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00:01It's cold.
00:03It's very, very cold.
00:05It's windy.
00:06It's very, very windy.
00:08But hey, we're here. We're live.
00:11We're bracing ourselves against the wind.
00:14The wildlife is coping.
00:16The big question is, will we?
00:18Well, we're going to find out over the next hour
00:21because it's time for Winter Watch.
00:45Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.
00:49And welcome to Winter Watch 2026.
00:52Coming to you live from the National Trust Mount Stewart Estate
00:56on the banks of Strangford Lock in Northern Ireland.
00:59Yes, if you were watching yesterday, you'll know that we've crossed the sea.
01:02And for the first time, we are basing ourselves here.
01:05We got off to a strong start yesterday.
01:07We introduced you to the Scarlet Caterpillar Club.
01:11Not a rave of disrepute frequented by Williams in the 90s,
01:15but a bizarre type of fungi that infects moth, larvae and pupae.
01:19Tonight, lots more science coming up.
01:21We've got a thermal drone, and we're also going to be looking
01:24at the cognition of corvids.
01:26But first, we can start with a live badger.
01:30And there it is.
01:32Oh.
01:33Half a badger.
01:34Breathing the wind.
01:35Half a badger.
01:36The backside of a badger, even.
01:38Yes, indeed.
01:39That's a good start, isn't it?
01:40Well, it's the backside of a wet badger as well, isn't it?
01:42Look at that.
01:43But it's nice to see them.
01:43Look, you know, we've had a lot of badger activity.
01:46And a bit later on in the programme, Jack Baddams and I
01:48are going to be reviewing some of that.
01:50And there's some interesting observations, I've got to tell you,
01:53things that we've never seen before.
01:55A good start, because actually on a windy night,
01:57you might not expect them to be out.
01:59Because let's face it, the last 24 hours has been very windy.
02:04We've certainly braced the elements.
02:07We've been buffeted by the wind.
02:10We've felt it.
02:11The trees have felt it.
02:13And as you can see, certainly made it very choppy on the lock.
02:17Not ideal for boats in that wind.
02:20But in any weather, it's an ideal habitat for waders.
02:24A flock of curlew coping well.
02:26Flying in a very straight line.
02:27Very impressive.
02:29But of course, you know, even when you get those crashing waves,
02:31the mudflats are the place to be for waders.
02:34That's what they've come here for.
02:36To gorge on all the food that they can find in the mud.
02:39You've got red shanks there.
02:41Turnstones.
02:42Green shanks.
02:43Coming for the abundance of food.
02:45They don't care if the waves are crashing.
02:47They're just getting their beaks in that mud.
02:50But you know, it's winter.
02:52It's a challenging season.
02:54And everything is just trying to survive.
02:56We're very lucky here at Mount Shewitt.
02:58We have such an amazing mix of habitats.
03:01And we've sprinkled our live cameras here, there and everywhere.
03:05Let's have a look.
03:05See if we've...
03:06Has that badger gone?
03:07Or is that badger still on there?
03:10I can't see it.
03:11Oh, look at...
03:12Oh, it's still there.
03:12It's still there.
03:13Look at that.
03:14It's near the wheel.
03:16He may well jump up on the wheel with a bit of exercise.
03:20Look at the wheel.
03:21We had this wheel last night because some scientists in the Netherlands
03:23had been using these to see if wild mammals would run in them.
03:27So come on, badger, get up there and show some athleticism.
03:30That would be the best start to the programme, wouldn't it?
03:33To get a badger running in people.
03:34That would be a coup and a half, wouldn't it?
03:34A badger exercising on there.
03:37But the other night, we saw something quite unexpected.
03:42These are four seeker deer.
03:45Now, it's an invasive species here in Ireland.
03:48The only native species they have here is the red deer.
03:52They were introduced in 1860.
03:55These look to me like two stangs, two young stangs, two hinds.
03:58You see the antlers, they rot in October and then they drop the antlers
04:03and the antlers are regrowing.
04:05That one's got a broken antler there.
04:08Probably not from fighting, I would imagine.
04:10It's probably run into a tree or run into a branch or something there.
04:13But fairly unexpected.
04:15They're not numerous in this area.
04:17Well, that's a glimpse of some of the wildlife we're seeing here
04:20and we'll certainly keep our eyes on the live cameras.
04:22What about what you've been seeing?
04:24We love it when you send us some good stuff in.
04:26And look at this.
04:27We had a glimpse of a kingfisher last night on the programme.
04:30Debbie Lawson has had a very good glimpse of a kingfisher in Kent.
04:36Interesting this, because normally you see kingfishers perched on a branch
04:40and then they'll do a little bit of hovering, dive down to get their prey.
04:45This one, you can see there's no trees nearby, so nothing to perch on.
04:49So it's had to do a jolly good impression of a hummingbird.
04:52Lots of that hovering.
04:54It must be exhausting, actually.
04:55Energetically expensive.
04:56Yeah, very energetic.
04:57Spends four or five times the amount of energy hovering
04:59than it would in level flight.
05:01So it's only going to do that if it really needs to, isn't it?
05:03Now, we had a film on last night all about goldcrest.
05:06A delightful film explaining how they get through these freezing cold winter nights.
05:10Well, Ellie Raptor Simmons asked us,
05:12how do you tell a goldcrest from a firecrest?
05:16Well, Ellie, take a look.
05:18Firstly, look at the shape of the bird.
05:19I think we can all agree that the goldcrest is a little bit dumpy,
05:23a little bit neckless, whereas the firecrest has a more distinct neck.
05:27But to be truthful, the most obvious feature is that very distinctive black eyestripe
05:32on the firecrest.
05:33In my opinion, the goldcrest looks a little bit unfinished.
05:36So that's the thing to look out for, because even if the crest erect their crests,
05:41the goldcrest is sometimes gold, but also a little bit fiery.
05:45So you can't rely on the colour of the crest to identify the bird.
05:49Just look for the eyestripe.
05:50Both of them are tiny, and you're really lucky to see either, aren't you?
05:53You are lucky to see either. They're fantastic birds.
05:55Do to continue to send in your photographs and videos to us.
05:59We all like to see those.
05:59You can use the usual social media platforms, but we also have a new WhatsApp number, 0800 022 4776.
06:10And if you can't be bothered to type it into your phone, then you can scan the QR code
06:14on the right-hand side of the screen there, and it will take you directly to that WhatsApp.
