STEVE MADGE : A FULL LIFE

STEVE MADGE : AN APPRECIATION

15^th January 1948 to 6^th July 2020

Steve Madge affected all who knew him and we all were the richer for having known him.

In the birding fraternity he was a recognized expert, serving for many years on the Rarities Committee, and was President of the Cornwall Birdwatching & Preservation Society. He wrote Wildfowl of the World, Crows & Jays of the World and Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse of the World for the highly acclaimed Christopher Helm bird identification series as well as ‘Birdwatching’ and  he wrote more books on the identification of birds in collaboration with other authors.

He was a Birders’ birder but also a true all-rounder , his knowledge gained from a lifetime of careful observation of the natural world. He shared his expertise when leading field trips, for many years with the WEA in Plymouth and also for local groups in SE Cornwall, his lifetime home.

He led bird-watching tours around the world for many years, until his health got the better of him. A natural communicator, his enthusiasm made him a leader without being domineering, a teacher without being patronizing.

I first got to know him when I started recording natural history in SE Cornwall, back in the ’80’s. I joined the Caradon Field Club, of which Steve was a founder member,  and I very soon found that wherever I went, and whatever I saw, Steve, usually with his wife Penny,  was able to give help and guidance in a way that one  was never made to feel an idiot. Whether birds, plants, butterflies, dragonflies; his knowledge and experience were infectious, and he was a dedicated recorder. He was the editor of the Caradon Field Club Annual Report for most of the twenty five years of its production.

Steve was also very much a ‘people’s person’. I remember spending long convivial  summer evenings with him and friends round a moth trap, or out on walks in south east Cornwall, in his later days struggling with his increasing disability over rough ground on the moor with dignity and fortitude.

Others will have better knowledge of his stature in the bird world, but I can attest to his tremendous contribution to biological recording in south east Cornwall, and to the encouragement he gave to biological recording in this area through his example and leadership. Supported always by his wife Penny, he never lost his interest in natural history nor his lively enquiring mind.

 

He is survived by his wife and his two daughters, Bryony and Elysia.

 

Tony Atkinson,

Chairman, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Federation of Biological Recorders.

 

Rest in peace, you lovely man. Yours was a full life. With love and respect. Mary.