Whilst making 'How Earth Made Us' I needed to locate a wide range of satellite imagery. Fortunately all the images produced by Nasa are in the public domain and are free to use. They're also quick to access if you know where to look...
Blue Marble
If you want to add some global sparkle to your film then your first stop might be Blue Marblefrom Nasa. This is an archive of free-to-use extremely high resolution images of the Earth that most TV graphics companies use to generate the 'globes' used in TV programmes.
To view the full sized image of Blue Marble you'd need a monitor as big as your house (1 thousand million mpixels) so I think the quality is high enough for most TV purposes! However, you'll need some real hardware fire-power and photoshop 8 to even stand a chance of opening it. At full resolution you can zoom fairly well into specific regions and countries.
If you have a simple desktop then a safer bet might be to use the lower resolution versions (still 2km and 8km pixels). This resolution would still be good enough for creating wide 'locators' such as entire continents or countries but it will not allow you to zoom in closer.
You can check the resolution at this link (cloudless) and also here (including atmosphere/clouds).
Download the KML file to allow you to view this as a live layer of satellite imagery on Google Earth.
ESDI
Another source for specific regions is the Earth Science data interface. if you have very specific requests then it might be worth contacting the archive staff as they are very helpful.
The Blue Marble - used by most graphics companies to generate earth shots (Nasa)
Images of natural phenomenon
Modis
The 'Rapid response system'is used to view near-real time satellite imagery which is useful for navigating and downloading more localised and regional images, as well as images of natural phenomenon such as hurricanes, plankton blooms and dust clouds. You can search the Modis archives here.
Visible Earth
Similar to the Modis archive Visible Earth is a catalogue of NASA images and animations.
Low pressure weather system showing the spin of the coriolis effect (Nasa)
Plankton Bloom - coast of Patagonia (Nasa)
Plankton Bloom in the Barents sea (Nasa)
Mount St Helens (Nasa)
Himalayas (Nasa)
Iceland (Nasa)
Photographs taken by astronauts
JSC Digital Image Collection has more than 9000 photos spanning the American
space program. Although usually much lower resolution that the
satellite imagery some of the photographs taken by astronauts can still be
useful in creating aerial views of the planet.
I used this image of the Jet Stream in 'How Earth Made Us'. To turn it from a still image into a moving jet stream all I needed was a subtle bit of animation.
Jet Stream (Nasa)
Aurora borealis (Nasa)
Cleveland Volcano, Aleutian Islands (Nasa)
Bringing it to life
All it takes is a little 2D animation to bring some of these images alive, e.g. subtle swirls in a hurricane or plankton bloom. These effects can even be achieved in a simple editing package like final cut pro.
Hurricane Katrina from Visible Earth (Nasa)
Mixing aerials & satellite imagery
Watch the super pull-out from our presenter in the sequence below. To achieve this we used Nasa & EDSI satellite imagery and seamlessly mixed through from heli-gimble aerials.
Timelapse View from Space
Using free images you can create stunning sequences such as this one
called a 'Time lapse view from space'. This was created using photographs taken by
the crew of expeditions 28
and 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October,
2011.
Here is a list of what I consider to be the top 6 TV Evolution moments. Witness the evolution of Homer sapien and then watch it all in reverse with the classic noitulovE commercial. Be carried away with The Rite of Spring from Fantasia and then hear Mr Garrison's take on things before Family Guy attempts to unite evolution with creationism. Finally we have a lesson in natural selection from Futurama.
Do you know of any more classic TV moments?
1. The Simpsons: Homer's Evolution
Evolution with a Simpsons twist. Starting with an aquatic evolution scene, we see a single celled homer transform into a fish, before emerging onto land as an amphibian or basal tetrapod. In accordance with the scientifically established order of events, the basal tetrapod eventually evolves into the sail-backed Dimetrodon - a mammal-like reptile (a process which in reality took over 100 million years and countless minute stages). This then transforms into a rodent. We see T-Rex incongruously fighting a Stegosaurus (they didn't co-exist) - a homage to Charles R Knights classic T-Rex & Triceratops paintings (they did co-exist). The homer-rodent runs away to find cover. The meteor hits. Dinosaurs are wiped out, and the little rodent evolves through a series of primates and hominids into Homer sapien.
2. The Rite of Spring, Disney's Fantasia (1940)
Igor Stravinsky's omonimous score
was written in 1910 and as he later said '... there arose a
picture of a sacred pagan ritual: the wise elders are seated in a circle
and are observing the dance before death of the girl whom they are
offering as a sacrifice to the god of Spring in order to gain his
benevolence. This became the subject of The Rite of Spring.'
