:00:07. > :00:15.It was raining and then it was windy, then it was sunny and now
:00:16. > :00:19.snowy, the weather is unpredictable. It may have turned winter and a
:00:20. > :00:23.little bit chilly but whatever the weather, we have plenty to keep you
:00:24. > :00:28.entertained. We got up early to enjoy the spectacle of black grouse
:00:29. > :00:33.and we have some amazing golden eagle action. What happened to our
:00:34. > :00:38.intrepid adventurer? He went up the mountain yesterday to see what it is
:00:39. > :00:42.like to live as a mountain hare. Did he survived the night? Only one way
:00:43. > :01:04.to find out. Yes, it is time for Winterwatch.
:01:05. > :01:15.Yes, hello and welcome to what is very obviously went to does not
:01:16. > :01:18.Winterwatch, from the beautiful Mar Lodge estate nestled in the
:01:19. > :01:22.Cairngorms National Park. Very is puttable they are too. We will be
:01:23. > :01:28.broadcasting live from here for the rest of the weekend is great things
:01:29. > :01:31.coming up, so stay with us. Particularly in our eagle -fest
:01:32. > :01:35.which continues later. Last night when we've finished we thought, here
:01:36. > :01:40.comes the rain again but it wasn't, it was snow. Not quite as much last
:01:41. > :01:45.night as we have just had now but not enough to put off this tawny owl
:01:46. > :01:51.which came to the carcass we put in the woods. If you watched our series
:01:52. > :01:57.last year you would have seen one before. We were excited because in
:01:58. > :02:01.frequently have they come into carcasses like this and when it is
:02:02. > :02:05.there it stays for up to an hour board June. Why would you go off
:02:06. > :02:14.finding a mouse in the snow if you can sit on a dead deer? Absolutely.
:02:15. > :02:18.The owl continue to eat, the snow continued to fall and this is what
:02:19. > :02:21.we woke up to this morning. I opened my curtains and saw a winter
:02:22. > :02:30.wonderland. What a difference a Day makes. Cameramen were out early,
:02:31. > :02:34.filming the wildlife. There are the deer in the snow. Also red grouse,
:02:35. > :02:37.perfectly adapted to these conditions, this is the sort of
:02:38. > :02:42.winter they are more used to. And mountain hare. When it has its white
:02:43. > :02:50.coat on it is perfectly camouflaged in the snow. When we come to an area
:02:51. > :02:54.like this we put out remote camera so we can get extraordinary views of
:02:55. > :02:57.in action. This year we haven't just got cameras at Mar Lodge but all
:02:58. > :03:02.across the Cairngorms. More on that later. First of all, let's take a
:03:03. > :03:04.across the Cairngorms. More on that look at that the carcass one a few
:03:05. > :03:09.hundred meters away from where we are sat at the moment, on the banks
:03:10. > :03:14.of the river. Nothing there live at the moment. If the tawny owl comes
:03:15. > :03:15.back, we woke up to it so we get some great views. In the daytime
:03:16. > :03:33.there has been a lot of activity. Are the jay, probably feasting on
:03:34. > :03:37.acorns, but with this offer of static protein, it is not going to
:03:38. > :03:42.say no. A lot of food in one place is a great invitation. Not great for
:03:43. > :03:47.garden birds so far this year, and that is a good thing. It is so mild
:03:48. > :03:51.they are still in the countryside. The RSPB told us today there has
:03:52. > :03:56.been an upsurge this week in Rens, and gold tips coming in for the time
:03:57. > :04:01.of the garden bird watch this weekend. Make sure you join in. The
:04:02. > :04:05.last couple of days we have been testing the intelligence and memory
:04:06. > :04:09.of the mice here at Mar Lodge. We set up a challenge for them, which
:04:10. > :04:14.we called the mouse maze. We wanted to see how quickly they learned to
:04:15. > :04:18.get to the stash of food and how much they remember the route. We
:04:19. > :04:23.started off with a fairly easy maze, last night we put a more complicated
:04:24. > :04:28.one out. The mouse enters and look how quickly this mouse finds it. It
:04:29. > :04:32.has lots of other options and choices. Five seconds to get to the
:04:33. > :04:37.stash but takes exactly the same route it is used to. Does it very
:04:38. > :04:43.efficiently. Throughout the night it came back numerous times. Never
:04:44. > :04:48.deviates. Never makes a mistake, and clears out the stash of nuts. That
:04:49. > :04:52.makes sense because this is good story ball food and what it wants to
:04:53. > :04:56.do is carry all of that food away to place it can hide it somewhere in
:04:57. > :05:00.its territory where nobody else can find it and returned to it eat it
:05:01. > :05:05.later. When the food has gone, then the mouse starts to explore the
:05:06. > :05:10.maze. Don't think for one moment this mouse is lost, it is simply
:05:11. > :05:14.hunting for more nuts and looking in every corner, sniffing around and
:05:15. > :05:19.using its whiskers. This is dark, we're looking at this in infrared,
:05:20. > :05:24.so it is using its sense of smell and whiskers to feel its way around.
:05:25. > :05:29.Look at it. It does try every single bit of that maze to see if there is
:05:30. > :05:34.any more food. When it decides it has explored it all, it goes back
:05:35. > :05:38.and very quickly finds its way out. But he know what, we made a mistake,
:05:39. > :05:42.we should not have called it the mouse maze, we should have called it
:05:43. > :05:49.the small mammal maze because it is not just mice that turned up. This
:05:50. > :05:54.little creature turned up, a vole. Look how quick it does it. How many
:05:55. > :05:59.seconds? Straight to where the stash was. Yes, the Notts have all gone
:06:00. > :06:06.but no deviation or hesitation, didn't stop to collect ?200! I think
:06:07. > :06:16.that was following the scent of the mouse. Here is some evidence. That
:06:17. > :06:22.is why you pay your licence fee! Seriously, I think the vole was
:06:23. > :06:27.chasing the mouse. We felt a bit sorry for the vole, we put another
:06:28. > :06:31.stash in there and here is the vole. It comes in and he is greedy because
:06:32. > :06:35.he thinks, I have come all this way, I don't think I will take one, I
:06:36. > :06:42.will try to take two. But struggled a bit. That is an optimal vole. He
:06:43. > :06:46.or she spent a lot of energy finding those not is an running through the
:06:47. > :06:52.maze and what it wants to do is maximise its return by taking away
:06:53. > :06:56.two nuts at once. If they can carry them, that makes the whole process
:06:57. > :07:00.more energetically rewarding. If you go to the supermarket you do not go
:07:01. > :07:06.there and get one can of beans. I get a trolley full, not of beans but
:07:07. > :07:11.I make the most of my visit. You are foraging, like the vole. We decided
:07:12. > :07:16.to step it up another notch and this is what we are putting out tonight.
