Episode 2 Winterwatch

It might have been unseasonably mild

but winter is definitely upon us.

Tonight will it be the crow or the

Raven?

It's the final episode of

Game of Crows, we find out which is

the most clever corvid.

And I will

delve into the life of one of the

most charismatic birds of prey. Get

cosy, it is Winterwatch.

Welcome to Winterwatch 2018. What is

finer than hot chocolate on a cold

winter 's night? I will tell you,

the best wildlife programme on TV

and we have got one of them coming

live from the Sherborne Park estate

run by the National Trust here in

Gloucestershire. Last night we had

Mark Almond and Kate bush, tonights

astonishing sights, the science will

burst your brain, it worth waiting

for.

It is worth waiting for and

it's been a great day, starting off

with the most beautiful frosty

morning. If you were arbitrarily

like our cameramen you might have

been treated to this fantastic view.

Gorgeous

Gorgeous muted colours. Very

different from a few days ago when

they had all that rain and mud. This

morning lots of frost, it was a

chilly morning. Basically the

perfect frosty winters morning.

Stunning. If you were out yourself

you would have seen some of this.

But the sun was out, melting the

frost eventually and the wildlife

was out making the most of basking

in the sunshine with that beautiful

blue sky. I was up early and it was

lovely.

Beautiful.

Can you imagine

being that coot and being up and

throwing that cold water over

yourself? We have got live cameras

all around the Sherborne estate and

we have set up feeding stations. One

is alive right now, let's see what

is going on. It is like Narnia.

Let's go to the other feeding

station, a lot of action here last

night. Mice have been coming here a

lot. Let's see what happened last

night with the mice. Did you see

that in the background? And owl, we

thought that had caught something

but what has the most done? It has

frozen, frozen solid. The owl

departs, so how long does the mouse

's a frozen? Almost five and a half

minutes before it makes a move.

Which is a sensible strategy, this

was pitch black and the owl is

hunting using sound so if the most

had moved the owl might have come

and got it.

Five and a half minutes.

I have seen something similar,

occasionally sparrowhawks will sweep

through and disturb the birds on the

bird table but if one of them

doesn't go it just freezes, called

pets and bluetits doing it. Not for

five and a half minutes, but a good

few minutes hoping nothing will give

them away. Amazing. If you were

watching last night you will know we

finally got to grips with some of

the badgers here. We coloured three

more and this allows us to know

exactly where they are. And there is

more activity. Just after the

programme finished last night we saw

this. This is the set where we have

programme finished last night we saw

this. This is the set where we have

called one of the animals Mark

Almond. That is one of them coming

out of the hole and approaching the

other badger and they immediately

start some rough and tumble. It's

not a full on white, if it was, two

animals who have never met before,

fighting over a potential mate, you

would know about it. Lots of

screaming and vicious fighting. This

is play fighting which has escalated

into an argument about who is top

badger. It's about establishing the

hierarchy. We can see Mark on the

left side is slightly larger. He

weighed over 16 kilograms which is

pretty heavy! After all this

bickering and

pretty heavy! After all this

bickering and nibbling he chases the

other mail off. Why is that going

on? The females are just about to

give birth and when they do they

will come into season and the badger

mating season starts. You want to be

top man badger at that time because

you want to meet with the females.

Is a truly like that, do the badgers

have a tough hierarchy? Because it

was quite gentle. It was more like

play fighting.

It was a bit, they

have probably established the

hierarchy and this was reinforcing

it. Within a group of badgers there

will be one breeding female but she

does not just mate with the dominant

male in the group because at this

time of year male badgers from other

groups will move to try to find the

females, only 50% of the young are

sired by the dominant badger in the

grip. These sneaky males are scoring

on 50% of the occasions. On our

thermal camera we saw this, it's a

female badger gathering bedding.

Again, she is about to give birth

beneath the ground, 1-5 cubs, she

wants to produce those youngsters in

a chamber which is nice and soft and

warm and dry. At this time of year

we see her taking quite a lot of

bedding down.

It is amazing, we

really struggled to get any sort of

shots of badgers at all in spring

and autumn and now we're getting

this fabulous behaviour.

