Letter from Professor Roger J Wheater, Chairman, National Trust for Scotland
I was very saddened to learn of the recent death of your father, Max Nicholson. He
was a giant in the conservation world, and so much of what we now take for granted
found their origins in both the thought and the driving power of your father. The
British Trust for Ornothology, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Nature
Conservancy, IUCN, all organisations of tremendous importance to the world of
conservation.
I first met your father in the Murchison Falls National Park in 1960. He was travelling
with Ritchie Calder around east Africa following the large conservation conference in
Tanzania. I had been the Chief Warden of Murchison Falls National Park for all of a
fortnight, and to say that I was wet behind the ears would be bragging. I took them
on a trip to the top of the Murchison Falls, and managed to get myself and my
important passengers into the centre of a group of rather disturbed elephants. I had
not intended to get there, so it was not so much foolhardiness as fortune, however,
having got there the most sensible course of action seemed to be to stop and keep
quiet. One of the party, who was very keen on pushing himself forward for all the
photo opportunities and was always first through the hatch of the land rover, sat
firmly on the floor of the vehicle. Ritchie Calder was being stiff upper lip, but was
clearly slightly alarmed by the behaviour of the elephant. Your father, binoculars to
his eyes, commented "Yes, a lesser chanting goshawk I'm quite certain." This bird,
similarly surprised by the activities of the elephant, was perched in the comparative
safety of the tree, watching the elephants' disturbed behaviour below him. This for
me marked the beginning of a long association with your father, whom I appreciated
at that time was an extremely dedicated ornithologist.
Over the years we met on a number of occasions, and more recently at meetings of
the New Renaissance Group. He was always inspiring, and his comments, about
any particularly area of environmental activity, were remembered. On occasions, it
reminded one that "new initiatives" were not actually quite so new as they appeared,
for he seemed to have a happy knack of thinking through important conservation
development issues well in advance, often years in advance, of other people. There
is no doubt that his continued contribution was of value and will be missed, however
there is equally no doubt that his energy, drive and scholarship has been a vital
element in the world's better understanding of the environmental issues which face
us. There will be many members of this organisation whose work has been
influenced by your father, and would join me in offering to you our sincere
condolences.
