David Attenborough's Wild Isles: What it's like to work with BBC star

Katie Mayhew started her career working as a runner, making tea and toast for colleagues

A hot flask, some protein bars and waterproof trousers are just some of the items in Katie Mayhew's work bag.

It might seem like an odd list, but the 29-year-old is a wildlife cameraperson.

In the past the job has taken her to Saudi Arabia, China and Borneo, but for her upcoming series she was much closer to home.

Katie has been working on David Attenborough's new BBC natural history series called Wild Isles.

"I've been filming across the British Isles over the last three years and it's been incredible to give airtime to our wildlife," she tells Newsbeat.

And yes, Katie says the legendary 96-year-old presenter is as nice as you'd imagine.

"He's so patient and not a diva by any means," she says.

"He'll happily wait for us to faff around with equipment and have a cup of tea with us too.

"David is incredible, so knowledgeable, but also very kind. If I could adopt him as my grandpa I would."

Katie's job involves spending her days "out in the field, filming a manner of things across the world".

She's worked in the industry for a few years and, when she first started, she noticed crews were mostly made up of men.

But she says that's changing and last year she worked on an all-female shoot as part of Wild Isles.

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"We had a lot of fun and jokes. It definitely felt less serious, but we got the job done," she says.

"I think we're moving into the era of cameraperson instead of cameraman," she says.

"You can call yourself whatever you want as long as you're doing camera work."

Forget adopting an animal, Katie wishes she could have David Attenborough as her grandad

For the latest series, Katie says filming a certain toad scene required a lot of patience.

"We tried [for] two years to film them," says Katie.

"The first year it was too cold so the toad migration didn't happen.

"The second year we went back it was a success. But we realised toads like to migrate in darkness, so we were filming till three in the morning.

"It absolutely chucked it down most nights and the kit was soaked, but the toads loved it."

In hindsight though, the toads are something Katie can laugh about.

"It's frustrating and fun, when you get to the end of the shoot and you've achieved the sequence that you want to, it's such a good feeling," she says.

Katie loved working on an all-female crew for the toad shoot

As well as toads, Wild Isles includes dramatic footage of eagles, orca whales and seals.

But Katie says her favourite animal to film was the adders, which involved 14 long days on shoot.

"It never happens first time and animals will always do what they want.

"They never do what you're hoping them to do. So you've got to have a lot of perseverance."

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