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Welcome to Hands On Nature. I'm Chris Packham, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
and this is your guide to the very best wildlife locations across the UK. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
Today we're going deep into the woodland | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
and we'll be showing you how and where | 0:00:11 | 0:00:13 | |
to get close to some cracking wildlife. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
I'm in southern England to show you how to track | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
one of our best-loved animals. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
Look! There's another one! Gotta control my excitement. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:27 | |
Mike Dilger is sampling the delights of a Highland wood. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
Oh, look! We've got a kitten right in front of us! | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
Oh, fantastic! | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
And Sanjida O'Connell is in East Anglia... | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
"Dee-dee-dee, do-do-do, do-do-do, da-dee-you." | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
..being bowled over by birdsong. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:45 | |
These are New Forest ponies. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
They roam semi-wild here in the New Forest in Hampshire. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:02 | |
It's hard to believe there's a natural area as big as this in the overcrowded south of England. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
It's packed with wildlife, and is so accessible. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
The New Forest is huge - 150 square miles - | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
and it's been here since William the Conqueror set it up as a hunting forest. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:24 | |
Just look at this. These are exactly the same animals that old William wanted fed so he could hunt them. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
There are plenty here in the forest today. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
The deer are fed each day during the summer. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
It's a rare opportunity to get close views of these normally shy animals. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:41 | |
Watching over the herd is Sally Wood. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
-These are all fallow, Sally? -That's correct. -The range of coats, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
the traditional tan and spots, but also some dark and light ones. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
We have four different colour coat variations | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
which makes the fallow deer very pretty to observe. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
We've got a white deer, also menil deer, the very dark coats. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
The spots are not so obvious. We've also got one of the prettier coats. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:08 | |
They've got cream spots but they're very bright white spots, and they keep those all year round. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:13 | |
-So that animal will keep its spots? -Yeah, it will keep its spots all year round. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
The males shed their antlers in spring, and now they're growing new ones. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
The outer layer is called velvet, but it peels off | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
and the bone hardens in time for the mating season. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:31 | |
I can speak as a bird fan, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
so anything with feathers takes my fancy. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
-Why deer for you? -Deer for me, it must go back to the first movie I watched which was Bambi. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:43 | |
I knew it! | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
They're so pretty, and ever since I've been passionate about deer. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
So yeah, I think they're absolutely fantastic. They do it for me. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
Now deer are a very special feature here in the forest, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
but their numbers do have to be controlled. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
In the old days, there were plenty of wolves and bears to do that, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
but now man has to take charge. Every winter they are culled, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
but the good news is that other types of wildlife gets to flourish. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
One group of animals, a particularly delicate and beautiful group, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
are enjoying a bit of a renaissance on account of this deer management. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
Butterflies are now feasting on all the plants and undergrowth | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
that would have been destroyed by the deer. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
For forest keeper Robert Colin Stokes, it's just what he hoped for. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:32 | |
It's been quite an uphill struggle. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
The deer have been correctly managed, the ponies have been kept out. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
The proof's in the pudding here, as you can see. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
Lots and lots of plants and loads of bramble bushes. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
Plenty of nectar. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:46 | |
There's a silver wash. Look. On that bramble. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
Yep. Nice male. See how orange it is? | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
Yeah, fantastic. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
That species almost disappeared. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
They did during the early '80s, | 0:03:56 | 0:03:58 | |
they were incredibly rare in the forest and in the enclosures. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
But now almost every bramble bush has got a silver wash fritillary feeding on it. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
What a sight! Look at that! | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
The area is teeming with butterflies. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
This one's aptly named the ringlet. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:19 | |
And the well-camouflaged brimstone. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
And this bizarre looking specimen, the comma. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
It's the only British butterfly with ragged wings. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
-Can you see that white mark on the under wing? -Yeah. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
That's how it gets its name, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
-it's a comma. -It looks like a piece of old crumpled oak leaf. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
