Springwatch's Chris Packham, the 'Pol Pot of conservation'

[Guest guest]



 

 

 

 

Chris Packham is taking over from Bill Oddie in the BBC's liveliest nature programme, Springwatch - but he's unlikely to be any less controversial

 

 

 

 

By Cassandra Jardine Last Updated: 10:19AM BST 07 May 2009

 

Springwatch presenter Chris Packham with his dogs, Itchy and Scratchy Photo: Paul Grover

Eggs are cracking. Adorable little fluffy things will soon be popping out of nests and burrows. Springwatch, the BBC's fly-on-the-wall nature programme, returns later this month to delight 3.5 million viewers. But this year there will be no Bill Oddie. The 67-year-old ex-Goodie is "taking a breather", having outraged sensitive viewers last year with his references to sparrows having "wing-tremblers" and beetles being "horny".

His place is being taken by Chris Packham, a fast-talking 48-year-old former children's television presenter who could turn out to be every bit as controversial as his predecessor. "Bill is an old hippy; I'm an old punk rocker," says Packham. The spiky hair that lured many non-nature lovers to The Really Wild Show in the Eighties has long been toned down, but the spitting anger of his formative years is still with him, and directed to the cause of preserving wildlife. Among the targets of his rage are politicians, squirrel killers, "eco-fascists who bang on about native species" – and ordinary pet owners.

 

His own poodles, Itchy and Scratchy, are nervy animals. They leap about and woof as I arrive at the isolated thatched cottage in Hampshire where Packham spends the rare days when he isn't either staring down a long lens shooting wildlife (in the photographic sense) or talking into a lens to present television programmes. When he takes them for a walk, however, he has them under control – unlike many other owners he comes across.

Three hours after returning from his morning inspection of wildlife in the New Forest, Packham is still seething after a spat with a man who wouldn't acknowledge the damage his spaniels were doing. "I got up at first light and wandered around for two-and-a-half hours," he says. "I saw redstart, wood warblers, a cuckoo and two roe deer; luckily, my dogs did not see them."

Had they done so, he would have beaten a hasty retreat. Not so the dog-walker whose spaniels were careering around the wet heathland. "I asked the man if he could see that speck in the sky, a curlew. 'My dogs never kill birds,' he replied. He didn't understand that the bird was flying around, not sitting on its nest, because his dogs had disturbed it.

"It happens all the time. Each day, 25,000 hours of dog-walking take place in the New Forest. The heathland is home to several 'red-listed' species of birds on the conservation list, and 45 per cent of those birds nest on the ground. During foot and mouth, when dogs were banned from the area, we had a bumper year for birds. Since the dogs have returned, bird numbers have declined."

Packham can't understand why the British won't make the connection between their behaviour and our disappearing wildlife. "When I was a boy, we all arrived at school with dog poo on our shoes because people didn't scoop it up. That's no longer acceptable. Things change. Yet people still feel they have a right to let their dogs off the lead because they have always done so."

Cat lovers – among whom he does not number – are even more blinded by sentiment. He knows he is in danger of sounding like "the Pol Pot of conservation", but it infuriates him that owners refuse to acknowledge the carnage wrought by these fluffy, domesticated killers. "Sixty million songbirds are killed every year by cats. If cats were kept in at night, predation would be cut by 50 per cent. If they were all fitted with bleeper collars, it would reduce daytime predation by 45 per cent. Most important of all: they should be neutered.

"The trouble is that even bird lovers defend the right of cats to roam. Any number of the one million members of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have cats, and NGOs like the RSPB are too scared to upset people. I've had enough of arguments in village halls: we need a benign dictatorship."

Since New Labour came to power, between a third and two thirds of our cuckoos, swifts, pied and spotted flycatchers, nightingales, turtle doves and wood warblers have vanished from these shores. "Climate change in Africa is affecting the flight paths and nesting areas all over Europe, but Britain has had the worst fall in bird numbers."

He holds politicans, as well as pets, responsible. "Tony Blair promised in the 1997 election manifesto that he would do something about the Common Agricultural Policy, which has done so much harm to biodiversity through monoculture farming. He went to Paris, some French farmers burnt some sheep, and nothing happened," he sighs, resting his head in his hands. "If I was king for a day, you would find me in Brussels tearing up bits of paper. And I would stop investment in biofuels; they are another environmental disaster."

The quiet of the New Forest these days upsets him so much that he spends most of his spare time in his home in southwest France. There, the CAP also rules, but, with more land and fewer people, the devastation has been comparatively minor. "I heard one cuckoo this morning. In France, I am deafened by them."

It was different when he was a child growing up on the outskirts of Southampton. Ladybirds and frog spawn were his first loves. At the age of eight, he filled his bedroom with snakes – including adders which bit him – and kept a kestrel in the garage. His father, a marine engineer, obligingly turned the back garden into a caged enclosure for wild animals rescued by the RSPCA. One fox, Misty, was so tame that, when it followed him to school sports day, he lured it back with a Cornetto.

