Who inspired your interest in wildlife?

[Birchy]

What a great question!

I am most inspired by my dad because he has a Phenomenal knowledge of wildlife in general. Since I was a young boy he's always told me about wild flowers, birds and wildlife things in general. That's where I have got my inspiration from.

I think how you are brought up is generally how you become who you are. Wildlife is fantastic and there's always something new to learn or find out, you could never known everything about wildlife.

My dad was also a top Chrysanthemum grower from the late 80's and early
90's.

My main interest is birds though I must admit that bird watching and walking the various habitat's most rewarding for me.

Anthony

[nikki cooper]

Hi All, I'm new to the forums. My Dad inspired me most i think. He was always dragging us off on leafy stomps through Headley Woods or on camping trips in remote farm fields. My other influence was The Woodcraft Folk, this is kind of a 'lefty' version of the Brownies except we learnt how to make nuclear bomb shelters and dig our own latrines! To get badges we had to learn about Tree species etc. I spent alot of time camping with them and learning about survival techniques. My mother-in-law got me hooked on gardening and this has evolved into a love of wildlife gardening and trying to work with the environment instead of against it. More recently, having children has inspired me to find out more.

[pressld2]

Lambert's Birds of Shore and Estuary arrived today and I've just spent a happy couple of hours looking through it. The paintings are every bit as beautiful as the ones in his Birds of Garden and Woodland. Plus I've always had a fondness for seabirds. As a kid I had all eight of the RSPB posters on my wall - the ones with the pale green backgrounds if any slightly less young WABers remember them - but the Sea and Estuary one was always my favourite.

Dave P.

[Mikeakabigman]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Lambert's Birds of Shore and Estuary arrived today and I've just spent a happy couple of hours looking through it. The paintings are every bit as beautiful as the ones in his Birds of Garden and Woodland. Plus I've always had a fondness for seabirds. As a kid I had all eight of the RSPB posters on my wall - the ones with the pale green backgrounds if any slightly less young WABers remember them - but the Sea and Estuary one was always my favourite.

Dave P.

Glad you got the book ok and are enjoying it, I must get that one myself, I'll pass on your comments next time Terry and I cross paths.

So the artistry is in the genes then Mike !

I think his black and white study of a barn owl is a masterpiece

Funnily enough its only Tej and I from our generation that showed any interest in the arts, though my children are very artistic and several of my grandchildren seem to be coming along nicely in that direction.

Not sure I've seen the Barn owl David, where is that ?

[cybershot]

"Barnowl Dusk" (ink on scraper board) showing on this site Mike:

Terence Lambert Wildlife Artist

David

[Wightman]

I was brought up on a council estate in Feltham, Middlesex, my family and friends had little or no interest in nature, but for as long as I can remember I've been keen on nature. I can't think of anyone or anything that inspired me. Maybe in some of us its just inbuilt

[geordie1970]

It pains me say it but Birds eggs got me interested in Wildlife my dad used to take me when I was young.It was a common thing in those days living in the "sticks" I can remember when I was about 11 years old and I saw grown men taking the whole clutch from a sedge warblers nest and it seemed so wrong from then on I never looked for another nest and frowned upon friends who did.Occasionally nowadays I will look for a nest area purely so I know when I am likely to see a particular bird but not so close as to disturb it.

[wl-man]

i always have been into wildlife i just find it very intresting

[Sophia]

without a doubt it's my father who inspired me

[Bushcraft]

My mum and granddad for me. My granddad sparked me off on wild food when I was 4 and that lead to bushcraft and all kinds of other things so I have him to thank for a lot of what I do today.

Kris

[Peregrinus]

As a child I was always mucking about in the woods building camps and making huge fires, or catching frogs and stuff at the local pond, though I never really got interested in wildlife and particularly birds until my first year at secondary school. I was what they would term, one of the disruptive ones at school, and was forever being sent to see the head of year. She introduced me to a wildlife group that would go on walks etc every Saturday morning. This was what spurred my interest. I became quite enthralled in birds and would regularly go bird watching, and more often than not I had my bins with me. I was a member of the BTO, and the RSPB and used to go to reserves and stuff. So, in short, it was a lady called Mrs Knights that got me interested. As I got older I forgot all about birds and wildlife, but recently have again become interested and have set up my own forum on Birds of Prey.

[hannahpanda]

My family moved to the countryside when i was 7, so since then really, growing up building tree houses, running around in fields, finding duck nests and seeing their eggs, eating wild blackberrys in the fields. Just being surrounded by the countryside and seeing the wildlife and variety of species it contains has inspired me.
And.. David Attenborough

[Pink Hippo]

My Grandparents definitely inspired my interest in wildlife.

They seemed to have an effortless understanding of all the trees, animals and birds around us and I am still amazed at the lack of knowledge of my work colleagues and my husband's children, despite their obvious interest.

It seems not everyone was as fortunate as I was in having such a constant and comprehensive source of information and inspiration. *wistful smile* lol

[stripee]

My father's side of the family all loved trees and wildlife. I have been interested in it since very small

[Rob T]

As a small boy my back garden fence, or rather what was left of it led on to 50 sq. miles of wild countryside where I spent every waking hour, rain or shine.
Poor old Mum could only just manage to point out a blackbird (crows rooks and jackdaws were all blackbirds), but Dad more than made up for that he never failed to answer a question about country life. Pretty good poacher and fisherman to.
School never touched on wildlife, not once in twelve years. Oh !! . . . we did read wind in the willows, but Johnny Morris (zoo time), Jack Hargreaves (out of town) and Oliver Kite, (the programe title escapes me) were good stand ins for my townie teachers.

