1948 - 2010

Michael died of Motor Neurone Disease on 16th January 2010 after serving The Mammal Society for 27 years.  He was:

- Chair of the Youth Group/Mammal Action (1982- 1999)
- Vice Chair (1999 - 2003)
- Chair (2003-2009)

The Society and its members will miss him greatly and we asked several friends and colleagues to write a few words about him. These have been edited into a short tribute which will appear in Mammal News. Here we have assembled the full texts as a tribute to Michael’s tremendous contribution to the Society.

Please follow the links below for individual contributions or scroll down to read them all:

- Johnny Birks (Chair)
- Derek Yalden (President)
- Marina Pacheco (Chief Executive)
- Pat Morris (Previous Chair)
- Kate Williamson (Honorary Secretary)
- Adam Grogan (previous Hon. Secretary)
- Edward Wells (Council Member)
- Rob Strachan (Mammalaction)
- Penny Lewns (Mammalaction)
- Sven Büchner (Organiser of the 8th International Dormouse Conference 2011)
- George Bemment (Previous Honorary Secretary and Vice Chair)

Johnny Birks (Chair)

Beyond our passion for mammals and nature conservation, my long friendship with Michael was based on a shared fondness for red wine, bad jokes and The Rolling Stones. I first got to know him, Frankie, Matthew and Johnathan in the late 1980s when he was chair of ‘Mammalaction’, The Society’s youth group, and we held committee meetings at each others’ houses.  Michael’s enthusiasm and whacky sense of fun ensured that those meetings fizzed with energy and ideas. The many youth expeditions he organised to wild and beautiful places were exhausting and great fun; they were frequently enhanced, when searching for mammal field signs, by our use of Frankie’s fabulous drawings of nests, burrows and nibbled nuts.  The expeditions inspired a generation of young mammalogists and made older members of The Society green with envy! Since those early days, Michael’s huge contribution extended over an unprecedented unbroken spell on Council, culminating in his chairmanship during a particularly challenging time for The Society. No one has worked so hard for The Society for so long.

Derek Yalden (President)

I actually knew Doug, his father, better than I knew Michael, in the early days. Both of them were involved in the early dormouse work, including rearing them in a garden shed and devising those back-to-front nest boxes. The dormouse symposium 15 months ago will be the definitive memorial to that effort, and is, as it should be, one of Michael's proudest achievements.
He was a very active leader of the young mammalogists, leading a number of the summer trips, and he obviously enjoyed passing on his enthusiasm to youngsters. I think it was that that resulted in him becoming a Vice-chairman.
I was very happy to approach Mike to take on the job of chairman, and very pleased that he accepted. He worked hard to keep us going, despite the various problems of staff lost, fractured relationships and so on. I still don't quite know how he managed to keep going, and maintain his consultancy. 
Indeed, the latter did suffer at one point and he had to ease up a bit on The Mammal Society. We owe him more than we know. He probably saved us. He certainly put in more time and effort than he should have done.

Marina Pacheco (Chief Executive)

What can I say, we are all going to miss Michael at the office. You're right about the badger book, that was finished off quite recently. He did huge amounts of work on the website. He produced all the text for the membership and donate pages and proofread most of the rest. He proofed Mammal News regularly too. The main support he provided though, was background knowledge. I found myself turning to Michael quite often for information and advice and he was very generous in his support. He also knew what we should be doing and when we should be doing it and did check that we were keeping on track which was sometimes daunting but always helpful.

Pat Morris (Previous Chair)

Michael first came into my consciousness as leader of the Mammal Society Youth group. Operating this was always going to be a struggle as too few “youth” could be assembled in one place at the same time from a nationally distributed organisation. Nevertheless, he managed it well and there are quite a few ex- “youths” who owe a lot to this early support and stimulus.
He very much wanted to host the International Dormouse Conference during his tenure as Mammal Society Chairman. This he did, in spite of his increasing disability, in 2008, some six years after first proposing the idea. The meeting was an informal and enjoyable success that relied heavily on him and his resources. I was pleased to see Michael at meetings in London last year, despite his increasing frailty. Clearly he was not giving up.
Following his father’s lead Michael also contributed strongly to the promotion of dormouse conservation by operating one of the captive breeding centres and by arranging seminars and training days. He built an experimental dormouse bridge, part of an ongoing campaign to highlight the issue of habitat fragmentation and the need for linkages to retain habitat integrity at the landscape level. (I hope to be reporting on this issue in Japan later this year). From time to time he wrote useful articles in the Press too.
Despite being a non-professional mammalogist, he contributed a great deal and, like his father, managed to move things on in an unobtrusive but very effective manner.

