Springwatch Episode 9 Springwatch

It's been a wild and windy weekend here at Sherborne,

This can only mean one thing. It's Springwatch!

Hello and welcome to Springwatch 2017, coming to glorious Sherborne

papa estate in Gloucestershire, run by the National Trust, and this is

our third week here. Typically in Springwatch, we ensconced ourselves

on nature reserves, but the be all and end all is making it great for

wildlife. There is a lot of that going on here but this is also a

working landscape. We wanted to visit that part of the countryside

where wildlife has to coexist with our desire to produce food. We

wanted a realistic look at that, and I'm very pleased to say that what we

found so far is that wildlife here is having a great time.

So the wildlife has been amazing, which is more than can be said for

the weather! It has been a bit chilly, hasn't it? Norman of the bit

this week. But if you people are a bit confused about where we are, and

there's a reason for that, because there are two Sherbornes. There is a

Sherborne here in Dorset, that is not us, we are this Sherborne, in

Gloucestershire. That is where we are. That is where we have been and

that is where we are staying! That is the Sherborne we are in. We have

live cameras all around the estate, we will check some out. First of all

the one that is closest to us, actually in Sherborne Village, which

is just my left, and it is in the church, and it is the nest of the

kestrels. Here they are, live. There are four chicks, 15 to 18 days old.

They have been Absolutely Fabulous birds to watch, and a fantastic

place to rest as well. Let's see what they have been getting up to

over the weekend. We left them on Thursday and we were extremely

worried about that little one in the middle, which is considerably

smaller than its siblings. Ie in the tequila was concerned about its

future. But I'm not now. I have been watching it over the weekend and I

tell you what, this little one has got spirit, it's got fighting

spirit. -- we were particularly concerned. Desperately try to get

hold of that meat, and doing a good job. But now it is a bit like a

rugby scrum. The siblings get hold of it and do a tug-of-war but watch

him get that, brilliant expat! The run to get the prize and baubles off

with it. Mum is not quite happy about that. Goes and fetches it and

starts to share it out, because as we know sharing is caring! As we

say, I was really pleased to see this. And this is what we have also

noticed, that the parent birds do take time to give that little one

its own share of food. And you can see by its crop that it is getting

plenty of food. Only two days difference between the oldest one

and the youngest one, such a great size difference. That difference has

been exaggerated or the way through because that one has been getting

less food all the way through. The large ones are grown proportionately

more, I think that is what is going on. I think it will be all right.

Because it is a feisty package, we need to give it a name. I will

suggest a name, Maradona, because he was quite feisty. That won't go down

well with the viewers, is it? It was the Argentinian footballer who

cheated us in the World Cup! What has he got, has that Castrale. The

wing of God or something -- that kestrel. Send your suggestions in. I

guess you don't like that name. It was just that game, one of the most

painful nights of my life watching that Argentinian man punching the

ball over Peter Shilton. There are grown men you have registered tears.

If you are watching last week, we were watching the fortune of a

family of blackcaps. They had five eggs, then they had five Youngs, but

very unfortunately the nest was canted to one side. They started

feeding all of them but very soon they started to fall through a hole

on the left-hand side of the nest. We rapidly lost two of the

youngsters. They fell into that area, they could not be brooded, and

then another one of the remaining three died. Two remained and then we

saw this. They got so cold in the wet and wind at the end of last

weekend over the weekend that when the female comes in with this

caterpillar, they haven't got the energy to take it. At this point, we

were pretty certain they were on their way to perishing. The men one

of them even fell into the hole, and was riding around unable to get out.

Thankfully it finally freed itself, they continue to feed them, they

gave them some much food that they did grow considerably, and I'm

pleased to say that on Sunday morning they fledged. So here they

were in the nest. Doing their wing stretching, bitter flapping,

preparation. This is a sort of semi-fledging, as Michaela calls it,

because they are not flight worthy at this stage. They do a bit of

practising. And then in the afternoon, just before five, the

first one leaves the nest. As you can see, not flying, but hopping off

into the dense herbage. We have seen a lot of the birds do this, the chav

chavs, the Robins, they want to get out of that nest where they are the

former ball to predators, all the chicks in one basket, as at work

must adjust after an hour later, the next one hops out. And of course

they will be fed by the adults for another week or two until they are

able to fly and find food for themselves. I think it is great to

see they have fledged successfully, at least two of them, because we

didn't think any would make it. That nest was on such a slant and they

were having such problems, so really good news that they manage to

fledge, and they weren't the only ones flapping the anyone's flapping

freedom at the weekend. Our bullfinches were too, and there were

only two chicks left there as well. Started off with five eggs, two

didn't catch at all, one disappeared, we don't know what

happened, so there were two left, and this is what happened to them

over the weekend. We predicted they would probably fledge possibly

Friday or Saturday, and that is exactly what they did. The first one

left at 8.38, very confidently went. The second one wasn't quite so sure.

