Nigel Tucker: Wildlife Sound recordist, Sound editor, and videographer.

A lifelong interest in wildlife, it was in 1973 that birdwatching became the over-riding passion. With wife Laurel, every weekend, holiday and some work days were spent in the pursuit of birds, both common and rare, around the country.

 

In the early 1980s ‘Wingspan’ was formed, designing and leading birdwatching tours to Europe and North America, which, eventually led to contact and employment with the BBC Natural History Unit.

 

Based in the Natural History Sound Library the opportunity to be involved with location sound recording became available, and in 1989 I became the unit’s Wildlife Sound Recordist.

 

Redundancy in 1996 forced me into the precarious world of freelancing as a recordist, but also opened a new opportunity as a producer and compiler of wildlife CDs, mainly privately produced, but also for the RSPB.

 

This developed into fulltime sound editing and tracklaying, principally for the ARKive project, but also on short and full-length films for the RSPB.

During this time good quality DV cameras became a lot more affordable, so alongside the sound work, DV filming on the nearby Severn Estuary began. Four years later in 2008, the four seasonal films on the birds and other wildlife of the English side of the estuary was released as

‘Portrait of an Estuary’. 

 

Now, I continue with some sound work, but more filming and birdwatching.