Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour is the new location for the BBC’s Autumnwatch this year.

Bill Oddie and Kate Humble will be hosting the show from Brownsea, while Simon King travels the breadth of the country bringing us some spectacular autumn missions. Gordon Buchanan will be based on the Farne Islands, also owned by the National Trust, bringing us the highs and lows of the grey seal pupping season.

Brownsea Island is owned by the National Trust and managed in part by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. It is home to a nationally important population of the iconic red squirrel and a host of wading birds and wildfowl.

© NTPL / Joe Cornish

A short distance from Poole Quay and Sandbanks, Brownsea Island has been cared for by the National Trust since 1962. More than 200 acres of the 550 acre Island are managed by Dorset Wildlife Trust.

Brownsea is a haven for wildlife; you might catch a glimpse of many different birds from the rare avocet to Dartford warblers, herons and lesser-spotted woodpeckers. It is also home to water voles, red wood ants, deer, pipistrelle and serotine bats, dragonflies and waxcaps. Nationally scarce plants such as the shrubby sea-blite can also be found on the Island.

Autumnwatch is broadcast on BBC2 from Monday 27 October 2008 for two weeks, Monday-Thursday, 8pm. For more information visit www.bbc.co.uk/autumnwatch