Bond and the birds: How Ian Fleming's passion for twitching inspired some of the exotic girls in the 007 novels and films

• Ian Fleming had a lifelong love of bird watching and exotic animals
• Spy writer made reference to some of the creatures in his books
• Bond is never seen harming animals whereas villains often kill birds

By David Wilkes for Daily Mail

Published: 20:35 EST, 26 June 2015 | Updated: 04:42 EST, 27 June 2015

For James Bond, spying on outlandish villains while seducing beautiful women is all in a day’s work.

His creator Ian Fleming, however, preferred to spend his time keeping tabs on a rather different kind of quarry – rare birds.

In fact, the novelist’s love of twitching played an important role in shaping his spy thrillers.

Ian Fleming (right) was inspired by wildlife and birds in the Caribbean when he wrote the Bond novels

Fleming was inspired by the wildlife of Jamaica where he wrote all the 007 novels at his house, Goldeneye, according to historian Matthew Parker.

Mr Parker told the Chalke Valley History Festival, sponsored by the Daily Mail, how Fleming would go on trips into the island’s Blue Mountains looking for rare birds.

Those he saw figure in several of the Bond books and some of the characters are even named after them. Furthermore, anyone who harms a bird during a Bond adventure invariably meets a sticky end.

Mr Parker, who has written a book about Fleming’s life in Jamaica, said: ‘For Your Eyes Only opens with the words, “The most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world, is the streamer tail or doctor humming bird.” Fleming loved those birds so much he planted hibiscus in the garden to attract them.'

Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour (left),  and Domino Vitali, played by Claudine Auger (right) had names inspired by birds from Jamaica

Watch Daniel Craig as Bond in steamy new trailer for Spectre

He added: ‘He was a real nature lover. In fact if anyone in a Bond book kills a bird, they are so, so dead.’

In the 007 novels, Bond never kills a bird or mammal – except humans – and rarely kills a fish except to eat.

Those who end up dead after killing a bird in the books include Mr Big’s associate ‘the Robber’, who shoots a pelican for fun in Live and Let Die, and Scaramanga, who shoots two kling-kling birds while showing off his marksmanship in The Man With The Golden Gun.

Fleming’s hero was named after ornithologist James Bond, who wrote a book called Birds of the West Indies. Solitaire from Live and Let Die and Domino from Thunderball, played on screen by Claudine Auger, were named after Jamaican rare birds, Mr Parker said.

Fleming, who built his house in Jamaica in 1946 after spending the war in a desk job at Naval Intelligence, also had an interest in pirates, featuring them in seven of the Bond books.

Mr Parker said they appealed to his ‘Tory imagination’ as he considered them ‘self-motivated, aggressive – they would go out and get it’.

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