He must be pleased that the Government this week announced plans to cut the red tape surrounding the keeping of exotic species. "I'm all in favour of cutting bureaucracy, but you have to look after animals properly. When I wanted to keep a crocodile in my last house, the regulations were more about whether a burglar would be savaged by it. I decided against it in the end because it needed extraordinarily humid conditions."

Wildlife photography was his first career after reading zoology at Southampton University. But in 1986 he switched to the more lucrative business of presenting and programme-making. He is now so busy that little time is left for his private life. At least, he can combine work and play with his current partner, Charlotte Corney. She runs the Isle of Wight Zoo, a safe haven for tigers, whose plight is a shared concern.

"We may wave goodbye to tigers in the wild, as they are worth more dead than alive," he says. "There isn't space on this planet for large mammals. Their day is over, like the mammoths which we made extinct. Soon we may have to say to tigers, rhinos and pandas: 'We are sorry, but there is no room for you.'

'Nature conservancy policies are outdated," he argues. Rather than fencing off tiny areas to preserve a few dormice or three bearded geese in "museums for animals", or getting steamed up about preserving native species, Packham says we should prioritise the environment as a whole. The red squirrel is a case in point. "I can't think of a greater waste of money than trying to kill off the grey squirrels. Grey squirrels are successful: they are bigger and more fecund than red squirrels, and more resistant to the virus they carry. All we can do is keep them off the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island and draw a line across the north of England to prevent them taking over in Scotland."

His view of nature is pragmatic, dynamic and, despite his gloom about the "manscape" of modern Britain, far from despairing. "We have a rich history of research. We know what is going wrong and why. Habitats have been saved and they are being joined up to allow for diversity. Wind farms are the answer to energy: we know the bird flight paths so we can pick the best spots for them."

It is up to consumers to work with farmers to bring back mixed farming. "If we buy local, pay a premium for our food and allow farmers to make a profit, we bring back biodiversity."

As for the dogs that are causing environmental havoc in the New Forest, he has a solution. He wouldn't, as some have suggested, close car parks in sensitive areas. Using a carrot rather than stick, he would create "super car parks" in less sensitive areas, equipped with rain-shelters, grey-water showers to wash away mud, and poop-collecting bins. Itchy and Scratchy would like that. So would the cuckoos and skylarks.

* Springwatch returns to BBC Two on May 25 at 8pm

[Guest guest]

I like springwatch and also autumnwatch. Im not so interested in seeing the

deer ruck every year I prefer watching the bird chicks.

 

 

, " jo.heartwork " <jo.heartwork wrote:

>

>

> Chris Packham is taking over from Bill Oddie in the BBC's liveliest nature

programme, Springwatch - but he's unlikely to be any less controversial

>

> By Cassandra Jardine

> Last Updated: 10:19AM BST 07 May 2009

>

> Springwatch presenter Chris Packham with his dogs, Itchy and Scratchy Photo:

Paul Grover

> Eggs are cracking. Adorable little fluffy things will soon be popping out of

nests and burrows. Springwatch, the BBC's fly-on-the-wall nature programme,

returns later this month to delight 3.5 million viewers. But this year there

will be no Bill Oddie. The 67-year-old ex-Goodie is " taking a breather " , having

outraged sensitive viewers last year with his references to sparrows having

" wing-tremblers " and beetles being " horny " .

>

> His place is being taken by Chris Packham, a fast-talking 48-year-old former

children's television presenter who could turn out to be every bit as

controversial as his predecessor. " Bill is an old hippy; I'm an old punk

rocker, " says Packham. The spiky hair that lured many non-nature lovers to The

Really Wild Show in the Eighties has long been toned down, but the spitting

anger of his formative years is still with him, and directed to the cause of

preserving wildlife. Among the targets of his rage are politicians, squirrel

killers, " eco-fascists who bang on about native species " †" and ordinary pet

owners.

>

> His own poodles, Itchy and Scratchy, are nervy animals. They leap about and

woof as I arrive at the isolated thatched cottage in Hampshire where Packham

spends the rare days when he isn't either staring down a long lens shooting

wildlife (in the photographic sense) or talking into a lens to present

television programmes. When he takes them for a walk, however, he has them under

control †" unlike many other owners he comes across.

> Three hours after returning from his morning inspection of wildlife in the New

Forest, Packham is still seething after a spat with a man who wouldn't

acknowledge the damage his spaniels were doing. " I got up at first light and

wandered around for two-and-a-half hours, " he says. " I saw redstart, wood

warblers, a cuckoo and two roe deer; luckily, my dogs did not see them. "

>

> Had they done so, he would have beaten a hasty retreat. Not so the dog-walker

whose spaniels were careering around the wet heathland. " I asked the man if he

could see that speck in the sky, a curlew. 'My dogs never kill birds,' he

replied. He didn't understand that the bird was flying around, not sitting on

its nest, because his dogs had disturbed it.

>

> " It happens all the time. Each day, 25,000 hours of dog-walking take place in

the New Forest. The heathland is home to several 'red-listed' species of birds

on the conservation list, and 45 per cent of those birds nest on the ground.

