Welcome to my website, which has recently been updated, expanded, and enhanced. The website contains a selection of paintings, drawings, prints and books on the natural world, a subject that has fascinated me so much over the years. Since leaving the Berkshire College of Art and Design over fifty years ago, apart from six months with a design group, I have been a full-time, freelance illustrator, specialising mainly in insects and other invertebrates. I use the title Wildlife Illustrator to describe my work, though originally I used Biological Illustrator and also Scientific Illustrator. Whatever the title, my objective has always been to put the subjects first and to try to do full justice to the natural world that I've spent my life portraying. Having met and seen the work of my mentor Arthur Smith at the Natural History Museum in the early 1970's, I am also keen to keep alive the art of entomological illustration in combination with scientific accuracy, hopefully creating images expressing the full beauty and intricacies of nature.


In addition to those illustrations that appear on this website, I have a large number of other individual images, which may be used for publication or as prints for framing. If you would like more details on any of the subjects, please feel free to contact me.

Signed Mounted Prints

All prints, with the exception of proof-prints, are scanned from the original artworks and adjusted by me, so as to get the most accurate match to the original. Each one is individually printed, using pigmented inks, on high image definition paper, in particular, PermaJet Smooth Fine Art Paper. These prints should last for more than 80 years without fading, they are mounted using Castile Ivory blackcore mounting board. Because of this attention to detail the resulting prints are always of a higher quality and detail than mass produced images, and are of equal or better quality than expensive professionally produced Giclee prints.

Original Paintings

Although I regularly add new original paintings to the website, I've decided that I cannot keep all the artwork I've done over the years so I'm planning to offer more of it for sale. So, if there is a particular species you are interested in, I may well have a painting of it, as there are many illustrations I have that are not shown on this website.

Also ...

... on occasions in the past, some website enquiries have gone astray, so, if by chance you haven't heard from me after a couple of days of having emailed, please contact me by phone on 01235 848451.

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm f/4 IS PRO - (35mm equivalent 600mm)

I’m finally selling this fantastic lens as I no longer have any use for it. If you are a Micro Four Thirds user and photograph wildlife, including butterflies, dragonflies and birds, this lens, which focuses down to 1.4m, is the one to have.

Excellent condition £1,300 (r.r.p. £2,599)
Contact me for further details.

Pocket Guide to the Spiders of Great Britain

My interest in spiders has recently been renewed and I've been able to add to the illustrations I did many years ago, to complete this book. Published in January, this little guide has been very well received and I’m delighted with how it has been printed. I think it will fill a niche, which I hope will lead readers into a deeper interest into the fascinating lives of spiders. Some originals are for sale here.

The Birdfair is back!

Under its new name of Global Birdfair, and its successful relaunch in July 2022, the Birdfair took place again in July 2023 at the Rutland Showground, Oakham. It was a great success but very, very wet and muddy! In 2024 the event took place at Lyndon Top on the banks of Rutland Water. It was a great event, though it was felt that the Art Marquee wasn't very well positioned. I think the issue is being addressed by the organisers and I'm looking forward to next year's show at the same venue on 11th, 12th and 13th July 2025.


Pocket Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland

This is the latest book I've written and illustrated, with contributions from Professor Dave Goulson and Gill Perkins, founder and CEO of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (which receives a donation from all copies sold) respectively. It has been very well received and will make the tricky task of identifying our bumblebees much easier. Here's what one reviewer says :- 'For decades I used various bumblebee i/d leaflets, posters, magazine articles, books and online resources to attempt to identify bumblebees. I found none of them entirely satisfactory. But now we have by far the best guide of all.' For under a tenner I think it's great value. Click here for more details.

Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland: 2nd edition

For the last couple of years, Phil Sterling, Mark Parsons and I have been working on a major revision of the very successful ‘Micros' book, originally published (amazingly) 12 years ago. Much has happened since then, and now with 253 new species added, many new illustrations and an extra 112 pages, it really is a worthy and keenly anticipated revision, which we are all delighted with. Some original plates are still available.

Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland

First published in 2003, the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland is still going strong, having been revised and reprinted seven times in the past twenty years. Most of the plates have been sold but there are a few still remaining.

Field Guide to the Grasshoppers of Great Britain and Ireland

This book has been long in the making. Indeed, the artwork was completed about two years ago, but with health and other issues of the authors there has been a delay in the submission of the text. Hopefully, it will be completed very soon and will be published in 2025. In the meantime, I am selling the original artworks and they are included here, on my website, for the first time.

Field Studies Council – Dragonflies Guide

In 2023 the Field Studies Council asked to use my illustrations from Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland to produce a new chart. This is the 7th chart I've done for them and I'm always impressed with the printing and production, this one being particularly accurate.


Commissions

Of the commissions and publications that have given me the most pleasure in recent years, the sets of Royal Mail postage stamps are among my favourites, as I can be assured they are always going to be well reproduced when featured as First Day Covers and Presentation packs. Three of the sets were 'Butterflies' - July 2013, 'Bees' - August 2015 and 'Brilliant Bugs' - October 2020. The last of these, 'Brilliant Bugs', was a collaboration with Professor Helen Roy (who I worked with on the Field Guide to the Ladybirds of Great Britain and Ireland), and I was delighted when that set won the 'Favourites stamp set' of 2020.

More recently, 26th September 2024, my latest set of stamps featuring 'Spiders' was released, it seem to have been well received, apart from by a few Arachnophobes!





I was also honoured when, in 2016, I was commissioned by Butterfly Conservation to paint three Vanessid butterflies to mark the 90th birthday of their President, Sir David Attenborough.

Autumnwatch

In 2017, I appeared in an episode of Autumnwatch with my brother, Ian, which can be viewed here.


Atropos Article

The Summer 2011 issue of Atropos magazine has an article I wrote discussing the merits of artwork over photography for identification guides, from an illustrators point of view. Click here to view the article. It seems the illustrations are best viewed on a PC rather than an iPad, although I'm not sure why!


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