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00:00You know, sometimes, Yolo, I think wildlife gets the right idea.
00:05Do you know what, Chris? You're right.
00:07Nothing like being able to sit back, relax and enjoy a snack.
00:12Putting your feet up.
00:14Cosy. Cosy and content.
00:17You know what? I could see her all day.
00:19But, you know, guys, we can't. We've got to spring into action.
00:22It's our final show.
00:24Welcome to Winterwatch.
00:30Hello. Hello and welcome to Winterwatch 2026.
00:52Coming to you live from the National Trust at Mount Stewart Estate
00:56here on the banks of Strangford Lock.
00:58In case you're wondering where we are for just one more hour,
01:02here we are.
01:03As I say, we're on the east side of Strangford Lock.
01:06But this is, sadly, our last programme in the series.
01:10But don't worry, we've got plenty of good stuff coming up.
01:12We've got a remarkable animal, rare and beautiful.
01:14Yes.
01:15A giant skate and lots of new science about it as well.
01:19That's all coming up. We've been here for four days.
01:22We've had our live cameras out.
01:24Let's go straight to them now because look in the middle.
01:27Oh, we've got a badger.
01:28In fact, two of them.
01:29Two of the cameras we've got action on.
01:31It's the badgers.
01:33Honestly, these badgers have really provided for us, haven't they?
01:36Yeah, they should have.
01:37I mean, not only are we seeing it live now, that's a beautiful shot.
01:41But in fact, just before the show, all three of us have been sitting back
01:44and really enjoying some badger action.
01:47These are the young ones, probably last year's Cubs, and they are active.
01:53How long do you reckon they've been out for?
01:55Well, they've been out since not long after dark, I would imagine.
01:58But apparently they do this every night.
02:00They come out, they play for a bit, then they go off and feed.
02:02It's great, isn't it?
02:04I mean, they're really going for each other.
02:06They're very friendly.
02:08And, yeah, we've been seeing a lot of action on that camera.
02:12We've also been seeing a lot of action on the squirrel camera.
02:15We saw it right at the beginning of the show.
02:17I love these squirrels.
02:19There's no grey squirrels here at Mount Stewart,
02:21so these red squirrels absolutely thrive.
02:25They are being fed, and so this is my best.
02:28When they go in that box, it's just brilliant, isn't it?
02:31Making the most of all that food.
02:33It's really important at this time of year
02:35because they might start having their first litter in February,
02:38so really important for the females especially.
02:41But they look so well, don't they?
02:43They look like they're really filled out and, yeah, great to see.
02:47Really enjoyed those red squirrels.
02:49Well, from mammals to birds,
02:51and this weekend sees the RSVB's Big Garden Birdwatch,
02:55and they want you to get involved.
02:58Now, last year, an incredible 590,000 people took part,
03:03counting 9.1 million birds.
03:07Top bird, which was a top bird, Michaela, Chris?
03:09Number one?
03:10Tree sparrow.
03:11No, house sparrow.
03:12House sparrow.
03:13It wouldn't be the tree sparrow, would it?
03:14The house sparrow were there.
03:15Look, the humble house sparrow was number one.
03:17And it's easy, it's easy.
03:19Try and get the whole family involved,
03:21especially the youngsters.
03:23Just one hour of your time this weekend.
03:26And if you want to know where to send for more information,
03:29well, visit our website.
03:31All the details are on there.
03:33Chris, will you be doing it?
03:35Because I'll be at home, right?
03:36Get home Saturday night.
03:37I'll be at home.
03:38Sunday morning.
03:39Sunday.
03:40I'll be there.
03:41Victoria sponge.
03:42Victoria sponge.
03:43Vegan hot chocolate for me.
03:44Poised at the window with the binos.
03:45I'll tell you what, I'll WhatsApp you and tell you the birds I've got,
03:47because obviously I'm 1-0 down, so...
03:49OK, we'll have a second bird off.
03:52Second bird off on Sunday.
03:53OK, there we are.
03:54Are you two going to be competitive?
03:56Yeah, we will.
03:57I'll tell you what, you'd be chuffed if you looked out your window
03:59and saw this, because this is what William Bird,
04:03great name for a bird watcher, saw in his garden in Aberdeenshire,
04:07this little blue tit using this icicle to drink from.
04:12It's absolutely charming.
04:14I mean, you'd just sit there and watch it for hours, wouldn't you?
04:17Charming.
04:18Delightful.
04:19Delightful, I think it is.
04:20Delightful, I would say.
04:21As is this.
04:22Look, Liz Vinson has been artistically responding
04:26to the squirrels on our feeder.
04:28She's produced this beautiful set of sketches here,
04:30really well observed, and as you see,
04:32she progresses down here until it's a little bit more finished,
04:35because she was working her way towards an altogether
04:38more finished picture, which you can see here.
04:39Look at this.
04:40Isn't that fantastic?
04:42Superb, absolutely superb.
04:45And Michaela has told me that she's very keen
04:47to have a tattoo of that on her bottom.
04:51You'll never get to see it, but you'll know where it is.
04:55As an amateur tattooist, I'll volunteer.
04:58I reckon I can replicate that easy enough.
05:02Now, we've had our long-lens camera operator,
05:06Mark Yates, out and about with his thermal camera,
05:08and tonight, once again, he's on the move.
05:11Has he got anything for us?
05:14Oh, look at him.
05:15He's actually literally on the move.
05:17That camera's just pointing out of his vehicle
05:19as he drives to his location.
05:21But we will be joining him later on,
05:24and he'll be bringing us, hopefully, some more live animals,
05:26because we have done well at night with some of our mammals here.
05:30Pine Martins galore.
05:31Look at that one.
05:32A leap up the tree into the squirrel feeder there.
05:36I love the big bushy tails they've got.
05:38They use that for balance, of course.
05:40Omnivore, so it's there, gorging itself on the food
05:43that's put out for the squirrels here.
05:45Down he goes, and off again.
05:47And look at this badger.
05:48Look at the nose on that badger.
05:50Look at it, bending up.
05:52It's nibbling away at the rotten logs.
05:55They're probably looking for beetle grubs, I would imagine.
05:58They love beetle grubs.
06:00It can smell it.
