In Springwatch Close Encounters we gave you advice on how to get closer to wildlife. It also helps if you can indentify some of the calls of our wildlife. Try learning the audio clips below...
You can download them by right-clicking on these links and choosing 'Save target as' - , , , , , - or listen to them by using the players below.
Having a close encounter with a wild animal can be incredibly rewarding. Often these encounters happen by accident, but you can increase your chances of getting up close and personal with the wildlife around the UK with a little patience and some basic skills.
Of course, on the whole wild animals have finely tuned senses that are adapted to ensure you won't see them. But the more time you spend outdoors in search of a close encounter with wild animals, the sooner you develop the skills to increase your chances of getting close.
Do you have your own top tips on having close encounters with British wildlife? If you do, it would be great to hear from you - you can share your knowledge and ideas right here.
Well, this is it!
It's time for me to say goodbye and to thank you all for being such a wonderful bunch. You've been unfailingly kind, unerringly helpful, and unbelievably quick in responding to our calls for action. In short, it has been nothing but a pleasure writing for you and I hope I was able to return the favour.
Until next time...
Yours truly,
The Mole
Springwatch 2009 may be over, but don't be too downhearted. The main attraction, nature itself, carries on all around you. So get out, get dirty, and get involved!
After the show tonight, the cast and crew will be having a wrap party and dancing til dawn. (Or midnight, depending on how our energy levels are after three weeks of live TV) Of course I would love to invite you all to join us... but I'm not going to. We've only budgeted for about twelve packets of crisps, six dips, and a couple of lager shandies so I'm not sure there'd be enough to go around. Plus, I'm not sure there's room in the pub for all three and a half million of you.
We hope you've enjoyed this year's Springwatch website. The messageboards have been as buzzing as ever, the webcams have seen more than their fair share of drama, and your response to our blogs, surveys, and home movies has been overwhelming to say the least.
Okay, so the 2009 Springwatch season has only just finished but after all the brilliant photos and videos you sent in and your massive response to the messageboards, blogs, and surveys of this year's Springwatch we thought you might like to help us with ideas for next year's Springwatch.
Do you have any specific ideas about who, what or where we should feature? Are there any concepts, themes or debates we should bring up and discuss? If so, please post your comments below.
Autumnwatch is not that far away! Do you have any specific ideas about who, what or where we should feature? Are there any concepts, themes or debates we should bring up and discuss? If so, please post your comments below.
This year we tried out lots of new things. We had a new presenting team. Simon went to Wales for the first time. Martin has been encouraging you to get some wildlife into your holidays this year. Gordon has been getting to know badgers and getting on the road to respond to stories that you've told us about. We gave you Springwatch Unsprung on Red button. We opened up the show and the website much more to you, the audience, and your own, incredible stories, experiences, home movies, photos, opinions and questions.
"Good morning everybody," says Alex, today's producer, "and welcome to the final show."
It is too much to bear and Kate immediately starts crying. She falls to the floor, gnashing her teeth and ripping at her clothes. Chris sits in stunned silence, a single tear falling down his stony face. Martin dabs at his eyes with his silken locks, like a modern day .
At Springwatch we like to encourage you to enjoy the UK's spectacular wildlife.
But where to start? Below are some links which will help you to find the best that the UK has to offer:
The main thing that struck me when I made this Springwatch Special was how good the footage was that you sent. What makes it so appealing is that it's the kind of material you'd never seek to capture as a professional wildlife cameraman. Photography is all about being in the right place at the right time, and recording what you see... even if that's in your own garden using the camera on your mobile phone.
When the live show finishes Springwatch continues for another week, with three specials. Below you can find out more about each one and watch a preview clip.
SPRINGWATCH CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
with SIMON KING
Monday 15th June 8-9pm on 91Èȱ¬ TWO
Field craft expert and ace naturalist-cameraman Simon King reveals his tricks of the trade - giving us a practical guide on how to get up close and personal with some of the UK's best loved wild animals; from otters to kingfishers, robins to red deer.
After two weeks in deepest darkest Essex, being given the run around by some badgers that were very good at hiding, Gordon Buchanan made it to still in one piece. So what was it with those elusive badgers, I asked him?