:07:17. > :07:22.You can see that was the route in blue and now we have changed the
:07:23. > :07:26.maze. This is the route the mice or voles will have to take. A lot more
:07:27. > :07:31.complicated. Interesting to see how long it takes to suss that route
:07:32. > :07:36.out. But what we do want to know is which one will suss it out quickest.
:07:37. > :07:43.Will it be the mouse, will he be the mastermind, or will it be the vole?
:07:44. > :07:44.We want you to vote on that. You can vote online. All the details are
:07:45. > :07:56.online. OK. Now, we have our intrepid
:07:57. > :08:02.adventurer, as I mentioned at the start of this show, Martin.
:08:03. > :08:07.Yesterday he disappeared to the top of a mountain to see what life was
:08:08. > :08:13.like the Martin have. To ask, do you fancy life as one of those hares on
:08:14. > :08:17.the mountaintop? No. I don't fancy being a mountain hare, because
:08:18. > :08:25.things have changed dramatically up here. I am up in southern Cairngorm,
:08:26. > :08:29.about 2500 feet up on the side of a small mountain. I am here because
:08:30. > :08:34.this is a territory of an animal we will be looking at a little bit
:08:35. > :08:39.later on tonight. You may remember last night I decided to try and camp
:08:40. > :08:43.out, to experience what this place is really like, what the animals
:08:44. > :08:51.here have to go through. I set up in my little tent... Here I was,
:08:52. > :08:56.inside. The wind was howling. Eventually I settled down, in the
:08:57. > :09:00.company of a bottle of Madeira and some oatcakes. In the morning, this
:09:01. > :09:11.had happened. I had absolutely no idea what was going on outside might
:09:12. > :09:20.and -- outside my double. Oh my God, it snowed.
:09:21. > :09:25.The mountain hares are now back in the mountain hare environment, it
:09:26. > :09:33.has all gone white. The thing is... Excuse me! It is almost unbelievable
:09:34. > :09:38.to me that those mountain has can live out here, at the top of the
:09:39. > :09:47.mountains throughout the winter in the snow. Maybe -10, all winter, not
:09:48. > :09:54.just one night like me. They are extraordinarily tough animals.
:09:55. > :10:02.Now, what were those hares doing whilst I was snoozing inside my
:10:03. > :10:05.tent? We had a heat sensitive camera out and we could see what they were
:10:06. > :10:13.doing, they were busy going about their business, feeding. Have a look
:10:14. > :10:18.closely at the hares. You can see they are losing heat, particularly
:10:19. > :10:23.from their ears, from their eyes, losing a lot of heat. Last night we
:10:24. > :10:27.saw how those hares managed to conserve heat, but how do they
:10:28. > :10:33.create heat inside their bodies? Before I went into my tent I did a
:10:34. > :10:37.little experiment. I put a heart monitor around my chest and I took
:10:38. > :10:41.off all my clothes apart from a T-shirt and stood outside in the
:10:42. > :10:49.freezing cold for 15 minutes to see what would happen to my heart. It is
:10:50. > :10:53.very fascinating, I don't know if you can see that. That was my
:10:54. > :10:58.heartbeat, very high in the live programme. Very exciting, live
:10:59. > :11:00.telly. After the programme it dropped right down. Here I am
:11:01. > :11:06.outside in the freezing cold, my heart rate soars again. As I get
:11:07. > :11:11.into the tent into the warm, down it goes. I go to sleep and that is me
:11:12. > :11:17.having a very exciting little dream. What is going on? I think what is
:11:18. > :11:21.happening is as I chilled down, my metabolism needs to rise to warm my
:11:22. > :11:27.body up, so the heartbeat rises as well, and that turns metabolism into
:11:28. > :11:31.higher gear and warms me up. That is exactly what is going on inside all
:11:32. > :11:36.of the animals around here when they need to warm up. That was experiment
:11:37. > :11:40.number one. Then I changed up a gear. We got the thermal camera,
:11:41. > :11:48.this very sensitive camera, pointed it at me and I took off my clothes.
:11:49. > :11:54.Remember, the red is the warm up. Almost immediately I start to lose
:11:55. > :12:01.heat. My periphery, my hands get colder and colder, green and blue.
:12:02. > :12:06.My face does. The blood vessels on the periphery are shutting down and
:12:07. > :12:11.they are putting the blood into my core. You can see the blood vessels,
:12:12. > :12:16.an amazing camera. Now I'm getting colder on the outside, but the warm
:12:17. > :12:19.blood is still inside my body. But look at this, I can't stop the
:12:20. > :12:27.warmth coming out of my eyes and the top of my head. See that? The top of
:12:28. > :12:31.the head, that is fascinating. You know you have to wear a hat when it
:12:32. > :12:34.is cold and you can see why. The blood up there keeping your brain
:12:35. > :12:39.wonderfully warm. That is exactly what is happening to the animals
:12:40. > :12:44.here. That is their problem. They have to try to metabolise and keep
:12:45. > :12:47.themselves absolutely warm. The animal out here we are going to be
:12:48. > :12:52.looking at, that is its problem. An animal called the ptarmigan. When
:12:53. > :12:57.you come back we will look at it in detail. It is an extraordinary
:12:58. > :13:02.Arctic creature. It is a sort of grouse, there are many sorts of
:13:03. > :13:07.grouse and a few days ago Chris and Michaela got up very early, about
:13:08. > :13:13.3:15am and went to look for a very different grouse that lives in a
:13:14. > :13:19.different habitat to this, the black grouse.
:13:20. > :13:25.Morning, Chris, it is 3:15am, it does not get light until 8am. What
:13:26. > :13:33.are we doing up this early question what is there a point? That is
:13:34. > :13:50.slightly freaky! See you in the car. It is brilliant, isn't it? Not a
:13:51. > :13:53.word that springs to mind right now. This is great, in the right place at
:13:54. > :13:58.the right time, there is a strong chance we will score success. What
:13:59. > :14:03.time do you reckon they will turn up? I think it needs to be a bit
:14:04. > :14:08.lighter because they have to fly here and there are no trees nearby.
:14:09. > :14:13.They are not going to walk. Interesting that they chose this
:14:14. > :14:16.spot, miles away from any trees. Maybe they'd used to be trees here
:14:17. > :14:19.or something and it is a traditional spot.
