:00:14. > :00:24.the Afternoon. We're coming at you live from the RSPB nature reserve in
:00:24. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:50.Now we're going to be bringing you the latest store es from the nature
:00:50. > :00:54.reserve, and we will be bringing you the characters behind the
:00:54. > :00:59.characters, but we have the fantastic live cameras. Let's have a
:00:59. > :01:07.catch up and see what's been going on since we last saw them yesterday.
:01:08. > :01:11.Here, the weather so far has been terrible. Cold, and wet. The water
:01:11. > :01:15.has been rising up around the water rail nest. The pairs are sitting
:01:15. > :01:24.tight and building it up, but will this be enough to keep the eggs
:01:24. > :01:27.safe? We have got a new character, a mall lard on a nest, but she is in
:01:27. > :01:32.danger. She is very exposed and there are crows, rats and foxes in
:01:32. > :01:36.the area. High up in the trees at the buzzard nest, the male has been
:01:36. > :01:43.keeping his chick well fed while mum has been sitting tight keeping it
:01:44. > :01:53.warm and dry. This family is looking stronger than ever. Both parents are
:01:54. > :01:58.
:01:58. > :02:03.bringing in lots of food despite the poor weather. And finally, our
:02:03. > :02:07.jackdaw chicks are under attack from their neighbours from hell! The
:02:07. > :02:14.parents are trying to defend their family, but how long can they hold
:02:14. > :02:18.family, but how long can they hold out? A nest is many things to many
:02:18. > :02:22.of us really. For us at Springwatch, they are fascinating things and
:02:22. > :02:27.entertaining, but to a bird, it is everything. It is the centre of
:02:27. > :02:30.their universe. It is how they get their genetic information to the
:02:30. > :02:35.next generation. Now, look what they had to put up with yesterday. Look,
:02:35. > :02:40.at the rain. Everything was soaked and sodden, but they had pred dors
:02:40. > :02:44.to deal with as well and this is what we saw on yesterday evening's
:02:44. > :02:48.programme. Five little chicks and mum came in and fed them and she
:02:48. > :02:54.took away and look what happens. They think there is mum and reach up
:02:54. > :02:58.for food and it is a weedsle and the weedsle has come in -- weeds
:02:58. > :03:03.weedsle. In a matter of minutes, everything goes. Mum comes back and
:03:03. > :03:08.she has got nothing there. This is a uncomfortable to look at, I know,
:03:08. > :03:13.but in order to find out more about this process, I wanted to hear what
:03:13. > :03:21.Chris Packham had to say. I caught up with him this morning.
:03:21. > :03:29.Our job is to show the reality of the natural world and provide an
:03:29. > :03:32.explanation. Seeing the weazel was phenomenal. This was one in tens of
:03:32. > :03:36.thousands. For us to show this behaviour is an extraordinary treat.
:03:36. > :03:40.Now, of course, it is savage, but there is one thing you have got to
:03:41. > :03:50.realise, the word cruel only applies in a human context. There is no
:03:51. > :03:52.
:03:52. > :04:02.cruelty in nature. There is just reason. It is a numbers game?Yes,
:04:02. > :04:03.
:04:03. > :04:09.the weazel needs food. It is about explaining the need for food and how
:04:09. > :04:15.that balances out in what should be a functional ecosystem.
:04:15. > :04:21.As that weazel turns its back, you can see there is a predator on its
:04:21. > :04:27.predator? There is life on life taking a life. That's the cycle of
:04:27. > :04:31.life and something could eat the weazel a buzzard could take that
:04:31. > :04:39.weazel and foxes might help themselves if they happen across
:04:39. > :04:45.them. Maybe on the way back the weazel got nabbed as well. Thank
:04:45. > :04:51.you, Chris. That is the beauty of Springwatch, I
:04:51. > :04:56.guess. We don't know what is going to happen in front of the cameras.
:04:56. > :05:04.It is a struggle out there and there are other predators. This is one. It
:05:04. > :05:09.is the common crow. They are particularly well particularly
:05:09. > :05:13.observant. They are black and we have got lots of folklore associated
:05:13. > :05:17.with them, but there is this little fella. It is another member of the
:05:17. > :05:24.crow family and it is a jay. You wouldn't think that's a nasty little
:05:24. > :05:30.predator, would you? It is a lovely jay, bau they end -- but they end
:05:30. > :05:33.the nesting attempts of many birds. Let's look at our cameras because
:05:33. > :05:37.they have - let's make sure they are still there. We saw the nest
:05:37. > :05:42.yesterday. We met super chick and he is still there. He is the biggest
:05:42. > :05:47.one of the bunch there. They are the great tits and he is still there. He
:05:47. > :05:54.is the one in the middle dozing. Have we got any footage of him
:05:54. > :06:02.earlier on? There comes mum or dad. It is difficult to sex a great tit
:06:02. > :06:07.from above. They are grabbing caterpillars. They are grabbing
:06:07. > :06:11.caterpillars and stuffing them into the mouths of the little chicks. Of
:06:11. > :06:15.anyway, woodlands, look at that. Beautiful. If you want to immerse
:06:15. > :06:25.yourself in the essence of the spring there is no better place to
:06:25. > :06:25.
