Avon Wildlife Trust is linking up with Bristol’s internationally-acclaimed natural history film industry to offer amateur filmmakers and wildlife enthusiasts a rare chance to gain hands-on shooting and editing tuition from some of the world’s leading wildlife film experts.

The newly-published programme of events for the conservation charity’s Folly Farm Centre, in the scenic Chew Valley, includes a three-day introduction to wildlife filmmaking, involving award-winning tutors whose international tv credits include Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Meerkat Manor.

The residential course – from Friday 1 May to Sunday 3 May – has been arranged by Sarah Pitt, an experienced TV producer who is also a Trustee of Avon Wildlife Trust.

She says: “The boom in video camera ownership means that very many more people are trying to film their encounters with nature, both at home and abroad. But it’s one of the trickiest forms of filming. In Bristol, we’re lucky that the scale and quality of our wildlife film industry means that many of the world’s finest wildlife filmmakers are based hereabouts. The aim of our course is to let a wider audience take advantage of this professional know-how and help them to make nature films of their own, for pleasure, to inspire others or to help with wildlife education and awareness.”

Among the tutors who have agreed to take part in the course are Somerset-based cameraman John Waters, who has worked on more than 60 tv productions, including the David Attenborough series The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds and Planet Earth, Natural World and Meerkat Manor; the BAFTA-winning and Emmy nominated editor, Martin Elsbury, and Karen Partridge, who has produced acclaimed programmes for the BBC, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic and PBS in the USA, among others.

Sarah Pitt says: “The industry’s response has been overwhelming. Professional wildlife film-makers have proved keen to share their craft skills and knowledge of wildlife, enabling Avon Wildlife Trust to offer people a chance in a lifetime to work with some of the industry’s best, in a beautiful, wildlife-rich, setting.”

During the three-day course, students will find out about research, story planning, fieldcraft, camera techniques and picture editing while working in teams of three on the production of a wildlife film sequence. Filming will take place in and around Folly Farm, a 250-acre nature reserve, set in picturesque countryside near to Bath and Bristol.

The course costs £400 a head, for a maximum of 12 people, including all tuition, equipment, meals, single occupancy accommodation and a DVD of the finished film project.

Bookings can be made by calling 01275 331590 or by visiting the Folly Farm website www.follyfarm.org