Well what a week it’s been here at Castle Espie
and what a fantastic hour long finale to end an amazing five days.

We started with 6km of cable at the beginning of the week and now the BBC have used all the cable they brought with them, in ever increasing efforts to cover as much of the vast area here at Castle Espie – so by transmission time last night (Friday) there was no less than 8kms of cable winding its way round the centre and throughout the grounds!

On last night’s programme, Kerry Mackie also gave Donna a tour of the hatchery – candling one of the developing eggs which is always an amazing thing to see. There was even some live footage of a hatching Argentine red shoveler! Then they went through to the duckery to see some of the young ducklings who, unlike the blue tit chicks, leave the nest almost straight away and become almost completely independent from their parents. Castle Espie’s public hatchery and duckery tours start next month (every weekend in June) to visitors can come down and have the same tour as Donna.

There was a great link into the programme from Chris Packham and Kate Humble from Springwatch’s new West Wales home. Chris gave a welcome glowing endorsement of Castle Espie by saying “Its a fantastic new centre which has had an amazing transformation. What a beautiful place for people to come and watch wildlife.” Thanks, Chris!

And then there was our first look at artist and Castle Espie volunteer Lorna Hamilton’s amazing oil painting of an owl. She’d worked from dawn till dusk all week, suffered a locked neck yesterday afternoon brought on by hours of concentration on the work. But the finished result unveiled last night was truly fantastic. Lorna has kindly offered to donate some of the proceeds of the sale of the painting to WWT Castle Espie. If you want more details, visit her website at www.lornahamilton.com.

We’ve been thrilled with the number of Castle Espie staff and volunteers whose work have been featured on the programme all week. Nearby landowner and Castle Espie volunteer, Wesley Jamieson, granted permission for a BBC otter cam on his land. This provided a nightly insight into this most elusive and secretive animal and was great to watch..

One of the undisputed stars of the week has to be our very own Dot Blakely who has been on screen with presenter Donna Traynor every night giving her invaluable round robin of web-cam nesting box activity around the site.

Dot has been associated with Castle Espie for some 19 years. She’s run a birdwatching club at the centre for 15 years and also takes a birdwatching class at Castlereagh College on Wednesdays. About six years ago she also started a popular monthly birdwatching morning at the centre from 10.30 am on the last Thursday of the month.

Dot said: “I love Castle Espie because it has so much variety: you can see an eider duck in the captive collection, then wander out to the shoreline of Strangford Lough and spot a wild one too. Castle Espie is also one of the most fantastic spots to see the light-bellied brent geese from our fantastic, heated, glass limekiln observatory in October and November.”

When asked which was her favourite bird, Dot gave the reply that leaves you in no doubt of her passion for our feathered friends: “whatever bird I’m looking at”.

Dot’s monthly birdwatching mornings at Castle Espie are suitable for all competencies and is a great way to find out not only about Castle Espie but the birds and wildlife there.

So if you want to meet one of the stars of BBC Wild Week Live and brush up on or learn some bird watching skills – why not come down to the next one?

And so Wild Week Live came to a close and we had to say a sad goodbye to the fantastic BBC NI crew who have become regular faces around the site and who we hope will come back and see us sometime soon – and all of you too!

Last night’s penultimate programme saw Kerry, our blue tit family and, of course, Dot the undisputed stars of the show once again.

Although a stiff north-westerly made May feel like March, the benefit of on-site bird hides gave shelter from the breeze as Wild Week Live presenter Donna Traynor met our resident birding expert Dot Blakely once again for the nightly round robin of nesting activity here at Castle Espie.

Off-camera, Dot mentioned how the aptly named ‘Buster’, the larger chick in the blue tit nest, is characteristic of many dominant chicks in nests everywhere at this time of year. She also emphasised the importance of keeping your distance from nesting birds, as disturbance can cause stress to the parents and their babies.

