Wild
spring delights  |
Nature's Calendar is very close to my heart. I
have a profound interest in getting people off their sofas and into the wilds
where they can look at animals, rather than just studying them on the television
from afar. 听 | | Chris
Packham holding a bird on location |
Home
grown nature
 Nature
needs to be experienced first hand.
You have to be able to touch it, see
it, smell it and exercise your curiosity - and that's what Nature's Calendar is
all about.
Sometimes we're so overwhelmed by TV images of glamorous animals
in exotic locations, that we often forget that there's some really beautiful wildlife
at the bottom of our gardens.
I want to destroy the mystique about wildlife.
For me, home is where the heart is. I've travelled all over the world but
my favourite animals are right here at home.
On
your doorstep
 It's
a myth that you have to be an expert to watch wildlife. You don't have to be a
life-long specialist.
You can be just like me and spend time watching
and studying these animals just for fun.
Take Badgers, for example.
Watching this nocturnal creature isn't a mystical art - it's practical common
sense. Anyone can go out and find a Badger sett and have great fun doing
it.
When I was younger, I studied Badger excrement for five years, but
you don't have to get quite so carried away with poo as I did!
I've
been passionate about nature from an early age. As a child I transformed
our home in Southampton into a menagerie bristling with a diversity of species.
Snakes, spiders, finches and foxes all soiled my parents' carpets! Passion
for wildlife
 My
ever-growing passion for wildlife has shaped my career. I studied Badgers
for several years and this led to a degree in Zoology at Southampton University.
One of my early TV ventures was presenting the Children's 大象传媒 Wildlife
programme, The Really Wild Show. It was so good that it won a BAFTA.
My more recent 大象传媒 programmes include X-Creatures and Watch Out as well as
Inside Out which has included a number of wildlife features.
Magical
creatures
 One
of my favourite experiences during the filming of Nature's Calendar was watching
Dolphins in the Moray Firth.
The sight of these remarkable creatures
is truly awesome in spring.
Another favourite moment during the series
was my visit to Rathlin in Northern Ireland where I saw an amazing bird spectacle
on the cliffs of this rocky island. Two hundred thousand birds pack onto
its cliffs and sea stacks in spring - making it bird central. I've rarely
seen so many birds up close and personal. Spring
highlights  Another
highlight of the series was my trip to Buckland Newton in Dorset, a good place
to watch Badgers.
And spring is a really excellent time to watch some
of the UK's birds - especially breeding birds such as Peregrine Falcons at the
Falls of Clyde in Scotland.
People from the UK travel thousands and thousands
of miles for a sight like this without realising just what treasures we have on
our own doorstep. This is exactly what our programme sets out to do - raise
awareness of the depth and diversity of wildlife, fauna and flora around the British
Isles.
Wildlife through a lens
 Working
on Nature's Calendar and Nest Box Special has been really great fun.
It has given me the chance to revisit some fantastic places around the British
Isles as well as finding new ones that made filming a real treat.
I've
stayed in some dodgy 'Fawlty Towers' style hotels, endured bouts of sea sickness,
survived bad weather, and eaten some strange local delicacies, but it's all been
worth it.
I wouldn't have swapped this experience for anything, and
I hope that you will feel the same way too when you watch the TV series.
Most of all, I hope that Nature's Calendar will make you feel as passionate about
nature as I do.
So get off your sofa, get out there and enjoy the great
British outdoors. It聮s sure to satisfy the most curious of creatures! Nature
teamMeet the rest of the Nature's Calendar
team: Janet Sumner
Sanjida
O'Connell
Mike Dilger Meet the web
team:
Sue
Wilkinson | 
