| BACKGROUND TO SIR PETER SCOTT His Devotion to Wildlife and The Fens |
PETER SCOTT BIOGRAPHY Peter Scott was born in 1909. He was the son of the Antarctic explorer, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who died when returning from the south Pole in 1912. Peter Scott attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire. After studying biology and the history of art at Cambridge University, he attended art schools in Munich and London, and became a professional painter of world renown. During the Cambridge period he was a keen wildfowler. He rented a lighthouse at Sutton Bridge near the mouth of the River Nene, and there started his first captive collection of ducks and geese, and where he commenced painting his famous wildlife pictures. A keen dinghy sailor, he won a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympic Games. Peter Scott served in the Navy in the Second World War and then in 1946 he founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust (now the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, with nine centres open to the public) with the aims of research into and conservation of wildfowl plus educating people to have a greater appreciation of their beauty. Slimbridge was where he spent most of his life. The BBC's famous Natural History Unit moved to Bristol in the 1950's to be near Peter Scott – who was their main performer on radio and television. (Link to Welney village site, which also covers the activities of Welney Wash) In 1961 he helped to found the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and also invented the Red Data Books of the IUCN which list the world's rarest animals and plants. He also designed the WWF Panda logo. In 1973 Peter Scott was the first person ever to be knighted for services to conservation and he was made a Companion of Honour in 1987. In 1987, he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Sir Peter Scott was well known as being an artist, writer, ornithologist, naturalist and conservationist, and was an Olympic sailor, a champion glider, and an accomplished Scuba diver. There is a commemorative walk along the coastline of The Wash between the Rivers Nene and Ouse called Scott Walk, which encompasses great views of the whole area on a clear day. [TOP] |
| FURTHER PETER SCOTT DETAILS In a book called 'Recollections of Tab Cottage by Magaret Bratby', it states on the flyleaf that a Michael Bratby was a friend of Peter Scott and has an Illustration of him on page 24 showing a picture of Scott in Naval Uniform, and it also states that Miss Bratby recalls her experiences with Scott. |
Below: The elderly Sir Peter Scott, the founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust |
Below: Peter Scott the young wildlife artist in his lighthouse at Sutton Bridge |
| We are grateful for the Permission of Lady Phillipa Scott for allowing us to use the above images - (See Scott's Signatures) |