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 by Bill 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 until 12 June 2008. A second series of "Autumnwatch" was shown on BBC2 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 to Dartmoor in Devon, England (the same farm used for "Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie") but as of 2008 relocated to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk, while King is mostly on location. They spend one hour each evening describing wildlife and presenting live action from a number of hidden cameras in or near nest boxes or animal burrows. The birds include or have included Tits, Jackdaws, Pied Wagtails and Barn Owls. Animals followed include Badgers and their sett and, in 2006, European Otters in the Shetland 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 to BBC Radio 2 for a live outside broadcast from the "Springwatch" farm of the 'Wake up to Wogan' show presented by Terry Wogan.

eries

2005

The first series ran between 30 May 2005 and 16 June 2005 with Oddie and Humble at the Devon farm and King on location. For the first week, King was on the Isle of Mull observing a family of White-tailed Eagles, for the second week he was at the London Wetlands Centre where he also observed a family of Peregrine falcons), and for the third week he was in the Farne 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 to 15 June 2006, Monday to Thursday, at 8pm on BBC Two. Oddie and Humble presented from the farm, while King was on the Shetland 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 Otters, Grey Seals, Great Skuas, Oystercatchers, Puffins 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 Ospreys at Loch Garten in Scotland, Red Kites at Rockingham Forest in the East Midlands and Bats in Cornwall.

"Springwatch" 2006 also followed the story of "Super Geese", tracking Brent Geese on their journey from Strangford Lough in Ireland to their Canadian Arctic breeding grounds in the Queen Elizabeth Islands , via stopping points at Iceland and Greenland.

There was also a series of "Springwatch" on the CBeebies children's channel, presented by Justin Fletcher, along with characters from various Cbeebies programmes, such as PC Plum from "Balamory", and on BBC One on the Friday of each week of "Springwatch" a special CBBC "The Really Wild Show" programme was broadcast for younger viewers, presented by Nick Baker and Michaela Strachan.

Autumnwatch 2006

The first "Autumnwatch" ran for 8 episodes of 1 hour each, Monday to Thursday, from 2 October 2006 until 12 October 2006. Oddie and Humble were stationed "in comfort" at Martin Mere in Lancashire while King was sent out "on location": this time on Rùm to study red deer. In addition A "Grey Seal Diary" was presented nightly by Gordon Buchanan from the seal breeding colonies on the Monach 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 262006, a special edition was broadcast, featuring highlights from "Springwatch" and "Autumnwatch" 2006.

Animals featured in 2006 "Springwatch":

* On the Devon farm
** 2 Blue 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
** Oystercatchers ("Loki" and family)
** Red-throated Divers
** Various sea birds including Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills
* Featured films
** Earwig - 'the best mum'
** Barn Owls on Salisbury Plain
** Oddie, watching Moles, Shrews and Capercaillie
** Wood Mouse
** And more

2007

The 2007 series of "Springwatch" began on Monday, 28 May 2007 on BBC Two, and ran Monday-Thursday for three weeks, with a half-hour review of the week's activity each Friday, on BBC One. Oddie and Humble were again based on the Devon farm, while King was based on another farm on the island of Islay in the Southern Inner Hebrides. The last episode was aired on 15 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 and Steve 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 by Brett Westwood, was broadcast on 11 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 to butterfly

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 from 5 November 2007 until 14 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 at Pensthorpe 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)
**2 Little 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 Wildcat

After 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 at Brownsea Island instead of Martin 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]