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A solo safari in the west

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27th January, 2008

Bristol Evening Post, Bristol, Avon, UK

Wildlife photographer Brian Phipps talks to zoologist and film-maker Richard Brock about his latest project - right on his own doorstep Richard Brock, renowned zoologist and wildlife film-maker, has travelled the world shooting memorable images of the planet's most impressive wildlife.

But the conservationist and Cambridge University zoologist, pictured inset, has been turning his lens on subjects closer to his home in Chew Magna - and across the UK.

The latest work of the founder of Living Planet Productions and The Brock Initiative is a DVD of life on the Somerset Levels. Using skills garnered during decades filming for the BBC, he is now an independent film-maker of conservation and wildlife documentaries.

''My 35 years with the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol as a producer took me to many parts of the world," he says. "I was fortunate enough to visit some of the most beautiful and wild places on the planet, often with David Attenborough on series such as Life On Earth and The Living Planet.

"What we saw and filmed there was often new to television and now forms a valuable archive of global wildlife in a rapidly changing world.

"Gorillas, tigers and whales may seem a long way away from bees and butterflies, otters and swans but, to me, our own countryside has a lot to offer, especially if you look closely.

"And that is what my latest production, Somerset's Water Paradise: Wildlife on the Levels tries to do."

It was filmed over eight years as Richard often passed through the area on trips to Devon and usually, although not always, as wildlife and weather are often unpredictable, he would see and film something going on.

Over time these little incidents added up to a lively and sometimes surprising collection, such as shots of a grass snake swimming into a reed bed, a barn owl hunting at dusk, a heron following a digger at work in a ditch and then catching an eel thrown up by the machine's bucket.

Then there were the longer-term efforts, such as waiting all day in a hide for a glimpse of an otter and several attempts at the amazing starling roost at Westhay - surely one of the most remarkable avian sights in Britain. He even managed to film a single white individual in the whirling millions.

Richard says he is also fascinated by the people who work on the Levels, including those there in ancient times when the area was a great sheet of water with Glastonbury Tor an island in an inland sea. He wonders if sea levels may rise again, causing history to repeat itself.

Tourism, local employment and the management of this unique piece of historic Britain are essential aspects of life on the Levels. The area seems to be thriving at the moment but the future is somewhat uncertain, with the risk of more flooding and the attempts to control it.

Richard illustrates these issues through the lives of the mute swan, above and below the surface, and the perennial favourite, the otter.

His camera follows their lives through a number of seasons, and keeps an eye on their fascinating diversity of neighbours. Herons, frogs, moles, butterflies, owls, geese, ducks, fish, water voles, snakes, field mice, kingfishers and damselflies all feature. The story starts with the rescue of three otter cubs, Splish, Splash and Splosh, who became national celebrities, thanks to the work of the Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre in Highbridge.

Pauline Kidner, founder of Secret World, was over the moon to be associated with Richard's production. She said: "It's great to see the three mischievous otter cubs in this film, where Richard has also captured the beauty and mystique of Somerset so well. " Richard says his main motivation in all his work has been to reveal in a fresh, interesting and entertaining way, how special the West Country is, so that people will value it for the future and, hopefully, fend off any threat or development that might despoil it.

As David Attenborough often said to him: "People will not value or care about something unless they see and understand it". This is certainly true of the "charismatic mega-fauna", such as gorillas, tigers and whales. But supporting the celebrity animals, those "flagship species" and their habitat, explains Richard, will mean that smaller, less dramatic creatures will also survive. But he believes they deserve as much attention as possible in their own right, be they frogs, beetles, voles or robins.

In an earlier film, Chew Valley Lake: A Diary, filmed near Bristol over eight years, Richard featured wildlife of all shapes and sizes. He then turned to moorhens, producing Moorhens: Sex And Violence On The River Chew.

Unfortunately, Richard says his local parish magazine omitted the word "moorhens" from its billing.

Other previous films he has made in the UK have included two about the beautiful white heron, the little egret, called The Egret has Landed Part I and The Egret has Landed: Where Egrets Dare Part II. With warmer winters and an indomitable urge to travel and win, this bird has flown north from Europe to colonise much of England and is now a common sight on our estuaries, rivers and lakes, including on the Somerset Levels.

From such local subjects, the Brock Initiative has gone on to reach out far and wide, making conservation and environmental films in nine countries, from Indonesia to Galapagos and Africa to Central America.

Richard adds: "Increasingly we try to reach local people about local issues and local lives, be they animal, plant or human. The response is usually enthusiastic and effective.

"A lake in Madagascar may seem many miles from Somerset but all wetlands are valuable today. In one instance, a 17-minute film helped to save a lake by encouraging and educating in every nearby village of its importance. "

Donations to Secret World will be made for every copy of Somerset's Water Paradise: Wildlife on the Levels sold. For more information - including an offer of a free wildlife film DVD with purchase - contact Claire Allen on 01761 221 147.