The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Expert had heron named after him
William Bourne, an expert on seabirds and a medical practitioner, has died in Keith aged 91.
Dr Bourne had the distinction of having a rare heron he discovered in the Cape Verde archipelago in 1951 named after him.
He served as a ship’s doctor with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and led opposition to land near the Loch of Strathbeg bird reserve being developed as a gas terminal.
Dr Bourne investigated the consequences of the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill off Cornwall, which devastated bird life.
For much of the 1970s, Dr Bourne was a research fellow at Aberdeen University where he investigated the distribution of sea birds around the north of Scotland, and then the occurrence of birds at North Sea oil installations.
He was one of the founders of the Pacific Seabird Group, which presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 1997, while the International Seabird Group presented him with a similar award in 2014.
In 1994 he received the Stamford Raffles Award from the Zoological Society of London for his contribution to the study of seabirds.
William Richmond Postle Bourne was born in Bedford in 1930.
He studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge, between 1948 and 1954, combining zoology and medicine, and completed his medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
In 1951, on the Cape Verde islands, he discovered a species of heron distinct from the mainland species.
He returned a specimen to the Natural History Museum in London where it was named Bourne’s Heron (Ardea purpurea bournei).
Dr Bourne completed two years of National Service as an RAF medical officer, in the Middle East, and undertaking ornithology work in Cyprus.
In 1962, Dr Bourne married Sheila, a teacher. In 1963, their daughter, Mary, was born – she became a sculptor.
Dr and Mrs Bourne moved to Dufftown in 2000.