Earth Pilgrim

[John]

Did anyone watch watch the Natural World programme on BBC2 tonight entitled Earth Pilgrim. If so what did you think of it.

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it but in the end I was totally enthralled by it. It was all about Dartmoor through the eyes of an elderly Asian gentleman that settled in Dartmoor some 40 years ago and it was a joy to watch.

It encompassed all the seasons and brought together some superb photography of a vast array of species that lived there from animals to plant life. From Birds to Insects and also the superb scenery of this bleak area of Britain.

The programme will not to be to everyone's taste but if you haven't seen it, and it is repeated, I think you ought to give it a try.

The programme certainly preached a message of man's stupidity in thinking they can control nature and with that thinking the bleak future for the Earth and all its inhabitants.

John

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by John

Did anyone watch watch the Natural World programme on BBC2 tonight entitled Earth Pilgrim. If so what did you think of it.
John

I put the telly on that side as background noise while I did some studying and about ten minutes later studies were abandoned!

I found it fascinating, a completely different style to the usual 'nature' programmes and thought the presenter, I didn't catch who he was, showed a genuine passion and deep understanding that certainly got me re-thinking my thoughts about little things.

The only thing that spoilt it slightly was the background music which I found a little off-putting.

ps

the pipit feeding the cuckoo chick looked really strange given their differences in size!

[PMG]

Yes I settled down to watch it and was enthralled: I liked everything about it, the film footage, the species featured - at last someone was showing lichens and mosses and that emperor moth hatching - oh wow how I wish I could be there to see this happening I'm afraid I didn't catch the presenters name either but he voiced what I have thought for a long time - he said it so well about us humans distancing ourselves from nature and thinking we are not part of it, or even lording it over it..............

I thought the music was just slightly intrusive but I liked and knew most of the pieces so the whole turned into a pleasure of a different kind. What a wonderfully balenced chap he is and I actually feel calm from watching it, instead of wound up by presenters acting daft and jerky footage etc....... not mentioning any names.............

It was a lovely film of a lovely place............

Pauline

[GME]

Yes - I enjoyed it too. I've got the series on series-link (the beauty of Sky+) but wasn't really sure what to expect. It was, as has been said, an interesting and different view of some of Dartmoor's beautiful wildlife and scenery.

I like Simon King so next week's episode should hopefully be another good 'un too!! (Filming a Tiger making a kill, I think)

[pressld2]

Sounds fascinating. I missed it but fortunately it is being repeated, this Sunday 20th Jan on BBC2 at 6.10pm. I shall programme my recorder straight away - thanks for the heads-up! In fact I shall start recording at 5:30 when there's a 10 minute programme called Avocets - Born Survivors. This is followed by Wild Wensleydale at 5:40 and then the repeat of Earth Pilgrim.

Dave P.

[Heart-shaped World]

I did watch it expecting little.
Sheepishly, I admit to being extremely moved by it. I thought the standard of cinematography very high - artisitic but purposeful. The gentleman who presented it was a wonderful human being and presenting because of his beliefs and not looks or celebrity.

*whispers* When the Beautful Demoiselles came on I even started to well up, but don't tell anyone.

It's looking like a purchase at this stage in the series.

[GME]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Sounds fascinating. I missed it but fortunately it is being repeated, this Sunday 20th Jan on BBC2 at 6.10pm. I shall programme my recorder straight away - thanks for the heads-up! In fact I shall start recording at 5:30 when there's a 10 minute programme called Avocets - Born Survivors. This is followed by Wild Wensleydale at 5:40 and then the repeat of Earth Pilgrim.

Dave P.

Great stuff, glad you'll get a chance to see it. It's well worth it. The Avocet programme was on straight after the Natural World one tonight and was also well worth a watch

[The Black Rabbit]

We saw it and were fascinated by it.
A REALLY GOOD "Natural World" production, though like AGC we found the music un-necessary - rather like canned laughter on a comedy show.
A lovely 50 minutes of television though...
Doug

[John]

A description about the programme taken from the BBC website.

