Episode 1 Winterwatch

Winter is here, and it's time for some of the UK's greatest wildlife

spectacles. It's a challenging time of the year for wildlife and to

survive, animals like this gorgeous fox we've been observing the last

few days, have to be resourceful and adaptable. I'm on a mission to try

to find one of Britain's magically allusive animals, but it's bitterly

cold, there's fog everywhere. It can only mean one thing, it's

Winterwatch! Hello, and welcome to Winterwatch

2017. Coming to you live from the wonderful RSPB Arne in Dorset. I've

said this before but I can say it again. We have a crack cracking

series of shows coming up, all sorts of interesting stuff, tonight even

chemistry and particle physics. We are in amazing part of the country

not just for wildlife but whether as well. It rarely snows here, because

it is surrounded by North Woods, so there is a sort of microclimate, it

is relatively mild, so they told us. It's going to be -3 tonight. --

surrounded by Poole Harbour. The last few days it's been glorious,

beautiful sunshine, beautiful sunrises and sunsets but it has been

frosty, said wildlife has had to keep itself warm, especially in the

morning. We have puffer jackets, Robbins have to puff themselves up.

The deer Cavanda frosty start of the morning, you can see the frost on

their fur. And when the pond freezes over this egret has a tricky

business stepping out onto the water. This morning not just frost

but fog, it has stayed all day we will probably have it tomorrow

morning. The mission we've chosen to accept is the same as always, to

bring you the very best of British wildlife and to explain how it is

coping with this particular season, how to get through this harsh

weather and harsh conditions. We've been filming things all the country

and we've bugged our nature reserve with lots of wild cameras. Let's go

live to a couple of them now. We have them out on some carcasses.

This is a deer carcass in the woods. This is an amazing resource at this

time of year, all of that meat is food for a great range of creatures.

Another one we have out on the heathland. They have been really

busy. We've seen all sorts of things on these carcasses in the last few

days and I'm sure we will through the course of the week. We've had an

amazing variety of wildlife already. We will give you just a taster of

now we've had buzzards, the bird you would expect the carcass at this

time of year. Widespread and common, taking full advantage of that free

resorts. We've seen a lot of fox action as well. We will show you

more of that later on in this show. And this is interesting, because

this is a much paler bird, it looks like a different species but it is

another, and bothered. A lot of action and we will be unpacking that

as the days go on. If you are a regular viewer you will know for

Springwatch we go to the same location for several years and four

Autumnwatch we go somewhere else and winter we move on. This time we were

here in autumn and we have come back for winter. Why was that?

When we were here in October, the deer ratting and that leads were

turning. Now the right is over. The leaves

have been replaced by a crown of frost. And the safe haven of North

Arne is as cool as ever. On the mudflats, 25,000 new arrivals since

autumn. The marshes are hugely important for raptors. All I hear

because this area is like no other part of the country. A mosaic of

habitats creates a unique microclimate full of species, all

seeking refuge during the cold winter months.

This has to be one of the finest places to experience the best of

British wildlife, this winter. What a place. Beautiful place. It is

a remarkable part of the UK and one of the most biodiversity but we said

in Autumnwatch that within a column to the's radius of where are you can

find more species of bird, mammal and plant than anywhere else in the

country. Absolutely remarkable. But where are we? Let's take a look.

Here is the UK. If we zoom in and we are right in the middle of the south

coast, sandwiched between Weymouth and Bournemouth. I have here a

closer map. This is Bournemouth over here. Then you have Poole Harbour

here. Weymouth further down here. You can see this huge natural

harbour here, which is just beyond the trees over that, it's that that

surrounds this peninsula, and this peninsular is our nature reserve.

It's a very big reserve, spread out. We've sent our intrepid Martin to

another part of the reserve and he's really set himself a challenge

tonight. It's along the lines of a bird in the hand is worth two in the

bush. It was going to be a tough challenge anyway, made tougher

to my because it is foggy. How you doing, Martin? We are doing

very well. It is a little bit nippy down here. I will tell you a quick

story. I was on holiday wants, walking by the River Severn on the

Welsh side and I looked down and saw something... I will try and

demonstrate it to you. Like a little glowing dairy or some sort of

jewellery on the ground. I thought, what on earth is that? I reached

down and as Mike and got down to it it suddenly resolved itself into a

bird. Beautiful colours, exactly the same as the leaves. It flew off and

it was a woodcock. If you look at some of our beautiful Flickr

photographs of woodcock you will forgive me. The lovely colours of

the feathers, that match perfectly believes, the autumnal leaves. This

last one. You can hardly see it there. They are fabulous birds. They

rely on that camouflage to lie up during the day. They are almost like

ghosts, because they only come out at dawn and dusk, so when you do see

them, if you do, they are shadows against the half-light.

