No one who truly knows me could ever suggest that I am
uninterested in involving and supporting young people in the field of birding
or natural history as a whole. In fact I
despair sometimes at the lack of input and support for young people, which
seems to be prevalent in some situations.
Never the less I am also keenly interested in the history of ornithology
and conservation and the efforts put in by individuals from previous
generations. After all, as in the case
of all fields of activity, we benefit from the steady flow of knowledge that is
built by our predecessors, although I guess each generation, and I include my
own, often think that it is they that have invented the wheel, so to speak. Because of my interest it was with some
pleasure that I recently read the book Birds
in a Cage by author Derek Niemann.
This book tells the story of how four men in particular dealt with the
horror of being confined in Prisoner of War Camps during World War Two by
devoting much of their time to their passion for the natural world. The books main focus of attention is on four
men, John Buxton, George Waterston, Peter Conder and John Barrett. The book is an excellent read and I won’t go
into too much detail here as that may spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it,
but who intends to do so. I will say I
found it poignant how these men’s lives were in both the short and longer term
affected, in some cases physically and certainly in all cases
psychologically. I also asked myself the
question ‘how many claiming to be bird watchers these days actually watch with
the intensity that these men did? In
this case all done without the luxury of either modern equipment or communications. Oh, how did we ever cope with out Twitter?
Well in fact it’s easy, as I myself prove. These guys couldn’t even rely on an adequate
mailing system. Neither did they have
any access to optics.
John Buxton
(1912-1989) was the only one of the four men who did not go into a lasting
career involving conservation in some form.
The classic book The Redstart,
a monograph in the New Naturalist series, was however a product of the time
John Buxton spent watching and monitoring Redstarts during his captivity. During some of this time Buxton’s hands were
manacled. The Redstart has been out of
print for many years, but is usually available as used copies, at a price. John spent time as warden at Skokholm Bird
Observatory in 1939 and married Marjorie the sister of Ronald Lockley. Ronald was the catalyst for the setting up of
Bird Observatories in the UK
and began the very first UK
observatory at Skokholm in 1933. Ronald
had many contacts with ornithologists and conservationists including Peter
Scott, George Waterson and Julian Huxley and is the author of several books
including the monograph Shearwaters
which was the result of twelve years study of these birds. During his captivity John Buxton was able to
obtain bird rings and ornithological literature from the German ornithologist
Erwin Stresemann, a leading ornithologist of the twentieth century. Stresemann was no doubt taking some personal
risk with regard this.
George Waterston
(1911-1980) was a founder of the Midlothian Ornithologists Club and later the
Scottish Ornithological Club. Prior to
the Second World War he was also a joint founder of the Bird Observatory on the
Isle of May, only the second observatory to open in the UK. George was influenced by the work of Ronald
Lockley at Skokholm. Perhaps George’s
first love however was Fair Isle. During his period as a POW George had dreams
of owning Fair Isle. Maybe not such a wild dream as one might
think as he did belong to a well to do family.
George was repatriated prior to the end of the war because of serious
health problems. On his boat journey to Scotland he passed Fair
Isle and one can only guess how poignant that must have been for
him in the circumstances. A few years
later he realised his dream and he purchased Fair Isle
and helped establish the Bird Observatory there. Six years later (1954) he sold the island to
the National Trust of Scotland for the same amount he had paid for it. George later become Director of the RSPB in Scotland and is perhaps best known for his work
in re-establishing the Osprey in Scotland. The early days of barbed wire protection at
Loch Garten are well know and one can only ponder upon George’s possible
reflections concerning such security, remembering that not so long before, he
himself had been held behind barbed wire.
It was George’s idea to open to the public a viewing point at Loch
Garten, since when so many people have watched Ospreys at their nest, many of
these people perhaps seeing their first Osprey here. It had by necessity been a very secretive operation
prior to George’s idea to involve the public.
George Waterston was an inspiration to many, including a young man by
the name of Roy Dennis, who I have heard talk so highly of George and whose own
work with Ospreys is so well known. The
names begin to link together like a chain, as another who has worked with
Ospreys is a favourite nature artist of mine Keith Brockie, who also of course
has strong links to the Isle of May and has produced two (of several) books of
his art work completed whilst living on the island, these being Ones Mans Island and Return to One Mans Island. Erwin Stresemann published a paper during the
war concerning the birds of Crete and bird migration through the Aegean. George
Waterston had been captured at Crete and he
provided work from his observations which Stresemann included in his
paper. George was the only man from the UK to ever have
work included in a German ornithological paper during the course of the Second
World War.
Peter Conder
(1919-1993) was interested in ornithology from childhood. I think as a rather reserved man Peter was
perhaps overawed by his fellow POW bird watchers of whom he was the
youngest. During movement between camps
he lost much of his written work. In 1947
he too became warden of the Bird Observatory on Skokholm where he studied the
Northern Wheatear in particular and is author of a monograph on this
species. By 1963 Peter had become
director of the RSPB and he remained so until 1975, a period during which
membership rose tenfold to 200,000. Land
ownership also increased from a minimal amount to 20,000 hectares. Peter saw that the work of the RSPB must be
founded upon science and that conservation must recognise the role of
politics. Peter was relatively young
when he retired from the directorship of the RSPB and he could have gone on for
much longer. In stepping down he
recognised the need for new blood and ideas in the role. Perhaps there is a lesson for us all there. Peter continued involvement with training and
advisory groups.
John Barrett
(1913-1999) gained a life long interest in birds by being in the company of
John Buxton, George Waterston and Peter Conder.
He became warden of Dale Fort Field Centre which included Skokholm Bird
Observatory. Dale Fort was established
as a centre for the study of marine biology with Skokholm flourishing as a bird
observatory. John seems to have
regretted that he had been unable to fully engage other POWs in natural history
and he was driven to make amends for this.
Under his management the field centre gained an international reputation
and John supervised many students during his years here. He is perhaps best remembered for his
authorship of the Collins Guide to the
Seashore which was published in 1958 and remained in print for forty
years. Whilst it was a joint authorship
with Maurice Yonge, the latter admitted that it was John who had done most of
the work on this. Except for visits to
see family who had moved abroad, John remained in Pembrokeshire for the rest of
his life. He established the
Pembrokeshire Countryside Unit in Broad Haven in 1968 and ran a programme of
walks and talks along the coastal footpaths.
During his guided walks he was accompanied by his dog which he named dog.
Addendum
Derek Niemann was editor for the RSPB Magazine for
young members. Following on from Birds in a Cage he is now the author of A Nazi in the family: The Hidden Story of an SS Family in Wartime Germany. This book follows Derek Niemann’s discovery
that his grandfather was a Nazi and was a cog in the wheel of the workings of
the concentration camps. Derek is also
author of wildlife books for children and has contributed articles to the
Guardian and Wildlife Magazine.
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