Norman W. Moore

Sir Norman Winfrid Moore, 3rd Baronet (24 February 1923 – 21 October 2015) was a British conservationist and author who worked extensively on studies of dragonflies and their habitats and was one of the first people to observe and warn of the adverse effects of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides on wildlife. The Independent described him in his obituary as one of the most influential figures in nature conservation in the second half of the 20th century.

After the war he studied for a PhD at Bristol University, being awarded the doctorate in 1954, with a thesis on agonistic behaviour. and also became a vice-president of the British Association of Nature Conservationists.

Moore contributed to two books in the New Naturalist series: Dragonflies (1960) and Hedges (1974), and his book on nature conservation, The Bird of Time (1987), his professional autobiography, won the Natural World Book of the Year award. Moore was also an Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Royal Entomological Society, the second of those making him the inaugural recipient of the Marsh Entomological Award for Insect Conservation. He also received the Stamford Raffles Award from the Zoological Society of London for his "distinguished contribution to the ecology and behaviour of dragonflies". His book, "Oaks, Dragonflies and People" (2002) charted the creation of a nature reserve and dragonfly pond at his home in Cambridgeshire.

In 2003, a festschrift issue of Odonatologica, the journal of the Societas Internationalis Odonatologica, was published to mark Moore's 80th birthday. This included a biography and a bibliography of his works. Several other tributes appeared around this time, including, in July 2004, a special tribute issue of the International Journal of Odonatology, titled "Guardians of the Watershed: Global Status of Dragonflies". The British Dragonfly Society administers an award in Moore's honour, called the 'Norman Moore Award Fund'. In addition to this, several species of dragonflies and damselflies are named after Moore.

Personal life In 1950, Moore married a fellow zoologist, Janet Singer.

Selected publications Dragonflies (1960), with P. S. Corbet and Cynthia Longfield Hedges (1974), with E. Pollard and M. D. Hooper The Bird of Time – the science and politics of nature conservation (1987) Dragonflies: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (1997) Oaks, Dragonflies and People (2002)