Episode 1 Winterwatch


Episode 1

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What an extraordinary winter. What unprecedented weather. The warmest

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December and the wettest January since records began. We're going to

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be exploring just how this weird winter has been affecting our

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wildlife, both here in the Highlands and right across the UK.

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We're going to dig deeper and climb higher than we've ever done before

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and I'm going to be exploring the peaks and troughs of Britain's

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biggest wilderness. Welcome to a brand new series of Winterwatch!

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Hello and welcome to Winterwatch 2016. Welcome to the Highlands of

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Scotland and the very wonderful and beautiful Mile Lodge estate here

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nestled into the Cairngorms. We're back with our programmes for the

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rest of this week, as I'm sure you know. I've said this before, I often

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say this at the start of a series, I promise you this time, we're going

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to deliver. We've got some fantastic stuff. Today, though, we had buckets

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of rain. It was different last week when we arrived. It was minus ten.

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This was a vertible winter wonderland. Then things began to

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change. The temperature began to increase and the thaw started.

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Across Scotland in the last week, there's been no less than a 28, yes

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28-degree centigrade range in temperature. In one place it was

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minus 12, then it went up to plus 16. Of course, not only this last

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week, but the entire winter will have had a profound effect on our

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wildlife. That's one of our missions this year, to discover what all of

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this unusual weather has done to our wildlife. Of course, it's been

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extraordinary and on that account, I can promise you an extraordinary

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series too. In this strangest of seasons, the

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Winterwatch team is being more ambitious than ever. Here she goes,

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oh, yes! I'm already remarkably close. We are scouring the length

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and breadth of the UK. In this vicinity there must be several

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thousand already. I think they're extraordinary, such a unique little

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dance that they're doing. With the latest technology. Wow, this gives

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us an amazing perspective looking right down at the reed bed. To

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discover how creatures great, small, secretive, and bizarre are surviving

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at this, the toughest time of year. Indeed, it's not going to be all

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about the weather, though. We will bring you charismatic and icon

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species. Raisz we will show you rove -- we will show you some revelations

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and great new science. In order to achieve that, we pretty much Have

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cameras spread over a vast area. We will show you what they have

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captured through the week. Behind me, we have our live cameras set up

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in the woods here. Let's have a look. This is a camera we've set up

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to try and record a species live. Which we have seen before, but not

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on our remote cameras and not always very close up. We baited it with

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apple. What can it be? It turned up earlier and gave us a cracking view.

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It's the mountain hare. They're very much a specialist of this upland

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region. You can see from this animal, they turn white in the

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winter. That normally camouflages them, hides them from predators.

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With the absence of snow, it creates problems. Martin is going to be

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telling us more about that later on. What you're thinking at this moment,

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Winterwatch is back, that's great. But we're stuck with just that

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Packham bloke. The BBC cuts have not crept in yet, the other two are

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here. Michaela is about 200 metres down here perilously perched on the

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banks of the River Dee. I don't know about perilously perched. It is

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exposed here. Let's face it, a few days or weeks ago it would have been

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foolish and dangerous to be standing here. Because just last month, the

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River Dee burst its banks and flooded the valley, causing very

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dramatic scenes. This is a photo that we took two years ago when we

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were here, that's Martin standing just under a bridge crossing the

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River Dee. It's very calm, and gentle river, beneath that bridge.

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This is what that same bridge looked like a few weeks ago, same bridge,

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very different river. It's a fierce torrent of water Thunderering down.

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Now the cause of this was relentless rains, storms, mild weather, which

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melted the ice on top of the mountains adding to that huge volume

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of water. In fact the volume of water was so great, in some parts of

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the river the level went up three metres, which is a huge rise. The

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river was the highest level it's been since records began. If you

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look at it now, you can see that the river has dropped. It's still very

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fast, very full, but if you look at this tree next to me, you can see

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that there's debris all over the tree. That's how high the river was.

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This volume of water and the flooding caused chaos locally. Lots

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of people were isolated. They were evacuated. People lost their homes.

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Some of the road was washed away, making a lot of this area

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inaccessible. At one stage we didn't think we would be able to get here

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for Winterwatch. This is a 450-year-old castle. The bank has

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been eroded and it's perilously close to the edge. The worry is that

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water level is still pretty high. It's mild weather again, the snow is

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melting, the ground is water logged, the floods could continue on. In

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fact, just this evening, we've heard that the road coming in has been

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flooded. It's caused devastation for the people locally. But how has

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flooded. It's caused devastation for affected our wildlife? It's going to

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take a long time for the ecosystem of this river to recover.

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Inevitably, there have been lots of casualties. We're going to

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Inevitably, there have been lots of looking at those casualties as the

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days go by. looking at those casualties as the

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rescue centre close to here, that's taken in an unbelievable amount of

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animals. It's one particular animal that's probably -- that probably

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comes as a surprise to most people as being a flood victim.

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The Scottish national wildlife rescue centre is currently home to

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21 otter cubs. It's feeding time. I'm helping

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Sheila on her rounds. Just a small morning feed for them.

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A lot of people are surprised that flooding affects otters so much

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considering that they can swim and they live in water. They have the

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perception that no matter how harsh it's going to be they're going to

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cope. But it's not the case at all. Especially with the young ones. They

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don't have the agility that the adults do. They get flushed out of

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their holt and they can't survive by themselves. Luckily people find

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them. We had one came to somebody's door and was pawing on the door.

