Chris Packham

Chris Packham
In 2011
Born	Christopher Gary Packham (1961-05-04) 4 May 1961 Southampton, Hampshire,[1] England
Alma mater	University of Southampton
Occupation	Nature photographer, television presenter, author
Family	Jenny Packham (sister)
Awards	Dilys Breese Medal
Website	www.chrispackham.co.uk
Chris Packham's voice from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, 13 October 2013.[2]

Christopher Gary "Chris" Packham (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the children's nature series The Really Wild Show in the late 1980s. He has presented the BBC nature series Springwatch since 2009.^[3]

Life and work

Education

Packham was educated at Bitterne Park Secondary School,^[4] Taunton's College^[5] and the University of Southampton, where he received a BSc in Zoology.^[6] After graduating he cancelled his study towards a PhD to train as a wildlife cameraman.^[7]

Television

Packham is known for his television work, notably in the BAFTA-winning BBC1 children's programme The Really Wild Show^[1] and nature photography series Wild Shots on Channel 4, as well as the BBC One series The X Creatures^[1] and BBC Two's Hands on Nature and Nature's Calendar. He was the lead presenter on the BBC South's Inside Out,^[1] and also works on BBC South East Inside Out with Kaddy Lee-Preston. Since June 2009, he has co-presented the BBC Two nature programme Springwatch - and its sister programmes Autumnwatch and Winterwatch - along with Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games.^[8]

He formed the production company Head Over Heels with producer Stuart Woodman, making wildlife programmes for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the BBC.^[9][10]

In 2011, Packham won an episode of Celebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was the Battle of Rorke's Drift.^[11] He also presented the BBC programme The Animal's Guide To Britain.

In 2013 he presented a four-part documentary series entitled Secrets of our Living Planet which demonstrated the complex relationships upon which apparently unconnected species, such as tigers and crabs, depend.^[12]

In 2014, Packham presented a two-part documentary in which he, Martha Kearney and Adam Hart revealed the mysteries of the honeybee,^[13] as well as a series on animal cognition, called Inside The Animal Mind, which partly featured his own pet dogs.^[14] In 2014 he presented a 10-part series The Wonder of Animals for the BBC. It included episodes on birds of prey, dolphins, crocodiles, great apes, elephants, foxes, ants, big cats, bears and penguins.^[15]

In 2016 Packham co-presented a 2-part series for the BBC, Cats v. Dogs: Which is Best?, along with Liz Bonnin. The programmes compared cat behaviour and relationships with humans, against those of dogs, in the format of a mock contest. It also explored some recent research on the subject.^[16]

Wildlife

Packham is president of the Hawk Conservancy Trust and the Bat Conservation Trust,^[17] vice-president of the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts,^[17] Butterfly Conservation and the Brent Lodge Bird & Wildlife Trust^[18] and patron of Population Matters (formerly the Optimum Population Trust).^[19] He is also patron of the Woolston Eyes Conservation Group, which manages Woolston Eyes Bird Reserve.^[20] He was president of the Hawk and Owl Trust between 2010 and 2015.

He has had papers on kestrels published in British Birds.

In 2011, he was awarded the British Trust for Ornithology's Dilys Breese Medal for his "outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences".^[21] He said:

"I have always been interested in scientific research and understood its importance in underpinning conservation action, not just in this country but around the globe. To receive this award from one of the leading scientific research establishments in the country is a real honour [and] is also very poignant for me. Dilys was instrumental in me getting my first wildlife-presenting job at the BBC. I accept the award for her and citizen scientists everywhere."^[21]

Personal life

He is the brother of fashion designer Jenny Packham. He lives in the New Forest with his girlfriend, Charlotte Corney, owner of Isle of Wight Zoo,^[22] and his two pet poodles, Itchy and Scratchy.^[23]

Packham has suffered with Ménière's disease since the age of 37.^[24] In 1995, at the age of 34, Packham diagnosed himself with Asperger syndrome after comparing a list of symptoms to his own behavioural traits.^[25][26] He also revealed he has suffered from severe depression and had twice contemplated suicide.^[22]

Views

In a 2009 interview with the Radio Times, Packham suggested that the giant panda was too expensive to save, and that it "should be allowed to become extinct" so that funds could be redistributed to protecting other, less expensive animals and habitats.^[27] He made a similar comment in 2008, saying that he would "eat the last panda" if doing so would retroactively redistribute the money spent on panda conservation.^[28] He later apologised for upsetting people, saying that he loved all animals but that he was "glad it has raised a debate and that was always my intention".^[29]

In December 2009, Packham criticised reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! for mistreating animals, accusing them of plugging up spiders' fangs, needlessly killing insects and tying crocodiles' mouths shut.^[30]

In a 2010 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Packham stated, "The human population is sowing the seeds of a mass extinction event", and "The fact is there is not enough space". "The excessive demands of the growing population is having a disastrous effect on biodiversity. There are too many of us taking too much too quickly", he said. "We need to do something about it."^[31] In 2012 Packham stated, "The single most important thing is not climate change but human population ... we have to find a means of regulating the population so we can prosper as a species... We haven't got unlimited space because we've only one planet."^[32]

Packham is a critic of fox hunting and was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to Members of Parliament in 2015 to oppose Conservative prime minister David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.^[33]

Wildlife campaigner and TV presenter Chris Packham alongside Dr Mark Avery, conservationist, at the first Hen Harrier Day gathering at Fairholmes in Derbyshire, UK, August 2014.

