Gran Canaria: Sharks, Sun Cream & Cats

Sun cream. The first day of the trip to Gran Canaria to find and hopefully film angel sharks, included the need to rub sun cream into the three bald patches in my hair on the sides of my head. Thanks to my over enthusiastic sister who rushed my pre-film trip haircut. At least one part of my head had an extremely long tuft, so I definitely didn't need to cream there.

The build up and organisation of the trip was immense, and after months of planning, scrutiny and re-planning, all the equipment, logistics and scripts were ready for the film ahead.

One night and a four-hour plane journey later, we were leaving the hotel, past the pool and to wait by the corner of the palm tree lined road. The morning sun already warm as I squinted my eyes in it's brightness. My old man used to tell me off for squinting. He wouldn't be impressed; the crows feet (I prefer the term bat-wings) from the corners of my eyes now well-defined as I have taken little measures to prevent the need to regularly squint. Swifts screamed and spun on the wing as they looked for nest sites high up on the hotel walls.

The Davy Jones Diving van picked us up, and the search for angel sharks had begun.

After meeting the team, we set the kit up, loaded the small van, and headed to the El Cabron reserve. A vast and barren landscape, windswept with little vegetation and a dark, jagged rocky coastline cutting into the sea. Being an island in the Atlantic Ocean, the winds get pretty high. Which means this jagged rocky coastline gets battered with some fairly strong waves and currents; making for some challenging entry and exits to the water! 

I have never been diving in this part of the world, and I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful and rich the underwater life and landscapes are.

Being close to Africa gives the area a mix of typically North Atlantic species, as well as more tropical-like fish.

Once in the water and relaxed, we began the search for angels. Being a species of shark that is flattened, and buries itself in the sand to lie in wait for prey to swim past, we spent a fair bit of time looking over a sandy underwater landscape, mesmerising with the dancing beams of sunlight swirling across the sea floor.

Cuttlefish, with their insane ability to change the colour and pattern of their skin with pigments called chromatophores, lay invisible on the seabed or on the rocky reef. Completely unnoticeable until they pop up, hover in the water, raise two arms and propel off over the rocky reef and out of sight once again.

Barracuda always seem pretty chilled. Like they know that there isn't much that can mess with them. Whenever I've seen barracuda, they seem to steadily and confidently cruise past. No fuss.

Upon approaching an octopus squeezed into a gap under a boulder, it stretched out its arms, puffed out its chest and pushed itself through the water like a torpedo.

But we had come to film the sharks. The first thing you find are their beds in the sand. The places where they have been laying, with everything buried except their eyes and maybe a dorsal fin or two.

Diagonally, on the left handside you can make out where an angel was laying

With angel sharks, like all wildlife, it is hit or miss, pure chance, whether you are in the same place as them at the same time. And we can only stay down for as long as our equipment and dive time allows. Two dives a day for four days and, without spoiling too much, we found them. And I could not be happier with our encounters. My mum is not a shark fan, mostly because of their 'black, dead eyes'. Lots of species of sharks have varied and colourful eyes (Although, I admit, the greenland sharks eyes are pretty freakish: link greenland shark photo). And angel sharks, in my opinion, have one of the most beautiful eyes of any fish I have seen. Almost golden with camouflage and a thin slit for the pupil, their eyes are an extension of their bodies colouration.

Angel sharks are one of the rarest sharks in the world – wiped out from the majority of it's range across Europe. As part of the film, we met with some great dedicated scientists and conservationists for interviews, set up to study and ultimately help conserve angels sharks, as well as other marine life, using a variety of methods.

Please check out The Angel SharkProject, a collaboration between the University of Las Palmas Gran Canaria, the Zoological Society of London and the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig.

We also met with Krupskaya from the ElasmoCan project. 

Top work!

I wanted some visually interesting locations for some presenter led parts of the film. So a long walk in temperatures that reached over 40 celcius to Gran Canaria's very own part of the Sahara desert was due. Maspalomas sand dunes.

