:00:18. > :00:27.the Afternoon. We were live from the RSPB Ynis-hir reserve in Wales. You
:00:28. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:51.know what? I think we've got a carnival goes dancing off into the
:00:51. > :00:54.British Summer Time. And it is the BBC's Summer of Wildlife, all about
:00:54. > :00:58.helping you get outside and getting a little piece of this action for
:00:58. > :01:01.yourselves. But before we get on to that, let's catch up with the
:01:01. > :01:06.regulars and find out what they've been up to since the last time we
:01:06. > :01:14.saw them. The glorious weather continues at RSPB Ynis-hir and that
:01:14. > :01:23.means there's lots of insects to go around. The male redstart fed an
:01:23. > :01:27.enormous cat er caterpillar to his checks. -- chicks. The willow
:01:27. > :01:31.warblers all the way from Africa are singing their stingtive song. The
:01:31. > :01:35.parents are working hard to bring the chicks a variety of insect food.
:01:35. > :01:39.The mammal log doesn't look that spectacular on the outside but
:01:40. > :01:44.inside it is a very different matter During the day we are seeing common
:01:44. > :01:49.shrew and bank vole visiting but the night belongs to the mice. The day
:01:49. > :01:53.before yesterday our great tit chicks fledged late in the evening.
:01:53. > :01:57.The next Daily Politics our dipper chicks went as well, although it
:01:57. > :02:02.looks like they've got a lot to learn when it comes to finding their
:02:02. > :02:06.own food. And finally, it seems the ones to watch are the grass hopper
:02:06. > :02:14.warblers. Those chicks seem to be getting fidgety. They are right on
:02:14. > :02:20.the edge of the nest. Maybe they're about to fledge. We've got some big
:02:20. > :02:25.news for you today and it comes into two words - water rile. If you had
:02:25. > :02:30.seen last night's show you would have seen how excited everyone was.
:02:30. > :02:35.We've been excited about this bird since we found the nest. Yesterday
:02:35. > :02:40.the water rail was acting peculiar. It was vocalising in a different way
:02:40. > :02:43.and then we saw this female, we presume it is a female, dropped a
:02:43. > :02:49.piece of eggshell out of the nest. That means that one of the eggs
:02:49. > :02:52.broken. But did we have any chicks? We simply didn't know when we went
:02:52. > :02:56.off air yesterday. But at around 5ish this morning this is what we
:02:56. > :03:02.saw. Have a look at this. It is a bit dark, because the sun hasn't
:03:02. > :03:07.come out, but look! We've got baby water rails. You do not see this
:03:07. > :03:11.sort of thing. It is exquisite. They are very advanced at the moment.
:03:11. > :03:15.There's one popping out of the nest. These birds spend longer in the egg
:03:15. > :03:19.than most others, so they will be leaving very soon. Maybe today,
:03:19. > :03:21.maybe tomorrow. So keep on eye on them. Drink it in, because you never
:03:22. > :03:26.see this stuff. It is really worth enjoying.
:03:26. > :03:31.Now, don't just take it from me, we are getting very excited here, but
:03:31. > :03:39.in order to find out just how exciting this event is I caught up
:03:39. > :03:44.with Iolo Williams earlier today. Iolo, you were an RSPB warden.
:03:44. > :03:48.was. In Wales. How special is that to see our water rail with chicks?
:03:48. > :03:52.That's very special. What's really special is the fact that we've got a
:03:52. > :03:57.camera on the nest and we are filming all of these. I'm pretty
:03:57. > :04:04.confident we are seeing a lot of this stuff for the first time. I've
:04:04. > :04:08.been looking for birds' nests for 38 years and I have only ever found two
:04:08. > :04:12.water rail nests in all of that time. This is only the third one I
:04:12. > :04:16.have ever seen, and it's the first I've seen with a camera on it. We
:04:16. > :04:22.are finding out things that we really didn't know very much about.
