Silver washed fritillary observed 22 June 2020 White refers to red dead nettles on 6 March in the FS and to ‘Butterfly-orchis, orchis alba bifolia minor calcari oblong, in flower’ on 13 June. With rather more patience we can achieve beautiful images of insects, like these two superb pictures taken by volunteer Chris Piper. Greater butterfly orchid observed near Hercules at the Wakes Garden plants, including flowering plants, feature heavily in White’s record, and here we have a pictures of plants beginning to flower in the gardens of Selborne residents. All we need do now is point a digital camera or mobile phone, and we have a picture for the record. White took great pains in appointing an artist to ensure the illustrations for the Natural History of Selborne were up to his exacting standards, as described in Richard Mabey’s biography, and of course the work has been a great inspiration to artists ever since publication in 1789. While we may envy Gilbert White the sheer variety of wildlife that appeared to be around in his time, we have the advantage of easily making a pictorial record of observations. During 2020 and into 2021, similar observations are being made around Selborne, and recorded alongside those of White. The record of observations is known as the Flora Selborniensis (FS). He also recorded what the weather was like and observed first appearances of birds, insects and a few other animals. White made regular observations of plants, particularly when they came into flower, during 1766. In the tricentenary year of Gilbert White’s birth, we started a project to repeat the year-long document that became the Flora Selborniensis. Museum volunteer Debbie Vodden writes about some of observations made in our 2020 study of the Flora of Selborne based on Gilbert White's 1766 study.

Birds of Selborne by Gilbert White