:00:10. > :00:14.We're here in the Highlands of Scotland following the trials and
:00:14. > :00:18.tribulations of our wildlife at this, the most challenging time of
:00:18. > :00:23.the year. It's got pretty nippy, but that is not going to deter us
:00:23. > :00:26.from our quest. It's been a fairly unpredictable winter with
:00:26. > :00:31.temperatures now below freezing, but our camera teams have been out
:00:31. > :00:35.in the big chill to bring you some spectacular wildlife stories of
:00:35. > :00:38.survival. Dramatic events are unfurling all around the country,
:00:38. > :00:48.but of course, we're filming wildlife right here, right now.
:00:48. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:12.Yes, welcome to Winterwatch. It's programme two of our four
:01:13. > :01:16.programmes this week coming to you from the Agos Field Centre in the
:01:16. > :01:19.Highlands of Scotland. Sadly, we don't have any snow, but there is
:01:19. > :01:22.lots of snow further south in the country, which is perfect for our
:01:22. > :01:26.Winterwatch programme. If you were watching last night, you'd know
:01:26. > :01:29.that we'd been down to the north Norfolk coast to see the
:01:29. > :01:33.extraordinary spectacle of the grey seals, which despite the fact that
:01:33. > :01:37.this is the middle of winter, are giving birth, and very sadly, some
:01:37. > :01:41.of the young pups are not getting along quite as you would like them
:01:41. > :01:51.to. We'll show you that wildlife doesn't get dull just because it's
:01:51. > :01:55.winter. It can bring some truly Around here our pine martens have
:01:55. > :02:04.changed their behaviour. This one walked in and turned into stealth
:02:04. > :02:08.mode. We'll show you what happened Is anyone feeling a bit nippy?
:02:08. > :02:14.very chilly. Are you sure you checked the temperature tonight?
:02:14. > :02:17.What does it say? Minus 3.1. That is truly cold, isn't it? It's not
:02:17. > :02:23.the coldest place in the country. Do you want some stats? I'll give
:02:23. > :02:31.you some. It has been minus 5.5 in Leak in Staffordshire. It's very
:02:31. > :02:35.cold in the east, gloo East Anglia, Rutherham in Ipswich it had nine
:02:35. > :02:39.centimetres of snow, chilly. Very chilly. That snow has allowed you
:02:39. > :02:44.to go out and film some wildlife for yourselves. This mountain hare
:02:44. > :02:50.was filmed by Sandra. Thank you very much. Now you can see why -
:02:50. > :02:52.how useful it is for the hare to go white in winter. It's properly
:02:52. > :02:57.camouflaged - absolutely ridiculous when there is no snow. Exactly,
:02:57. > :03:03.then they get nailed by golden eagles. So they need the snow.
:03:03. > :03:08.There's an animal that needs the snow. You have also been taking
:03:08. > :03:12.beautiful stills. Look at that short-haired owl, David Newby, in
:03:12. > :03:17.the snow. Look at that, a stag in the snowstorm. It has snowed over
:03:17. > :03:21.the last 24 hours, and it looks so pretty on the loch. Look at that.
:03:21. > :03:26.There's the snow, and there is our cabin. But what does the snow and
:03:27. > :03:30.the ice do for our family of beevers. The loch freezes over.
:03:30. > :03:35.They can either go under it or as you can with the trail, they go
:03:35. > :03:42.over it, and what do you find at the end of a beaver trail? You find
:03:42. > :03:46.a rather damp-looking beaver. wet, miserable... I don't think
:03:46. > :03:51.he's miserable. Don't you? No. He's feasting. Can you imagine being in
:03:51. > :03:55.that water plunging through the ice? You have to remember they're
:03:55. > :03:58.perfectly adapted for it. They've got insulation in that fur. It's
:03:58. > :04:01.very, very thick, so they are made for these sort of conditions, but
:04:01. > :04:05.it does mean the colder it gets, they spend less time outside.
:04:05. > :04:09.They're less active. They spend a lot of time in their lodges, so
:04:09. > :04:12.they need to keep those lodges clean, and these kits have been
:04:13. > :04:17.very well house trained, only seven months old. Look at them. They're
:04:17. > :04:21.doing a nice bit of tidying up. Maybe they have just woken up and
:04:21. > :04:24.thought, let's make the bed a bit. This is actually really unusual
:04:24. > :04:32.footage to get, and the wardens know they do this, but they've
:04:32. > :04:35.And they really are tidying that lodge up nicely. When they bring
:04:35. > :04:41.fresh bedding in they need to bring it beneath the surface of the water,
:04:41. > :04:49.which means it gets soaking wet, then they stack it against the side
:04:49. > :04:56.of the chamber while it dries out, then they lie down on it. They
:04:56. > :05:02.don't poo inside. They go into the lake to poo. Nice and clean! Thanks,
:05:02. > :05:08.Michaela. Nice thought. Let's have a look in the lodge behind it.
:05:08. > :05:12.having a snack by the look of it. Is it snacking? Yes. It's just
:05:13. > :05:20.having a little nibble, chewing on a little snack there, possibly
:05:20. > :05:22.gathered from its calf. Can you hear him?
:05:22. > :05:26.CHEWING It's great! What's interesting is
:05:26. > :05:30.we have been keeping an eye on these live cameras as lots of you
:05:30. > :05:33.have online as well. There's been a beaver asleep in there for quite a
:05:34. > :05:37.long time, which is surprising because they're normally awake a
:05:37. > :05:41.little bit earlier and busy, but as the temperature gets colder,
:05:41. > :05:45.they're going to spend more time in those lodges, which are incredibly
:05:45. > :05:49.well insulated. They did test in Canada. When the temperature was
:05:49. > :05:54.about minus 20 outside, it was still averaging around 1 degree
:05:54. > :05:59.inside. Obviously, the snow on top is going to insulate that nicely,
:05:59. > :06:03.but if it was really cold and I had a nice, cosy lodge, I would be in
:06:03. > :06:08.it too. Certainly. Let me just give you a question. It's from Richard
:06:08. > :06:13.Thornby in Kent: "Can you tell me what nutrition is in the sticks the
:06:13. > :06:17.beevers eat?" Is a great question. What's in a stick? What it's after,
:06:17. > :06:21.Richard, are the sugars that are inside there. It can't get any fat
:06:21. > :06:25.from that. At the moment, the animals have stored their body
:06:25. > :06:29.weight and the adults are losing it. They need energy. They have stored
:06:29. > :06:34.the bark. Behind the bark, the protective layer that is keeping
:06:34. > :06:38.the tree or plant safe and protecting the internal plants safe
:06:38. > :06:43.are two sets of tubes. Inside of these there are lots of sugars of
:06:43. > :06:47.they're gnawing away at that eating it and also the sublayer full of
:06:47. > :06:51.sugars. They're topping up with sweets across the course of the
:06:51. > :06:54.winter to keep themselves going. Amazing. There is another animal
:06:54. > :07:01.which you can get fantastic views of here, very sadly, not very much
:07:01. > :07:05.around the rest of the UK now, and that's the fabulous red squirrel.
