Winterwatch Episode 3 Winterwatch

On this cold dark night, the stars of Winterwatch are truly shining.

We have news of a clash of carnivores in the Highlands and in

this the weirdest of winters we will discover the secret of some of the

most elusive animals. I am in the forest watching the waters rising

yet again. It is wet, it is wild. It is Winterwatch.

Hello and welcome to Winterwatch 2016. We are coming to you live from

the National Trust for Scotland's Mar Lodge in the heart of the

Cairngorms in Scotland. We have had a fabulous week so far,

lots of exciting wildlife. Lots of change of weather and tonight let me

tell you we have a bit of a change of plan. My lovely co-presenter

Chris Packham has unfortunately come down at the last minute with a bit

of a stomach bug. I will spare you the details so tonight, it is me and

Martin, we are holding the fort Martin. It is a Michaela and Martin

show. The mick and Mart show. I think he is watching boxed sets.

This really is a fabulous place to be, and a great place to film. It

has dramatic wildlife, scenery and this week dramatic weather. This is

what one of our cameramen filmed last night. This is on a thermal

camera. This is where you were on the slopes of the Cairngorms. This

is where I was, this was filmed just after we left. You can see the snow

whipping across the hill. Red deer, running up the hill there. This was

absolutely as I Mag. I wanted to show you a ptarmigan doing this.

Look in the picture. There is movement there. That is a ptarmigan.

It has flown in and used its wings to bury itself in the snow. I read

about this, never thought I would see it. When it is under the snow it

conserves 50% of its body heat. This is one of its incredible adaptations

to living up there in the snow. Look that the. That is amazing to see. I

never dreamed I would see that. I wanted to talk about it, but I

thought we will never see it. There it was. It is probably easier to

film it on a thermal camera because they are so well camouflaged. That

was fabulous. We have had a lot of changes of weather up here, what is

the weather been doing over the last 24 hourses? It continued to snow

last night. So this morning, once again, we woke up to a rather

beautiful Winter Wonderland. Lots of animals out in the snow. Red

squirrel, we haven't featured them much yet. They are out and about.

There is a good population here. There are no grey squirrels and they

have to be out in the snow foraging, as have the red grouse, pecking away

there at the heather. Animals will get used to the snow but the sun

came out and started to melt it. It all started to head down to the

river, with those rivers full. That is where you are going to be later?

I will be sploshing round in the water. Are you sploshing? Yes. We

have had a bit of an eagle fest. We really wanted to enjoy eagles this

Winterwatch. The last couple of year, we have been putting carcasses

out and having cameras and really hoping to get golden eagles. . This

year we have been extremely lucky. And we showed you yesterday, that we

filmed two golden eagles on a carcass up in the Trossachs. This is

the male. If you look closely as we said yesterday, it is a ringed male,

with a satellite tracker on it. This is its mate, the female. Martin, you

can see the difference in size. She is about 40% bigger than the male.

She is. She is a lot more chunky. She is. This is a tagged bird, and

the thing that it has on its leg, is 007. That is the male. And the

researchers that put the 007 on, they named it James. It has to be.

007 James Bond. But the female is so far unnamed. So we thought, if he is

James Bond the female has to be a Bond Girl. So we threw it out to you

and said come up with name, you have come up with truly fabulous names. I

will give you a couple. Gold Winger. I like that that is good. That is

from Heather. Solitaire. The winner was from Idris Scott Wade on Twitter

and it is Feathers Galore. That is excellent. I like that. If you

remember, that yesterday, not only did we show you the two eagles on

the carcass we showed you lots of other animals including a fox. What

we have to show you is really amazing footage. It is very

exciting. It has never been filmed before. Have a look at this.

So, this is the golden eagle. This is the female, Feathers Gal more.

Look what happened. The fox came in, and chased that female off. Came in

at such speed it probably took her by surprise. She hasn't gone

completely away. She is perched off there. Keeping her eye on that

carcass, she wants to come back and feed. What happens next? Fabulous Mr

Fox comes back, look at the tail It is very erect. Held up like a flag.

What will happen next? Will the two meet at the same time? This is the,

look at that. That is the male that is in there now. That is James the

male. I mean it happens so quickly. It was so fast that. Can we see that

male coming in again, because I think it is just bluff, this. I

think he is not giving the eagle time to react in a defensive way. S

just bluff, this. I think he is not giving the eagle time to react in a

defensive way. The eagle thinks "What is that? " And leaves the

carcass. Again. He has turned round a bit there. I think, the eagle...

