Episode 4 Winterwatch


Episode 4

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of Scotland. All across the UK, we have been plunged into the grip of

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winter. We're all having to adapt to the freezing conditions. For us,

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it's challenging. For our wildlife, it's a matter of survival.

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wildlife has to stay out, but of course, you don't have to, so slip

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us on - a nice cup of cocoa. Snuggle up on the sofa because for

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the next 60 minutes, it's Winterwatch, programme four, very

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sadly the last in our series, coming to you from the Aigas Field

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Centre here in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Now, we have

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been here this week, and every day we have been exploring the

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strategies animals use to get through the hardships of winter, so

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we've done a bit of science, but also, we have seen some fantastic

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animals and some fabulous behaviour, and I can promise you there's more

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coming tonight. Tonight we'll resolve some of the tests we have

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set the animals, for example, the agility tests for our pine martens,

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can they up the antsne and Professor Packham's test for red

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squirrels - they look confused. They are confused. It's also a

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testing time for the grey seal colony at Blakeney Point. It's

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certainly no beach party for the adult males as tensions are

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mounting and testosterone is bursting. I have to confess - I

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nearly had a cardiac arrest last night when I saw those long-tailed

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ducks. They were pretty special, but look what I found when I went

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for a walk around my own patch - nothing less than a hawfinch! Come

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on! After this programme, tonight, there will be Unsprung. That's

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where things get a bit loose and, frankly, dodgy. We're going to

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break with tradition because we always in that show have a little

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quiz for you, and we're going to set the quiz right now, so here it

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comes. You have to try to identify this animal. We have mixed up the

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test - image A - what might that Now, image B - a little bit more

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difficult, that one. That's tricky. That's tricky, that one. Then

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finally, image C, the koala bear - no, it isn't. They're all British

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animals. You can get on the website and have a guess. What do you think

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they are? We'll resolve that in Winterwatch Unsprung. Can I say it

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has been an extraordinary week since we started Winterwatch.

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Before Winterwatch, it was quite mild, but now winter has set in. It

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has snowed across many parts of the UK and will continue to do so next

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week, but what does that mean for wildlife watching? Well, you can

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guarantee one thing - you can get some good photographs. This is from

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Mandy West, and it's a gull on ice and having a little bit of a

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problem keeping its legs together. And I tell you what - I have been a

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bit like that on ice myself - suddenly do the splits. It's not

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just the birds that have been on the ice. The stars of our show have

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been out there too. Take a look at this. This is one of our pine

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martens that was on the show last night. It's heading out to the

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frozen loch. You may wonder what on earth it's doing out there, but

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these things are opportunistic omnivores. They're always on the

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sniff for food. They have one of the naughtiest noses in the mammal

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kingdom. What it's after - we don't know. It could be scavenging for

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anything that died and floated this side of the loch but also it could

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be sniffing for small mammals like voles that are there. It then

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decides to go where no other pine marten has gone before, either that

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or catch the boat to Cairo. It's off. Fantastic! Let's have a look

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at our live camera and have a look around. We have seen lots, actually,

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- two pine martens - there was one just a few minutes ago, which is

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pretty frustrating. No pine martens, and up to the beaver lodge. Don't

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tell me there was one there minutes ago. They're out doing stuff!

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of people have been sending in questions. I have one from Jack,

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"Why do beavers walk on ice?" They do it to get to the other side...

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It wasn't a joke. That's exactly what they do. Their environment is

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the loch. When it freezes over, it means they have two choices, swim

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under the ice or walk on top of it. I guess it's just a personal

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council. There may be an energy- saving device in there, might be

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easier to walk than swim, don't get cold. They do come out. Have a look

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at this. We're surrounded by the forests the beavers come into, and

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all of these forests here are potential food, and not just

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potential food because we can see they have been eating these trees.

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Look at this here. In fact, all around this area you can see these

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trees have been chewed off all around - little bits of - bits and

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pieces all around. Now, they're really, really clever, these

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beavers because they plan ahead because what they'll do in autumn

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is they'll cut around a tree. They'll partially bite through it,

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but leave it so that in the winter they come out and just have a few

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little bites and down it goes. Now, with the freezing, life has got a

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little tougher for the beavers. Have a look at this. Now, here's

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one of our youngsters on top of the ice. As you can see, the ice isn't

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quite thick enough to support it. We have noticed their behaviours

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change as it's frozen. They're bringing in smaller twigs into the

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lodge. Here is one of the kits bringing in a twig - much, much

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more - a little bit of an argy bargy. I think that's something

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delicious. The other one wants a bite. You can actually hear it

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nibbling away. Here he goes. But they have definitely gone for -

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sounds like a pencil sharpner! When they try to bring in larger twigs,

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it's mmp more difficult. This one is really struggling. It's got a

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larger bit of wood under the water. It did manage to get it in in the

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end, but look at this. It hasn't got any bark on it, this piece. You

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can see it's all been eaten off, so why is it bringing it into the

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lodge? It's bringing it in to do a bit of DIY because they're

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constantly moving things around in the lodge. We have seen them doing

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a lot of building, but we've also seen something very curious we have

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never seen before. Look at this youngster. Here it is, and it just

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sort of pushes down its tail like a plate, and what is it doing down

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there? What is - it's feeding. You can just about hear - it's eating

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down there. Now, they have a very curious feeding system. It's called

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sikatrophy. They eat the food once, but they can't get all the goodness

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out of it. It's tough to digest, so they poo it out - it's not very

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pleasant, then they reeat it, so they actually eat their food twice

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to get the nutrient out of it. And some other animals do as well -

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rabbits do the same thing. So that was a good word for you - I never,

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ever thought I would see that in my life, an absolutely fascinating bit

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of behaviour. I bet you like that word, sycotrophy. I shall be using

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that word regularly! We have a good question from George, aged ten, "Do

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males fight during the breeding season? ""that's a good question.

