Fred Gowan Grey, MA

Introduction

Fred Gowan Grey (1911-1997) was a remarkable, inspirational man, a hugely

influential secondary teacher who taught English for 38 years, at the South

Shields Grammar Technical School. He made a major contribution to the

development of birdwatching in the north east of England, County Durham in

particular, and can rightly be considered as ‘father’ of the Durham Bird Club.

He was a pioneer ornithologist, at a time when there were perhaps half a

dozen serious such figures in the region. As well as being a natural historian

of great renown, he was a long-time wildlife columnist for The Shields

Gazette. In the early part of his teaching career, he established a generation-

spanning bird watching club whose members grew, both as people and

natural historians, through Fred’s inspirational activities.

Fred’s stature as an ornithologist and his prodigious field skills were based on

a life-time of careful observation. His ability as an educator was legendary,

conveying a limitless enthusiasm for his subject. He was an inspiration to

almost all, a mentor to many and a father-figure to a lucky few.

He succeeded George Temperley as Honorary Secretary of the

Ornithological Section of the Natural History Society of Northumbria in 1957

but his most enduring legacy is in the way he changed the lives of hundreds of people through his inspirational

passion for nature, above all, birds. Many people owe their interest in both nature and cultural things to Fred

Grey; he had the accessibility of the common man with the cerebral air of a scholar and he managed to create a

functioning hybrid of the two. Throughout his life, his love of literature and poetry, particularly the works of

Wordsworth and Shakespeare, equalled and fed his passion for nature and were touched upon by his

considerable appreciation of classical music.

Fred Grey and the school bird club that he established in its nascent form around 1939/1940, changed the lives

of the many boys who he introduced to the study of wildlife. Through the decades, it dawned on some that

biology and wildlife might prove to be a

career option as well as an exciting

hobby and a lifelong passion. Many

took that route and some served, and

still serve, in those fields with great

distinction. In at least one instance, he

encouraged a pupil (that ‘had no

academic potential’) to try for

University, against the Headmaster’s

advice. That student went on to

receive his degree, later a PhD and

eventually, the epithet Professor in

front of his name. As a result of the

influence he brought to bear upon

generations of naturalists, he can be

considered one of the north east’s

most important natural historians of the

late 20th century.

Fred Grey - naturalist, teacher, correspondent, gentleman

Fred, in his sporting heyday, the mid-1930s, on Marsden Beach - Camel Island in the background

Fred Grey - A Lifetime

Fred Grey was born in South Shields on 6 January 1911, the eldest son of Richard Gustav Grey, a Marine

Engineer, and his wife Gertride Aline. He was always Fred and never Frederick, even on his birth certificate.

The family lived in Burleigh Street, a short walk from the shore and coastal fields which stretched, uninterrupted,

from Shields to Marsden Village and beyond, to Sunderland.

In the early 1920s this was a very different landscape to the long ribbon of grassland present between The Bents

and Marsden Village today. At that time, there was pasture where cattle grazed, and barley, kale and turnip

fields where Lapwings, Skylarks and Partridges all nested. Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and Linnet were

plentiful and sang from the straggling hedgerows and limestone walls that marked out the patchwork of fields.

Spring and autumn migrants were attracted by the variety of shelter and the winter stubble fields held large

flocks of buntings and finches. The shoreline and sea offered rich possibilities for the burgeoning naturalist.

It was along this coastline where Fred’s passion for wildlife was nurtured and where he returned years later as

an adult to pass on the ‘baton’ to the next generation. A latter-day interview in The Shields Gazette, described

how he “lived on the shore almost daily during his youth and grew up in the web of Marsden’s magic.” He even

used this area for his rugby training, running across the beaches of Marsden Bay, up and down the steps from

beaches to the cliff tops and swimming out from Camel Island, around the seaward side of Marsden Rock,

before heading back to shore on the south side of the Rock.

Early Days

As a boy, Fred’s other birding contacts were a few boys who boasted of their egg collections. In May 1996, he

told of growing up interested in birds and wildlife in the early part of the 20th century. He said, “today’s young

birdwatchers can have no conception of what it was like in the days of my boyhood and youth. Quite literally

there wasn’t a soul to tell me that there was a place called

Jarrow Slake where I could actually hear curlews in winter”.

Like many children of the time he collected cigarette cards,

and he had a collection featuring birds but there were few

books about birds available to him. In South Shields at that

time, there was no elder statesman, no teacher to take boys

out into the countryside and the only society for interested

people, the Natural History Society of Northumberland,

Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne, was based at the Hancock

Museum in Newcastle, of this Fred was ignorant - at least at

that time. All of these factors might help explain why he was

so keen, as he grew older, to provide all of these things, which

he had craved as a youngster, to boys who aspired to be

birdwatchers.

He taught himself about wildlife by roaming around the

countryside surrounding South Shields – Marsden, Cleadon

Hills and Boldon – occasionally accompanied by a friend

called Bill Foster. He recalled that at the age of about 12, he

and Bill walked from Shields to Hylton on the Wear, and back

(some 12-13 miles); a prodigious distance at that age. This

anecdote well illustrates the point that in his youth, his

knowledge had to be accrued by his ‘own endeavour’.

Educated at Westoe Secondary from 1922-1929, Fred

flourished both as a scholar and as an athlete. As he grew and his education developed he used the South

Shields Public Library then located on Ocean Road, to acquire a deep knowledge of the birds, botany, geology

and history of the coastline that he so much loved. In the 1920s, as a penniless schoolboy and later as a

Fred Grey c.1939

student in the early 1930s, he practically lived at Marsden, discovering, watching and then charting the

development of the seabird colony there.

On leaving secondary school, he studied English at Armstrong College, Durham University (later incorporated

into Newcastle University) with Latin, French and philosophy as subsidiary subjects. He was awarded a BA

(Honours) in 1932, which he converted into a Master of Arts in 1935. Sport, rugby in particular, was always

close to Fred’s heart and in the mid-1930s he played for the successful Westoe Rugby Club when it won the

Senior Cup (1936/37 season), later serving as a Club committee member and a coach when his playing days

were over.

Into Education ~ 1930s

After graduating, Fred became a teacher at Stanhope Road Senior Boys School; the start of a teaching career

that would last 43 years. He worked there from 1933 to 1938, moving in September of that latter year to South

Shields High School for Boys, an establishment that later became South Shields Grammar Technical School for

Boys; where he taught uninterrupted until 1976. He was Head of English for many years and also taught Latin,

ran the library, gym club and the ‘nature club’.

As a teacher, Fred was an awe-inspiring figure. He kept a stuffed Kittiwake in his cupboard and he produced

this on occasion to dramatic effect during class. Early in his career, he had been a keen boxer and at school he

coached rugby, ran gym clubs and took up to 40 boys to the public swimming baths, to learn to swim – taking

the lessons himself, as the official coach was by then a little ‘too corpulent’. Because of his combatively sporting

prowess, he became known by the boys as ‘Basher’, an epithet that could not have been further from his real

nature and one that he wasn’t keen on. With his clipped military-style moustache however, and a nose that paid

testament to his boxing bouts, it was easy to see how the nickname stuck. He bemoaned the use of this name,

he who reluctantly used the cane – the sanctioned, indeed encouraged, method of punishment - in his first

teaching post when appointed to the toughest class in the establishment by a head teacher who resented the

‘graduate teacher’. Thereafter he deeply regretted the imposition of those punishments and he never again

resorted to corporal punishment through the rest of his career. In relation to that he once said, “How many fond

mothers must have suffered sleepless nights worrying about their tender offspring at the hands of such a sadistic

monster?” Many years later he was heard to remark with regard to young teachers having trouble controlling

their pupils “if you can’t control them by your presence alone then you’re in the wrong job.” Fred wasn’t.

As a teacher he had a reputation as a tough but fair and inspiring figure, an unruly class was as likely to be

tempered in its behaviour by the clipped sound of his distinctively measured tread along the wooden corridor as

it was the stentorian tones of his voice, should he need to intervene verbally. What many boys were not aware

of however, was his mischievous sense of humour, though they knew of his renown for being able to come up

with a quotation, often classic in its origin, for just about any situation. In private, Fred was an emotional man

and, in later life, he decided to no longer watch television news, as items concerning cruelty to children, animals

and fellow human beings were too much for him and on occasion would reduce him to tears.

From the mid-1930s, George Temperley – then the foremost ornithologist in the region – increasingly drew on

Fred’s systematic records, particularly on the growth of the seabird colony at Marsden, the first Fulmars of which

were established in the late 1920s. It is said, perhaps apocryphally, that these were discovered by Fred during

his rugby training runs. Temperley and Fred became firm friends, a friendship sustained, at least initially, by

correspondence and telephone calls rather than regular direct contact.

Around this time, Fred’s seabird population estimates for Marsden were being cited by Temperley in national

reports and these outlined the rapid growth of the seabird colony. Kittiwakes were first seen on Marsden Rock in

1930, became established on the south side of Marsden Rock in 1931. The birds spread to other ledges and

faces and on to the mainland cliffs as the colony grew in subsequent years. By 1937, Fred counted 308 nests.

