Nature features

I have always been mad on wildlife. As a child lizards and snakes kept me captivated, not as pets, but to find them and watch them on heaths in Surrey. I never wanted to go home on family days out; I always wanted to stay on just a bit longer in case I could spot another lizard.

In my early teens, living just outside Richmond Park and with the River Thames close by, I became aware of the very exciting (to me at least) range of wetland and woodland birds living right on my doorstep. Learning to identify birds in my area over a couple of years and being able to recognise their songs and calls was a very rewarding experience and laid the foundation for my career in wildlife conservation.

Blue Tit by Tony House

Before joining the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust I had some very varied roles: Field Officer with BTCV, Warden at Muir Woods National Park, California USA, Warden at Coto Donana National Park, Spain and also Bird Surveyor for the Moroccan Department of Forestry. So I’m well travelled!

I started my career in BBOWT in the 1970s as the resident Warden of Warburg Nature Reserve in the Chilterns, near Henley-on-Thames, and was the first paid, full-time warden – a role I did for about 15 years. Warburg is a fantastic reserve – it's remote and tranquil (rare in the South East) and is rich in wildlife, from unusual orchids peppering the grasslands, to red kites wheeling overhead. It’s a place very close to my heart.

Eventually, I became Head of Reserves, managing the Reserves Team with responsibility for all of BBOWT’s 80 nature reserves across the three counties. After 15 years in this role, I have now moved on to an exciting new venture within the Trust, working on our landscape-scale conservation aspirations as Head of Acquisitions & Landscape Projects. Our aim is to create ‘Living Landscapes’ – to reconnect and recreate large areas for wildlife and people.

Robin by Robert Seber

International Dawn Chorus Day

Sunday 3 May marks The Wildlife Trust's ‘International Dawn Chorus Day’, an annual celebration of the world's oldest wake-up call and the beauty of bird song. Every year, since 1984, they’ve celebrated it with local people on the first Sunday of May. Around the world, people join in events and listen to the symphony of birds on their doorsteps – from South Carolina, USA and Sao Paulo, Brazil to Henley-on-Thames, closer to home.

This year, like last, The Wildlife Trusts are working with the BBC’s Breathing Places campaign to help make the International Dawn Chorus Day celebrations even bigger and better.

If you want to get out and celebrate birdsong this year, you can join staff, volunteers and members from BBOWT at a dawn chorus event. Or if you’re happier popping along to a nature reserve yourself to hear the cheerful birdsong, why not try some of BBOWT’s best sites for birds? Great places to visit include Warburg near Henley, Foxholes near Shipton-under-Wychwood, or Whitecross Green Wood near Bicester.

• See www.bbowt.org.uk for more details about all BBOWT events, or to find out about local nature reserves near you. 
• You can find out more about International Dawn Chorus Day at www.idcd.info, which lists events happening all over the world.