Archives for October 2010

For all those who haven't been watching Autumnwatch's grey seal webcams, naturalist Chris Sperring has been with us providing some rather lovely audio commentary. During his time here on Stronsay, he's also been out and about with his camera taking photos of the island's wildlife.

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The weather may have got a bit milder in the past few days, but there’s no doubt that autumn is well and truly here. The swallows have now departed from the barn, the redwings and fieldfares are roving around the fields, and squadrons of starlings fly over my Somerset home each morning and evening on their way to and from their famous roost, a few miles down the road.

So what better time to think about that classic symbol of the season just gone - butterflies?

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We're really excited by this week's Unsprung quiz. We have been out and about this week collecting foot prints. Let's see how you all get on with these pictures of plaster cast foot prints.



Answers below as usual please. Good luck!

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The guest presenter for the 4 November show is experienced naturalist and broadcaster Nick Baker.

Nick is a familiar face on our screens having recently inspired us with Nick Baker's Weird Creatures on Five.

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It's mid-autumn and with many families on half term breaks, there is no shortage of places to go and things to do.

Here are just a few ideas.

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There have been loads of waxwing sightings across the UK this week and we wonder if you've been noticing them too.

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Editor's update 30 November: thanks for all the waxwing sightings you've posted here. We're trying to keep them all in one place for everyone's convenience so please if you've seen one tell us about it on our dedicated waxwing sightings blog post.

Well waxwings have certainly arrived as we predicted in last week's blog, and they have arrived in force! It's fantastic to read in your comments that many of you have already encountered these exquisite northern visitors. Waxwings normally arrive in the north and slowly filter southwards, but this autumn has been a little different.

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We've found Stronsay. We've found grey seals. We've found pups. And best of all we're almost ready to beam live video of them across the internet.

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Did you try the sounds of autumn quiz? We had great fun in the office with it. Well done Wildlife Filmer Adam and Nicola Main you were really close.We need to give a huge thank you to sound recordist Chris Watson and the British Deer Society, for selecting an intriguing variety of autumnal calls.

Here are the answers:

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Over 17,000 of your photos have been added to the Autumnwatch Flickr group since we opened it again this year!

We have the whole team looking through and keeping an eye out for stunning shots to use in the shows and of course, to pick their favourites. Here they are!

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Many colours can remind us of autumn but as Chris Watson found out in last week's Autumnwatch, sounds also play an intricate part in our experience of the season at this time of year.

But how well do you really know your autumnal sounds? Test your knowledge by identifying the common autumn calls from these sound clips and post your answers below.

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For anyone who missed it or who wants to enjoy it again, here's Lucy's Unsprung poem from last night. I love it... I can smell the autumn...

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Firstly, thank you Northern Ireland for a fantastic autumn spectacle - from 30,000 geese to dancing conger eels! Both Chris and Kate couldn't speak more highly of their trip across the water, and the good news is we're going back for our last programme of the series. Local naturalist and broadcaster, Darryl Grimason, will be telling the story of the whooper swans and how their arrival from Iceland signals the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.

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We awoke yesterday morning to the first frost of the year - and as if to coincide with the onset of autumn after that glorious Indian Summer, the winter thrushes are back. As I drove down the lane behind my home early this morning, amongst the tight flocks of starlings was a small group of larger birds - ten in all.

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I've just spent one of the most enjoyable years of my long BBC career, making a new series, Birds Britannia, coming soon to BBC Four. It's not a conventional natural history series - though it does contain some of the very best footage of British birds ever assembled in one place. Nor is it a history series - at least not in the way you might imagine. Instead we have chosen to tell four very different but intimately connected stories about the relationship between the British people and our birdlife, through our garden birds, waterbirds, seabirds and birds of the countryside.

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Guest blog: Rich Hearn is Head of Species Monitoring for the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). He's been writing a Migration Watch blog for the WWT since the start of the autumn, giving regular updates on the thousands of birds that migrate from their summer breeding haunts to spend the winter at some of WWT's nine wetland centres across the UK.

It's been a cracking week for migration at WWT centres. As the thermometers dropped over the past week the wildfowl have flooded in, bringing with them more than a few surprises!

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Great news to start the week from AMikeA regarding the chaffinches and bramblings he had been feeding aboard a seismic survey vessel in the North Sea:

We arrived back into Den Helder, Netherlands, yesterday morning [Sunday 17 October]. It was really satisfying to see the chaffinches and bramblings that I'd kept alive for two weeks by providing food, flying off with a chirp into some trees as the ship pulled alongside. It was just after sunrise when we docked, so the birds had not been active for long, but they waited until the ship was a mere 50 metres from the dock before flying off in two groups, one five minutes after the other.