In 1945, when access to the cliffs was restored after the Second World War, he counted 750 nests.

Through the later 1930s and into the 1940s, Fred’s birdwatching compass expanded and he increasingly began

to watch birds at the complex of wetlands and damp pastures that then ran from the south west part of South

Shields, south along Boldon Lane towards Whiteleas Ponds, Newton Garth Farm and then east towards the

coast, and Boldon Flats. From 1934, through the rest of his life, he kept, meticulous, wildlife journals recording

in detail his own observations and a selection of those of trusted friends and acquaintances. He became good

friends with the farmer at Newton Garth, Jack Harrison. He would travel regularly to these locations on his bike,

sometimes before school started, and then again after school and also at weekends. Subsequently, on

discovering the joys of Jarrow Slake, he transferred the same degree of ornithological scrutiny to that site.

Not having travelled widely abroad for bird watching,

Fred built up his observations and experience with

great perseverance and many hours of patient local

fieldwork. He never learned to drive – though he tried -

yet he knew intimately the remotest corners of northern

England and the Borders.

War Commences – the Seeds of the Birdwatching

Club are Sown

From 8 September 1939, about 150 boys from the 3rd

,

4th, 5

th and 6

th forms of the South Shields High School

(about a quarter of the school) were evacuated to

Appleby, Westmorland (now Cumbria), some 70 miles

to the south-west. Although the school itself was not in the official evacuation area (which was based on

proximity with the River Tyne), about half of the boys lived in that area and of these, half of them chose to

evacuate. The boys were accompanied to Appleby by 13 masters, amongst these was Fred Grey. Fred stayed

in the Red House Guest House, a large 18th century sandstone building at the bottom of Boroughgate. Fred had

known Marty Lawson since she was 12 years old and as they grew older their friendship developed and when

Fred went to Appleby, Marty went along too; staying in a farmhouse called 'Wearisome', which had once been

an inn, on the Kendal Road.

During the evacuation, walking, cycling and nature clubs were formed for the boys. Fred was involved in the

running of these. A March 1940 report, from Appleby made reference to birdwatching in the Eden valley, driven

- no doubt - by Fred’s passion and enthusiasm. He also helped with walking trips of the Lakeland Fells at Easter

1940; no doubt pointing out birds to the

participating boys.

His passion for nature and walking extended

into the extreme cold of an Appleby winter.

A copy of the long-running school magazine,

The Atom, recounted that Fred Grey and Mr

Formison, in the midst of winter, set out to

walk the ten miles ‘home’, over some of the

roughest and bleakest terrain in England,

‘more with a courage to be admired than

emulated’.

On Through The 1940s

It was from the club created for the Appleby

evacuees to study nature that Fred

established the basis of what was to become

the school birdwatching club, which was to

prove so enduringly influential until his

retirement 36 years later. Stan Hayes, a

An Appleby ‘nature study class’, c. 1940

Fred, on the left with some of the birdwatching boys, including Alan

Moyse, front left around 1943

pupil at the school from 1937 until 1942, was one of the earliest of birdwatchers to make up ‘Fred’s mob’ and he

was a member of the birdwatching club from its outset. Fred and Stan used to go off on their bikes on

birdwatching trips around Appleby, a practise that continued on their return to South Shields. Caught by the

birdwatching bug, and drawn by Fred’s magnetic appeal, Stan remained a friend of Fred’s throughout his life, as

would Stan’s wife, Liz, when later he married. Almost twenty years after these first birding forays, Stan was to

become the finder of County Durham’s only 20th century White’s Thrush; a bird he was to share with just one

observer – Fred Grey.

Through its lifetime, when the birdwatching club met, boys would report and discuss their sightings and hand in

their written records; the latter, a process much encouraged by Fred. As the club developed, the boys would

find nests, keep records of these then, at the appropriate time, Fred would come along and put rings on the

nestlings.

Involvement with Fred and the school bird club changed the lives of many boys. His expeditions at weekends

and in school holidays introduced them to the woods, fields, shorelines and promontories of Durham and

Northumberland; Alnmouth, which could be reached by train in an age before the widespread availability of

personal mobility – cycles aside - was a favoured destination.

Members of the birdwatching club from all periods have gone on record as saying that Fred didn’t just point

things out when they were birdwatching but he explained things in a lucid and interesting way. He used his

powers with the English language to subliminally layer the joys of poetry and prose upon the developing

understanding of the natural world the boys were encountering, and from that point opened up new areas of

interest for them.

In the early 1940s, a pioneering nest box scheme for Pied Flycatchers was

established in Hamsterley Forest by Fred, James Alder and George Temperley. This

was done with the Forestry Commission’s blessing and it was the north east’s first

coordinated nest box scheme. Ostensibly, it was an attempt to control the numbers of

harmful insect pests but it was really about encouraging the Pied Flycatcher

population. By 1944, there were seven pairs in boxes, 17 pairs in 1945, at least 30

pairs in 1946 and 38 in 1947. Of the 300 boxes present by 1949, 87 of these were

occupied by Pied Flycatchers clearly a huge success for the bird; it was not

established what level of insect control these increased numbers achieved.

During the summers of 1943 and 1944, Fred was one of the staff members helping

out at the school camps based near Sedgefield. Some of the activities at these

included roaming the countryside picking wild fruits – no doubt steered by Fred.

Fred’s serious ornithological credentials were coming well to the fore through the

1940s. As evidenced by the fact that he was elected a member of the British

Ornithologists’ Union in October 1944. Through this period, Fred was an active bird

ringer and the first time that many people saw a wild bird in the hand was when assisting him with mist-netting

operations at Marsden Hall during migration. His ringing activities often revealed the fascinating movements of

local birds ringed as nestlings, such as the young Lesser Redpoll ringed by Fred at South Shields on 7 July 1949

that travelled across the Channel, and was recovered at Maransart (Brabant), in Belgium on 25 October of that

year.

At a personal level, 1940 saw a major change, as Fred married Marty, a marriage that, on Fred’s death, had

lasted almost 57 years. The couple went on to have two daughters, Anne and Joan and two grandchildren,

Robin and Jenny. His grandchildren, of whom Fred was immensely proud, would grow up following in his tread.

In Jenny’s case working for a spell with the RSPB before becoming a veterinary nurse, building a reputation for

treating wild and injured birds, and in Robin’s, becoming Head of English at Wellfield Secondary School by the

age of 35. Fred and Marty lived for much of their married life in Readhead Road, at least until the mid 1970s,

after which they re-located to Luffness Drive at Cleadon.

Fred ringing tern chicks on Inner Farne, 1949

Throughout his life, Fred retained his interest in sport, rugby in particular, which he described as ‘a savage

amusement’. During the mid-1940s he wrote some of the rugby reports for the school magazine and coached

some of the school teams.

By the mid-1940s, Fred was

involved in running the school

library, and in an article on the

subject in the April 1947 edition of

the school magazine, he

mentioned the purchase of a

number of new books, all of these

spanning his personal passions.

These books included tomes on

geology, rugby and a number of

natural history books. In the article

he extolled the virtues of a book on

‘How to Know British Birds’ by N.

Joy. Clearly he was stocking the

library for ‘his’ kind of pupil.

Thanks to his trusty bike, he

managed to find some notable birds, effectively on his doorstep. For example, on 5 May 1945, he discovered

the second record of a Ruddy Shelduck for Durham, an adult female, on a flooded field in the north east of the

county. By character and definition however, he was not just interested in rarities but in the unusual, revealing

or notable behaviour of birds. For example, in 1947, he discovered a Ringed Plover’s nest with four eggs in a

turnip crop when such inland breeding was uncommon in national terms, the main inland expansion of this

species did not occur until the late 1970s and through the early 1980s.

As well as being responsible for the school library, Fred seemed to have considerable influence with the book

buyer of the South Shields public library. Both were well stocked with books to help and inspire the young

naturalist. John Coulson (a pupil at Fred’s school) recounts the late 1940s’ tale of his observing some ‘unknown’

wading birds at Boldon Flats. Fred kindly refused to tell John what these were but bade him take copious notes

of his observations. Fred arranged for John to have access to the reference section of the library, which was,

surprise, surprise, stocked with the best ornithological references books then available. On comparing his notes

with the relevant reference sources, John concluded that the birds were Ruff. Fred knew that learning is best

retained when the teacher helps the pupil to teach themselves. Fred introduced many of his keen students to

the Natural History Society, taking them to the Society lectures where they met other naturalists including staff

and students from Newcastle University.

Throughout his birdwatching career, Fred maintained an extensive network of contacts in the South Shields area

and across the north east. This was used to support the better recording and conservation of birds and also to

keep him in touch with developments. One of these contacts, Maurice Guy Robinson from Darlington, when

travelling home from the north of the county, on 6 August 1947, saw a large bird fly across the Edmundbyers to

Stanhope Road. Guy, from his foreign bird watching experiences, recognised this as a male Montagu’s Harrier.