:14:20. > :14:29.Did you see that? I did see that. What about that? I can see them
:14:30. > :14:35.really clearly now. It is fantastic. They are very splendid. They are
:14:36. > :14:45.extraordinary. As well as splendid. Because it is such a unique little
:14:46. > :14:51.dance they are doing. And that white ruff. It is like showing frilly
:14:52. > :15:00.pants. They are, they are can-can pants. A male bird with can-can
:15:01. > :15:08.pants. Why do they look? Because they can-can! I think you may have
:15:09. > :15:12.made up a joke. What a handsome bird. The scarlet is really bright.
:15:13. > :15:18.Look that the now though, those two, did you see them? Yes. You see the
:15:19. > :15:24.white in their wings as well. You have to ask, why do they bother at
:15:25. > :15:30.this time the year? There is no females round, no-one to show off
:15:31. > :15:36.to. This is a defined area where males come to display and hold
:15:37. > :15:40.little territories. In the case of this species, the best piece of to
:15:41. > :15:47.that is at the centre, the prime males will be there, in the peak of
:15:48. > :15:50.fitness, you know, four, five years old, and displaying vigorously, of
:15:51. > :15:56.course, the purpose of that is that the females are able to visit and
:15:57. > :15:58.assess the quality of those males, through their behaviour, their
:15:59. > :16:08.vocalisations and their position in the area. So it is a courtship arena
:16:09. > :16:14.if you like. Weirdest thing is all of these birds
:16:15. > :16:18.flew in together, they have been off there feeding somewhere in harmony,
:16:19. > :16:23.as soon as they arrive here, they start fighting furiously.
:16:24. > :16:31.Reminds me of football fans in the '70s. I suppose they were more
:16:32. > :16:33.tribal. They would live in towns six days a week then on Saturday
:16:34. > :16:38.afternoon they gravitate to a stadium and beat nine bells out of
:16:39. > :16:45.one another. They will give up and have a chat. How did it go for your?
:16:46. > :16:50.O I think my tail looked good. I took a peck to the eye, I remember
:16:51. > :16:54.Barry tomorrow when I come back, he has a sharp beak and they are
:16:55. > :17:02.chatting, I have gone like Jonny Morris. Oh my God!
:17:03. > :17:07.I have to stop. Look, one is going. It is. It is
:17:08. > :17:12.flying. Look. It is going to fly right over.
:17:13. > :17:20.What about that? That is my sort of finale. Is that worth getting up at
:17:21. > :17:24.3.15? ? From my perspective, very definitely yes. That was a good
:17:25. > :17:30.performance. I got the impression you weren't satisfied by black cock
:17:31. > :17:34.Michaela? I enjoy mid black cock experience, I love a performing
:17:35. > :17:39.bird. I trained Azerbaijan a dancer a long time ago so I have huge
:17:40. > :17:43.admiration for any bird that gets out on the arena, does a twirl,
:17:44. > :17:48.showing his nickers and does a performance. And nine turned up. In
:17:49. > :17:53.winter, in spring there might be more. They are going to stake their
:17:54. > :17:57.claim and to do a rehearsal. Is what I admire. The cocks aren't just
:17:58. > :18:02.strutting their stuff to attract a female. They are perfecting their
:18:03. > :18:06.performance, in time for the spring when the females come back. I would
:18:07. > :18:12.like that in a man. I would like it if you practised a bit and got it
:18:13. > :18:16.right. Always practising! Just never got to the perfect stage. No.
:18:17. > :18:20.Yesterday, we were looking at how animals are affected in the valley
:18:21. > :18:24.when it floods, but what about the animals further up the mountain? How
:18:25. > :18:29.are Shea coped with the relentless rain they have had up here. Well, if
:18:30. > :18:32.they are sensible, they will take cover. Which is what these red deer
:18:33. > :18:37.are doing. There is the rain, you can see it. We really have had a
:18:38. > :18:42.tremendous amount of rain up here, three-and-a-half times the average
:18:43. > :18:48.for Des, wettest December on record. They come down to shelter in the
:18:49. > :18:52.forest. Now, most mammals, when they get wet they lose a lot of heat so
:18:53. > :18:57.they lose energy, so if they can, they will take advantage of any
:18:58. > :19:01.cover. Yes, down here, among the trees the deer are fairly happy when
:19:02. > :19:06.it rain, there is no doubt about it. There are some animals who are new
:19:07. > :19:11.trouble when it is rain. If a hard rain is going to fall they have
:19:12. > :19:18.problem, it is a about the fact they can't forage. They can't catch their
:19:19. > :19:25.prey. Martin found out more. It was the wettest 24 hours period
:19:26. > :19:31.on record across the... Amber rainfall warnings have been issued.
:19:32. > :19:38.Be prepared for heavy rain. On Saturday we had red warnings in
:19:39. > :19:41.force for that heavy rain. December last year was the wettest month
:19:42. > :19:47.since records began. In some places a month's rainfall fell in less than
:19:48. > :19:53.4648-hours and it had a devastating effects. Winter is a tough time for
:19:54. > :19:59.many animal bus here at the animal hospital in Lincoln something
:20:00. > :20:05.strange is going on. Of the past few weeks they have been inundated with
:20:06. > :20:12.birds of prey, hawk, buzzards and owl, so what is happening? This
:20:13. > :20:19.wildlife hospital is run by Alison. Right now, in the hospital, what
:20:20. > :20:24.birds of prey do you have in? We have buzzards, we have kestrel,
:20:25. > :20:28.short-eared owl, we have a barn owl, we have had peregrine in and
:20:29. > :20:33.sparrowhawk. That is a terrific number. Is that unusual that many
:20:34. > :20:37.this time of year? Yes, very yuedge for us, normally we are very quiet
:20:38. > :20:43.now, coming up to spring. -- unusual. Raptors often struggle to
:20:44. > :20:47.find enough food during the winter and bad weather exacerbates the
:20:48. > :20:52.problem. They take greater risks and use up minute it will reserves.
:20:53. > :20:57.One of the casualties here in Lincoln was a juvenile peregrine.
:20:58. > :21:02.Here we have a young looking peregrine, she was definitely
:21:03. > :21:06.affected by the weather. Yes, this bird has made a remarkable recovery.
:21:07. > :21:11.When it came in, it was what we call flat. Flat? It was very wet,
:21:12. > :21:15.extremely cold and didn't have the energy to stand up at all. We didn't
:21:16. > :21:20.think it was going to survive the night. Gosh. And this is two weeks
:21:21. > :21:25.on. Look at the difference. That is amazing. What is the future now for
:21:26. > :21:30.her h how much longer do you think she will be with you? At this point,
:21:31. > :21:36.I would guess maybe a week to ten days. As little at that? Yes, we
:21:37. > :21:40.want to make sure it is flying perfectly, and then it will be
:21:41. > :21:46.returned to the area it has come from. Fantastic.
