23. Birds of a feather flock together.

Some patients are fortunate to enjoy much better views than others whilst receiving care or treatment within British hospitals. In-patients at The Bristol General Infirmary, for example, are very fortunate to be able to look out onto one of the nearby floating docks and it was whilst I was watching a couple of swans swimming very near its windows the other day that I found myself thinking about some of the birds associated with Joyce Green Hospital.

I am far from an ornithologist and I wouldn’t claim to be able to recognise many of the birds that lived in the hospital grounds or out on the nearby salt marshes either. I could now though recognise a Dartford Warbler because of its association with Dartford Heath and because of the place that it occupies on the hospital badge and certificate that was previously awarded to nurses who successfully passed their hospital final exams.

People sometimes confuse this bird with wrens but in fact the Dartford warbler is a different bird and one that is even smaller than the “Jenny Wren”.

Interestingly this Dartford-linked bird is one of only two bird species in existence that is named after an English town and it was first identified in the vicinity of Dartford in 1773 by Dr John L. Latham.

John Latham was born in Eltham, became a surgeon after studying medicine in London after working under the radical anatomist and surgeon, John Hunter and went on to practise medicine in Dartford.

He must have done well for himself financially because we are told that by 1796 (at the age of 56yrs) he retired to travel and to pursue his other passion - the study of birds. He even travelled to the east coast of Australia, which had by now been claimed by Captain James Cook for King George III of England, in order to study the bird life there - later writing three bird-related text books and becoming known as “the Grandfather of Australian Ornithology”.

It is said that he built up a collection of birds during the time that he lived and worked in Dartford which he eventually left to the town museum and even now it is still possible to see a carefully preserved specimen of this little bird in the Municipal Museum.

One thing that I can’t help thinking about now though is: Who suggested using the Dartford warbler as the emblem for the Dartford group of hospitals and when was this decision made?

Patricia Telesco, in her book: “The Magick of Folk Wisdom” (1995) claims that “a wren’s feather acted as a charm against disaster or drowning” and since the Dartford warbler is also sometimes referred to as the “furze (gorse) wren” I wonder if someone foresaw the severe flooding of the Thames Estuary in January 1953 which was to profoundly effect the whole of the Long Reach site - long after John Latham's death - and thought that the choice of this symbol would offer some protection from the forthcoming deluge ?

In any case it appears that that magic didn't work! However, more of this in the next entry.