Sad to say goodbye to Mike Netherwood (Beddington Farmlands A-ringer) yesterday at his funeral at Clandon Wood Natural Burial Ground. The ceremony was lovely with nice music, moving speeches and sweet poems with lots of references to birds and bird ringing. Mick Cook (Mike's ringing partner), John Birkett (Birds of Croydon), Tony Morris (Hoverflies of UK), Beddington birders Derek, Roger, Roy, Phil and Steve and other birders from Croydon RSPB all attended so it was nice to catch up with everyone albeit in sad circumstances.
I met Mike (and Mick) at Beddington Farmlands in the late 1980s and often accompanied them when bird ringing. After starting training at Beddington , Mike sent me over to Tony's at Queen Mary's Reservoir (where I met Darryl) for intensive bird ringing training but I had to drop out when I started Little Oak as was too busy so never qualified to a C-ringer. One of my retirement goals will be to get my C-permit- so I intend to be a long term investment for Mike (and Tony) that paid off eventually!
Mike was the driving force behind the ringing effort at Beddington Farmlands and before he got sick, three years ago, was well into his 6th decade of ringing at the farmlands. Mike is a local legend and his work at the farmlands and support for the reserve will be greatly missed.
He was always a supportive friend and always kept in touch (and was constantly warning me not to go too far with campaigning efforts when things went radical in 2019) and best of all was a fan of Thee Bryans which was an honour considering Mike was a music connoisseur and an artist. He beautifully illustrated the front cover of several Beddington Farmlands reports that I compiled and it was wonderful to see his memorial booklet featuring the 1998 Beddington Farmlands Great Skua- the front cover of that year's report that we worked on together.
He was admired and loved by his family and birding friends and will be greatly missed.
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