My name is Jake, I am fourteen years old, and I am a bone collector, naturalist, and author. You might have seen me on The One Show, BBC Autumnwatch, Winterwatch, CBBC Wild or Newsround, or you might have seen my book (now available in 16 countries) BBC Wildlife Magazine says I'm one of the top 50 conservationists in the UK.
I live in a beautiful part of Scotland with my mum, my dad, my brothers Sam and Harry and my two pussy cats.
I love walking, exploring, watching wildlife and collecting bones. So far I have thousands of bones in my collection, almost all of which I have found myself, within a few miles of my village. I have over 200 skulls on display in my bedroom .
How I began bone collecting
I've been collecting bones since I was six, and I blogged every week here between July 2009 (when I was seven) and February 2016, when I took a break. You can read more about why I began blogging here. Every week I write something new here. Mostly it's about bones that I've found, but sometimes it's about animals and birds that I see on my walks.
The first bones I collected were rabbit bones, from a hill in Perthshire overlooking my after-school club.
I got so good at collecting rabbit bones, that me and my dad went exploring further, and we found lots of bones from different animals.
The animal bones I have found include roe deer, red deer, sheep, foxes, buzzards, swans, ducks, geese, owls and even cats !
Other people have been very kind and have sent me other animal skulls like pig, seal, puffins, badgers seabirds and even monkeys, a leopard and a golden eagle !
The skull I would most like would be a giraffe or a lion skull. But there don't seem to many of those around where I live. (or maybe there are...)
The animal bones I have found include roe deer, red deer, sheep, foxes, buzzards, swans, ducks, geese, owls and even cats !
Other people have been very kind and have sent me other animal skulls like pig, seal, puffins, badgers seabirds and even monkeys, a leopard and a golden eagle !
The skull I would most like would be a giraffe or a lion skull. But there don't seem to many of those around where I live. (or maybe there are...)
How to contact me
I really enjoy hearing from people who read my blog. I read and answer all my own emails, but sometimes it takes a few days to reply if I am busy. My email address is jakesbones@gmail.com. I get about 750 emails a year, so sometimes it takes me a while to respond.
If - and only if - you are a journalist, writer, event organiser or researcher, then dad is the best person. His email address is nick@nml.uk.com and his mobile number is 07774 438935. If it's not urgent, or you're not a journalist, event organiser, writer or researcher, then email me instead.
If you are a journalist who has a press enquiry about my book, then the best person to contact is Karen Baker, Senior Publicity Manager at Octopus Publishing 0207 632 5488 or karen.baker@octopusbooks.co.uk
I really enjoy hearing from people who read my blog. I read and answer all my own emails, but sometimes it takes a few days to reply if I am busy. My email address is jakesbones@gmail.com. I get about 750 emails a year, so sometimes it takes me a while to respond.
If - and only if - you are a journalist, writer, event organiser or researcher, then dad is the best person. His email address is nick@nml.uk.com and his mobile number is 07774 438935. If it's not urgent, or you're not a journalist, event organiser, writer or researcher, then email me instead.
If you are a journalist who has a press enquiry about my book, then the best person to contact is Karen Baker, Senior Publicity Manager at Octopus Publishing 0207 632 5488 or karen.baker@octopusbooks.co.uk
Me in the media
I used to show all my press clippings on this page, but there were so many I've moved them to a page all by themselves. You can see all my newspaper, radio, magazine and TV appearances here.
Elsie