In the early 1960s, a clutch of classic papers was published on three iconic bird species of the Scottish Highlands: Red Grouse Lagopus lagopus, Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos and Ptarmigan L. muta (Brown & Watson 1964, Jenkins et al. 1964 and Watson 1965). As an author of these, Adam Watson made his mark on where his interests lay. More than 40 books, 300 scientific papers and 200 technical reports followed, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on these and many more environmental topics. He was still writing in 2018, his last paper being on the decline of Mountain Hares Lepus timidus in northeast Scotland (Watson & Wilson 2018). His last book, Observations on Golden Eagles in Scotland, written with SR and published in 2019, encapsulates more than a century of eagle data (Watson & Rae 2019).