06:01Look at it, look.
06:02It knows it's in there.
06:03Come on.
06:04Rip that wood and get out of there.
06:06Amazing, isn't it?
06:07Just...
06:08And, of course, their sense of smell is absolutely superb.
06:11It's sprouting around in the bottom of that rotten log.
06:15Again, probably, Chris, I would imagine, looking for invertebrates.
06:18Yeah.
06:19Earthworms, wood lice, centipedes, it'll have all of those, won't it?
06:22As you say, their sense of smell is unparalleled.
06:24Amazing.
06:25Fabulous, squishy nose there, wasn't it?
06:27Oh, it's really impressive.
06:28I got one of those.
06:29Look.
06:30Five times played rugby.
06:31It did.
06:32It did.
06:33Way too much rugby.
06:34I could be a badger.
06:35There we are.
06:36Let me just put it back.
06:37There we go.
06:38On there.
06:39That's got it.
06:40Anyway, two fabulous mustelies.
06:41You've got your badger and your pine, Martin.
06:42Do you want a third one?
06:43Yes.
06:44I'd throw in a third one because it's our final show.
06:46How about a stoat?
06:47Well, why don't you sit back and enjoy the winter survival story
06:50of a stoat in Yorkshire.
07:00The Yorkshire wolds, the most northern chalk hills in Great Britain, where the landscape
07:07is exposed to wind, rain and shine.
07:11This is Bandita, a stoat whose name is Spanish for female bandit.
07:26Her homestead is wildlife artist Robert Fuller's farm, which he's made into a perfect habitat
07:32for these foot-long mustelids.
07:36And Bandita is by no means the only stoat around.
07:40They love it here.
07:45Hunting is often an ambush that relies on precision timing.
07:52Sometimes they miss their mark.
07:56But others are a perfect hit, with rodents and even small rabbits being targeted by
08:01stoats.
08:06There's fierce competition for food.
08:09Not just amongst the mustelids, but with the local birds of prey, which share much of
08:14the same menu.
08:17Barn owls and a pair of kestrels are regular visitors to the farm.
08:23They also have a taste for small mammals.
08:28So, with so much competition, it pays to have a trick up your sleeve.
08:33And Bandita has a great one.
08:42Prompted by the shortening days, she begins her transformation.
08:47Her muzzle, then her tail, molts from brown to snowy white, apart from the black tip.
09:01As winter sets in, the paws are next, followed by the legs and then the ears.
09:15Over the next few weeks, her back becomes more and more mottled.
09:20Until finally, just in time for the heaviest dump of snow, Bandita is ready.
09:31Camouflaged for the season.
09:37With snow on the walls, times are tough.
09:46Not only are the small rodents hard to come by, most of the stoats here haven't changed colour.
09:52They're still sporting their brown coats and easily spotted on the crisp white ground.
10:05Bandita was born with a gift.
10:08Inherited jeans, giving her this special ability.
10:13And now, it could give her the edge in an audacious ambush.
10:27Bandita would usually give the barn owls a wide berth.
10:31But the temptation of food and her ability to melt into the landscape gives her confidence.
10:41It's a perfectly executed showdown.
10:56And Bandita lives up to her reputation.
11:00Thief by name, thief by nature.
11:04Meanwhile, her brown coated rivals are seeing a drop in their strike rate.
11:15But it's temporary.
11:19In the UK, even in the Yorkshire walls, one thing is certain.
11:24Snow doesn't hang around for long.
11:27Soon, the tables are turned and it's Bandita that sticks out against the landscape.
11:37Just as well then, that as winter loosens its grip and the days begin to lengthen,
11:42she begins to change back to brown.
11:46She'll soon be back on top, just in time for spring.
11:50Absolutely beautiful.
11:51I've got to confess, I've never seen a stoat in ermine.
11:53It's always been one of those bogey things for me.
11:54Well, very elusive creature.
11:55And so you've got to go somewhere cold these days, of course.
11:56I'll tell you what's not elusive right now are the badgers.
11:57They're back on our cameras.
11:58And they are being very active.
11:59I think...
12:00Look, that looks like...
12:01Is that fighting or is that still playing?
12:03Hold on, no, no.
12:04It's getting a little bit aggressive, isn't it?
12:05No, no, no, no, that's full on fighting.
12:06So are those still the young ones, Chris, do you reckon?
12:10It's quite difficult to get...
12:11But this is in the area where they've been coming to feed, isn't it?
12:15So they're fighting over that resource.
12:16So that doesn't necessarily mean they've come from obviously a different social group.
12:21No, no, no, no.
12:22No, no, no, no, no.
12:23No, no, no, no, no, no.
12:24No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
12:26No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
12:28So they're fighting over that resource.
12:30So that doesn't necessarily mean they've come from obviously a different social group.
12:33They could be two from the same that are frankly run out of patience when it comes to sharing the food.
12:41Give us a chance, come on out.
12:43Now they're so wet, it's hard to tell.
12:47And we can't actually hear them right now as well.
12:50Yeah.
12:51I mean...
12:52Amazing to see that.
12:54And obviously we will be checking in with those live cameras regularly to see how that works.
12:58We should say, Nick, that, you know, to be quite honest, badgers are so tough.
13:02Their skin is so thick and they're so muscular that although they do have these incredibly vicious and noisy fights,
13:09it's quite unusual for them to seriously injure one another.
13:13They do look young though, don't they?
13:15Yeah.
13:16The youngsters.
13:17And you see there that one had hold of the other one's ear.
13:19Well, very often that tears the ear.
13:21They do damage each other's ears.
13:23And you'll sometimes see scars on the face.
13:25And that can be useful if you're trying to identify them.
13:27Not useful for the badger, of course.
13:29As well as it looks.
13:30But useful from that point of view.
13:32Well, we weren't expecting to see that at the beginning of the show.
13:35But as I say, we'll keep our eyes on those live cameras to see how that develops.
13:39Now, a couple of nights ago, we were showing you the wonderful marine life underneath the waves of Strandford Lock.
13:45And tonight, we're going to go deeper, not to the depths, but into the history.
13:50Because decades ago, Strandford Lock was home to this extraordinary animal.
13:56Now, this is a flapper skate.
