John F. Burton (1) (1931–)

John F. Burton, long standing member of the LNHS, has had a long, fruitful and productive life in the world of natural history. He was involved from an early age with the RSPB, then the BTO, the Natural History Museum and the BBC Natural History Unit where he was Sound and Film Librarian. He retired from the BBC in 1988.

This book records his earliest involvement with nature and is divided into six main chapters, from 1940 (when he was nine) to 1943, from 1943 to 1945, then 1946, two chapters on 1947, one on the cruel winter and one on the following summer, and a final chapter on 1948. The family moved from Lewisham to Mottingham, then on the very edge of London and from there back to Charlton. The chapters intersperse narrative descriptions of the author's natural history undertakings with extracts from his field notes and diaries. London naturalists will recognise many of the sites in southeast London and the adjoining areas of Kent that he describes. Many others, however, are now changed beyond all recognition, the post World War II expansion of London rivalling that of the Victorian era in changing open country to bricks and mortar.

He says of the London Bird Report “I well remember the thrill of pleasure I had felt when the latter slim green publication first came into my hands in April 1947 and I saw so many of my bird sightings for 1946 published, with my initials in brackets after each record”. The extensive extracts from his notes show the richness of the underlying observations of which only the bare details appear in the Report, and are a useful reminder of the importance of field notes. It was in 1946 that he first had the use of a pair of binoculars, lent to him by Frank Holroyde when he joined the LNHS. His observations are not limited to birds, however: flowers, insects, amphibians, and mammals, all came within his view. Birds were his first interest, but “I decided it would be wise to build up as sound and as wide a genereal background knowledge of the natural world as possible”.

The book includes a useful 33 page “Who's Who” of his contacts during the years covered by the book, who are now deceased, many of whose names will be known to LNHS members. The book is illustrated by the author's own photographs and drawings… (mere)