'Being A Stepdad Has Changed Me'

Chris Packham chatsabout a very differentAutumnwatch just aroundthe corner, family andfacing new challenges.

- Jane Oddy

We know him as a passionate wildlife and environmental campaigner never afraid to speak his mind. But there is another role in life that is much cherished and equally important to broadcaster Chris Packham; being a devoted stepdad.

The 57-year-old TV presenter, naturalist and author, first met his stepdaughter Megan, or Megs, as he calls her, as a cheeky toddler when he began a relationship with her mum. Although the couple split up amicably 15 years ago, Chris and Megan have since maintained a close bond.

“Meeting Megs changed my life,” he says simply. “We aren’t related by blood, but that doesn’t matter to me. The relationship has proved one of the most enduring and rewarding of my life. It is all the more powerful because I never thought about having children and so Megs sort of arrived accidentally. When she was growing up, I loved the whole process of educating her. I always felt it was important she had a breadth of different experiences, so she could find her own likes and dislikes. Certainly in musical taste there might be some overlap with us, but not very much!”

But they both share a passion for nature and wildlife photography, which has taken them all over the world. On the day that we chat to Chris, at the Woodberry Wetlands in east London, Megan is with him on his ten-day Bioblitz campaign – visiting road verges, farmland, parks, allotments and nature reserves across the UK to record what wildlife remains and what’s at risk.