Tony Greenland

When I first visited Dungeness Bird Observatory I became aware of a band of birders that were unlike any other birders that I had so far met in my formative years of birdwatching. They were all a few years older than me (mostly in their late-20s and early-30s) and appeared streetwise, long-haired, exotically dressed and could pepper their ornithological pronouncements with industrial language. I was impressed! I sought out their company, craved their approval and was slowly admitted into their orbit. But there was one of their number that was not present, who had drifted away from Dungeness to pioneer the vis-mig watches on the east-Kent coast at St. Margaret’s Bay. His name was Tony Greenland.

It was not until 1979 that I met him, when he returned to visit Dungeness Bird Observatory (DBO) on a number of occasions throughout that year. I was slightly wary of his colourful reputation but we immediately got on like a house on fire - in fact he took me under his wing. That summer I was acting as the assistant warden at DBO and he would often turn up and seek me out, either to chat over a cup of tea or a join me on a seawatch. He would regale me with tales of the incredible numbers of birds that he and Ian Hodgson were recording at St. Margaret’s and regularly invite me to join them. He was still a member of the DBO committee which I also joined that same year, so we had another opportunity to get together.

I did finally take up his offer to visit St.Margaret’s but not until the early 1990s. He rolled out the red carpet and made me feel very welcome, giving me a grand tour of every nook and cranny, pointing out virtually every nest site of the then flourishing Marsh Warbler population. They’ve gone now. And then, apart from the odd random meet, we went on our separate ways - he working the east-Kent coast, me shunning Dungeness for a number of years. And then things changed - Tony moved to Littlestone (just north of Dungeness) and I returned to spend a good deal of time back at the observatory. 

Tony was then a fixture of any Dungeness visit. He was an avid sea-watcher and would be at the seawatch hide before it was fully light, in charge of the scribing of the numbers, the ringmaster of all things pelagic. Once it quietened down over the waves he would switch into landbird mode, often being joined by Martin Casemore as they scoured the bushes. And of course he ended up back at the observatory for a cup of tea where we would all gossip away, a mixture of reliving great birding moments, predicting those of the future and gently taking the mickey out of all and sundry. One trait Tony exhibited that we all used to find amusing was his ability to exaggerate the numbers of scarce migrant birds that he had seen in the dim and distant past. Such claims as ‘five Bluethroats being trapped in the moat before breakfast’ were never backed up by the official record - he’d certainly seen these species but had just misremembered and inflated the numbers! It was part of his charm.

He was a good, meticulous birder, but that was nothing compared to his knowledge of the world’s military, particularly during the period of the Second World War. Whether it be uniforms, tanks, aircraft or munitions he was an expert and a supreme model maker of the military hardware of that era, also editing specialist magazines dealing with the subject, these skills being sought out across the world. He was, to put it mildly, a perfectionist. It only took someone to show a little interest in the things that made him tick for him to want to - need to - share in his enthusiasm, with the lending of books, the investment of time, and if they were young birders he would be quite happy to open up his home, often surprising his wife with another mouth to feed at dinner.

Unfortunately he started to show signs of his illness several years ago which meant that he couldn’t concentrate fully on his birding or model making as he once did. His visits reduced to the point that he was no longer able to. Tony passed away on Wednesday April 1st (he would have laughed at it being April Fools Day). Another Dungeness stalwart has left the shingle. I can only smile when I think about him, a cup of tea in hand, self-deprecating and coming out with colourful observational humour, telling us all about some ridiculous number of Red-backed Shrikes back in the day. They really don’t make birders like Tony any longer.