Campaigner Packham now earning a packet!
SPRINGWATCH presenter Chris Packham has raked in £14,700 a week over the past two years from his hugely successful career as a self-styled eco-warrior.
The broadcaster, who has hosted several nature shows, has also written 15 books, as well as magazine and newspaper columns.
Chris, 63, is sitting on a £1.4million cash and assets pile in his TV company and has motors worth £78,000, latest accounts for his media firm reveal.
The balance sheet also details “plant and machinery” worth £117,965 and shows he has ploughed more than £41,000 into a new studio at his home in Hampshire.
He runs firm Chris Packham Ltd and 2023’s figures indicate the outfit is worth £1.3million, up from just over £1million in 2022.
The books also reveal he paid corporation tax of £305,846 over the past two financial years – meaning he has been earning just under £15,000 per average week for his wildlife enterprises.
Chris lives in the New
Forest with two miniature poodles, Sid and Nancy – named after Sid Vicious, the bassist of the Sex Pistols, and Sid’s girlfriend – and has been in a relationship with Isle of Wight Zoo owner, Charlotte Corney, since 2010.
He first became a household name on the BBC children’s programme The Reallywild Show in 1986.
He is also known for his environmental activism and is one of the founders of Wild Justice, a not-for-profit group funded solely by donations that takes legal challenges against the Government and its agencies on behalf of wildlife. He is outspoken in campaigning against HS2 and was a climate protester at COP26.
His busy schedule has taken its toll, though – as last year he announced that he had cancelled all TV work for the first time in four decades, after feeling completely “burnt out”.
He took three months off to create abstract sculptures of birds, snails and humpback whales at his home, saying at the time that he wanted to “get off the treadmill”.
Chris also revealed he does not keep any of the artwork he creates.
Some works are currently on sale for around £2,000 alongside pieces by the likes of artists Tracy Emin.
He said: “I have none of my paintings up at home, nor photographs of myself...
“I’ve got other people’s artwork and I love looking at that, but I don’t like my own. I’m never satisfied. It’s a question of funding all the campaigning work that we do, and I think that’s quite healthy.
“I find my artwork a little disappointing when I finish something, and you always think ‘I can improve on that’, and that’s a lifelong process.
“I never finish it and put it down and stand back and put my hands on my hips and sigh and smile.”
The humble star has also admitted: “I never watch myself on television because you’d have to be vain to do that, wouldn’t you?
“The idea of sitting down and watching myself would be bonkers, frankly.”
New episodes of Springwatch on BBC2 at 8pm tomorrow.
‘I find my art disappointing’