It is such a surprise to the eagle. You saw the eagle turn, it is

beginning to think, what is this, can I defend myself? But very

interestingly, we saw the fox do this. Watch it come in. That tail,

that brush is held very erect. He is puffing up all his fur to make

himself look as big as he possibly can, because I think the eagle is

still round, and that fox wants to make himself look as big, huge as he

can, to try to stop the eagle coming in. This isn't for fun, this is a

very serious game. They both need the meat that on that carcass to see

them through the winter. Also, with should say the red foxes you find on

the mountains up here are a lot bigger than the urban foxes, about

40% I think isn't it. That fox could be anything from ten kilos up. They

are a good match. Similar sort of weight. The eagle is probably a bit

lighter but also in the winter it has to fluff up. So probably a bit

intimidating. Yes. Evenly matched. The weight is different. The fox is

a bit heavier, but they both have tremendous armament. The fox's teeth

and the talons on that golden eagle. Let me tell you, it didn't stop

there. The action continued. We will save that for later on. It really is

amazing footage. Now, I know that a lot of you out

there feed your garden animals, in the winter especially, to help them

out. I don't think many of us put a carcass out there. Most of us put

bird food out. But it is a pleasure to sit there and see what turns up.

But for some people, what turns up can be really special.

Two years ago, Richard decided on a life change.

I have worked in the building trade all my life and there comes a time

when enough is enough, you know, your back is going, your knees are

going, I decided time was right to drop out the rat race and move the

Wales. It is remote, it has a nice piece of

odd land we use as a haven for wildlife. -- woodland. I could set

up little feeding stations and attract the wile life from inside

the woodland, to photograph. I use 15ml wide angle lens. That allows me

to get in close. I use a PIR sensor, similar to how a security light

work, when that is triggered that fires the camera and it will fire

two flashes. It started off photographing birds,

you get grass snakes predating on the frogs.

I was putting out a bit of dog food. I notice hedgehogs were coming in so

I kept the food going out, because we were coming into autumn. Then, as

winter approached, an unexpected visitor emerged from the woods. A

polecat. I was shocked really. I couldn't have dreamed that a polecat

was going to show up. Coming from Bedfordshire it is not something you

are likely to see. Close Kosens of stoats and pine marten, polecats

were almost, terminated by gamekeepers in the last century.

Nocturnal and secretive, spending much of their time below ground,

hunting rabbit, they are very rarely seen.

We were lucky, we didn't know, this is a stronghold for polecats. It is

a wonderful opportunity, really, that I couldn't miss to set up

camera traps and photograph them. Each morning, it is like a kid at

Christmas. Come out, and see how he has trayered the camera and what

shots you have got. -- triggered the camera. I normally get the shot, but

like any photographer, you never happy with what you end up with.

It is always, I can do something belter necks time. Maybe the

lighting is too much. Not enough. Maybe it is not quite looking the

right way. This continuous effort to try and

get the shock shot I am happy with. Incredibly, Richard has never seen

his polecat in the flesh, but he has pieced together an idea of his

character. I grew up watching Jonny Morris, so

I know it is totally unscientific and unreally tips, I think every

animal has a little character. I think a polecat is like a bolshy

kind of character, he is not really bothered by anything.

He stomps in, picks up the scent of anything I have left for him. If it

is in a rotten log, it gets ripped to pieces and he is is like a mini

Wolverine with his claws as he rips into stuff.

Then one night last spring, Richard's polecat stopped coming.

To begin with, I was a bit concerned maybe something has happened to him,

speaking to an expert polecats march April time they look for a mate.

Happily this winter he was back. Have grown attached to hill now. It

was a relief when he turned up. I was pleased to see he made it safely

through the summer. Wile he wants to visit, there will be little titbits

waiting for him and weather permitting I will be photographing

him. A polecat is something I could never

have photographed back in Bedfordshire and most people haven't

got that opportunity, so it has made the move worthwhile.

