Episode 3 Winterwatch

Tonight will be pheno-moon-al...

It's not just once in a blue moon

you see one of these -

it's once in a super blue moon!

It's fascinating and it is new to

science.

Loose so tonight, in the

cold moonlight, welcome to

Winterwatch.

Hello, and welcome to Winterwatch

2018, coming to you live from the

Sherborne Park Estate managed by the

National Trust up here in

Gloucestershire. Our home for

Springwatch, all some watch and now

Winterwatch. Our mission is to bring

you the very best of this season's

wildlife. Late one we will be going

up to the island of Islay in

Scotland, to meet Gillian. What

about that little mouse that froze

last night after it was scared by

the owl, for five minutes 20

seconds? Stock still. We have also

shown you Kate Bush and Mark arm and

live on the programme this week, and

we have had a tweet from Mark to say

how pleased he is to have a badger

named after him on Winterwatch. As

yet, we've heard nothing from Kate

Bush.

It is very chilly tonight, but

it is

a special a super blue moon. It is

super because it is closest to the

Earth, which makes it appear 14%

bigger and 30% brighter. A blue moon

is when you get two full moons in a

month. If you haven't seen it, it's

worth going to have a look. We saw

it just before the show. It was a

lot brighter, absolutely beautiful.

It was orange to begin with as well.

Not quite the colour of your code!

Elsewhere in the world it is a super

blue blood moon, which is everything

we've got. A lunar eclipse only

happens once every 150 years, so it

is a very special night. When you

have that sort of moon, people can

go really crazy. Anything

go really crazy. Anything could

happen tonight!

Not any thing when

we arrived last week, we got a tip

off from a gentleman in the village

of Sherborne. He said there was a

very curious thing going on in his

back garden, and would be like to go

and see it. Our researchers when

they're off their own bat and took a

camera with them, and put it where

Brian was suggesting, and film

something extraordinary. See this

picture. Quite hard to see. That

white animal. What could it be? It

turns out it is not a rat or a

ferret. It is a ermine, which is a

stoat in its winter coat. Stoves are

a form any

colour normally, but some go white

in winter. It shouldn't be down

here, because it is meant to

camouflage it against the snow, and

it hasn't done a really good job.

What is going on, Chris?

There are a

couple of elements why stoats go

white in winter. There was a

daylight element and the temperature

element.

If you have seen a ermine,

we would love to see it. It is a

magical animal.

We love it when you

get in touch and get involved in the

Winterwatch conversation, and there

are plenty of ways to do that. The

easiest way to do that is to go

online and be our friend on social

media. You can like us on Facebook,

follow us on Instagram and tagged as

in your photographs, or tweet us

your questions, at #BBCSpringwatch.

Our website is full of in-depth

articles, links to videos, and

in-depth information.

We have a

number of cameras scattered around

the estate that allows us to look at

the owls living there without

intruding on them. They will never

know we are there. We have one

around, kilometre away. We have had

a range of visitors. This is a

female muntjac deer, which were

introduced from China. Jays have

been very active down there. There's

lots of food out there, lots of

nuts, as we are baiting them. Some

hung in the tree, which attracts

woodpeckers and also grey squirrels,

which are numerous here. Nuthatches

and other things down there. We were

watching it at night and in the

early morning. It looks dark in this

shot, but it is getting light here.

Squirrels are a diurnal rodent and

don't normally come out at night.

The muntjac is still there. The grey

squirrel has the temerity to take on

a mammal much larger than itself,

and it drives the muntjac away. How

about that?

Cheeky squirrel.

Muntjac

are very nervous animal, which is

probably wise.

I don't think it is

because it's a squirrel, but because

it's something moving quickly near

it. They ask is T, muntjac.

Have you

seen a muntjac?

There are a lot near

us. They eat a lot of vegetation on

the ground, so they impact

negatively on butterfly and woodland

bird populations. In some places,

they are a nuisance.

I like them!

The cameras we just showed you an

live sometimes. In fact now. Let's

go live and see what is going on.

