SIGHTINGS of Dr George McGavin used to be quite rare.

The scientist was the resident bugs expert at Oxford University’s’ Museum of Natural History and was cocooned in the Parks Road building for a quarter of a century.

But he has now burst into the limelight – much like many of the colourful creatures he documents.

Dr McGavin, 55, has been appearing in the BBC1 series, Lost Land of the Volcano, which focuses on an expedition to Papua New Guinea, and Mount Bosavi in the island’s Southern Highlands province.

Viewers have been captivated as the expedition team from the BBC’s natural history unit risk their lives to find previously undiscovered species.

One of the team’s biggest coups was discovering a new species of giant rat – as big as a domestic cat — which has been named the Bosavi woolly rat.

Dr McGavin and his team hope their footage of the amazing discoveries will persuade the government in Papua New Guinea to protect the remote and pristine rainforest.

The father-of-one, who lives with wife Lois, off Spring Road, Abingdon, said: “For any biologist, a trip to a tropical forest has to be the highlight of anything you do.

“We have made two previous series in Borneo and Guyana, but in the latest series we were blown away by the number of new species we were finding.

“We found 16 new species of frog, one new species of bat, three new species of fish and, of course, the rat as big as a cat.

“There were some fantastic finds – I expected to find new creepy crawlies but it’s the big furry animals that really steal the show.”

Dr McGavin was away on location from January until March with a team of 20 film-makers.

He added: “We have tried to make a natural history programme that is accessible for young audiences, so we make it as dramatic as possible and sneak the science in underneath. For some academics there’s too much loud music, but when I visit local schools the children there tell me that they really enjoy the programme.”

Dr McGavin said there were several “hairy moments” during filming close to the crater of the rumbling volcano Tavurvur.

He said: “At one point the volcano was throwing rocks up a kilometre into the air and the ground was shaking with the impact.

“The rocks were flying overhead and we had to run for it.”

Dr McGavin survived his trip to the land of the lost volcano but suffered an alarming health scare at home in Abingdon last week.

The presenter, who also appears on The One Show alongside Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, collapsed on his kitchen floor after suffering a painful tooth abscess.

He added: “My breathing was quite shallow and the paramedics were called but fortunately I recovered quite quickly.

“I never thought I would get to be a TV star but I would much rather meet my end in a tropical jungle than lying on the kitchen floor.”

Dr McGavin’s fans will be hoping a trip to the dentist allows him to be passed fit for another next TV adventure next year, in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.