:07:05. > :07:11.With their ears and fluffy tails, they really are delightful. We
:07:12. > :07:15.thought we'd set our squirrels a bit of a challenge. We have
:07:15. > :07:21.prompted for optimal foraging. When you haven't got much energy and
:07:21. > :07:27.need to go out looking for food you need know exactly with a you're
:07:27. > :07:32.looking for. What we did is we got three jars. In the one on the
:07:32. > :07:36.right-hand side, we put raisins, sugar and spice. In the middle we
:07:36. > :07:41.put hazel nuts with the shell taken off and in the left-hand jar hazel
:07:41. > :07:45.nuts with the shell on. The squirrels soon arrived, but the
:07:45. > :07:49.question, which we're going to pose to you is which one did they favour
:07:49. > :07:52.and why? Contact us via the website and tell us which ones you thought
:07:52. > :07:58.that squirrel might want and also the reason it's going to choose
:07:58. > :08:02.We'll give the answer a bit later in the programme. Many of you have
:08:02. > :08:07.been watching that trial as it has been going on today. Some of you
:08:07. > :08:13.might even know the answer already. Remember, we have got our webcams
:08:13. > :08:17.on 24/7 so if you want to keep watching them, you can do so or on
:08:17. > :08:21.the red button overnight. As the snow comes down, the animals face
:08:21. > :08:25.more and more challenges. Our garden birds - the first thing they
:08:25. > :08:29.have to try and do is find food. We have been filming some of the birds
:08:29. > :08:32.around here. You'll have seen this going on around the garden.
:08:32. > :08:37.Everything is looking for food either on the bird tables or
:08:37. > :08:40.wherever it can find it. Here is a little robin feasting around -
:08:40. > :08:44.omnivores, as we discovered yesterday. Finding food is one
:08:44. > :08:50.thing, but what you also want to do is try and keep warm. Let's look at
:08:50. > :08:54.one of our smallest little birds, a long-tailed tit, gorgeous little
:08:54. > :08:59.birds, sometimes see them in the garden on feeders, generally in
:08:59. > :09:03.groups going around. This little bird weighs nine grammes. That's
:09:03. > :09:07.about the weight of a one pound coin. It's nothing. It's a little
:09:07. > :09:11.speck. So what are they going to do when it gets very, very cold? Now,
:09:11. > :09:15.this is something that we've read about, but we've never seen. Now,
:09:15. > :09:21.this is some quite astonishing footage sent to us by John Walters
:09:21. > :09:24.in Devon. Here they are. Here's a little long-tailed tit. Here comes
:09:24. > :09:28.another one. They'll probably snuggle up together. This is in the
:09:28. > :09:33.evening. That's why it's in black and white. As it's getting darker.
:09:33. > :09:36.Another pops in on top - oi. Out of the way. This may be a family group.
:09:36. > :09:40.They tend to go around in family groups. Is that all? Somebody comes
:09:40. > :09:46.in. When we told our friends that the British Trust for Ornithology
:09:46. > :09:50.said we were going to show this they texted everyone and said,
:09:50. > :09:52."Watch this!" Because they have never seen it before. Is that it?
:09:52. > :10:00.You think they have all settled down, and then there is a spoiler,
:10:00. > :10:05.Just watch this, and it muscles into the middle because it knows
:10:05. > :10:09.that that's the warmest spot. What's interesting is lots of birds
:10:09. > :10:13.will huddle - penguins famously huddle but they circulate, so each
:10:13. > :10:17.one spends the same amount on the inside, the warmest place, as the
:10:18. > :10:22.outside. Not so the long-tailed tit. The adult males are the ones after
:10:22. > :10:26.all the jockeying for positions end up in the middle every single time,
:10:26. > :10:31.but what's it about, and is it worth it? It certainly is because
:10:31. > :10:37.these birds are tiny. Over the course of a night, they'll lose
:10:37. > :10:40.lots of body weight by heat. If they can stay warm, not generating
:10:40. > :10:46.body heat themselves, they'll survive longer. During the course
:10:46. > :10:49.of one night for instance one of these little birds can lose 10% of
:10:49. > :10:52.their body weight, so huddling seriously can be difference between
:10:52. > :10:56.life and death in the winter for these birds. I'd read about that -
:10:56. > :11:01.I don't know about you with these long-tailed tits - I never thought
:11:01. > :11:05.I would see it. That is a unique and fabulous piece of film. It
:11:05. > :11:09.really has excited us. Amazing. have learned something important
:11:09. > :11:13.from that film, so excuse me, chaps. Here we go. So I am going to come
:11:13. > :11:18.in the middle and keep warm. That's much better. Many birds roost in
:11:18. > :11:28.the winter to keep warm, but some do it in spectacular style by doing
:11:28. > :11:36.
:11:36. > :11:41.it in enormous numbers. One such forbidding place in midwinter.
:11:41. > :11:46.And yet since time immemorial, one bird has sought sanctuary here in
:11:46. > :11:52.the coldest months. In the chilled morning light, only
:11:52. > :11:58.a few rooks are visible. But before the short winter day is out,
:11:58. > :12:07.they'll flock in vast numbers, dominating the landscape with their
:12:07. > :12:11.raucous calls. Rooks are the same size as their more familiar cousin,
:12:11. > :12:14.the crow, but they can be distinguished by the pale,
:12:14. > :12:20.featherless path around their steady beak.
:12:20. > :12:25.Their beaks are the key that helps them unlock the hidden food sources
:12:25. > :12:32.in this apparently barren landscape. Piersing through the frozen earth,
:12:32. > :12:37.they extract insects, earthworms and seeds of grain. Food may be
:12:37. > :12:41.drawing the rooks here in winter, but it's their highly sociable
:12:41. > :12:47.nature that allows them to survive. They can only find enough food to
:12:47. > :12:54.eat by working together in small groups, sharing their discoveries
:12:54. > :12:58.of food. These flocks may travel up to 40 miles a day to forage.
:12:58. > :13:03.Remarkably, food isn't the only thing these birds have on their
:13:03. > :13:10.minds in the depths of winter, when survival hangs in the balance.
:13:10. > :13:17.Young male birds need to catch the eye of unattached females.
