Portfolio

I specialise in proofreading and editing natural history and other science-related material, including books, reports, magazines, web copy and student work. I have also worked on fiction books, and have extensive experience of writing for the web.

I have been a Professional Member of the SfEP (now the CIEP) and have undertaken courses in proofreading and copy-editing, and I have passed the Publishing Training Centre’s Basic Proofreading course with Distinction.

You can find out more about my experience and qualifications below, or see what clients have said about me on my testimonials page.

Proofreading and Editing

Recent freelance clients:

• Bloomsbury Publishing:
  • Proofreading Feasting, Fowling and Feathers, Lost Animals, Sex on Earth, p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, House Guests, House Pests, The Complete Naturalist, Understanding Bird Behaviour, Wild Cats of the World, Mark Carwardine’s Guide to Whale and Dolphin Watching in Britain and Europe, Sorting the Beef from the Bull, Butterflies of Britain and Europe: A Photographic Guide (Second Edition), Tracking the Highland Tiger and The Missing Lynx
  • Proofreading RSPB Spotlight books (Otters, Puffins, Robins, Foxes, Kingfishers and Woodpeckers), RSPB Handbook of Scottish Birds and RSPB Guide to Birdsong
  • Proofreading Pocket Guide to Trees and Shrubs, Pocket Guide to Insects, Pocket Guide to Garden Birds, Pocket Guide to Mushrooms, Pocket Guide to Tracks and Signs and Pocket Guide to Butterflies
  • Copy-editing The Teal, The Barnacle Goose and The Common Eider (Poyser Monographs)
  • Copy-editing Rocks and Minerals, Nextinction, Herding Hemingway’s Cats, Death on Earth, The Ethical Carnivore, My European Family, Geological Structures, RSPB Spotlight: Bumblebees, RSPB Spotlight: Owls, RSPB Spotlight: Hares, Borrowed Time, Field Guide to the Caterpillars of Great Britain and Ireland, The Dangerous Snakes of Africa and His Imperial Majesty
• Pelagic Publishing:
  • Copy-editing Urban Peregrines
  • Proofreading Bat Conservation: Global evidence for the effects of interventions
• HarperCollins (William Collins):
  • Proofreading Human Universe
• CABI:
  • Proofreading Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies, Rodent Pests and their Control and Exotic Fruits and Nuts of the New World
  • Copy-editing Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management and Heritage Tourism Destinations
• Reaktion Books:
  • Copy-editing Beetle, Scorpion and Rhododendron
  • Proofreading Lightning, Seal and Moth
• British Wildlife Publishing:
  • Proofreading Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland
• Ivy Press:
  • Copy-editing The Book of Snakes, Bird Love, Lizards of the World and Coral Reefs: A Natural History
• Biosphere Expeditions – regular editing of research expedition reports
• The Wildlife Trusts – editing various reports
• Cheshire Wildlife Trust – regular proofreading of members’ magazine and internal reports
• Oxford University Press – fact-checking of children’s science books
• Out of House Publishing (now Newgen Publishing) – proofreading The Dwarf and Mouse Lemurs of Madagascar and The Missing Lemur Link (Cambridge University Press)
• English Heritage – proofreading a resource for teachers
• Postgraduate and undergraduate students – proofreading dissertations/theses, project reports and research papers
• Independent authors/clients:
  • Review and edit of Give My Love to Charlie (William Critchley)
  • Copy-editing From Field and Fen (Mike Toms, BTO)
  • Proofreading various learning resources, on behalf of Ed Drewitt

As part of my work for ARKive (Wildscreen) (2008 – 2013):

• Several hundred species profiles proofread and edited
• Over 200 undergraduate and postgraduate species profiles marked, assessed and edited
• Regular proofreading of blogs, news articles and other web copy

Writing

Recent writing clients:

• Freelance writing and book review for BBC Wildlife Magazine
• Article for Bird Watching Magazine
• ‘Species of the Day’ profiles for Species on the Edge of Survival, an IUCN book

I also have extensive experience of writing for the web, including optimising for SEO and ensuring that text is clear, concise and easy to read on-screen. This has included:

• Nearly 500 species profiles written for the ARKive website (an initiative of Wildscreen), as well as regular blog posts, news articles and topic pages
• Regular wildlife-related blog posts for Ramblings of a Zoologist (now offline).
• Online article for Somerset Wildlife Trust – ‘Exploring Somerset’

Other writing experience:

• English/Spanish translation guides for scientific terms (unpublished), for Explorer’s Inn, Peru
• Short photo stories for children (unpublished):
  • Tiny Ted’s Big Adventure
  • Ziggy the Zebra Hides His Stripes

Academic qualifications

I am trained as a zoologist with a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Animal Behaviour. I also have a BTEC Advanced Diploma in Tropical Habitat Conservation, together with survey and research experience in the UK, Peru, Mexico and Tanzania.