Planet Earth is so spectacular,
it's easy to miss the smaller things in life.
But take a closer look...
and there's a whole undiscovered world.
A world where tiny heroes...
and little monsters...
need incredible superpowers...
to help them triumph against giant odds.
There's no place like home.
And for a black-bellied field hamster, it's here...
in the heart of the European countryside.
The thing is...
the countryside is changing.
As the machines move in...
animals move out.
Most are so small it goes unnoticed.
The lucky ones end up here.
In our gardens.
A familiar place.
But on a smaller scale,
it's a world of wonders...
where little creatures rule.
For these tiny tenants, the garden has everything.
Cozy beds.
Private suites.
Even a pool.
It may look like paradise.
But there are dangers everywhere.
Worst of all, this land is ruled by giants.
So, what does it take to make this place home?
Spring has arrived.
And with it, a fresh supply of food.
But where there's food, there's bound to be trouble.
House cats kill more small mammals than any other predator.
Luckily, squirrels are agile in body and mind.
Where there's a will... and some nuts... there's a way.
But the tightrope, that's not so easy to master.
She'll be back.
Squirrels are persistent.
Of course, flying makes the bird table easier to reach.
Robins start their families in early spring.
So Dad can collect as much food as possible for his growing family.
While Mom tends her brood, Dad's kept very busy
feeding the chicks every five minutes.
Avoiding other birds is the trickiest part.
Robins are the most aggressive birds in the garden.
And this is one of the most deadly.
Flying at 50 kilometers per hour,
a sparrow hawk is a small bird specialist.
A failed hunt can also mean a free lunch.
For black ants, just finding food is a mammoth expedition.
They must navigate thick jungles...
and traverse vast deserts.
Back home, there's a colony of 5,000.
And how they feed them is little short of miraculous.
They've become aphid farmers.
They don't eat them though.
They tickle them...
to make them release drops of honeydew...
a sweet liquid aphids secrete when feeding on sap.
But amongst the flock... there is a wolf.
Ladybugs are aphid predators.
The ants counterattack with powerful jaws.
And a spray of formic acid.
But there are some aphid killers even an army of ants can't beat.
They will have to forage elsewhere.
In the wild, hamsters are very territorial.
But the lure of a lush backyard brings them closer together.
A male.
She does not want company.
They may look harmless, but hamsters are vicious fighters.
He's bigger and stronger...
but seems to have more romantic intentions.
The feelings are not mutual.
Maybe some other time.
As summer progresses, the focus turns from eating to mating.
A female zebra jumping spider.
She may only be the size of a grain of rice...
but she's voracious.
This male needs to be careful. She could easily kill him.
He has to prove he's worthy as a mate.
By dancing.
The shuffle.
The wave.
The side step.
They all need to be just right.
He's not the greatest dancer.
But at least he's "staying alive."
Midsummer. And things are heating up.
The male hamster is back.
His perseverance is paying off.
The female has put down roots,
making renovations to turn her burrow into a home.
At this time of year, the garden is full of little homemakers.
Mason bees need to find safe places to raise their young.
For a single mother,
a prefab snail shell is more convenient than building from scratch.
After a thorough inspection...
she lays a single egg inside the shell.
There's just one problem.
Starlings love snails.
This could be an unfortunate case of mistaken identity.
A close call.
If her baby is to survive in this garden,
she'll need to work on her home security.
It won't emerge for another year.
And she won't live long enough to protect it.
So she's searching for building materials.
Amazingly, she carries sticks 20 times her size
to cover her nursery.
Piece by piece, the shell is transformed...
into a fortress.
Although she won't be there to protect her baby,
she's given it the best possible start.
As humans prepare for bed,
the garden comes alive with a new cast of creatures.
Some make perilous journeys just to get there.
A midwife toad on a dangerous mission.
His partner has entrusted him with their precious eggs.
She's wrapped them around his legs so he doesn't drop them.
They're ready to hatch, so he needs to get them to water, fast.
And he'll risk his life to do it.
He's able to home in on the faintest scent of the garden pond.
But he's not there yet.
Hedgehogs will eat toads.
But this one is craving something else.
A marvel of the night.
A leopard slug.
On hot, humid evenings,
they emerge for one of nature's most extraordinary spectacles.
Following the trail of another slug, it climbs.
And when the two meet...
they dance.
Then, releasing their hold on the branch,
they descend on a strand of slime.
Well out of harm's way...
they begin to mate.
All over the garden, new lives are beginning.
The midwife toad has finally found the pond.
The same one he was born in.
With natural pools now so scarce,
garden ponds are a lifeline for tiny animals.
A new chapter is also beginning for the hamster.
The switch to garden life has clearly paid off.
She's mother to seven little pups.
Their eyes will be closed for the first two weeks.
In that time, the babies double in size.
To keep up, Mom needs to stay well fed.
Nursing so many pups takes its toll.
Luckily, the gardener's efforts are bearing fruit.
But each time she ventures out, she risks her life.
Best to make as few runs as possible.
And do what hamsters do best.
There's space for three meals' worth of food in those cheeks.
But her mouth only opens so wide.
By midsummer, the garden is growing fast.
And so are the tiny animals that eat it.
Just hatched,
a puss moth larva is small enough to crawl through the eye of a needle.
But this is one hungry caterpillar.
In just three weeks, it grows...
and grows...
to a thousand times its original size.
It's now, when the garden is in overdrive,
that humans try to regain control.
But nature has a way of fighting back.
A squirt of formic acid usually does the trick.
Many small creatures use chemical weapons for defense.
But humans have weapons of mass destruction.
For the ants still out on foraging duty...
it's carnage.
Despite heavy casualties,
these ants won't abandon their wounded.
They'll carry them all the way back to the colony.
It won't be easy to find their way home.
And now the grass is short, they've got no cover.
Starlings like ants even more than snails.
This time, using formic acid backfires.
The starling actually encourages it.
It helps condition feathers and protects against parasites.
But preening on the open lawn is dangerous.
A lucky break for the ants.
There is just one last obstacle to cross before they reach home.
With scorching sun.
Shifting sands.
And deadly ant lions.
They dig traps and flick sand to stop their victims escaping.
One brave ant risks her own life for her fallen comrade.
This time, there's no saving her.
But thanks to the ants' selfless nature, most of them make it home.
Now four weeks old, the hamster pups are growing restless.
It's time to explore the garden.
Their mom has made sure they're starting off in a good place.
A little green oasis...
in an ever-changing world.
It may not be perfect.
But it's home.
All too often, we think of the animals that share our gardens as pests.
But stop and take a closer look.
And you'll see a community of little wonders
trying to make a home in our world.
It's easy to forget what it's like to be small.
But with a helping hand...
even the tiny...
can achieve great things.