Episode 3 Winterwatch

Welcome back to the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Home to some

amazing winter wildlife. We are discovering how different

animals make it through this unforgiving season.

It is getting colder. It was minus 5 Celsius here last night. How are

our animals going to cope? comfortable on your sofa and get

are at the Aigas Field Centre in the Highlands of Scotland and it is

a fabulous place for us to be. Now, if you have been watching our

programmes for the last couple of nights, well let me be frank. You

know, we have brought you the sexiest Scandinavian birds that

could ever land in your garden. We brought you the cutest baby animals

known to human kind, baby grey seals, but we have given you the

world's first rodenttorium and a delicate puff of pine marten urine.

After this riot, you probably think that we have nothing more, but you

couldn't be further from the truth because we have yet another

fantastic programme. We certainly have, because even

though it was minus 5 Celsius last night, even though it went down to

minus 13 Celsius in Norfolk and those winter conditions are

spreading throughout the country, making it look rather beautiful, a

lot of our wildlife is still braving the cold and so are our

camera teams to bring you some great winter wildlife stories.

It seems that lots of you have been out in the snow. Paul Paul Paul

Farnfield from Coventry sent us this picture. Thanks for that. Keep

sending them in. We are going to find out why our

cities can become a haven for wildlife at this time of year.

And there has been a visitor to the rodenttorium. I wonder what it can

be. We will reveal the answer later. We will start with a quiz. This is

a feather which I collected the other day and I'm very, very

pleased to have this feather, I can tell you. It has come from an

exquisite winter visitor to the UK. I'm wonder if you can identify

which species of bird this feather came from? If you think you know

the answer, you can contact us via the website:

Or by Twitter or by the blog. Let us know where you think this

feather came and later on, we will reveal all and I can tell you, it

is pretty special. You were on a rodenttorium roll

today, Chris. It was minus 5 Celsius here last night. You saw

last night that the loch froze over, but this morning we had milder

weather and the ice melted giving us some fabulous, beaver footage on

our live cameras. All looking very pretty and what came out early in

morning which is always wonderful to see, the adult, Lily. That's the

female. She swims underneath and goes to the middle of the loch and

we were surprised to learn she had a cache. She brings back an

enormous twig and swimming towards the lodge now, the artificial lodge

that we have got the live cameras in, dives down into the opening and

then we pick her up on our other camera. There she is with the twig.

She is pulling it in. It must be hard work that and if you listen,

communicating with Lily. Lily is is gnawing. She has taken that into to

the lodge to eat it. One of the kids came out after our programme

finished at 9pm. Tries to get out on the ice ungamely. It is only

seven months old. This is the first winter it has experienced ice and

it is thin ice. You can hear it cracking! Then she decides she is

going to give up trying to get out and it dives down and swims

underneath the ice. That's amazing. That's a silver torpedo, Michaela.

That's an extraordinary shot to get. A second kid comes out and and does

the same thing, but this one perseveres and falls in. You can

hear the cracking ice and perseveres and up it goes and it

waddles off on the ice. Absolutely fabulous footage that we've got on

our live cameras overnight. A lot of you were watching that on the

Red Button. Shall we see if we have live

beavers? Oh, we have. That looks like, is that mum again? It is a

smaller beaver emulating mum. It is having another snack.

Tas smaller twig. Look how well they use their forepaws to carry

things. This is in total darkness. It It can't see what it is doing.

And it has taken this from its cache into the lodge to eat either

now or later. Those do look like they have had

the bark removed. It makes you wonder why they bring in twigs with

no bark left on which have no nutrients. Look where it is placing

it. It is very deliberate. It will be uncomfortable to sleep

on if they leave it there. Oh look, it is making its bed.

think it is adding a bit of wood to the lodge, isn't it? Yes. Because

they do that, don't they? They will continuing to modify and extend the

lodge. Remember, these are nocturnal

animals and they will come to life at at this time of night. They

usually come out around this time and spend a little time on the loch

and building their dams and then they will come up, they might have

a little dose before they go out again and they will spend all night

out on the loch if it is mild. Look, we are about four or five

minutes into the show. You have seen a beaver reinforcing its

lodge! It is fantastic. And that was live just behind us

here, it was just behind there. Let us go a little broad are and

extend ourselves a little bit. Let's leave the beavers. Well, we

noticed something going on curious. Look at that wintry scene and those

little specks down the bottom, that's a herd of red deer. What is

happening, we have noticed they are coming down from the tops of the

hills to the lower ground and for a very, very good good reason. They

have got to feed. After the rut, it is make or break time for the stags.