What a magical scene. Nothing much

going on there, though. Here is this

one. We have seen a lot of action

down here. Can you see

one. We have seen a lot of action

down here. Can you see anything

there at all? No. We also have our

thermal camera, which is roving

around the countryside. Let's see if

there is anything on the thermal

camera. Yes! Chris and I were having

an argument about this before we

came on air.

It is a rabbit. Very

difficult to tell the difference

between a rabbit and a hare.

You can

see how warm it is around the head.

The

The whole body is quite warm. I

would have thought it would be a --

it would be as warm.

Very cold ears

though, on the tips. It is not going

to pump blood into those

extremities. I'm sure it is their Mo

regulating.

Its ears are bit like my

feet right now! As well as live

cameras, we also have pre-recorded

wildlife films. For those it is

important to have three elements.

Wildlife pictures, music and also

words on top of that. Usually that

is done by three individuals who are

working separately. So what would

you create if you had a shared

experience? We wanted to put that to

the test, so we sent out wildlife

camerawoman Sophie Darlington with a

couple of her close friends,

musician Ali friend and writer Ben

Webb. They went to West Sedgemoor in

Somerset, where they went to look

for wildlife and the bit of

inspiration.

We have been friends

for years, and we all have different

disciplines and jobs and lives. But

the one thing that absolutely binds

us is a deep love of nature. Being

with Ben and Ali is an extraordinary

thing. It is very, very different to

anything I've ever done before.

Mainly because you don't normally

take a double bass out with you into

the wild!

There is no way I'm going

to get through there.

West Sedgemoor

is known for its winter flocks, and

it's very much within a working

landscape. The Somerset Levels are

the perfect place for the birds to

come in during harsh winters in

northern Europe. Thousands and

thousands of which and teal. 50 to

60 cranes live here year-round.

The

good news is there's plenty of

cranes. The bad news is, they are

quite a long way away.

Cranes

extended trachea, which means they

make a particular noise, which

carries, and it makes the most

atmospheric noise.

When I

experienced nature, I'm very often

looking at it from a sound point of

view. My ears experienced things

almost before my eyes do, I think.

The cranes' call is quite harsh,

quite cranky, and slightly

plaintiff, and very loud. They want

to be heard above everyone else. Is

there a note they are singing, do

you think? I think that is a C

Sharp. In nature, C is very common.

If you hear a general harm of

wildlife, it tends to be around a C.

A C seems right round here.

I am

filming away, and I can hear Ali

playing the bass. It is almost like

the sound waves of the base, which

fit beautifully into the landscape.

I am watching it down the lens.

Brilliant, isn't it? There is a

perch. There is a pike.

There is a

chub on the way!

chub on the way! Look at that.

Amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

My favourite moments everyday have

always been drawn. Even though they

have been, at times, the most

frustrating.

Here comes the rain

again. The weather, inevitably, will

affect the experience. It's been

quite wet and quite cold. The mood

reminds me of a Dickensian novel,

and a load estuary landscape. It is

always changing, always captivating.

The reason is the Marsh Harrier is

up and about. Take-off!

up and about. Take-off!

They slip on

either side of the trees as they

tried to dodge the Harrier.

What I

think grabs me the most is the

moments where you go from silence to

a cacophony of calls of ducks. They

leapt up, and there's a sudden surge

in sound. It is awe-inspiring.

That is a mixture of the cranes, and

the plumbers underneath them. Look

at that!

That was wonderful.

We live in an era of shared

experience. Shared memories are more

enjoyable than ones that are tucked

away in your own consciousness

somewhere.

What a beautiful place. Later in the

show we are going to see the results

of those shared memories in the film

that captures West Sedgemoor and its

wildlife. This is our third night on

Islay. We have come to Loch

Gruinart. Let's take a look on the

map to see where we are. Last night

we were down here with our golden

eagles, and tonight we are up here

at Loch Gruinart. To really

appreciate this place, you've got to

see it in the daytime. This is an

area of low-lying marshes. There is

where we are tonight. In the

background, you can see the edge of

the sea loch. This is where waders

come in winter. What an family that

uses this in particular are the

geese. And they come here in their

thousands.

