there. They now want to take their
:53:49. > :53:52.experiment national as well. I am very pleased to meet you, to have
:53:53. > :53:56.young people like yourself doing such good quality science is
:53:57. > :54:00.heartening for people like me, I have to say. What was the
:54:01. > :54:04.inspiration behind setting that particular experiment up? We are
:54:05. > :54:10.interest in science and I have been bird watching for a few years, it is
:54:11. > :54:17.simple. What you came up with orange and yellow mean danger in some of
:54:18. > :54:21.the colouration and it was the blue We came up with nine different
:54:22. > :54:25.theories they may go for blue or green, one of the others was
:54:26. > :54:30.evolution, so the first colour receptive cone was in marine animals
:54:31. > :54:33.and that was blue, we could say blue is the most fundamental and most
:54:34. > :54:38.developed. That would be one of the reasons they went for blue. So we
:54:39. > :54:41.are at a primary school. What do you want them to do. They won't
:54:42. > :54:46.understand the complete science you are doing. It is a case of repeating
:54:47. > :54:51.the project. They will paint them and record them and see which goes
:54:52. > :54:56.to which. It will be the start of a process of rolling it out across the
:54:57. > :55:00.country. All we need is young citizens to do so. Science We need
:55:01. > :55:05.these painted so I guess we need some help. Come on kids, let us have
:55:06. > :55:12.you in. You know which colour you going to paint. Let's get painting.
:55:13. > :55:16.We need one of the feareds plain and we need to paint the others four
:55:17. > :55:23.different colours. -- feeders.
:55:24. > :55:29.What about this? What a collection of artists, who painted this green
:55:30. > :55:32.one? That is a beautiful job. Fantastic and the yellow, what a
:55:33. > :55:36.beautiful job of painting you have done. They are looking splendid. As
:55:37. > :55:41.far as the birds are concerned they are not of much use because they
:55:42. > :55:46.have no food in them. Excellent, so here they are all. All lined up.
:55:47. > :55:50.Full of food. All the same weight. Which ones do you think, if you were
:55:51. > :55:56.a bird and you were out there and they were hanging in the tree which
:55:57. > :56:00.would you go for? Blues and greens and reds, so what we need to do is
:56:01. > :56:03.find the perfect spot to put the feeders somewhere in your school
:56:04. > :56:15.grounds where you can keep a close eye on them and maybe weigh them.
:56:16. > :56:20.I have to score a goal while I'm here. Oh, no I don't! Because that
:56:21. > :56:26.ball is not round. I have an idea. Why don't we put the feareds here.
:56:27. > :56:33.Hands up who is in favour? -- feeders. Unanimous, let's go to it.
:56:34. > :56:37.So all we want to see is which birds go to which feeders. George, and Ed
:56:38. > :56:42.will be analysing your results to see who comes top. The birds will be
:56:43. > :56:49.happy because they will get a meal, like us, because it is time for
:56:50. > :56:54.school dinner Michaela. Greasy spam fritters and yucky blancmange. It is
:56:55. > :57:04.bound to be. Come on kids. Do they still make that? I have no idea.
:57:05. > :57:08.That and spam flit fritter, how revolting. We have some results in
:57:09. > :57:14.despite it was half-time. Do you want to hear them. Go on. In fourth
:57:15. > :57:20.place it was red. Third the yellow, second the clear o joint first blue
:57:21. > :57:28.and green. Same result then. Same result as us on Winterwatch and the
:57:29. > :57:33.seem result as George and Ed had. It is compatible data If you would like
:57:34. > :57:39.to join in the details are on a blog on the web side. If there is one
:57:40. > :57:44.bird who benefits it is the goldfinch, for the mid 70s through
:57:45. > :57:50.the to mid 80s the population of the birds fell. Gladly it has greatly
:57:51. > :57:55.increased now. Between 2015 and 2016, the BTO conducted a survey in
:57:56. > :57:58.gardens and found in the last 20 years the population of goldfinches
:57:59. > :58:08.there increase bird 70%. That much? ? Yes. Their favourite food subpoena
:58:09. > :58:14.sunflower hearts, that is what you put out to keep them happy. That
:58:15. > :58:17.went well. We thought the inflatables would fly off. What are
:58:18. > :58:24.you doing tomorrow? I am seeing Brett and doing an insect survey.
:58:25. > :58:29.Fantastic, you can hear Brett on the webcams which are on the Red Button
:58:30. > :58:35.and the internet. He is on an 8, 11 and 1. He has Sara Cox as one of his
:58:36. > :58:39.guests. Coming up tomorrow we have kingfishers can down there on the
:58:40. > :58:44.Windrush river, so we will take a look at their activities. And we
:58:45. > :58:48.will checking out our black cap, we left them teetering on the edge,
:58:49. > :58:53.literally. Remember, you can cap up we the live cameras all the time by
:58:54. > :58:58.going on Red Button or the website. The bar now -- barn owls are out
:58:59. > :59:03.there, the kestrel too. Log on and take a look. See you tomorrow at
:59:04. > :59:33.8.00. Bye. Bye. With you beside me -
:59:34. > :59:35.whatever life sends.