Our Team

Frances Halstead Bsc Msc MCIEEM 

Wildlife Advisor

Frances obtained a BSc honours degree in Environmental Sciences from Nene College Northampton. She subsequently went on to do an MSc in Ecology at the University of North Wales Bangor.

In between studies, Frances worked as a Research Officer for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Great Ormond Street Hospital and then as a Research Technician at the MRC Cell Mutation Unit at Sussex University.

During her studies and science work she volunteered for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers BTCV and then volunteered as a South Downs Ranger. At Bangor she trained as a Bat Worker (licensed) and was secretary of the Gwyneth Bat Group.

After her studies she produced the Greater Bristol Nature Conservation Strategy, 1991 before moving onto a job with English Nature (now Natural England) as an Urban Project Officer, advising local authorities and urban wildlife groups on funding and wildlife management.

More recently she has worked for the last five and a half years for Surrey Wildlife Trust as Environmental Group Support Officer and Community Engagement Co-ordinator.  This has involved providing training and advising land owners, local authorities and community groups on nature conservation and land management.

Derek Halstead

IT and Back Office Support

Derek obtained a Bsc in Operational Research and Computing at Lancaster Universitey. He then went on to do a prostgraduate course in Business Information Technology at Newcastle.

He has worked for over 25 years in various roles in IT and business, from programming to management. He has developed several websites, on various subjects, with this site being his latest project.

As well as providing IT support skills to WildlifeInfo, he also manages all the finances and anything else that is not directly related to environmental work.