It is all

because it is breeding times you're

getting extra activity where the

cameras are. In the summer, when we

got here in spring the young had

already been born and were mobile

and then we got to alter Mandy had

already moved to other parts. -- we

got to and they had already moved.

We all want to learn more about how

they are using the landscape because

it's a unusual.

Badgers are not the

only previously elusive animal are

cameras have caught. This is another

we have been struggling with in

spring. Nothing in autumn. Fox. This

is a thermal camera so you see the

seat. It is out hunting and I think

it is warming. That looked like a

warm to me. What else could it be?

-- a worm to me. It trots off and

then it does what you see your dog

do, it units, you can see the warm

you're

once it has urinated it robs itself

in it so all the other foxes now

that is its smell and off it trots.

Why do you think we are seeing more

of the foxes now than we did in

autumn? We really struggled.

It is a

difficult time for foxes. They are

awash with hormones, their testicles

double in size at this time of year

which must be uncomfortable, the

right testicle is always bigger than

the left testicle. All these

hormones and the testicle growing,

it must be so uncomfortable.

Remarkable gone out knowledge. Over

Christmas time we can hear the foxes

barking and may make an enormous

amount of noise when they are

meeting. So this is probably males

moving around, last chance to meet.

I wonder if we will get it on the

life form on camera. Two Woodcock

's!

Look at that! There they are!

Look at those. We've lost it.

That

is great, the catch anything else...

They are worming just like the fox.

Our cameraman out and about and they

managed to film this, is this? It is

not little terrier? If you think you

know what it is get in contact on

Twitter and if any of you get it

right we will let you know later in

the programme. I love quiz.

In the

winter time we get an enormous

influx of birds to the UK. Some of

you might have been lucky enough to

have brambling in your garden last

weekend was the big garden bird

watch. Occasionally we get waxwings

coming in from Scandinavia, truly

exotic and sometimes in large

numbers. But there is one winter

visitor which used to be more common

and is not so now, but Michaela and

I went out to try to get to grips

with it, the one and only great grey

shrike. I love a shrike.

So do I but

I have never seen a great grey

shrike.

They are a successful group

of birds, lots of species around the

world but this is a real beauty if

we get a good view of it.

This will

be a treat.

We have do find it

first.

They are site fateful so when they

find someone they like they keep

coming back

we have to keep looking

up because they like it- and that

you do it.

Yes and they have got

their territories and there is a

good chance you can find them. This

tree has got shrike written all over

it.

If you are a shrike you'd be

sitting in the top of that tree?

It's got a great viewpoint all

around, let's poke around underneath

deceived we can find the remains of

any prey.

What are we looking for?

Feathers and for, maybe insects?

That is a little bit of beetle. That

is the abdomen of a hornet. And I

imagine all of these will have been

pellets. They will have been

regurgitated just like owls produce

them.

You are quite the little

Sherlock. Look at this. That is a

pellet.

Yeah. It must be fresh

because it's not disintegrated in

the rain.

We are clearly in the

right spot. Hopefully it's just a

matter of time before it turns up.

How long do you think we will have

to wait because I am not very

patient.

You have to be, that is

part of birding. It is an integral

part of birding. We are not the only

ones.

There are quite a lot of

people around. It really is a

twitchers bird isn't it? There are

only about 60 something of them in

the country at this time of year.

I

hate to say it but when I was a lad,

they were regular every winter. We

would go deliberately to see them

but there would not be a crowd like

this. This is turning into a shrike

shindig. But it will be coming back,

I have faith.

Downward dog, like that.

Let's go.

One more scan.

We're not

going to see it now. There we go,

let's go.

Seriously!

let's go.

Seriously!

Seriously, it

has wristed.

I would sell my soul,

it's not worth much, just bred to

pop up so I could prove you wrong.

I

had a lovely day, come on.

I hate

birds.

What do you think?

I think the

chances are good, less people here,

less dog walkers and bird-watchers.

Right in the top. Got him.

Look at

that!

It is such a gorgeous looking

bird. That is superb. It is almost

fluffy. Do you know what it reminds

me of? A bit of a long-tailed tip.

This would eat 67 of them for

breakfast. This is a proper bird,

honestly.