This truly is one of Britain's

greatest wildlife spectacles.

And

the common species of geese that

comes here is the barnacle geese.

Over 50,000 birds arrived here from

Greenland each year, late in the

autumn. And they are joined by

another species. The Greenland white

fronted geese and over 5000 of them.

Why do these birds all come here?

There is no land predators, but

mainly because there is plenty of

good grazing, the farmland and the

marshes makes this place is a real

haven for these birds. And this hide

just outside here is a known

roosting site for the white fronted

geese. We have rigged some

microphones so we can listen. Let's

see if there is anything going on

outside. It is pretty quiet. It is

possible that because it is such a

bright moon, and very clear night

outside, the geese might be making

the most of this bright light to go

out feeding. But we did record a few

calls earlier in the day.

calls earlier in the day. Those are

contact calls and it makes the geese

special. They use the contact calls

to hold their family groups

together. It is quite rare in birds,

social behaviour. To appreciate it,

let's take a look at this. At first

glance it looks like these are large

flocks of geese, as we would expect.

But when we look closely, they

congregate in small family units,

with birds of different ages. This

year's young don't have white and

black bars on their chest. That is

like the bird on the left. The bird

behind it has black bars, that is

the adults. These family units,

these groups have more than two

adults. There is the breeding pair

and also nonbreeding adults from

previous years. They work together

to defend their territories. They

show the Fidelity because they come

back to the same field year, after

year. They will stay together in

their family groups for up to nine

years. They show strength in

numbers. They really work together.

With these birds, it really is all

about the clan. Now, this is a

strategy called kin selection and it

is rare in birds. The nonbreeding

adults forfeit their right to breed

and they help their close relatives

to successfully breed. This is a

good strategy when resources are

limited. There is no point in having

all the adults breeding, it would be

too much competition. Instead, in

the case of the white fronted geese,

they help their parents breed

successfully by helping to raise

siblings, they can at least ensure

some of their genes get passed on to

the next generation. There is a

problem with the population that

come here. In the last 16 years, the

population has declined by 50%.

Later on we will be meeting someone

who is doing some really amazing

research to try and find out why and

he is doing it with this little bit

of kit. By now, it is back to

Sherborne and Martin.

Astonishing.

Live pictures from the island way up

in Scotland. Fascinating stuff. If

you were in a band like this earlier

on in the autumn, you might have

seen bats flit in a row. It was so

warm they didn't hibernate as early

as they should have done. Hopefully

on a bitter cold night like this,

they are hibernating. In

Autumnwatch, I went out to try to

have a look at a

have a look at a small, colony at

Sherborne. It is in an old mine and

we are told the bats are inside. We

don't know how many are roosting. Oh

yes! Like little hairy plums hanging

on the ceiling. It was brilliant to

see those bats. But I was expecting

a few more. What we did, after

Autumnwatch, the remote camera team

went back and under strict

supervision, they were allowed to go

in for a short period and put

cameras in and also special

microphones to see what might

happen. Well, the morning after they

put those cameras in, they were

sitting there about five o'clock in

the morning and something started to

stare. There were a lot more bats,

Lesser horseshoe bats. This one

coming in is a male. Why would that

come in to disturb the females?

Autumn is the mating season and we

thing he's trying to find a partner.

You can see him echo locating all

around. And sure enough, he starts

to cosy up to this female he really

doesn't seem interested. She might

be asleep or she just might not

fancy him. But he is incredibly

persistent. He keeps nuzzling

around. If I was the female, I would

be furious by now and give him a

slap. Eventually he gives up comedy

goes away and he settles down. He

has a little bit of a stretch now.

Then he settles down for a bit of a

snooze. But by now, all that flying

around seems to have alerted the

other bats. They started to

vocalise. We had special

microphones, but if we were there we

wouldn't hear anything. But these

microphones bring the noise is the

bats are making down to our level.