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It's rare that they do because they tend to breed for life, but not

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often, but sometimes they tend to fight over territory. Usually there

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will be a mock fight. There will be a lot of tail slapping and teeth

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knashing. Occasionally it will escalate into a full belly-to-belly

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match. They sit up and swipe at each other with their paws like

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that trying to push them over, but that's not often, so good question.

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Thanks for that. I can't see beaver boxing catching on as a televised

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sport. I like to champion the underdog, so we're now going to

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show you an animal with a bit of an unsung reputation. Charles Darwin

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fancied them. In fact, he recognised more than 200 different

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varieties. The missus liked to stew, boil or bake them. Woody Allen, not

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a great ornithologist, said they were rats with wings. Here is a

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film about a bird which is quite simply steeped in shame and scandal.

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Pigeons - whichever town or city you're, in they're absolutely

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everywhere, even flourishing right through the winter. The domestic

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pigeon has somehow managed to conquer urban spaces all around the

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globe. There are 310 species worldwide. Some of them are very

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beautiful. Some of them are very rare. Some of them, like the dodo,

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are very dead, but due to our dislike of the domestic pigeon, we

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turn our nose up at most of them just because we're tripping over

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them on the railway platform. But you see, there's a lot more to know

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about this very, very interesting The street pigeon of today has

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descended from a shy coastal bird called the rock dove. Back in Roman

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times this bird was domesticated. It was bred for its meat and

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because of its legendary homing instincts. Over the century, many

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of these pigeons escaped from captivity and set up home in our

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towns and cities. They turned everything on offer there - the

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food, the shelter, the water, everything - to their advantage,

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enabling them to thrive even in the cold winter months.

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Isn't it great to go birding and not actually need your binoculars?

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All you've got to do is take five minutes in your lunch break, sit in

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the park and enjoy birds. Look at the variety of patterning in their

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plumage here. Every one of these birds looks almost like an

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individual, and when you recognise birds as individuals, you can learn

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a lot more about them. That is the case with dogs. Feral pigeons are a

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domesticated species from which we created different breeds or types,

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and pigeons are classified by their plumage. This one is called the

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blue bar. It has those two stripes down its wing, and it looks a lot

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like the wild rock dove. Checkered pigeons with their specifically

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wing plumage are the result of intensive selective breeding by

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people in the past. Less common is the pied pigeon. To be honest, it

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looks like a bit of a mongrel and does indeed have a mixed genetic

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heritage. Now, one man who thinks that all of this colourful plumage

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could be the secret to the pigeon's success is Adam Rogers. He's a bit

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of a pigeon fancier, but he's one with a passion for science. Good

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morning, Adam. Good morning, Chris. I'm just going

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to sneak in, trying not to disturb your feathered funs here. Aren't

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they beautiful? Well, I think they are beautiful, but why are there so

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many different varieties? Why don't they all revert to that wild type,

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which is what you might expect them to do? You're right. Most feral

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birds will revert to their wild, unsettled type, but the pigeons do

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something called disassociated mating. One bird would rather mate

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from a bird that is different from itself, and that keeps the variety

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going. This is a crucial part of the pigeon success story - all of

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this variety is a reflection on the underlying genetic diversity in the

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pigeon population. Now, in-breeding can lead to genetic weakness, but

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by choosing a mate that is genetically different to itself, a

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pigeon can bolster the health of its chicks, giving them better

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immunity to disease, something absolutely vital in our dirty and

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crowded urban areas, but this is really surprising because this has

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to mean that each bird must know what type of pigeon it is. Only

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then could it choose to mate with a different type of pigeon. That's

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what I find so amazing - so few animals have a sense of self and

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can actually know what they look like. Pigeons have proven they can

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recognise an image of themselves on a canvas screen or reflection.

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You're telling me - that's a checkered pigeon. This checkered

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pigeon now it's a checkered pigeon. It does. And would therefore try to

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mate One Show of these pig beings over here? Absolutely. It can

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compare itself to another and decide which one it's going to

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choose. Which is amazing. We look in mirrors and recognise ourselves,

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but very few species do. That's right. We're on par with

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chimpanzees and the top animals. This is astounding. It's not the

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only remarkable thing about feral pigeons. Because our ancestors

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favoured birds that could yield the most broods in a year because they

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wanted to eat them all year around, some feral pigeons have developed a

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unique way to get ahead in winter. The checkered birds we see here,

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these are able to breed even in the depth of January when all the other

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birds maybe aren't. How do they manage to breed all year around?

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They feed their chicks differently to other birds. They produce

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something called pigeon milk. It's completely different to our

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bluetits and spares... They need insects, don't they, which means

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they can only breed in the summer and springtime. Absolutely. Pigeons

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can turn any food into milk. pigeons produce milk, but it's only

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the checkered ones that have developed the ability to breed

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during winter. It's no co- coincidence they're now the most

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numerous type of feral pigeon side? I don't mind! I find that so

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interesting, best survival technique makes them so successful.

