Clips
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Chris puts Ellie the Goshawk to the test
In controlled conditions, with the use of a series of different shaped gaps and tubes, slow motion photography reveals how a Goshawk is able to negotiate the most densely packed undergrowth. To allow her to fit though some of the narrower gaps, she has to withdraw her wings completely. The slow-motion footage reveals that, to stay airborne, she uses her large tail to give her crucial lift.
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No problem for a Goshawk
Ellie shows how negotiating a narrow gap and a tube is no problem for a Goshawk adapted for hunting in the woods.
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From the woodland to the golf course
Although originally a woodland animal Chris discovers that the best place for the modern British hedgehog is a golf course. The closely cropped greens are easy to find worms in, the rough, ideal for nesting and best of all, there are no humans around when you come out at night.
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A Stag Beetle Mystery
A stag beetle spends five years of its life underground, first as a larva then a pupa and finally a subterranean beetle before emerging for a glorious few weeks of flying, fighting and sex before it dies. Most of the time that it’s under ground, it’s eating rotting wood – turning it into the fat in its body and ultimately – when it dies - recycling the nutrients of the forest. So insects like the stag beetle are crucial to the forest ecosystem.
The mystery with stag beetles though, is that they seem to prefer the areas around London and in Hampshire to anywhere else. Chris discovers that it could be all to do with their dislike of chalk…
Credits
- Series Producer
- Paul Bradshaw
- Presenter
- Chris Packham
- Executive Producer
- Tim Martin
