It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of Ewan Douglas, a few days before his 89th birthday. Ewan was a pillar of both the Renfrewshire RSPB group and the Paisley Natural History Society from the early 2000s. He served on the committee of both organisations for several years, played a very active role in organising outings, gave several interesting talks, and generally was an excellent companion to help people appreciate the wildlife around them.
Ewan was brought up in Renfrew, and lived in Renfrew for most of his life. He was a great outdoor man, regularly spending many happy hours enjoying the local wildlife and countryside with long-term friends of similar interest. For years, Norman Tait, Fraser Hamilton and Ewan formed a trio going on bird watching outings. Ewan loved to observe the birds from his own window too, and always kept the bird feeders in his garden well stocked. He was rewarded by visits by more unusual birds like redpolls.
But Ewan’s first love was hill walking, and it was not until he had climbed all the Munros twice that he looked for another challenge and took up birdwatching. He was very knowledgeable about birds, and good at recording his sightings, including excellent photography. As well as enjoying observing bird life in the Clyde valley, Ewan had a place that was very dear to him: Fair Isle. He visited the field study centre there on several occasions, and recounted in a talk to the RSPB group how he would sometimes be trapped on the island longer than planned because of the notorious weather making flights to and from the island very unreliable. Plenty of opportunity for more birdwatching!
Ewan had trained as a chemistry teacher, teaching in a local school. This experience made him a good speaker, very competent at organising outings, especially booking buses to further off venues like Caerlaverock, Leighton Moss and Loch Leven, and good at guiding others to get the best out of their bird watching.
It was on an RSPB outing to Cumbrae in November 2019 that Ewan suffered a stroke, which significantly affected his mobility. It was a major adjustment for someone like Ewan, who loved the outdoors, to be fairly housebound for the next five years. Both he and his wife Helen bore this with great dignity and fortitude. He died in Craigielea Care Home on 2nd March 2025.
He will be greatly missed.
Ewen’s funeral will be held on Wednesday 26th March, 11 o’clock at Woodside Crematorium, and afterwards at the Renfrew Golf Club.
Obituary by Anne Gray
Paisley Natural History Society 