A nest full of eggs

Submitted by Mamie Sharman, 19 February 2009

Just a snippet from my memories.

One day in 1963 my husband and I were driving across Martlesham airfield when we saw a sailplane on the approach. As we had both been active glider pilots, we stopped and ran across to him as he touched down. As he got out he gesticulated to us to stop and pointed at the ground in front of us.

The pilot turned out to be Sir Peter Scott, the famous ornithologist and artist, son of Scott of the Antarctic and founder of the Slimbridge Bird Reserve in Gloucestershire. While he was still on the approach he had seen on the ground the nest of a ground-nesting bird, full of eggs, between where he was touching down and where we were running towards him.

It was fascinating to see two separate sides of this famous man coming together in this way.

Mamie Sharman
mamie.sharman(at)btinternet.com

Note: for technical reasons not understood, this email only turned up in November 2009. It was then put on the website.