Matthew Capper

When and how did your interest in wildlife begin?

I can’t remember not being interested in wildlife to be honest. I was lucky enough to have a number of people who influenced and inspired me. My father was a gamekeeper at Woburn Abbey and then Burleigh House and my childhood was full of beating on the local shoot, fishing and wildlife walks. He was also generous with his time in supporting my interests: becoming a leader of a local Young Ornithologists’ Club (YOC) group and the village Scout troop. David Needham, a friend of the family, was the man who signed me up to the YOC and provided advice to my parents on a succession of Christmas presents that brought me my own binoculars, telescope and camera. Tim Appleton was something of a mentor during my teens, when I used to volunteer at Rutland Water on the nature reserve and for the Birdfair that he co-founded. He was the one who made me decide I wanted to manage a nature reserve one day and it has been a real bright spot in recent times that he and I have been collaborating in leading the Rutland Water Day Trips.

When and where did you lead your first tour for Naturetrek?

I love birding in Florida and have had the good fortune of visiting many times over the years. I also had the pleasure, for a year or so, of sitting at the next desk to my good friend and longstanding Naturetrek leader Tim Melling, when we worked together for the RSPB. One day he received an email from Naturetrek’s General Manager Andy Tucker asking for interest amongst the leaders to lead a tour to Florida. Knowing my previous experience there, Tim immediately thought of me and kindly asked if I’d like him to put my name forward as he thought I’d make a great leader. Thanks to Tim’s recommendation, within a few days I had the leave booked and was planning the itinerary! That first tour was in early 2019 and was a great success – crisscrossing the state and seeing a wonderful variety of wildlife such as manatees, crocodiles, alligators, Painted Bunting, Snail Kite, Limpkin, Burrowing Owl and Scissor- tailed Flycatcher. If you want to escape the British winter, Florida is a must!

What is, or was, your day job?

What other interests do you have outside of wildlife?

In my younger years I was a half decent goalkeeper and wanted to be like Peter Shilton. He played for Nottingham Forest and that started my lifelong love of the reds. My first Forest top had European Cup Winners 1979/1980 on it but sadly it has been downhill ever since!

I love my photography too and try to take a mix of landscape and wildlife shots. Over the last couple of years, I’ve starting taking more shots of fungi. I love how photogenic they are and it’s been a great way to seek out and learn more different species.

My wife runs an RSPCA animal shelter so I often get roped into volunteering for her. I frequently come home to find another waif or stray has taken up temporary residence. If it ever seems like I have a slightly fuzzy outline, don’t worry, it’s just the pet hair!

What current conservation projects or issues most concern you?

At the moment, I’m really concerned about the lack of contact young people have with nature and the lack of access to green space. Over half of my generation had regular contact with the natural world and now that figure is less than 10%. If we are not careful, we are in danger of creating a lost generation who will not understand or care about the natural world.

As such, I do my best through my work to make nature accessible for families and young people and work hard with my education team to try and engage with as many school children in Lincolnshire as possible.

I think that we need to invest a lot more in local green space where people can walk, play and exercise but that also has common, abundant wildlife. Children need to touch and be able to immerse themselves in nature and we could easily create these spaces if we had the right backing and investment.

I’m no longer directly involved with shooting but I keenly follow the debate over its future. I was very involved in raptor protection for a number of years and one of my RSPB roles was conservation manager in an area with a high number of grouse moors. As such I would like to see an end to some of the more environmentally damaging aspects associated with the shooting industry and feel that tighter regulation has to happen at some point.

Do you have a favourite bird, mammal or plant?

What is your most memorable wildlife encounter to date?

I think the very best wildlife encounters always have an element of surprise and are often as much about the circumstances as the actual species. So, for that reason I’ll choose Capercaillie. I was with a couple of my best friends birding in the Highlands of Scotland and on the first morning we were walking through some pine woods looking for Crossbills. As we rounded the corner, a magnificent male Capercaillie was standing right in the middle of the track, just yards away. It was one of those moments when time just stopped – it stared at us and we stared at it. Eventually it sloped off into the undergrowth and we crept off back the way we had come. After we felt we had gone a safe distance, we exploded with delight and high fives all round. Even better, we followed it up a few minutes later by finding a couple of Parrot Crossbills. It was such a great start to what was one of my favourite ever birding trips. Partly for the company, partly the amazing wildlife and partly the stunning locations.

What do you enjoy most about leading tours?

I’ve been involved in public-facing work my whole career and so leading tours is a natural extension of what I do. Even when I’m out in my free time, I’m always the one giving directions, making sure everyone is on a bird or just chatting to people about what they’ve seen. There is nothing better than being able to share special wildlife moments with people and it is fair to say that combining talking and wildlife is pretty much my dream come true!

What are you reading at the moment?

It’s not very high brow but I just finished reading Peter Crouch’s How to be a Footballer. To be fair, I think for me that ship sailed a while back though!

Tim Birkhead was one of my lecturers at Sheffield University and is a legend in ornithological circles. It has taken far too long but I’m finally reading his book Bird Sense – What it’s Like to be a Bird. Full of fascinating facts and easy to read, I’d highly recommend it.

What new destinations would you like to visit next?

I love arctic and alpine environments and the absolute top of my bucket list is to see a Snow Leopard. To think that you now have a more than realistic chance of seeing what was until recently a near mythical creature is mind boggling. I will go at some point! Aside from that, I have a long-held ambition to explore the mountains and steppes of Kazakhstan and I do have a love of North America and its many landscapes and wildlife. It’s a continent that keeps drawing me back.