A very special visitor.
Today was a rather exciting day for me at Slimbridge as I took a break from my research and observations of the flamingos to help out with a film crew who wished to film the Slimbridge birds as part of a new TV series. A series that is being narrated by the natural history legend that is Sir David Attenborough. And that is someone that you don't really say no to. Plus it's the best excuse I can think of to stop doing data analysis for a day!
Here are a few photos of the day itself. I won't say too much about the content as obviously that's for the TV show but suffice to say it was a lot of fun being involved in the writing of a script for a wildlife programme and then to help out with the live action (as it were) on the day of filming itself. It's also a brilliant opportunity to show off the Slimbridge flamingos and it shows why they are such good ambassadors for their cousins all around the world.
A flock of very contented birds make for a very relaxed film set. I really think this goes to emphasise the hard work that the WWT aviculturists put in to making the lives of these flamingos as good as they possibly can be. Birds that were not happy and not settled in their surroundings, would not have stood around next to a film crew for three hours without the need for forcing or making them do what they didn't want to do. So this is a big thumbs up to Sparky, Phil, Duane, Phoebe and everyone else who is involved in flamingo care at Slimbridge. Go Team Pink Bird!
