Brian Douglas Bell (5 March 1930 – 1 October 2016) was a New Zealand

environmental consultant Environmental consulting is often a form of compliance consulting, in which the consultant ensures that the client maintains an appropriate measure of compliance with environmental regulations. There are many types of environmental consultants, b ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. Born in 1930, Bell grew up in Marlborough and Canterbury. Surrounded by hills, braided riverbeds, islands and rocky coasts, he soon became deeply interested in natural history. He worked for the

New Zealand Wildlife Service The New Zealand Wildlife Service was a division of the Department of Internal Affairs responsible for managing wildlife in New Zealand. It was established in 1945 (as the ''Wildlife Branch'') in order to unify wildlife administration and operati ...

between 1957 and 1987 on the management and conservation of threatened species. Bell, along with

Don Merton Donald Vincent Merton (22 February 193910 April 2011) was a New Zealand conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kākāpō. When Merton began his work as a conse ...

, was part of the ultimately unsuccessful attempt in 1964 to save the South Island snipe, the

greater short-tailed bat The New Zealand greater short-tailed bat (''Mystacina robusta'') is one of two species of New Zealand short-tailed bats, a family (Mystacinidae) unique to New Zealand. Larger than the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat, there have been no confi ...

, and the

New Zealand bush wren The bushwren (''Xenicus longipes''), also known as the mātuhituhi in Māori, was a very small and almost flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand. It had three subspecies on each of the major islands of New Zealand, the North Island, So ...

from extinction after the invasion of Big South Cape Island by rats. In the

1984 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppl ...

, Bell was awarded the

Queens Service Medal The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. He was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), and was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1990. He was president of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (OSNZ) from 1972 to 1979, and again from 1989 to 1995. He was awarded the OSNZ Robert Falla Memorial Award in 1987, and elected a Fellow of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand in 1998. Bell died in Marlborough on 1 October 2016.

References

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* Brian Bell discussed on RNZ ''Critter of the Week''
14 October 2016

References

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See also