Springwatch 2025 episode 1
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00series of spring watch
00:04We're back we're live we're in a brand new location, but that's not all we're celebrating as it's 20 years of
00:13spring watch
00:22And what a truly
00:24Glistening evening the Sun beaming from a crystal blue sky. This is surely a time to be out
00:33We're calling it spring watch
00:35this is the time when we can look back the spring weather both this year and
00:40Over recent years because there really is some indication that things are changing that affects our wildlife enormously
00:48I
00:50Welcome to spring wash it is absolutely
00:53Wonderful to be back with spring watch throughout this week. I'm gonna be whizzing all over this part of the country
01:00I am genuinely so overjoyed to be coming live to you from the Isle of Butte. It's a place. I've always
01:05genuinely wanted to visit
01:09We are gonna have so much fun
01:11Are we
01:15It's a television highlight
01:19Sounds like a mad turkey that's had far too much coffee. It actually reminds me of them. What do you reckon?
01:27The last two weeks the nation has been great. It is the nest of spineless. I the little stickleback
01:40Doesn't like up fly straight by their look unbelievable. Yes
01:49I
01:51Can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it
01:57This is by far
01:59The best wildlife encounter I have ever had in the UK. It's like they are playing with us. They are playing with us
02:14I think you don't know how to describe that
02:18I want to see you come out. You can do it flop those wings
02:22This
02:25Is amazing because what we have here is potentially a first for well, I was gonna say television but possibly first just about anybody
02:35Just simply watching what these birds can do I could do all my life
02:53I
02:56Think we have just heard from Charlie Hamilton James. We've got live pictures of beavers. Look at this. This guy's so close
03:10You could spend several lifetimes in the field and you'd never get to see those things it really is an extraordinary privilege
03:22I
03:52Oh
03:55And welcome to spring watch
03:582025 we've changed our location
04:00We are now at the National Trust Longshore estate here in the Peak District in the rain
04:07But our spirits will not be dampened
04:09We're going to be live here for the next three weeks and I can tell you you will want to be here now because we're
04:14Going to bring you the champagne supernova a wildlife TV starting tonight
04:20We've got some
04:22Sensational birds to show you tonight one a first for spring watch. What a way to start the show
04:27They were live music playing the theme tune
04:30Thank you very much to all the musicians that brave the weather and came out and great also to celebrate past and present
04:38Presenters of spring watch. I mean great to reminisce. It's great to reminisce
04:42Well, look, we haven't exactly been all around the world, but we have been all around the UK spring watch started
04:49Down here in Devon in
04:512005 I joined up here Pensthorpe
04:552008 I joined in us here in us here
04:59Last year, of course, we were down here at on in the RSPB, but now we've relocated to Longshore
05:05Yes, as you can see, this is a new area. We've never been here before. Why have we come here?
05:11Well, it's sunny. It's an absolutely stunning place and it's huge
05:18555 square miles and it has a fabulous variety of habitats
05:24Oak woodland surrounds Longshore estate and that brings specialists like this
05:29Striking pied flycatcher and the gorgeous red start running through the landscape
05:34There are picturesque streams supporting their own little ecosystems as well as the River Derwent
05:41And that has lots of wildlife
05:43You can see all of those insects emerging from the water and obviously that's feeding a lot of the water birds like those goose
05:50Sanders and the very charismatic
05:53dipper
05:54Around here as well. There are lots of different grasslands and that feeds all of these mammals
06:00You've got hares and herds of deer
06:02But what the Peak District is really well known for are these vast
06:07expanses of moorland and that plays host to things like the short-eared owl
06:13Fabulous to see it here. It's here in the breeding season and as well as the ring
06:18Oozle, which is a very emblematic bird of the uplands here. So that's why we're here
06:25It's a great place to be and there's loads of wildlife
06:28She's a ring. Ooh, so I love the idea of the ring oozle when I was a kid
06:33I like saying a ring ring a lot the dining table
06:36We had blackbirds in the garden but not ring oozles with that gorgeous white
06:42Gorget beneath them, but some might say that their song is equally special. Have a listen to this
06:57It's simple but I would say sublime gorgeous
07:01We'll find out more about ring oozles a bit later on in the program. So that's where we are
07:05We're at Longshore. Where's Yolo? He's across the water. He's gone to Northern Ireland
07:11So let's put him on the map and let's put him on the telly
07:19Yes, hello there I am in Northern Ireland and you know what someone was telling me they've had three weeks of unbroken sunshine here
07:27I arrive and the heavens open but doesn't matter because my beard and I
07:32We're gonna take you on a Northern Ireland road trip now the first week we're gonna be here in Belfast
07:39It might be home to
07:42350,000 people but it's also
07:44Jam-packed full of all kinds of wildlife. We have got urban foxes coming up for you plenty of urban foxes here
07:52Belfast is also a swift friendly city. We've got seals harbour seals here in Belfast Harbour and
08:01We also have a colony of
08:05Common terns for you as well. That is the first week here in Belfast
08:09Let me go over to my rain soaked map and show you where we go
08:14Belfast the first week then we head north up to
08:18Rathlin Island just off the coast there where we will be hoping to film the very rare corn Creek
08:25Often heard not often seen and the unique
08:30Golden hair, it's a kind of Irish hair a
08:33beautiful animal then
08:35we go south again from Rathlin Island week two down to the National Trust's Mount Stewart on the
08:45Strangford loch on the edges of Strangford loch there where we'll be in search of red squirrels now who
08:52Doesn't like a red squirrel beautiful little animals
08:55And if we're lucky we may well even find the elusive pine
09:02Martin as well. So Chris and Michaela we have got three
09:07wildlife packed weeks coming up for you
09:11Sounds excellent. You've got slightly more rain than us as well at the moment yolo
09:15But what do you think of this new look the new look yolo? I know I mean more rain more hair
09:20I like it. I think I always think you look quite handsome. Actually, he's looking a bit like a Norwegian resistance fighter
09:30Absolutely, it is pouring with rain now here
09:33But we've had a very dry spring in many parts of the UK at my home in Hampshire
09:38We've had only 20% of the rain so far that we would normally get through the year
09:42And of course this does have an impact on our wildlife and sometimes it's very visible. Look at this
09:48It's a molehill a couple of molehills nothing unusual there
09:51But take a wider look at the field and this is very close to where we are standing at the moment
09:56It's peppered with molehills. What's going on?
