Most 12-year-old boys enjoy playing video games and watching tv, but Radlett boy Sam Misan has a very different hobby - bone collecting. We have been following the Berkhamsted Boys School pupil as he created a digital museum more than a year a go - Nature Base - where bone collectors from across the country could showcase their collections.

Now he has become one of the youngest person to hold one wildlife art exhibition, entitled Perek Shire: Natures Song, at the Radlett Centre and Sam talks to Jyoti Rambhai about how he has combined his love for wildlife with his passion for drawing.

What is your first memory about nature?

I remember being five-years-old and going to Langleybury farm with my family and looking at the deer they had there. I found it amazing to have something so different from myself standing right in front of me with its large, almost human eyes.

What is it about nature you love so much?

I discovered my love of art through nature. I always loved going on walks in woods and fields - I would pester my dad to take me on woodland trails. I soon went from going on woodland walks to drawing the animals I saw on my journey through the forests and I always loved my older sisters paintings so I joined a group art class where I weekly drew and painted, and so from that my love of art was born and I have drawn and painted ever since.

How old were you when you joined the art class? What was the first animal that you drew?

I was eight and I believe I drew a fox.

What is your favourite animal to draw?

My favourite animal to draw is a bird. I realise that is a rather broad term but I find all the parts of a bird are so satisfying to draw - the texture of the bill, the variety of different feathers and the shapes in the face - and they are present in all bird species.

Do you only use ink and watercolours?

No I mainly use acrylic and water colours but I also use ink, lead, gouache, colouring pencil, Coptic markers and hope to use oils in the near future.

Watford Observer:

You also collect bones – how long have you been collecting for? Why did you start collecting in the first place?

I have been collecting bones since 2014 and began collecting to get a better understanding of anatomy, which led to me improving my artwork by making my illustrations more anatomically accurate and giving my pieces that feeling that the animals I was painting had something beneath the surface of the skin.

How do you go about finding bones – where do you look?

I look for bones in forests and fields mostly, I love going to Aldenham Country Park in search for bones because the park has a variety of different environments which is perfect for finding different animals that died in different ways.

What evolutionary creatures have you come up with?

Well to go through all of my speculative evolution-based creatures would take all day, but an example of one of my speculative creations is a creature I created based on a vulture called a dicarous thith - a vulture like creature with two horn like structures one facing down and one up at the tip of its bill used for mating rituals, they have fiery brown coloured plumage and are bald around the eyes and most of the face.

How might animals evolve to survive global warming?

Well I suspect, sadly, large endangered animals such as tigers and polar bears will go extinct. I also think that animals such as stoats that change colour in the winter to adapt to the white environments of snow will stop changing in winter due to the decrease of settled snow thanks to climate change.

We can tell a population of tawny owls from Finland have been adapting to the milder winters by looking at the colour of their plumage: the normally tawny owls come in either brown or white but the brown owls have been proliferating whereas the white have been decreasing. But to really do this interesting question justice I would need to go into this in more detail and I am actually going to be doing a blog post on the subject in the near future.

Last year, you spoke to us about starting a youtube channel and blog about observing and protecting the environment. Can you tell me how this is going?

I now have a blog on nature, science and art where I discuss topics like how anyone can help nature, de extinction, neo-evolution my art process and more. Regarding a YouTube channel I am definitely thinking about starting one but have no official plans as yet.

Is there any wildlife enthusiast (living or dead) who inspires you and why?

I am inspired by the amazing Steve Backshall I used to watch deadly sixty every week and still re watch his documentaries from the natures micro worlds series.

Other than nature, art and bone collecting, what else do you like to do in your spare time?

Well I love going out with my friends as well as acting, I recently went to a drama summer camp with youth music theatre group (YMT).

Sam's art exhibition will be at the Radlett Centre until January 30.