Being close to the equator during summer time, the days felt unusually short, with sunrise at 07:30am and the darkness setting in well before 09:00pm. Every night we would walk the length of Playa del Ingles to get ice cream. And indulge in a bit of feral cat watching.

I didn't see a single lizard on this part of the island. Could the high cat and low lizard populations be linked? Or maybe the habitat for lizards is poor, I am not so sure.

A heap of thanks go to everyone involved at Davy Jones Diving. While I was there, we put together a little promotional video for Davy Jones. Check it out below...

Canada Part II: Icefield Parkway & Vancouver Island

The following photos and journal extracts follow on from Canada Part I.

                                                                                                                                                                   

2nd August 2014

Bow River

Under a tree I sit by Bow River. A bald eagle soars overhead, gull chicks squawk and beg for food from the adults. Further downstream, the turquoise blue water crashes into a cascade of white, the spray of Bow Falls shimmering with rainbows.

Bow Falls

3rd August 2014

Before heading off in Sam and Tanya's car, aptly named Clifford (the big red dog), I did one more hike around Tunnel Mountain. A red shafted flicker, displeased at the presence of a bald eagle, perched in the tree top let out a loud, defensive alarm call. Ravens mobbed the eagle away.

Double eggers with 3 pancakes and bacon each. Drowned in maple. We are set for the adventure ahead.

Lake Louise in the evening

4th August 2014

Back to Lake Louise, and a hike to Canada's highest and oldest tea-house; Lake Agnes Tea-house. Sitting at 7,000 feet, it gets a single helicopter drop of supplies for the year, and the staff hike up the mountain every morning with the supplies for the day ahead. Oh, the homemade apple crumble. Delicious.

Little Beehive to the right, Lake Louise below. What a colour!

Ernie admires Lake Louise

Clarks Nutcracker waiting for scraps at Agnes Teahouse

A clarks nutcracker optimistically lingers around the teahouse for scraps. At the top of Little Beehive, a ground squirrel scuttled across my legs, and up onto my arm while I lay catching my breathe. Bold little critters.

5th August 2014

North bound. Up the Icefield Parkway. A stunning drive, packed with stunning mountains, lakes and glaciers around every turn in the road. The place feels vast.

Where the rivers start; Peyto Glacier to the left, melting into Lake Peyto, feeding the river below.

My favourite of the lakes; the ice cold Bow Lake. 

Moose Lake, just off of Moraine. The air intensely warm. The forest smells thick and sweet. A peaceful lake surrounded with tracks of moose. We sat drinking lukewarm water. Sam grabs my leg, frozen. On the shoreline 40 feet to our right, a young black bear ambles along the waters edge. It did not take long for the bear to notice us, and immediately scrambled up into the forest and out of sight. Our hearts raced. That was a massive life goal achieved right there. A moment I will remember for as long as I am sane. Just better make sure we keep our eyes peeled and keep talking loudly to prevent surprising a bear. I am sure Sam will manage just fine...

6th August 2014

The sea calm. In fact, perfectly flat and mostly glassy. To my right a pine forest covered Rockies falls into the Pacific Ocean. The intertidal zone is the only thing that separates the 2,000 metre mountains with the great depths of the ocean.

On the way to Vancouver Island

We have nearly reached Vancouver Island. The ocean air freshens the senses. Now to stare out to sea for a little while..

Ernie and I enjoying the sun and sea!

8th August 2014

Yesterday we continued our long and windy drive down to Tofino. Eventually making it in time for the sun set.

Sunset from Tofino

Tofino is a mix of fishing port, tourism and awe inspiring landscapes. I immediately liked the characterful place. It's the kind of place where deer kick back in peoples gardens.

A lady sat to the right of the deer knitting in a rocking chair. Wish I had seen her before I took this!

