Peter Hope Jones obituary

Ornithologist who monitored the effects of the North Sea oil industry on seabird populationsPeter Hope Jones, who has died aged 85, was a much-loved figure in Welsh ornithology, but his most important contributions to seabird conservation were made while working in Scotland.In Orkney between 1976 and 1978 he lived on the edge of Scapa Flow, established trial cliff sites for annual monitoring of guillemots, razorbills and other seabirds, and set up year-round beached seabird counts. This was part of the government's and RSPB's response to the pumping of North Sea oil to Orkney, with implications of spillage and the destruction of breeding and wintering seabirds. Continue reading...