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My five top Sky at Night moments - by presenter Chris Lintott

2015-07-20T16:14:03+00:00

The Sky at Night has seen some incredible things during its 750 programmes: when the show first got started Sputnik had yet to fly, vegetation on Mars was a serious possibility, and Pluto was still firmly a planet!

The production team have always had to be flexible to keep up with breaking news - even the first programme's script was rewritten at the last moment following the appearance of a bright comet in the sky - and as a result the Sky at Night captures the excitement of exploring space. Here are five of my favourite moments:

1. Mariner to Mars (August 1969): The first planet to have a close encounter with Earth's space probes was Mars, with the Mariner Missions. This Sky at Night special was produced in 1969 to highlight the first space probe to return pictures of the red planet.

Patrick’s enthusiasm is wonderful - particularly exciting are ‘the really spectacular pictures’ showing craters rather like those on the Moon. As ever, though, he’s quick to question what we still don’t know; is there life on Mars? The close of the programme anticipates an answer ‘within the next few weeks’ to the age-old question - and it’s something we still debate today.

Sir Patrick Moore gets excited about the craters on Mars: "just look at that!"

2. Siberian Eclipse of the Sun (September 1968): Another episode from the 60s, this was an adventure of a different kind, with Patrick travelling to northern Russia for a total eclipse. His producer told me Patrick turned up at the airport with shoes held together only by rubber bands and he wears a suit throughout despite striding about the Siberian tundra.

Although there were technical difficulties in transmission, there’s nothing like a total solar eclipse, and the sheer excitement of the observing party makes this one of the great episodes. It also marks the start of a long Sky at Night eclipse tradition of interviewing people with strange equipment about to do incomprehensible experiments instead of enjoying the grandest spectacle in nature!

Sir Patrick Moore at his home in 1972

3. Neptune (September 1989): For me, the Voyager encounters with Uranus and Neptune in the late 1980s were the first space 'firsts' I remember, and I found out about them as a viewer of the Sky at Night.

Patrick's trips to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California covered all the excitement of these surprisingly interesting worlds. As Patrick says at the start - even on Voyager’s approach, Neptune proved to be more interesting than anyone hoped, from its strange ringlets to the ice volcanoes on Triton (its largest moon). Neptune gets the nod for me.

A view of Neptune, composed of images taken by Voyager 2

4. Unveiling Titan (February 2005): The Huygens probe which landed on the surface of Titan (Saturn's largest moon) was one of the great space adventures, and - having joined the Sky at Night team as a reporter by then - I had the enormous privilege of being at mission control. No one had any idea what lay beneath its dense orange clouds, and it was an enormous privilege to be at mission control to wait for the first images to come back.

From the first signals being received late in the morning in mission control itself, to the release of the first images of an icy orange surface, we followed the unveiling of a new world. All from the odd surroundings of the institute’s canteen!

Chris Lintott celebrates 45 minutes of transmission from the Huygens probe

5. Rosetta (November 2014): It seems odd to pick an episode from last year when there is so much wonderful archive to explore, but the landing of Rosetta (a space probe) on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014 was one for the ages.

As well as the dramatic story of Philae (the lander module) and its bouncy touchdown on the surface, we got to know the wonderful Rosetta team who welcomed us into mission control and let us see behind the scenes of these dramatic days. We watched as the spacecraft’s engineers and scientists back down on Earth struggled to understand what was going on - and then raced to make use of its short time awake on the surface.

The best bits of the programme are when we caught up with the often sleep deprived and stressed team behind the scenes - I still find their generosity in talking to us remarkable.

The European Space Agency's Monika Jones waits for some good news

Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and presents the Sky at Night.

The Planetary Flybys collection is available to watch in BBC iPlayer as part of the BBC Four Collections.

The Sky at Night's 750th episode is on tonight at 10pm on BBC Four. It will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Liz Bonnin: I'm seeing the solar eclipse from a plane!

2015-03-18T15:24:43+00:00

Everyone’s talking about the solar eclipse and for Stargazing Live, Liz Bonnin took a flight over the Faroe Islands to film it as it happens. You can hear more about Liz's report from the plane in Friday’s 9pm programme.

The little plane we used to capture live images of the Aurora Borealis on last year’s Stargazing Live is on duty again, this time kitted out with seven cameras. Flying above any risk of cloud cover to witness the total solar eclipse on Friday will give us an unobscured view of one of nature’s most spectacular events.

We aim to fly at roughly 25,000 feet at a speed of about 540km/hr, right as the moon’s most intense shadow speeds across the planet, before it disappears behind the North Pole. Obviously we can’t keep up with it but we will be in its shadow for several more seconds than observers on the ground in the Faroes.

'I never really thought it would be quite this moving'

We are doing everything we can to leave no room for error, the team have been working for months now planning, constructing, checking and rechecking all the equipment that enables us to capture the eclipse in all its glory and transmit live to Jodrell Bank. Turbulence may affect the quality of our eclipse images, and of course bad weather may prevent us from taking off at all – but I’d rather not think about that!

I am looking forward to seeing the Baily’s beads effect, which is when the moon almost completely covers the sun, but because of its rugged landscape some shards of light will still shine through in the last few seconds before totality. As the moon completely covers up the sun, one last remaining bead of light will shine like a diamond set in a bright ring surrounding the lunar shadow – what’s known as the diamond ring.

We will also get to see the sun’s corona – its outer atmosphere, usually overpowered by the brightness of the sun’s orb – radiating out in streams around the dark circle of the moon.

This external content is available at its source: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reveals his Mars T shirt beneath his jacket as he stands next to Stonehenge

These are all things I’ve seen images of and read about and am so excited to see for myself, but as much as the science of this rare alignment of our planet, the moon and the sun fascinates me, the thing I am looking forward to most is the sheer wonder of the moment, a reminder of the splendour of the natural world.

A total solar eclipse is a magnificent display of celestial mechanics – testimony to the predictability of our solar system and our place in it. This is one for my bucket list.

Stargazing Live continues on Thursday, 19 March at 8pm on BBC Two. The Eclipse Live episode is on BBC One at 9am on Friday, 20 March. For more programme times please see the episode guide.

Each episode will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

How can I watch the solar eclipse safely? - see the iWonder guide

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Q&A with Susan Jebb: What's The Right Diet For You?

