~ Artist ~

I draw and paint wildlife directly from life in the field to attempt to capture the life and behaviour of my subjects. I am a keen photographer and specialise in taking photographs of insects using the Canon SX70, Sony RX10 Mk 4 bridge cameras and the Olympus Tough TG7. A collection of my wildlife videos can be viewed here on Youtube and also here on YouTube. I have written and illustrated several publications, including:

I sketch in the field using Staedtler Mars ergo soft 2B pencils and a minimal number of watercolours.

Time lapse of a field painting of Long-tailed Tits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peUlIJ7tMsI

In 2017 I was awarded the H.H. Bloomer Award by The Linnean Society and in 2023 The Dartmoor Society Award https://dartmoorsociety.com/.

Social Media (not on Twitter X) but regularly post on Instagram @john_walters_wildlife

~ Ecologist ~

I carry out a wide range of ecological work with a specialist interest in invertebrates. Ecological studies of individual species have included various ground beetles, oil beetles and the Heath Potter Wasp. Recent projects include studies of the Mediterranean Oil Beetle for Life in the Edge in south Devon, surveying for the ‘world’s rarest spider’ the Horrid Ground Weaver in Plymouth for Buglife https://www.buglife.org.uk/ and studying the Narrow-headed Ant for part of the Back from the Brink project.

I have worked as a consultant entomologist and naturalist on many television and radio programmes. Most recently for the Silverback David Attenborough BBC Wild Isles on the roosting Starlings, Ash-black Slugs and Osmia Broomstick Bees and My Garden of a Thousand Bees by Martin Dohrn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7jBjki2EVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkKMCj1uVAE

~ Speaker ~

I have been giving talks on natural history subjects for over twenty years. These are a combination of my field sketches, photographs and video clips. I have thousands of images to choose from and am constantly adding new material to my presentations.

Recently I have given talks for Devon Wildlife Trust, The Mendips AONB and Mid Devon Natural History Society. Also for the Buckfastleigh Action for Nature Group of which I am a committee member. The group has just startted to manage verges and green spaces for wildlife around the town.

Talk subjects include:

  • The Secret World of the Undergrowth
  • Wildlife of Dartmoor
  • Wildlife of Devon from shore to moor
  • The Heath Potter Wasp
  • Recent Wildlife Highlights
  • House Martins, Swifts and Swallows in Devon
  • Living on the Edge - wildlife of the South Hams, Devon
  • The Secret Lives of Long-tailed Tits

More…

I have been fascinated by nature since childhood and one of my earliest memories is of watching glow-worms as a three year old on the south Downs, in Hampshire.

I now live on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon with my wife Joyce and son Oscar. Our eldest son Barnaby is currently living in an old mill in Germany.

I enjoy exploring the natural world through through drawing and painting, wildlife in the field. I am also a keen photographer. My interests in natural history are wide with particular focus on the study of insects, birds and rockpool life. My sketches and field paintings are always produced on the spot in the field. For me this is the only way I can capture the life and vitality of my subjects.

I grew up on Hayling Island, where surrounded by the bird-filled harbours, sand dunes and the rich habitats of the county I developed a deep passion for the natural world.

After graduating from Falmouth School of Art and Design in 1991 I worked for the Dartmoor National Park Authority as a graphic designer.

Since going freelance in 1999 I now work as a ecologist specialising in invertebrates, wildlife artist and public speaker on a wide variety of projects including an illustrated wildlife diary, ecological studies of invertebrates including the blue ground beetle Carabus intricatus, the heath potter wasp Eumenes coarctatus and the Horrid ground weaver spider Nothophantes horridus. I have worked with the BBC Natural History Unit on many television programmes including the award winning Smalltalk Diaries, the Natural World – Earth Pilgrim and the David Attenborough series - Life in the Undergrowth. I have also contributed to several Living World programmes for Radio 4 and more recently have appeared in several short films on the– BBC One Show.

I have won a number of awards for my drawings and paintings, notably the Wildlife Art Gallery Award, in the 1992 European Bird Artist of the Year competition and in 1997 was the British Birds Bird Illustrator of the Year. My work has appeared in many books including the Devon - wildlife through the seasons and Bugs Britannica.