Category Archives: Nature

Views: Yosemite National Park Valley In California

“Sunday Morning” takes us for a walk on the wild side, at California’s Yosemite National Park. Videographer: Lance Millbrand.

Yosemite National Park is in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s famed for its giant, ancient sequoia trees, and for Tunnel View, the iconic vista of towering Bridalveil Fall and the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome. In Yosemite Village are shops, restaurants, lodging, the Yosemite Museum and the Ansel Adams Gallery, with prints of the photographer’s renowned black-and-white landscapes of the area.

Views: Beatrix Potter’s ‘Lake District’ In England

From dawn to dusk. Sit back, relax, and be transported to the Lake District with a specially commissioned immersive film that celebrates the sights and sounds of a landscape that inspired Beatrix Potter.

The Lake District is a region and national park in Cumbria, North West England known for its glacial lakes and rugged fell mountains. Beatrix Potter eventually settled here after growing up in her ‘unloved birthplace’ of London, becoming an award-winning sheep farmer and respected member of the local community.

When Potter died aged 77 on 22 December 1943, she left 14 farms and more than 4,000 acres to the National Trust. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Terry Abraham, this film captures intimate shots of the native wildlife that Potter would have sketched and later immortalised in her storybooks, alongside epic panoramic footage of its mountains and lakes, featuring locations where Potter lived, worked and admired:

Catbells and Derwentwater Newlands Valley Watendlath Yew Tree Farm, Coniston Tarn Hows Hill Top and Near Sawrey Esthwaite Water Ullswater Great Langdale

Read an interview with Terry Abraham on our blog: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-lif…

This film was produced to accompany the V&A exhibition, Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, until 8 January 2023.

Views: North American River Otters In Maine

“Sunday Morning” visits otters on the hunt for fish at a pond in Portland, Maine. Videographer: Mauricio Handler.

 The North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) is the species of otter found in Maine, and you’ll find lots of them along the entire coast (and probably inland as well). River otters are mostly nocturnal members of the weasel family (Mustelidae) and rather large, growing up to 3.5 feet long and weighing around 30 pounds. They are referred to as “semi-aquatic,” since they spend most of their waking hours in water and come to land when denning, moving from one body of water to another, or marking a territory.

Wilderness: Yellowstone National Park Celebrates 150 Year Anniversary

Yellowstone National Park is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot. Mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho too. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. It’s also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope. 

Views: Gannets In Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand

We leave you this Sunday morning at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand, with gannets, who mate for life. Videographer: Jaime McDonald.

Australasian gannets nest in dense breeding colonies on the New Zealand mainland and coastal rocks and islands, as well as off south-east Australia and Tasmania. Although gannets can be seen occasionally from most places along the coasts of the New Zealand main islands, most gannetries are situated off the North Island. The largest mainland gannetry is at Cape Kidnappers, with around 5,000 breeding pairs. Other mainland breeding sites include Muriwai and Farewell Spit.

Australasian gannets mostly feed on waters over the continental shelf. They prefer flat ground for nesting, rather than cliff ledges. Breeding colonies are mostly situated at sites that are completely or largely surrounded by the sea, i.e. on islands or headlands.

Cape Kidnappers, also known as Te Kauwae-a-Māui and officially known as Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Māui, is a headland at the southeastern extremity of Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island and sits at the end of an 8 kilometres peninsula which protrudes into the Pacific Ocean.

Nature: ‘Riverwoods – An Untold Story’ (Video)

Throughout Scotland, the fractured connections between salmon and the landscapes through which their rivers flow, are gradually being repaired through the foresight and positive actions of many different people. This spring, the Riverwoods documentary will embark on a 12-venue screening tour across Scotland, bringing this untold story to life.

Marine Life: Preserving Coral Reefs In Maldives

The One Ocean Summit opens this Wednesday in the French port of Brest. Seas and oceans cover around 70 percent of the surface of our planet, but continue to face an onslaught of problems, from pollution to rising temperatures. In the Maldives, coral reefs are dying because of climate change. However, locals are doing their best to save them. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24’s Wassim Cornet.

Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an archipelagic country in the Indian subcontinent of Asia, situated in the Indian Ocean. It lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres from the Asian continent’s mainland.

Nature Photography: The Art Of Hendro Soetrisno

Curacao Views: Iguanas At Christoffel National Park

We leave you this Sunday at Curacao’s Christoffel National Park, where it’s the day of the iguanas. Videographer: Mauricio Handler.

Curaçao, island in the Caribbean Sea and a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is situated some 37 miles (60 km) north of the coast of Venezuela. Although physiographically part of the South American continental shelf, Curaçao and neighbouring islands off the northern coast of South America are usually considered to constitute the southwestern arc of the Lesser Antilles. The capital is Willemstad.

Christoffelpark is the largest national park of Curacao and a must see for everyone. The park has a rich variety of local flora and fauna. Nature lovers will find the park teeming with local birds and plants, including species, which are not easily seen elsewhere on the island. For example wild orchids, the Palabrua, the rare native barn owl. The Curacao White Tailed deer (of which there are only about 250 left) and much more.