Letter: Reserve pioneers

Congratulations to the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT) for creating the Sir Peter Scott Centenary Walkway at Caerlaverock (your report, 25 January).

But in the curious way that contemporary history so often overlooks the considerable efforts of pioneer organisations, it would be appreciated if WWT would recognise that a National Nature Reserve (NNR) at Caerlaverock was declared in about 1957, having been negotiated by senior staff in the Nature Conservancy, notably Max Nicholson, John Berry and Joe Eggeling, with the land owner, the Duke of Norfolk, in a complicated agreement involving the local wildfowlers.

Certainly, Peter Scott had carried out netting and ringing of geese at Caerlaverock in the post-war years, but initial responsibility for organised conservation fell to the Nature Conservancy, some 20 years before WWT created its reserve adjacent to part of the NNR.

The late Langley Roberts was the first reserve warden, and the late Jeffery Harrison a crucially helpful representative of the Wildfowlers Association on the Caerlaverock panel; all perhaps now forgotten other than by the long memories of such as the undersigned former Nature Conservancy regional staff.

Thomas Huxley

Pitcairngreen

Perth

James McCarthy

Ettrick Road

Edinburgh

Alexander Kerr

Brandon Grove

Helensburgh