James Fair

James spent 18 years as a writer and commissioning editor at BBC Wildlife Magazine. In his time there, he interviewed most of the prominent personalities in the field of wildlife conservation, including David Attenborough, Chris Packham, Jane Goodall, Bill Oddie and Kate Humble.

As travel editor of BBC Wildlife, James researched and wrote supplements on Sri Lanka, Tasmania and the Cayman Islands, and specialised in writing about places and species of conservation significance.

He travelled to Gabon to write about western lowland gorillas and southern Spain to report on efforts to save the Iberian lynx, the world’s rarest big cat.

James’ first travel experience was backpacking across India and Nepal after leaving school, including a trek up the Kali Gandaki gorge.

He started out in business and political journalism, but began writing about wildlife after working and travelling in South America in the mid-1990s. During that time, he ran a small cloudforest reserve, then later worked on an Andean bear study project.

In 1999, he joined the staff of BBC Wildlife Magazine, where he wrote and commissioned travel and conservation features, before going freelance in 2018.

He still writes regularly for BBC Wildlife and BBC Countryfile Magazines, mongabay.com, the ENDS Report and numerous other publications.

He now lives in the Cotswolds with his partner and two children and writes mainly about British wildlife.

To kayak with humpback whales off Vancouver Island, watch jaguars hunting in the Pantanal and mountain bike across the Scottish Highlands.