Phew, feels like a long time since I've posted here!!

October's entry has now been uploaded, heres the youtube linky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNojI491RQ

Time has been really tight recently, so i've maximised the time in filming and arranging filming sessions, getting a few more bits and pieces done.

I now have a clear structure to the whole film, which basically is comprised of breaking it down into 5 or 6 chunks - I'll then be presenting the links to camera.

Sections:

Intro to cliveden - around the estate, different habitats , access paths etc

Seasonal change - looking primarily at flora, changing species and states from winter thru to autumn,

Alien species - looking at invaders from the "cliveden snail" to more intrusive species such as muntjac deer, grey squirels etc. Investigation to see if NA signal crayfish is present in Thames.

Inverts - day and night - featurette on maypole hill inesct species - leading into moth trapping session.

leading into -
Mammals - bat survey session - badger footage from UWOL X ;-)

Possible inclusions (dependant on filming in the next two weeks!)

Featurette on Red Kite, it's reintroduction to the chilterns and subsequent great success!

Fungi - looking at the variety of fungi species found in the woodland

Rounded off by a sum up and a call to action , encouraging people to get out into nature, explore, watch and listen.

Final stretch now!!

Cheers,

Rob

Hi Rob:

How are you, stranger? Glad your work is pulling together! You and Mat are so similar in the work updates in that you provide lots of eye candy, but give us little concrete output for us to chew on and discuss comment over. Your footage is masterful, but alas I can give very little input on how all of it is coming together. Like Mat, you are set to surprise us all in the end ;-). All the best friend. I thought the ending shot of you or someone holding the bat in infrared was awesome and very intriguing.

I know that your narration was certainly not a final script so it is hardly worth mentioning that your soft-spoken nature was hard to follow!

Cheers for the final entry!

Cat

HI Cat, yes all will be revealed ;-)

Sorry for the low audio levels - trying to keep sleeping baby asleep!!!

Rob- I’m enjoying your project more each time I see it. I’m pleased to see the snails this time, but I’m not sure why they were monochrome. I’m sure that, as you say, all will be revealed next time! Best wishes.

Hi all,
Here's the vimeo upload.
I have struggled a lot in the last month to get this done in time - a persistent chest infection ( now fixed ) made the v/o's difficult, but I am pretty happy with the result. The National Trust who run cliveden are very positive about the film also, so there is a strong chance it will be played on loop in their visitor centre, giving a potential audience of tens of thousands in a year.
I must add that a lot of my inspiration for wildlife comes from the amazing upbringing that my parents gave me. Sadly, 3 weeks ago my father was diagnosed with an agressive brain tumour which we have this week found out is manageable, but chances of recovery slim.
I sat with him the other night and showed him the film. He liked it a lot.
:-)

Hey Rob I'm really sorry to hear about your Dad. I trust he will get stronger with time and be able to manage this tumour with minimal impact.

I will only get to view all the videos next week. Look forward very much to viewing yours. You always give us a treat of some kind and I'm sure this is will be no different.

Marj

That would be amazing. And well-deserved.

Sorry to hear about your father...send him our best.

I love the bats...

Rob,

This is a brillant piece of work. the narrative is so informative in a gentle but powerful manner. I learned some new and awesome stuff watching it!!!

Three times I had to reach for the volume control due to different levels from your naration to actual footage. No doubt you are probably already aware of that.

Once you finish it out it is definitely as good as most broadcasts I have ever watched.


Great Job

I loved the red kite footage too.

A small note about red kites. in the 1700's the rd kite was considered as the finest quarry at which to fly trained gyrfalons at, many of them were in fact released after capture. I doubt enough were actually caught to damage the population but it is an interesting bit of british Kite history. If I recall correctly this was recorded by malcom fleming in "A sporting tour". I could look it up if you wanted.

I loved the Mushroom portion!!! Great advice too!!!