:00:29. > :00:34.around the corner, a live bird, a mystery man. Now, if we go back a
:00:34. > :00:38.bit, we find that we have some mystery people here, some strange
:00:39. > :00:41.people out on the veranda. What could it all be about? Let's go
:00:41. > :00:51.inside, and inside, we have Michaela Strachan, Chris Packham,
:00:51. > :00:52.
:00:52. > :00:57.and I can just see I think behind there - level-headed Joe. It must
:00:57. > :01:00.be Unsprung! Hurrah. Right. Here you go. Now, remember, Unsprung is
:01:00. > :01:05.all about you. It's your questions, things that you've noticed. It's
:01:05. > :01:10.all about the things you send into us. We throw in a few curveballs as
:01:10. > :01:15.well, but we all start with the quiz, which we have all started but
:01:15. > :01:19.Michaela will pick it up. We did show you the quiz on Winterwatch
:01:19. > :01:24.just in case for some crazy reason you weren't watching! But what we
:01:25. > :01:30.did was we took a photo viewers have sent in, mixed them up, made
:01:30. > :01:33.them into a puzzle, then you had to put them all together and make an
:01:33. > :01:38.animal. That was pretty straight forward. It's a grey seal. That was
:01:38. > :01:42.obviously not the quiz because we have given you the answer. This is
:01:42. > :01:48.picture A. What is that? Don't shout out if you can see... You can
:01:48. > :01:57.all get in here. This is B. This one is tricky. Can we have B?
:01:57. > :02:00.is tricky. Quite hard - any ideas? They can't see behind you. And C,
:02:00. > :02:04.which - yeah, is quite tricky, but remember, they're all animals that
:02:04. > :02:11.live in Britain. They are, and Chris is going to tell us something
:02:11. > :02:17.very interesting about them. Can I just say where you send your
:02:17. > :02:21.answers? Yes, tell me off. Facebook. They'll go through to Joe.
:02:21. > :02:26.This is very interesting. We often have mystery pellets here, but this
:02:26. > :02:32.has come in from Stephanie James from Cambridge, and she sent us the
:02:32. > :02:38.whole story of her mystery poo pellets. Here it is. This is one of
:02:38. > :02:43.those true romance things - "Look at my mystery poo." So she takes it
:02:43. > :02:53.out in her car - "I take my poo everywhere -" slightly dubious,
:02:53. > :02:56.
:02:56. > :03:03.this, isn't it? She's tried to send Stephanie, here we go. Let us offer
:03:03. > :03:08.it to the experts. Just a moment. Hold on.
:03:08. > :03:12.LAUGHTER Chris is's glasss are broken, badly
:03:12. > :03:16.glued together. They were broken during the week. They have been
:03:16. > :03:19.superglued, so thankfully they're here. Let's deal with these pieces.
:03:19. > :03:22.They're full of fur, so the first thing we can say is it's a
:03:22. > :03:25.carnivore that has been producing this. The first, quite long. You
:03:25. > :03:31.would need to pull that out and have a look at that. Stephanie
:03:31. > :03:35.doesn't mind. Pull it apart. It's quite coarse fur. What do you think
:03:35. > :03:40.it is? It's not soft and fluffy like rabbit. It could be fox still,
:03:40. > :03:43.but this looks like it could be deer fur or something like that. It
:03:43. > :03:48.feels coarse - when it rolls through your fingers like that it
:03:48. > :03:52.feels as if it's got an edge to it almost as if it's got sort of a
:03:52. > :03:57.section which is square or something. I think it's deer fur
:03:57. > :04:00.inside the poo. It's old, so sadly it's lost any scent it might have
:04:00. > :04:03.had, which might have been a give- away, then again, if this was an
:04:03. > :04:11.individual piece, you've got to think about the size of the animal
:04:11. > :04:18.that produced that. This could have been scavenged by a marten. That's
:04:18. > :04:24.about the right size of pine marten poo. It could be pine marten that
:04:24. > :04:25.scavenged deer. Is that right? think it is. Let's give him a round
:04:25. > :04:28.of applause. APPLAUSE
:04:28. > :04:31.I don't know whether we're going to be able to do this. You could
:04:31. > :04:34.become a hair detective. Say you're out and find a bit of barbed wire
:04:34. > :04:38.and find some hair in it, you can tell what that hair is. I don't
:04:38. > :04:43.know if this is going to work. Can we give - let's have a look,
:04:43. > :04:47.Royston. Bring him in. Have you got some deer? What's that? What do you
:04:47. > :04:51.reckon that is? A bit of deer? We're not going to be able to pull
:04:51. > :04:55.this off, I don't think. I can pull this one out. Can you? I reckon
:04:55. > :04:59.even though I have read what it is on the front... Well done. I would
:04:59. > :05:02.probably know because, look. Can you see closely? Look. There we go.
