A further two hour-long episodes of Wild Isles – Freshwater and Marine – are still to come. Other significant moments from the episode include boxing hares filmed in Suffolk, mating adders in Northumberland and wild horses in Cambridgeshire and on Salisbury Plain. With this project every one of these moments involved behaviour so complex and so sensitive to disturbance that the task frequently seemed beyond reach.” It is always necessary to film specific key moments of behaviour to tell any story about animal behaviour – miss just one of them and you have failed. “The filming was a challenge in so many ways. Through careful scientific management, the butterfly has been brought back and can be seen once more in British meadows, giving us a glimmer of hope for the future. “However, the making of Wild Isles has coincided with remarkable conservation success. Wild Isles cameraman Alastair MacEwen spoke about the experience of filming the insect, saying: “This butterfly went extinct in the UK because of changes to its habitat, a familiar and sad tale of our times. The sequence, which was filmed over three years, marks the first time the species’ lifecycle has ever been captured on video in full. The large blue butterfly, once extinct in the UK, was reintroduced to the British Isles which are now believed to be home to one of the largest concentrations of large blue butterflies anywhere in the world. She collects each stick individually and carries it, as she flies under her body and looks like she is riding a tiny broom.”Įlsewhere in the episode, Sir David looks at the behaviour of a different insect, a killer caterpillar that uses methods of deception to find its food before emerging as a large blue butterfly. She is nicknamed the ‘witch bee’ as after laying each egg she seals up the shell and then hides it under a pile of tiny sticks. “Like Goldilocks with her porridge testing, the female two-coloured mason bee will check lots of empty shells in the grassland, some are too big, some are too small or damaged, until she finds just the right one within which to lay her egg. Speaking about capturing the mason bee, producer Nicolas Gates said: “The two-coloured mason bee, our ‘witch bee’, whizzes around chalk grasslands looking for empty snail shells of the exact right size. The crew enlisted the help of an entomologist – an insect specialist – and used a macro lens to effectively capture the bee’s behaviour as she collected up to 100 sticks of grass for her nest. ![]() READ NEXT: Major incident response underway as up to six tonnes of oil leaked ![]() ![]() Filmed in Dorset, the female two-coloured mason bee nests in disused snail shells which she then conceals with the dry grass stalks she collects. In the third episode of the five-part-series, viewers will be invited to take a closer look at grassland habitats and many of its inhabitants – including the mason bee.ĭuring the programme, the bee is fondly referred to by the film crew as the “witch bee” as it sometimes looks as though it is riding a miniature broomstick as it flies with grass stalks used to make a nest. ![]() The BBC programme sees the much-loved 96-year-old naturalist and broadcaster shine a light on the challenges affecting the British Isles as well as celebrating nature that exists on our doorsteps. The bee is one of the latest enchanting creatures to appear on Sir David's show. A bee filmed in Dorset looking as though it is riding a tiny broomstick featured on Sir David Attenborough's Wild Isles series.
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