My passion for birds and drawing them started when I was around nine years old. At first it was birds of prey which most fascinated me, but growing up by the coast in the north-east of England provided the inspiration for my interests to broaden. I was soon into all species and out birding regularly, working my local patch at every opportunity. Art was still a major part of my life at this time, and after a course in graphic design in the early 1990’s I went on to study illustration in Maidstone, graduating in 1997. Since then I have worked on a variety of projects from books and journals to information panels for British nature reserves. My work is included in a forthcoming field guide to the Birds of Argentina, and I am about to start work on another South American guide, the Birds of Bolivia.