This small collection of papers reflects Michael Clegg's deep love of nature, particularly ornithology. The greater part is made up of his field notebooks (149 in total) which document his bird watching expeditions around Britain and Europe. Covering the period November 1952 to May 1995, the notebooks record the prevailing weather conditions along with details of birds seen on that day. Amongst the field notes can be found a number of 'project' notebooks with a wider scope of interest, ranging from the mundane 'Scarborough field notes' to the gruesomely entitled 'Mammal skin collection'. Clegg's desire to educate people in the art of bird watching is illustrated most strongly by two notebooks, 'Bird watching- a basic guide' and 'Do it yourself field guide- a mixture of field notes and sketches, worked up drawings, photographs, handy hints etc. from recent notebooks'. The field notebooks are complemented by sets of colour slides taken by Clegg during his expeditions, especially those in Scotland and at various locations in Yorkshire.
Also included is a comprehensive collection of Michael Clegg's column which he wrote for the Yorkshire Evening Post which covered a large and varied amount of natural history and ornithologcial matters. Copies of articles concerning the natural world which he wrote or contributed to are included in the collection, as are the drafts of various short stories, some of which were published.