Wild Isles

Wild Isles is a 2023 British television nature documentary series presented by Sir David Attenborough^[1] (not to be confused with the 92-minute video Wild Isles, a 2022 Webby Award honoree produced by Newyonder^[2]). The five-episode series covers the wildlife of the British Isles. Silverback Films was commissioned by the BBC to create the series, with co-production and part funding from the RSPB, World Wide Fund for Nature and Open University.^[3][4] It was filmed over three years in 145 locations across the British Isles.^[3]

The Guardian reported ahead of the series' start that a sixth episode would not be broadcast due to a fear of backlash from Conservatives and right-wing media over its themes of destruction of nature.^[4] However, the BBC responded that Wild Isles was always planned as a 5-part series, and that the 'sixth episode' was a standalone feature called Saving Our Wild Isles to be released online.^[5]

The series received positive reviews from critics.^[6][7][8]

This episode serves as an introduction to the series and the wildlife of the British Isles. Muckle Flugga in the Shetland islands is home to a great variety of marine life and seabirds, including black-legged kittiwakes, northern gannets, northern fulmars, herring gulls and great skuas. In the waters around the island, a group of orca named the "27 pod" by researchers have learned to hunt common and grey seals by following them into gullies where the seals sleep.

One reason the British Isles are so diverse is their geology. The Cliffs of Dover, limestone pavements of the Yorkshire Dales, whinstone cliffs of the High Force Waterfall in Durham, and the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway are shown as examples of this.

In the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands, temperatures can drop to minus 27 degrees Celsius in winter. Despite these freezing temperatures, golden eagles make their home here.

The Caledonian Forest is the only coniferous woodland left in Britain, and it is less than 1% of its former extent. The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet, but the English oak trees are globally important. One oak in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire is 1064 years old. Oak trees provide homes for over 2300 species of animals and plants, including the white admiral, barn swallows, the coal tit, and willow warblers. A female hazel dormouse climbs an oak to collect honeysuckle for her offspring, and narrowly escapes a tawny owl.

In the woodlands, the flowering of common bluebells coincides with the time that young Eurasian badgers come above ground for the first time. Over the last 20 years, 60% of Britain's flying insects have vanished. This includes important pollinators such as the hairy-footed flower bee, orange tip, gatekeeper, common blue, buff-tailed bumblebee, marbled white, European peacock and white-tailed bumblebee. Some insect pollinators have evolved a special relationship with certain plant species, such as the hummingbird hawkmoth with the red valerian, the white-tailed bumblebee with bittersweet, and owl-midgeflies with lords-and-ladies.

A habitat that is particularly rich in wildflowers and insect pollinators is the traditional hay meadows, such as those in Gloucestershire. Some of the animals that live in these meadows are the meadow brown, common woodpigeon and Chinese water deer. Nature-friendly farming is discussed. A family of European red foxes play in the hay left behind after the harvest and attempt to catch Summer Chafers. Their mother shows them how to hunt a field vole.

On the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, 30,000 barnacle geese migrate. Reintroduced white-tailed eagles have learned to hunt them.

Chalk streams are one of Britain's most globally important habitats. In and around them, banded demoiselles mate, and a common kingfisher catches common minnows and brown trout.

Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth is home to the largest gannet colony in the world. The birds catch Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel by dive-bombing the water's surface.

In Skomer, Atlantic puffins catch lesser sand eels, which are then stolen from them by herring gulls and black-headed gulls. Lying down beside the puffins, David Attenborough reveals that hardly any of Britain's original wildlife remains, and that we must act now to preserve these creatures into the future.

Wild Isles on Location: Needles in a Haystack shows how the filming crew managed to get footage of the 27 pod of orcas hunting seals in Shetland.

This episode looks at the woodlands of British Isles. These habitats support a great diversity of animal and plant life, yet hardly any of them still remain. Only 13% of Britain's original forest remains.

In a patch of Caledonian Pine Forest in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, some of the last woodland-dwelling golden eagles nest. The two chicks are brought a least weasel.

David Attenborough visits an oak tree that he has known for over 70 years, and yet the tree is likely over 700 years old.

In winter in the Forest of Dean, hazel dormice hibernate, and wild boar dig through the snow, which allows a European robin to hunt earthworms buried in the frozen ground.

