Norfolk in Winter

Brian was a teacher for 12 years and lives in Suffolk with his wife. He has guided tours since 2000, leading over 100 tours to 30 countries, including Malaysia, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Georgia and New Mexico. He has a special affinity with the birds and butterflies of Switzerland (walking on the glaciers with his dad from the age of 7) and Cape May on the New Jersey coast.

He is also a talented bird artist - examples of his work can be seen in the acclaimed Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW), and the Helm Field Guide Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean - and his current projects include work on two major new guides: the Birds of Southern Brazil and the Birds of Greater Southern Africa.

In his spare time at home, he concentrates on working his local patch at Southwold, Walberswick and the Blyth estuary on the Suffolk coast, searching especially for migrants and gulls.

Toby has been an avid birder, inspired by his father, since childhood, and spent his early years on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber estuary enjoying the thousands of wading birds in Winter, ringing migrants at RAF Donna Nook in the Autumn and day trips to RSPB Blacktoft Sands and Tetney Marshes in the Spring and Summer. After spending nearly 5 years as Assistant Warden at RSPB Saltholme, he is now the Warden of the RSPB's Lincolnshire Wash Reserves of Freiston Shore and Frampton Marsh. Toby has travelled extensively and enjoyed birding in North and Central America, Africa, Europe, Australia and South East Asia. As fantastically fun as this was, he never found anything to recreate the thrill and excitement of an east coast Autumn, UK birding at its best!