Working at home as I often do on a Friday brings with it many advantages. And of course many distractions to overcome. However today my ability to overcome this particular distracting great tit at the feeders was weak. It is a long time since I've used sunflower hearts at the feeders but the change in species has while not dramatic, been noticeable. Mixed seed, peanuts and fat balls are in constant supply here for the 40 or so house sparrows that make my garden (and roof eaves) home. Their antics are a joy to behold. However last weekend I decided to fill one of the feeders with sunflower hearts. Since then a number of blue and great tits have come back into the garden, providing a welcome (and much quieter) avian distraction.
It was lucky I had the camera to hand to snap that image of a sunflower pinching great tit. A moment caught forever. At this time I was taking a photograph of this book, bought for me by Julie yesterday from Great Bedwyn Post Office second hand stall. It is a great little book, well used it has to be said, but it reminds me how far we have come in terms of identification aids. This reference works to British Butterflies and Moths by W. Percival Westell was first published around 1925 (I've failed to find an exact date) and I love books from that era. Simple black and white line drawings of the moths and butterflies he describes in summary detail, a far cry from the HD photographic images we can all access in 2014. Yet 90 years after publication these books are as valuable now as they were to the budding naturalist then. True some of the information has been superseded and updated, but these books provide a historical bedrock to what was happening in the British countryside between the wars, when the second wave of amateur naturalists swished butterfly nets across a meadow tall.
I'd heard of W Percival Westell but knew very little about him. So, after some internet research, I discovered that he was born in 1874 and was the first curator of the Letchworth and District Museum and Art Gallery in Letchworth, Britain's first Garden City. This Museum housed the artefacts of and was dedicated to the natural history of North Hertfordshire, including the famous Black Squirrel. Westell was appointed Honorary Curator in 1914 and remained there until his death in 1943. Whilst there he became a prolific author of nature works and in total wrote 84 books and gave over 100 radio talks on the BBC mostly covering the natural world.
For such a prolific author and naturalist there is very little information out there. I have though found his autobiography on-line from 1918;
I feel a winter project coming on to discover more about this Letchworth naturalist. It is amazing what happens following a £2 book purchase.
Welcome back to Wessex Reiver Andrew :) Sunflower hearts are very popular here too - those and the fatballs are the most popular foods with our garden birds. I just love the butterfly and moth book - what a wonderful find, purchase and present :) It reminds me of some of the Wayside and Woodland books I have - they are such treasures. Look forward to hearing me of the Letchworth naturalist - a very worthwhile project :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Caroline - having had itchy fingers with nothing to write, I've now lapsed.... but you're right there's something luxuriant about the aroma and feel of old books
ReplyDeleteOh heavens, I love old books, I love books in general and would be lost if I didn't have them all around me. The feel, the smell, well, you know what I mean. haha. Most of the birds I have coming to the garden love sunflower seeds. I have a hard time keeping up with them.
ReplyDelete