It's got the name Jackie

Hangman. You used to play that game.

Someone calls that are Jackie

Hangman? Who does?

I don't know,

some friends of mine! Have you not

heard that before?

No.

I love it

when I teach you something.

It is

off. A flashback to yesteryear for

me. Beautiful bird. Absolutely

stunning. Top ten surely.

Forgive me, it has got to be done.

That was a bird.

That was worth

getting up twice very early for. It

is a fascinating looking bird and it

is also a very interesting bird

because it is a voracious predator.

It has a variety of prey. This was

filmed last year in the same area.

It is very likely this is the same

bird and it has got a lizard. As I

say, a variety of prey. This is the

one we saw this year. We saw the

remains of a beetle under the tree.

It will catch lizards, Beatles,

small mammals and even small birds

sometimes. It does not always eat

them straightaway and that is what

makes them interesting.

They are

called Butcher Bird, not only for

their voracious appetite and ability

to kill things, but because they

produce larders and they store food.

During the breeding season when

there is a surplus of food, they

will hang it up on barbed wire

fences and they might even do it in

the winter. Here it is a question of

using that the thorn is a tool

because these are perching birds.

They are not like raptors, they have

not got big, powerful feet. They

cannot hold down the prey. They pin

it on the thorn so it gives them the

ability to pack. They always go for

the brain first, whether they are

eating a bird or a mammal.

I have a

question for you. It is a fantastic

bird and it copes in the winter, so

why don't they stick around in the

spring and summer?

They breed

throughout France, Germany and up

into Scandinavia, much further north

than Scotland in the UK. So it is

not a question of temperature. But

there are old records of them

allegedly breeding in the UK. In

1991 there were a number of examples

around the UK. I seem to remember in

the depths of my mind there was a

case of them breeding in Sutherland

or Caithness. A few years ago there

was a rumour they had bred in

Yorkshire, so sometimes a pair would

stick around.

It would be great to

have them throughout the year.

They

are declining unfortunately. It is

coming back to that thing about the

lack of large insects. Although they

do eat birds and mammals, they rely

on the Beatles principally.

From a

fabulous, little bird to the

magnificent golden eagle. Gillian is

in Scotland where she continues to

explore the wonderful wildlife of

the island of Islay.

Welcome back to

Islay. Tonight I am on the south of

the island. To the left of me is the

Lighthouse, those twinkling lights

in the background. We have just had

an amazing time here, this place is

incredible for wildlife. It finds

you even when you are not looking

for it. Yesterday on our way to

location we saw a white tailed eagle

and yesterday by now. Today we have

had seals popping up and bobbing

around, watching what we were doing.

Last night we filmed otters at a

whiskey distillery, but that is not

all that we saw. This is a

spectacular view. But if you look

carefully in the top left-hand

corner you can see it. That is, a

golden eagle. That is not just one

golden eagle, it is a pair, a

breeding pair and they are seen

regularly in parts of the island.

Winter is a great time to see golden

eagles, they make the most of the

short winter days to go out hunting.

The more we watched them, we started

to notice they kept coming back to

the same spot. Here you can see them

really looking down, but we could

not work out what it was. They breed

early, so were they looking for

nesting material? Was there a

carcass down there? We simply could

not see. So where exactly are we? I

have got a map here. This is where

we were last night filming the

otters up here. This is a little bit

wet. Down here is the golden eagle

area. This is the Oa peninsula, a

hotspot for golden eagles. To really

appreciate why we have got to see

this place in the daytime, let's

have a look. This is a mix of craggy

moorlands and farmland. Most of it

is managed by the RSPB for wildlife

for the benefit of wildlife and it

works. It is home to many rare

species of birds and those cliffs

either reason why golden eagles do

so well here. It does not just

provide amazing nesting sites, but

the wind, which we are getting the

full force of tonight, is another

reason. It bounces off the Atlantic

into the cliffs and it gives the

Eagles much-needed lift. To give you

an idea of how it works I have

brought something along for you.

Check this out. This is a scale

model of an adult golden eagle. Tip

to tip that is 2.2 metres long, as

big as they get. This is

magnificent, they are built to soar.

