Original subtitles

CHIRPING

BUZZING

Across the British Isles, there are magical places.

Our pride and joy.

Our gardens.

LAUGHTER

Yet many of us are completely unaware of the wild world...

..right under our noses.

Amazingly, some British gardens are almost as diverse

as a tropical rainforest.

And when our backs are turned...

CHIRPING

..they come alive.

QUACKING

From the wilds of Scotland...

STAG GRUNTS

..to a metropolitan oasis.

In each episode, we will reveal the extraordinary dramas

playing out within a single garden.

EAGLES WHISTLE

Welcome to a hidden world right on our doorsteps.

A millhouse has been standing here

since the Domesday Book a thousand years ago.

Sara and Henry are the latest in a long line of owners.

Well, it's like living on a boat, living in this house,

because, first of all, we are surrounded by water.

Water there, the other side water, water front and back,

so we are literally marooned.

The water presents some unique gardening challenges

because this river floods.

Are you worried about next week? Well, you never know.

Well, this week's fine,

but next week there's a lot of rain forecast.

The weather forecast is pretty key to us.

Everything changes if the water gets really, really high.

We see about two thirds of our garden disappear under water.

With so much of the garden lost to the river,

Henry and Sara allow large parts of it to run wild.

All of this is flood plain as far as you can see.

Over here, the wood and the meadow, which we leave completely wild.

But here and over there, above the flood plain,

we try to manage as a garden.

The garden is a sanctuary...

..but every animal's chances of survival

rise and fall

with the ebb and flow of the river.

One of the most exciting things that happens here

is that you get this flash of blue followed by a whistle,

and then there goes a kingfisher.

The kingfisher is a much-loved British bird...

..but it first evolved in the jungles of Asia.

This male needs to catch 15 fish a day.

CHIRPING

But in the early spring, the river runs high.

It's thick with silt.

And things are going to get a lot worse.

RUMBLE OF THUNDER

It's just a question of when.

Only one in four kingfishers lives for more than a single year.

Each failed hunt

wastes precious energy.

His territory extends for half a mile

on each side of the millhouse...

..so he tries upstream, where it's shallower.

Special oils in his eyes reduce the glare from the surface.

He hits the water at 25mph.

Here, there should be no problem in catching enough fish for himself.

But a new arrival is eyeing him up.

A female.

If he is to win her over, he needs to prove

that he can provide enough fish for a family.

Not easy while the river is high.

CHIRPING

After the long, wet winter...

..all the garden animals are hungry.

But it's not just birds that are drawn to this feeder.

HOOTING

BARKING

A bank vole.

She has spent the winter in a burrow beneath the lawn...

..just above the level of the flood plain.

There are around 25 million bank voles in Britain...

..but they're so shy,

Henry and Sara rarely see them.

Many that hunt them detect them by watching for their movements.

When under threat, she normally stays still.

But doing that...

..might be dangerous on this lawn.

LAWNMOWER WHIRS

Robotic lawnmowers are becoming increasingly common.

Many fail to detect small mammals.

VOLE SQUEALS

To survive in the modern world...

..she must choose her moment with care.

LAWNMOWER STOPS

Bank voles aren't the only animals

that wait for nightfall to look for food.

Underneath the TV room,

the old mill channel has become home

to the garden's top predator.

An otter.

In the 30 years Henry and Sara have lived here...

TELEVISION: About 98mm through the day...

..they've only seen one three times.

She catches over a kilo of fish every night.

But as the seasons change,

so does her diet.

SQUAWKING

HOOTING

One garden resident...

QUACKING

..is much bolder.

QUACKING

Mallards are the most common of Britain's 22 species of duck.

Henry and Sara have an affectionate name for one regular visitor.

Doris.

But this "sweet little duck"...

QUACKING

..is the garden's resident heartbreaker.

With their iridescent good looks,

these males are all trying to catch her eye.

But she wants...

..to assess their strength.

QUACKING AND SQUAWKING

One by one, the lightweights are dismissed.

The female nods her head,

signalling her approval.

