Ian John Strange
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(20 July 1934 – 30 September 2018),
"Ian Strange, naturalist, author, artist and photographer who championed wildlife in the Falklands – obituary"
''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', 16 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018. also known as the Bird Man, was a British artist, writer, ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
and conservationist who was associated with the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
.
Early years
Strange was born at Market Deeping
Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008.
History
The town's mark ...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
. He attended school at Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
, subsequently studying at Wolverhampton College of Art, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (United Kingdom)
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a botanical garden situated in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. The gardens are located south-west of Birmingham city centre at . Designed in 1829, the gardens are Grade II* listed in Historic Englands's R ...
and the University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
. He then served with the Independent Parachute Brigade, following which he studied at the Essex College of Agriculture, also working on farms in the Essex fenlands
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
. It was during this period that he met and married his first wife, Irene Hutley.
Falkland Islands
In 1959 Strange accepted a position establishing and managing an experimental mink
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
fur farm
Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur.
Most of the world's farmed fur is produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, all located across 22 countries; these ...
in the Falkland Islands for the Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
. During the 1960s he became involved in conservation activities – promoting the establishment of wildlife reserves on several of the islands and surveying seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
populations there. The unviability of fur farming led to Strange's return to the UK in 1967, but he returned to the Falklands in 1968 as a tour organiser with Lindblad Travel. In 1969 he married Ann Gisby and settled permanently in the Falklands, pursuing his attempts to obtain greater protection for the wildlife while making a living from writing articles and selling paintings. In 1971 he became an honorary advisor to the Falklands Government on wildlife and conservation. His first book, ''The Falkland Islands'', was published in 1972. In the same year Strange was able, with additional sponsorship, to purchase New Island
New Island ( es, Isla de Goicoechea) is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of Beaver Island. It is from Stanley and is long with an average width of . The highest point is . The northern and eastern coasts have high cliffs but the eas ...
as a reserve and wildlife research centre.[
]
Publications
* 1972 –
The Falkland Islands
'. David & Charles. (second edition 1981, third edition 1983)
* 1976 – ''The Bird Man: An Autobiography''. Gordon & Cremonesi: London.
* 1981 – ''Penguin World''. Putnam.
* 1985 – ''The Falklands: South Atlantic Islands''. Dodd Mead.
* 1987 – ''The Falkland Islands and their Natural History''. David & Charles: Newton Abbot, Devon, UK.
* 1990 – ''Collins Field Guide to the Wildlife of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia''. HarperCollins.
* 1995 – ''The Striated Caracara ''Phalcoboenus australis'' in the Falkland Islands''. Author.
* 2005 – ''Atmosphere – Landscapes of the Falkland Islands''. (With Georgina Strange). Design in Nature.
References
British ornithologists
British bird artists
English emigrants to the Falkland Islands
1934 births
Members of the Order of the British Empire
2018 deaths
{{UK-ornithologist-stub