:06:25. > :07:50.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 84 seconds
:07:50. > :07:56.camera. I revealed that yesterday. This is the log cam. Just look at
:07:56. > :08:00.it. It is that. It is a hollow log filled with bait. I loved the fact
:08:00. > :08:06.that it is stuck together with staples and the infra tred light is
:08:06. > :08:10.jammed in with -- infrared light is jammed in with stones. This camera
:08:10. > :08:14.reveals a secret world and Springwatch is dynamic as the system
:08:14. > :08:19.and the challenges this woodland throws at us. Last night, our camera
:08:19. > :08:27.team pimped this log. We have got a better camera in there than
:08:27. > :08:31.yesterday. They revealed these shots. We have got a common shrew.
:08:31. > :08:35.You have a rodent and that's all very lovely stuff. I'm pleased with
:08:35. > :08:40.that. It is a bit hit and miss that camera, but I suggest after the
:08:40. > :08:45.hours when Springwatch in the evening is over and when Unsprung is
:08:45. > :08:50.over tonight, look at that little camera. Now, I love the woodland, it
:08:51. > :09:00.is nice and peaceful and tranquil. And there are mammals out there.
:09:01. > :09:07.
:09:07. > :09:11.screams -- habitat that screams sprinlg, it is the woodland.
:09:11. > :09:14.Everything is on display except the mammals. Mammals are difficult to
:09:15. > :09:19.see. But they are doing a little bit of spring cleaning and that means a
:09:19. > :09:25.lot of the holes in which they live are more obvious. So here are some
:09:25. > :09:29.of the top mammal holes that you might encounter when out on a
:09:29. > :09:36.woodland walk. One resident mammal that you are likely to see signs of
:09:36. > :09:44.is at badger. Badgers live in a complex labyrinth of underground
:09:44. > :09:49.tunnels known as a sett and that can have as many as 40 openings. There
:09:49. > :09:56.is about 30 centimetres across and it is badger-shaped. The other give
:09:56. > :10:01.away sign is a pile of soil, a spoil heap around the holes. No other
:10:01. > :10:04.British animals shifts rocks that big when they are excavate
:10:05. > :10:10.excavating! That's clearly the work of a badger. The signs tell me that
:10:10. > :10:14.badgers live here, but there is one test. A trick I learned of a Native
:10:14. > :10:24.American, you lick your hand so it is covered in saliva and then you
:10:24. > :10:25.
:10:25. > :10:29.press it on the soil in the mouth of the bowwow and -- borrow and it is a
:10:29. > :10:33.badger hair. In the middle of the hair is a band of black and that's
:10:33. > :10:42.what makes a badger look grey. There we are. This is the hole of a
:10:42. > :10:47.badger. It ticks all the boxes. Right, this is a familiar sight
:10:47. > :10:54.along the edge of a footpath of a bank. This place is riddled with
:10:54. > :10:59.quite large runs and these are rabbit holes. They are rabbit
:10:59. > :11:05.warrens. The size of the hole is a give away. It is much smaller than a
:11:05. > :11:09.badger. The same sort of shape, I I guess, but it maybe eight to 15
:11:09. > :11:16.centimetres across. It is half the width and there is one other sign to
:11:16. > :11:20.look for. Right down here you can see these are rabbit droppings.
:11:20. > :11:26.Rabbits are territorial. So this is a like a little sensory sign post
:11:26. > :11:30.for the animals. All this tells me that the holes belong to rabbits.
:11:30. > :11:34.Badger and rabbit holes are not too hard to identify, but when it comes
:11:34. > :11:39.to foxes, it is not quite so straightforward. You see foxes are
:11:39. > :11:44.opportunists and sometimes they inhabit someone else's borrow. This
:11:44. > :11:48.is a confusing hole. It doesn't have a massive spoil heap, but it could
:11:48. > :11:53.be a badger at some point, but there is a which have of fox here. It is
:11:53. > :11:58.something which is tricky to get across on camera, but if it smells
:11:58. > :12:01.strong and pungent, it is fox. I have also noticed that we have got
:12:01. > :12:06.rabbit fur here which confuses things a little bit. Is that the
:12:06. > :12:10.remains of binner or is that a resident -- dinner or is that a
:12:11. > :12:16.resident of this hole? There is only one way to find out. If the old
:12:17. > :12:23.days, I would have waited, but there is an easier way to play detective.
