Many Springwatch fans were left traumatised and “leaving the room” during Monday night’s instalment of the BBC nature show as Chris Packham narrated some devastating scenes.
In a celebration of wildlife in Britain’s cities, Megan McCubbin headed into Glasgow to revel in its urban cast of characters, while Iolo Williams visited a nature reserve in the heart of Weymouth.
Packham and Michaela Strachan introduced the episode and sadly kicked off with the news that their reed bunting chicks had been attacked by an adder snake, leaving many fans devastated.
Revealing the news, Packham admitted: “We are able to witness things which we aren’t always able to see. Some things are absolutely fascinating, and our duty of course is to report all of this to you and to show you what is really happening out here. We tell you the complete truth.
“Sometimes, however, the truth is quite hard to swallow. This is going to be a tough watch so if you are feeling a bit squeamish tonight, you may not want to find out what happened to our reed bunting chicks,” he warned.
As the clip of the four chicks and their mother played, Packham narrated: “We had four of them in the nest, down on the marsh, they were doing well and both adults were coming in frequently with food. Here we see the female coming in and bringing them some food but look at this.
The adder snake attacked the nest of chicks
BBC
“Out of nowhere, an adder appears. The female flees obviously immediately and the snake bites two of the youngsters, clearly envenomating them because they are almost immediately still. Either incapacitated or dead.
“Then it moves around and thinks of taking one of those youngsters, grabs hold of it by the head and once it has got a grip it withdraws the dead youngster from the nest to a place where it will be easier to swallow. It’s extraordinary.”
The camera returned to Packham and Strachan live from their location, where he added: “When I grew up, adders, they eat small mammals, particularly young small mammals they would get from their nest.”
However, it wasn’t long until the clip of the chicks returned and Packham once again informed the viewers of more bad news.
Fans were left traumatised by the scenes
BBC
“We have now got one dead chick that it has envenomated and two living chicks in the nest, the adder returns and if you look carefully you can see the bulge in its body where it has already swallowed the other chick.
“This time it slithers around the back of the neck, clearly using its tongue to sense this. It was bound to return, it comes in the back and the dead chick would be the obvious target, not moving, easy to deal with, easy to take away. It nuzzles around, it ignores it and attacks another chick.
“It doesn’t wait for the venom to take effect and it drags the chick out the back of the nest alive. It is a grizzly watch but it is simply extraordinary that we are giving this insight into this behaviour.”
Whilst Packham was stunned by the act of nature, many fans were left “traumatised” by the footage, with one noting on X: “Footage of adders attacking chicks. Fascinating. Gory. Sad. But circle of life.”
Chris Packham noted how fascinating nature was
BBC
“I decided to leave the room. #Springwatch,” another added before a third said: “Those poor chicks taken by that snake. Brutal. So hard to watch.”
“Omg those poor chicks!!!! #Springwatch @ChrisGPackham How could you devastate us like this?” one asked as someone else expressed: “I’m traumatised. #springwatch.”
However, some defended the footage being shown, as one noted: “He did warn us. It’s the circle of life unfortunately. The snakes need to eat just as much as the chicks. The snake will be a bigger animal dinner.” (sic)
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