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Chris Packham, presenter of Springwatch, is best known for bringing the wonders of the natural world onto the small screen – but in fact art is just as important to him. “As a child it was always one or the other. I think that having seen David Hemmings [who played a photographer living a life of excess in 1960s London] in Blow-Up, both of my parents determined that I definitely wouldn’t be going to art school, so they pushed me towards the sciences. If I had another life I’d probably go in the other direction,” he says. “I’ve seen so many people realise ideas that I’ve had and I spend all my time, when I have any, attending exhibitions and painting and drawing and doing photography, so it’s something I’ve always had a very keen and active interest in.”In his lifetime he’s seen a trend develop whereby people travel to nature reserves to see nature, in the same way they might Springwatch presenter Chris Packham has linked with renowned sculptor Geoffrey Dashwood for an exhibition aboutthe birds of the New Forest. Susanna Clarke fi nds out whyWing men1246INTERVIEWThe Arts Society ReviewSummer 2017