Spring is a time of renewal, and in the month of May I underwent one of the bigger forms of renewal one can get; I moved house. Or to be more precise; we moved house, in which 'we' also includes my boyfriend and 4 cats. Before the big move, we actually had to renovate quite a lot (removing the ceilings, putting in new ceilings, putting in a new stair, and what have you), so it was a bit of a hasty building/packing/moving scramble. But now all my stuff has been moved (if not unpacked or organised) and I can focus on other things again. Such as: spring! While we were busing inside, the world around us erupted into an explosion of leaves, insects, singing birds, and weeds. I could enjoy this by sitting outside in my garden (I now have a garden again! There are actual trees in it! And grass!), but apart from that one of my favourite ways of enjoying spring is by watching Springwatch.
To my horror I just found out I've only written about Springwatch once before, in 2012. It really has been too long. The format has stayed basically the same in those 5 years; a couple of biologist and non-biologist presenters, a setting in one of England's most beautiful wildlife preserves, lots of cameras on nests and nestboxes, and lots of natural drama. This year so far, one of the trending Twitter topics has been #fledgeorfall, concerning a jay nest that was sloping precariously downward (the relief came a day later; one chick fell and survived, the three others actually fledged). Also happening, in a tree or barn not close to you; peregrine falcons loosing their eggs, a woodpecker checking out a blue tit nest, stoats playing about in the sun, and kestrel snot on one of the camera lenses.
But it's not just pretty pictures. In between all of this great imagery, loads and loads of biological and conservational facts are dispersed at a high rate. As always, lots of the more 'general' biological stuff are things I start explaining to the person next to me, right when one of the presenters is actually saying about the same thing. But there is quite a lot of new research being preformed too. How many species of newt live in this pond? Do hedgehogs/mice/stoats live in this wall/hedgerow/barn? Peregrine falcon feed their chicks with an amazing 98 different species of bird, but where do they catch them?
Generally, this research involves catching the animals in question, weighing and tagging them, sometimes with a geolocator, and then releasing them again. This may disturb the animal in question for a short while, but in the end, I always think the disturbance is worth it, for every new bit of information we get about the natural world is an extra piece in the puzzle of trying to protect it. If we know that the peregrine falcons on Salisbury cathedral visit a nearby copse of wood to catch their food, we know we cannot just chop down all those trees, or the peregrine will suffer (lots of other animals will suffer too, but generally you need the 'poster child' animals to get conservation working). If we know that three different species of newt live in a pond, we cannot just fill it in to put a housing estate there. We need to protect what little of nature we have left, and knowing more about it will make it easier to do so.
I know I'm a bit of a nature fanatic, but if you're even the slightest interested in the natural world around you, do watch Springwatch. You can find it either on the BBC or one one of the many live feeds online. You will see a side of nature that is relatively close, but very unknown. Also, actually trying to name the bird or animal in view before the voice-over tells you what it is will make it more of a challenge, and will make you realise actually how many species of bird and insect and mammal are out there, and how much there is left for us to discover.