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And it is down to that variety and that is what Adam Rogers is so

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interested in. It is an on-going project and he would like your help.

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The price of the help is half his sandwich on a park bench at

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lunchtime! If you are in an urban area, try and record which pigeons

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in relative abundance that you see. You can take those recordings and

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visit our website. Then you can find your way to this form, which

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Adam has put up. It shows you the key pigeon varieties, and you can

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put in your results here. That is added to our knowledge of these

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birds and bird biology in general. A good piece of cities and science,

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so please join in. You should not underestimate pigeons. They played

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a vital role in World War Two. You probably know that, but how many?

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Roughly 200,000 pigeons took part in World War Two, taking vital

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messages to the front line. Some of them did it so heroically that they

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were awarded the animal version of the Victoria Cross. One such

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example was GI Joe, who flew 20 miles to the front line and

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delivered a message just in time to save 100 soldiers from being bombed

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by their own plane. All down to a pigeon. And 32 homing pigeons got

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that award. That is pretty good. I am impressed. That I was talking

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about World War Two? That's my girl! Finally. It has all rub off

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and come true! If you are fans of The Killing or The Bridge, you

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might be interested in our next film. Martin has headed into the

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heart of Bristol to see if he cannot solve the case of the

:17:31.:17:41.
:17:41.:17:50.

Here in the heart of the city, there is a serial killer at work.

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There are bodies, there are clues, there is a mystery. But happily,

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there is also a star witness. Sam Hobson is a wildlife photographer

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with a passion for urban wildlife. I met him on top of a multi-storey

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car-park in Bristol. Among the rubbish, there was a surprise. We

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have got lots of feathers here. Do you know what they are? I am pretty

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sure that this one is a female tail feather. And these small, stripy

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ones, they could be a slight feathers. The teal is a small

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migrate three dark and the slide is a wading bird. In the winter they

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should be in the wild, and the last place I would expect to see them

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would be in the middle of Bristol. What is going on? But feathers are

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not the only find. Would you like to smell that? Detective work in

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action. It smells like ponds, rivers. They like slow-moving water,

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so rivers, ponds, lakes. And also you have found that. Feet, wings,

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in the city. Based on this body of evidence, what is happening? Urban

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peregrine falcons in the centre of the city. So the peregrine falcon

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is the mystery killer. Clearly, these peregrines are hunting

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Migrating birds at night, using the street lights to help them see

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their prey. Winter migrants are probably an easy target. They are

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flying across unfamiliar places in the dark and they may well be

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disorientated by the lights of the city. Sam's detective work,

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identify exactly which species the peregrines are eating, can tell us

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a lot about bird movements this winter. Birds like this lapwing,

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this was all in the last week or two. And they are birds on winter

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migration right now? Yes. Woodcock, for example. These could have been

:20:08.:20:17.

from Russia, the Baltic states. And as a response to the cold weather,

:20:17.:20:25.

the peregrines of creating a Lada. This one was found with two

:20:25.:20:27.

carcasses that had barely been touched and had washed down from

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the top of the building in the night. Then it was a story and that

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have been washed off? And then you found it? Fascinating. The

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peregrines of farm -- are telling us what is going on. We are tucked

:20:43.:20:53.
:20:53.:20:55.

up in bed and now we know what is That guy is probably out looking

:20:55.:20:59.

for peregrines right now. People heard that they hunted at night and

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some of them has actually seen it. When people are in bars, drinking

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cocktails, he is probably tramping the streets! I am envious! Those

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little birds, how do they migrate? Well, they do. Water birds move at

:21:19.:21:23.

night. You can go out into your garden, into the street, and stand

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there quietly and very often you can hear things flying over. Waders,

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geese, wild fowl, that sort of thing. Lots of these birds have

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counter shading, dark on top and pale underneath. That is perfect

:21:36.:21:40.

when they are swimming on the water so anything looking up cannot see

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them, and nothing looking down, but at night, the street lights will

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reflect off the pale belly and the peregrine can spot them. Let's have

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another look at that peregrine, the killing machine. We think the eyes

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occupy 50% of their skulls. They have also got marvellous talents,

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killing machines, fantastically accurate. Despite their weaponry,

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it is estimated that 50% of juvenile peregrines will die in the

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winter because it is very tough for them. They are one of the most

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dashing predators that we have. Another bird of prey that we have

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does not have the same reputation and is known for being a worm. I am

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talking about the buzzard. Look at this picture that has been sent in.

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It is a buzz at -- buzzard chasing a sea eagle with a rabbit.

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Ambitious! Perhaps things are tough and they are desperate? Then they

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concentrate on career and, and we have had our carcass camera out. --

:22:51.:23:01.
:23:01.:23:04.

end, it does not feel entirely comfortable. They grab some of the

:23:04.:23:14.
:23:14.:23:14.

meat, and then the leap up, and they fly off. Extraordinary. Here

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they have had their own cameras and they have seen a different bird,

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the red kite. The red kite is a success story because it was

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extinct in England and Wales at the end of the 20th century. There was

:23:30.:23:35.

a population in Scotland. Since then, attempts to breed it had been

:23:35.:23:40.

very successful and it has come back. It is a fascinating bird.

