Gordon Langsbury: President 1999-2011

It was with great sadness that we learnt last week of Gordon?s untimely death. Gordon had been an active member of Berkshire Ornithological Club (formerly the Reading Ornithological Club) for more than 25 years and became its Honorary President in 1999. Whenever his busy schedule allowed, he and his wife, Joy, were at Club meetings, welcoming our guests and enthusing our members.

A Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and chair of its Nature Group (1981-3), he was one of the most eminent bird photographers of this generation.He loved Islay, on which he co-authored the ?Birds of Islay? and worked extensively in northern Europe and particularly the arctic regions, to which he planned to return in 2012. He led trips and courses on bird photography in Europe and he was sought after throughout the UK for his fascinating and superbly illustrated lectures.

His slide lectures on his trips were highlights of the BOC season. He inaugurated the Club?s annual photographic competition, which he judged with a benign ruthlessness, always providing constructive comments on the entries that drove our standards ever upwards: the Gordon Langsbury Cup, awarded to the winner, is a lasting memorial. His Christmas identification quiz was an intensely contested affair, with participants often struggling with Gordon?s cache of tricky photos, the ones that don?t get published! The Club benefited greatly from his warm and friendly personality and wide range of contacts in the birding world.

He was a key member of the Club and an enthusiastic and supportive President – we will miss him sorely.

Renton Righelato –

To see some of Gordon?s work visit http://www.birdphoto.org.uk