2010

Season 4 · 2010 · 8 episodes

Following UK wildlife in the autumn

1Episode 1Autumnwatch returns for an eight week celebration of UK wildlife. From the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, Chris Packham and Kate Humble share their adventures of the last few days on a wild side of London where red deer rut and peregrine falcons hunt. Wildlife cameraman Charlie Hamilton-James is on the trail of an otter and her cubs in Shetland, while Martin Hughes-Games is tracking down your wildlife stories, which include badgers living in the heart of the city.
2Episode 2Autumnwatch returns for an eight week celebration of UK wildlife. Chris Packham and Kate Humble visit the south coast to witness bird migration in action - autumn is the cue for summer visitors like swallows and martens to leave our shores as redwings, fieldfares and others arrive. Kate also reveals a real autumn screamer - the sika deer, while Chris gets up close to some spectacular spiders. In the Scottish Highlands, biologist Liz Bonnin is hoping for an encounter with the rare and elusive Scottish wildcat and closer to home Martin Hughes-Games is on the trail of the best of your stories.
3Episode 3Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. Chris Packham and Kate Humble visit Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland - more than 50 square miles of inland seawater, described as one of Europe's most important wildlife sites. For Chris, the star attraction is 30,000 light-bellied Brent geese - that's three quarters of the world's population. Kate decides to go deeper, diving beneath the waves in search of conger eels. In Northumberland, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson is on an audio journey from source to sea of the river Coquet. Closer to home Martin Hughes-Games is on the trail of the best of your stories.
4Episode 4Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. Chris and Kate are in the New Forest to enjoy the full splendour of autumn. By late October, the mix of yellow, brown and red leaves paints a stunning picture and on the woodland floor, fungi glow in an even broader palette of colours. Of all the woodland creatures, badgers are a firm favourite of Chris's, whilst Kate is in for a treat when she visits a bat roost. In Scotland, Gordon Buchanan is on the Orkney Islands to check in on this year's grey seal pups, and closer to home Martin Hughes-Games is on the trail of the best of your stories.
5Episode 5Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. Chris and Martin visit the west coast of Scotland to catch up with the sea eagles of Mull. Since their reintroduction, some 35 years ago, the eagles have proved to be a real conservation success story. Aboard a sea kayak, Martin also explores Mull's coastline - home to otters, seals and eider ducks. On Dartmoor, Nick Baker takes us on his own journey into the world of an oak tree and on the Somerset Levels there's news of another comeback - cranes, living wild for the first time in nearly 400 years.
6Episode 6Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. The team stays close to home, visiting some of the UK's 16 million back gardens to find out why they can be such an important sanctuary for wildlife in autumn. Kate learns what a garden needs to best help wildlife through the winter months while Chris passes on his own top tips. Martin discovers there's a pecking order amongst the birds on our feeders and that some of our blackbirds are German. Off the coast of Devon marine conservationist Maya Plass reveals autumn colour on the sea bed.
7Episode 7Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. Chris Packham and Kate Humble are on a mission to track down one of the UK's biggest autumn wildlife spectacles - vast flocks of roosting starlings. Using cutting-edge technology, the team uncover the secret of their stunning aerial displays, and try to get inside the roost. Across the country, wildlife is massing in vast numbers, and there is a guide to the top spectacles of the season. Meanwhile in Wales, guest presenter Iolo Williams reveals the surprising and mysterious life of the region's most iconic fish, the sea trout.
8Episode 8Autumnwatch returns for a celebration of UK wildlife. In the last live programme of the series, Chris Packham and Kate Humble say goodbye to autumn and hello to winter. For wildlife the preparations are over - some have fled to warmer climes, others have arrived from colder ones and some have gone into hibernation. In Northern Ireland, Darryl Grimason unravels the life of a favourite winter visitor - the whooper swan. By late November, more than 6000 have fled Iceland to spend the winter on our shores. Meanwhile, Martin Hughes-Games has top tips on what wildlife to look out for over the winter months.

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