Season 2019 2019

It’s Halloween week and Autumnwatch is back – launching a week of special 60-minute programmes celebrating all the very best of our UK wildlife.

Broadcasting live from the Dell of Abernethy in the heart of the Cairngorms, Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams profile this stunning wilderness in its most technicolour season, finding out what autumn means for the iconic wildlife and the animals that live here. In the first programme, they explain exactly what autumn is and how it came to be. Tonight astronaut Tim Peake explains how autumn was born four and a half billion years ago, and we meet a Northumbrian GP who has befriended a colony of North Sea seals.

We report on the initial results of the Watch’s largest citizen science project ever attempted - Gardenwatch. Working in conjunction with the British Trust for Ornithology and the Open University, we asked people to survey the wildlife living in their gardens to help scientists build a comprehensive report of exactly what lives on the nation's doorsteps.

Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams are live from the Cairngorms National Park, where overnight events have already created dramas. Tonight the team look at how this years seasonal changes have shaped autumn 2019. Michaela embarks on a wild goose chase and the camera team are on a mission to find a deer rut deep in the Abernethy forest.

Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams return with another hour-long live programme, live from the Cairngorms National Park. It is Halloween so time to reveal the wild secrets of Troll Mountain on the Island of Rum. Chris reveals the surprising science inside an antler and the team go hunting for Britain’s biggest spider.

Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams end their week-long adventure in the Cairngorms. Tonight they look at the autumns of the future and discover encouraging news about Scottish wildcats.

Gillian shares her amazing encounter with an 8ft blue shark, and we update on Cairngorms Connect – Britain’s Great Landscape restoration project.