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Â鶹Éç Springwatch has confirmed the programme will come back to Norfolk in 2009 to share more of the county's wildlife with the nation.

The Â鶹Éç2 prime time nature show, presented by Bill Oddie and Kate Humble, has been showcasing Norfolk's wildlife with around four million viewers a night since Monday, 26 May.

"I've got to be honest, I'm quite smug about it [coming back to Norfolk] as 'twas I who suggested we came to Pensthorpe," said Bill Oddie.

"I'd only visited twice but I had a feeling it would be a perfect place to present Springwatch from and it has been. I'm looking forward to coming back," he added.

The Pensthorpe site is located in the Wensum Valley and covers more than 600 acres. The River Wensum, which runs through the reserve, is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Europe's highest nature conservation designation.

Married to each other and the wildlife

Closer to nature

"We are very excited about Springwatch coming back to Pensthorpe for another year as they do such a marvellous job of getting people closer to nature which is so much a part of what we do here," said Bill Jordan, co-owner of Pensthorpe.

"When we first heard that Springwatch was coming to Pensthorpe we were obviously thrilled. To hear that they have so enjoyed the wildlife in the park that they are coming back in 2009 makes all of us here incredibly proud," added Deb Jordan.

Springwatch has made TV stars of Norfolk's wildlife, including a family of coal tits that were featured in the programme for the first time.

Great tits, blue tits, green finches, blackbirds, oyster catchers, little-ringed plovers, mallards, swallows and a family of wrens - that built a nest in the Springwatch studioÌý - have all been stars.

More wildlife to explore

But with such an abundance of other wildlife and habitats to explore, Springwatch's executive producer Tim Scoones was delighted to confirm the show would be back in the county.

He said: "Pensthorpe and north Norfolk has been such a huge success this year, yet we feel we've only scratched the surface.

Bill and Kate during Springwatch rehearsals

"When we made the decision to move here we always considered the potential for it to be a longer term move, so I'm delighted to say that we're in negotiations with Pensthorpe about coming back and exploring further in 2009," he added.

Each springtime is different, so even if the programme features the same animals, viewers will be able to enjoy plenty of new drama.

While the return of the ever popular blue tits is a certain, there's the promise of yet more new characters in 2009.

"The stories would be different as there are loads of species here that we haven't featured and they may become next year's stars," said Tim.

"It's also about looking beyond the boundaries of Pensthorpe as there are loads of wildlife hotspots within easy reach of year and we'll be looking forward to exploring some of those as well," he added.

If you can't wait until 2009 for more adventures on the wildside, the team will be back on our TV screens later in the year with Autumnwatch.