New film to tackle fly camping and littering in the Lake District
The informative animated documentary is being made by Terry Abraham in support of Keswick’s Binfluencers group. Picture: Terry Abraham.
An informative animated documentary promoting responsible wild camping in the Lake District is being created by a multi-award winning broadcaster and photographer.
It will coincide with the relaunch at Easter of the Binfluencers, a group of volunteers that regularly patrol the shores of Derwentwater and surrounding countryside, picking up the detritus left behind by fly campers who simply pitch up and leave their mess behind.
The group, initially called Keswickians Against Litter and Fly Camping, was formed last summer in response to a growing frustration with the problem.
Terry Abraham, director and producer of the hit film series Life of a Mountain and Cumbrian Red – Saving Our Red Squirrels is working on the public information style cartoon film.
The informative animated documentary is being made by Terry Abraham in support of Keswick’s Binfluencers group. Picture: Terry Abraham.
In one sequence he has been working on some “fly campers” are cutting up branches they have ripped down from trees to make a fire by their camp. It upsets a tawny owl who then gets angry and flies away from its nest and off over Derwentwater to who knows where.
“I’m just using my skills as a film-maker and following my heart to produce such a film,” said Terry, who was approached by Binfluencer Annie Garforth, of Threlkeld, and asked if he could help. “I hope it will raise awareness with the wider public and support the many locals who do so much litter picking and reporting to local authorities about such mindless acts of environmental vandalism within a Unesco World Heritage Site.”
Annie said: “I spoke with Terry a few weeks ago and explained I needed to get the Binfluencers back on folks’ minds and explained that for one reason or another Binfluencers had lost its way a little at the end of last year mainly due to my health and a lot of us had become very despondent about the whole situation.
“Together we decided that a relaunch at Easter would be a good idea. Terry has his fly camping documentary he has been working on and I had talked about a cartoon or something and Terry said he would be able to come up with something. So, an information cartoon is now in the process of being made with our bin from our logo going around Keswick.
“Terry has used recognisable locations that we hope folk will find easily relatable. It is hopefully going to make the issue clear to children and adults alike and it’s all about education.
“It has become clear that lots of folk aren’t doing these behaviours out of malice, they literally just do not understand that pitching a tent lakeside isn’t allowed.”
“Terry is doing a fantastic job and the Binfluencers are really proud he has agreed to do this for us. We are hoping to work alongside authorities and many more businesses this year.”