He spoke to the local gamekeeper and informed Fred. There began the difficult and protracted saga of these

birds breeding on the North Durham moors – a saga with which Fred was intimately involved. Through the

summer of 1948 it was realised that a loose, social colony of three pairs of harriers was breeding in an area of

about two square miles based on Muggleswick Common, with other birds in Weardale. Fred was involved in the

protection of these birds and he once described the incongruous site of several of these magnificent birds in

flight over the moor with the then active Consett blast furnace and steel works set as a backdrop.

Fred Grey (centre left), with L to R, Ian Telfer, Tony Nattrass & Roy Elliott

Over the last forty years of his life,

the well known ornithologist Dr Hugh

Moray Sutherland (H.M.S.) Blair

(1902-1986), who lived in South

Shields, was an acquaintance of

Fred’s, and this relationship

deepened into a close friendship.

Hugh was Fred’s family doctor (for

almost 20 years) and the fact that

they lived close to one another,

encouraged an interchange of news

and bird watching details.

Particularly in relation to a site they

watched in common, the wetlands at

Whiteleas Pond, near Newton Garth

Farm; where Garganey was

confirmed as breeding in 1947, and

Shoveler was found breeding by

Fred.

The 1950s

At the outset of the 1950s, Fred’s efforts were stimulating the activities of young observers in the South Shields

area, and would continue to do so over the next three decades. John Coulson was one of the active

birdwatchers who benefitted from Fred’s support in the late 1940s and early 1950s, eventually becoming a bird

ringer.

The early 1950s was an interesting time for rare bird records in the South Shields area and in a short space of

time, in 1950-1951, when he was a sixth-form pupil, John discovered three new species for the county in this

vicinity; Serin (1950), Aquatic Warbler (1951) and Yellow-browed Warbler (1951). This started in 1950, with the

first record of Serin for the north east, an adult male, in a garden at Westoe, South Shields on 12 November, in

which John had permission to ring birds in. It was seen again on 19th and 26

th by several other observers,

including Fred.

As a teacher, Fred engendered a sense of awe and wonderment in many of his students and he was, like his

close teaching friend, Charlie Constable, truly inspirational. Charlie was a history master at the school and a

near neighbour of Fred and Marty’s family; Fred and Charlie often walked to school together. Although many

teachers at the school stood out for their care and compassion as mentors, and for their enthusiasm and skill as

educators, Fred was one of those who rose to the top of this list.

One former pupil and member of the bird watching club commented, “I recall one meeting of the nature club on

Monday after school, about 1950, when Fred came along quite excited. He had seen the 3rd Avocet for

Northumberland in the last century at Fenham Flats, that weekend. He also brought along a cutting from the

papers about how they had recently recolonised Havergate Island in Suffolk.” Another pupil during the mid-

1950s commented; “Like many boys at the time, I was an egg-collector, and this information was somehow

conveyed to Fred. He stopped me one day at school and asked if the report was true. I confessed my hobby,

fearing a severe rebuke, but was rewarded with a friendly invitation to join the Bird Club. From my first meeting I

was hooked for life. Fred gave a masterly talk on the identification of ducks.”

Fred, centre right with some of the birdwatching club boys, around 1944

The county’s first Aquatic Warbler was found by

John Coulson and Eddie White, in an oat crop at

Frenchman’s Bay, South Shields on 28 August

1951. Unsure as to its identity John and Eddie

reported the sighting to Dr. Hugh Blair and Fred.

They were able to return shortly afterwards and

concluded, after some time of observation, that it

was an Aquatic Warbler; the first record for the

English east coast north of Norfolk.

By 1951, at school Fred had become House

Master of Lawrenson House and in this role he

was fulsome in his praise of those school

colleagues on their leaving or retirement,

especially where they held passions in kind, such

as Frank Wade (rugby) and F. P. Wesencraft

(fell-walking and wildlife). He had assumed the

role, Head of English, soon after commencing

work at the Grammar School, some years before.

Fred’s attitude to the importance of nature, as

something which, when fully engaged with,

touches one deeply and sustains the individual,

was illustrated in an article describing ‘The

Pond’, in January 1951. Whilst Fred’s

ornithological records were always made from

the standpoint of an objective, scientific observer

one sentence from this article shows how his

observations affected him, echoing the writings

of modern natural history writers, such as Richard Mabey. “It seemed a relic of the vanished countryside, an

oasis, in the narrow confines of which he could sometimes drink the spiritual elixir of contentment granted by

nature to the mind that watches and receives.” It was with sadness that Fred recorded the passing of that pond,

lost to “a heap of refuse from town and factory” and now, “the foul-smelling haunt of rats”.

Frederick (‘Derick’) J. Watson, who first got to know Fred in 1951 as a member of the 1950s school bird club;

they went on to become life-long friends, an association of 46 years. Other contemporary club members, such

as Rod Key, despite moving back to Derbyshire towards the end of the 1950s, credited Fred with the birthing of

a passion that would last him a lifetime. The weekend after his first bird club meeting, another 1950s stalwart,

Jim Edwardson, went with a group to Jarrow Slake and vividly recalls the thrill of seeing so many species of duck

and wading birds for the first time – his life would never be the same. By the late 1950s, along with Rod Key,

Jim would become one of the founding members of the Tyneside Bird Club; the precursor to the Northumberland

and Tyneside Bird Club of today.

On field excursions Fred encouraged the boys in careful observation, meticulous note-keeping and to research

what had been seen. During the oiled sea-bird surveys of the early 1950s, at Fred’s instigation, the members of

the birdwatching club pounded the beaches each weekend. In the school magazine of January 1954, Fred

made an appeal to pupils for help with collecting tide line corpses of seabirds and he proffered advice on how to

help those still alive when found.

Fred’s meticulous note taking was exemplified when, in 1952, on 19 October, he described his observations of a

“white looking” Treecreeper at South Shields which occurred during a large influx of thrushes and other migrants.

From back, L to R: Fred Grey, George Temperley, front James Alder

and Carol Greenwell in Hamsterley Forest, 30 June 1951

It was decided that this was a bird of the northern race familiaris and an immigrant, as no Treecreepers were

then known to breed in the South Shields area.

Fred’s influence saw practical outworking early in the 1950s, when in 1954, The Atom recorded congratulations

to John Coulson, one of Fred’s birdwatching contacts boys of the late 1940s and early 1950s, who had just

gained a first class honours degree in Zoology at Dunelm.

An important ornithological record in the context

of the north east, came on 4 December 1955,

when Derick Watson, visited one of the club

members’ regular stamping grounds - Jarrow

Slake and found an unfamiliar wheatear. It was

seen on 5th and again on 6

th when Fred Grey

concluded that it was a male Desert Wheatear;

the tenth record for Britain at the time. During

the next twelve days the bird was seen by a

number of observers, including some of the

region’s best known ornithologists: George W.

Temperley, Dr. H. M. S. Blair, James Alder, Alan

Baldridge, Brian Little and Philip Stead; some of

the key individuals in the subsequent formation

of the region’s three principal bird clubs.

Derick Watson was still reporting on the school

birdwatching club in the July 1956 edition of the

school magazine, documenting Fred’s activities, building bird boxes and of trips to Alnmouth. In the same issue

birdwatching club member J. Elison published an article on the Fulmar, entitled The Mallemoke and Jim

Edwardson, a poem about The Peregrine Falcon – clearly birds, literature and the stimulation of young talent

were coming together to produce the first flowerings of achievement.

In July 1956, Fred published an article, ‘The Fascination of Birdwatching’, that in many ways might have been

his credo, “Nor do any other creatures convey so intensely the sheer exuberant vitality of living.”

In the late 1950s birdwatchers across the region were becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of information

on recent bird sightings. It was during this period, that a small group of birdwatchers around Teesmouth began

occasional informal get-

togethers and to more

systematically collate

their records. These

they began to publish as

a monthly Teesmouth

report. The first single-

page issue, for

September 1958, was

entitled the Teesmouth

Ornithologists’ Bulletin

and it listed thirteen

contributing observers,

amongst which was

Fred, the only observer

from the northern part of

the county.

Fred Grey on the left, Carol Greenwell, Tony Nattrass, R. G. Grey and Mr Longstaffe, in Hamsterley

Forest, 1951

Desert Wheatear, Jarrow Slake December 1954, ringed by Fred Grey,

photograph by James Alder

At this time, most homes did

not have a telephone and

Fred would make sure ‘his

boys’ were kept in touch

with bird developments with

a knock on the door and the

news of some rarity and, as

often as not, an invitation to

go on an expedition to see

it. As observers developed

their skills and expertise, he

encouraged them to

exchange information and

they would often be invited

to his home. Club members

have commented that it

made a deep and lasting

impression to be welcomed

by Fred and his family and

many of the boys, as they

grew into young men,

cherished the developing friendship into their adult life.

In 1957, members of the birdwatching club made a study of Snow Buntings in the South Shields area, and

published an article on this topic. Mainstays of the club at this time, alongside Derick Watson and Rodney Key,

were Tony Nelson and K. Royston. The scale of involvement in the school birdwatching club is indicated by the

fact that on 31 May 1957, thirty boys and six masters visited the Farne Isles on a field outing.