Disney's animators
took a completely different inspiration from it and decided to tell the
history of Earth up to the extinction of the dinosaurs. According to the narration it is 'a pageant, as the story of the growth of life on Earth'. It is the fourth piece in the film, following The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and was based on the scientific knowledge of the day. However much you may balk at their assumptions, it is a brilliant and beautiful piece of imaginative conception. It takes us from the evolution of single celled organisms in the sea, to land reptiles and then to the epic battles between dinosaurs. It ends with the dark and gloomy extinction of prehistoric life, hypothesised through the earth turning into a global desert.
Fantasia - Extinction
3. 'noitulovE' aka Guinness: Rhythm of Life - Evolution
One of the most famous TV commercials. Set to the music "The Rhythm of Life" by Sammy Davis Jr.
Human History
The film starts with three men in a typical British pub taking their first sip of Guinness. Time starts reversing and they retreat backwards into the street. As they move down the street, a reverse time-lapse-style sequence transforms their clothes to match a rapidly-changing urban scene, which progresses through modern-day London to the Edwardian period. Electric lights transform into gas lamps and buildings begin to disappear. The city regresses into the past, shrinking to a small Saxon settlement before revealing the three men dressed for the bronze age and passing through a thickening woodland. The men quickly morph into prehistoric hominids before becoming frozen in an ice age glacier.
A Menagerie of De-Evolving Creatures
Reemerging as primitive hominids, they continue their transformation, becoming chimpanzees and de-evolving through a rapid succession of species. The menagerie includes a host of extant, as well as extinct creatures, including flying squirrels, fish, flightless birds, dinosaurs and finally mudskippers sitting around a green-brown puddle. These animals may represent key stages in the rise of the animal groups but some are not part of our direct ancestral lineage - eg Icthyosaurs and dinosaurs sit on a completely different evolutionary branch! It's not the usual progression that you can see in the other 'evolution' videos I've listed.
Playing the film backwards we see that mudskippers (representing the transition on to land) become a creature resembling the first tetrapods (fairly true). Dinosaurs become flightless birds (true), Flightless birds become mammals (false) which enter the sea (true for whales) pass through fish and marine reptiles (false - these are two separate branches of evolution), before emerging as rodent-like mammals which become flying squirrels (fairly true - flying squirrels are within the order rodentia). Flying squirrels become chimpanzees (false).
It's a clever piece of commercial entertainment and from a creative perspective its interesting to note that we rarely see any actual transformation between the species. Evolution is inferred by clever storyboarding. We are carried along by the fantastic music and believe that we are watching these three men de-evolve through their ancestors. Genius!
At the end of the film the middle mudskipper registers his disgust at the taste of the water with a 'Pweugh!' We then cut to a few pints of Guinness and the tag line 'Good things come to those who wait'.
In South Park elementary school creationist Mr Garrison is forced to teach evolution. He obviously hasn't read the text-books and so accords evolution to a series of cross-species breeding events and the resulting production of 'retard' babies, such as the 'retard-frog-squirrel'. If we take the offensive word 'retard' to refer to genetic mutations and consider that evolution proceeds through these genetic mutations, then we might see a glimmer of accuracy. Am I being too nice? At least the scientific names on the wall chart are accurate including Tiktaalik - the 375 million year old missing link between non-tetrapod vertebrates i.e. 'fish', and early tetrapods such as Acanthostega - which is also labeled on Mr Garrison's chart.
5. Family Guy: How it all started?
Uniting creationism and evolution?
6. Futurama: How Evolution Works
A brief lesson in Natural Selection showing the evolutionary dynamics of the predator-prey arms race
7. Beavis and Buthead: Evolution Sucks.
A Beavis and Buthead perspective on Human evolution. This is a newly discovered clip by me and although I don't usually find them funny this did make me smirk in a few places.
Evolution in Music Videos
I'm sure there's plenty of other examples. Please let me know if you can think of one.
Have we stopped evolving? Have we changed our surroundings so much that we've reduced the environmental pressures that lead to the mutations which power evolution - have we actually started to regress as a species? Are we too reliant on technology?
