- Springwatch
Infobox Television
bgcolour = #E0A03C
show_name = Springwatch
caption = "Springwatch" series title card
format =Natural history
runtime = 1 hour
creator =BBC Natural History Unit
executive_producer =
starring =Bill Oddie ,Kate Humble & Simon King
country =United Kingdom
network =BBC Two
picture_format=
audio_format =
first_aired = 2005
last_aired =
num_episodes =
list_episodes =
preceded_by =Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie
followed_by =
imdb_id =
tv_com_id ="Springwatch" is a live
BBC TV British nature programme, presented byBill Oddie ,Kate Humble and Simon King. The format for the successful show was created by series producer Nigel Pope. As of 2008, there have been four "Springwatch" series, the latest of which ran until12 June 2008 . A second series of "Autumnwatch" was shown onBBC2 in the autumn of 2007. They followed on from similar nature shows with the same presenters, such as 2003's "Wild In Your Garden " and 2004's "Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie ".Oddie and Humble were originally based at a working
farm near toDartmoor inDevon ,England (the same farm used for "Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie") but as of 2008 relocated toPensthorpe Nature Reserve inNorfolk , while King is mostly on location. They spend one hour each evening describing wildlife and presenting live action from a number of hiddencamera s in or nearnest box es or animal burrows. The birds include or have included Tits,Jackdaw s,Pied Wagtail s andBarn Owl s. Animals followed include Badgers and their sett and, in 2006,European Otter s in theShetland Islands with King. Short, pre-filmed documentary pieces are also included.Despite its title, "Springwatch" most of its run is aired in June, generally recognised as the first month of summer in the UK although officially the season changes from spring to summer at the solstice around the
21 June .The popular programme consistently scores highly in TV ratings bringing in over 3.5 million viewers per episode, [ [http://www.barb.co.uk/ BARB ratings site] ] and in a new excursion on
13 June 2007 it even migrated toBBC Radio 2 for a live outside broadcast from the "Springwatch" farm of the 'Wake up to Wogan' show presented byTerry Wogan .eries
2005
The first series ran between
30 May 2005 and16 June 2005 with Oddie and Humble at theDevon farm and King on location. For the first week, King was on theIsle of Mull observing a family ofWhite-tailed Eagle s, for the second week he was at theLondon Wetlands Centre where he also observed a family ofPeregrine falcon s), and for the third week he was in theFarne Islands observing the resident seabirds.In addition to the programme itself, "Springwatch" invited viewers to participate in a survey of the first springtime sightings of various animal and plant species across the British Isles to aid in phenological research.
2006
"Springwatch" 2006 was similar to the previous year. It ran from
29 May 2006 to15 June 2006 , Monday to Thursday, at 8pm onBBC Two . Oddie and Humble presented from the farm, while King was on theShetland Islands .On the farm, there were more than 50 secret mini-cameras and miles of
fibre-optic cable around the farm allowing viewers to keep an eye on animals raising their young.In the Shetland Islands, to the north of the Scottish mainland, King followed the stories of several animals,
European Otter s,Grey Seal s,Great Skua s,Oystercatcher s,Puffin s and more.The animal and plant survey was repeated.
Viewers were able to follow other animal family dramas beamed in live via webcam daily from around the country. These included
Osprey s at Loch Garten in Scotland,Red Kite s atRockingham Forest in theEast Midlands and Bats inCornwall ."Springwatch" 2006 also followed the story of "Super Geese", tracking Brent Geese on their journey from
Strangford Lough inIreland to their Canadian Arctic breeding grounds in theQueen Elizabeth Islands , via stopping points atIceland andGreenland .There was also a series of "Springwatch" on the
CBeebies children's channel, presented byJustin Fletcher , along with characters from various Cbeebies programmes, such asPC Plum from "Balamory ", and onBBC One on the Friday of each week of "Springwatch" a specialCBBC "The Really Wild Show " programme was broadcast for younger viewers, presented by Nick Baker andMichaela Strachan .Autumnwatch 2006
The first "Autumnwatch" ran for 8 episodes of 1 hour each, Monday to Thursday, from
2 October 2006 until12 October 2006 . Oddie and Humble were stationed "in comfort" at Martin Mere inLancashire while King was sent out "on location": this time onRùm to studyred deer . In addition A "Grey Seal Diary" was presented nightly byGordon Buchanan from the seal breeding colonies on theMonach Islands . People in the UK were able to report on the BBC website the date and location of their sightings of natural autumn events, such as the first blackberries. This enabled an online map of the arrival of autumn by time and geography, correlated with temperature.On
December 26 2006 , a special edition was broadcast, featuring highlights from "Springwatch" and "Autumnwatch" 2006.Animals featured in 2006 "Springwatch":
* On the Devon farm
** 2Blue tit families ("Moss" and "Humble")
**Jackdaw ("Damien")
**Pied flycatcher (a male dubbed "Casanova" started 3 families, raising 17 chicks over the 3 weeks)
** Goldfinch
** Swallow
** Badger (who only made one live appearance over the three weeks)
** Dabchick (also known as Little Grebes)
* On Shetland
**Otter ("Ebb", "Flow", their cubs, and "Buster", the resident male)
** Merlin
**Oystercatcher s ("Loki" and family)
**Red-throated Diver s
** Various sea birds includingPuffin s, Guillemots andRazorbill s
* Featured films
**Earwig - 'the best mum'
**Barn Owl s onSalisbury Plain
** Oddie, watching Moles,Shrew s andCapercaillie
**Wood Mouse
** And more2007
The 2007 series of "Springwatch" began on Monday,
28 May 2007 onBBC Two , and ran Monday-Thursday for three weeks, with a half-hour review of the week's activity each Friday, onBBC One . Oddie and Humble were again based on the Devon farm, while King was based on another farm on the island ofIslay in the SouthernInner Hebrides . The last episode was aired on15 June 2007 ."CBeebies Springwatch" returned with all the main Cbeebies characters including P.C. Plum "(
Balamory )" with Jelly and Jackson "(The Story Makers )."The 2007 series saw the addition of "Springwatch Nightshift", which ran from midnight to 2am on programme dates, with subtitles rather than a narrator or presenters. The nightshift featured live images of badgers, owls and bats.
