Dates Of The Appearance Of Some Spring Birds In 1832, At Clitheroe

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Title:     Dates Of The Appearance Of Some Spring Birds In 1832, At Clitheroe
Author: Thomas Garnett [More Titles by Garnett]

Young Rooks heard, 5th April; House Martin seen, 14th; Sandpiper, 14th; Willow Wren, Spring Wagtail, and Redstart, 17th; Wheatear, 19th (this is generally the first spring bird seen); Sand Martin and Swallow, 22nd; Cuckoo heard, 26th; Wood Wren, Blackcap, and Whinchat, 28th; Mocking-bird and Whitethroat, 4th May; Swift, 7th; Flycatcher, 11th; and Fieldfares were not seen until the 2nd of May, which is later than I ever observed them before. (In the parish of Allesby, near Coventry, Fieldfares were observed as late as the 14th of May.)

No doubt many of these birds were in the neighbourhood earlier than the dates I have attached to them, but they are the periods at which I saw or heard them.

The study of Natural History is perhaps as little followed in this neighbourhood as in any part of the kingdom, notwithstanding the facilities which are offered. Our flora is beautiful, varied, and possesses many rare plants, yet I only know of two herbaria; the birds are abundant, yet there is but one collector of them; and as for insects, although I frequently take what I consider rare species, yet I cannot find an entomologist in the whole district, or I would send them to him.

In conclusion, allow me to say, that the leisure hours a somewhat busy life has enabled me to spend in these pursuits, have been some of the happiest of my existence, and have awakened and cherished such an admiration of nature and such a love for the country and its scenes, as I think can never be appreciated by the inhabitants of large towns, and which I cannot describe so well as in the words of one of my friends in a beautiful apostrophe to England, when leaving it--never to return: [1]--

"To thee Whose fields first fed my childish fantasy, Whose mountains were my boyhood's wild delight, Whose rocks, and woods, and torrents were to me The food of my soul's youthful appetite; Were music to my ear--a blessing to my sight."

 

FOOTNOTE:
[1]The intrepid and unfortunate traveller Joseph Ritchie, who accompanied Captain Lyon's expedition to Fezzan, and died there in 1819. Mr. Ritchie was a native of Otley, and an intimate friend of Mr. Garnett and his brothers. The beautiful poem from which the quotation is taken is printed in Alaric Watts's "Poetical Album."

[The end]
Thomas Garnett's essay: Dates Of The Appearance Of Some Spring Birds In 1832, At Clitheroe

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