:00:17. > :00:25.APPLAUSE Thank you very much. You're very
:00:26. > :00:28.kind. Fellow! We're live from the wonderful
:00:29. > :00:31.WWT Caerlaverock reserve in Dumfriesshire,
:00:32. > :00:42.our home for this week. If you have been watching us this
:00:43. > :00:52.week, you will know what a fantastic place it is. 25% of the UK's salt
:00:53. > :00:57.marsh is here. And because it is Autumnwatch, we have a few other
:00:58. > :01:05.birds and some badgers and deer as well. But this is Unsprung, not the
:01:06. > :01:06.main programme, normally it comes afterwards, but today it is before
:01:07. > :01:14.the party. This is the programme where we reach
:01:15. > :01:17.out into some slightly different Tonight we're delving into art with
:01:18. > :01:20.wildlife painter extraordinaire Darren Rees, and we'll talking
:01:21. > :01:39.literature and conservation with He is a man who doesn't pull
:01:40. > :01:46.punches, and we need a few more of those in conservation. Later, Martin
:01:47. > :01:52.will be here with a bit of history. And Michaela Strachan is going to be
:01:53. > :01:59.performing live. APPLAUSE
:02:00. > :02:03.A little tear! I am very excited as well because I
:02:04. > :02:08.can introduce an old friend at this point, a man who I met in 1981 in
:02:09. > :02:12.the back of a smelly Cortina, Mr Darren Rees.
:02:13. > :02:16.APPLAUSE He has gone on to own better cars,
:02:17. > :02:20.and has become one of the leading wildlife artists of the UK. We will
:02:21. > :02:26.be talking to him about his work and looking at some of it a bit later
:02:27. > :02:29.on. We are in advance of the main programme today, but we can't take
:02:30. > :02:34.comments about what we have got wrong or right, but what have we
:02:35. > :02:37.got, Lindsey? We have so much coming in.
:02:38. > :02:39.We're here throughout the year on social media.
:02:40. > :02:41.You can follow us on Twitter via @BBCSpringwatch and like us
:02:42. > :02:55.I have had so much coming in that I want to show you some of it. Let's
:02:56. > :03:02.take a look at this piece of footage which has been sent in, and this was
:03:03. > :03:07.taken at Caerlaverock just the other day. The Foxes in the foreground,
:03:08. > :03:14.and Barneys in the background. And just watch this unfold. It is clear
:03:15. > :03:18.he isn't stalking them in broad daylight, this is an opportunistic
:03:19. > :03:22.scavenger hunt, will be going out to see if he can sniff any that didn't
:03:23. > :03:27.make it through the night, and look at all the dot, as well. They are
:03:28. > :03:29.all swirling around, letting him know that they won't be taken by
:03:30. > :03:35.surprise. Great footage there. And we have over 250,000
:03:36. > :03:39.pictures on our Flickr group. But are they any good? I think they
:03:40. > :03:45.are! If you're not on there,
:03:46. > :03:47.do have a look, because So we've put together a short
:03:48. > :04:34.montage of some of the very best I have to say, there were some very
:04:35. > :04:38.nice photographs there. There were a couple of stray fence posts, some
:04:39. > :04:43.pylons, a few bits of grass and leaves. I will keep an eye on things
:04:44. > :04:50.during the show and keep updating it as we go along. Thank you. Let's go
:04:51. > :04:57.straight over to our first guessed this evening, Darren Rees. Darren,
:04:58. > :04:59.thank you very much. When we met, rather strangely for an aspiring
:05:00. > :05:07.artist, you were studying maths attics. Yes, and I have been
:05:08. > :05:12.painting by numbers ever since! Cerulean blue is number seven. We
:05:13. > :05:18.used to enter the same competition, bird illustrator of the year. You
:05:19. > :05:25.won, and I didn't. No, I didn't. Nor did I! I still have the lovely
:05:26. > :05:31.illustration you did of a kite. You left me behind in terms of art. I
:05:32. > :05:33.was doing all these black and white illustrations. This was one of the
:05:34. > :05:38.first illustration jobs I did for a book on Falklands, and it was my
:05:39. > :05:44.master Charles Tunnicliffe, because in those days, there were very few
:05:45. > :05:50.artists around, so I got his influence. He sketched a lot, and we
:05:51. > :05:53.have some of your sketchbooks here. There is a beautiful sketch of some
:05:54. > :05:57.cranes here, which is lovely. Which is the one from the Skerries? I was
:05:58. > :06:04.watching the broadcast yesterday, from the Skerries, and I did some
:06:05. > :06:08.sketching the bird impressions for the first book I did, and there is a
:06:09. > :06:11.whole chapter on the Skerries. And I was just leafing through these last
:06:12. > :06:16.night, and I thought they would be fun to bring, because a lot of the
:06:17. > :06:20.time I'm sketching on-site, some of these will hopefully go into books.
