Ambassador to Nato and Banffshire naturalist; Born October 5, 1915; Died July 24, 2009.

Sir Edward Peck, who has died aged 93, was the Nato ambassador who carved out a secondary role as a leading naturalist and conservationist in the Cairngorms.

From his hillside home overlooking the river Avon two miles outside Tomintoul came a minor stream of books, articles, papers and treatises, backed by broadcasts and lectures to promulgate land issues and proselytise care of his beloved hills.

Born in Hove, Sussex, Peck's consuming interest in wild places began when, aged eight in Switzerland, he was introduced to Charles Bruce, leader of an Everest expedition of 1922, beginning a love of high peaks that took him and his wife, Alison Mary MacInnes, climbing and skiing throughout his life. His resultant purchase of a holiday home in Banffshire led to a liking and sympathy for Scotland's landscape, and after a lifetime of travelling the world as a diplomat, he and Alison settled for good in a former steading the eastern Cairngorms.

With long connections in the area, Peck settled in easily, converting retirement at 60 into a new life. From his pen flowed two well-researched guides to the area that provided modern examination of the area in contrast to the historical examination by his contemporary Victor Gaffney in The Lordship of Strathavon. His North-East Scotland of 1981offered a sweeping look at the story and geography of Scotland from the Tay to Moray.

Nor was he afraid to venture into history in 1994 with his account of The Battle of Glenlivet (illustrated by William McEwan and Sylvia Watt), his quatercentenary examination of the engagement of October 3, 1594, when 2000 local men supporting the Catholic earls of Errol and Huntly routed 10,000 Highlanders under the Protestant Earl of Argyll. A dramatic event with deep and complex roots, the battle represented a victory of artillery and horse over irregular infantry, and remains upheld in local legend.

He was involved both with the National Trust for Scotland, and as a visiting Fellow, with Aberdeen University. He was founder and first chairman of the local conservation group, and spoke from deep-seated, first-hand knowledge - largely gained through climbing and walking in the Cairngorms with Alison - about everything from geology and wildlife to the diverse religious history of the area.

In the hills, only his natural air of authority gave any clue to his distinguished international diplomatic career, and he enjoyed nothing better than enthusing local groups.

When in 1984 the Deeside Field Club organised a visit to the headwaters of the rivers Don and Avon, he was on hand at the invitation of club secretary and university geographer Dr John Smith to provide commentary. When broadcaster Jimmie MacGregor visited Scalan in Glenlivet as part of a series for BBC television, Peck was the guide to the one-time priestly seminary.

Edward Heywood Peck was educated at Clifton and graduated from Queen's College, Oxford, with a first in modern languages. The winning of a travelling scholarship to improve his German took him to Vienna, where in 1938 at the time of the Anschluss, he chanced upon Adolf Hitler driving in triumph along the Marianhilfestrasse. By coincidence, his first posting with the consular service saw him in Barcelona, where he witnessed Franco's troops marching into the city. Promotion by Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was followed by a posting to Delhi and Berlin before six years in south-east Asia. His experience in that last field was rewarded by the assistant under-secretaryship in the Foreign Office dealing primarily with relations in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Made Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1957, he was elevated to knighthood within that order nine years later. By now High Commissioner to Kenya, he and Lady Peck took advantage of their posting to climb 19,242ft Mount Kilimanjaro.

Peck's final diplomatic appointment was in 1970 to Brussels as UK representative to Nato, a five-year posting which found him at one point locking horns with a young American careerist named Donald Rumsfeld. The Cold War was still a fact of life, and participants on every side distrusted each other. Peck's devotion to a difficult situation earned him both the respect of Nato and the Warsaw Pact representatives, and the elevation to Knight Grand Cross in the Order of St Michael and St George.

Peck was predeceased by Alison earlier this year, and by a daughter. He is survived by two daughters and a son. By GORDON CASELY