:00:10. > :00:19.we are here at Mar Lodge Estate in the stunning Scottish Highlanders
:00:20. > :00:26.for the next three nights. We will be finding out more about our
:00:27. > :00:31.record-breaking fox. And we will be looking at the grouse and down to
:00:32. > :00:41.the woods to meet this wise old Wolf. And I am out in the wilds,
:00:42. > :00:46.deep in the forest trying to find out who or what lives here. It is
:00:47. > :01:16.Winterwatch! Hello and welcome to Winterwatch
:01:17. > :01:19.2014, it is our second night coming from the beautiful Mar Lodge Estate
:01:20. > :01:23.nestled in the Cairngorms National Park. It is the largest national
:01:24. > :01:28.park and also the most extensive track of high mountain to rain we
:01:29. > :01:31.have got in the UK. Home to a great number of exciting Spee sees and 1.4
:01:32. > :01:39.million people come here to see them every year. Look at the landscape,
:01:40. > :01:43.it is stunning. We are down in that flood plain. Lots of ancient
:01:44. > :01:48.Caledonian Forest and this special habitat leads to a range of special
:01:49. > :01:58.species, crested tips, red squirrels, we have got them here.
:01:59. > :02:02.Buzzards soaring. Wet stags mincing through the marsh. It is a top place
:02:03. > :02:09.to be for our Winterwatch series. It is beautiful, but look at the
:02:10. > :02:16.weather. It is wet and cold. A weather forecast was right, and it
:02:17. > :02:22.was spot on. But our mission is to get to know the local wildlife, and
:02:23. > :02:26.to do that we have camera teams all over the Highlands. Yesterday we
:02:27. > :02:33.sent one of the teams to one of the peaks. Even up here in the mild and
:02:34. > :02:40.midwinter, there is snow. What did they spot? They spotted this
:02:41. > :02:47.mountain hare. He is perfectly at that bid for snowy conditions. In
:02:48. > :02:51.the summer his fur is Brown, but they Moat three times and in October
:02:52. > :02:55.that code starts to change and by this time of year it is thick, white
:02:56. > :03:02.and fluffy. But life is tough on the peaks. Not only is it hard for them
:03:03. > :03:07.to find food, but enough cover. There was a little trough he had
:03:08. > :03:12.made, and they hunker down, back to the wind and any Heather and rocks
:03:13. > :03:24.they can find, they snuggle into keep warm. I am not sure if there is
:03:25. > :03:28.a local name for the depressions these mountain hares make. We have
:03:29. > :03:35.not only sent our cameramen to the peaks, we have our cameras down
:03:36. > :03:40.here. Yesterday, just before it got dark, we saw this. A golden eagle.
:03:41. > :03:45.One of the species we most want to see flew into roost right in front
:03:46. > :03:49.of the camera. Typically, these words will stay put, they don't like
:03:50. > :03:57.to move when it is dark. Spread out beneath it was this, a platter of
:03:58. > :04:03.carrion. Not very tasty for us, but for an eagle, a welcome breakfast.
:04:04. > :04:07.Where was the bird? It had vanished in the darkness, quite inexplicably.
:04:08. > :04:13.How it got away with out as seeing it, I do not know. It was
:04:14. > :04:19.disappointing. But it came back this afternoon and is in the same tree.
:04:20. > :04:23.Surely it is hungry, it is bound to want that Rottingdean first thing in
:04:24. > :04:28.the morning, who wouldn't? ! Hopefully we will have that golden
:04:29. > :04:34.eagle. Fingers crossed, it will be amazing. We have not seen the golden
:04:35. > :04:40.eagle on the carcass yet, but we have seen another fantastic bird of
:04:41. > :04:45.prey on another carcass. It may be small but it is just as beautiful,
:04:46. > :04:50.it is a common buzzard. It will make the most of that dead meat. You get
:04:51. > :04:55.a lot of carrion around in the Highlands this time of year.
:04:56. > :05:00.Exhausted here, sick and old. Once they have found something like this,
:05:01. > :05:04.they will come back to it. That is an easy meal and could keep that
:05:05. > :05:12.buzzard going for quite a few weeks probably. Obviously the meat is
:05:13. > :05:16.chilled out there as well. It is not going to rot quickly and they will
:05:17. > :05:21.keep coming back. Although there will be competition because other
:05:22. > :05:29.things will scavenge as well, things like foxes. Martin is out in the wet
:05:30. > :05:33.and cold in the forest, sniffing around like an English pointer.
:05:34. > :05:38.Let's see what he might find. We are enjoying it down in the
:05:39. > :05:46.forest tonight, particularly the car in the rain is turning to sleet, I
:05:47. > :05:52.went. This is Scots pine forest. It is our only native pine tree. What
:05:53. > :06:00.makes it so special? Let's revel in the glory of the Caledonian Forest.
:06:01. > :06:10.This Caledonian Forest is a magical place. Rugged, ancient trees provide
:06:11. > :06:29.shelter and food for all sorts of creatures.
:06:30. > :06:42.Scots pines are perfectly adapted for standing up to the elements.
:06:43. > :06:48.Wind passes through them so trees are less likely to be damaged in
:06:49. > :06:59.winter storms. Their needles waxy coating prevents water loss during
:07:00. > :07:07.conditions when water is skirt. -- scarce. These sturdy stall warts
:07:08. > :07:15.have stood for centuries, silent sentinels in the landscape.
:07:16. > :07:20.It is an saluki chucking it down. Last night, we tried to find out
:07:21. > :07:26.what small mammals there are living here. We set this trap. You see that
:07:27. > :07:32.lovely food? Let's see what happened. The idea is, they run
:07:33. > :07:38.through this and leave their little footprints. The rain has been
:07:39. > :07:43.hammering down onto it. They walked through and this is genuine. New
:07:44. > :07:49.have to look out for these tiny little footprints. They've all, like
:07:50. > :07:54.a mouse or a vole, they have for little fingers on their front foot,
:07:55. > :07:58.five on their back. But they clubbed together in these little groups of
:07:59. > :08:04.three. So vole or mice have been going through that. Let's look at
:08:05. > :08:09.the other end. Gosh, it is hammering it down. Shrews have been going
:08:10. > :08:16.through, they are much smaller. They have five toes on each foot. This is
:08:17. > :08:23.difficult. You have to believe me, we have got shrews, voles and mice
:08:24. > :08:31.going through. You can have a go at this at home, particularly if it at
:08:32. > :08:35.chilly snows. Because, if you go to the website, you can download this.
