David Attenborough Wildlife on One The Stoats In The Priory

[Music] the stoat here one moment gone the next [Music] it's impossible to know where you're going to see them or what you might see they're unpredictable and sometimes seem quite mad [Music] this is the lovable side to their nature there's also a more savage side prostates are ruthless killers [Music] [Music] mrs. Mount Grace Perry in North Yorkshire it's cold and bleak at the moment but last summer something very special happened here we were lucky enough to find and follow a family of wild stones this is a film of their extraordinary summer [Music] we spent several days watching a female stoat in the area below the old manor house before we found her den 20th of May 6 o'clock in the morning this is one of the youngsters the others are in the den inside the lock itself to find a Stokes den in the wild is extremely unusual but the private grounds being open to the public are well maintained by gardeners and staff and the stoats have got used to be watched some of them are distinctly marked we call this one level they've already got the characteristic black tip to the tail so we think they're about 6 weeks old 600 years ago the monks spent most of their day closeted like Hermits praying and fasting they didn't eat meat but they employed lay servants to guard domestic rabbits specially imported from France to feed important guests there are few wild rabbits in Britain then but in the 16th century any of the 8th sat the monasteries and the rabbits escaped [Music] the servants also tended the car pawns for the months were allowed to eat fish the mates may have departed but they left behind a perfect hunting ground for stoats on the 22nd of May we saw our female hunting near the rabbit warrens although stoats are tiny animals only about 12 inches long without their tail their prey can be much bigger she moves at speed through thick cover making it impossible difficult to know where she might reappear the next bite is quick death virtually instantaneous an adult rabbit the way between five and eight times more than a stove making the lug back to the den a laborious task without the benefit of slow motion films it can be difficult to distinguish Stokes from their other close relatives in Britain there's confusion with polecats omens and weasels but the best rule is that it's probably a weasel if it doesn't have a black tip to the tail that is if you get a chance to see one properly for weasels are even more elusive and stoats and being much smaller can squeeze into holes that Stokes current keeping on the tracks of mice and voles the skull is the largest part of a weasel so if the weasels head can squeeze through then the rest can follow the pursuit is relentless right to the nest such small hyperactive animals have to eat every few hours like its prey the weasel is unlikely to survive more than one winter in the highlands of Scotland you may glimpse a beautiful snow-white animal known as the ermine the ermine is a stoat the black tip to the tail gives it away but Scottish stouts can mote from brown to white in winter back at the Priory it's the 10th of June moorhens enjoy the peace and tranquility of the para ponds and nest in the reeds earlier in the day mother stoped was spotted in the area by one of the gardener's the morhen leaves her nest in order to feed and as we thought might happen the stoat is back using the cutter she works down to the pond though it's known that scopes like eating birds and eggs in this case it seems she's not after the more hand the stone is in a nest and though it could easily kill the more hen it seems to prefer the eggs [Music] forty minutes later she is seen in the orchard looking highly mischievous she seems to be checking rabbit burrows sometimes a doe rabbit will leave her litter unattended while she grazes stoked chasing rabbit or rabbit chasing stoke our cameraman isn't sure we slow the film the rabbits mother instincts have very bravely driven the predator away but the mother stoat has her own strong instincts her kits have still not had a feed today despite the chase she seems determined to investigate more burrows she's got a young rabbit yet for some reason she's not heading back to her kids as she abandoned them he looks as though she's heading for the old herb garden she's back she must have dropped the rabbit somewhere in the undergrowth another baby rabbit out she must be raiding a nest back and forth always in the same direction she seems to be storing them in the herb garden but why isn't she taking them back to her young next day 11th of June the female rounds up her entire litter and they're clearly on the move to see this site in the British countryside is a once-in-a-lifetime experience [Music] the camera can hardly keep up with them but unless they're fast they're vulnerable to buzzards and foxes even though they're all together we lose sight of them in the old herb garden we don't find them again until they appear by an old stump as usual Ruddell is first one of the kits emerges with the hindquarters of a rabbit so this is where the female was taking her earlier killings it seems she had the foresight to prepare this new den by packing it with food perhaps to help settle the kits the tree stump is closer to her favorite hunting grounds both rabbits and carp ponds our Stoke has also timed her move well there are several broods of ducklings on the water easy prey first out if either Mallard or more hens lose their young they simply start again unlike Stokes more hens can rear up to three touches of young each summer and they may need to this close supply of food is essential for the young Stokes as they are now eating more than ever it seems