John Drew Salmon was a brewer who lived for four years in the town, from 1833 to 1837.  He was still a young man and was only just turned 30 when he came but he was already a respected naturalist.   Happily for us he kept observations of the wildlife he saw in diaries, which are preserved in the Shirehall Museum, Norwich.

Salmon was a good observer and had free access to Thetford Warren walking there frequently.   Of great interest are his notes concerning the number of birds which nested on the ground there, an indication of the lack of ground predation, no pet cats and all wild predators soon exterminated.   Lapwing and Norfolk plovers (Stone Curlew) were frequent, as were Wheatears and in 1836 he commented: ‘I find the Wheatear does not build in the Rabbit burrows but in the false burrow that does not go far underground.  The nests are easily to be detected by a bird gathering a considerable number of small pieces of the stalks of bracken at the entrance to the hole on the outside.  Having received this information from the Warrener, I was induced to ascertain the correctness of their statement which I found was right having discovered two nests by these means.’  A few months later he wrote ‘it appears that the entrance is always facing southward.  I have found this to be the case with all the nests I have examined this spring.’  In the same year he saw Stock Doves nesting on the ground under the gorse bushes and Jackdaws in the Rabbit burrows on the warren near the Lodge. He also found ‘a Stonechat nest placed on the ground at the front of a furze bush in a hole scraped by a Rabbit, also a Coal Tit, this in a small hole in the ground on the slope of a hill.’

As well as facts and thoughts, he could when moved write pieces of prose, maybe with the idea of future publication.  One wonders what he would have thought had he known they would wait 163 years. On October 17th, 1836 he wrote:-

'A heavy mist hung over the surrounding countryside early this morning which cleared away as the sun advanced towards his median height. Took a walk in the afternoon by the side of the river, all nature appeared to be reveling with delight, a few pairs of Swallows were careering to and fro over the surface of the stream, here and there a solitary lark was hanging on the air caroling forth its joyous notes, myriads of ephemera [mayflies] and phryganea [caddis flies] were sporting over the surface of the river and were constantly falling into the water and as eagerly became food for fishes as they lay struggling on the surface. Saw a solitary admiral butterfly displaying its scarlet and black wings in the genuine warmth of the day as it rested upon the flowerless heads of ragwort. Large patches of Peziza coccinea [a fungus] on the surface of the ground with their beautiful scarlet cups amongst the furze bushes which here and there sported a few yellow flowers.

Several pairs of Hooded Crows were flying along the margins of the river. Crossed at the second stanch to the warren, disturbed a pair of herons which uttered their harsh scream as they slowly winged their way to a distance further down the stream. The low ground was covered with the webs of the gossamer spider. Flushed several Snipe amongst them a Jack Snipe which silently removed to a very hidden spot amongst the turf pits. Saw a large flock of Lapwings wheeling high up in the air. The caterpillar of the Cream Spot Tiger moth was changing his pasturage and several other insects were enjoying themselves on a sunny bank. Apart from a few birds, the distant tramp of horses on the road were almost the only sound that broke the stillness of the scene.'

During his last summer in the town he turned more to plants and among his records are many which are the first for the area, including most of the Breckland specialities.  His discovery of the spiked speedwell, Veronica spicata pre-dates what was thought the first known record - by W.G.Clarke - by some eighty years. 

This might be the place to ask if anyone comes across any old records of plants of this sort, for anywhere in Norfolk, not just the Breck, would they please let Gillian Beckett know as she are trying to work up a complete database of Norfolk records.