OBITUARY

Colin Smith

British maths teacher turned conservationist known as ‘Butterfly Grandpa’ after six decades working as a lepidopterist in Nepal
The Times
The Times
He was only the third person to receive honorary citizenship of Nepal
He was only the third person to receive honorary citizenship of Nepal
NEPALI TIMES
The Times
The Times

Whenever a butterfly flapped its wings in Nepal, Colin Smith was there to capture the occasion.
Smith, known as “Putali Baje” or “Butterfly Grandpa”, arrived in the Himalayan kingdom in 1964 as a missionary teacher. He spent much of the next 59 years studying the country’s butterflies and moths, publishing more than 30 books on the subject. “We can provide not just anecdotal information but [information] about their habitat, life-cycles and why certain species behave the way they do,” he told the ­Nepali Times in 2013, as passionate and enthusiastic about his subject as ever.

For years Smith travelled across Nepal, collecting butterflies for museums both there and in Britain. Thanks to his endeavours, the number of species recorded in the country grew from fewer