East Urban Jungle

Sarah Beynon. Welcome to Cambridge. This is a wildlife programme with a

difference. You're not going to see fluffy bunny rabbits are frolicking

lambs, instead we have got wildlife with attitude. We're going to

wildlife places with a difference to see wildlife thriving in unusual

urban habitats. In Cambridge, a mystery creature that's turning

summer in the winter. And a bird that was once thought to hibernate

under water. Cambridge is famous for its ancient colleges, historic

buildings, but there's another side to the city. Yeah, it is a side that

lots of people are unaware of and we will see that later on.

But first, a usually secretive creature is causing quite a stir.

Wildlife enthusiasts from all over the country are making a beeline to

this town to find out what the fuss is about. I was intrigued as well so

I went along to find out for myself. Norfolk once was home to the

mysterious warrior Queen Boudicca, and has seen its share of invaders.

But one type of invasion has been unexpected.

This is a wildlife story that has taken Thetford by surprise. If we

get too close sometimes they come up and make strange noises. It is

hilarious. We love it. And this is what the big surprise

is. One of the most fearsome hunters of the river has set up camp right

I was desperate to see the otter for myself. But looking around such a

built-up town it seemed impossible that an otter would be attracted to

a built-up urban environment like this.

You've got a car park over there, graffiti, it feels like the wrong

kind of setting. I absolutely agree with you and it is quite unusual

that the otters are here. I'm going to look for them but they

are also a skittish bunch so I have asked an otter expert to help me

out. We set it up so that the food is

here for them and their habitat is here for them. And just across the

bridge is where they're meant to be. It is incredible that such an

elusive animal has been seen here hunting during the day and is almost

just part of the Thetford now. That is because our rivers are

Morning. Good morning. Are you hoping to see the otters? We were

hoping to, yes. We might be out of luck. Have you seen them lately? Not

for about two weeks. One then just caught a fish and brought it out of

the bank about a foot from myself. Took no notice of me and the dog.

Totally unfazed by the fact you were there? Totally unfazed. Wonderful.

They'll come out onto the bank here. They'll come out there? Oh, yes, we

see them all the time now. I can tell that you are excited. We just

love it. It is amazing that you've got this little old river going

through a town with otters. Right up at your feet. Brilliant.

Just because other people see them doesn't mean we're going to see them

today. We got to have a bit of patience. Exactly. Fingers crossed.

We've just got to sit here quietly and listen.

And that is what we did, all morning. But without any luck. Later

in the day, we found some tell-tale signs.

We spotted an otter spraint here on a tree stump which is a classic

sprainting site. This is used as a communication site so other otters

will know it has been here. Despite finding the droppings, sadly, there

was no sign of that elusive otter. Otters were driven to the edge of

extinction by pollution and the lack of suitable habitat. But naturalist

Philip Webb bred in captivity in Suffolk and some were released into

the wild in the 1980s. There are now thought to be otters in every county

in England. But I don't think anyone thought that it would also mean

otters would move into towns. While most people in Thetford are glad to

have otters living so close, the presence has caused a headache for

some. It seems the animal isn't just content sticking to the rivers when

it comes to hunting for food. I came out to catch the dog because

it was making so much noise. And it was hurtling around the pond. I

shone the torch in the pond and the otter was sitting over there.

So the otter was in your pond feeding on your fish? You lost eight

fish? The best bits. Do you have any left? There is one left the nearby

that has been damaged. It has teeth marks down the side of its body.

Have you found them? He's down there. There he is. The otters have

had a go and take in the other ones but this one has survived but

barely. You can see where it has been ripped

off. The marks down here. The couple aren't taking any

chances. They put a wire mesh over the other pond.

5am and dawn is just breaking in Thetford. While most of the town is

still sleeping I come back to try my luck again. I'm determined to see an

otter. Within just 20 minutes I see Do you see him? There he is.

I can't believe we've only been here just a few minutes. The otter is

Oh, my gosh. He's gone really low, really deep, really deep.

