Planet Earth 2

Mark 11 Comments

Diego Delso [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Diego Delso, via Wikimedia Commons
There is just the one planet Earth – and it is a fantastically amazing place.  I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Last night’s opening programme in the new Attenborough series was breathtaking in its beauty – ‘that’s where I live’ we all should have been shouting.  ‘I love that place!’.   ‘What can I do to safeguard the natural wonders of the world?’!

Spoiler alert*******************

I knew nothing about racer snakes. Aren’t they cool?! Yep, I was rooting for the marine iguanas to get away as they ran the gauntlet but aren’t those snakes incredible. I want to know more about them! What do they eat apart from hatching iguanas? How do the population dynamics of the prey and predator work? Such drama coupled with such intellectual interest.

The marine iguana that escaped from a coil of snakes was as dramatic and unexpected an escape as Ed Balls surviving another week on Strictly. Sunday evenings are quite exceptional.

There is just one David Attenborough.

Wildscreen's photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive's launch in Bristol, England © May 2003 [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
Wildscreen’s photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive’s launch in Bristol, England © May 2003, via Wikimedia Commons
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11 Replies to “Planet Earth 2”

  1. Davis Attenborough is a scientist, a national treasure, a hero to many people, perhaps even an establishment figure. He has talked about the perils of climate change and other important issues for our earth. I wonder if he could be persuaded to talk about the organised crime activity of driven grouse shooting on some occasion, a subject that I am not aware he has raised or discussed.

  2. Fabulous footage on all counts, I will never see some nice rocks on a sandy beach in quite the same way again! But all on pristine remote islands far away from people; it is people that we have to turn around. I look forward to seeing some top rate nature living in harmony with people…a tough call.

  3. I thought it was like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, quite incredible.

    Clearly the Galapagos islands needs some game keepers to get the vermin under control and restore proper balance. One wonders how a game keeper would tackle the strictly conundrum?

  4. Footage compelling; message immense; commentary mainly fine. But for goodness sake give the embarrassing Disneyesque background music a miss.

  5. That racer snake sequence was absolutely mesmerising! The BBC NHU has done it again – top marks!

  6. The racer snakes story was one of the most riveting wildlife clips I have ever seen.
    Amazing to think that an animal can hatch from an egg and on digging its way to the surface is able to sprint like Usain Bolt.
    Nature in the raw, without any interference from humans – save the camera crew.
    Wouldn’t it be great to see ginormous racer snakes chasing gamekeepers all over the grouse moors; I’d be happy to sit on a distant hill top and watch the action shouting “Go racer snakes!”
    If Sir David could be persuaded to out the wildlife crime that is quietly going on every day in the UK then the general public would stand up for nature massively more than it does now. Problem is filming such crime – quite impossible.

  7. Those racer snakes were legitimately 100% certified-pure nightmare fuel. The sight of them gliding across the sand en-masse in pursuit of the newly hatched iguana managed to chill me more than any of the horror movies of recent days has managed. One thing they failed to say was whether they were constrictors or venomous, but that is nitpicking.

    I do wish I could go live on the penguin island for a few months though. See if maybe the world has improved when I get back.

      1. Thanks for that link. They are absolutely fascinating – and those images of a pack of hunting snakes….!

    2. ‘100% certified-pure nightmare fuel’ Your not wrong there – I wish I had previewed it before allowing my seven year old to stay up and watch it, thankfully no nightmares…yet..

      Absolutely breathtaking footage though, and I had absolutely no idea that Sloths could swim and the Sea Iguana’s – wow!

  8. Agree with all the comments – the racer snake pursuit was one of the most amazing wildlife films I’ve ever seen. Just when you think there can’t be anything new left to film. Wow.

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