Gilbert White

1777: Rain was wanting for the sowing of wheat. Many swallows seen in Cambridge.

1777: Great rain.

1777: Hogs are put-up in their fatting pens. Strong wind. The hanging woods are beautifully tinged.

1777: Lassam. Much wheat sown.

1777: Reading.

1777: Cold & sharp.

1777: Sweet dry weather.

1777: Cold.

1777: Some swallows seen.

1777: Oxford.

1777: Whitchurch. Vast shower.

1777: Worting. Redwings appear.

1777: No hirundines.

1777: Selborne. Vast fog, sun, sweet day. Gossamer abounds. Several swallows. Swallows left Fyndon.

1777: Beans & vetches are housed.

1777: Bramshot Place. Sun, fine autumnal weather. Mr Richardon's nectarines & peaches still in perfection.

1777: Many swallows & martins. Began to light fires in the parlour.

1777: Gathered first grapes: ripe but not delicate.

1777: Sun, strong wind, some clouds, still & bright.

1777: Many swallows and house-martins still.

1777: What becomes of those massy clouds that often incumber the atmosphere in the day, & yet disappear in the evening. Do they melt down into dew?

1777: Sun, heavy clouds, hot, mild & still.

1777: Showers, loud thunder, heavy showers, bright stars. This day, Mr Richardson of Bramshot shot a wood-cock: it was large & plump & a female: it lay in a moorish piece of ground. This bird was sent to London, where as the porter carryed it along the streets he was offered a guinea for it.

1777: Nectarines are delicate to the last.

1777: Distant thunder in the night. House martins abound.

1777: Thunder in the night with an heavy shower. Swallows about.

1777: Mackerel-sky.

1777: Peaches & Nect: are still delicate.

1777: The walks begin to be strewed with leaves. Vivid Northern Aurora.

1777: Cold air, sun, bright day, heavy clouds, stars.

1777: Peaches, & Nectarines now very fine.

1777: Little corn abroad: hop-picking almost finished. Grapes turn apace.

1777: Selborne. Some corn abroad: a vast burden of straw, & many ricks.

1777: Chilgrove. Ring-ousels on the downs on their autumnal visit. Lapwings about on the downs attended by starlings; few stone-curlews. Sweet Italian skies. The foliage of the beeches remarkably decayed & rusty.

1777: Findon. Deep, wet fog. Sweet day.

1777: Rooks frequent their nest-trees. Much Gossamer on the pastures and stubbles.

1777: Young martins still in their nests. Wagtails chase swallows.

1777: Black cluster-grapes begin to turn colur. A tremendous, & awful earthquake at Manchester, & the district round. The earthquake happened a little before eleven o' the clock in the forenoon, when many of the inhabitants were assembled at their respective places of worship.

1777: Roads very dusty. Timothy the tortoise weighed six pounds 3 quarters, 2 oun: & an half: so is not at all encreased in weight since this time last Year. The scales were not very exact.

1777: The curious migration of cross-bills, which comes often to the pine-plantations round this house, still continues. These birds are foreign, & not known to breed in the kingdom. They appear first in July.

1777: Mrs Snooke's tortoise devours kidney-beans & cucumbers in a most voracious manner: swallows it's food almost whole.

1777: One bank-martin among the other hirundines; dips frequently. Fly-catcher still remains.

1777: Fern-owls haunts Mrs. Snooke's orchard in the autumn.

1777: Vast fog, grey, sweet afternoon, white creeping fog.