We cannot only hear them we can see

the structure of the sound in a

sonogram. This is what was going on

while he was flying around there.

They are weird sounds. Maggie

Andrews is an expert. She reckons

because they are talking to each

other and getting agitated and this

was the vanguard of science.

Fascinating though it was, that one

male coming in? The team continue to

watch the remote cameras and new

things started to happen. This is

quite astonishing. This is horseshoe

bats mating. The female is behind

and you can see the male closely

attached and you can see him

thrusting and his legs going in.

This mating went on for more than

two hours, in fact. It is quite a

prolonged process.

prolonged process. Other males are

getting very interested in what was

going on and they started to fly

around as well. Eventually the

mating process finished and they

separated. She had a bit of a brush

down, sorted herself out and he went

away and went off for a little bit

of a preen. If you look closely, you

can see the Venus, which is

remarkably big on the batter.

There's a microphone started

There's a microphone started what --

to record what was going on and

during the mating we can hear the

sound the male was making. Now he is

echo locating. The first call,

Maggie thinks it was probably him

saying to the other bats, we are

busy. It was a busy mating call. Was

it all over? No, the drama

continued. Another male comes in. We

think this female is hibernating.

You can see his penis probing about,

trying to make with her. She is

cold, fast asleep. He is very

persistent again.

persistent again. Extraordinary

footage. I never thought we would

see anything like this. The penis is

remarkably big. Apparently it comes

up to the top of his chest. She is

not having any of it at all. Then he

disappears and leaves her alone. But

one more sonogram, we can hear the

sound he was making trying to mate

with the female.

with the female. That is a slightly

grumpy male, trying to mate. We

don't know what the sound is and

Maggie is going to write a

scientific paper about some of the

sounds we have been able to record.

It is a new area. We are glad to be

able to contribute in a small way to

the study of these bats. I have been

working on these programmes for

nearly ten years, we have never seen

behaviour like that. It is

brilliant. We left Sophie Darlington

and her friends down on Sedgemoor

trying to record the pictures,

sounds and also the lyrics of the

more. What did they come up with?

The Somerset levels... Water

meadows.

meadows. Sedge and rushes rustling.

Water shimmers and reflects.

Rivers, rinds and pools. The levels

managed for waders and wildfowl.

Annual migrants, sweeping down from

the north.

Male teal, chestnut and livid green.

Brown and cream. Wind, ruffling

feathers.

feathers. Bills preening.

Shovellers, feeding.

Black clouds in the wind. Darkness

falls...

Pascual, silence stretches across

the water and the meadows and the

low willows. In the sedge, a Brown

stripe wades.

stripe wades. The cold sunshine

breaks through the cloud.

breaks through the cloud. Flocks of

Golden Globe was fly and sparkle in

the light. Bright, snow globe flakes

on the horizon and the white

farmhouses.

A 125 rattles across the levels.

Gurgling comedy calls resonate and

carry. The cranes. Long wings and

necks and trailing legs.

necks and trailing legs. Then...

Quiet.

Quiet. Resting, but ever aware. A

jolt of alarm.

jolt of alarm. A glimpse of danger.

The bridging and teal take flight.

Sweep and fold. Swelling,

mesmerising forms, the wing beat,

symphony.

And then the sun starts to slip

away.

Isn't it great when nature inspires

us to be creative? In so many ways,

making films, doing a piece of art,

music, dance... Do you know the

first time I was inspired by nature?

Where are we going here?

Five years

old, listening to Bambi, and I put a

two to one and did a little dance to

the April showers Song!

I love

books. Once a future king, put me in

the forest with balls all around.

There is a wonderful book about

three boys who run off into the

woods and live there for about a

year. I really wanted to do that!

You never dressed up and danced

around?

Surprisingly, no. The arts

and humanities research Centre set

up a project with three universities

to try to study modern natural

history writing, nature writing. As

part of that, they tried to find out

the nation's favourite natural

history books. We asked you to tell

us your favourite natural history

book. You came up with 278. I get

them the wrong way round! 278

different books, and that was

whittled down by a group of experts

to just ten, and then we asked the

nation to vote for their favourite

from that ten. We are about to

reveal the winners.

