The Secret Life of Birds (2010) s01e03 Episode Script

A bird’s life in Wales must be
wonderful. A life made in heaven.
Anything but.
Birds have to work from dawn
to dusk to find food and water.
If they don’t, they die.
They have to battle
with the elements too.
Survival, especially during winter,
is always difficult.
And during the spring,
they’re busy raising families.
They also have to put up with us
and find a way of surviving
in our artificial landscape.
In this series, I’m going to be
finding out what a birds life
is really like in Wales.
I’m going to be discovering the vast
array of species we have here
and Ill be probing
into their secret lives.
These wood pigeons have nested
in the center of Cardiff.
It took the pair a week
to build the nest.
The female laid the eggs.
For three weeks,
both the male and the female
took turns with the incubation.
The chicks hatched four days ago.
All is going well.
And then, disaster strikes.
A female sparrowhawk
locates the nest.
The pigeon flees,
unable to defend her chicks
against such a powerful predator.
The sparrowhawk kills the chicks
and eats them.
This is the harsh reality of life.
In this programme, Ill be looking
at how birds protect themselves
from being killed and eaten
and prevent themselves from
starving and freezing to death.
In this woodland on Anglesey,
one bird has made a decision
that may greatly reduce the
chances of her chicks surviving.
This is really odd.
It's obviously autumn, you’ve
got leaves all over the floor,
the trees have all changed color,
but come here
and have a look at this.
Just in front of me here,
at the base of this stump,
just down there,
is a mallard sitting on eggs,
in the middle of October!
Mallards usually nest
between late February and July,
early August maybe,
so why is a mallard
sitting down there now?
We’ve had a month of really mild,
warm weather,
and I think that they’re confused,
they think it’s spring,
so they’ve thought, "Oh, wow,
lets mate, lets lay eggs."
And that’s exactly
what they’ve done.
She's just really well hidden
at the base of that stump.
With winter approaching,
the chances of this mallard
raising a family are slim.
Even if her eggs hatch, as the
weather gradually turns colder,
survival will be extremely
difficult for a young bird.
And that’s why most birds
nest in the spring.
Warmer temperatures mean
there’s a wealth of food available
on land and in the sea.
It's a season when
everything comes to life.
And for woodland birds especially,
it coincides with a glut of
caterpillars eating the leaves.
And that’s one of the reasons
why migrant birds
come to Wales in the spring.
To ensure that their chicks
have the best chance of survival,
birds like the willow warbler
travel north from Africa to a
landscape that’s rich in food.
This upland farm is near Bala
and a beautiful male redstart
is feeding chicks.
It too has come from Africa.
Redstarts naturally
nest in tree holes,
but this pair have decided to
use a hole in a barn wall instead.
The female is less
brightly colored
and shares the feeding
responsibilities with the male.
With lots of insect larvae, even
here on the uplands during spring,
their chicks have all the
food they need to survive.
Most of the small migrant birds
that come to Wales for the summer
are insect eaters.
And it’s a time of year
when insects are plentiful.
These swallows are feeding
in the Brecon Beacons.
Because our climate is damp and
mild, swarms of small insects emerge
and this is essential
for the swallows survival.
And the insects keep flying,
even on a bad summers day.
Birds are amazing things.
It's a really cold,
miserable, wet, Welsh day
and yet, you’ve got half a dozen
swallows, feeding above the water.
Even in weather like this,
they have to feed
because they’ve got chicks
back at the nest.
Usually you see them feeding
high up above the trees
or up in the sky because on a warm
day, that’s where the insects are.
But now, it’s cold and wet and the
insects have been pushed down low,
so they’re feeding above the surface
of the water and along the banks.
They go along with their beaks open,
like a hoover,
they’re going
to hoover up the insects
and they’ll get dozens,
sometimes even hundreds at a time,
then they’ll go back
and feed the chicks.
These water pools are in
Cwm Darran, near Merthyr Tydfil.