As a teacher it is said that Fred knew the difference between criticism and critical appreciation, and he used this

to provide support and guidance to the many developing talents

that passed through his hands over the years. He taught so

much to so many and in his gentle, wise way, he kept people on

the straight and narrow. One member of the birdwatching club

recalled that on an outing to Alnmouth, when sea watching, Fred

lent him his brass Broadhurst and Clarkson draw-tube telescope

to look at a distant Red-throated Diver. Fred asked if he could

see it clearly enough. To save face, the observer said “Yes!” but

in fact he could see nothing at all. Fred leaned over and said in a

quiet voice that couldn’t be heard by anybody else, “It’s better if

you take the lens cap off.” Fred was always generous in sharing

his knowledge and had a way of turning a novice's mistakes into a

learning experience.

In 1957, Fred asked Derick Watson, a gifted artist, if he would

illustrate an article on the spring migration of Wheatears for The

Shields Gazette. On 27 April 1957, this became Derick’s first

published illustration and it accompanied the first in a series of

articles called Birds to see now, which ran for almost 30 years

(Derick would go on to become an internationally acclaimed

wildlife and landscape painter). These articles had a large

following and were enthusiastically cut from The Gazette every

Saturday by many parents and mailed to their bird watching

offspring around the country. One of Fred’s ex-pupils recounts

Fred, front left, and boys on the Farne Islands c. 1957

The first article in a series that ran for almost 30

years

the story of how at Marsden ‘a few years ago’, a complete stranger asked if he would like to look through his

telescope at a Peregrine that was perched on the cliff. In conversation it was explained to Fred’s ex-pupil that

the observer’s interest in birds had been triggered through these articles ... a lifetime’s enjoyment, yet he had

never met Fred. Not surprising, as Fred wrote largely for his own enjoyment. Such was his modesty that even

this renowned Gazette column, which at one point appeared in two newspapers, was published anonymously,

famously being credited to ‘A Correspondent’. Fred’s reason for writing these articles was to share his

enthusiasm for the natural world and encourage others to do likewise.

The 1958 report on the activities of the birdwatching club in the school magazine was authored by Jim

Edwardson, Derick Watson having moved on to follow a career in teaching then, later in life, as a full-time artist.

In 1958, Fred Grey took over, from George Temperley, the editing of the

annual ornithological reports for Northumberland and Durham commencing

with the report for 1957. He continued this role until 1960, but differences of

opinion and frustration with delays in the production process led him to pass

the baton for this task on to one of his ex-pupils, John Coulson.

On 7 November 1959, on a morning of rain and low cloud, County Durham’s

only 20th century record of the White’s Thrush was discovered in the Harton

area of South Shields by Stan Hayes, a founding member of Fred’s school

birdwatching club. This bird was tracked to the West Park, where Fred saw it

alongside Stan but it was not seen subsequently.

Jim Edwardson continued in his role as Minutes Secretary of the school club to

1960, reporting in the 1960 school magazine of club outings to Teesmouth,

where an immature Montagu’s Harrier was seen on Cowpen Marsh in August 1959, and to Killingworth, where

the north east’s first Long-billed Dowitcher was seen by members of the club in the autumn of 1959.

When one of the birdwatching club’s members won the Natural History Society’s John Hancock Memorial Essay

Prize, Fred was immensely proud and helped the recipient cash the prize cheque as, at that time, the pupil had

no bank account – the prize enabled the winner to purchase their first decent pair of binoculars. On another

occasion, after a serious pupil indiscretion, Fred volunteered to deal with ‘young Adams’; this after the

headmaster received a complaint from a nearby resident about the theft of apples from a back garden. The tale

goes that Fred verbally, ‘wiped the floor with him’ then said “My house, tonight at 6pm, and bring your haversack

with you!” On arrival ‘young Adams’, fearing further punishment, was taken through to the back garden and told

to collect all of the apples that he could carry. When haversack and bike saddlebag had been filled, Fred put his

hand on the miscreant’s shoulder and said kindly, “See Rod, there’s really no need to steal.” It was the first time

he’d ever addressed ‘Adams’ by his given name and they remained lifelong friends. Years later Rod’s daughters

were bridesmaids at the wedding of Fred’s youngest daughter.

The 1960s

By 1961, W. R. Jones had adopted the role of Hon. Secretary of the

birdwatching club from Jim Edwardson then he was succeeded by Michael

L. Chalmers in 1962. J. G. (Grant) Farquhar took over the Secretary’s role

for 1965, when Michael Chalmers left. Around this time, 1963-1968, Alan

Heavisides was another pupil of Fred’s, and a bird club aficionado.

Through the 1960s, Fred was also influential in his out of school activities, in

particular with the adults who enrolled for his Workers’ Educational

Association classes in ornithology. These were already in full swing by

1962 and were once described as “the stuff of legend”. It was stated,

entirely correctly, that “Many of the adults who attended his sessions

caught his passion for birds and were permanently hooked.” One ex-

Fred Grey, school master in the 1960s

The ornithological reports for 1958 and 1959, edited by Fred Grey

school pupil, Colin Freeman, wrote: “Many years later we met again when I joined a WEA class he ran for

several years until his retirement. In the meantime I used to read his weekly column in the Shields Gazette

illustrated by Derick Watson. I cut many of these out and saved them, as they were characterised by his

beautiful prose, and keen observational powers.”

Many WEA participants look back on those classes as a major turning-point in their lives. One person, who

joined these around 1960, was Alan Johnson. Alan had been a pupil of Fred’s in the early 1940s, studying

Fred’s beloved Shakespeare. This was the first of many such classes he joined over the years, which included

superb talks by Fred and regular weekend trips to locations in Durham, Northumberland and the Scottish

Borders; these were “magical and memorable experiences”. It re-acquainted Alan with Fred and this would lead

to a close friendship that would last for the rest of their lives.

Fred’s WEA classes made regular winter trips to

the Solway Firth, usually staying at the King’s Arms

Hotel, Castle Douglas. Amongst the regular

attendees on these trips was Cliff Adamson, a

long-time friend of Fred's who acted as chauffeur

on these Solway jaunts. Other members of the

group were Gordon Forster and his wife Josie, who

had been introduced to the classes by Alan

Johnson and all of these would later become

members of Durham Bird Club.

On April 27, 1962, an article in The Shields

Gazette highlighted the setting up of the

Northumberland and Durham Naturalist’s Trust,

and the pivotal role that Fred Grey had in this.

Tony Tynan, Secretary of the Trust, and at that

time, Curator of the Hancock Museum, said that

“Mr. Grey has been so ‘nagging’ his friends about it

that we decided to do something about it”. The

‘Trust’ was inaugurated at a meeting attended by

some 200 people, at the City Hall, Newcastle in

early May 1962. The Trust established at that

time, is the organisation that led to the formation of

the region’s separate county conservation trusts

and ultimately to the Northumberland and Durham Wildlife Trusts of today.

In 1965, the original birdwatching club’s remit was expanded to include more aspects of natural history and it

was re-titled but by 1968 the birdwatching club had re-surfaced and was meeting again on a regular basis,

undertaking surveys for oiled birds and covering a range of other subjects.

As one 1960s pupil recounts, as an English teacher, Fred was passionate about Wordsworth and Shakespeare

in particular. He would start reading a set passage of The Prelude, get carried away, and continue reading for

the entire lesson, at which point he would slowly close the book and say 'Maarvelous'. This same pupil whose

father had attended the school during the Second World War was taught Physical Education by Fred in his

sporting heyday, and observed that the same passion for that subject, though it was a different one, had

percolated through the teaching.

Fred continued his bird ringing activities through the 1960s, sharing these with pupils and ex-pupils and this bord

exciting fruit, in the middle of the decade, with the discovery of County Durham’s first confirmed Icterine Warbler.

This was trapped and ringed at Marsden on 29 August 1966 by Michael Chalmers, a former secretary of the

school bird club, and Fred.

Fred Grey, far left, Cliff Adamson (at the back); Grant McFarquar (at the back, standing centre); Gordon Forster (seated on the right); Josie Forster (at the extreme right); Lal Routledge (second from the right); Kathie Robinson (centre of the group) in the late 1960s, on one of the trips to the Solway - Kings Arms Hotel in Castle Douglas

Sadness for Fred came in November 1967 when his old friend and somebody who had encouraged him in his

younger ornithological life, George Temperley, died at the age of 92. On his death, Fred wrote: “One’s abiding

memory of George William Temperley is that of a kindly and courteous gentleman infinitely helpful and patient

with beginners on field outings and delighting in the Hawfinches that annually visited the single cherry tree in the

garden of his lovely house at Stocksfield, fittingly named Restharrow”. It is clear that Temperley's efforts in

encouraging others, and the book he authored, A History of the Birds of Durham, provided a spur for Fred and

like-minded contemporaries. Ultimately, those inspired by Temperley, in their turn inspired the people who were

influential in setting up the region’s modern ornithological infrastructure between 1960 and 1975.

The 1970s

In the early 1970s, the school birdwatching club was hugely active, hitting its last ‘golden period’ before its

inevitable demise brought about by Fred’s mid-seventies retirement from teaching. Indeed, Fred himself

described this period of the club, and the young birdwatchers involved, as perhaps the best ‘as a group’ that he

had seen in all his many years.

