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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 Sky Nature 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 The Climate Show: “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%.”

Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
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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.

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“Miraculously, and this often happens when David arrives on location, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds.

“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.”

Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
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Pic: Sky Nature/NOW

‘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
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Pic: Sky Nature/NOW

It was used to capture the love song of a pair of amorous treehoppers 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
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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
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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.

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Brixham: Warning ‘heads are going to roll’ after water parasite outbreak – as ‘nearly every house in one close has someone ill’

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Brixham: Warning 'heads are going to roll' after water parasite outbreak - as 'nearly every house in one close has someone ill'

Thousands of homes have had their boiling water restrictions lifted after a water tank infected with cryptosporidium was drained and cleaned, South West Water has said.

About 16,000 households in the Brixham area of Devon were told to boil their drinking water following 46 confirmed cases of the disease.

On Saturday afternoon South West Water lifted the boiling restrictions for 14,500 homes after water quality monitoring results found no traces of cryptosporidium in the Alston supply area.

Cryptosporidiosis is caused by a tiny parasite and can lead to vomiting, stomach cramps and watery diarrhoea lasting about two weeks.

More cases are expected to be confirmed due to a delay in developing symptoms – and about 100 more people around Brixham were reporting signs of it on Friday.

South West Water believes the parasite probably entered supplies through a damaged pipe in a field containing animal faeces.

A contaminated water tank at Hillhead reservoir, where cryptosporidium was detected, was drained overnight and “thoroughly cleaned” on Saturday, South West Water said.

One local resident said she knew of only four houses out of 21 in Raddicombe Close, on the outskirts of Brixham, which have not had at least one person fall ill with cryptosporidiosis.

The local MP has warned “heads are going to roll” over the incident.

Tory MP Anthony Mangnall, whose constituency includes Brixham, told LBC: “This is such a serious matter that yes, I think heads are going to roll over this.”

He claimed the supplier had been too slow to issue its safety alert.

An area around Brixham, Devon, affected by a 'boil your tap water' warning. Pic: South West Water
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16,000 businesses and residents are affected by the boil water notice. Pic: South West Water

Mr Mangnall said: “From starting this week with a denial from South West Water that it was anything to do with them, delaying the fact that the boil water notice came in – meaning thousands of people used the water network – to then issuing it on Wednesday, and there are a lot of people who are very ill.”

He called it an “absolutely disastrous week” and said locals were furious.

South West Water has said it’s “deeply sorry” and that it’s been “working tirelessly” to identify the source of the problem and fix it.

One of the sites where locals have queued up to collect bottled water
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Bottled water stations have been set up in the area.

Read more:
What we know about parasite found in drinking water

Parasite outbreak has ‘destroyed’ business

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the government of not doing enough to hold water companies to account.

He told Sky News the firms were “putting profit over the environment, over public health” after multiple cases of sewage being released into rivers and seas.

“We [Liberal Democrats] wouldn’t wait for fines for pollution,” Sir Ed said.

“There should be a sewage tax on the profits of these water companies so we can get the money now.

“There needs to be much tougher regulation… and we may need to look at restructuring the whole water industry.”

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Kelly Holmes joins anti-sewage protest

It comes as dozens of protests over sewage releases were planned for Saturday.

Surfers Against Sewage is promoting “paddle-out” demonstrations at 30 locations, with Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes among those at the event in Brighton.

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Devon: Confirmed cases of disease more than double to 46 after parasite found in drinking water

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Devon: Confirmed cases of disease more than double to 46 after parasite found in drinking water

The confirmed cases of a waterborne disease caused by a parasite have more than doubled.

There are now 46 confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhoeal illness, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said – with more than 100 further people reporting similar symptoms in the Brixham area.

Other reported cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in residents and visitors to the south Devon town are also under investigation. Hundreds of locals have also reported feeling unwell over the last two weeks on social media.

MPs and South West Water officials have confirmed the parasite most likely entered water supplies through animal faeces, but an investigation is still ongoing.

What is cryptosporidiosis disease?

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‘Cow faeces’ infected Devon water

The UKHSA first confirmed cases of the disease at around midday on Wednesday, while locals were initially told by South West Water that their tap water was uncontaminated and safe to drink.

But after testing supplies in the Hillhead reservoir, the water company found “small traces” of the parasite cryptosporidium – which causes cryptosporidiosis – and told residents in parts of Brixham and Alston to boil their drinking water on Wednesday.

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A total of 16,000 households and businesses in Brixham, Boohay, Kingswear, Roseland and North West Paignton were impacted and offered £15 compensation at first.

Over the next two days, South West Water apologised to those affected and increased the offer to £115. Amid the chaos, one primary school closed its doors on Thursday due to not having safe running drinking water.