10:00Well moles are specialist earthworm feeders and when you get less rain and more drought
10:06Those earthworms have to go deeper into the soil to where it's moist and therefore the moles have to pursue them down
10:13That means they've got to excavate more tunnels and therefore put more soil back onto the surface
10:19So that field full of all of those molehills was a direct response to their behavior in times of drought
10:26Of course by tomorrow morning a number of molehills will be significantly decreased
10:31Will be coming up to the surface. I mean it is remarkable, isn't it? Because last week was just glorious
10:38In fact the whole spring as Chris has said was dry and sunny and then the first spring watch comes to your screen
10:44And what happens? It starts to rain. It seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?
10:48Every year I think pretty much
10:50But certainly over the last few weeks lots of you have been out and about enjoying the wildlife
10:55And some of you have been telling us exactly why you enjoyed this time of the year
11:00Spring means new life. Trees and plants awaken from their winter slumber
11:06The swifts arrive
11:10Birds chirping
11:13It's just a beautiful season
11:17Spring's a great time to be out and about
11:20The birds are busy building nests
11:23You know so much to look forward to when the chicks arrive
11:26Things that give me joy in spring? My garden
11:30We have foxes
11:33And visiting hedgehogs
11:37At springtime this landscape really comes to life
11:40Tawny owls
11:42Cuckoos
11:45One of my favorite things to do in spring is come to my local lake and see the baby ducks
11:51It's very therapeutic
11:53For me, nothing beats being in the woodlands during the springtime
11:57Being surrounded by a wall of green
12:00It's a season of so much joy
12:03The woodland floor has a beautiful display of wild garlic
12:08It's an opportunity to come up on the mountainside
12:11And witness migrating birds coming back to breed
12:16It's a beautiful experience
12:18And witness migrating birds coming back to breed
12:23It's a new dawning in nature's life
12:31Great to see everyone out and about enjoying that wildlife
12:35Now we are here in this beautiful national park
12:38And this beautiful national park was established to service the nature needs of the people in the surrounding cities
12:45And on Spring Watch we always like to celebrate the wildlife of our cities, our towns and our suburbs
12:50And this will be no different
12:52I can tell you that it's only a short distance away from Sheffield
12:55So we're going to go over to Sheffield now where we picked a particular street
12:59Where we're going to focus on the wildlife for the next three weeks
13:03And the one and only Jack Baddams is there to lead the campaign
13:07Yes, hello, I'm currently only eight miles away from Longshore
13:12Enjoying a break in the steel city monsoon that we've been having this afternoon
13:17I tell you what, we actually thought the thunder was rolling in
13:19And it just turned out it's bin day tomorrow
13:21So if you hear any rumbling in the background
13:23It's just the people bringing their bins out onto the street
13:25So where are we?
13:27We're at Spring Watch Street
13:29And our aim here is to find out the hidden world of wildlife outside our windows
13:35Now let's kick off with a literal banger
13:38The best bird in the world
13:40The soundtrack to Spring Watch Street
13:42The swifts
13:44They're nesting in the eaves around here
13:46They're nesting in swift bricks
13:48That are being put in people's houses
13:50Just being on this street
13:52And hearing them screaming around
13:54Even in the drizzle
13:56Even in the rain that we've had today
13:58Is absolutely fantastic
14:00There's so much great work going into protecting swifts in Sheffield
14:02But we're not
14:04Just looking to the skies
14:06We're also having a little nosy
14:08In people's back gardens too
14:10Because you see Sheffield is an incredibly green city
14:12It's got a lot of parks
14:14It's famously got a lot of street trees
14:16And a quarter of it's land
14:18Is made up of gardens
14:20So what we're doing on Spring Watch Street
14:22Is we're wanting to find out
14:24How important those gardens are to wildlife
14:26Myself and camera trap fanatic
14:28Jess McCaffrey have been visiting
14:30These gardens on Spring Watch Street
14:32Since April we've been putting out 20 trail cameras
14:34We've been monitoring them
14:36And we're trying to find out
14:38What's living here
14:40Our aim is to reveal the lives
14:42Of the wildlife living alongside
14:44The residents here
14:46To the people who might have no idea
14:48What's living here
14:50And we're hoping to show you some things
14:52That you can do to make your garden
14:54A little bit better for wildlife as well
14:56We want to show how important these habitats are
14:58And on these trail cameras
15:00In the last six weeks
15:02We've caught about 12,000 clips
15:04We're going to be going through some of them
15:06A little bit later
15:08But Chris and Michaela
15:10I know you've got some pretty good nests to show us
15:12To kick off the series
15:14We have got some good nests to show
15:16But you know I'm really excited about Spring Watch Street
15:18I mean I think it's a really brilliant thing to do
15:20Because it's one thing telling everyone
15:22What to do in their gardens
15:24But if you can see what wildlife that attracts
15:26Then it's going to really inspire people
15:28I'm sure that Jack has got some tricks up his sleeve
15:30And it's going to reveal things
15:32That they possibly didn't know
15:34Living in their own backyards
15:36Back up here though
15:38We're going to stick with the master plan
15:40Which is as ever to bug this area with cameras
15:42Thanks to the National Trust
15:44And the Eastern Moors Partnership
15:46We've got those cameras out here on the estate
15:48And in the surrounding area
15:50We can go to our nine way now
15:52To see what we've got
15:54A whole host of different things going on there
15:56You can see lots of young birds
15:58So much activity
16:00But I'm going to go centre
16:02Let's go to the centre
16:04Because although it's a damp night
16:06And this is not a particularly happy bird
16:08And it's facing in the wrong direction
16:10Thank you very much
16:12It is indeed the short-eared owl
16:14And I am really excited about this
16:16Because we've never had one before
16:18And they are extraordinary birds
16:20Beautiful and fascinating
16:22Thankfully we were watching them
16:25Before the rain started to pour down
