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Ronald Lockley

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Ronald Lockley
Lockley c. 1940
Lockleyc. 1940
Born8 November 1903
Cardiff,Wales
Died12 April 2000(2000-04-12)(aged 96)
OccupationOrnithologist, naturalist, author

Ronald Mathias Lockley(8 November 1903 – 12 April 2000) was a Welshornithologistandnaturalist.He wrote over fifty books on natural history, including a study ofshearwaters,and the bookThe Private Life of the Rabbit,which was used in the development of his friendRichard Adams's children's bookWatership Down.

Life and career

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Lockley was born inCardiffand grew up in the suburb ofWhitchurch,where his mother ran aboarding school.While still at school, he spent his weekends and summer holidays living rough in the woods and wetlands that now form theGlamorganshire Canal local nature reserve.[1]

After leaving school, he established a small poultry farm with his sister nearSt Mellons,Cardiff.

His son is thepalaeontologistMartin Lockley.[2]

Skokholm

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Lockley House onSkokholm,the UK's first bird observatory, rebuilt and lived in by Ronald Lockley

In 1927, with his first wife Doris Shellard, he took a 21-year lease ofSkokholm,a small island some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) off the western tip ofPembrokeshire,which was inhabited only by rabbits andseabirds.Attempts to make a living from catching and selling rabbits and breedingchinchilla rabbitswere abandoned when he found he could make a better living writing articles and books.[3]He began to studymigratorybirds from 1928, establishing the first Britishbird observatoryin 1933,[4]and carrying out extensive pioneering research on breedingManx shearwaters,Atlantic puffinsandEuropean storm-petrels.[5]He was encouraged to record the exact incubation and fledging period of the Manx shearwater byHarry Witherby,the then editor ofBritish Birds.[6]

He provided the initialcatalystfor the British Bird Observatory movement which, following the wartime interruption, reached its zenith in the fifties. He described his research in several books, includingDream Island(1930),Island Days(1934) andI Know an Island(1938). The work brought him to the notice of a wider circle of conservationists and naturalists, among themPeter ScottandJulian Huxley.[7]Lockley's notable scientific monographShearwatersis a result of a twelve years' study. He founded the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society which later became theWest Wales Field Society.He urged the broadening of the activities of the original Society and the extension of its area to include the whole of West Wales and it was at his insistence that the West Wales Field Society was incorporated as theWest Wales Naturalists' Trust.[8]

With Julian Huxley he made one of the first professional (BFI) nature films,The Private Life of the Gannets(1934), which won anOscar.[9]

Postwar

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Lockley continued farming on the mainland when Skokholm was used by the military during theSecond World War.He played a key part in the preliminary survey of the natural history ofSkomer Islandin 1946,[10]re-establishing Skokholm as a bird observatory and establishing the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies inDale Fort.[11]He played a role in setting up thePembrokeshire Coast National Park[12]in 1952, and in mapping out thecoastal footpath around the county.[13]Living atOrielton,a large estate nearPembroke,he undertook a four-year scientific study ofrabbitbehaviour for theBritish Nature Conservancyduring the 1950s. As chairman of the West Wales Field Society, he also led an unsuccessful campaign against the building of a largeoil refineryatMilford Haven.[7]

His belief that successive British governments were not sufficiently aware of the threat to the landscape from industrial development led to his decision to emigrate toNew Zealandin 1970, with his third wife. There he continued to write, mostly about islands and birds, but also novels, and to travel among the islands ofPolynesiaand in theAntarctic.[7]

Lockley was awarded an Honorary MSc by theUniversity of Walesin 1977, in recognition of his distinction as a naturalist.[14]In 1993 he was awarded the Union Medal of theBritish Ornithologists' Union.He died in 2000, aged 96. His ashes were scattered from the boatDale Princess,in the waters just off Skokholm Island in 2000.

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Lockley'sThe Private Life of the Rabbit(1964) played a role in the plot development of his friendRichard Adams's children's bookWatership Down.[15]TheNew York Timesobituary observed "It was a rigorously factual work with none of the anthropomorphic sentimentality that infusedWatershipwith its charm, but it bristled with insights. "[16]With Lockley's permission, Adams introduced him (alongside SirPeter Scott) as a character in his later novelThe Plague Dogs(1977).

Bibliography

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Books authored or coauthored by Lockley:

  • 1930:Dream Island.Witherby:London.
  • 1932:The Island Dwellers.G. P. Putnam's Sons: London.
  • 1934:Island Days.Witherby: London.
  • 1936:The Sea's a Thief.Longman:London
  • 1936:Birds of the Green Belt and the Country around London.Witherby: London.
  • 1938:I Know an Island.George G. Harrap:London.
  • 1939:Early Morning Island – or a dish of sprats.George G. Harrap: London.
  • 1940:A Pot of Smoke. Being the Life and Adventures of Dan Owain as Told to R.M. Lockley.George G. Harrap: London.
  • 1941:The Way to an IslandJ M Dent:London.
  • 1942:Shearwaters.J. M. Dent: London.
  • 1943:Dream Island Days.Witherby: London.
  • 1943:Inland Farm.Witherby: London.
  • 1945:Islands Round Britain.Collins:London.
  • 1945:Birds of the Sea.Penguin Books:London. (With R.B. Talbot Kelly).
  • 1946:The Island Farmers.Witherby: London.
  • 1947:Letters from Skokholm.J. M. Dent: London.
  • 1948:The Cinnamon Bird.Staples Press: London. (Illustrated byCharles Tunnicliffe).
  • 1948:The Golden Year.Witherby: London.
  • 1948:The Birds of Pembrokeshire.Compiled forWest Wales Field Society( With GCS Ingram & H Morrey Salmon)
  • 1949:Natural History of Selborne.Introduction & notes by Lockley. Dent: London (Everyman LibraryNo.48).
  • 1950:The Charm of the Channel Islands.Evans Brothers:London.
  • 1950:Island of Skomer.Staples Press: London. (WithJohn Buxton).
  • 1951:The Nature-lovers' Anthology.Edited by Lockley.
  • 1953:Bird Ringing. The Art of Bird Study by Individual Marking.Crosby Lockwood & Son: London. (With Rosemary Russell).
  • 1953:Puffins.Dent: London.
  • 1953:Travels with A Tent in Western Europe.Odhams Press:London.
  • 1954:Gilbert White.Witherby: London. (Great Naturalists series)
  • 1954:The Seals and the Curragh. Introducing the Natural History of the Grey Seal of the North Atlantic.Dent: London.
  • 1954:Seabirds.(New NaturalistNo.28) Collins: London. (WithJames Fisher).
  • 1957:Pembrokeshire.(Regional Books series). Robert Hale: London.
  • 1957:In Praise of Islands. An anthology for friends.Frederick Muller: London.
  • 1958:The Bird-lover's Bedside Book.Eyre & Spottiswoode:London. Edited by RML.
  • 1961:Pan Book of Cage Birds.Pan Books:London.
  • 1964:Britain in Colour.Batsford Books:London.
  • 1964:The Private Life of the Rabbit.Andre Deutsch:London. (A Survival Book.)
  • 1966:Grey Seal, Common Seal.Andre Deutsch: London. (A Survival Book.)
  • 1966:Wales.Batsford: London.
  • 1967:Animal navigation.Arthur Barker: London.
  • 1968:The Book of Bird Watching.Arthur Barker: London.
  • 1968:The Travellers Guide to the Channel Islands.Jonathan Cape:London
  • 1969:The Island.Andre Deutsch: London.
  • 1970:Man Against Nature.Andre Deutsch: London. (A Survival Book.)
  • 1970:The Naturalist in Wales.David & Charles:Newton Abbot.
  • 1971:A Traveller's Guide to the Channel Islands.(Corgi– 0552086479)
  • 1974:Ocean Wanderers. The migratory sea birds of the world.David & Charles: Newton Abbot.
  • 1974:Seal Woman.Rex Collings:London.
  • 1977:Orielton: The Human and Natural History of a Welsh Manor.Andre Deutsch: London.
  • 1979:Myself When Young: The Making of a Naturalist.Andre Deutsch: London.
  • 1979:Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises.David & Charles: Newton Abbot.
  • 1980:The House Above the Sea.Longman Paul: New Zealand.
  • 1980:New Zealand Endangered Species. Birds, Bats, Reptiles, Freshwater Fishes, Snails and Insects.Cassell New Zealand. (With Noel W. Cusa)
  • 1982:Voyage through the Antarctic.Allen Lane: London. (WithRichard Adams)
  • 1982:New Zealand Birds.(WithGeoff Moon)Heinemann.
  • 1983:Eric Hosking's Seabirds.(Text by Lockley)Croom Helm:London.
  • 1983:The Flight of the Storm Petrel.David & Charles: London.
  • 1986:Voyage Through the Antarcticby Lockley and Richard Adams.
  • 1987:The Lodge above the Waterfall.Divach Press:Drumnadrochit.
  • 1987:The Secrets of Natural New Zealand.Viking Press:Auckland. (With Betty Brownlie)
  • 1991:Birds and Islands. Travels in Wild Places.Witherby: London.
  • 1996:Dear Islandman.Compiled by Lockley.Gomer Press:Llandysul.

He was also a writer of articles, many of them forCountrymanmagazinein the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

A 1947 edition ofI Know an Islandwas illustrated byJames Lucas.

References

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  1. ^The Times.Obituary. 21 April 2000
  2. ^"Martin Lockley".Cafescicolorado.org.Retrieved3 November2021.
  3. ^The Island,Lockley R, pub. Andre Deutsch. p82
  4. ^The Natural History of Wales, Condry, W M, p249
  5. ^Skokholm and Skomer Nature Reserves Report for 1976
  6. ^The Island,Lockley, R., pub. Andre Deutsch. p45
  7. ^abcObituary: R. M. LockleyThe Independent
  8. ^The WWNT and its Nature Resources 1975
  9. ^"Ronald Lockley".The New Naturalists Online, www.newnaturalists.com.Archived fromthe originalon 6 May 2012.Retrieved21 December2011.
  10. ^Island of Skomer(1950), Buxton, J and Lockley, R
  11. ^The Island Naturalist, Dyfed Wildlife Trust, Summer 1996, no 31
  12. ^OrieltonLockley, R.M. (1977) p42
  13. ^Coast to Coast, March 1992, p7
  14. ^OrieltonLockley, R.M. (1977) inside cover
  15. ^The Telegraph. Obituaries. 13 April 2000
  16. ^Martin, Douglas (24 April 2000)."Ronald Lockley, of Rabbit Fame, Dies at 96".The New York Times.Retrieved22 July2015.
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