Trouble With Lichen
There’s lichen everywhere on Westray. It shows how clean the air is here, how salt-tolerant lichen is and also how difficult it …
There’s lichen everywhere on Westray. It shows how clean the air is here, how salt-tolerant lichen is and also how difficult it …
We’re walking along the road in Abruzzo when we see two Kestrels hunting on the brow of the hill. I decide to …
The Italian Sparrows in Rome are dwarfed by the feral Pigeons: The males are incredibly handsome birds, with glorious colours on their …
There’s a deep orange butterfly flying quickly across the fields in a park in Rome. It’s a Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas: Nothing …
Walking along the River Tiber in Rome, or the Tevere in Roma, as the Romans call it, is a shock. It’s in …
Have you ever noticed that crabs have their head inside their body? That can feel a little weird if you think about …
It was Tuesday 21 November when we saw a balloon seller with these Helium balloons in Rome: I didn’t buy one. It …
We’re wandering around a park in suburban Rome and there are squawks filling the air. I’ve seen the Ring Necked Parakeets here …
There’s a Raven’s nest in this ruinous building on Westray:
Ravens are special because, just like humans, they display linguistic displacement; they can communicate using language about objects far away in space or time.
That’s what I’m doing now, with you.
Here’s my photograph of a Peacock Butterfly, Aglais io, from 2017: Here’s a photograph from my holiday scrapbooks from forty years ago …
It’s late in the year but a little sunshine has brought out the butterflies. There’s a wonderful Speckled Wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria, …
This gull is about to swallow this flatfish whole: I’m not sure I can watch.
It’s a beautiful day for Pigeon portraits: But not when you really, really need to scratch:
In the centre of Bristol, just next to Prince Street Bridge, is a small group of Common Cormorants. They have been fishing …
Bristol is a city with a truly urban environment. There are stone pavements, tarmac roads and tall steel-framed buildings. Through its heart …
The Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus, is a species I first wrote about in my nature notebooks in 1976. Here’s one at the …
I’ve turned to the double-page spread in The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests on The Heron: It says: …
This summer I saw a Red Admiral butterfly in high winds feeding on Westray in Orkney: The scientific name of the Red …
What’s changed for the Mallard since this 1950s Ladybird book?
There’s an Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus on the rocks: Then there’s one on the plants: What an incredible colour they are. It’s …
The Little Grebe is a water bird and is often called the Dabchick. It likes still water or slow flowing rivers, and …
Curlews are a familiar site on Westray. Their distinctive ‘Whaup whaup’ can seem very eerie when it echoes around the Island. The …
The Puffin is a little bird with a funny face, and a big beak striped like pyjamas.
Westray is full of Neolithic, Iron Age and Bronze Age middens; rubbish dumps full of wonderful finds. If you live on a …
Leafing through The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests I come to the page on The Kestrel: It says: …
There’s so much wildlife in The Regent’s Park that paying to go into London Zoo seemed almost wasteful. There were the Herons …
Here’s the double-page spread on The Turnstone from The Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests: The book is entitled ‘British …
I’ve spent a few days in Bristol city centre recently, going to music and theatre events and wandering around with my camera. …
This handsome bird lives on the edges of woods, in orchards and large gardens. That’s what The Second Ladybird Book of British …
There’s one main reason why London Zoo and many other zoos and animal collections keep Small Clawed Otters. It’s not the ongoing …