Wildlife
Grey wagtail - new video Grey wagtails are energetic little birds and always on the move; frantically bobbing, ducking and dashing about. Despite their rather dull name grey wagtails are actually quite colourful with a vivid lemon underneath that contrasts against the slate grey feathers above.
1 video
Updated: 26 May 2012
Wagtails - new content There is something very hypnotic about watching one of the 11 species of wagtail. These slender, energetic, and often colourful birds are constantly wagging their long tail; the trait from which they get their common name.
Updated: 25 May 2012
Blue tit - new content Blue tits are bright, inquisitive little birds that have been shown to use aromatic leaves from lavender, mint and curry plants to disinfect their nests. They are also infamous for following milkmen to take sneaky sips from milk bottles by tearing through the foil tops.
10 videos | 1 sound | 2 news stories | 13 programmes
Updated: 25 May 2012
Whinchat - new video Whinchats are summer visitors to Europe and Asia after arriving from their wintering grounds in Africa and the Middle East. In Britain they breed in the north and west upland areas and like open country to live in, such as moorland, heathland and grassland.
1 video
Updated: 25 May 2012
Chats - new content Chats are a small group of slender perching birds once thought to belong to the thrush family. However, they were found to be more closely related to the Old World flycatchers and have now been placed into that family.
Updated: 24 May 2012
Common buzzard - new content Buzzards are smaller than golden eagles but just as formidable as predators. These imposing hunters drop down on rabbits and small mammals from slow or hovering flight or from a perch.
4 videos | 1 sound | 1 news story | 5 programmes
Updated: 24 May 2012
Puffin - new content Puffins are colourful and full of character. Playfully known as 'clowns of the sea' and 'sea parrots', these shy and inquisitive seabirds arrive in Britain at the start of the breeding season.
14 videos | 1 sound | 6 news stories | 7 programmes
Updated: 23 May 2012
Great spotted woodpecker - new content Great spotted woodpeckers are the most widespread and numerous woodpecker in the UK. They have a large range covering almost the entire Palearctic from Britain in the west to Japan in the east and reaching North Africa and the Canary Islands in the south-west.
4 videos | 2 sounds | 6 programmes
Updated: 22 May 2012
Natterjack toad - new content Natterjack toads are claimed to be Europe's noisiest amphibian, with the male call audible over several kilometres. Natterjacks are found in southwest and central Europe, but are rare in Britain.
3 videos | 1 sound | 3 news stories | 2 programmes
Updated: 21 May 2012
Whales, dolphins and porpoises - new news Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetacea. These are aquatic mammals that have streamlined bodies highly evolved for swimming.
24 news stories | 2 programmes
Updated: 21 May 2012
Armadillos - new content Armadillos as a group include not just the modern armadillos, but their extinct relatives, the Pampatheres and giant Glyptodonts. They evolved in South America, but several species spread into North America when the Isthmus of Panama was formed.
1 news story
Updated: 21 May 2012
Butterflies and moths - new news Elegant and beautiful, butterflies and moths never fail to impress. Their bodies are covered in tiny sensory hairs and their wings made up of tiny delicate scales.
13 videos | 18 news stories | 5 programmes
Updated: 18 May 2012
Magpie - new content Magpies are jacks of all trades: scavengers, predators and cheeky thieves. They famously cannot resist a bit of bling, and regularly take brightly coloured objects from the garden, which makes them unpopular.
3 videos | 1 sound | 3 news stories | 3 programmes
Updated: 18 May 2012
Polar bear - new content Remarkable adaptations allow polar bears to live in the frozen Arctic, but global warming is destroying their habitat and leaving them seriously endangered. Despite being born deaf and blind beneath the snow, cubs eventually grow into the most powerful of all four-legged animals.
29 videos | 1 sound | 28 news stories | 27 programmes
Updated: 18 May 2012
Echolocation and ultrasound - new news Ultrasound is high frequency sound that's above the range of human hearing. Some animals produce ultrasound for communication or for navigation.
11 videos | 11 news stories | 9 programmes
Updated: 17 May 2012
Pied kingfisher - new content Pied kingfishers hover far more than any other kingfisher species. They hold their trunk nearly vertical and beat their wings rapidly with their head and bill angled sharply down.
5 videos | 4 programmes
Updated: 17 May 2012
Three-spined stickleback - new video Three-spined sticklebacks are the classic “tiddler” of British waters and many other areas in the northern hemisphere. There are populations in marine and freshwater with some migrating between the two.
2 videos | 1 news story
Updated: 17 May 2012
Adapted to jumping - new news Jumping is a method some animals have evolved to get around efficiently. Gerbils, kangaroos, frogs and grasshoppers have all evolved long pairs of legs with large muscles positioned at the back of their body for maximum hopping power.
12 videos | 8 news stories | 9 programmes
Updated: 17 May 2012
Predation defence - new news Predation defence comes in many forms: physiological, anatomical and behavioural. Physical defences such as spines and armour are obvious adaptations, but other defences can be more subtle and surprising.
26 videos | 7 news stories | 12 programmes
Updated: 16 May 2012
Sharks - new news Feared as cold, unflinching predators and even as violent maneaters, sharks are unquestionably top of the underwater food chain. Yet, in stark contrast to their reputation, some sharks are gentle giants that harmlessly filter vast quantities of plankton.
7 videos | 12 news stories
Updated: 16 May 2012
Insects - new news The insects are one of the most successful types of living organism, with roughly half of all species on Earth being insects. Insects are part of the Arthropod phylum, and as such have an external skeleton and jointed limbs.
9 videos | 10 news stories | 20 programmes
Updated: 16 May 2012
Pollinator - new news Pollinators carry pollen from plant to plant and, often unwittingly, play a crucial role in plant reproduction. Bees are the most familiar pollinators, but plants attract thousands of different types of animals - using all sorts of alluring strategies: colour, scent, structure - to carry out this ecosystem role.
16 videos | 8 news stories | 9 programmes
Updated: 16 May 2012
Green woodpecker - new content Green woodpeckers are the largest and most colourful woodpeckers native to Britain. They are easily recognised by their laughing ‘yaffle’ call, which they use to demarcate their territory.
3 videos | 1 sound | 3 programmes
Updated: 15 May 2012
Forest elephant - new content Forest elephants were thought to be a subspecies of the African elephant, but recent research has discovered that they are a separate species. Forest elephants have straighter tusks and more rounded ears than African savannah elephants.
14 videos | 2 news stories | 3 programmes
Updated: 15 May 2012
Elephants - new content Elephants are represented by three living species: Asian, African forest and African bush. As the largest living mammals in the world, healthy adults have no natural predators, though the calves have plenty to fear from lions and tigers.
2 videos | 9 news stories
Updated: 15 May 2012
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