BTO Spot

Mike Schickner

Mike Schickner, who passed away on 25 October 2009, made a highly significant contribution to the club over a period spanning nearly twenty years. He joined SDBWS in May 1990 and soon established a CBC survey of Nower Wood, near Headley, in collaboration with the Surrey Wildlife Trust. He also assisted the CBC team at Arbrook Common and in 1991, joined the Records Sub-Committee. He took over from Beryl Fisher as the Society's BTO Liaison Officer in 1995 and began to take a key role in organising volunteers and collating records for numerous BTO and club surveys. These included the Winter Survey of Open Habitats which began in the winter of 1997/98. There followed the Elmbridge Commons Surveys, in collaboration with Elmbridge Borough Council, which commenced in the summer of 2003 and are ongoing today. In October 2002, Mike took over as Society Recorder from Nigel Bentley and played a major role in developing the Society's computerised database of bird species recorded in our reporting area as well as producing the Annual Bird Report, which under his guidance grew in stature and received a commendation from the BTO, as an extremely well-produced publication. Mike joined the Management Committee from 2003-2008 and continued as Recorder until mid-2009, when ill-health brought about his retirement. We offer our sincere condolences to his widow Pauline, son David and all his family.