Alderney's Summer Wildlife

John Horton is the warden of the British Isles' newest bird observatory on Alderney, and he featured on BBC Countryfile in this role in the spring of 2016. Whilst birdwatching is John's forte, since moving to Alderney he has become a proficient all rounder with regards to the fauna and flora and has discovered species of birds, insects, flowers and mammals never before recorded on the island. Prior to his current role, he was a wildlife crime investigator for the Metropolitan police for 15yrs before discovering Alderney and making it his home. He recently represented the British bird observatories delivering a presentation at the 2019 International bird observatories council AGM in Eilat, Israel. He is sponsored by Zeiss optics and features as the Channel Islands representative on the Zeiss website nature blog. He is ​the Alderney Bird Recorder, a member of the Bailiwick Islands rare birds panel and ​in 2021 became the chairman of the Channel Islands bird ringing scheme. John's most memorable wildlife moments are sitting amongst a family of Mountain Gorillas in the African Congo and the ringing of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in South West India on Valentines Day in 1989. John loves leading our ​tours on Alderney ​and ​its neighbouring islands and derives great pleasure from playing his part in bringing attention to this wonderful wildlife haven.