06:18So do send us your photos.
06:19We love seeing them.
06:20And I've got to say, we've had some pretty good photos sent in so far, and that's coming from me.
06:24High praise indeed.
06:25The uber critic. The uber critic.
06:27As I was saying, you've got to be pretty good to be able to see a firecrest or a goldcrest.
06:31You've got to be a good, keen birder.
06:34Now, Yolo and Chris think that they're good, keen birders, and they can be pretty competitive, let me tell you.
06:40So we decided to send them out around here on a birding challenge.
06:45Yolo, take a look at this. This is a blue tit.
06:48This one, wood pigeon.
06:51OK.
06:51Because I know you're struggling a little bit with your birds at the moment, right?
06:53So to get you back in practice, we're going to have a bird off.
06:56OK.
06:56See how many different species we can see in 20 minutes.
06:59OK.
07:00Can I just say one thing for you?
07:02You?
07:03I haven't got a hope.
07:05Not a hope.
07:06We'll see about that.
07:07Now, I'm feeling really smug because I'm headed to Strangford Lough.
07:10With this huge expanse of mudflats, I'm going to see thousands of waders and thousands of wildfowl.
07:18Oh, no.
07:19I didn't check the tide times.
07:22Frankly, the conditions couldn't be worse.
07:25So here is my stopwatch.
07:27And I'm about to start it now.
07:31I am going to count the birds that I've already seen.
07:33There's a black-headed gull going along there.
07:34But on the way down, I saw a blue tit, a chaffinch, a wood pigeon, a hooded crow, and a
07:39great black-backed gull.
07:42Meanwhile, I've got a trick up my sleeve.
07:46Why choose the woodland?
07:47You might think I'm mad.
07:48Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
07:50Bird feeders.
07:53Great tit, blue tit, colt tit, chaffinch, buzzard passing over, blackbird over there as well.
08:08One, two, three, six already after 50 seconds.
08:15In the bag.
08:16In the bag.
08:17I might even have a little sleep if only I bought a cup of tea and some cake.
08:24Come on.
08:27Anything.
08:28Oh, hold on.
08:29Oh, Ida.
08:31Oh, my eyes are watering.
08:34It's enough to bring me to tears, really.
08:37Because at this point, I...
08:38I feel I could lose the YOLO.
08:49Oh, look.
08:50Here.
08:50What's that?
08:52Well done, Pat.
08:54It's a red shank.
08:58A couple of jackdaws going over.
09:01Oh, that's nice.
09:02Long-tailed tit.
09:05Oh, we're doing time-wise now.
09:08All the birds have been pushed off to their roosts.
09:11And those birds have been pushed off to their roosts.
09:12Quite clearly, are nowhere near here.
09:16Wood pigeon going over.
09:18Oh, and an oyster catcher.
09:20And a hooded crow.
09:22Ha!
09:23Do you know what?
09:24It's raining birds.
09:25Don't even need these.
09:29Oh, I've got red-breasted meganza so far away that I think they could be heading to Nova Scotia.
09:39Lovely look.
09:41Five, four, three, two, one.
09:46Fifteen species.
09:49Fifteen species.
09:51Ha!
09:51The one time that you have to rely on your so-called feathered friends.
09:55And they leave you, quite literally, up the lock without a paddle.
10:01Look.
10:02One herring goal.
10:06Thank you very much.
10:20Oh, bravado.
10:21Yes, indeed.
10:21How many did you get, then?
10:23Well, you go first.
10:24No, no, no, no, no.
10:25No, no, you go first.
10:25No, no, no, I insist.
10:26Let's go together.
10:27I'll have to consult my notes.
10:29Let's go together, okay?
10:30Okay, on three.
10:30On three.
10:31I'll count.
10:31Okay.
10:32One.
10:32Yep.
10:33Two.
10:33Yep.
10:34Three.
10:34Fifteen.
10:36What did you get?
10:37What did you get?
10:40Fourteen.
10:41Oh!
10:42Oh!
10:43Yes!
10:44I don't believe it.
10:45So now, you can go to your grave knowing that, yes, you are an inferior bird watcher.
10:58I love him.
10:59I love him.
10:59I love him, really.
11:05Well, I just got off the phone from my therapist, and she said that probably with three or
11:11four years of treatment, I'd get over it.
11:13Oh, well then.
11:13Yeah, well, as you're here, I want you to witness the coronation of a king.
11:19Oh, no.
11:19I was actually going to ask you to put the crown on yourself.
11:21Oh, no.
11:22But, yes, thank you.
11:23I think it's only fitting, you know.
11:25I can be a good loser.
11:26Yes, thank you, my subject.
11:28I'm going to wear this all week.
11:30All week.
11:30Just to remind you.
11:31You did cheat.
11:31No, no.
11:32See, I went to the woods.
11:33Yes, there were bird feeders.
11:35But I heard you on there saying, on the way down, I saw chaffinch blue tith wood pigeon.
11:39It was supposed to be within the 20 minutes.
11:42And if you can't get your tides right, schoolboy error.
11:45Schoolboy error.
11:47Had I got the tides right, I would have undoubtedly won.
11:50Because the mudflats out on Strangford Lock are not only internationally important for all
11:56the birds, but they are packed through an extraordinary ecology of organisms and microorganisms.
12:03And Michaela is going to tell us a bit more about them all now.
12:07I am.
12:07But first of all, Chris, I'm going to say that was a rookie error.
12:11I mean, who goes to a lock at high tide to do a bit of bird watching?
12:14It's obvious you go at low tide.
12:17As Chris said, you know, that's when the mudflats are revealed and that has all that rich life.
12:22But you also get an enormous amount of life underneath the water.
12:28And it is absolutely beautiful.
12:31It may be grey above the water, but under the waves, it's full of colour.
12:36And if you brave the cold, like diver Bernard Picton, who's been diving in the lock for over 50 years,
12:44then you're in for a real treat.
12:46All sorts of colourful crabs, starfish.
12:50You might even see a lobster peeking out.
12:53All sorts of colourful fish as well, like that wrasse.
12:56If you're really lucky, octopus.
13:00Absolutely beautiful scenes.
13:01As I say, loads of colour and loads of life.
13:05Doesn't bother the life underneath when it's windy and you've got crashing waves above.
13:11So that's what's under the water.
