From 1768 until his death in 1793, Gilbert White, a country curate in Hampshire, made almost daily entries in his journal about the weather and nature. He recorded temperature, air pressure, wind direction and rainfall. He noted the activities of birds, insects and other animals; he charted the progress of crops. Through steady observation and the accurate recording of conditions in a circumscribed patch of land – his own district of Selborne, ‘abrupt, uneven country, full of hills and woods, and therefore full of birds’ – he sought to understand nature. Was there a system at work, a great chain of being? Could the workings of God be discerned in the physical world? 

Interest in natural philosophy boomed in the 18th century. All kinds of people were collecting plants and shells, measuring rainfall, watching birds and experimenting with electricity. White was more systematic than most. By 1781, the focus of A Year with Gilbert White, he had spent seven years planning and gathering materials for a book. Another seven were to pass before White’s The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne – a ‘wholly remarkable work’, in Uglow’s words – was published. It hasn’t been out of print since.

The joy of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, and one reason it has been treasured by so many readers, is the mix of scientific detail and warm informality. Like White, Uglow loves to observe and explain in language that is always clear, never condescending to the reader. An