LOCAL wildlife photographer Chris Pierce, 78, died in November last year and friends and family have paid tribute to him.

Chris started his career in the RAF after he left school, specialising in aerial photography. He was posted to the Far East, among other locations, and was carrying out aerial photography while being ‘buzzed’ by Russian MiG fighter jets.

Settling down after his time in the RAF, first in Aveton Gifford and then in Kingsbridge, Chris became the manager of the ITT factory, now Quay Garage, in Kingsbridge, but he used to use his lunchtimes looking for signs of wildlife.

‘My earliest memories of my dad are of animals and birds’, recalls his daughter Debbie Maher, ‘his love and respect for nature was second to none, his love and care for animals was incredible and he instilled it in both myself and my little brother Peter.’

Debbie remembers being ‘privileged enough’ to have wild animals in the house; in fact she called it a bit of a ‘takeover’. There were owls in the airing cupboard; badgers in the shed, mice, voles, shrews, dormice and a baby buzzard in the kitchen, and Samantha the weasel lived with them for years.

‘Sam used to be let out every evening,’ continued Debbie, ‘Dad used to make little assault courses for her and she’d join us as we watched TV. If she got scared she’d musk like a skunk and the smell was incredible.’

Chris raised two owls, Sigh and Bimbo, after their parents nested in a barn that was then demolished and they were abandoned. Sigh was named because he was only a day old when Chris rescued them, compared to his bigger three-day-old brother Bimbo, and they used to sigh every time they opened the box – convinced he wouldn’t make it.

Sigh and Bimbo were taught to fly in the family’s conservatory – Debbie remembers one of them landing on her Nan – Chris taught them how to hunt in a disused barn and then released them into the wild when they were adults.

Chris spent most of his time at Bearcombe Farm, owned by the Kerswells, where he built bird, badger and fox hides, and Debbie remembers her and Peter spending ‘most of our childhood’ there with her dad, having ‘tea and biscuits in the fox hide’.

Local naturalist Gordon Waterhouse remembers Chris fondly: ‘Chris built a badger hide at Bearscombe, from which he took some magnificent photos.

‘One year, as he watched them bringing out their cubs, he saw one cub was a runt and was being set upon and driven away. He began giving it extra food, until, night after night; it would come to Chris and eat out of his hand.’ This badger was named Roly.

When the factory closed down, Chris did some photography and gardening work before starting at The Camera Shop in Kingsbridge, owned by Bryan Ashby and Terry Rogers. He worked part-time until Terry died, and he bought the shop when Bryan retired.

‘He really came into his own with the camera shop,’ said Debbie, ‘I think some people may have got the wrong end of his dry and sarcastic sense of humour though!’

Many people in Kingsbridge would remember Chris with his MG Midget parked outside the town hall, with Mack the black and white Springer Spaniel on the passenger seat, taking all the wheels off and cleaning them with a toothbrush every weekend.

He and Mack, who was always off the lead, used to walk down to the Spar shop or down to Midlands Bank, and then when Mack died, he got Mr Biggins, a border terrier who used to enjoy running off.

‘So many people used to help look for Biggins,’ continued Debbie, ‘they would always help him find him.’

When he retired, he bought an area of woodland at the back of Blackawton, which he turned into a nature reserve. Debbie recalled: ‘It was a tiny woodland, six acres, but he had all his equipment there, he created a ride – a section with trees on either side – with bird feeders on each tree, so he could sit in his hide and see them come down, and sparrowhawks used to fly through it too.

‘There was also a pond that he fell in numerous times’.

Chris’ health deteriorated after he retired, and he was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer. With seven weeks of radiotherapy and dog walks every afternoon, he recovered, but he started suffering memory problems.

Debbie said his determination and fresh air kept him living independently for much longer than is usually expected. He went into Derriford Hospital in September 2015, eventually being moved to Beaconville Nursing Home in Ivybridge for just four weeks.

‘The staff at Beaconville were fantastic,’ said Debbie, ‘but I’m so glad it was only for a short time, not being able to get out and about would have killed him. The staff were all so shocked that he was still living on his own.’

Debbie will remember her dad as a ‘positive man’, a ‘real eccentric’ who would always be there for her and her brother with ‘support, help and advice’, a man who wasn’t a ‘people person’ but who loved talking to an audience and had a ‘big love’ for animals.

Chris died on Friday, November 13, 2015. He left behind his daughter Debbie and his son Peter.