Polecats are such exciting creatures. And I think polecats are

doing quite well, they are making a come back, if you want to know more

about polecat, stay round for Unsprung 1 we have Lizzie Croose who

will tell us more about the life history and what is happening to

polecats right now. OK. Where am I? Have a look at this. I am down in

the flooded forest. I have had all sorts of weather. At the beginning I

had the wind whipping through. We had snow yesterday and today it is

starting to flood again. Just behind me there, is the River Dee, about 50

metres away. Look at this, it is all started to flood, pour into the

fields yet again. It is quite disturbing to see. Look, this is

forest where I am standing, here is the water. It is like a Souness

pouring in. Imagine if you were a vole or mouse, this would be

devastating. -- Tsunami. This is because it is

pouring over the bank, behind me into the forest. It is is like the

rainforest, only colder. What happens to some of the animals that

depend upon that river to live, and survive? Something like a

kingfisher. Now, of course, kingfishers need

clean clear water, they need to see the fish they are going to dive down

and feed on. If that water is rough, they can't fish, and they have to

fly away. What they tend to do, that one was filmed on the River Dee

here, what they do is they go downstream, and they may even end up

on the coast. That is the kingfisher, they have to move. But

what about another wonderful little bird that you get on the rivers up

here? The dipper. Last year, we were lucky enough to film the dipper, it

is a very unlikely looking bird, to actually go under water. But that is

where it hunts. It has powerful little wings that drive it under the

water, and it goes underneath, looking for Larrivey. Incredibly

their eyes have muscles that pull the lens so they can see as well

under water, as they do above it. What is it going to do when the

river goes into spate? If it is really, really rough, the dipper

simply cannot feed like we've seen it doing, so what is it going to do?

I spoke to locals here and the camera boys went out and they were

looking for dippers and there were none on the river. Where on earth

have they gone? We set out to find out. They weren't in the river so

the camera team crossed the river and disappeared off, and then they

discovered the dipper not in the river - that is a flooded field.

There it is. As its name suggests. And it was actually hunting in the

field. It is never going to find its normal prey here. Little Fish, and,

as I say, insect larvae. What is it feeding on? We cannot really see. We

think that is probably a worm wrapped around its beak. So it just

shows how amazingly adaptable they are in their behaviour that they can

adapt even to this tremendous flood going on. Extraordinary, that! And

they are very loyal to their territories, and what they will do

is go away from there into the fields, and then, as soon as is,

they will come back into the river and start nesting. -- as soon as

possible. So those are two birds that have been given problems

because of the rivers. Have a look at this. All around me here, there

is all this debris that has been washed up. All of this sort of stuff

has been pushed down, all the way down to the sea down here, and we

went down to the harbour to have a look at what was going on there when

all this stuff turned up on the beach.

This is 50 miles away in Aberdeen. Look at all this debris. A bird in

the background. Look - pine needles, pine cones. These things have been

washed down from write-up in the Highlands and it a fantastic

opportunity for these. Turn -- turns. Here is a bird that is taking

opportunities. Some things would be very opportunistic and they will

benefit from the flooding. Now, I think we may have live animals on

our thermal camera right now. Let's have a look. They are just behind

me. They are deer. That is a huge herd. Of red all snuggled down. It

is actually quite warm now. The wind has died and there they are. There

must be 30 of them just behind me. So, despite the weather, despite the

conditions, life carries on for the wildlife around here. Now, we have

had a wide range of conditions this winter. And it's had a massive

affect on all the wildlife. But Mr Williams went up to Cambridge in

search of a very curious, strange looking animal.

A small relic of a weedy marshland that once covered hundreds of square

miles of eastern England. The swampy refuge of a strange and mysterious

mammal. I've come down here to the friends

in search of this bizarre looking animal. Just look at that skull.

These canines. Huge teeth! And you might say, surely that belongs to a

sabre toothed tiger?! But, it doesn't, it belongs to an animal

that is alive today and is out there somewhere right now. It is the

Chinese water deer. It is notoriously secretive and few people

know anything about it. A primitive deer looking like a cross between a

vampire and a teddy bear. Doctor Arnold Cooke has been

studying them for nearly 40 years. He has gained a tantalising insight

into their private lives. His remote camera footage from last

winter provides clear evidence that this is where they normally breed.

Well, this courtship, so this is a female feeding. You can see the eyes

coming in. That is the buck. He has followed her scent and wondering

whether she is in season. She's not. Knowing trust whatsoever. Now, she

is in season. The buck comes in but then another comes in and he is

dominant, so he chases the other one off. And there we have a pair who do

mate. In the distance. That lucky but isn't the territory-older. So

that could well be the one that was unlucky before. So am I here at the

right time of year? Normally it is but it has been such a mild autumn

that the deer has barely started to rot. There is caution going on. --

rut. The tall reeds make the deer almost impossible to spot. The find

any sign of these elusive beasts, we are taking an aerial view. -- to

find. Let's see if we can get it over the

reed bed. I'm hoping to pinpoint the best

place to witness the deer's breeding behaviour. Wow! This gives us an

amazing perspective, looking right down at the reed beds and the clear

areas here. And every now and again... There is one. You can see

these Chinese water deer motorways where they go into a well worn path

and then they go through these other parts as well. I can't see any deer

yet and that just goes to show you how secretive they are. They are

lying somewhere in there by day but we can't see them.