:23:40.:23:48.

Take a closer look. Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. In the summer,

:23:48.:23:52.

this bird will feed on birds and mice, things like that, but in the

:23:52.:23:55.

winter it changes its strategy and it becomes a specialist on

:23:55.:24:00.

carcasses. One of the amazing things, it can eat what other birds

:24:00.:24:05.

cannot. Bowen's, Animal Fair, things that are buzzard would not

:24:05.:24:15.
:24:15.:24:22.

eat. -- bones and animal hair. There is a rooster near here and

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another in Oxfordshire, near Stowe -- Stokenchurch. We have to get

:24:30.:24:34.

their very early. Otherwise they are already in the trees. When they

:24:34.:24:38.

have fed, the birds want to conserve energy. If they have eaten

:24:38.:24:42.

in the morning, they will roost until the evening. Perhaps that is

:24:42.:24:46.

a sign of how good they are. If they can afford to roost from 2

:24:46.:24:51.

o'clock, they must have a good tummy. Let's go live to the beaver

:24:51.:24:58.

lodge. We have one there. It is one of the kittens, judging by what it

:24:58.:25:03.

looks like, and it has probably been in the water. It is chewing on

:25:03.:25:13.
:25:13.:25:19.

the sticks and we can hear it, that fabric beneath the bark. We see

:25:19.:25:23.

them eating an enormous amount. They have to meet a lot of twigs.

:25:23.:25:28.

As you have explained, they are not very good at digested it. The young

:25:28.:25:36.

ones are trying to put on weight during the winter, and the older

:25:36.:25:41.

ones are losing that which. Another close relative of the pine Marten,

:25:41.:25:46.

the badger. Michaela was keen to see one, so we went to see what we

:25:46.:25:56.
:25:56.:26:01.

seeing badgers? I am not a betting man, but I would stake my house,

:26:01.:26:08.

all of its contents, the lives of all of my family, a racing Ferrari,

:26:08.:26:12.

and the night out with a supermodel on the fact that we are not going

:26:12.:26:18.

to see any! Can I tell you something about badgers? They feed

:26:18.:26:20.

principally on earthworms and the ground is frozen, which means it is

:26:21.:26:25.

difficult for them to get them out. It is also January and we are in

:26:25.:26:30.

the North of the UK. On all of the Knights of the year that I would

:26:30.:26:34.

have chosen, it is a pleasure to be out with yourself drinking hot

:26:34.:26:38.

chocolate, but it would not have been tonight. I would like to see a

:26:38.:26:43.

badger, don't get me wrong, but I am being pragmatic. I know there

:26:43.:26:49.

are some fat badges in at their house, in a state of torpor,

:26:49.:26:53.

reduced body temperature, thinking that they should conserve their

:26:53.:27:03.
:27:03.:27:22.

energy, the ground is solid, no come back... Look! Fantastic. What

:27:22.:27:28.

an animal. It has got one spot on the right hand side. It could be

:27:28.:27:35.

one of ours. I have to consult the manual. I have to be honest, the

:27:35.:27:41.

first time for me. To see one in the flesh? Absolutely beautiful.

:27:41.:27:45.

They are totally active throughout winter? Yes. They have such a high

:27:45.:27:49.

metabolic rate that they have to be continually. They cannot take on

:27:49.:27:52.

fat because they have to pursue their prey and they cannot afford

:27:52.:28:02.
:28:02.:28:08.

beautiful coat. That was the beginning of their near end because

:28:08.:28:15.

they were hunted for hundreds of years for their fur. We think of

:28:15.:28:19.

them as a Scottish animal, but they are not. We find them all the way

:28:19.:28:24.

through France and into Europe. They are only up in Scotland

:28:24.:28:34.
:28:34.:28:36.

because there were less people here a real treat for me, a beautiful

:28:36.:28:41.

animal. I was just thinking, his nose is just like a poodle's nose.

:28:41.:28:51.
:28:51.:28:52.

It is. It's got a nose like a marten, you don't know how much I

:28:52.:28:57.

was wishing a badger would poke its little nose. During the winter

:28:57.:29:01.

sometimes they'll stay underground for 90% of the time. If you want to

:29:01.:29:05.

see badgers and you're a casual badger watcher I would recommend

:29:05.:29:12.

going in April or May. I was a bit optimistic, but what I did love

:29:12.:29:15.

about seeing that is not only was at this time first time I'd seen a

:29:15.:29:20.

pine marten for real, but I saw it in colour. Obviously, we've got our

:29:20.:29:23.

infrared cameras live on the pine martens. We have got some fantastic

:29:23.:29:29.

shots, but to see it in colour was special. We have got some great

:29:29.:29:33.

pine marten shots, but what have we learnt? Quite a lot. We have seen

:29:33.:29:39.

quite a lot of behaviour. That's a beautiful picture of a pine marten,

:29:39.:29:45.

back lit. That got you very excited. Spraying, yes, they were marking

:29:45.:29:50.

the log with the glands beneath their tail. The reason is there is

:29:50.:29:55.

a second pine marten there. Yes, they're being very territorial. It

:29:55.:30:01.

has a characteristic musky smell. It has given some of their

:30:01.:30:08.

relatives a name - weasel means fart. Why? Because of the smell,

:30:08.:30:14.

because they're very smelly animals. Some are called pinemart because

:30:14.:30:21.

