Episode 8 Springwatch in the Afternoon

Afternoon. We are very much alive and coming to you from the RSPB 's

reserve in Wales. And we have issue crescendo with wildlife absolutely

everywhere. It is a brilliant time to get out and see it for yourself

and there is loads of information about how to do that later in the

show and on our website. We are also good at cameras and as spring moves

into summertime, for many characters, the living is easy...

The weather has been gorgeous and the birds have been taking advantage

of the insects. The great spotted woodpecker has been busy. As has the

blackbird. And the family of red studs. All the chicks are getting

regular feeding. Over the waterfall, the Deborah chicks have grown so

much since we first saw them and they will be fledging very soon. The

Meadow Hibbitt is also growing very quickly, even though the mother

seems to be stealing food. There has been a feeding frenzy with the

mammals, with shrews and wood mice taking advantage. And the jackdaw,

those nasty neighbours, still on the attack. It looks like the chicks are

getting big and strong enough to defend themselves. Have they been

chased off for the very last time? You might notice all of the leaves,

flowers blooming and the insect life follows close behind. It is that

insect life that the birds are plundering. That is what is

happening and let us go to one of those cameras, this is life. Nobody

there expect what is going on? If you had watched last night, you will

know. The great tits have gone. But what happens? This is what started

about 16 days ago. They started off with aid of them. The number has

reduced by several, five of them. And look how quickly they have

grown. They have gone from being little pink fleshy lumps to things

that are not recognisable. Yesterday, on the evening show, they

were just wrapping up and something amazing happens. This caught us on

the hop. Look at this. This was yesterday, on a, the birds jumping

about and stretching and then... At the end of the Evening Post macro we

thought this will not happen. They do not normally fledge in the

evenings and we have the adult, calling the first of those checks.

And there it goes... That is the first. And that is what you saw, if

you saw last night. We caught the last bird leaving the nest. Right on

the end of the programme, it was pretty exciting and surprising. And

to find out what it was like when it happened, I caught up with Michaela

and Chris. The big news was the surprising fledging great tips?

Totally caught on the hop. On the live cameras, it is just sitting

there and, oh my goodness! What is happening? Complete surprise.

is T! Where do you get it from? is herbal! It was a browsing because

typically -- typically they do not go in the Evening Post and they

would take one day to get out. For the whole lot of them to pilot in

the evening, last thing, not a great strategy, but that caught us on the

hop. We sent someone out to see what happened, Colburn -- hoping to catch

that that a cluster. What is the future? Hopefully they got together

overnight in one place so they will have been ready for food first thing

this morning. What we have seen with small birds is frenetic feeding

first thing in the morning, they have lost weight overnight and they

have to get fed so then today, they must avoid sparrowhawks, buzzards,

foxes, weasels! They are in the rat race and it's about staying alive

for the next couple of weeks. that time of night, it was not

sensible. Since that interview, our long lens cameraman has got back

with footage and I am pleased to announce that they made it through

the night. Let's have a look at these shots. Quite endearing. We

have managed to locate four of them. It does not mean the fifth one has

gone, it just means we did not find it. That is life. Even though they

are not mine, I've been quite eternal. The adult bird feeding.

Look at that. You might well see these birds very shortly, not these

individuals, but if you see some washed out birds, paler, like water

coloured, yellow wash all over, even those yellow cheeks, look for them

on your bird feeder because they turn up at this time of year, and it

is very nice indeed. Lovely stuff. We are all about the coast and there

are loads of things to do. One great introduction to coastal wildlife is

to go to the rock pools. And my family came up to visit us in Wales

and I want -- went rock pooling with my daughter. This is the

quintessential summertime experience for most people. At some point in

the year, most of us make it to the shore and this area of transition,

it is when you get transition that magic happens. Between the tides,

there was this wonderful world of beauty and diversity. For some

creatures it is a permanent home, a refuge until the tide comes in but

for others, it is a nursery. Plenty of excitement and adventure to be

had but today, like most visitors, we are on the hunt for crabs.