:13:17. > :13:21.At a time when food is so essential, a male proves his worth by feeding
:13:22. > :13:28.a prospective female from his crop. If he's a good provider, she's
:13:28. > :13:32.likely to think he's worth keeping. Once paired, couples can stay
:13:32. > :13:42.together for many years, building nests, raising chicks and roosting
:13:42. > :13:51.together. Barely six hours after sunrise, the
:13:51. > :13:56.light starts to fade and the rooks are gripped by the urge to find a
:13:56. > :14:02.place to roost before the cold starts in.
:14:02. > :14:06.They're joined by jackdaws as they make their way to their traditional
:14:06. > :14:10.roosting site. Soon, thousands of rooks from across the parish are
:14:10. > :14:20.streaming towards the trees that form the roost, calling noisily as
:14:20. > :14:47.
:14:47. > :14:53.There's a lull just before sun set, as the birds assemble for a last-
:14:53. > :15:03.minute feed and unite as one immense flock. Then on some
:15:03. > :15:12.
:15:12. > :15:19.invisible cue, they rise and the Now numbering in tens of thousands,
:15:19. > :15:29.they fly directly to a small stand of alder that rooks have been using
:15:29. > :15:29.
:15:30. > :15:36.as a roost for centuries. They dance over the trees, before they
:15:36. > :15:42.descend into the branches to find a perch, still calling to each other.
:15:42. > :15:50.The rooks come together in these giant roosts for warmth and safety
:15:50. > :15:57.in numbers, but their deafening chatder suggests they also need a
:15:57. > :16:03.time to communicate, before they succumb to sleep. Only then does
:16:03. > :16:08.peace return to rural Norfolk. It's a true spectacle seeing a
:16:08. > :16:11.roost like that, absolutely stunning. I've seen it. It blew me
:16:11. > :16:17.away. The sound as much as seeing all those birds, all those rooks
:16:17. > :16:22.and jackdaws coming in, it was like a water fall of avian white noise,
:16:22. > :16:27.incredible. That's what our sound man said, it was unbelievable to do
:16:27. > :16:34.the sound. You could torture people with the sound. Rooks have inspired
:16:34. > :16:41.street names. Rookly in the Isle of Wight, Rooks Nest in Somerset. I
:16:41. > :16:45.could go on and on. Rook Avenue, round our way. After we finished
:16:45. > :16:50.filming with our normal cameras, we went into the woods at night with
:16:50. > :16:54.the thermal cameras to see where the rooks were. This was pitch
:16:54. > :16:58.black. Those orange blobs that you can see are the rooks. What we
:16:58. > :17:02.found was that quite often, when we were looking through them, they
:17:02. > :17:06.were in pairs. This didn't surprise us too much. These birds pair up
:17:06. > :17:11.through the winter period because they breed early in the spring.
:17:11. > :17:14.They'll stay together in pairs through the winter because they
:17:14. > :17:18.maintain those bonds, often for many years. We found that the
:17:18. > :17:23.dominant rooks were actually at the tofpt trees. You would think that -
:17:23. > :17:26.- top of the trees. You would think they would suffer thermal stress.
:17:26. > :17:30.You would think that they would muscle into the heart of the roost
:17:30. > :17:35.to stay warm, but they don't. In fact they'll only move when
:17:35. > :17:40.conditions are really, really cold, very windy, then they'll go to the
:17:40. > :17:43.side of the roost and protect themselves. If things get really
:17:43. > :17:47.tough, you lose some of the invariably juvenile rooks. One of
:17:47. > :17:51.the reasons we think they go to the top of the trees is quite
:17:51. > :17:54.straightforward. Think about it yourself. 60,000 rooks in a colony
:17:54. > :18:01.and you're at the bottom, all night long and they've been eating all
:18:01. > :18:06.day. Know what I mean? Seriously, they don't want to get pooed on.
:18:06. > :18:10.Aside from being an inconvenience to preen away, it takes the oil off
:18:10. > :18:13.their feathers, so they're not water proof when they're in the
:18:13. > :18:18.fields. They get cold and waste energy. We think that they're up
:18:18. > :18:21.there to stay out of the way of tons and tons of poo.
:18:21. > :18:25.tons and tons of poo. All sounds very messy. Feathers,
:18:25. > :18:30.critically important. Can you hang onto that. Worthwhile having a
:18:30. > :18:36.closer look at them. They're not all the same. But these are some
:18:36. > :18:41.duck feathers. Let's look at this one. That one there is a flight
:18:41. > :18:47.feather. You can see that it's quite stiff. It's quite strong.
:18:47. > :18:51.Actually the bird can use it for a bit of colour. That's a flight
:18:51. > :18:56.feather. That isn't going to keep it particularly warm, unlike this
:18:56. > :19:02.feather. That's a bit more like it. This one has all the down close to
:19:02. > :19:06.the body of the bird, to keep it warm, and a more streamlined bit at
:19:06. > :19:12.the end of the feather. That wraps around the bird's body and gives it
:19:12. > :19:20.a streamlined shape. Deeper down again you have feathers like that.
:19:20. > :19:27.That is just really pure, warm down. Lovely. Some birds, pigeons and
:19:27. > :19:30.owls in particular, they have down powder feathers. They lose bits of
:19:30. > :19:35.the feather all the time that creates a powder. They think it
:19:35. > :19:40.acts as a sort of insecond side. Feathers, complicated and
:19:40. > :19:44.fascinating. Best place to see that is with collared doves. The way to
:19:44. > :19:48.see it is when they unfortunately fly into your patio window. Often
:19:48. > :19:52.they leave these impressions on the window. That's been left because as
:19:52. > :19:56.they have unfortunately struck the window, all the powder down has
:19:56. > :20:02.come off their wings. That's why that's left there. We've been
:20:02. > :20:07.looking at how ab malls -- animals have adapted to cope in cold
:20:07. > :20:11.conditions. It makes you realise how badly we've evolved. We
:20:11. > :20:14.wouldn't surprise without all this on. We didn't survive. Whole
:20:14. > :20:17.populations of humans were wiped out bit cold. For a long time it
:20:17. > :20:20.controlled just how far north and south we could get on the planet.
:20:20. > :20:25.It's an interesting subject, keeping warm and roosting. If you
:20:25. > :20:30.have any questions at all, send them in to us. We will try to
:20:30. > :20:34.answer them in the programme. If we can't, they might be able to answer
:20:34. > :20:40.them on Winterwatch extra, online straight after we finish. A few
:20:40. > :20:43.weeks ago, cameraman Gordon Buchanan went on a wild and windy
:20:43. > :20:53.quest to investigate reports of a true marine spectacle, a fabulous
:20:53. > :20:58.
