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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Autumn

For the animals in the polar regions, autumn means dramatic battles and epic journeys. Time is running out - the Arctic Ocean is freezing over and the sea ice is advancing at 2.5 miles per day around Antarctica. Polar bears gather in large numbers on the Arctic coast as they wait for the return of the ice. Soon, tempers fray and violent sparring contests break out. Meanwhile 2,000 beluga whales head for one special estuary, a gigantic 'whale spa' where they will thrash their snow-white bodies against the gravel and exfoliate. Inland, the tundra undergoes a dramatic transformation from green to fiery red. Here, musk ox males slam head-first into each other with the force of a 30mph car crash as they struggle to defend their harems. Frisky young caribou males play a game of 'grandma's footsteps' as they try to steal the boss's female. Down in Antarctica, Adelie penguin chicks huddle together in creches. When a parent returns from fishing, it leads its twins on a comical steeplechase - sadly there's only enough for one, so the winner gets the meal. Two months later and the chicks are fully feathered apart from downy Mohican hairdos - they're ready to take their first swim - reluctantly though, as it seems penguins are not born with a love of water! And with good reason - a leopard seal explodes from the sea and pulls one from an ice floe, a hunting manoeuvre that has never been filmed before. As winter approaches and everyone has left, the giant emperor penguin arrives and makes an epic trek inland to breed. The mothers soon return to the sea leaving the fathers to hold the eggs and endure the coldest winter on earth.

S1E4 • Frozen Planet • 2011 • Nature

Sweet Fresh Water

Sweet Fresh Water

Attenborough describes the course the Amazon, starting high up in the Andes of Peru, whose streams flow into the great river. Young rivers are by nature vigorous and dangerous: they flow fast and form rapids, thick with mud and sediment.

8/12 • The Living Planet • 1984 • Nature

Invasion of the Land

Invasion of the Land

The next instalment describes the move from water to land. The fish that did so may have been forced to because of drought, or chose to in search of food. Either way, they eventually evolved into amphibians. Such creatures needed two things: limbs for mobility and lungs to breathe. The coelacanth is shown as a fish with bony fins that could have developed into legs, and the lungfish is able to absorb gaseous oxygen. However, evidence of an animal that possessed both is presented in the 450 million-year-old fossilised remains of a fish called a eusthenopteron. Three groups of amphibians are explored.

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Inheriting the Earth

Inheriting the Earth

Emerging from the dinosaurs' shadows, mammals went from underdogs to global power, with game-changing adaptations that would conquer land, air and sea.

S1E7 • Life on Our Planet • 2023 • Nature

The First Frontier

The First Frontier

For billions of years, land on Earth was uninhabitable. But in the seas, predation allowed species to thrive before — and after — two mass extinctions.

S1E2 • Life on Our Planet • 2023 • Nature

Andes

See the extraordinary wildlife and people of the Andes. Pumas hunt guanaco, shape-shifting frogs hide in remote cloud forests and the descendants of Inca build bridges of grass. The world’s driest desert, huge salt lakes and spectacular peaks are all found in the world’s longest mountain range.

S1E3 • Kingdoms of the Sky • 2021 • Nature