13:58And it's the largest skate in the world.
14:02And it historically used to be seen regularly in Strandford Lock.
14:06In fact, it was famous for it.
14:08But it was a popular sport fish.
14:10And in the 60s and 70s, numbers declined.
14:13And very sadly, by the 80s, it was gone from the lock.
14:17And it was a very similar story throughout the Irish Sea.
14:21It's now classified as critically endangered.
14:24And only really found here in the UK along the west coast of Scotland and the west coast of Ireland.
14:30And we're getting these fabulous shots of it here because they're doing scientific studies on it.
14:35And look, it even means we get a shot of it underneath.
14:38You can see its eyes and its mouth.
14:40But let's just have a look at the size because, as I say, they're the largest of all the skates.
14:45This is actually a replica of one, but they get even bigger than this.
14:50They can get to 2.5 metres long and 2 metres across.
14:55And then they've got...
14:562 metres across. I mean, that's double the size of this.
14:58I mean, they're enormous, aren't they?
15:00And they have this distinctive tail as well.
15:02This thick tail which is definitely distinguishable from the thinner tail of the rays that you get.
15:09The other thing that is different between the two is rays give birth to live young.
15:13And these skates will produce an egg case like this.
15:17And it's a pretty big egg case.
15:20They're known as mermaids' purses.
15:22And inside there you'll get a yoke and it'll take about 18 months for the young skate to develop and hatch.
15:30So that's a pretty long time to develop, isn't it?
15:33To be safe on the seabed because they're tangled up in typically marine algae.
15:37And to not be disturbed by fishing practices for 18 months is one of the reasons why they're struggling.
15:42And they don't become sexually mature for over...
15:45Well, over 20 years before they become sexually mature.
15:4820 years.
15:49So they take a long time to recover if their numbers decline like they have.
15:54Yeah, a fragile species.
15:55It's got to wait for 20 years and then you produce an egg that's got to lay on the seabed for 18 months before it hatches.
16:00In the modern world that's a tough ask.
16:02But they are a remarkable creature.
16:04Mick, I'm going to spin this round and show the underside of the skate.
16:07It's great, isn't it?
16:08I mean, you can see the eyes and the mouth here and the gills as well.
16:11Fantastic, isn't it?
16:12But I want to draw your attention to these spots because these are representing an extraordinary organ.
16:17It's called the Organ of Lorenzini.
16:20And these were discovered no less than in 1678, a long, long time ago, by Stefano Lorenzini, who was an Italian scientist.
16:29But we didn't know what they were about for 300 years.
16:32Thankfully, in the 1960s, we found out, and I can explain here.
16:35So each of those dots, and that was just a few because there were hundreds of thousands of these organs on the skate,
16:41are a tiny little pore in the skin.
16:44So here you can see the spots on the surface and here is the skin.
16:47So this is looking up through the animal as if we'd taken a slice through it here.
16:51And this organ that runs up here, these are those pores, the organs of Lorenzini.
16:57And if you look over here, you can see that if we split those in half, so you can see inside,
17:01they're filled with a jelly-like substance which is highly conductive.
17:06You've got to think of it as a wire leading in to the body of the skate
17:11because these are electro-receptors, electro-receptors.
17:16They can detect electric fields, electric fields that are incredibly small.
17:22Now, the figures are mind-boggling.
17:24Frankly, it's five nanovolts per centimetre.
17:29So over the distance of a centimetre, these organs can detect five nanovolts.
17:35Now, I don't know about you, but a nanovolt doesn't mean much to me.
17:37So it's five billionths of a volt.
17:41That's an incredibly low electric field.
17:44But lots of animals produce these electric fields,
17:47and what this means is that the skate can detect its prey in complete darkness
17:52and find it down there on the seabed.
17:56Now, the other thing that we've discovered more recently is that they have very similar organs,
18:00slightly different in their structure, and they're in the tail of the skate.
18:03And using these, they're producing pulses, very low, again, very low pulses of electricity,
18:10which we think that they are doing to communicate with one another.
18:14Researchers at Queen's University are interested in getting to grips with this aspect of it.
18:20So they built this. This is what they call their raygon device.
18:24Sounds like something from a Cold War novel, doesn't it?
18:27But it isn't. What it is, if I pop it off, top off here.
18:31So these are equivalents to the organs of Lorenzini here.
18:35And basically, if I take the top off, just gently take that out, put that over here.
18:42We've got the equipment in here.
18:45And what this is doing is picking up the electrical pulses,
18:49which are being produced by the rays in the water,
18:53comes in here to this electrical circuitry.
18:56And their objective is to really try and learn how these fish are communicating with one another.
19:02Because if we can learn that and know more about them,
19:04we'll be in a better place to conserve them.
19:06Now, obviously, trying to see a tiny electrical pulse is quite difficult.
19:09But what they've done is put the acoustic equivalent, a bit like a bat detector.
19:13You know when you're using a bat detector,
19:15it produces sounds which are audible to our ears.
19:17They're not actually the sounds of the bats.
19:19Well, this is the same. Listen to this.
19:21So this is an acoustic version of those extremely small electrical pulses
19:32that are being put out by the ray.
19:34And they're calling it, wait for it, skate jazz.
19:39Skate jazz.
19:41Because as you can see, there's no rhythm to it.
19:43That's what they discovered. There's no rhythm to it.
19:45And they're thinking that skate jazz might be actually useful
19:49when it comes to communicating to these fish.
19:51If they can transcribe that into something which may be attracting the rays
19:56or may be repulsing the rays,
19:58then we could move them out of areas where there's conflict with human interest
20:01and hopefully help preserve their population.
20:05The ray-gone device, skate jazz.
20:08That's what you pay your licence fee for.
20:10It's brilliant, isn't it?
20:12I mean, skate jazz and flapper skate.
20:15I thought suddenly I was in some sort of ice dance competition there.
20:18No, but I love the fact that it's so niche as well,
20:21that scientists have decided that that's the project that they're going to study.
20:24Beautiful thing, isn't it?
20:25Fish singing using tiny, tiny little electrical pulses in the water.
20:29What a wonderful world.
20:30I mean, frankly, folks, what a wonderful world.
20:33And the more we learn, obviously, the more these fantastic skates can be protected.
