David Attenborough at 97: ‘He still works harder than most of us – seven days a week’
At 97, Sir David Attenborough is a man still happy to crawl on his belly through wet grass to get his shot.
For his latest project, Secret World Of Sound, the world-renowned naturalist and broadcaster explores the ways that animals hear and produce sound, using cutting-edge technology to record noises from nature – with some captured on film for the first time.
Attenborough’s long-time collaborator, and the show’s series producer, Sharmila Choudhury tells Sky News: “David keeps us on our toes. He sets the bar very high. And that’s a good thing.
“I think he work still works harder than most of us, usually seven days a week… When he commits himself to something, he gives it 100%.”
Sir David Attenborough puts sound centre stage in his new three-part documentary, Secret World Of Sound. Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
Joining the team for filming in the Wye Valley in Monmouth to capture the song of a wild dipper, Attenborough found himself lying on the damp ground hoping that the small bird would show up.
Truly at one with nature, he didn’t have long to wait.
Choudhury explains: “He crawled through the grass to get into the best position, and was all up for it… We didn’t want to leave him lying in the wet grass for hours.
“Miraculously, and this often happens when David arrives on location, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds.
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
“The dipper flew in. David smiled and delivered his lines of what he wanted to say, you know, smoothly in one go. It’s amazing.”
‘It hits you in the core’
For the same episode, Attenborough explains how bees are struggling with modern fertilisers and climate change.
Choudhury says: “Him looking straight to camera and delivering a message like that is so powerful. It literally hits you in the core.”
Calling him an “inspiration,” and praising his “unrivalled” breadth of knowledge, she adds: “And he obviously has a fabulous voice and style of delivery, which is the cherry on the cake of any natural history program.”
A-three-part series, the documentary studies animal behaviour, breaking the sounds they make down into four functions – finding a mate, looking after young, hunting for food or avoiding becoming prey.
Technology worthy of 007
Some of the technology used in the series was borrowed from other walks of life, while other bits of kit were of true James Bond status.
Choudhury says: “We used everything from the tiniest microphone the size of your fingernail, that you could put inside a bird nest or a beehive, to super sensitive hydrophones that you can put underwater to record, the faintest communications between fish.
“There were also a couple of, gadgets that were actually developed for other industries – the gas industry, or for espionage purposes, that we thought might help us to listen in on sounds that we don’t normally get to hear.”
One of those gadgets was the laser vibrometer – a machine which shoots out a laser beam to detect any vibrations caused by noise and amplifies them, so they are audible to the human ear.
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
It was used to capture the love song of a pair of amorous tree hoppers in Costa Rica.
While sound was the focus of the documentary, another theme became impossible to ignore while filming.
‘Every single shoot was impacted by climate change’
Choudhury says: “The biggest challenge, without any doubt, was climate change. It’s something that we’ve seen creep in on us over the years.
“I’ve been making wildlife films for over 30 years. And in the last decade or so, more and more shoots have been impacted by climate change.
“That means animals that would have been predictable in their movements, say, their migrations or where they would be, or the time of year they’d be breeding, are not doing the usual things anymore.
“It started off with one or two parts of the world, or one or two shoots being affected by this. But on this particular series, every single shoot was impacted by climate change.
That made filming very difficult, and it was very distressing to see the animals suffering in this new world.”
‘The elephants were so stressed’
One example was the team’s trip to Amboseli National Park in Kenya to film elephants.
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
The plan had been to shoot a story about how mothers and babies communicate with each other – but when they arrived following Kenya’s worst drought in 40 years, they found the elephants in an awful plight.
“The elephants were behaving very differently to before. They had split up into tiny herds and every night they would go out of the park to surrounding fields to try and find some food.
“Every morning they would walk back into the waterhole in the middle of the park, and they would walk single file heads down, absolutely dejected. They didn’t make a single sound.
“The animals were so stressed, they had no energy left to talk to each other effectively.
“After we left, Kenya and Amboseli experienced the worst deaths of wildlife, including elephants, recorded history and that was clearly a result of climate change.”
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
‘Buy the coral reefs a little time’
But there was some hope amid the devastation being caused to the natural world by the climate crisis – and this was very much set in the world of sound.
During filming, the team discovered an Australian scientist whose research had found that by playing the sound of a healthy coral reef at the site of a dying reef it could help regenerate it and bring back some of the fish.
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Choudhury explains: “They are hopeful that they might be able to buy coral reefs a little bit of time whilst we tackle climate change.
“It won’t be a solution in the long run because the reef will continue to die off if the oceans continue to warm. But it’s a little ray of hope, at a time when we so badly needed.”
Watch the full interview with Sharmila Choudhury on The Climate Show with Tom Heap, Saturday and Sunday at 3.30 and 7.30pm on Sky News.
Secret World Of Sound With David Attenborough is streaming on Sky Nature and NOW.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three children and a woman died in a house fire in Brent, northwest London.
Metropolitan Police officers are investigating after being called to assist firefighters in Stonebridge, near Wembley, shortly after 1.20am.
A 43-year-old woman and three children, a 15-year-old girl, an eight-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy, died at the scene, the force said. Their next of kin have been informed.
Police are waiting for an update on the conditions of two others who were taken to hospital.
A 41-year-old man was arrested at the scene in connection with the incident and remains in custody.
Pics: PA
Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters responded to the blaze, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.
Two terrace houses, each with three floors, were severely damaged in the fire, which was under control by around 3.25am, the fire service added.
Firefighters rescued the woman and one of the children from the second floor of the house, but they were declared dead by air ambulance crews.
The two other children were found inside the property and were also declared dead at the scene, LFB said.
