Springwatch's Chris Packham is on a mission
He's a man on a mission – to save wildlife, and sell a few books along the way. Chris Packham filled a bookshop to bursting when he dropped into Shropshire as part of a signing tour.
The BBC2 Springwatch presenter has released a candid autobiography of a childhood in which he developed a deep attachment to wildlife.
He said he would love it if his enthusiasm rubbed off on other people, helping them appreciate nature and act to improve it.
Speaking in Oswestry, he said: "It is no good just paying your subscription to Shropshire Wildlife Trust and thinking you have done your bit. They need you to volunteer your time and your skills. They need you to go along to talks and events that they put on.
"Everyone has a role they can play, whether it is feeding the birds, putting up a nest book or campaigning against the cutting down of trees."
Chris Packham was hoping to wear an anti-hunting T-shirt, but it had not arrived back from the printers on time.
Appearing in rural Shropshire, his abhorrence of trophy hunting and fox hunting was just one of the many topics he touched on as he launched his book of memories, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar.
He also criticised those in agriculture who want to lift an EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides.
In a question and answer session at the Wynnstay Hotel, organised by Booka Bookshop, the popular presenter of programmes such as Springwatch told a sold-out audience that he believed anyone who killed something for pleasure must have a psychopathic tendency.
"As animals become rarer and rarer it is becoming more and more repugnant to the wider world," he said.
His book lifts the lid on a childhood in which he struggled with what he now knows is Asperger's, a form of autism, and the wildlife that helped him to cope.
"It looks at life and the value of human life and wildlife," he said.
"The book stops at the age of 16 – that was the point when I had worked out that life is sacred. It is when my passion to help wildlife began. I don't feel that my job will ever be done. My life is not about achieving anything, it is about never giving up.
"Helping the planet is like trying to slow down an out-of-control juggernaut. At the moment we can't stop it, all we can do is slow the race to extinction down."
He said everyone could do their bit to help wildlife.
He now hopes that the younger generation will use the internet to galvanise campaigns to help wildlife. But he said that without experiencing a childhood of catching tadpoles in jars they will not have an affinity with nature.
"We let our children live in a far more dangerous environment, their bedrooms sitting in front of a computer. Sitting there they will never dip their finger into the sparkle jar," he said.
