[3] The film, partly a tribute to Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne, features a commentary by the poet Laurie Lee, and camerawork by the wildlife cinematographer Patrick Carey.

"[4] Kine Weekly wrote: "Delightful interest featurette, brilliantly photographed in Technicolor, dealing with animal, bird and plant life in Selborne, Hampshire, made famous by Gilbert White, the great 18th-century naturalist.

"[5] Lindsay Anderson wrote in the New Statesman: "Journey Into Spring is undynamic, ordinary in conception, and without the slightest touch of personal feeling; it is ornamented by one of those terrible 'poetic' commentaries which tries to supplant the images on the screen with 'literary' fancies of its own (Mr Laurie Lee is responsible for this); in any real sense it is wholly unlyrical.

These vernal moles, stained glass windows and shiny airliners – is this what the finest flower of the British Cinema (and I think it is legitimate to refer to the documentary movement in such terms) has been reduced to?

"[6] BFI Screenonline wrote: "This is one of BTF's loveliest films, and a valuable record of the teeming variety that lurks in Britain's ponds and hedgerows.