We’ve been receiving some good comments from Birds readers about Toby Hough’s Following the cranes feature in the latest issue. Thanks very much – we’re really pleased you enjoyed it!
It was great working closely with Toby and the other guys in the Film Unit on this piece for Birds and finding out about the work of our multiple award-winning Film Unit. It may seem like a glamorous job, but like so many jobs that seem like a breeze on the surface, it is a tough life being a wildlife film maker. Toby’s diaries and the shots of the trip prove how much effort, patience and dedication is needed to film wild birds.
I thought you might be interested in some extra shots of Toby’s travels that we weren’t able to print in the magazine so here are a few extras below. Let me know if you have any questions about what is going on by posting a comment below and I’ll nip across the office to ask Toby!
Finally, please do get in touch using the details on page 71 of the magazine if you’d like a copy of Born to Fly. It is a brilliant film and at £9.99, it's is a real bargain – and the perfect Christmas present too.
You may have read about Toby’s brush with mosquitoes, and his battle with a numb bum during six hours in a cramped hide to film cranes at the nest in Poland. Here he is making his way back from the nest along a woodland stream for a well deserved break.
Can you spot the big, long-legged bird in this picture? Take a look on top of the barn and you’ll see the reason why the team erected this platform in rural Poland. It's not a crane; it’s a white stork on its nest.
The next time you feel weighed down by your camera, remember this shot. It’s all the equipment Toby and the team took to Sweden to capture the footage that you can see on Born to Fly.
Here’s Toby ‘going all crane’ to keep up with a sprightly youngster at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust centre at Slimbridge where the young cranes were reared for the Great Crane Project. To help prevent ‘human imprinting’ on the young cranes, those who looked after the birds wore these flattering grey cloaks to look like adult cranes. Looking good T!