The Natural History of Selborne

• 1791: January 1, 1791 – Many horse-beans sprang up in my field-walks in the autumn, & are now grown to a considerable height.  As the Ewel was in beans last summer, it is most likely that these seeds came from thence; but the distance is too considerable for them to have been conveyed by mice.  It is most probably therefore that they were brought by birds, & in particular, by jays & pies, who seem to have hid them among the grass, & moss, & then to have forgotten where they had stowed them.  Some pease are also growing in the same situation, & probably under the same circumstances.  Mr Derham has recorded that mice hide acorns one by one in pastures in the autumn; & that he has observed them to be hunted-out by swine, who discovered them by their smell.
• 1790: January 1, 1790 – Frost, ice, sun, pleasant, moon-light.  The hounds found a leash of hares on the hill.
• 1789: January 1, 1789 – Snow thick on the ground.  Timothy begins to sink his well at the malt-house.
• 1788: January 1, 1788 – Contracted my great parlor chimney by placing stone-jams on the top of the grate on each side, & building brick-work on the jams as high as the work-man could reach.  This expedient has entirely cured the smoking, & given the chimney a draught equal to that in the old parlor.
• 1785: January 1, 1785 – Much snow on the ground.  Ponds frozen-up & almost dry.  Moles work: cocks crow.  Ground soft under the snow.  No field-fares seen; no wag-tails.  Ever-greens miserably scorched; even ivy, in warm aspects.
• 1782: January 1, 1782 – Winter aconites blow.
• 1780: January 1, 1780 – Ice is very thick.
• 1779: January 1, 1779 – Storm all night.  The may-pole is blown down.  Thatch & tiles damaged.  Great damage is done both by sea and land.
• 1778: January 1, 1778 – Fires are made every day in my new parlour: the walls sweat much.
• 1777: January 1, 1777 – Steady frost, snow on the ground.
• 1774: January 1, 1774 – Larks congregate.
• 1769: January 1, 1769 – Nuthatch chatters.  It chatters as it flies.

• 1783: December 28, 1783 – Ground so icy that people get frequent falls.
• 1782: December 28, 1782 – Boys play at Marbles on the Plestor.
• 1770: December 28, 1770 – The lavants, or land-springs run very strong between Faringdon & Chawton.

• 1787: December 27, 1787 – A musca domestica, by the warmth of my parlor has lengthened out his life, & existence to this time: he usually basks on the jams of the chimney within the influence of the fire after dinner, & settles on the table, where he sips the wine & tastes the sugar & baked apples.  If there comes a very severe day he withdraws & is not seen.
• 1785: December 27, 1785 – Tapped my new rick of hay this day, which, tho’ made without rain, is vapid, & without much scent ,& consists more of weeds than grass.  The summer was so dry, that little good grass grew, ’till after the first crop was cut.  The rick is also very small.
• 1783: December 27, 1783 – Mr. Churton came from Oxford.
• 1782: December 27, 1782 – Large flock of wood-pigeons in the north field.
• 1775: December 27, 1775 – On every sunny day the winter thro’, clouds of insects usually called gnats (I suppose tipulae & empedes) appear sporting & dancing over the tops of the ever-green trees in the shrubbery, & frisking about as if the business of generation was still going on.  Hence it appears that these diptera (which by their sizes appear to be of different species) are not subject to a torpid state in the winter, as most winged Insects are.  At night, & in frosty weather, & when it rains & blows they seem to retire into those trees.  They often are out in a fog.
• 1769: December 27, 1769 – Here & there a lamb.
• 1768: December 27, 1768 – Weather more like April than ye end of December.  Hedge-sparrow sings.

• 1792: December 26, 1792 – Bramblings are seen: they are winter-birds of passage, &  come with the hen-chaffinches.  Nep. Ben. White & wife came.
• 1786: December 26, 1786 – Mr. Churton came.
• 1785: December 26, 1785 – Many wild-fowls, ducks & widgeons, at Wolmer-pond ’till the hard weather came: since which they have all disappeared.
• 1782: December 26, 1782 – Crucus’s shoot.  Feb-like weather.  The Plestor, & street dry & clean.
• 1779: December 26, 1779 – Most beautiful rimes.
• 1777: December 26, 1777 – A fox ran up the street at noon-day.  No birds love to fly down the wind, which protrudes them too fast & hurries them out of their poise: besides it blows-up their feathers, & exposes them to the cold.  All birds love to perch as well a to fly with their heads to the windward.  FOOTNOTE:  The christenings at Faringdon near Alton, Hants from the year 1760 to 1777 inclusive were 152: the burials at the same place in the same period were 124.  So that the births exceed the deaths by 28.  I have buried many very old people there: yet of late several young folks have dyed of a decline.
• 1773: December 26, 1773 – White water wagtail.
• 1772: December 26, 1772 – Dark, rime, thaw.
• 1771: December 26, 1771 – Thrush and redbreast sing.  Bunting, emberiza alba, at Farnigdon.  I never saw one in the parish of Selborne.  They affect a champion  country, & abound in the downy open parts.  Ducks, teals, and wigeons have appeared on Wulmere-pond about three weeks: one pewit-gull, larus cinereus, appears. A pike was taken lately in this pond measuring 3 feet & 3 inch: in length; & 21 inch: in circumference: in it’s belly were 3 considerable carps.  When fit for the table it weighed 24 pounds.

