Creature comfort
BBC2, 8pm
YOU could argue that Springwatch is more dramatic than any soap, drama or reality show.
With snakes and stoats on the attack, barn owls giving birth and night-time shenanigans from otters and water voles, there is all manner of animal antics to keep us glued.
Returning for another live show, this time from the National Trust’s Sherborne Park Estate in the Cotswolds, Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Martin Hughes-Games and Gillian Burke guide us through the annual three-week wildlife extravaganza. “There’s a real sense of event,” says Chris. “It’s like a great big TV wildlife festival.
“Our stories unfold over a period of not minutes, but days or even weeks, which builds participation and anticipation.”
Planned highlights include following the breeding of the Barn Owls, a fly-by with pairs of buzzards, watching the parenting skills of blue tits and tracking the active badger setts and fox earths.
There are cameras and sat-navs scattered across the park to give us the inside scoop.
And with filming having been going on since January (with the help of satellite tags), we can also expect stunning footage of an urban peregrine, a Kingfisher nest, humpback whales, city gulls, Natterjack toads and spectacular Emperor moths.
Martin gets hands-on with his first wild tawny owl, Chris sees a snipe in action (and tries to recreate the sound with a bow and arrow) and you can find out more about the hairy-footed flower bee.
There are also some more unusual locations where beasts and bugs are found to be thriving – a scrapyard which has become a haven for some creatures, and a motorway service station.
We’re told, if we look beyond the concrete, there’s wildlife all around...