Thought about it, and decided to sit it out for the night. On Saturday

morning, 7:06am, it decided was ready. Or maybe not. That really is

semi-fledging with that one. It came back, decided it needed a little bit

more time. Gets back in the nest, does a bit of wing stretching, and

then by 11:12am, it makes the break, and the same as with the blackcaps,

although they have fledged, it is a semi-fledging because they will stay

around that nest for another couple of weeks while the parents, can

provision them but it is really great news. We had two nests, both

of them successfully fledged, and a lot of you were watching that on the

webcams over the weekend. You say it is good news, I may have to

introduce a small bucket of cold water at this stage. Only two got

out of each nest. Basically, our blackcaps fledged too, but the

average over the last few years, it is well over two, two .5, 2.6, 3.2.

So they fledge less than the average that they seemingly need to to keep

that population growing slightly. If you look at the ball -- the

bullfinches, these mothers are much less than two very often, 0.8. We

know that between 1966 and 2014, actually 67 and 2014, we lost 40% of

our bullfinches in the UK, and this may well be because the young are

not fledging from the nest successfully enough, not enough of

them. When you think that we had five eggs and only two got out, two

of them died at least in the chick stage. You may be putting a bit of a

dampener on it but I am putting a ray of sunshine on it now by saying

that both of those birds will have a second brood. Maybe with the

bullfinches, they might even have a third. So things could be looking

up. We could be more sunshine than raining on that one. Let's keep our

fingers crossed and let's hope they do have a second brood. I am still

getting over Maradona, it is the greatest act of cheating in the

history of England's footballing... Back to my ray of sunshine. Martin

is a ray of sunshine, and he is pretty rusty tufty, as we know, and

one of his favourite hobbies is rock climbing. So at the beginning of

spring, he went to the Peak District with his rock climbing gear to find

out about a lesser-known Upland species with quite an unusual name.

MUSIC I'm in the Peak District, in Derbyshire, and for rock climbers,

this place is steeped in history. Some of the most famous climbers of

all time, Joe Brown, Ron Fawcett, Colin Curtis, had made their

reputations putting a dramatic new routes right here. But the towering

cranks and rugged cliffs are not only a magnet for extreme sports

enthusiasts, they are also irresistible to some rare and

unusual British wildlife. So, can the two things exist side-by-side?

Kim Leyland, ecologist for the Eastern Moors, is trying to make

sure that they can. We are here to talk about ring ouzels. Now that is

a tricky bird. They looks a bit like a blackbird, doesn't it? Yes, with a

white collar. A mountain blackbird, it inhabits high places. They went

in Morocco then arrived back in the spring and then comes here to settle

down and breed for the summer. What type of habitat are they looking for

here? There is a whole range of different things. Who will get some

that will nest up on the crags in these Heathery breaks, some will be

down on the ground amongst the dead bracken, others will be maybe wedged

under a boulder. I know that Countrywide ring ouzels are not

doing very well but what is the story here? We carried out a full

survey here last year and found 30 breeding pairs. That number seems to

be at least stable if not increasing in this area, so here we are hoping

it is more of a positive story than the rest of the country. Part of the

reason the ring ouzels are doing so well here is down to Kim's hard

work. As the birds arrive in spring, he's out every single morning to

plot exactly where each territory is. So we've got a couple of

territories here, which is the outcrop there, and the next one

there is Kyle Walker with another territory, and then moving onto

Burberry self to the quarries in the distance. So some of these nests

will be in more exposed places and some will be safe. That is one of

the things, to identify which nests are likely to be at the most risk

and protect those, and the ones that are in a safer location we can just

leave and they can get on with it themselves. Once a nest site has

been identified as at risk, Kim passes the information onto the

British mountaineering council, who assessed the site and how best to

manage it. And Adam from the BMC has offered to show me an old nest,

which gives me a chance to get on the Rock again. This work is

beautiful, really gripped the! Having said that, I'll probably fall

off! -- really quickly. Thank you very much, Adam. Well met on the

face. And this is it, this is what it's all about, there's a nest here.