Throughout the video, a black haired woman (similar in appearance to the character Death from the DC comic book series, The Sandman) dances and laughs, representing "Death" as it follows mankind through all of its history. The video is misanthropic in its underlying message. The video begins with the evolution of life, from the smallest cell to the extinction of dinosaurs and reign of homo sapiens. The video then cuts back and forth throughout human history, depicting man's primitive, violent nature as essentially unchanged over the centuries. Such depictions include a knight preparing for the coming slaughter during the Crusades, a ritual dance by America's KKK (the dance is repeated with other groups throughout the video), a rally by Nazi-esque troops (with a symbol reminiscent of the Sig Rune instead of a swastika), Auschwitz-like prisoners with the stripes going vertically instead of horizontally on their uniforms, a book burning, carnage upon a World War I-era battlefield (apparently a tribute to Peace on Earth, a 1930s MGM anti-war cartoon directed by Hugh Harman), the apparent virtual-reality rape of a woman, and the bombing of a Vietnamese village by an American jet, the pilot of which removes his mask to reveal a skull laughing wildly. Every scene portrayed complements the song's meaning and tightly follows the lyrics. When Vedder sings "Buying stocks on the day of the crash," a scene is shown where businessmen are committing suicide by jumping from buildings, similar to Black Thursday and the resulting suicides from the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Other social and environmental issues such as slavery, whaling, Manifest Destiny, uncontrolled urbanization, vivisection, pollution, genetic modification and techno-progressivism are included. The music video blames humankind's brutality on leadership; with various scenes depicting a judge, a bishop or pope, an American President, and an Asian leader. It is eventually revealed that the world leaders are being controlled as puppets by the hand of Death. The video concludes in what seems to be future scenarios of the self-destruction of the human race, including the carpet bombing of a city of clones by futuristic aircraft, computers hijacking the human mind, and finally a nuclear explosion which leaves not only a city in ruins, but the planet damaged beyond recognition. During the sequence of flashing images near the end of the video an image of a yield sign being smashed at the corner can be seen, which references the album title and cover art.
I've been hooked on this series since it started. Episode one, aptly named 'Creation', included sperm wars and the eerily alien-like assembling of a human face.
Last weeks episode 'First to last' reflected on the journeyour bodies take through life. It is one of the most poignant science documentaries I've seen in a long time, mostly because of the highly controversial final sequence. This showed the last moments of 84 year old Gerald as his body succumbed to cancer and died.
“I’m not frightened. I believe it will not be just like cutting off tape with some scissors. It might be, but either way I just have blind trust I shall not disappear completely. I’m grateful for each day and in the morning I always say ‘thank you for another day’.”
The scene bravely features CGI graphics, but these are seamlessly integrated so as to not intrude on the solemn moment. They help to explain, from a scientific perspective, what is happening as Gerald’s body closes down. Michael Mosley's hushed narration befits the scene and accords Gerald due respect. If you've ever watched someone die then this films powerful finale will be hard hitting. It may be painful to watch, but it helps to remind us of the wonders and vulnerability of the human body.
"The death of a loved one is a hugely significant moment in all our lives, but not something to be feared. I watched my own father die. Just before the end he decided to start singing. He sang for several minutes and then he stopped and he was gone. I'm so glad I was there and the time I spent with him before his death are among the many memories that I treasure." - Michael Mosley
Building Your Brain
This week it's all about the brain. Michael Mosley traces our development from birth to adulthood, and reveals that this human organ is so sophisticated it takes more than twenty years to mature. We see how new-born Phoebe makes sense of the world, and how one-year-old Angelina copes with just half a functioning brain. We discover how Moken sea Gypsy children train themselves to see clearly underwater, and meet a Vietnamese girl who speaks 11 different languages.
Michael shows his own teenagers remarkable scans which reveal just how many brain connections we lose between the ages of 11 and 20. This remodelling is an essential part of growing up, and helps explain teen behaviour and their tendency to take risks - as illustrated by Stephanie, the world's youngest stock car racer at the age of 13. BBC programme Page.
Just a couple of days ago I told you about the new BBC Careers website. Already the BBC Science Unit in London are launching a new position - a trainee television researcher. This sort of opportunity doesn't come along very often, so if you're a recent science graduate with a passion for science television then this is a corker.
As the largest of the production genres, Factual Production which includes BBC Science, is responsible for more than 1,700 hours a year of challenging, thought-provoking and inspiring content.
The horseshoe crabs are spawning, thousands of shorebirds are arriving, and I've finally found time to publish some photographs and video that I recorded when I visited Delaware Bay in 2008. We were filming for the birds episode of the BBC series 'Life'.
The Mass Spawning
On a few nights every May and June, when the moon is full and the tide is at its highest, horseshoe crabs come ashore, emerging in their tens of thousands to spawn and lay their eggs in the sands along this protected bay. As the female heaves her bulky body up the beach she is not only burdened with the weight of up to 100,000 eggs but she's also dragging a male behind. Using a specially developed appendage he clasps on tightly, waiting for her to deposit the eggs before he can fertilise them. She doesn't put all of her eggs in one basket though, and will return several times, with different males, before she's deposited all of her lot. During peak spawning times, the horseshoe crabs form dense huddles along the edge of the water, with 5 or 6 males grouped around one female. Its not unusual to see a conga-line of several males being dragged along.
I encounter the Face-Huggers of 'Slaughter Beach'
The morning after the night before. Slaughter beach is strewn with the remnants of a spawning frenzy. Giant carapaces upturned like abandoned tanks on a WWII battlefield. Here I find the last retreating crabs heading back to the sea, and I discover that they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Face-Huggers of Alien.
