The BBC has just commissioned a special programme from the Springwatch/Autumnwatch team entitled – you guessed it: ‘Snow Watch’.
They sent presenter/cameraman Gordon Buchanan to Mull this weekend to see how Mull’s wildlife is coping with the Big Freeze.
You can see what he discovered this Wednesday (13th January) on BBC 2 from 8.00pm-9.00pm – if he gets all the footage back to Glasgow/Bristol in time. He’s on the ferry back to Oban as we publish this – minutes after an email with the information from RSPB Mull Officer, Dave Sexton.
The BBC says: ‘As the whole of the British Isles faces up to what is now the coldest and ‘whitest’ winter for decades, our wildlife is forced to endure huge challenges. As we struggle to cope, how does nature survive and adapt?
‘The Springwatch / Autumnwatch team and friends have been out discovering what the big freeze really means for our wild animals.
‘In this specially commissioned winter wildlife special, with reports coming in from wildlife hotspots around the UK, the team discuss who are the winners and losers and offers advice on what we can do to help in our own gardens.
‘Join Chris Packham, Kate Humble, Simon King and all the team for up-to-the minute reports, insight and analysis’.
This is of course a key issue in a freeze-up like the current one. Not only wildlife but farm animals like sheep are often beyond reach with feedstuff in these conditions.
As this programme clearly suggests, we all need to do what we can where we are to offer shelter, food and water to wild and farmed animals struggling to survive.
Wednesday nights programme will show and tell us about the picture on Mull.
Looking forward to Snow Watch on 13th January! Just been down to our pond this morning 11th January with saucepan of hot water. The 8″ hole hadn’t frozen over. I stood gazing at the hole and suddenly noticed two black eyes and two little feet protruding from the water. What a delight it was to see a large frog gazing back at me! Is this normal at this time of year and with 3″ of ice on the pond? I have been keeping a hole in the ice for most of the big freeze, but it did freeze over for hours at a time until the next day when I came with the saucepan. Would the frog have been under the ice before I melted the hole or will he have been sleeping under the nearby piles of stones and, as a thaw has just begun, woken up and entered the pond via the hole in the ice? If anyone has the answer, I would love to know!
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