For the final four weeks, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's Slimbridge reserve will be our home. These new bases will allow us to explore in depth the beautiful landscapes and the wealth of wildlife in these locations as the autumn action reaches its peak at each. One of the most spectacular tree collections in the world, it's also home to an array of native woodland, grasslands and wildlife. Across the first four weeks, we'll be down in Westonbirt's woods, capturing the stunning autumn colour as the season turns, and watching the wildlife cashing in on autumn's bounty.
Flock of waders flying above River Severn in Slimbridge at sunset. This year is the 65th anniversary of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust , and Slimbridge is where it all started when Peter Scott realised how important this place is for wildlife. We'll be exploring the wetland animals, from kingfishers to otters, and experiencing the spectacle of 35, wildfowl as well as the vast flocks of waders which arrive here during autumn. We'll be there at the beginning of November, at the start of Slimbridge's main autumn event as the Bewick's swans arrive at the end of their long migration to overwinter at the reserve.
These birds are identified as individuals from their beak patterns. We'll be counting them in, finding out more about their lives, and watching them live on the web. Read more about the iconic wild places we'll be visiting and the new band of Autumnwatch adventurers.
Sign in or register to comment. Awesome news all round! I've been to Slimbridge once this year so far, and i can feel another trip coming on real soon! Complain about this comment Comment number 1. Hooray, can't wait for this fabulous prog!
And with Michaela joining I feel transported back to being 12 yers old watching the really wild show Complain about this comment Comment number 2. Complain about this comment Comment number 3. Wonderful to have the viewing details; Friday nights will be Fun night, close the curtains, settle back and enjoy the best of Nature then be inspired to get "off the sofa", as CGP is fond of postulating, over the weekend :. Complain about this comment Comment number 4.
I can't wait now. Reading the above has got me excited. Looking forward to the show and the new locations. I will miss Kate but I'm sure michaela will do a grand job. Autumn seems to have arrived early this year. My 3 yeAr old has already been picking conkers up off the pavement!
Complain about this comment Comment number 5. Iam so looking forward to the return of Autumn watch, it would be fab,if we could have winter watch and summer watch, to go with the Autumn and Spring watch.
Will be counting down the days , and can't wait to see the fab filming you always have with so much more. Complain about this comment Comment number 6. Although from Italy I can only share a little of the programme no tv shows, only webcams I do thrill to see what you have prepared for us God bless you for this!! Complain about this comment Comment number 7. Great news; sounds like 2 excellent new locations. Looking forward to the show and messageboards too. Early geese have already statred arriving - hope this doesn't mean a severe winter but just favourable winds!
Complain about this comment Comment number 8. Fantastic news Will miss Kate but Michaela a great choice too. Bring it on Complain about this comment Comment number 9. I can't wait!! Michaela is a good choice, she has been doing it for so long and we all remember her fondly from childhood or times past as a brilliant presenter and she has worked with Chris before on the really wild show! Bring on the Cold Autumn Friday nights snuggled up in watching Autumnwatch and unsprung!
Complain about this comment Comment number Please explain why the big big house spiders appear in autumn, creeping around the sitting-room floor.
Where are they for the rest of the year? What are they up to? Looking forward to seeing Michaela, but will miss Kate and Simon. I used to especially enjoy the locations that Simon visited. Why was he dropped? Hope to see a bit of full on tree admiration at Westonbirt. Some fabulous specimens there for Martin to hug!
Thats wonderful, can't wait! I can't wait! It will be great seeing Martin and Chris again, will miss kate but Michaela is a very talented presenter and I love her too, loved watching her on milkshake when I was very young! Also congrats to Martins incredible new programme on endangered animal babies, last weeks amur leopard baby cubs was brilliant, sooo cute!
Can't wait for the show! I need a bit of nature to remind me what life is all about!! Miss Kate but love Michaela. A really talented and wonderful wildlife presenter. Oh, i'm so happy the show is coming back! Does the bbc know what this program means to people!
Highlight of the year for me! Lovely program, lovely website and lovely viewers!!!!!!!!!! Good to see AW is coming back and looking forward to an unsprung at each week too. Level-headed Joe - bring out the Bendy Packhams! Great news, glad to see Michaela joining the team.
Can't wait to catch up with the pheasantpluckers :o. Will be great to see you both back on the messageboards. Please AW team can you let us know when the boards will be up and running again. So glad to see Autumnwatch is back but without Kate?
The interaction between Kate, Cris and Martin was great, hope to see her back soon. Hi littlejojo, winnie, Hi-Coo and all the pheasant pluckers, Yep,counting down the days, getting all the wee jobs out the way in readiness for the big event.
I think it's going to be a good one :o. I'm thrilled about the return of Autumnwatch especially since your location people have chosen my favourite places. Go Gloucestershire! Here's hoping that we'll see the presenters doing a crane dance at Slimbridge and a conker tournament at the Arboretum. Plus, they may have an answer to my question of how does 'word of beak' spread and is it confined within species? Wonderful to hear Autumnwatch will be back I have a strawberry plant that has started flowering again - in September.
Has the cold summer weather caused this? Hi Arch, Looking forward to it, but will have to brush up on my smiley's and Flickr uploading. It'll be good catching up with everyone. I'm looking forward to the new sites Slimbridge is a big favourite of mine Looking forward to meeting up with old friends again too.. Brilliant news -roll on October 7th.
Sorry Kate not there but agree Michaela a great choice. Ooh I can't wait for the new series of Autumn Watch. Can I ask 'is it normal' to have baby goldfinches at this time of year. I have two that are being fed by their parents on my tree feeder as I write this blog? Good luck Michaela. Well with no Kate, no Simon and no Bill I definitely won't be watching this years show and thats the first one ever that I will miss.
I know there will be those that say give her a chance but I am just not prepaired to do that. I hate her and her presenting style with a passion.
Last week we were in Scotland and saw either Bewicks or Whoopers on Loch Garten, is this really early for them this year? Well thank goodness we've seen the back of Mark These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Cookie Duration Description cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics 11 months This cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
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This cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". So, what with Bill's endless loquacity - and the capriciousness of the cast of animals who may, or may not, show up for their live performance on TV - the producers of Autumnwatch must live on their nerve-ends.
Anyone who has been to our rehearsals knows how naughty he is. His language is very ripe, and he'll say the most awful things. I said, "You'll remember our poor little blue tit," and Bill roared, "Yes! We ate him for breakfast! And there will be plenty of scope for Bill's mischief in the new series, which features a silent killer that haunts suburban gardens. When darkness falls, he starts hunting out his next victim - and preparing to swoop. For Hannibal the Cannibal, survival means everything - and he'll stop at nothing to ensure it.
Even if this means killing and eating his own siblings. The nation watched aghast in an earlier programme when Hannibal the barn owl turned on the smaller chicks in his nest. The drama was filmed for Springwatch, but, as Bill explained, it was a desperate measure.
Storms had left the owl parents unable to hunt in the rain. As hunger crept in, young Hannibal - the biggest and strongest chick - ate his rivals in the nest. It has ensured his survival because now, as BBC's live Autumwatch returns, Hannibal is back - and he's as nasty as ever before. This silent killer joins a cast of thousands whose daily lives and struggles for survival make Autumnwatch the most dramatic television soap opera there is.
And this year, the live drama will be more explosive than ever. There's the romance of the male fallow deer, who 'sing' and strut to see who can most impress the ladies; baby seals who cuddle against their mothers for comfort, unaware that their lives could be wiped out in one storm; and the comedy of the bad-tempered avocet birds, who have beaten extinction but swing from sweet-natured to grumpy like a pendulum. Meanwhile, at the new Autumnwatch base at Brownsea Island in Dorset, a whole colony of red squirrels prepare to star in their own miniadventures.
And the BBC team are setting up the ultimate squirrel challenge - an assault course modelled on commando training techniques. Will they have the intelligence, cunning, strength and determination to succeed?
Series editor Stephen Moss says, 'One of the most magical moments in Autumnwatch will be seeing these delightful red squirrels make their preparations for winter.
They feed themselves up and then hide their spare nuts, burying them in the ground and returning to the exact spot some two or three months later. Is this a fierce intelligence or basic instinct? We don't know - which is partly why we decided to make our red squirrel assault course. Since the birth of Springwatch, which began in , with a few cameras trained on two back gardens in Bristol, the BBC's live wildlife specials have grown into one of broadcasting's biggest success stories.
Autumnwatch now draws viewing figures of four million - with devotees tuning in for an hour each night to watch the courtships, couplings, triumphs and tragedies of Britain's wildlife.
As live television, it makes for breathless viewing, with scenes that can leave even the presenters reeling. Stephen says, 'We have no idea what is going to happen next, any more than the viewer does.
It can be tough. During last year's Autumnwatch the weather was so bad that presenter Simon King had to be dropped at the Farne Islands off Northumberland by helicopter.
The pups were beseechingly sweet, and it was impossible not to smile at the sight of them suckling and gazing up to their mothers. Simon was enchanted, too. But one day, as he filmed, the storm worsened and huge crashing waves swept all 70 or so pups to their death. It's such a distressing thing to see happen in front of your eyes, but Simon explained that grey seals live a long time, and go on to have lots of pups.
But at least this year, in Autumnwatch, we can revisit the seal colony and show a fresh group of cubs with their mothers. Already, with milder weather, their chances of survival look far greater. Aside from the tragedy, there are moments of terrific comedy,which have Kate, Bill, Simon and the crew fighting back tears of laughter. Fans fondly recall the occasion where Kate imitated a buzzard so convincingly that Bill believed it was the real thing - causing both presenters to collapse in giggles.
But the wild animals themselves generate much unscripted laughter. Stephen says, 'In one Springwatch, we had a mini-cam in a nesting box, watching five barn owl chicks. The weather was nice, which meant that hunting conditions were perfect for the mum and dad owl. They kept returning to the nest with dead voles, and choosing a youngster to feed. The chicks, meanwhile, would all sit in a row, begging. He jumped up and down and made such a noise that his mother just dropped the entire vole into his mouth.
We all watched, stunned, thinking, "He can't swallow that - it's the same size as him.
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