His life as a photographer is recent. For 25 years he wrote children’s and YA books and performed in schools here and abroad. About 10 years ago, ee found himself moving away from fiction and towards nature. This began with returning wild swimming, which he had done all his life, but now with a new passion that led onto his book Dip. After that came the camera. A new hobby that quickly transformed into a completely new career. If someone had told him from a standing start 7 years ago, he would now be immersing himself in local woods and farms, nature reserves, collaborations with conservation groups, and that he would photograph curlews and hobbies in flight and catch the milky way reflected in Wildmoor Pool on the Longmynd; and if someone had told him that his photos would be published in books and the national papers – he would have said ‘no way’. This is unexpected and humbling.

He has found a new relationship with the landscape, with dusk, dawn and the night beyond; with the way light falls before sunrise and how it blooms sometimes after sunset into an intensity that appears miraculous. He has held a road-injured hawfinch in his hands, stalked the utterly rare Leucistic red kite in Shropshire and found, with help, where little owls perch by day. His current passion is photographing butterflies in flight. Of course, he loves the moments of success, when the world agrees here is something special, but he also has a concern that people might be moved by these pictures and for a second realise we have a lot to lose if we forget to care for nature. All his photos are taken in the wild and not in deer parks, paid for hides or set up locations. For him, there is real joy in developing relationships with farmers, conservation groups and landowners and working incredibly hard to find, observe and photograph wildlife without disturbance. The only exceptions are his garden bird feeding shots and nature reserves with bird hides. Links to Andrew’s recent publications in media: