After a long night of crashing thunder and torrential rain, we were very relieved to wake up to a calm and quiet forest canopy. Filmed in @dzanga.sangha National Park for the ‘Elephant Quest’ episode of ‘Animals Up Close’ now streaming on Disney ! #AnimalsUpClose @wildstarfilms @natgeotv
A pod of B1 Antarctic killer whales locating a resting Weddell seal. With snow falling, flying the drone felt like being in Space with stars whizzing by. Having located the seal, the pod then began to ‘spyhop’ to see their target and figure out how to get it into the water. These killer whales are spine-tinglingly intelligent. Drone view by @bertiegregory and water level view by @tomwalkercam for #AnimalsUpClose coming to @disneyplus September 13th! @wildstarfilms @natgeo #killerwhalepeekaboo
I received lots of questions about why the killer whale in my last video launched out the water. Here’s a little explainer video for the terms we use when describing the extraordinary hunting strategy of B1s. Photos by @tomwalkercam, @leighhickmott and @bertiegregory. #AnimalsUpClose on Disney @wildstarfilms @natgeo
When @jjwilsonphoto called me to ask if I’d like to try and film a wild otter underwater in Shetland, I assumed the shoot would consist of getting cold and not filming anything. But we weren’t going to film just any otter. This is Molly and as a tiny, starving cub she was found and helped back to health by Billy Mail. Billy and Molly formed an amazing friendship which became the story of a magical film now on @DisneyPlus in the U.S. and other regions coming soon! After being introduced by Billy, I had some epic sessions in the water with Molly. That said, she is still a wild otter with her own plan and so my original assumptions did turn out to be mostly true! Drone shot by @southspearmedia #ottersofinstagram #BillyAndMolly @silverbackfilms @natgeo @chamiltonjames
These two shots never made the cut for our ‘Animals Up Close’ killer whale film so I’m glad I can share them with you here. Once again, Jedi skills from @tomwalkercam to predict where this killer whale would peek-a-boo for the water level perspective while I was over the top on the drone. @wildstarfilms @natgeo
Meet Billy (a human) and Molly (a wild otter). Without a doubt the most wholesome film I’ve worked on. An amazing story about love, friends and our relationship with the natural world, beautifully crafted by Director @chamiltonjames and @silverback_films. A magic long lens moment caught by @johnnyrolt. #BillyAndMolly is now on @DisneyPlus in the U.S., other regions coming soon! #ottersofinstagram @natgeo
Here we go! #AnimalsUpClose with @BertieGregory, 6 episodes of animal adventures, a @natgeo Original series streaming September 13th on @disneyplus.
A crazy night for team Animals Up Close! We picked up two Emmys for ‘Outstanding Cinematography’ and ‘Outstanding Travel, Adventure and Nature Program’. Congrats and thank you to the all guides, scientists, mountaineers, divers, boat captains and camera crews around the world and to our amazing production team back home at @wildstarfilms. Plus of course thank you to all the team at @natgeo and @disneyplus championing the project. Thanks @daytimeemmys for a big boost as we start filming for the next season! #emmys2024
Watching Molly effortlessly zoom upstream in these rapids was mind-blowing. A real pleasure cross shooting her from two angles with @johnnyrolt on the ground level perspective. Lovely words by Susan Mail. #BillyAndMolly is now on @DisneyPlus in the U.S., other regions coming soon! #ottersofinstagram @silverback_films @natgeo
In honor of #EarthDay, enjoy a special performance of @andygrammer’s new song “Jump.” He told us: “I’m excited to be part of National Geographic’s #ourHOME campaign. My new song ‘Jump’ really was inspired by and embodies the spirit of the campaign—this sense of our collective home, curiosity, adventure, and togetherness in celebration of Earth Month.” 💛🌎 See if you can spot some other members of our @natgeotv family in the video!
Before filming gets really crazy for the new season of ‘Animals Up Close’, I’ve been doing some training to make sure we’re all ready to go. There’s no better way to practice breath holds than with spinner dolphins! Big thanks to Hisham and Captain Awad from @redsea.divingsafari for this awesome encounter.