Hello. It has really paid off coming back. This early in the morning we

get to see the Thetford otter. It's really special. He's saying good

When the alarm went off at 3:30am this morning I honestly thought why

are we getting up so early? I would never believe that we would see an

otter on this stretch of the river. It has been such an exciting

experience and one that I will Have you ever seen an otter that

close before? To be honest, I've never seen an otter before so to see

it up that close was amazing. It stayed for an hour and a half and

when it wanted to ditch us it was gone in a second.

When you ask people to think about Cambridge what do you think springs

to mind? I don't know, the colleges, students on the river.

Cambridge is just like any other urban setting. Factories and its

fair share of traffic jams. wouldn't think this was a great

place to live if you are an animal when you could live in the

countryside. But the city is full of different species and I challenged

myself to find as many as possible over the course of one day.

Mill Road, Cambridge, the heart of the urban jungle. It's probably the

busiest, most cosmopolitan Street in the city, teeming with takeaways and

students, it's the street that doesn't sleep. But it is also home

to Mill Road Cemetery and it is here that we will find the most diverse

Wasp beetles. These beetles look like wasps and that is a form of

self defence. By being black and yellow striped they're advertising

to predators that they are poisonous. There are nine acres here

behind the shops and chimney pots. It has been a burial ground since

1847 and it is here amongst the graves that we are hunting for the

burying beetle. We are laying these traps to collect

burying beetles and burying beetles are the grave-diggers of the insect

world. They are called burying beetles because the male and female

beetle will work together to bury the carcass of a small mammal or

birds. They then strip the hair or the feathers from that carcass and

they use those to line the crib. The world-famous Addenbrooke's

Hospital. It's so busy here, thousands of people every day. But

not many people stop to look up. If they did, on this building just

outside they'd see the biggest college of housemartins.

Maybe not the most beautiful building for people but what it has

got are some fantastic opportunities for nesting. They build them out of

tiny mud pellets. The pair worked together. How many pairs have you

got? Over 100 nests. They came here from central and southern Africa to

breed. Lots of people might want to go away to hot countries for the

holidays but they come here for the serious business of raising the

young. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. It's an

early start this morning. We're here at BBC Radio

Cambridgeshire to see if any of the listeners have spotted any wildlife.

You're looking for wildlife in Cambridge, you're bound to find

some. We're looking for anything so we want people to tell us what

they've seen. We set some traps up for some burying beetles. We really

just want any sightings that have been found over a 24-hour period.

Over there is Cambridge United from Boston, now we have some falls down

here. It was lucky because they are really rare and hardly seen in urban

areas. They were nearly wiped out by the American mink and are often

mistaken for rats. No trip here is complete without a punt. If you

haven't done it, you haven't done Cambridge. We're doing it at night

as we are looking for bats. And we have got bat detectors so we can

hear them coming. There you go, but is quite a rapid clicking sound.

They fly very low over the water, just a couple of inches. Also known

as the water bat for that reason. Just look at all the insects.

that is prime feeding spot for them? That is perfect for them, it is a

buffet! These are really easy to use anybody could get it bat detector

and listen out that in their area. It is wonderful just open your eyes

and ears to what is around you at night. There is so much life going

on outside. The bats flying around, feeding on various insects. It

expands your enjoyment and understanding of wildlife. We're on

a busy road. There's a football stadium over there, retail park,

railway line just across the way there. But down here is the Leopard

Chapel, the oldest building in Cambridge. It is host to about 25

different species of moths. Tonight, we're going to meet a lady who's

going to try and find some of them. Hi, Louise. Hi.How are you? Good.

What are you doing here? We are doing a bit of moth trapping. It is

a nice mild night, the conditions are just right. What kind of species

do think we might find? Who knows? It has not been a good year but we

might get a common swift, we might get a hawk moth, maybe a Ruby Tiger.

