"That’s when you learn how fast you can actually run, when there’s a bear in hot pursuit."

Gordon Buchanan would know.

The wildlife photographer and television presenter grew up on the Isle of Mull and has dedicated his life to exploring the untamed beauty of the natural world, from forests to snowy landscapes, and from towering mountains to the depths of the great rainforests - as well as filming some of the world's largest predators.

He told The Herald: "There are moments of high excitement and definitely heart-stopping moments, but there’s always quite a long period between those.

“It’s probably quite a unique job in that there’s a huge amount of time investment into getting the footage that you’re after, so there are long periods of searching for the animal you want to try and film and then even when you do find them you have to sit and wait for things to unfold.

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"You’re not switched off and doing nothing, it’s not as if you can sit and read a book or listen to a podcast. You’re very much trying to put your mind into the mind of that animal, and try to understand what its whole world is.

“I think that’s what gives you an advantage, if you become part of the environment so that you’re not just a bloke sitting there in a hide or up a tree.

"The key to it is anticipating what might happen and always trying to think ahead and be vigilant.

“I remember years ago sitting with a cameraman in one vehicle who was quite long in the tooth – although he was probably about the same age I am now!

“I was young and keen, still in my 20s, and we were waiting for a leopard to do its thing. When it did kick off I managed to capture the behaviour but this other guy was still fiddling with his camera – he just hadn’t thought ahead.

“So it’s the Cub Scout thing – be prepared!"

Mr Buchanan has filmed grizzly bears in Russia, tigers in the Himalayas and jaguars in the Amazon - and admits he's had some hairy moments.

He says: "They’re big, powerful animals and on occasion they do pose a threat.

Grizzly bearGrizzly bear (Image: Wikimedia)

“That’s really the exception to the rule, but we have this primal fear of creatures that are much bigger than us – especially if they have sharp teeth – and there have been occasions where I’ve accidentally got too close.

"Whether it’s a polar bear, a black bear or a sloth bear you’re aware of the potential danger and you can behave accordingly but the most dangerous moments have been when you don’t know the animal is there.

“I’ve been chased by a tiger once, I’ve been chased by a bear a couple of times, and on both those occasions I didn’t know that animal was there."

Often referred to as the Scottish David Attenborough, Mr Buchanan has spent more then three decades filming the world's apex predators.

While he retains a fascination with the animals he is always conscious that they are just that - wild animals.

The Herald contrasts this with Timothy Treadwell, the subject of Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man, who dedicated his life to filming and interacting with bears before meeting his end at the paws and jaws of one.

Mr Buchanan replies: "I remember speaking to someone who knew Timothy Treadwell, and when that film came out – and I think even in the movie - people were saying, ‘he didn’t know bears and didn’t understand them’.

Gordon BuchananGordon Buchanan

“The fact was he’d spent seven seasons with these bears, he did know them incredibly well, probably better than many people did, but his way of going about it was that he wasn’t treating them like people - he was behaving like a bear does to another bear. That’s what eventually got him into trouble, eventually that bear twigged that ‘this guy is not as big as me and he’s trying to intimidate me’ and, sadly, he was killed by it.

“That was him pushing his luck and not behaving appropriately around them.

“You can see on YouTube there are clips of people being charged at by grizzly bears and all of these big animals have their own fear. They might be a polar bear, they might be a grizzly bear, or a lion, or a tiger, but they’re still very fearful of being hurt.

“Other than thinking about food, for any top predator the thing they’re thinking of is just not getting injured - and that’s what keeps people safe."

Exiting pursued by a bear is one thing, but what are the moments which take the breath away in a good sense?

Mr Buchanan says: "There’s always a real sense of achievement and accomplishment if the mission is to capture a sequence that’s never been filmed before.

“In the world of wildlife filmmaking, the things that haven’t been filmed before are the really difficult things.

“This is quite a number of  years ago, but we wanted to film pandas mating in the wild. When I grew up pandas were in the news a lot because they were a highly endangered species but trying to get them to breed in captivity was really difficult and there were dwindling numbers of them in the wild.

“So we had to actually go out into the mountains of China and try not just to find them, but to film that behaviour.

“We put weeks into finding them, so to one afternoon manage to film them mating it’s like, ‘this is the first time they’ve ever been caught on camera’ and there’s a huge sense of achievement.

“That’s what you go out there to try and film, but a lot of the time in wildlife filmmaking people come home with nothing.

“In Mumbai, when we wanted to film the hunting behaviour of the urban leopards that live sort of alongside people, that hadn't been filmed before.

“It was a real tough challenge and the producer said to me, 'the minimum we need is a shot with a leopard with the city in the background so if you don't get that, don't come home'.

“But the dream sequence was to get some kind of hunting behaviour and I spent 30 nights, every single night, all night, in a hide trying to figure out these these leopards and eventually came away with a great sequence of them hunting.

“Even 10 years on no-one has been able to put the time in to trying to film that again.

“So there's that sort of sense of achievement of having the Holy Grail sequence and actually achieving it because it generally doesn't work like that."

Mr Buchanan is bringing his live show, appropriately titled Lions and Tigers and Bears, to various venues across Scotland next year.

He says: "I've tried to kind of put myself in the audience's seat and think, 'well, what do they want to find out about?'

"Hopefully I'm not complacent about the job that I do, but the fact is that I've spent the last 35 years, nearly, working alongside these big charismatic animals.

"The most scariest moments have been with lions, and tigers, and bears, and animals like that but then the most heart-warming and the most tender moments have been observing those same animals.

"I think it's sort of the the range that you get when you spend time with these big predatory animals. You get the fear and fascination, but you also get to watch a polar bear that's been underground for seven months and hasn't eaten a single thing emerge in the spring with its tiny little cubs, and to see those cubs start to explore the Arctic for the first time.

"One of the highlights of my career was just observing those little cubs in the wilds of the Arctic."

Gordon Buchanan's Lions and Tigers and Bears will be at Perth, Dumfries, Stirling, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness next year. Get tickets here.