2015-01-13T11:33:07+00:00

Susan Jebb is Professor of Diet and Population Health in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

She will be answering questions live in the comments below after episode two of What's The Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special.

The comments will open shortly before the Q&A starts at 10pm on Tuesday, 13 January and will finish an hour later at 11pm. Susan won’t be able to answer every question submitted and we also ask that questions and comments fall within the house rules.

Update: The Q&A is now over, thank you for all your comments. To read Susan's replies please see the Editors' Picks below.

Expert Paul Aveyard pictured left of Susan is joined by presenters Chris van Tulleken and Tanya Byron, experts Giles Yeo and Fiona Gribble and all the volunteers

Professor Susan Jebb is a nutrition scientist and one of the presenters on What’s the Right Diet For You? A Horison Special.

What's The Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special continues on Wednesday, 14 January at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Cat Watch 2014: Urban cats with bags of personality

2014-10-07T14:33:29+00:00

Cat Watch 2014: The New Horizon Experiment is a three-part follow up to 2013's The Secret Life Of The Cat. This time the Horizon team tracked and monitored 100 cats from varying urban environments in a further scientific exploration of the behaviour of Britain's felines. Using the latest in GPS and movement technology, Professor Alan Wilson, and his team from the Royal Veterinary College, set out to discover how cats from the town, village and farm differ in their characteristics.

And these feline subjects in particular proved that when it comes to personality, no two moggies are the same. We found out more about our favourite Cat Watch 2014 stars Ted, a chilled-out cat who's a sucker for having his belly stroked, and Ozzy, a cool cat who was the reigning king of Brighton's streets.

Ted joins in with a morning yoga session

Ted, the laid-back village cat, has mastered the art of being a pampered pet: turning over to have his tummy tickled and even joining in with owner Helen Chilvers’ yoga sessions.

Helen says: "He is much more interactive than any cat we've owned. He is more like a dog really. He is never in a bad mood. He smiles at us and just uses his charm to get around things.

"He’s so friendly and chilled: you can drape him around your neck, hang him upside down or hold him like a baby and he just carries on purring and being completely relaxed in your arms."

Helen Chilvers with chilled-out cat Ted

"He can be quite playful and cheeky too. He is very inquisitive and likes to join in on any activities - not just yoga. He ‘helps’ in the office, catching the cursor on the screen at times. He just has to be involved."

Ted 'helps' as Helen types on her laptop

Unusually for a cat that’s so taken with domestic life, Ted was actually born on a farm alongside semi-feral cats.

Helen says: "We noticed he was relaxed from the start as a kitten. He was really affectionate when we visited the farm he was born on, and this is why we ended up taking him and another cat, Dora, home (even though we weren't planning to get any more cats).

"We have noticed over the years that most of the family of farm cats are friendly, so I think some of it is in his genes. He's also been handled a lot and has bonded with us as his humans, so likes spending time with us."

It's a dog's life for cat Ted

Town cat Ozzy, on the other hand, gave his owners just an hour-long window of opportunity for any affection.

His owner, Rae Stones, says: "He was named after Ozzy Osbourne. He was always crazy, even when he was tiny. He was wild, and completely fearless too.

"We had a window of between 5am and 6am where he'd sit close, let us stroke him and meow. That was about it [for affection].

"I've asked myself many times [why he is the way he is]. I don’t think we had any influence on his personality. He came like that."

Street-smart cat Ozzy alongside his namesake, Ozzy Osbourne

Sadly, Ozzy has passed away since production on Cat Watch 2014 ended.

And unlike Ted, who’s content to play in his owners’ garden and relax at home, Ozzy made a name for himself in the neighbourhood by patrolling the streets, and getting to know other residents.

City cat Ozzy, wearing a camera on his collar, has a stand-off with rival cat Smudge.

Rae says: "We, and many other people in the street, were at his beck and call. He was King of the Street. He knew that and everyone who lived in the street knew that too.

"He used everyone's house as a thoroughfare. Quite a few people would leave their front doors ajar all day, so he could come and go as he pleased. He was overweight as he was being fed at a variety of places.

"He would sit on the pillar by the front gate and greet everyone that walked down the street [with a meow]. Apart from the postman. He'd growl at the postman. He'd do this is even in the pouring rain.

"If he saw me in the street, he'd run and leap up in the air. Then chase me."

Cat Watch: The New Horizon Experiment is on Tuesday, 8 October at 8pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. It continues on Wednesday, 9 October at 9pm and Thursday, 10 October at 8pm (11.25pm Wales). For further programme times please see the episode guide.

More on Cat Watch 2014: The New Horizon Experiment
BBC TV blog: Horizon: The Secret Life Of The Cat
BBC News Magazine: Cat Watch 2014: What's it like being a cat?
BBC Two: A Guide to Your Cat interactive ebook

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets Of The Skies

2014-07-16T09:46:34+00:00

I joined Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets Of The Skies as the expedition leader and also as a meteorologist.

The plan was to fly from Florida to California, looking at the science of the skies.

But as well as scientists, there were plenty of other people on the team including three pilots, a ground crew of 14 that followed the airship by road and a full production team including two camera crews.

Not everyone could be on board at once – the airship would never have got off the ground!

But I was really fortunate to spend a lot of time on board and flew most of the way across the continent.

Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the Skies takes a fascinating journey into the clouds

Exploring in three dimensions rather than being limited to making observations from the ground was a revelation to me.

The clouds in the tropics around the Gulf of Mexico are huge, and being in the sky with them really brought home the vast scale of the forces at work.

Towering cumulus cloud in Florida

We were able to travel over, under and through these monsters, revealing that clouds are about as far from the popular image of light and fluffy floating puffs of cotton wool as you can get!

They are dense and heavy and full of destructive energy.

I remember looking down at the cloud layer from a plane as a child, and daydreaming about exploring this new world of unknown places, so I was very excited the first time we flew straight through a cloud.

I leaned out of the airship as far as I dared into the heart of a cloud and found that it was a dark, damp mass of floating fog (of course!) – no mysterious worlds – my childhood fantasies were crushed!

The team undertake an ambitous experiment to weigh a cloud.

Storm clouds gather over the airfield in Texas

However, as a meteorologist I loved the dramatic weather of southern Texas.

The airship was grounded but the team stood on the airfield watching as powerful squalls passed through.

Autocumulus over New Orleans

The weather maps showed some of the storm cells begin to circulate, a warning of potential tornadoes.

