Nick Baker found fame on the BBC’s Really Wild Show, which he co-presented for a decade from 1996 to 2006. Long established as one of the UK’s leading naturalists, he has authored more than a dozen books and serves as vice-president for Buglife, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts.
What do you remember about your first outdoor experiences?
My most formative years were spent in East Sussex, on the edge of the Ashdown Forest. My life was full of snakes and lizards and badgers and foxes. I explored hedges, ponds, lakes and rivers — that’s all I did. I was kind of old-fashioned in that sense.
YHA has been really important for me. When I was 16 or 17, a group of us decided to do the South Downs Way and we pinned the route together with youth hostels. It was the first time I’d stayed overnight in places without my parents and I loved it. Hostels are social, you meet like-minded people. It was an empowering experience and it gave me the confidence to step over into being independent.
A few years later, when I was at university in Exeter and didn’t have a bean, I used to cycle there and back from my home in East Sussex, again using hostel accommodation. YHA has been part of my life.
You’re passionate about championing all living things, not just the cute and cuddly species. Why is that so important?
I’ve always been into the connectivity of everything, including ourselves. When I was still very young I realised that when an animal wasn’t fluffy or feathered, lots of people didn’t see it with the same level of acceptance. I was the kid that would pick up a spider or slow worm. Creatures like that were just as interesting to me but everyone else seemed to have missed the point, so I started telling their stories.
I remember watching some ants on the patio dismembering a cranefly and my nan saying “oh, that’s a horrible thing to be watching”. I went into a very early presenter role and justified to her why’d I spent the last hour watching them and by the end she was saying “oh, I didn’t know any of that”. That was the beginning of an ability to present these subjects — because I cared about them.
You’re a huge advocate for introducing young people to the wonders of the natural world. what drives this for you?
Having a meaningful connection with your environment is super-vital at lots of levels. There are well-grounded scientific reasons why exposure to unstructured habitats, green space and natural sounds are really good for your noggin. It helps your ability to process information and it’s giving you tools to relax and escape.
And of course, if you yourself have had a lot of exciting positive experiences outside then you’re more likely to pass that onto your kids. We’re in a biodiversity crisis, but if you’re passing on a love of the natural world, you’re more likely to value it and fight for it.
We have to be teaching this stuff at school. By that I don’t mean having one teacher that’s quite enthusiastic about the outside, I mean we should be teaching it like the humanities subjects are taught, so that it’s impossible for people to slip the net. It’s so important.
What does adventure mean to you?
It’s pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and your current knowledge band and learning stuff, whether that’s stepping into a YHA for the first time or discovering a new species of worm in the sludge of the bottom of pond. I’m currently in the process of writing a book about ponds and pond life for WildGuides, so while everyone else is chasing dolphins and mountain gorillas and birds of paradise I’m seeing just as amazing stuff in my own water butt.
Spring’s an exciting time of year. I live up in the Cairngorms now and we get longer, darker winters than down south. But springs like a firework display of life. It starts with things like the mistle thrushes singing, the herons laying their eggs, the dippers prospecting for nesting sites and the ponds filling with toads. It’s the beginning of the annual cycle starting for lots of things again, so yeah, it’s a favourite time.
Nick offers wildlife trips and private wildlife tours. His book on pond life is due out in spring 2025 with WildGuides.
Photo credit: Juliette Mills
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