best for CELEBRITY
As popular Springwatch returns to our TV sets for a brand new series, presenter Michaela Strachan says nature is struggling against the power of social media
It’s that time of year – when Spring is bursting out all over the country and the Springwatch team return to spy on the cute critters who make up our natural habitat. Once again, Michaela Strachan, 58, has jetted in from Cape Town, where she lives with partner Nick Chevallier and their son Oliver, to enjoy a truly British Spring time!
Hi, Michaela! What are your favourite kinds of wildlife to spot around this time of year and why?
One of my favourite birds in the UK are puffins. I love puffins! I love the colourful beaks and I love the fact that they’re so interesting to watch. They’re real characters.
And also I’m choosing them because we’re going to be filming some nests on the Dorset coast. It could actually be a real turning point for puffins this year. Their numbers have dropped dramatically, mainly due to climate change and overfishing and the loss of what they eat, which is sand eels.
But just recently the government has brought in some new legislation which is stopping industrial sand eel fishing in the English North Sea and all Scottish waters. And that’s in time for the puffin breeding season, so I think it could this could be a real turning point for not just puffins, but other sea birds as well. And I find that incredibly exciting.
How can we support local wildlife this Spring?
Obviously we can do all the usual stuff that everyone should be doing anyway, such as feeding the birds, putting out water, leaving a bit of the garden messy, planting local
foods. But also something we’re going to be talking about this series is The Big Help Out, the biggest mass volunteering event of the year between 7 and 9 June. It’s not just about wildlife; it’s volunteering for lots of different organisations. We’re going to be looking at things such as animal sanctuaries,
What do you want viewers to learn from Springwatch?
I think, like as in every Watch, our aim is to inspire our viewers, inspire them to see wildlife, care about it, and then protect it. If you don’t know about wildlife, you’re not going to be interested. You’re not going to care about protecting it. So I mean, I think that’s
environmental projects, local wildlife groups, doing all sorts of different things that people can volunteer with wildlife, anything from a beach clean to surveys, and it really is a great way that people can support local wildlife. what we really want viewers to take home from any series.
D