:12:23. > :12:28.You can buy a camera set-up for �80. You get what you pay for, but you
:12:28. > :12:37.get the answers and that's what they are all about. Right, let's see what
:12:37. > :12:42.we get. So I know what the question is on the edge of your lips, on the
:12:42. > :12:48.tip of your lounge, that's what I'm trying to say. What does live in the
:12:48. > :12:52.hole? Well, I can reveal the answer now. I took my cameras down and
:12:52. > :12:57.downloaded by SD cards and this is what we saw. Broad daylight after we
:12:57. > :13:01.left the scene, a fox arrived and watch what it does now. It looks
:13:02. > :13:07.around, it probably can smell us. It maybe watching us disappear down the
:13:07. > :13:13.hill. It scented the area and that explains the smell of the fox. In
:13:13. > :13:17.the evening, the fox came by again and it scents again and that's why
:13:17. > :13:23.we can smell the odour of fox. I didn't get the shot of the fox doing
:13:23. > :13:27.in the hole so it is a mystery. I need to re-position my cameras and
:13:27. > :13:31.find out more. Cameras unravel the mysteries of our woodlands. Foxes
:13:31. > :13:33.are a common and widespread animal and the chances are you have got
:13:34. > :13:37.them near you so you can find where they are living, but there is
:13:37. > :13:41.another British mammal that I'm rather fond of. It is an odd ball
:13:41. > :13:50.and I'm talking about the hedgehog. I caught up with a couple earlier
:13:50. > :13:55.I'm joined here by Woody, Lucky, Beryl who is a hedgehog saviour and
:13:55. > :14:00.Laura from the Mammals Society. Thank you for joining us. Laura,
:14:00. > :14:02.heblg hogs are in trouble? -- hedgehogs are in trouble? They are
:14:02. > :14:07.indeed, they have under gone a drastic decline.
:14:07. > :14:11.What sort of decline? We are not sure of the numbers. There could be
:14:11. > :14:15.fewer than one million individuals left. We know it has been a gig
:14:15. > :14:20.decline. -- big decline. This is picked up by the public. We
:14:20. > :14:25.are not seeing hedgehogs where we used to see them? The members of the
:14:25. > :14:28.public are saying, " We are just not seeing them anymore." Surveys are
:14:28. > :14:32.saying they are not being picked up as frequently anymore.
:14:32. > :14:36.We need to do something about it. Why do we think hedgehogs are in
:14:36. > :14:40.trouble? As far as I'm concerned, I am sure it is environmental. It is
:14:40. > :14:44.not global warming because they have been with us since dinosaur time.
:14:44. > :14:49.is an ancient mammal? Yes, it is and it hasn't changeds much, but the
:14:49. > :14:55.gardens have become more tidy with decking and concrete and all the
:14:55. > :15:00.plants are tidied back. They like an untidy environment and we are
:15:00. > :15:08.gardening techniques have changed and the strimmer injuries. This one
:15:09. > :15:12.has been under a lawn mowe. It it is called Lucky.
:15:12. > :15:16.The strimmer injuries are terrible. The people need to strim down to
:15:16. > :15:21.that height and then strim when they know it is safe because there is
:15:21. > :15:29.other mammals under there. Slug pel lets. We are obsessed with
:15:29. > :15:35.slug pel lets? Yes, quite. The hedgehogs eat the poisoned slugs and
:15:35. > :15:39.they get poisoned and there are other animals like this. The
:15:39. > :15:45.blackbirds eat slugs. Live with the slugs and snails and
:15:45. > :15:51.it will keep the hedgehogs. Yes and make access in your garden
:15:51. > :15:57.even if it is a cat mrap in the fence.
:15:57. > :16:00.-- cat flap in the fence. We are try and put numbers to them.
:16:00. > :16:06.How many hedgehogs do we have left? Yes, that's what we are aiming to
:16:06. > :16:11.How? We are asking the members of the public to get involved in
:16:11. > :16:16.spotting hedgehogs. We have some other methods in mind as well.
:16:16. > :16:21.By my feet here is this peculiar looking device. It the doesn't look
:16:21. > :16:26.sexy, does it? It is a piece of plastic. What does this tube do?
:16:26. > :16:32.is a footprint survey tunnel developed by a research team at
:16:32. > :16:38.Nottingham Trent University. It allows memals, hedgehogs and --
:16:38. > :16:43.mammals and other hedgehogs, there is food to entice them in and they
:16:43. > :16:50.leave their lovely foot prints. We are going to see if we can show
:16:50. > :16:55.this to you in action. Woody, in you go. Are you going to go for a run?
