Montserrat’s Department of Environment, through its Darwin Initiative Mountain Chicken Project, facilitated a wildlife photography workshop and production of a wildlife documentary in late August.

In order to help promote the work of the Mountain Chicken Project here on Montserrat, a student from The Institute of Formation of Wildlife Documentary in France visited the island during August 2011. Ms Ninon Hives came to Montserrat to film some of the field activities associated with the project, along with some forest scenes which included the Critically Endangered Mountain Chicken. The footage will be used to make a wildlife documentary about the current chytrid crisis the frogs are facing and to capture the efforts being made by the Department of Environment, in collaboration with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and various international project partners, to rescue the mountain chicken from extinction.

During her stay, Ms Hives hosted a half-day workshop at the Montserrat National Trust where she gave advice and tips about how to photograph wildlife. Local wildlife photographers and filmmakers were given the chance to use a semi-professional film camera and take footage of their own using the beautiful flora and fauna of the National Trust’s Botanic Gardens. Ms Hives also played a wildlife documentary she previously shot in France and explained how she used the technique of squeezing an orange and running her finger down a newspaper to recreate the noises of the countryside wildlife. The workshop was well attended and Ms Hives was encouraged and impressed with the number and high level of questions asked by Montserratian photography enthusiasts.

The general public will be advised when the wildlife documentary on the mountain chicken will be available for viewing.