To get the super low angle shots at the same level as the snakes, we underslung the rig so the camera and lens could slide almost touching the floor \u2013 at some points I even had snakes on the equipment and on my boots!
Camerawoman Katie Mayhew<\/footer> <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

More on Wild Isles<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
How to watch Wild Isles on BBC One<\/a><\/p>\n
Wild Isles filming locations revealed<\/a><\/p>\n
Wild Isles: episode one \u2013 what\u2019s it all about?<\/a><\/p>\n
Wild Isles: episode two \u2013 what\u2019s it all about?<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Where is Wild Isles<\/em> episode three filmed?<\/h2>\nBoxing hares<\/a> and golden eagle<\/a>: Islay\nMachair: Hebrides; North Uist\nVole nest and owl: Hebrides\nBee snail: Dorset Rabbits<\/a>, foxes<\/a> and buzzard: Suffolk; Dorset\nWild horses: Cambridgeshire; Salisbury Plain Large blue butterfly<\/a>: Gloucestershire Black grouse<\/a>: Cairngorms Adders<\/a>: Northumberland Hen harrier<\/a>: Cairngorms Red deer<\/a>: Killarney National Park<\/p>\n
Check out more Wild Isles<\/em> filming locations<\/a><\/p>\n
Meet Wild Isles<\/em> episode three producer Nicholas Gates<\/h2>\n
Nicholas Gates is a lifelong British naturalist who wants the audience to see the extraordinary side of some of our most familiar creatures. \u201cFor me personally, it was hugely eye opening to visit some of our most remote and important wilder places,\u201d he says. \u201cTravelling to so many of these over the course of three years filming allowed me to see the different approaches to conservation being taken throughout our isles and meet the exceptional people dedicating their lives to protecting some of our rarest species.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did you film the lifecycle of the large blue butterfly?<\/h2>\n
The lifecycle of the large blue butterfly<\/a> is extremely complex, with many intricate steps required for the egg to successfully make it through to an adult butterfly. Filming each of these steps was only possible by working closely with a team of three expert scientists (Professor Jeremy Thomas, David Simcox and Sarah Meredith) who were responsible for reintroducing the large blue butterfly at a number of locations throughout Somerset and Gloucestershire. We split the filming into many different shoots and just worked on one stage of the butterflies\u2019 lifecycle at a time. The hardest step of all to film was the exact moment when the caterpillar<\/a> successfully tricked a worker ant<\/a> into picking it up and carrying it back to the nest.<\/p>\n
Why did the \u2018witch bee\u2019 stand out?<\/h2>\n
There are more than 250 different species of bee in Britain and Ireland, which live in a wide mix of places, from woodworm holes in deadwood for our smallest species, the tiny scissor bee, to old vole nests for our largest bumblebees<\/a>. But of all these species, we felt there was one which really stood out for her persistence in finding just the right nest for her youngsters. The two-coloured mason bee, our \u2018witch bee\u2019, whizzes around chalk grasslands looking for empty snail<\/a> shells of the exact right size. Like Goldilocks with her porridge testing, the female two-coloured mason bee will check lots of empty shells in the grassland, some are too big, some are too small or damaged, until she finds just the right one within which to lay her egg. She is nicknamed the \u2018witch bee\u2019 as after laying each egg she seals up the shell and then hides it under a pile of tiny sticks. She collects each stick individually and carries it, as she flies, under her body and looks like she is riding a tiny broom!<\/p>\n
How did you capture the footage of adders mating?<\/h2>\n
Filming this number of adders<\/a> mating has never been filmed before; in some of our mating balls we filmed six adders, a behaviour that is exceptionally rare to see, let alone to film. Across the three weeks filming for this sequence, we found at least 52 different individual adders, guided by the expert identification skills of herpetologist Nigel Hand. By closely and carefully following the individuals as they emerged from hibernation, and particularly by following the males which sometimes moved hundreds of metres following the scent of a female, we were able to pinpoint the exact locations where mating was taking place to capture the extraordinary footage of this moment. We had a camera team of three people, and an additional field team of four people, who were all assigned spotting duties to follow individual adders that we expected to mate or battle. Everyone was in radio communication ensuring that as soon as any behaviour looked likely, the nearest member of the camera team could be called in to quickly relocate and film the action.<\/p>\n
Main image: A free-roaming herd of Konik horses grazes in the evening light at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, UK. \u00a9 BBC\/\u00a9Silverback Films\/Hamza Yassin<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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