:06:21. > :06:28.You don't work from photos, do you, ever? I will use photographs
:06:29. > :06:34.occasionally. I will maybe talk about the Svalbard stuff later on.
:06:35. > :06:38.But I mostly use raw materials, the encounters I have with wildlife,
:06:39. > :06:43.making notes. These are lovely. I will use video reference, too. I
:06:44. > :06:48.think what has always attracted me to your work is that it is not
:06:49. > :06:51.illustration, it is often quite impressionistic. You are after
:06:52. > :06:56.capturing the feel of the place of the animal, not every meticulous
:06:57. > :06:59.detail. I guess that is what I want, when I am looking at a painting, I
:07:00. > :07:04.don't want further by further detail. That is for the
:07:05. > :07:09.photographers. And there are great photographers around. I guess it is
:07:10. > :07:15.the feel and experience but I try to get. Often I will be leaving the
:07:16. > :07:20.paintings in these raw forms, increasingly now I am trying to look
:07:21. > :07:23.at some of these larger works. There is a beautiful one I'm looking out
:07:24. > :07:26.over your shoulder, and I kind of wish you had done that in Scotland,
:07:27. > :07:44.the walls. I thought I would bring that along. George Monday -- Monbiot
:07:45. > :07:51.was here on Monday, and I did that in Yellowstone, and it is having
:07:52. > :07:57.that cascade effect, the deciduous forest coming back, and the aspens.
:07:58. > :08:02.So this is called Restoration. I thought trophy cascade was a bit too
:08:03. > :08:08.much. And what about this marvellous piece you have behind, this huge
:08:09. > :08:12.piece of glacier? And down in the corner, a polar bear. I thought
:08:13. > :08:18.there was a connection here. Because of all the geese, they come from
:08:19. > :08:22.Svalbard. Again, I have been lucky enough to go a couple of times, and
:08:23. > :08:26.it is the most amazing place. The first time you experience something
:08:27. > :08:30.like that, you think, I am an artist, how can I make sense of
:08:31. > :08:34.this? A few sketches doesn't do it, so I wanted to get that impact of
:08:35. > :08:39.the big races, and we know the story now, we are familiar with climate
:08:40. > :08:44.change affecting these retreating glaciers, and as they are
:08:45. > :08:48.retreating, they are revealing these fingers of land that have never been
:08:49. > :08:54.charted before. And I thought in this case here, this finger of land
:08:55. > :08:59.echoed the bowhead whales that were once plentiful up there. So I tried
:09:00. > :09:04.to weave the narrative into these paintings. Sometimes I think the
:09:05. > :09:07.smaller sketches don't convey that, so I try to tackle the larger
:09:08. > :09:11.canvases. I was always into art from young age, mum used to take me to
:09:12. > :09:14.galleries. When were younger, we would quite disappointed with
:09:15. > :09:17.wildlife art, I think it is fair to say. There were not people pushing
:09:18. > :09:24.the boundaries in doing this. Tell me about the piece you did with the
:09:25. > :09:31.leaf cataracts. That was really, I started looking at the leafcutter
:09:32. > :09:38.ants, I went to the Amazon a few times. As we went, you could see
:09:39. > :09:48.more effects of deforestation, and I started to play around with ideas of
:09:49. > :09:52.a leafcutter ant painting. You have the red soil, and the Green going
:09:53. > :09:57.across, and I did lots of sketches, and I thought, so what? So I started
:09:58. > :10:06.to get a feel of a texture on a large canvas, and placing green
:10:07. > :10:08.slabs, it wasn't enough. So I started a three-dimensional feel and
:10:09. > :10:13.putting these fins of green going across, and I thought, I wonder if I
:10:14. > :10:20.could push it the key thing is, they are carrying dollars, of course. If
:10:21. > :10:25.you look at the original, there are also Royal Bank of Scotland pound
:10:26. > :10:30.notes in there. But the key thing was, I called it in God we trust,
:10:31. > :10:35.because that is what is written on the dollar bill. Thank you for
:10:36. > :10:39.coming in to show us all of these. Thank you very much. Absolutely
:10:40. > :10:49.beautiful, beautiful paintings. Everyone who comes to us has two
:10:50. > :10:54.sketch a Barnetta goose. You have ten minutes. We have high
:10:55. > :10:59.expectations from you! Perhaps not quite so high from my colleague. We
:11:00. > :11:05.are hoping you will give a little bit of tuition. You have ten
:11:06. > :11:09.minutes, starting now. Off you go. Don't feel threatened by me, OK.
