7:00pm Saturday 25th October 2008
By Daily Echo reporter
A BEAUTIFUL autumn day greeted Bill Oddie and Kate Humble when they arrived at Brownsea Island this week.
The TV presenters were visiting the area ahead of the BBC series Autumnwatch.
The popular wildlife programme will be broadcast live from Brownsea for the first time later this month.
"Autumn isn't a time of death, decay and departures," said Bill, who says the island is his favourite place in Britain. "It's a time of great activity as animals and birds stock up for the winter."
Dorset Wildlife Trust manages more than 200 acres of the 550-acre island, which is home to thousands of wading birds and wildfowl as well as voles, bats, deer and red squirrels.
"While many people haven't seen a red squirrel, we can 100 per cent guarantee we will capture them on film," promised Kate, who thinks Brownsea is "an extraordinary place" and "gloriously eccentric".
"We are in the middle of one of the world's busiest harbours, surrounded by luxury houses, and here is this island overflowing with wildlife in an astonishing mix of habitats," she said.
While Bill and Kate will host the show from Brownsea, additional footage will be shot in Poole Harbour, Studland and the New Forest.
Simon King will travel the breadth of the country while Gordon Buchanan will be based on the Farne Islands.
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