Antboy chats live this morning with CBeebies presenter Maddie Moate

The strath's very own Antboy will be speaking about nature on his doorstep with a popular children's TV CBeebies presenter this morning.

Xander Johnston. of Aviemore, is doing a live video call for LET'S GO LIVE with Maddie & Greg.

The Kingussie High School pupil will be chatting on Maddie Moate's YouTube channel about how children can encourage nature into their garden during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Xander said: “Hopefully this is something that people will enjoy, as well as learning some new things that they can do to encourage nature in their garden.

"Whether that’s creating an insect hotel or going on a mini beast safari, it’s a great way to spend time outside in your garden helping the little guys."

The live stream starts at 11am and Xander is expected to be interviewed at his home in Aviemore's Corbett Place by the YouTube show at around 11.20am.

Maddie shares her adventures and discoveries on her YouTube show which is packed with videos about animals, plants, travel and technology.

She is the host of the BAFTA nominated CBeebies TV series “Maddie's Do You Know?”, BBC Earth's “Earth Unplugged” and Fully Charged's latest series 'Maddie Goes Electric'.

She is one of the only family focused “Edu-tubers” in the UK and has been creating educational science videos for the past seven years, amassing over 40 million views across multiple channels.

LET'S GO LIVE with Maddie & Greg has 122,000 subscribers.

People can tune in by search the show's title on YouTube.

Xander (13) was named UK National Parks New Horizons award winner at the annual UK National Parks Conference in Yorkshire last year.

The New Horizons award recognises a young person aged 30 or under who has made a significant contribution to any national park.

His award joins his existing recognition as a Cairngorms Nature Ambassador and the RSPB's Young Nature Champion.

Xander first came to the attention of the Cairngorms National Park Authority when he attended a ‘Nest Quest’ to look for Wood Ants as part of the Cairngorms Nature BIG Weekend.

This sparked a love of ants and he entered a video about them into the Young Presenter competition, where he was a runner up in 2017. He is also a regular volunteer with the Cairngorms Rare Invertebrates Project.

Since then his passion for wildlife has seen the teen appear on BBC's Springwatch and Countryfile and he has proved a hit with viewers.

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