Rob

[SweetRocket]

My inspiration came from someone I met during the last five years who totally changed the way I garden.
I certainly didn't get any inspiration from any of the gardening programmes I had been viewing for almost 25 years and the advice I followed from watching these programmes was to destroy any wildlife that dared to attack my precious plants. What a load of old rubbish that advice was, I have a beautiful garden now packed out with beautiful flowers in summer and full of nectar for the wildlife that now care to visit. It's their garden as well as mine and we all live very happily together

[greenie]

Hello!

In Canada, there is an scientist/environmentalist called David Suzuki, and he has inspired me from day 1. Growing up in British Columbia, watching him on the CBC really helped instill a respect for nature. My first National Geographic subscription from my Grandad heloped, too.

[Madelinew]

Mine was a gradual awakening I think and really took off when I was about 11 years old and moved to an area of Luton facing open country. I was always rescuing animals and my local vet was extremely tolerant of the injured beatsies I brought in ranging from Hedgehogs, baby hares, blackbirds and most fascinating and smelly of all, a Mole. Boy did he stink. Whenever I see a Mole on the telly now, I have to pass comment on how much they smell - it's a very engine oil type of smell. And BTW I now recognise and despatch serious injuries myself now or leave nature to it's course unless it's something that does need rescuing. My Mum still remembers the flea infestations......

Mum had a bird book I was constantly looking at and I've been a covert birder ever since. I 'came out' about my birding hobby when Bill Oddie made it acceptable with the advent of Springwatch. 30 years after I'd started so that was some secret!

I now have a garden with loads of feeding stations and 2 wildlife ponds and am endeavoring to engage my children - with mixed results.

I tend to be quite philosophical about nature nowadays avoiding labelling animals as good or bad just for doing what they do naturally. And my husband wasn't terribly impressed when I went through a phase of cooking roadkill so I suppose you could say that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall may not be my best influence!

If anyone did influence my love of nature, it was when I read a copy of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. I was and still am very envious of the lifestyle and freedom he had at that stage in his life. And David Attenborough is God.

[tufftie]

My parents always loved wildlife and were always pointing things out to me but I think I really became addicted when I started going to the Saturday Cub at the Natural History Museum. I think Len Moore was an inspiration to all who went there!

[davetee]

Just started this year for me after seeing some of Andy Rouse's pics.

[dunlin]

My nan & grandad bought me a bird book and some plastic binoculars in 1970 they must have realised i had an interest in birds. I think it must have been the first book i read from cover to cover and ive never looked back since.
the book was (the observers book of british birds).........

[Susie]

Both my parents are interested in the natural world. Although their interests were more towards geology they always had a beautiful garden and they took great pleasure in the birds that came to visit it. I had a patch of garden from the time I was tiny and I was always collecting creepy crawlies and things of interest when I was out and about.

Although I always enjoyed gardening it wasn't until I met the same friend as Sweetrocket mentions that I caught the wildlife bug. Now I garden for wildlife, join in conservation work days at my local country parks and enjoy nature photography as well as birdwatching and moffing occasionally.

I am happily passing the wildlife bug on to other people. It's contageous, y'know.

[Peter_Naylor]

For me it was my dad. We use to sit at the window, watching a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers that came back to a particular tree in our garden. We would watch them for hours and i would never tire of it. The only thing i wish i had done then was take a picture in the way i do now, but it was those two who got my interest in the world around me going.

[zan]

I find it really hard to pinpoint exactly, but there are a few nudges I remember.... I grew up in Glasgow and spent a week of every year of my childhood going up to stay in holiday cabins at Loch Awe side in October where I'd go walking, brambling, fishing and exploring with my parents and younger sister. I think that probably helped sparked my curiosity with the outdoors in general, although it was probably then down to the BBC and the legendary David Attenborough

One of my clearest memories of becoming interested in the sea and underwater life is of watching a David Attenborough program about a tropical coral reef ecosystem when I was about 7 or 8. I've never seen anything else as accessible as the BBC wildlife series (except maybe the Really Wild Show!) and that has had a huge influence on me. I've wanted to be a marine biologist and a diver for as long as I can remember, and now I'm here I can't imagine doing anything else.

Finally, as far as photography goes, I think Doug Allan was probably the first photographer\filmmaker I paid attention to following the Blue Planet series, although I try to take inspiration from most photos I see published or from competitions. Hope this isn't too rambling, but it's the most organised I can make the jumble of vague memories I've got!

[Al Hyde]

I think like many here my love of wildlife was inborn. But I do remember becoming obsessed with reptiles when my older brother showed me a Sand Lizard. Next thing I was peddling off every school holiday to chobham comman catching lizards and snakes. At about age 13 I became interested in Raptors too after seeing a falconry display, the peregrines stoop sent shivers down my spine and lifted every hair on my body , even writing this I get a shiver.

Another recent inspiration is a wonderful friend that I met while out photographing herps. His name is Frank Blackburn , and he taught me how to photograph birds