This reveals plenty of activity around one of the larger meadows but

I noticed something else, too. We have gone right to the edge of

the reserve now, and what's interesting is there are quite a few

paths leaving the reserve and going out onto the farmland, so it may

well be would be worthwhile having a look at there, seeing whether the

deer me here and go to feed and then come back into the reserve.

That's where I had first, and immediately strike lucky. --

headfirst. Look at that!

When I first saw them I thought they were hares but they are Chinese

water deer. Probably a buck looking for a doe who is not interested. I

wasn't expecting to see that at all. That's fantastic.

According to Arnold, my best chance of seeing them properly is that

night, so I'll be back after dark. Just bizarre looking animals, aren't

they? With fangs! Not what you would expect on a deer. So what are these

four? They use them for display and fighting. Remember, they haven't got

an close, so they are using those particularly in the rotting season.

These fabulous photos sent in by Mike, who took photos from Norfolk.

These are two males, it is just the males who have those fangs, chasing

each other. And they are using those fangs to fight each other during the

rut and it is at this time of year they are rotting in a cold winter.

You cold? It looks pretty cold out there! Were you slashing? It's gone

down even today. About a couple of feet. -- were you splashing around?

It is a bit like Jurassic Park! One of the things we've been hoping to

see here is to find out more about the population of pine marten is

they have. This is what they look like in the day. They are fabulous.

-- pine martens. A rustic coat. Fabulous. And just the distillation

of naughtiness in animal form. There is something very, very naughty

about them! And up here you would be very lucky to see one out in the

daytime. They are nocturnal up here in the Ken forms. But we wanted to

know where they stash all cash their food. --" Mountains. We have been

staking out a log and putting eggs on the top and they've been coming

up and taking those eggs and cashing them. At, as I say, we wanted to

find out where they do that. -- but. We made this incredible radio

transmitter egg. And they smeared it in egg yolk so it's not the same as

an egg, and we planted them. And this is what we saw last night.

The pine marten comes into the tree and you really get a sense of size

with the head relative to the egg. They are not small animals. They are

quite a large creature. About the size of a domestic cat. Yes, and you

don't realise that until you see it. And it is carrying all that

electronic equipment in the egg! They covered it in egg yolks so it's

not the same. I was going to ask you... They didn't figure it out

because we had normal eggs in there so we already know that is a -- they

know it is a good place to get food so it goes back. That's what I

think, anyway! That's signs according to Michaela Strachan! --

science. If you've just joined us, Chris Packham has a stomach bug so

that's why he's not joining us the night. Anyway, we put another radio

transmitter egg in the tree. The pine marten is climbing up the tree

to the top... I think it has a little wobble and in he goes. Look

at that! Amazing close-ups! This is an incredible shot, Martin, and it

is sniffing that egg out. And this is what I find remarkable. How does

it not crack that egg? Those teeth are absolutely little razor points

so you would think it goes straight through the shell. Of course, it is

very important for it not to break a real egg because then it would have

to eat it immediately and it wouldn't be able to store it up

against future hunger. Somehow, it has got fabulously fine control of

the pressure it is applying to that radio-controlled egg. I never

thought this was going to work, Taylor! -- MacIver! Now we have two

radio-controlled egg is out in the forest. So we got up very early to

see if we could find them. This is it, Chris. This is where it

got the first egg from, down here. And then we saw it. It came out here

and went around there. And then the second one, of course, it took from

the top. So I think if we stop radio tracking that way... Might as well

go on the path because it's easier. Switch your gadget on and we can go.

It's getting really strong now, Chris. It's definitely around

here... Ooh! I wonder if it's down here. That's going to be quite hard

to find, isn't it, if it's down there? Would it have taken it down

there? It might have done. It could be a den, couldn't it? Put my hand

down and risk my fingers... Hang on. It's actually getting much stronger

over here, Chris. I think I've seen it! Look! My word! Look at that!

