Jo Moran

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Jo Moran in the late 1960s

Joseph Moran (2 June 1930 – 11 July 2021) was an English ornithologist, wildlife photographer, mountaineer and climber.[1] He was the first person to climb the cliffs of the Noup of Noss in Shetland, Scotland, the first to photograph the Leach's storm petrel at the nest, and was also an early influence on British mountaineer and climber Mick Burke.[2]

Early life[]

Joseph Moran was born in Wigan in 1930, to Thomas Moran, a gas works manager and rugby league referee, and his second wife, Julia (née Moore).[1] His early interest in birds was inspired by reading the work of Archibald Thorburn.

Ornithology and bird photography[]

A keen birdwatcher and photographer, between the 1950s and 1980s, Jo published several illustrated articles, on the bullfinch,[3] the jay,[4] the yellow bunting,[5] the common gull,[6] the common guillemot,[7] the jackdaw,[8] the ring ouzel or 'mountain blackbird',[9] the scoter,[10] the kestrel and sparrowhawk,[11] the birds of the Calf of Eday[12] in the Orkney Islands, and of the Great Saltee,[13] as well as reflections on hybridisation of British birds,[14] and the practice of ornithology,[15] all illustrated with his original photographic work.

In 1958, with friends Vince Connolly and Harry Shorrock, Jo photographed the Leach's petrel at the nest, on Eilean Mòr in the Flannan Islands. This photograph, published in in 1961,[16] is considered to be the first instance of this bird being photographed at the nest. Jo later gave illustrated public lectures on this and related topics, including, for example, in 1997 and 1999 for several Ornithological Societies in Cheshire.[17][18]

In the late 1950s, a few years after the evacuation of the islands in 1953, he visited Great Blasket (Na Blascaodaí) and Inishvickillane (Inis Mhic Aoibhleáin) off Co. Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, to establish whether there was a breeding colony of Leach's petrels in this archipelago. His illustrated record of this visit has been accessioned by the museum of in Dunquin (a heritage and cultural centre/museum honouring the unique community who lived on the remote Blasket Islands until their evacuation). During this trip, as noted in the accessioned documents, he met and was assisted by , publican, raconteur and prominent figure in Irish cultural history.[19]

Jo travelled throughout Orkney, Shetland and the west of Ireland and photographed all the British nesting seabirds at the nest. His photographic work was publicly exhibited in 2007,[20][21] at Rivington Park Gallery in Lancashire.

Mountaineering and rock climbing[]

Jo is credited with making the first ascent of the cliffs of the Noup of Noss, in Shetland. He published an account of the climb in 1968, in The Countryman magazine.[22]

Jo Moran was a member of the Wigan Rambling and Climbing Club, where he met the young Mick Burke, who was to become a celebrated mountaineer and climber. Jo took Mick on his first hike up 2000ft Pendle Hill in Lancashire.[23] During this period, he met musician Barry Halpin, who was later to be mistaken for missing peer Lord Lucan.[24][25]

Rugby League[]

Jo was a fervent supported of rugby league, corresponding at length with The Guardian newspaper's sports correspondent Frank Keating. He was one of four letter writers who wrote to Keating for several years in response to his errant 2001 forecast of the game's imminent extinction. In 2006, Keating acknowledged his error in a piece entitled "Call off the dogs: I'm no longer in league with the devil"[26] in which he described Moran's critique as 'caustically despairing'.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Moran, Dominique (10 August 2021). "Jo Moran obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  2. ^ "BBC man dies in sight of Everest ambition". Birmingham Post. 30 September 1975.
  3. ^ Morgan, J (1956). "Watching Bullfinches". Birds Illustrated. December: 265–266.
  4. ^ Moran, J (1957). "The wily jay". Birds Illustrated. February: 339–340.
  5. ^ Moran, J (1957). "The Yellow Bunting". Birds Illustrated. August: 127, 133.
  6. ^ Moran, Jo (1966). "In search of the common gull". Birds Illustrated. June: 34–37.
  7. ^ Moran, Jo (1965). "Studying the Social Behaviour of the Common Guillemot". Birds Illustrated. November: 195–200.
  8. ^ Moran, J.O. (1966). "The iniquitous jackdaw". Birds Illustrated. April: 370–372.
  9. ^ Moran, J (1958). "The Mountain Blackbird". Birds Illustrated. January: 306–307.
  10. ^ Moran, J. O. (1967). "Saving a scoter". Birds Illustrated. February: 290–295.
  11. ^ Moran, J (191). "Our Woodland Predators". Birds Illustrated. October: 191–193.
  12. ^ Moran, J (1962). "The Birds of the Calf of Eday". Birds Illustrated. November: 194–197.
  13. ^ Moran, Jo (1980). "Kings of the Great Saltee". The Countryman. 84: 85–91.
  14. ^ Moran, Jo (1966). "Possibilities with British Hybrids". Birds Illustrated. February: 294–296.
  15. ^ Moran, J (1965). "The Advance of Bird Study". Birds Illustrated. February: 291–292.
  16. ^ Moran, J (1961). "The Quest for the Leach's Petrel". Scotland's Magazine. 57, 5: 44–46.
  17. ^ "Bird News, Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society". Retrieved 9 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "Bird News, Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Societies". October 1999. Retrieved 9 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa; Ferriter, Diarmaid. "Kavanagh, Muiris ('Kruger')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 23 Jan 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ "Wigan photographer's wildlife exhibition". Wigan Evening Post. 8 August 2003.
  21. ^ "Chance to view collection of birds". Wigan Evening Post. 20 September 2007.
  22. ^ Moran, Jo (1968). "The Great Wall of Noss". The Countryman. Spring: 27–41.
  23. ^ "BBC man dies in sight of Everest ambition". The Birmingham Post. 30 September 1975.
  24. ^ "Lucan like a jungle bungle". Wigan Evening Post. 10 September 2003.
  25. ^ Morris, Steven; Chrisafis, Angelique (9 September 2003). "Lord Lucan? Er no, it's Barry the banjo player from St Helens". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Keating, Frank (23 Aug 2006). "Call off the dogs: I'm no longer in league with the devil". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 Jan 2022.
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