Frozen Planet II – episode 2 – review

 

Harp seal mother and pup, featuring in episode 2 of Frozen Planet II. (Image source : bbc.co.uk)

With the grand opening theme as provided by Hans Zimmer, we begin episode two of Frozen Planet II – Frozen Ocean. This episode casts an eye over the Arctic, its landscape and wildlife, through the seasons.

From here on out, a spoiler alert is in effect. Though if anybody has waited as long as I have to watch this series, I would be surprised!

As you might expect from any nature documentary series to which Attenborough is attached, there are beautiful shots of epically wonderful locations and wildlife. Both awe inspiring and dramatically vivid. Shots of polar bears are beautiful, and striking. Scenes of them hunting seals, with vibrant red blood splashed across pristine ice and white fur, are particularly impressive – capturing the beauty and violence of nature all at once.

But also there are purely touching moments. When a female bear meets a male of the species, conflict and violence is anticipated. However, instead, they play. And we watch the animals skating across the ice together, as Attenborough narrates, "apparently, just for the joy of it." 

A moment that reveals a depth to the animals most might never see.

A theme of this episode is the temperamental nature of the Arctic environment, of how the landscape changes with seasons, or even from one minute to the next. An aspect of the Arctic that dominates the lives of the animals that live there.

In spring, as temperatures creep above freezing, ice melts and great change inches across the landscape. To emphasise how this changing landscape influences the lives of animals here, we are introduced to beluga whales which, because of ice cover shifting because of spring melt, are at risk of losing open water where they can surface to breathe.

A risk that these animals must face every year.

Later, we meet a one week old harp seal pup and its mother. Its fur is thick and pristine white, matching the icy scenery. Beautiful shots of the pup feeding from the mother as a light snow falls are gorgeous. Indeed, so rich are the images that the viewer risks getting lost in them, missing Attenborough's excellent narration of the events on screen, supplemented with scientific findings and statistics.

The underwater shots of the pup, as it takes its first dip into Arctic waters, are worth watching the episode alone. It is shots like these that make this documentary series a wonder to watch!

Time passes – weeks pass in minutes . . .

The scenes of this pup end sadly in a storm, with the narration informing the viewer that, because of rising temperatures at the Arctic, storms are becoming more frequent, and seal pups are being forced into the sea before they are ready be in the water for any significant period. The story of this seal pup ends ominously with scenes of the youngster on an ice floe being battered by stormy seas.

Two-centimetre skeleton shrimp might not be the highlight of the episode, or even sound particularly interesting to many, but one of the things that these nature documentaries do, through excellent camera operation, is to reveal the beauty and intriguing nature of even the smallest life. 

And, from some of the smallest lives in the sea to some of the largest, and longest lived – bowhead whales, which might be a couple of centuries old!

Killer whales, as viewers of previous series might know, tend to promise dramatic scenes. And, when they appear in this episode, Attenborough tells the viewer that the pod we see on screen specialises in hunting bowhead whales.

And so followsscenes of battle and blood in the water. Never pleasant, but as I mentioned in the review of the first episode, a documentary which documents events selectively is close to being no documentary at all. 

The killers hunting bowheads is natural. However, we learn that more and more bowheads are being lost to killers for one reason – rising temperatures. With less ice, which the bowheads use as cover and protection when targeted by killers, the bowheads are more easily predated by the orca.

There is more. Walruses rolling from beaches into the sea to try and escape rising heat, and polar bears, bloody-faced and aggressive, coming into conflict with each other over stretched resources. All for one reason – rising temperatures.

One fears that, by now, there will be some rolling their eyes and turning away.

Nature documentaries now must navigate the problem of how to approach the subject of climate change when there are sections of the audience that will never hear it. When scientists are now predicting that the Arctic will be ice free in summer by 2035, there is urgency to documenting and studying rising temperatures and the causes. But, a quick glance at Twitter will tell you there are those who will dismiss the topic out of hand.

The series is revealing in more ways than one; the scenes upon the screen, and the hashtags and opinions screamed into the void across social media following each airing.