:16:55. > :17:00.Look, there is a little ink pad and paper there. The paper has blown up
:17:00. > :17:05.in the wind. Woody is going in the wrong direction. Never work with
:17:05. > :17:11.animals. There you go. Come on, Woody.
:17:11. > :17:15.Laura, Woody doesn't seem to be wanting to go through the trap. It
:17:15. > :17:19.is performance anxiety. We passed a hedgehog through the tube and this
:17:19. > :17:24.is the result? Luckily, we have something we produced earlier.
:17:24. > :17:28.Look at that. You can identify the animal. It doesn't have to be a
:17:28. > :17:35.hedgehog. You get to keep that print out as it were? You do, yes.
:17:35. > :17:38.You get to notify the Mammal Society about what you have got and that is
:17:38. > :17:42.citizens science for you. Get involved, go to the Springwatch
:17:42. > :17:47.website and follow the links to the Mammal Society. Go out and have a
:17:47. > :17:51.crack. You can get in touch. Last night I
:17:51. > :17:55.got messages saying, " We want to see more of the live cameras." This
:17:55. > :17:59.is not live. I am going to go what we saw on the buzzard nest earlier.
:17:59. > :18:08.This is what happened. It is nice. Well, it is not nice for the animal
:18:08. > :18:11.involved. Look, there is a mole. They are bringing in moles. It could
:18:11. > :18:15.be worms. It could be beetles or grass snakes or frogs or moles. We
:18:15. > :18:21.are going to have a look at it live now and see what's going on now.
:18:21. > :18:25.Look, she is back. Isn't it nice to see the birds dry? She is still
:18:25. > :18:30.covering it up. She is still protecting the chick and the egg. It
:18:30. > :18:36.is very vulnerable. She is still broading the egg. We don't know if
:18:36. > :18:39.the egg is going to hatch. If it does, you will see it here first.
:18:39. > :18:41.That's a privileged view of wildlife. You can get your
:18:42. > :18:46.privileged views of wildlife at home. Be out there and you have got
:18:46. > :18:51.to be in it to win it, get out there and who knows what is going to
:18:51. > :19:00.happen. Some people like Dave my postman gets privileges when he is
:19:00. > :19:04.My name is Dave Edwards. I am the postman on top of Dartmoor. I
:19:04. > :19:10.interact with nature on a daily basis. I get to see amazing sights
:19:10. > :19:16.whilst I'm working and especially if you are into wildlife. A male
:19:16. > :19:20.blackbird. We are lucky and privileged. Gough got -- you have
:19:20. > :19:27.got from the moors down to sea level, you have got every echo
:19:27. > :19:33.system and every type of bird and everimed type of mammals. The that's
:19:33. > :19:43.a grey squirrel. They are all over the place. There is a buzzard. It is
:19:43. > :19:47.just swooped across and into the fields here. There is a jay. This is
:19:47. > :19:50.a haven for red deer. We have the roe deer. The real thing with the
:19:51. > :19:54.roe deer ises the dignity, the grace, the peacefulness of them.
:19:54. > :19:58.They are calm. I have been stood there and they have not been more
:19:58. > :20:02.than six peat away from me and they stand and look at you and they are
:20:02. > :20:06.not bothered. There is not many places in the country you will get
:20:06. > :20:12.that experience and it does make your day. One of the main birds that
:20:12. > :20:16.is sort of synonymous with Devon is the dipper. Because we have gone
:20:16. > :20:19.from the tops of the Moore into the lower valleys, you are going through
:20:19. > :20:29.the water courses and we get dippers. You see them every day and
:20:29. > :20:33.again, that's a real privilege to see rare wildlife on a daily basis.
:20:33. > :20:37.Another thing we have got, all the reptile species in the country in
:20:37. > :20:42.the south-west. A lot of post boxes are set into the wall. You get to
:20:42. > :20:46.midday, the sun is up, on a stone wall, by the post box, lizards. You
:20:46. > :20:53.have to be careful because we have got adders. We have adders here.
:20:53. > :21:00.They are dangerous vipers. You have got to be careful. A bird we see a
:21:00. > :21:08.lot and is one of my favourites is the sparrowhawk. A lot of people
:21:08. > :21:12.have bird feeders and one of the down sides is it does attract the
:21:12. > :21:15.predators. You get some placeant. There is so much going up here.
:21:16. > :21:20.There is probably people around the country who have never heard a
:21:20. > :21:26.skylark, but they are here all the time. One of the best sightings I
:21:26. > :21:33.have had ask a wild pole cat driving down the road in the ran and out
:21:33. > :21:39.jumps a pole cat. You see stoats and weasels, but to see a wild ferret in
:21:39. > :21:42.its natural environment, I doubt I will see another one. To be in a
:21:42. > :21:46.position where I'm paid to go around delivering people's post and I can
:21:46. > :21:51.pursue my interests, my joy, my hobby is just tremendous. There is
:21:51. > :22:01.nowhere else you will get to do this. Good morning, your post, sir.