A Glimpse into Prehistory
The spectacle of thousands of Horseshoe crabs is a sight that goes back 450 million years, right back to the Ordovician period. If, like me, you have a fossil Trilobite sitting in your cabinet at home, you may have peered into its petrified eyes imagining a long lost world - Horseshoe crabs are their closest living relatives and so for a paleontologist its a real treat to see these peculiar looking creatures emerging from the depths.
Me holding a large female horsehoe crab
The Feeding Frenzy
With billions of eggs being laid in a just a few nights its a huge injection of protein into the sand, and this is the stimulus for another of the worlds most awesome natural spectacles - over a million migrating shorebirds - Red Knots, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings, all gathering to feed on these tiny beaches. When I visited in 2008 for the BBC 'Life' series, we focused on filming the knots. Over 16000 had arrived in late May after flying 7,000 miles from southern Brazil on their way to the breeding grounds of the Arctic. This is a critical stopover, and before they can complete the remaining 1000 miles they must double in weight, eating more than 135,000 eggs in less than a couple of weeks.
Sand Pipers and Red Knots
After a night of spawning gulls scavange on any stranded horseshoe crab carcasses
Sand Pipers and Red Knots gather to feed
Being Part of the Flock
Each morning, as the tide retreated and the last of the crabs crawled back to the sea, more and more birds arrived to feed on the freshly deposited eggs. I and the crew would arrive on one of the tiny sandy islands to take our position in the midst of this feeding frenzy. It wasn't long before we were surrounded by a dense ocean of birds - thousands of knots, pipers and turnstones all tightly packed together. The only vacant space was a narrow strip of around half a metre around myself and the cameraman. There were a few hawks in the area which occasionally spooked the birds, every now and then the whole flock would take to the air en masse, circle around the island and land again. The sound and breeze from thousands of tiny flapping wings was exhilirating. It's the closest I've ever come to being part of a flock. Using the high-speed Phantom camera we were able to film some beautiful shots showing them in ultra slow motion (see the clip below).
Waiting for lift-off
The sound and the breeze from their wings was exhilirating
I was able to record sound of the feeding birds by leaving the boom in the middle of the beach and trailing a long cable back to where I was sitting. I used a few dead crabs to help camouflage it!
BBC Launches new 'Careers' website to help people find an opportunity within the BBC.
The only reason I have had such a privileged and enjoyable career making wildlife films in the BBC is because in 2002 I applied for work experience. I was completing an MSc. at the time and looking for my break. I remember it being quite a lengthy application, not only requiring the usual self-analysis of why I want to work in the BBC, but I also had to review several programmes. I chose David Attenborough's 'Life of Mammals', a programme I was watching at the time, and one that I dreamed to work on.
Although work experience opportunities are incredibly competitive, by a stroke of luck I was selected. Fortunately it was on a production about evolution, 'Journey of Life', where I could put my palaeontology experience to use. Two weeks later I was hired as a researcher to see the series through to the end. Nine years later I'm still here and have worked on a whole range of productions including David Attenborough's 'Life in Cold Blood'.
Its the last episode of 'Animal's Guide to Britain' tonight and this time Chris Packham will be exploring Britain through the eyes of Coastal animals.
Despite the modest size of The UK, Britain has a staggering 19500 miles of coastline, and an incredible 6346 islands. Chris investigates why these waters and coastlines are the most popular places in the world for two of our coastal species: the grey seal and the Manx shearwater. He also makes a stand for an animal that he considers much misunderstood - the British gull. And he meets two animals which have truly extraordinary ways of sensing Britain's coastal environments - the shore crab which finds its way around by smelling through its feet; and the bottlenose dolphin which can identify a fish at 200 paces in the pitch black, using echolocation. Watch clips on the BBC prog page
Gulls, the Ugly Truth
Few creatures attract such hostility from humans as gulls (that’s gulls, as opposed to ‘seagulls’, as they are commonly known). And, as Chris discovers, it’s a hostility that has provoked even on the long arm of the law. During filming, he was reprimanded by a policeman for feeding chips to these animals on the Isles of Scilly. It is not against the law there, and the team had filming permits. The incident then triggered a wave of press coverage last summer. Guardian Article
So we know how ‘we’ feel about them… but how does a gull feel about life in the UK today? Well, to understand gulls, you have to realise that they’re opportunists – just like us! And the reason that they’re found all over Britain today is that humans have created vast mountains of inland rubbish dumps, while at the same time depriving gulls of the once rich pickings of discarded fish at sea. But the really surprising thing is that, despite their apparent omnipresence, this animal is actually on the decline in the UK.
The Mysterious Manx Shearwater
Britain’s coasts are amongst the best places in the world for seabirds. One of these, the Manx Shearwater, a member of the albatross family, nests almost exclusively in The UK & Ireland – and yet the majority of British humans have never heard of them, let alone actually seen one. But that’s not surprising, as you never see adult Manx Shearwaters on land in the daytime. The birds are so well adapted to life at sea, and so badly adapted for land, that they only return to their land-bound nests at night, to avoid being eaten by gulls & falcons. And they can only survive on remote islands such as the magical Copeland Island off Northern Ireland where 3000 pairs breed, where there are no land predators to eat their chicks.
