What a privilege it was to be brought on by repeat clients Windfall Films to do the drone filming on this 1x60 special where Sir David Attenborough takes us through the discovery of five ice age Mammoths which were unearthed in the Cotswolds after 200,000 years. 

DigVentures archaeologists plus scientists and palaeontologists help us learn: was Mammoths' demise the work of Neanderthals? The fossils were certainly of mammoth-proportions! It was a humbling experience to hold the fossil of a single mammoth tooth, in the location it was found.

Drone shoots in the countryside often throw up unforeseen airspace obstacles during prep, which for this location meant notifying and gaining permission for drone flights within a military parachute drop site, and a nearby RAF / USAF base. These guys do not care about mammoths.

As a drone operator working in TV, oftentimes the glamour is removed as I'm asked to make something look lively and interesting which, on the face of it, is very inanimate and uninteresting.

So it was in this case, filming the bed of a drained gravel pit in the Cotswolds, which was essentially an enormous muddy puddle.

What was contained within the soil was of course the item of interest - the remains of one of more ice-age mammoths.

I made use of nearby trees to give some depth, and also used the tree cover to make some reveal shots which I knew would be useful in the edit. The archaeologists played a bit part in the story, so I needed lots of top-shots which showed them working away, and would have CGI overlaid to show the locations of the mammoth skeletons.

I worked alongside fellow SAB member and sound recordist Pete Gill, though we didn't really get to chat as usually when I'm working, he is elsewhere, and vice versa!

The two amateur fossil hunters who originally discovered the prehistoric remains were on site, and had made some lovely mammoth cupcakes, a very nice touch and a tasty mid-morning snack.

The episode was aired on the 30th December '21, so gained good viewing figures amogst mammoth proportions of turkey leftovers.