Ajay Tegala
- Additional Crew
Ajay Haywood Tegala is a wildlife television presenter, countryside ranger, naturalist, author and voice-over artist.
He was born in Chertsey, Surrey but grew up in Market Deeping, south Lincolnshire. Tegala is the eldest of three children. His mother is English-born and his father was born in India, moving to England at the age of four with his parents.
Tegala studied Environmental Conservation and Countryside Management at Nottingham Trent University. He then went on to work as a ranger on coastal and wetland nature reserves in Norfolk, Northumberland and Cambridgeshire.
His early television credits include appearances on Summer Special (2012) with John Craven, Winterwatch (2012) with Iolo Williams, Springwatch: Unsprung (2009) alongside Will Young and Chris Packham, The Great Guide: East Anglia (2016) with Neil Oliver, Homes by the Sea (2014) with Charlie Luxton, Walking Through History (2013) with Tony Robinson, Secrets of the National Trust (2017) alongside Suzannah Lipscomb and Curious Creatures (2017) alongside Kate Humble, Chris Packham, Steve Backshall and Lucy Cooke.
Tegala's first television appearance was in an episode of The Great British Story: Regional Histories (2012) alongside Rory McGrath in 2012. He was described as a natural and has appeared on television regularly ever since.
In 2018, Tegala took part in Celebrity Eggheads (2008) on a science team with Rory Cellan-Jones, Dallas Campbell, Spencer Kelly and Helen Lawal. That summer, he fronted the Big Coast Clean-Up.
Tegala modeled for Cotswold Outdoor as their featured ranger for their summer 2019 range of clothing. The same summer, he filmed Inside the Bat Cave (2020), a ground-breaking Springwatch-style documentary about bats, presenting alongside Lucy Cooke.
Spring 2021 saw him undertaking a three-month talent development placement with the BBC Natural History Unit. This involved working on location in Ascot with George McGavin and Hyde Park with Liz Bonnin filming their contributions for the archive-based Our Wild Adventures (2021) series. As well as research and story development for series 17 of Springwatch (2005), he also wrote and presented a five-minute film, which featured in the ninth episode in addition to co-writing Megan McCubbin's five-minute film in the tenth episode and working on location in Norfolk with Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan.
Tegala has made numerous appearances on BBC Look East (1959) as well as BBC Radio Norfolk and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, appearing monthly as a "Wildlife Wednesday" guest on the latter. He has also made a number of short wildlife films, including "White Feathers - My Winter with Wild Swans" (2021) featuring original music by Charlotte Eve and produces weekly "#WildWednesday" short videos on TikTok.
January 2022 saw him working as part of the production team for series 9 of Winterwatch (2012), based on location at Wild Ken Hill in Norfolk. The same month, he also recorded an episode of BBC Radio 4 'Ramblings' with Clare Balding (broadcast on 24th February 2022 at 3pm).
On 4th August 2022, Tegala's first book, "The Unique Life of a Ranger", featuring a foreword by Megan McCubbin, was published by The History Press. Promotion for the book included a live, in-studio appearance on 22 June 2022: Evening Bulletin (2022), numerous radio interviews and articles for BBC "Wildlife" and "Countryfile" magazines whom we would go on to write article for. The book received glowing endorsements by Chris Packham, Stephen Moss, Richard Taylor-Jones and Zoë Howe.
A second book follows on 2nd May 2024, "Wetland Diaries: Ranger Life and Rewilding on Wicken Fen" - also published by The History Press - to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the nature reserve. The book includes two old paintings by wildlife artist Eric Ennion as well as other local artists and a foreword by Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Director-General of the National Trust.
He was born in Chertsey, Surrey but grew up in Market Deeping, south Lincolnshire. Tegala is the eldest of three children. His mother is English-born and his father was born in India, moving to England at the age of four with his parents.
Tegala studied Environmental Conservation and Countryside Management at Nottingham Trent University. He then went on to work as a ranger on coastal and wetland nature reserves in Norfolk, Northumberland and Cambridgeshire.
His early television credits include appearances on Summer Special (2012) with John Craven, Winterwatch (2012) with Iolo Williams, Springwatch: Unsprung (2009) alongside Will Young and Chris Packham, The Great Guide: East Anglia (2016) with Neil Oliver, Homes by the Sea (2014) with Charlie Luxton, Walking Through History (2013) with Tony Robinson, Secrets of the National Trust (2017) alongside Suzannah Lipscomb and Curious Creatures (2017) alongside Kate Humble, Chris Packham, Steve Backshall and Lucy Cooke.
Tegala's first television appearance was in an episode of The Great British Story: Regional Histories (2012) alongside Rory McGrath in 2012. He was described as a natural and has appeared on television regularly ever since.
In 2018, Tegala took part in Celebrity Eggheads (2008) on a science team with Rory Cellan-Jones, Dallas Campbell, Spencer Kelly and Helen Lawal. That summer, he fronted the Big Coast Clean-Up.
Tegala modeled for Cotswold Outdoor as their featured ranger for their summer 2019 range of clothing. The same summer, he filmed Inside the Bat Cave (2020), a ground-breaking Springwatch-style documentary about bats, presenting alongside Lucy Cooke.
Spring 2021 saw him undertaking a three-month talent development placement with the BBC Natural History Unit. This involved working on location in Ascot with George McGavin and Hyde Park with Liz Bonnin filming their contributions for the archive-based Our Wild Adventures (2021) series. As well as research and story development for series 17 of Springwatch (2005), he also wrote and presented a five-minute film, which featured in the ninth episode in addition to co-writing Megan McCubbin's five-minute film in the tenth episode and working on location in Norfolk with Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan.
Tegala has made numerous appearances on BBC Look East (1959) as well as BBC Radio Norfolk and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, appearing monthly as a "Wildlife Wednesday" guest on the latter. He has also made a number of short wildlife films, including "White Feathers - My Winter with Wild Swans" (2021) featuring original music by Charlotte Eve and produces weekly "#WildWednesday" short videos on TikTok.
January 2022 saw him working as part of the production team for series 9 of Winterwatch (2012), based on location at Wild Ken Hill in Norfolk. The same month, he also recorded an episode of BBC Radio 4 'Ramblings' with Clare Balding (broadcast on 24th February 2022 at 3pm).
On 4th August 2022, Tegala's first book, "The Unique Life of a Ranger", featuring a foreword by Megan McCubbin, was published by The History Press. Promotion for the book included a live, in-studio appearance on 22 June 2022: Evening Bulletin (2022), numerous radio interviews and articles for BBC "Wildlife" and "Countryfile" magazines whom we would go on to write article for. The book received glowing endorsements by Chris Packham, Stephen Moss, Richard Taylor-Jones and Zoë Howe.
A second book follows on 2nd May 2024, "Wetland Diaries: Ranger Life and Rewilding on Wicken Fen" - also published by The History Press - to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the nature reserve. The book includes two old paintings by wildlife artist Eric Ennion as well as other local artists and a foreword by Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Director-General of the National Trust.