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The Springwatch team - Martin Hughes-Games, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan - with special guest Iolo Williams, celebrate the wonderful natural history of our seabirds.
Seabirds are a remarkable group of animals. Each species has its own incredible biology and fascinating story. Did you know that in its lifetime, the migratory Arctic Tern will have travelled as far as the Moon and back three times? And that the Northern Gannet can dive into the water at speeds of over 60 miles per hour?
For nine months of the year these wonderful birds live out at sea, inaccessible to us in the vast wilderness of the world's oceans but for three special months in the summer, they come to the British Isles to breed in huge numbers - a staggering 8 million seabirds of 25 different species. It is one of the greatest wildlife gatherings on Earth and it happens right here on our doorstep.
This is our chance to really get to know these fabulous birds of the sea. The Springwatch team has travelled to the far corners of the UK to bring you the very best of our British seabirds and tell their amazing tales. Martin Hughes-Games is in Orkney, the seabird capital of the UK; Iolo Williams is on Skomer Island - the largest and most important seabird breeding colony in southern Britain and home to 6,000 pairs of Atlantic Puffins; Chris Packham is in Bristol Museum where he investigates the amazing way our seabirds are built for a life of extremes; and Michaela Strachan is in the city of Bath, where some of our seabirds have moved away from their traditional breeding grounds by the sea.
The Springwatch team are joined by fieldcraft experts Simon King and Charlie Hamilton James for an in-depth view of one of the UK's most charismatic yet enigmatic animals - the otter.
Living not only along our rivers but also at the coast, otters have remarkable adaptations to a life both in and out of water. The team bring you the very latest scientific discoveries as well as a review of the turbulent history of the otter in the UK. It looks like the otter is making a steady comeback around the country but not everybody agrees this is good news.
Join the Springwatch team for an in-depth view of the UK's most colourful and
fascinating creatures, with private lives that are often stranger than fiction.
Living all over our countryside as well as in our own back gardens, butterflies
and moths are the animal world's ultimate transformers. Filming their
extraordinary life-cycles in ultra-close up, the team bring you the latest
science on their remarkable adaptations and lifestyles.
Butterflies and moths are fussy creatures with very specific needs, and as such
they are susceptible to the slightest change. Over past decades, their habitat
and range has shrunk significantly and a recent spate of cold, wet summers has
been disastrous for them. As the BBC's Summer of Wildlife continues, the
Springwatch team show that it has never been more important to give them a
helping hand, and it's possible for all of us to create a butterfly-friendly
haven, even in the smallest of back gardens.
Springwatch is back for an hour-long Easter special that showcases the best of British wildlife as it starts to emerge after an exceptional winter.
Presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan are at Stackpole in west Wales appealing for volunteers to join the Springwatch Do Something Great campaign, designed to help our UK wildlife.
Whilst they join a voluntary beach clean, Martin Hughes-Games volunteers to join wardens from the Wildlife Trust as they open up the nearby island of Skomer, ready for summer visitors.
And Iolo Williams is in Milford Haven, 20 years after the Sea Empress oil tanker spilt its load, to see how the wildlife is faring today.
Chris Packham, Kate Humble, Martin Hughes-Games and Michaela Strachan reunite and return to Springwatch's home at Ynys-hir, to look back at an amazing year of live broadcasting.
The Springwatch team - Martin Hughes-Games, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan - with special guest Iolo Williams, celebrate the wonderful natural history of our seabirds. Seabirds are a remarkable group of animals. Each species has its own incredible biology and fascinating story. Did you know that in its lifetime, the migratory Arctic Tern will have travelled as far as the Moon and back three times? And that the Northern Gannet can dive into the water at speeds of over 60 miles per hour? For nine months of the year these wonderful birds live out at sea, inaccessible to us in the vast wilderness of the world's oceans but for three special months in the summer, they come to the British Isles to breed in huge numbers - a staggering 8 million seabirds of 25 different species. It is one of the greatest wildlife gatherings on Earth and it happens right here on our doorstep. This is our chance to really get to know these fabulous birds of the sea.
Join Brett Westwood for the best of the day's action from the Springwatch live cameras, plus he's joined by a special wildlife guest ahead of the programme.
An in-depth view of the UK's butterflies and moths, including filming of their extraordinary life cycles and the latest science on their remarkable adaptations and lifestyles.
