Ian Wallace (ornithologist)

Donald Ian Mackenzie Wallace (14 December 1933 – 4 November 2021), known as Ian Wallace, D.I.M. Wallace,[1][2][3] or by his initials DIMW,[4] was a British birder, author and artist.

D. Ian M. Wallace
Born
Donald Ian Mackenzie Wallace

(1933-12-14)14 December 1933
Norfolk, England
Died4 November 2021(2021-11-04) (aged 87)
Other names
  • Ian Wallace
  • D.I.M. Wallace
  • DIMW
Known forConcise edition (BWPC) of The Birds of the Western Palearctic

Early life

Wallace was born on 14 December 1933 in Norfolk, England, to Scottish parents. He was educated at Loretto School, near Edinburgh.[5] Early in the 1950s, he undertook National Service with the King's African Rifles in Kenya.[5]

Career

Wallace was the second chairman of the British Birds Rarities Committee[6] and was a contributing author to The Birds of the Western Palearctic.

In 1963, Wallace was among a party of birders,[7] led by Guy Mountfort[8] and including Julian Huxley,[8] George Shannon[7] and, James Ferguson-Lees,[7] that made the first ornithological expedition to Azraq in Jordan.[7] The expedition's recommendations eventually led to the creation of the Azraq Wetland Reserve and other protected areas.[9] Papers from the expedition are in the United Kingdom's National Archives.[10] He identified at least four species previously unknown in Nigeria.[11]

He was the Honorary Life President of Flamborough Ornithological Group (since 2000), and of Flamborough Bird Observatory.[12]

Wallace appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Saving Species, discussing his October 1960 observations of the visible migration of birds over London, on their 50th anniversary.[13]

He was described as "one of the very top ornithologists in the UK",[14] "one of the great names of British bird-watching",[15] by the BBC as "a pioneer of ornithology [in the United Kingdom]",[13] and by Mark Cocker as both "one of the godfathers of modern birding"[4] and "the grand old man of birds".[16]

Wallace lived in Staffordshire. He died on 4 November 2021, at the age of 87.[17][18][5] A five-page obituary was published in British Birds.[19]

Bibliography
  • Discover Birds, Deutsch (1979), ISBN 0-233-97100-9
  • Birdwatching In The Seventies, Macmillan (1981), ISBN 0-333-30026-2
  • Watching birds (illustrated by Alan Harris, Ian Jackson), Usborne (1982), ISBN 0-86020-655-6
  • Birds of Prey of Britain and Europe (paintings by Ian Willis), Oxford University Press (1983). ISBN 0-19-217729-X
  • Beguiled by Birds, Christopher Helm (2004), ISBN 0-7136-6535-1 (publishers' page)

Contributions

As illustrator
  • Wood, J. Duncan (2003). Horace Alexander: 1889 to 1989: Birds and Binoculars. York: William Sessions Limited. ISBN 1-85072-289-7.

Significant articles

References
  1. "The Top 100 iPad Apps: Birds of Britain and Ireland (Pro Edition)". 2010. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  2. Wallace, D.I.M. (31 October 1998). "Musselburgh - Ian Wallace reminiscences 1947-51". Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  3. "Beguiled by Birds - Ian Wallace on British Birdwatching". WildSounds. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  4. Cocker, Mark (18 September 2004). "Review: A Bird in the Bush and Beguiled by Birds". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  5. "Ian Wallace, ornithologist and illustrator who with his books and articles won the affection of birdwatchers of all ages – obituary". The Telegraph. 12 November 2021. (subscription required)
  6. Dean, Alan R. (2007). "The British Birds Rarities Committee: a review of its history, publications and procedures". British Birds. 100 (3): 149–176.
  7. "Slimbridge gathering for veterans of British birding". British Birds. 19 April 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  8. Dronamraju, Krishna R. (1993). If I Am to be Remembered: The Life and Work of Julian Huxley with Selected Correspondence. World Scientific. ISBN 9789810211424.
  9. "Protected Areas". Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. Jordan. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  10. "Access to Archives, ref EMN/Box 5". National Archives. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  11. "Bulletin of the Nigerian Ornithological Society, Volume 6, 1969". West African Ornithological Society. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  12. "Honorary Life President". Flamborough Bird Observatory. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  13. "Saving Species, Series 1, Episode 25". BBC Online. BBC. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  14. Wilson, Colin (29 July 2005). ""Bird-watching before Birding" by Ian Wallace". Berkshire Ornithological Club. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  15. ""Bird-watching before Birding" by Ian Wallace". 3 August 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  16. Cocker, Mark (8 February 2011). "Grumpy old men?". Birdwatch. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  17. Avery, Mark. "DIM Wallace, 1933–2021". Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  18. Ian ‘DIM’ Wallace, 1933–2021
  19. McGeehan, Anthony (April 2022). "Obituaries: Ian (D. I. M.) Wallace". British Birds. 115 (4): 225–229.
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