Anneliese Emmans Dean was one of our first authors of children’s books. We published her first book Buzzing! in April 2012, which won the NS Teachers’ Book Award and was shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize.

Anneliese was full of enthusiasm for the natural world and could capture an audience easily, especially a young audience, with her poetry readings, full of charm and humour as they were. Sadly Anneliese died of cancer in May 2022. Yet her legacy continues. Many of her nature and poetry videos are available on the internet. Both her books are promoted on our website.

Anneliese grew up in York and studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University. She worked as a translator for the Oxford English Dictionary and as an editor of academic and educational books. As she remarked, she had written poems (mostly fun; some more serious) for children and adults for as long as she could remember. Since 2007, she had been performing her poems nationwide in live multi-media shows at festivals and schools. Her work had been broadcast nationally and internationally on BBC radio channels, and she appeared regularly on Radio York. She also wrote song lyrics and produced ‘Eco-musicals’ to make us aware of pressing environmental issues. Her work and performances have won various awards.

Edward Giles has always been excited about anything feathered, living on water and with webbed feet. At the age of thirteen, he was lucky enough to start his own collection of waterfowl at his home in Shropshire. Six years later, after graduating from university, he planned to write a hook to enthuse and encourage others of the same age to start to enjoy wildlife, such as birds, and especially waterfowl. Early on he would seek advice and help from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and later, in return, would run marathons in aid of WWT’s various projects.

Professor Richard ffrench-Constant, FRS was born in Nairobi, Kenya whilst his father was posted there as a doctor with the RAF. Although he is now a professional molecular entomologist at the University of Exeter, his first love has always been the animals of Kenya. He is now leading field courses to Kenya and regularly visits Amboseli National Park, the setting of his book for children about climate change and conservation, The Elephant and the Mountain. By telling the angling story of young Harry in his second book, The Boy and the Trout, he hopes to encourage all children, including his own, to go outdoors and discover the natural world.

Dr Deirdre Shirreffs has always loved wild flowers, her mother teaching her the names of the plants as a small child. This eventually led her to take up botany at Aberdeen University, followed by a PhD in botany and later teaching the subject at schools and universities.

James Hanlon was born in South London in 1974 and grew up in East Ham, where very early on he developed a keen interest in wildlife, regularly going out bird watching by the age of 10. By his mid-teens, he had established himself as a keen `twitcher’, contributing illustrations and photographs to a number of rare bird publications. After graduating in Zoology at Bangor University, he went backpacking to New Zealand, Australia and Bali. On returning to the UK, Hanlon resumed his birding activities and soon decided to try to record 500 bird species by his 30th birthday at the end of 2004.

Adrian M. Riley is an acclaimed naturalist, author and wildlife tour leader whose passion for the natural world began in his Shropshire childhood and has shaped his life’s work ever since. Adrian’s early fascination for butterflies and moths led to a distinguished career as a professional entomologist at the world-renowned Rothamsted Research station in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. His involvement with the Institute continues to this day and now spans the better part of 50 years. He also contributes to the work of the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology. Formerly, he was a Trustee for the Norfolk Ornithologists’ Association and an Assistant Editor for the journal The Entomologist.

Already as a child Andrew Fallan was a keen birdwatcher, growing up in south-east Essex, and going on bike trips with his brother. This hobby remains strong despite many of life’s diversions and when he eventually met his true love `Panda’ she joined him on many a fantastic birding trip around the green and pleasant British countryside.

Pete Howard grew up in South Wales where an early love of fishing and hill-walking soon developed into a more all-embracing passion for natural history. Having studied science at ‘A’ level, he then decided to read for a degree in the History of Ideas at university. After working at various times as an English tutor, Press monitor, photographer and warehouse manager, he volunteered for many years service in nature conservation (with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), Wildlife Trusts and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), eventually becoming an RSPB Warden and Wildlife Surveyor in Cumbria, Northumberland, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

The author Bo Beolens, to many likeminded birders and twitchers also known as the ‘Fat Birder’ or the ‘Grumpy Old Birder’, was born in Brighton, UK, in 1949. He grew up in Kent in the south-east corner of England and was introduced to birding by his late father. He has lived in Scotland, Lancashire, Buckinghamshire and London pursuing a career as the Director of various charities before moving back to Kent in 1995. His interest in birds led Bo to travel the world, either under his own direction or accompanied by his wife Maggie. Bo is known worldwide for his various informative websites, such as www.fatbirder.com, an attempt to put as many birders in touch with each other throughout the world as possible to encourage friendship and conservation.

After completing a degree in Economics and Politics, and working as a clerical officer for the NHS, Richard Kipling decided to follow his interest in natural history and volunteered for the National Trust in Shropshire before studying Countryside Conservation at Aberystwyth University, ultimately gaining a PhD in Pollination Ecology. Subsequently, he worked as a field assistant on Skomer Island with the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales, was then lecturer at Aberystwyth University and presently is Head of Research of the Sustainable Food Trust.