Castle Espie Grounds and Reserve Manager Kerry Mackie who has been at the centre for 18 years, gave Donna a tour of the reserve and described how the recent redevelopment of the site to restore vital habitat along the shores of Strangford Lough was encouraging greater numbers and variety of species into Castle Espie than ever before. Off-camera, Kerry added: “We’ve really made the most of Castle Espie’s potential with this redevelopment and the investment is really paying off!

“Ringed plover have returned to Castle Espie for the first time in 30 years which is amazing, and the habitat is prompting large numbers of terns actively looking to nest – well protected by a nearby population of black-headed gulls who seem to act like sentinels. And along the shoreline our summer migrants, including sedge warbler and chiff chaff are returning in good numbers this year.”

Lorna nursing her neck and holding a jar containing a poplar hawk moth (which is going to be painted into the picture for tonight’s show)

Castle Espie’s captive collection has gone from strength to strength, swelling the numbers of species happy to be fed by visitors in the Plumbs area of the centre – Kerry said: “We’ve had lots of new arrivals, including three brent geese who the volunteers have nicknamed ‘the three tenors’, plus Argentine red-shoveler, cape teal and puna teal. The facilities here for birds have never been better. And the birds are truly voting with their eggs!”

All in all a good day for Kerry until he inadvertently locked one of the BBC producers, Mark Anthony, in the workshop at the end of the night. Thankfully it was only for about 20 minutes and he did let him out to go home in the end. Trying to imprison the BBC staff to keep them here longer? Better make sure Kerry’s not the one with the keys tonight!

Here at Castle Espie, we’re looking forward to tonight’s final hour-long programme with a mixture of excitement – and a bit of sadness that it’ll soon be all over. We can’t wait to see Lorna Hamilton’s finished owl painting tonight – but will it be finished?

You’ll see from the picture that Lorna is suffering with a locked neck that meant she had to down paintbrush and rush off for some emergency physio yesterday afternoon a couple of hours earlier than scheduled.

She’s back this morning, sore but functioning, so tune in tonight at 7pm to see if she had managed to finish it in time?

Two shows in now and we’re all getting in our stride here at Castle Espie, positively revelling in our “as seen on TV” status! Another fantastic live programme last night, with thankfully calmer winds and no rain this time…fingers crossed for tonight!

You may be amazed to know that BBC Wild Week Live took some two years of careful planning and over five weeks to organise and set up on-site here at Castle Espie. It’s really quite amazing to see just how much time, effort, kilometres of cable (would you believe 6km in total!) make up the half an hour programme you see on screen. That’s not to mention the crews set up at the other locations around Northern Ireland with presenter Darryl Grimason.

One of the real hubs of the technical operation – and what we like to call ‘mission control’- is the room set up here at Castle Espie which has been kitted out full to bursting with video screen after video screen and state-of the-art editing equipment. Each monitor, expertly manned by Assistant Producers Chris Agnew and John Anthony, and one of BBC NI’s Technology Development Specialists, Charlie Brown, each monitor receives live feeds from one of the many webcams that have been set up in our duckery and in nest boxes around the site. Undoubtedly adding the cute-factor to the programmes, Chris, John and Charlie are responsible for selecting and editing the best bits for the evening’s programme. Last night’s dramatic cliffhanger with the jackdaw nest and ailing chicks is sure to have everyone tuning in tonight to find out what happens!

You can see the live feeds on the BBC Wild Week Live website (INSERT LINK – Gill/Kath you should have this) and visitors to Castle Espie during the day all this week will also be able to see these images beamed live onto the big screen in the Drumlin Theatre at the centre – so a real extra treat for visitors this week.

Assistant Producer Chris Agnew is actually quite at home here at Castle Espie this week. He said: “ I have been coming to the centre over the past five years as my daughter just loves the place. I have seen many changes over that time and the transformation into the wonderful sustainable visitor centre it is today.”

