Autumnwatch, Series 9

[Blackleaf]

The brilliant BBC wildlife series Autumnwatch returns tonight for its ninth series, with its usual hosts Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games.

The show, paired with its spring equivalent Springwatch, charts the fortunes of British wildlife in the autumn.

As usual, it is the wildlife which are the stars of the show and, as usual, we'll have the usual assortment of little cameras around the reserve to enable us to watch live footage of our feathery and furry friends. These cameras will be available day and night on the Autumnwatch website and, if you are in Britain and Ireland, on the BBC Red Button.

Tonight's Episode 1 of the new series - which will be broadcast live from the RSPB Leighton Moss reserve on the Lancashire coast - looks at migration and how this year's bountiful autumn has affected wildlife.

Autumnwatch website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079t1p

 

[petros]

Moss. How exciting is that?

 

[Blackleaf]

Moss. How exciting is that?

The show comes live from Leighton Moss RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve on the north Lancashire coast. The RSPB: Leighton Moss

A cosy makeshift TV studio has been built inside an old barn on a farm inside the reserve which the three presenters broadcast live from towards the end of each episode and in the half-hour Autumnwatch Unsprung (in which the hosts answer viewers' questions about wildlife and give us all a wildlife quiz which viewers can partake in) episode which follows each episode.

Also wooden seats have been set up just outside the barn with a nice roaring log fire to keep them warm on these freezing night, from which they broadcast much of their live footage during the hour-long show.

There is also plenty of live and recorded footage of wildlife around the reserve and around the country.

Last night Martin Hughes-Games, in a live broadcast, waded through part of the reserve's acres of reeds in the darkness to tell us about the wildlife which lives in them. We had a report on badgers and the show's resident bird expert brought several starlings into the barn studio.

Tonight's episode - BBC2, 8pm to 9pm - shows the latest wildlife action from the wild Lancashire coast and also a report on foxes in Brighton which have been fitted with tracking devices.

A magnificent red deer stag at Leighton Moss, photographed by a visitor

 

[petros]

If I want to see birds I can look out my window. 10's of millions are passing through and the permanent birds are overly abundant to begin with. For wildlife in the city we have everything but deer, elk, moose, bears who get removed. If I want to see coyotes, foxes, racoons, hares and rabbits, eagles, hawks, falcons, beaver, weasels, martins, badgers, esquimaux and so so much more.

20 mins away outside the city I have the best hunting and fishing in the world at my disposal.

If you want to come set shop in my barn you are more than welcome. It's even better than the wildlife in Regina.

It's on the frontier.

NNW of the farm it's nothing but forest clear through to the other end on the tundra.

There is enough bush meat and fowl in the freezers to feed you for months. Don't be afraid to try anything you want out of the road kill freezer. It's all fresh. The dogs don't mind sharing their skunk.

If you saw off a big chunk off elk for them, they'll love your forever. That's when you strap on your BBC cameras on collars and harness on the dogs.

When they wake up 3-4 hours later they'll drink a gallon of water and head out marking their grounds. 9-10 hours later when they come back, you'll have the most amazing wildlife video you've ever seen.

Cheerio

 

[Blackleaf]

If I want to see birds I can look out my window. 10's of millions are passing through and the permanent birds are overly abundant to begin with. For wildlife in the city we have everything but deer, elk, moose, bears who get removed. If I want to see coyotes, foxes, racoons, hares and rabbits, eagles, hawks, falcons, beaver, weasels, martins, badgers, esquimaux and so so much more.

20 mins away outside the city I have the best hunting and fishing in the world at my disposal.

If you want to come set shop in my barn you are more than welcome. It's even better than the wildlife in Regina.

It's on the frontier.

NNW of the farm it's nothing but forest clear through to the other end on the tundra.

There is enough bush meat and fowl in the freezers to feed you for months. Don't be afraid to try anything you want out of the road kill freezer. It's all fresh. The dogs don't mind sharing their skunk.

If you saw off a big chunk off elk for them, they'll love your forever. That's when you strap on your BBC cameras on collars and harness on the dogs.

When they wake up 3-4 hours later they'll drink a gallon of water and head out marking their grounds. 9-10 hours later when they come back, you'll have the most amazing wildlife video you've ever seen.

Cheerio

Yeah, but you lot don't have the BBC and its brilliant programmes like Autumnwatch.

