- 2 days ago
It follows a personal, diary-style journey through the seasons on a riverbank, showcasing intimate animal behaviors without a host or distracting musics.
翠鸟河日记里摄影师最经典的拍摄技巧, 聚焦哥伦比亚河流域的水文地质与生态挑战，记录了该流域的韧性与复兴...
翠鸟河日记里摄影师最经典的拍摄技巧, 聚焦哥伦比亚河流域的水文地质与生态挑战，记录了该流域的韧性与复兴...
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00:03September 25th, Sunday.
00:00:06Rains forecast. I should be getting home to mow the lawn.
00:00:10But I can't help myself.
00:00:13I cannot cross a bridge without stopping to look for signs of otters.
00:00:22Nothing today. Only the tracks of someone's dog and a badger.
00:00:26I'll be back again tomorrow.
00:00:29Once you start looking in on a river, it's impossible to stop.
00:00:49It wasn't just an obsession with otters that led to this film.
00:00:54I grew up by a river.
00:00:56And my first attempts at wildlife filming were done there using my father's home cine camera.
00:01:03My father loved and campaigned to restore the health of the river.
00:01:08After he died, I thought, how can I pick up where he left off?
00:01:15He was a doctor and was aware, perhaps more than anyone, how important clean water is for life to exist.
00:01:23How we have to take the time to look at what's going on beneath the surface.
00:01:30If no one knows that watervolves are in steep decline, then how can we do anything about it?
00:01:36Wildlife now needs a helping hand.
00:01:40I'm a cameraman.
00:01:41The best thing I can do is show what we stand to lose.
00:01:49A film about rivers has to include otters.
00:01:53But I've burnt my fingers trying to film them in Britain in the past.
00:01:57They're nocturnal and very hard to find.
00:02:09July 29th.
00:02:12I'm following up a tip-off about an otter sighting.
00:02:17It's one thing to see an otter, quite another to film it.
00:02:24I get set up, but I'm far from hopeful.
00:02:28My scent could carry on even the slightest breeze.
00:02:34First I go somewhere high to look for telltale ripples.
00:02:46A little egret flushing out fish with its feet is a good sign.
00:02:50There'll be food here for otters too.
00:02:56Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see.
00:02:59I can hardly believe it.
00:03:02An otter.
00:03:04Just beyond the rocks.
00:03:16I resist the urge to move closer to get a clearer view.
00:03:20Otters are a bit short-sighted, but they have an incredible sense of smell.
00:03:34Gradually, it works its way closer.
00:03:56Then it's gone.
00:03:58I try not to panic.
00:04:01Experience or instinct or something tells me this otter won't have gone far.
00:04:07I'm relieved to pick it up again not far downstream.
00:04:15The water is slower and the river is deeper here, so its dives take longer.
00:04:20While it's underwater, I can play grandmother's footsteps,
00:04:25making a quick dash to a better filming position before it surfaces.
00:04:47Judging by this otter's large size and bald features, it's a male.
00:04:52The wound on his nose is probably from a fight with a rival.
00:05:11It's a debtologist.
00:05:13I'm 2.
00:05:14I'm just going to put on the control button.
00:05:16I want to keep on with the control button.
00:05:17The control button is 2.
00:05:26I can push on the control button but the ability of visitors will be using sposób and capacity.
00:05:26Like a fish, he's using every part of his body to manoeuvre under water.
00:05:32Sliding through the thick weed gives him the element of surprise.
00:05:36In murky water and in the dark, an otter can sense and ambush fish just by using its whiskers.
00:05:57I've been with this same otter for several hours now.
00:06:01I never imagined it was even remotely possible to keep track of a wild otter in a river for this
00:06:06long.
00:06:08Over the next few days my luck holds.
00:06:12On a different stretch of water, where the river is slow and at its deepest, I find the same otter
00:06:17again.
00:06:32He's panting hard for breath.
00:06:39It's not the current wearing him out.
00:06:42When diving deep, it's his own buoyancy that he has to fight against.
