David B. Wingate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr David Balcombe Wingate OBE, is an ornithologist, naturalist and conservationist. He was born October 11, 1935 in Bermuda.
In 1951 he helped Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray re-discover a bird species thought extinct since the 1620s, the Bermuda petrel or Cahow.
This spurred him on to study Zoology at Cornell University, returning to take up the role of Bermuda's Chief Conservation Officer, from which he retired in 2000. His lifelong efforts to bring back the Cahow from near-extinction led him to undertake the holistic restoration of an entire barren island's pre-colonial ecology, in a project known as the Nonsuch Island 'Living museum', reintroducing several other species in the process.
Previously honoured with the MBE and other awards, in 2001 he obtained the OBE for public service.
He has three daughters. His eldest daughter Janet has written an educational autobiography about her father's Nonsuch project, which has been adopted by the Bermuda Education Ministry as a schoolbook.
[edit] External links
- 'Assembling Complexity' [1] more on Wingate's holistic restoration methods, from Kevin Kelly's book 'Out of Control'
- 'Strategies for successful biodiversity conservation...' [2] illustrated article by David B. Wingate
- 'Nonsuch Summer' (2005) ISBN 80-902811-1-7 by Janet A. Wingate, is, like the Cahow, only found in Bermuda
- about 'Rare Bird' [3] (2005) Feature film documentary about David Wingate's lifetime achievement by Lucinda Spurling
- 'Bermuda's Treasure Island' and 'Sceilligs and Bermuda - A Last Refuge' [4] [5] (2005) two film documentary versions by Deirdre Brennan and Eamon de Buitlear featuring David Wingate's Cahow and Nonsuch Island restoration projects
- 'Nature's Restoration' (2006) ISBN 1-55963-085-X by Peter Friederici features David Wingate's restoration work
- Citations and Articles
