I hope to leave the world in a better state than when I arrived...
THERE’S only one thing Chris Packham misses about home when he’s away filming – his dog, Scratchy.
But when the Southampton born presenter went to Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park for this year’s Winterwatch, he took his 15-year-old dog with him.
“It’s good for my mental health, if I’m honest with you,” says the 57-year-old, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when he was in his 40s, and was devastated when Scratchy’s twin, Itchy, died in 2016.
“I feel best when I’m with Scratchy. I do worry about him, I do genuinely miss him. And he’s the same with me. So when we’re together, we’re undoubtedly better.”
This series of Winterwatch – an annual nature extravaganza, which goes out live on BBC2 – will be broadcast from the Dell of Abernethy, a lodge built in 1780 on the edge of the Abernethy pine forest. Over four consecutive nights, we learn how the local wildlife survives, despite facing freezing temperatures.
Unlike previous runs, the team will return to the same spot – arguably the wildest landscape in the UK – for Springwatch and Autumnwatch, too.
It’s something Chris, who fronts all three shows with Michaela Strachan and Gillian Burke, has championed from the outset.
“It gives us a chance to see how the seasons impact on that area, and also to know some of the individuals and see how they cope and deal with the changes,” notes the conservationist.
“I’m very excited. I love Scotland, and that particular part of Scotland is very picturesque.”
When it comes to the hardy wildlife the watches will follow, Chris – also known for The Really Wild Show – is “pretty confident” we will see a few of those “pin up species; red squirrel, pine marten, maybe a golden eagle”.
But as it’s filmed live, there is, of course, no guarantee what the cameras will capture.
Does he find the unpredictability challenging?
“That’s part of the joy of it, really,” he insists. “Some people don’t like live, they worry about it, they fret, they get nervous. I’ve never experienced that. It’s not me. I just think, ‘I’m about to have an hour-long conversation with people who I have a shared interest with’.”
For Chris, the message about the importance of conservation is at the core of everything he does.
And he’s frustrated that looking after our environment is “not high enough on the agenda” on a wider scale.
“We are dependent on that environment for our food, our timber, the seas for our fish, the air that we breathe,” he says avidly.
“So, if we neglect it and leave it too far down the agenda, then we are nothing. We’re just inviting trouble for ourselves, really.”
It’s hard to imagine Chris doing anything other than fronting nature shows.
But he reveals he sometimes “fantasises” about what else he could do for work.
“I’m very keen on art, I’ve always been painting and taking photos, and I spend a lot of spare time in art galleries, if I get any spare time. I do find that, if I don’t have a personal project where I’m being individually creative, I tend to get a bit a***y; I’ve got to have a release.
“So, I take photographs. I take it very seriously, I dive right into it, and I find that is a pretty useful therapy. It’s quite cleansing.”
WINTERWATCH is on BBC2 at 8pm, nightly until Friday.