There may be a bite in the wind and the nights are certainly drawing in but a conservation charity and a television wildlife champion have launched a campaign aimed at getting more people connecting with nature in the autumn and winter months.

The National Trust is launching a “Wild Senses” campaign on the back of the new BBC series Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles in which the wildlife expert and camera operator Hamza Yassin celebrates the UK’s seasons and encourages viewers to notice, appreciate and reconnect to wildlife everywhere.

It comes as a poll commissioned by the National Trust suggests people feel disconnected with nature in the darker, chillier months. Though the vast majority said being out in nature boosted their wellbeing, only a third felt connected to nature across all seasons equally.

Yassin told the Guardian that autumn was one of his favourite seasons and was full of the sights, sounds and smells of nature, from birds arriving to overwinter in the UK to the taste of foraged fungi.

“For me, autumn is the time to use all your senses,” he said. “Let’s go for sight: the colours of the trees are amazing. There’s the sight and sound of what I call the change of the guard as the summer migrant birds head off to Africa and the redwings and pink-footed geese arrive.

“If you know how, you can forage for fungi. And the red deer rut is happening at the moment. Get up, go to the middle of Richmond Park [in west London], sit yourself down, and just listen to those stags roaring. There is so much that people can listen to, feel, touch, sense, see. Autumn is probably the best month for it.”

One of the central takeaways from Yassin’s show, which is co-produced by the trust and the Open University, is that nature is everywhere – in cities as well as the wilds.

“For example, you have the fastest living creature, the peregrine falcon, living in our cities,” he said. “You’ve got one of the cleverest, which is the pigeon. You’ve got one of the most cunning, the urban fox. We’ve got badgers, hedgehogs, all sorts of gems. Sometimes in our cities it might seem like there isn’t any nature. But if you just take a little minute, you’ll be amazed at what you can find.”

In the poll, carried out by YouGov, 90% of people said spending time in nature had a very positive or somewhat positive impact on their wellbeing. But only 34% said they felt connected to nature across all seasons equally. Just 13% said they felt most connected to nature in autumn, while for winter it was a mere 3%.

To encourage people to engage with nature more deeply, the trust has launched Naturehoodwith the free walking app Go Jauntly, featuring three curated walks in London, Manchester and Birmingham that take in green and blue spaces.

Hilary McGrady, the director general of the National Trust, said: “Nature isn’t just in our nature reserves, it’s in our gardens, streets, and local park. Thinking about the autumn, it really does offer a sensory feast: the crunch of leaves, the scent of damp earth, the feel of conkers and the taste of hedgerow berries. This connection is vital for our wellbeing, especially as darker days set in.”