THE JOYS OF SPRINGWATCH

As our beloved nature show celebrates its 20th birthday, anchor Chris Packham shares his favourite moments from the seasonal wildlife extravaganza

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IT WAS SPRING 2013. A little afternoon sunlight was glinting through the rushes into one of the most secret spots in the world: a quarter of a square metre of marsh at RSPB Ynys-hir in Powys where, remarkably, we had a camera focused on a water rail's nest.

These are super-shy birds. They scream like pigs at night but during the daytime you won't hear a rustle. The thought of ever finding a nest, let alone getting a camera on it, was frankly absurd. But our crack team of nest-finders and camera-riggers had pulled off the impossible, and at every opportunity I was in the truck, glued to the screen. The bird was cupped in a scruffy little dish of reeds, and was fast asleep. And then she started twitching. Her eyelids flickered, she made some quiet squeaks, jerked her head a little and then became motionless again.

I couldn't move, or speak. I had just seen a water rail dreaming. Let that sink in for a moment... Even now, all these years later, I can barely believe it. But you may have seen it too, because we broadcast this most magical of moments on Springwatch - wow! - the UK's annual festival of wildlife.

The show is about celebrating the great and green bits of our backyards, and features the best of what's happening in all the windowboxes, gardens, parks and nature reserves nationwide. You'll see everything that creeps, crawls, slithers, stings and slimes, from the everyday and the underdogs to the perennial favourites we know and love. It's sometimes about the must-sees - those species that qualify as native exotics or rarities. It's also mine and yours and ours, and provides a sense of ownership, of connectedness, of availability. Everywhere we go, everything we see, you can watch it too. And the message is clear - wait for the weekend, get your boots on and get out and see it for yourself.