Winterwatch presenter Chris Packham has opened up on his relationship with the outspoken Jeremy Clarkson, who he says often "antagonises a situation".

The renowned naturalist admits that "everyone expects me to hate Jeremy" because the celebrity pair after often on different sides of the nature divide.

Chris says that despite this perception, that is not always the case as he assessed the similarities between both of them. It comes after a star of Clarkson's Farm was rushed to hospital after a horror accident.

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Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Chris said: "Everybody expects me to hate Jeremy. But we worked together and he was extraordinarily hospitable. And he's like myself.

"He sometimes sees the need to antagonise a situation to promote a conversation. in recent times, we've see him swinging more in my direction.

"He made the comment last August about the badger cull being ineffective [in spreading bovine TB], which as a farmer is very valid, and for him to have said that is great."

Since Jeremy took over the running of his Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire in 2019, he has been outspoken on a number of issues affecting the farming world.

These include bovine TB after his own farm was affected last year, causing a calf to be culled; supporting British farming and buying local produce; extreme weather; and planning disputes.

Chris, who has presented Springwatch and its sister programmes Autumnwatch and Winterwatch since 2009, has been similarly outspoken about the environment.

He has been attacked before for his views, most terrifyingly when protesters set fire to a car at the end of his driveway and burned down his gate back in 2021. It sparked him to install new security cameras, but has no plans to modify his behaviour.

Chris doesn't think the BBC is doing enough to support the environment. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said: "I don't think the BBC is as forthright [as it ought to be]. It's a dereliction of duty not to be informing people of the gravity of the situation."

But he did spoke glowingly of the iconic Sir David Attenborough, who celebrates his 100th birthday in May this year.

The TV presenter called his fellow broadcaster the "single most important ambassador for life on Earth that the planet's ever seen".

Meanwhile, Chris recently opened up about a heartbreaking realisation he had while filming Springwatch in the Peak District.

Chris, 64, was a guest on the BatChat podcast in November when he confessed that despite his deep enjoyment of working in the National Park, one aspect of the experience troubled him.

He said: "At no point during the recording of Springwatch, and I was there for three weeks, did I see a single Buzzard or a single Kite flying over.

"So, whilst we had Dippers and we had lots of other fascinating wildlife, there were no predatory birds, because outside that tiny area, which is beautifully protected and run by the National Trust, it's an amazing place and they do great work there, outside of that is a Raptor death zone. And so it's very much like peering over the fence and into the desert really, which is tragic."