Biographical Details

My grandfather was born on 17th February 1891 at Sayell's Farm in Sundon, Bedfordshire. My memories of him stem from the latter part of his life, when he lived in Dunstable, where he died in 1975. He came from a Sundon family - my great-grandfather ran the village Post Office at Sayell's Farm until he died. Grandpa Frank had one brother, Harold, who died in 1923.

He married my Grandma Margaret ('Maggie') on 24th January 1917. I don't remember Grandma Margaret at all as she died when I was a baby. Shortly after marrying Maggie, my grandfather joined the Royal Engineers. He was posted to France and Belgium on the 10th March to fight on the Western Front towards the end of the First World War. He still managed to keep up his interest in natural history, collecting eggs and going on many nature rambles during his time in the Department Pas-de-Calais. We still have many of his rambling diaries complete with many pressed flowers and other memorabilia from his time as a soldier. On being de-mobbed on 11th November 1919, he returned to his home stomping ground and spent the majority of his working life at E.W. Hudson & Co Engineering Works in Luton.

Despite his career in Engineering, Grandpa Frank was an academic at heart. The notes for each clutch of eggs include a wealth of information about the plant life and moths and butterflies that he encountered while collecting. In addition to his encyclopaedic natural knowledge, he also quoted Shakespeare at will and had a fondness for Brer Rabbit! He wrote incessantly: nature notes, diaries, articles ... for himself and for others, it wasn't important. He was an extremely talented artist, his drawings accurate to the smallest detail, skills all of his grandchildren have inherited to varying degrees. I can only hope that this is some small way to commemorate those skills.

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) - (5) - England, 1927

Old nest of magpie. Ash tree on steep hillside.

There were six eggs in this nest, but Ronald, who did the climb for me, lost one through a hole in his pocket. The nest was 50ft high, and is the same nest from which I obtained a clutch of five eggs of the same species on May 10th 1925, but these eggs are of a different type. It is wonderful how these magpie nests survive the rough winds for so many years with no repairs. Saw first cuckoo near here. Took one Green Hairstreak, no other butterflies on the wing on hills, though several Whites were to be seen in the village, also Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone. Tiger larvae very small yet. Dandelions and cowslips glorious. Fine bright day, but cool wind. Sharp frosts at night recently. In Sundon Church are numerous jackdaws, nesting, and near Harold's grave is a nest of young Song Thrushes. Greenfinch nearly ready for eggs on Blackberry Knoll. Wheatear in field, Harlington Road. The spring migrants not much in evidence yet. Saw no woodpeckers.

Coombes, Sundon, Bedfordshire, Chiltern Hills, May 1st.
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