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After working principally for the RSPB for 25 years, Sally Mills swapped Somerset security for tropical tempestuousness to manage the prestigious Aride Island Nature Reserve in the Seychelles. Island to Island portrays a rare insight into a dynamic and challenging, yet privileged existence living amongst a million seabirds and some of the rarest wildlife in the world.
A nature lover’s dream, to manage a tropical island nature reserve, just one mile long by half a mile wide, six nautical miles from the mainland, with no electricity or running water. However, from star-flled skies to merciless monsoons, deadly pisonia to devastating poaching, turbulent seas to tumultuous staff, existence became dominated by an eclectic mix of emotional turmoil.
Sally Mills was born in 1967 and raised in rural North Wales, where she was inspired by her bucolic surroundings leading to a fascination with the natural world. A healthy obsession with birds dominated her life and has continued to do so to this day.
Fulflling her childhood passion throughout her working life, she spent 25 years in nature conservation working principally for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This occupation also fuelled her drive for sustainability, and she was seconded to the government to pioneer new bioenergy initiatives powered by nature reserve vegetation.
Towards the end of her conservation career, Sally earned the chance to manage a tropical island nature reserve in Seychelles, together with partner Melvyn. Her commitment to wildlife was rewarded with this opportunity of a lifetime to manage the prestigious Aride Island Nature Reserve in the Seychelles.
"A delightful account of living the dream – and saving nature."
– Dr Stephen Moss, Naturalist, Author & Award-Winning TV Producer of BBC's Springwatch
"Sally Mills' book will remind us all of the heroes, both Brits and Seychellois, who have tended Aride and its nature and restored it."
– Baroness Barbara Young of Old Scone, Ex RSPB Chief Executive
"Responsible for an island which has magpie robins and other key birds of considerable conservation interest [...] I have been most impressed by the way you have run the island."
– Dr James Cadbury, Aride Island Custodian
"A fascinating true story of island life, with a close and expert attention to detail in the descriptions of both the natural world and of humankind."
– Dr Liz Williams, Author of The Ghost Sister, and historian