It's right under the Moss. It is. Look at that. Definitely the radio

egg. You can see the end of it here. I think we should take this and put

it back in the tree and replace it with this nice fresh egg. It's only

fair. It deserves its egg, without a shadow of a doubt. This hides it

even better! Slip this back in the tree and you can look for the other

one. OK, right. I love the way you get it back a

real egg in case, so it wouldn't go hungry! I'm amazed we found that

egg, though. And I love how you let Chris put his arm right down the

hole before you told him it wasn't there! Did you find the other one?

We didn't because we couldn't find it in the time baht a camera team

continued to look for it. This one was actually very well hidden. -- at

the camera team. There it is. That is the second radio-tracked egg. We

took it out and put both of them back in the trees. But, as we said,

amazing. We really didn't think that would work. How far away did they

take the eggs? I can tell you that, Martin! The first was 50 metres away

in the Moss. The second was 35 metres away. And they were in

different directions. Is that interesting? Would you expect them

to cash all their eggs in one place? All your eggs in one basket! Why

would you do that? I don't know whether they do that. And how many

would they cash and would they find them all again? So many questions!

But you have started the whole, we know where they are, we know how to

find them. But an amazing bit of science there. They can cash them

for up to six months. Don't they go off?! Well, they could come back to

look for them, and in case they do, we actually put cameras out by the

eggs they've cashed. We might not see anything because it's our last

programme tomorrow, but if we do, we will certainly show you. And I also

wonder whether they put lots of eggs together or one... Anyway! We might

sound out more before the end of the together or one... Anyway! We might

series. But let's have a look at the camera now. -- we might find out.

That's just see if the pine marten is there. But there's every chance

he might show up before the end of the show and if he does, we

certainly cut to it live. Wonderful! Such a naughty animal! I had no

idea! Of course, it has been a very, very

wet year but also it has been remarkably warm, and that warmth has

had an affect on migratory birds, because many of them that would have

migrated from very cold areas up in the North have not arrived, to the

disappointment of many bird-watchers. But that includes

starlings, because lots of those migrate to us and that's one of the

reasons you get those immense murmur ration is, those wonderful

spectacles, and one of the places you get fabulous groups is down in

Somerset, and two weeks ago it did get very cold, the starlings arrived

and Gary, our sound recorder, went down not just to see the starlings

but also to listen to them. I have been obsessed with the

starlings on the Somerset Levels for at least seven years.

Before I lived here I used to make a pilgrimage every youer to see the

starlings. It really is a highlight of my

winter months. -- year.

People probably think the starring is a brown bird, dull, noisy, even a

nuisance. When the sun shines on the starlings

they are so many colour, they are not brown, they are not dull. They

are irdissent, when you get close up you can see they are covered in tiny

dots that look like little love hearts.

But for me as a sound recordist it's the depth and variety of calls I

find amazing. During the day, you can find them

feeding in the fields, having a little wash and a preen in the

puddles. But one of the key areas where they

get most of the food from is on the farms.

Even when they are feeding the sound is fantastic.

We know that the starlings eyes are positioned in such a way that when

it opens its beak, it can see inside it.

So when it feeds, it sticks its beak into the ground, opens it and it can

see inside the hole it has just made. If there is anything worth

taking it eats it. Towards the ends of the day, as the

light starts to fade, they make their way to the area where they are

going to roost. The murmuration is stunning but for

me it would be nothing without the sound.

As the birds first start the fly yoifr can pick out individual birds,

but as more arrive you loose it as the numbers build and build.

-- fly over. As the birds change direction in the

sky, the sound is unbelievable. It is like waves breaking on the shore.

The murmuration is truly amazing but for me, there is still one sound

scape that is missing and that is the early morning lift off.

The cover of darkness allows me to get much closer.

When I get there in the morning I get into the edge of the reed bed

just as the birds started to make the first sounds.

At first there is like a very low chatter, a low bubble.

You can pick out the odd call and start to tell they are starlings.

First they start to move round in small group, flitting across the top

of the reeds, then you can hear a pulse of wing beats as they change

direction. Then you can see black shapes and

forms and dark patches in the reeds. As it starts to get lighter you can

see they are starlings. Many Every time I see them, I just

cannot get my head round how many birds there are. I don't know how

you go about counting then and I don't know if anybody does.

Sometimes it is just too much. It is like a wall of white noise, I have

to fade my recorder down. It is a bit spiritual. When the

birds have left the reed bed you can feel your heart is lower. You feel

like you could face anything that day.

And there is nothing like it in the UK. It is just the best place to be.

