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00:00Welcome to a blustery and rather damp Newport wetlands reserve.
00:25Now as many of our creatures will survive the winter by fattening up, others avoid it altogether
00:32by migrating to warmer climes.
00:35In this programme I'm going to be looking at animals that use their intelligence to get
00:40through, from clever corvids up in the air to cunning cuttlefish below the waves.
00:46Welcome to Winterwatch in Wales.
01:13Welcome to the banks of the Severn Estuary in South Wales where I'm going to be looking
01:18back at some of the most memorable moments of filming for the watches over the years.
01:24Now the winter months are really difficult for a lot of our wildlife, after all they're
01:29the coldest, the harshest, the darkest and the wettest time of the year.
01:35The creatures have evolved different techniques to survive.
01:39Some like the doormouse will hibernate, others like swallows and ospreys fly south for the
01:45winter.
01:46But I'm going to be looking at those creatures that use brain power to survive the harshest
01:53time of the year.
01:54And a few years ago I went up to North Wales to find the brainiest of the bunch, the raven.
02:00Oh wow, look at that.
02:15Do you know, I've been coming to Anglesey here since I was about four years old and the bird
02:19I always wanted to see was the raven.
02:22They're big, they're bold, they're black, they're beautiful, but they're wily, incredibly intelligent
02:30and it's so difficult to get close enough to get a really good look.
02:36But at this time of year, Anglesey is actually the perfect place to see them, because ravens
02:42from across the country gather here in their hundreds.
02:49Each afternoon, they're drawn here to feed, play and socialise.
02:57But it's not all about fun.
02:58Newborough Forest also provides the ravens with a winter refuge.
03:06I've visited this roost site many times, but as ravens are particularly elusive birds,
03:11there's still so much I want to learn.
03:14So I've enlisted the help of Nigel Brown, who studied the ravens on Anglesey for the last
03:19twenty years.
03:20We've got an hour before dark now, quite a few birds starting to come in, aren't they
03:25now?
03:26Yeah, almost as if they're picking their spot before the rush.
03:29There's no doubt this is quite a communal experience, quite a social experience for these birds.
03:34It's probably, in a way, the highlight of their day.
03:39What I love is, as they come, you get the calls, because they say they've had, what, thirty-three
03:44different calls, I think, is it recorded?
03:46The Romans Recknell 65, maybe they've made up a few, but it's considerable, maybe even more
03:52than any other songbird.
03:54Wow.
03:55It's really starting to liven up now, Nigel, isn't it?
03:56It is.
03:57We're hearing tock-tocks and puk-pukks and kronk-kronks.
03:59As the light continued to fade, it wasn't just ravens arriving for the party.
04:06Oh, wow.
04:07I love that interplay between them, the cheeky little jackdaws and the sonorous raven.
04:13It is a little bit like being in the middle of an orchestra, isn't it?
04:18Yeah.
04:19It's a little bit like being in the middle of an orchestra, isn't it?
04:22Yeah.
04:23It's a little bit like being in the middle of an orchestra, isn't it?
04:35Yeah.
04:36You've got the wind section, you've got the brass,
04:38you've got drums behind you as well.
04:40Except it's not orchestrated.
04:42No, it doesn't seem to be.
04:45As night falls, we sneak into the forest
04:48to get into the thick of the action.
04:52Isn't it fantastic?
04:53Now we've come in under the canopy,
04:55we've got the sea in the distance,
04:57and we've got nothing but a cacophony of ravens and jackets.
05:01Yeah, yeah, it's real surround sound corvids, isn't it?
05:04It's fabulous.
05:05And what's brilliant is being able to look now
05:08and hopefully find some ravens.
05:14But strangely, as we look around,
05:16the forest seems to be empty.
05:19We can still hear them,
05:21but it's almost as if they've disappeared.
05:26But then we spot something in the canopy.
05:30Look at that, look at that, look at that.
05:32Wow.
05:33You can see the shape of the bird.
05:36Can you see the oakland?
05:37Yes.
05:39Oh, wow.
05:40Oh, that's a special moment, yellow.
05:43First time in my whole life I've had the advantage over a raven.
