Born in 1960 in Gloucester, England, I started watching birds from the age of 14 and never stopped. My first local patch was a place called Robinswood Hill, an outlier of The Cotswolds, but when I was at Portsmouth University I spent most of my time at Farlington Marshes and in the New Forest. After graduating with a Biology BSc (Hons) degree I worked in environmental education and nature conservation for many years before taking wing as a freelance ecological consultant and author, using my expertise, experience and travels to carry out mainly ornithological survey work at home and abroad, and to write a series of 'Where to watch birds in the World' books for Helm. My travels have taken me to all seven continents, some several times, and I have written a book about those adventures and misadventures with friends entitled A Mind-blowing Birding Trip to a Planet called Earth, and a book called Where to Watch Birds in the World, an A-Z of what birds are where in the countries, and on the archipelagos and islands, of the world, while living and birding in beautiful far west Cornwall.