Sir David Attenborough will feature Richmond Park in a new blockbuster nature series – The Wild Isles - for the BBC.

The five-part series aims to shine a light on the challenges affecting the British Isles and celebrate nature that exists on our doorsteps.

The broadcaster and naturalist, who is a champion of Richmond Park, will explain why Britain and Ireland are critical for the survival of species across the globe.

It has been suggested this be will the last on-location series to be fronted by Sir David, who is a Richmond local.

He said: "In my long lifetime, I have travelled to almost every corner of our planet. I can assure you that in the British Isles, as well as astonishing scenery there are extraordinary animal dramas and wildlife spectacles to match anything I have seen on my global travels."

The first episode to be broadcast next Sunday will feature new behaviour from killer whales hunting seals, golden eagles scavenging in mountains, puffins chased by greedy gulls and sinister plants holding unsuspecting insects hostage.

It will also show the biggest colony of northern gannets in the world migrating to the east coast of Scotland, and barnacle geese travelling to the west coast attempting to avoid the white-tailed eagle.

The white tailed sea eagle is Britain's largest bird of prey with a wing span of over two meters (Image: BBC/Silverback Films/Jesse Wilkinson)

Capturing the first ever complete sequence of hunting white-tailed eagles, formerly extinct in the British Isles, took more than 70 days and saw wildlife cameraman and 2022 Strictly Come Dancing champion Hamza Yassin on the job.

Sir David, now aged 96, will appear in Richmond Park to introduce the Woodland episode; a hay meadow in Dorset for Grassland; a chalk stream in Wiltshire for Freshwater and a green bridge on the Pembrokeshire Coast to introduce Ocean.

He will sign off from Skomer Island at the end of the Ocean episode.

Despite Britain and Ireland's rich and varied habitats, Sir David will highlight that it is among the most-depleted in the world and asks how we can restore our wild isles for future generations.

In April when the bluebells emerge, badgers bring their cubs above ground (Image: BBC/Silverback Films/Rachel Bigsby)

Produced by Silverback Films and filmed over three years, the BBC TV series is a unique collaboration between the RSPB, WWF and The Open University.

Series producer and Bafta award-winning filmmaker Hilary Jeffkins said: "I hope that after watching this series our audience will be wowed by the wildlife and spectacular places in Britain and Ireland but also that they get a strong sense of how fragmented and fragile they are.

"I want the audience to come away with a sense of pride and hope for the future too. I think that people will be surprised by the wildlife on their own doorsteps and amazed by the behaviour.

"It is quite shocking to think that we have pods of killer whales, top predators, hunting seals in our seas and a large blue butterfly that tricks ants into caring for its caterpillars, by using deceptive sounds and smells.

"The wildlife that we think we know well still has some extraordinary hidden stories."

Series producer Alastair Fothergill said: "Ever since I worked on the original Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet series, I have always wanted to cover the British Isles and our natural history with a similarly ambitious and epic approach.

"I knew that nobody had ever had the opportunity before to really do justice to the spectacular scenery and rich and varied wildlife found at home. I also have a personal passion for our natural history.

"I hope the audience will be genuinely surprised by the richness of our natural history. At the same time, I hope they will recognise how fragile and precious it is."

* Episode One: Our Precious Isles will air on BBC One and iPlayer on March 12 at 7pm.