:21:47. > :21:52.It is not just hawks and falcons that suffer in these conditions.
:21:53. > :21:58.Owls can be particularly vulnerable. Their fetters have special
:21:59. > :22:02.adaptations which allow them to fly silently while hunting, yet these
:22:03. > :22:06.feathers lack the oils that make them waterproof. During heavy rain
:22:07. > :22:13.the white of a barn owl can increase by 27%. -- weight. Reducing its
:22:14. > :22:15.ability to fly and hunt. Inside the hospital, an owl casualty was
:22:16. > :22:20.brought in that needed more intensive care.
:22:21. > :22:25.So a short-eared owl, what is the story of this? This bird came in
:22:26. > :22:30.having flown and been injured. It was taken to local vet. We found it
:22:31. > :22:34.has a fracture to its wing. The wing was pinned by the vet and has come
:22:35. > :22:38.to us for rehabilitation. So what is the next stage now for this
:22:39. > :22:45.short-eared owl? Well, it has been on cage rest now for about three
:22:46. > :22:48.week, so it has been eating well, he has recovered from the anaesthetic,
:22:49. > :22:53.the next stage is to make sure it is doing OK, we are just checking the
:22:54. > :22:58.wing today and it will be moved out into an aviary. Look at the eyes.
:22:59. > :23:03.What we are looking at, one of the thing, several we look at is how
:23:04. > :23:07.bright the eyes are. As you can see, we have got beautiful bright, clear
:23:08. > :23:13.eyes, they are reacting with the light. You see with the mouth open
:23:14. > :23:18.that it has a nice clean moist mouth. So I am happy with that too.
:23:19. > :23:23.This is the good wing. He has got a bit of feather damage. But that is
:23:24. > :23:30.due to cage rest. It is inevitable. Yes. And then this was the wing. OK.
:23:31. > :23:34.What we try to do is extend it. And hopefully he will take it back in
:23:35. > :23:41.and reposition it. It. I am happy with that. It is still not quite as
:23:42. > :23:45.equal, but then, we are looking at muscle weakness. It is like human
:23:46. > :23:49.whence they have broken leg, and they had them pinned. We have to
:23:50. > :23:54.build up that muscle, so this is why we are now making that decision that
:23:55. > :23:58.he can go outside. This short-eared owl will spent a
:23:59. > :24:02.further two weeks in an out door aviary to build up its strength. For
:24:03. > :24:05.all the birds here at the centre the ultimate aim is to return them to
:24:06. > :24:07.the wild where ever possible. All they need now is a break in the
:24:08. > :24:18.weather. I wonder how many animal cress cue
:24:19. > :24:22.centres have been inundaipted with birds of prey, or otters? It would
:24:23. > :24:27.be localised if there was heavy rain. Astonishing statistics there.
:24:28. > :24:31.27% increase in weight after a light shower. If it gets caught out big
:24:32. > :24:37.time they can increase their wait by 70%. Nothing can hunt in that. Let
:24:38. > :24:42.us know if you have had Raptors in, send us a tweet or something. We
:24:43. > :24:45.have had an update on the short-eared owl in the programme. It
:24:46. > :24:48.is doing well and hopefully be released once the weather is better.
:24:49. > :24:52.If you have been watching the news you would have seen the footage of
:24:53. > :24:58.The Stranding whales in Lincolnshire and someone has sent a question in
:24:59. > :25:03.about that. Could the storms have been a factor on the four whales
:25:04. > :25:07.that beached? Susie was it? Lyndsey. The short answer to that is no. It
:25:08. > :25:12.is not the storm, we don't thing it is the case. These whales have been
:25:13. > :25:20.stranding throughout January in the knot sea. It started up here 234
:25:21. > :25:24.Germany. The next lot stranded down here in Holland. There was a ten day
:25:25. > :25:29.break before round the 20th of January, and on wards they were
:25:30. > :25:33.stranding round the Wash here, nine washed up on the Continent and it
:25:34. > :25:39.was 17 by the time the others washed ashore. They have been male sperm
:25:40. > :25:42.whale, the key thing is they are very deep water feeder, they will
:25:43. > :25:48.dive to two kilometres down, feeding on squid. The North Sea as most of
:25:49. > :25:52.you know is shallow. Sometimes just 20-30 metres so we know that sperm
:25:53. > :25:56.whales sonar won't work in this area. They are going to get
:25:57. > :26:01.disorientated. There is no food for them. When postmortems have been
:26:02. > :26:04.carried out we found the whales were starving and dehydrated. Something
:26:05. > :26:08.might have confused them to cause them to come ashore but they were
:26:09. > :26:12.already in very very poor conditions. How did they end up
:26:13. > :26:17.here? That is the question. They winter up in the north Atlantic, and
:26:18. > :26:21.at this time of year, they begin to typically head south, the males in
:26:22. > :26:25.the bachelor parties to meet up with the females further south. Obviously
:26:26. > :26:29.this group took the wrong direction and they came down here and they
:26:30. > :26:33.have ended up in the North Sea. Of course, it has turned out to be a
:26:34. > :26:37.very sad tragedy indeed. But, trying to find good news in there, what I
:26:38. > :26:43.can tell you is that throughout the last century, in the UK, we had
:26:44. > :26:47.about one sperm whale stranding a year round the entire coast. Since
:26:48. > :26:52.1980, on average there have been six a year. Not good, but what it does
:26:53. > :26:56.do, is point to the fact that their population may now be growing.
:26:57. > :27:00.Whaling was file Lynn ceased in the '80s and we think the sperm whale
:27:01. > :27:04.population is going up, that is why we are seeing more strandings. Not
:27:05. > :27:08.good but signs of good things elsewhere. It is amazing when they
:27:09. > :27:13.strand. That is when you see how enormous they are. People were
:27:14. > :27:17.standing by the whale and you could see the sheer size. Incredible.
:27:18. > :27:22.Amazing animals. This is the third year we have been doing Winterwatch
:27:23. > :27:27.at Mar Lodge, each year we have been putting carcasses out hoping to
:27:28. > :27:32.attract golden eagles. We haven't been very successful. We decided to
:27:33. > :27:35.put various carcasses across Scotland to see what we would get.
:27:36. > :27:42.We were pretty lucky with the one yesterday we had on the Isle of Mull
:27:43. > :27:47.where we saw not only a golden eagle but a white-tailed one, we have been
:27:48. > :27:53.very lucky with another carcass in the mountains in central Scotland
:27:54. > :27:57.6789 now, this is our carcass. It is out in constantly changing weather.
