Springwatch: Wildlife are the stars!
With Springwatch 2021 underway, we chat to presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan and reveal some fascinating facts about the much-loved series
Naturalist and presenter Chris Packham and team are once again bringing some much-needed magic to our screens with the latest series of Springwatch – giving us a unique and intimate glimpse into the lives and habitats of British wildlife. “We’re just the supporting cast – wildlife are the stars,” he laughs. “We’re there to celebrate their beauty, their fascination, their interest and the revelations they provide; the drama in their lives. We are merely there reporting on that explosion of nature in spring.”
Looking back on the show’s history, he muses: “Springwatch has a strong legacy in the sense that it set out with a mission to bring people species they’d find in their backyards and tell them a bit more about them, as well as show them things they wouldn’t be able to see for themselves.
“Taking people behind the scenes of everyday nature was the initial mission and of course technology has improved no end. We’ve got smaller cameras of higher quality that work in the dark and do thermal imaging, so we’re constantly able to reveal new secrets to viewers.”
During the current series, Chris (60) and his co-host Michaela Strachan (55) are based in Wild Ken Farm in West Norfolk while fellow presenter Gillian Burke is in Northern Ireland, and Iolo Williams is in the Scottish Highlands.
Chris believes one of the key secrets of the show’s phenomenal success has been filming in the UK. He says: “We’ve gone off on jaunts; there is nothing wrong with a little bit of exotic from time to time. One year we went to Japan in cherry blossom time. But the Watches are about our national community, what’s in people’s gardens and beyond the fence.”
Last year Chris’s longstanding co-star Michaela Strachan couldn’t appear with the team because of Covid restrictions so his stepdaughter, Megan McCubbin, stepped in for presenting duties.
Chris says with pride: “Megan’s made films for Springwatch and did some conservation stories for us, but when Springwatch finishes, we’re off to do another project.”
His on-screen banter with Michaela and jokey bickering are as much a part of Springwatch as blue tits and beetles. Bloopers are commonplace and Michaela laughs: “Sometimes the names of the birds and animals sound rude. I am even going red thinking of some of them, and you can get it so wrong. You have to remember you’re doing live telly and sometimes you see this steam train coming out of your mouth as you’re saying something and you just know that Twitter is going to go berserk because of what has just come out!”
On a more serious note Chris reflects: “When I joined I was determined to bring more science into the show, because we have learnt a lot more about birds in the last 15 years and we’ve updated our knowledge about them. Our audience is keen to know those stories; they are part and parcel of the birds’ personalities and of course we have a key desire to inform
people in terms of conservation needs, problems and successes.
“I think the programme endures because it’s unpredictable; it’s live – we can have a conversation this morning about what we are aspiring to do but we won’t be able to guarantee it until the programme starts on whatever day – so that’s quite good.
“We never know what we’re going to have and that’s challenging and exciting. It’s got a real sense of event. What’s going in a
‘I think the reason the programme endures is that it’s unpredictable, it’s live’
blue tit’s nest is certainly a lot more exciting than the UEFA football championship!”
So what are his favourite animals?
“I do love my foxes. But I’m into things that fly. The birds are really important to me, insects as well – butterflies, dragonflies, all those sorts of things.
“If I am being really honest, my favourite animal is always the one I don’t know very well but I am about to learn a lot more about.
“In our pre-made films in this series we’ve got films about the little guys, things like dung beetles, tiger beetles and sea slugs. I am always keen to champion the underdogs, because they play a very valuable part in our ecology. People have to figure out it’s not just the big or cute and cuddly animals that are important, it’s everything.”
As for his favourite season, he says with a shrug, “I genuinely don’t have one. I’m a massive fan of autumn and winter because I think they’re underrated as seasons.
“With autumn, it’s unpredictable. You don’t know when it’s going to come because it’s influenced by spring and summer and by what’s happening overseas, as well as by the weather and climate. And winter is underrated because in winter everyone thinks everything is dead. But it most certainly isn’t!”
■ Springwatch is on BBC2, Tuesdays to Fridays, 8pm, until June 11