They use this wingspan through the

spring, through the summer, to look

effortlessly and cover the huge

distances, looking for a live prey.

They will take hairs and rabbits and

in the winter live prey is scarce on

the ground, so they have to make use

of carrion. This was our chance to

get some really close views of the

birds. We put some cameras on a deer

carcass and we waited. It took as

four days, but on day five this is

what we saw. On day five the first

eagle had landed. The first thing

you can appreciate is the size of

this bird. It is almost the same

size as the deer. Its first task was

to get into the carcass and very

efficiently it starts using that

sharp beak to pull away at the firm

and stripping away. It took just 50

minutes to clear the whole of the

left flank. And now it needs as much

as it can. We timed that first

sitting and it took 37 minutes to

absolutely gorgeous itself. In the

next shot you can see that it is

really filling out. It is just

tucking in. Check this shot.

tucking in. Check this shot. It is

rammed full, it has gorged to the

max. A golden eagle can eat a kilo

in a single sitting. If that was for

my body size that would be the

equivalent of 28lbs stake. You

really start to appreciate this is a

really important food source for

them. But we were curious. How long

would it take them to strip that

carcass beer? We will find out later

in the show. For now, it is back to

Sherborne and Martin.

What fantastic pictures the team are

getting in Islay. Just before we

came out, I spoke to a friend of

mine who used to be the site manager

up there. He told me there were a

pair of golden eagles up there and

the use to hunt and fly along the

cliff and drive the goats off the

cliff. He did not see it once, he

saw it loads of times. Those eagles

are extraordinary birds. We do not

have eagles here, but what we have

in Sherborne is a beautiful raptor,

the red kite. In Springwatch we got

these intimate views inside the nest

as the three chicks swallowed

ludicrous meals, but they got bigger

and bigger and all three of them

successfully fledged. It was

fantastic. In all probability they

are still around in Sherborne and do

not intend to go far. In the trees

around me now in this light drizzle,

there are probably loads of birds or

roosting, trying to find somewhere

to snuggle down out of the cold in

the night. But red kites do not do

it like that. A couple of weeks ago

I went two kilometres away from here

to try to see what was going on.

This is so frustrating because there

are five kites here. The mist has

come down and completely shrouded

the roost that they are going in on.

There are more. And another one.

Maybe 30 have come in, but they are

all hidden in the mist now. But you

can see that cops there. We are only

about a mile away from the main

studio and if you came during the

day you would think it was an

ordinary little copse, but you would

be wrong because that is where all

these kites are pouring into as it

begins to get dark. There is another

one. In a way this is good because

wherever we go out and film wildlife

we wait until it is sunny and lovely

and the sun always shines on TV.

Well, it does not.

Well, it does not. You can just see

them just flying in. They seem to

float, buoyed up on the air. They

are so graceful. They must have a

really clear map of the whole area

because they are coming from areas

that are thick with mist. Yet they

seem to know exactly where they are

going. There goes one in. I can see

a couple just sitting there like

ghosts in the mist. The mist seems

to add to that slightly surreal

look. A perfect winter scene

somehow.

somehow. That was really a magical

experience being there with those

kite drifting into the nest. We

could not see inside the roost to

find out what was going on. What

might be going on, some people say

that young red kites get together

and that is their way of getting to

know each other because they stay

together for life once they get

together. So what we did to find out

in a bit more detail we got our

thermal camera and we went down to

peep properly into the darkness.

Well, they are not pairing up. They

are individuals. They do a lot of

preening. They get muggy feet in

winter and they are often pruning

their feet and their feathers. We

were thinking do they get together

like starlings and wagtails? By

roosting close together they raised

the temperature. But they were not

doing that. They are all separate in

the trees, so they are not warming

each other up. It is difficult to

know what is going on. I have got

two questions. Why that particular

cops? Every now and then some of

those birds get up in the middle of

the night and fly to a completely

different roost. What is that all

about? Whilst we have been here we

have been filming these beautiful

birds in flight around here in

Sherborne. It is good to remember

that these birds very nearly became

extinct. Red kites were extinct in

the middle of the 19th century in

England and in Scotland. They hung

on, just a few pairs in Wales, and

thanks to serious conservation work

they have now managed to recover and

we have got about 1800 breeding

pairs, which is still a tiny number

really. The sites of lots of kite

wheeling around in the air, if it

was not for conservation, that would

be empty sky, so they still need our

help. Winter is a great time to go

out and do a bit of bird-watching.

