Simon Mitchell

Simon lives in Canterbury, England. He is a lifelong birder who grew up watching the wetlands and reservoirs of South Yorkshire.

Simon has a wealth of birding experience and has worked as a bird tour leader on six continents.

He has birded extensively in the countries of eastern and southern Africa (from Ethiopia south to South Africa), Madagascar, southern and eastern Asia (from Sri Lanka and China to the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia), Australia, South America (from Colombia south to Chile), Galapagos, the USA and Guatemala.

Simon has a particular affinity for and a remarkable level of experience in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Indonesia. In Borneo alone, he spent 4 years conducting his PhD fieldwork, researching how to lessen the impact of oil palm expansion on bird communities. During this time, he also organised an expedition to Kalimantan, where he co-discovered the endemic Meratus Blue Flycatcher and Meratus White-eye, which he and collaborators formally described in 2022.

Since earning his PhD, Simon’s academic research has ranged from community ecology studies to asking what is to be done to protect biodiversity and avert ecological collapse. When not undertaking guiding, survey work or research, he acts as a trustee for the Burnet Heritage Trust, which works to restore Yorkshire’s flatlands for wildlife.