:00:11. > :00:20.It's our last show but the focus disappeared just in time to reveal
:00:21. > :00:22.another twist in our foxy story. We will find out how one of our
:00:23. > :00:25.favourite garden visitors is doing and is hairy little chap is in
:00:26. > :00:28.search of love in the cellar. Believe it or not, this is
:00:29. > :00:55.conservation in action. What's that all about? Welcome to Winterwatch!
:00:56. > :01:03.As I said, it is our last programme this week, broadcasting live from
:01:04. > :01:06.the RSPB reserve here in Dorset. We have a fabulous week although for
:01:07. > :01:11.much of it we have been immersed in a thick coat of fog. Thankfully it
:01:12. > :01:16.disappeared this morning and we could finally see the landscape of
:01:17. > :01:21.the reserve in front of us. Lots of history here, this attracts a huge
:01:22. > :01:27.and above wading birds and waterfowl throughout the winter. A lovely
:01:28. > :01:33.couple of lapwings. They are looking for worms in the fields. Castro came
:01:34. > :01:40.out first thing this morning, a young male there, looks like it's
:01:41. > :01:43.trying its wings. -- kestrel. And the deer, we have seen them on the
:01:44. > :01:47.salt marsh, they go down to the shore line, grazing. And with they
:01:48. > :01:52.finally finished, it wrapped up with some colour which you like. It has
:01:53. > :01:56.been jolly nice kissing colour because we spent three days in fog
:01:57. > :02:02.and that seriously affected the behaviour of some of our wildlife.
:02:03. > :02:08.For instant barn owls, this one we saw hunting in broad daylight right
:02:09. > :02:11.next to National Trust land. Is that unusual? We know it's a nocturnal
:02:12. > :02:16.animal but it does switch to hunting in the day in the winter with its
:02:17. > :02:23.prey is more active. How does fog affected? They are solid flyers,
:02:24. > :02:28.they have soft feathers which means that they are not very waterproof
:02:29. > :02:34.will stop -- silent flyers. They tend to avoid hunting in wet weather
:02:35. > :02:39.which includes damp fog. As a tough time of year for barn owls, they
:02:40. > :02:45.have to catch three - four volts a day, if they have a couple of days
:02:46. > :02:51.without being able to hunt, it affects them. And that fog was very
:02:52. > :02:55.damp, I'm sure it would have condensed on them and they would
:02:56. > :03:00.have been soaked. The fog may have gone but it's really cold tonight.
:03:01. > :03:03.Let's have a look at our live cameras. This is a camera we had in
:03:04. > :03:14.the same place yesterday, it our thermal camera. Once again, we have
:03:15. > :03:19.got book section. Yesterday we the box fox Andy Woodcock which was
:03:20. > :03:30.interesting to watch. -- and Woodcock. The bird takes off, it's a
:03:31. > :03:34.single lapwing, it should be roosting on the harbour, the Fox has
:03:35. > :03:39.missed it and also has missed that rabbit behind it. When it comes to
:03:40. > :03:47.hunting, these foxes are not too sharp! Got to render, it is dark at
:03:48. > :03:50.there! We've had lots of live cameras, and this is another one,
:03:51. > :03:57.looking at a pond down in the woodlands. We have allowed on it,
:03:58. > :04:04.posits, badgers, doesn't seem to be much there at the moment. We saw
:04:05. > :04:11.this, badgers again, to them and they are not very happy. In fact
:04:12. > :04:15.they're having a bit of a scrap. The first animal we saw, we thought was
:04:16. > :04:25.a male, so it's likely they are both males. This is the time of year when
:04:26. > :04:30.they are coming into their breeding season, soon as the Cubs are born in
:04:31. > :04:35.February the females go, these could be males biting about access to a
:04:36. > :04:38.female. There is a lot of trust pass, all was going into each
:04:39. > :04:43.other's territories, or they could be from the same territory and
:04:44. > :04:47.bickering over who is top badger. I think the one on the right could be
:04:48. > :04:54.judged to be the victor and the other one makes an inconvenience
:04:55. > :04:59.except. -- ignominious exit. I have seen badger fights, they can be
:05:00. > :05:02.nasty than that, they can inflict serious injuries, they bite each
:05:03. > :05:12.other in the neck and the rump and they have a powerful bite. I can
:05:13. > :05:18.tell that the quotient is 109, more than a leopard, which is 93. For
:05:19. > :05:22.their body size, they have a serious bite so they can input a lot of
:05:23. > :05:26.injuries on one another and even kill one another. It certainly
:05:27. > :05:33.sounded like a serious bite, incredible sounds coming from those
:05:34. > :05:38.badgers. Last night we played the sounds of boxes fighting, they have
:05:39. > :05:41.fabulous names, like mewling and watering but there is no official
:05:42. > :05:46.name for the noise we heard the badgers make.
:05:47. > :05:55.That's the noise. We want you to come up with some imaginative names
:05:56. > :06:02.for that noise. Please send your ideas in using the hashtag Baghram
:06:03. > :06:09.macro. It sounds like a mallet in the washing machine! -- Mullard. One
:06:10. > :06:14.always chucking money in on a Tuesday. Martin has been out on a
:06:15. > :06:18.challenge. He has caught a Woodcock in pitch black, it was pretty
:06:19. > :06:21.fantastic. Tonight he is out looking at another method of practical
:06:22. > :06:31.conservation which they implement here. The conservation work here
:06:32. > :06:36.goes on all year round, it has to be to maintain the diversity of
:06:37. > :06:39.habitats. If as part of that work you are faced with something like
:06:40. > :06:45.this, and hold course Bush it would be easy enough to chop it down, chop
:06:46. > :06:50.the branches down but then you get the down here. Don't know about you
:06:51. > :06:56.but I had to chop down a holly tree at home, took me about five minutes
:06:57. > :07:01.to chop the tree down and then two days of doing this to get the roots
:07:02. > :07:05.out! We're going to show you a brand-new idea for dealing with this
:07:06. > :07:10.sort of tough work, it was used here for the very first time today.