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Really? It was quite lucky. Once a young otter comes in, what's the

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rehabilitation process? Initially we will have quite hands on with them,

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to stabilise them and get them eating. Then we introduce them to

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other ones. When they're good company, it's totally hands off and

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usually they're kept for about a year old. They're with you for a

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year before you release them? Just that's how long they're generally

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with their parents for, maybe longer, it's just to replicate that

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kind of time. Otters breed throughout the year including

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winter. It's already harder to find food right now, but the recent

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flooding has seriously added to their problems. That leaves the cubs

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particularly vulnerable. For those brought here to the centre, they've

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got a second chance. This recent arrival is three months old and is

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unusually tame. At this age, I shouldn't be able to do this. You'd

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expect quite a harsh response to you. She's be snapping and wanting

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to hide away. It's odd behaviour. Are you concerned about that? I am,

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yeah, just because it's obviously not natural and not something we

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usually see. We will have the vet look at her today and make sure that

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there's nothing going on. All otter arrivals get seen by the vet to get

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the once over. When they're five months old, they'll be released into

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these outdoor pens. Already outside are the otters that have been kept

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at the centre since last winter. At this stage, human contact is kept to

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a minimum. In you know. The manager, Colin, must monitor their progress

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to find out when they can be released back into the wild. He's 9.

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6. Oh, you are a big boy. A huge, broad head of a male. Lovely

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condition. He's ready basically? He's ready. All three are pretty

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much ready, in the next couple of weeks they'll have reached target

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weights. As soon as we have a decent spell of weather and the water

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leaves have subsided. The last thing you want to do is release them into

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the floods. Sometimes we keep them right the way through winter

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depending on weather conditions. Where do you release these guys?

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They will go down the southern part of Scotland. As much as we can, we

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try to get animals back in the appropriate environment. Has it

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taken you by surprise the amount of otters you have in at the moment? It

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has. It's not something we would have ever catered for. The floods

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have taken everybody by surprise, not just the wildlife. Do you think

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more are going to come in? What's the forecast for the next few weeks?

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I would have thought a couple of weeks ago, we wouldn't get any more.

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But we got one yesterday, a couple of other day. All we need is high

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water. There's more rain forecast so who knows. With the centre already

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bursting at the seams with otter cubs, the team are going to have a

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busy few months ahead, whatever the weather.

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I know, I know, there's going to be sitting rooms all over the country

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going "aahhh... " he are adorable. But it's sad that those rescued

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otters will be in that centre for anything up to a year before going

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back to the wild. If you think about, it the ones that are rescued,

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are just a small per cent of the ones that were actually troubled by

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the floods. Although, having said that, they should recover quickly.

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They should do. They could recolonise the water courses. If any

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of the adults are lost as breeding animals, they should be replaced

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quite quickly. In this part of the UK, there are quite a lot of otters

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at the moment. Quite robust. It is. Last year we had otters here. We

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captured them on our remote cameras. Here's one playing in the snow here,

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I say playing, it's rolling around, might be a bit of scent marking

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going on, or giving itself a bath with the snow. Nice to see that. Who

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needs a panda rolling in the snow when you have an otter! This is what

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we've got this year. Blame it on the rain, if you like, but there's a lot

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more water out there. This means it's going to be harder for us to

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tie the otter down. There's more space for it to explore. That's

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typically what they do when there are floods, they push into the

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environment. They can feed on terrestrial things. They don't have

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to just feed of crustaceans and fish. Otters could be anywhere.

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Don't give up. We will try our best to bring you pictures of the otters

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It's going to be challenging, but we are going to try. We will hopefully

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bring you lots of amazing pictures from around the estate. This is our

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live pine marten camera. There's nothing on there right now. He has

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made a couple of appearances. Let's look at what we got earlier. Here he

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is. This is the pine marten. About the size of a domestic cat. Looks a

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bit like a weasel. It's a gorgeous Highland specialist, climbing up the

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tree. No doubt it's looking for food. It's a generalist predator,

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small rodents, birds, beetles, carrion, berries. But what's it

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looking for? You'll see in a minute. It's delving deep into the trunk.

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It's come out with an egg. This is an egg that we planted there to see

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if it would find it. It's astonishing the way it's coming down

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that tree, the egg's in the mouth. It's not breaking it. We want to

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know where does it take it? Where does it hide it? And how does it

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stop other ceeures from find -- creatures from finding it? Great

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when it came down the tree, it twisted its foot you'd. They have

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very long claws to hang on. They are very agile creatures spending time

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in the trees. Ewant to know how this -- we want to know how this winter

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has affected the wildlife in your area. Send us your observation r

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observations and pictures to Facebook and Twitter. There's lots

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of seasonal updates on the website. Funny stuff as well. Probably too

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early for a graph... I think so! But it's about time for a map. We've got

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to have a map. Here we are. This is Aberdeen here. Inverness is up here.

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We're down here. We're in this part of north-eastern Scotland. The

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question is - where is Martin? We've sent him off into the cold rain and

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the snow. Here we are, Mar Lodge. Here up here where he's probably

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going to turn into an abominable snowman given half a chance.

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Yes indeed, Chris. I might be abominable but I am not a snowman.

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No snow here whatsoever. I am in part of the Cairngorms and this is

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an incredible place. This is the wildest, the coldest, the snowiest

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plateau in the whole of the UK. This is a place where weather records are

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broken. Let me give you some examples. Just down there is the

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village of Braemar. They had to endure a temperature one winter of

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27.12 Celsius. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the UK.

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If you keep going, beyond Braemar you get to Cairngorm, the mountain

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itself and at the top of Cairngorm they recorded a wind speed of 170

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mph. Unofficially, 193. Just today, here, the wind has hit 104 mph.