:08:36. > :08:44.This is our winter watch guide to footprints. -- Winterwatch guide. Go
:08:45. > :08:48.outside if it snows and you will have a surprise to see what you have
:08:49. > :08:56.got running around. Download that and have a bit of fun. OK, you may
:08:57. > :09:01.remember the glorious, wonderful road and Tory. We have brought it
:09:02. > :09:06.with us and we can go live to it to see what small mammals there are. Of
:09:07. > :09:12.course, there is absolutely nothing whatsoever. But that definitely
:09:13. > :09:17.wasn't the case last night. Have a look at this. Ben, one of the team
:09:18. > :09:24.was watching this particular mouse. It is the same mouse that keeps
:09:25. > :09:29.coming in again and again. I believe it is a genius, because watch what
:09:30. > :09:43.happens. He just never stops. In and out, in and out. Then recorded this
:09:44. > :09:47.very carefully, 66 times. 66 times! What he was doing was taking the
:09:48. > :09:53.food we put out and he was stashing it outside, hiding it away. Then he
:09:54. > :09:59.had the brilliant idea thinking, why am I taking this food out of this
:10:00. > :10:06.place, it is a fabulous place. What he started to do, he started to
:10:07. > :10:12.destroy the place because he is building himself a House. He is
:10:13. > :10:17.thinking, why should I take this food out, let me build a home in
:10:18. > :10:25.here. Now we have a resident mouse building a House inside. Fantastic.
:10:26. > :10:32.We will keep our eye on that. I believe you have had experience with
:10:33. > :10:39.mice personally? , Chris? Yes, I had a store of peanuts and I noticed the
:10:40. > :10:44.stash was going down but I could not find them in the storeroom. I had
:10:45. > :10:50.left a pair of Wellington 's resting in the store room. Through the
:10:51. > :10:56.bedroom, down the stairs, and into the corner. There wasn't a single
:10:57. > :11:00.spilt not and they were all in just one boot. I only found them when I
:11:01. > :11:10.put it on. That mouse had moved them all that way so it alone could
:11:11. > :11:16.access those nuts. If you were watching last night, you will know
:11:17. > :11:21.we joined up with the University of Brighton in a study of urban foxes.
:11:22. > :11:26.We have collared them so we can learn more about them. This is a
:11:27. > :11:35.pair, one we think is the son and the other one, which we think is the
:11:36. > :11:38.father. The father was top box, but we have seen this already, the
:11:39. > :11:43.youngster is pushing him out, away from the food. He got a bit of a
:11:44. > :11:48.cough and then skulked off into the undergrowth. But he went much
:11:49. > :11:55.further than the undergrowth. The big question was, how far has he
:11:56. > :11:58.gone? Since he was chucked out by his son, Doctor Dawn Scott has been
:11:59. > :12:05.following his every move. What happened? We noticed he had cleared
:12:06. > :12:10.completely out of Brighton and headed off into auroral countryside.
:12:11. > :12:19.So many foxes around and territories there was no spaces. So he kept on
:12:20. > :12:26.going. I thought we were walking to find our friend? We have a bit of a
:12:27. > :12:31.road trip to go. Our suburban fox has headed to the top of the South
:12:32. > :12:35.Downs. After just two days, he had travelled seven kilometres and
:12:36. > :12:44.reached one of the highest points in south-east England. He came all the
:12:45. > :12:48.way up here? He hung around here for a couple of days, headed up the
:12:49. > :12:54.South Downs. He did not stay for long, he carried on heading north.
:12:55. > :13:02.He left on the 9th of December, where was he by Christmas? About 200
:13:03. > :13:09.kilometres away. 200! We had better drive, come on. The British record
:13:10. > :13:18.for distance covered by a disbursing Fox had been 52 kilometres. Fleet
:13:19. > :13:25.soon smashed that. He spent the next nine days zigzagging between the
:13:26. > :13:35.South Downs and various towns and villages to the North. So what was
:13:36. > :13:41.he up to? Was he looking for a territory? And was he too weak to
:13:42. > :13:46.take on any of the resident males he met, because he was fighting long
:13:47. > :13:53.worm? Perhaps he was on the trail of a female, but why would one vixen
:13:54. > :14:00.travel so far herself? No, most likely he was looking for food. Used
:14:01. > :14:03.to scavenging hand-outs, catching enough live prey in the countryside
:14:04. > :14:18.would have been pretty tough for him. But on December the 18th, he
:14:19. > :14:29.headed back south to the busy A27. Then, at 1130 a.m., his signal
:14:30. > :14:39.stopped. She went out, but she failed to find
:14:40. > :14:45.the fox, dead or alive. But then that night, Fleet's signal
:14:46. > :14:50.was back on. Maybe he had been resting under
:14:51. > :14:56.grouped, but now he was on the move again. -- underground.
:14:57. > :14:59.He seems to be navigating using railway lines and roads and
:15:00. > :15:03.following tracks. Some cases where he has come to a river and you can
:15:04. > :15:08.see that he has gone up and down trying to find a safe place to
:15:09. > :15:13.cross. It has been mild but very wet, so I think he has probably had
:15:14. > :15:17.a few challenges. Unsurprisingly, Fleet did nearly all
:15:18. > :15:22.of his travelling at night. He doesn't seem to stop, cheeps
:15:23. > :15:26.going and going, and then about five, or six o'clock he seems to
:15:27. > :15:31.start moving round, slowing down and trying to find somewhere to rest
:15:32. > :15:36.during the day, most of the places he is resting are suburban gardens
:15:37. > :15:42.where he probably feels safest. But then, on Christmas Eve, and
:15:43. > :15:47.Christmas Day, Fleet spent a whole two days in this caravan park near
:15:48. > :15:52.Uckfield. I would be interested if anyone was feeding him or anyone saw
:15:53. > :15:58.him. He was here for two days. Yes. Turkey.
:15:59. > :16:04.On Boxing Day, Fleet's record-breaking journey continued.
:16:05. > :16:11.By early January, he had covered over 300 kilometres.
