Welsh Journals

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WILLIAM CONDRY HARRY SOAN It is a curious thing that the countryside itself does not seem to throw up many naturalists. I suppose the simple superficial explanation lies in that depressing old cliche that "familiarity breeds contempt". I think the truth lies nearer to the fact that countrymen view Nature in the mass; so much so, that they don't see the trees for the wood. The bird, mammal and plant species are so numerous and intermixed as to discourage notice of a comprehensible few. That and the fact that many lack curiosity about their setting beyond the point where they have to contend with it, as for instance farmers do. Urban dwellers have a better chance to become naturalists. Except for the masses of Starlings, Sparrows and Pigeons, the elements of Nature are more fragmented in the town; isolated enough to be eye-catching; few enough to grip and hold attention; bits of some other world that can arouse curiosity where the potential for it exists. A case in point-though by no means a simple example is that of William Condry. Bill was born in a suburb of Birmingham, the son of a self-employed diamond-setter. In their younger days his parents had been Clarionites, a word that means nothing today. But in the 1890s it stood for a very open-air movement, when groups of urban workers took to the countryside on their new safety bicycles. Bill's parents became ardent walkers later and a regular feature of his childhood and youth were weekend family nature rambles in the Worcestershire countryside. And every August there were long camping holidays by the sea in Wales or Devon. So was created an atmosphere in which a young naturalist had every opportunity to discover himself. At school, learning came without too much anguish. Science was no trouble, but Bill did not like it, which I thought odd for a budding naturalist, till he told me that his Grammar School did not teach biology. The subject for which Bill found he had a flair was languages. In fact, he took his first degree in them and later, after coming to Wales, he went to Aberystwyth and obtained an M.A. degree for research in French. Although Bill became a schoolmaster for some years and enjoyed teaching, he wanted to write. His books to date are a Biography of Thoreau, The Snowdonia National Park, Birds and Wild Africa, Exploring Wales and his latest which is a natural history for young people, entitled Woodlands. He also writes for The Guardian. Much of Bill's writing is born of service to conservation. He has given over twenty years to Kite preservation, a service recognised by the award of the R.S.P.B.'s silver medal. He is a founder member and former secretary of the Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory, and ex-member of the Wales Committee of the Nature Conservancy.