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Douglas Nigel Weir Obituary
Author - Nick Picozzi
The Honorable Douglas Nigel Weir 1935 - 2000
With the sudden death of Doug Weir, Scottish ornithology has lost one of its most colourful characters and gentleman naturalists. He was the third of 6 children of the Viscount Weir. It is said that he was descended from Robert Burns; although reticent about this, he was proud that, as an infant, he had been dandled on Harry Lauder' s lap. Doug was educated at Eton and briefly (preferring birdwatching to academic studies) at Trinity College, Cambridge.
During World War 2, his mother evacuated the family to her native Canada where he went to a preparatory school in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. His North American experiences had a profound effect on him and his great love of the outdoors found full expression there. He subsequently made a number of visits to Alaska, the first in 1952, where he based himself mainly at Nyac, a gold mining community which had been established by his Canadian uncle in the Kilbuck mountains. Later he worked as an associate ecological consultant with C C Hawley for the Klondike Miners Association on methods of land reclamation following open cast placer mining at Nyac. These environmental studies were of considerable importance. While there, he also worked extensively on the birds, especially raptors of the region. In 1974, he received a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to continue this aspect of his fieldwork which resulted in a major joint publication in the North American Fauna Series (No 76). He was a skilled bird skinner and specimens collected in North America were deposited in the Royal Museum of Scotland, the Natural History Museum (Tring) and zoological museums in Alaska and California. In his more reflective moments he considered himself prophet without honour in his own land, and it is certain that his work in North America was highly regarded there.
In the early 1960s, he was the senior short term warden responsible for the day to day wardening of the RSPB's 'Operation Osprey'. Whenever he could, he also did extensive fieldwork, mainly on birds of prey in the Spey valley. He was especially active in this respect from 1 964- 1 969 as a research assistant responsible to the RSPB's Conservation Committee. He provided virtually all the Speyside data for the 1964-1968 Golden Eagle survey of Scotland. He was also a member of the Glenmore Mountain Rescue Team during the 1970s and, after he moved to Newtonmore, of the Lochaber Team. Despite being a chain smoker, few could match him on the hill at that time. In addition to a study of the inter relationship of the breeding biology of Eagle, Peregrine and Raven, he plotted all the Buzzard nesting territories from Aviemore to Newtonmore between 1964 and 1967. This was helped by having ready access to private estates through his friendship with the landowners. To capitalise on Doug's efforts, the 2 of us worked together for 3 years on the social behaviour of the Buzzard in the Spey valley from 1969. This resulted in 4 papers. one of which he copiously illustrated. The editor never returned the beautiful original sketches. Our close association during this period cemented a friendship begun in 1962 at the SOC annual conference at Dunblane. It was soon apparent that Doug' s was a most unusual talent. He was a totally intuitive field worker but, whenever it was possible to check his claims, they always proved correct. He seemed inured to physical discomfort; if he had forgotten his Wellington boots, he would cross bogs in his characteristic suede desert boots . Rather than take a long detour to a bridge, he once waded the Spey for a reviving dram at a local hotel after an arduous day on the hill. His knowledge of wildlife and the relevant literature was wide. His copious drafts, all typed on an old manual typewriter, covered the desk and floor of the basement office at Newtonmore which he shared with a Buzzard and his Golden Retrievers. Numerous references to his work in BWP and other major publications testify to the freedom with which he contributed unpublished data, especially on birds of prey, to leading scientists of the day.
Doug was one of the 4 founding directors of the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig which opened in 1972. Although a commercial success, he felt there would be more security if it were part of Edinburgh Zoo and he pushed for the eventual take over of the Park by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland in 1986. He served on its Animal Health and Management Committee (now Animal Welfare Committee) until the late 1990s. The committee's early discussions included the then new activity of breeding endangered species in a coordinated and scientific way. Doug's research on penguin breeding at the zoo contributed to the success of their new penguin exhibit - the largest in the world.
He moved to Edinburgh in 1 984 and was a frequent visitor to the Bird Section of the Royal Museum of Scotland. In 1993 his specialist expertise and skills proved invaluable when the Museum's Bird Section undertook work on Braer oil spill bird casualties. Although contracted only for data gathering and specimen preparation, his commitment was such that he became senior author on most of the resulting publications. This determination led to the Section winning a contract from the Countryside Council for Wales to analyse bird casualties from the 1995 Sea Empress oil spill. In association with Museum staff, his last 2 projects involved Iceland Gulls and mortality in Buzzards, the former in press in The Journal of the Zoological Society of London.
Most of us will remember him at conferences, pacing the floor and gently puffing a cigarette or stroking his beard, a drink always close to hand, discoursing knowledgeably, at length, on any variety of subjects, or drawing pithy cartoons on our dinner menus. He had a natural skill as an artist, and combined a Kodak mind for detail with a rare ability to capture the essence of an animal in a few strokes of the pen. Those privileged to know him well will miss a true and trusted friend of easy charm and
great good humour. He will be greatly missed.
| Owner of original | Scottish Birds (2000) |
| Linked to | Douglas Nigel Weir |
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