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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 59
Obituary - Arthur and Janet Watchman Arthur Watchman died in February 2023; his beloved wife Janet (nee Hazelwood) followed a few months later in June. They had been members of SNS for over 50 years, having joined the Society when they lived in Ipswich in 1972. They had joined the Ipswich and District Natural History Society (IDNHS) a few years earlier and got hooked on moths when the great ‘Chip’ Chipperfield presided over a ‘Moth Night’ at John Digby’s Sycamore Farm, Swilland in September 1969 (see Refs 1996).
Janet Watchman 2013
In 1977, Arthur and Janet moved to Monks Eleigh; she worked as a school secretary in Hadleigh and he as a gardener in the village and others nearby. Their garden at ‘Onchan’ in Monks Eleigh was full of wildlife and they were soon contributing records on a wide variety of taxa, especially moths. In their first year at Monks Eleigh, Arthur recorded 338 species of moth from the garden and, over the next 20 years, this total rose to 530 taxa (See Refs 1999). Arthur Watchman 1982 New species continued to be added in the 2000s with the total for the village reaching over 600 taxa. Arthur’s recording was exemplary, he was an early adopter of the Mapmate program to capture his records. From 1969–2010 he collected nearly 88,000 records
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 59 (2023)