In the previous review, I did not mention the segment following the main programme during which we get an insight into the work behind the scenes. It is worth watching and rightfully shines a light on the excellent work of those on location, documenting the nature and wildlife.

In this segment, we follow the team behind the shots of the harp seal mother and pup mentioned earlier. And, in these segments too there is drama. We follow the camera operators in the icy waters striving to get shots of the pup underwater. And then there is the drama of boats trapped between shifting ice floes.

The segment ends with the team forced to abandon the seal pup because of stormy weather. We see the pup left to its fate from behind the scenes this time, and it is as tough a watch from this point of view as it was earlier in the documentary.

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Frozen Planet 2 – Episode 1 – review

 

Polar bear mother after an unsuccessful hunt. (Image source: bbc.co.uk)

Settling in, with a generous portion of pasta, the stand fan stood useless in a corner now, I am anticipating wonder. Because, once comfortable, I press play on episode one of Frozen Planet II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

And, from here on out, a spoiler alert is in effect . . .

The episode opens with Sir Attenborough looking over a large virtual representation of Planet Earth, specifically its most frozen places. He reminds us that in the first series, Frozen Planet, which first aired eleven years ago, we explored the Arctic and Antarctica. In this follow up series, we are promised a look at all frozen places across the globe, the entire cryosphere.

We are also reminded that these places on our planet are some of the most vulnerable, and they are rapidly being lost.

In this series, Sir David tells us, we will see the precious wildlife in these places, wildlife that is seriously under threat, whilst there is "still time to save them."

It is impossible to ignore the adversities facing wildlife and the natural world. And Sir David, with a love for, and first hand experience of, the natural world that spans almost the entirety of his ninety-six years, lends his voice to acknowledge those adversities. 

You'd struggle to find a voice worth listening to more on the subject, in my humble opinion.

"This is Frozen Planet 2 . . . "

After the programme's opening theme music fades, the episode begins proper with a breeding colony of Emperor penguins in Antarctica. A scene that viewers of the original series might be familiar with. But, this time, rather than following the trials of the parent birds as they strive for the survival of newly born chicks, we meet the colony as the parents leave the chicks, done with the job of raising the new generation.

In the opening sequence, we follow the juvenile Emperor penguins, already nearly a metre tall, as they make the journey from the place of their birth to the sea. Traversing the ice as spring sun warms the landscape, they must navigate cracks that are beginning to appear beneath their feet.

There is a moment of slight drama when the birds do fall through a crack, and struggle to get back on the ice. But this is a rather calm and cute opening – you must have a heart colder than the Antarctic itself if you don't feel some warmth at the sight of the young penguin chicks! – and there is greater drama to come yet.

A scene of Killer whales hunting seal anticipates a tougher watch. Again, anyone that has watched Attenborough documentaries before will remember what efficient and intelligent hunters these animals are. And, indeed, as Attenborough tells us that the orca have a ninety per cent hunt success rate, we watch the family of Killer whales topple a Weddell seal from an ice floe and feed on the unfortunate animal.

As promised at the top of the episode, this series will explore all icy places across the planet, unlike the previous series which only took in the Arctic and Antarctica.

Temperatures drop and ice forms in places of great altitude, we are reminded. And so, the next sequence takes us to the tops of the Andes mountain range, and wondrously beautiful views play across the screen. Truly awesome views.

The awesome beauty though is fragile.

When we are introduced to a Siberian tiger, a powerful and stunning image, we are reminded that it is an animal forced to the brink of extinction, with fewer than five-hundred thought to be left in the wild.

The sequence follows the big cat in a search for food and, using footage obviously gathered over months and months, plays out the story wonderfully. With moments from the past fading into the present, as the tiger follows the scent of possible prey that had passed through the landscape weeks and months before. As footage of animals recorded months before blends seamlessly with the tigers presence in the scene, it is a revelation of just how beautifully the team behind the documentary are able to use the technology available to them to tell the stories of the wildlife they have documented.

