#springwatch

[coffeenuts]

[themancorialist]

Cotton Field Park, Manchester.

[ancientstone]

If you need a bit of relaxation at the moment then I highly suggest going to the BBC's youtube channel's Live Page, which is currently showing the live webcams from their wildlife show Springwatch, including lots of live nests and badger cams

The show (and therefore the cameras) is running for the next three weeks (26th May-12th June), and the cameras operate from 10am to 10pm UK time Monday-Thursday, 10am to 6pm Friday-Sunday.

Also if you search 'springwatch' on the BBC youtube channel you can find the wildlife cams from previous years, including some with baby seal pups

[unkn0wnvariable]

Mute Swan and Cygnets

A mute swan with two cygnets out for a swim in the rain, at Summer Leys nature reserve.

[esperata]

A British thing but I was so disappointed when Chris Packham referred on BBC Springwatch to Harry Potter as a reason Britain was great. At a time when trans people are calling for the new series to be boycott, when Rowling has been publicly celebrating her successful attack of trans rights, and after literal years of us saying people need to stop lauding her and her work.

I know it's the BBC and they're famously anti-trans but this was a seemingly off-the-cuff comment. It shows he doesn't listen to the trans community and is now complicit in promoting her new series. At this stage there isn't any excuse for ignorance especially for someone so renowned in the leading media station of the country.

[dansnaturepictures]

Celebrating BBC Springwatch at 20 

This is more something I post about on my other social media accounts, but since one of my favourite programmes on TV returns tonight and it’s celebrating two decades now since it began I felt like saying a bit about what it means to me and looking back over some of my highlights. 

A key reason I always highlight now as to why I love Springwatch, Winterwatch and (when it was on in a more fuller way) Autumnwatch is that it’s my hobby and main passion in life on screen for an hour a night for a time. That’s just the tip of the iceberg with all the online content of course, Springwatch in particular feels more a festival and celebration of life than just a TV show, and particularly in my younger days I was glued to the online nest webcams. But it goes so much deeper for me as looking back when I first got into birdwatching which got me into all wildlife Springwatch was one of the first programmes I watched about nature and it really captured my imagination and excited me so much. A key thing with that is there are many wonderful and breathtaking natural history shows on offer, but what sets the watches apart is it focuses on the UK’s wildlife. So things I do see and strive to see which makes it really relatable and useful for me. And with the format of mixing live/webcam footage, feature films, explanations and discussion it feels as though through my TV screen I’m out enjoying nature, which was especially powerful in my school/college and working in the office every day times where I wouldn't necessarily be out in nature during a day.

The show has provided us with many fascinating nuggets of information, powerful looks at the plight of species and habitats, spellbinding films and narration, excitement and the innuendo and comedy. From Water Rails nesting to butterfly films, sticklebacks to the brutality of nature in a Nightjar nest, Badgers, live Beavers, countless inspiring films showing wonderful people who work so hard for nature and for us all to have access to it, the hilarious moment Bill Oddie ruined a sound quiz by saying “Hey, we’ve got a Buzzard” and much more in between, it so often delivers. I think Chris Packham sums up the content on the shows so well with his famous “That’s what you pay your licence fee for” line.

Another big thing I love about the watches is they’re our shows, the viewer clips, photos, questions etc. are so fascinating and engaging also. I have been lucky to experience this first hand during 2021’s Springwatch when reacting on what was then Twitter to the team seeing a “Midgenado” at Wild Ken Hill by reposting a photo I’d taken of one in Dorset earlier in the year and they used my photo on air in the next episode much to my delight. On a completely separate note it was surreal in 2023 when a brilliant wild holiday we had in Anglesey coincided with Gillian Burke presenting part of the final week of Springwatch from the island with us visiting many of the same spots. I love seeing wild places I know pop up on screen and have largely by chance clocked up a few of the host locations from all the watches among places I’ve visited now. A great thing about the watches is it is for everyone, I get as excited about it as much now as I did when I was a kid just getting into nature. I feel you could be an expert and/or a professional in nature or someone who has never been interested in nature and you’d both enjoy and learn from it. 

This show helps so many and a strong community forms around it. Another strong feature on the show that has developed is the mindful moment, 90 seconds of a film just showing nature with no music or narration which are so soothing, the sort of thing that really helps with mental health which I know the show does well. The Springwatch and Autumnwatch of 2020 and 2021’s Wintetwatch were perhaps the three most important series, if I remember rightly there were lockdown restrictions for all or part of all three. I’m so amazed that they could all go ahead but logically thinking of the type of show it is it makes sense it could be done around restrictions, and with so many people isolated and many in positions where they couldn’t get out into nature it was a real tonic for many.  

In this photoset is my Midgenado shot as well as some photos of me with a couple of the presenters at Bird Fairs over the years, me and my Mum with Iolo Williams and me with Simon King. I very often at the end of the series thank the whole team and it does blow my mind every time how they manage to produce such high quality live broadcasts from remote locations and with stories constantly developing. The faces of the show have become my idols over the years and many of the presenters and filmmakers have inspired me in many ways. Thank you the watches, I can’t wait to see what the next three weeks hold and here’s to the next decade. 

[stxllarvision]

a little michaela strachan doodle from whilst i was watching winterwatch

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Probs wrong.

But I think that Springwatch (UK animal documentary thing) does not have too much of mammal bias.

They show a lot of birds and do many inverts too.

Oooh that's cool!!!

[nfvfhf945]

(via GIPHY)

[thedrawinggizzard]

I find it hard to explain what Freya is like because she is intentionally ment to be completely mad and random, so hopefully my inspirations for her will help.

The worst part is I could probably use a completely different set of characters and it would probably be just as accurate:')

[coffeenuts]

[westmeath]

much to think about

[unkn0wnvariable]

Bullfinch

A bullfinch sitting on a branch amongst the hawthorn at Summer Leys nature reserve.

[faraway-wanderer]

Springwatch is rlly like 🥰🥰😚😚 and then 💀☠️😵‍💫😬 in less than a minute jfc

[comraderoscoes]

[sphylor]

SPRINGWATCH IS ON TONIGHT WOWOOWOWWOWOOWOOOOOOOWOOWOOOOOWOOO