Most wildlife programmes in North America merely tell you about how to get out and about to shoot animals.

 

[Locutus]

 

[Blackleaf]

The difference between the Americans/Canadians and the British when it comes to wildlife is that "getting out and about to see wildlife" to the Americans and Canadians means going out dressed in khaki jackets and khaki baseball caps armed to the teeth with rifles to shoot dead a raccoon for no good reason, whereas to the British it means going out with your family to a nature reserve like Leighton Moss, look at the lovely birds and deer and badgers and foxes whilst partaking in a lovely little stroll , before heading back to the reserve's cafe for a nice cup of PG Tips and a slice of cake.

The British, of course, are much more civilised and gentlemanly and, of course, have a reputation as a nation of animal lovers.

 

[petros]

Yeah, but you lot don't have the BBC and its brilliant programmes like Autumnwatch.

You're 100% right.

You are far far better off sitting on your sofa than ever going to see and experience the moss for yourself.

 

[Blackleaf]

You're 100% right.

You are far far better off sitting on your sofa than ever going to see and experience the moss for yourself.

Rubbish.

I think they said last light on Autumnwatch that 100,000 people eat and drink at the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve cafe every year.

 

[petros]

Should I build a café in my barn? Millions of people drink the beer that I grow already.

 

[Blackleaf]

Should a build a café in my barn?

Build a TV studio in it. And then the Autumnwatch or Springwatch or Winterwatch team might come round and tell you Canadians how to get out and about and see your local wildlife in a civilised and peaceful manner.

 

[petros]

Living amongst the wildlife isn't as good as seeing it on TV?

 

[Blackleaf]

Living amongst the wildlife isn't as good as seeing it on TV?

You watch Autumnwatch on TV, learn about your local wildlife on it (you learn a lot of things on the show), and then go out and see it

Last night Autumnwatch showed us a great game that parents can play with their kids to make seeing wildlife more fun. The three main presenters, plus one of the show's wildlife experts, split themselves into two teams and competed against each other to see who can see as many plants and animals beginning with each letter of the word AUTUMNWATCH as they can.

They wandered about the vast nature reserve to find these things, and I think Michael Strachan and the wildlife expert beat Martin Hughes-Games and Chris Packham.

 

[petros]

What does the moss taste like when covered in dew on a cloudless dawn in Late October?

I like fresh picked rose hip tea when I awake amongst the wilds.

Do you know what it means if the rose hips that were there at sunset the night before but are gone at dawn?

 

[Blackleaf]

This reminds me of that last episode of An Idiot Abroad 2 where the great Karl Pilkington was talking about when he went to Uganda in a previous episode to see mountain gorillas but got fed up walking through the jungle for hours and getting knackered and getting tangled in what he called "triffids" just to see some.

He told Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant: "If you want me to look at a gorilla, put it outside my tent. I'll look at it for a bit, then shift it!

 

[petros]

Thee BBC sends idiots to do Canadian wildlife shows?

No thanks.

What does the moss taste like Blackleaf?

 

[Blackleaf]

What does the moss taste like when covered in dew on a cloudless dawn in Late October?

I suppose it depends on what type of moss you are idiotic enough to eat.

I like fresh picked rose hip tea when I awake amongst the wilds.

I've not camped out since my training days in the Royal Navy in 1998. We camped on the edge of a pine forest at Tal-y-Bont in Wales, in which was a huge and knackering assault course which we all had to go on.

Do you know what it means if the rose hips that were there at sunset the night before but are gone at dawn?

It probably means you've picked them all to make tea.

 

[petros]

It probably means you've picked them all to make tea.

It means the idiot from abroad is going to spend his Autumn watching out for the drunk bear that ate them.

 

[Blackleaf]

Thee BBC sends idiots to do Canadian wildlife shows?

No thanks.

What does the moss taste like Blackleaf?

Strachan, Packham and Hughes-Games aren't idiots.

Chris Packham has a BSc in Zoology from the University of Southampton. His specialist subject is birds, and he knows more about them than most people; the camp Martin Hughes-Games - who used to be Autumnwatch and Springwatch's producer - has a 1st Class honours degree in Zoology from the University of Reading; and former kissogram and Avon lady Michaela Strachan, while she doesn't have a Zoology degree, is still something of a wildlife expert.

 

[petros]

Lmfao!