This sequence is followed by beautifully shot views of the Aurora borealis. In the first half hour of the programme, we have already followed penguin chicks on their first significant journey, watched as orca hunt seal, and followed a Siberian tiger in search of food. The Aurora marks the halfway point in the episode well. A moment of pure beauty.

Soon after, we are immersed into a scene of a more brutal nature. The sight of a Grizzly bear killing new born Musk oxen, as many as it can take, and the confused and inexperienced young oxen not knowing to run from, rather than toward, the predator, is a tough watch. But a nature documentary that does not document the adversities and the brutalities of nature is no documentary at all. It is a Victorian idea of nature being all harmony and elegance, edited to tell a fairytale version of the natural world and wildlife.

And these animals, the hunters must do what they must do to survive, as they have done for the entirety of their time on this planet. They are not villains. They just are.

Besides, there is still much here to warm the heart and raise a smile, and perhaps those moments are all the more wonderful because they happen side by side with the violence that can happen in nature.

There is though sadness, and bittersweet beauty here too. Time lapse footage of ice melting faster and faster, Greenland glaciers rolling with the sound of thunder, ice breaking and water crashing . . . A mother polar bear striving to feed her young in a landscape changing faster than these animals can adapt to that change . . .

But. This documentary reveals to viewers, though there is a fight to be fought, there is still something sublime worth fighting for.

Must watch television, Frozen Planet II is available on BBC iPlayer.

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A list of quotations for animal and nature lovers . . .

 

Life adapting. Spotted on a riverside walk. (Photo from personal collection)

What's the difference between bantz, bruv, and witty conversation?

As nature lovers, as friends of the animals, illuminate your exchanges with some of these quotations, gathered here, just for the lulz . . .

1. "There is no beast without cruelty." - Friedrich Nietzsche

2. "I suppose nobody has ever been struck a direct blow by a rabbit. At least, not deliberately." - Sir William Connor, journalist

3. "Did you know that squirrels are the Devil's oven mitts?" - Miss Piggy

Muppet, Miss Piggy (Image source: Wikipedia)

4. "Laws of Nature are human inventions, like ghosts." - Robert M. Pirsig

5. "To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall." - T. H. Huxley

6. "I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulette I could have worn." - Henry David Thoreau

7. "Of all the things that oppress me, this sense of the evil working of nature herself - my disgust at her barbarity - clumsiness - darkness - bitter mockery of herself - is the most desolating." - John Ruskin

8. "I do not believe Nature has a heart: and I suspect that, like many another beauty, she has been credited with a heart because of her face." - Francis Thompson

Francis Thompson, poet

9. I think that I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd;

    I stand and look at them long and long.

    They do not sweat and whine about their condition;

    They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;

    They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;

    Not one is dissatisfied - not one is demented by the mania of owning things;

    Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;

    Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

    - Walt Whitman

10. "What differentiates man from other animals is perhaps feeling rather than reason. I have seen a cat reason more often than laugh or weep. Perhaps it laughs or reasons within itself - but then perhaps within itself a crab solves equations of the second degree." - Miguel de Unamuno

11. "The fox knows many things; the hedgehog, one big thing." - Erasmus, referencing an ancient Greek poetry fragment

Erasmus, philosopher (Image source: Wikipedia)

12. "There is nothing useless in nature; not even uselessness itself." - Michel de Montaigne

13. It's surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth." - Sir David Attenborough

14. "Unfortunately this earth is not a fairy-land, but a struggle for life, perfectly natural and therefore extremely harsh." - Martin Bormann

15. "Repetition is the only form of permanence that nature can achieve." - George Santayana

16. "Of all the mammals in Britain, it is the fox that has cast its spell on me. I find it, as one of the largest predators left in our islands, a captivating creature: a comfortably familiar figure in our country landscapes; an intriguing flash of bright-eyed wildness in our towns." - Lucy Jones, nature writer

17. My heart leaps up when I behold

               A rainbow in the sky:

      So was it when my life began;

      So is it now I am a man;

      So be it when I shall grow old,

               Or let me die!

      The Child is father of the Man;

      And I could wish my days to be

      Bound each to each by natural piety.