She has picked her partner.

Now she needs a place to nest.

Not easy to find in this garden.

As the days get longer...

..the otter's diet shifts to larger, plumper prey.

FRENZIED QUACKING

Mallards usually nest on the ground.

But, here, Doris has a safer choice.

This pollarded willow will do nicely.

And just in time.

CRACK OF THUNDER

The April showers have arrived.

The river rises surprisingly fast.

Almost a metre in 24 hours.

Those that have nested low

have already lost their eggs.

When the weather clears,

the waters quickly recede,

making it easier for the resident kingfisher

to resume hunting.

He can now afford to share his catch.

And one minnow at a time...

..he is winning her over.

LAWNMOWER ENGINE RUMBLES

After mating...

..the pair begin digging a metre-long burrow.

But it's only just above the waterline.

As Sara mows,

she leaves the verge intact to prevent the river eroding the bank.

But if it rains heavily...

..the kingfisher's family home

could be washed away.

For four long weeks, all on her own,

Doris has barely left her nest.

She has been quietly incubating a clutch of nine eggs.

She laid each of them on a different day.

But to survive, they must hatch at the same time.

CHIRPING

Remarkably, they talk to each other...

..from inside the egg...

..and so co-ordinate their hatching.

Over just a few hours...

CHIRPING

..nine new lives begin to appear.

But without a father to bring them food,

the mother must lead her flightless babies

down from the nest.

CHIRPING

Less than 24 hours after hatching...

SHE QUACKS

..one small step...

QUACKING AND CHIRPING

..becomes a giant leap.

Their downy feathers cushion their fall.

CHIRPING

Doris hurries them all into hiding.

Garden predators will be hard to avoid.

LAWNMOWER WHIRS

High and dry on the lawn,

the vole has survived a wet spring...

..and new opportunities are opening up just upstream.

The garden's woodland is drying out.

Henry is creating a huge log pile.

In doing so,

he creates a new haven for wildlife.

A hideout for the vole.

There is more food for her here than on the lawn.

And she's not alone.

SQUEAKING

A male, attracted by her scent.

Their time together may be brief...

SQUEAKING

..but as long as the woods stay dry...

..there could be a litter of pups

in just three weeks.

After a week in hiding...

..Doris is ready to bring her ducklings into the open.

She wants to lead them to better feeding grounds...

..just upstream from the mill.

But to get there, they must cross the open lawn.

SHE CHIRPS

It's a bold move.

RED KITE WHISTLES

Oxfordshire has one of the highest densities

of red kites in Britain.

They are usually scavengers,

but they will take a baby bird.

QUACKING AND CHIRPING

Just one in three ducklings make it to adulthood.

QUACKING

Not great odds for a mother of nine.

RADIO: This heavy rain swirling round

is gradually going to sink further south.

The river here is not as safe as it may look.

Just downstream from the ducks...

..hidden away in their burrow...

..the kingfishers also have a growing family.

Only two days old.

The parents take it in turns to provide food.

Fortunately, the river is now low and crystal clear.

With six tiny mouths to feed...

..the parents need to catch over 100 minnows a day.

But if the water level rises,

the chicks could drown.

For now, at least, the weather stays dry.

A sunny May bank holiday.

An excellent time for a party.

CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

The lengthening days and soaring temperatures

trigger another kind of gathering

that starts out of sight.

This tiny mayfly nymph has spent two years underwater.

The time has come to make a break for the surface.

Out in the open, she is exposed.

A larval damselfly is on the hunt.

Fortunately for her,

there is safety in numbers.

But not for everyone.

At the surface, she sheds her exoskeleton...

..and spreads a set of wings.

Her destination...

..the lawn.

Here, males are dancing.

Competing to catch the eye of a female.

It's a glorious sign of the arrival of summer.

But she is late for the party...

..and she needs to get past the deadly damselflies.

Others try their luck.

Damselflies are exceptional predators

with a 95% hunting success rate.

Time to make her move.

Safe...

..but she's not yet ready for the dance.

Mayflies are the only winged insects

to undergo a second adult moult.

