Kenneth Williamson

Epithet: Ornithologist (1914-1977)

Record type: Biographies

Biography: From ‘New Manx Worthies’ (2006):

Williamson's first job on leaving school was that of a junior reporter at a local newspaper. His first book, The Sky's Their Highway, was published in 1937 when he was only 23. However, he decided that he wanted a career in scientific natural history, so he took the post of museum assistant at the Manx Museum, Douglas. Here he became part of a group of active field naturalists who founded the Manx Field Club in 1938.

His primary interest was in birds, but together with William Stanley Cowin he did a great deal of work on Manx insects. He compiled an invaluable card index of printed records of, among other groups, hymenoptera, lepidoptera and odontata. Ultimately, this was to be incorporated into the data bank at the Biological Records Centre of Manx National Heritage.

Williamson and Cowin set out also to collect a complete set of voucher specimens to support these listings. This work was supplemented by a number of notes and reports on Manx wildlife in such publications as the North-West Naturalist, the Journal of the Manx Museum, and their own Peregrine, journal of the Manx Field Club.

Ken was among the first to recognise the importance of the Calf of Man and its potential as a nature reserve and centre for the study of bird life, but unfortunately these promising beginnings were cut short by World War II His army service took him to the Faroes, but did not destroy the love of birds and interest in islands and their people which had been inculcated in him by his time in Douglas.The result was his definitive and highly acclaimed book, The Atlantic Islands (Collins,1948).

After the war came further museum experience at York, under Reg Wagstaffe who had been a frequent visitor to the Isle of Man as part of the group working on its insects. Ken was then appointed as the first director of the newly-formed Fair Isle Bird Observatory. He rose magnificently to the challenge. Bird observatories were still something of a novelty in Britain. He and his wife turned every visitor to Fair Isle into a friend. His museum training in meticulous study developed a new technique of identification of birds in the hand which later generations of bird-ringers now take for granted. He also pioneered study of the effects of weather on bird movements.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) persuaded the Nuffield Trust to fund a five-year project to coordinate the work by British bird observatories on migration in 1957, and two years later the Royal Society of Edinburgh elected Williamson a Fellow.

Meanwhile, his work for the BTO continued. In 1963, he became head of its Population Section and he pioneered new methods of making a census of common breeding birds. He was secretary of an International Bird Census Committee from 1968 until he was elected its chairman shortly before his death. He edited the BTO's journal Bird Study from 1969, being notably successful in attracting high quality contributions. His editorial skills also played a large part in the production of the original BTO Atlas of British Breeding Birds.

The British Ornithologists' Union recognised the labours of this great ornithologist with its Union Medal in 1976, but in Mann his memorial must always be the Calf of Man Bird Observatory which he supported so strongly. Researchers still use there the latest editions of his identification guides, and all visitors should honour him for his perception of the observatory's potential value

Biography written by Larch S. Garrad.

(With thanks to Culture Vannin as publishers of the book: Kelly, Dollin (general editor), ‘New Manx Worthies’, Manx Heritage Foundation/Culture Vannin, 2006, pp.459-60.)

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Gender: Male

Date of birth: March 1914

Date of death: 14 June 1977

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