:04:23. > :04:26.She is keeping all the chicks in that nest. A lot of the rails will
:04:26. > :04:33.kick the chicks away once they've hatched, but the water rails will
:04:33. > :04:37.stay in that nest for 24-48 hours and then start to wander. That's it
:04:37. > :04:41.really, Iolo's been walking the Welsh wetland all his life and this
:04:41. > :04:48.is only the third nest he's seen and he wasn't there to see views like
:04:48. > :04:52.this. Thank you Iolo for your insight on that one. I had to get it
:04:52. > :04:56.from you yourself, I'm so excited by this. We are all buzzing. Be
:04:56. > :05:03.everybody is. Chris said it is a global first. Do you know what? I
:05:03. > :05:08.think it may well be. While I was in the camera truck earlier and
:05:08. > :05:16.witnessed that, the it was on the screen. Next to hit we had the main
:05:16. > :05:22.theme from the marsh camera. Otters! Amazing. As if the otters weren't
:05:22. > :05:27.enough we had otters on the mash cam. It was all over Twitter and on
:05:27. > :05:32.the Facebook page. Those were the same otters I managed to capture on
:05:32. > :05:41.my trail camera last week. They are predators. I was thinking, water
:05:41. > :05:48.rails? Ooh, otters! Wow. Otters are a predator. They don't just eat
:05:48. > :05:54.fish. It is not Watership Down out there but watership town meets
:05:54. > :05:58.Apocalypse Now. We've got shots of a wheeze well shot by a long lens. You
:05:58. > :06:01.don't often see them out in daylight. We've got buzzards out
:06:01. > :06:07.there and a bunch of other things. Just before we went on air today we
:06:07. > :06:11.got a bit of news. I've not seen this footage yet. I'm told it is
:06:11. > :06:15.pretty strong so be prepared for this. Prepare yourself for something
:06:15. > :06:19.difficult to watch, let's say. Unfortunately it involves our meadow
:06:19. > :06:27.pipit nest, so let's look at what was recorded. This happened just
:06:27. > :06:34.before we went on air. Oh, no. We've got a grass snake, a predator, an
:06:34. > :06:39.opportunist will take... No! Look at that. OK, right. It got, the grass
:06:39. > :06:44.snake has got one of our meadow pipit chicks. It is really difficult
:06:44. > :06:49.to see but again it is incredibly rare. Where have the other ones
:06:49. > :06:54.gone? He's only got one chick, let's stick with the positives here. Had I
:06:54. > :06:58.don't know what happened to the others. They popped ought all over
:06:58. > :07:03.the place. This is a defensive strategy. It is the equivalent of
:07:03. > :07:07.pulling the ripcord on a parachute or the ejector seat button. Goodness
:07:07. > :07:14.knows where they've gone. Hopefully they've survived. Almost certainly
:07:14. > :07:19.there will be a long lens camera man trying to find them. We are going to
:07:19. > :07:26.check on the water rails to make sure it is still there. This is
:07:26. > :07:34.live. We can see one peaking over the edge of the -- peeking over the
:07:34. > :07:38.edge of the nest. That's a relief. It is a creature-eat-creature world
:07:38. > :07:42.out there. It happens to even the little things. Think of the
:07:42. > :07:47.caterpillars and the flies that the willow warblers are pulling in every
:07:47. > :07:55.day. That's predation in another way. Where are these caterpillars
:07:55. > :08:01.coming from? We went on a caterpillar hunt.
:08:01. > :08:03.Caterpillars are amazing. They come in all shapes and sizes, in all
:08:03. > :08:09.colours and textures. They feed on a variety of plants and trees but a
:08:09. > :08:16.good place to start looking for them is on a nice sunny nettle patch.
:08:16. > :08:24.What have we got here? This is the very spiky caterpillar of one of the
:08:24. > :08:28.commonest butterflies in the British countryside, or used to be. The
:08:28. > :08:33.small tortoiseshell or red admirable, very distinctive
:08:33. > :08:37.caterpillars. The eggs are laid in large groups on nettles and the
:08:37. > :08:41.caterpillars spread out. This spread out from the main herd. Caterpillars
:08:41. > :08:44.are an important part of the Springwatch story. Many of our birds
:08:44. > :08:48.are bringing in these insects for the chicks. They are a favourite
:08:48. > :08:52.food, as they are full of protein and moisture, so caterpillars have
:08:52. > :09:00.to do all they can to avoid being discovered and eaten. This guy is
:09:00. > :09:03.basking in the sun. And he isn't underneath the leaf, because he is
:09:03. > :09:13.covered in dark-coloured spines, saying I'm not very palatable to a
:09:13. > :09:19.bird, so I will sit in the sun. they regurgitate their dinner. That
:09:19. > :09:26.was a great find but we want to see what caterpillars the willow bushes
:09:26. > :09:31.are hiding a. The best way to do this is place a white sheet
:09:31. > :09:36.underneath and shake the bug vigorously. There's another
:09:36. > :09:39.caterpillar! Do you know what these are? I don't, and that's the joy of
:09:40. > :09:45.this. Sometimes you have to wait for them to grow up a little bit. The
:09:45. > :09:49.small green ones you often have to take home and identify or come back
:09:49. > :09:58.later to see how well they've grown. They change colour when they grow
:09:58. > :10:02.up. We are going to take them back to the boys in the macro and below
:10:02. > :10:09.your mind with these little green jobs. In here it is bustling with
:10:09. > :10:14.activity. Hi chaps? Hiya.They are fiddling around with bugs and making
:10:14. > :10:19.the little things look big for your deelect takes. Let's see what they
:10:19. > :10:24.did with the caterpillars. What we've got here, that's the
:10:24. > :10:28.caterpillar that Brett and I found, a lovely fella. You can see his eyes
:10:28. > :10:38.and he is spinning silk, making himself a fold in the leaf. A
:10:38. > :10:42.
