Jonathan Elphick

Jonathan Elphick is a freelance natural history writer, editor and consultant, who specialises in ornithology. He has a BSc in Zoology and is a Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

Born in 1945 and raised in the beautiful Dyffryn Clwyd (Vale of Clwyd), in North Wales, he now lives in London with his family. A passionate birdwatcher and general naturalist since early childhood, he has travelled extensively at home and abroad to study birds and other wildlife, and to promote conservation.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Over a period of more than 40 years, Jonathan has written, edited or been a consultant on over 100 books. These include an award-winning field guide, The Birdwatcher’s Handbook: A Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland (BBC Worldwide 2001), Birds: The Art of Ornithology (Scriptum Editions, in association with The Natural History Museum, 2004, with a facsimile mini-edition in 2008); Natural History Museum Atlas of Bird Migration; The National Parks and other Wild Places of Britain and Ireland , with photography by the one of the world’s leading wildlife photographers, David Tipling (New Holland, 2002) and, with John Woodward, the best-selling photoguide to the birds of Britain and Europe, RSPB Pocket Birds (Dorling Kindersley, 2003 and subsequent editions). His most recent book is Great Birds of Britain & Europe: 200 star species, with David Tipling as photo editor and contributor of many of the colour photographs, published by Duncan Baird Publishers in 2008. A facsimile edition of the plates of famous Victorian British ornithological publishing impresario John Gould’s second edition of A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans, originally published in 1854, together with Jonathan’s introductory essays and captions to the plates, was published by Taschen in October last year.

As consultant or editor, Jonathan has worked for a wide range of clients, including the Natural History Museum, Reader’s Digest Books, Dorling Kindersley and the BBC. He spent five years as Researcher on the best-selling Birds Britannica, an in-depth survey of the cultural importance of British birds, written by the renowned nature writer Mark Cocker, with photographs and picture research by the great wildlife photographer Chris Gomersall and published by Chatto & Windus in 2005.  His latest book, in  association with renowned Swedish ornithologists Jan Pedersen and Lars Svensson,  is Birdsong (Quadrille Publishing, London, 2012), a revolutionary new approach to presenting bird songs and calls, with a high-quality, easy-to-use sound module integrated with the text (written by Jonathan) and stunning images.

Jonathan has written many articles and book reviews for magazines, newspapers and other publications, and his many consultancy positions include that of Wildlife Expert on the Travel Panel of the Sunday Times Travel magazine.

He also regularly lectures at various venues, from local natural history and birdwatching societies and conservation organisations to the Natural History Museum.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Jonathan is currently engaged as Researcher with author Mark Cocker and photographic editor David Tipling on the huge Birds & People project, a groundbreaking initiative to survey and document the global cultural significance of birds. As with Birds Britannica, this draws on contributions from people from all walks of life – in this case, not just in the British Isles, but worldwide. It will culminate in a unique book that will represent a worldwide chorus of voices to celebrate, analyse and reflect on the multi-faceted relationships between humans and birds. Jonathan is also writing a major new book for the Natural History Museum and researching another, more personal one centred on the history of birds and their environment in North Wales.