Patrick Morris

What inspired you to explore Mexico?

There’s a diverse range of habitats and amazing variety of natural history, landscapes and people stories. The geography is also distinctive: Mexico lies between temperate climate to the north and tropical at the south, flanked by oceans.

How did you pick your stories?

Some classic creatures and traditions were must-haves: the monarch butterflies and resplendent quetzal. But we also discovered quirky stories while researching: black bears drinking at cattle-ranch water tanks, for example, and the bees that go wild for the cinnamon scent emitted by blooming Stanhopea orchids.

Did you capture any behaviours for the first time?

I don’t think the snakedeterring prairie dogs have been filmed before. Nor the extraordinary collaborative hunting by aplomado falcons – one of only five breeding pairs in Mexico – as they teamed up to flush out prey from the scrub.

What are your favourite moments?

Quirky sequences, such as the creosote grasshopper that literally wrestles a rival to stake his claim to a single creosote bush. Most of all it’s the footage that blends together the landscape, the people and the wildlife. The moment when Don Roque lowers a bucket into his backyard ‘well’, and you see the vast cenote below, swirling with cave swallows, is fascinating.

PATRICK MORRIS is the series producer of Mexico.