:11:10. > :11:14.Normally at this stage, I provide you with a cultural interlude. But
:11:15. > :11:25.tonight I can hand you over to Martin. He is going to tell you
:11:26. > :11:28.about some of his famous war heroes. It is coming up to Remembrance Day,
:11:29. > :11:32.and I have always wanted to talk about the PDSA Dicken medal. It is
:11:33. > :11:38.the animal VC, it is sometimes called. It is awarded to any animal,
:11:39. > :11:45.they can receive it while serving in conflict,. It has been awarded 65
:11:46. > :11:49.times since its inception in 96 to three by Maria Dicken. Pigeons have
:11:50. > :11:55.won it, horses have won it, one cat is won. A lot of dogs have won. We
:11:56. > :12:02.have Colonel Stuart Campbell with us, and grace. Colonel, Grace didn't
:12:03. > :12:07.win the medal herself, but we have a picture of her wearing it. Can we
:12:08. > :12:14.see that picture? There she is, and there is the medal. She got it for
:12:15. > :12:23.somebody else, didn't she? She did. Lance or Leo Paschal, his dog Theo
:12:24. > :12:26.was serving with him, and he was tragically killed in March, and the
:12:27. > :12:30.dog died later in the day. Together they were a very successful team,
:12:31. > :12:36.and Theo was posthumous awarded the Dicken medal for his exceptional
:12:37. > :12:42.devotion to duty, and for undoubtedly saving lives. What was
:12:43. > :12:48.Theo's actual job's he is unarmed explosives search dog. So he was
:12:49. > :12:53.looking for explosives? That's right. He would go out on patrol
:12:54. > :12:57.with soldiers in Afghanistan, and they are called search and control
:12:58. > :13:01.support. They would go up the front, looking for hidden weapons, hidden
:13:02. > :13:04.bombs, and particularly improvised explosive device is, finding them
:13:05. > :13:12.before they can harm anybody. And Theo here's a record breaking dog.
:13:13. > :13:17.He made 40 confirmed fines. That is more than any other dog has ever
:13:18. > :13:25.found. I urge you, do go to the PDSA Dicken medal website. There is a
:13:26. > :13:28.link to it on our website. The story is there are incredibly moving, some
:13:29. > :13:36.of them. Lots of animals have got it. This is Upstart. We're not quite
:13:37. > :13:41.sure which of the horses is upstart, but he was awarded a medal in 1947.
