I was fortunate to attend the opening, by David Attenborough, of the Thurrock Thameside Nature Reserve:
This nature reserve, with its visitor centre, has been constructed over what was one of London’s major rubbish tips for some 50 years. It is located on the north side of the Thames to the east of London at a place called Mucking and is run by Essex Wildlife Trust.
Apparently, David Attenborough rarely does this sort of event, so it was a major story for the news media. There were several camera crews and many photographers in attendance.
In this photo, David was being interviewed by Nel of the BBC children’s news program Newsround (shown on the CBBC channel.) This interview must have lasted about 10 minutes but, no doubt, it will be edited down to a small bite-size chunk for broadcasting.
Taking these photos was extremely difficult for, along with the official cameraman filming the interview, there were many other photographers and cameramen popping up to record the event and had officials of Essex Wildlife Trust (and others) walking about in front of the cameras. I was actually filming video but interrupted the movie to take the still images – this caused less interruptions to the movie than the other people getting in the way!
In the crowd was spotted the well-known TV personality Phill Jupitus. My daughter (who works for the Trust) asked if he would mind posing for some photographs for the Trust magazine. He was a good sport and came outside to do so:
He was a real gent and very pleasant about it. Should, by some chance, you be reading this Phill, Thanks!
At the time of writing, I have only processed about a third of the photos I took. I will post more about the event as I get the other photos ready. More of these photos can be seen in the gallery.