I was desperate to see a tornado but for the sake of the expedition (and the airship) we were lucky none came too close.

The stormy weather was great for cloud spotting and an opportunity to use some of the wonderful words used in meteorology: cumulonimbus capillatus, altostratus mammatus, crepuscular rays…

Crepuscular rays over Texas

I was looking forward to seeing some awesome lenticular clouds as we flew through the Rocky Mountains – these are smooth rounded clouds that often take on the shape of flying saucers, or stacks of dinner plates.

They are caused by high winds flowing over obstacles such as mountain ranges and after days of looking out for them, we saw the most amazing display in New Mexico.

But it was on the one day we weren’t filming!

Getting over the Rocky Mountains turned out to be one of the most challenging parts of the whole journey.

It was difficult for the airship to gain sufficient altitude to clear the mountains without venting expensive quantities of valuable helium, so we had to shed weight instead.

First we took most of the seats and equipment out of the airship, then the sound man had to get off, followed by the director until eventually it was just me, the cameraman and the pilots!

Luckily we just made it over the top, with a few hundred feet to spare.

Felicity Aston is one of the presenters of Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets Of The Skies

Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets Of The Skies is on Wednesday, 16 July at 8pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programmes times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Secrets Of Bones: The bony adaptations we missed

2014-02-25T10:55:12+00:00

I'm an evolutionary biologist, specialising in primate adaptation and evolution.

My work now focuses on studying often-small physical differences in the skeletons of monkeys, to see how they change over time in different environments.

When the idea for Secrets Of Bones came about, a six-part series on skeletons and all things bony, the next thing I knew I was having my skull printed off, building a silverback gorilla skeleton and watching a horse on a treadmill... it all happened so quickly.

Discover how the skeletal blueprint uniting all vertebrates has come to dominate life on earth

It’s not the obvious thing that they’re all so very different that’s cool (or weird) about bones, for me it’s that they are often so very similar.

You’d be surprised at how similar a whale and frog skeleton are, for example. Well, apart from the slight difference in size, that is!

It just takes a few tweaks for a hook-like spider monkey hand to be the precision tool that is the human hand, and from there, it’s only a few adjustments until you have the bizarre and quite frankly amazing aye-aye hand.

They’re all primates and they’re all hands but with just a few changes, you have major impacts. With skeletons, a little goes a long way!

One of my favourite scenes was with a young great grey owl up in the wonderful International Centre for Birds of Prey.

The staff there had trained the chick to descend onto one of several buzzers, hidden among the leaves, to demonstrate a bizarre skeletal adaptation which gives them exceptional hearing capabilities.

The Arctic habitat of the owl means they rely on hearing to locate prey hidden underground by snow

The owl was very sweet and seemed to enjoy the day but like any young animal, he was playful and more than a little misbehaved.

While the sequence came out smooth and impressive, we had quite a few laughs throughout the day.

Given just three hours to cover the most amazing skeletal adaptations on earth is like asking an artist to recreate the Sistine Chapel ceiling 'in a couple of hours or so'.

A few special bony adaptations we missed out include when some species of seals dive to the depth of the Eiffel Tower, their rib cages fold down like a concertina to cope with immense pressure changes.

But that’s nothing to the horror frog. As if its name isn’t bad enough, this gruesome amphibian defends itself from predators by raising its front feet and clenching its toes so much that the bones split, forcing the jagged pieces through the skin, ready to swipe at a would-be predator.

And even that’s tame compared to the Spanish ribbed newt.

This potentially-tasty treat doesn’t look as if it can look after itself but any unsuspecting predator is in for a nightmarish morsel if it tries to grab this amphibian for lunch.

It squeezes its body to the point where its ribs puncture through its body.

When the ribs are cutting through the skin, they pass through toxic glands, which coat the broken bones, making them even more effective weapons.

When the predator decides that lunch really needn’t be this much of a potential fatality, the salamander simply walks off and heals, ready to fight another day.

With stories such as this still out there, there is plenty yet to cover in the world of skeletal anatomy.

Most vertebrates have pentadactyl limbs consisting of five digits, but moles have a unique adaption

A lot of people ask me for advice about articulating animal skeletons and while I say it isn’t easy, I do always say that people should give it a go.

Apart from the rather messy stages associated with removing the pink and squishy bits from the bones, it’s a very interesting, clean and rewarding pursuit for any natural historian.

It teaches us things about anatomy that we would otherwise never learn from lessons, books, or TV alone.

There are obviously several secrets associated with the work and I’m not about to reveal them (obviously, we all have secretive ‘skeletons in our closets’) but if you’re patient, interested in natural history and enjoy a challenge, then give it a go.

All you need is a drill, a skeleton and several plasters – drilled fingers are an occupational hazard, I’m afraid.

Part of the fun when building skeletons is that there are no rules and there isn’t usually a step by step guide. You don’t need a degree and you can be any age.

If you don’t believe me, check out Jake McGowan-Lowe, a young up and coming evolutionary biologist and fully-fledged bone geek, if ever I saw one.

Ben Garrod is an evolutionary biologist and presents Secrets Of Bones.

Secrets Of Bones continues on Tuesday, 25 February at 8.30pm on BBC Four. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Secrets Of Bones is part of BBC Four's Life Inside Out season: Watch clips examining bodies as never before.

More on Secrets Of Bones
BBC Four: Secrets Of Bones: Download a free interactive ebook
BBC Nature: Nature's bizarre bone quiz

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Dissected: Getting under my skin

2014-02-17T10:06:19+00:00

I had my reservations when asked if I’d like to produce Dissected, a series about the dissection of a human hand and foot.

Not because I’m particularly squeamish - I have made a lot medical series, including a stint in the main allied forces military hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. I’m used to seeing the internal mechanics of the body.

I was more concerned about whether this was something that people would actually want to watch. It was an intriguing enough proposition to make me want to do it.

I’m very glad I did as it turned out to be a fascinating exploration into what makes us human.

The point at which the project really got under my skin, as it were, was when I met the hand surgeon in the series, Donald Sammut.

Donald Sammut reveals which finger you could most easily live without

It was at Chelsea Arts Club because not only is Donald an eminent surgeon, he is also a talented artist.

This effusive and intellectual man knew every fibre of the human hand – and made me look at mine differently than I ever had before.

This was all very well looking at my own hand but we needed to dissect one.

Dissection is not something the public are normally allowed to see, it’s traditionally reserved for medical training.