Kate Williamson (Honorary Secretary)

I only knew Michael well in the last couple few years.  I was quite daunted at first by this very experienced, professional mammalogist and esteemed Chair of TMS.  However, he very quickly became a valued friend.  It was great to see Michael and Frankie boogying on down in the Welsh hills at our wedding party.  Not quite the usual wedding fare, but they didn’t bat an eyelid at the makeshift tarpaulin venue, rather riotous Welsh language rock band and motley gathering of friends and family.  Indeed, Michael asked me soon after for a copy of the bands’ latest CD.
Michael had a wonderful sense of humour.  For his recent 60th birthday, Frankie asked his friends, family and colleagues to send her some of their favourite mammal/wildlife themed jokes.  This was collated into a fabulous collection, which Michael gleefully took us through, giggling away to his favourite jokes, even though he must have read them numerous times already.
Both Michael and Frankie have been very generous and hospitable, welcoming us into their home on a number of occasions.  I was a bit surprised on one of my first visits to find myself sitting outside, on the deck of their house, under the stars, glass of wine in hand…. in a hot tub!  Conversation usually swung round to mammals at some point and I am so pleased that Michael got so much pleasure over the last few months out of the remote camera system that TMS gave him at last years’ conference when he stood down as Chairman, and indeed from Council after 27 years!  I got several e-mails updating me with experiences from ‘badger cam’.  He was still excited and enthralled by the wild mammals on his doorstep.  One of his great talents was passing this on to others and that will be greatly missed.

Adam Grogan (previous Hon. Secretary)

I cannot remember when I met Michael, it may have been at a Somerset Mammal Group meeting or another meeting about otters. I do know that I knew him before I came on Council as he asked me if I would give his father Doug a lift to Ripon. That was the conference when I was elected onto Council.
When I was Secretary and Michael was Chairman elect, we started the friendship that was to see us, and The Mammal Society, through the difficult times ahead. I will always remember Michael’s drive and enthusiasm for the Society, to make sure that he did the best for the Society in all his actions as Chairman. He set the management committee in place before he became Chairman so as to smooth his succession. He was always ready with a smile and a joke and there was always a glint in his eye. I can remember Gayle and Phoebe commenting how they would break into giggles when they heard Michael’s dirty laugh come through the wall at the offices in Battersea! He was always ready to dance as well and I think one of his great disappointments was that the conference secretaries never managed to put on a ceilidh at one of the Easter conferences. He was an enthusiastic (and good!) dancer at the Bat Conservations Trust’s conferences.
Often his frustration was apparent when dealing with a particular issue but he would not let it get the better of him. He was a strong man in many ways and his strength helped carry The Mammal Society through some very difficult times. He will be sorely missed.

Edward Wells (Council Member)

Others can tell you much more than I about Mike's huge contribution especially to "Mammalaction". It says something that he was awarded the Silver Medal long before he was elected as Chairman. I remember some people saying when Mike was elected that he was a departure for the society because he was an "amateur". Some amateur!
Mike wrote (and Frankie illustrated) wildlife articles for many years for the Western Daily Press. They must have reached a large audience of not particularly nature conscious readers and covered a wide range of natural history not just mammals. They were always witty, interesting and scrupulously accurate.
He will be very greatly missed within the nature conservation community and by all his many friends. The sadness is tempered slightly by relief that he does not have to endure all that he has been through in the last couple of years any longer. His courage was an extraordinary example to us all and he managed to keep the characteristic twinkle in his eye long after lesser men would have been overtaken by self-pity.
It is Michael’s “fault”, along with his father, that I am so heavily involved with mammals and with the Mammal Society. They pushed me into standing for Council in the most charming but determined way. It is something that has given me enormous pleasure ever since.
I always felt a certain affinity with Michael. He qualified in a profession about as far removed from academic biology as you can get. So did I. He showed that you do not have to be scientifically trained to make a real difference in the world of ecological science. I hope that, in a strictly amateur way and to a far lesser level than he did, I have done a bit of that myself. Of course we need the professional scientists but there is also a vital role for those whose knowledge and enthusiasm comes from field experience not from books. Michael was simply the best example of such practitioners that I have ever met or am ever likely to meet.

