Shirley Kerr has a background in education, gaining a BSc in botany and teaching at several secondary schools between 1973 and 2017, specialising in biology. She has been a driving force for mycological exploration and education in the Bay of Plenty area. She has built a database of species on her website Kaimai Bush and in 2019 published A Field Guide to New Zealand Fungi, which has been highly acclaimed nationally and internationally for its accessibility. She has found at least five previously undescribed species and recorded in excess of 700 different species. She served on the council of the Fungal Network of New Zealand (FUNNZ) for 15 years, was Treasurer from 2009 to 2011, and played a key role in organising four annual New Zealand Fungi Forays. The Fungal Forays attract scientists from New Zealand and overseas. Shirley’s voluntary education efforts in mycology have included running workshops for upskilling in macro photography for botanical work, fostering children’s interest at national forays, organising field trips, public speaking engagements, and providing samples of Landcare New Zealand’s Herbarium or for overseas examination. For her services to mycology, she was awarded a MNZM in 2021.

Shirley joined the Tauranga Photographic Society in 2000, gaining her LPSNZ in 2002 and APSNZ  in 2003. She has been spending her autumns and winters photographing fungi, not only in the Bay of Plenty but in other parts of the country while attending the NZ Fungal Forays. In the summer, Shirley and husband Warwick would often take camping trips to the South Island to find and photograph alpine plants. This love of the alpine areas was a contributing factor in Shirley and Warwick moving to Blenheim in 2023. Shirley also photographs mosses, liverworts, ferns and native orchids – “the little green things” which are often overlooked in the New Zealand bush. These, as well as fungi, are presented on her website http://www.kaimaibush.co.nz/