:16:12. > :16:15.But then his signal went dead. Nothing. For four days.
:16:16. > :16:22.So this the last place we had a location at 11.30 at night.
:16:23. > :16:28.You can see it is a busy road. Oh dear. Don't feel good about this. I
:16:29. > :16:33.feel I have to do the grisly duty and look. 11.30 at night on this
:16:34. > :16:40.road, traffic at these speeds is not good. It is not. That is what I want
:16:41. > :16:43.to check, whether he had been hit. Even with daylight fading fast, we
:16:44. > :17:07.would smell road kill. And there is no sign of Fleet. At
:17:08. > :17:12.night fall, we have to give up. I don't know what to say. I didn't
:17:13. > :17:17.find anything. I am hoping that is good news. I think that is good new,
:17:18. > :17:20.he might have lasted longer than the collar.
:17:21. > :17:26.Think he is out there, wannering round, he will keep going, he is a
:17:27. > :17:33.tough old dog. 315 kilometres travelled in less than a month. That
:17:34. > :17:40.is amazing. You have yourself a record-breaking fox.
:17:41. > :17:43.What an incredible journey. Amazing. That is astonishing. In a month.
:17:44. > :17:47.What do you think has happened to him. What you didn't see I spent a
:17:48. > :17:52.lot longer looking for that animal, I had the torch, in fact I met one
:17:53. > :17:56.walker, a guy with a dog, we were both looking for the best part of an
:17:57. > :18:00.hour, I think I would have found it. I scoured that roadside. He sniffed
:18:01. > :18:05.round with his dog. I the we would have found it. There has been a lot
:18:06. > :18:10.of flooding. We know Fleet had been swimming, the collar packed up one,
:18:11. > :18:15.I think water got in. I am certain he is out there. I am not just
:18:16. > :18:19.saying that, I am being truthful. We would have found him. Fleet could
:18:20. > :18:24.still be alive. We are not getting any more deta. I hope you are right.
:18:25. > :18:28.I am certain I am. You seen the change in the weather. It is
:18:29. > :18:34.snowing. We have semifinally have snow. I know. Look. We have had that
:18:35. > :18:40.data we did get from Fleet. And this is what we have seen, this
:18:41. > :18:45.remarkable 350 kilometre journey all the way across Sussex there, finally
:18:46. > :18:48.ending up where we lost him. He is probably still out there. One thing
:18:49. > :18:52.to say is that if you are anywhere within this sort of radius, which is
:18:53. > :18:57.south of the M25 and Dover and you see a fox with a collar, then let us
:18:58. > :19:01.know, because it could be him. But, one thing it could point out is how
:19:02. > :19:06.the spread of urban foxes has occurred. Previously we thought they
:19:07. > :19:12.didn't go very far. Now we know they go a lot further. It might explain
:19:13. > :19:15.this. You see, foxes only became urbanised in the '30s when we
:19:16. > :19:19.started building suburbia. It was that that lured them into our city,
:19:20. > :19:22.and initially, we found them in cities pretty much in the south and
:19:23. > :19:26.the west, they were in Bristol, they were in Brighton, they were in
:19:27. > :19:32.London. But then in the last 30 year, they have begun to spread, and
:19:33. > :19:36.each one of these dark triangles here, isolates and identifies a city
:19:37. > :19:42.which has been occupied by urban tobtions in that time. You can
:19:43. > :19:51.foxes. Nay have spread to Newcastle. They haven't made it to Wales,
:19:52. > :19:56.Kettering and bury saint Edmunds, no to of foxes in those places. If you
:19:57. > :20:00.live there we would love to hear about it if you have seen one. It is
:20:01. > :20:06.brilliant they have made a success and they are doing it worldwide. In
:20:07. > :20:12.the similar period they have niced themselves in the US, Australia and
:20:13. > :20:16.Japan. We thought that we had about 33,000, in the 1990, but we think
:20:17. > :20:20.now, because we have built more houses, and even more people are
:20:21. > :20:23.feeding them and there is more waste food in our cities, that that
:20:24. > :20:29.population might have increased. I am sure it has, but it is incredible
:20:30. > :20:33.how much information we are getting from the ground-breaking collar, did
:20:34. > :20:38.you think for one Minna a fox could travel that far? No, we knew that
:20:39. > :20:43.some foxes would travel great distances in other countries but in
:20:44. > :20:47.this one we didn't. We are learning so much quickly with the collar, I
:20:48. > :20:52.have to say we will learn more tomorrow. Another one of our fox
:20:53. > :20:58.stars, onces that live in the inner city, one of them is called Silver
:20:59. > :21:04.and it seems he has found himself a lady. Tune in tomorrow for fox
:21:05. > :21:08.romance. Fantastic. It seems like foxes
:21:09. > :21:13.aren't the only ones spreading their territory, it seems that this bird
:21:14. > :21:20.is doing the same. It is a ja. It had only been -- Jay.
:21:21. > :21:25.Now it is seen regular I, this is what you are used to seeing them
:21:26. > :21:31.doing. Caching their acorns in the autumn. Stashing them away, so they
:21:32. > :21:38.have plenty to eat in the winter. Now we have been seeing a lot of the
:21:39. > :21:43.jas on camera. We -- Jays on camera, it is Jay cam. This might surprise
:21:44. > :21:48.you. Have a look. It is eating carrion. Is that surprising? Well,
:21:49. > :21:53.not really, because they have a very varied diet. They eat a lot of nuts,
:21:54. > :21:58.fruit, seeds, insect, small birds and they will take advantage of any
:21:59. > :22:03.dead meat. You know, when times are enough in the winter, these birds
:22:04. > :22:08.are opportunistic, that is a jolly good meal for them. Nice birds as
:22:09. > :22:14.well. Noo its the so see them close up. We expect golden eagles and
:22:15. > :22:20.buzzards and we get Jays. It is snowing and it has got colder. It is
:22:21. > :22:27.just as well Martin has a huge thick coat like a St Bernard! Yes, it is
:22:28. > :22:31.snowing a bit now, but fascinatingly there is a mystery going on, we are
:22:32. > :22:35.going to try and solve it right now. Everywhere you look, they look like
:22:36. > :22:39.thatched cottages round, here is one of them.
