In Back from the Brink, Derek Mooney goes on a journey across Europe to find out how smart human intervention can help Europe's wildlife. Here, producer Rory Cobbe shares his insights into creating a multi-national in Europe in a strangely sunny November.

I'm standing on the side of a twisting mountain road, overlooking the historic city of Granada. Just below me, cameraman Barry Donnellan is shooting slow-mo of the 20 or so Spanish students digging out an ancient water ditch. The shots are just incredible.

The young workers with pick axes and shovels take huge pride in the work they are doing to help local farmers beat the water crisis and the fact that they will be on TV screens in eleven countries across Europe.

It’s the second last day of a shoot that has taken me and the team from a ruin in the north of County Galway ringing baby barn owls, to Rome and then the longest castle in the world in Bavaria, and now here.

Derek Mooney and John Lusby, Birdwatch Ireland tagging the barn owl chicks.
Derek Mooney and John Lusby, Birdwatch Ireland tagging the barn owl chicks.

It is 28 degrees. It’s November. As much as this all feels like everything I’ve been working towards in my career in RTÉ, there is something not quite right.

We are a multinational team: Irish, English, Swedish, and Spanish. The series is highlighting the work done by conservationists right across Europe. It has been commissioned by the European Broadcasting Union with contributions from eleven broadcasters right across Europe. They are all keen to contribute to the notion that we can all make a difference in the climate and biodiversity crises.

Each broadcaster has given two packages to the series and it’s my job to make two hours of television. Every country gets an international version of the series with voice-over scripts in English for them to translate to use for their own audiences. Some have taken the chance to send presenters on this trip to insert themselves into three of the packages we have been given.

Our own Derek Mooney, weather presenter Barra Best from BBCNI, and from SVT in Sweden, Anders Lundin - whom you may remember from the Eurovision 2000 in Sweden - are the three presenters. Like strikers in a football team. Producer Simon Miller from BBCNI is a welcome addition to our midfield.

Researcher supreme Siobhan McGuire and nature consultant Niall Hatch are taking care of the details in defence. Barry Donnellan and I are the holding midfielders and, in fairness to me, I allow Barry do the majority of the ball carrying.

For every piece-to-camera, he has three to do (one for each presenter), and for the interviews three sets of singles, noddies, and wides. He’s incredible and the work is stunning.

Our first location on the Europe trip was Rome and it didn’t disappoint in the late autumn sun. It’s not an easy place to film in as there are so many restrictions and lots of paperwork. The biggest of which is that to film anywhere in the historic area, the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Circus Maximus costs €10,000 a day. There aren’t enough expletives to describe the frustration. Even so, it is a magical place to film.

Bavaria was a joy. Berghausen on the Austrian Border is home to the longest Castle in the world and some very odd birds. Our interviewee Corinne Esterer not only hand-reared the first Northern Bald Ibis chicks in Europe in 400 years, but she also taught them to fly to Italy by leading them over the Alps in a microlight. Some woman, and an incredible story.

Back to Spain, and it’s our final day. As we filmed on the beach in Malaga, Anders Lundin got talking with some Swedes who were sunbathing on the beach in 27-degree heat. In November. We were all enjoying the weather and the ice creams but we knew there was something very odd about it.

As Derek Says at the end of the series: We are at a critical point in time. It is not over yet, but the clock is ticking.

Back from The Brink kicks off on RTÉ One at 6.30pm on June 4.