\n Les was a founder member of Bradford Urban Wildlife Group in 1987, alongside Howard Cleveland.\n<\/p>\n
\n He played a key role in the group\u2019s establishment and activities, which include keeping a watchful eye on planning applications and developments to ensure that the natural environment suffers minimal damage and disruption.\n<\/p>\n
\n Among the group\u2019s triumphs was the decision by transport chiefs to construct Bingley Relief Road on reinforced stilts, avoiding the town\u2019s ancient South Bog, a nationally-designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, which harbours plants including the protected marsh orchid.\n<\/p>\n
\n Les in November 2025 with the family dog, Braddon\n<\/p>\n
\n The group has always had wide wildlife interests, including animals, birds, insects, trees and plants, and its activities include surveying these as well as running public walks and talks to engage the district\u2019s population in the natural world.\n<\/p>\n
\n BUWG was involved in the opening of Bradford\u2019s first local nature reserve at Railway Terrace, Low Moor, and the nearby local beauty spot, Toad Holes Beck, as well as Boar\u2019s Well Urban Wildlife Reserve in the city centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n More recently, BUWG worked with Bradford Peregrine Group to monitor peregrine falcons nesting on the district\u2019s mills and buildings, creating nest trays where the eggs are safe and even setting up nest cams on the Lister\u2019s Mill and City Hall sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n Paul Redmond, chair of BUWG, said: \u201cAs founder member of Bradford Urban Wildlife Group, Les began an organisation which has gone on to positively influence planning decisions and much more.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe became our Honorary President in recognition of his achievements.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI hope that as we move ahead, we can do justice to him as we continue to promote and protect the wildlife of our city and the wider Bradford area.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n One of Les’s ambitions was to “make people more aware and enthusiastic about wildlife”\n<\/p>\n
\n In an interview with the Telegraph & Argus in 2013, Les spoke of his passion for encouraging people\u2019s interest in wildlife.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cOne of my inner ambitions was to make people more aware and more enthusiastic about wildlife and I believe that is what myself and other members of the group have done.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Les added: \u201cThe whole attitude of the public has changed since we began. When I first made it known that I was keen on wildlife and natural history, people were not really interested, but now people come up and tell me if they\u2019ve seen wild animals or unusual plants. They are much more wildlife-minded.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Members of BUWG remember Les for his incredible wildlife knowledge, especially on botany, but also on the countryside, relevant sites and heritage.\n<\/p>\n
\n Les, who lived in Esholt, lectured in botany and wild flowers at Shipley College and fronted walks for the Workers\u2019 Educational Association. He was also a founder member of Bradford Botany Group, back in 1983.\n<\/p>\n
\n Long-time member of BUWG, Valerie Shepherd, said: \u201cLes was an expert botanist, leading walks and taking classes which I attended.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHis influence reached many people, educating them in wildlife conservation. He will be missed by all who knew him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The funeral service will be at Rawdon Crematorium on Monday, January 12 at 2.30pm. Donations in memory may be given to local wildlife charities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Les was a founder member of Bradford Urban Wildlife Group in 1987, alongside Howard Cleveland. He played a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-359413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}