:22:40. > :22:43.A thatched cottage, now we are going to hurl technology at this and find
:22:44. > :22:48.out what is living in that. Let me get it working.
:22:49. > :22:53.St has gone off again, I knew it would. Now, if you look, I don't
:22:54. > :22:56.know if you can see, there is a light on the end of that, is it
:22:57. > :23:00.still working? There is a camera too.
:23:01. > :23:05.So we are going to try and put the camera down, right into the thatched
:23:06. > :23:11.cottage, down it go, that is not much use. Let us look at the screen
:23:12. > :23:17.see what we are seeing. Ooh! Down it go, very mysterious.
:23:18. > :23:22.Oh, no. It Hazard gone. Why has it gone? The light has gone
:23:23. > :23:27.off. Let me have another go. Why did that go off. -- it has gone. Let me
:23:28. > :23:35.try, here we go again. Down we go. Down we go. Down, down.
:23:36. > :23:38.Come on, what is down there? Oh, it keeps going out. It is not going to
:23:39. > :23:42.work. We did this a bit earlier and we did manage to see. Let us see
:23:43. > :23:48.what we managed to film down here earlier.
:23:49. > :23:52.There it is. It is a wood ant nest. Crammed with these wood ants down
:23:53. > :23:58.there. It is messy, not the sort of place Chris would like to live! But
:23:59. > :24:02.the woot ants are in here. -- wood ants are in here. It very cold for
:24:03. > :24:06.them. They have slowed down, in summer it would be 25-30 degree, now
:24:07. > :24:11.it is only just above freezing. Let us have a proper look at the wood
:24:12. > :24:15.ant, because they have a profound influence on the whole of the forest
:24:16. > :24:20.round me, now that is a work e these are all the worker, there will be
:24:21. > :24:24.tens of thousands the looking after one Queen, there maybe more than one
:24:25. > :24:30.Alexander Queen in the nest. How -- one Queen in the nest. They protect
:24:31. > :24:34.the Scots pine tree, because they go out hunting, they are tremendous
:24:35. > :24:40.carnivore, they are hunting for food. This is a saw fly lava which
:24:41. > :24:44.is going to eat the pines. But it is not going to eat the pines now
:24:45. > :24:48.because the ants have got it. And it is now being dragged off into
:24:49. > :24:53.the nest. So who a real way, these tiny little
:24:54. > :24:57.ants are having a big effect on the forest all round us, let us have
:24:58. > :25:02.another look at the nest. Here is this nest itself, this is
:25:03. > :25:09.deceivering, because 50% of the nest is under the ground here. And it --
:25:10. > :25:13.deceiving. It is not just one nest, there are lots of them. Let us look
:25:14. > :25:18.at it during the daytime. Here they are, here is the really big one, but
:25:19. > :25:24.that is not just the colony, the colony will spread out round lots of
:25:25. > :25:30.different enests, during the summer. It is called Polly domy, because
:25:31. > :25:33.they are all like little domes. But then, in the winter time, when
:25:34. > :25:37.it gets cold, they will come back from all the colonies that have been
:25:38. > :25:41.far away and go back in to one colony, and they will try and
:25:42. > :25:45.surround the Queen or Queens and keep her just above freezing, that
:25:46. > :25:51.is what is going on in there, earlier on they were coming out and
:25:52. > :25:57.having a go and trying to attack me, Bray little wood ants, we love you.
:25:58. > :26:04.I hope they are protecting the forest here, but they themselves can
:26:05. > :26:09.fall food to other insects round here, badgers love them. A bird you
:26:10. > :26:13.may see round you and that is the Greenwood pecker, these are
:26:14. > :26:18.specialist ant feeders, they have a long sticky tongue designed to do
:26:19. > :26:21.nothing but pick up ants. This looking for nem in the ground. You
:26:22. > :26:26.will see them in the garden. I have seen the most amazing thing n the
:26:27. > :26:31.middle of winter, under snow the Greenwood peckers dig down and find
:26:32. > :26:34.the ants' nest, how can nay remember where they are? They remember where
:26:35. > :26:40.the nests are, I hope we can remember where the cabin is, because
:26:41. > :26:45.we are off. See you in a minute! We have come out of the cabin and
:26:46. > :26:50.come to this. It really is snowing, we could have a white out here
:26:51. > :26:56.tomorrow morning. It is too warm and wet. Warm? It is all relative. It is
:26:57. > :27:02.not just Martin and ourselves that are out in the element, our thermal
:27:03. > :27:06.camera is outside. Let us see what they have live.
:27:07. > :27:11.Got some splodges of snow, that is for sure. It must be challenging
:27:12. > :27:17.getting anything tonight. You can see there, that is a bit of a wet
:27:18. > :27:21.thermal camera. Can I let you into a secret. That camera is indoors. It
:27:22. > :27:24.is very sensitive to water and I can tell from that shot that that
:27:25. > :27:28.cameraman has treated from this nonsense, he is probably in a nice
:27:29. > :27:35.warm room with that peeking out of the window. With a cup of tea? He
:27:36. > :27:40.hasn't got a wet bottom like me. He was work hard and he managed to find
:27:41. > :27:45.us this. If you look closely there it is. Is
:27:46. > :27:50.it a rabbit? No, it is not. If you look at the ears, they are short and
:27:51. > :27:55.distinctive shape of that face, it is a mountain hare. It is out and
:27:56. > :28:00.about at night because as we showed you earlier, they are white at this
:28:01. > :28:05.time of year. Very easy to spot by predators, so it is making the most
:28:06. > :28:11.of finding food at night. It is hopping along the bank. Sees the
:28:12. > :28:16.cameraman gets scared. We have highlighted the fact it has pooed.
:28:17. > :28:20.Lightened its load and run away. Dashes off like a whippet having
:28:21. > :28:25.left that poo glowing. You have something on the end of your nose. I
:28:26. > :28:30.don't know what it is. It is like a blob of something or other. That
:28:31. > :28:34.camera has been spotting some of our birds, we turned it on to our black
:28:35. > :28:38.grouse. This is what we saw first thing in the morning. It is only
:28:39. > :28:44.just getting light. Some of the birds are flying in. These are the
:28:45. > :28:48.male birds, the ones we call black cock. The females are grey hen. Some
:28:49. > :28:54.are walking, they are not so rushed to get there. When they arrive, they
:28:55. > :29:12.are really spectacular. Glamorous, exotic and exuberant in their
:29:13. > :29:19.extraordinary displays. Sometimes they fancy themselves as a boxer,
:29:20. > :29:24.taking the other one on. It is very entertaining. I think they will
:29:25. > :29:29.provide us with more entertainment. I think we promised entertainment
:29:30. > :29:35.from these birds last night, but we need to explain what they are doing
:29:36. > :29:39.there this time of year. They are displaying and it is about
:29:40. > :29:53.attracting females, but why are they going there?