:13:42. > :13:45.Bethnal Green, there was a flying bomb that exploded within 75 yards
:13:46. > :13:49.of him, showered him and the rider with broken glass, and he remained
:13:50. > :13:56.quietly on duty with his rider controlling the traffic. And lots
:13:57. > :13:59.and lots of agents have won the Dicken medal. They used to be
:14:00. > :14:04.carried by pilots in bombers, and when the pigeon went down, the --
:14:05. > :14:07.when the aircraft went down, the pigeon would tell people where the
:14:08. > :14:13.downed aircraft was. This one is called Commando, awarded in 1945,
:14:14. > :14:17.delivered messages from agents in occupied France on three occasions,
:14:18. > :14:24.twice under exceptionally adverse conditions. Absolutely fantastic. Do
:14:25. > :14:31.go to that website and have a look. I can't shake your hand, I will
:14:32. > :14:36.shake her poor. I am off into the muddy wild, and I will see you a bit
:14:37. > :14:40.later. Lindsay. Lots and lots of comments coming in. Hold on. If
:14:41. > :14:43.those pigeons were carrying messages from spies, they could have been
:14:44. > :14:56.working on Her Majesty Secret Service. We have had a lot of
:14:57. > :15:03.problems about Goldfinger tonight! Michaela, people can't wait! Chris,
:15:04. > :15:08.I've got some results. Earlier in the week we asked you to get in
:15:09. > :15:13.touch with ideas for a word to describe, a collective noun for
:15:14. > :15:18.Autumnwatch presenters. Things like a murder of crows. Or a charm of
:15:19. > :15:26.goldfinches. Loads of people got in touch. Benchmark we asked them to be
:15:27. > :15:30.polite! They were not all polite, which is the best and put them in a
:15:31. > :15:36.poll and I've got the results. We've got quite a lot of presenters here,
:15:37. > :15:40.Richard Taylor-Jones and Brett. I'm ready to give you the results.
:15:41. > :15:50.Please give me a drum roll in the studio. The winner is, well it's a
:15:51. > :15:56.dead heat. This is unbelievable. Enthusiasm, all food! We need to
:15:57. > :16:08.have an audience vote, either enthusiasm, or food. Who likes
:16:09. > :16:15.enthusiasm. Who likes hoot! There you go, it is a hoot of presenters.
:16:16. > :16:19.Are you happy with that? I've been looking through social media and
:16:20. > :16:23.chosen a couple of pictures I really like and I want your critique. This
:16:24. > :16:32.is the first one. Geese in a rainbow. This was from Mike. This is
:16:33. > :16:38.good, the lower flock has one stray bird at about 11 o'clock and I would
:16:39. > :16:42.have taken that out on the computer. I think that's lovely. Look at this
:16:43. > :16:49.second one from David John Peake. Autumn leaves from underwater. I
:16:50. > :16:52.like that. There's a photographic artist named Susan who does things
:16:53. > :16:57.that are very similar. She puts the paper on the bottom of the stream
:16:58. > :17:07.and exposes it with Moonlight and things. It really looks very much
:17:08. > :17:14.like this. Pretty good. A time check on the challenge, you have had six
:17:15. > :17:16.minutes, four to go. Our next guest is the author Simon Barnes.
:17:17. > :17:25.Journalist and author. APPLAUSE
:17:26. > :17:28.I have been reading your work for years, you capture the sense of
:17:29. > :17:34.place and your personal involvement, it is all from the heart. I don't
:17:35. > :17:39.know any other way of doing it. By fat animated discussions with a
:17:40. > :17:44.potential employer on that subject. To me, it becomes a general thing.
:17:45. > :17:50.It isn't about me, it is about me being a conduit so that others can
:17:51. > :17:57.Richard Phil own, excitement, disappointment, enthusiasm,
:17:58. > :18:01.whatever, my response to what I see. You also do sports journalism.
:18:02. > :18:07.Recently you have packed that in and went off and reconnected. Yes, I was
:18:08. > :18:11.chief sports writer for the times for the Times waiters and years and
:18:12. > :18:17.I parted company with them, in unfortunate circumstances -- chief
:18:18. > :18:23.sports writer for the Times newspaper, for years. And and when I
:18:24. > :18:27.should have been checking in for 13 days in a darkened room hammering
:18:28. > :18:34.out copy at 1 million miles an hour... You are not selling
:18:35. > :18:38.journalism to anyone! About Wimbledon. You don't see much light
:18:39. > :18:44.at Wimbledon. It is exciting but it is a slog. And there I was on a rock
:18:45. > :18:50.in the channel surrounded by thousands of gannets and Lindsey.