Yes, so this is a perfect nesting site for ring ouzels, way out of the

way of any predators. This is an ideal spot. What is the role of the

BMC to protect these ring ouzels? We are helping to bring the

conversation community and the climbers together really. Kim will

pinpoint where he thinks the nest is, then I will lift up, have a

look, see if there are any XML, if it is being used, and if there is we

might put a climbing restriction on it, and then we find the climbers

will police it really effectively, keep passers-by off as well. Will

they really? Gosh, so they have taken the ring ouzels the heart, the

climbers? Absolutely, it is the emblem of this area. More and more

people are coming together in this community to help these enigmatic

birds. People like John Hall's Croft, a local recreational bike and

a volunteer for the ring ouzel project. In this area, there's a

tremendous amount of cooperation between land managers, ecologists

and people who just enjoy this magnificent place. So everybody is

getting stuck in and doing their bit. There are so many around here,

clearly what you are doing is very important for their survival. And

because of all this, the ring ouzels are benefiting significantly. Seems

to be, we are bucking the trend, not just in ring ouzels, but other

species where the number is looking good. We hear enough bad news, don't

we, at the moment, so it's really good to be hearing some good news.

Great to see climbers and birders working together to look after this

PCs. They declined by 72% in the UK and what's unusual about the decline

of this bird is that it's doing OK across the rest of its European

range. It is a migrant, it goes to Morocco, and there's a lot of

deforestation taking place there. It seems we can't blame that because

over the rest of Europe it is holding its own. It's something

peculiar to the UK precipitating its decline, more than likely the

management of our uplands. You've got to say hats off to them, top

work to the climbers and birders. I've got even better news because

we've got a new nest for you. It may be weak free but we aren't slacking.

Here it is, it is a blackbird. It's the stockier cousin of the ring

ouzel. It's one of our most common birds, 4.9 million pairs. There are

three chicks in that nest and they are about a week and a half old.

Let's see what's going on. It's actually on the right of that fence

in the bush. If we go into it you can see, there are actually five

chicks. Often you only see three chicks but there are five. That's

the mail coming in there. Look at its eye, something has obviously

happened to his eye. We think it could be blind but it looks like an

old injury, obviously not bothering it. The female comes in with a

beaker full of worms. Worms are extremely important to blackbird

chicks. We've had a lot of wet weather so it's a good time for them

at the moment because it's easier to get the worms out if the ground is

soft. It's very hard to get the worms out of the ground when it's

dry. We've got another nest in the same brush, it's the nest of a

chaffinch. It's slightly higher up in the bush. The chaffinch is a very

numerous bird. Nearly 6 million pairs in the UK. There are three

chicks in this nest. They are resting. We've been watching them

all day and they've been very active. Quite a lot of wing

flapping. Here's the female bird feeding them a mixture of things.

They've got a really broad diet. They'll be trying to feed them as

many insects as they can. When the blackbirds come in and their chicks

get excited, the chaffinches think it's their feeding time too and they

leap up in the thinking they are going to get some as well stop. They

looked like they might be off! Both those nests are right on the other

side of the estate in that direction. We've come down to what I

think is the prettiest part of the estate, the river. There are two

rivers here on the estate. There's the Sherborne Brook and the

Windrush. Both very beautiful. It supports plenty of life. Here are

the mayflies, we saw an enormous hatch a few weeks ago. Lots of

wildlife make use of it, including the brown trout. Lots of water birds

make the river their home. Swann is looking lovely in the sunlight

there. Tufted ducks making the most of what the river has to offer. It's

a great habitat for all of these birds. We've got a nest of grey bike

tales. And coots. -- grey wagtails. We've also seen nesting wrens. This

is a visiting kingfisher. Possibility that it could be the

Kingfisher we've been following or it could be a different one but

lovely to see. We've got plenty of live cameras on the estate. We can

go to that one live on the river now. Nothing there at the moment but

if you minutes ago, we saw this. A Kingfisher happily fishing. In fact,

successfully catching a fish. Probably the same Kingfisher in the

boathouse. Could well be! We've got another camera over here behind me.

If you look at the bottom of the weir, we've moved it down so it's

under all of the falling water. We can cut to that one live. We've got

some weed... Hovering there on the left-hand side is a fish. I can't

quite see what it is. Let's go live back to the other camera. We are

going to switch around from one end of the river to the next. There he

is! That's the mail. Black beak. The whole branches moving and he's

staying still, how does he do that? It's like the kestrel, they've got

an auto gyro in the head. We saw what was in their in the water in

the weir, let's have a look at what we've been catching over the rest of

the day. There was a fish hovering. What we've been seeing most of the

time, in fact the only fish I've seen on this camera are brown trout.