      - William Wordsworth

Thank you for reading!

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The Blue Planet; two decades on

 

Image sourced from bbc.co.uk

It is just over twenty years since The Blue Planet, a comprehensive documentary series on the natural history of the world's oceans, aired on the BBC, back in September - October, 2001.

With narration provided by the broadcaster, natural historian, and author, Sir David Attenborough, we were introduced to the private lives of some of the seas' most fascinating creatures; from the small copepods, to the large blue whales. The series was a real gift for natural history enthusiasts, with some of the animals gracing our screens being little known, even to experts and marine biologists.

From the deepest parts of the sea floor, to the shores where water laps the land, this was a groundbreaking series that took viewers below the surface of our world's waters, and introduced us to animal and plant life there.

Sixteen years later, Blue Planet II, aired, and was credited with raising awareness of plastic pollution. After the first episode aired in the UK, there was increase in internet searches about conservation, and a number of conservation charities reported an increase in traffic to their sites.

Over the years, as detrimental impacts upon the environment caused by human activity have become more and more apparent, Sir Attenborough, and the projects with which he is attached, have become more overtly supportive of conservation efforts. As a broadcaster who has spent his life working in the natural world, in a career that spans across eight decades, driven by personal interest and passion, he is near uniquely placed as a witness to the changes that have occurred across the face of our planet.

Looking back at the original series, just over twenty years since it first aired, one wonders whether this will become a document of a world lost. With daunting predictions about the ratio of fish to plastic being equal by 2050 (www.bbc.co.uk/news), and reports of just how much coral has been lost (www.theguardian.com/environment), it's difficult not to have these fears about the health of the waters. And, ultimately, the state of our planet.

One hopes, that these documentaries will not become so irrelevant in the years to come. And it might just be worth going back to watch these wonderful, award-winning, documentaries, and to be inspired all over again. Inspired to do whatever we can - whether that's with donations of time, effort, or money - because this is a beautiful blue planet worth protecting.

You can watch The Blue Planet on  BBC iPlayer

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Do you know the difference between naturalism and naturism?

 

Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan. Image sourced from mirror.co.uk

In today's post, I want to talk about the people that have changed my life, particularly as it relates to nature and wildlife (appropriate, since this is, for all intents and purposes, a nature and wildlife blog).

And, as I write this blog - and hopefully, you read it - let's all be thankful that I found inspiration in the naturalists of this world, rather than the naturists. Much better that I use this platform to share words and pictures about my love for nature and wildlife, rather than that lifestyle choice.

Each to their own but, trust me, nobody would want to hear from me if this were a naturist blog!

And now, now that I've had my fun with words, let us begin . . .

The people that have changed my life

Firstly, and foremost, I should thank my parents, for raising me in the countryside. It is there that I was introduced to nature and wildlife.

From the windows of the house in which I grew up, the house where my parents still live, I saw all sorts of animals that captured and intrigued me. That fascinated me. There were hedgehogs, deer, foxes, house martins, and many others. 

To this day, I can still see and hear animals of different kinds from the windows when I visit my parents' house. The last time I was there, for the festive season, I stopped still for a moment when I heard the call of  a tawny owl coming over the fields.

I am very lucky that I got to grow up in a small village, and that I could look out over fields towards a river from the upstairs windows. I am very lucky indeed.

I have always been a tad more introverted than I am extroverted, and I hardly ran with a large crowd when I was younger. And today my crowd is even smaller. But I am quite happy pottering along countryside paths. Whether they are baked hard and dusty in the summer time, or making me work hard to navigate their sucking and sloppy churned up mud in the winter, I am happy on those paths.

Away from those paths, for education and inspiration, I turn to the nature and wildlife writers and television presenters. The reason I chose the image with which I opened this post is that those two presenters, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, have figured in my love for the natural world since I was very young.

Chris Packham began presenting The Really Wild Show in 1986, the year after I was born. And, when I was eight years old, Michaela Strachan joined the programme. Today I find myself watching them still, on The Watches, on the BBC (Springwatch, Autumnwatch, and Winterwatch). Their chemistry, and passion for their subject, has inspired me, and their work has educated me since my childhood.