:18:51. > :18:54.Lindsey and I on this rock surrounded by these birds with wings
:18:55. > :18:59.as wide as you and I are tall. It was like being in the company of
:19:00. > :19:05.angels. And I thought the natural world will pull you through. It was
:19:06. > :19:11.a bit smelly, be honest. I could overlook that. Such a wonderful
:19:12. > :19:20.bird. This wonderful gannet city that we shared. Your last book was
:19:21. > :19:24.called 10 Million Aliens. I thought you had miscounted and it was about
:19:25. > :19:31.us. It wasn't. You're writing about insects. I set off to write about
:19:32. > :19:41.insects and I had a great title, I was going to call it Six Leg Good.
:19:42. > :19:47.So then I thought I would rattle on about the invertebrates and call it
:19:48. > :19:51.Spineless. -- write a book about the invertebrates. Then I thought it is
:19:52. > :19:56.about the continuity with us. We need to show that we are connected
:19:57. > :20:03.to everything else that is alive on this planet. We are mammals,
:20:04. > :20:07.vertebrates, connected with all the other mammals and there. So I wanted
:20:08. > :20:12.to write a book on absolutely everything. It almost killed me! S
:20:13. > :20:19.it was wonderfully thrilling and rewarding. What was the trickiest
:20:20. > :20:26.thing to put on a page and make it interesting to everyone? They all
:20:27. > :20:31.started off being difficult and they all ended up being quite easy. I
:20:32. > :20:37.thought, what on earth can I find to say that is interesting about
:20:38. > :20:43.this... And then you think, that can't be real, can it? It is true!
:20:44. > :20:46.And you try to interpret it. There was this wonderful group of
:20:47. > :20:52.tardigrades. They can't be very interesting. If we humans are
:20:53. > :20:56.interested in our own survival we should have been tardigrades because
:20:57. > :21:01.they are fantastic and not dying. It is their great talent. But Mac
:21:02. > :21:06.fantastic and not dying. You can take them close to absolute zero and
:21:07. > :21:12.they don't die. Boiled them, nothing! Put them in 151 degrees,
:21:13. > :21:19.they don't die! I hope you haven't tried this at home! You can radiate
:21:20. > :21:27.them, they have even been shot into orbit and come back alive. Those are
:21:28. > :21:31.the tardigrades. The animal kingdom is weirder than we are capable of
:21:32. > :21:38.understanding. The next book is coming out in January? This one is
:21:39. > :21:43.called The Sacred Coombe and is deeply personal. It is about the
:21:44. > :21:49.secret, special magic places that we all have. Sometimes an imaginary
:21:50. > :21:57.place or a mythical place like Eden or Shangri-La. Sometimes it is in
:21:58. > :22:01.memories of a great day of childhood, or a doomed indirect love
:22:02. > :22:07.affair sometimes a special place that we dare not go back to. Without
:22:08. > :22:12.pre-empting the book, where is your special place if you have only one?
:22:13. > :22:17.The valley in Zambia where high have spent a lot of time. I knew I had
:22:18. > :22:21.come home when I woke up in the middle of the night there, I was
:22:22. > :22:27.woken by elephants were eating the roof of my house. I thought, this is
:22:28. > :22:33.it. Part of my heart will be here for ever. We very much look forward
:22:34. > :22:37.to it and we hope that your heart continues to beat and you put all of
:22:38. > :22:45.its passion on the page. Simon. APPLAUSE
:22:46. > :22:48.Simon. We asked you to draw a barnacle goose. You'll have not
:22:49. > :22:54.drawn one, you have come up with an inscription. I'm afraid I draw
:22:55. > :23:04.almost as well. I thought I'd better write this down. It is a poem by an
:23:05. > :23:16.18th century Japanese writer. Up to today, with great perseverance, wild
:23:17. > :23:23.geese, wild geese. Pretty good, I have to say.
:23:24. > :23:29.APPLAUSE For stretching the rules, and great
:23:30. > :23:33.imagination and a beautiful piece of poetry and for not telling me so I
:23:34. > :23:41.brought my classes I will put it at the top. What about that? We will
:23:42. > :23:45.have to try to top that. Art is not my strong point, tried to be
:23:46. > :23:50.creative with my little talent and I have drawn a flock of barnacle keys
:23:51. > :23:56.on a foggy day going to the mudflats. Don't be disparaging. I
:23:57. > :24:01.was not kind words about children's art on fridges and this would never
:24:02. > :24:08.go on my fridge. I'm sorry. We'll put it alongside Brian's. Another
:24:09. > :24:14.one, by Darren. How do you compare that? What about that!