Higher up on the heathland
above the valley,
meadow pipits are nesting.
This pair have succeeded
in raising good, healthy chicks.
Other pipits may not fare as well.
There’s a cuckoo about
and that could have a big effect
on a pipit chicks survival.
This female is patrolling the
heath, on the lookout for
a place to lay an egg.
And this is what the
cuckoos been looking for.
It's hidden out of the way,
beneath the bracken.
The cuckoo has been perching
on the pylons, down there,
where she's got a good
all round view of this area.
She's waiting for the pipit to leave
its nest, shell then dash in,
lay an egg in there and the
cuckoos that target meadow pipits
make their eggs look
like meadow pipit eggs.
That egg will then hatch, the chick
will throw out all the other eggs,
so that the adult meadow pipit
will just feed that one chick.
Meadow pipits will do
all they can to make it
difficult for the cuckoo.
Once it’s detected,
it will be mobbed ceaselessly.
Not so much that it’s a cuckoo
but because it generally
looks like a bird of prey
that could kill its chicks.
The pipit will also try and
conceal its approach to the nest,
but inevitably,
the cuckoo will succeed.
It’ll manage to lay
an egg in a nest.
Her egg on the left
is only slightly different.
While the others have
a dark patch on one end,
the cuckoo egg doesn’t.
Less than two weeks later, a
very bold cuckoo chick hatches.
It has special claws at
the tip of its immature wings
to enable it to grab the side of
the nest to eject the other eggs.
This, it’ll do eventually and the
parental urge will be so strong
that the meadow pipit parents will
continue to feed the cuckoo chick,
even though it’ll be the only chick
left and look different to their own
It's cruel for the meadow pipit,
but essential for the cuckoo.
Hiding the nest from predators
is a crucial part of survival.
Birds have different
ways of doing this.
Hidden in bushes,
inside trees,
on inaccessible cliffs,
underground,
in and around buildings.
While curlew are often seen
on estuaries in the winter,
they nest inland on the ground.
And one curlew has chosen
a field near Newtown.
It's a typical place for a curlew
nest, but not really a typical nest
because usually,
they lay three or four eggs.
There’s only one here.
Whats happened? I don’t know.
It's difficult to tell. It may
well be that a stoat or a
fox has had the other eggs,
or it may well be that she nested
elsewhere, failed, and she's had
time to lay just one more egg.
It's a typical situation because
they love these grass fields.
It's a big bird, so they need tall
cover, shell be tucked down here
on the eggs and even when she has
to fly off, it’s well camouflaged.
And bear in mind, usually,
the grass is over like that,
so from the air, you’re going
to see absolutely nothing.
Id better leave her, I think.
It's tough being a curlew in Wales.
There are few nesting pairs
as there are not enough
suitable habitats for them.
Much of the Welsh landscape
is bare ground
and predators, like crows
and buzzards, soon
find the eggs and chicks.
Some birds don’t have a nest to
hide. They simply hide themselves
with excellent camouflage.
This chick has been left by its
parents on bare ground above
Resolven, in the Neath Valley.
If you’re a bird that’s
decided to nest on the floor,
then you’ve got to be really well
camouflaged and your chicks have got
to be really well camouflaged too.
There’s not a single bird in Britain
that does that better
than the nightjar.
Just a few centimeters in front
of me is a nightjar chick.
It's nearly 9:00pm and the parents
have gone off to hunt
and they’ve left their chick behind,
on the floor like this,
completely confident that
it’s so well camouflaged
it will never be found
by any passing fox or badger,
or any predator at all.
And to find a chick like that
in an area like this
is almost impossible.
Not daring to give itself away,
the chick is always very still,
even at night, but when
the parents return from hunting,
remaining hidden takes
second place to getting dinner.
The chick is being fed insects,
probably moths.
This is Traeth Lafan in the Menai
Straits, on the north Wales coast.
It's one of the best locations
in Wales to see wading birds.