16:27Now, short-eared owls are in the UK
16:29Birds of moorland
16:31And they frequently hunt in the daytime
16:33Both winter and during the breeding season
16:35Here is our female
16:37She's married with children as it were
16:39And you can see that they're underneath her
16:41The male drops in
16:43With a short-tailed field foal
16:45Very important prey item for these birds
16:47It's one of the things that governs
16:49Their population levels
16:51And how many eggs they lay
16:53She had seven eggs
16:55She's now got six chicks
16:57And one unhatched egg
16:59And the first thing you'll notice
17:01Is like all of the owls that we typically look at
17:03They hatch asynchronously
17:05So you get one or two
17:07Which are much bigger than all of the others
17:09Now I've got to say
17:11Looking at those young owlets there
17:13I can make a case to say
17:15That they're potentially not
17:17The most attractive young birds in the world
17:19There we are
17:21Case proved
17:23Without a shred of a doubt
17:25And things get worse
17:27When they're younger
17:29Look at that
17:31But when they mature
17:33They turn into something very beautiful
17:35Now like many ground-nesting birds
17:37That are vulnerable to predators
17:39They have a habit of leaving the nest early
17:41Semi-fledging you call it
17:43And that's what we've seen with these birds
17:45You can see there's one behind her there
17:47One of the larger young birds
17:49And one of the smaller ones
17:51And they've scattered into the undergrowth
17:53And of course that would be beneficial
17:55Should a fox come along and raid this nest
17:57It may not find all of them
17:59If they've scattered into that undergrowth
18:01What a bird
18:03Look at the eyes
18:05Those chrome yellow eyes
18:07Absolutely sensational
18:09Now because of the fact that they're so fidgety
18:11And moving about
18:13We may not be able to watch them for too long
18:15But our cameras will be live
18:17That's a stonking star
18:19Isn't it
18:21We always wonder what we're going to get
18:23And we've got something we've never had before
18:25It's absolutely brilliant
18:27We're going to give you another treat now
18:29Because we haven't had this bird since 2012
18:31In us here
18:33This is a pied flycatcher
18:35I know it's not difficult to ID when you just see the chicks
18:37They're in a nest box
18:39There are six of them
18:41And they're doing really well
18:43As I say the last time we had a pied flycatcher nest
18:45Was 2012
18:47And before that was 2006 in Devon
18:49So this is only the third time
18:51We've had live cameras on this nest
18:53As I say it's a nest box
18:55It's in the woodland
18:57And inside you've got the six chicks
18:59That as I said are doing incredibly well
19:01There's the male going in
19:03And it's great because we've often seen the male
19:05And the female
19:07So you can clearly see the difference
19:09The female is a lot duller than the male
19:11This is not a bird you're likely to see
19:14Unless you happen to have an oak woodland
19:16In your garden
19:18So it's great to see them
19:20As I say it's a long time
19:22Since we have been able to
19:24Watch this nest
19:26A nest like this
19:28And we think they might be first time parents
19:30Our nest watchers have said
19:32From the plumage they can see
19:34That they're probably quite young birds
19:36So they might be an experience
19:38But it appears that they're doing incredibly well so far
19:40And we think that those chicks
19:42Might be the first time parents
19:44So that'd be great to see them fledge
19:46Points out of ten for the male pied flycatcher
19:48Seven
19:50Would you go higher
19:52No I wouldn't I'd go much lower
19:54They over promise and under deliver
19:56I love them all
19:58They look really neat and polished
20:00But as you can see they're actually a bit scruffy
20:02Let's move on to a bird
20:04Which is altogether in a different league
20:06Let's go live now
20:08To this nest
20:10As you can see they're a bit younger
20:12They've still got their gape flanges
20:14On the edges of their bills
20:16A little bit of fluffy down on top
20:18Fidgeting around in a hollow tree
20:20That might be a clue to the species
20:22We've been keeping an eye on this
20:24Of course for some time
20:26And I can give you now one of the best birds
20:28In Britain
20:30Hello
20:32Oh yes
20:34The male red start
20:36Oh come on
20:38Do you know why they're called red start
20:40Because it's red
20:42No it's because the start
20:44Was an old name for the tail
20:46And they've got a red tail
20:48So that's how they got their name
20:50Look at that
20:52It's a beautiful bird
20:54Female not so much
20:56Well not so much
20:58But then again she's got to hide away
21:00And be living in that hole
21:02And we'll be keeping our eye on these birds
21:04They are a bird typically of the western side of the UK
21:06We'll get to grips with that a bit later on
21:08In the series
21:10Marks out of 10 for male red start
21:12And I'm going to give it an astonishing 8.9
21:14Oh that's a high one
21:16That's high for me 8.9
21:18And obviously we'll be following all of those nests
21:20Throughout the three weeks
21:22And we'll be giving you lots more birds as well
21:24Anyway when you're enjoying wildlife
21:26It's good not just to look at wildlife
21:28It's good to listen for wildlife too
21:30And it's a really good idea
21:32To tune your ears
21:34To tune your ears
21:36To tune your ears
21:38To tune your ears
21:40To tune your ears
21:42To tune your ears
21:44To tune your ears
21:46To tune your ears
21:48To tune your ears
21:50To tune your ears
21:52To tune your ears
21:54To tune your ears
21:56To tune your ears
21:58To tune your ears
22:00To tune your ears
22:03I eat, sleep and drink bird sound
22:09Then it's flying overhead
22:11I'm reading about it
22:13I'm dreaming about it
22:15Reed bunting
22:17In the swaying reeds
22:23It's such a simple sound
22:25But it's so beautiful
22:27It makes me feel like this is where I'm meant to be
22:29And this is where I'm the calmest
22:31And the happiest
22:37I've always found peace in nature
22:39Even as a little boy
22:41When I was
22:43Oh, grasshopper warbler
22:45Real mechanical reeling song
22:47Like a grasshopper
22:49So I started to listen to birds
22:51From the day I could
22:53Understand what was happening
22:55Like I was a really hyper kid
22:57Then my parents realised that the solution to that
22:59Was to bring me out into nature
23:03My dad would imitate the sounds of the birds
23:05And he would say
23:07What sound is this? What bird is this?