:20:58. > :21:02.For wild animals we tend to think of winter as a time of adversity, a
:21:02. > :21:09.season of scarcity. In these waters there is food, not just a little
:21:09. > :21:14.bit. There's enough food out there to feed giants. Just off the coast
:21:14. > :21:22.of southern Ireland, a gathering of fish heralds a great wildlife
:21:22. > :21:26.spectacle. Sholz of herring and sprat
:21:26. > :21:32.congregate in huge numbers to breed. This bounty of food draws in
:21:32. > :21:40.predators. Seabirds, dolphins, even whales migrate here for a winter
:21:40. > :21:50.feast that is too good to miss. When I saw these photos of hump --
:21:50. > :21:54.
:21:54. > :22:04.humpback whales taken by the public, These short winter days mean it's a
:22:04. > :22:08.
:22:08. > :22:13.race against time before night falls. I'm joined by a -- Padraig
:22:13. > :22:18.from the wildlife group. We've spotted birds over there. That's a
:22:18. > :22:23.good place to zone in on. These birds are feeding on fish near the
:22:23. > :22:30.surface. Birds like these gulls spend most of the year out at sea,
:22:30. > :22:34.searching for food hot spots like this. Oh, amazing! Look at this.
:22:34. > :22:44.We've got some common dolphins just under the water there. They're
:22:44. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:55.going right under the front of the boat. Like the seabirds, these
:22:55. > :23:05.dolphins are here for the bounty of the winter breeding shows of fish.
:23:05. > :23:07.
:23:07. > :23:11.-- shoals of fish. What an absolute treat. Oh, just
:23:11. > :23:15.incredible. Now these are just dolphins having fun. There is
:23:16. > :23:20.absolutely no reason whatsoever for dolphins to swim in front of a boat.
:23:20. > :23:29.They're having, I was going to say a whale of a time, they're having a
:23:29. > :23:33.There's an amazing array of wildlife out here, but the ultimate
:23:33. > :23:41.would be one of those humpback whales, also here for the winter
:23:41. > :23:46.feast. How will I find one? What should I look out for? What we're
:23:46. > :23:51.looking for initially are clouds of seabirds, gannets, some of the gull
:23:51. > :23:54.species, also lots of areas where you might have surface disturbance
:23:54. > :23:59.by dolphins. The seabirds and dolphins have better optics that we
:23:59. > :24:03.do and they've been doing this for a lot longer. Then you have the
:24:03. > :24:08.vapour plume that hang in the air for ten, 15 seconds and then
:24:08. > :24:15.dissipate. I normally associate hump backs
:24:15. > :24:20.with places like Alaska, Antarctica and Hawaii. It's amazing to think
:24:20. > :24:25.the winter waters off Ireland have enough food to sustain an animal
:24:25. > :24:35.this big, the size of a double- decker bus. Each whale will eat
:24:35. > :24:39.
:24:39. > :24:43.More than two hours of searching, still no humpback whales. It's very
:24:43. > :24:51.frustrating because they are out here somewhere. We're just having a
:24:51. > :25:01.very hard time trying to find them. And the proof that they are here?
:25:01. > :25:14.
:25:14. > :25:24.Right where I'm searching, look Jumping clear out of the water like
:25:24. > :25:39.
:25:39. > :25:45.this, called breaching, is thought In many ways it's a perfect end to
:25:45. > :25:49.the day. We've got dolphins following us. We've got hundreds of
:25:49. > :25:54.seabirds. Absolutely stunning scenery, but I'm after hump backs
:25:54. > :26:03.and we haven't seen a single one. As the light fades I have to return
:26:03. > :26:08.to dry land. The following day, a true winter storm prevents me from
:26:08. > :26:12.getting back out to sea. So I decide to track down Simon Duggin,
:26:12. > :26:18.the man who took this extraordinary photo, which got me out here in the
:26:18. > :26:21.first place. It was just here? was right off the beacon here. A
:26:21. > :26:26.very lucky photograph. How far from your house was this shot taken?
:26:26. > :26:30.Probably about a mile. Literally on your doorstep. From here, it was
:26:30. > :26:34.about 500 metres. Wow. It's an iconic photograph. That's one of
:26:34. > :26:38.these photographs that in years to come, people will still look at it
:26:38. > :26:47.and make them smile. Yeah, hopefully. It's great to put a
:26:47. > :26:53.smile on people's face. It's testament to the rich ocean waters
:26:53. > :26:59.here that such a spectacle occurs in our seas in the depths of winter.
:26:59. > :27:07.So, if you're at coast -- at the coast, keep your eyes peeled, you
:27:07. > :27:12.may be in for a real treat. That photo of the whale in front of
:27:12. > :27:15.the boat is not only a fabulous photo, but it's a comedy photo.
:27:16. > :27:20.They all have their backs to the whale. They're facing the wrong way.
:27:20. > :27:24.Look behind you. It is so exciting going dolphin and whale watching.
:27:24. > :27:29.I've done it numerous times. Every time I do it, I behave like I've
:27:29. > :27:32.never seen a dolphin or whale before and jump around screaming. I
:27:32. > :27:36.really recommend it as something to do. If you want ideas of places
:27:36. > :27:40.where you can do that, see that on our website. If you want to see
:27:40. > :27:44.those particular humpbacks off the coast of Ireland, you need to be
:27:44. > :27:50.fairly quick. I'll tell you why. I happen to speak to Colin Barns, the
:27:50. > :27:55.guy driving the boat that Gordon was on. He's identified 20 separate
:27:55. > :28:01.humpbacks there - you do that by the markings on their tail - and at
:28:01. > :28:05.the end of February they disappear. Why? Lack of food? No, they
:28:05. > :28:09.disappear to give birth. Those waters there are just too cold for
:28:09. > :28:12.a baby whale to be born into. Nobody quite knows where they go,
:28:12. > :28:17.but they disappear off to the south, give birth and come back to Ireland
:28:17. > :28:20.in the spring. If you want to see them do that before February.
:28:20. > :28:23.frankly, who needs Hawaii when you can go to the south coast of
:28:23. > :28:27.Ireland. About 600 metres away, just over the top of the hill that
:28:27. > :28:30.you can see behind us there, we have a pine marten feeding station.
:28:30. > :28:39.Let's go live now. I think we have a couple of pine martens there.
:28:39. > :28:45.Look at. That -- look at that. One of Britain's rarest mammals in its
:28:45. > :28:49.thick winter coat. Showing how agile it is too. Straight up the
:28:49. > :28:53.vertical branch to get to the bait that we put there for it. Very
:28:53. > :28:57.little effort needed by the looks of it. They spend a lot of time up
:28:57. > :29:01.trees exploring and perhaps finding some of their food there. This
:29:01. > :29:05.one's clearly on the look out. I don't know where the other one went.
:29:05. > :29:08.There were two apparently just before we came back from our whales.
:29:08. > :29:12.It looks in very good condition, doesn't it? They do. Thick fur.