Before filming gets really crazy for the new season of ‘Animals Up Close’, I’ve been doing some training to make sure we’re all ready to go. There’s no better way to practice breath holds than with spinner dolphins! Big thanks to Hisham and Captain Awad from @redsea.divingsafari for this awesome encounter.
Before filming gets really crazy for the new season of ‘Animals Up Close’, I’ve been doing some training to make sure we’re all ready to go. There’s no better way to practice breath holds than with spinner dolphins! Big thanks to Hisham and Captain Awad from @redsea.divingsafari for this awesome encounter.
Instagram vs Reality 😂. As well as filming Molly the otter, Director @chamiltonjames tasked me with filming Billy driving around Shetland on his tractor. We didn’t have any small remote cameras, so we had to improvise. It turns out a drone without propellors and a lot of pink tape works quite well. The added bonus of the tractor scoop was being able to monitor the shot and hit record! Shot for #BillyAndMolly now on @DisneyPlus in the U.S., other regions coming soon! #ottersofinstagram #drone @silverback_films @natgeo
#AnimalsUpClose with @bertiegregory is returning for a new epic season packed with edge-of-your-seat animal action. The team is already filming to bring you even more fascinating animal characters alongside the challenges they face on our rapidly changing planet. Out of all the wondrous places on our planet, where are you hoping Bertie goes?
It’s always great to meet up with an old friend. This is a bizarre and wonderful dugong. This species is closely related to the manatee with their top halves looking very similar. Their bottom halves however are very different. Unlike the manatee’s paddle shape tail, dugongs have a fluked tail like dolphins. It’s thought that because of this tail, dugongs were the inspiration for stories of mermaids! #redsea #dugong #diving #underwater #ocean
#shamelessplug Team #AnimalsUpClose has had a wild couple of weeks with a @BAFTA nomination, 2 Daytime Emmy nominations, 2 @TheWebbyAwards nominations and a win at the @RoyalTelevisionSociety West Awards last weekend. Mega congrats to the teams at @wildstarfilms @evolutons_tv @natgeo and all our local crews around the world. Please cross your fingers for the killer whale episode’s cinematography team (@tomwalkercam, Will West, @bertiegregory and @annadimitriadis) as we head to the BAFTA awards this Sunday to find out who won. Also huge shoutout to @sams_natural_habitat who filmed on 4/6 episodes!
#shamelessplug Team #AnimalsUpClose has had a wild couple of weeks with a @BAFTA nomination, 2 Daytime Emmy nominations, 2 @TheWebbyAwards nominations and a win at the @RoyalTelevisionSociety West Awards last weekend. Mega congrats to the teams at @wildstarfilms @evolutons_tv @natgeo and all our local crews around the world. Please cross your fingers for the killer whale episode’s cinematography team (@tomwalkercam, Will West, @bertiegregory and @annadimitriadis) as we head to the BAFTA awards this Sunday to find out who won. Also huge shoutout to @sams_natural_habitat who filmed on 4/6 episodes!
#shamelessplug Team #AnimalsUpClose has had a wild couple of weeks with a @BAFTA nomination, 2 Daytime Emmy nominations, 2 @TheWebbyAwards nominations and a win at the @RoyalTelevisionSociety West Awards last weekend. Mega congrats to the teams at @wildstarfilms @evolutons_tv @natgeo and all our local crews around the world. Please cross your fingers for the killer whale episode’s cinematography team (@tomwalkercam, Will West, @bertiegregory and @annadimitriadis) as we head to the BAFTA awards this Sunday to find out who won. Also huge shoutout to @sams_natural_habitat who filmed on 4/6 episodes!
