Our New Location
So what about Autumnwatch's new location? We'll be based at the Aigas Field Centre, in the beautiful Scottish Highlands. It's one of the finest areas in the country to experience autumn wildlife, and we'll be right at the heart of the action. Nestled in a wooded glen and surrounded by dramatic mountains, Aigas is home to some of the UK's most iconic animals, from highland specialists to familiar garden wildlife. In the forest, there are red squirrels, pine martens, red deer and crested tits. Birds of prey cruise over the moorland, while foxes and small mammals hunt in the undergrowth, and a loch is home to a family of beavers. We can't wait to show you!

The cameras are being prepared as we speak and with many mammals only active at night, our team will have infra-red, thermal and live mini-cameras to provide a unique insight into their rarely-glimpsed nocturnal lives. The latest macro camera technology will reveal the fascinating, hidden worlds of tiny creatures that normally go unnoticed - we'll truly have autumn covered from the canopy to the leaf litter.

Of course, the wildlife always writes the script, and we've learnt to expect the unexpected on Autumnwatch! But we're hoping to bring you the following:-

• Beavers - for the first time in the UK, Autumnwatch aims to show exclusive, intimate views from a live camera inside a beaver's lodge as they prepare for winter.
• Pine martens - these secretive and little known creatures are notoriously elusive but Autumnwatch will have a privileged opportunity to see them up close.
• Mammal stump - back by popular demand: the mammal stump is a hollowed out tree trunk with embedded cameras and offers a unique perspective on the dramatic lives of small mammals.
• Buzzards, red squirrels and foxes. In autumn all these species employ different feeding strategies as they prepare for winter. Scavenging, hoarding or stealing - we'll be following their every move.

Live Online and on BBC Red Button
This year, there's more opportunity than ever to watch the action. The remote wildlife cameras switch on on Sunday 28th October, before the series airs on TV.

We now have an Olympic line up of platforms to watch the cameras on - BBC Red Button, the Web, iPads, iPhones, android phones and tablets. So now you can stay tuned to the action, where ever you are.

We're also excited to announce that this year, for 17 hours a day, we'll have live commentary on the live cameras from wildlife experts and broadcasters Chris Sperring and Euan McIlwraith. (Between midnight and 7am the cameras will still be live, with text commentary - apparently presenters need to sleep.)

As always, there are plenty of ways for all of you to get involved.

• Post a Reply to a blog like this one

• Join us on Facebook

• Follow us on Twitter or share your autumn experiences with #autumnwatch

• Share photos via the official Autumnwatch Flickr group

• To find autumnal events near where you live, Try BBC Things to Do.

The Autumnwatch team will be checking all these regularly and we're looking forward to seeing your pictures, receiving your questions, and finding out about your own experiences of autumn.

So that's the big news about the new series, and the new location. But that's just the start - from our base in Scotland we'll be following autumn across the UK, and the team are already out and about filming. The autumnal highlights include an in-depth wild diary, showcasing the beauty of the UK's most iconic landscapes, and revealing the new science and behaviour of some of our best loved animals. We'll be posting more news about all of this soon. Also, look out for a blog from our very own Martin Hughes-Games, who'll be talking about how everyone can get involved in Autumnwatch Unsprung.

And if that wasn't enough, after Autumnwatch, we'll be telling you all about our brand new series, Winterwatch - live for 4 days in January.

We hope you are all as excited about the new look Autumnwatch and Winterwatch as we are!

The Springwatch webcams will be returning very soon, to bring you an amazing inside view into the daily struggles of our wildlife families for no less than 20 hours a day. We're also excited to be unveiling a new rolling commentary, which will feature your comments and tweets, as well as up-to-date information and insights about what's really happening on screen. Those of you who follow live BBC Sport and News events online will be familiar with it.

And in another exciting first for us, you'll be able to watch the Springwatch Webcams on Red Button from Sunday 27th May to Friday 1st June.

We went super social last year by stepping into Facebook and now over 37,000 of you have joined us there. You don't have to have a Facebook account to see what's going on, but if you do have one you can 'comment' and 'share' our stories with your friends or 'like' the Springwatch page and updates.

One change this year is that with everything else on offer, messageboards have been phased out - partly as our use of social media, like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr is growing so fast. And also as we will have plenty of specific blogs you can put comments on which will help make discussions more focussed and easy to find.

The Springwatch photo group on Flickr now holds over 180,000 of your stunning wildlife photos. Chris Packham is impressed. Need we say more. You can take a look at these glorious images by browsing the group, or if you want to get involved, upload and share your own - we can never have enough. All levels of photography are welcome and we'll be showing some of our favourites on the show as well as on Red Button. It's also a great place to get tips and advice from other photographers and to get help with identifying the animals in your snaps.

And last but certainly not least, you can follow us on Twitter for the latest news and retweets from our crews out in the field. Check out @BBC_Springwatch or hashtag your tweets with #springwatch and we'll be keeping an eye out for them.

