Top film-makers back penguin intervention on Attenborough show

Wildlife documentary experts defend crew’s decision to help trapped birds

Aamna Mohdin

Mon 19 Nov 2018 17.41 GMTLast modified on Mon 19 Nov 2018 20.45 GMT

Leading wildlife camera operators and film-makers have defended the film crew on David Attenborough’s latest BBC series over their decision to break with convention and intervene to save a group of penguins that had become trapped in a ravine.

Nature film-makers are discouraged from intervening in the events they are attempting to capture on film. While the general principle is to avoid interfering with the natural course of events, the crew on the Dynasties series stepped in when they saw the birds’ predicament.

The penguins at the centre of Sunday’s episode of Dynasties had either blown or tumbled into a gully in a storm and were unable to to get out. In what BBC Earth described as an “unprecedented move”, the crew dug a shallow ramp so some of the penguins would be able to use it to save themselves.

Veteran wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, whose work has been lauded by Attenborough, described the convention of not interfering as a “cardinal rule”. He said: “If [for example] you’re watching a predator and prey relationship, the key thing is your presence must not influence the outcome.”

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Tweet of the Day: David Attenborough to present BBC Radio 4 birdsong series

Naturalist will join other presenters for new weekday 90-second show at 5.58am highlighting songs of 265 UK birds

Sir David Attenborough will attempt to reclaim tweeting for the birds in a year-long Radio 4 series, Tweet of the Day, featuring the songs of 265 birds around Britain. 

Like the dawn chorus, each 90-second episode will air at the beginning of the day, just before the Today programme, starting with the cuckoo in the first programme on 6 May. 

Along with the birdsong, the series will tell the story of the bird through science, social history, culture, literature and music. 

Along with species with which listeners may already be familiar, such as the blackbird, nightingale and swift, it will also feature lesser-known species such as the storm petrel, a sea bird that frequents rocky beaches and has a song described by one ornithologist as "like a fairy being sick". 

There will also be birds spotted only by the most devoted of twitchers such as the black-browed albatross, a Falklands resident that once turned up on the northern tip of Shetland. 

Attenborough, who will present the first month's worth of programmes with other presenters to include Springwatch's Chris Packham, said: "I'm delighted to be involved in this series. 

"I've seen some of the most incredible animals on my travels around the world, but Tweet of the Day is a nice reminder of the teeming world of birds on my doorstep. As a non-ornithologist, I might even learn a little too." 

The series, which is being made by the BBC's natural history unit, will air every weekday at 5.58am on Radio 4. Many of the songs will come from the BBC's archive, along with new recordings, including the "barks" made by great crested grebes as part of their mating ritual. 

Continued: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/apr/24/tweet-david-attenborough-bbc-radio-birdsong