THE LAST WORD

Actor, podcaster, environmental ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts, Somerset resident and regular Viking, David Oakes, has graced our screens in fantastic period dramas and Viking adventures. When he’s not on set or treading the boards he’s out walking in a glorious wild place talking to experts about the natural world for his podcast, ‘Trees a Crowd’. He found some time to talk to us too….

You are such a strong advocate for the natural world - how much did your childhood contribute to the passion for nature you have today?

Until we were given a dog in a will (a yorkshire terrier called ‘Pip’), my childhood was fairly devoid of pets or nature. Far from letting that bother me, I discovered that if I didn’t have a dog to cuddle or a cat to stroke, there was always moss. Moss was my ‘best friend’. I would peel it off the top of stone walls, put it delicately in my pocket, and take it home to live on my bedroom window sill. I could then stroke it until it dried up. And then I’d head out again to find another ‘best friend’. To this day, I think moss is a truly incredible thing; I mean, they’re rootless and yet have lived for about 450 MILLION years! And some are even luminous!

As a Wildlife Trust we want people to have wilder lives but we all seem to be so busy. What is the one thing you think everyone can do to make their life wilder?

When I lived in London, surrounded by pace, I would walk everywhere. I’d set about joining up all the green spaces. Plot paths across town. Stumble across badger setts in the centre of Sydenham or fascinating old trees in the centre of the city that had inspired poets, sheltered royalty and had even been immortalised by painters. Now, as a podcasting-actor-father, I rarely have a spare moment. But, turning the phone off when I take the little one and the dog out for a walk, gives me a chance to listen in a way I did when I was footloose and fancy free.

How do you find time with your filming commitments to find time for nature?

I try to take projects that don’t lock me inside. We shot Vikings: Valhalla in the verdant Wicklow Mountains for example

(I was even living with the otter and kingfisher population of Mount Usher botanical gardens in Ashford whilst we shot seasons 1 and 2). I also make a point of making very good friends with the show’s animal handler. You never know, they may just have an infant jaguar that needs bottle feeding on your days off, like on The Borgias.

What was it about Somerset that attracted you to live here?

To be honest, I came to Somerset because of the history rather than the natural history. I love the neolithic earthworks, the Arthurian fog and the dark ages Wessexness of everything. And yes, we have an extinct volcano, and Cheddar Gorge is truly one of the UK’s seven natural wonders with its fascinating geology and rare endemic white beam population. Somerset landscapes need a lot of love. Whether it’s ancient woodlands at risk of being developed into mega-quarries, or swathes of irrigated farmland that could really do with a little ‘beaver-work’, Somerset needs our attention. Imagine what it could look like if we just treated her a little kinder!

You’ve been to see the bison being looked after by Kent Wildlife Trust. What excited you most about this project, and what would you like to see reintroduced here? They’re proper Megafauna. Big, bold animals, with shoulders to die for! We don’t have big wild herbivores in this country and lack apex predators that bring the balance we need. Imagine a nation full of such creatures naturally regenerating our green spaces for us. Imagine a nation of people who as a result would learn to respect nature a little more and live side by side (you really don’t mess with a bison!) For Somerset; beaver being able to sort out our streams and waterways needs some major support and consideration.

If you had one wish, what would you wish for to turn the fortunes of nature around?

I’d introduce a green levy. A nature tax, if you will. Every purchase an individual or a company made - whether for a tin of beans, a house, or a fleet of HGVs - would include an additional percentage of the final bill that would be ring fenced for habitat creation and protection. There would be no way around it, no claiming back the “Green-VAT”, it would be locked in. Every pound spent in the UK would raise funds to protect the UK’s natural spaces.

Biologist…naturalist…entomologist…You get the gist. Which ‘ist’ one would you pick as your alternative career and why?

Ask me in a few months - when this goes to print I will have been living in Cape Town for a fair while, and whilst there I’ll have spent time diving with bronze whaler sharks and shadowing the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation to see how their partner organisations operate. Is there such a thing as a Rhino-Sharkologist?

Somerset Cheese or Somerset cider?

Cider. To be precise, ice cider. Sweet, extraboozy, and trance inducing. It takes loads more apples to make. Like with Ice Wine, you take the frozen fruits, remove the ice, and get extra concentrated sweet alcoholic nectar. Cheese has nothing on it. I’d bathe in the stuff if I could!