OAK BEFORE ASH: Gilbert White, Robert Marsham and Twenty-Seven Signs of Spring
On July 24th 1790, the squire of Stratton Strawless Hall in Norfolk wrote a fan letter to the author of a book he had just finished reading. It was the first of twenty letters exchanged over the following three years between Robert Marsham, an important but little-known figure in the history of climate change science, and Gilbert White, the renowned author of The Natural History of Selborne.
A work in progress, Oak before Ash will tell the story of how Marsham’s obsession with his list of ‘Indications of Spring’ not only transformed our understanding of that season, but also played a vital role in the development of White’s classic work on the natural world.
Snowdrop flowers
Thrush sings [song thrush]
Hawthorn leaf
Hawthorn flowers
Frog and Toads croak
Sycamore leaf
Birch leaf
Elm leaf
Mountain ash leaf
Oak leaf
Beech leaf
Horse chestnut leaf
Chestnut leaf [sweet chestnut]
Horn beam leaf
Ash leaf
Ringdoves coo [wood pigeon]
Rooks build
Young rooks
Swallows appear
Cuckoo sings
Nightingale sings
Churn Owl sings [nightjar]
Yellow butterfly appears [brimstone]
Turnips in flower
Lime leaf
Maple leaf
Wood anemone flowers