Chris Packham I’m happy to be controversial

He’s the nature lover who’s not afraid to deliver tough messages people don’t want to hear.

In the past Chris Packham has said pandas might not be worth saving and that the vast amount of money spent on tiger conservation just wasn’t working.

And as Springwatch returns to BBC screens this week the popular presenter’s in no mood to shut up.

“A lot of people have said my views are controversial,” Chris told The Sunday Post.

“I am keen to promote debate about difficult or contentious issues. Only if we discuss them can we change policy.

“My motivation is always to stimulate protection of our wildlife. Sometimes I will stick my neck out and occasionally I’ll get it cut off.

“I don’t care. That’s part of life and if I change my mind I’ll stand up and admit I was wrong.

“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make a difference.”

Chris says sometimes hard pragmatic and financial decisions just have to be taken.

“I got flak last year for saying we needed to control the deer population by culling,” he continues.

“Some people struggled to see why someone with a passion for wildlife would talk about killing animals.

“But the science says there are too many and they’re damaging the interests of other species.

“In the absence of other predators that would have controlled deer, we have to take that role.

“That makes perfect sense to me.”

The series, which starts tomorrow on BBC2 and runs for three weeks, again sees Chris joined by Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games.

The numerous programmes go out live and Chris admits that literally anything can happen.

“The beauty of having people who are wildlife specialists is that we have the ability to ad lib,” confides Chris.

“I can’t imagine standing in a British woodland in May or June and not having anything to say.

“For 50 years I’ve been looking at bugs and bees and wildlife and I can pick something up and make it interesting for five minutes.

“That’s why they’ve got me there.”

As well as attracting notoriety for some of his views, Chris has also become famous for working song titles into his introductions.

“I’ll be spending this weekend trying to think some up,” he laughs.

Springwatch, BBC2, Monday, 8pm