:05:03. > :05:07.That's good. Can you guys see even from a distance what that might be.
:05:07. > :05:13.Look at the colour. It's red, and it's bendy, and you can't pull it
:05:13. > :05:17.apart. Is that right? So it is... Yeah, and it's flexible. That one
:05:17. > :05:23.is flexible. And you happen to find it on our live cameras around the
:05:23. > :05:27.corner. Any ideas? Red squirrel. That's it. So squirrel and fox -
:05:27. > :05:35.you can bend the hair, but Chris, can you try and snap one of those
:05:35. > :05:40.for us? Snap one of these? Senate one of those. Snap it in the sense
:05:40. > :05:45.I am going the break it? Bend it. Did it snap? Hold on. That's a
:05:45. > :05:49.brilliant demonstration. See that. It hasn't bent. It's actually
:05:49. > :05:53.snapped. That would be deer. Deer fur snaps because it's brittle and
:05:53. > :05:57.hollow. If it snaps it's probably deer. If you can bend it, it will
:05:57. > :06:02.be fox or squirrel. This is badger, and it's elliptical in shaing, and
:06:02. > :06:06.oh, you can't see that. If you try and roll it on your finger, I can
:06:06. > :06:11.feel it. It won't roll because it's elliptical. I can see it. You can
:06:11. > :06:18.see it flicking. Flicking because it's elliptical. It's not round, so
:06:18. > :06:25.it's badger fur. We did it. We pulled it off. Do you want to tell
:06:25. > :06:29.us a foxy tale, Michaela? I'll tell you a foxy tale. Sometimes we get
:06:29. > :06:33.sent in footage of extraordinary animal behaviour. This is one such
:06:33. > :06:36.time. This is from George in Buckinghamshire. Just have a look
:06:36. > :06:40.at this. This is a fox in his garden, nothing particularly
:06:40. > :06:47.unusual about that but look! The cat comes out and starts, I would
:06:47. > :06:50.say, playing and chasing the fox. Looks like it's run away to begin
:06:50. > :06:55.with, doesn't it? It's a bit of a wobblably camera.
:06:55. > :06:59.Now the fox comes back again. cat sort of sits there, almost like
:06:59. > :07:03.piggy in the middle, isn't it? they did play together. Chris, did
:07:03. > :07:06.they play together? You know my thoughts on this - quite harsh. I
:07:06. > :07:10.don't think animals have time for play. I think they're constantly
:07:10. > :07:13.learning something that'll be an advantage to them in the future, so
:07:13. > :07:18.when you see fox cubs playing together, they're learning how to
:07:18. > :07:21.hunt, how to stalk one another, how to find their prey, how to be
:07:21. > :07:25.dominant, how to express that. This is quite controversial. New
:07:25. > :07:29.research into the neuro-science of animals shows some species
:07:29. > :07:33.apparently - I haven't weighed it through, this research yet, do seem
:07:33. > :07:35.to have pleasure centre, so not only are they playing, but they
:07:35. > :07:38.receive pleasure, so therefore we could argue they're not doing it
:07:38. > :07:42.for a behave I don't recall reason. They're doing it just because they
:07:42. > :07:48.enjoy it, but I'll have to come back with youen that. I haven't
:07:48. > :07:53.waded through - a gentleman sent me two books I haven't had a chance to
:07:53. > :07:57.read. He's changing his mind now! That's what it's about. I am happy
:07:57. > :08:01.to change my mind if it's proved correct. Thank you for that footage,
:08:01. > :08:04.anyway. I thought you were going to say life's about playing, but no.
