Claire is the perfect perch for meerkat friends

Claire Murphy was the perfect perch for her meerkat pal Basil

By Christine Lavelle

IT’S not every day you find yourself with a meerkat using you as a watch tower to keep guard of potential predators.

But it was the case for Claire Murphy, 35, when she travelled to the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, to monitor the behaviour and lifestyles of the small mammals.

She said: “The meerkats work in shifts to keep guard for threats, whether that be aerial or something coming on the ground.

“They tend to use the highest vantage point – a tree or a bush – to allow them to see all around, but in this particular case Basil, who was part of the Lazuli group I was monitoring, took it upon himself to climb up my body and sit on my head.

Filming gets under way in Scotland for new Richard E Grant project

Richard E Grant in Edinburgh earlier this month

By Cara Sulieman

A HOST of British stars are shooting a new film in a Scottish country house this month.

Richard E Grant plays the lead in the romantic comedy, inviting an opera company to his mansion to perform Mozart’s Cosi Von Tutti.

The production company are keeping the exact location of filming under wraps, but it is believed the set is based in a country manor north of Berwick upon Tweed.

Sarah Brightman, famous for her role in the Phantom of the Opera, takes the lead role in the lavish opera production.