DO TV NATURE DOCUMENTARIES PUT WILDLIFE 'OUT OF BOUNDS' FOR MANY VIEWERS?

TV companies need a sense of vision reckon Stephen Moss (left) and David Lindo

WILDLIFE shows on TV are often 'too remote' for many (if not most) most viewers to relate to.

That is the belief of David Lindo who says some of the more opulent documentaries - for instance, those hosted by David Attenborough - “raise the bar too high”, thereby making nature inaccessible.

              

Lindo is himself a regular bit-part  guest on TV and radio, but he mostly writes columns for wildlife magazines, gives talks to various groups (including children and even prison inmates), conducts tours, home and overseas,) and writes blogs and books.

His special expertise is the birdlife of towns and cities - not just  in the UK but all over the world.

He has now visited more than 300, with favourites (for birds) including Riga in Latvia (though he was underwhelmed by what he found in Santiago, Chile).

Most city dwellers are totally unaware of the wealth of birds that make their habitat, permanent or occasional, in urban settings.

Yet when Lindo points out to them the various species, they are invariably astonished and delighted.

A typical response when they look at an unfamiliar bird through binoculars or 'scope is: "Just like on TV!"

Lindo's latest title, How To Be An Urban Birder, was rejected by two publishers but taken on by Princeton and is now on sale at £14.99.

Earlier this month, the author was at Birdfair 2018 with his friend and fellow-writer Stephen Moss who himself had an illustrious career in TV production  but quit and moved from London to Somerset after finding the demands increasingly stressful.

He agreed with comments about the evident lack of vision of broadcasters and suggested that a future edition of BBC TV's Springwatch should  be hosted at somewhere like Woodberry Wetlands, the former Stoke Newington East Reservoir.

“It would be an ambitious break with convention,"he commented.

The two first met, incidentally, while twitching an ortolan bunting that unexpectedly turned up in Richmond Park in South-west London in May 2011.

*Moss’ latest book is Mrs Moreau's Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names

(Faber & Faber, £16.99)