This is partly for health and safety reasons to prevent the risk of the spread of disease and partly to protect the anonymity of the donor and their relatives.

We had to get the permission of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland.

They had never agreed to filming of a dissection before but they considered the request carefully and concluded that our project was a valuable opportunity to bring a greater knowledge of human anatomy to the public.

The next challenge was to find specimens and somewhere to dissect them. We discovered that we could order arms or legs for dissection from the USA.

Importing body parts wasn’t without its complications though so we were glad not to have to go down this route.

Anatomist Quentin Fogg at Glasgow University came to our rescue. He was enthusiastic about the project and became invaluable both on and off screen.

He was licensed to dissect in the university’s 100-year-old anatomy museum. This made a wonderfully rich and atmospheric location.

Crucially, the university’s involvement meant we could use limbs donated to them for educational purposes as long as we ensured the donors’ anonymity.

Leading experts in human anatomy join Dr George McGavin to look inside our hands and feet

The Body Donor Programme throughout the country is something I wholeheartedly support.

We had chosen to only have the specimen preserved by freezing rather than embalming as this gave a more natural look.

This did mean, however, that the specimen would only last for two days.

The heat from our television lights meant the clock was ticking even faster on the useable life of our specimen.

The dissections were complicated so the time limit presented a real challenge to Quentin and the dissection team.

When Quentin first brought the limbs into the studio for filming there was a stunned silence amongst the crew. We knew we had a responsibility to make this donation worthwhile.

During the dissection, the director of photography, Alastair McCormick, who relies on his hands for his livelihood was engrossed.

Musician friends of mine have been slightly embarrassed that they’d never really considered what gave them their skill and dexterity.

I don’t think I’ve made a programme before that is so universally relevant.

The foot programme was equally as fascinating to make. In both episodes, we wanted to relate the fascinating anatomy we were seeing to the real world.

We included short insert films looking at the latest research into hands and feet including comparative animal anatomy.

We also brought people into the studio whose hands and feet have extraordinary abilities.

My personal favourite was foot painter, Tom Yendell. He had been born without arms due to the drug Thalidomide.

George McGavin kicks off his shoes and tries his foot at sketching with Tom Yendell

Watching him flip open a tablet and operate it with his feet was incredible. He then went on to quickly produce a high standard painting with his feet.

I hope people are not put off watching the programmes by the prospect of gore – they truly are a rare opportunity to see a part of ourselves as we’ve never seen it before.

Paul Overton is the series producer of Dissected.

Dissected begins with The Incredible Human Hand on Tuesday, 18 February at 9pm on BBC Four. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Dissected is part of BBC Four's Life Inside Out season: Watch clips examining bodies as never before

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow: A geologist's record

2014-01-03T10:31:11+00:00

Like Antarctica, the Himalayas and the Moon, the Grand Canyon is one of those places that every geologist dreams they will get the chance to see in the flesh.

The expedition in Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow gave me that opportunity in a small wooden boat!

At the mercy of the river: Recreating the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition down the Colorado River

With little rapids experience, but a hunger for adventure, this seemed a small price to pay to see one of the geological wonders of the world.

The canyon, and the expedition, did not disappoint. You get a whole load of rock and a whole load of time to get your teeth into.

When I say time, I mean geological time. Riding the Grand Canyon is like taking a time machine back through 2 billion years of the Earth’s history.

Most people only get to see this from the rim, or to hike down a small part of it.

We were given the opportunity to take it all in, piece by piece, as the boats floated, bounced and forged their way down the river.

‘Here we go!’ Tom O'Hara coaching Dan Snow and Dougal Jerram down Lava Falls Rapid

During the trip I kept some scribblings of the journey as we went down, a way to keep track of all the chaos that was going on.

August 10th – Set off day - Badger and Soap rapids! Today we test the boats properly and set off for good.

Once we launch there will be no turning back. No contact with the outside world for 18 days... Marvellous...

There is much riding of the waves, frantic rowing and adrenalin, cutting through the ice cold water.

Within a few seconds we are into the middle, and some more seconds we are out of the line of fire.

Now frantic bailing is the order of the day, but we have only taken on a bit a water this time... the boats work! :)

I was in a boat with Dan Snow and Tom O’Hara, our river expert who steered us down the river. With Dan’s rowing history I was going to have to work hard to keep up.

The strangest thing is that as a rower, you enter the rapids backwards. All I could hear was the increasing roar of the water and felt the final drop as we went in then... Bedlam!

Dan, Dougal and Tom take a big hit going down Bedrock Rapid

As the expedition ventured further into this geological wilderness, armed with my notebook and camera, I snapped and scribbled like I was measuring up the canyon for a new suit.

“He is off on one of his rock rants again!”

“Stop taking pictures of rocks and get rowing!” Constant jibes that I had to fend off while I explained the sheer geological wonders we were passing.

August 12th - What a sight, Nankoweap, this is the most amazing 360-degree view of the canyon I could imagine.

It takes your breath away with the setting sun casting shadows and a red glow to some of the canyon walls.

The journey was going to be a long one, over some 270 miles, and it was likely to be a war of attrition.

The most amazing thing was how different the parts of the canyon were, and also how different each of the rapids seemed.

August 16th - Fred Thevenin makes a good call and we set of early to hike up a granite canyon (Monument Creek), while the crew rig the shoot for Granite Rapid... Again at Hermit Rapid we plan for a hike up the side canyon (Hermit Creek).

We follow an old miners trail (made by Louis Boucher, an old prospector and canyon guide) up through the schists (metamorphic rocks) and make The Great Unconformity.

A fantastic peneplain surface with ~1 billion years of time missing.

The great unconformity is a surface of ancient deformed metamorphic rocks, buried under giant mountain ranges, that have eroded to the surface and are now in direct contact with sedimentary beach deposits from much younger seas.

A massive time gap in the Earth’s history, which you can literally touch with your own hands.

A hiking trail leads up from the Colorado River to this dramatic view near Nankoweap Rapid

It was these side diversions from the river, the opportunities to explore, and the chance to get away from it all that really gave me my geology fix!

It was great for me to follow in the footsteps of some of the pioneering geologists of the American continent (John Wesley Powell who lead the original expedition in 1869 went on to be director of the US Geological Survey).

Becoming one of very few men on the planet to have survived the Grand Canyon in a boat you would normally be rowing across a lake with a picnic in the country side, for me is also a major achievement and I have the oars in my garage to prove it!