13:14But as well, the mudflats are full of life.
13:19So when it's low tide, the mudflats are revealed and they've got this sumptuous buffet of microorganisms and invertebrates
13:27for all of those wading birds with all of those different beaks that are probing to get their food.
13:34And that's what makes the lock internationally important and such an important habitat for all those overwintering birds.
13:43But, you know, there are so many organisms in that mud, they're very difficult to see with the naked eye.
13:48They're brilliant if you can get a macro camera.
13:51So we've got a macro camera.
13:52We've also got an expert.
13:54Thank goodness for that, because they're complex, a lot of these little organisms.
13:58So thanks so much.
14:00This is Dr. Patrick Collins, who's from Queen's University, Belfast, who's come in to show us some of the things
14:06that I've got to say.
14:07I'm very impressed you collected today in the wind and the rain.
14:10That's dedication.
14:11It was cool.
14:12What have you found?
14:13We brought a small sample of what we get in the lock.
14:17Because it is, it's thousands, isn't it?
14:18Oh, there's a lot.
14:19It's a biodiversity hot spot in the lock.
14:21It was very cold today.
14:23Tides weren't great, so we didn't go out for too long.
14:25But we got you some stuff to show.
14:26OK.
14:26The first animal is a relative of your earthworm.
14:31It's what's known as a bristle worm or a polychaete.
14:33Now, it's bright red, and it looks like a strawberry.
14:35And the English term for it is the strawberry worm.
14:38Now, it's got a lovely and ornate Latin name, which is Eupolamnia nebulosa.
14:42And this is, it's an animal that lives its entire life on its own.
14:46It lives under stones and muddy areas.
14:49The bright red colour is because there's not a lot of oxygen down there, so it needs hemoglobin in the
14:53blood.
14:53And how it feeds is interesting.
14:55So it lives in a tube, which it never leaves for its entire life.
14:58And that tube, it secretes out of its own mucus, which is quite revolting.
15:01Lovely.
15:01And puts bits of sand and bits of pebble on it.
15:04And it sends its tentacles out over the mud because it can't move.
15:08It's stuck in there.
15:08And these tentacles are like gutters on the side of a house, except they're made out of tissue.
15:13And they have little cilia inside it.
15:14And it sends it over the mud and it finds little particles.
15:17And it cracks them back through the tentacles, through the little gutters with the cilia, to its mouth.
15:22And it eats them.
15:23Well, I don't know if you know this, we love props on this show, Patrick.
15:27Yes.
15:27I've got a prop of this because you explained it beautifully, but I think we can explain it even more
15:32beautifully with this.
15:33So this is our strawberry worm underneath its rock.
15:36Yes.
15:36That's what you said, underneath its rock.
15:38There it is.
15:38And then if I pull these, these are those tentacles that you were talking about, very lengthy tentacles.
15:47And it never needs to leave its little home.
15:50And it wafts those around and catches its prey.
15:53Do you like that?
15:54It's good, isn't it?
15:54It's good, isn't it?
15:55Okay.
15:55What else have you got?
15:56So that's an animal known as a deposit feeder.
15:59So it sends its tentacles out over the surface of the mud.
16:02We've got a relative of it that looks quite like it, but it's a bit of a confused animal.
16:07It's known as a sand mason worm.
16:09Otherwise known as, in Latin, it's got a wonderful name, lanis concha liga.
16:13Or if you're an American, laniche concha liga.
16:15I don't know why.
16:16Okay.
16:17This animal is a deposit feeder, but acts and lives like it's a filter feeder.
16:21Like the lovely fan worms you find on tropical reefs.
16:23How it does this is, I suppose, a bit revolting.
16:27It creates a home out of mucus, where it attaches bits of pebbles onto it.
16:31And it builds a lovely little tube.
16:33And then it has what looks, for all intents and purposes, like the top of a palm tree on the
16:39top.
16:40And what it does is it orientates that perpendicular to the water flow.
16:44So the water flows this way, and it's got the palm out like this.
16:47And that creates tiny little microwetries and small little particulates that are in the water
16:53are brought in to these little palms, and it sends its little tentacles out and feeds on top of it.
16:57So it's a fantastic creature.
16:58And we've got a prop of that as well.
17:01You knew we would have, didn't you?
17:02So this is it.
17:04So that's the mason worm.
17:06And then, and as you say, it's got this sort of palm...
17:09Made out of sand and mud.
17:11Yeah.
17:11And then the particles in the water come along.
17:14So that's the seabed.
17:15This is the sea, although it's black.
17:18And they'll come along and get caught in the top of the...
17:21Oh, one's fallen off.
17:22And that's how they catch their prey.
17:24They're really cool, aren't they?
17:25Because you can see they're really long, but it's only a tiny bit of it that if you were diving,
17:30you'd see.
17:30Because it's only that part of it that sticks out.
17:33They're juicy.
17:34They're small.
17:35And lots of animals like to eat them.
17:36So their bodies are full of these little hooks that kind of stick it into the side of the hole.
17:41And so that when it's threatened, it can dart down quickly into it.
17:43So only a small bit of it is out at any one time.
17:46And what's the last one you've got to show us?
17:47The last one we have is a small animal known as corofium.
17:51It's a crustacean.
17:52It's a type of amphipod.
17:54And this is basically...
17:56They're the chips of the intertidal.
17:59As in the edible chips.
18:00Yeah.
18:01You can see there's two little morphs here.
18:03There's one really long antenna on the front.
18:05Those are the males.
18:06And you've got ones with short antenna.
18:08Those are the females.
18:09The male's got the big long antenna.
18:11Because the female can only reproduce after it's molted.
18:15Which doesn't happen very often.
18:16So there's a lot of competition between males.
18:18To fight each other to get access.
18:21And also to guard her.
18:23Because they're in the intertidal.
18:24They get washed away and he wants to keep held on.
18:26The females have little pouches like kangaroos.
18:29Not quite like kangaroos.
18:30But for all intents and purposes like kangaroos.
18:32And their eggs hatch on them.
18:34And the little small versions of them crawl off.
18:36And these guys can exist in absolutely phenomenal densities on the mudflats.
18:41In our areas about 10,000 per meter square.
18:44In the Baltic up to 100,000 individuals per meter square.
18:47It's insane.
18:48And the birds.
18:49What we tend to happen with all the waders coming in.
