John Talbot White

[4] Later he turned to British topographical and natural history subjects of the South East of England and particularly the county of Kent, becoming a stalwart contributor to The Guardian's Country Diary column.

[2] His writing included educational works and two volumes for The Regions of Britain series, one on the Scottish borders (1973) and another on the Kent, Surrey and Sussex area (1977).

[5] George Seddon, reviewing the book for The Guardian, described White as having the ideal qualities of a country diarist of an "observant pair of eyes, infectious enthusiasm, and an unaffected prose style" as he chronicled the Kent marshes in January, the Sussex Downs in March, and the Surrey heaths in August.

[3] As well as describing seasonal changes, White was careful to place natural features in their historical contexts, acknowledging, for instance, that the hedgerow was an innovation by man,[7] and that modern farm buildings that jarred with the landscape now would probably become as accepted as the oast house with the passage of time.

[8] Similarly with hedgerows, White noted their varieties and historical background; tall, mainly hawthorn, hedges in Kent surrounding hop gardens that date from the introduction of hops in the Tudor period,[9] and others that denoted the boundaries of Saxon parishes and included many different species such as blackthorn, guelder rose, hawthorn, and yew, and a similarly wide range of birds and other wildlife that lived in them or fed off their fruit.