20:39Well done to the scientists that have started that.
20:42It's absolutely brilliant.
20:43It is brilliant.
20:44You like that, don't you? You're going to take that off.
20:46I really, really love that, yeah.
20:50Right, OK, well, from one fish to something that eats the fish, otters.
20:55Hannah Stiffel's been out.
20:56She went to a place where she was pretty much guaranteed to see otters.
20:59The question is, when you're pretty much guaranteed, do they deliver?
21:15Morning, swans. How are we?
21:20I'm in Antrim and I've had some local intel that along the six-mile water towpath,
21:25I'm guaranteed to see one of my favourite mammals, the otter.
21:33Otters are famously secretive and tricky to find,
21:36but the fact that they're turning up here regularly in this urban park
21:40has become quite the local talking point.
21:43And apparently, they're even unfazed by the local parkrun,
21:47which stands me in good stead for catching a glimpse of one.
21:53All right.
21:57There's just one small problem.
21:59Because of all this rain we've had,
22:00the river is a lot higher and faster flowing,
22:03which is not the ideal conditions for otter spotting.
22:06But I've come armed with optimism and patience.
22:17Otters are formidable hunters.
22:19Fish make up around 80% of their diet,
22:22but they'll also predate amphibians, crustaceans,
22:26and on land, even small mammals and bird eggs.
22:31No sign of the otters yet,
22:33but Northern Ireland is a stronghold for them.
22:42And there's one water swearing up towards me.
22:44There's two of them.
23:02Oh, amazing.
23:05I think there were two otters just rolling around in the warbles one another.
23:09It looked like they had some fish in their mouths.
23:11They've gone back underneath now.
23:24I don't know if they're coming this way or that way.
23:29Oh!
23:33A kingfisher has just flown into the other side of the riverbank.
23:41I don't know what to do with myself.
23:46They're in two waters down there.
23:48There's a kingfisher over there.
23:50This is brilliant.
23:54What is this place?
23:56It's like Narnia.
24:00So we know this one is a male,
24:01because he's got an all-black beak,
24:03whereas a female would have some orange.
24:06Oh!
24:10And just like that,
24:11both species disappeared out of my view.
24:15But then I was treated to a whole cast of characters.
24:24What a morning.
24:25A morning.
24:37Kingfishers.
24:38Otters.
24:39In the same place.
24:40At the same time.
24:41Hannah got lucky.
24:42Well done.
24:43Top work.
24:44Top work.
24:45But I did only manage to get a glimpse.
24:47There's the water along that river at the minute.
24:49It's so high,
24:50because of all the weather we've been having.
24:52And usually, those otters,
24:54they're quite showy.
24:56And here's the proof,
24:57because this was sent in to us by Linda Thompson.
25:01Now, Linda took this on her phone.
25:03No way.
25:04Yeah.
25:05Same otters along that river.
25:06And you can see how habituated they are.
25:09And I tell you what, guys,
25:10that morning when we were down there filming,
25:13it was full of walkers, dogs, cyclists, joggers,
25:17and the otters, they just weren't phased at all.
25:19But I think you did well.
25:20You did well, Hannah.
25:21At least you saw them,
25:22and you weren't given an awful lot of time.
25:24But listen, Hannah is the queen of our socials,
25:27and you're constantly checking the Facebook, the Instagram, the X,
25:31all of the socials to see what's coming in.
25:34And people send such great stuff into us, don't they?
25:37I tell you what, in my opinion,
25:39I think that our Winter Watch and Spring Watch audience,
25:43they're one of the best in at telly.
25:45I mean, we couldn't do what we do without all of you at home,
25:48especially on the digital channel,
25:50sending us in all of their photos, their videos, their questions.
25:53And what's really good about it is that we get to see all of the stuff
25:56that they send in, and then we get to discuss it.
25:59It gives us a really good picture of what's happening all over the UK,
26:02doesn't it?
26:03It really does feel like it's an inclusive family.
26:06One big happy family.
26:09And I tell you what, some of our audience have even got otters in their garden.
26:14Hope Nolan sent us this from Leicestershire.
26:17Lying in bed at 11pm one night, cameras triggered,
26:21looked down into the pond and you can see, as Hannah said,
26:25there's an otter in the pond, a little pond in the back garden.
26:29I mean, that is striking gold, isn't it?
26:31Anyway, having had a view like that, she got herself a trap camera
26:35and put it down on the side of the pond to see if the otters would come back.
26:39Wow.
26:40It's a takeaway, isn't it, for an otter, a tiny pond like that.
26:42A perfect place to look for all sorts of food.
26:44But it wasn't one otter that turned up, but two.
26:47And because they're pretty much similar in size and because of their habits,
26:51we know, therefore, that that's a female otter with a cub
26:54that's probably about a year old, just about on the brink of becoming independent.
26:58Just last lessons on fishing in a very tiny pool.
27:03It's fantastic stuff, isn't it?
27:04Well, of course, they will think that that pond will naturally be restocked with fish,
27:09but they'll also be feeding on invertebrates in there like dragonfly larvae
27:13and possibly frogs resting at the bottom.
27:16Yeah.
27:17But hope they probably won't be there every single night, will they?
27:20It's like us going to the takeaway.
27:22They'll stay there for a couple of nights and then they'll move on.
27:25Go further afield.
27:26I mean, something more healthy.
27:27I personally don't stay in the takeaway for a couple of nights.
27:30I don't know about you, Bruce.
27:31Well, no, never, no.
27:33But do you know what I love about that is, you know,
27:36we so often say to people when we're asked,
27:38what can we do to help wildlife in our garden?
27:40We say, build a pond.
27:41And that just shows.
27:42You build a pond and they will come.
27:45I mean, it was a small pond and you've got two otters in it.
27:48What a surprise you'd have if you look out your window and saw that.
27:51You'd also have a surprise if you looked out your window into your garden
27:54and saw this, a woodcock, Christian Paulson in Lincolnshire.
27:59It's unusual to see a woodcock in your garden,
28:01unusual to see it in the day because they're nocturnal.
28:04So that would definitely be a big tick.
28:07Very good.
28:08It's not just woodcock though, is it?
28:11No.