:07:11. > :07:17.Conservation work is a long-term thing coming to keep at it, couple
:07:18. > :07:20.of weeks ago Chris went to Somerset to look at a conservation project
:07:21. > :07:31.that has been opened seven years and is really bearing fruit. In winter
:07:32. > :07:33.the Somerset levels and morals are on the internationally important
:07:34. > :07:39.numbers of birds, over 10% of the country... Heel and shoveler is the
:07:40. > :07:47.roost here at this time of year. Along with another very special
:07:48. > :07:55.species. I want to RS PE West Sedgemoor for a spot of big birding
:07:56. > :08:04.with Damon. Look at that. What a spot. There is a massive waterfowl
:08:05. > :08:10.out there. Whereas the cranes? Where do they go during the day to find
:08:11. > :08:14.their food if not here? They tend to travel off to land where they can
:08:15. > :08:21.find worms, pulling up leather jackets, they will go to damp
:08:22. > :08:27.fastest but also go on to, they will be seen far from the wetland. In
:08:28. > :08:31.terms of the crane roost, they are looking for somewhere they are safe
:08:32. > :08:39.from ground Princes, they are worried about foxes. They are not a
:08:40. > :08:47.perching bird, so they can only relax with their feet in water. If
:08:48. > :08:52.all the cranes in this region came in to roost, how many might we see?
:08:53. > :08:59.We can see maybe up to 50 in different areas. I can see the small
:09:00. > :09:06.green trailer, which doesn't look terribly well integrated. All well
:09:07. > :09:13.provisioned. I can't see a lead to a flatscreen TV or even a toilet! But
:09:14. > :09:16.you have a plan? The plan is to head out there this afternoon and weight
:09:17. > :09:25.feed to get dark and cranes will come in to roost. -- wait for it to
:09:26. > :09:29.get dark. This makeshift hide was installed beside the crane's
:09:30. > :09:38.favourite roosting spot to give us the best chance of seeing them up
:09:39. > :09:44.close. This is the most generously ventilated hide I have ever been in
:09:45. > :09:49.and consequently the draft it and potentially the contest. The sky has
:09:50. > :09:56.clear, it's absolutely beautiful. But what it needs is an icon, 50 of
:09:57. > :10:12.them, in the form of cranes. You can hear the delicate bustle of
:10:13. > :10:20.all the other wildfowl out there. That is cranes, that people in call,
:10:21. > :10:21.I can hear them now. -- bugle in call. It's frustrating, we can hear
:10:22. > :10:36.them but not see them. You look out here and it's like
:10:37. > :10:42.standing in a Turner painting, it's so beautiful. Although the light was
:10:43. > :10:48.fading and it was difficult to see, we couldn't leave yet for fear of
:10:49. > :10:52.blowing our cover. An hour later we slipped out of the hide and addicted
:10:53. > :10:59.and snuck back in in the very early morning. -- undetected. We all slept
:11:00. > :11:06.overnight in the RSPB officers on the floor and arrived here just
:11:07. > :11:12.before six o'clock, 5.57 to be precise. We waited for the site of
:11:13. > :11:23.50 cranes roosting outside. We waited and waited, we waited and
:11:24. > :11:29.waited. What happened? Not a lot! Where are they? They're not here.
:11:30. > :11:33.They haven't roosted yet, they have a choice of sites, they have been
:11:34. > :11:37.using this one on and off but have decided to spend the night somewhere
:11:38. > :11:45.else. It is hot maintain the Enigma of the crane! -- helps maintain. It
:11:46. > :11:50.was far from a wasted journey. Our disappointment was completely
:11:51. > :11:57.overshadowed by several thousand birds taking flight before our
:11:58. > :12:06.bleary eyes. It's a whole bunch of lapwing out here, absolutely
:12:07. > :12:07.amazing, lots of starlings, will flock down, change speed, change
:12:08. > :12:24.shape, it's really spectacular. Who needs a crane? Who needs a
:12:25. > :12:32.crane? Long live the things! We have the greatest lapwing despite I have
:12:33. > :12:39.seen in years. Which, shoveler, teal, one of two swans... West
:12:40. > :12:42.Sedgemoor has just surged into my birding charts on a global level.
:12:43. > :13:01.Absolutely stunning. Who needs a crane? That lapwing
:13:02. > :13:05.narration was absolutely sensational, are you to visit that
:13:06. > :13:13.reserve, it was fantastic. Let's go live to our pond camera, we have a
:13:14. > :13:16.badger down there. We saw this the other night, I'd better come down
:13:17. > :13:22.and trunk from it's important for them. This one is eating. It is
:13:23. > :13:27.found something to eat. Either that or it has popped down for around two
:13:28. > :13:36.and its opponent hasn't turned up yet! We will keep an eye on that. As
:13:37. > :13:40.I said, it's been a body so we haven't really enjoyed the beauty of
:13:41. > :13:50.Arne for what it's well known for, which is its birdlife. -- it has
:13:51. > :13:56.been faulty. Arne is surrounded by Poole Harbour. 307 species of birds
:13:57. > :14:02.here it's this time of year that the wages and wildfowl turn up to
:14:03. > :14:11.overwinter. Why is it so important? Is one of the largest natural
:14:12. > :14:16.harbours in the world. It is a complex estuarine system which
:14:17. > :14:22.creates bays and creeks and provides excellent breeding grounds. A whole
:14:23. > :14:32.variety of birds come here, you have got the oystercatchers, the avocets,
:14:33. > :14:37.Khalid, -- curlew. Avocets are very important for these guys,
:14:38. > :14:44.spoonbills. I like a spoonbill, like the extension beak and there rifle
:14:45. > :14:49.hair. We made a robotic spindle which we put in the harbour, hoping
:14:50. > :14:53.to attract the resident flock and we weren't successful but we came back
:14:54. > :14:57.in Winterwatch with renewed vigour and I was certain it was going to
:14:58. > :15:04.deliver but unfortunately it didn't in this happened last night.