Unfortunately, woodcock are in a lot of trouble at the moment, their

numbers have been crashing for some time and the very latest trust for

ornithology figures from 2003-13 show a 29% decline in breeding

woodcock. So they need our help. Luckily, Arne at this time of year

is a real hotspot for woodcock. We had our thermal out the last couple

of nights looking to see we can see them. There they are. Of course, you

couldn't see this at all if you are standing there. You can see this

very dumpy little bird with a long bill. Out at night, feeding for

worms, digging around. In the morning they will flit back into the

woods in the half-light. So what we are going to try and do is almost

impossibly, we're going to try and catch a woodcock tonight and ring

it. That's all part of the research to try and increase our knowledge

about this bird. How are we going to do that? First of all we need an

expert, a licensed expert and here he is. Nice to see. Luke, you are a

licensed volunteer wringer. You have your net and you have your torch.

Yes. You have this bit which I'm fascinated by. Can you explain what

this is all about? Woodcock can hear everything, their hearing is

fantastic. They can hear our footsteps. Wear out in the darkness

and they will be listening out for predators. We need something to

dampen the sound of that on this box will play a nice little tune of

running river to try and dampen down the sound of our footsteps. Can you

make it work? Yes. Look at that, there it goes.

That reminds me, I need to go to the loo! We are going to go out now,

seriously, and try to see if there... We know there have been

woodcock in this field. We have to leave our film crew behind. There

are seven people standing here. We Luke and I can go out but we have

got an advantage, because we have the thermal camera over there. Let's

have a look and see if we can see anything...

It's quite foggy so it's having a job to see through that, what you

reckon, I can't see anything at the moment? Not a thing at all. That

won't dampen spirits, we will try. Definitely. He's a skilled man. This

place is brilliant for waders like woodcock but also for lovely

avocets. They flocked here. What is about this area that makes it so

good for waders? A couple of weeks ago I came down here to and find

out. I've headed over the water to the

National Trust Brownsea Island Timmy biologist Doctor Ross, who's been

studying what makes this area so attractive for wintering avocets. We

can see the avocets there. They will have a job today getting anything

through the eyes but I guess I will wait until it melts and then start

to feed. So graceful. Due to. Right very cryptic. Black and white. What

will you telling me, your theory? Birds that forage socially tend to

have more striking plumage like that. It could be they are

black-and-white, striking, making them easier for avocets to see when

they are foraging together. I think they probably have better eyesight

than other waders. They don't just probe with their beaks, avocets can

search for things by feeling. A multitalented bird. Indeed. So why

is this place so special for avocets?

The answer lies beneath our feet. This is perfect mud. When you are

stuck you know it's the right place. Ready? I'm slowly sinking in. It's

going to go in and water will come out the side that. That is so neat!

Now mud is coming out so I will close the valve. That creates a

vacuum, so when you Paul Best mud out, which isn't that easy... --

when you pull this mud out. The mud should come out of the end with some

vigorous shaking. Here it comes! I can actually see things in their

already. Is that it now or do we take another one? We can take a few

more if you fancy it. Can we? OK. Catherine has spent three years

sampling the mud here, so she's an expat. I haven't quite got the

technique. Can you feel it coming? No, I can't feel it coming at all.

Try faster. LAUGHTER There we go, nice. Shall we go and

see what we have in the banks? Let's do it. LAUGHTER

I am stuck, too. Fascinated to see how you do this.

Catherine has found a sample from this lagoon contains an average of

270 creatures, compared to just 40 elsewhere around the harbour.

This is exceptional. This is really special mud. It's also quite hard to

sieve. During her studies Catherine repeated this process up to 45 times

a day, and sure enough, with perseverance, we strike invertebrate

gold. Here you see, there's a worm here.

That little thing there? That is avocet food? Yes, one of the

avocet's favourites. There's loads of them. It's teaming. Cool, you can

see them swimming, that's exciting! Brilliant.