There's a white admiral there, Chris. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
Yeah, look at that! They are one of the real New Forest specialties. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:48 | |
And bramble. I always say to people, if you're into wildlife gardening, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:52 | |
have a bit of bramble in your garden. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
Loads of nectar, loads of fruit for other species | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
and also good security. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
When you come to the forest, don't come in the middle of the day | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
when all the butterflies have really heated up and have got going. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:09 | |
Mid-morning is ideal, just as the sun has warmed them through. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
You'll get some lovely close views of them. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
Yeah, like now - look at that. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
There's a gatekeeper there. And with that white apple. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
And a small skipper there as well. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
If you do come to the forest in July, mid-morning, | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
you're virtually certain to enjoy a feast of butterflies. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
Just look at that. But not all the animals in the forest are quite as showy as this. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
Some of them, I have to say, pretty secretive. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
One of Britain's most charismatic animals, | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
a T-shirt animal, a poster pin-up of our fauna, is the badger. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:46 | |
But it's a creature that has a reputation for being terribly shy. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
Very, very difficult to see in the wild. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
As a consequence, many people go a lifetime without doing so. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
That's a real shame because it isn't that difficult. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
First, you need to find a badger sett. That's what we've got here. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:02 | |
It's not a rabbit warren, the hole is much too big. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
And it is not a fox earth as they normally have one or two entrances at the most. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:10 | |
Behind me in this bracken are about 20 other holes. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
It always pays to fully explore the sett you're going to watch in daylight first. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:20 | |
Get the lie of the land. Figure out where all of the active holes are | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
and make a mental note of where all the badgers' paths are that radiate out of the sett. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:28 | |
Because when you come back in the evening, you want to make a point of treading over those. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:33 | |
You don't want to leave any scent. Not leaving any scent is important. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
Badgers have got very poor eyesight but keen hearing and a very, very good sense of smell. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:41 | |
Another tip - bring a box of matches. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
Light the match, blow it out, see which way the smoke goes. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:48 | |
You want to be definitely downwind, you don't want them to get a whiff of you at all. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
And my last bit of advice... | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
be prepared to wait, preferably against a tree to disguise your outline. And don't move. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:04 | |
It will be worth it. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
It's about half past eight in the middle of summer. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
There's still full daylight. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
This is about the best time of the year to watch badgers. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
And there it is... | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
the first badger of the evening making a tentative appearance. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:24 | |
-HE WHISPERS: -Look, look! That's a female badger. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
You can tell it's a female because it's got a long, thin narrow neck, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
quite a slim body and a long narrow tail as well. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
The boars are far more chunky. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
And, look, there's another one! | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
I've got to try and control my excitement and not speak too loudly. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
A sett like this might have as many as 15 badgers living together. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:50 | |
There are two there having a bit of a scrap. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
One of them, I think is a male, a boar badger, and the other is a cub. | 0:07:55 | 0:08:01 | |
But they're so close, it's fantastic. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
One badger has come round the side and could soon be downwind of us. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:09 | |
I'm sure she smelt us. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
Look at that. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:17 | |
That's what happens when a badger gets your scent. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
In an ideal world, you don't want that. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
I think "scarpered" would be the technical phrase. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
All the badgers have left the sett area now. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
It's important for you to wait for them to go back down their holes or to move off. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
Otherwise we'll disturb them leaving, and spoil everything for next time. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:42 | |
So leave as quietly as I can. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
The deer are fed at two o'clock every day from Easter to September | 0:08:47 | 0:08:51 | |
at Bolderwood in the New Forest, Hampshire. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
You can find out more on our website. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
You're watching Hands On Nature, your guide to the very best wildlife locations across the UK. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:05 | |
In a moment, we'll be joining Sanjida O'Connell as she puts her ears to the test in Suffolk. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:10 | |
-What's that? -There's a little bit of a black cap there. Quite a quick warble. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