So to see the adult birds, Chris had to go there at night. It makes for a really special encounter, and one that Chris clearly loved. Despite years of study (Copeland’s claim to fame was the discovery of a Shearwater that was the oldest known wild bird in the world – 55 years!!) scientists have had really very little idea where these birds go to during the day. Now for the first time, using an ingenious satellite tracking device, we can tell exactly where they are going and get a Manx Shearwater’s ‘map’ of Coastal Britain.
Crabs – Nature’s answer to the Swiss Army penknife
They might appear pretty tough but a crabs view of Britain is built on vulnerability. For a start, crabs are incredibly sensitive and have to shed their shells regularly. Weirdly, they view the whole of their world through smell. And even weirder, they smell with their feet!
Last weeks episode of Inside the Human Body was gripping. Micheal Mosley delivered an insightful narrative that had enough stop-and-think moments to keep my mind engaged, and the convingly real CGI immersed me in an eerily alien world of the inner human. The most captivating moment was the construction of a tiny face, shown as it would occur in a developing human featus. As we watched this face being formed and slotted together, like a sliding jigsaw puzzle, Michael compared its features to the evolutionary remnants of fish. This puzzle would start at around 10 weeks gestation, and remarkably would be completed in less than an hour. The last piece of the jigsaw is the linking up of the philtrum above the lip.With little room for error, this is the moment when things can go wrong, and one in every 700 babies are born with a cleft.
Development of the Human Face
First to Last
This weeks episode 'First To Last' starts with a dramatic water birth, shot in slow motion, before a stunning graphics sequence takes us on a breathtaking journey into the heart. We see how that first, crucial breath leads to a dramatic re-plumbing of your entire circulatory system. Michael meets remarkable people who demonstrate how well the human body adapts to extreme environments: Herbert, a world-champion free-diver, who can hold his breath in the depths of the ocean for up to nine minutes; Wim, the Ice Man, who can swim in glacial lakes so cold they would kill a normal person; and Debbie, who has lived for 10 years on a diet of crisps. And finally we see what happens when your body finally fails; we share the last moments of Gerald, an 84-year-old, as he passes away at home with his family gathered around him. BBC prog Page
HOT - Firefighter's secret to survival
These elite firefighters couldn't survive without the body's ability to sweat and sweating helps you too to keep your to keep your cool when things hot up.
COLD - Surviving killer temperatures
Wim, the Ice Man, can swim in a glacial lake so cold that it would kill a normal person.
I remember when Horizon was boring blokes in tank tops. This film continues the style of recent years in which trendy poster boys share their scientific passions. In this case it's Dallas Campbell of Bang Goes the Theory fame. He remembers growing up in the 1970s when 'Protect and Survive' leaflets were distributed to homes, providing government advice on how to survive a nuclear attack. It was the Cold War era, and the nuclear arms race had resulted in weapons with the power to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. The responsibility to unleash Armageddon rested on the shoulders of just a handful of men and in 1971, Horizon gained unprecedented access to their extraordinary daily lives. Dallas Campbell delves into the Horizon archive to discover how scientists have tried to predict an impending apocalypse - from natural disaster to killer disease to asteroid impact - and to ask: when Armageddon arrives, will science be able to save us? Programme Page
At the Craft Bafta Awards on sunday night Springwatch was awarded the Bafta special award in recognition of it's 'outstanding creative and technical teamwork and the role it has played in developing technical standards both behind the camera and online.' You can see why Springwatch deserves the award in this video that was shown on the night: See the full video with speaches on the Bafta website
Memories of the first Springwatch
I remember working on the very first Springwatch in 2004 when it was called 'Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie'. We thought it to be a pretty big operation back then. In the past 7 years the size of the live OB (outside broadcast) has boomed and it now has a team of well over a hundred people, 50 minicameras and 65 kms of cable. Phew!
In 2005 the newly named Springwatch was broadcast, and 6 months later Autumnwatch arrived on our screens. A biannual nature fest had been born, and it was to make fledgling blue tits and scratching badgers as captivating as the predators of the Serengeti. It's now as much a part of British culture as Royal Weddings and The Beatles, and I feel proud to have played my tiny part in a community that has made such a difference.
