Working back stage, my role is to prep animals for the performers (Steve Backshall, Mark Amey and James McKay) so that they can transition between species on stage as smoothly as possible. This has meant that I’ve had the chance to get up-close and personal with some impressive creatures! Among them have been two species of eagle owl, a variety of hawks, a slew of reptiles and a giant pouched rat called Norman.

Norman, the giant pouched rat

In addition to all of this, in the run-up to Wildscreen, I’ve been drafted to research footage for filmmaker Jeremy Bristow in the creation of a promo film for the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity. During this, I even had the chance to shoot some additional footage of my own for the promo. The film is currently in the edit, but I’ll grab a link when it’s finished!

Canada geese in their temporary pen

As I learned, cradling a Canada goose under your arm allows complete control over the legs and wings, which protects you from scratches to the front.  The downside of this stance is that both your flank and upper arm are left at the mercy of the [now vengeful] bird’s long, slender neck – on the end of which is a bill that can bite you. And bite you it will.

Canada goose being carried by a nervous volunteer

Weighing a Canada goose

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With the plentiful volunteers, we worked our way through the c. 120 geese fairly quickly, all of us sustaining a few bruises from the biting. Most of us were a little bit apprehensive about the more feisty individuals, and the final goose left in the pen seemed particularly displeased with the situation as it stood in a corner – neck arched and mouse agape.

“Careful, this one’s a hisser”, explained one of the wranglers inside the pen, whose role it was to catch and hand over geese to runners. Fortunately, the hisser calmed down once in hand!

Releasing a goose

All of the geese were released safely back onto the lake, many with new rings in place and about 30 being re-catches.

Peregrine chick

Ringing kit

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Ed with chick

First up; I was recently asked by the Bristol Zoo Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project (AGDWP) to produce a film exhibiting some work they’ve been doing with Christ Church Primary School. The children there created stories which were acted out on the Downs in front of classmates and parents.

Jeremy DeCoursey and Claire Thompson are also involved in the project, with the footage to be shown at the upcoming Festival of Nature. Our shoot took place last Thursday and we’ll also be putting together a DVD for parents to buy, with the proceeds going to a conservation project based in Africa.

Misumena vatia, a rarely seen spider at the Blaise BioBlitz

Next, the second ever Bristol BioBlitz took place over the weekend; take a look at the blog here to see what the media team got up to. The event was a huge success, with a final tally of 536 (set to go up as BRERC finishes trawling through the species data).

I helped to produce two videos, which are below. They were loads of fun to make, but neither is meant to be a masterpiece; the idea was to keep content streaming in fast.

Finally, it was off to Milton Keynes the next day to help out as a Runner on a shoot for an upcoming Aardman production. I assisted with filming and also interviewed contributors. A grand day out! (sorry)

For the next week or so I’ll be working on getting the AGDWP project ready for the Festival of Nature.

Its been a bit quiet on here recently, but that’s all about to change. The National BioBlitz will be kicking off later this month in Bristol, and I’ll again be a part of the Media Team covering this. I also have a couple of other projects in the pipeline surrounding this, so keep an eye on this space!

In the mean time, I’ve written a piece on World Migratory Bird Day, which is being celebrated this weekend. Take a look here.

Jeremy and I rounded everything off on Monday night, exporting at high resolution for DVD (using Compressor 3.5 as well as DVD Studio Pro 4 to make a menu), and at sufficient quality for the internet. We also took advantage of Motion 4 to make a couple of simple slates which correspond with Ed’s website logo.

Ed’s showreel on Vimeo.

Ed’s showreel on YouTube.

Hope you enjoy!

Made with thanks to Jeremy DeCoursey and Theo Webb

Special thanks to – Claire Thompson, Father Tom, Chew Valley Lake Bird Ringing Station and Wildscreen

Kevin’s website was the first place I encountered his particular philosophy in wildlife photography, which I know is shared by many. In addition, an old article on this subject by Kevin in BBC Wildlife Magazine, The Sad Demise of Wow ,  is certainly worth reading.

While not showing fantastic animal behaviour, all of the images below are displayed as shot (taken in JPEG format), with no post processing.

Hikers look out over the landscape

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A bit of showreel news; we’ve recorded voice over and now have a second edit with music. The showreel itself is very nearly finished!

Having commandeered the suit at work for after hours usage, our set-up included Final Cut Pro on dual LCDs, with a CRT video monitor at the ready.

Jeremy at work

Wednesday was a particularly long haul (not leaving until 11pm), but we’ve now put together a rough cut. We hope to record voice over with Ed this week, then neaten everything up and add some royalty free music to finish off.

I haven’t posted too many outdoor photos on the blog of recent, mainly because there hasn’t been much of a chance for me to get out. Luckily, I managed to snap a few decent shots on a recent trip to Exmoor. Will have those up soon!

In order to showcase Ed’s presenting abilities, we immediately decided to shoot brand new footage. This would also be a fantastic exercise in storytelling for myself, as Ed and I conjured up several scripts to film in and around Bristol from which we would then take excerpts for the showreel.

Along the way we brought on board Theo Webb and Claire Thompson. With Theo came a Sony Z7 and an extremely handy radio mic, not to mention a great deal of professional experience. Claire was on hand to assist and take a few stills.

Ed and Theo on the Severn Beach, filming with the z7

Timekeeping was a big issue. In what seemed at times a rather nonchalant manner, we’d set ourselves only one day in which to shoot everything. However, despite our ambitious time-limit, Ed and I had planned extremely carefully. Ready to film at location number one for first good light, we finished precisely when we meant to – maximising all we could of the diminishing daylight hours.

We filmed a sequence on urban peregrines in Bath (right click and view image for a larger version showing a male with pigeon prey)

With the break for Christmas and New Year now complete, I’ll be working on the project further as we record commentary and move onto editing.

WildPhotos showcases the work of the world’s best wildlife photographers. The event included a keynote speech by Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols; discussing his life achievements as a photographer for National Geographic. His presentation featured a run down of  the stunning redwood panorama which appeared in October’s National Geographic , composed of 83 images.

The podium at WildPhotos following Nick Nichols' keynote

Another highlight for me was Danny Green’s look at black and white wildlife photography. Having won the B&W category in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Danny discussed how incredible detail and textures can be masked by colour and brought out with the use of greyscale.

Communicate reflects WildPhotos in many respects, with science communication being the main theme. The annual conference investigates how NGO’s and environment-themed organisations can more effectively reach out to the public. Reflected upon as the most successful instalment in the conference’s 6 year history by Jo Gipps,  the Bristol Natural History Consortium Chair, it would certainly seem the case that today’s society could do with more events of a similar tack.

Andrew Jackson, the new head of the BBC Natural History Unit, delivered a keynote talk. Some refreshing ideas were heard, providing a hugely insightful glimpse into what could be in store for the NHU. Other discussions examined whether the term biodiversity is too inaccessible to the general public and a dissection of the current state of science reporting in mainstream media.

On a side note, I’ve recently started working with naturalist and broadcaster Ed Drewitt in the creation of a showreel to display his work. We’re  in pre-production at the moment; more on this soon!