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Obviously, any animal that is going to live here, we'll have two endure

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these brutal conditions. I wanted to share with you what that actually

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feels like, so I wanted to go up to the top and tried to live, spend a

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night in a snow hole. A few days ago I set out to do just that.

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It was covered in over a metre of snow. Mountain guide Bill and I got

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down to business, building a snow shelter. I think this is quite a

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good place, because you can see a ptarmigan across the. It is good

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because the weird and is Westerly, the forecast is the wind is coming

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this way. The snow is quite deep. Brilliant, this will be my home?

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Yes, relax, you will be quite comfortable. Let's dig down. Make a

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good job of it. It took a whole day to build, but what a difference a

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day makes. When we came back to complete the job, the weather was

:17:57.:18:02.

much warmer and wetter. The snow had been crisp and fluffy yesterday, but

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now, not so much. I will just try the inside. Lovely! A bit wet.

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Unfortunately, my hopes of sleeping in a snow hole were literally

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melting away. Well, it wasn't to be, the snow has

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gone, well it hasn't gone, it is here. It has turned into these

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blundering streams. All the rivers around me are raging torrents now. I

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know that is the same for many of you at home, because I checked just

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before the show and the Met office have issued more than 90 flood

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warnings, so it is happening all over again. I have been driven off

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the mountain down to here, but I'm glad to say, so has the animal I

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really wanted to try and show you. They are in fact all around me here

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in the dark, but I wanted to see them during the day, so I set off to

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try and have a closing counter with a snow hare.

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It's soggy, it's blowing a bitterly cold gale and this mountain is

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teaming with hares. But these chaps are much too frisky, I need one that

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is hunkered down. And there it is. They tend to be

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very timid. These hares don't go down burrows,

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they are not like rabbits. They make a little impression in the heather

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or choose a little bank like this one has. It cuts out 90% of the wind

:20:05.:20:14.

and will generally angle it so they can get a view out, to see any

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predators. I'm already remarkably close. You can never tell with

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mountain hares, sometimes they just sit really tight, and other times

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they are off. I'm going to try and get a little bit closer, so I can

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get a slightly better look. You never know whether to crawl along...

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The poor old hare might think I am a predator of some sort. Or whether to

:20:46.:20:53.

stand up... I'm going to try that on a crawling down a bit, just to get a

:20:54.:20:58.

bit closer. What a magical experience. To be quite so close.

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Eating, look at that! In summer they eat grass, and in a period of two

:21:08.:21:16.

weeks therein tyre. Technology changes and switches over, allowing

:21:17.:21:20.

them to eat Woody heather. It is so efficient, the mountain hare,

:21:21.:21:25.

contrary to what you might think, puts on weight during the winter.

:21:26.:21:38.

Oh. He's off. To find a juicy bit of heather, somewhere out. -- somewhere

:21:39.:21:42.

else. Fantastic experience. Of course, the

:21:43.:22:00.

mountain hare is the original hare. The Brown hare was introduced, so

:22:01.:22:07.

this one, the tough one, is the original one. As I say, there should

:22:08.:22:12.

be mountain hares around me right now. We have a thermal camera that

:22:13.:22:16.

can peer into the darkness and with a bit of luck we might be able to

:22:17.:22:19.

see them right now. Let's have a look. We've got deer, grazing away,

:22:20.:22:38.

lying down. There are stags. There they are, mountain hares. I think

:22:39.:22:48.

they are feeding, grazing, out of their holes. A couple of nights ago

:22:49.:22:55.

we had a close look at them. They have to come out of that protective

:22:56.:23:04.

holes to feed at night. You can see they are losing a lot of heat,

:23:05.:23:10.

through their back and through their eyes, but they have to come out.

:23:11.:23:17.

Fantastic animals, perfectly adapted to these bitter conditions. When we

:23:18.:23:24.

come back, I will look even deeper at these extraordinary animals

:23:25.:23:27.

because they have a whole array of adaptations that keep them here.

:23:28.:23:35.

But, the weather has been playing havoc with us. I can't tell you what

:23:36.:23:38.

will happen in the next few hours, let alone the next couple of days,

:23:39.:23:43.

but I know a man who can. Nick Miller at the BBC centre. What does

:23:44.:23:46.

the weather hold in store for our mountain hares?

:23:47.:23:53.

You are witnessing first-hand the swings of weather in the Cairngorms

:23:54.:23:56.

are more of that to come this week. For much of the UK winter has been

:23:57.:24:00.

about the rain and the floods, not just in December but in January as

:24:01.:24:05.

well. This was the start of the month, at Mar Lodge. It took only

:24:06.:24:09.

about all week the Aberdeenshire to record its wettest January and -- on

:24:10.:24:17.

record. And these pictures, daffodils in full bloom in Dorset.

:24:18.:24:24.

Early emergence records for flowers and impacts on birds as well. This

:24:25.:24:34.

was in Northumberland today. For US ones, and birds who shouldn't be

:24:35.:24:38.

here at this time of year, like swallows. One like this has been

:24:39.:24:46.

spotted on the 13th. Amphibians and in vertebrates that should be

:24:47.:24:50.

hibernating have been spotted as well. What can expect this way?

:24:51.:24:56.

Still big swings in the weather, my old one moment and colder the next.

:24:57.:25:01.

Jet stream pushing wetter systems across the Atlantic. About rainfall

:25:02.:25:07.

amounts in the west of the UK. Just for Winterwatch, some rain in the

:25:08.:25:11.

