Latest news with #Springwatch
The Herald Scotland
9 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Walk with Paul Goldstein to raise money for endangered wildlife
Blocked by human development, many species have been forced to stay put, abandoning ancient routes used for thousands of years. Humans, however, still have the freedom to walk in all directions of the compass. For the most part, their only restriction is time. Devising his own pilgrimage route across the UK, wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein has cleared his diary to lead an ambitious 25-day walk in aid of endangered species – and everyone is invited to join in. Over the years, Goldstein has raised almost £500,000 for wildlife causes by running 25 marathons in a tiger suit, often joined by famous friends such as Springwatch presenter and environmental activist Chris Packham. Now he plans to walk more than 1,000km from Tigerton in Scotland, to Tiger Bay in Wales as part of a charity walk named 2LegsFor4 – that's the equivalent of a marathon every day for almost a month. He's aiming to raise funds for a rescue vehicle to support wildlife in India's Bandhavgarh National Park. Broken down into 42km sections, anyone can sign up – for free – to join Goldstein along the way, raising money for any species of their choice, or simply to stretch their legs in solidarity. TV presenter Simon Reeve has already pledged his support on Instagram, writing: '2legsfor4 … it's something wonderful, meaningful and memorable to support and get involved with.' Here are a few of the highlights for walks starting on August 10 and ending September 5. Historic monuments When: August 11 Route: Carnoustie to St Andrews Penguin statues (Image: Alamy/PA) The distance from Dundee to the South Pole is around 10,000 miles but the two regions will always be inextricably linked. In 1901, explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott launched the vessel RRS Discovery from the Scottish city, embarking on an epic voyage of discovery to the Antarctic continent. His ship is now a visitor attraction, paying homage to the polar links, alongside a series of penguin statues by artist Angela Hunter. Wildlife wonders When: August 15 Route: Newtongrange to Galashiels Red squirrels (Image: Alamy/PA) Sea eagles, red squirrels, seals and otters are just a few of the species often spotted at the Scottish Borders. The region around Galashiels has several designated viewing areas. The River Tweed Trail is a good spot for observing wetland and riverbank birds, while the Gala Hill Circular is recommended for more general wildlife. Visit the Bird Gardens Scotland breeding and conservation project to see rare and endangered species from across the world. Lakes and mountains When: August 22 Route: Grasmere to Kendal Hikers in the Lake District (Image: Alamy/PA) Bring to life the verses of a William Wordsworth sonnet by visiting his former stomping ground in the Lake District – although with plenty of hikers for company, there's no need to wander lonely as a cloud. Start at the 19th-century poet's home in Grasmere, described as 'the loveliest spot that man hath found', and continue to the lakes of Rydal and Windermere. Fuel up with a fish finger sandwich at the Eagle & Child Inn in Staveley, before ending up at the home of Kendal Mint Cake. Iconic coastal paths When: August 23 Route: Kendal to Lancaster When the incoming tide creates a wave which pushes up a river and reverses its current, the result is a rare phenomenon known as a tidal bore. One of the best places to witness the roaring surge of water in the UK is at Morecambe Bay in the Arnside area which meets with the River Kent. Scenes are most dramatic during spring tides and after heavy downpours – although Goldstein is hoping not to experience the latter. After all, (big) cats aren't fans of rain. Winding rivers When: September 3 Route: Monmouth to Chepstow Tintern Abbey in Chepstow (Image: Alamy/PA) Discover the varied landscapes of the Welsh borders by walking a section of the 136-mile Wye Valley route, which runs from the mountains and moorland of mid-Wales to the fields and orchards of Herefordshire. From the grassy banks of Monmouth town, head into woodland, passing through villages and historic abbeys and hill forts. How to plan your trip For more information on signing up, pledging support or even offering the tiger a place to rest his paws each night, visit
Times
30-07-2025
- Times
Chris Packham: ‘My must-visit on a city break? The cemetery'
Chris Packham, 64, is a naturalist, broadcaster and author best known for presenting the BBC series Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. He began his career as a wildlife cameraman before presenting the children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show. He is now an environmental campaigner and lives with his dogs in the New Forest in Hampshire. Comfort has never really appealed to me. I know what a sunlounger is, but I've certainly never spent time on one. I want travel to challenge me, and I like things to be difficult and edgy. I think that's why cities fascinate me. I was in Arles in the south of France recently. I hadn't been there since 1983 and it was just as beautiful as I remembered — the textures, the colours, the way light bounces off ancient stone into the narrow streets. I wandered through the cemetery, which is something I always do if I want to quickly get under the skin of a city's culture — places of worship and cemeteries tell you how people lived, what they valued, what shaped them. I'm not religious, but I love these old spaces that have absorbed time; I love the smell of them — you breathe in air that has been breathed by kings, queens, saints and paupers … it's electric. Places I'd never go back to? Dubai and Las Vegas — incomprehensibly horrible; artificial, carbon expensive, trashy, ugly, devoid of any