West Midland Bird Club

Michael John Rogers 1932–2006

As you may have heard, Mike Rogers recently passed away. Many of you will recognise his name as that of the Honorary Secretary of the British Birds Rarities Committee — a position he held with distinction from 1978 until his death — but you may be unaware that his interest in birds began here in the West Midlands.

Mike was born in Sutton Coldfield and attended King Edward's School in Birmingham. He joined the WMBC as a Junior Member in 1946 and quickly established himself as one of the region's keenest birders, as the frequency with which his initials appeared in the Club's Annual Reports testify. Even at this early date, his penchant for analysing records was apparent in his “Notes on the Birds of Bellfields Reservoir” (now known as Belvide), which appeared in the Annual Report for 1950 (WMBC Annual Report 17: 9–15).

Unfortunately we were soon deprived of his burgeoning talents, as in 1958 Mike moved away to join the Metropolitan Police. In 1981 he retired from the force and a few years later moved firstly to the Isles of Scilly and then back to Cornwall. He contributed to several articles in prestigious journals, but will be most remembered for his analyses in the “Rare Birds in Great Britain” reports that appear annually in British Birds. He also founded ACRE, the Association of County Recorders and Editors, in 1993 and then took on the responsibility of being its secretary.

Although no longer residing here, through his positions in the Rarities Committee and ACRE Mike maintained a distant contact with the West Midlands and many county recorders and editors, myself included, have reason to be grateful for the valuable expertise and guidance that he was always willing to give. He will be sorely missed in the birding world and our thoughts and condolences go out to those who were closest to him.

Graham Harrison

In The Times' obituary, published 28 October 2006 , they noted:

Born in Sutton Coldfield in 1932, the only child of the head brewer at Ansell's Brewery, Birmingham, Mike Rogers was among the talented young birders who fledged from King Edward's School after the mid-1940s. (Another was Bill Oddie.)

Rogers joined what is now the West Midland Bird Club (WMBC) in 1946. He was one of a young triumvirate of schoolfriends who cycled all over the region, their regular discoveries of unusual species earning them an early reputation. Already showing signs of the bird record analysis skills that were to be his forte, Rogers sat on the WMBC's research committee from the age of 16 and became its secretary the following year.