Let's start with

third place. It is a book by a guy

called Rob Callan, and it is called

Common Ground. It is a story of his

experiences of moving from London to

Yorkshire, and how he connects with

the outdoors, and he explores the

Common Ground we have with the

outdoors. Congratulations to him for

being in third place.

In second

place, one of my personal

favourites, Tarka the Otter, by

Henry Williamson. A very

non-sentimental book about Tarka and

his nemesis, deadlock the otter

hand. I actually met him.

It is a

great book.

Very unsentimental.

In

the first place is a deeply personal

memoir about a young boy who was

very shy, introverted, isolated, and

he had an incredible passion, an

obsession, and a great connection

with wildlife. I've read it, you've

read it, a lot of our viewers have

read it. It is the number-1 book.

Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, by our

very own Chris Packham. That got the

vote for the best nature wildlife

book fantastic. Well done, Chris. If

you want to be inspired by nature,

you have to get out in it. Gillian

is certainly doing that, getting out

and being inspired by the rich

wildlife of Islay.

We are at the

RSPB Loch Gruinart. This is the

roosting site for thousands of green

and white-fronted geese. The numbers

here are crashing. Fewer birds are

returning from their breeding

grounds. I am joined here by Ed

Burrell from the University of

Exeter and the wildfowl trust. The

problems you are seeing, why are you

seeing them here in Islay?

The birds

nest at incredibly low densities, so

we simply can't get the quantity and

quality of data we need.

How is your

research helping here?

Here is great

because they are around us

everywhere. We can get a real

insight into their lives. We can

catch them and mark them with

specially coded collars.

We can see

that in the shot tear.

Some of the

birds on the right have the coded

collars. The bird on the left has a

GPS tag. It allows us to work out

the behaviour of that bird.

I have

one of these here. This tag right

here allows you not just to see

where the birds are going, but also

what they are doing. You have

brought in this lovely graphic here

that shows the level of detail that

you can discern with these tags.

Just talk us through it.

These

measures very sad to leave the

movement in three-dimensional. On

the left, a grazing process, a real

peeking up and down. Then you get a

digging trace, which is more

grinding down into the soil for

roots, a key part of their diet. And

then there is the other, head up,

looking for predators, and the other

is asleep in the roost.

So what

picture are you building up of what

is going on in the breeding grounds

in Greenland?

Is guts is a great

idea of what is going on. We can see

when the females are trying to nest

and when they are incubating, and

how long that lasts. Most of the

birds are attempting to nest, but

lots of failing midway through

incubation. We don't necessarily

know why. It may be predators,

whether events or a lack of body

condition.

That is incredible. This

is a brilliant piece of research.

This piece of kit is providing a

window into the world of a bird that

breeds over 2000 miles away.

Hopefully this research is going to

reverse this worrying trend of their

decline in numbers. Back to

Sherborne now with Chris and

Michaela.

We went to Islay years ago

for Autumnwatch. Great to see those

are huge flocks of geese, but sad to

hear they are not the only birds

flocking at this time of the year.

Farmland birds are as well. This is

a group of birds in serious decline

generally in the UK, but here at

Sherborne they do active management

to attract these birds and give them

a safe habitat. At this time of

year, they are flocking in these

wonderful mixed groups. All sorts of

birds in that flock. Linnet,

yellowhammer... The fact they flock

together has given us the perfect

opportunity to do an experiment.

Many farmers take up countryside

stewardship schemes, which encourage

them to plant strips of land that

provide winter food for these birds.

Other farmers put seed like that out

into the field to keep these birds

going. We wanted to see which sees

appeal to which birds and how

important they were in their diet.

We set up an experiment with six

trays. We separated the seeds. We

left this out in the fields and we

waited for the birds to come and do

their work.

It's been quite a

successful experiment, because we've

had lots of visitors. A whole

variety of farmland birds, and a few

garden birds taking advantage as

well. They are on lots of different

seeds. Linnets, greenfinch as well,

you can see them chewing away at the

seed. A robin in the background.

