Interview with Chris Packham on Autumnwatch which returns today (October 24).

What’s the most spectacular wildlife scene you’ve captured in your Autumnwatch special?

The red deer rut in autumn is fabulous. Big roaring mammals locked in combat, strutting in the mist. It’s the best show in the woods, primal, exciting, involving.

You captured the rutting season in this series of Autumnwatch. Why is the New Forest in Hampshire so special for red deer?

The New Forest has an isolated population of large and healthy Red Deer and we get to see them in their real habitat forest, not out on a barren hillside. Amongst the trees they look and sound magnificent.