Time to join the throng.

Mayflies mate on the wing,

then fly together...

..back to the river...

..where the female lays her eggs.

After just one day as an adult...

..her life is over.

In death,

she and countless others...

..become food for the next generation.

In the woods...

..Henry's log pile...

..has become a nursery for the bank vole.

Smaller than a Jelly Baby and completely blind...

..her pups are defenceless...

..so the mother keeps watch.

A grass snake.

At one-and-a-half metres long...

..it's Britain's largest reptile.

By resting its lower jaw on the ground,

it can detect the tiniest vibrations.

VOLE SQUEALS

Its forked tongue can smell in stereo...

..pinpointing the scent coming from the nest.

The female has no option...

..but to move her babies...

..one by one.

Deep inside the log pile,

her family is safe.

BUZZING

It hasn't rained in weeks...

..and the river is at its lowest.

Its calm water allows brandy bottle lilies to flower.

Their alcoholic scent attracts insects.

Food for the growing ducklings.

They are now six weeks old.

Amazingly, Doris has managed to keep all nine alive.

FRENZIED CHIRPING

An alarm call.

Predator nearby.

SQUAWKING

Doris' instinct is to retreat to water.

But she's leading her family

into harm's way.

FRENZIED QUACKING

The ducklings are still too young to fly...

..so Doris puts her own life on the line...

..acting as a decoy.

FRENZIED QUACKING

Remarkably, it works...

..and the otter has to settle for something smaller.

Sara and Henry have little idea

what a resourceful mother Doris is...

..successfully raising all nine ducklings.

CHIRPING

In midsummer, the young voles leave their log pile home...

..and disperse across the garden

to make the most of fruit ripened by the long, sunny days.

But when the light eventually fades...

..the garden's nocturnal world is revealed

by heat-sensitive cameras.

It's a world Henry and Sara know little about.

HOOTING

Mice and shrews hunt for bugs around and even on the house.

A miniature clean-up crew...

..supported by an aerial team of bats.

Six of Britain's 18 species

are regularly attracted to the insects in our gardens.

CLICKING

Daubenton's bats thrive

on the abundance of river insects.

CLICKING

A single bat can catch 3,000 a night.

As often happens in British summers...

..this one ends abruptly.

CRACK OF THUNDER

Autumn has arrived early.

These are the first heavy rains.

But this year is different.

RADIO: There are a number of flood warnings in place.

Some of the heaviest of the rain across central and southern England.

Oxfordshire as a whole is seeing its wettest September on record.

Rain that falls over miles of countryside

is channelled between river banks just a few metres apart.

The river is now dangerously close to the kingfisher's burrow.

SQUAWKING

The chicks will drown if the water floods their home.

Water from upstream continues to arrive...

..until the river bursts its banks...

..and spreads into the woods.

The bank vole's young may have already left,

but now she needs to abandon her summer home.

She has a mental map of her territory...

..but many landmarks have been lost.

At least she knows her destination.

The highest point in the garden - the lawn.

Bank voles avoid water.

Eventually...

..she gets back to the lawn.

She can stay dry here

because the rising water spills out over the flood plain

and into the surrounding fields.

It's a natural defence

that has protected the millhouse for a thousand years...

..and keeps the waterline just below the kingfisher's nest.

The chicks are now so big...

..there is barely enough room to move.

It's time to get out.

One leaves.

And Dad uses treats to tempt out the others.

But one stubborn chick is refusing to budge.

He takes some convincing.

Dad's patience...

..eventually...

..pays off.

Fully fledged, the young males begin to flex their territorial muscles.

These shy birds are so caught up in their own world,

they don't notice someone is watching.

The kingfishers are really, really special,

and to see them in the most incredible tussle,

which I had never seen before,

I just feel very lucky to have seen it.

This place is a sort of throwback

because you have wildlife congregating in a way

that you just don't see in many other places.

We certainly don't own the house.

The kingfishers have been here much longer than us,

and we just hope we don't get in their way.

