Did you know that the first real birdwatcher was an 18th-century clergyman living in a quiet English village? Until then, writes Stephen Moss, birds were more likely to be objects of religious worship or superstition, used for ornament or decoration, or simply represent a good square meal. The Reverend. Gilbert White, however, observed birds for pleasure and curiosity. In 1789 he published The Natural History of Selborne, 20 years' worth of meticulous notes, which is to birdwatching what Darwin's Origin of Species is to evolutionary biology. It remains, according to Moss, one of the best-selling books of all time.