Wild Canary Islands (2021) Movie Script
Night...
A sea of stars
in a sky full of mystery.
This bright, clear, heavenly ocean
is viewed from a parallel world.
From a tiny constellation
lost in another mighty expanse...
..the Atlantic Ocean.
In the heart
of this boundless immensity,
a tiny, unique volcanic cluster -
the Canary Islands.
A micro-cosmos,
intimately bound
with the rest of the universe.
From the strange peaks
of its oceanic mountains,
reaching nearly 4,000 metres
into the clear blue sky,
the stars seem so close.
There are few places on the planet
where the rest of the universe
can be contemplated so intensely.
Here, the connection
with the infinite, enigmatic
and unknowable universe
is palpable,
and here also begins a journey
from the remotest of places,
from the origin of life itself,
right up to now,
to witness the fruits
of millions of years of evolution.
The mountain peaks
of the Canary Islands
are an exotic window
onto the universe.
They climb directly out of the ocean.
The Teide rises vertiginously,
over barely a few dozen kilometres,
to an altitude of 3,700 metres.
It's the highest peak
in all the Atlantic Ocean
and the third highest volcano
in the world.
Its summit is an island
amongst the islands,
a remote place,
only suitable
for the most special of travellers.
This mountainous terrain,
along with the steep-sided
Caldera de Taburiente
on the neighbouring island
of La Palma,
share an environment
unseen anywhere else on the planet.
These high-mountain ecosystems
are the most extreme places
on the Canary Islands,
with temperatures that can vary
between minus-16
and 34 degrees centigrade.
In this tough, broken,
volcanic landscape
live strange plants and animals
that are experts in surviving
the freezing cold, the stifling heat
and the intense solar radiation.
(BUZZING)
Very few animals are so well-adapted
to this environment
as the Tenerife
or Western Canaries lizard.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
Nine million years ago,
this reptile's ancestors
arrived from the oldest islands -
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote -
and gradually conquered
the entire territory
until they reached its summit.
The peaks are where Tenerife lizards
have the fewest predators
and where they can pursue their
reproductive instincts unhindered.
Large males compete,
chasing each other
to keep rival suitors
away from females in heat.
Their courtship races
reach their peak in the spring.
These are intensely
indulgent moments.
Food and sex are in abundance.
In late spring,
the peaks of La Palma and Tenerife
are transformed
from an unforgiving landscape
into a fleeting but incomparable
garden of delights.
The striking red flowers
of the tower of jewels,
also known as red Tenerife
or Mount Teide bugloss,
are among the most beautiful
and spectacular in the world.
In crowded colonies,
they grow only now and only here,
in spring, at the top of the Teide
and La Caldera de Taburiente.
(BUZZING)
Growing in columns
two to three metres high,
the inflorescences
of the tower of jewels
are loaded with nectar and pollen
which attract many endemic insects.
Though ephemeral,
lasting only a few weeks,
their brief lives are crucial
for the insect species on the summit.
Like prisoners of the peaks
that are their only home,
the towers of jewels
mimic these volcanoes
that seem to be suspended
from the sky.
(EXPLOSION)
(SOARING MUSIC)
The volcanic origin
of the Canary Islands
can be seen everywhere...
..from the highest peaks
to the low-lying coasts.
The ocean crashes
into the Canary coastline,
revealing the islands'
fundamentally volcanic nature.
All of the islands of the archipelago
have steep, rugged coastlines
where the evidence of ancient lava
is unmissable.
On the islands with the highest
altitudes and steepest sides,
the elevated volcanic ravines
plunge into the sea.
In the north of La Gomera,
basalt columns emerge
like the last remnants
of Atlantic temples.
All these geological features
are the result of volcanic activity
which started creating
each of the islands
20 million years ago.
Lava is the essence of a bright,
burning universe
of distant stars and planets.
Here, in the middle of the ocean,
it takes beautiful
and primitive forms.
(WIND HOWLS)
The ancient appearance
of some islands, such as Lanzarote,
brings to mind
what the earth might've looked like
as it was erupting into existence.
The beauty of a wild and ancient land
is on display
in the area's geological formations.
But life has found a way even here,
on the most ancient
of the archipelago's islands.
A harsh and hostile environment,
but one which plants, lizards
and birds have all made their home.
Volcanic landscapes are found
throughout the island group
and each island
has become a unique place,
thanks, in part,
to the wild tourists that visit.
In the remotest islets
of north Lanzarote,
Eleonora's falcon spends the summer.
(FALCON SQUAWKS)
After an incredible journey
of thousands of kilometres
from its wintering quarters
in Madagascar,
they take respite in Alegranza,
where the last puddles
of recent rains remain.