[Editor’s Note: The issue of whether or not the chair of the Society should be a ‘professional’ (i.e. academic zoologist or research scientist) was a contentious one in the 1990s when Michael was first nominated for the position. At the time, he withdrew his candidacy in order to prevent divisive arguments; a generous act. His subsequent successful period of office demonstrates that true professionalism is not a matter of academic background. However, it also reflects the way the Society has evolved. So called ‘amateurs’ are now more deeply embedded in the fabric of the Society, in its management as well as its activities and this is due in no small part to Michael’s inclusive style of leadership.]

Rob Strachan (Mammalaction)

Michael chaired the Mammalaction Committee from the mid 1980's till the mid 1990's. Many of the Mammalaction committee meetings were at Michael’s house in Cheddar with baked potatoes or delicious hot soup provided by Frankie. There were mammal books galore, mammal paintings, and of course a collection of mammaly bits and pieces used to test our identification skills - you knew you were in the house of someone with a real passion for mammals and for travel.
Typically, Michael would chair the meetings with great humour and anecdotes of mammal encounters and we would soon be roaring with laughter. Michael provided a huge stimulus for brainstorming and we would soon have a long list exciting events for the Youth Group: ‘Behind the scenes’ events at zoo's or rare mammal captive breeding projects; meet the researcher and their study animals; mammal discovery weekends; summer expeditions and a special event on Working with Wildlife - jobs and opportunities for young people. With Michael’s infectious enthusiasm you really wished that you were a Mammalaction member so that you could join in the fun.
I particularly remember the Mammal Discovery weekend camp that was held in Cheddar in the late 1990's. With Michael as the local host we soon were able to notch up over 25 species including 8 species of small mammal in the hand and 7 species of bat on detectors - of course encounters with dormice and badgers took centre stage even if it did mean stumbling through a wood in total darkness. Michael soon had us surrounded by inquisitive badgers snuffling for scattered peanuts at the Mammalaction members feet. Enduring memories for all that were present and a real high for the kids - they were wide-eyed and beaming from ear to ear!

Penny Lewns (Mammalaction)