:29:12. > :29:16.We've got to remember, it's pitch black. There that animal is moving
:29:16. > :29:26.around in complete darkness. It's amazing, it knows where all the
:29:26. > :29:33.Where else in one evening do you get the sound of a beaver gnawing
:29:33. > :29:36.and the sound of a marten munching? That's surely quality TV. Now that
:29:36. > :29:40.pine marten feeding station - obviously we're baiting it to bring
:29:40. > :29:45.these animals in, and for all the food we're putting out, it's not
:29:45. > :29:50.just the martens arriving watch. We've seen arriving here are plenty
:29:50. > :29:53.of smaller mammals too, notably wood mice, and every night when our
:29:53. > :29:56.cameramen are looking, our story developers are looking or perhaps
:29:56. > :30:00.you're looking on the web, you'll see these animals running around,
:30:01. > :30:05.but of course, they've come to get a meal, but they could also be a
:30:05. > :30:10.meal, because those pine martens are out to feed on small mammals -
:30:10. > :30:14.about 31% field vole, 2.6% wood mouse. Look at this. Here's the
:30:14. > :30:18.pine marten. It's coming along the top of the wall, and all of a
:30:18. > :30:23.sudden, its behaviour changes. It goes into stealth mode and then
:30:23. > :30:28.dives down really quickly - a bit of repositioning, and look what we
:30:28. > :30:31.see. I'm afraid that wood mouse has had its last peanut. We looked at
:30:31. > :30:35.it very closely. Initially we thought it was a vole. In fact, if
:30:35. > :30:38.you do look closely, you can see its tail is too long, and it's
:30:38. > :30:43.undoubtedly a wood mouse. What's unusual here is you would expect
:30:43. > :30:47.the pine marten to gulp that down - fresh meat, freshly caught, instead
:30:47. > :30:51.of which it just carries it and puts it on the wall, and then it
:30:51. > :30:55.seemed to abandon it! I was reading today about the diet of these
:30:55. > :30:59.animals, and they certainly prefer field voles all over their range,
:30:59. > :31:03.and particularly here in Scotland. Only a tiny percentage prefer wood
:31:03. > :31:09.mice, so perhaps they don't like the taste of those. One thing I
:31:09. > :31:13.found out they do like the taste of is deer carrion. About 30% of their
:31:13. > :31:18.diet is deer carrion, so there is every chance that pine marten could,
:31:18. > :31:23.if we're very lucky, end up on our carcass cam. Let's go back now
:31:23. > :31:29.because I think we can see two pine martens at the same time - one at
:31:29. > :31:33.the top of the vertical thing. You have noticed we have put some food
:31:33. > :31:37.there in a container. We're determined to test the agility of
:31:37. > :31:41.these animals to see if we can tempt them off the upright trunks
:31:41. > :31:46.out onto the rope to see if they can get the food that's hanging
:31:46. > :31:56.there - so far, no takers. Let's see what's happening here. No. That
:31:56. > :32:03.
:32:03. > :32:08.would be too good! It's found some rope? My goodness! Go on! Ah! It
:32:08. > :32:12.bottled it. But it thought about it. It did think about it for a moment.
:32:12. > :32:16.It climbs down head first, twisting its ankles. But you know what?
:32:16. > :32:23.There is a lot of food around, and if I was a pine marten and I could
:32:23. > :32:27.get food on the bottom, then I They would eat that first, then
:32:27. > :32:31.they're pushed and have to go for that. I suggest we cut down on the
:32:31. > :32:37.peanuts on the ground and put something really tasty, deer
:32:37. > :32:41.carrion, perhaps, hanging on the rope. A couple of comments: "I saw
:32:41. > :32:45.a pine marten Saturday morning in broad daylight at Sterling
:32:45. > :32:50.University campus." What was it studying? Cookery I think! And
:32:50. > :32:54.someone from Devon wanted to know if they'll ever get pine martens
:32:54. > :32:59.down south in Devon? They used to occur all over the UK. They were
:32:59. > :33:02.ruthlessly persecuted sadly. They're spreading from the north.
:33:02. > :33:07.We think they have been found as far south as Newcastle, some even
:33:07. > :33:10.in Yorkshire. It's going to be a long time, unless we're allowed to
:33:10. > :33:13.reintroduce them, but some people aren't very keen on that idea,
:33:13. > :33:16.unfortunately. We have been talking a lot on the programme about how
:33:16. > :33:21.animals struggle when the temperatures drop, but some animals
:33:22. > :33:28.thrive in more arctic conditions. Martin headed off in his thermals
:33:28. > :33:35.to the Cairngorms to do a little bit of off-piste twitching.
:33:35. > :33:45.The Cairngorms, where temperatures could reach minus 27 Celsius, is
:33:45. > :33:50.
:33:50. > :33:53.not the easiest place to make a altitudes, there is one hardy
:33:53. > :34:03.little character which seems to thrive in these hostile
:34:03. > :34:12.
:34:13. > :34:17.environments. little compact bird, and a male has
:34:17. > :34:21.a bit more white, particularly on his wings, than the female. Now,
:34:21. > :34:26.sometimes, you'll see little flocks of snow buntings feeding around
:34:26. > :34:30.patches of snow, and they think what's going on is that insects,
:34:30. > :34:34.invertebrates, have been blown up the mountain in the wind, and I can
:34:34. > :34:37.easily understand that, and when they get to a patch of snow,
:34:38. > :34:42.obviously they can't live there, so they'll become comatose or they'll
:34:42. > :34:46.die. The buntings just work their way around the patches of snow, but
:34:46. > :34:49.you have to exploit any food source if you're going to try to live up
:34:49. > :34:56.here, so these buntings are working around the ski resort as well and
:34:56. > :35:01.eating little bits of bread, anything they can find - proper
:35:01. > :35:06.survivors. They're actually a very rare breeding British bird. Maybe
:35:06. > :35:12.50 pairs breed here, but here's the interesting thing - there may be
:35:12. > :35:16.about 11,000 of them in the UK right now. They're immigrants from
:35:16. > :35:20.Scandinavia. Now, you might think you would see them up here sort of
:35:20. > :35:24.in a snowy mountain, snow bunting, but you don't. You see them on the
:35:24. > :35:28.cost. If you live on the east coast of the UK, go down the seaside and
:35:28. > :35:32.look for them on the snoreline because you might have a surprise.