Meanwhile, Fred – now in his seventh decade - was still involved in some memorable bird sightings. For

example, the only modern record of Ivory Gull for County Durham, the first for over 100 years, was found by one

of his ex-pupils John Strowger in late 1970, and superbly photographed by Fred. This first-winter bird

frequented the estuary of the River Tyne, moving between North Shields and South Shields, from 18 December

1970 to 23 February 1971, attracting many visiting birdwatchers over this period.

From the mid to the late 1970s Fred, along with old friend Cliff Adamson, was part of the team that worked on

the production of Northumberland’s Birds (1978-1980). Though Fred was frustrated and disappointed by the

production values of the finished product, he richly praised the content and the work, in driving the project to

completion, of Bryan Galloway and Eric Meek.

At this time the members of the school birdwatching club involved themselves in several national field work

schemes, including Common Bird Censuses and oiled bird beach surveys. The club members regularly watched

birds at Barmston Pond near Washington, around Whitburn and Marsden but it also went on trips further afield

such as to the Solway Firth, Lindisfarne and Morecambe Bay in Lancashire. During 1970, senior members of

the birdwatching club provided its other members with talks, these included presentations by Derek Hay (who

worked as an Assistant Warden for the RSPB at Minsmere and Havergate Island), I. Hopper and M. Gibson.

Other key people in the club of 1971 were the secretary David Brown, Bill (Thommo) Thomson and Kevin

Colcomb, who eventually took on the role of club secretary.

To those who got to know Fred at school his natural authority sometimes brought unexpected challenges in adult

life. One of Fred’s friends recounted how, long after he had left school that Fred was to him, still ‘Mr Grey’. “How

long have we known each other?” Fred once asked him. At the time they were sleeping rough in a disused

farmhouse on a birdwatching trip to Norfolk and Fred stood before him in vest and non-too-clean bird-watching

trousers, “about 20 years” was the reply. Fred nodded and said, “Don’t you think you should call me Fred by

now.” The reply was automatic, “right Mr Grey.”

In the early 1970s, the groups that campaigned to save Barmston Ponds at Washington and to set up the first

Whitburn Bird Observatory in 1971 were heavily influenced by Fred and his efforts. He also sat on the

committee, along with Ken Smith, Ian Stewart and Brian Unwin, that produced the Durham County Bird Report

from 1972 to 1974. This group was very much a precursor to the formation of the Durham Bird Club in late

1974.

During the later years of the school birdwatching club, it met on a Monday night to review the weekend’s

birdwatching. The meetings took the form of Fred talking about a birdwatching trip or adventure that he had

been on the previous weekend or discussing an article about wildlife in a magazine or book. At this time, Fred

rarely led bird trips himself, this was in the last few years before his retirement, but the ones he did were always

fascinating; Fred passing on huge amounts of information to those attending. At meetings, Fred would make

notes of everybody’s bird sightings through the previous week, always preferring these to be passed to him in

written form – the English master will out. These records were then passed on to the relevant county recorders,

Fred declined to submit any records that he felt less then trustworthy or unproven. Stringent and scrupulous, he

always said that if you did not want your records criticized you should not submit them. Over this period the

activity of sea-watching, pioneered by Fred in previous decades, was enthusiastically taken up and developed

by ‘the boys’ of the 1970s’ club. It was during 1971 that the first sea watching hut was erected near Souter

Point, Whitburn, many of the bird watching club members helping in its erection. Stephen Westerberg fondly

remembers the communal task of transporting the various parts of the building - rescued from upper Teesdale,

courtesy of connections made via the then Durham County Conservation Trust and John Coulson - across fields

to its coastal location, and of digging the foundations.

Around this time an annual feature of the school birdwatching club’s activities was the production of display

materials for the showcase School Parents’ evening. Over the years this featured displays about ‘the building of

the sea watching

observatory’, ‘local

conservation activities’ and

‘rare birds & migration’. The

measure of Fred’s influence

is indicated by the fact that

he did not have to play an

active role in planning or

executing these displays,

the boys themselves were

the instigators. It is perhaps

unsurprising that this group

of participants in the club

should produce such a crop

of effective adult advocates

for birds and high achievers

in their respective career

fields; Kevin Colcomb,

David Pritchard and

Stephen Westerberg being

good examples of these.

At this time, Fred had managed to introduce to the school timetable, a birdwatching session as one of the Sixth

Form’s non-academic options. This option was assiduously, and cannily, signed up to by all of the Sixth Form

members of the birdwatching club. On seeing their names on the list, Fred would say, 'these sessions are far

too basic for you', and tell them to take the afternoon off.

At this time, telephones were still not widely distributed, and as one old club member stated, ‘the only way to get

to know anything’ was to stay in touch with Fred. News was exchanged by rapidly cycling, excited members

commuting between Fred’s house and the respective members’ homes. This kind of activity, cemented the

social bonds of the 1970s’ cohort and the club came to be a mechanism for supporting the members' social

activities and development, as well as their environmental activities. One unexpected side-effect was the way

that the usual age-related hierarchy, so prevalent within secondary schools, was subverted by the birdwatching

club’s somewhat egalitarian membership – as one member stated, it didn’t matter how old you were or what year

you were in at school, you were assessed as to your birding ability in the birdwatching club. Hence, boys of 13

and 14 routinely interacted on an equal footing with boys in the Upper Sixth.

Even when less active in the field, Fred liked to be kept informed of any scarce or rare birds that had been noted

and in 1974, or thereabouts, he set up what was probably the area’s first telephone ‘grapevine’ so that

Fred, in characteristic ‘seawatching’ pose with his draw-tube telescope in the early 1980s

information about sightings could be passed along a network of interested observers. On hearing of an

interesting bird sighting, a notable observation or the fascinating documentation of a piece of bird behaviour

Fred’s favourite retort was “Marvellous!”. The closely bonded members from this 1970s period expanded upon

Fred’s oft-used classical allusions and boxing metaphors when birdwatching, into an affectionate private sub-

language, with frequent mimicking of his favourite adjective into a distorted but well meant “Maaahvelous.”

Fred’s out of school ornithological activities often cross-fertilised with the school birdwatching club. One member

of the latter commented upon his first meeting Josie Forster of Fred’s WEA group, when about 13 years old, and

being offered a lift home after birdwatching on the coast. A favour he was able to repay years later, when as a

full-time countryside professional he was able to give her information about where to see the best birds on what

was then an area under his management.

The Durham Bird Club, established in late 1974, in the wake of the earlier founding of the Northumberland and

Tyneside and Teesmouth Bird Clubs, owed much to Fred Grey. In early 1975, Fred became its first Chairman

and many of the then 1970s’ school birdwatching club regulars joined the Club, and its trips. The Durham Bird

Club’s smooth beginnings were attributed by some to Fred’s ‘astute, dignified leadership’. As well as his

practical inputs, it is said that he provided the fledgling ‘DBC’ with a sense of tradition.

On 12 March 1975, appropriately enough, the Durham Bird Club’s programme of indoor talks began with a

presentation from Dr. John Coulson, Fred’s former pupil, who spoke about the Kittiwake. In 2011, that same

speaker’s monograph on that species, distilling 50-years of study, was published (he was on his way to watch

migrating Kittiwakes when he found the 1951 Aquatic Warbler).

At Easter 1976, Fred retired from his post at the Grammar School and from his role as the founder and ‘spirit

guide’ of the school birdwatching club, something that he had been active in for over 35 years. A note in the

school magazine at the time of his retirement, commented upon the countless boys that he had inspired with a

love of birds and wildlife, and the number of them that had gone on into careers with birds and wildlife or to study

science as result of the passions that Fred’s enthusiasm had stirred in them. The club members honoured Fred

by clubbing together and making him a presentation of an illustration of a Golden Eagle.

On his retirement from the school, George E. Brown, a fellow English teacher, wrote: “An epoch in the life of our

School came to an end ... with the retirement ... of Fred G Grey, Head of the English Department. We shall not

look on his like again, but we are privileged to have known him. He has been deeply revered by all those whose

good fortune it has been to have their paths cross his. A Promethean figure among schoolmasters, Fred Grey

received his inextinguishable fire from heaven with grace and humility. His scholarship, wisdom, enthusiasm

and, most of all, his integrity has made him a firm rock in an age of shifting sands. He has sought vigorously to

share with others the abundant life he has enjoyed to its full, and his wide interests outside of the School have

enriched the lives of those within it”. It was also said of him on his retirement, that “For Fred, teaching was more

than a mere vocation; it was life. Of him it can be truly said, ‘His life was gentle, and the elements, So mixed in

him that nature might stand up, And say to all the world: “This was a man!”

For a short while after his retirement, at least into early 1977, the momentum built up by Fred amongst the

birdwatching club’s active membership, sustained its situation, until those members moved on through the

school and to pastures new. Without Fred in the school to fire up new participants, acting as a catalyst, and with

the core of the early 1970s members gone, the club faded into inactivity.

In the year of his retirement, County Durham’s first Radde’s Warbler was found by his ex-pupil Colin Freeman at

Marsden Quarry on 19 October 1976, its identity being confirmed by Fred; at the time, the 21st British record of

the species.