They must feed. They are not able to get at food higher up the hills.

We see them coming down. Here are a couple of youngsters having a

little tussle and maybe preparing themselves for next year's rut.

That's what they are doing, they are coming down off the hills so

they can get better food lower down in the valleys. Well, it is a good

time of year to see them. Red deer can slow their heartbeat

down, consciously slow their heartbeat down so they can conserve

up to 17% more energy. And it is an essential survival strategy, saving

energy means you can make it last longer.

Red deer are very, very good at surviving the harsh conditions, but

there is another sort of deer close to here that takes the whole

business of winter survival to a Mountains, a lone voice is carried

on the wind. It is a Scottish variation of a traditional version,

calling in the reindeer from the hills.

On a blustery winter's day, I have come to meet Fiona Smith, a

Scottish reindeer herder, whose family manage this free roaming

herd. What do I do know? Here we are surrounded by reindeer in

Scotland. How do they get here? Well, this herd was reintroduced,

but reindeer are native to Scotland. Many years ago died out and they

were reintroduced because this is where they should be. The

Cairngorms the only place they can live naturally in Scotland. So for

them to be here it is managed, but if we turned our back on them

tomorrow, they would survive. have got adapted. Now reindeer fur

is special. It is in two layers. They have got an outer layer and an

inner layer. Underneath, they have got this thick layer and you never

ever get down to the reindeer's skin. In fact, for them, the

problem isn't keeping warm, it is keeping cool!

What other adaptations have they got to the extreme cold? Everything

about a reindeer is designed to keep them warm and save energy.

They are insulated. They have got their lovely beard which comes down

below their neck should it rain during the day and freeze at night.

It is freezing down here. They have got the massive wide feet to spread

spread their weight in the snow and for digging and you will see when

they walk, they are only pressing the snow the once.

Let's look at a foot. Let's have a look. There we go, you can see the

foot and the way it splays out, it is like a snowshoe. It is quite

thin and very flexible. So reindeer are built to with stand

extreme temperatures, even their noses are covered in velvety fur,

but there is another reason why they can thrive in the Cairngorms.

Under a feet of snow, reindeer can still find food and they will dig

down to get at this stuff - liken. It is not full of protein, but

there is enough carbohydrate in it to keep the reindeer going

throughout the winter. Reindeer will grace over over -- graze over

large distances and keeping in touch with the rest of the herd is

vital, but that can be difficult in extreme weather and low visibility.

Evolution has provided another adaptation to tackle this problem.

You will notice this strange clicking sound. Click, click all

the time. It sounds like they are threading on twigs, but they are

not. It is a special device in their back feet. The tendon is

clicking across the bone in their back feet. And that clicking is a

form of communication so if it was snowing really hard and they are

following each other along, heads down, they can hear the reindeer in

front just listening to the clicks. They don't have to grunt. They

don't have to do anything, they just follow the clicks. Better

still, by not communicating with grunts or calls, reindeers save

heat. They are superbly adapted for Britain's most extreme extreme

winner habitat. So as far as you are concerned the reindeer should

be here in Scotland for the foreseeable future really?

Absolutely. They are an essential part of our squish wildlife --

Scottish wildlife. They are here to reindeers is it's both the males

and the females that grow antlers. The males drop theirs after the rut.

The females don't drop theirs until after the spring until they have

given birth which means it's only the females that have antlers on

December 24th and 25th, which means Santa's reindeers are all...

Females. Dasher, Rudoff. They were all badly named because they should

all be girls. What's really fascinating is why is that? Why do

the male reindeers lose their antlers before the females? Here

are a set of male antlers. They're bigger than the females' they have

this axe shape bit at the front. They think that's for cutting

through the snow to get to the lichen. A chisel. You can see how

that might work. What'll happen is generally the males are dominant

over the females, but when they lose their antlers, the females

then become dominant. Whoever has the antlers become dominant. Why?

