Springwatch episode 1 2020: Springwatch returns for 2020 with a dramatic, exciting and different format to comply with Covid restrictions. The team are broadcasting live from locations close to home – Chris Packham is in the New Forest, Iolo Williams is in the heart of west Wales, and Gillian Burke is at the Beaver Project near her home in Cornwall.
They are joined by guest presenter Steve Backshall at his home on the banks of the Thames. It is the first time they have all been home for more than a decade so a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and witness the incredible spring of 2020 from all round the country. And Michaela calls Chris live from South Africa to launch a series of her favourite Springwatch moments from previous years.
Springwatch episode 1 2020
Beaver
The beaver (genus Castor) is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) (native to North America) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material.
The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers’ harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses.
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species in the waterfowl family Anatidae which also includes swans and geese. Ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the family Anatidae; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species) but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than the swans and geese, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water.