Barry Banson
I first met Barry while birding at Beddington SF in the mid-1970s. He was, at the time, a schoolmaster at Alleyn's, a public school based in Dulwich. I think it is fair to say that the schoolmaster never fully left Barry, who did not suffer fools gladly and treated many people as if they were a pupil in one of his classes. regardless of their age or station in life. Having said that, once you got beyond that veneer of authority he was an utterly charming and interesting person to spend time with, a man of many interests, with natural history and sport at the top of a long list. In those early days I bumped into him fairly regularly on the sewage farm, always having a chat about the birds on view, and soon found out that he often visited Spurn Bird Observatory, where he used the lengthy school holidays to semi-reside there. He was keen to pass on the delights of birdwatching to his students, often taking a gaggle of boys on birding breaks to Spurn. Ex-Banson pupils who benefited from such altruism were Mark Hollingworth and Sean Clancy (the later destined to become an international name in the field of moths.) I believe that Barry also had Peter Grant (PJG) as a pupil for just a short time - Alleyn's had terrific form when it came to producing natural history high-flyers.
In my late-teens I was all about birding, but Barry slowly chipped away at my adherence to all things feathered and suggested that I might enjoy taking on the study of wild flowers. At that time the only flowers that birders deigned to look at where orchids, so it probably came as no surprise that my first outing with Barry to look at 'things botanical' was to the local Surrey chalk downs. I have kept a list of plants seen on that trip, mostly species to be expected but scattered among them were gems such as Bee Orchid, Fly Orchid and the very rare Green Hound's-tongue. I was interested, but not yet smitten.
By 1978 I had been a convert to Dungeness Bird Observatory for a couple of years and soon crossed 'observatory paths' with Barry, who was gradually swapping Spurn for Dungeness as his observatory of choice. We really got to know each other during the summer of 1979 when I was acting as Nick Riddiford's assistant warden. Barry's lengthy stay coincided with Nick taking a sabbatical to study the birds of the Salvage Islands - in effect, we ran the observatory for several weeks. They were golden times and the fact that we both looked back upon these shared days with fondness says a lot about the happy-go-lucky relationship that was struck up. Again, very gently, Barry manoeuvred me towards plants, pointing them out, naming them, then testing me over the coming days. I was a slow learner - but a seed had been planted. Occasional plant forays with him followed over the coming years - the sand dunes at Camber, the west-Surrey beech woodlands, more Surrey chalk downland - and the drip, drip effect started to take a hold on me.
I spent two Christmas's with Barry - 1979 and 1981 - and it will be no surprise to the reader that they were spent at Dungeness Bird Observatory, together with Nick and Elizabeth Riddiford. They were also bird-filled holidays, with our first festive session being bestowed by the addition of a new bird for Dungeness (Ring-necked Duck), and the second coinciding with some hard winter weather, coating the marshes inland with thousands of winter thrushes and the shingle with unusual numbers of passerines that were fleeing the frozen hinterland.
It was not until 1998 that I fully grasped the botanical nettle (pun intended). For the next twenty years I hardly stopped seeking plants, and at times birding took a back seat as I spread out across the country. The Lizard in Cornwall; the New Forest; Portland and the Dorset heaths; the Wiltshire Chalk; Breckland; the West Coast of Scotland; Cairngorms; Culbin and Moray; and last, but certainly not least, the Breadalbane Hills of Perthshire where I was to make a pilgrimage, for it contained a place that Barry had waxed lyrical about over the years - Ben Lawers. The photograph at the top of this post was taken from the 'hanging gardens' of the said mountain, looking back southwards towards Benin Ghlas. It is fair to say that without his five-star review I would never have gone to Ben Lawers. I'm so glad that I did. His appreciation of alpine plants was transferred to me for the week that I was there, and that appreciation is still with me. He had spoken with reverence about the first time that he had come across that wondrous species, a gem of gems, Rock Speedwell (below). When I finally met up with it myself one rain-sodden July afternoon on the hanging gardens of Ben Lawers, my first thought was of Barry. I was back again the next day for second helpings, this time in the sun, along with Alpine Gentian and Drooping Saxifrage. All Banson recommendations.
Barry retired from teaching in the late-1980s and moved to a bungalow in Greatstone, just up the coast from Dungeness. Apart from his daily residency in the hide at DBO to conduct his daily seawatch, he started to run an MV moth trap in his garden which soon became famous the length of the land. His list of rare migrants recorded there became legendary, including Plumed Fanfoot which at the time was the first for Britain. I was able to see many of his fine captures. When he was convalescing after a hip replacement I happened to be staying at Dungeness, so made the short trip each morning to help him empty and record the moths within his trap. This time helped cement our friendship further, but it was a friendship held at arms length. We would often not be in contact for months at a time. He knew little about my non-birding and non-botanical life which suited us both fine. Such relationships within the world of hobbyists is fairly common. Barry was lucky in so much as he was able to maintain independent living and general good health into his 90s. I didn't see him in the last few years of his life, something that I regret, but that was how our friendship had rolled - both delighted to meet up when we did and content that we might not do so again for a while.
I know a little bit about his earlier life, but this is caveated with my having not retained precise details! He came from the West Midlands (I want to say the edge of Wolverhampton); he studied at Oxford University (or was it Cambridge?): he was a double blue (but in which sports? Cricket and Football ring a bell). One thing that I do know for a fact was that he was present to witness Roger Bannister break the four minute mile barrier in 1954 (and seeing that the race took place in Oxford, is it safe to assume that Barry did in fact study at Oxford?) Seeing that we live in times when the truth is considered no more desirable than falsehoods, maybe my hazy memory can pass muster - but then again, I think of Barry, the public schoolmaster, looming over me to correct my errant ways!
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