:22:01. > :22:01.
:22:01. > :22:11.Is that it today? That's it.OK. Good to see you. Bye.
:22:11. > :22:21.Apparently he is famous! From Dave's day of work. I think
:22:21. > :22:21.
:22:21. > :22:27.that pole cat was a pole cat ferret. I'm going to ge over what we do. --
:22:27. > :22:34.I'm going to go over what we do. This is the mini workshop. We have
:22:34. > :22:40.got Neil. Now, you are dm charge -- in charging of rigging the cameras.
:22:40. > :22:46.What is this? This is a camera for the marsh.
:22:46. > :22:52.It is difficult. It is difficult for a naturalist. It takes time.
:22:52. > :23:00.This is going in a brand-new birds nest. Can you reveal? There are
:23:00. > :23:04.possibilities. It is a grasshopper warbler.
:23:04. > :23:07.This is how we get the pictures to you. Thank you very much and we will
:23:08. > :23:13.keep you posted if that gets deployed. Over here, we have tripods
:23:13. > :23:18.and cases and this is important. This is a 24/7 operation and it is
:23:18. > :23:23.fuelled with caffeine. That's their coffee. We are going to my favourite
:23:23. > :23:28.room and it is over here and it is glorious. Look at this beautiful,
:23:28. > :23:33.beautiful Welsh countryside and lots and lots of cables and Portakabins
:23:33. > :23:39.and trucks and over here this is my favourite grey box because in here
:23:39. > :23:44.is the mac roe studio. Come with me and in here we have Howard and Josh.
:23:44. > :23:49.Hi. What are you filming? We're filming a grub who is living in wood
:23:49. > :23:55.and chewing it up at the moment. That's more exciting than it sounds.
:23:55. > :24:03.These guys, this is where I want to be. All they do is spend all day
:24:03. > :24:06.piddling around with tiny little mini beasts. You are making small
:24:06. > :24:09.things look beautiful. One of the things they have made beautiful
:24:09. > :24:16.recent recently, it is the way I look at the world which is close up
:24:16. > :24:20.and that is these painted lady caterpillarsment just look at that.
:24:20. > :24:27.-- caterpillars as we work our way up the body of a caterpillar. Look
:24:27. > :24:33.at the bristles and hairs and the little round things, they are the
:24:33. > :24:38.organs to allow the caterpillar to breathe. They have got a shot of a
:24:38. > :24:41.time lapse of these. Just look at this. This is the caterpillars
:24:41. > :24:46.eating a leave, but with time sped up. This is one of those techniques
:24:46. > :24:52.that is common within the wildlife and film industry, but Howard, how
:24:52. > :24:58.do you speed up time? Mm, your average video is 25 frames a second
:24:58. > :25:02.and by the time lapse, one frame every ten or five seconds and you
:25:02. > :25:05.put them together and when you speed it up, it looks like time in fast
:25:05. > :25:10.motion. Speeding up of time by simple bits
:25:10. > :25:17.of trick. Thank you, Howard. I would stay, but I have got to move on to
:25:17. > :25:23.other things. We are going to go and find Gary. Where is he? He is parked
:25:23. > :25:29.up next to my van. It is a a handy place to be. Hi Gary. How are you
:25:29. > :25:33.doing? Hi Nick. Gary is our resident sound man or
:25:33. > :25:38.sound obsessive! You are out there recording everything. Have you got a
:25:38. > :25:43.sound of spring that you have recorded that you like?
:25:43. > :25:49.Or just a woodland sound? Yes, I have got a woodland sound. Here we
:25:49. > :25:59.go. It is a bit windy, but definitely woodland.
:25:59. > :25:59.
:25:59. > :26:04.That's a bizarre sound because it sounds like it is something small.
:26:04. > :26:08.Gary has got many points, but the one point I have got him here for is
:26:08. > :26:15.he is going to be delivering us our sound of the day. This is where we
:26:15. > :26:25.can work out what the ound is. Let's hear today's sound of the day. Here
:26:25. > :26:35.
:26:35. > :26:38.That's a gud noise, Gary. -- good noise. If you know, let us know and
:26:38. > :26:43.we will deliver the answer to you we will deliver the answer to you
:26:43. > :26:47.later. A trick one there. Are right, OK, now when you are out walking
:26:47. > :26:52.about in the woods, you sometimes find treasure and when you find this
:26:52. > :26:57.tresh rur, you have to -- treasure you have to marvel at its form and
:26:57. > :27:00.you can't help, but pick it up. I have a shed full of these things and
:27:01. > :27:05.I keep collecting them. I am talking about the stuff that falls off the
:27:05. > :27:15.heads of deer and Martin made a film for us down his way where he
:27:15. > :27:25.
