Jeffery Boswall

I've been reading tributes to Jeffery Boswall, the first wildlife film maker I ever met, and a real local character, it's making me feel rather sad.

I clearly remember the first time I met him at 4am in Towerhouse Wood on a dawn chorus walk he was leading.  He was wearing a traditional raincoat and immaculately polished brown brogues...

My other vivid memory is being interrogated on the phone for about 20 minutes when he heard I had seen a lesser spotted woodpecker in my garden. Once he had established to his satisfaction that I wasn't mistaken he told me that if it ever turned up again I must call him immediately as he had never seen one.

My daughter, who he had a soft spot for and always asked after, considered him to be a kind, but rather eccentric, elderly man.   She was astonished when I told her yesterday just how eminent he was.

Although I haven't seen Jeffery for a long time, I will miss knowing he's there.  I wonder if he ever did find that woodpecker?