| AdminHistory | Dr Paul Whalley was born Paul E S Whalley, in July 1930, in Romford, Essex. In his early teen years, Whalley was evacuated to Llandudno in the early months of World War II. Once in North Wales, Whalley’s fascination with nature truly blossomed. It was this interest that would lead him to his studies in Bangor University. He was only 14 years old when he begun writing his nature diaries and continued to make records without a break until the late 70s. He studied zoology and entomology at Bangor University and formed the Bangor Bird Group alongside fellow student Peter Hope-Jones. While studying in Bangor, Paul would meet Mary who he would come to marry and eventually have their son Peter and daughter Alyson with.
Following university, Paul worked in Uganda as an entomologist before returning to the UK and finding work with the Natural History Museum. He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. During his time working with the Natural History Museum, Whalley lived in Surrey with his family where he authored several papers and commercially successful books. His entries in the diaries become fewer and far between during this time, until his retirement in 1987 where he and his wife moved to Dwyran, Anglesey where he returned to write in his diaries in a far more consistent manner.
In 2002, Paul suffered a stroke, and although he made a good recovery, his health eventually began to deteriorate and in 2015 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and required more assistance in his life. He and Mary moved to London to live with their daughter until his eventual death on 17th November 2019. Mary sadly passed away from Cancer a few months later on the 7th of April 2020. |