Now we have a whole trade avocet food. We have rag worms and Mike

shrimps. Yes, little Mike shrimps. How many mud shrimps and rag ones

that they need? About 200 calories a day. We believe those tiny little

mud shrimp, they need 350,000 of those data Phil that energetic

requirements. Let me get my head around that, 350,000? Yes, quite a

lot. That's why you see them feeding quite frequently when they are

sweeping their bill across the mud. What about the worms? They are

bigger and have higher calorific content so they may be need six or

7000 of those a day to fill the energetic requirements. I thought

you would say 60 or something because they are quite big. Six or

7000? Yes. It seems almost impossible avocet can get enough

calories from vertebrates on that -- invertebrates on the Rome, and

Catherine's research has revealed they are supplementing their diet. I

managed to get some fecal samples, and I saw all the things you would

expect from the rag worms and the legs of the trophy but I also found

little fish bones. In all the samples. Avocet eating fish? Indeed.

They were making up their calorific requirements with fish. Have you

ever seen it? I have, I've got some brilliant videos of avocet is

picking up fish out of the water. They tend to do it when they are

feeding together in a big aggregation which is like social

foraging. They might be herding the fish. This happens a lot on the

lagoon. It's really lovely to see. Are many fish per day? Maybe 200,

250, still quite a few. That's loads. Yes but a lot easier than

6000 rag worms. I'm not surprised that when ever you see in avocet, it

is feeding. It's hard work being avocet! It is. Good research. Thank

you. That is a great bit of research but

350,000 per day! I know they are tiny little shrimp things. I did

some maths and that is 14,583 per hour, or 243.1 per minute. That

seems like a massive amount, every minute, they have got to catch how

many, 250? 243.1. But when they are sifting in the water, they can take

three or four in each sweep of the bill if they are feeding in an area

where the shrimp are very dense but nevertheless, it is a big ask for

this bird to get through the winter, feeding on such small things with

such low calorific value. As Catherine said, she has seen them

take fish and she knows from her research that they do. It is very

rarely documented. It would be more efficient because they would only

have to do 200-250 but we wanted to see if we could capture any fishing

behaviour on the weapons come here. We sent the cameraman out and this

is what they saw. They did not see any of the avocet eating fish but

what do you reckon? Is that the herding behaviour Catherine said

they do before they fish? I think this is fascinating behaviour but

not herding. The animals are moving together against the tide, which is

either sweeping invertebrates down towards them, or when they are

moving on their feet are exposing the invertebrates and then sweeping

the silt away. When I have seen herding behaviour in other species,

like brown pelican, which do it frequently, there's a lot more

activity. It is energetically expensive behaviour so they would

probably only do it if there was a high density of prey in any given

area. But avocet to do it. We have seen it. If you have seen doing it

and you have a photograph of them doing it, we would love to see it.

Riether and the cameramen are still out there so if they catch the

avocet eating fish, will show you. We have another live camera, which

we are calling wader cam. Let's go there now. It is very foggy tonight

so the images are not great quality but I can see some weeding, and a

bird in the centre of your screen with a black bottom which looks like

a widgeon. And I can hear one whistling as well. And the foreheads

are a dead giveaway. Not many waders in the Merc at the moment but

throughout the course of the week, we have seen a great abundance of

them down in the harbour. This vast expanse, when the tide... Isaac

expands a bit posh, there! When the tide goes in an outcome this expanse

is a great place for birds to come and forage. This is the recognisable

species, the Eurasian curlew. Oystercatchers have an

internationally important population in Poole harbour every winter so

plenty of those juicy, those striking pale, pied waders.

Spoonbill is as well, of course, we will bring you those through the

week, not strictly a wader but using its bill in various ways to get food

from the water, like the avocet. I love spoonbill, it is easy to spot.