They are a native species here. I think what they are doing is hanging

in this water beneath the weir. There's an element of still water,

looking for anything getting washed down. Comes over the top of that, if

there's anything floating on the surface then they snatch it. That

provides food for a huge variety of birds and there's one in particular

that we really enjoy seeing on the river. It's a bird that is a

relative newcomer to the UK. In fact it's only seen in significant

numbers here in 1989 and only started breeding in Dorset in 1996.

It's a really lovely bird, it's always a delight to see particularly

on the river. It's even better when you can see it in large numbers in

their breeding colonies in the trees.

Winter on the Somerset levels. A place of myth and legend, of Avalon

and King Arthur. It's late February and the misty shroud envelops this

low-lying region. Out of the gloom, ghost like apparitions appear with

scaly feet, piercing eyes and diaphanous white plumage.

Mysterious. These fairy tale creatures are little egrets. They're

gathering in a country garden in a small village on the levels, brought

here by an old tree. The dense evergreen vegetation provides

protection from the elements, and despite the season, the tree is

already busy. The egrets are small herons and shared the oak with their

bigger, brasher relatives, grey herons. The herons have already been

in residence for several weeks, and have well established nests. Many

with eggs already in them. Which means, for the little egrets, just

finding a good spot to build their nest is a challenge in itself. A

challenge that falls to the males, who are first on the scene. Like

clumsy soldiers on parade, they clamber and stagger along the

branches in search of the perfect nest site.

Once found, and aggressive forward display tells the other males to

keep their distance, along with a few well timed vocalisations. Nest

site secured, they must now attract a mate. For that, they dressed to

impress, making the most of two long feathers that streamed down their

necks, and a beautiful, gauzy plumage. With females gathering, the

males start with a spot of preening to ensure they are looking their

best. Then they crouch, point their bill skywards, erected their head

plumes and pump their neck straight up and down, giving another call.

It's paid off. This boy's got lucky. Until recently, sites like these

were extraordinarily rare. Gradually, little egrets colonised

the lower half of the UK, and by the late 90s these Mediterranean

migrants were here in numbers with the first chicks born in Britain

just over 20 years ago. Now, colonies like this one are

increasingly common. As winter's grip loosens in Somerset, more and

more little egrets are arriving to stake their claims in this high-rise

heron -- heronry. One pair have wasted no time getting down to

business. With four eggs freshly laid, these early birds are weeks

ahead of the rest. But, with the unpredictable weather of a Somerset

Spring, this is a risky strategy. The next few weeks will be crucial.

This pair have taken a huge gamble and the stakes are high. Losing

would mean disaster. It's not very often we can go from a diary of

birds in a nest to one live. I can see a little egrets fishing. We can

go on the live camera and have a look at it. We regularly see these

little egrets on the river behind us. I said it was amazing to see it

in colonies but of course it's very exciting to see it here on the

river. Such a beautiful bird. We'll be following the story of the

colony. They are a species that's arrived in the UK. We now have 700

pairs nesting, some people have been worried they might be taking the

food out of the beaks of herons. It's unlikely that the case, our

heron population seems to be stable. So why haven't they impacted on

that? Probably because they hunt in slightly different ways and they are

different sized birds. We've been watching both of them foraging on

the Sherborne Brook. Here's the egrets, it's relatively mobile. It's

constantly walking through the Walker. -- through the water. It is

looking for small fish. It's using its feet to stir up the bottom.

Their bright yellow feet are used to stir the bottom. This one has caught

a fish. Herons, on the other hand, are more sedentary. They find a spot

and then, as you know, they sit there and wait. Here the bird is

stalking very slowly forward. They have the capacity to turn their eye

so they can face forward, they've got very good stereoscopic vision.

