NEWS FOR WOMEN Bird Watching Brings Unusual Experiences

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28162, 28 December 1956, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN Bird Watching Brings Unusual Experiences

Infinite patience and a keen sense of observation are essential qualities if a woman is happy to spend hours hiding behind bushes, in long grass, and even in ice-cold swamps, watching bird life. That is how Mrs Philippa Scott summued up the situation when she arrived in Christchurch yesterday from Australia with her husband Mr Peter Scott, the famous naturalist-painter. Fair-haired. suntanned Mrs Scott is rich in these attributes herself. She must be. Who but the most patient, observant, and keen naturalist would spend eight hours at a time in swamps at subzero temperatures, studying birds through a binocular, as she did when with her husband in Iceland? Mrs Scott’s interest in birds and their habits began long before she met her husband. It goes back to childhood days, when she lived in the Orange Free State. Then, as Philippa Talbot-Ponsonby, she was often taken by her governess, another ardent bird-watcher, to peep at nestlings hungrily waiting for the hen-bird's return with food. The child learnt to be still and silent, and became fascinated by the country’s wild life of all kinds.

“I used to do some horrible things, too, such as collecting eggs and disturbing nests, but I was soon taught a sharp lesson,” Mrs Scott said at the Harewood airport yesterday. Soon after the bird sanctuary known as the Wildfowl Trust in Gloucestershire opened, Miss Tal-bot-Ponsonby joined the staff as assistant-secretary. While Mr Scott, the founder of the trust, was away on tours, she was left

virtually in charge of the organisation.

Since their marriage, Mrs Scott has accompanied her husband on his expeditions. ' “Exciting Life”

“It’s a terribly exciting life, and enormous fun,” she said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything.” Expeditions mean long separations from her children and the wrench at leaving them is hard; but she knows they are well cared for at their home by the bird sanctuary in Gloucestershire. Her stepdaughter, Nicola,, aged 13, is now at boarding school. The Scotts’ son, aged two-and-a-half-years, is named Falcon after his paternal grandfather, Captain Falcon Scott, of Antarctic fame. A daughter, two years older, is Dafilia. named after a rare species of duck.

On tour with her husband, Mrs Scott lives under all types of conditions. “That is why we have to bring so much luggage so that we will have clothes for all eventualities,” she said, indicating a pile of baggage. “For a time we shall be staying at Government House in New Zealand, but after that I don't know what accommodation has been arranged for our itinerary.” In Iceland, she shared her tent with Eskimos; in New Guinea, more recently it was camping again. While in New Guinea and North Queensland this intrepid naturalist donned a mask, snorkel, and flippers to observe another kind of life—the fish in the sea. Her New Zealand assignment is to take still photographs of birds selected by her husband.