28:12Somebody's got a snipe in their back garden.
28:15Oh, that photograph is incredible.
28:17And I'll tell you why.
28:18Because snipe, they're usually associated with wetlands and marshland, aren't they?
28:22But here, they've gone into somebody's back garden in the snow.
28:27How about that?
28:28Makes it easier for them to see them though, doesn't it?
28:30A lot less camouflage.
28:31I mean, out in a grassy field, spotting a snipe can be quite hard work.
28:34Yeah, it can.
28:35But you get a really good view of that cryptic colouration there.
28:37And they'll be in the back garden, they eat invertebrates.
28:40So they'll be probing around looking for snacks.
28:42How about that?
28:43This is one of the favourite things of mine that's been sent in recently
28:47because look at this, it's wrens.
28:50And not just one, not just two, not just three.
28:55In fact, six of them, eight of them, came into this nest and snuggled up in winter.
29:02And do you know, the record is 61 wrens have been counted in a nest in Norfolk.
29:09I've got to say, that was way back in 1969.
29:1261?
29:13That sort of thing doesn't happen anymore.
29:141969.
29:15That was the sort of spirit of the times, wasn't it?
29:17Yeah, it was.
29:18Woodstock.
29:19Yeah, Woodstock, they all snuggled up.
29:21Bob Dylan.
29:2260 wrens in a box.
29:23It's a great way to keep warm.
29:25Those are the days.
29:26And can I tell you, it's really, it's been windy here all week.
29:29So come on, Hannah.
29:30It is a bit windy.
29:31Let's all snuggle.
29:32Because you know how much Chris loves to snuggle.
29:34Come on, isn't that lovely?
29:35We're all snuggling up.
29:36Are you enjoying that, Chris?
29:38He's been dreading this all day.
29:39He really has, hasn't he?
29:41I'm in my social space.
29:44Oh no.
29:45Now, we've got one more clip to show you.
29:48This is incredible.
29:49This is come in by Robin Cooper.
29:51And he took this on a trip to Lough Duick in Scotland.
29:54Captured this in the back garden.
29:55Look, there's a red deer there.
29:56But look in the corner, there's a pine marten as well.
29:59Eating the supplementary food put out on the table.
30:02But wait for it, as it is absolute mammal mayhem.
30:06There's one badger there that comes up on the table, cleverly edited in there.
30:11I can assure you, it is real.
30:14And then three badgers.
30:16Do you know what I love about all of this, though,
30:18is that people are putting these cameras up and really enjoying the wildlife in their back garden.
30:23It's brilliant.
30:24I want to know where that place is.
30:26I want to go there on holidays.
30:27Have your little picnic, yeah.
30:28Keep sending them in to all of our socials,
30:30because then Hannah's got a lot of homework to do and she can look through them all.
30:33I will.
30:34They keep me busy.
30:35With all of that mammal mania going on there,
30:38we can now go over to Lira Valencia.
30:41She fancied a bit of mammal mania of her own,
30:43so she headed off to the island of Mull to see how many different species she could see in just one day.
30:48I'm Lira Valencia and I'm a UK wildlife champion and social media influencer.
31:00Born and raised in South London.
31:02I have been talking about spreading my wings for a while now.
31:06Getting out of London, exploring something new, and I have news.
31:10I'm doing it.
31:11I am going somewhere completely different to London.
31:16Somewhere that is wild.
31:18It's remote.
31:20I am going to Mull.
31:23It's an island over 500 miles away from here,
31:26on the west coast of Scotland,
31:28and it's packed full of wildlife.
31:31I don't know if you can tell, but I'm pretty excited.
31:38Platform, platform, what platform?
31:40Platform one.
31:41Okay, Glasgow.
31:42Let's go, let's go.
31:43So I'm catching the train to Glasgow.
31:48Meeting the crew.
31:51So we're going to go to open now.
31:53And after a quick sleep stop,
31:55catching the first ferry to be on the island for sunrise,
32:00to start my mission to see how many species I can spot
32:03in a day in the wilderness.
32:11The sun is just rising,
32:12and me and Tom are heading to a good spot to see red deer.
32:17Mull is home to over 6,000 red deer.
32:20That's more red deer than people, by the way, here.
32:22Crazy.
32:25Okay.
32:26At this time of year,
32:27the deer make their way down from the higher areas
32:30towards the coast in search of food.
32:33So the deer here,
32:34they've just come out of breeding season or rutting season,
32:37and the males have used a lot of energy
32:39to impress females and to mate.
32:41And it's not just the males that are feeling the struggle.
32:44It's also the females,
32:45as hopefully they'll be gestating or carrying young.
32:52Wow.
32:54So we've just seen a kestrel fly over in the distance.
32:57There's two hen harriers going up and up and up,
33:00circling each other.
33:04Oh!
33:05Oh, my goodness.
33:06Look at that.
33:08Just spotted from a peripheral, a golden eagle.
33:12Wow.
33:15So this is one of the two species of eagles that you can see on Mull.
33:20And in fact,
33:22Mull is known as the eagle island,
33:24because you can see them pretty well here.
33:27While I was looking for mammals,
33:30you know, you have to look up sometimes
33:31and you see spectacular things.
33:33The list is growing.
33:35I'm trying to focus on deer, but I'm getting distracted.
33:38There are so many birds I haven't seen.
33:40So look for the deer.
33:42Look for the deer.
33:47Hooded crow!
33:48I love a hooded crow.
33:50We don't get those in London.
33:55We've just spotted six red deer.
33:58And they're there sitting low,
34:01quite quietly, calmly,
34:03conserving that energy.
34:05You can see their red coat.
34:07It's super thick and has special hairs,
34:09which are hollow, which traps air
34:11and gives them that extra bit of insulation.
34:15What an icon.
34:18Two hours in,
34:19a bounty of birds
34:21and Britain's largest land mammal is a great start.
34:24So I'm heading to the coast to continue my search.
34:27Peace, we have just had to jump out of the car
34:31because we have spotted a white-tailed eagle.
34:36Look at this beauty.
34:38Mind his own business.
34:40This is a huge bird.
34:42In fact, it's got the longest wingspan
34:45out of all eagles in the UK.