Dougal Jerram is a geologist and one of the presenters in Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow.

Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow is on Sunday, 5 January at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

More on Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow
BBC: Read articles by members of the production team

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Challenger: Researching the space shuttle disaster

2013-03-18T10:59:02+00:00

On 28 January 1986, millions of TV viewers gasped in horror as an explosion destroyed the space shuttle Challenger.

The fireball that engulfed the spacecraft, just 73 seconds after launch, destroyed the lives of seven astronauts, among them teacher Christa McAuliffe.

The immediate demand for answers triggered a soul-searching process that ruined careers, rocked Nasa to its core and ultimately discovered a clear-cut flaw that some had known about before Challenger had even lifted off.

The launch of Challenger: An unforgettable moment in American history

The painstaking journey of one man who, ignoring terminal cancer, searched for the answers that a shocked nation was waiting for, is explored in The Challenger, an ambitious new factual drama to be shown on BBC Two.

The real-life Challenger investigation involved an impressive array of experts. But since many of them were associated with powerful agencies (such as Nasa or the Air Force), a strong independent voice was needed.

This role went to maverick Nobel-winning physicist Dr Richard Feynman, (played superbly by William Hurt in the drama), who reluctantly agreed to swap the relaxed world of California academia for the furore of Washington politics.

As the film's researcher, I wanted to know Feynman's story. How did he accomplish his task, how did he cut through Washington's red tape and intrigue, and why did he take part at all?

Dr Richard Feynman was an eminent professor at the California Institute of Technology

Over two years, and working closely with executive producer Mark Hedgecoe and writer Kate Gartside, I built relationships with Feynman's family, (the man himself died in 1988) and with those directly involved in the investigation, especially Air Force general Don Kutyna and whistle-blower Allan McDonald.

As trust developed, the phone calls grew longer and the number of questions increased. But as is always the way, it was only when I was able to spend a few days in the States and meet everyone face-to-face that I could properly get to know people.

Integrity and a commitment to accuracy are critical, and it's hard to persuade someone of this if you're not looking them in the eye.

Only once you've done this can you ask the hard questions that will unearth the emotions and turning points that Mark and Kate would need when squeezing a story that unfolded over months into a 90-minute film.

I suppose this is the essence of the job, it's certainly one of the things I enjoy the most.

'I have every intention of finding out what went wrong'

Feynman's books, and the transcripts from the investigation, only go so far. If you want to understand how someone stands up in front of their colleagues and says "These people were warned about the dangers but they launched the spacecraft anyway" then you have to spend a little time in their home.

In Allan McDonald's mountainside house in Utah, I joined him, his wife and a friend for lunch. We talked about kids, skiing, the weather. We left the difficult stuff for later.

It's good to take things slowly, build trust, wait for the story. Eventually we left the house, and during a sightseeing drive through the Rockies, Allan – picking his words carefully – recalled his long-held concerns over the basic design of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.

Examining the evidence: Richard Feynman and fellow commission members

But it was only when I crossed the mountains and spent a few days in Colorado with General Kutyna that a bigger picture emerged. Kutyna, every inch an elegant and distinguished senior officer, is a Vietnam fighter ace and former test pilot whose most recent job title was no less than Commander, Air Force Space Command.

I told him about McDonald's concerns. "Never mind that," he replied, "that shuttle was covered in ice. You got to ask yourself why did they launch?"

"Why did they launch?" I asked, slightly chastened.

"Damn good question," he replied. "Feynman wanted to know the same thing. I gave him a classified presentation at the Pentagon. Come down to the den and I’ll give the same to you."

General Kutyna (Bruce Greenwood) at a Presidential Commission press conference

Slightly in awe, I followed him to an office strewn with pictures of himself alongside Thatcher, Reagan and others, and began to take notes on an incredible story.

This was the first we knew of this briefing, and Kutyna's revelations quickly came to influence the shape of our drama.

When Mark and Kate chose to recreate the briefing in a scene in the film, Kutyna further helped us with broad details about the room (a secure basement lecture theatre) and with general information about Pentagon security, the type of thing we would need when dressing the set.

Step by step, the drama came to explore an intriguing relationship as Kutyna nudges Feynman toward the dark truth underlying the explosion.

It's a story that embroiled McDonald and also astronaut Sally Ride – which we only came to realise following her passing in July last year – as hopefully you’ll come to discover for yourself, once you see the film.

Dan Parry is the researcher on The Challenger.

The Challenger is on BBC Two and BBC HD on Monday, 18 March at 9pm.

BBC Archive Fun To Imagine: Watch the 1983 BBC series featuring the real Dr Richard Feynman.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Tails You Win: The Science Of Chance

2012-10-17T09:00:00+00:00

Chance, risk, uncertainty, luck - call it what you will - affects every part of our lives.

And so when BBC Four commissioned our programme Tails You Win: The Science Of Chance there was a huge range of possible themes to explore, from gambling to natural disasters, extreme sports to collapsing economies, coincidences to lotteries.

We ended up touching on all of these since they all, at least to some extent, can be handled using numbers.

Of course people's feelings about chance and risk are vital, as my guts told me when I was waiting to do a skydive.

David Spiegelhalter in Tails You Win: The Science of Chance

But I am a statistician in the Faculty of Mathematics in Cambridge and so I think numbers are cool and when someone says something is 'risky', I immediately ask 'how risky?'

The programme shows how we try and answer that question, although the producers would not let me use all the equations. Meanies.

But they did let me talk about the fundamental ideas of chance itself. Does it exist as part of the external world? Or is it just a way of saying we don't know - our personal ignorance?

These are wonderfully tricky questions that a seven-year-old can ask and the biggest brains can't agree on.

My personal tendency is towards the 'ignorance' interpretation and I certainly believe that any probabilities we put on future events are a product of our judgment and don't really exist 'out there'.

But in the end all these fancy ideas don't make much difference, we still need to decide whether to spend our pension lump-sum on a huge motorbike or save it for our old age, go for a jog or slump on the sofa, buy a premium bond or a lottery ticket.

As the programme shows I love trying to compare the risks of different choices and so, for example, the theory of gambling fascinates me.

What affects our chances of living to 100?

But in practice I don't get a huge thrill from actually risking my money and I know I would lose in the long run, and so my online betting account is kept for academic demonstrations only (honest).