:15:05. > :15:13.Nice try, but no cigar. No cigar. But then you see in life there are
:15:14. > :15:14.those sorts of people who give up, and those sorts of people that just
:15:15. > :16:19.keep going. The hard-core crew were out late
:16:20. > :16:24.into the night, rereading Robo Spoony, having rescued it from the
:16:25. > :16:29.dustbin. But would it pay off? Let's take a look. There he is, down on
:16:30. > :16:33.the shore, in fact, quite close to the shore. At about midnight, the
:16:34. > :16:38.tide came in more than we thought it was going to and we thought we might
:16:39. > :16:43.have to rush to rescue it, because it's isn't waterproof. But then this
:16:44. > :16:48.morning, when we woke up, what did we see? Adjacent to Robo Spoony...
:16:49. > :16:56.LAUGHTER Just feel the satisfaction! What
:16:57. > :17:01.about that? The spoonbills! The spoonbills had come in. Absolutely
:17:02. > :17:08.fantastic! Just a few feet from Robo Spoony, so he delivered. What can I
:17:09. > :17:14.say? Extremely smug! He hasn't stopped all day. I do like spoonbill
:17:15. > :17:16.so. One of the things which is unusual, given that it has such a
:17:17. > :17:20.characteristic beak, we're not entirely show how the beak works.
:17:21. > :17:25.It's typically thought they sift through the water with it, as
:17:26. > :17:28.avocets do, but that seems a bit too random. A couple of new theories
:17:29. > :17:33.have come out, one is they are using a system of remote touch, they feel
:17:34. > :17:41.vibrations in the water. When you look at the microscopic structure of
:17:42. > :17:44.spoonbill's bill, you find it has up to 20,000 pigs in a honeycomb, each
:17:45. > :17:48.one of which has a little nerve ending, so it can feel things in the
:17:49. > :17:50.water. We have seen them chasing prey through murky water, so
:17:51. > :17:54.obviously they can't see it, they are using another sense. Another
:17:55. > :18:00.thought is they are using electro reception, just like duckbilled
:18:01. > :18:05.platypus. In fact, they can detect one nano vault, that's one one
:18:06. > :18:09.thousands of 1,000,000th of a vault of a charge being emitted by
:18:10. > :18:16.potential prey on the water, so maybe spoonbills are using that as
:18:17. > :18:20.well. Remarkable words. And then, you know, the spoonbill's job still
:18:21. > :18:24.wasn't done, was it? It delivered even more. Have a look, because this
:18:25. > :18:29.is quite funny. There's our spoonbill at night, not moving
:18:30. > :18:38.terribly. Look what turns up. One of the foxes. Look at the look, Chris!
:18:39. > :18:42.He gives Robo Spoony that puzzled look and trots off, can't quite work
:18:43. > :18:47.out what that is. Realises there's no point in trying to catch it! It's
:18:48. > :18:51.a fox deterrent as well, what about that, protecting the other
:18:52. > :18:56.spoonbills! Now, we all know that a very harsh winter can affect the
:18:57. > :19:01.survival rate of a lot of our wildlife. So last winter was very
:19:02. > :19:05.mild. So how did that affects one of our favourite garden visitors, the
:19:06. > :19:08.hedgehog? Gillian Burke went to rescue centre in Gloucester, to find
:19:09. > :19:13.out. It's hard not to love a hedgehog.
:19:14. > :19:20.Are unmistakable balls of spiny cuteness. So if we love them, and
:19:21. > :19:27.they love our gardens, then surely this is a good news story? Last
:19:28. > :19:30.year's warm Winter gave our hedgehogs along the breeding season
:19:31. > :19:40.than normal, but that meant some females gave birth to autumn babies.
:19:41. > :19:44.The late arrivals are too young to hibernate, so where highly
:19:45. > :19:52.vulnerable to rose dying of the cold weather and more susceptible to
:19:53. > :19:58.disease. Hello. How are you doing? And that has meant hedgehog rescue
:19:59. > :20:02.centres, like this one, run by Vicki Oliver, are overstretched. So I've
:20:03. > :20:08.come to help for the day. How many do you have in here at the moment?
:20:09. > :20:13.In this room, we have 33. Have they all just come in in the last few
:20:14. > :20:17.weeks? October onwards, the ones in here, yes. Is this what you would
:20:18. > :20:21.expect at this time of year, this money coming in? It's busier this
:20:22. > :20:26.year compared to certainly last year. I'm closed to admissions
:20:27. > :20:31.because we are full. It's just a lot of the small ones are coming in now,
:20:32. > :20:35.where they've been born late on, the cold weather is coming in, mum has
:20:36. > :20:40.gone off to hibernate, so they are left to their own defences a lot
:20:41. > :20:50.earlier. We have our work cut out forest. Yes. Make use of me! You
:20:51. > :20:54.will need some gloves! Ready. 80% of the hedgehogs Vicki sees at this
:20:55. > :20:57.time of year have parasite infestation is and they need
:20:58. > :21:03.treatment, for things like long worm and ticks. This little guy has a
:21:04. > :21:08.ring worm, which isn't actually a worm. It's a fungal infection which
:21:09. > :21:14.can cause him to lose a lot of the Sir off his face. If it gets really
:21:15. > :21:21.bad, he will lose his spines. He's not going to like this but really
:21:22. > :21:25.the best thing for him is a bath. Parasite infestations are more of a
:21:26. > :21:29.health risk to younger, weaker Hogwarts, but hopefully after four
:21:30. > :21:36.of these treatments this one will be clear of infection -- hoglets. He's
:21:37. > :21:40.nicely tucked up and hopefully will settle down after the bass. It's
:21:41. > :21:43.best to keep him in the rescue centre for the whole winter and
:21:44. > :21:49.hopefully he will be released in spring. Cleanliness is key to
:21:50. > :21:54.preventing the spread of infection. My goodness, look at that. So every
:21:55. > :22:05.day, every enclosure needs to be stripped. It's pretty fruity and
:22:06. > :22:12.here! Cleaned. And re-laid, with fresh bedding. Just grab a pilot put
:22:13. > :22:18.it in. -- just grab some and put it in. And last but not least, the
:22:19. > :22:22.all-important food and water. In the wild hedgehogs have a hugely varied
:22:23. > :22:27.diet, beetles, worms, slugs, pretty much anything they can catch hold
:22:28. > :22:31.of, but here they have cat food. If you are going to feed any hedgehogs,
:22:32. > :22:37.leave any food out for them, please, never bred or milk. Bread buns them
:22:38. > :22:44.up, and they are lactose intolerant. Two down, 31 to go. These two still
:22:45. > :22:51.have a long way to go before they are released.