As soon as they target their prey, they jabbed their beaks extremely

fast and catch the fish. They are far more patient. They are also

bigger so they can catch bigger fish. This one loses the fish, very

careless. Well, loses it temporarily. A wounded fish

wriggling away from a sharp eyed heron hasn't got much hope. There we

see the heron retrieves it. In terms of being able to catch those fish,

how do they do it? I said they've got great stereoscopic vision, but

what they have to do is jabbed their neck forward incredibly quickly and

accurately. You may have noticed when you've been looking at herons

and egrets, there's always a kink in their neck. That is down to the six

vertebrae in their neck. Rather than being in line, they are joined at

right angles and connected with tendons that run all the way down to

the breast muscles. It's these large breast muscles which can contract

and calls the head to catapult forward using basic vertebrae as a

hinge. This means it can shoot forward very, very quickly. Little

protrusions on the side of the vertebrae means they do it in a dead

straight line. Once the head hits the water it's got to pierce the

water. We took a look at the heron and we measured the sharpness of its

bill. There's 15 degrees, a very acute angles showing how sharp its

bill is. When we look at the little egrets, it's slightly sharper, 14

degrees. Can punch into the water without

displacing any of the water and displacing its prey. Let's look at

this, because this is of the Kingfisher, which has a similar bill

obviously, and a similar angle, 16%. But the Kingfisher has a very

different way of fishing. You can see it is a much smaller bird. Its

technique is to dive. As it dives, it has got to get its whole body in

the water, and it has evolved to cut through the water without generating

a splash. So that it can surprise its prey. Doesn't always work. That

dive didn't get anything. But it is all about minimising the water

displacement. So just watch it now. In it goes. There's a tiny splash,

diving speed of about ten mph. It is a lot harder in these shallow

waters, because obviously it can't dive is deep. As I say, in that

particular instance, it did eventually get something and it's

enjoying its endeavours on that branch. So as I say, a very

different way of diving, but do you know that has inspired not only the

bullet train in Japan, but also professional divers have been

inspired by the kingfisher. And if we take a look at how Tom Daley

dives, look at that. Beside the kingfisher. Tiny splash from both of

them. Let's have a look at it again, watch both of them. And they hardly

displaced the water. Now I can tell you a little bit about this, because

I was a contestant on Splash!, which was the show we completed against

each other. Was it called big splash, the episode you on? No, mine

was a little splash, thank you very much! They try to get us to do ten

metres, I got the 7.5. You have to break the surface of the water with

your hands and then try to get your whole body into that little hole.

That it really hurts your shoulders, because you keep hitting the water

like that, we are obviously not built for diving, whereas the

kingfisher is perfectly adapted, because it has a very stocky, robust

neck, so doesn't get the sort of pain that I got when I was training

for splash! You mentioned the kingfisher was diving into the water

at ten mph, how fast you think you are hitting the water had you gone

from a ten metre board? I haven't got a clue actually. 35 mph. Faster

than the kingfisher. No wonder I had such a headache! Put that on your CV

and smoke it! Let's move away from diving and back into the garden,

where if you make a little bit of effort to plug the right sort of

plants in your garden, you can attract the most exciting and

colourful visitors in the springtime. We talking about the

orange tip butterfly. With the arrival of spring, a

country garden bursts into life. Flowers, dormant over the long

winter, emerge in a crescendo of colour. And in a forgotten corner,

the son's rays hit a chrysalis, and the Butterfly inside begins to stir.

It is a male, and his first job is to crack open the tough outer layer

which has protected him from both predators and for the past nine

months. Free, he climbs up the stalk to position himself in the sun. His

wings are damp and crumpled. They need to be dried and pumped up with

blood. As they expand, they finally reveal

his true colours. A male orange-tip butterfly, one of the first

butterflies to emerge every spring, the adult life of an orange-tip is

fleeting. He must get to work if he is to secure the Next Generation.

After so long in his chrysalis, his energy levels are lower. His first

task is to find food. The Jack by the hedge or garlic mustard is in

flower. It is an orange-tip's favourite, and he settles down to

drink, digging his proboscis deep into the flour for the energy rich

nectar. Plants like these are vital in every stage of the orange-tip's

lives. As a caterpillar, this male, fed on garlic mustard too, absorbing

the pungent oils, and making him distasteful as an adult, and the

orange flashes on his wings display that repugnancy to any would-be

predators. Nearby, another butterfly is feeding. Easily mistaken for

another species, this is a female orange-tip. She is distinctly

different, with subtle black tips on how wings instead of the flashy

orange. That's because while the male flies about looking for a mate,

the female sits tight, and with less time on the wing, camouflage is a

better tactic. It doesn't fool our male, though. Fuelled by nectar, his

back on the wing, looking for love. After a successful meeting, the

male's job is done. It's now down to the female to find a suitable spot

to lay her eggs. But while she searches, and unexpected shower

arrives out of the clear blue sky. Danger over, she drives off in the

sun, and is on the move once more. -- she dries off. She lays her eggs

directly onto the stem of the garlic mustard flour head. One egg to one

stem, giving each the best chance of survival. Over three days, the act

turns from green to orange. A week later, a tiny caterpillar, smaller

than a pinhead, it's his way out of his protein rich shell. His next

course is right before him, the energy rich seed pods of the garlic

mustard. After three weeks of continuous eating, he'll be an

incredible 800 times heavier than when he first hatched.