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The guest presenter for the 28 October show needs little introduction. Gordon Buchanan has been a regular presenter on Springwatch and Autumnwatch for the last few years. Growing up with the amazing wildlife in and beside the Sound of Mull, it's hardly a surprise he developed a fascination for nature.

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In this week's show Chris and Kate get intimate with one of the most intriguing predators living in UK waters... the conger eel. I went on a dolphin watch recently (coming up later in the series) and was surprised to learn autumn is the best time to see dolphins in the UK.

Now is also the time grey seals choose to breed - in fact autumn is a very busy time for much of our marine life. All this has prompted me to wonder if you have any questions or observations about the wildlife that live around our shores. If so post them below and we'll try our best to answer them Thursday night's show.

There's been all sorts in the Autumnwatch photo group group this week from rare vagrants to stunning stags.

To show our appreciation for you sharing your wonderful photography with us, here's the latest edition of our team favourites.

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We're really excited by this week's Unsprung quiz. For the first time ever we are doing a sound one. Let's see how you all get on with our autumnal sounds recorded by our guest presenter Chris Watson. Answers below as usual please. Good luck!

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Guest blogger: Production Coordinator Ellie Williams is with the team in Northumbria capturing the sounds of autumn with ace sound recordist Chris Watson.

Whilst munching my way through some moussaka yesterday evening, it slowly dawned on me that I was sat between no ordinary dinner guests. Chris Watson and Gary Moore - sound recordist gurus - were speaking a language all of their own.

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Martin asked for your questions and we've had a fantastic response. Unfortunately it isn't possible for us to answer all of them on the show but we hope to answer a few here and point you in the right direction if we can't.

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Guest blog: After her adventures on last night'sAutumnwatch, Liz Bonnin readily admits to being obsessed with wildcats. So she was more than happy to hop straight off the plane from Scotland and answer your questions about the elusive felid.

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Autumnwatch Producer Richard Taylor-Jones described filming the Scottish wildcat kittens as "astonishing" - exactly my reaction to seeing the footage! For Liz Bonnin, our guest presenter, there's no doubt her eyewitness encounter will live with her for a very long time.

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One of the great joys of living in the country, here on the Somerset Levels, is the constant soundtrack provided by the swallows nesting in next door's barn. They are here for about five months, from mid-April until mid-September. Sometime in early October, I finally realise that I can no longer hear them - by which time the broods raised here in my home village are well on their way to their African winter-quarters.

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If you haven't already had a go at the quiz, stop and go to the quiz!

If you want to see how you got on, here are the answers. Thanks to all the brilliant photographers on the BBC Autumnwatch Flickr group for lending us their photos!

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Last week's quiz was pretty tough so this week we've gone for a completely different theme. Let's see how you all get on. These are the sort of remains that might be found in a peregrine's nest. What do you think they are. Answers below as usual please. Good luck!

Update 14 October: a little easier than last week's quiz. Well done all those who got it right. If you missed the end of show, here are the answers:

a)Woodcock carcass

b) Moorhen foot

c) Green woodpecker remains

d) Snipe skull

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Sika deer were introduced into the UK in 1860, brought into deer park collections from Japan and Taiwan. There are many subspecies but the only free living form which escaped and dispersed were Japanese sika.

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Guest blogger: Andy Hamilton is an expert on home grown food, wild food and brewing. He has foraged for The Eden Project, at literary festivals, end of the world festivals and eaten his way through much of Bristol's wild flora and fauna as well touring the country in search of the great British homebrew.

After your first climbing lesson you would not go out and try and tackle the OId Man of Hoy, nor would you think you could run a marathon after jogging for the Number 32. Alas, many people think it is a great idea to go out and pick mushrooms after only seeing button mushrooms in the supermarket.

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Watching a preview of Chris's wonderful spider safari on tonight's Autumnwatch made me think about how little is known about our eight-legged friends. There's so many myths and superstitions associated with them that it's difficult to discern the truth.

So now's your chance to get the facts... Is there anything about spiders you've always wanted to know but have been too afraid to ask? Post a comment below and we'll answer the best on the show tonight. (Remember, 8.30pm BBC Two!)

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Weighing only as much as a 20p piece, you'd be forgiven for wondering how goldcrests manage to migrate at all. But migrate they do, and after a worryingly poor showing last autumn, last week saw a return to form for this diminutive traveller. As birdwatchers up and down the east side of the country over the weekend will testify, the easterly airflow has brought huge numbers of them across the North Sea, an arrival neatly illustrated by the BirdTrack reporting rate.

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Guest blogger: guest presenter Liz Bonnin is in Cairngorms on a mission to track down wildcats for this Thursday's Autumnwatch.

The Scottish Highlands are spectacular in autumn. Since the team has arrived in the Cairngorms we have been blessed with perfect, crisp sunny days in which to see red deer, buzzards and red squirrels amongst others. But our challenge on Autumnwatch is to film the wildcat. This promises to be somewhat more problematic. Only 400 remain in the whole of Britain and wildcats are renowned for their secretive behaviour.

