This is the story of how I discovered Gilbert White. Because of my work, we moved from Cambridgeshire to Gosport. Elayne’s family live in South London. The easiest route to visit them is to travel north on the A3. Just to the north of Petersfield is the only roundabout on the A3 outside the M25.Continue reading “2046 – About The Letters to Steve”
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2038 – Letter to Steve XIX – More on birds
Dear Steve, It is strange how things work out, isn’t it? Having been late publishing XVIII, I was momentarily relieved that letter XIX was only a short one. The relief vanished when I read the letter, which had a focus on dead birds in the kitchen and birdsong. I had only recently covered things likeContinue reading “2038 – Letter to Steve XIX – More on birds”
2010 – Letter to Steve XV – From Ants to Stars
Dear Steve, I found it very difficult to respond directly to Gilbert’s Letter XV. His world was very different to ours. If I see something like an unusual bird, I’d want to photograph it, and then use the internet to learn about the bird, in the meantime is hopefully working on its nest. Gilbert’s response,Continue reading “2010 – Letter to Steve XV – From Ants to Stars”
1983 – Letter to Steve XI
Dear Steve, I read through Letter XI, and I confess, I was more than a bit surprised by the first paragraph. Gilbert had acquired a dead falcon. Taking it into his home, he took measurements of it, and looked at its characteristics. That kind of floored me a bit. What could I do that wasContinue reading “1983 – Letter to Steve XI”
1976 – Letter to Steve X
Gilbert starts his letter X by expressing his frustration that he has no local like-minded people with whom he can share his interests. Writing his letters to his two friends is as close as he gets to conversing with anybody who shares his interests. I found myself asking how long a normal exchange of lettersContinue reading “1976 – Letter to Steve X”
1964 – Busy doing Nothing
It is getting to a bit of a pleasant routine that would normally happen on a Monday morning, except it’s a day late this week. Having made a cup of tea and fed the cat, I come back upstairs and retreive Gilbert’s book from the office. I settle down to read the next letter fromContinue reading “1964 – Busy doing Nothing”
1949 – Letter to Steve VI
Letter VI Gilbert’s Letter VI talks of a fairly extensive forest adjacent to Selborne. The Forest of Wolmer. Now, I am not aware of a forest of equivalent size near Gosport (the New Forest is too far away), but what we do have is the Alver Valley. This is a lovely nature reserve with aContinue reading “1949 – Letter to Steve VI”
1921 – The Gilbert White Letter II.
I’ve repeated the use of last nights bad picture quite deliberately. In my post 1911 Making Smoke, I wrote a letter to my friend Steve on the lines of Gilbert Whites Letter No. II from his book, The Natural History of Selborne. Today’s post continues what I hope will be a trend of letters; HiContinue reading “1921 – The Gilbert White Letter II.”
1920 – Trees and other stuff
Firstly, I apologise for the appalling picture, but I need it to illustrate a point. Secondly, I apologise for last nights rushed post. Even this post may get pushed out prematurely, and then updated as I want to maintain the WordPress publishing count. I’ve had a really quite enjoyable day. I got up fairly early,Continue reading “1920 – Trees and other stuff”
1908 – Gilbert, Geese and other things
I’m supposed to be reading the Gilbert White letters. I’m starting at the beginning, with letter 1, rather than working on the dates of the letters. Apparently, he was a bit more subtle than that, as I thought I should. So, I have the delight of reading this Afternoon. I am disappointed that I didn’tContinue reading “1908 – Gilbert, Geese and other things”
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