As a graduate from University College London, Paul arrived in North-East Wales in the late 1970s, working at the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) from its office in Mold. He went on to work for its successor, the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and then, briefly, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), until his retirement in 2014.

His knowledge of the wildlife of North Wales including the Dee Estuary was encyclopaedic. He never forgot the history of all the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) he was responsible for, including the casework, the people and, of course, the wildlife. He got on well with landowners and developers even when there was little meeting of views. He was respected by them and perhaps the best example of this was his long relationship with the Port of Mostyn.

Paul leaves a great conservation legacy in North Wales. A good example of this is the work he did on the renotification of the Dee Estuary SSSI, underpinning its designation as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). He worked tirelessly to include functionally-linked land within the SSSI; that is, areas inland of the sea wall but used by estuary birds, especially waders and wildfowl. His arguments to include this land within the designation proved to be compelling to a rather sceptical CCW Council, which had the responsibility of approving and confirming the SSSI. This approach was not followed on the English side of the estuary, which was out of CCW’s remit, and it remains less well-protected to this day.

It was Paul’s sustained hard work that led to CCW commissioning surveys for Great Crested Newt (GCN) across North-East Wales, which led to the discovery of many GCN populations, some by Paul himself. This directly informed the designation of key conservation areas such as the Halkyn Mountain SAC, Deeside & Buckley Newt Sites SAC and the Johnstown Newt Site SAC. His work with colleagues in CCW and NRW led to the creation of the 2021 Great Crested Newt SSSI selection guidelines and, consequently, the North-East Wales pondscape being recognised as having national importance.

Throughout his career, Paul provided advice and guidance to many aspiring ecologists and environmental organisations including the North Wales Wildlife Trust, where he was a member of the Conservation Committee (East) for over 25 years. In retirement, Paul also took on the role of Secretary of the Dee Estuary Conservation Group (DECG), a Registered Charity whose objective is the conservation of the Dee Estuary and its flora and fauna for its intrinsic value and for public benefit. His deep knowledge of the Dee Estuary, its casework and conservation, proved invaluable to DECG, and the insight which Paul brought to the work of the group will be deeply missed. Paul pioneered approaches to ensure the resourced long-term management and monitoring of biodiversity sites without reliance on the government funding and became a board member of Building Wildlife, a charity which uses funding from developers to help create and manage sites for wildlife in North-East Wales.

Paul was never the type to clock off at 5 pm and throughout his career, as well as in retirement, he would happily carry out surveys for species such as newts and bats whatever the time of day…or night, and whatever the weather. As well as being an assiduous plant and butterfly recorder, he also undertook monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) counts on the Dee Estuary.

His lasting legacy is the safeguarding of a diverse network of wildlife sites throughout North Wales that will remain for future generations to enjoy.

Paul will be greatly missed by friends, colleagues and acquaintances and our thoughts are with his family.

David Parker, Chair DECG: “Paul was one of my oldest friends, going right back to when we first met on a wildlife and habitat survey in Herefordshire in 1977. We were kindred spirits, with a shared love of the natural world, and I will miss him. He made a great success of his professional career, and the people and wildlife of NE Wales have a lot to thank him for.”

Adrian Lloyd Jones: “I will miss Paul very much. His advice, kind support and extraordinary knowledge spanning over 45 years, was invaluable to me and others in the Trust. There are wildlife sites, features and populations that could have remained completely unknown and unprotected if they hadn’t been pointed out to us by Paul.”

Paul’s funeral will be at 11am, Tuesday 23rd September at Memoria Flintshire Memorial Park and Crematorium, Oakenholt Lane, Northop, Mold CH7 6DF.

A donations page in Paul’s memory is available here