#30DaysWild Day 1 - BBC Breakfast

30 Days Wild started today, the Wildlife Trust's campaign to get everybody to do something wild every day for the month of June. This will be the third year we've taken part and the last two years have been a blast!

Last year's 30 random acts of wildness

After moving house a couple of months ago, we had big plans to 'wild' our new back garden. I had expected day 1 of this year's 30 Days Wild to be us making a pond or planting wildflowers, but it turned out to be a very different wild experience.

BBOWT phoned on Tuesday and asked if would be interviewed on BBC Breakfast about our 30 Days Wild experience. At that point it was only a possibility it would happen and the plan was to do the interview at College Lake, one of our local reserves. At first I was a little reluctant, as the thought of being on national television was daunting, to say the least. My arm was well and truly twisted by Bug Mad Girl though and I agreed, thinking it would probably all fall through anyway.

Then yesterday lunchtime I found out it was going ahead and would be in a small reserve called Camley Street Natural Park, which is behind King's Cross station. As it was an early start, we headed up to London on Wednesday evening and stayed overnight, so we could get there bright and early this morning.

When we arrived at Camley Street, we met everybody and checked out some of the equipment they use for the outdoor broadcasts.

The van with the big aerial on the roof

The man in the van

The camera, on a weighted arm which allows it to swing around
smoothly during the filming

We had a quick cuddle with Carol Kirkwood between weather forecasts ...

... then Bug Mad Girl and Lucy McRobert, from the Wildlife Trust, prepared for their interviews ...

Always be prepared!

... and we listened to the Cetti's warbler and reed warblers singing nearby and watched the family of swans glide past us on the canal.

 

 

The time flew by and before we knew it we were standing in position ready to be interviewed. I completely forgot what we were there to talk about and my tongue stuck to the side of my mouth. Bug Mad Girl looked terrified, but we were helped to relax by Carol's rousing rendition of 'I want to live in America'! I can't really remember what we ended up saying, but I think it was vaguely what we were there for and I don't think we made too much of a fool of ourselves. Added bonus that we didn't fall in the pond, so a success really!!

 

 

 

You can see the interview on the BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08rys49/breakfast-01062017.

 

Thanks BBOWT and the Wildlife Trust for asking us to do it and for looking after us so well. It was a really wild way to kick off our #30DaysWild!