Dick Potts

Dr. George Richard Potts (6 December 1939 – 30 March 2017), known as Dick, was an internationally renowned ecologist and conservationist. He was a specialist in the partridge.[1][2][3][4][5] He is primarily associated with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (then known as the Game Conservation Trust) for which he started many successful conservation projects.[1] He was director of the Game Conservation Trust from 1993 to 2001. He is the author of many scientific papers and some books. The focus of his research for which his most well-known is on the relationship between modern agriculture and game birds and animals.

Potts was awarded the RSPB Medal shortly before his death.[6]

Biography

Early Years

Dick Potts was raised in North Yorkshire on a farm where he learned first hand about the interaction between wildlife and farming.[1] He was particularly affected by the Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom as it killed many birds and other wild animals on his family's farm.[2]

Education

Potts studied zoology at Durham University. He earned his PhD by studying the European shag on England's Farne Islands.[1]

Career: Game Conservation Trust

In 1968, Potts joined the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (then known as the Game Conservation Trust) as a scientist and began both the Partridge Survival Project and the Sussex Study.[1]

Potts and colleague Paul Vickerman, based on work done in the Sussex Study, published the paper “Studies on the Cereal Ecosystem" in 1974 suggesting that agriculture and wildlife could coexist and should be studied along with pristine wild land.[1]

In 1976, Potts moved to Fordingbridge, taking on the role of Directory of Research for the Game Conservation Trust in 1977. In this role, he extended the research of the Sussex Project to a series of experiments - the first was the Cereal and Gamebirds Project, the second was the Salisbury Plain Experiment.[1]

In 1993, Potts became the director of the Game Conservation Trust. As director, he helped turn Loddington Farm into a demonstration farm.[1] He also championed the Joint Raptor Project.

Potts retired from the Trust in 2001.

Retirement

In retirement Potts continued to work on Partridge habitat.

Conservation Projects

Partridge Survival Project

The Partridge Survival Project began in April 1968 when Chris Hunt, the founding chairman of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, assigned Dick Potts to explore the effects of pesticides on the grey partridge.[7] Initially, 62 square kilometers of farmland in Sussex, England was used for the project. The project focused on mortality among grey partridge chicks and tracked among other things the populations of various invertebrates that make up the diet of these young birds. In 1974 Dick Potts, together with entomologist Paui Vickerman, published “Studies on the Cereal Ecosystem" based on the work done in the project.

Sussex Study

The Partridge Survival Project became known as the Sussex Study.

Cereal and Gamebirds Project

Conservation headland

Publications

References
  1. "Dick Potts (1939–2017) – Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust". Gwct.org.uk. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  2. "Obituary – Dick Potts | The Times & The Sunday Times". Thetimes.co.uk. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  3. "Dick Potts, brilliant ecologist and enlightened conservationist – obituary". Telegraph.co.uk. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  4. "Dr. Dick Potts – (1939–2017)". Moorland Association. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. "NGO | Dr Dick Potts". Nationalgamekeepers.org.uk. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  6. "RSPB elects new Chairman and presents annual medal". BirdGuides. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  7. "The Sussex Study: 50 years of monitoring an agricultural ecosystem". National Geographic Blog. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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