John Sidney Ash (1925 – 2014) was an English ornithologist. He had a strong interest in the

avifauna Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight s ...

from the Horn of Africa, in particular

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, Eritrea and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 30.

Career

Ash was born in

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

on 26 May 1925 as son of Sidney and Kathleen Ash né Denley. In 1945, he graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

from the Newcastle wing of the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. He received the D.I.C. at the

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1948 and promoted there to

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1952. He was co-author of two fieldguides, ''The Birds of Somalia'' (with John E. Miskell) in 1998, and ''Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea'' (with John Atkins) in 2009. Ash discovered several new bird taxa, including the

Ankober serin The Ankober serin (''Crithagra ankoberensis'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is a small brown seedeater, about 12 centimeters or 5 inches in length with brown upperparts and its head and breast distinguished with heavy buff ...

(''Serinus ankoberensis''), ''Turdoides squamulata carolinae'' (a subspecies of the scaly babbler) which he named for his daughter Caroline, ''Hippolais pallida alulensis'' (a subspecies of the eastern olivaceous warbler), ''Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae'' (a subspecies of the common reed warbler), the Ash's lark (''Mirafra ashi'') which was named after him by Peter Colston in 1982, and '' Ploceus victoriae'', which is now thought to be a hybrid between the

black-headed weaver The black-headed weaver (''Ploceus melanocephalus''), also known as yellow-backed weaver, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. Taxonomy and systematics ''P. victoriae'' Ash, 1986 is now thought to be a hybrid between ''P. melanoceph ...

and the northern brown-throated weaver. In May 1968, he co-discovered the Sidamo lark along with Christian Érard who described this species in 1975 but is now considered as conspecific with

Archer's lark Archer's lark (''Heteromirafra archeri''), also known as the Liben lark, is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in Somalia, Somaliland and Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtrop ...

. He died on 6 January 2014. In November 1951, Ash married Jonquil Gudgeon, a zoologist, who died three days before him. The couple had one daughter, Caroline Penelope-Jane.

References

1925 births 2014 deaths English ornithologists People from Gosforth Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of King's College, Newcastle {{UK-ornithologist-stub