Suffolk's natural world hits screen in BBC series Wild Isles

The makers of the David Attenborough-narrated series - Silverback Films - scoured the UK in search of some its most eye-catching and wondrous natural phenomena.

Episode 5 airs on Easter Day (Sunday, April 9) evening on BBC1 as the beautifully-shot -and hard-hitting - series comes to an end.

Among the key messages from the series are that the UK is home to some of the most diverse and internationally important nature in the world - but that its natural world is severely depleted and under threat.

Scenes from Suffolk - red deer trails etched into the reed beds at RSPB's Minsmere reserve, boxing hares on a Mid Suffolk farm and rabbits grazing at Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Lackford Lakes reserve at Bury St Edmunds - have already appeared in two episodes focusing on grasslands and freshwater wildlife.

Adam Rowlands, RSPB area manager for Suffolk, said the series has helped showcase the wildlife of Suffolk and beyond in extraordinary detail.

"Across the five episodes, Sliverback Films gathered footage from 145 locations over three years, including at RSPB Minsmere," he said.

"Over 6,000 individual species have been recorded at RSPB Minsmere, from Great Crested Grebes to Red Deer, fungi to wildflowers and adders to hares.

"Many of these have been featured in Wild Isles, but despite the incredible species the series showcases, the stark fact is that the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world."

He and his colleagues at the RSPB hoped the series would inspire people "to do more to restore nature on their doorsteps and across the UK, before it’s too late", he said.

Silverback producer Chris Howard was responsible for capturing some stunning footage in Suffolk.

He developed a love of the county while involved in filming another hit nature series - Springwatch - when it was based at Minsmere.

"I'm very much in love with Minsmere - it's one of the best reserves in the country and possibly the world. I love it. It's a very, very special county."

What made Suffolk particularly attractive to nature-lovers was its mix of habitats including its scrapes, coastline and reedbeds - as well as on its farmed landscape, he said.

"What's interesting is that it's becoming easier and easier to find farms that are really good for wildlife. We felt that change in the last 10 years."

The crew which captured boxing hares in mid Suffolk were "blown away" by how rich in wildlife the farm was, he said.

The series could have a positive impact on nature or eco-tourism as holidaymakers seek out breaks with low impacts on the environment, he suggested.

But while Britain thought of itself as a nation of wildlife lovers the level of depletion of nature in the UK was "quite shocking", he admitted.

Farmers could feel demonised and it was important to be careful around the language as "re-wilding" comes to the fore, he added.

The challenge for he and his fellow film-makers at Silverback was to capture something special when UK nature was already probably one of the most filmed through series such as Springwatch, Countryfile and the One Show.

The crew waited about two weeks to capture the perfect light at Minsmere to show the red deer trails through the reedbeds, said Chris.