Episode 8 Autumnwatch Unsprung

It's Friday, it's going to be a wonderfully colourful show. We have

got red grouse, red deer, white hares and golden eagles. All the

Welcome to Autumnwatch live. Coming from Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

We have heard our curtain call. This is the last of the series.

We'll be talking -- About the weather. We are British! We'll talk

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 155 seconds

They experience our most extreme weather conditions. It has been a

very unusually autumn. Above 600 metres here in the Karen gorpls

trees can't grow. Right here we're on the brink. There are a few

stunted examples. Above this, the habitat in the UK is as close as

you can get to the Arctic. The Arctic what better place to go for

a spot of skiing. Only one problem, there's no snow! Last year there

are two metres of snow. As we reported earlier, there was a

sprinkling in October. The average daily maximum temperatures are five

degrees higher last year than this. It has had an impact on the

wildlife. Some of the Heather is in flower now in nof. Still in flower

I -- Amazing. That has meant some animals are able to exploit food

resources they would not normally get to You would not normally

expect to see bull finches! favourites. You would not expect to

see them on the top of moors at this time of year. Are they

indigenous. We get a few migrants, the Scandinavian birds are bigger

and brighter than the UK ones. They look like UK ones. When it gets

harsh they will move down and feed on the low lands. I know where they

will come, to my garden and pinch the buds off the apple tree! That's

what apple trees are for. Some of the creatures are bright pink.

Others like this have a better idea of what to do. This is a mountain

hare. It's left with a bit of a problem. At the moment because

there's no snow it's sticking out like a sore thumb. Rather than

hiding from predators it's making it more noticeable to predators.

While we were up there, we also saw these. At this time of year,

mountain hares are a principal component of their diet. If they

are bright white it means they are easy to catch. I can't understand

how any survive. They don't get caught out every year. What is

happening is obviously the hare is not responding to a coverage of

snow, it's responding principally to day length. Some years

unfortunately they get caught out and a few probably get caught!

weather has been strange in Scotland but peculiar all over the

country. You are right. It has been peculiar. Do we like to talk about

it? It's a British pastime to talk about the weather. I can't help

myself. It has been mild for this time of the year. We have asked you

to let us know your observations. We have had a incredible response.

It was the best response in the series. You have been telling us

about lady birds. We have had lots of you tell us about bees and

watches. All over the country bees and watches are around. Toads and

frogs. And the butters flies and moths. Lots of flowers are still in

flower. I'll put some of the magnets on the map. We have got

apple blossom in Tewkesbury. Roses in Greenwich outside London. And

Emma harr told us about that. And foxgloves in Derbyshire. It has

been a mild autumn. The latest we have from the Met Office has given

us a graph. Which they haven't trusted me to do. We have

temperature up the side and time along the bottom. It starts on

September 1. The dotted line is the average temperature calculated and

you -- As you can see until we get through to the beginning of October,

end of November it's pretty much hovering around the average. It

veers up here. What we have seen in November are so far temperatures

well above the average. The average temperature for November has been 9

degrees. That's 3.1 above the norm. And the highest ever was 8.8 in

1994. This could end up being the warmest November. November is a

transitional month. It often starts warm and gets cold at the end. If

it gets cold now it follows a typical November pattern. The

impact on your selection of species here is noticeable. I think because

these are dramatic events they hold a higher potency for us. People

notice them. In terms of the grand scheme of things I'm not entirely

sure it will have an impact. These are isolated things. Nature has the

ability to soak up the cold or warm periods. Some wildlife has been

quite confused. Let's look at the ducklings. Below the flamingo pool

there are ten ducklings swimming around. It seems they think it's

spring. What is going to happen to them? They will have a tough time.

They are reliant on finding their own food. This is possibly a sign

of not a second spring, these birds responding to a forthcoming spring.