We can't wait for you to join us.

As well as catching the action on our live cameras we're thrilled to have a string of Springwatch firsts for you this year, from seeing into the heart of a kingfisher's nest to witnessing the internal rivalries in an urban peregrine family, as well as delving underground to film moles.

The Springwatch crew on location © Simon Forrester

We'll also be revealing the beauty and drama of this exciting season as it unfolds across the country. In celebration of the UK's wild places we'll bring you the latest wildlife news from across the UK, reacting to stories as they happen, and investigating the events that matter.

Once again there'll be opportunities for everyone to get involved in surveys, share your stories, get inspiration for your own outdoors adventures and most importantly, make a difference to the understanding of nature.

Water boatman from the Springwatch photo group © Duncan Cooke

Holly is the Series Producer of Springwatch and Autumnwatch for the BBC Natural History Unit.

Winter is a challenging time for wildlife and if you wrap up warm and head outside you'll see it's one of the busiest times of year.

Chris and Martin on the lookout at Lymington

It can also be a season of extremes, and this winter has certainly been full of surprises. We were blown away by gales in December, before warming up in a very mild January and, just to keep us on our toes, it looks like we might have a chilly February ahead. But how is our wildlife faring in these unpredictable times?

We'll keep you posted about exactly when Winterwatch will be broadcast.

Holly Spearing is the Series Producer of Winterwatch ]]> Holly Spearing Holly Spearing https://bbclatestnews.pages.dev/blogs/natureuk/2012/02/winterwatch-share-your-stories.shtml https://bbclatestnews.pages.dev/blogs/natureuk/2012/02/winterwatch-share-your-stories.shtml winterwatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:04:15 +0000 Back on Springwatch, our Adventure Team Producer Richard Taylor-Jones blogged about the reintroduction of beavers to the UK, some of which I've quoted below. In the Christmas Special we look back at this story and update it. We’d love to know what you think about this species' return to our shores so please post a comment below.

A Knapdale beaver (Image: Scottish Wildlife Trust)

Beavers are once again living wild in the British Isles. It's an idea I've heard talked about pretty much ever since I've worked in wildlife television. But it's never come to pass, until now.

Yet in the back of my mind I know that this reintroduction of beavers onto four remote Scottish lochs by the Scottish Beaver Trial is only the beginning of a very long road if we are to see beavers back right across the British Isles.

Their presence here may only be temporary. The trial could conclude that re-introducing these animals simply won't work. It's designed to look at a whole range of issues from whether beavers are capable of surviving here and creating a sustainable population to how they will impact on fish stocks and water tables.

There are some very loud and vociferous opponents to the trial, just as there are supporters. All will have their say over the five years the beavers are being studied.

Watch the Springwatch Christmas Special 2011 at 7pm Boxing Day on BBC Two.

A quick discussion in the Autumnwatch office revealed some great wildlife spots right here at BBC Bristol. Our executive producer Tim saw a jay caching acorns in a plant pot two floors up outside a meeting room. Unsprung researcher Sam spotted a long-tailed tit's nest in a bush by an office. And on the night shift, our security guards have been avidly watching the nocturnal adventures of the resident fox family.

There was even a moment a few years back which has gone down in the annals of the Natural History Unit. When waxwings appeared in the car park, emails chimed and phones rang as the news spread from office to office like wildfire. Work on every project from Springwatch to the latest Attenborough epic ground to a halt as half the building emptied to watch these beautiful winter visitors.

If I include my walk to work, or a lunchtime stroll, the list gets even longer. I've watched a charm of goldfinches weave their way through the city trees, and even seen ravens and buzzards soar over my street. And there's nothing that can give me a lift like walking home to the soundtrack of my local blackbird, singing his heart out from a tree top perch. My commute has become a time to take a breath, relax, and tune in to the world and wildlife all around.

Sculpted from tarmac, concrete and glass, the urban world can look hostile to any kind of life. But as Chris and Michaela's trip to Sheffield has shown, cities provide many of the things our wildlife needs to survive - food, homes, and safety. Wild creatures will find away to make the best of almost every opportunity, however unlikely it might look to us.

The key is to look at the urban world in a different way, the way an animal would see it. Then, buildings become nesting platforms for peregrines and herring gulls, a sheltered bush becomes a refuge for roosting pied wagtails, and our rubbish is an all you can eat buffet for rodents and foxes.

As the seasons change, so can the city's wildlife and its behaviour, so it can be a particularly good time to look. As we reported on Autumnwatch last year, many birds migrate over our cities; at night, but also during the day. And some pioneering birding groups are now using tower blocks and office buildings to watch and record migration in action.

In the hustle and bustle of a working day, what could possibly be better than taking a break, and snatching a few moments watching our wildlife? We'd love to hear from you about your wildlife encounters at work, on your commute, or in your lunch break. What's your top spot, or favourite sighting in the urban jungle?

Holly Spearing is the Series Producer of Autumnwatch.