Jim Flegg

{{Short description|British horticulturalist and broadcaster (1937–2024)}}

James John Maitland Flegg, OBE (23 April 1937 – 7 May 2024) was a British horticulturalist, broadcaster, ornithologist and writer on bird-related matters.

Life and career

Flegg was a zoology graduate of Imperial College London and spent much of his subsequent professional career working in horticulture at the East Malling Research Station.[http://www.nationalfruitshow.org.uk/competitions/judges.htm National Fruit Show Judges – Dr Jim Flegg], accessed 20-03-14

Flegg also had a lifelong interest in ornithology, having joined the Rochester and District Natural History Society as a junior member. As an ornithologist, he became well-known, having become president of Kent Ornithological Society in 1977, and was Director of the British Trust for Ornithology. He was a national household name because of his role as a presenter on the Coastal Ways and Country Ways television programmes.{{cite web | title = RECORDS OF THE ROCHESTER AND DISTRICT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 1879 – 2002 | url=http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/query/results/?NewPath=Z4b_Maps&SearchWords=darent | accessdate = 6 August 2008}}

Flegg was a bird ringer and ringed over 30,000 birds.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}} Among the books Flegg authored are the Photographic Field Guide: Birds of Australia, and a number of books designed to interest children in living things from an early age.

Flegg died at home on 7 May 2024, at the age of 87.{{cite news |title=Dr. Jim Flegg, OBE |url=https://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/marketplace/advert/flegg-notices_57297 |access-date=25 May 2024 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=25 May 2024}}

References

Category:1937 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:British ornithologists

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Alumni of Imperial College London