:08:04. > :08:09.This is interesting - Simon Blackburn came through to us. He
:08:09. > :08:13.said, "I saw a Queen wasp yesterday but how do I know it's one? By the
:08:13. > :08:17.way, I am a pest controller." I would hope you would know. How does
:08:17. > :08:21.he know it's a Queen wasp? That's really easy to answer because the
:08:21. > :08:25.only wasp you'll find at the moment is a Queen. All the workers, the
:08:25. > :08:31.sterile females have died, and the males died in the autumn once
:08:31. > :08:35.they'd mated. It's just the females that survive the winters and as
:08:35. > :08:40.such they're an incredibly - organism. They have the whole nest
:08:40. > :08:45.in what are going to be fertilised eggs. Often they come into people's
:08:45. > :08:47.houses and find somewhere dry to hang up. They often go into a
:08:47. > :08:51.peculiar position. They have a hibernation position where they
:08:51. > :08:56.fold their legs up into a particular pattern, curl up their
:08:56. > :09:00.legs, and they'll hide behind the curtains or tuck behind the cushion.
:09:00. > :09:04.Invariably you don't find them until the spring. I always leave my
:09:04. > :09:09.windows open in the spring so they can get out. Lots come in, nice.
:09:09. > :09:13.was in bed once in my attic and had the central heating on. There was a
:09:14. > :09:18.loud buzzing on the bed beside me, turned the light on, and there was
:09:18. > :09:23.a Queen hornette in bed beside me, which was exciting. Can we see what
:09:23. > :09:28.one looks like? Here, a Queen hornette. There's a Queen hornette.
:09:28. > :09:32.That was what was in bed with me. Absolutely beautiful. These animals
:09:32. > :09:37.are fabulous to look and have a brilliant behaviour. They're a lot
:09:37. > :09:40.less aggressive than male wasps because there are fewer of them in
:09:40. > :09:47.their nests if they launch an attack and many of them are killed
:09:47. > :09:51.that means they can't rear as many Queens. Have you ever been stung by
:09:51. > :09:55.a hornette? No, I got stung in the eye by a hornette. I was
:09:55. > :09:59.encouraging it to sting someone else so I could see! I was with a
:09:59. > :10:06.brist brilliant entomologist. When we get stung, we're great because
:10:06. > :10:10.we don't react. Unfortunately one of the hornettes got out of control
:10:11. > :10:15.and stung me in the eye, closed my eye for about 24 hours in weeping
:10:15. > :10:20.tears - of laughter, of course, and then it went down, but I have to
:10:20. > :10:23.say it's very variable how people react to wasps around hornet Stigs.
:10:23. > :10:26.Some people can react very adversely to them. It can change
:10:26. > :10:31.throughout your life. The more I have got stung, the less I react.
:10:31. > :10:36.Sometimes the more you get stung, the you react. Did it hurt much?
:10:36. > :10:41.Not at all. It was so funny, we were laughing at it more than
:10:41. > :10:45.anything else. A hornet sting is classified as number two on the
:10:46. > :10:50.Justin O'Smu mitt Pain Index. This guy got himself stung by literally
:10:50. > :10:55.hundreds of insects and gave them a grading of how painful it is. He
:10:55. > :11:03.says - it's lovely - some of the things - hornets not too bad at all,
:11:03. > :11:13.a two. They don't go up very far. The highest is the bulletna which
:11:13. > :11:14.
:11:14. > :11:20.is dramatically paism. The bullhorn Acacia ant is like someone fired a
:11:20. > :11:25.pellet gun in your cheek and the bull ant is like walking over
:11:25. > :11:33.charcoal with a three-inch nail in your heel. I was stung by a bee the
:11:33. > :11:38.other day - I bought a pound of honey for �50! Oh! Could you move
:11:38. > :11:41.us on, Michaela, to the wonderful Voleman. Tell us a story. As I was
:11:41. > :11:45.saying before, we have extraordinary footage sent into us
:11:45. > :11:50.sometimes and we received a call from Swindon, Wiltshire, with a
:11:50. > :11:55.rather special story. This is really special.
:11:55. > :12:05.This arm belongs to David Tray and in it his additional member of the
:12:05. > :12:11.
