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Gavin Maxwell
British naturalist (1914-1969) · United Kingdom · On the map · Writers · Died at 55
Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He became most famous for Ring of Bright Water (1960), which described his experiences raising otters from Iraq and West Africa on the west coast of Scotland.
Gavin Maxwell is read about 112 times a day, in 8 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 23 August 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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Photos 7
The "House of Elrig" - Gavin Maxwell's childhood home. Arylick farm to right and Elrig Loch in the background.![Coat of arms for the Maxwells of Monreith[4]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/MaxwellMonreithcrest.jpg/500px-MaxwellMonreithcrest.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=parser&utm_content=thumbnail)
Coat of arms for the Maxwells of Monreith[4]
Former HQ of The Island of Soay Shark Fisheries Ltd, started by Maxwell
A blue plaque commemorating Maxwell as a writer and naturalist at the house where he lived in Paultons Square in Chelsea, London
The surviving cottage at Sandaig, next to Maxwell's former home, April 2009. "Derelict bothy at Sandaig", by Nick Ray, licensed under CC-BY-SA-2.0
Statue of Maxwell's otter at Monreith by Penny Wheatley, 1978.
Maxwell's memorial boulder on the former site of his Camusfeàrna homeAwards
About this person
Ring of Bright Water sold more than two million copies, and was made into a film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. One of his otters from Iraq was of a previously unknown sub-species, which was subsequently named after Maxwell. His other books described shark hunting in the Hebrides, his childhood, and his travels in Sicily, Iraq and North Africa.