Cairngorms tonight. Colder for the next few days, potentially very

:25:12.:25:13.

windy at the end of the week. Extraordinary weather in the

:25:14.:25:19.

countryside, in your backyard. Cairngorms or Chiltern Hills, get

:25:20.:25:22.

out, because there is something to spot near you. Thank you, get out

:25:23.:25:28.

but put your Wellington boots on, doesn't look like much chance of

:25:29.:25:32.

sunshine after the rain. A lot of the wildlife seems so confused.

:25:33.:25:37.

Daffodils out, Swift Sound swallows, what have you seen down south? We

:25:38.:25:43.

had a butterfly on Christmas eve, primroses in the garden. Thrushes in

:25:44.:25:56.

full song. The crew saw a bat here. We want to know what you have seen,

:25:57.:26:00.

what weird winter wildlife you have spotted. Send your photographs in

:26:01.:26:05.

using the #weirdwinter. This is where the action starts, where

:26:06.:26:11.

things start to get good. I will promise you an eagle -fest. I said

:26:12.:26:15.

we had our cameras out across the Cairngorms and some of those set up,

:26:16.:26:20.

remote on carcasses to attract scavenging birds and of course what

:26:21.:26:24.

we wanted to get were eagles. We have been successful and the first

:26:25.:26:28.

camera to deliver was about 100 miles south-west of here.

:26:29.:26:36.

The island of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland is home to a guild of

:26:37.:26:47.

carnivorous birds. Who did Crowes -- hooded crows, buzzards and white

:26:48.:26:51.

tailed eagles. As the temperatures drop and winter

:26:52.:27:08.

approaches, food becomes scarce. But all these birds are highly

:27:09.:27:12.

intelligent and extremely wary, so even a fresh deer carcass takes time

:27:13.:27:16.

to tempt them. Once a single bird has found a large

:27:17.:27:46.

carcass like this, they will bring others to the location. They do this

:27:47.:27:54.

in the hope that greater numbers will help defend the food resource.

:27:55.:28:01.

Ravens are very vocal, using more than 30 different calls and

:28:02.:28:05.

constantly communicating with each other. Once on the carrion, it is

:28:06.:28:12.

the lead bird that will dominate the feasting. Ravens will eat up to a

:28:13.:28:18.

third of their body weight in a single day. They will also take meat

:28:19.:28:27.

away and save it for later date. But their -- they are still wary. Some

:28:28.:28:32.

birds take it in turns to watch for danger.

:28:33.:28:36.

A second visitor, a buzzard. Similar in size, but with a more delicate

:28:37.:28:51.

bill, the buzzard seems happy for the ravens to do the hard work and

:28:52.:28:54.

then bullies them off to get access to the best pickings.

:28:55.:29:13.

After four days, eagles arrived on the scene.

:29:14.:29:27.

This young male golden eagle weighs three times as much as array even.

:29:28.:29:36.

They regularly hunt for their parade, but they are not above

:29:37.:29:42.

scavenging and easy meal. And as the light fades at the end of the day,

:29:43.:29:45.

the largest bird of all joins the feast.

:29:46.:29:51.

This young white tailed eagle has a darker head and a much bigger bill.

:29:52.:30:04.

At carcass, golden eagles tend to dominate, but this time he is seen

:30:05.:30:12.

off by the bigger bird. Capturing these giant characters side-by-side

:30:13.:30:13.

is a really unique Highland treat. Lodge, Seeing those two eagles

:30:14.:30:28.

together is a special treat. We've got a better treat now. We're going

:30:29.:30:32.

to look at them close up. That gives us the perfect opportunities to look

:30:33.:30:39.

at the differences. On my arm I have the impressive, beautiful golden

:30:40.:30:44.

eagle. Over by Chris is the enormous white tailed eagle. We're

:30:45.:30:48.

eagle. Over by Chris is the enormous look at mine first. Let's

:30:49.:30:50.

eagle. Over by Chris is the enormous the size. Noisy bird! This is a

:30:51.:30:55.

male, probably about four kilos. It's smaller than the female. The

:30:56.:30:56.

female can be anything It's smaller than the female. The

:30:57.:31:01.

larger, maybe around six kilos. It's smaller than the female. The

:31:02.:31:08.

called sexual dimorphism. An impressive wing span of two metres.

:31:09.:31:16.

This bird is perfectly adapted to hunting fast-moving prey,

:31:17.:31:21.

terrestrial prey like mountain hares. First there's the beak. A

:31:22.:31:31.

typical rap tore beak. -- raptor. It's perfect for ripping open flesh.

:31:32.:31:36.

If you look at the clause, gripping my hand -- claws, gripping my hands

:31:37.:31:41.

here, strong tallons, they are great for catching the prey and pinning it

:31:42.:31:45.

down. Look at the feathers on the legs. This ego all the way down to

:31:46.:31:50.

-- they go all the way down to the feet. That indicates this is a bird

:31:51.:31:54.

of prey that would prefer to catch live prey rather than carrion,

:31:55.:31:59.

although as we've seen, it will take advantage of carrion. That is the

:32:00.:32:03.

very beautiful golden eagle. Chris, how does that differ to your white

:32:04.:32:08.

tailed eagle? Considerably in some ways. The first thing is size. There

:32:09.:32:12.

is a great deal of variety in the size of eagles. You

:32:13.:32:21.

is a great deal of variety in the big females. The white tails can

:32:22.:32:25.

weigh up to seven kilos, three more than Michaela's male. Another

:32:26.:32:30.

obvious thing is the beak. It's more powerful, larger bill. This is

:32:31.:32:33.

because it does spend quite a lot more time, particularly in the

:32:34.:32:38.

winter, feeding on carrion. It needs that large beak to tear it open.

:32:39.:32:40.

It's also got that large beak to tear it open.

:32:41.:32:44.

part of those legs. Again, that's an adaptation to feeding on carrion.