While feeding in such an open,
exposed location,
birds need to protect themselves
from being killed by predators.
And the most effective method
of doing this on an open estuary
is by keeping together in a flock.
This is even more
important at high tide,
when the feeding stops and the
birds gather together to rest.
There must be over
1,000 oyster catchers,
all packing into the end
of this spit here.
It's high tide, so the waters
driven them off Traeth Lafan,
onto the last little bit of safety,
this linear bit of land.
And there’s a big advantage to this.
This area is regularly
hunted by peregrines.
Peregrines will take
oyster catchers.
If you’re one bird in
amongst 1,000 over there,
it’s much safer than being one
on its own, right out here.
The telltale sign
that a peregrine is about
is the sight of flocks turning
and twisting to evade capture.
This is a male. It has
landed to survey the scene.
A female, probably his partner,
is also on the hunt.
The problem for a peregrine,
in such an open area,
is that it will always be
immediately seen by the target birds
But he has speed and a strategy.
He swoops low
to make the birds scatter.
In the confusion,
one might be caught.
Being the fastest living creature
with a dive that can
reach a speed of 120mph,
that strategy usually works.
But not always.
One essential part of survival
is personal hygiene.
Birds constantly preen.
They do this to keep their
feathers in good condition.
If they’re damaged, they cant fly
and they cant escape from predators
or find food.
They also wont be able to fluff
out their feathers to keep warm
during cold weather.
They meticulously
work on each feather,
making sure that all the intricate
parts are in the correct place.
Most birds have an oil gland
beneath the tail
and use the bill to spread
the oil over the feathers.
This maintains flexibility
of the wings
and makes the
whole body waterproof.
For water birds such as the
mallard, this is essential.
And in the summer, they’ll have
a good dip, just to keep cool.
During August and September,
the migrants that have spent the
summer in Wales leave in search of
warmer winter weather in Africa.
Many are insect eaters
and the supply of insects
will soon dwindle in Wales.
To survive, they must
go south to find food.
But some migrants arrive in Wales
during the autumn.
They come here to escape the cold
weather developing further north.
These are whooper swans
and they’ve flown all the way from
Iceland to a field near Porthmadog.
Whooper swans feed on vegetation
and that, in the sub-Arctic,
will be covered in ice and snow.
Here in Wales, grass will be
available throughout the winter.
On a beach at Rhyl, another migrant
bird has traveled even further
to be in Wales.
These small birds have come from
deep inside the Arctic Circle.
These are snow buntings,
smashing little birds.
And we tend to associate
them with the Arctic
or the tops of the Cairngorms,
and that’s where they breed,
but in winter,
they move down to lower ground.
One of their regular haunts
is this beach in North Wales.
So why come here? It's not the
most scenic beach in the world.
But the reason is, seeds. They’re
seed eaters, like all buntings.
Seeds blown by the wind get caught
up on the pebbles on the beach
and amongst this vegetation,
this marram grass here.
It's ideal for them and because
the beach is long enough,
if they exhaust the supply in
small areas, all they have to do
is move along a little bit
and then move along again.
There is enough food here
to last them all winter.
It's amazing to think that
this small flock of birds
has traveled so far
to be on this beach.
As long as there’s food for them
here, they’ll continue to do so
for generations to come.
Migrants also come to Wales from
mainland Europe during winter
to escape the colder
continental climate.
Fieldfares and redwings
migrate from Scandinavia.
Thousands of starlings arrive
from all parts of Europe.
And they all arrive during a time
of plenty - the autumn harvest.
These are eating hawthorn berries.
One migrant is
particularly stunning.
These are waxwings and they’ve
arrived at Towyn in North Wales.
Waxwings usually
end up on our shores
only when there’s
a poor berry crop
on their own home patch
of Scandinavia.
To survive, they keep on moving
west until they find a decent crop.
The local birds who stay here
all year round
have to compete with the winter
migrants for berries.