00:06:50Along a territory that could be 30 or 40 miles of river,
00:06:54he prefers to hunt in shallower places,
00:06:57where a lively current encourages healthy weed and lots of fish.
00:07:08Ducks like it too.
00:07:11Otters like eating ducks,
00:07:13but here it's just too shallow for an otter to catch them from below.
00:07:19Even so, the ducks keep their distance.
00:07:24Suspect like that,
00:07:25and the ducks keep my distance.
00:07:26It's just too shallow for the wild.
00:07:28It's just endless.
00:07:36Itens the wild.
00:07:44Every sea at sea at sea.
00:07:53And the fanny has to see the sky.
00:07:54below the rear is a real draw for all kinds of river life.
00:08:13I learn that if the ducks are out of the deep water,
00:08:17an otter could be nearby.
00:08:19They're much better wildlife trackers than me, out of necessity.
00:08:48I'm struck by this otter's constant search for food.
00:08:52He never seems to stop to rest.
00:08:56The weir is a place that crayfish thrive,
00:08:59and I'm sure it's this, and not fish, that he's mostly eating.
00:09:05Crayfish are not as nutritious as fish,
00:09:08and maybe explains why he has to hunt out so many of them.
00:09:37It's satisfying to feel I can sometimes second-guess.
00:09:42Perhaps he's starting to get used to me,
00:09:45except that all I do is keep still and watch him.
00:09:57Adult dog otters are solitary creatures.
00:10:00I can relate to that, but he even shakes me off.
00:10:05It's the last I see of him for a while.
00:10:19Diary entry for Wednesday, 23rd of August.
00:10:23No wind, poor light, but a very good day.
00:10:53A family of four otters.
00:10:58It's rare for so many cubs to survive to this age.
00:11:13The one seeing off the moorhen is an adult female.
00:11:17The other three are cubs.
00:11:19They must be close to maybe a year old.
00:11:25By sticking close together, they help each other.
00:11:28Any fish flushed out by one of them has three other hungry mouths to escape.
00:11:40The chances are these cubs were fathered by the dog otter I've been filming.
00:11:45But he won't be joining them.
00:11:47Male otters don't have anything to do with cub rearing.
00:11:50Male otters don't have anything to do with you.
00:11:57Female vanter don't have anything to do with them.
00:12:02Maleomy settingaroo concert is stringent.
00:12:04Male destroying relatively small ways to escape.
00:12:06Female eating urchin.
00:12:06Male eating urchin.马form
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00:12:14departing onto butteen.
00:12:30They're keeping a close eye on the far bank where I'm filming from.
00:12:35Some walkers have stopped on the footpath behind me to watch.
00:12:39The otters are watching them back.
00:12:47They don't seem concerned.
00:12:51Maybe they've become very smart at keeping us at a distance.
00:13:24They disappear up the bank of a quiet island that divides the river into two and where nobody goes.
00:13:30I imagine them curled up in a big heap somewhere, fast asleep.
00:13:37That's the nature of filming.
00:13:39Twenty intense minutes, followed by hours, even days, of waiting and hoping.
00:13:49Just before I head home I catch a slight movement in the reeds.
00:13:57It's teeming with birds.
00:14:01Not the kind of birds you'd expect to see by a river, but hedgerow, woodland, garden visiting birds.
00:14:08Like long-tailed tits.
00:14:10There's also a chiff-chaff.
00:14:18When I look a bit closer I realise they're gorging themselves on aphids.
00:14:29If conditions are good, aphids reproduce at an astonishing rate.
00:14:34The females duplicate themselves like machines, without needing male mates.
00:14:46It's been a long dry summer, but here the river keeps the sap flowing.
00:14:52As the aphids tap into the sap, the birds tap into them.
00:15:10With such easy pickings, they hardly know which way to turn.
00:15:18In a few weeks time, the willow warbler will be making a long journey back to Africa for the winter.
00:15:25This will help it get fit.
00:15:31I wouldn't have spotted the aphids if it hadn't been for the otters.
00:15:34I like it when one thing leads to another.