:32:45.:32:48.

doesn't want to cover those with lots of blood and guts it's it's

:32:49.:32:55.

wading in amongst the carcass. If it opened its wings it would look

:32:56.:32:59.

different. It has a wing span of up to 2. 7 metres, broader wings too.

:33:00.:33:06.

Much lower wing loading, weight to wing area ratio. This is one of the

:33:07.:33:09.

things that we're looking at later in the week to further contrast

:33:10.:33:13.

these birds, not in terms of their physical appearance, but in

:33:14.:33:16.

these birds, not in terms of their that they fly and therefore, the way

:33:17.:33:20.

in which they hunt. Whether it's goaden or while tailed -- golden or

:33:21.:33:25.

white tailed, there's no doubt, there's very beautiful, special

:33:26.:33:30.

birds indeed. From these couple of iconic predators, let's look at

:33:31.:33:34.

another very iconic predator that we have here in

:33:35.:33:37.

another very iconic predator that we Scotland. Now cats are one of the

:33:38.:33:40.

world's most favourite animals, think of tigers and snow leopards,

:33:41.:33:51.

nature's master pieces. Many of these species incredibly rare, the

:33:52.:33:58.

Iberian lynx is incredibly rare with 156 of these left in the wild. But

:33:59.:33:59.

that could be wrong. We think 156 of these left in the wild. But

:34:00.:34:03.

Scottish wildcat could be equally endangered. This week, we're going

:34:04.:34:08.

to explore this animal. The first thing we've got to do is establish -

:34:09.:34:18.

what is a really wildcat? Scottish wildcats are arguably the rarest

:34:19.:34:27.

mammals on the planet. This tiger of the Highlands has always been

:34:28.:34:31.

persecuted by man, but today, they face a far more inSidious threat -

:34:32.:34:39.

domestic cats. You see the problem is that wildcats and domestic cats

:34:40.:34:45.

can mate and in doing so, the Scottish wildcat is quite literally

:34:46.:34:51.

being bred out of existence. Scottish wildcat action, a

:34:52.:34:55.

conservation effort involving 20 partners, is being set up to reverse

:34:56.:35:01.

this. A full genetic assessment of the wild and captive population ises

:35:02.:35:04.

now under way. -- populations is now under way. The Royal Zoological

:35:05.:35:11.

Socitey of Scotland are spearheading the research. Today captive bred

:35:12.:35:16.

kittens are due to be health screened and DNA tested. The project

:35:17.:35:21.

leader, David Barkley, allows unprecedented access to this

:35:22.:35:26.

process. This is, for me, a unique opportunity for me to see what is a

:35:27.:35:29.

pretty good Scottish wildcat on the table. Talk me through the key

:35:30.:35:33.

features you're looking for to identify this as a good wildcat.

:35:34.:35:39.

What we look for are some of the unique markings. A complete band,

:35:40.:35:42.

not broken up into spots. That's brilliant. That's what we want to

:35:43.:35:47.

see on a nice cat. If we look at the tore alstripe, it's -- dorsal

:35:48.:35:53.

stripe, it goes to the base of the tail and stops and then ringed tail.

:35:54.:35:57.

Aren't the feet meant to be bigger than domestic cats? The main

:35:58.:36:01.

difference is that these are the killing machines of the wildcat.

:36:02.:36:05.

This allows them to feed and hunt in the wild. They're not massive but

:36:06.:36:11.

they're deadly when they need to be. To me, this lovely club tail here

:36:12.:36:16.

and the patterning, dark feet, broad feet, it looks pretty good really. I

:36:17.:36:21.

tend not to make too many assumptions, but at a quick glance,

:36:22.:36:25.

this looks great. This is a young female. So at nine months old the

:36:26.:36:31.

tail is likely to get a bit thicker. In two, three years, this girl will

:36:32.:36:34.

be a fantastic looking cat. Obviously, we will have the genetic

:36:35.:36:38.

test on top of that, which is a great tool. Once the blood samples

:36:39.:36:44.

have been taken, the kittens are given time to recover, before

:36:45.:36:52.

returning to their enclosure. The samples are sent to the wild genes

:36:53.:36:59.

lab at Edinburgh Zoo. Geneticist Dr Helen Senn is in charge of the DNA

:37:00.:37:04.

testing that takes place here. These tests have been carried out for the

:37:05.:37:08.

last two years, not just on captive animals, but also on cats taken from

:37:09.:37:13.

the wild. It's an ongoing process and one that's enabling them to

:37:14.:37:18.

build up a true picture of exactly how many wildcats are left. You've

:37:19.:37:24.

done your DNA analysis. This bar chart represents that. Talk me

:37:25.:37:28.

through what we've got here. Each bar represents a single cat and the

:37:29.:37:33.

proportion of green colour represents the proportion of wildcat

:37:34.:37:37.

genes and the proportion of red colour are the domestic cat genes.

:37:38.:37:41.

You've got a real mix here. These animals here nudging the top are

:37:42.:37:45.

more wild. What about this gaping hole here, hardly any wildcat genes

:37:46.:37:50.

at all. These cats are domestic reference cats, that's why they're

:37:51.:37:53.

all red. They are pets from Edinburgh. We use a lot of reference

:37:54.:37:57.

samples to ensure the validity of the test. If we present the results

:37:58.:38:03.

in a slightly different way, each of these points represents a cat and

:38:04.:38:07.

the height on this axis represents the proportion of wildcat genes.

:38:08.:38:13.

These cats up here are all pure wildcats and these cats down here

:38:14.:38:17.

are all pure domestic. The challenge is to decide where to draw the line.

