Original subtitles

(insect chirping) (bird singing)

Landscapes are bewitching in beauty.

(soothing vocal music) (birds singing)

Unique,

species rich, (elephant huffing)

exemplary

because something extraordinary is happening here.

(bird calling)

These natural habitats remain intact

only because humans intervene and shape them.

A new pact with nature. (man shouts)

(insects chirping)

(lively orchestral music)

Lake Constance is one

of the biggest lakes of Central Europe,

the heart of a region which has been shaped

by mankind for thousands of years.

But this orderly landscape also has a darker side.

Intensive farming is massively encroaching on nature.

Because these cultivated areas no longer provide them

with enough food, birds are disappearing.

(birds singing)

But committed individuals are showing

that's it's possible to find a way out of this calamity

with ideas that are both ingenious and simple,

and that create space for new life.

(storks whistling)

(motor hums)

How can habitats long disappeared be revived?

(bird squawks)

(birds singing)

(majestic orchestral music)

It's a spectacular setting,

the foothills of the Alps, south of Lake Constance.

Meltwater and rainwater from the mountains feed the Rhine,

and Lake Constance as well, with fresh water.

On sunny slopes grow the grapes of world-renown wines

and apples have been harvested here

for at least 1,300 years.

(birds singing)

Hops are exported as far as the U.S.

(jubilant orchestral music)

There's a man living in this region who, for decades,

has been closely observing the impact

of this intensive agriculture.

Peter Berthold is an ornithologist whose knowledge

of the bird life of Central Europe is second to none.

For years, he's been examining in depth the mysteries

of bird migration.

His research work has made him famous.

(bird chirps)

Now over 80, he's focusing on indigenous birds,

like the Eurasian reed warbler.

In his outdoor laboratory,

he can form a picture of the current state of the bird life.

Peter Berthold tags every bird that's caught with a ring

so it can be identified later, anywhere in the world.

But in recent years, he's been seeing

and hearing many of these creatures increasingly rarely.

I usually start to orientate my ears

while I'm still lying in bed.

If a brown owl calls at one in the morning,

I wake up and listen.

And if the first cuckoo in spring calls at two in morning,

I hear it.

And if, once ever 25 years, a corn crake calls

from the meadow at three in the morning,

I spring out of bed.

(corn crake barks)

Not just the corn crake,

other birds are also appearing less and less often.

(birds singing) (Peter shushes)

When he listens for the various calls

of birds in his wild garden,

he can hear that it's become a lot quieter.

Peter Berthold can depend absolutely on his trained ear.

(bird whistles) Oh!

Oh, that's a relatively rare bird!

(Peter whistles)

A bull finch, we have very few of them now.

(wings flutter)

Many species are missing.

About now, in the Linden tree,

we should be hearing a spotted flycatcher, for example.

(Peter hisses)

But it's years since we've heard one, they've become so rare

that they actually don't come back here anymore,

just very occasionally.

However hard he listens,

spring has become less rich in birdsong.

The conclusion that he draws, as professor and former head

of the renown Max Planck Institute for Ornithology,

is alarming.

In Germany alone, between 1950 and 2015,

the number of birds fell by 65%.

(Peter chirps) (starling chirps)

This young starling is only here

because Peter Berthold supports his birds

with nesting boxes.

(mysterious orchestral music)

What's happened in the last 70 years?

Why have the birds disappeared from a landscape

that at first sight, looked so lush, green and healthy?

(moves into somber horn music)

Peter Berthold looks at his home with different eyes.

He sees what's missing here for the birds.

Green houses protect fruit and vegetables,

but they seal off the meadows.

There's no room here for wild herbs, grasses and flowers

where birds find their food.

(moves into mysterious orchestral music)

(wings flapping)

Around half of the state

of Baden-Wurttemberg is agricultural land,

subject to spraying, plowing and manuring.

(motor hums)

Bird numbers are declining overall

because of habitat loss.

In the past,

an agricultural landscape like this had potato fields,

corn fields and so on, with proper hedgerows between them.

It was land that could be farmed well,

but where everything else could also live its life.

There were hares and partridges and lapwings

and yellowhammers and so on, there was food for all.

(lively orchestral music)

Those times are long gone.

