Gordon Buchanan | |
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 Buchanan in March 2023. | |
| Born | Gordon John Buchanan (1972-04-10)10 April 1972 (age 52) Dumbarton, Scotland |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse | Wendy Buchanan |
| Children | 2 |
Gordon John BuchananMBE (born 10 April 1972) is a Scottish wildlife cameraman, filmmaker and presenter. His work includes the nature documentariesTribes, Predators & Me,The Bear Family & Me,The Polar Bear Family & Me andLife in the Snow.
Buchanan was born inAlexandria, West Dunbartonshire,Scotland, on 10 April 1972 and brought up on theIsle of Mull.[1] As a child, Buchanan was a fan ofDavid Attenborough's television programmes andSurvival, a nature programme.[2]
Buchanan's career in wildlife photography has yielded a number of documentaries, shot variously in Asia (especially the Indian Subcontinent), Latin America, Europe, and Africa. His career began whenSurvival cameraman Nick Gordon, whose wife owned the restaurant Buchanan was working in,[3] invited Buchanan to become his camera assistant for a project he was completing inSierra Leone.[4] Buchanan was there for almost a year before the project had to be abandoned due to the danger presented by thecivil unrest in the country.[3] He left school to join Nick Gordon on this trip and continued to work with him on his next projects inVenezuela andBrazil.[1]
Buchanan began to work independently in 1995, and in time became known for his films ofbig cats and worked onBig Cat Diary.[1][5] He also returned to his home on the Isle of Mull to filmwhite tailed eagles.[4] The resulting 2005Natural World episode, "Eagle Island", received good reviews.[6] (It was broadcast on 3 May 2009 as "Eagles of Mull" onNature.) He also filmed theNatural World episode "Leopards of Yala".[3]
Buchanan has filmedfoxes forSpringwatch and Autumnwatch inGlasgow, where he currently lives.[7][8] His coverage ofgrey seal pups was identified as one of the highlights of the programme. He then returned forSpringwatch 2008 completing a series on people with amazing wildlife stories including a one-off Springwatch special.[9][10] InAutumnwatch 2008 he travelled to theFarne Islands to filmgrey seal pups again. In early 2009 Buchanan worked with the BBC, filming theLost Land of the Volcano. Filming took place during the month of February 2009, aroundPapua New Guinea, and its islands. He also filmed the Lost Land of the Tiger and Lost Land of the Jaguar, which followed a similar format.
In December 2010, a documentary calledThe Bear Family and Me aired on the BBC. It showed the year which Buchanan spent with black bears in the U.S. state ofMinnesota. In January 2013, Buchanan presented and partially filmedThe Polar Bear Family & Me for the BBC, covering the life of a polar bear and her cubs in the spring, summer, and autumn.[11]
In 2013 Buchanan became a patron ofTrees for Life, a conservation charity working to restore theCaledonian Forest in the Highlands of Scotland.[12] He became an ambassador for the Scottish Wildlife Trust the following year.[13]
In December 2014, another '...& Me' 2-part series was broadcast onBBC Two. For this series,The Snow Wolf Family & Me, Buchanan visitedEllesmere Island inCanada in both summer and autumn. Here he followed a wolf pack as they raised their cubs over the course of a year. This was shortly followed, in February 2015, bySuper Cute Animals, a 60-minute documentary.
In 2015, he presented the documentaryLeopard in the City atSanjay Gandhi National Park in theBorivli section of northernMumbai inIndia, on the "urban leopards" of the area, which prey almost entirely onstray dogs.[14] He also continued to film his ‘…And Me’ series, this time focusing on Gorillas, which was again broadcast on the BBC.
2016 saw him appear in ‘Elephant Family and Me’ where he visited Africa to get a better understanding of how a family of elephants live and communicate with each other. He also narrated a one-off programme called Life in the Snow,[15] before again working with Polar Bears, this time looking at how they interact with the local human population in ‘Life in Polar Bear Town’.[16]
From 2016 to 2017 he filmed two series of Tribes, Predators and Me. During these six episodes he spent time with several groups of people who lived alongside dangerous animals, such as hyenas and crocodiles. He continued the series with ‘The Reindeer Family and Me’ which saw him follow a herd of Reindeer as they journeyed on their migration. He also filmed a six part series titled '‘Into the Wild’', in which he took six famous people to nature hotspots around the UK to get a glimpse of the local wildlife.[17] 2018 saw Buchanan present ‘Animals with Cameras’ in which he used new camera techniques to get a better insight into their lives.[18] Following this, he filmed ‘Grizzly Bear Cubs and Me’, where he helps to rehabilitate young bears in order to help them return to the wild.[19]
2019 saw Buchanan continuing to present nature programmes on the BBC. He travelled around the equator to present the series ‘Equator from the Air. He also filmed and presented ‘Snow Cats and Me’ in which he helped rehabilitate Lynx so that they could return to the wild. 2020 saw him return to Springwatch once again as a guest presenter,[20] filming live from his native Scotland. He ended the with yet another ‘…And Me’ series, this time following Cheetahs in the wild in Africa.[21]
In 2021, it was announced that he would front a second series of Animals with Cameras.
In November 2021, it was confirmed that Buchanan would tour the UK (30 Years in the Wild) in February 2022.[22]
In April 2022, the first two episodes of a long-running programOur Changing Planet premiered on the BBC, presented by Buchanan along withLiz Bonnin,Ella Al-Shamahi,Chris Packham,Ade Adepitan andSteve Backshall.
In June 2013 Buchanan was granted an honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Stirling.[23] He also won the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland award in the environment category in the same year, cementing his position as one of Scotland's finest cameramen and reputation as a renowned film maker.
Buchanan was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2020 New Year Honours for services to conservation and wildlife film-making.[24]
Buchanan frequently mentions missing his family at various points within his shows.The Bear Family & Me includes a segment in which his wife (Wendy) and their two children (Lola and Harris) visit him.[25] He also has an interest in whisky.
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