34:48Look, it's oyster catchers.
34:50Oyster catchers.
34:51Look!
34:55That sound.
34:57There's far too many distractions here,
35:01but I'm dragging myself away
35:02to my final destination of the day.
35:07We have just spotted an otter
35:09right ahead of us on that island.
35:13Oh, wow!
35:15Look!
35:17Just obviously woken up from a really good nap.
35:20Super cute.
35:22Look at it scratching itself.
35:23I can't believe it!
35:28You can just see how big they are.
35:32How agile, how slender.
35:36The otters in London that are used in freshwater sources,
35:44like canals and rivers, have really large ranges,
35:48up to 30 to 40 kilometres in size,
35:50compared to these ones that have much shorter ranges.
35:54No-one really knows the reason for such a drastic difference,
35:58but it's most likely because of food availability in certain ranges.
36:06What a way to end a day!
36:08A mammal to complete my mission of how many species I could see here.
36:14I'm buzzed to have seen eight, including two eagles.
36:20Before coming here, I said I wanted to spread my wings
36:22and discover something new.
36:24And honestly, mole has delivered 100%.
36:26It has been honestly epic.
36:28I have seen so many different species
36:30in such a short period of time.
36:32I couldn't ask for anything more, to be honest.
36:38Well, hats off there to Lyra
36:41and to a cameraman, Tom, as well,
36:43because to get golden eagle, white-tailed eagle,
36:46an otter and a hen harrier in one day is no mean feat.
36:50Even up there on the Isle of Mull.
36:53Now, we've got our long-length cameraman, Mark Yates,
36:56wandering all over the place with his thermal camera.
36:59Let's go and see if he's got us anything.
37:01Has he got anything?
37:04No, no, no, nothing there.
37:08No owl, nothing there at the moment.
37:10Well, OK.
37:11Now, one bird leader didn't see on Mull
37:14and it's fairly widespread over there,
37:16and that is this bird.
37:18It is the barn owl.
37:20And the barn owl actually is quite a rare bird
37:24here in Northern Ireland.
37:26There are fewer than 30 pairs here.
37:29Why is that?
37:30Well, it's a combination of things.
37:31We've witnessed some of it since we've been up here, of course.
37:33Ireland lies right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
37:36The winds come in from the west.
37:38Stormy winds carrying rain.
37:40Barn owls do not like to hunt in rain because they waterlog.
37:44They don't like the wind, either,
37:46because they rely on their ears to hunt.
37:49And high winds means that they just simply can't hear the prey.
37:53But there are other factors, too.
37:55There is the lack of prey-rich, rough grassland.
37:59There's very little of that out here.
38:02And there's also a lack of nesting sites.
38:05Now, Ulster Wildlife have tried to rectify this by erecting nest boxes.
38:11And I'm pleased to say that there's a pair here at Mount Stewart using one of these boxes.
38:18Here we are.
38:19That is the barn owl box there.
38:22Look at that.
38:24They even record them at night as well.
38:27Now, one unusual thing about the barn owls over here is the fact that they hunt at night.
38:34In the rest of the UK, they are, well, they are nocturnal, but they're also diurnal.
38:40They'll hunt at first light and last light, but not here.
38:44Why is that?
38:45Well, it's all got to do with their diet.
38:48Now, how do you study a barn owl's diet?
38:51Let me show you.
38:52Let me get this out of my pocket.
38:54Look at that.
38:55Looks like a small grey sausage, but it's not.
38:59It's actually a barn owl's pellet.
39:01And this is packed full of information if you know what you're looking for.
39:06They regurgitate this.
39:08It's what their gut can't break down.
39:11It'll have fur in there.
39:12It'll have feathers in there.
39:14It'll have bones in there.
39:16And it'll have skulls in there.
39:18So scientists are able to identify exactly what the barn owls have been eating.
39:23Now, let's have a look now, okay, at the difference, if I can hold this up in this wind, between...
39:29Hold on.
39:30Hold on.
39:31Get a good hold of this, because it flies off.
39:33Between the barn owls of Northern Ireland here, and the barn owls of Great Britain, the rest of the UK up here.
39:41Let's have a look first at the barn owls of the rest of the UK, okay?
39:47Now, 45% of their diet is made up of field bulls.
39:52And then you've got 20% is made up of common shrews.
39:56And 20%, sorry, 15% is made up of wood mice there.
40:03Let's have a look now, then, at the Northern Irish one.
40:07A massive 71% of their diet is made up of wood mice.
40:13And then you've got 14% is made up of pygmy shrews.
40:18First of all, let's address the nocturnal hunting.
40:22The Northern Irish barn owls hunt at night, because they're hunting mainly wood mice, and wood mice are nocturnal.
40:30Whereas the field bulls, which forms most of the diet of the British owls, is, well, it's active day and night.
40:40There we are. If I can put that down now, put that to one side over there.
40:46Now then, the other thing is the fact that you don't have field bulls or common shrews over here in Northern Ireland.
40:57Well, at least you didn't until recently.
41:01Because now, they've found field bulls in the diet of some barn owls, and those are starting to spread.
41:10Now, these are non-native species, so they have been released deliberately by someone.
41:18And that is actually illegal.
41:20And now it begs the big question.
41:23What's going to happen? Are those voles going to impact on the native wildlife here?
41:28What's going to happen to the owls? Will the owls now start to hunt by day and by night?
41:34And will owl numbers increase?
41:36Well, we don't know, but there is a long-term research study going on, funded by Ulster Wildlife and Queen's University at Belfast.
41:47And hopefully, they'll be able to come up with a lot of answers about all of those questions there.
41:55Now, luckily, they've also studied the barn owls here at Mount Stewart.
42:00And what's really interesting is that these owls take a much higher percentage of rats, brown rats, than the Northern Irish average.
42:11The barn owls here eat 22% of their diet is made up of rats.
42:18But it obviously works for them because last year, they reared three young, including this fantastic youngster here.
42:26Isn't that brilliant?
42:27Now then, if you've seen an owl in Northern Ireland, any species of owl, Ulster Wildlife want to hear from you, please send in your records.
42:37If you want to know how, well, visit our website.
42:41Right, from the wind and the cold out here now, back to the teepee and Chris and Michaela.
