I have been a wildlife enthusiast from the day I could comprehend the difference between objects. My mother used to tell the story of how I would, as a toddler, draw 3 circles, fill one with dots, the other with stripes, and colour the third brown. Not quite enough to warrant an invitation to paint a ceiling in a chapel but, in all necessary fundamentals, an effective representation of a leopard, a tiger, and a lion.

I had chosen my path.

My travels since then have taken me to the furthest, most remote corners of my emerald isle where I was fortunate to be a witness to the island’s incredible biodiversity. I have stalked alongside leopards, walked the forest beside elephants, searched for songbirds in the perpetual darkness of rainforests with leeches clinging to me in their hundreds. I have waded into shallow seas in search of migratory birds, sat drenched in freezing highland rain for endemics, and kept vigil outside a desolate church for owls.

I have made great friends along the way, bonds forged in the trials of the trail and the shared search for the incredible. I have spoken to professors and shared a cup of tea with farmers in their huts. I have spent more hours than I can count being rattled on the back of safari jeeps and watched stars appear in inky black skies above uncharted jungles. I have clambered over precipices with my camera on my back and rubber slippers on my feet in search of falcons’ eyries. I have shared many a tale with my friends under the dim yellow light of a single exposed incandescent bulb hanging from the roof of wildlife bungalows where only the metallic marble drops of nightjars interrupted our voices.

This humble gallery of photographs and articles is my attempt to share with you the wonders that I have seen, the stories that I have heard, and the thoughts that have crossed my mind in those long, tranquil hours waiting for a bird to show itself.

I hope you enjoy it.