June 10th Minsmere

Me at the catering tent

The time has come! Tonight, I go live on national television! I have been behind the scenes, now it is time to be on the scene. I am appearing on Springwatch! Well, actually not the main show but it's spin-off show Springwatch Unsprung (an interactive show which gets the public involved through social media).

A few months back, I was asked by one of my colleagues at Strumpshaw if I would like to be in the audience on Unsprung. Of course, I had to say yes! I arrived at Minsmere with Dad around 7pm and we joined the other audience members at the visitor centre. After a briefing by the producer, we were taken to a catering tent where we watched the main show on a TV.

Watching Springwatch before being on Springwatch

Spineless Simon the Stickleback

 

 

David Lindo

Joining us in the tent was The Urban Birder, David Lindo. He was going to be on the show as a guest to reveal the results of which bird has become Britain's official national bird. Some of the audience got to hold cutouts of the ten birds that made it to the top ten of the vote to hold up during the show. Dad volunteered to be one of those people to hold one up, but he wasn't chosen, so he posed for me with one instead. I showed David my wildlife diary and he signed it for me.

Dad holding up one of the cutouts

When the main show was nearing it's conclusion, we were taken to the studio. We were put into our places by the floor manager. Dad and I were placed behind (More-than-capable) Laura's desk (she reads out the latest tweets from Twitter, etc). She arrived and had her make-up done and ear piece in place while the the three presenters were wrapping up outside. When the main show was over, presenters Chris Packham, Martin Hughes-Games and Michaela Strachan came in and took their positions. It was show time!

The floor manager counted us in to cheer as the show came live to us. Host, Chris Packham, interacted with the two guests, Laura and us, the audience, providing his in depth knowledge of each subject he had to talk about. The show was well organized and went smoothly and it felt like it went by so quickly. We were moved around a bit for the cameras to pass by, all orchestrated by the floor manager. Near the end of the show, the national bird was revealed, the robin had won.

Back home, my family and friends were watching the show. My brother and uncle took photos of me and my dad on TV and was posted onto Facebook instantly. These two pictures are what my uncle
took.

Me on TV! (photo taken by Jim Blyth)

Dad on TV! (photo taken by Jim Blyth)



Martin Hughes-Games looks at my diary

After the show, I had enough time before we were forced out of the studio and studio grounds to meet Chris Packham and Martin Hughes-Games. I showed them my diary and they gave me their autographs. They were very impressed with it and would have talked to me for some time about it if we had more time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to Michaela in time, as she was still inside. On the way to the car, bats were flying low over our heads. A great way to end. That's my 30 minutes of fame done then!

Outside the studio after the show