Eleonora's falcons have established
their summer breeding colonies
on the steep sides of the volcanoes.
The chicks are fed exclusively
on accidental tourists -
migratory birds
that their parents hunt
out in the middle of the ocean.
Chill winds from the Atlantic
drive the migrating birds
into the falcons' path,
but they also move the ocean currents
between the islands.
There, caressed by waves and wind,
amongst the islands that make up
this oceanic constellation,
dolphins jump and play.
These too are inhabitants
of the islands and also its hunters.
A cloud of small fish
attempts to escape,
closing ranks
and tightening into a shoal.
But the dolphins pick them off
one by one,
enjoying the delicious snacks
brought by the currents.
Falcons in the air,
dolphins among the waves,
and high above everything,
the clouds,
pushed by the trade winds.
As the trade winds -
the Alisios or easterlies...
Blow across the ocean,
they pick up moisture, which is then
transported in the form of clouds.
The lowest-lying Canary Islands
watch the clouds pass overhead,
their life-giving moisture
tantalisingly out of reach.
But islands
with areas of higher altitudes,
with summits at hundreds or
thousands of metres above sea level,
act like a barrier to the clouds,
which crash against them
in enraged waves.
(ROUSING MUSIC)
On the Caldera de Taburiente,
below the peak of the Teide
or in the heights of Gran Canaria,
the clouds launch their attacks
against the kingdom of the pines.
(WIND HOWLS)
Canary Island pine trees
form their forests on high, dry land.
They are very spartan trees
and unique to this region.
Canary pines are robust,
but their leaves
are feathery and light,
giving them a delicate appearance.
Their long, thin needles
allow the pines
to capture the moisture
coming from the sea of clouds
that washes over them.
In these volcanic forests
lives a small and unusual group
of unique animals.
They arrived here slowly
from Africa and Europe,
taking a leap
to conquer this little new world.
Over time - millions
or hundreds of thousands of years -
they evolved into new species
and subspecies
that live exclusively
in the Canary pine forests.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch,
for example.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch
is a unique prisoner,
living in seclusion
in the pine forests
of only two islands,
Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Its intense blue plumage,
somewhat unusual among birds,
is a reminder of the universe
it inhabits,
trapped between the infinite sky
and deep blue ocean.
(CHAFFINCH TWEETS)
The origin
of the Tenerife blue chaffinch
goes back hundreds of thousands
of years
along the lineage of common finches.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch
has evolved
to be able to exploit
the Canary Island pine forests,
influenced by their ecological rules.
This forest specialist
feeds almost exclusively
on pine seeds,
so its existence depends directly
on the survival of the pine forests.
(VARIOUS BIRDS TWEET)
The great spotted woodpecker,
curiously,
also lives exclusively
on the same islands
as the Tenerife blue chaffinch.
But these are arrivistes,
having landed here from the mainland
recently,
only a few thousand years ago.
Discovering the large
pine-covered mountains
was like reaching paradise
for the great spotted woodpecker -
a territory replete with food
and places to raise a family,
without rivals
and only a few predators.
Every year, the great spotted
woodpeckers confirm their conquest
by bringing new generations
of carpenters
to this unusual wooded Eden.
Every species
in the Canary pine forest
has its own story to tell.
(BIRD SQUAWKS)
Canary Island
or Canarian red-billed choughs
only live on the steep slopes
of Caldera de Taburiente,
on the island of La Palma,
where there are neither
blue chaffinches nor woodpeckers.
They arrived here
tens of thousands of years ago
from the Atlas Mountains in Africa,
and on the walls of the Caldera
found rocky, protected areas
where they could nest.
They easily adapted
to the most abundant resource -
Canary pine seeds.
In between volcanic peaks
and scudding, moisture-laden clouds,
the pine forests provide them
with a huge pantry.
The islands, like planets
from a distant constellation,
float in a blue universe.
But not an empty one.
The ocean surrounding
the Canary Islands' universe
is full of life.
Barely a few kilometres
from the Canary pine forests
that surround the ancient volcanoes,
next to the coastal cliffs
patrols a family of pilot whales.
(WHALES WHISTLE)
(HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLING)
Pilot whales orbit the islands
like little satellites.
The ocean of the coastline
plummets and plunges
thousands of metres down.
The pilot whales
know how to exploit the richness
of the deep and unknown world
that lies just off the islands.
They dive in search of large squid
and then the pod returns
to the surface to breathe and play,
reaffirming their close family bonds.
Like interstellar travellers,
the pilot whales
move among the currents,
following invisible paths that unite
the Canary Islands underwater.