The programme is not intended to make people more cautious or more risk-taking, but maybe to ask 'what are the chances?' and try to get an answer.

David Spiegelhalter is the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University and presenter of Tails You Win: The Science of Chance.

Tails You Win: The Science of Chance is on Thursday, 18 October at 9pm on BBC Four. For further programme times, please see the upcoming broadcasts page.

More on Tails You Win: The Science of Chance
Professor David Spiegelhalter's articles on The Guardian.
Read David's lecture If you can calculate risk you can make better judgments.
More on David's website Understanding Uncertainty.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Volcano Live: Why I changed my day job for volcanology

2012-07-09T10:00:47+00:00

So, what makes a middle-aged office worker up-sticks, give up seven years of her life to return to university as a mouldy-oldie student, travel half-way across the world to go and see volcanoes in the middle of nowhere and pursue a career trying to fathom out how the rocks of this planet formed?

I used to be a contracts manager in a telecoms infrastructure company - a good job but not one which really got me fired up.

If someone had told me then that 10 years in the future I would be working at the British Geological Survey as a mineralogist and petrologist (ie I look at crystals and minerals in rocks and determine their origin and history), that I would be involved with the BBC's Volcano Live series and that I would have witnessed first-hand an amazing eruption... I would never have believed them.

Lorraine witnesses a nighttime eruption at Nyiragongo

In my early thirties I travelled to Antarctica where I met the late Jon Stephenson who had been the geologist in the 1957 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. His passion for his subject made a lasting impression.

Following redundancy I was accepted at Durham University to study geology full-time (a brilliant experience!).

I fell in love with all things volcanic - particularly igneous rocks under a microscope.
Igneous rocks are those which have formed from magma (molten rock). They can form from lava flows such as basalt or can crystallise and cool before they reach the surface such as granites (intrusive).

I found that tiny crystals in the rocks hide a myriad of secrets - some can tell you what the pre-eruptive temperature of the magma was, whether there have been changes in the magma chamber during their lifetime or how long they have existed before being erupted.

I learned about different types of volcanoes and eruptions while nurturing a dream that one day I would see an eruption for myself.

After my PhD at Bristol University on the magmatic history of a volcano in Afar, Ethiopia, I decided to visit the largest lava lake in the world, Nyiragongo, in the Congo.
This is a unique volcano, one of only a few in the world which has a long-lived lake of molten lava in its crater.

Nyiragongo is also special as it has a very low silica content which makes its lava very runny. I hoped to bring back samples of historical lava flows.

Going to these remote places is not possible for everyone and so the BBC asked me to film this trip for Volcano Live.

Lorraine Field at Nyiragongo volcano

Filming was exciting but I was also a little apprehensive as I didn't know what we were going to see - this was new territory for me.

I really wanted to get some good footage to be able to share the experience.

The Congo unfortunately has had a difficult recent history and can be a tricky place to visit, although the Virunga Park Rangers do a tremendous job in trying to make the area safe for both humans and wildlife.

Common sense planning means checking for updates on the safety situation before travelling, taking the minimum of stuff with you and preparing as much as possible.

The easiest way to get into the Congo is to go as part of a travel group. I went with a diverse German-speaking group who had one thing in common: they were all regular travellers with a passion for volcanoes, and were very understanding about my complete lack of German!

We knew that Nyiragongo's sister volcano Nyamuragira had begun erupting a couple of months before our visit but had no idea what the current state of play was.

A few days before we left for the Congo Nasa published a satellite image suggesting there was still some activity.

We took a chance and trekked to the eruption site through the rain forest. That first view of the active volcano, after emerging from the dense rain-forest was magical!

Seeing a volcano in full-eruptive state is an assault on the senses which is impossible to describe. The noise is incredible. We could feel the heat, despite being around 550m away. And the blood red lava shooting 200m into the air was mesmerising.

All the textbook theory was coming to life and we knew we were watching something very special: a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And I collected some great samples!

Kate Humble sees Eyjafjallajökull from above

When I've told people that I was studying volcanoes they have often pointed out that there are no active volcanoes in the UK. This is true. But we have had: our granite tors are a legacy left by our volcanic past.

We can also be affected by active volcanoes in other countries as we were in 2010 when Eyjafjallajökull erupted - 'THAT Icelandic volcano'.

We need to study volcanoes, both active and extinct, in order to work out what makes them tick.

Volcanoes are like people: each has its own unique personality.

I consider myself very lucky to have been able to change careers and fulfil a dream. It was hard work, but worth it. My advice to anyone considering doing the same is to believe in yourself and go do it!

Lorraine Field is a volcanologist on Volcano Live.

Volcano Live starts on Monday, 9 July at 8pm on BBC Two and BBC HD. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Share your images and send your questions for the presenters and experts on Volcano Live. You can read the executive producer's story on the About The BBC blog on the making of the series.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Bang Goes The Theory's human-powered plane experiment: The results

2012-04-24T09:06:13+00:00

When invisible forces suddenly pluck you off the ground it's a massive shock, even if you've just spent weeks trying to make it happen.

And up until that moment I was far more worried about dealing with the consequences of failure than those of success.

But as I started to get a good view of the tops of people's heads and registered the weird, unexpected near silence of flight I realised I had but an instant to figure out how to control and power a brand new aeroplane.

When myself and my two mates Chris Hill and Jim Milner start designing and building the more extreme stuff for Bang Goes The Theory I know I'm probably going to be the test pilot.

Watch Jem's pedalling power test

In some ways it's great but you don't half feel the responsibility.

Often the first chance we get to properly test a completed item is the day the cameras arrive. And I know that all the effort that we've put into it will mean very little if I don't somehow get it to perform on the day.

Designing and making a plane that works on pedal power took the most amount of resources we'd ever put into a job.

Before dawn on the day of our attempted flight even the boss of the programme was at Lasham airfield along with the camera crew.

There was also a crowd of pilots, photographers and eminent aero engineers who very much liked the look of the machine we'd constructed.

But Lasham is a working airfield and I knew that we only had a two hour window to try getting our plane airborne before the real planes started to come in and we had to stop.

If nothing happened in that time all we'd have really managed was to build a very odd looking bicycle.

Almost everything else we'd ever built for Bang Goes The Theory were things that I'd been thinking about for months or sometimes years until I felt they were ready.

