By Clive Viney
David Melville, formerly Executive Director of World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, departed for New Zealand on 2 November. The following two articles examine his legacy to the cause of conservation m Hong Kong. Opinions expressed are, of course, those of the authors
Without access to his Government personal file, which would make fun reading, or his undoubtedly doctored WWFHK staff file, I cannot be too precise as to the dates of David's great Hong Kong adventure.
As I recollect, David emerged from somewhere in the stockbroker belt around London and progressed academically far enough to qualify for an interview with the Hong Kong Government. In the late seventies, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department recruited David on a short term basis to investigate and make recommendations on the problem of bird strike at Kai Tak International Airport. I'm not sure what he knew about bird strike but he was known as something of a seabird specialist. Some years and two contracts later he still hadn't written anything down but still managed to wangle a further extension to actually pen his report. Strangely, during David's sojourn at Kai Tak huge numbers of gulls were attracted to the lee of the runway. In those days, 1 used to visit David in his small den at the top of the Canton Road Government Offices. It was the antithesis of a civil servant's office. Overflowing in-trays, journals, books, slides, mist nets and bits of bird scattered everywhere, and in the middle of it squatted Hong Kong's only professional ornithologist. Ken Searle recently told me of his first meeting with David. He was brought over to lunch with him at the smart Jimmy's Kitchen by the Government Vet. Evidently, David looked every inch a hippie vagrant from the sixties - long hair in a pigtail, scruffy beard, sandals, jeans and a faded denim shirt smelling faintly of guano. When David slipped away for a pee, the vet said worriedly to Ken: "I have to take him up to Government House and I've got no idea how he'll scrub up."
David's bird strike efforts may have been a touch lethargic but he certainly didn't waste any time on the birding front. Kai Tak was strictly off-limits to birders but within its high perimeter fences David found Hong Kong's first breeding Little Ringed Plovers and Oriental Skylarks, discovered that rare species such as Little Whimbrel and Oriental Plover were annual migrants in good numbers to the grassy aprons and that nightjars and buttonquails were quite often killed by aircraft. David obviously revelled in this work but it is no secret that he tested the patience of his masters. Even in his reformed latter years, David and AFD never really trusted each other. To David, AFD were a hopelessly incompetent bunch of desk-loving bureaucrats and to AFD, David was the most unfathomable gweilo they'd ever come across.
WWFHK was inaugurated in the early 1980s. Its primary mission was to ensure the survival and development of the Mai Po Marshes as both an effective sanctuary for wildlife and as a first class educational facility. A Mai Po manager was needed quickly. David, as one of the few hands-on environmental scientists then known in Hong Kong, was short-listed for the job. As I was going to London on leave in the summer of 1984, I was asked to sound him out. Over lunch with Barbara and I in our Belsize Park house, David and Vicky positively jumped with excitement at the prospect of returning to Hong Kong. Once in Hong Kong, they soon won the heart of Mary Ketterer, who had become the force majeure of the fledgling WWFHK. David was duly tamed, scrubbed up and successfully launched into Hong Kong society. Nonetheless, it was an open secret that the Chief Secretary was horrified at the prospect of the ponytail returning.
David was very much his own man and, with a surprising amount of tact and diplomacy, soon had Mai Po going in the direction that he wanted. He was on all of the various committees involved with Mai Po and liaised directly with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and his former employers. The great bird reserve architect, Bert Axell, was involved with the early plans for Mai Po and much envied David's virtually unfettered powers. He always referred to David as "The Boy".
In those early years, dignitaries and birds flocked to the new 'scrape' and with the parting of the mangroves Inner Deep Bay at last revealed its secrets and its vital importance. Such was David's success that in 1987 he was given a hefty salary increase and anointed as WWFHK's first Director of Conservation.
Ken Searle made David the Field Commander of his Professionals Bird Race Team. This duty he performed ruthlessly and woe betide anyone that got in his way on race day or dared question one of his team's birds. But none can argue as the Professionals have won the race outright three times and raised well over a million dollars for Mai Po. David has certainly proven his worth as a fund raiser. By an extraordinary quirk of fate, the Melvilles were first housed by WWFHK in enemy territory at Fairview Park. Phase 2 of this project was originally intended to swallow up the Mai Po marshes but in fact it proved to be the catalyst which caused the creation of the reserve. With David's promotion came residency at Island House, perhaps the New Territories' most exclusive address. When David and Vicky look back on their years in Hong Kong, most of all they will treasure their balmy days at Island House.
In September 1992, David was appointed the Executive Director of WWFHK. The hippie had come of age. For seven years, in the wake of the irreplaceable Mary Ketterer he carefully steered WWFHK through the difficult transitional years. It was not only the political changes that had to be contended with, but also Hong Kong's environment was suffering as it had never suffered before. Urban air quality was fast becoming horrendous, but even more insidious was the dire increase in marine pollution, especially in Deep Bay. Ramsar status was a triumph but this did nothing to stop the tide of illegal fishermen, bird-trappers and the ever-increasing onslaught by developers and their lackeys. David's role changed from one of development and expansion to one of overseeing a mighty holding action. This he did diplomatically and well. It is now up to his successors to meet the challenges ahead with the same dedication and vigour. He will be a hard act to follow.
David, Vicky and Julia have now left Hong Kong to build their new house and new life in New Zealand. I am certain that Hong Kong has not heard the last of David.
[Clive Viney is author of the Government Information Service publication Birds of Hong Kong which is currently in its 6th edition. He now lives in Portugal.]
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David Melville - a forceful teacher
by Michael LauA lot of us involved in the ecological and conservation field in Hong Kong have experienced or heard of the whole-hearted, tireless drive of David Melville in saving our precious biodiversity. However, there is another side of David that has influenced quite a few like-minded (relatively) young people early in their career. I still remember the morning tour and introduction he gave before I started taking visitors around Mai Po in the afternoon of that same day. The tour not only equipped me, a total stranger to the area whose previous experience with Deep Bay was a distant glance from the Tsim Bei Tsui police post, with the knowledge and skills to take groups of 50 people around the reserve. More importantly, through David's understanding of nearly everything about Mai Po and his enthusiasm in teaching me, I was enchanted by the Deep Bay wetlands. This was quite an achievement considering that no amphibians or reptiles, my favoured groups of animals, were spotted on the day.
Despite being a workaholic and having pitifully-little free time, David always found time to nurture budding ecologists, naturalists and conservationists. His knowledge on Hong Kong ecology is very broad and not confined to ornithology and wetlands. Many readers of Porcupine! have benefited from his advice and the immense reference collection in his personal library. He was also instrumental in resurrecting the Hong Kong bird-ringing programme by getting other ringers interested and in training up young people. The voluminous data stretching back more than a decade provide invaluable information on bird migration and local bird fauna. The bird-ringing exercise at Mai Po also offers a popular education event for the visitors in which they can see scientific research in action.
David has fought many battles that helped save many of the plants, animals and wild places we cherish. To some of us, his contributions go beyond that. He has been instrumental in shaping who we are and what we are doing now. We wish David, Vicky and their daughter Julia a happy and fruitful life in New Zealand. There will be no shortage of students wherever David goes.
[Michael Lau was manager of the Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve from 1989 to 1991.]
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