Martyn Williams

From the age of 8 years old Martyn Williams looked after his primary school's European Green Lizards and was hooked on animals and nature from then on. On leaving school, after a short period in the Merchant Navy, he eventually went on to become a zookeeper at the Cotswold Wildlife Park where he stayed for 12 years and left as Head Keeper. He spent the next 10 years at Drusillas Zoo Park as curator and general manager and saw through major development which gained the zoo an international reputation as one of the most successful small zoos in the world. Throughout his time he cared for many species of animal from White Rhinos to Leaf-cutting Ants, he specialised in breeding and rearing the Humboldt Penguin perhaps the rarest species of Penguin in the world. 

Martyn set up his own consultancy after 10 years at Drusillas for advising zoos, wildlife centres and private and local authority collections on animal husbandry, enclosure design, staff training and educational interpretation, as well as teaching as a visiting lecturer at Brighton University on conservation and heritage management.

In 2003 he moved to the region of Brittany in France and renovated a 17th-century house, apartment and barn and on completion started running nature tours in Brittany, Portugal and in other areas in Europe. Martyn also continues to do some ecological consultancy work in the UK mainly for the conservation, breeding, re-introduction and mitigation of Water voles and has worked on many projects all over the country for the " Derek Gow Consultancy ". In Brittany, he is a member of and volunteer for a local bat group and bat museum and also a member of the region's conservation organisation.