A
passion for nature  |
I've had a long-standing passion for wildlife and
the environment since my childhood.
I trained as a Town and Country Planner
before switching careers to journalism with the ±«Óãtv. I now produce TV websites.
| | Sue
Wilkinson welcomes you to ±«Óãtv Nature's Calendar |
Sue
Wilkinson welcomes you to your nature website...
 My
passion for nature can be traced back to my childhood living on the Merseyside
coast in North West England.
I remember being fascinated by the sand dunes
on Formby not far from where we lived - its pine woods also boasted a large population
of Red Squirrels.
Later on we moved to Cheshire and I can recall happy
days spent in Tatton and Lyme Parks watching the deer on those two huge country
estates. Email
me at naturescalendar@bbc.co.uk
After
university in Nottingham I developed an interest in urban wildlife, working as
a Town Planner for Newcastle City Council where I worked on a strategy for green
spaces. At the time many green areas were being eaten away by development,
so I was on a mission to save some valuable spaces for nature!
I remember
that one of my jobs was walking around all the city's green spaces and recording
what was there - my feet were pretty tired after that six month stint!
One of my favourite nature spaces at the time was Byker Farm, an urban farm right
in the heart of the inner city which gave kids a chance to look at animals and
nature. Media stories  When
I left town planning, I enjoyed stints as a university researcher, a press officer,
and a music development worker before joining the ±«Óãtv in 1995.
During this
time I enjoyed some notable experiences including meeting The Spice Girls and
appearing on the National Lottery Live in front of 11 million people! My
first media job was as a radio researcher on ±«Óãtv Late Night North, a phone in
and current affairs talk programme. This led to me producing a number of
different shows on ±«Óãtv Radio Newcastle. Eventually I shifted gear and moved
into New Media, cutting my teeth on the ±«Óãtv Tyne website before moving into TV
programme websites. These days I work across a portfolio of ±«Óãtv TV websites
including Inside Out, the Politics Show, Seven Wonders, and Nation on Film - all
with a regional and national dimension. Nature
lover  Wildlife
and the natural world have been high on my work programme in recent years with
lots of opportunities to go wild in the country!
I worked on the British
Isles - A Natural History series, producing a pilot for the 'Walks through Time',
an outdoor walk looking at geology and fossils. This was followed by work
on the ±«Óãtv Coast web walks which went on to win a BAFTA for Interactivity. If
you haven't seen these walks, they're great because there is also a mobile phone
version which you can download into your iPod. Earlier this year I helped
to produce a major Springwatch event at Kielder in Northumberland National Park. I'm
also an avid fan of the ±«Óãtv's other nature sites including Breathing Places and
Planet Earth. Favourite wildlife
retreats  Today
I live in Newcastle, but travel up and down the country regularly with my work.
Some of my favourite nature places are on my doorstep - Holy Island, the
Farne Islands, and Washington Wildlife and Wetlands. The Farnes are amazing
with some of the best bird spectacles in the whole of the UK. The Puffins are
my favourites! They are really great to watch. I'm also within easy reach
of stunning wilderness areas like The Cairngorms and the Isles of Arran and Mull. Further
afield, other favourite wildlife spots are Slimbridge in the West Country, the
Norfolk Broads and Dartmoor.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you during the run of Nature's Calendar and
getting your wildlife emails. Email me at naturescalendar@bbc.co.uk | 