Brilliant. So if we leave you here for a bit and comeback in the

morning and see what you have got? OK. Excellent, see you in the

morning. Louise, what did you catch? It wasn't a bad night. About 20

species altogether. My particular favourites are the hawk moths. This

is the elephant hawk moth, one of the smaller hawk moths. What is not

to like about a pink and green moth that blends in re well? It was an

amazing pace, a beautiful face. This one is a bit more feisty, I'm

afraid. There you go, it has settled down. That is the swallow prominent,

I don't know why it is called that. It is a mid to late June species in

towns across the country. So this is the angle shades. It is a fairly

common moth in urban settings. Beautifully sculptured head. Looking

at it from profile, it has got a little crest. It is amazing, it

looks like a folded dead leaf. Rush-hour in Cambridge. As you can

see, it's really busy. But here, just a few metres away in the

Cambridge botanic garden, is a badger set. We have left the camera

overnight. But instead of badgers, oh, dear, a muntjac triggered our

sensor. There are loads of them wandering around just off the main

road. Luckily though, the badgers had been caught on camera before.

With the clock running down, it was time to check my tracks. Remember

the open grave sin the cemetery dated with rotten flesh? -- bated. I

wonder what came to dinner. Brilliant. We've got a burying

beetle. These beetles work together as male and female to bury a small

carcass. They pull it down into the ground, strip it of its hair or

feathers. They then use that hair or feathers to line the inside of a

quip that they form for the carcass. -- crip. They then spit all of the

carcass and that stops the carcass rotting. They lay their eggs in the

soil next to the carcass. When they hatch into lavae, they pull the

lavae over to the food source and then they actually read those lavae.

That form of parental care is really unheard of. These really are the

undertakers of the insect world. seen a moorhen braving the rush hour

to feed her chicks, a holly blue next to the Market Square and

spiderling balls on roadside nettles. But maybe the best is to

come. Our radio appeal had a bite. We have just had a Facebook message

from Darren saying, "You guys should definitely have a look at these

ermine webs on Jesus Green". Let's avenue of trees stripped of their

leaves. I think this here is probably what we're looking for.

before. It looks like the whole avenue has been frozen, like a scene

caterpillars of an ermine moth. They've coated all these trees in

silken web so that they are safe underneath to feed on the cherry

tree. The visual impact is stunning. They've changed this piece of

found over 50 different species. That is not unusual. Within the

course of a day, you could be find that many species in any open area.

Next, we'll be looking at a creature that likes to live on the wild side.

Its nickname is the devil bird. A lot of people used to think it

hibernate it at the bottom of Lake. It is one of the fastest, noisiest

and most mysterious winged creatures. It loves to live

alongside people. Given half the chance, it will even move in with

you. It also loves nothing more than a night on the tiles, so I went

along to the town of Fulbourn in Cambridgeshire to find out more. It

is easy to think the places where we live are unappealing for wildlife,

but I'm on the trail of a creature that hasn't only adapted to our love

of bricks and mortar, it's actually thrived on it. This is Fulbourn in

Cambridgeshire and believe it or not, it is one of the best places in

the country to see one of our most mysterious and beguiling birds.

