Denis Ockelton Award.......................................................Steve Piotrowski

The meeting concluded with a presentation and awards by members of the BINS team, presentation of the Denis Ockelton Trophy, a short presentation of the BTO Atlas project by Mick Wright, a brief summary of the SOG Members ’ Survey by Phil Brown and a two-part quiz conducted by Steve Abbott – the winners being Adam Gretton [feathers] and James Davidson [sounds]. Denis Ockelton Trophy Steve Piotrowski presented the Denis Ockelton Trophy (presented every year in memory of SOG’ s former Chairman Denis Ockelton) for outstanding achievements in Suffolk Ornithology to Mick Wright this year in recognition of his contribution to SOG and conservation in general over the past 40 years.

February 2012

Editor: Steve Piotrowski’ s speech delivered at SOG’ s February AGM follows:

Steve Piotrowski

Mick Wright

A long history ofendeavour “I’ ve been honoured to Denis Ockelton award present the for many magnificent achievements made by SOG members for a number of years now, but it has always struck me that some of those who plod along, performing essential tasks for the Group, are sometimes overlooked. However, this is certainly not the case this year.

I have known this year ’ s nominee, SOG’ s Project Officer Mick Wright, for over 40 years and, to my mind, no one in Suffolk has sacrificed so much of their life to further wildlife interests. Mick has been seen at the forefront of the founding of a number of institutions and has faithfully served as an officer for both local and national organisations for longer than I have known him.

Founding ofLandguardObservatory I first met Mick at Landguard in the late 1970s where he shared the position of voluntary warden for SWT. The military had just vacated the site and SOG members had a dream of transforming those rundown wartime buildings into a bird observatory. In 1982, we met one dark November evening in the searchlight building, which was later used as a seawatching hide at Landguard Point, with Mick, Derek Moore, Bill Last and Richard Woolnough. We drew up proposals under the light of a Tilley Lamp and it was here that Landguard Bird Observatory was founded.

Defending the environment Mick learnt his ringing skills at the observatory and served a term as the Observatory ’ s Chairman. The Bird Observatory hadn ’t been going long before the threat of the habitat destruction of Fagbury mudflats, by the expansion of the Port of Felixstowe, loomed over us. Mick joined the campaign, which we titled Operation Redshank, or Orwell Under Threat (OUT), and we spent countless nights catching, and marking waders to add valuable data to help our cause. There were numerous meetings at Mick’ s house and we tenaciously fought the Parliamentary Bill in the House of Commons and The Lords. However, we were all to learn just how callous politics can be when Margaret