In all that time however, an image of a one man aircraft that had to be pedalled into the sky had never once crossed my mind - until this series when Alex our producer planted it in there very firmly.

Also whilst filming at the new Olympic velodrome in Stratford for episode six there were a bunch of interviews with British Olympians being played out on the big screen behind us.

Over half of them said that the superpower they would most like to have was to be able to fly.

The thing is by then I knew that they all actually had enough muscle power to do it they just needed someone to build the correct exoskeleton - and that's what we were on to. (In some ways it's a plane but in many ways it really is just the exoskeleton a human being needs to put on in order to give them the power of flight.)

Back at the airfield with me in the cockpit, the first attempts didn't look good at all.

Jem and the Bang team start the experiment at dawn

Although the early morning was almost as still as you could hope for, there was a breath of wind and we couldn't risk that flipping the lightweight plane.

So I had to pedal into the wind, which meant across the width - rather than down the length - of the runway.

With only a few metres of tarmac to gather speed we had no idea if I'd be quick enough to take off.

Pedalling uphill to avoid that side wind I couldn't seem to get any decent roll control. You have to turn towards the upward wing so the other wing effectively speeds up, gets more lift and evens things out - great in theory. Grrr.

The aeroplane turned uncontrollably, ploughing its precious and delicate wing into the ground.

I bailed out to try to minimise the impact on the airframe but luckily we discovered that if handled thoughtfully the craft seemed more robust than we'd ever hoped.

Now massively feeling the pressure we headed for an old part of the runway.

With a little headwind and flatter ground I got a small hop. I could tell because the sound of the wheels on tarmac suddenly went briefly silent.

At this point though some of the amassed eminent figures in aviation were questioning my piloting - was that really the reason it was almost bound to the ground?

We decided to put a pretty fit and phenomenally experienced pilot in the hot seat.

He too only managed a very small hop but crucially he was able to give me definite advice on using our homemade control system.

Success! Jem manages a few seconds in the air. Image copyright: Arthur Willmer

I took on board everything he said and cycled into a sensation that I simply didn't know existed. It's literally like being plucked from the ground.

Flying in a pedal-powered aeroplane feels like you've just dragged something out of the world of cartoons and into the fringes of reality.

It wasn't a huge flight - seconds long and 30 yards at best - but we'd definitely made an aircraft.

An aircraft powered by a fairly ordinary human.

In the history of the world it's highly likely that man is by far the heaviest creature ever to fly using muscle power alone. I now hope it happens far more often and gets easier with every attempt.

Jem Stansfield is a presenter of Bang Goes The Theory.

You can watch the human-powered plane take flight in episode seven of Bang Goes The Theory on Monday, 30 April at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. Viewers in Wales can watch on the same day at 8pm on BBC Two. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Bang Goes The Theory: The human-powered plane experiment

2012-03-30T09:35:35+00:00

Bang Goes the Theory's resident engineer, inventor and presenter Jem Stansfield is a man who seems to have done pretty much everything: from building a pair of Spiderman-style gloves powered by vacuum cleaners that allows him to scale the sides of buildings to fulfilling that childhood dream of going 'all the way round' on a swing... with the help of a rocket strapped to his body.

From series four: Can Jem go 360 degrees on a swing?

But, despite having a degree in aeronautical engineering, he had never attempted to build a real flying machine.

In fact, he says, that is precisely because of his training. If it taught him anything, it was how difficult it is to build anything that has to go airborne.

So it must have been a real moment of weakness back in December 2011 when, whilst mulling ideas for the current series of Bang, we came across footage celebrating the 50th anniversary of human-powered flight.

Seeing an aluminium and wooden plane pedalled into the air by an enthusiastic young pilot called Derek Piggott at Lasham Airfield in 1961 had a certain charm to it that attracted Jem's attention.

Inspired by this, and a visit to a team of young engineering students at Southampton University trying to emulate their forebears' achievement, we thought that this might actually be something we stood a chance of being able to do.

Only a handful of aircraft have ever made it off the ground powered by a person's own muscles.

Those that succeeded have generally been the culmination of years of dedicated work - sometimes by huge teams of highly experienced aeronautical engineers - and pedalled by athletes who train to an international competitive standard.

Jem's a keen cyclist, but no elite athlete.

The hangar isn't big enough to put the wings fully together - it'll be done outside

He and the core team of two Bang engineers had no experience of working with carbon fibre - the material of choice for strong and light craft.

For them to build a plane that stood any chance of taking off in a matter of weeks, and to take on the task of pedalling it into the air seems, in retrospect, rather over-optimistic.

Add to that the facts that Jem had never flown a plane before, and he would have to control the craft whilst pedalling as hard as he could, and it seems simply impossible.

So now, a few months later, the small team of us find ourselves at Lasham airport, unpacking a bubble-wrapped package that contains the vast structure of our aircraft.

The wings alone are 23m across - roughly the size of a Boeing 737. Yet, being built mostly of foam and a kind of cellophane, the whole plane weighs only two thirds of Jem's weight.

Only now, with an aircraft hangar at our disposal, can we put the pieces together to see our plane for the first time.

We're waiting for an early morning without a breath of wind because the merest gust could send the vast lightweight structure tumbling sideways.

Meanwhile Jem has to try to grab some sleep... between practising on his home-built training bicycle (which runs flight simulator software whilst he pedals hard enough to power three 100 watt light bulbs) and putting the finishing touches to the aircraft that we all hope will, very soon, make its maiden - and possibly only - flight.

If it does, we will have shown the childhood dream that so many of us have of being able to fly isn't, perhaps, as impossible as it might seem...

Alex Freeman is one of the producer/directors on Bang Goes The Theory.

You can see how the human-powered flight experiment turned out later in the current series. We'll add the episode date and time here once confirmed.

Bang Goes The Theory continues on Mondays at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD in Scotland and England, and BBC Two in Northern Ireland and Wales. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Stargazing LIVE: More secrets to be uncovered

2012-01-16T14:48:00+00:00

I have been fascinated by the night sky ever since I was a child.

I remember seeing Saturn through a telescope for the first time when I was about 10 years old, and the sight was nothing short of magical.

Seeing Saturn, rings and all, hovering against the velvet black sky ignited a fire in me that has been raging ever since.

Professor Brian Cox: Stargazing LIVE series two trailer

One of the key things that has helped maintain this passion is that no matter how much we learn about the Universe, there will always be more secrets to be uncovered.