18:52The waders time their arrival.
18:54To when the abundance of these guys are at their maximum.
18:57Because they're a fantastic and easily gotten food source.
19:00I find it absolutely fascinating.
19:02I mean, these are things that you wouldn't see.
19:05Unless you were going in the mud and sort of, you know, digging around.
19:09And yet the stories of them are so interesting, aren't they?
19:12And they're so important.
19:14I mean, they're ecosystem engineers.
19:15If we lost all this, the whole ecosystem would fall apart.
19:19The lot wouldn't be what it is.
19:21Thank you so much for coming in.
19:23I mean, it's one thing, isn't it, to see macro.
19:26But when you go into microscopic, then you see single cell organisms.
19:31And there are whole dramas going on there as well.
19:35This is one in particular.
19:37And it's starring a little single cell organism called a stentor.
19:45One thing is fairly predictable in the UK.
19:50Winter can be wet.
19:54And as water levels rise, rivers burst their banks.
20:00Spilling into nearby fields.
20:04But with disruption comes opportunity.
20:11At the surface, these temporary wetlands attract bird life,
20:15as flocks gather to exploit the new habitat.
20:23Yet far stranger events are unfolding beneath the surface.
20:32Within these muddy pools lives a whole range of aquatic life.
20:39Amongst it, something remarkable.
20:46A stentor.
20:48One of the simplest forms of life on Earth.
20:51This is an ancient organism.
20:56Although made up of just a single cell,
20:59this stentor is a relative giant in the microscopic world,
21:03capable of growing to one millimetre in length.
21:08It's also a master of contortion,
21:12able to stretch and contract into a trumpet shape.
21:17A form it adopts when feeding.
21:21Other microscopic organisms are its preferred food.
21:29But winter presents a challenge.
21:33You see, as nutrients become scarce,
21:35for the rest of us,
21:36some stentors turn to an ingenious solution.
21:41Whilst some are transparent,
21:43this individual has a striking green hue,
21:48having filled itself with hundreds of algal cells.
21:56They've been absorbed by the stentor,
21:59but they have not met their end.
22:03In fact, this marks the beginning of a marvellous symbiotic relationship.
22:10The algae are held within the stentor, close to the cell wall.
22:17Here, they gain protection from more hostile predators.
22:22And their host receives nourishment,
22:26in the form of sugary compounds released by the algae.
22:31But there is a catch.
22:33The algae only produce this food when they photosynthesise.
22:38And for that, they need sunlight and plenty of it.
22:43For this microscopic organism, deep within a murky puddle,
22:48that requires some action.
22:53As dawn breaks,
22:55the sun's rays begin to penetrate the surface of the water.
23:06It's time for the stentor to provide for its paying guests.
23:17It's time to move.
23:20The stentor makes for the surface.
23:23Hair-like structures cause cilia propel it forward.
23:36But at this tiny scale,
23:38pushing through the detritus can take a Herculean effort.
23:43But at this tiny scale,
24:00it settles just below the surface,
24:03basking in the winter sun.
24:08Here, using carbon dioxide provided by the stentor,
24:12the algae begin to photosynthesise.
24:16And the more they do,
24:17the more food they produce and the more they excrete.
24:23So the stentor can collect its rent with interest.
24:28With sufficient sunshine,
24:30its tiny lodgers can provide enough nutrition
24:33to sustain the stentor through the lean winter months.
24:38And the effort of reaching the sun is not a one-off for the stentor.
24:43If the surface of the water is disturbed,
24:45it will retreat down before making its way back up to the light.
24:53They might be eons old,
24:55but the algae, the stentor and the sunlight are a thoroughly modern thruple.
25:05The stentor.
25:07The stentor.
25:08What a remarkable little organism.
25:10Just going to prove that you don't have to be big to be exciting.
25:13And that's all happening out there in muddy puddles.
25:17The wonder of life.
25:19Now, I've come down here to the heart of the Winter Watch Village.
25:23This is where the action really happens.
25:25I can tell you that inside these cosy, warm cabins at the moment
25:30are all of our producers and directors sipping their brandy
25:33and eating their chocolates whilst the likes of myself
25:35and Yolo and Michaela are out here with the crew getting soaking wet.
25:38But look, this is the tangle of wires that gives you Winter Watch.
25:42This is where all of those cables from all of the cambers
25:44that we got out across Mount Stewart come together
25:47and they join in this truck.
25:50Now, we've been in here before.
25:51This is mission control, if you like.
25:54This is where all of our screens are being duly watched
25:59by our dedicated team of Helen, Rachel, Ian, Jack, Joe and Al.
26:07Got the names right. Good start, wasn't it, really?
26:09And you can see this bank of screens here.
26:12Now, at the moment, is there anything like...
26:14Oh, I just saw a mouse exiting.
26:16Was that it? Was that our live animal that we could have cut to?
26:20Is there anything? Joe, is there anything there?
26:22No.
26:23Nothing live there at the moment. Nothing live there at the moment.
26:26There was a mouse only minutes before.
26:28I tell you what, let's go to that squirrel feeding station
26:31that we've been looking at because obviously it's dark now.
26:35No chance of any red squirrels.
26:37But we have been seeing pine martens there.
26:40Now, no pine martens at the moment, but during the daytime,
26:44plenty of other activity with those squirrels.
26:47And we can take a look at that.
26:49Now, there they are.
26:51Chewing on those nuts.
26:52Now, look. Lovely little ear tufts.
26:54But look at the jaws of these animals.
26:57Incredibly powerful.
26:59These are cob nuts, giant hazelnuts.
27:01Imagine trying to bite into one of those yourself.
27:04A tough job.
27:05But not for the squirrel because it has remarkable leverage
27:08and powerful muscles in its jaw,
27:11which sandwich them up between its tough teeth in its skull
27:14and its lower jaw and quite neatly snip through it like that.
27:19Of course, they don't eat all of them.
27:20Sometimes they'll carry them off and cache them.
27:22And sometimes they'll climb onto the bird feeders.
27:24And sometimes they're not very good at that, are they?
27:28They fall off.
27:29Now, if you were watching last night,
27:31you know that we featured an experiment that was conducted
27:33in the Netherlands looking at whether wild mammals would run in wheels.
27:38Now, if you've kept hamsters or gerbils or mice,
27:41then you might have put an exercise wheel in their enclosure
27:44and they would run around that.