:27:58. > :28:01.One minute it is snowing, then it is raining, then snowing again. What
:28:02. > :28:05.did itself attract? Crows to begin with. Hooded an carrion. Then at
:28:06. > :28:10.night, a pine marten which is unusual. It is a long way from the
:28:11. > :28:16.tree, then back in the daytime a fox. Nocturnal animal. Not usually
:28:17. > :28:23.seen out and about in the open. Not like that. But then came after the
:28:24. > :28:29.fox enjoyed a good feast there, came the one we were waiting for. The fox
:28:30. > :28:34.is still enjoying his carcass there. And then, yes, this bird came in.
:28:35. > :28:39.The golden eagle. This is what we have been hoping to film on a
:28:40. > :28:43.carcass, and this is what we were delighted to see. What a beautiful
:28:44. > :28:49.bird. What a stunning picture. Look at the sky. The snow. The eagle. You
:28:50. > :28:54.couldn't ask for anything more. It is like a classic oil painting. We
:28:55. > :28:59.are pleased that David Anderson has been helping us with this, he has
:29:00. > :29:03.had that eagle camera out there for some time, on the carcass, because
:29:04. > :29:08.he has been tracking these birds. In fact if we take another look that
:29:09. > :29:13.the male eagle that came in, the eagle eyed might have noticed the
:29:14. > :29:16.ariel in its back. That is one of the satellite transmitter, if you
:29:17. > :29:22.are sharper eyed you might have noticed the ring on its leg. Yes.
:29:23. > :29:28.Have a look at this. You zoom right in on that, you can see that its
:29:29. > :29:36.ring number is 007. . So guess what, the eagle is called James.
:29:37. > :29:43.We know rather a lot about this eagle because David has been
:29:44. > :29:48.tracking it for some time. We have to call up the screen, that is the
:29:49. > :29:56.wrong one. New folder, and this one... It was already there. Let's
:29:57. > :30:01.pull that around. I'm just going to make sure I can draw on it. The
:30:02. > :30:09.wonders of live television. Here is James' territory. It measures about
:30:10. > :30:13.20 kilometres in this direction down here, and about nine kilometres
:30:14. > :30:17.across its widest point. This is a very, very well mapped territory
:30:18. > :30:22.indeed. David knows exactly where the eagle has been going. Sometimes
:30:23. > :30:25.it flies out of its territory to the north and sometimes cross here to
:30:26. > :30:29.the east and once or twice to the west, but most of the time it spends
:30:30. > :30:34.all its time foraging in here. Interesting. If you look through
:30:35. > :30:39.here, this area is a large body of water. Not doing a lot of successful
:30:40. > :30:42.foraging now. What David is particularly interested in is the
:30:43. > :30:48.amount of woodland in its territory. He wants to know whether as we
:30:49. > :30:52.gradually try to increase the amount of woodland in Scotland, about 17%
:30:53. > :30:57.at the moment and the target is 25%. Could this have a negative affect on
:30:58. > :31:03.golden eagles, which typically forage over open areas? He thinks
:31:04. > :31:12.not, because on the continent... I have trod on the cards, how absurd!
:31:13. > :31:16.David thinks it won't have a negative affect on the eagles
:31:17. > :31:21.because on the continent they do quite well hunting in open woodland.
:31:22. > :31:25.He aims to study them, so we can better understand how to put trees
:31:26. > :31:31.back into Scotland and keep golden eagles. Back to the carcass. It gets
:31:32. > :31:36.better. It was not just 007 James Bond that arrived at the carcass.
:31:37. > :31:43.There was another eagle. Is this male or female? You can see as soon
:31:44. > :31:48.as it hops up it is a female, much bigger than the male. A very
:31:49. > :31:53.impressive bird. If we have 007 James Bond, this has to be a James
:31:54. > :31:59.Bond girl. It is actually a maimed so we thought we would name it...
:32:00. > :32:06.Pussy Galore question what I'm not sure. Rachel Raptor. Send in your
:32:07. > :32:11.suggestions using the #winterwatch. We will let you know what we choose
:32:12. > :32:16.in the end. And we have some amazing action on that carcass yesterday.
:32:17. > :32:21.All I'm going to say is two of the animals that you saw that arrived at
:32:22. > :32:28.the carcass arrived at the same time and is a bit of a head-to-head.
:32:29. > :32:33.Stavros here with my cat. Katz, domestic cats like this one are
:32:34. > :32:37.famed for having nine lives. What we've been trying to uncover this
:32:38. > :32:40.week is just how much more life is there in the truly wild Scottish
:32:41. > :32:53.wildcat? Where do you come to find a wildcat
:32:54. > :32:59.in 21st-century Scotland? Well, X Marks the spot. This is it. Behind
:33:00. > :33:08.me ancient Caledonian pine forest. Blue breeze, Juniper, perfect for
:33:09. > :33:12.Denning and out here, grassland that the small mammals, rabbits and
:33:13. > :33:15.perfect for prey. But this is not a wilderness you might imagine. Over
:33:16. > :33:21.there a couple of kilometres away is a major road at a railway line. Here
:33:22. > :33:25.there are farms, cottages, houses. These animals have had to squeeze
:33:26. > :33:28.themselves into the relics of wildness in our world, but
:33:29. > :33:33.nonetheless I am confident, because for the last ten years one of our
:33:34. > :33:36.cameramen has been trailing Wildcats right here. This could finally be my
:33:37. > :33:46.big chance. Yes, Neil Anderson has lived in the
:33:47. > :33:51.Cairngorms his whole life, and like me, he has always been fascinated by
:33:52. > :33:55.these elusive cats. I have come to see some of the stuff he has managed
:33:56. > :33:59.to film. You have been looking at these cats are in Britain years,
:34:00. > :34:05.what have you got? This video here is from six years ago. As you can
:34:06. > :34:11.see, it is during the day, so I have a great view. Look at that, look at
:34:12. > :34:17.the tail. It is a proper club like tail. Those bands round it,
:34:18. > :34:22.completely unbroken. Yes, what a beautiful animal. That is wildcat,
:34:23. > :34:30.surely? It has to be. The colour, as well. The colour, the stripes,
:34:31. > :34:38.beauty. That was daytime. This one is in the night. That's nice as
:34:39. > :34:44.well. You can see a side view here, the striping and the tail curling
:34:45. > :34:49.round. Look at that. Looks like he's just sitting there, listening on
:34:50. > :34:54.that log. What is going on now? There is a cat, still here and I
:34:55. > :34:56.have been staking out in a barn not far from here, we have cameras in
:34:57. > :35:17.there, so let's go and have a look. This is it? Yes, the Ban the wildcat
:35:18. > :35:24.has been using as a den to sleep in. It is ideal, dry, the roof is
:35:25. > :35:30.largely intact. There is no rain pouring in. The cycle lights?
