The Rev. Gilbert White, a man often considered to be the father of British natural history, is still commemorated in Ealing.

It’s an odd term, “natural history” as if there is also an “unnatural history”. According to one authoritative definition, natural history is: “the domain of inquiry involving organisms including animals and plants in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study.” It is one of those hybrid areas of knowledge, a mixture of science and simple curiosity, open to amateurs and experts.

Britain has a long tradition of natural history enthusiasts, writers and activists. This is probably because in Britain, largely as a result of its colonial exploits and early capitalist development, significant numbers of people could enjoy ample leisure time as a result of their wealth to devote time to such pursuits.  

Here, a significant contribution to English natural history was made by parson naturalists, above all Gilbert White, who wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Churchmen clearly had plenty of time on their hands to devote so much to observing nature. During a period of rising scepticism about Biblical truth and belief in an omniscient God, evidence for the creation myth was much needed. Most of these clerics wrote about nature to underline the natural theology argument for the existence of God.

White’s celebrated book, The Natural History of Selborne, has never been out of print since it was first published in 1789. White set a precedent for accurate observation and recording. He simply kept a diary of the wildlife he found and observed in and around the village, where he was the parish vicar. 

We have come a long way since those days when it was still a common belief that our avian summer visitors, like Swallows, Swifts and House Martins overwintered at the bottom of ponds to re-emerge in spring. 

He strongly influenced my interest in wildlife and encouraged me to keep a diary of my observations and encounters from early childhood onwards.

White’s book and the work he carried out led to the setting up of Selborne societies throughout the country (see: Richard Clarke’s booklet on the history of Selborne Societies, Pioneers of conservation; The Selborne Society and the (Royal) SPB, (2004). In this booklet, he pays due respect to Ealing’s own Selborne Society which is still flourishing, as many of you will know.

Clarke writes:

“The Selborne Society, born in 1885, was the pioneer of nature conservation in Britain, had an auspicious birth, a promising childhood, a stormy adolescence, and a dull and fitful middle age. A century ago it was a hugely influential national conservation organisation, the first such in Europe. In the mid-1950s, on reaching its threescore years and ten, it all but died, but was rescued and reborn to become the unique and flourishing local natural history society that it remains today, managing what is, arguably, Britain’s first ever nature reserve, Perivale Wood in Ealing.”

It was also a founding organisation and precursor of the RSPB, today Britain’s biggest natural history organisation.

If any of you have not yet visited Perivale Wood, on the canal side next to Horsenden Hill, then it is certainly worth contacting the society and arranging a visit. It is a rare jewel in Ealing’s crown – an old oak woodland, with, in spring, one of the best displays of bluebells to be seen anywhere. 

White’s focus on the behaviour of wildlife as much as its physical appearance made him unique in the field of natural history at the time. He patiently observed the behavioural patterns of birds, flowering times of plants, and even the hibernation routines of his pet tortoise Timothy purely for the joy of understanding them. 

However, his most notable scientific achievement relates to Swallows, Swifts and House Martins. He was the first person to really study the behaviour of this group of birds, particularly their arrival and departure times. 

The birds’ behaviour had always been a conundrum for scientists. It seemed ridiculous to think that such small birds could possibly travel vast distances. And even such a keen observer as White refused to believe that so potent a symbol of the English countryside could ever leave our shores. 

Already in AD 79, the Roman savant, Pliny the Elder, did not doubt that Swallows migrated to “neighbouring countries”, such as Egypt or Libya, where they sought “sunny retreats … on the mountainsides.” 

This observation seems to have been lost in the following centuries. Some, like 17th-century non-conformist, Charles Morton, even argued that Swallows spent their winters on the Moon. As he explained in his Compendium Physicae, it was an obvious conclusion.

Everyone knew that Swallows disappeared in winter, but no one knew where. They didn’t seem to hide in their nests, in the fissures of trees, or even at the bottom of ponds. Morton, therefore, reasoned that they must be where no one could find them; namely, on the Moon. He was well aware that Galileo had found mountains and seas on the Moon 70 years earlier, and he’d probably read Francis Godwin’s, The Man in the Moone (1638), in which an imaginary traveller meets birds on its surface.

A keen ornithologist, White was also the first to discern that the Willow Wren (or what we know today as the Willow Warbler) was actually three separate species, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Wood Warbler; primarily based on their songs. 

In Ealing we can hear Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in many locations but the Wood Warbler is not resident in the borough but can be encountered in nearby woodland if you are lucky. The numbers of all three of these small warblers have sadly been severely depleted over recent decades.

We have come a long way since then. Gilbert White’s work, grounded on real observation, set an example for all who followed in his footsteps. 

White’s focus on the behaviour of wildlife as much as the physical appearance of plants and animals made him unique in the field of natural history at the time. He patiently observed the behavioural patterns of birds and the flowering times of plants. 

His contemporaries and precursors across Europe had focused on morphological differences between species to categorise them or considered them only by their use to humans either as food or medicine. But as any naturalist today knows, behaviour can be as big a clue to species identification as detailed physical characteristics.

Today, natural history is no longer the preserve of the wealthy and privileged and has become a hobby occupation of the many, from the millions who take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch to gardeners planting insect-friendly wildflowers.

So much of our accumulated knowledge of our wildlife depends very much on the regular and keen observations of amateurs and professionals. 

So why not keep a nature diary and note down what you see? It can be fun and make a useful contribution to our fund of knowledge.

You can join The Selborne Society for just £10.00 a year which will allow you access to Perivale Wood on members’ days. For more details go to their website: https://selbornesociety.org.uk/.