So let's go out with naturalist John

Waters and see what we can find.

Winter for me is a quieter time of

year, but there is still plenty to

see if you know where to look. Our

garden is in the middle of a 1970s

housing estate, probably not the

best place to attract wild birds.

But we have got a berry bush, and

birds particularly like it. This

winter we have had Red Wings. They

are common birds in Britain and come

from Scandinavia. They do not like

to be the first one into the bush

because they might get eaten by a

cat. So I put out some plastic

models. One bird might think there

is already a thrush in there and

once they are in debt, the rest of

the flock will join them. Red Wings

are beautiful birds and they have a

lovely red patch under their wings,

which gives them their name. It is a

real treat to be able to sit on my

doorstep and watch these shy,

woodland birds feeding in my garden

just a few feet away.

just a few feet away. I am very

lucky to live on the edge of

Dartmoor, so I have got a whole

range of different habitats where I

can watch all sorts of amazing

wildlife in the winter.

One of my favourite insects. These

wasps overwinter in little clay pots

attached to the gorse and the

heather, each female wasp will build

one of these within 2-3 hours.

Through exploring the behaviour of

the wasp I've got to know the

behaviour of the heath land as well.

A truly nice to be accompanied by

some stone chaps, there is often a

couple who are resident on the

heath. The male with his lovely

little white patches. This winter

there have been exceptional number

of Hough inch's. -- hawfinches. They

look quite angry. Big and bulky with

enormous great beaks. Real

characters. Coloured like autumn

leaves. Pale cinnamon brown and grey

with a bit of blue as well. You see

the power of the beak which it uses

to crush hard seeds. What it likes

our hormone beams. Quite acrobatic

things. They will hang down and grab

the seeds, often grabbing a whole

bunch at once. Really fabulous to

see such a shy bird at such close

range.

One of the things about winter days

is that although they are so short

it is the fact you can get out at

dawn and dusk, so many interesting

things happen in the natural world

as they light changes. In the summer

it's hard to get up so early or stay

out so late but in the winter it is

easy. Nothing I like better than

coming out to the woodlands. I have

been watching this flock of

long-tailed hits for about three

winters. They have got so used to me

that they behave normally and allow

me to watch their natural behaviour.

The young, once they leave the nest

are not abandoned by their parents.

The flocks you see in the winter are

often the parents and the young

altogether. You cannot really not

like them, they are sociable birds.

They fly around in a little flock

and help each other out to find

food.

These are tiny little birds. The

only way they can really survive

particularly when it's very cold and

the nights are short in midwinter is

to snuggle up together and keep

warm. It looks so cosy. If I had to

sleep out in the woods that would be

a place to sit, snuggled up in a big

sleeping bag. So many of them all

fluffed up together that you cannot

really tell where one ends and

another begins. The only way to

count how many there are is to count

all the tales which are sticking

out. What better way to end the day

really. What an amazing sight to

see. Really special.

That is adorable, have you seen

that?

I have never seen it, I have

seen them plenty of times but never

doing that.

Me neither, we'll have

to go on another mission to see

them. What more could you want? All

of the birds we have had our birds

which people get excited to see, and

although John had a Hough --

hawfinches on his track, this time

of year, a couple of hundred usually

visit our shores but this year we

have had an influx of them, about a

thousand to possibly 5000 birds have

arrived to the UK from the autumn.

It's a good chance to see them. On

Sunday we had a tip-off there were a

few in the churchyard in Sherborne

Village so we headed off with our

binoculars and were treated to this

site. Look at that massive powerful

bill and with our binoculars we

certainly got a really good

sighting. Usually very shy and

difficult to see. They are usually

hidden in the upper canopy of mature

woodland but we were lucky and saw a

few beautiful birds.

Absolutely

fantastic. I cannot stress it

enough, if you have not seen a

hawfinch this is the winter, get

your binoculars and get out there.

