BBC Springwatch in major location shake-up as they celebrate 20th anniversary

Springwatch will mark its 20th anniversary this month with a move to a brand new location, in the uplands of the Peak District. From next Monday, the three-week series will be situated at’s Longshaw Estate, where and will be based.

And third presenter, Iolo Williams, will broadcast live from Northern Ireland where - in a first - he will embark on a three-week nature trek through some of the region’s most diverse wildlife hotspots.

New species that viewers may see in the Peak District include red-listed ring ouzels and migrating whinchats, which nest on the moorland slopes, plus the moorland curlew, one of Britain’s most threatened birds. Dippers, the ’s only aquatic songbird, also frequent Longshaw along with the woodcock, which incubate their eggs in the secluded wooded areas, and the kestrel.

READ MORE:

Longhaw is made up of woodlands, grasslands, rivers and moorlands and the production team also hope to record the eerie drumming of snipe which circle across the peatland bogs. The cast of characters could also include native red squirrels and pine martens plus different types of owl and eight species of bat.

In Northern Ireland, Iolo will spend a week each in three different locations - seeking urban wildlife in the capital city Belfast, the mysterious golden hare at biodiversity hotspot Rathlin Island and some of the 10,000 recorded species at the National Trust estate Mount Stewart.

Springwatch kicked off in 2005 with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble as presenters. Chris replaced Bill in 2009, and Michaela took over from Kate in 2011. As they mark the much-loved show’s two decades on air, Michaela said she’d loved her many years of working alongside Chris. Describing their relationship as “unique”, she said: “It’s amazing to still be working together after such a long time. Chris and I started working together on the Really Wild Show, in children's television, like so many other presenters who have had longevity. It's great to have grown up with someone on telly. Not only are we friends, and we know each other's personal lives, but people have watched us growing up on telly. And people of a certain age love familiarity. Of course, we're very familiar to our audience, and people feel very cosy about that.

“We bring out each other's strengths, and we support each other. As a team, I think we work really well. We're so different in many ways but so alike in others and we get on really well, we really respect each other.”

She said the 20th anniversary would be marked with the launch of a new initiative, ‘Springwatch Street’. “We’re going to some wildlife-friendly gardens in Sheffield, we’re putting cameras up to see what we can reveal. They're terraced houses with normal gardens with a fence around them. I think there will be a lot of surprises - what comes at night is going to be really interesting for people.”

Chris agreed that he and Michaela, 59, make a great team and said they never fall out, despite disagreeing sometimes. “We are both determined to do our very best and make sure that we deliver, that we do that in different ways, and that's what makes us complimentary,” he explained. “The other thing is that we're great friends. We know each other really well, so sometimes we may well disagree about something, and the team may look at us and think, ‘Oh my goodness, the presenters have fallen out!’. But we haven't fallen out at all. We don't get upset about those sorts of things. We don't have to agree about everything - we just move on. So, the fact that we're great, lifelong, trusted mates helps, but also that we work in very different ways in terms of how we approach our job.”

Chris, 64, said he was excited by the new location. “This year we’re going to the National Longshaw Estate in the Peak District, an upland area. The species mix there will be very different from what we've been exploring for the last few seasons in the south of England, in the lowland area. In Longshaw, there are some key species that we’ll be hoping to meet, like curlew, merlin and redstart, all of which are very exciting. We've not had them on the programme before.

“I’m very excited about being in Longshaw. I've never been there, so from a personal point of view, that adds to the excitement, because it's a new area for me.” He said his Springwatch highlight was his longevity on the show. “I still approach it with the same degree of enthusiasm as I did the first one. I love the programme and I love its energy.”

This year, five young presenters who are passionate naturalists, including Chris’s step-daughter Megan McCubbin, will also present reports for the series from a variety of UK locations. For the past few years, the series had been based at RSPB Arne, in Dorset. Other previous locations include Norfolk’s Wild Ken Hill, RSPB Ynis-hir in Wales, the Sherbourne Estate in Gloucestershire and the Isle of Mull.

Executive producer Rosemary Edwards said the show’s aim remained the same as ever, “to provide a festival of wildlife that celebrates the greatest animal stories across the busiest part of the spring season”.

Craig Best, General Manager at the National Trust in the Peak District, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Springwatch team to Longshaw for the 20th anniversary of the series. I’m really looking forward to seeing the incredible wildlife you can find in the Peak District become the stars of the show this year.

- Springwatch starts on BBC2, 8pm on Monday May 26 and runs until Thursday 12 June

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on , , , , , and .