About Simon Mustoe
I have a lifelong love of wildlife but what thrills me most, is watching how animals make ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More work. I am passionate about telling that story as I firmly believe, it’s the key to reconnecting people with nature. It’s not enough to simply know animals exist, we have to recover our natural instincts and sense their significance in some of the most important processes for human survival and well being.
Simon Mustoe
My background
As a child, I explored the fields and farmland of the Cotswold Hills and like so many, was inspired by a world of abundant and exotic wildlife, portrayed each night on our TV screens.
In my teenage years I worked at the pioneering Oxford Scientific Films, helped produce BBC nature documentaries with Mike Kendall in Bristol and summered at the RSPB headquarters while working for the natural history film unit under Geoffrey Boswell.
During University I laboured one summer to raise the money to fly myself to Madagascar, living in the capital’s suburbs for 6 weeks and trekking into the remote southwest Zombitse and Vohibasia forests. The following year we raised money for an expedition and returned with students from UEA and Cambridge, picking up a prestigious BP/BirdLife/FFI ConservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More Program Award from David Attenborough.
My first job after graduation was at a consultancy. For weeks I would take to the high seas on small boats in the North Atlantic, with land-stops at the Shetlands, Faroe Islands and Outer Hebrides, surveying for seabirds, whales and dolphins. It was here I learned a love of the ocean and its wildlife. In 2000 I moved to Australia and worked as an independent marine wildlife consultant for about 12 years but with the planet and its wildlife in decline, I decided the need to communicate the value of nature was more important.
A new direction
In 2008, I formed Wildiaries, a nature travel media company. In partnership with Tourism Australia I co-wrote, directed and produced a documentary film series in the sixteen Australian National Landscapes. With MDSA and Associates we built a reader database of over 250,000 subscribers and online magazine which I now use to tell stories about wildlife.
Today, I split my time between travel and conservation consultancy, working with exciting people, to create measurable change for wildlife. My greatest passion is communicating this to the world.
- I’m the founder of Wildiaries.
- I’ve written the book Wildlife in the Balance.
- My short films about people, nature and places.
- My work on Google Scholar.
I am based in Melbourne, Australia. Email me at: simon@wildiaries.com
Media / PR Enquiries
Please contact:
Ingrid Lung
The Earth Agency