:35:31. > :35:37.Infrared lights so it does not bother the cat in any way. -- these
:35:38. > :35:44.are the lights? This is aimed at the stairs. Yes, and this store here.
:35:45. > :35:49.This law is exit to the outside, it goes to a hayloft up the stairs,
:35:50. > :35:53.nice and warm up there. Let's go and take a look.
:35:54. > :36:13.There are some remains here, yes, look at that. Rabbit. And some fair,
:36:14. > :36:22.as well. Typical cat 's Gatt. Not very fresh, I can't smell anything.
:36:23. > :36:40.That's a shame. I've never smelt wildcat to before.
:36:41. > :36:54.Amazing piece of technology, isn't it? Yes. The detail is absolutely
:36:55. > :37:03.phenomenal. Perfect prey for the cat. These walls must be full of
:37:04. > :37:12.mice and voles. Yes. We haven't unfair advantage over the cat, we
:37:13. > :37:21.can see. So, plenty of prey, but so far no cat. Meal headed off alone to
:37:22. > :37:25.see if he could find it. And sure enough, in one of the distant
:37:26. > :37:27.fields, he did manage to catch a glimpse of it as it headed off on
:37:28. > :37:45.its nightly hunt. But the difficulty of filming on
:37:46. > :37:53.foot is it is really hard to follow this shy and wary predator. But we
:37:54. > :38:01.have been capturing footage since early December. He discovered it
:38:02. > :38:05.spends four out of every five days here, leaving as soon as night
:38:06. > :38:12.begins to fall and returning just after dawn.
:38:13. > :38:25.The beauty of these remote cameras is that we get a glimpse into the
:38:26. > :38:52.world of one of the planet's rest mammals.
:38:53. > :39:17.I am pleased to be joined by Doctor Andrew Kitchener, principal to rate
:39:18. > :39:32.of a museum in Scotland. Before we had DNA you came up with a system of
:39:33. > :39:39.scoring the pelts. Talk us through these animals. We have three skins
:39:40. > :39:42.in front of us. The one closest to you is a wildcat. Interestingly and
:39:43. > :39:44.spookily it is 18 years to the day since this is collected in 1936. The
:39:45. > :39:47.thing you notice about wildcat says they have this bushy tail with
:39:48. > :39:50.distinct bands and you see that most often because they are running away
:39:51. > :39:53.from you. There are other features you can look for as well. There is a
:39:54. > :39:55.stripe that runs along the back here, but it stops before it gets to
:39:56. > :39:58.the tail. A couple of shoulder stripes and then these four stripes
:39:59. > :40:01.at the back of the neck, which are always very wiggly, as if someone
:40:02. > :40:03.has put their four bingo what would that score? Is there a points
:40:04. > :40:06.scoring system? For a domestic cat we score one and then we top them up
:40:07. > :40:13.for the seven different characters. This would be a perfect 21. But it
:40:14. > :40:18.was taken 80 years ago? And very hard to find anything like that now.
:40:19. > :40:27.Lot larger than the other cat. They have a reputation of being bigger.
:40:28. > :40:34.About 25% bigger but a neutered domestic mail cat might get almost
:40:35. > :40:40.as big. The next cat skin, this is an animal handed into a museum as a
:40:41. > :40:45.wildcat. It is very small but it is a domestic cat. You can see the tail
:40:46. > :40:54.is very slender and tapering. This line runs onto the tail, joining the
:40:55. > :40:57.bands together. Very thin and straight, as if sanity has put their
:40:58. > :41:02.fingers down a blackboard. You will also notice these stripes on the
:41:03. > :41:07.rump have broken up into a series of spots, so it is quite different. If
:41:08. > :41:11.you have one of those at home and you think your cat is a bit wildcat,
:41:12. > :41:17.you are sadly wrong. What about this one? A blending of these two. The
:41:18. > :41:23.tail is intermediate in its shape. There is a suggestion this dark line
:41:24. > :41:28.comes onto the tail. The stripes on the back of the neck, they are
:41:29. > :41:35.intermediate, a little wiggly but not as wiggly as in the wildcat. The
:41:36. > :41:41.striking pattern here is breaking up God blotches and spots. Very much
:41:42. > :41:50.intermediate between the two. -- raking up the blotches. What about
:41:51. > :41:53.the hybrid? What about our cat question what we have pictures of
:41:54. > :41:57.the cat we were watching, these are relatively clear. What do you think
:41:58. > :42:03.of this one? I have looked through quite a lot of photos of this cat.
:42:04. > :42:08.The back end is quite wildcat like but the front is domestic cat like.
:42:09. > :42:15.Like a cut and shunt cat. I haven't seen a cat like this before. I have
:42:16. > :42:21.dotted up the scores and is about 15 or 16. A fairly typical hybrid. Not
:42:22. > :42:27.particular good? No, but it looks good running away from you. I have
:42:28. > :42:31.never ticked off a Scottish wildcat. The problem is, there are very few
:42:32. > :42:36.left in the wild, the best ones are now in captivity. That does seem to
:42:37. > :42:40.be the case, but it is good news that there are some and efforts are
:42:41. > :42:44.going on to still try and find the last few good ones in the wild we
:42:45. > :42:50.could use the breeding. That is what will be coming up in our final film
:42:51. > :42:55.tomorrow. Stick with us for that. And Armstrong starts after this
:42:56. > :42:59.online and on the red button. If you have any questions about wildcat,
:43:00. > :43:03.#winterwatch, send them in and we will do our best to get them
:43:04. > :43:09.answered. Martin Hughes-Games has been exploring for us, up the
:43:10. > :43:16.mountain. This week he has been our very own revenant Martin. Yes, what
:43:17. > :43:21.a change it has been here. I was up here on the mountain a few days ago.
:43:22. > :43:24.It was positively balmy and now it is bitterly cold. Before we go any
:43:25. > :43:30.further I have to thank the guys Graham, Bill and all the people act
:43:31. > :43:34.Glenshee ski area, without them there is no way we would be up here.
:43:35. > :43:37.Why are we up here? This is the territory of the bird we want to
:43:38. > :43:42.look at, the ptarmigan. It is dark now but in the light earlier this
:43:43. > :43:47.afternoon this place looks absolutely marvellous. This is where
:43:48. > :43:54.the ptarmigan lives, in the snowy peaks. The ptarmigan is generally
:43:55. > :44:26.grey in summer, but They make a strange croaking sound.