If it fleezs and gets cold they could be be be be in trouble. They

are already in trouble. Once they are looking for food they are food

themselves. Look at this. We also filmed this, this week. And a

little ducklings swimming around with mum. Look at that. A black-

headed gull has tried its luck. It is quite a small gull. Look at how

protective the adult is. She has come in and the duckling has

scarpered off the mud. This is more capable of taking Mallard chicks.

They would gladly do so and possibly clean up the lot. Fingers

crossed for the duck lgz. The female will undoubtedly breed in

April and if she fails again in May. It's time for Liz Bonnin when we

sent to the Karen gorpls to cover an emotive issues. The British

landscape gets no more dramatic and beautiful than in the Highlands of

Scotland. It's most valuable and important habitat is the Caledonian

pine forest a rich mix of trees, Heather and all the animal species

associated with it. But as beautiful as this place N is,

something is out of balance in this spectacular landscape. I'm not here

just to admire the species, I'm here to find out about one of the

most controversial issues in Britain today. They belong here

just as much as all the other animals but humans have created --

Created an ecosystem with no natural method of controlling them.

Some believe that the red deer is population is so out of balance it

needs culling. My journey starts on a special estate. He works on the

sharp end of keeping deer numbers Long-eared bats just listen. They

hear the sound... That is amazing. How does water come out of a

whale's back? It's the water that is caught on the back of the whale

so you get this spray. Out of the blow hole. It is the air that comes

out of the blow hole which is almost like a nostril on the back,

if you like. Does it smell? It does. I have had it hit me in the face

once! It is not very pleasant. If you go whale watching, don't go too

close. I wish you had bathed before you came in! Why do ladybirds have

spots? Chris? Nick Baker could answer that one! Try and condense

it. I will ignore the spots and go for the colour. Contrasting

markings, just to warn potential predators they are distasteful.

spots are there to break up the obvious and make it a distinctive

obvious and make it a distinctive animal. You know me, don't eat me

because I'm foul-tasting. If you squash one in your fingers, not

literally squash it, but if you smell your fingers afterwards they

reflex bleed out of their knee joints and it is quite a soapy

smell. You wouldn't want to put that in your mouth. If you lick it,

it is very bitter. I didn't know that. Shall we go to the board? We

have so many letters and drawings from viewers. Look at this. All

sorts of things. This is all from one family. This is Will. Aged four.

He's done us, basically. There's me. I have very long legs there.

There's Chris. You are a bit smaller! LAUGHTER Very rounded!

This one's from Joe, aged six. These are great hedgehogs. A good

message. Don't give bread and milk because it will make them poorly.

That is pretty good. There's me. Martin. There's you. And there's

Chris with the owl. "I like poodles and poo." We know, Chris! This

picture, this is beautiful. The badgers. And this is the most

beautiful duck on earth. Some great artwork there. We have also had

some tremendous photographs sent in. I am always critical... Before you

do that, we should gather the starlings up. Before you do the

photos... There is a bit of speed about this. A pair of dogs is going

to come at me! They make a sparrowhawk look pretty tame!

are you going to do this? They are so well trained! I must learn to

train Chris and Martin like that! Hopefully, the dog also be as well

trained as that(!) They are getting better the photos. I thought I

better pull one out which I thought was sensational! This one, a lot of

imagination has been used here by this photographer. Let's have a

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 155 seconds

montage of the rest of some of our Some good photos. Brilliant. Can we

do our favourites? That is my favourite. It's a blur of nuthatch

action! Love it. Gerald Robinson is my favourite. That is beautiful.

Isn't it? The tip of the beak is missing! Seriously. Do you have a

favourite? I do. This one was taken by Maxwell Law. The fact it's flown

directly at the photographer. What do you think? The audience voted

for this one. Really? That is pretty. The swan came a very close

second. Yes! A swan without a beak! Moving on. What are we doing next?

