Obituary - Nigel St.John Cuming 1938-2021

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Obituary - Nigel St.John Cuming 1938-2021 Nigel Cuming, as he was more familiarly known, was born on June 1 1938, in Jerusalem, where his father was serving as an officer in the R.A.F. At the age of five, he moved to England where he was brought up in the village of Fordham, near Colchester, Essex.

In 1953, the third incarnation of the Colchester Natural History Society (C.N.H.S.) was founded by a group of keen, local naturalists, including Joe Firmin, a cousin of Nigel. A junior section was soon formed with Nigel among the first to sign up.

Initially, Nigel’s interest had been ornithology but, during the 1960s, the wellknown coleopterist F.D. ’Freddie’ Buck was an active member of C.N.H.S. and doubtless sowed the seed of Nigel’s interest in beetles that was to become so important to him later in life.

After finishing his education, Nigel started work in 1959 in the laboratory at BX Plastics in Brantham. He and Marion married in 1961, the couple setting up home in Stanway, Essex, where they brought up two children. On leaving BX in 1974 he worked for four years in the fishing retail sector before undertaking training as a mental health nurse, graduating in 1981.

Nigel’s enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the natural world was the result of personal experience and was an inspiration to all who knew him, his wide-ranging interests included beetles, bugs, butterflies, orchids and birds. Another of his passions was freshwater fishing.

Taking early retirement in his mid-50s provided the chance to rekindle his interest in beetles becoming first a volunteer and later part-time Assistant Curator, at Colchester Museums.

Although the family had enjoyed camping holidays in Suffolk, it was a few years later, on the retirement of his wife Marion, that Nigel’s involvement in the County increased dramatically. The couple purchased a static caravan at Aldeburgh and spent many enjoyable weeks each year exploring the Suffolk coast.

Joining Suffolk Naturalists’ Society in 1996, Nigel became a regular volunteer at both RSPB Minsmere and NT Dunwich Heath, recording beetles and other invertebrates, as well as at North Warren, Sizewell and Thorpeness. Having a similar pace of working (slowly!) we often collected together at these localities, and I learned

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a lot from him. It was on these excursions that he developed an interest in bugs, in 2003 becoming recorder of Heteroptera for SNS, adding Corizus hyoscyami, Aphanus rolandri, Peritrechus convivus and Brachycarenus tigrinus to the Suffolk list (Cuming, 2006a). He also served on Council from 2006-2009.

Through his Suffolk connection Nigel came to know the late Suffolk Coleoptera Recorder, David Nash and was a frequent caller at David’s Brantham home, dropping off or collecting specimens for identification, en route to Aldeburgh. Nigel’s finds were frequently of such scarce species that when he told David over the telephone, it often elicited the response ‘are you sure?’ more often than not Nigel had got it right!

His beetle discoveries include the first Suffolk records of Silpha obscura for over a century (Nash, 2001), the second modern Suffolk record of Lionychus quadrillum (Nash, 2003), Dyschirius angustatus and Ips sexdentatus new to Suffolk, and the first Suffolk record of Ocypus fuscatus since 1839 (Nash, 2007). Other Suffolk rarities he found included Bembidion nigropiceum, B. ephippium, Tachys scutellaris and Caenocara bovistae (Nash, 2004) as well as Longitarsus absynthii (Nash, 2009). A particular interest of Nigel’s was in the ecology of the scarce weevil Procas granulicollis which he was adept at finding in areas with bracken and climbing corydalis.

David Nash passed away in 2014 and Nigel paid a personal tribute to his friend in the Society’s Transactions (Cuming, 2014).

When not in Aldeburgh, Nigel was also active on his home patch, as Coleoptera Recorder for Colchester Natural History Society he found many scarce species at his favourite site, Mark’s Hall, including Tachys minutus, Pissodes castaneus (Cuming, 2000 a&b) and with myself and Dan Hackett, Cicones undatus, (Bowdrey, Cuming & Hackett, 1998), all new to Essex.

The record he was most proud of, however, was the rediscovery of the weevil Rhynchites auratus at Abberton, the first British record since 1839 (Cuming, 2006b)!

Nigel was proud to accompany some of the country’s leading coleopterists to see this beetle on the blackthorn hedges of the area.

Nigel certainly excelled at rediscovering species that, in many cases, had not been seen for over a century, a testimony to his diligent and thorough field techniques.

Nigel exhibited many of his more important specimens at the annual exhibitions of the British Ento-mological and Natural History Society in London and also enjoyed attending the Amateur Entomologist’s Society Annual Exhibition at Kempton Park to purchase equipment and books and meet up with old friends.

Nigel recognised the importance of maintaining a collection of well documented specimens and his setting, labelling and identification skills would put many a curator to shame. He was always ready to donate surplus material to museums or to fellow enthusiasts and above all to share his wide knowledge with anyone who showed an interest in any aspect of natural history, Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)

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whether through leading field trips or on a one-to-one basis, interactions that were always tempered by his dry sense of humour.

Nigel’s extensive collection will be safeguarded and go to an institution to be decided by the family, in due course.

I was privileged to know Nigel in his later years both as a friend and colleague, but I am very grateful to both Nigel’s widow, Marion and to his good friend, Andrew Thompson for information on Nigel’s early life. Thanks also to Adrian Knowles for comments and corrections.

Nigel passed away on October 22 2021; he leaves a wife, Marion, son Simon and daughter Rachel, to whom we extend our deepest sympathies.

Jerry Bowdrey References and Bibliography Cuming, N. (2000a). Tachys minutus L. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) a jewel beetle new to Essex. Essex Naturalist 17 (New Series) 71.

Cuming, N. (2000b). Pissodes castaneus (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a weevil new to Essex. Essex Naturalist 17 (New Series) 71.

Cuming, N. (2001). Ladybirds of Marks Hall. Nature in North-east Essex 2001, 22-25.

Cuming, N. (2006a). Four species of Hemiptera new to Suffolk. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 42: 69-70.

Cuming, N. (2006b). The discovery of Rhynchites auratus (Scopoli) (Coleoptera: Rhynchitidae), a species new to Essex and previously considered extinct in Britain.

Essex Naturalist 23 (New Series), 36-37.

Cuming, N. St. John 2014 A personal tribute to the memory of David Ridley Nash, 1942-2014. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 50: 94-95.

Nash, D.R. (2001). Notes on the Suffolk list of Coleoptera: 8. Fourteen species new to the Suffolk list with significant records from the year 2000. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 37: 67-81.

Nash, D.R. (2003). Notes on the Suffolk list of Coleoptera: 10. 23 species new to the Suffolk list with significant records from the year 2002. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 39: 37-59.

Nash, D.R. (2004). Notes on the Suffolk list of Coleoptera: 14. Ten species new to the Suffolk list with significant records from the year 2003. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 40: 81-92.

Nash, D.R. (2007). Notes on the Suffolk list of Coleoptera: 13. Seventeen species new to the Suffolk list, six deletions and recent significant records. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 43: 75-89.

Nash, D.R. (2009). Notes on the Suffolk list of Coleoptera: 14. Fifteen further species new to the list with one deletion and some recent interesting records. Trans.

Suffolk Nat. Soc., 45: 23-32.

Nash, D., Collier, M. & Cuming, N. (2010). Pachyrhinus lethierryi (Desbrochers) Curculionidae) in three East Anglian counties. Coleopterist 19(1), 10.

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