It's like a family reunion
| 15:27 UK time, Friday, 23 May 2008
This is my fifth season working in this team and the last few years have completely changed my experience of spring. As soon as the hedgerows light up with hawthorn blossom and the swifts start screaming across the sky, I get a unique and heady mix of fear, excitement and anticipation.
Springwatch is by far one of the most full-on jobs I've ever done. It's also one of the most rewarding. I spend months and months preparing for this moment, but it's only when I get to the Springwatch production village (a small hamlet of portacabins and broadcast trucks in a field somewhere) that it hits home that the madness that is Springwatch is truly about to start. The fear, excitement and anticipation then blend into a month-long rush of adrenaline.
Everyone on the team has been going through the same process this week, as they've been arriving on site. It's always a bit like a family reunion, because so many of us have worked on the show for years and have been through a lot together. Despite being large and diverse, it's a tight team with a wonderfully friendly and up-for-anything attitude.
There's an even greater buzz this year because we have a new home, the wonderful Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk. Although I'll miss our gorgeous base at the farm in Devon, it's great to be exploring a new part of the UK and giving Springwatch a new "local patch".
Bill and Kate are already here and this week we're completing the rig of the site, planning the shows and attempting the odd ramshackle run-through and rehearsal... as well as anyone can rehearse a live wildlife show where nature writes the script. Even though we rehearse it today, we all know the script will already be out of date by Monday.
Meanwhile Simon King and his team are settling in for their new mission up in Scotland - the Speyside/Cairngorms National Park area - for their most daring mission to date.
Bill and Kate have, as ever, hit the ground running. They're already out making little films around Pensthorpe and getting to know our new and growing cast of animal characters as our 60 wildlife mini cameras and over 50 miles of fibre optic cable are installed.
As soon as he arrived, Bill was running around like a kid in a sweet shop, brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation. But don't take that from me - hear Bill's first impressions of Springwatch 2008 from the man himself in the video below. In the meantime, I'll be back with more on Monday, when the madness really begins!
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