Spotlight on a member: Vice President Julian Yates

For those of you who know me, I am originally from the UK, can’t shake the British accent, and have no plans to do so either.  I grew up on the south coast of England in an ocean resort and had plenty of exposure to wildlife of all sorts but birds and herps were my primary interest.  My parents and older brothers were similarly interested so I received much encouragement in these areas although my mother did not appreciate snakes in the house.  I went to college in London and started a career in HR in the oil industry, I was more focused on the remuneration than the environment in those days. Wildlife did not feature much in London, only pigeons can thrive in that city.  My career led me to The US of A, and Dallas TX in 1991 and wow, I am still here. It was in Dallas that I met and married Karen and it was she who let me know Austin was the place to be. My son went to UT and he too told me Austin was the place to be.  Well it took a bit of time but we moved here in 2015 when I retired, and I have enjoyed it here every day since. I am lucky that my son and daughter, and grandchildren all live here too.

Back to all things about Nature.  I was always interested in nature, particularly birds, and my family can tell you I have nearly driven my car into the ditch many times as I had to identify whatever was flying overhead.  So, coming to the US was an eye-opener to me as there were so many new things to see, be it birds, herps, mammals, flora etc. The other challenge was to identify what I was seeing. I would know a bird may be a raptor, a duck or a finch, but was unable to be more specific than that, I faced a learning curve to get to know the species names.  Realizing the early settlers named newly discovered animals by their appearance was also interesting, e.g. red-winged black bird, white-tailed deer or rattlesnake, doh. My wife Karen discovered Texas Master Naturalists so we signed up, and have enjoyed our involvement with the organization. It has been very educational, I didn’t realize how little I knew until I started going to the various classes. We also make frequent trips down to Port Aransas so I can get my ocean fix, and enjoy the fabulous nature down there.  We are also lucky enough to have the Balcones Canyonland preserve back up to our yard, so we get to see and hear many of the creatures that live there.

So, I think I am a lucky guy to have all this nature so close to me, to hang out with some great people at the TXMN and to be able to give back through volunteering, and trying to preserve the environment, against great odds.

Nature highlights for me so far; I can come up with 3

• Watching a basking shark swim by my little sail boat when I was about 15, boat was 12 feet long, shark was about 16 feet long
• Taking a trip into the Amazon basin while on a business trip in Ecuador, talk about being in the middle of nowhere
• Visiting the Friesenhahn cave near San Antonio last year with TXMN, amazing to see Mammoth tusks and other stuff sticking out of the rock, what an experience.
• Oh, and here’s a fourth one that happened today; a bobcat in my back yard, catching a squirrel and then jumping over our 6-foot fence.