Jonathan Elphick
Ornithology, Art, Natural History, author
Jonathan Elphick is a British natural history writer, editor and consultant. He is an eminent ornithologist, a qualified zoologist; Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He is author of The Birdwatcher's Handbook: A Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland; Birds: The Art of Ornithology and The Natural History Museum Atlas of Bird Migration: Tracing the Great Journeys of the World's Birds, which received Bird Watching Magazine's 'Best Bird Reference Book of the Year'; as well as co-author of the Encyclopedia of Animals; the RSPB Pocket Birds; A Unique Photographic Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe with Jonathan Woodward and The National Parks and other Wild Places of Britain and Ireland, with photography by David Tipling.
He has also been consultant, editor or author on a variety of other books, articles and CD-ROMs including Coastline with Greenpeace, and the BBC production of The Realms of the Russian Bear.
Background and education
Born in 1945, in Prestatyn, in what was then the historic county of Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint) until re-organisation made it part of Clwyd and then Denbighshire; Jonathan Elphick was raised in North Wales, surrounded by a mountainous and beautiful mosaic of habitats: including traditional mixed farmland, woods, rivers, lakes, hills and coastlines. He spent the first four years of his life in Rhyl, then moved to Dyserth, where he attended Ysgol Hiraddug, Dyserth, moving on to St Asaph's Grammar School and ultimately University College, Swansea (1964–1968), one of the four colleges comprising the University of Wales.
Birdlife in North Wales in the early 1950s was relatively unaffected by agricultural developments and other changes, that proved to be major factors in the decline of many British birds.
Inspired by, among others, the writings of Bruce Campbell one of the foremost ornithologists of the day, Elphick's journey through ornithological literature began with the paperback Bird Watching for Beginners and Campbell's Birds in Colour. Migrating from the Bird Recognition paperback guides (by the ornithologist James Fisher) he came under the influence of the Nature Conservancy warden at Newborough Warren National Nature Reserve, on the Isle of Anglesey, Peter Hope-Jones. In 1969 Elphick gained a BSc.
“Jonathan Elphick” enters the record as ornithology, Art, Natural History, author. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jonathan, Elphick and Ornithology can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6273042. VIAF identifies the subject as 9982577. The Library of Congress control number is n94066454. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1945, 1964, 1968 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jonathan Elphick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.