Hi I’m James and welcome to base camp. firstly I would like to say thank you for visiting. For the first post I thought I would do a bit of a interview explaining what the website is/ about.

what is JCopeland Wild-life?

JCopeland wild-life is a platform/s for sharing my interest for wildlife and the outdoors. It will include wildlife encounters, tips, tricks and adventures.

When did I become interested in wildlife?

I became interested in wildlife from day 1, my first toy was an orca and as you will find out later they have played a special part in my life. I was also lucky enough to have had a grandad also interested in wildlife so he helped grow my passion.

what is my earliest wildlife encounter?

my earliest wildlife encounter was learning to ride a bike. I was learning to ride a bike in London, I kept falling off and had enough. I turned round to my dad and said “I would only ride a bike without stabilisers if I saw a fox”. He said “turn round”. I turned round walking along the hedge was two foxes, I then had to get on my bike and ride it without stabilisers. I succeeded!!!

what is my most memorable wildlife encounter?

This is a tricky one I’ve been lucky enough to have had some incredible wildlife encounters but it has to be seeing my first Orcas, the 27 pod on my 27th birthday. When I was a kid I said I never want to see a Orca in captivity and I had an always wanted to see a bull orca with the tall fin that can get up to 6ft ( the same height as me). My first orca was a Bull 34.

what are some 2026 plans?

For 2026 I’m hoping to go looking the biggest animal on earth, the blue whale as well as some more encounters with Orcas and other wildlife.

The next blog post will be a review of 2025 talking about what wildlife I saw while traveling to Bempton and Flamborough cliffs, North and west coast of Scotland.

Thank you for visiting base camp.