Provided the donkey

“Regarding the recent photograph of Alf Robertson at Camperdown Park,” emails Bert Lumsden of Dundee, “Alf was a super authority on all things natural.

“In 1976 Dundee Operatic Society produced The Desert Song which was performed in the Whitehall Theatre and Alf provided Hazel the donkey each night to take part.

“By the end of the week Hazel knew her ‘moves’ and Alf even dressed himself as an Arab and also took part. Great fun though a bit messy at times backstage!”

Alf, who was a naturalist and wildlife expert died in 2009, aged 88. An appreciation of his life and work by his friend David Orr appeared in this column and I am indebted to his nephew, David Robertson, for supplying a cutting (see below).

David wrote: “Alf was born in the farmhouse of Logie, in Lochee, Dundee, the sixth child of farmer and haulage contractor Edward Robertson. He had an interest in nature from an early age and his talent for observation made him a welcome student in fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art in Dundee.

“The onset of war in 1939 saw him needed in in the family business, but his passion for wildlife proved undiminished and, even as a forestry contractor, Robertson continued to breed birds.

“At home in Monikie he had a private zoo that included a monkey, many birds and a roe deer raised from a day-old kid.

“Alf produced a wooden sculpture of a Highland cow and calf which was presented to Dundee’s twin city of Wurzburg in Germany.”

An appreciation of Alf Robertson appeared in the Craigie column several years ago. The cutting on the right shows how it looked in the paper in 2010. See more about Alf above.