This book is both a guide to nature journaling and a calendar for recording events and observations by date over a five-year period. Inspired by the garden calendar of Gilbert White in the 18th century, it is designed to accommodate brief periodic natural history observations that evoke an "immersion in the familiar" that assure "all is right with the world."
The text suggests ways to become a more attentive and observant naturalist. It explains how to record and organize observations of the natural world so as to better analyze them and recognize subtle patterns. And it describes simple experiments like putting a plastic bag over the buds on a tree to see if it hastens budding. Or changing the mix or quantities of seed in birdfeeders to see what difference it makes in the birds that come to dine.
"A calendar-journal recording natural events and observations eventually leads to greater awareness of our surroundings," notes Bernd Heinrich in his introduction. "It is a tangible memory, leading to both predictions and questions. It suggests what to look for. We may remember events but there is little to connect them unless they are saved in writing and can be stored and compared and connected for deeper understanding of new realities that become clear only over time."