You only get one shot at this – why filming with Dr Rhys Jones, the UK's wildest wildlife expert, is such a nerve-wracking ride.
Whether it's attending an escaped snake emergency at midnight, a close encounter with a pack of crocodiles, or trying to solve a case of owls with insomnia, there is never a dull moment when filming with Dr Rhys Jones.
Because most of Rhys's work involves dealing with emergency situations, I can get a call to film with him at any time of the day or night - and believe me, I do.
In Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol we filmed plenty of emergency call-outs - from someone finding a snake in their garden shed, to a buzzard that flew into a vat of chip fat. From an escaped African black eagle in a forest block to a man who was stung by his deadly pet scorpion.
Ian Durham filming a wildlife emergency
What all of them had in common was a frantic phone call from a distressed member of the public to the police, the local council or a wildlife organisation, who would then call in Rhys for help.
Rhys would then call me and say: "drop whatever you're doing - we need to rescue a spider/snake/deer/badger/beaver..." - followed by a mad scramble for me to grab my camera gear and rendezvous with Rhys. It soon got to the point where I would go to sleep at night with the camera kit at the ready by my bedside never knowing when a call might come.
Of course getting to the scene of the emergency is only the beginning of the adventure, because once there Rhys is usually confronted with a combination of the following: panicked members of the public, worried police officers or council workers, and a wild animal that is equal parts stressed, flighty and aggressive.
At this point, Rhys will take control of the situation: calming everyone down, then capturing and securing the animal - usually by hand, which is no mean feat when you are dealing with a 10ft long boa constrictor, or in the case of the African black eagle, a bird of prey with a two-metre wing span and claws as sharp as razor blades.
While Rhys is calmly performing his animal magic, I myself am usually mid-panic, as it is at this point in proceedings that I get to envy all those pretty nature programmes with beautiful, lingering shots of exotic wildlife padding around in the jungle, or soaring high in the Serengeti skies.
What we all now know from the glimpses we get in the 'making of...' documentaries is that at the posh end of wildlife filming David Attenborough's crews get to spend days, weeks, months, even years - capturing the perfect moment with their fabulously expensive long-lensed camera gear.
In the wonderful world of Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol there are no - and I mean no - second takes. Everything is unfolding in real time in front of me and my inexpensive camera, and if I don't capture it, or it's slightly out of focus, or the sound's not quite working properly, well tough! I can't exactly ask the panicked member of the public to scream again for me, or for that venomous snake to hiss again, or that cuddly beaver to scrunch its face or scratch its tummy again.
But that's ok with me. I wouldn't swop the nerve jangling adrenalin rush of a wildlife emergency for all the panda hideouts in China (well, maybe for a week) because nothing really beats the hot sweat or the cold flush of attending an emergency involving an unpredictable dangerous wild animal being calmed and cajoled by the extraordinary Dr Rhys Jones.
Ian Durham is series producer and series editor of Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol, which returns on BBC One on Wednesday 19 June at 7.30pm.
