Herbert Ernest Axell

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language of t ...

(1 July 1915 – 12 November 2001) was a British naturalist and conservationist who came to prominence through his wardenships and innovations at

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 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 throu ...

(RSPB) reserves. After taking medical retirement from the

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in 1952, he became the warden of the RSPB reserve at

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamle ...

, where he stayed until 1959. At Dungeness, Axell introduced innovations to assist in ringing birds, including special ringing pliers and

mist net Mist nets are used by hunters and poachers, but also by ornithologists and chiropterologists to capture wild birds and bats for banding or other research projects. Mist nets are typically made of nylon or polyester mesh suspended between two ...

s. He was appointed as warden of

RSPB Minsmere RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at Minsmere, Suffolk. The site has been managed by the RSPB since 1947 and covers areas of reed bed, lowland heath, acid grassland, ...

in 1959, where he introduced major changes in reserve management, which were in due course also adopted elsewhere. He realised that

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire) or more or less. Bacteria allows for the cycling of nutrients such as car ...

would eventually lead to the loss of important habitats, such as bare ground on the heaths or open water in the reed beds, unless natural plant colonisation was actively prevented. He created the "Scrape", an area with shallow water, islands and bare mud, by lowering land levels and managing the water level with new sluices. A circular path led around the scrape, giving access to hides on each of the four sides. He retired from that post in 1977. Axell was consulted about improvements to reserves elsewhere, including major sites such as the

Doñana National Park Doñana National Park or Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana is a natural reserve in Andalucía, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva (most of its territory), Cádiz and Seville. It covers , of which are a protected area. The park is an ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

; he was involved in the creation of Hong Kong's

Mai Po Mai Po Marshes (; Hong Kong Hakka: ''Mi3bu4 Sip5ti4'') is a nature reserve located in San Tin near Yuen Long in Hong Kong. it is within Yuen Long District. It is part of Deep Bay, an internationally significant wetland that is actually a s ...

. Bert Axell was appointed

in 1965.

Books

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axell, Bert 1915 births 2001 deaths British ornithologists British naturalists British conservationists Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century naturalists