A little bit of a voice like this. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
Here in the New Forest is a great diversity of deciduous and coniferous trees. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:24 | |
Even in this one spot, there's Scots pine, oak, birch, beech, sycamore, holly, willow... | 0:09:24 | 0:09:29 | |
the list could go on and on. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:33 | |
But imagine a forest that's almost dominated by a single species. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
A forest that once covered much of the North but now only a few tiny fragments remain. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:42 | |
Well, Mike Dilger has been lucky enough to go and explore this place. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
I say "lucky" - no sane man would get out of his vehicle without masses of midge cream! | 0:09:46 | 0:09:51 | |
This stretch of the Highlands | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
has to be one of the most stunning locations in the whole of Scotland. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
These beauties are Scots pine. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
They're the largest and most dominant trees in the Caledonian pine forest. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
When the glaciers retreated after the last Ice Age, they were the first to recolonise the area. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:24 | |
Here in Abernethy, near Aviemore, they support a vast array | 0:10:24 | 0:10:29 | |
of specialist insects and spectacular birds. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
Without the Scots pines, | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
much of the wildlife so dependent on these trees would simply disappear. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
Including this one. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
This little critter is called a timberman beetle. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
It's whole life is totally associated with Scots pine. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:57 | |
This one here is a female, and the males are much bigger. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
Look at these fantastic antennae! | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
A top tip whenever you're looking at insects, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
get yourself an eye lens or a magnifying glass | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
and you can have a really good look. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
Absolutely stunning beast! | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
It's only when you return the timberman beetle to its habitat | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
that you see its amazing disappearing act. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
Now, that's what I call camouflage! | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
Once upon a time, Scots pines would have covered the Highlands. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
Now just a fragment of the original forest remains. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:40 | |
To see one of our most impressive forest creatures, | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
you've got to be up at the crack of dawn. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
So it's a good job Kenny Kortland from the RSPB likes his early starts. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
This is what we've all come to see... | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
the male capercaillie, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
strutting his stuff at a mating site known as a lek. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
So, Kenny, this bog or ancient Caledonian forest in front of us | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
is as good as it gets for the capercaillie. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
Absolutely. This is quite a limited habitat in Scotland. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
The capers like these forest bogs. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
They come out and lek on them and we are able to watch them today. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
This male who's just come down... | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
is he the alpha male or Big Daddy? Does he get all the females? | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
Yeah, he gets most of the matings. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
We're seeing an intense display with the females on the ground. He's really excited. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
They're such impressive birds. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
It strikes me like a really good set-up here. Is this a good showcase? | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
Correct. This is like the honeypot. We try to get birders to come here. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
The views are tremendous here. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
Yeah, nice. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
This is a Scots pine cone. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
And this is another, after it's been mauled by a red squirrel. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
If you find these, it's a pretty sure sign | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
you're close to the red squirrels. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
Alternatively, you can go to the nearest feeder | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
where they're keen to come down for a free peanut handout. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
Red squirrels are in serious decline. This habitat is their last stronghold | 0:13:12 | 0:13:17 | |
as the grey squirrel continues its relentless march north. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
I'm now just outside the forest with Dan Tomes from the RSPB. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:27 | |
I'm about to see a full stage show | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
by the capercaillie's smaller cousin, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
the flamboyant black grouse. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
Oh, Dan, have a look out the back. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
-Oh, yeah. -Can you see that? | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
I think there's a hen coming. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
There's a hen coming onto the lek. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:45 | |
Look at those three males instantly around her! | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
You really see the behaviour start to change. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
-They crank it up, don't they? -Yeah. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
They call a lot more, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:54 | |
they display much more vigorously when there's a female. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
This is their chance to mate with that female, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
so they'll make a big show to show how fit they are. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
Once the female's decided who the strongest male is, | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
she'll mate with him. Then she'll leave the lek. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
