³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Springwatch producer-turned-presenter Martin Hughes-Games admits that presenting live TV, which he did for the first time last year, is enormously exciting but still comes second, albeit a very close second, to racing his motorbike round Brands Hatch.

Martin says: "It was scary presenting the programme for the first time, but so exciting and just huge fun. I felt I was doing something just a little bit useful too. Springwatch is such an intimate team, it doesn't feel like you are talking to millions of people – and it's just great to be talking about the thing that I've been interested in all my life.

"I was going through my old books the other day and I discovered that I won a school prize for nature aged eight. A peak in my academic achievements! I think I have always been curious and fascinated by wildlife.

"Springwatch has a family feel to it – even when I wasn't working on it, I found myself watching it every night. I wanted to be part of the Springwatch community. I don't think there is anything else quite like it on television. I think it is a unique programme in that respect.

"I think one of the secrets of its success also is that we deal with wildlife issues where people can actually make a difference, if they choose to. It's so difficult to think 'the ice caps are melting and the polar bears are being threatened, but what can I do?' Whereas you really can help bird species who are in trouble in the middle of winter or put food out for badgers. There are things that people can do to help UK wildlife and that is really liberating.

"Springwatch is also genuinely driven by the natural drama of what happens in the birds' nests – we don't know what is going to happen. Every day we are sharing that drama – and it is a real justifiable live event because we don't know what will happen from one day to the next – it is endlessly surprising."

But the thing that Martin is particularly excited about this year is the fact that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wildlife Fund is going to be raising money for threatened wildlife and wild places both in the UK and around the world during the Wild Night In – a special programme on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two.

"As far as we can tell there are only 35 Amur leopards left in the wild on earth. Should we try to save them? We have to ask ourselves should we try to conserve everything on the planet or should we focus on particular species?

"I think it is very good to move from simply looking at beautiful pictures of the most endangered animals in the world to turn the corner and ask can we actually try to raise some money directly for them? It's a thing which we have been wanting to do for nearly 25 years in the Natural History Unit and we have never really done it successfully.

"In the past it was argued that we should be trying to get people interested in wildlife and if they are interested then the conservation effort will follow in the wake of their interest, and that is laudable. But we have never cracked being able to give them a really clear view of what is happening in the world and ask directly for their help.

"This International Year of Biodiversity will try to highlight some of the very challenging issues. Climate change is a particularly difficult one because as humans I don't think we are very good at thinking beyond our three score years and ten. I hope during this season of Wild Days Out and the Wild Night In we are able to clarify and make some sense of some of the more intractable and challenging issues. That's what we want to try and do.

"And I don't think it is just the younger generation who are interested. The older generation have become more aware of the natural history around them and a prime example of that was what happened over the winter even in the little village I live in.

"In the height of winter there were bird feeders everywhere, that was echoed all over the country and I hope that will have made a profound difference to the survival of birds and other wildlife. People have become more aware of our wonderful wildlife and are enjoying doing things for wildlife more than they ever have done before. I think the Wild Days Out are an excellent idea for families.

"We seem to have a great communication with our audience and that has really developed over the years, particularly with the help of the internet.

"Some of that communication has resulted in some extraordinary bits of footage. Last year we were sent some film of a sparrowhawk drowning a magpie – it was gruesome footage but more people then sent us photographs of sparrowhawks drowning their prey and I realised that the audience had discovered a bit of biology which I had never heard of.

"I don't think anybody realised that sparrowhawks did this. And we also got some incredible footage of two green woodpeckers doing this almost clockwork dance that a lady had filmed in her garden probably on her phone – but it was something that I had never seen before. So they were real standout things that had been sent in by our audience – a complete revelation!"

Martin is also currently working on a series for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One next year – Nature's Miracle Babies. Says Martin "The series is about conservation in the broader sense and trying to save animals from extinction, and certainly ties in very well with Springwatch and the Wild Night In."