Tributes have been paid to a keen wildlife photographer, known as Beeston Birdman, after he died in a cycling accident. Raymond Parker, described as a "very kind" man by family, passed away in hospital on August 10, just over a week after falling off his electric bike in Beeston town centre.
The 80-year-old was well known across the Beeston community where he used to volunteer at a local church. But he was best known for his love of wildlife photography, a hobby he picked up after retiring from his career as a computer programmer 15 years ago.
Mr Parker ran the website 'Beeston Birdman' and regularly posted photos of animals, plants and insects from across Nottinghamshire, commonly from his favourite spot - Attenborough Nature Reserve.
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"He was very enthusiastic about his hobby," said his son, Ben Parker. "Anytime I came home he was like 'look at this' and he'd get up his pictures. He was a very kind person. He was just a conversationalist, if he was ever on the tram you'd quite often find him chatting to someone.
"If he met people at Attenborough Nature Reserve he'd try and coerce them into reading his blog. He used to carry around a little business card that had his website on. That was quite funny I always thought."
Ben, a 49-year-old computer programmer who lives in Leeds, said his dad would often be "amazed" when he saw his blog was being viewed by internet users across the world. "He was always amazed because he said 'I've never met somebody from Germany or China' and I said 'that's not how the internet works'," he recalled.
After giving up his driving licence, Mr Parker bought an electric bike to help him get to his favourite nature spots. It was when he was riding this bike that he had his accident in Fletcher Road on July 30.
"He was coming back from doing something he really loved," said Ben. "It was an accident. No other parties were involved." You can see the Beeston Birdman's photos on his blog here.
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