Fergus Beeley

Fergus Michael Edmund Beeley (born 1962)[1] is an English wildlife conservationist and filmmaker. He is best known for his work producing films for BBC Natural World, including "White Falcon, White Wolf"; "The Eagle Has Landed"; "Return of the Eagle Owl"; "Spectacled Bears: Shadows of the Forest" and Planet Earth – The Future. He joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and spent over 12 years producing award-winning series, including Planet Earth – The Future and The Life of Birds in collaboration with David Attenborough.

Fergus Beeley
Born1962
Tonbridge, Kent
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
OccupationTelevision producer
Known forBBC Natural World

Early life

Fergus was born in Tonbridge, Kent.[2] In 1982, he graduated from the University of Durham (Hatfield College) with a degree in anthropology, earning a 2:2.[3] He completed his thesis with the Pitjantjatjara tribe of Aboriginals in central Australia. An extraordinary reference from the elders gained Fergus a successful interview with the BBC Natural History Unit.[4]

Career

Fergus joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and has spent his career specialising in natural history programmes for television. This includes producing the award-winning Planet Earth: The Future, The Life of Birds and PBS Nature: "Jungle Eagle".

A month before Fergus was due to depart to Ellesmere Island for filming of the documentary "White Falcon, White Wolf", he fell whilst filming high up in the Andes and was flown back to the UK by air ambulance for surgery on a broken ankle. This meant he could not be on location with the crew for filming and had to assist via GPS and edit from his hospital bed.[5][6]

In 2009 Fergus spent a year in the rural Scottish Highlands on Beinn Eighe and neighbouring Loch Maree, filming the documentary "A Highland Haven".[7][8][9]

Film and TV credits

Planet Earth: The Future (2006) – series producer

  • Episode: "Living Together"
  • Episode: "Into the Wilderness"
  • Episode: "Saving Species"

BBC Natural World strand:

  • Episode: "The Beach Boys" (1992) – producer
  • Episode: "Kimberley – Land of the Wandjina" (1993) – presenter
  • Episode: "Tiger of the Highlands" (1994) - producer
  • Episode: "Gannets The Storm Birds" (1996) – producer
  • Episode: "The insatiable Appetite" (1998) – producer
  • Episode: "Spectacled Bears: Shadows of the Forest" (2008) – producer & director
  • Episode: "A Highland Haven" (2009)- producer and presenter
  • Episode: "Magic of the Snowy Owl" (2012) – writer and producer
  • Documentary: "The Monkey-Eating Eagle of the Orinoco" (2010)[10] – producer

Wildlife on One

  • Episode: "Stoats in the Priory" (1996) – producer

The Life of Birds:

  • Episode: "The Mastery of Flight" (1998) - producer
  • Episode: "Meat Eaters" (1998) – producer

PBS Nature strand:

  • "Jungle Eagle" (2011) [11][12]– director
  • "White Falcon, White Wolf" (2008) [13]- producer

National Geographic Explorer:

  • "Owls: Silent Hunters" (2002) – presenter

Terra Mater ORF's Natural History Unit:

  • Schnee-Eulen - Schwingen über der Arktis (2012) – writer and producer

Conservation

Fergus has created a community conservation project called the BLUE Campaign, which encourages anyone with access to a green space to give a piece back to nature, helping to develop a connection to nature and promote biodiversity in their area.[14] The scheme was piloted in Chipping Sodbury in 2017 and will be rolled out nationwide in 2019.[15] He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and patron of Flamingo Conservation Rift Valley.

Fergus was executive director for a company called Fountain Digital Labs, which developed a children's wildlife entertainment app called Virry, which won a Webby Award in 2015 and a BAFTA for best interactive children's original app.[16]

Author

In 2006 Fergus co-authored Planet Earth: The Future – What the Experts Say in conjunction with Rosalind Kidman Cox and Jonathan Porritt (ISBN 978-0-563-53905-6). It was published by BBC Books on 5 October 2006.[17]

In 2010 he co-authored a paper in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology entitled "Hatching Synchrony, Green Branch Collecting, and Prey Use by Nesting Harpy Eagles (Harpia harpyja)" regarding the observation of an occupied harpy eagle nest over three separate periods in eastern Venezuela.[18]

In 2018 he co-authored Desert Falcon - A Legend in conjunction with author Leslie Goodyear [19] An allegorical historical fiction novella taking place in 1940s United Arab Emirates that strongly features falconry.

Road rage incident

On 22 July 2017, Fergus was involved in a confrontation in a car park of a service station off the M27 motorway. The confrontation apparently resulted from an earlier incident on the motorway. During the encounter, Fergus was filmed threatening a family with a citizen's arrest and shouting "I want you dead!" repeatedly. [20] Footage of the incident circulated widely over social media and was reported by numerous news outlets.[21]

References
  1. "Search Results for Britain records | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  2. "Search Results for Britain records | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  3. "Durham University gazette, 1984/85". reed.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  4. Travel, Steppes. "Fergus Beeley". www.steppestravel.com.
  5. PBS, Irene. "Filmmaker Interviews". www.pbs.org.
  6. McNeill, Jim (24 August 2007). "Arctic diary: Tracking wolves". www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. Wollaston, Sam (4 December 2009). "Natural World: Highland Haven and Wonderland". www.theguardian.com.
  8. Heritage, Scottish Natural. "When Fergus Met Beinn" (PDF). www.snh.org.uk.
  9. Beeley, Fergus (23 April 2008). "Highland Diary: Remote munro". www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. Vaughan, Adam (6 July 2010). "Monkey-eating eagle divebombs BBC filmmaker as he fits nest-cam". www.theguardian.com.
  11. Room, Press. "NATURE (SEASON 30) – "JUNGLE EAGLE"". www.thirteen.org.
  12. Nature, PBS. "Interview with Filmmaker Fergus Beeley". www.pbs.org.
  13. Morelle, Rebecca (31 January 2008). "Elusive wolves caught on camera". www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. Sims, Aaron (20 October 2016). "Chipping Sodbury to pilot national biodiversity campaign encouraging people to help nature by 'doing less'". www.gazetteseries.co.uk.
  15. Beeley, Fergus. "What is the BLUE Campaign?". www.fergusbeeley.co.uk.
  16. Awards, BAFTA. "Children's Interactive: Original in 2015". www.awards.bafta.org.
  17. "Planet Earth - The Future: What the Experts Say". Amazon.co.uk.
  18. Beeley, Fergus (4 April 2010). "Hatching Synchrony, Green Branch Collecting, and Prey Use by Nesting Harpy Eagles (Harpia harpyja)". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 122 (4): 792–795. doi:10.1676/10-060.1.
  19. "Desert Falcon - A Legend". Amazon.co.uk.
  20. "Family films road-rage death threat". BBC News. 2017-07-24. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  21. Churchill, Laura (2017-07-24). "Tweets and Memes galore as Fergus Beeley road rage video goes viral". bristolpost. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
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