Secret Garden (2026) s01e01 Episode Script

CHIRPING
BUZZING
Across the British Isles, there are
magical places.
Our pride and joy.
Our gardens.
LAUGHTER
Yet many of us are completely unaware
of the wild world
..right under our noses.
Amazingly, some British gardens are
almost as diverse
as a tropical rainforest.
And when our backs are turned
CHIRPING
..they come alive.
QUACKING
From the wilds of Scotland
STAG GRUNTS
..to a metropolitan oasis.
In each episode, we will reveal the
extraordinary dramas
playing out within a single garden.
EAGLES WHISTLE
Welcome to a hidden world right on our
doorsteps.
A millhouse has been standing here
since the Domesday Book a thousand
years ago.
Sara and Henry are the latest in a
long line of owners.
- Well, it's like living on a boat,
living in this house,
because, first of all, we are
surrounded by water.
Water there, the other side water,
water front and back,
so we are literally marooned.
- The water presents some unique
gardening challenges
because this river floods.
- Are you worried about next week?
- Well, you never know.
- Well, this week's fine,
but next week there's a lot of rain
forecast.
The weather forecast is pretty key to
us.
Everything changes if the water gets
really, really high.
We see about two thirds of our garden
disappear under water.
- With so much of the garden lost to
the river,
Henry and Sara allow large parts of it
to run wild.
- All of this is flood plain as far as
you can see.
Over here, the wood and the meadow,
which we leave completely wild.
But here and over there, above the
flood plain,
we try to manage as a garden.
- The garden is a sanctuary
..but every animal's chances of
survival
rise and fall
with the ebb and flow of the river.
- One of the most exciting things that
happens here
is that you get this flash of blue
followed by a whistle,
and then there goes a kingfisher.
- The kingfisher is a much-loved
British bird
..but it first evolved in the jungles
of Asia.
This male needs to catch 15 fish a
day.
CHIRPING
But in the early spring, the river
runs high.
It's thick with silt.
And things are going to get a lot
worse.
RUMBLE OF THUNDER
It's just a question of when.
Only one in four kingfishers lives for
more than a single year.
Each failed hunt
wastes precious energy.
His territory extends for half a mile
on each side of the millhouse
..so he tries upstream, where it's
shallower.
Special oils in his eyes reduce the
glare from the surface.
He hits the water at 25mph.
Here, there should be no problem in
catching enough fish for himself.
But a new arrival is eyeing him up.
A female.
If he is to win her over, he needs to
prove
that he can provide enough fish for a
family.
Not easy while the river is high.
CHIRPING
After the long, wet winter
..all the garden animals are hungry.
But it's not just birds that are drawn
to this feeder.
HOOTING
BARKING
A bank vole.
She has spent the winter in a burrow
beneath the lawn
..just above the level of the flood
plain.
There are around 25 million bank voles
in Britain
..but they're so shy,
Henry and Sara rarely see them.
Many that hunt them detect them by
watching for their movements.
When under threat, she normally stays
still.
But doing that
..might be dangerous on this lawn.
LAWNMOWER WHIRS
Robotic lawnmowers are becoming
increasingly common.
Many fail to detect small mammals.
VOLE SQUEALS
To survive in the modern world
..she must choose her moment with
care.
LAWNMOWER STOPS
Bank voles aren't the only animals
that wait for nightfall to look for
food.
Underneath the TV room,
the old mill channel has become home
to the garden's top predator.
An otter.
In the 30 years Henry and Sara have
lived here
TELEVISION:
- About 98mm through the day
- ..they've only seen one three times.
She catches over a kilo of fish every
night.
But as the seasons change,
so does her diet.
SQUAWKING
HOOTING
One garden resident
QUACKING
..is much bolder.
QUACKING
Mallards are the most common of
Britain's 22 species of duck.
Henry and Sara have an affectionate
name for one regular visitor.
Doris.
But this "sweet little duck"
QUACKING
..is the garden's resident
heartbreaker.
With their iridescent good looks,
these males are all trying to catch
her eye.
But she wants
..to assess their strength.
QUACKING AND SQUAWKING
One by one, the lightweights are
dismissed.
