Sir David Attenborough returns to TV screens this weekend for Planet Earth III

Sir David Attenborough will present the third instalment of the BBC’s Planet Earth series.

The 97-year-old national treasure is returning to present the award-winning nature programme in its latest eight-part series which follows species from around the world.

As the programme aims to ‘look at the world through a new lens’, viewers will once again be awe-struck at our planet’s incredible wildlife in never before seen footage closely following them in their natural habitats.

The show will see Attenborough return to Raine Island, off the north-eastern coast of Australia, to visit the Green Turtles after some 66 years. He says: “As far as I know, I was one of the first people to film on Raine Island back in 1957.”

It was on this island at the age of 31, he first met up close with a Green Turtle.

Now, he goes back to see how the turtles are doing in today’s climate with the modern wasteful lifestyle of humans impacting the planet and causing harm, with global warming being one of the effects. 

Nesting turtles go to Raine Island to lay their eggs, however rising temperatures means warmer sands and the sex of these turtles is determined by how warm the sand is. Because of this, 99% of them are now born female, threatening the future of the Green Turtle species.

Global warming is also causing sea levels to rise which means several of the nests on the island are being flooded and many of the developing turtles are drowned before they even have the chance to hatch.

Attenborough looks into the state of this species impacted by human lifestyle. Raine Island is regarded as the most important nesting site for Green Turtles on our planet, but the veteran nature presenter asks whether this turtle paradise will make another lifetime for this endangered species to continue?

Planet Earth III begins on BBC One and iPlayer from October 22nd.