Everyone likes animals don’t they – and ‘wildlife?’ For me, the love goes a bit deeper though. As a small child I was taken to see Pearly Border Fritillary butterflies in secret spots on our local common, along with glow worms at night. I fished for hours with my friends in the river Dore, catching and marvelling at the Stone loaches, white crayfish and bullheads we regularly caught and spent many holidays in the company of the river Parrett in Somerset, while my dad fished and I watched the swallows and dragonflies skimming the water. I had pet slugs (yes i know!) and rescued injured creatures – crows, voles, yellow necked field mice. We had a pet hedgehog (along with the cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, stick insects and later horses.) I attribute this love almost entirely to my dad – who probably should’ve been a vet but ended up being an artist. He even illustrated a welsh story book about a shrew and can produce a perfect likeness on paper at the drop of a hat!

As an adult, this love became more of a passion, helped in no small part by my job, managing a city wide wildlife engagement project. Aimed at introducing communities to the diversity of species in their local parks, it also made me fascinated in ‘micro wildlife’ as I ‘bug hunted’ with school children, sharing in the delight as we turned up all sorts of miniature wonders – many, even new to me. This sparked a desire to photograph as many varieties as possible and see if I could identify them with my new found knowledge – and I bought my first macro lens! But it also reignited my childhood love of butterflies, and I travelled the country to see Large Blues, Marsh Fritillaries, Swallowtails (I only saw a caterpillar but they’re really fun!) and other gorgeous specialties.

The macro lens came in handy when I became ill in 2014. Confined to the house and concrete back garden (the size of a postage stamp – yes really…) but full of weeds, I spent my days photographing every thing that moved across that seemingly desolate space. And there was an awful lot! When you are no longer able to cycle hundreds of miles or walk for 10 hours in the lake district but you still want to be actively involved in the outdoors, it’s surprising, what will suffice. And basically, I never stopped. Except these days, my health allows me to once again get out and about.