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You might not be familiar with Chris Watson, our next guest presenter. But chances are you've appreciated his work across a load of natural history programmes without even realising it. Chris is an acclaimed, BAFTA-winning wildlife sound recordist, responsible for capturing the sounds of the natural world for programmes such as Autumnwatch, Life In The Undergrowth and Life Of Mammals to name just a few.

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The Autumnwatch Flickr group is full to bursting of fantastic autumnal photos from you, our Autumnwatchers.

With the team spread across various parts of the country filming it's getting harder for researcher Sam to track them down to choose their favourites.

Here's this week's top picks of your photography.

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Just for fun, see if you can tell us who is featuring in these cryptic captures...

Update: Once you've had a go, check out the answers here.

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Autumn - what a season! I can't think of a more exciting time to be watching British wildlife. Last night on Autumnwatch we saw peregrines on the Houses of Parliament and otters in Sheltand - wherever you are there's always something to see.

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Guest blogger: Stephen Moss is a series producer at the BBC Natural History Unit and author, with a special interest in British wildlife. Here he begins an occasional series of personal reflections on the the seasonal wildlife in his garden.

Just as all the summer clothes are safely packed away, and the central heating has come on, an Indian Summer has arrived, with temperatures in the low 20s - more like June than October.

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You might well know Liz Bonnin as one of the quartet of presenters on Bang Goes The Theory, BBC One’s science-debunking show. But what is less well known is Liz’s fascination with wildlife, especially her passion for exploring the secretive world of the big cat.

This Autumnwatch, Liz joins us in the search of one of our own wildcat families in the heart of the Cairngorms. She’ll be looking at the efforts to conserve one of Britain's rarest mammals. There are believed to be as few as 400 individuals, known as ‘highland tigers’, left in the wild.

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On tonight's Autumnwatch Unsprung we're revealing four interesting items. Can you identify them? Answers below please.

We should warn you that one of them is not as easy as it might seem...

Update 8 October: You'll have to try harder next time! No one got the answers completely correct. Here they are...

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Guest blogger: the office here at Autumnwatch Towers is a hive of activity today and we can't help but wonder what it's like at the other end of the UK in Shetland for Charlie Hamilton James and our remote team as they prepare for the first show.

Fortunately production coordinator Ellie Williams has been in touch...

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Guest blogger: Autumnwatch producer Richard Taylor-Jones is in Shetland with Charlie Hamilton James in search of otter cubs . He sent back these photos of their trip so far. You can see the team's films on tonight's Autumnwatch, 8.30pm on BBC Two.

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Migration stepped up a gear this week as the urgency to leave northern latitudes increased. But it has been a week of stop and start as weather fronts tracked across the country.

With light south/south-easterly winds, Monday saw the largest movements of the week. Over 3,000 goldfinches were counted heading south over Spurn Point in Humberside, with large numbers also seen at south coast watchpoints. Smaller numbers of bramblings, chaffinches and siskins were also on the move.

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Last week I had a rather strange experience… I went badger watching but not on some wild and lonely hill side but about two miles from the centre of Bristol. I am, like many of us, used to seeing urban foxes… but badgers?

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You've shared thousands of fantastic photos on the The BBC Autumnwatch Flickr group already this season.

All the team have been uber busy filming and making preparations for this week's show but web researcher Sam managed to track them all down to choose their favourites. Even Martin popped his head round the door to join in.

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Guest blogger: Charlie Hamilton James, photographer/cameraman and guest presenter of Autumnwatch 2010, is in Shetland filming otters. Here he gives advice on the best way to film these elusive creatures.

It's so nice to be back in Shetland filming otters. I was up here about five years ago shooting otters for Springwatch with Simon King and John Aitchison. We got some great stuff on that trip and hopefully we will this time too.

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Everyone who watched Charlie Hamilton James in the recent BBC One series Halcyon River Diaries will be well aware of his passion for kingfishers. But another animal who captivates him in equal measure is the otter. Which is why for this year's Autumnwatch, we've challenged Charlie to track down otter cubs in the Shetland Islands.

And here's your chance to ask him a question. Is there anything you've always wanted to know about otters? Have you had a wonderful otter experience you'd like to share? Or are you fascinated by Charlie's other favourites - kingfishers - and dying to know something about these beautiful birds?

Whatever you'd like to know, here's the place to say. Charlie will be answering the best of your questions on Thursday night's Unpsrung.

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We thought that this week the focus would move from the west to the east as the week progressed, and this certainly proved to be the case. The predicted redwings duly arrived, along with good numbers of bramblings, but little did we know just how good the east coast was going to be.

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