:38:18.:38:21.

Using the research we've done here, we've come to the conclusion that

:38:22.:38:25.

the best cut off is approximately 75%. That means a worst case

:38:26.:38:32.

scenario for breeding, we'd be choosing cats with one grandparent

:38:33.:38:36.

as a domestic cat, but we're hoping to have cats that are better than

:38:37.:38:39.

that. These are very good up here. There's a strip running along there,

:38:40.:38:43.

which are close to the line. Where are those animals? So those cats are

:38:44.:38:48.

our capitalive wildcats. They're cats that have been taken from

:38:49.:38:53.

across the UK captive breeding programme for wildcats. So it seems

:38:54.:38:59.

that any hope for this tiger of the Highlands now lies with this

:39:00.:39:05.

precious captive population. We're going back to wildcats in a second.

:39:06.:39:08.

We've come into the co-iness of the house. Lock, what's outside, live on

:39:09.:39:13.

our live camera, it's the mountain hare. That's brilliant. It is. It's

:39:14.:39:19.

been tempted with those apples, which isn't a surprise, given that

:39:20.:39:24.

apart from that all it has to eat is dry heather. It gives us a chance to

:39:25.:39:30.

look at the animal in close-up. Look how short the ears are than the

:39:31.:39:35.

brown hare. The eyes on the top of its head ideal for looking for

:39:36.:39:39.

predators and on the side as well so they see forward and behind at the

:39:40.:39:42.

same time. What we didn't talk about with the eagles is that your golden

:39:43.:39:47.

eagle at this time of year would be preying on these if it had the

:39:48.:39:50.

opportunity to. It always has to be wary. There we are, what a treat. A

:39:51.:39:56.

bit of golden delicious for the mountain hare, we spoil the animals!

:39:57.:40:00.

They've turned white to be camouflaged but with the snow

:40:01.:40:04.

melting they will be easy prey. We'll keep an eye on that. Going

:40:05.:40:08.

back to wildcats, something that occurred to me in the film was it's

:40:09.:40:13.

a real worry that the only true wildcats left are the ones in

:40:14.:40:17.

captivity. It is a worry. That's basically what that graph showed us

:40:18.:40:21.

at the end of the film there. Let's go back to that graph now. On this

:40:22.:40:27.

axis here we have degrees of wildness, if you like. So up here

:40:28.:40:35.

100% wildcat genes, down here domestic cats. Further testing will

:40:36.:40:40.

be taking place. Down here, these are pretty much animals which are

:40:41.:40:45.

full of domestic cat genes. The very best wildcats are these ones up here

:40:46.:40:50.

at the top and the rather unromantic thing is that the best wildcats are

:40:51.:40:55.

no longer wild. All of these animals are currently in captivity. What

:40:56.:40:59.

about the two that we tested in the film there? Well, we've got the

:41:00.:41:04.

results back from their DNA. We have found out that they're pretty much

:41:05.:41:10.

up here at the about the 97% level. There's some degree of variability

:41:11.:41:14.

but that's the optimum thing. So they're pretty good wildcats. Yeah,

:41:15.:41:19.

not very romantic, if you see a wildcat out in Scotland at the

:41:20.:41:22.

moment, the chances are that it's probably going to be one of these

:41:23.:41:25.

animals on this part of the graph, which is not truly a wildcat as an

:41:26.:41:32.

animal. This gives us hope. We have these very good animals, animals

:41:33.:41:36.

with good genetic integrity in captivity, that means we have the

:41:37.:41:39.

opportunity to breed them and perhaps, one day, even release them

:41:40.:41:42.

back into the wild. In fact, we're going to be exploring that in our

:41:43.:41:46.

films through the week. It begs the question though, does it matter that

:41:47.:41:50.

they're not true wildcats? Don't they fill the same niche? I think it

:41:51.:41:54.

matters on a couple of counts. Morally we have an obligation to try

:41:55.:41:57.

and preserve them certainly because we have the ability to do that.

:41:58.:42:01.

Secondly, the answer is no. The domestic cat is a subspecies of the

:42:02.:42:06.

wildcat. When it's in the wild, even when it's gone forel it fulfils --

:42:07.:42:15.

ferel it fulfils a different niche. Wildcats spend more time in

:42:16.:42:20.

woodland. In terms of playing the role they need to play in Scotland's

:42:21.:42:28.

Bayeux die -- bio diversity, we need these animals. There's the cultural

:42:29.:42:31.

thing, where we shouldn't ought to be leaving them. They're an

:42:32.:42:35.

important part of Scotland's culturement They're iconic and

:42:36.:42:38.

beautiful. Indeed. It would be great to preserve them. We'll look more

:42:39.:42:44.

into wildcats throughout the week. You know what they're also

:42:45.:42:47.

into wildcats throughout the week. mountain tigers. We have our very

:42:48.:42:49.

own mountain tiger. He's up the mountain and he's taking a closer

:42:50.:42:53.

look at hares. How are you getting on? I'm a rather chilly tiger. Yes,

:42:54.:43:01.

