Springwatch Series Producer reflects on a fantastic year
Adam White
Autumnwatch and Springwatch series producer
So Springwatch is over for another year….it seems to have shot by in a real blur and we’re left slightly dazed with that warm fuzzy feeling that you get after an incredible experience….and it was an incredible experience. Springwatch 2016 will go down in the record books as one of the most action-packed, dramatic and surprising Watches ever. I know we always say that we don’t know what to expect when we first arrive with our cameras and crews, but no-one could have predicted what happened.
It all started out with a gasp…..when we saw the first images from our Golden Eagle cam. I was stunned by the impact and intimacy of such a magnificent bird, and amazed with how tender and delicate the mother could be.
Then the wildlife crews found not just a Sparrowhawk nest, but then the plucking post and as if that wasn’t enough, the bathing location. This was one of the first times we have been able to watch one of our characters on so many cameras in so many locations. It really did feel as if got to know this family. So much so, that I must confess to feeling like a proud father when the first egg hatched out on the last day of the series – I think everyone in the production office stopped what they were doing at that point and gathered around the live feed to watch and share the moment.
Then there was the Stoat. Just getting a good look at Stoat is something, but we were treated to everything. Who could forget the sight of the mother Stoat scaling 7 m up that oak tree and struggling with the woodpecker chicks to feed her kits. None of us had seen anything like it before.
But my favourite moment, and I am often asked this, was when Stephen Moss came up to me during one dress rehearsal, and whispered in my ear “you know the Blue Tit chicks?…….well we think…….we think they are Great Tit chicks!!”. Time to rewrite the script…..again!
See the moment this chick broke the news to its siblings on our .
Honestly you couldn’t make it up. I have been making wildlife shows for over 20 years, and I still amazed by what you see and learn when you spend the time to watch the natural world. It has been mine and the whole teams pleasure to bring you this years Springwatch. There’s no rest for us though, we are busy planning Autumnwatch. What’s in store for Autumnwatch?…..well, like I said, we never know what to expect……