:10:42. > :10:47.beautiful little creature. Unusual. And here we've got we've got - here
:10:47. > :10:52.we've got an inch worm. You can see its heartbeating through its skin.
:10:52. > :10:58.This is another one of Brett's prized specimen, a brain-tail
:10:58. > :11:01.caterpillar. If you see hairy caterpillars, by all means enjoy
:11:01. > :11:04.them, but don't touch them, because some of them will give you a bit of
:11:04. > :11:12.a rash. We are going to another one of our
:11:12. > :11:16.cameras now, we are going to the grasshopper warbler. That's live.
:11:16. > :11:21.You can just about see them there. The they are right on the edge of
:11:21. > :11:25.fledging. Will they fledge? I can't see them all there. Have any gone? I
:11:25. > :11:29.don't think they have. They are just hiding a bit low. They are very much
:11:29. > :11:35.ready for fledging. They could go before the end of the show. Just a
:11:35. > :11:40.little thought. When we have a little... Can we look at one of the
:11:40. > :11:45.adult birds? We can't. There we are! Think about that bird, it is a
:11:45. > :11:51.little miracle. That little bird has come all the way from somewhere
:11:51. > :11:57.lying Senegal in West Africa, all the way up here, maybe the Gambia,
:11:57. > :11:59.all the way to here to breed to make the most of our bounty of insects.
:12:00. > :12:06.Those followers of this programme will know we have a regular
:12:07. > :12:11.challenge. One of our very own beautiful creatures. This is Gary,
:12:11. > :12:18.our wildlife sound recordest. Gary challenges us every day to a sound
:12:18. > :12:27.of the day. What is it today? Here we go.
:12:27. > :12:33.Goodness me. It sounds like something chewing. It is an
:12:33. > :12:36.invertebrate and we wheelchaired the family on today's programme.
:12:36. > :12:44.invertebrate featured on today's programme. I've got no idea. Let us
:12:44. > :12:50.know what you think it is and we'll reveal the answer later on.
:12:50. > :12:56.Bbc.co.uk/springwatch. Newts are very much spring. How much
:12:56. > :13:04.do you know about them? The other day Mark Barber joined me to talk me
:13:04. > :13:10.through a few of their finer points. This is our Springwatch in the
:13:10. > :13:16.Afternoon dummy's guide to newts. We have three species in the UK. Shall
:13:16. > :13:25.we start with the commonest? Yes, the snooze newt first. This is a
:13:25. > :13:31.male? Yes. The most important feature is its spotty throat. Smooth
:13:31. > :13:36.and spotty. He is struggling a bit. Let's try to settle him a bit. Can
:13:36. > :13:43.you see his spotty throat there? I won't hold him for too long. That's
:13:43. > :13:51.the smooth newt. And we've got we've got another common newt. If you live
:13:51. > :13:57.in an upland area you tend to get these. They like acidic water.
:13:57. > :14:05.throat is pink, translucent. Nice and pink. That's the two more
:14:05. > :14:09.difficult newts to identify. Spotty smooth, pink for palmate. And these
:14:10. > :14:15.are great-crested newts? The most important thing is it is a big black
:14:15. > :14:19.newt. There is no denying the fact. It is longer than my fingers. A
:14:19. > :14:25.beautiful newt indeed. These are incredibly rare aren't they? Yes,
:14:25. > :14:34.they are. What do our viewers do if they find newts in their garden?
:14:34. > :14:44.most important thing to do is to let us know. You is submit your findings
:14:44. > :14:44.
:14:44. > :14:48.to our website. Great-ed newt?All amphibian species but if people have
:14:48. > :14:54.great-crested newts, do let us know. If people want to make their garden
:14:54. > :15:00.more newt friendly, what do they do? The easiest thing they can do if it
:15:00. > :15:06.is feasible is dig a pond. Any sized pond is of use to amphibians and
:15:06. > :15:11.other wildlife species, or you can build habitat piles out of logs or
:15:11. > :15:16.rubble. We tend to think of newts being just pond creatures but they
:15:16. > :15:21.spend a lot of their life out of the pond? People think they spend a lot
:15:21. > :15:29.of their time attached but they can also spend a lot of time out of it.
:15:29. > :15:33.I used to have them in an old sunken seat in the garden and the newts
:15:33. > :15:38.bred in it successfully. Thank you for joining us and thank you for
:15:38. > :15:48.bringing three newt species here. Rarely do we see them altogether.
