Tribute to a founding member

Alastair McCreary on one of his many field trips.

ALASTAIR McCREARY (Leader of the Broxton Barn Owl Group "A" Team)

Alastair was a close personal friend and colleague of almost forty years.
He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
He was a really nice man full of energy and enthusiasm.
He brought a feeling of warmth and friendship to any gathering he was with.
His loss was not unexpected but still came as a shock.
During his periods of ill health he remained remarkably cheerful and enthusiastic and played sport to a high level.

His working life as an inspecting engineer brought with it an attention to detail and thoroughness in everything he did.
He was good with people and when George and Dot Bramall (Also founding members) called for help with the national barn owl survey he volunteered to work on one of the tetrads in west Cheshire.
The results which indicated a very small population led to the formation of the Broxton Barn Owl Group of which he was a founder member.

The provision of nest sites was a priority.
Help and advise came from Colin Shawyer and Sue Dewar (Hawk & Owl Trust).
With guidance from Roy Leigh, Alastair and Bernard began nest recording and ringing and in 2000 became C permit holders trained by Professor David Norman.

As the numbers of nest boxes rapidly increased it was necessary to split the box erection survey and ringing in west Cheshire into two halves with Alastair taking the northern part.

The team he gathered around him benefited from his knowledge and experience as a good man in the field.
Even in the last few years as field work became more difficult for him his interest and enthusiasm for the work of BBOG and the new band of surveyors and ringers never waned.
His success and that of BBOG may be measured by the increase in Cheshire barn owls nests recorded from six in 1996 to over over a hundred today.

Alastair and his wife Sue enjoyed their walks together and it was not unknown to bump into them in a Lakeland pub.

Our thoughts are with Sue and the family.

Bernard Wright