Mike Robinson

Mike RobinsonMike Robinson lives in a large house with spacious garden on the edge of England's beautiful Lake District with his wife Anne and family.

He has been interested in all things wild as long as he can remember, particularly Birds and Mammals. He has to admit that in the early days he collected eggs and that was how his interest in Birds started. He also used to fish and shoot but is not so keen on the latter nowadays. However for many years business and indeed sport took precedence. Wildlife was just for spare time and holidays. Release from business came in 1997 and he was able to turn his interest (which was rapidly becoming an obsession) into business when he started North West Birds, offering small guided residential birding breaks from his own home. He also leads birdwatching trips abroad for other major birdwatching companies.

Mike and Anne have done a number of safaris to Africa loving the outdoor life. However Mike admits that he is an inveterate 'lister' and mostly motivated by targets. Each trip was planned solely with particular animals in mind. He has tracked down every antelope south of the Zambezi for example. In UK terms he admits to twitching a fair bit and has seen all of UK's 'normal' Birds- it is just a question of picking off the vagrants as they arrive and he can get away. Except for one species he has seen all birds with more than 100 records in UK with his UK list reaching 509. He has now completed all Britain’s indigenous (native and introduced) Land Mammals, Bats, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Reptiles & Amphibians. The Sea Mammals may be more difficult but he already has a fair list to start with.

Mike recognises that these hobbies are not very'green' - most unusual Birds seem to turn up on the very extremities of the country and so last year alone he ended up by visiting all corners of the UK as well as 6 islands! His annual mileage is normally of the order of 40,000. However the upside is that he has collected a huge array of contacts and sites where to see specific Birds and Animals. He goes on the basis that for almost anything someone somewhere knows how and where to see it - it is just a matter of perseverance.

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