23:09It was a great game to me
23:11But actually it was a wonderful entry
23:13Into the natural world through my ears
23:19I do find it very stressful to spend time in cities
23:23I've always found it difficult
23:25To get around really
23:27So I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 32
23:29I'm 37 now
23:33Sometimes people ask me
23:35What's the point in getting a diagnosis
23:37Well, it matters greatly
23:39Because it forms a major part of who I am
23:41And when I was younger
23:43I thought that I was just a strange guy
23:45Who for some reason was
23:47Not really likeable
23:49And I couldn't fit in with groups
23:51But knowing that there was
23:53There was something behind it
23:55It allowed me to forgive myself in a sense
23:57And it also allowed me to harness
23:59The many positives that come
24:01With an autistic brain
24:07It really allowed me to go to depths
24:09That I think that a neurotypical person
24:11May not necessarily go to
24:13With relentless obsession
24:17And so it's bird sound for me
24:19I think I have about five microphones with me
24:21And I'm going to dot them along
24:23In different kind of sub-habitats here
24:29So my aim is to sound record
24:31The vocalisations of every
24:33Regularly occurring bird species in Ireland
24:35In order to draw light
24:37On how beautiful these birds are
24:39And to hopefully help protect them
24:41By bringing more people on board
24:43And loving them
24:45So right here
24:47We've got reed bunping
24:49We've got reed warbler
24:51We've got sage warbler
24:53We've got grasshopper warbler
24:55And we're missing
24:57There they are
24:59That metallic ping
25:01Bearded reedling
25:03Or bearded tit
25:05We've got water rail
25:07In the background
25:09You've got coot
25:11And this is only what we're hearing now
25:14And this is only what we're hearing now
25:16What will us hear when I'm gone to bed tonight
25:18Who knows, it could be anything
25:28I'm just going to mark this with a GPS
25:30And I'm out
25:34When I first began this project
25:36I was extremely shy
25:38My biggest fear was speaking in front of the public
25:40No way would I have spoken
25:42In front of the camera
25:44And it brought me out of myself
25:46Through speaking about the thing
25:48That I love so much
25:50And at my talks
25:52There are many young artistic kids
25:54That come with their parents
25:56And you know
25:58They come to say hello
26:00At the talks
26:02And for me
26:04That's really special
26:06Because I didn't have that person when I was a kid
26:08So
26:10It's nice to make a difference in that way too
26:24I love picking up these microphones
26:26You know
26:28It's a window into another world
26:32The recording that sticks with me the most
26:34Is documenting
26:36The sound of the last known
26:38Irish pair of Ringusel
26:40So it was essentially capturing the sound of extinction
26:42On our doorstep
26:44People always think that extinction
26:46Is something that happens over there
26:48In the Amazon
26:50When in actual fact it's happening right here
26:52And it's something that we can all stand up
26:54And fight against
26:56We know that if we bring habitats back
26:58Nature is just waiting
27:00It's just knocking on the door and waiting to come home
27:02I'll be on this journey for life
27:04But in terms of the species
27:06I'm very very close to the end now
27:08I've recorded 201 species
27:10And I have two birds earmarked
27:12For this year
27:14Red-breasted merganser and great skua
27:16So fingers crossed
27:24What a fantastic project
27:26And Sean
27:28All the best in mopping up those last few species
27:30The last ones are always
27:32The most difficult
27:34Well welcome back to Belfast
27:36Or in Irish Gaelic
27:38It's Belfriste
27:40Which is mouth of the sandy ford
27:42What a beautiful language
27:44And I'm here in the middle of Belfast Harbour
27:46The iconic Belfast Harbour
27:48With it's ships
27:50And it's cranes
27:52They reckon that over 100 ships
27:54Come in and out of here every week
27:56Making it the 4th busiest port
27:59In the whole of the UK
28:01And the most famous ship
28:03That was constructed here
28:05Of course is the infamous Titanic
28:09Titanic went down
28:11Was it 1912 I think it was
28:13Well it's a working port
28:15But that doesn't mean to say
28:17That there's not much wildlife here
28:19There's a marine mammal
28:21That's often seen inside the port
28:23I'm talking about the common seal
28:25Also known as
28:27The harbour seal
28:29Very aptly
28:31They're often hauled up on the shore
28:33With huge ships all around them
28:35Warming themselves up there
28:37They're smaller than the grey seal
28:39Of course quite a bit smaller
28:41With a much nicer dog like face
28:43And in the water plenty of fish
28:45In here for them
28:47So they'll just hop in the water
28:49And feed before hauling back up on the land again
28:51And there's another creature
28:53That's made it's home here in the harbour
28:55It's the black guillemot
28:57Probably my favourite seabird
28:59It's a beautiful, beautiful bird
29:01Look at that
29:03Black plumage with those big
29:05White wedges on the wing
29:07And keep an eye on the feet
29:09On the legs
29:11And when it opens it's beak on the gape
29:13It's bright red
29:15And scientists have discovered
29:17That the redness is relevant
29:19To the species' health
29:21So the redder the beak
29:23The healthier the bird
29:25And the better bait it makes
29:27And here
29:29They are doing pretty well
29:31Northern Ireland is about 5%
29:33Of the UK population
29:35It's very much a north and western bird
29:37And of course
29:39It's spring and for these birds
29:41There's only one thing on their minds
29:43And that is
29:45Courting
29:47Bear in mind that they've spent up to 8 months