00:15:38Rivers are like that.
00:15:40Always leading you on.
00:15:41And once they've got you hooked, they don't let go.
00:15:48Six months later, I'm exploring a quiet chalk stream.
00:15:52In the hope of finding what was my father's favourite bird.
00:15:59Diary entry, March 24th.
00:16:02Camping.
00:16:03Found lovely Kingfisher site, S-I-T-E.
00:16:07V dot pleased.
00:16:13It's a male.
00:16:17The nest is at the end of a tunnel, dug high up in the bank, hidden by ivy.
00:16:31Another Kingfisher joins him.
00:16:35She's on the right.
00:16:36I know she's a female because the lower half of her beak is red.
00:16:42Seeing them together near the nest is exciting.
00:16:46Kingfishers are mostly solitary creatures.
00:16:49They wouldn't pair up unless they really meant business.
00:17:14The female sits tight, waiting to see what the male has on offer.
00:17:18The female sits tight, waiting to see what the male has on offer.
00:17:41The male's brought a stickle back.
00:17:46The male's brought a stickle back.
00:17:54The male's brought a stickle back and neck consuming in the line, it states that it's looking through to turn
00:18:00in her back.
00:18:16About 30 minutes later, the male is back with another fish, a minnow.
00:18:46The male feeding the female is a sure sign that they're going to breed.
00:18:55Only 10 minutes after that, a third catch.
00:19:05The male is showing her he's got a good supply of fish and that he knows how to catch them.
00:19:13And then the exciting prospect of having a whole family to film in due course.
00:19:35The male is off again, but this time the female doesn't wait for him on the bower, but disappears into
00:19:43the nest and stays there for a while.
00:20:01After 30 minutes, the male returns with his fourth fish.
00:20:05The female appears briefly, but flies straight back into the nest.
00:20:15The male waits patiently for five or six minutes, but she's just not interested in being fed anymore.
00:20:31I thought maybe he'd eat the fish, but eventually he flies off with it.
00:20:38If the male comes back to take a turn in the nest, I'll know they've started incubating their eggs.
00:20:46While I'm waiting, there's other activity in the hazel tree.
00:20:55A wren, checking out a possible nest site of its own.
00:21:09It's ripe to be worried about the squirrel, though its nest looks safer than the crumbly earth bank the kingfishers
00:21:18are using.
00:21:21The next day, both male and female kingfishers begin taking turns in the nest hole.
00:21:27In about 20 days' time, I expect to see them feeding newly hatched chicks.
00:21:36Until then, I decide to return to the river where I first filmed watervolves some 30 years ago.
00:21:46Back then, they were common, but I didn't have the skills to film them very well.
00:21:56Now that filming is my job, I struggle to find them at all.
00:22:01They've become extremely rare in Britain, so I'm really excited when I find a burrow and fresh green droppings.
00:22:13Ripples from under the bank make my heart race.
00:22:28Not what I was expecting at all.
00:22:31A mink!
00:22:47It's hunting the watervolves, and could wipe all of them out in this area.
00:22:54They're so bad for watervolves because the females are small enough to squeeze into the voles' burrows.
00:23:11Originally brought into Britain for fur farming, there's little point hating them.
00:23:16They're just rather a beautiful animal in the wrong place.
00:23:23It has seen me, but because I'm downwind and downstream, it hasn't yet smelled me, so it seems unsure whether
00:23:32I'm a threat or not.
00:23:39While it's trying to find a way past me, I notice that it floats higher in the water than an
00:23:45otter.
00:23:47Now let's get the water.
00:23:52So let's get in here.
00:23:56Let's get in here a little bit of a fish.
00:24:00But I'll throw them out next to one another.
00:24:02We'll throw in here a little bit of water.
00:24:02All right.
00:24:02Let's get in here a little bit of water.
00:24:04They're just about to put water our little more displays together in the water.
00:24:04To put water on the water.
00:24:06Now let's take in here, that's why we get in here.
00:24:07You know what?
00:24:07You know what?