We were sent to this date this

afternoon, this is last year, this

week, and the number of hawfinch

sightings in the UK. 12. This is the

UK this year with the number of

hawfinch sightings this week, 203.

There is a very much a southern bias

to these sightings. So you might

have thought they were coming from

further north like the great grey

shrike and other visitors but it

seems like a storm moved the birds

up from southern Europe and it is

are more common because they can

feed on things like hornbeam and

beach seeds and these trees are more

common there. We think of ourselves

as having a pretty tough job, but if

you bite into a cherry and you bite

onto the stem you can break your

teeth. But a hawfinch has the

ability to crack open a cherry

stone. It has a couple of little

pads at the corner of its beak to

hold the stone in the right

position. It's got massive muscles

anchored around the back of its head

so it doesn't village jaws apart and

it can the crushing power of 50

kilograms. 50 kilograms bite from a

tiny little bird it's extraordinary.

That was not the most scientific

demonstration I've ever done on

Winterwatch but it does exemplify

the fact that these birds have

enormous biting power. Eat your

heart out.

A lot of you have seen

hawfinches arranger patch and sent

in pictures. This coming on Twitter,

this was Derbyshire. They have also

been seen in Hampshire. This is

interesting, this was a flock of

around 30 around Ludlow. Thank you

for sending was in. Keep looking for

them, this is the winter to see

them.

You would have seen episode

one of Game of Crows yesterday, are

rather medieval contest to test

cognitive abilities but it was

inconclusive and we asked who you

thought had won. The results are in,

61% thought the raven that would

prove to be the more intelligent

bird and 39% said Crowe. Let's find

out now in the final episode of Game

of Crows.

Raven from the Winter fell with the

news. It says, Fischer, 1-1.

All to

play for.

play for. Yesterday the Crowe sped

to victory.

Whilst the raven made

short work of the guillotine with

his impressive inquisitiveness. But

two tests remain.

two tests remain.

Game three, the

war map. This test is and memory.

Important skills when catching and

storing food. For this test each

bird must spot the one brightly

coloured soldier amongst the hordes

before the two minute hourglass runs

out.

It's time to play the Game of

Crows.

First up, the raven.

Where is the

soldier? Straightaway! It hasn't

even got three eyes. It spotted the

soldier straightaway in amongst the

crowd and went straight to it.

And

now it is laying waste to the other

armies.

They have got very good

eyesight but more importantly they

have a very good memory.

Bring on

the crow.

I will set the sons of

time. Before you have even set the

sons of time! He is faster.

You are

still setting the sons of time and

you missed it, he went straight in

and got it. 2-1. To the crow.

and got it. 2-1. To the crow.

With a

brain 15% larger than the crow on

paper the youthful raven should be

doing better. But can he at least

even up the score?

The final test

sees winter coming. With ice and

stone.

Presented with frozen food

sealed in ice, a rock and warm

water, how will these birds get the

meat and win the game?

Will the

raven's superior size and strength

beat the wily old crow? The key

thing is that this is brand-new,

they have not been exposed to this

at all, it's a new experience for

them.

Let's turn over the sons of

time.

What's he going to do? What is he

going to do? He's got it. No.

Testing everything isn't he? He's

going to throw it off the edge and

see if it smashes.

LAUGHTER

He is using the ground now.

Let's

bring him back. Go on. Good man. No!

That's drawn blood! That really

hurt.

That is really Game Of Thrones

that is. This is what we need.

It is

difficult to pin down ice.

He's just trying to use brute force

and having real difficulty.

The sand

is of time...

Out. He got some food

out of it. He used smashing it to

bits with his beak and holding onto

it with his talent. Partial success.

Shall we see what the crow can do?

Smart ice cube. A little bit smaller

because of the crow.

What is that?

What is that? It's a bit cold.

What is that? It's a bit cold. I

think he is more accurate.

Look at

that. Who would have thought it?

He's definitely scoring.

He almost

put it in the warm water.

That might

have been an accident. I must give

an element of honesty and say that

this has been achieved far more

quickly than the raven. So thinking

about these challenges, the raven is

a bigger birds, but sometimes the

more power the less grace.

Never was

and more true than what we have seen

today.