:29:54. > :30:04.What is this? It is a physical area the male grouse hunting to display
:30:05. > :30:09.to try to impress the females. They choose these areas within about 200
:30:10. > :30:12.metres of the trees, the Woodland where they are feeding, or nesting
:30:13. > :30:19.in the summer. They don't like the heather, they like an open, grassy
:30:20. > :30:34.patch. Once they have chosen a spot, they stick with it, sometimes for up
:30:35. > :30:42.to 50 or 60 years. And this is it. Although it is grassy here, and this
:30:43. > :30:45.particular spot, which is only about four or five metres in diameter, the
:30:46. > :30:53.grass is shorter and it is pushed down. But even this is subdivided
:30:54. > :30:56.and at the moment, I am crouched in the medial region and that would
:30:57. > :31:03.mean I am one of the sub dominant males. This is where they come to
:31:04. > :31:09.learn to say the experts at work. And the experts are displaying just
:31:10. > :31:12.over here. The grass is much shorter and there is definitely a central
:31:13. > :31:16.area. You can see activity have been peeking here, there are lots of
:31:17. > :31:23.droppings. And the tell-tale feathers from the tail from the
:31:24. > :31:28.black grouse. They come into this central area, and this is subdivided
:31:29. > :31:32.into tiny patches, where the dominant males will hold their
:31:33. > :31:38.territory. The could beat that just this area here, belongs to one
:31:39. > :31:41.dominant male. And it comes throughout the year because they
:31:42. > :31:46.want to protect this patch. If they leave it, another male might come in
:31:47. > :31:50.and they might have two fight to get it back. If they come through the
:31:51. > :31:54.winter, right through to spring, they are guaranteed to be in the
:31:55. > :31:56.right face at the right time when the females come to choose the males
:31:57. > :32:19.in the spring. Fabulous. Aren't they fabulous? , yes
:32:20. > :32:25.typically they display at 9pm. So yesterday we told you to tune into
:32:26. > :32:31.Winterwatch extra on the Internet and on the red button to see what
:32:32. > :32:48.happened. Lots of you did and this is what you saw.
:32:49. > :32:57.Absolutely nothing! Terribly sorry about that. I blame you because you
:32:58. > :33:03.really build it up. It is one of those cases you should have been
:33:04. > :33:09.here yesterday. About six black cocks had been turning up. All I can
:33:10. > :33:14.say to you is, if this holds off until tomorrow morning, it is worth
:33:15. > :33:19.tuning in. They don't like the rain and the wind, but this morning it
:33:20. > :33:23.was fine. The question is, where were they? Our cameramen have been
:33:24. > :33:29.out and they were in the trees. In the winter, the black cock, the
:33:30. > :33:34.males and females go into the Woodland and it is that they find
:33:35. > :33:38.their food, take shelter of course, and to some extent avoid predators.
:33:39. > :33:45.Look at this one feeding furiously on the woodland floor. Absolutely
:33:46. > :33:50.fantastic. Have we got anything live on our cameras? Let's go to our
:33:51. > :33:56.otter camera because we think we have got an otter. Can we see
:33:57. > :34:05.anything? There was an otter there a second ago. This is literally
:34:06. > :34:12.seconds ago. Let's go back live. Look at that! It is not very far
:34:13. > :34:19.from where we are sitting at the moment. We should keep our voices
:34:20. > :34:31.down. Unfortunately, he is facing the wrong way. He is as wet as
:34:32. > :34:38.those. But he is better insulated than us. And he has a more food. It
:34:39. > :34:47.is fantastic to see this otter on the bank. Last night when Martin was
:34:48. > :34:53.talking about this, behind the branches, it was interesting but not
:34:54. > :35:00.a great view. Our monitor up here is completely covered in snow! We can
:35:01. > :35:07.tell you it is an otter, but I, tell you if it has any genitalia so I
:35:08. > :35:14.cannot tell you if it is a male or a female. You probably have a better
:35:15. > :35:20.view than us. That was amazing. They are very skittish around here. It is
:35:21. > :35:24.early in the evening and that was a real treat. Getting back to the
:35:25. > :35:32.grouse, a specialist species of woodland hedge. Up here we have the
:35:33. > :35:36.ancient, Caledonian forest and it has been on the change for thousands
:35:37. > :35:44.of years. Too many, these glorious open views
:35:45. > :35:49.epitomise the Scottish Highlands. What few realise is this is a
:35:50. > :35:56.landscape largely created by humans. A shadow of what once was and of
:35:57. > :35:58.what could be again. This is an area that thousands of years ago would
:35:59. > :36:01.have been covered in forest? that thousands of years ago would
:36:02. > :36:07.have been Yes, 6000 years ago this would have had peak forest cover.
:36:08. > :36:17.Trees stretching all the way around here up to 650 metres even higher.
:36:18. > :36:20.Since then, Neolithic man came and chopped the trees down and also the
:36:21. > :36:25.climate became cooler and wetter which made it less suitable for pine
:36:26. > :36:29.trees to grow. As humans, sheep and cattle flourished, so did the
:36:30. > :36:36.Caledonian Forest shrink to just 1% of its former size. Meanwhile, the
:36:37. > :36:42.extermination of wolves in the mid-18th-century meant Scotland's
:36:43. > :36:47.read here had no natural predators. As they became increasingly valued,
:36:48. > :36:54.their population boomed. How many red deer do you think there are in
:36:55. > :36:59.Scotland? The best estimate is about 350,000 of red deer across Scotland.