:35:32. > :35:36.You might see a snow bunting, although you can see them on the
:35:36. > :35:41.coast. For me, this is where I want to see them. Snow bunting up a
:35:41. > :35:51.mountain! Oh, sometimes they're called a snowflake because they
:35:51. > :35:55.just drift down and land like a I think they are rather lovely. Was
:35:55. > :36:01.he lucky to see them, or was that pretty much guaranteed at this time
:36:01. > :36:07.of year? It's a pretty good place to see them at this time of year at
:36:07. > :36:11.that car park near the railway. I was driving in my car along the
:36:11. > :36:14.north Norfolk coast and a flurry of them went over. You do see them on
:36:14. > :36:18.the east coast as well. Having said that, I would like to see them in
:36:18. > :36:21.the snow. They look better in the snow than in the sand because they
:36:21. > :36:26.hang around on the beaches when they're there. I have never seen
:36:26. > :36:36.them, fabulous little birds. They're beautiful. When they go
:36:36. > :36:36.
:36:36. > :36:39.white and start singing, they score a 4.8. That's quite low! There is
:36:39. > :36:43.another species we have that only breeds in Scotland. That's the
:36:43. > :36:49.extraordinary crested tit at this time of year they'll come into
:36:49. > :36:53.gardens and visit bird feeders. We filmed these down near Avimore a
:36:53. > :36:57.couple of days ago. You can see it's pecking at the nuts there, a
:36:57. > :37:01.cham charming little bird. Another little habit they have - perhaps
:37:01. > :37:04.not so charming you might think, is they'll scavenge from CARE
:37:04. > :37:11.carcasses. They'll take anything from deer they can find, looking
:37:11. > :37:15.for the fat and the meat. This is a particular habit of theirs. It has
:37:15. > :37:19.been noted for many, many years. These are extraordinarily sedentary.
:37:19. > :37:23.The adults will stay on their territory throughout the winter, no
:37:23. > :37:28.matter how harsh it gets. They'll all nest in Scotland. They're not
:37:28. > :37:35.terribly common. We think they're restricted to the native Scots Pine
:37:35. > :37:40.Forest. One of the reasons we think is they need standing timber to
:37:40. > :37:48.make their nests. You can find them as far south as Spain and in all
:37:48. > :37:51.sorts of habitats. For us, it's restricted to one habitat. Another
:37:51. > :37:55.little bird... A scruffy little crest. I think it was gorgeous
:37:55. > :37:58.myself. We have cameras all around, not just on the beavers and pine
:37:58. > :38:04.martens, but on a bird feeder. We have had something unusual come to
:38:04. > :38:08.our feeder,sies kins. How unusual are they? They would have been very
:38:08. > :38:12.unusual before 1963 because it was only then that they first started
:38:12. > :38:18.coming to bird feeders. People started hanging up peanuts in soft
:38:18. > :38:22.bags. You could buy them in a hardware store when I was a kid -
:38:22. > :38:28.you don't see them much anymore. People think they were attracted to
:38:28. > :38:33.the feeders. This happened in gidford, Surrey. After then, they
:38:33. > :38:37.started to flood to feeders. Since the '60 to the late '90s they
:38:38. > :38:41.increased their population by two- thirds. They spread out all over
:38:41. > :38:46.the country. As we put more pine plantations in, they have done well.
:38:46. > :38:53.It's certainly a bird you should look out for on your feeder, so
:38:53. > :38:59.smaller than the greenfinch, males, beautiful, yellow, black cap, about
:38:59. > :39:01.1.7. That is so low. You're mean. You're a mean judge. You know as
:39:01. > :39:05.the winter sets in and the temperatures get colder, you will
:39:05. > :39:12.get unusual things in your garden. We have had a couple of people tell
:39:12. > :39:21.us what they have. Charlotte, a male and female pair of yellow
:39:21. > :39:28.hawks are regularly preying in her garden. Another viewer has a crow
:39:28. > :39:32.on her feeding station. 3.8. It's really important this time of year
:39:32. > :39:36.to feed the birds in your garden because they really need extra help.
:39:36. > :39:38.At the top of the show we showed you a squirrel experiment. We asked
:39:38. > :39:47.you to identify which food our squirrels would take. If you
:39:47. > :39:51.remember, we had three jars on the right-hand side, raisins, hazel
:39:51. > :39:55.nuts without their shells and hazel nuts in their shells. We want to
:39:55. > :40:02.know which one you think the squirrel will favour. Of course,
:40:02. > :40:08.we'll give you the answer at the end of the show. Raisins for me
:40:08. > :40:12.perfectly. Have they a sweet tooth? Does the squirrel want sugars or
:40:12. > :40:17.does it want something it might save until later? I actually meant
:40:17. > :40:21.me. Sorry. Me! If I was doing that test... It's the middle of winter.
:40:21. > :40:25.It's the harshest, tougher time. Who on earth would want to give
:40:25. > :40:32.birth at this time of year and then have a massive punch-up? Well, it's
:40:32. > :40:37.our grey seals down on the north foreknock coast, and today the
:40:37. > :40:47.result -- Norfolk coast, and today these punch-ups have a rather sad
:40:47. > :40:52.
:40:52. > :40:58.This is Blakeney Point. It's winter. Temperatures are barely above zero.
:40:58. > :41:08.The final grey seal pups of the final colony to breed in the UK are
:41:08. > :41:32.
:41:32. > :41:37.pup whose mother seems very caring and attentive. And also we met
:41:37. > :41:43.Sebastian, the bull whose home they live in. He's keeping a close eye
:41:43. > :41:48.on the males around him, Mr Red and the One-Eyed General, wary they
:41:48. > :41:57.might steal his females, though as yet, all is quiet.
:41:57. > :42:03.But that's not the story out on the beach. Here, males are constantly
:42:03. > :42:13.competing with each other. If one challenges another's patch, he
:42:13. > :42:16.
:42:16. > :42:20.sends a threat, a thumping shudder that ripples through the ground.
:42:20. > :42:24.This is quite likely a good gauge of size - the bigger the shudder,
:42:24. > :42:33.the bigger the animal. Each contender must assess the other.
:42:33. > :42:43.Some can weigh a quarter of a tonne. If one rolls over, it's a sign of
:42:43. > :42:59.
:42:59. > :43:03.submission. The fight's off, but if beach, and amongst this chaos, it's
:43:03. > :43:11.easy for pups to get separated from their mothers, which is what's
:43:11. > :43:17.happened to this individual. The forlorn cries and gaunt looks make
:43:17. > :43:23.it clear that it's lost. It's skinny and obviously hasn't fed for
:43:23. > :43:33.days. In a desperate search for sustenance, it mistakenly
:43:33. > :43:34.
:43:34. > :43:38.approaches an older pup, sniffing for a scent of milk. Nothing. 7% of
:43:38. > :43:45.all pups born at Blakeney Point die, and this one is in danger of
:43:45. > :43:55.becoming another statistic. Dragging itself onwards, it weaves
:43:55. > :44:02.
:44:02. > :44:12.between mothers not best pleased by Perhaps one last attempt to find
:44:12. > :44:23.
