Lot of tufted duck, aren't they?
Mainly tufted. Yeah.
Oh, my God!
Mate, that is unbelievable!
Look at that!
I'm really, really interested in British wildlife,
so I've asked Chris Packham on a nature date.
Cormorants, look, on the island. Are they the cormorants?
Yeah, they're cormorants. Yeah.
Oh, my God. Yeah. It's something different and I just think
people should learn about British nature and stuff like that.
I'm hoping I'm going to see some cool wildlife today.
Look, the pigeons are having a bath there, look. Little pigeon spa.
Yeah, it is. Underrated, the pigeon.
He is going to be the best possible person for this.
He's actually on TV seeing British wildlife as a job.
Where we are now, I can't see there being much wildlife about.
He's just asked us to meet him in this caff in Tottenham.
It's made me a little bit more excited, actually.
There might be some secret little woods somewhere. I don't know.
Hello, Chris. Hello. Oh, lovely to meet you. How are you?
I'm good, thank you. I'm good.
Ten minutes from here you can see some pretty special stuff.
Can you really? I thought a bit of urban bird-watching...
Nice! ..would be a good start. Can't wait.
And we're going to go to Walthamstow Wetlands.
Now, it's a site that's been there
for a long time, a series of old reservoirs. Yeah.
It's a top spot to see some pretty special species.
And in order to see it, I've got you some binoculars. Thank you, Chris!
I never thought I'd be saying this - "Chris Packham's given me a pair
"of binoculars," and I watch him on TV. Only loaning them to you. Oh!
Also, a little checklist here of some of the species we might see.
Hopefully, we'll pick up a few extras as well. We can have
some extra cakes if we tick all these off, can't we?
Well, in which case, I'm going to tick them off whatever. Let's get going.
You know when birds build their nests, they use spit as well,
don't they? Some of them do. Some of them use spider's web
to tie it together. Do they really?
Yeah, they do. That's clever, innit?
Here we are.
Here we are. Been looking forward to this. I've never been here.
No, honestly, I've told my mum I'm meeting you.
It was like, "No way!"
But what about this nature date, then?
I mean, I'm very pleased to get the invitation. Yeah, I know.
I know, it's better than a normal date.
I've always been massively into sort of British wildlife especially
and I just thought you'd be the perfect person. I'm going to learn loads today.
I'll be telling facts to people for the rest of the week. Anyway...
Look. Loads of other people, just... They're on a nature date.
Yeah, they are.
Hello. Hiya. You all right?
I'm not sure they know they're on a nature date. No, they don't.
But they are. They're on a nature date. They don't know they are, but they're on a nature date.
To get started bird-watching, you do need a pair of binoculars,
and you can spend a lot, but you don't need a flash pair.
You just need something to get you started. Yeah.
A lot of people presume that the most important sense
when you're bird-watching is obviously vision... Yeah.
..because you're spotting them,
but, in fact, it's probably your hearing.
Really? Yeah, because you can hear things that you can't see,
obviously, if they're skulking around down in the foliage.
And you pick it up quite quickly.
Some birds produce a very characteristic call,
some are a little bit more tricky.
Magpie. The one that's just...
Oh, yeah, yeah. ..flown up into the tree.
Is that a little coot or moorhen? I can't see. Coot, yeah.
Oh, I just saw a great crested grebe as well.
Immediately to the left of those, just on the bank.
It's in amongst some vegetation. Oh, how did you see that?!
I think your eyes have got super-zoom.
There's an expression we use in birding, right?
It's, "Much about, then?" Much about, then?
BOTH: Much about, then?
I can imagine it. Much about, then?
We all like telling each other what we've learned
and what we've seen, even if we're just bragging about it, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be terrible.
"You're not going to believe what I've just seen!"
Squirrel there, look. Yeah, yeah. See him up close.
I love squirrels.
Jack, I'm an honest bloke,
so I've got to tell you the truth about something. Go on.
I didn't see a single episode, not a single programme.
Oh, what, of Love Island? Not one. Did you not?
And I'm the opposite. I've watched all your programmes. I know.
I feel guilty now. Sorry.
You know, I've watched Springwatch, Autumnwatch, you know,
The Really Wild Show. Yeah.
