Hamza’s journey begins in spring, the busiest time of year for a lot of our wildlife.

The breeding season is underway, and most of the creatures have homes to build and hungry mouths to feed. Hamza’s spring journey takes him from the lush woodlands of Sussex to the wild wooded hills of Dartmoor.

From arable farmland in Suffolk to inner-city Cardiff – and many places in between, Hamza meets an elusive, camouflaged bittern whose booming call can be heard three miles away and spends an evening with his young nieces looking for badgers amongst the bluebells.

He’ll witness the dawn chorus in all its glory and watch dancing grebes in the city docks of the Welsh capital.

Hidden brown hares dot farmland fields in Suffolk, and a high spring tide causes a feeding frenzy for a whole range of predators on the Wirral. Britain’s only venomous snake, the adder, basks in the glorious sunshine of Herefordshire, and to wrap up the season, Hamza spends the evening on a beautiful heath, where he’s serenading by the very special concerto of the nightingale – a threatened species we face losing all together.

Filming Feats:

• Bitterns – First recording of a bittern booming for broadcast. Also filmed a male and a female bittern performing a very rarely seen courtship display, where the male circles the female with his plumage on display.
• Sprint high tide predation event – this remarkable event was filmed for the first time for broadcast and is caused when a very high spring tide floods the Dee Estuary on The Wirral, causing small mammals and other life to flee from their marsh homes, out into the open. This attracts vast numbers of aerial predators, who come to feed on the glut.
• Adders – Common adders may be extinct in the British Isles within the next 20 years, but in fact, they already are locally extinct, now totally absent from many areas. By working closely with Nigel Hand, one of the UK’s leading experts, Hamza captures wonderfully intimate shots of a group of male adders, basking in the spring sunshine. This sequence is very close to Hamza’s heart – he has been personally involved in adder conservation and feels strongly about people taking simple steps to help struggling populations.

Locations and species filmed:

• Bittern: RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk
• Badgers: Ebernoe Common Nature Reserve, Sussex
• Dawn chorus: White Wood, Dartmoor National Park
• Great crested grebes: Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Cardiff
• Brown hares: Lodge Farm, Suffolk
• Spring tide event: Parkgate, Dee Estuary, Cheshire
• Adders: Hereford, top secret location!
• Nightingales: Westleton Heath, Suffolk