JOHN Keeling, best known for his work with the BBC's wildlife programmes, Springwatch and Autumnwatch and other BBC short documentary films, has now demonstrated another of his many talents – writing poetry.

The Derbyshire wildlife enthusiast recently fulfilled a boyhood ambition with the publication of his book of poetry, A Countryman's Journey, which was inspired by his life-long love of the countryside.

John describes the process of writing the book as a gradual progression. His first attempt took shape at just 11 years old; with a poem he called The Deer.

He said: "I've always walked the fields and studied wildlife. My life's always been in the fields."

John's other main passion is for photography, which is also demonstrated in this book as his words are accompanied by some striking photographs.

John acknowledged that some of the photographs in the book are his, though most are by other people.

He said: "The stoat photographs are mine but there are contributors who are quite renowned for this photography.

"The main thing I stick to is the weasel family. My thing really is more video than still shots. The pictures here are really to enhance the poetry, and vice versa."

This works well in the book, with John demonstrating his ability to capture the character and charm of some of Britain's beautiful wildlife through his writing.

When asked where his talent for writing comes from, he replied rather modestly: "Well the book has rather simple poems but I think with poetry it's nice for readers to understand it straight away.

"To be honest I was never very good at English, my subject was maths! But I do thoroughly enjoy writing poetry. My mother writes poetry, too. My children are more artistic but I'd never class myself as an artist. I enjoy poetry and I don't think there are many wildlife poets out there."

A Countryman's Journey is a gem of a book, with poems ranging from the philosophical thoughts to the darker work called Death at Dallowgill.

"What I've tried to do is give a whole picture – to put things together and show people that things go together and life is balanced."

Derbyshire is mentioned in a couple of the poems and it is clear he has been inspired by the local countryside.

He conveys an image of the beautiful countryside surrounding his home town of Ripley.

John said: "Ripley is very close to my heart, I live near the reservoir and I built myself a bungalow in 2002 with a nice big pond in the garden."

For the project, John says he was fortunate to have had the advice of Jack Payne, an Essex man with a great knowledge of wildfowl in the area and a friend of Kenzie Thorpe, the famous conservationist who was Sir Peter Scott's right-hand man.

So, can we look forward to any more poetry from John?

"I have got other poems that I could bring back and do something with," he said. "I could actually do another book."

A COUNTRYMAN'S JOURNEY

BY: John T. Keeling.

PRICE: £9.99.