And as always, far above,
the clouds slip through the skies,
heavy with their invaluable load
of fresh water,
urged on unceasingly
by the tireless trade winds.
The ever-restless clouds
lash the steep, high sides
of the archipelago's highest islands.
While on the coasts,
it is warm and dry.
Where the clouds crash
day after day,
it's very wet and cool.
Up here, where the clouds break,
one of the most extraordinary
woodlands on the planet endures.
This forest is almost always
enveloped by mist.
The mist hides its mysteries
behind a veil,
moved by the wind.
The laurissilva...
This subtropical forest,
hidden between clouds
and volcanic peaks,
is a true lost paradise,
millions of years old.
Laurissilva, or laurel forests,
are botanical relics
of the Neogene period
that took up refuge in some corners
of El Hierro and Gran Canaria.
But it's on Tenerife, La Palma
and especially La Gomera
that the last great laurel forests
have survived to this day.
The laurissilva
is a mysterious jungle -
wet and fertile.
The lichens and mosses
that cover the trunks and branches
absorb the water
that hangs heavy in the atmosphere -
woodland experts
in milking the clouds.
Every square centimetre
of laurel forest
is dedicated to absorbing moisture
from the mist.
Drop by drop,
a constant flow is created,
allowing countless lianas, ferns
and species of trees to grow here
and nowhere else in the world.
This exuberant, enigmatic atmosphere
is home to other lost beings,
other prisoners of the mist.
Living like forest phantoms,
or will-o'-the-wisps,
some birds' fates depend entirely
on the survival of the laurissilva,
their only home.
Bolle's pigeons move discreetly among
the branches of the ancient trees
of the unique Canarian jungle.
Hidden among lichens and lianas,
they seek the nutritious fruits
that grow all year.
Bolle's pigeons barely make a sound
and flee at the first hint
of a threat.
They only let their guard down
when taking their daily bath
or when drinking from the abundant
puddles found in the laurel forest.
The laurel,
or white-tailed laurel pigeon,
is as discreet and elegant
as Bolle's,
but can escape the laurel forest
to reach open country,
even heading to the cliffs
and into ravines,
where it establishes its nests
and looks for food.
Laurel pigeons, shy and skittish,
are very terrestrial birds.
They band together in small flocks
that roam among the leaf litter,
gathering seeds, grains
and fallen fruits.
The pigeons of the Canary Islands
are perhaps as old
as the very forests where they live.
Other birds, in comparison,
are more recent arrivals.
From its birth,
this small constellation of islands
has received the advance parties
of explorers
on an eternal search.
Both occasional visitors and pioneers
from the natural world,
with greater or lesser fortune,
stake their claims on new territories
on islands
in a state of constant change.
And although it might appear
almost counterintuitive,
the most sought-after places
by wild travellers
are the most extreme.
Violent, exaggerated geography
turns out to be just what some of
the Canaries' most remarkable beings
like best.
Volcanic ravines are the result
of aggressive processes of erosion
that have excavated the land here
to produce amazing locations.
Deep, sheer-sided gorges,
measuring hundreds of metres
in height,
form some of the most characteristic
landscapes of the Canary Islands.
The highest islands
are the most abrupt,
possessing
the most extraordinary chasms.
These are perhaps the most
characteristic natural features
of Canarian geology.
These ravines are home
to stunning ecological tapestries.
The plants and animals
of these gorges
are extraordinarily
closely connected.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
(BUZZING)
Gran Canaria giant lizards
are the masters of these ravines
and, as such,
their main ecological protagonists.
These lizards move over
the whole area to fulfil their role.
Canaries lizards
are almost wholly herbivorous.
They mostly feed
on endemic fruits and flowers.
This diet makes these reptiles
the main dispersers and pollinators
of the plants of the ravines.
Many plant species owe their survival
and their distribution
to the lizards.
But they are not the only ones
responsible
for pollinating and dispersing seeds.
Small archipelago birds, such as
the Canary Islands chiffchaff,
are actively involved
in the reproduction
of their favourite plants.
Birds and flowers have co-evolved in
a mutually beneficial relationship.
The birds exclusively exploit
a very nutritious food
and, in return,
the plants reproduce effectively.
But part of the symbiotic harmony
and diversity of the ravines
also depends on predators.
The gullies offer excellent locations
for a little falcon.
(BIRD SQUAWKS)
The prior conquest of the islands
by insects, reptiles and small birds
allowed Canarian kestrels
to take up residence
without fear of going hungry.
The diversity of resources here,
and the kestrel's adaptive capacity,
has meant that
the Canary Islands kestrel
is now the most common raptor
on the archipelago.
The Canary Island lizards,
the kestrel's favourite food,
lost their paradise when these
little birds of prey arrived.