I think we have seen birds

with different personalities, not

just a crow and a raven but there

are higher cognitive abilities allow

us to determine those personalities

more quickly. I have to follow my

sword. I have to do the decent thing

and fall on my sword. Because the

crow has trounced the raven.

Much to

both our surprises I fancy.

Quoth the raven, nevermore. I say,

that is a big surprise. I would have

banked on the raven, bigger bird,

bigger brain, great reputation for

being the most cover bird on the

planet. Along with 61% of you I

thought the raven would win and we

lost. Nevertheless... After all of

that carrying around in medieval

costume, there is a point.

Understanding the cognitive ability

means we've got some very dramatic

new science. Come on, this is

astonishing.

This is really

astonishing. It turns out that the

crow family appear to be as

intelligent as some of the primates.

How can that be? Particularly when

you look at this. Here, this is

exactly the correct size, scale

size, that is a chimpanzee brain, it

is not real obviously. And this is a

crow's brain. How can it be that a

brain that size can be as clever as

a brain that size? Well the very

latest science has shown us how they

do it and it is all to do with

neutral density. How tightly the

neurons are packed into the

different brains. In the crow's

brain it has ten times more neurons

per gram weight, than the

chimpanzee. So although it is

smaller it has much more densely

packed it neurons and that is how

that little brain can compete in

intelligence with the much bigger

brain.

All of these years we have been

using the term bird-brain and we

should have been saying chimp brain.

Even birds we might see flying

around in our gardens like the

goldcrest have a similar sort of

relationship. The goldcrest weighs

about seven grams. They have a brain

that weighs 0.36 the ground. A mouse

weighs 27 grams and has a brain

which weighs 0.4 to the ground.

Bigger animal, bigger brain. But the

goldcrest has got 2.3 times the

number of new runs in its brain down

the mouse has which suggests, and it

is untested, that the goldcrest

might be a more intelligent animal

than the mouse. Twice as bright as

the mouse.

Potentially. On a

completely different note all brains

change size as we grow of course.

Look at this fascinating chart. This

is the size of human brains as we

grow. Here we are as a baby and the

brain gets bigger and bigger and

then something frightening happens.

At the age of 40 our brains start to

shrink, Chris. I'm afraid your brain

and my brain is on a downward

spiral.

But our brains can change

shape and function during our

lifetimes. We have rearranged some

of the neurones to protect ourselves

and it gives us the ability to

recall things, so it is not all bad

news.

But the female brain

throughout is smaller than the male

brain, mate.

Potentially

controversial. We have shown that

size is not important, it is density

that counts, size is not important.

It is not the size of your brain, it

is what you do with that.

I have

been saying that for years. Less

discontinued this anatomical

conversation and head over to Julie

in to see how she is getting on with

her eagle.

Welcome back to the Oa peninsula on

Islay. We have been following a

breeding pair of golden eagles and

we put some cameras out in the hope

of getting some views on a deer

carcass. We thought it would last

the ages, but did it? Four days

after the first eagle appeared we

noticed that most of the left flank

was completely gone. The animal was

not that big, about 20-30 kilos,

bones and everything. But that was

an incredible start. We notice they

started to arrive in the morning, or

at least this one. It would have a

huge feed after a cold winter's

night and once it was done it was

gone. The 4th of January was a

really wet day. Eagles rarely fly on

days like this, it is terrible

hunting weather, really tough

conditions, so it was making the

most of this fine. Then we noticed a

change in the routine. There were

two visits, one in the morning and

one later on. Were these two

different birds? A male and female?

Either way, there was very little

left. And then on the 7th of January

the eagle landed by the carcass as

usual. Then what we saw next was

amazing. In this shot in the top

left-hand corner of was the mate and

it sat there watching for 40

minutes. This was our proof that

both birds were aware of the

carcass, possibly feeding on it as

well. This is the last time we saw

the pair and there was nothing left.

In just 11 days we counted 14 visits

and each took just over half an

hour. That was 7.5 hours to strip a

30 kilo carcass bear. Absolutely

amazing and all that meat served one

purpose, to get the pair into

perfect breeding condition which for

golden eagles comes early, as we

saw. Now, this is a magnificent

bird, absolutely built to soar. We

noticed the pair started to play.