‘This is not a show full of lions, tigers and bears; this is robins, blue tits and blackbirds, but we love them’ - Bill Oddie
(One of the first OB Vans. Photo: Paul Williams)
My Badger Moment
I was one of the story developers on Britain Goes Wild. We were the guardians of the mini-cams, and it was our responsibility to monitor all the feeds which were displayed on a bank of monitors. It often involved staying awake through the night, watching in anticipation, ready to record the most exciting animal behaviour for broadcast the following day. I have to admit that it could be slow at times, and I did nod off on occasion, but when something extraordinary happened we were buzzing. The highlight for me, was the first time we recorded a badger scratching session - a whole family sat on their backsides as if they were jamming. Meanwhile a rambunctious youngster ran around and around, trying to knock the others over. It was a classic wildlife moment and scratching badgers became a motif of the show.
(The very first Springwatch mini-camera station Photo: Paul Williams)
Britain's Secret Seas: Sunday 8th May, BBC2 8pm Animal's Guide to Britain - Coastal Animals: Thurs 12th May, BBC 2 8pm
Britains Secret Seas - Episode 1, Giants of the West
Featuring glorious underwater photography, this series reveals our native waters as being every bit as dramatic, colourful, and surprising as the oceans of the world. In the first programme of the series, the team uncover the world of the giants that reside in and on our Western seas and encounter Britain's largest fish, the basking shark. In treacherous waters off the Isles of Scilly, presenter Paul Rose dives the largest shipwreck in British waters to assess the legacy of the worst ecological disaster to affect our shores so far; the ill-fated Torrey Canyon oil tanker. In the waters of South Wales, Tooni Mahto encounters an invading army of giant spiny spider crabs. These creatures boast a leg span of over a metre across, and Tooni reveals that they come into the shallow waters every year to find a mate. BBC Programme Page
Animal's Guide to Britain - Coastal Animals
In the final episode of this 'witty and off-kilter wildlife series' Chris explores Britain how coastal animals see it. He uncovers why the waters and coastlines of the UK are the most popular places in the world for two of our coastal species: the grey seal and the Manx shearwater? Chris also makes a stand for an animal that he considers much misunderstood - the British gull. And he meets two animals which have truly extraordinary ways of sensing Britain's coastal environments - the shore crab which finds its way around by smelling through its feet; and the bottlenose dolphin which can identify a fish at 200 paces in the pitch black, using echolocation. BBC programme Page
Harry Hill does David Attenborough & 'Life in Cold Blood'
You know you've made it big when Harry Hill takes the mick out of your film. On 'Life in Cold Blood' we waited in anticipation every week and sure enough Harry didn't fail to deliver. Throwing a bucket of water over an Attenborough look-alike as he sat watching Giant Turtles mate. An Attenborough look-alike having a bath when a giant wasp flies over to try and grab him... the latter clip in reference to one line in the script in which David, talking about developing tree-frog tadpoles, says that 'when it 's a choice between being carried off by a wasp or an early bath, there's no competition'. The list went on.
'My First British Beaver' - Chris Packham, Animal's Guide
It was only on the night of the broadcast of 'Animal's Guide to Britain', after receiving endless tweets and texts, did I realise just how much innuendo was in the film. Unavoidable really when talking about Beavers.
Sadly Harry Hill seems to not be on TV at the mo so that's a damp squib. However the folks over at Radio 1 had a school-boy giggle. They sent me this clip from yesterdays 'Innuendo Bingo' on the Scott Mills show - 'Beaver sound bite' from my episode of 'Animals Guide to Britain' not quite the genius of Harry but made me chuckle...
If you're slightly immature then you can watch the whole innuendo-laced clip, from programme 1 of 'The Animal's Guide' here:
This is a phenomenal shot, possibly wasted on Eurovision, but quite remarkable when you see how it was done.
This shot was created using a steadicam. This is a stabilizing camera mount, which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. In other words, it helps create an elegant floaty-glidey feel.
You can now get a steadicam for the iPhone... I'm drooling!
After a weeks break, thanks to Snooker, Animals Guide to Britain is back. This weeks episode takes a look at some of our woodland animals. It contains one sequence in particular that was a real thrill to film, and quite literally took our breath away - meeting Britains top woodland predator, the goshawk. With the use of high speed photography, Chris demonstrates how these impressive raptors twist and turn in flight to negotiate dense thicket, something which could account for the forests that they like to inhabit in Britain. (see video and photo's here)
(Goshawk flying through a specially constructed tube, Photo: Paul Williams)
Chris explores the world of the hedgehog, the animal that gets the best national health service after humans; and the fallow deer, an animal that has been so pampered through history that it has sometimes been treated better than its human neighbours. In Northumberland he meets a man who is so determined to make Britain a better home for the red squirrel, that he wants the rest of us to eat the grey ones. Believe it or not Squirrel Pie actually tastes a bit nutty! Chris opts for a salad.
This episode may contain a cutesy bunch of some of our most loved creatures - the hedgehog, the deer, the squirrel, but we couldn't resist also including one animal that can actually cause an adult human male to fly into a fit of panic. But it’s not just scary. Even today, its ecology is only poorly understood and therefore, it remains an extremely mysterious animal. Why, for instance, is it in decline? Why does it have a taste for these woodlands around London? Well these things are only partially understood. But one thing’s for sure. If we can investigate its shadowy life history, we can develop a far better understanding of what makes a healthy British woodland.But first lets take a look at its freaky History in Britain...