00:24:16I'd like to get out of its way without disturbing it, but the slightest movement will frighten it.
00:24:22It'll find a way around by another route.
00:24:28I move on, too, to try my luck elsewhere.
00:24:31It doesn't make sense to try filming watervolts here any longer.
00:24:39But further downstream I find another of their predators.
00:24:44The barn owl's favourite is the smaller field vole, but they take young watervolts, too.
00:24:51Herons will take both youngsters and adults.
00:24:56The riverbank is a dangerous place.
00:25:02In my search for watervolts I find myself filming an animal I've almost never seen photographed in the wild.
00:25:16A water shrew.
00:25:19Bigger than a common shrew, but still tiny.
00:25:23Hardly the length of my thumb.
00:25:26But it's a major predator.
00:25:28It has venom in its saliva.
00:25:34It's a bit like a miniature otter in a way.
00:25:37And like an otter, it has special adaptations for life in the water.
00:25:41It can close its ears, has bristles on its tail and hind feet to help it paddle.
00:25:47And like the otter, it has long whiskers to home in on food in the dark and in the mud
00:25:53of a stream bed.
00:25:58Watching a water shrew in the wild like this is probably a once in a lifetime experience.
00:26:12Friday, 8th April.
00:26:15Overgrown riverbank with plenty of cover.
00:26:18More like the countryside of my father's childhood.
00:26:22Water vol heaven.
00:26:45Water vols don't hibernate.
00:26:48But they tend to stay underground in winter.
00:26:50And begin to emerge again as the weather warms up.
00:27:01Fresh food is a priority.
00:27:04Spring shoots are particularly high in protein.
00:27:35It's risky leaving the hole.
00:27:37The bare riverbank leaves it exposed.
00:27:42It looks like this could be a pregnant female.
00:27:45Water vols don't hibernate.
00:27:55Like ratty and wind in the willows, she gathers food to be eaten in the safety of her own home.
00:28:09Just nearby I find a water vol with a distinct scar on its tail.
00:28:14It will help me distinguish this individual from any others I see.
00:28:34It's the breeding season.
00:28:36And this water vol is high on hormones.
00:28:41I feel like turning the camera off when things get too personal.
00:28:45But it's a rare thing to see.
00:28:47And now I can be sure it's a male.
00:28:49It's a male.
00:29:17What looks like scratching for fleas isn't at all.
00:29:21He's spreading oil from flank glands onto his feet, so that he'll have a personalised scent trail wherever he goes.
00:29:38People often mistake water vols for rats.
00:29:42The differences are quite subtle.
00:29:44A water vol's ears are smaller, covered with hair and difficult to make out.
00:29:49Its face is chubbier and more rounded.
00:29:53Unlike rats, water vols are mainly herbivores.
00:29:57They burn energy at a very high rate, so they have to eat a lot.
00:30:05I notice some of his claws are missing.
00:30:08He's seen a few fights in his time.
00:30:10It suggests he's a hardened campaigner.
00:30:13I think of him now as scartail.
00:30:19He can't spend too long feeding.
00:30:21His number one concern is to stop other males from invading his patch.
00:30:27But he doesn't lay claim here with scented footsteps alone.
00:30:30At strategic points, a pile of droppings make it more than clear that this area of riverbank belongs to him.
00:30:39His number one.
00:30:55Here we go.
00:31:19Scartail puts extra effort into certain spots, building a mound, then urinating on it.
00:31:49I gradually learn he has a regular circuit.
00:31:53If stream levels rise, his scent will be washed away, so he does the rounds even more frequently during spells
00:32:00of wet weather.
00:32:07Females will be in season, so he's keeping a very interested nose to the ground.
00:32:32It's vital he gathers information about all his neighbours.
00:32:36It's like reading a village notice board.
00:32:46His fresh dropping is now the latest headline.
00:32:53Time to patrol the other side of the river.
00:33:02The moorhen may have mistaken Scartail for a rat, but a rat would have a longer tail, more visible ears
00:33:10and that bounding gait.
