Hello, I'm Kirstie Young.

Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the Radio broadcast.

For more information about the program, please visit bbc.co.uk-radio4.

My custom way this week is the naturalist Chris Packham.

TV presenter, filmmaker, writer, photographer, every bit of his work revolves around wildlife.

If he's not busy telling us why we should love midges, he's enthusing about the hearing

capacity of a bar now.

His passion for animals is clear.

What they think of him remains a little more uncertain.

He's been attacked by a baboon, charged by lions, and bitten by a puffatter, although to

be fair to the snake he was trying to milk it at the time.

His obsession with the natural world began early when a predictable boyhood fascination

for tadpoles and ladybirds grew to encompass mosquito larvae, lizards, snakes, bats, and

even a fake fur otter.

As a teenager, he collected badger poo by day and pogode with electric blue hair at clash

gigs by night.

These days, he distinguishes himself from the throng by his impressive in-depth knowledge

of his subject and his outspoken views on everything from countryside culls to the problems

with cat owners.

He says, I'll never rest until I've tried to do my own small bit in terms of changing

the environment so as it's a better place, I won't do it for my grandchildren because

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