John Lister Kaye

With his mother an invalid, John Lister-Kaye was left much to his own devices, free to roam the deep Yorkshire countryside as he pleased. ‘I think it was escapism then just as I think it is escapism all these years later. In those days back in the 1950s English countryside really was English countryside, and there was something exciting under every bush. I have to say it really is not like that now for all the reasons we know and understand.’

His grandfather was quite an influential figure on him, a great countryman in the true Edwardian sense who hunted and shot and had a profound knowledge of quarry, whether it be grouse, pheasants or deer. ‘In those days all country children used to collect eggs, and my grandfather used to accompany me on bird nesting expeditions. I was astonished at his ornithological knowledge and I considered him to know everything. We would peer at a long-tailed tit’s nest and I remember being fascinating by the long tail sticking out the hole. He also sent me up trees to poke out magpie nests since, in the traditional gamekeepering style of the day, he hated magpies. I knew him quite well and learnt a lot from him for he did not die until I was 17. ’

John was sent to boarding school in the West Country where one or two of his masters were keen naturalists. Tommy Wallace was Director of Biology and used his select band of fellow naturalists at the school to undertake research on the National Nature Reserve nearby. John kept up the friendship until Wallace died, only three years ago, leaving his extensive library to John’s Aigas Field Centre.