There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.

London has fine museums, the British Library is one of the greatest library institutions in the world... It's got everything you want, really.

I often get letters, quite frequently, from people who say how they like the programmes a lot, but I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature.

Birds were flying from continent to continent long before we were. They reached the coldest place on Earth, Antarctica, long before we did. They can survive in the hottest of deserts. Some can remain on the wing for years at a time. They can girdle the globe. Now, we have taken over the earth and the sea and the sky, but with skill and care and knowledge, we can ensure that there is still a place on Earth for birds in all their beauty and variety - if we want to... And surely, we should.

All life is related. And it enables us to construct with confidence the complex tree that represents the history of life

The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about.

The more you go on, the less you need people standing between you and the animal and the camera waving their arms about.