Possibly vying for one of the fantastic cakes, scones or slices of cheesecake on offer in our Loughshore Cafe, John Anthony commented: “ I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the knowledgeable staff at the centre.”, and techy expert Charlie added: “I’ve been blown away by the tremendous variety on-site and the good range of things to see.”

Let’s just hope they keep up the good work and help bring us another fantastic programme live from Castle Espie at 7pm this evening. I wonder how resident artist Lorna Hamilton is getting on with that owl painting…..?

Well, Tuesday’s brief reprieve in the weather
hasn’t really held as much as we’d have liked.

The blustery winds returned and grey skies prevailed for much of yesterday (Wednesday) but that wasn’t going to dampen the mood – at at least it stayed dry whilst the programme was on air in the end!

The man in charge of the BBC’s technical planning, Philip “Salty” Brines, told us that on Monday night viewing figures showed that 5,000 more people watched Wild Week Live on BBC NI than usually watch The One Show on the channel on a normal Monday evening!

And if that wasn’t impressive enough, we then found out that that number doubled to 10,000 more viewers for Tuesday evening – wonder what last night’s figures were?

The weather conditions though have been creating a bit of extra work for our friendly BBC crew.

Filming location changes on site here at Castle Espie because of the damp and blustery skies have meant the the 6km of cabling winding its way round the centre, up paths and in and out of buildings is now – 7km!

Each has been painstaking laid one by one by BBC riggers “Young” Billy McCarroll and Roland Richards, and with the weather not playing ball, Billy and Roland are having to re-rig the cameras to fit in with enforced changes in camera positions after the afternoon production meeting.

And speaking of these cables – it’s been a talking point here at the centre with the mass of different coloured cables and what each one is actually for so – for those of you visitors to Castle Espie who have also been wondering, here’s the answer. The brown ones are for audio, the blue for power, the red are a mix of camera cables, and the grey and black ones are video cables.

Last night’s programme was another great one. Great to see how well our resident artist and WWT volunteer Lorna Hamilton is getting on with her amazing owl painting.

She’s more than halfway into the week’s project and its been great for staff and visitors alike to watch the painting’s progress over the past couple of days.

She’s getting on brilliantly with it and even plans to donate some of the proceeds of the sale of the finished painting (which you can see in the hour-long final BBC Wild Week Live programme on Friday evening) to WWT!

Lorna’s a talented and award-winning artist and you can see more of her work and even find out how you can commission her to do a painting for you on Lorna’s website.

Amongst all the exciting wildlife at Castle Espie and around Northern Ireland on last night’s programme from otters to owls to whooper swans, it was sad to see the jackdaw story come to a tragic end.

Sometimes this does happen in nature and it may have been down to the inexperience of the female that the three chicks sadly did not survive.

As if having a live TV programme broadcasting from here all week wasn’t exciting enough, on Saturday (28 May), BBC Radio Ulster broadcasts live from Castle Espie as part of the BBC Wild Week too.

John Toal will present the Saturday Magazine programme from the centre here between 10am-12noon. There’ll be interviews with some of Castle Espie’s established TV stars this week: Grounds and Reserve Manager Kerry Mackie, Castle Espie’s resident artist and volunteer Laura Hamilton and, of course, our very own birding expert and nightly star of BBC Wild Week Live, Dot Blakely.

John Toal will be spending time learning about the history of the place as well as the birds and wildlife that call the centre home.

Resident chef Paula McIntyre will be cooking live using local produce, she’s got honey from bee keeper Jim Fletcher.

Plus, Minister for the Environment Alex Atwood will be visiting the centre to see the work being carried out by staff and volunteers at WWT.

PS. Footnote from Castle Espie’s bird experts: there have been more than 1,200 pictures sent in for the BBC’s Wild Week Live website – but don’t forget when you are out and about taking your pictures in your garden or local park that you must respect nesting and breeding birds. Keep as quiet as you can, don’t disturb nest boxes and always keep your distance when taking photographs.