Rime-covered beeches, by Richardfabi, courtesy of Wikimedia.

• 1790: December 25, 1790 – H. & Ben Woods left us.
• 1789: December 25, 1789 – Our rivulets were much flooded; &  the water at Oakhanger ran over the bridge, which in in old days was called tun-bridge.
• 1787: December 25, 1787 – The snow, where level, about one foot in depth: in some places much drifted.
• 1784: December 27, 1784 – Stagg, the keeper, who inhabits the house at the end of Wolmer Pond, tells me that he has seen no wild-fowl on that lake during the whole frost; & that the whole expanse is entirely frozen up to such a thickness that the ice would bear a waggon.  500 ducks are seen some times together on that pond.
• 1782: December 25, 1782 – The boys at Faringdon play in the church-yard in their shirts.  They did so this day twelve-month.
• 1781: December 25, 1781 – Sun, bright, & pleasant.  A gardener in this village has lately cut several large cauliflowers, growing without any glasses.  The boys are playing in their shirts.  On this day Admiral Kempenfelt fell in with a large convoy from Brest, & took a number of French transports.
• 1779: December 25, 1779 – Vast rime, strong frost, birght, & still, fog.  The hanging woods when covered with a copious rime appear most beautiful & grotesque.
• 1768: December 25, 1768 – Wheat comes up well.  Lavants seem to abate.

Notes:

Today’s entries demonstrate the long eclipse of Christmas celebrations in the 18th century. It was not until the Victorians that it regained its importance on the calendar. The cauliflowers grown ‘without glasses’, means without what we would now call a cloche, which would be used to protect tender plants against frost. The capture of the French ships, as far as I can figure, actually took place on the 12 of December and was known as the Battle of Ushant, part of the global colonial sparring between France, England, and Spain. Admiral Kempenfelt commanded The Victory in this battle, a ship that was to become famous under Nelson. The admiral reappears in more unfortunate circumstances in a 1782 entry recording the loss of the Royal George.

• 1792: December 24, 1792 – Covered the artichokes, & rhubarb with litter, & the spinage, & the Yucca filimentosa with straw; & the few brown lettuces with straw.  Mr Churton came.
• 1787: December 24, 1787 – Deep snow.  The Bantham fowls, when first let out, were so astonished at the snow that they flew over the house.
• 1783: December 24, 1783 – A fine yellow wagtail appears every day.
• 1778: December 24, 1778 – Several little black ants appear about the kitchen-hearth.  These must be the same that are seen annually in hot weather on the stairs, with which somehow they have communication thro’ a thick wall, or under the pavement, into the middle of the house.
• 1777: December 24, 1777 – This day the plasterers put a finishing hand to the ceiling, cornice, and side-plaster-work of my great parlor.  The latter is done on battin-work standing-out 3 inches from the walls.
• 1774: December 24, 1774 – Grey & sharp.  Vast flight of wild-fowl haunt Woollmer-pond: the water in some parts is covered with them.  They are probably more numerous on account of the early severity of the weather on the continent.
• 1772: December 24, 1772 – Ground very white.  Thermomr abroad 27.
• 1771: December 24, 1771 – Many sorts of flies are out & very brisk.
• 1768: December 24, 1768 – Gnats appear much, & some flies.  A dry, mild season.

