"The public have become so used to fantastic images that it's now imperative to film in the best conditions possible," wildlife filmmaker Justin Maguire once told me of all the waiting that goes into making a BBC nature documentary. "So if the weather and light isn't good enough, we just don't film — unless of course the animals are doing something that is unrepeatable."

But startlingly 'Nature's Great Events', the latest offering from the Beeb, does both. Breathtaking camerawork in startling high def captures thoroughly unique occurrences linked by the opening narration of (natch) David Attenborough: "The power of the Sun drives the seasons, transforming our planet. Vast movements of ocean and air currents bring dramatic change throughout the year, and in a few special places, these seasonal changes create some of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth."

With the action spread over six 50-minute episodes, 'The Great Flood' captures the annual flooding of Botswana’s Okavango Delta; 'The Great Melt' shows the Arctic's brief summer of thriving walruses, beluga whales and arctic foxes and struggling polar bears; 'The Great Feast' has a cast of sea lions, humpback whales and killer whales at an all-you-can-eat fish buffet off Alaska; 'The Great Salmon Run' is what it says on the tin, with a supporting cast including the forest wolf and grizzly bear; 'The Great Migration' revisits the annual green flush of the Serengeti plain with two million migratory zebra and wildebeest having to contend with undue interest from big cats with big teeth; and 'The Great Tide' (featuring Maguire's work) showcases our very own sardine run complete with spectacular footage of an underwater feeding frenzy involving dolphins, gannets and sharks.

Each episode includes a "diary" segment which goes behind the scenes to reveal the challenges facing the documentary crews — no sardine run for two yeas — as well as the technological innovations (like the extreme close-up micro camera on 'The Great Flood') used to provide front-row seats for nature's truly great events.