Scenes Simon was involved in filming:
• Episode 1: Our Precious Isles – foxes & June bugs | gannets | puffins & gulls | badgers & bluebells

• Episode 2: Woodlands - fallow deer rut

• Episode 3: Grasslands - hares boxing | black grouse lek | adder fight / courtship | thermal fox hunting & cubs | buzzard hunting rabbit & rabbit kits | red deer rut | hen harriers

• Episode 4: Freshwater - hobby hunting dragonflies | great crested grebe display | peregrine hunting knot

What are your favourite species in this series?

Having worked on the series for the best part of five years as consultant and principle camera, I have had the good fortune to revisit many of the species that were already close to my heart, but which had not had the time invested in filming them until now to reveal the greatest dramas in their lives. I loved working with red deer in southern Ireland, adders in Northumberland, hares in the south east and the Hebrides and puffins on the Farne Islands amongst many others. The behavioural revelations of species like white-tailed eagles, water shrews and predatory leaches all feel like events that occur in exotic locations, not to mention the hunting behaviour of orcas. All this in and around the British Isles. Phenomenal.

What were the biggest technological challenges in this series?

There were many very ambitious sequences in the series, from the visualisation of the “wood-wide web” with the remarkable story of the way the forest communicates via a network of thread like fungi, to astonishing underwater filming techniques in the marine episode. I worked with the most cutting-edge thermal imaging cameras to reveal the world of the fox under the cover of complete darkness. The team had to deploy remote cameras to record the most stunning sequence of capercaillie in remote Caledonian forest and drone and gyro stabilised cameras were used throughout the filming.

Can you tell us about some of the specialist equipment that was used?

I used super high-speed digital cameras to record hobbies hunting dragonflies and peregrine falcons hunting wading birds. Astonishing technical developments were innovated for the macro sequences revealing hidden worlds of solitary bees, butterflies and much more. This series has been a marriage of dedication by a team of knowledgeable and committed people, the time invested to reveal what we knew to occur very occasionally but had never before had the opportunity to reveal, and the technological advances that have allowed us to reveal the beauty, drama and breath-taking natural magic of the British Isles.

What would you hope that the audience will take away from watching the series?

A renewed love and respect for our natural heritage, the will to ensure the survival of the fragments that still exist and a commitment to reverse the trend of loss and degradation that has besieged the wildlife of Britain and Ireland in recent decades.