:44:23. > :44:28.its mother. An attempt that will safe and caring environment
:44:28. > :44:35.millennium's in. The scenes look idyllic. But pressure is building
:44:35. > :44:40.here. Unbeknown to the sleeping Sebastian there's a new male on the
:44:40. > :44:48.scene, a large, dark-coloured bull has arrived. Looking for the last
:44:48. > :44:52.chance to breed, he's come to cause trouble for everyone. He's called
:44:52. > :44:58.Mr Sneaky and next time, we'll find out why.
:44:58. > :45:01.Oh, it's so sad to see that abandoned seal pup. Absolutely
:45:01. > :45:05.tragic. Obviously, the temptation would be to rush in and rescue it,
:45:05. > :45:08.but the National Trust are there to monitor the pups, they're not there
:45:08. > :45:13.to interfere and certainly our camera crew wasn't allowed to
:45:13. > :45:16.either. In fact, if you see an abandoned seal pup on the beach,
:45:16. > :45:21.then please don't go and rescue it or do anything with it straight
:45:21. > :45:24.away. The best thing to do is monitor it for 24 hours, because
:45:24. > :45:29.these pups are often left on their own. If their mum doesn't come back,
:45:29. > :45:36.phone the RSPCA and make a report. Again, don't try and rescue it
:45:36. > :45:40.yourself. That really is not a good idea. In our seal diary tomorrow
:45:40. > :45:44.we'll find out why Mr Sneaky is so- called. There's a bit of male
:45:44. > :45:48.aggression going on. You know what makes those pups so attractive,
:45:48. > :45:53.there are two things: Firstly, their very large eyes, which makes
:45:53. > :46:01.them look very nice. Secondly, their lenugo. I was thinking that
:46:01. > :46:04.myself. What does that mean?! Lanugo, that's the white coat that
:46:04. > :46:08.they're covered in. That makes them look so beautiful when they're
:46:08. > :46:13.first born. They don't keep it for very long. Soon they lose that and
:46:13. > :46:18.move into a spotty winter coat. The interesting thing is that many
:46:18. > :46:21.young animals have lanugo. We had it when we were in the womb. It's
:46:21. > :46:26.one of the signs being born prematurely that you still have
:46:26. > :46:30.this hair on you. Whilst we're in the womb we shed that hair as many
:46:30. > :46:35.animal species do and reabsorb it. But in the case of these seals
:46:35. > :46:40.because in some parts of their range they give birth on ice, it
:46:40. > :46:44.would be great camouflage, they keep it. We are born with big eyes,
:46:45. > :46:49.so we're attractive. We may not have the lanugo but we have big
:46:49. > :46:54.eyes. When it comes to looking after your fur, look at our beavers.
:46:54. > :46:57.They've been spending a lot of time doing this, plart the kits. Lots of
:46:57. > :47:05.grooming going on -- particularly the kits. Lots of grooming going on.
:47:05. > :47:09.They have a habit of very slowly teasing their fur through their toe.
:47:09. > :47:15.The second toe on the hind foot is divided into two. What it does is
:47:15. > :47:20.it use that's as a comb to comb the fur. The other thing they do is
:47:20. > :47:25.spend a lot of time grooming each other. This slightly puzzles me,
:47:25. > :47:28.because normally you see mutual grooming between pairs reinforcing
:47:28. > :47:33.the pair bond or they're forming that pair bond during courtship.
:47:33. > :47:37.But these are young animals. Obviously they're not going to mate.
:47:37. > :47:40.They would disperse. Why are they spending so much time grooming? One
:47:40. > :47:43.thought I had was that if you have two of them in the lodge, nice and
:47:43. > :47:47.warm and dry, and then the other one comes in, soaking wet, that's
:47:47. > :47:54.going to ruin the party. The last thing you want on the sofa is a wet
:47:54. > :47:57.dog on your lap. Perhaps they - and we notice this, when another one
:47:57. > :48:02.comes in the other two will clean tup. It's possibly because it's
:48:02. > :48:06.more comfortable for them. That's a good theory, Chris, but I've seen
:48:06. > :48:12.them do that grooming throughout the day when they've just woken up.
:48:12. > :48:15.And they're dry and warm already? Yes, a good theory. Back to the
:48:15. > :48:20.drawing board. Beavers are used to living in a flooded landscape. It's
:48:20. > :48:22.exactly what they want. But not all our animals like. That so to find
:48:22. > :48:26.out how they've been dealing with the disastrous floods that we've
:48:26. > :48:36.had throughout the course of the year and particularly this winter,
:48:36. > :48:45.
:48:45. > :48:55.March. Then it rained. Then rained a bit more. Then it rained a lot.
:48:55. > :48:57.
:48:57. > :49:01.So much so, that now we're nearly January and it looks like this.
:49:01. > :49:08.2012 was the second wettest year on record in the UK. This rainfall has
:49:08. > :49:16.had a devastating effect on the lives of many people. The average
:49:16. > :49:23.annual rainfall over the last 100 years is 110 centimetres. In 2012,
:49:23. > :49:33.however, it was a whopping 130 centimetres. That's almost a fifth
:49:33. > :49:34.
:49:34. > :49:39.more than normal. What effect has this had on our wildlife? I'm at
:49:39. > :49:46.the RSPB west sedge more reserve to look at this winter's floods with
:49:46. > :49:53.Steve Ross the site warden. The levels flooded in December. Seen
:49:53. > :49:59.from up here, they're an amazing sight. Around four square miles of
:49:59. > :50:04.countryside are now under water. Is this higher than normal? Yes, it's
:50:04. > :50:12.a lot higher than we normally have. We do get winter floods, but not
:50:12. > :50:18.like this. You just have a quick scan now and you're seeing pin tail,
:50:18. > :50:23.tufted duck. It looks pretty good for the birds. It's great for them.
:50:23. > :50:27.There's more areas to feed and daytime roost. These winter floods
:50:27. > :50:31.are a great opportunity for wetland birds but they can be a death
:50:31. > :50:36.sentence for small mammals like moles, voles and mice, when their
:50:36. > :50:41.burrows are flooded and they don't Escape In Time.
:50:42. > :50:44.This is where you feel you're in the mid. Birds.
:50:44. > :50:50.Despite -- in the middle of the birds.
:50:50. > :50:53.Despite this many of our birds are well adapted for winter rainfall
:50:53. > :51:01.and are mobile enough to move out of severe flooding. But that's not
:51:01. > :51:10.the case in the spring. Animals are raising their young and tied to
:51:10. > :51:20.their nests. This makes them much more vulnerable. In the spring of
:51:20. > :51:27.