They almost seem like clockwork toys. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
They just seem to run along, you can't even see their legs. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
It reminds me almost of human mating games. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
If you look there, there's the male showing off like crazy. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
There's a female coquettishly walking around the middle, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
-just checking all the males out! -That's right, yeah. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
A lot of people have said, when we've brought people up to the leks, | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
that it's like a nightclub, but a black grouse nightclub - | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
it's the males who dance around the handbags. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
When we were watching the capercaillie at Abernethy, we were obviously watching from a hide, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
-but here, the car serves an equally good purpose. -That's right, yeah. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
They're not disturbed as easily as capercaillie, but if we got out of the vehicle, they would fly off. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:02 | |
They don't associate the vehicle with people, and providing you don't lean out too much... | 0:15:02 | 0:15:08 | |
-It's really useful for bringing people up to see the birds. -Sure. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
You can get very close, as we have done here this morning. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
Now, there's just one more animal to try and find. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
It's a couple of hours until dusk, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
and I'm after one of the rarest and most charismatic animals of the northern forest. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:32 | |
With luck, a bit later on, it won't be ME perched here, but the animal I'm after. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
To maximise my chances, I've enlisted some help. Hello, Lucy. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
-Hello. -Can I help? -Yes, you can put some peanuts and raisins out. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:44 | |
They've got an incredibly sweet tooth, haven't they? | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
-They have got a sweet tooth. -Jam, peanut butter, peanuts and raisins. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
I'll have a little sprinkle here. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
It's getting pretty late now. Do you reckon it's about time? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
Yep, they could be out any minute now. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
Lucy Ford is an expert on the animals we're about to see, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
and it wasn't long before our dinner guests turned up - | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
pine martens. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:10 | |
Well, done, Lucy, I can't believe you've delivered within ten minutes! | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
This is one of our adult females. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
-She's called Nicki... -Right. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
..cos she's got the nick in the top of her left ear, | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
so really easy to identify. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
That creamy throat patch is beautiful. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
I understand that each animal | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
has completely different throat markings, so you can separate them. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
That's right. They all have slightly different brown spots | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
within their yellowy-cream throat patch. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
Oh, look! We've got a kitten right in front of us. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
Oh, fantastic! | 0:16:43 | 0:16:44 | |
Oh, she's really skittish on the ground. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
They're really playful. It's great to see them. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
We can't really tell you how incredibly lucky we are. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
This is an animal you will never, ever see in the wild, | 0:16:54 | 0:16:58 | |
or maybe one in a million nights if you're wandering around. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
And here they are, two, three metres away from us. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
Yeah, very lucky, like I say. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
I think Scotland should be rightly proud of their pine martens. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
England and Wales have lost theirs. If they continue to spread, maybe a few could be relocated | 0:17:10 | 0:17:14 | |
to England and Wales for southern naturalists to enjoy! | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
-You never know! -What an experience! | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
The nearest town to Abernethy is Aviemore. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
Contact the RSPB for more information | 0:17:25 | 0:17:27 | |
on their capercaillie and black grouse safaris. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
June is a great time to see those pine martens. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
Expect to pay around £15. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
And, of course, there's more information on our website... | 0:17:35 | 0:17:40 | |
When you're wandering through woodland | 0:17:40 | 0:17:42 | |
on the lookout for wildlife, keep your eyes peeled for animal remains. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:47 | |
Sounds grisly, but skulls are one of the best finds you could make. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
Over the years, I've picked up quite a few. This one is a badger skull. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:55 | |
I found this outside a sett. | 0:17:55 | 0:17:56 | |
In the springtime, the badgers clean out their setts and throw out all of the old bones. | 0:17:56 | 0:18:01 | |
You can tell it's a badger because it's got this distinctive crest | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
along the top of the skull. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
Also, it's a very broad and powerful skull. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:10 | |
This is the other one you're likely to find. Look at those canines. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
Long and narrow. If anything, a bit like a small dog skull. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
No prizes - it's a fox. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
If you compare it to the badger, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
you can see it's much narrower - | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
much longer snout that foxes have. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
I like this detective work. You can even tell the age of a wood | 0:18:26 | 0:18:30 | |
simply by taking account of your surroundings. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
