John Lister-Kaye
Encyclopedia
Sir John Philip Lister Lister-Kaye, 8th Baronet OBE
(b. 1946 in Wakefield, Yorkshire) is an English
naturalist
, conservationist
, author
and owner and Director of Scotland's premier field studies centre, Aigas Field Centre, among other business interests. He is married with four children and has lived in the Highlands of Scotland since 1969.
. Fortuitously for him, if not for his parents, the school was situated within an 800 acres (3.2 km²) National Nature Reserve
and near the wilderness of the Lyme Regis landslip
(to which he returned with his daughter, as documented in Nature's Child). After five years in such an environment Lister-Kaye's love of nature was deep and permanent.
After leaving school in 1964,Lister-Kaye was peruaded against his wishes to accept a post as a management trainee attached to the steel supply industry at Port Talbot
in Wales
.
After witnessing the ecological disaster that resulted from the sinking of the supertanker Torrey Canyon
[off the Scillies] in 1967, John Lister-Kaye then knew that a long-term career in industry was not for him. The escape finally came in 1968 when he was invited by naturalist and author Gavin Maxwell
, to move to Maxwell's home on Eilean Bàn (White Island) in the Scottish Highlands
, to help him work on a book about British wild mammal
s and to assist with a project to build a private zoo on the island. Lister-Kaye readily accepted Maxwell's invitation, resigned from his job, and moved to Scotland
in 1969. After Maxwell's unexpected death from cancer later that same year, both the book and the zoo project had to be abandoned, and John Lister-Kaye became both jobless and homeless. Rather than return to a career in industry he remained in Scotland and went into isolation to write a book about the short but eventful time he had spent with Maxwell on Eilean Bàn. His acclaimed first book, The White Island, was published by Longman in 1972. It has remained in print for 30 years.
In 1970, after the completion of The White Island, Lister-Kaye formed Highland Wildlife Enterprises, a natural history guiding service based at the village of Drumnadrochit
, near Loch Ness
. Initially he was assisted in the venture by friend and ex-employee of Gavin Maxwell, Richard Frere. Two years later this was to become Scotland's first field studies centre, and in 1972, Lister-Kaye and the field centre moved to a remote valley near Glen Affric
.
Four years later, needing to accommodate a growing family and to be able to extend the facilities of the field centre, Lister-Kaye persuaded the Inverness-shire
County Council to sell him the remains of a Victorian sporting estate near Beauly
called Aigas, which had previously been used by the council as an old peoples home. In 1977, the Aigas Field Centre
was opened by Sir Frank Fraser Darling
, Scotland's most celebrated ecologist
.
In 1979 Lister-Kaye was commissioned to write a Penguin Special 'SealCull' (published 1979)on the political row that surrounded a proposal by the UK government to cull thousands of grey seals off the coast of Scotland. This book was adopted by Aberdeen University as a conservation and zoology textbook, cementing Lister-Kaye's career as a writer on nature and wildlife.
Lister-Kaye's second autobiographical work, The Seeing Eye: Notes of a Highland Naturalist, which was published by Allen Lane in 1979, continues the story of his life from when he left Eilean Bàn in 1970 up until his purchase of Aigas in 1976. In his third, the best-sellingSong of the Rolling Earth: A Highland Odyssey, published in 2003, Lister-Kaye chronicles the place Aigas from the Bronze Age to his development of Aigas Field Centre from its humble beginnings in 1976, to what is now Scotland's premier field centre, winning international awards for environmental education and hosting travel study groups from all over the world. This book was to establish Lister-Kaye as one of the UK's foremost nature writers.
Lister-Kaye has also written a novel 'One for Sorrow', published by Balnain in 1994. It is a real life environmental saga and a murder based in the Highlands of Scotland. In 2003 he became a Times columnist as well as contributing features and articles to a wide variety of publications. This was followed by a technical land use paper for Scottish Natural Heritage, 'Ill Fares the Land, with a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales.
