I currently live between Armidale, NSW and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Previously I lived in South Africa, in:

1. Cullinan, Gauteng (2013 - 2019)
2. Harrismith, Free State (2004 - 2003)
3. Pretoria, Gauteng (2001 - 2004)
4. Stellenbosch, Western Cape Province (1997 - 2001)

I am a prolific but slow reader, always with a pile of unfinished books. Currently my stack includes...

• The Great Railway Bazaar by the notable misanthrope Paul Theroux detailing his journey, mostly by rail, from London through West, South and East Asia and back across Siberia.

• Romola by George Elliot (Mary Anne Evans), which is her take on the Bonfire of the Vanities in late Renaissance Florence.

• The land before Avocado by Richard Glover, a laugh out loud perspective on social change in Australia since the 1970s.

• The Great Explorers by Samuel Eliot Morison, a history of pre-1600 European voyagers to North America (Cabot, Cartier, Verrazano, Frobisher, Columbus, Magellan, Drake).

• Australian Lizards: a natural history by Steve K Wilson, a superb volume on forms, habitats and habits of a miraculous fauna.

• The Hated Protector by Lyndsey Arkley, a history of paternalism, misunderstandings and massacres of indiginous Australians during the pastoral settlement of western Victoria, Australia.

• Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe...highly recommended to me but I am yet to make any headway with this one.

• Journeys to the Other Side of the World by David Attenborough - need I say more?

I am a zoologist, ecologist and population geneticist by training and a natural historian by choice. This means I am a passionate frogger, birdwatcher, butterflyfan, animal spotter, plantID nerd - with a particular interest in Eucalyptus

To understand our environment we must first be able to distinguish and identify species. Naming species does not conflict with aesthetic enjoyment. Without identification one breathtaking vista of forested hills, savanna or grassland, is much like another. To believe otherwise is to value ignorance and illiteracy over the deeper appreciation of knowledge and understanding.

When we understand landscapes, we read their history and geography.

As the Delphic Oracle advised, We know ourselves.

Like all natural historians I am continuously learning, honing my field skills.

I live in awe of the many people I know who carry thousands of animal and plant names, characters and distributions in their heads, for whom a glance is sufficient for ID. I'm similarly awed by those who quietly sit for hours in the cold, rain, wind and myriad discomforts to record the behaviour of species.

Frogs need great patience. Lizards, good perception and quick reflexes.

My twitter handle is Spookpadda