Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter (1 March 1913 – 3 September 2005) was a British naturalist and author. He was an expert on

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

s and authored several guides for amateur naturalists.

Life

Fitter was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, England, on 1 March 1913 and was educated at

Eastbourne College Eastbourne College is a co-educational independent school in the British public school tradition, for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. The College's headmaster is Tom Lawson. Overv ...

and the London School of Economics. He was the only son of Sidney and Dorothy Fitter. In 1938 he married Alice Mary (Maisie) Stewart (died 1996) and they had two sons and a daughter. He was recruited to the Institute for Political and Economic Planning in 1936, and in 1940 moved to the social research organisation

Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...

to investigate civilian morale for the Ministry of Information. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he worked at the

Operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

section of the

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviatio ...

. During this time he worked for two hours each evening on a comprehensive urban natural history of London, which was published in May 1945 as ''London's Natural History'', his first book. After the war in 1945 he was appointed secretary of the Wildlife Conservation Special Committee of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, which made proposals for nature conservation as part of the reconstruction after the war. In 1946, Fitter became assistant editor of '' The Countryman'' and moved from London to

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelt ...

, Oxfordshire. "With the publication of The Pocket Guide to British Birds (1952), illustrated by R.A. Richardson, Fitter became a bestselling author." In later life he moved to

Great Shelford Great Shelford is a village located approximately to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. In 1850 Great Shelford parish contained bisected by the river Cam. The population in 1841 was 803 people. By 2001 ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...

. He died in Cambridge on 3 September 2005, survived by his children.

Work

Fitter wrote many books and was active in various areas relating to nature and conservation. His wife Maisie was a colleague and collaborator on many of his researches. They were joint authors of ''The Penguin Dictionary of British Natural History'' (1967). His son, Alastair Fitter, is a professor of biology at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. They collaborated on three books: ''Guide to the Countryside'' (1984); ''Field Guide to the Freshwater Life of Britain and NW Europe'' (1986); and ''Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland'' (2003). In 2002 father and son jointly authored a paper in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' analysing the changing

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leaves ...

of plant flowering times due to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. He wrote the ''Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds'' (1952), which started a series of

field guide A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (flora or fauna) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. rocks and minerals). It is generally designed to be brought into the " field" or local area where such objects e ...

s by various authors, setting a style which was helpful to the inexperienced observer by the way it was organised and explained, placing short texts alongside pictures. This had birds grouped according to habitat, size and colour, rather than the biological classification which traditional books had done. His ''Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers'' (with David McClintock, 1956) had pictures grouped by colour for easier identification. His ''Fontana Wild Flower Guide'' (1957) showed which plants might be found in different counties. He was heavily involved with nature conservation organisations including the Council for Nature, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society (now

Fauna and Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserva ...

) where he was Honorary Secretary. He also served on the councils of the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment t ...

and the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginnings In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote: In the United Stat ...

, and founded the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists' Trust. In 1968 he was one of the founders of the British Deer Society, which aimed to help with study, management and control. He was also involved in the search for the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

, being a director of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau.1969 Annual Report: Loch Ness Investigation
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Honours

* Order of the Golden Ark in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Neth ...

(1978) *

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...

Medal from the British Naturalists' Association (1998) *Christopher Cadbury Medal from the Royal Society for Nature Conservation. In 2008 the British Naturalists' Association instituted a Richard Fitter Memorial Medal which is awarded annually to an individual who is a dedicated active field naturalist.

Hobbies

Fitter collected 'bird inn signs.' He wrote about his hobby in the ''Birmingham Daily Post'', published Tuesday 22 March 1955. Fitter wrote that "I just note them down in my diary whenever I see them. I started during the second winter of the war, as a kind of light relief from the somewhat grim preoccupations of those days." By 1955 Fitter had several hundred signs in his collection of some 38 different bird species. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000619/19550322/326/0015 Newspaper article on bird sign collecting

Newspaper article on bird sign collecting

Bibliography

* ''London's Natural History'' 1945

New Naturalist The New Naturalist Library (also known as ''The New Naturalists'') is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: "T ...

