Biological Recording Company

Dave Smallshire was an agri-environment adviser to farmers and the government before taking early retirement in 2006. He’s been an avid birdwatcher for nearly 60 years, travelling extensively in Europe and Africa, with visits to several parts of North, Central & South America and Asia. Although a competent all-round naturalist, his early career as an agricultural entomologist led to an interest in butterflies and dragonflies some 40 years ago; the latter have taken up increasing amounts of his time in recent years. He is a member of the Dragonfly Conservation Group of the British Dragonfly Society and is a former trustee of the charity. He’s led countless dragonfly training events, which resulted in co-authoring (with Andy Swash) the highly-acclaimed field guide, 'Britain's Dragonflies'. He has pioneered dragonfly-watching holidays to countries such as Bulgaria, France, Turkey, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, South Africa and Sri Lanka. He is heavily engaged in bird, dragonfly and other ecological surveys and conservation in Devon, UK, where he’s lived for 36 years, but above all else, he loves to find and show people wildlife, preferably in exotic places!