Brett Westwood returns with the Lunchtime Show, to look at the best of the action across our cameras and discusses British wildlife with an array of guests and experts.
Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and James Wong join the lively cherry blossom celebrations taking place across Japan this spring.
Start the day with Brett Westwood, live from Springwatch, showcasing the best overnight action from the live cameras on National Trust Sherborne Estate in Gloucestershire
Springwatch is spending 12 months in the heart of the Scottish Highlands – the Cairngorms. Join the team as they celebrate the richness this unique landscape has to offer.
Start the day with Brett Westwood, live from Springwatch, showcasing the best overnight action from the live cameras on National Trust Sherborne Estate in Gloucestershire
This year, Springwatch is asking people to survey their back gardens for Gardenwatch. Follow Kate Bradbury as she transforms her own garden into a wildlife haven.
Springwatch is spending 12 months in the heart of the Scottish Highlands - the Cairngorms. Join the team as they celebrate the richness this unique landscape has to offer.
Bill Oddie, Kate Humble and Simon King look back at 2007, a year of storms, floods and fabulous encounters with wildlife. Animals include red deer, golden eagles, city foxes, badgers, wild otters, wild boar, seal pups and unimaginably cute beavers. With updates on your favourite characters and additional information, it'll keep you going until Springwatch 2008!
Kate Humble presents a celebration of the UK's surprising and beautiful marine life and takes an in-depth look at the issues affecting our coastal waters.
From Cornwall to Scotland she reveals breathtaking marine animals - dolphins, otters, and colourful fish that look almost tropical. Kate gets wet, too, when she swims with Britain's biggest fish - the huge but gentle basking shark.
We find out what we can all do to help conserve and enjoy this wildlife - how simple changes in our appetite for fish and chips could literally save the UK's fishing industry. And good news, too - there's a new Marine Bill that could be the most significant turning point for our UK sea life ever.
Simon King reveals his most magical wildlife moments and recommends some spectacular British wildlife encounters, including getting up close and personal with badgers, entering the chaos of sea bird colonies and basking in the beauty of a bluebell wood.
With wildlife all around us - from our city parks to the wilds of the country - Simon discovers that it is medically proven that to be good for us.
Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan takes a personal journey to find his wildlife roots and celebrates the passionate human heroes of Springwatch. Old and young, city slickers and country dwellers, these wildlife watchers share their local wildlife secrets with the nation.
Meet two veteran conker champions that have been bonkers for conkers for over 65 years, a talented teenager with a love of badgers, and dedicated communities that transform their local patches into Breathing Places, that are good for wildlife and people.
Beautiful wildlife, stunning places and real characters are all part of Gordon's personal journey to uncover what led him to a life working with wildlife.
Field craft expert and ace naturalist cameraman Simon King reveals his tricks of the trade in a practical guide on how to get up close and personal with some of UK's best loved wild animals, from otters and kingfishers to robins to red deer.
Simon shares some of his favourite - and most remarkable - close encounters with wild creatures from a lifelong passion for UK wildlife. By revealing some of his often surprising techniques, Simon encourages people to have a go themselves, giving a new and intimate perspective on native wild animals.
Simon shows how to get really close to wild otters and how to train a robin to feed from the hand. He demonstrates how to have a conversation with a grasshopper and how to sneak up on rabbits and fallow deer, as well as how to go fishing for lizards and get a fantastic pedicure from a prawn.
New Springwatch presenter Martin Hughes-Games is on a mission to get people closer to nature on their holidays. With the credit crunch making more and more people consider a holiday in the UK, Martin presents an essential guide to the wilder side of holiday-making. Whether it's trips to the seaside, heading for the hills, woods and rivers, going camping or staying home in the garden or around the city, Martin and friends offer tips on wildlife-watching during the one time of year many people have the time to really enjoy it.
Martin travels to some favourite UK holiday spots to discover how to give them a wild twist. Wherever the destination, there is always wildlife close by. Martin meets local experts and reveals unsuspected wildlife gems. He finds that getting closer to nature is easier than it may seem - it can also be great fun, and doesn't cost the earth. From wild spectacles, to quick and simple things to try out with the family, the UK's amazing wildlife can help spice up any holiday.
Springwatch cameraman Gordon Buchanan presents a celebration of the emerging field of home-grown wildlife film-making, now that new technology offers this opportunity to non-professionals - even those on a tight budget.
