Malcolm Crowder 1933 – 2026

Malcolm Crowder, Honeyguider and trustee of the Honeyguide Wildlife Charitable Trust, died on 19 July. His death, aged 92, followed a time of care in Salhouse, Norfolk, at home with his wife Helen Crowder.

The majority of Honeyguiders will have met Malcolm and Helen, given the number of Honeyguide wildlife holidays that they were on. Helen recently reminded me that in July 2019 I gave them a certificate to mark 100 Honeyguide holidays between them – 50 each. After then there were six more, bringing Malcolm’s total to 56. This included one Norfolk break during the ’Covid years’, during which time Malcolm was also on 35 local Honeyguide events, mostly morning or all-day walks in Norfolk. Their most recent holiday was to South of Salamanca in Spain in 2023.

Malcolm Crowder releases a ringed chiffchaff. Pego Marsh, Valencia, March 2018

Malcolm was instrumental in setting up the Honeyguide Wildlife Trust in 2004. It came out of a conversation, over a beer in the French Pyrenees, about how to make the most of the donations to conservation projects that are part of Honeyguide’s ethos. His suggestion was a charitable trust, to enable us to claim Gift Aid on donations, which we have done ever since. Malcolm’s work as a surveyor and project manager in the restoration of historic buildings, especially those with a community benefit, meant he knew the mechanics of setting up a charitable trust. Naturally I asked if he’d do it for us, which he was happy to do.

My connection with Malcolm goes back further, to my student days at the University of East Anglia in the 1970s. I had opinions about how the university campus should be managed for wildlife, such as leaving areas uncut and not clearing up fallen timber. All perfectly valid, though seeking out someone to hear my perspective in the university’s administration may not have been the best way to tackle this. Malcolm, as number two in the university’s estates department, calmly listened to and tolerated my undergraduate opinions. We’d bump into each other in Norwich from time to time in the following years, then again when the RSPB used his surveyor’s skills to check over the new regional office building at 97 Yarmouth Road, Norwich.

Helen and Malcolm saw an article in the Eastern Daily Press about Honeyguide in The Lot department, France, a regular destination during the 1990s. When we moved this French holiday to the Dordogne in 2001, this became a favourite destination, with Helen and Malcolm happy to return to Cathy and Keith’s hospitality at Castang on several occasions. After more than 50 holidays, there weren’t many that Malcolm hadn’t been on, though I should also note Berdún in the Spanish Pyrenees as another favourite to which Malcolm and Helen were always happy to return.

Helen and Malcolm Crowder in 2019 (Jean Dunn).

Malcolm continued working into his eighties, and often said that he enjoyed not having to think for the week or so that he was away. In his quiet way, he enjoyed the company of Honeyguiders, and vice versa. His motto was 'never give up', which applied to his gentle enjoyment of the wildlife and company on holidays.

This blog concentrates on Malcolm’s links with Honeyguide and is far short of a biography. Put his name into a search engine and you’ll find information about his work for the Norwich Preservation Trust, London Historic Buildings Trust and North Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust (e.g. Langham Dome). In 2000, he was awarded an OBE for his services to historic building conservation.

Chris Durdin

Honeyguide and LPO – a longstanding connection

During this year’s French Pyrenees holiday (June 2026), we had a guest speaker who was probably marking our last holiday that included a donation to LPO. This is a tale and a link that I’d like to share with the wider Honeyguide network.

But first, an explanation of the initials LPO, which stands for La Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux, the French Bird Protection League. LPO is the BirdLife partner in France, the equivalent of the RSPB in the UK, SEO in Spain, SPEA in Portugal and so on. These organisations have much in common, though also vary greatly in terms of membership, activities and priorities.

LPO has a regional structure and here we were in Hautes-Pyrénées. The LPO’s website describes activities in the region. For example, on the Hautes-Pyrénées web pages I have learned that there was a count of wintering red kites in the French Pyrenees in January 2026, which counted 10,303 red kites, 2,211 of which were in Hautes-Pyrénées, with a population trend considered stable.

Guy Maille of LPO Hautes-Pyrénées with Honeyguide's Chris Durdin.

This is my account of the meeting at the Hotel La Brèche de Roland in Gèdre, taken from the French Pyrenees holiday report. 

We had a dinner and after-dinner guest this evening: Guy Maille, President of LPO Hautes-Pyrénées. Chris was in contact with Guy about Honeyguide’s donation, and had learnt that he speaks no English. We soon realised that Guy was quite a personality and not to be put off by such a minor matter. He travelled to Gèdre from Toulouse to see us, after which he was going home in the next valley but one, something like three hours away, then heading off to a meeting in Marseille in the morning. Over dinner, those who spoke some French also practised with a Google translate app, which proved astonishingly effective as we gathered in the hotel’s meeting room (with no competing football, thank goodness) to hear about LPO’s work. I think we were all impressed by Guy’s energy and enthusiasm for LPO’s nature conservation work.

Guy described various meetings with farmers and hunters where he tried to find what they had in common, to further nature conservation. He has to spend time on how to deal with many enquiries about sick or injured birds, not normally a conservation priority, but needing answers. In response to a question, he was optimistic about the level of interest in nature conservation among young people.

Bearded vulture (Roger Tidman).

A number that Guy gave, which I made a point of noting, was 66 pairs of bearded vultures in the French Pyrenees in 2026. Checking on Honeyguide’s French Pyrenees web page, I found that previous counts that I had noted were 17 pairs in 1994, 24 pairs in 2004 and 39 pairs in 2024. This is seriously impressive growth for a species that only raises a single chick per year, not necessarily every year.

“La retraite n'est pas des vacances“ – “Retirement is not a holiday”, was a phrase Guy used a couple of times.

Previous groups in the French Pyrenees met, from LPO, either Phillipe Serre or, in more recent years Gwénaëlle Plet – both English-speaking. Both are still working in the Pyrenees, Gwénaëlle as a mountain guide. By chance we met Gwénaëlle in the Saugué Valley; she was driving a minibus with a group of American students.

Gwénaëlle Plet and Honeyguide's Chris Durdin, 2015.

We were able to send £940 (about €1062) to LPO. The conservation contribution this year was made up of £40 per person, an additional donation of £200 and supplemented by gift aid through the Honeyguide Wildlife Charitable Trust. The total for all conservation contributions through Honeyguide since 1991 (July 2026) is £168,827. Another day, there is potentially more to add to complete the picture of Honeyguide and LPO, including our many years of support for the Refuges LPO project through holidays in The Lot and Dordogne, and a different project one year in Languedoc. 

A word of explanation, for anyone coming across this blog who doesn’t know how Honeyguide works. Part of the ethos of Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays has always been to contribute to the protection of the wildlife that we enjoy, put into effect by donations to conservation projects and organisations linked to our activities. Donations go through the Honeyguide Wildlife Charitable Trust, through which we can claim Gift Aid and increase our charitable activity.

Chris Durdin