Whenever David Attenborough speaks, the world listens – so his newest BBC programme, which heralds the broadcaster’s one centesimal birthday, is sure to entice consideration.
Secret Garden, which options 5 completely different UK gardens, might not be what individuals usually count on from Attenborough, says the show’s collection producer, Bill Markham, as “there’s no lions and tigers”.
But he hopes it’s “much more relatable” because it focuses on the place Attenborough’s curiosity in pure historical past started: on house turf, with the veteran presenter stressing the significance of what’s taking place “right on our doorsteps”. He reveals that “some British gardens are almost as diverse as a tropical rainforest” and that “our gardens cover a greater area than all of our national nature reserves combined”.
The programme goals to ease eco-anxiety, that includes adjustments viewers could make to assist wildlife, together with some which individuals might discover contentious.
Secret Garden estimates that the 9.5m pet cats in Britain might kill roughly 55m birds yearly. Attenborough reveals that placing bells on cats “reduces pet cats’ hunting success by a third”, and elevating chook feeders larger additionally cuts deaths.
Markham explains the present scenario is “unfair on the prey”, as a result of cats are “the biggest predator in our gardens [but] they’re being fed every day. There’s no limit on their population. So the normal relationship between predators and prey falls apart.
“What would work really well is if people kept their cats indoors during bird breeding season,” he says, citing an ecologist referred to as Dr Davide Dominoni who has checked out research exhibiting that holding felines indoors throughout April and May “would reduce their impact massively”.
“We didn’t want this to be a preachy series at all,” says Markham. “Not everyone likes to do this because they think their cat has a right to be out. There are a lot of cat lovers who feel very strongly about this. But if you also love your wildlife, and I think we’re a nation of animal lovers and we’re a nation of gardeners – then I think you can do your bit.”
Another episode covers pheasants, which “originate from Asia, but every year more than 30m are released into the British countryside” the place they eat native bugs, reptiles and amphibians.
The countryside foyer argue that taking pictures offers rural jobs. But Markham factors out that, regardless of the development for reintroducing native species equivalent to beavers, “Every year, we unleash this scourge on the countryside. It’s messing with the ecology.”
Such calls to motion might replicate the success Attenborough’s voice had in reducing plastic pollution following Blue Planet II. He is unafraid to tackle the large points as he approaches his century: final 12 months in the film Ocean, launched on his 99th birthday, Attenborough made an pressing, passionate case towards the destroy attributable to industrial overfishing.
Cat homeowners and the countryside foyer might argue that Secret Garden is among the most contentious UK-focused pure historical past reveals narrated by the presenter. But Markham says the UK loves “animals, gardens and David Attenborough”, so if Secret Garden “succeeds in encouraging people to rethink what their gardens can be, it will be in no small part due to his influence,” he says.
Despite his years of expertise, Attenborough was “surprised by the incredible things living in our gardens”, Markham provides. “Probably the first animal he ever saw was in his garden, and that, quite conceivably, set him on the path of being the world’s greatest naturalist.”
Markham additionally hopes the show will be comforting, as “a lot of us have eco-anxiety. We’re worried about climate change, and feel there’s nothing you can do as an individual.
“But what you can do is go out into a garden. There are 25m gardens in the UK – 80% of us have got access to gardens and you can make one or two little changes.” He offers the instance of planting an affordable native tree, which helps enhance the provision of caterpillars for birds.
The thought for Secret Garden grew out of our elevated curiosity in gardening throughout lockdown. Markham calls gardens “unsung heroes”, the place the “laws of the jungle still apply”, and a mean patch can include about “2,600 species of animal and plant”.
Highlights of the show embody a pine marten searching sand martins within the UK, filmed for the primary time; an otter searching geese; mayflies and damselflies combating in a scene related to the well-known “snakes v iguana” sequence from Planet Earth II; and subject mice leaving landmarks to discover their method house, Hansel and Gretel-style.
Secret Garden airs from 5 April on BBC One and iPlayer