:37:00. > :37:07.If you go back to the 1860s there were 150,000. In parts of Scotland,
:37:08. > :37:12.this means up to 40 red deer per square colour matter. Together with
:37:13. > :37:16.lives -- together with livestock they can have an impact on the
:37:17. > :37:22.forest. Traditionally, land owners fenced off their trees to protect
:37:23. > :37:28.them. But offences are expensive, hard to maintain and can be a death
:37:29. > :37:34.trap. So to restore a natural balance, the deer population needs
:37:35. > :37:39.to be controlled. The best guess you need to get the numbers below five
:37:40. > :37:49.per square colour matter to let the trees grow. So that means culling
:37:50. > :37:52.the deer? Yes it does. Culling is costly and controversial, but in
:37:53. > :37:57.some parts of Scotland it is already having an effect. This area looks
:37:58. > :38:04.encouraging because there are loads of saplings? It is a fantastic idea
:38:05. > :38:08.what is happening in many areas of Scotland now. About 20 years ago
:38:09. > :38:14.there was a recognition in the loss of habitat. You can see a huge
:38:15. > :38:18.response from the trees. It might take about 20 years for them to get
:38:19. > :38:25.above the browsing height of the deer. If you look at this, the gap
:38:26. > :38:30.represents a year of growth. If you want to try to gauge it, it is
:38:31. > :38:35.straightforward. Last year, good growth, the year before, the year
:38:36. > :38:40.before that. But when you come down to here, there is a lump of stem
:38:41. > :38:44.which is probably where it was repeatedly browsed when the deer
:38:45. > :38:51.numbers were high. It could have sat at this level for maybe ten years
:38:52. > :38:54.without growing at all. If we look over there, how old are those pine
:38:55. > :39:02.trees? Probably about 200 years plus. It shows the generation gap.
:39:03. > :39:06.Nothing between these new ones and those 200-year-old ones? I think
:39:07. > :39:09.that is why people started to realise they needed to do something
:39:10. > :39:15.now be for the forest disappeared altogether. Once this forest got too
:39:16. > :39:21.old to produce seeds, we would have been in trouble. The last 20 years
:39:22. > :39:25.has seen an increase in this -- increased awareness of the
:39:26. > :39:30.Caledonian Forest. Now the Scottish landscape looks set to change once
:39:31. > :39:36.again. It is all about balance, despite the
:39:37. > :39:42.fact 80% of the deer living in Scotland live in open areas, they
:39:43. > :39:46.are a forest species. Ideally, the deer need the forest and the forest
:39:47. > :39:50.need the deer because they open the forest out for other highland
:39:51. > :39:54.species, they help to germinate the forest and spread the seed. Let's
:39:55. > :39:58.hope we can get some sort of balance.
:39:59. > :40:05.If you would like to find out more, there are links on our website.
:40:06. > :40:18.You can also post your views as well. Having fun? You are a bit of a
:40:19. > :40:26.drowned rat. It cannot make its mind up. Can we revel in these? It is
:40:27. > :40:33.full of these lovely lichens. It is a sign of clear air. It must be so
:40:34. > :40:36.clear for them to grow. There is a crusty one you often see in stones
:40:37. > :40:50.in graveyards. There are the leafy ones here. These are some of the
:40:51. > :40:56.ones we have filmed here. Look at the beauty of them. They are and an
:40:57. > :41:01.usual organism, because they are a mixture of fungus and algae.
:41:02. > :41:07.Combined together. They help each other out. The fungus provides
:41:08. > :41:13.protection for the algae and the algae photosynthesise as an provides
:41:14. > :41:22.nutrients that the fungus. They are incredible tough. In 2005, they took
:41:23. > :41:27.some of this lichen into space, exposed it there for 15 days and
:41:28. > :41:31.when it came back, perfectly OK. They are the oldest living organisms
:41:32. > :41:38.on the planet. They think they found some lichens in the Arctic that are
:41:39. > :41:45.eight thousand 600 years old. 8600 years old! That is what I call
:41:46. > :41:49.ancient. You can tell these two are liking lichen. We have been enjoying
:41:50. > :41:57.the ancient forest of here in the Cairngorms, because there is only 1%
:41:58. > :41:59.of it left. 6000 years ago, three quarters of Britain would have been
:42:00. > :42:04.covered in ancient woodland. But what would it have looked like? It
:42:05. > :42:12.would have been a very different place.
:42:13. > :42:18.In one corner of south-east England, there is a very special
:42:19. > :42:26.wood. A woodland to visit and enjoy during the short days. Somewhere to
:42:27. > :42:37.let our imagination wander, and wonder about the wildlife that lives
:42:38. > :42:48.there. Weak sunlight and the woodland scenes almost lifeless. But
:42:49. > :43:00.need the roots, out of sight... Here, dormice slumber to escape the
:43:01. > :43:04.cold, resting in true hibernation. They may stay curled up in this cosy
:43:05. > :43:12.nurse for up to seven months, waiting for the temperatures to
:43:13. > :43:19.rise. Further underground, bigger creatures retreat from winter's
:43:20. > :43:26.grip. Badgers. They don't actually hibernate, but often sleep huddled
:43:27. > :43:30.together to help keep warm. But not everything here sleeps through the
:43:31. > :43:38.long, freezing nights. A wood mouse delves amongst the leaves under the
:43:39. > :43:44.cover of darkness, looking for seeds and nuts. It's sensitive nose sniffs
:43:45. > :43:52.out food, ears and eyes constantly alert for danger. And it must be
:43:53. > :44:00.cautious. Because height above, a tawny owl's huge eyes and Keane ears
:44:01. > :44:06.are intently watching and listening. A wood mouse would be a welcome meal
:44:07. > :44:16.in these lean times. As dawn breaks, some of the wood's other residents
:44:17. > :44:23.stir. While Bor Digg and furrow their way through the sodden ground,
:44:24. > :44:31.looking for roots, plans and anything else they think they can
:44:32. > :44:36.eat. Fallow deer. They stick together in
:44:37. > :44:52.a herd for safety. Because they sense danger here.
:44:53. > :45:00.They can smell predators. Lynn, are waiting, watching. A small
:45:01. > :45:06.deer would make perfect prey. -- lynx. Thick fur keeps out the winter
:45:07. > :45:15.chill, even the soles of their paws are covered.
:45:16. > :45:22.This loan hunter, about the size of a sheepdog hasn't been seen in our
:45:23. > :45:30.countryside since Roman times. -- lone. Now, it is only disturbed
:45:31. > :45:35.by the master of the woods. The wolf.
