Eric Ashby MBE (19 January 1918 – 6 February 2003) was an English naturalist and wildlife cameraman, often working for the BBC Natural History Unit.
[1] At the age of 12, he visited and was influenced by a natural history film show presented by Cherry Kearton at the South Parade Pier there.
[3] He was involved in a number of court cases against the New Forest Buck Hounds, his local hunt, and its members, after they trespassed onto his land, variously killing a young buck deer, damaging a badger sett and forcing him to abandon a BBC commission to film badger cubs there.
[1] Though originally broadcast in black and white, once screened in colour, in 1967, it became one of the Natural History Unit's most repeated shows.
[5] He also developed the habit of making cameo appearances in his documentaries, as a figure half-seen in shadows, watching wildlife.