will work for nuts (4/6)

This entertaining wildlife series gives Britain’s animals the chance to flaunt their natural abilities as three experts set them a series of inventive challenges. In tonight’s show, the team sets out to take a close-up portrait of a blue tit with a mobile phone camera; Matt and James test Lloyd’s claim that his eagle can tell when people are lying and Lloyd takes his peregrine falcons base-jumping.

The first challenge this week sees the boys set out on a ‘blue tit safari’. While this may sound like a walk in the park, Lloyd explains that it is not easy. “A blue tit is just like any other wild animal. When you are trying to get this close... it may as well be a wildebeest in the Serengeti,” he says.

In order to get around this problem, technical maestro James comes up with an ingenious contraption that gets the birds to take their own pictures –a kind of automatic photo booth made from parts of a train set and a burglar alarm. When the birds land on a fake branch they trigger a switch that pushes the camera’s shutter. Matt, however, takes a far more labour intensive and painful approach, sitting bolt upright in a hide made out of a compost bin. Who will get the desired results?

Elsewhere in today’s show, the boys turn their attention to a slightly bigger bird: Lloyd’s captive golden eagle, Tilly. “We’ve got to know each other very well, over the years,” says Lloyd. He claims that Tilly can read human body language so well that she can spot when a person is lying. “There are lots of reasons for her to be able to read the intentions and body language of other eagles in the wild,” explains Lloyd. “Because she’s reared by humans, she’s just using those adaptations to extend to humans.” Will the sceptical Matt and James be willing to test Lloyd’s claims?

Also this week, Lloyd shows that extreme sports are not just for humans as he takes his two peregrine falcons base-jumping –leaping off high structures with a parachute. While the intrepid presenter plummets at quite a speed, the birds fall even faster, displaying their incredible acceleration to reach 60mph in just half a second. “I’d love to be able to do that,” says Lloyd as he watches them swoop from the top of a 160-foot tower. “Well you could do it,” he adds. “But only once!”