David Attenborough's new programme

[Ohmygrood]

We all love David in our house.
But those poor little fledgling barnacle goslings!
I couldn't watch past that - I've still not recovered.

Both my children were crying their eyes out watching the goslings. ds (6) started crying again when the orchid mantis got eaten by the bigger one. It took a lot of explaining about evolution and natural selection to calm them down.
I'm really in two minds about it, as a biologist I like that this showed how harsh life is a bit more realistically than most other programs but a bit of a warning for parents watching with younger children would have been good.

The bit with the goslings was just awful - how can that be a sensible way to reproduce?

Ohmygrood - if you'd watched to the end and seen the 'filming of..' bit you;d have seen something even worse - the first lot of goslings they filmed, the ones that survived the drop were just recovering when a fox came along and took the lot of them

I do love wildlife programmes though - and I always learn something amazing from David Attenborough's series.

It is on at 9pm - not 4pm!!! It's not for kids!! Nature is not always cute and lovely.

We always watch wildlife programmes before letting the dc watch - for this reason. Have deleted this one and won't let dc see it as DS loves geese/swans and will be too upset.

Maybe, next time, do the same?

It was repeated at about 5ish today CocktailQueen which is why the children would have been watching.

So a parental warning might have been appropriate when it was shown at this time of day.

On the other hand - the world of nature can be very cruel, it's a hard call to know how much reality to let children see. The gosling drop was both terrifying and wondrous at the same time.

I've given up watching wildlife programs.

I'm a biologist and I've done plenty of gory stuff, but I still hate this modern trend for 'realistic' i.e. unpleasant wild life programs.

I basically gave up when they were so proud they'd got ultra slow mo of a shark killing a seal. Why, we know sharks eat seals, we don't need to see it in that detail.

Dh and I watched this and wondered how barnacle geese aren't extinct!

I'm in two minds about it really. I adore David Attenborough and his programmes are always amazing but I was really upset watching the goslings bouncing off those rocks and awful when the others were eaten by a fox .

I know it's real life in all its glory but I do think the film makers could pull back a bit on the graphic coverage of it.

Oh, Kirry, sorry - I hadn't realised. Yes, in that cases, the bbc should have a warning for younger viewers.

I no longer watch these programmes. I know life can be harsh, but I'm sick of it being in my sitting room.

Yes, we watched it Sunday aroung 5pm, perfect family viewing time.
I think it was really the goslings that were difficult for the dc, we didn't watch how it was flimed, thankfully. It's a lot easier to explain, say an antilope being chased and caught by a cheetah, because my children will be sad for the antilope but understand that if that doesn't happen the cheetah and her cubs will starve. The goslings flinging themselves off the cliff is a much more abstract concept to get their heads around.
I do hope that one of those geese realizes that it would be far more efficient and save to carry them down in their beaks, those goslings should be light enough to be carried. That would catch on amongst the geese, possibly, within a few generations.
There were some lovely things too though, those seals in NZ which have figured out that there is a perfect training pond upstream or that creature (forgot its name) with the enormous ears.

but a programme about foxes would show how the fox needed to survive. It is all about survival isnt it.

'if you'd watched to the end and seen the 'filming of..' bit you;d have seen something even worse - the first lot of goslings they filmed, the ones that survived the drop were just recovering when a fox came along and took the lot of them'

No David!

The reason they nest on the top of the rocks was explained, but not much - as they are "ground" nesting if they hatched eggs down nearer the water they would all be eaten, whereas on top of that rock 3 out of 5 survived....

The thing with ears was a jerboa - loved the way it leapt in the air every time it heard a noise!

Jerboa, that's it, thanks frostyfingers so cute