Lister-Kaye's seventh book is the sequel to Song of the Rolling Earth, 'Nature's Child - Encounters with Wonders of the Natural World' (Time Warner 2004), and is about exciting expeditions and adventures with his youngest daughter Hermione. His eighth is 'At the Water's Edge' published by Canongate in 2010, subtitled 'A Personal Quest for Wildness.'
In 2000, to celebrate the millennium Lister-Kaye took ten members of his family and Aigas Field centre staff on an expedition to follow the footsteps of Laurens van der Post's across the Kalahari Desert (recounted in Nature's Child). In 2008, with his son Warwick and daughter Hermione, Lister-Kaye mounted a private Land Rover expedition up 8,000 miles of Africa's Great Rift Vally from Malawi to Ethiopia to explore and write about the human ecology of the seven countries they passed through. They returned to Scotland in time for the official opening of Aigas Field Centre's new environmental education centre, by HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay and HRH the Duchess of Rothesay in 2009.
In 1989 Lister-Kaye was appointed to the board of the Nature Conservancy Council, later the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland (1990) and was appointed the first Regional Chairman for the Highlands & Islands of Scotland for Scottish Natural Heritage in 1991. He has also served as Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland, President of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission and the UK's Environmental Training Agency, and is Vice President of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland.
In 1983 John Lister-Kaye was awarded the Wilderness Society's Gold Award for environmental edcuation for the work of his field studies centre. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE
for services to the Scottish environment, In 1995 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling, and was awarded Honorary Membership of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In 2006 he received an honorary doctorate
from the University of St Andrews
, and was made a Vice President of the RSPB.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(b. 1946 in Wakefield, Yorkshire) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and owner and Director of Scotland's premier field studies centre, Aigas Field Centre, among other business interests. He is married with four children and has lived in the Highlands of Scotland since 1969.
Biography
Having been born into an ancient established family who for many generations had been Yorkshire landowners, distinguished political figures and successful industrialists with interests in both quarrying and mining, John Lister-Kaye's early fascination with natural history was something his family hoped he would eventually grow out of. In 1959, at the age of 13, his parents sent him to public school in DevonDevon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
. Fortuitously for him, if not for his parents, the school was situated within an 800 acres (3.2 km²) National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
and near the wilderness of the Lyme Regis landslip
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
(to which he returned with his daughter, as documented in Nature's Child). After five years in such an environment Lister-Kaye's love of nature was deep and permanent.
After leaving school in 1964,Lister-Kaye was peruaded against his wishes to accept a post as a management trainee attached to the steel supply industry at Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
After witnessing the ecological disaster that resulted from the sinking of the supertanker Torrey Canyon
Torrey Canyon
The Torrey Canyon was a supertanker capable of carrying a cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil, which was shipwrecked off the western coast of Cornwall, England in March 1967 causing an environmental disaster...
[off the Scillies] in 1967, John Lister-Kaye then knew that a long-term career in industry was not for him. The escape finally came in 1968 when he was invited by naturalist and author Gavin Maxwell
Gavin Maxwell
Gavin Maxwell FRSL, FIAL, FZS , FRGS was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters. He wrote the book Ring of Bright Water about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland...
, to move to Maxwell's home on Eilean Bàn (White Island) in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, to help him work on a book about British wild mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s and to assist with a project to build a private zoo on the island. Lister-Kaye readily accepted Maxwell's invitation, resigned from his job, and moved to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1969. After Maxwell's unexpected death from cancer later that same year, both the book and the zoo project had to be abandoned, and John Lister-Kaye became both jobless and homeless. Rather than return to a career in industry he remained in Scotland and went into isolation to write a book about the short but eventful time he had spent with Maxwell on Eilean Bàn. His acclaimed first book, The White Island, was published by Longman in 1972. It has remained in print for 30 years.
In 1970, after the completion of The White Island, Lister-Kaye formed Highland Wildlife Enterprises, a natural history guiding service based at the village of Drumnadrochit
Drumnadrochit
Drumnadrochit is a village inthe Highland local government council area of Scotland, lying on the west shore of Loch Ness, at the foot of Glen Urquhart.-History:...
, near Loch Ness
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. Its surface is above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as "Nessie"...
