Arne was scheduled to feature in the first week of this year’s BBC Springwatch, and as the broadcast date approached the activity became frenetic. I don’t envy natural history programmes. I know from long experience that wildlife doesn’t perform to order. That fantastic things always happen yesterday, are often described as “oh you should have been here and hour ago”. Sometimes the wildlife simply doesn’t appear at all. Although knowledge and field skills are paramount, to get the film needed is to a certain degree down to luck. 

Take the hobbies for instance. If you watched the series you’ll have seen the amazing footage of hobbies hunting low over a large pool.  Filming hobbies had been on the producers wish list since our first meeting. But to be honest, I wouldn’t have put the Dorset heaths top of my list of south west sites where you are guaranteed to film them in action. Ham Wall and Shapwick in Somerset would be much easier as the birds buzz around those sites in staggering numbers.

So I was a little concerned that this was the species we were not actually going to be able to produce. But I was wrong. Paul, one of our information wardens at the Arne, on his day off had gone birding locally. Walking over a heath adjacent large pool (to the north of Arne) he chanced on hobbies hunting. As this was early in the season they were hunting dragonflies. And better than this, the conditions were such that the birds were swooping very low over the water to catch their prey.

In Pauls own words “What I saw when I got there, I can honestly say is the “best birding experience of my life”. I sat there for 3 hours solid watching 4 Hobbies catching dragonflies, sometimes 3 feet from my face”

The natural urge to share such wonders resulted into a call back to the reserve. As luck would have it a BBC camera team were there when the call came in and, in the drop of a hobby’s feather, they were on site with their slo-mo cameras to capture what for me what were some of the best sequences in the whole series. All down to a lucky sighting by one of our wardens.

While this was one of the better sequences in my opinion it was actually slightly outdone by the piece on a large eight legged creature that makes Arne its home. Raft spiders are real monsters. They are quite enormous spiders that stalk the edges of the many pools that dot the heath. This was one of the species that Dante and myself recommended to the BBC, knowing that it would make for excellent television. And the wee beastie didn’t let us down.

Leaning over the edge of one of the reserves’ pools Simon King was filmed ‘fishing’ for raft spiders with tiny flies. These were eagerly taken by the voracious arachnids. But what was totally unexpected, and you could see the surprise on the faces of those filming, was the moment a raft spider emerged from below the waters surface to take on another raft spider. Forget lions on the Serengheti, this was nature in the raw, and another lucky occurrence.

As Simon King said, the thing with heaths is there’s abundant excitement to be had if you just get down to the level on which the heath is abundant, and this means the space within a few centimetres of the ground and water’s surface. This abundance was similarly revealed in the lovely footage of the huge wood ants nest with its thousands of feisty citizens. 

The other sequence that caught my attention featured those now common-ish creatures of Heathland, nightjars. I do like a bit of tech – gadgets and the like – even though I try to deny it. I realise that it doesn’t replace the primacy of direct experience itself, but sometimes it adds to it. This is what happened with the heat sensitive camera pointed at a churring nightjar. It was only a short sequence, but the heat coloured outline of the bird churring on its branch I found oddly fascinating, and likewise the small blurr of colours as a bird flew across the heath. It made me wonder about other applications of such devices.

Although it wasn’t shown, I’m told the camera team also, out of curiosity also pointed the device at a wood ants nest. As cold bloodied creatures the ants obviously didn’t register, but I believe warm air emanating from vents on the nest did – which again would have been fascinating to see.

Nightjars also made an appearance while we were filming live one evening as well. Dante and myself had been invited to take part in the Springwatch ‘pub quiz’. This took place after the main live broadcast “on the red button”. This, a new phrase to me, simply meant that viewers could see the quiz at home if they pressed the red button on their TV remote control.

The location for the quiz was the heath above Morden Bog and following something of dash Dante and myself, Simon King and a couple of BBC staff took our seats on some hay bales to answer a series of multiple choice questions. These questions could also be answered at the same time by viewers “on the red button”.

I’ve always reckoned you can tell a “real” naturalist in the field because, whatever the situation, whatever the conversation, “real” naturalists only ever pay you about 50% of their attention. They will always be half looking and half listening elsewhere. If they are birders they’ll be half looking up, if they are entomologists they will be half looking down. If you have something serious to discuss with a naturalist, never do it outside.

And worse still are the naturalists who also regularly lead walks and events. They are burdened not only with the curse of not really paying attention to conversations, but also the curse of having to tell you, often at inappropriate moments, the names of the all creatures they encounter..

“Brian, I’ve got something serious to discuss, its us”

“What’s that love?”

“Its us, it’s just not working”

“What’s not working love?”

“Brian, I want a divorce”

“Did you see that? I think it was a Dartford warbler. Its calling, listen”

So it was when, despite being on live TV, and despite supposedly concentrating on the quiz, when two nightjars appeared and drifted behind the cameras I noticed that both Dante and Simon King just had to point them out and name them on air. They probably don’t even remember they did it. Real naturalists both.

For us, the presence of BBC Springwatch on site was a real boon. It encouraged people to renew their acquaintance with the site, and to look in more detail at what the place had to offer. And its if you want also want to deepen your experience and knowledge of our wildlife.

On our initial walk ‘round with the Springwatch producer and researcher we suggested a number of ideas for things that would work well on Autumnwatch.  I’m pleased to say that, following their experiences in June, the show will most likely be back in October with a new set of heathland tales – but I’ll leave it at that as I really don’t want to give away any surprises.