Yesterday afternoon I attended, with several hundred others, the memorial/celebration of Derek's life which took place at Manchester University.
If one thing came across from the contributions of his friends and colleagues, it was that you don't have to have a brain as big or as sharp as Derek's. We can all make a valuable contribution to science by recording what we see and sharing that information with the relevant bodies and other like-minded individuals. Derek may have discovered quite a few species new to science but he also kept precise notes of dead shrews found by his dog!
Derek's death has left a huge gap in ecological studies in this area but we can all help fill the void by following his example.
Really sad to here this news, Derek was my personal tutor whilst I studied at Manc Uni 1975-1978 for my Zoology degree and his enthusiasm was amazing, I particularily remember how he had to vouch for me to the police after I had been reported for looking into houses windows around Whitworth Park , honestly I was doing a count of birds as part of a research paper, he spent a year after extracting the urine about this. A great man and a sad loss. Ian
Having returned from one of my regular visits this morning to Saddleworth Moor to check out the Golden Plovers, I picked up my copy of British Birds from the letter box. Upon opening it I was shocked to read an obituary for Professor Derek Yalden.
I very much doubt whether I would have been up on the moors this morning if it hadn't been for Derek's enthusiasm for the wildlife of the area and his support for my dabbling in a subject of which he was a national (if not international) expert. I exchanged e-mails with him about moorland wader studies just a week before his death.
, honestly I was doing a count of birds as part of a research paper
, he spent a year after extracting the urine about this. A great man and a sad loss.