:27:25. > :27:35.OK, we didn't find all these, we brought these, but now you can see
:27:35. > :27:36.
:27:36. > :27:41.all the deer that are here. That is a Monk Jack. Small little antlers.
:27:41. > :27:47.It is not native to the UK and they are spreading all over the country
:27:47. > :27:53.thank you very much. And they are down in Somerset. Now,
:27:53. > :27:55.I have only ever seen two in my life and they come belting out of the
:27:55. > :28:05.undergrowth like a little gingery dog.
:28:05. > :28:16.
:28:16. > :28:26.This is a a native species of deer. antlers get, and these are knobbly
:28:26. > :28:27.
:28:27. > :28:33.bits down the bottom there. It snows it is an old male. And this one here
:28:33. > :28:42.sz a sika deer. Everyone is up in arms with these because they
:28:42. > :28:52.interbreed with our native red deer. It is magnificent though. And
:28:52. > :28:58.
:28:58. > :29:03.finally, this beauty here, that is a fal owe deer -- fallow deer. It is
:29:03. > :29:11.thought the Normans brought them back to hunt them. If you find the
:29:11. > :29:16.antlers, you know what deer they belong to. Now one of the deer
:29:16. > :29:19.species there Martin doesn't have is the largest of our native species
:29:19. > :29:26.and that's the red deer. They are magnificent creatures. Rather,
:29:26. > :29:30.rather large. There is a shot of some in velvet. Their antlers fall
:29:30. > :29:36.off around this time of year. If you live in Scotland or Exmoor, you
:29:36. > :29:46.could find some of these lirningd. These are the antlers of -- of these
:29:46. > :29:50.
:29:50. > :29:53.lying around. These are the antlers of red deer. They are distinctivele.
:29:53. > :30:01.I loved that film. Now, at this will time of year, these deer are not
:30:01. > :30:05.wearing their head gear. How do we Well, if you are lucky enough you
:30:05. > :30:08.will have at deer looking a the you, but more afternoon than not, it is
:30:08. > :30:15.their bottoms you see as they flee off into the undergrowth. Here is
:30:15. > :30:21.our guide to the bottoms of our British deer. Firstly, the fallow
:30:22. > :30:31.deer. There is black mareither side. You are looking for three black
:30:32. > :30:33.
:30:33. > :30:39.stripes on a pale bhit background. And then we have got the sika. It is
:30:39. > :30:45.fluffy around the edges. It is only found in certain places as well.
:30:45. > :30:51.They are on to the red deer. Look at that. There is no white at all. It
:30:51. > :30:56.is a dirty colour, but mainly surrounded by red. A shorter tail.
:30:57. > :31:03.The shortest tail of them all belongs to one of our commonest deer
:31:03. > :31:11.species which is the roe deer. No white at all and barely a tail. Bet
:31:11. > :31:15.you never saw that on day time TV, the bottom of our deer! We have been
:31:15. > :31:20.asking for your favourite spring things. We wanted to know and asked
:31:21. > :31:26.you to get in touch via thing blog! My favourite one is one is from
:31:26. > :31:34.Terry. I don't know your surname and he says, " The adder says it all for
:31:34. > :31:40.me." I couldn't agree with you more. I love adders too. Fan Fantastic
:31:40. > :31:46.things. Ellie Harrison is one of my colleagues and she is holding
:31:46. > :31:52.holding together and very much part of the BBC's summer of wildlife and
:31:52. > :31:58.here is some of her favourite spring things. The things I love most about
:31:58. > :32:03.spring are first of all, before any animals the light. It is the one
:32:03. > :32:10.thing that we can guarantee in this country and the real advantage of
:32:10. > :32:16.living at this latitude so it is energy, it is keeping us in sync
:32:16. > :32:21.with the natural world and it is what I live for throughout the
:32:21. > :32:25.winter. The second thing, swifts, swallows and house martins. When you
:32:25. > :32:30.first spot them, you see them frequently and they are glorious
:32:30. > :32:34.sights. Seeing the swifts so high in the sky. There were times when the
:32:34. > :32:41.swallows were heading for me when they feed. And last of all, what
:32:41. > :32:48.could be better than this? The woodland flora in spring. This focus
:32:48. > :32:52.of blue, a really unnatural colour of blue in the natural world and
:32:52. > :32:58.what a sight this is. Now, one of my favourite sounds of
:32:58. > :33:01.spring is the great spotted wood peck her. When they are getting
:33:01. > :33:10.territorial they will drum and vibrate their heads against a hollow
:33:10. > :33:15.tree and they make a sound a bit like this.