:22:52. > :23:03.But anything above 500 grams and they are good to go. 777 grams. What
:23:04. > :23:06.a big hedgehog! This one is now clear of parasites and all that's
:23:07. > :23:16.left to do now is released him into the wild. Let's pop you back in
:23:17. > :23:21.here. Yeah, I mean, honestly, you've changed your home over. Our urban
:23:22. > :23:24.gardens can be the perfect habitat for hedgehogs, so this lucky boy
:23:25. > :23:28.will be released right here at the rescue centre. The last few hours of
:23:29. > :23:32.daylight now, and what we're doing is taking this big guy and putting
:23:33. > :23:37.him in that halfway house so he has a few hours to get used to the
:23:38. > :23:38.temperature and light levels and hopefully, by nightfall, he will be
:23:39. > :23:46.tempted out. And in no time at all, the scent of
:23:47. > :24:05.freedom draws him out. One healthy, happy hedgehog back in
:24:06. > :24:09.the wild. Presumably now he's found somewhere cosy and sheltered to
:24:10. > :24:14.hibernate, although they hibernate, they don't actually stay inactive?
:24:15. > :24:18.They don't sleep through the whole winter? No, they don't. It's easy to
:24:19. > :24:23.think of hibernation is a long, cosy sleep but it's not. It's pure
:24:24. > :24:26.survival. Temperatures are getting cold, food supplies are dwindling.
:24:27. > :24:29.They need to find a way to get through the winter, dropped their
:24:30. > :24:40.body temperature and save energy, and run their metabolism right down
:24:41. > :24:43.to the point where it is just ticking over. But there are a few
:24:44. > :24:45.instances where they do need to bring themselves out of hibernation,
:24:46. > :24:47.even in the middle of winter. Most hedgehogs, this is quite surprising,
:24:48. > :24:51.wake themselves up about once a week for a few hours just to get a few
:24:52. > :24:54.bodily functions sorted. Another reason would be they move their nest
:24:55. > :24:59.sites, at least once a year, sometimes a bit more if they get
:25:00. > :25:04.disturbed. The final reason is cold. When it gets freezing, there's a
:25:05. > :25:08.real risk of frostbite, of freezing solid, so when the temperature
:25:09. > :25:12.starts to approach one Celsius, they need to warm themselves up, to stop
:25:13. > :25:16.themselves from freezing. The way they do this if they need their fat
:25:17. > :25:19.reserves. The fat reserves aren't just there to get them through the
:25:20. > :25:24.winter, it actually needs they mean web macro -- they need them to
:25:25. > :25:30.restart their metabolism. When they get to the winter and if they are
:25:31. > :25:35.not at least half a kilo, they are not going to make it. That's women
:25:36. > :25:41.need our help. Say that a half a kilo is difficult to look at a
:25:42. > :25:45.hedgehog and wonder if it needs help. Most of us don't have our
:25:46. > :25:48.scales with it. Is there another way of seeing if it's a healthy
:25:49. > :25:53.hedgehog, ready for hibernation or not? That's a really good question.
:25:54. > :26:01.When we were filming that piece, I came across a lovely photograph.
:26:02. > :26:05.It's like a work of art. It's gorgeous. You can see there's a size
:26:06. > :26:08.scale as the hedgehogs get bigger. On the left, you have an apple,
:26:09. > :26:12.which is about 200 grams. On the right, you have a melon. It's a
:26:13. > :26:17.really great way to judge, without having to be hands on, because if
:26:18. > :26:20.they are big enough you want to leave alone. The apple is here,
:26:21. > :26:26.about 200 grams. Then you have got the melon, which is just over a
:26:27. > :26:30.kilo. Bang in the middle, roughly in the middle I should say, is the
:26:31. > :26:35.grapefruit. Basically, if you come across a hedgehogs that this size or
:26:36. > :26:41.smaller, it probably needs help. Any bigger around that and you can let
:26:42. > :26:44.it get on its way. We've always got questions on Facebook and Twitter,
:26:45. > :26:47.how can we help our garden hedgehogs? There's loads of
:26:48. > :26:52.different ways you can help. Some of them are very simple, aren't they?
