What I love about Autumn

Chris Packham on the comings and goings of the season, and humanity’s failings…

- Tess Lamacraft

Red deer, wild geese, otters, owls and the odd pine marten are a few of the potential stars of this year’s Autumnwatch.

They are all on the wish list of Chris Packham and his fellow hosts, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams, as they venture to the Scottish Highlands for the 2019 run.

The team will be broadcasting live from Cairngorms National Park, where they were based for Springwatch, and Chris is already getting excited. ‘I’ve grown up in the south of England, so the Cairngorms are an exotic environment for me,’ says the presenter, who lives in the New Forest, Hampshire.

‘I see foxes every night and the occasional badger, but I certainly don’t see pine martens.’

Here, in an exclusive interview with TV Times, Chris, 58, tells us why this is his favourite time of the year…

What do you like most about Autumn?

It’s such a dynamic time of year. Besides being very colourful, the most exciting thing is all the comings and goings. Birds like swallows migrate, others like redwings arrive from Scandinavia, while flocks of wild geese are flying in from Russia and Iceland. There are a lot of arrivals and departures!

What are your essentials for presenting Autumnwatch?