00:33:17Scartail arrives upstream, just to my right.
00:33:22Straight away he picks up a foreign scent, of this female.
00:33:27She's already pregnant, so she avoids him.
00:33:32They play cat and mouse.
00:33:35He hunts.
00:33:38She hides.
00:33:59She puts down her own scent mark, not so much for Scartail, more to tell other females to keep out,
00:34:07that she has a claim here.
00:34:15The more time I spend here, the more interesting it gets.
00:34:20I've got to know a third water vole.
00:34:23He lives downstream, to the left of where I film from, and he has an uncanny knack of knowing when
00:34:30it's safe to go trespassing.
00:34:41His fur has a redder tinge to it, and his tail isn't damaged, so I dub him smooth tail.
00:35:09Smooth tail overwrites Scartail's scent with his own, in the same places, in the same way.
00:35:18It's a bold move, and he's careful not to stay in the same place for long.
00:35:34Playing dead in front of this mother duck is a wise tactic.
00:35:38If she were to mistake him for a rat, she could do him some serious damage.
00:35:51He looks younger than Scartail.
00:35:53His claws are all intact.
00:35:56He's not beaten up.
00:36:00After each secret incursion, he drifts home on the current.
00:36:05If he ever needs an emergency exit, the current will work in his favour.
00:36:20It's like some sort of bedroom farce.
00:36:23The water voles crossing and recrossing the river.
00:36:26Always avoiding each other.
00:36:28It's hard to work out what's going on.
00:36:43But gradually, I begin to see that smooth tail isn't risking a bruising encounter with Scartail for nothing.
00:36:52He's desperate to find a female he can mate with.
00:37:11He's got a scent now.
00:37:14She appears suddenly.
00:37:16He chases her into the water.
00:37:18She dives to get away.
00:37:22Scartail spots this from the other bank and crosses back over in hot pursuit.
00:37:39Smooth tail doesn't panic.
00:37:41He knows places he can hide.
00:37:55But Scartail has picked up his scent.
00:38:05Now he's really onto him.
00:38:07I've never seen him move so fast.
00:38:16It doesn't take him long to flush the younger male out.
00:38:26No big fight though.
00:38:29It isn't surprising.
00:38:31Most animals try to avoid bloodshed.
00:38:34Even so, they both scent mark vigorously on opposite sides of the river.
00:38:43Their rivalry will continue.
00:38:45But the lush spring growth gets in the way of filming.
00:38:49I just have to be glad that water voles have hung on here.
00:39:04Diary entry for Wednesday, 25th April, Port Meadow.
00:39:10Long hours waiting for the great crested grebes to do something.
00:39:15The pair seem subdued when they should really be flamboyantly displaying to each other.
00:39:49The air will be very warm.
00:39:56Their feathers are so well adapted to staying dry, that it's quite a struggle for them to wash.
00:40:18Other birds get out of the water to dry and preen their feathers, but these do it by rolling over
00:40:25onto one side.
00:40:49Feathers that come loose are often eaten to help digest their food.
00:40:59Like geese and swans, they are very loyal. They stay together for life, and only if one of them dies
00:41:07will the other go and look for a new partner.
00:41:21At last, a first attempt at courtship.
00:41:27Even though it's half-hearted and brief, it's just enough to stop me from giving up.
00:41:38The red house is an option for the first time.
00:41:40The red house is quite strong, and the red house is very strong.
00:41:44The red house is always a good one.
00:41:57The red house is a good one.
00:42:10The male's second approach is much more successful.
00:42:23I return a few days later to find the male very busy.
00:42:43He's putting a lot of effort into building a nest.
00:43:13A female isn't having any parts.
00:43:17I'm puzzled why she's cold-shouldering him when the male couldn't really be more enthusiastic.
00:43:29If they're to mate successfully this year, she really should be helping him.
00:43:47Finally, she pays him a bit of attention, and that's the encouragement he needs.
00:43:57Just as she's close by and watching, the male displays to her from on the nest.
00:44:26Here we go.
00:44:27Here we go.
