Mike Madders

Abstract

Mike Madders was a professional ornithologist and ecologist, best known for his research in Scotland on Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus, his work on the impact of wind power development on upland birds and for the popular books on birds that he both wrote and published. Mike started his work on birds in 1978, voluntarily monitoring Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus and Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos in Cumbria and guarding them against thieves. By day, he worked as a postmaster, the youngest in Britain at the time. While in Cumbria, Mike set up a popular Young Ornithologists’ Club group and wrote Bird Watching in the Lake District (1985). In 1984, Mike was employed by the RSPB to provide security for a White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla nest on Mull, the result of releases on Rum. In 1985, the birds produced the first wild eagle chick born in Scotland in 70 years, the beginning of a still unfolding wildlife success story. The event was marked by Mike’s radio communication to his fellow eagle watcher: ‘I think we’re both daddies!’. In Scotland he continued to write and publish (through Saker Press) popular books on birds: Birds of Mull, Birds of Arran and Birdwatching in the Outer Hebrides. Birds of Mid-Argyll and Where to Watch Birds in Scotland were co-authored with Julia Welstead. All were illustrated by Philip Snow. While on Mull, Mike undertook RSPB and NCC seasonal contracts counting geese and monitoring raptors and other birds, and came to be seen as the RSPB presence there. In the winter, he gave evening classes and talks on birds and wildlife, and travelled widely. One tour of the US was at least part funded or facilitated by the bird talks he gave along the way. He moved to Islay in 1991. Mike did not have an undergraduate degree, but in 1991 he undertook a PhD course at Glasgow University. Contemporaries at Glasgow noted that at 2 m tall he was well built for the field work, which involved studying Hen Harriers in forestry plantations. He received his PhD in 1997, entitled ‘The effects of forestry on Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus’. From 1998 to 2002, Mike studied eagle predation of lambs on Mull with Mick Marquiss, finding that although some lambs were killed, most were scavenged. These findings, which endorsed some of the claims of local shepherds, eased a highly polarized situation and led to the ‘Natural Care’ package aimed at rewarding shepherds for looking after the interests of wildlife and improving lamb care. The timing of this coincided with the growth in eagle tourism to the island. In the mid 1990s, Mike started environmental consultancy and worked on some of the first wind power developments in Scotland. As a consultant, Mike was appreciated by clients for the quality of his work, and by the regulatory agencies and conservation bodies for his field experience, commitment to conservation, sharp and pragmatic mind, honesty and appreciation for commerce. In 1999, Mike and I established Natural Research, a registered charity in Scotland, whose mission is to provide high-quality wildlife research. Natural Research Projects (NRP), a commercial environmental consultancy, was set up as a subsidiary and profits from NRP were given to the charity to pursue its mission. Mike gained satisfaction from doing and supporting high-quality work in the commercial and charitable sectors, and was pleased by the commercial success of NRP. Mike helped devise many of the techniques currently used to measure bird responses to windfarm development, some now adopted as best practice in the UK and abroad. He provided training in these techniques to statutory agencies and to other environmental assessment professionals. He was sometimes brought in as an expert witness at public enquiries related to wind energy, both by developers and by Scottish Natural Heritage. Mike was the local representative for the British Trust for Ornithology (1988–99), a long-standing member of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, a member of the Institute of Biology and the Raptor Research Foundation, and a long-time member of the Argyll Bird Club. He was a member of the Scottish Raptor Study Groups, and chairman of the Argyll Raptor Study Group for a time. Mike was born in Leicester on 12 July 1957 and died with his son, Daniel, on 23 August 2009 in a canoeing accident on Loch Maree, Wester Ross. He will be remembered by his many friends, who found him sharp, humorous and honest. He is survived by the three sons he had with his former partner, Julia Welstead, and by his partner, Christine Cain.