The poodles. I can't believe you forgot that! Where are the

beauties? We have lots of people asking - come on, my boys. We have

had lots of people asking why do dogs howl when they hear certain

sounds like those foxes? Ah! Hello, Scratch. And Mr Itchy! Hello. While

these settle down, let's go back to our quiz and see if we have got

anybody who got... DOG GROWLS are well trained(!) Scratch! Come

here. Go to Daddy. Did anybody get the right answers? No. No-one has

got them all. Are we going to have a go? Yes. I will ask you. I

thought that might be some sort of... It's a... It's an insect of

some kind. Some wasps do. That's the case made. You are closest,

Chris. The species is key here. Shall I tell you? Yes. As a kid I

reared the caterpillers of this moth. I couldn't find the cocoons,

they are puss moth caterpillers. They have chewed into table legs

and stuff like that and hidden. If you find them, you can't get them

off even with a hammer. The caterpiller has chewed the wood and

formed almost a bomb shelter of a cocoon. Did anyone guess that? If

you put your hand up you are in trouble! Let's go on to this one.

Any guesses? It is a mollusc. might be a species that is new to

this country because of climate change. No. It's been buried in

like that? If you turn it the other way round, it's been buried, the

pointy-end down, it is the biggest one in Britain. Last time I heard,

there were 14 around the British coast. There used to be a lot more

but because of anchors and disturbances to the sediment they

get lost and broken. That is really rare around our coastline. It's

called? It's called a fan mussel! Anyone guess that one? No. OK.

we go! I knew they were both on the shore tonight! Isn't this the

easiest one? That is the easiest of the lot! We all know what that one

is! Woodcock! They used to use woodcock pin feathers to do the

pinstripeing on Rolls-Royce cars! This one. Liz should know that one.

We didn't do very well! Thank you very much. OK. A moment of truth.

Scratch, come here! Come on. Come on! Now, sometimes when your dog

hears the ice-cream van, or certain music, it produces a howling sound.

People wonder what this is about. Let's see if these two can produce

a howling sound now if we play the Autumnwatch theme tune, which they

have been trained to listen. AUTUMNWATCH THEME TUNE

LAUGHTER Shhh! Anyway, let's have a couple

of questions. Calm down, boys. Do birds get fat on fat balls? Let's

have you answer that one? They use so much energy in finding food and

feeding. They will eat what they need, you know. They don't get fat

like we do. They are always active. Fat balls are fantastic with them.

It is full of energy. It is one of the best things you can put out.

Put them out without the plastic mesh. That can get caught up in

their feet. In fact, go on the website. We have loads of

website. We have loads of information about how to feed your

birds. At this time of the year, it is important that you do keep

feeding them. People think they are overfeeding them because when they

get cold they fluff their feathers up. But they are trying to keep

warm. At the moment, very few birds are coming into gardens because it

is so mild and there is lots of food out there. If it does get cold,

they will come in Thank you for all the questions that you have sent in.

We couldn't make Unsprung without you. You really have been a big

part of this show. So we have decided to celebrate that by

showing you the best bits of showing you the best bits of

Unsprung, from you, our audience. I have a question here, what is your

favourite poo? Is it a POO-dle?! What a work of art! The sweetest

quickfire question, have a look at this. This is from Finlay. I have

been taken to task by a 15-year-old girl. We have had a lot of

questions about hedgehogs. Very on the ball. Don't you poo on my map!

Oh no! Look at this. This is from Phil Smith. This one is fantastic.

This is from John Tattersall. Oh dear. Kirsten Hunter is desperate

to hear you say "puffling". Puffling! My favourite answer was

(a) could be Santa Claus. We have this photo. I would have wallpaper

like that. Come on, Chris. That is beautiful. I like that. I would put

that on my wall. Hats off to onand Matthew. Helen Proud, I love some

of the names. Thank you to those who got in contact. APPLAUSE Well,

a fantastic series of Unsprung. There are a couple of dogs in

Battersea Dogs Home. If anyone is interested, they are free to a good

home. As troublesome as the Sex Pistols! Nevertheless, we have

enjoyed it all. Thank you very much to the audience for contributing.