00:44:39Then I see what she might see.
00:44:42Her nest seems very low in the water.
00:44:46She's not going to lay eggs in it if they're going to get wet.
00:44:53The male isn't about to give up.
00:45:12Perhaps some lily pads will impress her.
00:45:15Here we go.
00:45:32Here we go.
00:45:58The female's much more interested.
00:46:00But it's still not the spectacular courtship dance that great-crested grebes are renowned for.
00:46:17Here we go.
00:46:23Here we go.
00:46:24The male displays from the nest again.
00:46:28But seems dispirited when the female ignores the invitation to join in.
00:46:39The nest is still barely clear of the water.
00:46:50At last, the female gets on.
00:46:54She seems hesitant, as if their mating display hasn't properly run its course.
00:47:02The male carries on regardless.
00:47:04The male colours.
00:47:17The male sighs he is safe.
00:47:19The male captures the same and interlaced.
00:47:29The male bears is very expensive.
00:47:29The male bears are very soft.
00:47:32The male bears are very easy.
00:47:33The male bears are very expensive.
00:47:48After they mate, the female begins to match his moves, get into the groove.
00:47:55Her head tilting isn't her looking up in the sky at something.
00:47:59It's all part of the ritual.
00:48:18Another mating seems a bit rushed, as if they're just going through the motions.
00:48:39The third attempt is a total bungle.
00:48:44I've not seen a pair behave quite like this before, and it's only after filming is interrupted due to torrential
00:48:52rain that I begin to realise what's wrong.
00:48:58It's turning out to be one of the wettest Aprils on record, as if the monsoon has come to Britain.
00:49:08And when the weather finally clears a few days later, I find a moorhen on the sodden nest.
00:49:15The grebes aren't challenging it, which suggests they've abandoned the nest.
00:49:29The female is nowhere to be seen.
00:49:33It's as if she knew all along there was trouble ahead.
00:49:37Even for these consummate water birds, the constantly rising river proves too much.
00:49:49In my father's day, it would never have been in spate like this, right in the middle of the breeding
00:49:54season.
00:50:03In places where the riverbank has more height, the waterfalls can move into burrows higher up.
00:50:09But they can only cope with so much.
00:50:13Elsewhere, where the landscape is flat, they've nowhere to hide.
00:50:16It's just one more blow to their survival.
00:50:26Diary entry Wednesday, 2nd of May.
00:50:30Kingfisher chicks should have hatched five days ago.
00:50:349.12am, male arrives.
00:50:37Sits a minute, then leaves upstream.
00:50:4310.50am, male returns from downstream with fish.
00:50:48Calls for female.
00:51:03Leaves downstream.
00:51:05Returns almost straight away with same fish.
00:51:10Can't be sure they have chicks until I see a fish delivered into the nest.
00:51:1711.06am, male returns for third time without fish.
00:51:34Looks like he's on his own.
00:51:37I'm really worried now.
00:51:581.02pm.
00:52:00I leave for a break.
00:52:02My feet in the water have lost all feeling.
00:52:065.30am, female finally shows.
00:52:10But she disappears when a tractor comes to mow the field.
00:52:14Light pour, so I leave.
00:52:17Their nest has failed.
00:52:20Who knows?
00:52:21Maybe a mink or a stoat raided it.
00:52:24I'll never really know for sure.
00:52:25It's hard enough for these birds, even without the seasons seesawing around you.
00:52:33Back on the main river, in willows damaged by flooding, I'm luckier.
00:52:39Something seldom seen, and possibly never filmed before.
00:52:49Water voles in trees.
00:52:53It's certainly a first for me.
00:53:00They're even using their tails to hang on.
00:53:021.00pm, young people trying to place your tail down on the monitor.
00:53:042.0pm, young people trying to load up pm.
00:53:10One left in public, lungs would allow me to break off some amounts of dams to dwell.
00:53:112.0pm, young people!
00:53:162.0pm likes heavenly mainland side here.
00:53:172.0pm and windows big sun, white llevad Get the坐.
