Sir Peter Markham Scott (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman.

The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in observing and shooting wildfowl at a young age and later took to their breeding.

He established the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge in 1946 and helped found the World Wide Fund for Nature, the logo of which he designed.

"[2][3] He was named after Sir Clements Markham, mentor of Scott's polar expeditions, and a godfather along with J. M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan.

Scott was educated at Oundle School and Trinity College, Cambridge, initially reading Natural Sciences but graduating in the History of Art in 1931.

His wealthy background allowed him to follow his interests in art, wildlife and many sports, including wildfowling, sailing, gliding and ice skating.

He represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at sailing at the 1936 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal[9] in the O-Jolle monotype class.

[10] He also participated in the Prince of Wales Cup in 1938 during which he and his crew on the Thunder and Lightning dinghy designed a modified wearable harness (now known as a trapeze) that helped them win.

[12] Then he served in destroyers in the North Atlantic but later moved to commanding the First (and only) Squadron of Steam Gun Boats against German E-boats in the English Channel.

To starboard, the ship was painted blue-grey all over, but with white in naturally shadowed areas as countershading, following the ideas of Abbott Handerson Thayer from the First World War.

[14] On 8 July 1941, it was announced that Scott had been mentioned in despatches "for good services in rescuing survivors from a burning Vessel" in April 1941 while serving on HMS Broke.

In the London Gazette of 9 November 1943, he was awarded a Bar to the DSC for actions in the English Channel on the 4th and 27 September 1943 while commanding the First SGB Flotilla.

[27] Scott continued with his love of sailing, skippering the 12-metre yacht Sovereign in the 1964 challenge for the America's Cup which was held by the United States.

His pioneering work in conservation also contributed greatly to the shift in policy of the International Whaling Commission and signing of the Antarctic Treaty, the latter inspired by his visit to his father's base on Ross Island in Antarctica.

[31] In August 1986, an ITV Special was transmitted by Central Independent Television (Production No.6407) on Scott entitled Interest the Boy in Nature featuring Konrad Lorenz, Prince Philip, David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell; written, produced and directed by Robin Brown.

In 1996 Scott's life and work in wildlife conservation was celebrated in a major BBC Natural World documentary, produced by Andrew Cooper and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Filmed across three continents from Hawaii to the Russian arctic, In the Eye of the Wind was the BBC Natural History Unit's tribute to Scott and the organisation he founded, the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, on its 50th anniversary.

[33] In 1975 Scott proposed the scientific name Nessiteras rhombopteryx for the Loch Ness Monster (based on a blurred underwater photograph of a supposed fin) so that it could be registered as an endangered species.