I was saddened to hear of David’s passing shortly before Christmas and have written this short tribute in his memory.

I first met David at Malling Down, probably on 6th August 1969, with his head buried in blackthorn bush while attempting to photograph a Holly Blue butterfly. He introduced himself and after a brief chat promptly invited me to join him on a bird-watching trip. My diary entry for 20th August 1969 reads: “spent afternoon with David Lang at Beachy Head, Bell Tout, finishing at Deep Dene; chiefly bird watching but with one eye open for butterflies; very windy but saw Grayling and Silver-spotted Skipper in Deep Dene”. So began a long lasting but intermittent friendship.

In 1984 Sussex Wildlife Trust purchased part of Malling Down and David was appointed as its first Voluntary Reserve Manager. He formed a management committee for this new nature reserve and held regular meetings at his home in Ferrers Road, Lewes. I remember being invited to join his committee in the late 1980s and remember attending organised tasks designed to enhance the grassland by removing invasive scrub.

Around 1990 David passed on the leadership role at Malling Down to Rendel Williams and 5 years later I was invited to take over as VRM. This also meant agreeing to be custodian of three boxes containing Malling Down archives, including relevant diary notes compiled by David during his time as reserve manager. I would welcome advice on what should become of these papers, especially David’s reserve diary and other notes written by him.

Although David tried hard to convert me to birding, that was not to be and I eventually found my own niche as a specialist in entomology. Nevertheless I can honestly say that David influenced my life right from that very first meeting on the downs more than 50 years ago.