:15:48. > :15:52.pleasure. When the sun is out like this, get into a pond, a rock, Rocco
:15:52. > :15:57.Proulx, it's the way to go. Springer will end very soon, and we're not
:15:57. > :16:04.going to leave you hanging with nothing to do. It is the summer of
:16:04. > :16:09.wildlife but they going to give you an idea right now, I'm pleased to be
:16:09. > :16:17.joined by a marine biologist. And coastal rock the Guru. I think you
:16:17. > :16:22.are wonderful. Have got a wonderful thing called CB depressing. What is
:16:22. > :16:32.this? I've always thought seaweed was an inconvenience to Rocco Proulx
:16:32. > :16:35.
:16:35. > :16:41.really. It's stunning, and here are some I collected from the beach this
:16:41. > :16:49.morning. A beautiful colour, really, really stunning. You need to look
:16:49. > :16:54.about diversity of colour and how beautiful they really are so what
:16:54. > :16:59.you do, you have a tray with water, sick paper or thin card, then press
:16:59. > :17:05.it down into the water, and you need to get it nice and wet. Then get
:17:05. > :17:10.your seaweed, which looks pretty unimpressive there. But as soon as
:17:10. > :17:14.you get is in the water, then you can use a pencil or a paintbrush and
:17:14. > :17:19.then just ease out all the detail, and you get the sense of how
:17:19. > :17:23.beautiful the seaweed is, especially on a high tide. It's like a marine
:17:23. > :17:31.forest. Once you have got that nicely laid out, you very carefully,
:17:31. > :17:37.this is the tricky part, here we go. If you could open a newspaper for a
:17:37. > :17:45.moment, just pray sit down there, and then lay some muslin or a J
:17:45. > :17:50.cloth over that. It's a bit windy today. That's it. Newspaper on top
:17:50. > :17:57.of there. And then get some books to put on top of that. Nice heavy books
:17:57. > :18:00.they're on top, full of knowledge. Then press that for five days but
:18:01. > :18:06.change the newspaper so it's bone dry, and then you get some really
:18:06. > :18:13.beautiful seaweed images. Have you got any you've done already? Here's
:18:13. > :18:19.one I made earlier. Look at that. They are beautiful. The lovely thing
:18:19. > :18:24.is, you can take the whole seaweed and get the detail of the whole
:18:24. > :18:31.thing and it's almost like a stained-glass window. It's like a
:18:31. > :18:37.graphic, digital graphic. It actually seaweed, it's not a print.
:18:37. > :18:43.It's a piece of seaweed. Absolutely glorious. It's very creative but you
:18:43. > :18:50.are creating a collection, and for me, they inspire Hell bunch of
:18:50. > :18:53.exploration. Perhaps people will go back to the same beach in 50 years
:18:53. > :18:57.time and see at the seaweeds are still here. It's a way of seeing
:18:57. > :19:07.whether things have changed because of climate change. They are quite a
:19:07. > :19:07.
:19:08. > :19:17.dynamic a la rock pools. Here is an idea of an activity to do. There is
:19:17. > :19:21.the seaweeds search. You can find some of them which indicate climate
:19:21. > :19:28.change and basic species, some it's a nice thing to do to help science
:19:28. > :19:37.research. Brilliant. You are so inspiring, I'm going to go to the
:19:37. > :19:43.rock pool and do some CB depressing. Absolutely brilliant. -- seaweed
:19:43. > :19:53.pressing. Now we're going to go to a new family, the ones we launched
:19:53. > :19:53.
:19:53. > :20:03.yesterday on this show. This time yesterday, we had the willow
:20:03. > :20:07.warblers. There they are. Most of our birds have a classic little nest
:20:07. > :20:13.but these guys actually live inside a dome. They actually have a roof
:20:13. > :20:19.over it. Once upon a time, these were called Willow Wren is because
:20:19. > :20:24.they also had a ball shaped nest with a much smaller opening. They
:20:24. > :20:33.look a bit like them. The sound of a summer for many bus business, the
:20:33. > :20:38.willow warbler. -- for many of us is the willow warbler. Listen to this.
:20:38. > :20:44.I love that downward kind of lilt. A descending tone of the willow
:20:44. > :20:49.warbler, for me, just picture a leaf falling from the branches to the
:20:49. > :20:54.ground. It gives you an idea of what it sounds like. Just listen for it
:20:54. > :21:02.next time you out and about. A couple of days ago, we got great
:21:02. > :21:06.footage of the dragonflies. Some dragonfly people told me that they
:21:06. > :21:10.have been waiting for ages to emerge and a fork out at once. There is a
:21:10. > :21:15.glut of them and the willow warbler is taking advantage of it. This is
:21:15. > :21:17.the footage couple of days ago. Look at that, you got to feel for those
:21:17. > :21:25.damselflies being shoved into the gullets of those monstrous chicks.
