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Wild Isles

Our Precious Isles

12 Mar 2023

Locations not known for sequences

Species features in each Sequence

Killer whale (Type 1 Eastern North Atlantic), Eastern Atlantic harbour seal, Grey seal

European golden eagle

Hazel dormouse, Tawny owl

European badger

Hummingbird hawk moth

Bumblebee sp.

Owl midge fly (Psychoda phalaenoides)

European red fox, Summer chafer

Barnacle goose, White-tailed eagle

Banded demoiselle

Brown trout, Common minnow, Common kingfisher

Northern gannet

Lesser sand eel, Atlantic puffin, Western European herring gull, Black-headed gull

Atlantic puffin

# Species by IUCN Conservation Status

Killer whale

Orcinus orca

Shetland, UK

The ecotype features are almost certainly of Type 1 North Atlantic killer whales. This ecotype is known for predating primarily on herring and seals, while the much larger Type 2 whales show far less teeth wear [1], consistent with their preferred diet of large marine mammals such as dolphins and minke whales.
[Link 1]

Eastern Atlantic harbour seal

Phoca vitulina vitulina

Shetland, UK

Grey seal

Halichoerus grypus atlantica

Shetland, UK

European golden eagle

Aquila chrysaetos chrysaetos

Cairngorms, UK

Hazel dormouse

Muscardinus avellanarius

Sussex, UK

The conservation status of the hazel dormouse within Britain is Vulnerable. In the sequence about the ancient oaks, we see examples of other animals that depend on them, including (in order of appearance): purple emperor butterfly, barn swallow, some caterpillar, Eurasian blue tit and spotted flycatcher.

Tawny owl

Strix aluco sylvatica

Sussex, UK

Subspecies found in Britrain is sylvatica [1].
[Link 1]

European badger

Meles meles meles

East Sussex, UK

The media pack [1] says that the shots of bluebells (including those with badgers) were filmed in Oxfordshire, Somerset, Avon, Kent. However, the narration (to which I defer) puts the badger shots as being in East Sussex.
[Link 1]

Hummingbird hawk moth

Macroglossum stellatarum

Bumblebee sp.

Owl midge fly

Psychoda phalaenoides

Hutton Woods, Avon, UK

According to studies of pollinators of the Lords-and-ladies (Arum maculatum) plant [1] [2]: "For western Europe, the pollination ecology of only one species has been intensively studied: A. maculatum (Prime, 1960;Lack & Diaz, 1991; Ollerton & Diaz, 1999). It appears from these studies that A. maculatum is pollinated only by Psychoda phalaenoides females (Diptera, Psychodidae)." According to Avon Wildlife Trust, this sequence was filmed in Hutton Woods [3].
[Link 1] [Link 2] [Link 3]

European red fox

Vulpes vulpes crucigera

Gloucestershire, UK

Summer chafer

Amphimallon solstitiale

Gloucestershire, UK

Barnacle goose

Branta leucopsis

Islay, UK

White-tailed eagle

Haliaeetus albicilla albicilla

Islay, UK

Banded demoiselle

Calopteryx splendens

River Isle, Somerset, UK

"The veteran cameraman Alastair MacEwen, whose first credit was for Attenboroughs Life on Earth in 1979, set up a two-week summer shoot on the River Isle in Somerset to capture the life cycle of the banded demoiselle, a graceful damselfly that only flies in sunshine. Three weeks later youre still waiting for the clouds to break, he says."
[Link 1]

Brown trout

Salmo trutta

River Stour; River Avon; River Frome, UK

Common minnow

Phoxinus phoxinus

River Stour; River Avon; River Frome, UK

Common kingfisher

Alcedo atthis ispida

River Stour; River Avon; River Frome, UK

Northern gannet

Morus bassanus

Bass Rock, Firth of Forth, UK

While the colony of nesting gannets was filmed at Bass Rock, the gorgeous slow-motion shots of the gannets diving below the water were filmed in Shetland, by filmmaker Richard Shucksmith, who has extensively photographed gannets here [1]. Similar shots appear once more in the Ocean episode.
[Link 1]

Lesser sand eel

Ammodytes tobianus