Very mixed. Bluetits Mac pro, and a

huge variety. We have been watching

them to see who is eating what.

We

saw the beaks working there, and we

can make an analogy between those

beaks and household tools like

these. Long nosed pliers, Bull nose

pliers and secateurs. Let's look at

the birds individually. Let's start

off with the linnet. Which seeds did

the linnet go for? You can see those

tiny little bills. Short, stubby but

sharp bills, manipulating the seeds

to remove the husk and get to the

interior. The shot shows that the

linnet is quite keen on the rape

seed. Most of the time, they were on

that. We think that might be an

artefact of the experiment because

some of the birds were messy at the

table and scattered the seeds

around. The linnets may have been

taking them from other trays. They

are feeding on this very small seed

here, the rape seed. You can see

that the linnet has that very fine

beak. They use that to hold the

seeds, crush it and remove the husk

and try to get to the interior part.

They are much more dextrous than a

pair of pliers.

Let's look at

another bird that uses a different

technique, the reed bunting. That

has a slightly bigger beak, and it

has a very different techniques. It

picks those seeds up and get them

into the side of its beak, the toe

meal rich. And it slices through.

meal rich. And it slices through. So

23% canary seed, 23% wheat. I guess

they're beak is more like these, the

secateurs. If I take one of the

seeds that reed bunting was eating

and put it into the secateurs, just

like the reed bunting's beak, it

slices through the husk and releases

the seed. It means that it can go

for a larger variety of seeds,

because it has that bigger beak.

Indeed. What about the last species

we are looking at, the greenfinch?

You may think of them as a garden

bird, but before gardens they were

feeding on woodland edges, where

these plants were growing. The

greenfinches have a stouter bill.

Still sharp and pointed. You can see

them using their tongue to

manipulate the seed into the right

place, where they can place it on to

the tomia Ridge. They were not

interested in canary or wheat at

all. This is the equivalent of the

green Finch beak, a pair of bullnose

pliers. Same principle, but it

allows them to feed on larger seeds.

We asked if this was the optimal

seed mix? Should it be a mix?

Sunflowers are good, rape seeds are

good, but I reckon we could probably

get rid of the oats. Not much was

taken. They are basically a cheap

filler.

It's not just about handling

time with the seeds and the ability

to open them, it's about the

calorific award for them. Of all the

seeds here, the richest are the rape

seed and sunflower seed, and that is

what the birds were going for. They

were leaving those that represented

less calorific return for effort

behind. 29% of European birds are

eating seeds. Another neat fact,

scientists from universities, in

conjunction with the Netherlands

Institute of ecology, have been

contrast in great tits in Holland

and the UK. They found that since

1970, the bills of the UK's great

tits have increased in length by 0.3

of a millimetre. They think it is

because they are feeding more on

bird feeders. We spent £337 million

a year in the UK feeding our birds,

whilst our European neighbours spend

£167 million a year on the whole

continent feeding birds. We are way

ahead, and some evidence suggests we

are driving evolution by doing so.

Evidence in Arizona shows the same

thing. Birds to eat in cities are

changing their bill shape. And it is

affecting their ability to sing.

They are having to sing to a

different tune to their country

cousins!

That is amazing. Let's head

back to Scotland, to the East Coast,

where Lucy Cooke went a couple of

weeks ago to take a look at one of

our largest mammals, and the fact

that sometimes there's a lot more

going on than meets the eye.

The UK is a relatively small group

of islands, but it punches well

above its weight for wildlife. Our

coasts are home to almost 40% of the

world's population of grey seals,

and this population has been studied

for 30 years. Every winter, they

come ashore to give birth. It may

look tranquil, but this researcher

from Durham University has been

looking into life at this crucial

time of year.

There's so many of

them! I can't believe it. In a lot

of ways, they are a mammal that

wants to be a fish, but unlike fish,

they have to come onto land to

breed.

Here in lies the problem.

