Simon Wood joined the Essex Birdwatching Society in 1980 and was on the Executive Committee from 1995-2003, being Vice-Chairman from 2001-2003. His paper Rare Birds in Essex: An Update in EBR 1995 proved to be the seed of the Avifauna project but it was not until autumn 1998 that work began in earnest; nearly eight years and a massive 8,000 hours of his own time later the task, with the help of a few good friends, was complete.