The female nods her head,
signalling her approval.
She has picked her partner.
Now she needs a place to nest.
Not easy to find in this garden.
As the days get longer
..the otter's diet shifts to larger,
plumper prey.
FRENZIED QUACKING
Mallards usually nest on the ground.
But, here, Doris has a safer choice.
This pollarded willow will do nicely.
And just in time.
CRACK OF THUNDER
The April showers have arrived.
The river rises surprisingly fast.
Almost a metre in 24 hours.
Those that have nested low
have already lost their eggs.
When the weather clears,
the waters quickly recede,
making it easier for the resident
kingfisher
to resume hunting.
He can now afford to share his catch.
And one minnow at a time
..he is winning her over.
LAWNMOWER ENGINE RUMBLES
After mating
..the pair begin digging a metre-long
burrow.
But it's only just above the
waterline.
As Sara mows,
she leaves the verge intact to prevent
the river eroding the bank.
But if it rains heavily
..the kingfisher's family home
could be washed away.
For four long weeks, all on her own,
Doris has barely left her nest.
She has been quietly incubating a
clutch of nine eggs.
She laid each of them on a different
day.
But to survive, they must hatch at the
same time.
CHIRPING
Remarkably, they talk to each other
..from inside the egg
..and so co-ordinate their hatching.
Over just a few hours
CHIRPING
..nine new lives begin to appear.
But without a father to bring them
food,
the mother must lead her flightless
babies
down from the nest.
CHIRPING
Less than 24 hours after hatching
SHE QUACKS
..one small step
QUACKING AND CHIRPING
..becomes a giant leap.
Their downy feathers cushion their
fall.
CHIRPING
Doris hurries them all into hiding.
Garden predators will be hard to
avoid.
LAWNMOWER WHIRS
High and dry on the lawn,
the vole has survived a wet spring
..and new opportunities are opening up
just upstream.
The garden's woodland is drying out.
Henry is creating a huge log pile.
In doing so,
he creates a new haven for wildlife.
A hideout for the vole.
There is more food for her here than
on the lawn.
And she's not alone.
SQUEAKING
A male, attracted by her scent.
Their time together may be brief
SQUEAKING
..but as long as the woods stay dry
..there could be a litter of pups
in just three weeks.
After a week in hiding
..Doris is ready to bring her
ducklings into the open.
She wants to lead them to better
feeding grounds
..just upstream from the mill.
But to get there, they must cross the
open lawn.
SHE CHIRPS
It's a bold move.
RED KITE WHISTLES
Oxfordshire has one of the highest
densities
of red kites in Britain.
They are usually scavengers,
but they will take a baby bird.
QUACKING AND CHIRPING
Just one in three ducklings make it to
adulthood.
QUACKING
Not great odds for a mother of nine.
RADIO:
- This heavy rain swirling round
is gradually going to sink further
south.
- The river here is not as safe as it
may look.
Just downstream from the ducks
..hidden away in their burrow
..the kingfishers also have a growing
family.
Only two days old.
The parents take it in turns to
provide food.
Fortunately, the river is now low and
crystal clear.
With six tiny mouths to feed
..the parents need to catch over 100
minnows a day.
But if the water level rises,
the chicks could drown.
For now, at least, the weather stays
dry.
A sunny May bank holiday.
An excellent time for a party.
CHATTER AND LAUGHTER
The lengthening days and soaring
temperatures
trigger another kind of gathering
that starts out of sight.
This tiny mayfly nymph has spent two
years underwater.
The time has come to make a break for
the surface.
Out in the open, she is exposed.
A larval damselfly is on the hunt.
Fortunately for her,
there is safety in numbers.
But not for everyone.
At the surface, she sheds her
exoskeleton
..and spreads a set of wings.
Her destination
..the lawn.
Here, males are dancing.
Competing to catch the eye of a
female.
It's a glorious sign of the arrival of
summer.
But she is late for the party
..and she needs to get past the deadly
damselflies.
Others try their luck.
Damselflies are exceptional predators
with a 95% hunting success rate.
Time to make her move.
Safe
..but she's not yet ready for the
dance.
Mayflies are the only winged insects
to undergo a second adult moult.
