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By Stefan Hunt, Assistant Producer

Every creature seems to demand a unique approach for filming, and the firefly squid of Toyama Bay, Japan, were no exception. These otherworldly animals spend most of their lives in the depths of the ocean, in a deep-water canyon off Japan's west coast. Each spring, as they reach the end of their year-long lifecycle, they swim up to the surface to spawn. If conditions are right, thousands of glowing, bioluminescent, squid are washed up on the shore in a breathtaking, if macabre, natural light show.

This all looked fairly straightforward on paper. However, further research revealed that there is a two-month window in which this brief event can occur. It usually happens just once a year, and some years it doesn’t happen at all. The conditions need to be exactly right, and the squid can be washed up anywhere along several miles of coastline. Not so easy after all.

Undaunted by the challenge, we headed to Toyama with a plan and lots of unfounded optimism. Our team consisted of four members: Graham MacFarlane, a very experienced wildlife cameraman based in Japan; Ben Harris, an up-and-coming cameraman from the UK; myself; and Taka Kojima, our secret weapon. Based in Toyama, Taka has been filming and photographing the squid for years and would provide the expertise we needed to find these mesmerizing mollusks.

We knew we might only get one shot at capturing this spectacle. To give ourselves the best chance, we patrolled a five kilometre stretch of beach every night, from 8pm until 5am, equipped with the latest super low-light cameras. We needed perfect conditions to have any chance of seeing the stranding: no wind, no rain, and no ocean swell, as well as a bit of luck that we would be in the right place at the right time.

So, there we were, spread out along the beach, each covering our own section, marching up and down in the dark. The air was cold and felt even colder as it got to 2am and my body cried out for sleep. Fuelled by snacks from a local corner shop we ploughed on through the night, fortified by onigiri - small triangles of rice filled with fish and wrapped in nori sheets.

One night went by, then another, with no sign of the squid. According to my fitness tracker, I was walking a half marathon every night in the pitch darkness. Luckily, I didn’t bump into any locals at 2am, on a beach 9,000 kilometres from home, and so avoided having to explain in my non-existent Japanese that I was actually looking for a squid that glows in the dark and only appears once a year.

Eventually, after nearly a week, I got my first glimpse of a firefly squid - a small dot of blue in the surf. As I got closer, I could see its translucent body, its tentacles waving frantically and flashing blue. It looked like a little glow-in-the-dark alien. But just one firefly squid wasn’t going to cut the mustard.

We persisted day in and day out for several weeks. More onigiri and steaming cups of coffee kept us going. Then, one evening, as I rounded a corner of the beach, a magical sight unfolded. Faint blue glimmers danced in the surf, appearing and disappearing. There were just a few individuals at first, but then more and more started to join. The beach came alive with hundreds, and then thousands of luminous blue squid, tossed by the breaking waves and deposited onto the sand. Their tentacles waved in the air as if in synchrony. The team whipped into action, lens caps came off and cameras booted up, we finally had our opportunity to capture this epic spectacle.

No one truly understands why the squid glow and why they all get washed up on shore, but it is truly spectacular. Suddenly, the hours spent marching up and down the beach all felt worth it. A truly unique encounter with one of the natural world’s most beautiful events. Less than an hour after the stranding had begun, it was over. Slowly the early morning sunlight began to break through the darkness and revealed in stark reality the thousands of squid that had been washed ashore.

Seeing that many creatures emerging from the sea and glowing was a magical experience and one that will be forever etched in my memory.