Countryside Matters

Trevor Beer MBE, FBNA, FRES, MBOU, FZS

Wildlife Artist, Columnist, Author and Naturalist

All pictures ©Trevor Beer 2009

Trevor Beer's Résumé

 

Member of the British Empire. (MBE) Awarded Jan 2002 in Queen's New Years

Honours List. (Journalism & Environment.)

Fellow of the British Naturalist's Association. (FBNA)

Fellow of the Zoological Society. (FZS)

Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. (FRES)

Member of the British Ornithologists Union. (MBOU)

Former Hon. Sec. North Devon Conservation Society for 11 years. (1969-1980)

Rural Parish Councillor for 25 years. Also Tree and Way Warden.

(Chairman of Parish Council for 9 years.)

Served on North Devon District Council for one term. (Did not seek re-election).

Founded the RSPB North Devon group.

Founded the Taw & Torridge Estuary Forum.

Founded the Taw & Exmoor Branch of the British Naturalist's Association. (BNA)

Former Council member of the Devon Bird Watching & Preservation Society. (1980's)

Member of the Royal Air Force Ornithological Society. (RAFOS)

Member of the Army Ornithological Society and currently the Army Ornithological

Representative for Devon & Somerset.

Former member of the M.O.D Conservation Committee.

A Founder member of the Society for Wildlife Art for the Nations. (SWAN)

Trevor Beer won the Gavin Maxwell Award for the Conservation of Otters in the wild in 1979.

Trevor Beer is a countryside, wildlife & folklore writer, artist and illustrator. Wildlife surveys

are available as well as Photography with over 5000 stock of Natural History and

countryside pictures available for hire.

Author of several nature books, including Tourist Guides of Natural History subjects.

Trevor produces nature, farm and urban trails, book illustrations including

finely detailed black and white line drawings.

 

Trevor will 'ghost write' your own tales & experiences and illustrate them, farm

diversification trails, church trails, urban and nature trails - Tell me what you need.

 

He is a leading authority on the Big Cats in Britain situation and on Folklore &

Legend generally and has led hundreds of guided walks over many years.

 

Has taken in and healed over 4000 sick and injured wild birds and animals since

1960's, from the public, police and local vets. Set up the North Devon Oiled Bird

Rescue Group following the Christos Bitos oil spillage incident.

 

Currently writes on Natural History as a wildlife writer for the Western Morning News,

Cornish Guardian, West Briton, North Devon Journal, Exmoor

Magazine & Dartmoor News.

 

Trevor ran his own Field Club for 40 youngsters for 10 years, winning the Better

Britain Competition in 1974 and the European Architectural Heritage Award in 1975.

He produced North Devon's first Nature Trails for schools and public use. He also

produced the first Barnstaple Urban Trail in the 1970's.

 

Through his daily and weekly series in the Western Morning News, he reaches

thousands of people every day and is really spreading public awareness in a very big

way! The Western Morning News's Wildlife Millennium Project was his own initiative

and is a huge success. Readers from all walks of life have responded dedicating

their gardens, hedgerows etc to wildlife. The initial target was to reach 1000 acres

but now we are well over 6500 acres! The project continues and Trevor will meet

readers on request to give them free advice on how to make their havens better for wildlife.

 

In 1980 he helped young offenders via the Probation Office understand wildlife with a

project which had them involved in making nest boxes and bat boxes. 15 young people

were involved. Via the Wildlife Millennium Project with the Western Morning News the

Probation Office at Exeter recently became involved again. R.G.B at Umberleigh, provided the

timber for bird and bat boxes. This meant free bird and bat boxes to readers if required

as part of the Haven scheme.

 

Books.

Has written 14 tourist guides on Birds, Wildflowers and other aspects on Natural History

as well as Castles, Beaches, Footpath Walks etc, both regionally and nationally.

 

Also Wrote:

'The Beast of Exmoor, Fact or Legend' (1981) Published by Countryside Productions, Devon.

'Poacher's Days' (1981) Published by Countryside Productions, Devon.

'Devon's Wild Mammals' (1982) Published by Badger Books, Devon.

'Tarka Country' (1993) Published by Badger Books, Devon.

'Tarka Country Revisited' (2004) Published by North Devon Books.

'Devon's Mysterious Walks' (1997) Published by Sigma Leisure, Cheshire.

'Nature Watch' (1998) Published by Halsgrove.

'Trevor Beer's North Devon Wildlife' (2001) Published by Halsgrove.

'Old Red', the Story of a Devon Fox' (2002) Published by Halsgrove.

'Trevor Beer's Country Lore' (2006) Published by Halsgrove.

'Five Owl's' (2007) Published by Halsgrove.

'Merlin' the story of a westcountry leopard (2008) Published by Halsgrove.

'Nature Watch 2' (2009) Published by Halsgrove.

Contact: Halsgrove for further information www.halsgrove.com or telephone

01823 653777.

 

Other Projects.

Donated 2 black & white line drawings to 'Help The Elephant Charity' auction in

Nairobi, Kenya which fetched in the region of £800 - £900 for the charity.

 

Donated art work to the Devon Wildlife Trust to help raise funds and to various

schools and charities.

 

'Roving Nature Trails' for schools, a project whereby laminated information nature boards

were produced, written and illustrated by Trevor Beer and given to the North

Devon Area Education authority to use whenever they wished.

 

Church Nature Trails... a project with nature boards with texts and illustrations

instigated by Trevor Beer specifically for individual churches to put up on their notice boards

and that explains the wildlife of the respective graveyards. Churches include

Barnstaple Parish Church, Fremington, Instow, Eggesford, and Arlington. When complete

i.e. when about 20 - 30 churches have boards we will produce a Nature Trail leaflet

describing them all as 'churches to visit for nature' in North Devon.

 

Instigated the Westcountry Library Wildlife Information Boards with Endymion Beer whereby

bi-monthly sheets are provided free to all libraries in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

 

The 1999 project which is also ongoing, is to save wildflowers from development. A scheme

whereby if anyone knows of development in progress where wild flowers are being uprooted,

we will arrange to collect them and replant them elsewhere in the countryside. The project

is supported by the Western Morning News. April 1999.

 

The Education Category Winner in the Devon Environmental Business Initiative Awards (DEBI)

in 2000 in conjunction with the Western Morning News.

 

Trevor won the David Bellamy Award for Conservation given by the British Naturalist's

Association (BNA) in May 2001. He was made an Honorary Member of the BNA (2002) for

work in nature conservation, and is an Elected Fellow of the BNA.

 

Trevor was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen's Honours list in 2002.

 

He was also elected Wildlife Champion for North Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (2005).

 

Commissions & Prints available

 

 

 

 

 

To contact Trevor email him at

trevor.beer@trevorbeer-countrysidematters.co.uk

or telephone him on 01271 373520.

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