:26:53. > :26:56.Yes, like I said in the piece, you can leave cat food, dog food, but
:26:57. > :27:01.without any fish because along with bread and milk, another thing they
:27:02. > :27:06.don't with very well. Also, don't be too tidy in your garden. Leave a few
:27:07. > :27:09.areas that are messy, a few leaves left around so they have somewhere
:27:10. > :27:13.to nest through the winter. Most of us love that advice! MS in your
:27:14. > :27:18.garden! We do know their numbers have dropped dramatically and part
:27:19. > :27:22.of the problem now is their population is fragmented, so it's
:27:23. > :27:25.really important they have wildlife corridors. There's lots of
:27:26. > :27:29.information about how you can help with wildlife corridors in your
:27:30. > :27:34.garden on the website. Please check it out, we really do need to look
:27:35. > :27:39.after our hedgehogs. Thank you very much. You may have just heard a big
:27:40. > :27:44.noise there. It's Martin, he's gone a bit Dad's Army honours. I'm not
:27:45. > :27:51.sure whether he's Captain Mannering, Sergeant Wilson, or is he maybe
:27:52. > :28:04.Private Godfrey? On you go! Drive on! Here we go. This is a WMC, a
:28:05. > :28:12.weapon of mass habitat construction. One of the reasons why this place is
:28:13. > :28:16.so fantastically rich for wildlife is the mosaic of different habitats,
:28:17. > :28:19.different habitats mean lots and lots of wildlife. But the trouble
:28:20. > :28:25.is, some of those habitats get old and overgrown. Take something like
:28:26. > :28:31.balls. A certain amount of gorse is great but when it gets old and
:28:32. > :28:36.straggly, it becomes a problem. Great thick 30-year-old roots are an
:28:37. > :28:42.absolute nightmare to dig out. It becomes expensive and needs a huge
:28:43. > :28:48.investment of man hours. Here's the thing. Where does this magnificent
:28:49. > :28:53.tank, an armoured personnel carrier, where does that coming? Look at this
:28:54. > :28:55.here. The these fantastic tracks? Let's -- lets back off and see what
:28:56. > :29:15.it can do. OK, Mike. Now that is a 14.5 tonne 300
:29:16. > :29:22.horsepower 19 litre steel plough. And when Mike and the tank go out
:29:23. > :29:26.under the guidance of the RSPB into those old, mouldy areas where the
:29:27. > :29:28.grass has got rank and the trees have grown up, well, this is what
:29:29. > :30:26.happens. Secondly work which would take it
:30:27. > :30:32.team of humans of weak to do. This is the sort of thing that the tank
:30:33. > :30:36.is having to grapple with, the stick approach, 30 weeks old, would is as
:30:37. > :30:43.ground away you end up with not much more than this. All this is not much
:30:44. > :30:49.more than compost, this isn't what the RSPB need, they will scrape this
:30:50. > :31:00.off, get back to basically ground zero, poor quality soil. Then
:31:01. > :31:04.animals meaty dive in to take advantage of the exposed ground and
:31:05. > :31:13.you can see here, we have a rain, and picking up grubs, insect larvae
:31:14. > :31:21.stopping is a robin. You know the Robins will follow you around and
:31:22. > :31:24.pick up stuff. But the immediate effect, that is what the RSPB are
:31:25. > :31:28.after, what they are looking for is what happens in spring and summer,
:31:29. > :31:33.where on the bare ground, new growth comes through and that is perfect
:31:34. > :31:40.for the specialist animals that live here. The sand lizards, the smooth
:31:41. > :31:43.snake... All these creatures are going to benefit from that mosaic of
:31:44. > :31:51.habitats, that's what they are after. The Dartford warbler, at his
:31:52. > :31:55.planned specialist there. And of course the insect life, the baseline
:31:56. > :32:03.for so much of the animals that live here. Tiger beetle, fantastic. Lots
:32:04. > :32:08.of people were involved in this idea but hats off to Mark Singleton from
:32:09. > :32:13.the RSPB here who had the genius idea of telling a weapon of war into
:32:14. > :32:18.a tool for conservation. That is genius.
:32:19. > :32:23.Turning something that was made for destruction into something which is
:32:24. > :32:34.created for conservation, top work. I decided to use from Dad's Army,
:32:35. > :32:37.Lance Corporal Jones! He is a bit! Over the last few days we have
:32:38. > :32:41.introduced you to our family of boxes here at Arne and yesterday
:32:42. > :32:46.without we had a completed cast list, they are all individuals, we
:32:47. > :32:53.have given them names. Last night our story developers noticed a
:32:54. > :32:58.different box, and it is this one. -- different folks. We can identify
:32:59. > :33:04.them by different marks on their faces or tails, if you look at this
:33:05. > :33:08.one, it's very nervous, it is a little notch out of the ear on the
:33:09. > :33:15.right so we are calling that one Notch. It is an interactive much of
:33:16. > :33:19.the other foxes but it's a new character to add to our growing cast
:33:20. > :33:25.list. This try and put that into some kind of context. A lot of the
:33:26. > :33:32.animals we have seen around the carcasses, we have been consulting
:33:33. > :33:38.with our fox expert from the University of Brighton, she is go to
:33:39. > :33:41.judge me on this, he was my theory. Cheetah, have been fox, this has
:33:42. > :33:47.been roaming around by the carcasses, she is a dominant one. I
:33:48. > :33:51.think that's our dominant fix and because in any social group we have
:33:52. > :33:59.a male and a female and those are the breeding animals -- dominant
:34:00. > :34:04.vixen. So an interesting altercation between her and Stumpy, she is
:34:05. > :34:12.dominant to Stumpy. We saw another one between Stumpy and Road. We know
:34:13. > :34:20.she is dominant to this female done here but in another frack, we saw
:34:21. > :34:24.Cheetah beating Road. So it's a slightly different hierarchy. There
:34:25. > :34:27.is another animal we saw, she is part of this social group, we have
:34:28. > :34:32.seen her at the carcasses, interacting, they are not driving
:34:33. > :34:36.her away but we haven't seen enough interaction to judge where she
:34:37. > :34:42.stands in the hierarchy. Lastly of course is our alpha male, I
:34:43. > :34:50.postulate that this is Tyson. He has been around a lot, he is alpha male,
:34:51. > :34:54.we haven't seen him with Cheetah, he is a big bruiser with a scar on his
:34:55. > :34:59.nose, he is dominant to these other animals. I think the carcass crew
:35:00. > :35:08.for the moment, is made up of these animals here. What about our guest
:35:09. > :35:14.stars? Yesterday we introduced you to issue who is blind in one eye and
:35:15. > :35:18.today we introduced you to Notch who has a notch out of his ear. We don't
:35:19. > :35:22.think these are part of the carcass crew, think they are outsiders. We
:35:23. > :35:27.know they are males so what is happening is these two are properly
:35:28. > :35:35.coming in, sniffing around, they are ready to mate. We saw them barking
:35:36. > :35:41.down on the shore! They will probably try their luck with
:35:42. > :35:46.Cheetah. She will go for multiple matings if she can at this time of
:35:47. > :35:57.year. What do you think we will get, out of ten? I don't know, I hope you
:35:58. > :36:02.get that straight! Forgot sake. We have really had quite a drama with
:36:03. > :36:06.this cast of characters, but as you know, wildlife trauma can happen
:36:07. > :36:10.anywhere, sometimes in really secret places. On Tuesday we showed you a
:36:11. > :36:18.mouse giving birth in the attic. That's what I like to call, Call The
:36:19. > :36:22.Midwife. Tonight we're showing another quest in the cellar, this
:36:23. > :36:30.one is like Poldark with insects, maybe not quite so sexy. The
:36:31. > :36:37.basement, warm, dry and dusty. Heat from the old boiler keeps it snug,
:36:38. > :36:40.creating a welcoming glow. And a forgotten pile of books provide a
:36:41. > :36:52.littoral relay for an unassuming addition to our hopes. This is a
:36:53. > :36:55.fire brat. These tiny insects crave warm temperatures and are becoming
:36:56. > :37:03.more common in our increasingly willing to houses. It's their unruly
:37:04. > :37:07.behaviour around hot bread ovens that gives this plucky little
:37:08. > :37:13.creature its fire brat name. With the temperature just right, the fire
:37:14. > :37:19.brat's mind can turn to love but first he has to find the right lady.