Soon, he'll build himself his very own winter home, emerging next year

as the Herald of a new spring. One of my favourite butterflies, a

real little beauty, and that film shows just what you can do with a

very small space when it comes to conservation. But I'm afraid I've

got to get out my little bucket of cold water here again, because in

May of this year, Butterfly conservation University of Cantona

centre for ecology and hydrology published a study which has look at

butterfly populations over the last 20 years. And they showed that in

urban areas they have declined by 69%. Which were the species losing

out? We can take a look at those, certainly the small tortoiseshell,

you will have noticed these disappearing in recent years, 87%.

The wall butterfly, ask yourself, when was the last time you saw one

of these in your garden. And the Brown Argus, a shocking decline of

94%. The answer I'm afraid is us. The Royal horticultural Society are

doing a study at the moment, an initiative, called Greening the

great, and they are looking at how we have changed our gardens. In the

last ten years, there have been three times the number of front

gardens that have been completely paved over. They now number 4.5

million gardens. We are basically doing away with our clients, we are

doing away with that tiny amount of space that each of us had for

wildlife. What can you do about it? If you can't dig up the gravel, the

decking or the paving, you could put a pot they are, and butterfly

conservation are running a scheme called pots for pollinators, and

basically it is pretty simple. You get a pot and you put some plants in

it which appeal to nectar searching insects. The details of all of that

are available on our website. OK, I am afraid it is back to the pot

again. Those are the butterflies struggling in the urban environment,

what about the rule environment? That same study published in May

showed the butterflies in this environment have declined by 45% in

the last 20 years. The species that are suffering out in the wider

landscape? We've got the purple hair Street, down by 88%, used to see

them buzzing around the top of oak trees. Painted ladies, a migrant

butterfly. They had a bumper year a few years ago but on average they

are down by 74%, and lastly perhaps one of the most familiar butterflies

in our landscape, the peacock butterfly. Down by 41%. These really

are quite shocking declines. If it is not as paving over our gardens in

towns, what is happening out here? Same old story, intensification of

agriculture. This is what we have got, we have monocultures over very

large swathes of our countryside. I have to say, you might be wondering

why these declines have suddenly grown so much steeper in the last 20

years. Well, in the 1980s, we had butter mountains, and we had cheese

mountains and wine lakes, and the European Union decided in 1988 that

some of this had to stop, and one of the methods they come up with was to

ask farmers to take land out of production. It was called set-aside.

Initially it was a voluntary thing, then it became mandatory, that by

2008 when it had reached its peak, there were 342,000 hectares of land

under set-aside herein the countryside. Then they decided it

was going to be the end of it, they would go back into production, and

that time is perfectly with the decline of the species. I have to

say all is not lost. Because you can make a difference. Look at this. If

you farm with wildlife in mind, then you can turn back the clock, not the

2008, but to even before that. Now there are stewardship schemes,

countryside stewardship schemes, which run higher, and entry-level

stewardship schemes. That is very difficult for us to contrast the

figures with that 320,000 hectares that there were way back in 2008, so

we can't give you exact figures. We have spoken to natural England and

Defra, but the recording methods are different, but it is safe to say

there is less land available for wildlife, and that is a great shame

indeed. Look, these are not only places for things to come and find

nectar, they are also corridors that lead from one part of the landscape

to another. Routes where insects, birds and mammals can cross, birds

like yellow wagtails can nest without being mown or crushed by the

wheels of agricultural equipment, and what about that for a view of a

field? That is absolutely stunning, absolutely stunning. And that field

is here. A couple of weeks ago, Martin went out on the other side of

the estate to meet Jonty and Mal Bruni a. They have been farming for

wildlife and making a real difference.

The obvious first question, how did it all start? I grew up in a farming

family but I also have a passion to conservation union environment. 11

years ago I got a National Trust scholarship and they gave me a

chance to practice what I preach, create a wonderful farmed

environment but also quality food. Turning old arable land that was not

in great condition back to this wonderful diverse meadow we see in

front of us. It is not just the flowers, you have livestock here as

well. Deadly, our animals are our raising tools. Most habitats in the

UK are man-made particularly by farming, meadows and pastures have

to be grazed or cut, so we use sheep, we have got Cotswold sheep,

rare breed traditional Hereford cattle, and they do the managing,

grazing, ripping and dunking, important for insects. Presumably

you don't want animals that are too heavy or will chew up the ground, so

do they have to be fairly light fitted? The cattle particularly,

they are smaller, three quarters size, they stay out all the year.