In early spring, snowdrops, common primrose, foxgloves and common bluebells flower on the ground, attracting the red-tailed mason bee and red-tailed bumblebee. Up higher, willow catkins flower too, and their pollen attracts both insects such as the tree bumblebee and birds like the Eurasian blue tit and European goldfinch. In Sussex, male yew trees release their pollen into the wind in vast clouds.

In the Scottish Highlands, a male western capercaillie calls to attract females, and fights off a rival male. Capercaillie were once extinct in Britain, and are now on the brink of extinction once more.

In a deciduous broadleaf woodland near London, European red wood ants use formic acid to fight off a Eurasian jay and little owls, hunt a European hornet and a stag beetle, battle with caterpillars, and farm aphids for their honeydew.

In an ancient cemetery in Surrey, a female European roe deer protects her fawns from a European red fox. In the past, wolves and lynx would have hunted even fully grown roe deer.

On the Knepp Estate in Sussex, a habitat known as wood-pasture has been recreated. This provides a home for the purple emperor. A male emperor fights off a small blue, a red-tailed bumblebee and even a barn swallow, and battles with rival males, barely escaping with his life.

On the UK's west coast, Atlantic oakwood temperate rainforests grow. In this habitat on Dartmoor, the bizarre mating habits of ash-black slugs are shown.

In summer in the Caledonian Forest, the pinecones are ripe, and Eurasian red squirrels take advantage of this.

In the New Forest, three European honey buzzard chicks fight over a European Common frog, and as they grow they learn to raid English wasp nests before they migrate to Africa.

Autumn begins, and the deciduous trees lose their leaves. This is the breeding season for European fallow deer.

Various fungi (including common stinkhorn, fly agaric, orange peel fungus, brown puffballs, octopus stinkhorn and many others) now sprout mushrooms and toadstools to spread their spores, and the wood wide web is shown through time-lapse photography and computer-generated imagery.

Almost half of Britain's tree cover now comes from plantations. These monocultures hold little life. In a pine plantation next to Bodmin Moor, almost a million Eurasian starlings roost. As they come in to roost, they are hunted by Eurasian buzzards and peregrine falcons. At night, a common barn owl hunts the starlings. This hunting behaviour, shown through a thermal imaging camera, had never been seen before.

Attenborough ends the episode by discussing how we must protect and restore the woodlands of the British Isles.

Wild Isles on Location: Into the Canopy shows how the filming team captured footage of golden eagles in Scotland and a vast flock of starlings at their roost in Cornwall.

All of the grasslands of the British Isles are now managed by humans. This episode looks at how important these habitats are for species of all kinds.

In a field of barley on Islay, European brown hares undergo their courtship rituals, but have to watch out for golden eagles.

Attenborough visits a traditional hay meadow, important habitat of which less than 1% remains. He recalls how easy it used to be to find this habitat around Leicester where he lived as a boy in the 1930s. Some of the species that live here include meadow browns, the marbled white, hairy-legged mining bees and large blues.

In the Hebrides, grass keeps the sand dunes intact and protects a vital habitat: machair grasslands. Thanks to sustainable agriculture, many species still live here, such as common carder bees and the white-tailed bumblebee. It is also a sanctuary for ground-nesting birds. A mixed-species flock of waders, including common ringed plovers, dunlins, northern lapwings, Eurasian oystercatchers and common redshanks work together to repel a common gull, which nevertheless manages to catch an oystercatcher chick.

Before humans started managing the grasslands, herds of wild cattle and wild horses kept them open. In some areas, such as Cambridgeshire, stand-in species like Scottish Highland cattle and Konik ponies are being reintroduced. This benefits species like Eurasian starlings and the red kite. Two stallions battle for dominance.

When grass is allowed to grow longer, species like field voles flourish. A mother vole gathers food for her young while avoiding a short-eared owl.

Two-coloured mason bees lay their eggs inside the empty shells of brown-lipped snails, hollowed out by the larvae of the common European glowworm. The bees then carry bits of dry grass to their "nests" to hide them and give their young the best chance of survival. The way in which the bees carry the grass stems gives the impression of a witch riding a broomstick.

Introduced to Britain by both the Romans and the Normans, European rabbits have flourished. The rabbits perform their mating rituals, but a youngster is taken by a Eurasian buzzard. The largest colony of rabbits in Britain can be found in Dorset, and here they are hunted by European red foxes.

