From sparrows to Substack

An introduction

I don’t know what gave me the idea, but my six-year-old self spent hours in the back garden of a terraced house in suburban London trying to catch sparrows in a cardboard box. I think I just wanted a closer look.

The one person who seemed to share my fascination with wildlife was the legendary Jacques Cousteau. He talked to me regularly from the black-and-white screen in front of the toy cupboard under stairs.

Fast forward several decades and you find me dipping into Substack and launching Nature View, all about nature and photography. Not surprising, perhaps, but the road to this point has not been entirely straight.

My teens were narrated by David Attenborough, of course. My secret ambition (I was too timid to broadcast it) was to work for the world-renowned BBC Natural History Unit. I had passing notions of becoming a musician (I loved playing the flute) and at one time wondered if I could make my fortune as a lawyer to fund my less profitable passions. But the urge to be involved in the natural world as more than a spectator didn’t go away.

I tiptoed towards my goal when I chose to study Zoology at the University of Bristol. I loved it (I got First Class honours and was awarded the prize for best student in Zoology). I later gained an MSc in Conservation (Distinction) at University College, London.

For my Masters dissertation, I photographed the backsides of Grevy’s zebras in northern Kenya, which turned out to be the springboard to a job as field assistant for the Serengeti Cheetah Project in Tanzania, through London’s Institute of Zoology. That also involved a lot of photography, of spots, not stripes (and ideally, not of backsides). It was a very memorable time.

When I returned to the UK, I landed my coveted job at the BBC Natural History Unit. This led on to my working at BBC Wildlife magazine, first as a section editor and later as deputy editor. I was lucky enough to find the best teachers there to hone my skills as a writer and editor, and I spent many happy years immersed in wildlife pictures and stories from around the world.

When my children arrived, a more flexible, freelance career beckoned, bringing with it the opportunity to write for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolios. So, that is why you find me now tapping away on my laptop and getting out and about as much as possible, never happier than when absorbed with nature (though I do still enjoy playing the flute).