You're you have to be careful with cattle and sheep, cattle are quite

indiscriminate the way they graze. It is a sweetie shop for the sheep,

they picked the flower heads. Let things flour and in the sheep coming

afterwards after things have flowered. And what about wildlife?

You can hear skylarks. Corn bunting is as well. Numbers have increased.

We see lapwing here, which we see regularly every year. We have two or

three pairs that we see every year. One of our biggest habitats that we

merely almost forget is the soil. We know more about the space and the

planets than we do about our own soil, bacteria and fungi and all the

worms and insects that is where it starts. This is your finest wild

flower meadow, can you take us through? We have bacon and eggs

there. Fervour truffle oil. One of my favourite grasses, rubbish

farming but quaking grass was the I can see why, because the seeds just

fall off when it blows. These are daisies about the flower. Some

yarrow leaves here. Just a small selection, how may different species

in total? We think there's about 100 in this

meadow alone. This is the one we're trying to spread around other areas

of the farms. When these are in seed you harvest the seed and transfer

it. You don't buy it? We did ten years ago to make a start, but we

are now working with the local magnificent Meadows project to

spread it out even further. Where did this passion come from? Chris

Packham and the really wild show! LAUGHTER What a fantastic legacy,

doesn't get better than that! He has a lot to answer for! You inspired

them, do you know you are just such a little ray of sunshine! Stop it!

LAUGHTER A fantastic piece of work there. I was just having a thought.

We are talking about farmers having to look after the landscape but what

about if we looked after the farmers and looked after ourselves a little

better? One third of all the food we buy we waste. Imagine idealistically

if one third of all of this landscape didn't need to be farmed

because we weren't wasting the food produced. We could play an enormous

role in allowing more space for wildlife out in this landscape. What

they are doing on that part of the estate is truly fantastic. Not just

bringing back lots of plants but all the insects that eat them and then

the other animals that live there. There's no doubt that the reason

we've got kestrels breeding successfully is because there are

voles in fields like that. Now we can go live to our barn owls. The

female barn owl has been spending increasingly long periods away from

the check. She's been away for up to three hours at times. Is that a

concern? I think it's because we've had that wet weather, chicks are

demanding more food, the male isn't supplying enough so she is having to

go out and hunt as well. Here she is. This is when she came back the

other night, soaking wet. She did manage to get something. The

youngsters, here they are. You can see the size difference. It's

profound. Oh no, that's not looking good. The little one. Oh my

goodness! I find that quite sad, actually. You say that but this is

what's happening. She's bringing food in and the large animals that

can feed themselves will eat it in one go. That's how they are designed

to swallow their food. Here the largest one of all has a slippery

frog. When those two have had enough food, when they are completely fill

up, then she will feed the food to the very smallest one. I think

what's going to happen here is if the male and the female can bring in

enough food for the biggest chicks they will eat it. But if they can

get extra food it will be fed to the little one. I reckon they are going

to need to catch at least four or five voles for the biggest chicks.

Plus they've got to feed themselves, so that's 16. If they can get more

than 16 voles per night, the little one might make it. That's a lot of

voles! That sounds like a tall order! I thought he was going to

make it but I might have talked myself out of it! They've been

hugely popular. I sent out a tweet at the weekend asking everybody what

their favourite was, what they thought the star of Springwatch was

so far. Lots of people said the barn owls but guess what came out on top?