I'm living amongst the magical mountain hares. Let's have a little

:43:02.:43:08.

bit more look at those hares. They change colour. They go from brown in

:43:09.:43:14.

the summer to white in the winter. How do they manage to do that? It's

:43:15.:43:23.

called seasonal crypsis. You look at them, when they're in the snow, of

:43:24.:43:27.

course, being white in winter makes them perfectly camouflaged. But how

:43:28.:43:32.

it happens is fascinating. The change begins at their feet and

:43:33.:43:39.

slowly the white works its way up over their flanks, up to their back

:43:40.:43:43.

and their head. That's triggered by the change in day length and the

:43:44.:43:48.

speed at which it happens is controlled by the temperature. Also

:43:49.:43:51.

the amount of snow. This is fascinating. This is a museum

:43:52.:43:55.

specimen. It's not just the colour of the fur that matters. It's the

:43:56.:43:59.

quality. Now I don't know if you can see, this is a summer coat. It's

:44:00.:44:04.

lovely and soft. But it's quite thin there. Let's compare that with the

:44:05.:44:13.

winter coat. Can you see that? It's actually really, really thick. I can

:44:14.:44:18.

hardly get my fingers through it. There are many more hairs per square

:44:19.:44:22.

centimetre in this coat and that keeps the hare lovely and warm. As

:44:23.:44:27.

Michaela said, you might think being white in amongst all this green

:44:28.:44:32.

stuff would be pretty disastrous and you'd be partially right, but the

:44:33.:44:36.

mountain hare has an amazing trick up its sleeve. When called upon, it

:44:37.:44:43.

can streak off like a bullet. When you look at their back legs, you can

:44:44.:44:48.

see just how long they are when they stretch. They can accelerate away,

:44:49.:44:54.

almost from a stand still up to 40 or 50mph in an instant. Generally,

:44:55.:44:59.

they'll run uphill as well, leaving any potential predator panting in

:45:00.:45:05.

their wake. Quite often, people have seen foxes approach the mountain

:45:06.:45:10.

hare to within two metres, the hare's not bothered. It's so

:45:11.:45:15.

supremely confident it can get away. Now another thing that they have,

:45:16.:45:19.

they have this thing called low foot loading. That means that their feet

:45:20.:45:24.

are very big compared to the weight of their body. That means they can

:45:25.:45:28.

run over the surface of the snow at high speed. That low foot loading

:45:29.:45:33.

coupled with their speed gives them the ability to do something

:45:34.:45:36.

occasionally almost Look at this. Watch that

:45:37.:45:41.

snowboarder. We will get a bit Look at this. Watch that

:45:42.:45:49.

closer and beside him, look Look at this. Watch that

:45:50.:45:51.

comes out from the right, a Look at this. Watch that

:45:52.:45:56.

hare, into the path of an avalanche. You would think that would be the

:45:57.:46:02.

end of that hare, it disappears and reappears. Those feet and it's

:46:03.:46:06.

amazing speed keep it just above all of that tumbling snow and ice and

:46:07.:46:13.

that hare, unbelievably, manages to escape from the avalanche.

:46:14.:46:19.

Astonishing pictures, that is what hares do. I did say I wanted to try

:46:20.:46:23.

and share with you exactly what it's like to live amongst the hares. I

:46:24.:46:28.

and share with you exactly what it's couldn't do it up the mountain, but

:46:29.:46:31.

they have moved down here and I am up for it. Look at this. This is

:46:32.:46:42.

going to be my form for the night. I will sleep here and report to you

:46:43.:46:46.

tomorrow morning what it likes to live among the hares. That will be

:46:47.:46:50.

for tomorrow, I am looking forward to it, rather. It has been stored --

:46:51.:46:58.

stormy up and down the country. Camerawoman Sophie went to Giants

:46:59.:47:02.

Causeway in Ireland to watch the storms rolling in from the Atlantic.

:47:03.:47:19.

It's been a particularly hard winter, in the whole of the UK.

:47:20.:47:28.

We've had such relentless weather and I think the reason I chose to

:47:29.:47:34.

come to the Giants Causeway is I could think of nowhere better to

:47:35.:47:38.

come to feel the full force of the Atlantic in the middle of winter.

:47:39.:47:46.

There's a sort of mystic feel to this spot. It is an epic legacy to

:47:47.:48:01.

lava. It's like being on some mad kind of board game. You cannot

:48:02.:48:05.

believe it's real. It looks like art. It's so easy to understand why

:48:06.:48:14.

people talked of Giants fighting battles and creating these

:48:15.:48:21.

incredible rock. And I think the battle is sort of ongoing, really,

:48:22.:48:24.

because you look at the sea and the weather and it is a continuing

:48:25.:48:29.

struggle for anything that lives here. From the Olympics who are on

:48:30.:48:37.

the edge, to this seaweed and the snails, who are clinging on for dear

:48:38.:48:43.

life. You have to be extremely tough to live on the coast and on the

:48:44.:48:46.

North Atlantic coast, extremely tough. The winter visitors are the

:48:47.:48:55.

birds and some of the birds that are here are the goals. At this time of

:48:56.:49:00.

year, just when winter is kicking in, the males will return to the

:49:01.:49:06.

nest sites. We peeked over the headland and their below us were

:49:07.:49:15.

four or five. They were all just balancing on the wind like the most

:49:16.:49:21.

beautiful display of elegance and aerodynamics.

:49:22.:49:37.

You can see every feather moving, and the way they are adjusting and

:49:38.:49:41.

trimming, it is a thing of wonder. The minute they land they are so

:49:42.:49:53.

clumsy, they are obviously so designed for being up in the air and

:49:54.:49:59.

knowing what to do or maybe diving for food. I would give anything to

:50:00.:50:05.

know what it's like to fly like one, just imagine being able to play with

:50:06.:50:09.

the wind like that. It's all so effortless.

:50:10.:50:17.

They fit so beautifully into this landscape. There are peaks, their

:50:18.:50:21.

soft, smoky eyes. There is not a lot of light at this

:50:22.:50:37.

time of year when it is cloudy and overcast and the winds and storms

:50:38.:50:41.

blowing, but when there is just a glimmer of it, it is so beautiful.