The spoon bill, not tricky. We will be looking at waders in more detail

as the days go by. But tonight's star is this one that we will take a

closer look at, the redshank, and medium-sized wader, very distinctive

with its red legs and bill, although it's in the mud so it looks rather

brown at the moment. This is what they have to do a lot, feeding. They

use their eyesight in the daytime to pick and probe for food from the mud

shallows. Look, this one has got a marine worm, probably a lugworm but

look at what it does, it walks over to some clean water and washes it

off before gobbling it down. That is quite interesting. You wouldn't

expect it would mind eating all of the mud as well. It obviously has do

it a lot of them. But look at what it does now. -- to eat a lot of

them. You can see how big the mud is, all over its legs and it puts in

its bill and then it puts its whole head in the mud. What is

interesting, is you can see the mud all over the bill but there isn't

any on its head. And the feathers, look, it does it again, brings up

its head and its feathers are completely clean. How does it do

that? There are a couple of methods it uses to do that. If we can slow

the picture down and take another look, the quality is not that

brilliant but you can see what is going on, the head goes in. In

shallow water or liquid like this mud, there is a thin layer of air

which forms over the surface of the bird's body and as a consequence,

the liquid, the water never comes in contact with the feathers. But if

birds dive deeper, or it has poured with rain for a long time, they rely

upon the oil that they get from their preen gland which is situated

just above the base of their tail. They take the oil out of it and

spread it all over their feathers. But what is important is that the

oil goes into the microscopic structure of their feathers, into

the barbs and Bob yours. So with the bird gets wet, it does not get into

the microstructure. And then when it emerges from the water or shakes

itself, the water is expelled from the feathers, rather than needing to

evaporate. If you think about it, you go out in the rain and get

soaking wet, when you hang your coat up to dry, you have do put it near a

heat source to evaporate the water. The bird does not need to do that.

This oil, viz aliphatic, Mono West, waxy oil it gets from its sebaceous

gland... I hope you are taking notes! That repels the water and

that is how it stays dry. I could do with a pair of jeans like that

because I've got mud all the back of jeans. I want to see you stroking a

sebaceous gland and then rubbing it down the back of your trousers. I

will practice that tonight! It is food that has attracted the waders

to the wetlands at this time of year. For most animals, it is food

that determines the location of their winter roost or wherever they

go. Just a couple of weeks ago, Gillian Burke went in search of a

stunning winter visitor that has found a fantastic resource right in

the middle of Sheffield. Winter is a really tough time to

birds, there are hardly any insects around and generally not a lot to it

but there is another option. At this time of year, this is the good

stuff. Jewel-like and succulent, berries are a brilliant, energy rich

option, and this winter, they are in particularly strong supply thanks to

last you's wet spring and warm summer. Lots of different species,

resident and migrant alike, take advantage of this feast and because

we are a nation of gardeners, our cities and towns are a surprisingly

good place to see the birds in action.

Missal thrush are often territorial and will defend berry patches

against rivals. Whilst Redwing are gregarious, and generally happy to

share. Blackbirds have the widest berry diet of any species, eating up

to 33 different types of berries. But there's one bird I've never seen

before, that migrates here in winter, especially for the berries.

They usually come in very small numbers but this year, there's been

an eruption. This is a crazy place to have a

wildlife first, but these are my first waxwings.

These exotic little birds can stay in their Scandinavian and Russian

breeding grounds all winter, if the berry crop is large enough. But when

it isn't, they head south, arriving on our east coast from November

onwards. Providing us with a rare winter treat.

What's amazing is that they are really having to battle away today

in the wind. As they come in, they slightly overshoot the tops of the

trees and then let the wind just kind of guide them to alight on the

tips of the branches. It is really precise work. It's amazing to watch.

You can see they have these striking yellow bars and wings, and the

little red tips, where they get their name, the waxwings, they are

actually the shaft of each further, they project beyond the feather, and

they look like sealing wax which is where they get their name, the royal

seal of the waxwing. It is absolutely beautiful. And to see how

agile they are when they feed, it's not easy, today, it is so windy. The

thing about waxwings is, unlike any of the other birds, they are the

only ones that can survive the whole winter on a diet of just fruit.

While the other birds will start to decline, they will start to lose

weight, waxwings actually thrive. Waxwings will eat a whole variety of

different berries, but it's the Rowan crop that is key to their

numbers. Andrew Burns are so well loved, that in northern Europe, they

are known as bird berries. And it is easy to see why. Individual waxwings

have been seen to eat up to 1000 berries per day, sometimes tripling

their body weight in the process, and stripping the trees bear. What's

amazing about these birds is that they have even adapted to this

special diet. They have a wider gate than any of the other birds we have

seen. And that means they can really specialise on a huge variety of the

berries available through the winter. The contrast of this busy

road, this urban environment, and these exquisitely beautiful birds,

it is, to me, just such a wonderful treat. And a surprise!

