Sir William Wilkinson died after a short illness in April this year. He was 63. In the last 15 years of full life he became one of the foremost champions of nature as Chairman of the NCC (Nature Conservancy Council) and as a wise and influential member of many 'voluntary bodies', notably the RSPB, the BTO and Plantlife. He used to say that while RSPB was his first love, Plantlife was the affair of his old age.