(birds chirping)

So over 15 years ago,

Peter Berthold set himself a bold challenge,

creating a new natural habitat to give back to birds

and other wild creatures, what's been taken from them.

(birds singing)

His plan needed suitable meadow land and suddenly,

there were farmers and communities ready

to help him find it.

If we could then turn the meadow

into a biotope, we could set up a new home

for wild animals and plants.

That was the idea and we tried it.

(jackhammer pounding)

In 2004, the diggers moved

into a 10-hectare meadow

in Peter Berthold's home community of Bilfingen,

the start of an experiment

that was to change the whole region.

(birds singing) (grasses snapping)

They created a large pond with a reed belt

and three islands.

The transformation cost 300,000 euros,

paid for by a donor who, like Peter Berthold,

hoped to give nature a second chance.

The donor was the late-German wildlife filmmaker,

Heinz Sielmann and his nature conservation foundation.

We're still benefiting from it today.

We're still getting fresh additions,

new dragonflies, amphibians, birds and so on.

The oasis soon became a new home for insects.

(grasshopper chirps) (birds singing)

And for the larvae and worms

that these common snipe had long been looking for in vain.

(restful orchestral music)

Graylag geese have also discovered this little gem

on their transit route. (geese honk)

As has the mute swan that finds water plants,

algae, worms and snails here, everything it needs to live.

(bubbles popping)

Some rare species,

which, in part, had completely disappeared from the region,

have also returned.

(nightingale singing)

The nightingale,

the great reed warbler

and the marsh warbler.

In the animal world, word's got 'round

that there's food down at Heinz Sielmann's pond.

(swan snorts)

In the autumn,

the swallows migrate and race over the countryside

desperately looking for insects.

Then they arrive at the Heinz Sielmann Pond

and suddenly find clouds of all sorts of midges,

moths, gnats and so on, and stop here.

On some days, we've had 3,000 swallows over the pond,

then overnighting in the reeds

and moving on the next day, no doubt thinking,

"Wow, that was the best we've found flying over Germany!"

But a biotope like this needs maintenance

if it's to meet the varied needs of its visitors.

Peter Berthold has been able to recruit four-legged helpers.

The wild water buffaloes of a local farmer keep

down the grass on the swampy meadows.

(buffalo snorts) (birds tweet)

This pioneering project shows

that areas like this can even be farmed

and still be species rich.

But one single mini-biotope can't bring the birds back

to the whole region.

(somber piano music)

At Affenberg, an animal park in Salem,

conservationists have been inspired by Berthold's vision.

(birds singing)

Flapping through the air here are flying giants

with a wingspan of over two meters.

(stork clatters)

The white stork had almost completely died out here.

A number of breeding pairs were

specially introduced at Affenberg.

In the meantime, the colony has grown

to around 350 storks again.

(storks clattering)

(birds chirping)

(people speaking in foreign language)

For the storks, it's an eventful day.

Roland Hilgartner, the director of the animal park

and his colleagues are going to ring the young storks.

[Female Interpreter] We begin this year

with the two young storks

from the Florian nest, with number AY293.

They're the first two this year, about five weeks old.

Great, looking forward to it.

Me, too.

The young storks have some cold

and wet weeks behind them.

From an average of four eggs per nest,

often only two chicks survive the first weeks of life.

(birds chirping)

As soon as the platform approaches,

the timid stork parents withdraw.

(motor hums)

The chicks can't yet flee,

so they react to people with an instinctive trick.

They simply play dead. (birds singing)

(ring snaps)

The two show no movement, but they are perfectly healthy.

This apparent death, as it's known,

protects them against nest predators, like cats and martins,

which react to movement.

Down below, spectators are waiting for a special show.

(spectators speaking in foreign language)

(storks clattering)

I'm going to give out the food.

It's dead, male day-old chicks from large poultry farms.

I also have smelts which are little fish.

A stork family needs

at least three kilograms of fresh meat a day,

but nature has long since stopped providing so much food

in this region.

The storks are not long in coming.

Without this food they would starve to death.

(bird squawks) (storks clatter)

Here, too, nature needs a helping hand.

You could get the impression here

that all's well with the world,

but without the feeding or the reintroduction program,

there'd be no storks here.