dead. Or just an anti-Shell? -- empty shell? Crabs or are station

and unlike other invertebrates, they don't have any internal skeleton

like us, so in order to grow, they have to get rid of the skeleton on

the outside, he literally pops his food and crawls out backwards from

his old exterior and he will harden up somewhere. This is left

discarded. This is a baby crab.He is a bit small, he has more moulding

to go. At least I find a crab!I was not knocking your achievement! Green

shore crab, he is beautiful, little spots, as well. Isn't he knows? --

nice? There is lots of different kinds of year. The common crab is

the one you are most likely to see. You can also see hermit crabs and

they are not true crabs but they are still crustaceans. And if lucky, you

might find the velvet swimming crab. Rock pooling is like porn stepping

in the sense that he really just need your fingers Andy Birkett. Or,

if you want to take it forward, I will bring a transparent take. And a

net can be handy, to try to catch shrimp and bronze and perhaps a

magnifying lens but just loads of curiosity. And the great thing is,

we all have some of that somewhere. Just get stuck in and it's fun for

all the family and look at this, this is not some prop, these are the

very crab shells, the anti-cases, that the find at the weekend and

look at them. All idea was put them on the windowsill on a piece of

kitchen roll, and I let them dry out naturally so they fix themselves

into this natural position and I have got a little souvenir. Most

normal people would capture the memories in another way, using a

camera. Wildlife photography is rounded by myth and some snobbery so

to spell it all odd, I have a wildlife photographer. How are you

doing? Can I clarify this? We are alive. He is David Bailey, but not

the one that photographs models. You are younger! You one the Welsh

wildlife photographer of the year award back in 2011? Let us start by

saying that image, the winning image. That is absolutely stunning.

Couple of otters? It happened right under the road bridge at Cardigan.

The main road behind me and I was just the right place at the right

time. That is as far from the wind in the Willows you can get!

romantic at all! We have another one of your shots. Look at that! It is

like an angel! Sheer luck, firing into the sun. These owls were

hunting all day long and this one just harboured against the son and I

took my chance. It pays to take the chance sometimes. You can look at

those results quickly afterwards with digital photography and you can

learn quicker. Get out there and do it. Give us just a feud top tips.

What can people do? Never chase wildlife, it would just run away,

you will just get the backend. Never do that. Observation is the largest

thing. Get to know the subject, the walking area, look for little signs

in the area, along the hedgerow, tracks, then pick your spot and sit

down and wait and see if something happens. What about get? I have got

lots of big, expensive cameras and lights and I look at so my friends

and they are much better with just a little happy snapper? Nothing wrong

with that. It is whatever you can afford, compact cameras, you can

find things in your garden. Snails, slugs. You will never get any

long-distance photograph of something moving quickly but just

know the limitations of what you have got. Know your subject really

well, I observe behaviour and know the limitations? Brilliant, thank

you very much for coming in and thank you for those top tips. We

have top about insects and creatures, otters and owls, but even

in suburbia, a small garden, there are plenty of subject is you can

find. My approach to managing my garden is minimalist. I let things

run wild, I like how everything intertwines and it becomes a rich

tapestry. Most people pull up their weeds but I like to leave them

because a very popular with insects. I am J Dykes, I live in Salisbury

and I have been taking photographs of my garden for seven years. Most

people think of wildlife as foxes and rabbits but for me, it is about

the little creatures, and my job as a graphic designer is all about

detail. The organic and mechanical at the same time, that is

fascinating. It is a whole new world. And it is right here. My

garden might be small but the world of photography within it is vast. I

have seen major programmes on television showing me the Serengeti

and a huge range of animals and then I come to my back garden and I can

find just as diverse a range of creatures as I can see on television

so it is always fresh and exciting. One picture I have, which is my

favourite, is an aphid with a ladybird behind it and from the

front it looks lovely, but from the side, you can see that the ladybird

is actually eating the aphid and it is still alive. And that is rather

horrific, rather like lions on the plains of the Serengeti. I knew that

I would properly see some death in my garden but I never thought I

would actually witness new life. This photograph is another

favourite, this aphid is giving birth and that is just incredible to

watch. If you have a small garden, you can get incredible enjoyment

from going out and just looking, really look closely. There is all

Look at that lot. My guest today is responsible for this. I am, I'm

sorry. We are doing a behind-the-scenes of Springwatch for

the blue Peter viewers. How does it work, how do you rely on the fact

you've got wildlife on the show and wide does whatever it wants when

ever it pleases. You are filming behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes

of Springwatch. Guess.Barney is a man of many talents. Children's

BBC, blue Peter, you do the thing with the bear. My daughter loves it.

But you are holding a big, posh camera. I didn't know you did a bit

of photography. I love it. I went to do a show in Costa Rica with a very

talented guy called Mark McEwan. He took me for a bit of a spin with his

camera and said, this is what you can do. This is photography. I went

out and bought my own and have been hooked since. This is a red eyed

tree frog. The people who know me know I don't like frogs very much.

