'Nature is where I find peace'

Best known for Winterwatch and Springwatch, wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan on family, grief and what keeps her going

For 13 years Michaela Strachan has been the bubbly presenter of Springwatch and Winterwatch, bringing her unfailing optimism to the long-running wildlife series. But smiling has been a struggle for Michaela over the past year. She admits she has been brought low by the deaths of numerous loved ones, most recently the death of her partner Nick Chevallier's mother Patricia, who died aged 96 early last month.

In the new BBC2 series Pilgrimage, in which celebrities of different faiths (and no faith) go on a two-week spiritual journey through north Wales, Michaela - who says the natural world is her religion - became highly emotional on camera as she recalled all the people she'd lost recently.

Today, we're meeting over Zoom from her home in Cape Town, South Africa, where Michaela lives with Nick, her partner of 21 years, who's a director and cameraman, and their son, Oliver, 18. She also has three adult stepchildren from Nick's previous marriage.

'Just before I did Pilgrimage my best friend died,' says Michaela, 57, speaking of TV producer Lucy Bowden, whom Michaela had met on The Really Wild Show and who had become the series editor of Springwatch and Winterwatch.

The two women were already friends before bonding over a devastating illness. 'She had the same cancer diagnosis as I did years ago,' continues Michaela, who in 2014 had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after being diagnosed with Packham y Nutkins The Really Wild Show breast cancer.