Behind the Binoculars

Dr Mark Avery is a blogger, writer, author and wildlife campaigner. He once, many moons ago, worked for the RSPB (and for 13 years was its Conservation Director). He has been prominent in the discussions over the future of driven grouse shooting in the UK – Mark hopes that their future is very limited. He lives in rural Northamptonshire and misses most of the good birds at his local patch of Stanwick Lakes in the Nene Valley.Keith Betton is a media trainer, PR consultant and writer. He is a keen world birder having seen over 7500 species in nearly 100 countries. He has a particular passion for Africa, having been Chairman of the African Bird Club for the last 7 years. In the UK he is heavily involved in bird monitoring in Hampshire, where he is County Recorder. He has been a Council Member of both the RSPB and the BTO, and is currently Vice President of the latter.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsChris Packham Phil Hollom Stuart Winter Lee Evans Steve Gantlett Mark Cocker Ian Wallace Andy Clements Mike Clarke Debbie Pain Keith Betton Roger Riddington Ian Newton Stephanie TylerMark Avery Stephen Moss Alan Davies and Ruth Miller Rebecca Nason Robert Gillmor Last thoughtsSelected bibliographyIndex

Like all the best ideas, it just looks too simple. You get hold of many of the best and best-known birdwatchers in the country, then ask them a broadly similar set of questions and see what happens.What in fact results is a series of thoroughly entertaining and often very enlightening interviews with some of the names that have made British birding what it is. As with any selection of that sort, you can quibble about inclusions and omissions, but I daresay further volumes might put some of those arguments to bed.Their inclusion of themselves might raise a few eyebrows, too, but both merit it on their birding and ornithological achievements, and their answers also throw new light on why they’ve asked the questions they have.Although each interview begins from the same set of questions, Avery and Betton do a great job of following up on each person’s interests, making each piece a highly individual profile, and they also get to the heart of what made each one a birdwatcher – not just the initial spark, but the ongoing passions. I thought I knew a few of the interviewees reasonably well, but I was wrong!There’s plenty of interesting trivia, too. Which Bird Watching contributor, for example, would pick Zulu as his favourite film? Which one would avoid jazz and blues? It all adds up to a great book for dipping into one interview at a time – enjoy!