It's been fantastic to be the astronomer on Stargazing LIVE, to work with Dara O'Briain and Brian Cox along with an incredible crew.

In the last series this involved me teaching astronomy to Jonathan Ross in his back garden, explaining how to take astronomical photographs and showing people the wonders of the night sky live on national TV.

It's been manic in the run up to this second series. Already we have two short film sequences complete, one which is a beginner's guide to telescopes and binoculars and another which is about light pollution.

Trying to get people to think about the amount of excess light they are using is one of the big themes of the series.

We want to demonstrate that even the smallest places create a heck of a lot of light, so I'm now on my way to Dulverton in Somerset to prepare for this year's biggest challenge - on the third night I will be attempting to get all the lights of the town simultaneously turned off live on air!

I'm pretty nervous about this as it relies entirely on people responding positively and agreeing to join in. It's all out of my hands when it comes to the show regardless of how much work we put in campaigning over the next two days.

Stargazing series one: Jonathan meets Jupiter

There are loads of other great things coming up in the new series too and we want you to get involved.

You can send in your pictures and questions to the team and we will try to answer as many as possible in the follow-on show Stargazing LIVE: Back To Earth which happens straight after Stargazing LIVE.

There are also hundreds of events up and down the country for you to go along to.

We've also got some great new graphics plus an updated star and moon guide and loads of other resources downloadable from the website to show you what you can look for in the skies over the UK during January so you can get out and stargaze for yourselves.

Last year's show was great, even my 'missed meteor moment' was hilarious but we have loads of bigger and better things planned for this year and frankly, I can't wait for the first show.

Mark Thompson is the astronomer on Stargazing LIVE.

Series two of Stargazing LIVE begins on Monday, 16 January at 8.30pm on BBC Two and BBC HD. For further programme times, please see the upcoming epsiodes page.

On Thursday, 19 January at 2pm, Professor Brian Cox will present a live, interactive lesson from Jodrell Bank in collaboration with The Big Bang Fair. All UK schools can join in on the BBC red button.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Fostering Nature's Miracle Babies

2011-09-02T11:20:00+00:00

I suppose it's not the average day at the office when you get to bring home two tiny little endangered monkeys in your bag.

Not just tamarins but baby bats have shared my bedroom at various points over the last 20 odd years that I have been working at Durrell in Jersey.

Feeding time: Dominic Wormell cares for the tamarins

I must admit, I usually get a groan and a look of 'oh no, not another one' from my wife when I turn up with a travelling crate, a steriliser and some powdered baby milk, as it usually means she will be getting up in the middle of the night to do some of the feeding duties.

Intelligent and fascinating, but often challenging to breed, many tamarins and marmosets are threatened with extinction.

Over the years we've faced many problems with these monkeys and as a result have learned a lot about how to keep them healthier and happier in captivity.

This led the BBC to contact us about doing some filming with our tamarins.

Walking around with Stuart Armstrong and talking about our experiences, it became obvious that pied tamarins had a great story to tell about what zoos can do to help endangered species.

I always wanted to work in conservation.

I came to Jersey on the ferry with my bike thinking I would stay for a year or so, but after starting work with the large marmoset and tamarin collection for which Jersey was famed, I became hooked.

They are wonderful little animals and there is always something going on in their full social lives.

Pied tamarins, very threatened in the wild, first came to Durrell in 1990 and it was immediately obvious that they were very different to other species.

When they jumped out of the crates they had travelled in from Brazil, they began to vocalise in a strange and aggressive way that I hadn't heard before.

They were angry little creatures, confrontational and ready to challenge any perceived threat.

This obviously posed some problems if we were to breed them in captivity and establish a safety net population.

More of the cute baby animals featured in the series.

To say that those first pied tamarins were poor parents would be an understatement:

In the early years I was often greeted with the gruesome sight of tiny headless corpses on the enclosure floor.

Not only that, but they seemed to be very susceptible to illness.

Over the years we changed the way they looked after them, finely adjusting everything from diet to housing, reducing stress and enriching their environment, to put the troublesome tamarins at ease.

Gradually things improved, and we have now bred many tamarins and sent them elsewhere so that the population is safer.

William was the first pied tamarin that I hand-reared.

His mother was a notorious baby killer and one day I walked into the enclosure to see a small, dark, wet, lump on the floor, covered in wood shavings and squeaking incessantly.

Meanwhile his mother had killed his twin and was now looking down at him - she would probably have finished him off if I hadn't been there.

William had a series of health problems, including a large inguinal hernia which the vet said was untreatable. But we made some tiny plastic shorts out of a fairy liquid bottle which held the hernia in place, and it soon healed itself.

William is now an infamous character, having a few favourite people but taking every opportunity to nip anyone else - and tamarin bites hurt a lot!

Despite this he is now a proud father several times over, and though an old man at the age of 17, is due to become a parent again. (The oldest pied tamarin on record is 21. He is called Mr Tumnus and is still living here at Jersey!)

William took a long time to integrate into a foster family because of his health problems, but we've learned over the years that it's really important to get hand-reared babies back into a group when they are still very young, as that way they grow up to be much more socially adept.

A baby pied tamarin

Unlike many primate species, tamarins have a very sophisticated system of group care and are usually perfectly happy to foster unrelated babies.

The ideal group will have adults that have had lots of experience with infants, either their own siblings or as parents themselves, and be likely to breed again so that the foster kids can learn about how to look after babies correctly.

One of my first visits to Brazil was to help reintroduce the first captive-born black lion tamarin, one of our Jersey successes, to the Atlantic forest in southern Brazil.

However, reintroducing any of the pied tamarins we are breeding now is unlikely to be feasible, as the last remaining bits of forest they live in already have tamarins living in them.

So we are working on their conservation in the wild with Marcelo Gordo and other conservationists in Brazil to try and put a brake on the destruction of the forest that pied tamarins and many other species live in.

With Manaus continuing to engulf the forest, it's very sad to see how much more has gone every time I visit.

It's also really heartening to see how Marcelo is trying to build up tree corridors through the city, and the tamarins in Jersey and in Europe are helping to raise funds for this.

Surely there must be a space for these tiny little primates in our world - we can't let them be steamrollered out of existence.

Dominic Wormell is the Head of Mammals at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

Nature's Miracle Babies is on BBC One at 6:30pm on Sunday, 4th September.

For further programme times, please visit the upcoming episodes page.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.