Fantastic, aren't they? Beautiful. I've always wanted to photograph

them, I've got a fantasy in my mind of a whole bunch of waxwings in the

snow with their red feathers, it could be beautiful. Better get your

camera out because it has been a good year for waxwings are lots of

people have it enjoyed them and taking photos. Let's look. They are

beautiful to photograph, look at that with the rowan berries and that

lovely background. This is a group of them in the sunset, thanks to

Mandy for that. It almost looks like it is drawing that berry up in the

air and catching it in its mouth. Midair, isn't it? This one is

interesting because you can see the rings on the bird. If you see a

waxwings with the rings, then the Grampian ringing group would like to

know about it. They are doing in nationwide study and they want your

reports. It's really important that if you see a ringed one, let them

though and the details are on the website. Although waxwings come here

in the winter, they're not a typical long-distance migrant because that

would imply they did it every winter but they don't, they are rocked from

time to time and they come from Scandinavia to the UK. It is

commonly thought that is because the berry crop that they are so

dependent on as they are there. But they still have to get here so I

wonder of the recent weather has given them a helping hand? I don't

know what the answer is but I know a man who will, the one and only Nick

Miller from the BBC Weather Centre. It was a cold start to winter across

some parts of Scandinavia, headwinds haven't been that strong, because it

hasn't been that stormy so far this winter. I want to show you a picture

from the end of November. This is starfish, washed ashore by storm

Angus. Since then relatively few storms compare with last winter.

High-pressure, settled conditions, fog like we've seen today and hard

frost. And if you're lucky, some sunny days. Winter so far for us is

only briefly been stormy. December was thrown out, January has been

colder with some snow and frost at times and drier than average. With

cold and drier weather that will be present again this week. More winds

later in the week. Wind chill becomes more of a factor. For you in

Arne, some fog again tomorrow. Wind chill is that wind picks up. It is a

fact for you, Arne today has been colder than some spots in

Scandinavia. Gothenberg, Stockholm for example. So much for the

waxwings. Foggy on frosty, what are the

chances Martin will feel woodcock here? Listen, if you don't try, you

never get. I admire his tenacity. We can spy on him because we have a

live camera on him, there they are wandering round in the dark. They

have to be really quiet, to have any chance of seeing a woodcock? Listen.

That's the water sound Luke is playing, to drown out the sound of

their footsteps. I suppose if it's frosty... Is it frosty out there?

That would be quite noisy, their footsteps would be noisy. You don't

think their chances are high? I think they have a chance, they are

out there, the woodcock are out there, one might fly in their pocket

by accident possible and is out there is one of our live cameras. We

can go live to one of those carcass cameras. This is the one in the

woodland. I have to tell you, there has been a fox sniffing around. It

is live TV and you cannot trust the wildlife these days so he's not

there at the moment. We've had a lot of birds, a huge variety of birds.

Let's see what we've seen... A robin. Not maybe a bird you would

expect to see on a carcass, but remember it is omnivorous, so it

will take advantage of any food it can get at this time of year.

Also, as we saw at the beginning of the programme, buzzards, we've had a

few buzzards on the carrion. You would expect them to be taking

advantage. That is a very good meal for any animal. You can see by that

carcass that a lot of animals have already taken advantage. It's almost

there. The buzzard is certainly finding some rich pickings.

Beautiful bird, isn't it? Stunning. Stunning. You can see, that's been

out about a week I think, and already it's nearly bare. There's a

lot out there that's angry at this time of year and it's not moving, it

their everyday so when they find it, they keep going back and back to it.

You expect to see carrion feeding birds on a carcass like that and

carrion feeding mammals on it as well, like the fox. There has been a

lot of fox activity. This looks like a female that's come

back to finish off what is left of the meat on the leg of the deer

here. She is trying to use her incisors at the front of her jaw to

nibble off the last little bit. She doesn't seem to be getting a lot of

joy with that. No. So she tries a different

technique here. She starts to strip the skin off and expose a bit more

of the muscle that's left on the bottom of that limit. -- of that

limb. The robin skips by, staying out of reach, waiting its turn. Look

at that, she's got a big chunk there. Just listen to the sound.

Look at that. She's using some specialised teeth on the side of her

jaw, tissue year that meat off the carcass. See the way she's turning

her head sideways? Then if she fancies a bit of roughage... She

tugs at the fur. She wants some skin to go with it. There is a nice

chunk. Sits down and smacks her mouth. I get told off by my mum for

that. Amazing to see such natural behaviour, isn't it? It is, amazing.

Look, I have a fox skull here. I can show you this and show you the

teeth. This is the typical Fox skull we see. These are the long canine

teeth, these are not for cutting meat at all, these are for grabbing

prey. When it comes to cutting meat, if I put this bit of card in here,

we can look at this particular teeth here. This is what we used to call

the, sealed his, they're now called the sectorial teeth. They are a

group of premolars in the bottom and top jaw. If I get that improperly...

