After growing up in the Home Counties, David is now based in Somerset close to some of the UKs most diverse habitats on the Levels and the Mendips. He has been a lifelong naturalist and for more than 35 years has worked as a survey entomologist specialising in Hymenoptera (Bees and Wasps) and Diptera (True Flies – especially Beeflies and Pipunculidae) but has always taken a deep interest in most other insect groups as well as birds and plants, travelling the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland in search of them.
Overseas David has travelled widely, and while the focus of such trips was often birds, always taking an interest in all aspects of the fauna and flora encountered. Over the years this has included most countries around the Mediterranean as well as trips to Macaronesia, Scandinavia, Poland and Bulgaria. Away from Europe, David has visited most continents with several trips to the South and Central America, Africa and especially South and Southeast Asia and Australasia. Indonesia and New Guinea became particularly favourite destinations while contributing to the filming of Birds of Paradise in Halmahera and West Papua, returning to the area many times in search of birds, butterflies and orchids.
On a trip to the Solomon Islands, David rediscovered several birds not seen for many decades and feared possibly extinct, as well as finding a species new for science. In the last couple of decades, while birds remain a great interest, mammals, herptiles, flora and lepidoptera have become more predominant, notably in Vietnam, Northern India, Madagascar, Sichuan, Colombia, South Africa, Chile and several European destinations.