The

natural world is difficult. It is

how these animals cope with stress.

Finding food, reproducing. Here they

have to raise a nice pup that is

going to be healthy, and protect it.

How can you tell if they are

stressed?

If they are fighting,

there is a stress there, but they

quickly go back to a resting state.

But that doesn't mean that they have

recovered from stress. We have been

monitoring their heart rates.

Sean

can record the animals' behaviour

and their heart rate together. If

there is a disturbance in the

colony, he can compare the behaviour

he is seen with the data recorded by

the heart monitor. You have a lot of

kit.

This is what we need to monitor

the seals. We have a camera here

that is recording the behaviour of

this female here. She is wearing one

of our heart rate monitors.

That is

her heart rate now? She looks pretty

chilled out, just lying there. Is

that a chilled out heart rate?

It is

pretty flat across the screen, with

no big changes. When you get a

stressful event like a fight, or a

pup wanders off, you will see a big

change in heart rate. The problem in

a natural situation like this is

it's very difficult to expose a seal

to a standardised stress. The fights

are not the same. So we have to come

up with a way to expose them to a

standardised form of

standardised form of stress.

What is

that?

There is a trick there.

Enter

Rocky, a remote-controlled car which

monitors how the seal mothers

respond to stress. Presumably this

will not harm them in any way?

It is

a very mild form of stress, but it

gives them time to get used to

Rocky. Taking it steady.

She is

looking around now. Looking at

Rocky. Her heart rate has gone up.

Usually their heart rate goes up

with the arrival of Rocky.

Once

she's settled, Sean plays a wolf

call. Not something she would

encounter in the wild.

That lever,

flick it forward. Ready, steady, go.

She is showing a degree of stress.

People often use behaviour as a

measure of how stressed wild animals

are, particularly the presence of

people and it might be they look

pretty chilled, but in terms of

their physiology, they are quite

stressed.

A stressed out mother

burns precious energy that could be

better used producing milk for her

pup. If you are out watching at seal

colony, and you think it is fine,

just because they look OK, it

doesn't mean they are?

Just be

careful, don't go jumping around in

view of the wildlife, just take it

easy essentially.

easy essentially.

It is fascinating

to discover that even though they

looked calm, they may be feeling

very stressed by your presence. And

that is food for thought, for those

of us who love watching wildlife.

of us who love watching wildlife.

It

certainly is, we are constantly

encouraging people to go out, as we

do and try to get as close to

wildlife and enjoyed it. But those

stress calls are very subtle. It

would be interesting to know more

about that, particularly in

photography and film-making. We

think we are far away not to

interrupt these animals, but maybe

we are not far enough.

We don't

speak the same language do we.

You

know when your dog is stress, but it

is difficult to know when a seal is

stressed, but we are learning.

If

you are stressed, there is a great

way to distress, go out and do some

bird-watching, especially the

lapwing. They are beautiful animals.

They have very error doesn't

feathers, hard to see with this.

They have clubbed wings. They have

the lovely crest on the top of their

head. It is my dad's favourite bird.

The numbers have dropped by 60% in

the last 40 years.

But it is a

beautiful bird. Stunning.

Our

cameraman went out last night and

managed to film the lapwing at

night. What was going on was that

under the bright moonlight, these

lapwing were taking advantage to

feed. Quite a substantial flock.

There is the rabbit in the

background. But they are feeding on

worms and invertebrates on the

ground. It wasn't completely dark

because the moon was out, but I am

surprised that when they fly off,

these birds but are used to flying

in the day, they go bashing into

each other. They look slightly

wobbly. Not quite in control of

their flight. But remarkable to see

them taking advantage of the

moonlight. Avian predators are not

around, so as sensible strategy.

Not

the

the only species foraging. Our

cameraman found a heron hunting.

