Natural celebrities: The true stars of reality TV

It was anyone's guess which of three hot-blooded males would secure the subject of their affections in the long grass. The bust up between the brothers came to a violent end, yet it was captivating and, most importantly, a ratings winner. And for those wanting to slump before more of the same there are hours of additional late-night live webcam viewing.

Davina McCall might be hosting a nightly no-holds-barred reality TV show that's a diet of sex, violence and antisocial behaviour. But it is another reality show that's ruffling feathers in suburbia.

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For this one delivers up Bill Oddie with Kate Humble - the woman he just won't stop interrupting - and a whole cast of incredible co-stars. Judging by the latest viewing figures, they are giving Big Brother more than a run for its money. The nocturnal habits of badgers, owls and blackbirds, captured in the live streaming of Springwatch's 50 webcams from midnight on BBC2, drew a peak of 300,000 viewers on Wednesday night compared to Big Brother's 90,000 on E4 at the same time, the ratings show.

While BB yesterday hastily expelled one of its housemates, 19-year-old Emily Parr, amid fears it would become embroiled in another race row, Oddie and Humble were preparing for the emotional moment when the jackdaw chicks left home.

That is only a taste of the on-screen dramas the programme, in the second week of a three-week run, has offered. The most optimistic BBC producer could not have anticipated the soap-style entertainment provided by the barn owls' nest in Cornwall's Gardens of Heligan, where a chick devoured his weaker brother last week. Further drama ensued this week when the father vanished. A local buzzard that stole one of nest's chicks a few years back is chief suspect. Can the poor female bring in enough to feed her remaining three siblings? A nation waits on tenterhooks.

Last week, Nightshift had 400,000 viewers on Wednesday and Thursday, compared with Big Brother's 386,000 on Wednesday and 242,000 on Thursday. The main 8pm Springwatch has also been snapping at the heels of Big Brother's 10pm show, with 3.8 million peak viewers last Thursday and Monday compared with Big Brother's 4.5 million on Thursday and 4.1 million on Monday.

Granted, BBC2 is a terrestrial television channel while E4 is only available to around half of UK homes on digital, satellite and cable, but Bryan Bland of the RSPB believes the figures are a sign of the times. "We're not surprised at all that the real lives of British wild animals are more fascinating than the unreal lives of caged housemates," he said. "The RSPB has run webcams of osprey and peregrine nests for six to seven years now and every year we get more hits.''

A series of Springwatch festivals across Britain this weekend will attempt to draw on the programme's immense success.

www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch

The cannibal: Tawny Owls

Even the world of fiction rarely serves up such gruesome treats. When a young Cornish barn owl ate his brother on live television, viewers gasped in horror. A television taboo had been broken.

The young birds' survival is dependent on a supply of voles and that when it is raining father is less inclined to forage for them. So when mother and father had temporarily vacated the nest, the Darwinian impulse proved too much for the owl at the Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.

It was before the watershed when little bro's feet were spotted dangling out of the barn owl's mouth but Springwatch screened it last Monday and repeated it on Tuesday. But Oddie and Humble made light of the disturbing act. "As our owls have shown throughout our first week, nature provides all of the shock and drama that anyone could ask for from a reality show," says Oddie.

The villain: Mute Swan

The creature poised to take its place in TV history alongside JR Ewing and "Nasty" Nick Bateman appeared from nowhere over a loch on the southern reaches of Islay earlier this week.

A family of shelducks had just glided into view. The swan, three times the size of the ducks, moved aggressively on the chicks. But, to cheers from living rooms across the nation, father shelduck retaliated to protect his young, dive-bombing the swan to see him off.

The shelducks had earlier won the hearts of viewers when a pair of chicks heroically waddled 3km after their parents in search of a freshwater loch - the equivalent of a human walking 150km on an empty stomach. Little wonder that the swan became an instant bad guy.

The sex pests: Hares

Celebrity Love Island has nothing on this. We may have witnessed the odd unwelcome approach before on television, but the hares of Islay took pursuing females to a whole new level. A gang of males chased a lone female around a meadow on the island, under the watchful of eye of camera crews, before it became clear that she wasn't in the mood. The males were on the receiving end of a firm cuffing. Fur flew as she pummelled the boys with her feet. Undaunted, they continued in their quest before she made off into the Scottish sunset. The female is one of the fastest animals in Britain so theirs was a lost case.

The squabbling siblings: Kingfishers

The kingfisher, an unmistakeable bright blue and orange bird that lives by slow-moving or still water, was expected to be the more distinguished member of the Springwatch cast. But several provided a dramatic example of sibling rivalry in a memorable tussle for a worm while balanced on a branch above a river in Devon. One of their number was happily consuming said worm when three others piled in. The first fended them off and all four, of course, maintained their customary poise.

The dysfunctional family: Foxes

If it's the dysfunctional family you're after, meet the foxes from Glasgow. The skulk of foxes being portrayed by cameraman Gordon Buchanan has been christened the "chip shop family" and the young have three parents (that's two mothers and a father).

Despite the over-abundance of maternal affection, they seem to rub along well with one another but enjoy raking through bins and helping themselves to their neighbours' possessions.

The chip shop family certainly didn't have permission to set up home in another clan's garden close to a dual carriageway, but this lot aren't too bothered about seeking planning advice.

Nevertheless, they are probably Britain's favourite wild family and when one went missing viewers feared that he'd come to a sticky end on the main road. His return was greeted by a collective sigh of relief.

The Asbo kids: Badgers

By virtue of a habit of getting into scraps for no apparent reason, the badgers beat off stiff competition to take the antisocial behaviour order. The badgers, as companionable as any of the creatures on the programme, are always on the lookout for a friend - but then seem to take any opportunity to start cuffing him about. On the live Nightshift last week, the badgers went ballistic after one of their number fell out of a tree. The creature was inexplicably jumped upon by two others before a third bounded up and took a swing at the first. Five minutes of chaotic fighting ensued before the badger who fell out of the tree turned his attention to camouflage equipment set up by the BBC and proceeded to tear that apart.