- In the Kingdom of Trees: The Nature Documentary "Our Forests"
Full of Mysteries, Full of Unknown Scents and Sounds
The German forest is full of mysteries and unknown scents and sounds. The two-part documentary "Our Forests" from the series "Earth Experience" tells the story of how plants, fungi, and animals coexist and how they are threatened. It will be shown on the first and second Monday of August (5th and 12th, at 8:15 PM) on the first channel.
The first part, "Network of Animals" (airing on the 5th), shows the amazing ways in which many animal and plant species communicate and are connected to each other. For example, there are fungi and squirrels that feed on pine cones. The tiny goldcrest bird lines its nest on the ground with soft moss, feathers, and animal hair, surrounded by ramsons.
Death also means Life
Many animals use the forest not as a living space, but as a retreat, for example to raise their young. A doe is observed giving birth to twins, and the audience gets to see the eight chicks of a tawny owl being fed by their mother in the nest.
"Back to the Future" (part 2 airing on the 12th) shows that all native forests are different and are now a "man-made nature." Pine monocultures have died off over large areas due to bark beetles, storms, and heatwaves, but death also means life.
Unique Images
Nature can often recover astonishingly quickly, and endangered species like the eagle owl, lynx, and capercaillie, as well as long-lost beetles and wolves, are returning. Haft pays particular attention to small creatures and captures unique images - of the highly specialized giant fungus beetle, the great glow worm, the star fungus, or the pygmy shrew, which weighs only four grams and lives for just two years.
The award-winning nature filmmaker Jan Haft (57, "The Meadow - A Paradise Next Door") has spent countless hours in the forest from spring to winter and enthusiastically explains how everything is connected in this unique form of superorganism.
Haft is the director, author, narrator, cinematographer, and editor of the film. He is often seen in various locations, such as the Black Forest, the Rhön, the Ammergau Alps, or the Ebersberger Forest near Munich, which is actually a artificially planted forest, and he guides the viewer through his films as a very personal narrator.
Haft believes that forests should be light and open to increase biodiversity. He also advocates for forest grazing, an ancient and diverse form of land use, including the settlement of large herbivores such as bison, wild horses, or cattle. This could make the realm of the trees, ideally as a mixed forest, more open and at the same time more climate-stable - and a little wilder.
The European Union plays a significant role in funding and promoting environmental conservation efforts, providing funding for projects like Jan Haft's documentation of the German forest. The European Union's LIFE programme, for instance, supports projects aimed at protecting biodiversity and enhancing natural habitats, contributing to the preservation of unique species like the eagle owl and capercaillie in the German forests.
