Born in 1857 in London, Maurice Charles Hilton Bird became one of the most outstanding natural historians of his generation. His family moved to Norfolk when he was a boy and he lived in the county until his death in 1924, serving as the rector for Brunstead (a village in the Broads) for half a century. He was a great polymath, his interests ranging far and wide to encompass most aspects of the natural world as well as archaeology, agriculture, traditional dialects and land management. James worked closely with the Bird family on a book that celebrates this so-called “Gilbert White of the Broads”, presenting and analysing material from his remarkable archive, one of the most important of its type in the United Kingdom and which has never been revealed before. Click here to buy a copy of the book.