Obituary: Remembering inspirational teacher and lover of nature Michael Benington

Michael was born on March 6, 1933 in Lisburn, the son of John Arnold and Jeannette Hamilton Benington.

He was educated Friends School and the new University of Ulster at Coleraine where he completed a Bachelor of Science dissertation on ‘Prey Selection by Breeding Sparrowhawks’.

In 1955, at the age of 20, Michael participated with his father in an ornithological expedition to Iceland.

Michael inherited a passion for the natural world from his father, the renowned broadcaster, naturalist and leader of two pioneering expeditions to Iceland.

From an early age Michael combined this interest with self-taught prowess in art.

The latter came to the fore in his illustrations for his father’s weekly ‘Nature Notes’ in the News Letter during the from 1961 to 1965.

Before that he had provided illustration to go alongside his father’s articles in Ulster Illustrated from 1953 to 1959.

He began his career in the textile industry based in Moygashel, Ballymena and Coleraine, but that line of work ended with redundancy due to competition from the US in 1975.

At this juncture Michael took the courageous step of returning to his studies and taking a degree in Biology so that he could pursue his ambition to become a teacher.

Inspiring scores of pupils at Campbell College with his reverence for all forms of life, be it insect, plant, animal or human, Michael continued pursuing his art in his spare time and held many solo exhibitions in the province.

Further success came with his selection as a member of the Artists for Nature Foundation and his superbly detailed illustrations for a clutch of field guides to the birds and wildlife of Europe and East Africa.

He was Biology teacher at the school from 1979 to 1990 and after he retired he lived and worked in the Algarve in Portugal from 1990 to 1991.

At that time he made the first of many visits to Lagoa dos Salgados, a marsh in southern Portugal that was a haven for birdlife and which he has campaigned to save from development.

As a conservationist he campaigned tirelessly for over a decade to save the bird-spotter’s paradise from the developer’s diggers.

In April 2022 the Benington legacy was assured with the acceptance of a gift of over 50 of Michael’s paintings by the Ulster Museum, coupled with 25 volumes of his father Arnold’s field diaries.

In his latter years Michael lived and worked at Eyrie Studio, Newcastle in Co Down.

He passed away on June 24 at the age of 89.

He was the dearly beloved husband of Christel, loving and much loved father to Christopher, Jonathan, and the late Nicky, dear father-in-law of Lesley and Liz and proud grandfather to Mathew, Emily and Sophie.

In one of his publications - Eden Moments – in 2015, Michael wrote: “Sixty years of working out of doors in different habitats has convinced me of the worthwhile-ness of being open to nature.

“This is reaffirmed by the personal upsurge of well-being I experience every time I am amongst my subjects – a feeling for which I give thanks every day – the best of these I call Eden Moments.”