The kestrels are masters of the sky
above the tiny islands.
But the archipelago is also sea.
(LIVELY MUSIC)
The space between the islands
is not at all an interstellar void.
The sea binds the islands together
and with them
forms a unique place on the planet.
Universal travellers from sea and sky
pass here from their birth.
Explorers, astronauts taking flight
to other worlds -
whales, such as sperm whales,
and many other cetaceans
swim among the volcanoes.
The combination
of geographical situation,
ocean currents, submarine relief
and climate
have made the Canaries archipelago
one of the richest places,
in terms of cetaceans, in the world.
Here, rather than separate,
the sea unites two worlds -
the solid and the liquid.
Each island offers
its own set of opportunities
to travellers brave enough
to cross the ocean.
Ancient forests,
cloud-dwelling pine woodland...
..towering peaks...
In the Canary Islands,
lost in the ocean,
a complex world has been created.
But there is also room for
the most fundamental ecosystems...
..such as desert.
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
The influence of the nearby Sahara
is keenly felt on islands
such as Fuerteventura,
Lanzarote
and the south of Gran Canaria.
The beauty and breadth of the desert
occupies the heart of these islands.
Surprising animals
leave their own traces in the sand.
Here, African travellers
have found hospitable habitats.
The Canarian houbara,
a small bustard,
arrived a mere 20,000 years ago
and discovered desert plains
offering an excellent opportunity
to live.
Among the jables, the local dunes,
the houbara found plants and insects
attractive and plentiful enough
for it not to need to return
to its African origins.
The peculiar wealth of this desert,
which occasionally bursts into bloom,
also provides refuge to stone curlews
hiding their camouflaged eggs
among the bushes.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
The Canarian stone curlew's plumage
allows it to virtually disappear
when the flowery desert is in bloom,
hiding it from gulls.
Gulls come from the coast
to hunt locusts,
but they will happily take a seat
at a lunch table
of a stone curlew's nest
with an egg inside.
Gulls are aggressive and dangerous,
so the stone curlews,
barely perceptible
in their excellent camouflage,
hold their position
with admirable sang-froid
until the danger has passed.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
The wild travellers who came, saw
and conquered the archipelago
have created a complex
ecological network.
A recent arrival found no competitors
and so took its place
at the top of the food pyramid...
..a Canarian subspecies
of the Egyptian vulture,
the guirre.
This is the only carrion-eater
on these islands.
Barely 2,500 years ago,
the first humans landed on the
islands with their flocks of goats.
The guirres followed not far behind.
(BUZZING)
While all Egyptian vultures in Europe
migrate every year between Africa and
Europe to complete their life cycle,
their Canarian cousins
have found no need to travel
beyond the islands' boundaries
any more.
The deserts above which
the guirre flies
merge with the coastline.
Sea winds push the sand
towards the interior of the islands,
creating voluptuous dunes.
(SOARING MUSIC)
A silky white sheet of fine sand
is laid out
on top of the volcanic rock.
These are the crushed remains
of shells and conches,
forming endless beaches.
On the beaches of the Canaries,
the quintessences of two worlds -
the terrestrial and the marine -
meet.
In addition to the migrating birds
that make their rest stop on the
Canary Island coasts, further inland,
strange creatures of alien aspect
rapidly create
their peculiar designs.
These tiny star maps
are in fact deadly traps.
Antlion larvae build their traps
to catch other insects.
One after another is sacrificed
without a hint of remorse.
Just a few metres away,
on the other side of the beach,
where the ocean
surrounds the islands,
another surprising creature
lies submerged.
The Canaries are the last refuge
of many beings
who have been decimated
in other seas.
In the case of the angelshark,
or monkfish,
good numbers of this flattened shark
survive here.
Angelsharks, like the antlions
on the nearby shore,
use the sand to hide...
..and to hunt!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
In addition to the angelshark,
these deep and rich waters
are home to hundreds of species
of plants and animals
that depend on the islands
to survive.
Below the surface, above the waves
or soaring high through the sky,
wild travellers and explorers have,
since time immemorial,
laid in a course for the small
constellation of Canary Islands.
(DOLPHINS WHISTLE)
As if a mirror of the sky above,
starfish tirelessly move
across the infinite sands.
Every day,
from the bottom of the ocean
to the tops of the volcanic peaks,
a miniature universe, made from
the same elements as the stars above,
lives out its intense life.
And like the constellations that move
through the universe beyond,
the Canary Islands,
floating in the Atlantic,
lonely but lush,
ancient but ever-renewed,
intimately bound to the stars
and to infinity,
await the arrival of new intrepid,
interstellar explorers.
