Just a Drop's annual talk for 2019 'For the Love of Nature' saw the filmmakers behind epic Netflix series Our Planet and acclaimed BBC series Life, Planet Earth and The Hunt share the stories that have inspired them across their thirty years of wildlife filmmaking.

Huw Cordey and Patrick Morris, award-winning filmmakers and Just a Drop Patrons, joined us on 25 April 2019 for our sixth annual talk at the Royal Geographical Society. 'For the Love of Nature' took us on a journey from the jungles of Borneo to China's panda reserves, across the Pacific Ocean to the wilds of Mexico and on to the Galapagos Islands... 

Huw shared stories of his adventures filming orangutans and birds of paradise for Netflix series Our Planet. Filming in the jungle can be perilous - battling swampy conditions, dodging falling branches that can knock a person out and warding off (or succumbing to) tropical diseases. Devastatingly, the orangutans' natural habitat, the ancient jungles of Borneo, are fast disappearing, cut down to make way for palm oil plantations. Filming male birds of paradise - or 'bobs' - showcasing their elaborate mating dances, using hidden cameras positioned above the birds, allowed Huw to capture what the female 'bops' see for the first time on film.

Huw shared his tales of filming a community living on a remote Pacific island - which takes four days to reach by boat - an island so tiny that the population density is the same as Bangladesh. Due to the sustainable way the community interacts with their environment, the biodiversity of the island is flourishing and the islanders live in harmony with the natural world around them.

A highlight of Patrick's career was filming black bears for BBC documentary Wild Mexico, about the country's landscapes, flora, wildlife and culture. The documentary was shown across Mexican television and became a national event. Patrick has recently produced a documentary on China's giant pandas for Natural Geographic. The Chinese government has created vast protected reserves for the animals, which has seen their numbers slowly begin to increase - a success story for conservation efforts. Finally, Patrick discussed his love of the Galapagos - and the wealth of fauna and flora unique to the islands.

Stephen Sackur, Just a Drop Patron and presenter of BBC's HARDTalk, chaired questions from the audience and asked our speakers whether wildlife filmmakers should have done more over the years to communicate the damage human beings are doing to the environment. Huw explained that in the past commissioners would not have given the green-light for such programmes to be made. Patrick added that the best way to make people care about the natural world, and to want to preserve it, is to show how beautiful and incredible nature is.

This year's Just a Drop annual talk follows on from the success of 2018’s Secret Lives Exposed: If Walls Could Talk, 2017's Danger Deadlines and Frontlines: A Glimpse Into the Lives of Foreign Correspondents, and Huw and Patrick's 2016 talk, Life Behind the Lens.

All proceeds from the evening have supported Just a Drop's safe water and sanitation projects. 

Huw Cordey is a natural history filmmaker who has worked on BBC series Wildlife on One, Big Cat Diary, Land of the Tiger, Andes to Amazon, and Sir David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals. In 2003, he became part of the Planet Earth team under Alastair Fothergill, and produced three episodes for this hugely popular and multi award-winning series. In 2009 he left the BBC to join Silverback Films and was the series producer of the award-winning The Hunt, a major series for BBC1, looking at the world’s predators and prey.  Recently, he produced the Jungles episode for Netflix’s first natural history series Our Planet, released in April 2019. Currently, he is the series producer of Perfect Planet, a landmark series for BBC1, due for transmission in autumn 2020. Huw is a Patron of Just a Drop.

Patrick Morris is a multi-award-winning wildlife film producer, director, series producer and executive producer. His career spans thirty years and his projects include the major BBC landmark series Life, presented by David Attenborough, Galapagos, Yellowstone, Wild Africa, British Isles: A Natural History, Wild Europe, Wild West and Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life, and a range of highly acclaimed one-off specials. Patrick directed 3D movie Enchanted Kingdom for BBC Earth Films. Patrick’s films have twice won the ‘Grand Teton’ award at the Jackson Hole International Wildlife Film Festival and three times ‘Best Limited Series.’ He has also won the highly prestigious Peabody award from the University of Georgia for excellence in documentary film making. Patrick recently set up his own company, Impala Pictures, and is currently working on a series about the wildlife of China for National Geographic. Patrick is a Patron of Just a Drop.