James John Maitland Flegg (1937–2024)

Jim Flegg was born in Hong Kong but was evacuated from there to Australia with his mother in the Second World War, and it was in Australia that his interest in birds was awakened. Jim's father did not survive the defence of Hong Kong and, an only child, he came with his mother to live in Gillingham, Kent, in 1945. For much of his life, with one important ornithological interlude when appointed to the top job at the British Trust for Ornithology, his life largely revolved around Kent, the county to which he was deeply attached.

His enthusiasm for birds grew under the influence of a teacher at Gillingham Grammar School, G.B. Rimes. This developed into an increasingly serious engagement with bird ringing. The 1950s was a time of intense interest in what bird ringing could reveal about bird migration. Dungeness Bird Observatory, founded in 1952, was a magnetic attraction and Jim soon became a regular, often cycling the 50 or so miles from north Kent. His first visit was in 1953 at the age of 16. Qualification for a ringing permit arrived the following year under the strict guidance of Bert Axell, then warden of Dungeness RSPB Reserve. Those early years of involvement with the Observatory introduced him to many well-known characters on the bird scene one of whom, Eric Hosking, was a future collaborator on several books. Jim was to become the Observatory's longest serving trustee – 68 years!

Ringing in Kent continued to feature strongly in his ornithological interests throughout the 1960s and 1970s often in partnership first with David Musson and then with Chris Cox. A 10-year study of Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus ridibundus breeding on the saltmarshes of the Medway and Swale estuaries focused on movements, dispersal and mortality. These local data were combined with national BTO data. Another 10-year project was undertaken in the woodland of High Halstow National Nature Reserve where the morphometrics and moult of Great Tits Parus major and Eurasian Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus were examined.

After leaving school he had started a civil engineering degree at Queen Mary College but a change of direction quickly followed in the form of a junior scientific officer post at the horticultural research station at East Malling, Kent. He completed a degree in zoology at Imperial College, followed by a PhD awarded by London University in 1967 for work on nematode vectors of plant pathogenic viruses. Jim was later to return to East Malling where he remained for the rest of his non-ornithological career and in 1997 he received an OBE for services to horticulture. Following this first period of work at East Malling, he was appointed Director of Research at the BTO in 1968 as David Snow's successor. The following year he became the BTO's first Director, a post he held until late 1975 when he returned to the world of horticultural research.

Jim Flegg's tenure at the BTO came at a time when the organization was becoming more confident in its ability to coordinate large numbers of volunteers to gather information of both biological and conservation value. Three very different initiatives exemplify this emerging ambition. The first atlas of the breeding birds of Britain and Ireland gathered data from 1968 to 1972 creating an invaluable baseline against which future changes in breeding distributions could be measured. Following pilot counts in the previous winter, the BTO/RSPB ‘Birds of Estuaries Enquiry’ commenced in 1970/71. This immensely important monitoring project for non-breeding waterbirds has morphed into the ‘Wetland Bird Survey’ providing continuous non-breeding bird abundance data for key wetland sites across the UK right up to the present day. Thirdly, a Register of Ornithological Sites was initiated in 1973 running until 1977. This aimed to document sites of ornithological importance throughout the UK and culminated in information being collated for some 4000 sites through the efforts of hundreds of recorders. These data not only contributed to site protection through, for example, SSSI notification but also form a valuable historical record. Jim created an environment that nurtured the development of these and other projects through his supportive and thoughtful management style, coupled with close engagement with BTO Council and funding bodies. He undoubtedly helped to lay a more strategic foundation for the BTO's purpose and direction.

BTO's offices in Beech Grove, a Victorian House in Tring, Hertfordshire, were insufficient to accommodate the growing numbers of staff. An appeal had not raised sufficient funds to allow the necessary extension of the existing offices. Vivian Hewitt's substantial collection of eggs and skins had been given to the BTO some years previously and Jim promoted the idea that this collection should be sold to pay for the refurbishment. BTO Council agreed, though not without some controversy, and Jim negotiated the sale. Had this not happened would the BTO have expanded in the way that it did over the next two decades?

After his departure from professional ornithology, Jim continued to have a high profile as a broadcaster and author. A gifted communicator, he bridged the gap between science and popular interest so well. Between 1975 and 2016 some 30 books were written, including ones on bird migration and the birds of Australia, a country he visited several times with his family. Jim co-edited The Birds of Kent, published in 1981, and more recently was an editor of The New Naturalist Library book series. He was chairman, then President, of the Kent Ornithological Society from 1976 until 2000 and returned to the BTO as a Council member in the 1990s.

Nothing can illustrate Jim Flegg's kindness and generosity better than his support for fellow staff member David Glue who was seriously injured in December 1971 in a road accident. Jim modified his own house in Tring and cared for David until his return to Kent. Many people, in ornithology and beyond, will remember Jim as a compassionate, modest and wise man. He is survived by his wife Caroline, sons Matthew and William, and three grandchildren.