What links this week’s photo with a world famous architect, a London recording society, a protected nature site and a small brown bird (via 382 years of history)?
On the 20th October 1632, Christopher Wren was born. Wren went on to become one of our most famous architects, influencing the appearance of London to this day. In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed many of the capital’s buildings, requiring much restoration and re-building. Wren designed 51 churches and the new St. Paul’s Cathedral for London, the building and gardens of which are shown in this photograph. Read more about the coverage of Wren’s birthday and his life.
In 1913, two hitherto rival natural history groups joined forces to become the London Natural History Society (LNHS) and set out their recording area. They chose to delineate a circle with a 20 miles radius from St. Paul’s Cathedral, within which to make their wildlife observations. Read more about the history of the LNHS here. To this day, the LNHS use the same recording area, which encircles modern Greater London. The Society have contributed thousands of records to the the GiGL database and GiGL now uses a digital version of the LNHS area within our Geographical Information System (GIS).
St. Paul’s Cathedral is probably Wren’s most famous legacy, known to all Londoners, and a fitting centre of the LNHS recording area. Less well known is that the surrounding St. Paul’s Cathedral Gardens is also designated a Local Site of Importance for Nature Conservation – read more on iGiGL. It is a cemetery and ornamental garden and includes mature trees. GiGL have a number of wildlife records for the site, including a couple of a wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes), the small bird and namesake of the architect!
When you’re next near St. Pauls, look out for wrens (or any other wildlife) and let us know what you see in the historical centre of London.
October 2014