One in a Million

Did I ever tell you about my amazing wildlife filming experience? One that didn't involve otters or falling into a smelly river? Well, I was lucky enough to go on a Wildlife Filming Course in Bristol last weekend and rub shoulders with the creme de la creme of those in the industry. I got to meet, work with and be tutored by the likes of John Waters, Sarah Pitt and Rob Harrington. For those of you not in the know (oh what an expert I have become!), these guys are good. Really really really good. For example, John's amazing camera work appears on David Attenborough's Planet Earth and the Life Of Birds while producer Sarah Pitt spent a year filming on the Prince of Wales' estate in Gloucestershire. But enough with the gushing. Lets get down to filming business!

Besides staying on a gorgeous 250 acre reserve and feasting on organic food at Folly Farm (owned by the Avon Wildlife Trust) I got to make a real-life wildlife film. Over two days we filmed thousands of starlings swarming on the Somerset Levels and the wildfowl on Chew Valley Lake. We then had the ominous task of editing our footage into a 3 minute film. Sounds easy. Trust me it wasn't. It took us 6 hours to edit about four hours of footage and even then, we could have done with a lot longer (and we had an expert with us!). And don't even get me started on the cameras. They were amazing. Amazingly expensive. Although I don't think WildPlaces will be blowing it's budget on one camera, it was really great to be able to use such a high tech, high definition camera (not that I don't love using the cameras that I already have). I had serious camera envy all weekend. Oh what a geek I'm turning into!

So folks, crank up the volume (it's a 'mood piece' with lovely classical music don't you know!) and enjoy my debut into the wildlife filmmaking world - One in a Million.

My film will appear here once I figure out (or more likely David figures out!) how to get it on here. The delay will be worth the wait though (maybe).

Heres the rough and tough Derwenthaugh otters (looking surprisingly cute - I love the paw tapping action) to whet your appetite.

Guess the Ouseburn Otter didn't get to them after all, or maybe they just missed the comfort of their floating pontoon too much to care. Either way, I got the footage, so I'm happy.

So yes, that weekend was great. I learnt all about the process of film making from conception to completion (the cliches are just rolling off my tongue here), I got to see the spectacle of starlings flocking and I got inspired to buy a tripod. A good weekend all in all.

Fish Island

In the latest quest to get the Ouseburn Otter to 'perform' in front of the cameras, Bob has built himself a fish island. That is, a mini island in the middle of the Ouseburn river to which Bob has pegged a large and rather delicious piece of fish. The idea is that the Ouseburn Otter will pass this island on one of his jaunts down the river and not be able to resist the lure of a free and very large meal. As discussed before, this large and prominent structure in the middle of the river should also prove irresistible to him (the otter not Bob), thus causing him to pose and frolick on said island, right in front of the cameras. I doubt the Ouseburn has ever offered something this good!

So far (one night), all that Fish Island has been able to attract is rats. So, on the learning side of things, who knows the difference between a rat and a watervole? Well, a water vole has small hidden ears while the rat (as seen in the video) has big ears - pretty easy to spot really. Water voles also have blunt noses (as opposed to a rats pointy one) and a shorter, furry tail (i'm sure you've all seen a rat in a petshop which has a long, pink, scaly tail). Less obvious differences include a water vole's fur which is silky and midbrown (a wild rat's is more grey) and on jumping into the water, a watervole makes a distinctive 'plop' sound. Why is this important? Well, water voles have disappeared from almost 90 per cent of the sites they occupied in the UK in the last 60 years, a fact which we can all do something about. Although American mink can largely be blamed for this decline, so can human interference - water voles are commonly mistaken for rats (hence the ID lesson above) and are prosecuted because of this. We have also had a lot to do with the destruction of their habitat and pollution of waterways, not making it easy for those water voles clever enough to outsmart the mink to survive. Lesson over but please try to remember these differences and think before you carry out any kind of 'pest control' near waterways.

The rain has (once again) set in so I think I'm going to have to pull on the old waders and the waterproof coat (once again) and go and rescue my cameras (once again). I can't bear the thought of Bob falling over that prickly, prickly hedge and heading downstream all for the sake of my cameras!

PS I hope that with your (perhaps) newfound knowledge you spotted the picture above is of a watervole and NOT a rat!