:45:36. > :45:44.By hunting in pack, wolves can take on the largest prey, red deer.
:45:45. > :45:51.Wolves are top predators, keeping nature in check, ensuring Ballance.
:45:52. > :45:57.But wolves haven't roamed our land for centuries either, so where is
:45:58. > :46:06.this mythical place? Where is this ancient wild wood, home to
:46:07. > :46:15.historical hunters? It is all we have left. It is a wildlife park.
:46:16. > :46:24.Just a dream of our past. But there are people here, trying to make this
:46:25. > :46:30.dream come true. Zoos are breeding these animals, and in some cases
:46:31. > :46:39.releasing them too. Not the big predator, not yet any
:46:40. > :46:50.way. Some people talk of a forest, that will be truly wild again.
:46:51. > :46:57.Wolves, lynx, even bear, perhaps they could all return. Perhaps this
:46:58. > :47:07.wild wood is more than an echo of our history. Could it be a vision of
:47:08. > :47:11.wild things to come? It is amazing to think about what would have been
:47:12. > :47:15.here, but how feasible is it to put any of those animals back into the
:47:16. > :47:20.wild? It is an interesting question, in a way it's a legal requirement,
:47:21. > :47:25.because under the EU directive, it is article 22, the EU directive, I
:47:26. > :47:31.had to write it down, on cons va, it says this, member states shadow
:47:32. > :47:34.study the desirable of reintroducing species native to their Terry, the
:47:35. > :47:38.EU want us to try and study at least that possibility. In fact they have
:47:39. > :47:41.done it in certain parts of Europe, Switzerland, Germany, France have
:47:42. > :47:46.tried it. In Switzerland it has been very successful. I think they
:47:47. > :47:52.started in 1971 with lynx. Switzerland is a highly populated
:47:53. > :47:57.country, I mean, much more densely than the Highlands of Scotland, so
:47:58. > :48:01.it is possible. It is being done. We can learn from those what is
:48:02. > :48:05.happening in France, Germany and Switzerland, it wouldn't be like
:48:06. > :48:09.opening a door and letting them out. It would have to be carefully
:48:10. > :48:14.considered, and like the fobs, they would have collars so they would be
:48:15. > :48:18.monitored and managed carefully to make sure it was working properly.
:48:19. > :48:22.They would have to be careful. It is an interesting possibility. It's a
:48:23. > :48:28.good debate. You know, now we only really have the small predators
:48:29. > :48:34.left, like these Wildcats. Now this is a wildcat filmed in the Highlands
:48:35. > :48:39.in 2008 on Springwatch. Very elusive. Very shy. But look at this.
:48:40. > :48:44.This was sent in by a viewer. It is in 2013. But if we just highlight
:48:45. > :48:50.the back of that cat. And then highlight the one we filmed. Back in
:48:51. > :48:56.2008. Look how incredible that is. It is the same cat. Because each
:48:57. > :49:00.wildcat has distinctive markings, so it means that cat, that was six
:49:01. > :49:04.years a it is probably at least seven-and-a-half years old. So it is
:49:05. > :49:10.doing well. Thank you very much for sending that footage in. It is great
:49:11. > :49:14.if see. Now, Wildcats are exotic and that would be a real thrill to see
:49:15. > :49:24.one, but sometimes the very common animals we see in the back gardens
:49:25. > :49:26.can still surprise us. Great tits are superb problem
:49:27. > :49:30.solvers. And when they are pushed to the
:49:31. > :49:36.limit, during the cold winter moneys, this ability to innovate is
:49:37. > :49:41.of vital importance. We first realises how clever the
:49:42. > :49:46.birds are in the 1920s. When a group of tits in the southern town of
:49:47. > :49:50.swatheling discovered they would be rewarded with a fat rich meal of
:49:51. > :49:55.cream if they peeled off the tops of milk bottles. But what was even more
:49:56. > :50:00.surprising, was that this clever technique didn't remain localised.
:50:01. > :50:04.Instead, it spread like wild fire. So it wasn't long before tits were
:50:05. > :50:09.stealing the cream from doorsteps across the country.
:50:10. > :50:13.But how did this knowledge spread throughout the tit population? To
:50:14. > :50:18.answer that question, I have come here, to the woods in Oxfordshire,
:50:19. > :50:26.home of the most well studied great tits in the world.
:50:27. > :50:30.Dr Lucy Aplin is one of the scientists monitoring them. So Lucy,
:50:31. > :50:35.what was happening then, in the case of those tits in the milk bottles?
:50:36. > :50:40.We are not sure. That is what is fascinated people for so long about
:50:41. > :50:43.this milk bottle innovation, we saw this apparent cultural spread of new
:50:44. > :50:48.behaviour, but we are not sure if it spread from a single individual or
:50:49. > :50:53.the way across the UK or whether there was multiple sites of
:50:54. > :50:57.innovation. We tend to think of animals as little robots and acting
:50:58. > :51:03.the same way to a stimulus, but that isn't the case is it? No, great
:51:04. > :51:08.tits, are one of the good examples of behavioural flexibility in bird,
:51:09. > :51:11.they are very good at problem solving, as well as have been
:51:12. > :51:17.opportunistic over their lifespan. Lucy's research is attempting to
:51:18. > :51:22.recreate the milk top story by training wild great tits to solve a
:51:23. > :51:27.puzzle box, by pushing on the blue side of a sliding door, or the red
:51:28. > :51:31.side, in order to get a reward. The training of the birds begins in the
:51:32. > :51:37.lab. So Lucy, how does the puzzle box,
:51:38. > :51:42.how does it work? It's a simple design, so I have got mealworm,
:51:43. > :51:47.which great tits love, and I have a sliding door in front of this
:51:48. > :51:53.feeder, and one half is blue, one is red. It can be pushed all the way.
:51:54. > :51:57.In some population, I train it to push it on the blue side. In other
:51:58. > :52:01.populations they push it on the red side. So if I get that right, if you
:52:02. > :52:05.go back to that population, and you see that the majority of that
:52:06. > :52:11.population from which these birds come are using the blue side, not
:52:12. > :52:18.blue and red, then you know that the learning has been passed on. That is
:52:19. > :52:27.exactly right. Look at that. He is trying to work
:52:28. > :52:31.it out. After three days, Lucy releases
:52:32. > :52:37.birds trained to push the blue side of the door back in to the wild.
