David Bellamy types

treecreeper · #1 (**permalink**) 06-04-2009, 05:38 PM

I was wondering if anyone had ever encountered any truly eccentric botanists. Right back in 1980 I went on my very first independent holiday to a B&B place, which doubled as a small field studies centre, in Widdecombe in the Moor on Dartmoor. lt was run by Brian ...can't remember his surname. He had a wife, two boys, and the most harmless dog in England, which played with the kittens and brought diseased rabbits back to the house for treatment.

Brian and the family did all aspects of natural history but as I was the only guest it was all botany. Or mostly. One evening Brian took us badger watching. The route to the sett lay across a large raised blanket bog. Brian warned us to tread extremely carefully and led the way. We crept nervously behind him with this thing going up and down like an Atlantic swell. Then when we were right in the middle he started bouncing up and down, howling with laughter as his poor wife screamed!

I wasn't present for some of Brian's antics, probably a good thing. Like the time he stopped in the fast lane of a motorway to examine an orchid he had spotted on the central reservation.

In the evenings he told me about the botanical field trips he had led. Hedge Witch, this bit should appeal to you - He would go out the day before and create impossible flowers by cutting bits off one and glueing them to another, then leading the unsuspecting botanists past them and waiting for the gasps. He told me he once painted a daffodil red. Some of Brian's stories stretched credulity to the limit. One of his dogs (he said) saw his wife put a cooked chicken into the fridge. When the kitchen was empty the dog opened the fridge, ate the inside of the chicken leaving the skin intact, then turned the plate round to hide the damage and closed the fridge door.

It was a glorious holiday and being new to botany I recorded 100 plants I hadn't seen before.

The nail that sticks out will be hammered down, says the Japanese proverb. It's just possible Brian is still there, defying the hammer.

Hedge Witch · #2 (**permalink**) 06-04-2009, 05:45 PM

Hee hee, yes treecreeper, a man after my own heart, a real character

ChrisJB · #3 (**permalink**) 06-04-2009, 05:51 PM

Great memories Treecreeper and I loved reading about them. Don't you just love characters like that. Sadly, there aren't many about these days.

Regards, Chris

KeenTeen17 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 09:10 AM

I can't say I know of any that eccentric but I do know a few similar people. I really wanted to see a fly agaric mushroom 2 years ago, so my stepdad got a white one from tesco and painted it red with white spots

I fell for it and should have known really

Hedge Witch · #5 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 09:14 AM

And then there was the case of the young WABBER who uploaded a Kingfisher picture into the Gallery, got it approved and everything, but it was a STUFFED BIRD

(The makings of an eccentric if ever I saw one

)

Hedge Witch · #6 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 09:18 AM

Oh, KT, this seems like the perfect thread to display your stuffed agarics or whatever they were

KeenTeen17 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Oh, KT, this seems like the perfect thread to display your stuffed agarics or whatever they were

Those uploaded to the Gallery were stuffed in a museum, my stepdad's one was a painted Tesco mushroom!

treecreeper · #8 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

And then there was the case of the young WABBER who uploaded a Kingfisher picture into the Gallery, got it approved and everything, but it was a STUFFED BIRD

(The makings of an eccentric if ever I saw one

)

Talking about stuffed animals I have suspicions about this picture. It may look familiar. I first saw it in a wildlife magazine but it appears in newspapers now and again when there's a badger story. For a badger supposedly emerging from a sett, doesn't it look rather clean and well groomed?