"The distractions from natural history have always been there, even if they have changed a great deal in the space of a human generation. I spent large parts of my school holidays and weekends with my nose in a book, rather than collecting frog spawn or butterflies. The Famous Five, Biggles and Sherlock Holmes were sufficient distractions for me in my youth and I am not sure that they were any the less seductive than a Gameboy console would have been."