Biography

I was born in Sheffield, United Kingdom, and have lived here all my life.

My education started at Carrfield School and continued with 'O'-levels and 'A'-levels at Newfield School and evening classes for City & Guilds in Electrical and Electronic Craft Studies at Granville College (now Castle College). I studied at Sheffield City Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University) for my honours degree in Electronic Systems and Control Engineering, where I also received an award for excellence from The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers.

Since graduating I have worked for Tata Steel Europe (though previously known as British Steel and then Corus) at Swinden Technology Centre in Rotherham. At 25 years old, I qualified as a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and a Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a few years later as a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Over the years I have developed expertise in electrical, systems and control engineering as applied to reheating furnaces and rolling mills, as well as knowledge of computers and several programming languages. Today, my time is split between managing major R&D projects, the Long Product Development Facilities, which comprise pilot-scale melting furnaces, plate, bar and rod rolling mills, and occupational health and safety.

I have been a member of the RSPB (or YOC) for about thirty-five years. Until a few years ago I had always been an armchair birdwatcher - a condition, I am told, that many older birdwatchers hope to achieve. A few years ago I became a Life Fellow of the RSPB and a Life Member of both the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT). I have been taking part in the BTO's Garden Birdwatch since 1997 and also the Scarce Woodland Bird Survey, Breeding Bird Survey and Bird Atlas 2007-2011. I am a member and committee member of the Hope Valley Birdwatcher's Club in Hope Valley, Derbyshire. In 2005, I completed the Cornell University Home Study Course in Bird Biology - biology has always been one of my favourite subjects. I served as the BTO Regional Representative for Yorkshire Southwest and Yorkshire Southeast regions from 2007 until 2010.

My favourite local haunts - other than the garden - are my local patch, the National Trust's Clumber Park, Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts' Potteric Carr and RSPB Blacktoft Sands.