05:47I can see it and it can't see me.
05:51Oh, look at the size of that big.
05:52Look at that big.
05:54It's exaggerated, isn't it?
05:55Yeah.
05:56It's in this peculiar light.
05:58How fabulous is that?
06:00That is one of the best views of ravens I've ever had.
06:02In pitch black.
06:03I was scanning around.
06:04No ravens now till here.
06:05It's surprising because we're in the place where we saw quite a number go in and we heard them calling at dusk.
06:19And I came in and I would have put my mortgage on the fact that we'd have found a patch.
06:25We would have been, you know, picking out ravens left, right and centre.
06:28Yeah, we're struggling, aren't we?
06:31Try the tops of these near trees.
06:34That's it.
06:35That's it.
06:36Here we are.
06:37That's good.
06:38Oh, look at that.
06:39That's got to be a pair, isn't it?
06:41I'm thinking that, yeah.
06:42That's the closest we've seen any two birds, isn't it?
06:47It rather confirms my view about things at the moment, Yana, that we are seeing a lot of paired birds coming to the roost that presumably haven't yet managed to secure a territory.
06:59And that suggests maybe, on Anglesey at least, it's difficult to get a new patch.
07:04So the next best thing is come back to roost, come back to the communal roost.
07:08And they'll hang around here until a territory becomes vacant somewhere nearby.
07:12Yeah, yes.
07:14It's really surprising to find that the birds are so spaced out in the forest.
07:20But as we continue to scan the trees, we do eventually spot a grand total of five birds all roosting in adjacent trees.
07:29Well, that's interesting, Yana.
07:32They're occupying what I would call a really strategic position.
07:35It's on the edge of the forest, overlooking that clearing.
07:38It's the sort of spot where birds are often very vocal, sometimes launch themselves from there into an aerial display.
07:46And it's a place which we associate with communicating.
07:52So would these be more experienced birds then?
07:55Could well be, yes.
07:59It's been a fascinating night.
08:01Nigel's previous research had indicated that up to six ravens would roost together communally in a single tree.
08:08And that concentrations of birds would occur together in the forest.
08:12But tonight, that's not what we found at all.
08:15Instead, the birds we watched enter the roost at dusk seem to have vanished before our very eyes.
08:22I feel tonight as if I've opened a door, just a tiny little bit, and looked into the magical world of the raven, but I've realised there's so much more to learn.
08:33That was memorable, listening to all those ravens calling to each other.
08:46But what they've discovered, scientists at Banga University, is that it's not a tightly packed roost.
08:52They don't roost together for warmth.
08:54They roost in individual groups.
08:56And in the late 90s, that was the biggest raven roost in the world, up to 2,000 individuals.
09:04And by using colour-coded digestible beads and putting them on carcasses, they found that family groups roost together.
09:13And when a bird finds some food, it comes back to that group, it tells other members of that family where the food is.
09:22So they fly off the next day, feed on it and secure it, protect it from other ravens.
09:29And that intelligence comes in extremely useful in the hard winter months.
09:34Our next animal is a solitary one, very alien-looking.
09:40It's an invertebrate, doesn't have a backbone, and it has nine brains.
09:44One central one, and one in each arm.
09:48I'm talking, of course, about the octopus.
09:51And as Chris Packham found out, those brains really help to outwit its prey.
10:01It might be the depths of winter.
10:04But whilst the land freezes, in our coastal shallows, temperatures are a little kinder.
10:11Especially in our more sheltered waters.
10:20Young shore crabs, jostling for scraps.
10:27Their pincers are incredibly powerful, allowing them to break into shellfish, even other crabs.
10:35But after the brute force comes very precise delicacy, picking out the best morsels from inside.
10:44These unfussy eaters busily scour the seabed.
10:54But little do they know, they're getting dangerously close to one of the ocean's stealthiest assassins.
10:59Hiding in a crevice.
11:02The curled octopus.
11:06Camouflage to perfection.
11:10Distinctive horns, one above each eye, can help keep it hidden, passing for sharp-rot edges, coral or weeds.
11:22Now, curled octopus are abundant on these shores.
11:28Each sets up its own small territory.
11:31This octopus is a youngster.
