The Selborne Society was founded in 1885 to commemorate the eighteenth century naturalist Gilbert White of Selborne in Hampshire. It was originally a national organisation, founded to continue the traditions of this pioneer of environmental study by correspondence between members about their observations of natural history.

Today's Selborne Society Ltd was originally the Brent Valley branch of the national Society, and continues the work of its founders, observing and recording wildlife in part of west London and managing and conserving Perivale Wood Local Nature Reserve as the Gilbert White Memorial.

Perivale Wood is a 27 acre (11 hectare) area of ancient oak woodland in west London. It is bounded to the north by the Grand Union canal, to the south by a railway embankment and houses, to the west by industrial units and to the east by houses and recreational open space.

Photograph from Google Earth

The Reserve includes a rich variety of habitats:

18 acres (7.3 ha) of ancient mixed oak woodland
5 acres (2 ha) of grazed pasture land
2 acres (0.8 ha) of damp scrub
2 acres (0.8 ha) of relatively recently disturbed land, which has a very different vegetation from the rest of the wood.
There are also three ponds and two small streams
as well as the hedgerows that we now think of as enclosing the wood, but which would originally have enclosed the pasture land.

Within the Reserve you can find:

600 species of fungi
544 species of moths (click here for the full list)
30 species of molluscs
17 species of mammals
24 species of trees
350 species of vascular plants
36 species of mosses and liverworts
115 species of birds, of which 40 breed regularly

The Selborne Society Ltd, a Company Limited by Guarantee.
Registered Office
89 DARYNGTON DRIVE
GREENFORD
MIDDLESEX UB6 8BH

Company No. 00149247
Registered with the Charity Commissioners: Register Number 267635