Wild Isles

Original version

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

BBC One London HD

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

David Attenborough reveals the spectacular and important British wildlife on our doorstep.

Extraordinary. Dramatic. Beautiful. Sir David Attenborough celebrates the wonders of British wildlife. It's our home, as you've never seen it before.

Series 1

BBC Two

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

BBC One Nightlight

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 region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

BBC One London

London

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

BBC One South West HD

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 Yorks & Lincs

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

BBC One West HD

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 HD

BBC One Channel Islands HD

BBC One East HD

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Yorks & Lincs HD

BBC One North West HD

BBC One Cambridgeshire HD

BBC One South East HD

BBC One South

BBC One Yorkshire HD

BBC One Channel Islands

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 HD

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One North West

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One Oxfordshire HD

BBC One East Midlands HD

BBC One Oxfordshire

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One West Midlands HD

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

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

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Wales

Wales

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

David Attenborough

Chris Howard

Martin Elsbury

Hilary Jeffkins

Alastair Fothergill

Silverback Films Ltd

Wild Isles: Series 1: Freshwater

Freshwater

BBC One - Wild Isles, Series 1, Freshwater

David Attenborough reveals the astonishing wildlife found in freshwater habitats.

David Attenborough takes us on a journey from source to sea, following the course of our fresh water to reveal a host of astonishing wildlife.

From highland burns in the Scottish Cairngorms to vast mudflats in Norfolk, David Attenborough takes us on a journey from source to sea, following the course of our fresh water as it journeys through our landscapes. Along the way we meet a host of wildlife that lives in, on and around our rivers, lakes, and lochs. 

Determined Atlantic salmon battle their way upstream in one of the greatest migrations on the planet - fighting against the flow and the odds to get back to their breeding grounds in the uplands. Beavers slow the flow down with their dam building, in the process creating habitat for creatures such as raft spiders that thrive in these slow-moving watercourses.

Our chalk streams are some of the rarest and most precious types of freshwater system in the world, and above them millions of mayflies hatch, dance and mate for just a few days each summer. On the riverbank, a secretive small mammal, the water shrew, lives life in the fast lane. Its high metabolism drives a constant, frenetic search for food, both above and below the surface

At night our rivers come alive too, providing hunting territories for Daubenton’s bats that skim their prey from on and above the surface. It’s easy to see how they have earned their common name of ‘water bats’. Darkness is also when our toads migrate, moving en masse to their traditional breeding grounds every spring. A few months later, the resulting toadlets must make their way out of the ponds and back to their woodland home - the most dangerous journey of their young lives.

As our rivers slow, they spread out, and huge areas of reedbed form. Hobbies, small agile birds of prey, swoop low and fast to catch dragonflies acrobatically in the summer sun, and in early spring great crested grebes pair up in one of the most complex and beautiful courtship ceremonies in the natural world. 

Where our freshwater reaches the sea, vast mudflats can form, full of rich earth carried down by the river. These habitats are a magnet to hundreds of thousands of overwintering wading birds, migrants that come to fuel up on the hidden food below the mud. But they attract their own predators too. Peregrine falcons visit our coasts every year, and these migrants are on their menu.

Wild Isles: Series 1

BBC One

David Attenborough reveals British wildlife as spectacular as anything found on the globe.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Wild Isles

Series 1

Freshwater

Contributors

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC One London HD

About BBC One