The team that did it (from left to right): Alex Ash (warden), Richard Taylor-Jones (producer), Matt meech (editor), David Steel (head warden), Andrew Yarme (sound/light) and Gordon Buchanan (presenter).
The team preparing to leave on Friday(Sorry all for late update but back on track and daily updates will be posted)
The final day arrived and all the hard work put in over the past two weeks was nearly at completion. Thursday witnessed the final filming and editing on the Farnes for Autumnwatch 2008 and the program was beamed to over three million viewers, as they tuned in to bid farewell to the Farne Islands and the seal colonies. It was a great ending to a great two weeks and no one will ever forget the characters, the storms and the magic that is the Farne Islands. The BBC team of Gordon, Richard, Andrew and Matt have worked their socks off and all deserve a huge pat on the back for bringing you the amazing images from the islands.
Finally as we waved goodbye from Brownsman to the viewers, the credits rolled and the beer started to flow and the team celebrated and it was all over. Tomorrow the team would sail off the islands at 08:00 and that would be that...or would it.
It was an early start on Friday as everyone was up at 06:00 to pack and decamp to the jetty, with everything from satellite dishes to cameras. However it wasn't just the team that were up, as the wind was strong, very strong. Sunrise broke just after 7am and it was obvious that the team were not escaping the Farnes, as the big waves crashed all around us. Disaster. A quick check of the forecasts revealed a south-easterly weather-front had crept in and was due to sit over the Farnes for several days. The result was that storms were lashing the islands and the team would not be leaving the islands, for some time.
However, due to family life and work commitments, it was important everyone departed and therefore a helicopter was called and eventually, at long last, the team of four departed the Farnes mid-afternoon for pastures new. As for me and Alex, we stayed behind as the hard work has only begun. We've got another 800 seal pups to be born over the next four weeks and I'm going to bring you all the highs and lows and update you daily on Nemo and co and to tell the stories of the Farnes.
The Farnes 'photo of the day' blog will remain throughout November and I would be delighted if everyone would keep on reading and discover the trials and tribulations of this very special place. I'm heading to the north beach today and tomorrow I'll bring you all the news of Nemo and Lucky.
1 comment:
Wow that all sounded traumatic - the leaving of Autumnwatch .It was wonderful to see the last update on the Farnes but also very sad as it was just not long enough , yes amazing images but I for one just wanted a whole hour on the Farnes - greedy I know !!! Thank you so much for all you do and it will be lovely to have daily updates if you have time , so want to know how Nemo and Lucky are and all the others , goodness 800 in 4 weeks , if I work that out that is about 30 a day , how many out of those will survive ??. Thank you so much again for all you do and I for one will certainly look forward to your photos and updates - take care all from Archies Nan !!
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