James Aldred grew up on the edge of the New Forest and spent his teenage years exploring it. By fifteen he was building forest shelters, sleeping rough in the woods and spending much of his time up in the branches of trees. These days, he works in the treetops as an Emmy award-winning wildlife cameraman working regularly with National Geographic and the BBC, collaborating on many landmark natural history programmes with David Attenborough. He is also the author of The Man Who Climbs Trees and Goshawk Summer, for which he won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2022. He lives with his family near Bristol and enjoys returning to the Forest to share it with his wife and sons whenever he can.