29:49Out at sea
29:51And they just meet back up here
29:53On their nesting areas
29:55And the courtship
29:57Is very prolonged
29:59And quite complex
30:01There's a lot of head bobbing
30:03A lot of beak chattering
30:05A little bit of dancing around
30:07Like that
30:09And this will go on and on
30:11Usually on land
30:13I've seen them do it on the water as well
30:15Fantastic birds
30:17And of course it's all about copulating
30:19And passing on your genes
30:21To the next generation
30:23One of the things I love about them here
30:25Is that they're so tame
30:27You can virtually walk up to them
30:29Now generally black guillemots
30:31Will nest in holes
30:33In fissures
30:35On cliff faces
30:37But here in the harbour
30:39Let me show you
30:41They nest in these holes
30:43In the harbour wall
30:45And there's believed to be
30:48Two of their cousins
30:50The common guillemots
30:52That nest in their hundreds on cliff ledges
30:54These nest singly
30:56They pair up
30:58They lay two eggs
31:00And they rear two young hidden away
31:02In these harbour walls
31:04And in Wales
31:06It's a rare bird
31:08But they nest in Holyhead Harbour
31:10And Fishguard Harbour
31:12So it's a habit that is spreading southwards
31:14And that's a bird on guard there
31:16Keeping an eye on its nest
31:18And doing away with any intruders
31:20That want to come along
31:22Now let's go live
31:24Because we've got our wildlife cameraman Steve Phillips here
31:26Steve can you find us a guillemot
31:28On the water
31:30There were lots here earlier
31:32Lots here earlier but now we're live
31:34They're gone but doesn't matter
31:36Because just before we came on air
31:38Steve captured this
31:40Look at this it's a black guillemot
31:42With a flatfish
31:44I would imagine that is
31:46And believe me it'll get that down
31:48It's a huge fish for a black guillemot
31:50But what a fantastic meal
31:52Now this area is
31:54Managed by the Department of
31:56Communities and although
31:58They don't have to
32:00Take into account any nature
32:02Conservation it's not part of their remit
32:04But thanks to a small and very
32:06Enthusiastic team here
32:08That's led by Peter Gallagher
32:10And Martin King
32:12They are taking measures to try and
32:14Encourage wildlife back
32:16Into the middle of Belfast
32:18Now I'm going to put my cards away
32:20And I'm going to put this
32:22Life jacket
32:24On because
32:26One of their projects
32:28Is out there and I really want
32:30To go out and see what's going on
32:32In the meantime
32:34I'm going to leave you in the safe hands
32:36Of Jack Baddams and the
32:38BBC's latest
32:40And best soap opera
32:42Springwatch Street
32:44I'll see you later
32:56Oh you can keep your Eastenders
32:58And your Emmerdales when we've got Springwatch
33:00Street. I mean we enjoyed the break
33:02In the weather while it lasted but I'm here
33:04Now in soggy Sheffield
33:06In the back garden of Springwatch Street
33:08And I'm here with my resident Debra
33:10And I want to show you a couple of things
33:12A whistle stop tour of her garden
33:14Of the things she's done to make it better
33:16For wildlife. You can see we've got borders
33:18Packed full of flowers for pollinators
33:20We've got a lovely no-mow lawn over there
33:22That's not going to be cut until later in the summer
33:24If you follow me round this way
33:26We've got a lovely open compost heap
33:28There. That could be brilliant for
33:30Slow worms, grass snakes
33:32They love to be in there where it's nice and warm
33:34Round the back there's a pile of dead wood
33:36Follow me round this way
33:38We've got this big wildlife area
33:40In the corner. A few hours ago
33:42I was watching a family of wrens
33:44Feeding their chicks in there
33:46And down here rapidly filling up
33:48We've got that lightning rod for life
33:50That we're always banging on about
33:52On Springwatch. The garden pond
33:54You can see we've got our camera
33:56That's been watching it because it's been
33:58Incredibly dry over this spring
34:00And we've seen a few things coming to it
34:02We've got an absolute plethora
34:04Of urban birds
34:06Coming here. We've got magpie
34:08Coming and having a nice bath
34:10We've got things like the wood pigeon
34:12Having a drink
34:14There's been dunnocks, there's been sparrows
34:16There's been blackbirds
34:18And of course they're all coming
34:20To have a drink, to have a bath
34:22Which you could get from a bird bath
34:24But if you go that extra effort to make a pond
34:26One, you don't need to fill it up as much
34:28And two, you're also creating a whole
34:30Ecosystem as well
34:32Now those sort of things
34:34Are things that you could see if you were just looking
34:36Out of your window. You were enjoying your morning coffee
34:38You could look out and see those birds on the pond
34:40But what we're trying to do here on Springwatch
34:42Street is lift the lid on the stuff
34:44That the residents here didn't know
34:46Was around. So a couple of days ago
34:48I sat down with Debra to show her
34:50What was using her garden at night
34:54Before I start
34:56Have you got any idea of what we might have
34:58I'm hoping
35:00That you've got hedgehogs
35:02It would be nice
35:04If there were foxes
35:06And I guess the ultimate one is a badger
35:08Okay, let's put an end to the tension
35:10And have a look
35:12So up first
35:14So that is
35:16Just behind us here
35:18The interesting thing about this
35:20Foxes are what we were expecting to get the most of
35:22If you think of cities
35:24The first mammal you think of, big mammal, is foxes
35:26But that was the only time the fox visited
35:28But we did have, of course
35:30Lots of other things
35:32So this is on your pond
35:34Is it getting water from the pond?
