RSPB PRESIDENT: 'I FEARED MY HEAD WOULD BE PIN CUSHION FOR BILLS OF DIVING GANNETS'

 

Miranda Krestovnikoff - survived uninjured! 

WILDLIFE film maker and sea diver Miranda Krestovnikoff  has revealed a frightening moment on one of her filming assignments off the UK coast.

She and her crew were eager to secure movie footage of gannets hurtling headfirst beneath the surface of the water in their high-speed quest for fish.

Some artifice was required for the stunt. It involved scores of previously-caught mackerels which would be thrown into the air from a bucket.

Just as the shout of "Mackerels!" came, Miranda had a moment of trepidation as she waited in the water.

What if the birds missed the fish and hit the top of her head, penetrating her skull?

"It was a bit scary,"she confided to an audience at Global Birdfair. "For a split second, I thought my head would become a pin cushion for the bills of the gannets.

"But I quickly reassured myself that they dive with pin-point accuracy, and I was likely to be OK."

What happened? 

"It all went to plan,"she continued. "The birds were true to their reputation. I was avoided. 

"They got their mackerel - and I got some really good footage."

During her talk, Miranda revealed that her favourite birds were puffins because they are always "active, curious, cute and amusing".

Unfortunately, the book she is writing about them has had to be put on hold because her research has been curtailed by restrictions imposed because of avian flu on many of islands their breeding sites.

One of her past filming exploits involved attaching a prosthetic puffin's head to the top of her own so that she could get close-up underwater shots as they swam.

"They were baffled," she said. "They couldn't make up their minds about this new kid on the block."

Miranda, president of the RSPB, lives just outside Bristol where, to the delight of her son and daughter, she has created a wildlife haven in her garden.

There are  "loads of wrens", a blackbird with a white head two pairs of green woodpeckers, while other visitors - to the garden's  pond - include herons, kingfishers and  a cormorant which ate everyone of the fish, the largest ones first.

One of the early starbirds was a buzzard that made a feast from the carcass of the goose that the family had enjoyed for Christmas.

For close-up shots of nesting kestrels, she has installed a 24-hour movie camera, with the action providing immense all-day entertainment for the family.

"The camera and fixtures are not that expensive nor difficult to install," she said. "You'll be rewarded many times over if you make the investment."