:44:27. > :44:30.Their plumage goes completely white so they are camouflaged against the
:44:31. > :44:36.snow. They have feathers on their feet, as they can walk across the
:44:37. > :44:40.snow, and they have a whole host of incredibly subtle adaptations to
:44:41. > :44:43.enable them to survive here. Here is just one of those adaptations,
:44:44. > :44:49.remember when I was doing that experiment. I took my clothes off
:44:50. > :44:53.and the temperature dropped. And my body tried to compensate by pumped
:44:54. > :44:57.blood in to the centre of my body. There is only one bit that couldn't
:44:58. > :45:02.get rid of that heat, one bit we couldn't do anything about, that was
:45:03. > :45:07.my eyes and head. Now that is the same for all the animals but
:45:08. > :45:10.particularly the ptarmigan, let us look at a thermal picture of a
:45:11. > :45:17.ptarmigan in its winter coat. Look at that. Can you see, its eyes and
:45:18. > :45:22.beak are the only parts of its body losing the. Burr the ptarmigan has
:45:23. > :45:28.an answer, a supersubtleance for that. Look closely now. Look at that
:45:29. > :45:35.eyelid. It has feathers on its eyelid. When it shuts its eyes it
:45:36. > :45:42.keeps its eyes warp. It has tiny feathers on its nose too.
:45:43. > :45:48.Now, let us look at its feathers. The feathers, let us go back to that
:45:49. > :45:53.picture of its nose, that thermal picture in its winter coat. You
:45:54. > :45:58.might notice it is losing no heat at all through those white feathers.
:45:59. > :46:05.Compare that to its summer feathers. Look at that. It is losing heat.
:46:06. > :46:09.When the feathers are grey in the summer they don't conserve the heat.
:46:10. > :46:13.But the white ones do. Here is an amazing thin, what happens is the
:46:14. > :46:19.white feathers don't let any heat o at all. The the temperature drops to
:46:20. > :46:25.minus ten, what happens it starts to metabolise, burn up fat, produce
:46:26. > :46:30.heat and the heat comes out of its body but the feathers won't let it
:46:31. > :46:35.out it is cosy in there. It has been calculated a ptarmigan is so well
:46:36. > :46:38.adapted to this environment it could survive minus 93 Celsius.
:46:39. > :46:42.Incredible. We have our thermal cameras up here
:46:43. > :46:47.right now. Let us look round and see if there are any animals or
:46:48. > :46:50.ptarmigan up here now. Look at that wind, whipping over the
:46:51. > :46:55.top there. Look at the, is there anything there
:46:56. > :47:01.at all? You know, anything is going to be hiding away. We did just see
:47:02. > :47:06.some animals here. Let us look. Here is hares running round in this
:47:07. > :47:09.bitter cold. They will need all that adaptations the three hare, mountain
:47:10. > :47:16.hare, but they are tough enough to take it.
:47:17. > :47:22.Fantastic sight. Now, these are hard, hard times up
:47:23. > :47:28.here, but wild and wonderful. Back now, to Chris and Michaela.
:47:29. > :47:34.. I have to admire him. He is up there, and earlier on he took off
:47:35. > :47:37.his clothes. He is really going it. No wonder they call him Martin
:47:38. > :47:43.Hughes-Games. All credit to him. We don't have to do it. Which is great.
:47:44. > :47:46.We are cosy down here. Now as you know we have live cameras across the
:47:47. > :47:51.estate hoping to see certain wildlife. We are hoping to so pine
:47:52. > :47:55.marten, there is a cram in the wood. Let us look at it live. Nothing on
:47:56. > :47:59.it right now. There is never anything on it when you want
:48:00. > :48:04.something. This is what we showed you yesterday. This is the pine
:48:05. > :48:08.marten up the tree, collecting an egg that we had actually put there
:48:09. > :48:12.ourselves. Now, it is coming down the tree. Incredible it is not
:48:13. > :48:17.breaking that egg. But we want to know, where does it take that egg?
:48:18. > :48:22.Where is it hiding it? You see this is just like the vole and the mouse
:48:23. > :48:27.earlier. It is storable food. There is a lot of food this animal would
:48:28. > :48:30.have to eat straightaway. It wants to enesure it has something for a
:48:31. > :48:35.rainy day if you like. We watched them doing it last year, we saw it
:48:36. > :48:39.happening a couple of nights ago. We wanted to know how far it was taking
:48:40. > :48:47.the egg and how it was hiding it. Hiding it in a tree or burying it?
:48:48. > :48:54.Where was it putting it to hide and preserve it. An egg with a
:48:55. > :49:01.transmitter in it. We sucked the yolk and white out, then we cut the
:49:02. > :49:06.top off. Inside, we put a radio transmitter with exactly the right
:49:07. > :49:09.amount of resin so it weighed the same, critical detail, as a real
:49:10. > :49:14.egg. Because when the pine marten finds this, we don't want it to
:49:15. > :49:18.think, there is an egg with a radio transmitter in, we want it to think
:49:19. > :49:22.it's a real egg. So we put this egg out earlier, and we were hoping to
:49:23. > :49:26.show you it live, a pine marten taking it away. While we were inside
:49:27. > :49:29.having hot chocolate and chatting about what might happen later this
:49:30. > :49:36.happened. The pine marten beat us to it. It
:49:37. > :49:43.turned up early and it immediately found the radio egg, inside the base
:49:44. > :49:51.of that stump. Its curiosity was aroused. It thinks it's a real egg,
:49:52. > :49:58.after a double think. Comes back, rolls it out... And then look how
:49:59. > :50:04.carefully. It doesn't wasn't to break I it wants to keep it whole.
:50:05. > :50:09.It rolls it out gently and picks it out xhurning with its teeth, two
:50:10. > :50:15.little holes, and then, watch this, it trots off into the woods. Then it
:50:16. > :50:18.runs up, it runs up round the back. Now or challenge has been set,
:50:19. > :50:22.because tomorrow morning perhaps not at 3.15 we are going to
:50:23. > :50:27.get-up-and-go out in the woods with the receiver and try and find the
:50:28. > :50:33.radio tracked egg. Toss a coin for that, you or me. I am keen to go.
