A.W. Boyd

1885-1959. Countryman and naturalist, author of A Country Parish (1951). One of the last of the old-style amateur naturalists; agent of the family yarn business James Boyd & Son. A Cheshire man to his fingertips, the GIlbert White of Great Budworth.

Great field skills; among the most active pioneer bird-ringers. Original papers on the tree sparrow, greenfinch and swallow; put sewage farms and the Staffordshire lakes on the birdwatcher's map. Left vast archive of notebooks and nature diaries, all in his characteristic neat minuscule hand.

Editor of British Birds 1944-58, and a leading light of the BTO, BOU and RSPB in the 1940s and 1950s. His long-running column in Manchester Guardian resulted in The Country Diary of a Cheshire Man (1946). Master of country lore; observed ancient local customs, always raising his hat to magpies as he rode along in his high car.

Served in the Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli, losing an eye and gaining an MC. The most modest of men, kind, affable and without enemies. Uncle and Mentor of James Fisher.

Books by this author

  • A Country Parish by A. W. Boyd - Print on Demand Hardback
  • £50.00

A Country Parish

Print on Demand Hardback

by A. W. Boyd

The natural history of an ordinary English country parish was one of the first subjects that suggested themselves when the New Naturalist series was planned. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.com

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