meaningful culture. In Dubai you try to find some old town, and there's a tiny fragment of it alongside a river, but nothing really remains — and the embarrassing, decadent excess is repugnant to the highest order. I don't do superficial sightseeing. When I travel for pleasure it's either for art or battlefields; I've visited the latter all over the world to try to reconstruct what happened — my late dad and I shared that obsession. One of the most meaningful trips I've taken was with him to the Little Bighorn battlefield in the US state of Montana . We spent three days walking the site trying to piece it together. That landscape tells the story better than any book or film; being there with him, talking through the horror and injustice of it all, was unforgettable.' • Read our full guide to Florida One of my all-time-favourite places is a tiny sandbar off the coast of Florida, ten miles from Sanibel Island — it appears for only a couple of hours when the tide is right. You go there by boat and just wait, then slowly the water drops and this sliver of white sand rises out of the sea. There's nothing on it. You can just make out the mainland from there in the haze, but mostly it feels as though you're on another planet. I was there as the sun set — the sea was flat calm, the sky peach and gold. Out of nowhere snowy plovers appeared — tiny endangered birds, running across the sand, feeding quickly before the tide turned. It was utterly still. I just stood there, immersed in the landscape. I didn't even take a photo — some moments you just live. Bats were my first love. When I was a child growing up in Southampton I became obsessed with them, but there weren't any near us, so one weekend in the 1960s my dad borrowed a tent and took me to the New Forest. We camped beside a stream and, by the faint glow of his torch, I saw them — little flickering silhouettes over the water. We watched the bats until the torch batteries went flat. I didn't sleep a wink that night. • 19 of the best US national parks to visit In terms of landscape I've long fantasised about getting a camper van and visiting every North American national park from Alaska to the Mexican border. I've already been to some of them — Big Bend in Texas is a favourite, with its jaguars and rare birds and barely any winter visitors; White Sands in New Mexico feels otherworldly, with its pale dunes. But it's not just about aesthetics. These places are life-support systems — vital for biodiversity and us. This is why it's so heartbreaking that protection of them has been rolled back — defunding, logging, the destruction of old-growth forests; it's catastrophic. Being neurodivergent, new places can be overwhelming. I feel the onrush of visual information very acutely — it can be dizzying, exhausting even. But it can also be thrilling. That is probably why people go on rollercoasters — to feel out of control and push their senses into new territory. Once, in Kathmandu, I stepped through a little doorway into a temple courtyard that was filled with pigeons. Suddenly the pigeons all rose in a vortex — wings, feathers, wind — and at my feet was a tortoise, ambling past with three little pots of burning oil tied to its shell. The whole thing was utterly surreal, like a scene from Game of Thrones. • Read our full guide to the New Forest My next big trip is to seek out the spomenici — giant brutalist war memorials scattered across the Balkans. I'm planning a road trip with my friend Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) to find them all, driving from Slovenia through the former Yugoslavia — ideally in winter, as they look magnificent under snow. It's the perfect trip for me: part architecture, part history. It's very niche, but I can't wait. Holly Rubenstein's travel podcast, The Travel Diaries, is out every Tuesday ( In our weekly My Hols interview, famous faces from the worlds of film, sport, politics, and more share their travel stories from childhood to the present day. Read more My Hols interviews here
Rhyl Journal
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
Strictly Come Dancing and Top Gear stars land new TV role
Pointless host Alexander Armstrong will be exploring some of the country's best pubs as well as the great outdoors in a new programme called Perfect Pub Walks. Each episode will see the in-demand presenter alongside a celebrity pal as they go to every corner of the UK. One of the showbiz heavyweights who has been signed up for the show includes Top Gear star James May. He will join Alexander Armstrong when the show comes to Channel 4 and its streaming platform All4, according to The Sun. Other titans joining the lineup include Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland, Sir Lenny Henry and Springwatch star presenter Chris Packham. Discussing the series, host Alexander said: 'Nothing beats a walk in a beautiful landscape, a good pub, a pint and a great chat. "Filming Perfect Pub Walks has been a complete delight, topped off by some fantastic conversations with four terrific icons.' Clemency Green, the commissioning editor for Channel 4, added: 'Perfect Pub Walks is a beautiful series exploring stunning areas of the UK, as well as delving into a variety of topics and issues that come up in conversation between our brilliant host and his array of wonderful guests.' Legendary Chris Chittell has future on Emmerdale confirmed after nearly 40 years The Chase star Shaun Wallace lands role on brand new ITV show Alexander Armstrong is a British TV presenter from Northumberland who has fronted a number of popular shows like Pointless on the BBC, according to IMDb. The star, who was born on March 2, 1970, has also been involved with a number of other shows and projects. These include The Match Point, Pluncket and Maclean as well as The Armstrong and Miller Show. Perfect Pub Walks is coming to Channel 4 and All4 in the near future.