We have ended up staying in what can only be described as a car park. With each parking space packed with tents, screaming kids and extremely loud snorers. The beach, however, is stunning. And worth the disturbance and lack of privacy, if only for a day or two. Red rock crab shells and claws scatter across the strandline and in rock pools. The forest is immense. They call it the Brazil of the North. The trees grow huge, covered in moss and lichen. Wolves frequent these woods, so we kept our eyes peeled for tracks and signs when walking in the forest.

The beautiful by-the-wind sailors, a colony of hydroids to form a jellyfish-like animal. Related to the Man O'War. 

Brazil of the North

Walking the Wild Pacific Trail, we hugged the coastline and made our way on a great trek through the forest. We sat eating lunch on some rocks that jutted out to the sea. As we ate our sandwiches and crisps, and circling bald eagle plucked a fish from the sea, and settled down with its mate on the rocks opposite. We lunched with bald eagles. surrounded by giant kelp in the gullies, breaking waves and backed by the forest.

Huge. Immense. Powerful. The beautiful bald eagle.

The crest of the wonderful Stellars Jay. 

Cheeky and bold birds, the lower half of their bodies shines electric blue when caught in the sunlight.

We return to Tofino and grab some great grub. As we leave, and get into the car, I catch eyes with an Indian man. Slender, dressed in scuffed old running trainers, ripped and worn jeans and a plain shirt. He approached the car. Clearly drunk, he stumbled slightly, coming to a stop outside the door of the car. He leaned down, almost pressed his face against the glass, grinned with bright white teeth, and shouted with delight " I CARIBOUUU". We smiled as we drove off. This guy has reaffirmed my fondness for Vancouver Island. 

5:30am. My alarm is set. But I am restless with excitement. For tomorrow, we are looking for bear. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

Thank you for reading! Or, if you are like my sister, thank you for flicking through the images! I am starting Part III as I post this, so it will not be long (hopefully) before I conclude this giant trip to Canada. 

At the moment I am working on a foxy new film project. Sadly, this time of year sees an increase in fox kill on the roads as the young disperse, and look to find new territories. Around my town alone, I have found seven dead on the roads. It makes me feel a bit sick and angry at the ignorance of the modern world. I have never seen a fox alive in my own home town before. So I have set myself a challenge to firstly find a fox, then film it as close to home as possible. 

Report your sightings to projectsplatter.co.uk if you have any near you! It isn't just fox that are killed, hedgehog, badger, deer, rodents, insects and sometimes reptiles too!

Over 100,000 fox die on Britain's roads each year

Thanks for reading!!

Blackfish, Dorset and a Film update...

Today is a good day for blog writing. Its a great grey day, and the rain beats down on the window. Last nights spectacular sunset over Whipsnade feels like a season away.

Sunset from Whipsnade

As usual, it has taken me an age to get around to another post. Mostly because I have been ridiculously busy, working every spare moment planning and researching, and now filming, for my summer's project.

In the National Marine Aquarium

I finally got around to seeing Blackfish, the 'mesmerizing psychological thriller' about captive orcas, or killer whales, and the difficulty of keeping them in captivity.

Film Poster for Blackfish

If you want to be continually shocked by the same repeated incidents five or six times in 88 minutes then definitely watch it. It is shocking, and I think it is important for everyone to understand the situation. The message is clear, and it is seemingly obvious that orcas most definitely should not be kept in captivity. Each story of an orca turning on a trainer or killing somebody were all as heart wrenching as the other. Despite this, I found that by the end of the film the individual stories had started to lose their impact. You know what's going to happen, and you are already feeling angry and frustrated and the story continues down the same road right until the end. They only briefly touch upon what can be done with the large numbers of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) currently in captivity; I only remember hearing one person mention one sentence on the matter, but I would have liked to see a bit more about the future and what can be done to help them. The entire film is aimed at Sea World, for good reason. But, boycott Sea World? Something needs to be done to evoke change. For me, this should be seen as another important learning curve in keeping animals in captivity. Compare zoo's of today with those of a fifty, even twenty, years ago and you will see a hell of a lot of differences in animal welfare. People pay good money to experience and see animals in captivity, and their funding is vital to enable a lot of the conservation work around the world. Should we demand change? Most definitely. Watch it and let me know what you think! I could talk about it for hours...