They've been coming here every summer since the 1960s when the

original housing estate was built. Where are they? They were screaming

overhead a few moments ago, I'm sure they will be back in a moment or

two. There's one in the end there, yes. Apus apus, or to you and me, a

swift. For millennia, they have flown thousands of miles from

southern Africa to breed in the UK, nesting in nooks and crannies in our

rooftops. Swifts spend so much time on the wing, they can cover four

million miles is a lifetime. Unlike housemartins and swallows, you will

never see them land on power lines or rooftops. When the young birds

are born, they won't touch down again for several years. Sweeping

around here now. So they will be going into the gaps underneath this

office? If you look there, you see? This is one I took here two or three

weeks ago. Hopefully, with some food to take to their young. The design

of these houses is swift heaven. One just came out! But our relationship

with the Swift is fast breaking down. In a -- to make our homes more

energy efficient, rooves with gaps are out. A few years ago, this

entire estate was made up of houses like this, attracting more than 70

pairs of nesting swifts. Now, apart from the row where Ian lives, all

those houses have been demolished. And this is what they have been

replaced with. Lots of plastic, no gaps for the swifts, potential for

disaster. Swifts being shut out is a familiar story right across the

country. Numbers are declining by three percent a year. This old mill

in Saint Neots West of Cambridge used to have its own population of

swifts, but last year it underwent major renovations and the old roof

was ripped off. This is just one week before the swifts were due to

return from Africa. This was very much an emergency. It could've been

a disaster, but local swift enthusiasts came up with a unique

solution. We came up with the idea of incorporating these things into

the wall. This is an air brick liner, normally used to ventilate a

building. We turned it around, cut a hole in it here and it makes a very

adequate space for nesting swifts. Within just a few days of installing

just 12 of these, two pairs of swifts moved in, negotiating the

scaffold poles that were actually in front of the nest site. So, how are

they doing this year? Look, one has just gone in there! That has gone

into box number ten. That means we have got seven occupied boxes this

year. That is more than before the roof was replaced last year. What a

result! Brilliant. Campaigners have now completed more than 50 swift

projects across Cambridge, putting up 800 swift boxes in schools,

office blocks and churches. In fact, there is no reason why swift boxes

can not be added to many of our homes. That is exactly what Dick has

done to his house. Here you are, Sarah, that is what we have got.

Brilliant. So how many boxes have you got up there? In the three

cabinets, we've got a total of 19 boxes. In those boxes, we have five

breeding pairs all sitting on eggs, we believe. In addition to the five

pairs, we have also acquired three new pairs this year which we hope

will stay and breed next year. This is how they spend the whole night.

Dick is now turning his passion into a science using a raft of cameras so

he can monitor and record the swift activity in his home. A bird

recently came in out of the rain. Despite that, it still as usual

barges and its partner of the nest because it is insisting that it is

his turn to intubate, you get out of here and get some food. What I find

extraordinary is that only a few weeks ago, some of these birds would

have been living 8,000 miles away. In fact, Dick knows exactly where

one of them has been because it is fitted with a tracking device. It's

got as far as Mozambique. It spent a little over a week in southern West

Africa, Liberia. It was there on fifth May. By 12th May, it was back

in its nest box. Goodness me. With all this research that is going on,

are we any closer to finding out why these birds are in trouble? It is

due to the lack of nest sites here is always something going on in

Africa? We're not sure if there is anything in Africa. Some birds that

do similar movements in Africa, many of those are not declining. Back in

this country, possibly there is something to do with the lack of

insect due to chemicals. They are losing their nest sites, that is

obvious. But this doesn't need to happen. The original nest sites at

Fulbourn were lost when the old houses were knocked down and

replaced with new houses that won't swift friendly. There is the edge of

the development. Is this where they are building at the moment?

local people came up with an ingenious way to encourage the birds

to come back. More than 200 purpose-built swift boxes. And when

the swifts take to the air, the Fulbourn Suisse group take to the

streets. Either groups of swifts screaming overhead or perhaps just

flying overhead in a significant route. -- group. One just went into

the box up there. The one next door? So has the Fulbourn swift colony

been saved? I'm pleased to say that last year there were 44 reading

pairs recorded. -- breeding. The important point about that as the

birds have learned were then you nest. The internal crevasses we have

provided are starting to be used. So there are lessons we can learn from

Fulbourne? Exactly. And seeing the swifts moving into their new homes

is fantastic. What is going on here Fulbourn shows we can all make room

for our wildlife, even in our more urban areas. And who wouldn't want

to share their home with such a amazing to think that those people

are really quite happy to share their homes with the swifts. They

really were. As you can see behind us, there is a swift tower and the

people of this part of Cambridge have put that tower up to attract

these amazing birds to their area. love that idea. If you have been

inspired by that and fancy doing something like that where you live

or if you remember those caterpillars earlier and you want to