:21:25. > :21:29.Look at that. He's got it stuck in his throat. Look at that. There is a
:21:29. > :21:33.caterpillar, as well. It just keeps on going on like this continuously
:21:33. > :21:38.but it's not just the willow warbler who see them as a sign of the summer
:21:38. > :21:41.but you should too, so get out there, said by a pond, and have an
:21:41. > :21:49.experience with them and here is a little film to show you the marvels
:21:49. > :21:52.of dragonflies. Rory has dedicated the past 25 years to studying
:21:52. > :21:58.dragonflies and preserving habitat for these stunning insects and her
:21:58. > :22:02.sad at the national dragonfly centre in Cambridgeshire to share his
:22:02. > :22:08.passion. We usually see dragonflies fly past on a summers day but they
:22:08. > :22:12.spend most of their life as larvae under water, so Rory is taking the
:22:12. > :22:18.pond dipping. What first capture imagination about these? There is
:22:18. > :22:23.some magic which I find it completely impossible to describe.
:22:23. > :22:27.One landed on my shirt in 1985 and I was carrying a camera at the time
:22:27. > :22:31.looking for things to take photographs of, and it's like the
:22:31. > :22:35.dragonfly had said, what about taking a photograph of me?
:22:35. > :22:42.Photography seduced me to the insects themselves. What have you
:22:42. > :22:46.got? This is a Southerner hawker lather. We have a piece of kit back
:22:46. > :22:53.at the centre which will enable us to get a really good look at this.
:22:53. > :23:03.This is a piece of kit that the dragonfly project... Lovely, isn't
:23:03. > :23:04.
:23:04. > :23:09.it? Can you see the eyes and the antenna? Yes.Each one is a lens and
:23:09. > :23:14.a photoreceptor. There's about 10,000 in that eye and 10,000 in
:23:14. > :23:22.that eye. There is no potential for missing the gaze of a dragonfly.
:23:22. > :23:26.Their backsides, look at that. Now, that is where they take in water.
:23:26. > :23:32.They breathe in and out of their backsides and can suck in water. If
:23:32. > :23:37.you give them a shock... Please don't try that at home in the bath.
:23:37. > :23:42.They can suck water and then should you don't really fast so they can
:23:42. > :23:51.move along in the water really fast. You can try that at home at
:23:51. > :23:55.you like! Shall we go outside? do it. Add side, we have got our own
:23:55. > :23:59.bit of specialist equipment, superhigh speed camera so we can
:23:59. > :24:05.film the aerial acrobatics of the adult dragonflies. We analyse the
:24:05. > :24:09.results. This is a shot of a couple of damselflies in tandem taking off.
:24:09. > :24:16.That's giving them the maximum lest -- left, the way they are beating
:24:16. > :24:19.their wings. It gives maximum left. Damselflies typically fly like that
:24:19. > :24:24.but dragonflies, once they are up in the air, they use a different
:24:24. > :24:31.system. We have some dragonfly stuff here. Here it is coming in from the
:24:31. > :24:39.right, look. A little bit of a glide. Yes.That's terrific. Look at
:24:39. > :24:44.that. That's tremendous. Those momentary glides are special to see.
:24:44. > :24:51.You don't see it with the naked eye. Did you see how they synchronised
:24:51. > :24:57.for a moment and now are back in the fall drive position. A complex
:24:57. > :25:03.amount of flight methods being used in a few centimetres of movement
:25:03. > :25:07.here. I'm very impressed. A day like today is perfect for a bit of
:25:07. > :25:11.dragonfly watching. It's nice and still in sunny and I tell you
:25:11. > :25:16.something for nothing, it is more addictive than bird-watching in some
:25:16. > :25:22.ways. You get all the action, dogfights, feeding, mating and egg
:25:22. > :25:28.laying, all happening near the surface of the pond. However, there
:25:28. > :25:35.is another aerial predator who might get lucky to feed on them. It is the
:25:35. > :25:40.hobby. There were tears. With its wings extended, they look like a
:25:40. > :25:43.boomerang -- via is. But a boomerang which is incredibly manoeuvrable.
:25:44. > :25:50.They switch back and forward incredibly quickly and we have some
:25:50. > :25:55.super slow motion footage of one hunting. Watch this. It misses the
:25:55. > :25:59.dragonfly and comes in again. It gets it this time. Just imagine how
:25:59. > :26:04.manoeuvrable you have got to be. We are going to share with you again in
:26:04. > :26:10.slow motion. How manoeuvrable had got to be as a burden to be able to
:26:10. > :26:16.do that in the flight? It's happening incredibly fast -- as a
:26:16. > :26:23.bird. But there are also over sewage works, towns, anywhere there's
:26:23. > :26:26.dragonflies, they have an equal when it comes to sharing the airspace of
:26:26. > :26:36.the summer and that is the butterflies. I don't need to tell
:26:36. > :26:40.
:26:40. > :26:50.you they are amazing but look at emergence of a true British
:26:50. > :26:58.
:26:58. > :27:04.Inspiration for artists. And adorning our countryside with
:27:04. > :27:14.colour. Seeing your first butterfly gives you the sense that spring has
:27:14. > :27:16.
