Derek  also served at local and national levels with many other organisations including RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and as chair of the Gower Ornithological Society (GOS).  He was at one time the UK representative for the Smithsonian Institution’s Bird Friendly Coffee Program (sic).

His long-term friend, Peter Douglas-Jones writes of Derek, ‘His working life was at Swansea University where he lectured in mathematics. Unusually, he added to his doctorate in that subject, accepting and completing a challenge to secure a doctorate in biology. This came from a study of reed warblers at Oxwich Marsh. He would also later study rock pipits in depth at Lambswell between Limeslade and Langland.

Derek’s published output included A Guide to Gower Birds, a pleasing hardback publication of 1982 by GOS and Glamorgan Naturalists’ Trust, co-authored by Harold Grenfell and illustrated by Julia Berney and Rob Hume. There was Birds of a Feather, privately published and co-authored by American (ex Welsh) ornithologist Colin Rees. There were papers in mathematics and, late in his retirement, a book in that field which he co-edited.’

His wife Pranee survives him, as do Catherine and Christopher, the children of his first marriage; and Christopher’s son and daughter.