I am Northumberland-based birder and general naturalist and the man behind http://www.boulmerbirder.blogspot.com/. I joined the pan-species rankings in January 2012 with a list of 1,382, now up to 1900+. He writes: “I have been a naturalist for as long as I can remember, well since the age of 9 at least. I am now in my 50s but in all that time I’d never really thought about keeping a list of all the wildlife I’ve seen and recorded. I am principally a birder, but I did spend a lot of time in my teens fishing. I have done some dragonfly and butterfly watching and regularly run a garden moth trap. Plants and other insects have come along sporadically while just being outside enjoying the open air. I've never used a microscope....yet!