Springwatch 2023 wildlife: meet the species starring in this year’s Springwatch

Meet some of the species taking centre stage in this year’s Springwatch

By BBC Wildlife Magazine

Published: Wednesday, 10 May 2023 at 12:00 am

This year, BBC Springwatch returns to BBC2 from Monday 29th May for three weeks of live programmes.  Here are some of the species and stories that will be making an appearance

Springwatch 2023 wildlife

Ospreys and white-tailed eagle

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White-tailed eagle in flight over the Isle Of Mull, Scotland, UK. © Keith Wood/EyeEm/Getty

Iolo Williams will be setting out in search of Poole Harbour’s new ospreys and white-tailed eagles to find out about the successful reintroduction projects that have brought these birds back to the south of England for the first time in hundreds of years.

Red squirrels

Gillian Burke will be getting closer to red squirrels than she ever has before.

Water vole

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Water vole feeding by a pond in Kent, England, UK. © Kevin Sawford/Getty

The fairways and greens of a golf course are an unsuspecting habitat to find the UK’s fastest declining mammal. But the waterways that cause problems for many a golfer are providing the perfect home for water voles.

 Cemetery spider 

Chantelle Lindsay visits Highgate Cemetery in search of an arachnid that has made a home for itself in the vaults of the famed Egyptian Avenue. Meta Bourneti is traditionally a cave spider that is seldom seen in the UK, but a colony has carved an existence for itself here for almost a century.

Sandwich terns

A small island in a lagoon in North Wales becomes the prime breeding ground for the spectacular sandwich tern. With their punk like head feathers they settle at the National Trust’s Cemlyn reserve each spring. Their courtship however, is less rock roll and more paso doble resembling matadors as they strut with wings outstretched in the attempt to attract a mate.

 Bee fly 

The spring brings sunshine and welcome warmth to Buckinghamshire and in amongst the early blooms of the primroses – an imposter can be found. At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking that this is a bee but the tell-tale signs of its long proboscis and only one pair of wings show that this is in fact a fly – a bee fly. This master of mimicry has a sinister side as it parasites solitary bees in spectacular fashion. Like launching a catapult, it takes aim and flings its eggs into the burrows of unsuspecting bees where they will eventually hatch into parasitoid larva, killing their hosts.

Parasitic wasp

Large white butterflies can be seen in many of our gardens in spring, where they lay their eggs on the tender stems of our green veg. When the caterpillars emerge, they have a ready supply of food and they can easily strip our cabbages of their leaves.

But the smell of the caterpillar’s saliva when mixed with chewed up leaves attracts an unwanted guest … Cotesia Glomorata – a type of solitary wasp – no bigger than a flying ant.

These parasitic wasps are also looking for somewhere to lay their eggs … ideally INSIDE the caterpillar. The female wasp succeeds and what happens to the caterpillar now is a truth stranger than fiction; It grows as normal, while the wasp larvae grow inside it … until finally they chew their way out. Amazingly the caterpillar is still alive but now its brain chemistry has been altered to protect the wasp larvae day and night, until finally it starves to death. Cotesia are so common that 70% of large white caterpillars endure this fate.

 

Jellyfish

Nestled in the shallows around our coastline are some of the strangest life forms in the sea. Polyps. They’re anchored to rocks for up to 25 years, but when springtime conditions are just right, they can undergo a remarkable transformation. They morph into a daisy-chain of segments, which then start a strange twitching dance.

Slowly but surely the upper most segment branches off … and a new baby Moon Jellyfish drifts away on the current. They grow up to 6mm a day until just 2 months later they are fully formed adults known as medusa. Jellyfish have no brains, no bones and no blood but, as we reveal using micro photography to show you their anatomy in fine detail, they are truly spellbinding creatures.

Otters

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European otter (Lutra lutra) on shoreline rocks, Yell, Shetland Islands, Scotland.

Canals – once Britain’s super-highways, bustling with trade and industry, are now a much more leisurely affair. They’re also wildlife corridors, giving many species a route into and out of our towns and cities.

Springwatch showcases one that runs parallel to a natural river in Gloucestershire and his home to one of our most elusive mammals … otters. They’ve learned to negotiate the locks, dams and gates of the canal, where there’s plenty of fish to be had. And one particular female otter needs as many as she can get because she’s got hungry mouths to feed: 2 month old otter cubs.

At around 5 months old they are starting to explore the river for themselves. In the coming months mum will teach them everything she knows – by the time they’re 1 they’ll need to be able to navigate the highways and byways of the canal all by themselves.

Burnet moth  

Concealed in the short grasses on chalk downland in Dorset is a beautiful burnet moth caterpillar. It’s a very fussy eater, feeding only on common bird’s foot trefoil. The caterpillar and the trefoil share a very sinister skill. Both have evolved the ability to conjure up toxic cyanides.

When threatened, the caterpillar oozes dangerous droplets. It advertises this trait with eye catching green and black colours, warning predators to stay away – which means it feeds undisturbed. When it has finally eaten it’s fill of trefoil, it shuffles deep into the undergrowth… and spins itself into a delicate, parchment like opaque cocoon.

