Biography

About the NatureStuff Website 
Welcome to the NatureStuff website. Nature Stuff – Tours and Things began in 1989 to encompass many of my nature related interests as well as requests for speaking engagements, guided hikes and tours, and any literary endeavours. The original intent of this website when it began in 2000 was to focus on birding information for Prince Edward County. It still is, but has since expanded to include all aspects of natural history. On this site, you will be introduced to some of the fine areas we have in Prince Edward County, and even areas outside of the County that lend themselves well to the enjoyment of wildlife and the outdoor experience.   You can learn what birds to expect in Prince Edward County each month, where you can travel to find some of them, helpful tips on bird feeding, and things you can do to enhance your property in your efforts to attract wildlife. One very popular web page has been the Quinte Area Bird Sightings page

– a compilation of any significant species or numbers that have been seen in our general area. There is information on hiking and canoeing/kayaking opportunities in the county, and links to local naturalist and environmental groups in the area. Another section is an archive of nature columns that I wrote for the Picton Gazette and other area newspapers over the years. There are also links to three of five books that I have written, and where to obtain them: “Up Before Five – the Family Farm”, “Naked In the Sand” and “Growing Up Big Island”   I became interested in nature at an early age. Growing up on the family farm at Big Island, 12 miles north of Picton, on the shore of the beautiful Bay of Quinte, I was always interested in the natural world around me. During my elementary school days at the small one-room school I attended on Big Island, I received considerable encouragement from the late Marie Foster, my teacher in Grades 6 through 8. Her home was a short distance from where I lived and through the years she was responsible for developing my interest in birds. The late Phil Dodds, a former editor with the Picton Gazette, also a great nature enthusiast, suggested I undertake a nature column – a column I  submitted weekly since 1965, for fifty years, after over 2,600 weekly columns on nature. That column through the years expanded to the Napanee Beaver, Tweed News and the Belleville Intelligencer. Life has been good, and through the years I have enjoyed working with such nature related agencies as Glenora Fisheries Research as a resource technician, Sandbanks Provincial Park as a park interpreter, and Quinte Conservation as a naturalist and outdoor events coordinator. Could one who is interested in nature have possibly enjoyed a more exhilarating period in the work force? Although I retired in 2015 from the extensive program of outdoor events that I operated for 19 years, I continue to do a few private hikes and tours and speaking engagement on request.    And, if you are REALLY hard up to find out more about me and my career over the years, feel free to check out my BIOGRAPHY.   Thank you so much – all of you – for contributing to the success of my career. It has been an amazing journey.