And we make it clear that further efforts are needed

to establish a self-sustaining stork population again

here in Baden-Wurttemberg.

Other birds, too,

can't find adequate quantities

of natural nutrition in the area

around Peter Berthold's garden.

A single pond falls far short

of providing all the birds here with the basic necessities.

As long as the region's birds continue

to suffer from hunger,

Peter Berthold relies on first aid measures.

The mealworms he gives the birds

in his garden are homegrown.

(birds singing)

Like the storks, starlings also have to struggle

in spring to support their young.

(starlings chattering)

Loaded up now, it's back to the nest.

(cricket chirps) (insect buzzes)

As a bird expert, Peter Berthold knows it's no problem

to provide hungry birds with grain

and nuts throughout the year.

(starlings chatters)

But feeding them is not the answer.

For years, Peter Berthold has been looking

for more locations for creating small paradises for birds.

(motor humming)

And he's increasingly finding support among kindred spirits.

(sheepherder shouts) (sheep bleating)

(speaking in foreign language)

Martin Kessler is one of them.

With his small association,

he's campaigning for the preservation

of more natural orchards.

(sheep bleating)

Peter Berthold and the Sielmann Foundation are supporting

traditional fruit farming.

(men speaking in foreign language)

With financial support from the foundation,

Martin Kessler has been able

to plant new sorts of tall fruit trees

with crowns allowed to grow freely.

In the standard monocultures,

small trees grow compactly together

to facilitate machine harvesting.

Meadow orchards are very different.

They provide a biotope with ample food for birds

and other wild animals.

(upbeat light orchestral music)

(leaves crinkling)

When the fruit trees burst into blossom, visitors swarm in.

(bees buzzing)

The Eurasian blue tit eats flower seeds,

thereby dispersing them.

The European green woodpecker finds good nesting places.

The common kestrel finds an oasis like this

an excellent hunting ground.

(birds singing)

(leaves crunch)

Over the summer, the blossoms turn into fruit

and many wild animals benefit

from fruit that's not harvested.

The favorite food of the Eurasian nuthatch

in autumn is the kernels from scattered nut trees.

(birds singing)

It uses bark crevices as nutcrackers.

The common vole also knows that a traditional orchard,

like Martin Kessler's in Ohningen has a lot to offer.

Ohningen is among the best we have

in Southern Germany,

certainly here around the fantastic Lake Constance.

We have a relatively complete belt of traditional orchard

and above all, we have a population

that is completely behind it and can work with it.

Martin Kessler administers a real treasure.

Not only are many old varieties of fruit looked after here,

but an astounding 5,000 or so animal and plant species.

With today's heightened awareness,

we can say, "Hey, we live in a really great,

"God-given landscape

"and it's worth investing time on its behalf."

The Sielmann Foundation certainly did much

to bring us back to this consciousness.

Ponds and meadow orchards are small islands

of life in a cultivated landscape

that's otherwise hostile to wildlife.

Peter Berthold wants to go even further.

He's campaigning in the whole region

for new biotopes to be set up in order to create a network.

There can be no going back,

we have to get to work and grab a spade.

Then we can help a whole load of birds,

at least half the bird life we still have,

and the same goes for amphibians, insects and plants.

These biotopes are enormously beneficial.

(somber horn music)

(people muttering)

A lot of people

around Lake Constance have responded to his call.

Families with private land are turning to him.

(people speaking in foreign language)

The biologist is here to see

if this large garden can provide another valuable oasis.

At the back of the land, there's a surprise,

an overgrown mill pond.

Shining pond weed at the front,

that's very good!

(birds singing)

The group makes its way

through dense undergrowth.

Peter quickly recognizes the potential of the land,

as well as its drawbacks.

(toads croaking)

The pond has degenerated into a sludge pit.

(water splashes)

The stream could provide it with fresh water again.

The toads are happy here,

but a properly laid out biotope could attract

far more species.

(insects chirping)

The professor immediately has an idea of what could be done.

(people speaking in foreign language)

Well three-quarters of it could be a pond

and the rest a sludge trap, that'd be great!

Newly laid out troughs of shallow water

and flowering wetland areas could soon produce a habitat

here like the one at the Heinz Sielmann Pond.

But that takes practical help from experts.

