Nick Acheson has worked in the wild landscapes and seascapes of every continent, and has gained huge experience of their biodiversity. He exemplifies the environmentalist ideal, to think locally and act globally, and vice-versa. From his home in Norfolk, he has ranged widely in his interests and contacts. He has spent ten years in South America, four years in Asia, many months in both Madagascar and North America, and has swum and snorkelled or watched whales and seabirds in every ocean. His wide experience of wildlife and nature conservation and his exuberant enthusiasm are the hallmarks of the way he presents ideas, whether to a live audience or in the many media with which he engages.
Wildlife and travels
Nick Acheson grew up in North Norfolk, squelching through saltmarshes and cycling quiet lanes in search of wildlife. Since his earliest days he has been enthralled by birds, mammals, insects, plants and other creatures. He spent his youth volunteering for conservation NGOs including Pensthorpe and RSPB.
Completing his M.A. in French literature and his M.Sc. in environmental change and management, both at the University of Oxford, Nick travelled to Bolivia for three months, to participate in a study of austral migrant birds. Ten years later he came home from this three-month stint, having worked in nature conservation and sustainable development the length and breadth of Bolivia, across South America, and in Australia and India.
Nick Acheson has written widely on the natural world and our relationship with it, both in Spanish during his life in South America and in English.
Writing, speaking and broadcasting
Nick is well-known for the breadth of his knowledge on nature and the environment, and the wit and ease with which he explains complex ideas. On his return to the UK, Nick began work for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, an organisation he holds very dear. It was initially on behalf of the Wildlife Trust that he led tours of the wildlife at their Holme beach nature reserve for the GroundWork Residency programme and indeed captivated our audience of artists.
Nick Acheson is best known in East Anglia where he makes regular appearances on ITV Anglia, BBC Look East and BBC Radio Norfolk, and presents films for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Green Light Trust and Pensthorpe. Nick is an experienced broadcaster with a wide range of credits. He has appeared on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and many times on BBC Radio 4.
Nick has written for BBC Wildlife, British Birds, British Wildlife, The Guardian, The Big Issue, BTO News, The Countryman and numerous other publications. For a number of years he has written columns for the Norfolk Magazine and for Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Tern magazine, on which he worked for three years as editor.
The Meaning of Geese
Nick’s book The Meaning of Geese was published in February 2023. It is the story of seven locked-down months in 2020-21, during which he cycled 1,200 miles around North Norfolk on his mother’s 40-year-old bike, in search of the great flocks of Arctic geese whose wild cries haunt the county each winter. Having won the General Non-Fiction category of the East Anglian Book Awards, The Meaning of Geese was judged the East Anglian Book of the Year 2023. It also ranked in the top three in the British Birds and British Trust for Ornithology Best Bird Book of the Year 2023.