. Initially he was assisted in the venture by friend and ex-employee of Gavin Maxwell, Richard Frere. Two years later this was to become Scotland's first field studies centre, and in 1972, Lister-Kaye and the field centre moved to a remote valley near Glen Affric
Glen Affric
right|300px|thumb|Glen AffricGlen Affric is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some to the west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin .It used to be part of the lands of the Clan...
.
Four years later, needing to accommodate a growing family and to be able to extend the facilities of the field centre, Lister-Kaye persuaded the Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
County Council to sell him the remains of a Victorian sporting estate near Beauly
Beauly
Beauly is a town of the Scottish county of Inverness-shire, on the River Beauly, 10 miles west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. Its population was 855 in 1901...
called Aigas, which had previously been used by the council as an old peoples home. In 1977, the Aigas Field Centre
Aigas Field Centre
Aigas Field Centre is a nature centre based in the home of naturalist/author Sir John Lister-Kaye. The centre was opened in 1977 by eminent ecologist Sir Frank Fraser Darling, and provides nature-based holidays for adults and environmental education services for school children...
was opened by Sir Frank Fraser Darling
Frank Fraser Darling
Sir Frank Fraser Darling was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland.-Early life:...
, Scotland's most celebrated ecologist
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
.
In 1979 Lister-Kaye was commissioned to write a Penguin Special 'SealCull' (published 1979)on the political row that surrounded a proposal by the UK government to cull thousands of grey seals off the coast of Scotland. This book was adopted by Aberdeen University as a conservation and zoology textbook, cementing Lister-Kaye's career as a writer on nature and wildlife.
Lister-Kaye's second autobiographical work, The Seeing Eye: Notes of a Highland Naturalist, which was published by Allen Lane in 1979, continues the story of his life from when he left Eilean Bàn in 1970 up until his purchase of Aigas in 1976. In his third, the best-sellingSong of the Rolling Earth: A Highland Odyssey, published in 2003, Lister-Kaye chronicles the place Aigas from the Bronze Age to his development of Aigas Field Centre from its humble beginnings in 1976, to what is now Scotland's premier field centre, winning international awards for environmental education and hosting travel study groups from all over the world. This book was to establish Lister-Kaye as one of the UK's foremost nature writers.
Lister-Kaye has also written a novel 'One for Sorrow', published by Balnain in 1994. It is a real life environmental saga and a murder based in the Highlands of Scotland. In 2003 he became a Times columnist as well as contributing features and articles to a wide variety of publications. This was followed by a technical land use paper for Scottish Natural Heritage, 'Ill Fares the Land, with a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales.
Lister-Kaye's seventh book is the sequel to Song of the Rolling Earth, 'Nature's Child - Encounters with Wonders of the Natural World' (Time Warner 2004), and is about exciting expeditions and adventures with his youngest daughter Hermione. His eighth is 'At the Water's Edge' published by Canongate in 2010, subtitled 'A Personal Quest for Wildness.'
In 2000, to celebrate the millennium Lister-Kaye took ten members of his family and Aigas Field centre staff on an expedition to follow the footsteps of Laurens van der Post's across the Kalahari Desert (recounted in Nature's Child). In 2008, with his son Warwick and daughter Hermione, Lister-Kaye mounted a private Land Rover expedition up 8,000 miles of Africa's Great Rift Vally from Malawi to Ethiopia to explore and write about the human ecology of the seven countries they passed through. They returned to Scotland in time for the official opening of Aigas Field Centre's new environmental education centre, by HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay and HRH the Duchess of Rothesay in 2009.
In 1989 Lister-Kaye was appointed to the board of the Nature Conservancy Council, later the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland (1990) and was appointed the first Regional Chairman for the Highlands & Islands of Scotland for Scottish Natural Heritage in 1991. He has also served as Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland, President of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission and the UK's Environmental Training Agency, and is Vice President of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland.
In 1983 John Lister-Kaye was awarded the Wilderness Society's Gold Award for environmental edcuation for the work of his field studies centre. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to the Scottish environment, In 1995 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling, and was awarded Honorary Membership of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In 2006 he received an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, and was made a Vice President of the RSPB.