The female needs food. She needs first dibs at the food because

she's pregnant. By having the antlers it allows her to get first

access to the food to help her calves. Interesting. Reindeer are

perfectly adapted to the snow, but how do small mammals cope? Some

surprisingly well, esspecially the once that take full advantage of

warm places. Look at what arrived in the beaver lodge. It is a little

water shrew. Fascinating, extremely rarely seen. It's a larger shrew,

dark on the back, white on the tummy. They hunt in water. They

look like a little silvery torpedoe again because all the air sticks to

their fur, but here is the fascinating thing - they're

venomous. They're actually venomous - a primitive sort of venom.

There's venom in their saliva. They have a venom groove in their tooth.

The venom runs down that and partially paralyses their prey.

wonder how the beaver would have reacted to the shrew, interesting.

Any animal should be frightened of them because they're tough. We had

another mammal in our stump which is renamed by Chris the rodentorium.

They have an amazing survival technique - their skeleton shrinks

so they get smaller. As you can see, they're tiny anyway - they're

almost the size of the hazelnut, 8- 9 grams. They're weenie, but

they're aggressive. I was wondering if you had a common shrew in with a

mouse, which one would you put your money in in the rodentorium? Are we

playing top trumps? My money would be on the shrew. It is minute. Look

at it beside those nuts. It's absolutely tiny, but if we slide in

a picture of the mouse, it's much, much bigger, the mouse. That gives

you a useful comparison there. But the shrew is tiny. Even bigger than

that we had an unexpected visitor in the rodentorium. We teased you

with this a little bit at the beginning of the programme. What

could it possibly be? It is a pine marten. I mean, compared to the

shrew and the mouse it looks enormous. Isn't that an interesting

comparison? A shrew is nothing compared to that. Here is the weird

thing - what is it eating in there? It seems to be coming in and out

taking out what looks like hazelnuts. You think, wait a minute.

A pine marten is a carnivore. What's it doing? And why is it

taking it out? It's just sitting on the top with them. Could it be

cashing them? Think of its teeth. The squirrel is perfectly adaptable

for opening a nut. I don't think a pine marten is. Shall we check in

with an expert? Let's ask Chris. I don't know. Chris, what do you

think? You're absolutely right. The pine marten's teeth, it has sharp

incisors for cutting their food, the meat, when they catch it. They

haven't really got powerful jaws for crackingo open a hazelnut. I

think it's force of habit. It's found an abundance of this so maybe

that's what it thinks it has to do. They're also highly - the pine

marten. Take a look at this. This is our pine marten feeding area.

There hanging from a rope is tempting bait for the pine marten.

They have no problem climbing up these trunks. They have frong

forelimbs, then when it comes to going down, they have flexible

ankles which allow them to twist and turn and get down very easily.

They have scoffed all the food on the ground because it's late in the

evening. It's sniffing about. It knows there is food there. Remember,

this is total darkness. This is lit with infrared, but then it turns

tightrope Walker. Look at that. It's too easy, wasn't it, really?

Walked out, balancing with its tale and here it is reaching down and

taking out the bait we put in there. Listen - it's gobbling it up. It

soon returns. Watch the tail again. It's not about keeping the animal

warm when it's all curled up. It's about balance,ed a down it goes

with consummate ease. Now, the reason I am whispering is that I am

actually quite close to that pine marten feeding station where we

have been baiting them since Autumn Watch, if we come just through here

this wall behind me runs up into the woods, and about 200 metres up

through there is where that pine marten feeding station is. In fact,

when the pine martens arrive, very often we see them on top of this

very wall. Let's go live now to see if there is any activity there.

