He may be used to trekking through hostile environments but Sir David Attenborough played a different part in the natural world’s latest discovery - when a team of explorers named a plant after him.

Sir David, who lives in Richmond, was said to be both flattered and delighted after British adventurer, Stewart McPherson, and a team of fellow explorers named a meat eating plant they discovered on Mount Victoria in the Philippines, Nepenthes attenboroughii.

Mr McPherson, who runs Redfern Natural History Productions, made the find - one of the worlds largest carnivorous plants, which can swallow and devour rats whole - with two other botanists in the team, Alastair Robinson and Volker Heinrich, in June.

In a statement issued by the trio, all three agreed to name the new species after the 83-year-old broadcaster because his “life works have inspired generations toward a better understanding of the beauty and diversity of the natural world”.

To find out more about the discovery visit redfernnaturalhistory.com