AccessibleCustomerService@sky.uk
A sea of stars
in a sky full of mystery.
This bright, clear, heavenly ocean
is viewed from a parallel world.
From a tiny constellation
lost in another mighty expanse...
..the Atlantic Ocean.
In the heart
of this boundless immensity,
a tiny, unique volcanic cluster -
the Canary Islands.
A micro-cosmos,
intimately bound
with the rest of the universe.
From the strange peaks
of its oceanic mountains,
reaching nearly 4,000 metres
into the clear blue sky,
the stars seem so close.
There are few places on the planet
where the rest of the universe
can be contemplated so intensely.
Here, the connection
with the infinite, enigmatic
and unknowable universe
is palpable,
and here also begins a journey
from the remotest of places,
from the origin of life itself,
right up to now,
to witness the fruits
of millions of years of evolution.
The mountain peaks
of the Canary Islands
are an exotic window
onto the universe.
They climb directly out of the ocean.
The Teide rises vertiginously,
over barely a few dozen kilometres,
to an altitude of 3,700 metres.
It's the highest peak
in all the Atlantic Ocean
and the third highest volcano
in the world.
Its summit is an island
amongst the islands,
a remote place,
only suitable
for the most special of travellers.
This mountainous terrain,
along with the steep-sided
Caldera de Taburiente
on the neighbouring island
of La Palma,
share an environment
unseen anywhere else on the planet.
These high-mountain ecosystems
are the most extreme places
on the Canary Islands,
with temperatures that can vary
between minus-16
and 34 degrees centigrade.
In this tough, broken,
volcanic landscape
live strange plants and animals
that are experts in surviving
the freezing cold, the stifling heat
and the intense solar radiation.
(BUZZING)
Very few animals are so well-adapted
to this environment
as the Tenerife
or Western Canaries lizard.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
Nine million years ago,
this reptile's ancestors
arrived from the oldest islands -
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote -
and gradually conquered
the entire territory
until they reached its summit.
The peaks are where Tenerife lizards
have the fewest predators
and where they can pursue their
reproductive instincts unhindered.
Large males compete,
chasing each other
to keep rival suitors
away from females in heat.
Their courtship races
reach their peak in the spring.
These are intensely
indulgent moments.
Food and sex are in abundance.
In late spring,
the peaks of La Palma and Tenerife
are transformed
from an unforgiving landscape
into a fleeting but incomparable
garden of delights.
The striking red flowers
of the tower of jewels,
also known as red Tenerife
or Mount Teide bugloss,
are among the most beautiful
and spectacular in the world.
In crowded colonies,
they grow only now and only here,
in spring, at the top of the Teide
and La Caldera de Taburiente.
(BUZZING)
Growing in columns
two to three metres high,
the inflorescences
of the tower of jewels
are loaded with nectar and pollen
which attract many endemic insects.
Though ephemeral,
lasting only a few weeks,
their brief lives are crucial
for the insect species on the summit.
Like prisoners of the peaks
that are their only home,
the towers of jewels
mimic these volcanoes
that seem to be suspended
from the sky.
(EXPLOSION)
(SOARING MUSIC)
The volcanic origin
of the Canary Islands
can be seen everywhere...
..from the highest peaks
to the low-lying coasts.
The ocean crashes
into the Canary coastline,
revealing the islands'
fundamentally volcanic nature.
All of the islands of the archipelago
have steep, rugged coastlines
where the evidence of ancient lava
is unmissable.
On the islands with the highest
altitudes and steepest sides,
the elevated volcanic ravines
plunge into the sea.
In the north of La Gomera,
basalt columns emerge
like the last remnants
of Atlantic temples.
All these geological features
are the result of volcanic activity
which started creating
each of the islands
20 million years ago.
Lava is the essence of a bright,
burning universe
of distant stars and planets.
Here, in the middle of the ocean,
it takes beautiful
and primitive forms.
(WIND HOWLS)
The ancient appearance
of some islands, such as Lanzarote,
brings to mind
what the earth might've looked like
as it was erupting into existence.
The beauty of a wild and ancient land
is on display
in the area's geological formations.
But life has found a way even here,
on the most ancient
of the archipelago's islands.
A harsh and hostile environment,
but one which plants, lizards
and birds have all made their home.
Volcanic landscapes are found
throughout the island group
and each island
has become a unique place,
thanks, in part,
to the wild tourists that visit.
In the remotest islets
of north Lanzarote,
Eleonora's falcon spends the summer.
(FALCON SQUAWKS)
After an incredible journey
of thousands of kilometres
from its wintering quarters
in Madagascar,
they take respite in Alegranza,
where the last puddles
of recent rains remain.
