Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Nature super-sleuth Simon King collects his well-deserved OBE during the new run of Springwatch and, ever the professional, he says he is keen to get back after the ceremony in London for the live programme broadcast.

Simon says: "The OBE is an extraordinary honour and was a complete shock, and I am very much looking forward to going to the palace on 2 June. It takes place during Springwatch and I don't know whether I am going to be on air that day but I should just about be able to dash back to Dorset and stand on the heathland."

Simon puts his enduring love of wildlife down in part to his stubbornness. "I don't think there is a kid alive who's not interested in the natural world but I am lucky enough to have held on to it. I think it was partly through being stubborn and never being intimidated!

"I think a lot of people have the geek knocked out of them early in their life which is a great shame because it means they lose touch with the real world. I've just always been able to walk through the barrage of insults and been able to continue to keep my geekiness about me!

"And if there is one thing that Springwatch has maybe done is that it is has made the natural world not quite as geeky as it once was. It has now got a tiny bit of cool associated with it and that's good, because it means that kids can keep hold of a basic interest in the world around them.

"I was lucky to be in an environment where I had the facility to indulge in a lot of constructive boredom which is sometimes missing today. I found my passion and just threw myself at it wholeheartedly.

"I think youngsters do care, so I would say let them get muddy knees, mud under the finger nails and come in with a pocket full of stones and maybe a frog that they found squashed on the road, silly things, but don't tell them to get it out of the house.

"I had a drawer in my bedroom which was full of festering animal parts much to my mother's chagrin but she never told me to get rid of it. So being able to indulge in an interest is great, I think it is latent and innate in every single child – you just need to pour paraffin on the fire of that interest.

"I think Springwatch has augmented a shift in public curiosity and an interest in the natural world on the doorstep – it hasn't created it but I hope it has complemented a greater awareness and care for the world around us. Some people say it is responsible for a groundswell of passion. Well I think for some people maybe it has tickled the interest, but I think the groundswell is part of a much bigger movement in the UK.

"The UK is a great place for the natural world in so many ways. I think Springwatch in terms of pure entertainment is a soap opera and soap operas are popular but on this occasion the stars are the real world and so long as we have the continuity of real life stories – people are hooked by that.

"I find the label of reality TV a great curiosity, I have never seen anything less real than most reality television. But Springwatch is the real deal and I think that is part of the appeal."

Simon is arguably best known for his work with big cats but says many of his most special moments have been around the British Isles filming for Springwatch and Autumnwatch.

"Standing among the red deer rutting in Kilmory Glen on Rum – that was something quite special but the list is never ending. I am a very lucky guy. Filming Orcas in Patagonia for Blue Planet, that was a wonderful exposure to a very powerful predator. Great white sharks for Planet Earth; standing on a hill in Shetland in one of the finest summers in 30 years listening to red throated divers, curlew and watching the sky at one in the morning as red as a bloody mary with a matching sea without the celery stick – that was a special moment.

"I have experienced everything from the detail of a nanosecond of sitting next to a sleeping wild otter to some great explosive wild dramatic moments around the world.

"But who's not interested in big cats – this is one of the most charismatic groups on earth. Anything which is cute, cuddly and has a social life which is complex and interesting and then charges around and grapples buffalo to the floor, that's quite a good mix and it's quite hard not to be interested in that!"

For the new series of Springwatch Simon will be basing himself in Dorset.

"Dorset is a county that I have wanted to feature for some time on Springwatch and we have got our opportunity this year and it's about this sense of Mediterranean Britain. There are so many species there which often go unnoticed but which are in their way big and dynamic, for example the raft spider – the biggest spider in the UK and grasshoppers, the hobby [bird of prey], grass snakes and nightjar, and so much else besides – and we are also going to get under the waves which will be a laugh, because the last time we tried diving on live telly, there was a rip tide and I spent half my time upside down holding on to a rock – so that will be funny just trying to get on air."

Simon reflects: "The planet gets bigger the more I travel. It is impossible to do more than begin to scratch the surface and I know I will simply run out of time. But in the meantime I would like to do a lot of work with wolverine, but I also want to do lots more work like this on my own doorstep. I'm a lucky guy."