 From a very early age he had shown a passion for the natural world.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").He is best known for his "Indications of Spring", the phenology notes in which he recorded 27 signs of spring, starting in 1736 and continuing for over 60 years.