Jeffery Boswall

His interest in ornithology arose from a chance suggestion by a friend that he join him bird watching at the River Adur near Shoreham-on-Sea.

It was described by Christopher Parsons, former head of the BBC's Natural History Unit, as "arguably one of the best series of its genre ever made".

He frequently appeared on or contributed to other radio and television programmes, including Today, Animal Magic, Nationwide, and Wogan.

Boswall is acknowledged as one of the key figures in shaping the approach to ethics in natural history broadcasting.

Then I ask - supposing of course that adequate provisions were made for his family - how would you feel about feeding a human to a crocodile?

In 1992 he became Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Film-making at the University of Derby, probably the first full-time position of its kind in the world.

After leaving the BBC in 1987 he became Head of Film and Video at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, producing a variety of programmes including Mud Matters (1988), Eagles - the Majestic Hunters (1990) and Flying for Gold (1992).

He has also led courses since 1988 aimed at those seeking to enter natural history television as a career on how to make wildlife documentaries.

From the 1980s, Boswall was involved in the vanguard of the emerging trend towards eco-tourism, and has led wildlife tours to places as varied as the Galápagos Islands, Ethiopia, Russia and China.