27:46Would the wild equivalent do it?
27:48Well, what they found was that they did.
27:50Now, we've tried to replicate that in some way by putting some wheels out.
27:55Let's go live to our mouse wheel.
27:58Well, it's mouse-less at the moment, but we have had a mouse visiting this wheel.
28:03We put some bait in there.
28:04This is a young wood mouse.
28:07It's on the wheel.
28:08It's got the bait.
28:10It's thinking about it.
28:13But unfortunately, this is one of life's lazier mice.
28:17And this is not one that's going to show any degree of athletic alacrity whatsoever.
28:22It wasn't just that, of course.
28:23We've also put out a larger wheel, which we were hoping that maybe, I don't know, badger might get on
28:29it.
28:30Let's have a look at what we've seen on that now.
28:32There it is live.
28:35No activity at the moment.
28:37But look, this doesn't surprise us because, obviously, the smell of that mouse in that wheel has meant that the
28:45pine marten has come in for a sniff.
28:47Not looking to exercise itself, of course, but looking for a meal.
28:51Now, again, if you were watching last night, you know that we started strong with our badgers.
28:55We've got a good collection of badgers here.
28:58And Jack, you've been out, haven't you, to take a look at the set in daylight?
29:01Yeah, it's a great set that we've got for this winter watch.
29:04And although we've got amazing views of it on the live cameras, it's sometimes a bit difficult to get up
29:08just the context of how it sits in the landscape.
29:10So a few days ago, I went down to check it out.
29:22The signs of them are absolutely everywhere.
29:25Down here, got a little snuffle mark where they've been foraging.
29:30And there are tracks criss-crossing this wood, all leading back to one spot.
29:43Behold, badger-tropolis.
29:48This is one of the coolest badger sets I've ever seen.
29:50It's huge. There's a hole there, there's a hole there, there's a hole there, there's one over there.
29:55All of the bare earth shows just how active this badger set is.
30:00These sunken pathways must have been used by generations of badgers to move to and from this set.
30:06I mean, have a look at that. It looks like some sort of badger BMX track.
30:10It really is quite an extraordinary setup here.
30:15And get a load of this.
30:17If we get down here, we can see all along these tracks are hares.
30:20Now, how can we be sure that these are badger hairs, other than the fact that they're outside a giant
30:25badger set?
30:25Well, if we put them between our finger and our thumb, and we try and roll them, then the badger
30:30hair doesn't spin.
30:31And that's because it's coarse and more oval in shape.
30:34Whereas lots of other animal hair is very rounded, which means it spins quite nicely.
30:38But this doesn't.
30:40It's a good way of being able to tell what hair you're looking at, if you find some while you're
30:44out and about.
30:51Obviously, right now, they're all tucked up underground sleeping.
30:54But we've got our cameras and our infrared lights above to watch them throughout the night.
30:59We've got some really nice shots of them in the spring.
31:01And I'm really looking forward to seeing what we get over the next few days.
31:14So, Jack, we've got the lie of the badger land there, but we've subsequently seen quite a lot of really
31:19interesting behaviour.
31:20We have, yeah. A couple of nights ago, let's have a look at this clip.
31:23We've got some really interesting behaviour.
31:25We've got here a badger standoff.
31:27Now, I'm not going to talk too much because the sound is really cool.
31:33But what we've got here, on the right, a male badger facing off against another that seems to be angling
31:43itself a little bit.
31:45You can see it scoops around to try and keep that male potentially away from the set.
31:53But the vocalisations are really cool. I've never heard badger sounds like this before, personally.
31:59It's definitely antagonistic, isn't it? It's not a friendly chunk.
32:04Occasionally they go for each other, but there's a lot of this behaviour standing face to face.
32:11And then this sound is really cool.
32:16Do you know who's down in the set at this point?
32:18So, at the minute, there's at some point, there's points where there are other badgers in there.
32:24There's other points where this animal does just seem to stand at the set entrance and we're not sure if
32:29there is a badger blocking it or not.
32:32But it's definitely, in this case, we can see in this instance a badger does come out.
32:37But it's definitely avoiding going down. It's definitely uneasy about going down.
32:42There's a bit of aggression there.
32:44Yeah.
32:45So what exactly is happening here, we're not really sure, that male badger then just walks off.
32:49We never see it fully enter the set.
32:52We don't really know what's going on.
32:55I mean, one of the theories that we've heard is that that could be a male from another clan that's
33:00coming in to try and mate with some of the females in there.
33:04Because they do, at this time of year, come into season as soon as they've given birth to their young,
33:09of course.
33:10But they do also extra pair matings.
33:13So it's not just one male. So it could be a male coming in from another clan, but there's not
33:17that much aggression there.
33:18The other theory is that, of course, that could be a female badger protecting the place that she's going to
33:25give birth or maybe she's even given birth.
33:26Yeah, it's not all out war in there.
33:29They're not properly going at each other, which makes us think maybe it's not a badger from another clan and
33:32there's maybe something a little bit more subtle going on.
33:35Keep your eyes peeled and we will go back to that, I imagine, tomorrow.
33:39If we can get any more, we'll get a better idea of exactly what's going on.
33:42We'll be watching.
33:43Excellent.
33:43Lots of badger action here, but of course, lots of bird activity during the daytime.
33:48And now, Yolo and Michaela are going to be taking a much closer look at some of the species that
33:52we've seen on our live cameras.
33:55Yes, indeed we are. Do you know what? Of all the habitats we have here, I think the most valuable
33:59from a wildlife point of view has got to be the woodlands.
34:02Well, that and the loch, I guess.
34:03Well, yeah, no, no, I mean, on the estate itself, you've got mature, deciduous, mature conifers, young trees as well.
34:11That encourages things like the lower plants, the ferns, the mosses, the mammals.
34:17We've seen many of those, but also a wide variety of woodland birds, many of which will be familiar to
34:24all of us.
34:25Our bird feeders there, the robin is a regular visitor, the red robin.
34:29Nice mix of tits as well. We saw long tail tits on the bird race yesterday.
34:34This, of course, is a great tit here.
34:37And the coltit, but this coltit is not all it appears to be, because this is the Irish subspecies.
34:44Look at the rufous flanks and the yellow cheeks. Our coltit has got white cheeks, so this is the Irish
34:54subspecies.