We were a bit overstretched in a way

with the care and maintenance

and wanted to make something worthwhile out of it.

Sielmann has made his mark with a number of ponds here

in the area, so I thought of offering this plot.

I spoke to Mr. Berthold and that's how things went.

You can't take it with you,

so better leave it in the right hands,

that was the thinking.

(somber horn music)

But in the endless expanses

of agrarian countryside, small oases created with diggers

and spades can only be part of the answer.

(mysterious orchestral music)

Where everything is so organized and neat,

animal volunteers can offer a little creative chaos.

(water splashing)

In the canton of Thurgau,

on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance,

researchers have released beavers.

They've taken on the job of remodeling former carp ponds.

There are now several beaver families,

which biologist Philip Taxbock can watch

during their daily labors.

(birds singing)

No one knows better than a hungry beaver

what needs to be done here.

(water splashes)

The damage he's doing is just what's wanted.

For centuries, we've robbed nature

of the dynamics of the floodplain.

Beavers can bring part of that back through building dams.

That results in flooded areas,

standing water in places, pools drying up,

streams being diverted and so on.

Beavers bring back these dynamics.

(water splashing)

The beavers create new habitats,

not just for themselves,

but for many other animals and plants,

which are dependent on dammed water courses.

(uplifting orchestral music)

(branch slams)

(frog ribbits)

(water splashes)

(suspenseful orchestral music)

Wetlands are vital biotopes for amphibians and reptiles.

(bubbles popping)

Many species of fish have also found a new home

in the former carp ponds.

Where once only carp splashed about,

tench are now also swimming

and searching for food in the mud.

(sand rustles)

(light piano music)

Life above water has also gathered pace.

Broad-winged damselflies are in mating mood.

(wings fluttering)

The beavers have done a good job.

But even here, nature needs support from people.

(tense music)

(water splashes)

In charge of Lengwiler Pond is biologist Markus Burgisser.

(water splashes)

He keeps his eye on the animals

and intervenes when necessary. (birds calling)

Two threatened species of bird have settled

in this new oasis.

Markus Burgisser and his colleagues

originally wanted rare common tern to breed here on rafts.

(birds squawking)

(phone clicks)

(water splashes) (oars creak)

But the biologists hadn't reckoned

with another species asserting itself on the lake.

Black-headed gulls are further on

in their development than their neighbors,

even though this chick would have drowned

without Markus' visit.

But the gulls threaten to take over

because the two species compete for the same nesting places.

(gulls squawking)

Without human intervention once again,

it wouldn't have ended well

for the common tern in the long run.

These breeding rafts, the big ones,

were made for the common terns.

They're a red list species, an endangered species.

Overtime, more and more black-headed gulls arrived

and displaced the terns.

Of course, the gulls are also endangered here

as a breeding bird.

So we had two rare types of bird

with one slowly forcing the other out

and that was something of a problem.

(gull screeching)

The answer, breeding rafts for both species

at the right time.

Now we've built new rafts for the gulls.

They breed earlier than the common terns

because the terns only come from Africa

around the beginning of May.

They take the rafts in the middle

and can breed there undisturbed

because the gulls are already breeding on the small rafts.

(birds squawking)

Sometimes you have to be imaginative

to help species protection succeed.

In such confined spaces,

just leaving things to their own devices can be misguided.

(suspenseful orchestral music)

It's not just the birds that are being given a helping hand

at Lake Constance.

Conservationists are now also looking at the lake itself.

(motor hums)

Lake Constance used to be a fishing paradise

with rich breeding grounds.

For the last 20 years, though,

ever fewer fish are landing in the nets.

(water splashes)

There are still plenty of fish, like this freshwater bream,

but without human intervention,

a particularly sought-after species

that often used to be caught here,

would probably have already died out.

For a long time, researchers were puzzled

as to why this species had become so rare.

It's only in recent years

that they've tracked down the reason for the disappearance.

The waters flowing into Lake Constance play a decisive role.

(water splashing)

Biologists from the HYDRA Institute

in Konstanz have discovered that the fish

that's become rare needs intact,

inflowing waters for breeding.

(suspenseful orchestral music)

It's the brown trout.

What distinguishes it is, like the salmon,

it migrates upstream to spawn.