Typical hunting strategy. Still,

stand and wait and then stabbed. It

scores as well. The must have been a

little light for this bird to be

hunting. Sometimes they will use

artificial light, street lights. If

they are near somewhere where there

is plenty of fish, they will turn

up. The other thing is, we have seen

other birds taking advantage of

human writing. Read Shanks, I

remember reading a few years ago do

well, wading birds.

well, wading birds. It illuminates

the muds, which would otherwise be

darker.

darker. And the birds who were

foraging under this light had a

heavier body mass.

My dad used to go

out to try and harpoon Mullet. He

never got one. He wasn't like the

heron. He never got one. Just as

well.

Heron have adapted, unlike

your dad. What about this time a

beer? It has got cold this morning.

The most inhospitable environment,

top of the Cairngorms perhaps? Ice

and snow, terrible wind. You could

dress up warm, but you wouldn't want

to jump into a loch on the West

Coast of Scotland, you think it

would be dead cold. But in fact,

they are dead of life.

Midwinter in the Scottish Highlands.

Snowcapped mountains stand sentinel

over the still surface of

Lochcarron. But underwater, the cold

current still team with activity.

And for one, strange life form,

these cold months herald the start

of their year. These peculiar

protrusions are colonial soft corals

and they have lain dormant since

high summer, when encrusting orange

algae overpowered them, causing them

to shut down. Now, with the algae

killed by the cold, pale feeding

fingers or polyps start to emerge

from the fleshy colonies. Waving

gently in the current, they beat to

the rid of the tide. They are

collecting the early-season plankton

and it is the ghostly colour and

feathery appearance that gives this

coral its common name, dead man's

fingers. But names can be

misleading. For these colonial

beings, actually bring life to this

reef, creating a unique habitat for

a multifaceted sci-fi cast.

A tiny and the pod scavengers

amongst the feathery polyps of the

coral. Microscopic scraps litter the

surface, but this little crustacean

is brazen and will even try to steal

food from the polyps themselves.

They seem to know what it wants and

shrink away as it comes close.

shrink away as it comes close. It

causes little harm to the colony,

but lurking nearby is a genuine

threat.

This sea slug only lives for a year

but is entirely dependent on dead

man's fingers throughout its short

life.

life. Its eyes are extremely

primitive, relying instead on a pair

of sensory tentacles to build a

chemical picture of their world to

find their food. Sensing danger, the

dead man's finger retracts its

polyps, but it's still vulnerable.

Unlike hard corals have a

protective, calcified casing, soft

is

is rubbery and the slug's jaws are

more than capable of biting through

it. With a captive food source, they

grow quickly, reaching a whopping

eight inches in length, making them

the UK's largest sea slug. Despite

the onslaught, the dead man's

fingers thrive in these cold waters

and at this time of the year, they

have put themselves in prime

position to take advantage of the

plankton rich spring tides. He would

have thought it? A winter reef

teeming with life at the bottom of

the Scottish loch, all built on a

colonial creature with death in its

name.

I cannot believe there is that much

colour and explosion of life in the

freezing cold loch.

To the cameraman

for getting in that freezing cold

loch. At the beginning we told you a

tantalising

tantalising view of ermin. This is

what has been sent in. This is from

Killian and this is in her back

garden.

garden. This is an ermin rolling an

egg. It rolled along the patio. Have

you ever seen an ermin.

In 18.7

lumens, I have never seen one.

Take

a look at these.

a look at these. Simon West, we

don't know where it is from. This is

from Pat Wallace on Facebook.

This

is a quote from a Renaissance writer

who reminds us to keep our minds and

consciences as pure as the ermin

keeps its first.

Do you do that?

My

fair is always spotless.

We are

doing a Facebook live, so go to the

Springwatch Facebook page and we

will answer some of your questions.

Tomorrow is our final show. Killian

will still be in Ireland where she

will be investigating the hen

harrier population.

We will be

looking at the badgers scene where

they have been and using resources.

I shall have a nocturnal adventure

as I search for an enchanting bird,

catching it in the middle of the

night. Tomorrow night, we are on at

9pm, an hour later. Immediately

after this, McHale will take over on

Facebook and we will be answering

questions you have sent him. --

Micaela.

Goodbye. Goodbye.

Goodbye.