Mark Constantine has been a keen birder since the 1970s. During holidays to Mallorca in the 1980s he became friends with the late Peter Grant, the best teacher a birder could have asked for. It was about this time he began to develop a passionate interest in bird sounds. In 2000, this led him to invite Arnoud van den Berg and Magnus Robb to join him in forming The Sound Approach. Mark is the managing director of cosmetics retailer Lush.

Although he may be better known for his bird photography, Arnoud van den Berg has been recording bird sounds together with Cecilia Bosman since the 1980s when this involved lugging a recorder the size of a desktop computer around the world with them. Arnoud is one of the founders of the Dutch Birding Association and is chief editor of its bimonthly journal, Dutch Birding. Taxonomy is one of his interests, and he is a member of the influential dutch committee for avian systematic (CSNA). In addition, Arnoud is a long-time Limosa Holidays tour leader and member of the Moroccan rarities committee.

Magnus Robb trained as a musician, and his compositions have included ones for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Scotland. During the mid-1990s, he started recording bird song. Initially it was to provide material for compositions, but bird song soon became his main preoccupation. His paper revealing new crossbill diversity through sounds, published in Dutch Birding in 2000, led to an invitation to join The Sound Approach.

Over the past 30 years, Killian Mullarney has dedicated his life to bird identification. Whether it’s illustrating Europe’s premier field guide, ‘the Collins’, finding some of Ireland’s rarest and most exciting birds, sound recording some of the rarest waders in Europe or his balanced contribution to the Sound Approach, his careful field sketches and quality sound recording are legendary and can be found littered through all the sound Approach books. He is the artist responsible for all our front covers and ground-breaking plates.

Dick is one of the world’s leading authorities in field identification of birds of prey and was the first person to introduce Bird Sound of the Day to Finnish radio. He is an accomplished sound recorder and broadcaster and has produced many nature programs for radio. Dick is well known for his ground breaking book ‘The Raptors of Europe and the Middle East: A Handbook of Field Identification’, but is also known for losing his car during a bet with Mark Constantine.

Rene founded the Dutch Birding Association with Arnoud back in 1979, and is still involved in producing the highly commended Dutch Birding journal each month. Rene has also been a constant companion and photographer on more than 15 Sound Approach field trips. Living on Texel, Holland’s rarity capital, Rene’s life is the envy of many Dutch Birders. Specialising in the reproduction of bird photographs to the highest standard, his work shines through all the Sound Approach books.

Paul and Mark have been working together on multiple projects over many years, including the setting up of Dorset based charity Birds of Poole Harbour, which carried out an Osprey reintroduction program back in 2017. The project saw success in 2022 when the first pair of Ospreys in 180 years nested in Southern Britain on the fringes of Poole Harbour. Paul supports and helps guide on Sound Approach projects, including being an obsessive non-migger over the last decade which revealed (along with Nick Hopper) a previously unknown regular night migration of Ortolan Buntings across southern England each Autumn. 

Lucy McRobert is a storyteller, writer and communicator, and handles marketing and communications for The Sound Approach, trying to keep the motley crew above in line. She has written extensively on birds, nature and wildlife, including publishing her first book 365 Days Wild in 2019, as well as being a columnist for Birdwatch and writing for several magazines and newspapers including BBC Wildlife, I News, British Birds and the junior magazines for both the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts. She has appeared several times on local and national television and radio, talking about birds, wildlife and connecting people with nature.