Jim spent many years working as a warden for the Youth Hostels Association in northern England before running a village shop and Post Office for five years. Over the last 20 years he has worked for two different national charities, firstly as a fund-raiser and latterly as a witness service manager in the York Courts. His interest in natural history started with birds. He was a bird ringer for 30 years, secretary for the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union Bird section for 10 years, and has been involved in bird survey and recording at local and national levels. Jim's interest in spiders was triggered by attending a course at the former Kindrogan Field Studies Council Centre; he now does most of his spider collecting in and around VC62. He became treasurer of the BAS in 2018 and has served in that role ever since.