                                                                                                                                                                  

On a brighter note, here are some trip photos over the past few months!

A beautifully sunny trip to Dorset for two days with Tim to investigate a few sites and see whether we could find any reptiles went fairly successfully.

St. Oswalds Bay

Sand Lizard

We found two of the six native species of reptile to Britain. We came home having watched the sand and common lizards in the dunes of Studland, leaving the adder, grass snake, slow worm and smooth snake for a future visit. We also enjoyed a blustery walk along Durlston cliffs, where birds zipped and bombed their way along the cliff edges, while rafts of sea birds bobbed on the waters surface. A kestrel perched on a jagged rock. Its partner fed on a vole, tearing into it as waves crashed hundreds of feet below.

Kestrel at Durlston Cliffs

And the ultimate aerial predator, the peregrine falcon, effortlessly sped through the wind, cutting through the air like an arrow as it patrolled the cliffs for potential targets.

Whilst at work, we discovered a little owl nest underneath a bench in a shelter. Three chicks of slightly varying sizes and fluffiness, as the owls incubate from first laying, the chicks hatch at different times, which is thought to enable a greater success rate of fledged chicks.

One of the little owl chicks

                                                                                                                                                                  

Today is baking hot. My face warm and glowing from a day working in the sun. Over the past month I have dedicated my entire free time to planning, producing and filming of this years summer film. The subject of the film is one I am extremely passionate about. Sharks. And it's close to home. Great British Sharks.

Mako jaws in the NMA

The aim of the film is to hopefully show people that not only are there 30+ species of native sharks in British waters, but that it is possible to actually go out, hit the coast and see them in the wild. Without flying to South Africa or California.

My good friend Tim has been unbelievably great help once again. And in the meantime, he has given himself a reputation for regularly falling over when entering and exiting the sea.

Snorkeling at Mousehole with Timmy P !

Part of the film has been filmed in the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. A beautiful aquarium that is definitely worth a visit if you ever find yourself down in the South West. So far, we have carried out a couple of interviews, filmed sharks in the aquarium, and have found a nursery ground for catshark eggcases. Many thanks to David Gibson, Josh McCarty, John Hepburn and Cat Gordon for the help!

I have kept this post short to bring you up to date with Beyond the Riverbank goings on. My next post will be an extra special trip report from Canada, where I will be spending the next two weeks up in The Rockies. I have kept the film progress short, as I will do a mid-film progress report with behind-the-scenes photos of
Tim and I eating ice creams, and the film mascot, Ernie the Owl, meeting new people and seeing new places.

Ernie inspects a shield bug! 

As always, thank you for reading! And please comment and share, as the more people I have following, hopefully the more I can inspire!

Thanks ya'll !

Final Frame

Lightning over Cornwall. What a show! 

Scotland, Part II: Forest, Whiskey and a Salmon

It has taken me a long while to get around to part two of this amazing trip. I am working on a few other projects at the moment, which means the blogs may be slightly less frequent. This blog begins with a photo of a poppy, in honour of Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day.

Woodland and Edradour

The sound of birdsong woke me at around six in the morning. The melodic and flutey tones of the blackbird and the chirpy song of the robin, backed by the sweet sound of tits calling as they made their way through the branches. I opened my window to the damp and cool forest air and let it drift into my room. It was time for an early morning walk up the mountainside into the pine forest that surrounds our camp.

Boulder in the Forest

Droplets of drizzle precariously clung to the sharp, needle-like leaves of the pine trees. Fungi burst through the undergrowth and the rotting remains of wood, as they attempt to spread their spores across the forest. 