Eleonora's falcons have established
their summer breeding colonies
on the steep sides of the volcanoes.
The chicks are fed exclusively
on accidental tourists -
migratory birds
that their parents hunt
out in the middle of the ocean.
Chill winds from the Atlantic
drive the migrating birds
into the falcons' path,
but they also move the ocean currents
between the islands.
There, caressed by waves and wind,
amongst the islands that make up
this oceanic constellation,
dolphins jump and play.
These too are inhabitants
of the islands and also its hunters.
A cloud of small fish
attempts to escape,
closing ranks
and tightening into a shoal.
But the dolphins pick them off
one by one,
enjoying the delicious snacks
brought by the currents.
Falcons in the air,
dolphins among the waves,
and high above everything,
the clouds,
pushed by the trade winds.
As the trade winds -
the Alisios or easterlies...
Blow across the ocean,
they pick up moisture, which is then
transported in the form of clouds.
The lowest-lying Canary Islands
watch the clouds pass overhead,
their life-giving moisture
tantalisingly out of reach.
But islands
with areas of higher altitudes,
with summits at hundreds or
thousands of metres above sea level,
act like a barrier to the clouds,
which crash against them
in enraged waves.
(ROUSING MUSIC)
On the Caldera de Taburiente,
below the peak of the Teide
or in the heights of Gran Canaria,
the clouds launch their attacks
against the kingdom of the pines.
(WIND HOWLS)
Canary Island pine trees
form their forests on high, dry land.
They are very spartan trees
and unique to this region.
Canary pines are robust,
but their leaves
are feathery and light,
giving them a delicate appearance.
Their long, thin needles
allow the pines
to capture the moisture
coming from the sea of clouds
that washes over them.
In these volcanic forests
lives a small and unusual group
of unique animals.
They arrived here slowly
from Africa and Europe,
taking a leap
to conquer this little new world.
Over time - millions
or hundreds of thousands of years -
they evolved into new species
and subspecies
that live exclusively
in the Canary pine forests.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch,
for example.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch
is a unique prisoner,
living in seclusion
in the pine forests
of only two islands,
Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Its intense blue plumage,
somewhat unusual among birds,
is a reminder of the universe
it inhabits,
trapped between the infinite sky
and deep blue ocean.
(CHAFFINCH TWEETS)
The origin
of the Tenerife blue chaffinch
goes back hundreds of thousands
of years
along the lineage of common finches.
The Tenerife blue chaffinch
has evolved
to be able to exploit
the Canary Island pine forests,
influenced by their ecological rules.
This forest specialist
feeds almost exclusively
on pine seeds,
so its existence depends directly
on the survival of the pine forests.
(VARIOUS BIRDS TWEET)
The great spotted woodpecker,
curiously,
also lives exclusively
on the same islands
as the Tenerife blue chaffinch.
But these are arrivistes,
having landed here from the mainland
recently,
only a few thousand years ago.
Discovering the large
pine-covered mountains
was like reaching paradise
for the great spotted woodpecker -
a territory replete with food
and places to raise a family,
without rivals
and only a few predators.
Every year, the great spotted
woodpeckers confirm their conquest
by bringing new generations
of carpenters
to this unusual wooded Eden.
Every species
in the Canary pine forest
has its own story to tell.
(BIRD SQUAWKS)
Canary Island
or Canarian red-billed choughs
only live on the steep slopes
of Caldera de Taburiente,
on the island of La Palma,
where there are neither
blue chaffinches nor woodpeckers.
They arrived here
tens of thousands of years ago
from the Atlas Mountains in Africa,
and on the walls of the Caldera
found rocky, protected areas
where they could nest.
They easily adapted
to the most abundant resource -
Canary pine seeds.
In between volcanic peaks
and scudding, moisture-laden clouds,
the pine forests provide them
with a huge pantry.
The islands, like planets
from a distant constellation,
float in a blue universe.
But not an empty one.
The ocean surrounding
the Canary Islands' universe
is full of life.
Barely a few kilometres
from the Canary pine forests
that surround the ancient volcanoes,
next to the coastal cliffs
patrols a family of pilot whales.
(WHALES WHISTLE)
(HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLING)
Pilot whales orbit the islands
like little satellites.
The ocean of the coastline
plummets and plunges
thousands of metres down.
The pilot whales
know how to exploit the richness
of the deep and unknown world
that lies just off the islands.
They dive in search of large squid
and then the pod returns
to the surface to breathe and play,
reaffirming their close family bonds.
Like interstellar travellers,
the pilot whales
move among the currents,
following invisible paths that unite
the Canary Islands underwater.