Shortly after retiring Fred

suffered a heart attack

and thereafter his health,

affected his birdwatching

and other activities. On

his retirement from the

role as Chair of the

Durham Bird Club in

1977, prompted in part

by his increasing health

challenges, he became

its first honorary

member.

Nonetheless, in

retirement Fred’s

contacts kept him in the

birding loop and in 1979,

after being taken to see a

Peregrine eyrie on the

Northumberland/Cumbria

border by a couple of his

contacts, he was corresponding with Ian Armstrong then of the RSPB, railing against the fact that these birds

were regularly disturbed or harassed by local ‘keepers’.

The 1980s

In the early 1980s, though his hearing began to decline, taking much of the enjoyment out of his spring time

birdwatching activities, through his contacts, Fred’s finger was still on the ornithological pulse. It was through his

networks that confirmation came of the successful breeding of two pairs of pairs of Hen Harrier in Durham in

1984; always one of the most elusive of breeding birds in the county.

He knew the locations of the eyries of the Lakeland nesting Golden Eagles and he took a privileged few

confidants to see the nesting birds. He was similarly careful with information about some of the earliest territorial

Goshawks in Durham, around this time.

Colin Freeman, ex-pupil, member of Fred’s WEA classes and subsequently a leader for U3A birdwatching

groups himself, said of the early 1980s, “After his retirement we went out regularly with a few friends, taking part

in a British Trust for Ornithology breeding bird

survey at Clockburn Lonnen and the Derwent

Gorge in the Derwent Valley for several years

until his health began to deteriorate”.

Brian Bates, Chairman of Durham Bid Club 1985

to 1988, tells of a birdwatching trip with Fred in

late May 1982. A space was available in the car

for a trip to Teesmouth, to see a new bird for the

county; Fred was invited. An hour later, all were

at the edge of a reed bed. The bird commenced

its distinctive song, Brian turned to Fred, to see if

he was pleased. Sadly, Fred could not hear it.

He showed no frustration despite his colleagues’

numerous attempts to get him to hear the

Fred on the left, with David Burdis and Ron Little surveying in the Derwent valley during the early 1980s

Fred on the watch, early 1980s

songster. He simply delighted in his surroundings and the other

birds around. Nearly an hour later, the bird climbed in to view and

Fred finally saw his first Savi's Warbler in Durham. It is said that his

smile was wider than the River Tees. Two days later Brian received

a gracious note thanking him for the invitation together with a list of

all of the other birds present that evening, most of which Brian

admits, he had failed to record but as he said, Fred was always a

gentleman and always thorough.

Many who knew him commented that Fred was a wonderful

correspondent; he was still writing, in long-hand, to old friends just a

few days before his death. A short letter to him would elicit three or

four pages of exquisite prose in reply. He unfailingly asked after

correspondent’s families and in one such letter to an old pupil he

wrote “raising a reasonably happy family is the most rewarding of

human endeavours”; a measure of the importance of family and

people, in general, to the man.

When Mike Nattrass started his, ongoing study of Merlin in Durham,

in 1983, Fred wrote him, as Mike states, a very helpful and lengthy

letter giving him all of the details of Fred’s information on the nesting

birds at Hamsterley and Edmundbyers, back into the 1940s and 1950s.

As bird identification knowledge and the abilities of birdwatchers scaled new heights, Fred’s knowledge and

experience could still contribute. On 17 November 1984, a ‘grey shrike’ found close to the main A185 approach

road to the Tyne Tunnel at Jarrow attracted some debate as to its identity. The prevailing opinion was that this

bird was probably a ‘small’ Great Grey Shrike. Fred, when consulted, and after being taken to the see the bird,

demurred from this opinion; he believed it to be the much rarer Lesser Grey Shrike. On 22nd

the bird was

trapped and ringed and Fred’s hunch proved correct. Lacking the black forehead typically associated with this

species it was aged in the hand as an adult female and following its release it was seen daily until 25th. This

remains one of the latest dates for this species’ occurrence in Britain and a latter-day example of Fred’s

ornithological astuteness.

Fred’s passion for the

Marsden area was re-ignited

during the period of the late

1980s when the future

management of the Leas at

South Shields was under

discussion between South

Tyneside Council and The

National Trust. Some of the

negotiations were at times, a

little fraught and David (later

Lord) Clark, MP for South

Shields, became involved. In

all of this process Fred’s

calmness, profound

knowledge of the area and

passion to see the best future

for the landscape he loved,

contributed to the eventual

successful conclusion of the

Alan Johnson, far left, Fred Grey second left, Jackie Pickard centre, Harold Booth and Colin Freeman far right, taken at Emmanuel Head on Lindisfarne, Northumberland in the late 1980s

One of Fred’s last articles in the ‘Birds

to see now...’ series, June 1986

process. His steadying hand and contribution was commemorated by the installation of a bench, on the cliff top

overlooking Marsden Bay, commemorating Fred’s part in 'saving' the Leas. Some year’s later Lord Clark (when

he was the Forestry Commission Chair) was asked of those times and he very much remembered Fred Grey.

When asked to contribute his memories of teaching for Harton Comprehensive School’s 50th anniversary booklet

in 1986, one of the highlights he wrote of was the “staunch members of the School Birdwatching Club in the

course of its thirty or more year’s existence”. He also nodded in the direction of two artists of distinction from

that Club, “selling their pictures of birds and seascapes”, “in this country and America” (one of these was Derick

Watson), and of his receiving the Bird Report of the Hong Kong Bird Society, with its contributions by Michael

Chambers, his bird ringing partner on the day they caught the county’s first Icterine Warbler.

Throughout his life, Fred had something of a mistrust of mechanical things and he never expected such devices

to work for him, even a simple tape recorder proved challenging at times to a man more attuned to the lofty

heights of literature or the earthly delights of Boldon Flats.

As Fred’s health deteriorated, his wife Marty became protective and she was reluctant to let him out of her sight.

For a man who had spent so much of his life outdoors this must have been like a prison sentence but he didn’t

complain, spending more time reading and re-reading bird books, his bird notes, Shakespeare and Jung.

The 1990s

Increasing ill health meant that Fred was less able to enjoy the ornithological developments and happenings of

the early 1990s. He had a keen appreciation of the rare and an eye for the unusual but one of Fred’s most

endearing characteristics was the way that throughout his life he could find fascination in even the most

everyday species. One acquaintance told of the last time that he met Fred in the field, in September 1995. It

was during an influx of autumn migrants along the South Shields to Whitburn coast. Fred was studying a

Spotted Flycatcher and said to be appreciating it with the same intensity and fervour as if it was his first

encounter with the species; a bird he must have seen thousands of times in the area over the previous 70 years.

During the early to mid-1990s being less mobile, Fred returned to writing and, despite being somewhat shy of

publication, he produced a superb series of evocative articles – for the first time, credited to him - on birds and

the countryside for the Durham Town and Country magazine. As the decade wore on however, his health

became progressively poorer and his heart problems, first manifested in the mid-1970s, became exacerbated.

Colin Freeman recounted this touching

tale, of his being able to reciprocate for

Fred’s support of him over the years,

“On one day in September 1994, I was

driving along when I passed him; I

paused and asked if he would like to go

up to Boldon Flats for a short trip. He

was in his eighties at this time and he

gratefully accepted the lift. He was

more than delighted when I showed

him a Woodchat Shrike, which I think

was a new bird for him.”

Sadly in 1997, Fred Grey ‘father’ of the

Durham Bird Club, died at the age of

86; the end of an era. On his death Carol Greenwell, an old friend from their days working on the protection of

Montagu’s Harriers together in the late 1940s and ringing Merlins in the early 1950s, said, “The Durham Wildlife

Trust has lost one of its longest serving and most faithful of members with the death of Fred Grey. He knew and

visited Low Barns long ago when the old farmhouse was the offices of Tarmac, long before a nature reserve was

ever mentioned.” On Fred’s passing, the late Brian Unwin, journalist and birdwatcher, commented, “The first I

Fred at the ‘Flats’ later in life

heard of Fred was in the early 1960s, on one of the great days when every clump of vegetation on Hartlepool

Headland seemed to be lifting with migrants. I recall someone saying almost reverentially, ‘Fred Grey’s mob are

here’. In those gentler days, before twitching evolved, their presence seemed to make it more of an occasion”.

The headline in The Gazette on 26 February 1997, which announced his death, read “Inspirational Fred Passes

Away”. Later that year, on 5 June, there was a memorial get-together in the South Shields Town Hall, at which

James Alder, one of Fred’s long-time friends, spoke. This event was populated by people from near and far –

his funeral had been attended by ex-pupils from as far away as Scotland and Shropshire. His family received

letters from all over the country from people whose lives had been similarly touched by the enthusiasm and

personal influence of a remarkable man. An article in The Gazette said, “Fred made a huge contribution to the

life of South Shields and the whole of the North East as a teacher, sportsman and naturalist”. On hearing of his

death, Derick Watson ex-pupil, by then renowned artist, and illustrator of Fred’s first Gazette article on the

Wheatear in 1957 (and every one to the last in 1986) who then lived at St. Abb’s Head, resolved to travel to

Alnmouth on the Northumberland coast, the scene of his first field trip with the school birdwatching club 46 years

previously, in honour of his mentor, Fred.