Time to join the throng.
Mayflies mate on the wing,
then fly together
..back to the river
..where the female lays her eggs.
After just one day as an adult
..her life is over.
In death,
she and countless others
..become food for the next generation.
In the woods
..Henry's log pile
..has become a nursery for the bank
vole.
Smaller than a Jelly Baby and
completely blind
..her pups are defenceless
..so the mother keeps watch.
A grass snake.
At one-and-a-half metres long
..it's Britain's largest reptile.
By resting its lower jaw on the
ground,
it can detect the tiniest vibrations.
VOLE SQUEALS
Its forked tongue can smell in
stereo
..pinpointing the scent coming from
the nest.
The female has no option
..but to move her babies
..one by one.
Deep inside the log pile,
her family is safe.
BUZZING
It hasn't rained in weeks
..and the river is at its lowest.
Its calm water allows brandy bottle
lilies to flower.
Their alcoholic scent attracts
insects.
Food for the growing ducklings.
They are now six weeks old.
Amazingly, Doris has managed to keep
all nine alive.
FRENZIED CHIRPING
An alarm call.
Predator nearby.
SQUAWKING
Doris' instinct is to retreat to
water.
But she's leading her family
into harm's way.
FRENZIED QUACKING
The ducklings are still too young to
fly
..so Doris puts her own life on the
line
..acting as a decoy.
FRENZIED QUACKING
Remarkably, it works
..and the otter has to settle for
something smaller.
Sara and Henry have little idea
what a resourceful mother Doris is
..successfully raising all nine
ducklings.
CHIRPING
In midsummer, the young voles leave
their log pile home
..and disperse across the garden
to make the most of fruit ripened by
the long, sunny days.
But when the light eventually fades
..the garden's nocturnal world is
revealed
by heat-sensitive cameras.
It's a world Henry and Sara know
little about.
HOOTING
Mice and shrews hunt for bugs around
and even on the house.
A miniature clean-up crew
..supported by an aerial team of bats.
Six of Britain's 18 species
are regularly attracted to the insects
in our gardens.
CLICKING
Daubenton's bats thrive
on the abundance of river insects.
CLICKING
A single bat can catch 3,000 a night.
As often happens in British summers
..this one ends abruptly.
CRACK OF THUNDER
Autumn has arrived early.
These are the first heavy rains.
But this year is different.
RADIO:
- There are a number of flood warnings
in place.
Some of the heaviest of the rain
across central and southern England.
Oxfordshire as a whole is seeing its
wettest September on record.
- Rain that falls over miles of
countryside
is channelled between river banks just
a few metres apart.
The river is now dangerously close to
the kingfisher's burrow.
SQUAWKING
The chicks will drown if the water
floods their home.
Water from upstream continues to
arrive
..until the river bursts its banks
..and spreads into the woods.
The bank vole's young may have already
left,
but now she needs to abandon her
summer home.
She has a mental map of her
territory
..but many landmarks have been lost.
At least she knows her destination.
The highest point in the garden - the
lawn.
Bank voles avoid water.
Eventually
..she gets back to the lawn.
She can stay dry here
because the rising water spills out
over the flood plain
and into the surrounding fields.
It's a natural defence
that has protected the millhouse for a
thousand years
..and keeps the waterline just below
the kingfisher's nest.
The chicks are now so big
..there is barely enough room to move.
It's time to get out.
One leaves.
And Dad uses treats to tempt out the
others.
But one stubborn chick is refusing to
budge.
He takes some convincing.
Dad's patience
..eventually
..pays off.
Fully fledged, the young males begin
to flex their territorial muscles.
These shy birds are so caught up in
their own world,
they don't notice someone is watching.
- The kingfishers are really, really
special,
and to see them in the most incredible
tussle,
which I had never seen before,
I just feel very lucky to have seen
it.
This place is a sort of throwback
because you have wildlife congregating
in a way
that you just don't see in many other
places.
We certainly don't own the house.
The kingfishers have been here much
longer than us,
and we just hope we don't get in their
way.
- At a time when many of our rivers
are struggling
with poor water quality,
Henry and Sara's approach to
gardening
..letting much of their garden run
wild
..means that this is one of this
river's wildlife hot spots.