And as always, far above,
the clouds slip through the skies,
heavy with their invaluable load
of fresh water,
urged on unceasingly
by the tireless trade winds.
The ever-restless clouds
lash the steep, high sides
of the archipelago's highest islands.
While on the coasts,
it is warm and dry.
Where the clouds crash
day after day,
it's very wet and cool.
Up here, where the clouds break,
one of the most extraordinary
woodlands on the planet endures.
This forest is almost always
enveloped by mist.
The mist hides its mysteries
behind a veil,
moved by the wind.
The laurissilva...
This subtropical forest,
hidden between clouds
and volcanic peaks,
is a true lost paradise,
millions of years old.
Laurissilva, or laurel forests,
are botanical relics
of the Neogene period
that took up refuge in some corners
of El Hierro and Gran Canaria.
But it's on Tenerife, La Palma
and especially La Gomera
that the last great laurel forests
have survived to this day.
The laurissilva
is a mysterious jungle -
wet and fertile.
The lichens and mosses
that cover the trunks and branches
absorb the water
that hangs heavy in the atmosphere -
woodland experts
in milking the clouds.
Every square centimetre
of laurel forest
is dedicated to absorbing moisture
from the mist.
Drop by drop,
a constant flow is created,
allowing countless lianas, ferns
and species of trees to grow here
and nowhere else in the world.
This exuberant, enigmatic atmosphere
is home to other lost beings,
other prisoners of the mist.
Living like forest phantoms,
or will-o'-the-wisps,
some birds' fates depend entirely
on the survival of the laurissilva,
their only home.
Bolle's pigeons move discreetly among
the branches of the ancient trees
of the unique Canarian jungle.
Hidden among lichens and lianas,
they seek the nutritious fruits
that grow all year.
Bolle's pigeons barely make a sound
and flee at the first hint
of a threat.
They only let their guard down
when taking their daily bath
or when drinking from the abundant
puddles found in the laurel forest.
The laurel,
or white-tailed laurel pigeon,
is as discreet and elegant
as Bolle's,
but can escape the laurel forest
to reach open country,
even heading to the cliffs
and into ravines,
where it establishes its nests
and looks for food.
Laurel pigeons, shy and skittish,
are very terrestrial birds.
They band together in small flocks
that roam among the leaf litter,
gathering seeds, grains
and fallen fruits.
The pigeons of the Canary Islands
are perhaps as old
as the very forests where they live.
Other birds, in comparison,
are more recent arrivals.
From its birth,
this small constellation of islands
has received the advance parties
of explorers
on an eternal search.
Both occasional visitors and pioneers
from the natural world,
with greater or lesser fortune,
stake their claims on new territories
on islands
in a state of constant change.
And although it might appear
almost counterintuitive,
the most sought-after places
by wild travellers
are the most extreme.
Violent, exaggerated geography
turns out to be just what some of
the Canaries' most remarkable beings
like best.
Volcanic ravines are the result
of aggressive processes of erosion
that have excavated the land here
to produce amazing locations.
Deep, sheer-sided gorges,
measuring hundreds of metres
in height,
form some of the most characteristic
landscapes of the Canary Islands.
The highest islands
are the most abrupt,
possessing
the most extraordinary chasms.
These are perhaps the most
characteristic natural features
of Canarian geology.
These ravines are home
to stunning ecological tapestries.
The plants and animals
of these gorges
are extraordinarily
closely connected.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
(BUZZING)
Gran Canaria giant lizards
are the masters of these ravines
and, as such,
their main ecological protagonists.
These lizards move over
the whole area to fulfil their role.
Canaries lizards
are almost wholly herbivorous.
They mostly feed
on endemic fruits and flowers.
This diet makes these reptiles
the main dispersers and pollinators
of the plants of the ravines.
Many plant species owe their survival
and their distribution
to the lizards.
But they are not the only ones
responsible
for pollinating and dispersing seeds.
Small archipelago birds, such as
the Canary Islands chiffchaff,
are actively involved
in the reproduction
of their favourite plants.
Birds and flowers have co-evolved in
a mutually beneficial relationship.
The birds exclusively exploit
a very nutritious food
and, in return,
the plants reproduce effectively.
But part of the symbiotic harmony
and diversity of the ravines
also depends on predators.
The gullies offer excellent locations
for a little falcon.
(BIRD SQUAWKS)
The prior conquest of the islands
by insects, reptiles and small birds
allowed Canarian kestrels
to take up residence
without fear of going hungry.
The diversity of resources here,
and the kestrel's adaptive capacity,
has meant that
the Canary Islands kestrel
is now the most common raptor
on the archipelago.
The Canary Island lizards,
the kestrel's favourite food,
lost their paradise when these
little birds of prey arrived.
