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Spring

The Great British Year Original Series
Episode 2 of 4

Documentary showing Britain's changing look over the course of a year. Spring arrives, and with it comes the start of an epic race for life where timing is everything.

Spring marks the start of an epic race for life where timing is everything; trees explode with blossom and mornings fill with the magical chorus of birdsong. Long-tailed tits frantically build nests whilst, in our oceans, seahorses sway to a graceful courtship dance.

As we celebrate Easter, a stoat mother hunts the young rabbits to feed her own playful young. As spring becomes summer, guillemot chicks leap from their cliffs to begin life at sea, and this year's young prepare for life alone.

1 hour

Last on

Tue 18 Aug 2020 09:00
主播大秀 Two

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WinterOriginal Series

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SummerOriginal Series

See all episodes from The Great British Year

Clips

See all clips from Spring (10)

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:16

    KT Tunstall

    Under the Weather

  • 00:23

    Kirsty MacColl

    Days

  • 00:33

    Coldplay

    Strawberry Swing

  • 00:57

    Coldplay

    Life In Technicolor II

Filming a seahorse giving birth

Filming a seahorse giving birth

One of the most magical stories of the听Spring听episode was about an animal that most people might not even recognise as being British: the spiny seahorse. These incredible creatures are almost unique as the male, not the female, carries the eggs and gives birth to the young. They are hard to film; not only are they shy and secretive but the seagrass beds they live in are increasingly threatened in the UK.


The team already had footage of sea horses filmed at Studland Bay in Dorset but they wanted to capture the moment when the male gave birth. To film this in detail would require specialist lenses and controlled conditions, which, although theoretically possible in the wild, would be a potential risk to an already听.


To meet the challenge of filming this rare behaviour the team joined forces with the Sea Life Centre, in Weymouth, Dorset. The Sea Life Centre had the facilities and expertise as well as听a captive breeding programme underway.


The crew set up a filming tank听that mimicked, as closely as possible, the natural sea grass habitat where they had already been filmed just a few miles away. A pair were introduced to their new home and after a period of settling in, they hit it off, the male was soon pregnant.


Filming him giving birth was not so straightforward.听Cameraman Matt Thompson spent days watching a pregnant male seahorse doing not very much apart from looking more and more uncomfortable.听鈥業t just made me glad to be a mammal鈥�, Matt said.听When the male鈥檚 labour started, Matt was on hand to .

主播大秀 Nature: How to work with wildlife

主播大秀 Nature: How to work with wildlife
The Great British Year: Spring producer Bridget Appleby has written on the听highs and lows of wildlife film-making.

Credits

Narrator Joseph Fiennes
Series Producer James Brickell
Executive Producer Mike Gunton
Producer Bridget Appleby

Broadcasts

Meet the timelapse team

Find out more about the team behind the timelapse sequences in The Great British Year.

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