Bob Gibbons obituary

Inspirational nature photographer and writer whose search for spectacular wildlife took him around the world

The nature photographer and writer Bob Gibbons, who has died aged 74, once conceived the idea of visiting all the most colourful floral spectacles on Earth. That was no easy feat, for wildflower seasons are unpredictable. When he trekked to find the spectacular alpine gardens of Washington state in the spring, he found them covered by 10 feet of snow. His journeys took him from the Mojave desert of California to the “painted deserts” of Namaqualand, South Africa, and on, via the Italian Dolomites, to the Stirling range in Australia.

The result, Wildflower Wonders: The 50 Best Wildflower Sites in the World (2011), was a bestseller at home and in North America. Bob had done the same for Britain, in collaboration with the wild plant charity Plantlife, for a colourful carpet of more modest beauty that he titled Flowers at My Feet: The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland (2002).