Keith Blomerley

Bedfordshire, UK

Keith was born in Manchester and has been interested in birds since carrying out a primary school project at age 7. This interest was continued and nurtured by joining the Young Ornithologists Club. When aged 18, and in possession of a driving licence and proper field guide, the world of birding really opened up. The passion for birds and habitats led him to a career as a warden with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which ran from 1988 to 1997. He then moved up to the RSPB headquarters in Bedfordshire and joined the Information Systems department, where he is currently a project manager.

It was the move to RSPB HQ that opened up the opportunity for joining trips abroad, and after being invited to Borneo he decided to purchase a camcorder (Panasonic DS150B) to capture some of the once-in-a-lifetime images. This then led to a desire to obtain footage of as many species as possible. Trips to Borneo, Lesvos, Ethiopia, Uganda, Peru, Australia, South Africa and Nepal have led to a wealth of opportunity for him. He uses a shoulder-pod rather than tripod, which means an element of shake on the footage, but he says that this allows the filming to fit in with a normal birding trip, and for rapid deployment when something mega pops up.
IBC Personal statistics:

• First material posted on 31 January 2005
• Number of videos posted: 1586 covering 1254 species (12.62%)
• Number of photos posted: 0 covering 0 species (0%)
• Number of sounds posted: 36 covering 32 species (0.32%)