they didn't smell as bad. These are pine martens. We set up a challenge,

:30:21.:30:26.

an acrobatic and gymnastic challenge for our pine martens to

:30:26.:30:30.

see Just how agile they were. As you can see here, they're very

:30:30.:30:34.

agile. They make pretty easy work of that. We have like a tightrope

:30:34.:30:38.

between the two trees. It walks across it using that tail for

:30:38.:30:43.

balance and gets the food, didn't seem the struggle at all. It didn't

:30:43.:30:46.

struggle at all, no, not at all. We think one of the reasons they spend

:30:46.:30:50.

more time up trees is to avoid competition with foxs that are

:30:50.:30:56.

eating the same prey, small mammals. They're not catching small mammals

:30:56.:31:02.

up there but allows them access to other animals like birds and their

:31:02.:31:07.

nests. I think we have to thank the pine martens for giving us some

:31:07.:31:10.

entertaining... I am going to miss them to be quite honest with you.

:31:10.:31:14.

Can we just see - I know they weren't on the live cameras a

:31:14.:31:19.

second ago, but let's have a quick look. Nothing - look! It's a

:31:19.:31:24.

badger! You. You had me there. You genuinely did! We can see that we

:31:24.:31:27.

set up that challenge - we made it a little bit harder, but actually,

:31:27.:31:32.

we have had no interest in that today, have we? Not yet, but these

:31:32.:31:35.

cameras will be on until later this evening, so people can keep

:31:35.:31:39.

watching on the website. If they turn up, they might try to see if

:31:39.:31:42.

they can reach down a little bit further. It wasn't just the pine

:31:42.:31:46.

martens we were challenging. We also challenged our red squirrels

:31:46.:31:49.

that we've got live cameras on too. We set them a little task that

:31:49.:31:52.

Chris made up. It was quite a good one. They had three jars. We were

:31:52.:31:57.

seeing which nut they prefer - either shelled hazelnuts, ones in

:31:57.:32:00.

the shell or raisins, and you can see they absolutely didn't touch

:32:00.:32:04.

the others. They went for the shelled nuts. We gave them then

:32:04.:32:09.

three different nuts. Which did they go for? Still the hazelnuts in

:32:09.:32:12.

shells. What was interesting if you were watching last night is they

:32:12.:32:16.

picked the walnuts up, but didn't seem to be able to carry them.

:32:16.:32:21.

no. Interestingly enough, we had someone - this is from Roderic from

:32:21.:32:25.

Normandy in France - great to know you're watching over the water.

:32:25.:32:28.

He's got red squirrels in his garden. He did a little test on

:32:28.:32:33.

them as well, and he said they did go for the walnuts. They happily

:32:33.:32:36.

collected them and seemed to have no trouble at all in carrying them

:32:36.:32:40.

away. However, he did say they have a number of walnut trees in the

:32:40.:32:45.

vicinity, so they were used to them. That's right. Now, those squirrels

:32:45.:32:49.

were out there just thinking that tomorrow is just another day but it

:32:49.:32:53.

wasn't because I'd come up with another cunning plan to test - we

:32:53.:32:59.

know they're taking whole nuts because they want to cache them but

:32:59.:33:06.

where? I thought if we got some ribbon and glued it to the nut,

:33:06.:33:09.

non-toxic glue like this we could encourage the squirrels to take it

:33:09.:33:14.

away, then we could see the ribbon and recover all the nuts. Did it

:33:14.:33:19.

work? The squirrels turned up. They weren't put off by the ribbon

:33:19.:33:24.

whatsoever. There was one initial flaw in my plan. The squirrel takes

:33:24.:33:29.

it out, then delicately removes the ribbon. Oh, no! I know. At this

:33:29.:33:32.

point I thought I had been foiled but thankfully they kept coming

:33:32.:33:38.

back. Here, the squirrel goes back to cache that nut. Meanwhile,

:33:38.:33:42.

another squirrel was lurking about, Michaela, and it sneaks in thinking

:33:42.:33:47.

it can pilfer some of those hazel nuts. I don't mind, of course,

:33:47.:33:52.

because I am hoping one run office with the ribbon attached. Spotted.

:33:52.:33:57.

The other squirrel comes back and isn't happy, takes one of the

:33:57.:34:01.

marked nuts. It's in the tree, so it starts to come down the tree.

:34:01.:34:04.

This is great because this is precipitating a really interesting

:34:04.:34:09.

piece of behaviour. Then they're chasing one another like this -

:34:09.:34:13.

dust devil that one. Watch this. The one that's got the nut does

:34:13.:34:18.

something interesting. He has got the ribbon attached. He digs, but

:34:18.:34:22.

doesn't put the nut there. He's pretending. Then it digs again and

:34:22.:34:27.

doesn't put the nut there. Finally, it digs and leaves the nut in there.

:34:27.:34:31.

It is doing that so it knows there is another squirrel about, so it's

:34:31.:34:35.

digging false holes to confuse it, but look - it's left the little

:34:35.:34:41.

piece of ribbon there. You're so chuffed. I tell you, I really am.

:34:41.:34:44.

They were carrying them great distances. Look, this one

:34:44.:34:48.

disappeared into the woods. All that was left was for us to go out

:34:48.:34:54.

and find those ribbons, so we set off at lunch time. We headed out

:34:54.:34:58.

with our runner, Tom, and had a great look around. I have to thank

:34:58.:35:02.