00:53:204.0pm.
00:53:223.0pm of the fog, tick to 0.0pm up the bathroom.
00:53:32branches, they carry on scent marking, just as they would down on the riverbank.
00:53:38Checking to see who else is about, it's business as usual, even though they're two or three
00:53:44metres up.
00:53:49Sometimes it's obvious they're just not cut out for life in the trees.
00:53:57At other times they seem quite happy to take risks.
00:54:18They don't seem to mind if they fall, I think they feel safe over the water.
00:54:24Sometimes they jump on purpose.
00:54:32They remind me a little of beavers, gnawing through bigger branches to get at shoots they
00:54:37can't otherwise reach.
00:54:52It's possible that this tree climbing is one way they're learning to avoid mink.
00:54:58Perhaps this is evolution in action.
00:55:01The water voles simply shifting their patterns of behaviour in order to survive.
00:55:17The mallards have done well this spring in spite of the flood.
00:55:21Their large brood isn't tied to a nest and the young can feed themselves.
00:55:26This helps cushion them against unpredictable summers.
00:55:40The river never stays the same.
00:55:42It changes day by day, there's always something happening, something I haven't noticed before.
00:55:50Maybe that's why I can't stop watching.
00:56:00Diary entry 19th of June, camping.
00:56:05Got up 4am, a proper summer dawn.
00:56:12Found otters, a mother with two cubs.
00:56:23At last I get to film otters eating something that's big enough to identify.
00:56:30It's one of their most unusual meals.
00:56:32This youngster is eating what seems to be a rook.
00:56:38I can only guess at how they caught it.
00:56:42Otters sometimes hunt out in fields and woods, not just on water.
00:56:50That's the mother.
00:56:54She makes what she can of one of the wings.
00:56:59They don't often catch birds.
00:57:01It shows what good opportunists otters are.
00:57:06They don't waste a scrap.
00:57:08A few minutes later, there's only the beak left.
00:57:17As soon as they've gone, I swim out to get a closer look at what's left.
00:57:21The only way to make certain it really was a rook.
00:57:29The next day, I come across the same family with a more conventional meal.
00:57:35It's the remains of an unusually large fish.
00:57:42A big catch is easier to deal with out of the water and provides a rare chance to see the
00:57:47otters properly.
00:57:59It's hard to tell what it is, but there aren't many British rivers healthy enough for fish this big to
00:58:05survive.
00:58:13When I see the jaw and huge teeth, I know it can only be a pike.
00:58:47But there's way to get a pokémon.
00:58:48It has been burned from green to green to green to blue to brown.
00:58:48I don't know.
00:58:52There's not much left.
00:58:56A mother leaves them to it, goes off to catch something else.
00:59:25The mother's caught an eel. She's not going to share it. High in fat, they're a big favourite of otters.
00:59:55The others are full. The older cubs so greedy, he nearly chokes on a bone.
01:00:14When he recovers, he finds himself adrift from his family.
01:00:19The current's strong here. He could suddenly be left behind.
01:00:34All safely together again, the last time I see them.
01:00:47I'm away filming abroad through the autumn, and when I return I'm in for a shock.
01:00:54The winter is turning out to be the coldest on record for 25 years.
01:01:06Heavy snowfall changes everything. It's as if you've gone somewhere new.
01:01:11In fact, I can't go anywhere. I'm snowed in.
01:01:16It's mid-December. I'm stuck at home, unable to reach the river to look for the otters.
01:01:22Small cubs could be emerging from their halts now.
01:01:30As soon as it thaws a little, I head straight back to the river.
01:01:34Despite the cold snap, the river only partly freezes over.
01:01:39I can see tracks. The otters and their cubs must be about here somewhere.
01:01:46But days are short, and I don't manage a sighting of them.
01:01:52Instead, I get absorbed by icicles, a rare sight where I live.
01:01:59Spray collects and freezes onto dead stems, forming glass slippers like in a fairy tale.
01:02:10Another is like a giant's foot.
01:02:26In reality though, it must be harsh for the poor water voles, huddled up together inside their burrows.