Packham has actively campaigned to highlight issues of illegal persecution and shooting of birds, both in Britain and overseas. In 2014 he self-funded a film crew and travelled to Malta to highlight the mass-killing by hunters of migrating birds in spring.^[34] In 2014 he helped organise Hen Harrier Day in order to highlight the illegal persecution of raptors on Britain's grouse moors.^[35] In both 2014 and 2015 he addressed crowds in Derbyshire's Peak District at one of a number of outdoor Hen Harrier Day rallies organised across Britain to raise awareness of the plight of the hen harrier.^[36]

In 2015, Chris Packham used Twitter to publicly resign as president of the Hawk and Owl Trust, citing "Personal differences over ideas of policy".^[37] It was widely speculated this related to the Trust adopting a policy of supporting brood management of hen harriers on grouse moors at a time when the bird was almost extinct as a breeding species in England.^[38][39]

In August 2015 Packham wrote in BBC Wildlife magazine about the "shameful" silence of some of Britain's leading conservation organisations on issues such as fox hunting, badger culling and hen harrier persecution. He complained these NGOs were being "hamstrung by outdated liaisons with the ‘nasty brigade’ and can’t risk upsetting old friends” in the rural and shooting communities.^[40] This elicited a public response in September 2015 from the Countryside Alliance which complained to the BBC about Packham using the BBC Wildlife magazine to promote what they saw as a biased "animal rights agenda". More than 56,000 people signed a petition at change.org urging the BBC not to sack the presenter.^[41] A BBC spokesman said that Packham was free to express personal views outside of BBC Natural History programmes.^[41]

Music and film referencing

In 2009, music bloggers noted how Packham was attempting to fit references to songs by The Smiths into his Springwatch dialogue.^[42]search He did the same with songs by the Cure in 2010,^[43]search and Manic Street Preachers in 2011.^[44]search He has continued this in 2012's Springwatch, quite subtly inserting David Bowie titles from 28 May,^[45]search and film titles in that year's Autumnwatch.

In Winterwatch (January 2013) he inserted Madness titles into his dialogue.^search In Springwatch (May 2013) he inserted titles by the Clash, opening the show by commenting that the weather had made him wonder "Should I Stay or Should I Go".^search In 2011's Autumnwatch, Packham fitted in titles of songs by punk band the Damned, including "New Rose", "Neat Neat Neat", "Smash It Up" and "The History of the World". In 2015's Autumnwatch, the titles of James Bond films were inserted.

Honours

In 2011, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) ran a pioneering project to discover the details of cuckoo migration from Britain to Africa. One of its five electronically tagged cuckoos was named Chris, after Packham, because the BBC Wildlife Fund had funded much of the project. The cuckoos were tracked by satellite during their migration from summer breeding grounds in Norfolk across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert to their wintering grounds in the Equatorial Congo. Chris was one of only two birds to survive the trip and return to Thetford Forest in May 2012.^[46][47]

In December 2013, Packham was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton, having originally graduated from the university more than 30 years earlier.^[48]

In December 2014, Chris Packham was voted "Conservation Hero of the Year" by readers of Birdwatch magazine in association with the online BirdGuides website for his work in publicising the illegal slaughter in Malta of millions of migrating birds.^[49]

Works by Packham

Books

• The Flying Gourmet's Guide (1985)
• Bird Brain of Britain (1988)
• Chris Packham's Wild Shots, Collins and Brown Publishers, (1993) ISBN 1-85585-200-4
• Chris Packham's Back Garden Nature Reserve New Holland Publishers (2001) (Foreword by David Bellamy) ISBN 1-85974-520-2
• Back Garden Nature Reserve (2003) ISBN 1-85605-846-8
• Chris Packham's Wild Side of Town: Getting to Know the Wildlife in Our Towns and Cities New Holland Publishers, (2003) ISBN 1-84330-355-8
• Nature's Calendar (2007) ISBN 0-00-724646-3
• Chris Packham's Nature Handbook (2010) ISBN 1-4053-5526-3
• The Wonder of Birds: nature, art, culture [Norfolk Museums Service] (2014) (Foreword by Chris Packham) ISBN 0-9031-0184-X
• Pets in Portraits by Robin Gibson (2015) (introduction by Chris Packham) ISBN 1855144980
• A Misuse of Nature by Sam Langers (2015) (introduction by Chris Packham)
• Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir Ebury (2016) ISBN 978-1785033483

Papers

• Packham, Chris (March 1985). "Role of male Kestrel during incubation". British Birds. 78 (3): 144–5. 
• Packham, Chris (April 1985). "Bigamy by the Kestrel". British Birds. 78 (4): 194–5. 

Video

• Go Wild at Windsor Terry Nutkins and Chris Packham 1988.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Packham.

• Official website
• Chris Packham at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC South presenter profile
• Presenter of Seven Man-made Wonders of the South
• Filming 'Nature's Calendar' at Woolston Eyes at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 September 2007) – West Midland Bird Club article about filming event with Packham.
• Chris Packham Original Message Board
• Chris Peckham Famous people with Asperger Syndrome