I first met Hugh Brazier nearly 57 years ago when I started at Bristol Grammar School. Hugh was already there and neither of us might have guessed that we would remain in touch as friends all that time nor that we would both spend much of our time engaged in birds, wildlife and the environment….
Category: THOSE WE HAVE LOST
A post about inefficient government
This is my Mum, who died two years ago today in her 98th year. But this blog post is about the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). I’ll be sending a copy of this blog post to my MP. When someone dies there is a fair amount of ‘sadmin’, sad administration, to do. There are…
Tony Marr 1939-2025
Tony Marr was born in Glasgow but he will always be associated with Sussex where he was one of a small group of birders in 1962 who founded the Sussex Ornithological Society (other leading lights being Richard Porter, Chris Mead, Bill Bourne and Mike Shrubb). He attended Steyning Grammar School and was encouraged in his…
John Burton Memorial Fund
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Please consider donating to the John Burton Memorial Fund – set up to support causes about which John was particuarly keen in his last years.
John Burton 1944 – 2022
John Burton passed away at his home in Suffolk on Sunday morning. I’ve known John mostly through the World Land Trust with which I’ve been connected for over a decade as a council member, a trustee and latterly as chair of trustees. John’s association with WLT is far longer and far more personal as he…
Robert Gillmor – 1936 – 2022
Robert Gillmor, one of Britain’s best known and most loved wildlife artists passed away yesterday, aged 85 (birthday, 6 July). Gillmor’s work is familiar to many generations of professional and amateur naturalists – many of us grew up with it. His clear lines, tasteful composition and love of species with bold patterns make his work…
DIM Wallace, 1933-2021
Donald Ian Mackenzie Wallace, (dim wallace as his artist’s signature was), known most usually as Ian Wallace, passed away in his sleep last Thursday night at the age of 88, not far short of his 89th birthday on 14 December. He was a writer, very definitely an artist, and a leading ornithological figure for a…
Martha’s Day
On 1 September 1914, between midday and 1 pm, in the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio, a pigeon breathed her last, and with her died her species. The pigeon was known as Martha, and the species was the Passenger Pigeon. Amongst all extinctions, this example remains unusual in two respects: the precision with which…
Vote for the right Emily Williamson
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Learn about the role of Emily Williamson in the protection of birds, and vote for the statue to commemorate her campaigning work.
Frank Hamilton 1932-2020
Frank Hamilton was a very early RSPB staff member, back in the 1950s when there were only a few handfuls of staff. He retired as Director, Scotland in 1993. Almost epitomising the early staff of the RSPB he (and most were male) was a keen birdwatcher with a huge enthusiasm for birds, nature and wildlife…