What a lovely shot. That this lens I've got here. It was on a little

bit of a leaf. We stepped up and snapped that. Let's have another

I saw this little guy sheltering from a rainstorm underneath the

flower. When you are taking pictures of wildlife, you don't always know

what is going to be there. You've got some pretty full on extremes to

get the shot, haven't you? There is a thing called para- hoping, it's

paragliding whilst chasing a hawk. A beautiful Harris hawk, I went into

the air alongside him to try and get that actuality shops. We had such

fun. It's the first time I've ever throw myself off a cliff

deliberately, and I have to get the shot as well. We had about the 20

minute window to get it. Let's have feeling. What is really strange is

that it's just a chair. There's nothing else to it. It's a beautiful

feeling, it's everyone's dream to be able to fly. It's incredible.

There's a lot of firsts happening today. It's the first time I've ever

been in a paragraph. It's the first time I've ever tried to take a

picture of a Harris hawk. And it's also the first time this particular

Harris hawk has flown towards anyone other than Martin, his handler. So

there's a lot of things that could go wrong here but me -- we are more

than prepared to give it a go. Martin is about to take off and

hopefully, the hawk will follow him. If we can get close enough, I should

be able to get a fantastic picture. dropped and my window to get a

picture has closed. I just hope I've managed to get a good picture.

must have been absolutely incredible. Just watching it, I

still feel as nervous as I did at the time. I had no idea I was going

to be jumping off a cliff. Even know you know you are going to be in the

air, you don't realise that the process of taking off. We didn't

know with the wind was going to be strong enough, so I had about 20

minutes to get the shot. I didn't get the shot I wanted. You can't

predict what's going to happen. One particular point he flew beneath us

and I just managed to get the shot as he flew underneath a glider.

at that. A rare shot, looking down on a Harris hawk. It's a birds eye

view of bird. We'll let you get onto your behind-the-scenes filming. Have

a good day around the Springwatch encourage you to get out there. If

you've been inspired by that story of photography or even David

Bailey's photography, then there's information for you on the Summer of

Wildlife Season and in our Summer of Wildlife Season will it. It's called

now. Look at that, they are huddled up in the nest. Let's go to a little

bit earlier on, when we have a bit more action. There's the female

blackbird with a beak full of caterpillars and crane flies. Then

the male comes in. He's got loads in his beak. My blackbird on my lawn

lasted, I counted 18 different mealworms in his beak at the same

time. We simply don't know how they do that. Look out for this on your

lawn. If you see a blackbird carrying a beak full of food, you

know he's doing exactly what our show before, is our wildlife sound

recordist. Every day he gives us a challenge. It's lovely here. You've

really made yourself a little base. It looks a little bit too relaxed

for a day at work. Sound of the day, you are going to challenge us. Let's

tea and cake. We have seen that the coastal wildlife comes in all shapes

and sizes. We have looked at the little things in the rock pools, but

there's also a real adrenaline buzz to be had. Chris Packham was lucky

enough to get that buzz himself. We are on our way out now. Fingers

crossed we are going to be lucky. The sightings in the last few days

have been really good. Up to ten dolphins. The conditions could

hardly be fine. We got a nice, flat sea, which means we can see anything

arising out of it, and a bit of sunshine. And it's not too cold.

Perfect! And it didn't take long for the Dolphins to come and find us.

These bottlenose dolphins are the most northerly resident population

on the entire planet. They are also the largest. They can grow up to

four metres long and weigh half a tonne. And, of course, they are this

big to combat the cold North Sea. Look at this! That's a pretty good

view. The animals are sometimes completely clearing the water, you

get a great view of their face. There's all this rolling over going

on 50 metres away. That's a 9.8 from the English judge, I have to say!