For more on these two presenters (and others involved with The Watches), you might want to visit another blog post, here, which takes a little look at this year's Winterwatch series.

Sir David Attenborough. Image sourced form bbc.co.uk

I could, of course, have opened this post with the above image. And when one discusses naturalist television presenters, you cannot close that discussion without mentioning Sir Attenborough.

His voice is synonymous with the natural history documentary. And perhaps he was always meant to be a natural historian, having spent much of his boyhood outdoors, collecting fossils and other natural specimens. There is still innocent wonder in his face and voice, caught on film for us to see, when he explores the wonders of the natural world.

Recently in his career, he has been more overt in his passion for conservation and environmental causes, driven partly by having spent his life in natural history, and having been witness to some of its destruction and loss himself. 

Of course, the documentary films I, and many others enjoy, would not be possible without the filmmakers and everyone else behind the cameras. These people too changed my life for the better. Many of the Attenborough documentaries I enjoy feature an epilogue at the close, taking a little look at how footage is captured and the challenges that are faced by the people behind the cameras.

I've much respect and appreciation for the nature and wildlife filmmakers.

Losing Eden by Lucy Jones. Photo from personal collection.

And where would the keen naturalist be without the nature and wildlife writers? Those who go out into the world, investigating and gathering information, passing their finds on to us?

I've reference pocketbooks purchased from the RSPB online shop, to help me identify flowers and birds that I might spot when I'm out rambling. There are investigative books, like Lucy Jones' Foxes Unearthed, on my shelves. And then there are the poets, like Wordsworth, whose works were inspired by nature, and who, in turn, created works that inspire. My love for nature is, like the books lining my shelves, is driven by something romantic and poetic, but also a fascination for the facts and science.

The people that really changed my life, that nurtured a love for nature and wildlife, and educated me too, were these broadcasters and writers. When I come indoors, it is to them I turn still, looking for guidance and education. 

And let us all be thankful I never got confused along the way, and confused my love for naturalists with a love for naturists, or this might be a very different blog! One that nobody should ever wish to read!

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SAVE this post for later, to refer back to when Frozen Planet II airs

 

Image from bbc.co.uk

The BBC nature documentary series, Frozen Planet, took us to the ends of our world, back in 2011. Those sections of the series filmed in the Arctic focused on the struggles of polar bears and Arctic wolves, throughout the Arctic year and its changing seasons. Though other species and storylines about the Arctic are introduced. In the frozen south, Antarctica, the documentary's focus was on the penguin inhabitants but, again, other species and storylines were filmed and developed.

Following the success of the BBC's Planet Earth and Blue Planet, this documentary series about the nature and wildlife at the opposite ends of our planet aired with narration being supplied again by Sir David Attenborough. 

At ten years old, and with a follow up series, Frozen Planet II, on the way (though, I am not sure exactly when - but you can bet I am keeping my ears open for that date!), I settled in for a marathon re-watch of the original series at the tail end of the festive season. It is still a beautiful and enlightening watch. And, with Christmas a fading memory, all that snow and pretty ice felt somehow appropriate.

Any documentary series with Sir David attached is more likely than not to find its way on to my watch list. And this series, as with the Planet Earth and Blue Planet series before it, is beautifully shot and informative. 

With a growing awareness of climate change and environmental emergencies around the globe, I can imagine that any follow up to the original series would make comparisons between what filmmakers saw ten years ago and what they filmed a decade later. If so, I can't imagine that it will be a heartwarming and cheerful comparison.

For the original series, an episode was filmed that focused on climate change and its impact. As you can imagine, this drew sneers from some quarters. Particularly in America where a number of networks refused to air the episode because it was seen as politically sensitive and could cause controversy. 

Ten years later, one hopes that we are a little more ready to see what is right in front of us.

If you go back to this series before the follow up airs, watch out for the life and death battle between an Arctic wolf and a bison. It is one of the most beautiful, poignant, and raw moments from the series. It is one of the most memorable moments from any nature documentary series, in fact!

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