42:48Do you know what? I'd completely forgotten that there were no field voles in Ireland.
42:53And then thinking about the impact that that would have, not just on barn owls, but things like short-eared owls and hen harriers and things like that.
43:00So although, obviously, that introduction is unwarranted, unprecedented, it will be interesting to see what happens with those birds if that population of voles expands.
43:10It definitely will, won't it? I mean, it's so interesting that you only see three of the species here in Northern Ireland.
43:16OK, let's check our live cameras. Let's have a see because we got some great action right at the beginning of the show with our badgers.
43:26They're not there right now, but we have had a lot of action from them, haven't we, Chris?
43:30Yeah, we've been watching the badgers here at Mount Stewart and they've really delivered this week, actually, showing us lots of new behaviour.
43:36Now, these three animals here, you'll note, are all about the same size.
43:41They're quite fluffy, they're in good condition, no nicks on the ears from fighting like we saw those two earlier, no scars on the face.
43:49Difficult to sex, no, you know, big, broad face for the male, long tail and slimmer body for the female.
43:56And they're playful. And all of those things lead me to believe that these are last year's cubs.
44:02And as you can see, they've still got that playful side to them.
44:06I say playful, I mean, this is also about establishing hierarchies within that social group.
44:12The males are likely to move off, probably next summer.
44:16But, you know, nice to see those young badgers there.
44:20But if you've been watching, you'll know we've had drama in the badger set with an animal that's been chasing another one and keckering.
44:27Now, you have to look towards the back, though, in the back of our shot there.
44:31But that is that male badger.
44:33And here you can see it's approached another one, we think the female.
44:37And there appears to be a bit more passive behaviour going on now, a bit of mutual grooming.
44:43But that animal is away from the set entrances, which have been fiercely guarded by at least one of the other badgers as it's been trying to get into that hole.
44:53Now, given that this animal has been on the set pretty much the whole week and hasn't been chased off in a ferocious fight,
45:00we've come to the conclusion that it is in fact part of this social group.
45:04It's not an intruder from another social group.
45:07But it's definitely not wanted in one part of the set.
45:11And here you can see that they've split up and they go their separate ways.
45:16One goes down one hole there on the left.
45:19And then that male goes round to the other hole on the other side.
45:22Now, of course, we don't know what's going on beneath the ground,
45:25but there's every chance that those chambers could be connected or not connected.
45:30But the key thing is, Mick, that some of the behaviour that we've seen these animals exhibiting this week,
45:34you know, we've never seen before in all of the years that we've been watching badgers on the watches.
45:39So that was pretty exciting.
45:41The extraordinary bit when it was lying down.
45:44But isn't that the amazing thing?
45:46I mean, every year we try and get this live behaviour.
45:49And I know some people say, oh, it's badgers again.
45:52But it's only when you have these cameras on and you keep watching the behaviour
45:56that you see stuff and learn new things.
45:58And as you say, we've seen behaviour that we've never seen before.
46:02That's right. Entertaining and equally interesting.
46:05What about this behaviour, though?
46:06Because we've had these cameras on for quite a few days and we've been watching them.
46:10They will be going off tonight straight after the show at eight o'clock.
46:14This particular badger, though, decides that, yeah, I've been on this live camera quite a lot.
46:20But quite frankly, I think it's time that I unplugged the camera myself.
46:25And it does. It interferes with the camera.
46:28And then that camera works no longer.
46:31So, as I say, those cameras will be turned off at eight o'clock.
46:35But it has. It's been fantastic to see all this different behaviour.
46:38Yeah. Another thing we were trying this week was replicating some aspects of an experiment
46:42that had been done in the Netherlands looking at whether wild mammals, principally small animals,
46:46rodents, would run in wheels like those that we put in cages for hamsters.
46:49And they found that they did.
46:51Well, we've had wheels out all week and we've been baiting them.
46:55We can go live to our mouse wheel now.
46:58And there's an absence of mouse in the wheel.
47:01We've had a number of things that have been curious and coming in.
47:04We've had the mice, we've had the pine marten and now the badger.
47:08And again, we've got to suppose that rather like the pine marten, you know, the badger has come in because it smelt the mouse.
47:14And it's more interested in eating the mouse than running in the wheel.
47:17Blue tip popped in there. Pine martens have been on the wheel.
47:20This one is typically used for exercising cats, not exercising pine martens.
47:25And sadly, the squirrel, although it shows a degree of acrobatic behaviour, doesn't have the way to spin the wheel.
47:32But we're going to persevere.
47:34I'm going to get my own wheel.
47:35I'm not joking.
47:36I'm going to get a wheel and put it in the garden.
47:38We're going to keep our wheels out here to see if we can finally tempt those animals.
47:42And I know what you're thinking.
47:43You're thinking that large wheel has been a bit wasted, but actually something did visit that big wheel.
47:49Look what it was.
47:50Yes, I love this.
47:52It was the pack of what do you look like?
47:57Is that the way you run?
47:59Because quite frankly, you're not going to get fit doing it like that.
48:02Well, I don't know.
48:03I thought it was a sort of an underlying chance of the next Olympics in there, to be quite honest with you.
48:07Do you know what I want to say to that?
48:08The wheels have definitely come off, Chris Packham.
48:11Off you go. Thank you very much.
48:12I can't take any more of this ridicule.
48:14I'm going to go outside and hang out with Yolo, Mick.
48:17Now, if you were watching last night, you might have seen that we had a buzzard on our thermal camera.
48:21And that initially when we saw it, you could see its eyes and its nose and its beak because they were glowing in the dark.
48:28But then we witnessed it tucking its head underneath its wing to stay warm.
48:33Well, that was a nice big buzzard.
48:35The question for Yolo and I is, how do those smaller birds that are out there on this freezing cold, windy night, stay warm enough to survive, Yolo?
48:44Yes, that's a very good question.
48:46Now, the average temperature in Northern Ireland in December was 5.9 degrees centigrade.
48:53Colden's been for a few years here.
48:55And at one time, it hit a low of minus two.
48:59Now, for us, you know, that's all right.
49:02We can put on a few extra layers like Chris or extra six or seven layers.
49:06In his case, we can go indoors.