:27:16. > :27:21.arrived. And the warm days of summer lie ahead. I look forward immensely
:27:21. > :27:24.to seeing each new species of butterfly. Every season because we
:27:24. > :27:29.have spring butterflies in high summer butterflies and late summer
:27:29. > :27:36.butterflies, and it's reacquainting and strengthening our relationships
:27:36. > :27:40.with old friends. And there's plenty to get to know. You know, we have
:27:40. > :27:44.over 50 species of butterflies in the UK and they have been living
:27:44. > :27:50.alongside for thousands of years in our woodlands, field margins, parks
:27:50. > :27:56.and gardens. But butterflies are not just pretty faces. Oh no. Their
:27:56. > :28:00.private lives can be complex and fascinating. Take the large blue,
:28:00. > :28:07.for example. The caterpillars hatch out and feed on wild flowers but
:28:07. > :28:10.then they trick a species of ant into taking them into their nest
:28:11. > :28:20.underground and here, they eat the & Grubbs before emerging again the
:28:21. > :28:26.
:28:26. > :28:35.following year. You've got to agree, butterflies have been in serious
:28:35. > :28:39.trouble. And the statistics are fairly sobering. It's really bad
:28:39. > :28:44.news for British butterflies, over the past three decades or so, three
:28:44. > :28:47.quarters of them have declined. It's a massive loss of many different
:28:47. > :28:54.species. Five species have become extinct in Britain completely and
:28:54. > :28:56.many others are threatened with extinction. To understand why our
:28:57. > :29:05.butterflies are suffering, we have to uncover their complex and
:29:05. > :29:09.fascinating lives. To do that, we have to start at the beginning.
:29:09. > :29:17.Female butterflies are notoriously picky about exactly where they lay
:29:17. > :29:21.their eggs. Some butterflies only breed on a single species of plant.
:29:21. > :29:29.White Admiral Bull, for example, only breeds on honeysuckle, but most
:29:29. > :29:34.breed on plans from a single family. The purple Emperor breeds on a type
:29:34. > :29:38.of Willow. They are very choosy, these butterflies, which makes them
:29:38. > :29:43.sensitive. As soon as that plant is gone, they go extinct in places very
:29:44. > :29:49.way. They respond very quickly to these changes. And the reason they
:29:49. > :29:54.are so fussy is because of these. The key to a butterfly success is
:29:54. > :29:56.getting the right food plans for their hungry caterpillars. And,
:29:56. > :30:02.unfortunately, these plants have been disappearing from our
:30:02. > :30:08.countryside. The big problem that British butterflies face is the loss
:30:08. > :30:12.of traditional ways that we manage our farmland and our forests. They
:30:12. > :30:15.are now increasingly restricted to small pockets of habitat, small
:30:16. > :30:20.islands, in a sea of otherwise inhospitable terrain like the
:30:20. > :30:27.intensive farmland or housing, roads and so on, and they need to be able
:30:27. > :30:33.to move through the landscape. Changing so fast and such specific
:30:33. > :30:38.and different needs it is no wonder they found it difficult to cope. But
:30:38. > :30:44.there's a simple solution to their complex problem. Understand the
:30:44. > :30:47.species and then make space for its needs. We are lucky we know a lot
:30:47. > :30:51.about butterflies in Britain, probably more than any other country
:30:51. > :30:58.in the world. They respond so quickly to change and we can reverse
:30:58. > :31:02.some of these declines. Brilliant stuff. You saw in that film, and I'm
:31:02. > :31:09.very, very pleased to welcome to my log that's perched on the crag,
:31:09. > :31:15.which we are calling upstairs, Matthew, welcome. Hi there.Smooth
:31:15. > :31:20.yew and I go back a long way, he is one of my butterfly mentors, so I'm
:31:20. > :31:25.a bit nervous. I want to get this right. Tell me, butterflies, you've
:31:25. > :31:29.got a butterfly net here. This is my old butterfly net, because I
:31:30. > :31:36.collected them as a boy for five years and the inevitable happened.
