Robert Marsham

Robert Marsham (27 January 1708–4 September 1797) was an English naturalist considered to be the founding father of phenology, the study of the effects of the seasons on plants and animals.

In later life, he owned a modest sized country estate in Stratton Strawless, Norfolk and became friendly with the naturalist Gilbert White, with whom he carried on a lengthy correspondence and who described him as a 'painful and accurate naturalist' (by "painful" he would have meant "painstaking").

Successive generations of his family added to his work until well into the 20th century and this information now provides immensely valuable data to the UK phenology database, giving us a wealth of knowledge about how spring is influenced by prevailing weather conditions, This is now of huge interest in the climate change debate.

Marsham provided insight into the winter of 1739/40, the coldest year on record, when the contents of his chamber pot frequently froze overnight and the turnip crop was completely destroyed.

[2] My farm produced me a Turnip that weighed 19lbs&2oz, & was 39&half roundMarsham is still the only person in Norfolk to have recorded the wallcreeper bird.