Turn it head on like this, you might be able to see, like that, look at

the side of the tooth here. What happens is, these little cusps give

it the grip and then as it closes the jaw tightly, the meat is sheared

by those teeth, as it slides down the sharp insides of those

premolars. On the top is a muscle that comes over and connects to this

part of the jaw, and because it's close to these teeth, you get

maximum power there. That's how the fox and other carnivals manage to

get their food off of the bone. A few other groups are mammals have

these teeth. People are amazed to see the skull of a fox because they

think that would be bigger but that is the average male fox skull? Yes.

These animals only way between 5-8 kg, about the weight of an small

dog. At this time of the year they have a lot of further and look a lot

bigger. It's not just one fox we've been watching. Let's show you the

one we have been showing you. You can see it has a very silver back.

We think this is a female. It's a gorgeous, healthy looking fox. Look

at this one. It's clearly a different individual. This is a

male, much stockier and quite striking. Almost looks a bit like a

Racu, doesn't it? Very darkly marked underneath, very unusual. So we have

a silverback and a Racu unlike fox. We know we have two individuals and

we think we have more. It is something we will be looking at in

the next few days. Sometimes when you see animals as individuals like

these foxes they are quintessentially beautiful and

satisfying to get a great view. On other occasions it's great to see

them en masse, and you get a feeling of real involvement with that

species. The other day Michaela and I went a few miles away from here to

Poole Harbour to Studland to see one of nature's greatest wildlife

spectacles. Michaela? Yes. Can I ask you a

personal question? You can. When did you last murmarate? I don't know,

how many deep need to murmarate Chris Wratt I'm wondering how many

starlings are here and if it can be justified as being called a

murmaration. The locals reckon 10,000 birds come in this

murmaration. They all come together and swell and swell and that's when

we'll get that fantastic spectacle. There are more people birds in the

sky. Quite a lot of murmarating going on in the bushes. Here we go,

here we go. The first few are coming in quite close. They are all joining

in now, the smaller groups, can you see them coming? What amazes me is

how quickly that's happened, how quickly they've all come together

like that. That's fantastic! There has to be at least 10,000. No, I

don't think it is 10,000, but that's a murmaration.

No one really knows exactly why they do it. What's your theory? Is it to

warm up before they roost? Is it just a safety in numbers think, a

mixture of the two? Also, they are communicating to each other. When

they go to roost we know there is a hierarchy of who is where in the

roost. We know when they go foraging the next day, the birds that have

foraged better the previous day takes those birds. It's Stephanie

about communicating. It is right over our heads! Listen, listen.

I love the way they make these fantastic shapes, they swirl and

then go back in to a ball and then back out it goes again. What do you

reckon? I haven't thought... I will try and estimate... Are you going to

count? I will try to estimate. I reckon maybe 3000. I'd say at

least 5000. Listened to that. And they're all

dropping down, look. It's like someone's pulled the plug out.

That was just amazing, Chris. I've never seen one like that before, all

of that swirling, couldn't have been better. For the price of a car park

ticket. That's good value, couldn't ask for anything more. Just cake.

You have to admit, that was enough for a murmaration. Yes.

We could go on about the starlings but we're going to go live to our

woodland pond camera now. Because somewhere there... Just gone. Let's

just give it a second. There was a fox there seconds ago. But he or she

has skulked off into the grass. What a shame. Honestly, Fox's! Going back

to our starlings, that was an incredibly memorable experience. Not

only the beauty of the murmaration, but the sky behind, it was a

glorious sunset. In fact, it was so amazing we went back two days later

to watch. It's a real privilege to see here here in Studland because

they haven't had a murmaration like that for 30 years. The last time

people enjoyed that spectacle was 1986-87. Chris, you watched them. I

tried to watch individual ones when we were looking. You just wonder,

how do they do it? It's not a choreographed ballet, so how do they

know when to switch on turn and make those amazing patterns? Until

recently it's been difficult to look at that, but with modern technology

mathematicians have looked into and this is what they have found out.

The closer statistical correlation with Starling movement in the flock

like this is not in another biological phenomenon but in

particle physics, particularly the physics of magnetism. What we are

looking at here is a transition change, the fluid movement of the

starlings is like a phase transition. They are on the cusp of

changing from one state to another. So it's a bit like a snowflake,

which is static on a hillside and then one snowflake can turn and

instigate an avalanche. That's what happens in the flocks of starlings.

