So another season of Springwatch has come and gone, and if you are like me and are left with an empty hole in your television schedules then don’t despair, the BBC is filling our screens with a whole host of programs on great British wildlife!
I don’t know about you but I thought this year’s Springwatch from the stunning reserve of Ynys-Hir was one of the best of recent times. There was a subtle change to the program I felt, far more of the behaviour of the wildlife featured, and packed with more identification tips for all sorts of flora and fauna than ever before. It also has to be said, the Water Rails stole the show for me. To put into context how rare that nest sighting was, the BTO tweeted during the show that they only have two other Water Rail nests recorded for the whole of the UK so far this year. It demonstrates the extraordinary lengths that these birds go to conceal their nest sites, and these aren’t hugely uncommon birds.
I also enjoyed their film sequences on making the ordinary extraordinary. Something I try to do in these blogs from time to time. The life cycles of things you take for granted are amazing. Some of my favourite films from this series were the ones on the snails and the large white butterfly. I was utterly unaware of the Oystercatcher's nesting on the rooftops in Scottish cities. Will this start happening in Welsh cities I wonder. I can see no reason why not.
But Springwatch was just the launch pad for a whole Summer of Wildlife, and the emphasis this summer is get out there, and get involved. Something that the RSPB is urging you to do with their new campaign “Giving Nature A Home” launched this week, something I will return to in my next blog.
I went along to the BBC event launching their Summer of Wildlife in Cardiff last Saturday (15th June). Despite the squally weather in the morning the event was a huge success. The stars of Springwatch and the One Show were there to answer questions and they took part in a family orientated “Whose A Wildlife Whizz Quiz?” in the lecture theatre in the Museum of Wales each hour. The whole event was geared to getting the entire family involved. It was amazing to see how many children were getting stuck in and learning about all the wildlife that can be found literally on their doorsteps. I spoke to Dr Alex Pollard who was with the Cardiff Bat Group, she told me they had over 200 kids come and visit their stand to colour in and paint cut out bats. You can only hope this kind of thing triggers a spark that makes them the conservationists of the future.
There was a mock-up of the Springwatch studio for budding presenters to have a go at hosting the show, a falconry display and one of the more interesting displays from my perspective, a number of cameras that have been employed on site in Ynys-hir, and how they work.
Being a bit of a geek, one of the most interesting stands was the DNA one. Cardiff University were showing how they use DNA techniques to trace various families of otters in the country, and how they inter-relate. They had a demonstration to show how easy it is to extract DNA from an onion (or anything for that matter, they only use an onion as the DNA strands are particularly long and easier to see), using just washing up liquid, salt, water, alcohol and pineapple. A simple experiment you can actually do at home.
The Who Is a Wildlife Whizz Quiz was a great bit of fun. The teams were split between Mike Dilger and Miranda Krestovnikoff for the One Show versus Nick Baker and Iolo Williams from Springwatch. The kids in the audience were the real stars, helping the presenters identify various pictures of wildlife, and the tricky sound round.
The BBC are running the Summer Of Wildlife events all around the UK over the coming months, there are plenty of events happening at your local RSPB Cymru nature reserve as well. I will be rounding these up in my next blog. There is no excuse this year not to go and immerse yourself in some of the wonderful habitats we have in our principality.
As an aside to this blog, my good friends Cellan and Dr Alex Pollard are cycling from North to South Wales at the weekend raising money for RSPB Cymru. I would be very grateful if you could possibly sponsor them. Their JustGiving page is here. Thank you.
All Images © Anthony Walton