Chris Packman and friends

The people, I mean, not the animals.

Would it have been different if it had been on Radio 4? You wouldn't have been able to see all the animals, but they would have had to say more.

I think it's human nature to be put off a programme if one finds the presenter irritating. It's a bit like going off a subject at school if you didn't like the teacher unfortunately.

please to see you are nearly back to your old self jing

I can't stand the man myself.

My DD2 was always a huge fan of Chris Packham, until she saw a picture of him beside some kind of huge fish he had landed! She wrote a letter telling him what she thought of angling, but never did get a reply.

Before that, he had once actually been on the phone to her (!) trying to flog her some kind of wildlife holiday in a venture he was trying to promote. Don't know how he got the number. Some fan club I suppose.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Chris%20Packham%27s%20Natural%20Selection

For anyone else who missed it.

We were away on the 11th but I hope to watch it on iPlayer this afternoon.

Yes I think we are dj Monbiot always make such a good argument, he is my DS's hero as well - DS works in the environment agency, so the environment is a big thing with him, and he agrees with Monbiot's stance.

Are we the only ones to have watched the programme, then, whitewave?

I agreed with George Monbiot about population and consumption. It's too easy to focus on the countries with the biggest population growth without realising that they are not the ones with the greatest consumption.
I also liked the argument about Countryfile being sanitised, and millionaires posing as peasants, with this country having the second most concentrated ownership of land.

You make my point for me loop

I guess (and I know that I'm not the only one) I find it difficult to listen to the message if the presenter's method is off-putting.

Agreed, whitewave. I'd have problems if I only watched programmes by people I liked. Very little politics to watch.

Sometimes it is easier to kill the messenger than to listen to the message.

I agree Merlot & Teetime
Seems quite arrogant but perhaps that's because he's enthusiastic.

Did anybody else watch the programme that whitewave was talking about?
It was really about anger at what humans have done to the world.
That is where Packham's enthusiasm comes across, along with that of Monbiot and Deller.
He told them at the end to stay angry. I agree.

We went to one of his talks a few years ago and found him absolutely charming; he's so enthusiastic about what he does and has been obsessed with nature right from early childhood. I didn't realise till a couple of days ago that they try to incorporate the names of songs into Springwatch..he says it's a way of getting younger people who might not watch the programme interested. He was interviewed on R6 and was great fun.

agreed merlot and my main problem is that he talks up all the air space and talks across others- I think he is quite dismissive at times of other experts too.

I would like Chris Packham more if he didn't wear a permenantly supercillious expression. He might be a really nice bloke but comes across as totally up himself.

That cult is not immutable.

True, but the cult of the personality is here to stay. David Attenborough and Johnnie Morris started something!

Sad when talk about nature becomes more about the personalities presenting information than about the info itself. Maybe the BBC and other programme makers need to concentrate more on narration and less on narrators.

Chris Packham certainly seems to engender a Marmite reaction!
Kate Humble does the same for me, alas

Chris Packham's incessant yacking drives me mad! he ruins nature programmes for me.

They are actually talking about introducing wolves to the Kielder Forest area. Watching the Attenborough clip on wolves bringing down a bison does make me wonder if we need them here. Okay in the wilds of Canada, but not sure about Kielder.

The day before that programme, I think it was on Springwatch about five male hen harriers being taken from their nests, which made them non-viable.
That means no young hen harriers in that area this year. I do hope they catch whoever took them.