One bird can affect the whole flock and the whole flock can affect one

bird. What's interesting is under analysis, each starlings can

influence the movement of seven other starlings around it, not the

whole flock. But a bird only a few starlings away is then influencing

the next seven starlings and the next seven starlings. That's why you

get that wavelike movement that sweeps throughout the flock. There

is no flop leader, that's one very important thing worth saying. That

whole flock is in itself driving most beautiful movements. It reminds

me of one of those 1970s lava lamps, a bit moves on it all follows makes

different and interesting shaped. I've just given an explanation,

albeit brief and stand about particle physics and phase

transition and you've lowered it to a gadget from the nineteen

seventies. I can get my head around that, a lava lamp! What is important

to remember is we see them in those vast numbers, 15,000 of the match

Studland, but the numbers have declined. In fact, 30 years ago

there was 100000 and that is pretty typical of around the country.

Although it's still incredibly impressive, there's not as many

around. But what there are many more of our

people going to look at the starlings. In the past, we

persecuted them, gassed them, there were flocks of millions of these

birds. In 1972, the only accurately counted flock in the UK numbered 1

million birds but what was great was the other night when we went there,

there were 300 people, and the second time, it was closer to 1000

so people's attitudes to wildlife have radically changed and now they

see this as something truly special and worth seeing. And now we have

shown it, there will probably be 2000! I'm going down there with a

little cafe I will be opening up, cups of coffee, ?10.5. You can see

murmurations all over the country, like Brighton and Aberystwyth peer,

and all the information is on the website. I strongly recommend you do

it because it is a memorable spectacle to go and see.

Astonishing. As is the Woodcock, but has Martin caught one yet?

Well, Chris, no, not really. In fact, this is my third consecutive

night out with Luke and I've come to realise it is a much more subtle and

difficult art form that I had other guests. Tonight is not a great night

for it, really. No, it is flat, and being foggy does not help. We had a

moment of extreme excitement about ten minutes ago. Yes, but it was cow

poo. But it was shaped like a Woodcock. It's really difficult. We

only have Luke's torch to look around but there is the thermal

camera and while we have been out and about over the last two nights,

it turns out the Woodcock have been leading us a bit of a runaround.

Did you realise we were surrounded by them? No, that's the first time

I've seen that. We had no idea. It just shows how skilful a business it

is. Thank you for taking us out so we have not had much luck tonight,

have we? But let's have a look at what happened last night. We went

out and we managed to find one bird. We hoped it would just sit

absolutely still and of course, you can see it at the bottom of the

screen, moving around the whole time. Good Luke possibly get his net

carefully over the bird? It is a woodcock. Here we go. He got it!

He's very careful to get the woodcock in the centre of the net so

he does not hit it with the sides. The bird was absolutely fine. We

actually caught the woodcock last night, about three fields away in

that direction. A long way away from where Luke had setup is kind of

processing area. So we rushed back with the bird and then Luke got down

to measuring and collecting data. Now, this is the first time I have

been able to get a close look at a woodcock. Look at that long, probing

bill. There's the gleaming eyes and the beautiful, rustic colours. Of

course, we are here because we want to gather data about this

critical... This bird's numbers are critically declining so Luke is

putting on the ring and I am acting as scribe, writing it down. Look at

the colours. Exquisite. Its eyes have got almost 360 degrees vision.

As it turns its head, it can almost see 360 degrees. A wonderful bird. I

never dreamt I would get that close to it. What we had to do then was

released the bird. But you can't just release it in the bright light

that we had used to do all the ringing and everything. So you turn

off all the lights and you only use an infrared lamp. It was completely

invisible to the woodcock. And then it was our turn to see if we can let

it go. OK. Here we go. Got him. Have you?

Fantastic. Very good. OK. It's quite exciting in complete

darkness, isn't it? It's amazing. I've no idea what he has doing now

because it is pitch black. I can't see anything! He's just down there.

He seems totally calm. He is rustling the grass a bit behind him.

Brilliant! Doesn't get better than that. Fantastic! Absolutely

brilliant. I never thought we would actually catch one in a million

years. The ringing data, that kind of data, has shown an amazing

result. This is from the British trust for ornithology and they have

been tracking the birds, these are ringing returns. Some of the

woodcock of flying as far as Russia, which is a round-trip of around 6000

kilometres. The one we had last night, we think was probably old

enough to have that trip twice. That is 12,000, 13,000 kilometres but the

bird has flown. It is vitally important we get more data in the

hope of stopping this crucial decline of this magical bird.

