Ahead of his appearance at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s National Members’ Day on 29 September, filmmaker and Wildlife Trusts President Simon King spoke to us about wildlife watching in Scotland, the future for conservation and running around in pantaloons. Read the interview in full below.

What’s your favourite part of Scotland to watch wildlife?

Every part of Scotland that I’ve visited holds a charm and a magic unlike anywhere else but if I could only go to one place, it would have to be Shetland. I lived there with my family for over a year and I’ve been going back ever since. It’s an open arms, open door kind of place.

Shetland feels like a slice of the Arctic, from the skuas and puffins to the vast numbers of arctic terns. Otters are a major highlight; they are all over the UK now but my encounters with them in Shetland have been wonderful. There’s also a chance you’ll bump into a killer whale.

How did you get in to making wildlife films?

I’m a naturalist and I’ve been lucky enough to indulge my hobby and to do so through the medium of TV, film, writing, photography and drawing.

I was first involved in TV when I was 10 years old, starring in a film called The Fox. It was a drama directed by my father, set in the Victorian period. For the most part I ran around in pantaloons catching frogs!

If you could ask our Governments to do one thing today for wildlife, what would it be?

Recognise its importance. Government has to recognise the significance of neglecting our natural world. In every single discussion, on any topic, the natural world plays a critical role.

But the single policy that needs immediate attention is marine conservation around the British Isles. There are 127 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) proposed around the coast of England and Wales [in Scotland, the zones will be known as Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs]. Only through joined up thinking are we going to see a sustainable future for the life in our seas. This is the Living Seas message that The Wildlife Trusts are working so hard to implement.

We all have an opportunity to connect with the decision makers and if enough voices speak up for wildlife then the issue can’t be ignored. I’m just one of those voices.

The Wildlife Trusts are celebrating 100 years of nature conservation. What do you think the UK’s natural environment will look like in another 100 years?

I think it’s going to look fabulous. We’re lucky in the sense that we’re already aware of what we’re doing to the environment: that’s the first hurdle. We may not be doing everything we should be doing as a consequence but at least we know about it.

That said, I think the environment will be rather different to the one we look at today. In my lifetime it’s gone from a very obvious temperate zone to a more Mediterranean climate. In Somerset there are now great white egrets nesting; I wouldn’t be surprised if in 100 years there are great white egrets and Dartford warblers nesting in Scotland, for example.

What do you think the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s next big project should focus on?

The European lynx would fit a niche – it would be interesting to have an apex predator like that back in the ecosystem, in an environment as wild and wonderful as Scotland.

But first we’ve got to change attitudes to our most beautiful and iconic apex predators, such as golden eagles and white tailed sea eagles. Recently, a golden eagle was found poisoned to death in Ardnamurchan – it just makes you weep. Who in this day and age thinks it’s justifiable to take the life of a golden eagle?

If we’re going to live in harmony with the natural world, we can’t push it to the point of collapse.

Are there any particular species you look forward to seeing when you travel to Scotland?

That’s a big list! Of course there are the big charismatic species like golden eagles,white tailed sea eagles and ospreys which have their stronghold in Scotland.

Then there are the mammals like pine martens which really feel like they fit into the wilderness of Scotland along with wildcats, which I’ve been lucky enough to watch and film on a number of occasions.

Red deer in the Highlands really take on some of the character it was born to portray.

There are great sea cliffs in Scotland so a wide range of seabirds, from gannets to auks (including puffins).

What would you say to the fishermen who believe that marine conservation is hurting their livelihood?

Marine Conservation Zones nurture the stocks that support fishermen’s livelihoods, so they do ensure the future health of the industry.

Marine Conservation Zones don’t exclude all kinds of fishing. There are certain destructive forms of fishing, like bottom dredging, that are devastating for life in the sea but there are others that are sustainable and can be maintained.

More importantly, we as consumers have to acknowledge and accept that the price of our food is not simply what we pay in the supermarket; the real cost is down the line, maybe in 5, 10 or 15 years when fish stocks collapse and there are no fish left.

It’s a small mind shift; we have to learn to pay a little more.

As the President of The Wildlife Trusts, what would you like your legacy to be?

Not for me, because I hope my ego’s not that big! I am nothing more than a mouth piece for a very learned, well structured, well governed organisation that is a sum of its parts.

If there is a legacy that I can be part of, it would be to look back in 25 years and see the first 127 Marine Conservation Zones flourishing, see the next 100 already implemented, see a flourishing fishing industry alongside that, see a healthy population of people enjoying the natural world around them, see a joined up Living Landscape that includes and encompasses the wild world, and see governments all over the world putting the natural world onto the agenda of policy-making at every stage.

If that happened, it wouldn’t have been me that did it, but I’d be delighted that future generations of human beings and all other living beasts might have a glimmer of hope.

When’s the next time we’ll see you on our TV screens?

I’m behind the camera at the moment filming for a BBC series called Seasons. I’m doing what I love best, using my field skills to follow the creatures that I love. It’ll be broadcast at the end of next year.

My main platform is my website, Wildlife Whisperer. I make a lot of films and podcasts for that every day.