Alan is a retired primary school teacher with a background in Environmental Studies. He has had a keen interest in the natural environment and the great outdoors since early childhood. Alan is a keen amateur photographer, which was fuelled by the advent of digital photography and over the last 12 years he has built up a substantial archive of images. His most recent focus has been on the flora and fauna in a variety of habitats within the Causeway Coast and Glens, council area.
While he was still teaching Alan was seconded to the Western Education and Library Board for 2 years, (1994 to 1996), as an Advisory teacher at Magilligan Field Study Centre. During his time there he guided school groups on visits to local sand dunes, beaches, woodland, forest, lakes and streams as well as organising a wide range of activities for children to conduct ’in the field’. He also developed a range of teaching materials to be used on the field trip, in the centre or back at school. These included identification charts and KEYS for univalves / bivalves, woodland plants in the tree canopy, shrub and field layers, spruce, fir, pine or larch ID, invertebrates with /without wings and freshwater species.
