In our regular update from the Nature’s Calendar initiative, Tim Sparks and Judith Garforth explain what the diary entries from an unsung hero of phenological recording can tell us about changes in the timings of some classic signs of spring.
Jean Combes of Ashtead, Surrey, died aged 96 on 1st August 2023. Ever since she was a teenager, Jean had been carefully observing and sketching the world around her. She later instilled that love of nature in her three daughters. We became aware of Jean’s phenology records in the mid-1990s when she got in touch following the publication of the Marsham family records from 1736 to 1947 (Sparks & Carey 1995), later extended to 1958.