There's the wall. I am standing alongside the bottom part of it. I

don't think there is much showing. What we have done - look in the

centre there. We have actually upped the ante and made it slightly

more difficult for the pine martens. They've got to reach down far

further to get the food. Will they be brave enough? Will they have

enough arboreal alacrity to reach it? We'll have to find out later

because there are no pine martens there at the moment. If you're

wondering why they need to be such good climbers, they feed a lot on

voles, and so did the foxes. We think one reason they climb so well

is they want to avoid competition with those and find a different

source of food. This means they can live in the same place as foxes at

the same time, a bit of niche separation between species. Last

night if you were watching the programme, you might have been

listening too. Judy Collins was pleased to point out we were being

upstaged by the call of a tawny owl. Julie, we don't mind being upstaged

by the wildlife. That's what we're here for, but we also saw the bird

when the show finished. Here it is out in the woods. And it's giving

that characteristic contact call, and you can see it's got those

bright eyes glowing there. That's a special layer of cells at the back

of the eye which reflects the light through the sensitive cells so it

can see far more clearly. What's all of this calling at this time of

year all about? All over the UK you can go out on an evening and listen

for tawny owls. It's about territoriality because the pairs of

tawny owls are already in their territories and are defending them

from rivals at the moment. They breed very early in the year, and

this is one of the calls that you might hear.

(HOO) Both the males and females will

make that call. The females sound as if it's a bit more wailing, a

bit more plaintive. It's all about keeping rivals out, making sure you

have plebty of food for yourself in that territory so you're ready to

spring in spring. There are 90,000 pairs all over the UK. As long as

you have a structured habitat, somewhere for them to perch so they

can look and listen for their prey, they can be somewhere near you,

even if you're in the middle of a city. We tend to think of cities as

hostile places where not much can survive. Well, take a look at this

seem particularly uninviting. In this stark, unnatural landscape,

it's really hard to imagine what wildlife could actually thrive here,

and yet, you know, there are animals here, and some of them are

taking advantage of the urban world relentless flow of traffic all

produce heat - in fact, the very fabric of a city - the Tarmac, the

stone, all of that shining glass - absorbs, reflects and stores this

heat, and believe it or not, this raises the temperature by up to 2

degrees compared to the surrounding countryside, and that's significant.

You see, these extra few degrees of warmth can mean the difference

between life and death for some animals.

Esespecially during long winter nights. For instance, these birds

are drawn into our towns to find shelter. In winter hundreds can

gather to roost. Of course, there is safety in number, but also,

vitally, there's shared warmth. The Treece that they roost in should

have shed their leaves, but streetlights create artificial

daylight, so the trees hang onto those leaves and use that light to

generate their own energy. Next time you're out and about, look at

the street lights in your road and see if it's the case there, and

these birds do seem to select the Treece which have more leaf cover

left. I suppose it makes sense - protection from the wind, the

elements, and, of course, it will help keep them warm. As commuters

are heading home, some of our city residents are just waking up, and

many of these are homing in on another benefit of city life -

very unexpected visitor - fallow deer have come into town to feed on

the green grass of our manicured lawns. This is a rich food source

compared to the slim pickings of the winter woodlands.

The long nights will give them more time to feed. By the time the local

human residents wake up, these shy animals will be long gone. Perhaps

the best chance of noticing they have been there is to see some of

their footprints in the lawn. Others, though, are also out

searching for food, and there's absolutely loads here for those who

can stomach a varied diet. Some animals take advantage of the

country cousins, like to build their sets on sloping ground with

plenty of cover. This group have made their home on a railway

and the barrier created by the tracks means that they can forage

badgers are doing exactly what their country cousins would be up

to - gathering up warm bedding to get them through the cold winter

nights. Now, you know, badgers inherit

their sets, so this clan could have been living here since the tracks

were laid a hundred years ago. What do I like about it? They have found

their own space in an increasingly humans, but so many animals have

worked out how to take advantage of the urban landscape. And in winter,

urban areas provide a lifeline for some of our more street-wise

wildlife, helping them to get through the toughest time of the

actually, the variety of wildlife you can see in cities. And I have

been on some fabulous urban safaris. One of my favourites was in a

graveyard in south-west London where the gravedigger was feeding

foxes, and we got absolutely brilliant views of urban foxes.

