Life in the Undergrowth

As the early June sun begins to set over a calm river in Central Hungary, masses of ghostly shapes emerge from their larval cases to take to the air for the first time. They are mayflies and in a spectacular display, thousands of them demonstrate how the very first wings were used. From the stunning aerobatics of hoverflies in an English garden to the mass migration of purple crow butterflies in the valleys of Taiwan, this episode tells the tale of the first animals ever to take to the air. Unique footage reveals the lightning fast reactions of bluebottles and hoverflies, filmed with one of the worlds fastest cameras, and David Attenborough handles the worlds largest (and perhaps most ferocious) insect - the Titan beetle.

The world of invertebrates exists in a web of relationships with plants and other animals. Unique footage of the worlds smallest insect (a fairy wasp only quarter of a millimetre long) shows it flying underwater to find the eggs of water beetles in which to lay its own brood. Some ants farm the trees that give them shelter, creating areas known as Devils gardens. To make sure these grow without competition, they kill off other seedlings in the surrounding vegetation. The blister beetles larvae huddle together on the end of a piece of grass and mimic a female bee. When a male bee tries to mate with the female, the larvae grab on to his belly. Confused, he flies away and searches for a real female. When he eventually finds her and mates with her, the beetle larvae hurriedly swap from his front on to her back, and hence get carried back to her nest where they eat her pollen supplies.