It's a case of eating as much
as they can while it lasts.
But the berries soon run out.
Then, they literally have
to scrape and dig to survive.
Every leaf turned
for any grub or a worm.
And as long as the ground
remains soft for most
of the winter, they get by.
But if the weather turns colder,
life gets tougher.
These are the Brecon Beacons
in mid winter.
It's a particularly cold period.
All food sources have been
covered with snow and ice.
I love weather like this. Everywhere
is just completely white.
But it’s not so good for birds
because with snow covering the
fields, there’s no food for them.
Behind me however,
is a field full of oats
and that is a magnet
for dozens of small birds.
That one small field
can be the difference between
life and death for them.
These birds are lucky.
The field has been set aside for
feeding birds at Slwch Farm, Brecon.
The cereal seeds have been
left for their benefit.
And they’re all here.
Finches.
A yellow hammer.
And reed buntings.
And also brambling.
They’re one of the migrants
that come to Wales
in pursuit of a warmer winter,
but not today.
And they’re not the only
hungry birds around.
Winter is a difficult time
for sparrowhawks too.
And with so many of its favorite
prey attracted to this one spot,
it doesn’t take it long
to find them.
Attacking quickly,
it hugs the hedgerow,
trying to chase down its prey.
All the small birds can do is take
cover or stay still in the crop.
They’re so hungry,
they must resume eating
as soon as it’s safe to do so.
It's a choice of starving
to death or being eaten.
Big birds also have problems
finding food during winter.
Most of them survive
by having a varied diet.
When we think of buzzards,
we imagine a powerful bird
of prey that kills to eat.
And sometimes, it will take
rabbits, small birds and chicks.
But it also eats worms.
You often see many buzzards
in a field digging for a meal.
These are on farmland near
Trecastle in the Brecon Beacons.
It's believed that buzzards
are common in Wales
because there’s so much worm-rich
pasture available for them.
Buzzards are also scavengers
and during a cold spell
when the ground is hard,
they’ll search the landscape
for dead animals.
This one has found a carcass
on the uplands near Dolgellau.
It's already been opened by ravens.
Because of its small beak,
a buzzard finds it difficult
to open a carcass.
It's dependent on a raven
to do that.
It has the perfect tearing beak.
Once opened, the buzzard can then
easily pick up the exposed tissue.
The estuaries of Wales are renowned
for their wintering birds,
with thousands flocking here
from the frozen Arctic
and parts of Europe to find food.
This is the Mawddach Estuary
near Dolgellau.
Occasionally, our winters
are so severe,
that the estuaries
become as inhospitable
as the places the birds
have migrated from.
I’ve never seen the Mawddach
Estuary look like this before.
It's all iced up, and because we’ve
had a succession of mild winters,
I think we tend to forget
that every now and again,
when we do have a very hard winter,
even our estuaries freeze up.
And that is very bad news
for hundreds of thousands
of birds that escape the cold
of the Russian Arctic, the Far East,
just to come here.
So it’s going to be
extremely hard for them.
To be honest, it looks
more like the Arctic here.
During another cold snap,
the Conwy Estuary is frozen.
Although the Welsh landscape
may look beautiful
on a cold winters day,
they are a wasteland
in terms of food for the birds.
For curlew who need to probe
deep into the mud for food,
this becomes an impossible task
if the ground is frozen solid.
Fortunately, the unfrozen
small river channels
act like arteries of life
through the arctic landscape.
Here, many birds
can feed as normal,
using their beaks to spear the
small morsels buried in the mud.
These are the most challenging
conditions for survival.
During a severe winter,
many birds will die,
especially further inland.
That’s why it’s important
that we give them a little help
when the going gets tough.
In return, birds that are familiar
with people give a great show.
And in the next programme,
Ill be looking at the different
ways birds have adapted to us.
How they make use of the
landscapes we’ve created,
the structures we’ve built,
and the materials we discard.