Tom as well because he was the one that glued all the ribbons onto the

:35:02.:35:06.

nuts. We did recover some of them. Look. Then we also measured the

:35:06.:35:10.

distance that they'd taken them away from our source. Look at that

:35:10.:35:15.

- 25 metres... Quite a distance. We did one other thing - I was quite

:35:15.:35:19.

careful. I didn't want to litter the Aigas Field Centre estate with

:35:19.:35:24.

pieces of ribbon so we replaced them with hazel nuts. So the

:35:24.:35:27.

squirrels will get their nuts. you learn something from that?

:35:27.:35:32.

did. At last, the representation - the graph! The graph. Here are the

:35:32.:35:37.

nuts we recovered, 80 out of 80, not bad. The furthest distance they

:35:37.:35:42.

carried them, 65 metres. A long way. It's expending energy to carry a

:35:42.:35:46.

nut out. There it's got to be worthwhile. If I have one message

:35:46.:35:52.

here - I am not going to get a Ph.D for this - I don't expect one, but

:35:52.:35:57.

you can do this with your kids at the weekend. Think what fun you

:35:57.:36:01.

would have seeing those squirrels with bits of ribbon. Something to

:36:01.:36:05.

do at the weekend. On Winterwatch, we have been following the winter

:36:05.:36:09.

season of Good Friday seals at Norfolk at Blakeney Point. Our

:36:09.:36:14.

first two episodes, we got a lot of you commenting quite emotionally

:36:14.:36:19.

about the abandoning of the seal pup, quite understandably. In our

:36:19.:36:22.

final instalment tonight, Richard Taylor Jones finds out things get

:36:22.:36:26.

really heated on the beaches when testosterone is pumping. Warning:

:36:26.:36:32.

it does get a little bit aggressive. We have been following a pup called

:36:32.:36:37.

Millennium, who has a very peaceful life to date and is only days away

:36:37.:36:41.

from being weaned and leaving his mother. As a result, she's now

:36:41.:36:51.
:36:51.:36:58.

coming into season and will soon be this duty is called Sebastian. He

:36:58.:37:04.

has Millennium's mother in his harem of seven females. Sebastian

:37:04.:37:12.

is fast asleep, but a male is approaching his territory. We'll

:37:12.:37:22.
:37:22.:37:30.

call him Mr Sneaky because his skirt around an outlying male

:37:30.:37:35.

called Mr Red, who could potentially raise the intruder

:37:35.:37:45.
:37:45.:37:45.

alarm. This helps Mr Sneaky get close to Sebastian's females.

:37:45.:37:51.

But Sebastian isn't fooled for long. He's realised there's a threat -

:37:51.:37:53.

perhaps because of Mr Sneaky's scent or his vibrations in the

:37:53.:38:01.

ground. GROWLING

:38:01.:38:11.
:38:11.:38:25.

the dunes above Sebastian's harem? Mr Sneaky has tried the low road.

:38:25.:38:33.

Now it's the high road. The grass is a perfect cover. The females are

:38:33.:38:43.
:38:43.:38:46.

tantalisingly close. But dare he risk an approach? He has no time to

:38:46.:38:49.

decide. Sebastian may be asleep again, but he's been spotted by Mr

:38:49.:38:59.
:38:59.:39:11.

defend. If he loses her, he loses his only chance to breed this year.

:39:11.:39:17.

This is a fight about the right to create life. The stakes could

:39:17.:39:27.
:39:27.:39:30.

barely be higher. The contest is close and brutal. A display of raw

:39:30.:39:40.
:39:40.:39:40.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 54 seconds

:39:40.:40:34.

ferocity and sheer desperation. Red. He's exhausted, bloodied and

:40:34.:40:44.
:40:44.:40:55.

worn. He rests. These wounds will across Blakeney, males eventually

:40:55.:41:02.

earn the right to mate, to pass on their genes. The breeding season is

:41:02.:41:09.

now coming to a close, and couples are spread across the beach in

:41:09.:41:19.
:41:19.:41:26.

Millennium, who has been so sheltered from these dramas,

:41:26.:41:31.

moments like this will be many years away. In the meantime, for

:41:31.:41:36.

all the pups here at Blakeney, there is the difficult matter of

:41:37.:41:42.

leaving mother and then learning to live out at sea. They all have a

:41:42.:41:46.

huge life journey to go on, and it starts here in the cold depths of

:41:47.:41:56.
:41:57.:41:58.

at Blakeney Point there, and it's amazing that they choose to breed

:41:58.:42:02.

in the winter. That was shot at the beginning of winter, but how things

:42:02.:42:08.

change. Have a look at what it looks like today at Blakeney Point.

:42:08.:42:11.

Obviously, it has been hard hit by the snow down in Norfolk, and

:42:11.:42:15.

there's a seal pup. You would have thought it would be freezing, but

:42:15.:42:19.

you know it has been a very cold year - over 1,200 pups born.

:42:19.:42:26.

