Marianne Taylor worked for seven years in natural history publishing, first at Bloomsbury and later at Birdwatch magazine, before becoming a writer. She has written more than twenty books for adults and children on a range of natural history subjects; her books include Bats, Owls, Hummingbirds (Ivy Press), the RSPB's British Birds of Prey, (A&C Black), Dragonflight (Bloomsbury), and The Nature Book (Michael O'Mara).