In this special film for BBC One and iPlayer from Silverback Films, wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin is on a journey to film his favourite birds of prey in the British Isles. The film aired at 7pm on Sunday 24 September, if you missed it you can catch up on BBC iPlayer now.

We chatted to two of the Silverback Films team behind the Hamza: Strictly Birds of Prey, Director Laura Howard, and Assistant Producer Ellie Jo Hilton (pictured above) about the challenges and the highlights of filming, as well as the important messages featured:

What do you hope audiences take away from watching this film?  

It’s always a tricky balance telling stories about nature and wildlife at this pivotal moment in time. It’s more important than ever that people feel connected – emotionally and physically invested in our environment. That starts with understanding, and appreciating what we have right here at home, and how vital it is to everything we do.

With birds of prey in the UK the outlook is mixed, we have around 20 species of breeding raptor, give or take a couple of occasional visitors, and those that we have recently lost, such as the Montague harrier. Essentially it’s 50/50 with the species that are increasing in population size, and the species that are declining. We were lucky to film a selection of birds that in general, are beginning to make a comeback from the hardships that all birds of prey have faced in the last few hundred years at the hands of human interference.

I hope that audiences watching this film will take inspiration from the people that we interviewed, and that they act as a beacon of hope – showing the incredible impact that just a handful of passionate people can make. Entire species brought back from extinction, and whole landscapes transformed…

– Laura

What are the challenges to filming birds of prey? What was the most challenging sequence to film?

As with most wildlife film-making, the usual challenges present themselves, but scarcity is a real issue for a number of the birds on Hamza’s list. Whilst some are now increasing thanks to major conservation efforts, generally their numbers are greatly reduced compared to the numbers the UK could support.

Each bird presents a unique challenge when it comes to trying to track them down and film them, which we see in the film. Once on location, help from experts and Hamza’s super-human ability to spot a bird a mile away, meant that we were successful in spotting each one within a few hours of setting up. Hamza is always on the look-out and is expert at predicting the birds behaviour, which you can see in the buzzard and peregrine sequence as he films them in their environment offering a running commentary on their behaviour.

The tawny owls were remarkably hard to film, as Ellie elaborates on below. A hard-won combination of technical ability, habitat creation, technical ability and an understanding of the species has resulted in David being able to capture some stunning stills and Katie’s footage was used in Wild Isles.

Golden eagles were physically quite challenging due to the remote location of the nest – although not miles away from our vehicles, carrying heavy kit through deep heather up a mountain requires planning and preparation! More on that below…

– Laura

What were some of the teams’ favourite moments or filming highlights? 

For me, the opportunity to visit a golden eagle nest was a life goal. They are really special birds – they have a presence and a spirit about them and symbolise the wild like no other British bird. Once found right across the British Isles, their range has shrunk and they’ve been subject to heavy persecution. They’re now restricted to Scotland although numbers are on the increase in the borders just now, with hope that the birds will spread into England & Wales once more.

The golden eagle sequence was initially intended to take place elsewhere where Hamza would film a nest from a distance, but that nest failed this summer and so we made contact with a team of conservationists working in the northeast highlands of Scotland. Ewan and Jenny Weston found us a nest with a pair of chicks, which were the right age to have rings attached for conservation and monitoring purposes.

Preparation for this sequence was key – golden eagles are afforded the highest level of protection and unnecessary disturbance of any kind is illegal in the UK. We met with Ewan and Jenny at their home and walked through the process in their garden, rehearsing our moves, planning the kit we’d need and how we’d get to the nest – 700 metres up a steep glen in a remote part of the Cairngorms. It was quite an intense hour for the whole crew – keeping our balance in the waist-high heather with heavy kit knowing we only had limited time to film the sequence. Thankfully everything went to plan and being in the presence of these gorgeous, downy chicks with their impressive talons and blinking eyes was an emotional moment for Hamza.

I found it challenging keeping my focus and directing the scene with a constant lump in my throat – it was really moving to see those chicks up close, knowing that they were at risk of persecution. Whilst you can plan the logistics and prepare for every eventuality, sometimes the reality of the moment can be really overwhelming. I’m just grateful I had that experience – one I’ll never forget.

– Laura

My highlight from the first shoot was probably seeing a tawny owl for the first time in the wild. There had been a lot of planning and coordination, figuring where to put the cameras, where to sit hamza, where the rest of us would hide out of site while we waited for the owl to arrive. Katie and David all but promised that the owl would come to the garden that night, but it still seemed a little too good to be true – especially with all of extra lighting and camera set-up, and our noisy crew rattling around inside, I was sure it would be scared off. But everything really did happen like clockwork – the blackbird started loudly alarming, as anticipated, and within the hour, a tawny owl appeared as if by magic in the oak tree. With the light dying, and their absolutely silent flight, we didn’t even clock the owl swooping in. They really are amazingly camouflaged and stealthy. It was a proper heart racing moment as she came down and hit the perch right in front of Hamza, pausing for a sec and then flying off again. A great first encounter with an owl!

For the second shoot in Scotland, my highlight was a very genuine bit of Scottish hospitality. During the summer, the nights are long, and we were blessed with incredible sunshine the whole week. We were shooting our interview with John Aitchison on one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, the golden sun setting over the ocean behind. We filmed until around 10pm that evening, and totally lost track of time as it felt like early evening. I checked my phone and had a text from Hamza’s “Scottish parents” – they had snuck into Hamza’s house and prepared an actual feast of fresh seafood, caught that day, with fresh bread, salads and wine to accompany. They told us to keep it secret from Hamza, so when we headed home, with the expectation of another slap up tinned based meal – we arrived to this incredible spread. It was a beautiful evening sat around the table with Hamza’s friends, family, and John Aitchison swapping stories and having a good laugh. Crew mealtimes are often a highlight, but this one was extra special.

– Ellie

 And finally, any thing else you’d like to add…

I hope this film goes some way to showing our audience what some of the issues are and giving people a new found appreciation of these amazing birds.

The team would love to thank everyone who worked so hard to help bring this film to life – Hamza’s friends and neighbours in Kilchoan were fantastically accommodating and very hospitable – they also fed us well! The cameramen and women we worked with were so generous with their knowledge and passion, offering Hamza new insights into what it takes to film these birds in the wild. The conservationists, wildlife groups and experts across the UK are a remarkable bunch of people who dedicate so much of their time to helping wildlife and birds of prey – and finally, a big thumbs up to the children at the Osprey centre, who really did steal the show! “If you see an animal, you should tell a ranger or you help them!”

– Laura