You also filmed Lords and Ladies plants that release a foul-smelling scent to attracts flies, what technology did you use for this scene? We see the oldest oak tree in Britain, which has been standing for 1,046 years and so predates the Norman Conquest. Despite these unpromising foundations, the islands of Britain and Ireland, together with more than 6,000 lesser islets that make up our archipelago, contain some of the most diverse, beautiful and wildlife-rich landscapes and seas on our planet. A combination of carefully timed observation, plus the smell and warm feel of the flower when near our skin helped track them down. With intricately connected species relying on habitats, and one another, for survival, we ask what can be done to protect them and the delicate ecosystems that remain, and to make our wild isles even wilder for future generations.

I knew that nobody had ever had the opportunity before to really do justice to the spectacular scenery and rich and varied wildlife found at home. Despite these rich and varied habitats, Britain and Ireland are among the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

You’ll think a meadow in Somerset is as beautiful as the Serengeti, and the North Atlantic as wild and dramatic as the Antarctic Ocean. Many novelists appear, Hines, Lee, Hardy, Grahame, Williamson, Woolf (as novelists), Fowles and Maitland (as essayists). There's nothing wrong with this anthology, but the very genre doesn't suit for continuous reading, but rater for dipping in and out.

Wild Isles is a major new five-part natural history series from Silverback Films that aims to do for the wildlife of Britain and Ireland what the ‘Planet’ series have done for the wildlife of the world. Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, said: “Wild Isles will be essential viewing at a time when we are facing into a nature and climate emergency.

I also enjoyed the texts gathered in the rather original chapter urban nature (about plants on dumps, urban foxes, the decline of moths and house sparrows). Attenborough explains that “our seas are among the richest in Europe”, but who can hear that without thinking of the sewage flowing into those seas, again and again, dumped by UK water companies that in turn blame the government for its inaction? They swim on their sides to hide their dorsal fins as they approach, which is amazing to see, then teach their young how to drown their prey. Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Science and Natural History, said: “The multi-award winning team at Silverback are creating an eye-opening celebration of British and Irish wildlife that has to be seen to be believed. The OU has had a unique educational partnership with the BBC since 1971 and recent co-productions include The Green Planet, Panorama: Will the NHS care for me?

Another reason our British Isles are so diverse is due to the great range in temperature, from the subtropical conditions in the south to the frozen Arctic conditions of the Cairngorms in the north. Using the very latest technology, each episode will capture dramatic and new behaviour across the British Isles, from battling butterflies to mighty killer whales on the hunt. With nature in freefall, we’re urgently tackling the underlying causes that are driving decline and finding solutions so futuregenerations have a world with thriving habitats and wildlife. I can assure you that in the British Isles, as well as astonishing scenery there are extraordinary animal dramas and wildlife spectacles to match anything I have seen on my global travels.The chapter about woods proved to be a compelling read, with contributions by Sara Maitland (on how forests have created themes for fairy tales), Robert Macfarlane (the wood wide web, mosses and funghi) and John Fowles (on the spellbounding Wistman's Wood). So thrilling it’s like Top Gun: Maverick … an eagle hunting a barnacle goose on Islay, Inner Hebrides. Wild Isles makes many claims for these isles’ exceptional nature, from the mighty oaks to the chalk streams that are one of the rarest habitats on Earth.