Kate Humble on walking, wildlife, waterbirds (oh, and Chris Packham)

Here is an extract from my interview with Kate Humble for the October issue of Country Walking magazine. You can read the full version here Kate Humble interview.

Kate Humble is peering hard out of a hide, excitedly pointing out birds, when she spies one preening itself with a prominent crest. “You see that bird over there with the green and purple iridescent plumage,” she says, pointing to an island in front of us. “With that crest and such a shrill call it can only be a lapwing. The Chris Packham of the waterbird world.” She pauses. “Damn,” she adds, laughing out loud to herself. “I wish I’d put that in the book.”

Kate is leading me on a walk around the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust’s London Wetland Centre in Barnes, a superb green oasis in the urban jungle. Kate is here to promote her new book ‘Watching Waterbirds’, written in association with the Trust. Her coauthor is Martin McGill, warden of the Trust’s superb reserve at Slimbridge, on the banks of the River Severn in Gloucestershire. ‘Watching Waterbirds’ is a photographic guide packed with personal anecdotes from Kate’s many years of bird-watching and the knowledge she has gained from presenting wildlife programmes like ‘Springwatch’ and ‘Autumnwatch’.

It is very much aimed at the enthusiastic amateur who finds identifying species using traditional bird books confusing. The guide is packed with her top tips for spotting different species, combined with quick quiz questions set by Martin to test your knowledge. The result is a book which is a rare species among bird guides – informative and entertaining at the same time.