In January. What an amazing spectacle. It is a

real sight and sound spectacle and Gary was so passionate about it. But

it is something that is definitely worth getting up early for if you

are going to see the dawn rise or see the murmuration in the evening.

If you live anywhere near one of the Starling roosts. It will go on until

February, that March, if you have never seen one get out there it is

fabulous, have a good listen to the sounds of the starlings are making.

I will be doing that, I am lucky enough to level near the levels. The

spectacle is amazing, you have to be there, to hear them coming over you.

And there is no other sound like it it is astonishing. My friend old

fashioned Tom said we are to blame, there is about 2,000 people down

there and he can't park anywhere. Go down by bike or something. Of

course, in the middle of the worst of the flooding, the Environment

Agency said a curious thing to me. They said if we had to choose

between wildlife and people, we will, of of course, always choose

people. At the time I thought that is rather an odd statement to make.

Is that a genuine choice? Well, not always. Not long ago, I was just

down there with all those fallen down trees, but living treeings can

have a very important role to play in helping to control floodwater. --

trees. This open treeless view is how many

people believe Britain's Uplands should be. Soon after the last ice

age, say 9,000 years ago, this land would have been blanketed in forest.

Demand for wood, the expansion of farming and the desire for open

hunting land meant over the last couple of thousand years the UK's

forest cover has declined from over 80 to just 13%.

Here in central Scotland, there is a project trying to redress the

balance. Trees for life have already planted

well over a million trees. Doug, the operations manager is

taking me to see the Scots pines they planted in 2003.

Gosh, this is a wild vista. It is quite good isn't it. Fantastic. So

what is the main objective of the project We have a vision for a

thousand square miles of continuous forest in this part of Scotland. We

want to work with landowner, and the forest commission but plant trees

ourself, to create a big forest. And you are started. The trees all round

us here, that is part of the project. It is, yes. These trees are

on an estate where Trees For Life own the line. It a boost for

biodiversity, animal life will feel the benefit.

But it could also be great news for the people in the valleys below.

The recent terse remember shall rain showed how easily water spills off

the hills. -- It It puts enormous pressure on

the streams and rivers with inevitable consequences.

Planting trees on the high ground could alleviate the risk of flooding

in many different ways as Doug explains The rain is falling from

the sky. It is not reaching the ground, so the foliage of the tree

will trap water and the bark itself as well is able to absorb water, and

swells up. OK. Of course, we know the roots of some of the tree is at

least as big and extensive as the above ground parters so all those

roots are creating channels for water to run down into the soil, the

sub soil and woodlands are 60 times better as absorbing rainfall than

pasture land and Moorland. Blimey! All of that is happening. The trees

when they do their thing, their chemical thing growing, they use

water, so they are sucking it out of the ground, as they do that. That is

reducing the chance of the soil becoming water logged and runs off.

So all together they are amazing. And also, Doug, down here there is

all sorts of other, there is grass, liken. I suppose these things are

helping absorb the liquid. There is vegetation that will trap water

here. The rain is not just hitting the ground and running straight off

again. This is really important. This is a living sponge here, the

whole thing, it will gradually let that water trickle down the hill. It

won't rush away immediately. That is right. So if you can imagine that

over the whole landscape, the small streams here don't go so big and

fast, and that has downstream effect into the big rivers and the towns

below us. Given that most of the rain we get

in the UK falls on Uplands areas, and we have a great natural flood

defence available to use there. Is it time we gave Britain back its

trees? Your dream, one day, would be that

all the hills round here will be covered in Scots pines and other

trees. Not just Scots pines but a lovely mix of trees. Aspen, Rhone,

birch, all sorts of things. -- rowan. Fascinating. Trees are

surely part of the solution, here is some interesting research. This is

from the centre of ecology and hydrology. They say that water

penetrates the ground 67 times faster when there are trees on it,

as opposed to not having trees. 67 times faster. That is astonishing.

They probably know what they are talking about. I am going to do

something now I have wanted to do since I got on the Watches about

four years ago. Because Chris is unwell and not with

us, I am on the touch screen. He never lets me touch this thing. I

have come here just to show you the different cameras we have got based

round the Mar Lodge Estate. This is the pine marten camera we showed you

earlier with the pine marten and the eggs. We haven't featured that

camera. This is the hare camera. The otter camera is over here. Carcass

cam there. That is not the one with the eagles on, that is the one we

saw the owl on. Near the lodge, we have the mouse maze. That is in a

little shed. I am just going to write on here, for when Chris comes

back I was here. There we go. Any way, moving on to the mouse

maze. Now we have set up this mouse maze to see how intelligent the

local rodents are, and how quickly they learn, and use their memory,

and we have had, we had mice in there and voles and well. We asked

you to vote who, which animal did you think would solve the new maze

quickest and first? So, this was a vote online. This is the result of

the votes. 5% of you thought that the mouse would crack the maze

first. 45% of you thought the vole. What do you think? What did you say

yesterday? I said the mouse. I am going with the mouse, I think the

audience are right. I said the vole. I actually said the vole. Let us

look. This is the maze. This is mouse maze three.

