A History of Natural History

Occasionally I spend a little time trying to investigate the history of Halcyon and the surrounding area out of interest and to create information for future visitors to the house.

One of the tracks I have gone down is looking at the different naturalists that have taken an interest in the area. Of these, probably the most extraordinary for her time was Emma Turner

Emma Turner spent 20 years from the beginning of the 20th century living on a house boat and small island photographing birds on and around Hickling broad less than a mile from Halcyon. She is best known for proving that the Bittern, which had been presumed extinct in the UK, was alive and breeding by producing the picture below of a Bittern chick.

This BBC Radio 4 programme was made about her in 2012 which talks about the book she wrote 'Broadland Birds' a copy of which I have managed to track down and buy.

Update: After a short conversation with the Google Books Project, they have made a copy of Emma Turner's book Broadland Birds available free and online here. The book is recently out of copyright.

Having found out a little about Emma Turner, I thought I would see if any other naturalists had a link to the area and it turns out that the area around Halcyon has been involved in the evolution of the interest in natural history in England.

The earliest writing about the natural history of the broads I have tracked down is Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk based on notes and letters written in the mid 17th century by Sir Thomas Browne

To Do Notes:
spontanious generation. frogs. bittern sound

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudodoxia_Epidemica
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo313.html
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo327.html#bittern
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo327.html#worm


Edward Booth

shot every thing
created museum
posed naturally
covered life cycle

Book: Rough Notes

Emma Turner

shot photographs

Current day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-39633959