Welcome to our second ‘Ray Mears Sightings’ post, in which we bring together the best stories, news articles and interviews with Ray from the past month:

Ray visits Isle of Wight for new series:

As part of a brand new series for ITV, Ray recently visited the Isle of Wight in search of the island’s local badger population. To aid him in his quest, Ray enlisted the help of Badger Trust member Graham Lee, as well as his dog Breez. Yes, the German Shepherd, who has been specially trained to locate badger activity without disturbing the animals, helped to sniff out the creatures for Ray and his film crew. And, as if that wasn’t odd enough, Breez was also fitted with an HD camera to capture her findings. Find out more in this Isle of Wight County Press article, and keep your eyes peeled on the blog for future news on Ray’s upcoming series.

Ray on the set of his second Wild Britain series last year

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Welcome to the very first of our ‘Ray Mears Sightings’ blog posts. As a new venture of ours, the aim of these posts is to bring you the very best articles, interviews and videos of Ray Mears found online each month. Throughout this past month, Ray has been busy getting involved in a variety of projects that are occurring around the UK, as well as participating in interviews with a number of publications. To simplify things, we have rounded up the cream of the crop and hope that you will enjoy them as much as we have.

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The eagle-eyed among you may have already spotted Ray Mears popping up in the latest Carlsberg TV advert, known as ‘The Fan Academy‘. Made in preparation for this year’s UEFA Euro 2012, the light-hearted commercial features a bevy of English stars – including Sir Bobby Charlton, Peter Shilton, Brian Blessed and Linford Christie – as they help train 300 England fans to be the best supporters they can be:

Appearing at 0:56, Ray Mears is on hand (complete with 5.11 garb), preparing the fans for the worst the English weather can throw at them on the terraces:

Ray prepares the fans for an 'English Summer'

Darren Morris, Brand Controller at Carlsberg, said:

“As England fans ourselves, we know how important supporters are to the England team during a major tournament and we wanted to acknowledge the unique characteristics that make England fans amongst the best in the world – such as commitment, loyalty and passion.”

News emerged earlier this week of the passing of PC David Rathband, who was found dead at his home in Blyth.

In July 2010, the British police officer was shot and blinded by the gunman Raoul Moat, as he sat in his patrol car in Newcastle.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who had met the officer, described him as an “extraordinarily brave man”, adding:

After his horrific injuries he did an enormous amount for charity and other injured police officers, and for families who had lost police officers in the line of duty.

Ray Mears, who assisted in the search for Raoul Moat in 2010, said the following:

I was deeply saddened at the news of PC David Rathband’s death. He was an extremely brave man, who was victim to a tragic injury. His case serves as a stark reminder of the dangers which our police officers can face on a daily basis. My condolences go out to his family and loved ones at this difficult time.