• 1791: December 23, 1791 – Mr. Churton came from Oxford.
• 1790: December 23, 1790 – Thunder, lightening, rain, snow!  A severe tempest.  Much damage done in & about London: damage to some ships at Portsmouth. Vast damage in various parts!  Two men were struck dead in a wind-mill near Rooks-hill on the Sussex downs: & on Hind-head one of the bodies on the gibbet was beaten down to the ground.  Harry & Ben Woods came.
• 1789: December 23, 1789 – Dark & dismal.  Mr. Churton came from Oxford.
• 1788: December 23, 1788 – Moles work, & heave up their hillocks.
• 1786: December 23, 1786 – Snow all day.
• 1785: December 23, 1785 – Mr. Churton came from Oxford.
• 1784: December 23, 1784 – Many labourers are employed in shoveling the snow, & opening the hollow, stony lane, that leads to the forest.  Snow frozen so as almost to bear.
• 1780: December 23, 1780 – Nor rain has fallen since the 24th of Novr.  The millers complain for want of water.
• 1778: December 23, 1778 – Wheat grows much.  Grass grows.
• 1776: December 23, 1776 – Strong N. auroras tho’ the moon was very bright.
• 1770: December 23, 1770 – Linnets flock & haunt the oat stubbles & pease-fields.

• 1788: December 22, 1788 – A considerable flight of wood-cocks around the Barnet.
• 1786: December 22, 1786 – Ice in my chamber.
• 1784: December 22, 1784 – Farmer Lassam’s Dorsetshire ewes begin to lamb.  His turnips are frozen as hard as stones.
• 1780: December 22, 1780 – Antir.  Cymbalaria still in bloom.  Two hares in the garden last night.  Snow wastes: eaves drip.  Cocks crow.
• 1779: December 22, 1779 – Ground covered with snow.
• 1777: December 22, 1777 – For want of rain the millers are much in want of water.  Carried out many loads of dung from the cucumber beds on the great meadow.  Finished the cornice of the great parlor.
• 1772: December 22, 1772 – First ice.  icicles.  Ground very white.  Nasturtiums cut all down, & rotten.
• 1772: December 22, 1772 – Vast fog.  Nasturtiums still.
• 1770: December 22, 1770 – Trenched up the quarters of the garden for the winter.
• 1769: December 22, 1769 – Thunder, lightening & hail before day-break.  Hen chaffinches congregate.
• 1768: December 22, 1768 – French-beans are planted in the hot-house at Hartley.  Pines are still  cutting.

• 1791: December 21, 1791 – Dark & cold, frost.
• 1787: December 21, 1787 – Shortest day. Pleasant weather.  A hunted hind came down Galley-hill into the street; where being headed by the village dogs, it turned back to Well-head, & was taken in Kircher’s farm yard, & put into the barn, being quite run down.  One of the Gent. pursuers let it blood, & hired  a man to watch it all night.  in the morning by seven o’ the clock a deer-cart came, & took it away.  There were several Gent. in with the dogs, when they took the deer.  The dogs & hind were said to belong to Mr Delmee, who lives near Fareham. The deer was turned-out in the morning on Stevens Castle down near Bishop’s Waltham, which is at least 18 miles from this place.  The dogs were short & thick, but had shrill notes like fox-hounds, & when they ran hard opened but seldom, so that they made but little cry.
• 1785: December 21, 1785 – Planted 20 Scotch-firs round Benham’s orchard.
• 1781: December 21, 1781 – Furze is in bloom.  Several young lambs at the Priory.  Shortest day.
• 1778: December 21, 1778 – Vast flocks of fieldfares.  Are these prognostic of hard weather?
• 1776: December 21, 1776 – The shortest day: a truly black, & dismal one.
• 1775: December 21, 1775 – People fall with colds. Dry weather for near three weeks, ’til the ground was very free from water.
• 1771: December 21, 1771 – Storm, rain & hail, thunder.
• 1770: December 21, 1770 – Musca tenax does not die as winter comes on, but lays itself up.
• 1768: December 21, 1768 – Rooks feed earnestly in ye stubbles.  Red-breast sings.

• 1792: December 20, 1792 – Dark & wet.  Shower, a short, but violent gust.  Lightening.
• 1791: December 20, 1791 – Saw lately a white, & a yellow wagtail about the well-head rivulet.  No farther north than Rutland wagtails, withdraw, & are never seen in the winter.
• 1788: December 20, 1788 – The frost has lasted now five weeks.
• 1785: December 20, 1785 – Dug up carrots, second crop.
• 1784: December 20, 1784 – My laurel-hedge is scorched, & looks very brown!
• 1777: December 20, 1777 – Finished plowing-up the Ewel-close, a wheat-stubble, to prepare it for barley, & grass-seeds it must be plowed thrice.  The ground is pretty dry, but tough & heavy, requiring naturally much meliorating.  This week Wolmer-pond was fished; & out of it was taken, an eye-witness tells me, a pike that weighed 30 pounds.
• 1768: December 20, 1768 – Rain & wind all night.  Toad appears crawling.