Following on from yesterday, something to whet your appetite for Wednesday’s Frozen Planet! Spine-tingling footage from the Arctic and Antarctic…proving they’re not just barren, wintry landscapes!
On Wednesday the BBC’s new flagship series, Frozen Planet starts, taking us to the ends of the Earth; the Arctic and Antarctic, and the dramatic desolation of these harsh environments.
When I met Sir David Attenborough earlier this year, we talked about the making of the series and he professed admiration for the cameramen who risked their lives diving under the thick ice in subzero temperatures to capture some of these incredible shots.
The series also features an incredible chase as wolves hunt down bison in temperatures of -50 degrees and winds of up to 100mph. Whilst the wildlife might be used to it…here the crew describe how they had to adapt to their new environment to get this stunning footage.
Very sad news today as the BBC have decided to no longer support the BBC Wildlife Fund. This incredible unique charity has helped fund 87 charities and countless wildlife since it was founded in 2007. The Wild Night In last year alone helped raise £1.2 million pounds which went towards saving a diverse range of wildlife not just in the UK but all over world…bats, great bustards, chimpanzees, Siamese crocodiles, Moray Firth dolphins, African elephants, gorillas, jaguars, dormice, orang-utans, Galapagos penguins, red squirrels, seahorses, sharks, tigers, water voles, slow worms, and many more.
The BBC has been forced to make cuts…but this charity doesn’t rely on the TV Licence fee, instead relying on corporate sponsorship to pay for the small team of passionate staff supported by enthusiastic volunteers (like me, who would give over my time all over again to help the charity!)
But you can still do something to save this charity from extinction…sign the petition to Chris Patten, the politician who might be able to overturn this decision.
When we asked Sir David Attenborough if he thought there was still life out there to be discovered I don’t think either of us expected so many to be found recently in just one area! The WWF have been working on the Frontier Report, which shows that over the last ten years an incredible 1,060 previously unknown species have been found on the island.
This brightly coloured bird is the wattled smoky honeyeater…others include a frog with fangs, a tree kangaroo and 2.5 metre long river shark. It’s thought the relatively low human population of the area has aided the vast variety of wildlife though now illegal logging is stripping the island’s forests.
Photo : WWF
Just got back from the live internet interview with Sir David Attenborough…! If you were watching maybe some of your questions made it to the man himself? Don’t worry if you missed it, the highlights will be up on the website soon, and in the meantime, try out the Attenborough quiz!
During the evening, viewers were able to vote on their favourite Attenborough moment…and as suspected, the moment mountain gorillas took him in as one of their own came very high!
Eden are continuing their celebration of Sir David Attenborough’s 85th birthday with a live Q&A session with the man himself…and you can join in! If you have a burning question for Sir David about his many decades of wildlife exploration, add it to Eden’s website (or tweet to @Eden_TV) and maybe you’ll get your answer! Ben Fogle, another Eden explorer and adventurer will be putting the questions to him next Tuesday 31st May and it will be streamed live on their website.
I’ve just spent the morning filming with quite possibly my greatest wildlife hero, Sir David Attenborough. We interviewed him talking about his incredibly diverse natural history broadcasting career to celebrate his 85th birthday next month for the Eden channel.
He told us some incredible stories of animals he’s encountered over the years; mouse lemurs in Madagascar, watching the blue whale breach right next to him…and one of the most fascinating creatures I’ve ever heard of, the worm that lives in hippo tears.
As the camera assistant said…’it’s like meeting God!’ And it really was!
We have plenty of these beautiful birds around our area and one has caught my attention recently. Carrion crows are found over Western Europe and Asia and are known for their intelligence…so why is there one near me who is determined to walk across our busy road instead of fly? The cocky bird seems almost intent on strutting across the road at the very last minute to tease the traffic! I did have a look around the web to see if there was an obvious answer…and I found this amazing BBC Attenborough video showing more crows…but this time actually using the traffic to their own advantage! (I don’t think my crow is that clever!)
After a treacherous day in the snow…I thought this might provide some light relief! Natural World have a special on BBC Two next week about the Panda Makers, following the most ambitious conservation project help pandas from the brink of extinction. The programme follows them as they aim to breed 300 pandas…will they do it?
These beautiful creatures have long been a part of the British countryside…but there is a massive cull due next May unless the Government can be persuaded otherwise.
It’s been called to stop the spread of bovine TB in cattle despite strong evidence that it shows no meaningful contribution to this.
Luckily the Government is currently holding a consultation for what the public want to see happen. They’ve not made it easy to respond, but the Badger Protection League have a handy website with tips on how you can make your voice heard. The Badger Society, the RSPCA, Wildlife Aid, Sir David Attenborough, Chris Packham, Simon King and many many more agree that this is a senseless killing of wildlife.
