In the course of his work as a wildlife conservation advisor to the Mongolian government, Andrew Laurie followed up on a childhood fascination with White-throated Dippers on the Teme near Ludlow, by finding out more about their lives in the Altai Mountains. Now resident in Cambridge, Andrew has made four films on Dippers in Mongolia - covering nest-building, incubation, feeding of the chicks in the nest, and this, the most recent one (2023) on the emergence of the chicks and their early lives on the river.

Andrew is cameraman, director, producer and editor, and works with a small, enthusiastic, non-specialist field crew in Mongolia. His films have been shown on Mongolian TV, initially in a series whose title, "Anyone can be an ecologist", he tried not to take personally. The idea behind the series was that you don't have to have a huge research grant and a satellite tracking device , or concentrate on the charismatic endangered species. or capture and weigh your animals, in order to contribute to knowledge of animal behaviour and ecology.

The White-throated Dipper ranges from Europe and North Africa to Mongolia, with various subspecies that look quite different. In the Altai there is further variation within the local subspecies: some have lighter coloured heads and bellies which is convenient for behavioural observations as it is easier, than in Europe, to distinguish between individuals.

Andrew's team are full of ideas and possible explanations for their observations. They have found interesting differences in behaviour between the European and Altai Dippers. In the Altai, for example, the males routinely feed the females on and off the nest during incubation - behaviour probably linked to the temperature of the Altai streams and the relative abundance of aquatic insect larvae. That is covered in Films 2 and 3.

This fourth film features some really extraordinary behaviour that has puzzled ornithologists in Mongolia and Europe. Almost as soon as the chicks emerged, both parents stood on them from time to time and pecked at their heads repeatedly. This behaviour continued with decreasing frequency for about a week after the chicks had emerged. And one female furiously cleared out the nest lining immediately after the last chick had left. Clearing the nest is common in Europe but not at the intensity and single-mindedness observed - and within minutes of the last chick leaving.

The film features the behaviour of the birds, the patient watching that is required to detect such behaviour, and the meticulous recording of events needed to make comparisons between different pairs and populations. The team talked with local people, learning from them on the one hand, and and showing them things on the other. Although familiar with seeing Dippers flying around none of them had seen a nest or sat and watched them doing things like clearing their nests out or feeding their young. The film captures the excitement of team members and local people alike in simple observations of another species.

Director Biography - Andrew Laurie

Andrew Laurie grew up in Shropshire, spent a lot of his childhood watching animals, and studied biology at Cambridge, doing doctoral research on the Greater One-horned Rhinoceros in Nepal and India. After a seven year research fellowship studying Marine Iguanas in the Galapagos he went on to work on wildlife conservation projects, including planning and policy development, mainly in China, Mongolia, Tanzania and Sri Lanka, with shorter assignments in Vietnam, Laos, Cape Verde, and the Cook Islands. He is concerned about the rapid loss of wild species and their habitats around the world, and keen to help in establishing better behaviour patterns in humans, through both governmental policy and its implementation, and actions taken by the general public and non-governmental organizations to protect the natural environment on which we all depend.

In the course of his work as a conservation adviser in Mongolia Andrew followed up on a childhood fascination with White-throated Dippers on the Teme near Ludlow, by finding out more about Dipper biology in the Altai. They look different there, and unlike in Europe, the males constantly feed their mates during incubation. As in Europe, they are restricted to unpolluted streams and rivers and are good indicators of water quality.

Now resident in Cambridge, Andrew has since made four films on Dippers in Mongolia (2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023) that also reflect more generally on wildlife conservation in Mongolia. These are the first films he has made: he learned how to edit during the Covid lockdown. He works with a small, enthusiastic field crew in Mongolia and is currently editing the fifth film in the series, based on footage shot during July 2023.

Director Statement
Animal behaviour films shot by individual researchers on low budgets with pretty basic equipment cannot, of course, compete on film quality with the wonderful, spectacular wildlife films broadcast on mainstream TV. I would like to see TV companies doing more to encourage amateur film-makers alongside the professionals. I think there would be benefits to the TV companies, to the film-makers themselves. to local communities where the films are made, and to the wild species and habitats that are the focus of all wildlife films.