Well, Sanjida O'Connell fancied a bit of sleuthing for herself | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
so she went off to a traditional working wood in the East of England. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
Before she got started, she fancied sampling the delights of that wood first thing in the morning. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:46 | |
Nature is usually at its best early in the morning. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
So to get the most out of a woodland experience, you really do need to get up as early as you can. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:03 | |
It's spring and I've come to Bradfield Woods near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk to enjoy the dawn chorus. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:10 | |
BIRD SINGS | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
With me is Geoff Sample, a man who's passionate about bird song. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:18 | |
He travels worldwide, recording their sounds. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
So Geoff, we've come out at this time of the morning to listen to the dawn chorus. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:27 | |
It's a nice time to get out and LISTEN, as opposed to squinting through binoculars. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:32 | |
The fluty songs that we're hearing in the middle distance are blackbirds. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:36 | |
And there we go. There's a chiffchaff just arrived above us. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
"Chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff..." | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
At dawn, it's actually the calmest period of the day usually, and the coolest. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
So it's the best time of the day for sound transmission. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
Sound travels further and clearer. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
I'm not particularly musical so I don't know whether that means | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
that people like me are going to find it harder to distinguish between the different songs. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
Somehow you've got to learn to associate a particular sound or pattern, | 0:20:15 | 0:20:20 | |
latch onto something, and remember the species associated with the bird. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:26 | |
There's a little bit of a black cap there. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
With a little bit of a voice like this. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:20:33 | 0:20:34 | |
This is a chaffinch. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
People say it's like a fast bowler coming up to the crease. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
You get one set of steps... | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
"Dee-dee-dee, do-do-do, do-do-do." | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
He changes his pace and then there's the, "Da-dee-ooh." | 0:20:50 | 0:20:54 | |
The final bit at the end. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
Yeah. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
This sort of descending cadence is a robin. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:09 | |
It's a very pretty song for a bird that we all recognise and know. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:14 | |
Yeah, it's the northern nightingale. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
So you've got up early, you've heard the dawn chorus, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
you've identified the birds, but if you actually want to record birdsong, then this is how you do it. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:28 | |
Geoff, you've got a state of the art recording device here, but it does look rather strange. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:33 | |
Yeah. Bit Heath Robinson. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
So what's going on with this? | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
You've got two choices when you're dealing with wildlife. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
This is the traditional method | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
which is, I guess, the equivalent of a telephoto lens with a camera. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:49 | |
It's known as a parabolic reflector. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
The alternative method is cabling, which is a nicer way to do things. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:56 | |
It's my preferred way of recording. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
You don't need to have a big set up like this. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
You can have a cheapish mic, tape it on to a branch of the tree | 0:22:02 | 0:22:07 | |
and possibly you'll be within 5 to 10ft of the bird. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
But what you need is 30ft of cable. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
So you can have the mic where you think the bird's going to be and then you can be well hidden? | 0:22:14 | 0:22:19 | |
-Yeah, you could run it back to the stereo in your front room if you want. -That sounds brilliant! | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
-Shall we have a go with this and see what kind of bird song we can record? -By all means. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:30 | |
There's a blackbird over there I'm trying to get onto. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:34 | |
You have to get it dead on the bird and then you get the boost in the sound. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:39 | |
BIRD SINGS | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
Oh, that's lovely, it's so clear. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
It's really taken out the other sounds and amplified the blackbird's. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:52 | |
Using these kind of mics allows you to eavesdrop on a world that you'd never otherwise be able to hear. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:02 | |
Bradfield Wood isn't just famous for its birds, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
but also for a wide variety of flowers. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
This is a wood anemone. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:13 | |
One of the things I like about this plant | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
is there are lots of myths and legends associated with it. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
One of them is the story of the goddess of love, Venus. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
She was mourning the death of her lover, Adonis, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
and where her tears fell are where the wood anemones sprang up. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:31 | |
This is beautiful. I'm in a sea of wild white garlic. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
It's got a really powerful smell. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
But actually it's not quite so pungent if you eat it. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
What I like doing is making it into garlic bread. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
Also you can make soup out of it and put the little flowers on the top as a garnish. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:48 | |
