Wild Things

23 January 2013

Britain's landscape has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Wild plants, bushes and trees have disappeared, and strange new plants have become familiar. Brand new six-part series, Wild Things, opens up a completely different view on the world around us. Along with one of the biggest British natural history projects ever undertaken, this series reveals how plants offer an understanding of changing British wildlife.

Wild Things is presented by new faces - Royal Horticultural Society gold medallist and garden designer Chris Myers and his Labrador Lottie, and they are joined each week by one of Britain's top botanists Dr Trevor Dines and Lichenologist Sally Eaton. From remote mountain tops to murky urban bogs, their wild plant hunts take them all over Britain as they attempt to unlock the secrets of the wild - often in the most unlikely places.

The Spanish bluebell is threatening our native bluebell - and eradicating that unique smell. We are seeing a decline in the Juniper berries which are used to make our beloved gin. And London appears to be providing a sub-tropical haven for some exotic plants to grow. Each week holds strange and exciting discoveries for Chris and the team as they search our cities and countryside to discover what grows where in Britain today and why.

Bold experiments and innovative approaches - from controlled explosions in military no-go zones on the Salisbury Plains, to oven-roasting microscopic bears that live by our roadsides - help explain why some plants have moved in, others have disappeared, and most importantly, why this matters to the rest of us.

Following the remarkable natural history project, the team uses a new scientific survey of wild plant maps, from the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), dating back as far as back 1962, allowing them to investigate our wildlife and examine the changes that have taken place in the British landscape and flora over the past 50 years.

Wild Things offers a colourful and engaging window onto our ‘green and pleasant land', and a crucial snapshot of Britain's biodiversity from the ground up. The series also presents some surprising and challenging information about the state of our natural history, looking ahead to reveal what the future may hold for our natural environment and the great British backyard.

NB For presenter information, please scroll down the page.

 

Prod Co: Cwmni Da
Exec Prod: Neville Hughes
Series Prod: Arwyn Evans
Comm Ed: Jill Fullerton-Smith