Look, listen and learn are still good bywords for appreciating Nature, says Grace Corne.

Once again I am indebted to Mr Ron Fiske for drawing to my attention observations written many years ago. In the late nineteenth century it was realised that the work of early naturalists might have been ridiculed, ignored or even deliberately lost if it disagreed with the thinking of the time. However those naturalists were not stupid. They recorded situations exactly as they saw them although there was often an inability to explain exactly what it was they were seeing.

A fine example was given from the work of John Capgrave, a native of Norfolk and which was dated 1338. He wrote 'In this year willows bore roses, red and fresh, and that was in January.' In exactly the same year the same strange happening was recorded at Louth Park Abbey in Lincolnshire.

As I write I can imagine colleague Rex Hancy saying 'midge gall' but at that time there was no knowledge that such agents were at work, a situation which continued for many hundreds of years. The botanist Gerard also saw this phenomenon and with no explanation available solved the problem by naming the affected tree as a new species 'the English rose willow.'

It was not until 1830 that a proper description and explanation was given for these 'willow roses.' The original descriptions and observations were in the circumstances as accurate as they could be, As the leaves fell from the willows leaf-like growths remained, very similar to those of a small rose. In early winter they were coloured brown or almost red and sometimes even purple.

We have solved that mystery, but has the situation changed? I think not. Farmers, fishermen and countrymen may have the benefit of many lifetimes of knowledge. They can watch animals, observe the weather patterns and understand the effects of man's intervention but they do not necessarily have the ability to describe events in scientific terms and are frequently ignored. Botanists and herbalists may still be ignored or treated with contempt. Perhaps it is time we said 'if you do not understand it do not ridicule it, but instead take the trouble to look, listen and learn.'