Richard Williamson remembered: His 'gift was to so effectively and beautifully immerse us in our landscape'

Thursdays were always the most fun at the Observer.

Bounding in mid-morning would come Richard in well-worn wax jacket, shorts and long green woollen socks, with his cheerful smile, twinkly eyes and eagerness to engage.

He would often alight on someone unsuspecting, telling a junior reporter one time: “I so admire your spirit! Never lose that!”

When he found out that sports editor Steve Bone hadn’t read ‘Tarka the Otter’ he would stand in the middle of the newsroom theatrically reading passages from his father’s children’s classic to him.

He would then pull up a chair and talk through his copy over a coffee. His nature trails and walks column appeared for many years in the Observer Magazine which I edited and it was the privilege of my job I had first peek at the always sparkling, well-crafted words that conveyed so much about not only our flora and fauna but the rich tapestry of life.

He would present a photo or two, taken on one of the hundreds of walks he made around his beloved West Sussex which inspired so many of us to pull on our boots.

How lucky we have been to have had this extraordinary nature writer, one of the originals – whose gift was to so effectively and beautifully immerse us in our landscape – in our lives for so long.

His friend, the natural history artist John Davis – who illustrated Richard’s new book of bird poems ‘Flights of the Mind’ – said that whenever he felt low, reading one of Richard’s columns would soothe and set him right again.

I am sure he hasn’t been alone in that.

I have been honoured in his final weeks to help Richard and Anne, his wife of 58 years, find an audience for ‘Flights’.

These “late-flowering” poems, as he called his last burst of creativity, are a lovely addition to his incredible literary legacy.

“Long-tailed tit!” were among the last words I heard my dear friend exclaim. How wonderful, I thought, to be still so excited by the wildlife outside his window onto West Dean woods til the very end.

‘Flights of the Mind’ by Richard Williamson can be bought, price £3, from Kim’s Bookshops in Chichester and Arundel, Bookends of Emsworth, The Weald and Downland Living Museum shop at Singleton, and from the RSPB nature reserve at Pagham.