I remember going up to stay at Cley with my wife and being hosted so well by uncle Mike and Trish. Their house was full of such amazing pictures and ornaments from their fascinating lives. Every item seemed to have a brilliant story attached: a cobra interfering with their cricket match and getting stumped; studying bats for his PhD with a glass of G&T in hand; and hummingbirds coming to get their photos taken on the veranda in Costa Rica.

I particularly enjoyed stories of Mike with his sister and my Dad in Cyprus. Clearly sending out a gang of kids aged from 5-15 for the day with a load of butterfly nets and jar of chloroform wouldn’t happen today but they all made it home safely, even if one had a bit of a headache!

An action-packed life full of adventure, travel, books and photos. There was never enough time for them all but I guess, like the migrating birds, it was his time to move on.