:37:20. > :37:32.No easy task in this dim, dark world. This won't be love at first
:37:33. > :37:36.sight. The Firebird has tiny, almost useless eyes so he feels his weight
:37:37. > :37:40.using a halo of sensory hairs. Darting into dark corners and
:37:41. > :37:44.crevices, he will have two particular bump into a female if
:37:45. > :37:51.he's to have any luck. Down here, love is truly blind. To keep up his
:37:52. > :37:58.energy comic grazes on a piece of starchy paper, consuming the lessons
:37:59. > :38:02.of literature. But when you are only a centimetre long and at the bottom
:38:03. > :38:12.of the food chain, you need to keep your wits about you. There are
:38:13. > :38:25.dangers at every turn. A female earwig. If she can catch, the fire
:38:26. > :38:30.brat might make a tasty snack. But in a move straight from the ages of
:38:31. > :38:35.Conan Doyle, a handy hiding place provides cover and she slips by.
:38:36. > :38:44.With the danger overcome his back on the case. -- he is back on the case.
:38:45. > :38:49.The basement has become a meeting place for a cast of overwintering
:38:50. > :38:55.characters, all sheltering from the elements. A dozy peacock butterfly.
:38:56. > :39:06.A dainty Seller spider. Thirsty lacewings. And a gigantic Seller
:39:07. > :39:10.slug. But the fire brat is craving the company of other brats. Where
:39:11. > :39:14.are they all? He heads to the local high-rise to try his luck but what
:39:15. > :39:32.this lurking in the shadows? Centipede. Nearly three times the
:39:33. > :39:35.length of the fire brat, this venomous hunter is top rate in this
:39:36. > :39:48.tiny world. -- top predator. Any fire brat, distracted by the
:39:49. > :39:59.dating game, went live to kiss and tell. -- won't live.
:40:00. > :40:13.The centipede is fast and unrelenting.
:40:14. > :40:26.Tripping over the stack of books commit you to antennae to feel for
:40:27. > :40:35.its prey. Pausing only to primp for maximum sensitivity, it closes in.
:40:36. > :40:41.Filling the brush of the centipede, our man looks to be toast but a
:40:42. > :40:47.final desperate move propels him from harm 's way.
:40:48. > :40:53.It is believed rather tough day but the thrill of the Chase hasn't
:40:54. > :41:00.dampened his order. -- been a rather tough day. At last, he bumps into an
:41:01. > :41:03.old flame and the good news is, she is hot. Fire brat needs to be to get
:41:04. > :41:19.in the mood to mate. But as the heat of passion rises,
:41:20. > :41:24.heading towards its conclusion, disaster. Any chance of a fireside
:41:25. > :41:32.filling is extinguished with the flame. Given the cold shoulder, the
:41:33. > :41:43.male fire brat strikes out again. Alone. Do you know, those animals
:41:44. > :41:49.from the fossil record have been around pretty much unchanged for 400
:41:50. > :41:57.million years? They have been making love in our sellers for that long?
:41:58. > :42:01.We didn't have sellers! We haven't been around that long! They are more
:42:02. > :42:11.successful than us! Put them in charge! Put them in charge! Move on.
:42:12. > :42:15.We have been conducting a bird feeder experiment over the last few
:42:16. > :42:18.days to see whether colour influences birds when it comes to
:42:19. > :42:22.food so we put a controlled experiment out first where we had
:42:23. > :42:30.three feeders, all natural colours. This is what happened. Over our
:42:31. > :42:36.experiment time, they all went down pretty much equally. So there was
:42:37. > :42:40.obviously no bias in any of the feeders. We then painted two of the
:42:41. > :42:50.feeders, one we painted red, when we painted blue. So what happened then?
