The
very sad and untimely passing of Pete leaves me completely shocked and with a
deep sense of loss. I will forever remember his enduring friendship, and I will
sorely miss his endless interest in, and encouragement for birding, twitching,
foreign travel, photography and even this blog. Not only was I fortunate enough
to spend time with Pete on countless occasions at Beachy but I’ll treasure the
memories of travelling together to see (and miss!) some great rarities across Britain.
Those that instantly spring to mind include finally seeing my first Lesser
Scaup in Oxfordshire having previously missed so many, successfully doubling-up
on a River Warbler near Wigan with seeing my only summer-plumaged adult Ross’s
Gull performing to just a few feet in Cleveland, revisiting the Burghead
Grey-tailed Tattler when we overnighted at the somewhat appropriately named
Nethybridge where Pete was as equally thrilled to see 3 Capercaillie shortly
after dawn the following morning before going on to see my first Forster’s Tern
off Edinburgh whilst ‘on our way home’.
I then
vividly remember Pete wanting to see something rare enough to entice us to
Scilly during his first visit to the islands. St. Agnes duly delivered
producing a Yellow-browed Bunting with Pete phoning excitedly at the prospect
of us now ‘having’ to travel down to join him. The next day we received the
typical warm welcome and gratefully accepted an invitation to extend our stay
by utilising some spare floor space!
On
another occasion, the MS Oldenburg failed to leave Ilfracombe for Lundy and so
denied us all the opportunity to look for a Baillon’s Crake. Although incredibly frustrating and
disappointing at the time, Pete’s philosophy was always ‘better to regret the
things that you do, than regret the things that you don’t’.
How he
so enthusiastically conveyed the excitement of witnessing falls of migrants be
it at Beachy, Beidehae or Pt. Pelee, how he described the wonder of seeing so
many Neotropical families new to him in Panama, how he recounted Cape Town
pelagic trips plucking Albatrosses out of the air and how he told tales of
conducting atlas work in remote areas of his beloved southern Africa well
beyond the ‘safe borders’ of South Africa all played testimony to few regrets,
but conversely, were more a reflection of how much he loved the rich and varied
birding experiences that he sought and then enjoyed so much.
Pete was of course, just half of the familiar
duo of ‘Pete & Mim’, and whilst I am struggling to come to terms with the
loss of Pete, I cannot imagine how Mim is feeling right now, and can only add
my heartfelt condolences at this very difficult time.