:51:27. > :51:32.2012, we suffered torrential rain possible time and had a devastating
:51:32. > :51:40.effect washing away the nests of ground-nesting birds like lapwing,
:51:40. > :51:46.redshank and curlew. In a nest of ospreys we were monitoring in Wales,
:51:46. > :51:50.two of the three chicks died in the rain. For a lot of the wildlife,
:51:50. > :51:55.it's been a dreadful 12 months. Do you think you'll see a long-term
:51:55. > :52:01.effect on some of the breeding birds here? Well, it's difficult to
:52:01. > :52:06.say, for now. This water, come breeding season, should be gone.
:52:06. > :52:09.Having said that, if we get more rain, the rain continues in the
:52:10. > :52:19.spring, and we get other flood conditions like this, then yeah,
:52:20. > :52:26.
:52:26. > :52:32.this could be disastrous for beautiful day and look, even the
:52:32. > :52:42.floods look stunning. Let's hope that 2013 is a better, brighter
:52:42. > :52:44.
:52:44. > :52:49.going to be difficult for us to assess the impact of this really
:52:49. > :52:55.wet summer for years probably. is. I mean, birds did have a really
:52:55. > :52:58.tough time. A lot of larger animals, fox cubs, badger cubs, deer for
:52:58. > :53:03.instance, they all got terribly badly affected by the floods. You
:53:03. > :53:08.can see in that picture. What about the smaller animals, a bit further
:53:08. > :53:12.down? Some people reported when they were walking across foot paths,
:53:12. > :53:16.which were under water, looking into the hedge rows and seeing them
:53:16. > :53:21.festooned with mice and voles. Those things that could climb, like
:53:21. > :53:25.this harvest mouse. Some creatures couldn't, they can swim well.
:53:25. > :53:31.Things like hedgehogs. But after the flood receded there wasn't food
:53:31. > :53:35.for them. But with a bit of luck, they can bounce back really fast.
:53:35. > :53:40.They can. If they've got the food. But the bottom line, for me, what
:53:40. > :53:46.I'm worried about is earth worms. What happened to the worms under
:53:46. > :53:50.the water? They die. Not only the worms, all of the things like crane
:53:50. > :53:53.fly larvae, all those things at the bottom of the foot chain which
:53:53. > :53:58.support everything else. The effects of the flood can go on for
:53:58. > :54:01.some time. Even though the water's gone. When birds come back to nest,
:54:01. > :54:04.like waders, there isn't the abundance of food for them or their
:54:04. > :54:07.young to eat in the following summer. So it could be some time
:54:07. > :54:12.before we can fully understand the effect of all of this water spread
:54:12. > :54:15.effect of all of this water spread across our landscape. It's not rain
:54:15. > :54:19.that's causing problems all over the country at the moment, it's
:54:19. > :54:24.snow. But what's going to happen once that snow melts? It means that
:54:24. > :54:27.the water table will go up. That could mean more flooding. What it
:54:27. > :54:31.will mean is lots more challenges for our wildlife, because there's a
:54:32. > :54:35.lot more time for the winter to develop. Talking of challenges, we
:54:35. > :54:38.set a challenge for our red squirrels here at the beginning of
:54:38. > :54:45.the programme. We wanted to find out which type of food they would
:54:45. > :54:49.go for and why. That's a question we asked you. We got some answers.
:54:49. > :54:54.Samuel from Facebook says "The squirrel would take the Hazel nuts
:54:54. > :55:01.without the shell for instant energy." Dianne says, "I guess the
:55:01. > :55:08.red squirrel will choose the Hazel nuts with the shell. Paula says
:55:08. > :55:10.they will like the Hazel nuts in the shells. Were they right? Let's
:55:10. > :55:18.find out. find out.
:55:18. > :55:22.The jars contain different foods. Whole Hazelnuts, shelled nuts and
:55:22. > :55:32.raisins. It didn't take long for our squirrel to show an interest.
:55:32. > :55:43.
:55:43. > :55:48.He went stkraigt for the whole nuts. other food. And no other animals
:55:48. > :55:54.got a look-in. As you can only carry one at a time,
:55:54. > :56:01.he was pretty busy and managed to empty the whole jar. In fact, we
:56:01. > :56:03.worked out that he took all 87 nuts worked out that he took all 87 nuts
:56:03. > :56:07.in just 77 minutes. What about that! That's a greedy
:56:07. > :56:11.squirrel, 87 nuts. Clearly he didn't eat them all. No, that's the
:56:11. > :56:15.whole point. What was surprising, because we thought he might go for
:56:15. > :56:19.the raisins for instant energy. It didn't. It went for the nuts it
:56:19. > :56:23.could cache. Those are the ones with the protective shell. It
:56:23. > :56:28.spread them all over the wood. We think it may have covered as many
:56:28. > :56:33.as two kilometres, going backwards and forwards. Why didn't it take
:56:33. > :56:36.the other food? I think it saw the super abundance and thought I'll
:56:36. > :56:41.store these for later and then I can come back and getd the other
:56:41. > :56:45.food later. -- get Bad luck, because I have another experiment.
:56:45. > :56:48.We're going to replace the food stuffs in the jars and see if it
:56:48. > :56:52.can solve another problem when it comes to foraging. I think the
:56:52. > :56:57.squirrel made the right decision. think he did. But he used a lot of
:56:57. > :57:02.energy. He did. Now he's got 87 Hazel nuts hidden where only he
:57:02. > :57:07.knows where they are in the wood ready to eat. Brilliant. Shall we
:57:07. > :57:12.look around the live cameras. Let's look around the live cameras. Let's
:57:12. > :57:16.go to the beaver lodge. Can we hear it gnawing? This is interesting
:57:16. > :57:22.because this is probably a cache that it's brought in to the lodge
:57:22. > :57:29.tonight. I think there's only one of the kits in there. The others
:57:29. > :57:36.must have gone out. They're around the frozen loch at the moment.
:57:36. > :57:45.love to know whether things are more tasty than another. They like
:57:45. > :57:49.alder. They don't like pine. They go for the broad-leaf trees.
:57:49. > :57:53.can keep your eye on those live cameras on the website and on the
:57:53. > :57:57.red button throughout the night. I think we've come to the end of the
:57:57. > :58:02.show. We're back tomorrow at 8pm. Lots more wonderful winter wildlife
:58:02. > :58:06.Lots more wonderful winter wildlife for you. I'm going one step beyond.
:58:06. > :58:12.When it comes to a cunning idea to test our red squirrels to see if
:58:12. > :58:16.they're in the woodland optimally forthing or not. I'm hands-on with
:58:16. > :58:20.delightful reindeer and find out how they survive. Of course, we'll
:58:20. > :58:24.keep an eye on our pine martens, the beavers. We'll check out how
:58:24. > :58:28.the squirrels are doing with the new test you've set them and we'll
:58:28. > :58:33.keep an eye on the bird feeder as well. Don't forget, we'll be back