uncle Sam lives in W5 and has a graveyard near him. He gets lots of

foxes near there. It's quiet, and people generally don't take dogs

into them, which scares the foxes away. What about a bit of urban

bird watching? If I said to you look for a blue bard, a checkered

or a pied, what might I be suggesting? Pigeons. In tomorrow's

show, we get to grips with the pigeon. It's not, as is much

perceived, a maligned bird. It's actually a very fascinating animal,

a top film with an interesting bit of science to come. We have some

photos, actually, of people who have been doing a little bit of

urban bird watching. You're going to like this one, Chris - a top

bird, a peregrine, on an interesting sculpture sent in by

someone called Green Man, stunning, eh? The peregrine is beautiful. I

have reservations about the sculpture. Never mind. That's a

fabulous sight to see in a city centre. Here is another one. This

is from Michael. It's a bearded tit. That doesn't look unusual, but it

is when I tell you, Chris, that that was taken a couple of days ago

in Hyde Park in London, and that's the first time ever they have been

seen in inner London. I'm not surprised, and face a fabulous

sighting. I bet lots of people went to see it. It's an amazing bird to

see there because normally they inhabit extensive Reid beds in

various parts of the country. They don't seem to move much unless the

weather is tough. Because in East Anglia, there is lots of snow and

ice, it might have been driven out of there along the Thames corridor

into Hyde Park. What a find. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it.

One thing you would believe seeing in parks is a squirrel because

they're often in our parks, the grey squirrel, but this is a great

time of the year to look out for them because they're pretty active.

Around now all the way through to March, the females are coming into

season, and the males start chasing them - not only around the park,

but also up the trees, and it's something we have all seen and

enjoyed. They make a lot of noise, so listen out for them barking.

They make this curious barking sound. Sometimes it's not just one

male chasing a female but a gang of them, all chasing the females

through the trees - very entertaining. We have been lucky so

far on the programme. We have had great live beavers, pine martens.

One of the animals we have been looking at are red squirrels. I am

going to tell you a story of red squirrels and sindrella. Stay with

me. In the French version of their Cinderella, she's wearing a glass

slipper but it also refers to a red How does a red squirrel keep warm?

Well, I look a couple of hours off from rehearsals yesterday to find

during the live week of Winterwatch that I get a chance to sit down and

wait for something to happen, but if I'm going to have any chance of

seeing these charming little characters then that's exactly what

I'm going to have to do. Now, they are up the tree at the moment. If I

want to see them close up, I'm going to have to put some nuts down

right in front of me. My patience has paid off!

And they are such cute cute little characters. One thing that really

stands out are their little Tufty ears and at this time of the year,

those ears are as fluffy as they are ever going to get. Not only do

they look rather dashing, but they are very useful too, they use the

ears for communication. By signalling with their ear tufts

and tails they send important messages to other squirrels. This

is particularly important for their courtship and to work out who is

the most dominant squirrel in a territory. Now, this morning

although it is cold up here, it is not freezing and so, these little

guys are quite active. Once the the temperatures really drop and there

is snow on the ground, they become a lot less active. In fact, they do

what a lot of people do - they stay in bed.

It is quite sensible really. Red squirrels have numerous nests known

as drays which protect them from the harsh weather. With up to seven

centimetres of cosy lining, these small homes can be up to 30 degrees

warm Erin the -- warmer on the Inside. You know I have always

loved squirrels, it done matter whether I am watching grey ones or

red ones, they are always very endearing and entertaining to watch

and for me, that certainly was a They are a beautiful little

creature? Yes, they are, but they are not a pine marten.

We set those red squirrels a challenge and credit, where credit

is due, this challenge was designed by Professor Packham here here! We

set three different possible food sources and we discovered the

squirrel took the hazel nuts that were inside their shells and we

thought the reason for that was, he looked full and he didn't want the

feed immediately, he was taking the nuts off to cache them, to bury

them and he needed the shells on the nuts to stop them rotting.

The squirrels are out there swinging around the trees like a

bunch of Tarzans. We knew they wanted nuts in their shells, but

now, we have offered them three types of nut in their shell. We've

got almonds on the left. We have got wallnuts in the centre and we

have not hazelnuts on the other side. They are all perfectly ready

to be cached by the squirrel. It thinks, it is my lucky day, I have

got a lovely Walnut. It can't fit it in its mouth. It gives it

another go. It thinks, "I must take advantage of this bonanza of the"

it comes back and dumps the walnut and goes back to the hazel nuts.

