IAN CLARKE The man who led the Thetford-based British Trust for Ornithology for 20 years has been awarded the CBE in the New Year's Honours list.Professor Jeremy Greenwood recently retired as director of the BTO and has been honoured for his services to conservation.

IAN CLARKE

The man who led the Thetford-based British Trust for Ornithology for 20 years has been awarded the CBE in the New Year's Honours list.

Professor Jeremy Greenwood recently retired as director of the BTO and has been honoured for his services to conservation.

He took over in the role in 1988 and oversaw a doubling in the trust's membership and staff, managed the BTO's move from Tring in Hertfordshire to the Nunnery at Thetford and developed BTO Scotland.

The BTO has become a vital government resource over the last two decades.

Professor Greenwood, a lifelong birdwatcher who has now moved to Scotland, said when he retired: “I am proud that we are playing a major role in how the countryside is managed. We have established ourselves as one of the major players in the conservation and science of ornithology in western Europe and our work is taken very seriously by the government.”

“The thing that I shall be proudest about is that it was the BTO that discovered the widespread loss of farmland birds that occurred during the 1970s and 1980s Our evidence caused the government to adopt a public service agreement with a target to reverse the decline of farmland birds by 2020.”

BTO spokesman Graham Appleton said: “The award of the CBE is a reflection of his personal commitment to conservation and the effectiveness of his 20-year leadership of the BTO.”