A floor of fungi

The forest felt peaceful. I caught a glimpse of two red deer hinds as they momentarily froze upon discovering Sky and myself clambering our way through the forest. They soon dashed off through the clearing far quicker than I could ever follow.

Back for an early lunch, before heading off to a distillery. In fact, potentially the worlds smallest legal whiskey distillery - Edradour. For an afternoon of learning and drinking. We are in Scotland after all...

Barrels of whiskey!

Prepare for some number-crunching statistics!

Amazingly, Edradour make in one year what Glenfiddich make in just three days. Despite this, Edradour still use 6,000 litres of water per day. If these stats are correct, and my math holds out, after a quick calculation, Glenfiddich would use around 730,000 litres of water a day. This is equivalent to 266,450,000 litres of water every year. I will repeat that; that is over two hundred and sixty six million litres of water. A year. For whiskey. That is enough water to make over 100,000 kg of rice a year. And that is just Glenfiddich. It really does make you wonder about the state of the world we live in. Of course, they did not elaborate on their use of water resources in quite so much detail on the tour.

Tummel Valley

We had a slow start to the next day. And planned to climb the nearest peak from our camp. We got ready and steadily made our way up through the mixed broadleaf woodland, fungi littering every corner of the damp forest floor.

Early autumnal woodland

We decided to go off the beaten track in an attempt to make it to the peak. In doing so, we were rewarded with incredible views of what felt like a prehistoric forest, and squelched through clearings glistening with soggy mosses, small oozing streams, rich green grasses tipped with golden brown blades and the pink and purple flowers of the heather. A fair few of what looked to be fox moth caterpillars, fed among the heather.

How I imagine the Jurassic period to have looked (maybe with less regiment to the trees)

Fox moth caterpillar (?)

Fungi even grew from the branches of trees. Incredible

 Sky at the highest point this side of the valley

 As a result of our venture into unexplored and unpaved lands, we were inundated with a small parasite - the tic. I first felt an itching sensation just under my belly button. And sure enough, upon inspection, a small black body sat with its head buried into my skin and its legs waving in the air. The dogs were riddled with them too. A couple of quick phone calls to good friends Dr. Ripley and Timmy P (thanks guys!), gave me the confidence to handle the situation. Funny enough, the tic decided to make its own way out of my stomach and started crawling around, so I removed it and carried on with the walk. As far as I am aware, that is the first time I have ever been parasitised.

Pitlochry

Before heading home, we visited Pitlochry. And we had our first red squirrel sighting of the entire trip, as the little rodent sat by the side of the road collecting food. Where the loch has been dammed, they have built a fish ladder, enabling the salmon to make their way up and around the dam. A brilliant idea and one I was intrigued by. Over 1,000 salmon had been through the ladder that year, and we were lucky enough to see one half way up the ladder in the  viewing window. Beautiful fish. 

River Tummel

Terrible salmon photo! 

Any river good for fish, is going to be good for fishing predators. A heron sat on the opposite side of the River Tummel, watching the river as it flowed past. 

Heron on the rocks

The journey home was a long one. In terms of wildlife, I did not manage to see any of the Scottish big five properly, but I had an incredible time, and got to enjoy a taste of this beautifully vast landscape. I will end the blog of the trip with my personal favourite photo. It is of Sky, half way up Ben Nevis. Looking down in the hope of spotting sheep...

Halfway up, looking down

I mentioned at the start of this post about some new projects I am working on.  I have decided to take a new direction into territory that I have no proper experience in whatsoever. All will be revealed soon for those that are interested! 

One final photo: A shy hedgehog feeding in the garden behind the old empty plant pots, as it attempts to fatten itself up for the hibernation ahead...

Hedgehog

Thank ya'll for taking time out of your lives to read the blog, or simply look at the photos. 

Until next time!