A Stag Beetles Horrible History
Back in the Middle Ages, the stag beetle was seen as a thing of the devil: emanating from the depths of Hell, accompanied by fire. I suppose you can see why. Stag beetles do emerge from the ground during summer storms, when it’s hot and humid. Legend said they could summon the lightning and they carry a burning coal in their antlers – to do the devil’s work. There probably isn’t any truth in that. But their antlers can look red hot. And if it’s warm enough, they can fly! Just about. But none of these stories is as odd as the real life story of the stag beetle.
A stag beetle spends five years of its life underground, first as a larva then a pupa and finally a subterranean beetle before emerging for a glorious few weeks of flying, fighting and sex before it dies. Most of the time that it’s under ground, it’s eating rotting wood – turning it into the fat in its body and ultimately – when it dies - recycling the nutrients of the forest. So insects like the stag beetle are crucial to the forest ecosystem. The mystery with stag beetles though, is that they seem to prefer the areas around London and in Hampshire to anywhere else. In this programme Chris Packham discovers that it could be all to do with their dislike of chalk…
This series takes the magnificence, beauty and awe of Wonders of the Solar System and shunts it straight up the backside of a human being to explore our inner workings. Travelling through the body, tiny clusters of hairs loom as large as a forest and hidden chambers of the heart rise up like a vast cathedral. To illustrate the surprising ways bodies work, the series also tells the stories of remarkable people from around the world who have pushed theirs to the absolute limit. From the moment of creation to our last breath, the series reveals the human body's ability to amaze and delight. BBC programme Page
State-of-the-art graphics follow millions of sperm on their dangerous race towards the egg, revealing the ingenious ways that a woman's body selects the best; illustrate a body begining to self-assemble; and, in a television first, show a human face coming together. The programme follows the progress of a couple who are expecting triplets, from the 4D scan when they first come face-to-face with their babies to the dramatic finale of birth. Plus, meet a woman expecting her 16th baby and the oldest conjoined twins in the world.
Sperm Attack
A spectacular sequence of a woman's immune system killing sperm inside the cervix. From episode one of Inside the Human Body.
Animal's Guide to Britain - Woodland Animals, Thurs 5th May, 8pm BBC2
Snooker Balls! The 3rd episode of 'Animal's Guide to Britain' - Woodland Animals - has been pushed back a week by Snooker. So here's a sneak preview. It's my favourite clip from the film and a sequence that I know many people have been waiting to see... putting a Goshawk to the test. Hope you enjoy!
(Photo: Paul Williams, see more images from this shoot on BBC Earth News)
In controlled conditions, with the use of a series of different shaped gaps and tubes, slow motion photography reveals how a Goshawk is able to negotiate the most densely packed undergrowth. To allow her to fit though some of the narrower gaps, she has to withdraw her wings completely. The slow-motion footage reveals that, to stay airborne, she uses her large tail to give her crucial lift.
Watch more clips from Animals Guide on the BBC prog page and dont forget to watch BBC 2, 8pm next Thursday
Tonight is the second episode in my series 'Animal's Guide to Britain'. In this episode Chris explores the world of grassland animals. He begins with one of my favourite moments in the series - by getting as close as he can to starlings. Here he discovers how they get at their food, insect grubs, before finding a way to get right underneath them for a grub’s eye view as they feed.
“In all of my years of watching wildlife and the great good fortune I’ve had of making wildlife programmes, I’ve never had a view like this”
(Chris Packham under a flock of starlings - photo by Adam White)
Using this unique perspective, Chris reveals why starlings are such superbly adapted grassland animals. It’s an elegant demonstration of their natural abilities… until one or two discover that they can get at the grubs more easily be standing on Chris’s face and pecking at the grubs from beneath the soil! British starlings have had their ups and downs: they were once so common that they famously stopped Big Ben due to numbers perching on the clock hands, but nowadays their food supply is dwindling, thanks to modern pesticides.
In the grasslands episode Chris reveals new insights into how honeybees - insects vital for our future - manage to collect nectar and pollen. And how horseshoe bats, brown hares and barn owls are all learning to adapt to modern Britain in different ways.
Chris dives into Cow Poo to reveal why the Bat needs the Pat
This morning we finally decided that it was time to get stuck into the garden and trim back some of the jungly grass that was slowly encroaching on our house. As soon as the lawnmower started whirring a bolshy robin turned up and began hopping around me. As the lawnmower shaved off the gardens straggly winter coat the robin began digging down to pull up worms.
