Journal entries of Gilbert White

Gilbert White (1720 - 1793) was a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist and ornithologist who lived in Selborne, Hampshire. He is best known for his book The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, which has been continuously in print since it was published in 1789, with nearly 300 editions as of 2007. It was long held (although probably apocryphally) to be the fourth-most published book in the English language after the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

White is regarded by many as England's first ecologist, helping to shape the modern attitude of respect for nature: "Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. [...] worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them..."

White kept a detailed record of the natural world in and around Selborne from 1768, laid out in nine columns with printed headings: place, date, barometric pressures, temperatures, rainfall, wind and other weather notes. Alongside these were miscellaneous observations, the vast majority of which are pithy, evocative and perfectly suited for text posts. This account automatically posts the observations, and occasionally the weather notes, on the day of the year that they were written. White started his journal in 1768, and the account is currently posting entries from 1775. The observations continued up until eight days before his death on 26th June 1793, so the account will theoretically be posting until 2042.

The tone of the entries ranges from curt, through poetic and visually evocative, to detailed, with occasional flashes of humour:

18th January 1770

Vast aurora: a red fiery broad belt from E. to W.

13th February 1770

Saw bustards on Salisbury plain: they resemble fallow-deer at a distance. Partridges pair. Wild-geese in the winter do damage to the green wheat on Salisbury plain.

17th February 1770

Storm, rain, sleet.

16th April 1770

Green wood-pecker laughs at all the world. Storm-cock sings.