Just the smell, being in the middle of all this, is making me feel quite hungry. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
All these flowers are really beautiful. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
But with a bit of detective work, they can also help us uncover the rich history of this wood. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:04 | |
Botanist Patricia Ash is looking for key plants that will help her find out how long this wood has been here. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:10 | |
Flowers like the oxlip. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:12 | |
East Anglia is a real stronghold. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
And the beautiful and rare Herb Paris | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
which gets its name from the Latin word "par", meaning equal, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
because of the regularity and symmetry of its leaves. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
Together, these and other plants, known as indicator species, | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
tell Patricia all she needs to know. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
They have a number of unusual properties. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
They take a very long time to colonise a wood. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
They're very reluctant to spread out beyond their natural habitat. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:51 | |
They also love living in shade. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
So where you get a whole load of that sort of species together, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:58 | |
it really does suggest that they've been there a long, long time. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
If you had to guess, how old would you say this wood was? | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
It must be pretty ancient from the range of species that you've told me about and that I've seen today. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:11 | |
I would say at least 1,000 years. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
So the sheer variety of flowers here shows you that this is an ancient woodland. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
It's something that you could do in your own local woodland to work out how old it is. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
But to find out more about its history, we need to look at the trees themselves. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:29 | |
This isn't really what you'd expect of an ancient tree, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
but in fact it could be one of the oldest trees in the wood. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
It's an ash stump, or stool. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
The reason that it looks like this is because it's been coppiced by humans for centuries. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:43 | |
What coppicing is, is when you cut down the branches of the trees | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
quite near the base and then that allows these new shoots to generate. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
When they get thick enough, they're harvested and used for fencing, thatching and firewood. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:58 | |
A different part of the wood is coppiced every few years. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
This may look devastated, but coppicing opens the area to sunlight, | 0:26:01 | 0:26:06 | |
which encourages wild flowers. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
The wood is also the habitat of an elusive bird that sings from within deep cover. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:15 | |
Nightingales are the archetypal little brown bird, | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
so I don't think that I'm actually going to get to see one tonight, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
but I am hoping that I will hear one | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
because nightingales are one of the few species that actually sing at night. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
Still can't hear one. I'm going to try a little trick. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
What I've got is a tape-recording of a nightingale and I'm going to play it | 0:26:35 | 0:26:42 | |
to see if that's going to make the males respond. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:47 | |
I'm hoping that because males sing to attract females, that they're going to think that this male is a rival, | 0:26:47 | 0:26:53 | |
and they'll sing to out-compete it. BIRD-SONG PLAYS ON TAPE | 0:26:53 | 0:26:57 | |
BIRD RESPONDS FROM TREES That's amazing. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
I've got a nightingale singing back to us. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:05 | |
I think it's amazing to be in a wood at this time of night - | 0:27:06 | 0:27:10 | |
it's about nine o'clock - and to be able to hear a bird singing and singing so beautifully. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:17 | |
Males only sing for a short period of time and once they've got the females, they stop. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:22 | |
A bit like your boyfriends, to put all this effort in at the start and they give up once they've got you! | 0:27:22 | 0:27:29 | |
Bradfield wood is run by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
and it's just a short drive from Bury St Edmunds. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
It's open all year round and it's free. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
The best time for the dawn chorus is late April, early May, | 0:27:42 | 0:27:46 | |
which also happens to be a great time for woodland flowers. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
We've got some interesting plants here in the New Forest too. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
This one is called butcher's broom and it's a species you typically find in old woodlands. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:58 | |
It's well named. In the old days when butchers would throw sawdust on their floors to soak up the blood, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:04 | |
they'd then gather up bundles of this stiff spiky plant | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
and use it to sweep up. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
Works really well. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
And it's still got a modern use as well because it's said that butcher's broom can cure piles. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:17 | |
On that potentially very painful end, we'll say that's all from this addition of Hands On Nature. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:21 | |
See you again next time. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
When I'll be tracking down the bird | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
known as the nutty noise maker. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
This male here is going berserk. There he is, look at that! | 0:28:29 | 0:28:35 | |
And we'll be getting close to the insects of the South Downs | 0:28:35 | 0:28:40 | |
when Mike Dilger catches up with some fantastic wildlife. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:44 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 |