:33:15. > :33:20.The way it echoes around a woodland is a special. The beautiful thing
:33:20. > :33:27.about this, they have been doing it late this year, you may catch that
:33:27. > :33:33.ut. Now, we have had -- thaz out in the woods. We are going to go to the
:33:33. > :33:36.feeders. They keep coming regularly and earlier on, we did have a great
:33:36. > :33:40.spotted woodpecker. It doesn't matter if you don't have these
:33:40. > :33:44.beautiful birds on your feeders, we have got a feeder for you. There it
:33:44. > :33:53.is doing that for you and you can tune into that camera on our website
:33:53. > :34:01.at any point in the day and you may get lucky. Now, we have three
:34:01. > :34:08.species of wood speck pecker in this -- woodpecker. We have the green
:34:08. > :34:18.woodpecker and the great spotted woodpecker and the lesser spotted
:34:18. > :34:19.
:34:19. > :34:22.woodpecker. The great spotted woodpecker. Now there is ale trick I
:34:23. > :34:26.can share with you. It is well-known among birders. Normally, when
:34:26. > :34:32.Springwatch goes out, it would be late for this because you have got
:34:32. > :34:37.to do it when woodpeckers are at their most territorial. If you have
:34:37. > :34:45.a woodpecker drumming near you. Grab a stick. Find a convenient dead
:34:45. > :34:49.tree. And just do that. Little tapping noises. You can try to drum
:34:49. > :34:54.like a woodpecker, but it is impossible. You can't do it fast
:34:54. > :35:00.enough. Do that and if there is a woodpecker around, it will come down
:35:00. > :35:04.and see who the intrude intruder is. He will think you are another
:35:04. > :35:08.woodpecker and when it does work, you can get within meters of these.
:35:08. > :35:13.It is fantastic. Anyway, earlier we caught up with our nest finders.
:35:13. > :35:21.These are the people that are out there finding birds nests for us to
:35:21. > :35:25.put cameras on sods we can show you what's going on in. So -- so we can
:35:25. > :35:31.see what's going on in them. This is our nest finding team. Thank you
:35:32. > :35:34.very much for joining us on the sofa here. How long does itting take to
:35:35. > :35:40.find a nest? That's a good question for Steve because Steve does most of
:35:40. > :35:50.the nest finding. How long is a piece of spring. Half
:35:50. > :35:51.
:35:51. > :35:55.a day of tapping the top of little nests. I went off at 6am and came
:35:55. > :36:02.back for breakfast at 9am and didn't have it. Went back up to the Moore
:36:02. > :36:06.again and took an News of the World or two hours, but I -- took an
:36:06. > :36:11.hour-and-a-half or two hours. But I got there in the end.
:36:11. > :36:16.These are little concentrated boxes of resources. You are almost getting
:36:16. > :36:20.into the mindset of a crow or a fox or a stoat really? You are just
:36:20. > :36:29.watching and watching and trying to let the bird give you a clue and the
:36:29. > :36:33.bird is doing its best not to give you a Claw! She is -- clue! She is
:36:33. > :36:37.staring you out. It is a Battle of Of wits. This is
:36:37. > :36:41.an ongoing process. You are getting good, important data from each nest
:36:41. > :36:47.that you find. That isn't wasted information, but something might
:36:47. > :36:51.happen to anyone of our star nests. This might fail. You have got to
:36:51. > :36:55.have something else ready in place, is that right? Absolutely. The more
:36:55. > :37:02.nests the better. We always lose nests to predators because that is
:37:02. > :37:07.what is happening out there. Some species have suffered 70% to 80%
:37:07. > :37:11.failure rate in nests. You can't rely on finding a handful and
:37:11. > :37:18.guarantee to get them. Receive it will find a long list. We might have
:37:18. > :37:21.three or four black caps on stand-by so if one goes down, we switch to
:37:21. > :37:25.another nest. Nigel passed to you, but one of the
:37:25. > :37:30.nests that's been found this yoer is a special one -- this year is a
:37:30. > :37:39.special one and you did find that. Well, the bird in question question
:37:39. > :37:45.is the water rail. It is looking for the reed warbler nest and a few food
:37:45. > :37:50.from where I was -- feet feet from where I was about to step, I walked
:37:50. > :37:57.into the nest. You knew it was one immediately?
:37:57. > :38:00.have never seen one. No one has.I thought, " What could this be?" You
:38:00. > :38:03.don't like to say until you double check.
:38:04. > :38:11.Did you feel smug? Well, particularly as I set Steve a
:38:11. > :38:16.challenge this year to find a water rail. You sent me home so he could
:38:16. > :38:22.go behind my back. What a brilliant job. I would love
:38:22. > :38:25.to come out with you one morning. Well, find us a lesser spotted
:38:25. > :38:33.woodpecker and then we would be happy.