Believe it or not, another one has been born since Monday. They're

:42:26.:42:29.

still giving birth, amazing. A heavy snowfall is forecast up and

:42:29.:42:33.

down the country, and this is a golden opportunity, because if it

:42:33.:42:38.

does snow, get out in the garden, and that gives you a chance to see

:42:38.:42:41.

exactly what has been going on in there almost hour by hour, and

:42:42.:42:45.

sometimes you can track something, a little mouse or something, and

:42:45.:42:54.

then you see a little pool of blood. Then there's a whole story. The

:42:54.:42:58.

snow is a wonderful tumt to get out and have a look at what's been

:42:58.:43:04.

going on. Yesterday we showed you hierarchy on our bird freeders. We

:43:04.:43:11.

showed you a treecreeper. I think I said you never get tree creepers on

:43:11.:43:15.

bird feeders. I'll get my coat because this has been sent in by

:43:15.:43:22.

one of our viewers and it's clearly a tree creeper on a feeder. It's

:43:22.:43:29.

not eating the nuts because these are insect-eating birds. Then I

:43:29.:43:33.

went to the textbook, and you won't believe this - they eat a very

:43:33.:43:37.

small amount of pine and spruce seeds. Presumably, they use their

:43:37.:43:42.

long beaks to reach inside the open cones. Can't be right all the time!

:43:42.:43:46.

I don't mind. It's a learning process. I like that. You might see

:43:46.:43:50.

a tree creeper on your bird feeder if you're really lucky. You might

:43:50.:43:54.

also see one of these. I saw one last year. I thought there is

:43:54.:44:00.

something wrong with that chaffinch. It's washed out, but it's not a

:44:01.:44:04.

chaffinch. It's a brambling. As we have been saying, the colder it

:44:04.:44:08.

gets, the more likely you are to get something unusual on your bird

:44:08.:44:14.

feeders, and don't forget also, the last weekend of January it's the

:44:14.:44:19.

RSPB Big Gardens Bird Watch. You can check the website for the dates

:44:19.:44:24.

and things. We have had a couple of letters, people that have seen

:44:24.:44:28.

something unusual... Letters, I like that. Not letters! This is

:44:28.:44:34.

from Joe Black, currently getting up to 13 house sparrows, which is

:44:34.:44:38.

adorable. They're not as common as they used to be. Michelle from

:44:38.:44:43.

Truro in Cornwall saw five to six toads mating in her garden and

:44:43.:44:46.

found frogspawn in her pond. Isn't that fascinating, even though up

:44:46.:44:50.

here all sorts of animals are shutting down, things are already

:44:50.:44:54.

starting to stir in our garden ponds, amphibians like frogs -

:44:54.:45:00.

these are toads - are already preparing to mate. They're going

:45:00.:45:03.

into position. They do it very, very early on in the year. Look at

:45:03.:45:07.

that big toad. Many of you are getting ready to go on toad patrol

:45:08.:45:11.

to help them as they cross the roads. Isn't that interesting? She

:45:11.:45:15.

was down the Cornwall, wasn't she? That's where you would expect it to

:45:15.:45:25.
:45:25.:45:28.

start in the south and it's and toads, but how important? We

:45:28.:45:32.

are asking you to get involved in a frogspawn account. It is simpler

:45:32.:45:38.

than you might expect. Go out and count the clumps. That is what it

:45:38.:45:44.

looks like, each one, and they want to know how ponds are important for

:45:44.:45:54.
:45:54.:45:54.

breeding amphibians. The details of that on the website. Now, no better

:45:54.:45:57.

time for winter walk. The best place to walk is your patch. It

:45:57.:46:02.

means most to you and you need to know what is there. I went out into

:46:02.:46:09.

my patch, and look at what I found. The New Forest was created by

:46:09.:46:14.

William the Conqueror in 10 of 79, as a royal hunting forest for him

:46:14.:46:21.

and his nobles. They hunted deer and it was first called the New

:46:21.:46:26.

Forest in the Domesday Book. But why was it new? Was there a forest

:46:26.:46:31.

already here? There was. The people of 36 carriages had worked it and

:46:31.:46:41.
:46:41.:46:41.

he burnt it down and threw them out. -- 36 parishes. That is the history.

:46:41.:46:45.

It is 26 square kilometres. That is the statistic, but what about the

:46:45.:46:50.

reality? Reality is that it is fantastic. It is my home and it is

:46:50.:47:00.
:47:00.:47:18.

Forest, this is one of the highlights, one of the species that

:47:18.:47:25.

people typically enjoy seeing. Fallow deer. There are about 1500

:47:25.:47:32.

in the forest. Of course these ones are in their winter pellet, this

:47:32.:47:36.

wonderful brown colour. That means that when they are in the woodland,

:47:36.:47:42.

they are very difficult to see. Typically they are browsing animal,

:47:42.:47:48.

selectively choosing which vegetation they eat. It is not a

:47:48.:47:56.

random process. Throughout the course of the year they will be

:47:56.:47:59.

visiting particular plants and selecting particular parts to get

:47:59.:48:03.

certain nutrition. At this time of year, they are very keen on you

:48:03.:48:13.
:48:13.:48:32.