Looking grizzly and unshaven (and ever so slightly older than when he started) Gordon started at the beginning:
"It's been a bit of a struggle, but we're almost there," says Roger, today's producer, and that's exactly how it feels. There are only two days left until the end of the series and Portacabin fever seems to have kicked in.
It's reached that time in the series when thoughts turn to our favourite bits. A quick straw poll in the production tent came up with these: the stoat family moving home, Chris' poodles, the cuckoos and Simon's slo-mo goshawks.
But what about you? Which bit has been your favourite? Let me know, I'd love to hear.
(If you need a few reminders try the Video archive.)
91Èȱ¬ Scotland's Landward challenged wildlife cameraman Philip Lovel to film all four species of grouse (capercaillie, red, black and ptarmigan) during their annual lecks. The results are pretty special and I'm sure any Springwatch fan would love to see them.
So please click on this link and enjoy...
There have been so many superb photos of spring flora and fauna sent into the that Chris and I thought it was high time that we picked out some favourites.
So below, in no particular order, are our favourites (there were dozens of superb ones and we found it really hard to whittle them down into just five. Mouse over the photos to see who took them):
Sitting in the presenters meeting this morning, my reverie was disturbed by the sound of scores of little feet on gravel. Looking up I saw a primary school class, with their teachers in tow, being given a tour around the Springwatch production village.
It's easy to forget that there's as much biodiversity under the sea as on land. But the UK's sea life faces an uncertain future unless it is protected. And that's where you can help.
In 2008 the Government published a draft Marine Bill that proposed the creation of Marine Conservation Zones. This bill is currently going through the House of Commons and is expected to be passed by the end of the year. Scotland also has its own Marine Bill. There's lots more information on the issues facing our marine life on the Autumnwatch website.
This year for Springwatch I'm investigating the great seabird mystery: why are some colonies doing fine while others are in crisis?
With some of the world's biggest and best colonies found on our coastlines, Britain is internationally important for seabirds. 90% of the world's , 68% of the world's northern , and 60% of the world's are found in Great Britain and Ireland.
I tried. Before the presenters meeting began this morning I suggested that we put up a star chart for Simon and Gordon to go with the ones that are already up for Kate, Chris, and Martin. Unfortunately, however, the suggestion got short shrift as this is strictly a meeting for the presenters who are on-site. (Plus, there may not be enough stars to go round now that Simon may have found a polecat...)
Last week I showed you a video of Chris Packham talking about his collection of pellets. Here is the second half of that interview in which he moves on to his collection of seeds and skulls and tells us about his favourite thing in the whole world. Enjoy!
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As most of you will have noticed, there is no Springwatch on a Friday evening. This means that Friday morning is particularly slow. The presenters have all gone home or headed off for their Dirty Weekends. The director and his crew are all having a lie-in and most of the production team are taking the day off. This leaves a skeleton crew to keep an eye on the birds, make sure the Internet doesn't come crashing down, eat biscuits, and play word games.
There are, I reckon, three kinds of Springwatch fans and the way to tell them part is to ask them this very simple question: "Who's your favourite on Springwatch?"
In the first group are those people who will reply with the name of an animal. The otter perhaps. Or the kestrel. In the next group are those people who will reply with the name of a presenter. So Kate, Chris, Simon, Martin or Gordon.
Maybe it's because so many of the team are feeling ill - or maybe it's because we have just passed the half-way mark - but this morning's presenters meeting is definitely more subdued than usual. Even Kate, who is usually bursting with energy, is finding it difficult to get enthusiastic about the robins today. But Nigel the birdman refuses to be sucked in:
"Just because they're alive and flourishing" he insists, "does not mean they're boring."
The first thing I ever heard Kate Humble say about Chris Packham was that she had seen him arrive with a lorry load of t-shirts, all fastidiously arranged on a rack on wheels. Of course I didn't believe her. But then I went to his trailer to interview him about his collection of wildlife artifacts, and there they were, all nice and tidy, hanging on a rack...