34:55Jays, well, they visit the bird feeders as well. But this jay, like the coltit, is quite different, because this
35:05is an Irish subspecies of jay.
35:09Did you know that such a thing existed? Well, I didn't before today.
35:14It's really interesting, isn't it? If you look at them side by side, you can see there is a distinct
35:19difference.
35:19You've got the Irish one on the left, the British one on the right, and the Irish one has a
35:24lot less white on its throat and head.
35:26And you can see it's much darker, richer in colour. I mean, beautiful birds, but amazing that there is that
35:34little subspecies going on.
35:35And there is a significant difference when you see them side by side like that.
35:41And jays, well, the member of the Covid family, of course, and they are excellent mimics.
35:45Now, listen to these two jays. Listen to this first one.
35:55This jay is in Sherwood Forest, right above a cycle track, and it's mimicking the brakes of a bicycle.
36:06They need oil in those brakes, don't they?
36:08It needs a service. And this one. Okay, Michaela, what's that one mimicking?
36:12That sounds like a bird of prey, like a buzzard. It is. That's exactly what it's doing.
36:17This jay is doing a perfect mimic of a buzzard's cat-like mule call.
36:24Isn't that fantastic? Brilliant mimics.
36:27Now, why do they do it? Well, first of all, actually, let's give you the jay's normal call.
36:33Very different.
36:37There we are. Harsh. Really harsh.
36:39Do you know what the Welsh word for a jay is?
36:42I could give it a guess, but I'd get it wrong.
36:44Come on.
36:44In Welsh, we call them scrachachoid, the woodland screecher, because of that call.
36:51Now, why do jays mimic?
36:55Well, there are several schools of thought.
36:58One is the fact that if a male mimics and adds these various calls to its usual repertoire,
37:06he's more attractive to a female.
37:09Another school of thought is that the jays, if they mimic raptors, birds of prey,
37:15then they'll scare other birds off a food source, including other jays.
37:21Ingenious, isn't it?
37:22It really is ingenious. That's the why, but what about the how?
37:28Well, jays are songbirds, and unlike us, we have a larynx.
37:32They have a syrinx, and that allows them to create different notes at the same time.
37:37So they have this ability to make a range of sounds, and they also have a large prefrontal cortex,
37:44and that gives them the ability to decide what to do with those sounds.
37:49So, as Yolo was saying, they can decide to sound like a bird of prey, which obviously is an advantage
37:58for them.
37:58But they are incredibly intelligent birds, and this was shown with something that was done to them.
38:05They did an experiment, and this experiment was something that was done for children.
38:10And the children were given marshmallows, and they were given a choice.
38:13They could either get one marshmallow straight away, or they could wait for the treat of two marshmallows.
38:20And this experiment was adapted, and it was tried out on the jays, and here it is.
38:26Now, this was done at Cambridge University by Professor Nicola Clayton and Dr. Alex Schnell.
38:32And you can see they've got two boxes, the jays.
38:34Now, in the first box, it could have taken a bit of cheese, very fond of cheese.
38:39It's even more fond of mealworms.
38:42So it waits for the better treat of the mealworms.
38:47I mean, that's amazing, isn't it?
38:49Yeah.
38:49And do you know, with that experiment and all the other things that they've done with jays, they actually think
38:54that they probably have a similar intelligence to chimpanzees.
38:57Yeah.
38:58They are amazing birds, and they believe that this intelligence evolved due to their ability to cache and rediscover food.
39:09So they'll go out, they'll hide things like acorns, sometimes thousands of acorns, and they can rediscover over 85%
39:18of them.
39:18But it goes beyond that because they believe that jays are able to look ahead.
39:25They've observed jays hiding soft food, caching things like fruits and berries, and also hiding hard foods, seeds and nuts.
39:36And they always retrieve the soft food first because they realise that that is the perishable food.
39:45That's the one that'll rot first.
39:48The jay, incredibly beautiful, very intelligent, and a fantastic mimic.
39:55Not a bird to be underestimated.
39:57No, not at all.
39:58We're getting a bit wet out here, aren't we?
40:00I was going to say that when you go out into nature, it can bring you great joy, it can
40:07get you with the real elements.
40:09But it can also bring you a great deal of calmness.
40:12I mean, the healing power of nature has been proved.
40:15And for Billy Heaney, he decided to embrace winter wildlife so the healing power of nature could work its magic.
40:38Having built my career around the natural world, nothing makes me happier than being outdoors.
40:45But in winter, that becomes much harder.
40:50At the age of five, I was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, often called the winter blues.
40:59As the days get shorter and the nights draw in, I notice my mood begins to slip.
41:07The winter of 2019 was a particularly low time for me.
41:12So I escaped to a friend's wildlife-rich farm on the Isle of Islay.
41:17It's become my sort of annual migration, this safe harbour that I seek out every winter.
41:22I can come up here, listen to the sound of the waves hitting this beach.
41:26I can just breathe.
41:31As a zoologist and wildlife filmmaker, it felt like the perfect place to reset.
41:38That trip hasn't just transformed one winter for me.
41:42It's transformed every winter since.
41:45And that's thanks to one particular species.
41:54This is just magic.
42:00Thousands of barnacle geese descend on Islay every year.
42:06Escaping the cold, dark days further north.
42:12It's beautiful and noisy and food for the soul.
42:18That is the sound of winter.
42:23My affiliation with these birds runs deeper than just the spectacle.
42:28We're both escaping darker days.
42:32My mind races all the time.
42:34But at this time of year, those frantic thoughts that are usually quite positive and creative can get a little
42:40bit negative.
42:43There were times, I'm happy to admit, where I was bent over a sink having panic attacks.
42:47I was feeling that sense of worthlessness really hit home a couple of years ago.
42:52I came up here to watch the geese and have a reset.
42:56And at that point, I got the clarity, I got the headspace that I needed.
43:00And everything got a bit better from there.
43:06And it's not just the barnacle geese here.
43:09There's a much rarer visitor that I always look forward to seeing.
43:15Ah, yes, yes, yes.
43:18This is what I'm really here for.
43:21Greenland white fronted geese.
43:24And these really are the best goose in the world.
43:30They've got those wonderful black bands on their belly.
43:33That iconic white patch, that white front above their bill.
43:41Because these Greenland white fronted geese return to the same field every year,
43:45I've started to be able to recognise individuals.
43:49I know these guys.
