| Norfolk Nature is the brainchild of Simon Harrap, a photographer and freelance tour-leader with almost 25 years experience covering seven continents. The Norfolk Nature website is designed to give details of Norfolk Nature Tours, a series of relaxed and informative walks and workshops led by Simon Harrap that explore the wealth of wildlife to be found in Norfolk, and to showcase Simon's photography. | |
| Simon has been leading bird-watching tours since 1987 for Birdquest, one of the most highly respected bird tour operators in the World, and in recent years he has taken many groups to the Philippines, Borneo, Malaya, India, Nepal, Madagascar and South Africa, amongst other destinations; for details of Simon's forthcoming tours, click here or see www.birdquest.co.uk. He has also written extensively on birds, most notably Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers (a guide to all the members of these attractive families), the RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds and, together with co-author Nigel Redman, Where to Watch Birds in Britain. |  |
| Simon also has a passionate interest in other aspects of natural history, especially botany. Together with Anne Harrap he authored the best-selling Orchids of Britain and Ireland: A Field and Site Guide. Most recently he has written and published Flowers of the Norfolk Coast and Flowers of the Norfolk Broads and he is currently working on a guide to the wild flowers of Britain and Ireland. Resident in Norfolk for almsot 25 years, he has recently retired as Chairman of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society (www.nnns.org.uk). A committed conservationist, Simon is secretary of the Trustees of Holt Lowes, one of the most important heathland sites in Norfolk and the venue for several Norfolk Nature Walks - see www.holtlowes.org.uk. As a Trustee, he both works with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust in planning the management of the Lowes and organises a group of volunteers that get stuck in to active, hands-on management. | |
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Simon is also an accomplished photographer. He illustrated Orchids of Britain and Ireland, taking all but a handful of the 370 photographs, and has published many other photographs of flowers, birds and other natural history subjects. He aims to champion the cause of wild flower conservation by showing them in all their beauty, both in crisp, clear portraits for his field guides and in more evocative shots that give a sense of time and place |
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