At last Spring is here,
Spring is without doubt my favourite season of the year. It is such a contrast
after the short days and long nights of winter. Everything seems to be alive
again.
Badgers
I recently visited my
local badger sett and managed to film 6 badgers during the hours of daylight
including a small cub. What a thrill that was, especially when we had such a
poor year for badger cubs last year due to the extraordinary dry spring. Last
years weather rendered many setts cubless.
Here you can see the
young chap or lass, the dominant boar was giving it a hard time though - it
hasn't yet quite got to grips with the hierarchy of the group.
Bluebells and
Wildflowers
This year has been
fantastic for Bluebells. Cornwall's pocket woodlands are carpeted with them at
the moment - a joy to see, and not forgetting the fragrant whiff in the air,
it's a great time to have an early morning walk. I did just that the other day
and saw a Tawny Owl at 8-40 a.m. I couldn't believe my eyes, unfortunately he
was too quick for me and my camera. Whilst on the subject of strange sightings,
I was in strip of woodland by a river last summer and spotted a Pipistrelle bat
at 2 in the afternoon !
There are plenty of
other wildflowers peaking in Cornwall at the moment, wild strawberries, dog
violets, forget-me-nots, red campion, greater stitchwort and one of my
favourites - Herb Robert, they are just so dainty and pretty.
The Cornish
Choughs
I'm off to the Lizard
tomorrow in search of the Chough - one of only two nesting pairs in the whole
of England. It will be a challenge capturing them on film and if I'm successful
they will make it into the new film 'Cornwall - The Wild Peninsular' - so
fingers crossed.
Update on the
Choughs - I'm afraid I didn't manage to get any more footage of the choughs on
the Lizard but as I have already filmed them it seemed wasteful to keep making
the long journey down from Looe. The latest news is that the Lizard nest has 4
female chicks.
A Chough
on Lizard Point in Cornwall
Kingfishers
I did however have the
great pleasure of filming a Kingfisher at close quarters. I sat for about an
hour and a half at one of my favourite Kingfisher spots with only a couple of
fleeting sightings as they belted along the river. I was just about to leave
when I thought I'd just have a quick look upstream.
A quick peak up the
river revealed a Kingfisher perched about 40-50 yards away. He was too far away
to get a decent shot so I crossed the river to the other bank (I only had my
walking boots on and the river was icy cold, my feet soon became numb).
I crept along the bank
to gain a better vantage point - just enough room to get a shot. The light was
awful, the breeze was moving an over hanging branch covering the Kingfisher
with mixed bright and dark light which makes things very difficult from an
exposure point of view. Not happy with the shots, I thought I'd risk creeping
slowly closer, as I crept I kept my eyes down, avoiding eye contact and just
peeking past my microphone occasionally to make sure he was still there. Now
I'm about 12 yards away from him, he looked at me and just bobbed his head up
and down, luckily for me by this time the sun had moved round a little
showering him with even sunlight. I reduced my exposure to compensate for the
bright light and the background was almost black as it was in the shade -
perfect.
I managed to get a
couple of great clips and then moved even closer - 8 yards away now. He had
another look at me, not bothered in the slightest.
Here's a couple of video
clips:
It really was a
privileged encounter (despite the wet and numb feet) with one of our most
charismatic birds. Perhaps I'll be lucky enough to catch up with him later in
the year.
Winter 2007 /
2008
Badgers
Badgers are a lot
quieter during the winter, but a visit to one of my local setts revealed that
they are quite active at the moment. With a lack of beetles and other insects,
they were busy foraging for plant bulbs, worms and anything else they might be
able to eat (including a few peanuts from me). They seemed reluctant to appear
from the sett before darkness fell, this cautiousness may be prompted by the
likelihood that cubs are in the sett by now. It won't be long before the young
cubs venture out from the safety of the sett, albeit under the protective eye
of Mum.
Badgers from my patch foraging.
I have
uploaded a 2min test clip of my local badgers - with plenty more to come yet.
Amazing creatures and a delight to see.