This film is a spiritual journey into the ethereal landscape of Dartmoor with Satish Kumar, the world-renowned ecologist, former Jain monk and pilgrim for peace. Through changing seasons Satish walks the moor and explores ancient woods and rivers, home to a wealth of wildlife including Red Deer, emperor moths, starling roosts, kestrels and foxes. His meditations on the natural world are lyrical, uplifting and timely. From the producer of the Emmy and RTS award-winning Mississippi: Tales of the Last River Rat.

John

[Dan Salter]

I thought it was stunning !! infact so far this new natural world series has been superb! i even used some quotes from the snow leopard one in my most recent degree assignment !

This program tonight was great....personally i loved the music particularly when some folky guitar actually weaved in with him chanting Om shanti by the standing stones at the end...he was of course singing acapella but it matched perfectly with the music then to top it all off faded into Jeff Buckleys superb cover of Leonard Cohens Hallelujah !..

Oh and....the quote from einstein about the bees " If the bees dissapear from the world man with dissapear around 4 weeks later. Bees wont pollinate...no more plants...so no more animals...so no more humans"...something like that anyhow?, really got the thought processes going. And i liked the Gandhi quote at the end too.

oh and also...cheers pressld for the tip off...i did infact record tonights prog on my recorder but i only caught the last minutes of the avocet thing as i didnt know it was on ( after) so i will record that on sunday along with the other thing !

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

to top it all off faded into Jeff Buckleys superb cover of Leonard Cohens Hallelujah !..

Well now I'm just gagging for it! One of my all-time favourite songs and the Jeff Buckley cover is superb!

And quotes from Einstein and Ghandi too - I'm shivering already!

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Dave P.

[rlchew]

Originally Posted by John

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it but in the end I was totally enthralled by it.

My thoughts exactly John.

I enjoyed it so much, I am going to watch the repeat and record it.

It was a totally different perspective for a natural history programme from Satish Kumar .... excellent .

I enjoyed the brief follow on about the Avocets too. Some of my earliest birding memories are being taken to Minsmere to see what at the time were still very rare breeding birds. There are now over 700 breeding pairs in the UK and I often see them at my local patch just 2 miles from home .

Richard

[JeffH]

Well, no offence to any of the previous posters but as this is WAB I guess someone has to present the opposite view and it may as well be me

From a personal perspective, this programme just didn't do it for me.

As others have said, there was some exquisite wildlife film - eg the Pipit feeding the juvenile Cuckoo - but I felt it was linked with far too much footage of the narrator simply walking through various parts of Dartmoor ('wildlife watching' on Dartmoor in a white jacket ) with an overly-contented look on his face and, frankly, given his no doubt sincerely held beliefs in pacifism and conservation it's difficult to see quite what he has to be so contented about!

Like some others I found the often 'mystical' style of background music off-putting (I even considered pressing the mute button a few times ) but my distaste for the programme mainly resulted from the rather preaching over-philosophical/semi-religious style of the narration.

Having said all that I fully respect Satish Kumar's right to hold and express his opinions/beliefs, though history shows us that sadly such views have so far had precious little impact on mankind's seemingly suicidal desire to wage war and destroy our planet. What we need are practical, realistic solutions - it's surely patently obvious by now that merely preaching the peace and love message is totally ineffective

Before anyone tells me, I know this is a fairly cynical view but as I'm now a fully paid up member of the Grumpy Old Mens club I'm perfectly entitled to express it

Jeff

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

A really good programme. An interesting insight into what our wildlife and countryside means to other people. The photography and background music was superb and the presenters soft and gentle tones made it totally easy listening and watching. I might even watch the repeat as well.

BWD (Future Jade monk)

[smartie]

I was entirely captivated by the programme, including the music I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of the real skylark song with the Vaughan Williams piece.

