A unique tour of National Parks – in 100 seconds!
March 11, 2021
Have you ever wondered how National Parks might look from a birds-eye view hovering 100ft up?
Well, the kaleidoscope of landscapes, from forest to farmland, mountains to rivers, have been dramatically captured on film by National Geographic Explorer and Guerilla Geographer Daniel Raven-Ellison during his one-man navigation of all of the UK’s 15 National Parks.
The resulting footage is “UK National Parks in 100 Seconds” – a unique snapshot of the variety of National Parks and the impact of humans on these living and working landscapes. The film was shot by drone film-maker Jack Smith and narrated by former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews and seeks to explore whether perception of protected landscapes meets the reality.
The piece balances the screen time of its subjects according to the percentage of land each kind of environment comprises in our National Parks. Pasture for livestock, for instance, gains just over 24 seconds, peat bogs 11 seconds and water just over a second.
Daniel said exploring the treescapes and heaths of the South Downs were a highlight for him.
“Before this project I had not known about the work being done to restore some of the National Park’s heathlands and it was a pleasure to film those from the air”, said Daniel.
“The South Downs is fortunate to be so wooded and most of the forest you see in the film was shot at a very autumnal Queen Elizabeth Country Park. The South Downs is hands-down one of my favourite places in the UK to both enjoy and work in. For another project I walked across the National Park from Rowlands Castle to Alton via Petersfield. I love exploring the steep Hanger hills and the landscape’s woodlands.”
And Daniel adds: “In the UK our National Parks are quite different to some of the world’s “wilder” protected areas. They are living and working landscapes that are home to hundreds of thousands of people as well as wildlife.”
In 2013 Daniel started a campaign to make London the world’s first National Park City. Six years later, and with the support of thousands of people, the London National Park City was launched on 22 July 2019 with a major outdoor festival across the capital.
Inspired by what is happening in London, there are now campaigns for other cities to become National Park Cities.