11:36Just three months old and no bigger than an orange.
11:38But it's growing fast, by up to 5% every day.
11:46In a few months, it could be the size of a beach ball.
11:50To achieve that stature, it has, of course, got to eat.
12:00And its favourite food?
12:01Guess what?
12:03Shore crabs.
12:04It sets about searching for prey.
12:10It might be one of our most intelligent invertebrates, but as a juvenile, this one is still honing its hunting skills.
12:19Forget cat and mouse, this is octopus and crab.
12:25The seaweed provides the perfect cover for the octopus.
12:29But the crabs have tactics of their own.
12:39Now you see me.
12:44Now you don't.
12:47But one brave crab remains out in the open.
12:52And it's in plain sight.
13:00Another highly intelligent cephalopod, the common cuttlefish, joins the hunt.
13:08So now, it's octopus, crab and cuttlefish.
13:15This seemingly easy meal may not be so easy after all.
13:19This time, experience wins and the cuttlefish seizes the prize.
13:38As an adult, it's a master of stealth and strike.
13:41The young octopus, well, it might just have learned a valuable lesson.
13:48To be more decisive and strike when the iron's hot.
13:52And the lesson for the shore crabs?
13:55Remain vigilant.
13:57There's still a hungry octopus around.
13:59Just goes to show that brain is sometimes more important than brawn when it comes to securing a meal.
14:18The hard shell of that crab was no match for the supreme hunting skills of a cuttlefish or an octopus.
14:25And a few years ago, I went in search of another supreme underwater hunter in the reed beds of the Tyvie marshes.
14:35The kingfisher.
14:36Just waitin' for the kingfisher, and the waterail has appeared.
14:50They're very elusive. You don't see them. You hear them.
14:51It's been squealing from the reeds for a while.
14:53But they just popped out of the reeds to the water's edge, and there's now feeding on fish along there.
14:56very elusive you don't see them you hear them it's been squealing from the reeds for a while
15:01but it's popped out to the reeds to the water's edge and there's no feeding on fish along there
15:15there we are look
15:19they say that a kingfisher can dive at speeds of up to 25 miles an hour
15:24i'm sure we've all seen photographs of a kingfisher's beak that long dagger like bill it's
15:31actually a precision tool it's designed to penetrate the water causing minimal disturbance
15:39therefore not alerting its prey
15:45it's an amazing thing
16:00kingfishers have brilliant adaptations to allow them to hunt they have that dagger like bill that breaks
16:07the surface of the water with barely a ripple they have brilliant eyesight and they have a nictitating
16:14membrane an extra transparent eyelid that allows them to see clearly underwater
16:21but not all kingfishers rely on their physical prowess some have a trick up their sleeve that gives
16:28a lowland river meanders through the mist
16:46with every twist and turn the river becomes intricately entwined with countless untold tales
16:51this is one of those tales
17:01it begins with the plight of a solitary little kingfisher
17:09and ends with a remarkable relationship
17:14only a quarter of all kingfishers survive from one year to the next
17:18to make it through winter this bird must eat at least half its body weight in fish every day
17:29it hunts for small fish swimming close to the water's surface such as dace minnows and sticklebacks
17:39the kingfisher is far from alone in the pursuit of this prey
17:42these hunters too have clearly honed their skills
17:52but the kingfisher has discovered perhaps the niftiest trick of them all
17:59an otter with a family in tow
18:04the cubs are still learning how to fend for themselves
18:07the kingfisher watches them closely
18:33the otters dive deep turning over stones and chasing larger fish
18:49the kingfisher patiently waits for the otters to come closer to the bank
19:01the family gradually move into position right underneath the kingfisher's perch
19:14in the shallows the activity is causing panic amongst the smaller fish
19:19and driven close to the surface they flee in frenzy
19:22the moment has come for the kingfisher to strike
19:35success
19:41the kingfisher is neither a help nor a hindrance to its fellow fish hunters
19:46but the otters provide a precious opportunity at a time of great hardship
19:58kingfishes will follow otters as they move down river making the most of the confused fish they leave in their wake
20:05so if you're lucky enough to see otters on the river take a closer look there could be a colourful character waiting in the wings
20:18it's incredible how kingfishes have worked out that if they follow an otter they've got a better chance of catching fish
20:33especially as our otters where they were absent from the rivers for quite a long time