They were tumbling, sort of

floating. This is the beginning of

the courtship ritual. They are

masterful flyers. But it was the

mail that started to do his stuff.

He pulled his wings in and plummeted

right down and just before the

bottom of his dive, he pulled up and

climbs again and he does it again.

Wings held tightly to the body, legs

tucked in. He could build up speed

to 320 kilometres an hour. This is

the second fastest birds in the

world. Only the peregrine is faster.

He was not doing this to impress his

mate, this was a long distance,

territorial display, a message to

mail is a long distance away saying,

this is my patch, keep out. The good

news is that e-mail has been

successful at breeding for the last

four years and so there is a good

chance she will be sitting on the

eggs in March. Golden eagles are

resident on this island all year

round, but some birds only come to

these shores in the winter.

these shores in the winter. Dawn

breaks on the north-east coast.

Wading birds have spent the cold

night huddled together in mixed

flocks. They have waited not for the

sun, but for the moon to do its work

and turned the tide. Now, despite

the chill, they must get going. But

a tiny bird remains. It's a

sanderling.

sanderling. Despite its diminutive

size, it is incredibly resilient.

From summer breeding grounds high in

the Arctic Circle in winter

sanderlings migrates south.

sanderlings migrates south. Some

even make it as far as Australasia.

Not that stats for one of the

smallest waders on the beach. During

the freezing winter months,

sanderlings must eat almost

constantly in order to survive. Life

is lived on a knife edge. Wind is a

constant problem. It does not take

much for this little bird to be

blown off course.

blown off course. Nevertheless, this

is a bird perfectly adapted to its

habitat. Unlike other waders,

sanderlings have no hind toe to drag

them back and slow their speed. Like

tiny clockwork toys they -- about,

only just avoiding being swamped by

the breakers. It is exhausting to

watch. It must be hard work. But it

does give the sanderlings an

advantage. None of the other waders

here feed on the tide line like this

and so they have this part of the

beach virtually to themselves.

Pickings are rich at the water's

edge and the sanderling's short bill

is perfect for probing the mud for

tiny morsels. It is also

super-sensitive. Touch receptors on

its tip can detect vibrations of

prey in the sand up to two

centimetres away so they do not even

have to touch something to note it

is there. Much of their diet is made

up of minute crustaceans, such as

tiny crabs and sand hoppers. But

sometimes they chanced upon a lucky

find.

The sanderlings are not totally

alone on the beach. While most mind

their own business, others are more

of a disruption.

Eventually calm is restored. And the

birds can get back to the serious

business of foraging. These tiny

birds must eat their fill before the

tide begins to turn. Then the dining

table will be lost to the sea once

more.

What a delightful film, absolutely

superb, beautiful photography and a

stunning, little bird. 70,000

sanderlings come to the UK every

winter, all the way from Siberia.

At

the beginning of the programme we

set you a quiz. Could you identify

this particular animal? A few of you

have sent in answers. Some said a

baby deer. It could have been.

Stephen said it was a long eared

owl. Danielle Brownlee says a very

wet squirrel.

That is a good call. A

lot of you got it right. Oliver

Andrews, Catherine back in --

Catherine Birkett. Let's see what it

was. If we pull out the camera you

can see it was a wild boar. A

fabulous animal.

We have had an

instant response to our item about

hawfinches from Phil Jones in

Newcastle who sent us this

photograph. This is the bill of a

hawfinch which he found. You can see

a pound and a ruler for contrast.

Good work.

Did that come in during

the programme?

It did. Brilliant.

And I love murmurations and this is

a murmuration of starlings making

fantastic patterns in the sky. There

is a predator cutting them all up.

It looks like a lava lamp. Very

sadly that is all we have got time

for. Join us after the show for

Facebook live with Lindsay Chapman.

That is coming up in a moment. We

are on at eight o'clock tomorrow

night. We are going to resolve our

farmland leading experiment. Gillian

is in Islay exploring the lives of

geese.

And I shall be revealing the

extraordinary and sometimes shocking

sex life of these bats. It is not

that shopping, don't worry.

It is

eight o'clock tomorrow.

Bats, you

have got to be there.