43:51And sitting with them allows me to completely immerse myself back into my wildlife comfort zone.
43:59What's really special about this group is the adults have these collars.
44:03And they were actually ringed here two years ago in these exact fields.
44:08And they've now returned this winter with last year's and this year's goslings.
44:15Migrating as a family has its perks.
44:18By travelling around 3,000 kilometres with their parents,
44:22young geese learn important life skills like migratory routes
44:26and where the best spots are for feeding.
44:28Just like this one.
44:33So then the green and white fronts will be feeding on cotton grass, white beak sedge and bog bean,
44:39using their slightly chunky beaks to dig down and get in amongst the tubers.
44:43Which is really cool because they're here with barnacle geese.
44:46And actually you'd think there'd be competition but the barnacle geese will be using their smaller beaks
44:50to sort of clip the top hedges of the grass.
44:53So by having this niche separation, feeding slightly differently in the same habitat,
44:58they can co-exist here pretty nicely.
45:03They spend most of their time here feeding up to prepare for the long journey back to their breeding grounds
45:09when the Arctic winters subside and Greenland begins to thaw.
45:15But with the day drawing to a close, it's time for these geese to head out to roost.
45:30Thanks to this little pocket of paradise, rather than fearing winter's arrival,
45:35I now have a little something that helps me look forward to it.
45:41And as long as the geese keep coming back here, so will I.
46:00Sence and kindness has prevailed.
46:03And our producers have allowed us to come inside the teepee.
46:07Thank you very, very much indeed.
46:08Hey Mick, close your eyes a minute, just close your eyes.
46:10Imagine a clear blue sky, watery winter sunshine
46:14and a massive flock of barnacle geese flying over.
46:18Wow. Sound, eh?
46:20That is one of our greatest winter spectacles.
46:24And if you live anywhere near a place where those animals aggregate,
46:27I urge you to go out and enjoy that.
46:30You know, I think there might be a gale later on.
46:32I think there's going to be a storm.
46:34Just listen to that wind.
46:36Honestly, it's getting worse, isn't it?
46:38But anyway, today in this programme, we have looked at the woodland,
46:41we've looked at the macro marvels of the mudflats,
46:44but we haven't really focused very much on the farmland,
46:48because here there is a lot of farmland.
46:51There's plenty of fields.
46:52And if you look at them in the day, they appear to be pretty quiet,
46:58almost void of wildlife.
47:00But if you take a look after dark, then it can be a very different story.
47:05Now, how do we take a look after dark?
47:07Well, we have purloined...
47:09I love that word.
47:10Purloined?
47:10I love that. It's nearly as good as invaginate,
47:12but purloined one of these drones.
47:15And this one is fitted here with not a normal camera,
47:18but with a thermal camera.
47:20And, of course, we've been out and about at night flying this drone.
47:24Now, I've got to say, we are flying it very high,
47:25and it's got a powerful telephoto lens,
47:27so no danger of disturbing any of the animals below.
47:30But look, this is what we saw.
47:34The drone went up.
47:36And looking down on the fields,
47:38you can see all of those little white spots.
47:39Each one of those is heat.
47:41Remember, this is picking up a heat signature.
47:44And these are birds.
47:46The question is, which type of bird are they?
47:48Now, look at the one on the left there.
47:49It's got an extraordinarily long bill,
47:51and we all sat round and pontificated.
47:54We think that's a snipe.
47:56And we think that some of the other birds are woodcock.
48:00Badgers, as well, were spotted gambling across there,
48:03scattering some of those waders that were out in these very, very, very,
48:07very, very, very, very wet fields after earthworms.
48:11It is amazing, though, isn't it?
48:12Because you just wouldn't see that normally.
48:14And to put a thermal camera out and see just how much wildlife there is
48:17is a great thing to do.
48:19So once we knew that there was a lot of wildlife,
48:21we sent Mark Yates out there with a thermal wildlife camera
48:25to get some more close-ups.
48:27And he had a pretty good time.
48:29Look at that.
48:30That is indeed not a snipe, but a woodcock probing away in the fields,
48:36feeding itself.
48:37And then there's a badger.
48:40Badger out and about.
48:43And then two badgers.
48:45Being very active, they are indeed...
48:48Can we call it Nick?
48:48Yeah, that's what I call it.
48:50I mean, you know, there's a biological term for that we could use.
48:53Mating.
48:54They can mate all year round.
48:55January is the peak time, so they've obviously read the book
48:58and they're doing what they should do.
48:59Three of them there.
49:00So three badgers joining in, mating.
49:03A lot of scent marking going on as well.
49:05So, yes, very active on this field.
49:08Very, very active.
49:09Very, very active indeed.
49:11Not the only mammals up in the trees.
49:12What did we see?
49:14Very delighted to say it's a pine marten.
49:18So, yes, there's a lot of activity in those fields at night.
49:21That's a cracking view of a pine marten, isn't it?
49:23It really was.
49:24Lovely view, but we also witnessed some unusual behaviour
49:28on that thermal camera with the pine marten.
49:30We saw them climbing around up in the trees.
49:32Now, look, at some times of the year, trees will secrete sap.
49:38And animals like this might go up and lick it off
49:40because of the sugar in it.
49:41If you watch this animal,
49:43it's definitely sniffing around on those branches
49:45and at times it appears to be lapping something up.
49:47What is it after?
49:49Well, we thought about a number of things.
49:51Could it be invertebrates like beetles?
49:53Well, it's been so windy, any beetle of any size would be blown away.
49:57Could it be tree slugs?
49:58Well, we thought if it had eaten a tree slug,
50:00I mean, the last time I ate a tree slug,
50:01it took me ages to masticate it and to swallow it down.
50:04We haven't seen that.
50:06Joe Charlesworth, one of our camera operators,
50:08said that he saw a bear once licking the moss of a tree
50:12to get the moisture from it.
50:13So is it that this animal is actually simply drinking in the tree?
50:17I'm not sure.
50:18Do you know what?
50:18It could just be after tiny snails or wood lights
50:22or anything in those crevices.
50:25Fascinating, isn't it, really?
50:27Fascinating stuff.
50:27It's a mystery.
50:28We've had a couple of mysteries this show, haven't we?
50:30The mysteries with the badgers.
50:32Yeah.
50:32And now the mystery of what the pine martin's doing up those trees.
