BBC documentary looks at wild places of Essex

Acclaimed BBC wildlife documentary strand Natural World isn't about exotic, far-away locations this week – it's about Essex.

The programme being shown on Wednesday, February 10 on BBC2 at 8pm is called The Wild Places of Essex and it features award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane's journey to explore the "unexpected landscapes and natural history of Essex, revealing that there is far more to the county than the stereotypes of white stilettos and boy racers."

Macfarlane spends a year travelling Essex's strange and elemental landscapes of heavy industry, desolate beaches and wild woods.

Along the way, he encounters massive flocks of knot over the Thames, peregrine falcons at Tilbury Power Station, water voles by a dump and deer rutting near the M25.

MacFarlane's award-winning books include Mountains of the Mind and The Wild Places.