We have done too simpler ones. The mouse comes in, and he can't go the

route he has learned, he is now trying to find those nuts. This is a

very complicated maze. Obviously he doesn't crack it straightaway.

Fascinating this. You have to remember it is pitch black in there,

so he or she is going round sniffing away, 26, that is a dead end there.

Martin, that is the route it used to take. It is. And it is exploring

everything. Look at this, it is persistent this mouse. It goes in,

and after 64 seconds it finds the nut. Something spooks it! And it is

off. Can it find find its way out. I would be frightened. It is dark in

there. It does find its way out. We should

mention at this point these mice are doing it of their own accord. Look

at this now. Eventually, it worked out and independent in end it was

able to do the maze after 15 tries in just five seconds. Incredible

that it could do that. That is incredible. That

Firstly let's look at the foal. He is going the route that he knows.

It's a dead-end! But it is interesting it did the route that it

exactly remembered from the night before but now you can see the vole

is truly lost. It makes a valiant attempt but it gives up. It has

another go and goes to the dead-end. Then it just explores the left eye

and -- left-hand side of the maze. So it hasn't cracked it like the

mouse, and I hate you, after that, it gave up! But it might come back

tonight. -- I hate to tell you! So, if you won and voted for the mouse

online, reward yourself with a bit of cheese or some nuts or even a

glass of wine! Could have been a particularly thick vole and a very

clever mouse! Don't like that! We noticed something fascinating about

what the mouse was doing inside the maze to find its way. This was the

first route it took on simple maze. And while it was doing it, noticed

it was keeping its whiskers touching the right-hand wall. Watch it go. It

has always got the whiskers on the right-hand wall. Touching them.

Every single time. And then it gets the nut. When it goes back out, all

it does is keeps its whiskers on the left-hand side. We change the maze

and it does exactly the same thing. Keeping the whiskers on the right

until there... Suddenly the left-hand whiskers are touching the

side and it got quite confused and it took it quite a while to work

that last bit out. But amazingly inventive. And once they've learned

that route, they go at it like a bullet, don't they? Why do you think

the mice are better than the voles? Mice tend to spend more time in

trees at night. The voles on the ground. The mice have longer, more

complex whiskers and they are used to finding their way using those.

That's all very well but I think the vole might come back because we are

doing Mouse Maze Mark numeric form. -- Mark four. We are giving them

both another chance. This is a much more complicated maze. I think we

should scale it up. Put all three of us in and see how we get on!

Crystals well, when he is better. I think it would be quite

intimidating, bumping around the dark. -- Chris as well. Now, we have

been looking at wildcats but a team of scientists has been looking into

the breeding and trying to solve the problem.

The ultimate aim of the project is not just to captive-breed pure

wildcats, but eventually to release them back into the wild. But how do

you get captive, reared animals to relearn their hunting skills? Well,

for a start, you creating closures that simulate the wild. -- you

create enclosures. David gave the tour. Do they climb trees? I was

imagining it is a tourist real cat. They are, but they are very partial

to going up trees. If they are harassed by another animal they will

seek safety. It is a nice enclosure. If I were the wildcat, I would move

in. It's a bit rustic, I've got to be honest! But I like it. It's good.

It's very naturalistic. It is. We've tried a combination of features and

we can get natural species flying in as well, so the chance for the

wildcats to predate naturally. Yes. So they can find their own dens as

well? Yes, lots of rocks, lots of Juniper. And other cats could get

in, so there is a constant recruitment of prey which they can

learn to catch themselves. Yes. They've not lost any of their

natural instincts in captivity but what we need to do is find tune

them. If I've not ridden a bike for 20 years, I know how to ride it but

I've just got to get my skills going again. So when we release them, the

survival rate will be good and the hunting rate will be good if we

retrain them, and it will lead to sustainable populations. The

wildcats we have got 30, 40 years ago have become an invaluable asset,

and without them, we might not have the richness and the purity you need

today. Certainly. You go back 30, 40 years when these cats came into

captivity. We went doing it because we could see in the future they

would become critically endangered and on the edge of extinction, but

boy are we thankful, and, as you say, a lot of these capital that --

captivity fantastic. And better than some out of the so-called wild? Yes.