Is that still possible at Lake Constance?

The researchers are

systematically examining the inflowing waterways.

Now the depth, please.

21 centimeters.

Flow rate?

Around 30 centimeters a second.

The measurements show that the water level

of many inflows is too low

for migrating to spawning grounds higher up.

The fallen level has made rocks an insurmountable obstacle.

(solemn horn music (birds singing)

Brown trout simply can't overcome this underwater range.

Poor prospects for the offspring the fishermen

on Lake Constance so eagerly await.

(bubbles popping)

(jackhammer pounding)

But in 2010,

at least one community cleared away the obstacles.

In the lower reaches of the Goldach,

a rock bar was removed so that the trout could continue

their migration here.

But it's not just rock outcrops

that block the trouts' progress,

it's often manmade dams that prevent the fish

from reaching their spawning waters.

On the Goldach, at least,

researchers Peter Vry and John Hasselschwert can now hope

to see young brown trout once again.

One to two years after spawning in the upper reaches,

the young fish migrate downriver to Lake Constance.

It's not enough, though, to remove obstacles.

Eckhart Dosseau is head of the Langenhagen Fish Hatchery.

(men speaking in foreign language)

He has brought several thousand young brown trout,

which he's raised in a breeding tank.

(water splashing)

Now they're to be released into the wild.

(fish splashing)

Right, let's get going!

(light orchestral music)

As long as they're still young,

brown trout accept a new stretch of water

as their rearing ground.

It's probably the distinctive smell of the stream

that will later lead them back here for spawning.

Eckhart Dosseau hopes that releasing the fish will help get

the natural cycle moving again

to the benefit of both humans and animals.

(birds singing)

But for brown trout to have a future in Lake Constance,

a lot more clean and passable inflows will be needed.

(light orchestral music)

Here again, it's clear that wherever humans pave the way

for wild animals, they come back almost by themselves.

That's an insight that was actually first implemented

at a small pond 15 years ago.

(moves into somber music)

15 years later, Peter Berthold continues tirelessly

to fight for more and more new habitats for wildlife.

Here a new pond has just been finished.

As soon as the seeds grow,

everyone will immediately see

that another oasis has been created

in the agricultural desert,

(birds singing)

a new pond here,

not far from a re-naturalized clay pit,

a number of meadow orchards throughout the region.

In just 15 years, it's been possible

to create wildlife-friendly biotopes likes these

at 36 locations around Lake Constance.

But Peter Berthold is a scientist and insists on hard facts.

Only close monitoring will show whether birds are

really settling in their new habitats and breeding.

(soft piano music) (birds singing)

The Eurasian nuthatch's mating give him hope.

The ruddy shelducks are also

in mating mood at the new pond.

The swans have already made a nursery in the reeds.

(great crested grebe trills)

Every breeding bird is a gain for the future,

for a world with more birds, with more biodiversity

and beauties like the great crested grebe.

(great crested grebe trills)

(birds singing) (water splashes)

Eurasian coots show

that every mini biotope can provide a home for wildlife.

(Eurasian coot chirps)

(feathers fluttering)

(motor hums)

But some bird species need more than nesting places,

reed beds and clean water if they are to return.

(ibises calling)

These odd-looking characters are northern bald ibises,

which have been wiped out in Central Europe

since the 17th century.

These come from Austrian zoos.

The 33 birds were hand-reared by ornithologists

and since then, follow them around wherever they go.

Led by powered hang gliders,

they're here to learn how real migratory birds behave.

Their ancestors were able to find their own way

to the wintering areas beyond the Alps,

but birds reared in human keeping need guidance.

(motor roars)

(upbeat orchestral music)

Today's flight is to a landing strip

about 20 kilometers away.

(ibises calling)

Step by step, the researchers are approaching their goal

of crossing the Alps with the ibises.

Soon the migratory birds should be able to make it

as far as Tuscany.

(ibises calling)

Peter Berthold has supported the project from the outset.

The birds have absolute trust in their human foster mothers.

Once the birds have memorized the route over the Alps,

they'll be able to find their own way back

to Lake Constance, independently.

The relationship between humans

and ibises is a short-lived love story.

