Springwatch returns with a special just as the countryside is bursting into life.Tune in this Good Friday, 3 April 2015, at 9 pm on BBC2 to see Bempton Cliffs take a starring role. And, hot off the press, the programme is being repeated on Easter Sunday at 7pm. So you get two chances to see us on TV. Here's a run-down of what you can expect from our national team:
Main base
Springwatch at Easter will be based at our Bempton Cliffs nature reserve in Yorkshire — whose stunning chalk 400-foot chalk cliffs are home to a quarter of a million seabirds.
Presenter Chris Packham will be investigating the changing nature of this vast colony, finding out why its gannets are booming whilst the puffins and other species are declining in the face of rising sea temperatures.
At this critical time of year, nearby Flamborough Head is a busy crossroads for birds migrating in and out of Britain and a hotspot for strange sea creatures emerging from the deep to breed.
Michaela Strachan will be heading out to sea with some of our own staff, as well as those from the local Bird Observatory and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, as she spots migratory birds off the coast of nearby Flamborough Head. She'll also be searching for a strange and mysterious fish called the lumpsucker.
Meanwhile at Minsmere, Martin Hughes-Games will be hoping to witness sky-dancing marsh harriers and the arrival of avocets.
Last year, the avocet colony was devastated by a voracious badger that swam out to their island and destroyed over 20 nests in 20 minutes. This year, we've teamed up with Springwatch and the University of Brighton to put GPS collars on eight badgers to better understand their behaviour.
Finally, Simon King will be returning to Islay in Scotland, where he'll be filming the Mad March hares and this wild island's other spectacular wildlife.
Simon will reveal the surprising origin of the Easter Bunny: go for a walk in the fields where brown hares box, and you'll often find spotted eggs. Of course it's not the hares leaving them behind — it's lapwings that nest on open ground.
So don't forget to tune in this Friday, 3 April 2015, at 9 pm on BBC2.
The annual three-week programme will return to our screens from 25 May to 11 June 2015 and will be hosted at Minsmere for the second year running. You can find out more on the Springwatch website.