:12:11. > :12:15.household. Can you guess what it is 2009, walking outside his house,
:12:15. > :12:21.David stumbled on what he thought was a male mouse. Unsure whether it
:12:21. > :12:27.was even alive, he brought it home. To his surprise, it survived the
:12:27. > :12:33.night. And looking closely, David realised it was, in fact, a tiny
:12:33. > :12:38.female vole. So when I first got her, the only way I could feed her
:12:38. > :12:42.was with this paintbrush with diluted goat's milk. With much love
:12:42. > :12:46.and care, the vole grew into a healthy adult, and after nine
:12:46. > :12:50.months, it heard the call of the wild. Not seeing it again for a
:12:50. > :12:55.couple of weeks, David assumed it had found a new life with its own
:12:55. > :13:00.kind, but on the off chance, he occasionally left out her favourite
:13:00. > :13:05.snacks. On the 17th day, I knelt down in the grass as usual to put
:13:05. > :13:10.food in the dish, and to my amazement, the mouse came charging
:13:10. > :13:17.out of the undergrowth, run straight in front of me and stood
:13:17. > :13:21.up on its hind legs, demanding to be picked up. I've never seen such
:13:21. > :13:26.a thing. I was amazed, delighted and decided that it's coming home
:13:26. > :13:32.with me because it obviously wants to. So why had Mr Mouse come home?
:13:32. > :13:39.Well, of course, he was really a she, and she gave birth to five
:13:39. > :13:44.babies that night. Mr Mouse, who's truly Mrs Vole, remains at Nut Tree
:13:44. > :13:48.House. Chris, can you tell me - can you
:13:48. > :13:51.shed any light on how long I should expect that this little creature is
:13:52. > :13:55.going to live? How long is it going to live? How long is it going to
:13:55. > :14:00.live that vol, Chris? In the wild, of course, they have all the stress
:14:00. > :14:04.of having to find food and deal with their predators, and many of
:14:04. > :14:08.these small mammals are designed to live 18 months. They get through
:14:08. > :14:12.their winter, breed as productive as they can. Many of them have more
:14:12. > :14:16.than one litter and they exhaust themselves. That's if they're not
:14:16. > :14:22.taken by foxes or tawny owls. The average vole - shrews can be less
:14:22. > :14:25.than a year, voles between one and two years. In captivity where it's
:14:25. > :14:29.being pampered... It really is. will be really interesting to see
:14:29. > :14:36.how long it does live. That's exhausted it, but it's had one
:14:36. > :14:40.litter. If it doesn't have more, a maximum, I hate to say it two,-and-
:14:40. > :14:44.a-half, three... Not much longer. But it's already done three years,
:14:44. > :14:49.which is astonishing. Isn't it? you said, all voles, field mice,
:14:49. > :14:59.about a year, but you know bats - same sort of size, a greater
:14:59. > :15:10.
:15:10. > :15:15.horseshoe bat - how long do you years! Amazing. Lynn Hardman.
:15:15. > :15:22.lovely Lynn Hardman! Every year she makes us a super tea cosy. What do
:15:22. > :15:32.you think it is going to be? Guesses from the audience. What
:15:32. > :15:38.
:15:38. > :15:46.sort of are -- are? An eagle owl! Thank you very much. This our idea
:15:46. > :15:52.of crocheting, I can't... Stay there! It has been picked up and I
:15:52. > :16:02.think we can reveal a brand new, extraordinary art form involving
:16:02. > :16:06.
:16:06. > :16:13.crochet. Michaela? Over two. -- over to you. Come in. That is
:16:13. > :16:22.incredible! Did you do your hat as well?! That is extraordinary. What
:16:22. > :16:32.do you call this? It is a mixture of crochet and taxidermy. Is there
:16:32. > :16:34.
:16:34. > :16:40.a real hare inside? No! There is nothing will inside? Not at all.
:16:40. > :16:45.How long does it take to do something like that? This is tiny
:16:45. > :16:49.for me. Probably two months or something like that. It is a small
:16:49. > :16:57.project for me. I have worked on one single project for two years.