35:36I mean it's been so dry
35:38This spring
35:40They're using all of this garden
35:42So this is behind your garage
35:44So that's your pile of wood
35:46I only recently put that there
35:48And that wasn't even a wildlife feature
35:50Well what we found is that the hedgehogs
35:52Seem to like snuffling around in it
35:54Maybe looking for invertebrates
35:56So they climb up it to get onto the wall
35:58To go under the fence
36:00I won't move it now
36:02That's brilliant
36:04So there's a little hole under the fence
36:06Which is a perfect little wildlife corridor
36:08And that's why I sort of leave piles of things everywhere
36:10I try to leave it untouched
36:12Okay, so we've got fox, we've got hedgehog
36:14So then on to our final animal
36:20Oh my word
36:22It seems to like the wall
36:24Brilliant
36:26And it just comes tottering across that wall
36:28Oh thank you so much
36:30Yeah, I'm really pleased about that
36:32I would be
36:34It's a fantastic mammalist
36:40How cool is that
36:42I mean, I'm a country boy
36:44I expect badgers to be in woods and fields
36:46So the fact that they're in here
36:48Climbing over these walls, coming under the fences
36:50And in fact, that's the wall
36:52I don't know if you can see it
36:54In fact, you might just be able to see the camera trap on it there
36:56And the badger came back last night
36:58Have a look at this
37:00Look at it hauling itself up and down on this wall
37:02And this is an animal that
37:04You take a look at that
37:06This doesn't look like the most agile thing
37:08But it's able to climb up and down on this wall
37:10To move around these gardens
37:12We've seen little snickets under fences
37:14That they're moving through
37:16They're able to use this landscape pretty well
37:18More than you might expect
37:20So either they're coming into this garden
37:22Or they might be snuffling through the lovely long vegetation
37:24Where there'll be lots of invertebrates
37:26Or they might be coming to the pond
37:28Have a look, or maybe rather a listen
37:30To this clip that we caught
37:42That is the sound
37:44Of a very, very parched badger
37:46Quenching its thirst
37:48A few weeks ago
37:50When it was still really dry
37:52I mean, it's a decent start to Springwatch Street
37:54We've got a wall-climbing badger
37:56We've got plenty more things to show you too
37:58And of course we want to see the things that you're seeing
38:00In your gardens
38:02You can send your pictures and videos in
38:04In the usual places on our socials
38:06We'll be back with some updates
38:08From Springwatch Street later on this week
38:10But Chris and Michaela, what about that?
38:12You don't just need a national park
38:14To find good wildlife
38:16I'll tell you Jack, that was amazing
38:18I mean, gosh, it just goes to show
38:20Build it and it will come
38:22The wildlife will come
38:24But while you were showing badgers
38:26It seems we're having a bit of a badger fest here
38:28On Springwatch tonight
38:30Because at exactly the same time
38:32That you were talking about badgers
38:34Look what happened live on our cameras here
38:36A badger walks through shot
38:38Isn't that incredible?
38:40It's obviously a great place for badgers
38:42In this area, isn't it?
38:44Badgers come out in daylight as well
38:46And in the rain
38:48And doing what badgers always do on Springwatch
38:50Scratch
38:52Have a good scratch
38:54Before they do some anal rubbing
38:56Anal rubbing I promise will come later in the week
38:58But how amazing was it to listen to that badger
39:00Drinking water
39:02I love things like that
39:04As I say, tune your ears in to nature
39:06I hear that most mornings when I share breakfast with you
39:08You munching away through your brown flakes
39:10Anyway, let's move swiftly on
39:12The reason it's so nice to be here in the Peaks
39:14Is because it's home to a population of a bird
39:16Which is now red-listed
39:18It's something we call the mountain blackbird
39:20And we mentioned it at the beginning of the programme
39:22The winged oozle
39:24So here is its typical habitat
39:26It has now become a bird
39:28Very much of the uplands
39:30There are 5 million blackbirds in the UK
39:32But only somewhere between
39:342,500 and 7,000 winged oozles
39:36In summertime
39:38They like short turf like this
39:40Because they like to forage on worms
39:42Just like blackbirds
39:44To feed their young
39:46And then at the end of the summer
39:48Before they migrate
39:50They'll switch to feeding on berries
39:52They make a nest
39:54In amongst dry stone walls
39:56Or fallen stones like this
39:58And typically they lay 4 eggs
40:00And this one here has 4 chicks
40:02The male is generally quite blackish
40:04With that white gorget
40:06The female is a browner version of that
40:08And instead of a white marking on her chest
40:10It's cream coloured
40:12But they are striking birds
40:14As I've said
40:16But very sadly
40:18They've been going through all sorts of decline
40:20What a lovely view of the nest there though Mick
40:22It really is isn't it
40:24It's not a bird that people are overly familiar with
40:26I mean a lot of people have never seen a winged oozle
40:28So we've got a little model of one here
40:30Made by our lovely Lucy Lapwing
40:32So you can see the sort of size
40:34I mean they are thrush size
40:36So that's the female
40:38A little bit browner, slightly duller bib
40:40Or gorget
40:42And this is the male
40:44That's striking black
40:46And I think this is quite a gorgeous
40:48They've got a gorget
40:50And they've got a gorgeous nest
40:52Because it's really tucked away in this rock crevice
40:54And it's made out of moss
40:56And mud and leaves
40:58And it's all very cosy
41:00I think it's delightful that
41:02And there in case you want to really be able to judge the scale
41:04There's a coin so you can judge the exact scale
41:06Of these birds
41:08There we are
41:10As I mentioned, they have gone through a decline
41:12At the beginning of the last century
41:14You could find these birds nesting in Essex, in Kent
41:16And in Surrey
41:18But they've gradually moved north and westwards
41:20And they've moved further up the mountains
41:22They are now a species which we only find
41:24In this very specialist habitat
41:26The question is, what's been going on
41:28Well in order to conserve a species like this
41:30You need to understand what the problems are
41:32Yeah, and this is a really good place to study them
41:34Because a large proportion of the breeding population
