Television wildlife presenter Johnny Kingdom has been killed in an accident involving a digger on his land.
The film-maker, photographer and author, who specialised in his local area of Exmoor and north Devon, died on Thursday night.
Police confirmed emergency services were called to a field near Wadham Cross in Knowstone, Devon, to reports that a digger had rolled over.
The 79-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services.
Mr Kingdom was born and bred on the edge of Exmoor and worked as a gravedigger, a quarryman and a lumberjack until an accident whilst out logging.
He then began making wildlife films and in 2006 his first series on BBC 2, A Year On Exmoor, was watched by more than three million people.
.....As the loving man himself would have said 'Farewell to all you lovely people'."
Television wildlife presenter Johnny Kingdom has been killed in an accident involving a digger on his land.The film-maker, photographer and author, who specialised in his local area of Exmoor and north Devon, died on Thursday night.Police confirmed e
Missed this one ,not had the tv on and not been online much .From what I have read he got a good send off with plenty turning out .Liked this cheerful chap ,he had such a passion for his local area ,often the wildlife photographers spend all their time in far flung fields but not Johnny .Reading that he was a grave digger for 50 years and done some farm work ect as well and it was a whilst recovering from a tractor accident that he picked up a camera and started filming local wildlife ,his year on Exmoor was excellent ,he was killed on a not so recently purchased 50 Acre site he was adapting for wildlife ,bad luck he won’t see its completion but hopefully it is finished . A real character that had the local knowledge to back the camera up Johnny was of course an old poacher a hunter and that’s where his knowledge was gleaned ,that’s what made him the character he was ,apparently the earlier tractor accident involved a chain snapping and he was very lucky even though his recovery was long and hard ,another old countryman and a real character passes to the happy hunting grounds ,sad loss for Exmoor .
Missed this one ,not had the tv on and not been online much .From what I have read he got a good send off with plenty turning out .Liked this cheerful chap ,he had such a passion for his local area ,often the wildlife photographers spend all their ti