Feb 212024
 

Waterston House, Aberlady EH32 0PY 

Wooden building with a reddish roof beyond a short driveway and trees. The sign in the front reads "Scottish Birdwatchers Centre - Waterson House - All Welcome."
The Waterston House, headquarters of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club
©Jim Barton, Geograph

The Waterston House is the headquarters of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC). The SOC was created in March 1936 after a meeting between Scottish ornithologists in the Royal Scottish Geographical Society with the goal to coordinate bird conservation actions and policies in Scotland. The Club promotes systematic recording and study of birds across gardens and nature reserves, and forms a network of local ornithologists all around the country. The Waterston House contains the Donal Watson Gallery, specializing in wildlife art, and the George Waterston Library and Archives collection, containing ornithological books, journals and bird reports since 1948. It also houses ornithological artefacts such as notebooks, correspondence and photographs from members of the SOC and of eminent Scottish ornithologists like Evelyn V. Baxter, Leonora J. Rintoul, and George Waterston. 

Black and white photo of a smiling man with hair wearing rain gear and binoculars.
George Waterston (1911-1980) one of Edinburgh’s most influential ornithologists
©SOC Archive, Scottish Orinthologists’ Club

Sources:

The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club; Pioneers in Scottish Ornithology, chapter in Bob McGowann and David Clugston, The Birds of Scotland (2007), edited by the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club

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