20:40but a study in spain has shown that kingfishes follow otters on a third of their fishing trips
20:47so it's probably far more common than we thought
20:50so much more we have to learn about our wildlife
20:52but one thing we do know is that nature is very good for our mental health as artist and author emma mitchell explains
21:11autumn has obviously fallen and the light levels are diminishing
21:16we can feel sluggish and in fact a certain proportion of us maybe even get symptoms of depression
21:27mental illness can actually be very dangerous and in the past i have been very unwell with it
21:33it has actually been life-threatening if you are feeling anxious or low there is real scientific evidence
21:40that coming out into nature can help i'm going to give you five simple ways to actually alter your mood
21:55my first tip is just to walk among trees and plants for around 15 minutes and when we do so we inhale
22:01chemicals called phytoncides our circulatory system responds by decreasing blood pressure
22:08and also decreasing pulse rate but not only that these phytoncides dial down our levels of cortisol
22:16that stress hormone that can cause anxiety and depression
22:28secondly when you're out walking among trees and plants you're likely to see
22:33the veins on the back of a leaf or other botanical details and it can actually make you feel more
22:39relaxed this is a fractal this phone a fractal is a geometric motif that is repeated on different
22:47scales in the same structure it's really beautiful and other fractals include things like snail shells
22:54and a wintry tree seen against the sky so if you think how creative and relaxed you feel when you
23:00listen to music it's really interesting that science has shown that the same areas of the brain that light
23:08up when you're you've got kate bush on your stereo are the same areas that light up when you look at
23:14fractals so these are the leafy ways in which you can feel better out in nature
23:33my third tip is strangely the soil
23:36in this handful of soil are billions of microorganisms but there's a particular one
23:43that doesn't do any harm to humans at all and it's really common you can find it in compost
23:47in your garden soil or in this leaf mold it's called mycobacterium vaccae and when we inhale just
23:53tiny bits of its cell wall there's a group of neurons in our brain that release serotonin
24:00and that is of course one of the positive neurotransmitters that is responsible for mood
24:05and this is exactly how antidepressants work so when we've got our mitts or our spades in the ground
24:12this brown stuff here can behave like a pharmaceutical so my advice is either go
24:17onto a wooden floor give it a good old sniff or plant some carrots
24:30my fourth tip is coming to spend time next to water and it doesn't actually matter
24:35where the water is it could be a fountain in a city it could even be a tiny pond you've made
24:40in your garden the sounds of water have been shown to decrease our cortisol production and that means
24:47that the stress hormone is actually falling away and we can become more relaxed when people are shown
24:54videos of water the mri scans of their brain show that the activity in their mind is actually moving
25:02away from fight or flight towards rest and relaxation there's very little here apart from some plants
25:11the water itself and the odd tree so it means that it's a break for the mind like a holiday for our neurons
25:19my fifth tip is about birds so most walks wouldn't quite be complete without a spot of wildlife
25:35and it's usual that spotting a bird can get you feeling quite excited and there's some science to back
25:43this up so when we see something really beautiful or we experience awe in some way or we find something
25:50we've been looking for we actually release dopamine that's one of those positive neurotransmitters that
25:56lift our mood and we feel really motivated so it can change our mental health
26:00and I'm hoping that these simple tips can help you if you or someone you know is feeling low in the next
26:11month in the next season
26:20I'm really lucky because my work takes me outside all the time but it's lovely to see some science behind
26:28the fact that wildlife is really good for us now if you can't get out or you prefer a bit of mindfulness
26:36from the comfort of your own sofa sit back relax and enjoy a bit of natural beauty
26:58of the night
27:05i
27:07so
27:08i
27:10so
27:11i
28:14From brainy birds to marine masterminds.
28:18I can't promise that it'll make you any more intelligent, but it'll certainly lift your spirits.
28:24Till the next time, huil baur, goodbye.
28:44I can't promise that it'll make you any more intelligent, but it'll certainly lift your spirits.
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