Obituary: David Binns, artist

David Binns, who has died in his 85th year, was a celebrated wildlife artist whose work encapsulated his native Yorkshire and the wildfowl lakes of Northumberland.

Born in Sutton-in–Craven in 1935, the son of the landscape Artist Dan Binns, he went to the Art School at Skipton and then to Leeds College of Art, gaining his National Diploma in Design, before national service in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.

He became a teacher at Skipton’s Aireville school and then returned to his alma mater, Ermysted’s Grammar, as head of the art department.

For 13 years from 1979, he was a freelance artist in Northumberland, living in a cottage overlooking the Lindisfarne nature reserve and capturing the waders of the Fenham Flats and the summer nesting birds of the Farne Islands.

He moved his family back to Yorkshire in 1990, and made the wildlife of the Pennine hills and valleys the subjects of his sketchbooks and paintings.

Well known also for his book illustrations, jigsaw designs and greetings cards, he was a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and won the RSPB fine art award four times. He was also made a Doctor of Letters by Bradford University.

For 25 years, he and his wife, Molly, ran the Brent Gallery at Cowling.

Molly survives him, along with three children, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.