Yet birds form such a central part of my existence, and have influenced the course of so many aspects of my life, that the idea that I might not be totally fascinated by them is, quite simply, unimaginable. That doesn’t mean that I am some sad obsessive whose every waking hour is spent thinking about, pursuing or watching birds. I have many other interests, a loving family and a wide circle of friends, most of whom are not birders themselves. But birds are always ‘there’ — something I can’t help noticing, watching and thinking about. Moreover, I am one of those very lucky people for whom my consuming passion is also my work: both in my job as a producer at the BBC Natural History Unit and as the author of various articles and books on birds. But for the first decade or so of my working life things were very different. The catalyst that led to the convergence of my hobby and my career came in the early 1990s, when I was working for the BBC’s now defunct Continuing Education Department in London.