:50:34. > :50:37.That is what I mean, toss a coin, I want to go. It has worked. We should
:50:38. > :50:42.find out something about the ecology of this animal which is fantastic
:50:43. > :50:47.While we have been filming up here, we have had camera teams all over
:50:48. > :50:52.the UK filming the wildlife. One of the cameraman is a guy called Pete
:50:53. > :50:57.and he has been filming how this weird winter has been affecting the
:50:58. > :51:04.wildlife on an estuary near where he lives in Devon, the other end of the
:51:05. > :51:08.country. I grew up on the river Teign. This
:51:09. > :51:13.stretch of river feels like home for me.
:51:14. > :51:20.My dad grew up here as a kid. And then I followed. So I spent many
:51:21. > :51:28.hours, if not days and weeks down on the river, exploring it.
:51:29. > :51:31.I spent a long time away, filming in Africa, in a climate that doesn't
:51:32. > :51:38.change much. So coming back here, I really wanted
:51:39. > :51:47.to look at the way the seasons change from autumn to winter. One of
:51:48. > :51:54.my favourite spectacles of growing up on the Teign is seeing the mist
:51:55. > :51:59.round autumn, that. Cops in. It is a real low mist, it sits in
:52:00. > :52:04.the valley. You feel you are in another world.
:52:05. > :52:08.The mist is usually there for two or three mornings, and once it has
:52:09. > :52:17.gone, you know that winter is on its way.
:52:18. > :52:22.During the very early mornings, and very late evenings, I watched the
:52:23. > :52:27.squirrels coming down, the oak tree, taking the last of the acorn, and in
:52:28. > :52:32.doing so, they end up dropping them. One particular evening, this whole
:52:33. > :52:36.flock of mallards came in and then I realised they were eating the acorn,
:52:37. > :52:44.which was something I had never seen before. So it was fascinating seeing
:52:45. > :52:53.the cross over of species. Everything is connected.
:52:54. > :53:06.Thing is a special bird for me. -- egret. They are slender and
:53:07. > :53:12.beautiful, and sharp and elusive. Yet at the same time they kind of
:53:13. > :53:22.have this arrogance that the river is theirs.
:53:23. > :53:29.I expected a really cold winter this year, and I was hoping for the
:53:30. > :53:33.estuary to freeze over, which I have seen it do once or twice in my life,
:53:34. > :53:38.but that didn't happen, and when the rain started coming, I thought, oh,
:53:39. > :53:42.this is, this is just not going to work at all.
:53:43. > :53:47.But actually, seeing all the creatures in the rain, the really,
:53:48. > :53:51.it really opened my eyes. It is rather beautiful, it is only
:53:52. > :53:57.when you slow down temperature rain, and you slow down the creatures in
:53:58. > :54:05.the rain, that you can really appreciate it. This winter for me
:54:06. > :54:11.has been really dark Moody and atmospheric.
:54:12. > :54:21.The creatures are secretive along this stretch of river. It just adds
:54:22. > :54:26.to the mystery of the place. I was concentrating on the egret
:54:27. > :54:32.doing its usual thing, all of a sudden I noticed this whooshing of
:54:33. > :54:36.water, going under him. Within the space of a couple of seconds this
:54:37. > :54:44.cormorant's head popped up, out of of the wave in front of the egret.
:54:45. > :54:51.Kind of had this moment together then the cormorant ducked back down
:54:52. > :54:59.and shot off. The egret took Afzal Amin him and
:55:00. > :55:10.proceeded to chase this corm ran. -- took off after him. Cormorant.
:55:11. > :55:19.And the cormorant was going for stuff while the egrter, was chasing
:55:20. > :55:31.him, going for little critters and shrimp or fish, anything the
:55:32. > :55:36.cormorant stirred up. -- egret. I have learned so much
:55:37. > :55:41.sitting on this river for the last two months.
:55:42. > :55:46.This place keeps drawing me back, because you never know what is going
:55:47. > :55:53.to happen, and it is always changing.
:55:54. > :56:00.All rather beautiful, but one of the things that stood out for me, is
:56:01. > :56:07.those mallards eating acorn, have you seen them doing that? Yes, ducks
:56:08. > :56:13.will eat acorn, Mandarin and wood duck, non-native and they will feed
:56:14. > :56:19.on acorn, a great resource, wood pigeon, Jays. That is how Pete saw
:56:20. > :56:24.his local area, but we have been asking you to let us now how it has
:56:25. > :56:29.affected you. We have some photos to show you. This is the first one. It
:56:30. > :56:33.is an adder, this is taken in January by Richard who lives in
:56:34. > :56:37.Norfolk. He says he has photographed an adder every month for the last 12
:56:38. > :56:42.months. I am going to interrupt this. We can go to our cars a cam
:56:43. > :56:49.where we have a tawny owl. Look that the. It is probably a bird which has
:56:50. > :56:54.come in before. We can't be sure. It has just arrived. I am sure it is
:56:55. > :57:00.going to gorge itself. There it is. It has started pulling away there.
:57:01. > :57:08.That is fantastic to see. Going back to the weird winter. Keep sending
:57:09. > :57:10.your pictures tastic to see. Going back to the weird winter. Keep
:57:11. > :57:12.sending your pictures tastic to see. Going back to the weird winter. Keep
:57:13. > :57:15.sending your pictures in usualing the hashtag #weird winter. We have
:57:16. > :57:18.loads of stuff. Shall we have, before we do that, shall we look at
:57:19. > :57:23.another photo? Have we are got time? We have got this one, great crested
:57:24. > :57:28.green. Let us look at that. With young, on its back. This is
:57:29. > :57:30.from Tom on the Thames. They shouldn't be breeding s look at
:57:31. > :57:32.that. With young, on its back. This is
:57:33. > :57:35.from Tom on the Thames. They shouldn't be breeding at this time
:57:36. > :57:38.of year Lots of bird ( have been breeding every month. Barn owl. Wood
:57:39. > :57:44.pigeon. Blackbird. As long as it stays mild it should be OK. We will
:57:45. > :57:49.be bah tomorrow at 8.00. We have lots coming up, including this. On
:57:50. > :57:54.the trail oaf a bizarre looking sabre-tooth deer.
:57:55. > :57:57.And we are starlings, the bird that provides us with a huge sight and
:57:58. > :58:02.sound spectacle. Ladies and gentlemen and young people of the
:58:03. > :58:07.UK, get plastic sheeting to put over your sofas because our eagle fest
:58:08. > :58:14.reaches its crescendo tomorrow, when the eagle and the fox meet on the
:58:15. > :58:19.carcass, don't miss that. Chris will be doing unsprung On the Red Button
:58:20. > :58:26.and online. Hopefully Martin, will he be joining us? I really don't
:58:27. > :58:33.know. I am worried. How will I get down from here? Oh. By Jove, what a
:58:34. > :58:37.bit of luck! See you tomorrow! Whoa!