More than one of his ‘old boys’ grown experienced in the ways of the world, on hearing of his death said that

Fred was, quite simply, the greatest man they had ever known, even allowing for sentiment and the

circumstances, this is a remarkable assessment of a life and one that hints at the profound effect of the man

upon those he connected with.

Legacy

At a time when it was unfashionable, Fred extolled the nature writings of authors such as Richard Jefferies, and

talked and wrote easily about ‘the spiritual refreshment that contact with the natural world has brought unfailingly

in the course of a long lifetime’. Recent academic studies have shown the beneficial effects of engagement with

the natural world on mental wellbeing; Fred would have smiled at the idea that anyone needed research to

confirm this.

Late in his life he went on record as being an admirer of the work of Carl Gustaf Jung and he was always keen

to see people ‘in the round’. He summarised it thus, “I have known a few amongst the sixth-formers, some of

whom it was a privilege to teach. Those who do not understand would say that I was talking about pupils of

‘high academic attainment’ who were ‘brilliantly intelligent’. Far from the truth; intelligence is only a small part of

the human psyche. They were that and so much more. I am talking about imagination and insight and

understanding and sympathy and empathy and intuition and warmth and love and compassion and humanity, in

short, about the whole person, which Jung called the ‘Self’, as distinct from the ‘Ego”.

One ex-pupil from the 1960s, Philip Chambers, after a lifelong appreciation of literature, started writing poetry

around 2011 and stated that he rarely writes a poem without the mention of a bird. He believes that he knows

the source of this inclination, as he stated, “a lover of nature, a lover of literature, a lover of life; Mr Fred Grey”.

Another pupil, and subsequent lifelong friend, Rod Adams, told of a man who could communicate easily with

people at all levels of society. By way of example, he recalled a trip down to Peter Scott’s Wildfowl Trust at

Slimbridge on the Severn Estuary in the 1960s, when the camper van that was being used broke down in

Coventry. As Rod remembered, it was a cold, rainy morning as they emptied the important stuff out of the van in

readiness for the journey home to Tyneside, by rail. The party took cover in a bus shelter. Fred got out the

camping stove and proceeded to cook breakfast for all members of the party, in the bus shelter. It wasn’t long

before local commuters started arriving for the bus. They must have smelt the bacon well before they got to the

shelter, where they were greeted, most cordially, by a well spoken man wielding a frying pan - his two

accomplices standing nearby munching bacon sandwiches. “Good morning” Fred would say to each new arrival.

“Do come in. Would you like a bacon sandwich?” Being English, the locals crammed into one corner of the

shelter and pretended we weren’t there. All except one young lad who Rod last saw on board the bus, sandwich

in hand and waving furiously to the group as it turned a corner.

Fred Grey achieved much in his lifetime; he was a founding member of the Northumberland and Durham

Naturalists’ Trust, the Honorary Secretary of the Ornithologists’ Section of the Natural History Society of

Northumberland and Durham, the first Chairman of the Durham Bird Club and its first Honorary Member. He

was a hugely knowledgeable ornithologist and with his infectious enthusiasm and kindly tolerance, he

encouraged many shy and inexperienced people, young and old, to pursue their interest in all things beautiful in

the natural world. But one of his greatest talents was undoubtedly the ability to discern, from an early age, a

nascent ability, the human potential within one of his many protégés, to nurture this, encourage its growth,

channel it towards the ‘light’ and then step back so that it might be set free under the tutelage of its owner, ready

to be shared with others. He often referred to the twin Latin routes of the word education e ("from or out of") and

duco ("I lead or I conduct"), ‘to lead’ and ‘out’, something he did time and again.

The year 2011 marked the centenary of Fred’s birth and the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of George W.

Temperley’s ‘A History of the Birds of Durham’; it was fitting that in the following year The Birds of Durham

(which accommodated some of Fred Grey’s writings and many of his records and observations) was published

by the Durham Bird Club; this publication was dedicated to Fred Grey and his old friend George Temperley. His

influence on bird-watching in the north east and beyond was considerable and was achieved mainly through his

ability to enthuse people about the things which meant most to him.

He should be remembered for much more than representing a distinguished past. The fact that he was an

inspiration to so many means that through the work they have in their turn done, his flaming torch, has been

passed on. Fred Grey knew that people's movement towards a fuller appreciation of heritage, in all of its guises,

is a journey that sometimes requires special support and directing, a little help to ‘signpost’ the way. Fred Grey

was just such a ‘way marker’ in people’s lives; he inspired generations of boys, who became men and went on to

do likewise. By proxy, they continue his work to this day. Fred Grey’s influence on bird-watching in the north

east and beyond was considerable and was achieved mainly through his ability to enthuse people about the

things which meant most to him; a great deal is owed to this scholar, ornithologist, athlete, inspirational teacher

and truly remarkable man.

Acknowledgements

This article owes a huge debt to all of those many people who contributed in so many ways. The information

they provided was collated by the author but the detail and content came from their reminiscences and

remembrances of Fred Grey and, in some instances, their personal archives. Research for the article was

undertaken by many volunteers from Durham Bird Club, The Natural History Society of Northumbria and other

individuals around the region, and across the country and further afield.

Thanks to Fred Grey’s daughters Joan Glass and Anne Mason, and Joan Glass’ family. Thanks are extended to

the members of the school birdwatching club over more than 35 years, ‘Fred’s Boys’. In this respect,

contributions came from: Laurence Abernethy, Richard Abernethy, Rod Adams, Rory Akam, Ian Boddy, John

Chapman, Dr. Kevin Colcomb, Dr. John Coulson, Paul Danielson, Prof. Jim Edwardson, Colin Freeman, Dale

Hanson, Peter Hogg, Alan Johnson, Rod Key, David Pritchard, Dr. Peter Robinson and Stephen Westerberg.

Stephen Westerberg deserves a special mention both for the wealth of information he provided, his anecdotes of

the 1970s bird club and the vast amount of research work he undertook ‘connecting’ up sources of information

and people.

Additional thanks go to: Tony Armstrong, Brian Bates and Peter Bell. Amongst the project’s supporting

organisations, specific acknowledgement goes to: Dr. Mike Collier, University of Sunderland; June Holmes,

Natural History Society of Northumbria; and, Mike Todd of the Old Boys High School website.

The photographers of the many old photographs used in this article deserve many thanks but sadly, most are

unknown. Nonetheless, due acknowledgement is made for all of their contributions, with apologies for the

inability to make specific mention of them all. Specific photo-acknowledgements go to: The Natural History

Society of Northumbria; Fred Grey’s family; Andy Hay (RSPB), the Old Boys High School website and Keith

Bowey for the use of images in this article, with apologies for any omissions.

This article was collated from texts developed from research undertaken for the Following Fred: a Life Inspired -

Wildlife, People and Beyond project. The aim of this project, which was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund,

was to help local people learn about the natural heritage of South Tyneside using the life and work of Fred Grey

as an inspiration and an example. The Project was managed by The Customs House Arts Centre, South

Shields, with the support of: Durham Bird Club, The Natural History Society of Northumbria, The Open

University, The Shields Gazette, South Tyneside Council and The University of Sunderland.

Keith Bowey

Appendix – Some of those Who Followed in Fred’s Footsteps?

This is a small sample of those involved with the school birdwatching club (their active time with it is shown in

brackets) who took inspiration from Fred and what they did with that inspiration – there are many more that could

have been featured.

Stan Hayes (late 1930s/early 1940s)

Stan Hayes, a pupil at the school from 1937 until 1942, was one of the earliest of birdwatchers to make up

‘Fred’s mob’ and he was a member of the bird watching club from its outset, during the evacuation period at

Appleby. Fred and Stan Hayes used to go bird watching trips with Fred when living in ‘Westmorland’ and later

when they returned to South Shields. Caught by the bird watching bug he remained a friend of Fred’s

throughout his life. On 7 November 1959, Stan found County Durham’s

only 20th century record of the rare White’s Thrush.

Alan Johnson (early 1940s)

Alan was a pupil of Fred’s in the early 1940s. Around 1960, he joined

Fred’s WEA ornithology classes, the first of many such activities he joined

over the years. He and his wife May developed a close friendship with Fred

that would last for the rest of their lives. This included many visits to the

Theatre Royal in Newcastle to watch performances of the Royal

Shakespeare Company, between 1977 and 1984. After taking inspiration

from one of Fred’s WEA classes on Lindisfarne, Alan and May ran their

own bird watching trips to Lindisfarne, continuing these for over 20 years.

He is a long time member of the Durham Bird Club.