As we've spent everyday with the birds

since we took them from the nest,

and we're always there for them,

if there's danger, we're there to show them what is

and isn't dangerous, like our aircraft.

In return, the birds place so much trust in us

that they're really willing to fly with the aircraft.

It's far from normal for birds to fly close to an aircraft

but they do so simply to be able to fly with us.

(ibises chirping)

(men speaking in foreign language)

It was Peter Berthold's suggestion

to start the project from Lake Constance.

Just imagine that a species

that was literally devoured,

because that's why they disappeared,

can be resuscitated from cooking pot, as it were.

That's something that touches the heart and soul

and can even convert the diehard to conservation.

(men speaking in foreign language)

If these northern bald ibises become

genuine migratory birds again,

they will create a bond between people,

even of different countries.

Since 2014,

we've also been a European life project.

A status recognized and financed by Europe

which enables us to implement the project

and gives it a high probability of succeeding.

[Peter Interpreter] Good, that's what we'll do!

Have a good return flight, all the best!

(speaking in foreign language)

(Johannes laughs)

When the ibises will return

as migratory birds is not yet sure.

What is sure is that living conditions

for many bird species have improved at Lake Constance.

What began in 2005 with a pond in Berthold's own community,

was the attempt to give wildlife a new chance.

(hopeful orchestral music)

(bird chirps)

Only regular bird counts will show which rare

and endangered species have really found their way back.

Before any talk of success, the scientist needs the figures.

Shortly after sunrise,

he sets up his nets at the Heinz Sielmann Pond.

(birds singing)

They're invisible to birds.

Now it's an exercise in patience.

(birds chirping)

Carefully and gently, the bird expert releases the animals

from the net.

(light orchestral music)

This young robin is in good shape

and will soon be released again.

(bird chirps)

Not every bird that Peter Berthold frees

from the net is rare,

but the stock of even the widely-found great tit

has declined in Germany,

(Peter exclaiming in foreign language)

so every single sighting is important.

(grass crunches)

(birds singing)

One surprise is the return of a species

that has become rare.

Peter Berthold has not seen a reed warbler here for decades.

(reed warbler squawks)

The blackbird is thought of as a commonplace bird

but in recent years,

tens of thousands of them have succumbed to a virus.

(blackbird squawks)

(birds singing)

The increasingly rare yellowhammer needs hedges

and bushes for refuge.

And the willow warbler needs the spiders

and insects it finds on leaves and branches.

(wings fluttering)

Year by year, Peter Berthold takes stock

of how many bird species have now settled

in the new biotopes.

Did you hear?

(Peter chirps)

It's not just a manmade oasis, it's a manmade paradise.

Just a few figures.

In this area, before we set up

this Heinz Sielmann pond biotope,

with its neighboring bushes, wetlands and buffalo pasture,

we'd recorded around 115 bird species over 30 years.

That's slowly dropped to 101.

Then we built the pond and the wetland

and 23 new species arrived in the first year.

Now we've reached 181 and are approaching 200!

(lively orchestral music)

The newer biotopes still need time to develop.

But if things carry on the way they are doing,

half of all bird species that have disappeared could soon

have returned to the region.

A major success that shows how the natural world can

still find a place in this cultivated landscape.

(birds singing)

Peter Berthold, though, thinks he

and his partners have only just begun.

Following the Lake Constance projects,

the plan is to push on further, beyond national borders.

We'll be able to do a lot.

Partly into Switzerland

and then heading towards the North Sea.

Our plan for the near future is to create one

in every district, that's around 10,000 altogether.

10,000 biotopes to combat species decline,

an ambitious plan and an achievable plan

if towns, districts, farmers

and animal lovers work together.

(hopeful horn music)

In Germany alone, over half the land is intensively farmed.

Everywhere, from the Alps to the Baltic,

new habitats for wildlife are urgently needed.

(birds singing)

(moves into light orchestral music)

The initiatives, by the conservationists of Lake Constance,

have shown that birds and other wildlife can be saved.

It's not yet too late,

humans can give back to nature something

of what they've taken from it.

Cheers!

To the next great Sielmann years!

I'll manage 20 and you'll nail another 50!

[Martin Interpreter] At least!

(moves into hopeful horn music)

(birds singing)

(ibis calling)

(birds singing)