They are performing brilliantly. Look at this! You've just got to

wonder what they are doing, really. It's difficult to think of animals

playing because their lives are almost dashed back are always so

highly strung, that taking time out to play is something we always

associate with human behaviour and not animals. And yet what more could

they be doing at the moment? There's obviously something socially going

on here. They are just having fun, I catalogued and gnome? Yes, we've

been able to identify about 130 individual animals by scratches on

the dorsal fins. We've got a pretty comprehensive idea of the population

and the individuals in it. I often fantasise and think to myself, I

wish I could be a bird for two minutes. But sat here, I've changed

my mind. I want to be a dolphin for two minutes. Imagine being able to

do that! I can't get all spiritual about these animals, I've got to

maintain a pragmatic, scientific opinion, but the excitement of just

being here and seeing a large mammal here, a unique opportunity. Yes,

it's pretty good, actually. It's better than that, it's absolutely

you. They are out there all around your coasts. You just need to know

where to go. If you fancy a little bit of dolphin or whale watching,

there are some hotspots around the UK. There's plenty of information on

the web about where to go. Let's go to our nest cameras. Let's go to the

jackdaws. This is what's happening now. There are still two chicks

there, the other one is huddled underneath the camera. But look what

happened early on. We are calling these Donnie and Clyde. Look at

that, it is vicious. They come in and you just hope that that sharp

beak doesn't make contact with something critical. But they are

getting bigger and fighting back a bit and holding their own. What is a

little bit, I guess it's a bit shady full stop look at that tale shaking

going on. There is some pair bonding going on. These jackdaws practically

own that nestbox now. There's just this inconvenience of somebody

else's chicks in the middle of the living room, that's what it feels

like. There's another pair of birds knocking around as well. It's

difficult to work out who is who. We may even think there are other birds

visiting that next box as well. It is the behaviour you've got to

watch. We have done rock pooling. That was pretty good fun. There's

another way the family can get a lot of information and bonding

experiences and a very informative experience all round, and that is to

go beachcombing. The best place to go beachcombing is along the Strand

line, that line of debris washed up by the high tide. See wash balls,

that's what I know those hours. The common edible welcome's egg case.

Common whelks are carnivorous sea snails and found on every coast in

Britain. They will actively hunt for barnacles and limpets, but they will

also scavenge. I understood that each one of these capsules starts

off with several eggs in it and only one makes it out. There's a bit of

dastardly behaviour that goes on. Guess, the developing larva inside

there is now a rich by the other cells within the capsule. Eats its

brothers and sisters before it even said hello. What else have we got?

Quite a lot of cockles. It looks like a spider crab will stop its one

of those quirky and odd families of crowds that often disguised

themselves with debris. Chris has brought with him some of his own

objects. What have we got? These are quite interesting. My daughter would

call that a mermaid 's purse. That is the egg case of a dogfish.

Dogfish are the most common shocks in Britain. The egg case is anchored

by the tendrils to seaweed. It's tough and leathery and can stand

quite a lot of wear and tear, and last about a year before the baby

shark actually emerges. They've changed dogfish to catch shocks,

that's not very convenient. This is a common inhabitant on shore. These

are the shelves of the clan. They are the oldest living individual

animal known to science. Like trees, these shells can be aged by their

rings. Chris and his team discovered a plan that had lived for 507 years,

making it the oldest known living animal. I find it mind blowing to

thing you can stroll along the beach this summer, during the summer of

like, you can be out there walking on a beach and you could potentially

come across one of these, and you will have in your shell collection

an example of one of the oldest creatures on earth. I learned so

much in my day there with Professor Chris Richardson from Bangor

University. Just to recap, this animal is potentially one of the

oldest animals on Earth. Not this individual, but it belongs to that

species. To put that in context, an animal like this could have been

growing when Henry VIII was on the throne. That is mind blowing! Who

would have thought you could get all that information out of a shell?

Also, it doesn't have to be a big shell full stop just a common

cockle. Look where my fingernail is. That is one year. That is a growth

ring there. One two, three and the fifth one at the very edge. I'd say

that was about four years old. A fouryear-macro cockle. Amazing

stuff. There's a whole range of wonderful wildlife to be seen,

whether it's on the shore, Sandie Shaw, muddy shore, gravelly shore or

a rocky one. I just want you to have a look at this. This is our teatime

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our largest birds, nicknamed the flying banjo. First of all, let's

meet the bird. It's favourite food brings it in. Here we go. Look at

that wingspan and it just takes the fish from the top of the water,

effortless, absolutely effortless. White tailed eagles have followed

fishing was for centuries, so this is perfectly natural behaviour. You

can hear its wing beating. Here he comes. Taiwan is out. -- talons out.

This is the first time I have ever seen one fishing. I am not jealous!

This is a fabulous place and a fantastic eagle and he is a nice

bloke, three things. We have carried back with us but first of all, we

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springtime butterfly. You might see on the underside, the veins are

dusted with black scales, giving an illusion of them being green. We are

going to have another look at a wonderful little shot, a beautiful

springtime creature, the adder. That is how you see an adder.

Immediately, you can notice something there. We had them on the

show yesterday, so it is quite nice to think back to the grass snake and

compare it. Look at that, my favourite sign of spring. Absolutely

wonderful. We do not have time, I do not think, for any of these pictures

we have got. But keep sending them in, we are looking at them, trust