But do you know what? I don't... I think you'd do well on it.
What...? Why?! I'll tell you what it is. Ten weeks in a villa?!
Funnily enough, right, I used to sit at the edge of the pool
on a beanbag and there's been so many... On these beanbags,
you'd have conversations with girls, arguments and stuff. There was
always drama on these beanbags. But I used to sit on them, right,
and watch the birds over the...over the mountains
and I used to watch, obviously, the swifts and the swallows
come down and eat off the pool.
I'd see, like, birds of prey in the distance and I used to love it,
so I sort of turned a little part of it into my own little bird...
Bird-watching holiday? Yeah, little bird-watching holiday. It was.
You just needed some binoculars.
No binoculars allowed. Do you know what?
I'd love to have seen the reaction of people.
Everyone unpacking their case, yeah? And I just pop these out.
They'd go, "Right, he's not coming in the girls' bathroom."
I'll tell you, honestly,
if I could see a kingfisher out of today, I'd be over the moon.
I'm not giving up on the peregrine yet, though.
Peregrines would be on there, wouldn't they? Yeah.
Got to keep looking at these pylons.
Oh, my God! I've got it! I've got it! I've got it!
Oh, my God.
Superb. That's brilliant.
So, that's the world's fastest animal. Really?!
Yup. Speeds in excess of 200mph.
But how can you not find this interesting? I love it.
Much about, then? A little bit, yes. Yeah?
We've just seen a peregrine up there.
There were a pair there yesterday, actually. Oh, really?
CHRIS LAUGHS
So we lost out on that round, I'm afraid. Yeah. Yeah.
I think cos probably they didn't see any peregrines...
I really want to see the kingfisher.
Look, just here. You see that fence post?
JACK GASPS Just come down...
Oh, my God, I've got it. Come down the wire from there.
Look at that!
Mate, that is unbelievable! Look at that!
This is what I wanted to see today.
Oh, my God. Isn't he a beautiful-looking bird?
Do you want me to tell you something astonishing about that bird? Yeah.
There's no blue pigment in that bird at all.
All of that is what we call structural colour.
It's made by the way that the light bounces through the feathers.
There's no pigment in there at all. Really?! Yeah.
It just dived! Did you watch him dive? Look, there he goes.
I can't believe I've just seen that. I watched him dive.
That is amazing. I said that today I wanted to see a kingfisher.
I can't believe I just spotted it.
We've had, right, mallard, obviously, yeah.
Blackbird. We've had blackbird, definitely, yeah.
Goldfinch...we've seen.
Goldfinch twice. Two of those.
Great tit, yes, right at the beginning.
Now, I'm happy to say kingfisher.
Big tick and a smiley face on that, mate.
Peregrine falcon, yes. Oh, yes. So, we've, basically, done
all of them on that page apart from one, and that's scaup.
But it's very rare. I've had a great day today. I know. I've loved it.
You're hooked. I'm right in... I'm hooked, I am.
I want to find the scaup. I'm coming back to find that scaup, I'm telling you.
But obviously, I want to carry on. Have you got any more...?
Any more tips for me? I think that the most important thing of all...
What? ..now you're hooked... Yeah? ..is you've got to recruit someone else.
I do. Because if I've recruited you... Yeah. ..you've got to go
and recruit 1,000 people.
Shall we get a selfie? Yeah, go on, then.
Let's get a picture down here. It's very picturesque here. OK.
Lovely.
There we are. First successful nature date. Excellent.
I've loved it. I've loved it too. Thank you, Chris.
Great to meet a new enthusiast.
Oh, and I am. And I will find that scaup. I will find it.
You're obsessed!
So, that was my first nature date,
so I want YOU to go and ask somebody on a nature date.
Could be somebody you fancy, could be one of your friends.
You can find romance in nature.
There's always something to talk about.
You're not sitting opposite them having a meal...
BIRD CALLS See? Eye for nature. Heard that.
Oh, it's a coot. It's down there. It's a coot. See, I know now.
Coot. I've learnt stuff today.
Use the hashtag #NatureDates to give me
your suggestions on where I should go on my next nature date.
I've really enjoyed this today.