This is interesting Martin, you would think if can could carry away

a larger walnut it would make sense. They are about four times the

weight of the hazelnut. When it returned to it, it would have four

four times the value, but perhaps it is too inconvenient to carry

away. When it comes to foraging, it is not always about the energy, it

is about the ease of what you've got o to achieve, but rest assured,

I have got another experiment planned for our squirrels tomorrow.

I think they can solve it, it is whether we can. We set awe quiz. I

asked you -- we set you a a quiz. I asked which bird this feather had

come. It is a winter visitor to the UK. It is a tail feather to a bird

that comes to our shores. Steve Black think it is a black

grouse. Jan Bridge thinks it might be a swallow.

No, no, a winner visitor. -- winner visitor.

For many of us, the wildlife that we see most often are the birds in

our back garden on the feeders. Certainly, that's what I see. But

look closely and there is a hierarchy going on here. Here is

our little Coal Tit. They are quite feisty and they will see off other

birds. But generally the bigger birds see av the smaller -- off the

smaller birds. They can be really aggressive for a

small bird. A blue tit will give way to the

Great Tit. The chaffinch comes in and the Great Tit thinks that

discretion is the better part of valour, I'm off! Sometimes they

stay on if they are really, really hungry. Sometimes you will see

birds that hang around when the woodpecker comes in. They will sit

in the in the bushes around, but no one will come in when the

woodpecker is there. Another Another bird that we saw in

close proximity to our feeder, was the tree creeper. They don't visit

those feeders, and it is climbing up the trunk and here probing to

find its food. Why isn't it with the other birds? This is mixed

species flocking. You could be walking in the winter woods and it

is quiet and suddenly a hoard of birds will come around you, it

could be tits and tree creepers, well they are together deliberately

because if they can together they have got more eyes looking for

predators and they will give alarm calls, and particularly the

thrushes and they have similar alarm calls. Why is it such a

benefit? Well, scientists looked at the tree creeper and found when

they were in flocks of five, they picked five times a minute and when

they were in flocks up to 30 birds, the amount of food they could find

went up to 40. They find more food if they are in a flock with more

birds because they can spend time looking for it and not looking out

for predators. It is astonishing that the birds start to speak the

same language and recognise each others alarm calls.

Sometimes we under rate birds. There is another species which is a

candidate for this. I went up the hill the other day to get a closer

our most under rated and under loved birds. They are one of the

UK's great success stories. Since the 1970s their numbers could have

increased by 63% and what's the key to to that success? Well, basically

it is a lot more woodlands because these birds really are a pine tree

specialist. Particularly, spruce trees and post-war we planted lots

of these. Now they have come to maturity, producing lots of cones

and therefore, lots of seeds for the coal Coal Tits and they don't

move far and we get few birds coming over from the Continent so

all the Coal Tits that you see in your garden are probably birds

which nested local to you. They do really well in the winter. Their

survival rates are very high, unless it is a very, very cold

winter and there are a couple of reasons. They can forage on the

under sides of branches so if it snows, they are not picking through

the snow, they are hanging beneath the branch and they are able to

find their food. The second thing is, that they cache food throughout

the autumn and early early winter and now they can taking advantage

of that. They are going out and finding it to get through the tough,

cold nights. They might be doing well in terms of their numbers and

their winter sur survival might be good so they always need a helping

hand so make sure your feeder is topped up for these under rated

they are really hungry, they will see off other birds. They are

feisty. I like them very much. They are not sharp and nasty. There is

something generous about them deep down. Let's move on. When you are

watching your feeder, all the different tits are coming in and

sometimes in the great flurry it is difficult to tell one one from

another. Let's have the Winterwatch to tits. Here is a blue tit. Most

people know that. The Great Tit is bigger and more black. Here they

are together. The Great Tit has the black cap on the top and the blue

tit for the blue tit. A good shot to get them all there. Here is a

Great Tit. The male has got a broader black stripe down the chest.

And that black head. And here we have the Coal Tit, there is no

stripe on it at all and you can see that little bit of white on the

back of the head. And here is the blue tit, it has a

yellow chest and the blue cap and fascinateingly they see in a

different colour colour spectrum to us and that that blue glows.