Anyway, we have got camera people all around here at RSPB Arne but

camera men and women up and down the country sending us in reports. John

Aitchison has been filming otters off the West Coast of Scotland.

It's 20 years since I saw my first otter here. I've been watching them

ever since, following their ups and downs, generation after generation.

In that time, my own family have grown up, sharing the shore with the

otters. After so many years, we know them really well. My son Rohan

especially. At 16, he's already an expert at working where they might

be. He knows the shapes of the boulders and the weed that can hide

them, the sounds and the behaviour of birds and I have shown him where

the otters are. But sharing their lives is far from easy, above all in

the winter. -- showing their lives. This is a mother and her cub. I saw

my first mother otter just here are with her own cubs, on this same

piece of sure, before Rowan was born. -- offshore. They grow up much

faster than us, and in his lifetime, there might already have been eight

generations of otters. Their lives are short and intense,

but as the years speed bike, I find the otters more and more inspiring.

They are so full of energy, and more than any other animal I know, they

seize the day. This young one is a bit less than a year old. She still

has a lot to learn from her mum. Not only what to eat, but how and where

to catch it. She needs to eat a fifth of her own

weight in fish every day. And until now, her mother has called them for

her. But now she must learn to do it for herself. -- has caught them. Her

life depends on it. Passing on what you have learned to

the next generation is something that we share with the otters.

Helping your family to grow up. And just like us, the most special

moments are bound up with the trust and it is Missy -- trust and

intimacy that only family members share.

The cub must think she will be more comfortable if she sleeps on top of

her mother. Above the rising tide. Therein separable, or at least the

cub sees it that way. -- they are inseparable. But soon, the closeness

will have two end, whether she feels ready or not. And this is why.

It's the cub's father, and he has plans of his own. He usually lives

alone, further down the coast, but this winter, he's decided to stay

here, near his mate and their daughter. He can tell there's change

in the air. The mother's caught a flatfish and

as usual, the cub expects to eat it. But this time, her mother says no.

The cub can tell that something is different between them. But she has

no idea what it means. The mail has brought his catch

ashore, too. Flatfish are hard to deal with in the water. But the

others have seen him, and his chances of having a quiet meal are

slim. I've never seen this before. The mother seems to want his fish

and he's not keen to give it up. But maybe there's more to it than that.

She is certainly pleased to see him. The cub's not so sure, and she is

right to be wary. It is pretty clear that her mother's keen to start

another family and once there are new cards on the way, the daughter

will have to leave. The territory can't support them all. If she can't

fend for herself, she will starve. It is evening now and the mother has

slipped away. From where Rowan is, he can see she has gone to meet her

mate. She's always been playful, but this is the first time she has

excluded the cub from her games. Making the break is never easy and

I'm sure when the time comes, that every parent hopes they have done

all they can, that their offspring have learned enough and they are

ready to go. And when my own children head off,

one of the things that will make me proud is that they have discovered

the joy of the natural world for themselves.

Isn't it lovely when you can pass on your passions to your children? I

mean, I'd try to pass on my passion for dance to my son, tried to get

him in a tutu but he wasn't interested! Fortunately, he likes

wildlife. My stepdaughter is at university doing zoology! You passed

it on, well done! Lovely. Chris, I have a question for you. Can you see

that? People talk about woodcock carrying their chicks in their leg.

What do you reckon? Is it true? Over the years, I've learned to never

underestimate the ingenuity of nature. But also, never to trust the

fanciful imagination of old countrymen in the 18th century.

Having said that, I have an open mind. We have seen a weasel on top

of a woodpecker. Surely at some stage, if it happens, someone will

photograph it? My chickens do that when they come off the nest, the

chicks fall out under their wings, easy mistake to make. That is we

have got time for. Tomorrow, we have got a bird feeding experiment that

you can try at home. We are going to try to identify other foxes here. We

have seen two tonight but there are many more to see. I will find out

more one of -- about one of RSPB Arne's iconic birds, the Dartford

warbler, and using not only binoculars but this is very

important piece of equipment, a sonic toothbrush, a pink one at

that. So find out why I need one of these tomorrow. We will see you

then. 8pm, BBC Two. I think I will use this to clean my teeth now.

Goodbye.