NEWS
Inset: Cain in the hide at RSBP Loch Strathbeg
Students prove to be a success with the birds!
Two wildlife and media students, Sarah- Jane Cherrie and Cain Scrimgeour, are in increasing demand for their knowledge and skills.
Sarah-Jane is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be the sole photographer and film maker for the Lake District Osprey Project (LDOP), over the next three years.
Sarah (42) now lives in Carlisle but worked around the world for many years before becoming a teacher of business in Russia and Libya. She explains: “When my husband and I returned to our house in Cumbria 18 months ago, I wanted to go back to studying in a field I have always been interested in.”
She has already been volunteering on the osprey project at Whinlatter throughout this summer, when two chicks were successfully raised. All four birds have now flown south to The Gambia for the winter, but there’s still plenty to do with nests to build and live camera feeds to install. Sarah says: “Being able to take photographs with the LDOP, is an incredible opportunity and I managed to capture some amazing images and film of the ospreys this summer. I’ve now been put on the licence necessary to allow me closer access to these protected species, so I’m really looking forward to working with the staff and volunteers on the project when the birds return next spring.”
Nathan Fox, Lake District Osprey Project Manager, comments: “It has been a huge step forward for the osprey project to have Sarah on board this season. Her dedication to both filming and photographing the birds has resulted in
a steady supply of footage which many thousands of visitors have enjoyed. Hopefully, she will also be able to make a record of the work that goes on behind the scenes, even throughout the winter, to share with our many followers.”
Cain Scrimgeour (20) comes originally from Whitley Bay and is now in the final year of his degree course. He has just returned from an intense week of filming at the RSPB reserve on Loch Strathbeg in Aberdeenshire.
Every year around 70,000 pink-footed geese arrive from Iceland in October to winter at the reserve and Cain was asked to make a promotional film about the spectacle for Loch Strathbeg’s Goosewatch events. Cain’s footage of the geese was so impressive that the BBC used a clip in the opening sequence of an episode of their Autumnwatch series.
Cain explains: “Most of my time was spent in a small portable hide, where I would spend up to ten hours filming. It was extremely important I didn’t flush the geese, so even when I had filled my memory and depleted my batteries, I sat it out.
“One session saw me heading to the hide on the loch at 5.00am and, as the sun rose, the light revealed a huge mass of geese. It wasn’t long before they began moving off the loch and I found myself amongst them all, some passing low overhead, and others landing just behind my hide. It was one of the greatest wildlife experiences I have ever had.”
Diana Spencer, visitor officer at RSPB Loch Strathbeg says: “Since Cain produced his film, the reserve visitor numbers have greatly increased and the weekend Goosewatch events have been fully booked. It’s a really great result.”
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