Be a Birder: The joy of birdwatching and how to get started

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Green, Alex (19 September 2021). "Four celebrities to explore Scottish wildlife in Channel 4 show". Irish Independent . Retrieved 25 September 2022.

Strictly Come Dancing: Hamza Yassin's mum's pride at former Wellingborough School pupil's achievement". Northamptonshire Telegraph. 16 December 2022 . Retrieved 16 December 2022.

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But if you’re training nine hours a day you kind of get that. It’s hard. Everything just aches and aches.” Yassin is single: is it hard to meet someone, living so remotely? “In the village, yes,” he says, though he does a lot of travelling for work. “But my job doesn’t really allow for a relationship. How can you sustain a relationship, like: ‘I’m sending you a text message from a satellite phone, because I’m in the Arctic for two months.’ It’s more of a job kind of problem, rather than a place, though the place definitely adds to it.” Jowita Przystał and Hamza Yassin performing a tropical salsa during the final. Photograph: Guy Levy/PA He embraced the weather, too. “I love the cold. In Sudan, I used to get daily nosebleeds because I overheat. Hence, why I love going to the Arctic to film.” He treated his new classmates with as much curiosity as they did him. “I remember there was a kid I was looking at, really perplexed, because he had blue eyes, blond long hair. I’m going: ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’ We became good friends.”

Yassin filming for the TV programme Scotland: My Life in the Wild. Photograph: Hamza Yassin/Hamza Yassin Photography Alao, Lola Christina (6 October 2022). "Who is Hamza Yassin? Family, career, dyslexia, and his remote Scottish home". Evening Standard . Retrieved 9 October 2022.

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Birds have been with me my entire life - from the colourful weaver birds on the banks of the Nile in Sudan to the magpies of Newcastle, from the roosting peregrine falcons near my parents' house in Northampton to the white-tailed eagles on the west coast of Scotland. I love them. If you take the time to stop and listen, you'll see the world through different eyes. It's all out there, waiting for you to find it. And it might just bring you as much joy as it's brought me.' Humans have such a massive part to play in the rehabilitation, advancement and protection of wildlife. Humanity is beautiful, and we can and will make a difference, which is why you can’t just have the story of wildlife without having the humans behind it. He loves dancing, “whenever I get the chance, really”. For the past 12 years, he has lived in a tiny village in Ardnamurchan, a peninsula on Scotland’s west coast. He says his nextdoor neighbour, Gail – “She’s amazing, I call her my Scottish sister” – texts him when she can hear his music blasting to wish him a good morning. “I’m always dancing and playing music. Never in a million years did I think I’d be on Strictly.” Hamza has already dropped a stone since joining the competition (Credit: SplashNews) Strictly weight loss His journey takes him from the wilds of Scotland to the heart of Ealing Borough in Greater London. Along the way, he meets a host of old friends, dedicated conservationists and fellow film-makers, whose love for the natural world shines through.

BANGOR UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGY ALUMNUS SHARES HIS PASSION FOR CONSERVATION IN CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY". The Bangor Aye. 11 December 2020 . Retrieved 25 September 2022. Nicole Vassell (23 September 2022). "Who is the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 contestant Hamza Yassin?". The Independent . Retrieved 21 November 2022. Hamza starts his journey at home, on the remote and beautiful Ardnamurchan Peninsula on the west coast of Scotland. The incredible array of wildlife here gives him the opportunity to film many different birds of prey and his first love - eagles. He has been following and filming a family of white-tailed eagles here for years, watching every stage of their life cycle from a hide he built on a steep sea cliff near the nest. It has given him an intimate knowledge of these impressive eagles – the largest bird of prey in the British Isles."If his new villagers did perceive him as different, he says, it was positive. “They wanted to show off their culture to me, which I absolutely adore.” He remembers, with a laugh, being invited to a ceilidh dance, and thinking he was going to the house of a woman called Kayleigh. He seems part of this close-knit community now, hosting movie nights at home and talking with love about “my Scottish parents, Chris and Amanda”, and his nextdoor neighbour Gail and another neighbour, Tom, who rings him up – he puts on a great Highland accent – “‘Hello, Hamza, would you like a bit of exercise today?’ Yes, I would, and I know exactly what it is: we’ll spend half a day chopping logs.” White-tailed eagles were reintroduced to the UK 50 years ago. Along with cameraman John Aitchison, Hamza recently filmed the astonishing spectacle of them hunting geese for Wild Isles. They reminisce about what it took to capture this remarkable and never-before-seen behaviour. Yes, you say in the documentary ‘people are awesome, humanity is amazing’, which is a refreshing take… Whether you're spotting common garden birds or hoping to catch sight of the more obscure, Be a Birder invites us all to stop, step outside and listen, and open our eyes to the beauty of these incredible creatures. With Hamza as your guide, you will be able to build your birdwatching confidence and push yourself further afield to find new feathered wonders. Gaia has acquired Be a Birder from Scottish wildlife cameraman, presenter and “Strictly Come Dancing” star Hamza Yassin.