:42:51. > :42:56.Now this is very careers. As you would expect, the natural colour in
:42:57. > :43:01.the middle went down the most. Chris Packham predicted that they wouldn't
:43:02. > :43:07.touch the blue ones, they would all go to the rate. By our results, he
:43:08. > :43:13.clearly got it wrong. They have hardly touched the red and they have
:43:14. > :43:16.gone to the blue. So you must make the minute ago about spoon bills and
:43:17. > :43:20.now you have been pushed off your perch because you got your
:43:21. > :43:24.prediction wrong. Getting things wrong is part of a learning
:43:25. > :43:29.experience, I don't mind getting things wrong, the consultancy
:43:30. > :43:33.experts, that's what we always do. We spoke to George Rayburn and Ed
:43:34. > :43:38.Solo from Weston-Super-Mare, typically when we go to experts
:43:39. > :43:41.which go to a university, or to somebody who has spent a lifetime
:43:42. > :43:51.studying the animals, let me introduce you to them. Yes! They are
:43:52. > :43:55.14 and 15! Fantastic! But they have been conducting experiments like
:43:56. > :44:00.ours only better with more detail and more replications, reducing
:44:01. > :44:06.extraordinary science. I cannot you how impressed I was with what I saw
:44:07. > :44:10.today. These are top guys. What are their thoughts on the red versus
:44:11. > :44:12.blue versus normal? They don't like the red, they think because that
:44:13. > :44:17.associated with warning colours in insects and although birds might go
:44:18. > :44:21.for red fruits and berries in the winter, throughout the rest of the
:44:22. > :44:25.year, they are after insects for the young and we know the red and yellow
:44:26. > :44:30.warning colours. That's why they don't go to them. But why do they go
:44:31. > :44:34.to the blue? In the guide's experiments, they went to the blue
:44:35. > :44:38.even more than the normal seed, it became even more attractive than
:44:39. > :44:43.they painted the Betis blue. They think it's down to the way the
:44:44. > :44:49.birdseed. Here is the visual spectrum that the human sees. We are
:44:50. > :44:55.trichromatic so we can see this part of the spectrum. Birds are Tetra,
:44:56. > :45:00.six they have an extra bit of vision on the end where they can see into
:45:01. > :45:04.the UV spectrum. The brightest colour in our field of view is green
:45:05. > :45:10.in the middle, that would stand out the most. Possibly that's why we
:45:11. > :45:14.like green. But in the bird's vision, blue is in the centre. So
:45:15. > :45:19.when they are approaching those feeders the thing that the standout
:45:20. > :45:21.most brightly our blessings. And the guys think that's why they are
:45:22. > :45:27.heading to the blue even more than the naturally coloured seed.
:45:28. > :45:33.You don't often get things wrong, you have redeemed yourself with that
:45:34. > :45:38.marvellous explanation. Do you know what? I love getting something wrong
:45:39. > :45:42.to 14 and a 15-year-old, because to me, that means there is hope. Stick
:45:43. > :45:47.with it, guys, one day you can have my job. In fact, if it carries on
:45:48. > :45:51.like this, possibly next week! We've seen lots and lots of tits coming to
:45:52. > :45:57.our feeders, blue tips, great tips, what you'd probably expect, but
:45:58. > :45:59.we've also seen long-tail tits. Gorgeous little birds. You've
:46:00. > :46:03.probably got them on your feeders in the garden now. You can hear them.
:46:04. > :46:09.This one was beautiful, it was actually drinking the condensed fog
:46:10. > :46:12.off the seeds and you can hear its friends. They are normally in a
:46:13. > :46:19.group, chattering away in the background. Lovely little birds. It
:46:20. > :46:22.hardly looks like they have a big, but then we managed to film one that
:46:23. > :46:30.got into the most awful trouble. It's literally stuck by its
:46:31. > :46:36.long-tail! So how on earth is it going to get out of this terrible
:46:37. > :46:46.conundrum? It's still stuck, so it gets it the ground in the end and
:46:47. > :46:49.tries to undo the not that has got tangled up -- it gets its beak out
:46:50. > :46:54.in the end. It's awfully scruffy. What a mess that tailors. Nothing
:46:55. > :46:58.that a jolly good session of jolly good old-fashioned preening won't
:46:59. > :47:05.sort out. Etxeita details tit, isn't it? This may be our last show for
:47:06. > :47:09.Winterwatch but it doesn't mean that used don't stop getting involved.
:47:10. > :47:12.This weekend is exciting, it's the Big Garden Birdwatch. We want you
:47:13. > :47:19.all to join in. Last year, 500,000 of you did it and you recorded 8
:47:20. > :47:24.million birds, which is incredible. We want to get more than that this
:47:25. > :47:28.year. Please get out, all the details are on their website. You
:47:29. > :47:31.know what, it really does contribute to our knowledge of what is
:47:32. > :47:37.declining in our gardens, and what is recovering. I urge you to do it.
:47:38. > :47:42.The biggest bird survey in the world. Its great citizen science, it
:47:43. > :47:45.takes an hour of your time, looking out of the window on Saturday,
:47:46. > :47:49.Sunday and Monday. What you will see in the garden will depend on how
:47:50. > :47:52.much food you put out and ultimately, the weather. What is the
:47:53. > :47:57.weather going to be like over the weekend of the big garden
:47:58. > :48:04.Worldwatch? Nick Miller knows the answer -- the Big Garden Birdwatch.
:48:05. > :48:08.This could be a really exciting bird watch, especially where it's been so
:48:09. > :48:12.cold. Today, there were parts of England that didn't get above
:48:13. > :48:15.freezing, although it was past 13 in far North West of Scotland. We had
:48:16. > :48:23.winter weather. The cold maybe did driving unexpected birds into the
:48:24. > :48:27.garden in search of food, not just goldfinches, but Siskin and Red
:48:28. > :48:31.Bull. Something more typical is arriving over the weekend, wetter
:48:32. > :48:35.weather whether it's been dried. Rain pushing up from the south on
:48:36. > :48:40.Sunday. Scotland is driest and sunniest for longest on Sunday.
:48:41. > :48:43.Along with a change to something better, something less cold, where
:48:44. > :48:48.it's been bitter. That might make life a bit easier for the hedgehogs.
