Lifelong naturalist, journalist and author (books include A Himalayan Ornithologist: The Life and Work of Brian Hodgson [with Carol Inskipp] 1988, Richard Meinertzhagen 1989, Loneliness and Time 1992, Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold 1998, Birders 2001, Birds Britannica 2005, Crow Country 2007, Birds and People 2014, Our Place '18, One Midsummer's Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth '23) and journalist (Guardian country diary since 1987) a naturalist with a deep amateur love for plants, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and now fungi and bryophytes.