Who wants to swim with wild dolphins? It’s an amazing thing to do, the dolphins are having a great time and, in many places, it gives marine life an economic value beyond being killed. However, it isn’t quite that simple. These images were taken at Sataya Reef in the Red Sea. The local spinner dolphins hunt during the night in the open ocean and then return each morning to sleep in the protection of the reef. For the first half an hour, the dolphins are incredibly playful and I genuinely believe they ‘enjoy’ interacting with people. The issue is that the dolphins then try to go to sleep and this is when more people arrive. When sleeping, dolphins move slowly at the surface and in very predictable directions. It would still be possible to have a magical and respectful encounter if the boats spread out, put their people in the water and waited patiently for a pass. But this doesn’t happen. The boats race around trying to cut off the dolphins and drop people right on top of them. Ethics aside, the irony is this causes the dolphins to move faster and much more erratically making an encounter even more difficult. It’s easy to assume that wildlife watching boats are always operating in the best interests of the wildlife and it’s even easier to offload any responsibility on to the boat crew. So the next time you’re watching wildlife with a guide, I encourage you all to think about how you’ve approach an animal and if you think you’re causing disturbance, ask questions. Please share your thoughts below!
Who wants to swim with wild dolphins? It’s an amazing thing to do, the dolphins are having a great time and, in many places, it gives marine life an economic value beyond being killed. However, it isn’t quite that simple. These images were taken at Sataya Reef in the Red Sea. The local spinner dolphins hunt during the night in the open ocean and then return each morning to sleep in the protection of the reef. For the first half an hour, the dolphins are incredibly playful and I genuinely believe they ‘enjoy’ interacting with people. The issue is that the dolphins then try to go to sleep and this is when more people arrive. When sleeping, dolphins move slowly at the surface and in very predictable directions. It would still be possible to have a magical and respectful encounter if the boats spread out, put their people in the water and waited patiently for a pass. But this doesn’t happen. The boats race around trying to cut off the dolphins and drop people right on top of them. Ethics aside, the irony is this causes the dolphins to move faster and much more erratically making an encounter even more difficult. It’s easy to assume that wildlife watching boats are always operating in the best interests of the wildlife and it’s even easier to offload any responsibility on to the boat crew. So the next time you’re watching wildlife with a guide, I encourage you all to think about how you’ve approach an animal and if you think you’re causing disturbance, ask questions. Please share your thoughts below!
Who wants to swim with wild dolphins? It’s an amazing thing to do, the dolphins are having a great time and, in many places, it gives marine life an economic value beyond being killed. However, it isn’t quite that simple. These images were taken at Sataya Reef in the Red Sea. The local spinner dolphins hunt during the night in the open ocean and then return each morning to sleep in the protection of the reef. For the first half an hour, the dolphins are incredibly playful and I genuinely believe they ‘enjoy’ interacting with people. The issue is that the dolphins then try to go to sleep and this is when more people arrive. When sleeping, dolphins move slowly at the surface and in very predictable directions. It would still be possible to have a magical and respectful encounter if the boats spread out, put their people in the water and waited patiently for a pass. But this doesn’t happen. The boats race around trying to cut off the dolphins and drop people right on top of them. Ethics aside, the irony is this causes the dolphins to move faster and much more erratically making an encounter even more difficult. It’s easy to assume that wildlife watching boats are always operating in the best interests of the wildlife and it’s even easier to offload any responsibility on to the boat crew. So the next time you’re watching wildlife with a guide, I encourage you all to think about how you’ve approach an animal and if you think you’re causing disturbance, ask questions. Please share your thoughts below!
Happy Birthday @davidattenborough. A legend of wildlife filmmaking. Thank you for all you do. Here’s some photos/videos from a shoot we did in Iceland a few years back for ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’. Big thanks to Jonny Keeling (pictured watching the drone), Scott Alexander and Caroline Cox for entrusting me with the helicopter and drone aerials for this opening scene of the series. A shoot were it was important to turn nerves into excitement! 📸 of David by @alexboard1 #davidattenborough
And breathe…..exploring Shetland’s kelp forests with Billy Mail and @morlo_wildlife was such a pleasure. While SCUBA equipment and bubbleless rebreather diving technology can be very useful, I do love the simplicity of getting in the water with just a snorkel, some big fins and a camera. Filmed for #BillyAndMolly now on @DisneyPlus in the U.S., other regions coming soon! #ottersofinstagram @silverback_films @natgeo
