Wild Isles: Key scenes of Sir David Attenborough’s latest series were filmed in Somerset

Some of Somerset’s best-loved natural havens will feature in Sir David Attenborough’s new series ‘Wild Isles’. Filming for the landmark series, which begins tonight (Sunday March 12), took place at several locations across the county including Tyntesfield in Wraxall and Prior’s Wood in Portbury.

In the new five-part series. Sir David Attenborough celebrates the wonders of the British Isles and reveals the surprising and dramatic habitats that exist. Filmed over a three-year period, the footage examines how Britain’s forests, grasslands, freshwater and marine habitats support wildlife of all kinds.

Using the very latest technology, each episode will capture dramatic and new behaviors across the British Isles, from battling butterflies to mighty killer whales on the prowl. The first in the series deals with Lord and Ladies’ unusual factory and was filmed in Tyntesfield and Hutton Woods.

READ MORE: Villagers are fighting against plans for a 700-plot allotment site in Somerset’s greenbelt

The plant’s unique behavior was captured on camera, showing it heating up and releasing a foul-smelling scent that is irresistible to flies, enticing them to enter its flower. The plant holds her hostage before showering the fly in pollen and then allowing it to escape.

The team had to make tiny windows in the sides of the flowers to film the structures within. Thermal imaging cameras captured glowing images of plants heating up to attract the flies, and the team could also feel the heat by resting their faces next to the plant.

It required careful timing as each plant only heats up for four hours before beginning to wilt the next day. Cinematographer Katie Mayhew said: “Surprisingly, the mature buds only stayed hot for a few hours during their life cycle and the hottest thing was actually smelling – you could even feel the heat by touch. Capturing the color and heat transfer images was a complicated task, like filming a jigsaw puzzle.”