An area around Brixham, Devon, affected by a 'boil your tap water' warning. Pic: South West Water
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16,000 businesses and residents are affected by the boil water notice. Pic: South West Water

‘Very hard questions for water company’

Speaking to Sky News yesterday, South West Water’s chief customer officer Laura Flowerdew confirmed it was likely a broken air valve contaminated by animal faeces that had caused the outbreak.

However, she refused to give a timeframe on how long the incident would be ongoing – leaving thousands of residents facing an uncertain future.

Speaking on Friday at the University of Exeter, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said there will be “very, very hard questions” for South West Water over the outbreak.

“At the moment I think we probably need to give them the space to conduct their investigation; we know that they have identified the source,” she said.

“The public will want to know how on earth that source happened, what was the chain of events that led to this, because of course we all understand the expectation that we all have when we turn our taps on is that [we get] clean drinking water and we want to be able to trust it.”

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File pic: Dr_Microbe/iStock

Release of sporozoites from Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst, 3D illustration. Cryptosporidium is a protozoan, microscopic parasite, the causative agent of the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis
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Most cases of cryptosporidiosis pass in two weeks. Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. File pic: Dr_Microbe/iStock

‘Expect to see more cases’

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall also warned the boil notice could last “at least a further six or seven days” and called for more transparency.

Professor Paul Hunter, a specialist in medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia, told Sky News if the parasite was “a continuous thing” present in water supplies for a prolonged period, then “you’d expect to see more cases” for another two weeks.

It comes as hotel owners in the area told Sky News the outbreak has led to people cancelling their stay, while a head chef said “I can’t wash salad in the sink”.

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‘Destroyed our business’

Stephen Colemansfield, owner of Redlands Guest House in Brixham, told Sky News the outbreak has “destroyed our business at the moment”.

“Our guests have cancelled because of the mixed messages that are being sent out by South West Water.”

Rob, head chef at the Steam Packet Inn in Kingswear near Dartmouth, also said his brother-in-law is one of the 46 confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis and has been sick for two weeks.

The UKHSA is working with Torbay Council, South West Water, NHS Devon and the Environment Agency on the incident.

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Infected Blood Inquiry: Couple who were shunned and abused as son lay dying hoping for ‘justice’

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Infected Blood Inquiry: Couple who were shunned and abused as son lay dying hoping for 'justice'

Colin Smith carries a small suitcase into the dining room of their Newport home and lays it flat on the table in the centre of the room. He pops open both latches.

His wife Jan reaches inside and pulls out a sky blue child’s blanket. She holds it close to her face, closes her eyes and inhales deeply.

“It still smells of him,” she says, softly.

“This is the blanket he was wrapped in when he died.”

Their son, also called Colin, was just seven years old when he died in January 1990. His tiny body was ravaged by Hepatitis C and AIDS.

The suitcase, much like the one most families used to own in the 1980s, is just big enough to hold all the memories of their son’s short life.

Next to the blanket, are his favourite toys including a snow globe and lots of his artwork.

Jan and Colin Smith. Their son, also called Colin, died age seven after receiving infected blood. Pictured looking through a case of their son's possessions. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood scandal/inquiry.
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Jan and Colin Smith look through the suitcase containing their son’s possessions

Jan explains that Collin, loved to paint and draw and that he was very talented.

“He was 13 pounds when he died. That’s nothing is it for a seven-year-old?” Jan asks.

The question goes unanswered as a momentary silence fills the room.

Colin was born with haemophilia. The treatment for his blood clotting disorder included a product called Factor VIII.

What his parents didn’t know was that the Factor VIII was made in America using blood farmed from prisoners, drug addicts and sex workers.

Jan can recall all the fine details of that day clearly. Especially the cold, matter-of-fact way the bombshell news was delivered by doctors treating Collin.

“We went to the hospital,” Jan says, and they called us out into a corridor, kids running around, parents, and just told us that Colin had become [infected with] HIV.”

By this time their beautiful little boy had become very sick.

Victim Colin Smith. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood scandal/inquiry. Pic supplied by family
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Colin Smith with his toys

‘You just couldn’t pick him up’

Colin senior is still haunted by the effect the virus had on his son’s body. ‘You could see every sinew and tendon in his body,” he said.

Jan said: “I think it was about ’89 that we realised because the weight loss was incredible. And we had him home for a little while, and you couldn’t just pick him up.

“We had to use a sheepskin because it hurt him. He would say: ‘Mum you’re hurting, it’s hurting’.”

Colin was treated by Professor Arthur Bloom, who died in 1992. But in the 1980s, he was one of the country’s leading haemophiliac specialists.

However, documents shown at the Infected Blood Inquiry prove Bloom’s research carried great risks and these were never explained to Colin’s parents.

