LAST minute preparations are taking place for the BBC's Autumnwatch programme, which will be broadcast live from RSPB Arne on Monday.

The Purbeck reserve has been selected to host the flagship wildlife show, which is one of the BBC's largest UK live outdoor broadcasts.

Presenters Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games will be documenting how the wildlife at Arne deals with the dramatic change from summer to autumn.

They'll broadcast live for four consecutive evenings, at 8pm, from Monday.

RSPB Arne spokesman Morwenna Alldis said: "For over 50 years the RSPB and its dedicated members and partners across Purbeck have worked together to put nature back in the landscape.

"Hosting the show is a fantastic acknowledgement of everyone's hard work over the past five decades.

"Throughout the week viewers will see all the very best nature stories from the area, and hear from people from our different partner organisations, demonstrating that if everyone works together for nature we can make a significant difference to its future."

The reserve included habitats such as wet and dry lowland heath, ancient oak woodland, saltmarsh, mudflats, fresh and salt water reedbeds, farmland and even sandy beaches.

Earlier this year results from a 24-hour bio-blitz at Arne were broadcast on the BBC's Springwatch programme. And in 2008 - when presenters Bill Oddie and Kate Humble were at the helm - Autumnwatch was filmed from Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour.

Rob Farrington, visitor experience manager at Arne, said: "I still remember the first time I visited RSPB Arne as a child - what I saw and where I went.

"Twenty years later and the reserve can still take my breath away and surprises me.

"Even being in the reserve for much of my working week, I still stumble across corners that I've never seen before.

"For me there's no other landscape that is so engaging and I've never experienced a day at RSPB Arne on which I haven't discovered something new and amazing about its nature."