They have got different head patterns. That's how males

recognise one another. We haven't been hanging around the feeders

recording birds, we have been on to the tops where there has been snow.

Here is a species which we see this autumn when it is displacing and it

is a very famous bird. It certainly is. Look at that beautiful red

grouse struggling in the snow a bit, Chris.

Yes, they are struggling because they like to feed on heather

heather shoots. They have found this ridge where the snow has blown

off and per and they are pecking to get as much of the heather shoots

as they can. If it snows it, they move lower down off the hill.

Now, they are similar, those red grouse, to the ptarmigan. The

ptarmigan have a different strot gee for -- strategy for feeding.

Here they are. They will feed on much lower food. Here just pecking

away at moss. They will eat food lower down in the vegetation and

not the heather that the red grouse were feeding on. Look how

beautifully camouflaged they are. This is a great example, again, it

is niche separation. Niche separation and it is altitude. They

important in our winters is fresh water, and rivers, as long as they

keep running, are a perfect source unforgiving landscape, yet

enigmatically beautiful in the depths of winter.

This seemingly barren place is the source of a vital lifeline The

river Dart. Many mammals on the Moore need fresh water. Red deer

will drink in the strees and graze on the lawn -- streams and graze on

the lawns at their grassy edges, but up here in winter this vital

resource can be locked away, frozen for days on end. Winter sun eases

the icey grip of short days and cold nights, and the Dart's PT-rich

nutrient water is released, starting its 52-mile journey from

source to sea. Trickles join into streams, and fresh water brings

year around. Dense feathers insulate against the cold water as

it hunts for small larvae that become more plentiful in winter.

This abundant food source allows dippers to be one of the earliest

breeding birds, and many will be building or repairing their nests

now. Grey wag tails like fast- running streams too, but they're

more cautious, forging at the stream's edge for any insects that

are washed up. Kingfishers depend on water to hunt, and in winter,

they will move downriver towards the sea if inland waters are frozen.

The waters from Dartmoor flow stronger and bolder from east to

west, merging at Dartmeet. Now one big river, the Dart flows south

getting deeper and broader and leaving the moorland and woodland

water meets salt. Home to rag worms and other food for wading birds

for sea bass and other fish, which in turn attract herons and

the way from moor to sea. Its nutrient-rich fresh water is a

lifeline for a whole host of plants and animals in the hard times of

winter. And you can't underestimate that.

Lifeline is the word. Fresh water is incredibly important for all

sorts of thinks - birds, things like herons and kingfishers. If it

freezes, they have to head to the coast, and it's not optimal habitat

for them. One other thing that's worth pointing out is if you do

have birds coming to your garden, you're feeding them and it's frozen,

make sure they get fresh water. you have a pond in your garden, try

to stop it freezing over because it will be an absolute oasis for wild

life. Someone that did just that was Kevin from Cambridgeshire. He

had some spectacular results. Have a look. He filmed this, and look at

the amount of birds coming to that pond not only drinking, but bathing

as well. You can see he's stopped the ice from freezing over, so that

just proves that it's a really good idea to do it. Thank you so much

for that. You know one way to stop your pond from freezing over is to

put a ball in the middle, and as the ball moves around - as long as

it doesn't get too cold - then you can stop... If it's windy, the ball

will blow around. If it's not... Frogs will play a bit of football.

Fair enough. Yesterday we were talking not entirely about water

freezing but water flooding. We have had some questions. What

happens to all the fresh water fish in the floods? Where do they go?

They can get stranded a long way from the original water course, the

river or stream where they live. Some birds will take advantage of

this. I have seen herons feeding on fish ins into had originated from

rivers, and others have reported kingfishers doing the same.

Initially it's a bonanza for some animals, but ultimately, it's bad

news for fish. Have we any answers to the quiz? Yes, we have. The quiz

- what is this feather? Where is it from? Sue McMillan, a glossy ivis?