"Springwatch Trackers" was also live from the farm, at 8am on CBBC2 each morning. Hosted by
Kirsten O'Brien andSteve Backshall , teams of boys and girls were set a series of Tracker challenges by Simon King, [citeweb|url=http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/index.php/Springwatch_Trackers|title=Springwatch Trackers|work=ukgameshows.com|accessdate=5 January|accessyear=2008] while viewers at home had to spot the "secret squirrel".A special "Spring Questions" edition of the
BBC Radio 4 programme "Nature", presented byBrett Westwood , was broadcast on11 June 2007 , answering listeners' questions about spring. [citeweb|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/nature_20070611.shtml|title=Spring Questions|work=BBC Radio|accessdate=13 June|accessyear=2007]Animals featured in "Springwatch" 2007:
*On the Devon farm:
**Tawny Owl (Two chicks)
**Barn Owl ("Bill's family")
**Swallow (Five chicks)
** Buzzard (One chick)
** Sett of Badgers
** Wren
**Blackbird
** Jay (A nest of youngsters being hand-reared by the farmer)
**Kingfisher (Several birds being watched near the local river)
**Robin
**Jackdaw (Two chicks)
**Mink (Killed in accordance with policy)
**Moorhen * On Islay:
** Chough (Two nests & one single parent family)
** Starling
**House Sparrow
**Golden Eagle (One chick)
**Corncrake
**Brown Hare
** Shelduck
**Hen Harrier * At the
Lost Gardens of Heligan , Cornwall
** Barn owl with ("Kate's family, three chicks)
** Pipistrelle bats
**Horseshoe bats
** sparrow (2 chicks)* Featured films
** 'The House Mouse'
** 'Fox Diary' (aka. Fox and the City) "(starring Jamie and his cubs, The Chip Shop Family and Mungo)"
** 'Kestrel on the motorway'
**Caterpillar tobutterfly For the first time in "Springwatch" history, there were no Blue Tits or Great Tits nesting on the farm at the time of production, as due to a mild April they had fledged before the program was broadcast.
Autumnwatch 2007
At the end of the last Springwatch programme (
14 June ), Oddie and Humble announced that there will be another Autumnwatch, which ran from5 November 2007 until14 November 2007 .2008
pringwatch 2008
Springwatch 2008 started at 8pm on Monday
26 May 2008 on BBC Two and ran for three weeks. Oddie and Humble moved to a new location atPensthorpe Nature Reserve ,Norfolk for this series. King was based in the Cairngorm National Park in the Scottish Highlands.Animals featured in "Springwatch" 2008:
*In Norfolk:
**Coal Tit (11 chicks)
**2Little Ringed Plover nests (4 eggs in each)
**Barn Swallow (5 eggs- it appears an unknown male swallow removed the chicks once they hatched)
**Greenfinch (5 chicks)
**Great Tit (8 chicks)
**Blackbird (started out with 2 nests, but only a single egg remains)
**Badgers
**Oystercatcher (2 eggs)
**Blue Tit (at least 6 chicks) (first appearance since 2006)
**Weasel
**Wren (no. of chicks not known)
**Robin
**Reed Warbler
**Pied Wagtail
**Chaffinch
**Goldcrest
**Reed Bunting *At the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall:
**Barn Owl (3 eggs) (the male is nicknamed Hannibal because last year, as a chick, it ate some of its younger siblings)*In the Cairngorms, Scotland:
**Osprey (at least 2 chicks)
**Crested Tit
**Dolphin
**Scottish WildcatAfter the live show ended, a series of four specials were produced and shown the following week. These were "Kate Humble - Springwatch Sea Life", "Bill Oddie - Springwatch Gardens", "Simon King- Springwatch Spectacular", and "Gordon Buchanan - Springwatch People". Much of this was the short films used in previous Springwatch episodes, with a few updates and new presenter filmed scenes.
Autumnwatch 2008
Autumnwatch 2008 is expected to broadcast for two weeks from
27 October 2008 , [ cite web | url=http://www.simonkingwildlife.com/events/index.php | title=Simon King Events | accessdate=2008-09-08 ] and will be filmed atBrownsea Island instead ofMartin Mere as in previous years. [ cite news | url=http://www.dorsetwildlife.co.uk/autumnwatch | title=Autumnwatch 2008 comes to Brownsea Island | publisher=Dorset Wildlife Trust | accessdate=2008-09-09 ]Book
A book covering the various series, "Springwatch and Autumnwatch" (ISBN 0007247060), was published by Collins in April 2007.
Music
The theme music used in all the series is called 'Britain Goes Wild' and was commissioned by the BBC from independent musician David Poore, who has also produced music for wildlife documentaries by the BBC, RTÉ and other broadcasters.
References
External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch/ BBC Springwatch]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/autumnwatch/ BBC Autumnwatch]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jun/16/realitytv.environment Feature article] in "The Guardian "
* [http://www.davidpoore.com/ David Poore, Composer]
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