Unlike Jeff, I wasn't irritated by his serenity, but envious of it - he is clearly a man with a quiet and settled mind. He's also quite active in his way, and I think we need some people to put the philosophical arguments as well as the practical ones.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Well, no offence to any of the previous posters but as this is WAB I guess someone has to present the opposite view and it may as well be me
Before anyone tells me, I know this is a fairly cynical view but as I'm now a fully paid up member of the Grumpy Old Mens club I'm perfectly entitled to express it

Jeff

Even though I liked the programme I can understand the reasons that you didn't like it and can see the format wasn't for everyone.
However, I would much prefer to watch this style of programme as opposed the the style adopted by the 'elephant diaries' presenters, the series which finished last night.
To me, the elephant diaries sensationalised each stories and 'humanised' each elephant to the extent that I almost expected the elephants to put on pyjamas and talk to the camera themselves!

One last thing, Jeff, this Grumpy Old Men's Club - is there one for women?!

[jerryh]

I found the programme both inspirational and extremely relaxing to watch. Satish Kumar's "Earth Pilgrim" relationship to the natural world is exactly the relationship I wish I could achieve.

As much as I love my birdwatching and photography, etc, they are too technical, too detached from the experience of the wild place or wildlife to allow me to really connect.

I think I come closest when out, say, on a favourite felltop walk in the Lake Distric. No camera, no binoculars - just me, the rocks, the wind and the ravens.

Jerry

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Sounds fascinating. I missed it but fortunately it is being repeated, this Sunday 20th Jan on BBC2 at 6.10pm. I shall programme my recorder straight away - thanks for the heads-up! In fact I shall start recording at 5:30 when there's a 10 minute programme called Avocets - Born Survivors. This is followed by Wild Wensleydale at 5:40 and then the repeat of Earth Pilgrim.

Dave P.

Thanx for the info John and thanx dave for the above, I'll prog record it immediately. As for Buckley's cover of Hallelujah Dan, that's brilliant but try and get a copy of the John Cale cover, that's stunning too.

[Dan Salter]

Just to remind people...3 nature progs in a row from 5:30 on bbc2 including the repeat of this earth pilgrim...plus the avocet prog.

[Flora]

Just finished watching Earth PIlgrim and the next time I have to fill in a form that ask for my religion-I am going to say'Earth Pilgrim' or at least trying to achieve it!
Great programme

[blueollie]

Does anyone know the music at the end of the programme that finished with a choral piece. I thought it was lovely. A real change from the head-banging stuff usually accompanying programmes. Unfortunately it seems to be the fashion now to advertising future programmes all over the credits so I wasn't able to catch the music. Thought provoking!

[iggy9820]

I too am trying to find out that piece of music. I don't think it was the last piece of music as it was surely Jeff Buckleys version of Leonard Cohens Halleluja. I think it was the penultimate piece of music which could have been written by Rutter or Tavener. 20th century at least.

Yes the photgraphy was superb.

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Flora

Just finished watching Earth PIlgrim and the next time I have to fill in a form that ask for my religion-I am going to say'Earth Pilgrim' or at least trying to achieve it!
Great programme

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[Cotham Marble]

Oh well good job a lot of people feel the licence fee was well spent. As with every other 'outdoor' programme we now have to bear a dire (unless you share the director's taste), deeply annoying and intrusive sound track. And all that earth pilgrim stuff - a philosophy that condemns 55% of the world's human population which is inextricably 'urban' to a notion of religious failure.

The big joke of course for this particular programme is that Dartmoor is the location of the most enduring rape of the natural world by human kind in the British Isles . Heavily forested 6,000 years ago, by 1,000 BCE it was a denuded wreck;the slash and burn, soil erroding ploughing and overgrazing of our ancestor's management may look 'nice' under the blanket of peat and blueberry but that scenic glory is pure man made with just a thin 'natural' skin.

CM

[ChrisJB]

I just watched this earlier tonight and found it totalling compelling viewing. To me it was one of those all too rare 'cyclops' experiences of utter brilliance that does wonders for the soul. The scenery and wildlife were great (and so well delivered via superb cinematography), the music seemed apt and the bloke himself, I just thought h