Yet for all its abundance
..they catch only fleeting glimpses.
Now, as the young seek homes of their
own
..the kingfisher will be seen once
again
..as little more than a flash of blue.
Of all the animals in this river
garden
..the most challenging to film proved
to be the otter.
They are extremely shy
and can spend much of their time
underwater.
Undeterred, the team has high hopes
of revealing the otters' private lives
to Sara and Henry.
Fortunately, they have a head start
thanks to Henry setting up remote
wildlife cameras.
Valuable knowledge for wildlife
cinematographer Sam Oakes.
- So sweet.
- They are. He is.
- So small.
I know that they are quite elusive.
How often have you seen them?
- Well, we've been here for 30 years
and I've seen them twice.
- Wow. Very elusive, then.
- SAM LAUGHS
Henry's cameras only offer a snapshot
of the otters' lives,
so Sam has brought equipment usually
deployed
in more exotic locations.
- So we're going to need everything we
can on our side,
including this super-long lens.
Normally, these would be used on
African film shoots
in the Serengeti,
so it's quite nice to be using it in a
garden in Oxfordshire.
- Sam and assistant producer Matt
Tomlinson
are looking for signs of otters to
decide on a filming location.
- I think they're using this tree.
- And it looks like they've pooed down
here.
An otter poo is actually called
spraint,
and you can see some scales in there,
so it's obviously feeding
around here, hunting - that's a really
good sign.
- While Matt is perched safely on the
river bank
..Sam wants to immerse himself in the
otters' world.
- Welcome to my flooded office.
I'm sat on a chair in the river.
It's 20 degrees outside, but really
cold sat in this water.
Let's see if I can last long enough.
- Luckily for Sam, Sara is on hand
with refreshments.
- I don't even know where he is. Sam,
would you like a cup of tea?
- Yes, please!
- Three days in,
and still no sign of otters.
But another river garden character has
made an appearance.
- The kingfisher has just landed
in a tree in front of me.
Hopefully, it comes out into the open.
Now it's just flown past and landed
behind my hide.
Not quite going to plan.
- To make matters worse,
the year turns out to be the wettest
on record.
It's more than just an annoyance.
- We have to be really careful filming
because the river can rise so quickly.
We can lose equipment if we don't get
it out of the river in time.
- The rain eventually stops.
But still no otters.
- So it's the fifth day looking for
otters,
and nothing so far.
- To pass the time, Matt turns his
attention to Doris -
Henry and Sara's resident mallard.
- I just saw a ripple.
It's a bit too big
..to be a fish.
- And then
- There's an otter.
It's really charging them.
- FRENZIED QUACKING
Sadly for Sam, the action is nowhere
near his sunken hide.
But Matt is able to capture something
rarely filmed before - in a garden of
all places.
- Amazing!
- Fortunately, Sam isn't going home
empty-handed.
- I've got a kingfisher just outside
my hide.
It's so fast.
The speed it hits the surface at is
absolutely amazing.
- The team's patience on the river has
paid off
and Sam is ready to reveal to Henry
and Sara
the secret lives of the animals in
their garden.
- Oh!
- Oh, wow!
- Look at those whiskers.
- Oh, this is brilliant.
I mean, it's sort of Jaws all over
again.
- But with an otter this time.
- Mm.
- That was amazing.
- You just don't see these things
unless you have this fabulous
photography going on.
- The approach you take to gardening,
which in some areas of the garden
is a bit more hands off
- Yes.
- ..is really beneficial
to the wildlife in the area.
- It isn't manicured,
it's not got beautifully gorgeous
herbaceous borders.
It's a good excuse not to do masses of
gardening!
- Henry and Sara have done their bit
to preserve the wild nature
of this garden.
Now, having learned more about the
lives of its animals
..they have decided to redouble their
efforts
to protect their garden for
generations to come.
Next time, a city garden in the heart
of Bristol
..where intrepid animals find
remarkable ways
..to live among us.
Discover the wildlife on your doorstep
with the Open University's
Secret Garden interactive experience.
Scan the QR code on the screen now
or head to
connect.open.ac.uk/secretgarden.