It was then time to turn the soil over on the flower beds. The robin seemed ecstatic as I pierced the hard crust and turned the heavy soil. Suddenly worms of all shapes and sizes where exposed, served on a bed of fresh moist earth - rich with the scent of spring. He stayed with me all morning, gorging on the slippery feast and occasionally flying off to deliver a mouthful of worms to his nest.
Spring is the best time of year to be in the garden, and first thing in the morning is just magical - so what are you waiting for. The early bird gets the early worm!
- Paul Williams
Wondering if he can handle the big worm?
Robin sits on my pitchfork as he scouts my flower bed for more juicy worms
WATCH Animal's Guide to Britain - Freshwater Animals BBC 2, 8pm, Thurs 14th 2011
'The Osprey… a spectacular bird and a highly specialised fish hunter. Every spring several hundred Ospreys make the 3000 kilometre journey from West Africa to Britain. And most of them come here, to the Scottish highlands.'
It was 6am and dawn was breaking, we carefully climbed into the hide, wearing Balaclavas and green gloves, we had to be silent and unseen. The ospreys would be collecting fish to feed their young chicks. They needed to be as efficient as possible and any missed fishing attempt or distraction could mean a great expense of energy for them. We waited anxiously, peering over the still and reflective water. Then, as soon as it was light enough we recieved a radio call from a spotter, 'the female Osprey from Loch Garten' - gracefully she flew above us and began circling. This was mesmerising enough. Her reflection gently rippling in the silvery water. Suddenly, she began to dive, her wings stretched back, it was breathtaking...
It wasn't long before we had 5 ospreys circling over us. It was as if they were waiting for a chance to perform to camera. In just a couple of hours we witnessed, and filmed, one of natures most awesome spectacles, over and over again. Half a dozen, perfectly executed dives, less than 40 metres in front of us. It really was jaw-dropping to see such a mighty bird pierce the water, before emerging with a juicy fish grasped in its talons. Immediately after catching a fish, they swung it around so the fish was head first, streamlined into the direction the bird was flying. To me, this looked like the osprey was using the fish as a surf board, enjoying the flight back home.
To see wild ospreys hunting the Rothiemurchus Fishery is the best place in Britain - especially when you consider that in 1916 they were extinct in Britain.
‘Unbelievable. Look at this. It’s a flock, a flock of ospreys! In 40 years of birding, I’ve never seen this many ospreys, this close together, anywhere in the world.’ - Chris Packham
An Osprey's History of Britain
In medieval times ospreys could be found from the highlands of Scotland to the English south coast. They were believed to have the mystical ability to hypnotise fish, which turned belly-up in surrender. They were held in awe by humans and featured on the coat of arms of Swansea (granted 1316). Ospreys even enjoyed divine protection, listed in the Old Testament as an animal not to be eaten. They had it good. But then around the fifteen hundreds, ospreys began fishing from human made ponds and the relationship soured. Later, the Victorians became obsessed with collecting rare eggs. The rarer the bird, the higher the demand until in 1916 the last osprey vanished from Britain. But thankfully that wasn’t the end of the story. In 1954 a pioneering pair of ospreys, migrating back from West Africa to Scandinavia, stopped at Loch Garten, and liked it so much they stayed to raise a family. As they struggled to survive, a nation watched in awe...
Fake Poo & Polystyrene Females
It was an honour to visit RSPB Loch Garten. A historic place, watched over by a hide where 'veritable legions of bobble-hatted volunteers have guarded the oldest ospreys nest in Britain.' This is where the first pair nested when ospreys returned to Britain in 1954. We had watched the female fishing earlier in the day and now we were watching her chick - the 4th generation to be born here, and one of around a hundred to have fledged.
Scotland now boasts more than 160 breeding pairs and this is, in part, thanks to the success of the Loch Garten nest, and to the numerous fish farms such as Rothiemurchus, which provide easy take-away meals. But its also down to a quirk of osprey behaviour - ospreys are creatures of habit. They prefer to nest in well-established neighbourhoods, and return to places where they were born, or to where there's good evidence of successful nests. Scotland is tried and tested, but what about elsewhere in Britain? Will they ever return to their historical breeding sites throughout the country? Well, not to be outdone, some English osprey enthusiasts are trying to encourage them to do just that. They're building artificial ‘show nests’ near rich sources of fish, such as Poole Harbour on the South Coast, and its here that we joined Mark Singleton of RSPB Arne. Loaded with twigs, fake poo, and a polystyrene female Chris scaled a tree to lend Mark a hand and to discover what the discerning osprey needs in a nest.
To an osprey checking out Britain these artificial nests are a nod and a wink that this is good place to breed, and it’s working. Human-built nests are popping up across Britain, and ospreys are spreading south. If humans continue to make these magnificent birds welcome, ospreys will once again see the whole of Britain as a top spot to raise their young.
Plankton Bloom - coast of Patagonia (Nasa)
Aurora borealis (Nasa)
