Stephen Moss (born in 1960) is a British

natural historian Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

birder Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope, ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

Early life

Moss gained an

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...

in English Literature from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

Moss is best known for producing

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

series for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, many of them presented by

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinton ...

, including: *'' Birding with Bill Oddie'' (three series, 1997, 1998, and 2000) *''

Bill Oddie Goes Wild ''Bill Oddie Goes Wild'' was a Television in the United Kingdom, British television series about natural history, presented by Bill Oddie. Three series were made. It was the successor to Bill Oddie's previous ornithological programme, ''Birding ...

'' (three series, 2001, 2002, and 2003) *'' Wild In Your Garden'' (2003) *'' Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife'' (2004) *'' Springwatch with Bill Oddie'' (2005) *'' Birds Britannia'' (2010) For some of his series, Moss also authored accompanying books. He left the BBC in 2011 to work as a freelancer. He lectures at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

and is a visiting professor at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. In 2009, Moss was one of the first recipients of the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The William, Prince of Wales, Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginning In 1931 Max Nicholson ...

Dilys Breese Medal The Dilys Breese Medal is a medal awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology to recognise communicators who help to deliver ornithological science to new audiences. It is named in memory of film maker Dilys Breese, who died in 2007, and was ina ...

, at a ceremony at the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. One of his works, The Accidental Countryside, was included in the 2025 AQA English Language Paper 2 GCSE exam.

Personal life

Moss is married, with five children, and lives in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, having moved there from West London.

Radio programmes

* ''A Guide to Garden Birds''

Bibliography

*''BBC Weather Watch'' (BBC Books 1992), , with Paul Simons *''Birds and Weather: A Birdwatchers' Guide'' (Hamlyn 1995), *''The Complete Garden Bird Book: How to Identify and Attract Birds to Your Garden'' (New Holland 1996), , with Mark Golley *''Birding with Bill Oddie'' (BBC Books 1997), , with Bill Oddie *''Attracting Birds to Your Garden'' (New Holland 1998), *''Gardening for Birds: How to Help Birds Make the Most of Your Garden'' (HarperCollins 2000), (repr. 2004 as ''Bird-friendly Garden'') *''Bird Boxes and Feeders: Featuring 11 Step-by-step Woodworking Projects'' (New Holland 2001), , with Alan & Gill Bridgewater *''The Garden Bird Handbook: How to Attract, Identify and Watch the Birds in Your Garden'' (New Holland 2003), *''Understanding Bird Behaviour'' (New Holland 2003), *''How to Birdwatch'' (New Holland 2003), *''Blokes and Birds'' (New Holland 2003), (ed.) *''Garden Birds'' (HarperCollins 2004), *''A Bird in the Bush: A Social History of Birdwatching'' (Aurum 2004), *''Everything You Wanted to Know About Birds… But Were Afraid to Ask!'' (Christopher Helm 2005), *''Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife'' (HarperCollins 2005), , with Bill Oddie and Fiona Pitcher *''This Birding Life: The Best of The Guardian's "Birdwatch"'' (Aurum 2006), *''The Private Life of Birds'' (New Holland 2006), *''Birder's Companion'' (Firefly 2007), *''The Bumper Book of Nature'' (Square Peg), *''A Sky Full of Starlings: A Diary of a Birding Year'' (Aurum 2008), *''Wild Hares and Hummingbirds: The Natural History of an English Village'' (Square Peg, 2011), *''Wild Kingdom: Bringing Back Britain's Wildlife'' (Square Peg, 2016),() *''The Robin: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2017) *''The Wren: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2018) *''Mrs Moreau's Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names'' (Guardian Faber, 2018) *''Dynasties: The Rise and Fall of Animal Families'' (BBC Books, 2018) with

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

*''The Accidental Countryside: Hidden Havens for Britain’s Wildlife'' (Guardian Faber, 2020) *''The Swallow: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2020) * ''Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring'' (Saraband, 2021) *''The Swan: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2021) *''The Owl: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2023) *''The Starling: A Biography'' (Square Peg, 2024)

References

External links

Stephen Moss's Twitter stream
(verified a

Articles written by Moss
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' *
The Official "The Bumper Book of Nature" website with podcasts, quizzes and a blog by Stephen Moss
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Stephen 1960 births Living people Academics of Bath Spa University Alumni of the University of Cambridge BBC television producers British nature writers British ornithologists British television producers People from Somerset