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Gutted BBC fans complain ‘I can't believe it's the last one!' as beloved series wraps with final episode - and won't return for an entire year
Gutted BBC fans complained 'I can't believe it's the last one!' as a beloved series wraped with its final episode and won't return for an entire year. Presented by Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, Springwatch usually airs on BBC Two at 8pm from Monday to Thursday. The latest series began on May 26 and has been gripping viewers with updates on the wildlife at National Trust 's Longshaw Estate in the Peak District. However, Thursday's instalment of the longstanding programme saw the season come to a close. Michaela opened up the live show and said: 'Hello and welcome to Springwatch.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Chris then appeared on camera and joked if he had let Michaela present alone 'it would just be fluffy owlets'. He said: 'Hello, yes, we're live at the Longshaw Estate here by the National Trust, in the Peak District National Park for the very last time because this is the end.' 'Well, it's not the end of everything, it's merely the end of our series and we're going out with a bang because tonight we're bringing you a new nest, a dinosaur nest, not live, obviously,' Chris went on. 'As Chris said, it is our last night of the series, it always goes so quickly doesn't it, and we will be celebrating the cast that is still remaining because obviously a lot of them have already fledged,' Michaela added. Some fans were devastated that the series was over and took to social media to express their dismay. One posted on X: 'Thank you #Springwatch it's been fantastic! Missing you already… Hurry back. Looking forward to #Winterwatch now.' 'Another fantastic series. #Springwatch is the epitome of relaxing, watchable telly that's engaging and informative. Shame it has to come to an end.' 'As the titles rolled, I stood and applauded and shed a little tear. I've already bought a animal cam and will be building a pond. Thanks team.' However, Thursday's instalment of the long-standing programme saw the season come to a close. Some fans were devastated that the series was over and took to social media to express their dismay 'I'm always quite sad when #Springwatch finishes for another year… Bring back #AutumnWatch #BBC.' 'Those 3 weeks of #springwatch passed far too fast! Can't believe I didn't make it over to @nationaltrust Longshaw whilst the team were there.' 'I cant believe it's the last one already #springwatch.' The latest series has seen plenty of dramatic wildlife scenes that have left viewers shocked. One instalment of the popular nature programme saw the co-presenters look at footage of a tawny owl and songthrushes, before things took a turn for the worse. Chris recalled how on May 28, the songthrush chicks were doing well and had grown a lot over the course of a week. One of them decided to leave the nest while others stayed behind, which Chris described as a 'big mistake'. 'A little later on, we saw our tawny owl bringing a bird in to Spud, and when Spud jumps down into the box, you can see it's not just the bird, it is a fledgling songthrush,' he explained. Chris added that there was 'no proof' that the bird was the same that had just left the nest. Chris recalled how on May 28, the songthrush chicks were doing well and had grown a lot over the course of a week 'But what happened next at 11.06pm was the tawny owl returned and obviously it would come to this nest and grab those chicks,' he went on. 'Very rapidly it killed the chicks in the nest using its talons and then took hold of one of them and make its way out of the back of the nest.' The presenter clarified again: 'Like I say, no proof that this is Spud's parent of any kind. It could be another tawny owl, however I can tell you that these two nests are 250m apart so it's getting increasingly likely.' However, the scenes proved to be upsetting to some viewers who took to social media to share their thoughts.
Daily Mirror
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Springwatch final episode leaves fans 'sad' after 'savage' scenes
Springwatch viewers were left 'sad' as Springwatch came to a close for this year, with the long-running BBC programme ending its 2025 run BBC viewers were left feeling "sad" and emotional as Springwatch concluded its run for the year. The beloved series, marking its 20th anniversary in 2025, broadcasted its final episode. Presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan said their goodbyes to the nests, while Iolo Williams finished his Northern Irish adventure. Fans expressed disbelief at how quickly the past three weeks had passed, with the team providing a comprehensive summary of various nests and their development. Following last year's cancellation of Autumnwatch due to budgetary constraints, this year's Springwatch kicked off on May 26, airing four times weekly from Monday to Thursday. One viewer lamented on X, "Last episode of #Springwatch tonight, I'm so sad," and another shared, "Last episode of #Springwatch tonight, three weeks have gone quick." Another fan commented, "I cant believe it's the last one already #springwatch," reports the Express. Additionally, a fourth enthusiast suggested online, "We do need a one-off special to celebrate 20 yrs of #Springwatch. With no #Autumnwatch, the savings the BBC have could be used for a one-off special to welcome back all the team & crew for a superb party and memories! Maybe aired across Xmas!". Springwatch has come under fire this week for broadcasting what some viewers have described as "savage" and "distressing" scenes involving a tawny owl and songthrushes. Chris Packham informed the audience that on May 28th, two songthrushes were seen caring for their chicks, which had grown significantly by the end of the week. Chris issued a cautionary note when one thrush left the nest, calling it a "big mistake." The programme then showed harrowing footage of a tawny owl preying on one of the songthrushes, followed by another clip where the owl was seen using its talons to kill the chicks in their nest. The graphic nature of these scenes did not sit well with many viewers, prompting strong reactions on social media. One disgruntled viewer expressed their hope for karmic retribution on X: "Hopefully owl falls out tree and dies #springwatch." Another lamented the fate of the thrushes with a sad post: "Oh no not the thrushes :( #springwatch." A third viewer criticised the show for causing upset among younger audiences: " Well done #springwatch Tens of thousands of children now crying and in distress! They're not all heartless like you. Horrible BBC."