Let There Be
Light
Our woodlands seem very
quiet at this time, that is until a sunny day arrives. The sunshine always
manages to bring the wildlife out of their nooks and crannies. The woodland
birds are suddenly busy in the constant search for food singing as they go, but
it's not just the birds that are more cheery, I, like most people have a much
bigger smile on my face and an added spring in my step when the sun
shines.
From a filmmaking
perspective, the winter is a strange time of year, the foliage is missing from
all but the pine trees, grey days roll past and several weeks can pass without
the hint of a bit of decent light. But then, the sun comes out and what happens
is truly magical.
The winter sun provides
fantastic light, you often hear photographers talking about 'Magic Hour'. Magic
hour is that fantastic glowing light that shows itself at dawn and at dusk. It
is also great light for filming. Winter provides many more 'Magic Hours' than
any other time of year, the light stays vibrant for much longer, lighting up
the dullest scene for most of the day providing opportunities that are not to
be missed.
Great Tit making the most of the winter sunshine
By The
Water
Living in Cornwall has
the benefit of fantastic beaches and estuaries full of wildlife. My local
estuary is very busy with Oystercatchers, Redshank, Little Egrets, Curlew,
Shellduck, Grey Heron and even the odd Kingfisher. The estuary is an important
source of food, the thick mud is full of invertebrates which the waders prise
out with their long bills. They are not that easy to film though, as the
estuary is very wide in most places and getting close enough to the wildfowl is
a challenge.
The beach is also quite
lively, as well as the obvious species of Herring, Greater Black Backed and
Black Headed Gulls, we have had a small flock of Turnstones that are quite
accommodating and allow me to get quite close to them.
Turnstones on the beach.
Work
It has been an
interesting time on the work front (if you can call it that of course). The BBC
telephoned me after I had sent in some of my films, the call came from a
producer and I must admit, I was taken aback somewhat. To be telephoned
personally by one of the Natural History Unit's biggest names was an absolute
honour (I won't say who it was, as it wouldn't be right to name drop). He was
very complimentary about my work, particularly my camerawork in 'The Monarch Of
The New Forest', he said on two occasions that it was beautifully shot.
Although there wasn't an offer of work (the NHU are losing staff at the moment
due to a lack of funds), he gave me some great advice on moving forward. I
really was honoured that he had taken the time to watch half an hour of my work
and then telephone me in person. I'm sure he doesn't do that for every person
that sends in work, so feel very privileged.
In the last few days a
production company who make many programmes for broadcast has also been in
touch, they have expressed an interest in some of my ideas for programmes -
hopefully at least one of them will become a reality, and I'm just waiting for
them to get back to me - so fingers crossed.
Public
Support
I am absolutely
overwhelmed at some of the correspondence I have received in support of my film
work. I have received many e-mails, some of them from total strangers that come
across the website, and having watched my films, have taken the time to write
and express how much they enjoyed them. So thank you very much to everyone who
has sent me letters and e-mails, it's most uplifting.
The Grey Seals Of
Donna Nook
In December I made the
journey up to North Lincolnshire to film the Grey Seals at Donna Nook. I camped
in a local campsite in North Somercotes, it was freezing cold at night, and I
felt it - I hadn't camped during the winter for a few years so that's probably
why. On arrival the rain was tipping down and a howling gale was blowing, after
having a fight with the tent, I managed to get it up just before nightfall. I
had timed the trip with the weather, the forecast for the next day was very
good, and for a change the forecasters were right. I awoke to a crisp and cold
morning, it was still dark and the stars shone bright which meant clear skies.
I arrived at the Donna Nook car park at sunrise and quickly set about getting a
few sunrise shots. The morning broke with the sun low on the horizon, as I
walked along the edge of the birthing dunes the grey seals were hauled out,
many with their young pups. I had the light, the wind was acceptable and I had
the wildlife in front of me - everything was perfect. Whilst there, I met
another chap filming, he had been there for 17 days and this was the first day
of decent light he had seen. I couldn't have timed it better - I love it when a
plan comes together.
After two days of
filming I returned home and set about putting the script together and editing
the film. I was pleased with final piece, it had atmosphere and think I had
captured the spirit of the place.
