What a fabulous night we had a week or so ago when the award winning wildlife photographer Nick Upton from Box visited the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre to give a talk on Rewilding Britain and Wild Wiltshire, facilitated by the Creative Wiltshire project.

Nick showcased the images we have acquired as part of the project at the start of the talk, focusing on his life as a wildlife filmmaker which involved working with Sir David Attenborough on the 1990s BBC series ‘The Trials of Life’, a precursor to the more recent and immensely popular Planet Earth series.

We also discovered more about the UK wildlife projects Nick has been involved with, from dressing up as a great bustard to get up close and personal with these wonderful birds on the successful breeding programmes, to filming the beavers who have been allowed to remain on the River Otter in Devon after a successful campaign by the local community. The story, including Nick’s film clips, was used on the BBC’s Springwatch.

It was also very interesting to find out how Nick approaches his work, from almost falling into the lake at Corsham Court to the intricacies of filming wild animals such as pine martins and harvest mice (the latter won him the documentary category of this year’s British Wildlife awards). This project involved a Labrador called Tuli whose pioneering work as a sniffer dog scenting out the mice is aiding this important conservation project.

Nick is also passionate about the Wiltshire landscape, giving us tips on the best places to go to find the greatest diversity of flora and fauna, and describing the conditions he faced whilst getting an exciting glimpse of rare bats in Wiltshire’s underground quarries.

It was an exciting evening with attendees able to talk to Nick about their experiences of wildlife in Wiltshire, and gaining expert advice on matters wildlife and photographical.

All in all, it was a wonderful Creative Wiltshire event which highlighted how the county’s landscape can be inspirational in many ways, and just how precious it is to us all.

Many thanks to Nick Upton 

Julie Davis, Project Officer