The Canterbury countryside has lost one of its most passionate supporters with the death of Gazette nature writer Peter Gay.

The father-of-six died at his home in Elham on Thursday following a short illness, aged 79.

His love of nature began as a child in the 1940s when he found an early-purple orchid in Sturry Woods. Other early memories were finding a bee orchid in Sturry sandpit and discovering a colony of the native wild daffodil in Trenley Park Wood, close to Fordwich.

An ex-Langtonian, he began working as a cub reporter at the Kentish Gazette in 1955 before joining the Central Office of Information four years later, and then the Diplomatic Service.

His work took him all over the world, from Africa, Brazil and Canada to Trinidad, Grenada and Portugal, where he was British consul in Oporto.

But even when he was in wartorn Nigeria in the late 60s, he still found time to study the local flora and fauna.

It was in Somalia that he met his second wife Angela. They were married for 31 years and have two sons, Alfred and Edward.

Peter has three sons, Mark, Stephen and Jonathan, and a daughter, Anna, from his first marriage, as well as five grandchildren.

In retirement, he could often be found walking in Blean Woods and Denge Woods, photographing and cataloguing the wildlife.

He began writing his much-loved Gazette Nature Notes two decades ago, often including pictures he had taken of the flora and fauna, and was encouraged by the growing interest and sympathy for local wildlife.

He was also a keen weather watcher and kept rainfall records.

His greatest passion was to walk in the woods and on the hills of east Kent looking for wildflowers and butterflies.

He was admitted to hospital in April but later discharged himself because he wanted to be at home.

Angela said: “In the end, it was nice that he was surrounded by his family and could look out on his beloved garden, which he had developed into a haven for birds, insects and flowers.”

Peter’s funeral will be held at Barham Crematorium at 3.20pm on Wednesday, June 27.