ATTENBOROUGH’S ODE TO OUR WILD ISLES
At 96, Sir David says his only regret is not filming more in Britain. Now, in a new series out next month, the beloved broadcaster will showcase nature closer to home...
The world’s greatest traveller is coming home. Sir David Attenborough, who has filmed in every corner of the planet during more than 60 years in broadcasting, has chosen the British Isles for his most poignant wildlife series yet.
At the grand age of 96, the revered film-maker is still out exploring — not only narrating but appearing on camera in each of the five episodes of Wild Isles, a trademark natural history spectacular touring the UK and Ireland, and out on the BBC next month.
Sir David will say in the series: ‘I have travelled the world, I have seen the planet’s greatest natural spectacles, and I can assure you that in the British
Isles there is drama and spectacle to match anything I have seen in my other adventures.’
Producer Alastair Fothergill, who has worked closely with the veteran broadcaster for more than 35 years, agrees: ‘People don’t realise how rich Britain is in wildlife. We have 22,000 miles of coastline, and so an enormous number of seabirds.
‘We have more ancient oaks than the rest of europe in total, half the world’s common bluebells, a quarter of the badgers, more than 80 per cent of the world’s chalk streams. But we are in real danger of losing it all.’
This will be emphasised in a sequence filmed in a Dorset hay meadow where Sir David talks to camera in a sea of wild flowers. It’s a sight that was common in his youth, he says, when he roamed the Leicestershire countryside on his bicycle looking for wildlife. But today, we have lost 97 per cent of our wild flowers, and much of the insect, bird and animal life that thrived among them.
The first episode will tackle this eco-crisis, with subsequent programmes looking at life in woodlands, freshwater, grasslands and the sea.
These pictures, though not all taken from the show itself (which is still under wraps), give a tantalising hint of what’s ahead. One breath-taking segment will feature peregrine falcons diving on wading
birds called knots. ‘ Knots are migratory,’ says Alastair.
‘They come down from the Arctic in such great flocks that the falcons have a problem.
‘It’s harder for them to identify a single target when there are tens of thousands. There’s safety in numbers.’
Another dramatic battle will play out on a smaller scale.
‘One of my favourite sequences,’ says Alastair, ‘ shows leeches hunting toads. These little killers are no more than 15cm long, but they are extraordinary predators.
‘ If you loved the shots of racer snakes chasing newly hatched iguanas in the Galapagos Islands on Planet
Earth II, you’ll be equally transfixed by the leeches.’
However, his favourite creature in the series is perhaps the smallest of all: the mason bee. ‘It lays its eggs in an empty snail shell and carries bits of vegetation to build a protective teepee over the shell,’ he explains.
‘Clutching a twig in its legs, it looks as if it’s riding a broomstick. Imagine that — a bee that looks like it’s Harry Potter!’
And yet the magic in the series is not makebelieve. From the Scillies to Shetland, Wild Isles will span almost every corner of these great islands, revealing a very real and thriving natural world right on our doorstep.