The latest nature documentary series from David Attenborough, Wild Isles, takes viewers on a breathtaking journey through the stunning landscapes of Ireland. The series highlights the natural beauty of Ireland’s coast, mountains, and wildlife, showcasing the country’s unique flora and fauna. However, as Attenborough is known to do, he also delivers a powerful warning about the threats facing Ireland’s natural heritage. From climate change to habitat loss, viewers are left with a sobering message about the urgent need to protect our planet’s remaining wild spaces.
David Attenborough’s latest series, Wild Isles, focuses on the natural wonders of Britain and Ireland, and features some stunning footage from the latter half of the series’ namesake. A highlight of the show is footage of the majestic red deer, filmed during their autumn ritual of rutting in Killarney National Park. Unusually, the crew chose to film the action from the water’s edge, as the stags battled one another in the nearby lake. This allowed the crew to capture the full ferocity of the stags’ competition, as they splashed their way through the water or thrashed on the bank.
Simon King, the naturalist and filmmaker who shot most of the footage, emphasized that the team wanted to present a new, fresh perspective on a familiar species, saying “one of the challenges was to try and record something that felt new and different and fresh with a species that is pretty familiar… That’s where Killarney came in.” He went on to describe how filming the rut from the lake allowed the viewers to grasp the creatures’ size and power and to hear their mighty bellows.
However, it wasn’t just the deer that caught the team’s eye. They spent three weeks in a hide, watching and eavesdropping on a diverse array of wildlife, ranging from foxes and otters to the red deer themselves, all while surrounded by the misty beauty of the lake. Simon said, “It’s spine-chilling, it’s beautiful and we don’t want to lose that. We’ve lost so much, and we’re losing so much at such an alarming rate across the whole of the archipelago.” This is a message that comes across loud and clear throughout the series: while the shots of magnificent creatures and stunning landscapes may inspire awe, they are rarities that sit in landscapes largely devoid of true wilderness.
This message of the preciousness of the natural world and the need to protect it is a key part of the programme’s five-year journey from conception to the finished article, as series producer Nick Gates explained. He said that the programme was honest about the state of Britain and Ireland’s ecosystems, stressing that intriguing and wondrous sights of wildlife returned from the brink often sat amid landscapes that had suffered terrible loss.
Nick said that the programme’s challenge was capturing a balance between wowing the audience with breathtaking shots and delivering an honest message. This balance was particularly important given that David Attenborough narrates the series, raising the bar for the quality of the footage even higher. Yet Nick views this as a positive thing, because it means that more people will engage with the series and hopefully come away with a deeper appreciation for nature’s beauty and the need to protect it.
The final episode of the series returns to Ireland to show the return of basking sharks to the country’s west coast, a glimpse of hope that nature can recover. This, coupled with the footage of red deer captured in Killarney, demonstrates that despite the destruction, glimpses of nature’s wonder still exist for those who know where to find them. And, perhaps more importantly, we all need to work together to ensure that these stunning sights will continue to exist for generations to come.
In conclusion, BBC’s Wild Isles: Ireland’s Gems is a breathtaking series that showcases the stunning beauty of Ireland’s natural spaces. Through the impeccable narration of David Attenborough, viewers are transported to a world of wonder, and reminded of the importance of preserving our planet’s ecosystems. While the series leaves us in awe of Ireland’s wildlife and landscapes, it also serves as a stark reminder of the fragile state of our planet. We must take action to protect our natural world before it is too late. As Attenborough himself warns, our impact on the environment has reached a point of critical urgency, and it is up to us to make a difference. Let us heed his call and do all that we can to safeguard the wild places that make our world so special.
