A
passion for nature  |
Mike Dilger has been an obsessive naturalist since
childhood. He's equally happy on his
hands and knees identifying British orchids or surveying the Ecuadorian cloud
forests for tropical hummingbirds. | | Mike Dilger
out and about |
Close
to nature  Having
graduated from a Master's degree in Ecology, Mike Dilger's obsession with the
tropics began with his thesis studying moths in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest.
This
first trip led to a period of over five years surveying the forests of Vietnam,
Tanzania and Peru. After having spent long periods in the back-of-beyond
and accumulated along the way an impressive array of diseases such as malaria
and leishmaniasis, Mike needed to recuperate. He decided to return back
to Britain to reacquaint himself with his first passion, British wildlife. Moving
sideways from conservation to natural history television, Mike presented two natural
history specials and a six part series for Channel 5, which were transmitted between
2000 and 2002. For the last 3 years Mike has worked at the world famous
±«Óãtv Natural History Unit in Bristol. Projects have included working as
an on-screen contributor for 'Britain Goes Wild', the 'Springwatch Squad' Reporter
for 'Springwatch with Bill Oddie' and as presenter for 'Wild Underground' on ±«Óãtv
Radio 4. He's also contributed to a number of items for the ±«Óãtv1 regional
programme 'Inside Out'. Birds to botany
 Even
when pushed, Mike struggles to stick his neck out as to whether he prefers birding
or botanising. In addition, he confesses he has recently been trying to
see every single species of Dragonfly in Britain and only has a couple to go!
A hugely sociable and friendly fellow, Mike would describe his ideal Saturday
as spending the day visiting a new nature reserve, back in time to hear the football
scores and rounding off the day with a couple of pints of Guinness! Photos
of Mike Dilger courtesy of Richard Taylor-Jones. Meet the Nature's Calendar
team: Chris
Packham
Sanjida
O'Connell
Janet
Sumner
Meet the web team:
Sue
Wilkinson | 