:38:33. > :38:37.You set me a challenge. That ain't going to happen!
:38:37. > :38:41.These are the real stars of Springwatch.
:38:41. > :38:46.We gave away a few species there. We have lots of nests mentioned. Some
:38:46. > :38:50.of them haven't had a camera attached to them and the need has
:38:51. > :38:54.not been put up on site and we have not mentioned them. We are teasing
:38:54. > :39:01.you a little bit and who knows what we will show in the next couple of
:39:01. > :39:06.weeks. We did see the jackdaws there. What the jackdaw is up to.
:39:06. > :39:10.They are getting bigger. They are getting bigger. They are being
:39:11. > :39:17.looked after by brilliant parents and is despite the activities of the
:39:17. > :39:21.nasty neighbours. They are still knocking around. This was earlier
:39:21. > :39:26.today. This happened earlier and the nasty neighbour is around, but the
:39:26. > :39:32.parents are so attentive. They are pushing them away. As the days go
:39:32. > :39:37.by, the chicks are getting bigger and bolder and the chance of the
:39:37. > :39:42.naughty neighbours messing up the nesting plan is reduced. The
:39:42. > :39:51.jackdaws are looking good. We have Gary with us. He is tucked into our
:39:51. > :39:57.tea. Seeing Gary wz my finest bone -- seeing Gary with my if finest
:39:57. > :40:04.bone china. I love a bit of china. Right, sound of the day. Let's hear
:40:04. > :40:13.it again. Did you guess what that was? That
:40:13. > :40:21.was a bat. It wasn't was a bat. -- it was a bat. The bat detectors
:40:21. > :40:24.allows us to use the ultrasound that bats use to help them navigate and
:40:24. > :40:28.feed. You can get hold of one of these.
:40:28. > :40:32.There are cheap ones out there and it allows you to tap into the world
:40:32. > :40:37.of sound that you didn't even know existed. Fantastic stuff. We will
:40:37. > :40:41.reveal what the sound of the day is. Have he got any answers? Thank you
:40:41. > :40:51.very much. OK, we have got wrong guesses. We got, somebody said it is
:40:51. > :40:52.
:40:52. > :40:59.something underwater, maybe a catfish. It sounds a bit weird. We
:40:59. > :41:07.have had a few close guesses. I thought it was a benton's bat, but
:41:07. > :41:12.it is not. It is the sound sound of our largest species of bat. Thank
:41:12. > :41:15.our largest species of bat. Thank you very much, Gary.
:41:15. > :41:20.Woodlands are a tranquil place. It is a place we have talked about and
:41:20. > :41:24.celebrated them today. They are a great place to enauto joy spring,
:41:24. > :41:28.but they are under threat. There are lots of things going on. We heard
:41:28. > :41:32.about Sudden Oak Death and last year, this disease ash dieback
:41:32. > :41:37.arrived in this country and it he may, it concerns me, it may well
:41:37. > :41:44.concern you. What can you do to help? We feel like our hands our
:41:44. > :41:47.tied? Well, an organisation which is associated with the Natural History
:41:47. > :41:51.Museum, they have brilliant resources. If you are into citizens
:41:51. > :41:58.science and want to learn stuff, they are a good place. They have
:41:58. > :42:02.developed this woodland woodland health pack. They have given you
:42:02. > :42:06.clues and questions and a form to fill in which let's you know what
:42:06. > :42:10.information they need and that's what it is. If you want one of these
:42:10. > :42:15.or want to find out where you get one, get on our website and follow
:42:15. > :42:20.the links. One last chance to go back to our live cameras. So let's
:42:20. > :42:25.have a little look. What have we got? Nothing. Oh, there we are. We
:42:25. > :42:30.have got a single buzzard. It is beautiful. She is lovely, isn't she?
:42:30. > :42:39.She is still incubating that egg. We don't know if the egg is going to
:42:39. > :42:49.hatch. We are hoping it will. She has got a chick. We are going to go
:42:49. > :42:49.
:42:49. > :42:53.has got a chick. We are going to go to the water rail. It has been
:42:54. > :42:57.making interesting vocalisation. Some bizarre noises which we don't
:42:57. > :43:07.know if anyone heard before. It is exciting stuff and you are getting
:43:07. > :43:14.excited by that. Let's look ats -- at the log camera. I always set
:43:14. > :43:18.myself uch for a fall and there is -- up for a fall. Most of the
:43:18. > :43:24.34578als are nocturnal. We have got Unsprung tonight as well. We will
:43:24. > :43:29.see you later on. That's it for now. Spring carries on. It is on the
:43:29. > :43:35.website. Just follow the links. We have got the evening show tonight at