01:02:33I wonder whether ice sculptures keep leaves fresh enough for the survivors to eat if they make it through the
01:02:39winter.
01:02:45Late March. Still really cold. 15 degrees below freezing.
01:02:51Warmed by summer heat slowly released from the ground, the river temperature only drops a few degrees.
01:02:58The water is cold, but it's so much warmer than the air that it steams like a Turkish bath.
01:03:06Fish are kept alive, but are sluggish and a little easier for a family of otters to catch.
01:03:40So, I'm now going to follow the lore to the beginning with an oceanic particulary.
01:03:45The mothers made a prize catch, a big eel.
01:03:51The stronger cub tries to make off with it.
01:04:12Eels are tough creatures.
01:04:15They can breathe air and stay alive out of the water for some time.
01:04:20This cub is only just managing to restrain it.
01:04:34Otters are more nervous and watchful out of the water.
01:04:38At night, a badger might try and steal the meal like this.
01:04:42In the past, wolves and bears would have been a threat.
01:04:47It's much too exciting a catch for the smaller cub to ignore.
01:05:30Even the dogs were not so excited.
01:05:31I'm so glad that you can do it.
01:05:31We are so excited that you'll ever have the help of the animals.
01:05:34It's amazing.
01:05:53Not long ago, eels were disastrous for otters.
01:05:57They had a high buildup of a farm chemical in their fat cells
01:06:01that made male otters sterile.
01:06:04And otters nearly died out.
01:06:07I remember my father testing the water in the river near our house.
01:06:12He seemed to know when things weren't right.
01:06:19Since some of the problem chemicals have been banned, otters have returned.
01:06:24But rivers are still polluted and eels aren't common anymore.
01:06:28One this big is a rare treat for these two.
01:06:55Not much left to fight over, still the dominant cub won't let go.
01:07:03The younger cub gives up and goes to join its mother.
01:07:13She's catching crayfish.
01:07:37These otters eat a lot of crayfish.
01:07:40They're the introduced kind that have almost entirely replaced our smaller native ones.
01:07:47They can't eat them all, but I can't help hoping the otters eating them might restore some balance.
01:08:02I can't quite believe that I'm seeing such intimate family moments.
01:08:08With otter numbers improving, I've been able to conquer my 20-year-old problem trying to film them.
01:08:17Although I still mostly only find their droppings, called spraint.
01:08:25They're usually left in obvious strategic places.
01:08:29Near bridges by river junctions or on mounds.
01:08:33I can't smell the information contained within them.
01:08:37The age, sex and so on.
01:08:39But they do give me an insight into what they're eating.
01:08:42You can see the fish bones in this one.
01:08:46It's always a thrill to find fresh prints.
01:08:49The family will have passed through only last night.
01:08:54I don't always catch up with them.
01:08:56But knowing otters are out there again, that they've recovered from near extinction is enough.
01:09:06My father once told me the wonderful thing about surgery is that people recover.
01:09:11They bounce back, given a bit of careful nursing.
01:09:15He'd have been delighted by the otter's amazing comeback, but not really surprised.
01:09:22Whenever I hear too much bad news, I like to remember his optimism.
01:09:34It's a damp, cold February day, with the river in full flood.
01:09:39When I find a mother with a really new cub.
01:09:44It's done well to get this far.
01:09:46It's done well, it's all alone.
01:09:53I'm doing well to get this far away.
01:09:55I'm doing well to go with a little bit.
01:10:04I'm doing well to get another shelter in the area.
01:10:13I'm doing well to get a little bit of fun.
01:10:48It's too young to feed itself yet, certainly not old enough to go fishing in strong currents.
01:11:22Seeing this otter watch over her cub, I can't help thinking of my father smiling and watching me,
01:11:29seeing how this river is getting under my skin, becoming something I care about.
01:11:36I'll be stopping by that bridge again, checking for otter tracks in the morning.
01:12:05I'll be right back.
01:12:24I'll be right back.
01:12:24I'll be right back.
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