Say goodbye to those winter blues as Winterwatch returns to whet your wildlife appetite. Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Iolo Williams kick off the week at RSPB Arne in Dorset, where winter is revealing a cast of nocturnal characters. Live cameras are poised to capture the family dynamics of foxes, brazen badgers, and if we’re lucky, a white-tailed eagle… or two. Iolo heads over to Brownsea Island to introduce us to the wealth of waders that flock here in winter, and Gillian Burke has been out exploring the isles of Orkney. Closer to the Arctic Circle than they are to London, these isles reveal a few wildlife surprises.

Night two of Winterwatch brings all the beauty of the season live from RSPB Arne in Dorset. Our cameras have been capturing wildlife dramas around the clock, and Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan reveal the latest developments. Iolo Williams brings the latest wildlife sightings from Brownsea island, which include the native red squirrels who are doing what they do best and squirrelling away their nuts to help them through the winter. Gillian continues her Orkney adventures and sets sail to find some of the more elusive island inhabitants.

It’s time to sit back and enjoy nature as it was intended. With a music-free episode, the audience will be immersed in the natural sounds of nature. Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan catch us up on the latest wildlife news from RSPB Arne in Dorset. Iolo Williams ventures across the water and onto Brownsea Island with a thermal camera to capture all the island’s drama after dark. We meet two families of otters who inhabit our most northerly islands and must take to the seas to find a feast, and Gillian visits Sanday, the largest of Orkney’s northern isles, to lay eyes on a mammal found nowhere else on earth.

Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Iolo Williams wrap up the week’s wildlife stories from RSPB Arne in Dorset. Winter is a tough time for wildlife, so how have they all been coping? We check in with our bird feeders on site to see what species have been feasting, and there’s no better time to make a record of avian garden visitors, as The Big Garden Birdwatch is just around the corner. Gillian concludes her Orkney adventures, showcasing some of the islands’ coastal specialists.