Mayflies? No, the peregrines. At Salisbury Cathedral we've got a

remote camera on our peregrine. Don't panic! They are breathing,

they are sleeping. This has been such a popular nest because it has

an adopted chick. It was an orphan chick. Our nest in Salisbury

Cathedral became the surrogates nest and it's gone remarkably well so

far. Let's see what's been happening over the weekend. You can see the

size difference. There is an age gap between them of about a week. The

oldest one is extremely vocal. I think it's about four or five days

but there is a significant size difference. The male has come in,

first of all he has a duckling. This is very civilised. The two chicks

are sharing. It is now brought in a woodpecker. The little one is a bit

unsteady. They are both doing remarkably well and they've

tolerated each other extraordinarily well. The older cheque -- the older

chick is more mobile and we've been watching him wandering around, quite

comically sometimes. He seems to like peering at the camera. The

younger one is screeching for food. It doesn't want to be left in the

nest box all by itself, it definitely wants to join in its

sibling on the ground. It tumbles out! Not very elegantly. It does get

down on the ground. SCHREECHES. This has been happening a lot, that's the

female and off she waddles. It's quite comical. She's taking that

extra food to the larder. The two chicks are left. We think they are

both males. Those adults have stepped up to the challenge of

feeding two chicks. This is the amount of feeds a day when it was

just one chick. Once the new chick came in, it was six and a half feeds

per day. They've taken on the challenge and they've done it

remarkably well. It's fantastic. Peregrines can feed on almost

everything. Ducklings, woodpeckers, pigeons. They are doing a great job

of providing for them. The weather plays a big part in what a lot of

our birds of prey are bringing in. What does the weather have in store?

It's Nick Miller who can tell us. If they don't have a good week, no one

can blame the weather. If the weather and the wind has been

ruffling your feathers over the last few weeks, put those headers neatly

back in place. With high pressure building in across England and Wales

for the next few days, something drier, quieter, calmer and warmer is

on its way. For parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, some breeze

and rain. Even here a bit of an improvement is on the way. For our

newly fledged chicks like the bullfinch and the black cap, the

humidity should bring bugs and insects for the parents to feed

them. And for the peregrines being so exposed, not always a good thing

but hopefully this week riding high with barely a care in the world. For

so long, the Springwatch weather has been showing its teeth but this week

with lighter winds and some warmth at times it's giving us a smile.

It's giving us a smile but I don't entirely believe it because he said

it's going to feel like summer this week! It's a bit chilly. What about

the mammals? We've had cameras out on a couple of badger sets. We can

go live to the one at Sandy Hill. No, we can't go live but we can see

what they've been up to. They've been training for trapeze acts and

tight rope walking. This is one of the youngsters. They aren't

independent but they are able to roam free. All of the wet weather

has meant the badgers have had a great time catching worms. I think

it actually loses it in the end and the worm escapes. The badger dig

seriously but it can't get it. That one makes it look easy. They can

gently pull them out. Do you remember pulling worms out of the

soil?! You have to be careful. The badger makes a masterful act of it.

It's great to see badgers, a lot of the mammals have been a bit elusive.

That's what I love about Springwatch, the wildlife decides

whether it wants to be the star of the show or not. We did get our

camera teams up with some thermal imaging cameras and they saw this. I

know this looks like a bear but I promise you it's a badger! It's been

marking its territory at night. Foxes. Obviously, there's lots of

fox cubs around at this time of the year. The ones here seem to be quite

wary, we haven't seen that much of them. We've seen plenty of rabbits.

There are lots on the estate. Look at this creature, not an easy one to

see at night or day, it's a little wood mouse. Lovely to see those.

They've been very elusive. What about the mammals in your garden? At

the beginning of the series we launched Spring tales. Doctor Dawn

Scott is interested in mammals into directing in your garden if you feed

them. She sent us this, here are two hedgehogs. This one week posted on

Facebook and if you people looked at it. Look at what happens. How very

rude! LAUGHTER 3.4 million people saw that on Facebook, Twitter and on

the website. If you want to be involved and be part of the

Springwatch family, you can like us on Facebook, joined Twitter or go on

to the website. That's also where you can see the live webcams that

are on 24 hours a day. That's also where you can catch Brett Westwood.

He's absolutely fabulous, he's like an encyclopaedia of British

wildlife. Brilliant naturalist. What brought you to Springwatch? A love

of animals and nature and the British countryside. Also, I love to

learn. That's where you come in, my darling. It's amazing to be had, I

love the outdoors and the sense of adventure. Here's Lindsay Chapman.

Helen Glover, Kate Humble. A very special animal. Be back tomorrow at

8am. Thank you for joining us. I'm going to be a guest tomorrow at 8am

or 8:30am, it depends on when I have my breakfast! We want to leave you

with something very, very special indeed. This is one of our kestrel

chicks. How about that for a total white out? It should be total

wipe-out! I feel really sorry for the Joe because he has to clean

it... We've had a couple of people send in some good names. Frodo, Yoda

and Ronnie Corbett had been suggested. We'll be back tomorrow.

Gillian and Martin will be in the Isles of Scilly looking at puffins.

That should be pretty good. Plenty of stuff going on at Sherborne,

including this. We will of course be following our feisty family of

stoats. . Will also be looking at the egrets on the diary. Goodbye!