:24:15. > :24:18.APPLAUSE He wasn't even looking at a barnacle
:24:19. > :24:22.goose. What I like is the attitude. It is listening. That is the
:24:23. > :24:27.difference between someone who can draw and someone who is a good
:24:28. > :24:34.artist. Top work, mate. It will have to be joint top because I like Simon
:24:35. > :24:39.'s idea. Let me tell you, Chris, this marvellous poster was designed
:24:40. > :24:48.by hours of short media team, it is called Geese, based on the film, and
:24:49. > :24:59.includes You're The One That I Want. It inspired people on social
:25:00. > :25:07.media to come up with things. We had You're The Wildlife I Want, Grebe
:25:08. > :25:14.Lightning. With these I was inspired to write a ditty and celebrate what
:25:15. > :25:20.we have seen this week. The first one is Geese Lightning. We will join
:25:21. > :25:27.you, pictures, we watch your pictures, please join in audience,
:25:28. > :25:32.this site is automatic, systematic, had dramatic, it is geese flying.
:25:33. > :25:38.We've got some overhead lifters about head, geese flying, geese
:25:39. > :25:42.flying, barnacles are rotting and they are taking up all the space.
:25:43. > :25:45.With got to get the footage. It is a spectacle visual 40,000 geese or
:25:46. > :25:55.more black and white and they are all... Geese Lightning!
:25:56. > :25:59.APPLAUSE Did not stop there, I went on to
:26:00. > :26:11.these swans that we have been enjoying all week. We named Bates
:26:12. > :26:16.one Obi-SWan Kenobi and we have suggestions for its mate, Princess a
:26:17. > :26:21.player, or May, after made the force be with you. Would you like the next
:26:22. > :26:26.song, this is a pastiche of super trooper. It's like a superb Wilber
:26:27. > :26:31.landing at Caerlaverock, hoping for a rest. And was quite a test,
:26:32. > :26:45.leaving Iceland and a cosy nest! I will save the best for last. I
:26:46. > :26:57.will sit down! This was inspired by the rotting that we filmed -- the
:26:58. > :27:06.rotting dear. The one who lost his antler, get up, stand up, rut your
:27:07. > :27:09.funky stuff. Get up, stand up, rut your funky stuff. How we're going to
:27:10. > :27:18.be the attraction if you've only got one antler? Grab yourself a piece of
:27:19. > :27:26.the action, you've got to get up and rut or lose your harem, get up and
:27:27. > :27:33.rut at full steam. I did my best! APPLAUSE
:27:34. > :27:40.When you are young you had aspirations to go onto the stage? I
:27:41. > :27:45.did, I was a professional performer, don't sound so surprised!
:27:46. > :27:52.And just glad you missed on to wildlife and television. -- I am
:27:53. > :27:55.just glad that you moved on to wildlife and television. We have
:27:56. > :28:01.bedrooms next to each other and I heard that all last might through
:28:02. > :28:07.the wall. Lindsey. I can't beat that backs to Mac coming up, we will see
:28:08. > :28:11.your best bird ever. A big moment. This is Alan Macfadyen. He is
:28:12. > :28:18.responsible for showing them to you. It was pretty emotional for him as
:28:19. > :28:20.well. Meijer just a bit! This is a video that you two made inside the
:28:21. > :28:37.hide. The great man in tears. You were so
:28:38. > :28:42.happy, you were weeping. That's a result of the pressure was under.
:28:43. > :28:52.Absolutely fantastic. You delivered the bird. And you will get to see it
:28:53. > :28:58.on the main show! Don't go away because just in a few seconds time,
:28:59. > :28:59.in one minute's time we will be back with Autumnwatch. We will see with
:29:00. > :29:02.them. The knives are sharpened and the heat
:29:03. > :29:06.is on. It can only mean one thing. Britain's best chefs
:29:07. > :29:11.are back in town. They're here because they want
:29:12. > :29:16.this title. I'm really excited. MasterChef: The Professionals
:29:17. > :29:21.starts cooking...