41:36Is here, in the Peak District
41:38So people are studying them
41:40And if we have a look
41:42This is what they're doing
41:44They're putting coloured rings on them
41:46This is them putting coloured rings on this year's chicks
41:48And they've been doing this since 2022
41:50Because this is a bird that migrates to Morocco
41:52So it's important to know what happens on that migration
41:54And it was thought
41:56That maybe that's where the decline is happening
41:58But actually, from the results coming in
42:00It seems that that might not be so
42:02Because the first year
42:04They were expecting a 5% return
42:06Of the birds
42:08And they had a 12%
42:10So it was higher than expected
42:12Obviously more data is needed
42:14But there's probably problems on the migration
42:16Habitat loss
42:18Degradation
42:20Disturbance
42:22And that is one of the problems that we know is happening
42:24Here at the Peak District
42:26Very popular the Peak District
42:28Half a million people come here every year
42:30Which is brilliant
42:32But you just have to be really careful
42:34During the breeding season
42:36Already we've seen people
42:38With their dogs off the leads
42:40Put them on the lead
42:42They can really disturb those nesting birds
42:44And also if you're cycling or hiking
42:46Then if you hear this noise
42:48Yeah, listen to this
42:50That's the alarm call of the ring oozle
42:52And it's quite characteristic
42:54So if you're preparing a climb
42:56In an area like this and you hear that
42:58Back off and find another spot
43:00And if your dog is running amok off a lead
43:02Which it shouldn't be, because there are lots of signs here
43:04Saying please keep your dogs on the lead
43:06During the course of the breeding season
43:08Then please do so
43:10These birds are on the brink
43:12And unless we're able to look after them in places like this
43:14Where we can properly protect them
43:16Then their future, I'm afraid, looks a little bleak
43:18Now, I'm sure most of the population
43:20Would stand by me
43:22When it comes to saying that the badger
43:24Was one of their favourite animals
43:26We've seen them already in Spring Rock Street
43:28We've just had one live here
43:30But Richard Hopkins is a man who loves his badgers
43:32He's got a wood where he's been looking at them
43:34For ten years
43:36He knows them all as individuals
43:38And he's got a strong emotional bond with them too
43:46I discovered the badgers here
43:48About fifteen years ago
43:52I knew it was a fantastic location for badgers
43:54Beautiful beech woodland
43:56Well-drained slopes
44:00I've been fortunate enough
44:02To travel to many different parts of the world
44:06But in the springtime
44:08On a lovely evening
44:10When the bluebells are out, when there's wild garlic
44:12To be honest, there's not many places
44:14That I'd prefer to be
44:18A sense of anticipation
44:20Not quite knowing
44:22Which of the badgers have survived the winter
44:24Who's around, whether there's going to be cubs
44:28When you first get a glimpse of them
44:30Coming out for the first time
44:32It is a very special moment
44:36Initially they were very shy
44:40And then relatively quickly
44:42Over a year or two
44:44They realised there was no harm
44:46That was going to come to them
44:48They would just carry on
44:50On their normal daily business
44:52It's been quite important
44:54That I just let the badgers come to me
44:56And if you sit quietly
44:58And don't disturb them
45:00They become very trusting
45:06Badgers are actually quite sociable
45:10They often group together
45:12And there's mutual grooming
45:14So there'll be the dominant male
45:16And the subordinate badgers
45:18And often the cubs
45:20And they not only groom themselves
45:22But they groom each other
45:24And part of it is to do with transferring
45:26The scent between the social group
45:34One of my favourite times of year
45:36Is when the new cubs are out
45:38They're particularly energetic
45:42They start chasing each other
45:44Around the set
45:46Do some play fighting
45:52It's a really joyful experience to watch them
45:56They have an amazingly good sense of smell
46:00They snuffle around
46:02Finding little invertebrates to eat
46:06Although they're specialist earthworm eaters
46:08Badgers can turn their hand to
46:10Finding different types of food
46:14One of the cubs had come across a snail
46:18Which it crunched up with its teeth
46:20And ate the inside of the snail
46:22Like a bit of spaghetti
46:30Water is a key thing for them
46:32The adults are able to
46:34Move through the woodland
46:36And find pools of water
46:38In ponds and streams
46:40But quite often the cubs, when they're small
46:42Can't get very far
46:46You often have a very dry period
46:48In May or June
46:50And in particular last year
46:52That was very harsh
46:54All the undergrowth was completely dry
46:56All the leaf litter was dry
46:58And dehydrated
47:02And it became apparent that the badger cubs
47:04Weren't doing terribly well
47:06They weren't putting on weight
47:08And on one particular evening
47:10We watched this cub that was
47:12Foraging for food
47:14And then it went up onto the mound
47:16Outside the set and just curled up
47:20And it was there for
47:2210 or 15 minutes
47:24And the breathing just slowed down
47:28Two of the adult males came out
47:30And looked at it
47:34One of them just clawed it
47:36With its paw
47:38And it moved quite gently
47:40And there was no response
47:42I thought it was possibly going to die
47:46I was definitely conflicted
47:48Knowing quite what to do
47:50I was quite upset
47:54I turned the camera off
47:56And I did go up to it
47:58And it slowly got up
48:00And it disappeared down the set
48:08And only a week or two later
48:10I did see it again
48:14I really enjoy working out
48:16The bits of behaviour that are just going on
48:20I couldn't quite understand why the badger cubs
48:22Were spending so much time in this area
48:24When it was very dry
48:26They were rooting around in the base of the tree
48:28I saw one in particular
48:30Completely disappear
48:32Head and shoulders into this crevice
48:34And when I came up and investigated
48:36There was a pool of water
48:38Down in the roots of the tree
48:40Like a tree pool
48:42And I think it sustained them during the drought
48:44I was amazed
48:46It was a lovely discovery
48:50I've been coming here a long time now
48:52People often say
48:54Well you've photographed everything
48:56What's still to do?