At a time when many of our rivers are struggling

with poor water quality,

Henry and Sara's approach to gardening...

..letting much of their garden run wild...

..means that this is one of this river's wildlife hot spots.

Yet for all its abundance...

..they catch only fleeting glimpses.

Now, as the young seek homes of their own...

..the kingfisher will be seen once again...

..as little more than a flash of blue.

Of all the animals in this river garden...

..the most challenging to film proved to be the otter.

They are extremely shy

and can spend much of their time underwater.

Undeterred, the team has high hopes

of revealing the otters' private lives to Sara and Henry.

Fortunately, they have a head start

thanks to Henry setting up remote wildlife cameras.

Valuable knowledge for wildlife cinematographer Sam Oakes.

So sweet. They are. He is. So small.

I know that they are quite elusive. How often have you seen them?

Well, we've been here for 30 years and I've seen them twice.

Wow. Very elusive, then. SAM LAUGHS

Henry's cameras only offer a snapshot of the otters' lives,

so Sam has brought equipment usually deployed

in more exotic locations.

So we're going to need everything we can on our side,

including this super-long lens.

Normally, these would be used on African film shoots

in the Serengeti,

so it's quite nice to be using it in a garden in Oxfordshire.

Sam and assistant producer Matt Tomlinson

are looking for signs of otters to decide on a filming location.

I think they're using this tree.

And it looks like they've pooed down here.

An otter poo is actually called spraint,

and you can see some scales in there, so it's obviously feeding

around here, hunting - that's a really good sign.

While Matt is perched safely on the river bank...

..Sam wants to immerse himself in the otters' world.

Welcome to my flooded office.

I'm sat on a chair in the river.

It's 20 degrees outside, but really cold sat in this water.

Let's see if I can last long enough.

Luckily for Sam, Sara is on hand with refreshments.

I don't even know where he is. Sam, would you like a cup of tea?

Yes, please!

Three days in,

and still no sign of otters.

But another river garden character has made an appearance.

The kingfisher has just landed

in a tree in front of me.

Hopefully, it comes out into the open.

Now it's just flown past and landed behind my hide.

Not quite going to plan.

To make matters worse,

the year turns out to be the wettest on record.

It's more than just an annoyance.

We have to be really careful filming

because the river can rise so quickly.

We can lose equipment if we don't get it out of the river in time.

The rain eventually stops.

But still no otters.

So it's the fifth day looking for otters,

and nothing so far.

To pass the time, Matt turns his attention to Doris -

Henry and Sara's resident mallard.

I just saw a ripple.

It's a bit too big...

..to be a fish.

And then...

There's an otter.

It's really charging them.

FRENZIED QUACKING

Sadly for Sam, the action is nowhere near his sunken hide.

But Matt is able to capture something

rarely filmed before - in a garden of all places.

Amazing!

Fortunately, Sam isn't going home empty-handed.

I've got a kingfisher just outside my hide.

It's so fast.

The speed it hits the surface at is absolutely amazing.

The team's patience on the river has paid off

and Sam is ready to reveal to Henry and Sara

the secret lives of the animals in their garden.

Oh! Oh, wow!

Look at those whiskers. Oh, this is brilliant.

I mean, it's sort of Jaws all over again.

But with an otter this time. Mm.

That was amazing.

You just don't see these things

unless you have this fabulous photography going on.

The approach you take to gardening, which in some areas of the garden

is a bit more hands off... Yes. ..is really beneficial

to the wildlife in the area. It isn't manicured,

it's not got beautifully gorgeous herbaceous borders.

It's a good excuse not to do masses of gardening!

Henry and Sara have done their bit to preserve the wild nature

of this garden.

Now, having learned more about the lives of its animals...

..they have decided to redouble their efforts

to protect their garden for generations to come.

Next time, a city garden in the heart of Bristol...

..where intrepid animals find remarkable ways...

..to live among us.

Discover the wildlife on your doorstep

with the Open University's

Secret Garden interactive experience.

Scan the QR code on the screen now

or head to connect.open.ac.uk/secretgarden.

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