:16:57. > :17:05.And that was for the Olympics? My goodness me. That is absolutely
:17:05. > :17:10.enormous. How difficult was that to do? It was difficult to keep going
:17:10. > :17:14.for two years, that was the main challenge with that one. Your
:17:15. > :17:19.fingers were hurting? I had to put my fingers in ice at the end of the
:17:19. > :17:29.day. When most people decide to crochet, they will do something
:17:29. > :17:30.
:17:30. > :17:35.like a hat, so what made you jump to wildlife? Art theory was behind
:17:35. > :17:44.it, and then the animals came in as an accessible thing to use. Have
:17:44. > :17:50.you always loved wildlife? I am keen on animals, especially my dog.
:17:51. > :17:55.You seem to be following the muscle groups as well. Yes, I try to
:17:55. > :18:05.highlight the anatomy of the Channel. I freestyle, and I start
:18:05. > :18:10.
:18:10. > :18:18.with one stitch and keep going. Have you ever crocheted a moth?
:18:18. > :18:22.That is the enemy of all of your work! Seriously, what do you do
:18:22. > :18:28.about them? It is a serious question. I think I have just been
:18:28. > :18:34.lucky so far. Especially the ones that we saw earlier. I was in one
:18:34. > :18:44.static place for two years, so it was a problem. A round of applause,
:18:44. > :18:50.
:18:50. > :18:55.extraordinary that we have noticed. Well, you have noticed it. We have
:18:55. > :18:59.noticed some here as well. We are calling them frost flowers. John
:18:59. > :19:06.Bingham sent in this picture. It looks like cotton wool, but it is
:19:06. > :19:14.not. Their early form in the frost. Doreen Johnstone has sent another.
:19:14. > :19:22.-- then they only form in the frost. It looks like a dog. We think we
:19:22. > :19:32.know a man that knows what they could be. It is Euan McIlwraith! He
:19:32. > :19:37.has been driving Winterwatch every night. Hello. Listen to those
:19:37. > :19:43.dulcet tones! Have you got any idea what it is? Yes, it is a thing of
:19:43. > :19:53.beauty, as you say. It is cold and side. The sap in the plans is
:19:53. > :19:59.
:19:59. > :20:04.expanding and causing small cracks. -- the plants. The capillary action
:20:04. > :20:10.continues, the ice crystals form and expand, and they forced out of
:20:10. > :20:16.the ice in amazing ribbons. Sometimes in a crack, you get the
:20:16. > :20:21.former around the plant. It is a thing of beauty, and very rare. Now
:20:21. > :20:26.is absolutely the time to get out and see that. Get out and see frost
:20:26. > :20:29.flowers. Amazing. I want to see a time lapse of it growing. You have
:20:29. > :20:38.to be quick because they disappear in the sunshine as my colleagues
:20:38. > :20:45.have found to their cost. Thank you very much, the man that knows!
:20:45. > :20:53.you will be doing Winterwatch Extract online after this programme.
:20:53. > :20:56.Yes. Many of you have heard robins singing at night. Let's remind
:20:56. > :21:06.ourselves what that sounds like, singing at night.
:21:06. > :21:19.
:21:19. > :21:26.to something there. It is not a robin. We have done that for a
:21:26. > :21:36.reason. It is Michaela Strachan! Let's hear what she had to do to
:21:36. > :21:50.
:21:50. > :21:57.That was slowed down. It is complicated! We wanted Michaela to
:21:57. > :22:03.do that, slowed down, because that was how complex the birdsong is.
:22:03. > :22:08.The robins change their song. they change with lots of roses,
:22:08. > :22:12.variants, tones, patterns of notes, which adds to the richness and
:22:12. > :22:16.makes it more attractive to the females. I think we should play the
:22:16. > :22:26.real robin, and then Michaela to see how good she is.
:22:26. > :22:37.
:22:37. > :22:42.WHISTLING. Very good! I think that I sound better! I think that was
:22:42. > :22:52.artistic licence! That was a real thing, really! I have to move on.
:22:52. > :23:21.
:23:21. > :23:28.From a very small bird, beautiful, for bringing it all in. How is she?
:23:28. > :23:32.Doing fine, quite relaxed. How long have you and Orla been together?
:23:32. > :23:37.Probably nearly five years. It is quite an intense relationship, the
:23:38. > :23:46.two of you. That comes from daily contact and building your trust.