Emergency services at the scene. Pics: PA
LFB assistant commissioner Keeley Foster said: “Upon arrival, firefighters were met with a well-developed fire, involving two adjoining properties. Crews immediately set to work carrying out firefighting operations in order to bring the incident under control.
“Sadly, a woman and three children have died as a result of this fire.
“Crews wearing breathing apparatus were able to rescue the woman and one of the children from the second floor, but they were later declared deceased at the scene.
“A further two children were discovered to have died in the fire, as crews carried out a search of the properties involved.”
She added: “This is an extremely tragic incident, and the thoughts of everyone across the brigade are with those impacted by this incident.”
Pic: PA
London Ambulance Service said an air ambulance, incident response officers, advanced paramedic and hazardous area response team were deployed to the scene.
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Superintendent Steve Allen, from the Met’s local policing team in northwest London, said: “This is an extremely tragic incident and our thoughts are with everyone involved.
“Officers arrested a man at the scene and we continue to work alongside investigators from the London Fire Brigade to establish the cause of the fire.
“Emergency services will remain in Tillett Close throughout the day as these enquiries take place.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in a post on X: “This is devastating news and my thoughts are with the family, friends and wider community of the four people who sadly have lost their lives.
“I remain in close contact with the London Fire Brigade and Metropolitan Police as they work to establish the cause of the fire and offer support to all those impacted.”
Dawn Butler, the local Labour MP for Brent East, posted: “Devastated to see the fatal fire at homes in Tillett Close last night.
“My prayers are with the family and friends affected by this is a very sad tragedy.
“@LFB_Brent worked hard to get it under control, thank you.”
The teacher of one of the Southport stabbing victims has told Sky News they “don’t want her to be forgotten”, 10 months after the knife attack in which she was murdered.
Seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe was killed along with Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar in an attack by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July.
Jennifer Sephton, headteacher of Farnborough Road Infant School, will be skydiving to raise funds for the Elsie’s Story charitable trust, which has been set up in memory of the former pupil.
(L-R) Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were killed in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class
“She’d been with us for four years, throughout her education,” Ms Sephton told Sky News, “and we just want everybody to know Elsie’s spirit.”
Describing Elsie as “such a determined young lady,” Ms Sephton said Elsie had “a real zest for life, and a sparkle in her eye all the time.”
She added that Elsie’s Story, which has been set up by Elsie’s family, is about “continuing that legacy.”
Jennifer Sephton
In the aftermath of the July 2024 attack, the gates outside Elsie’s school were lined with flowers, balloons, and cards bearing her name.
Since then, memorial benches and a tree have been planted in the school grounds, providing pupils and staff with a place to “remember and reflect”, Ms Sefton says.
“[Elsie’s death] had such an impact on all our community,” the teacher said, “it’s had an impact on her friends, their siblings, our school as a community and our staff.”
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Adrian Antell
‘We want her name to live on’
Ms Sephton will be joined in the skydive by Adrian Antell, headteacher at the adjoining junior school where Elsie had been due to start.
“Elsie was due to come to us last September,” he told Sky News, “but what we’ve learned about her is that she had a wonderful impact in the infant school, and we don’t want her to be forgotten.
“We want her name to have to live on and to be thought of in a positive way.”
Mr Antell said they continue to support Elsie’s classmates, who joined the new school without her.
“There’s no instruction manual for this,” he explained, “every day is different, and every day is one step at a time.
“So all we can do as a school is to think about individual children and support them in the best way we can.”
Scientists from Kew Gardens are using a new study to track which trees bees prefer to try to stem the decline in our vital pollinators.
Bee populations are falling all over the world due to a mixture of habitat loss, climate change, and the use of pesticides, with a devastating impact on our biodiversity and food production.
But it’s feared that not enough comprehensive, global research is being done to understand the issue or find solutions.
The study is building up heat maps of the most popular trees
Non-invasive monitors track the buzz created by bees’ wing beats
UK becoming a no-fly zone
Researchers based at Wakehurst in Sussex, known as Kew’s “Wild Botanic Garden”, have begun placing advanced bio-acoustics sensors in some of their trees to track which ones bees favour.
They hope it’ll help urban planners know which trees to plant in built-up areas, as a way of combating the worrying decline in bee numbers.
Pollination research lead Dr Janine Griffiths-Lee said: “Nearly 90% of our flowering plants depend on the contribution of pollinators, but in the UK the population of flying insects in the last 20 years has decreased by around 60%.
“It’s really hard to be able to put a figure on the decline of our pollinators, but we do know that globally the number is declining.
“And with that comes crop yield instability and the loss of an essential ecosystem service.”
Their new, non-invasive monitors listen for the buzz created by bees’ wing beats, building up heat maps of the most popular spots.
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Bio-acoustics sensors are placed in trees to track which ones the bees are more drawn to
‘We’re facing twin crises’
Dr Griffiths-Lee said: “If you think about the tree’s footprint, it’s very small, but they’re huge 3D structures covered in pollen and nectar, which are essential resources of pollinators.
“So we really wanted to think about which are the best trees for bees for us to plant, and that can inform landscape planners, urban architects.”
Eight different species of tree were chosen for the study, including horse chestnut and lime trees, with a mixture of native and non-native species.
The scientists have also been gathering DNA from pollen, which also helps them to map which plants and flowers the insects prefer.
Wakehurst’s director, Susan Raikes, calls the 535-acre estate a “living laboratory”, and said the project’s all about searching for nature-based solutions to the impacts of climate change.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher, really. We know that we’re facing these twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change,” she added.
“We need to be able to understand, as the climate changes, which plants from warmer climes will be good here in the UK for pollinators in the future.
“If all of our native plants are struggling, then we need to find new sources of pollen – for us all to survive.”
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