49:08We can turn up the thermostat a little bit.
49:12But do you know what?
49:13How about us small birds?
49:14Well, last night, of course, we saw a robin, didn't we, using our thermal camera.
49:20Here it is, look, puffing up its feathers there, tucking its head in, tucking its head, doing its very best to keep warm.
49:30Now, of course, they've got feathers, and that is a big, big help.
49:34But how about small passerines like the great tit here?
49:38Well, they can feed all day, of course, which they will do from dawn until dusk.
49:45And not too much is the critical thing, because you put on too much weight, you're a bit sluggish,
49:51you're going to get eaten by a sparrowhawk or the local cat.
49:55And great tit's put on 10% extra body fat, but they burn that off overnight.
50:02That is the equivalent of you and I eating eight kilograms of prime cake and then burning it off overnight.
50:11Eight kilograms of cake?
50:12Eight kilograms of cake.
50:13I think I've probably achieved that on a number of... Do you reckon you can manage that?
50:15I've probably tried on a couple of occasions.
50:17But it is risky, of course, because then, come dawn, you need to find some more food.
50:23And if you struggle to find food, well, then you are going to be in quite a bit of trouble with that.
50:31Scientists have also discovered that the choice of nest site is also very, very important.
50:38And if a bird finds the right nest... Roosting site, sorry. If a bird finds the correct roosting location, it can save up to 50% of its energy.
50:5050%?
50:5150% of its energy, yeah.
50:53But that is a considerable amount of energy. So it's not surprising that when they do find the right roost site, they will fiercely protect it.
51:01Take a look at these two great tits in a nest box. And they are fighting ferociously for this.
51:07Now, they choose the best sites because of a lack of parasites. Perhaps the nest site has been warmed by the sun in the daytime.
51:13And what they did find is that when there are many boxes there, the ones which are better are fought over even more fiercely,
51:19particularly when there's bad weather, because that increases the competition.
51:23Now, the key thing is that scientists who were doing this work found out that hierarchy plays a role.
51:30And the adult males get the very best sites, and the young females are the ones which get turfed out and get the very poor sites.
51:37And, you know, in that one study, they found that in some of those roosting sites, the birds killed one another twice.
51:44Two dead great tits in there killed by others just because of that extra 50%. That's how important it is.
51:51Yes, but birds have a trick up their sleeve, and that trick is called rest phase hypothermia.
51:58Let's have a look at some roosting birds in the trees around here.
52:02Now then, the birds, what they do is they can lower their body temperature by six degrees from 36 degrees down to 42 degrees centigrade.
52:17And, of course, Chris, it takes less energy to maintain a lower body temperature, for one thing, and also a colder body actually loses less heat into the environment.
52:32So it's actually a very good tactic.
52:35It is a very good tactic, and we can see it here in graphical form, because here we see two great tits that were measured overnight.
52:42They're starting up here at more than 40, 44 degrees centigrade, and it drops right down to the bottom here to below, about 37.
52:51And you can see that they've measured it on two birds, and what's interesting is that the conditions overnight mean that they're moderating their temperature in parallel with one another.
52:59So, look, this is great for saving energy, but again, it does come with compromises, because if you slow yourself down like that and you become sluggish, you're vulnerable to predation.
53:08Pine martens, domestic cats, and we've also discovered that it reduces your immune system.
53:14So, yes, you might survive the night, but you could get eaten by a pine martin and catch a cold.
53:19Yeah. Not good.
53:21Not good. Not good at all.
53:23Let's move on to our mindfulness moment now, and this one's a little bit unusual.
53:27Dr. Katherine Cooper has been studying murmurating starlings, but she wanted to follow the track of an individual bird through the flock.
53:36And given that there are vast numbers of that, she needed to advance the technology, which she's done, and you'll see that in a moment.
53:43But what she also discovered is that when she pointed her camera to the sky to study these birds, it was not only mesmerizing, but extraordinarily beautiful.
53:53Let's go.
54:18So, let's go.
54:48So, let's go.
55:18It was extraordinary, wasn't it?
55:27Amazing.
55:28Beautiful.
55:28It was art, wasn't it?
55:30Absolutely art.
55:31Here's some more art.
55:32Young Belle is recovering in hospitals from essential treatment at the moment.
55:36She's a big fan of the programme, watching the live cameras all day,
55:39and she's painted all of these birds on the window.
55:42What about that?
55:43Well done.
55:43That is lovely.
55:44Well, I haven't got art for you, but I've got a stonker of a bird.
55:48Have a look at this.
55:49This is a male gossock sent in by David May.
55:52Not just a male gossock, male gossock in the snow.
55:56How about that?
55:56How about that?
55:57How about that?
55:58Do you know what?
55:59Unfortunately, we've reached the end.
56:01It's not just the end of tonight's show.
56:03It's the end of Winter Watch 2026 as well.
56:08We have thoroughly enjoyed investigating all the habitats here,
56:12and a big thank you to all the staff.
56:15You have been fantastic hosts.
56:16I will raise a drum to you tonight.
56:20We'll be back in spring in Northern Ireland,
56:22but we'll be broadcasting from another site,
56:24ensuring to bring you the very best of British wildlife.
56:28So that's it.
56:29It's all gone too quickly, hasn't it?
56:31But, as Chris said, we'll be back for Spring Watch,
56:33so that leaves us all to say thanks for watching, and good night.
56:37Good night.
56:37Counting to live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
56:50We're on air.
56:52We arrived on a mission to explore a new landscape.
56:58Through rain, wind, and occasional shine.
57:03Mance Stewart's cast of characters has captivated us.
57:14When the sun set, secrets were revealed.
57:25And the fields and the woods came alive.
57:33It's not just the wildlife that's delivered,
57:38as we've heard from people with a real passion for nature.
57:44That's in the water, I just fly in here.
57:46This is a cool bird.
57:50He's sitting looking down at us now.
57:54Throughout the harshest months of the year,
57:57the wildlife has adapted, thrived, and survived.
58:02Now, it's time to hunker down.
58:09Wait for the tides to turn, and the seasons to change.
58:13And, of course, we'll be back.
58:16See you then.
58:16See you then.
58:20See you then.
58:31See you then.
58:42Oh
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