Around a fortnight later it re-emerges. It has transformed into an adult five spot burnet moth and slowly unfurls iridescent inky blue wings, dotted with intense crimson and takes its first flight into the May sunshine. Cruising over the downland it’s a large and conspicuous fuzzball in flight and could be a very easy target. But it has protection: It may have changed colour since it was a caterpillar, but the message born in bright red on the moth’s wings is the same – toxic – stay away! It seems to be working as it ambles its way over the hillside to find a mate.

 

Hen harrier – Raptor persecution Pt 1: 

In his first film on the issue of raptor persecution, President of the BTO and BBC Correspondent, Frank Gardner, heads high up into the hills of Cumbria to try to catch a glimpse of one of our rarest and most persecuted birds: The Hen Harrier. He joins RSPB investigator Howard Jones as he patrols the hillside, keeping close watch over a nesting pair, because there is a history of male birds going missing in the area. Scaling the steep slopes is tough in a wheelchair so Frank travels by all-terrain vehicle to reach the best view point and is rewarded with some stellar scenes of this incredible bird. He hears from Howard about how vulnerable they are to persecution, especially on driven grouse moors and sees for himself what it takes to try to ensure these birds have a future on our uplands.

 

Marsh Harrier – Raptor Persecution Pt 2: 

In his second film on the issue – President of the BTO and BBC Correspondent, Frank Gardner, heads to Lakenheath Fen reserve on the Norfolk Suffolk Border, where they have a large number of Marsh Harrier. Here he meets the head of the RSPB’s investigation team, Mark Thomas, who tells him that the issue of raptor persecution is still a big problem and is happening up and down the country.

He shows Frank distressing footage captured on covert camera by his team, showing a gamekeeper clubbing a buzzard to death in a cage trap. And meets Norfolk Police’s Wildlife Crime Officer Chris Shelley to hear about one of the biggest cases of raptor persecution they ever dealt with, which happened just miles from Lakenheath Reserve. Frank’s horrified by the scale of the problem but heartened to hear about the great work the wildlife police and RSPB are doing to stamp out this cruel crime.

 

Gannets

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© Getty Images

Maggie Sheldon has been working on Bass Rock for 25 years and has come to know every nook and cranny. No one knows the population of gannets that come to the rock to breed every spring better. Springwatch follows her for a ‘day in the life of’ experience, finding out what it takes to care for this inhospitable habitat and monitor the birds that call it home.

As she tells us, Bass Rock isn’t a nature reserve, ‘it’s raw and hardcore.’ And when you see her negotiate landing and climbing on shore, you can see she is hardcore too! Ropes are used to winch up materials to mend paths, and battling the elements is always a struggle. But what makes it worthwhile is the bird life. Gannets have returned and Maggie is assessing how they’re faring this year, after last year’s devastating bird flu epidemic. We’ll get first hand evidence of how the virus is affecting the birds and Maggie’s heartfelt reactions and reflections.

 

Early spider orchid

Springwatch’s new resident botanist, Leif Bersweden’s, love of orchids began 10 years ago when he first clapped eyes on the rare early spider orchid in Durlston Country Park in Dorset. Now he’s back at the optimal time of year to see this amazing plant. It’s a sexually-deceptive orchid which has evolved to exploit the male buffish mining bee. The orchid’ flowers look, smell and feel to the male bee exactly like a female bee.

So, the male bees buzz around with just one job – to find a female. When the bee finds the type of orchid that looks like a lady bee, he thinks he’s got lucky. He literally attempts to mate with it and as he does so he butts the pollen sacs – which stick to his head like yellow horns.  He then flies to the next orchid – effectively pollinating it.

Tree dwelling bats

Megan McCubbin is in Gloucestershire indulging in her passion for ancient trees.  These increasingly rare trees are incredibly special for wildlife including some of our rarest – bats. Twelve of our eighteen species of bats regularly roost in trees but because they’re so difficult to find, our knowledge is limited. Megan meets up with bat conservationist Jim Mulholland who is focussed on understanding and improving the future of tree-dwelling bat species. To see the bats for herself, Megan must get harnessed up to climb the trees where she has just 60 seconds to see the bats without disturbing them.

Plankton

Springwatch takes a detailed look at plankton and uncover some of the changing seasons of our seas.

Where are Springwatch’s LIVE Wildlife Cameras?

RSPB Arne in Dorset will be home to more than 30 remote cameras – each hoping to capture the drama of spring as it unfolds.

The nest cameras will be up to their usual tricks, prying into the hidden lives of some of this area’s special bird species.

From skulking Dartford warblers to wonderful woodlarks via gaudy green woodpeckers and the out-of-this-world nightjar, it’s make or break time as they take on a race against time to rear the next generation. Predators are plentiful in this thriving ecosystem however, so danger is never far away as these chicks take their chances to successfully fledge.

 

Diving into this heathland world also allows us to explore other groups of animals like never before. All 6 of the UK’s native reptile species call Arne their home, including rare sand lizards and smooth Snakes. Just like their avian cousins, spring is all about breeding for these reptiles and the cameras will be standing by to follow all the action.

 

Top image © Stuart Shore, Wight Wildlfie Photography/Getty