Snowdon Lily in the Dolomites - Jessica Turner

When and how did your interest in wildlife begin?

It’s been a life-long interest; my parents were keen birdwatchers and naturalists, and I was brought up learning to observe the world around – and I never rebelled!

When and where was your first tour leading assignment for Naturetrek?

I started holidaying with Naturetrek as a client in 2000, on a trip to Lesbos. I did a few more European trips and then was invited to consider leading. My first trip as a leader was to Sicily in 2007.

What is, or was, your ‘day job’?

I started with teaching Biology, but I have been a Church of England priest since 1994, mainly working in Healthcare Chaplaincy. Nowadays, I help out in our parish and am also one of Naturetrek’s proof-readers, checking the trip reports before they’re published.

What other interests do you have outside of wildlife?

Faith is obviously important; I also enjoy reading, walking and my garden, although travelling is not good for the latter! I help at our local Food Bank, collecting surplus food from wholesalers and supermarkets and distributing it to charities.

What current conservation projects or issues most interest or concern you?

There are so many ways in which we damage or destroy our wonderful world, through waste, especially plastics, climate change and habitat destruction for development etc, without regard for the long-term consequences; we’re only just beginning to realise what we’re doing.

Do you have a favourite bird, mammal or plant?

A hard one! Probably Yellow Wood Violet for the flower – I see it in the Dolomites and sometimes in Norway and I love its understated cheerfulness. For the bird, maybe Wallcreeper, and for the mammal, European Otter – but ask me another time and the list might be different! And this year, with lockdown, I rediscovered the beauty of a Bluebell wood in spring.

What is your most memorable wildlife encounter to date?

Another hard one! Maybe one of the encounters I’ve had with Otter in the west of Scotland – an area I love; but the beauty of alpine flowers in the Dolomites, or the year a pack of Wolves made their creche in the valley in Abruzzo, so we could watch the youngsters regularly, as well as scanning for Bears, would come a close second.

What do you enjoy most about leading wildlife tours?

I love sharing my enthusiasm for nature with other people.

What new destination would you most like to travel to next?

The list is long, but the Pacific north-west and Chile are up there.

What are you reading at the moment?

I usually have several books on the go at once, among them The Seafarers – a journey among birds by Stephen Rutt, The Wood by John Lewis-Stempel, and Not in God’s Name by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, – and a P.D. James novel.

Which three people would you invite to dinner?

I would invite Nan Shepherd, who wrote an amazing book about the Cairngorms, The Living Mountain, in the 1940s (but not published until 1977), Oliver Rackham, a botanist who has written extensively about landscape history and ancient woodlands, and the recently retired Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. 

What tours are you due to lead in 2020/21?

I lead quite a number of trips to European destinations, among them the Canary Islands, Sicily, Abruzzo and the Dolomites.