no 3. * ''London's Birds'' (Collins) 1949 * ''Home Counties'' (About Britain Series; No.3) 1951 * ''Contributions to the Bibliography of the Natural History of the London Area: No.2: a Subject Index of the Society's Journals'', 1941–51 1952 * '' The Pocket Guide to British Birds'' (illustrated by Richard Richardson) 1952 * ''Birds of Town and Village'' (Collins Naturalist Series) 1953 * ''The Natural History of the City'' 1953 * ''The Pocket Guide to Nests and Eggs'' 1955 * ''Fontana Bird Guide'' (Fontana series) 1956 * ''Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers'' (with David McClintock) 1956 * ''Fontana Wild Flower Guide'' 1957 * ''Your Book of Bird Watching'' 1958 * ''The Ark in Our Midst: The Story of the Introduced Animals af Britain; Birds, Beasts, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fishes'' 1959 * ''The 'Countryman' nature book: An anthology from 'The Countryman 1960 * ''Your Book About Wild Flowers 1960 * ''Collins Guide to Bird Watching'' (illustrated by Richard Richardson) 1963 * ''Fitters Rural Rides: '

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

' Illustrated Map-Guide to the Countryside'' 1963 * ''Wildlife in Britain'' (Pelican books) 1963 * ''Wildlife – and Death'' (Take Home Books) 1964 * ''Britain's wildlife: Rarities and Introductions'' 1966 (illustrated by John Leigh-Pemberton) * ''Pocket Guide to British Birds'' (with Richard Richardson) 1966 * ''The Penguin Dictionary of British Natural History'' (with Maisie Fitter) 1967 * ''Pocket Guide to Nests and Eggs'' 1968 * ''Vanishing Wild Animals of the World'' 1968 * ''Guide to Bird Watching'' 1970 * ''Contributed section on Mammals to "The Shell Natural History of Britain"'' 1970 * ''Finding Wild Flowers'' 1971 * ''Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East'' (with illustrations by Hermann Heinzel and maps by John Parslow) 1972 * The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast'' (with

William Plomer William Charles Franklyn Plomer (10 December 1903 – 20 September 1973) was a South African and British novelist, poet and literary editor. He also wrote a series of librettos for Benjamin Britten. He wrote some of his poetry under the pseu ...

, illustrations by Alan Aldridge) 1973 * ''Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe'' (Collins Pocket Guide) (with Alastair Fitter,

Marjorie Blamey Marjorie Netta Blamey MBE (13 March 1918 – 8 September 2019) was an English painter and illustrator, particularly noted for her botanical illustrations for which she was described as "the finest living botanical illustrator", "the best contemp ...

)1974 * ''Penitent Butchers: The Fauna Preservation Society 1903–1978'' (with

Sir Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...

) 1978 * ''Collins Gem Wild Flowers'' (with

) 1980 * ''The Complete Guide to British Wildlife'' (with Alastair Fitter, illustrated by Norman Arlott) * ''Grasses, Sedges, Rushes & Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe'' (Collins Pocket Guide) (with Alastair Fitter, Ann Farrer) 1984 * ''Collins Guide to the Countryside'' (with Alastair Fitter) 1984 * ''Contributed the article on 'Naturalized Birds' to A Dictionary of Birds'' (edited by Bruce Campbell & Elizabeth Lack 1985 * ''Wild Life of the Thames Counties'' (Ed) 1985 * ''A Field Guide to Freshwater Life in Britain and North-west Europe'' (Collins Field Guide) (with

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...

) 1986 * ''Wild Life for Man'' (with Norman Arlott) 1986 * ''Collins Guide to the Countryside in Winter'' (Collins Handguide) (with Alastair Fitter) 1988 * ''Wild Flowers'' (Collins Gem Series) (with

Martin Walters Martin Walters (born 12 March 1985) is a South African cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two b ...

) 1999 * ''The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora'' (with Alastair Fitter,

) 2003

As editor

Journals

* "Rapid Changes in Flowering Time in British Plants" (with A. H. Fitter) ''Science'' Vol. 296, Issue 5573, 1689–1691, 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitter, Richard 1913 births 2005 deaths People from Streatham People educated at Eastbourne College Alumni of the London School of Economics British nature writers English botanists English ornithologists New Naturalist writers English male non-fiction writers People from West Oxfordshire District People from Great Shelford 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century English male writers