Donald Ian Mackenzie Wallace (14 December 1933 – 4 November 2021), known as Ian Wallace, D.I.M. Wallace, or by his initials DIMW, was a British

birder Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

, author and artist.

Early life

Wallace was born on 14 December 1933 in Norfolk, England, to Scottish parents. He was educated at

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. L ...

, near Edinburgh. Early in the 1950s, he undertook

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

with the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions withi ...

in Kenya.

Career

Wallace was the second chairman of the

British Birds Rarities Committee The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video re ...

and was a contributing author to ''

The Birds of the Western Palearctic ''The Birds of the Western Palearctic'' (full title ''Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic''; often referred to by the initials ''BWP'') is a nine-volume ornithological handbook co ...

''. In 1963, Wallace was among a party of birders, led by

Guy Mountfort Guy Mountfort (4 December 1905 – 23 April 2003) was an English advertising executive, amateur ornithologist and conservationist. He is known for writing the pioneering ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe'', published in 1954 ...

and including

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...

, George Shannon and,

James Ferguson-Lees Ian James Ferguson-Lees (8 January 1929 in Italy – 11 January 2017) was a British ornithologist. He became known as a member of the British Birds Rarities Committee who was responsible, with John Nelder and Max Nicholson, for publicly debunking t ...

, that made the first ornithological expedition to

Azraq Azraq ( ar, الأزرق meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq. History Prehistory Archaeolo ...

in Jordan. The expedition's recommendations eventually led to the creation of the

Azraq Wetland Reserve The Azraq Wetland Reserve is a nature reserve located in the town of Azraq in the eastern desert of Jordan. An oasis for migratory birds, the reserve was established in 1978 and covers . The natural springs dried up in 1992 and most migratory bir ...

and other protected areas. Papers from the expedition are in the United Kingdom's National Archives. He identified at least four species previously unknown in Nigeria. He was the Honorary Life President of Flamborough Ornithological Group (since 2000), and of

Flamborough Bird Observatory Flamborough is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Bridlington town centre on the prominent coastal feature of Flamborough Head. The most prominent man-made feature ...

. Wallace appeared as a guest on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Saving Species'', discussing his October 1960 observations of the visible migration of birds over London, on their 50th anniversary. He was described as "one of the very top ornithologists in the UK", "one of the great names of British bird-watching", by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

as "a pioneer of ornithology

n the United Kingdom N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

, and by

Mark Cocker Mark Cocker (born 1959) is a British author and naturalist. He lives with his wife, Mary Muir, and two daughters in Claxton, Norfolk; the countryside around Claxton is a theme for two of his twelve books. Cocker has written extensively for ...

as both "one of the godfathers of modern birding" and "the grand old man of birds". Wallace lived in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He died on 4 November 2021, at the age of 87.Ian ‘DIM’ Wallace, 1933–2021
/ref> A five-page obituary was published in '' British Birds.

Bibliography

*''Discover Birds'', Deutsch (1979), *''Birdwatching In The Seventies'',

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

(1981), *''Watching birds'' (illustrated by Alan Harris, Ian Jackson), Usborne (1982), *''Birds of Prey of Britain and Europe'' (paintings by Ian Willis),

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(1983). *''Beguiled by Birds'',

Christopher Helm Christopher Alexander Roger Helm (born Dundee, 1 February 1937 – 20 January 2007) was a Scottish book publisher, notably of ornithology related titles, including the ''Helm Identification Guides''. Born in Dundee, he was raised in Forfar, w ...

(2004),
publishers' page

Contributions

*''A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe'' by Roger Peterson,

, P.A.D. Hollom.

Collins Collins may refer to: People Surname Given name * Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat * Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration * Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...

, 1965 **new edition of 1954 work; revised and enlarged in collaboration with I.J. Ferguson-Lees and Wallace **1971 impression: **2004 edition:

As illustrator

Significant articles

*''Snipe and Grouse: English Bird Names'' in ''

Birding World ''Birding World'' was a monthly birding magazine published in the United Kingdom. It was the magazine of the Bird Information Service, based at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. With the publication of issue No. 26/12 in January 2014, ''Birding World'' ...

'', Vol. 6 No. 4 pp. 164–5

References

External links

Some reminiscences of Musselburgh, 1947-51
- article by Wallace, about his schoolday birding

Wallace officially opens new Heligoland Trap
in Buckton, East Yorkshire, 19 May 2012 (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Ian 1933 births 2021 deaths People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh British bird artists British ornithological writers English ornithologists People from Staffordshire British colonial army soldiers