News

WPA elects a new chairman

Dr Richard Carden has been elected the new chairman of the World Pheasant Association (WPA). Dr Carden succeeds founder member Prof Tim Lovel, who has stepped down at the end of his term of office.

New chairman, Dr Richard Carden, is a former career civil servant and director general of the old Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), the predecessor of DEFRA. He held the post from 1994 to 2000. He is also a member of the BTO, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and a former assistant warden at Lundy Bird Observatory, in Devon.

Dr Carden said: "It is an honour to take the chair of the WPA. I am following a highly qualified line of predecessors. While I am a lifelong birdwatcher and student of birds who is involved actively in conservation, I cannot match the deep knowledge of the pheasant family, which Tim and others have."

Prof Lovel co-founded the WPA in 1975 and has been a leading light ever since. As well as keeping all manner of galliformes, he also keeps budgerigars. He said: "I breed clearwings and I'm a member of the BS and the Clearwing Budgerigar Association. I used to judge. I think they're lovely and so trouble-free."

An NHS hospice consultant by profession, Prof Lovel set up sections of the WPA with his wife in France, Benelux, Germany, India, Pakistan, Nepal and China, to name a few. He said: "I've enjoyed my term in office as WPA's chairman. I've met some very interesting people over the years, from princes to paupers to policemen."

Dr Carden brings a new set of skills to the job, but has promised to continue helping the WPA to grow.

He said: "Our mission is to sustain populations of bird species which are spectacular to look at but, many of them, are endangered in the wild, to the point where captive breeding has a role to play too."

● WPA website: www.pheasant.org.uk