BRITAIN'S FIRST BIRDWATCHER PRIME MINISTER: NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN

Common sandpiper - watched  by the Prime Minister in St James' Park, a short walk from 10 Downing Street

EVERYONE knows about Neville Chamberlain. 

He is the slightly-built man standing at an aerodrome, simultaneously waving a piece of paper in his hand and proclaiming something about peace in our time.

That is the image most people have of Chamberlain - surely one of the most ill-regarded prime ministers of the past 100 years.

Ever since 1939, his apparent readiness to 'appease' the territorial aggression of Hitler has been roundly condemned as spineless and shameful.

The extent to which that unkind perspective is justified is entirely another matter. 

 

In any case, a single episode in his political career should not be allowed to obliterate all other considerations of Chamberlain - a decent, shy and misunderstood man who, in his 71 years, made an enormous contribution across a wide spectrum of human activity.

Before entering politics, he was a sisal farmer in The Bahamas, then a successful businessman at an engineering works in his native Birmingham.

Less well known is that he was also a skilful angler, entomologist . . . and birdwatcher. 

                                        

 Chamberlain kept records of his sightings, including hawfinch 

He kept diligent records of the birds (including red-backed shrike and hawfinch) he saw in and around Birmingham, during his time as a pupil at Rugby School and on holidays, both home and overseas.

Up to February 6, 1917, these were the 55 species he had managed to record in the grounds of Highbury Hall where he grew up:

Kestrel
Barn owl
Red-backed shrike
Spotted flycatcher
Pied flycatcher
Mistle thrush
Fieldfare
Song thrush
Redwing
Blackbird
Hedge sparrow
Robin
Redstart
Stonechat
Sedge warbler
Grasshopper warbler
Whitethroat
Chiffchaff
Goldcrest
Willow warbler
Wheatear
Whinchat

Blackcap
Great tit
Blue tit
Coal tit
Long-tailed tit
Pied wagtail
Yellow wagtail
Meadow pipit
Skylark
Yellowhammer
Bullfinch
House sparrow

Greenfinch
Linnet
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Starling
Carrion crow
Rook
Jackdaw
Magpie
Jay
Green woodpecker

Lesser spotted woodpecker
Treecreeper
Wren
Nuthatch
Cuckoo
Kingfisher
Swallow
House martin
Swift
Sand martin

Of these, the most notable is probably red-backed shrike, a bird now lost Britain as a breeding species but one he had also once spotted in the fields of nearby Kings Norton. 

In the Bahamas, he is credited with  having found a new species, the Bahama oriole.

Even as Prime Minister, he found time to ‘escape’ from 10 Downing Street in order to track the species (including scaup and common sandpiper) in nearby St James’ Park.

                               

Scaup - unusual visitor to London park

He learnt the craft of taxidermy, and some of the birds he stuffed while in The Bahamas are held at the Natural History Museum's collection at Tring in Hertfordshire.

This study explores the life and enthusiasms - especially for ornithology - of a most intriguing man.

It is available, price £1, as an Kindle e-book from:

https://amzn.to/2ZB4UKx

* Photo of Hawfinch: Mikils/ Wikimedia Commons