During foot and mouth, when dogs were banned from the area, we had a bumper year

for birds. Since the dogs have returned, bird numbers have declined. "

>

> Packham can't understand why the British won't make the connection between

their behaviour and our disappearing wildlife. " When I was a boy, we all arrived

at school with dog poo on our shoes because people didn't scoop it up. That's no

longer acceptable. Things change. Yet people still feel they have a right to let

their dogs off the lead because they have always done so. "

>

> Cat lovers †" among whom he does not number †" are even more blinded by

sentiment. He knows he is in danger of sounding like " the Pol Pot of

conservation " , but it infuriates him that owners refuse to acknowledge the

carnage wrought by these fluffy, domesticated killers. " Sixty million songbirds

are killed every year by cats. If cats were kept in at night, predation would be

cut by 50 per cent. If they were all fitted with bleeper collars, it would

reduce daytime predation by 45 per cent. Most important of all: they should be

neutered.

>

> " The trouble is that even bird lovers defend the right of cats to roam. Any

number of the one million members of the Royal Society for the Protection of

Birds have cats, and NGOs like the RSPB are too scared to upset people. I've had

enough of arguments in village halls: we need a benign dictatorship. "

>

> Since New Labour came to power, between a third and two thirds of our cuckoos,

swifts, pied and spotted flycatchers, nightingales, turtle doves and wood

warblers have vanished from these shores. " Climate change in Africa is affecting

the flight paths and nesting areas all over Europe, but Britain has had the

worst fall in bird numbers. "

>

> He holds politicans, as well as pets, responsible. " Tony Blair promised in the

1997 election manifesto that he would do something about the Common Agricultural

Policy, which has done so much harm to biodiversity through monoculture farming.

He went to Paris, some French farmers burnt some sheep, and nothing happened, "

he sighs, resting his head in his hands. " If I was king for a day, you would

find me in Brussels tearing up bits of paper. And I would stop investment in

biofuels; they are another environmental disaster. "

>

> The quiet of the New Forest these days upsets him so much that he spends most

of his spare time in his home in southwest France. There, the CAP also rules,

but, with more land and fewer people, the devastation has been comparatively

minor. " I heard one cuckoo this morning. In France, I am deafened by them. "

>

> It was different when he was a child growing up on the outskirts of

Southampton. Ladybirds and frog spawn were his first loves. At the age of eight,

he filled his bedroom with snakes †" including adders which bit him †" and

kept a kestrel in the garage. His father, a marine engineer, obligingly turned

the back garden into a caged enclosure for wild animals rescued by the RSPCA.

One fox, Misty, was so tame that, when it followed him to school sports day, he

lured it back with a Cornetto.

>

> He must be pleased that the Government this week announced plans to cut the

red tape surrounding the keeping of exotic species. " I'm all in favour of

cutting bureaucracy, but you have to look after animals properly. When I wanted

to keep a crocodile in my last house, the regulations were more about whether a

burglar would be savaged by it. I decided against it in the end because it

needed extraordinarily humid conditions. "

>

> Wildlife photography was his first career after reading zoology at Southampton

University. But in 1986 he switched to the more lucrative business of presenting

and programme-making. He is now so busy that little time is left for his private

life. At least, he can combine work and play with his current partner, Charlotte

Corney. She runs the Isle of Wight Zoo, a safe haven for tigers, whose plight is

a shared concern.

>

> " We may wave goodbye to tigers in the wild, as they are worth more dead than

alive, " he says. " There isn't space on this planet for large mammals. Their day

is over, like the mammoths which we made extinct. Soon we may have to say to

tigers, rhinos and pandas: 'We are sorry, but there is no room for you.'

>

> 'Nature conservancy policies are outdated, " he argues. Rather than fencing off

tiny areas to preserve a few dormice or three bearded geese in " museums for

animals " , or getting steamed up about preserving native species, Packham says we

should prioritise the environment as a whole. The red squirrel is a case in

point. " I can't think of a greater waste of money than trying to kill off the

grey squirrels. Grey squirrels are successful: they are bigger and more fecund

than red squirrels, and more resistant to the virus they carry. All we can do is

keep them off the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island and draw a line across the

north of England to prevent them taking over in Scotland. "

>

> His view of nature is pragmatic, dynamic and, despite his gloom about the

" manscape " of modern Britain, far from despairing. " We have a rich history of

research. We know what is going wrong and why. Habitats have been saved and they

are being joined up to allow for diversity. Wind farms are the answer to energy:

we know the bird flight paths so we can pick the best spots for them. "

>

> It is up to consumers to work with farmers to bring back mixed farming. " If we

buy local, pay a premium for our food and allow farmers to make a profit, we

bring back biodiversity. "

>

> As for the dogs that are causing environmental havoc in the New Forest, he has

a solution. He wouldn't, as some have suggested, close car parks in sensitive

areas. Using a carrot rather than stick, he would create " super car parks " in

less sensitive areas, equipped with rain-shelters, grey-water showers to wash

away mud, and poop-collecting bins. Itchy and Scratchy would like that. So would

the cuckoos and skylarks.

>

> * Springwatch returns to BBC Two on May 25 at 8pm

>