Sam and Ade Go Birding: All Creatures Great and Small star Samuel West and Adrian Edmondson observe wildlife in the Yorkshire Dales in new episode of Channel 5 show

All Creatures Great and Small actor Samuel West and Adrian Edmondson observe wild birds in the Yorkshire Dales in a new episode of Sam and Ade Go Birding.

Sam and Ade Go Birding follows Samuel West, who plays Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small, and his friend Adrian Edmondson, an actor and comedian, as they travel through the most spectacular landscapes in search of Britain’s extraordinary birdlife.

From a magical dawn chorus in the Yorkshire Dales to raptors in West Wales and vast seabirds on the East Coast, the pair share laughs, stories and the occasional pint as Ade’s passion for birding intensifies.

The series is a warm, witty and wise celebration of friendship, nature and the joy of looking up.

The first episode of season two, which airs on Channel 5 at 7pm on Thursday, October 1, 2026, Ade picks up Sam from the set of All Creatures Great and Small for a weekend of birdwatching.

Their adventure starts as it should: with an after-work pint by the river, watching swallows, swifts and house martins swoop and wheel overhead in a dazzling aerial display.

Sam insists that, to experience a true spring dawn chorus, they must wake up at 3am. Sleepy but ready, Ade follows Sam into the early-morning darkness, where the Dales gradually burst into song.

Chiffchaffs, warblers, robins, tits and cuckoos all make themselves heard, creating a glorious, overlapping soundtrack that proves both thrilling and baffling for Ade.

After breakfast and a well-earned nap, Ade takes a trip down memory lane, recalling his father’s less-than-successful attempts to teach him the birds and the bees as a teenager.

Later, Sam takes Ade to a farm used as a location in the first series of All Creatures Great and Small.

There, sitting quietly together, they watch a swallow repeatedly return to its nest to feed its newly hatched chicks - a small but fascinating glimpse of family life in the natural world.

The following morning, Ade brings out his guitar while Sam checks the local patch, before the pair head high onto the moor in search of curlews.

There, they meet one of the threatened bird’s most devoted champions and discover why protecting this striking, much-loved species matters.