Gilnahirk Brownies met BBC1 NI presenter, Donna Traynor at Castle Espie last night along owl expert, Ian Patterson who brought along his Barn Owl. The group had a great time at the centre and enjoyed the experience of being present when a live broadcast was taking place.

Castle Espie has an active education programme all year round with many events and visits in the calendar. The centre can also accommodate evening bookings and welcomes many different gatherings from ladies groups and uniformed organisations to interest groups.

With experienced tour guides such as Dot Bleakley, the resident bird specialist to our knowledgeable grounds and reserve staff, there is always someone on hand to answer questions or have a chat. This makes the centre an ideal meeting place.

Snacks and after-tour meals are also available in The Loughshore Café, where panoramic views of Strangford Lough offer one of the most enviable views in the Province.

Don’t miss tonight’s programme at 7pm on BBC NI – again broadcasting live from Castle Espie.

The BBC1 NI Wild Week team were quite
literally blown away on the first evening of filming Wild Week at Castle Espie last night!

Apart from the stunning views which are always guaranteed to take your breath away, the 70 mph gusts and the impending rain added to the dra! After minor relocations for filming purposes, the live event went very well.

As the anchor site for Wild Week, the centre and grounds have been wired for sound and real time action with BBC webcams focussed on all manner of wildlife from nesting birds to badgers, otters to bats and pine martens to swallows!

It has taken some five weeks, over 6 kilometres of cable and a huge production team to make Wild Week happen. The programme spans TV and radio and is also available online.

Temporarily replacing The One Show at 7pm on BBC1 NI this week, the first transmission last night, revealed the importance of wetlands for people and wildlife and the ongoing conservation work locally and worldwide facilitated by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT).

Castle Espie Grounds Manager, Kerry Mackie explained:

“WWT work tirelessly to both save existing and create new wetlands. We also help protect endangered wildfowl and have the largest collection of birds in Ireland. This enables visitors to get closer to understanding the plight of a host of endangered species that WWT works hard to conserve.”

Volunteer and Castle Espie’s resident bird expert, Dot Bleakley, showed what may be seen in a nest near you. However, Dot highlighted the importance of not getting too close to nesting birds at this time of year.

So check out Wild Week and find how to nurture nature on your doorstep. Or why not visit Castle Espie Wetland Centre and see what you are missing!

We have a host of activities to suit everyone. Mesolithic Man charts the history of the centre on Sunday 29 May, while Bank Holiday Monday welcomes artist Jim Russell who will help you create plasticine creatures! Usual wetland admission applies
to these events.

We are also running a week long promotion for new members joining by Friday 27 May. In addition to receiving a discounted copy of Watching Waterbirds (RRP £12.99 – offer price £9.74), you will also get a free mallard or cygnet cuddly subject to availability.

Castle Espie is open daily from 10.00am. Access to the car park, shop, Loughshore Café and Graffan Gallery is free.

For more information on these and other events please call 028 9187 4146 or click wwt.org.uk/visit-us/castle-espie/events

BBC Northern Ireland’s Wild Week Live team have been busy preparing for a week-long broadcast event coming live from WWT Castle Espie.

Starting tonight at 7pm (Monday 23 May), four half hour programmes celebrating the rich wildlife in Northern Ireland will be broadcast live from the centre, culminating in an hour long special on Friday night.

Presented by Donna Traynor and Darryl Grimason, Wild Week Live will feature badgers, bats, foxes, starlings, pine martins, and red kits, and a whole host of people with a passion for wildlife, including Castle Espie’s very own Grounds and Reserve Manager, Kerry Mackie, plus Castle Espie volunteers: birding expert, Dot Blakely and wildlife artist, Lorna Hamilton.

A number of webcams have been set up at Castle Espie in nest boxes and in incubators in the centre’s duckery area beaming rare footage of hatching chicks direct from the centre onto the BBC Wild Week Live website. 

Below you can see behind-the-scenes pictures of the team setting up for the week’s first live broadcast!