Tributes have been paid to broadcaster and naturalist Terry Nutkins, who has died months after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
His agent John Miles said Nutkins died at home in Scotland on Thursday. He added: "He had fought for about nine months or so with acute leukaemia."
Nutkins found fame as co-presenter of the BBC children's show Animal Magic with Johnny Morris and also featured in The Really Wild Show.
The 66-year-old Londoner, who is survived by his wife, eight children and eight grandchildren, made his home in Glenelg on the west coast of Scotland, near the Isle of Skye.
Mr Miles said: "He was an absolutely lovely guy and just loved animals, and he was never happier than when he was with animals. We will all miss him very, very much."
Nutkins grew up near Marylebone station and avoided school to help out at London Zoo, where his expertise with animals became obvious.
He was sent to Scotland at the age of 11 to work with Ring Of Bright Water author Gavin Maxwell and help care for wild otters.
It was there that he lost the tips of two fingers after he was bitten by one of his animals.
Maxwell eventually became his legal guardian and Nutkins made the west coast of Scotland his home.
In recent years, he made guest appearances on Ready Steady Cook, Celebrity Ghost Stories and a tribute documentary to Australian "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin.
Tributes flooded in online. On Twitter, Phillip Schofield wrote: "So sad to hear of the death of Terry Nutkins. I worked with him often in my 'broom cupboard' days. A delightful man & passionate naturalist."
Ben Fogle said: "Very sad to hear the sad passing of Terry Nutkins. He was one of my childhood inspirations."
Director of children's programmes at the BBC, Joe Godwin, said: "Terry Nutkins was a natural children's presenter – warm, passionate and devoted to communicating the wonders of the natural world to his young audience.
"Like many, I grew up watching him on the BBC's first ever natural history programme made especially for children – Animal Magic.
"He went on to present The Really Wild Show for seven years. I'm sure his enthusiasm and genuine love of animals will have inspired generations of children."
Mr Miles added: "He just loved animals. He fought many causes to make sure animals were looked after, and the environment in general."
"Terry was a fun, ebullient and enthusiastic naturalist," said the wildlife film-maker Simon King. "He expressed this through his work on television and through his conservation efforts.
"He had a great love of animals and will always be remembered for that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article