The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

Halcyon River Diaries

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Intimate look at the wildlife of a typical English river, as seen through a family's eyes.

Intimate look at the wildlife of a typical English river, as seen through the eyes of a family who live beside it and love it.

Halcyon River Diaries: Series 1

Richard Taylor-Jones

Philippa Forrester

Halcyon River Diaries: Series 1: Episode 2: Spring

Spring

Episode 2

Episode 2: Spring

Series 1

BBC One - Halcyon River Diaries, Series 1, Spring

Charlie creates an underwater bird table, and Philippa plans to protect the water voles.

An intimate look at the wildlife of a typical English river. Charlie and his family follow the fortunes of three very different birds: kingfishers, dippers and moorhens.

The family follows the fortunes of three very different birds: kingfishers, dippers and moorhens, to see if they can survive what is the most dangerous season of their year.
 
After having their first nest raided, the kingfishers have now mated again. There is a problem though, and it's something that Charlie has never witnessed in over two decades of studying these small bright birds: the male has run off with another female.
 
With cameras wired to a moorhen's nest, the family watch the chicks hatch in a tree, and then look on as a tragedy unfolds. And Charlie creates the world's first underwater bird table in order to see how dippers hunt for submerged prey.

Philippa, meanwhile, makes a plan to protect the vulnerable water vole population on the river and charges Charlie with the job of filming them. His mind is elsewhere though; Charlie's busy building the ultimate otter des-res. Equipped with cameras, he wants get an insight into the private life of these elusive creatures.  

Spring is a beautiful time on the river, the mayflies have just 24 hours to spin, dance and mate in the sunshine after two years as larvae in the mud, but despite its beauty, the family's film diary reveals that life and death for the creatures on the river are never far apart.

BBC One

BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

BBC 1

BBC1

BBC HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One London

London

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Halcyon River Diaries

Series 1

Episode 2: Spring

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One South West

About BBC One