Holly growth. Very nice to see. -- Forest in winter is this. The

:48:32.:48:36.

leaves are very important, it is quite deep, and it is a great food

:48:36.:48:39.

source for many invertebrates which are fed on by the birds that come

:48:39.:48:46.

here. You can see robins, Threshers, finches, rooting around and sorting

:48:46.:48:50.

out the millipedes and the worms. It is breaking down and rotting and

:48:50.:48:57.

as a consequence, it is warmer down here than it is on top. This lay-

:48:57.:49:04.

off leaves for the winter period provides a layer of insulation for

:49:04.:49:07.

the forest floor, keeping it a little bit warmer, mean the

:49:07.:49:17.
:49:17.:49:33.

invertebrates can be active, chaffinches feeding beneath the

:49:33.:49:43.

holly tree. It is not a good winter in the New Forest this year. There

:49:43.:49:49.

is not beech mast, which the chaffinches favour, so I do not

:49:49.:49:55.

know what they are eating. Among them is a hawfinch, which has

:49:55.:50:04.

brightened my day. They are mega birds, with mega beaks. We are

:50:04.:50:08.

lucky that they are easier to spot in the winter time and that is a

:50:08.:50:17.

real treat. That is worth, I estimate, 2500... 10,000

:50:17.:50:26.

chaffinches. Yes! Only four bullfinches equal one male hawfinch,

:50:26.:50:35.

which equals 10,000 chaffinches. Not that I am picky, all birds are

:50:35.:50:45.
:50:45.:50:51.

equal but some are more equal than over a beautiful mossy carpet of

:50:51.:50:58.

natural history. This tree is history. It could have been 400

:50:58.:51:02.

years old when it toppled to the ground. It could have been growing

:51:02.:51:06.

when the Roundheads were clobbering the Cavaliers, when we lost America

:51:06.:51:14.

and they signed the declaration of independence. This tree could have

:51:14.:51:18.

been growing when there was a Spitfire in the sky and when Geoff

:51:18.:51:22.

Hurst scored the winning goal. This was a great part of England and my

:51:22.:51:26.

hope is that the New Forest will continue to be a massive part of

:51:26.:51:31.

English history. But it will only do so if we look after it. That

:51:31.:51:35.

said, look at this. This little beech tree is growing on top of

:51:35.:51:45.
:51:45.:52:01.

this fallen giant. Perhaps this is Come on, they are pretty special.

:52:01.:52:06.

You do not see that sort of thing sitting on your sofa or in the

:52:06.:52:10.

kitchen. You have to go outside and it for yourself. You can go to the

:52:10.:52:14.

things to do section of our website and end your postcode to get some

:52:14.:52:19.

ideas of things to do near you. We are set up for us know we weekend,

:52:19.:52:23.

so get on your Wellington boots, but the children on a lead, and

:52:23.:52:29.

find a hawfinch! Plenty of you have been out and about, sending in

:52:29.:52:38.

photographs and for did. We -- and videos. We have two spectacular

:52:38.:52:48.
:52:48.:53:22.

much for those. I would say that is one of the greatest one love

:53:22.:53:31.

spectacles on it, never mind in the UK. -- wildlife spectacles. Now it

:53:32.:53:37.

is time to look back at our cameras. Come on, beavers. One last look.

:53:37.:53:42.

think they are getting ready for Winterwatch Unsprung! They are not

:53:42.:53:47.

there. They have been great. Many of you have already been up and

:53:47.:53:54.

about and you have taken some great photographs in the ice and snow.

:53:54.:54:04.
:54:04.:54:06.

The kestrel is a super bird. else? Fox on the ice. Pine marten,

:54:06.:54:13.

an opportunist, sniffing for something. Thank you for all of

:54:13.:54:16.

your photographs. Sadly we are coming to the end of Winterwatch

:54:16.:54:20.

but the wind is not nearly over. It has been such a strange year that

:54:20.:54:25.

we might even get a very harsh winter even now. We might. But will

:54:25.:54:30.

it be as harsh as 50 years ago? This is the 50th anniversary of the

:54:30.:54:37.

winter of 1963. It was a mega winter. At 5:30pm on Saturday we

:54:37.:54:43.

have got a Winterwatch 1963 special, exploring what happens not only to

:54:43.:54:47.

the people in this terrible winter but to all of the Wired Love, too.

:54:47.:54:56.

Catch up with that on Saturday. -- all of the wildlife, too.

:54:56.:55:04.

remember that! Rubbish! I do, my toboggan. Anyway, what is the last

:55:04.:55:11.

bit? I cannot remember. It is getting cold. Yes, what are the

:55:12.:55:17.

beavers doing? I am too cold! is what we have seen them doing a

:55:17.:55:26.

lot of and if I was not a pragmatic scientist, I would think it was

:55:26.:55:31.

love! But it is just staying warm, conserving the energy, using the

:55:32.:55:36.

planning that they did throughout the autumn storing food. They rest

:55:36.:55:40.

for most of the day and only go out to recover some of their stored

:55:40.:55:44.

food in the evening. Occasionally they bring it back, but it is just

:55:44.:55:50.

a little bit too much of an effort. This beaver has actually fallen

:55:50.:55:55.

asleep with the stick in its mouth, trying to get into the lodge. What

:55:55.:56:00.

about that? Fingers crossed for those beavers. I really hope they

:56:00.:56:04.

will make it through the winter. They have certainly provided plenty

:56:04.:56:07.

of entertainment. That brings us to the end of Winterwatch and I would

:56:07.:56:13.

like to say a huge bank you've to the centre up here and all of their

:56:13.:56:21.

team. -- huge thank you. They have made us feel so welcome, not just

:56:21.:56:25.

Winterwatch but Autumn Watch, too. We have been so well looked after

:56:25.:56:30.

at this beautiful place. We have been very inspired by the winter

:56:30.:56:34.

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