Almost half of Britain's butterflies, like the marbled white, large skipper and meadow brown are at risk of extinction. In a hay meadow in Gloucestershire, the large blue's lifecycle is dependent on the Sabuleti red ant. Large blues were once extinct in Britain, but after this extraordinary life cycle was discovered, they were reintroduced from mainland Europe.

In the Cairngorms National Park, grass is replaced by heather. Black grouse lek here.

In early spring in Northumbria, Common european adders emerge from hibernation and perform their courtship rituals.

Back in the Cairngorms, a male hen harrier dances through the air to impress a female. He must then throw dead voles for her to catch in midair before they nest.

In Ireland's County Kerry, some areas still look untouched by humans. Swedish red deer rut in these areas.

Wild Isles on Location: The Impossible Hunt shows how the team managed to film both golden eagles hunting hares, and white-tailed eagles hunting barnacle geese and Greenland white-fronted geese on Islay. The reintroduction of white-tailed eagles by Roy Dennis is also shown.

The musical score was composed by George Fenton. This was the first time Fenton had composed a nature documentary score since 2011. The five soundtrack albums (one for each episode) contain the following tracks:

1. Wild Isles Introduction / Front Tiles (1:42)
2. Orca (5:58)
3. Geology (1:43)
4. Birds Eye View (2:21)
5. The Door Mouse (4:29)
6. Bluebells (1:31)
7. Pollenating (2:32)
8. Lords and Ladies (2:43)
9. Fox Cubs (2:30)
10. Barnacle Geese (5:31)
11. Damoiselles (4:15)
12. Kingfisher (1:44)
13. Gannets (3:17)
14. The Puffins (4:04)
15. The Message (0:44)
16. Wild Isles Trail (0:26)
17. Wild Isles End Credits (0:31)

1. Opening Titles (0:25)
2. The Eagle (2:36)
3. Woodlands (1:53)
4. Robin's Friend (1:39)
5. Pollen (2:16)
6. Capercaillie (4:10)
7. The Ants (3:55)
8. Roe Deer (2:37)
9. The Emperor (2:12)
10. Strange Love (2:51)
11. Red Squirrel (3:13)
12. Honey Buzzard (3:39)
13. Fallow Deer (2:49)
14. Fungi (3:56)
15. Starling, Pt. 1 (2:15)
16. Starlings, Pt. 2 (2:36)
17. Wild Isles End Credits (0:31)

1. Opening Titles (0:25)
2. Grassland Intro (0:50)
3. The Hares (3:21)
4. The Macca (0:51)
5. Lapwing Chick (2:39)
6. The Fens (1:03)
7. Wild Horses (1:13)
8. Battling Horses (1:46)
9. Avoiding The Owl (3:33)
10. Witchcraft (4:00)
11. Rabbits and Foxes (5:49)
12. Invader (4:33)
13. The Highland Fight (3:49)
14. Adders (4:15)
15. Han Harrier (3:53)
16. Stags (4:54)
17. Wild Isles End Credits (0:31)

1. Opening Titles (0:25)
2. Dragonfly and Introduction (2:31)
3. River Journey (1:47)
4. Dolphins Chase (1:16)
5. Upstream and Leaping the Falls (3:01)
6. Salmon Breeding (1:04)
7. Beaver and Kits (2:38)
8. Spidery Courtship (4:52)
9. Bats at Night (3:33)
10. Toads Crossing (2:20)
11. Toadlets (2:34)
12. Mayfly (4:21)
13. The Shrew (3:03)
14. Grebes (3:24)
15. The Knots (4:13)
16. Wild Isles End Credits (0:31)

1. Opening Titles (0:25)
2. Marine (Opening) (3:04)
3. The Seal Fight (3:41)
4. Exploring the Shallows (1:23)
5. The Seahorse (1:52)
6. The Cuttlefish Story (6:18)
7. Sea Slugs (2:02)
8. Crabs en Masse (2:22)
9. The Tides (1:14)
10. Starfish Hunting (3:30)
11. Otters (2:47)
12. Protecting the Home (3:56)
13. Exotic Creatures Basking Sharks (4:49)
14. Skilful Hunters (3:20)
15. Marine (Closing) (1:19)
16. Wild Isles End Credits (0:31)

Some of the names of the tracks contain spelling errors, e.g. "door mouse" rather than dormouse, "pollenating" rather than pollinating, "damoiselles" rather than demoiselles, "han harrier" vs hen harrier, "macca" vs machair etc.

Wild Isles at BBC Online

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