Roger James 1945 – 2024
Members of this group were greatly
saddened to hear of the death of our Chairperson, Roger James, at the end of
July. Our thoughts are with his wife Julia and two sons Jeff and Martin. As
well as being Chair of this group, Roger was also Chair of the Newport City
Council’s Local Biodiversity Partnership, President Emeritus of Gwent Wildlife
Trust, Chair of the Wildlife in Newport Group (Wing) and a former Trustee of
the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre.
Roger was our Chair from the inception
of the Monmouthshire Moth & Butterfly Group in 2000. He was instrumental in
the setting up of the group. Roger took early retirement in 1998 and this
allowed him to devote the majority of his time to the conservation and
recording of wildlife. He recorded many moth Vice County firsts and his most
notable was probably the small ranunculus in 1999. His pride in this was
reflected in his email address, smallranunculus@......
Roger’s enthusiasm and knowledge was
boundless and he always had time to share his expertise with others. I first
met Roger in 1990, when I joined Wing – looking to gain experience in
conservation. Roger’s help and guidance helped me gain admittance to a degree
course in Environmental Biology at Swansea University. After graduation, he was
my referee for every job that I applied for. I am sure there are many others
who were also helped in their careers in conservation by Roger and
knowledgeable amateurs and volunteers whose interest he nurtured. He will be
greatly missed by all who knew him.
