Presenters Meeting: The Clash
Yet again the production team and the on-site presenters are gathered around the table, discussing tonight's programme. First stop, the chaffinch chicks. Will they fledge or won't they? Apparently someone on the message boards has suggested that they are waiting for a book deal. This is not a surprise as they are the stars of the show.
To demonstrate what is going on on the webcams, Kate and Chris impersonate the chicks, almost falling out of the nest but then reigning themselves back in. They look like a couple of Weebles - wobbling but not falling down. The chicks have some stiff competition.
Someone suggests that shots of the chaffinch chicks should be accompanied by sounds of singing Should I Stay Or Should I Go?, but Chris is firmly against it as he feels that the band had lost their punk edge by then and had gone 'all pop'. Hannah, the Assistant Producer, bursts into Don't Dream It's Over - a song which includes the lyrics "Go now, go now" - and is immediately awarded a grey cloud by Chris. So we may be back with The Clash after all.
After the chaffinches, they turn to the that has been found. Apparently this bird, like all sylvian warblers, is absolutely rubbish at building nests and the nest we are filming is slowly slipping out of sight and threatens to overturn. Everyone discusses the possibilities of holding it up with some cotton thread disguised as a spider's web, or some super glue disguised as a glistening bead of dew, but all options are dismissed. This is the ´óÏó´«Ã½ after all (and no one can find the superglue or cotton thread).
Next up the . A nest has been found and everybody loves them. Cute, fluffy, clownish ... and prone to incest. Apparently the adult males have sex with their own young. Everyone hopes tonight won't be the night...
But on to more important things like screen time. Chris says he is going to walk everywhere really slowly so he can have more screen time than Kate. Kate says she is going to take hours to put pins in the map so she can have more screen time than Chris. Both are awarded a gold star to get them to concentrate.
Conversation then turns to the which is nesting in a rabbit hole. Everyone happily watches the cameramen pass by the window on their way to set up the shelduck camera... until Martin Hughes-Games points out that shelducks can get very touchy when disturbed and may desert their nest. The producer runs out of the portacabin and disappears into the distance, calling for the cameramen to stop.
While the producer is away, the series-producer awards Martin a gold star for his top-tip but makes the mistake of saying that it is 'because he hasn't got one'. This sets the other two off and there is moral outrage about how the all-important star system is being debased.
In an attempt to save the situation, the producer says that if things go according to plan tonight she will eat the sofa. It works. Everyone becomes instantly insentivised and the tone is suddenly much more constructive. Hurrah!
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