Wild Islands

"Children of the Mist" is the story of the red deer in Scotland. The glen that forms the backdrop for the film is dominated by "One Eye," a giant stag who gained his name and injury from a fierce rutting the year before. Will he survive the next? What shapes the life of the largest and most majestic animal we have?

This film tells the story of the hidden life of one our most attractive and secretive mammals. Filmed along the beautiful coastline in the west of Ireland, the viewer is given the opportunity to follow a female otter as she struggles to rear her family in what is often a harsh and unfriendly environment.

Why has this delightful mammal become such an unfamiliar sight? What part has the invading grey squirrel played in its downfall? We take an intimate look at the life of this elusive forest creature in the Scottish Highlands. The secrets of the red squirrel are revealed in this engaging story.

Follow, in intimate detail, the life of this great wanderer and reveal many of the recently discovered aspects of the salmon's freshwater environment. Unique footage provides the viewer with a stimulating insight into the salmon's life, from delicate, newly-fertilized eggs to powerful adults fighting their way upstream towards the spawning beds in a small mountain river.

Set in the Caledonian forest of the Scottish Highlands, this episode charts the changing fortunes of the Scots pine, the main-stay of this ancient forest. From wild cats to eagles to the mysterious dome dwellings on the forest floor, the Scots pine is the central pillar in an intricate and wondrous web of life.

Ireland is at the end of an international flyway for thousands of migratory wildfowl and wading birds from Northern Europe. Many of these birds take up residence for the winter around the rich feeding grounds on the capital city's doorstep in Dublin Bay. As the seasons change, the spring migration begins with summer visitors flying in from faraway Africa.

Common throughout Britain and Ireland, moorhens can frequently be seen swimming the water ways. These little black birds are apparently innocuous, but take a closer look and it soon becomes obvious that a moorhen's life is far from dull. Polygamy, claw to claw battles, parasitism and predation are all to be expected during a tumultuous breeding season in South Wales.

The dragonfly is predator and prey, hunter and hunted. With a great turn of speed and a huge appetite, these creatures are to be feared. The jewels of the countryside, they bring ponds and rivers to life. From nymphs to adults, we see how the "devil's darning needle" is a powerful force.

This island off the South Welsh coast is far enough from the predators of the mainland to be a haven for ground-nesting birds like puffins and shearwites. The great black-backed gulls, however, still provide an element of danger from which not even the rabbits are safe.

We follow the fortunes of a pair of barn owls as they try and raise a family in a deserted barn, in a remote corner of Western England. The success of their family depends on the number of field voles they can catch in the surrounding fields.

The adder, Britain's only venomous snake, is one of its most secretive and unseen creatures. For the first time, this remarkable program reveals the complete life cycle of this creature, including the impressive male dance of strengths to deter rivals and the eventful, complicated breeding process.

Every winter, this small corner of Cambridgeshire floods and becomes an oasis for thousands of over-wintering birds. Numerous ducks and other waterfowl congregate here to feed in the shallow waters. Its other special visitors are the swans. Whooper swans arrive from Iceland and Bewick swans arrive from as far away as Siberia to escape the harshness of an arctic winter.