Professor Arthur Bloom, who died in 1992, was one of the country's leading haemophiliac specialists. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood inquiry and interview with Colin and Jan Smith
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Professor Arthur Bloom, who died in 1992, was one of the country’s leading haemophiliac specialists

There is a record of the first time Colin went into hospital that shows that he had never been treated for his haemophilia at this point.

Previously untreated patients were known to be useful for research as their responses to new treatments could be tracked. Patients exactly like Colin.

Also shown to the Infected Blood Inquiry was a letter from Prof Bloom to a colleague after another visit by Colin to hospital saying he’s been given Factor VIII and acknowledging that even though this was the British version there was still a risk of Hepatitis but that “this is just something haemophiliacs have to accept”.

Read more:
Blood donations ‘collected from UK prisons’
Bereaved families say loved ones were ‘used’

And a letter, dated 24 June 1983, from Prof Bloom to colleagues discusses the risk of AIDS. They accept that one possible case of AIDS has been reported.

Colin’s parents are convinced their son was being used in secret trials.

Victim Colin Smith. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood scandal/inquiry. Pic supplied by family
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Colin Smith

“I think Colin was just unlucky enough to be born at the right time. Newly diagnosed haemophiliac, never been treated,” his father explained.

“Which is what we were after, because as documentation states that they are cheaper than chimpanzees, you know. You treat a chimp once, you can follow these children throughout their lives. And that’s what was going on.

“And this was going on from the ’70s. Colin was born in 1982. Yet they still infected him. How do you justify that?”

His mother said that they trusted the doctors at the time and never questioned their son’s treatment. “Just when we think back – at the time no, we didn’t. But when we think back, it was just blood tests. Blood tests, blood tests, blood tests.”

Hate campaign

The threat of HIV and AIDs was only just emerging. And this ignorance drove a hate-fuelled campaign against all those impacted.

This stigma forced Colin and Jan to move home and be shunned by some of their own community. All while still caring for their dying son.

“It became public when he needed to start school, for nursery, and all the parents protested and said: ‘We’re not having an AIDS kid in this school’, because we’ve been known as the AIDS family. We had AIDS that were [written] on the house and you’re not talking little.

“Well, it was like six-foot letters ‘AIDS DEAD’, we had crosses scraped into the door. The phone calls in the middle of the night were not very nice. They were the worst.”

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As Colin’s condition deteriorated his parents decided to bring him home for what would be his last Christmas with the family. It was against the wishes of Prof Bloom.

Jan and Colin were told haemophiliacs with AIDS should die in hospital and be cremated quickly. But the family ignored the hospital.

“And you know what,” Jan says. “He asked for a bike. And we actually got him a bike. He never rode it, obviously because he was too ill. But he wanted a bike. And I’m not going to not get him a bike. Because they all have bikes. But Colin never, never even sat on one.”

Victim Colin Smith's last Christmas at home. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood scandal/inquiry. Pic supplied by family
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Colin Smith spent his last Christmas at home, against the wishes of Professor Bloom

That difficult decision to remove Colin from hospital to spend his last days with his family at home proved to be the right one.

“He was on my lap and he just got up to you, didn’t he?” Jan says looking at her husband. “He said: ‘I can’t see, daddy. I can’t see’. And then he just lay back. My hand was on his chest.

“And, you know, for a mother to actually feel the rise and fall of his chest. Waiting for it to stop. Because that’s what I was doing.

“I was waiting for it to stop. And then it stopped. And I just said: ‘I think he’s gone’. And I remember shaking him a little bit, but he’d gone.”

Jan and Colin Smith. Their son, also called Colin, died age seven after receiving infected blood. From Ashish Joshi report on infected blood scandal/inquiry.
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Jan and Colin Smith speaking to Sky News

‘I want my son to have his name back’

On Monday, Sir Brian Langstaff will deliver the long-awaited report into the infected blood scandal.

It has taken campaigners like Jan and Colin decades to achieve this. They are clear on what this report must say and how the government must respond.

Colin senior lives with the guilt of not protecting his son. He wants accountability.

“I want justice to be served properly not hypothetically. Let’s see the people who did this, hopefully criminal charges. It is manslaughter at least. I gave my son over to his killers, you know, and I can’t get to grips with that,” he says.

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Blood scandal ‘the worst thing’

For Jan, it will be recognition for a lifetime of heartbreak and grieving.

“I want people to recognise my son. And I want to be able to go to the cemetery and say, we’ve done it. And you’ve done it. That’s what I want. And I want an apology.

“People say it’s the money, it’s not the money. And I can’t get that through to people. It’s not the money. I want recognition.

“I want my son to have his name back. His name is Colin John Smith. And that’s what I want people to remember.”

Infected blood inquiry Sky News promo image

Sky News will have full coverage of the infected blood report on TV, online and on the Sky News app on Monday.

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