Dr Derek Spooner has and MA and a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge, and was Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Hull. He is actively involved in nature conservation and wildlife recording, and was a founder member of the Friends of Kilminorth Woods in Looe. He is a volunteer with the Looe Marine Conservation Group, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Looe Island seal surveys, and contributes regularly to bird surveys in south-east Cornwall for the British Trust for Ornithology. He is a member of the Cornwall Mammal Group, the Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society, and Cornwall Butterfly Conservation.