that the mother stoat must have checked out the new den long before the move feeling the need to give them more room inside to eat and more room out to play they're showing signs of their developing adult skills the bite for instance [Music] [Applause] young stoats are now 11 weeks old the female is spending very little time at the new den as she has to keep up with the Cubs enormous appetite she drops the food in that can't stay as she has to get hunting again which raises the question where is the father the dog stowed he plays no part in the rearing of his offspring and his home range will be considerably larger than hers incorporating possibly two more females that the mother stoat can provide enough food for her kids is remarkable but to provide a Serpas is a greater achievement and means that as well as having food to eat the kids also have food to play with if there are no siblings around to torment the prey becomes dog-eared and torn like an old toy [Music] June gives way to a scorching July the youngsters have seen less of the stump and can appear almost anywhere in the poly grounds on the 3rd of July we stumble across two siblings in the meadow above the carp pond and try to puzzle out what they're up to is this pay or dance the infamous dance and death that is mentioned in legends about States [Music] the manic dance is believed to hypnotize the prey allowing the stoat to get close enough food to strike [Music] even more fascinating they appear to be role-playing taking it in turns to act the passive victim and the demonic dancer of legend [Music] the experts generally agree that Stokes do use this hypnotic dance to disguise an attack but they do not suck the blood of their victims vampire-like as folklore would have us believe however as night falls another weaselly looking relative of the stoat the polecat is planning murder in the dark with its banded like facemask the secretive polecat leaves its nest to hunt but only when the night has become alive with the scuttles and scurries of other animals whereas stoats try and avoid living too close to man the polecat can be thoroughly at home they're often choosing busy farmyards to lurk in by night particularly when there is an abundance of rats a polecat can and will follow a rat everywhere being found in farm buildings with chickens hasn't helped the polecats reputation but polecats are far more keen on rat catching [Music] [Applause] [Music] 11th of July 10 o'clock in the morning the prior has been open a few hours to the public already and our stoats have been spotted up in the great poster [Music] they're about three months old now and are more agile than ever though playful and just as mad they appear more aggressive and purposeful in their attacks [Music] one cent marks the ground the other reacts as though threatened in fact this game is getting a little too boisterous [Music] [Music] [Music] the young male Stokes won't be able to stay together in the priority grounds forever they may want up to 15 kilometres from here in search of their own patch of females but not yet there are more games to be paid [Music] sometimes our stoats and the great coaster quite literally just disappear the secret to their trick was in a 14th century map of the monks drainage system by going down the drain into a network of underground tunnels the stoats can reappear 150 metres below the Priory right back at the carp ponds [Music] stoats a thot not tonight water out of choice except when having to swim when hunting waterfowl of their nests but ours seem to enjoy it perhaps the hot July days made the water more enticing they appear hyperactive and hungry this one pulls out of the water what looks like a pebble the more hand chick is swimming carelessly close to the revelers more troubles rattle has joined in [Music] the female morhen flies in but as little she can do against this gang of sharp teeth for a minute it looks as though the stoats have got bored with the chase but the trouble is far from over [Music] [Applause] mother state comes in with a rabbit by leaving the rabbit for the young to feed on the mother scoters unwittingly saved the more hens chick [Music] [Applause] by the middle of July the Stokes reigns has extended to the carpark and the fields beyond there now fast fit unpredictable and difficult to find they can appear anywhere within a radius of 500 meters from their second game it's the alarm calls of the Blackbirds that helped give their presence away adding to the difficulty of seeing them is that they can also be high in the trees stoats are as agile as any squirrel yet to see them like this is an extremely unusual sight no way is sacred the stonemasons yard turns into an excellent playground for a game of hide and seek [Music] [Music] you see inside out it's difficult to watch these enchanting creatures for three months without falling completely under their spell so this diary doesn't have a last page our scopes are still there and in the summer we plan to be back [Music] next week wildlife on one investigates a most unbirth like bird with eyelashes like Sophia Loren and a figure like Robbie Coltrane this is the African ground horn comical it may look but comical it is not some this is the hornbill from hell [Applause] the stars of stoats in the priory are featured in the April issue of BBC wildlife magazine on sale now

Channel: Soul Flask

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Keywords: David Attenborough, stoats, priory, wildlife on one, 1996, Mount Grace priory, ruins, nature, plastic, ego, planet, blue planet, pan, vhs, retro, lost tapes, extinction rebellion

Id: NMNRLnAkzVs

Length: 28min 29sec (1709 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 11 2019