My name is Matthew James Wilson, i was born on 13th March 1986, in the small village of Littleborough, in Lancashire, northern England. I have always had a fascination for wildlife, sparked by weekend visits to the Manchester Museum with my father when I was a toddler. Little did I know at the time I would go on to work as a volunteer at this same museum, finding it a pleasure to work with reptiles and amphibians. I first started conducting field excursions around 2002 when I went on holiday to Greece with my mother, who to her credit would drive me around so that I could find reptiles, and she was very co-operative whenever I would try to leap from the car to catch a snake.

I have always had an interest in fauna of the Greek islands, and in recent years Mediterranean countries in general, which host a wide and beautiful variety of reptiles and amphibians. I have conducted over a dozen self- financed field trips to Greece, and in 2006 I published my first scientific paper “Herpetological observations on the Greek islands of Kefallinia and Zakynthos” and I have also written articles concerning reptiles in several Greek island newspapers as well as other articles concerning my work in the country.

I am a European language student at Manchester Metropolitan University and in 2007 I moved to the south of France to continue my studies, and where I first met Daniel Phillips. Since February 2008 I have been living in Murcia, Spain, where I will stay until the summer, and here I have the opportunity to spend more time in the field than when I am residing in the UK. In Murcia I am currently working with ANSE volunteer members: http://www.asociacionanse.org/ where there are several conservation programmes in the province, most noticeable being that of the Spur-Thighed Tortoise (Testudo graeca) and the Mediterranean Chameleon (Chameleo chameleon).