Derek Ratcliffe had a profound love of the wild places of Cumbria and the Borders. His first passion was the birds of the uplands and his 1947 prize-winning essay on the Peregrine whilst a schoolboy at Carlisle Grammar was an early indication of the author he was to become, publishing amongst others books on The Peregrine Falcon (1980); The Raven (1997); Lakeland (2002) and Galloway and the Borders (2007). The latter was completed a few days before his death in 2005.
In the 1960s he helped solve the mystery of the decline in raptors, discovering a side effect of pesticides in the wider environment. The chemicals build up in the food chain to these top predators, and made their egg shells thin and be easily broken in the nest before the chicks could hatch. The damaging pesticide, DDT, was subsequently banned in the UK. So every time you see a peregrine in Lakeland, say a little thank you to Derek!
As well as inspiring people to appreciate nature, and to understand it scientifically, he set the philosophy for protecting nature in the UK. As Chief Scientist for the Nature Conservancy Council in the 1970s and 80s he led the work of assessing sites for nature conservation. His most important legacy are our resulting 400 National Nature Reserves (NNR) and 6500 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Finglandrigg Wood NNR (also a SSSI) was one of his personal favourites.
Naturalists and Habitats of Lakeland caches are intended to showcase the nature of Cumbria, a region long known by naturalists as Lakeland (Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands).
Dont forget you will need to BYOP.
Placed with kind permission of Natural England.