First you were asked to tell us about cuckoos and you replied in your thousands (more than twelve thousand to be a little more precise).
Then you were asked to come up with a name for Britain's latest great bustard chick, just born on . And yet again you have replied in force. Such force, in fact, that I have only had the time to look at the first 500!
If you've been keeping a finger on the Springwatch pulse, we hope that you've been lucky enough to have experienced a glimpse of the beautiful phenomenon that's literally sweeping the nation.
The painted lady is one of the most widespread migrant butterflies found worldwide except in South America. It has a wide range of habitats and food sources including thistles and nettles.
As you know, those polecats have been proving very difficult to film.
So I decided to draw a picture to illustrate cameraman Jamie McPherson's (and our) doomed attempts to catch them.
But there's something missing... and that's where you come in. What do you think the pair of polecats are saying as they foil Jamie yet again? Please post your ideas below.
Update 9th June:
Thank you so much to everyone who sent a suggestion in. As I revealed on last night's Springwatch Unsprung these are my faves:
Loganpointers said: "You know these eye masks really are the perfect disguise"
johnnyboy58 thought: "Don't look behind you now, but we're being sketched!"
And from SuffolkLiz, the one I thought was best: "Hey, I think he's kneeling in one of yours..."
A pond looks great in any garden. And as wetlands and ponds across the country get filled in and polluted by agricultural runoff, they are becoming increasingly important havens for our wildlife.
About a third of ponds in the UK have disappeared in the last 50 years. What's more, about 80% of those that remain are in poor condition for wildlife.
As many of you will have noticed, there was a moment in last night's programme (around 23 minutes and 30 seconds in) when Chris said something which left Kate absolutely speechless - perhaps a first on Springwatch! In fact, it was so untypical that even the picked up on it. So what was it that so flabbergasted our seasoned presenter?
Update 03 June - the name announced
David Waters from the has chosen snowiewhite's suggestion Sarum to name the great bustard chick. It's the old name for Salisbury, near where the chicks hatched. Thanks for all your ideas. The Mole has chosen a few of his favourites too.
It's not often you get a text message telling you that a species has hatched in the UK for the first time in 177 years. But that's exactly what happened to me this week and the species is the huge, flamboyant, great bustard.
Yesterday, after reading Thursday's blog, one of the producers asked me if there was any way I could make the producers and presenters not look quite so silly. I agreed, of course. The producers and presenters are very talented people who do an amazing job, and I have no interest in doing them down unjustly. But then the meeting starts...
Well, last night was a bit dramatic, wasn't it? We spent a week watching the lapwing chicks being fed and a week watching the kestrel chicks being fed and then suddenly we find ourselves watching a lapwing chick being fed to a kestrel chick.
As some of you will have noticed, Mr Chris Packham has an impish sense of humour. On the day of the Cup Final he revealed a T-shirt that he had invented so he could keep himself, the crew, and the audience up to date with the score. On Thursday he unveiled a T-shirt with a space hopper's face on it. But some of the more culturally astute of you have picked up on another little trick of his...
We always say on Springwatch that nature writes the script but none of us imagined that the two of our families' paths might cross in such a dramatic fashion.
Before signing off last Thursday we were treated to the sight of four lapwing chicks and the possibility of seeing some kestrel chicks this week. When we left them, the lapwing family was doing well. The chicks had been ringed and the mother was working hard to protect them.
Our lapwing having a peck around.
Note to self for next year: on the day before Springwatch starts, remember to buy shares in a variety of camera manufacturers. "There be gold in them thar hills..."
Yes, after its first week of transmission the Springwatch effect is in full-swing. Viewers have gone outside with their cameras and got snappier than a congregation of camera-crazy crocodiles. To take a look at the results you can visit the official and see the amazing results for yourself. Or, if you're pushed for time but fancy a giggle, then have a gander at a few that made me smile below:
Everyone is gathered in the glamorous Portacabin to discuss this evening's programme. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that lots of the chicks have been fledging over the weekend which means that there is plenty of material for tonight's episode. The bad news is that lots of the chicks birds have been fledging over the weekend... and there are still two weeks' worth of Springwatch to fill. Yikes!
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