:50:42.:50:50.

There is an unexpected flash of colour in the gauze, the one relief

:50:51.:51:02.

from the black and white of winter. There is something hypnotic about

:51:03.:51:13.

watching these huge waves crashing and hence the Causeway. There is the

:51:14.:51:19.

softness and harshness of these waves against these incredible

:51:20.:51:27.

angles. And then to slow it down, so you can see every, tiny bit of that

:51:28.:51:34.

quarter. You could just watch that water coming in and out all day.

:51:35.:51:40.

I like the fact you can be here in the winter and really experience the

:51:41.:51:49.

elements in their full force and feel the power of nature, just

:51:50.:51:51.

coming at you. Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland,

:51:52.:52:07.

what a wonderful backdrop. Beautiful place. The way they held the wind

:52:08.:52:14.

and the way their body changed shape in reaction to it so quickly. A lot

:52:15.:52:19.

of people are very worried about what happens to wildlife in the

:52:20.:52:23.

floods. We featured otters and we will feature other animals but we

:52:24.:52:27.

have one question here via Facebook. What happens to mice in flooding

:52:28.:52:32.

question on the mammal Society said they will be affected in areas that

:52:33.:52:37.

have flooded. In fact, locally they could be completely wiped out.

:52:38.:52:41.

Although that sounds very dramatic accommodation be able to bounce

:52:42.:52:45.

back. They are prolific breeders and they are very good at re-colonising.

:52:46.:52:50.

So yes, they will be affected locally, but they should be OK. If

:52:51.:52:53.

you have been watching our last few series you will know we have been

:52:54.:52:59.

testing rodents for their perseverance in getting food. We set

:53:00.:53:03.

them a series of assault courses and tasks. Take a look at what we have

:53:04.:53:06.

been up to so far and what we will be up to next.

:53:07.:53:10.

In the beginning there was the obstacle course, designed to assess

:53:11.:53:15.

agility, nimbleness and dexterity. Some contenders tried with all their

:53:16.:53:21.

might to desperately complete the challenge, but it was the mouse that

:53:22.:53:27.

ruled supreme. Next came the mini mammal equivalent of a Ploughman 's

:53:28.:53:31.

lunch. Again, the mouse took up the challenge. But it wasn't the cheese

:53:32.:53:37.

board that took their fancy, it was the sweet treats and mixed nuts that

:53:38.:53:43.

they devoured. Then came the iron mouse challenge, to see how they

:53:44.:53:49.

cope in the watery world of a reed bed. You might have thought it would

:53:50.:53:53.

be a total wipe-out, but with great determination and an incredible

:53:54.:53:58.

ability to jump, the mouse overcame the deadly water hazard. This time,

:53:59.:54:03.

it's bigger, better, more complicated than ever. Will they

:54:04.:54:13.

complete the Mouse Maze? Yes, we tested their agility and their

:54:14.:54:16.

perseverance but now we are testing their intelligence. We built them a

:54:17.:54:21.

maze which they have to navigate their way through. There is a very

:54:22.:54:25.

good reason for this, they are after food. Their ability to find food and

:54:26.:54:29.

remember where they found the food is implicitly important in winter.

:54:30.:54:33.

We set up a couple of days ago and will show you the results in a few

:54:34.:54:37.

seconds, but first we must say these are wild mice. They went into

:54:38.:54:38.

seconds, but first we must say these maze of their own accord to get a

:54:39.:54:43.

treat of not. We didn't make them go in. If you look at

:54:44.:54:46.

treat of not. We didn't make them go the dark. Let's have a look at the

:54:47.:54:51.

maze and see what happened. Here comes the mouse, first contestant

:54:52.:54:57.

into the entrance hole and is looking for those tasty nuts. Will

:54:58.:55:03.

it get to them straightaway? No, it missed the entrance. Turns around,

:55:04.:55:09.

has a little luck, sniff, sniff, and found in 14 seconds. Goes back

:55:10.:55:15.

really quickly, stands by the hole thinking, I've lost my nuts. It goes

:55:16.:55:19.

back, remembers the way it came, gets its dropped nut and goes back

:55:20.:55:27.

again. A bit stupid for dropping the nut. One of the first times it had

:55:28.:55:33.

gone into the maze. Here we go, second chance. Looking around. Will

:55:34.:55:39.

it do any quicker? Will it make the same mistake it made the first time?

:55:40.:55:44.

No, it didn't. Just ten seconds this time. So again, learning all the

:55:45.:55:51.

time. So here we go, the third attempt, in it goes and look how

:55:52.:55:54.

quickly it gets it this time. Five seconds. Obviously this could be

:55:55.:56:00.

three different mice, but we are presuming that is the same mouse

:56:01.:56:04.

three different mice, but we are because it's faster each time. You

:56:05.:56:06.

can see, it is remembering and it has learned and it goes and

:56:07.:56:12.

can see, it is remembering and it goes. Using its

:56:13.:56:14.

can see, it is remembering and it its way through, it could also be

:56:15.:56:18.

smelling a route through. The most important thing is it goes straight

:56:19.:56:22.

back to them. Optimising the amount of time it takes to return to the

:56:23.:56:26.

nuts so it can carry them away and store them. That is what it is

:56:27.:56:30.

doing. They are a very important food source they can store. It is

:56:31.:56:34.

hiding them away so they can eat them later in the winter when the

:56:35.:56:39.

food supply runs out. That all looks a bit easy, Chris. It was a simple

:56:40.:56:44.

maze, so we stepped it up. This is what

:56:45.:59:01.

Let your New Year start with a bang and visit an explosive new China.

:59:02.:59:08.

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