Directors

British Birds is owned and published by BB 2000 Ltd, the Directors of which are Chris Spooner, Dawn Balmer, Paul Marshall, Phil Wollen, Rob Sheldon (Chair), and Roger Safford.  All BB 2000 Directors are unpaid volunteers.

Chris Spooner

Chris lives in Hampshire and is the Treasurer and a Trustee of the African Bird Club. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales he retired from full time employment in 2012 and now spends more time travelling and getting involved with various conservation charities. A BB subscriber since 1973 he was delighted to be asked to join the board and get involved in his favourite birding publication.

Dawn Balmer

Dawn Balmer lives in the Brecks in Norfolk and is a keen birder and ringer and enjoys local birding as well as the occasional twitch farther afield. She has worked for the BTO since 1992 on a wide range of census, fieldwork, ringing and online bird recording projects. She was the Atlas Coordinator for the Bird Atlas 2007–11 project and is now Head of Surveys. Dawn also represents BTO on the Rare Breeding Birds Panel. In her spare time, she is on the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee, a Trustee of the Eric Hosking Charitable Trust and writes regularly for British Wildlife.

Paul Marshall

Paul joined the British Birds board in February 2021 as ‘Digital Champion’. A birder since he could hold a pair of binoculars, Paul has a love of wild places and when it comes to birding a particular fondness for all things migration, seabirds and wetlands. He considers himself fortunate to have always worked with wildlife. Starting in environmental conservation, then moving to the travel industry where he spent time working as a tour guide and developing his digital skills, before settling in the charity sector. He currently works for WWT in a communications and marketing role, where he combines his passion for the environment and digital skills to encourage others to connect with and understand the importance of nature.

Phil Wollen

Phil started birding age seven when his parents bought him his first pair of binoculars. A lifelong birder and reader of British Birds he used to eagerly await the latest edition to arrive in the library at Manchester University where he studied. After getting a degree in biology with a third-year specialisation in ornithology, he embarked on a career in industrial effluent treatment. After taking an open University Diploma in Business management he became a director and company secretary of the company he helped run for 33 years before taking early retirement in 2018. Work took him to many countries, and he always managed to combine some birding with work trips. A bird ringer with a training endorsement Phil is also secretary of Hilbre Bird Observatory.

Rob Sheldon (Chair)

Rob Sheldon is a lifelong birder and has worked in conservation for 30 years, including for the RSPB, ZSL and as a freelance consultant. He is currently based in south-west Saudi Arabia working as the Nature and Ecosystem Director for Soudah Development. Since 2008 he's been a Council member of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME), including the last 10 years as Chairman.

Roger Safford

Roger Safford has been watching birds all his life and now does so mainly around his home on the Scottish coast. For 35 years since graduating he has been involved in bird conservation world-wide, since 2000 working for BirdLife International including ten years as coordinator of its Preventing Extinctions Programme. He was lead author of the Birds of Africa volume on the Malagasy Region, and an accompanying Helm field guide.