And we have to ask ourselves, it is -- if it is all individuals and

frequented populations, what then? If we have no back-up population

there will be no wildcats in the future, so we want to harness this

population of captive cats, and should we want to harness it, we

will have wildcats in Scotland for future generations. This scheme

represents the first tentative step on the road to restocking the

population of wildcats. And today, we get to release two captive-bred

animals into a brand-new enclosure. This can be a waiting game quite

often. It could be. Not only are they very timid, we have chosen one

of the coldest days in their lives so far! We could be here for ages.

Why don't we go and get a cup of tea? Not a bad idea. After we've

gone, the cats begin to explore, and, like a true wildcat, the male

bolts in and immediately blends in with the background. Whilst the

female is far more cautious. Far more wary. These cats and others

like them could provide the best hope in securing and protecting the

future of this enigmatic and very beautiful creature.

Now, you be asking yourself, when are they going to do that release?

And also, what's the point? Because when those pure genetic wildcats

simply interbreed with feral cats again? Very good questions. They

have to try to find places where those wildcats can go where maybe

there aren't populations of domestic cats, or they might have a programme

of neutering feral cats. That's also been discussed. But some people

think as well there might be other populations of wildcats out there

already. But fabulously beautiful animals. Probably 3-5 years, isn't

it? Yes. But thank goodness there is that genetic reservoir. Very

exciting. We've got something very, very

exciting for you now! Early on we showed you what happened when two

carnivores arrived at a carcass at the same time. The fabulous Mr Fox

and the male golden eagle which we've named 007, James Bond. Well,

the hunger games continued. Look at the fox now.

Completely different posture. Its head is down, its ears are back and

tail down. Now this is the female eagle that comes back. This is

Feathers Galore. And what's going to happen now? They are more evenly

matched. There's a lot of state, is there? A huge amount. That carcass

could represent 40% of the food that eagle needs for the winter. She's

not whacking off. Notice how she's lunging at the fox with those seven

centimetre long talons. Both of them are superbly armed. The fox has

teeth and claws. She has talent and feet. Ooh! Look at that! Both of

them could do serious damage to each other. They do want to risk that.

They are desperate for food but they don't want to risk injury. The

tension! Neither backing off. The fox doesn't want to turn its back on

the eagle... Because that would be a huge... Look at that! These are both

top editors. They will never be cowardly. But the risk is enormous

for both of them. Ah! We did cut the camera than on purpose. The camera

filming that, it only runs for a certain amount of time, and it

stopped dead at the crucial moment! But which one triumphed? Was that

the fabulous Mr fox or was it Feathers Galore? We want you to have

a vote online and we might just let you know tomorrow. Indeed. Now what?

It is a buffer? We asked you to send in your photographs of what we had

winter events were going on around you. And, thank you, you did! Look

at this! A blue tip nesting in January! What's that all about?

Here's a red admiral. They should be hibernating now. That's a butterfly

that hibernates in sheds and garages. And here is a male teal

mating with a female. You can just see her underwater. That's way too

early. Please, keep your photos coming in. Hashed tag we had winter.

Keep those photos coming in. They are fascinating to see. -- hash tag.

This is what we filmed earlier with our mountain hare camera. Fantastic

shots of this mountain heron. We've put apples out. The snow has covered

the apples over but the hare manages to sniff the apples out. This is a

nice, juicy treat for the Heron which is, well, at the moment, just

eating heather. -- the hare. That is a real glucose hit, isn't it? That

bit of sugar. Well, that's it for tonight. Unsprung will be on to

light on the Red Button. We are back at 9pm tomorrow. When is it? Nine

o'clock! Make sure you know that! Lots coming up, including this.

We find out what these Chinese water deer get up to after dark. And we

will get the latest results from our increasingly complicated maze. It's

getting ridiculous! Are not content with looking at them from the

ground, we put two cameras on some gorgeous eagles with spectacular

results. All that and more tomorrow. And hopefully Chris will be feeling

better and he will be joining us. I don't know! I think I've rather

enjoyed it doing it without him! Seed tomorrow at the different time

of 9pm. For now, goodbye. -- see you tomorrow.