:31:36. > :31:43.They collected me. And I've been following them ever since. This is
:31:43. > :31:46.completely redundant. Nobody collects butterflies any longer in
:31:47. > :31:51.this country. We still need to be able to get close to them in some
:31:51. > :31:57.way. Modern butterfly collecting is done with a camera. It is a
:31:57. > :32:01.fantastic hobby. It gives you the thrill of the chase, it stimulates
:32:01. > :32:04.the hunting gene, nothing gets hurt or killed and at the end of the day
:32:04. > :32:09.you have fantastic memories. People collect memories, and wonderful
:32:09. > :32:13.images as well. We were talking about collecting seaweeds earlier on
:32:13. > :32:21.and it is the same process, and you get information about the habitat of
:32:21. > :32:27.the butterfly as well? Absolutely. And our scarce butterflies, it takes
:32:27. > :32:32.you into wonderful landscape, when they are at their zenith of their
:32:32. > :32:35.annual cycle of natural beauty. people want to get close to
:32:35. > :32:40.butterflies, and most people have a camera and want to get close for the
:32:40. > :32:44.shots. How do you approach a butterfly? With care, no jerky
:32:44. > :32:50.movements and never cast a shadow over a butterfly. I talk to them, I
:32:50. > :32:55.confess. Beekeepers talk though their bees. It calms me down and it
:32:55. > :33:00.calms them down. You need to learn how to move amongst butterflies
:33:00. > :33:05.without disturbing them. So try it yourself. It does work. I believe
:33:05. > :33:12.you. There's something people can do this summer, the big butterfly
:33:12. > :33:17.count. Yes, that's starting soon. Everyone can get engaged with
:33:17. > :33:23.butterfly conservation's Big Butterfly Count. What do they do?
:33:23. > :33:29.Count the butterfly. Go online, look up Butterfly Conservation's website
:33:29. > :33:33.and get involved. It is ease. Bbc.co.uk/springwatch
:33:33. > :33:38.Matthew, thank you very much. It is brilliant to see you. If butterflies
:33:38. > :33:43.are your thing we've got a Springwatch butterfly special in the
:33:43. > :33:49.near future. And there's a butterfly week coming up, with all sorts of
:33:49. > :33:57.events going on throughout. Let's have a little look at the cameras
:33:57. > :34:01.again. And we have the blackbird. This is live. The chicks grow up so
:34:02. > :34:06.fast. This is happening in a hedge near you. This isn't exclusive to
:34:06. > :34:12.us. This is happening in a hedge near you.
:34:12. > :34:17.Let's look at what was happening earlier on. There's daddy. Some of
:34:18. > :34:22.which those might be butterfly caterpillar caterpillars and there's
:34:22. > :34:26.mum as well. Blackbirds really are feeding all over the UK at the
:34:27. > :34:36.moment, so you are most likely to see them anywhere in towns, cities
:34:37. > :34:41.
:34:41. > :34:48.and gardens, feeding the chicks, picking up beakful bes of caels. --
:34:48. > :34:54.beakfuls of caterpillars. There are the red starts, they are growing
:34:54. > :35:00.really fast. Just to give you an idea of how much they are hammering
:35:00. > :35:07.the insects here. Over 25 visits in an hour was recorded earlier today.
:35:07. > :35:12.That's quite incredible if you think about. It. How many visits in a day
:35:12. > :35:19.would that make? It is an awful lot. Fantastic stuff there.
:35:20. > :35:29.We can't move on without catching up with our jackdaws. This is live. The
:35:30. > :35:31.
:35:31. > :35:35.jackdaws are huge now. They are fully developed. They've lost that
:35:35. > :35:40.ghost-like look. They are flying machines. I believe these are the
:35:40. > :35:44.parent birds. There's the chick. Sometimes they are so big they block
:35:44. > :35:48.the lens. Don't panic if you go to the jackdaw camera and you see
:35:48. > :35:54.nothing but black. That will be a jackdaw. Their feathers are
:35:54. > :35:57.developed and they are looking lovely. They are still being visited
:35:57. > :36:00.by the intruders, and that will continue until they fledge. That
:36:00. > :36:04.could happen soon. It may even happen over the weekend. I don't
:36:04. > :36:08.think it will happen today. Let's hope they hang on until Springwatch
:36:08. > :36:12.starts again at the beginning of next week.
:36:12. > :36:22.This is the Summer of Wildlife so let's see what it is all about
:36:22. > :36:24.
:36:24. > :36:30.The UK is home to so many amazing creatures. Who needs to go abroad to
:36:30. > :36:40.see incredible things? This summer is the time to get out there and
:36:40. > :36:46.
:36:46. > :36:52.The BBC's Summer of Wildlife brings you a whole raft of special
:36:52. > :36:56.programmes across the BBC. This country really does have the most
:36:56. > :37:01.incredible wildlife. It is a nationwide celebration of our
:37:01. > :37:08.natural history. To be able to crouch here is beyond my dreams.
:37:08. > :37:11.a chance to get involved. We want you to go out and about with your
:37:11. > :37:16.camera so we can see what wild things are living no-one your
:37:16. > :37:21.doorstep. If you want to see wildlife, go down to your local
:37:21. > :37:29.pond. Look out for hundreds of wildlife events and a website packed
:37:29. > :37:39.with top tips and guides. All the advice you need to get out
:37:39. > :37:43.
