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Springwatch in Wales

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Martin Aaron Martin Aaron | 12:51 UK time, Tuesday, 19 May 2009

This year we're honoured to have the resident Springwatch wild man - Simon King visiting our shores.

Simon - 'the king of field craft' and his hi-tech, 'mission impossible' field team have the unique wildlife of mid and
north Wales in their sights this year.

The locations and habitats vary greatly and I'll be tracking their every move - reporting back with exclusive updates and video clips along the way.

Keep up to date daily via this blog or the Â鶹Éç Wales Nature homepage.

My illustrious colleague - 'The Mole' will be filling in the gaps back at basecamp in Norfolk this year so check out the Springwatch blog for his exclusives and behind the scenes stories.

The programme begins on Bank Holiday Monday - 25 May, Â鶹Éç Two, 8pm but I'll be blogging solidly before then, so try and keep up!

Don't forget - you can easily add our blog feed to your website, blog or i-google homepage.

That's it for now.

Gull

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    I'm not sure quite the right way to go about this or if i will be answered by any of the team, but i live on the Isle of Man and would like to help with your hunt for polecats.

    Over here we have the perfect environment for them: lots of countryside containing an abundance of prey, and little competition.

    I myself am sixteen and have seen quite a few, sadly many of those have been hit by cars and were lying on the roadside, but still my point is that they are here and they are not hard to find.

    I was amazed at Simon King's shock at seeing a still image of one, and really would like to encourage the Springwatch team over here to film.

    The Calf of Man, a tiny island off the south of the Isle of Man is a bird sanctuary, and people can occasionally go over there and observe a variety of rare birds.

    We're not too far north of Wales, just through the Irish Sea, and we're well worth visiting!

  • Comment number 2.

    Couldn't believe it when Simon said they were looking for the elusive polecats in mid wales, the one and only time we visited the red kite feeding centre at Rhayader, we saw, very close up- with our dog Barney, a polecat- it came right up to him and sniffed him- we got great photo's. oh yes- this is the same dog (sadly deceased) that got 'buzzed' by Goshawks on Bradfield craggs(Sheffield), so he was truley blessed!!!

  • Comment number 3.

    Simon will no doubt show us all how wonderful Wales is for wildlife holidays, but at the moment I would urge all people from across the border to spend their tourist money elsewhere until the Welsh Assembly has rescinded its shameful decision to carry out a mass slaughter of badgers in North Pembrokeshire. It would also help if you contacted the Assembly to let them know that this decision will have profound effects on the Welsh tourist industry.

    I'm ashamed to live here at present.

  • Comment number 4.

    Hi Simon. I watched the programme this evening and was completely surprised when you said you were looking for polecats. I have just finished photographing 3 polecats at my local nature reservein Tring Hertfordshire. I have uploaded 3 images to the Flickr website. If you would like to visit the reserve I'm sure you would be very welcome.
    Best wishes
    Nigel

  • Comment number 5.

    I regularly watch the Black gullimots at Fedw fawr near Penmon Anglesey.I have seen up to 13 at once.Would make agreat Spring watch item

  • Comment number 6.

    Well done Mart. Good luck with this. Watched the first programme last night and happy to report Goshawks and Red Kites (yes, really!?!) spotted locally, on the mountain that casts a shadow on Spot X.
    Shhhhh

    Mark

  • Comment number 7.

    great kit youve got set up for the polecats.....coul be some fun.
    You guys should try filming stoats or something like that they are amazing animals!

  • Comment number 8.

    Hi Simon,
    We live in Barry, South Wales and just before Christmas we thought we had a rat going through the compost as there was a bit of a run made through the vegetation. My husband set a humane trap and the following morning there was " A POLECAT!!"
    Last thing we expected to see, so it was taken to Porthkerry Park and let loose. It scurried off and hasn't been seen since but we do have 2 very nice photo's to prove to our disbelieving friends that he really was there.
    Jo

  • Comment number 9.

    Hi everyone,

    if you've taken any photos of polecats, please send them in to our bbc wales flickr group and we'll do our best to get Simon to feature them on the programme.

    Lets get some nice welsh polecats on telly!

    thanks

    gull

  • Comment number 10.

    I have now seen red kites as far south as Bedlinog in the valleys so they realy are spreading into south Wales

Ìý

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