Freshwater • 2023 • episode "S1E4" • Wild Isles

Category: Nature | Torrent: | Subtitle:

The wildlife that lives in Britain's freshwater environments. Atlantic salmon battle their way upstream in one of the greatest migrations on the planet, beavers slow the flow with their expert dam-building, and toadlets have to cross a killing zone patrolled by carnivorous leeches. Where rivers spread out to form beds of reeds, great crested grebes pair up in courtship ceremonies, and small agile birds of prey swoop low to catch dragonflies.

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Wild Isles • 2023 • 6 episodes •

Our Precious Isles

Our Precious Isles

Killer whales hunt for seals in our seas, golden eagles scavenge in snowy Scottish mountains, sinister woodland plants take pollinating insects hostage, and puffins are chased by greedy gulls that try to steal their hard-won catch.

2023 • Nature

Woodland

In an ancient pine tree in the Cairngorms, two eagle chicks are on the verge of fledging their gargantuan nest. In winter in the Forest of Dean, the reintroduction of wild boar has given the robin a lifeline. As they root through the thick snow, the boar unearth the worms with their snouts, which the robins otherwise couldn't find.

2023 • Nature

Grassland

From flower meadows to the rich open landscapes of our mountains some extraordinary and dramatic wildlife stories are revealed. Featuring bees that lay their eggs in empty snail shells, brown hares performing spring boxing courtship routines, and how large blue butterflies have come back from the brink of extinction.

2023 • Nature

Freshwater

The wildlife that lives in Britain's freshwater environments. Atlantic salmon battle their way upstream in one of the greatest migrations on the planet, beavers slow the flow with their expert dam-building, and toadlets have to cross a killing zone patrolled by carnivorous leeches. Where rivers spread out to form beds of reeds, great crested grebes pair up in courtship ceremonies, and small agile birds of prey swoop low to catch dragonflies.

2023 • Nature

Ocean

David Attenborough introduces the colourful underwater world of Britain and Ireland's oceans, including thousands of grey seals congregating on the Norfolk shoreline to give birth. Rich beds of sea grass act as important carbon storage areas, as well as providing home for seahorses, while on the shallow seabed, the spider crab undergoes a mass migration of epic scale.

2023 • Nature

Saving Our Wild Isles

Saving Our Wild Isles

Britain is globally important for wildlife, but it is also one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. Restoring nature can have far-reaching benefits for our wild isles and for ourselves. We meet the inspirational people trying to make a difference and some of the wildlife they are trying to protect.

2023 • Nature

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Tokyo's Lost Islands: Minami Iwo-to

Tokyo's Lost Islands: Minami Iwo-to

In Tokyo, there are unapproachable "lost islands" with unspoiled environs and rich wildlife. Minami Iwo-to, part of the Ogasawara island chain, is about 1,300km from the Japanese capital. Normally, entry is banned to protect the environment. An exception was made in 2017 for the first comprehensive scientific survey in 10 years. The island compresses multiple climate zones into a small area, offering researchers a rare opportunity to view evolution in action. Braving an arduous climb and a swarm of seabirds, the team discovers one new species after another.

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Building Bodies

Building Bodies

The next programme explores the various sea-living invertebrates. In Morocco, the limestones are 600 million years old, and contain many invertebrate fossils. They fall broadly into three categories: shells, crinoids and segmented shells. The evolution of shelled creatures is demonstrated with the flatworm, which eventually changed its body shape when burrowing became a necessity for either food or safety. It then evolved shielded tentacles and the casings eventually enveloped the entire body: these creatures are the brachiopods. The most successful shelled animals are the molluscs, of which there are some 80,000 different species.

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Part 3

World-leading dinosaur expert Susie Maidment is in the museum basement trying to piece together the skeleton of the first Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. It's a priceless specimen but somehow the bones have got muddled up with another dinosaur and it's up to Susie to work out if any of the bits are missing. The experts inspect Guy the gorilla, who was a London Zoo favourite for decades and now sits fully preserved in his own glass case, and the museum launches an ambitious project to capture a sample of every living bug in the UK today.

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Madeira: Island Ark

Madeira: Island Ark

Fortey travels to Madeira to examine what happens to a volcanic island as it nears the end of its life-cycle and starts sinking back into the sea. Here, in the island's laurisilva forest, he examines the remains of an ancient forest that once carpeted all of Europe, finds island lizards that live to be four times older than their mainland counterparts, and meets a huge wolf spider. With the help of local divers, he also discovers an unexpectedly rich marine habitat populated by whales, dolphins and unusual deep-sea species that have much to tell us about the changing nature of our seas.

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Part 1

Part one of two. Thirty years ago explorer Benedict Allen lived in Papua New Guinea with the Niowra, a remote people. Broadcast journalist Frank Gardner has always wished to see wild birds of paradise, so Benedict resolves to take him along. The duo set out through some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet, negotiating swamps, mountains and crocodile-infested waters, heading into the cloud forest. Despite Frank requiring the use of a wheelchair following a shooting incident in 2004, Benedict determines to get him to their destination.

S1E1 • Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest • 2017 • Nature