50:35But we can keep our eyes peeled, of course,
50:37and you can do that from 10 to 10 on our cameras.
50:40Not that thermal camera, but the other cameras.
50:43Now, look, whilst we're on pine martins,
50:44we've got to say that for a long period of time,
50:47pine martins were absent over much of Northern Ireland,
50:49probably due to direct persecution.
50:52But thankfully they've been making a comeback
50:54and Yolo's going to tell us a bit more about that.
50:57Isn't it fantastic that that thermal camera
51:00we can use that to see a pine martin in the dark of night
51:04right up at the top of those trees.
51:07Beautiful animals.
51:07And, of course, we've been seeing them on our live cameras, too.
51:11Now, they're omnivores.
51:13They'll take advantage of virtually any food,
51:15and that includes the squirrel feeding station.
51:19All the food in there has attracted at least two pine martins.
51:23There's one filling its mouth with seeds and berries,
51:30and off it goes.
51:31It's a little bit nervous, this one,
51:33maybe because it encountered a badger last night.
51:36And then once it's eaten the seeds, of course, it needs a drink.
51:38It goes down to the water and has a bit of a drink.
51:41Quite a delicate little one.
51:42This may be a youngster.
51:44And then it comes right by the camera and scats.
51:49Poos, if you like.
51:50And that scat, it's much more than just undigestible food.
51:55It's got chemical messages in there for any other pine martin passing by.
52:01And lo and behold, later on, another pine martin does come,
52:04sniffs the scat, and deposits its own.
52:08So, by these chemical messages, what do I mean?
52:11Well, it could have anything.
52:13It could tell the other pine martin,
52:14I'm a male.
52:15I'm a dominant male.
52:17I'm a young male.
52:18I'm a female.
52:19I'm a female who is receptive to a male at the moment.
52:23And I'm going to break there for a minute,
52:25because I do think we actually have live pine martin as I speak.
52:30Let's have a look.
52:31Have we got a pine martin?
52:34He's just gone into a hole into a tree.
52:38Doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
52:39But the messages, yeah, the messages on those scats are vitally important.
52:44Now, I was up here, of course, for spring watch,
52:47and we saw two or three pine martins then.
52:50And that got me thinking,
52:51I wonder, are we seeing the same pine martins again?
52:55Well, you can identify them by the individual marks on their bibs.
52:58There's one that we saw.
53:01And there's zit.
53:03That's the one we've seen in winter watch.
53:05The one in the middle is the one we saw initially in spring watch.
53:08And look at that.
53:09Isn't that amazing?
53:10That one is the same one with the three spots that we saw in spring.
53:17And you'd expect that as well,
53:19because they will live for, on average, about three to four years.
53:23And it's wonderful to see these mammals making a comeback here,
53:27because for hundreds of years they were in steep decline.
53:30They were hunting for their fur, they were persecuted,
53:34and also they lost their woodland habitats.
53:38But they've come back with a vengeance, especially over the last 20 years.
53:45Have a look at this map.
53:46This map has recorded the sightings in Northern Ireland over the past two decades.
53:51Starts off slowly and then accelerates.
53:53Now they were given full protection in the Republic of Ireland in 1976,
53:59and here in Northern Ireland in 1981.
54:02And that has certainly helped, as has the planting of trees too.
54:08Exactly how many pine martins do we have in Ireland?
54:11We don't know.
54:13But today, Ulster Wildlife is launching its All-Island Pine Martin and Squirrel Survey.
54:21So if you've got some records, or if you'd like to help and get involved,
54:25then visit our website.
54:27All the information you need is on there.
54:31Right, we're going to escape this wind and the rain now
54:36for 90 seconds of our mindful moment.
54:40And tonight, we give you a starling murmuration over a winter reedbed.
54:47It's a good one.
54:48If you're looking for a sea, you can begin smashing it.
54:51It's great.
54:52Yeah.
54:57Yeah.
55:08Yeah.
55:09Yeah.
55:10Yeah.
55:10Yeah.
55:11Yeah.
55:12Yeah.
55:13Yeah.
55:13Yeah.
56:17Oh, the sound. Not the sound of this, the sound of those starlings. Absolutely stunning, isn't it?
56:25We're coming to the end of our programme. We can take another look at that pine marten on our live
56:29camera. There you can see it on the side of that tree. Look at that. In this terrible weather, that
56:35pine marten is climbing up into the naked boughs of that tree, which suggests to me there's got to be
56:39a very good reason for it.
56:40So we'll have to further... and up another tree. We'll have to further investigate that. But before we go, we
56:45want to show you this. Take a look at this. Is this a plucky or a psychotic stoat? The heron
56:51has no doubt tried to attack it and eat it because they do eat small mammals. But look at the
56:55stoat. I mean, talk about fighting back.
56:58That is brilliant. It's just fantastic. In the end, it drives the heron away. Wow, look at that. That's something
57:04a little bit calmer. But fantastic if you see this in your back garden. Tawny owl.
57:09This is the first time that Derek Simpson saw it. It was in Surrey and it's eating worms, which is
57:14also a little bit unusual. Be very unusual to see a tawny owl here in a garden in Northern Ireland
57:19because they're famously, famously absent. Absent. Absent.
57:23Just got time to show you a couple of photos that you've sent in as well. Lovely Robin sent in
57:28by Katie Nixon and a bearded tit sent in by Alan Lambert. That was taken at Leighton Moss. I like
57:35that.
57:35A fine photograph. Well, that's it for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow if we survive the gales. What will we
57:43be doing? Well, we will be shedding light on biofluorescence. Look at that. Look at the colours. Extraordinary.
57:53And we're going to be celebrating the success of the return of red kites to Northern Ireland.
58:00And, of course, we'll be keeping our eyes on those live cameras that we've got out there. Remember that you
58:06can watch them from 10 until 10 during the course of the day. Go to iPlayer or our website. We'd
58:12love to hear from you. If you've got any clips like that, Stoke versus the Heron, then definitely send them
58:16in.
58:16Remember the WhatsApp number 0800 022 7446. Of course, we'll be back here tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. More
58:25news on the Pine Martins and the Badgers. Good night.
58:28See you then. Good night.
58:56We'll be back here tomorrow night at 7 o'clock.
58:59I'll be back here tomorrow night at 7 o'clock.
59:00Good night.
59:01Good night.
59:01Good night.
59:01You
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