A Year in the Wild

Spring comes to the Dales and North York Moors National Parks, the season when the parks' animals must find food, a mate and raise a family. Adders battle to secure a mate, while grebes prefer a mating dance. On the coast, a quarter of a million sea birds arrive to nest, many returning to exactly the same nest site every year. And up around Malham Tarn, an injured, pregnant roe deer desperately seeks Spring's green shoots to survive.

High up in Malham Cove, two 40-day-old peregrines must learn how to fly, while south of the North York Moors National Park, a pair of grebes carry their youngsters around on their backs. Facing unseasonably cold weather, times are tough for the roe deer of Malham Tarn.

Autumn is on hold as summer continues, with unexpectedly balmy conditions throwing a life line to the roe deer as they prepare for the winter ahead. For other animals, mating season has arrived, making for a dangerous and testosterone-fuelled time at Ravenscar Beach.

Winter is slowly setting in, and for the grey seals at Ravenscar Beach it is time to give birth. Elsewhere, migrating short eared owls arrive hungry, but competition is tight. Roe deer must fend off the cold, but for salmon at the end of their odyssey, the chill means the time has come to spawn.