No. We had someone that asked, "is it the entail from a tern?" "Is it

a long-tailed duck?" It certainly is. Look at this - all 20

centimetres this particular feather of a long-tailed duck, a pretty

special bird. I was very lucky to pop down to the coast earlier to

during winter, and they spend most of their time out at sea, but today

I'm really lucky, for an onshore wind has blown these I'ders closer

to land, and this has given me an opportunity to get close to these

remarkable birds. The Drake ider is a spectacular bird in its breeding

plumage. Look at that. It's got that peachy wash on its chest,

those lovely green panels over the back of its head and very neat

black lines. It really is dressed up in a fabulous uniform, but I've

got to tell you it pales into insignificance compared to a bird

finer birds that visit the UK during winter than this - Drake

long-tailed duck. I've never, ever been this close. I've seen them,

but they were always right out at sea. This is about six, seven,

eight metres away on a flat, calm harbour - absolutely sensational.

Look at the crisp colouring, those beautiful white scapula shoulder

feathers and then that long, thin tail - 30 centimetres of long-

tailed duck! And it's so close that I can see the little cream ring

around the eye. It's truly exquisite. It really is. And when

they dive, they do this thing where they slightly open their wings,

throw their head back and then topple into the water. They're

diving down like this to find their food, which is typically mullsing,

a few crustaceans, even small fish. The thing is that they'll dive into

quite deep water, up to 60 metre, which means when they're wintering

here they can be so offshore that they're difficult to see, difficult

to count, so we're not entirely sure how many are here in winter in

Scotland - we think around 15,000. Thankfully, they're now doing some

aerial surveys, so we might have a better idea. Oh, my goodness - look

at that. I don't believe it. There is another Drake with two females.

There is going to be a confluence of long-tailed ducks metres away

from me. Look at that! What an assemblage. I am not sure where

those other three came from. There's two Drakes now and two

females right in front of me! This is an ornithological nirvana -

beautiful, absolutely beautiful. This is a lifetime moment, I can

tell you. Oh, I'm going to need to sit down,

calm down! Whiewhee! -- whew. Sometimes nature just gets it right,

doesn't it? It really is just about totally love struck. What a bird!

Fantastic birds. Something curious I noticed about some of those sea

ducks, particularly those lovely long-tailed ducks - nearly all the

males are black and white. Why might that be? Black and white.

Here's a clue. Look at this picture. Now, why is that a clue? Well, they

used to use black and white as camouflage for battleships, and

what we think is that the black and white of sea ducks does act as

camouflage. HMS Belfast. Belfast, lovely. It is actually in

black and white. It could be pink and green for all we know! Just to

see whether you think that that camouflage actually works, just

watch this. Here's a long-tail duck again, and

the colours are similar to the rippling on the water. With the

battleship, I was so confused. Can I tell you a fellow called John

Customer advised Churchill - he was an ornithologist, and he advised

him to paint the battleships in what he called dazzle camouflage,

and it caught on. They continued to paint them that way - it started in

1917. Astonishing. I am going to go from battleships to tap dancing

girls. Have a look at this. This was filmed on a mobile phone by our

executive producer. There is the gull dancing away on the grass.

What's it doing? It is causing vibrations to go through the soil

and paddling to bring earthworms to the surface, and it's a behaviour

you'll see in lots of other species as well. Snipe will do it, even

woodcock sneaking through the woods in the dark will tremble with their

feet as they purt their feet forward. It's highly effective.

They do it in shallow water as well stirring up crustaceans. Oh, yes.

Shall we have a look at our live cameras? The beaver is still in the

lodge. We saw this at the beginning of the show. It is nice to end the

show with a bit of live beaver action. Has it been doing this the

whole programme? Or has it been out of the lodge? Certainly back in

there with a nice big twig gnawing away. Let's see if we can hear it.

We can. And who knows how long it's going to be doing that? You of

course can be keeping your eye on the live cameras on the web and

also on the red button overnight. We have had a few photos sent in.

Look at this one - very nice, a grey squirrel in the snow taken a

few days ago. This was Beau Jangles 72. This tops it taken by Glez

Gustave. I don't know where that name came from. If a long-tailed

duck is 7.9, this has to be an 8, a male sparrow hawk. That's the end

of the programme. Lots coming up tomorrow. What have we got? We have

ice and snow - how wildlife copes in the ice and snow.

And we're going to go back with Richard Taylor Jones, and we're

going to go and have a look at those seals again down in Norfolk.