:37:43. > :37:48.and meet your extraordinary Information and inspiration for a
:37:48. > :37:53.truly wild summer. I've got some sad news for you. This
:37:53. > :37:57.is sadly the last of our live Springwatchs in the afternoon but
:37:57. > :38:01.don't worry, because Springwatch continues. I caught up with
:38:01. > :38:09.Michaela, Chris and Martin earlier today to find out what's happening
:38:09. > :38:13.in the rest of the series. Michaela, what have we got lined up
:38:13. > :38:19.for today's show? You know the most exciting thing that we are showing.
:38:20. > :38:26.No, what could it possibly be? water rail chicks. I could watch
:38:26. > :38:33.them for a whole hour. But we were putting a bit of variety in there.
:38:33. > :38:38.From a tiny bird we are looking at a much larger bird, the red kite. Iolo
:38:38. > :38:43.is with us. He is looking at what's been a fantastically successful
:38:43. > :38:47.reintroduction programme. He goes to the Chilterns in his film to see the
:38:47. > :38:53.fact that red kites are numerous there now. Slightly further afield.
:38:53. > :38:57.And what's coming up in the next week? Seagulls next week. They are
:38:57. > :39:04.one of those animals that people in cities, they like them to begin
:39:04. > :39:13.with, but when they are woken up at four o'clock in the morning...
:39:13. > :39:17.bags under my eyes are caused by heron gulls. I hope when we see the
:39:17. > :39:22.intimate workings of their lives we will like them more. We have a
:39:22. > :39:28.plethora of activities which will be highlighted by other programmes.
:39:28. > :39:31.Countryfile, the one show is involved, there are programmes on
:39:31. > :39:38.CBBC, local radio and all of the activity on the net. The purpose of
:39:38. > :39:41.which this whole project is to try and get as many people in the UK in
:39:42. > :39:48.contact. Not watching with it on their own TV but out of their homes
:39:48. > :39:53.in contact with wildlife in their communities. I'm excited by this.
:39:53. > :39:58.We've highlighted that so many of our species in the UK are in
:39:58. > :40:02.trouble. We talk about declines, and it is impossible not to do that. But
:40:02. > :40:07.unless people engage with these things and engage and have a value
:40:07. > :40:10.for them, they won't look after them. This is a great initiative not
:40:10. > :40:15.only for the BBC but for conservation as well. Good luck with
:40:15. > :40:20.the next week's worth of programming. I'm very jealous. You
:40:20. > :40:26.can see all these stories come to some kind of a conclusion, good or
:40:26. > :40:32.bad. I think we should give you a round of applause. Well done!
:40:32. > :40:36.Welcome on board. I couldn't want for a better group of work
:40:36. > :40:42.colleagues. They are mates now. This it is part of a big family this. The
:40:42. > :40:50.I've had a great time. And now it is time to reveal Gary's sound of the
:40:50. > :40:56.day. Let's hear it one more time. I have no idea what that is. It
:40:56. > :41:04.sounds like something chewing. You said it was an invertebrate or it
:41:04. > :41:09.has been featured on today's show. It could be an insect? Is it a
:41:09. > :41:18.caterpillar chewing? A larval form of something chewing. The wrong
:41:18. > :41:22.answer as, water vole, hedgehog, dormouse chewing a hazelnut. Great
:41:22. > :41:30.guesses but they are all wrong. What is it? It is the caterpillar of a
:41:30. > :41:39.moth and it is an oak egger caterpillar. So it is a caterpillar
:41:39. > :41:49.chewing. Well done. Did anyone get it right? Nobody got it right!
:41:49. > :41:57.
:41:57. > :42:02.What's wrong with you? We are going of a wren. That's the first of the
:42:02. > :42:06.bird songs I think I ever learnt. This is a male. I can tell that not
:42:06. > :42:12.by any subtle nuance of his plumage but because he is the one building
:42:12. > :42:18.the nest. He will build several nests and take his prospective
:42:18. > :42:25.female of a tour of his residence it's. She will select the one she
:42:25. > :42:31.likes best. And one quick look at the cameras live. Those are our
:42:31. > :42:35.willow warblers. No grass snakes. We don't know what happened to the
:42:35. > :42:43.meadow pipits. Don't forget to catch up with the evening show for more
:42:43. > :42:48.news on that. There's the marsh cam. A nice shot of the marsh and the
:42:48. > :42:51.pond. I can't see any otters. If they were there all the time they
:42:52. > :42:59.would be boring wouldn't they? It is always worth a little look. And our
:42:59. > :43:05.star bird. That is our water rail. They may fledge any moment now. Some
:43:06. > :43:12.say it may be a day. Some say it may be two days. You can see the egg
:43:12. > :43:16.tooth on one of the babies there. That's how they got out of the egg.
:43:16. > :43:21.Really good stuff. That's it. I've had an absolutely lovely time. It
:43:21. > :43:26.has been a pleasure working with you Gary. And it has been fantastic.
:43:26. > :43:32.Spring carries on. Springwatch carries on. Don't forget the evening