John Coulson (late 1940s)

John Coulson commenced his birdwatching career in the late 1940s whilst at South Shields Grammar School

inspired, like others, by a presentation of Fred’s. When still a school pupil and heading down to the coast to

watch Kittiwakes, he found the region’s first Aquatic Warbler. After learning to ring birds he went on to study

biology and eventually he became a Reader in Animal Ecology at the University of Durham, where he had

completed both his BSc. and his doctorate. On 12 March 1975, the Durham Bird Club’s first indoor presentation,

at a session chaired by Fred Grey, was given by Dr. John Coulson, on The Kittiwake. In 1992, John was

awarded the Godman-Salvin Medal from the British Ornithologists' Union for his contributions to ecological

research. In more than 50 years of research he published over 150 scientific papers, edited both Bird Study and

Ibis and supervised numerous students in their studies of birds. In 2011, his book on The Kittiwake was

published, distilling a lifetime’s fascination with the species, which stretched back to his schooldays with Fred

Grey.

Frederick ‘Derick’ J. Watson (1951 -1958)

Derick was a member of the school bird club from the early 1950s, becoming a life-long friend of Fred Grey. In

1957, he illustrated Fred Grey’s first ‘Birds to see now’ article for the Gazette, and carried on that task until 1986.

On leaving school he went into teaching, later directing a fine arts degree course. In the 1980s, when working in

that area, he provided vignettes for the Derbyshire Bird Report, upon which his old school bird club colleague

Rod Key was working. In 1980 he became a full-time artist and for many years ran the Kittiwake Gallery at St.

Abb’s Head, Scotland. He had an international reputation, exhibited regularly in the UK and the USA, in the

Houses of Parliament in 1983 and 1985, as well as in other countries. He illustrated a number of books,

including:

The Greater Manchester Breeding Atlas (1980) - principle illustrator

Birds of Sheffield and the Peak District (1983) - principle illustrator & designer

Birds of South East Scotland (1998), Scottish Ornithologists' Club - principle illustrator

The Fife Ornithological Atlas (2003) - 17 plates

Leigh Yawkey Woodson ‘Birds in Art’ catalogues 1994 and 1997

Leigh Yawkey Woodson 25th Anniversary Exhibition Book (2000)

Derick was awarded the Millennium Fellowship by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland for The

British Galapagos, a study of seabird colonies on coast of Northumberland and South East Scotland. He also

featured in Who's Who in Ornithology. In later life he pondered whether Fred’s first Gazette article hadn’t been

written just to give him a chance to have his first illustration in print? He had a high opinion of Fred believing

“him to be equal to the giants of the ornithology of the North East counties: the brothers John and Albany

Hancock, George Bolam, Abel Chapman and George Temperley”. Derick died in 2004.

Jim Edwardson (c.1955-1960)

Jim Edwardson was a member of the school bird club from the mid-1950s until 1960, becoming its Minutes

Secretary. In the late 1950s, he was one of the founding members of the Tyneside Bird Club. At Fred’s behest,

he submitted a study of Jarrow Slake to the 1959 Hancock Essay Competition, he won first prize. Deemed to

have no academic ability by some at school he was encouraged by Fred to seek a career in biology. He went on

to receive his degree from Nottingham University and a PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, London University. He

was made Professor in 1982 and was responsible for leading a multidisciplinary team that made international

contributions to the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. Now retired, he is on

Council of the Natural History Society of Northumbria and serves in a regional capacity for the University of the

Third Age.

Rodney Key (mid-1950s)

Rod Key was a member of the birdwatching club from 1953 to 1959.

He joined the Derbyshire Ornithological Society (DOS) in 1959 and

from 1968-1989 edited the monthly bird notes for the DOS Bulletin

and from 1970 to the present he served on its General Committee. In

1980, he became joint County Recorder, looking at rare and scarce

birds in Derbyshire, a role he still fills. From the mid-1960s he helped

compile the Derbyshire Bird Report and is part of the team behind The

Birds of Derbyshire, published January 2014.

Colin Freeman (late 1950s/early 1960s)

Colin Freeman was a pupil of Fred’s and later became a member of his WEA classes. On 19 October 1976, he

found County Durham’s first Radde’s Warbler in Marsden Quarry, its identity being confirmed by Fred Grey. He

undertook Common Bird Census surveys, along with Fred, in the early 1980s at Clockburn Lonnen and the

Derwent Gorge in the Derwent Valley. Subsequently he became a leader for U3A birdwatching groups. He is a

long time member of the Durham Bird Club.

Michael L. Chalmers (c.1960-1965)

Michael was Secretary of the School Bird Club in 1962 continuing in this role until he left in 1965. He was

learning to ring birds with Fred Grey during the mid-1960s, when they discovered County Durham’s first

confirmed Icterine Warbler, at Marsden on 29 August 1966. After his post-school science studies, he went on to

become an engineer and in the 1970s he moved out to the Far East, where he became one of the area’s leading

ornithologists. In 1986, he authored The Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Hong Kong, a copy of which he

sent to Fred. In 2001, he was a contributing author to The Avifauna of Hong Kong. In the intervening years he

became a director of Scott Wilson Engineering and was responsible for many ornithological reports, particularly

in relation to the impacts of shipping and marine engineering on the birdlife of Hong Kong Bay; Fred’s inspiration

spreading across the globe.

Alan Heavisides (1963-1968)

Alan Heavisides was a pupil of Fred Grey's in the mid-1960s. Fred was instrumental in nurturing Alan's interest

in birds from an early age and he has maintained his love of birds and wildlife ever since. After school he went

on to be influential in the development of the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club, he was County

Ornithological Recorder for Northumberland between 1979 and 1983. Now living in Scotland in the Edinburgh

area, he has done considerable work on raptorial birds, in particular Merlin (writing the text for that species in the

Migration Atlas, and in 2014 he was still busy undertaking contract work for the British Trust for Ornithology.

Peter Robinson (c.1965-1969)

Peter Robinson was a member of the school bird club to 1969. He went into an academic career in science,

studying biology. He gained a first class honours degree at Aston University where he undertook a PhD, before

gaining a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Applied Hydrology Research Group (1979-82) at the University

of Hertfordshire. In 1986, he became a Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, then Head of the

Department of Biological Sciences in 2002 and Associate Dean in the School of Psychology in 2013.

Kevin Colcomb (1967-1972)

A member of the birdwatching club between the 1960s and 1970s, Kevin took on the role of club secretary in the

early 1970s, until he left for university. After studying science and undertaking a Doctorate, he found work with

the Marine Pollution Agency. Eventually he rose to become Senior Scientist with the Marine Pollution Agency,

directing work to reduce pollution impacts on birds and other wildlife; he has remained an active birdwatcher

throughout his life.

John Chapman (1969-1974)

John was in the bird club from September 1969 until 1974. When he left school he went on to become a

research chemist, helped by a great reference from Fred Grey for his first job, mainly working in the paint and

coatings industry. He worked for sometime on the south coast of England before moving back to the north east,

where he remains an active birdwatcher and naturalist in the South Shields area today. He is a long time

member of the Durham Bird Club.

Laurence Abernethy (1969-1975)

Laurence, and his older brother Richard, were both members of the birdwatching club; Laurence from 1969 to

1975. He was the Secretary of the club from around 1973 up to 1975. After school he went on to study

medicine and eventually progressed to become Consultant Paediatric Radiologist at Alderhey Hospital,

Liverpool. In 2014 he said, “I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Fred Grey, who opened my eyes to the natural

world around me, and taught me so much - not just about birds, but also the skills of patient observation and

fieldwork, accurate recording, and an attitude of discipline, courtesy and respect.”

Rory Akam (1970-1977)

Rory was in the school bird club until 1977. This was followed by Manchester University where he studied

biology. Subsequently he served a stint in the Royal Navy and taught at Hillcrest, Nairobi, Kenya for five years.

He then came home and taught alongside one of his old birdwatching club contemporaries, Ian Boundy, at a

school in Sussex during 1983, before he moved on to Stowe Grammar School in Buckingham, where he is Head

of Biology a keen naturalist and a bird ringer.

Stephen Westerberg (1970-1976)

Stephen Westerberg was in the school bird club

from September 1970 to June 1976, being its

Secretary from 1975-1976. Early in his career

with wildlife he lived on a beach in Lincolnshire,

looking after a Little Tern colony. Later, he

worked for over 20 years on Gateshead’s

countryside sites and today he is Site Manager of

the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in the North

Pennines. He is also County Recorder for

Cumbria and the coordinator for BTO surveys in

north-east Cumbria. He is an ex-Secretary of the

Durham Bird Club; co-authored The Birds of

Gateshead (1993) and was joint editor of The

Summer Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Durham (2000). As a leader of Thornley Young Ornithologists' Club

(1985 to 2003) he taught hundreds of young birdwatchers. He is a long time holder of a bird ringing licence and

has recently been undertaking research work on nesting Whinchat. He was a founder member of the Durham

Bird Club, whilst still a pupil at school.

David Pritchard (1970-1977)

Dave Pritchard was in the school bird club from 1970 to 1977, being Secretary from 1976-1977. Through much

of his working life he has worked for the RSPB in a variety of research, policy, legal and management roles from

1981 to 2008. This career has spanned more than 30 years in national and international conservation, including

several non-executive directorships. He is now an independent consultant for bodies such as the UN

Environment Programme and the Ramsar Convention; and he chairs the UK Arts & Environment Network. He

was an early member of the Durham Bird Club.