Mick was a good friend, but unfortunately I had not seen him since he and Judy moved to Wales. We had been colleagues in the museum since I joined in October 1974. I was immediately very impressed by his knowledge of Hymenoptera and learnt a lot about the group from him. At the time I was a complete novice on the group having previously studied only Lepidoptera. We joined up on a very memorable field trip to Madagascar in 1983. Although the trip was shorted to four weeks, from the intended original nine, it was the most amazing trip I have ever been on. We visited only three different localities in that time but each was incredible in its own way and we made the best collection of Hymenoptera ever in that country until then. Even though the going was tough at times Mick and I got on exceptionally well. He was totally reliable, had excellent orgnisational skills, a great sense of humour and became quickly known and liked by the locals. At the famous Berenty reserve in SE Madagascar the locals called him the “old man” because he was always seen bent over some plant or other trying to catch wasps visiting the flowers. He nearly gave Jean de Heaulme, the millionaire owner of Berenty a heart attack by pretending to pass his prize possession, an Aepyornis egg, to me rugby style. This egg was about the size and shape of a rugby ball and one of the few complete subfossil eggs of this bird in existence. Mick was a wonderful man and I am very proud to say that I knew him and worked with him. We shall all miss him.

John Noyes