Norman is synonymous with Attenborough Nature Reserve and his early involvement focussed on bird ringing as a member of the British Trust for Ornithology in the late 1950s – ringing species including warblers and reed buntings.  Membership of the BTO led to a lasting friendship with John McMeeking MBE, our former Chairman, with whom Norman would later work to secure the future of many of the nature reserves we care for today.  

In the early 1960s his passion for the Attenborough site resulted in key involvement with the group of local residents and University of Nottingham staff who led the successful fight to prevent the lagoons from being infilled with ash from the proposed Radcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. This fight was pivotal to securing Attenborough’s future as a nature reserve and to the formation of the “Nottinghamshire Trust for Nature Conservation – now Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. 

As well as Norman’s direct involvement in saving and shaping Attenborough Nature Reserve, he also helped mentor a generation of volunteers through his bird ringing work – with names including Sandy Aitken, Ainslie Carruthers, Keith Corbett, Brian Wetton and Nigel Slater reading like a veritable ‘who’s who’ for this much-loved site.  

As a member of various Trust committees in our earliest days, including the ‘Survey Committee’, Norman played a leading role in driving the county’s first full botanical survey  - which would influence the future selection of Local Wildlife Sites, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the sites to safeguard as Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves. This work also contributed to the establishment of the Biological & Geological Records Centre at Wollaton Hall.  

Norman’s vast knowledge of the county was not confined to birds and extended to all branches of natural history as well as geology, local history, archaeology, farming and forestry. In 1975 Norman became Trust’s first employee and after a year in the role, he reflected that being Conservation Officer required him to be something of a lawyer, planner, geologist, botanist, zoologist, ecologist, public speaker and reporter! 

The fighting spirit which Norman showed in efforts to save Attenborough Nature Reserve served him well through the 20 years as Conservation Officer – where he represented the Trust and the interests of local wildlife at an average of just short of one Public Inquiry per year – defending sites including Wilwell Farm Cutting, Wilford Claypit, Shilo North and Martin’s Pond – and registering 17 wins a single defeat!  When the Trust talks of campaigning being in its DNA today – we must reflect on the role Norman played in standing up for wildlife over many years by taking the fight to inquiries and planners and other authorities.   

In addition to sharing his knowledge with other conservationists and directly influencing landowners, Norman was also an accomplished public speaker and broadcaster. Amongst countless slots on BBC Radio Nottingham down the years, possibly the most memorable was a ‘Halloween Night Watch’ in the mid-1980s which saw Radio Nottingham stay on the air all night, broadcasting from the Trust’s Kirton Wood.  

Throughout his 20 years as Conservation Officer, Norman was central to efforts to safeguard some of the county’s best wildlife areas as Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves – including Eaton & Gamston Woods, Besthorpe and Misson Carr – where the Trust made a special presentation to Norman in 2003 to mark his contribution to the site’s protection and his wider contribution to nature conservation across the county and beyond.  

In addition to championing sites that would go on to become reserves, Norman was central to efforts to enhance the waterways and wetlands of the Erewash & Idle Valleys and to protecting and restoring the iconic Sherwood Forest where he helped drive forward the Nottinghamshire Heathland Strategy and the work which led to the creation of the Sherwood Forest Trust - with whom he would become a founding Trustee and play a key volunteer role after his retirement from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.  

Norman was active in many local groups, from Trent Valley Birdwatchers (now Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers to the Long Eaton Naturalists Society and South Notts Bat Group and the Nottinghamshire Biodiversity Action Group. He was also a founder member of the county’s Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group, (FWAG) - and his early work with farmers and landowners helped lay the foundations for our efforts to expand nature-friendly farming today.  

Such is the level and breadth of his contribution to protecting and restoring our county’s wildlife and the development of the Trust that any summary would inevitably fall short, but he undoubtedly played a pivotal role in both.  

He will be sorely missed but not forgotten and the thoughts of everyone at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are with his family, friends and the countless people who’ve worked alongside him down the years.