48:58But there is always more to discover
49:02These badgers have obviously been here for decades
49:06They were here before I started visiting
49:10And I hope that they will still be here
49:12After I stop visiting
49:20Wonderful to see the relationship
49:22And the trust that's built up there
49:24Between Richard and those badgers
49:26Welcome back to Belfast
49:28Where the rain has finally stopped
49:30For a while at least
49:32Earlier on I told you about the excellent work
49:34That Peter and Martin
49:36And the river management team
49:38Were doing here in the harbour
49:40Trying to encourage wildlife back
49:42Well I brought you onto the water
49:44To show you one of their projects
49:46It's this one here
49:48They built that raft
49:50To encourage nesting birds
49:52And believe it or not there are birds there now
49:54It's only been out for about two weeks
49:56That's all it's been on the waterfall
49:58But further up river
50:00Is a raft that's been out
50:02For several years
50:04And that one is already jam packed
50:08Yes, there it is
50:10It's jam packed actually
50:12With black headed gulls
50:14Colony nesters of course
50:16And they're early nesters too
50:18They would have been back in early April
50:20Laid their eggs, two to three eggs
50:22And you can see the chicks there
50:24Some of the chicks there now are about a week old
50:26Fantastic to see them
50:28They're a declining species
50:30Especially in much of the UK
50:32But they're actually doing okay on the coast
50:36Now let's go and have a look
50:38And see if we can see any birds live
50:40We've got our long lens cameraman Steve
50:42Steve can you find us anything on there
50:44Can you find us black headed gulls
50:46See there are a few black headed gulls here as well
50:48Any terns, can we find any terns
50:50There's a black headed gull chick
50:52There are a few terns on there
50:54And I'm talking here
50:56About common terns
50:58Common terns
51:00The common terns will readily take
51:02To these nesting rafts
51:04And common terns
51:06How do you recognise a common tern
51:08Look at the bill
51:10Red bill with a black tip
51:12That's the easiest way to recognise them
51:14And they are built for flying
51:16Look at that
51:18This was filmed early this morning
51:20Before the rain
51:22Isn't that absolutely beautiful
51:24Long wings, long tail
51:26Fantastic birds
51:28They really are
51:30They pair for life
51:32And they winter
51:34Most of our population winters
51:36Off the west coast of Africa
51:38And unfortunately between 2022 and 2023
51:40There was a 40% decline
51:42In the population
51:44Because of avian flu
51:46Now when they come back
51:48The first thing they undertake
51:50Is courtship
51:52And in the case of the terns
51:54That usually involves the male
51:56Bringing food for the female
51:58Often that's in the form of a small fish
52:00Like this
52:02But they will also catch crabs
52:04Small crabs
52:06And bring that back to the female
52:08And this is important because the female
52:10Needs to lay eggs
52:12So the male has to provide food for her
52:14To put up enough energy
52:16Pack away enough energy
52:18And enough fat for her
52:20To lay her eggs in that nest
52:22And there are already maybe
52:24Five or six tern nests
52:26On the island behind me
52:28And when I say nests
52:30I mean that in the loosest sense of the word
52:32It's not really a nest
52:34It's just a small depression
52:36In those pebbles
52:38You see the bird on the right
52:40Courting there drooping its wings down
52:42Little bit of a dance there
52:44And these birds will arrive
52:46Much later than the black-headed gulls
52:48But already we have
52:50Some with a full clutch
52:52Three eggs there
52:54And the joy of having black-headed gulls
52:56Is the fact that they actually
52:58Provide protection for these
53:00Nesting terns
53:02They're very aggressive
53:04It's like nesting and having bouncers
53:06All around you
53:08But you know the brilliant thing is
53:10Seeing all of this wildlife
53:12In such an urban area
53:14And I think the moral is
53:16If you provide space
53:18It will come
53:20Brilliant, great to see
53:22Right okay, I want you to close your eyes
53:24Forget about the hustle and bustle
53:26Of Belfast
53:28Because for the next minute and a half
53:30We have our first mindfulness moment
53:32Of the series
53:34It's the peace and tranquility
53:36Of a bluebell woodland
53:48Birds Chirping
54:18Birds Chirping
54:48Birds Chirping
54:50Birds Chirping
55:14Birds song in a bluebell wood
55:16the falling rain on this little teepee of ours. Anyway, let's have a look at our live cameras,
55:21see if anything's happening. Quite a lot of action, actually surprising in the rain. Let's
55:25have a look at the pied flycatchers. Not so surprising that they're still active. I say
55:31they're active, now they've just fallen asleep because they're in a nest box, so they're obviously
55:35not affected at all by that rain. But as I say, we'll keep our eye on those because they're doing
55:40very well and they might fledge at the beginning of next week. They've got some very unusual
55:43breeding behaviour, haven't they, the pied flycatchers? Sometimes males have two females
55:47on nests at the same time. More of that to come. I reckon it's been a very strong start to our
55:54first show. You know, we've had the short eared owls, we've had live badgers, we've had Red Star,
55:58we've had great stuff from Belfast, great stuff from Springwatch Street. But we're here for three
56:03weeks and we've got lots of highlights coming up. Everywhere you look is a teeming, teeming
56:19mass of activity. It's taken us into a different world.
56:34A hand lens, every plant lover's best friend.
56:40Once you go underwater, there's nowhere else that you'd want to be.
56:44People don't realise how special our waters are and what's in it.
56:50I can't believe it, I've just seen it.
57:12We know far more about the universe than we know about a teaspoon of soil.
57:18The soil holds secrets for everyone.
57:39What I like about that is the simple joy in the responses that we see from those people when
57:44they're encountering nature. Just get out there, feel it, smell it and see it for yourself. We'll
57:50be back tomorrow night at eight o'clock of course. We're going to roll with it, you can be assured.
57:55If you can't wait until then, our cameras will be on from 10 in the morning until 10 at night,
58:01so you can catch up with everything then. Until tomorrow, goodbye.
58:07The Open University has created an online interactive hike where you can explore
58:13habitat changes that have taken place since Springwatch first aired. To find it, scan the QR
58:19code that's on your screen now or go to bbc.co.uk forward slash springwatch and follow the links
58:26to The Open University.
58:43So
59:04find your morning focus, bring calm.