Brian P. Martin has written 25 books on the countryside and natural history, including the best-selling Tales of the Old Gamekeepers and six others in David & Charles’s Tales series, The Great Shoots and the international award-winning Sporting Birds of the British Isles. Formerly a hospital administrator and commissioning editor of Shooting Times, he has written for numerous publications, his Rusticus column having run for over 25 years. Born on the Hampshire coast, he has lived in the South-West Surrey countryside for over 30 years.