Springwatch has become known not only for the camerawork of its own team, but for the amazing contributions from its viewers. They often show fascinating - or downright hilarious - behaviour from wildlife which could only ever have been filmed by those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Gordon remembers the passionate amateur film-makers - from teenagers to pensioners - that Springwatch has met over the years and finds out what they get from the challenges of filming wildlife. He showcases some of the very best home-grown wildlife moments that viewers have sent in over the years.
Gordon and his Springwatch team colleagues look back at their own experienes as camerapeople, and Gordon shares some of his golden rules of field craft and camera technique. He explains how to make a start at filming and how to improve technique, in a light-hearted and easy-to-absorb wildlife film-making masterclass.
Chris Packham, Kate Humble and Simon King look back at another amazing year. There are updates on the latest from some of the animal characters and wildlife news events they followed during 2009.
As ever, the team encourages people across the country to connect with nature and get out and enjoy it, even in the depths of winter. Chris is round at Kate's house, walking off the season's excesses, and looking at which wild delights can be enjoyed close to home. Meanwhile, Simon is at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire - famous for its winter wildfowl, particularly their wild geese and swans.
Chris Packham shows us how changes in nature around us provide solid proof that climate change is already happening. Some of the most powerful data has come from amateur naturalists and recorders. Chris investigates what climate change means for UK plants and animals and predicts the winners and the losers.
By showcasing new and exciting ways in which conservation can help our flora and fauna deal with the challenge, Chris reveals not only large-scale visionary schemes, but also advice on how to shape a positive future for UK wildlife in a changing world.
Simon King is on safari again, this time in the urban jungle.
Cities can be great places for wildlife: home to otters, peregrine falcons, badgers, foxes, bats and more. To really appreciate our natural neighbours and the extraordinary ways they have adapted to city living, you need to retune your senses and enter their world. Super-sleuth Simon shows where and how to find our wildest city dwellers.
Join Gordon Buchanan on his adventurous journey on the UK's high seas, where he discovers the world's top ocean predator and a whole lot more. From seabirds to seals and sand-eels to basking sharks, discover the creatures that make this alien environment their own.
The Springwatch and Autumnwatch team - Chris Packham, Kate Humble and Martin Hughes-Games - look back at an amazing year of live broadcasting to ask what we have learned about UK wildlife in 2010, and what to expect in 2011 and beyond. They look at some of the highlights from the 2010 series and adding extra insight into some of the remarkable stories and behaviours that were revealed. They also investigate the UK wildlife stories that hit the headlines in 2010, and catch up with what the Springwatch and Autumnwatch audience did, said, filmed and photographed through the year.
Join the Springwatch team for an up-to-the-minute report on spring 2011, with news, views and inspiration on how you can get involved. The show comes direct from Portland Bill bird observatory in Dorset, where spring migrant birds will be arriving on our shores. Find out how to get involved in the Springwatch survey, and what to look out for over the coming weeks.
Springwatch returns for an Easter Special, showcasing the best of British wildlife just as the countryside is bursting into colour and life.
With the breeding season getting underway, presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan hope for Easter eggs at the mainland's largest seabird colony.
Martin Hughes-Games is in Suffolk with seasonal news from the current home of Springwatch, and Simon King is back on the remote Scottish island of Islay, discovering the origin of the Easter Bunny.
Chris Packham, Kate Humble, Martin Hughes-Games and Michaela Strachan reunite and return to Springwatch's home at Ynys-hir, the RSPB's beautiful reserve in Wales, to look back at an amazing year of live broadcasting. They revisit all the wildlife highlights from this year's series, and give extra insight into some of the remarkable stories and animal behaviours the team revealed. Plus updates on the wildlife stories that made the headlines, and viewers get the chance to challenge Chris Packham in his Chris-mas Grotto.
Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and James Wong join the lively cherry blossom celebrations taking place across Japan this spring.
The blossom, or sakura, is one of the world's most stunning seasonal wonders, with blankets of pink flowers sweeping across the country.
Whilst James looks at the history of this famous festival, Chris and Michaela discover the wildlife that live alongside the blossom. And all three find themselves partying with the crowds of Japanese 'blossom watchers'.
A special episode which chronicles the spring of 2020 during lockdown.
