Eric Simms

Eric Arthur Simms, DFC (24 August 1921 – 1 March 2009) was an English ornithologist, naturalist, writer, sound recordist, broadcaster and conservationist, where he also took up bird ringing serving as a bomb aimer and second pilot in Lancaster bombers, the citation praising his "skill and determination which have been an inspiration to the crews with which he flies" and a "complete disregard for danger in the face of the heaviest enemy defences". As a guest on Desert Island Discs in 1976, one of his eight choices was a recording of a blackbird he had made near his London home. when they married) retired to South Witham, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. He died on 1 March 2009. Thelma had died in 2001. They had a daughter and a son, Amanda and David, and four granddaughters.