Richard Prior
Consultant
Author of the 2017 guide 200 Common Birds of Lebanon and co-author of the 2024 publication A Field Guide to the Marine birds of Lebanon and the Eastern Shores of the Mediterranean.
Served as an OSME Council Member from 2006 to 2011.
Developed an interest and passion for the natural world, and particularly birds, during his childhood in England in the 1960s. Sharing this interest and promoting an awareness of our fragile environment became of particular importance to him, he established and ran a local Young Ornithologists Club(RSPB).
Tour Leader for Gullivers Natural History Holidays, taking birdwatching groups to France, Spain, N.Cyprus and Italy.
Later used this experience during his time working in conservation in Lebanon, guiding schoolchildren and other visitors around the Aammiq Marsh and conducting bird occurrence and population surveys at this and other sites in Lebanon.
Particularly involved with the joint SPNL/A Rocha Lebanon project to search for potential Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) between 2004 and 2007.
Richard now lives in the French Alps and continues to be an active contributor to birding ‘Citizen Science’ through his participation in species surveys for the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux and submitting observations to Cornell University’s eBird.