I first met Mike sometime in the late 1980s at a Mammal Society do, although I confess I can’t remember which one!  I got to know him through his father Doug, back when the potential of dormouse boxes was only just being realised!  Shortly after, around 1990, he invited me to join the Youth Group committee of the Mammal Society (renamed Mammalaction in 1995), and I went as a leader on my first Summer Expedition to Dumfries and Galloway.  I remained on the Mammalaction committee until 2009. 
Mammalaction began in 1981, started by Libby Lenton, Elaine Hurrell, Jean Webb, Michael Demidecki and Alison Burton, with the backing of Ernst Neal no less!  Mike’s involvement with the group was from very early on – in 1982 he was a leader on the first ever Summer Expedition to Dartmoor.  He became Chair a few years later, and with the help of a small committee, he set about findings new ways of introducing young members to mammal related activities. 
Mammalaction ran a series of annual events – ‘Behind the Scenes’ visits to zoo and museums, ‘Meet the Mammal’ weekends, and the Summer Expeditions, which members a week-long opportunity to immerse themselves in all the mammals an area had to offer.  These activities always involved long hours of fieldwork, large doses of enthusiasm from leaders and participants alike, and relied on tapping into the expertise of adult members to provide the ‘insider knowledge’ to make all the events so successful and memorable. 
All youth members (and many adult members) were encouraged to take part in an annual questionnaire survey (something many other organisations have gone on to emulate).  Who can forget ‘Battitudes’ (a survey of member’s attitudes and knowledge of bats) and ‘Rattitudes’, all of which were enthusiastically championed by Mike!  But it was the 1997 ‘What the cat brought in’ survey that turned up such a major response, and revealed the extent and range of species (mammal, bird and amphibian) that domestic cats were responsible for catching.  The information generated by the survey had such wide reaching implications that, together with Robbie McDonald and Stephen Harris, it lead him to publish the results in a paper in Mammal Review.  
Until 1999, probably the best part of 15 years, he served on TMS Council as the Mammalaction representative, until he retired from the Mammalaction committee in 2002, prior to taking up a position as Vice-Chair and then Chair of TMS.  As such, he must have been one of the longest serving members of Council. 
Mike recognised that raising the profile of mammals was important for conservation.  He believed in the importance of equipping youngsters with ‘proper field skills’ and he recognised the value of giving them the opportunity to see and experience mammals ‘up close’. 
Mammalaction members have gone on to pursue a variety of careers, (including working for TMS), and he always took great pride in recounting what former members were up to.  It is a great tribute to Mike, and the various members of the Youth Group/Mammalaction committees, that the enthusiasm and interest generated by these early encounters with mammals have inspired many to choose careers in ecology, veterinary science and zoology. 
I last saw Mike at the beginning of December.  He was cheerful and cracking jokes, as always.  He was chatting about his ‘badger cam’ present, and was describing what the badgers were doing and looking forward to the possibility of cubs in February.

Sven Büchner (Organiser of the 8th International Dormouse Conference 2011)

I met Michael Woods for the first time at the Dormouse Conference in Hungary in 2002. It was the start of a friendship from the very beginning. We kept contact over the years mainly via e-mail and telephone, looking forward for the next International Dormouse Conference in Poland, then in England - the next chance to see each other and to discuss not just dormouse ecology.
I have greatest respect for Michael; running a consultancy, leading the Mammal Society and organizing an International Conference is already more than enough for a healthy person. As far as I can judge from here he did marvellous jobs in all of these. The conference was wonderful and it was amazing that Michael was able to hide his disease and that the majority of participants did not notice anything.
We lose with Michael a wonderful friend. He had tremendous personal magnetism and sense of humour. Michael’s interests were broad. I appreciated his huge knowledge for instance on keeping common dormice, ecology of many species and practical conservation. Whenever I had a special question on raising dormice or I had to puzzle out a difficult ecological problem - Michael could help.
It is sad to organize the next International Conference on Dormice here in Germany knowing that Michael will not come. When we said good bye in Shipham in 2008 he told me that we could give him a short memorial during the next conference. I hoped for the miracle that this memorial would not be necessary, but Michael was right that he has to leave earlier. Now we must honour him when the scientific community of dormouse research meets next time.

George Bemment (Previous Hon Secretary and Vice Chair)

I first met Michael about 20 years ago. I can’t say exactly when, but it was no doubt through his involvement with the Somerset Bat Group and then through my increasing involvement with The Mammal Society.  
There are various things that stand out over the years. I clearly remember, for example, when he and Doug jointly received their Silver Medal at the Easter Conference in 1993. Their “thank you” speech was a wonderful little double act and seemed to sum up everything about what they both loved and cherished doing best – natural history stuff, mostly mammal stuff. And I remember Michael talking about his adventurous travel-writing jaunts - always so full of enthusiasm and excitement. 
But mostly I realise, I remember that he was always a presence. He was just always there. Involved, doing things, saying such sound and good things to get things done, calming troubled waters and bringing people along with him. I was a member of Mammal Society Council for some eight years between the years of 1995 and 2006 – peanuts compared to his 27 years! – and even if he wasn’t at the Council meetings or conferences himself, his name was always floating about because he’d been busy in the background and had reports and updates to contribute.
I also realise what a wonderful friend he was. Loyal, supportive and caring. I know I’m not alone in saying that. He was simply always there and was one of the best friends anyone could ever wish for.