I’ve been interested in wildlife in general, and birds in particular, for as long as I can recall. At the age of five, I acquired my first bird book, The Observers’ Book of Birds, and soon knew every bird in it. For my ninth birthday, I was given A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, by Roger Tory Peterson, Guy Mountfort, and Phil Hollom. This widened my interest in birds to include Europe, which was timely as that was when my parents started taking me on holidays in Europe. As a teenager, I kept a small collection of wildfowl (Red-crested Pochard, Wigeon, Mandarin, Wood Duck, and Red-billed Whistling Duck) on a pond in my parents’ garden – I’ve been a duck enthusiast ever since.
David birding in The Gambia in the mid-1980s
In my late teens, I did quite a bit of volunteering for the RSPB at the society’s premier bird reserve, Minsmere in Suffolk. At the time, I fancied becoming a bird reserve warden, but I discovered that I was much better at showing people birds than I was at practical things, such as building roads and repairing hides, so I gave up on that idea.
I’d always been interested in writing, and had my first articles (on birds) published when I was in my teens. I was also interested in shooting: my first job was on Shooting Times & Country Magazine, a title I still write for today. After three years on ST, I moved to Country Life, where I remained for 19 years until going freelance, writing about the subjects that interested me – birds, conservation, even tennis and cars. I was fortunate enough to be paid to do the things I enjoyed. During this time, I started running birdwatching courses for the Field Studies Council, and from this I went on to organise my own birdwatching holidays. My company was called Gourmet Birds: I tried to combine good birds with food and wine, not always an easy combination.
Birding in Portugal’s Alentejo
I ran Gourmet Birds for nearly 40 years, in which time I organised and led holidays throughout Europe, and to such distant destinations as Australia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Borneo, and many countries in Africa. However, freelance writing was my profession, and I never aimed to become a full-time tour leader.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been supported by a long-suffering wife, Jan, who has survived being charged by a bull elephant when we were birding on foot in Botswana, though she would probably cite sleeping on grubby nylon sheets in a rainforest in Thailand as an equally bad experience.
Though birds have remained my principal interest throughout my life, I have always been keen on racket sports (tennis, squash, and badminton), and played all three to a reasonable standard until my knees cried enough. I’ve enjoyed cars, too, and have driven a great variety, from Fords to Ferraris. Dogs (spaniels) and horses remain a passion, and I enjoyed foxhunting until Prime Minister Tony Blair banned the sport (something he later admitted was a bad decision).
Birdwatching with Emma the spaniel
Through my work, I was fortunate to meet many of the most influential figures in British birding in Britain. I interviewed, for example, Sir Peter Scott (founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the World Wildlife Fund), the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, and Guy Mountfort (one of the authors of the Field Guide). Dr Jean Delacour was one of the most fascinating people I met – I was 26 and he was 84 when I interviewed him at his château at Clères in France. He was a Frenchman who later became an American and was a serious ornithologist and aviculturist. He was, I believe, the last person to have Pink-headed Ducks (now extinct) in his wildfowl collection, but it was destroyed during the Second World War.
As a professional writer, I always said that I would never write for an outlet where I wasn’t paid. However, writing for 10000 Birds is an exception, as I can write about whatever I want to, which is fun; I do have a compulsion to write, as it’s one of the few things I find easy. It’s satisfying to see my photographs appear in my articles, too. However, I remain a birdwatcher who photographs birds, not a bird photographer, and I appreciate the latest lightweight camera equipment, which makes this possible. I believe that Merlin is a brilliant invention, as it has introduced birds and birding to a whole new audience.
Horses have always been a passion
Though I may no longer lead birding holidays, I still travel widely, while I also do a great deal of birding close to home (I always take binoculars even when I walk my dog). I haven’t added up my life list for a long time, but it’s somewhere over 4,000 species. There are still birds that I’d love to see, with Torrent Duck and Cock of the Rock high on the list, so a trip to South America is really needed while I’m still fit enough to contemplate it.
Cover Photo: Meeting a Bald Ibis in Italy
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