:52:38. > :52:41.Along with the puzzle boxes from her lab.
:52:42. > :52:45.Here she can track how their new found knowledge spreads the through
:52:46. > :52:49.the population. This great tit might come down, he
:52:50. > :52:58.is looking. Here with go. Come on, I want to see it happen. They are
:52:59. > :53:05.coming in now. Here is a great tit. He did it. As fast as that. The door
:53:06. > :53:10.just shut again. Yes. It doesn't hang about, does it? We have seen
:53:11. > :53:14.science in action. Yes. It is exciting. That was great. In order
:53:15. > :53:19.to identify and record unique visits, each bird has a microchip in
:53:20. > :53:24.a ring attached to its leg. Time to check out the results.
:53:25. > :53:28.At the front you see the antenna and when the birds land on that their
:53:29. > :53:35.tag is read, so we know who the bird is. It says here that 129 birds have
:53:36. > :53:39.solved it pushing from the left, the blue side and only 24 from the
:53:40. > :53:44.right. That is conclusive. Is that a typical result? Those proportions?
:53:45. > :53:48.The next site down the way there was 206 solves on the blue side and none
:53:49. > :53:53.on the right. None? None at all. That is what you like to hear as a
:53:54. > :53:57.scientist. Conclusive! One question, how long does it take for the
:53:58. > :54:02.behaviour to spread throughout this population? Well, so in a local
:54:03. > :54:05.population like this size, which is about one hundred birds it takes
:54:06. > :54:10.four weeks to spread. We see this with a slow up take at the
:54:11. > :54:13.beginning, when there is only a few knowledgeable birds then we have
:54:14. > :54:18.this fast increase of individuals learning until actually it plateaus.
:54:19. > :54:21.If I have got it right, it looks like the other individuals are
:54:22. > :54:27.learning from the birds that have the behaviour in the first place.
:54:28. > :54:30.Yes, basically, by copying another individual you socialiate with, you
:54:31. > :54:33.are getting fast track reliable information without having to invest
:54:34. > :54:37.in trial and error learning by yourself. And it might be vital to
:54:38. > :54:42.get them through the winter months. I was going to say, in a cold winter
:54:43. > :54:50.force, a small bird, that literally could be... The difference between
:54:51. > :54:57.life-and-death, it really could. Astonishing. One bird, the others
:54:58. > :55:00.learn from it. We think that happens in lots of species, it might have
:55:01. > :55:05.been happening in the urban foxes, it might be now we know they were
:55:06. > :55:09.travelling greater difference -- distance, the habit was spread in a
:55:10. > :55:12.similar way, you can learn a lot from looking after common thing,
:55:13. > :55:16.especially if you take a different look, we have been using a high
:55:17. > :55:21.speed camera close to where we are, to record common garden birds, but
:55:22. > :55:26.in a different way. High speed means slow motion. Just look at the way
:55:27. > :55:30.these blue tits approach and land and fly on the feeder. Also, it
:55:31. > :55:37.gives you time to analyse the behaviour. That blue tit got the nut
:55:38. > :55:41.half out but the sparrow takes advantage because its beak is too
:55:42. > :55:46.big to get the nuts out easily. That one managed to pull it off. A nice
:55:47. > :55:52.goldfinch too, perched on the top. You can see how it uses the beak so
:55:53. > :55:56.neatly. Here is something else we have noticed. As the birds approach
:55:57. > :56:02.the feeder, they do a bit of base jumping. Look at this. They just
:56:03. > :56:10.freefall. Dive Diving off the ten metrers isn't it Chris. Beautifully
:56:11. > :56:15.done. That is a tree sparrow. Look how sweat it esvelte it is.
:56:16. > :56:21.The birds are not designed to glide at all. They are all flying species,
:56:22. > :56:25.but what is the point in flying if you can drop down on to it. Saving
:56:26. > :56:29.energy, it is probably quicker. We want to learn things about our birds
:56:30. > :56:33.and to try and learn more about the decisions garden birds make and what
:56:34. > :56:37.and when to eat, we got together with Oxford University, to do a
:56:38. > :56:41.little garden bird table experiment. We have launched it yesterday. We
:56:42. > :56:45.are going to recap it right now for you. Day one, which should have been
:56:46. > :56:50.today for you, you put out your normal seeds. We then asked you to
:56:51. > :56:54.observer the birds between three and four o'clock for three minute, you
:56:55. > :56:57.watch them. Mark down what birds come to table. Take seven minutes
:56:58. > :57:04.off. Watch them again for three, take seven minutes off. Watch them
:57:05. > :57:09.for three. Day two, tomorrow, you put out either cheese if your
:57:10. > :57:13.surname begins A to L or apple if your surname begins with M to Z so
:57:14. > :57:18.that is what you should have done tonight, or first thing tomorrow and
:57:19. > :57:22.you watch those birds tomorrow. And let us know. It is complicated but
:57:23. > :57:27.great science, if you want to find out more detail, go to the website
:57:28. > :57:32.or Winterwatch extra, or press the red button. Do you want to know the
:57:33. > :57:36.results from today? We got nine coal tit, one Robin and two great tits.
:57:37. > :57:41.That is what we got on the bird table. On the general food. Tomorrow
:57:42. > :57:45.will be interesting. Do they go for the choose or the apple. We will
:57:46. > :57:54.test that over the next couple of days. -- cheese. Tomorrow we are on
:57:55. > :58:00.at 8.00 for a packed hopefully less snowy. We have the black cock, they
:58:01. > :58:07.might be lekking live in the morning, I headed off to Aberdeen
:58:08. > :58:11.harbour to find out about dolphin communication. And I am going into
:58:12. > :58:17.the river Dee for a nice refreshing dip! So we will be back tomorrow at
:58:18. > :58:22.8.00, keep watching for Winterwatch unsprung, with Nick Baker, he is
:58:23. > :58:27.there. Give us a wave. Watch him on the red button and on line. But that
:58:28. > :58:30.is it. I think we are all a bit wet and soggy, it has been a great
:58:31. > :58:33.evening. See you tomorrow. Bye.