:23:46. > :23:52.The first time you met it was not love at first sight. No. The
:23:52. > :24:01.hackles were up, pure aggression. She was not happy to see you? And
:24:01. > :24:06.now you have a close relationship. Can we look at the talons?
:24:06. > :24:12.Fantastic killing machines, like a grizzly bear. This is an iconic
:24:12. > :24:17.bird of Scotland. Is she OK if I ask you some questions? I don't
:24:17. > :24:23.think she can answer! We think she is looking at the beaver? There was
:24:23. > :24:28.something in the river. And she is that alert! William says, it does
:24:28. > :24:36.the golden eagle have a unique nesting have it? They tend to have
:24:36. > :24:41.one or two alternative sites. They will move if the nest is destroyed
:24:41. > :24:45.or discovered. Sometimes they are in more sheltered spots and
:24:45. > :24:49.sometimes they decide where to build according to the weather.
:24:49. > :24:54.There is one in America that is 200 years old, descended from an
:24:54. > :25:00.original power. Goodness. You are very relaxed about her being so
:25:00. > :25:05.close. Nine year-old Debbie Jackson, will golden eagles at the start
:25:05. > :25:10.living in England again? It is very unlikely that they will naturally
:25:10. > :25:16.recolonise in England. If that was going to happen, we would see
:25:16. > :25:20.larger numbers in Scotland first. Just time for one more. This has
:25:20. > :25:26.always fascinated me. How much weight can a golden eagle pick up
:25:26. > :25:31.and fly with? There are lots of myths about that. Yes. People
:25:32. > :25:36.overestimate their carrying ability. Anything heavier than five pounds
:25:36. > :25:43.is too heavy. They only carry things when they are feeding their
:25:43. > :25:47.young. They are known it to use height advantage to get a mountain
:25:47. > :25:51.goat and came up for the nest. They cannot physically climb. They have
:25:51. > :25:55.to aim at down and drop the mountain goat. So they would drop
:25:55. > :26:01.down, hit the prey and carry on with it? That is marvellous
:26:01. > :26:06.targeting. Thank you very much for bringing her in. Orla has been very
:26:06. > :26:14.wonderful. It is a joy to see how big they are. Staggering. I shall
:26:14. > :26:20.back off, not nervously but calmly! Michaela, would you like to resolve
:26:20. > :26:24.the quiz, please? Yes, but I was a bit concerned when I was doing my
:26:24. > :26:31.robin impression that the Eagle might come and pray on me! So
:26:31. > :26:35.realistic. We set a quiz at the beginning of the show. We mixed of
:26:35. > :26:39.photographs that viewers had sent in and we asked you to rearrange
:26:39. > :26:49.them and tell us what they were. Did anybody get it right or wrong?
:26:49. > :26:55.Yes, lots of people took part. Rebecca and Jane on Twitter got it
:26:55. > :26:59.right. Tell us the wrong ones, if they are funny. People thought the
:26:59. > :27:07.insect was a dragonfly, and some people thought the bird was a
:27:07. > :27:17.goldfinch. Not very funny. This was...? That is quite easy because
:27:17. > :27:27.there is a real giveaway. Waxwing, very good. A fascinating fact about
:27:27. > :27:28.
:27:28. > :27:32.which one? The waxwing? He is lost for words! They occur in
:27:32. > :27:38.Scandinavia. We have spoken about them already this week. Maybe we
:27:38. > :27:43.should not ask you! There is a more attractive species in North America.
:27:43. > :27:51.It blows of the Bohemian ones out of the water. And does anybody in
:27:51. > :27:57.the audience to know what that could have been? Millipede?
:27:57. > :28:07.might not get it even when we rearrange it. Any idea? Some people
:28:07. > :28:13.
:28:13. > :28:23.got it right. Snow flee. I thought it was a scorpion fly. I saw the
:28:23. > :28:28.
:28:28. > :28:36.tail. And last one. It is a Chinese water deer. Well done to everybody
:28:36. > :28:41.that got that right. Fabulous fangs. We only have two native species of
:28:41. > :28:49.deer, red deer and roe deer. The Fellow at Chinese water deer were
:28:49. > :28:53.introduced. -- fallow and Chinese water deer. Thank you very much for