Robert "Bobby" John Tulloch MBE (4 January 1929 – 21 May 1996) was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

from

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

in the north of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Bobby Tulloch was born on a croft at Aywick on the eastern side of Yell, as the oldest of four children, and lived much of his life in the village of Mid Yell. He served

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Tulloch started as an apprentice baker with his brother-in-law and remained in the trade until 1964, when after meeting George Waterston of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

(RSPB), he was appointed as RSPB warden in Shetland. He was especially associated with the

snowy owl The snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus''), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mo ...

s that started breeding on the island of Fetlar in 1967. He featured in a number of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Natural History Unit programmes, including a personal recounting of his discovery of the snow owls nesting on Fetlar, originally broadcast in 1974 on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme '' The Living World'' and rebroadcast by Lindsey Chapman in 2019. (First broadcast in 1974.) (First broadcast in 1974.) Bobby Tulloch was an artist, boatman, musician, naturalist, photographer, storyteller and writer. In 1994, he was awarded an MBE. He was nicknamed "Tucker" by his friends. He has been described as one of Shetland's "greatest-ever ambassadors". A book of reminiscences about Bobby Tulloch, ''Bobby the Birdman'', was published in 2016.

Selected books

* Bobby Tulloch and Fred Hunter, ''Guide to Shetland Birds''. The Shetland Times, 1979. . Paperback. * Bobby Tulloch, ''Bobby Tulloch's Shetland: An islander, his islands and their wildlife''. Macmillan, 1988. . Hardcover. (Introduction by Lord Grimond.) * Bobby Tulloch, ''Migrations: Travels of a Naturalist''. Kyle Cathie, 1991. . Hardcover. * Bobby Tulloch, ''Otters''. Worldlife Library S., Colin Baxter Photography, 1994/1999. . Paperback.

References

External links

Bobby Tulloch website
including

1929 births 1996 deaths People from Yell, Shetland 20th-century British naturalists 20th-century Scottish musicians Scottish naturalists Scottish ornithologists Scottish non-fiction writers British nature writers Members of the Order of the British Empire Shetland music {{Scotland-scientist-stub