:48:49. > :48:52.What about the rest of winter? It looks like the Atlantic driven
:48:53. > :48:55.changeable wetter, windy weather, less cold weather, will dominate the
:48:56. > :48:59.first part of February. Maybe something cold coming back at the
:49:00. > :49:08.end of February. Keep an eye on that. If you're looking for birds
:49:09. > :49:11.this weekend, listen as well. The woodpeckers are coming near me. It
:49:12. > :49:17.may look like winter, but there are sounds of spring. It's coming. Not
:49:18. > :49:24.in our barn, it's chilly! If you were watching Springwatch you will
:49:25. > :49:27.know one of the stars of the series was our golden eagle. We put a
:49:28. > :49:32.satellite tags on the bird, named Freya. It hasn't moved very far, no
:49:33. > :49:35.further than 20 or 30 kilometres on occasion from its territory. It
:49:36. > :49:39.still spending most of its time there. Come Springwatch, we will
:49:40. > :49:45.find out more about this fantastic bird. We have camera teams all
:49:46. > :49:48.around Arne, and up and down the country. Richard Taylor Jones has
:49:49. > :49:56.got out with his camera to a place that has very strong reasons for
:49:57. > :50:07.him. -- resonance, for him. Winter is a time of hunger.
:50:08. > :50:23.Some landscapes speak of it. Loudly. And the Hoo Peninsula, at the
:50:24. > :50:32.northernmost end of Kent, shouts its seasonal claim to be the hungriest
:50:33. > :50:41.of all. Here, human hunger for power dominates denuded marshes.
:50:42. > :50:50.This is power created far from towns and cities, hiding the unwanted ugly
:50:51. > :51:01.truths of our cosy, consuming modern world. Yet despite all we'd chuck at
:51:02. > :51:05.nature, here on the Hoo, nature clings on at the edges, hungry to
:51:06. > :51:15.battle against our industrial dominance.
:51:16. > :51:23.A Fox trots through the grazing marsh. A hungry pace to its speed.
:51:24. > :51:36.It stands, twitching, poor used to execute the kill. -- it is poised,
:51:37. > :51:46.to execute the kill. Success. A stomach filled.
:51:47. > :51:51.Above, a marsh Harrier hunt the reedbeds. Seeking its own
:51:52. > :52:12.fulfilment. Its arrival spooks vast flocks of
:52:13. > :52:22.lapwing and golden plover. They rise as one.
:52:23. > :52:29.The confusion of wings and bodies, unnerving to the hunter. A beautiful
:52:30. > :52:45.ballet of the winter skies. But how long to dance, to revel in
:52:46. > :52:49.the safety of the air? Long enough to avoid being lunch. But not so
:52:50. > :53:00.long it makes you hungry for your own.
:53:01. > :53:12.Nature must manage its hunger to perfection in order to survive.
:53:13. > :53:22.Unfortunately our appetite for destruction leaves wasteland
:53:23. > :53:27.landscapes everywhere on the Hoo. The metal skeletons of abandoned
:53:28. > :53:35.clay pits reach skywards, hiding the last hungry arrival of the day.
:53:36. > :54:03.Launching quietly into the crisp marmalade skies of winter's dusk.
:54:04. > :54:24.It dives the gain, and again, and again. It can find no parade. -- No
:54:25. > :54:31.one. It will hand day and night to escape its winter hunger. Silent
:54:32. > :54:37.wings work endless shifts to find satisfaction. And they shout of
:54:38. > :54:49.nature's hunger for life on the Hoo. As night falls and all that's left
:54:50. > :54:56.to see if the crackle and spark of the electric world beyond, I realise
:54:57. > :55:02.the Hoo says so much about who we humans really are. And what we've
:55:03. > :55:08.done to the natural world. And how it survives, despite us.
:55:09. > :55:19.I love the cons trust -- contrast between the man escape and the
:55:20. > :55:24.landscape, and how the animals are surviving, but how greedy we are,
:55:25. > :55:25.something that might have to change. At the beginning of the show we
:55:26. > :55:28.played you the sound of At the beginning of
:55:29. > :55:33.the show we played you the badgers fighting. This is the sound.
:55:34. > :55:37.We asked you to send in suggestions of what we should call that sound.
:55:38. > :55:52.Hundreds of you suggested things. I'm going to read out a couple.
:55:53. > :55:59.Wackering. Yackering. I like this one, scrowling. It might become
:56:00. > :56:03.official. Scrowling, I love it. This is the last programme, sadly, but
:56:04. > :56:10.you can keep in contact online. Facebook will have the latest news.
:56:11. > :56:17.You can share your photographs. The website is great. We have the films
:56:18. > :56:21.we have shown in this Winterwatch, and all the earlier films. Twitter
:56:22. > :56:28.is great to keep in contact and keep the chat going. Indeed. Shall we
:56:29. > :56:33.have a quick look? Let's look at the spoonbill can. Surrounded by wigeon.
:56:34. > :56:41.He was a great success, the highlight of the series. That's
:56:42. > :56:45.live! A Fox as well! We've had a lot of live action but sadly that brings
:56:46. > :56:51.us to the end of the show and the end of a series of Winterwatch. We
:56:52. > :56:56.hope you've enjoyed it. We'd like to thank the RSPB, our hosts, who have
:56:57. > :57:01.been amazing, the organisation that has got involved online, the BTO,
:57:02. > :57:06.and most of all you, for watching, thank you. And all those experts we
:57:07. > :57:10.constantly ring up and say, can you tell us about this? We'll be back in
:57:11. > :57:14.springtime. We hope to broadcast from a new, exciting location, so
:57:15. > :57:23.joiners in May. We are going to leave you with the highlights of
:57:24. > :57:28.winter 2017. Goodbye. Goodbye. We're here in deepest Dorset at a crucial
:57:29. > :57:30.time of year for wildlife. It's cold, the ground is frozen, and food
:57:31. > :57:51.is scarce. Look at that! Gorgeous. There's a
:57:52. > :58:01.cormorant caught in a Mornay moment. -- Monet moment.
:58:02. > :58:17.Pheromones. Femoral owns, smelly sex gas.
:58:18. > :58:28.How's that? I've messed up. Looks good. That's going to hurt people I
:58:29. > :58:30.love. That's the best, it doesn't get better than that. Nothing,
:58:31. > :58:33.nothing beats birding.