The kestrels are masters of the sky
above the tiny islands.
But the archipelago is also sea.
(LIVELY MUSIC)
The space between the islands
is not at all an interstellar void.
The sea binds the islands together
and with them
forms a unique place on the planet.
Universal travellers from sea and sky
pass here from their birth.
Explorers, astronauts taking flight
to other worlds -
whales, such as sperm whales,
and many other cetaceans
swim among the volcanoes.
The combination
of geographical situation,
ocean currents, submarine relief
and climate
have made the Canaries archipelago
one of the richest places,
in terms of cetaceans, in the world.
Here, rather than separate,
the sea unites two worlds -
the solid and the liquid.
Each island offers
its own set of opportunities
to travellers brave enough
to cross the ocean.
Ancient forests,
cloud-dwelling pine woodland...
..towering peaks...
In the Canary Islands,
lost in the ocean,
a complex world has been created.
But there is also room for
the most fundamental ecosystems...
..such as desert.
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
The influence of the nearby Sahara
is keenly felt on islands
such as Fuerteventura,
Lanzarote
and the south of Gran Canaria.
The beauty and breadth of the desert
occupies the heart of these islands.
Surprising animals
leave their own traces in the sand.
Here, African travellers
have found hospitable habitats.
The Canarian houbara,
a small bustard,
arrived a mere 20,000 years ago
and discovered desert plains
offering an excellent opportunity
to live.
Among the jables, the local dunes,
the houbara found plants and insects
attractive and plentiful enough
for it not to need to return
to its African origins.
The peculiar wealth of this desert,
which occasionally bursts into bloom,
also provides refuge to stone curlews
hiding their camouflaged eggs
among the bushes.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
The Canarian stone curlew's plumage
allows it to virtually disappear
when the flowery desert is in bloom,
hiding it from gulls.
Gulls come from the coast
to hunt locusts,
but they will happily take a seat
at a lunch table
of a stone curlew's nest
with an egg inside.
Gulls are aggressive and dangerous,
so the stone curlews,
barely perceptible
in their excellent camouflage,
hold their position
with admirable sang-froid
until the danger has passed.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
The wild travellers who came, saw
and conquered the archipelago
have created a complex
ecological network.
A recent arrival found no competitors
and so took its place
at the top of the food pyramid...
..a Canarian subspecies
of the Egyptian vulture,
the guirre.
This is the only carrion-eater
on these islands.
Barely 2,500 years ago,
the first humans landed on the
islands with their flocks of goats.
The guirres followed not far behind.
(BUZZING)
While all Egyptian vultures in Europe
migrate every year between Africa and
Europe to complete their life cycle,
their Canarian cousins
have found no need to travel
beyond the islands' boundaries
any more.
The deserts above which
the guirre flies
merge with the coastline.
Sea winds push the sand
towards the interior of the islands,
creating voluptuous dunes.
(SOARING MUSIC)
A silky white sheet of fine sand
is laid out
on top of the volcanic rock.
These are the crushed remains
of shells and conches,
forming endless beaches.
On the beaches of the Canaries,
the quintessences of two worlds -
the terrestrial and the marine -
meet.
In addition to the migrating birds
that make their rest stop on the
Canary Island coasts, further inland,
strange creatures of alien aspect
rapidly create
their peculiar designs.
These tiny star maps
are in fact deadly traps.
Antlion larvae build their traps
to catch other insects.
One after another is sacrificed
without a hint of remorse.
Just a few metres away,
on the other side of the beach,
where the ocean
surrounds the islands,
another surprising creature
lies submerged.
The Canaries are the last refuge
of many beings
who have been decimated
in other seas.
In the case of the angelshark,
or monkfish,
good numbers of this flattened shark
survive here.
Angelsharks, like the antlions
on the nearby shore,
use the sand to hide...
..and to hunt!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
In addition to the angelshark,
these deep and rich waters
are home to hundreds of species
of plants and animals
that depend on the islands
to survive.
Below the surface, above the waves
or soaring high through the sky,
wild travellers and explorers have,
since time immemorial,
laid in a course for the small
constellation of Canary Islands.
(DOLPHINS WHISTLE)
As if a mirror of the sky above,
starfish tirelessly move
across the infinite sands.
Every day,
from the bottom of the ocean
to the tops of the volcanic peaks,
a miniature universe, made from
the same elements as the stars above,
lives out its intense life.
And like the constellations that move
through the universe beyond,
the Canary Islands,
floating in the Atlantic,
lonely but lush,
ancient but ever-renewed,
intimately bound to the stars
and to infinity,
await the arrival of new intrepid,
interstellar explorers.
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